Author: Sam

Story: Say it With Music: 1 of ?

Series: none

Summary: The kids get home, all six... then something happens.

Song Note: No One But You by Queen, from Queen 3+ Album.

Feedback: Yes, please? Especially constructive. samwise_baggins@yahoo.co.uk

Webpage: http://www.oocities.org/samwise_baggins/index.html

Home.

They had finally made it home. It had been glorious, too. One moment, standing in front of the portal tired and hopeful, the next, sitting in a battered old roller coaster car, coming out into the summer sunshine and the infectious laughter of the crowds. Shock was the first feeling, brief disbelief... then elation bubbled up as no gut-wrenching teleport, rampaging enemy, or dissolving illusion took them back to the Realm.

Eric was the first to yelp in joy. He reached forward and gripped Hank's shoulders, half kneading, half shaking the other teen in triumph. Diana laughed and ruffled the Ranger's blond hair as he continued to sit in shock. Bobby's whoops of glee were what broke through, and the leader of the small group slowly smiled. He looked around as Sheila hugged one arm and Presto reached over to hug Diana, knocking into Hank's free arm instead.

"You did it, Hank... we're back!"

He wasn't sure who said it. It could have been any one of them; it was what he felt, himself. Hank turned and nodded, laughing, grinning foolishly, hugging back. Bobby scrambled from the old metal vehicle as the others took their time in leisurely stretching, enjoying the chance to take their time and not feel threatened. Eric laughed and spun around arms extended.

The attendant rolled his eyes as the group emerged, but let them alone. Most kids who came through this lemon groaned and complained. If this group wanted to pretend they'd been through some wild adventure, let them. It sure beat the typical reaction. Then he blinked at the six and rolled his eyes. Typical... fanatics. A bunch of weirdoes!

What the attendant had noticed soon became very apparent to the others due immediately to whistles and catcalls. Frowning, Eric whirled around to see some of the kids from school laughing and whispering. He turned back and tilted his head, trying to see what had set the dolts off. He couldn't spot what was wrong, but the next wolf whistle let him realize as his eyes fell onto Diana's rather shapely form... still in that furry bikini-like outfit from the Realm!

"Great... just great! That old midgit didn't give us our clothes back!" The dark-haired teen glared at Hank as if it were the older boy's fault. At the start of some more lewd and insulting comments, Eric spun around and called out "I'll sue for harassment if you don't get a life and leave us alone!"

Bobby giggled. He couldn't resist. After all, that was such a typical, old-times Eric comment. It just sounded odd after all they'd been through, all they'd grown while in the Realm. Sheila, on the other hand, didn't even smile. She pushed against Hank's side, as if terrified of the other teens. Her gray eyes were wide and her breath coming in short, near-pants. It was obvious that after three or so years in a world of dragons and magic, their own world had become unfamiliar and dangerous in the eyes of the girl.

Hank placed a hand over Sheila's and nodded in encouragement to her. He noticed that they were younger again, but determined to puzzle it through later. Instead, he wanted to get his friends out of there. "Come on, my house is nearby. Let's go get something else on." He gave another smile to Sheila, then turned to instinctively check on the others, and stopped stock-still. "Presto... you still have your hat..." His voice was soft, trying not to be overheard, surprised that they actually still had their weapons.

Presto flushed a bit, feeling awkward after all the rude comments they'd just gotten. He nodded and took it off, wishing he wasn't still in the robes. He felt like a total geek... more than ever before. The redhead looked around and cringed at the laughing faces of the crowds. "Let's go, Hank," his voice broke and he wanted to crawl into a hole. He'd just gotten used to the changing tones, but now it looked like he'd go through it all over again.

Diana took charge then and grabbed the nearest arm, Eric's, leading him towards the Amusement Park exit. She ignored the stares and low comments, assured by the sounds behind her that the others were following. A sudden bleating startled her into dropping Eric's arm and spinning around.

"Uni!" Bobby whirled away from Sheila and ran back towards the ride. The attendant looked angry as anything and glared menacingly at the nine-year-old. "Get your hands off her!" He raised his club, without thinking, as he saw the man pulling Uni roughly from the seat.

"No, Bobby!" Sheila bolted after him, and Hank turned to run back, too.

Eric shook his head, running back as well, no longer able to match Diana's long stride with his younger, less athletic body. "Great... just great. Why'd that bozo send her along? I thought she belonged in the Realm."

Presto merely shook his head, trying not to trip over his robes, marveling subconsciously at how different three years in the Realm had made them, now that he was once again stuck in the body of a thin thirteen-year-old. He skidded to a halt, bumping into Eric and sending them both sprawling in a terrible crashing of armor, shield, and angry retorts.

Outright laughter met this action, and Eric flushed bright red, turning a glare on Presto and changing his invective to Presto rather than Uni. The younger boy hung his head and actually let his friend vent. It was easier, he'd learned, most often to just ignore Eric's whining, but in this case... Eric was right. Presto had been a total and absolute clutz.

Hank managed to fling himself ahead of Bobby as Sheila and Diana threw themselves at the child to hold him and his weapon. The pure white equine in the attendant's arms struggled free, landing in a graceless sprawl on the metal walkway. The man shook his head and glared at Hank, who had reached over to check the baby animal. "Leave your damned horse at home next time, kid! I can have you kicked out of the park for that! I don't wanna see any of you on this ride again! Get out of here!" Then the man made a shooing gesture which nearly knocked Hank in the head as he straightened up.

The blond scooped up the small, white figure and nodded, backing off without comment. He turned and joined the others, bending so Bobby could do his own check on his best friend. The younger blond frowned worriedly. "What happened to Uni? Where's her horn?"

Someone behind them snickered.

Hank shook his head, gazing intently at the child and speaking a bit loudly. "Must've fallen off during the ride. Maybe costumes were a bit much for opening day. C'mon, let's go home." He could see Bobby's protest forming and shut the boy up by handing over the former unicorn. The former Ranger guided his band of oddly dressed teens, and kid, out of the openly laughing crowds and out of the park.

Looking down, uncomfortable in the stiff clothes, he shook away the memories. He'd been overcome with memories quite a bit in the last few days, actually. Sometimes they seemed to take over, and he could only see and hear the past, unaware of what was happening in the present. Most times the past was lingering so near the surface it barely took anything to trigger an onrush of thoughts and feelings.

Reaching up, he tried to loosen the tie he now wore. He'd always hated ties and rarely wore them. Sure, they looked good, but they always seemed to choke.

Like now.

Especially now.

With a sigh, hands dropping ineffectually to his sides, the teen turned to once more look over the strangely quite room. No talking, no crying, not even rustling feet or apologetic coughing. It was eerie. As if he'd suddenly gone deaf. He didn't like that feeling one bit. But, there was only his family in the room at the moment... his family and the family of... of...

With a forceful shake of his head, unaware and uncaring if anyone saw and interpreted it wrong, he pushed back that thought. He wasn't ready... would never be ready... to accept this. After all they'd gone through. After every close call and near miss, how could it come to this? How could this happen?

He'd protected the others time and again. Of course, they had protected each other. True, some had done more protecting than others, but they'd each jumped in when needed... when the chips were down. But to not be able to help this time: it was so... final.

A week of normalcy had Presto wanting to scream. He was back home with real food, bathrooms, beds, and cars. Television and video games and bathrooms... oh, he'd already listed bathrooms. Well, they were really important, so they could be listed twice. But, here he was, back in his room, with his family, and his stuff, and he wanted to tear his red hair out by the roots and run screaming down the hall to his Mom's room. He wanted to throw himself on the floor next to her bed and beg to be sent to some sort of summer camp or even military boarding school.

He was bored.

Yeah, he was safe, but normal was... boring. No monsters, no hunger, no running around for food or safety... just bathrooms and boredom. He almost wanted to give up the bathrooms, no matter how important they were, to get some activity going. He wanted to scream.

Then, as he was throwing sharpened pencils at his dartboard, his mother had taken his darts away when he'd shown up three hours late for dinner last week after returning from the Realm, a sudden inspiration hit.

An epiphany.

An idea so good, he couldn't believe he had thought of it... or hadn't thought of it sooner.

He'd call the others and they could get together and hang out. Yeah, they could do something together, talk or even exercise or something. He'd be active and not bored. He'd be with his friends, too. Even if only a week had passed, he really missed the people he'd been with day in and day out for near three years of his young life... even if those three years seemed to have disappeared like a dream.

Flipping over on his thin stomach, the former Magician grinned and reached for his phone, then stopped. Duh. He was grounded. That was why he hadn't been hanging out with them all week. His darts weren't the only thing his Mom had banned. She'd banned his magic, too, as well as the phone. The magic hadn't been a problem for all of two hours. Then he'd about gone insane with curiosity as to whether that hat still worked. Then he'd been told to finish his homework.

That was all he'd been doing all week in fact: homework. His mother had called the teachers and asked that he be given extra homework because she felt he was falling behind. He wasn't falling behind. He was still far ahead of his own age group. It's why he'd skipped third grade and then skipped eighth grade. It was why he was in class with the fifteen and sixteen-year-olds instead of the otehr thirteen-year-olds. He wasn't falling behind; she just wanted him to stay away from the friends who'd brought him home hours later than he was supposed to walk in.

But they'd been caught up talking at Hank's. His Dad had been cool about these strange kids coming over dressed like out of King Arthur or something. He'd even jokingly offered Eric a beer, which the teen had regally turned down. He'd flirted with both Diana and Sheila, being one of those people who didn't seem to see color or such things, and made them giggle and blush. Heck, he'd even called Bobby sport and let him use a bandage to tend to a scrape Uni had gotten in the coaster car. Hank's dad was really cool. Made sense, though, since Hank was so down-to-earth, too.

Uni was an odd sort. She wasn't a unicorn, it seemed. No horn at all. Her normally fiery mane and tail were a deep auburn now, instead. Seemed like Dungeon Master had determined that she could go back to Earth with them, but as a miniature horse rather than a mythical unicorn. That hadn't bothered Bobby in the least, though. What had bothered him was his parents' reaction to his best friend.

They'd walked the siblings home, as a group, with Diana's house next on the list. When they got inside, Bobby's mother had gone through the roof at the thought that her son was trying to adopt a horse, no matter how small. She put her foot down, too. No horse... no pets whatsoever, in fact. Apparently, she was a nice woman unless someone tried to bring a pet into her house, then she went bonkers. Bobby had ranted, cried, and even tried to reason with her. She wouldn't relent.

The problem had been solved by Eric. He had enough money and space for a herd of horses. He'd take Uni home with him and Bobby could visit whenever he wanted. No one was quite happy with the idea, but it was the best solution. After all, Uni would need lots of space and care, even if her intelligence was above the normal horse one met. Eric probably had regretted his altruism instantly, too, but was too prideful to back down from his offer. Presto would have loved to see how Eric handled living with the once-unicorn he despised so much.

Presto would like to see any of his friends, in fact. Boredom was just a way of saying lonely, actually. And Presto was lonely now that a week of no Young Ones had passed. He wanted to beg his mother to lift the ban, but she would just smile and intone that the punishment would work best if he felt loss from it. She was a good Mom, as Moms went, but sometimes he wished she was a lenient one.

The phone rang and with a grimace Presto turned to watch it. He couldn't reach for it. At the first ring his mother's ears would have perked. She'd be waiting to see if he disobeyed. It rang a third time before the answering machine got it.

"Hey, Presto. Haven't seen you in awhile. Can you ask your Mom to let you help me with something? You're the one with the brains, after all." A click and Eric's voice cut off as he hung up.

With another sigh, Presto rolled off the bed to go ask, futility warring with hope of relent. He was stunned when his mother smiled and agreed, as he'd been such a good boy the past week. She even lifted his sentence. He was a free man! Secretly, he thought she ended the punishment because she wanted to encourage his hanging around with Eric. She liked Eric's father... not romantically. Ick! She liked him for a neighbor because he was so classy. She felt it made her seem classier. His Mom was a good mother but a snob.

Running over to Eric's huge house, skirting through the decorative hedge and skipping the enormously long driveway, the boy grinned and waved, catching sight of a small white form. "Hey... I'm here! Mom said I could come over!" He tripped, going head over heels into a roll and landing in a bruised heap at the base of a beautiful old tree.

Eric laughed and trotted over, Uni at his heels like a well-trained pup. Rather large pup, actually. He continued to laugh as he thrust out a hand to help his younger friend up. "Hey, Presto, nice entrance. What's the encore?"

A sick grin and chuckle escaped the embarrassed boy, but he knew Eric wasn't being malicious. He'd known Eric long enough to differentiate cruel from Eric's weird sense of humor. True, they'd been somehow de-aged when they came back, so most people didn't understand why two neighbor boys who merely got together for tutoring could now be such close friends, but neither boy explained, either. "Well, I was thinking if you had a hill and a pond, I'd roll from the pond up the hill..."

That stopped Eric for a moment, then the former Cavalier guffawed loudly, slapping Presto on the back and grinning widely. "Roll up a hill? From you, I'd believe it. The others are on the veranda. Let's go." He started in the direction of what Presto had thought was an enormous back porch. Wow, a veranda? Who spoke like that anymore? Obviously, Eric did. Uni was at the teen's heels, still.

When Presto reached the veranda, he climbed the wide marble steps and sighed at the beautiful sight. The grounds stretched out before him in green glory. Yeah, he'd lived next door all his life, but Eric had always met him at the library or something for tutoring, he tutored Eric, not the other way around. But here he was, invited to this old mansion for the first time, as a guest no less. Finally, he turned and grinned at the others, noting Bobby and Sheila weren't there.

Hank and Diana were, though. Both were sitting in beautifully carved wooden lounge chairs, what Presto would have called deck chairs at any other house. They were smiling at him, and it was almost a shock to see them dressed in normal street clothes and not carrying their weapons. True, he was in jeans and a T-shirt, and his hat was secreted away in his underwear drawer, but it was still odd to see them dressed normally. In fact, Eric was in nice slacks and a polo shirt, but somehow, even after seeing him in armor for so long, it seemed natural to see Eric dressed that way. Diana was in slacks and a nice shirt with a hair-band in her curls; Hank was in jeans and a T-shirt like Presto. The redhead was glad he wasn't the only one dressed so casually in this mansion.

As he slid onto a lounge chair Eric handed the teen a drink. It smelled like lemonade, so Presto drank it, and enjoyed every drop. His Mom made lousy lemonade.

Bobby's voice called over, followed by an excited bleat from Uni. The small group watched fondly as the two youngsters, one human, one equine, ran towards each other in greeting. They came together in a crash, sprawling on the lawn and laughing, but neither seemed disturbed by that. Sheila, dressed in a nice skirt set, shook her head and called, "Bobby! You'll rip your slacks!" Yup, Bobby was in slacks and a polo shirt, like Eric. Presto had to look at Hank again to reassure himself that he still wasn't the only one in jeans.

Then the sextet, joined by a rambunctious Uni, started laughing and talking with one another. Eric took them on a tour of his home, which gave Presto plenty of the exercise he thought he'd been craving. Stories and reminiscing and food and good times passed quickly for the odd group of fast friends, while Eric's father watched from a window frowning softly and wondering how Eric, who'd had no friends a week ago, was so relaxed and happy with this group of kids. Odd what one day at an Amusement Park might do to a moody, stuck up teenager. He couldn't understand it, but he would accept it. It was good to see his son happy for once.

Others were coming in now. Now there were tears, shuffling feet, apologetic coughs, whispered comments. Now there were people walking around as if afraid to wake someone up. Bitterly, he frowned and thought "Like you can wake the dead." As soon as the thought entered his mind, he winced and tried to shy away from it. But it was too late. He'd let it in; now he'd have to deal with it.

Dead.

With a fierce frown, determined that he wouldn't cry... at least not yet, the teen reached again for the uncomfortable tie and tried to adjust it. He looked around at those who'd come in. Sure, most of these people didn't know the deceased. The deceased... such a sterile, cold term... but so much easier than forcing himself to think of just which person lie inside that coffin on the other side of the velvet draped room.

Again, he looked around at the people shuffling past the coffin. They didn't look in. A sure sign they hadn't really cared. They were there because the school had decided to put on this elaborate display on behalf of one of its students and the loss that was experienced. It was so messed up. What did the school care? One more student to push out of sight and ignore. One more forgotten face in the crowd. Just a big display of school spirit and togetherness to make the people think the school's raising the budget and taxes again was okay. That's all this wake was... a way for the school to cash in on the pain and loss.

Bitterly, the teen turned from the sight of all those people avoiding looking into the coffin. He still hadn't gone to look, knowing he would have to stay strong... be calm... be supportive. After all, people tended to expect that of him now. There was a time that no one would have thought he'd do something worthwhile... but that was so long ago, and it felt like he could barely recall the time. People expected him to take charge, to be strong, to be neutral and... to not be needy or sad or crying. He almost wanted to go back to being the kid he used to be... so long ago...

So long ago...

Shaking his head, he glanced around to see if anyone familiar was there... besides his family... besides the family of the deceased. Reaching for that damned tie again, he tugged harder until he heard a satisfying ripping. Sure, he'd regret that later, but at the moment it seemed a stupid thing to worry about. A ripped piece of cloth as compared to a dead friend. He shook his head, pushing that thought back harshly, not ready yet to go from the deceased to dead friend.

With a laugh, Sheila tugged on Hank's arm. "Come on, Hank. It's over there, across the street. In that window. I want you to see. It's gorgeous!"

Bobby rolled his eyes and looked at Presto, sure the other boy would understand, maybe. "Since Mom said she could get a class ring, that's all she's been talking about! You'd think a junior'd never had a class ring before!"

Presto laughed and shrugged, happy and enjoying himself. If anyone had asked two months ago if he'd be out shopping with a gang of friends, he'd have thought they were setting him up for 'Candid Camera' or something. But here he was, two months after the Realm, and he was out shopping for a class ring with Sheila and the others.

Uni had been left back at Eric's because storeowners didn't like having her come in. She'd settled nicely at the mansion, and Eric seemed to enjoy having her around. Of course, with Bobby coming over daily, things seemed to be okay for the unicorn, too.

Now, the six kids were enjoying a brisk autumn-feeling day, even though it was still the end of summer. They would be going back to school in a couple of days. Presto was looking forward to being a junior with Sheila and Eric. Diana and Hank were seniors this year. It would be great, because he truly had friends. He knew this because Eric had been sticking up for him in town now, as had the others. It was a glorious feeling, and somehow Presto hadn't felt he needed to do stupid magic tricks to get approval anymore. He was accepted for who he was by these five kids, and that was enough for him.

As the teens started crossing the wet pavement, Hank turned his face to smile down at Sheila. She'd just agreed to become his girlfriend. It was wonderful, being home and... well, being happy. Sure he was happy before at home, but now he was happier. Maybe because he wasn't just a school jock... he was a part of a group. Senior year looked like it'd be the best ever. And he didn't need to take charge and lead these kids out of danger anymore. Letting Sheila tug his arm, Hank started asking what color the stone was.

Then a squeal of tires. Then a sickening thud. Then the pain.

Bobby screamed as the couple in front went down under the speeding truck. Diana jumped then sprinted towards the store behind them, intent on calling 9-1-1. Eric grabbed Bobby before he could run over, spinning the kid around and burying the shocked boy's face in his chest, not letting him see any more than he already had. Presto felt sick and stumbled.

The lights of the ambulance, the sirens, the milling crowd, the questions and statements... everything blurred together for the four kids. Bobby's parents came to take him away, to soothe him as they looked for hope from the people in charge of the accident scene. Hank's father showed up, but stayed on the sidewalk, a look of shocked disbelief on his normally jovial face. The single father seemed stunned that his kid might have been involved in something like this.

Then one of the pair was sitting up without help. Words came next and questions and hugs and tears of relief and grief. The truck had passed over, the teen between the tires. Only one was sitting up, though. The other was being rushed into an ambulance and driven away at the safest fastest speed available, having taken the brunt of the accident. The remaining teen was also guided away, but everyone knew that nothing further would happen to that one. The other kids, and their families, showed up at the emergency room to support their children's friend.

The news came later that night, about one in the morning. There was nothing more they could do. It was better this way. The injuries had been so severe. I'm sorry.

Sorry.

What a useless word. It didn't take away the pain. It didn't heal the broken back, the punctured lungs, the dead teenager. A speeding truck with a half asleep driver and one of the six were no more. After three years of hell, they had all come home... to have one die within two months.

He looked around to the front of the room again.

Everyone was there now. The funeral home had opened up three rooms, moving walls and barriers to accommodate the large school crowd. There were staff, students, parents... everyone who could squeeze their way in. A velvet curtain had been drawn across the front of the room, blocking the sight of the coffin from the crowd now. They had already had their shot at making their peace with the dead. Now it was family and close friends.

Moving towards the front of the room, he absently tossed his tie on a chair, not caring if he missed it later. It wasn't important after all. It was just a stupid tie. The teen made his way behind the curtain, ignoring the soft buzz of the school crowd. He was one of the special friends. One of the six. And he had every right to be back there with the coffin now that everyone else had passed it by and tried not to look inside.

He knew he couldn't look in quite yet. To see the body of his close friend would make it final... over. He didn't want it to be over. Besides, he'd start crying, and then he wouldn't be able to say anything.

And he'd been asked to give a eulogy, odd as it seemed.

Avoiding the coffin, the teen walked to the front of the smaller, private area. He knew those in the next room would hear him, but that didn't matter. It had been decided that this would be the best way to grieve. That the special six families would be together and say their peace, and the others would merely listen in and not get to gawk at them.

Looking up, he picked out each of the four others. The survivors. Five of them, including him. Had he been able to stop this? Had he been able to protect the group? He'd done it before, without even thinking... but this time... this time it wasn't a rampaging Orc or an evil dragon. This time it had been a careless truck driver who'd stepped in. And that was something he hadn't dealt with in the Realm. It was enough to make him somehow wish they'd never come home after all.

Then, without introduction, he started singing. It was a song he'd heard when he got home, but hadn't really thought about. He'd been asked to speak, but no words had come... and so, late last night, he'd determined to just pass on this song. It said everything he could ever hope to say about... about his friend.

Finally, amid the tears of his friends, he turned to face the teen in the coffin, looking so peaceful, like it was sleep, not death, which was claiming the other kid. Slowly, feeling the tears well up and this time letting them, Eric leaned over and whispered, "Goodnight, Hank."