Author's Note: My first chaptered Jalex fic! Egads! ;) Let's see how it goes...

Truth Spell

It was six months today since Justin left. Alex could hear her mother's weeping through the wall as she pored over the most recent letter from her eldest son. No return address, a different postage every time. He sent one on the first of every month since he left. It always said the same thing.

Dear Mom and Dad,

I'm safe. I love you.

-Justin Russo

Only Justin would sign his whole name in a letter to his parents. As if they wouldn't figure it out otherwise. Her brother was such a loser.

And she missed him so badly she ached. Sometimes it even hurt just to breathe. The pain never went away, it didn't even subside a bit. Every day hurt just as badly as the last, if not more. Their parents didn't understand why he was gone, it was so unlike him. Who would have ever picked Justin to be the one to run away from home? Justin. Perfect Justin. Honorable Justin. Her Justin. She could never tell them it was her fault. Just like everything else. It was all her fault.

At first she had tried to blame it on him. After all, he was the one cast the Truth Spell on her. She didn't have any control over it! Soon she learned that this wasn't like anything else she had experienced. This wasn't something she could pass the blame off on another. This was real. Scary and more real than anything her life had ever brought to her before. There were some days she hated him for casting that spell and there were others that she was grateful for it. Despite the aftermath, at least they had the truth. No more hiding.

They were in school, of all places it had to happen, it was in the school hallway. Alex had to roll her eyes at that. Justin didn't believe she had fairly (or legally) received the Citizenship Award and cast the Truth spell on her to prove it. It backfired of course.

Really, why would she lie about getting that kind of an award? She'd lie about how she obtained the newest Marvaati boots, about the paper she said she handed in but didn't, even about what the real expiration date was on the yogurt she handed him that morning, but about a Citizenship Award? Praise for doing something decent and good for the benefit of society? Please. He should have known better than that.

So then Justin was jealous, and she was actually excited about that, the result of the award on her brother was far better satisfaction she would have gotten from a measly piece of paper. Not to mention he had to present it to her in front of the entire student body. How awesome was that? She relished seeing his head explode as he gave her the award. Upsetting Justin was her favorite pastime. They couldn't be like she really needed, so this was the closest thing she could find to match the level of intensity she felt. It's pathetic when you think about it, but she wasn't in a position to be choosy.

However, Alex didn't factor in his payback. Justin left the Truth spell on her, and having forgotten about it, she got up in front of the entire school and spoke her mind. That went well. She ended up completely ostracizing herself, but it meant nothing compared to what happened soon after.

Once she realized the Truth spell was still in effect, she demanded he take it off. Justin was infuriatingly smug, for once his plan to pull one over on her worked. Then he did the stupidest thing he could have ever done. He asked why she hadn't said anything about him.

Moron.

The hallway was clear and they had moved off to a corner to allow for a small amount of privacy. Small favors. He held up his wand, prepared to take the spell off before she said a word, he thought she would just start spewing horrible insults at him and was prepared to head it off at the pass. But then he hesitated. Oh, she could have killed him. Why did he have to hesitate!

"What would you want me to say about you, Justin? That there isn't a day that goes by where I wish you weren't my brother? I do think that. From the minute I wake up to the second before I fall asleep. You're smart, attractive, a total doofus, a complete freak, and the kindest person I have ever known. You have a way of making me feel like I'm the most important thing in the world. I hate that you're my brother, I can't bear it. I wish I had never been born into this family because then I wouldn't have to hate myself for feeling the things that I do. There are things I want from you that a sister should never want from her brother. I don't want shallow hugs and lame arguments where I can never say what I mean. I want us to hold hands and go on dates and have disgusting public displays of affection. I want to feel your lips on mine, I want to be able to make love with you, and wake up in the morning with you in my bed. I don't want other boys, I've tried, but I don't want them. I just want you, Justin, for the rest of my life I want you. I can't make it go away. You don't know how hard I've tried."

She clamped her hand over her mouth as her eyes were wide with horror. Did she really just speak those words? She couldn't have! One look at her brother's face and she knew she had. Not even when he was seasick that one time on the ferryboat when he was eleven had Justin ever been so pale.

He stumbled over the incantation to take off the Truth spell. It took him four tries before he got it right. His wand shook violently as he did it. Alex could only stand there mutely, staring at him. Then he walked away and she didn't do a thing to stop him.

The hours that followed were the longest of her life. She felt sick with dread. Panic was slowly beginning to drown her. She had never understood the concept of a nervous breakdown before, but that's what she was encroaching on. Honestly, she always thought she would end up carrying Harper through a few of them in the course of their friendship. Never her. She was Alex Russo, calm, habitually lazy, ambivalent, devious, and most likely to be on the Wizard's Most Wanted list before she was 20.

She paced back and forth in her room, trying to figure out some way that she could repair the damage between them. What she said couldn't stand. She had to erase it somehow. She was just about to run downstairs to the Lair to look up a memory spell to use on Justin when he walked in.

There was no knocking, no false pretenses. He looked as bad as she had ever seen him, bloodshot eyes, messy hair, still deathly pale. What she said had stripped him bare. Justin locked the door behind him and looked right into her with such an intense look in his gray eyes that it scared her.

"What are you doing?" she snapped, summoning every bit of strength she had to keep up her facade, but it wasn't going to hold for long. Right now she looked nonchalant and oblivious to whatever had taken place between them, but she was being ripped apart from the inside.

"We have to know, Alex. Once and for all. I can't live like this anymore."