Author's Note: It's been six months since the events of "Revelations of the Past." Brendan and the rest of the band have moved on from the events involving Bobby. Brendan's parents came clean at some point here and confirmed that Bobby is Brendan's long lost brother. He forgave his parents and expects to no longer hear from Bobby as his brother was quarantined until the DNA results came back. However, his involvement with Bobby isn't quite over yet…
At recording, Brendan sat in the sound room watching his friends perform their cover of the Seether song "Broken" The song features a duet, though it hadn't yet been decided who would sing with Nat come final recording time.
It had been six months since he had found out he had a brother, Bobby Hopkins. His parents had Bobby as teenagers and gave up his brother because they felt they couldn't raise him at such young ages. Bobby wanted revenge for their parents abandoning him and keeping Brendan. He had sent some of his friends to attack Nat and Alex and apprehend Brendan. They failed, so Bobby tried to get at Brendan on his on by kidnapping Nat and Alex. He also failed thanks to Brendan's intervention.
As he listened to the band rehearsing the song, Brendan began to wonder where Alex was. He expected Alex to come to rehearsal with Nat considering they are brothers, but Nat had told him Alex would be late because he had woken up late. About twenty minutes into rehearsal, Alex entered the sound room. When he saw Alex, Brendan nearly fainted from shock.
"Alex! What happened to you?" he asked desperately.
Alex, who had a black eye and some bruises on his arms replied, "I was attacked on my way here."
"Oh my god! Are you okay?" Brendan said, running up to Alex and sitting him down on one of the couches.
"Yeah I'm fine. Just a little sore." Alex replied. With that, the rest of the band, noticing the commotion, entered the room.
"ALEX! What happened?" shrieked Nat, who ran over and hugged his brother. "Are you all right?"
"I'm okay. I was banged up a little bit, but I'll be fine," Alex replied.
"Cooper, go and get some ice and a warm washcloth," Brendan said. Cooper left the room and Brendan turned to Alex. "Alex, do you know who attacked you?"
Alex hesitated for a moment; he seemed unable to speak.
"Alex, it's okay. Whoever it was won't hurt you again," Nat encouraged.
Alex sighed and spoke, "It was Bobby. Bobby Hopkins, your brother, Brendan."
"WHAT?" screamed Brendan. "That's impossible! He's in jail until the DNA results come back!"
"No, he told me he escaped last night and said he is looking for you," Alex said. Cooper came back into the room and gave the ice to Alex who put it over his eye. Brendan stood up and walked to the door.
"Where are you going?" Alex asked.
"I'm going to put a stop to all of this. I'm going to try and draw Bobby out so I can apprehend him myself and ensure that he will stay in jail," Brendan replied.
The next day, Brendan's plan was put in to motion. Nat was to walk to rehearsal alone with Brendan following in the shadows. This would draw Bobby out to attack Nat, but not before Brendan revealed himself. In a sense, Brendan was pulling a Bobby - he was doing exactly what Bobby had done to him a year and a half before. After disabling Bobby, Brendan would call the police and have them arrest his brother.
Nat walked down to the recording studio with Brendan following in tow in the shadows. As he turned the final corner, a man dressed in black confronted him. The man was Bobby and he greeted Nat like an old friend.
"Hello there, buddy," he said viciously. "Remember me?"
Out of the shadows, Brendan emerged in to the scene behind Bobby.
"Yes he does, Bobby, and I do too," he said.
Bobby turned around and saw his brother face-to-face for the first time since they had last met before his arrest.
"Well, well, well look who it is, my dear brother," Bobby laughed. "This just keeps getting better and better."
"Not for long," Brendan growled. "You will never hurt anyone I love again!"
With that, Brendan rushed up to attack Bobby who blocked his attack. The two then squared off against each other, having a punching fight where each brother blocked the other's attacks. After some scuffling, Bobby broke off the attack and he and Brendan began circling each other.
"You fight well my brother," he said. "But it won't be enough to stop me!"
"Oh yes it will," Nat burst out. "He has me to help him!"
"Nat, stay out of this. This is my fight against Bobby, you let me handle him," Brendan said.
Bobby then lunged forward to attack Brendan, who pushed him back with a punch to the stomach. Brendan then moved to kick Bobby who grabbed Brendan's leg and elbowed it. Brendan fell over, grunting in pain. He quickly recovered and faced Bobby. Bobby raised his fist, prepared to fight some more. Brendan raised his left knee and put his arms in front of him with his fist raised. As Bobby moved in to attack, Brendan leaped off of his right leg and kicked with it where it hit its target - Bobby's chin. Bobby fell over and slumped unconscious.
Brendan regained his balance and walked over to Nat who had stood watching the fight.
"Are you okay?" Nat asked. "It looked like he hit your knee pretty bad."
"I'm fine. I just had to do what I had to do so we can be sure he will go to jail and stay there where he can't hurt any of us again."
Brendan pulled out his cell phone and called the police, telling the dispatcher that he had apprehended Bobby. Within five minutes, the police arrived and took Bobby in to custody. Nat and Brendan left the scene and headed to the recording studio so Nat and the rest of the band could finish their new album, which was due out in two weeks.
Four weeks later
It had been nearly a month since Bobby was arrested for a second time. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and will remain in prison for the rest of his life. The band had finished recording their album two weeks after the events with Brendan and had featured Brendan on the duet in the song "Broken." Now, four weeks later, the band played at their first stop of the tour, at the same place in Chicago where they made their debut concert so many years before. The band finished playing one of their old songs and Nat made an announcement.
"Okay, so I know you guys have heard a lot about his next song we're playing," he said to the screaming crowd. "We did a cover of this song and featured our body guard, Brendan Hopkins who we all agreed the song's lyrics kinda tell you about him and his experiences with us. He will be performing this song with us at every concert and we hope you love it as much as we do."
When Nat finished speaking, the crowd began cheering. He grabbed his acoustic guitar and stood in front of his microphone. He then started the opening guitar part to "Broken."
"I wanted you to know," Nat sang. "That I loved the way you laugh. I wanna hold you high and steal your pain away! I keep your photograph and I know it serves me well. I wanna hold you high and steal your pain."
The rest of the band joined in on their music parts while the spotlight shined in the audience to Brendan who had appeared in the walkway leading up to the stage and held a microphone in his hand. Together, they sang the next part.
"Because I'm Broken," they sang, while audience members cheered for Brendan. He slowly began to walk to the stage, high fiving some members of the crowd. "When I'm lonesome. And I don't feel right when you're gone away."
Brendan continued to the stage as Nat sang the next part.
"You've gone away. You don't feel me here, anymore."
Brendan reached the stage as Nat sang and waved to a crowd member who waved at him. He stood next to Nat and as Nat finished his part, he broke in with solo.
"The worst is over now. And we can breathe again. I wanna hold you high and steal my pain," he sang. Together he and Nat sung the word "away" before Brendan continued. "There's so much left to learn," where Nat came in and sang with him "and no one left to fight." Brendan finished his solo. "I wanna hold you high and steal your pain.
Together, Nat and Brendan sung the chorus.
"Because I'm broken. When I'm open. And I don't feel like I am strong enough. Because I'm broken. When I'm lonesome. And I don't feel right when you're gone away."
The band then played the bridge into the second chorus which Brendan and Alex sung again. After the second chorus singing, the band played the ending verse, leading up to the final chorus which Brendan and Nat cut in half singing "'Cause I'm broken. When I'm lonesome. And I don't feel right when you're gone away."
The band then slowed down into the fading of the song while Nat sang the last verse. "You've gone away. You don't feel me here…anymore."
With that, the music slowly faded and ended. When the music stopped, the crowd screamed and cheered for the band. As the cheering died down, Brendan spoke to the rest of the band through the microphone.
"All right guys! Let's show the love we have for our fans!" he shouted. The band then sat down their instruments and joined him at the center of the stage. They grabbed hands and held them up, and then bowed for the audience, who cheered loudly once again. The band then released hands and fell into a group hug. As he stood there enjoying this moment with his best friends, Brendan felt he had been truly freed from Bobby and knew that he would never have to deal with his brother ever again…
