Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2000 10:59:55 -0400
From: Lightwind <Lightwind17@mindspring.com>
Subject: taken for granted, 3

	Ok, I want to see if I can try something new. I'm going to do this
from not only the member's of N'Sync's perspective, but I'm going to be
including a smattering of the Greek/roman gods in it as well. I'm going to
say what they are the gods of, but just in case, at the END of the story
I'm going to have a listing of the ones I used.
	I also want to apologize for the length of time it has taken to get
this out. I have received many wonderful letters from people asking me if I
was going to continue with the story, and others asking me to please not be
ending it. I promise you I'm not. Not till the loose ends are all done. I
promise. If you are reading this I want to thank you for your patience with
me. It means a lot.
	For those that are reading this and want to tell me what they think
my email is lightwind17@mindspring.com. I'm also on the aol imer as
firesong18, and icq as 9005689, though I'm not on icq very often.
	This story has nothing to do with any of the real sexuality of
those mentioned in it at any time. It is further a work of total fiction,
as demonstrated by the presence of supernatural agents. Also, if you
shouldn't be reading this, but are, don't get caught * grins *.
	Enjoy!


Interlude

	Has your mind ever been numb? Has your body ever felt like it
weighed a thousand pounds? Have you ever longed to surrender yourself to
sleep's sweet embrace and let the world around you fade into the oblivion
of dreams?
	Have you ever had the sweet agony, of your eyes closing against
your will, and your body refusing to answer to your commands and move, yet
sleep refusing to come? Tossing and turning trying to get more comfortable,
you eventually scream out in frustration at your inability find sleep.
	However, don't give up hope. Sleep isn't avoiding you, nor is it
going to be impossible for his warm embrace to enfold you tonight. Hypnos,
God of Sleep, is coming, however, he is a very busy deity.
	At the moment, Hypnos was in the mortal city of Los Angeles. He
walked among the mortals as if he was one of them. The mortal magic of
technology had never failed to constantly amaze him. He often wondered what
mortals would have been able to do, had their ability to use magic not
faded.
	Though a god from Ancient Greece, Hypnos had not stymied with the
times. Instead of the scroll he used to hold, or the book he used to carry,
he held in his hand a palm organizer that contained the names, and astral
locations of his 'clients.' The organizer was constantly magically updated,
occasionally even with an emergency situation coming up. Damn mortal
doctors and their medications. Hypnos was kept busy at every moment of
time, bouncing from one person to the next, in seconds. Somewhere, someone
was always trying to get to sleep.
	Hypnos also had discretion as to whether to put a mortal to sleep
or not against their will. He was currently looking at his organizer for
just such a situation. There were 4 names coming up on his list, four names
that were normally five. He often put them to sleep relatively close
together, as it was annoying to return to a room five different times for
different people's sleeping patterns. However this time, the fifth name on
the list, wasn't found until much later in the evening, or in this case
morning. Hypnos brought up the information on this name to see if he could
figure out what exactly was the reason that he would have to come back here
again for this young mortal.
	What he found there sent his immortal eyes to tear.
	"Ahh, sweet Justin. My brother Morpheous's gift of dreams would be
a torment to you tonight. I shall make a note for him to avoid you this
night. I shall return when you are ready, child. Your heart needs time, but
your body needs sleep as well."
	Thus noted in the organizer, which would alert Morpheous, god of
Dreams, not to give Justin his gift, Hypnos entered the room of Chris,
followed quickly by that of Joey. He paused outside of Lance's room. The
note from Morpheous stated that Lance's dreams were to be slowly connected
to Jc's, so that the two would be able to find out about the other
slowly. He verified the message as from Cupid himself.
	Sighing as these things, while effective, were often tiring. He
entered Lance's room, and lightly kissed his cheek. He waited the few
minutes for Lance's eyes to close after reading a few more words from the
book in his lap. Once asleep, Hypnos reached into Lance's head, and
extracted a silver string. Holding this carefully, Hypnos left the room and
entered Jc's. Smiling, as Jc was in that state of half - sleep that only
Hypnos's kiss could complete, Hypnos gladly gave it.
	Once Jc had passed through the threshold of sleep, Hypnos carefully
inundated the silver string from Lance's mind. This had to be done quickly
or the string would fade, which would make Hypnos farther behind
schedule. He quickly connected the two minds, thus making it easier for
Morpheous who would come later. As Morpheous's gift was a great deal
subtler, it was harder for him to connect the two. Hypnos giggled at his
own thoughts, for he and Morpheous often called this a mental 'uplink.'
	Hypnos quickly looked at his schedule to see he was now exactly 10
seconds behind. Cursing softly, he took a step towards the window, and
vanished in the sounds of a lullaby, leaving behind a bit of sand that
would be gone by dawn's first light.
	Had he stayed however, he would have been frustrated greatly by the
actions that were about to unfold.

Screams of the Heart

	Bitter winds in his face, wrapping themselves around his scantily
clad body, freezing his skin, dulling the nerves to the point that he
couldn't feel anything. He was numb all over. The sad part was, the pain of
a love lost had left him empty, and the shell that remained was unable to
feel the absence of sensation.
	He didn't feel the bitter winds, or the cold pavement beneath his
feet. The flimsy t-shirt that he wore acted as no barrier to the howling
winds as they screamed across the open roof of the hotel. He didn't feel
them as they almost seemed to be trying to drive him back from the roof of
the edge, which he was at the moment looking over, seeing how high the roof
was...
	He scanned the skyline of the city with unseeing eyes. Staring
blindly at the shining lights of the city, he knew that at each point was a
person, or people, doing something, most of it fun. He could envision the
clubs packed with people, each one of them letting their worries and cares
vanish under the spell of music, and the rhythms of the dance. All this he
saw in his mind, but his eyes, his eyes saw nothing that was before him.
	The winds screamed across the rooftops, sounding like an inhuman
war party calling for the hunt. The sound of his own heartbeat filled his
ears like a symphony of drums beating out a single pattern. Yet his ears
heard not a sound.
	His senses were turned so far inward that nothing could have broken
the self-induced trance like state he was in. For his mind was no longer
among the here and now, no longer in the world as we know it. It was going
over and over every scrap of memories for a clue, for any sign, that would
have warned him of his present situation.

Interlude

	In a castle of dark gray stone, atop a mountain that bore no life,
sitting on a throne of glistening obsidian, sat Aeolus the King of the
Winds. He sighed as he watched the mortal Justin Timberlake refusing to
leave the roof despite the best attempts of Boreas, the bitter North Wind.
	Cupid had decreed that the lesser gods were to watch this one, and
do their best to thwart any attempt that this mortal might have made to end
his life. The only one that hadn't agreed was Thanatos, bringer of
death. Aeolus sighed, if Boreas wasn't able to remove him from the roof of
that high structure, than nothing in his power was able to.
	He opened his mouth to speak with Boreas, who was sitting in front
of him, eyes closed, concentrating as hard as he can.
	"Let it go Boreas. Do not harm thineself in trying to obey Lord
Cupid. Though I wish that we were able to aid him in his attempt to prevent
this mortal from killing himself, neither mine nor thine power, seems to be
up to the task."
	Boreas sighed and relaxed his mind. He remembered a time that he
could have picked Justin right up off the roof top and held him suspended
for as long as he wanted, however that was in a time before the onset of
mortal science. That cursed ideology, had removed from mortals their belief
in the gods. Without that power their only strength came from the stories
taught in schools, and a mortals' obsession with the supernatural. However,
it was nothing in comparison to the days of old, where power was abundant,
now, it was scarce, and only the Elder Gods, truly had much power left.
	What this also meant was that right now, this mortal was on his
own.

Screaming (con't)

	The cessation of the windstorm that had howled around him upon the
roof didn't even register on his mind. He heard over and over again those
hateful words on the phone, and heard again the bitter laughter in his
tone.
	The tears that poured like rivers from his eyes fell to the ground
like crystals, gathering in two pools that even now were slowly icing over
from the cold. He didn't notice. His attention was so focused inward that
an earthquake wouldn't have made an impression. Once again he looked down
from the top of the hotel, wondering how much exactly a fall from this
height would hurt, or if he would die upon contact, anything to escape the
pain...

Sweet Dreams

	Nothing spoke of the beauty of nature like a forest. Abounding with
life in all it's shapes and sizes, a forest was the final bastion of
nature's grip on a world that cared little about the natural wonders that
surrounded it, but rather was a world that was more concerned with the
amount of money that was in a wallet or a bank account.
	The music of the forest was a song of a simple soothing quality
that would cast a spell upon any who listened closely enough. The songs of
the birds, combined with the music of the wind through the trees, created a
symphony that couldn't be duplicated by the best of mortal musicians.
	One such mortal now listened to the music. His eyes were closed in
gentle reverence to the natural beauty of the song around him, the Song of
Life. The soft smile upon his face gave testament to the enjoyment he felt
here in this spot, away from the hustle and bustle of his normal life; a
single moment that was untouched by time, and immutable in memory. A moment
of total peace, and total clarity that would remain etched in his soul for
the rest of his life.
	Amazing that such a thing could occur in a dream.
	Jc opened his eyes and sighed to himself. He looked around the
forest, chose a direction and started walking. He knew he had to be here
for a reason, you never simply appeared in a forest in a dream, and were
expected to stay still. A part of his mind wondered at the presence of this
logical part, but it was quickly shunted away as the effects of the dream
took over.
	Walking swiftly, eyes darting around, trying to take in all the
beauty of this forest, he heard a sound that wasn't part of the song of the
forest. This sound belonged to a different song. This was a song that would
often bring out the child in everyone at its appearance. The sound of the
ocean, and where there was an ocean, there was a beach.
	His pace quickening Jc stepped out of the forest and cast his eyes
upon the ocean at sunset. The golden orb that was the sun, sinking slowly
beneath the waves, casting a golden quality over not only the ocean, but
also the sky. Streaks of red and orange crossed the sky as well. Clouds
floated in the sky that seemed alight with flame. The light on the clouds
turned them a dark purple, which blended perfectly with the colors of the
sky, creating a multihued effect that left the young singer breathless with
awe.
	Out of the corner of his eye Jc spotted something else. A lone
figure who was even now, currently sitting at the edge of the sand, just
out of reach of the crashing waves. The glittering sunlight seemed to make
the blond hair of the youth aflame with a light of it's very own.
	Jc hesitantly called out to the figure, who despite his best
attempts, he couldn't put a name to, for all that the figure looked
familiar.
	"Hello?"
	The figure's head perked up at the sound of Jc's voice, and slowly,
the head turned towards our waiting singer. The light of the dieing sun
flashed briefly in bright emerald eyes, before returning the figure to the
obliqueness of the shadows.
	"Hello yourself. Jc? Is that you?"
	Jc squinted his eyes at the sound of the voice. Slowly, his mind
was reacting to the sound, and drawing a picture of the speaker.
	"Lance? What are you doing in my dream?"
	"Your dream? This is my dream, dude. Where did you come from?"
	Jc smiled at Lance, and turned around to point to the forest. He
saw it behind him stretching out immensely, dark and mysterious, full of
secrets, and totally open and inviting.
	"I came from in there ya nut. What are you doing at the beach?"
	"How would I know? This is a dream isn't it?"
	"Well yeah I guess so, but am I in your dream or are you in mine?"
	Lance was taken aback at the question. He couldn't remember the
forest being there before, and he knew he had looked behind him at the
endlessly stretching beach, and he knew he couldn't have simply missed
it. Ah well, dreams are random and chaotic things, one never knew from one
second to the next what would be, or not be.
	Thus decided he turned to Jc with a grin on his face.
	"Does it matter?"
	"Ahh...no, I guess it doesn't."
	Jc graced Lance with a smile that had the younger man's lungs
suddenly unable to perform a function they had done for every day of his
life. He couldn't breathe in the presence of that smile. Something about it
caused his body to forget it's job. His heart no longer seemed to function
as well either as it started to beat faster and faster. He shyly returned
the smile.
	"Would you like to join me?"
	Jc smiled again.
	"I would love..."
	Lance turned to see where Jc was looking, and a harsh gasp escaped
from his lips. In the sky above the forest an image had appeared that
caused his rapidly beating heart to almost stop.
	 A silver column of light was emanating from somewhere near what
seemed the center of the forest. Atop the column of shining light an image
was taking place. The image that formed was of Justin, standing atop the
hotel, leaning over the side. That alone wouldn't have caused the gasp to
come from Lance's lips, but rather the expression on the younger man's
face. Anguish, heartache, and pain beyond the ability of any words to even
begin to describe. Despair so profound, so vast and so deep, that made
Lance understand somehow instinctively that Justin was unaware of his
surroundings, or his danger. The sheer raw emotions that Justin was
emanating from the image brought a crystalline tear to his eye.
	"Justin!!"
	The cry that screamed from Jc's throat shattered the image in the
sky. Lance turned sharply back to Jc, who was running back into the forest
quickly, as if by some miracle, he could find Justin in that forest. Lance
stood to give chase when his eyes beheld something that caused even his
sleeping mind to wonder as to the validity of logic at all.
	As soon as Jc entered the forest, a ripple of light seemed to pass
through the dense underbrush. Slowly, as if a mirage in the desert, the
forest faded away, leaving nothing but the endless beach Lance had seen the
first time he looked around. He shook his head and returned to looking at
the setting sun, wondering if his strange dreams were a sign of impending
insanity, or simply those of one overworked...

	Elsewhere, in the world of the waking, Jc Chasez sat up from his
bed, quick as a bolt of lighting flashing across the sky. His body covered
in sweat, and the clothes he wore saturated in the stuff.
	Placing his hand to his head, he remembered the dream. Lance,
sitting on the beach, smiling softly at him. Than something had
happened. Something had broken the illusion...what? It had been very
important, so important that it had sent Jc running back to the forest, for
a reason he still didn't understand. What had it been?
	Jc's eyes snapped open, and a single word was spoken, a word that
caused him to leap out of bed, and run to the door of his room with the
speed of a cheetah.
	"Justin!"

Hall of the Gods

	Cupid flew through the air as fast as his wing could carry him. He
knew he could have simply teleported to the Hall, but that didn't seem to
have the same affect.
	He flew high over the land of Greece, angling sharply upwards so as
to make sure to avoid the winds that howled around Olympus. He exhilarated
in the freedom of flying on his own wings, and his own power. Only when he
flew on the power of his wings alone did he feel truly free. Free from the
cares of a mortal world that slowly forgot about the subtleties of his
power, and focused more on those of more worldly possessions. Forgetting
that without someone to share it with, those possessions were worthless.
	He flew directly at the clouds, those clouds that spat out
incandescent bolts of lighting. From outside the normal range of sight,
eight arms of alabaster beauty extended, arms whose hands of perfectly
manicured nails, sunk those nails into the clouds, and pulled them back,
opening the path to Olympus.
	He called out his thanks to the Seasons, those ladies that had
opened the gates, and blinked in the brilliance of the light on the other
side.
	This light wasn't caused by the sun, that orb of golden light that
circled the world, or, in the case of Apollo, the chariot of fire and
light, which, pulled by a team of special stallions, gave the gift of
warmth and sunshine to the world.
	This light was of a different variety, constant and steady,
blinding and subtle all at the same time. This was the light of timeless
love, the light of unquenchable knowledge, the light of undying hope, and
the light of eternal life combined together to form this single light: the
Light of Immortality.
	Under this light, sat the Hall of the Gods. This structure was an
impregnable fortress, a hold over affect from the long ago War of the Gods,
where the Olympians had overthrown the cruelty of the Titans' rule. Many
believed that when the home of the gods was referred to as Mount Olympus
that they were referring to a structure built atop the mountain, but that
is incorrect. The truth was, that the Hall of the gods was built as part of
the mountain.
	Because of the way it was done, the citadel was dark gray and cold
in appearance.  Its sides slanted sharply from the top to the base, with
four towers, each facing one of the four primary compass directions. >From
outside the effects was bleak, dark, and full of cold distance that was
insurmountable by any means either mortal or immortal.
	Once again, Cupid was caught in a sense of awe staring at the home
of the gods.  He was hard to believe that this dark cold Citadel was in
fact the home of those beings that shaped the fabric of the mortal
existence. Beings whose first thoughts were of fun and not to war, with the
exception being Ares, to whom war was fun.
	Cupid glided gently towards the entrance of the Citadel and landed
softly upon the stoop outside. As he entered The Citadel his senses became
aware of the changes around him.  Inside the home of gods was filled with
warmth and laughter.  The inside was brightly decotraed by the Muses with
garlands of flowers, bright tapestries, and fountains.  However it was the
windows along the hallway that were the most eye-catching sites.
	When an immortal would cast their gaze through the window, what
they would see on the other side was not the outside, however it was in
fact a moment in time of an individual mortal. The window could be used to
look into the past, and to see what had come before in relation to that
mortal.
	Cupid strode quickly through the halls of the Citadel, until he
reached the doors to the Great Hall. With barely a look at them, he held
out his hand, and in response to that gesture the doors swung open
silently, and Cupid continued on uninterrupted.
	Upon entering the hall, his eyes saw neither the elaborate
tapestries depicting those actions of both mortals and of gods that the
Muses had felt were worthwhile, nor the immaculate arrangement of flowers,
those both in and out of season on Earth. His ears didn't hear the soft and
compelling sound of Apollo's lute, nor the bustle of chatter that
constantly abounded in the hall. As he strode towards the dais upon which
Zeus and Hera sat, the conversations stilled and died in his wake.
	For this wasn't the playful Cupid that had often run amuck in the
halls, and in the love lives of those both mortal and immortal. The Cupid
that had a smile on his face at all times. This Cupid was one who was on
the verge of exploding in a rage that would rival Zeus' own, and woe to he
or she that was the focus of that rage, for the leaden arrows of Cupid,
those that held bitter love, could fly just as easily as those made of
gold, and Cupid never missed a shot.
	He came to rest before the dais, which was currently occupied by
both the King and the Queen of the gods. These two looked at each other in
confusion as Cupid stood at the foot of the dais waiting for them to
acknowledge him.
	"Fair Cupid," said Hera, "what ails ye so that ye enter the Hall
with a face like a storm gathering, instead of thine normal sunny
disposition?"
	"A mortal's heart has been almost shattered by the force of love
turned. His love callously disregarded the feelings he had shown him, and
cast him aside for another. In that casting he used the most vile and cruel
words he could, words meant to shatter a heart."
	Zeus was the one that now spoke, confusion in his great voice.
	"Cupid, I understand that this has ailed you because love is your
concern, yet I fail to see why you have come here, and are telling this to
us."
	Cupid looked out of his sapphire blue eyes directly into the
silvery orbs that were Zeus's. What Zeus saw there set his mind awhirl, for
Cupid's eyes held no trace of there omnipresent laughter, nor good
will. They were hard as steel, harder even than the eyes of Ares, god of
war.
	"Because m'lord, the actions of this mortal are not unique. Mortals
no longer hold the power of love in awe, or as something to cherish. To
them it is a prize to be won and locked up for others to see. They regard
it as a "waste of time," or will lay claim to it, for selfish reasons such
as sex or money, having truly felt nothing, but claiming that they do, and
as soon as they have what they need, leaving the other in such a way as to
cause the most pain."
	Zeus and Hera looked at each other in even greater confusion, what
exactly was Cupid's purpose in coming here before them on this day.
	"Cupid I fail to..."
	Cupid than did something that no other god had dared to do, he
interrupted Zeus.
	"M'lord, maybe you have been to far removed from the world of the
mortals, but more and more it is falling to the likes of Ares, and his
kind. Wars, fights, misunderstandings over things as simple as color of the
skin, the sex of the person, or whom the person chooses to love: male or
female. It is a world of a religion twisted beyond control to suit those in
power's position on things. And it grows worse each day. Love was the one
thing that stood between these obstacles and the obliteration of all. The
old axiom of "love conquers all" is not a jest m'lord, but a hard fact.
	"However, since mortals treat my gift with such callous disregard
for its benefits to all, I have decided to remove it from the hearts of
mortals!"
	Gasps broke out in the hall from the gathered deity's. The eyes of
Zeus and Hera snapped open wide in shock and surprise.
	"Don't think I'm not going to. Before 24 hours pass m'lord, there
won't be one trace of romantic love left in the human world!"


	There, how was that? Worth the wait? Not worth the wait? Email and
yell and complain to your heart's content. I'm going to try to get them out
faster, but I can't guarantee anything, school's out, but I now have two
jobs, and even less free time, * sighs *, but I'm going to try.

OK, listing of gods used here:

Aeolus - king of the winds
Apollo - god of the sun
Ares - god of war
Boreas - North wind
Cupid - god of love
Hera - Queen of the gods
Hypnos - god of sleep
Morpheous - god of dreams
Muses - 9 goddess's of music and the arts
Seasons - guardians of the path to Olympus
Thanatos - god of death
Zeus - King of the gods


Jason, lightwind17@mindspring.com, firesong18 (imer).