this will be the first of the final four chapters. i'm working xtra hard on the next chapters because with every story, it's all about how it ends. part II is probably going to be really long...

All Dreams Come to an End Part I

A powerful blast rang throughout the suite.

Immediately Kurt dropped the gun backing away from it. He couldn't believe what he had just done.

He fired a gun at his own son. But somehow Justin was still standing there, unaffected by the life-threatening attempt from his father.

Luckily Kurt had missed.

Instead he had hit the wall exactly one inch away from Justin's head,

it was a close call,

Cody was so surprised by what he had witnessed that his mind couldn't grasp the concept. He collapsed on the floor from shock.

"Cody!" Zack yelled. He was shaking his brother trying to revive him, but to no avail, Cody was out cold.

Kurt said nothing. As tired as he was, he was able to come to his senses and see what a horrible thing he had just done.

Justin stared at him wide eyed, he wasn't scared or anything, just mostly surprised as everyone else was.

It was doubtful that anyone heard the gunshot because the majority of the guests were down in the lobby taking up snacks from the after-party, dining away.

It was odd watching Justin take this attempt on his life so easy with stride. As it seemed before, it was like he saw this whole thing coming. He remained in his position, he hadn't so much as moved a muscle. Anybody else would have ran a different direction, or as thought previously, Justin would have presumably become angry, lunging at his attacker with great force stopping at nothing to end the life of the mercenary who tried to end his.

Yet Justin did nothing…

"I … I …" Kurt stumbled. There was nothing he could say to try and omit the horrible reality.

Instead Justin decided to speak.

What he would say, ended up being completely different from what people would have thought he would have said in a situation like this.

Somberly he mumbled to his father, "So… that's how it's going to be from now on…"

Justin looked around at the rest of the family, his eyes downcast.

He saw the mortified faces of his family looking back at him, expecting him to retaliate like the monster he spent so much time trying to erase from his past.

Justin couldn't stand the fact that he would never be looked upon as human no matter how hard he tried. For the first time in his life, the pain he felt wasn't from a physical injury, it was a pain from the inside that he had no idea how to ease. It was an unnatural feeling unlike anything he could understand.

He was heartbroken…

Once he finished absorbing the shock, Justin finally made his move.

Without even looking back, he left the suite; it was time... time to leave behind the family he had gotten so close to.

"Justin! No! Justin, please don't leave!" Carey was nearly shouting those words.

Tears welled up in her eyes.

Justin didn't want to listen,

he didn't want to be there,

he didn't want to be alive,

he had almost wished that he was shot because the pain he felt was far worse than anything he ever felt in his life.

It was like a shockwave that tore through him. Justin didn't even have the strength to run, he walked, walked away with each step feeling heavier than the last one.

One slow step after the other…

Justin let one thought race through his mind as he moved further away from the door he invited himself in. "It was all a dream wasn't it? Was being embraced as a family member too far fetched of an idea? Did I let the dream interfere with reality?"

Two… three steps after another…

"How could I not see this coming? Why did I not prepare myself for this?"

There were no more steps to take, in front of Justin lay a crossroad…

He wanted to take the elevator, but he decided not to. The elevator belonged to guests, people who deserved to be here.

He took the stairs instead. It was like descending down to the steps of hell where all roads ended.

There was nothing left in this world for him anymore. It was such an empty feeling…

As he spiraled down each floor his soul began to disintegrate into darkness. As a soldier he had nothing to call his own, and now as a human he still had nothing to call his own, nothing has changed, and nothing ever would.

"You have to go after him!" Zack yelled. He looked at both of his parents who were in a daze.

Kurt made no movement but he was able to speak.

He silently mumbled, "m- maybe it's supposed to be like this…"

Frustrated, Carey turned to Kurt with tear streaks of anger.

"DON'T SAY THAT!"

It seemed like hours, but it was only minutes ago that Justin left, he disappeared without a trace, and it was in his nature to do such.

Cody began to stir back into consciousness. He sat up from the floor.

"What happened?" He mumbled.

Zack and Carey both looked at Kurt as if to ask the same question. What did happen? What drove Kurt so crazy that he had to chase Justin away?

There was a blank moment of silence that did not stir. Kurt moved towards the couch. He was in a state of shock.

"I… don't know," he whispered.

Kurt was totally confused. Justin was supposed to be a psychopath killer that had his family held in a hostage situation.

If anything, Kurt was the villain and he could see that now.

"He… he said that my family was in danger…" Kurt finished.

"Who Kurt… who said that we were in danger?" Carey asked.

It was then that Kurt realized that he had been set up. It was not the first time that he was tricked by this mysterious figure. Why he believed him, he didn't know.

More importantly, how did he know that Justin would even be here?

How did he even know Justin escaped?

Could this possibly be a conspiracy?

Everything from the beginning had felt strange. Like all of these unanswered questions were leading to one big gaping hole in the Martin family's lives.

The more Kurt thought of it, the more he began to question the oddities.

The sudden appearance of Justin on television, this was obviously a sign that somebody wanted him to be found.

A very organized plan was shaping, and it was becoming evident that all of these things were not accidents.

The split personality, the very arrival of Justin after thirteen years, and then his sudden trip to the hotel to be close to the rest of his family, the sudden encounter by the same man who took Justin all those years ago.

Where is this leading?

What is the connection?

Kurt could feel that he was being lead into a trap. Driving back to the hotel in a half beat up RV seemed so simple, why, why wasn't he stopped, why didn't the cop he knocked out radio in a dispatcher to have him stopped at all costs? The things Kurt did in order to get to his destination crossed all boundaries of possibility.

"There are just too many coincidences… I can't figure it out I can't seem to understand what all of this is supposed to mean."

Carey stared at Kurt rubbing his face in obvious delusion, talking to himself.

"Kurt what are you talking about, what are you trying to say?"

And then as if lighting struck, Kurt lifted his head in complete horror. He knew what was going on, he knew what all of these coincidences were leading up to.

"Oh my god... what have I done?"

Cody, who had been relatively silent, finally spoke up.

"Dad, what's going on?"

Kurt didn't pay any attention to the question.

"I should've known that one day they was going to come after him."

Kurt stood up from the couch again and placed his hands over the back of his head.

He walked towards the end of the door leading out of the suite.

"Kurt where are you going?"

"To find my son. He's in danger…"

"Danger! Kurt what's happening?"

I don't have time to explain. But if I don't find Justin soon, something terrible could happen."

Kurt immediately grabbed the gun from off the floor and stuffed it into his pocket.

He realized now that he needed that weapon, but he used it on the wrong person.

It was time for him to face the past he had hidden away from the rest of the family so well.

"Keep the boys inside Carey. Don't let them out of your sight."

As mysteriously as Kurt appeared inside the hotel, he slipped away as if he was never there. He had a job to do, and he had a life to save, just as long as it wasn't too late.

Meanwhile…

It had been a few hours since Justin had disappeared. Behind the closed stores, in the darkest of alleyways existed the boy who once thought himself human. He knew more than anybody else how well the darkness suited him. With only the moon as his source of light, Justin looked down at the drawing he made of his military brothers. the same ol' drawing he's kept for himself since he made it at the center. The big X's seemed to have a dull glow to them as if the night sky verified the departure of thier souls from this world with a firm conviction.

Justin sat there allowing the silence to consume him. In the distance he could hear rustling in a garbage can.

Out of the can popped out an alley cat with a fish carcass. Making its way towards Justin, it parked right next to him and began consuming what was left of its meal.

They were as different as night and day but they both shared the shadows of the night. Both were rejected by the world, and neither of them could ever find respite within their souls. They were like rocks in a pond, neither had a reason to exist, they just were.

Justin reached over to pet the cat but the angst ridden feline attacked his hand, making sure that he knew that he was an uninvited guest in the neighborhood.

He winced in pain from the cats claw mark spanning his entire right hand. There was some blood glistening from the index finger. The cat ran off in the distance vanishing from Justin's sight.

It was just the darkness again.

Justin took another look at the family portrait he drew, and then he looked at his own drawing of himself.

It was a series of scribbles to everyone else, but to Justin, it was a representation of everything he was.

He finally decided that with the blood from his hand, he would put down one more X on the paper, one last X to finish off the entire family line of blood brothers, his own image.

One slash across the face, due punishment for his greatest enemy, the one responsible for sealing his fate, destroying the life he would never be able to have, and another slash for every injustice he had plagued the world with, everything he had done, everything he would do in the future, and for those he would poison by his very existence.

It was confirmed throughout the universe, the blood stained across his own image shined brighter than all of the other X's in the portrait, like the universe itself agreed that justin didn't belong.

But the memories, the memories he so desperately wanted to cherish, were they all just figments of his imagination?

The greatest words of inspiration he ever heard came only two days ago when his brother Zack told him,

"I want to start over…"

Wanting to start anew is quite possibly the greatest thing a person could hope for. Was it possible to seek redemption through erasing the past? Justin didn't know anymore. He'd never felt so much of a failure in his life. he wanted so badly to go back to the hotel where it was warm and cozy, where he had some people over there that knew who he was and wanted him to be there. He had met so many interesting people that actually wanted to know where he came from; they wanted to know about him, his story.

Justin could hear cars passing by. It was late so the cars passed by every two to five minutes apart from each other. Maybe one of the vehicles passing by might be somebody that would be looking for him. Maybe his father didn't mean to shoot at him; maybe it was all a misunderstanding. Justin wanted to believe what he was telling himself but he was afraid to leave the alleyway, fearing of what else could happen to him. He was tired and hungry, two things he never allowed himself to notice in his body because he never had time to feel, only do what was necessary to survive the moment.

Justin listened for certain noises while he was in the alleyway. Maybe his brothers got on the bus to try and look for him and they're out searching for him right now. He could only hope, he could only wish that somebody cared about him, the love of a family had presented itself possible and he had already taken the bait, he needed more than words in his life now, he knew what he was missing. There was something new in his world that he realized he couldn't live without. He needed the love of his mother, the love of his brothers, and the love of his father.

With every walking sound, every bus, every car driving, it brought Justin more and more out of the alleyway wondering if what he was hoping for would actually become a reality.

He began to hear young voices that sounded very familiar. He was wondering if his mind was playing tricks on him but as the voices got closer, it made Justin's heart skip a beat with excitement. He didn't want to be in the alleyway anymore, he wanted to be with his family, he wanted this whole dream of his to be an actual reality.

As the voices got louder, Justin finally stepped out of the alley ready to embrace the family that went out to look for him even though he left. But to his disappointment, there were only two ladies walking their dogs past midnight. Justin's heart sank, he felt horrible all over again. Maybe this was reality after all. There are no fictitious scenarios that can come to life.

Justin decided to give it up. He sat on the curb of the street where the orange streetlight shined all over his body to glorify his tragic life.

There was no escaping; nothing good was ever going to happen again. Justin curled up into a ball and buried his head in his knees and cried silently to himself.

If only somebody could listen to his painful cry for solace and comfort. He didn't choose for his life to be this way, it just happened.

Suddenly as if there was somebody there to hear his cries, in the far distance of the empty streets of Boston came a limousine, creeping quietly towards Justin.

The startled boy lifted his head when the lights of the front hood shined on him. Justin stood up immediately and backed away from the curb. The vehicle's engine turned off and for a moment there was no movement from either Justin or the limo.

After a minute or so, the window rolled down halfway.

"I can help you," said a mysterious voice. Justin tried to see who it was but a light was shined in his face.

Justin stood there for a moment not making a sound. Any other person would have shown a slight case of fear, but not Justin. The light was shined in his face, but that did not seem to faze him.

"Do not fear what you cannot understand child. You live in a very cruel world, and I know you've been hurt. The wounds of anguish run deep within your tattered soul."

Justin remained motionless. He was unresponsive to the man in the limo.

"I've known people just like you; desperate, unsure of how things are going to work out, scared of the future. I can help you…"

Justin made his first move by putting his hands on his hips and then he tilted his head to the side. This was not a sign of curiosity, yet it was the birth of an intense moment of anger brewing inside of him.

Silence took over once more and forced a sense of discomfort out of the man in the vehicle.

"I represent an agency"

Justin cut him off. "Stop the bullshit, I know it was you."

A small laugh grunted out of the window of the limousine. Then the voice resumed its deep monotone voice.

"I told you what would happen… I told you that once they heard something about you that they didn't like, they would cast you away. I told you that they would stop loving you."

"That's not true… you lied to them."

"It was a test, a test I told you to be prepared for, and a test unlike any other that you would go through. You know how much we've prepared you, and still… look at what it's done to you."

Justin was too emotionally drained to shout at the man in the vehicle.

"I… I had a life… a real life…" he started to sob.

The mysterious figure softened his voice.

"It seems that way now, I know you're hurt. But that's what the mission was designed for. You know that."

Justin was sniffling through his words.

"I…I Wanted- to! K-know what!… what it was L-like to be loved."

He was having a hard time trying to catch his breath.

"And now you know… now you truly know what it's like to be accepted and then just as quickly become an outcast. It was a necessary part of your training.

You should always remember that the unit is your family, it always has been, and it always will be. Your brothers in arms have lived and died to protect the order of how things must be. They knew the meaning of the missions they had to go through, and now you know too. You truly know the meaning of 'sacrificial redemption.'"

The door to the limousine opened. A finely polished shoe touched the ground and then another. And then the mysterious man was no longer a mystery. Justin knew who it was the whole time, and even though he understood the meaning of the mission he was given, it was so hard to let go.

"Couldn't there have been a better way Miles?"

The same man who introduced the Martin family to their long lost brother was the same man who took him away from them not once, but now it would be twice.

Miles walked to Justin and placed his hand on his back in a consoling manner.

"You were always the one I knew would be the most powerful of all the soldiers I ever trained. You have such a strong and willful spirit. It takes much guidance for one like yourself to become the soldier I know you can be, even if it takes more work than the others. But I know in the end, you will prove to be stronger than any of the others ever were."

Miles motioned for Justin to get into the limousine. Justin blindly followed his master no longer able to decide for himself what's right and wrong. He was once again defeated.

"With great sacrifice comes a great sense of redemption on the other side. I want you to always remember that Justin."

The doors closed and the vehicle started up. Such a fear inspiring day when the slave returns home to his master unaware of what the future beholds, unsure of yourself, wondering if you have already chosen a side. Miles was right about one thing. Justin had a very strong and willful spirit. But how long until Justin's spirit would finally be broken by the crushing weight of all those trying to destroy him?

Where was Justin's savior? Who would be there for him, where was his guardian angel? When Justin disappeared with Miles, there was no telling if any of his family would ever see him again.

This wasn't like a movie. There was no train station full of loved ones there to see him off to a better future.

Justin came and went as bleakly and obsolete as a passing cloud, the kind that nobody paid any attention to even though they know it was there.

All of that may be true, but in the distance, without Justin knowing, there was at least one person there to see him off.

Maybe it would have made a big difference in the outcome of things, but it didn't matter anymore...

Kurt had searched for hours for his lost son only to realize that he was too late, he saw his boy climb into the same vehicle in which he was given away, once again to never be seen again. The same thought raced through Kurt's mind again; the same thought that was in his head that one early morning when he gave Justin away…

'What have I done?'

It was like a recurring nightmare playing over and over again while he was still awake.

He couldn't let the nightmare continue to haunt him. Kurt had to do something, but what could he do?

In an instant impulse, Kurt began to chase after the limousine. He kept running and running as if he could somehow catch the vehicle.

As he was running tears were streaming down his face as instant flashbacks of his boy played in his mind.

The visits to the child crisis center in which he got to see him up close, stand next to him and talk, know that he was alive after all these years and even though he was the one to give him away, Justin showed no true bitterness towards him.

the other thing that played in his mind was the fact Kurt was denying that Justin was gone.

He kept telling himself that there was still a chance... there was still a chance to tell Justin that he loved him, he loved his son as much as he loved the others.

If only he could start over... but it was just too late.

The limousine was long gone but Kurt kept running anyway.

He just kept running and running until he could run no more...

and then he lied huddled in the middle of the deserted street after it was all over.

There was nothing left that he could do except lie in a pool of tears.