Hi again. Here's the next part of Dreams of an Angel. Hope you enjoy it. And thanks again for the cool feedback guys. You guys are the coolest! :) If you have any suggestions or comment, well, the email addy is below, so you know where to drop the note. Oh by the way, in the following part of the story, I mentioned the incidences in New York and Dallas. These are really related to Marvel's 'Fall of the Mutants' series; X-Factor #24 and onwards (The New York incident) and the Uncanny X-men #225 and onwards (The Dallas incident). The two occurs simultaneously.
Onwards to the boring part! Legal matters! Hehehe. You can press 'fast-forward' now.
Well, first of all, this story, as you will certainly find out soon, is TOTALLY fictional. So! If any of you truly believe in it... well, my brother is studying psychiatry right now for his final medical examination in April, so maybe I'll just refer you to him. You'd make a good delusional subject. Secondly! None of the guys in the Backstreet Boys are gay! (No matter how hard I wished it :P). But nobody say we couldn't dream it, heh heh. Thirdly, Warren Worthington is actually a character from Marvel Comics, X-men known as Angel or recently Archangel. Okay fine, I admit it. I'm bored and I am making a pathetic attempt to make life a lil' bit interesting. Its not like I'm gonna publish it or something. What else to talk about hmm? Oh, there may be some adult gay scenes in this story. Unlike my brother, I don't mind writing naughty stuff ;) so! If you're underage, naughty, naughty! I can only ask you to go away, but I cannot do anything else to stop you from reading on anyway. Hell! I've been sneaking into the internet to watch gay porns since I was 13! So, if your parents or whoever responsible for you catch you, don't say I didn't warned you. However, if you're homophobic... well maybe I can seduce you enough to turn you around heh heh. I do so love a challenge ;)
Anyway, enough talk. Any comments or boos or suggestion or whatever, just sent it to the same address as in NNTs, goldenknightuk@yahoo.co.uk . Yeah, we shared the same address. Don't ask. Long story.
Okay then! On to the show. Now, don't be shy now. If you got any comments or suggestions, just drop me a note. You do the request, and I'll do the show.
Andy
That night, Nick sat alone on the balcony of his room, thinking of everything that has occurred that day. It's hard to believe that he is a mutant. True that being an empath doesn't really makes him appears different compared to other people. But he doesn't have to hide behind an illusion like Warren, so at the very least, he is thankful of that. But still...
The TV is on in the sitting room behind him. Deep in his thought, he must have forgotten to switch it off. Looking at his watch, he realized that it's nearly midnight. Normally, on a boring night like this, he'd be asleep by this time. But sleep is the last thing in his mind right now.
An empath. If someone approaches him at any time before today telling him that he has the ability to manipulate someone else's emotions, Nick would have laughed so hard the guys would have to commit him into a psychiatric hospital. Who would have thought he could do such a thing?
Jean told him that the empathy has been kicking in since he was 15. Well, at least that explains the headaches and his bouts of moody behavior and the rest of the guys' bouts of moody behavior too. Jean explained that at times, someone else's emotion would get past his cracked mental shield and that would explain his occasional sudden changes in mood. Yeah, he remembers that one time when the Backstreet Boys was on tour with Nsync. Nick was in of his happiest moods in his life after having a great day kicking Brian's ass in basketball. Later, after dinner with both groups, Justin Timberlake strode in with a thundercloud on his head as he got into one of his bad mood from hell. Soon enough, Nick felt his happy mood slowly changing to the point where he felt like he was going to murder someone. Poor Lance, who was sitting next to him and has been trying to chat up with him. He still remembers the poor guy's expression after being on the receiving end of one thunderous tongue-lashing from Nick that cause even Justin to look at him as if he is half-Magneto, half-Devil. Well, at least now, Nick knew what happened.
And then, there was also the time when AJ brought some girl back to his room in yet another tour, and at that time, Nick was occupying the room next to him. Well, that explains the Queen Mother of All Horniness that he has to go through throughout that session, keeping him awake all night with a mega-erection from hell.
Well, that was only two of the several incidences that the guys creatively classified as 'Nick's mood swing eruption.' Other incidences also occur that could only be explained from his empathy. One would be during the time, in yet another tour, when Nick himself is in one of his Doomsday mood. It started subtly during dinner with the rest of the guys, until one of AJ's prank, that should normally have been passed off with a weary sigh, uncharacteristically pissed Kevin off so bad that he actually punched the poor man on the face, which in turn pissed Howie off long enough to throw one solid B-52 punch on Kevin's face, leading to a very angry Brian coming down on Howie like a vengeful Angel of Death, followed by AJ's retaliation as he perform his own personal version of Jihad that would shamed even Osama bin Laden... and the whole thing goes downhill from there. Suffice to say, they totally wreck the room beyond repair, it took half of the whole tour crew to break them all up and they have to cancel the show as Kevin and Howie ended up with a broken arm and nose... amongst other injuries. Nick himself ended up with one black eyes and a bleeding lip. Hell! Brian and AJ were actually clawing at each other on the floor with a goddamn fork in their hands!
'Wow... I caused all that?' Nick thought to himself in wonderment. 'If I can do that, it's no wonder Jean persistently insisted that I learn to control my empathy.'
Leaning against the soft cushioned chair he sat on, he stares at the night sky. Howie would go into a major berserking frenzy if he ever find out about him. Even worst if he finds out about Warren plus Warren's role in the cause of Jessica's death.
Howie and Jessica met outside a mall somewhere in New York. Jessica was a 24 years old blind girl whom Howie accidentally bumped into when he was rushing and shouting towards his car as it was being towed away as the result of parking at the space reserved for disable people. The poor girl stumbled to the floor awkwardly, spilling her grocery items all over the floor in the process. It took Howie a moment to realize that Jessica is blind. Ashamed, he helped her back up, never ceasing his apologies ('I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!...' and on and on) and they ended up having lunch together and eventually dinner. Nick met her quite a number of time when Howie took her up to meet them. Hell, Howie even brought her onto one of their tour once. Everyone was sure that love is inevitable between the two of them, and small wonder. She is a sweet girl. Howie likes her. Nick likes her. The rest of the guys like her. Even the touring crew likes her, considering that one day Nick found her giggling and gossiping with the rest of the make-up crew as they perform their own personal makeover on her. The best thing about her was that she doesn't really care about their fame, their looks or their money. Instead, she love their songs very much and that really touched Nick's heart and Nick was sure it touches the rest of the guys' heart too.
Her bad luck lay from the fact that she lives with her 30 years old sister at the top of a 5 stories apartment near Manhattan. At about a week before her death, Howie tried to persuade her to go on another tour with him. But Jessica sadly declined because her sister, who works as a secretary at one of the major companies in New York, finally managed to get herself a 3 weeks holiday and Jessica would like to spend some time with her. Then, news came of the chaos that is happening in New York and Dallas. Rumors mentioned that mutants are involved. In New York, a huge ship floated over the city. Some sort of terror was occurring all over the city and then the ship suddenly went out of control, hitting skyscrapers and buildings alike, sending huge stone debris flying everywhere. One of the debris landed right on Jessica's apartment, and being located at the top floor of the building really didn't help the whole situation. The rescue team found Jessica and her sister clasped in each other's arms, dead, half buried under a pile of mortars and steel bars.
Then the rumors were confirmed that mutants were involved in that incident - some outfit who called themselves X-Factor in New York and X-men in Dallas. Nick and AJ greeted that confirmation in silence. Kevin sighed sadly while Brian even cried. But Howie... Howie went into a murderous rage that actually lasted a full day, swearing an oath to do everything in his power, even spending all his money and selling all his properties, to exterminate every single mutant in this world. Nick was actually so scared of Howie at the time, he barely got out of his room at all, and the others, except Kevin, fares no better.
No, Howie will never forgive mutants for Jessica's death. He even joined one of those anti-mutant organizations that everyone has been talking about... 'The Right', Nick thought the name was. Howie took them all to meet some members of the organization once. Their fanaticism in exterminating mutants doesn't agree with Nick at all and he was glad to see Brian, Kevin and AJ doesn't like them too. They are boyband singers and they are going to stay as boyband singers. No politics, no hidden manipulations, nope... nothing else. Just sing, dance, greet the fans and have a good time. Surprisingly enough, even the Nsync guys agreed to that. Howie was a bit disappointed that the others didn't look his way about mutants but he just shrugged it off. Maybe he had expected it.
Now, Nick found out that he is a mutant. Silently, he shook his head sadly. He doesn't even want to THINK of what Howie would do to him if he ever finds out about that. No, his secret must remain hidden, for his own sake, and his career. Singing has always been something he loved more than anything else in his life and he'd do anything to preserve that.
The night breeze blew gently and Nick drew in a deep shuddering breath to calm himself. If he acts carefully enough, no one will know. True that he hates keeping secrets from Brian and the others, but some secret must always be left unspoken; for Nick's sake as well as the others', because if Howie ever finds out, he would demand Nick to leave the group or he will. Either way, someone must leave and if that happens, the Backstreet Boys is history and it'd be Brian, Kevin and AJ who will pay the price. No, Nick is not going to be responsible for that. He will tell them eventually when the group finally disbands, but not before.
But his family... now that is an entirely different matter. The Backstreet Boys is his job. His family is his life. He is not going to live in fear from his own family. His parents and brother and sisters must know and once he told them, it is up to them to accept it. If things went good, God is truly kind. If things went bad... may God help him. At least he'll know where he stood with his family. But he cannot do it alone. Warren promised to be there with him when the time comes. And to be honest, Nick is going to hold that promise on him. He was absolutely serious when he said that he couldn't do it alone.
Warren. That is another issue he needs to deal with. Warren is simply the most beautiful creature Nick has ever came across in his life, and it is that little fact that's what making his tongue curls up deeper into his mouth like swallowing an unripe plum. He really, really has to stop thinking like this. Warren's a guy for heaven sake! And right now, Nick is behaving like some starry-eyed teenage country girl, dreaming of her very first crush!
But thinking of Warren, with his wings spreading behind him like an angel out of his bed-time stories, white, pure and divine, is always enough to make his insides turn into water. He recalled seeing Warren soaring in the air the night before - it WAS Warren who flew out of the balcony above his that night! - and gosh! Nick knew he would never forget that image in his mind. It'll be one of those memories he'd cherish for the rest of his life. To see such magnificent creature, soaring in the sky where he truly belongs, free and beautiful... creatures like Warren should not be caged indoors. He should be flying free amongst the clouds, soaring high as if trying to reach the heavens.
When Nick was a little boy, he had always believed in angels. He was always fascinated by them. When he went to the church on Sunday, he'd always finds himself staring at the various angelic statues in awed silence as the priest droned on and on with his boring sermons. He would always daydream of meeting one and the angel would then take him off into the sky where they would together watch the world below them... a world where the concept of peace and tolerance has been reduced to nothing more than wishful thinking. He would always think on how it would feel to have wings and to soar in the sky like a bird.
Well, Warren is not exactly an angel... but close enough. Nick stared at his hands dreamily. He could still feel the softness of those feathers when he actually touched those beautiful wings... so pure, so white... it almost feels like a sacrilege to touch them, as if his mere mortal touch would corrupt such purity, such divinity. At least, he could admit that his childhood dream has been fulfilled... sort of.
His thoughts moved on to analyze Warren's past... the part Nick preferred to avoid. But that proved to be impossible and unavoidable. Warren and his past are one and the same. He cannot think of one and avoid the other. Someone in Nick's past has once mentioned to him that the past is what made who you are right now - a small bit of wisdom, Nick agree, but one he finds impossible to forget. Somehow, it seems to be one of those small itsy-bitsy thoughts that miraculously found a way to stick permanently in his mind for all eternity.
Nick cannot deny that Warren has gone though huge bundle load of tough times in the past. To lose his wings so cruelly... Nick shook his head angrily as he felt his eyes began to water at the mere thought of that. How could anyone be so cruel? How could anyone be so heartless? The anger that suddenly bubbles within his soul surprises him. An angel with his wings clipped... chaining him from his freedom to fly... there is no greater crime in Nick's mind than to cage an angel. And Warren has become Nick's little personal angel... one whom he is willing to fight and defend should any danger threatens to harm him.
It is obvious that Warren's past is still tormenting him. He briefly remembered the pain and bitterness he saw in Warren's eyes earlier. Warren must have been able to hide it perfectly because Nick could see it so strongly in his eyes and yet, he couldn't feel it using his empathy. Yeah, Jean has taught him what little she knows about empathy before she left to Westchester with Hank and so far, he has learned a little bit on how to feel other people's emotions at will, and how to ignore any alien emotions that managed to accidentally seep into his mind. He tried to reach out into Warren's mind secretly, only to hit some sort of barrier - a very solid and unbreakable barrier because Nick couldn't find even the tiniest crack on it. Jean has told him that this Professor Xavier guy has long taught all his students how to shield their mind from any uninvited intrusion. Curiosity about his new abilities has led him to try to reach out into Warren's mind... only to discover that Xavier has taught his students well. Well at least that explains why he didn't accidentally received Warren's emotions before all the revelation arises.
Nick briefly wondered who these Apocalypse and Marauders are that Warren has told him about - people that have cause a lot of harm to his angel. Obviously they are mutants too, only a lot more dangerous and powerful than Magneto - the only mutant Nick was aware of from the news in the past. Nick admits that it is a bit scary that there are a lot more things happening in this world that he and the rest of the world are unaware of. He is aware that there are lots of other mutants in this world, and other than Magneto and his Brotherhood or the 'good' mutants that seems to have been accepted by the American Government like the Fantastic Four (who owns the Baxter Building in New York) and the Avengers (though the anti-mutants organization seems to include them in their list as mutants that need to be exterminated too!), Nick was not aware that there are other mutants in this world - these Morlocks (though Warren told him that they were all wiped out by the Marauders), the Marauders, the X-men and X-Factor, the Hellfire Club!... whoever they are, they must have taken great care to keep a low profile. Whatever precautions they took, 'The Right' seems to know them well, and the hatred they have on these mutants is terrifying.
Nick has heard of the Hellfire Club before, but not in the mutant point of view. The Hellfire Club is a club that is exclusive only for those who are rich and famous, and being rich and famous himself as boyband singers, of course Nick and the others tend to stumble upon some of their members once or twice in parties and such. It was an absolute surprise to Nick when Warren told him that the Sebastian Shaw, the current head of the Hellfire Club whom the group has met once long ago in one of Johnny's party is actually a mutant, and that he is truly powerful, dangerous, and very, very evil and that he has been one of Warren's terrible foe for a long time now. It seems that world domination is at the very top of Shaw's list... which of course doesn't agree with the other mutants' agenda. It was also a surprise to learn that Warren, Jean and Hank, and the rest in Westchester are actually members of this X-men, a band of mutant who fight to protect humankind and to convince the world that humankind and mutants can coexist together in peace... which of course was greeted with scorns by the Hellfire Clubs and Magneto and the other evil mutants.
'God! What a fine mess I'm going to descend into.' Nick thought as he becomes increasingly aware of the fact that he's going to let the X-men take him in to teach him about his empathy. Once the other evil mutants learn about this, Nick has no doubt that his name will be added to their 'to kill' list.
Well, now that Nick found out that he is a mutant, he felt like he is about to enter a totally new world... the 'real' world, he should say. A world that is totally different than the one he and most of the other humankind have envisioned all these times. A brief look into this 'real' world seems to terrifies Nick in more than one levels, as he realized the fact that all these time, Nick, his family, his friends and the rest of the world are actually living in the middle of a huge battlefield. A secret war is going on between mutants it seems, but most of the world seems to be totally oblivious about it, eventhough they are living in the midst of it.
The ringing of his mobile phone next to him caused him to jump off his seat stupidly like a startled goat; spewing every sort of foul curses and blasphemy his mind could think of at that brief moment of time. Time and again, he has always thought he should lower the ringing volume, but it keeps slipping off his mind. With a great deal of effort, he pushed back the desire to hurl the phone off the balcony and laugh at the seemingly mocking ringing as it falls. Instead, he picked up the phone contemptuously and pressed the answering button. Who could have called him at this late hour anyway?
"Nick?" a very familiar voice emerged from the other side of the line.
"Oh, hey Brian." Nick greeted, quickly pushing away his initial impulse to deliver one of his famous acid-dripping tongue-lashing to the fool who dared to spoil his moment of solitary. The lashing really is powerful. Ask poor Lance, who had experienced it first hand. Even now, the scars of that particular encounter are still there for he is still cautious when interacting with Nick - he makes it a rule to never be with Nick alone without one of the other guys with him.
"How are you doing, buddy?" Brian asked happily, completely oblivious on how close he has come to death.
"I'm doing great, Bri. Why are you calling so late? Aren't you supposed to be in bed with Leigh Ann by this time? What's wrong? Trouble in paradise?" said Nick, his cheerful mood slowly trickling back.
"We ARE in bed." Brian replied. "She's actually beside me right now. We were talking about you when we thought that we'd call to see how you're doing."
"Hey, that's really nice of you. As I said, I'm doing great. Couldn't be better." Said Nick. "How's Leigh Ann?"
Nick heard some murmuring on the other side followed by the sound of the phone being passed to another hand.
"Hey Nick!" Leigh Ann's cheerful voice emerges at last. "How's my blond angel doing?"
"Hey!" Brian's indignant voice appeared in the background, causing Nick to smile fondly. Those two are truly a perfect for each other.
"Aww... don't worry, sweetie. I still have a whole list of titles all for you." Leigh Ann purred on the other side, followed by some rustlings and a giggle from Brian.
"Hey, hey!" Nick laughed. "As much as I love you two being together, I don't really need to hear any of your pillow talks. Oh! My virgin ears!"
"Very funny, little boy." The woman answered. "Anyway, Brian told me what happened to you after the last show. Are you all right now? Be honest!"
"I'm doing great, Leigh Ann. Honest!" said Nick for the third time. "Warren called two of his friends who are doctors and they examined me. I'm okay now."
"Oooh. Brian told me this Warren's a total hunk. Is that true?"
"Hell yeah. So, you should drop that short twerp now and hook yourself to a real man." Nick laughed.
"Oh! I heard that! Gimme that!" Nick laughed even harder at hearing Brian's voice and Leigh Ann's laughter as the phone changed hands again.
"I am NOT short, you little brat!" Brian's voice burst out.
"Really? Man! What exactly DO you see when you look in a mirror, Bri?" Nick taunts mercilessly.
"It's a small mirror, Nick!" Leigh Ann's voice shouted from the background.
"Hey! At least I got 'the' look!" said Brian crossly.
"Whatever you say... shorty!" Nick laughed again and he could hear Brian muttered something that sounds quite dirty, followed by more of Leigh Ann's laughter.
"Temper, temper, sweetie." Said Leigh Ann as Brian passed the phone back to her. "So, Nick. When are you gonna come over for a visit?"
"I'm not sure, sunshine." Nick smiled. "Maybe in a couple of weeks. I'm going off somewhere else first."
"Ohhh, a secret vacation!" said Leigh Ann excitedly followed by Brian startled 'what?' "Hold on, Nick. Brian is gonna switch on the microphone so that both of us can talk to you."
There was a brief pause followed by a faint click and a brief crackle.
"Nick? Can you hear me?" Brian's voice emerged suddenly.
"Yeah."
"So! C'mon, Nick. Where are you going? Surely you can tell your favorite Aunty Leigh Ann, hmm? And don't tell me you're going alone, because I can tell you're not." Said Leigh Ann.
"C'mon, Nick. Tell us." Said Brian. "Pleeeeease??"
Nick rolled his eyes. God! Brian can truly whine in a small innocent boy kinda way, and to be honest, Nick has never been able to keep anything from him whenever he did that! Maybe Brian is a mutant too, with an 'Innocent Whiny Voice' that could make even Magneto feels guilty of himself, as his power!
"All right, all right, you've succeeded in ganging up and disarm me." Nick chuckled. "Warren invited me to go off to Westchester with Jubilee and him to meet some of his friends there. Remember the school he talked about? The place where he teaches?"
"Oh, yeah, I remembered." Brian replied curiously. He remained quiet in thought for a brief moment before continuing. "So you're going there with Warren, huh?"
"Yeah, why do you ask?" asked Nick in puzzlement. Brian has always been a quiet and careful thinker and being that doesn't means he's not bright. Quite the opposite, actually. He prefers to watch and listen, and picking up bits and pieces of things that puzzles him and then put it all together. Nick has never been able to tell what Brian is thinking, until he reveals his thoughts at last, and when he does, its always precise, to the point and never misses the mark, causing the subject of his thought to either confess or flee.
"How long are you gonna stay there?" Brian's thoughtful voice came again.
"I'm not sure. Don't worry, Bri, I'm gonna be okay. Warren's a cool guy and if you want, you can call me and check up on me from time to time."
"Well, if you say so." Said Brian, reluctantly. "On one condition! Promise me you'll come and visit us soon!"
"I promise," Nick grinned as he agrees wholeheartedly. "Cross my heart, baby smile and a pouting lips."
"Awwww... isn't he cuteeee?" Leigh Ann laughed.
"Oookay, that's it. I'm hanging up now before she starts thinking of you more than me." Brian grumbled determinedly followed by another laughter from Leigh Ann. "Have a good time with Warren, Nick. And take care of yourself!"
Nick laughed.
"Yes, mom. Bye Leigh Ann."
"Bye, Nick! Oooh! Brian, sweetie, that tickles!" she laughed before the phone hangs itself up.
Nick simply shook his head as he put down the phone and yawned. He'll visit Brian in two or three weeks. But in the mean time, he needs to put his life back together. He need to make some major adjustment in his life now that he learned that he's a mutant. He also needs to make some contingency plans in case things turned out to be for the worst. He also needs to plan on how to get over his present attraction to Warren, which is growing stronger every minute to the point that borders obsession. He also needs to make an emergency plan should Howie found out about him. He also... he also... wow, he has a lot of major planning to do. Talk about making a few adjustments in his life!
Sighing, Nick leaned back against the cushioned seat, closing his eyes in weariness. Warren was right. He didn't ask to be a mutant. He didn't ask to be different from everyone else. But a mutant he is, and he has no choice but to accept it and live with it. Life goes on, and no amount of moaning and complaining will change anything. Unaware that sleep is descending upon him, Nick's thought drifted away and soon, he lose himself into the gentle embrace of his dreams...