The Greatest Secret

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own iCarly

A/N: The chapters with the band during the Battle of the Bands will be different in a way. The story of the chapter will go, but the song that the band would play/sing later that day will be in the chapter, for instance this song is "18 to Life" by Skid row. This would be sung by the band with Bana and Lionel as inspiration for it.

Chapter 191 (Scent of Blood)

"That was a good song your sister sang last night," Andre said as he walked with Freddie. The second day of the Battle of the Bands was going well, they were really looking forward to the whole week. Of course, Freddie had caught some bad news from his mother earlier regarding both Nevel and Nora. He was trying hard not to get depressed and to look at the brighter side of things, but even that was difficult for him to do. He wanted to focus on anything other than the depressing crap that was going on.

"Thanks man, your band played well too. It'd be interesting to go up against you guys in the finals." He would be honored to perform against them, they were just excellent. Andre chuckled and put his hands behind his head.

"Well shucks, you think we're good enough to get in to the finals?" Freddie nodded his head as Andre grinned with pride. "Thanks, I should tell Beck, he'd be happy to hear that." In the time he met, he learned that Beck was actually Andre's closest friend, the opposite was true as well. "He's been feeling down lately, all the practice we've put in has been getting to him. It'll cheer him up to hear that."

"I hope it does. We shouldn't have any stressors in our mind." Andre agreed and stopped walking with Freddie. He leaned up against the wall of the school hallway as Freddie stopped and looked around. "You know, this is an awesome looking place. I'd be glad to come to school here if I lived around this area."

"It's a great place, the teachers are the best. Sounds like you'd prefer it here. What's been on your mind? I mean you don't look too well for someone who should be thrilled to be here." Freddie chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. Did he really want to talk about his problems? There was no harm in spilling out to someone he just met, right? Not that he knew of. Besides, he needed a break, anything to just calm his mind and get all the hell off his chest. "Does it have anything to do with-"

"Are you going to say Steven? No, although he is a part of the problem. In reality, the most pressing issue is the maniac after my family." Andre raised his eyebrow as Freddie leaned against the wall and closed his eyes. He no longer cared who was around to hear his secrets. "Andre, what I'm going to tell you, please promise me you won't tell anyone else. Got that?"

"Yeah bro, I won't."

"Good. You see there's this guy…Bana. Well, I don't know if that's his real name or not, but he's been going after my family pretty much non-stop. You know, your typical psychopath serial killer." Andre's eyes widened and he quickly nodded his head as Freddie started to explain exactly who Bana was.

Ricky was a young boy, he had a heart of stone
Lived 9 to 5 and he worked his fingers to the bone
Just barely get out of school, came from the edge of town
Fought like a switchblade so no one could take him down, oh no

He had no money, no, no good at home
He walked the streets as soldier and he fought the world alone

"And that's not even the worst of it, for years this other guy, Carly's grandpa, has been trying to drive a wedge between my relationship with Sam." Andre winced and shook his head. Freddie felt his heart clinch as he tried to imagine life without Sam. It happened once, but that was just another alternate universe caused by Mitch. "God I don't know what I'd do without that woman."

"Kind of makes me think about Tori." Andre muttered to himself, but Freddie heard and raised an eyebrow at him. Andre winced when he realized that his new friend heard. "Yes I have a crush on her, but no, I don't want to do anything about it. Look what just happened!"

"That's the time you want to be with her. Don't get me wrong man, she's going to need a lot of support after what that asshole did to her. I mean, she's luckier than Carly, in her own right, but still…I can't imagine either of them would be able to let it go so easily." He agreed, however, the end result with Steven had been for the best. He wanted to find Steven and tear into him, but he didn't want to be like Bana. He didn't want to be like Lionel. He wasn't a dangerous man. "I feel like I should beat him up."

"Yeah but you don't want to get mixed up in that, believe me. It's not as good of a resolution as you would think."

"I know…"

And now it's 18 and life, you got it, 18 and life, you know
Your crime is time and it's 18 and life to go
18 and life, you got it, 18 and life, you know
Your crime is time and it's 18 and life to go

Freddie and Andre continued walking and spotted Steven in the distance of the hallway. His blood ran cold when he saw the man leaning against a wall, his arm pressed against it, and a blushing schoolgirl in front of him, clutching her books tightly. Andre clicked his tongue and Freddie throat burned with rage. "How the fuck does he do it?"

"He's a player, that much I've figured out. I know how you feel dude, I want to kick his ass so badly for playing Tori like that. He did worse to your sister, but still…" If they had their way, Steven would be a cripple lying on the ground in a pool of blood. "Oh god, I can't tell you how badly I would love to be a thug right now."

"Even that's too good for that asshole." Freddie chuckled vainly and attempted to shake his thoughts. They weren't on Steven, they were still on the dangers threatening his family. Bana, Lionel, why was it those two were so damn good at hiding? Why was it they lusted for blood, lusted for death. "Who gave them the right to judge?" Andre blinked and glanced over at him.

"Who?"

"Bana…Lionel…Who gave them the right to say who lives or dies? Who gave them the right to determine what was important and what isn't? Who the hell made them God?"

"I don't know man. Both of them sound messed up. I mean I can understand Lionel's point, as you say, a guy goes nuts and kills his own family just because he sees them all as evil and wants to destroy them."

"Yeah, cleansing them of their 'evil blood'."

"Hell, I'd rather be caught by Lionel than Bana, to be honest!"

"I'd hate to run into both of them on a bad day."

"Wouldn't that kind of be counterproductive? I mean think about it, Lionel wants to kill the evil in the Shay lineage, right?" Freddie nodded and chuckled, he could see where Andre was going with this. Andre snapped his fingers and smirked. "Bana, of course, would fight Lionel in an attempt to defend himself, or maybe even to avenge any of the Shays that Lionel killed. Assuming he cared enough about any of them. It would be like the clash of the titans!"

"Right." Freddie laughed and shook his head in disbelief. It was a matchup that seemed almost impossible to imagine, but would definitely be entertaining to see. "I mean, you could be onto something there. Both men don't seem to care much about anything besides their own goals. Probably, they're both juggernauts in a way."

"To be a juggernaut, you can't fear death."

"And you think those two would fear death? They're practically death themselves."

"True."
Tequila in his heartbeat, his veins burned gasoline
He kept his motor running, but it never kept him clean
They say he loved adventure, "Ricky's the wild one"
He married trouble and had a courtship with a gun

Bang bang shoot 'em up, the party never ends
You can't think of dying when the bottle's your best friend

As they continued on in their walk, they wondered if either of the two serial killers would ever be caught, would ever be taken out. It was a seemingly impossible task. "You wouldn't happen to know any crazy people, eh Andre?"

"If by crazy, you mean Bana, then no. If by crazy you're referring to someone like Sinjin, then yes." Once more Freddie laughed. Andre grinned and pointed off to the side. The men glanced over and saw Sinjin talking to Gibby about the gum collection on his locker. Gibby looked heavily disturbed and annoyed. He glanced at Freddie, his eyes pleading for help. Jeremy was there as well with the same disgusted expression. "I see your drummer and techie have met Sinjin. Do you think we should help them out?"

"Nah, Sinjin seems to have made a friend, let them have fun." This was beautiful and sweet payback for the prank Gibby and Jeremy pulled on the guys. They had a three bed hotel room, so Freddie, Jonah, and Gibby slept in their own respective beds while Jeremy shared a two bed room with Gibby's uncle. When Jonah and Freddie woke up this morning, they found themselves laying in a pile of jelly and peanut butter, topped off with whipped cream. They were pissed, but laughed it off. "It's payback for that little prank this morning."

"What happened?"

"Let's just say we know what a peanut butter and jelly sandwich feels like waking up." Andre's lips formed a circle as realization hit him, he laughed and pat Freddie on the shoulder.

"Man, you got some cool friends."

"Thanks."

"So, leaving them with Sinjin is their punishment?" Freddie grinned as he and Andre left. Gibby and Jeremy groaned and smacked their forehead, they knew what his reasoning was. When they glanced over, they spotted Steven walking up to them. His blood ran cold as the cheater smiled at them.

"Hey guys, can we talk?"

"No, I don't think so." Freddie clenched his teeth as Steven recoiled for a moment. He could see the hatred in Freddie's eyes, and it scared him.

"Whoa tiger, I just wanted to ask about your sister."

"Leave her alone and stay away if you know what's good for you."

"I just wanted to ask why she thought it was necessary to get all worked up like that." Freddie narrowed his eyes and Andre's lips frowned.

"Uh oh. Careful Freddie, man…"

"I mean come on, I didn't do anything to her. I mean aside from leaving her pregnant, sure, but it's not like I knew about that." Freddie clenched his hand and tried in vain to resist the urge to smack this man around. "She should keep herself in check, if you know what I mean."

"You fucking asshole. You have no right to talk about her like that!" In almost an instant, his hand collided with Steven's right jaw. Steven let out a loud shout and fell back onto the ground, holding his face and glaring up at Freddie, who looked ready to pounce. Andre quickly held him back and looked down at Steven.

"You better get out of here now, before I decide to smack you silly!" Heeding Andre's words, he quickly rose to his feet and took off. With that, Freddie pulled away from Andre and dusted himself off. "Man, why would you do that? You know it's not right…"

"He pressed my buttons. Besides, it's nothing close to what he deserves."

"I know man, I know. If affairs were criminal, I'd say we should put him away."

"I agree."

And now it's 18 and life, you got it, 18 and life, you know
Your crime is time and it's 18 and life to go
18 and life, you got it, 18 and life, you know
Your crime is time and it's 18 and life to go, yeah

"Anyway, moving on from all that. Let's talk about that other thing, when do you think they snapped?"

"Who?"

"You know, Lionel and Bana."

"Oh. Those two." They continued walking, headed for the tables outside the school. Freddie ran his hand through his hair and shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, all I know from what I read in those journals was Lionel snapped when he was almost fourteen years old. Bana was taught to hate and kill as a child."

"Yep, that's what I thought, they're both crazy…"

"Crazy? They've been killing their entire lives! They're not crazy, they're fucking lunatics!"

"True. It sure isn't hard to see how insane they are. They'd kill their own flesh and blood…I wonder what would happen if they had kids." Freddie rolled his eyes and glanced off to the side.

"Mom called and said Nora was murdered by Bana last night in the cemetery. She was his daughter. Apparently she was working with him, but…she saved us." Andre winced and cupped his hands over his mouth.

"His own daughter?"

"Please, even Lionel would murder his own children if it meant eradicating the Shay lineage from this earth. As I said before, Bana wants to eradicate the Davidsons, Lionel wants to eradicate the Shays. What's perplexing is both families have become so twisted in each other."

"What's the cause of all this shit?" Freddie chuckled vainly and looked to Andre's eyes. If only he knew the answer to that question. They only knew one thing that started it off, but they didn't know why it had to last as long as it had.

"Some bullshit over one hundred years ago regarding my great, great grandfather's brother and the Shay patriarch's sister…ever since then, the Shays taught their children to pull a trigger and to kill, that was the onlything they knew, the only thing they loved, the only thing they trusted…the scent of blood."

"Jesus…"
"Accidents will happen", they all heard Ricky say
He fired his six-shot to the wind, that child blew a child away

The two made their way to one of the tables and looked over at the grub truck, they were surprised to see it there today, considering school wasn't truly in session yet. "He always out here?"

"Yeah pretty much, I think he lives here, honestly."

"I'd be willing to bet that myself. Either that or he's about six hours early to be setting up for the contest tonight. We're going up against some band from, I think New Jersey. They sound pretty cool, but too bright." Andre laughed and leaned back in his chair. He knew the band Freddie was referring to.

"Hey, you know they're just bringing their baby sister along for the appeal, right? How they won that first round, I have no clue, but I bet they won't win tonight. You guys rocked the house last night!"

"Thanks. Honestly we weren't even going to have Carly sing, but she wanted to. She said the song cleared up a lot of burning inside her or something."

"Yeah, I understand that. She needed it, I hope she's doing better today."

"She is. She and Sam are hanging with Jade and Tori down at the park. I'm pretty sure they're going to spend the day there."

"Probably. So what's the song you guys are going to sing tonight?"

"I'm thinking Skid Roy's 'Eighteen to Life'."

"Oh, that's a good choice."

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
18 and life, you got it, 18 and life, you know
Your crime is time and it's 18 and life to go
18 and life, you got it, 18 and life, you know
Your crime is time and it's 18 and life to go

Later that night at the band, it turned out to be a perfect choice, as it, along with two other songs, won their second performance of the night. However, it was only a small taste of victory, as more skill was headed their way to challenge them and prevent them from moving on.

Andre's band survived their second night as well, playing the song My Give a Damn's Busted. It was getting closer and closer to the finals and both bands were looking forward to making it to the finals against each other.

Gotta love that song. I believe next chapter will lead into the BIGGEST secret in this whole story (and something that alludes into a sequel if I could put the plot together in my head). Don't worry, once we hit chapter 200, guys (cause the 100s has been all about secrets coming into the open and being discovered), the story will be finishing up as the secrets start finding their closure. Believe me, I will not have 300 chapters in this XD