Talisman Chapter 4
After a great set at the Rat's Nest, Galen and Flash begin to exhibit strange behaviour. Can Rob figure out how to help them before he falls victim to what's affecting his brother and friend?
Characters used with permission. For Muffy Morrigan's birthday.
Featuring Galen, Rob, Parry and Bobby Emrys, Flash Lynch, Rhiannon, Becci, Sarah and Mike.
xposted at fanfiction.net
After a great set at the Rat's Nest, Galen and Flash begin to exhibit strange behaviour. Can Rob figure out how to help them before he falls victim to what's affecting his brother and friend?
Characters used with permission. For Muffy Morrigan's birthday.
Featuring Galen, Rob, Parry and Bobby Emrys, Flash Lynch, Rhiannon, Becci, Sarah and Mike.
xposted at fanfiction.net
Lj cut here
Disclaimer: The following story uses characters out of a book series called Custodes Noctis. Used with permission.
Author’s Notes: Written for Muffy Morrigan for her birthday a few months back. Cross posted at fanfiction (dot) net site.
Muffy thanks for letting me play in your sandbox
Talisman
Chapter 4
by infinite shadow
Flash walked into the Apothecary balancing three coffees in his hands. He put them onto the counter and smiled almost wolfishly at Rob. “Becci was worried your caffeine level was low so cause she hasn’t seen you for hours. With her complements,” he said, picking up one of the take out cups and handing it to his friend.
“Thanks,” Rob said.
“Where’s Galen? She insisted on sending decaf, no matter how much I protested,” Flash said.
Rob shuttered. “Decaf? What’s the point?”
“Got me. Now c’mon. Where’s Galen,” Flash said as he glanced quickly around the shop then back to Rob.
“Galen’s asleep. Tuckered out from last night. If it’s possible he looks even worse than you do, although you do look like crap.”
“He open?”
“Yeah. I took over for him. Like I said he needed the sleep,” Rob said as he frowned slightly. Flash looked nervous and jumpy. “Think you could use more.”
“Slept till I came over.”
“Seriously? Man it’s almost five,” Rob said with a slight shake of his head.
“Yeah. Wanted to play but came by instead. Wanted to see how you two were feeling,” Flash said as he picked at the red stained bandages covering his fingers.
“We’re fine, well Galen’s exhausted but other than that he’s fine,” Rob said and watched as Flash nodded and turned to look around the store again. “Hey, what’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing. Nothing. Just wanna… Need to play. Gotta get Galen. Good. Yeah. Wake Galen and play. Yeah good,” Flash mumbled to himself as he started for the curtains and the stairs that led to the Emrys' loft over the store.
“Wait!” Rob said sternly as he reached out and caught Flash’s arm. “He’s only been asleep for about an hour. Leave him be, Flash. He needs the rest.”
Flash frowned and looked down to where Rob’s hand was holding onto his arm. He yanked out of Rob’s grasp. “He needs to play. We need to play. It’s far more important than sleep. You don’t understand. You don’t feel it.”
“What are you talking about?” Rob frowned at his friend. “It’s not that important.”
“What would you know about it?” Flash sneered. “You’re not a musician. Nothing, and I mean nothing, not the store, not the fact that you’re back in his life, mean more than the music. You couldn’t even tell he was alive. You didn’t even try to find him. I stood by him.”
“Flash, what is wrong with you?” Rob asked with wide eyes, trying to keep the shock, shame and anger from coming out. Flash was their friend. He’d never dream of talking to either himself or Galen this way.
“You should’ve stayed gone. He’s been hurt more with you back in his life,” Flash said. “I should’ve never let him or go to the hospital to save you. Would’ve been better to just let you die.”
“What?” Rob said softly and watched dumbfounded for a minute as Flash turned and strode into the back room. He sat heavily down on the stool behind the counter.
The shop door opened and Rob turned and just stared at the person coming in.
“Hey, Rob,” Rhiannon said with a bit of a smile. “Heard from Becci that I missed out on quite the show last night. Anyway, my cell died just as you tried to call earlier, but I’m here now and you can tell me all about it.”
She frowned as he stared at her. She snapped her fingers in front of his face, snapping him out of his fog. “Hey, you with me?”
“Yeah. Yeah,” he said softly and felt Galen jolt awake. Fear, surprise and confusion jangled through the connection before it closed down a little.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Rhiannon asked as she came around the counter and stood next to him. Putting a hand on his shoulder she could feel tremors running through his body.
“Nothing. … I … Um, can you watch the store for me? We close in an hour and I’ve got research to do,” he said looking up at her.
“No need to use the eyes, hon,” Rhiannon said softly giving his shoulder a squeeze before pulling back. “Of course I’ll watch it for you. Go do what you need to do. I’ll be up in an hour, ok?”
“Yeah. Ok,” Rob said, standing up and surprising them both by reaching and pulling Rhiannon into a hug. “Thanks,” he whispered before pulling back and heading up the stairs.
Rhiannon watched the curtains where Rob had just disappeared through and wondered what she had actually missed.
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The shock had passed fairly quickly turning to relief. Rob had no idea why he’d practically leapt into a hug with Rhiannon, he wasn’t that touchy feely with his friends. It might have had to do with the all encompassing relief that she was willing to help him, or that he was shy on his daily dose of caffeine. Or the surprise of how Galen had treated him earlier that day and now Flash.
He got to the top of the stairs and found Galen and Flash on the couch. Galen had brought out both of his acoustic guitars and they each had one resting on their thighs with their fingers resting over strings and frets. Rob couldn’t help but notice the bandages were gone from his brother’s fingers. In fact all of their fingers seemed to be fine with no marks showing how badly they’d been blistered to the point of bleeding from the night before.
Rob was about to say something but Galen smiled at Flash for a moment before he started strumming out a tune.
“Ok, what is this one?” Galen asked, playing the same notes waiting for his friend to answer.
Flash played a few notes before he smiled and shook his head. “'Wind Cries Mary'. Dude, come on. Not even difficult.”
“Ok. Ok,” Galen said as he bit his lip for a minute and then nodded. He strummed out a few more notes.
Flashed frowned and shook his head. “Don’t know this one.”
Galen repeated the opening and began to sing.
I painted your room at midnight
So I know that yesterday was over
I put all your books on the top shelf
Even the one with the four-leafed clover
Man I'm getting older
I took all your pictures off the wall
And I wrapped them in a newspaper blanket
And i haven’t slept in what seems like a century
And now i can barely breathe
Flash laughed out loud. “Shinedown? Crow and the Butterfly?”
Galen stopped singing. “Yeah. Took you long enough.”
“Ok, my turn,” Flash said and thought for a minute before he started to play.
“Ugh. You and Pink Floyd. It’s Poles Apart. Play something good,” Galen said with a shake of his head.
“Ok. Ok. How about this one?”
“Swamp Music, Skynyrd,” Galen said shaking his head four notes in. “C’mon man something hard.”
Flash nodded several times before he carefully put his fingers on the strings over the frets. A small smile graced his face as he closed his eyes and began to play.
Instead of giving the answer Galen smiled slightly as well and joined in before singing.
Hush now don’t cry
Wipe away the teardrop from your eye
You’re lying safe in bed
It was all a bad dream
Spinning in your head
Your mind tricked you to feel the pain
Of someone close to you leaving the game of life
So here it is, another chance
Wide awake you face the day
Your dream is over...or has it just begun?
Rob stood there for a while just listening and watching. It wasn’t the first time they’d sat in the living room playing the beginnings of songs or playing “what’s this tune”. Usually he chimed in if he was around, shouting out an answer that stumped one or the other. And some nights the lyrics got raunchier with the more alcohol that was consumed.
What did surprised him that neither one realized he was there, maybe not so much with Flash but with Galen. He straightened up from where he’d been leaning against the wall with a start. Their connection was eerily silent. That feeling that someone was there, the happiness or joy that his brother was feeling should have been there. Rob had to dig deep for the small jangle of something, but it was so small he couldn’t even say what he felt.
“Galen?” he asked quietly almost fearfully.
Galen sighed and stopped playing. “I’m kinda busy here, Rob.”
“Yeah and it sounds really good, but,” Rob started to say.
“Yeah it does sound good. Would sound even better if you went away and left us alone,” Flash said and stopped playing as well as he looked at Galen. “How about this one?”
“Road to Nowhere. Ozzy. Something difficult,” Galen said. “C’mon challenge me.”
“Ok, ok, ok,” Flash said and a huge grin lit up his face. “Try this one.”
The living room was filled with riffs as Flash closed his eyes and just concentrated on the notes. They soared through his fingers and his face lit up even though his eyes were closed. All that mattered were the notes, and the feeling of perfection that filled him. This. This was living, he thought as his fingers flew up to the top of the neck then almost to the bottom. Flash stood up and just let all the notes he could make fly. He felt so happy, so filled with joy he was laughing out loud. This was everything he ever needed. This was all that mattered.
Until the feeling shattered and hands were clenched painfully on his arms. Someone was shouting his name and he wanted them to stop. They were ruining the song.
“FLASH! STOP!” Galen shouted and gave him a little shake.
Rob was suddenly between them and yanked his hands away from the guitar. He grabbed the neck, unhooked the guitar strap and forcefully pulled it away from his friend.
“Wha-?” Flash muttered as he blinked in rapid succession and looked around. He focused on the man in front of him. “Rob?”
“Yeah?” Rob said lowly with a bit of apprehension mixed with concern.
“How’d … When…. I…,” Flash started a look of bewilderment on his face.
Rob turned to his brother. “Take off the guitar or I’ll take it off of you,” he growled.
Galen frowned at him. “You’re not the boss of me.”
Rob closed his eyes reaching for calm. “I will beat the shit out of you, jerk, if you don’t take it off now.”
Galen frowned at him. He could feel a sudden intense anger, laced with concern and a bit of fear. It was far too close to how he’d felt a few hours earlier when Rob had taken the guitar out of his hands in his room. It made him take a step back and take a deep breath. “Ok, Rob. Ok.” He took the guitar out of his little brother’s hand and even though it was a struggle he put both guitars into their cases and snapped the lids closed.
“No wait! I need that! I need to play!” Flash said and tried to lunge forward towards the cases.
Rob held him back almost without thinking. His eyes landed on a necklace that peeked out from under Flash’s shirt. He began to think it wasn’t so bad if they wanted to play guitar. After all, if he didn’t have to watch over them and worry over them he could spend more time researching sagas and get them all together in his own bound reference books. All catalogued and cross referenced the way he needed them to be.
He shook his head sharply. “Flash stop,” he said calmly and gripped his friend’s biceps with almost all his strength. He was going to leave bruises but he needed Flash to see and hear him.
“Ow! Dude, get off me!”
“No. Do you see me, Flash? Stop looking at the guitar cases and look at me,” Rob said clearly and slowly. He needed Flash’s attention on him and not the object he most desired at this point in time.
“Rob, what is your problem, man?” Flash said heatedly as he turned and focused on him. But even as he spoke the room seemed to snap into sharp focus. The confusion that had been there, just under the surface, cleared. He looked from Rob to Galen who was standing behind his brother and back to Rob. “What’s going on?”
“You with me?” Rob asked
“Yeah. What’s going on?” Flash asked.
Rob let his death grip go, dropped one hand and the other pulled on the amulet so he could see it. “Where’d you get this?”
“Oh God! I meant to tell you, ask if I could... but there were customers and I put it into my pocket so no one else would and I just liked it and I didn’t think you’d mind that I’d wanted it and and…”
“Easy, Flash,” Galen said as he moved to stand next to his friend. “Where did you get the amulet?”
“I… I…” Flash stammered, trying to answer.
“It’s alright, Flash,” Rob said seeing fear and confusion in the man’s eyes. “Just tell us man. It’s not like we think you took it on purpose. Did it come from the shipment that came in?”
Flash nodded.
“Ok,” Rob said, giving him a slight smile. “Now we’re getting somewhere.”
“Why that one?” Galen asked.
“It reminded me of my aunt Trina, you know the one that looked after me when my folks almost split when I was a kid?” Flash said, looking at Galen.
“Yeah I remember you telling me about her,” Galen said, knowing how much of an influence the lady had been on his friend. She’d taught him a lot about music and lore and was to this day his favourite family member.
Flash turned to Rob. “She took me in when my folks were having trouble. She taught me about Celtic lore and family and music and … well… just about everything,” he said with a slight smile.
Rob nodded. “The amulet looks Celtic. I can see why you would like it.”
Galen looked over at his brother. “Why don’t we see if we can find anything about this online?”
“Sure. I’m also going to check out that Acme Company,” Rob said. “In the meantime why don’t you both go help Rhiannon down in the store?”
“Can’t we just play a little longer?” Flash almost whined.
Rob shook his head and turned to Galen who had already moved towards the cases. “One step closer and I remove all of your instruments from here,” he said, then turned to Flash. “And I go to your place and take away all your toys too.”
“Awww man!” Flash grumbled good naturedly. “Ok. We’ll go down.
“Yeah,” Galen said even as he looked at the closed cases on the floor. He gave himself a shake and forced his feet to move towards the stairs. 'Thanks, Rob.'
Rob felt his throat constrict just a bit. He could feel the difficulty, the pull, the guitars had on his brother and no doubt was even more for Flash. But he knew with Rhiannon they wouldn’t be back up for a while. But only if she knew what was going on. ‘Galen, talk to Rhiannon. Let her know what’s going on and that you two aren’t to be back up or to play guitar, ok?’ he sent gently, almost regrettably, through their link.
‘Yeah, I will. You ok?’ Galen sent back.
Rob felt tired, stressed, worried and a bit lost over this problem. ‘Yeah, I’m ok.’
‘Liar’, Galen sent back fondly. ‘Coffee?’
‘Yeah, that’d be good and helpful.’
‘Be back in a few minutes,’ Galen sent back. ‘I want to leave Flash with Rhiannon and help you with the research.’
‘I don’t know,’ Rob sent back.
‘I do. Older and wiser. 'Sides, I have some ideas,’ Galen said.
Songs used in this chapter without permission, no profit is made on no violation of copyright is intended:
The Crow and the Butterfly by Shinedown
Silent Lucidity by Queensryche
Chapter 5: http://infinit-shadw.livejournal.com/6106.html#cutid1