Well, here am I again! It's been a hiatus of a year now, and for some reason I refuse to give up the ghost. The end is in sight! This one is a short one, but an important one, as hopefully you will see. My goal is to finish by the end of the year, but depending on circumstances that may or may not happen.

One Use Only

"So that's what happened! I can't believe it!" exclaimed Alexander as they exited from Derek's dream.

"I may have been a soldier of fortune, but I never laid a hand on the innocent," Marcus said quietly as he stood there.

"What now? There's not much time left." Angie was getting a bit nervous.

"I think it makes a little more sense now," said Marcus, drawing a key out that had been hanging around his neck. It was a golden skeleton key. On it was inscribed, "One use only."

Angie gaped at the key. Alexander, however, was a bit angry. "You had that all along?"

"Before I woke up and found myself here, I had a dream where this key suddenly appeared hanging down my neck. I was about to take it off and throw it away because it seemed so useless, but then I heard my mother's voice again. She—she told me that I could use the key to join them instead of waiting here for God knows how long. When I woke up and walked around and I saw the gates, I knew that this key could open it. I went up to the gates and I put it in the lock…it fit perfectly. Just one turn and I would never need to worry again. I could see them again. But something inside me just couldn't do it."

"Why?" Alexander's anger had dissipated entirely.

"I don't know. Here I was with the thing that could fulfill my desires for an eternity, but for the first time I couldn't follow through. It wasn't a doubt or anything, I had no doubt that this was it. It wasn't suspicion…I've seen what a trap is, and this wasn't one. It was just a feeling of emptiness. A feeling of that was it, that's all I have to do? A feeling that this wasn't for me; this key was made for someone else."

Slowly he yanked at the cord carrying the key until it snapped, then held it out to Angie.

"This is for you."

Angie stared at the dangling key, trying to fathom the choice that lay behind it. She glanced at his face, which was calm, resolute, even resigned to his fate.

"What about you?"

Marcus shrugged. "I don't know how I'm not down under, but if I'm here, there has to be some reason to it. I'm prepared to wait. Even if it takes another lifetime."

"But I don't understand—"

He took her hand and placed the key in her open palm, staring with his piercing eyes straight into hers.

"Listen, I know that by giving up this chance I might never be called. Those gates might never open for me. Hell, I don't even deserve to have those gates open for me, after all of the things I've done. But I have a gut feeling, and my gut feelings have always been correct, that I'm heavenbound. It's going to happen."

He let go of her hand and stepped back. "You can never know how free I feel...having gone through my whole life with nothing to have faith in, and now with the first real conviction I've ever had in my existence."

It seemed like they stood for a long time with the mist swirling at their feet and the serene ambient noise curling around them. But finally it was Angie who broke the silence.

"Thank you."

As she turned around and walked towards the door, instead of a feeling of triumph at having finally reached the end of her journey, she felt a pit of nervousness in her stomach. Each step seemed to plod on and on, the door seeming so close and yet so far.

When they had reached the door they said their final goodbyes. She hugged Alexander first.

"Thank you so much. I can see why Derek misses you so much."

"I can see why he loves you so much. Take care of him for me."

He shot her a familiar smile. It sent shivers down her spine to realize that father and son had the exact same broad grin. It was a smile that she missed greatly, and at that moment it hit her that she was coming back to life.

She hugged Marcus next, wrapping her arms around his broad waist. He half-returned the hug, ruffling her hair with the other hand in a brotherly way.

"Thank you so much, Marcus."

"It was worth it, Angie."

Slowly she inserted the key into the lock as the other two watched with bated breath. She held her breath as she turned the key, only to sigh with relief when it turned smoothly with a click. Turning the knob, Angie leaned against the door and pushed with her eyes closed, falling into life as if it were the door into another dream.

Or, at least, that was what she had expected.