Date: Sun, 28 Mar 2004 03:39:18 -0500
From: FragileIron@aol.com
Subject: Dark Dawn Chapter 1

Disclaimers: This story will contain male to male sex, if such material
offends you, please do not read on. This is a complete work of fiction, it
is meant to entertain, not to predict the future.

Any questions, comments, and/or suggestions about the story can be sent to
FragileIron@aol.com. Constructive criticism is welcome, flames are not. See
my new live journal at http://www.livejournal.com/users/fragile_iron/ now
you can see if I'm actually writing, or if I'm just being very very lazy.

Some of you may know of my other story The Four Elements, but never fear, I
haven't stopped writing the story, there are still many many chapters to
come. But I've had this story stuck in my head as well, so I decided to put
it to the page, I hope you all enjoy.

The first chapter of this story isn't the setting for the entire story.
While it does begin in the real world, it is at the heart a sci-fi/fantasy
story. This first chapter is to establish the main characters, so that in
later chapters, you can understand where they are coming from.

With that said, now begins the story.

Dark Dawn

Chapter 1: The Beginning

    Have you ever wished that someone would come save this world from
itself?  You know, like there's some group of people that would seize
power, and change the world so everyone could be happy? Really though, not
everyone can be happy, that's just how things work out. And when a shift in
power occurs, there is always resistance, and bloodshed. Maybe if I'd known
what would happen, I wouldn't have wished so hard, but it all happened. So
much has happened, so many have died. And the worse yet, the one person I
really loved, he became a monster... well, not really a monster, he more
died, then became an act of vengeance. I guess I'm not making much sense,
maybe if I started from the beginning you'd understand.

    Well, to introduce myself, my name is Tom. When I met that one special
guy, I was about 14. At that time I was kinda small, actually I haven't
grown too much over the years anyway. I stood about 5'4", had blond hair
that I kept short and I weighed about 110 lbs. I have blue eyes, with the
blond hair, I think it gives me that cute and innocent look. Oh, and I'm
gay. I knew when I was 14, even before then, but I was way too scared to do
anything about it. I had told my parents, but that's about as far as I
went. They were supportive, but, well... you can't really talk to your
parents about stuff like that.

    My parents decided that I should join the jazz band in high school, so
to prepare me, they sent me to a "jazz camp." Which, I suppose, is better
than a computer camp, but not that much better, it lasted only a week. The
camp itself was at a college about an hour from where I lived in Denver.
So, after my parents got me all signed in, they finally left.
Unfortunately, there were still stupid "camp counselors" hanging around
ushering us to this and that. I did my audition, and got stuck in one of
the lower end bands, and afterwards met my roommate. There were only two of
us to a room, and we were staying in the college dorm rooms. His name was
Mike, and he was pretty cool. He had the same interests in video games, and
not being led around by the nose by the "counselors".

    The first night everyone was supposed to go to some big auditorium
where someone would talk to us about jazz. So, me and Mike decided our time
would be better spent at the local arcade. When we arrived I buried myself
into the mortal combat machine. I was so engrossed in the game, I barely
noticed the guy walk up next to me and put a quarter in the machine.
Actually, I didn't notice him till I saw the "NEW CHALLENGER" flash across
the screen. When I turned to look, at first I kinda freaked out. He was
probably only about 16, maybe 17, but he was a big guy. Not in the fat way,
or in the tall way. He was only a few inches taller than me, but he was
built big. One of those guys that looks like they can crush your skull with
one hand. His hair was a darker blond color, cut short like mine, and his
eyes were a dark brown. I have to admit, I've been really attracted to big
guys like this, but I want to meet some big guy who's sweet and gentle, and
this guy was really hot. But, looking for a "gentle giant" is kinda like
looking for a needle in a haystack, besides, if he wasn't gay, if I tried
anything, I'd get pummeled into a small puddle. When I looked at him as he
joined in, he turned to me and smiled.

"You don't mind if I play ya do you?" His smile was melting me.

"uh... no, that's cool." Let's file that under `stupid responses'.

    We played a few rounds, I won most of them. I think he was letting me
win, which is a weird thing for a macho guy to be doing.

"Sorry, I think the computer would've been more of a challenge for you."
Sorry? He was sorry?

"uh... it's cool, I had fun playing with you" I was scoring well with dumb
responses today.

"So, are you in the soccer camp here?" Oh great, he's in the soccer camp,
and I'm in the geek camp, I'll never see him again.

"No, I'm in the jazz camp." I hung my head down as I responded.

"Sweet! I'm in the jazz camp too, you just looked like a soccer player." A
compliment? "You wanna hang out after classes tomorrow?" A date? No way,
just me getting false hope.

"Sounds cool." Three for three, I think that's a new record.

    He wandered off with a few off his friends that had been playing pool,
and me and Mike headed back to our room. We talked for awhile before
hitting the hay. Unfortunately, we had to get up pretty early for the stuff
tomorrow.

    The next morning, we had breakfast at the college cafeteria. It didn't
look to appetizing, milk made by mixing water and powder, pancakes made by
mixing powder and water, and eggs made by mixing powder and water, I think
it was all made from the same powder mix too. I looked around the cafeteria
looking for the guy from last night, I forgot to ask his name! Stupid me. I
didn't see him anywhere, I was bummed. Me and Mike sat down at an empty
table, and ate the "food". I didn't talk much, I was stuck in my own brain,
thinking that the guy was avoiding me, or ditched me, or maybe he was
messing with me, basically just feeling sorry for myself.

"Yo Tom, you in there?" Mike waved his hand at me.

"Yeah, just tired or something."

"Your just bummed cause your in the kiddie band right?" Funny, real funny.

    As we spoke, a bunch of people sat down at our table, and someone right
next to me. I looked over, and it was him, and all of his friends.

"Hey guy, whats up?" He smiled at me.

"Uh... not much."

"Hey, I forgot to ask, whats your name? I'm Keith." Wow, he actually cared
what my name was!

"I'm Tom, and this is Mike." I pointed over to Mike.

"Oh, yeah, this is Kyle and Evan." He said, pointing to his friends. "So
what band are you in? I'm in band 4" The bands went from best, being 1, to
15, being the crumby band.

"I'm in band 11." I said glumly.

"I'm in band 4." Mike happily chimed in, I was so jealous of him at that
moment.

"Cool." He said to Mike, then turned to me. "I was hoping you'd be in my
band, but oh well, cookie crumbling and all, at least we can hang
afterwards right?"

"Yeah, that'd be cool. Hey, aren't you gonna eat anything?" I noticed he
was only drinking coffee.

"Keith's a picky bastard about food, he thinks this is pig slop." Kyle
pointed out.

"I didn't say it was pig slop, I said it was insta-pig slop." He had a
point, it was pretty awful.

"Nah, he's just trying to lose weight or some crap." Evan poked at him.

"I gotta get rid of this belly." He said as he pulled up his shirt and
revealed his six pack, pulling the skin out. "See, look at that fat."

"That's just skin." I said, almost drooling on his stomach.

"Nope, its fat, nobody will want me with all this fat on me." Wait, stop!
Am I the only one that noticed he said `nobody' and not `girls' or
`chicks'.

"I think you look fine." Mike smiled at Keith. Was Mike hitting on Keith? I
wanted to jump over the table and strangle him.

"I dunno, what do you think?" He turned to me.

"I think you look great." Damn, maybe I let a little too much slide.

"Really?" He smiled at me, I was keeping myself from drooling everywhere.

"Yeah, I do." I smiled back, trying my best to flirt, I think I was failing
miserably though.

"Well guys, I'm gonna run to class, see you later." He squeezed my shoulder
gently as he walked off.

    I thought about that shoulder squeeze all day, and what I might say to
him tonight. At lunch between classes I didn't see Keith anywhere, his
friends were there, but no sign of him. I began to fear that he was
ditching me again. After the last class, I wandered to the common room,
where the TV was. It didn't have the greatest reception, but at least it
distracted me from my own thoughts. Pretty soon, my thoughts were calmed as
Keith wandered into the room.

"Hey Tom, whats up?"

"Where were you at lunch?" I had to ask, it had been nagging at my mind all
afternoon.

"Oh, sorry, I was working out." He looked down as he said that.

"Do you ever eat?" I was really concerned at this point.

"Well duh, one square meal a day, that's all I need." He smiled at me
again. "Speaking of which, instead of eating the crap they serve here,
wanna come with me to get some grub?"

"I don't have any money for food." I told my mom I'd need some spending
cash, she gave me ten dollars, which I knew I'd spend at the arcade in a
hurry.

"That's cool, I can cover for you."

"Are your friends coming too?" I figured we'd be waiting for them.

"Nah, they don't have money either, and I ain't paying to feed them." He
wants to pay for me, but not them? Interesting.

    I followed him out to the parking lot, where his car was parked. We
both hopped in, and he started driving towards the little mall near the
college.

"So, where are you from anyways? I'm from Denver." He asked me.

"I'm from Denver too."

"Sweet, maybe we can hang out after camp is over." His seemed genuinely
happy I lived close to him, some of the campers were from other states.

"Yeah, I'd like that." I smiled at him, he smiled back.

"I hope you don't mind subway."

"No, that's just fine."

    He pulled the car into the tiny parking lot of the local subway. We got
out and headed inside. He ordered a small 6 inch sandwich, with little in
the way of trimmings.

"You can order whatever, its on me." He flashed that heart melting smile at
me.

    I didn't want to be greedy, so I only got a 6 inch as well, but I
loaded mine with all the goodies. We sat quietly and gobbled up our food.

"So, why only one meal a day?" I was damned curious about that.

"I just don't need any more than that." He didn't look at me as he said
that.

"I don't believe you, are you trying to lose weight?" I persisted.

"Well... yeah... I need to, you know?" He still didn't look at me.

"No you don't you look great, really great. I bet girls are all over you."
I was playing the girls card, looking for the response.

"Not really. Not that I care or notice anyway." Interesting response.

"Well, I think you look great."

"You do?" He smiled at me, the special smile that people give you when
you've just made their day.

"Yeah."

"So... I bet you've got every girl after you with those cute blue eyes."

"Not really, I'm just a shrimp." Now it was my turn for self pity.

"Well, I like you... I mean... uh... shit... you probably want me to take
you back and never talk to you again right?" His head dropped.

"I..." Its a lot harder to say it out loud that you think. "I... like you
too."

His eyes met mine, they were questioning, looking to see if I was telling
the truth or not. "So, it doesn't bother you that I'm... that I'm..."

"I am too." We both knew what the other was talking about.

"So... did you want to head back now?" He seemed visibly relieved at this
point.

"I guess, what are we going to do?" Its not like we could go anywhere
private.

"Well, I brought my boombox, we could listen to music and talk in my room."
He was starting to smile again.

"What if your roommate is practicing or something?" I really wanted to be
alone with him.

"Funny thing actually, I don't have a roommate." His smile really started
gleeming.

    So we got back into his car, and drove back to the campus. As he led me
towards his room, my mind and heart were going a hundred miles an hour.
Were we going to just talk? Or do more, what if he was lying and was going
to beat me up? A million things raced through my mind. We finally arrived
at his room, and he opened the door. Well, he wasn't lying about having no
roommate, the other bed was untouched, and I saw only one suitcase lying on
the floor. He closed and locked the door behind us, then sat down on the
bed. I sat down next to him. I didn't really know what to expect, and when
he put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed, I cringed, almost expecting
him to hit me. Almost instantly he shot up, moving to the other side of the
room.

"I'm sorry." His voice was trembling. The strong person I'd seen before,
around his friends, had completely dissappeared, he was afraid, he was...
gentle.

"Don't be sorry, I shouldn't have..."

"No, its my fault." He cut me off. "I... I'm... not good enough... if you
want to leave, you can."

"Do you want me to leave?" I was crossing my fingers he'd say no.

"It doesn't matter what I want, only what you want... what you feel." His
back was still turned towards me.

    I feel I must point out, that even at the young age of 14, I was aware
that self-less people were incredibly rare. In fact, I'd never met such a
person. And here in front of me, stood a person who only cared about my
feelings. Needless to say, I was completely surprised by this.

"I'd like to stay, if that's ok with you." I said meekly.

    He turned towards me again, his brown eyes staring at me. It was like
he was staring into my soul, trying to see if I was telling the truth or
not.

"It's ok with me."

    And that's where it all started. We spent most of the week hanging out
with each other, sometimes with the whole "gang", sometimes with just the
two of us. We never did have sex that entire week, sure we kissed, and it
was amazing. But sex just wasn't a priority, for either of us. You know,
when your in love, really really in love, sex doesn't really matter.

    Near the end of the week, I was on cloud nine. I was so immensely
happy, I thought nothing could go wrong. The whole "gang" was sitting in
the TV room, watching the hopelessly fuzzy TV. I was sitting on the little
love seat couch with Keith. Being close to him just made me feel safe. I
forgot everyone else was there, and I wrapped my arm around his shoulders.
He pulled my arm off as soon as I layed it down.

"Not here." He hissed at me.

"Why... why not?" I was hurt.

    He got up and walked off. I thought he was angry at me, he seemed that
way. I got angry back. Why did he just brush me off, did he hate me? I got
up and stormed off to my room. I spent the entire night just fuming in my
room. The next day was just parent concerts then we left, so I wouldn't
have to see him anymore. I was so angry. Mike came back to our room a
little bit later.

"Awww, is the little fairy mad cause he hit on the straight guy?" I wanted
to kill him.

"What are you talking about?" I had to play it cool.

"Oh come on, everyone saw you hit on Keith." Shit, I forgot there were
other people there. "What did you think would happen? Think he'd kiss you
and you'd get married and have kids or some bullshit. God, you are a
fucking faggot."

"Shut the fuck up." I ran from the room, I had to find Keith, I had to
apologize.

"I sleep light, so don't try nothing tonight faggot." Mike yelled after me.

    I can't believe I forgot everyone else was there. How could I have been
so stupid? I had to talk to Keith. As I ran to his room, I could feel
everybody's eyes on me, I heard the snickering, I heard the word "faggot"
spit at me as I ran. How did everyone know so quickly? That was a stupid
question, it was the stupid "grapevine", stupid gossiping assholes. When I
got to his room I pounded on his door, nobody answered. Some guy walking by
made a remark about my boyfriend not being there. I didn't know what to do,
so I ran back to my room. I ignored Mike's rude comments, and cried myself
to sleep.

    The next day wasn't any better. Everyone was laughing at me and making
jokes. I was so angry, angry at all these bigots, angry at myself, and I
was angry at Keith, for not being there when I needed him. I spent the
whole morning just being alone, ignoring everyone, and fuming more and
more. I did my concert it was awful, my band sucked. My parents came and
clapped, but we sucked. Afterwards, when my band was putting everything
away, there was another band getting ready. I didn't pay attention to which
one.

"Hey Tom, you gonna go talk to your boyfriend?" Someone sneered at me.

"I'm not a faggot!" As I yelled, I looked up, and Keith was standing with
his band, staring at me. "He's the faggot!" I yelled and pointed at Keith.

I don't know why I did it, I was just so angry at everything. The look he
gave me made me instantly regret it, he looked so hurt, like I had just
shot him. I went back to my room, with my parents in tow. I got everything
shoved into my suitcase. My dad picked it up to carry it out.

"Honey, are you alright? You seem really down." My mother was fussing over
me.

"I'm fine mom." I lied. "I'm gonna go say goodbye to some of my friends." I
lied again, I wanted to find Keith.

"Alright honey, we'll meet you at the car."

"I think he just doesn't want to carry any luggage." My dad joked.

    I figured Keith's concert would've gotten out a bit ago. So I ran to
the quad, it was right in between the concert hall and the dorms. I figured
I could run into him as he walked to the dorms. It had started raining, and
I was getting soaked, but I didn't care. As I came upon the quad, I saw
him. He was standing in the rain, just looking at his feet. I didn't know
what to do, so I just stood there staring at him, I don't think he saw
me. He looked so sad, so hurt. His head turned up to the rain, and I heard
him scream "why?" as if he was asking the stars to take away all his
pain. He fell to his knees, and I could hear him crying. Just as I was
about to run to him, he got up and ran away. I looked all over for him, but
I never saw him again.

End Chapter 1

Any questions, comments, and/or suggestions about the story can be sent to
FragileIron@aol.com. Constructive criticism is welcome, flames are not. See
my new live journal at http://www.livejournal.com/users/fragile_iron/ now
you can see if I'm actually writing, or if I'm just being very very lazy.