Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2000 17:36:12 EDT
From: Morbddream@aol.com
Subject: Crimson Tears - 10

Disclaimer: Too young, click the X. Illegal, click it. If homosexual themes
offend you, this site just isn't for you, and you wouldn't be here. This
story is a complete work of fiction, and is not meant to imply anything
about the sexuality of any of the members of Nsync.

Note: Unless I have to, I won't be putting any P.O.V. changes in for
awhile. Because of those I can't put any of the last chapter at the
beginning 'cause I'd have to put so much this file would get way too big,
and would take forever to send. This one is going to go back to how it has
been. Since I left the P.O.V. out of Jake's hands, I just wanted to make
sure you knew...  Enjoy! :)

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Chapter 10:

	I sat down in the chair where I had been working on the scroll. I
glanced over toward Justin. His sleeping figure outlined perfectly by the
white sheets. I was almost lost in his beauty until a knock at the door
startled me back to reality. Shaking my head, I walked to the door and
answer it. "Oh my." Said an old woman carrying a sack as she turned
away. "I'm very sorry, sir! Please forgive me. Here is your laundry. Should
I expect the rest to be in their underwear?" I laughed. "Everything we
brought was dirty from debris, and other things from the attack. Other than
the ones whose clothes you've already washed, yes." She nodded without
looking at me, and walked toward the other rooms. "Excuse me." She
stopped. "You forgot to give me my clothes..." She rushed back to me, and
dug my clothes out. "Is there anyone else in there?" She tried to look past
me. "Yeah, the black robe with animals all over it." She nodded, reached in
the sack, and handed me our clothes. "Thank you." She walked away as I
closed the door. 'I'm pretty sure she was hoping there would be another man
in here. The way she was trying to look past me...' I smiled at the
thought. "Justin. Wake up!" I said, shaking him gently. "What?" He
groaned. I threw his robe over his head, and walked into the bathroom to
get dressed. When I came out, Justin was asleep again, with the robe on his
head. I rolled my eyes. "Get up!" I was shaking his harder, now. He didn't
move. I smiled as a light bulb went off in my head.

	A low pitched growl made Justin stir. He sat up in bed, looking
around. A scream echoed through the halls of the castle as he saw the
creature that woke him. He was shaking like a leaf, and as pale as the
sheets he was desperatly trying to protect himself with. The lion walked to
the bed slowly, reaching the side in a matter of seconds. Justins eyes were
locked on the lion's, watching his every move. The lion bowed his head
slightly, looking at Justin menacingly.  "Next time, get up when i tell you
to!" Whispered the lion, as it's form started to dissolve into that of a
human. "You prick!" Yelled Justin. I smiled sweetly, and walked toward the
door. "Meet me in the library." I walked out.

	I nearly ran into Chris as he, and Joey were running toward my
room. "What happened?" He asked. "Nothing. Just had to scare Justin awake."
I smiled, walking toward the library. I heard Chris knocking on the door as
I walked away. I reached the library. The huge oak doors held two statues
above them. Two gargoyles that seemed to be watching me. 'Thats strange.' I
thought.  'Those guys look a lot like my guardians from the academy.' I
shrugged it off, and entered the library. Lance was sitting at one of the
tables in the center of the room. The curtains were pulled back, so the
sunlight was streaming in. His wings seemed to absorb the light, and
reflect it ten times as bright. Small rainbows were dancing around the
table with every move of his wings. 'The beauty of an angel is beyond
comprehension.' I thought. He seemed to be reading some kind of
book. Trying to, but he didn't seem to be able to keep his mind on it.

	"Hey Lance." I said, sitting next to him. He looked up from his
book. "Hey. Was that a scream I heard earlier?" I nodded, smiling. "Just
Justin waking up to a little surprise." His eyebrows raised in interest. "A
surprise, huh?" I nodded. "Just a little lion." His face twisted into a
look of confusion. "A lion?" I couldn't help but laugh. "Remember, you can
change into animals. I can change into animals." He looked satisfied with
that explanation. "Oh, OK. Hey, theres something I don't understand about
this book." I looked down, and immediatly recognized the book. "Heavenly
powers. Thats a good book. A little confusing for a beginner, though. What
don't you understand?" I pointed to a symbol on the page. "This rune. It
says it's the rune of destruction, but it looks like the rune of faith." I
inspected the rune on the page. "It does, doesn't it? I never noticed that
before." He was staring at me. No, he was staring at my back.  "Is there a
bug on me?" I asked. "No, I was just wondering why you don't have wings." I
smiled.  "I have wings, I just don't like displaying them to the world like
some people." He flapped his wings gently. "I think they're purdy. Besides,
people respect me when they know I'm an angel." I nodded. "Yeah, they
do. They don't respect you when your wings look like mine, though."  That
interested look was all over his face again. "Show me. Please?" He was
pouting. His innocent act was a good one. He looked so cute when he did
it. "Sure, but not here. There are too many people around. Let's go back to
one of those private reading room things." I stood, followed by him. We
made our way to the back of the library, searching for an empty
room. Justin walked in as we found one, and saw us walk in together. He
felt pain, guilt, and anger all at once.

	"Don't freak out on me." I said, preparing to spread my
wings. "Please! I'm sure I've seen stranger. That librarian prepared me for
anything you could dish out." I shook my head, and smiled. Orcs are ugly
creatures, but the librarian was especially ugly. I sat on one of the
chairs, and closed my eyes. My shoulders started bulging slightly. A white
blanket of feathers covered my back. The feathers started forming two
wings, slowly growing from my back.  Soon I had two white feathered wings,
just like Lance's. "Oh, so you think MY wings are ugly?"  He mused. I shook
my head. "Not finished." I muttered. The wings dimmed. They lost the
bright, colorful look of Lance's, and slowly changed from white to
grey. From grey to black. The feathers twisted into narled bone, pertruding
from everywhere. Two horn like bones stuck out from the fold in both
wings. The narled bone melted into smooth, red skin. The smooth skin turned
into firey scales. The outline of the bone in the wings was clearly seen. I
opened my eyes, and looked at Lance.

	"No one respects a fallen angel." I sighed. He was inspecting my
wings. "Wow.  Thats an impressive wing span." Each wing was ten feet from
my shoulders. "They aren't that bad.  I'm sure the disrespect is all in
your imagination." He was trying desperatly to make me feel better about my
deformation. "No, it isn't. Most fallen angels did something terrible to
become a fallen angel. I was born with the powers of heaven, and
hell. That, in turn, made me a fallen angel. I am the only human that
controls these powers, so no one thinks about how I turned into this, only
how others have before me." Lance cocked his eyebrows. "Wait a minute.  I
thought there was no hell here?" I shook my head. "There is no hell
anywhere. That is just the easiest way to describe it. It really doesn't
have a true name. The underworld, hell. All just names. The reality of it
is terrifying." He shook his head. "There is a hell." I looked down. "The
man we're going to bring you to meet. The God you believe in. He will crush
what you have strived to believe in your entire life. You can't truly
understand our world if you don't meet him." He looked angry. "You can't
meet God. Adam and Eve were banned from Eden for eating from the tree of
knowledge. Understand? That means he doesn't want anyone to 'know' him!"  I
shook my head again. "Believe what you will, for now. It will all become
clear soon." With that said, I stood and walked out of the room.

	I saw Justin at one of the tables. He had his head down. I sat next
to him. "Asleep again?" I mused. He jumped, startled by my
presence. Without lifting his head, he spoke. "Nah, just thinkin." I heard
pain in his voice. "Justin, whats wrong? Why are you crying?" He still made
no move to lift his head. "I'm not crying!" He was being very
defensive. "Yes, you are. At least you were before I got here." He was
silent. "If you'd feel more comfortable talking to Lance, I can get him."
He tensed when I mentioned Lance. "OK, then. Maybe he isn't the right
person to talk about. C'mon. Tell me what's wrong." He was giving me the
silent treatment. I sighed. "Come on. Let's get you back to the room." I
put his arm around my shoulder, and half carried him to our room. He looked
down the whole way, avoiding my gaze.

	When we got to the room, I opened the door, and led him in. He laid
down on the bed, burying his face in the pillow. I sat in the chair next to
the bed, and stroked his curly blonde hair. "Please tell me whats wrong.
You were right, I do have a crush on you. It's more than that, really. I
care about you Justin. Seeing you like this hurts me as much as whatever it
is hurting you." He looked up at me. I could see the pain in his eyes, and
he could see the sincerity in mine. "It's my fault." He said, tears forming
in his eyes. "I should've known you liked Lance more than me. Ever since he
became an angel, he's had this beauty that he didn't before." I kneeled
beside the bed, holding his hand. "Thats true, he has. Thats doesn't matter
to me. Your beauty surpasses his. Watching you these past few days was like
watching the sunrise over a lake of pure gold." He cocked his eyebrows.
"Could you do me a favor?" I looked into his eyes.  "Anything."  He
smiled. "Since you suck at poetry, never do it again." I shot a look of
mock anger at him as he laughed. "Awwww, come on. I was just kiddin'. Well,
kinda. You do suck at poetry."

	"Shut up." I said, standing. "You never did tell me why you got so
upset..." He sat up, and looked at the ground. "I saw you go into that room
with Lance..." I cut him off. "...and you jumped to conclusions. Well,
Mr. just keep your hands off, thats just ... swell." He looked up, and
smiled. "Yeah, yeah. I was just scared. I was going to tell you in the
library, but never got the chance." I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, right. I think
I can forgive you, since you kinda told me. I don't know, though." it was
his turn to roll his eyes. "Like you can resist this." He said, running his
hands down his body. "Stop trying to entice me, boy. Your body definatly
isn't what attracted me." He looked shocked. "What was it then?" He asked,
with a smirk on his face.  I thought about it for a minute. "Your
friends. I figured if I can just get you in the sack once, I can explore my
options, and choose any of the other guys." He pouted. "OK, OK. It was your
body. This conversation has gotten way too mushy already. Lets get back to
the library, and see if we can find anything about this prophecy." He
nodded, and followed me out the door.

TBC...

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I think I'm getting these out too fast, and thats making them suck. :) I
promise to go back to the action packed, trouble every minute style next
chapter... I had to get at leas two of them together! Sorry about the lake
of gold thing. I am truly, truly sorry about that. I am, really, no poet
(obviously) so I had a little trouble with that. Don't hate me cause of one
little flaw!  It'll be better enxt tiem, I promise! E-mail:
TruAmricanBadAss@AOL.com. IM at Morbddream, or Bad Ass. ICQ:75287134, OR
72484179