Title: Entwined Destinies

Chapter: 24

Rating: NC-17

Fandom: Good Charlotte

Disclaimer: Not real, obviously, it's an AU, so it can't be real. None of the events depicted in this story are real, they are all false.

Dedicated to lastasalways because even now as we're still growing up we're always competing to be better and to everyone who reviewed.

Summary: Behind him was thrown a shaking form, Benji was sure whoever it was wasn’t shivering, probably anger or shame. The pale shoulders were bloodied and bare, his back lined with fresh whip marks. His pale brown hair was matted down with sweat and blood and his labored breathing filling the room with a slight sense of dread.

/ One / / Two / / Three / / Four / / Five / / Six / / Seven / / Eight / / Nine / / Ten / / Eleven / / Twelve / / Thirteen / / Fourteen/ / Fifteen / / Sixteen / / Seventeen / / Eighteen / / Nineteen / / Twenty / / Twenty one / / Twenty Two / / Twenty Three /









Note: To everyone, they are not back in The Town, I don’t know what I wrote to give off that I idea that some people are holding but they aren’t, I’m sorry for any confusion to any of my readers but for the last few chapters since they rescued Joel people have been asking that and the answer is they are STILL in The City. I thought I wouldn’t have to say out write in the writing that they didn’t go back to The Town.

Entwined 24

Darkness had long since fallen on the somber group when Benji decided to take Joel to bed. He had been watching Joel closely all night, looking down at the right times to see Joel let out a soft yawn against his chest before snuggling in closer against him. It was a cute sight to see him attempt to fight off the fatigue that seemed to haunt him.

They had been here a week so far; it seemed shorter and longer all at the same time. Joel was slowly healing, a week wasn’t enough time to recuperate after what he had been through but he hadn’t freaked out again like he had the first time he had woke up. Even though his nights were still haunted by memories he realized he was safe now.

At least that’s the way Benji liked to think, liked to hope.

His hands slowly slipped under Joel’s arms, kissing his forehead gently, “let’s go to bed,” he whispered softly against the cool skin, letting his lips reside there until he felt the small movement equaling a nod.

The two of them slowly got up, Benji’s arms wrapped gently, protectively, around Joel. They moved gracefully as one; as if they were one person slowly pushing themselves up from the couch. They moved in sync with one another, their hearts connected together, beating to the same tune.

His arms didn’t remove themselves from around Joel’s waist until he slowly laid him down in the soft bed that Matt had provided them with graciously. There was no need to pull of anything, they had not put their shoes on and Joel refused to sleep without his clothes on. At the moment he needed the extra layer of protection; he needed it to feel safe and Benji understood.

He understood.

His arms found themselves around Joel instantly once he was laying beside Joel. His eyes stayed focused on Joel’s prone form in the darkness, watching as his sides raised gently as he took in slow breaths. It took them forever to fall asleep, or at least Joel to. Benji refused to fall asleep until he believed that Joel had.

He wanted to stay away just in case Joel needed him.

Joel’s eyes laid on the window that rested directly in front of him, studying the glass that held smudges from the outside but still gave him a view of The City below them. He usually watched as the people stumbled along the dark roads and alley ways but tonight the rain had chased them all inside, gave them a rest from their sinful lives.

It seemed ironic to him that the rain seemed to be the only thing these people feared. Not a single soul, tainted souls that they may be, could be seen from the cracked window tonight as soft splatters hit the window only making the smudges worse.

Why would the rain scare them when fires seemed only to fuel their perverted desires?

There were few lights on in the buildings adjacent to the window and Joel assumed they all decided to sleep until they could prowl once more looking for victims, for fights that neither would win but would give them both the pleasure they wished for. Was there any victims on these streets? It seemed as if they were all looking for the same thing.

Looking for the same violence.

He would never understand this place. He would never have been able to merge into the shadows like the people who seemed to slither down below. His imagination didn’t grow that strong to allow him to think of how he would have turned out had his environment been different, had he grown up in The City rather than The Town.

He liked to believe that he would be the same person that he was today.

But that was a selfish wish, if that were true that would mean all of these people never had a chance to be decent. That they had no choice in the way they were. If he were the same no matter where he was raised and what morals or lack there of were taught to him than no one had chance for change.

It somehow soothed him to think that had they been raised in the peaceful environment he had that they wouldn’t live the way they did. Then how did The City come to exist if that was the case? There would no doubt be evil no matter the setting.

Tom was an example of that.

Or maybe he was the cause of too much love, too much peace, too much… something. Maybe people needed an equal amount of things good and bad, happy and sad, gentle and painful. Maybe it was not as nice of a thought that everything be good because it would only be worse.

No one wanted perfect.

He fell to sleep to these thoughts only to fall into worse.

He dreamt of a burning fire; he could feel it licking at his flesh, singing hair and flesh all in one go. He could taste the smell of burnt flesh that seemed to fill the air as if it were the oxygen that they all lived off of. He say the piles of the dead turn into ash continuing to burn, feeding the anger of the flames. The screams filled his ears, shattering his sanity with one go.

He didn’t scream though as they ate him alive; he couldn’t. He just stood there and watched.

Because maybe he deserved to burn for the things that he had allowed to be done to him.

Maybe he deserved this.

Maybe this was his fate.

---

Matt smiled softly at Tony, leaning down to hug him gently before leaving a soft kiss on the top of his head, “I have to go out for a little bit.”

He stood up straight when Tony began to protest, biting his lip softly, “It’s raining Matt, you really shouldn’t go out.”

“I’ll be fine,” he replied softly, smirking at Tony as Billy whispered something in his ear. Matt knew that Billy was soothing any worries that Tony may have, whether they be for Matt’s safety or the safety of the group that he housed in these walls.

He watched Tony’s shoulders shag the way they always did and he was more than glad that Tony still held some of his regular mannerism. Soon, he hoped, he could get Tony back to almost the way he was before. Back to the care free guy that didn’t have that small bit of sadness hidden in his soft eyes even when he was laughing.

“I’ll be back in a few hours; I have to check on a few things… see how the state of things are. How another escape has effected all of the Masters. They all were angry the first time you lot escaped, I’m sure they’re furious that Joel has escaped twice.”

Tony nodded at this, sighing softly, “Do you know if there is a bounty on any of our heads? I know how things work and I’m sure by now I’ve been considered a traitor to them all.”

Matt sighed, shaking his head as he ran his hand through Tony’s hair comfortingly, “I haven’t heard anything on it yet but I might tonight. I need to know so I can see how easy it will be to take at least Joel, Jere and Benji back to The Town. I doubt they want to be here any longer than necessary.” His words were spoken softly as he turned to look at Jere who had sat silently in the corner.

He wasn’t expecting Jere to speak, he had just turned to look at him to let him know that he was aware that he was in the room but the soft voice still came and he listened intently because Jere didn’t speak without reason, “There’s a price on my head.”

Matt’s eyes surveyed the reactions of both Billy and Tony, seeing the shock cover their faces followed closed by a deep confusion. He knew they desperately wanted him to repeat those few words again so they could be sure they had heard him right but he spoke before they could, “For?”

“Killing a Master.” Jere spoke softly, shrugging his shoulders as he leaned his head on the back of the couch, staring up at the ceiling as if that dead had been nothing, as if what he said meant just as little as what he had eaten that morning at breakfast.

“You were a slave?” Tony asked, almost outraged that the man hadn’t bothered to inform any of them of this small detail that he would have found nice to know.

“No.” Jere said softly, moving his face to look Tony straight in the eyes, “My brother was. He died. I murdered.”

Billy’s head nodded softly, “that’s why you’re not treated so nicely in The Town? Because you killed someone?”

Jere’s only answer was a shrug before turning his head away from them signaling the conversation was over, that he either didn’t want to talk on the subject any farther or that he was just tired of speaking.

Matt nodded his head at this small bit of information. He was glad to know this, it made things easier on him. Not easier, he now had to find a way to sneak them all out of The City without any chances of being seen or caught, but he liked to know everything. He needed to know everything in order to make the least dangerous plan.

“I’ll be back in a few hours,” He repeated softly before grabbing his coat off of a chair and leaving them.

His footsteps were soft as he made his way down the stairs. He had long ago perfected the art of moving through out The City silently. It was always safer to not alert anyone of your presence.


TBC

I’m sorry for the long wait, I lost the ability to write… or start any new chapters. I’ve trashed at least 5 different ways to start this chapter before deciding that I needed move past what I had planned and switch events around.

I hope you like this chapter.

Thank you for the reviews, Thank you a lot.

I just realized that I’ve been working on this story for over a year. Damn. The first chapter was posted in June 12, 2004.… it’s now November 18, 2005.

Damn. Just Damn. I’m surprised I’ve stuck with it this long.

Kay.