Life After High School - Ten Years Later

By Risty and Silver

Disclaimer: This is what? Our third story? And you still haven't figured that we own only our characters? What, are you nuts?

Summary: Just writing as we go along.

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(Benny's POV)

Don't ask me why, but even when Jaime was telling me what she had heard from the Bree police, I had a feeling that something wasn't right. Blaze was hovering over my shoulder, trying to listen in, and Lucas was on the other side of the hideout, filing some notes. Damon was sitting opposite him, neither of us had said anything about what he had done to Emma; we were just being polite to each other. And although it had been a couple of days, he and Emma still hadn't spoken either. I quickly told them what had been said and they had the same feeling. Were they really dead, had they double-crossed the thieves and paid with their lives? Had it been a cruel ploy, intended to make us think that it was safe, that the two were dead? Had they killed Randy in the hope that it would provoke me into taking action against them? We had very few answers and time was growing short. We had no idea when they were going to strike next.

"I think we have to admit it" Blaze said with a sigh. "We've failed and there is nothing we can do. We've been watching the hideouts for days and have discovered nothing and we have only one man left beside us five. It is completely hopeless."

"Life is hopeless" Damon muttered. "You are right, Blaze. We have failed."

Suddenly there was a knock on the bar door. I hesitated, it was late and I did not see who would be calling at this time, but I went up to the bar to unlock it. I thought it would be some angry person from the town, demanding to know why the bar was closed yet again. It wasn't however, standing on our doorstep were none other than Randy and Gimli…

I looked at them for a long moment. They looked dreadful, both were covered in bruises and my brother's right side was covered with dry blood. Both were wearing just thin shirts with nothing to protect them against the cold wind. But it was Randy's eyes that haunted me the most. Once they had been so full of determination and hidden anger and now…just despair and emptiness.

"Please help us, brother," he begged. "If they catch us…"

I ushered them in at once and took them down to the hideout. Blaze gave a startled cry when he saw them, Damon raised his eyebrows but said nothing and Forrest crossed his arms and glared at them, shaking his head. Lucas was the only one who didn't look surprised.

"What the hell happened to you?" he asked. "You look like you've been in the wars a bit. Sit down, both of you. Damon, get them some blankets. Blaze, make them a hot drink. Move it!"

Grumbling, the two did as he asked and two minutes later, Randy and Gimli found themselves wrapped in blankets with a cup of hot tea in their hands. As they drank it, we all sat back around the table, eager to hear what had happened.

"Thank you for this" Randy said after a moment. "I know you probably think we've got a lot of nerve coming here, and you are right. But we had nowhere else to go…"

"Don't worry about it now" I said with a shrug. "Tell us what happened."

"We told 'em that we weren't going to do their dirty work no more" Gimli said quietly. "So they put us in their dungeons and tortured us. They…they got two people who looked a bit like us and killed them so that if we were working for you, you would think we were dead. If Randy hadn't been so skilled at getting out of ropes…we'd still be there now."

"So, you need a place to stay" Damon said thoughtfully. "Well we need information. Tell us what we want to know and we will try and protect you. Deal?"

"Deal" Randy said slowly. "Ask your questions."

"Ivan and Jaime's father are the leaders of the Black dogs, aren't they?" Blaze asked. "What is their plan? Why are they toying with us like this?"

"Ivan is the leader," Gimli told us. "Galfo is just his friend. Galfo wants revenge on his daughter, because she escaped from him or something, and he wants to get back at Lucas for torturing him. Jaime, Lucas and Ria, they are the people he wants. Ivan is just giving him the men to do it with."

"Ivan is in charge of hurting Emma and her family, including you and Galia, Benny" Randy told us. "But he isn't doing it because he wants to.  As far as he is concerned, Emma can just get on with her life. But someone is paying him to do whatever they can to hurt her and Damon…" He trailed off and looked at Gimli.

"Who, Randy?" I said quietly. "Who is paying Ivan? Who is the real bad guy in all of this?"

"He's a very unstable, very dangerous man although he tries hard to cover it up and he succeeds" Gimli explained. "Because you have shown us kindness which we don't deserve, we will tell you. But promise us that you won't make any rash decisions which may get you into trouble and that no one will know about it apart from Emma. Not even Jaime."

"We promise on both counts," Lucas said calmly. "Now who it is?"

"The most popular man in Gondor" Randy whispered. "Boromir South."