Darkness, silence, empty space – these were the first things he became aware of. He appeared to be stuck in an endless expanse of nothing. There was nothing to see, hear, taste, touch, or smell. He just was. It was creepy. Why was he here? How long had he been here – forever? No, that didn't seem right. How did he get here, then? What happened? Was there anything he did remember?

He considered this, contorting the face he didn't have in contemplation. It was strange. Somehow, he knew that he still remembered who he was, but no personal information came to him right now. He hadn't lost his memory; it just wouldn't present itself. Weird. The only thing he seemed to grasp was that he felt restricted to the back of his own mind.

So, how could he escape? Was there any escape? He didn't know. There seemed to be some strong force keeping him weighed down to this… place? All he wanted was to leave – or at least gain some clarity. He tried to move somehow, but that was difficult when he didn't have a body to speak of. He attempted to break out by tugging and pulling at the resistant power holding him captive. Where all this strength came from, he wasn't sure, but at least it was something.

Finally, after many more vain efforts, he stopped trying. This was getting him nowhere – although he already seemed to be nowhere.

Suddenly, his surroundings began to lighten. The vast expanse of black started fading to charcoal to grey to cream until a bright light was shining in front of him. This was a bit confusing. He was sure that this wasn't of his own doing. Perhaps the lonely abyss decided to take mercy of him. With that final thought, the light enveloped him completely.


Ever so slowly, Chase's eyes slid open. His senses steadily returned, going from touch to sight to hearing. He blinked, clearing the remaining blur from his vision. All he saw at first was a crisp white ceiling. Confused, he lifted his head up to better view his surroundings. First he saw the bed, then the medical equipment, and finally, he saw his older brother quietly snoring in a nearby chair. Chase smiled, gently pushing himself into a leaned back sitting position.

"Adam…?" he croaked. No response. He tried a bit louder. "Adam?" Still nothing. In a final attempt, Chase mustered all his strength and yelled, "Adam!" Following that, he coughed viciously.

The older boy shot up, his senses immediately coming to life. Adam looked at the bed, and a relieved expression crossed his face when he saw that his younger brother was awake. He ran to the bedside, a smile growing on his lips.

"Chasey, you're awake! Thank goodness; I'm so glad you're okay!" Adam embraced his brother in a loving but tender hug, which Chase returned.

After breaking away, Chase gave his older brother an amused yet curious look. "Why wouldn't I be okay?" he rasped.

Adam squinted, tilting his head to the side. "Don't you remember what happened?"

"Sort of. I remember the mission… and my leg being crushed. Anything after that is fuzzy, though. What happened?"

Adam scratched the back of his neck. "Well… Bree and I brought you back home. Mr. Davenport and Douglas did surgery on you. I waited until they were finished and then came in here. I fell asleep waiting for you to wake up, and then you woke me up. That's pretty much it."

"Oh, okay. Were there any complications during the operation?" A confused look from Adam reminded Chase of who he was talking to. He sighed. "Did Mr. Davenport say that anything went wrong?"

Adam had to think for a moment, but he finally responded, "Nope. He said everything went well and you'd be better soon."

"Then why were you so worried?"

"Huh?"

"Why were you so worried that I wouldn't be okay?"

"Oh…" Adam looked down. "Um… I don't know. I guess I was just letting my fears get the best of me."

Chase raised his eyebrows. Did his big, strong, courageous brother just say he was afraid of something? "What fears?"

"Well… I was afraid that Bree and I were too late – or that Douglas and Mr. Davenport wouldn't be able to help you. It scared me that I wasn't able to help you."

"How were you not able to help me, Adam? You and Bree were at my side in a minute when I got hurt – that much I remember. You got me back here – somehow – and because of that, my leg was fixed in time."

"Yea, but… I could've been there with you when that beam fell. I should've been there."

"You didn't know what was going to happen, Adam. There's nothing that could've assured you being by my side."

"Yes there was…" Adam finally looked back up. "If we had still been handcuffed together, I would've been there; I could've protected you."

"We weren't handcuffed, though."

"But we could've been!" Adam suddenly yelled. Chase flinched back, shock written all over his face. "If-if I hadn't fought with you so much, maybe Davenport wouldn't have given up on us. Then I could've been there with you. But I wasn't. I'm the older brother! I'm supposed to protect you, but I didn't! I-I… failed…"

Adam sniffled, and a flurry of tears fell from his lids as his upper body shook. "I was scared that you wouldn't make it, because if you hadn't, it would've been my fault. It's my fault you got hurt, but if you didn't survive… I couldn't live with myself."

Tears welled up in Chase's eyes, too; his heart broke as he realized how distraught his brother was. "Adam… this isn't your fault. You had… no idea what was going to happen. If you had, I know that you would've stayed near to protect me. But you didn't know. We – we have to live with the things we can't change, even if it hurts our family.

"Besides, Adam, th-that's a two-way street. I fought with you, too. Neither of us tried very hard, but it wasn't all on you."

"I-I just wish that I could go back in time and keep this from happening. The minute I saw how awful you looked, all this guilt flooded me. I would suffer any experience handcuffed together so long as I could continue to protect you," Adam admitted.

Chase nodded, wiping away the tears that fell. "Ditto. Adam, I'm really sorry. There's no excuse for how immature I was; nothing should cause a person to fight like that with their brother."

"I'm sorry, too, Chasey. I don't want to fight with you anymore. I don't want the last thing we ever say to each other to be mean."

"I agree."

There was a moment of silence which the brothers took to regain their composure. After a few minutes, Adam spoke up again. "So, you're not mad about what happened?"

Chase confidently shook his head. "No, Adam. I don't blame you."

"Good. So… one more hug?" Adam grinned sheepishly, opening his arms wide.

Chase smiled too. "Absolutely."

Adam brought his baby brother in for another embrace, but he wasn't as quick to let go. This time, he kept Chase in his arms for a while, because he didn't know when the day would come when he couldn't hold Chase like this anymore. After all, 17 years wasn't too long to start acting like a proper brother, right?

"Awww," Bree cooed from the doorway, causing the brothers to quickly break apart. "How sweet is that? I've never seen you two so close when you're not trying to attack each other. It's about time you came to your senses."

"How long have you guys been standing there?" Chase asked.

"Long enough to see the cutest brother-make-up scene ever!" Leo replied.

"Hey!" Adam whined. "We're not cute! Cute is for girls!"

Bree and Leo chuckled, making their way to Chase's bedside to exchange hugs. Donald and Douglas stayed in the doorway to further admire the interactions of their kids.

"Well, what do you know, Douglas? You were right! I think reality is broken…"

"Haha," Douglas mock laughed, glaring at his brother. "It isn't universally impossible for me to be right! In fact, I'm almost always right; that's what happens when you're the smarter brother."

Donald scoffed. "In your dreams." The older Davenport brothers shared a look that assured each other it was all in good fun.

"I should be saying that you were right, Donnie. The handcuffs did their job. I doubted at first, but you did well."

"Adam and Chase did well," Donald corrected.

The brothers' attention was brought back to Chase when he said, "Uh, Mr. Davenport, Douglas, aren't you going to come give me a hug?"

The inventors smiled and went to join the teens in a heartfelt family moment.


Sorry about the long gap between chapter. I got sick recently, and the medication makes it hard to focus. Blah, blah, blah, excuses. Again, I apologize.

Sadly, this is the last official chapter :( Not to worry, though; there is still an epilogue that I will be posting soon. After that, however, Bound in Brotherhood will be complete. Thanks again to all my readers for all the support! It's sad to see it end, but I'm so glad I got to share this story with everyone.

Look out for the coming epilogue!