Twin Flames

A High School Musical fanfiction

by

GimmeABeat

beta'd by

Stumbling Dragon

Chapter 9: It's No Use Going Back to Yesterday

"But it's no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.
- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

=/\=

"We're going to convince them that you're a god; so play along, okay?"

Troy couldn't believe what he had just heard. A god? Was she crazed?

"A god? Sharpay, are you crazy?", he asked aloud. "I can't do that! I-I can't just pretend to be a god."

Sharpay stood quickly and rushed over to kneel next to him, ignoring the startled expressions of the men around her. "Listen to me, Troy. And listen fast. When I first got here, they thought I was possessed by evil spirits because my hair was blonde, right?" Troy nodded silently, but had no idea what she was talking about. "So they hacked it off and it grew back dark, so they thought, look at us, we cured her. And everything went on fine from there." She glanced nervously over to the big Indian sitting next to him and smiled slightly. "At least for them", she added under her breath.

"But...", Troy interrupted.

"Ack", she snapped back at him. "I'm not finished yet. Now, we come to you. Hmmmm...", she studied him with mock interest and then, snapped her fingers. "I've got it! Take a look at those eyes. They're blue. Who ever heard of blue eyes on a human? Around here... no one has, Troy. So, ask yourself this. If they cut off my hair because it wasn't how they define normal, what do you think they'll do … with your eyes?"

He got it. Oh boy, did he get it. "Oh my God, you mean they would..." He absently move a hand up to rub at his right eye.

Sharpay didn't say anything. Instead, she dramatically bowed down before him before backing her way back to her seat. It looked like something he had seen in an old movie where the king's subjects weren't allowed to turn their backs on their monarch. Troy drew in a ragged breath and looked around the darkened room. The light from the small fire flickered across the stern faces of the village priests, making them look even more severe. This was going to be a long night.

=/\=

Sharpay smiled graciously to the medicine man. "I've explained what you want to learn and Lord Troy has agreed, but please understand that a god, even a minor one such as Troy, only has a limited amount of time to devote to these proceedings."

"A god?", the elderly medicine man removed the intimidating mask he wore and asked with a raised brow cast in Troy's direction.

"Yes, Grandfather, that is right. He is a minor god of my people." Sharpay used the native term of respect for the old medicine man.

The old man's eyes crinkled in concentration, turning his face into a perfect imitation of a sun-dried apple. "Can your god give us proof of this?"

"Of course, he can … if it amuses him to show us."

The medicine man nodded sagely and indicated for Sharpay to proceed.

=/\=

Troy thought he might squeal like a girl when the old man removed his elaborate mask. That mask, with its strange collection of dangling artifacts, had been bad enough. However, the shriveled up face underneath it was something all together different. The old man's face was covered in an endless maze of deep lines. Troy had never seen anyone in his entire life who looked as old as this man. Yet, he moved quickly on his skinny bird-like legs, so he obviously wasn't as old as he appeared. He supposed that being exposed to the sun for most of his long life had caused all the damage to his skin. When he spoke, it became clear that he only had two remaining teeth, one on the top and one on the bottom, but on opposite sides so that they didn't meet when he closed his mouth. Troy guessed that dental hygiene hadn't been invented yet. To distract himself from staring rudely at the medicine man, Troy decided to concentrate on Sharpay.

She spoke with the old man reverently, which surprised Troy. Sharpay Evans never spoke to anyone reverently with the exception of Ms. Darbus when she wanted something from the drama teacher. Of course, this whole day had been filled with surprises. After watching their short conversation, Sharpay came to him again and spoke in English. No one else could understand what they were saying, even if that big Indian looked like he was taking in every word and dissecting it syllable by syllable in order to glean its meaning. He made Troy very nervous.

"Alright Troy, you need to show them some godlike magic." Her eyes were shining. She was actually enjoying this, but he guessed that made sense since she was the supreme drama queen after all.

"Godlike magic?", he echoed dumbly.

"Yes...", she hissed, "and try not to look so stunned all the time. You supposed to be a god."

"Forgive me...", he grumbled with a distinct lack of conviction. "I guess I'm still trying to wrap my mind around this whole 'they're going to poke my eyes out' thing to think about magic tricks."

She lifted her finger in an 'ah-ha' gesture. "That's it! Do a magic trick!"

"Magic trick? What kind of magic trick?" Troy absently swatted away at his left ear, only to realize too late that the irritating feeling was that big Indian breathing, literally, down his neck.

Sharpay reached over, patted the big guy on his overly muscled bicep, and said something in the Indian language. She sounded uncharacteristically soothing and demure to Troy's English ears, but maybe that was just the cadence of the language. The Indian growled back something to her and Troy realized his mistake. Sharpay had, indeed, been speaking to him in a diffident manner because there was nothing soothing in the big Indian's tone of voice. Surprises never ended in this place.

The big Indian stomped off into a corner to sulk, but at least he was away from Troy. He noticed immediately that his anxiety level lowered a notch or two and he began to breath a little more easily. That is until he looked back and met the expectant brown eyes of Sharpay. They seemed to be saying, "Don't worry about Tulto. He's just a big baby. Do you have anything yet?"

"I-I don't know any magic tricks, Sharpay." And then, because he felt like he was somehow letting her down, he added, "I'm sorry."

She wasn't to be deterred. "Of course, you do. You were in that dorky Junior Magician Club in fifth grade. The whole school watched you do that cool card trick. Remember?"

The pleading that entered her voice seemed to be asking for more than a card trick and then, he did remember.

"You were my assistant", he said simply.

Her beaming smile let him know he was right, along with the growl from a darkened corner of the room from a certain pouting giant. Troy refused to even glance in … she had called him Tulto … in Tulto's direction.

"Yes. You chose me …" She paused for a moment as she seemed to relish the memory before rushing on. "...from the audience, that is. And you told me to think of a card and then, you picked it out of the deck. It was amazing; it was like you could read my mind" She sounded so sincere that for a second he thought he actually might be able to do real magic, then he remembered something else about that performance.

"I remember that", he agreed. "I also remember that you took complete control of the show and you ended up getting more applause than I did."

"Oh, Troy... I had to. You were so nervous I thought you were going to pass out in front of the whole school. Deflecting their attention to me was like a hidden blessing for you."

Troy nodded slowly trying to follow her logic. "Right..."

"So, anyway... how about a trick?"

He sighed and rubbed at his eyes. "Sharpay, I can't do a card trick without a deck of cards and even then, it has to be a trick deck. Plus... I haven't done a magic trick since that day. You're right. I was super nervous, but I was about to throw-up, not faint when you started singing and tap dancing."

A new light appeared in her eyes. "I was wonderful, wasn't I? You know my dance instructor said I was a tap prodigy. Unfortunately, I was born about 50 years too late. That's when tap dancing was super popular, y'know? Have you ever heard of Ginger Rogers or Vera Ellen? No? Well, that just shows you that I'm right. I was born too late. They were the goddesses of the Golden Era of Tap."

"Sharpay, stop. Please, you're scaring me." He stood up and gently took her by her shoulders, forcing her to look at him and forcing himself to look at her and not at you-know-who. He knew she liked to talk about herself, but she was starting to sound manic.

He knew the instant she came back to herself and started focusing on him and the sadness in her eyes nearly broke his heart. Troy wished he could let her continue her trip down memory lane.

"Oh, Troy...", she whispered desperately. "I'm so scared. You came to save me and now you're going to die because of it." She pulled her eyes away from his and looked to the floor. "O-or be blinded. Either way, it's not going to be pretty. Oh God, Troy... I'm so sorry. You should have never come for me."

=/\=

Tulto couldn't control the growl which started low in his throat and threatened to come roaring out in uncontrolled fury. Watching them together was excruciating. Sse was his! The spirits had given her to him and now this fake god is trying to take her from him. Tulto could see how the blue-eyed man looked at his woman and it tore at his very soul.

Finally, he could take it no longer. Tulto took one step toward the pair and found himself toe to toe with the ancient medicine man. Hishtanyi was the most revered man in the village and Tulto immediately bowed his head and stepped back in deference to his position and wisdom. He knew instantly by the stern look on the old man's face that he wasn't pleased.

Tulto bowed his head as he spoke, "I'm sorry, Grandfather. I do not wish to offend." The large man silently turned and climbed up the ladder without a word from the old medicine man, his presence alone was enough to convey his instructions.

=/\=

"What about some other trick? One that you can do without a special prop", encouraged Sharpay. She was speaking so intently to Troy that she didn't notice Tulto's departure, but Troy did and he felt as if he could finally take a complete breath. He just hoped that guy wasn't going to come back with a gun. Did they even have guns here? He hadn't seen any, but you never know.

"Troy! Troy!" Sharpay was waving her hand in front of his face to get his attention.

Troy snapped out of his reverie and told her the first thing that popped into his head. "Okay, okay. How about this? We take a compass and tell the old man that it's a magic little arrow that will point to who will die next. And then, we tell him that he can protect himself by arming himself with all sorts of metal weapons, but they have to be metal, iron actually. Now, by holding all these weapons, he's messed up the way the needle points and he'll believe that he will be the next one to die because the compass needle will be attracted to all of that iron." Troy leaned back, obviously proud of his plan.

Sharpay blinked at him at few times before her eyes started to narrow. That was never a good sign.

Very calmly, she said, "What was I thinking? You're not a god; you're an idiot. First of all, I guess you haven't noticed, but there is no metal here. We're, like, in the stone age or something. Second, just because these people don't speak the same language as you or wear the same clothing as you or live in as nice a house as you ..." She was getting really worked up here. "Doesn't mean they're idiots! We live in a thriving city here with hundreds of people who work together in order to wring out a meager existence in this Godforsaken armpit of the world! We have family, traditions, and culture that you can't even imagine." Her voice dropped an octave and Troy imagined her excellent vocal control must have been the result of years of voice training. Plus, he couldn't help but notice that she had used the personal pronoun, we, and not they when she spoke about the Indians and their way of life. Just how assimilated was she? "So quit acting like some sort of ass and get with the program before they decide to kill the both of us." She ended up inches from his face and he had never seen her look more beautiful and at the same time, more frightening. She took a deep breath, before finishing. "Also... I don't think you have a compass. Do you?"

Troy shook his head and lamely tried to explain. "It worked for Gary Cooper in Unconquered. It was a movie from 1947 with Paulette Goddard. Boris Karloff was the Indian. My dad and I like to watch old movies together, especially John Wayne and Gary Cooper." He paused for a second to gather his thoughts. "Look, Sharpay... I'm really sorry; I didn't mean to insult anybody, but I'm just really out of my element right now and I guess I'm not dealing with it very well."

Sharpay pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and index finger and prayed that the real God would forgive them and help them out of this mess.

In a last ditch effort to salvage this situation, Troy provided quietly, "I've got some change. Maybe I could do some coin tricks. I'm actually pretty good at those. Coin dexterity tricks are good finger exercises for basketball."

Sharpay raised her head as if she were waiting for the punchline and when there was none forthcoming, she cautiously asked, "You think you can pull it off?"

Troy gave her one of his million watt smiles. "I'll give it the ole high school try."

Her head tilted to the right and for a second he thought she was going to lean in and kiss him. Instead, she smiled and said, "Boris Karloff was an Indian? Well, if the same guy who played Frankenstein and the Mummy could pull off playing the part of an Indian chief, then maybe we have a chance of pulling off this performance too."

=/\=

Sharpay distracted the old priests and the medicine man while Troy searched through his pockets to find the right size coin. It had to be large enough to manipulate and small enough to palm in his hand. He decided on a nickel.

"Honored priests and elders, please excuse my Lord Troy, as he is still acclimating himself to our mortal realm." Sharpay smiled sweetly. All those years of acting had never been more useful than in this past year. Plus, her natural love of Shakespeare seemed to translate into any language and made her normal speech sound much more flowery and authoritative. "He will be ready momentarily to demonstrate a small example of his powers."

In English, she asked Troy, "Are you ready?"

He replied as she stepped closer to the center of the room, "As ready as I'll ever be."

"Break a leg."

"Better than losing an eye", quipped Troy.

=/\=

He stepped closer to the fire and noticed that the flames threw multiple shadows of him onto the walls. It had an eerie effect and worked well for making him appear more powerful. Troy started with a simple coin roll by rolling the nickel over the top of his fingers. It was much easier than it appeared and always impressed people the first time they saw it. He deftly rolled the coin across the back of his fingers and back again and then, palmed it in his hand and opened up his palms to show everyone that it was gone. Then, he stepped up to the old medicine man.

Troy tried to reach behind the old man's ear, but he flinched back away from him. Sharpay said something and the man stood up straight and held his ground. Troy smiled reassuringly told him not to worry while at the same time trying to ignore the rancid breath of the old man. That must explain some of his tooth problems.

Troy quickly produced the coin, seemingly from inside the old man's ear. Sharpay and Troy looked expectant … and no one said anything. The crackling of the fire was the only sound in the entire room.

=/\=

Hishtanyi stared blankly at the god-elect, Troy Bolton. This wasn't looking good. With a lightening fast hand, the old man reached and snatched the nickel from teen's hand. Hishtanyi's eyes narrowed, but not in anger, the old man was simply squinting at the small silver coin. He studied it for a while on one side before turning it over. Suddenly, he let out a gasp and ran over to the bench to confer with the village priests.

"What's going on?" Troy's voice was a warm, moist breath on the back of her neck and Sharpay wanted nothing more than to lean back into his strong chest and forget about everything that was happening.

Sharpay swallowed hard and slid forward half-a-step. Now was not the time to give into her desires. There were too many lives at stake.

"I-I'm not sure", she stated coolly. "Hishtanyi is the medicine man of the village. He's the most respected man here." She watched them carefully for a few minutes, trying to pick out snippets of their hushed conversation. "They seemed to be impressed by something on the coin. What was it?"

"Just a nickel", he shrugged.

"Well, there must be something..."

Before she could finish, Hishtanyi stepped up forward and addressed Troy directly as Sharpay translated. "Welcome to Nafiat, Lord Troy. You honor us with your visit." He extended his open hand with the nickel lying on it. "Your magical token..."

"Oh, you can keep that, if you want."

The old man's eyes widened and he looked twenty years younger as his old face cracked into a huge, mostly toothless, smile. "I am honored. You must truly be a great spirit to have captured such a mighty creature within this round disk, but I am not worthy to receive such a gift." He handed the coin back to Troy. This time, Sharpay shared the stunned expression on Troy's face as she leaned over to look at the ordinary nickel lying on Troy's opened palm.

"It's just a nickel, right?", Sharpay asked out the side of her mouth.

Troy peered at it too and saw that it was one of the new Jefferson nickels with a detailed profile of Thomas Jefferson on one side. Sharpay reached over and flipped the coin with her delicate fingers. Troy noted with a pang of guilt that they weren't professionally manicured and painted with sparkly pink accents as he remembered, but were neatly trimmed and tanned. This was more evidence that he was late in his rescue; he just hoped they would be home soon like she promised.

"Wow, take a look at that", Sharpay said with a hint of awe on her breath.

On the tail of the nickel stood an engraved rendering of an American bison, more commonly known as the buffalo, standing on tufts of silvery, metallic prairie grass. His large head appeared to be hunkered down slightly due to the massive size of his heavily muscled and humped shoulders. A long shaggy coat covered his head and shoulders and extended down to form a beard at the end of his powerful chin. The details on the coin were amazing; they could almost see the beast's strong muscles rippling under his fur-covered body. Even at a height of less than half an inch, this buffalo still looked very powerful.

"That explains it", Sharpay said.

"Explains what?"

"Buffalo are a sacred animal here. We eat them, wear them, use their sinew …" She wrinkled her nose at her own thoughts. "... for things I'd rather not talk about. Trust me."

Troy nodded. "So they think that's a real buffalo, trapped in the coin?" He ran his hand through his hair. "Wow, I must be a pretty powerful god to do something like that."

Sharpay smiled brightly at him. "Don't get too full of yourself, Troy. You're not home yet." Then she looked toward the hatchway and saw Tulto standing stoically at the top. She reached over and patted Troy on his arm. "Hey, I need to go now, but I'll meet you tomorrow and we'll go to the glyphs, okay?"

"What? You're leaving me alone with these people?" His eyes flitted nervously to the assembly of old men.

"You don't have anything to worry about. You're a god, remember? You can just stuff them in a coin if they give you any trouble."

"LOL."

"Seriously, you'll be fine. Just meet me at the river tomorrow when the sun is at its zenith."

"Huh?" Troy looked confused and she realized she didn't have to talk in positions of celestial bodies to indicate time to him.

"At noon", she corrected. "Meet me at noon, Troy! Noon. Oh, and if they offer you anything to drink, don't take it. Trust me on this."

He was still nodding slowly as she scooted up the ladder and disappeared through the opening.

=/\=

"I do not believe he is a god", Tulto stated flatly.

Tulto was already lying on the buffalo fur pelt they used as a duvet. A roughly woven cotton sheet covered his lower half, but Sharpay knew he was naked beneath it. He sat propped up on his elbows as he watched her approach from the shadowy corner of the room. She walked slowly toward him, not sure of the reception she would be receiving.

Ensuring that they wouldn't be interrupted, Sharpay looked over her shoulder one last time before replying to his declaration. "You are right. Troy is not a god."

"Then, why..."

"He is my ..." Her what?

Her friend? Were they still friends after all this time? Were they ever?

Her dream lover? Duh, that would get her in some serious trouble.

Her classmate? That wouldn't make any sense to this man. Formal education didn't exist here.

Deciding quickly, Sharpay said, "... my countryman. We are of the same people. I am only trying to save his life."

"You have lied to the priests, to Hishtanyi", he said sternly.

She understood how much Tulto admired the old medicine man. Everyone admired him; he was a great man. Sharpay felt a quick stab of remorse at having tricked him earlier in the evening.

"Troy will be gone tomorrow."

"Will you go with him?" It was asked casually. However, it was anything but a casual question.

She stood next to him now and with equal casualness, she untied her dress and let it drop to the floor, revealing her toned and naked body to his equally naked gaze.

With as steady a voice as she could muster, Sharpay replied, "No, I am not leaving. My place is here. You know that."

"You are not staying because of me." It wasn't a question. He already knew the answer.

"No, not because of you, but I am staying. I promise you this, Tulto."

Sharpay knelt down next to him and tentatively laid her hands on his bare chest. She still wasn't sure of his reactions. They could be volatile at times. He released a slow breath and she could feel the tension leave his body. She exhaled too and hadn't even realized she had been holding her breath until then. She smiled down at him and slowly ran her hands up and down his hairless chest in slow circles. Tulto's skin was hot; he was always several degrees hotter than she, a fact she had much appreciated during the cold winter months.

Sharpay leaned down and flicked her tongue across one of his dark nipples and could feel it contract at her touch. She had never understood why men even had nipples, let alone why they were as much an erogenous zone for men as they were for women. However, it was definitely true. She had yet to meet a guy who didn't love it when she grazed her teeth along his tender flesh.

"Aaaah...", Tulto moaned, right on schedule. "Sse, are you trying to distract me?"

Lifting her head, she answered, "Of course, not. If I wanted to distract you, I would do this."

She swiftly pulled the sheet off him and immediately took his half-erect shaft into her mouth, sinking all the way to its base. He instantly became fully erect and Sharpay had to force herself to relax her throat muscles so she wouldn't gag. Then, she swallowed with his thick organ partially down her throat. The feel of her throat muscles contracting around the head of his penis must feel wonderful because Tulto always groaned in appreciation. She would never be sure, but she suspected that she was the first woman to do this for him. It wasn't something they had actually discussed, not that they ever discussed much of anything.

Using her hand along with her mouth, Sharpay started to bob up and down with deliberately slow measure and intent. She became so focused on her task that it had become just that, a task. She hated herself for it; she normally loved to do this for Tulto, but tonight it just seemed to be a means to an end. And the end was to keep Tulto happy and Troy safe. She looked and met his eyes in the dim light; he was watching her, of course. It was always a turn-on for him to watch her.

To her shock, Tulto's coal black eyes had turned a pale sky-blue and it was Troy Bolton lying in her bed enjoying the pleasure she was willingly giving him. She knew it wasn't real, but God, how she wished they could be together tonight. She let the fantasy overtake her and now she was making love to her Troy, something she had dreamed of for years, but never more than since she found herself stranded here.

With renewed energy, Sharpay began to massage Troy's scrotum with her other hand, keeping her touch light and gentle. A few teasing strokes with her teeth, a firm twisted of her first hand on his solid shaft and she felt his ball sack start to tighten, signaling his approaching climax. Seconds later, he was cumming in her mouth, his warm semen spurting deep into the back of her throat.

After his contractions ended, Sharpay gently kissed the tip of his, now, limp penis and pulled herself up to lie next to him. Contentedly, she looked over and met … Tulto's deep-set dark eyes staring back at her. The fantasy was over. The displaced American teen didn't even try to stop the lone tear which trailed down her face.

=/\=

"Fuck, yes!", roared Troy as long ropes of semen spurted high into the air and his voice filled the now deserted kiva. "Shit...", he moaned darkly as he came awake and realized he had just experienced another wet dream concerning Sharpay. He hadn't had one of those in, oh, it must be an entire day now. Once they got back home, he promised himself he would tell her how he felt. Then, they could be together for real.

TBC

Author Notes:

Poor Troy! He never seemed to get the real thing. Maybe things will change soon.

This whole chapter about Troy's godliness wasn't in my original outline for this story. It just seemed to happen and it's a bit silly in places. Sorry, but I did need to address why they didn't just run up and burn him at the stake or something.

My friend, StumblingDragon, read this chapter and said, "Hey, why don't I get credit since I'm betaing it too." So there you go. The more the merrier. Karazoel will be back as soon as her internet problems are resolved.

There was question about why Troy was a year late from xHeSaidSheSaidx:

Here's my answer. i don't know if you noticed, but in the other chapters, i was trying to show that time was running more quickly for sharpay than for troy. like when she decided to run away she had been there for 5 days, but it was only the next day for troy. and then they camped out at the river and went to glyphs, so that's another day.

and then, of course, when he went in the rock, ... well, let's just say that time is not linear. imagine a timeline from history class... troy fell out a year after sharpay did, but at least that connection they had drew them to the same time frame.

hey, i'm making all this stuff up anyway --- lol