Chapter 13

Burden In My Hand

"Gah what the hell Brann..." Dylan sighed as he unlocked the rental car and got it. He put the keys in the ignition slowly and turned the keys to start the vehicle. "Man what a way to start the day. That was some crazy shi-" All of a sudden, Dylan's cellphone started to ring. It was Linda. "Hey Linda, what's up?" Dylan greeted as he held the phone up to his ear while looking over his shoulder to back out of his parking space.

"Oh it's pretty good, business was pretty busy this morning surprisingly. Gotta love those early morning birds." Linda joked on her end of the line.

"Hehe funny." Dylan chuckled quietly as he started to make his way off the hotel's lot. "So where's Tulio?"

"At the sanctuary. He might come back home from work a little early today though." Linda informed in a polite tone. Dylan learned that Linda and Tulio owned the Blue Bird Sanctuary when they first met at the restaurant. He found this intriguing since he had once seen the sanctuary on a Discovery Channel special on the rare blue macaws, and now he was quickly becoming friends with its owners.

"Oh hey Dylan, didn't you say you were going to go up to your brother's house to meet some movers?" Linda asked curiously as she paced around the bookstore.

"Yeah. I'm actually headed there right now. I'm gonna move out some stuff so the home can be placed on the market."

"Oh...why don't you just move into the house?" Linda wondered in a puzzled tone.

"I can't afford the home." Dylan muttered in a near whisper. Linda could only mutter an "oh" from his response. "So why did you ask your original question?" Dylan questioned teasingly.

"Well I just wanted to have an excuse to go see your brother's home. You did give me the address by the way. But it was mainly because I wanted to help with the moving." Linda admitted confidently. Dylan got caught off guard a little bit by her response. 'A woman that wants to help move? I hate to be sexist but damn, this is a first ha ha. Oh well, the movers probably don't mind another hand on board' Dylan thought to himself as he executed a turn.

"Yeah you can come along if you want." Dylan said cheerfully. Linda smiled on her side of the phone call and then checked the address of the home.

"Okay. Well I'll be there a bit later, I have to do some things at the bookstore first." And after some conclusion comments, both people hung up the phone.

Dylan arrived at his brother Nick's home. Expecting to see a moving fan and a handful of people already at his doorstep, what Dylan say as he pulled up to the driveway was a major surprise. There in his driveway was the young man Marquis, the Brazilian idol he met from the music store. As he parked, Dylan eyed him and raised an eyebrow. Once Dylan got out of the car, Marquis shouted his greetings.

"Dylan Jackson! How are you?" He shouted excitedly as he gave a handshake to the fellow musician.

"Pretty...um...solid for the most part." Dylan lied, trying his best to smile. "So what brings you here...uh...Marquis right?"

"Yep. Marquis Richard Centeno. I'm here to talk to you about something. I want you to-"

"Hey how did you even find this place? I never gave you any directions or addresses, or even my phone number. Further more, where's the movers and how did you even know I was going to be here?" Dylan interrupted rudely, questioning Marquis with a raised eyebrow.

"I find my ways Mr. Jackson. And for the movers, I asked them if this is were you were going to be, and then I dismissed them for a later day because I want to talk to you only, not some rabid fans." Dylan seemed content with the response and nodded his head in agreement.

"Awesome ha ha. Oh and you can just call me Dylan. So what were you saying now Marquis?"

"Okay, well you see, when I saw you at that music store, you were...were amazing. You are the exact person I'm looking for. If you don't know, I'm hosting my own float and act for the Carnaval parade this year. There is going to be some dancing and all but most importantly is the crunching drum line I'm having." Marquis explained, making many hand gestures as he talked about his float, "This is my first year doing this by the way!" He finished with a confident smile.

"So where do I fit in with all of this?" Dylan asked curiously, not really too impressed. He figured being a part of the drum line meant being in the middle of it. He got a no for a response.

"You see, what I want to do is have this drum line play along to some samba, but then on the top of the float there is going to be a person doing a drum solo. I want you to be that person. I want you to play the drum solo for the parade. I know you can pull it off Dylan."

Dylan's heart sank, but from shock. 'Is this for real? I cannot believe it...' Dylan thought to himself, trying not to burst from pure and sheer joy. Finally, someone has seen the true raw talent that Dylan had. All the years of rigor and passion that Dylan poured into his drumming had finally paid off.

"So what do you say then?" Marquis asked kindly, holding out his hand for a shake.

"Hell yeah. I'll do it." Dylan smirked as he shook Marquis's hand to seal the deal. The Brazilian musician cheered and put on some sunglasses, which he had concealed in his back pockets. His expression then turned into a slightly sour and worried one.

"Um Dylan?" He muttered. Just as he got the young man's attention, Linda pulled up to the home and parked her car. She laid eyes on Marquis and tried not to screech excitedly. Instead, Linda got out and approached him in a professional manner, greeting him politely with a handshake. Marquis obliged and smiled at her. "I think I remember you. This excellent young drummer right here is your friend right?"

"Mhm." Linda said with a nod.

"You then have one helluva friend." Marquis then shifted his attention to Dylan, "Alright then Dylan. This next piece of info may concern you and hopefully you don't drop the deal, but Carnaval is in two days. That's how long you have to memorize and learn your part and be in sync with everyone. Uh...Come to the Copacabana beach tonight at about four o'clock for practice, okay? I got to go now, I'll see you two around." Marquis informed as her slowly got into his sports car. Before leaving the lot, he waved good bye to Linda and Dylan, and while Linda retained her cool and waved back, Dylan was still in complete shock. However, his cocky side came up when he decided to say a comment to himself:

"Two days? Bring it on." Despite being so confident with his words, Dylan felt a sudden jolt of fear and realization travel up his spine and attack his brain. He was actually nervous and worried. He even felt a little tremor in his hands due to this. Luckily, it stopped very quickly once Linda decided to finally say something to Dylan.

"So hey Dylan, what exactly did a famous samba and bossa nova musician want with you? I don't I caught any hints he gave you just now when I arrived..." Linda asked curiously, a little embarrassed that she wasn't able to pick up on anything Marquis said to Dylan whatsoever. The young man took his tattooed arm as started to rub the back of his neck as he contemplated an answer.

"Well I think I'm going to to tell you later. When Tulio comes back from work." Dylan responded with a slight smile.

"Hm okay then. I guess since that there is no moving today that I should go back to the bookstore and open up again for the rest of the day then." Linda said as she walked back towards her vehicle.

"Okay then. I better go anyways, I have to meet up with Marquis in about an hour or two. I'll meet up with you later Linda." Dylan replied as he enter his own vehicle as well. Linda smiled and nodded. "Take care in the meantime.

"Will do." with the goodbyes said, the two left the driveway of Nick's house and went their own separate directions.

"I feel like that name is similar. I'd check near the Sugarloaf mountains perhaps, I think a Wyatt lives there. However, your description of him is weird. I don't think I've ever seen a military macaw with red feather tips on their wings. I mean its already strange enough to see that your red feathers atop your head extend to a point on your neck. its just a rare thing you know? Eu sou desculpe amigo. Espero que você encontre seu irmão." A young female scarlet macaw informed to Brann. His shoulders sulked a little but he kept his head held high.

"Bem, obrigado de qualquer maneira. Você tem um bom dia." Brann exhaled solemnly as he flew towards the Sugarloaf mountains. He finally got a good lead to find his brother. Brann was starting to get excited. After a thirty minute flight to his destination, he spent the next hour and a half talking to random birds, asking if they knew anything about his brother Wyatt. He asked if a Wyatt lived around the area, hoping to finally get some positive feedback. Those hopes had to sink right back into the bottom of his heart because no bird in the vicinity knew an avian named Wyatt. Brann couldn't help but let out a sigh as he flew down to the ground and started to trot around. Whilst walking, he took out the iPod he had strapped to his chest and changed the song to something heavy to release some of his tension. He blasted the music and then put the headphones on, the result ended up with Brann growling and clenching his beak. With his beak still tightly clenched together, he marched along the dirt ground in search of some familiar, land-dwelling, acquaintances he knew in this area: Mauro and his band of Marmosets.

After a good day of stealing from the humans, the marmosets that participated in the thieving were held up in the jungle near the tourist hot spot which the cable cars dropped them off from. What were they doing exactly? Well they did nothing else but party! Marmosets with aviators, women's glasses, wristbands, bracelets, watches; you name it and it was probably on one of the tiny monkeys. The relatively large group of mammalian creatures were enjoying themselves with dances and random electronics when the familiar angry military macaw stomped in. The leader of the marmosets, Mauro, approached Brann the moment the group laid eyes on him.

"Oh hi there. I didn't expect to see your face around here again Brann." Mauro scowled as he kept inching towards the bird. Although Mauro had many followers, nearly all the marmosets froze in position, the only ones that moved paced themselves farther back.

Brann started to snicker with a slight lopsided smirk. He then narrowed his eyes and loomed over the smaller animal. Brann then opened his beak to speak mockingly: "Nice to see you little ape sh-"

"What do you want parrot?" Mauro cut off in a serious tone. He did not bat his eyes once, but stared up into the macaw's own glare as straight-faced as possible. Mauro called out Brann little charade and the two animals in deadlock just eased up on their tensions. "We are not going to do any more of you or that stupid white bird's favors anymore. You or him can give us 'flying lessons' I don't care anymore."

"There is no way to instill fear in you guys any more. Damn. You guys are getting tough." Brann chuckled in a trailing progression. "But no that is not why I am here. We do not need your help anymore. Our plan for me to lead the blue birds to the fruit market for you guys to launch a surprise attack worked out, but everyone escaped during their flight. Nigel has had enough of this. He...well I guess...hired someone else to do this dirty work." Brann informed, pursing his beak a little bit after each sentence.

"Wait you mean Nigel fired you?" Mauro teased as he let out an obnoxious laugh. Brann rolled his eyes.

"No. I still work for him." Brann gulped when he tried to form the word 'work.'

"I see. I assume the price is rising on those blue macaws right? They are pretty darn elusive. Humans gotta be paying in some sweet amounts of gold stuff." Mauro daydreamed while widening his eyes. He made a little bit of drool form out of his open mouth at the sheer thought of all the gold objects that he could own. He then shook free of his trance. "Well anyways, you said this smuggling businesses was not why you came here for, correct?"

"Yes. I came here to see if my brother Wyatt has been seen around here at all. He looks just like me except without the red head feathers running down to his neck like me. Instead he has red feather tips on his wings instead of blue." Brann admitted monotonously, trying his best not to reveal a frown. His first response was a bunch of laughter from the marmosets.

"Brann, you must be one failure. I mean you captured the macaws then they got away. And now you can't find your brother. What do you need to find him so he can kiss your boo-boo from Nigel?" Mauro teased as he pointed and laughted even more at the already angered bird. Brann grit his beak and clenched his claw containing the iPod, but still managed to keep cool.

"So what if I do huh? I just want a damn answer!" Then Brann pondered on what Mauro said. "Wait, um how did you know that me and Nigel fought?"

"Word travels fast." Mauro replied contently, "We heard everything pretty much. Nigel's owner got beat up, Nigel hired some American eagle to do the job and blah blah blah whatever else happened. The only thing we didn't hear about was if you were still associated with all this. But anyways enough stalling about your brother. I'll put it bluntly: No we have not seen anyone that looks like that anyway in the Sugarloaf area."

"Thank you. You could've told me that originally..." Brann trailed off again, this time his solid, sturdy expression faded into a mix of anger and hopelessness. He quickly turned away from the monkeys and switched songs on his iPod before lifting himself up in the air.

"Oh yeah by the way 'Green,' nice headphones." Mauro mocked one last time, and a sarcastic emphasis on his voice, "If you want better stuff, maybe we should give to you. You seem to have a hard time getting good things anyways." Brann shook his head and sighed. He disregarded the comment entirely and took towards the sky.

At the Copacabana

Dylan pulled his car up into an empty parallel parking spot near the shore of the beach. He was not a minute late, in fact, he was rather early. Dylan stared into the distance and saw a choreographer directing all the dancers that were both on and off a stationary wooden stage, meant to represent a float. In front of these dancers were a bunch of marching drummers, playing a drum line. Interestingly enough, the beach was empty, not a single person other than the performers were out on the sands. As Dylan stepped out of the car, Marquis jumped out and scared Dylan with a loud welcoming. After regaining composure, Dylan shook Marquis's hand and surprisingly enough, the samba musician handed him a small packet of music.

"This is the solo that you gotta learn. I'll let you sit down with it and read over it for about an hour. Then maybe you'll be able to jump on that stage thing over there and practice with us. Oh and one last note, it is a solo, so you can change up things and be as creative as you'd like, just try to stay in the boundaries of this style of music here though." Marquis noted in a very professional tone, jabbing his index finger into the packet which was in Dylan's hands. With a nod, Dylan went off with the famous musician to the performers and while Marquis went to huddle up with everyone, Dylan sat down on the stage and studied the sheet music very intently. After an hour or so of listening and watching the performers run through their routine, Dylan decided to try out the solo for the first time. Marquis gulped and crossed his fingers, praying to God that he had found the right person.

The song started and the performers started their routine without the guidance of the choreographer. Marquis stood on the side of the stage tuning both an acoustic and electric guitar while taking quick glances at the practice to see how everyone was coping. So far so good. Dylan played his drum part like it had said in the packet, mimicking the marching drummers part. He did so flawlessly, but then it got to the solo part. Marquis put down the guitar and shifted his gaze to Dylan as he started his solo. After a few powerful stomps and hits on the floor tom and bass drum provided, Dylan started to let his wrists go to work. He played one quick double triplet fill across the whole drum rack then started a standard samba beat. A minute had passed and the beat started to pick up tempo faster and faster until eventually everyone else just stopped except for Dylan, who then broke off into a flare of fast rolls and mixed in ride bell, hi-hat, china, and crash hits for extra crunch and skill. All this while maintain a constant beat on the bass drum and still pertaining to the fast samba style. Then he lessened the flare and died back down to a constant hi-hat pedal, bass pattern, and ride and floor tom hits. Then the marching drummers went back into the song, helping accent each snare hit by hitting the each same time Dylan hit his snare. This Dylan brought back up the complexity and played the solo to match again, note-for-note, what was written on his sheet music. Then he stopped his solo and everyone turned around and started cheering and clapping.

Marquis hopped onto the stage and bro-hugged Dylan. "That was intense! And I see you took my advice and added a little rockish-style to the beginning! Very nice. I liked all of it, your stuff, the samba stuff, it was brilliant! I can't even believe you picked this hard solo within the first hour of reading and playing it! I knew I saw true talent in you Dylan!" Marquis exclaimed in a hyper fashion. He then turned around to all the other performers and planners. "Amazing job today guys! Everyone is dismissed. We'll meet here tomorrow!" Dylan wondered why Marquis chose to have practice on the beach but decided that he wouldn't bring it up.

Dylan decided to help pack up some of the instruments with Marquis. The two chatted for a little bit and got to know each other a little better. Before getting to the drum equipment, Dylan sat back down on the throne and asked Marquis: "So I hear you are a good guitar player. Mind if I hear?"

With a nod, Marquis took out his electric guitar and just played it acoustically. He played a bossa nova rhythm that was a little complex, but still was a little simple. After the little solo, Marquis looked up at Dylan.

"You know, I've noticed you have a big rock and metal style to your drums. With that being said, I want to tell you something." Marquis started as he stared down at the fretboard of his guitar and randomly picked strings, "I may be a samba musician, but as a child, I've always listened to rock and metal music. To be honest, that is where my heart resides. I love playing metal and samba. Samba is more for my homeland here and metal is more for fun..."

"I thought Brazil's second favorite genre of music was rock and metal." Dylan said quizzically.

"That's actually true. We Brazilians are actually big with metal groups believe it or not. Metallica, Iron Maiden, all that good stuff." With that response, Dylan gave back an approving head nod and a evil-like grin.

"Hell yeah! You actually listen to awesome music. Do you know anything good?" Dylan asked. Without a word, Marquis walked up to the last amp and mixer that was sitting in the corner of the stage and plugged the guitar into the amp. He adjusted a few dials on the guitar and amp and started to shred a solo that struck Dylan's memory.

"That's The Prince beginning solo! Play up to Kirk Hammett's speed!" He shouted, obviously impressed. Marquis nodded and smiled.

"Oh yeah. And Lemme play my favorite riff too." Marquis then played the fast and iconic riff of Holy Wars. Dylan's jaw dropped, but then he immediately snapped out of his amazement and started to play with the guitarist. The two were headbanging and enjoying themselves. Dylan looked up and saw Marquis singing, but could see his lips move, due to the lack of a microphone. He could faintly hear his voice when the song got to the slower part. Eventually it came back up to the original tempo and kicked off with a few pinch harmonics then straight into a blazing fast solo. With only strumming techniques, Dylan listened and watched as both of Marquis's hands and fingers went at an incredibly fast speed. Due to sheer amazement, Dylan stopped in the middle of the solo. After the solo Marquis turned around to Dylan.

"Why did you stop?" He asked confused.

"'Cause that was badass!" Dylan cheered as he stood from the drum throne.

"Why thanks. You were great too. I guess we make a good team." Marquis chuckled.

"Yeah. I miss playing music like that with my old band." Dylan said in a trance of reminiscence.

"Oh you played in a band?" Marquis asked intrigued.

"Yeah, one with two high school friends. We played together for like...well..forever, but college plans and such got in the way. We were actually known in our community, but we never hit it off. Anyways, you would've fit in really well Marquis." Dylan explained briefly. Marquis nodded as the two went back to packing up the remaining equipment. The Brazilian musician suddenly got deep into thought about what Dylan had just told him. After about another thirty minutes, the two finished packing everyting up and the two said their goodbyes and Dylan promised to meet back at the exact same place the following day.

After leaving the beach, Dylan couldn't help but call his old pals in California to tell them the news. He tried to keep his excitement contain because he didn't want to crash the car on the way to Linda's house.

Unfortunately, not everyone was feeling really upbeat today...

A.N: Hello readers! How's it been! Thanks for reading and I hope you guys are still not mad at me for my last late update. It was uncalled for but the past months were truly hard on me. Lots of work. Anyways, this time I update MUCH MUCH sooner haha than last time. Moving on to the story, I think it was time to give Dylan a spotlight for once ;) He deserves it. If anyone wants to see what I kinda was think for the samba part of his solo you can take a look at these two videos: (.com/watch?v=uqjgkWT4iQk) and (.com/watch?v=Gzz1rrYuVos&feature=related) except with more fills and less breaks. But anyways as usual, tell me what you thought in a review, and if you see any mistakes, please notify me, so I can fix them. I was writing this chapter really late so yeah XD. But yeah thanks for reading!

~BrokenMechanix out