Chapter 65

Inner Reflection | home

Nikolas looked at Lance and tried not to laugh at him. He was so delirious that he didn't even know what he was talking about. "What, your wing hurts?" he asked with a smile. Now that they could be sure he would be fine, it felt good to laugh.

"A little," Lance said with a nod. "What happened to it?"

Nikolas raised an eyebrow but his face darkened a little bit. "They broke it," he said. "Your wing is broken."

"Oh my GOSH! It is? Am I okay?" Lance tried to turn and look at it, but cried out in pain as he did so.

Nikolas sighed. "James..." But Lance had already passed out again. "You're something else, you know that?" He sighed again, and after making sure Lance was comfortable, he went to go see what he could do about getting the broken wing fixed.

Justin heard the distinct sound of someone sobbing and he ran towards it. "JC? Jace, man, open up," he said, realizing who it was and that their door was locked. They were all staying at Justin's for the week, in case something came up. "JC? Please?"

JC didn't answer. Justin's eyes widened and he knocked again, hearing what he was saying. "Lance, I'm so sorry, Lance...I didn't remember...I remember now...Lance...Lance..."

Justin HAD to get into JC's room. Lance...the name on the necklace, the one in JC's dreams, and Joey's...angel? Was there a connection there? He blinked, clearing his mind. There HAD to be. There just WEREN'T coincidences like that. But right now, his friend was crying and he didn't know why.

"Lance...I'm so sorry...I told you I'd remember...Lance..."

Justin shook his head in confusion. Maybe Lance was someone JC had met before Justin joined MMC. "HEY! CURLY! WE'RE BACK!" Chris' voice floated up the stairs. "Where are you? We got some--"

"Come up here!" Justin yelled back.

"Help me break this freaking door down," he muttered, shoving his shoulder against it. It didn't work. "Ugh...Jace? Come on..." Chris and Joey appeared behind him and Chris opened his mouth to speak when Justin shushed him. "Listen," he said, worry in his voice.

"Why did you go? I'm sorry, Lance...I'm so sorry...I don't want you to leave me...Please don't take him away..."

Joey said one word that summed it all up. "Shit."

"We've got a situation down there...It's...Joshua...he's locked himself in his room and...well...we think he's remembering some things..."

Nikolas looked up from where he was realigning Lance's wing. "What? Well, then...get someone to unlock the door...We're trying to get James up and about again, maybe--" he cut himself off. "Just get the door unlocked and we'll see what we can do from there..." He stopped when he saw Lance start to stir. "James?" Lance shook his head a little and blinked his eyes open. He made a move to roll over onto his back, but Nikolas stopped him. "Don't do that," he warned. "You'll only hurt your wing." Lance nodded and Nikolas went to face him, where he was on his side. "How are you feeling?"

"How do you think?" Lance asked, and Nikolas was relieved to see that he wasn't as delirious as before.

"Back to normal, I see?"

Lance furrowed his brow. "What do you mean?"

Nikolas chuckled when he realized Lance didn't remember a thing. "Well, the second time you woke up, you were a little...out of it. You seemed to have forgotten why your wing hurt...and you were talking about glowing and flying away."

Lance raised an eyebrow. "Really now?" He shifted a little and winced in pain. "Don't worry," he said, his face contorted with pain. "I remember it all." His face darkened as he looked down, remembering, and saw how dirty his clothes were.

"What happened?" Nikolas asked quietly.

Lance shook his head. "Tell me one thing, Nikolas," he said, and Nikolas was surprised to hear a small bit of anger lacing his tone. He sat up, though Nikolas tried to get him to lay down. He closed his eyes against the pain and continued. "When were you planning on telling me I was an innocent?"

Justin shoved his shoulder against the door again, trying to turn the knob. He almost fell over when he noticed that it was unlocked. "Oh my God..." Chris started laughing. "Forget to try the doorknob, Curly?" he asked, punching the younger man in the arm.

Justin shoved his arm away. "Shut up. It was locked before." He turned to

JC, who was crying and curled up in a little ball. "JC?" He shook him slightly, but JC just turned away.

Joey tried and ended up getting a fist in his stomach. "Jesus," he wheezed, holding a hand over it.

"Lance, I'm sorry," he cried. "Please come back...I didn't want you to go..." Then the next words out of his mouth shocked them all. "I love you too much to let you go..."

Nikolas' eyes widened when he heard Lance's question. "James...I...I didn't know, I promise you, I didn't know you were. I didn't figure it out until you were gone. I don't know HOW they knew..."

"They know everything," Lance said bitterly, looking down. "You know what he wanted me for? Do you?" Nikolas shook his head. "He wanted my soul," Lance said. "He told me that he'd hurt Josh if I didn't give it up..."

Nikolas' eyes widened. "You mean..."

"I didn't, naturally," Lance said, still looking down. "He wanted it so he could go to earth and...I don't know, but...if he got there...if he had my soul, he could've come up HERE, you know? And that's scary, it really is. And you wouldn't know it was him until it was too late. You'd have no idea."

Chris finally jumped on the bed, straddling JC, and held his wrists down. "Get some water," He said, wrestling with the younger man. They decided, by unspoken agreement, to ignore his declaration of love for the 'Lance' he kept talking about. Joey ran and did so, then threw it on top of their bandmate.

He shot up, eyes wide. "Lance?"

He and Chris were eye to eye. "No," Chris said. "There isn't a Lance here, it's just me, Justin, and Joey, all right?"

"JC, there IS no Lance," Chris said patiently. "Just you, me, and Joey and Justin."

"Joey?" JC asked, still a little out of it.

"Yeah, Joey's right here."

JC looked past Chris, not really noticing that his hands were still pinned to the bed. He looked to Joey, who still had a protective hand discreetly over his stomach. "Joey? Where's Lance? He disappeared...they took him away...where did he go?"

Nikolas' pale blue eyes widened even further. "You're not..."

"What, you think I let him?" Lance scoffed. "I honestly thought you had more confidence in me," he said, turning around. He calmed down a little bit. "But I don't..." he sighed. "They did something to my back, have you seen that yet?"

Nikolas went behind him and carefully lifted his shirt up. "Oh my goodness..."

"There are these black lines...scars...on your back...James, I had no idea--"

"What, you didn't think they'd hurt me? Especially after I refused to give them what they wanted?"

"But that still doesn't explain why you--"

"You still don't believe me, do you?" Lance asked sadly. He didn't look up. "I probably wouldn't either...but trust me when I say that they lost...they lost and they'll definitely stay away from me and the other four guys down there from now on."

"What makes you say that?"

Lance chuckled ruefully. "Let's just say any one of them that touched me after they caught me the SECOND time got a painful little surprise...being an innocent DOES have it's advantages..."

"James, what did you do?"

"I didn't do anything!" Lance said defensively. "See, let me start at the beginning." He shifted a little. "OW! Can't you fix that first?"

Nikolas frowned. "I'm not so sure you CAN'T. If you're an innocent you probably can. Try it."

"How?" Lance asked skeptically. "Close my eyes and hope it fixes itself?"

Nikolas smiled. This was the Lance he knew. "Actually, I believe you just concentrate on the injury and it will heal. Although...we haven't exactly had someone injured here very often..."

Lance shut his eyes and ignored Nikolas' rambling. He didn't hear the startled gasp when the broken area of his wing started to glow. After a few minutes, he opened his eyes. "Hey! It worked! Cool!" He flapped it a little bit, but still felt a dull ache. "Ow, it still hurts. But that's okay."

"Sure," Nikolas said, raising an eyebrow. "James," he began.

"Lance," Lance corrected automatically. "I know, I told you I'd tell you what my story was..." he sighed. "Well...they tied me to something," he said, his eyes becoming unfocused as he remembered. "And when I woke up...for the first time, I didn't have much energy, but that's expected, right?" Nikolas nodded. "Then, though, it all started coming back...and then Satan..."

"Lucifer talked to you?" Nikolas asked in surprise.

"Who did you think would?" Lance asked, raising an eyebrow. "But anyway, started talking about Josh and my weaknesses, and things like that...but my...restraints...whatever they had holding me, every time I pulled on them, they gave a little bit. And then, he sort of gave me an ultimatum...Either I give up my soul -- willingly -- or he sends someone after Josh, and..." Lance bit his lip and looked down, remembering. "I told him that..."

"You don't mean you gave up Joshua? Is that what's going on down there?" Lance looked at him sharply and Nikolas knew he should've kept his mouth shut. But he couldn't help asking...

"What do you mean? What's going on?" Lance said, looking hard at Nikolas and trying to see the earth. Nikolas blocked him.

"Tell the rest. It's nothing big, the others have it under control." Lance kept his mouth shut. "James, I told you, it's fine!" Lance turned his head away. "James, this is important. I'll tell you what's going on if you tell me what happened."

Lance sighed and started again sullenly. "I TOLD him that I wouldn't let either of them happen and I broke free, cause like I said, the things tying me were breaking...And then..." Lance's brow furrowed. "I started glowing." Nikolas' eyes widened. "So I tried to fly away, but some of them caught me...on the wing, and I fell down, and I guess that's when it broke." He shook his head and closed his eyes against the memory. "It hurt so much, but I don't really know what happened next. I...I felt them try to pin me down again but then..." he shook his head. "They all started yelling. Like, in pain...and there were all these like, welts popping up all over them...I don't know." Nikolas stared at him, eyes wide. He'd never heard of THAT happening. "And then I passed out and woke up and saw you." He stood up impatiently. "Not to sound like this isn't important or anything, but..."

Nikolas waved him away. "Be back in a few hours, though," he said. "I still need to discuss more with you."

"Always," Lance said. Nikolas rolled his eyes. It was the real Lance, all right.


	Inner Reflection \| home back to Sent From Above Chapter 65 Nikolas looked at Lance and tried not to laugh at him. He was so delirious that he didn't even know what he was talking about. "What, your wing hurts?" he asked with a smile. Now that they could be sure he would be fine, it felt good to laugh. "A little," Lance said with a nod. "What happened to it?" Nikolas raised an eyebrow but his face darkened a little bit. "They broke it," he said. "Your wing is broken." "Oh my GOSH! It is? Am I okay?" Lance tried to turn and look at it, but cried out in pain as he did so. Nikolas sighed. "James..." But Lance had already passed out again. "You're something else, you know that?" He sighed again, and after making sure Lance was comfortable, he went to go see what he could do about getting the broken wing fixed. **** Justin heard the distinct sound of someone sobbing and he ran towards it. "JC? Jace, man, open up," he said, realizing who it was and that their door was locked. They were all staying at Justin's for the week, in case something came up. "JC? Please?" JC didn't answer. Justin's eyes widened and he knocked again, hearing what he was saying. "Lance, I'm so sorry, Lance...I didn't remember...I remember now...Lance...Lance..." Justin HAD to get into JC's room. Lance...the name on the necklace, the one in JC's dreams, and Joey's...angel? Was there a connection there? He blinked, clearing his mind. There HAD to be. There just WEREN'T coincidences like that. But right now, his friend was crying and he didn't know why. "Lance...I'm so sorry...I told you I'd remember...Lance..." Justin shook his head in confusion. Maybe Lance was someone JC had met before Justin joined MMC. "HEY! CURLY! WE'RE BACK!" Chris' voice floated up the stairs. "Where are you? We got some--" "Come up here!" Justin yelled back. "WHAT?" "Help me break this freaking door down," he muttered, shoving his shoulder against it. It didn't work. "Ugh...Jace? Come on..." Chris and Joey appeared behind him and Chris opened his mouth to speak when Justin shushed him. "Listen," he said, worry in his voice. "Why did you go? I'm sorry, Lance...I'm so sorry...I don't want you to leave me...Please don't take him away..." Joey said one word that summed it all up. "Shit." * "We've got a situation down there...It's...Joshua...he's locked himself in his room and...well...we think he's remembering some things..." Nikolas looked up from where he was realigning Lance's wing. "What? Well, then...get someone to unlock the door...We're trying to get James up and about again, maybe--" he cut himself off. "Just get the door unlocked and we'll see what we can do from there..." He stopped when he saw Lance start to stir. "James?" Lance shook his head a little and blinked his eyes open. He made a move to roll over onto his back, but Nikolas stopped him. "Don't do that," he warned. "You'll only hurt your wing." Lance nodded and Nikolas went to face him, where he was on his side. "How are you feeling?" "How do you think?" Lance asked, and Nikolas was relieved to see that he wasn't as delirious as before. "Back to normal, I see?" Lance furrowed his brow. "What do you mean?" Nikolas chuckled when he realized Lance didn't remember a thing. "Well, the second time you woke up, you were a little...out of it. You seemed to have forgotten why your wing hurt...and you were talking about glowing and flying away." Lance raised an eyebrow. "Really now?" He shifted a little and winced in pain. "Don't worry," he said, his face contorted with pain. "I remember it all." His face darkened as he looked down, remembering, and saw how dirty his clothes were. "What happened?" Nikolas asked quietly. Lance shook his head. "Tell me one thing, Nikolas," he said, and Nikolas was surprised to hear a small bit of anger lacing his tone. He sat up, though Nikolas tried to get him to lay down. He closed his eyes against the pain and continued. "When were you planning on telling me I was an innocent?" * Justin shoved his shoulder against the door again, trying to turn the knob. He almost fell over when he noticed that it was unlocked. "Oh my God..." Chris started laughing. "Forget to try the doorknob, Curly?" he asked, punching the younger man in the arm. Justin shoved his arm away. "Shut up. It was locked before." He turned to JC, who was crying and curled up in a little ball. "JC?" He shook him slightly, but JC just turned away. Joey tried and ended up getting a fist in his stomach. "Jesus," he wheezed, holding a hand over it. "Lance, I'm sorry," he cried. "Please come back...I didn't want you to go..." Then the next words out of his mouth shocked them all. "I love you too much to let you go..." * Nikolas' eyes widened when he heard Lance's question. "James...I...I didn't know, I promise you, I didn't know you were. I didn't figure it out until you were gone. I don't know HOW they knew..." "They know everything," Lance said bitterly, looking down. "You know what he wanted me for? Do you?" Nikolas shook his head. "He wanted my soul," Lance said. "He told me that he'd hurt Josh if I didn't give it up..." Nikolas' eyes widened. "You mean..." "I didn't, naturally," Lance said, still looking down. "He wanted it so he could go to earth and...I don't know, but...if he got there...if he had my soul, he could've come up HERE, you know? And that's scary, it really is. And you wouldn't know it was him until it was too late. You'd have no idea." * Chris finally jumped on the bed, straddling JC, and held his wrists down. "Get some water," He said, wrestling with the younger man. They decided, by unspoken agreement, to ignore his declaration of love for the 'Lance' he kept talking about. Joey ran and did so, then threw it on top of their bandmate. He shot up, eyes wide. "Lance?" He and Chris were eye to eye. "No," Chris said. "There isn't a Lance here, it's just me, Justin, and Joey, all right?" "Where's Lance?" "JC, there IS no Lance," Chris said patiently. "Just you, me, and Joey and Justin." "Joey?" JC asked, still a little out of it. "Yeah, Joey's right here." JC looked past Chris, not really noticing that his hands were still pinned to the bed. He looked to Joey, who still had a protective hand discreetly over his stomach. "Joey? Where's Lance? He disappeared...they took him away...where did he go?" *** Nikolas' pale blue eyes widened even further. "You're not..." "What, you think I let him?" Lance scoffed. "I honestly thought you had more confidence in me," he said, turning around. He calmed down a little bit. "But I don't..." he sighed. "They did something to my back, have you seen that yet?" Nikolas went behind him and carefully lifted his shirt up. "Oh my goodness..." "What is it?" "There are these black lines...scars...on your back...James, I had no idea--" "What, you didn't think they'd hurt me? Especially after I refused to give them what they wanted?" "But that still doesn't explain why you--" "You still don't believe me, do you?" Lance asked sadly. He didn't look up. "I probably wouldn't either...but trust me when I say that they lost...they lost and they'll definitely stay away from me and the other four guys down there from now on." "What makes you say that?" Lance chuckled ruefully. "Let's just say any one of them that touched me after they caught me the SECOND time got a painful little surprise...being an innocent DOES have it's advantages..." "James, what did you do?" "I didn't do anything!" Lance said defensively. "See, let me start at the beginning." He shifted a little. "OW! Can't you fix that first?" Nikolas frowned. "I'm not so sure you CAN'T. If you're an innocent you probably can. Try it." "How?" Lance asked skeptically. "Close my eyes and hope it fixes itself?" Nikolas smiled. This was the Lance he knew. "Actually, I believe you just concentrate on the injury and it will heal. Although...we haven't exactly had someone injured here very often..." Lance shut his eyes and ignored Nikolas' rambling. He didn't hear the startled gasp when the broken area of his wing started to glow. After a few minutes, he opened his eyes. "Hey! It worked! Cool!" He flapped it a little bit, but still felt a dull ache. "Ow, it still hurts. But that's okay." "Sure," Nikolas said, raising an eyebrow. "James," he began. "Lance," Lance corrected automatically. "I know, I told you I'd tell you what my story was..." he sighed. "Well...they tied me to something," he said, his eyes becoming unfocused as he remembered. "And when I woke up...for the first time, I didn't have much energy, but that's expected, right?" Nikolas nodded. "Then, though, it all started coming back...and then Satan..." "Lucifer talked to you?" Nikolas asked in surprise. "Who did you think would?" Lance asked, raising an eyebrow. "But anyway, started talking about Josh and my weaknesses, and things like that...but my...restraints...whatever they had holding me, every time I pulled on them, they gave a little bit. And then, he sort of gave me an ultimatum...Either I give up my soul -- willingly -- or he sends someone after Josh, and..." Lance bit his lip and looked down, remembering. "I told him that..." "You don't mean you gave up Joshua? Is that what's going on down there?" Lance looked at him sharply and Nikolas knew he should've kept his mouth shut. But he couldn't help asking... "What do you mean? What's going on?" Lance said, looking hard at Nikolas and trying to see the earth. Nikolas blocked him. "Tell the rest. It's nothing big, the others have it under control." Lance kept his mouth shut. "James, I told you, it's fine!" Lance turned his head away. "James, this is important. I'll tell you what's going on if you tell me what happened." Lance sighed and started again sullenly. "I TOLD him that I wouldn't let either of them happen and I broke free, cause like I said, the things tying me were breaking...And then..." Lance's brow furrowed. "I started glowing." Nikolas' eyes widened. "So I tried to fly away, but some of them caught me...on the wing, and I fell down, and I guess that's when it broke." He shook his head and closed his eyes against the memory. "It hurt so much, but I don't really know what happened next. I...I felt them try to pin me down again but then..." he shook his head. "They all started yelling. Like, in pain...and there were all these like, welts popping up all over them...I don't know." Nikolas stared at him, eyes wide. He'd never heard of THAT happening. "And then I passed out and woke up and saw you." He stood up impatiently. "Not to sound like this isn't important or anything, but..." Nikolas waved him away. "Be back in a few hours, though," he said. "I still need to discuss more with you." "Always," Lance said. Nikolas rolled his eyes. It was the real Lance, all right.