Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2000 11:36:11 -0800 (PST) From: Jonathan Vascardi Subject: LJ&L 3 Loving Justin and Lance Written By Jonathan Vascardi Legal Disclaimer This story is totally fictional and not meant to imply anything about Lance Bass, JC Chasez, and Justin Timberlake of 'N Sync. The characters Stone, Brock, and Megan Collins are totally fictional, any similarity to real people, living or dead, is totally coincidental, and unintentional. If you are under the age of 18, offended by homosexual material, or it is illegal to view it in your area, you should be leaving now, otherwise, please enjoy the story. Authors Note Well, this is my first installment without my cousins' help. I hope you enjoy it. Now, I have gotten a lot of feedback on this story, and most of it was all good. Remember, I will stop the series if I don't get at least 5 messages per installment. I think that readers have to realize that authors have lives outside of writing. I think there are some readers who don't realize that and just think that it doesn't matter whether or not they respond, the author will continue to write no matter what. Well, that is not true in my case. I have a very busy life what with college and work, plus a few family problems and tragedies lately, that writing is certainly not my top priority. I'm sorry this installment is so late, but what with college, work, my aunt and uncle's divorce, and the death of my cousin Josh, writing simply has not been a priority in my life. And now on with the story! Loving Justin and Lance - Chapter 3 The carriage carrying 'N Sync and Kirk arrives at Collins Hall shortly after 3am. When they get inside, they are totally shocked to find out that the carriage carrying Stone and Brock never arrived. "What could have happened?" asks Chris. "I don't know, they should have been here to greet us," replies Kirk, "I know that they left the gatehouse, the caretaker told me." "Well, if they left the gatehouse before us, and they're not here yet," replies JC, "It stands to reason that they must still be somewhere between the gatehouse and here." "Yes, but wouldn't we have seen their carriage then on the way here?" asks Justin. "Not necessarily," replies JC, "Kirk, do you know if there's another driveway?" "Um, no, I don't," replies Kirk, "This is my first time ever being on the property." "There is no other driveway," replies Robert, the butler, "I've worked here for nearly 30 years and I don't know of any other driveways other then the main one." "Well, I would say let's go out and search for them," replies Lance, "But, after bumping around in that carriage for a day and a half, I don't feel like getting back into it just yet." "Yeah, I know what you mean Scoop," replies Justin, "Of course then too, being only 3am, it's not likely we are going to see much of anything." "I will show you all to your rooms, and you can clean up and change clothes," replies Robert, "Perhaps get something to eat and rest a little before going out to search for Their Royal Highnesses." "Their Royal Highnesses?" asks JC. "Yes, by know I'm sure Stone at the very least has told you that he has a title, and I assume Brock told you that he doesn't get one until he turns 21," replies Robert, "But, that is a story that they concocted. For some reason they don't like to admit that they are in reality His Royal Highness Prince Stone and His Royal Highness Prince Brock, the Collins family is of course royalty." "So the story about the eccentric ancestor who founded the city and built the castle deciding that the first born children got titles was not true?" "Not a word of truth to that," replies Robert, "That was all a lie that Stone and Brock made up because they hate the idea of being in the spotlight as royalty tends to be." "I suppose that does explain why this place looks like a castle," replies Joey. "Yes, well, I'll show you to your rooms," replies Robert as he begins to walk up the massive stone spiral staircase, as he thinks, "Well, that boy is certainly stupid, this place doesn't look like a castle, it is a castle." Meanwhile, out on the Collins Moor, the carriage driver lies dead. When the carriage crashed into the outcropping of rocks, he was thrown from the driver's seat fifty feet, where he hit his head so hard on a rock, that it broke open. Inside the carriage, Stone and Brock are for the most part okay. A few cuts, some minor bruises, Stone's left arm is broken, and Brock broke his right leg, but other then that, they're okay. They realize that with their injuries however it would be nearly impossible to get back to the house. Which is still several miles away. A lot of people don't understand why the Collins family uses a horse-drawn carriage to get out to Collins Hall, since the mansion itself only lies 358 miles out of town. But, since the house was built in the late seventeenth century, before the technological advances that we have today, the driveway had to take a very indirect route to get to Collins Hall, what with all of the rock formations and swampland between the city and the mansion. So even though the mansion is only 358 miles out of town, the driveway itself is 1200 miles long, not including the 20 miles that must be traveled to get to the house after passing under the secondary gate. So there's a total of 1220 miles of unpaved driveway that must be crossed in order to get to the house, and of course there is no way to fill up a car's gas tank between the gatehouse complex and the mansion. And I don't think the car that can travel 1220 miles on one tank of gas has been invented yet. "Stone?" "Yes, Brock?" "Do you think we should tell the guys?" "Tell them what?" "That we're actually royalty," replies Brock, "I mean they're celebrities, they'd understand our fear of being in the spotlight." "Well, I suppose we can tell them when we get back to Collins Hall," replies Stone, "If we ever get back that is." "Stone, we will get back, so don't be a pessimist." The next day around noon, after resting for several hours, the five members of 'N Sync finally get out of bed. Of course then too, after bouncing and bumping around in a horse-drawn carriage for a day-and-a-half, it's not surprising that they would want to get lots of sleep, especially in JC's case, since he loves sleeping. They all head into their private bathrooms to shower and get cleaned up, before one by one, they head downstairs. Mrs. Robertson, the housekeeper, has fixed lunch and ushers them all into the massive Grand Dining Room to eat. This exceedingly large dining room has a table that could very easily seat 1000 guests at once. Three large crystal chandeliers hang above the table, it's dark oak finish gleaming, as though only just recently polished. A fire roars and crackles in the massively large stone fireplace, casting a warm glow into the room, as well as relieving it from the bitter cold. Outside the temperature is only about 10 degrees, and heating a castle that's over 200 years old is very hard. Above the fireplace, hangs a portrait of a man and a woman, wearing very regal and fancy clothing. The man wearing a very fancy golden crown, and the woman wearing a diamond tiara. On either side of the portrait is a large shield, which bears the Collins family coat of arms, with crossed swords over the shields. The large oak doors into this room are flanked by two full suits of armor, looking as though they have just been polished. Several old tapestries of fine silk hang in the room, covering almost all of the walls. If one did not know that the Collins family was royalty, one would certainly know by looking around this house. There's no way that even the richest man in the world could own such an elaborately decorated, not the mention huge, castle such as this. The place is a veritable palace, as well as fortress. After eating their fill, the five members of 'N Sync, all head down to the stables and each saddle a horse, figuring that they'll be able to find Stone and Brock much quicker if they all split up searching different areas of the massively long driveway, rather then all getting back into the jolting carriage. The five young men, as well as several of the castle employees all ride out onto the Collins Moor, to search every inch of the 1220 miles of driveway between the castle and the gatehouse. An hour goes by, and still nothing. Then, just as another hour was about to go by without finding a trace, Justin spies 4 horses grazing near the side of the road. They're all hitched together, however somehow they all managed to break their checkreins. Justin rides over to the four horses, and examines the hitch to see that it is quite obvious that the horses must have gotten scared by something, and the driver lost control of the carriage, and the hitch broke off. Justin quickly pulls out his cell phone to inform JC and the other's about this new development. "Hey, Justin." "Hi, JC, I'm about 40 miles south southwest of the secondary gate," replies Justin, "I just found the horses that were pulling Stone and Brock's carriage." "What do you mean you just found the horses?" asks JC, "Surely you found the carriage too?" "Nope, I didn't," replies Justin, "By the looks of things, I'd say that something must have scared the horses, and they broke the hitch to the carriage." "Okay, I'm on my way," replies JC, "Perhaps you should shoot off your flare, let the other guys know to come in that direction." "Yeah, okay JC," replies Justin as he pushes the 'end' button on his cell phone and puts it away. He then grabs the flare gun from the saddle pack and loads a flare. Being a somewhat gloomy day, it will be easy to see, despite the fact that its only a little after 3pm. Justin raises the gun to the sky and pulls the trigger as the flare shoots up into the sky and explodes in an explosion of red light, signaling for everyone else to start riding in this direction. About twenty minutes or so later, everyone is where Justin is, and they all begin to search around the general area. Suddenly, Lance yells out, "Look!" as everyone turns to Lance to see him pointing to the ground. Everyone follows his gaze to see the wheel ruts caused by the wheels of the carriage running in the mud. At first everybody just thinks nothing of it, as their view isn't quite as good as Lance's. Then, they all notice that suddenly the wheel ruts look like a split track on a railroad, two of the ruts continuing up the driveway, and the other two veering sharply off the left of the driveway. Everybody rides in the direction of these ruts, since obviously only a carriage could have made them. They all get looks of worry on their faces, when they spy the carriage ahead of them. The front wheels have been completely smashed and the carriage itself has tipped over, Stone and Brock's luggage thrown everywhere. Also, they can see the blood on the rocks nearby, where the driver hit his head. The vultures have already begun to devour his bloody body and to peck at his brain, which is almost completely outside of his completely smashed skull. JC quickly rides over to the carriage, and manages to open the door, to find Stone and Brock inside. "Stone? Brock?" asks JC, "Are you guys okay?" At first there is no response or movement from Stone or Brock, and just as JC begins to fear the worst, Stone moves his head slightly, and replies, "Yeah, JC, Brock and I are okay, with the exception of a few cuts and bruises, my broken wrist, and Brock's broken leg." JC quickly dismounts from his horse, and Joey and Chris do the same, and help JC to carefully remove first Stone and then Brock from the ruined carriage. Joey and Chris help Justin to pull Brock up onto his horse, as JC and one of the castle employees helps Lance get Stone up onto his horse. After this is all done, everybody begins riding for the castle again, as it is beginning to get even colder old on the moor as nightfall comes closer. The next morning, after Mrs. Robertson cleaned up Stone and Brock's cuts, and set the broken bones, everybody sits in the castle's library, talking around the crackling fire. The library, like all of the other rooms in the castle, is very elaborate. It is actually 3 stories high, with a stained glass skylight, and books covering almost all of the walls. One would not be wrong to estimate their to be at least a million books in this library, if not more. Golden spiral staircases and ladders make all of the books as accessible as possible. "So, why didn't you tell us that you were actually royalty?" asks Chris. "Yeah, why did you lie?" asks Joey. "Well, we try to hide the fact that we are royalty because we don't want the press to be all over us," replies Stone, "I mean I would think that would be quite understandable, I mean it is the fame of royalty and the damn paparazzi that sent Princess Diana to an early grave." "True, I suppose I can understand your fears," replies Justin, as all of the others simply nod their heads in agreement. "So, now, why don't you tell us the truth about your family?" asks Lance. "Well, there's not really that much to tell," replies Brock, "Our family is full-blooded royalty, even if the branch of the family that Stone, Megan, and I are descended from was never actually a ruling dynasty." "What do you mean?" asks JC. "Well, we're descended from the second son of a 14th century king," replies Stone, "and, their has always been a descendant of the first born son, so, our branch of the family has never actually taken a throne." "Of course now to, even the descendants of the first born son no longer take the throne" replies Brock, "Now, like pretty much all royal families around the world, they're just figureheads, with no actual power to affect the laws or anything." "What's it like being royalty?" asks Justin. "It's pretty much like being a normal person," replies Stone, "Except you have a title, and people tend to treat you differently. It's kinda the same way that Hollywood celebrities and such are treated. Different, even though they just like everybody else is just human." "So your parents were a king and queen?" asks Joey. "No, our parents were His Royal Highness Prince Zachary and Her Royal Highness Princess Lauralee," replies Brock, "They never were awarded with the titles of King and Queen, because those titles went to our father's eldest brother, Christian, and his wife Caroline." "So have you told them the whole truth yet, Your Highnesses?" asks Robert, as he comes in carrying a silver tray with assorted refreshments on it. "Yes, we have," replies Stone, as he gets a slightly worried look on his face. "Enough with the hiding the truth, Stone," replies Brock, "We might as well tell them, I mean come on." "Tell us what?" asks Lance. "Alright, our last name is not actually Collins," replies Stone, "That is the name of our uncle Rex, who married into the family by marrying our Aunt Katrina, so we took that name in our attempts to hide the fact that we're royalty." "So, what's your real last name?" asks JC, with a look of pure curiosity on his face. "My full name would be His Royal Highness Prince Stone Zachary Phillip Andreas Von Harlaxton," replies Stone, "And because I know he won't tell you himself, Brock's full name would be His Royal Highness Prince Brock Christian Alexander Nickolas Von Harlaxton." "So your last name is Von Harlaxton?" "Yeah, that's what it would be, Chris." "So what's Megan's full name?" asks Joey. "Her Royal Highness Princess Megan Lauralee Katherine Alexandria Von Harlaxton," replies Brock, "It's kinda like a tradition to give everybody three middle names in our family. That's especially bad if you're for example signing something that requires your full name, first, middle, and last." "So this is not actually Collins Hall is it?" replies Lance. "No, it's Von Harlaxton Castle," replies Stone, "the moor is the Harlaxton Moor, the hotel is not the Collins Arms, but the Von Harlaxton Arms, and the city is not Collinsbrook, it's Harley-on-Harlaxton." "Harley-on-Harlaxton?" asks Joey. "Yeah, um, the city is actually Harley," replies Brock, "And the city is located on the Harlaxton River, so its called Harley-on-Harlaxton." "Well, if the city is Harley-on-Harlaxton, how did you get the city to be named Collinsbrook?" asks Justin. "Easy. First, we tried our royal authority," replies Stone, "When that didn't work, we simply used our other governmental authority, of owning the entire city." The conversation continues on for about an hour, before everybody heads of in different directions. The members of 'N Sync wanting to do some exploring of the massive Von Harlaxton Castle, as Stone and Brock head off to their study to take care of some royal duties that they must take care of, as their uncle, Count Rex Collins, is dead, and can no longer take care of all of the duties that he had taken care of for the family after the deaths of Their Royal Highnesses King Christian, Queen Caroline, Prince Zachary, and Princess Lauralee Von Harlaxton. To Be Continued. I know this installment is short. But, I developed writer's block on how I wanted to proceed with the story, and since this installment is already as late as it is, I figured, I'll send this as Part 3, and write the rest of what I had planned for Part 3 in Part 4, once I figure out how I want to word everything. Now, I know that some things in this story are very hard to believe, and probably sound completely crazy, but please remember that this is fiction. Everything about this story, other then general info about 'N Sync, is completely fictional, just please keep that in mind.