No Such Thing as an Old Blessing

"You're alright," Khaat said calmly. "You were just caught up in a flashback. It happens. How often is this happening, Chase? Tell me the truth." It sounded to her like it was happening a lot more than Chase was admitting. And that wasn't good. A certain amount of it was expected, but clearly there were deeper issues at work. Her concern for Chase was rising. Chase needed help, and she didn't doubt that Calvin and Reid were doing their best. They probably hated her for taking the kids when she had to do it, but that was beside the point now. She hoped they would be mature enough to rise above that for what was in Chase's interests now.

And when had Brian taken Chase's wand from her anyway? She hadn't seen that, but then again, Brian didn't make big displays when he worked. The wand was in his pocket with his own. She saw the tip of the handle in his pocket.

"You didn't faint, Chase," Brian said. "I used a sort of a sleep spell when you got upset." Well, sleep spell? That was close enough, wasn't it? It was in the same catagory in the healers' texts. His explanation just hadn't been specific, thats all. It wasn't really necessary to upset Chase again. The last thing he wanted to be doing was zapping her repeatedly to calm her. That wasn't good either.

Chase wasn't sure what was going on. Her head was pounding in a weird way, and she found herself looking around the room wearily, as though something she didn't like was watching her. She kept looking over her shoulder, and she pulled the blanket up to her chest, trying to make herself feel more safe. When Khaat spoke, Chase had a hard time focusing her eyes to see her, and when she did she shuddered. "Flashbacks? I.." She frowned, and ran her hand over her eye again, trying to get rid of the weird image imprinted on it. "Flashbacks..." She had to think hard to concentrate fully on the flashback she had had, and she frowned. Suddenly her hand went to her pocket, and she looked around. "What happened to my wand? I.. I need my wand.." She said, her voice carrying a note of hysteria... "Where's Calvin?" She asked, looking around, and her eyes found Brian's pocket. "And why do you have my wand?" Chase's eyes were popping, and she pulled her knees to her chest, looking like she was about to cry.

"I... I don't remember..." She said feeling completely useless and frightened. They were going to kill her! She knew it.. first they had knocked her out.. probably drugged her with the tea, and now they had her wand, and were going to kill her! She was dead... why had she come here? "Calvin.." She whispered rocking slightly. "Flashbacks... he had me on a table... A knife... cut off my hair.. and hurt my eye.." She rubbed her eye again, the bad one, and tried to make the image of the tree go away. "And it's all dark... and.. I got flashbacks so often at the beginning.. I... struggled, and cried, and had nightmares.. and... I was terrified of Jack, but I got over that one! I was able to look at her.. and not feel so angry.. so upset... why did you take my wand?" Chase looked up at Brain frantically.

"He'll get me unless I have my wand.. I didn't have it.. I didn't, it was on the table by my bed... I didn't have my wand, and he got me.. I need it." She reached out a shaking hand, the numbing and relaxing spell seemed only do as much as make it so she couldn't stand up on her own for a while, and made her body completely relaxed, but her mind was on high alert.

"Chase," Brian said very gently, "you can have your wand back when you start to relax a bit. I took it because you fired at Khaat. I only want to keep everyone safe. Chase, think. This place is unplottable. Felix has never been here. He can't come here because he can't find it. You're safe here. Stop and breathe and think. We love you. We would never ever hurt you. Nor would we let him come here and hurt you. Besides, he already has run into me, and he knows better. As for Calvin, I sent for him for you. I knew you'd want him.

"This is going to take time, Chase," Khaat said. "I love you. You know I do. You're a daughter to Brian and me. This is your home. Let us help. We both feel like we're, sort of, parents to you. At least we want to be. And thats what parents are for. To help their children when they're hurting. You can't tell me you didn't enjoy coming back and seeing Angus, the girls, us...your home..." She wanted Chase to stay a few days, but this wasn't the time to bring that up. She wanted Chase to calm down first, and clearly so did Brian. He wasn't about to put a weapon in her hands when she was like this. Khaat knew better. She also knew the numbing spells had not held, and that in itself was not a good sign. This was beyond her friends. She needed professional medical help. Not just well meaning friends.

Chase was having a hard time concentrating on what they were saying. "But he said.. he said he could.. he told me.. he wouldn't lie.." Chase was shuddering, her eyes rolling around the room, unable to hold a gaze for very long, before they moved onto the next object in the room. What they said felt like she was hearing it through water, "I'm okay.. I swear I'm okay... I'm not crazy! I'm not stupid!" Chase finally felt tears well up and run down her face, and she turned her gaze to hold Khaat's. "I'm not stupid." She said again, angrily. "You are not my parents! Not my parents! My parents are dead... and it's my fault! It's all my fault!" She cried out. Somewhere in the back of her head, she knew this was bad, she had been like this only a few times since she had been found by Calvin, but always Calvin was there to help her, relax her, and get her calm again, Calvin wasn't here now, and she had lost control.

Chase struggled to stand up. "It's your fault he took me!" She said pointing a finger at Khaat. "It's your fault! You said you would protect me and you didn't! And he came! He came and he hurt me.. he touched my baby! And it's all your fault! You knew where I was! You told him where I was! He found out.. and he came for me! You're all trying to kill me... just leave me alone! I didn't do it!" Chase finally found her feet, and took a stumbling step towards Khaat, hand's outstretched. "I'll kill you! I'll kill you!" She yelled, pointing at Khaat. "I'll kill you! Just like you would have let me die! You just let him take me! You let him have me, and you enjoyed it! You thought it was very clever, making me like you, then watching me get torn apart! I hate you! I'll kill you!" She yelled at Khaat, struggling to get at her, but the numbing and relaxing potions were still taking an effect on her body where they weren't taking an effect on her brain. "It's all your fault! It's your fault!" She cried pointing a finger at her accusingly.

Khaat knew the signs all too well. She was having a psychotic break. As much as Chase believed in Calvin, Calvin wasn't going to be able to stop this. And from what Khaat could tell, Calvin had merely been postponing it. Nothing more. She listened feeling nothing but pain for Chase as she watched Chase threaten to kill her. For some reason she wasn't afraid of her. She believed, she realized, in Brian. And sure enough, he stepped between Khaat and Chase.

At that instant a green flash rose up from her floo and her father walked into the room. She didn't know how her father knew, but he was here. And he meant business. He was perfectly calm--almost too calm. He now stepped between Chase and Brian and stood toe to toe with Chase.

"Enough, Chase," he said quietly but with an unyielding iron firmness. "Stop--NOW!" At the instant he said now, he covered her face with his hand and fired a wandless spell into her mind. Khaat could feel the energy. She saw Chase utterly collapse and Robert and Brian caught her.

"Bed, Brian," Robert said. "Now. Is the room available that she had when she was here?"

"Yes," Brian answered.

"Use it. She needs the familiar and the safe right now." Brian picked Chase up and they all went upstairs. A couple of moments later, Brian came downstairs.

"Your father is staying with her for awhile. She won't wake for awhile unless he wakes her," Brian said. "How are you? Are you okay?"

"I..think so," Khaat said. Brian sat down on the huge coffee table with her and laid his hand on her stomach.

"Babies didn't like that," he said.

"They'll get over it," Khaat shrugged, knowing it depended on her own stress level. Her father came down the stairs.

"I sedated her. I also bound her magic temporarily. She has the potential to be very dangerous. I cannot allow her to have that right now," Robert said. "She should be in St. Mungos. Why did you resist that?"

"I..can't. Not yet. This is between her and me,..." Khaat began.

"No its not. Its between her and the Felix Barker thats in her head," Robert said. "You, my dear, have nothing to do with this. This is all about what is between her own ears."

"I sent for her friends," Brian said. "She'd want them consulted. I know we don't have to, but we will, out of respect for her and respect for them."

Chase looked up at Brian, and felt herself starting to shake, she was so afraid, so angry, and when he stood between them, she could have killed him too. But suddenly someone stepped out of the fireplace, and Chase found herself nose to nose with Robert Lupin. Chase's eyes grew wide, and suddenly his hand was on her face, and she lost consciousness, crumpling to the floor. The dreams flew into her brain the second she was out, while her body was carried upstairs to be placed in a bedroom that was familiar to her, her mind was in a panic.

She was back in the woods. Only this time it was nighttime out. Something was coming through the trees above her. Jumping through the limbs to high for her to grab onto. Chase was crying heavily as she threw herself against the trees, trying to get out of the block her mind had put her in. It sounded like a battle was happening outside. Clashes, and shouts, between the small cracks of the trees, every now and then flashes of light showed, and she could see smoke drifting between the branches above her head. "Help me!" She cried, terror evident in her voice, though she knew no one would hear her. "Please!" She pounded against the tree, throwing her shoulders at it, feeling no pain as she watched blood drip onto the ground.

Suddenly she was no longer in the cage of trees, she was bound to a wall, it was dark, and she realized she had a blindfold on. "Please.. let me go." She whispered, terror making her voice hoarse. "Let me go.." Someone mocked her from the room beyond. "Let me go.. I will never let you go Chase.. I have you! I am here.. forever, keeping you locked away... you will never escape me! EVER!" There was a flash of light, and a stinging across her cheek, and Chase's head fell to the side. When she opened her eyes, she was back in the clearing, laying sprawled out on the ground. "No... no.... let me go." She whimpered, curling her legs to her chest, and sobbing uncontrollably on the ground.

It was an odd dream, but it was obvious what it was telling her. Chase's mind was in danger, in terrible danger, and in order to save her sanity, it had locked her away from the battle. Locked her into the trees to keep herself safe. When the smoke had gotten in through the branches above, she had been momentarily let into the terror of her own mind, in which she envisioned herself in Barker's clutches again. Chase rolled her head to the side when she realized she was laying in a bed, but suddenly she felt completely at ease, someone had done something to relax her.. maybe a sedation.. whatever it was her whole body went numb and light.

She was back in the trees, only this time it was different. She felt light as air, and the battle had stopped outside, instead, it was deathly silent. Chase leaned against a tree, and stared up at the branches over head, staring and dreaming. It was quiet for the first time, and she felt completely at ease now. It was as though she was stuck to the ground though. She felt light, but she couldn't move, feeling the ground tip beneath her like she was on a boat, the trees loomed over her, and made her feel very alone and isolated. She had been forgotten... abandoned again... and she was lost in a sea of her mind, a cage that her mind had built to keep her safe. There was still a battle, but the sedation she was put under had momentarily stopped it, she knew the second she woke up, it would swing into full force again. Finally though, Chase found her strength and lifted her head.

"Calvin.. I need you right now.. please... please Calvin, I need your help.. I'm lost.. I'm stuck.. I don't know where I am.. but I'm scared." She whimpered and looked up at the sky. "Please... help me... I need you." She felt tears run down her cheeks, and finally she buried her face in her arms, weeping herself into eternity.

Khaat had dozed off just a bit and woke sharply suddenly. She'd seen trees? Chase? What? Her father looked up from his newspaper.

"Dreaming?" he asked, taking his glasses off.

"Uh...No. Not me...Chase," she said.

"You want to go up?" he asked her.

"Please?"

"With me, then," he said. He got up and went over and helped her up.

"Daddy, she needs you. In her dream."

"That's not an easy spell, Khaat, and it puts stress on you adn the baby."

"But its for Chase. I'll do it. Or I'll try."

"Alright." She was glad to have his strength. He took her upstairs to Chase's room and let her sit on the bed.

"Bond with me," she told her father. He sat behind her on the bed and put his hands on either side of Khaat's head. She used a spell to bond her father's mind to hers, and then she laid her hands on either side of Chase's head and bonded with Chase. It was a spell she hadn't done very often, but it was worth the try.

In mere moments they were in a forest. A wonky sort of forest. Her father had hold of her hand as he stood beside her. "This way," he pointed forward. Khaat looked down at herself. Somehow in Chase's mind, Khaat wasn't pregnant here. That made Khaat smile. She was relishing the day when she was not pregnant anymore. Robert saw it too, and it made him laugh a little. As they walked forward, they both saw Chase. Alone. Under a tree. Looking lost.

"Chase," Robert called gently, warmly, with a fatherly tone. "You're not alone. We're here to help."

Chase jumped when she heard voices. Coming from outside of her prison of trees. She jumped to her feet, tears glistening on her cheeks. "Who's there?" She asked, spinning in a circle. She couldn't see them, and yet it seemed they could see her. Chase was shivering hard, her skin looked grey, and her fingers were ice. She looked up and realized that it must be snowing outside of her cage, but because of the branches above her, the snow wasn't on her yet, but she could see her breath, and she was shivering. "No.... Don't... don't hurt me." She whimpered, backing into one of the many trees surrounding her, and felt her hand brush against a stick. She spun around and immediately grabbed a hold of it.

Holding it like a wand, she spun around, terror evident on her face. "Don't hurt me.. what do you want with me?" She cried, brandishing the stick, and waving it like she was using her own wand to defend herself. Even though it was only a stick that had fallen from the branches above. She stumbled forward, and put her eye to a small hole between the trees, and saw to figures. "No.. no.. I'm not ready to die.. please... I have a family! Don't let me die.. please." She was sobbing uncontrollably, hands shaking, lips turned blue. She looked like she was in a freezer.

To them, they saw her sitting under a tree, when she ran into a tree, it was as though she hit an invisible force field, and couldn't go farther then that, but to her, she was trapped in this cage of her own making. "Who are you? What do you want with me? I don't want to die!" She sobbed and fell to the ground, holding the stick for dear life, as though it were her lifeline. "Don't let me die.. please don't let me die." She was crying harder, shoulders shaking in terrified sobs, as she flung around. She suddenly looked down and realized she was wearing something different. A pure white dress hugged her figure, and snow lay across the ground. Looking up, it appeared as though snow was coming through the branches, but it wasn't actually coming through, it was materializing right above her head.

Her hair was the only color that was left to her after that. From her grey skin, to her blue lips, and now the white dress, her hair stood out in sharp contrast, long and flowing in her mind, falling like blood from her head.

Robert merely walked over to Chase where she was sitting under the tree. "You know me, Chase. I'm Robert. You know I always, always fight for whats right. You know that. And you know if someone I love is in trouble, I will do whatever it takes. You've always known that about me." He knelt down on the ground and simply drew her up off the ground and wrapped her into his arms. He just held her. "I promise. No one is going to kill you. You're not going to die. I'm not going to let that happen. Chase, you have a family. And we're here."

"She's seeing something we're not," Khaat said. "Trapped...She's trapped..." Robert frowned.

"Not anymore, she's not. Not my granddaughter," he said fiercely. He raised his hand and fired wandless magic from his hand, even though he didn't see what she did. "Come on, Chase. Stand up. Walk with me. Lets get out of here." He got up and stood her to her feet when he stood up. He decided to let her keep the stick if it made her feel better. He saw her shiver and he took off his suitcoat and wrapped it around her to keep her warm. "Better? You dont' have to be cold. Shall we get out of here now?"

Chase suddenly saw a man walk through the tree in front of her. He spoke, and it took a bit for her to understand what he was saying. Finally, she was able to understand him though, and she forced her eyes to focus on him. She listened as he spoke, having missed his name earlier, unable to hear it, she stared at him as he said something about fighting for what was right, and then suddenly he was in front of her and was holding her to him. For a moment Chase went stiff, her eyes went wide, and she struggled slightly, sobs racking her body as she stared at Robert, and over his shoulder, she spotted Khaat. And her eyes glazed over, and she yelled out in pain and fright.

He pulled her to her feet, and immediately she started to protest. "No.. no.. I'll die out there! The battle.. it'll kill me.. he'll get me.. he's here somewhere.. he's here... watching me! He's here..." She was crying again, and her whole body was shivering so hard, she had to lean against him just to stay upright. "They'll kill me! They'll kill me!" She was sobbing over and over. "He'll find me if I leave... I'm safe here.. but I'm so alone.. he'll get me." She looked at his jacket as he put it around her shoulders, and she slowly looked up at Khaat. "You.." She whispered, trying hard to keep her focus, as though she could see her, but just barely.

"Khaat?" She whispered softly, and then suddenly the whole world started to spin, for all of them. And Chase knew what was happening and immediately started to sob in fright. They were no longer standing in a snow covered forest, instead they were in a dark room. A dark room that had a single light bulb in the center, and a silver operating table in the middle. Chase wasn't on the operating table though, while Robert and Khaat were still free, she was chained to the wall, blood welling from her hurt eye, and every single wound on her body was fresh. Blood soaked her white dress, turning it crimson, and her hair magically cut, falling gently from her head, cut into the chopped mess it had first looked like.

"See what he did to me!" She shouted at Khaat and Robert. "See what he's done?!" She cried out in pain, and curled in on herself, knowing that even though she was bleeding, she wouldn't die.. not here... here in her own mind, she just felt the pain, and the blood continued to seep from her, a never ending supply. "See what he did to me there?! He chained me to a wall! Slashed apart my body... He threatened my loved ones.. he told me it was YOUR FAULT!" She screamed the last two words, and was sobbing uncontrollably, her whole body shuddering in pain and suddenly she went limp, exhausted, spent.

The scene changed again, back to the snowy forest, and Chase was slumped on the ground. Her wounds were healed, but her white dress was still covered in blood. Splashed where it had been splashed, some of it still white, but most of it, wet and red. Chase wrapped her arms around herself. "If I leave he'll find me... if I leave this place he'll be able to get me... he'll take me.. He'll kill me. "She sobbed, slowly looking up at the two, she gasped when she saw them though. From the sky, only around them, was sunlight, dust motes floated through the air through the beams of light, and Chase had to shield her eyes, cowering in front of them. They had always been glowing slightly, but now they were radiant, and Chase backed herself against a tree. The wall went up again, and this time, it was visible to them, and they were able to see just what her mind had her trapped in, the tiny clearing, surrounded by trees, the branches overhead intertwining to create a roof. It got freezer cold, and Chase backed into the tree behind her. "See what's happened to me? I can't get out... if I do.. I'll go back to that room.. only next time.. he'll be there... he'll kill me... I can't leave.. I'll die." She was sobbing, and starting to hyperventilate from her own fear, watching the two sun people stare at her.