A/N:

Another chapter done. However, this one will be a 2 parter. I don´t like mixing things too much

As usual, I don´t own Chuck. All my stories are written for fun. No money made here.

Huge thanks to phnxgrl, and garnetflint for beta and consulting. These guys are awesome!

As for my readers, thanks for your patience and your support. I´ll do my best to pick things up as fast as I can.

As always, leave a review, tell me what you think, because your opinion matters.

And most important thing of all: enjoy the story. :-)

...

An empty dark hallway was the only thing that Sarah was able to see. The beam was just a straight line white line into the well of darkness. Metaphors in this case were a luxury that only a narrator could probably afford to use. Well, perhaps not just the narrator it could be the subconscious too. What a great setup for a horror scene it would be, only if it didn't feel so real! Walking on the straight line of questionable flying objects was strange.

Sarah was more than confused, she was terrified. Last thing she remembered was exchanging the tubes. She could only guess what the side effects could be. Who was she kidding? She had the opportunity to get off this Island. Now she decided to question the methods? It would be funny though under a different set of circumstances. It was no longer funny, this mysterious path though her subconscious. It felt little out of place, or maybe not. This time definitely wasn't the time to think about such things. Not when you trying to get out from really scary looking Wonderland.

Sarah took two deep breaths trying to calm herself. Oddly enough, there was nothing that would help her to hurry up this calming. In fact, it felt a lot more intimidating and frightening. The normal scary noises and terrifying images flashed between her eyes. With nothing more than this strange white path to follow, Sarah collected herself enough to be ready.

Sarah was being cautious. There was always the possibility of just running with her eyes closed to the finish line. Since she made the pact to overcome any obstacle Sarah was determined to meet head on whatever was passed the white line that she could see. It was a leap of faith that what she could not see would not harm her.

The path never seemed to end. It looked like Sarah hadn't made any progress, but in fact she thought that she walked miles. She could only try to guess what all of this meant. She decided to let it be. Her feet started to hurt. However, she didn't let up. She knew that she would have to stay strong in order to survive. It felt like eternity before she collapsed on the floor totally exhausted.

Time seemed to fly by very fast. At this point and state she really did not care about such trivial thing as time. Waking up Sarah became aware of her surroundings. There was no surprise when Sarah made the not so shocking discovery that nothing had really changed. She was still in the dark, literally. She finally managed to sit up. The floor wasn´t put in discussion for its hot, cold, clean or dirty feel. It was simply comfortable place to rest given the circumstances.

It took few deep breaths to push away the panic slowly to crawl from the deepest corner of her soul. What was more terrifying? Was it the jumpiness, scary, loud creepy noises or just the dark and cold silence? Where logic and common sense simply don´t have any place? It would be a living hell for a person who is following these rules their entire life. Only to find out that there aren't any rules, or any recognizable ones at least!

Sarah's eyes grew wide once she realized that. Her whole philosophy, which she did try to live by, was a combination of things that were previously mentioned. It made sense in a way. As far as Sarah could try to guess she was indeed in her very own deep personal rabbit hole. How could she find logic and explanation in a place where those elements were simply lacking?

The answer to the question was simple and disturbing at the same time heart-warming, yet questionable.

I shouldn´t be asking and trying to figure out how to get out of here. What should I be doing instead is to ask why I am here. The thought occurs to Sarah.

It was really surreal to even think about the impact this realization would have. It was the one of best cases for psychologist. Having straight line of thinking in a nutshell? How could she eliminate logic from that line of thinking? What was the one thing Sarah Walker always did?

Turning off the emotions that´s what I used to do… The wheels were spinning very fast and the picture was starting to get clear shapes.

With that particular mindset set in motion Sarah rose from the ground once again. This time she was being a little bit more humble about her situation. It was really a difficult task to achieve. Rational side of her mind was freaking out and questioning her sanity on this current decision. Knowing very well how this resolution is going to affect her, Sarah did her best to disconnect from the pain, while moving forward.

\\\\\

…10 years ago…

CIA Training camp

Location Unknown

The road to the final destination had the rocky effect on most passengers. The bus was on the road for hours and Jennifer Lisa Burton just couldn´t will herself to sleep. She had been in training for almost 3 months. Though, she was handpicked by Director Graham himself, she didn't receive any kind of special treatment. In fact the opposite was true. This resulted in more than a little surreptitious harassment from the other recruits.

Jenny kind of suspected that Director had done it on purpose to see how well she would adapt. Was she strong enough to hold on to her dreams? Or was she going to be another washout? Jenny knew one thing for certain she wouldn't be here…

…In the Dark…

Memories...What is their definition? Sometimes they are good. Sometimes they are bad. Sometimes they are happy. Sometimes they are sad. No matter how many rhyming clichés and while would probably be a good material for the song´s lyrics (by today´s standards anyway), memories form the person. It´s all about things experienced. No matter how late or recent they are still relevant.

What is the purpose of this? Why I'm here?

Sarah was doing her best focus on this train of thought while push back the unwelcome feeling of sadness. She started humming the melody from the old music box she used to have as a child. In early days Jennifer hummed these tunes to keep herself calm and collected.

Suddenly, the darkness in front of Sarah, and the silver path before her, seemed to have an end. There was a silver door at the end of the journey almost giving the impression of some cross-roads ahead. This was both intimidating and scary. On one hand there was a chance of resolution. On the other there was always a good chance of more of this personal hell.

Sarah stopped herself right in front of the mystery door. The recent events made her question, whether this meant something or not. Was it this another chance for her to back out? Perhaps it did have a much deeper meaning? Thinking about it just made her head spin.

"I just want to talk…" Sarah whispered almost pleadingly, not entirely sure who is she trying to communicate.

Without warning, the door opened almost as if a magic word had been spoken. There were no white lights or scary sound effects. It was just another room. However, this one Sarah recognized immediately. This was the room where Jennifer Burton received her first evaluation. There were the table and the chairs. Only this time, there wasn't a Senior Agent to manage the interview.

"So, what do you say Agent Walker," 17 year old Jennifer Burton grinned from the other side of the table. Did I pass?"