Last Time . . .

“You saw something after that that you weren’t supposed to see, so the fates booted you out of my mind.” Justin said, his old Southern wannabe thug accent returning.

“He just sounded like the old Justin!” Josh said telepathically to Lance.

“Is that good or bad?” Lance responded.

“Well, whatever he saw, we’re just glad he’s back!” Joey said, bringing the attention back onto Beryl.

”Yeah, Joe’s right, now that we’ve had a long night, let’s get some rest!” Josh said. “Cause we have an even longer day ahead of us tomorrow!”

”Yeah, we gotta start preparing for our journey.” Lance said.

This Time . . .

"Yeah babe? What's wrong?" Josh answered back.

"I thought you left. I don't know why."

"One of those strange feelings you get? I get those all the time. I still say all this shit comes with the territory. I'm cooking breakfast want some?"

Lance got out of bed, and walked out into the hall.

"You cooking? I thought they told you never to cook again."

"So. It's not like I don't know how to cook. I did make those really good chicken sandwiches that one time remember? When you still weren't feeling good."

"Yeah, but I thought you put those in a Microwave?"

"I did, but it still counts."

Lance was now walking into the lobby, and he could see the swinging doors were moving. He walked into the kitchen and the smell it always had most of the time, filled his nose. As he looked around the kitchen, he saw that Josh was on the phone.

"I thought you said you were making breakfast?" Lance said with a smile.

Josh looked up, then over at the counter and an apple slowly flew across the room. Lance slowly reached out and grabbed it, then looked at Josh and winked. Lance started to back away from him. Something wasn't right. What was it? He seemed different, not himself, and when did he get telekinesis?

Josh looked up at Lance and frowned. He quickly hung up the phone and said,

"Lance, what's wrong?"

"Stay away from me Josh!" Lance said loudly.

The apple was now nothing but a pile of mush laying on the kitchen floor.

"Babe, stop you’re scaring me!" Josh said as he took a step towards Lance.

"HELP ME!" Lance cried out telepathically to all the slayers in the house, and in an instant they were all running to the kitchen.

"What's wrong?" Josh said again, his eyes watering with tears. He hadn't seen Lance this scared since he almost killed him.

After that all the guys ran into the kitchen.

"What's going on!?" Justin asked as he saw the two at opposite sides of the room.

"Keep him away from me!" Lance yelled as he pointed to Josh. Then he looked at the rest of them. He saw it to, something wasn't right with them.

"Lance, why don't we . . ." But Chris was cut short.

"Stay the fuck away from me! All of you!"

“They want to kill you Lance.” A voice said inside Lance’s head that wasn’t his own.

"You want to kill me, Josh?" Lance asked as a tear fell down his cheek.

"Kill you?! No! Babe, I would never hurt you, ever."

“Kill them before they kill you Lance.” The voice said.

Lance quickly reached over, and grabbed a knife and threw it at Josh. He caught it, and looked at Lance shocked. Then he threw them at the rest of the guys. They all got out of the way and Lance ran from the kitchen into the den where he grabbed his sword. Josh was the first one in the den, looking at Lance who held his sword in a fighting position.

"Lance, put the sword down." Josh said holding out his hand.

Lance charged at him, cutting one of the chairs in half as Josh moved out of the way. He quickly hit Lance’s hand hard, making him drop the sword, then held him back.

"Lance listen to my voice . . . I'm not going to hurt you. Just calm down."

Lance began to cry hard, he grabbed at Josh’s shirt like he was trying to get away until finally he collapsed and began to sob into Josh’s bicep.

"Justin, go get the Dream Masters. I think this has something to do with them."

Justin nodded and ran out of the room.

Josh was rubbing Lance's head, memories from an incident where Josh almost killed Lance started to flood his mind. His hands began to tremble so bad that he couldn't keep them under control. As much as he tried he couldn't help but start crying, and kept repeating,

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Over and over again, rubbing the bruise that was on Lance's arm from where he hit him.

Beryl, Joey, and Chris couldn’t do anything but just sit and watch. Tears in their eyes, not for Lance, but for Josh, they’d never seen him in pain like that, ever.

            Fifteen minutes later, Lance and Josh were in the den lying on the floor, not saying a word to each other. Each wanted to say something, but neither could bring themselves to do it. Meanwhile, in the living room, The Dream Masters were talking to Justin, whom, at that point was appointed leader until Josh returned. With both Josh, and Lance mentally instable, their judgment couldn’t be trusted.

"So, explain to me what just happened?" Justin said, as he sat on the couch next to Dominic.

"My father is . . . was excellent at getting people to do what he wanted by entering their dreams, and brainwashing them in their sleep. Setting one thing off to trigger any number of emotions and cause hallucinations. If this is what happened, then Lance is still in danger of attacking someone again."

"How do we stop it?" Joey asked.

"We go on watch," Vanessa said, "You've protected us, now it's our turn to protect you." She said as she stood, and looked at the other members. They agreed with a nod.

"Vanessa will take first watch. She is the most powerful out of all of us. And, knowing my father, he is going to attack Lance while he is weak. She will have the best chance of fending him off. Sonia, and Leo, will be her backup. If she needs help, you guys get in there. Sean, Buffy, and I will take second watch." Dom said, holding out his hand to each one of them.

"We can't let you do that. If what you say is true, then you can die just as easily in your mind as you can out here." Chris said.

"Yes, but in our dreams we can have powers just like you do. Greater powers." Vanessa said as they walked out of the room and into their bedrooms to fall asleep.

Vanessa strolled into the now sleeping Lance's head and waited for the Doc to strike again. His dreams were scattered, and blocked and she couldn't look into all of them. But the ones she could see were of happiness mostly. Every once in a while turning into a nightmare, but for some reason, someone would always be there watching over him, like a Guardian Angel. She couldn't tell who it was, but every time it would save him, and every time he didn't see it. So, she sat in the dark corners of Lance's mind, seeing his dreams, and watching them. They were like funny movies, and horror films all at the same time, a dark comedy perhaps. Always filled with Vampires, and people that he had around him, then for an instant he would stop dreaming all together. She had never known such peace in her life. It was a complete calm, suddenly, the eye of the storm had passed and everything started back up again, softer this time and more pleasant. Josh was in all of them now and Lance was happy in his dreams; like a love story.

            That's when she felt it, that's when he entered his mind. When he was at his calmest. Vanessa, looked around the dreams, trying to find Doc, and she did. In one of the dreams that Lance hadn't seen, in one of the dreams he wouldn't see till it started. She ran from dream to dream like running through a movie studio, she knew Lance was watching her and she could tell he knew what was going on. She ran into the dream where the Doctor, was, and he looked up at her and smiled.

"Vanessa, I thought you didn't like invading peoples minds." He said with a more than happy tone.

"I make some exceptions. Now, get out of his head."

The Doctor, looked around, and the dream changed, it was an open field, one like where a Roman battle would have taken place.

"And if I don't?" He said walking down a small path.

"Then I will kick you out." She said.

He laughed.

"You don't have the training. You can't control his dreams as well as I can."

Vanessa started to walk and her clothes changed into a black cat suite.

"No, but he is watching us Doc, and I'm pretty sure he knows what's going on."

"You’re getting cocky my dear."

"Always have been, always will be."

He sneered as a ring of fire erupted around them on the battlefield. Vanessa caught on and noticed that Doc had locked off part of Lance's mind so she couldn't get help. She looked around the circle quickly, and outside the fire she saw Leo, and Sonia appear. They ran towards the fire, but where thrown back. She looked back at the Doc, who pulled his hand back simulating a bow and arrow, as it appeared in his hand in a bright flash of light. Vanessa put up her hand, as the arrow flew at her, a wooden shield appeared and the arrow struck it. The Doc looked at her, and as she moved the shield, her eyes started to glow like lighting. She threw a hand forward and lighting flew across towards the Doc. He was hit, thrown back, but quickly jumped to his feet, outside the ring Sonia said,

"Yup, she is in love alright."

The Doc, held his hands high in the sky, and from the ground came two stone hands grabbing Vanessa and holding her tightly. She screamed in pain, she could feel her physical body getting crushed and she had to do something. She looked down at the hands and her eyes flashed causing the hands to fall to the ground in a pile of dust. She put her hand to her chest trying to get air. That's when she heard the loud thumping sound, and as she looked up, there was a huge dragon, that swung its head to look at her. She stood up quickly, staggering a little as she wiped the blood from her mouth, and soon the sound of metal clanking together was heard, as a suite of armor came up around her, with sword and shield. She looked at the Doc, and her eyes, widened, as fire shot from his mouth.

"Oh shit!" she yelled as she slammed down the visor to the helmet, and put the shield in front of her. The fire roared around her, and she started cursing to herself. Once the fire stopped she stood up and looked at the dragon. He picked her up with his claw and started to crush her, the armor began to buckle and suddenly, it stopped. The dragon looked surprised. All of a sudden, spikes flew from the armor ripping into to his hands. Letting her fall free to the ground. The armor retracted and she flew into the air, and from her hands snow began to fly, hitting the doc with ice. He cried out in pain, and turned back into his natural form. He opened his eyes just for a second, and he saw three spikes land next to his head. He looked up into the air smiling, and said,

"You've gotten much better. I'm proud of you."

She smiled, proud of herself, and said,

"Thanks Doc. But you do realize that I have to kill you now right?"

"Oh, I wouldn't have it any other way."

She clasped her hands together, and did something the Doc didn't expect. The fire circle fell away, and Sonia, and Leo charged in. The Doc looked around and then at Vanessa. He sneered then vanished.

Lance awoke quickly and sat up. He looked around the den then lay back down.

"Weird fucking dream."

TBC . . .