Disclaimer (This goes for chapter 1 too, cause I forgot it): I do not own Sky High...if I did it would star Lash, Speed, and Warren!

For the Sake of Friendship

Broke Down Home

"Is it me or is it cold in here?" Lash asks walking out of my room with his arms wrapped tightly around his body. I smile from the table where I'm already eating breakfast.

"It's just you!" I laugh as he sits down across from me. He stretches his arms in the kitchen and they come back holding a carton of milk and a box of cereal. "Couldn't you have just go it before you sat down?"

He shrugs and lays his head on the table. "I'm so sleepy."

"That's what you get for sleeping on the floor." I say smugly as I pour the cereal into my bowl.

"You could have woke me up." He mutters from the spot at the table.

"You would have just woke up, been angry, then lay your head back down and go to sleep." I point out. He lifts his arm and flips me before his hand lands back down on the table with a plop.

"Go suck something." He mutters back. "You got to go to work today?"

"Yeah, but only for a few hours. I just have to finish up the inventory." I say referring to my part time job at the comic bookstore. "Are you going to work today?"

"No, I'm going to call in sick. I really feel like shit." He says looking up at me to check to see if that was okay. His chocolate brown eyes look bloodshot and he looks almost like a ghost.

"Yeah, you would end up scaring away the customers." I say trying to make light of the situation. He just rolled his eyes.

"Well I think your ugliness is rubbing off on me," He says weakly.

"I better get going. The sooner I finish the sooner I can get a nice vacation." I say. I go over to the couch and grab my jacket off the floor. With two guys living together we try to keep the house clean but we always end up with our jackets on the floor because we knocked over the coat rack in the middle of a practice duel or the table will be litter with junk food and leftover soda's because we stayed up till four and were too tired to clean up.

I walk to the door and pause for a moment before going back over to the table and place my hand on his forehead. He was burning up. I look at him and say, "get some sleep your becoming as hotheaded as Peace."

Lash grunts and grabs an orange from the table and tosses it as hard as he can at me. Because he's sick and weak the orange hitting my forehead doesn't hurt as much but the juice from the orange sprays everywhere. I reach up and wipe my forehead. I reach down and pick up the orange and chuck it at the back of his head causing him to knock his head against the table. I say, "You know it wouldn't kill you to be nice."

"Lash I'm . . . " I trail off as I look around the house which is a complete mess. The tables are turned up. There are movies and CD's spread out all across the floor. There are pots and pans on the tile. The dining room table is on its side and the chairs are thrown aside. Frames from the wall lay on the ground the glass cracked contacting the smiling people in the photograph. I lean down and pick up the one closest to me. I was Lash and I at age six sitting on Santa's lap.

"Lash!" I call out to him running around the house trying to find him and creating a miniature whirlwind in its place. I look in the kitchen, his room, the bathroom and he is still know where to be found. I sigh as I dash into my room hoping to find him curled up on my floor or sleeping in my bed with the excuse that it was closer. I walk in to find nothing. I sigh but notice a small black video tape on my bed.

I grab the tape and rush to play it in the living room not bothering to consider that it could be bomb or something. I toss the video that was inside of the play over by the fireplace and hear it land with a crunch. I but Lash got bored and though it would be fun to mess with me. That was it. I grab the remote and hit play expecting to see Lash walk onto the screen and saying turn around.

"Hello Speed, missing something? Or should I say are you missing someone?" A voice of a high pitch female came on as Gwen came into view. I feel my knuckles tighten. All I can think of is how did she get out of jail and how long will I be in jail for killing her?

"Don't worry he's not dead, yet." She laughs as the camera turns from her and to a blindfolded Lash who is tied to a chair. My heart crashes and I feel sick as I notice a small trickle of blood running down the side of his face. The camera turns back to Gwen who is wearing a very satisfied look on her face. I would love to knock the look right off her face and I fully plan on it.

"Now we all know I couldn't get out of jail on my own," She says as I feel blood began to drip down my arm from the cuts my nails are making. "So I would like to introduce my new partner, Dr. Venom."

My heart stop beating for a moment at the sound of the name. The thought of my best friend, my brother, at the hands of a murderer breaks me apart. I feel tears falling out of my eyes but I try to keep a stoic look but I know I'm failing. The camera pans to a man about fifty with gray hair and green eyes that had a psychotic glare to them. He just grins and pulls out a leather as he walks over to Lash with a sadistic grin.

"You must not tell the police or any adult we were here. If you do tell, well, your friend here will die. It would a pity for you to have to lose a mother, a father, and a best friend at my hands. You're a smart kid. I'm sure you'll figure out where we are soon. If you don't, it might be too late." He says as he raises his whip and brings it down hard across Lash's back.

Once, twice, three times Lash screams for me before he falls unconscious and the tape goes black. I cry like I cried when my parents died, I cry like when I found I Lash had been abused by his father, only this time when I'm crying I don't have Lash to hold onto. I don't have Lash here to smile through his tears and tell me everything will work out. I don't have that reassurance that everything will be fine.

I cry for hours as I go between finding a plan of action and thinking of Lash crying out my name as he's being whipped. I decide to go in my room and see if Dr. Venom and Gwen left anything behind for me to find. I go into my room and find nothing except for the picture of Kate that Lash pulled out last night. I reach down and turn in over staring at the phone number carefully written onto the back.

That was it! I could call Kate. She would help me. She told me if I ever needed her help she would come help me. And she wasn't an adult, she was seventeen, technically still a minor. What could it hurt to call her? The worst she could do was say no or hang up on me. It wasn't like I had any other idea's.

I reach over to the side of my bed and take the phone off the receiver and quickly punch in the number on the back. One ring, two rings, three rings, four rings and then, "Hello?"

"Hi, um, can I speak to Kate?" I ask nervously.

"This is her, who is this?" she asks puzzled.

"Um, I don't know if you remember me, but this is Speed from camp."I say shyly.

"Speed!" she squeals, "of course I remember you. You were the sweetest guy in Cabin 12. I heard about your parents. I was going to call but, I was kind of, well yeah."

I blush but then I think back to the reason I called and tears start to fall again, "I get it. I'm sorry to call you like this, seven years later, but I remember you said if I ever need you help just to call you. I wanted to know if that offer still stands?"

"What's wrong?" Kate asks obviously worried.

"It's my friend. He was kidnaped by the same person that killed my parents! They have him and I can't go to the police or anything like that or they're going to kill him!" I cry.

"Lash was kidnaped?" she asks softly.

I pause before questioning, "How did you know I was talking about Lash."

Kate softly chuckles. "The girls used to think Lash was your secret lover because everything you said was either 'I remember when Lash and I . . . ' or 'Lash always . . . ' so I just assumed he was who you were talking about."

"I wasn't that bad." I defend smiling through my tears.

"Yes you were! Everything was about Lash. I could tell you two were close. I remember when I asked if we could be friends you told me and I quote 'Okay, but you can't be my best friend 'cause my best friend is Lash and we're going to be best friends forever'."

I feel myself start to cry for what seems to be the millionth time today. "So will you help me get him back. Please Kate. You know I wouldn't call you unless it was important."

There was a pause on the other end, "I can be there tomarrow morning. My aunt lives over by you and I'll just tell my family I want to go see her. You still live in the same house?"

"Yeah I say."

"Okay, don't worry. We'll find a way to get him back. Lash will be back before you know it. Well, bye!"

"Kate wait!" I stop her.

"What?" She asks.

"Thanks." I say.

Another pause. "Anything for me Speed Demon." And then a click and the line goes dead.

I lay on my bed for a few minutes before I realize I can't seem to fall asleep. I get up and go to Lash's room which is decorated in posters of rock bands and goofy pictures of the two of us. I fall back onto his unmade bed and as I drift off to sleep I think how funny it is how we find comfort sleeping in the others room.

A/N: I like reviews . . . reviews are nice . . . reviews keep me writing . . . still add your comment on what I should do about the coupling (I was thinking about leaving him with the girl but implying slash but I aim to please my readers so be sure to put in your comments)