Last Time . . .

“I AM a Chosen One!” He yelled confidently. “I know now who I am, I can’t fight it nor change it, you won’t keep me back anymore!” He yelled defiantly at his corpse. Standing in front of the mirror like it was high noon, he focused on himself and the rest of the reflections stepped out of the mirror. They stepped forward and were all in a line. He took his eyes off of his corpse for a moment to witness all the reflections all slide together to form a glowing orb in front of him. He stared at the sphere, seeing each of his reflections and past lives as a Chosen One, he drew strength from his past and saw what his future held. As he looked up the one reflection that was holding him back, he stepped into the orb, and absorbed the strength of his lost power. Confidence returned, lightning filled his eyes, and he blasted the one mirror that stood in his way, as the rest of them were now filled with his new self. As the mirror shattered to pieces, he saw a stone door with a sundial in front of it. Stepping through the fallen mirror, he stood in front of the sundial. Somehow knowing what he had to do, he raised his hand in front of the dial, and emitted a beam of light onto the ancient clock. As the shadow went around the circle completely, the door unlocked and slid open. As he stepped through the threshold, there was Vanessa as promised, waiting for him.

“I knew you would win!” She said standing next to a pillar.

“Thank you!” He said grabbing her in an embrace.

This Time . . .

As Lance stood at the foot of the bridge, he looked ahead of him and could barely see the other side.

“Damn, this is a long ass bridge!” He thought to himself. “I’d better get moving then!” He said grabbing hold of the handles and starting forward. Stepping two feet away from the land, Lance looked down just as his foot went through a plank of the bridge. “Whoa!” He said jumping back to the land. “Good thing Chris isn’t doin this, otherwise he’d be freakin!” He said looking down from the cliff. “That is a long way down! How does a bridge this long stay up with only two ends holding it?” He thought, just as he looked out and saw a series of long pillars sustaining the bridge in a seemingly endless pattern. “Oh, well . . . that makes more sense! If I can just make it to that pillar before the rest of this bridge collapses, then I’ll be fine!” He said starting towards the bridge again.

            As he began the path towards his destiny, he stepped over the broken plank, breaking the next plank after. Stepping back, he lightly stepped over the gap and placed his foot on a plank three spots from the broken two. Moving quickly but lightly, he continued on without breaking another board. Reaching the center of the bridge between the land and the first pillar, he stopped to regain his balance. Swinging in the light wind of the canyon, Lance’s mind was brought back to the day *NSYNC broke up. The memories of the fighting after the fan conference, how they all brought up things that they didn’t mean, things that were from the past that didn’t matter. Just as he continued to think about that, the bridge started to shake. The winds started to get harsher, and he was having trouble moving forward. Looking back to the start of the bridge, he saw that the stakes in the ground holding the bridge up were starting to come loose.

“Oh shit!” He said as he turned back and ran for the first pillar. Running extremely fast and light on his feet, he was able to keep going over the planks that broke under his feet. Just as he was about two yards away from the pillar, he felt the bridge collapse behind him. Taking a flying leap, he hoped to grab hold of the pillar and avoid plummeting to his demise in the canyon. Just as luck would have it, he managed to grab hold of the edge of the pillar. Hanging off the side, he panted and thought how things would have been different if he had done something in the past to help them stay together. He had always felt it was his job to keep the peace among the group, even though he could be stubborn and pigheaded himself at times, for the most part, he was the one that kept everyone from tearing each other’s heads off. As he climbed up the pillar, using the hanging bridge as balance, he reached the top and turned to the now severed part of the canyon. Looking across the orange sky to the land where he started, an image of him crying on a bed appeared before him. He remembered it as later in that day that they broke up. He was crying because he feared it was the end, that he should’ve done something to keep it from happening. Just then, he saw Josh comfort his past self, and remembered what he told him.

“It’s not your fault sweetie” Josh’s voice ran through the cool air. “This was a long time coming, you know that just as much as I do. The fact that we even survived this long is a miracle. There’s nothing you could’ve done to stop this, it was just as much fate as us coming together. We all need some time apart, on our own to clear our heads. In the end it’ll make us a stronger team.”

“Even us?” He mouthed along with his reflection.

“Me and you; no. Us and them; yes.”

“We had been through a lot that year . . .” Lance thought to himself. “Lynn’s divorce, Justin’s solo-success, Josh’s album not doing as well as Justin’s, Chris’ wedding, Joey’s kid, our biggest tour ever. It was never the same after we got back for that last album . . . It’s a wonder how we made it that long!” He turned to the bridge now in front of him and thought, “But in the end, Josh was right . . . we have become even closer and stronger as friends and a team. I guess it really wasn’t my fault then.”

Hearing a strong, but light breeze, he turned back to the fallen bridge and saw that it was now restored. “Whoa!” He said as he turned and continued on his journey.

           Seeing a figure in the distance, he hurried across the second portion of the bridge to see who it was. Half way across, he froze, not knowing why; he stared off into the sky, an image of himself appearing before him. He recognized it as the year anniversary of Justin’s false death; he and Josh had flown to Orlando to visit his grave. He was hesitant to go, but ultimately, he could never say no to Josh. He stood back leaning on a tree as Josh laid a single white rose on his friend’s empty grave.

“Where are you J?” Josh said kneeling in front of the tombstone.

“That was the day that I started to grow hate in my heart for Justin.” He said to himself. “Justin, the one I connected with most at the beginning, the one that taught me a lot about the magic of music, and the beauty of friendship . . . As much hurt I felt, nothing could compare to the hurt that Josh was feeling, and for that . . . for that I started to hate Justin. For causing Josh so much pain and confusion, I hated one of my brothers.” He said as a tear came to his eye.

           Bringing his focus back to his present surrounding, he strained to see who was standing at the next pillar. Still not being able to move, he desperately tried to see who the mysterious person was. As he stood there immobile, the sky grew dark and cloudy, the wind starting to pick up, and thunder starting to sound. The sky now pitch black, lightning started to strike, lighting up the sky just enough for him to see who the person was.

“It’s me . . .” He said confused.

Still staring at his counterpart, lightning started to strike the parts of the bridge both in front and behind him. Mesmerized by the sight of himself, he paid no mind to the now falling bridge. Suddenly being able to move, but not acting surprised, Lance moved forward his instincts taking over for his better judgment. As the bridge still fell, he came to the last plank still standing. Not hesitating, he continued walking still not noticing the now fallen bridge. A big bolt of lightning striking brought him out of his trance, taking down the rest of the bridge along with all the pillars. He noticed he was now standing on thin air. Getting a little nervous, he saw his doppelganger still standing there suspended as well. Somehow easing his nerves, he felt a solid ground under his feet, even though he was suspended above the canyon. Starting forward, he hesitantly made his way to his double. As he neared, he could see that although it was him, he looked a little different.

“You’re me . . .” he said stopping in front of him.

“Sort of . . .”

“What do you mean sort of?”

“I am you, but I’m not . . .”

“Again . . . what do you mean sort of?”

“Well, it’s quite confusing, but let’s just say I’m an alternate reality version of you.”

“Ok . . . what’s confusing is that I understand.”

“I’m here to tell you that you are strong, and even though things may seem to end for you, they’ll be only just the beginning.”

“Huh?”

“You’ll understand what I mean when the time comes. Just know that I have already experienced what you are about to. And once you know what I’m talking about, remember what I’m telling you. Lives begin and end in a heartbeat, but it’s the ending of one that leads to a beginning of another. And although one has ended and another has begun, the past will always be with you, for it is never over . . . but instead of dwelling on it, you must learn from it, take the good from it, use the lessons that you gained and make them work for you in your present and in doing so, your future. You may think that the past doesn’t matter, and that you can’t change it, but that’s where you are wrong. Learning from your mistakes will prevent you from making them again, and looking back on the past that you’ve learned from will help all the other aspects of yourself in different realities. Even though they’re different realities, they are all connected and affect each other. I know you’re not going to understand what this all means right now, but you can apply it to the past that has been haunting you for all these years.” 

“Meaning Justin . . .”

“Yes.”

“Meaning that even though I can’t go back and stop Justin from leaving, I can look at what happened as a result and learn from it?”

“Yes.”

“But only bad things happened from it.”

“There’s still learning experiences from it.”

“How?”

“Look and you will know.”

“We all were worried about him, but after awhile, the worry and the pain weren’t as present. We all went on with our lives, and experienced the time we needed away from each other. All of our relationships weren’t the same, but we did what we had to do in order for us to grow and benefit from the time we spent apart, cause in the end, we all knew that we needed to be together. So the suffering that came as a result from Justin leaving and our breaking up is the same thing that brought us back together.”

“Told you.”

“So even though things are seemingly bad now, we’ve really had the best time we’ve had in years with each other in a span of a few days.”

“Precisely.”

“So Josh was right . . .” He said looking out at the now sunlit canyon.

“Yup.”

 As Lance looked back in front of him, he was now alone, and still floating on air. Still not fazed at the absence of ground, he stepped forward into a hazy, mirage like air in front of him and emerged through a stone archway located at what appeared to be the other side of the bridge, where Buffy was waiting for him.

“Congrats hon, I knew you could do it!” Buffy said kissing him on the cheek.

“Do what?” Lance said still hearing the words of his twin.

“Never you mind, let’s just go to the well.”

“Lead on!”

“Jump, she says, use your power, she says!” Chris pouted stepping further away from the edge of the pit. “Easy for her to say, she doesn’t have a phobia!” Sighing, he stepped back a little closer and looked down into the pit. “Something tells me I have to do this though. But how? It’s totally dark! I suppose I could just do it belly flop style, this way I can see what’s below me . . . but what if . . .” He questioned moving closer to the edge. “Fuck it!” He said jumping into the crater. Amazed at the lack of wind brushing against him, and the amount of light actually in the pit, he saw a ledge a little ways below him and teleported to it. “That was easy!” He panted, sitting up against the wall of the pit, wiping his brow. “Now only god knows how much more to go!”

“God has nothing to do with this one sweetie . . .” He heard a familiar female voice say.

“I know that voice . . .” He thought to himself.

“You better! After all I taught you!?”

“Kim?!” He said recognizing the fallen Chosen One.

“Good, you remembered!” She said appearing on the parallel side of the pit.

“But you’re . . .”

“Dead? Mute? Yeah, but this isn’t the physical world we’re in, now is it?” she said smiling.

“True . . . But how did you . . . Why are you . . .”

“Who else would be the first to appear to you when you’re doubting your abilities. Granted, there’s a bit of a list, but when it comes to the teleportation department, that’s my specialty!”

“What’s wrong with my power?”

“You tell me? You would think that after all this time of having it, you would be able to get over your fear of heights!”

“It’s not a fear . . . it’s a phobia! And besides, for awhile . . . I did, it’s just that I haven’t used them in a long time, especially not like this!”

“And why’s that?”

“Well . . . because, I had other things to take care of.”

“Like . . . Your son?”

“Exactly!”

“That still doesn’t explain why you would deny your powers.”

“It’s a long story!”

“What happened to Dani wasn’t your fault, and that shouldn’t have stopped you from knowing who you are!”

“How’d you . . . Wait a minute! You have NO right to talk about Dani like that!”

“You didn’t even tell her about your powers, did you?”

“That’s not the point!”

“My dear pupil, don’t you see? Of course it is; it’s all apart of it! But that’s not why I’m here. I’m here to tell you that the reason you were given this task was so that you could regain strength in your powers. You were so close to perfecting them and taking them to new levels, and now, this is your time to relearn all that and go beyond that of any level you would’ve before. You have to have confidence in your abilities, that’s the only way that you will be able to overcome your fear . . .”

“Eh!”

“Phobia, sorry! Now that you know your son is being protected by Xaina, you don’t have to worry so much. Granted, he’s your son, and you still have to protect him, but he’s not a helpless being by any means!”

“Not like Dani . . .”

“Like I said, that’s not why I’m here, but you’ll deal with that soon enough. Right now, you need to focus on your powers to get you through this.”

“How do I do that?”

“You’ll figure it out . . . I can’t give you ALL the answers now!”

“Thank you . . .”

“It’s what I’m here for, it’s what I’ve always been here for!”

“I know . . . and I thank you for that. I’m sorry I pushed you away too.”

“You never entirely did. I was always watching over you, along with some other people.”

“Tell her I’m sorry . . .”

“You’ll get . . . Just focus on your powers now, deal with that when it comes. You need to take this step by step if you’re going to get through it.”

“I understand . . .” He said as she disappeared and he stood up.

Confidence rising in his mind, heart and soul, he walked over to the ledge and looked down. Not getting the weak-kneed feeling that he usually got when dealing with heights, he jumped into the darkness the same as before and concentrated on his powers. He was able to slow his fall by channeling his energy to slow his speed through the air. As he slowed his descent, the blue aura that formed around him whenever he disappeared and reappeared formed around his body. The auric shield protecting him from plummeting to his doom allowed him to concentrate on his surroundings. The pit was now starting to come alive, and around him, images of his past filled the walls. Seeing the scene of the night his wife died, he concentrated hard enough on his powers to completely suspend himself mid-air.

“Dani . . .” He said a tear coming to his eye.

“It wasn’t your fault . . .” he heard Danielle’s voice say.

“Dani?!” He said looking to his side to see his wife standing next to him.

“It wasn’t your fault sweetie.”

“DANI!” He said excited to see her, losing his concentration on his powers and falling. Trying his hardest to regain control of his powers, he was able to stop and teleport back up to the scene and suspend himself.

“It was my fate, just as much as yours was to slay vampires!”

“Y . . . you know?”

“I do now . . .”

“I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you! I just didn’t want to put you into danger, but in the end, that’s all I wound up doing!”

“Chris . . . If I had never met you, I would’ve died from a bite a long time ago! You would’ve had to wind up slaying me! And if you told me, someone would’ve found out and used it against you! Either way, you would have had to kill me, and that would’ve been 10 times harder!”

“But I . . .”

“I miss you too, but you can’t live the rest of the life you have left dwelling on what happened in the past! You have to learn from it and move on! Use what gifts you have to protect our son! Don’t throw them all away and leave him vulnerable to the dangers of those evil monsters! Teach him, otherwise he’ll be doomed to die by the bite just like I did, even with Xaina watching him!”

“I love you so much! It’s just hard to do this without you!”

“I know, but as hard as it is, you made the right decision! And you’ve been doing a great job at raising Justin! Not the name I would’ve picked, but it’s still a good one!” She said laughing.

“I miss that laugh.”

“I know you do, I’ll always be with you, but you can’t sacrifice everything just to dwell on something that wasn’t your fault!”

“I love you!”

“I love you too! But look at it this way, you were able to do what we’re all counting on you to do.”

“That is?”

“Save the world, focus your powers, regain your strength and confidence.”

“We haven’t saved the world yet.”

“Yes, but you will. Even though there are going to be times when you think that there’s nothing more you can do, nothing left for you to give, you’ve still managed to save this world and the people in it from a force that has tried so hard to destroy it for eons.”

“Vampires?”

“Evil.”

“I just wish our son would have gotten a chance to know his mother.”

“He has . . . he’s had countless dreams of me, and I’ve always been there to watch over him.”

“He looks just like you.”

“I know . . . But enough about him. We need to focus on you right now. You haven’t realized that you and Justin, the adult, share some similar issues. You both ran away from everything and everyone. As much as Josh tries to understand and be there for him, it is you who is going to have to be the one to help him through this. In the end, he’ll help you do the same.”

“Somehow, I felt that.”

“I hope that you take into account everything I’m saying, cause it’s the only way that you’re going to be able to move on. You have to move on, otherwise, you won’t be able to succeed!”

“I will, if nothing else from anybody, from you always!”

“Everything that is being shown to you now is what will help you move on.”

“Then for you, I’ll move on.”

“Not just for me my love, but for you!”

“I love you.”

“I love you . . . now go . . . it’s time for you to finish your journey! I’ll always be with you, no matter what!”

“Dani!” He said reaching out to her as she disappeared.

Feeling himself start to fall again, he focused on what was coming up ahead of him. The next scene to stop him on his fall was the day of Justin’s funeral. Even though it had taken place before Dani’s death, it was the secondary issue compared to his wife.

“We were a little out of hand that day, don’t you think?” Josh’s voice said standing beside him, just like his wife did.

“Josh? I thought you would be doing your quest thing!”

“I am . . . this is just another form of me. We’re in a state of meditation, I’m here because it’s your world, and it’s what you need to see.”

“A little out of hand? That an understatement if I ever heard one before!”

“That’s one thing I regret the most of all the stupid things I’ve done in my life.”

“Let me guess, you’re gonna tell me now that it had to be done though . . .”

“Why should I tell you when you already know?”

“True . . .”

“I know as well as you do that we both wanted to pick up the phone millions of times and just patch things up, but were both too stubborn and pigheaded to do so!”

“Oh yeah . . . specially when I needed a sitter!”

“I know it was my fault . . . and I really am sorry for that.”

“It just hurt that you were too prideful to even come to her funeral.”

“It hurt me too . . . But hey, we all know that this whole Chosen One stuff has driven me insane plenty of times! That’s just one of many . . . not the worst of all, but still nonetheless.”

“It was for the best though . . . think of all the fights we would’ve gotten in if you would’ve tried to get me to fight again when I was going through hell trying to stay sane raising Justin.”

“You’ve done a great job though . . . I wish I was able to.”

“Modern science . . . duh! You still can! Lance would make a great mother!”

“I’m sure he would!” He said laughing. “But I can’t . . . too much that occupies my mind and attention. It wouldn’t be fare to the kid, and that’s the last thing I would want to do, lose control on my kid! Besides, as dangerous as this job is, I don’t think I’d live to see it grow up, and I wouldn’t want to put Lance in such a position!”

“Don’t talk like that! You’re gonna live a long life!”

“Well, when you’ve been through as much as I have with the evil on this planet, you have to come to terms with your own mortality, which is something I did a long time ago.”

“I understand . . . we all did for a time.”

“That’s one of the two things I regret the most . . . what happened with our team.”

“What’s the other?”

“That I couldn’t tell Lance everything.”

“There’s still time . . .”

“Perhaps . . .”“Well, at least one of those things has changed. We’re all back together, and that’s what matters!”

“A family . . . no matter what!”

“No matter what!”

Staring at the wall, filled with images, it started to fade as Chris felt ground beneath his feet. Taking his attention away from what was in front of him, he turned to see a massive forest in front of him. The pit was now a cliff and Sonia was standing to his side, waiting for him.

“I can sense you’re stronger already!” she said smiling. “I’m glad you were able to conquer it all!”

“Thanks . . . now where do head from here?”

TBC . . .

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