Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2001 21:44:53 -0400 (EDT)
From: Rune Therain <mist_dark@yahoo.ca>
Subject: Shadows of the Past 6

Sorry about how long it took me to do these notes.  I got a little side
tracked.  I'm pretty sure that I'll get chapter seven done this weekend,
but eight will be a little while after that.  Next week's full of tests and
assignments, so it'll be hard to sit down and write.  Anyway I've got this
chapter out, and for the time being that's what matters.  Let me know what
you think of it.  You can reach me at either Mist_dark@hotmail.com or
Mist_dark@yahoo.ca

This story is in way supposed to reflect anything about the members of
Nsync.  If any of them are gay I don't know about it.  If you are too
young, or it's illegal in your area to be reading this, I'd leave.  If
homosexual themes offend you, then you are really in the wrong place.

That's all I'm going to put for now.  Once again let me know what you think
of it.

Until next time,
Rune



CHAPTER SIX



	Chris and Cody were both wide awake by the time the others had
surfaced from their bedrooms.  Not only were the two of them awake, they'd
both showered, ordered breakfast and were drinking their first cups of
coffee.  They wore slightly amused expressions at the looks on everyone
else's faces.

	"You two look happy," Joey commented.  He looked slightly smug as
he said it.  He flashed a knowing look at Deana and Sean.

	"We both slept well last night," Chris said.

	"Really?"  Justin asked.

	"Sleep is always better when you can do it with someone you care
about," Cody smiled.

	"I know it," Deana said.  "You two got together last night didn't
you?"

	"No," Chris said simply.  He took another sip of his coffee and set
the mug down.  "Breakfast should be here shortly."

	"What?"  Josh asked in confusion.  "Then who did Cody sleep with
last night?"

	"With Chris," Cody said.  A knock came at the door and Sheryl was
standing there with a cart of food.  "Hello, may I help you?"

	"Just thought I'd drop this food off," she said.  "That and wish
the guys good luck on tonight's concert.  Can I come in?"

	"Sheryl," Justin smiled.  "Come in, you're just in time for
breakfast."

	"I noticed," she said as she wheeled the cart of food into the
room.  "I didn't think just anyone could order this much food."  She kissed
Justin lightly and turned to the rest of the guys.  "I can't stay long.
I've got an appointment with my editor shortly and he hates it when I'm
late.  I just dropped by to wish you guys luck on your concert tonight."

	"Thanks," Josh said.  "Will you be there?"

	"Unfortunately no," Sheryl sighed.  "Business and all.  But I'll
try to be there after the concert."

	"What do you do?"  Deana asked.  "And I'm Deana by the way."

	"Nice to meet you Deana," Sheryl extended her hand and quickly
introduced herself to the bodyguards.  "These guys aren't very good at
introductions are they?"

	"Nope," Sean said.

	"But to answer your question, I'm a poet.  Though there's some
question to my skill."  She laughed.  "My editor sees promise, but I
haven't been published yet."

	"Can I read some of your work?"  Sean asked.  "I'm an amateur
writer, I might get some insight for my own work."

	"To be perfectly honest, I'm an amateur too.  My editor just thinks
I can be a professional."  Sheryl looked at her watch.  "I've got to go.
I'll see you guys later."  She kissed Justin again and almost bolted from
the room.

	"She seems like a nice girl," Cody commented.

	"She is," Justin said.  "And you're avoiding the questions."

	"He's right," Joey said.  "If you guys didn't get together last
night then why did you sleep together?"

	"We've been together since before lunch yesterday," Cody answered.

	"When?"  Deana asked.  "We would have noticed it in the car, and
you certainly didn't do anything at lunch."

	"Remember when I had to go back from my wallet?"  Chris asked.
"And how Cody stayed behind with me?"

	"No," Sean said.  "I don't remember that."

	"Well that probably explains why you didn't know we were already
together," Cody said.  "He has a poor memory for things like that."

	"Wait a minute," Lance said.  He never said much until he'd had his
first cup of coffee.  "I gave you your wallet at the restaurant.  You gave
it to me the night before so you wouldn't lose it."

	"You lie," Deana said.  The indignation at being caught up in their
little tale was clear on her face.  "You did get together last night."

	"Guess they caught us," Cody said.  "Much faster then I thought."

	"True," Chris said.  "I thought we'd be able to carry on like this
for a while yet."  He shrugged his shoulders.  "Have to admit it was fun
though."

	"Why the little story?"  Justin asked.

	"Because you didn't have to give us that little push," Chris told
his friend.  "We would have gotten together regardless.  Consider this a
little warning to keep your noses in your own business."

	"We will get you for this," Deana warned.  She took a glass of
orange juice, drained it, and slammed it down on the table.  "Consider
yourselves warned."













	"How long do these meet and greets last?"  Cody asked Lance.  "I'm
just not comfortable with all of these prepubescent girls seconds away from
ripping your clothes off."

	The blonde laughed quietly.  "They usually last about half an hour.
It's almost over.  And for a bodyguard you're easily scared."

	"I'll face down a mob of pitchfork-wielding villagers before I'd
take two prepubescent girls."  The bodyguard told him.  "They just creep me
out."

	Lance laughed again and turned back to finish the meet and greet.
There were about thirty girls in the room and about five guys.  Since only
one of the guys seemed remotely interested in the group he assumed the
others were chaperones.  The one guy that was interested was interested for
the musical aspect of the group rather then the members themselves.  He and
Josh were deeply involved in conversation with a few of the girls clustered
around trying to act interested.  The chaperones were very interested in
Deana and she had her own little fan club forming.  The rest of the singers
were surrounded by their own little collection of girls.  When Lance
returned from his conversation with Cody he was surrounded by the ones that
had been patiently waiting for him.

	The meet and greet wrapped up about ten minutes later.  The guys
finished up their conversations and sent the group off to enjoy the
concert.  Once the last of them filed out Cody visibly relaxed.  He
conversed for a few moments with Sean and Deana before turning to the
group.

	"I'm sure you're familiar with this sort of thing," he started.
"But we'll I'll go over it anyway.  Since there are only three of us, we'll
position ourselves accordingly on the stage.  Deana will be on stage left.
Sean and I will be on stage right.  You make more of your exits on that
side and there are more people there.  When you slip off to make costume
changes one of us will accompany you."

	"You're good," Justin said.  "Most people don't think about
covering both sides of the stage."

	"We try to be good at our jobs," Deana smiled.  "Besides you guys
are just way to cute to be allowed to get hurt."

	Josh blushed.  "Glad you think that."

	"It's our job to think that way," Sean said.  "But I don't think
you're overly cute."

	Chris gave a dramatic sigh.  "I guess we'll just have to work on
that."

	"We can harass our bodyguards later," Lance said.  When it was this
close to concert time he became very business-like.  He had the adrenaline
rush that the others had, he just focused it differently.  He opened the
door and motioned for everyone to go through it.  "We have half an hour
until the concert starts."










	The concert went flawlessly.  Everyone was where they were supposed
to be at the time they were supposed to be there.  The guys gave one of
their best performances to date.  The crowd thoroughly enjoyed themselves
and were disappointed when it was over.  The guys would have liked to keep
performing, but they knew they would crash soon.  Adrenaline can only
sustain you for so long.

	True to her word Sheryl met them after the concert.  She was
standing with Cody and Sean when the guys came off the stage for the last
time that night.  She threw herself into Justin and gave the blonde a quick
kiss before wrinkling her nose.

	"You need to shower," she said.  "Now."  She glanced at the other
guys.  "And so do the rest of you."  She pulled herself away from Justin
and wiped the front of her shirt.  "This smell isn't going to go away is
it?"

	"Not until you wash the shirt," Chris told her smugly.  He and Cody
led the way to the dressing room.  "It's not a good idea to touch any of us
until we've showered and changed."

	"I'll keep that in mind for next time," she muttered.

	Sheryl and the bodyguards chatted amongst themselves while they
waited for the guys to finish showering and changing.  All of them were
vocal about the guys showering before even coming close to them.

	"So what do we do now?"  Justin asked as he came out of the shower.
He'd been the last one to reach a shower and no one listened to his
complaining on the subject.  He'd finally given up vocalizing and gone to
muttering.

	"We could go out," Joey offered.

	"But," Lance interrupted.  "We couldn't stay out too late.  We have
to leave at two tomorrow so we can't sleep in.  There's too much stuff to
do."

	"Always the businessman," Chris muttered.  "What about going out
until one.  Getting back to the hotel and then going straight to bed?"

	"That works," Josh said.  "We can cover all of our bases that way."

	"Then it's settled." Justin said.  "How are we traveling?"

	"I took a cab," Sheryl said.

	"Well," Sean sad.  "There's my car and Lance's.  We could probably
squeeze you into mine Sheryl.  I think there's a third seatbelt somewhere
in the back."

	"Why doesn't the sound comforting to me?"  She asked aloud.  "Okay
that fits me into one car, and I'm assuming Sean into one as well."

	"I'll take Chris, Cody, And Josh in mine.  Deana, Justin and Joey
can go with you Sean."  Lance smiled smugly.  "What would you guys do
without me?"

	"I can think of a few things," Joey said with a straight face.

	"I'm so glad those thinking lessons have worked out for you Joey,"
the blonde shot back.

	"Yep.  It was expensive, but it was worth it in the end.  Got my
diploma last week."  Joey grinned and then darted through the door with
Lance hot on his heels.

	"I think the rest of us can take a slightly relaxed pace," Deana
said.  "I do love running, but not that much."  The remaining people in the
room nodded their agreement and made their way to the cars much slower then
Lance and Joey did.











	"Shhh," Cody said.  "You'll wake everyone up."

	"I don't think so," Chris said.  "They all sleep like rocks after a
concert."  He walked across the room and turned one of the bedside lamps
on.  "It's one of the things that's good about sleeping after a concert.
You sleep really well.  Besides I think the club really tired them out"

	"You don't look tired," Cody said.

	"That's because I've had distractions," Chris said.  He grinned at
his boyfriend and then sat down on the bed.

	"Do you want me to stop distracting you?"  Cody asked.  He returned
Chris' grin and then went to stand in front of him.

	"Not a chance," Chris replied.  The singer stood and wrapped his
arms around Cody's waste.  "I don't mind your distractions at all."  He
pulled the bodyguard into a passionate kiss and then leaned backward to
drop them both on the bed.

	Cody broke the kiss and stared at the man beneath him.  "Now who's
being distracting?"

	"Upset?"  Chris asked.  He started working at Cody's muscle shirt
and pulled it over the man's head.

	"Are you sure?"  Cody asked.  The heat was starting to build in the
Cody and it was visible in his eyes.

	"Positive," Chris assured him.  He didn't notice the look in Cody's
eyes because he was exploring the man's chest.  Aside from the wing-like
tattoos on his back, Cody had several others.  An Egyptian style eye was
below his left nipple and an ankh was above the right nipple.  There was a
circled pentacle and a series of lightning bolts that formed a triangle on
either side of his lower back.  What caught Chris' eyes though was a tiny
Celtic cross just above Cody's left hip.  But it didn't look like a normal
tattoo because of its colour.  It was the most vibrant shade of purple that
he'd ever seen in a tattoo.  It almost looked like a birthmark.  "Wow."

	"That's it?"  Cody asked.  "Wow?  I was expecting something more
then that."

	"Sorry," Chris apologized.  "Just didn't know you had that many
tattoos.  They're beautifully done."

	"Thanks," Cody said.  "I've spent a lot of time getting them done."
He leaned over Chris and pulled off his shirt.  "But let's see what you've
got to offer."













	Josh stood in the middle of a darkened forest.  Clouds covered the
moon and the trees were shrouded in mists.  Now and again howling could be
heard in the distance.  He shivered.  This wasn't the first time he'd had
this dream.  It started the night after Chris and Lance's attack.  The
howling came again, only this time it was closer.  He shuddered in fear and
started running away from the howling.  He knew it wouldn't do any good,
but he felt he had to try.  He'd done the same thing every night since the
dream had started.  He'd run.  And the howling had caught up to him.  He
never remembered what the howling was, or what it did to him, but he knew
it would catch him.  It always did.

	"Josh," a voice called through the mists.

	He stopped running.  He didn't remember anyone calling out to him
before.  It had always just been him and the howling.  He looked around to
see where it had come from.  A shadowy figure could be seen a couple of
yards off to his left.

	"Josh?" The voice called again.  "Are you there?"

	"Who are you?"  Josh called.  The figure came closer and Josh saw
that it was a woman about thirty.  Her blonde hair spilled around her
shoulders and down the back of her plain white robe.

"We have to hurry."  She said.  "I don't have enough power to stop the
other one."

"What?"  Josh asked.

"The Oracle will explain Josh," the woman told him.  "But we have to hurry.
I can't keep this dream stable for very long."

Josh was about to ask another question when the world around him melted
away.  When it came back into focus they'd changed locations.  The forest
had been replaced by a stone-hall.  Giant pillars rose to the ceiling.  He
looked up but couldn't see where they connected to the ceiling.  Braziers
held fire and gave light to the room.  At the far end of the hall was a
white robed figure sitting cross-legged between two more braziers.

"Go to him," the woman told him.  "We don't have much time."

Josh shrugged and started toward the figure that he assumed to be the
Oracle.  He wasn't really sure why he did it.  He was just glad for the
change in scenery.  This hall was a welcome change from the forest
nightmare he'd been having.

"I apologize for the methods of which I have used to contact you," the
Oracle said.  His voice was almost a whisper, but Josh easily heard it.
"But we have little time to work with.  The Moving day is so close that we
had little choice."

"Moving day?"  Josh asked.  "Where are we?  Who are you?"

The Oracle held up his hand.  "I promise that your questions will be
answered in time, but for now listen.  The Dreamer has you and your friends
under a spell.  I would have contacted them as well, but they are too close
to the Dreamer.  I will do what I can to break the spell, but it is not my
power to do that.  Events have been put into motion that are beyond our
control.  Your trusts will soon be put to the test.  Do not jump to
conclusions.  It will be a difficult test, but all might rest on your
reactions."

Josh wasn't sure why, but the Oracle intrigued him.  He was curious about
the situations the other man was talking about.  "Why me?  Why my friends.
What did we do?"

The Oracle laughed softly.  "We have no choice in what Fate lays before us.
We can only accept it.  But it is not you that have been chosen by fate.
You are wrapped up in this merely by association."  The Oracle was about to
say something more when the hall shuddered violently.  "Josh.  Heed my
words.  I have sent my aid, trust in it.  But beware the Dreamer."

	The hall dissolved and Josh sat up in bed drenched in sweat.



TBC

So?  What did you think?  Details.  Come one, you know you want to send me
e-mails.  I'll try to get seven out as quickly as possible.

Rune