Ok. If you really want to read a warning, go back to one of my previous chapters. I'm really not in the mood to give one right now. I hope you enjoy the story. Sorry it took me so long to get it out. I had a lot of thinking to do though. Abou the story, and other things.Anyway, Here it is:
Chapter 10:Resolution
****************************************************************** Brain's POV:
Brian slowly opened his eyes. His first thought was one of amazement. He thought he had been a goner. Frank must have just wanted to teach him a lesson. He breathed a sigh of relief. He got up off the floor.
He shifted his gaze downward to wipe off his shirt. "Holy Shit!" he screamed, and jumped back involuntarily. His voice almost seemed to echo. Looking down he could clearly see his body in it's entirety. In fact the only thing that seemed to be missing from his body was him! He reached down to brush his own cheek. He only felt minimal resistance as his hand glided right through where his body was. He flopped down onto the floor. "My god! Am I... dead?" he whispered in desperation.
"Oh, you're a quick one!" he heard a sarcastic voice. He turned and was face to face with a man that gave off the oddest mood he had ever encountered. A man who was confident, yet also sarcastic, serious, sexual, outgoing, and introverted all at the same time. Brain really didn't know what to make of the man and was feeling a little insulted.
"Okay, okay! So you're not at a high point right now. Fine!" The man continued. "Normally you would have been read the riot act from moment one. People get so damn upset all the time over it. No heaven, no hell, no judgment, a series of deities nothing like they even suspected... you'd think they would be happy! But no, it's always, ' No heaven?' or ' There must be a mistake' and then deny and deny and deny it until their blue in the face. Even if, had things gone their way, they would have been in for an eternity of hell and suffering. Then, just to bother those of us here to welcome them they deny it just one more time!" he continued in exasperation.
Brian couldn't help but smile. He could imagine the type. "Yeah well I should be an easy case for you then because I don't believe in heaven or hell. Just explain to me what this place is and I think I'll be okay... eventually."
The man threw back his head and laughed. "If only it were that easy kid! I'm not part of the general welcome wagon. They give me the special cases."
Brian was a little confused. "Just what's so special about me?"
"Ya know when I looked you over I asked myself the same thing! It all comes down to a matter of circumstance. Let me explain. Now, remember that series of deities I was talking about? There's five of them actually. The Fix Immortals. Now I could give you the whole story but we only have time for cliff-notes right now buddy. Bottom line, there's a bit of... trouble in paradise. With things the way they are on earth right now they're all arguing over who's getting worshiped by who and that sort of thing. I mean there's the gods of earth, fire, and air. Then there's the goddesses of water and spirit. Two goddesses, three gods. This generation of people doesn't have a clue! If only it were so easy as before. Everyone knew who the deities were and they worshiped whoever they wanted to. Now there's this whole mess with the One God, the trinity, polytheism shrinks more and more, then even Wicca with the whole "one god and one goddess"... that one stirred up trouble, believe me! See, the deities LIKE to be worshiped. They LIKE to receive credit and they don't want another deity getting THEIR credit. Credit gives them power. And, for the sake of not going against them, lets just say that I don't have an opinion about the whole thing. Get the picture?"
Brian sighed. "Okay. So the deities are feuding. I still don't understand what I have to do with anything. There's nothing I can do."
The man smiled. "See, that's where you're wrong. There is something you can do. And, after viewing your file I think that you'd be up to it. Here's the deal. The goddess of spirit played a bit of a trick on everyone, see. It's more than a little complicated. She decided to take charge of things. All the deities have physically manifested themselves before. But, you see, it's supposed to be a one time thing. Or, at least, that was what they all thought. Seems the Spirit Goddess found a way to re-manifest herself. It's called a half veiled manifest. It's just part of her, not her whole consciousness. But the part on earth doesn't know that. The little earth... thing, has a series of false memories that the goddess created for her. That and some pretty hefty power! She hopes to gain supporters on earth. If she can get people directly worshiping her then that's the end of it. She gets that power and there's no argument about whether or not it's valid. The others can't figure out how she did it."
Brian just frowned. "Can you get to a point here?" he sighed.
"Geeze. Always trying to move things along so fast! Oh well. No matter. Here's how it is. In a way you were responsible for her re-manifesting. You see when you shot Dylan, well Caleb shot himself and that in turn fulfilled some prophecy and created this energy mass... blah blah blah. The point is it was enough to bring her back to earth. So.."
"Wait, what? You mean Caleb killed himself? That little shit?"
"Oh. That's right. I suppose you weren't around to see that bit. Yeah, Caleb shot himself. So now the goddess has manifested and they're both fully alive. Funny thing that is! Thought your plan was fool proof, and not only did you almost kill the wrong guy but, even when your target kills himself, they both still wind up living. Bet you feel like you can't do anything right." he laughed
"Ok. So lets get this over with. What do you want from me? What do you want me to do?" Brian asked, getting a little agitated.
"Well it's simple. Get the goddess back here. Well... ok, not really simple, but I'm sure you could handle it. There's a couple ways you could do this. One, make sure she gets through the cycles faster then she would have thought. Two, kill Dylan, Caleb, or both. The third is to kill her directly. Let me give you a tip, the third one is nearly impossible. Especially for a mere human. One and Two are both going to be a little difficult no matter how you slice it." he stated matter-of-factly.
"What would I have to do for the first one?"
"Well there are three cycles and two sets of cycles. Since she is a goddess, as opposed to a god, the cycles are maiden, mother, and crone. Right now she would be in the maiden cycle. She has to go through all three cycles and then, like it or not, is immediately sent back. The second cycle would entail her getting pregnant and giving birth. The third cycle entails her gaining and retaining a huge amount of wisdom... or something like that. It's not exactly clear."
Brian thought about that one. He could probably pull it off. If that failed he could always resort to two. "What's the catch?" he asked, skeptical.
"Oh no catch. You just do it. With the power the others are willing to give you for it you would be almost three times as powerful as you were. Which, really, is about all a body could handle. Apart from that, if you do it, you get another three... gifts of your choice."
"Fine. Looks like I don't have much to loose." he sighed.
"That's it! I knew you had it in you. Well then, time to get you back into that body! Don't worry, the damage that was done will be reversed. It already has been. Better watch out for that one too. Stupid prat just about exploded all the blood vessels in your brain! He's a dangerous one."
~*~
Brian opened his eyes. There he was, in his body, laying on the floor. He realized, with some relief, that he was actually in his body and not out of it. Speaking of "out of it" he couldn't help but wonder if it was all a dream.
Then he heard it in his head. It was the voice that most certainly belonged to that odd guy! It told him that he should probably form a plan and see about how he wanted to play it. Brian racked his head for a few minutes before realizing that it would never work "as is". He would have to make some changes. If this plan was ever going to work he couldn't contact them again until...
Tyler's POV:
If there was any way at all that I could possibly be madder at Brain, this was it. First he tries to kill Caleb and then he just disappears like this! I mean doesn't he see? We might have been able to actually forgive him, with a little work. I was sure he needed some therapy. So he just leaves!?
Theresa was heart broken! They did love each other so much. At least that's what she thought. Now she thought that he just left her. The worst part was that none of us could argue with that theory. They say to keep your friends close and your enemies closer. We didn't even know which category he fit into! I have to say though, if I saw him around, I'd probably shoot first and ask questions later.
************************************************************************************* Theresa's POV:
It wasn't the fact that he left. It really was just not knowing about him that was the worst. I couldn't really say I was surprised though. I had always feared that he would leave me. I was just glad we didn't have any children. They shouldn't have to suffer because of me.
I know most people would probably think it's stupid. I knew differently. It really was my fault. I just wasn't good enough for him. I've never been good enough for anybody. He was this totally amazing, kind, loving man and he must have finally realized that he could do so much better.
I was hurt. That was a fact. I wasn't mad at him though. I was mad at myself. No matter what I did it was never enough for their standards. I was always wrong. In all honesty, I was probably just better off dead.
******************************************************************************** Dylan's POV:
This was a bad, and in many ways bitter-sweet, week for all of us. A part of me even felt sorry that I had planned it all together. For what? Some selfish and self-serving reason? I suppose though, this week, was our fate. All of us. There was no real way of avoiding it.
I called my father. For whatever reason he was totally frantic. It was almost like he had thought I was dead or something. I guess I kind of had been dead but there was no way he could have known that!
Then I told him about how Brian was missing. What followed was probably the longest period of stunned silence in history. I tried to make him see that it was really no big deal. The guy would probably turn up eventually. In the end he just said that I didn't understand, but that he couldn't (or rather didn't want to) tell me. So I just said goodbye.
The funny thing is that I still didn't even tell him about Caleb! My dear, sweet man. I was sure I would eventually. I just didn't really remember to tell him about it. I wasn't really sure if I was ready for it either. Then there was the matter or Arinna. That would, no doubt, be harder to explain than Caleb.
I loved Caleb with all my heart though. I promised to myself and to him that, no matter what happened, we would always be together. With Theresa loosing Brian like she did it only made me even more grateful to be able to wake up to him every morning.
He was all I cared about. He was always with me. When he wasn't physically with me he was in my thoughts, my dreams, and my heart. Some people think that it is impossible for two people, two men, to love each other like we do. I had almost thought that they were right.
Just because you have someone's love, doesn't mean that you are their love. To have someone's love is to say that they love you. To be someone's love you have to love them in return.
Caleb had given me something so precious and tender. It's the kind of thing that you sometimes think you don't deserve. He had given me himself. He had given me his love. I knew, for sure, that I had Caleb's love. But I knew, in my heart, that I would always be caleb's love also. My life was rapidly falling into place, I realized, and I knew that it was perfect. It wasn't what everyone would call perfect, but it was perfect for me.
*************************************************************** AUTHORS POST-NOTE
Dear Readers,
The story, "Caleb's Love" has been a joy from me to write. So I must tell you, with only a little regret, that the "Caleb's Love" story is officially over. I must also tell you that the tale itself is far from dead. As a writer I have simply come to a sort of crossroads in my writing. In order to better tell this story, and it's branches, I will now be writing two different stories. The Caleb's Love archive will now host "Family or Foe", a continuation of the Caleb's Love story.
In addition to this, a new story will be archived to Nifty called "Nightmares". "Nightmares" will be set in the past (compared to this story) and will follow the lives of the characters Tyler and Derek. I hope you like the stories when I get 'em out. Keep on reading and don't forget to tell me what you think.
Send Questions, Comments, or Suggestions to Magickmaker7@hotmail.com