“Oh hey Just.” Chris said as he wiped away a tear from his eye.
“Hey.” Was all he responded as the two just stood in the room silent.
“CIDS, locate Justin and Chris please.”
“Justin Timberlake, and Christopher Kirkpatrick are in the music studio. Would you like me to summon them?”
Josh stopped and looked up the stairs. “No, I will go get them.”
Josh started up the stairs, followed by Lance and Joey. They found their way to the door, that was once sealed for years now open with the distinctive burn of a lighting shock. Josh pushed the door open and looked down the hall where he heard the sound of music playing. A small breeze filled the hall and he started down it. Lance and Joey felt the breeze and knew what it meant, Josh was angry and Chris and Justin where about to see it.
As he walked his fast pace down the hall he could hear some laughing coming form the studio. As it slowed he could hear Chris and Justin talking lightly then laughing.
“Let’s see if this board still works.” Justin said as he walked over to it.
He pushed a couple of buttons and the board lit up. Josh stood in the door and watched as Justin went into the control booth and put on the headphones.
“Can you hear me Chris?” Justin said into the mic.
“Perfectly. Can you hear me?” Chris said into the intercom
“Yup.”
“Lets do a systems check really quick.”
“Don’t bother!” Josh said making his appearance known. “Get out of there Just, and get away from the board Chris!”
“But . . .” they both said at the same time.
“NOW!” Josh said, the breeze now sprouting in the studio. Chris got up from the chair he was sitting in, and Justin came back into the control room. “What did you think you were doing?”
“We were just . . .” Justin began.
“What made you think you had the right?”
“Whoa . . . wait just a minute!” Chris said, “What’s the big deal? So what, we were gonna use the equipment?”
“Yeah, I mean, why even have it if you weren’t gonna use it?” Justin seconded as Lance looked at him and mouthed,
“No!”
“No, I wanna know! What’s the big deal?”
“Josh, I think General Everton is calling you.” Lance said.
“This isn’t over! I’ll be back!” Josh said turning around and walking out of the room, leaving the four of them still inside.
“Damn it Justin! Why couldn’t you just leave it alone? Why couldn’t you drop it?” Lance said angrily.
“What the hell, I DON’T see what the big deal is about!”
“Look, this room has been locked up ever since you went in to hiding. Ever since then, Josh has given up on singing. He doesn’t write anymore, he doesn’t produce any projects, nothing. The only thing he even still has to do with music is the business work he does for Jive.”
“But why?” Joey asked.
“He’s just been so involved with slaying and fighting the good fight, he’s forgotten about his true loves.”
“What do you mean loves?” Justin asked.
“Nothing, never mind, let’s just get out of here before he gets back!”
Lance led them back into the main hallway and they were just on their way downstairs when they ran into Josh again.
“Where’re you goin?” Josh asked.
“Um, nowhere, we were just headed back downstairs.” Lance said.
“Well, I have to go out with the General. I should be back in about an hour or so.”
“Ok, we’ll be here.”
“Keep an eye on our ‘guests’.”
“Will do.”
“Later.”
“Bye.”
After Josh left, they guys split up and went various places amongst the house. Justin ran into Lance in the atrium, watering some of the plants.
“Lance?” Justin said trying to get his attention.
“Oh, hey Just! Didn’t see you there!”
“Can we talk for a minute?”
“Sure, what’s up?” Lance said putting a notebook down that he had been writing in.
“What’s going on between you and Josh?”
“What do you mean?”
“You know what I mean.”
“No . . .”
“Before, you said that he’d forgotten about his true loves.”
“So . . . he’s stopped doing music, that’s all.”
“You’re lying.”
“No . . .”
“Come on Lance, you know I could always tell when you were lying. What’s goin on?”
“Nothin Justin, look, you should just stay out of it.”
“Damn it Lance! Just talk to me!”
Lance pounded his hands onto one of the counters and said,
“Fine! You wanna know the truth?! The truth IS that Josh and I haven’t been the same for a long time!”
“What? Why?”
“Look, I really DON’T wanna talk about this!”
“LANCE!”
“Justin . . . trust me, you’re better off just letting me go back to what I was doing!”
“I’m not going anywhere!”
Lance let out a frustrated sigh and suddenly yelled,
“IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT OK?!?”
“What? What do you mean?”
“You’re the reason why me and him are not the same!”
“I . . . I don’t get it!”
“Ever since you left, Josh has shut himself off! He stopped showing affection to everybody! He drowned himself in his work, both slaying and business wise! He stopped working on his music cause it always seemed to remind him of you! Since he didn’t have an outlet to let out his frustration and pain, he took it out on me! We started arguing, that’s when his new powers started to kick in! He has mood swings, if he holds in his anger too much, he snaps. I’ve had to stop him from going AWALL on more than one occasion! Yah see . . . you left and I had to deal with the backlash! That’s why I’ve been pissed at you this whole time you’ve been here, and just when I’m starting to get over it, you wanna bring it back up again!”
“I . . . I’m sorry . . . I . . . I didn’t know . . .”
“Well now you do, happy?”
“I . . . I’m sorry Lance . . .”
“Well it’s not like I can forgive you, but I’m willing to put it in the past and concentrate on the present. I’m just glad to have you back, and if it helps Josh, then even better.”
“You must really love him to put up with all that.”
“More than my life itself!”
Justin pulled Lance into a hug and they stood there for a second. Neither of them was aware of the fact that Josh was standing outside the doorway to the atrium the entire time and heard every bit of their conversation. His eyes had begun to tear as he never knew that Lance felt that way, or that he had been doing that. It was at that point, he decided to make it up to his boyfriend. He knew exactly what to do and when to do it.
Dominic was in his room licking his wounds; he felt highly embarrassed about the fight that had went down earlier. He didn’t know how Josh had done that, but he knew it hurt and that these guys meant business. Vanessa walked into Dom’s room and saw him lying in his bed.
“You ok?” She asked entering the room.
“Fine.” He said, his pride obviously more bruised than his body.
“Do you still think we can protect ourselves?”
“Yes.”
“Well, let me just share something with you that Josh showed me. Apparently, last night this place was attacked by like hundreds of vampires. I saw the fight recorded on computer. As much as I’d hate to admit it myself, we really aren’t any mach for these people that are after us. We . . . We need them.”
After leaving the atrium, Justin went upstairs to find Buffy waiting on his bed.
“Um . . . Can I help you?”
“I talked to your brother a little while ago.” Buffy said standing up.
“You didn’t tell him did you!?!”
“Um . . . no, not exactly.”
“What do you mean ‘not exactly’?!”
“Well, I just asked him about you . . . I didn’t tell him you were still alive . . . But . . . I kinda asked what if you were, and what would he do . . .”
“Shit! Why’d you have to go and do that for?!”
“Well, I was just curious.”
“What did he say about me?”
“Well, he just mentioned how much he used to look up to you . . . He said that he sometimes has dreams that you’re still alive and you come back to him. He misses you Justin.”
“What did he say he would do if I were still alive?”
“He would . . .” she said starting to cry, “He would hug you and never let go.” Justin started to tear, “You have to tell him! Even if you don’t tell your parents, you have to tell him!”
“I . . . I can’t . . .”
“But . . . but . . . you said you were!”
“I never said that!”
“But . . . But I thought . . .”
“Well you thought wrong!”
“I mean . . . he would understand! He loves you! All he wants is his big brother back!”
“I think you should leave now!”
“Justin!”
“Go!”
“But . . .”
“I SAID LEAVE!” Justin said as lightning filled his eyes and he shot a bolt towards her feet.
“Fine!” Buffy said storming out of the room, “But if you don’t tell him soon, I WILL!” She said slamming the door.
After she left, Justin fell to the floor, finally letting his tears escape. He was doing something he hadn’t done in a long time, crying about his past. He had tried so hard to forget about it and push it in the back of his mind, and just when he thought he had succeeded, it all came crashing back down on him. He always knew he would have to face everyone, he knew he couldn’t stay in hiding forever, and he knew that he would eventually have to come back to reality, but as powerful as he was, he wasn’t strong enough to handle it all. As he sat there on the floor, crying, becoming human again, he was trying to think about what he was going to do.
“Lance? Babe? Can I talk to you for a second?” Josh said walking into the library.
“Sure, what’s up?” Lance asked closing a book he was reading.
“Whatcha readin?”
“Just looking to see if I can find anything on that vampire god we couldn’t ID yesterday.”
“Anything come up?”
“Nope, not yet. Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?”
“No . . .”
“What’s wrong?”
“I want to apologize . . .”
“For what?”
“Well . . . come with me . . . I have to show you something.” He took Lance by the hand and led him to the atrium. In the fountain were tons of rose pedals of all colors, floating around. On the ledge of the fountain was a bottle of champagne and two empty glasses.
“What’s all this?” Lance asked surprised at the sight before him.
“Sit down.”
“Ok . . .”
As Lance took a seat on the ledge of the fountain, Josh sat beside him and said,
“I know . . . for awhile now . . . I haven’t been the best of boyfriends. I know at times, I’ve neglected you and taken your presence for granted. And after all these years of being together, that we’re only still just boyfriends. Well, starting now, this will all change. What I’m trying to ask you is . . . maybe, after all this is done . . .” He reached into his inside pocket and pulled out a box, then got down on one knee and said, “Lance? Will you marry me?”
“Oh my god! Josh! I . . . I don’t know what to say!”
“Say yes!”
“Of course YES!!”
“I love you!”
“I love you!”
Josh got up and kissed Lance. They stood there for a second holding each other in a tight embrace.
“Let’s celebrate!” Josh said popping open the bottle of champagne.
Lance smiled and looked down at the gold ring still in the box, then lightly closed it. As he watched Josh pouring the champagne into a glass, he looked over his fiancé and couldn’t help but think of all the power that was held within Josh’s body. Enough strength to bust through a brick wall, and enough speed to appear only as a blur to the human eye, having to control it all the time. Lance started to feel sorry for him. He didn’t put that much thought into it, he just felt Josh had changed.
Josh looked up and saw the sorrow filled face on Lance, and almost felt his heart drop.
“Lance babe what’s wrong?” Josh asked afraid Lance was having second thoughts.
“Just thinking about you and, how I never realized what you have had to go through.”
Josh had no clue what Lance was talking about, so he dismissed it. He handed Lance the glass and held up his, as a smile came to Lance’s face.
“To true love.” Josh said.
Lance smiled and said.
“To my love.” Followed by a passionate kiss.
Vanessa was walking around the ground floor when she heard some grunting coming from the ballroom. She looked curiously around, walked over to the door and peeked in. She saw Justin flipping around, as graceful as a skater moving across the ice. It was almost as if he were dancing, his flips being almost too complex for any human to pull off. She watched in awe at this, ”dance” before her. Suddenly, his pattern began to change and his flips became more forceful, and kicks were now apart of the dance. He moved with greet speed, and his kicks were not humanly possible to pull off. The complexity of it all left Vanessa speechless. He came down from one of the flips, let out a loud yell, and landed in a fighting position. He stood up straight and relaxed his body and once again Vanessa watched with lust in her eyes.
Justin stood there and looked through the huge windows of the ballroom, when he felt someone’s presence. He turned and looked at Vanessa and smiled lightly at her.
“You can come in and talk to me. You don’t have to stand out there like an outcast.” Justin said.
“I am an outcast.” She simply said as she walked into the huge room.
“Nah, just misunderstood. Outcasts are people like, Joey and Chris. You know, only thing they’re good for is to make yah smile.” Justin said with his Southern/Russian accent, which Vanessa found extremely sexy.
She slowly walked over to him and looked at what he was looking at. She didn’t see anything but the stars, and grew confused.
“What are you looking at?” She asked somewhat amused.
“The stars . . . When you look at them, they kinda make you think of where you rank in the whole scheme of things.” Justin said as he looked down at her with a smile.
His thoughts began to wander. He looked over her body, hidden in under the black clothes, and couldn’t help but think to himself that she would be so beautiful if she didn’t dress so dark. He looked back up at the windows and started to walk away, instinctively Vanessa followed but was unsure as to how to talk to him. She had never liked many boys. She always seemed to herself, but there was something about Justin that pulled her to him. Like those stupid girls that flocked to all the Aaron Carter concerts. How they would always get giddy, and scream and jump around like idiots. Never in her life had she felt like doing that, except for now and only with Justin. She normally dressed in dark or black clothes, and she wasn’t very talkative unless she had to be. Now, she felt like talking even when she didn’t have anything to say.
“So, how old are you Love?” Justin said with a slightly more Russian sound audible, but still faint.
“22.”
“I wouldn’t have guessed more than 17.” He said as he turned and looked her over.
She blushed and smiled at him.
“Intruder alert in the main lobby.” CIDS Voice rang though the all the rooms except for the ground floor where the intruder was located. “Intruder is now moving to the ballroom where Mr. Timberlake and Vanessa are located.”
Josh and Lance both looked at each other and quickly got up and started running out of the room. They met Joey, Chris, Buffy and Sonia, running in the same direction.
“You two stay here!” Josh commanded as he pointed to Buffy, they complied as the rest of the Dream Masters met with them.
“Justin. We have company.” Josh told him telepathically.
Justin quickly looked over Vanessa’s shoulder and saw a figure dressed in black enter the room with a gun pointed at Justin. He quickly grabbed Vanessa and they both fell to the ground as the bullet hit the other side of the wall. Another couple of seconds and they both would have been dead.
Justin quickly stood up and the figure started shooting at him again. He back flipped across the room missing all the bullets. When he heard the chamber of the gun click, he stopped and looked at the figure.
“Jesus, girl. You don’t know when to quit do you?” He said angrily.
The figure took off the mask and the female assassin stood there and looked at him.
“Not when there is something I want.” She said commandingly.
Justin smirked and said.
“Take a number babe. There are women all across the world that want a piece of good old Justin Timberlake.”
She looked at him and then quickly put a clip into the gun, rolled and started shooting at him. He rolled trying to miss the bullets and pulled out the gun that he had behind his back and started shooting back. When both the clips in the guns were out they were almost side-by-side, he smiled and said,
“Now do you really want to try and kill me by hand?”
Her foot went flying up to his face and he flipped back flying 15 feet up in the air with a single flip, landing almost 20 feet from her.
She looked shocked as he landed, and lighting bolts charged at his fingers and filled his eyes.
“What are you?” She said shocked.
“Someone you don’t want to fuck with.”
Just then the rest of the guys ran in and saw Justin standing with his lighting filled hands, and the assassin standing there looking at them in fear, shock and confusion. As she turned back to Justin, lighting shot from his hands and hit her in the chest sending her clear to the other side of the room, where she hit the wall. Josh and the rest looked at him and walked over.
“Did you have to kill her?” Lance asked with a slight hint of anger.
“She was trying to kill me, and I just figured that it would be me or her. So I picked her. Hopefully that will send shock waves to whoever sent her after me.”
Suddenly Joey and Lance got lifted up into the air and thrown across the room. Chris, Josh, and Justin turned to see a 10foot tall demon standing in front of them.
It backhanded Josh sending him sliding next to the door. The doors opened and in came the rest of the Dream Masters lead by Dominic. Josh got up, grabbed his ribs, and looked at the demon. It knocked out Chris and had Justin by the neck. It’s massive wings were stretched out, it had blue skin covering it’s almost naked body, which appeared to look female, she stood on two hooves, and her claws were nearly six inches long. Justin was nearly ready to pass out, but Chris charged the beast and knocked her to the ground making her release Justin. Chris quickly teleported to the other side. The thing slowly got up, and Lance pulled out his sword and held it out in front of him. The demon began to look at the three of them. Joey turned himself into a Gargoyle, to increase his strength, Chris pulled out three throwing knives, of the ones that were given to him, and Lance had his sword. The beast looked to the door, where Josh was standing, his eyes lightly glowing blue as a red energy filled his hand. Justin was up now, and the blue energy of his lighting filled his hands. The demon’s eyes flashed a bright red when she looked at Justin. She took a step towards him, and then suddenly fell to the ground, as the sounds of footsteps were heard and stopped next to Joey. Suddenly, Beryl made himself visible and looked at the demon. She was now out numbered, and out-strengthen, which she saw. Her wings started to flap, and they lifted her up into the air. Everyone in the room watched with amazement as this huge she-demon started to fly around. She flew towards the huge windows and crashed through them. Josh quickly ran and jumped towards the window, and flew into the air after her. A light humming sound followed as he flew and chased her through the air. He saw the stables and knew that he was near the ends of his flying abilities. So he sped up and tackled it in midair, and they both went plummeting to the ground. They rolled around in the snow, and Josh managed to pin the massive beast down on the ground. With a heavy struggle he held her and said,
“So, how’d you get passed the security huh?”
He was talking to it as if it were a child. Most of the demons Josh had came across in his time had proven to be powerful allies, but most of the time they’d engage him in a battle before he could have a chance to “Teach them” how to behave and act.
“Let go of me you pig!” The demon’s deep voice boomed into Josh’s face.
Taken a bit by the fact that it knew how to speak shocked him. He didn’t suspect that it had been taught. Then it hit him; the assassin was the demon. That is how it got passed security.
Suddenly Chris appeared along with the guys. Beryl waved his hand in the air, and two blue chains wrapped around the demon. Josh looked down and then looked back at the house, where he could see 6 figures looking out at them, the Dream Masters.
“Bring her to Attica. Keep her chained up.” Josh said as he started to walk for the house.
“Josh, you have got to be kidding me.” Lance said with shock.
“Nope.” Josh said with a smile and walked back to the house.
“The Dream Masters weren’t there.” Chaos sad calmly.
“You and Cassandra had them! You could have rid us of the Chosen Ones! Fuck the Chosen Ones! You could have rid the world of Josh Chasez! But you decided to let him live!” Damouse walked around the table and sat at the front.
“You don’t have to worry about them Damouse. They should have the Dream Masters in their house by now. Another attack of that size will destroy all of them. Then the world will be yours for the taking.” Chaos said calmly.
“I gave you 200 of my best troops, and you come back with 87!” Damouse said angrily. He stood up and walked to a window that overlooked the city of Houston. “No, we will handle them a different way. Wouldn’t you agree Doctor Wilkes?”
The Doctor walked out and had an evil smile on his face. His hair now longer, and his face younger by twenty years, said,
“Oh, I do so agree. I know the Dream Masters’ weaknesses. The Slayers are your matter, but leave the children to me.”
Chaos held no expression on his face, and he didn’t seem to care one way or the other. All he wanted was the honor of killing the most powerful Slayer ever, and maybe take a trophy along with it. He could care less about Damouse’s plan to take over the world. He found it old fashion and dull. The humans were their food, and by right, should be their slaves. Not for ruling, but for feeding and working. Leaving no room for compassion, only fun.
“So, what do you plan Doctor?” Damouse asked as he sat at the table and folded his fingers.
“Oh the simple fact that, they trust me should do well. The only one to worry about is Leo. He doesn’t respect authority.”
“Then kill him. Just get me Dominic and Vanessa. The
others do with as you please.” Damouse said commandingly.