So, here we are again. Welcome back everyone, it's another fun chapter of Rheas and his messed up life. You know, I tried to keep this story about everyone, but we all know Raistlin, the evil scene stealer that he is…Hey, Tanis is having some real emotional issues right now, but forget about that, Raist's coughing! Jerk…
Woohoo! 42 reviews! That ties with Katanon, which is my top fic with the most reviews. Thank you everyone!
He had had this dream before, long ago.
He was seven again, small and frightened. Walking up an endless spiral stairwell into the starless night sky, he shrunk away from shadows with eyes that gleamed hungrily for his blood. They took pleasure in his fear, but no more than that for they did not touch him. He followed a shadow, darker than the others, up the stairs.
When they reached the top, he lifted his small candle and saw a large door looming before him. The shadow turned, its golden hourglass eyes dancing over him briefly before they focussed on the floor by his feet. Looking down, he saw a large ax lying there, covered in blood.
He had seen many action-guts-go-flying movies before, but to truly see blood, or more specifically, his own blood, he shook with an unknown fear and cried out.
The dream had ended there, but now he stood there still, before the door and the shadow that melted into being, a fifteen-year-old once more. Calm, he reached down and lifted the ax. As he lowered his candle, he saw a decapitated head lying not too far away. He didn't need to go look to figure out who's it was. And in his hand he held the ax with his blood.
"I see," he whispered as he dropped the ax. He stood and shook off the omen like a bad rain. Gazing at the shade, he found him as he had seen earlier, a thin form covered head to foot in heavy black robes. His face was hidden in the shadow of his cowl but the golden eyes seemed to glitter with their own light. It didn't matter, Rheas knew what he looked like.
"So I'll be the force to end my own life…" he hissed, narrowing his eyes to the shadow, who simply shrugged. "Then why lead me here? Do you take sick pleasure in tormenting me? What is so important that you must come to me now, night after night, and even in daylight, to show?!"
The shade shook its head and gestured to the door.
"Speak, damn you! I know you can! If we are one in the same, then speak!"
The hourglass eyes flashed maliciously, and the shade turned toward the door.
Rheas stared at him, wide-eyed. "You're right, we are the same, thus…I am your eyes, I am your voice, I am your existence."
The shade nodded patiently, a slender metallic hand reaching toward the door.
"Then I'll take my leave," Rheas said quietly, turning away, "I have no time to play charades with strange ghosts from my subconscious who send me omens of my own death, so farewell and I hope you rot in…hello, what's this?" Rheas spun back as the darkness lifted and he found himself standing in some muted pink desert. There was no sun or stars or moon in the sky, but a dim light filled the strange world anyway.
In what? The Abyss? Too late for that.
"What do you mean?" he asked the shade, appearing beside him.
There is little time left. The deaths shall only increase until there are too few left. Not that that matters.
"Deaths? The illness..."
Precisely.
"Is there a cure?"
That is unimportant.
The muted world melted away, and Rheas found himself standing alone in a place washed with red. Bodies littered the ground and foul disease filled the air. Blood rain poured down onto his head as he felt his feet sink into mud.
"How can I stop this?" he shouted at the shade, who stood atop a knoll, unaffected by the rain pouring down into his white hair, deepening it to a dark crimson.
You are a fool. You think this is an accident, this is a war!
"Then tell me what I must do!"
The red plane began to darken and fade away to endless black, the shade with it.
You can fight it, and die, or you can do nothing, and die.
"I want to live! I will use it. I shall take it and you will vanish away, into me."
I encourage it…
Gold tinted hands suddenly reached out from the dark and grabbed Rheas' head roughly, the long fingers digging into his flesh. The hands began to guide him into a heavy darkness.
"No…" he growled, and took hold of the arms and pulled back, twisting them. The hands let go and he thrust the shade down before him. He gasped.
It was now he that had the golden skin, the heavy robes, holding tightly to a young boy with auburn hair and pale skin, wearing what appeared to be a bed sheet. The roles had reversed, and yet, had not. He was supposedly looking upon himself, but something was wrong.
The young boy before him had blue eyes, pale and icy. Not golden. Not golden at all.
And Rheas woke up.
"And so Goldie told me I was acting too modern, or something."
"How the hell does one act 'too modern'?" Cameron pondered, pouring himself a bowl of cereal.
"Probably everyone's new obsession with the new upcoming millenium. No one's stopped and said, 'hey, that's still over six months away' lately." Sam proposed, bored with the whole subject.
"I think you're both missing the point." River sighed, leaning on the counter lazily, "But then again, how does one define 'modern'? New millenium, and what's gonna be labeled 'last millenium', and 'current millenium'?"
Cameron opened his mouth, despite the food, to say something when he looked up and saw Rheas stroll past, his long hair uncombed. He was wearing a faded flannel jacket with the sleeves cut short, a black rock concert shirt from 1993, torn up jeans, old black and white sneakers, and his 'annoying black bandana of evil'.
"And then there's my brother who's trapped in the early nineties." he added wryly, before hurrying over and grabbing Rheas by the arm.
"What?" Rheas snapped, straightening his gloves.
"Rheas, why are you wearing my jacket?" Cameron inquired.
"My sweatshirts gone…"
"Hallelujah."
"…and you haven't worn this since, when?"
"Fifth grade. Does that tell you something, Rheas?"
"My brother has an odd attachment to plaid?" Rheas sneered, raising an eyebrow. An early morning game of bantering never hurt anybody.
Cameron sighed and put both hands on his brother's thin shoulders gently. "Rheas, I'm going to tell you something that may hurt, but must be known. Grunge is dead."
A flash of a crooked smile, and then Rheas cleared his throat and his face turned serious, almost sorrowful. "I know," he played, acting as though he was about to burst into tears, "but sometimes, I feel he's still here with me, in the hearts of each and every one of us. And I know, that I will find the strength to go on…but it's just so hard…" he wiped at his dry eyes repeatedly, "Excuse me I…just need to be alone…!" He then put his face in his hands and ran out of the room.
River shook his head, snickering.
"It's not funny." Cameron retorted, though couldn't fight the smile tugging at his lips. Once again, the runt had won.
Rheas poked his head back around the corner, "And it's not dead, just…biding its time." and then he was gone again.
Cameron returned to his cereal, muttering, "He'll be gone all weekend, he'll be gone all weekend…"
"Mother," Rheas called, plopping down on the steps that led down to the laundry room.
She looked up from her laundry and smiled. "Yes, sweetie?"
He cringed but let it go. "While I'm at school, would you sew this up for me? I leave for the festival right after." he said, holding out a black garment.
"It ripped again?" she sighed, taking it and looking it over, "where?"
"At the shoulder while I was trying it on."
"This," she said, flapping it in Rheas' direction, "is on its last trip I would think. You've outgrown it."
"No I haven't."
"You're growing, Rheas. This is the third time it ripped on you."
"Well I can't just stroll down to the nearest Target and get another one, can I? Besides, they're expensive. And what would I do with that one? Not throw it away…"
"Just box it up for your children."
"Mother, I am not having children, especially not anytime soon, face facts."
"I'll never be a grandmother," she pouted, folding the heavy garment gently.
"Talk to Cameron…one of those condoms has got to break someday…" he muttered.
"What did you say Rheas?"
"Nothing."
"I'll sew it up one last time, but then it's time to retire this old thing."
"Very well. Thanks." He stood and began to walk back up the steps.
"Wait, what about the other things, your boots, breeches…"
"All good Mother. I'm growing up, literally, not out."
Toby strolled into the library casually. Mrs. Biggleman had grown sick of her class and 'punished' them to reading time. Punishment for Toby, especially. So he had used the excuse that he needed a book and she let him trot off to the library to get one.
"And this time, go straight there, get your book, and come straight back," he repeated for himself, "Yeah, I can do that. I won't dawdle, nope. Nothing will separate me from my mission, I am as set as stone--"
"Toby!" Rheas waved from his seat across the room.
Whoosh, went the freshman's thoughts. "Rheas!" he turned and bounded over happily. "What are you doing here, don't you have science?"
"I got kicked out for questioning the evolution theory to an annoying extent. You?"
"Me too." Toby replied without thinking as he settled beside his companion. "So what's so important you called me over and…you're beaming."
"No I'm not."
"Yes you are, you have that 'I've got your soul' look about you again. What'd you do?"
Rheas leaned close and whispered, "I'm close. I think I'm close to figuring out that language."
"Really?" Toby scooted forward, "Give, give!"
"Take a look at this," Rheas said quietly, pulling out a small clipping and handing it to the shorter boy, "That is a statue that was found in the old ruins of the Temple of Ishtar…"
"Ishtar? That sounds familiar…" Toby pondered, gazing at the small picture of the statue, "Is that the city that sank into the ocean?"
"That's Atlantis, stupid. The Temple of Ishtar at Mari in Mesopotamia, Ishtar was the goddess of Love and War. But here, look at the writing on the statue. Look familiar? That character right there is the symbol for 'moon', now look here," he laid out the piece of paper with the written copies of the wood, "Look at our first symbol."
"They're…They're exactly the same!"
"Almost, a few lines are misplaced, and the writing on the wood is more fluent. This writing was not done with reeds as in Mesopotamia and Egypt."
"So the first character is 'moon'."
"Perhaps. They are similar, but the meanings may differ entirely. I don't believe so, but don't get your hopes up."
"But if they are the same, what is the second symbol?"
"I was looking that up when you came in."
"Well look man look! Every new word is another small step for man! Of course, with me, it's really small steps and…"
"Shut up and look through this book here." Rheas snapped, tossing a book over as he continued skimming through his own.
"Yes sir!"
"O I've got a friend who's really really smart and he figures out old languages…" Toby sang to himself as he skipped along, topknot bobbing. Rheas reached out and snagged the wild brush of hair angrily.
"Ow!"
"Will you shut up! It's all mere luck and the chances of our being correct is slim."
"Did you ever consider that the glass could be half full?"
"Alright everyone, twenty minutes jogging. Pace yourselves or you'll lose points, go!" the gym teacher cried. The blob of students surged forward along the wet track.
"'Pace yourselves'" Rheas mimicked viscously, "I'll walk thanks!" He turned and walked leisurely along the outer ring of the track. Toby followed him nervously.
"What's with the mood?" Toby asked timidly.
"I'm sick of this…"
"Bender, Madison! Get going!"
"I'm sick of them…"
"Um, Rheas?"
"I'm tired Toby. I don't want to deal with them today."
"You know Rheas, you're only young once…"
"Good."
"Maybe you wouldn't exhaust yourself to the point of well…pissyness if you'd actually enjoy your childhood, instead of just trying to get through it. Life is only so long, you know."
"I know. You know. Ever since your little sister died you've been this…annoying little ball of activity. I always wondered about that. You're trying to live both lives."
"Nah," Toby replied, serious, "I just realized how precious life was, and that any day, I may lose it. Not that I'm scared about it or anything, just that, if something happens, I'll have lived to the best of my ability."
"Words of wisdom from the speedball." Rheas sighed, a slight smile twisting its way across his face. They walked in silence a few moments, until Toby's energy kicked back in and he continued skipping about.
"So," he began, kicking a stray pebble that had made its way onto the track, "if our translation is correct, then what do we got so far?"
"'Moon', 'sleep', 'mountain', 'god', and 'dwelling'. What do you make of that?" Rheas yawned, stretching.
"'The moon sleeps in the mountain god's dwelling'?"
"No, the characters 'moon' and 'sleep' were together, as well as 'god' and 'dwelling', so I think they're supposed to represent one idea."
"So…'moonsleep mountain godhome'. Hmm…Well, when the moon sets, the people once believed that it fell to the earth to sleep or something. Like a moonset."
Rheas paused and shook his head. "I didn't even think of that. So, we have a setting moon and a mountain. The way the characters were shown…A moon setting into the mountain…they're directions."
"The moon sets in the west…I found that thing in the rainforest, and the only mountains directly west of there, on this continent, anyway, would be the Olympic."
"A western mountain…god home…the gods' home, if we are correct…"
"Ooh, I'm getting tingly," Toby giggled.
"…Olympus."
"Huh?" Toby paused. He had faded a moment, lost in his excitement.
"Mount Olympus, home of the gods. Not the same mountain from mythology, but it fits our little name-game."
"You're right! Oh we are so good together!" Toby cried opening his arms as though to embrace his companion.
"Don't touch me."
"…Right…sorry…"
"We're going to Mount Olympus!" the short freshman cried happily as he pulled his shoes back on and slapped his locker-basket closed, "This'll be so exciting!"
"No, we are going to…" Rheas paused as he pulled his shirt back over his head, "…the rainforest. The wood chunk is incomplete, remember? We don't have a reason to go to Olympus yet, and a week is only so long."
"Good point," Toby sighed, his mood squished. However, it had a way of bouncing back. "Still, tonight is the night! We head off on our own adventure."
"Just like I promised you."
"You also promised me you would take me up into the Space Needle for dinner. You gonna keep that one too?"
"When did I…?"
"Last year, we were studying and you said," he changed his face to a death-glare and flattened his voice, "'Toby, if you shut up for at least one hour, I'll take you up the Space Needle.' and I said, 'Really? Can we have dinner up there too?' and you said, 'Fine whatever, shut up.' And I was silent that whole hour! So you owe me dinner!"
"You kept your mouth shut but you squirmed so much you were obnoxious. That forfeits dinner."
"Does not!"
"Does so."
"Does not!"
"I'm not getting caught up in one of your arguments again."
Toby smiled impishly, "Only because I'm better at them than you."
"I don't even need friends…so why do I put up with you day after day…" Rheas muttered to himself as they left the locker room.
They traveled up the back ramp lazily, taking their time as they were really in no rush to get to class. Sliding back and forth in time, headbanging as was appropriate, the two 'practiced' loudly, ignoring the weird stares they were receiving from the few students that were traveling that direction.
"So you think you can stop me and spit in my eye?
So you think you can love me and leave me to die----?
Oh baby, can't do this to me baby,
Just gotta get out, just gotta get right out of here!"
Dizzy and laughing, Toby finally draped himself over the railing, small fits of giggles sending spasms through his little body. "Hee…" he rambled drunkenly, "good song, good song…heehee…"
Rheas grabbed his shorter comrade and dragged him up the rest of the ramp.
"Hey Cameron! -hic- What're ya doing back here?" Toby cried, hiccuping.
"Beat it you two, I'm in no mood."
"It seems you have hit a deep point in your day, am I correct?"
"One hit and you're down Rheas, you know that."
"Yes, yes. Toby, go along ahead of me."
"Aw…" the shorter boy grumbled, slipping his hands in his pockets and stalking off sadly. "Brother moments…" they heard him mutter as he vanished around the corner. The two waited a few minutes until they were sure they had bored the spying freshman and he had moved on to find more interesting things.
"So," Rheas began, leaning on the wall beside his elder sibling, "I assume this is about Thomas?"
"How'd you know?"
"I have ears, Cameron. No matter how fucked up I may be off those drugs I can still hear you. It just takes me a while longer to register it."
"Then you know he has that new disease thing that's spreading around."
"Yes. Which is why you shouldn't worry about it."
Cameron stepped away from Rheas, glaring at him viscously. "You heartless bastard."
"Perhaps. But I say not to worry because there is no reason to worry."
"No reason!?" he finally exploded, "It's fatal! It's going to fucking kill him! Don't worry!?"
"Cameron, I've lied to you a lot, and I always will, but right now I have no reason to. He'll be fine."
"Rheas, nobody's lived through this yet and…"
"He will live, I assure you." Rheas stated firmly. He stood and began to make his way back down the ramp. "Have faith in our dear half-elf!" he sneered over his shoulder.
Cameron stood there, bewildered. "Half-elf?" he whispered.
Thomas flipped through the deck of cards absently. He was feeling a little better today, albeit that meant he was simply conscious and not flailing about in a delirium, but better nonetheless. Of course, the doctors had said this was probably the last resurfacing until he made his wonderful plummet to oblivion. Well, not quite like that, but that's all Thomas knew. It kind of killed the pleasure of finding something to do.
Tired, weak, and feeling rather stupid, he tossed the cards away and stared at the ceiling. So much he hadn't done…he'd never graduate, never go to college, get married, have a family, never tell Laura about his feelings at last…Great, now he was feeling depressed.
At first he ignored the movement in the corner of his eyes, but then lifted his head, startled, when a thin figure began to draw the curtain around him. Squinting, trying to see through the blur, he could almost make out…oh.
"You're the last person I honestly expected to see here Rheas." Thomas whispered hoarsely.
"I don't doubt that," the freshman replied quietly, sitting beside the bed in an uncomfortable chair. He gazed at Thomas not unkindly, but not fondly either. For one moment, Thomas almost could see the eyes of an elder man gazing upon an old companion not seen in years, and then it was gone, replaced by the eyes of a child who had never been such.
"I haven't seen you lately, how have you been?" Thomas began conversationally.
"Enlightened. I needn't ask you the same, I believe."
"No, you don't."
"My brother and the others will be by to see you later."
"Good, I was getting lonely…wait, how did you get here?"
"Took my bike over to the park and ride. Got on a bus to here. I can't stay too long or I'll miss the bus back."
"No offense, but I've never known you to do something without a reason," the senior said warily, "seems like a lot of trouble for a simple goodbye. I'm touched."
"Why would I ever come to say goodbye?" Rheas said in mock surprise. "Listen Thom, there will be no 'plummet' for you, you'll be out of here soon enough."
"Your concern is nice Rheas, but I've already accepted my fate, don't make this harder."
"Fate has nothing to do with this, not completely."
"This is fatal Rheas, I've accepted that. There has been no survivors of it yet and I…"
"One."
"What?"
"As far as I know, there has been one survivor. Myself."
"Rheas, you had a fever. It could have been anything…"
"It never felt right. It doesn't feel like a fever, does it? That's only the reaction from your body. But I checked all symptoms known, and I had them. I live, ironically enough. Even now your fever will begin to break and fall away."
"I almost believe you. What makes you so sure that I am the one who will live, and not the man in the next cot?"
"Because you were in the dream with me. Despite your words you followed and accepted the hand of the stranger, didn't you?"
"How do you know that?"
"I was there too, remember? Salvation for some, Thomas, death for many. This disease is only the beginning, the warning arrow. For us, it is our salvation. We will live through the first raids as the weak are weeded out. After that…" he trailed off and shrugged. He rose, stretching his legs. "I must go, else I'll miss that bus and then I'll have Toby after me. I'll see you later." He pulled back the curtain and began to leave, when Thomas called after him.
"What is this 'salvation' then? And why us?"
Rheas turned and stared at him, long and hard. He didn't need to answer, Thomas could read the reply in his scalding eyes.
I don't know.
Whew, almost done…
With the intro, not the fic, I mean. Sorry gang, but this whole highschool bit is only the intro…the biggest friggen intro I've ever written…in .doc form it's 84 pages, and in HTML form…174…goodness…I guess that means get going with the plot. This chapter was supposed to keep going, but that would have taken forever and the best break point is right here. But the next chapter will be rather fun; Toby and Rheas at the festival, a slight bit of romance (cough), Fizban, and Rheas finally snaps! (hack hack…wheeze…)
Join us next time, won't you?