Thanx 4 the reviews people. they inspire me to write more. From this point i've been freestyling all the scenes and tonight I thought of how to end this fanfic and lets just say... i couldnt have thought of a cooler way to end it. so there's probably three maybe four chapters left. it's a doozy!

Moment of Truth

"Zack wake up!" Cody was nudging his brother's shoulder. When he opened his eyes he realized he had dozed off and it was 12 in the afternoon already.

"We've arrived." He uttered.

These were the last words Zack wanted to hear at that moment. He was hoping that he'd just imagined it.

Carey was also awake staring from the window at the Child Crisis facility just a couple of feet away. Apparently her worst nightmares were at risk of being realized.

This was the place that the forgotten existed, a funeral home for the hopeless.

A dark future lied ahead of those children without the possibility of ever having a normal life. Society has rejected them and will never treat them as human beings.

She could just envision the children walking around the facilities like ghosts that haven't been laid to rest. Like zombies they probably roamed about searching for the reason they were born.

Was her son one of those kids, one of those kids without a future?

Would she be able to embrace him as a son if he was?

Her worst nightmare was the possibility that her son would not have a soul. What if it's too late for him? He could've been severely brainwashed and sent to a point of no return. And she would know for all time, that she let this happen to him. As long as she would breathe, as long as she would look at her other two boys, watch them grow up to become well rounded individuals, she would remember that one terrible mistake she made long ago. She would forever be the heartless and cruel monster who abandoned her child.

Carey was deathly afraid of this moment in her life. But she realized that this was no longer about her, or how she felt. She would have to brush away all feelings of doubt and hope for the best, after all, her two boys seemed to have all the confidence in the world that this would work out.

"Kurt wake up." Carey nudged him. "The appointment is in an hour. We have to clean up. Boys you too." She motioned for them to get moving.

The boys quickly got dressed and brushed their teeth. Cody made it a point to gather a couple of family pictures together along with school photos and pictures of the people at the hotel, pictures of friends at school. He wanted things to go smoothly as possible, get a conversation started, and maybe get this newfound stranger to like him.

Zack however was going to remain more conservative, keep his hopes and dreams down to a low simmering flame. This could all backfire.

Kurt would've like to have done the same thing but as the person who gave away the child to begin with, he believed that he would have to try harder than everyone else to make things right. He was going to bring his acoustic guitar in case things went well enough that he could play him some music, possibly break down some barriers.

Carey wanted nothing more than to just give her son a hug, with a possibility of him returning one. It seemed a little far-fetched but she decided still to hold onto that possibility.

Time seemed to be moving extra fast this morning. Everybody was trying to remember all the small little things they didn't want to forget. Before they knew it they were running late to their appointment with the head of the administrative staff.

It wasn't a big deal since they ended up waiting inside the building for thirty extra minutes before somebody came to see their party of four.

From the back of the building came a man in his late thirties dressed in khaki's and a white dress shirt. He looked a little like Mr. Moseby except he didn't have an accent and he seemed a little taller.

" Good afternoon my name is Miles Jones, I'm the head of this facility."

He was shaking everybody's hands and stopped for just a moment to stare at the twins.

" Wow…" he said almost in a whisper. " There is no question that this boy is related to these kids right here."

Zack and Cody looked at each other and kind of smiled.

"I guess that's a relief. Could you imagine if we came all the way over here and it was the wrong boy?" Carrie nervously laughed trying to break the tension.

Miles looked up at her and smiled back. "I'm sure everyone's a little bit nervous, and a little anxious…"

Everyone was nodding heads in unison.

"… But there are a couple things I have to go over with all of you. This is a very unique case we have on our hands here."

"What do you mean?" Kurt asked.

Miles suggested that they take a walk through the facility.

" You are aware of your sons lifestyle. We have never really dealt with children with a history of warfare. So far we have been treating your son the same way we would treat an adult that has been traumatized by scenes of violence. But we haven't gotten very far."

Carey looked at Kurt with a worried expression.

They were all walking across the halls where they saw children sitting in classes, others were outside in the playgrounds shooting hoops and playing soccer. For a child crisis center, it didn't look as bad as everyone thought it would.

"It seems like his mind has trouble letting go of the past. Whatever training he received has been drilled in his mind constantly. He's refusing to let it go. The only thing he talks about is "the mission."

"The mission?" Kurt asked.

"Psychoanalysis reports say that his brain is functioning well, but "the mission" is an objective. In a religious sense, this is what he constantly lives by. We've tried calling him by a name so that he could begin to tell the difference between what he used to be and who he is now, that's worked to some degree. He's finally started to say things that didn't relate directly to a mission objective, and he's starting to respond more and more to the name we chose for him."

"What's his name?" Zack said coming from behind everyone.

"Justin…" Miles said it plainly, but it was almost like a miraculous discovery for Zack.

Finally… a name, Zack thought.

But it seemed a little awkward that something so simple as a name was just given to him. Many people who have kids usually go through thousands of possible names before narrowing down their choices, and then they hold this name to everything they think about their child's potential, their personality, and their future development as a human being. But in this case, it was nothing more than a simple, hallow name for somebody, just to eliminate confusion within the rest of the pack.

Miles continued.

"When he arrived here seven months ago, he was a wreck. Nobody could get through to him. He kept calling himself "Soldier 448891" he was found amongst a group of bodies, he was one of seven survivors from an attack."

"Oh my god…" Carey for a moment thought she was going to lose it.

Cody felt even worse than he did after watching that documentary on TV back home. It was one thing to hear it on a TV screen, but it was another thing to hear all the gruesome details up close and personal. This was reality.

Zack's doubts were increasing. This couldn't possibly have a happy ending.

" I believe that it's important that all of you have arrived today. Psychologists here believe that there may be a break through in his mind if he were to see his two brothers up close. The fact that all three boys resemble each other may help a lot. This might be the answer we have been looking for."

"We're all hoping for the best." Kurt said feeling a glimmer of hope.

"We have to" Carey agreed.

Miles nodded his head in agreement and then led everyone into especially reserved vicinities where there were four conference rooms, two on each side. There was a two-way mirror outside each of them where you could see what was going on. There were no visitors today and the only room that was going to be occupied was at the far end to the left. For a second everyone paused.

"Is this where we're going to meet him?" Cody asked.

The environment seemed a little drab and uncomfortable. The walls were colorless, the tiny hallway was dark, and it was noticeable that the fluorescent bulbs on the ceiling were non-existent and the only source of light was coming from the sun pouring in through the windows behind each of the tables. Looking to the left and right, everyone finally looked at each other as if to ask the same question in all of their minds, "what the hell."

This was not how anyone imagined their first meeting. Cody was hoping for a cheery visit where there was lots of open space where everybody could relax in the atmosphere and just talk.

Zack was hoping there was at least something to do inside the room like watch TV or play cards, or even a stupid board game, maybe he could find something that he had in common with him, stuff like "hey you like sports?" Or "look at this awesome chase scene." It seemed stupid but how else was he going to find a way to connect? That was the main objective after all.

Instead the only things he saw were cold, uncomfortable chairs, and a table.

Kurt also looked a little disappointed. How can someone open up if they're stuck in a facility that resembled prison?

"I know that this doesn't look like the ideal environment to meet somebody that you have never seen before, but due to security risks, we have to keep him in the more contained area. Just until we see how he reacts to visitors."

The crew finally took a couple of steps towards the end of the hall where they were going to meet their long lost family member for the first time. It was after looking at the fourth and final window into the room, everyone kind of let out silent gasps.

There he was, sitting down in one of the chairs.

"This… is Justin." Miles told them as he gestured his hand towards the window.

"It's best that you address him as such, since it's what we've called him since the first week of his arrival."

Zack and Cody just stood completely still, their eyes were completely fixed on their brother, and they almost didn't hear what Miles said.

"So this is Justin…" Zack said.

"Justin Martin… it kinda fits." Cody added.

His black hair from the photo seemed to have faded into blond highlights; it must've been dyed after all, it covered his face and hung down to shoulder length. He was dressed entirely in black wearing an oversized shirt that draped over his body, exposing one of his shoulders that had apparently been scratched up. On the table was a stack of paper in which he seemed to be busily scribbling all over; rapidly grabbing another piece once he finished, trailing loose pages onto the floor.

This was it, Carey thought. The time was at hand to where she would have to answer to somebody beside herself for what she did so many years ago. This was going to be the time when she would decide weather to open the conversation with all the possible ways to say, "I'm sorry for what I have done" or "I've though of you everyday." She put her hands on the glass window thinking of the right words to say at that moment. At this point she was just surprised to see that her son was still in one piece. He looked healthy, physically at least.

"Justin" didn't look like the zombie she had imagined. In fact, he looked half past sane. Was she going to be able to have a conversation possibly, would he answer her questions, talk to her? The boys? For a second she had every hope in the world that this might be a good visit.

"I think it's best we have the twins go in first." Miles suggested.

"He might respond to the boys better than anyone else."

Miles waved his hand towards the boys signaling them to come to the door. Above all of the things the boys were feeling at this moment between nervous, and excited was probably hope. They had both secretly wished for something good to happen out of all of this, it all looked very possible.

Miles opened the door for the boys and let them in.

Cody is one who is usually the cautious, so it was to his brother's surprise that he was the first to make any movement, slowly walking closer to Justin. In Cody's hands was a binder full of scraps and photographs that he set at the very edge of the table as far away from the stranger. Justin remained scribbling on paper, he didn't seem to be bothered by another presence in the room so Miles felt it was okay to close the door behind the boys. Zack stayed put. The adults would be watching from outside to see what would happen.

"So far, so good." Miles took a deep breath of relief.

Carey was hoping to god that this would work.

Kurt was crossing his fingers.

Everything would be riding on this meeting between the boys. Although Cody was bold enough to get as close as he did to his third brother, he didn't want to get too close by sitting down possibly invading his personal space.

"Um… h-hello. My name is Cody."

There was no response. Cody looked back at Zack, he just shrugged his shoulders and gestured Cody to try again. Maybe this was going to be a little harder than he thought. Cody turned back around and tried a different approach. He tried to look and see what he was drawing. They just appeared to be scribbles from a black crayon. Lines drawn in haphazard ways but Justin seemed to be concentrated heavily on this piece of paper.

"That looks interesting, what is it?" Cody got a little closer this time to test the waters, still, no reaction from Justin. Nobody knew for sure if this was good or bad.

"I'll tell you one thing, nobody's gotten this close to him so far without him jumping up to attack." Miles said.

"He's attacked people before?" Carey asked.

"Not lightly either, he stabbed one of the attendants in the thigh with a pen. But this looks good so far."

This didn't help either Carey or Kurt during their nervous state of mind.

Meanwhile Cody was close enough he decided to slowly pull a seat from the table and sit down. He put his arms on the table and tried his best to keep smiling.

"Y'know… I like to draw too. I remember in kindergarten I colored this picture in class and the teacher thought it was the greatest, she hung it up on the wall." Cody laughed nervously but realized he was going to be the only one laughing.

Zack just nodded his head at his brother's horrible story of the one drawing he ever did that got him recognition.

"Slap yourself… hard."

"You have a better story?" Cody fired back then turned around to put his head down on the table, still looking at Justin.

This boy seemed to be inside his own prison of thoughts. Unwavering in his attempt to perfect whatever was in his head, he continued to scribble on different pieces of paper. The only time he would look up would be to grab another piece. The all of the sudden out of the blue, he began to speak.

"How long?" Justin said.

Cody's head snapped back up. Zack who was leaning against the wall in the corner stood back up attentively.

"What did you say?" Cody asked.

"I said… how long… how long will you continue to be the voice inside of my head?"

Outside of the room, Miles was in shock. This was the first time Justin ever truly engaged in a conversation with anybody. Carey and Kurt looked on in anticipation.

"Go on Cody. That's it." Kurt said, wishing Cody could hear his encouragement.

In the room Cody was trying to understand the question that was just asked.

"I don't understand what you mean."

"I hear you all of the time… every time I walk through the halls, when I try to go to sleep, when I try to think."

Justin pressed down hard with the crayon breaking it in half. He looks at the drawing and just tosses it on the ground. He realizes he's out of paper but he continues to look down at the table.

"Every time I try to put things back to order, the voice inside my head is always telling me about the mission. The final mission."

"What's the final mission?"

Justin smiled. "You know better than I do. Is this a test?"

Cody decided to play along; maybe this was his way of striking a conversation.

"Yeah. This is a test. I want to know, if you know, what the final mission is."

"Sacrificial Redemption…"

Zack was at a distance but he realized that something wasn't right. He could see the intensity in Justin's face. It appeared that he really believed in what he was saying. Zack wanted to motion for Cody to back away.

"Cody… you gotta stop. This doesn't look good."

"C'mon Zack ever heard of role play?"

"Who is Zack" Justin asked, smiling again.

"My brother… our brother, he's right here." Cody points off into the distance.

Justin for the first time lifts his head and to his shock he looks around and sees for the first time that there are two actual individuals in the room. He stood up and backed away quickly, knocking the chair over.

"When did you become a vision? How can I see you! You're not real!"

What went from a peaceful conversation erupted into a chaotic mess.

"Justin" Cody started.

"You're not real!" He shouted. He backed fully into a corner.

"I'm not a vision Justin, I'm real. I'm just as real as you. You and I… you and I are brothers. We're triplets. You me and Zack!"

"LIAR!"

From the outside of the room Carrie was freaking out.

"Get him out of there now! Get both of them out right now!"

Zack ran forward to pull Cody back.

"Get away from him, he's freaked out!"

Cody was resisting Zack's pulling.

"No! He has to know we are not visions! Justin…"

"Get away from me!" Justin crouched into a ball at the corner of the wall and buried his head in his arms.

"Justin, listen to me! My name is Cody. I'm your brother."

Cody extended his hand to try and reach out to Justin, but like a snake that curls in defense before attacking, Justin leaped forward with the intent to kill Cody in a desperate attempt to rid himself of "the vision." With his hands around Cody's neck, he would've strangled him to death if it were not for Zack picking up one of the chairs and hitting him across the head knocking him out for a few seconds.

Miles, Carey and Kurt came rushing in at full speed. Miles rushed over to Justin, checking if he had a pulse.

Carey and Kurt hugged both of the boys happy that neither of them was severely injured.

"Oh my god, are you okay sweetie?" Carrie said clutching Cody's shoulders.

"Mom, I'll be fine." Cody's real concern was Justin. He was regaining consciousness; the parents backed the boys away. Miles stood him up.

"You… really are real…" he said in a quiet voice.

Everyone was at a standstill. Justin was stable and calm enough for Miles to let him go. He slowly walked past everybody up to Cody and held his right hand upward spreading his fingers. Then he touched his face and for the first time, Justin realized that this was no voice inside his head. He clasped his hand over his mouth and backed away.

It was in this moment that everyone standing in that room felt a sense of victory. This was the beginning of a reunion that was many years in the making. A lost child has been found, grieving parents can finally start the healing process, and siblings can join together and become a stronger team, always there for each other to fight opposition.

All these things had become an instant possibility the moment two siblings recognized each other as living breathing creatures.

But sadly this moment of sheer happiness would be short lived. Through the discovery of a dark secret that lied underneath the exterior of this child, a reunited family that only dreams can be made of, would be just that, a dream.

And in the end the one thing we all know to be true is the fact that dreams will eventually come to an end.

Whaddaya think people?