The Gift of Song Part 2

By The Storyteller

It was early morning. Glenn was awake promptly with the sun, strolling through the castle as he hunted for his breakfast. He kept thinking about the guitar, its pretty red color, the way Magus held it… he was intrigued. What did it sound like when it was hooked up to those machines? Squeezing through the hallway that was half taken up by Spekkio's large Nu bulk, he made his way into the illuminated kitchen. He spotted the Media Crystal, sitting quietly on the kitchen table. It had been moved. He took the large round crystal and examined it. Finding a little black switch on the bottom, he turned it on.

"Huh huh-huh"
"Heh-heh Metallica rules! It rules!"
"Shut up, buttmunch!"

Glenn watched the crystal as two odd looking animated characters laughed endlessly.

"How stupid!"

Then they played a solid guitar theme, as the two faces looked at each other from the side, laughing. The theme didn't sound normal though. It sounded… enhanced.

"Is this what the guitar sounds like with those machines hooked up?"

Glenn looked around for an answer, and then realized nobody was there, except for the sleeping Spekkio.

"THAT'S IT!"

He walked over to Spekkio and stomped on his Nu foot. Spekkio didn't move.

"WAKE UP!"

He bonked him in the head. Nothing still. Then he remembered a little trick from the Zeal kingdom… he found the Nu's scratch spot on its back and scratched it furiously.

"AH! AH! Oooh… What! What! Why'd you have to wake me?"
"Because you're annoying."
"Fine. I'll move."
"No, just stay awake."
"No! Nus have a natural affinity for sleep. They, or we, need more sleep than any other creature in existence."
"Spekkio, I think I need your help. I need to put on a concert, to get an old band back together."
"Who? Why?"
"Magus's band. I want to hear what they sound like."
"Since when do you know about the band? That's classified information! Nobody knows about that but the Mystics."
"I heard from the front man. He told me about it last night. I can't say I believe him..."
"Your best friend had to die in a war over song. Wonderful, the truth is out now. And yes, humans forced Mystics into hiding hundreds of years ago. Wonderful unknown history your people have..."
"Really?"
"Yes. Now... what do you want me to do?"
"I want you to go and warm him up to the idea... he won't listen to me, he hates me."
"Like that is a surprise... well, I'll have to see, Magus isn't the warm friendly type, and he certainly isn't impressionable at this stage of his life..."
"Yes! A stage! We need a stage..."

Glenn sat and thought to himself in silence, until he heard a sudden roar from behind him. The loud sound was frightening at first, but it died away slowly. Glenn tried to follow the noise but he was too late, the sound was gone.

"That was weird..."

A sudden knock came at the front door. Glenn, still wearing only what he wore the night before, was unsure of whether to answer it.

"I ain't getting it, Glenn. Whoever is there will run away at the sight of my big red bum, that's for sure..."
"Oh! Fine! I'll get it. Sure, just have me freeze from the ice-cold weather since I have no shirt on. Fine..."
"Its summer. Get the door."
"Yah... sure..."

Glenn walked toward the front door and opened it carefully. Peeking outward, he noticed a face of equal height to his peek inward.

"Glenn?"
"Lucca?"
"Let us in, man!"
"Fine..."

Glenn opened the door, revealing Lucca, Marle, and Crono.

"Well well well, Glenn... not wearing much are we...?" said a smiling Marle, who stared at his formed chest.
"What are you doing at Magus's place?" asked Lucca.

Crono started to giggle.

"Not a word out of you, little punk man!"

Crono made a look, as if to say "as usual."

"Yeah, Glenn, what are you doing here, with no clothes on?"
"I convinced Magus to let me stay here since I can't live in the Haunted Woods anymore."
"How'd you go about and do that?"
"Well, you find a man's weak point, you take control of the man... he has an affinity for booze, which is much to my advantage."

The loud sound boomed again, louder, and it startled everyone. The sound vibrated through the walls and floors, and could be felt under Glenn's socked feet. This time, the sounds continued, each time a different note, each equally as loud. It sounded as if it were... music!

"What the hell is that?" asked Marle.
"Well, if it's what I think it is, I wasn't expecting it..." replied Glenn, smiling.

Lucca made her way past Glenn quickly, to find the source of the sound. Crono was about to speak, but Glenn saw this...

"I said not a word!"

He shrugged. Lucca followed the sound carefully, making her way in and out through rooms in a stupor, until she made her way upstairs... she then heard a voice, a sweet soft voice, singing along with the notes...

"MAGUS!"
"Mama.... oooooooooooh... I don't wanna die... sometimes I wish I'd never been born at all.."

His eyes were closed softly, as if he were almost feeling the words he said.

"Carry on.... carry on.... nothing really matters......."
"Wowie! Since when did you sing so nicely?"
"Hmm... a long time ago..."
"What? You're not going to snap at me? Wow... that guitar must be some kind of drug..."

Magus opened his eyes and gazed at Lucca.

"It's like nothing you've ever felt before."

Lucca watched as he held the guitar carefully in his lap. It was enhanced indeed, hooked up to what looked like an amplifier, plugged up to an electric generator.

"Where'd you get this equipment?"
"We've had it for years. It's a mystic secret."
"No kidding. Stuff like this was just invented in our time! I used an amplifier like that on BeBo!"
"Hmm... BeBo... I remember what it sung... I didn't like it. It needed more to it."
"Wow... this is like natural to you, isn't it. I find that amazing."
"Why, because I'm so evil?"
"You have more sides to you than you let on..." said Lucca, remembering what Glenn had told them about Magus's... transformation... "...and it seems you have a talent that should have surfaced ages ago. What was the name of the song you were singing?"
"It's called the Bohemian Rhapsody, by this group called Queen."
"Not by you? You didn't write it?"
"I'm not much of a songwriter, I just play what I hear on the Media Crystal."
"No kidding..." said Lucca, who became less excited at the discovery of Magus when she heard he didn't write his own songs.

Glenn, Crono, and Marle approached from the rear. Marle's jaw dropped when she saw Magus, guitar in hand.

"Since when was this going on? You? Rock star?"
"Twelve years ago."
"Damn! Play something! Play it!"

Magus sighed softly, and began to play the guitar roughly, a different song as before. Glenn listened intently, recognizing each note.

"That's that theme from that show!" yelped Glenn
"Beavis and Butthead?" replied Magus.
"The one with those two people laughing a whole lot! The one with that blond kid that pulls his shirt over his head and yells that he's Cornholio!"
"Beavis and Butthead." Magus said, as softly as last time.
"The one where they sit on the couch and eat nachos and watch this little box that has people inside playing guitars like that one!"
"BEAVIS AND BUTTHEAD!" Marle and Lucca screamed in unison.
"Jesus, Glenn? What happened to your knightly attitude? You were so polite, and so... adult!" scolded Marle, annoyed.
"It went with the figure..."

Glenn smiled meekly. Magus started to play the song again.

"That sounds so cool!" said Marle.
"Thank you." replied Magus, soft voiced once again.
"Oh dear God, Lucca, hell has frozen over... Magus said something polite!" giggled Marle.

Magus sighed and brought the guitar to his chest, holding it like a child.

"Oh my red guitar... the sweet sound you sing to me... melts my soul away..."
"POETRY! He just did a haiku!" yelped Marle, her eyes bugging out wild.
"Wow... such inspired work..." sighed Lucca, softly.

* * *

Meanwhile, Spekkio, who heard all the commotion from the lower floor, decided that if Glenn wanted a reunion tour, it couldn't all be done by Magus. The original team had its drummer, Ozzie, its base guitarist, Slash, and its backup guitarist, pianist, and vocalist, Flea. Spekkio took it upon himself to travel to Ozzie's Fort, a place he was relatively fond of. After watching the three of them bicker with each other constantly, Spekkio realized that if he was ever downtrodden all he needed was to watch a few minutes of them in battle, and he'd be laughing again...

"Well well well... the legendary "Master of War..." said Flea, giggling.
"I prefer to be called the God of War, now..."
"Sorry dude, you don't look much like Aries. You look more like... an Omnicrone!"
"Well, that's your fault."
"What?"
"Listen, Flea, put it this way. I know about the whole band deal."
"What band deal?"
"The band you guys had! The Tone-Deaf Evil Fiends!"
"How did you know about that?" asked Slash, who approached from behind.
"I lived in the cornerstone of creation, man! The End of Time!"
"The End of Time... what a riot!"
"Shut up Slash, this man knows what he's talking about." sneered Ozzie, who approached Spekkio from the side opposite of Slash.
"So come on, guys, are you in?"
"I'm not! I don't remember any of this!" yelped Flea.
"You don't remember much from back then, for a lot of reasons. Those days were glorious, though... me... you... Ozz in the back, Magus in the front... those were the days..."
"The days of Janus Lightning..." added Ozzie, sighing. "Janus Lightning, Magus's stage name... say, what did they do to ya, Flea? Did they give you a lobotomy along with that boob job?"
"It was a breast augmentation, and no, no brain surgery! I just don't remember anything about a band..."

Spekkio sighed.

"How can you not remember, Flea? Remember that one show, when you dove off the stage and the crowd carried you around? And they banged your head on the speakers and opened up your skull?" said Slash.
"No."
"Slash, that's why he doesn't remember! His head got busted!" yelled Ozzie, remembering the day. "Go get him one of the old guitars. Maybe he'll remember it all then!"
"I'm getting his guitar. He ain't touching mine!"

Slash ran off to go find the hidden stash of musical equipment. It was in a very secret place, hidden very near the hiding place of the Doomsickle, but not near the Gloom Helm. It was south of the hidden Magic Tab, and to the left of the Infinite Improbability Drive, which was the energy source for the entire fort. It was a secret place indeed.

"Well, mister Spekkio, if we're to get back together, we have a problem. Flea's strong point was that he used to go on stage wearing nothing but his underwear! That would be illegal now..."
"I may have a nice bust but it doesn't make me any less of a man!"
"I didn't say that, Flea. I just said you can't go onstage in underwear anymore."
"Why not?"
"Because its indecent!"
"Since when were we ever decent?"
"Since Magus beat the crap out of us right here in this fort..."

Spekkio listened to this and started to giggle. Their conversations were always hilarious!

"What are you laughing at!"
"Yeah! That's not funny!"
"Yes it is." Spekkio said, still giggling.

Slash came back with a guitar of the like that shocked Spekkio. It was long, and pink. The base of it was a giant heart, pink. It was simple, but not very… masculine.

"This is it. Try it out, Flea."

Flea took the guitar carefully in his hand and held it perfectly in position… the feeling of the instrument overwhelmed him, and he started to play… his eyes shut and he went into a trance like state. He started to play a theme… a sad theme…

"I think that's One, by Metallica. And he's playing it with his bare fingers." said Slash.
"Okay Flea, are you in?" asked Ozzie

Flea kept going on.

"Flea! Are you in or what?" asked Ozzie, angered.

Flea kept on, the sounds getting eventually faster… but they were barely recognizable due to the lack of amplification… it went faster and faster… then bang! Flea started to play the fastest and roughest part furiously…

"Flea! Wake up!"

Slash lost his cool, walked over to Flea, and snatched the guitar from his hands.

"Ooh…" said Flea, as if waking from hypnosis. "What the hell was that?"
"That was you playing like the wind, Flea, too bad it wasn't hooked up!" said Ozzie laughing.
"I'm still a little squeamish about this band idea…"
"He's in, mister Spekkio." said Ozzie, smiling.
"Well then, we have work to do…"

.

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