18 | Chase's Dream- Emotional

Chase had the same thing that happened to Leora happen to him. He looked to the side, hearing two sets of footsteps turn into one, his own. He looked over and Leora was gone. "Leora?" Chase called out, turning around to look for her.

"Chase..." a quiet and afraid voice called out behind him. Charlie..

"Charlie? Hold on I'm coming!" Chase called out, turning back around and heading towards the voice.

The voice seemed to be in his mind, rather than in the building. He assumed that was because maybe, just maybe, she was reaching out to him through her dreams. As he turned the corner, the voice changed to that of his wife, Astrid. Her voice seemed strained, in pain, causing Chase to turn to it. Tears filled his eyes as he ran off in that direction.

Emotional weakness.

Chase was very emotionally vulnerable at the moment and having a false hope in his mind sent him running through the building, trying to reach the voice of his wife and sister.

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Chase was not having a good time over in his dream. He was struggling hardcore with this whole emotions thing and being alone.

He now found himself back at camp, tears stained his face. He was breaking down and fast. A scream came from the forest, one that he knew exactly who it belonged to the second he heard it.

his wife.

Chase full on sprinted towards the forest. a man on a mission.

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Leora stumbled out of wherever she ended up. "Where am I now?" She mumbled.

Leora was now in the forest back at Camp Half Blood. It had started pouring and there was a thunder and lightning storm. With Leora was DJ.

DJ stopped and looked down at his hand where Ryker once stood, taking a deep breath at the rain. "FUCK!" He groaned and looked around. "Holy SHIT I hate this guy, I can't believe I fucking slept with him I swear to GOD-" He looked over at Leora and stopped, blinking a few times. He inhaled and stared at her. "...sup."

She was just standing there holding up her wrench like she was gonna hit him. "If I promise never to say anything about that. Will you tell me Ryker's sister's name?" She asked and squinted.

DJ blinked a few times and crossed his arms. "...Her names trinity." That's all he said before he started walking.

Leora grinned and chased after him, "so where did you go?" She asked, she seemed especially happy to see him.

DJ began looking around. "I went to a party." He said blankly, then turned down the cabin path.

"No hellhounds right?" She asked softly.

He blinked a few times and looked back at her. "...uh..." he thought back to when his vision went black and shook it from his thoughts. "Can we please focus?"

Some shouting came from deeper inside of the forest. "Listen!-" a males voice shouted. It was hard to tell who it belonged to because another thunderous boom drowned it out a little.

"Oh right! Let's go that way!" She said and ran towards where the shout had come from.

DJ quickly followed after, trying to figure out who it was coming from. Oh god.

As lightning struck, lighting up the area, the two could see two figures who seemed to be in the middle of an intense battle not too far away from them in an open area.

Leora gripped her wrench. "I don't make empty promises. We're all going home safe." She said and ran that direction.

DJ's eyes widened and he began running faster, and when he made it to the open area, he ran in the middle of it. Completely throwing himself between them.

"DJ don't!" Leora shouted.

Before DJ had thrown himself between them, Ryker had shoved Chase back a bit, causing him to stumble a little.

Ryker's eyes widened as DJ shoved himself in the middle of the fight. "DJ, stop-" he pleaded, placing his free hand on DJ's shoulder, trying to push his way in front of him.

"-You're going to defend Ryker after what he did?!" Chase shouted, his tone filled with anger and sadness.

Ryker narrowed his eyes at Chase, pointing his sword at him. "You're the one who tried to stop me!" he shouted back. "I can make my own decisions for myself, I didn't need you to be my babysitter!"

"Guys stop!!" Leora shouted and rushed between them, "fighting won't get us anywhere!"

DJ took a deep breath and pushed both of them back away from each other. "Guys, stop!!! I'm not defending anyone, we just fucking got here! All I know is that fucking turning each other into a kebab isn't going to do jack shit!" He screamed, then turned to Ryker. "Put. The sword. Down."

"Chase... please... do you know what's going on?" Leora asked carefully.

The rain continued to pour as they talked.

Ryker death glared at Chase for a moment, then looked down at DJ. He let out a frustrated sigh and threw his sword off to the side.

Chase however didn't listen, and he was so broken to even begin to think about listening. "I could have died Ryker!" he raised his voice, taking a few steps back towards them. "You could have taken everything from me because of your stupid little games!"

"Chase stop! This is a dream! Whatever Ryker did it isn't real! Astrid is still sleeping remember???" Leora pleaded.

Chase took his pen, that was now an arrow into his hands. More tears fell from his cheeks, you wouldn't be able to tell from the rain but... they were there. He threw the arrow at the group.

Being a special thing it was, it didn't go for Leora, it went for DJ and Ryker who were closer together. Ryker's eyes widened and he grabbed onto DJ and pulled him out of the way of the arrow, which once it had missed it's target, flew back to Chase's hand, kinda like a boomerang.. but.. an arrow.

Ryker and DJ fell onto the ground, but he had kept DJ on top, so he wouldn't hit the ground as hard as him. "Gods.." Ryker mumbled under his breath.

DJ's eyes widened as he tried to move in the way, but instead was pulled out of it by Ryker. He took a deep breath and kept his face hidden for a second, then carefully stood up. Helping Ryker up, he turned to look at Chase.

Noticing the look in his eyes, he shook his head. "...he's not talking about something that happened now, Leora.." he muttered.DJ looked between them, and paused for a second. "Guys, I... I don't know what happened between you two, but, whatever it was, it's so far in the past now." He turned to look at Chase.

"Right now, he came on this quest to help you keep what you have, not destroy it further. We're all here to save people we care about, and, and, we can't fucking do that if you keep trying to kill each other!" He yelled, looking between them. "I mean, come on! With, with so many worse things happening right now, Echo, Emily... you're really going to turn on each other??"

Chase was.. shaking. He dropped to his knees and began to cry again.

long needed cry.

His arrow and dagger fell out of his hands and onto the ground. Chase covered his face and remained on the ground.

Ryker sighed, and took a few steps towards Chase on the ground. "Chase... please... I didn't want to hurt you... you meant everything to me." he said softly, kneeling down in front of Chase. "I made a deal with Emily and was trying to get away from her... and... my feelings... for... you..." he said, looking down to the ground.

"I didn't want to see Astrid and you get hurt... so I was going to just leave, but you stopped me and that was when everything kinda just spilled out." Ryker continued.

He took a deep breath as Chase slowly looked up at Ryker, he almost looked like he was going to murder him... right then and there...

Chase wrapped his arms around Ryker, causing Ryker's eyes to widen slightly. Slowly, he looked over his shoulder at the other two, almost for like.. what to do.

DJ was preparing himself to tackle chase when he looked like he was going to kill Ryker, but he took a step back at the hug. Just a twang if jealousy it's okay. DJ stared at him and made like a, hug, gesture, for him to hug him back.

"Yay! Hugs are nice!" Leora cheered. "Now let's figure out a way out of dreamland."

Ryker nodded slowly, then looked down at Chase who was now crying in his shoulder. Carefully, Ryker wrapped his arms around Chase, hugging him back.

"I'm so sorry..." Chase said softly. "I.. am so sorry.." he repeated. Ryker took a deep breath. "I forgive you Chase... I just want you to know that what I did didn't come without a price of my own." he said, referring to the injury that Astrid had given him after Chase went unconscious. "I apologize for my actions, and have learned from them... I hope that you can forgive me."

Chase sniffed and pulled back from Ryker, a small smile grew on his face. "I forgive you Ryker... for everything."

At those words, the rain seemed to stop. The heavy feeling that was weighing on the fours chests lifted and it was easier to breathe and think. All of them collapsed to the ground, their vision going black.

The four had escaped the dream world and were now awake inside of the warehouse.