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"North, ya a'right?"
The Russian youth looked up, only to find Aster standing in front of him, holding a cup of coffee under his nose "Yes," he said grasping the cup and giving Aster a grateful smile "and no."
"Don't worry mate," Aster said softly sitting down next his adopted brother and friend "Jack is a fighter and awful stubborn, so I'm sure he's gonna pull through and be up and about in no time, we just need to keep up the hope."
North nodded, his crestfallen gaze peering into the murky depths of his mug "He will pull through, we must believe that, for Jack."
"I'm sure he'll be fine," a sneering voice spoke from the doorway of the hospital waiting room "though probably not before your big show. That's like, what, barely a week away?"
"Pitch!" Tooth snarled jumping up from where she had been sitting and pinning the young man with a glare "What are you doing here? You don't even care about Jack!"
"Sure I care about little Jackie," Pitch laughed his mouth never morphing from its sarcastic leer "he was my little brother too, or did you forget that we grew up together?"
"We haven't forgotten," Sandy signed angrily "it was you who turned your back on us for reasons beyond our control."
"Oh yes," Pitch chuckled darkly his topaz eyes glaring daggers at his twin "the old 'we couldn't help what happened, it wasn't our fault' excuse, almost makes me feel nostalgic. However that's not why I'm here, I just came to check on Jack, out of all of you, he is probably the most innocent due to him being so small when it all happened."
"Wow Pitch," North spat with lips twisted by cynicism "that must be quite an effort for you, acting to care that is."
"Don't lecture me about not caring, North," the dark male hissed his eyes taking on a maniacal gleam "because the way I see it, you're the one endangering your brother's life chasing after the dream of fame as a band."
"How dare you!" North snarled though his blue eyes broke with hurt at the truth he thought existed in those words.
"Oh I dare," Pitch swaggered into the room, his hands clasped confidently behind him as he began to circle the Russian youth, eyeing him like a cat eyed its prey "in fact, it's the whole reason why I'm here."
"What do you mean?" Tooth growled crossing her arms and pinning their prodigal brother with a stern glare of mistrust and suspicion.
"I mean that I have a proposition for you." The dark twin grinned maliciously.
"Like we would listen to a proposition from you?" Sandy huffed with a smirk.
"You might want to listen to this one," Pitch replied in a smooth whisper as he leaned in close to his brother's face bared his teeth.
"Fine," Aster said firmly "we listen ta ya harebrained scheme, deny ya, then ya leave. Sounds easy enough."
"Oh I don't think it will go quite like that," the darker twin chuckled.
"Well get on with it," North spoke gruffly, crossing his arms so to give Pitch a good view of his bulging muscles.
"It's very simple, I want you to not show up to your show in San Francisco, thereby disannulling any chance you had of a record deal, and a show in LA." Pitch shrugged.
"HA!" Tooth barked "Right, and what makes you think we would agree to that?"
"Because if you don't," Pitch smile grew to an evil grin, his eyes growing dark with evil intent "then I will go to Child Services and tell them that North is an unfit guardian for Jack. All they would have to do is see the sheer amount of practices you sign up for and put him through, not to mention living on the road isn't exactly a stable environment for a child, and the icing on the cake…Jack is right now in the hospital due to stress and dehydration leading to a massive panic attack. That would be enough to throw him into the foster care system and far away from you for the next…four years?"
The group stood there gaping at Pitch, each of them shocked beyond words at the truly evil insanity driving him to seek their destruction. "You…wouldn't…DARE…" Tooth finally snarled.
"Yes. I. WOULD!" Pitch spat back.
"Pitch," Aster growled his voice growing into a roar "You SHADOW SNEAKIN' RAT BAG!"
"Oh I'm so wounded," Pitch moaned theatrically "I'm being insulted by a deranged Aussie who can't even speak proper English."
"GET O'ER HERE NOW!" Aster finally screamed lunging at their former friend and family member.
North and Sandy barely caught him in time, North staring accusingly at the dark twin "It was you," he whispered angrily "YOU were the one who signed us up for all the extra practices!"
"Maybe," Pitch shrugged.
"But wait," Tooth walked over her lavender eyes thoughtful "extra practices doesn't explain all of Jack's stress, and North said that Jack said he couldn't tell him something…what else did you do?"
"Not much," the man smirked at Tooth "besides, its Jack's fault for believing it in the first place. It was such a farfetched idea, but I guess he always was the more gullible one of all of us, even as a kid."
Suddenly North was no longer holding back Aster, but both had rammed into Pitch, and pinned him against the wall with enough force to shake the picture hanging there "WHAT DID YOU DO?!" he bellowed in Pitch's face.
"Jeez North, ever hear of a breath mint?" Pitch sighed dramatically.
"Stop makin' stupid remarks ya drongo and answer the man," Aster snarled before leaning in close to hiss "or I'll mess ya up so bad ya will have ta eat all yer meals through a straw."
"You will have to ask Jack," Pitch smiled triumphantly "either way though, in the end I win. Jack can't possibly get well before your show, and even if he does, you still have to make a decision."
"Not if I beat yer brains out," Aster growled.
"That's even better," Pitch scoffed "I can see it now. Poor hospital bound me calling Child Services to report that dangerous, and potentially violent atmosphere of his home, my being in the hospital would only help strengthen my case."
Aster's eyes twitched, and he gritted his teeth so hard they creaked until finally he let go, but reared back and socked Pitch in the gut so hard the man bounced back off the wall and sunk to the floor.
"That was for Jack," the Aussie panted "now I suggest ya get yer sorry carcass outta here, before I do somethin' I regret."
Pitch glared at Aster, his lips twisted with disgust and hate, before finally he merely smirked at them and walked out of the room as confident as he had come. The tension in the room eased considerably, and suddenly the group found themselves emotionally and mentally exhausted, collapsing on the floor with wobbling legs and uneasy hearts. Aster bent his knees, placing his head between them, and occasionally punching the floor with frustrated fists. Sandy hid his face in his hands, unable to look at the family he loved so dearly being hurt by his twin brother. North just leaned against the wall, his breath coming in short gasps as he fought the urge to cry, to scream, to hunt down Pitch and give him the beating his deserved. Tooth leaned against North, her eyes filling with tears as she buried her face in his shoulder.
"Poor Jack," she sobbed beating North's chest with a delicate fist "why would Pitch do something like this?! It's too awful for words!"
"I don't know Toothy," North replied in a strangled whisper one hand patting her back consolingly "and I don't want to, it is too dangerous to try and understand insanity."
"No kidding," Aster sniffled causing everyone to look up in shock at the usually stoic Aussie begin to tear up, his chin wrinkling as his bottom lip quivered "and the trouble is," he gasped as he struggled to maintain composure "we don't even know how or why he got like that. He could have asked us for help, but he didn't, and he blames us for not knowin' he needed our help. How could we have known? How could we know that the people who adopted him only took him in because they were goin' ta use him ta sell drugs and keep him in a basement with dozens of other boys? HOW?!"
"We couldn't" North sighed heavily hugging Tooth closer as she wept harder "we could never have known the evil that he would go through. They seemed like nice people, well dressed and clean, we thought he was being adopted by rich people, and so did Pitch. How could we have known it was all a cover for child labor in a drug den?"
"No wonder he's so messed up," Tooth sniffled "but I still wish he would have come to us for help, instead of blaming us for not coming for him. We would have if we had known what was going on…we would have saved him."
"I know," North whispered, rubbing Tooth's arm "I know."
"Um…"
The group looked up, their eyes blurry with tears, only to see Jack's attending doctor standing in the doorway "Are you the group with Jack Overland?"
"Yes!" they shouted scrambling up from the floor and hastily wiping their eyes.
"We are the Overland family," North said his blue eyes staring beseechingly at the doctor "please, how is our brother?"
The man smiled "He's stable," the entire room sighed and Tooth gulped back a joyful sob "and is currently resting in his room, you can see him at any time."
"Thank you!" North clapped his hand on the doctor's shoulder before practically picking him up and setting him to the side so that he could barrel past and out the door.
"Wait fer us ya dingbat!" Aster shouted smiling apologetically at a nurse they almost stampeded as the entire band ran full speed down the hall.
"Run faster," North barked over his shoulder narrowly missing the cart of food trays going across the hall "or are you too much of a slow poke to keep up?"
"Oh here we go," Tooth sighed subtly moving to run on the side of the hall fully anticipating the race that was about to begin.
"Sounds like a challenge," Aster snickered as he ran past Tooth and matched North stride for stride as they ran beside each other "first one there gets ta be the first one ta hug Jackie when he wakes up?"
"Deal," North nodded with a grin.
"DEAL!" Tooth squealed suddenly putting on a burst of speed "That hug will be MIIIIINE!"
"HEY!" both boys yelled as they watched the surprisingly fast green haired girl sprint down the hall.
Sandy gave a silent laugh and joined his brothers "You mentioned hugs," Sandy chuckled "you honestly think that she will let either of you two get a hug before her?!"
"Bloomin' Sheila," Aster muttered angrily though his mouth quirked up into a grin that had no evidence of his former sorrow "guess that means we hafta run faster, eh North?"
"BLAST OFF!" North cackled as all three sped up and pelted pell-mell down the hall.
They ran ducking nurses, dodging medical instruments, and sliding past wheel chairs until finally the screeched to a stop outside of Jack's room. North burst through the door, panting hard, his eyes searching for the little brother he loved so dearly. Tooth sat on the bed, her soft voice murmuring as she stroked the hair of the boy whose body was hidden from view. Striding forward, the three boys shoved the curtain aside, and all let out a joyous whoop to see Jack awake and sitting up, his body braced by mounds of pillows.
"Hey guys," Jack croaked weakly "anyone got a milkshake? Because I could really use something cold."
Wow…just so you know…I started this with only a vague idea of what I wanted to happen, but as I wrote the ideas flowed down from my brain and into my fingers. AWESOME!
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