Chapter 9

DAWN OF A NEW DAY

Part 2

"But why did they send you back, Justin? Was it - was it to say goodbye again? Do you have to go again for good this time?" His heart turned to a lump of stone that dropped to the pit of his stomach at this possibility. Tears formed at the corners of his eyes.

Justin smiled and wiped them away. "Quite the opposite, my love, never fear. I'm back for good. You see, when they finally did get a look at my case they were horrified at the atrocious circumstances. You see, after carefully reviewing the events before my death, they found I had been taken away unfairly. The deal that I had made with the Witch had been altered, the contract broken."

"What contract?" Brian asked. "I still don't understand."

"I know, my love. I will make things clear. Do you remember the flash of memory you had of us kissing on the beach and my head and hair were lit up like a candle?"

"Yeeeesss..." Brian said slowly, "But I still don't remember anything else."

"Like this?" Justin asked, turning on his sunshine so this face glowed and his hair became a candle.

"Yeeeessss..." Brian breathed, entranced.

Justin ran his fingers through his hair. "Remember...and kiss me again, Brian. Kiss me again."

"Do you even need to ask?" Brian said. He moved forward but stopped. He felt a strange magnetic force pulling him in. He tried to pull back but couldn't. He was caught in the magic! "Wait! What are you doing?" What are you going to do to me?"

Justin continued fiddling with his hair, driving him crazy. He snaked the other hand around his neck and pulled him in. "I'm going to show you why you really call me Sunshine," he whispered back.

And he kissed him. Softly at first, and then he darted out his tongue seeking entrance. Brian opened up at once and willingly took in Justin tongue and met it with his own. He remembered back, to that first day when Justin had met him on the beach, naked as the day he was born and kissed him. He remembered how time stopped and stars collided. That was nothing compared to this kiss. The chemistry between them was like a supernova. Brian felt joy, heat, passion and sex. He never wanted this to end.

Justin smiled against his mouth and dropped the other shoe. He relaxed, let himself go, and released his sunshine to its full power. There didn't seem to be any limit. The more love he felt the stronger it grew. The stronger it grew the more love he felt. It was a never-ending loop of magic.

Justin was engulfed completely in his light. And then it grew around them engulfing Brian as well. Out of his head shot not just a flame but a huge pillar of light. The sunshine power shot a beam of light two miles high in the air and it was seen for many miles in every direction. Anyone who saw it marveled at the wonder and majesty of it.

Justin let Brian drink of his Sunshine as much as he wanted and Brian drank greedily. It was like liquid gold on Justin's tongue and he could never get enough. And as he drank, he remembered. He remembered everything that had happened to him and he saw Justin's point of few of what had happened when he was unconscious. He remembered the explosion. He remembered flying through the air and hitting the water. He remembered drowning. He remembered the rescue. He remembered Justin carrying him to shore. He saw Justin kissing him full of sunshine and breathing life back in his body. He remembered collapsing again and Michael finding him. And then the three weeks, flashed by again and he saw it all again. And he saw the third week especially but this time the dark and evil road of his memory was blasted away and that became unimportant. He felt that Justin was cleansing him of any last trace of the enchantment and he wept against Justin's mouth, unwilling to stop kissing him but marveling because he knew it meant Justin was forgiving him, forgiving him completely for that week as if it had never happened even though he didn't deserve it. But then, he mused as he drank of Justin's power, none of us deserves forgiveness, it's just given like a precious gift at a holiday. And so Brian took it as the gift it was and forgave himself too, and vowed to find a way to divorce Michael and spend the future making Justin as ecstatic as he was, right now.

Time is a strange thing. It marches, does not wait, and is relentless yet when it is gone, it's gone. The future holds the promise. Brian vowed to make every second count from now on.

At last, Justin reined in the power and the beacon lowered and then the glow faded. His hair settled back to normal. They lightened the kiss and then broke off and ended it amongst tumultuous applause. Everyone had come up to witness this marvel. And even though, they had just seen a wedding yesterday, they didn't really care. The majority of them could see that it had somehow been under duress and if they had been crying at the wedding, they were not tears of joy.

Brian and Justin looked deep into each other's eyes and smiled and kissed and then kissed again. Brian remembered everything now and besides that he felt whole, complete and very happy. He held Justin and smiled his own million-watt smile.

However, the bishop was not amused. He shuffled up and said sternly, "Brian what are you doing? I just performed your wedding yesterday! You are a married man!"

"Bishop, that ceremony...was a fraud! Michael...did something to me last week...something magic. I'm not sure what...but something. I've spent the last week in bondage and married a man I didn't love. I love Justin."

"That may be but we were all witness to you promising yourself to Michael yesterday. I'm sorry, but in the eyes of God and this church, the marriage stands."

"Calm yourself, good bishop," Justin's gentle voice cut through the rising murmurs of the crowd. "There is no marriage. Brian is single and free. Oh, dear Brian, I am sorry to tell you this but it's the reason I was able to come back. Michael is dead."

Murmurs turned into a collective gasp. Debbie sobbed quietly. There was a lone...hurray! It was a Spanish woman.

"Dead!? But that's impossible! I just left him there on the bed a little while ago when..."

"When you came out to be with me?" Justin finished. Brian nodded.

"Ahhh, but what you do not know is that fifteen minutes before dawn, Michael came out after us intending to slay the both us and dump us overboard with a dagger he had found. He was only stopped when a siren lured him overboard with his song and then false promises of love and sex. The siren killed him and dragged him beneath the waves two seconds before dawn. In those two seconds, death parted you and you were not married. MY contract was fulfilled and yet I was turned to sea foam anyway. The children of the air reviewed all these events with me very carefully and then sent me back, fully reconstituted. So you see, Brian can be with anybody he wants."

"I want you! I want only you." Brian said kissing him wolfishly.

"But he's a merman!" some genius in the crowd cried.

Brian swung around to glare.

"No, Brian, he's right. I may be back but I'm also right back where I started. I'm a merman again. I belong to the sea. I'm incompatible with you."

"You are NOT!" Don't worry, I'll think of something! We'll build new rooms for you, huge rooms filled with water. We'll..."

"Brian! That wouldn't work any more if I took you home and expected you to live under the sea in a dome with air in it. You'd be trapped, in a prison."

"Then what can we do?"

"I don't know. My tail looks like it's here to stay. Although, it's been in the sun a long time. Man, it itches!" Justin scratched at it and some hard scales shaved off and smashed as if they were glass.

"Do you need to go back in the water?" asked Brian worriedly.

"Maybe...but I don't feel as if I'm plotzing....You know, drowning in air," he explained to their quizzical faces. "It's just itchy. It's never been this way before. And it's hardening! Brian what's going on!?" Justin was getting alarmed.

Indeed, it was as if his tail had become hard as a lobster tail. It solidified and straightened and he couldn't move it up and down at all any more. And still it itched! He scratched and scratched and suddenly he stopped, with a frown on his face, thinking. H took a thumb and pushed right in the center of his tail He pushed harder and harder and harder and suddenly there was loud CRACK! and his thumb went right through into the tail. But it didn't hurt. He pushed again a little further down and again there was a CRACK! and another hole. Justin pushed another hole into it and another and then with both hands pulled the entire thing apart. There was an especially loud and long CRRAAAACCK! And a long seam cracked all the way down his tail and pulled completely open as if it WERE a lobster shell. Inside the tail made shell was a pair of slender but strong white legs with perfect feet. Justin pulled the entire shell in half and stepped out. The shell broke in half and fell to the deck where it smashed to smithereens. The smithereens turned to dust, the dust blew away and was gone. Justin stepped forth onto the deck on his legs. He was as naked as the day he had first come out of the ocean and even at rest you could see he was very well endowed. Everyone gasped. Most of the ladies rubbernecked to look and even most of the men tried to "check without checking" if you know what I mean. (wink wink) For comparison purposes only, you understand... (Yeah, right!)

Justin walked a few steps forward and then backward and then hopped up and down a bit. He had a smile of supreme pleasure on his face and he was oblivious to the attention he was attracting as his limp (but huge) cock and plum sized balls bounced and jiggled around.

"Oh Brian! It doesn't hurt anymore! Oh this is heaven! Is this what walking really feels like? This is fantastic! At last, no more pain!"

Were you in a lot of pain? I often wondered." Brian asked.

"Every step. It felt like I - well, never mind but it was very painful, especially when I was sad. But these feet have nothing! They feel light as a feather! Watch this!" Justin ran and jumped some more, did a handstand and then a cartwheel. There were whistles and hoots and the guys who had been "checking him out" were now openly staring.

"ALL RIGHT! ALL RIGHT! That's enough of that! Sunshine, GET OVER HERE!! And the rest of you, mind your own business!" Brian yelled and whipped off the blanket he was wearing, folded it in half and wrapped it around Justin like a towel when you just get out of the bath.

Everybody found something a little different that was fascinating on the horizon. For about 2 seconds!

Until Brian whipped off the towel and exposed what he was wearing! If you'll remember he had dashed out in nothing but silk boxer briefs. The sea water had discolored them and shrunk and otherwise plastered them against his skin showing off his own package, which was hard as a rock and had been since the beacon of sunshine. There were whistles and catcalls afresh.

Brian rolled his eyes and shook his head and ignored them. Then he beckoned for another blanket and wrapped himself up into it.

There were groans and boos aplenty and then everyone began to mill around the ship bored.

"Captain, take us home!" Brian called and everyone cheered.

"Wait, Brian! There is one more thing you need to know!" Justin pulled him to the railing again as they hoisted anchor and started off again.

"What is it Sunshine?"

"This is hard. You remember I told you that Michael was coming after us with a dagger?"

"Yes."

"Well, Brian, you see, that dagger was..."

"JUSTIN! JUSTIN! We saw the beacon! How did you do that? Are you all right? Can you come home yet? Is he dead?"

It was Cody. He and the rest of Justin's brothers and surfaced near the back of the ship.

Justin winced. Not now! He loved them all to pieces but not now!

He bent over the railing and yelled, "No, he's not! And I'm fine! Hang on and wait a bit and I'll be with you presently."

The brothers grabbed onto the ship climbed a rope lattice that was decorating the back of the ship and sat on that.

Justin turned back to Brian. His face was very dark.

"Justin? What did they mean...Is he dead? Who are they talking about?"

Justin paused, trying to think.

"JUSTIN...WHO??!!"

"Brian, calm down. I'm just trying to figure out how to tell you. Where was I? Oh, yes the dagger. Well, Michael found it but I was..."

"THIEFFF!!! THIEEFFFF! I SAW THE LIGHT!!! I SAW IT! I BARGAINED FOR IT FAIR AND SSSQUARE AND IT ISSS MIIINNNNNNE!!!!!"

Justin closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.

Out of the sea rose a nightmare. It was the Sea Witch and she was simply HUGE! Her head alone seemed to take an entire minute to emerge from the water. Her black seaweed hair was replaced by long black sea snakes, each one with long, hideous fangs dripping with poison. She rose up and up and up into the air and still there seemed to be no end to her. She was at least 3 times as big as the ship and when it emerged, they could see her tail was a glossy black. She had made her way into the real world at last and she definitely was not a dream!

She swept the sea into a fury and the ship was swept around and around like a toy in a bathtub. Everybody screamed and ran for cover. Finally the ship settled somewhat but it still wasn't going anywhere. His brothers held onto each other and cowered in fear.

Justin turned around and turned on his flame high and bright. "You mean this light!? This light, which you stole, so unfairly!" he roared right back at her.

The Witch screamed shrilly and backed away slightly. "NOOOOO! Turn it off! I cannot stand it! It's too pure, too good! It's horrible!!"

"Only because you practice such evil!" returned Justin. He turned down his sunshine but not all the way off.

"She won't dare touch the ship while my flame protects us," he explained to Brian. Then he said to her, "Fair and square, indeed! How dare you speak of such a thing when YOU are the one who sabotaged me by helping my enemy! You were the one who interfered and gave Michael the potion to hold Brian's heart hostage away from me. YOU are the thief, the cheater, not me!"

The Witch shrunk a bit. "Nevertheless, HE married another. You should be dead! How are you here, still alive? And on feet as well!? I don't understand! You should be DEAD!!!" she repeated.

"You're behind the times. Thank to the events YOU set in motion, Michael is dead. Killed before sunrise, which fulfilled their marriage contract and made Brian unmarried and therefore fulfilled OUR bargain! Yet you took my life anyway! I tell you the truth, the children of the air are NOT pleased with you!"

The Witch deflated a bit more. Her hair flatted back into seaweed. She was now about the same size as the ship.

"NO! NO! This cannot be true!" she screamed.

"Why are you doing this anyway?" asked Justin, "What did we ever do to you?"

"Fool! I have hated your family for ages now. It was my plan to demand the crown and throne once I had all the sons of the Queen within my power!"

"But why?" asked Justin.

"Little fool!" the Witch said again, "Who do you think banished me!!?"

"My mother would never do such a thing! She never mentioned you at all! She..."

"Not her! Your grandfather! An odious, power-mad, bigoted, homophobic, magic-phobic asshole named CRAIG!!! He banished me away simply because he thought I was a lesbian (I wasn't) and because I helped mer-people out with good magic who would seek ME out! I did nothing wrong! And now my day of revenge is at hand!"

"Not quite!" Justin said, triumphantly, "I have fulfilled your contract with me and won! You have no power over me! And besides, just because my grandfather was an asshole to you is no reason to visit US with your woes. Craig died hundreds of years ago. Many of the old laws have been repealed or changed since then!"

"The sins of the father must be visited onto the sons!" the Witch said cruelly, "You ALL must PAY! It's true you are not under contract anymore, as I would have liked. But your brothers belong to me now! I traded a dagger for their gifts and I won't return them until I get what I want! What I DESERVE!"

"Beware! What you want and what you deserve can be two different things," Justin warned in a serene yet dangerous voice.

"Not this time! Your brothers' gifts are all mine, traded legally and binding and I shall not let them go unless I get your mother's throne!"

Justin nodded thoughtfully. He turned and walked down the length of the ship in his bath towel/blanket, as if still deep in thought. His flame continued to burn bright.

"Ahhh yes! Their gifts were traded for a dagger. This dagger?" he asked mockingly as he lifted it out of the barrel where it still lay safe where Michael had dropped it.

Everyone gasped.

"Sunshine, how did you know where that was?" Brian asked.

"I told you, my love. The children of the air showed me everything. It seems like only a few minutes ago when I saw Michael drop it here. As I recall though..." he continued, "There was more to the deal." He turned the knife over and over in his hands and slowly started back. "I believe I was supposed to use this dagger to kill Brian and then drip his blood onto my legs which would then turn me back into a merman, still mute and disabled." He reached the stern again. "Do I have that right?" he asked the Witch with mock politeness.

"Yes," replied the Witch grudgingly.

"WHAT!!! Justin, what the F-"

"I'm sorry, Brian," Justin said, "I didn't want you to find out this way. I was trying to tell you."

"So...what? Were you going to do it? Were you going to kill me?"

"Yes." Justin answered truthfully. His flame dimmed a bit but continued to burn.

Everyone gasped in horror at this revelation but Justin remained unaffected. He looked into Brian's troubled eyes and as far as he was concerned he was the only one on the ship.

"But - but WHY??" Brian asked.

"Brian, come here," Justin said, motioning to the railing. His flame turned up a little.

The Witch screamed as she was forced back a little. She was so furious and filled with hate she wanted to smash the ship to smithereens and gut everyone on board like a common tuna. But she could not approach the light.

"I want you to meet my brothers. This is Ted. He sings opera. The sad song I played for you on the pipes was one of his arias. Oh, Ted. Everybody loved it by the way! I wish you had been there!"

Ted waved and gave a thumbs up.

"He traded his voice so that I might not die. This is Cody. He had the longest, most beautiful hair in the mer-kingdom. As you can see it's been shaved and it's enchanted to never grow again. This is what he gave up for me."

"Yo," said Cody shortly, pointing.

"This is Blake. He had the whitest, most beautiful smile you could hope for. His teeth were so beautiful that he charmed the oysters into opening by themselves and giving their pearls up willingly to make this beautiful crown for me. As you can see he gave them up for me."

"Ellwo!!" Blake said in his distorted, gummy way and waved.

"And this...is Emmett. He was an acrobat and otherwise just flamboyant merman, who had wonderful...swishiness. I think he was gay and he had a flame that burned brighter than anything I could get up. And now look at him...."

Emmett looked up with his mud-brown tie and while keeping his eye fearfully on the Witch, said, "Hi. How are ya?" in this dull and super serious way.

"Each one of them gave up what was most precious to them to save my life. You were married. I stood up there with you and watched you marry that ASSHOLE!" He slammed down the knife down in the railing with a CHUNK!...where it stood up by itself. I had lost you! I was lost! I had nothing to lose but my life! So yeah, I was tempted and I went in to kill you!" Justin's voice shook with a fury that Brian had never seen before and he involuntarily stepped back a little alarmed.

"But - but you wouldn't! You didn't! I mean...I'm still here! You didn't! You DIDN'T!! Wait...why didn't you?"

Justin took a deep breath. "Because...you were fighting the enchantment. You talked in your sleep. You said that you loved me. You were looking for me and loved me. And I knew then, that enchanted or free, married or single, king or slave, I loved you too. I loved you too, and wanted you to have the very best in your life. I knew that my life had been lost already, three weeks ago on that day I breathed the water out of your lungs. And so I gave up my life, which had already been lost so that you might have happiness."

"But I would never have been happy without you," Brian said simply.

Many of the female guests were openly sobbing. Debbie was crying like a baby. Even the bishop had tears in the corners of his eyes.

"Touching! SOOOO touching!" said the Witch mockingly, "But this changes nothing! It doesn't matter if you used the powers bestowed upon the dagger or not! THE TRADE WAS MADE! THE DEAL WAS DONE!"

"You know, it all seems to come down to this stupid knife!"Justin mused. He yanked at it and pulled it out of the railing. He held it by both ends turning it over and over. "Here! Have it BACK!"

And on the word, back, he threw the knife as only a Prince can. It spun through the air so fast that the steel and the jewels twinkled in the sun like a shining star. And then it was buried in the Sea Witch's chest, up to the hilt, and right through her heart!

"AHHHHHHHGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!" her scream was terrible, shrill and piercing both the ears and soul at the same time. She writhed and screamed some more and then fell back, hitting the waves with a terrific splash. And then she was sinking, sinking out of sight, out of mind and was gone. The sea bubbled and boiled and frothed as it took her and then finally settled back to normal.

Blake was the first one to notice something was different. He felt inside around his mouth and felt them. And he smiled, a real smile and it was white and brilliant and his teeth were back and he felt utter joy.

Cody was next. He could feel his hair grow out a bit until it was thick and shoulder length and then stop. But he could feel the enchantment was broken and that it would return to normal in due time.

Ted saw Blake's teeth and tried. "Justin..." he rasped. Then he cleared his throat and called more clearly," Justin? Did you really play my aria? Did they really like it?"

"They loved it. There wasn't a dry eye in the house," answered Justin.

And Emmett! Emmett blinked and opened his eyes as if he had been asleep for a long time. Then he looked down and saw what he was wearing and ripped it off in horror. "Good griefies! What am I wearing that for? I'll be right back!"

He jumped off the ship and disappeared. However, he surfaced again in a few minutes with three different types of seaweed: green, purple and pink. He braided them together so fast his hands were a blur. In no time flat he had made himself a colorful lei.

"There!" he said in satisfaction, "This'll hold me until I get some bling!"

Justin laughed delightedly. Now this was the Emmett he knew and loved. He plucked off his chain from off Brian's neck and threw it down to him. "Here, Emmett! Use this! It is yours after all!"

Emmett caught it and put it on. "Thanks bab - uh, sweetie! That's much better!" And he dived. A few seconds later, he shot straight up out of the water like a bullet. He jumped as high as the crow's nest, flipped six times in the air, and the fell, spinning like a corkscrew all the way down. When he surfaced, he yelled and punched a fist in the air with pure joy! "Yeah!! Take that bitch! I'm back, Babies!"

Everybody applauded and yelled in appreciation and Emmett closed his eyes and basked in the attention. Yes! This is what happiness was! This was HIS moment!

Justin laughed again and felt so much joy, he couldn't stand it. He had to be a part of it. He gave a whoop and a yell, ripped off his blanket and jumped overboard!

He hit the water and the rest of his brothers whooped and hollered and jumped in after him. They wanted to play and besides they thought they might need to aid Justin now that he was human.

As soon as Justin was in the water, he felt a surge of power. He kicked upward and shot out of the water like a bullet and saw that he had enough room to do a few forward rolls as well. And when he surfaced again he saw the reason. His tail was back!

Whooping with joy, he and his brothers rolled and wrestled and swam and jumped and frolicked in utter carefree happiness. Everyone on board watched them with a rising joy and excitement. They had never seen anything like this and they knew they never would again. They would tell their children and grandchildren about this moment. Generations would pass and eventually mermen and maids would eventually fall back among the myths and legends. But as for these people right here, right now, they saw and they would believe for the rest of their lives.

Justin looked up laughing and saw Brian looking rather somber and left out.

"What's the matter, my love?" he called out.

"Brian looked happy but confused. "So are you a human? Or a merman?' His face flashed disappointment and then he schooled his features into his: "I don't give a shit" expression and said coolly, "So...I guess you're going back with your brothers then? Back to that golden city, like in your painting. "Well, that's cool! That's cool!" He schooled his face into a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

And Justin saw this and was not fooled. He jumped and flipped backwards in the water and dived deep. He looked up and watched where the ship was carefully. Then he pushed upward fast with his tail and jumped high out of the water straight at the ship!

He caught hold of the back railing and hung on in a perfect move. Flipping his tail around, he used it to help him flip up and sit once more on the railing as a merman. He grabbed Brian and kissed him fiercely. And Brian was helpless to do anything but kiss him back.

"I'm not sure what's going on," he said, "It looks like I'm a merman in the water. Out of it, I guess I shell out and become human. It must be another gift from the children of the air. Ahhh! The sun is hotter now. I can feel it happening. Indeed, his tail was already on its way to hardening.

"As for you...don't you get it!? I'm not going anywhere without you! I'll never be parted with you again. I won't. I can't."

"I love you so much," Brian said, "You had me worried there."

"No worries, my love. No worries." Justin said and they kissed deeply.

Then Justin turned to his brothers." Return home, my brothers and proclaim the good news of my return. I shall follow you shortly! Tell mother I love her!"

"We will! We will! Good-bye Justin! Good-bye Brian, our brother's intended! We'll be waiting! We'll be waiting! Come soooonnnn!!!"

And they dived and flipped and swam and disappeared.

"But - but you just said..." Brian said in confusion.

Justin held his finger over Brian's lip. "Shhhh. I have a few ideas about that."

BJBJBJBJBJBJBJBJBJBJBJB

It was a few minutes later.

Once again, Justin's tail turned into a shell and pulled apart easily. Once again it biodegraded into dust and blew away. Once again Justin stepped forth on perfect, white legs and a huge...well, you know. (wink) Brian had his "bath towel" ready, a stern expression on his face He glared around fiercely.

Everyone found something extremely interesting over the side, commented on a cloud (which didn't exist) or just stood around rocking on their heels whistling idly.

Justin stepped into the towel submissively, leaned back up against Brian's chest and wrapped his arms around his neck as Brian adjusted his towel. He twisted upward and looked upward into Brian's eyes. He rubbed his fanny against Brian's hard on cheekily.

Brian gasped. "Sunshine! I'm going to give you to the count of a million to stop that!"

Justin giggled. "Do you remember? This is just like the first day. Our first kiss."

"But not our last." Brian bent down and partook of those gorgeous lips.

"What I never got to tell you," said Justin, as Brian started nibbling on his earlobe, driving him crazy, "Is this is where I felt most at home. Against you. With you. Loving you."

"But we'd just met!"

Justin smiled. "I know." He reached up and stroked his cheek and pulled him down again.

When they came up for air again, a long time later, Brian said, "Then never leave home. Never leave me again. Marry me."

"Of course, my love."

"Brian took a deep breath. "Now. Right now. I know this might not be the venue you wanted, I know...HE...still casts a pall on everything but I don't want to wait or waste a single second without you. Besides, this should be your wedding. I was going to ask you anyway."

Justin considered. For about 2 seconds! "Don't worry Brian, there is no pall. Michael is gone and so is his cloud. I will marry you anywhere, anytime and that includes here and now."

And they did. They went and asked the bishop who agreed readily enough. And so, they gathered everyone together again and under a bright rising sun instead of a setting one, dressed in only bath towel blankets instead of finery, Brian exchanged faithless for faithful, brunet for blond, proud for meek, untalented for gifted, foolish for wisdom, arrogance for grace, and hatred for love. They had no rings for Brian didn't have one for Justin and he didn't want to use the one Michael had given him so they promised each other rings when they got back to land.

The Remingtons looked at each other and nodded.

They each stood forward and offered their bracelets as a substitute, one for each.

"And mine's borrowed, blue and, well, fairly old....or fairly new....depending on how you look at it," said Fred.

"Yes, look at it! It all depends on it," said Red.

Fred just rolled his eyes and everyone laughed.

Brian gave Justin the blue one to Justin to wear for it matched his eyes and Justin gave Brian Red's ruby one that went nicely with his dark hair.

The tokens were exchanged, the vows were said and they were proclaimed husbands. This time there was a real shout, a real cheer of real joy that seemed to just go on and on when Brian bent Justin back in a deep dip and kissed the daylights out of him. And happily, Justin kissed the daylights out of Brian, right back.

At last, with the ship back on course, Brian ordered the stores to be opened and in no time a good, old fashioned waffle breakfast was served. For a while, Brian and Justin sat at the head of a hastily set up table and hosted but Justin warned Brian not to eat too much and get logy and Brian just wanted to be alone with Justin anyway. So in no time, they excused themselves.

However, Justin balked at the bedroom door. He did not want to make love in that bed.

"Hmmm. You're right," Brian said, "Well, what do you want to do?"

Justin took a deep breath. "I want to take you home to meet my mother. And then swim the ocean with you without course until we find an island somewhere where we can be the only two people on the place. We'll drink and eat of the coconuts and berries and bananas and not come home for a month!"

"But how can that be? Even if we take a small sloop, I'd never be able to get to your underwater kingdom as a human."

"Not as a human, no. But I think I know of a way. Trust me and come with me?"

"OK, I will. Just let me get my crown out of there and we'll do whatever you want. You can wait out here if you want."

"OK."

Brian gave Justin a quick peck and then a deeper kiss on those scrumptious lips and then one quick one more. He couldn't get enough.

Brian darted inside and Justin waited. But scarcely a few seconds went by when Brian's roar of rage and hate and pain was plainly audible throughout the entire upper ship. Justin darted inside.

And of course the ruined magnum opus was discovered. Brian was speechless with rage but Justin was unconcerned. He merely went up to it and stroked it fondly, and folded the forlorn flap back into place to look at it.

"Oh, my, I remember this! My goodness, it seemed so important back then."

"Back then!? I just unveiled it last night! You just painted it!"

"Ahhh, but remember, it's been six months for me. I've painted a great deal since then. The children of the air let me decorate their offices."

"But you worked so hard on this! That bastard! That insane prick! Dammit, I could just-"

"No you couldn't. He's gone and he has his reward. Now stop having a Queen out, Brian, I'll -"

"I am NOT Queening Out!" yelled Brian, totally Queening out.

Justin rolled his eyes. "As I was saying, I'll simply re-paint it. Yes, bigger, better. Do you like these fish? Oh they were some of my dearest friends. I hope I'll see them again. "He looked coyly at Brian playing with him, "Of course, I will need a few things. Hmmm, paint, another canvas, brushes, my sketch pads...Now where will I get all these things, I'm not sure..."

And then Brian was there, and replacing the chain with the studio key around Justin's neck, the last thing he still wore that Justin had given him last night.

"Cheeky boy! You know you're studio is waiting for you where you left it." They kissed deeply.

Then Justin turned and gave one last glance back at the ripped painting. "Hmmmm. I remember something else. I remember you saying that you dreamed you had that tail. Before you saw it."

"Yes, that's right."

"Hmmmm....Interesting! This may end up working in our favor. Ready to go and try a little experiment?"

Brian quickly retrieved his crown a spiky but wiry golden tiara with a ruby encrusted on the top of every spike. "Ready to go! So...where we going?"

"Well, we're going.... Oh! If we're going to leave , we'll need to leave someone in charge! Who could we leave with such a responsibility?"

Brian thought a bit and then smiled. "I think I have the perfect man for the job!"

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"I want to say goodbye to all of you!" Brian said, "We are going on our honeymoon! I want to thank you all for attending! Feel free to continue partying until you get home! We have talked it over with them and Fred and Red Remington have agreed to be regents over the kingdom in our place until we get back! Obey them as you would us. Fred, Red, I'd like to reiterate in front of everyone here this is only for a month and then we will be back. Can we trust you to rule, judge, and treat Liberty Kingdom fairly during our absence?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," they replied solemnly.

They were standing at the back of the ship again. Brian turned to Justin and said, "OK, what do we do now?"

"We go!" Justin exclaimed, and without any further ceremony he ripped off his bath towel again and jumped overboard! SPLASH!

"But Justin! I can't do that! I'm not a merman!"

"Do you remember the experiment, my love?" Justin called up.

"Yeeesss," Brian said carefully, "What sort of experiment?"

"Jump! Come to me! If it doesn't work I shall catch you and keep you safe and carry you home myself. But I think it will. Jump! Do you trust me?"

"I do! I do, with all my heart!" And Brian shucked off his blanket, dropped his drawers and climbed onto the railing and faced everyone. Everyone gasped at his large tumescent penis. "Good bye everybody! Good bye! See you in a month!" He jumped backward and headfirst into the sea.

At first, when Brian hit the water, he felt a jumble of sensations and images. The salt stung his eyes. He couldn't see. He couldn't breathe. The cold was intense. He realized there was no quick way out of the cold and adrenaline started pumping. He kicked. It grew darker. Oh no! He must still be pointed down. He tried to reverse direction. The movement of the waves pushed him down, up, around. He was disoriented, lost. He tried to relax, to find the light and kick towards it. Ahhh, there it was! He kicked toward it.

And as he did, everything changed. He felt a surge of power. His kicking became more fluid and pushed him easier through water. He felt the cold but it was as if it were a cold winter's day and he now had on a warm coat. He felt the cold but it no longer bothered him. The stinging of the salt vanished.

He kicked harder and he shot through the water like a bullet. He gasped in surprise and a fierce joy shot through him, mixing with the adrenaline. It was an intoxicating combination. The light grew brighter and brighter and then he shot up out of the water into the morning sunlight high into the air, higher and then higher still. He looked down and gasped.

Below, he saw Justin's delighted face growing smaller and smaller as still he rose. He rose as high as the railing of NEW BABYLON. And he was able to jump so high because he had a tail. A beautiful red-gold tail that shimmered in the sun. The tail from his dream. The tail from the magnum opus. It was fantastic. It was impossible. And yet it was real. Everyone gasped as they saw him and rushed to the side. Brian arched backwards with pure joy, flipped easily once and the dove back into the water with barely a splash. He surfaced again to everyone applauding madly.

Justin was at once right next to him and together they waved to everybody on the ship. They called goodbye once more and everybody cheered and laughed and waved back. The ship began to move away and they watched it go. Then Brian smirked in amusement. Someone had turned on some music with a heavy thumpa thumpa thumpa beat.

"Will you listen to that? I remember that music from the first ship! My God...That seems so...so long ago. It's like a lifetime ago."

"But it wasn't. It was only three weeks Brian. Our lifetime together is just beginning. And we'll listen to that music again. And again. And we'll dance and dance until we finish by making love...over...and over...and over..." They kissed deeply, alone now in the waves.

"How did you know about the tail?" Brian asked.

"I didn't. I told you it would be an experiment. But I'm so glad it worked."

"But how?"

"I don't know exactly. I just know that I saw this. And then you dreamed it. And you did absorb an extraordinary amount of my Sunshine power. Perhaps that helped with it. I don't know exactly for sure. But it did work. Oh, Brian, do you realize what this means!?" Justin threw himself into Brian's arms.

Brian thought about it. Then something slowly dawned on him.

"Oh my God! I'm...a...SUPERHERO!!" he cried.

Justin rolled his eyes. "Good grief, NO! Oh, Brian! You are such a drama queen! It means...the world is our oyster! We can go anywhere now! Come on!" He began moving away through the waves.

Brian followed. "What's wrong with that? We'd make great heroes!"

"Trust me, Brian, you don't want to be an undersea hero! It gets trite and old real quick and soon you'll be forgotten as if you never existed. I mean, look at what happened to Aquaman."

"Who's Aquaman?"

"Exactly."

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It was a few hours later. They moved steadily onward and Justin showed Brian how to shoot through the water like a torpedo and jump and leap like a dolphin and to ride a wave for miles with barely an effort at all.

And then they dived. And since the stinging salt was no longer a problem, Brian could see everything and although it was darker, it wasn't as dark as before and Brian could see....just see everything.

It was Justin's painting come to life. It was a clear blue-green scape and there were fish and animals everywhere. They saw a pod of dolphins so massive it took an hour to swim through them all. They saw seahorses and sea turtles and yellow fish and orange and red ones. They saw sharks. Justin made a wide berth around them They even saw whales, big, blue whales and their size was even more amazing, more majestic than anything that Justin could have painted up.

At last, Justin swam upward again and when they broke the surface there was an island a short distance away. There was a long, white, sandy beach, and behind it a jungle with palm trees and thick foliage and birds flying around.

"Where is this?" asked Brian.

"The island has no name. It is uncharted and undiscovered by the world of men. We are not too far from my city now but I thought we might at least spend one night here first. I want to spend a little time alone with my new...husband...first." Justin tried out the word to see how it felt on his tongue and saw that it felt pretty darn good. Pretty darn good indeed.

"I like the way you think," Brian said and smirked and quirked an eyebrow that made Justin's insides turn to mush. "Come on!" And he leaped away. Laughing, Justin jumped after him. They raced their way to the island and Brian won but only by a little bit.

They pulled their way onshore and rested in the sand. After a little while of sunbathing, their tails hardened and broke open and they walked around the beach a while, naked as the day they were born. And this time there was no one to approve or disapprove or gasp or anything except their own two selves. They went into the jungle and found food and then returned to the beach where they laid out and kissed and rolled around and kissed more and moved lower and licked and sucked and bit and generally made out like crazed weasels. And it was there, on the beach, on the sand, with only God and Neptune looking down, (and maybe even they gave them a bit of a break and looked away for a few minutes) that Brian sucked and probed and kissed and made love to his little merman and showed him what it was to be a man, what it was that those things between their legs were for at last. And Justin loved every minute of it and gave back as good as he got. Well, orally, anyway, Brian was still too much of a total top.

They watched the sunset and then ate and then made love again. And again. They couldn't get enough of each other.

At last they fell asleep under the stars on a bed they made of palm leaves and moss from the jungle.

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The next morning, Brian awoke with Justin's mouth on his morning wood.

He groaned and stretched and closed his eyes and luxuriated in the exquisite sensations. He moaned and swore and yelled, knowing there was no one to hear him. Justin chuckled and sped up.

Brian thrashed in ecstasy, swore again. "Fuck, Justin! Oh fuck, I'm going to come!"

Justin smiled and sucked harder and with a final shout, Brian came hard and Justin swallowed him, every drop and then kissed him, sharing his own essence with him.

"Good morning, my husband," he said.

"Good morning, my husband," Brian returned.

Would you like some breakfast?" Justin asked.

Brian agreed and they broke open a coconut and a pineapple and fresh bananas from off the tree, which Brian easily climbed.

And somewhere along in the breakfast, Justin somehow found himself on his back, and Brian was teasing him with small bites of banana and whispering his name over and over, teasing his nipples at the same time. Justin was incredibly turned on but he teased and pretended: "Hmmmphh! I don't know! It's just not the same without the leathers!"

"Oh, is that so, my boy! Well, I'll have to keep that in mind for when we get home! We'll have to go for another long...hot...motorcycle ride!"

Justin's breath hitched in excitement. "Oh, yes, Brian! Yes! Oh, I loved that motorcycle so much!"

Brian's smile was wolfish as he kissed Justin witless. "Is that so!? I'll remember that! Does someone have a little leather fetish?"

Justin smiled back. "Could be!"

"You know, as much as I'm enjoying this vegetarian fare, I do need my protein! And I want to hear you yell my name like that you give it to me! Justin...my sweet Justin...Justin..." Brian fed him a few more bites of the banana, teasing his nipples lightly...and then grabbed on! Justin gasped at the sensations. He thrashed and arched, a willing prisoner of pleasure.

Brian moved his way down and then engulfed Justin's cock and began to return the favor. He flicked and twisted but otherwise never let go of Justin's nipples. Justin groaned. He was transported. His arms flayed out to either side and grabbed handfuls of the warms sand, which then slipped through his fingers. Brian moved faster and faster and in what seemed like no time, Justin was on the brink.

"Oh yes! Oh Brian, YES! Oh Brian!" Justin yelled wantonly as pleasure ripped from his core and flashed through his entire being.

Brian swallowed as greedily as he had Justin's sunshine. "Ohhh Justin! My sweet Justin! You taste so good! Taste yourself! And he shared the last of it with Justin as he kissed him deeply for several minutes.

They wrapped up in each other and waited for their hearts to slow, which they did, slowly. They cooled. They sat up and ate another banana, more pineapple and then Brian declared, he was done. Soon, Justin agreed.

"Are you ready to continue?" he asked Brian.

"I wish we could stay here forever," Brian said wistfully.

"Ahh, my love! There will be many islands, many adventures before we lay down for the last," Justin promised.

"I keep feeling like I should be looking for a boat. Like I'm marooned, or something. And then...and then, I remember!" Brian exclaimed in excitement. "OK! Let's go!"

Giggling like little boys, they ran and jumped into the water with nothing on but the crowns on their heads. As soon as the water touched their bodies they were instantly transformed into mermen again and they pushed and kicked until the water was deep enough to swim in and then they were off!

Justin checked the position of the morning sun and then led the way. They dived, feeling the icy water slide over their bodies in a delicious way, the way a drink of icy, cold water slides down your throat. They clasped each other's hands and pumped hard and rhythmically through the ocean, travelling at a fast and steady pace.

They travelled on steadily for another day, moving deeper and deeper into uncharted waters. They ate raw oysters and Justin showed him how to make an anemone salad. Brian felt for sure that he'd be grossed out but as a merman he found the food quite tasty. They spent the night in an undersea cave and Justin showed Brian the art of merman sex. Now it was Brian's turn to play the clueless virgin, which he was. But Justin just chuckled and patiently showed him what to do, and transported him to sensations of pleasure that Brian had never thought possible.

They fell asleep, chest to chest, with their tails entwined.

The next day they set off again, again hand in hand. About midday, they saw, a golden glow on the horizon. And a few hours later, the glow turned into a half circle of golden light with a familiar golden spire rising up tall out of the city.

"It's just like your painting!" Brian exclaimed. "No! Better! Fabulous! More amazing!"

"And that's just it in the distance! It gets better! Are you ready! Are you nervous?"

"Not at all!"

Justin smiled his million-watt smile and clasped his hand. "Then come on! We'll soon be there!"

Brian flashed his own million-watt smile and together they swam off into the distance, into the future, into the golden light, into the city, together, side by side.

THE END

Copyright@ June 14, 2010 - April 25, 2011