January 18th, 2020
Cañon City, Colorado

Jack's legs bounced up and down rapidly as he sat beside Ash in a cold room with a table nailed to the floor and four chairs. The only other things in the room were a camera in the corner above the door and a pitcher of water on the table with a few cups.

"Stop it, Jack. Just chill." Ash kept his voice low, as he sat back in his chair casually. They'd been in the room for almost two hours alone, and Jack wanted nothing more than to know what was going on and then to pass out for half a day.

"Just chill? Are they planning on keeping us here until we go crazy? We've been here all night."

Ash shook his head, leveling him with a stern glare. "Put your head on the table and close your eyes. Sleep if you have to, but just chill out, okay?"

Taking deep breaths to calm himself down, he did as he was told instead of arguing further. There was no point, really, Ash was right, and he knew it. "Fine. But I'm pretty sure they can only hold us for forty-eight hours without charging us." Laying his head on his arms, Jack focused his energy on calming the room down enough for him to take a nap. It was a lot harder to do when he also had to calm himself down as much as he possibly could.

"Thanks, man. Hey, I'm-"

"Ashton Slayer, it's good to see you again." A tall man entered the room in a flourish, seating himself in front of them before Jack even had the chance to blink. "You can wait out there, Hector." He waved off one of the stoic officers who'd been standing at the door since they'd been shoved into the room hours earlier.

"But, sir-"

"It's fine." He took a sip of whatever hot liquid was in the travel coffee mug he held in his hands. "Sorry it took me so long to get out here, boys. I had some paperwork to catch up on."

"Yeah, yeah." Ash stared at him like they'd known each other for a while. "How's the family, by the way, Hank?"

"Special Agent Henry Walters, Colorado Bureau of Investigation." He introduced himself to Jack, holding out a large, meaty hand. "You're Jack Slayer, I presume. I've heard a lot about you, kid. I see here, you've been arrested with your brother seven times, twice before you were even sixteen, and three times in the last year, alone. Just minor things so far, until now, anyway. It's a shame, really."

"Speaking of which, what are we being charged with? Jacky, and I were just on our way to visit some friends, and you guys dragged us a good two hours out of our way."

Agent Walters sat back in his chair like he was king of the castle, a little smirk playing at the edge of his lips. "Ashton, you know I sorta have a soft spot for you, kid, and I pulled a lot of strings to get assigned your case again. So, let's not start out by lying to each other, okay?"

Ash shrugged, sitting forward in his seat. "Sure, alright. How about you tell me where my brother's dog is? She's a service dog. I asked your men not to take her from him, but nobody's listened to me. Help me out here, Hank, and we'll be as cooperative as you need."

At the mention of Keala, Jack felt his anxiety come back tenfold, saturating the room with the heavy emotion. "She keeps me calm." His eyes darted around the room as his legs started bouncing erratically again.

Agent Walters sat back, eyeing them critically, before he stood up. "I'll be right back." He got up and briskly stepped out into the hallway. Before the door slammed closed behind him, they heard him demanding that the service dog be returned to its owner.

Just barely moving his head to the side, Jack whispered, "Keala's not a service dog. She doesn't even have any of the right documentation."

Ash shot his little brother a sly smirk. "Yes, she is. Mom got her certified for you when you were still in high school. Why do you think the school never hassled you for bringing the dog in? Mom had your psychiatrist sign off on it when Dad first sent her to you, because you stopped screaming from the night terrors when she was around."

Jack stared blankly at the wall in front of them as he absorbed the words. "I thought it was just because Keala ruined a few funerals and she didn't want to take care of her. How did I not know about this?" he questioned through his teeth just before the door was shoved open again, and Keala darted through it, racing across the room and jumping up on Jack's lap. "Hey, girl!" He scratched the spot she liked behind her ear, before unlooping the rope from around her neck. "Thanks, Agent Walters."

"Don't mention it, kid. Most jails don't allow service dogs, but I'm working on getting an exception... if you help me out. She's kind of a wild one, though."

"Down, girl," Jack commanded, sitting up straighter, while Keala hopped off his lap and curled up on the floor beside his chair. The tension drained right out of the room almost as soon as she was at his side.

"Alright, let's get down to business. You know why you're here, don't you?" Agent Walters rubbed a hand through his thick light brown hair, the expression on his face daring them to lie.

Ash shook his head. "Not a clue, Hank. You gonna fill us in?"

Agent Walters sat forward in his chair, taking another sip from his coffee mug. "Well... I've got some pretty telling evidence that puts you at the scene of several crimes in the last month alone. I told you I'd be keeping tabs on you, Ashton. I wasn't bullshitting."

"What are we being formally charged with?"

"For now? Kidnapping, arson, fraud, possession of firearms without a permit, oh, and this is a new one, murder." Agent Walters leaned back in his chair like he was reciting off a grocery list. "You've really done it to yourself this time, Ashton. You jumped from drug-dealing and misdemeanor possession, to all this. What, was one year in county lock-up not enough? Now, you gotta get yourself sent to a high security prison?"

Ash smirked again, shrugging his shoulders like he didn't have a care in the world. "You know me, Hank. What's life without thrills? Boring, that's-"

"Kidnapping? Murder? Who are our supposed victims?" Jack shot his brother an incredulous look. How could he just sit there and let them get accused of things they clearly didn't do?

Agent Walters slapped a folder on the table and slid out a couple of photographs that made Jack's stomach churn at just the sight. "Surveillance footage caught the two of you arguing with a stripper when she went out for a smoke break, stunning her with some sort of stungun, and throwing her over your shoulder like nothing." Agent Walters narrowed his eyes at them. "Serafina Novak hasn't been seen or heard from since. Her cabin hasn't even been touched in weeks. I checked myself. You wanna start by telling me where she is?"

Jack sat rigidly, opening his mouth to speak, but Ash cut him off. "She's fine. Living the dream in Nashville. Last I looked, she's playing at a club this weekend. We can go check it out, I hear Tennessee is beautiful this time of year." He winked at the cop in front of him and grinned.

Agent Walters shook his head as if he expected whatever came out of their mouths to be lies. "You're telling me you kidnapped her, just to let her go? Why?" He ran his fingers through his light brown hair as his muddy green eyes sparkled with questions.

"Serafina was a friend of Jack's from back when they were tikes. She ran away a few years ago, and we finally tracked her down last month when we heard a rumor she was stripping at – what was the name of that club... Shotgun Sally's, or some shit? Anyway, we probably could've used better tactics. But in my defense, it was cold as balls that night."

Agent Walters looked between them curiously as he wrote down every detail Ash had just given him. "Got anything to add to that, Jack?" Walters glanced up from his notepad and slid the photograph of them dragging Sera away from the stripper bar back into his folder.

"No, sir." His heart hammered against his chest and beads of sweat dripped from his forehead. How the hell did Ash manage to stay so freaking calm? Jack's insides twisted and turned with a vengeance the more time they spent with the agent.

"Alright, I'll be checking into that. What about this one?" He tapped another picture that shot tingles up and down Jack's spine. "A witness described seeing your truck, license plate and everything, fleeing the scene of whatever happened here. So, tell me about this."

Jack's mind came up blank as he tried to think through a lie that would make complete sense as to why they were peeling out from a car accident where five people burned alive. Luckily, though, Ash had always been quick with the fibs.

"All I remember from that day is being sideswiped by a bunch of crazy occultists who were trying to kidnap Jacky's dog for some kind of ritualistic sacrifice. We got out of there as fast as we could, whatever happened after that is all on those crazy ass people."

Agent Walters stared at Ash, disbelief clear on his face. "You're telling me, these people lit themselves on fire in the middle of the road?"

Ash mirrored the man's expression. "You're telling me you think we somehow set those people on fire in the middle of the street, and no one tried to stop us? Why would we do something like that? What's the motive?"

Agent Walters shook his head. "That's what I'd like to know too."

"We wouldn't do that. It's fucked up, man. If we knew what happened to them we'd tell you." Ash flipped the picture of the five dead witches over, before sloppily pouring himself a cup of water from the pitcher that had been sitting on the table, untouched, since they'd arrived.

"Fine." Walters slid that photograph back into his folder too. "You may be able to talk your way out of some of these charges. But definitely not the fraud. We found dozens of fake I.D.'s in your truck, along with an entire arsenal of firearms, some that my team has never even seen before. Good luck talking your way out of that one, Ashton."

Ash opened and closed his mouth a few times as his gaze shot to Jack for some kind of assistance before his shoulders dropped and he shook his head. "Nope, I got nothing."

"Didn't think so." Walters tapped the last picture on the table. "What about this one? So maybe you didn't kidnap Ms. Novak, but we have reason to believe you were snooping around a bar where a bunch of folks went missing, which just happened to burn to the ground that very same night."

"That's just a coincidence," Jack blurted out. "Sera even mentioned she'd been there the night before to see a band play. She was pretty sad about it when she heard."

"That doesn't prove anything." Agent Walters scrutinized them in a way that made Jack more than a little uncomfortable.

"Find Sera and ask her then." Ash settled back into his chair and stared at him challengingly. "We've answered all your questions. So, answer one of mine then. What's going to happen to us?"

Agent Walters gathered up his papers and carefully slid them all neatly back into his folder. "Well, for now, we'll hold you here until your arraignment tomorrow afternoon. After that, you'll probably be sent up to Colorado State Penitentiary, given your history and the fact that you own the vehicle in which all the firearms were found. Jack'll be able to make a plea deal or two, especially since I'm friends with the D.A., I can talk her down to slapping him with a couple of misdemeanors and sending him up to Rifle Correctional, where he'll be out in a couple of years on good behavior."

"You're telling me we have until tomorrow before you're splitting us up? You can't just send us to the same place?" For the first time since they'd been picked up, Ash's relaxed façade started to crumble.

Agent Walters shrugged minutely as he stood up, towering over them at nearly six and a half feet tall. "Sorry, guys. It just doesn't work that way. Enjoy your last day together." There was a grim expression on his face as he walked out of the room, leaving them alone again.

"Bullshit. He could totally get us sent to the same place."

"It's alright," Jack assured gently, as a guard opened the door suddenly and ushered them out of the room. "Wait, Agent Walters! Aren't we supposed to get a phone call?"

"Yeah! What he said." Ash smirked at the two officers who were trying to drag them away from where Agent Walters stood talking to an unfamiliar man.

Walters stopped and shrugged. "Alright, Jack, you can make the call." He motioned for the guy holding his arm to take him to where the phones were located.

"What? I don't get a phone call too?"

"The last time I gave you your phone call, you ordered a pizza." Walters turned back to his conversation and ignored anything else that Ash had to say.

Jack, with Keala staying loyally at his side, followed the portly officer down a long corridor and through a few doorways until they reached a wall full of phones. Fumbling with the device, he dialed the first number that came to his mind and held the plastic, sticky, receiver away from his face.

The static ringing in Jack's ears made his heart sink. What if there was no answer? At his feet, Keala whimpered and pawed at his legs. In his mind, he imagined her telling him to quit his goddamn worrying.

"Hello?" Will spoke groggily into the phone.

"Will. Thank fuck, man. I thought you weren't gonna answer." He sighed in relief, stooping down to scratch his dog behind her ears.

"Jack? Do you know what time it is? It's fucking two, man."

"Wait! Don't hang up. Ash and I got picked up, we need your help." He cupped the phone with his hands and turned his back on the officer who'd been appointed as his escort.

"I knew this was bound to happen. You guys always get in trouble when you're left alone for too long. What the hell do you expect me to do anyway?"

"I don't know. You're the smart one."

"Great. That's all you've got. What are they charging you with?" Will questioned, and Jack imagined the familiar expression of dread that he wore, every time this call happened.

"Possession of deadly weapons and fraud, mostly. They're trying to get us on some other stuff too."

"When's your arraignment?"

"We've got a little more than nine hours." Jack started to resign himself to the possibility that there was nothing his family could do to keep he and Ash from rotting in jail cells on opposite sides of the state.

"Shit. That doesn't give me much time to come up with something." Will started whispering words unintelligibly under his breath, sounding completely lost in his own thoughts.

"It's okay. Just call Lee for me and tell her what's going on. And maybe Mom too."

"Alright. Hey, just chill out, okay? Don't do anything stupid."

"We'll try not to." Jack's response was halfhearted at best, while his mind whirred with ideas on how to avoid being sentenced in just a few hours.

"'Kay. I'll think of something. Sit tight." Will hung up without waiting for an answer, leaving Jack to stare at the phone blankly until the officer barked at him to hurry up. He slammed the receiver back onto the hook, following the man to the holding cells where he was shoved into the one beside his brother's.

"Who'd you call?" Ash asked after the officer left the room, locking the heavy doors behind him. Slowly standing up, he crossed his cell, leaning on the wall nearest to Jack.

"Will." He chose a spot on the cement floor close to where Ash stood. "He's gonna call Lee and Mom."

"Great." He slid down the wall until he was sitting. "We're never getting out of here."

Jack shrugged. "You don't know... something might happen." But he wasn't even convincing himself. "What do you think they're gonna do with Keala? There's no way they're going to let me take her with me."

Ash rested his head on his knees and closed his eyes. "They'll probably have Mom or Will come and pick her up. Unless they can figure out a way to get us out of here before then." They were both silent for a few minutes. "Shit. Jacky, I'm sorry about taking you to Madame Balestrieux."

Jack shook his head. Stroking Keala's fur, knowing it was only a matter of time before they took her away from him. He couldn't care for her in jail. She had to eat and shit sometime. "It's over now. There's no use worrying about it."

Ash took a deep breath, staring at the dirt on his jeans. "Yeah... But I was such a dick about everything..."

He started to disagree, but a movement out of the corner of his eyes completely sidetracked his thoughts. A figure on the other side of the bars of his cell slowly appeared. When it completely materialized, he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"What are you doing here?" He jumped to his feet, ignoring the look of surprise that crossed Ash's face.

"Who's there? Who are you talking to?" His brother's voice was faint in the back of his mind as he stared at the ghoul before him.

"Ari's sister." His eyes never moved from the creature. "I'm sorry. I forgot your name. What are you doing here?"

"He can't hear me, right?" She drifted through the bars and into Jack's cell. Keala sat up slightly and whined, looking back up at Jack. He gently stroked her fur to calm her down.

"Right. Now are you planning on answering any of my questions?"

"Yes. My name is Sterling. My father sent me. Ari is in trouble. She needs your help. Yours and Ash's." Her shimmering figure started to fade. "I don't have much time. So, you need to listen to me. I'm sending a few friends to help get you out of here. All three of you."

"Friends?" Jack questioned suspiciously.

"Yes. Don't fight it. You don't want to be on my dad's bad side in any way. Trust me." Before Jack could even respond she disappeared for good, leaving him confused and simultaneously trying to hide his sudden burst of enthusiasm.

"What just happened? Who was that?" Ash demanded sharply, standing rigidly against the bars.

A little dazed, Jack shot his brother a slight grin. "Ari's sister. They're gonna get us out of here."

The tension in Ash's shoulders didn't lift the way it had from Jack's. In fact, he seemed more skeptical about whoever would "rescue" them than he did about being tossed in a prison cell in the first place. "Who is? How? And when?"

Jack shrugged. "Sterling said her sister's in trouble, so she's sending a few "friends" to help get us out of here. She said not to fight it."

"So, we're just supposed to sit here and wait? Who are these friends?" The questions continued to shoot from Ash's mouth, but Jack tuned them out as he thought about what could've happened to Ari. "Are you even listening?"

"No. Do you think she's okay? What if it's something really shitty?" He sat back down where he'd been before Sterling showed up and Keala promptly laid down across his lap. Sometimes she forgot she wasn't a tiny puppy anymore.

Ash sighed heavily and slid back down against the wall so he was sitting against the bars to Jack's right. "She's a really tough kid. I'm sure she's okay." His voice shook as he spoke, betraying the disbelief in his own words.

"What went on between you two? What's the history?"

Ash sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. "I told you a little. I was on a job with a buddy of mine investigating what kind of monster killed people without a trace. Turned out a to be a rogue reaper, like I said before. And in the middle of it all was this weird hard-headed teenager that reminded me of you. She even used to make faces and zone out like she was looking at something that wasn't there, the same way you did. I liked her a lot."

"It was Ari," Jack said when Ash paused for a second to gather his thoughts.

"Yeah. At the time, she was caught up with a group of dirtbag con-artists. From what I'd gathered, she'd been in the foster system for a few years and estranged from most of her family before that. During my snooping around, I accidentally met her older brother, Rowan. He's a good guy. A bit of a gambling problem, but not a bad person. He'd been looking for her for years. He didn't even know their middle sister had died – one of the reaper's victims."

"How'd you end up taking a bullet for her? That's what I don't understand."

Ash snorted, shaking his head. "The leader of Ari's group of con-artists was a psycho. She snapped when Ari told her she was quitting. Luckily, I'd been right there. I jumped in front of her. I was hit in the shoulder, not even bad enough to cause permanent damage, but the chick was aiming for Ari's heart. She could've been killed."

Jack stared at his brother's casual demeanor in awe. "You could've been killed, and you didn't even know her very well..." His voice sounded shriller than he'd meant for it to, but he just didn't get why Ash always had to put himself in dangerous situations unnecessarily.

Ash lifted his shoulders in a nonchalant shrug, his gaze meeting Jack's. "She reminded me of you. Same age and everything. I couldn't just let her die. Not if there was something I could do to stop it. Cops swooped in after that and arrested 'em all for fraud, and some other things. I didn't want Ari to get caught up in it all too, so I took the blame for her and Taz. I told the cops they had nothing to do it with anything. I got sent out to county for a year and she got a second chance at a family."

Jack grinned when his brother finished telling his story, his face lighting up. "You're a big old softy, aren't you?"

"Shut up."

They sat around waiting for another two hours before Agent Walters reared his ugly head once again, that time with a woman in tow. "Detective Marquez, meet Ashton and Jack Slayer. Boys, Detective Marquez is here to offer you the best deal we possibly can."

Jack stiffened where he sat on the hard bench leaning against the chalky brick wall. Taking a deep breath, he focused on tranquilizing the tense energy in the room. If nothing else, it forced him not to give into the anxiety that crawled up his spine. When he caught the cops shooting each other uncomfortable glances, he figured he'd done his job to the best of his ability. Ash looked pleased, anyway.

"What is it?" Ash prompted, when the woman let them all sit in a peculiar silence for a minute or so.

Detective Marquez rolled her shoulders back like she wanted to appear confident, but Jack saw her eyes darting back and forth between the two of them. She must've adjusted her pristine pantsuit at least half a dozen times in the four minutes she'd stood in front of him. They made her nervous. He didn't know what to do with that information just then, so he stored it in the back of his mind for later.

"The weapons you brought in were all catalogued by our specialists and our information was sent off to be looked over by best specialists the FBI has to offer. The government is going to want to know where they came from. You can make it easy by telling me now, or you can go through an even longer interrogation with the Feds. Your choice." Detective Marquez had a raspy voice, with a noticeable, smooth, Spanish accent. Her dark eyes were cold, like she'd dealt with a hundred bad guys and never backed down once, but for whatever reason, Jack felt her fear. It creeped out from her being like a soft mist, faint but still there.

Ash made a show of pretending to mull the idea over for a moment, before he leaned back against the wall in his cell, copying Jack. "No thanks."

Detective Marquez rolled her eyes, while Agent Walters just shook his head in a slow deliberate manner. "You're a glutton for punishment, aren't ya, kid?"

Ash shrugged, shooting the pair a tightlipped grin. "We don't snitch. Do we, Jacky?"

The gazes of all three people moved to Jack and he smiled shyly, shaking his thick, dark, curls out of his piercing eyes. "Nope."

Ash's dark gaze twinkled with a mischievous glint that Jack knew well. "Show 'em what happened the last time somebody tried to get you to talk."

Jack's stomach twisted at the thought of anyone seeing the injuries that marked his light skin, including Ash. He felt the bile rise in his throat, but he swallowed it back and nodded, while Agent Walters looked appropriately annoyed at the little spectacle.

Standing and turning to face the wall, he slowly, and with great care, reached behind, pulling up the edges of his shirt until it was scrunched at his shoulders. His actions were met with a sharp collective gasp. Nasty looking scabs crisscrossed all over his back in varying degrees of healing, accompanied by circular burns following his spine from his waist to the base of his neck. Angry crimson blisters bubbled up in the center of each burn mark, some even oozed puss where the fabric of his t-shirt had snagged. All of that was accompanied by bumpy rashes covering the remainder of his visible flesh. The bandages Emmaline had dressed his wounds with had been soiled beyond use, so he'd taken them off the last time he'd been permitted to use the bathroom. He hadn't wanted to seem weak by asking anybody to help him with more.

"Holy... shit..." Detective Marquez murmured. When Jack turned around he saw her blinking tears out of her eyes.

Agent Walters was furious. "What the hell happened to him?!" he barked, addressing Ash instead of Jack.

Ash tried to look nonchalant when he shrugged again, but all the blood had drained from his face, and he wore a stony expression. "Like I said, we don't talk." The lie slid easily off his tongue, and even Jack felt the intimidating impact it had.

"Guard! Call for a nurse or a doctor! This kid needs medical attention! Now!" Walters shouted over his shoulder. Unlocking the cell, he slowly stepped inside, causing Keala to immediately stand up and place herself between Jack and the cop. She didn't growl, but her eyes followed his every movement, eerily. "Can I see it again?"

"I'd rather you didn't. And I don't need medical attention. It'll be fine."

"Yes you do," Walters, Ash, and Detective Marquez responded in unison. The agent took another step toward him, but he froze suddenly. His eyes clouded over in a way that Jack knew well. He moved closer to the wall, with Keala right next to him, while he watched the man change in front of him.

"You okay over there, Walters?" a voice questioned. It was Detective Marquez, but it wasn't.

"Peachy." His lips pulling up in a smile that made him resemble a ventriloquist dummy.

"Uh... Jacky, something's wrong... right?" Ash stared wide-eyed at the two cops, whose personalities flipped in just minutes.

"Call off the nurse, guard!" The creepy smile never left Walters' face. "This one's just a faker!"

"In fact," Detective Marquez agreed, unlocking Ash's cell, "let's get you kids out of here."

"Uh... I don't know if I trust you guys now." Ash stepped away from the lady cop, but she caught his arm before he could slide passed her.

"Don't fight it," Jack warned, letting Walters take his arm and lead him through the building, while people around them acted like it was something normal, or at least not to be questioned.

"Agent Walters, I thought you said to keep the prisoners locked up with heavy security. I just got word you're letting them go." A man in a suit walked briskly through a doorway with a scowl on his face.

Walters' head swiveled around. "We were told by the FBI to let them go. Said it wasn't a case worth pursuing."

"But-"

"We've got orders, sir. I apologize." He pulled Jack away from the inquiring prison official, who wasn't wearing a uniform so he couldn't tell what his position was. "Move it, kid." Walters shoved him forward so he stumbled over his own feet and nearly face planted, which he would have if Keala hadn't pulled him in the opposite direction to right him.

"Where are you taking us?" Ash demanded once they'd reached the fresh morning air outside the building.

"To the impound lot for your car, idiot." Detective Marquez shoved Ash much like the agent did to Jack. "Don't stop, we need to keep moving." They briskly made it to the lot without any trouble, and Detective Marquez made quick work unlocking the gates.

"I know Sterling sent you, but thanks anyway," Jack said after the possessed Agent Walters tossed Ash the keys to Cheech.

"No problem." The ghost inside the detective lifted her lips into a creepy, doll-like smile, while her eyes flashed with mischief. "It's always fun to haunt the living."

"Where will you go after this?" Jack climbed into the truck after Keala.

Ghostly Agent Walters shrugged nonchalantly. "Back to the prison where we belong. But first..." A sinister grin spread across the man's face, making Jack shiver, wanting nothing more than to send them to purgatory. But they couldn't very well kill the things, not if they wanted to escape cleanly.

Ash slammed on the gas pedal the moment Jack shut his door and he nearly went flying into the windshield as he tried to put on his seat belt. He wanted to give him shit for his erratic driving, but the thought of going back to jail had him silently cheering Ash on.

Jack reached over and flipped on the first tape he found, turning the volume up as loud as he could stand. While he'd sat in his jail cell, he'd thought about not being able to listen to music whenever he wanted or hang around his crazy brother, and the idea alone was enough to make him never want to take his freedom for granted again.

A few hours after their escape, Jack called Will again to tell everyone not to worry, they'd be home in a few days, after they checked on a few things. They still had Ari Paxton to think about after all. While he was still on the phone with Will and Marley, Ash pulled into a diner off the highway that advertised the finest breakfast in a hundred miles.

"Be safe, Jack," Will warned, obviously not trusting them to get back in whole pieces.

"We will." He hung up the phone and followed Ash to an empty booth in the back.

"Holy shit, I'm fucking starving!" Ash's proclamation earned them unsavory looks from a nearby mother with her elementary school-age children. Jack smiled over at her apologetically, while his brother hardly noticed.

"Me too." The bags under his eyes were dark and purple, making him look far older than his eighteen years.

"Hey, don't worry. With me around, nothing bad will happen, okay?" Ash shot him a determined stare, before he grinned as the waitress approached. Jack was almost surprised at the sheer amount of food he'd ordered, even though he shouldn't have been. Ash always ate a lot more when he was finished with a stressful task.

"I'll have whatever the special is, please." Jack smiled up at the waitress briefly, who returned it with a flashy grin of her own.

"That would be our Breakfast of Champions. How'd you like your eggs cooked?" She held her notebook poised to write down his answer, while Ash let out loud, bellowing, laughter. Reaching across the table, he gave Jack a hard pat on the shoulder.

"Nice choice, Jacky!"