Silence

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Chapter 3

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A/N: I discovered a song recently that fits pretty well with any one-sided Jalex fix... 'Cold' by Crossfade... check it out, you'll see what I mean... now on with the story.

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Disclaimer: Like all the rest... Don't own WoWP, etc, yadda, yadda, yadda... here we go... uh... continue... again.

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Justin heard the door to Alex's room slam, and a flinch jerked his body. It was late when she had gotten back, perhaps two in the morning, he thought. He had apologized to her, but as he feared, a simple 'I'm sorry' wasn't enough, it would never be...

In his mind, there was only one thing left to do...

He made his way to his room, digging through his desk for a pen and a loose piece of paper. Hastily, he scribbled out a quick note for Alex. Wiping the tears from his eyes, he carefully folded it, and made his way to her door.

Alex sat on the edge of her bed, head in her hands, fighting back her anger, fighting back her confusion... fighting back her tears... losing the battle on all three fronts. Her body froze when she heard footsteps approach her door and her eyes widened as a ghost of a shadow, peaking out from under it, drew near.

She had locked the door, afraid of what he might try... but she knew him too well, she knew he'd never attempt that again, and part of her wished what he would ignore the lock, flash himself in, and just talk to her... tell her he's sorry, tell her everything would be alright, tell her that one day soon, everything could go back to how it was... but he didn't.

Justin took the simple note from his hand, kissed it softly as he knelt down, and cautiously slipped it under her door. He leaned his arm against the cool wood, resting his head in the crook of his elbow as he removed his wand from his back pocket.

Alex stared at the small sheet of paper fluttering to a hault, and ignoring the shadow still present outside of her room, cautiously made her way over to it. Kneeling down to pick it up, she heard the faintest sound of Justin's voice, softly whispering, "I'm sorry, I'm so, so, sorry" and, in that moment, she wanted nothing more than to throw the door open, embrace him tightly, and forgive him so she wouldn't lose the most important person in her life... but she didn't.

She opened the note, holding it at an angle to allow the dim light from her table lamp to reach it. She almost didn't recognize the handwriting. It wasn't Justin's usually near-perfect penmanship, this was scrawled, quickly and with purpose, and knots formed in her stomach when she noticed the tear stains blurring some of his words...

Alex,

I'm so sorry for what I have done to you. I never meant it to let it get this far. I should have been a better brother to you, and not allowed this to happen.

This is all my fault so please, don't blame yourself, you've done nothing wrong. Just know two things: 1) - I will always love you, and I don't blame you for hating me... I deserve it. And 2) - I'm leaving tonight, but don't try to find me... where I'm going, is a path you won't be able to tread.

Justin

She closed the note, tears brimming in her eyes, "Justin?" she said softly, hearing him sniffle from behind the door, but as she reached for the door knob, she heard one final thing... the familar 'pop' of someone flashing out. "JUSTIN!" As she flung open her door, she was met with whispy white smoke, and an empty hallway... he was gone.

Justin stood silently, gazing out over the city from the sixty first floor of the Chrysler Building. He turned around, looking up at the massive spire that adorned it and smiled... He had just realized why he loved this place so much... It reminded him of Alex.

Simple, yet elegant, beautiful and bold, each layer more intriguing than the last, a monument of style and grace amidst a sea of dull... Just like Alex, he thought.

He slowly backed his feet to the ledge, casting a sideways glance at the silver eagles he'd grown so fond of, jutting out like gargoyles to ward off evil spirits. "So much for myths" he said with a hollow laugh, "Is there anything more evil than me?"

He glanced down at the streets below, "Sixty-one stories," he said, running a quick calculation in his head, "about seven-hundred and eight three feet" He chuckled, his voice soft, devoid of emotion, not sure why he was even bothering with the math, and ran one final calculation, "About seven seconds of freefall..."

He took a final deep breath, lifted his head toward the heavens, whispering, "I love you, Alex" and let himself fall back, the screaming in his head now louder than ever.

Justin could feel he wind whipping through his hair as he looked up at the night sky. It seemed that it was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen. The way the stars twinkled above him, shining their meager light for all the world to see, and he wondered for a second how many of them were still there... how many had 'died', exploded in a brilliant supernova, but were too far away for the light from that catastrophic event to have yet reached Earth. He wondered how many of them out there were just like him... still shining for all the world to see but had long since passed... just a remnant of their former selves.

Seven...

"Justin!" sniffled a eight year old Alex, "I scraped my knee... I need your help" she said putting on her best pouty face. "Come here," he said, placing her gently on his lap and tending to her wound. "All better?" "Yes, Justin, thank you!" Alex said smiling as Justin placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. "Your wecome, Alex, I'll always be here to help you"

Six...

"Justin!" said ten year old Alex, "I broke mommy's lamp. I need your help!" "Ok, calm down. Let's see..." Justin said, removing his wand, "I think this might help... Lampinus Repairis." "There" he stated smiling, "All better." "Thank you, Justin" Alex said hugging her brother. "You're welcome. I'll always be here to help you."

Five...

"Alex, what did you do?" Justin said to a twelve year old Alex. "What? Why do you just assume-" Justin shot her a look. "Ok, fine. So, I kinda did a spell wrong... and now the Lair is on fire!" "What!" he shouted as they both rushed downstairs.

"There, the fire's out... now... um... oh, Roomius Fixus." "Phew, talk about a close one, huh? Anyway, thanks for the help" Alex said, patting him on the back. Justin smiled, "I'll always be here to help you."

Four...

"Justin, can you help me with something?" Asked a fourteen year old Alex. "Sure, what is it?" he asked curiously. "I forgot to study for that math test I got tomorrow, will you help me?" "Of course I will!" Justin replied, enthusiastically.

"Justin, Justin! Look..." she said holding out her test, running excitedly towards him, "I got a B!" "Congratulations, Alex. I'm so proud of you!" Justin said smiling. Alex blushed happily, "Thanks again for the help." "No problem, Alex, I'll always be here to help you."

Three...

"But why?' Whined a sixteen year old Alex, stomping her foot. "Uh, probably because if you don't study your wizard lessons, you'll end up wishing mom and dad never met again or something..." he said, clearly frustrated.

"Ugh, fine!... Thanks..." "For what?" Justin asked, "For the help." Alex replied shyly. "But I haven't done anything yet..." "I know... but you will" she stated. Justin smiled, "I'll always be here to help you."

Two...

"Justin!" Cried an eighteen year old Alex from her knees in the narrow hallway her brother had just flashed away from, tears streaming down her face. "Please don't leave me... I still need you... I still need your help!"

One...

"I'm sorry, Alex. I'm sorry I broke my promise to always be there for you." Justin whispered to the night sky. "Maybe I'll get another chance someday... one last chance to get things right..."

Zero...

Finally, the pain in his heart had ended...

Finally, the screaming in his mind had stopped...

Finally... there was Silence.

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A/N: Ok, this story is done... So... Alright, I'm going through a bit of a 'do-horrible-things-to-Justin' phase... But that doesn't mean... *ducks* AH! Who threw the rock? *points angrily* Was it you?... Anyway, hopefully that back-and-forth in time wasn't too hard to follow... Thanks for reading.

A lot of that stuff about the Chrysler building came from a show on the History Channel I watched about two years ago... Details are kinda fuzzy... the rest was just a S.W.A.G.. - (Scientific Wild Ass Guess) - for those of you who are curious... and only about 2 miles from Waverly Place (thank you google maps) which is why I chose it.

And for the record, suicide is NEVER the answer... there's ALWAYS something else you can do, got it? Good.

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OK, that's it... Peace Out.