A/N: Don't hate me guys, I'm just following the main plot points in the story so far. I've only minimally seeded things, more clues and hints will come in the coming chapter (although I through in one or two here), including a major one that Beca hasn't even thought about (honestly should have been obvious I think).

Anyways, here is chapter 9 featuring Beca suffering a loss, a bit of (reverse-)Revival, and Amy to the rescue ;)

I don't own pitch perfect.


It's been three days.

Three goddamn days and Chloe's still missing.

And it's been driving Beca insane.

What did I miss? What did I miss?

Not a word, not a peep. And most of all, what was frustrating her more and more with each passing minute that Chloe was yet to be found was that no one even noticed.

No one even cared.

No one but her.

What did I miss?

She was shaken to her core at the thought of what might've happened to Chloe, but with each passing moment that no one knows where she is or what happened made it more and more possible that what Beca feared had actually happened.

And how?

How did it happen? Was someone always lurking in the shadows, constantly watching, observing, learning to modify their plans and waiting for an opening?

How could Beca have missed that? Did she let the good things that have happened make her leave her guard down?

How could Beca even forgive herself if that were the case?

"Mitchell." Tom greeted that Wednesday afternoon. Beca was feeling sick to her stomach. During the first timeline, it was the day Chloe was found and the knowing, the feeling that might just be a matter of time before she receives word was making her feel more and more nauseous. "I've been trying to get a hold of you for days. I'm worried about Chloe."

"You're worried." Beca said, her frustrations slipping in her tone. "If you're worried what do you think I feel?"

"I'm trying to look for her but I have no idea where to start. I've skipped out on working the last two days after she didn't show Monday to check for the places she usually hung out. When she wants to be alone. Did she tell you anything?"

"What part of worried don't you get?" Beca almost yelled out before taking a deep breath to calm down.

"Sorry, I just wanted to know if you knew where she was." Tom replied looking at her at a loss.

Beca balled her fists inside the pocket of her hoodie, not wanting to let more of her frustrations show.

Not wanting to make it look like she was sick at the thought that she might actually know where Chloe was.

And she really did not want to find out if she was right or not.

She wanted to be wrong, more than anything else, she really, desperately, wanted to be wrong.

But thankfully, before she drove herself insane, Jesse stepped in and excused her. "She's just really stressing out about Chloe too." he said before leading her away and taking to talk at the corner of the library that no one ever visits.

"You're really worried, aren't you? Everyone heard your almost outburst there." Jesse noted. "What's wrong Beca? What's gotten you worried about Chloe?" Jesse asked, doing his best to comfort her. "Did you fight or something?"

"No." Beca said shaking her head and pressing her lips as she tried to keep fighting the tears threatening to spill out.

But she couldn't hold it back anymore.

"Beca? Beca, what's wrong?" Jesse asked again, tentatively taking a step closer to her. When Beca did take a step back, Jesse pulled her into a hug.

"I'm just worried, Jess. I'm worried someone hurt her." Beca allowed herself to say as Jesse comforted her. Once she managed to get herself together again, Jesse convinced her to go talk to someone about it and promised to talk to Mr. Walp too. He stayed pretty much silent about anything else but he looked deep in thought about something.

Beca weighed her options as the rest of the day went on.

She could check the one of the Applebaum's storage freezers. She could probably trick Benji into showing her too.

But she didn't want to pull Benji into this, she already knew that if she failed Chloe, she'd doom him too.

And Beca most definitely don't want to see the images she had in her nightmares realized in front of her.

"Beca, are you okay?" she heard Luke ask her that afternoon as she ran into him on the way out of school.

Beca shook her head. "Is this about Chloe?" Luke then asked. "Sorry for asking, I just noticed how she's been doing better the last two weeks and now she's been gone a few days. Have you heard of anything?"

"No." Beca managed to respond, her emotions still stirring all kinds of thoughts and fears deep inside of her.

Things Luke managed to pick up. "Beca, listen, Chloe will be okay, alright? Her step-mom hasn't contacted us and she has been absent for a good few days before, that's why none of her teachers seemed too concerned. But if you think something bad has happened, if someone's started to hurt her again, then I promise you, we will take action. Okay? I told you before, we're you're parents here. I'll contact child services and the police but I need you to help me out too, okay? They'll be asking questions, and I need you to be brave again and step up."

Beca simply nodded, not really sure what else to tell Luke. A part of her tried to convince her that her step-mom probably hurt her again, she was gone because of bruises. She's probably just hiding out. It was a terrible thought to have, she knew that, but it was the lesser of two evils. It meant Chloe was still alive.

And with what Luke said, it meant that they could put her step-mom away for good too.

"Have faith, Beca." Luke then said. "It's how we can stay strong. I'm a believer that things happen for a reason, so have faith that everything will turn out right in the end."

Beca once again nodded before heading home to revisit her crime board, one obsessive thought going through her head.

What did I miss? Damn it! What was it?

She woke up early the next morning with a massive migraine for skipping out on dinner the night before. She stopped herself as she was halfway down the steps on her way to her kitchen when she caught a glimpse of Dr. Mitchell on his phone, slowly pacing back and forth.

"I see. That is concerning. And how sure are you that it's the same person?" Dr. Mitchell asked before pausing to listen to the reply he got on the other end of the line.

Same person?

"Mhmm." he went on. "I don't know, I guess we can meet at the café in town if you two are coming for a visit. I don't think it's a great idea to meet at the house, Beca is quite affected by what's happening."

Beca lingered a little bit longer, eavesdropping on her dad. She had a gut feeling what her dad was talking about with the person on the other side of the line was related to Chloe's disappearance and the incident Beca was trying to prevent.

But it was just her luck that they changed topic then and Beca missed her chance on knowing what it was all about.

She snuck into the kitchen when she had the chance and hurried to get to the school that morning, her father's conversation hanging on her mind.

If anything, it drove her to make sure action was being done to look for Chloe.

That's how she found herself in Mr. Walp's office that morning.

He simply nodded and listened as Beca expressed her concerns. "Mr. Matthews, Tom, and Mr. Swanson also came in yesterday to express their concerns. Mr. Westfield and I talked about it too. We still haven't received any calls from Mrs. Beale, but I decided that it was best we called the authorities."

"And?" Beca asked.

"And they're looking into it, Beca. All we can do now is wait." he replied. "Wait and hope."

Beca simply nodded. "Do… do you think we're too late?"

Mr. Walp looked at her with great uncertainty before smiling weakly. "Let's not think that." he replied. "I'm sure we'll find Chloe soon Beca, and we'll have the matter sorted. Just keep faith."

Beca nodded and took that as her cue to leave. With no new news of Chloe that day either, Beca decided that she wouldn't just take things sitting. She was going to get answers herself.

She toured the playground late afternoon after first swinging by the science museum. While she didn't find Chloe then, she did saw a flyer about a missing girl. She was too consumed by Chloe's loss that Beca didn't even realize that Aubrey had gone missing just two days ago.

No, no.

She was late. She messed up.

She was stuck in a helpless state as the loop of kidnapping and murders kept her in a place she didn't want to be.

Beca ran home after that, she didn't want to face it, the possibility it could be true that she failed Chloe.

It was one thing in the past when she was just a face in the crowd, one she admired and like. When she was still a stranger she had a crush on.

It was different now that she knew her, now that she knew Chloe's smile, her laugh, her warmth. Now that she knew the fragile but loving soul she tried to protect from other people after everything that's happened to her. Now that she knew her dreams, now that she's someone who would haunt her in her memories.

Now that she was more than someone Beca just liked.

Now that Beca knew she started falling…

Beca found herself just a few steps away from the Beale's home. The past few days had been snowing lightly every night, leaving about half an inch to an inch to accumulate on the ground. It was cold and bitter winds that blew didn't help either. Beca adjusted Chloe's yellow scarf around her neck – the only thing she had of Chloe left – as a kind of stillness settled down on her.

She took it a step at a time, as if with each step she'd get understanding of what had happened the night before. She saw were frozen-thawed-and refrozen footprints leading to the backyard, at least three pairs of them. One had undoubtedly been Tom's and the other Beca's from that morning she snuck behind to check if Chloe was in the garden shed. Her footsteps had almost disappeared but Tom's still looked fresh.

Wait… the third set… they're almost gone like mine… Beca realized.

It was one of the things she missed during her initial frantic search of Chloe.

And she was about to investigate further when she noticed the blue trash bin just a few steps next to her, the lid slightly opened. It was filled with loads of white Hefty bags from what Beca could tell.

Checking its contests, Beca felt her blood boil once more.

Chloe's coat was there.

And the gloves that she had given her for her birthday.

Her other things too.

It was clear that her step-mother didn't wait long to get rid of anything that belonged to her.

They haven't even… No one's even sure what happened yet… her body wasn't even found yet…

Anger seethed through her veins at the sight of it, at the thought that someone could be as cold-hearted as her step-mom was.

She didn't even care she went missing, damn it!

And Beca wished, oh she wished so hard, for that woman to get what's coming for her.

She wished so bad she could just go back.

Because this couldn't be it. This couldn't be how it ends.

Damn it all! This can't be it!

Beca felt herself being sucked in by a powerful force. Everything in front of her turned pitch black before her vision was filled by the black of night instead.

From somewhere close by Beca's ears picked up the sound of sirens, of hounds closing in.

What the…

Realization hit her then, looking at her bloodied hands to make sure she wasn't dreaming.

A Revival… but why? Why send me back from her point of origin? she thought but fought the urge of thinking too deeply about it for now.

She needed to focus on matters at hand.

After all, everything was closing in on her.

She was cornered but Beca wasn't going to give up just then. She looked around for any means of escape before she decided to use an old dumpster, climbing on top of it as she jumped up to reach the ledge of the high wall behind her. The metal made some sort of sound as she did, probably alerting the officials of her location, but Beca didn't spare any second to even make sure and double check. She used up all her strength to pull herself up that damned wall, using her legs to push her off an angle from the wall and climb up to help herself get over it faster.

It was a long way down another dark and narrow alleyway but considering her prospects Beca believed that jumping down was the best of her options. She landed with a thud, hurting her ankle in the process as she ended up putting more weight on her left foot.

Beca bit her lip, trying to stop herself from cursing loudly as she soldiered on through the alley and the awaiting street only to trip over her footing. The frustration over the entire situation kept building inside of her.

She was about to pick herself up off the ground and continue running when a thought hit her.

What did I change? Who did I save?

There was a throbbing ache in her chest, the pain of it resonating throughout her body, numbing whatever sensation she felt from the ankle she twisted from earlier.

I went all through that…

Beca did her best to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall. She needed to think calmly, regroup, and figure a way out of this.

Why… why make me miss something now when I didn't miss anything before other than regretting chances I let slip by?

But it was just all through much. She already hated that she wasn't able to do anything the first time she lived through the tragic events that happened in her high school but then she had to just go and relive it.

She had the chance to prevent it from happening…

…and still she failed…

Why cause me this pain?!

Beca winced at the sudden brightness that filled her vision. She heard the sounds of a motorcycle approach her and come to a halt all so suddenly. Beca readied herself as her eyes adjusted to her surroundings in case she had to fight for her freedom when she saw two pairs of hands raised up in surrender standing next the bike.

"Relax Shawshank, I'm here in the hopes of helping." she heard may say, before turning briefly to grab a helmet and toss it towards Beca.

Beca caught the helmet before it hit her in the face, her mind still trying to catch up to the things happening to her. "H-how…?" Beca asked and Amy smiled back. "And Shawshank?"

"You made breaking news Shawshank, - yes Shawshank, because aren't you making you daring escape?" Amy replied. "They were talking about evidences quickly piling up against you and that you ran for it so I decided to look for you in case you needed help."

"Why?" Beca asked completely at a loss about the kindness she was receiving from someone who was close to being a stranger to her if not for being coworkers.

Amy gave a dry chuckle in response. "I know what guilty people look like, Beca. They have this mad twinkle in their eyes. 'Sides, I'm an excellent judge of character. I know you didn't kill your papa bear."

Beca sat on the ground staring blankly at Amy. She was completely speechless and still rather confused as to why Amy would want to genuinely help her.

"Come on Shawshank, or do you want to be caught? Let's get a move on already." Amy then said, snapping Beca away from her thoughts. She hopped on her motorcycle and patted the space behind her.

Beca simply nodded and proceeded to wear the helmet before hopping on.

She wasn't sure what to do next, what her next logical step would be.

But she did know there was new kind of fury building deep inside her being born of the pain of her losses.

Whoever did this…

you'll pay, I promise.


A/N Pt 2: Again, we'll still get Bechloe scenes down the line (so that's a hint), but for now it's time Beca gets a more concrete plan and understanding of things.

And how else can we take things into perspective but from stepping away and looking at it from the outside?

UPNEXT: Beca finds the help she needed! Amy stumbles upon a major clue! We're introduced to Lilly, Jessica, and Ashley too!