"Jazzie! Don't go in there!"

"Why?"

"Cause- cause Mum and Dad said not to-"

"So what? Let's go!"

"No! Jazzie! Come back... Jazzie... Jazzie? Jazzie, where are you? Jazzie, quit messing! Jazzie! JAZZIE! JAZZIE!"

"JAZZIE! JAZ-!" Dougie broke off as a hand struck his cheek. He looked up in shocked fear to see Danny straddling his chest.

They stared at eachother in silence for a second, then Danny breathed out. "Why did you stop taking the tablets?"

"I..." Dougie trailed off as Danny jumped off of him, and turned back to stare at him. "I wanted to see her again... see her face."

"Doug, you can't just..." Danny sighed again and looked away. "Time to get up."

Dougie nodded and climbed out of his bed, kicking his skateboard from where he'd left it last night.


The minute he entered the Hub, Tom pounced on him.

"What the hell were you thinking? If you lose sleep over this your fighting won't be up to standard- that's not just your life you're risking, that's everybody in this City, every tourist, Citizen and Pioneer, you know that-"

"Fuck off." Dougie shoved past him and stamped over to the machine. He stabbed the buttons for coffee and cereal bar moodily, leaning his head against the metal as he waited the short time for his food to appear. He joined the others at the table, scowling at everything in sight and even managing to sip his coffee with an air of wronged treatment- paired with Tom's best attempts at spooning cornflakes with annoyance, this made the atmosphere quite tense.

Of course this didn't bother Danny, who was munching happily on a piece of toast as he read through some of the fan mail they'd recieved that morning from the Pioneers and Citizens.

"Aw, look at this." He held up a child's messy crayon drawing of the four, and Harry smiled.

"Hey, Danny did a drawing."

Danny threw the piece of paper down and immediately retaliated with 'Yeah, well, your mum.'

Tom sighed loudly as he swallowed another spoon of cornflakes. "Grow up, you two." They both looked at him, insulted, then Danny looked accusingly at Dougie.

"This is your fault."

Harry shoved him. "Don't blame everything on Dougs!"

Dougie rolled his eyes. "No, it's his fault for being so fucking paranoid."

Tom narrowed his eyes, then looked at Harry. "No, Danny's right. It's his fault for being such a twat- he's been taking those sleeping pills for four years, why he had to stop now I'll never understand-"

"BECAUSE I WANTED TO SEE HER AGAIN!" Dougie was standing up now, the coffee over the floor. Danny, Harry and Tom stared up at him in shocked silence. "SHE'S MY FUCKING SISTER TOM, IF CARRIE WENT MISSING WOULD YOU JUST FORGET ABOUT HER?"

Tom blinked. "I- Carrie-"

"I'm fucking twenty years old, I don't deserve to be treated like I sodding child anymore. Just leave me the fuck alone, alright?" He stalked off to the studio, slamming the door behind him, and Tom swallowed.

"Shit."

"Mate, he's scary when he's angry," Danny whispered, mouth open. He then turned to look at Tom. "If he's still mad on patrol tonight, he'll get himself hurt..."

"That's not what I'm worried about." Harry said quietly. The other two turned to look at him, so he continued. "He said, 'She's my fucking sister'. As in, she is, not was." He looked after Dougie, eyes far away. "He thinks she's still alive."


Later on that day, Dougie stamped past Tom, who was by the Fantable, sorting through mail, and went over to Harry. Tom rolled his eyes and tried his damdest to ignore him; Dougie was so petulant in these situations.

"Harry," He announced. Harry looked up from his comic, slightly apprehensive.

"Yeah, Dougs...?"

"I don't feel well." This was said with an air of one telling a great secret; Harry just blinked.

"Oh."

"That means I can't go on patrol tonight."

Tom's 'couldn't care less' facade broke and he turned to argue. "You have to-"

"No, you said if we feel even a tiny bit ill then we shouldn't go, because if we get captured then we might let something slip which would endanger everybody. And you're always right, aren't you?" Dougie's voice was petulant, and Harry smirked.

"So you do listen," Tom said through gritted teeth.

"Yes, I just don't usually take any notice because 99% of the time you're talking bullshit."

Tom opened his mouth but realised there was nothing he could say to that without launching a full- fledged argument. "What's even wrong? Are you faking?"

"I'm not Danny." Dougie snapped. Dany looked up from his guitar.

"Fuck off!" He said good- naturedly, before zoning out again. Chances were he didn't even hear what they said, just heard his name and linked it with an insult. Dougie looked back at Harry, still refusing to even look at Tom.

"I have a stomach ache, and my head hurts." He said grandly, and Harry fought the urge to lagh at the superior look on his face. "Um, okay," He mumbled, glancing at Tom and biting his lip to stop himself from smiling.

"Fine." Tom stomped off to the coffee machine and Dougie glared after him. He departed to his room and sat down in his chair, picking up a picture from the floor- a picture of a four year old girl.

"I know you're alive, Jazzie." He whispered. "And I'm going to find you, I swear."


Outside of the City Wall, dark creatures stirred.

Time for war.