A/N: Chase Emberton belongs to the beautiful and amazing ChromeHearts, give her lovings! Check out her fanfictions, too, they're amazing! 3 _

Chase sits in the chair beside his mother's hospital bed, a year after the accident. His twentieth birthday had passed without notice, Christmas had been the lonliest day of his life, and he had graduated from Sweet Amoris High. He had terminated the rental agreement on the house and had been living in a motel on the edge of town, and he had lost his job at the restaurant for forgetting to come to his shifts; not just fogetting his shifts at the restaurant, Chase had also forgotten to take care of himself. He had dropped down from the perfect 185 pounds to an unhealthy 140 pounds; his hair had started to lose it's shine, and his eyes had large, dark circles underneath them. Chase looks at his mother, who had slipped into a coma after the crash, she had lost too much oxygen to her brain waiting for the paramedics to arrive, and she is living because of the machines that are stuck in her body at various places. The doctor looks down at Chase, pity evident in his eyes, and he offers a wan smile.

"There is virtually no chance of your mother waking up, Mr. Emberton, it is more compassionate to end her suffering." Chase looks at his mother and takes her limp hand in his, and nods his head, his voice coming out as a raspy whisper.

"Pull the plug." He stands up and kisses her forehead, then turns and leaves the room to make his way back to his motel. Tears flow freely down his once-handsome face as he walks through the streets, the guilt of having caused all of this killing him slowly on the inside...he walks into a bar close to the motel and up to the bar, ordering himself a drink. As the bartender serves him, he hear someone call his name behind him, and so he turns. Castiel is standing beside a table, staring at him in disbelief; sitting at the table are Dajan and Jade, and they both have similar expressions. Castiel takes a step closer to him, placing a hand gingerly on Chase's shoulder.

"Jesus, we don't see you for a year after the accident, and now you show up looking like this?" Chase flinches under Castiel's touch, and side-steps away from him.

"I was just in the hospital..." Castiel nods his head, chewing on a piece of gum that is in his mouth.

"Yeah, obviously, have you even eaten since I saw you last?" Shrugging his shoulders, Chase lowers his gaze ashamedly.

"Not often...I haven't really slept, either...but I wasn't there for me." Castiel's eyes soften, and he sighs.

"How's Dharma doing?" Tears prick at Chase's eyes, and he shakes his head slowly; Castiel is silent for a moment, then steps forward and pulls Chase into a hug, "I'm so sorry, Chase, she was an amazing woman." Not able to handle it anymore, Chase breaks down, clinging to Castiel and weeping openly like a hurt child. Castiel holds onto the too-skinny man and hushes him, Dajan and Jade sitting at their table, feeling useless as they witness their friend break. They all stay like that for a while, until Chase pulls away and takes the drink that the bartender had left for him and drinks it down and quickly ordering another. He looks back to Castiel and drinks down another alcoholic beverage.

"Thank you, but I'd like to be alone now." Without waiting for an answer, Chase turns around and drinks all night, drowning his pain and hurt; he ends up being kicked out of the bar long after Castiel, Dajan and Jade had left, and had fallen asleep on the cold ground outside. There was no turning back now; he had lost all that was good in him.
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ChromeHearts, and the depression continues! :P

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