Chapter 18.

"SOMEBODY! ANYBODY! ...HELP MEEEE!" Rocky had been screaming his throat raw since Maria had chained him to the bed, but it was all to no use really. No one would hear him and if anyone did, they didn't seem to care. Being ignored was driving Rocky crazy. He hated to be alone in silence for long periods of time, it played on his mind and made the bad things come back that he thought were long since buried deep inside his mind. Oddly, nothing bad came to him, not as they would have normally. Rocky guessed that this was because of his alter being seen and heard by him. Did that mean that his alter was having troubles right now. Taking all his problems, uncertain feelings, and bad thoughts from him.

No. That isn't it at all, because he could see the strange boy in the center of the room. Doing a kata like he were the only person in the world. Like he were in some wonderful, peaceful field of dreams and nothing could break his concentration. This time though, the strange boy was wearing a set of rich purple polyester pajamas. It suited him. Made him look less bummy than before. He was even clean! Maybe he took a bath? Was that possible- was the boy magic or were these new visions of him coming to his mind because the boy made it so?

Rocky didn't know how long it had been since he was kidnapped. At first, like now, he screamed, calling out, hoping for anyone to hear him. Then after a couple or so dys of that Rocky tried to just struggle free from the binds. After that, he just gave up. He lay in the bed watching his alter doing activities in the room to amuse his self since he had stopped talking to him.

Rocky lost track of time when he blacked out that night and he didn't see a clock when he found that diner. Damn. His eyes watered. Why would anyone do this to him? What has he done, what had he really done to warrant such harm? Nothing that he could think of. Is it because he has an alter ego that's telling him that deep down inside he's a truly bad person? Rocky could never be his alter. He didn't think or feel the same ways that he did. The liking men being the biggest difference between them. What could have happened to him that would cause such a person to come to be. Is his cocky other half a monster? Someone playing tricks on his mind?

Rocky coughed, choking on his own air. It's so thick that the atmosphere was beginning to really bother him. His lungs were beyond agitated as well as his heart. Since he was a child he had been having heart problems. It at times would speed up for no reason at all making him feel light headed and he would lose his balance for a moment. It happened when they were saving Jo's father a few summers back. He hadn't paced his self right and it ended with him getting a punch to the cheek. Thank God it was nothing serious, he could have really been hurt had he fallen from one of the stacks of garbage.

Turning to look at the other male in the room, Rocky frowned. He wondered momentarily if the other boy had found his way out in the past as he has been now. Like with the club and with Robbie. Could this hyperactive teen have been around for all these years yet stay dormant in his mind, or had he pushed through without his noticing. There were a couple strange times in life where it seemed as though he were in a trance and had suddenly woken up someplace else.

Jodan Uke. An upper block movement into, chudan soto-uke, a block to the middle. The blond continued his Kata's while listening to his 'better half' talk to himself. Chudan yoko-uke, a slow sweep of the left hand sideward as a block. Cocky Rocky couldn't understand why Sam had to be such a prude. The boy was nineteen and acted like he had never gone to a party before and let his hair down. Oh wait, he hasn't! Gedan yoko-barai-uke, a lower sideward block.

Smirking, he stopped his work and walked over to the bed. "Yoo hoo." He tapped Sam between his eyes to get the boys attention that was already on him, but to such a degree that he had to say something. "What are you looking at?"

Sam frowned, rolling over as best he could with one of his arms tugging and staying behind him still latched to the bedpost. That didn't bother Rocky, he liked being looked at even if it were by his other half. Something Sam could never appreciate. Other peoples attention on him. He went through life telling his self that he isn't any better than the next guy and from this he lost a lot of woman to his brother. Colt never cared, he loves attention of any kind. Rocky can relate to that, but Sam... he just didn't get it.

Walking around to the other side of the bed, he looked at his 'twin brother' with a small smile. He loved teasing him, it was just to easy! "Aaaawwww, Sammy... Sammy... Come on... Please don't be mad... I don't care that you were looking; if you're lonely then I'll talk to you." Slipping into the bed, Rocky wrapped his arms around his other half's side. A sight seen, but not felt by the recipient. Rocky had explained to him that he is only visible so that he, Sam, wouldn't fly off the handle thinking that he was losing his mind. As if this wouldn't send him over the edge. But he was getting used to having the playful fool around, he had to admit. But he wasn't sure if he'd like it all the time.

"What's bothering you Sammy?" He pouted, using a voice meant for a sad child. "Is it me? Is it Maria?"

"Why would it be you, you've done nothing- except keep me in the dark about my past and who I supposedly really am." His words were tight but not angry. He was only speaking that way because his throat was raw from yelling so long. How long has he been down here! He tried to keep track of the days by counting how many meals he was given. The little girl brought it to him. It was soup, always soup, on a tray in a flat bowl. Rocky would have liked to eat it, he was starving. But being shackled to a bed tended to give its limitations.

Noelie never came close to the bed, even in the still blackness, she could tell that Rocky was naked because he was so pale. His body lay outlined before her, so she merely came into the cell and dropped his food off as close to the bed as possible without getting any closer to the boy who had attacked her and robbed her of her hair when they first met. Rocky never tried to speak to the girl, she was deaf and without use of his hands he couldn't sign to her. He had learned to do this when he and his former girl friend Paula took classes after school. He would sign to the kids while she read them the book of the day at the hospital. He used to read with Emily but... Well, she was no longer his favorite person for the way she broke up with him.

Rocky supposed there was the other way, telepathy, but he didn't want to do the demented psychic girls biddings by using these so called 'abilities' of his. Speaking of the strange girl, Rocky hadn't seen her since she gave him the black eye and nearly broken rib. Where was she? And most importantly, what was she doing? Probably watching him from hidden cameras somewhere in the room. She could have installed them in those few times he had blacked out from all the yelling and lack of food. Which is how he lost track of the day. He had been asleep sometimes, and when he woke up the tray was gone replaced with another. Every time food was brought to him, there was an odd smell in the room. It could have been the food, some food stinks when you cook it, regardless how good it taste. But this seemed like something else.

"Are you in there?" Rocky asked, turning Sam's face by his chin so he was looking at him. Staring into those dark green eyes of his made Sam's blood run cold. There seemed to be something more behind them, something his carefree, everything is fun manner was hiding.

"Huh?"

"I asked you if you wanted to talk? To pass the time?" He asked again for what sounded like the first time, but who knows how long he was actually talking to him. Colt couldn't stand it when people made him repeat his self. Rocky never minded, it was such an odd thing to get upset about in his eyes.

"Um, yeah, sure... what about?" Sam didn't really care. If Rocky wanted to talk his self out, as he so usually did, then let him.

"Well," he began. "You were thinking about if I ever came out any other times when you were younger. The answer is yes, but it was only a few times, once or twice."

Sam blinked at that. "You did? When?"

Rocky shrugged as though he planned to play coy and drag this out longer than it needed to be. "Remember when you were helping Jo?"

Sam's eyes replied a yes.

"...I'm the one who drove the car." He smirked with satisfaction. "Think about it... What's the last thing you remember doing before Colt told you to get going?"

Sam thought for a moment. He truly didn't remember driving the car, up until his brother had snapped at him when he closed the door after retrieving Tum Tum. In fact, last thing Rocky remembers is coughing from the smoke, he didn't remember getting out of the car. It was weird, but he didn't think about it at the time... but instincts kicked in and he drove after the first car he saw assuming that that was what his brother was getting at.

Rocky laughed as he watched realization creep across his other half's face. "Yeah, and it was fun... Tum Tum is such a complainer sometimes, it's not like I would have really ran us into that rock. That thing just popped up out of nowhere."

Sam shook his head. "You endangered my brothers?"

"Endangered! They thought it was fun! You'd never do anything like that, I think they were actually proud to see their, older, more responsible, brother take some kind of action that didn't end with a boring little huddle and pep talk..."

"...Shut up..."

Rocky only laughed. Snuggling against the boys shoulder he sighed. "The other time was just a slip out or two... I didn't like Emily, I wanted her out of my life before I even had one. So I made you play shy around her... 'You're not my girlfriend' that sort of thing. She's such a bitch." He shook his head in good humor.

Sam remained silent. He didn't care about those little things. He wanted to know the big thing. The secret that was being kept from him since he was eight. But getting his alter to spill that would take some time. He wished the time it took wasn't spent locked up in some lunatics cellar.

"You know, when you were a kid... hmmm- about five or six, you actually embraced your abilities."

Sam thought about that. His past was a black hole to him now, he saw nothing over the age of 11 when he started taking ninja with Colt and then eventually Tum Tum. "...I can't recall anything from my past and you know that."

Rocky looked taken aback by the boys rude tone. It wasn't like he had done something wrong. He only kept what Rocky thought was bad. "I only kept what you hated brother... and let me tell ya, you had one fucked up childhood with all the memories I have."

"Memories?"

"Yeah, you know bits of knowledge and thought stored away-..."

Sam cut him off with a gruff sigh. "I know what a memory is... I just... wasn't aware that alters had their own. I just thought, you were a bad thought locked away in my head."

Rocky's eyes narrowed to a cat like slit. Blinking, he smiled it off. "Right, well baby it doesn't work like that. Thing about alters is, we're a life saver not a fractured cluster of memory..." He sat up on one elbow, looking down at him. "It amazes me how you don't understand any of this."

"How can I understand."

"Sam, what is a ninja?" The other boy didn't answer. Sighing, he shook his head. "A body, a spirit, a heart aaand?"

"...A mind."

"Exactly... you're destiny was chosen for you even before you knew why... You're Grandfather is a great guy, but you don't know how far it goes. He's... He's the heart os you guys, he's what keeps you together when you bicker- even if you have doubts about it like with Synder... Colt, body, he has speed and knows how to use it. He can be faster if he bothers to look deeper within his self. Tum, spirit, even when the chips are down he perks up ready for action. He can be beaten to shreds yet still harness some kind of energy to go on."

"A mind... You're saying I'm like this because of Grandpa? Because I'm a ninja? Those things about them are normal feats! Willpower! Strong love of family! Any one can be fast... But me, I'm a freak..."

"You're able to think with your entire brain if you let yourself... people only use half... you're what happens when they can use it all." He lay his head back down.

"I still feel like a freak."

"You didn't when you were a kid... you used to sit outside at the park by yourself and send rocks across the field just by looking at them..." Sam blinked hearing that, he seemed to see it. To remember something like that... and there was a boy, he saw him. Rocky nods. "That's right Sam, there was a boy there... He saw you and thought it was really cool, the two of you played for hours- power rangers or something hahaha." He closed his eyes. "And then his mother told him to stop playing with you... you assumed it was because she had seen you and thought you were a freak so you just stopped doing it."

I used to... Use my abilities? Like it were nothing... But he hated me afterwards, I remember that much... Sam swallowed roughly. No, that wasn't the reason it was because of what happened before that... I kissed him... Mom and Dad kissed me because the love me- so I just assumed that was alright. I was young! It wasn't on the lips or anything, just on the cheek but he hated me.

The two boys sat in an uncomfortable silence. In this silence they heard a cough. It was small and weak, like a child's. Noelie.

"Noelie!" Sam called to her. "Noel!" Scrunching his eyes in frustration, he had forgotten the girl couldn't hear.

"Go on Sam, you want her attention than speak to her with your mind... what's it gonna hurt?" He looked at Noelie, his sharp eyes looking like he wanted to mess with the poor captured girl. It wasn't as if he wasn't being held prisoner too, only in Rocky's case he wasn't thinking about Maria.

"I don't want to... I'll be doing just as Maria wants."

"Oh fuck you. Maria only took you because she wants someone to keep her company and you're it." He spat then sat up. "Noelieeee... Noeeeel, sweet heart?"

The young girls eyes widened hearing a voice in her head. It was just as Maria spoke to her, her eyes quickly scanned the darkness for her kidnapper.

"No, honey, over here on the bed." Rocky continued. "What an idiot," he said mostly to himself. Giving a sharp glare at the lights in the room they blinked on as fast as any hand could flip the switch. The cell lit up with the bright unforgiving light, causing them all to squint.

"What are you doing?" Sam twisted on the bed. "You'll freak her out! I'm naked!"

Rocky rolled his eyes. "Duh! I fed a little info to her brains thought pattern, you may be naked in theory, but she sees pajamas."

That was amazing! He could really do these things? No wonder Maria was so hell bent on having him.

"I don't wanna talk to you." The girl signed quickly as possible, her hands not missing a letter.

Sam jerked at the chains so that he could sign back but they didn't give in the least.

Again rolling his eyes, Rocky looked at the young girl and spoke to her. "Noelie, don't be frightened."

The girl jumped as though a ghost had whispered in her ear. "Who said that?" She said out loud.

"Oh cool! You can talk, good." Rocky climbed off the bed. "Sammy, unless you want your only to make some leeway with the girl gone, I suggest you use your gift and talk to her."

"Alright! Alright!" Closing his eyes, he opened them breathing out slowly. "Noelie, I'm sorry for what happened to you at the hotel, but you've gotta believe me, I wasn't myself that day so I did something wrong... But I'm not a bad person. I wanna help you get out of here... But you have to help me..."

Hesitant, Noelie shook her head. "You... speak like the bad woman... she laughs at me, calls me names... she hates me and says she's gonna kill me."

"It's gonna be ok, everything will be ok. But I need you to help me if you can."

"How?" She walked a little closer to the bed.

"What's Maria been doing up there? Have you seen her at all?"

The girl thought. "Yes, she's boarded up the windows, everywhere in the house. She told me 'to create fear, you have to be completely isolated', I think she was talking about you."

"...Me?"

"Maria thinks she can break you by having you relive the fear you had in that dream when the aliens kidnapped you and made you work as their baby maker while your family were plowing their fields." Rocky explained.

Sam remembered that dream, vaguely. It was scary, all those large green glowing people coming in and out of a room he was held it. Inserting things into his body to have sex with him, all the while his family was being tortured somewhere away from him. But the worst of all was that he hadn't a clue what day it was, what was going on... It scared him. Something about losing track of time really freaked Rocky out ever since he was a kid...

"Aaahhh!" His eyes scrunched as a memory flashed through his mind.

A woman... a store... red pants...? It made no sense!

The young girl looked back at the door, then walked forward unlocking the boys chains. "Maria told me to do this." She explained. "She says any day now, you'll come to her."

Sam hadn't heard a word, he was in too much pain to listen. But Rocky heard her. It made him frown. He knew what was coming.

The young hispanic girl looked back at the pained boy one last time before hurrying out of the room without so much as a single good bye.