Chapter Song: Titanium - David Guetta

A dull thud brought Carlos back to his senses. Blinking, he looked around to find his phone had landed on the carpet at his feet. His knees gave way to his weight, and slowly, his brain began to process what had just happened.

He was doing homework when Cecil called. The boy sounded terrified... had said something was in his house, so he must be close to his home. Then he screamed and the line went dead...

Oh no. Something bad had happened to him.

In an instant, Carlos had sprinted down the stairs and out the front door. As he ran, his whole body seemed to be pulsing to the word Ce-cil, Ce-cil, Ce-cil. He will find him, and everything will be alright.

...o0o...

"It's alright Cecil. Turn around. Say hi to your brother. It's awfully rude to ignore me, Cecil."

Cecil ignored the horrible voice and kept tearing through the street. He wasn't even sure where he was going, just somewhere to escape this monster.

Suddenly Cecil found himself in front of City hall. He tripped over a shrub, and Kevin took this opportunity to grab Cecil and fling him at the building. Flailing about, he slid down the wall, breath failing to enter his lungs. Between the darkening edges of his vision, he saw Kevin looming over him, his mother's face caked with blood around the edges.

"I found a new home, brother. This wonderful place called Desert Bluffs! A woman, Lauren, found me here, and brought me there and have shown me a smiling God! I must go there, you see, to worship this wonderful being. They even offered me a job there, as a radio host! At least only one of us will be a failure..."

With this, Kevin paused and looked Cecil up and down. "You must come with me brother! You will see the smiling God! You will worship him too! Come with! Family is family, right?"

In response, Cecil propelled himself into the air with his left leg and arms and kicked out with his right. His foot connected with Kevin's check and slid along his/his mother's face, ripping stitches on the left side of his face out.

This horrible monster that is also his twin brother stumbled and fell back, landing on his hands. Cecil jumped up, took the face by the detached area on the left and ripped it off, revealing Kevin's. The other boy noted his brother's eyes had turned obsidian black, with orange irises.

"Why. Why did you do that to mom?"

Kevin groaned. "She refused to praise him! The smiling God deserves to be loved by all! Praise him! PRAISE!" He reached out and grabbed Cecil's ankle with claw-like fingernails, drawing blood from his brother. Cecil screeched and fell back as his leg was pulled from under him. The second hand was around his throat soon, squeezing the life from it. "On second thought, it would be wonderful if you helped me decorate my new studio."

Then the whole world seemed to bend toward Cecil as he began to lose consciousness. No wait. That's just Kevin. And the thing falling from the roof.

...o0o...

Carlos underestimated the weight of a potted plant. When he arrived at Cecil's house, he found nothing out of the ordinary but a few drops of blood in the hallway. Although it wasn't much, it was enough to make him queasy. That could be Cecil's.

The only other place he could think to look was the roof of City Hall. Sometimes I just need to get away. By the time this thought crossed his mind he was already out the door and jogging down the street.

As he approached the edge of the City Council lawn, he hesitated. His heart leaped into his throat as he heard Cecil's unmistakable voice. Carlos peeked around a hedge just in time to see Cecil hit the wall. He felt adrenaline rush to his veins and he wanted nothing more than to run to his rescue, but paused. He knew that wouldn't help very much if whatever Cecil was fighting could do that.

What was Cecil fighting?

Carlos took one more look around the corner and realized with a start it was Kevin.

He ducked behind the hedge once more and ran to the back entrance of City Hall. Upon entering, he was struck by an odd thought: Why was City Hall always deserted? Pushing this aside, he ran to the painting-oh ya! That's what it looks like-and flung the door open. He scrambled to the trap door and crawled onto the roof to survey the scene.

Below him, the most important person in the world to Carlos was being strangled by his twin. He could see from the lack of writhing that most of his energy was already drained by the fight.

Now panicking, Carlos searched the roof for something to throw... A plant!

He grabbed the pot by the edges and hauled it to the end of the roof. Gathering all his strength, Carlos flung the pot as best he could at Kevin. Unfortunately, the weight dragged Carlos off too.

...o0o...

With Kevin's hand not insisting on closing his windpipe, Cecil gasped for breath. He sat up and looked around to see what had made him let go and noticed a shattered pot. Upon closer inspection, he saw clumps of dirt sticking to Kevin's now blood-soaked head and collapsed body.

A potted plant.

Cecil glanced to the roof of City Council, but there was no one there. He stood, and immediately tripped over something-wait, someone. He found Carlos, limp at his feet, crumpled on the grass. Tears stung his eyes as he bent down to check his vitals. Pulse, good. Breathing, good. In relief, he lowered his upper half to hug Carlos, who immediately groaned.

"...Cecil?"

"Carlos! Carlos, what happened?"

"...threw a pot at Kevin... Kinda fell..." He mumbled.

"You're so stupid" Cecil half laughed, half sobbed.

"Why is Kevin..." He stopped, his eyes wide with terror.

"What's wrong?! Carlos?!" Cecil turned, too late, to see Kevin grab Carlos from his arms and drag him a few yards down the lawn.

Rage coursed through him, making his body vibrate. He felt a tingling sensation in the middle of his spine.

"Let him go!" Cecil yelled, and saw something-no, some things-long and purple reach from behind him.

Cecil realized with a start that they were tentacles. And weirder, the were coming from his back. But he had no time to think about it now; Kevin was making considerable progress down the grass.

He stepped forward, and the tentacles grabbed Carlos and yanked him towards himself, causing Kevin to stumble back towards Cecil. He gently placed Carlos on the grass behind him and charged his twin.

Grabbing Kevin with his tentacles, Cecil bashed him against a tree, then another. After a few trees were considerably damaged, he turned and threw him out to the edge of town. Kevin landed in a cloud of dust and promptly began crawling away from the town towards Desert Bluffs.

Finally, he turned back to his crush, who's eyes were wide with terror. Cecil sighed and scratched his head. Of corse Carlos had the right to be scared if him now; he had nearly killed his own brother!

Taking a shaky step forward, he approached Carlos, who stayed in place. "I know you're probably scared of me now, but... Is there any way we can still be friends? Could you ever forgive me...?"

Carlos merely laughed. "You saved my life! I think that earns friendship." He hesitated. "But you don't need to earn it. We're already best friends, and nothing could change that."

Best friends. "I have to tell you this now... I-"

He didn't even get to finish his confession before Carlos's lips came crashing down on his own.