Author's Note: Hey, everyone! A little bit of a longer chapter this time around, and, I would also argue, a little more plot development.

We Will Burn the Sky

Chapter VI

Friday was April Fool's Day, and a day Dil used to enjoy, when he was younger. Dil enjoyed April Fool's Day, because he always wanted to see if people could tell that he was joking, or if he was being serious. But those days were all in the past. For April Fool's Day of 2016, Blaer Pickles spent the evening with her paternal grandparents, while her father enjoyed an evening with his bandmates at The Friendly Tap. Tommy and Kimi were present as well, since they would be returning to Los Angeles sometime on Saturday. All was well for the members of Dark Stairway and Tommy and Kimi. Dil was his traditional cheerful self, until a song changed his mood. James had selected various songs on the digital jukebox. One of those songs was Judas Priest's 'Out in the Cold'. When Dil heard the song, his mood changed. Gone was the 'happy go-lucky' character, and in its place was a melancholy Dylan Pickles. Those present tried to cheer him up. Tommy suggested that it would perhaps be best, if his brother visited a psychologist. The suggestion, however, infuriated Dil, who promptly left the bar.

At home, Dil turned off his cellphone. Calls came to his landline telephone, but Dil refused to answer them. Dil sat in his bedroom with the lights off. The only light came from the Moon and from his computer screen. Dil may have left the bar, but he continued to drink. On YouTube, Dil played songs to reflect his mood. Grave Digger's 'Yesterday' and 'Always and Eternally' were two of the songs that he played. So was DIO's 'Invisible'. And a live version of The Scorpions' 'We'll Burn the Sky' was a song Dil played frequently.

Dil, who was becoming more and more intoxication, began to weep. While 'We'll Burn the Sky' played, Dil stared at the sky outside his bedroom window. A star sparkled. "If that you, Dezirae, please know that I love you, and I miss you," Dil said through his tears.

Eventually, Dil sat on his bed. He placed his half-full Bud Light bottle on a nightstand, and laid his head on a pillow. Dil's eyes turn to the ceiling. "Why couldn't I have died instead of Dezirae?" he thought. "Blaer would be better taken care of, if Dezirae was here, rather than me. My bandmates would have suffered some, I'm sure, but they would have found a new lead singer eventually ."

Alcohol, of course, is one of the world's best downers. And Dil Pickles, eventually, went into dream land.

Around seven in the morning, Dil gasped. He woke up in a cold sweat. He was hung-over, but he was thankful to be up. "My God," he said. "What a nightmare!"

Dil turned to his nightstand. He saw his half-empty bottle of Bud Light. "I can't believe how much I drank last night."

Dil grabbed the bottle, and poured the remaining contents down his bathroom sink. "What a waste of good beer," he said.

Once Dil left his bathroom, his landline telephone rang. His Caller ID revealed that the caller was his brother. "Hello?"

"Dil!" exclaimed Tommy. "Thank God. I was worried about you."

"You were?"

Tommy nodded. "Yes! Kimi and I drove by your house last night, and I could tell that your car was in the garage. I thought about knocking on your door, but Kimi told me not to. That's when I tried calling your cellphone and landline multiple times, but I got no response. Kimi told me that I should 'give you some space', but I was worried about you."

Dil twirled a strand of his long hair. "I didn't feel like talking to anybody last night, Tommy."

Again, Tommy nodded. "I understand, Dil. Look, please understand that I was only trying to help you. I wasn't trying to hurt you, when I said that you needed to see a psychologist. It's just that, well, Dil, I want my brother back. I want the 'happy-go-luck' Dil that's my brother. I don't want this guy that's subjected to mood swings. They're not fun to be around."

Dil smiled. "Yeah, like Ritchie Blackmore."

"Huh?"

"Ritchie Blackmore, the musician."

"Yeah, I know who he is. What about him?"

"He's known to be very moody."

Tommy smiled.

"Anyway, based on the nightmare I had last night, maybe I should go see a shrink."

"A nightmare?"

"Yeah."

"What about it?"

Dil went into detail about the nightmare that he had experienced.

Tommy was stunned. "Wow that is…odd."

Dil nodded. "Yeah, I know. Anyway, when are you and Kimi leaving for LA?"

"The flight out is at 11:00 this morning. What are your plans for the day?"

"I'm kind of surprised you asked me that. I have to pick up Blaer at Mom and Dad's, and take her to Slosh Mountain."

"Oh, that's right!"

"I guess other than that, I might try to get a quick workout in."

"You remember that time we ended up taking Grandpa Boris there?"

Dil chuckled. "Sure do, T. He had surgery on his cataracts, so we lied and told him that we're taking him to the senior center, and then we ended up losing him in the park."

"'Back in the old country,'" Tommy began, as he tried to mimic his late maternal grandfather's accent.

Dil laughed. "I'll be curious to see how Blaer enjoys it. I'm sure Mom has got her all dressed up. I bought her one of those toddler swimsuits and a few of those swimmer's diapers."

Tommy smiled. "Mom really likes being around her, you know?"

"Well, yeah, it's her granddaughter."

"No, I think it's more than that."

"Well, what is it then?"

Tommy smirked. "I think Blaer represents the girl Mom always wanted."

Dil sighed. "Oh God, you're not going to go into the whole thing about how Mom and Dad expected me to be a girl, are you?"

Tommy laughed. "No, no, I'm just saying that I think that if Blaer had been born a boy, Mom might have felt a different bond toward her grandchild."

Dil smirked. "Perhaps."

"Anyway, Dil, I'm going to have to take off from here. Kimi and I need to get things ready, before we take off for the airport."

"Okay, Tommy. Well, I guess that I'll see you whenever you come back here, or maybe I'll see you sometime in LA."

"See ya around, D."

"See ya, T."

Dil arrived at his parents' house around noon. He wore a DIO shirt with artwork from The Last in Line album on the front and his swimming trunks.

"Hello, everyone!" Dil said, as he entered his childhood home. "Mom? Dad? Blaer?"

"Hi, Dil!" Didi said, while she exited the kitchen.

"Hey, Mom. Where's Dad at, and where's Blaer?"

"Your father's at the hardware store. Blaer's upstairs in your old bedroom."

"I take it Blaer's ready to go?"

"Of course! I got her all dressed up about ten minutes ago. Also, I bought something else for her, in case she needs it."

"What's that?"

Didi smiled. "Well, you'll just have to see."

Dil ascended the staircase with his mother behind him. At the final step, Dil stepped over the baby gate to emerge on the second floor of the Pickles residence. From there, Dil entered his childhood bedroom. Little of its interior remained from Dil's days as a child and teenager. What did remain were a Metallica poster, which displayed how the band appeared in the early 1990s; a burned CD of AC/DC's Back in Black; Dil's childhood bed; and images of planets from the solar system, which hung above the bed. One new feature, or rather a feature from the past, was the crib that Tommy and Dil had slept in, when they were little. Now the crib acted as a bed for Blaer, when she stayed with her paternal grandparents.

Blaer Pickles sat on the floor in her purple swimsuit with swimmer's diaper underneath. She browsed through a pop-up book.

"There's my baby girl!" Dil said, before he quickly snatched and tickled his daughter.

Blaer giggled, but through her giggles she exclaimed, "Daddy!"

Dil kissed his daughter's cheek, and sat on the floor with Blaer on his lap, before he turned to his mother.

Didi smiled. "You're a great father, Dil."

"Thanks," Dil said with a smirk. "Unfortunately, I'm a lousy father, Mom," were Dil's inner thoughts. But verbally, he said, "So what's the new thing that you bought her? She's wearing everything that I got her."

"I bought her these," responded Didi, while she grabbed a pair of inflatable armbands.

"Floaties?"

Didi nodded. "I bought them for her yesterday and your father blew them up with the bicycle pump you and Tommy used long ago. I thought she might need them; you never know."

Dil nodded. "True, you never do. Well," began Dil, while he stood with Blaer in his arms, "I guess we should get ready to go." Dil turned to his daughter. "Blaer, are you ready to go swim with Kirk, Ian, and Austra?"

"Yeah!"

Dil chuckled.

Didi smiled, and kissed her granddaughter. "Be safe, and have fun, sweetie."

At Slosh Mountain, Dil spent little time in the water. While he did play some with Blaer in the 'kiddie pool', he spent most of his time watching Blaer play with Ian, Austra, and Kirk—or in reality, Blaer played with Kirk more than she did with Ian and Austra, probably due to the age difference between the children.

Unlike Dil, Angelica, Johnny, Chuckie, and Ashley were active with playing with their children. At the moment, however, Kirk and Blaer played, while Ian and Austra played. Yet, the distance between Angelica, Johnny, Chuckie, and Ashley to their children and Dil was enough for them to have a conversation without it being heard by either Dil or the children.

"I just don't get Dil," said Ashley. "Why doesn't he want to come in here, and play with his daughter?"

"He could be going through a mood swing," replied Johnny. "He's been going through a lot of them lately."

"Like someone who's pregnant," interjected Angelica.

Those present chuckled.

But Johnny smirked. "Seriously though, you know."

"I take it he's been this way ever since Dezirae's passing?" said Chuckie.

Johnny nodded. "Pretty much—we were on tour with Iron Maiden, and there were times that Dil would just stare off into space. And then there were times that he was the character that we all know and love."

"Or loathe," added Angelica.

Again, those present chuckled.

But Angelica smirked. "Seriously though, I love my cousin."

"Question, Johnny," said Chuckie.

"What's that, Chuckie?"

"When Dil is 'staring off into space', are you really sure that he's just not having a conversation with Ronnie James Dio?"

Those present laughed.

Eventually, Johnny smiled. "I don't think so."

"And why's that?" asked Chuckie.

"He looked too much at his wedding ring. I could tell that he was thinking about Dezirae."

"But it's been nearly five months," said Angelica. "How long is Dil going to mourn?"

"Queen Victoria mourned for her husband for nearly forty years," responded Chuckie.

"But I would think that considering Dil's basically a 'rock star' that he would have girls all over him?" said Angelica.

"He does," answered Johnny. "But Dil never lets them get too far with him. Sometimes he'll even show his wedding ring—almost as a way to tell them to 'back off'."

"That's love," said Ashley.

"That it is," said Johnny.

Eventually, Angelica turned to her younger cousin and said, "Dil, are you going to come in and join us? I think Blaer would really like it."

Dil smiled. He may not have heard the conversation between Angelica, Johnny, Chuckie, and Ashley, but he was not going through a 'mood swing'. Instead, he was acting in what he thought was his daughter's best interest. "No," said Dil, "I want to keep my eyes on Blaer—to make sure Kirk doesn't try to give her a quick kiss, while I'm not looking—but I want to give my daughter her own space. One day Blaer's going to have to do things on her own, so I want to give her some freedom at an early age."

Angelica, Johnny, Chuckie, and Ashley were stunned. Some of them have questioned Dil's parental skills, and here he was saying something quite intelligent. Also, Dil's statement made them wonder if perhaps they were not being too overprotective toward their children.

"Hey, Dil!" said an outside voice.

Dil turned to the voice. Its owner was someone Dil had known since childhood. "Hey, Lil, nice bikini!"

Lil DeVille blushed in her red and black bikini. "Thanks, do you like it?"

Dil smiled. "Very much so. So what are you doing here? Trying to pick up single fathers?"

Lil chuckled. "No, no, nothing like that. I have a client, who has a little boy. I occasionally come here with her and her son."

"Oh, that's right; you decided to apply for work at another psychology firm. No longer doing the sports psychology thing, I take it?"

"If it gets sent to me, but now I just handle all kinds of cases."

Dil nodded.

"I take it that you're here with Blaer?" asked Lil.

Again, Dil nodded. "Yeah, and I'm also here with Angelica, Johnny, Chuckie, Ashley, and their kids."

"Oh, where are they at?"

"Over there," gestured Lil.

"Well, I'll have to say 'hello' to them."

"Lil?"

"Yeah, Dil?"

"Do you know much about dreams?"

"Dreams? What do you mean?"

"Well, you know, like how Doctor Freud talked about dreams?"

"You mean in a psychological sense?"

"Yeah."

"Well, yeah sure, to a certain degree."

"Would you be willing to evaluate me?"

"Evaluate you?!"

Dil chuckled. "Well, yeah."

Lil also chuckled. "You're an odd one, Dil."

"Come now, I'm being serious."

"You are?"

"Yes! Would you be willing to evaluate me or not?"

"Well, sure, Dil—call and make an appointment."

"Thanks, I will."

Lil playfully touched Dil's nose and smiled. "You're a psychologist's dream."

Dil playfully tickled Lil. "Thanks."

Lil giggled. "Well, I'm going to say 'hi' to everyone else. Hope to see you sometime this upcoming week."

Dil smiled. "That you will." But as Lil walked away, Dil observed her. "I never really noticed how pretty Lil was until now. Damn, she's gorgeous! When she touched me, I have to admit, I felt something. Something that I haven't felt in a long time."