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The Fear of Not Knowing

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After talking to the police and 'explaining' what happened, the family got into their car and followed the ambulance that J.R was in. Once they reached the hospital they were told to wait in the waiting room while the doctor looked over J.R. They didn't hear anything from him until Maria came out an hour and a half later.

The whole family stood up and walked to her. "Alright, we took the bullets out and sterilized him. He's going to be fine." Maria said.

"Wait, bullets?" Jerry asked with a confused expression along with everyone else. Maria looked at them strangely. "Well, yes. He had two bullet wounds in his shoulder and arm." This was news to them. They were so caught up in trying to deal with everything that happened, they really didn't get the chance to examine the state J.R was in. "He lost some blood from them, but not too much, some bruising and a couple of cuts on his back." Maria finished listing. She stopped looking at her clipboard and turned her gaze towards them.

"You're lucky no one else was hurt. I've seen a lot worse from this sort of attacks from gangs." She said to them. Alex was about to say that it wasn't them, but Jerry quickly cut her off. "Yeah, um how are they?" Maria looked at him, not expecting that. "Well, uh" She looked through her clipboard. "Most of them only have a few broken bones and bruises, but it seems they got of easy compared to five others."

"Are they alive?" Theresa asked with worry.

Again, she wasn't expecting that. "Well, one is heavily traumatized murmuring that the walls are closing in. One has severe cuts covering most of his body. One of the strangest was the man who was completely wet. His joints are in bad shape, it's like he has been under a lot of pressure underwater. Another has suffered from burns and extreme high temperatures. And the last one has suffered from what it looks like electrocution." Maria finished.

"Oh my god." Theresa said covering her mouth. They still couldn't believe all the damage J.R had inflicted on those men. The J.R they saw in the parking garage was not the J.R they came to know over the months. Or maybe he was and they just hadn't seen him.

"I sure hope I never get to meet the person that did this." Maria said. She turned her gaze to them. They all looked to be very uncomfortable while looking everywhere, but her. She didn't notice though.

"Did you guys see what happened?" Maria asked.

"Uhh no, the lights went out and we couldn't see anything." Jerry lied. "When can we take him home?" He quickly asked.

"We're done treating him and would like to keep a watch on him for a couple of days, but if you guys don't want to then you can take him home with you." Maria said.

"That'll be just fine."

Once they got home, Jerry and Justin lay J.R down on the big orange couch. Talk about déjà vu. Alex went and sat down on the armless orange chair near the hall and Max sat on the big couch's arm rest next to J.R. Justin sat on one the stools while Jerry and Theresa were standing behind the couch.

"Dad, why didn't you want J.R to stay in the hospital?" Max asked. Jerry sighed. "Because there are questions I want to ask him when he wakes up and I can't ask them in a public place." He explained.

"What do you mean?"

"Max, he's a wizard." Justin explained. Everyone became silent.

Jerry, seeing how unsettled they looked, decided that it might be best if they all went to bed. "We should go to bed. I don't think he's going to wake up any time so-"

Just as Jerry was about to finish, they saw J.R started to move. They all watched as J.R slowly sat up and held his head with both hands while resting his elbows on his knees. No one spoke or moved, waiting for someone to say something. Alex, being one to never like silence, decided to speak.

"J.R, are you a wizard?" She asked in a soft voice. It was a stupid question and she knew it, but they needed to start somewhere.

He didn't say anything for a while. "Are…are you afraid of me?" He finally said in a low voice, not looking up. Alex wasn't expecting that. She couldn't speak for everyone else, but she could for herself.

"J.R, ever since I met you you have been nothing, but good to me. You have never done anything that has made me afraid of you."

"Until today." Max commented. Alex shot him a glare to shut him up. She went over and sat next to him. "Back there…you saved us." Alex said putting a hand on his arm. J.R turned his head to look at her. He could see that beautiful smile he always liked seeing. That's one of the things he was afraid of. Not being able to see her smile after seeing him like she did.

"Yeah! All those things you did, they were so cool!" Max said jumping of the couch before pausing. "Well, before you started to…. you know." Max continued.

"Why didn't you tell us you were a wizard?" Justin asked getting into the conversation. J.R looked at him and then back at the ground. "I was afraid." He said in his stoic voice. Just because he didn't feel or show it didn't mean he couldn't do it sometimes. The thing was it didn't happen that often.

"You? Afraid?" Max said in disbelief. After seeing him like that they didn't think there was anything a guy like him was afraid of. "What could you possibly be afraid of?" J.R stared at them. Theresa slowly realized what he meant. "You were afraid of what we would think." She said.

"You guys took me in when I had no where to go. You were kind to me when you didn't have to. The last thing I wanted was for you guys to see me like that and look at the fear in your eyes." He explained. Even though most of the time he didn't gave any sign of emotion when he spoke, they could still feel it very lightly from time to time. And this was one of those times.

Silence filled the room again.

"Well the past is the past and there is nothing we can do to change it." Jerry stated. J.R narrowed his eyes at that, but none of them notice. "I have met wizards like you J.R and I have always disapproved of what they do." He continued.

"Daddy." Alex said.

"But…you saved my family and I'm thank you for that." J.R stopped staring at the ground and looked at him. Jerry stared at him for some time and then sighed.

"Listen, has the Wizard Council acknowledge you?" He asked. The kids and Theresa looked at Jerry.

"Have the who have what?" Max asked completely lost.

Jerry looked at his kids and remembered he hadn't taught them about this yet. "We haven't gone over this yet, but they are a group of powerful wizards that keep order in the magical world and the human world if magic is involved. In cases like J.R, to keep order they have to know of all wizards that have magic that reach high levels." Jerry explained.

"So in other words they need to keep tabs on wizards that are strong." Alex said. Jerry nodded. Justin was a bit surprised, he knew who they were, but he didn't know about the second part.

"Every wizard that has trained and controlled their magic to unbelievable lengths need to go to the council and answer a few questions."

"What kind of questions?" Justin asked, eager to learn something new.

"Questions like what was their motive to learn and obtain so much magic. Questions that would let them know if they were good or bad." Jerry looked back at J.R. "It's consider a high crime if you don't." After taking in what they just learned they all stared at J.R, waiting for his response. He didn't say anything for a few moments.

"No."

Jerry sighed and wiped his face in desperation.

"So does that mean J.R is like a rogue wizard?" Max asked. "Man, that…that's so tight!" Max said excited. Jerry shook his head while Theresa gave Max a disapproving look. Alex giggled at that.

"No Max it isn't." Justin said. Alex rolled her eyes. "Oh Justin lighten up." She said.

"Alex this is serious." He said narrowing his eyes at her, but she just ignored him.

"Justin's right." Jerry said. Jerry has been given it some thought of how to handle this situation. "Alright, here is what we're going to do." Everyone looked at him. "I'm going to see if I can get J.R a meeting with the council, but it's going to take some time." J.R had a far away look in his eyes as he said that. "If you have nothing to hide you should be fine." Jerry finished looking directly at him. J.R stopped spacing out and looked back at him.

This brought Alex a new set of worries. "What happens if they think you're bad?" She asked going back to the topic from earlier.

Jerry looked at her. "They send them to the most secure prison for wizards and" He paused, not sure if he should finish. "and that's a place you never want to find yourself in."

Now Alex was beginning to worry. She remembered the conversation she had with Justin. Those four words kept ringing in her head.

"I WOULD KILL HIM!!!" If those things she said could make someone like Justin say that, she was completely certain those exact same thoughts have gone through J.R's head. She had to talk to him and get him to fess up what his intentions were to her. J.R was a good person and didn't deserve imprisonment. He just needed a little help.

Theresa decided to intervene. "Before we all go to bed, there are a few things that have been bothering me."

"What is it Theresa?" Jerry asked.

Theresa walked close to J.R and grabbed his hood. "I thought I threw this away when we first found you." She said with a confused expression. The others just realized this. With everything that's been going, they didn't notice what he was wearing.

"Yeah, I saw you throwing it away." Alex said, putting aside the matter from earlier. She remembered seeing her mom throwing it away.

"It also doesn't seem to be as bad in shape as when we first saw it." Theresa said after looking at it closer.

J.R sighed and stood up. He walked over near to the door and turned back to face them. They all stared at him, wondering what he was doing. J.R closed his eyes and a second later his coat began to come off like water sliding off his body. Once it hit the ground it dispersed and disappeared, leaving him in his white T-shirt and dark blue jeans.

They all had their mouths hanging open with dumbfounded expressions on their faces. Max was the first to snap out of it.

"That…was...awesome!" Max said loudly and he ran to him. "You need to teach me that!"

"No way! You can make clothes out of thin air!" Alex excitedly said joining Max.

Justin had a puzzled look as if he were trying to figure out how he did that.

"If you are as strong as dad says, you must know a lot of spells!" Alex said with admiration.

"Can you teach me how to shoot fire from my hands?" Max asked excitedly.

"Can you tell me how to make clothes with magic?" Alex asked equally as excited as Max.

"I wonder if he could show me how to fight?" Justin thought.

Jerry saw how overwhelmed J.R was becoming and thought he should help him out. "Alright guys that's enough."

Alex, not paying attention to her dad, saw what has kept getting her attention every time she looked at J.R. "Hey is your crystal magical too?" She asked touching it.

"No! Don't-"

Too late, the moment she touched it, a brilliant red light shined through out the whole living room. Everyone was blinded and could only see red. All of a sudden a loud deep voice that didn't sound human could be heard.

"If you want power what are you willing to sacrifice?"

Just as fast as the light appeared it was gone. Everyone stood still, frozen in their spot, not sure of what just happened.

"W-what was that?" Alex asked a little shaken, taking a few steps back. Alex looked around to see if anyone would answer, but she could see they all had the same question running through their heads. They all looked around until their eyes fell on J.R. He was lying on the door with a hand on his forehead. He slowly made his way to the armless chair near the door and sat down.

After staring at him for a few moments Justin began to slowly realize what that was. He didn't know why or how, but somehow, deep down he knew what it was "Was…was that from a memory?" He asked.

"J.R, is that true?" Theresa asked also a little afraid. By the looks of it the same thing could be said about everyone else besides J.R. Whoever, the owner of that voice was, it send a cold chill down their spines. That sounded like someone they would never want to meet.

J.R looked through the gaps between his fingers at Justin. Instead of given him a straight answer, he said something else. "This crystal" He held it. "is more like an alarm. It warns me when there is any danger." It was the truth. Hopefully, they won't ask about it anymore.

"Was that what that light at the movies was?" Alex asked.

"I…have the tendency of getting into people's bad side." J.R responded. Their eyes fell on his wounded arm. He followed their gaze and put a hand over it.

"Gee, I wonder why that is?" Max said with sarcasm which earned him a smack upside the head from Alex.

Inside a modest looking apartment building, Gale Harsen was having a nice nap on the couch when he was suddenly rudely awakened.

"What the hell!?" Beck yelled as he slammed the door open.

He could recognize Beck's yelling anywhere. "What is it Beck?" He asked in a dull tone not bothering to look at him.

Beck went over to the freezer and took ice cubes out. He put the cubes in a plastic bag and putted over his head. "Well, for one I have a pain in the ass headache right now! And second, we almost got killed!" He said pacing behind the couch.

The rest of the team came in. Gale hearing everyone was here, sat up.

"Alright, what happen?" He asked.

"I'll tell you what happen." Beck said as he stopped moving. "That piece of shit Declan didn't tell us everything!"

Gale raised his eyebrows and looked over at Lester, who was sitting down on a chair near the kitchen. He hoped he could get a better explanation. "We ran into the black hooded figure you told us to search for." He explained.

"Am I suppose to assume one man sent you running with your tail between your legs while you all were well armed and had a helicopter." He said.

"Oh no." Beck quickly walked around the couch. "That one man was not human." He said.

Gale looked like he didn't believe him. "Gale, before you dismiss Beck's believable accusation." Lester started while receiving a death glare from Beck. "The guy did things a normal human can't." Lester continued, calm as usual. Gale stared at him. Lester wasn't the type to make excuses when something went wrong and he has never lied to him.

"Are you suggesting Declan does know who this man is and is hiding information from us?" Gale asked.

"He jumped like thirty feet into the air to the helicopter's tail!" Beck yelled. Gale stared at him, raising his eyebrows.

"I'm just saying there is more to this guy than we originally thought." Lester responded.

Gale began to think about this. If what they were saying was indeed true and this man had strange powers, then maybe he should have a talk with Declan. If he did hide information from them, then he'd better have a good reason.

Okay, I have good news and bad news. The good news is I have finally thought of an ending! The bads news is...uh...huh...I guess there aren't any bad news. Anyway I think a lot of you are going to like it...I think.