Well, I'm glad that you found the last chapter, shall we say - interesting! :-) I was flabbergasted (That's a good word) by the pile of e-mail which I received. I think I've replied to it all, but I want to let you know that I always like getting it, so keep sending it to me! Anyway, check out the Website as well while you're at it - http://stories.i8.com, and e-mail me - shiningstar@oceanfree.net.
Thanks to all t he right people, Tim - who knows why, Sher - who knows why, Matt - he knows why, and Shawn, he knows why. And especially to Jim, you touched me with that last e-mail. Thank you.
This story is not real or not based in reality. It's a fictional story. I don't know the sexualities of the celebrities named within, and I don't think they know that I'm writing this. If you're too young then you shouldn't be reading this.
I lay there. Not knowing what to think. Had he heard me say that I loved him? Did he know, before he... the thought brought fresh tears to my eyes and I burrowed my face in my pillow again.
After Justin had... had... died. There, I said it. After Justin had died Lance was the first to move, but it had taken him twenty minutes. He had managed to control his grief long enough to create a stable portal back to the house. Then he'd pushed everyone through and dragged Justin's body with him.
And now it was the day after and the pain hadn't lessened. Is this what it felt like, to lose someone? I couldn't understand it, why? Why take him from me? The one person who I'd ever truly loved, only to realise it too late.
Someone knocked on the door. "Tom? Tom, open the door please, we need to talk." I recognised the voice as that of Baram, head of the White Mage's council.
I took my head out of my pillow, dried my eyes and said in a hoarse voice. "Come in."
She opened the door slowly and looked as sad as I felt. She sat down on the bed beside me. "Tom. I'm so sorry." I looked down at the ground so that she couldn't see me crying again but she used a finger to bring my head back up. "Don't be ashamed of your tears Tom. It's a sign of strength if you cry in front of someone."
I looked back up at her. "If I'd been stronger then maybe I could have saved him."
"Is that what you really think? No on could have done anything for Justin once Drayn came into that room, you should know that."
"But I managed it. I killed him, but it was too late... Justin was already dead. If I'd done it sooner..."
"You can't think that. You remember what JC told you about emotions? You couldn't have thrown so much raw power at Drayn normally, and I doubt that you'll ever be able to do it again."
Suddenly it clicked. Why she'd told JC to tell me about that, everything. I looked at her in disbelief. "You knew, didn't you. You knew that Justin; my Justin was going to die. And you did nothing, you just sat back and let it happen."
"Tom..."
"Damn right I shouldn't blame myself!" I yelled. "I should blame you! You knew, you knew. And you did nothing! You could have saved his life." I was becoming hysterical, so she did the only thing she could have done. She slapped me across the face.
"Yes Tom, I could have saved his life, but at what cost? I'm an oracle; I can see the future, but if I go meddling with that future then who knows what could happen. Drayn could by now have killed you all, he could have gone on a rampage and killed thousands of innocent people. It's not for me to decide who lives and who dies, normally." The tone in her voice when she said that last word made me alert.
"What do you mean - normally?"
"Tom, you are going to do something in the next couple of days that could have unfathomable and far reaching consequences, something which I plead with you not to try."
"What?" I asked.
She looked almost amused. "If I told you that... then you'd just go straight out and try it. No, I don't think I'm going to tell you anything." She took both of my hands into her own. "Just accept what has happened, please, for your sake, for Justin's sake and for the world's sake." With those words she left the room and left me to my misery. About an hour later JC knocked on the door and said that everyone was meeting in the sitting room - that we had to talk.
I went down the stairs and into the sitting room, everyone else was already sitting there, none of them with dry eyes. Once I came in JC got up to talk. "I don't want to sound harsh, but we have to talk about Justin's death, Baram and I have been talking about cover stories, and we've hit upon the one that we think is most likely to work. As far as the rest of the world is concerned, Justin died in a car crash."
I couldn't believe this, we were going to take one of the most incredible people in the world, someone who gave his life to save another, and we were going to say that that person died in a car crash? Evidently JC heard my thoughts.
"I know, I know, but we can't have the real story getting out and we can't even water it down, because we don't want too much attention given to this by the cops. The council is going to arrange everything but we've got to file the report, management already knows and are preparing the press releases, we just have to say when, is everyone ok on this?" JC got no verbal responses to his questions but there was a round of nodding at him. "There are also going to be two funerals, the public one, and the real one, at the council, where we can properly acknowledge who Justin was to all of us." JC concluded the meeting there and left everyone to their grief.
The next day we flew back to the states for the first of Justin's funerals under a barrage of media attention. Somehow we got through it and the cover story held. I met Justin's family for the first time and was amazed by how much they knew of our relationship. I also remember putting a call through to my own family that day, but what was said I don't know.
Then it was time for Justin's other funeral, the one in the mountainside. Once we'd teleported there I was amazed to see that the entrance was already open and people were teleporting in all around us to go in. We walked down the main hallway in our ceremonial robes and the sheer number of people that were present stunned me. There were people of all different heights and sizes, humans and species that I'd never seen before and the range of colours was nothing short of spectacular. They only seemed to have one thing in common - their destination. They were all heading for the Elder Hall, of which the doors were wide open. I couldn't help but notice that the wizened old man was still there, but he was wearing a robe of shimmering orange and facing towards the centre of the hall, where there was a raised area, which was devoid of anything, other then Justin, dressed in his ceremonial robes and lying on top of an ornate slab of marble. My heart lurched in me, but I kept a steady face and moved with the others towards seats near the dais. We sat down and didn't speak. About ten minutes later the doors to the hall lurched closed, seemingly of their own volition and Baram got up to speak. She used no microphone, yet her voice reached the far corners and echoed in the dark above.
"We are here today to honour a great mage, a mage who's life was committed to the improving of others, either through his music or his magic he's touched countless millions on this world." She then softened her voice. "Even his final act was one of great selflessness, and that shall be rewarded. I shall not speak too many words, for his actions have spoken louder then anything I could say to you now, and your presence in such great numbers here today is testament to that fact, what his death has helped to achieve can-not be ignored either, the final death of Drayn. And so, I implore the elders to take this worthy mage into their midst, so that he may continue to do what he strived to always do when he was with us, do good." I was wondering what she meant by this but then a low chant started in the hall.
"Suis don spear leat, mar bheag t£ beo ann." This one sentence was being repeated over and over again until suddenly, a feeling of warmth and joy came over me and a deep, benevolent voice spoke.
"It shall be so." And a soft white light washed over Justin's body and he drifted upwards into the air. Justin's body disappeared and the light faded, as did the warm feeling. A couple of minutes later people started drifting out of the hall and down side passageways and out the front entrance.
"What just happened?" I asked, turning to Lance and speaking my first words in a long time.
"You remember the elders that we said are all around us, since the first day of magic?"
"Yeah."
"Well they just took Justin among their number, he's now one of the elders."
"You mean he's alive?" I croaked, overcome with emotion.
"In a sense, yes he is. But not in any form that you'd ever recognise. But he'll always be there to watch over you Tom. You can be sure of that."
It turned out that it didn't help at all knowing that. I still couldn't touch Justin; I couldn't lie beside him in bed and tell him that I loved him. There was even more pain, knowing that he was somewhere out there, but I couldn't get anywhere near to him.
"Tom! There's something on TV that you should see! Come on." Shouted Joey from downstairs.
I heaved myself off my bed and went downstairs. Joey was watching TV.
"Yeah?" I asked, wondering why he'd called me.
"This song's dedicated to you Tom, dunno who from, it just said anonymous." He said. "Wonder who it was."
I looked at the screen, which had my name at the bottom; I saw that it was Cher with a song that I hadn't heard in ages. One lyric throbbed through my head - "If only I could turn back time..."
Well, I think that this makes for a nice bridging chapter. Make sure to let me know what you think. Either by e-mail - shiningstar@oceanfree.net or by going to the Website - http://stories.i8.com