A/N: Well, the final episode has been shown and everyone has his or her own opinion on the final few moments we've gotten to spend with a remarkable cast of characters. Throughout the years, the storylines grew vaguer, the money was being depleted, but the cast was always the rock-solid foundation on which the show was built. And hate or love the ending as you might, they once again delivered remarkably well.
My feelings on this episode are quite clear. It was brilliant. The ending though. Well, the less said about that the better. I've come around a bit, but I'm still not in the crowd that loved it. But, fear not. For, I have decided to rewrite the final arc from Bullet Train's ending onwards. The challenge? Get them to the exact same spot without the amnesia storyline (slightly tragic, but satisfying end). In the immortal words of Barney Stinson: "Challenge accepted!"
Story title is inspired by the brilliant song "Burn the Remembrance" by Katatonia.
Disclaimer: Don't own Chuck.
"Sarah, we're chasing after Quinn. Just stay put, okay?" Chuck called through his earlink. They couldn't let him escape. If Quinn were to get his hands on the pristine Intersect, who knew what amount of damage he could wreck.
"Okay," she replied, her voice softer. She was probably trying to contain the migraine that he knew would invariably follow after too much flashing.
Casey and Chuck sprinted past Chuck's cabin and he couldn't help but risking a glance into it, smiling fondly as he did. He still remembered the promise that they made each other. The life? The house? The white picket fence? It would be theirs. Quinn wouldn't be allowed to ruin this for them. So when he saw Sarah sitting in one of the chairs, nervously twiddling her thumbs, he couldn't help it. He ran a little bit faster.
They passed the carts all the way to the back, before running into a closed door. Just five feet away from them, Quinn stood smiling and Chuck couldn't help but remember Shaw, as he had the same cocky attitude in the subway station just as the doors closed. "Casey, he's escaping."
"Thanks for stating the obvious, moron. Stand back." Casey pulled out his pistol and aimed it at the door mechanism.
"Casey, shooting that won't…" Chuck was cut off mid-sentence by a dry bang, followed by the sound of a shell-casing landing on the floor. "…do anything."
"Fine, why don't you try your computer wizardry and see if you can do it, huh?" Casey growled. The nerd didn't have to make such smartass comments.
Chuck ran to the panel but was stumped. "Casey, despite my extensive knowledge of anime and manga… that's comic books and…"
"I know what they are, Bartowski. I'm not in idiot."
"Right, well, anyway, despite my knowledge of them, I can't actually read Japanese. So that means that I have no idea what any of this means."
Casey grunted. "I thought you were fluent in nerd."
Chuck shot Casey an incredulous look, only to be met with a satisfied smirk. "Ass," he mumbled, before looking at the control panel. However, moments later, a rather loud expletive shook him from his work. Casey was staring at the doors, his eyes wide. Chuck looked to where the Colonel was looking and saw exactly what had frustrated the man. Quinn was standing across from them, waving his hand in an overly gesticulated form of goodbye. It was only a few seconds later, that the two carts were separated.
"Crap!" Chuck shouted. "I can't believe he's getting away!"
"Don't get your panties in a bunch, Bartowski. I'll just call it in." Casey picked up his phone and scrolled through his contacts, until his thumb landed on the picture of the diminutive redhead. "Would've loved to end his misery myself though."
"Casey, can you please not talk about killing people?"
"Christ, Bartowski, we've been doing this gig for five years now. How is it that you still don't understand how this works?"
"Sarah says she loves that about me," he mumbled in reply, but was silenced with a glare from the Colonel when the line on the other end was picked up.
"General, Casey here."
"Report, Colonel."
"Ma'am, our target has escaped. He separated his cart from the train and we've lost visual. Requesting a pickup of the target."
"Affirmative, Colonel. We will have a team scour the tracks. And John… how is everyone?"
"Ma'am, Walker seems to have begun suffering from amnesia, the same one that Grimes was subjected to. However, we've blindfolded her so that she wouldn't flash. It seems that, according to Ellie, the more she flashes, the more memories she will lose. Bar… Chuck is doing fine and okay as well."
Casey heard the General blow out a sigh of relief. "Very well. I expect a full report the moment we get back to L.A. And John? Take care of them."
"I will ma'am."
"So? What did she say?" Chuck asked as Casey pocketed his phone.
"They will pick Quinn up. Look Bartowski, what happened with Walker and Quinn… it's not your fault. So don't dwell on it. C'mon, you need to be with your wife." He grabbed Chuck's arm and frog-marched him back to their cabin.
"I can walk by myself, you know?"
"I know, but the sooner I can deposit you back at Walker's, the sooner I can go grab a drink. Besides, she apparently thinks it's… cute…" Casey almost gagged. "when you babble nonsense. So not only will you not annoy me, but Walker will be happy. That's a double win in my book."
"Aww Casey, you care about us," Chuck said, the grin on his face nearly splitting his face in half.
Casey's grunt sounded hurt. "I thought you already figured that out when I called you the second best spy I've ever worked with."
"Well, yeah, but it's nice to be reminded every once in a while. Could you please let go of my arm now? I'm pretty sure that my fingers aren't getting their supply of blood. Look!" He wiggled the fingers of the arm that Casey had in a vice grip, and indeed they were turning a bit purple. Casey opened the door and walked him next to Sarah. Only then did he release Chuck's arm. "Ah, that feels great," Chuck murmured.
"Did you get him?" Sarah asked, her voice oddly hopeful.
"I'm sorry, baby but… he got away," Chuck answered.
"Don't worry Walker, Beckman will pick him up eventually. You two relax, I'll get you when we get to the station."
The doors to the compartment closed with a hiss and Chuck was left alone with Sarah. "Hey, how are you feeling?"
"Better, I guess. God, Chuck, I can't believe you've had to deal with this for four years." She softly moaned as another spike drove through her cranium, emphasizing her point.
Chuck chuckled. "At least you still remember those four years. Right?"
"I remember the important parts," she smiled in return. "I saved you, you saved me, we fell in love, I saved you some more, you saved me some more. Kind of the story of our lives."
"That's it?"
"Uhm… no, we got married as well. You proposed to me in a hospital. Seriously though, Chuck. I know you just wanted to do it and the times you tried in France were all foiled, but a hospital? I'm sorry baby, but as romantic as you are, that was not one of them."
Chuck managed a weak grin, but he couldn't help but grow nervous. "What happened after that? Can you remember?"
"I think… Morgan got the Intersect… right? And, now I have it, but I can't remember how…"
"That's okay, sweetie. It's… okay." He swallowed hard. She forgot all about the past few months and their talk of maybe-babies, but those were discussions for another day. The most important thing was getting the Intersect out of her head. He'd work on her memories later.
"Chuck… I'm sorry."
"For what baby?"
"For not remembering more."
"It's not your fault Sarah… it's not. You're going to be okay. I promise."
"Chuck..." she whispered.
Chuck leaned in. "What is it baby?"
Sarah sniffled. "I'm scared."
A/N2: So after a rewatch, I'm feeling a bit more optimistic about the ending but still feel like they missed a massive opportunity. Anyway, this chapter would originally encompass the entire ending of Bullet Train, but for stylistic purposes *insert hipster shrug here* I chose to end it here. Next chapter will be another one of this length, give or take, and after that, I'll do an episode a chapter, so this one would count roughly 4 chapters. Also, those chapters will be MUCH bigger than this one. Hope you enjoyed the story AND the finale.