Owen awoke in a cold sweat, his entire body shaking. He glanced around the room and took a deep breath. It had been a dream, just a dream, albeit the same dream he had been having every night since the end of the war with Drevis. It had been three months since Drevis had been defeated, three months since Owen had lost everything, three months since Izzy had died. Owen had been having the same nightmare since, the same horrific images of Izzy's lifeless body, her vengeful spirit getting revenge on Owen and the others, and Drevis laughing in the background.
Owen shook his head and got up for a glass of water. He wished th dreams would end, but he had no idea how to make them. All he knew for certain was he would not be getting any more sleep tonight. After getting a glass of water, Owen returned to his bed, switching on the TV as he did. He sighed as he began yet another night of channel surfing, trying to escape the images in his head.
The following morning Owen made his way down to breakfast. He and the others were still in Toronto at the hotel, as Harold and LeShawna needed help rebuilding the club. Owen entered the breakfast room to find Duncan and Gwen sitting at a table on the far side of the room. They appeared to be deep in conversation, but Owen walked over to them anyway.
"Hey guys." he said, his voice sullen and tired. "I'm not interrupting anything am I?"
"No, no you're good dude." replied Duncan. "How are you doing?"
Owen looked at him with a mixture of sorrow and annoyance. "How do you think?" he asked, his voice still sullen.
"Another rough night?" Gwen asked, looking at Owen with concern. Owen nodded.
At that moment Geoff and Bridgette entered along with D.J., Abigail, and Ezekiel. The five of them walked over to Gwen, Duncan, and Owen and sat down. For a moment no one spoke, but then Ezekiel broke the silence. "Where is everybody?" he asked, looking around the room.
"We don't eat as a group anymore, remember." said Duncan. "Some members of this family are very fucking picky about who they hang out with these days."
"Like you." said Geoff, glancing at Duncan out of the corner of his eye.
"Fuck you." Duncan snapped. "You didn't see me stalk off when showed up did you? I'm not the one with the goddamn problem. That's-", but Duncan didn't finish his sentence.
"That's what?" Geoff asked, with another glance at Duncan.
"Never mind, it's not important." Duncan muttered.
"So, how's the healing process going?" Bridgette asked, looking at Gwen, who still wore a cast on her left arm and a brace on her right leg. She had been released from the hospital a month and a half ago, but she was still not fully recovered from the wounds she sustained fighting against Brendan DuVall.
"Oh, you know, pretty good." Gwen replied, shrugging. "How about you?"
"Well, I'm down to just a soft brace now." said Bridgette, glancing down at her right leg, which she had broken while running from Drevis' accomplice, Victor Verizzano. "It still hurts sometimes, but at least I can walk without limping now."
"Yeah, that must be great." said Gwen, who was still unsure on her feet.
"Don't worry Gwen, the brace will come off soon enough. You just have to be patient." said Bridgette, with a smile.
Gwen nodded in agreement and turned back to her coffee. Silence fell over the group once again and for several moments they just sat, staring at one another. Finally Abigail broke the silence, with a very pointed question directed at Duncan. "Any word from Aneka recently?" she asked.
The others looked up at this, as they were all curious to know exactly why Aneka had left them and where she had gone.
"No, I haven't heard anything." said Duncan, his tone dark. "And I don't think any of us ever will. Aneka was pretty damn adamant that none of us try to contact her."
"But why?" D.J. asked. "Why would she not want us to know where she is? And why did she leave us in the first place?"
"I told you, she didn't want to stay." said Duncan. "I didn't ask why." This was, of course, not true, but Duncan did not want to tell the others the real reason why Aneka had left. He hadn't even told Gwen.
At that moment the rest of the campers entered, along with Chris and Chef. Duncan cast them a dark look, but none of them seemed to notice. They walked over to the group at the table and began exchanging greetings.
"Good morning everyone." said Lindsey, flashing a smile at the group. Duncan's eyes widened when he saw the size of Lindsey's baby bump.
"Wow, Lindsey, you're really starting to show there." Duncan said with a grin.
"Yeah, I know." Lindsey said, beaming. She was the first of the campers to become pregnant and she was quite proud of this fact. It had only been three months since her pregnancy was discovered and she was already becoming accustomed to motherhood.
Unfortunately, Lindsey's happiness was not enough to ease the tensions amongst the campers. Ever since the conclusion of the second war, the group had been fractured. There were many causes for this, the first and most pressing was the mistrust of Trent, who had betrayed the others, only to prove his loyalty by acting as a spy, though not everyone was ready to forgive him. There were still the issues of the fractured relationships between Duncan and Courtney, and Gwen and Trent, as well as the relationship between Duncan and Gwen, to deal with as well. Add in the sorrow over Izzy's passing and the campers were at, quite possibly, their lowest point ever. The issue of Izzy's death was particularly troubling as her body had still not been found, and Owen was convinced there was a possibility she was still alive. The others had long since given up all hope of ever finding Izzy, alive or otherwise. This was not to say that they didn't want Izzy back, they were simply being logical about the situation, there was simply no way she could have survived the explosion that had killed Verizzano. Regardless of how hard the evidence was, however, Owen was determined to find Izzy, even if she was truly dead. He could not bare the thought of her body lost out there somewhere, with God only knows what being done to it.
Later that day, Owen made up his mind. He would go looking for Izzy, whether the others approved or not. As he left the hotel he ran into Noah and Eva, who had been closest to Izzy when she had died. Owen stared at the two a moment, before pushing past them.
"Owen, why are you doing this to yourself?" Noah asked. "She's gone, I saw the warehouse explode, and she didn't come out."
"No!" said Owen, forcefully. "There's still a chance. Just because you didn't see her get out doesn't mean she didn't."
"You're right Owen, there is a chance, a very small chance." said Eva. "But its been three months, if she is alive why hasn't she come back to us?"
"I don't know." said Owen, his voice wavering. "Maybe she's hurt and she can't. Look I don't care what you guys think, I'm going out there. I have to look, I have to at least try. Izzy was my wife, I can't just leave her out there to rot." Tears rolled down his cheeks as he stared at the other two, his eyes pleading.
"Alright Owen, we'll come with you." said Noah. "But don't get your expectations up. If we don't find her you're gonna have accept the fact that she's gone."
Owen nodded and the three of them set out in search of their fallen friend.
A/N: So there's chapter 1. Hope you enjoyed it. As usual, I don't own TDI and all that jazz. This will be the final fic in this series and then I will be moving on to other things, so enjoy!