This is a work of fiction, depicting teenage males in romantic and/or sexual relationships. The people depicted in this story (to the best of the author's knowledge) do NOT exist. In the rare case that they're based on real people, the names HAVE been changed... not so much as to protect the innocent as to spare the poor people listed within the unnecessary fame this story might bring to them... not that I'm saying lots of people will read this, or even people where I've lived, but there's always a slight chance... And these events are, for the most part, all the imagination of the author, although I've seen the events depicted many, many times. The places listed are as perceived by the author, and thus subject to my creative license, though the town used as the main character's hometown is easily as evil as depicted.

If you are under 18 years of age (or whatever the legal age in your area is) you're supposed to leave according to law. Of course, I can't very well make you leave... but if you choose to stay, DON'T GET CAUGHT! It is neither my fault, nor the fault of this wonderful site, if you get caught running around here.

Also, if you are repulsed by the concept of homosexual romance and/or sex, please feel free to leave at any time. In fact, now would be a good time. But hey, it's your call, of course... I can't make you leave, either... but if you choose to stay, feel free... who knows, you might even change your mind! My only question is: why are you here if that's the case?

Fair warning: this story is the follow-up to my previous trilogy, labelled The Ukiah Chronicles, under gay/highschool. Having read that trilogy is by no means a pre-requisite to this story, and may in fact change the way you read the beginning of this one; however, the stories are fairly divergent, and any important back-plot to the main character of this story will be discussed within, without needing to worry about his "mysterious past". Your choice, either way.

As an aside, all my stories (including my backlog) can also be found at my website here. This also includes the aforementioned Ukiah Chronicles, in "book" (single-file per story) format.

Please feel free to email me with your comments/suggestions at jasani666@hotmail.com. If you'd prefer, you can also IM me on the chance you catch me online (which is off and on, depending on the time of day and whether or not I'm working):

AIM: mychyl666
MSN: jasani666@hotmail.com
Y!M: jasani669
ICQ: 21009696
BLOG livejournal.com/users/jasaniavatar
FB (Just search for my name)

And now, without further delay:

~*~ Recap ~*~

I laid down next to him, but before I could settle in, he rolled over to face away from me, grabbing my arm and pulling me onto him, his body curled up against mine. I felt the smooth, warm flesh of his back against my chest, and he grabbed one of my legs with both of his, intertwining them. His touch, his smell, his warmth... in no time, I felt the inevitable reaction to this closeness, but I forced myself to put it out of mind... we had a lot to do the next day, after all, and getting to sleep was more important than doing something I might yet regret later.

As I drifted off to sleep, his body cuddled next to mine, all I could wonder was what I was getting into, and what this meant for both our futures...

~*~ Chapter 4 ~*~

That night, I had a vivid dream. I was standing on a beautiful hill, one that seemed somehow familiar to me, even though I didn't ever remember seeing it before. It was spring in my dream, a verdant spring unlike anything I'd seen since moving to Tucson. Flowers were blooming all around me, several of which I'd only ever seen back home, and the grass was lush and full of life. Something seemed off about this... but my mind refused to work.

In the grass, sitting in front of me, looking off into the distance, was someone I felt I should recognize. Something about him, even though I couldn't see his face, was very familiar... but again, I couldn't get my mind to focus on him for very long. Instead, I stared off in the distance, following the direction of his gaze.

Far off, practically at the edge of my vision, I saw a snow-covered peak, and shivered. Something about the snow... no, ice, the ice, my mind corrected me suddenly... caught my attention, and not in a positive way. I couldn't figure it out... it was as if something about that icy peak should've been familiar to me.

Suddenly, the boy seated at my feet turned to look at me, and a flood of memories returned to me...

"Let me help you!" a strange, yet somehow familiar, voice called.

I spun around quickly, almost falling once more, seeing a man, barely older than me, reaching out to me, as though to help me... or embrace me. He seemed completely untouched by the dizzying winds. He was extremely cute, and seemed to care, concern shining in his warm crystal-blue eyes, his flaxen-colored hair framing his face perfectly...

The boy before me was identical in every way to the one from the memory, but I couldn't figure out when this memory occurred, or how it came to be lost to me. The face, even outside of the newly-recovered memory, was so familiar to me that it almost hurt, like a lost promise.

"Damien," he said softly. "Much has occurred that is lost to you. Much of that was as much to protect you as to protect me... but that's neither here nor there." He paused, standing and taking me into a warm embrace, my memory telling me this wasn't the first such time this man had held me, though I still couldn't recall anything about him. "Now, I come to you to tell you it is time to move on, to find love again," he continued. "You have locked your heart away, afraid to feel, much as you were when I first met you. This cannot be; there is one who needs you, and your love, as much as you need his."

He pulled back, kissing me gently on the lips. "I give you your heart back," he said, after the kiss ended. "You must know love again, if you are to protect the one you care about. If you do not love him, truly give that love to him and let him be loved, then he will be in danger."

I shook my head. "Who are you?" I asked, confused. "How do I know you, but not remember you?"

He chuckled. "This isn't important, not now. Later, when time is not your enemy, I will reveal what I can... but," he continued, turning serious, "some things which are hidden from you are that way to protect you. I hid a lot of pain and sorrow from you, which would do you no good if restored."

He smiled kindly, and hugged me to him once more. "Now, it is time to wake up and rejoin the world. You have a busy day ahead of you. Take care, my love..."

~*~ I woke up to the first light of day streaming in across my face, and I started to stretch, then stopped, confused. I felt someone lying against me, curled up against my chest... then memory kicked in. Joey. The most beautiful boy in the world, and he was lying in my arms. He'd apparently turned over in his sleep, as his face was mere inches from mine. I gazed on him fondly, but though he was breathtakingly beautiful, there was just something missing while he was asleep.

His spirit, the light of his eyes, was what entranced me more than anything, and while he was dreaming, the light was elsewhere. Still, even in sleep, I wanted to softly kiss him... but I felt that I couldn't. No, I couldn't steal something like that, a kiss, from him. He meant too much to me, even though I barely knew him.

As I watched him, he slowly started to stir, twisting a bit, and I felt his morning hardness press against my thigh, immediately triggering my own reaction. I gently rubbed his back with one hand, feeling him come awake -- again, as if his spirit was returning to his body from the land of slumber, reforming into the person I was falling for.

"Good morning," I whispered into his ear, and he stretched slowly, turning to smile at me... then froze, his smile changed to a look of horror, as he realized he was grinding his hardon into me, pulling away quickly.

"I... I'm sorry," he stammered, blushing furiously.

"It's OK," I said softly, reaching down to rearrange my own reaction. "We're both guys, it happens." I got up, not really going out of my way to make my situation obvious, but not trying to hard to hide it. I started rummaging for clothes to wear today, though I kept noticing out of the corner of my eye his attention on me -- rather, on a certain part of me -- and the attention was certainly keeping me excited.

"So, today," I started, wanting to pull his attention away from my crotch, even as I pulled on a pair of clean jean shorts and continued hunting for a t-shirt, "I think we should get your stuff from your old house... I don't have much to spare, and besides, it's your stuff." He didn't look too pleased, but he nodded slowly. "Then," I continued as I pulled a black t-shirt from one of my drawers, glanced to see it was the one with a silver-blue dragon on the front, and wrestled into it, "if we have time, we can go by your friend's house to get your school stuff." He started to protest, but I cut him off. "I want to be there, in case your stepfather or anyone else tries to start something with you. I told you before, I won't let anyone hurt you."

He sighed. "I guess I don't have a choice in the matter," he said, with a hint of bitterness in his voice.

"If you don't want to go over to your friend's house today, we won't," I reassured him. "But you do need your clothes and stuff, so we're going there. After that, I'll let you decide, but either way, I'll be there for you, but I can't do that if you won't let me. I don't want anything else to happen to you." I smiled, stepping back over to the bed and leaning across, hugging him to me. He returned the smile, kissing me softly on the lips.

As soon as his lips touched mine, all my thoughts flew out the window in favor of the sensations of that simple contact, and I pulled back a little bit, looking into his eyes. I wasn't sure, but in his eyes, I thought I saw... something, a feeling I hadn't felt in a long time. I leaned in once more, returning the kiss with feeling, and when his lips parted slightly, I followed suit, our kiss gaining in passion and intensity quickly.

Within moments, I was fully back in bed, our tongues wrestling as my hands explored his still-bare back, marveling in the texture of his perfect skin, my nose filled with his scent, a strange spicy-sweet aroma that threatened to overwhelm my mind. His hands quickly sought the skin under my shirt, climbing up my back and following my actions.

I broke the kiss and simply laid there, his head dropping down to lie on my chest, lightly kissing my chest through my shirt. After a few moments like that, torn between breaking the moment and getting him ready for the day, he slowly disentangled himself from me and got up, giving me a chance to return the favor from earlier and stare at his hardon, trapped as it was in his briefs, which were tight enough -- or he was hard enough -- that not much was left to the imagination. He was quite long, probably at least 8" or 9" if I was any judge, but not terribly thick. Like the rest of his body, it looked quite perfect -- well, from what I could see, with the thin veil of cotton keeping it from my full sight.

He dressed quickly, and I got up and make a couple of bagels quickly, one for each of us. He came out and we ate them, chatting as we ate. He told me it was likely his stepfather would be at work... which I hoped, since confronting him could be the hardest part of all...

If you're confused by the dream sequence, don't be; it's all relating to Damien's backstory, much (but not all) of which will be revealed throughout this story, as mentioned before. If you really want to know what's going on, the dream sequence is first referenced in Frozen, then in Lost Children of Atlantis, the original follow-up to this story.

Which reminds me, I'll be dividing my efforts between working on this story and polishing off Lost Children for the next bit. I realized, when I sat down to start this chapter, that it would be impossible to write this story as though the events in Lost Children never happened, even though those are all part of Damien's missing memory, courtesy of the blond boy in the dream... and while I now know why, in my mind, having that mapped out will actually allow a lot more of the backstory to make sense.

At any rate, there's chapter 4... 2 chapters up and 2 lying in wait, as of the time of writing. Here's hoping I can keep the pace up, even with trying to split my attention between both projects. ^^;

As always, fanmail's always welcome (jasani666@hotmail.com is the address), and the mailing list still has plenty of room for more people on it! Thanks for reading, everyone. ^^