Author's Note: I'm honestly not too sure what to think of this fic. It started out as one thing and ended up another. I still don't know if I like it. Hopefully no one thinks it sucks, but if you do, y'know, drop me a line. Feedback and *contructive* critisicm is always welcome. Oh, and this is for the 'Never After' challenge - so go check out the other stories. I thought they were great.
"You're kidding, right Jace? A castle?"
JC grinned and shrugged, "I thought it would be nice, for a change, rather than another day at an amusement park."
Joey whimpered, "I'd choose an amusement park over a haunted castle any day."
"C'mon guys, it'll be fun!"
"Sure you'd say that," Chris grumbled, "You're just defending your man."
Lance grimaced, "You're just sore he chose a smart bitch over a bimbo."
JC rolled his eyes, muttering, "Here we go again," before clearing his throat, "I don't need anyone standing up for me. Really, it'll be fun."
Justin sighed as Chris and Lance exchanged death glares. "Oh, joy. A week at a castle with the lovebirds and their jealous gal pal sidekick. Perfect." He shook his head, "Looks like a bad time for us, buddy."
Joey nodded miserably.
~~~~~~~~~~
"I'm betting there are ghosts here, too," someone muttered, as the quintet got in line behind the short queue of people loitering outside the castle gates.
"G-ghosts?" Justin gulped.
"Nooooo," Joey yelped.
"Great, C, why do you always pick haunted places?"
"Always?" JC scoffed, "When have you actually seen a ghost? Besides," he added reasonably, "There's no such thing as ghosts!"
"That's right."
"You would say that," Chris griped. "He's your boyfriend. Possibly husband-to-be."
JC blushed, smiling bashfully. Lance just raised an eyebrow and grinned, "Oh, I'm sure you'll be invited to the wedding. Stop being such a bitter ol' soul."
"Bitter ol' soul?" Chris mocked, "In case you haven't noticed, we're not in the medieval times anymore, Bass. Click your heels three times and mutter there's no place like home� you'll stand a chance of returning to the era you belong to."
Justin rolled his eyes, "Jesus Christ. We're about to enter a haunted castle and they talk about History!"
There was a soft tinkle of laughter, "You don't really believe this is a haunted place?"
Justin turned, ready to argue. "It-" he stopped, faltered; jaw dropping wide open. "I-I� I-I�"
Joey grinned. She was a fine young lady. "Hi. My name's Joey and this stuttering idiot here is my young friend, Justin."
"Nice to meet you both. I'm Britney." She smiled, and a soft sigh escaped Justin's lips. Britney then introduced her younger sister, Jamie Lynn, "So Justin? You don't have to worry. There really aren't ghosts. Jamie here has just been watching a *little* too many 'Goosebumps' episodes."
Justin put on his all-charming grin. "Oh! Okay. Right. I knew that."
Joey smacked his forehead, C'mon, J, he thought, Where's the 'smooth-as-butta' guy I know?
"I'm sure you did." Britney looked completely amused and Jamie was shaking her head, rolling her eyes as she did so.
"Hey guys, c'mon, let's go." JC yelled.
Joey sighed thankfully, pulling Justin away from the two girls.
"Hey! What the-"
"I'm saving you from yourself. Trust me."
~~~~~~~~~~
That night, Justin sat on the bed in the room he was sharing with Joey, pouting.
Joey rolled his eyes, "J, stop being a baby."
"I still don't get why you had to drag me away like that. That wasn't very nice!"
"Yeah, well, you were gawking at her and stuttering like an idiot. What else *could* I have done?"
"I've handled girls fine!" Justin cringed when he realized how loudly he'd been talking. Lowering his tone, he continued, "I would have been fine alone."
"Alone, huh?" Joey muttered, stung, "Fine, Justin. You wanna be alone. You got it."
Huffing, Joey left the room, and minutes later, a ruffled Chris trudged in. He glared at Justin, "You just *had* have to fight with him, didn't you?"
Justin ignored him. Chris unpacked his things, cursing under his breath as he did so. He turned to look at Justin, "He's worried about you, asshole," before going to lie down on the bed at the opposite end of the room, still muttering, "Stupid Joey. Had to go fight with Justin and decides to get me to room with him. There's Lance, but noooo, had to go for the guy with the single room. What's his problem? Doesn't wanna sleep with Jace? Everyone wants to sleep with Jace. Fucking Joey."
Justin groaned, burying his head into his pillow. "I thought he said *alone*. Oh, yeah, rooming with a self-pitying bitch *really* beats rooming with an idiot. Fucking Joey."
~~~~~~~~~~
"AHHHHHH!"
JC awoke in the middle of the night to loud, terrified screams. "Joey?" He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand.
"No. S'Lance. Go back to sleep," the blond muttered, wrapping his arm a little tighter around JC's waist, pulling his boyfriend closer.
"Mmm," JC murmured, already drifting back to a semi-conscious state. "But Joey-"
"Fucking Joey," Lance muttered, yawning. "He's with J. Let J take care of him."
JC nodded, and settled comfortably back into Lance's arms, nuzzling his head against Lance's neck, trying to go back to sleep.
"AHHHHHHHH!"
This time, Lance bolted up into a sitting position. "Fuck!" he exclaimed.
"Ow!" JC yelped, rubbing his nose as he sat up as well. "Shit, that hurt."
"Sorry, baby," Lance nodded apologetically, before getting out of bed and going to open the door, JC not far behind him.
"HEEEEEEELLLLPPP!"
The two men exchanged glances before sprinting down the hallway. "We are so lucky we got this part of the castle to ourselves," JC panted, as they skidded to a stop in front of Joey's room. Lance knocked on the door first, calling softly, "Joe? You okay in there, bud?"
He raised an eyebrow at JC when there was no answer. Panicking, JC started to pound on the door. "Joey! Open up! Joey!"
Lance bit back a gasp when the door swung open. Hesitantly, the pair stepped into the room. "Joey?" JC whispered, glancing around the area. He had no clue why he was whispering, or why his heart was slamming against his chest so rapidly� all he knew was that Joey was in trouble, and he needed to help him.
Lance frowned, a hand on JC's shoulder. "Wait, isn't this Chris' room? What would Joey be doing in here?"
JC shrugged, "We heard his voice coming from here. He doesn't seem to be� Joey!"
Lance looked toward the bed, where Joey was curled into a small ball, sniveling pathetically. "Joey, what's wrong?" Lance fought to keep calm, fought not to roll his eyes, fought the urge to slam Joey's head against the wall, trying in vain to relax when his blood was at boiling point, when he saw Joey curled up in a small ball on the bed. Please, please don't let this be another stupid nightmare.
JC saw the irritation painted on Lance's face plain as day. He couldn't help feeling a tad annoyed himself. "Did you have *another* bad dream, Joe?"
"Mmmffrar," Joey whined into his pillow, pointing upwards nervously.
JC looked up, then, frowning. "Joey? There's nothing here."
"Meeessssssseeeeeeeepppppppppp," Joey bleated.
"He means behind you," Lance interpreted, looking utterly bored and frustrated at the same time.
"Oh. Right." JC smiled sheepishly, before turning around and coming face-to-face with five of the ugliest, strangest things he'd ever seen in his life. "Oh, uh, hi."
Lance turned as well, at JC's greeting. His sigh died on his lips, eyes widening, when he saw the five spectrums that had scared Joey half to death.
A werewolf, the man in the iron mask, Dr, Jekyll and Mr. Hyde combined in one, a mummy, and a vampire. JC thought he'd probably never seen or would see anything as bizarre as these five apparitions.
"Hello," the werewolf smiled, or snarled, however you saw it, and Lance shuddered before managing a weak smile in return.
"Brian, I think we're scaring them." The mummy piped up.
"Oh. Of course. C'mon boys."
The creatures' skin suddenly seemed to be bubbling, as though somewhere inside them, ripples were being sent throughout their whole body, and the two men watched in morbid fascination as the beasts transformed, and five good-looking young men appeared in their places.
One of them stepped forward - and clear blue eyes pierced knowingly into green. "Sorry. We can be frightening." A hand was extended, and a smile played on the owner's lips. "I'm Brian."
"Lance."
A brief handshake was exchanged, and Lance eyed the newcomer warily as he proceeded to shake hands with JC. "Call me JC."
"And your friend�?" Brian nodded towards the bed.
"He's Joey," JC chuckled, turning to tell Joey that everything was fine, before he realized Joey had passed out cold, and rolled his eyes. "But, um, I think he must've gotten a shock."
Brian winced, "Sorry about that. We didn't know He was having guests today."
"It's no biggie," JC assured him. "But, He? Who is he?"
Brian's expression darkened, and he ignored JC's question, turning, instead, to the other four men. "This is Nick, AJ, or Alex, Kevin, and Howie." He gave JC a cold smile. "We're brothers."
"I know you!" Lance gasped out. "The Backstreeters. Y'all were like, the next best thing after Michael Jackson died. But� but you guys disappeared, ten years into your career!"
Nick grinned at the others. "He knows us! Guys, we made History!"
Kevin laughed and shook his head, "Nick, don't get your hopes up. It's only been, what, ten years?"
"That's ten years too long."
"Ten years hardly counts as History."
"It does in the music world!"
"Jesus, would y'all just shut-" Someone else entered the room, and JC jumped when he realized the door was still closed, and no sound had been made. He turned to look at his boyfriend, whose eyebrow was raised in disbelief. "Oh. The guests."
"I'm sorry, have we met?" JC enquired, ever polite.
The newcomer - a girl with slightly longish blonde hair, sweet looks, and a fine figure, shrugged. "I remember seeing you coming in here with� what's his name again? That's right. Justin."
"Britney, they're confused as it is. Couldn't you have used the door like a regular human being?" Howie couldn't help but smile when he saw the word bewildered written all over Lance and JC's faces.
"Well, Howie, I'm *not* a human being. And I didn't know they were here. Or I would have used the door."
"At least you're not a monster," AJ muttered.
"Oh, like being a whore for Him isn't a miserable position to be in. He's old and fat and ugly and� I'd rather be a monster any day."
"STOP!" Lance stared at his boyfriend in shock. JC never yelled. "Would you PLEASE explain what the hell you mean by whatever it is you're saying, and who the hell this Him is, and what he's done to you, and why y'all are all here?"
Britney shrugged, "You could be killed if He found out you knew."
"Death threats?" Lance didn't bat an eye. "We've received thousands of those."
"Oh, this is no *threat*, I'm afraid. If He finds out, y'all are dead."
"Dead? Who's dead? Where's Joey?" Lance pressed his hand to his forehead. Justin. Why did he choose to say all the wrong things at all the wrong times?
"Justin," JC said quietly, pointing at Britney as the youngster entered the room, "Do you know this young woman?"
Justin brightened, "Britney! What're you doing here?"
AJ glared at Britney after giving Justin the once over, "You chose this guy? You told Him about THIS scrawny ass? Fuck, Britney, he probably sings like you do!"
Britney glared back, "Why, Alex, are you saying that like it's a bad thing?"
Brian patted AJ's shoulder, "Relax. She must have her reasons." He scratched the back of his neck, "But honestly, Brit, why him? He sounds awful. If He isn't happy with who you chose, we're all in for it, y'know."
Britney shook her head. "They're a package," she tossed a glance at JC, Lance, Justin, and then Chris, who was gaping in shock at the door, and then back at Joey. "And they're one of the best I've heard in a long time."
"Now hold on just one second!" The room fell silent at JC's admonishment. "What the *fuck* is going on here? Chose what? Who is He? And what are you TALKING about?!"
Nick gave Britney a furtive glance; "You've recommended them already?"
Britney rolled her eyes and pointed at her scanty dressing. "You think I dress like this for *fun*? He just fell asleep."
Behind Nick, JC heard Kevin giggle and whisper to Howie, "Britney got a hickey!" before turning his attention back to the blonde girl, who was nodding at Nick. The blonde sighed, and shrugged, then, "Since you've already done it, they're gonna be next. We might as well tell them what they're in for, huh?"
Brian looked sharply at Nick, before sighing. "I guess it wouldn't do any harm." He nodded at Chris to close the door and then spoke. "As y'all probably know, we're-" he gestured at himself and the other guys - "The Backstreeters. Now, supposedly, we disappeared about ten years ago, which was ten years into our career, right?" He waited for the nods, before continuing, "Well, what would you say if I told you we *didn't* just disappear? That we were *taken*-" he nodded at Chris' gasp, "Yes, taken, against our will, because of our talent?"
Lance's brow furrowed as he worked this out in his mind, no one noticing Joey creeping towards them, settling down on the floor, where his four friends were now seated. "So what you're trying to say is, someone kidnapped you? All these years?"
"In a way," AJ shrugged. "Except you can't exactly call it kidnapped." He chuckled lowly, "We're dead."
"You're *what*?!" Chris burst out, practically jumping into JC's lap, ignoring Lance's glare.
"Dead." Kevin nodded. "He killed us, when we were invited to this castle." He gave JC a sharp look. "You received an invitation, didn't you?" Barely acknowledging JC's nod, he pushed on, "We came. And the next thing we knew, BAM, we'd been murdered. And we've been put under a spell ever since. I mean, we're half monsters now, y'know? I mean, we're still humans, but like, sometimes He'll change us into monsters, because He derives some sick pleasure from watching us transform."
"But I thought� I thought you said he kidnapped you, or murdered you, or whatever, because of your talent? And why don't you leave this place? Why stay here, with the murderer? And let him do this to you?"
"We don't get to come and go as we please, Justin." Howie replied. He glanced at his brothers sorrowfully. "If we leave, we'll lose our voices. We'll never be able to sing again. And we'd rather die than let that happen, do you see? One step out of this castle and we'll become mutes for the rest of our lives. So He does own us. He has our talent. And He can use it as He pleases, because if we don't do as we're told� He'll kick us out of here. And if He does that, our voices will be destroyed."
"Then�" Lance's eyes widened in understanding, "When you said Britney'd already recommended us� does that mean�?"
"Yes." AJ's tone was cold as ice, and the room was suddenly silent. "Britney has zero talent, so He keeps her as a whore. She pleases Him as and when He wants, because if she doesn't, He has threatened to destroy her soul."
"But she's not a ghost!" Justin argued. "I touched her. She's solid."
"She's one of His talent scouts. Otherwise known as the Giver of Death. She chooses those with 'talent' out of those who have been invited and recommends them to Him. In the day, she takes a human form. He allows it, because she stays on castle ground. But once night falls�" Brian shook his head. "That's why she's the only one of us who can pass through walls. Because she doesn't have a soul anymore. He took it from her. So she doesn't even really exist."
Britney's head was lowered when Justin looked at her, and his heart twisted. He wanted to reach out to her and hug her, but then he realized his hand would pass through her body, and he shuddered at the thought.
"Accept it, Justin," she said softly, "The six of us-" she gestured in a sweeping motion, "Are dead. And there are more of us. Far more of us, than this. Michael Jackson. Frank Sinatra. Nat King Cole. They're all here."
Somewhere between Brian and Britney's speeches, JC had stood up, and made his way over to them. Lance was almost sure his lover hadn't heard anything Britney had just said, because he'd had that glazed over look in his eyes - the kind that appeared when he'd discovered something that shocked him.
"Brian," JC whispered, reaching hesitantly to touch the older man's throat, retracting his hand when Brian pulled away, "You don't� you all don't have� your�" JC trailed off. "Adam's apple," he voice was soft. "You don't have it. All of you."
"Yeah," Nick replied, just as quietly. "He took it. As� as a right to own our voices."
JC shivered, instinctively lifting his hand to his throat, clutching it protectively.
Lance tried to keep his sympathy out of his tone when he next spoke, because he could see these guys didn't want pity. In any way, from anyone. "Who is this He?"
"Ask your boyfriend," AJ smirked, "He did accept the invitation after all."
"So I was right, wasn't I?" JC nodded slowly. "Lou Pearlman. It's the owner of this castle."
"That's Him all right," Britney licked her lips and sighed.
Joey whimpered, and the guys noticed his presence at last. "Guys, we should get out of here. I don't want to disappear! I want my momma!"
Chris smacked the back of his head. "Joey, shut up. You're disgracing us."
Lance lowered his voice, till they had to bend forward to hear him. "Is there any way we can get out of here?"
Britney shook her head in fear. "You can't! If you leave, we're done for!"
AJ grabbed JC's shoulders and shook him, "We're not letting you leave, understand? If we do, that's it. I don't even want to think about the consequences."
JC pushed AJ's hands off him. "Then what we have to do, is come up with a plan that'll foil that old geezer's plot."
Kevin gave JC a look of disbelief, "Right, you and your little sissy friends are going to beat a murderer-cum-sorcerer at his own game."
"We're not going to murder him!" Chris protested, but the look in JC's eyes said otherwise.
~~~~~~~~~~
"Do you think maybe he'd melt if we splashed water at him?" Justin suggested. He raised his hands when the others gave him incredulous looks. "What?! Didn't y'all watch The Wizard Of Oz?"
Lance shook his head, "I give up."
JC gave Justin one last strange look, before resuming the earlier conversation. "So, we'll ask them to let us see him, right? And the best idea I can come up with right now is for us to talk our way out of this."
"We're courting our own deaths!" Joey declared, bent on postponing this trip as long as possible.
"We've done it before, haven't we? We can do it again."
Sighing, Joey shook his head. "I love you, Mom," he muttered, "Please bury somewhere near the house if you find my body at all."
~~~~~~~~~~
Britney consented, surprisingly, and brought them to see Lou. Past dozens of rooms, down carpeted hallways, up the many flights of stairs, through secret passageways, and finally through a large wooden door, where they were told to wait.
The room was huge. A bed in one corner, a fire burning brightly at the other, comfortable couches and large tables littering the most part of the room. The curtains were drawn across the gigantic windows and when Britney closed the door behind her, the room fell into darkness.
"Shit," Justin whispered, groping around, trying to feel for JC's hand. "C? Lance? Chris? Joey?"
"Shh, J, stop making so much noise," Lance hissed.
"Okay," Justin swallowed hard, as he grabbed onto a hand. "Whose hand do I got?"
"Well, this is a new way of being greeted."
Justin shrieked, jumping a mile high. "Who the fuck are you?!"
"Justin!" JC. "Mind your manners!" He swallowed hard, tensing, till he felt Lance's reassuring touch on the small of his back, and relaxed. "I'm assuming you're Mr. Pearlman."
"That I am. I heard from Britney that you wanted to see me. Is there something I can do for you boys? The beds not comfortable enough? The roof leaking, maybe?" Lou's voice was loud, booming, and it echoed from his corner in the otherwise silent room.
"Um, no. It's not that."
Lance faltered. How exactly was he supposed to tell this man what they really wanted? 'Oh, well, y'see, we were hoping to go home alive and y'know, we like our Adam's apples where they are very much, thanks' was going to go down as well as 'fuck you, we wanna leave'.
"See, we were thinking�"
They lapsed into uncomfortable silence for a few moments, before Lou's booming laughter echoed through the room again, "What's wrong, boys? Cat got your tongue?"
"Ah, fuck you." Justin retorted, more than a little annoyed as he spat on the outline of the dark figure he could just make out. "We wanna get out of here, because we like out adam's apples right where they are, and we wanna go home and see our mommas, and� Jesus Christ!"
Lance, Chris, JC and Joey were staring at Justin in shock, who in turn, was staring at the pile of goop on the floor. "Justin! Look what you did!"
"You melted him!"
"We're free!"
"I get to see my momma!"
Justin scratched his head, "Oh. Okay. Right. I did. I got rid of Lou Pearlman."
And then suddenly the curtains flew open and Britney was rushing in and hugging them all and so were the Backstreeters, and Justin screamed when he saw Michael Jackson floating through a wall.
Then the room started spinning and JC almost felt like the walls were opening up and trying to suck them in.
Grabbing onto Lance's hand, he barely got the word 'help' out before the castle collapsed.
~~~~~~~~~~~
"You're kidding, right Jace? An amusement park?"
JC grinned and shrugged. "C'mon guys, it'll be fun!"
"Yeah, because we haven't done that like a million times already. No, all the memories I have of Chris throwing up after the Ferris wheels are part of my overactive imagination."
"Shut up," Chris growled, smacking Joey's head.
"Give it a shot. I'm sure it'll be fun!"
"Sure you'd say that," Chris grumbled, "You're just defending your man."
Lance grimaced, "You're just sore he chose a smart bitch over a bimbo."
JC rolled his eyes, muttering, "Here we go again," before clearing his throat, "I don't need anyone standing up for me. Really, it'll be fun."
Justin sighed as Chris and Lance exchanged death glares. "Oh, joy. A day at an amusement park with the lovebirds and their jealous gal pal sidekick. Perfect." He shook his head, "Looks like a bad time for us, buddy."
Joey nodded miserably.
"Why can't we be more like the Backstreet Boys?"
End.