Chapter Two
Heroes & Lovers
Upon arriving at the Great Lake, they encountered a large ship emitting colorful fireworks in all directions. "Whoa..." David said, staring at the ship in awe.
Sterling shortly joined them. "David! Do you have to make everything so--" he stopped short when he saw what David was looking at. The next thing he knew, David was in his swim trunks (which he usually wore under his work clothes) swimming determinedly toward the ship. He sighed. "Here we go again," he muttered, following the little man.
David slid his hands onto the edge of the big boat, watching the on board activities. A little dog was running toward someone. "I think we've lost her, Joe!" he muttered. "She's finally gone off the deep end!"
"No way, Corneil. Demi's completely level-headed." a teenage boy with black hair replied. David glanced toward where the two were looking, and saw a brown-haired girl in a white summer dress dancing around, playing a musical instrument. "Then again..."
Then, the girl named Demi came up to the pair. "Come on Corneil, dance with me!" she said, picking up the dog and swinging him in circles.
"Oh Joe, help me!" Corneil moaned, being spun in playful circles.
David watched in a trance, a silly smile crossing his face.
Taylor finally caught up to his friend. "Hey David, what'd I miss?"
David snapped out of his hypnotic mood. "Shh Tay, they'll here you!" David whispered, putting a hand over Taylor's mouth, still staring at Demi. "I--I've never seen a sailor from this close up before!" he said, sighing. "Is she not the=2 0most beautiful thing you've ever seen?" he removed his hand from Taylor's mouth, and leaned on his elbows.
"Gee I dunno Dave, that Joe kid is kinda disturbing."
David laughed his usual low-pitched giggle. "No, her." he pointed toward Demi, her dress flowing elegantly in the breeze as she sat down with her guitar.
"Hey everyone!" the kid named Joe with longish hair called out. "Can I get everyo ne to listen to me for a minute?"
The chaos on the ship slowly calmed down, until all sailors had their attention on Joe.
Joe looked at Demi. "Demi, we all got to thinking," Joe went into speech mode, pacing slowly back and forth in front of a large sheet-covered object.
"Oh dear," Corneil muttered.
"So we all pitched in a bit," he put his hands on the sheet. "Hired some foreign artists, blah blah blah...and this is what we got. For your eighteenth birthday!"
He pulled the sheet down, and on cue, all hundred-and-somewhat sailors shouted "Happy birthday, Demi!" as a shockingly accurate sculpture of the girl was revealed.
Demi turned slightly red in the cheeks. "Aw shucks Joe, you shouldn't have!"
Joe punched her gently in the shoulder. "But I did! Well, of course I was saving it for a wedding present..."
Demi rolled her eyes. "Come on, Joe! You aren't gonna let me forget that, are you?"
"Well, Demi, he was the prince of Spain. And besides, you gotta marry sometime!"
Demi shrugged her shoulders and turned to gaze out to sea. "I will...someday. I just, you know...have to find the right guy first."
Unbeknownst to the sailors, David was watching the whole thing, a crooked and elusive smile sitting on his face.
Joe walked up to Demi. "Oh yes, how touching." he muttered, sarcastically. "But how will you know it's him, when--and if--you meet him?"
Demi shrugged again. "Ah, I dunno, guess it'll just--" she made a wide gesture with her arms. "Hit me like lightning!"
As if by signal, a streak of lightning flashed across the sky, revealing the gray clouds looming above head. The winds picked up, causing the ship to rock back and forth, and also making the tides pick up. Taylor was swept away in the waves.
"David!" he called, being pulled further and further away from the ship.
"Taylor!" David reached toward his friend, but wasn't able to catch him before the waves pushed him back toward a cave with Sterling and Metro, who were hiding from the electrical storm.
"It's a hurricane!" One of the crewmen shouted, holding on to the mast for dear life.
Another bolt of lightning flashed, striking one of the sails. The entire support fell over onto the deck, sending the entire ship up in flames. The entire crew jumped ship, most of them managin g to make it to the lifeboats, the ones that didn't make it managed to swim up to them and hold on.
"I think that's everyone!" Demi called, glancing around. Then she spotted the little yellow dog.
"Corneil!" she yelled. "I'll be right back!" she jumped off of the life boat and back onto the burning wreckage that could hardly be called a ship anymore. "Jump to me!" she called, extending her hands to the frightened Corneil.
"No...I can't!" Corneil called back, frozen in terror.
Demi huffed. "I've got you!" she jumped across a broken part of the ship, picked up the dog, and headed back toward the water. "Ahh!" she screeched, as her foot slipped between two broken planks of wood. Corneil went flying overboard, and swam swiftly toward the life boat.
Demi grunted and strained, trying to pull her foot out of the crevice. She finally managed to free herself and dive into the water, just as the ship blew up.
"Oh my God! DEMI!" Joe called into the water, picking up Corneil and watching the scene in horror.
David ran back into the water and looked frantically around for the fallen girl. He noticed her sinking slowly underneath the water, and swam up to her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and struggled to pull her up to the surface, where she could breathe. He set her gently on a floating slab of wood, and started pushing her toward the shore.
It was morning when the four finally made it to shore. David pulled the unconscious princess up onto shore, before flopping down on the beach by the water.
When he'd caught his breath, he finally sat up and looked at her. "Demi," he muttered. "Sailor Demi, the most beautiful girl in the world..."
Taylor joined him. "Wow, we swam for the whole entire night!" Taylor commented. He spotted Demi lying on the ground. "Who's that? She looks dead."
David's eyes filled with panic. "Oh, she isn't dead, right Tay?" he asked, starting to feel the effects of being on sailor's territory. He splashed himself vigorously with water, before running back to Taylor, who had his hand on Demi's ankle.
"I dunno David, I can't feel her pulse."
At that moment, Demi heaved a huge sigh in her sleep. "Wait, Tay, I think she's breathing," David whispered. He sighed with relief. "What an amazing face..." he said, gently stroking her cheek. The beauty of the moment made him want to sing. "Mister Sun came up and he smiled at me," he began, softly. "He said, 'It's gonna be a good one, just wait and see,'".
As he sang, Sterling made his way wearily on shore. "Oh, my aching body," he muttered. He saw David singing, and just who he was singing to, and was about to protest, when Taylor put a hand up to quiet him. Metro was trailing not too far behind.
"Jumped out of bed, and I ran outside, feeling so extra ecstaticfied!" Demi's eyes flitted open as David finished the line, and she looked up to see a laughing boy in front of her.
"Demi!" Joe's voice came flying through the air, accompanied by Corneil's bark. David glanced up, and in a moment, he and his friends were heading out of sailor's territory.
Joe ran up to Demi, who was laying on the beach staring out into the sea.
Corneil ran to the seaside. "Wait, come back!" he called, but the posse was long gone.
"Gees Demi, do you like scaring me to death like that?" Joe asked, helping her stand up.
"Did you see him?" Demi asked absentmindedly. "He--he was right, right here just a second ago..."
"Uh...see what?" Joe asked, a quizzical expression crossing his face.
"There was...there was a guy...he was--singing! He--he had the most beautiful voice..."
Joe took a step backward. "Oh man, now you're delusional too?" he put his hands on her shoulders, examining her eyes for any signs of a concussion, only to find a faraway dreamy look. "I think you swallowed some of that saltwater, and it's making you a little psycho, let's get home and clean you up." he said.
"But wait, Joe, she's not--" Corneil started to speak, but his interruption was interrupted by Joe.
"You too, Corneil...you smell like fish."
-----
Taylor and Metro watched as Joe led a reluctant Demi and Corneil away.
David wasn't watching, though. He was too busy daydreaming off in la-la-land.
Sterling was pacing frantically back and forth, cogitating on what to do in the near future. "Okay...okay...we just broke the rules. Big time broke the rules." he turned to Taylor. "Do you have any idea how much trouble I'm gonna be in when Danny finds out I let David wander off to the beach?" he shook Taylor by the shoulders. "DO YOU?!?"
David sighed. "That face..." he muttered to himself. "Those curves...the way she talks..."
What our friends didn't know, was that they were being watched. And not just by anyone; it was Jason and Miley, holding a video camera sending feed back to Duncan Doughnuts, where Moises stood laughing at what he saw. "Oh, I can't take this!" he told his computer wife. "The little man is lovesick! And not just for anyone...a sailor! A rich sailor, and a princess at that! Ah, this'll make Danny insane!" he cackled, and picked up a helmet. "That idiot will make a wonderful addition to my staff!" he laughed, then glanced at his former staff; several skeletons lying against the wall. "He'll certainly be livelier..." he muttered.
-----
A few days later, at the Cake Nation, the 'Cakers and Bakers' were making themselves useful. Well...Sterling was anyway.
"David! Where's number 5's order?" Sterling shouted through the small kitchen window.
David danced carelessly out of the kitchen carrying a box containing a chocolate ice-cream cake and a medium milkshake.
"I wanted cookies..." the confused customer said.
But David was already skipping away. On his way out, he bumped into Danny. "Oh, hey Danny," he said, dreamily.
"Hey..." Danny watched David prance out of the restaurant.
"Hey Allison," he said, as he went past.
Allison giggled, while Sterling, uneasy about the situation, sneaked out the back door to follow the love-struck teen.
"He's got it so bad," one of Allison's friends commented.
"Got what?" Danny asked.
"Oh yeah," Allison agreed.
"What is it? What's he got?" Danny looked incredibly confused.
Allison giggled again. "Well...isn't it obvious? David...he's in love!"
Danny still looked confused. "David? In love?" a smile slowly began to creep across his face.
-----
In the fields, David lay on the ground and watched the clouds roll by, toying with a little flower, while Sterling paced on the dangerous edge of a breakdown. "Okay...okay...so far, we're safe...I don't think Danny has caught on yet...oh but we can't keep this a secret forever!" he glanced at David, who was daydreaming, picking the petals off of the flower one at a time.
"She loves me," he sighed. "She loves me not." he tossed the petal down onto the ground. He picked the last petal off. "She loves me," he laughed dreamily, the faraway look in his eyes never ceasing. "I thought so," he said.
Sterling tried to bring the little baker back to reality. "David! he grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. "Stop acting like a maniac! You're talking like you've lost your mind!"
David still hadn't snapped. "I...I've gotta see her again! I've gotta see her tonight! I'll bet Metro knows where she lives...yeah..."
"David, will you get your head back on your shoulders straight? This behavior has got to stop!"
"We can swim up to her castle near the river...Taylor could splash around a little to get her attention..."
Sterling pulled David's face so close, their noses almost touched. "This is your home, dunce! Right here, on the other side of the river! He let go and started pacing again. "Listen to me, David," he tried to be persuasive, not once glancing at David. "Over there, they've got nothing but work work work, labor labor labor...it's not all fun and games!"
While he was ranting, Taylor walked up quietly to David and whispered something into his ear. David nodded, and on that note, they both walked quietly away.
"Here, we've got work, yeah, but then the rest of the time! I mean there's bow fishing...you'd miss bow fishing so much! And--and the Cake Nation! Wouldn't you miss your job as a baker and cake decorator?"
Sterling turned around, and realized that he'd lost his audience. "David?" he glanced around. "Ooh shizzle, if I find that little idiot, I'm gonna bolt his feet--"
As he spoke, a police car pulled up beside him, which Sterling found odd out in the middle of the fields.
"Can I help you, officer?" Sterling asked, trying to hide his choler.
"You Sterling Knight?" the officer asked.
Uh-oh, Sterling thought. "Um, yes, that's me..."
"Your boss would like to see you." he said, and drove away.
Once the car was gone, Sterling allowed panic to overtake him. "Oh crap...he's found out!"
-----
Back at the Cake Nation, Danny was sitting behind the counter, staring out the window and smiling. He laughed, quietly. "Didn't think the kid had it in him..." he said, sighing.
Sterling walked timidly inside.
"Ah, Mr. Knight!" Danny seemed giddy for someone who was supposed to be scolding him.
"Y-yes?" Sterling stuttered, despite his best efforts, an obvious signal that he was anything but innocent.
"I'm a bit worried about David. Have you not noticed how...strange he's been acting?"
Sterling coughed. "Strange? No, I haven't noticed anything strange..."
"Oh really? Not the way he dances from table to table...or the way he keeps humming these silly tunes all day?"
"Um...well...you know..."
"Sterling,"
"Hmm?" Sterling could feel his hands shaking. Danny always acted real calm like this, right before he exploded at someone.
"I think you've been keeping secrets from me,"
"Um..."
"About20David...being in love..."
"It's not my fault, Danny !" Sterling shouted, a crazed look in his eye. "I told him not to go near that boat, but he did it anyway! I warned him about sailors, I said 'No, David! They're trouble!' But he wouldn't listen! He--"
"Whoa whoa whoa, what's this about sailors?"
Sterling slapped his hand over his mouth. "I...I didn't say sailors...where did you hear that from?" he chuckled nervously.
Danny grabbed Sterling by the shoulders.
Meanwhile...
"Tay, can't you just tell me what this is?" David was being pulled, blindfolded, through the trapdoor in the kitchen.
Taylor continued to drag his friend mercilessly through a set of doorways, bumping him carelessly into several walls. David lifted the corner of the blindfold for a moment, but Taylor quickly pressed it back down.
He finally pulled him through a final doorway, slamming him one more painful time into the wall. "Okay, here we are!" he said, and pulled David's blindfold off.
In shock, David stared at the birthday present that Demi had received on the ship; her self-portrait statue.
"Oh...it's...it's..." He was at a loss for words. He turned to Taylor. "You're the best pal ever!" he pulled his friend into a tight embrace, and then slowly approached the figurine. "It...it looks just like her! All the way up to her beautiful eyes..." he gazed at the statue admiringly, so much so that he didn't notice when Taylor skittered off.
"David!" a familiar voice rang frightfully through the air, and David looked up to see Danny hovering over him.
"Danny!" David's voice cracked in fear, as he took a step backward and away from his boss.
"I gave you a simple set of rules!"
"Danny, I can explain--"
"And I expected those rules to be obeyed!"
"B-but Danny, I only—"
"Is it true you rescued a sailor girl from drowning?" he took a threatening step toward David.
"I--I had to--"
"Any type of contact between over there," Danny thrust a red hand to the West. "And right here," he pointed at the floor. "Is against those rules!"
"Danny, she would have died!" David was practically curled up in the corner, and was all but sobbing.
"One less of those monsters to worry about!"
"Y--you don't even know her!"
"Bah, I don't have to! They're all exactly the same...spineless, ruthless, torturing savages!"
"Danny, I love her!" As soon as he spoke, David slapped his hands over his mouth, shocked at his own words. Sterling gasped, and Taylor hid behind Metro.
The angry man looked like he was about to explode. "David!" he bellowed. "She's a sailor! You--you're a regular!"
"I don't care,"David said, hiding behind the statue with a tear stain on his cheek.
"Boy, I'm gonna get this through to your little foreign head, and I'm afraid there's only one way to do it!" Danny pulled a shelf off of the wall, sending all of its contents smashing to the floor.
"Wait! Please, stop!" David screamed, cowering further behind the statue.
Danny pushed the Demi statue over, and picked up several pieces and smashed them onto the floor.
David stared in horror for a moment, before bursting into tears. He turned his face away from the infuriated boss.
A look of regret crossed Danny's face, but he didn't apologize before he left the hideout.
"David..." Sterling put his hand on the doleful boy's shoulder. "I...I didn't mean to..."
David brushed the hand away. "Go away," he whispered. "Just...just go away."
Sterling hung his head, and signaled for Taylor and Metro to follow him away. "I'm sorry, David." Sterling whispered.
Once his friends had left, David looked around at his destroyed treasures, tears running down his cheeks. "All these years," he whispered, before another sob overtook him.
"Poor, poor kid." a familiar voice said.
"What, who's there?" David looked cautiously around.
"He has a very serious problem." David spotted Jason Earles and his friend Miley Cyrus.
"If only there was something we could do," Jason said, in response to Miley's words.
"Oh, but there is."
David looked frightened. "Wh-what are you d-doing here?" he asked, clutching the rock he was sitting behind.
"Don't be scared kid, we represent a great power," the Miley said. "Someone who can make your wildest dreams come true."
Jason spoke up. "Picture it; You…your princess…beautiful sunsets,"
"Romantic walks on the beach," Miley added.
"Together forever," they said, in unison.
"I...I'm afraid I really don't...understand..." David looked incredibly confused.
"Moises Aries has many resources and great...powers." Jason explained.
David was almost too shocked to speak. "Moises? No...I--I couldn't. Just..." his voice trailed off as he choked back another sob. "Just go away!"
"Your choice," Jason said as he and his partner were leaving. "It was only a suggestion." he kicked a piece of the broken statue toward the lamenting kid. "We're here if you need us."
David stared at the broken face. It almost looked sad, as if its expression had changed. Of course, that was impossible, but it triggered some thoughts in David's head. "Wait!" he shouted after the retreating henchman and henchwoman.
They turned around, expectantly.
-----
Outside of the Cake Nation, Sterling, Taylor, and Metro were standing around outside.
"Hmm," Taylor thought aloud. "I have an idea...be right back."
"Meow," Metro said, mournfully.
"But...I didn't mean to tell...it was an accident!" Sterling sat down. "I don't think it's forgivable." he muttered.
They spotted David walking with Jason and Miley. Even Sterling recognized this as trouble. "David!" he got up and followed them. "David, what do you think you're doing?"
David didn't even turn around to answer. "I'm going to pay Moises a visit," he muttered.
Sterling was utterly shocked. "David, are you insane? Have you lost your mind for good?" he grabbed David by the shoulders and spun him around. "Snap out of it!"
David pushed him coldly away. "Oh yeah? Maybe I have lost my mind! I have an idea; why don't you go tell Danny about it, huh? Maybe that'll solve the problem!" he turned around and continued following Moises' henchman and henchwoman.
"But...David, I--" he huffed. "Come on." he said, signaling for Metro to follow him.