Chapter 59: Finale
Finale? What?! Oh my. Well, let's get going then. By the way, lovely readers, stick around after the end, the author has a bit of a surprise for you. Anyways, onto the actual story!
The group of 8 peeps have begun work, and seeing as it was around 5:15 PM, they all agreed to work on this until around 7:30 or so, just so that they don't spend their days working on this thing. After all, everyone wants to do other things, not just a one-note type of thing.
As for who was assigned what, Chris, Ed, Marie and Lee were assigned for carrying objects that were rather heavy in weight, and also finding said objects that were needed. Seeing as they are the strongest of the whole group, it made sense, right?
Double D, May, Eddy, and Skylar were taking of the rest, such as organization of the parts, figuring what goes where, how something works, and fixing up any issues that might arise. In addition, they check up on the sound, just to see if it is registering correctly.
Now, you might think just because there are a lot of people working on this, flaws wouldn't occur? Well... that would be incorrect! Flaws do arise, such as for example, Eddy accidentally adjusted something incorrectly, and the speaker made a horrible loud screeching noise that sounded like the noise a bomb fuse makes before exploding. Or something of that manner.
Another thing that would occur sometimes is, that example from before was a loud one. How about one where there just isn't any sound? Yeah, that occurred a handful times too, however it did get quickly resolved. Although, sometimes they forgot to turn the volume down on Chris's phone (the connected device), and it would blare LOUDLY. For a brief few seconds. I'm sure the neighbors are 120% fine. No complaints at all!
Last issue that was common was, in terms of its sound, it would be clouded by a rather annoying buzz, or fuzz-like sound, making the songs sound horrendously, like it came from a 1940's microphone. Despite all of this, the crew persisted, after all, they don't exactly know what else to do with the parts, sell them? Destroy them?
At around 6:40 PM, Double D tells the crew, "Everyone, I believe we should take a break from this, seeing as my ears feel like they might start ringing, and I'd much rather not take chances with such an idea."
"Telling me! I almost destroyed that thing!" exclaimed Eddy, annoyed. "It almost took off my eardrums! Ugh."
"Relax sweetie." states Lee. "You'll be okay. You ain't listening to that every second of the day, right?"
The two share a kiss after Lee says that, and Eddy gives it back, of course. They break it after 5 seconds, after which Marie says, "Man! Hard to believe you two got together, especially after everything!"
"Marie isn't wrong." said Chris. "But hey! I'm pretty sure being all... romantic or whatever, is better than not, right?"
"Pssh, how about you and your man Marie! Don't be comparing now!" fired back Lee.
"While I can certainly understand this perspective, I must mention that it's all from a genuine place." explains Double D. "Everyone here has seemingly gotten to care and have trust in one another, which doesn't come from nowhere. Trust, love and care, that's where it comes from!"
Once Double D finishes up his last sentence, he receives an unexpected kiss from Marie on the lips, in which he gives back. While they're "busy" with that, Ed states, "I'm just glad to call you guys my good pals, as the more... the uh... married?"
"It's the more, the merrier Ed." responded Chris. "But you said eh?"
"Indeed he did eh? Although I came rather late to your party, glad I can be with you." stated Skylar, making Chris laugh nervously.
"I agree with you Skylar! This is fun!" said May.
Double D and Marie break off their kiss, before the former says, "Well, I'm glad we all agree on that. Refreshments anyone?"
Everyone says a variation of yes, and so, they all head into Double D's living room. Since it was what was easiest to give, Double D gave everyone a glass of water, letting the crew know that if they wanted a refill, just to let him know. While taking a break, the crew decide to strike up a conversation about some stuff.
"Man, it's hard to believe." said Chris out loud.
"What is?" asked Eddy.
"Well, okay... how do I explain... since I got here, it seems like the plot of a ridiculous drama filled romance novel unfolded. On top of this, it's just absurd how much things seem to have changed here in what feels like a very short span of time. Either I'm overthinking this, or something else." explained Chris.
Double D added on, "I can certainly understand your sentiment, as it seems as circumstances had indeed taken a noticeable turn in the last few weeks. While we've all had our conflicts, I believe it's rational to assume that we've all moved on from that, and moved on to much more civilized manners."
"We are all a happy family!" yelled out Ed, after which he somehow grabs EVERYONE into a rather tight hug. Perhaps he has the ability to extend his arms? Regardless, everyone, with the exception of May, shouts "ED!", and he lets them all go, laughing a little bit.
"You can also add tight to that, my god." stated Eddy, stretching a bit.
Lee shares a laugh at Eddy's statement, saying, "I thought you liked some hugs, eh?"
"Yeah, just not ones where my spine is about to break! How are you even questioning me on that one?!" exclaimed Eddy.
"Alright, you got a good point. I better not hear you complaining with me however!" responded Lee, jokingly.
Eddy gives a sheepish smile and two thumbs up, to signal that he agrees. Very reluctantly.
"If I can throw my two cents here, I know I wasn't here for like, I don't know, half of this stuff, but it is nice to see everyone having making peace, and not being constant knobs about it." stated Skylar.
"Don't worry about it Skylar, you're no less important, as you've helped one of us out at least, me being one of them." responded Marie.
May also adds on, "Yeah! Thanks for the makeup you did the other day!"
"Your welcome for that, it's no issue." responds Skylar. "It's one of the things I specialize in, as my mother would say, but yeah. Happy to help any of you seven out with anything, be it school, personally, or just general assistance!"
"Thanks, but I gotta ask, what happens next with us? I mean, do we all collaborate or whatever to make the biggest money making machine or what?" asked Eddy.
"As long as it's in legal terms, perhaps that would be something we could possibly plan out in the future Eddy. At this current moment however, it doesn't seem as though we can currently do such a thing, seeing as we are rather young still, and don't quite have the intellect required of such an activity." explained Double D.
"That sounds awesome honestly." responds Chris. "But let's be sure of one thing, we all communicate about it, because oh boy, miscommunication, or no communication, it's all going to spell out conflict."
"Agreed." responded everyone, or in a different manner of speaking.
Eddy then gets the idea for something entertaining, asking Chris, "Did you ever have anything cool like breaking boards at your arts school?"
"Yeah, why? Want me to do something like-"
"Heck yeah!" said Eddy, interrupting Chris. "I'm sure we can find some spare boards in Double D's garage."
"I mean, I'd up for it usually, but right now, we've got a bit of a-"
"Do it! Do it! Do it!" chanted everyone, expect Double D and Skylar, the former of which didn't want to pressure him into it, in case he didn't exactly want to, and the latter of which states at him with a face of curiosity.
"Oh my lord. FINE! Get the boards out, and I'll show you how it's set up correctly." responded Chris.
"Not to worry! Double D! Get that boards!" stated Eddy.
"Hang on just a second Eddy, we haven't established how many boards we should bring!" responds Double D. "Chris, how many should I bring?"
"Five is fine. It's the maximum amount you could break at the school at this age." explained Chris.
After 5 minutes, they get the boards, and set up a stand in the living room. The five boards were all on top of 6 stone bricks, separated 3 by 3, and leaving a hole in the middle, just in case the person who struck the boards down managed to strike their hand through said boards, which would be impressive!
"Are you certain you can do this? Seems like a bit much..." asks Skylar.
"Relax, this is nothing in comparison to other stuff I would do sometimes. Let me take a couple seconds to practice." responded Chris.
What he means by that is, he takes a couple of deep breaths in and out, and does a couple of practice swings, where he almost hits the boards, but it's mainly to coordinate his strikes better than if he didn't practice his strike. After around 10 seconds, Chris takes one last deep breath in...
...and out...
"YAAAAAAH!!!"
...and strikes and manages to strike down all five boards with his hand shaped as if he was cutting something, which also manages to go through the space left by the bricks. Everyone claps and cheers for that achievement, surprised that he even managed to break all the boards.
"For the record, when you turn older, as my dad told me, you can actually practice ten boards, if you can even believe it." stated Chris.
"Is your hand okay man? That didn't look pretty!" asks Marie.
"Yeah, it's fine." responds Chris. "If I did with my forearm... let's just say I would need to be in the hospital right now, but luckily I didn't, so I'm fine."
"Well done my good friend! I shall clean up this mess, and then we shall finish up our break, and then return to our work." said Double D.
After around 20 minutes of resting and taking a break as a whole, they all decide to get back to the speaker!
It's now around 7:20 PM, and it's almost time for everyone to part. But before that, Double D wishes to test the speaker one more time, just to ensure that it does the purpose it's made for.
"Does anyone have a song they wish to test? By the way, thank you Chris for letting us use your phone for the purpose of testing the sound."
"No problem." responds Chris. "I have a song we can use though. Let me set it up."
After a quick minute, Chris plays the song in full, to test the speaker completely. What is the song that he picked? Well, that would be "Sad But True", by Metallica. Not a bad choice, if I do say so myself! Anyways, the group of 8 let the song play out, and huzzah! No sound issues, or weird noises, random skips, nothing! The only thing that the speaker lacks is... basically it's appearance, as it's basically if you took a turtle out of it's shell. Yeah, that's how the speaker looks like right now.
Once the song is over, Double D says, "I must say, this speaker idea was a much more interesting, and plausible idea than what we had originally envisioned!"
"Telling me, now we don't have to use a small boom box!" states Eddy. "All we need to do is make it look fancy, and there she goes boys!"
Everyone claps for their united achievement. While not done completely, it's much easier to make a home for the speaker than it is to make the speaker itself. Ain't that a statement!
"So, we parting ways now or what?" asked Lee, having a thinking expression on her face.
"I guess so, but hang on!" responds Eddy, before he signals Lee to come over somewhere a little bit far from the others, just to be sure that they are talking in private. "Listen, umm... I wanna invite ya to my place. Maybe a dinner or something? I think it'd be cool, ya know? To uh..."
"Don't say more. You got me interested. Be sure to dress up like ya did at the party. You sure know how to impress a girl Eddy, more than you know." responded Lee, with a smirk on her face.
"Great! Um, let's go back to the others alright? We'll talk more about it later." stated Eddy.
The two of them return to the rest of the crew, and Marie is currently having a conversation with Double D about...
"Guess I'll catch ya later dreamboat."
"Not to worry Marie, school guarantees us seeing each other sooner rather than later!" responded Double D, before receiving a kiss from Marie on the lips for a quick second.
"Figures eh? Love you!" said Marie, joining back with her sisters.
Ed and May stare at each other for a quick second, before the former remembers about the original plan to hangout privately... which didn't happen for obvious reasons. So, he tells the latter, "Aw, we didn't get to watch the movie."
"Oh! It's okay Ed, this was still fun to do with you. Another time we will do it!" responded May with a smile, hugging the very large Ed boy afterwards. He returns it of course, and they hug each other for around 15 seconds or so, before breaking it off.
Over with the last pair, Skylar tells Chris, "Guess this is bye for now eh? I know you were tell me something else, but this got in the way. Don't worry about it though, we will do it another day. See you tomorrow love."
"Hold on! Everyone!"
Everybody stops in their tracks, and listens to what Chris has to say. Whatever it might be.
"You can't leave now." said Chris, in a serious tone.
"What's the matter? Is something wrong?" asked Double D, confused.
Chris clears his throat, before turning around, his back facing his friends. He then states, "There is one last thing I wanna do, and it's very important."
He turns back around to face his friends... and says, "I WANNA ROCK!"
When Chris said that, the speakers started blasting out Twisted Sister's "I Wanna Rock", in almost perfect synchronization! Everybody either laughed a bit, or facepalmed, but ultimately decide to join in, for one last jam, so to say. Besides, it appeared as though everyone liked the song, it being very chant-like, and understandable!
And so, that concludes the adventure of love, fighting, drama, and heavy metal, as the group of 8 decided to have the last jam for the night to that song that is currently playing.
The end! For now anyways.
Author's Note: Wow. Just wow. I can't even describe how crazy it feels to say that it's the end for Ten Seconds To Love. Although, this story is obviously over, I still have some stuff to say about it! I'll tell you a couple of answers to some questions about it you might have.
First of all, how did it come to be?
Well... would you believe me this story goes all the way back to late 2017? Yeah! Let's start there. Originally, I asked myself a question, that being, "how would it be like to live in a cartoon world?". You can imagine how bored I must've been to have thought of that eh? So, yeah, I worked on a what if-type of thing based on that idea... it didn't last more than one paragraph. Hahaha! Funny to think it started not even more than ONE small paragraph, and it's how it is now. How times change.
Anyways, progressing forward, in late 2019, 2 years later, I went through lost papers of my past school years, and I found the same paper that contained the paragraph. I kept it (along with other nostalgic stuff) in a notebook. Then one day, during AP Government, a class I couldn't stand, I got so bored that the idea resurfaced again. So, I began writing it again, from scratch nonetheless! How far it did go? Well, it went to 15 chapters! Those 15 being the first 15 of this story! Yep! What I wrote in the notebook in those 15 chapters, is the same thing that I wrote here, expect with minor tweaks and corrections to errors.
I must admit aswell, the premise changed a LOT in the new version. What I mean by that is, originally the story had no Double D/Marie pairing, AT ALL. Nor did it have... anything pairings, or something of large stakes really, as the one paragraph in the original was just the prologue. In this new version, obviously Double D/Marie became a part of the story, but also the whole other part of the story changed to be an entirely new character. As I previously stated, the original concept was one made out of boredom. In this version of the story that you're reading right now, I changed the character of Chris completely, making him completely different from me, as... the more I thought about it, I wasn't 100% comfortable with, "myself" being a character, like in the original version. So, I decided to make a completenew character instead. I should also mention that from chapter 16, the story was no longer written from a notebook. Instead, it was written all on here! Which was a LOT better, for obvious reasons, haha! I'll also mention that when chapter 16 was written... I knew that I was in for a long story!
With that being said... THIS STORY WAS NEVER MEANT TO BE THIS LONG, I have to admit this right now. Hold that phone however, do I regret it being this long? Honestly, no. Was it stressful sometimes, being stuck and all? Yes, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy writing it! A handful of chapters I recall being really fun, and interesting to write personally. However, I expected to not even write 40 chapters, seeing as I didn't think these ideas had much potential to take bigger forms. That statement aged like milk, hahaha! Yeah, nearly 60 chapters. I can't even believe it man, because again, when something grows into something much bigger than you expected... can'tfigure out the right words right? Hahaha! If there's something I could say from writing this story... THINK ABOUT HOW YOU WRITE IT! Make sure you know how long certain things will take to conclude, and in general, having a decent template is a smarter idea than just going in blind like I did, haha!
Do I have any regrets with this story? Well, something I regret not doing in this story was more fight scenes! If I recall correctly, the chapters that have fight scenes are 16, 20, and 53. 3 chapters out of 59?! That's INSULTINGLY low! Then again, I can't exactly blame myself, as I feel like the theme of this story is generally romance and drama, plus humor, more than anything. Then again, I did say that there was only a "bit" of fighting; so... checkmate on myself there.
Another regret I have is... okay, personally, I do not like the first 10 chapters very much. I'm not saying that they are horrible to me now, but I don't feel like they really do a lot. I'll give myself this, I wrote those WAY before I knew what it would grow into now, so I won't be too harsh. But, the only chapter I genuinely dislike is 41. Looking back... the idea I had just struggled to take from into something I felt was manageable, and look where that got. I can't even give myself an excuse, that chapter just isn't done well! If you're confused as to what I dislike about it, it's basically the main plot point that occurs there. I do like the interactions with the characters once the point of it wraps up, but wow.
Last thing I'll say, man, thank you to SEVERAL of many favorite artists for giving me the kick, energy and motivation to write this thing. You'd be surprised how many times I'd write more effectively with some Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, Pantera, Metallica, Motley Crue, and so on in the background. Plus, you can't forget about the people who have stuck with this thing, always appreciate a review, be it positive, neutral, or negative.
Next question, is there going to be a sequel?
Yes. Nothing more to it than that. Yes, there will be a sequel, but don't expect it fast, as I have to plan it out. Can I give you some teasers as to what to expect? Sure. It will follow Ten Seconds To Love. That's all.
I'm just kidding! Haha! Well, for one thing, the story is likely to be rated T, as what I have in mind involves something that... let's just say wouldn't fit the rating Ten Second To Love has. Then again, this story wasn't far from a T rating, was it? I would like to say more about it, but I feel like I'm going to spoil something on accident, so, the last thing I can say about it is... expect it to be a bit more dark than this story. There will still be humor here and there, so not to worry about it being all dark, haha!
Final thing I'll address... the biggest elephant in the room. What is it?
Well, that would be the chapter titles. So, some of you may or may not have noticed, but basically all of them are named after songs! Yeah, initially I did one or two titles as a joke... but then it just manifested into all of them being named after titles! Since this is the case, I've made a REALLY long list of every song referenced, with their chapter number first, then the song, who made it, and what album it's from. There will be some special exceptions, but you'll see them! Also, if a chapter isn't listed, it's because it's not named after a song. So heads up there!
Chapter 1: "In The Beginning" from Motley Crue's 1983 album, "Shout At The Devil".
Chapter 2: "So Far, So Good..." from Megadeth's 1988 album of the same name, just with "So What!" at the end.
Chapter 3: "The Ultimate Sin" from Ozzy Osbourne's 1986 album of the same name.
Chapter 4: "Lock Up The Wolves" from Dio's 1990 album of the same name.
Chapter 5: "Be All, End All" from Anthrax's 1988 album, "State Of Euphoria".
Chapter 6: "Who Cares Wins" from Anthrax's 1988 album, "State Of Euphoria".
Chapter 7: "Dream Evil" from Dio's 1987 album of the same name.
Chapter 8: "Shot In The Dark" from Ozzy Osbourne's 1986 album "The Ultimate Sin".
Chapter 9: "Breaking All The Rules" from Ozzy Osbourne's 1988 album, "No Rest For The Wicked".
Chapter 10: "Looking For Today" from Black Sabbath's 1973 album, "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath".
Chapter 11: "Eye Of The Beholder" from Metallica's 1988 album, "...And Justice For All".
Chapter 12: "...And Justice For All" from Metallica's 1988 album of the same name.
Chapter 13: "Bark At The Moon" from Ozzy Osbourne's 1983 album of the same name.
Chapter 14: "Where Eagles Dare" from Iron Maiden's 1983 album, "Piece Of Mind".
Chapter 15: "Fabulous Disaster" from Exodus's 1989 albumof the same name.
Chapter 16: "It's A Raid" from Ozzy Osbourne's 2020 album, "Ordinary Man".
Chapter 17: "On With The Show" from Motley Crue's 1981 album, "Too Fast For Love".
Chapter 18: "Time After Time" from Ozzy Osbourne's 1991 album, "No More Tears".
Chapter 19: "Evil Never Dies" from Judas Priest's 2018 album, "Firepower".
Chapter 20: "Blackened" from Metallica's 1988 album, "...And Justice For All".
Chapter 21: "Among The Living" from Anthrax's 1987 album of the same name.
Chapter 22: "Are You Experienced?" from Jimi Hendrix's 1967 album of the same name.
Chapter 23: "Make My Day" from Motörhead's 1991 album, "1916". (the album was RELEASED in 1991, and its title is 1916, in case that looked confusing. Can't blame you though!)
Chapter 24: "5 Minutes Alone" from Pantera's 1994 album, "Far Beyond Driven".
Chapter 25: "Caught In The Middle" from Dio's 1983 album, "Holy Diver".
Chapter 26: "Feel Your Love Tonight" from Van Halen's 1978 album "Van Halen l". (Rest In Peace, Eddie Van Halen.)
Chapter 27: "A New Level" from Pantera's 1992 album, "Vulgar Display Of Power". (this is the heaviest song out of the list, so heads up there.)
Chapter 28: "King Nothing" from Metallica's 1996 album, "Load".
Chapter 29: "Remember Tomorrow" from Iron Maiden's 1980 album, "Iron Maiden".
Chapter 30: "The Negative One" from Slipknot's 2014 album, ".5 The Gray Chapter".
Chapter 31: "Same Ol' Situation" from Motley Crue's 1989 album, "Dr. Feelgood".
Chapter 32: "Knock 'Em Dead, Kid" from Motley Crue's 1983 album, "Shout At The Devil".
Chapter 33: This one references the first set of lyrics from the song "Fuel", off Metallica's 1997 album, "Reload." (The lyrics being: gimme fuel, gimme fire, gimme that which I desire.)
Chapter 34: "Wild Side" from Motley Crue's 1987 album, "Girls, Girls, Girls".
Chapter 35: "Jump In The Fire" from Metallica's 1983 album, "Kill 'Em All".
Chapter 36: "Neon Knights" from Black Sabbath's 1980 album, "Heaven And Hell".
Chapter 37: "Bring Tha Noize" from Anthrax's 1991 compilation album, "Attack Of The Killer B's".
Chapter 38: "The Dirt" from Motley Crue's compilation album of the same name.
Chapter 39: "Welcome To The Jungle" from Guns an' Roses's 1987 album, "Appetite For Destruction".
Chapter 40: "Before I Forget" from Slipknot's 2004 album, "Vol 3: The Subliminal Verses".
Chapter 41: "No Class" from Motörhead's 1979 album, "Overkill"
Chapter 42: "Come As You Are" from Nirvana's 1991 album, "Nevermind".
Chapter 43: "Heart-Shaped Box" from Nirvana's 1993 album, "In Utero".
Chapter 44: This one is complicated. Well, actually not really, as it refers to the opening line to the song, "T.N.T", from AC/DC's 1976 album, "High Voltage".
Chapter 45: "Don't Tread On Me" from Metallica's 1991 album, "Metallica", or otherwise known as the black album.
Chapter 46: "Dirty Deeds Done Dirty Cheap" from AC/DC's 1976 album of the same name.
Chapter 47: "Under The Sun" from Black Sabbath's 1972 album, "Vol 4".
Chapter 48: "Dazed And Confused" from Led Zeppelin's 1968 album, "Led Zeppelin l".
Chapter 49: "Believer" from Ozzy Osbourne's 1981 album, "Diary Of A Madman".
Chapter 50: "Wheels Of Confusion" from Black Sabbath's 1972 album, "Vol 4".
Chapter 51: "Crazy Train" from Ozzy Osbourne's 1980 album, "Blizzard Of Ozz".
Chapter 52: "United" from Judas Priest's 1980 album, "British Steel".
Chapter 53: "The Mob Rules" from Black Sabbath's 1981 album of the same name.
Chapter 54: "Breathing Lightning" from Anthrax's 2016 album, "For All Kings".
Chapter 55: "Rainbow In The Dark" from Dio's 1983 album, "Holy Diver".
Chapter 56: "Life Won't Wait" from Ozzy Osbourne's 2010 album, "Scream".
Chapter 57: "In Bloom" from Nirvana's 1991 album, "Nevermind".
Chapter 58: "Back In Black" from AC/DC's 1980 album of the same name.
And that's all! The only chapter that isn't named after a song is... this one! Hahaha! Oh wait! Almost forgot, the story's title is actually named after Motley Crue's "Ten Seconds To Love" song, off their 1983 album, "Shout At The Devil".
It was honestly pretty fun to see what I could name the chapters, as I wanted to give them a label, so that it could be easier to reference. I'll admit, sometimes I laugh at how, the chapter's theme doesn't fit with the song's tone. Like, for example, 5 Minutes Alone is a rather heavy song, but the chapter... isn't. I don't exactly know why, but it's just funny to me.
Anyways, I've spoken for LONG enough, oh goodness man. If you have a question for me that I didn't answer here; PMs exist for a good reason my friend. For now though, I'll shall be taking a break, and then soon, I'll plan out the ideas for the sequel. Until then, take care my friends!
-AceOfSpades1980
(P.S this chapter had to be reuploaded due to issues occurring with the first time, apologies for any confusion!)