#STOP! CROSSING OVER! YOUR FIXATIONS LOUIE!!!!!!!!!!!

[feverinfeveroutfic]

chapter twenty five: a good boy

“that’s not how you move a closet! that’s the worst closet moving i’ve ever seen!” -jim gaffigan

Aurora had begun frequenting the San Francisco Bay Area more and more often from that point onward; given Sam was often riding back down to Los Angeles and onto Catalina Island, she only got to see her old friend for half of a day before one of them had to leave. Every single time, however, she noticed her growing bigger and bigger. To think that she had shown Sam another side to her all the while, and yet all she could think about was her mother's words in how when children were involved, things became harder to deal with. And even though he wasn't a kid anymore, she wondered how Alex was handling the whole feud between her and Aurora.

It only made sense to acknowlede it with him: he participated in her and Emile's wedding after all.

And in the meantime, Testament had fulfilled their time there at that studio and Eric had the final say with it all to Ruben, who made the mad dash back to the label itself in order to submit the new album. A month's time and they would take their stride alongside Metallica and everyone else: this little quintet out of the Bay Area about to nip at their heels and let the world know that they were in fact a force to be reckoned with.

But at one point, within mere hours of Eric handing the final tape over to Ruben, Sam found herself in a strange spot.

All the traveling to and fro between the Bay Area and Catalina Island. All the unsettled feelings and being divided up between both of her parents. The new beds each and every week. Every single time, a little harder on her. Every single time, she just wanted to stop for a second, if only to observe the oleanders as they bloomed against the San Francisco fog and the persistent cold despite winter's transformation into springtime. Some of them wilted and withered from the cold, but many of them returned once the sun poked out from behind the clouds, those five petals big and strong and either a deep shade of pink or pure white.

With Cliff, it was tulips. With Joey, deadly nightshade. With Alex, oleanders.

The end of April brought on the realization that Greg's birthday was coming up, as was Eric's. As if she needed more things to do as she met up with Alex at the cafe across the street from Ruben's house. Chuck and Tiffany had gone off somewhere else from that point out, and thus the two of them were once again left alone together.

He sat across from her and his long jet black hair fell down around his shoulders like a thick lush mane: that singular plume of gray stood almost upright over the right side of his brow like a little radio antenna. She eyed the collar of his shirt: the same shirt he wore when they made out in the pool room, and once more, he had undone the top two buttons and showed off a bit of his chest and his collar bones.

The soft scent of his cologne filled her nose even from across the table. He leaned back in his chair and kept his right hand close to the base of the cup. Sam leaned forward a bit as if she was making up for him.

“I still have yet to see your old high school,” she told him.

“I know you do,” he said with a thoughtful look on his face. “There's a lot you've just got to see around here, Samantha.”

He lifted his cup and brought it up to those sensual little lips, and then he lifted his gaze to her again.

“You sure you don't want anything?” he asked her.

“My dad's got stuff across the street,” she replied, and she sighed. He knitted his eyebrows together.

“Is everything okay? You don't seem like yourself.”

She lowered her gaze to the glass cover on the table top. How she wanted to be back in New York with Joey and also Marla and Belinda: it also felt like a million years since she had heard a word from the Cherry Suicides as well, even as she put on that shirt for another day that day. The fatigue settled over her like a wave of sorts.

Ruben had promised her a cup of coffee at any point during the day if she so wished but even after a nice warm one earlier that morning, she still had a bit of trouble waking up all the way for Alex right across the table from her. She sighed through her nose again and she propped up the side of her head within the palm of her hand.

“I can't keep doing this,” Sam finally said to Alex. “This incessant going back and forth between my parents' houses and taking the stinkin' bus every time. It literally feels as though I haven't made any art in a million years even though it's only been a couple of months since I started doing this.”

“Why's that?”

“Traveling is hard on me,” she confessed. “And by hard I mean, it's not like touring. It's getting on the bus right as I get settled into my dad's house or my mom's house. It's having to see you guys for a week only to vanish again for another whole week. I can't keep doing this.”

She folded her hands upon the table's surface and she gazed down at the glass covering there before them. She looked on at her own reflection as it looked back up at her: her own dark eyes gazed back at her. Her skin was still tight and smooth with her teenage days: still young Samantha, little Sammie, but she had reached the age of twenty four by some black magic.

“Well—remember what Eric and I both told you,” he said, “do what ever feels right to you.”

She raised her gaze back up to Alex, still with a thoughtful expression plastered across his face.

The cafe was quiet, except for the grinding noise of the coffee maker on the other side of the counter.

“I should ask you,” she began.

“Go ahead,” he encouraged her as he flexed his fingers on his right hand a bit: he returned his hand to the top of the table afterwards.

“How're you handling the whole thing with me and Aurora?” she asked him, to which he hesitated for a moment.

“It—actually hasn't crossed my mind all too much,” he confessed. “I've actually forgotten why you ladies were fighting each other in the first place.”

“She made your nineteenth birthday all about her,” she recalled. “And then when I tried to address that with her, she was a complete ditz and made everything about herself again.”

“Oh, yeah, that's right! Again, it actually hasn't crossed my mind very often. I've just had my mind on other things.”

“Like making an album?” Sam showed him a smile.

“Like making an album, right! Two albums to be exact. The New Order and now Practice What You Preach.”

“Germany, too,” she added.

“Germany, too! And ginger snaps.” She leaned forward again, and once more had her hands folded over each other. The fire opal bracelet Chuck gave her clinked against the glass underneath her.

“I made out with you,” she said in a soft voice.

“You made out with me or did I make out with you?” he asked her.

“Both.”

Alex squinted his eyes at her. He shuffled his feet under the table, and he flexed his fingers again.

“You alright?” she asked him as she eyed his hand.

“I'm feeling it again,” he admitted to her.

“Feeling what?”

“It.”

Sam lowered her gaze to the cup of coffee before him and she nibbled on her bottom lip.

“French up that coffee and we'll talk,” she told him.

“French? You mean Irish.”

“Nah, I mean French.”

Alex held still with his hands on either side of the cup. He looked up at her with those deep eyes focused and steady upon her. For a split second, she swore that he lowered his gaze towards her chest. He flinched those long fingers a bit.

She thought about the things that Joey had told her over the phone that one time and she thought about doing them to Alex instead. Her lips around him. His fingers down below the equator and his tongue up inside of her.

He picked up the cup and took a sip, and not for a single second did he remove his gaze from her. He never seemed more hypnotic before: a little loose back there in the pool room and he suddenly became Mr. Seducer. She thought about Joey's venom, the way in which he seemed to slide and slither about like the deadly nightshade he so sprouted from: Alex came from somewhere else, as if from a fever dream. Where Joey resided within the earth, Alex seemed to burn into her with those deep eyes.

She sighed through her nose and bowed her head a bit to bring attention to her chest. Once more, for a split second, he dropped his gaze by a mere hair.

It was there between them. It was real, as real as the grays on his head. As real as those deep eyes that gazed back at her as if he lured her in, much like those oleander bushes in the south land.

He flexed his fingers again and all Sam could think about was the day before wherein they were about to add the final touches before submission. She sat there in between Alex and Louie as Chuck was talking about going on tour that summer, and wherever they went from that point onwards was anyone's guess. The vibe that surrounded them was so tense and yet she sat there so comfortably in between those two men.

Louie mentioned something else about the poison garden to her and Aurora just happened to be there right next to him, now six months along and her gaze fixated on the clipboard rested upon her lap.

“I'm really feeling it, Sam,” he told her with a smile on his face once Eric picked up the phone to call up Ruben. “Our producer told us this new record could really put us forth.”

“Will it have a gift shop?” Aurora absently asked.

“Yeah, wolfsbane keychains,” Alex muttered under his breath, which in turn brought a giggle out of Sam.

He said it again right there in the cafe, and that time with a smile on his face.

“Yeah, wolfsbane keychains!” he exclaimed. “You and Louie have 'poison garden'—we should have wolfsbane keychains.”

“Wolfsbane, and not desert roses?” she asked him.

“You guys can have desert roses, too,” he pointed out.

“I say desert rose because I'm based out of the desert you know.”

“Of course! Desert roses for the desert rose right across from me.”

The door behind them swung open and Ruben stepped into the cafe with a blue and white tin tucked underneath his arm.

“Hi, Daddy!” she greeted him and she stood up and threw her arms around him.

“Hello, sweetie!” he returned the favor for her with his free arm. He then turned to Alex, who straightened himself up so he wasn't sitting so down low in the chair; but he handed Alex the tin. “Hey, son. Seeing as—you're such a hard working kid, these are for you.”

“What's this?” he asked him.

“What is it?” Sam echoed him as he took off the lid.

“Ginger snaps, baby,” he declared as he took a bite of that first little cookie.

“Ginger snap me up side the head,” she joked.

“Anyways, I've got the next hour off,” Ruben told them, “I'm in need of help for the two of you. Eric and Chuck both told me to bring in a couple of blank video tapes tomorrow because apparently the label wants you guys to film a music video in promotion of the new album.”

“Do you even have one?” Sam asked him.

“Yeah, it's somewhere packed away in that house—hence why I'm asking. Can't do it by myself. You know. You know how much that house still needs unpacking.”

“Absolutely!”

He then raised a finger to the both of them. “I'll be right back.”

He ducked away from them and headed back to the other side of the cafe, and right behind the counter there. Alex took another bite of ginger snap: the cookies in that tin were small medallions about the size of silver dollars so he could pop one into his mouth. Even though she liked him when he had a little bit of liquor in him, the sight of him eating those cookies brought a wave of comfort to her: she'd rather watch him get heavy from eating too many cookies than have his body go south from drinking.

If only Joey could get hooked on those as well.

“How are they?” she asked him.

“Excellent. The perfect amount of ginger, too. Sometimes they can be too much with it.”

She took one herself and he took a third one, and popped it into his mouth as if it was a potato chip. Indeed, he was right: it felt like a little kiss of ginger coupled with butter and some nutmeg.

“Speaking of ginger snaps, I guess Guns N' Roses are gonna be in town,” he told her once he swallowed down that bite. “Tomorrow night, I think.”

“Ah, cool! I wonder if Zelda got to see them again. She introduced me to them after all.”

“She probably did see them! They were back East just a few days ago. Prince actually got to open for them, believe it or not.”

“Wow! I wonder if she got to see him, too.”

“If she did, I envy her,” he admitted. “Prince is one hell of a guitar player. Hard to believe that album Purple Rain's actually five years old now.”

“I think it's funny that there's actually a guitar player called Prince—and you sort of came into my life like a dark heavy metal prince.”

He shrugged his shoulders.

“I wouldn't say it's funny,” he said, “it's definitely interesting to think about, though.” “A coincidence, would you think?” she asked him.

“There are no coincidences, Samantha—but everything has a purpose, though.”

“I just think of Belinda's first impression of you,” she recalled with a shake of her head.

“What was that?” He took another bite of ginger snap.

“She called you precocious.”

“I'll admit it,” he said upon swallowing. “I'd rather be seen as precocious than full of myself, even though I can be.”

“I can be, too,” she told him.

“I think it's better to be full of yourself with just the right amount of doubt thrown in all the while than be doubtful of everything and wear a mask of arrogance.”

Sam hesitated with her mouth slightly agape.

“I like you,” she told him.

“I like you, too,” he replied back to her with a raise of his cookie. “And I like the fact that you and now your father wanna give me cookies.”

“'Cause cookies are love,” she said.

“It's all spent doing fuck all,” he said with a straight face.

“Doing fuck all to fill your belly with love,” she pointed out.

“And my ass with ginger,” he retorted. It made no sense but she laughed at that anyway. Ruben returned to them and he rubbed his hands together.

“Come on, kids,” he beckoned them.

Alex put the lid back onto the tin and then with his free hand, he took the knit yarmulke out from his back pocket.

“Wow, I haven't seen that in forever and a day it seems,” she remarked as he stood to his feet.

“I haven't worn it in forever and a day,” he said, “mainly because we're going with your dad back to his place and not elsewhere.”

“Oh, I see!”

He tucked the tin underneath his arm and once Ruben held the door for the both of them, they crossed the street and back to the house. Ruben himself took to the linen closet and he encouraged them to take to the kitchen.

Sam knelt down before the small wooden table on the side of the room closest to the hallway. Nothing underneath there, but she did flash a glimpse over at Alex on the couch in the living room with the yarmulke on the arm right next to him. She missed her couch still, still there in the apartment in Hell's Kitchen. She pictured Genie curled up at the top, all by herself all the while.

Cliff sat there and drank Mexican hot chocolate with her.

She also pictured herself and Joey sleeping together on that couch: as soon as she thought that, she pictured herself and Alex together on that couch.

He stood up and turned around and she caught a view of the seat of his pants. He hitched them up and she couldn't help but let her eyes wander.

All those ginger snaps and incessant touring and working allowed his body to develop a lovely toned shape: slim and lanky, even slight, and yet he was nice and round in the rear end.

She had drawn Joey. She had drawn Frank. She had drawn Cliff. She had drawn herself.

She still needed to draw Alex: if only she could convince him of such, especially since there was no alcohol anywhere in the house. Even if there was alcohol anywhere in that house, there was no way it would fly by Ruben as he strode back into the front of the house. But she had to loosen him up somewhat, and there was only so much a ginger snap the size of a silver dollar could do for her.

Sam hurried over to Alex right as he turned around and he raised his dark eyebrows at her.

“What happened?” he asked her in a hushed voice given Ruben was right there next to them, and he delved through a small box he had tucked under the coffee table.

“Something has—come over me,” she confessed to him in a low voice.

“How so?”

She gestured for him to follow her. They got about five steps in when Ruben stopped them both.

“Where do you kids think you're going?”

“We're—going to look in my closet,” Sam told him.

“Of course, yes!”

She led him back into her bedroom and he left the door ajar behind them. She slid the doors open and she ducked inside first and pressed her back to the dividing wall behind her. Alex joined her with his back against a protective covering on a piece of dry cleaning.

She put her arms around his waist and she lingered closer to his face.

“Oh, I see what you're doing,” he said to her in a low voice.

“I want you loose again,” she confessed in a near whisper. She eyed those lips, smooth as ripe cherries and ready for her taking.

“I'm gonna fuck ya silly and then it's gonna be every man for himself from there on out,” he joked.

“Not if I'm the one who fucks you silly first,” she chided, “and it'll be every man and woman for themselves from there on out.”

“What's going on in there?” Ruben called from the next room.

“Nothing!” Alex and Sam called out in unison; she returned to him.

“Kiss me,” she begged him in a near whisper.

“Kiss you? Your dad's literally right there in the next room, Samantha!”

“Kiss me—the fact he's there will only make it sexier.”

“We are in your closet after all,” he pointed out.

“Just touch me already!” she insisted.

“What?” Ruben called out.

“It's okay, Dad!” Sam called out the closet door and then she returned to him.

“Okay, we really gotta do something or he's going to find out about us,” he told her in a hushed voice.

“And what if he does, Alex?” she demanded as she raised her chest up to him.

“Samantha, have you seen how he looks at me?” He dropped his gaze to her chest and he nibbled on his bottom lip. “He wants to skin me alive!”

“I don't think he does,” she assured him with a shake of her head. “I mean, he gave you ginger snaps for crying out loud, Alex. Now, when he and my mom were together and I brought Joey home with me, he definitely wanted to do things to him.”

“Why is that?” He frowned at that.

“Joey,” she started; even though she promised her mother to keep it under wraps, the cat was already out of the bag. “—I'm guessing reminds him of some guy my mom knew once.”

Alex snickered at that, but Sam smacked him in the shoulder.

“Ow!” he hissed, and then he rubbed his shoulder.

“What do you mean, 'ow'? I barely hit you!”

“A slap is a slap, though,” he pointed out.

“A slap is a slap like on your ass?” she asked him.

“Shhh!”

“What's going on in here?” Ruben's voice floated into the room right then.

“Nothing,” they both said once more in unison. He stepped into her bedroom and they peeked out of the closet together.

“Nothing in here, Dad,” Sam told him. “Really, there's like nothing in here.”

“I really haven't found anything in here, either,” he confessed as he pressed his hands to his hips. “I'll have to break down and buy some new ones, I guess.”

“There's a shop not too far from here that sells all kinds of stuff like that,” Alex told him.

“Oh?”

“It's right up the street here, actually. You just ask the lady in there about it and she'll show you and it's real cheap-o, too. One time, when I was little, my dad needed to tape a lecture and all I remember is him talking about how it was like a treasure trove in there.”

“Well, thank you, son, I'll—I'll be right back.”

Ruben bowed out of there and Sam turned to Alex once again.

“You are such a good boy,” she declared.

“Just doing what I can,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders. The front door closed and Sam ran her tongue along her bottom lip.

“Why do you want me loose again, by the way?” he asked her as he pressed his hands to his hips.

“I want to draw you,” she told him.

“You wanna draw me?”

“Yes. I wanna draw you—the best way I can make love to you without getting you drunk. Or maybe I can if you so wish.”

“Nah, I get drunk, I wouldn't be able to stay in the seat.”

Sam turned to her courier bag there on the desk chair and she took out that brand new journal she had bought in Santa Monica for a brand new chapter in life.

“There's a stool in his room right down the hall,” she advised him. “Grab that and I'll turn the light on for you, Mr. Skolnick.”

He showed her a little smirk before he left the room. While he was in the next room, she peeled off her shirt and changed into one of those Death Angel shirts that she had brought along with her. She knew that if she ever had to eventually decide on a place to live, and she chose San Francisco, she would have to see them again, and that time in their home city no less. She moved the floor lamp in that room closer to the closet door, right in front of her.

Alex returned with the little black stool in question.

“Hey, cool shirt,” he remarked.

“One of many!” she declared and she gestured to the floor lamp right in front of her. “Have a seat.”

He closed the closet door and took a seat there on the stool.

“Tell you what—you draw me, you've gotta do it with Greg,” he said.

“Why?” she laughed at that.

“'Cause Greg could use it, that's why. You do it with Greg, I'll give you whatever the hell you so damn well please.” He hesitated for a second. “Gosh, that was a mouthful.”

She giggled at him.

“You're so sexy, Alex,” she said, “I should really draw you just for the fact you're so sexy—a bet or not.” He raised his eyebrows at that.

“You—wanna draw me? Should I strip naked or something like that?”

“Nah—you can leave your clothes on.” She stood up and walked on over to him. “Although—”

She reached forward to that third button and unfastened it for him with only two fingers. With her other hand, she did the same for the next one. Then the next one down. The next one down. Soon he stood there before her with his shirt open and a sliver of his bare body shown off to her.

“You only wanted to do that 'cause you wanted to undo my shirt for me,” he teased her, and he nudged his shirt back a little bit to show off a little more of his chest to her. She reached up and switched on the light for him.

“Oh, my,” she breathed out. “Oh, my, Mr. Skolnick.”

“Hey, now, Mr. Skolnick is my dad—I'm little Alex,” he insisted as he took his seat there on the stool. He leaned back a bit and showed off more of his body to her. The way the light shone down onto his pale smooth skin and onto the tops of his thighs.

“I thought you weren't little, though,” she recalled.

“To you, I'm not,” he teased her as he opened his legs a bit to get himself comfortable in front of her. He set his hands on either side of the stool's head and his eyes hooded a bit. His lips seemed extra plump and soft; his waist had slimmed down but also seemed a little bit thick at the same time.

Alex leaned back against the wall so more light cascaded over his body. The way the light bathed his body and made his already full face appear fuller, and his deep eyes even deeper. He tilted his head back and the light in turn made the skin on his neck, his chest, and his stomach appear so soft, smooth, and silken. Sam sat there across from him with her drawing pad rested upon her lap: every glimpse up to his body made her want to feel him some more. The scratch of the graphite made him seem much softer and sweeter.

To genuinely feel and touch him. Such a beautiful boy.

He cleared his throat.

“Remember on the road trip up to Carson and Tahoe we were talking about Georgia O'Keeffe?” he asked her.

“Of course,” she replied as she momentarily lifted her gaze back up to him.

“I think I spoke too soon.”

“Why is that?”

“You're absolutely filthy.”

“Filthy—ha! I don't think so.”

Alex raised his eyebrows at that.

“Seriously? You're absolutely loose. Loose like a loose—pussy.”

“Alex!” she said in a hushed voice.

“It's true, though. Although I will admit that that was rather tasteless.”

“Tasteless like my pussy?” she retorted back to him.

“Nah, I reckon your pussy's about as tasteful as that drawing you're making, hence the O'Keeffe reference.”

He clapped his hands together and stood to his feet with his arms in the air as if he had declared a victory. Sam leaned back in her chair and she eyed the slight curve on his waist. It was the most gentle curve she had ever seen, but the light on his skin made it appear right before her eyes.

“You might wanna take it easy on the ginger snaps, big boy,” she teased him. “You're getting kind of a tummy.”

He lowered his arms and looked down at his waist. He touched the skin there with the mere tips of his fingers.

“Not again,” he grumbled.

“Ever so slight, though,” she told him. “Like I can see it a tiny little bit around your belly button but you can't really see it with your shirt closed, though. It's gonna grow, though.”

He sat back down, and then he reached to his right for another ginger snap, which he shoved right into his mouth. She stopped drawing so she could watch him eat it up and then he reached for a second one and did the same.

“Could use some milk,” he said with his mouth full.

“Milk has fat in it, you know,” she pointed out, and he swallowed.

“Hence the point!” he proclaimed and he rubbed his belly with both hands.

“You are such a tease,” she scolded him, and he gave his black hair a little toss back with a flick of his head.

“Let me ask you something—what happened to you in that pool room?”

“I dunno. You kind of—woke me up, Alex.”

He showed her a smirk and straightened himself upright. She had a light soft sketch right there before her upon her lap but she figured it was something good to work from that point onward. A little extra dark shading with his hair except for the small gray tuft over his brow.

“Are you getting okay?” he asked her.

“Getting it good, my dear Alexander,” she said as she used the side of her pencil to shade in the side of his neck and the lapels of his shirt. “My dear Mr. Skolnick.”

She lifted up the drawing pad and showed it to him.

“Soft, silky, and utterly gorgeous,” she declared; he pressed a hand to his chest as if he had just seen the best thing ever.

“Think you can take it from here?” he asked her.

“Absolutely!”

The front door closed right then.

“That was fast,” she stated.

“I said it was literally right up the street,” he recalled as he closed his shirt; she kept that drawing on the seat of her chair and she hoped that Ruben wouldn't have to see it for himself as they headed back to the front of the house. He had gotten four fresh blank video tapes, much to Alex's surprise and slight disappointment.

“We're gonna need more than that, Mr. Shelley,” he said with a shrug. “When we did the video for 'Over the Wall', we used like six tapes. Well, and they were messing around with the effects of it, too.”

“Well, son, this is what I've got,” Ruben told him. “It's what they had, too.”

“So what do you think we're doing this for?” asked Alex as he fixed his shirt a bit more: Sam noticed the buttons were one off all the way up.

“Let's give it a try for 'The Ballad',” Ruben replied with a smirk on his face.

Sam and Alex glanced at one another, and all she could think about was when he picked her up from the side of the road, which she hadn't even told him about yet.

The whole thing with Aurora felt a little redundant at that point.

#fanfic #fanfiction #chapter 25 #fever in fever out #fever in fever out fanfic #book four #souls of black #testament fanfic #testament band #testament #alex skolnick #alex x sam #louie clemente #oc tag #unresolved tension #artistry #writing #also on ao3 #also on wattpad #text #long reads

[pilyarquitect]

86. "We'll just see about that."

Huey woke up lying on the ground. Why was he sleeping there? He didn’t know. He opened his eyes and stand up just to see himself trapped inside a dark cell. The walls were made of stone. There were no windows and a wooden door blocked his only way out. He wasn’t tied or retrained in any way, what made him think who locked him here didn’t thought he would be able to escape.

How did he get there? Had he been captured? Who captured him? Which what purpose was he captured? Huey approached to the door and examined it, trying to find a way to open it. When he found nothing, he decided to put an ear on it, trying to hear whatever it was from the other side. He heard nothing. No people talking, no people walking… anything.

Huey walked back and sit down on the ground. The only thing he could do was wait for his family to rescue him or for the ones who captured him to show up and tell him why did they get him. Huey sighed. One could think he could be used to be attacked, kidnapped or even injured going on adventures with his great-uncle. But this would be a lie, it was very difficult not to say impossible to be completely used to something like this.

Huey closed his eyes and tried to remember what happened before waking up here.

********************************************

Uncle Scrooge showed up that morning announcing them he just heard about an abandoned castle long ago, so it could be interesting to go explore it. Della soon apologized saying she already had plans with Donald, Daisy, June and May, to help them prepare the future marriage between Donald and Daisy. It wasn’t as if the rest of the family wouldn’t help, it was that this day, who offered to help Donald and Daisy were Della and Webby’s sisters.

So, the rest of them, Scrooge and the kids, along with Launchpad went to this castle. It truly seemed old, but well preserved. They were looking for treasures – especially Louie – or anything they could find to know the story of this castle – this was actually what Huey wanted to do.

All the group with Scrooge leading them all entered to what seemed to be a throne room. Uncle Scrooge stopped suddenly, making the rest of them also stop.

“What’s up Uncle Scrooge?” Dewey asked totally confused.

“This room is weird lad.”

“Weird?” repeated Huey looking around. Webby also looked around and then to the triplets.

“Dad is right, this room is weird.”

“You know Webby?” said Louie with a hint of boring in his voice “I’m not still used to hear you call dad to Uncle Scrooge.”

Webby scratched the back of her neck with a shy smile.

“Yeah, I know, I love call him dad, but it’s also strange for me to call him that. I’ve called him Mr. McDuck almost all my life, then I could call him Uncle Scrooge and now, I can call him dad because he is my dad. It’s a dream come true.”

“Yeah, I’m happy for you,” Huey said looking at Webby and Louie. Then he looked at Uncle Scrooge “Why do you say this room is weird, Uncle Scrooge? You say it because it has a lot of doors?”

Scrooge nodded at him.

“Exactly lad. This type of rooms used to-”

Before Scrooge could even finish his explanation, a loud laugh was heard – a laugh they all knew perfectly well – and in an instant, all the doors of that room closed at the same time. Alarmed faces were soon seen among all the people present there.

“Oh! Curse me kilts!” exclaimed Scrooge “It’s a trap! Hurry lads and lass, we’ve to find a way out!”

The kids hurried to do as Scrooge told them every of them. Huey after inspect the first door, run to another. He was inspecting it when suddenly, the wall nest to him opened and some white powder flew directly to him, making him cough. He started to feel weak, and saw himself losing his balance and falling directly to a pair of arms waiting for him. The last thing he could hear, was his family calling him. Then everything went dark.

********************************************

Huey raised his head when he heard someone approaching, and stood up when the sound of the door opening reached his eyes. He could feel his heart beating hard in his chest, but he tried to seem brave in front of the person who was about to show up.

The door finally opened and no other than Magica appeared there.

“Oh, you’re awake.”

Huey rolled his eyes. Magica had just said the most obvious thing.

“Oh, you’re a genius, Magica. Now, why am I here?”

Magica didn’t reacted to what Huey seed, or if it upset her, she hid it pretty well. On the other side, the witch smiled at him.

“Oh, you’re just my bait.”

“Bait?”

Huey was confused. Magica shrugged.

“Yes, I needed one of you,” she simply said “and you or your brothers were easily to take than that girl in pink.”

Huey could feel his anger grow, and he was afraid ‘The Duke’ could show up at any time. He had to calm down, at least for now. The important thing here was to find out Magica’s plans.

“Okay, I got it, so you wanted one of us to use as a bait,” he said closing his eyes. He tried to calm himself, and when he felt he was calmed enough he continued. “But what you want a bait for?”

“To force Scrooge to give me his number one dime.”

That again? Huey was starting to fear Magica had some kind of insane fixation with his great-uncle’s dime. That wasn’t normal. But he was afraid to say that to Magica, the witch couldn’t take well his words. He decided to go for a… more safe way.

“Really?” Huey crossed his arms over his chest “You should already know he won’t give it to you.”

Magica showed a little cruel smile.

“Oh, are you sure Scrooge will risk your live?”

Huey felt a chill running down his back, but he hide it the best he could.

“He won’t need to;” he snapped bravely “my family will rescue me.”

"We'll just see about that."

“You’ll lose, as always.”

Huey hoped his sounded more confident than he felt actually. Unfortunately, it seemed those words made Magica get upset.

“No, your uncle has had luck so far, this time he won’t have that luck.”

Huey took a deep breath. And tried to think in a logical way. Magica told him he wanted him as a bait, so she wouldn’t hurt him… at least not excessively if she needed him. This gave him courage to continue facing the witch in front of him.

“You keep saying that to convince yourself, don’t you?” he smiled a little, to say this, gave him even more confidence “Besides… why do you want Uncle Scrooge’s dime? It isn’t magic or anything.”

“True, it isn’t magic,” Magica admitted “but Scrooge used it to deflect a spell that hit my brother. It’s possible that a little of magic from that spell is still in that dime. If I use it, maybe I can finally find my brother.”

“Your brother?” Huey was shocked, he knew – thanks to Uncle Scrooge and Louie – that Magica had a brother. But he didn’t know Uncle Scrooge used his dime to deflect the spell that turned him into a raven.

“Yes, my brother! The one Scrooge didn’t stop and flew away!”

Being honest, Huey could understand what Magica wanted. If he were in her situation, he’d probably do everything in his hands to try find his brothers. What Huey couldn’t agree with Magica at all, was in the methods she was using. Huey would never hurt innocent people to try find his brothers. Magica seemed to not care about this. Huey sighed. At least he could let Magica know he was aware about Magica’s brother.

“Yeah, Uncle Scrooge and Louie talked us about your brother.”

“Oh, did he?” Magica seemed a little surprised “Well, it doesn’t matter. In a way or another, I’ll recover my brother.” She turned “Until then, I’ve some things to prepare before your family comes. Please, enjoy your time here.”

Magica left the room leaving Huey again in a complete dark. Huey sit down again and tried to think in a plan to escape.

#prompt list #requests #ducktales 2017 #Huey Duck #Dewey Duck #Louie Duck #Webby Vanderquack #Scrooge McDuck #Magica DeSpell

[egglegion]

Half of a curse: part 1

(A Fethry duck x Poe de spell fic)

The moon light was reflecting into the ocean waves. Fethry was fixated on the reflection which would fracture. But even with all the energy he had, the drowsiness started to settle in.

"Hey Mitzy were heading home now!" Fethry shouted to his companion. Soon they both arived at duckburg's bay.

"Good night mitzy!" Fethry shouted as Mitzy submerged herself underwater.

Fethry was left alone in the cold sand as he quickly started to run back to his uncle's mansion.

Fethry had a choice to stay at the scrooge's lab under the money bin, or stay at mcduck manor until he was able to get his own house.

Although he was sad he wouldn't be able to see Mitzy every night, he was done for under water labs for a while.

For the most part he was fine, but was a bit saddened because he had to let go of his krill team due to his new living conditions. Of course Della was always there to chear him up, although with her crazy dangerous antics, even he got a bit tired of them. He always had the "little donalds". He seamed to enjoy the red, and the pink one the most. He also loved it when pink's friends would show up. The moody teenager got along with him surprisingly well, and the sabrewing would always exchange ocean facts with Fethry.

Fethry opened the window in his room to get a bit of fresh air.

He once again got fixated on the moon once again. One side luminated, and warm the other dark with looming shadows.

Upon gazing on the moon how ever he caught something purple, and black moving in the corners of his eyes, before it swooped in through the window.

Soon a bang was heard at the door.

It was a raven.

The raven had a panicked expression on it's face.

But Fethry quickly got it in his arms, and checked to see if it had any serios injuries.

"Why don't you stay with me for the night" The raven did not even seem to appose the idea as it quickly went flew to Fethry's bed in a hurry.

Both of them slept peacefully.

Fethry woke up, but did not see the raven. Fethry assumed it left since he left the window open.

After a chaotic breakfast, Della set the kitchen on fire, Gladstone came over, and absolutely made Donald furious, so much so that he ended up flipping the table, and dewey somehow ended up chocking on his food beacause he dared Webby in a "who could eat mom's food the fastest" competition, luckily Violet knew how to do abdominal thrusts .

Nothing out of the ordinary.

Fethry, and Gladstone decided to head out to the garden.

Both of them were just catching up, traveling through the fields of hyacinth flowers.

After travelling through this arrange of flowers Gladstone spot something glowing. It was a purple glow.

He decided to go, and inspect it, and found a amulate with a gold base, and outline surrounding a purple gemstone.

"Oooh what did you find this time gladdy" Fethry asked behind him with his ever growing curiosity.

"An amulate" Gladstone said with disgust as he remembered the day he had lost his luck, and it was first day he had to ever use the stairs, and use a door knob. How awful indeed.

"Look Feth, i think we should tell uncle mc.d about this" "why?" Fethry asked.

"It's a long story. Anyways i will tell you on the way back, k" Gladstone said. Fethry followed.

Both of them were passing through the roses when Fethry saw the raven he met last night. He told Gladstone to stop. He stopped, and Fethry pointed to the raven.

Fethry noted that the raven was laying with one foot crossed in the rose field so he hastily went to edge of the stone road, and was about to got to the roses. However Fethry forgot that these roses had sharp thorns, and scratched his foot on they way there.

Gladstone cringed at the sight of Fethry's scratched knees, and foot. "Your bleeding cuz". "Oh?" Fethry responded as he looked down at the raven he picked up."let's go" Gladstone told Fethry. "Fine, but tell me about the story".

"So anyways i was hit with this purple magic thingy blast, and then.." They both opened the door. "I turned into something hideous ... i turned into Donald, i was horrified when i looked at my reflection" Gladstone cried, covering his face with his elbow dramatically. Donald started to breathe heavily against Gladsone's neck. Fethry giggled.

Fethry looked down at the raven who had a panicked expression on their face. "It's ok little guy i'll get you patched up, no need to be scared" Fethry whispered to the raven.

Della who had walked into the room after hearing shouts coming from Gladstone, and Donald. "Why do those always find a way to argu-" Della cut off her own words. "Fethry what happened?" Della asked as he saw Fethry's scratched up leg that was bleeding a little amount by now. "I just went into the rose field to get this rave-"

Della dragged Fethry to the nearest bathroom. "Dellaaaaaa i'm not a little kid anyyyyymoooreeee" Fethry whined, as he held the raven in his arms. Fethry was sitting in the bathroom counter, and his feet where dangling as Della applied rubbing alcohol to Fethry's injuries to disinfect them. Della had a dead serious face. "Seriously i'm not littleeeee anyyymoooore" Fethry whined, and winced. Della soon started to put blue bandaids with fish illustrations. Although it was hard to put them in the exact location of the spots because she could not concentrate due to Donald's, and Gladstone's arguing just outside the bathroom.

Soon Della started putting bandages on the raven's leg too.

The three of them walked out of the bathroom, only to see scrooge with a dead serious face.

"Do you know whay i called ye all heerrr" Scrooge said with his Scottish accent being thicker than usual.

He guestured to the amulet Gladstone found earlier. "This amulet with out a doubt belongs to magica" "aunt magica? But i have the amulet! How could she possibly have another one?" The moody teen, Lena answered. "Maybe she has another one?" Donald questioned, but lena din't understand a word he said so Della had to translate. "Theres a reason why she wanted the amulet that i have, with me!" Lena said in a louder voice than usual,

"I'll go get the weapons" The pink one, Webby said. Violet chased after her, and soon Dewey did to. Louie gave up when he had to climb the stairs.

Beakly quickly started to search the perimeter for any sign of magica, duckworth soon joined.

Fethry went to his bedroom where he layed in bed with the raven he was still holding on to. Fethry was suprised how quickly he had gotten attached to the raven. Not surprising considering his love for animals.

Gladstone soon joined Fethry in his room. They started chatting, while the others set up their defences, and equipped themselves with some weapons.

"Hey gladdy we should go, and help them" "right.." Gladstone responded. Both got up to leave, but della opened the door. "Both of you stay put" "but" both of them answered in sync. "Stay put" Della said as she gave them a spear, a triton, and two shields. Both of them sighed.

Gladstone soon fell asleep as he din't get eneugh "beauty sleep" last night, Fethry just layed down in bed next to gladstone, as the raven layed on top of his belly.

Fethry smiled, and looked at in a hypnotic way.

Fethry, and the raven starred at each other for who nows how long. Fethry soon blocked the world out like he usually does.

#i suck at titles #fethry duck #gladstone gander #poe de spell #fethry x poe #ducktales #ducktales 2017 #egglegion #fanfic #fanfiction #della duck #Della is protective of her younger cousins #scrooge mcduck #mrs beakley #bentina beakley #ducktales duckworth #huey duck #louie duck #dewey duck #webby vanderquack #lena de spell #violet sabrewing #magica de spell #donald duck #mitzy #phantom blot

[janetbrown711]

"One ticket to Paris please," Webby smiled at the old and tired looking man within the ticket booth at the station.

"Exit visa?" He asked.

"Exit visa..?" She questioned.

"Oh? 'Exit Visa'?" He mocked. "No exit visa, no ticket to Paris," he slammed his booths shutters closed.

"Well darn. How am I supposed to get an exist visa?" She harumphed to the small dog hidden in her pocket.

"Psst," an old woman beckoned. Webby looked around to see if she was talking to anyone else. The woman shook her head, grabbed her coat and bent her down so she could whisper.

"See Louie. He can help," she winked.

"Ooh. Where can I find him?" She asked.

"At the old palace. But you didn't hear it from me," she winked again.

"Oooh! Thank you!" She smiled and nodded graciously.

"Now shoo! Go!" The woman sneered. Webby took the hint and went on her way.

"Louie huh? Must be a nice guy. Hope he doesn't ask for any money," she chuckled, stroking the dog's head, "because goodness knows I don't have that either." With that, she went on her way.

.o0o.

"Ah ha... yes... very- uh.. very nice," Louie gave a fake smile, scribbling out a name on a long list of young women who came from all over this side of the country to audition for the role of the Princess Webbigail. Donald chuckled and shook his head beside him.

"Yes, thank you. Next!" Donald ignored the girl on stage's plea and the next one came up. She had dark red hair, which wasn't a good sign, a giant brown fur coat and held a long cigar. She took a deep breath in as preparation, and upon relasing, she revealed a small sailor girl outfit which baffled both Louie and Donald.

"Grandma... it's me... Webbigail."

"You've got to be kidding me," Louie put his hands over his face.

"Hey, this is one of the better ones we've seen today," Donald teased. Louie gave him a look, and then crossed out the name.

"Thank you for your time- uh... Gosalyn. Next!" He shouted.

"Louie, there aren't any more," donald said. Louie huffed.

"Guess we'll have to think about it on our way back," he got up, put on his coat and headed outside, his uncle following not far behind.

"You're still determined to keep this up? You and I both know none of those girl could even possibly pass as her," Donald said.

"We'll find her Uncle Donald. I know we will. She's here somewhere, right under our noses. I know it," Louie kept his determination. "Don't forget. One look at the music box is all the Empress needs to think its her, and we'll be off with our fortune before she catches on!" Louie assured as he headed on into the palace.

"Again, for your sake, I hope you're right," Donald sighed.

"You always say that," Louie rolled his eyes.

"And I always worry."

.o0o.

As Webby made her way to the palace, she felt a vague sense of... of something pulling her into it. It was... like a distant memory. But that'd be crazy. She was a street orphan. Either way, the entryways were boarded up so she couldn't get in but Lena (she named the dog Lena) successfully squeezed her way in.

"Lena! Lena where are you," Webby looked through, pulling on the wood until they all cane crashing down and she was able to enter.

The palace was clearly covered in at least five inches of dust (Lena even kicked up a good amount as she ran through), and there were signs of decay everywhere, but then again, what did she except from an abandoned palace?

"Hello?" She called out, her voice echoing against the marble floor and high ceilings. She made her way into what must've been an old ballroom, and just gazed at it. It was so familiar, calling and beckoning her. Like a memory from a dream. It was filled with things she almost remembered.

She looked upon the paintings and saw regal eyes gaze upon her. It sent chills down her spine but she couldn't help but feel like she had dreamed of them too, dancing gracefully to a tune she had made up when she was a kid.

She could see it too. The gowns, the parties, the laughter and regallity of it all. Heck, she could imagine herself too. Dancing back and forth with various partners. Her dress being giant and golden, with pink bows and ribbons for decoration.

But it was a dream, and she snapped out just as quickly.

"Hey! What're you doing here?!" A man pointed at her. Webby gasped and began to run with all her might across the room, Lena running ahead, but the man chased, followed by a much slower and a much older man behind.

"Hey! Stop! Stop! Stop!" He called. Webby ran out of breath (not realizing she had actually been dancing) and stopped by a wall with the largest painting of all.

"Wait a minute- just how did you get in he-...here...?" He stared at her at her, quickly losing his tongue. Lena sniffed his feet and growled, but Webby picked her up.

"Excuse me Child, but-" The older gentleman finally caught up.

"Uncle donald- look," he pointed at her and then the painting. Donald blinked.

"I don't- wait..." he gasped, "yes! Yes i see it!"

The poor, dirty, scruffed up girl they were seeing looked almost exactly alike the young princess in the painting.

"Are you the Louie everyone talks about?" Webby was getting tired of the way they were staring at her.

"Well that depends entirely on who's asking," Louie smirked, stepping closer to Webby, but Lena snapped, forcing him to take a step back.

"My name is Webby, i need travel papers," she explained. "They say you're the man to see, although i can't tell who you told me that."

"Uh huh..." Louie was only half listening, doing a full body scan around her.

"Uhm- hey-?! What are you circling me for?" She git impatient again.

"Oh- i am so terribly sorry there- uh... webby, was it?" He 'apologized'. "It's just- well... you look an awful lot like..." he gestured vaguely. Webby tried to see what he was pointing to, but he quickly put his arms down.

"Never mind. Now, you said something about travel papers?" He asked.

"Uh... yes. I'd like to go to Paris," she explained.

"You'd like to go to Paris?" Louie actually almost couldn't believe the coincidence.

"Now let me ask you something, Webby," he got closer, Lena growled, so Webby handed her to Donald, whom she appreciated a lot more. Louie rolled his eyes and continued.

"Is there a last name that goes with that?" He asked.

"Well.. actually- this is gonna sound crazy- but I don't have one. I was found wandering around when I was about eight years old," she admitted.

"And before that?" Louie was nodding along.

"Look- i know it's strange, but it's all i got, okay? I don't have many memories of my past," Webby played with her necklace.

"Hmm... that's very interesting," Louie observed.

"Well I do have one clue, and that's Paris. So... can you two help me, or not?" she explained.

"Paris? Well uh- sure would like to!" Louie smiled cheekily. Donald blinked, confused, but Louie elbowed him and he smiled too.

"In fact, we too are also going to paris!" He pulled out tickets from his vest pocket.

"And i have three tickets here," he teased and dangled it in front of Webby's face but when she reached for it, he pulled it away.

"But the third ticket is reserved for her- the Princess Webbigail," he pointed at the painting.

"We are going to reunite the Grand Duchess Webbigail with her grandmother," Donald explained, as they all began to walk up the stairs.

"And you do resemble her," Louie said.

"The same blue eyes," Donald said.

"The Vanderquack eyes!" Louie added.

"Nicholas' smile!"

"Alexandra's chin!"

"Oh! And you even have her grandmother's hands," Donald examined them. Webby jerked them away.

"Now hold on here-"

"You're the same age, physical type-"

"Wait, are you seriously trying to tell me you think that I am royalty?" Webby laughed as they stopped at a painting of just the princess.

"All that I'm trying to tell you is that I've seen thousands of girls all over the country, and none of them resemble her highness as closely as you do," he pointed to the painting.

"I knew you were crazy from the beginning! But now i think you're both mad!" She turned and began to walk away.

"Why?" Louie ran in front of her. "You don't know what happened to you."

"No one knows what happened to her," Donald added.

"You're looking for family in Paris,"

"And her only family is in Paris!"

"You ever thought about the possibility?" Louie slowly guided her back.

"That I could be royalty? Well- i dunno! It's kinda hard to really imagine yourself as a duchess when you sleep on a damp floor," she gave them both funny looks, "but sure. I guess every little girl imagines herself as a princess," she blushed a little, admitting a little what just happened in the ballroom.

"And somewhere, one little girl is," Donald winked, carefully handing her back the dog at the same time.

"Rreeeaalllly wish we could help, but like we said, the third ticket is reserved for Webbigail, so..." he took his Uncle's shoulders and they walked away. Webby sighed, eyes still fixated on the painting.

"Why didn't you tell her about our brilliant plan?" Donald whispered.

"All she wants to do is go to Paris. Why give away a third of the loot?" He whispered back.

"I'm telling you we're walking away too soon," Donald shook his head. Louie rolled his eyes and counted with his fingers.

Three...

Two...

One...

"Louie!" Webby called. Louie grinned at his uncle.

"Louie wait!" The girl ran after him.

"Oh? Did you call me?" He blinked innocently.

"If I don't remember who I was, then who's to say I'm not the grand- whatever, right?" She reasoned, mostly with herself.

"Mhmmm. Go on..." he pretended to be invested in her line of thought.

"Yeah! And if im not, then the Empress will know right away and it will all just be an honest mistake!" Webby said.

"Sounds plausible!" Louie agreed.

"But, if you are the princess, then you'll finally know who you are and finally have your family back too!" Donald encouraged.

"He's right. Either way gets you to Paris," he nodded.

"Right!" Webby shook his hand, "it's a deal then."

"May I present, the Grand Duchess, Webbigail," he bowed. Webby snorted.

"Nice," she looked around a second. "Lena," she called, picking up the dog once more, "we are going to Paris!"

"Uh- the dog stays," Louie stated flatly.

"Uhm, no. The dog goes with me. And that's final," she huffed and moved along.

But in one of the corners of the high palace, beyond where any of them could see, was a crow with an all too familiar purple gem.

"Webbigail? Yeah, just one problem there fella. Webbigail is dead," he laugh-cawed (crows are weird), but suddenly the purple stone began to glow, and spirits began to leak out.

"Uh oh... if that thing woke up after all these years then- Webbigail is alive???!! And that's her!" He looked at the huffy girl in front of the two con men. At a glance it seemed impossible, but upon further inspection she was the spitting image of the royal family.

"I have to tell Magica," he cawed, grabbing the staff, but it soon turned into a necklace, which clasped his foot, and took him under the river, and took him deep, deep, deep down. Farther than any mortal had ever gone.

"Who dares interrupt my solitude- oh! It's you Poe! What a pleasant suprise," she grinned.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9

#webbistasia #ducktales #webby vanderquack #louie duck #donald duck #lena de spell #poe de spell #magica de spell #my fics #fun times amirite #i love once upon a decemeber so i had to make it a lil real and not just skip over it like i made journey to the past lol #i love this movie-

[feverinfeveroutfic]

chapter forty: among the living

“We have got to take you to see Iron Maiden at some point—they're probably our biggest influence. Iron Maiden plus Journey and Rush.”

“Well, keep your eye on the tour dates, though,” she advised him. “School just barely started, so if there's any dates for spring break or the summer time, or better yet—because my birthday is coming up—for that day, too.”

“I don't think anyone we like'll be playin' for your day of birthage,” he confessed, “but rest assured, I'll be keeping my eye open for you. You and Belinda and Marla and Aurora and Zelda, too. We like our girls.”

It had been almost an hour since Joey and Sam had come to the cafe and at that point, the sun had begun to hang low outside. The snows were upon them once again and Sam wondered if she and Belinda could make it back home to the Bronx in time. If nothing, Joey could let the two of them bunk with him for the night. They both knew the way to his place now, and he had room there.

“I assume Black Sabbath, too,” she added as she took a sip of coffee.

“Hell yeah! If we ever start getting big, like Metallica big, I hope we can weave our way into the world of Sabbath.” Joey took another large drink of that warm beany coffee and then he ran his fingers through his pitch black curls. Tiny smooth ringlets caressed the inside of his fingers.

“What exactly quantifies 'Metallica big'?” she asked him as she held the mug by the base with both hands.

“They've kind of become the Scorpions at this point,” he explained. “They're big in a sense that anyone inside of our circle and our scene knows exactly who they are. They're not like Madonna big in that everyone across the world knows who they are. If you go to like, San Francisco or Boston, and you mention Metallica to a regular ol' schlub, they couldn't tell you who they are. But if you saw a guy with long hair and mentioned them to him, he'd probably tell you who they are. Speaking of Boston, we gotta take you to see them, too. So much to do.”

“So much to do and see and so little time,” she remarked.

“Exactly!”

They fell back into silence for a moment so Joey could sip upon his coffee a bit more.

“So—Aurora told me of a newer band called Guns 'N Roses out of L.A.,” she recalled.

“Mmm?”

“Yeah. She—” It was really hard to say it was her who said it and not Eric, and she cleared her throat. “—she said they're hard rock and kind of a refreshment from all the big hair.”

“Cool—I oughta check 'em out the next time we're at a record store. Although—” He peered over his shoulder to the doorway and his expression turned serious. “—I think there might be one here in town, to be honest.”

His brown eyes fixated on something on the other side of the room.

“What's up?” She turned to look and she recognized that long smooth dark hair as it fell down to the middle of his back. Smooth and dark and with a few waves embedded within: his coffee colored skin contrasted with the white of the snow outside. Right next to him was that full head of jet black hair wrapped up in a parka. For all Sam knew, Joey hadn't seen the gray stripe make a disappearance, but she also couldn't say that he didn't know it wasn't him.

She shifted her weight in her seat at the very sight of the serious look on his face. He dropped his gaze onto her and he sighed through his nose before he took another sip of coffee. She turned her head again and she gazed on at Alex as he adjusted the lapels of his big heavy parka; Chuck said something to him, but she couldn't hear a sound from him.

“Oh, yeah—forgot they were here with us,” Joey grumbled.

“Who? Legacy?” She remembered the vow to keep it all a secret, especially since she, Aurora, Belinda, and Zelda were the only ones who knew about the name change.

“Yeah—you know, I don't bar grudges, so I have no problem with Chuck per se. But that boy, Louie—he looks like he's up to trouble, especially from his experience with Zelda.”

“What makes you think that?” Sam had to resist breathing out a sigh of relief at that.

“The biggest stoics are often hiding something. I say that because I'm a stoic myself.”

“So you're implying that you're up to trouble?” She couldn't resist a little laugh at that.

“Maybe. We'll hang out more and maybe I'll show you.” He flashed her a wink and she raised her eyebrows at him. She returned to the two young men on the other side of the room; Alex peeled off his parka before he sank back into the corner there. Gray sliver nowhere to be seen, much to her relief.

“Or it could be because he's a drummer,” she pointed out. “Drummers know how to bang.”

“Drummers know how to bang, exactly!” He showed her another little lopsided grin. She took another glimpse over at Alex and his staring up at Chuck as he said something to him. He was rather lovely and he stood out from a crowd, and thus it made very little sense to her. But then again, it was dark when he and Joey got into that fight, and so she knew he couldn't recognize Alex by those deep steely eyes like she could.

Chuck then turned away and he headed across the warm wooden floor. He looked in her direction and he showed her a friendly little smile and a little wave.

Please don't come over here, Chuck, she said to herself as she returned the favor. Please don't come over here, please don't come over here, please don't come over here...

And lucky for her, he kept onward to the counter in front of them. But then she returned her gaze to Alex as he set his elbows up on the top of the seat and showed off his chest. She thought about the joke that Belinda had said to her, but then she returned to Joey, who finished off his cup of coffee right there.

“I still owe you a drawing of you,” she recalled.

“Why?” he asked her with a puzzled look on his face. “You made that painting of me—and by the way, I still have it in my car, too.”

“I want to do it better, though. I want to get you alone for a long time and without a shred of an interruption between us. I want to do it on paper, too. Joey, I've been teasing it to you. I want to give it to you.”

He ran his fingers through those ringlets again: she wished to feel his hair much like how she felt out Frank's hair in Charlie's closet. She turned her direction to the other side of the room again: those deep eyes watched her every move, or maybe he was looking past her to the wall behind Joey. She thought about the mysterious man in her dreams, how he seemed to watch her every move as well. The streak buried under the helmet of black and yet she could feel its ghost. Like the very dream himself.

A fever dream.

He nodded her an ever so slight nod and she showed him a friendly smile. It was the least she could do for him right then.

“Yeah, I kinda wanna,” Joey piped up, such that it took her off guard. “Let's take a walk, too. I think the snow's stopped for a little bit.”

“Sounds good,” she told him.

Without another word, they slid out from there and the noise of the cafe returned to them. Alex turned his attention to something on the other side of the room so Sam was able to lead Joey out of there. The gray had covered the sky yet again and the snow was upon them once again, and yet she wasn't ready to head on back to the hole in the wall.

“Did not like the way Louie was looking at you back there,” Joey confessed as they walked side by side to the corner.

“Why?”

“I dunno, it just made me uncomfortable. The way he stared right through you—like that undressing stare.”

“What do you mean 'undressing stare'?” she asked him, baffled; a part of her wanted to laugh at the notion that Louie was undressing her, especially since that wasn't even him. And then she realized just how clueless Joey was, in that he was under the influence of white wine when Louie told her that he and Zelda were on good terms with each other.

“He was totally undressing you with his eyes,” he pointed out. “It looked like he was undressing me a bit, too. I think his break up from Zelda's getting to him a bit. Although to be fair, I would've done the same if it were me. I can't imagine pain like that.”

“You think a guy as good looking as him would be that desperate for attention?”

“You think Louie's good looking?”

“Yeah, I think he is.” She had to resist even more laughter right there.

“Huh. Well, I used to know this guy when I was playing hockey—he was pretty handsome, even by my own standards.”

“Oh, live and let live, Joey! I won't give you a hard time if you think another guy's good looking.”

“Okay, he was pretty handsome, even for us funky looking hockey players. Never found a girl by the time I joined Anthrax and yet I could see it in him. He was getting desperate because all my other teammates were starting to get the eye from the girls in the neighborhood. Yeah, I can actually see it. Desperation comes in all shapes and sizes, you know. And the only other thing I know about it is it can hurt you. So I'd tread with caution around him.”

He then turned his head to her.

“I mean, it only makes sense,” he continued, “you're protective of me—I should return the favor.”

Sam knew there was no point to it because it wasn't even Louie but she still gave him a smile. It was comforting to know that she and Joey could expound on their friendship from that point onward. Within mere seconds, they had reached the street corner and paused for a moment so as to look either way about the street.

“Hey, there's that clearing you and I went to before when Stormtroopers toured up here,” he noted with a nod of his head.

“Where?”

“Right over there.”

Sam then looked off to the left at that clearing by the lake, now as black as the hair on Joey and Alex's heads.

“It's quite a crossing, though,” she remarked.

“It's alright—there's no one comin'.” And yet Joey still looked both ways before he set a hand on her shoulder and guided her across the dark, wet pavement. A smooth blanket of freshly fallen white snow had fallen onto the grass, and if her memory rang true, Sam knew it was a bit too deep for their boots. They hovered there by the curb, right next to that smooth snow bank: the trees next to them drooped a bit with large clumps of snow that made her think of gingerbread houses. The black waters of the lake made her wonder if it was frozen over a bit.

They stood there next to each other in complete silence, and she wondered if it would snow at any given second. The gray over their heads seemed to beckon it for them.

“So Kirk's getting married,” he finally said, much to her surprise.

“What!” she exclaimed. “When?”

“Some time in March.” Joey frowned at that. “Wait a minute. No one told you?”

“No!”

“Shit. Well, if it's any comfort to you at all, I only just heard of it myself. Charlie mentioned it and Scott was like 'oh yeah!' and that was how I found out about it. I don't even know if I'm invited at all, to be honest. I had no idea—I thought one of the girls told you.”

“They didn't, no. Marla's got a packed schedule for this quarter so I can't really blame her for telling me if she knows about it.”

They froze in place.

“Maybe we can ask them about it?” she suggested to him.

“Maybe. Maybe. I dunno, to be honest.” He shrugged his slender shoulders at that and Sam huddled closer to his little body. He was wrapped up tight in a black overcoat but she could tell he was cold.

“I forget who it was—may've been Zelda who likened you to venom.”

“My last name is Belladonna after all,” he pointed out.

“You've injected me with your venom, Joey—I'm obsessed with drawing you now!”

“Now you know why Anthrax wanted me. I guess I really truly am unforgettable.” He bowed his head and shrugged again.

“You know what, Joey?”

“What's that?”

“I have my art supplies with me. As does Bel.”

He froze right in his tracks.

“What're you sayin'?” he teased her.

“What're you doing tonight?” she asked him.

“Tonight? Eh, I'm probably just getting some dinner and then crash out for the night. Why?”

“Let's go back there to the studio and grab Belinda. I wanna do something for you.”

“Under one condition, though,” he quipped.

“What's that?”

“You promise to share that painting of me with everyone.”

“Of course, of course. Besides, Bel owes me forty bucks. I think we all have bets to pay off.”

“Hell yeah, we do!”

“Well—” she nibbled on her bottom lip and she swore she felt a snowflake on her forehead. “—if I keep that promise for a bit longer, you have to tell me about your new album.”

“Promise that Belinda doesn't tell anyone about it?”

“She's already sworn to secrecy about—some other things,” she chose her words carefully once again. “So I'm sure she can for you.”

She extended her pinky finger to him and he linked it up with her.

“Alright then,” he said in a soft voice. “Now—let's get outta this snow. I feel it upon us.”

“I do, too...”

Joey set his hand on her shoulder once again as they made their way back to the hole in the wall, where Belinda had stumbled outside with Zelda.

“The producer wanted us out,” Zelda explained once they came within earshot. “It was getting too cold in there, too.”

“Oh, I see,” Sam nodded her head. “I assume Aurora's in there, too?”

“Yeah, she is,” Belinda replied as she tucked her hands into her jacket pockets. “She's with the label and they just need one other person in there so she offered to take it up.”

“Hey, Bel,” Sam piped up again, “—how would you feel if I told you Joey and I wanna take you back to his place for a bite to eat and a bit of fun?”

“I'd love to! What're we eatin' and doing afterwards?”

“A three way,” Zelda joked, and the three of them burst out laughing at that.

“I'll tell you when we get there,” Sam promised her as she set a hand on Belinda's shoulder.

“We better hustle, though,” Joey advised them with a rub of his nose. “The snow's coming.”

“Okay—you gonna be alright, Zelda?” Belinda asked her.

“Oh, yeah. I'm tough, Bel.”

“Tough little Rhode Island girl,” Sam added with a wink.

“I've gotta get sump'n for Rose, anyway,” Zelda assured them.

Joey, Sam, and Belinda climbed into the latter's car and they headed back to Camillus. As they skirted around the edge of Syracuse, the lake effect snow began to fall over them. Belinda tapped on the brakes a little bit as the freeway widened out to four pitch dark lanes.

“I'm used to the bad snows up here,” he confessed at one point, “but I don't blame ya for going kinda slow, Belinda. I would, too, 'cause I got a couple'a girls with me.”

Sam nestled down at the front seat at the sound of that. She relished in the blast of warm air from the heater vents: she knew she could go into her twenty second year on earth with a good feeling inside of her and with Joey right next to her. If nothing, they could be friends forever much like herself and Frank. And yet, every so often, he took a glimpse over to her with that little lopsided smile on his face.

They slept across from each other in the cabin and she had seen him naked. Such a strange place to be but she assured herself that it was strictly friendship. But she was about to see him in the buff yet again, or at least that was her hope.

They soon rolled up to that usual parking spot around the corner from his apartment. Snowflakes rained down over them and dusted the crowns of their heads: the highest curls upon Joey's head somewhat resembled to the buried streak over Alex's forehead. Once he unlocked the front door and stepped inside, he shook his head about so the snow fell onto the carpet before him. He peeled off his coat and lay it over the arm of his couch; he ran his hand over the crown of his head again to get rid of the rest of the snow.

“Don't you wanna hang up your coat first?” Sam asked him as she took off her coat.

“And lug it up them stairs?” he joked to her as Belinda shut the door behind her.

“It's just going up the stairs and then coming back down. Take ya a minute.”

“Wow,” Belinda breathed out once they were inside there.

“What?” Joey raised his eyebrows at her.

She crouched down for a better look at the record collection there on that side of the room.

“Oh, yeah, his little library of records,” Sam declared.

“Wow!” Belinda breathed out as she smoothed her blonde hair back over her shoulder. “Some of these I haven't really seen before! Like that Cheap Trick album.”

“Got that for a nickel at a little place over in Schenectady,” he told her as he kept going into the kitchen. Sam then turned back to Belinda.

“Is the car still unlocked?” she asked her in a low voice.

“Yeah.” Belinda raised her gaze to her. “Why? What's up?”

Sam crouched down next to her and lingered close to her face so it looked as though they were talking about the records.

“I made a promise to Joey to draw him,” she whispered to her.

“Oh. Why are we whispering?”

“Because I didn't tell him when I'd do it for him. I want it to be a surprise.”

“Oh, I see. Are we talking watching him to draw him or are we talking having him in the buff?”

“In the buff?”

“Oh, shit—”

“Hey, what would you girls like?” Joey called to them from the kitchen.

“For dinner?” Sam called back to him.

“Yeah. We can just order some take out because I don't really have much.”

“Oh, yeah, that's right—you guys had been on the road.”

“Exactly, and the label isn't paying us diddly squat, either.”

“Well, we don't really have much on us, either,” Belinda pointed out as she stood to her feet and peeled off her coat. “I have yet to get my grant dispersement.”

“Yeah, me, too—and my counselor Bill isn't telling me anything,” Sam confessed.

“He won't tell me shit, either.”

Joey stood at the counter with a hand on a glass of water.

“Sounds like we're all struggling,” he muttered.

“We've got each other, though,” Sam recalled what Lars had said to her. “By the way—I didn't tell Belinda this yet but—whatever we do for dinner, even if it's nothing, because I have to admit that I can't stop thinking about this, Joey.”

“What's that?”

Sam took a glimpse over at Belinda, who then raised her eyebrows back at her.

“Strip for us, Joey,” Sam told him, and Belinda herself giggled at that. Joey gaped at her, but she snapped her fingers twice at him.

“C'mon, c'mon,” she coaxed him, and a soft pink bloomed in his otherwise dark face.

“She obviously wants to do it, Joey,” Belinda said with one hand up to her mouth. He swallowed and then he reached down to the waist of his jeans.

“Come on, big boy—let's do it.”

“Whoa, where'd this come from?” he chuckled at her as he adjusted his belt a bit.

“Hey, you said it yourself—I'm a girl with a man's name next to a girl who slithers about. Get on it.”

“Well, I gotta actually strip for you,” he pointed out.

“Do it, Joey!” Sam exclaimed with a clap of her hands.

“Yeah, do it, Joey!” Belinda joined in.

He sighed through his nose and drank down the rest of his water. He set the glass down on the counter and he held onto the bottom hem of his sweatshirt. He peeled it off and showed off his slender dark skinned body. Sam thought back to when they were at the lake and it was just her and him. But this time, she had Belinda next to her.

“Want me to get our stuff?” she asked Sam.

“If you don't mind at all,” she replied, and she couldn't resist the grin on her face. Belinda then clapped her hands and she ducked back outside to the snow and the cold gray. Sam brought her attention back to Joey, who had lay his shirt on the other arm of the couch.

“Didn't have to get a bit of booze in you at all this time,” she remarked.

“Don't really need it,” he told her, again with that lopsided grin on his face. “I know I can trust you now, Sam I am.”

He unfastened his belt and his jeans and he let them fall to the floor around his feet.

“Speaking of trust, if I get naked again for you two girls, do you promise not to tell anyone about the new album?”

“Joey, I'm an assistant to Aurora—you know I'm not gonna do such a thing,” Sam scoffed.

“I'm more concerned about her, though.”

“Joey, I assure you Bel's secretive. She can keep it all under wraps.”

He nibbled on his bottom lip, and he stepped out from his jeans and towards the chair in the middle of the room. He held onto his underwear in anticipation of Belinda returning with the paper and the ink pens. Sam held onto them for her so she could take off her coat and lay it on top of Joey's coat there on the arm of the couch. It seemed so easy to her to just run upstairs and hang them up, but it was better to leave them there because the real important thing was right in front of them.

Sam and Belinda then took their seats with their drawing pads and their pencils in hand.

“Go ahead, Joey,” the former coaxed him, and he sighed through his nose. She could tell he was hungry from the faint pale tone to his otherwise dark skin. But he slid down his underwear and Belinda raised her eyebrows at him.

“Okay. We're calling it Among the Living and we're dedicating it to Cliff. That's as far as I know. Scott, Frankie, and Charlie all wrote up the songs—I just haveta sing 'em.”

Sam gasped at that. She set down her drawing pad on the cushion and she lunged for him with her arms wide open. She held his nude body close to her. She couldn't resist the tears from falling right there. Her body shuddered and Joey gingerly ran his hands up her back.

“Do you like it?” he asked her in a muffled voice; he raised his head from her chest and spat out a piece of lint from her sweatshirt.

“Do I like it? It just made my life!”

“Easy now—you just might make another life right there,” Belinda warned them, but Sam still held onto Joey. She didn't want to let him go. She wanted to feel every inch of him. Feel every inch and draw every inch for the world to see. She wanted everyone to know that she loved Joey and she loved him far more than she had ever dreamed of.

But she let go of him and she brushed away a tear, and he sat back down on the chair. His toned thighs spread out a little bit and his slim waist was still slim and delicate.

“I like that name, too,” she told him in a broken voice, “what is it again, Among the Living?”

“Among the Living, yeah.”

“It’s like we’re living in a world that Cliff didn’t get to see,” Belinda noted.

“A brand new chapter of sorts,” Joey added. “Kinda roundabout, but yeah.”

“I hope you can hold up for this round, Joseph,” Sam admitted, “I’m starting to feel really hungry now...”

#fanfic #fanfiction #chapter 40 #fever in fever out #fever in fever out fanfic #deadly nightshade #book two #anthrax fanfic #anthrax #joey belladonna #oc tag #artistry #also on ao3 #also on wattpad #writing #text