Epikaos is turning out to be quite popular, eh?

Well hopefully this is the chapter where we get a glimpse of what Pitch is planning, I say hopefully because quite frankly, I never have any idea what my fingers will type.

I keep forgetting, so to recap…I do NOT own ROTG…there that should be good for the next…*counts on fingers*…twenty or so chapters, right?

"Hey Aster," Jack shouted across the store "check out these drumsticks!"

"Naw," Aster shouted back somewhere behind a shelf of guitars "ya get yer skinny butt over here and take a look see at these guitar strings."

"No!" Jack yelled giving a grin at the customers who were giving him odd looks.

"YES!" Aster replied the undercurrent of laughter bubbling beneath his yell.

"There's only one way to settle this," Jack cried with a pout that was trying to turn into a smirk.

"YOU'RE ON!"

Setting their objects down, the young men walked to the aisle separating the two sections, both eyed each other, placing their fists behind their backs, while customers watched them in curiosity wondering if they would fight. Jack smirked at the older boy, his white teeth shining in the light of the store. Aster flexed his muscles where he was standing, and then they both lunged forward, shouting at the top of their lungs.

"ROCK!"

"SCISSORS!"

"Ha!" Aster said with a little dance softly patting Jack on the head "I win!"

Jack glared at his scissors before grumbling "…Jerk…"

"Hey," the Aussie said with a smug grin and a shrug "it's not my fault ya stink at rock, paper, scissors, mate. Now get over here, and look at these guitar strings."

"Aw man," Jack groaned as he slowly followed Aster back to the shelf "what could possibly be cool about guitar strings?"

"THIS!" the young man practically squealed "Look, they're LED strings, meaning they light up in the dark!"

Jack's jaw dropped as he scrambled forward "COOL!" he gaped with a wide grin as he grabbed Aster and drug him over to the other side of the store "Look! The drumsticks I wanted to show you, they light up too!"

"AWESOME!" Aster exclaimed with a fist pump.

"What's all the yelling about?" North's voice cut in.

"We found light up stuff!" Jack replied turning so he could wave the guitar strings and drumsticks in his brother's face.

"Huh?" North said trying to follow their movement, but shaking his head when he got dizzy. Grabbing them, North found a happy grin lighting his features "These are so cool!" he exclaimed "We could totally have a part of the show in San Francisco when we turn the light off, and just have our instruments glowing!"

"Yeah!" Aster nodded enthusiastically "Like those blue fellers in Vegas!"

"Sounds awesome to me," Jack laughed before his face suddenly turned sober "but can we afford them?"

Aster looked at the prices carefully, and then pursed his lips in thought "We should, but first we need ta see how we can make Toothy's piano and Sandman's DJ equipment light up."

"Let's find them," North beckoned as he turned and began to walk away "we can look for the other stuff with them."

"Go ahead," Jack said with a vague wave of his hand "I'm trying to decide on a color."

"Sounds good," Aster nodded "we'll meet ya upstairs at the Piano and DJ sections of the store."

"Right," the boy nodded absently his mind completely on the drumsticks in front of him.

Jack stood there for a good twenty minutes, debating between neon green, and electric blue. He loved the blue, but the green was so fun, even though green would probably be a better color for Aster. North could have red, and they could give Tooth hot pink. Sandy would probably get bright yellow. Jack nodded to himself, yeah, those colors would work best for everyone. Plus he liked the blue, it went with his eyes, and blue was his favorite color anyway. Heaving a sigh, the boy flopped onto a nearby bean bag chair as he took two brands of light up drumsticks, debating which one he should go with when a shadow loomed over him. Looking up, Jack felt his face twist in disgust at who was looking down on him.

"Hiya Pitch," Jack sneered.

"Hello Jack," the smirked "how's things?"

"Oh you know," Jack shrugged "kickin' butt, climbing to the top, and on our way to playing a concert in LA."

"Yeah," Pitch smiled maliciously "about that, you see, I have a favor to ask."

"What," Jack scoffed as he stood up and put both hands in his hoodie pouch "You want us to help you play there with us? Sorry dude, but we worked our butts off to get there, and you can bet we're not planning on helping you."

"Oh but I think you will," Pitch lowered his voice to a menacing whisper "because I think I can convince you to mess up your act and ruin your chances of LA, ultimately putting me in the slot for that show."

"And what could you possibly do to convince me to do that?" Jack snarled his eyes darkening with anger at what Pitch was even thinking of trying to accomplish.

"That's the easy part," the dark man said in a sing song whisper as if he were addressing a small child "if you don't do what I ask, then all I have to do is call the cops and tell them that you guys are secretly terrorists."

"WHAT?!" Jacks shout drew the attention of nearby customers causing Pitch to snarl at the boy dragging him behind a shelf of drum equipment, roughly shoving him up against the wall.

"You can't do that!" Jack protested in a harsh whisper "For one thing, we're not. And for another, no one would believe that we ARE!"

"Oh please," Pitch sighed in strained tolerance "one third of your little group is immigrants, including your brother. Plus you're a traveling rock band, and your name is Epic Chaos, at the very least they would investigate you, ruining all your chances to be a music group together, and at the very worst…they deport your brother and that Aussie idiot."

"But you don't have any proof to verify your claim." Jack snarled.

"As if that wouldn't be easy to do?" Pitch smirked "It doesn't take much for someone with my connections and backstage access to orchestrate a little 'epic chaos' to prove you're a danger to society."

Jack face paled as he thought about it but he quickly strengthened his resolve "We could prove you did it, that it was your plan!"

"That's highly unlikely," Pitch said leaning in close roughly grabbing Jack and slamming him against the wall "and even if you could, the simple fact is that the agency would still drop you for being too much of a nuisance and all your hopes and dreams would still be flushed down the drain, and I would gladly go to prison if I could see that."

"Wouldn't be the first time, right Pitch?" Jack snapped.

Pitch felt his eyes narrow, and he punched Jack in the stomach, leaving the boy in a huddled gasping mass on the floor "You tell anyone about what I told you," he said turning around with a sneer "and I'll make the call anyway. It's up to you."

Jack watched Pitch leave through angry eyes, but inside he was shaking. How was he going to keep his family safe from Pitch's insanity?

…

"This is SO COOL!" Tooth gushed as she looked at the electric LED lights she was going to decorate her piano with "Our act is going to ROCK!"

"No kiddin'!" Aster crowed as he began to string his guitar with the light up strings "Imagine it, all the lights go off, and then there's just us, rockin' out and havin' ourselves a good time!"

"We should have explosions and fireworks!" Sandy signed.

"That sounds like fun!" North agreed "But only at the end of our act, fireworks and having a segment with only our instruments lit up would not mix."

"True," Aster nodded "ok, so we have the last song be our finale piece, right? Where one part we have a segment with each of us gettin' a solo with our instruments lit up, and after the solos we all come back together with strobe lights in the dark, and end the whole thing with fireworks, and explosions on the stage!"

"That sounds so amazing," Tooth said with starry eyes as she grabbed Aster's arm and shook it with excitement.

"What do you think Jack?" North asked turning to his younger brother only to see him staring out the window with a dejected look of misery on his face "Jack?"

"Huh?" the pale boy was snapped from his thoughts and back to the dinner table "Yeah, sounds great."

"Didja even hear what we said?" aster asked with one suspicious eyebrow raised.

"Yeah," Jack nodded "explosions, and each of us get a…solo."

His voice trailed off at the last word as he began to worry his bottom lip with his teeth, causing North to lean forward and press a hand to his brother's head. The older brother pursed his lips in thought when he felt no fever, and he leaned back to scrutinize his younger sibling.

"Jack, what's wrong?"

Panic shot through the boy's brain as painful as a bullet and he immediately backpedaled, waving his hands defensively "Nothing!" he chuckled weakly "Just nervous about the San Francisco show…that's all, I promise!"

Aster reached over, and gripped Jack's wrist in one hand, quickly checking his pulse "Your blood pressure seems a bit high," he murmured "maybe all this talk about the show and LA is just stressin' ya out?"

"Uh..yeah!" Jack breathed as his heart broke over the enormous secret he was keeping "I just need to lay down, and clear my head, I'll be fine by morning."

"Ok," North sighed ruffling Jack's head and pressing a kiss to his temple "I want you to drink a glass of water before going to bed, ok? I'm going to check so don't even think of cheating."

"I will," Jack nodded.

"Good," the older brother gazed on his brother with worried eyes "get some sleep."

Jack smiled weakly at his brother and family before turning around "Hey Jack," the boy paused at Aster's voice.

"Yeah?"

"Take care of yerself mate," the Aussie said with concerned eyes, his scolding words softened by affection "we don't want ya ta get too stressed out and go inta a seizure or a panic attack. Drink lots of water, and if we hafta, we'll take care of planning for San Francisco, kay?"

Jack nodded, his heart plummeting to the depths of his stomach as he half heartedly prepared a glass of water. He wanted to help them plan the San Francisco show, and he didn't want them to be worried about them. This whole mess only made Jack more and more miserable with every second he held the secret within his heart. Drinking the glass dry, the boy crawled into bed, his heart tightening as his throat constricted. He could hear their whispering, and could practically still feel the worried glances they were throwing in his direction. What could he do?

Jack lay in bed, wiping tears from his eyes and he silently cried himself to sleep, the pain of a broken heart that was stabbed with needles of fear throbbing in his chest.

I know, not the longest chapter, but I truly felt that this was the best way to close out this chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed it!

*hands you chocolate as a bribe* REVIEW!