Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2002 12:14:41 -0500 From: Shoma Shun Ukiya Subject: Tales of a Superhero Band Chapter 8 Wow, I made it so far so fast! Phew... okay, special thanks to James, Jeremi and AJ, my fellow writers of this particularly unique series. And a huge thank you to Rune, Aeoros, Mawsy and Chuck, my four great friends. Hi to Susz and Mags (what happened to you people? You've gone silent...). Anything else I forgot? Hmm... nope, I think that's it. Comments and suggestions to dylan@celticwarrior.com. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Okay, stories for great reading. All stories are from boybands unless otherwise noted: Mutant High (Celebrities) The Love We Have Shadows of the Past Lance's Search The One Brian and Justin My New Life My JC Powers That Be Nsync and the Vamps Life with Justin Loving Nick Lachey Josh and Just Curly and Josh BSB Nsync Chronicles (Shameless advertising) Nsync Saga And there are so much more I can't list them, otherwise there'd be more list than actual story. Just keep searching around and you'll find something. There's something for everyone here on Nifty! :) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Disclaimer: This story is fictional, and says nothing about the orientations of any member of the boyband N Sync, or any other character, celebrity or otherwise. If you are under 18 or 21, or live in a country where it's illegal to read something like this, leave, though I seriously doubt you will. If you don't like the idea of two guys in a relationship with each other, or having sex with each other, what are you doing here in the first place? Though maybe none of the characters will be appearing, ideas taken from these places will show up: Buffy, Copyright 20th Century Fox, Created by Joss Whedon X-Men, Copyright Marvel Comics, Created by Stan Lee Charmed, Copyright WB, Created by Aaron Spelling ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Chapter 8 - Birthdays, Tours and Witches, oh my! "Yeah, they're witches," Joey said, not noticing Lance's anger. "Isn't that cool?" "Excuse me? Cool?!" Lance's voice rose. "If you remember correctly, Joey, magic is something evil." Ryan stood up angrily. He, Rachel and I had all inherited our mother's hot temper. "Magic is not evil. Just because you're some sort of Bible-thumping Christian doesn't give you the right to judge something you don't know or understand." "And you don't know me either," Lance shouted back, his face flushed with anger. "You don't have a right to call me something I'm not!" "Something you're not?!" Ryan screamed back. "You're openly Christian and calling magic evil. That doesn't give much room for explanation." "Actually, it does," Lance said, lowering his voice. "It's just that I've had bad experiences with magic. We all have." Ryan calmed down a little. "And what exactly happened that was so bad?" "Justin had a spell cast on him by a vampire magician," Lance replied. I nodded, remembering Justin had told me about it vaguely. "Good enough reason to be scared and angry, I guess," Ryan nodded, understanding. "So when I heard you were witches, naturally..." Lance trailed off. "Oh no no," Sylvia said. "Let me clarify things, Lance. Magic is neither good nor evil. It just is. It depends on who's using it and for what purposes." "But aren't witches supposed to," Lance chose his next words carefully to prevent misunderstanding, "draw their powers from the devil?" Sylvia started laughing. Desmond snorted and Ryan groaned. I glanced over at Melvin who shot me a "you tell him" look. I cleared my throat. "Lance? Do you know much about the different types of magic users in the world?" "Apparently not," Lance smiled. I admired the way he seemed to learn quickly from his mistakes and try to prevent them happening. "Well, let me explain," I said. "What do you think is the difference between a wizard and a witch?" "I don't know," Lance shrugged. "Gender?" "Nope," I smiled. "Wizards tend to use long magic words and complex wand-waving to create an immediate desired effect. They draw their power from their minds and scientific theory. Witches on the other hand, draw their powers from other sources." "Like?" "Well, there are those that draw their powers from their ancestors. They're born into a witch family and thus have powers. Other witches draw their power from non-hereditary sources, for example, me. My family and Melvin's family get our powers from the beings we work with, namely faeries, elementals and other magical creatures. Sometimes with angels too. Or a witch may draw their power from their chosen deity, whether it be Apollo or Zeus, and anyone in between. The third type of witch is born into a family with no history of magical ability. They always have three powers, and their source is themselves. These natural witches are the ancestor that hereditary witches draw their power from. A good example is Melinda Warren from Charmed." "Yeah, to tell the truth, I do watch that show," Lance grinned. "So I sort of understand." "Good," I said. "Now I can get a drink, that long explanation made me thirsty." I grabbed Ryan's mug of not-so-hot chocolate and took a large gulp. "Hey, I still want that," Ryan growled. I finished the last drop, then passed him back the empty mug. "Thank you," I grinned, ignoring his complaints about older brothers bullying the younger ones. There was a loud stomping sound, and we heard the kitchen door slam with a loug bang. Ryan gritted his teeth. "Uh-oh." "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!" an all too familiar voice shrieked. "WHY ARE THERE LARGE JUNKYARD PARTS AND SCRAP ALL OVER THE MAIN ENTRANCE?" Something slammed heavily onto the floor, a sound I recognised immediately. It was a handbag. Rachel's handbag. "What, again?" Sylvia moaned, rubbing her temples. "I can't take this right now." "I'm disappearing," Ryan said quickly. "When she's like that, she ALWAYS picks on me." He got to his feet, closed his eyes, and slowly faded from view. "Woah," Lance said. "Did he just teleport?" "Nope," I said. "Turned invisible." "See you at home," Ryan said, his footsteps heading towards the back door. I shot a pleading look to Sylvia, who frowned, then nodded. Rachel stormed into the room, her face and eyes red, her anger nearly tangible. "Err, what's wrong, Rachel?" Sylvia asked timidly. "THAT FUCKING BASTARD BROKE UP WITH ME!!" Rachel screamed, sobbing. "Again?" Melvin rolled his eyes. I shot him a look. Luckily, Rachel didn't hear his comment since she was screaming, "I HATE HIM, I FUCKING HATE HIM!" at the top of her lungs. Sylvia patted Rachel's back and gave her best shot at a sympathetic look. Rachel sobbed for a while, obviously making Lance and Joey very uncomfortable. Sylvia was muttering comforting words in Irish to calm Rachel down. Finally Rachel looked up at all of us. "I just want to know one thing." "What is it?" I asked, trying not to accidently anger her. She swallowed, her tear-stained face looking very sad. A sadness bordering on dangerous. I mentally braced myself for what was coming next. "WHAT THE FUCK ARE ALL OF YOU STILL DOING IN HERE?! DON'T YOU CARE ABOUT MY PRIVACY?!" "Er, Dylan? I think we should go now?" Joey asked timidly. I nodded quickly, and we all bolted out the kitchen and out the restaurant. Once out, Joey snorted with laughter. Lance looked at me, and we both started giggling. Melvin was trying desperately to wipe the smile off his face, and Desmond shook his head. Lance put his finger to his lips and grinned, "Shh, she might hear us." That comment cracked us up, and we started laughing aloud. I noticed some faces peering at us from behind the bushes outside the restaurant, and I struggled to control my laughter. Justin's head rose slowly from the bush, and I saw various faces of our other friends popping out from behind the bushes. "We heard her coming and we hid," Joy said. "Is it safe now?" JC asked. I looked over at Joey, Lance, Desmond and Melvin, and the five of us cracked up again. We invited the guys to stay for the night at our house, and they agreed. Tired out from the action, we barely managed to get people sorted into different sleeping areas, and as soon as Justin and I crawled into bed, we fell asleep. I woke up quite early in the morning, still feeling a little tired. I was confused as well. I usually had dreams while I slept at night, and they made me sleep better, but last night was completely dreamless. If I had been really too tired to dream, I would have felt rested when I woke up, which was not how I felt at all. The atmosphere around me had a strange, ethereal feeling to it and I wondered for a moment if I was awake in the dream itself. I got out of bed slowly to avoid waking Justin who was sleeping quite soundly. Rubbing my eyes, I made my way downstairs to the kitchen for a drink. I heard voices on the way down, and I peeked through the doorway to see who was inside. Joey was sitting at the table, his back to me, and I could smell the coffee in the air. Melvin was sitting to Joey's right, facing the fridge. Neither one of them noticed me. "Good morning," I said as cheerily as I could. Melvin flinched and Joey turned in surprise so quickly that he almost tipped his coffee over. His eyes were wide open in shock. "And that's why my grandfather loves him so much," Melvin finished, nodding his head towards me. "I can see why," Joey said, turning around. "Didn't hear him at all. How do you do that?" "Practice," I smiled, walking over to the fridge and pulling out a box of milk. I poured it into a mug and sat on the other side of Joey. "So you were talking about Melvin's family?" "And yours too," Joey smiled. "Interesting stories about when you were younger. Though I find some of them hard to believe." "Like what?" I asked curiously. "Well, Melvin says that your families often go back to visit his grandparents in the summer," Joey said. I nodded and sipped my milk. "Well, I don't really believe part of that because you don't speak with that accent." "What accent?" I asked, glancing up at Melvin. Then I understood. I slipped back to the accent I had learnt to suppress during my years here. "You mean this one?" "Melvin did that too," Joey said, shaking his head. "I still don't believe you guys really are Irish." "Ta ocras orm," Melvin said. Joey glanced up at him. "Cad ba mhaith leat?" I asked, getting up. Joey turned my way and narrowed his eyes. "Ba mhaith liom aran, im is bainne," Melvin replied, grinning at Joey's surprise. "Okay, what are you guys saying?" Joey asked. "Gibberish," I said. He raised an eyebrow at me. "No really, what were you saying?" "Well, you didn't believe we were Irish so we couldn't have been speaking Irish, so it must be gibberish," Melvin replied, keeping his accent. Joey rolled his eyes. "Okay, so I believe you now." "Well, Melvin just said he was hungry and he wanted bread, butter and milk," I said, also keeping my accent. I got up from my seat and grabbed the items Melvin had asked for. "So what are you doing down here this early anyway?" Melvin asked me. "You're usually sleeping until two in the afternoon." "Didn't sleep well," I yawned. "Didn't have any dreams." "That's because today's a special day," Melvin said. "You do remember that, don't you?" "Remember what?" I asked again, then caught Melvin's eye. It was a mixture of hurt and surprise. "Well, today's the last day before we leave on tour," Joey said helpfully. "We're leaving tomorrow." "That's not what I was talking about," Melvin said, a hint of anger in his tone. Then it dawned on me. Today was Melvin's twentieth birthday. "Ta bron orm," I said. "Breithla sona duit." "You've been spending too much time with Justin to even remember my birthday?" Melvin asked, still a little angry. "I said I was sorry," I growled, frowning and narrowing my eyes. "It's not like I forgot to get you a gift or anything. I just forgot that it was today." Melvin and I glared at each other in stony silence, and Joey shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He glanced over at both of us as if wanting to leave the room, yet not daring to move. His hand twitched to get his coffee mug, but he made no move to get it. Finally the tension lifted, and Melvin smiled. "Okay, I forgive you." "Thanks," I said, grabbing my mug and taking a gulp of the milk. "Wow, if only fights among Nsync members were this quiet and short," Joey grinned. "I thought we were on the brink of disaster a moment there." "I've grown up with Melvin for nineteen--" Melvin shot me a look. "--err, twenty years now," I said. "We understand each other." "Bring Melvin's gift down," a high-pitched squeaky voice said from my foot. "I think it will be needed for later." I felt a scrambling of little leather feet crawling up my leg onto my lap. I bent down and scooped up the tiny creature. "Who said that?" Joey asked, looking around. I lifted up the creature who has spoken. "Joey, meet Amethyst," I said. Joey's eyes widened as he looked over at Amethyst's purplish-blue scales and her small frame. Her wings flapped a greeting to him, and she rolled her serpentine neck lazily at him. She spoke in her melodic voice. "Hello Joey." "Is that a..." Joey asked, his eyes still wide open. Amethyst giggled, then nipped my finger playfully. "Yup, Amethyst is a dragon," I smiled. Amethyst was about the size of a kitten, and she could easily fit into my open palm. Joey's eyes were still wide. "But she's so small." "She's a guardian dragon," I said. "They tend to be smaller than others, but don't make the mistake of comparing size with power." "Don't forget me," another melodic, squeaky voice said from near Melvin. This one was slightly lower than Amethyst's voice. "Another dragon?" Joey asked. Melvin nodded, and bent down to pick up the small dragon. His scales were a crystalline sky-blue, and he was slightly larger than Amethyst, but not by much." "This is Zephyr," Melvin introduced his guardian, who peeked out shyly from under his silvery-blue wings. "Woah, overload," Joey said, clutching his head. "Gimme a sec." He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, then let it out slowly. Then he opened his eyes and smiled. "Okay, now that I'm not about to freak out, are there any other supposedly mythological creatures around here that I should be aware of. I've come across vampires and mutants and kindred and gremlins and witches, so I think I should be able to handle the dragons, which by the way are very cute. Just give me a day or two before you show me the unicorn in the closet and maybe you shouldn't show me the troll in the basement just in case. I think I'm babbling. I'm babbling, right? Please tell me if I'm starting to babble. Oh no, my saying that shows that I'm already babbling and--" I cut him off. "Joey! Calm down." Joey blinked his eyes rapidly and shook his head, gulped down the remainder of his coffee, then shook his head again. "Okay, I'm calm." Melvin and I laughed, joined in by Amethyst's tinkling titters and Zephyr's shy, quiet chuckles. Joey joined in a moment later. "So do you?" "Do we what?" Melvin asked. "You know," Joey said. "Do you have a unicorn in the closet and a troll in the basement?" "Nope," Melvin said as I laughed again. I set Amethyst down on the table and she bent into my cup and began sipping my milk. I got up and made my way out of the kitchen. "Where are you going?" Joey asked. "To get Melvin's present," I replied, not turning around. I ran up the stairs and walked through my room door so I would not wake Justin, who was still fast asleep. I bent under my bed and grabbed the large package from beside Jelly, who mewed softly, then turned away to sleep again. I petted her head and scratched her ears for a while, then I made my way downstairs again with the package in my arms. It was quite large, and was, according to the catalogue, twenty-seven pounds, though it felt much heavier than that on the way down the stairs. I made my way into the kitchen and slowly placed it gently onto the floor. "Happy birthday again," I said cheerfully while Joey and Melvin just stared at the gift. The gift was about fifty-one inches high, twenty-seven inches long and fourteen inches wide, but when it was inside the box, it looked much larger than that. The box was painted in a variety of patterns and colours, a cheaper and more personal alternative to using wallpaper to wrap it. "You like?" I asked. "I painted it myself." "Is that what I think it is?" Melvin asked, his eyes wide. I grinned. "Five octaves, fully strung and levered, full set of extra strings, and a tuning lever. And an electronic tuner added with no extra charge." "No way!" Melvin exlaimed, getting out of his seat and looking at his gift. His eyes were shining with childlike wonder and appreciation. He ran a hand slowly down the box, then looked up at me. "Can I open it now?" "Of course!" I laughed. "It's your birthday present." "Cool!" he laughed, then began to slowly open the box. Joey glanced over Melvin's shoulder, eager to discover what the large gift was. Melvin was breathing heavily and mumbling something under his breath which sounded strangely like Irish for "Oh my God, oh my God." Melvin slowly took his gift out of the box, his eyes wide with wonder. He slowly caressed the dark wood with its beautiful carvings of Celtic knots and leaves all over. He grabbed the chair from behind him, pulling it over to him to sit in. He slowly ran his fingers over the strings and plucked one of them, then another, and another, slowly playing a simple song. "Woah, nice harp," Joey said. "That looks mighty expensive." "Oh it is," Melvin said. "I've been eyeing this for months now. I was actually saving up to get this by 2004." "Well, you could use what you saved up to get something nice for me on my birthday," I grinned. Melvin smiled and jumped out of his chair and gave me a hug. "Ooh, I love you so much," he laughed as he squeezed me tight. "In fact, I could kiss you right now. Oh hell, I will." To Joey's and my surprise, Melvin leaned forward and kissed me full on the lips. I blinked rapidly for a moment, then inhaled sharply and blinked again as he stuck his tongue into my mouth. I was stunned for a moment, his outburst taking me by surprise, then I started kissing back. "What the hell is going on here?!" I heard a familiar voice say. I quickly turned away from Melvin, pushing him off me, my eyes wide open. "Justin," I said, "this isn't what it looks like." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ To be continued... Hmm... this one doesn't seem as long as it usually does, but this seemed a good place to stop at. ;) comments, questions? Email dylan@celticwarrior.com