End of the Road
~Sequel to Going Home~
(Final part to Begin & End Trilogy)

Chapter 1

"Marcus, Rosie, breakfast is ready!" Chalice shouted up the stairs to her two children with a tired smile, knowing exactly what was happening upstairs. Rosie was in the bathroom making herself look perfect while Marcus was trying to get in to finish getting ready for school.

Rosie was eleven years old and blossoming into a beautiful young lady. She had long, shiny black hair like her mother's along with emerald gems for eyes, matching her father's perfectly, and inherited her father's height standing at five foot, seven and being only eleven years old.

Marcus was already over six foot and he was fourteen, also blossoming into teen hood, which meant nothing but trouble and drama for his parents. He was quite the hellion and class clown, always getting sent to the principal's office, always trying to find ways to cause trouble with others. He was a loner, an outsider, and reminded his mother so much of his father, even though she didn't know Mark until after those days. She was almost glad for that too.

Marcus came storming down the stairs, a hat jammed over his head, and I-Pod firmly in place, blaring something unintelligible.

Mark looked up from the table where he was sipping a cup of coffee, arching an eyebrow. His piercing green eyes narrowed before he stood up, not liking the way his son was treating them as of late.

"What?" Marcus demanded when his father approached, shooting his mom a sidelong look. "DAD!" He jumped into the air when his hat was snatched off his head, but he was only six foot, not six foot nine.

Mark stared at the black hair and grunted.

"I was sick of the red." He said, shrugging his shoulders like it was no big deal.

Chalice groaned under her breath as she shook her head, not believing her son was already starting his attitude this morning. Her eyes widened when she seen his hair and simply shook her head, she was through fighting Marcus when all he ever did was defy her wishes. There was no hope for her son it seemed as she walked over to do the dishes, wiping her silent tears away that managed to escape her blue eyes.

"Aww hell mom, don't cry." Marcus rolled his eyes, using his uncle's favorite phrase.

"Boy, you got two seconds to apologize a'fore I take you out back and show ya ain't too big to be tossin' over my knee." Mark threatened, staring down at his son.

"Mornin'!" Rosie chirped, coming into the kitchen next. "Marcus, you left hair dye all over the bathroom, you pig." She growled, not amused.

"Shut up!"

"I'm fine." Chalice whispered solemnly before taking a wet rag and walked past her children upstairs to clean up Marcus's mess. She needed a few minutes to herself before she ended up breaking down completely.

Life just wasn't what she thought it would be with having children. She knew teen years were rough, but that gave Marcus no right to disrespect them the way he did. "His beautiful red hair…" She whispered and dropped to her knees, beginning to scrub the dye off the white tiled floor. No respect, that's exactly what Marcus's attitude was. Normally, Chalice would've blown her top and taken half of Texas with her, but at this point, she just couldn't do it anymore. She was physically and mentally exhausted with everything, mostly because of her teenage son.

Once the kids were on the bus, Mark slumped down on the porch steps. He sighed, raking a hand through his own long, auburn hair. How had his sweet baby boy grown into this...thing that ate, slept, talked like Marcus but wasn't Marcus? He supposed that was the teenager thing though, the damn problem was Marcus reminded him too much of himself and that wasn't a path Mark wanted for his child.

"Hey ol' timer."

"Just the man I wanted to slap..."

Chalice's eyes instantly lit up when she heard her brother's voice and bolted out of the bathroom and downstairs, the smile back on her face. Her temper had settled down a lot since having children, Chalice was a lot more calm and collected, rational instead of completely losing herself in anger, unlike her brother. "Hey Stevie!" She greeted happily, walking over to kiss his cheek just as Mark stepped back inside. "There's still plenty of breakfast if you're hungry."

"I'm always hungry." Steve grinned, hugging her before leading her inside, following his nose. "So why's it always me gettin' slapped? Lemme guess, one of the kids said Aww hell, right?"

"Marcus."

"Is it me or is he goin' through a mood lately?" Steve asked, looking thoughtfully oblivious as he lifted a fork to his mouth.

"Chalice, darlin', I'm glad yer the smart one."

She ignored what Mark said and raked a hand through her short black hair, having it cut to her shoulders long ago. "He dyed his hair, Steve. I told him he could do it when he turned sixteen, but he did it anyway." She stated, ignoring the heated gaze from her husband, she hadn't told him yet, not wanting her son's funeral to commence this soon in life. "I just don't know what to do with him anymore." The sadness was back full force in voice and eyes as she began clearing the table of both her children's full plates. "Such a waste…" She thought solemnly before rinsing them off in the sink.

"Sounds to me like the Undertaker legacy is more then livin' on." Steve said finally, ducking when an empty glass came flying at him. "Damn Mark! Sorry but it's the truth!"

Mark scowled, glancing at Chalice and sighed, shaking his head. "That was a character." He said finally.

"Do I even need remind how you an' my sister got married?"

"Christ Mark!" Chalice shouted, her temper up now as she looked at the shattered glass that sprawled on the floor, lucky that it didn't cut anyone. She was holding her chest as she slowly tiptoed over it before beginning to clean up her husband's temper tantrum. "I hate saying it, but Marcus has become a lot...darker lately." She swallowed hard and closed her eyes, remembering back in the days of the Ministry, and physically shivered. "I mean he dyed his hair black for Christ sakes!" She then turned to glare at her brother. "You let him watch those tapes didn't you?" It wasn't a question.

"Hell fuckin' no I didn't, Chalice!" Mark stood up, looking outraged by the mere suggestion. "They're locked up in my den..." He closed his eyes, sighing and disappeared. He came walking back out a few minutes later. "That lil shit picked the lock."

"Face it; he's a Calaway through and through."

"Ain't helpin' Steve."

"Well? If he's turnin' into you, then YOU should be able to fix it."

"I'll just have him kidnap himself a wife, how'll that be?"

"That's it, I've heard enough of this!" The tears were now falling freely down her face, not believing Mark just said that, and stood up as she deposited most of the broken glass in the trashcan. "I'm going to take a hot bath before I end up committing murder." She then stalked past both her brother and husband and headed upstairs, knowing no matter how much she wanted to deny it, Marcus was truly his father's son.

Mark and Steve retired out back to grapple with each other, Mark venting frustration and Steve just wanting to kick some ass.

"Hey, hey! PUT ME DOWN!"

Mark dropped his friend when he realized he was about to tombstone him. "Sorry." He grunted, not really meaning it.

"This is GRASS an' DIRT, not a RING." Steve snarled, rubbing his bald head, pissed beyond belief. "Christ, Calaway."

Closing her eyes after stepping inside the bathtub, Chalice drew her knees up to her chest and buried her face in her knees, letting the real tears flow finally. She hated feeling like this. She loved her son so much, but Marcus was honestly starting to scare her. She didn't want him ending up like Mark, having a feeling his past wasn't exactly safe. Not only that, but her husband's words really stung her and made Chalice believe that no matter how hard they tried, the darkness was slowly overtaking their son, possessing him as it were. Not to mention the fact her and Mark hadn't made love in months, it just didn't seem that important to do anymore now that they had a family. The spark was gone and all they ever did anymore was fight and argue about Marcus and rarely Rose.

She loved him, she loved Mark more than anything in the world, but Chalice was starting to wonder if maybe love was enough to keep it together. She finally sighed and decided she'd wrinkle like a prune if she didn't get out so she let the water drain before wrapping a towel around her body, stepping out, and started brushing her hair. Her reflection staring back at her caused Chalice to sigh sadly. The wrinkles were a lot more noticeable now, not to mention the black circles around her eyes. Chalice hardly slept, she had awful insomnia because she worried too much about her son and his future. "I don't know what to do…" She whispered softly and finally walked out into their bedroom, sitting down on the bed with her head lowered. She wanted things back to the way they used to be, back when the passion and fire was still in their marriage.

Steve watched as Mark dropped down onto the grass and sighed, dropping down by him, splaying out comfortably. "Okay, spill it man, what's goin' on?" He demanded, not always as unaware as he seemed. "This doesn't all lead back to Marcus now does it?"

"Not all of them."

"Them?"

"Roads." Mark sighed, raking both hands through his hair. "I don't know...seems like the harder Chalice an' I fight to keep things together, the more they fall apart."

Steve followed his friend around, finally winding up in the garage where Mark tinkered with his motorcycles, squatting down to kneel and examine a new one. "Skulls and...Is this your symbol?"

Mark glanced at it, shrugging and opened a longneck. "Was an idea."

"I'm gonna go make sure Challie's okay, it's awful damn quiet in there." Steve headed inside, looking around, and called out, "Challie girl?"

She sighed heavily when she heard her brother and stood up, slipping a pair of jeans on along with a long sleeved shirt. She then walked out of the bedroom and downstairs, seeing her brother sitting on the couch waiting for her. "What's up Stevie?" She asked softly, raking a hand through her wet hair, and walked over to sit down beside him. He wanted to talk, she knew that much.

Of course he wanted to talk. Things were screwed up. Mark was talking in riddles, Chalice looked like shit and Marcus was a mini-me of his dad, all was NOT right in the world. "What's goin' on, darlin'?" He asked casually, draping his arm over her shoulder and leaning his head against hers. "Talk to me Challie, maybe we can work this out." His tone was soft and loving, knowing she was going through a hard time right now. Obviously. He couldn't remember ever seeing her looking this fatigued, not even when the kids were just babies.

"Everything!" Chalice burst out of nowhere, the tears pouring from her blue eyes again as she buried her face in her brother's chest, her entire body trembling. "I love him so much, but things seem to be crumbling! No matter what I do, I can't seem to get through to him anymore! Marcus is turning into what he used to be and I can't stop it!" She started crying harder as she gripped Steve's shirt with her hands, his knuckles turning pure white. "He's turning back to the darkness, Steve. Slowly but surely, he's letting that monster return and his son is following. I don't know what to do anymore!"

Steve inhaled sharply, rubbing her back soothingly. Mark returning to darkness...Marcus becoming, that wasn't a happy thought and he didn't even want to dwell on it, but he didn't have much of a choice. "Challie, Marcus is a teenager darlin'. He's just moody, remember how we were? We raised hell, ignored mom and dad, we were a pair of hellions. He's just a normal kid, it's a phase and it'll pass." He assured her, wondering why they didn't hand out instruction manuals on kids; that would help.

"No you don't understand…" Chalice trailed off as she stood up and began pacing back and forth, raking a hand through her black hair in frustration. "He dyed his hair black, he refuses to get it cut, and it's to his shoulders now. He got a tattoo not too long ago that I grounded him for and he just snuck out anyway. "He's turning into what my husband used to be. He's been watching those tapes of the Ministry." She started shaking, the tears continuing to fall. "It's not just a phase, Stevie and I'm not so sure I can stop it from taking over this time..."

Steve was quiet for a long time, just staring down at her. "Then Mark's goin' to have to stop it, ain't he? He's been there, he knows how to stop it." He said gruffly. "If not, well, that boy ain't too big for me to whoop some respect into him, just like I used to his old man."

Mark appeared, talking into his cell phone. "He did WHAT?
He roared, locking eyes with Chalice. "Yes ma'am, I'm on my way."

"What'd he do?"

"Fuckin' tied some kid up in a stall...for callin' him a queer."

"This is exactly what I was talking about." She murmured so only her brother could hear before simply standing up and walking in the kitchen. She jumped about two feet in the air from the couch when she heard her husband bellow and her heart was still thundering against her chest at a rapid pace. "Mark?" She called out, seeing he was already getting ready to leave, and lowered her eyes to the floor, suddenly feeling scared of him for some reason. "Maybe I should go get him..."

Mark glanced at her, slipping a pair of black sunglasses over his eyes. "I got it darlin', me and junior are gonna have a talk." He smiled grimly, kissing the top of her forehead lingeringly before walking out of the house, his boots echoing on the porch steps before a few seconds later the sound of his truck roaring out of the drive reached them.

"I woulda tied the lil fucker up for callin' me a queer too." Steve muttered after he was sure Mark was gone.

"You're not helping, Steve!" Chalice snapped, raking a hand through her hair and started pacing back and forth. The kiss was burning on her forehead as she touched it, the tears burning her blue eyes. She wanted her old husband back, the man who made her heart soar to the heavens and above. "He's going to kill my son! He's going to hurt him, Steve!"

"He ain't goin' to hurt him, Challie." Steve said, blinking back his surprise at that. Mark could be a cold blooded bastard but he wouldn't hurt his own son. "Darlin', he's just gonna talk to him wait and see."