Cloud Chasers

eighteen | I'll try living like this [pt. two]

"Well, this is it," Chase said, as they stared at the fountain's water flowing, "the last time we'll ever be in this place."

Joyce nodded. "It's been a wild ride," she said, "definitely had some of the best moments of my life, right here."

"A few great moments here, a few in the alternate reality, and none whatsoever in the real world," Chase said.

Joyce turned to him. "That means we'll have to create those moments, from now on," she said.

"But what if we can't? What if we're doomed to live meaningless, miserable lives?"

"Then we'll beat up Niko until he gives us something," she said.

"I'm right here, you know?" Niko's voice echoed in the background.

"It doesn't make sense, Blackbird. I feel like I was born in the wrong world. And now, I have a chance to be where I belong. How could I not take it?"

"You weren't born in the wrong world, Chase. You heard Niko. You're one of the few extraordinary people of the world."

He shook his head. "If 'extraordinary' means I have to live my life constantly struggling to fit in, then I'd rather be ordinary."

"But that's what life is all about, Chase. What do you expect? Of course there'll be bad times, lots and lots of them. But, hopefully, the good times will be just as many, if not more. You can't give up on life, Chase," she said.

"I don't want to give up on life," he snapped, "I want to give up on the world that has set me up for failure and, and for sadness."

"You don't know that," she said. "Maybe this is the beginning of something great in your life."

He shook his head. "I'm done with that. That blind hope, feeding myself unkept promises. Now I've seen a better world, and I want in on that."

"Two-two minutes remain," Niko briefly appeared.
When Joyce turned back to Chase, she found him climbing on the Reality Fountain.

"Chase!" she shouted, her heartbeat seeming to stop for a moment. She grabbed his forearm with both hands as he slid into the water. "What are you doing?" she shrieked.

He held on to her, the lower half of his body swimming in the artificial water. "Please..." he mumbled.

She had no hands she could use to wipe the tears off her face. "Chase, you listen to me. You don't really want that. Think about your dad. What did he say to you?"

"He said I should remember who I am when I become someone else. I'll never forget who I am, but I do want to become someone else," he said.

She sobbed uncontrollably. "Don't go, please, Chase."

"Come with me," he said, tightening the grip on her arm. "We can live the lives of our dreams."

She frowned and shook her head. "I don't want that. That's not my life. I don't want to have everything handed to me, I don't want to live a lie just because it's my dreams. My life is here. And I want to make my own life into the life of my dreams."

Chase gritted his teeth. "But I don't. I have nothing left, here. Nobody would even miss me. While back there, I have a family that loves me, a group of friends, I am successful. What do I have here that compares to that?"

"You have me." The words slipped out of Joyce's mouth. "We can find our place in the world. You can create your own happiness, with me. We can build a better world. Together."

"One minute remains," Niko said.

"You don't need me. You can live without me," Chase said.

"What if I can't?" She locked her glistened eyes with his.

He stared into them and he could feel the insides of his stomach tickle. "You..."

"Yes..." she said, her breath shaking, her heart pounding inside her chest.

"I..."

They held each other's arms tighter. Chase's eyes ran back and forth, a million thoughts running inside his head.

Joyce sniffled. "Let's get you out of there, what do you say?"

She was pulling him out when, without any warning, he vanished along with the Reality Fountain. Her hands, suddenly empty, sent her tumbling on her back.

"No..." she said, staggering back to her feet. Her heart felt tight in her throat. Her stomach hardened. Her vision blurred.

"Chase!" she screamed, the objects around her disappeared within microseconds.

"No, no, no, no, no, no..." She pulled at her hair, as she stumbled around the empty pink room, her limbs trembling.

"Niko," she shouted, a primal scream.

"I'm not Helios, you know?" The walls projected Niko's image.

"Get him back here," she struggled to say, as she bit her fingernails.

"He has made his decision," Niko said.

"No, he hasn't," Joyce said, stopping to gasp for air, "he was about to come with me. It wasn't time, yet. We still had time, and he was coming back."

"It was time. And he'd made his decision," Niko said. "He'd made his decision five minutes ago."

"You lying piece of..." Her constricting lungs made it hard to breathe. "You get him back here, right now."

"I can't do that. The Reality Fountain has been deleted. The gap between realities is now closed," he said.

She gazed away, hands in her hair, feeling dizzy, as the Lobby's walls turned off one by one around her, until the whole room faded to black and she re-emerged on Edysium.

Slowly, she fell to her knees. Her eyes went blank, the color drained from her face. Minutes passed, but she didn't notice.

A hand fell on her thigh and felt something inside her pocket.

She pulled it out, a crumpled up piece of paper. She remembered Chase giving it to her, telling her to read it when she was alone. But she never did.
She fought the tears and opened it. She finally read.

Dear Blackbird,

It takes some nerve to write a letter to a writer, don't you think? Well, I'm somewhat of a writer myself, and I have to say that sometimes words have the power to reach you deeper if written down.
It hasn't been that long since we first met. We haven't always seen eye to eye, we both made some mistakes, yet I can't help but feel I've known you all my life. The day I met you, I knew you were going to be someone special.
And I'm sorry you spent most of your time with me cleaning after the mess someone else made in my heart, but I am grateful to you for that. If you weren't in my life, I'd be miserable for at least five more years. And with the ones that've already passed, that would make them ten.
Instead, I can honestly say that I'm happy, right now. And it's all because of you. What I thought was impossible, especially this soon after all that's happened to me, you made possible. You are my paradox.
Your presence, your friendship, the way you smile at me with those eyes full of never dying dreams.
You told me to keep my unassigned love inside and wait for someone else to make me fall all over again. Well, Blackbird, I think I'm falling for you.

Chase

~