It's tornado season! I'm so happy! :D Not even being sarcastic.

Which means that my various pets will be waking me up when the air pressure drops, allowing me to actually write this today.

So thank Chip, the spazzy guinea pig, for Chapter Twelve being early due to a very loud thunderstorm.

I've also seemed to notice something. Correct me if I'm crazy, but every chapter seems to get five reviews. O_o Maybe I'm seeing patterns everywhere? If someone could also look at that – remember, there were 67 when this chapter came out – and prove me either wrong or right, I'd appreciate it. It's driving me up a virtual wall.

Also, I was bored last night and decided to do something a bit fun: But only when I hit 75 reviews.

When that happens, everyone from review 76 on gets to ask one question. About anything.

As long as it's not too personal or just an extreme Hybrid spoiler (yes, questions about Hybrid are fair game, so long as it doesn't ruin the story), I'll answer it.

Feel free to still not review, if you're so inclined. Just keep that in mind. Zara will answer your questions. ;)

Thanks to everyone who's reviewing and reading! 67 reveiws! I'm all warm and fuzzy on the inside still. :3

Moonlit: Crap. I was going to name each and every chapter from here on out that. D: Oh well. :3 Also, I'm starting to think you just like to caps rage in the review box just for the hell of it...

AllAmericanSlurp: He was just a wee bit miffed there, wasn't he? Poor little guy; he just wants a hug...And for everyone to lay off his ears...

Vampire Girl: I'm not sure if it's necessarily "on," per say, but it is definitely going places.

gg180000:Nooooooo! Damn it, damn it, damn it! He should have said that! You just pointed out a golden opportunity that I missed! D: I'm going to now bang my head against the wall repeatedly.

This chapter is a bit short, but I think it makes up for it in "No! Why would you do that!?" moments.

And thus, who wants to say it?

"Zara doesn't own Lab Rats or anything you recognize. If you don't recognize it, it's probably hers."

Thank you, Miss Tasha. :3

"Here lies everything: The world I wanted at my feet..."

Dr. Horrible (Neil Patrick Harris), "Everything You Ever"

"No more dreaming of the dead as if death itself was undone. No more calling like a crow for a boy, for a body in the garden...No more dreaming like a girl so in love with the wrong world..."

Florence and The Machine, "Blinding"

Chapter 12 – Forget Me

Chase

Waking up was a bit of a surprise.

Oly had taken it upon herself to sit on my chest for some demented reason and just stare at me, so my first sight was large yellow eyes right in my face.

Naturally, I yelped and punched her, causing her to stumble and fall off of me, landing on her back on the mattress.

Yes: It turned out that a bed had appeared under me at some point. Just when the hell did that happen?

Next, I was pretty sure that Mr. Davenport would've kicked us out by now. Since Douglas' house burned...where was I?

"Jesus, Half-Breed," Oly whined, rubbing her nose. She sat up and glared at me. "I was just watching you like Master said to. No need to get pissy."

I sat up before I answered, placing one hand behind me to steady myself and rubbing my eyes as a slight throb started in my head. Just what I've always wanted: A headache on a bad day. "I'm sure he didn't tell you to get in my face while doing so," I hissed finally, looking at her.

"He said to stay close," she sniffed, crossing her arms. "I couldn't get closer than that."

I raised an eyebrow. "Was it a good idea?"

Oly just growled at me.

With a slight chuckle, I started to examine the room I was in more closely. To my surprise, I found that I was, in fact, in the Davenport mansion. Leo's room, to be exact. Nothing much had changed: A new poster for the movie "Divergent" was hanging near his closet, and his desk was somewhat cleaner. Small changes like that, really.

And one that seemed small, but suddenly spoke volumes to me.

A little framed picture I'd never seen before rested on his nightstand. But what caught my attention were the the people in it.

Tasha and Mr. Davenport were standing in the back with Adam, grins on their faced as Leo, Bree and I, dressed in beach attire, sat in the foreground in the sand, smiling as well. I remembered that day: We had taken a vacation to the beach. Sure, we had almost destroyed the world on accident, but it was still a fun day. Leo had insisted on taking the family photo before we left, citing that it was a commemoration of their first vacation as a family.

When had he framed that?

Why would he frame that? Seemed counter-productive, in all honesty. If you wanted to forget someone, why would you keep a picture of them? Especially one of a bonding moment so dear to both he and I? I swallowed and picked it up, my hand shaking a bit. Because the answer was simple: He hadn't wanted to forget me.

"Half-Breed?" Oly waved a hand between my face and the picture, drawing me from my thoughts. "You all right?"

I glanced at the picture for another second before I set it back down on the nightstand, now left with questions in place of the abandonment-fueled anger that had caused me to snap earlier. Of course, it wasn't like they would listen to a word I said now. So I couldn't really ask. Had they searched, and I just not noticed? I was pretty good at hiding, when I wanted to be. And I had wanted to stay hidden.

I felt like I was going to throw up when horror rose in my chest.

Oh, god; Was I too hard on them?

Yes, I thought. And now, there's nothing you can do. You burned those bridges.

Whoops.

I swallowed again, attempting to force away the numb, guilty, horrible feeling that had started to grow in my stomach. It didn't work, but I nodded at Oly, anyways. Clearing my throat a bit, I finally said, "I'll be fine."

Because even if Douglas and I were granted asylum until the danger passed, there would come a time when he was driven out. And, no matter how sorry I was, no matter whether or not they wanted me around, I would be sent away, too. Because they feared me.

Because I was a monster.

Because I was a terrifyingly powerful demon, and that made me evil.

At least, it did in their eyes. Hell, it did in mine, too, at the moment.

Not that my lovely display of fury had helped to dispel that preconceived notion.

Wasn't that what I wanted, though? Them to show me some respect? To acknowledge that I, too, was strong?

Not if you pushed them away in the process, I thought wryly.

So I had to start telling myself that it would be all right in the end, when they would turn away from me forever, like Mr. Davenport had done to Douglas.

Funny; without the bitterness, the idea of leaving them behind and vice versa was suddenly extremely hard to face.

Way to nail your coffin shut, Chase.

"Where's Douglas?" I asked, forcing myself to focus on the moment rather than the dismal future.

Oly sat down, curling her tail around herself. "About a mile from here with his other imps." She grinned. "I'm supposed to be there, too, but he didn't want to leave you alone here. Besides, locked doors can't keep us in OR out," she added, pointing at the closed bedroom door.

"So I'm a prisoner," I stated bluntly. Nothing says "you fucked up" like your own family holding you captive! Although it was a mystery as to why I wasn't in a capsule.

I wasn't about to question luck, though.

"Sure," Oly drawled. "If you were human."

Right: The whole demon thing. I could just float out of here as a puff of smoke. Or jump out the window and fly off.

Go us!

"You ready to go?" Oly asked, standing up and jumping down onto the floor. "Because I'm bored and Master says that we have to work twice as hard as we did originally to find out what's going to happen." She put her hands on her hips and snorted, rolling her eyes. "I swear, between you and him, I lost a thousand years off my life."

I rolled my eyes, but kicked my legs over the side of the bed, leaning on the nightstand experimentally as I stood up. When my legs decided that they did, in fact, wish to hold my weight, I stood up fully. "All right," I told Oly. "But I have to do one thing, first."

"Hurry up," she growled.

"It'll take a second; I promise," I assured her as I walked to Leo's desk. I dug around a second before finally finding my target: A piece of paper and a pencil. Scribbling out a short message, I then put the pencil down and returned to the nightstand, where I picked the picture of everyone up again. After a second of staring at it, I slipped it out of the frame and replaced it with my note. He probably has a copy, I thought to myself as I folded it into fourths and slid it into my pocket. Just something to remember them by, I guessed. He won't miss this one. "Okay," I finally said. "Now we can go."

"About time," she muttered as I threw open the window.

I nodded again before pausing, taking one long look around as it finally sunk in that I might never set foot in this place again.

I was having to swallow down a lot of emotions today.

Beside me, Oly had already turned into a robin and was eyeing me closely before she took a flying leap through the opening. I sighed and loosened myself up, changing around to take on the guise of a raven before taking off, flapping wildly until I managed to get enough lift to fly out the window after Oly, following her as she lead the way to Douglas.

You know, it's amazing how no one even notices when a pair of birds just fly out of a bedroom window. Kind of makes you think about how small you really are.

"Everything I am, and everything in me, wants to be the one you wanted me to be. I'll never let you down, even if I could. I'd give up everything if only for your good. So hold me when I'm here; right me when I'm wrong. You can hold me when I'm scared. You won't always be there, so love me when I'm gone…."

3 Doors Down, "When I'm Gone"

"Don't walk away…when the world is burning…."

Poets of the Fall, "Carnival of Rust"

Leo

"Look," Mr. Davenport was saying, rubbing his eyes. "Douglas obviously got to Chase somehow. I know that he kind of destroyed everything, but he's still Chase. We have to get him back to normal."

Leo had honestly never seen Mr. Davenport look so old before. His whole demeanor had just shrunk after Chase's display in the Lab a few hours earlier, like he was just plain tired of everything happening all at once. It was a little sobering to see.

Bree scoffed. "You saw what he did down there. I don't think he even wants to be saved."

"If he's part demon, maybe we can do an exorcism?"

Leo found himself looking at his mother like everyone else. Leo had to remind himself that she was only trying to help. Chase was her son, too, after all. It had been her idea to put him in a bedroom rather than in a capsule. Something about waking up in a comforting place might calm him down. Or so she had reasoned.

"Exorcisms don't work on demons," Mr. Davenport said after a second. "Just poltergeists. Besides, he isn't possessed."

"What's wrong with him being a demon?" Adam asked. He had been rather upset after Mr. Davenport forced Yahn to leave with Douglas. "Demons are cool."

"Demons are evil," Leo explained slowly.

"But Chase isn't," Tasha rebutted instantly.

"Right," Bree interrupted. "That's why he's with Douglas now, isn't it?"

"It's not like we exactly helped that situation," Mr. Davenport countered.

Everyone fell quiet. Although it wasn't spoken about aloud, everyone had agreed that Chase's rant in the Lab was mostly true, if one disregarded the accusation that they hadn't searched for him. He was the one that, because of his seemingly simple powers, was taken for granted and used the most. It was a wonder that no one had actually foreseen a situation like this presenting itself before. In hindsight, it had only been a matter of time before Chase exploded on them all.

After several moments, Leo found himself restless. This silence, this inaction; it was starting to bother him a bit. He stood up. "I'm going to go to the bathroom," he mumbled half-heartedly, really just searching for an excuse to leave. No one even questioned him as he left the conference circle – really just a general gathering of Davenports on a single couch – and, taking the stairs two at a time, basically fled the scene. But, despite is excuse, he found himself instead drawn to his bedroom. Locked inside the door was a paradox: Leo's demonic, loving brother. Leo froze outside the door, wondering if he really should consider Chase his brother anymore.

The answer was an instant yes.

Demon or not, Chase was still his family. And, when his family was in trouble, Leo was going to help them. But how could he help someone who didn't want his help?

Leo set his jaw determinedly. I'll have to convince him that he needs us more than he needs Douglas.

With that goal in mind and a knack for skillfully winging things, Leo unlocked the door and stepped inside. "Chase, are you –"

Greeted by an empty room, Leo froze. The curtains around his opened window moved a bit with the morning breeze, signaling that Chase had gotten the hell out of Dodge. Leo didn't honestly know if he was alarmed for everyone's safety, concerned for Chase's health (he had just passed out, after all), or relieved that he hadn't actually had to handle a potentially irate demon at the moment.

It was then that the picture on his nightstand caught his attention.

Or the lack-thereof.

Silently, Leo crossed the room, feeling as if his feet were moving of their own accord. It was almost like an out-of-body experience, like he was watching himself as he picked up the picture frame, now devoid of a cherished photo - he had copies, anyways - and read the note that had been left behind in Chase's neat handwriting.

I'm sorry for everything. I love you all, and I'll miss you – hope you don't mind me taking the picture, by the way - but I'm a monster. It's better for everyone to forget me.

-Chase

Leo didn't realize that he was crying until wet tear stains started to spread across the note.

Because before, there had always been hope that Chase would come back.

Because now it was official that, this time, he wouldn't.

Of all the things he should've done – alert the family, call Eddy up to show him the footage of Chase leaving, or even just trying to go find Chase himself – he just sank down onto his bed, his mind continuously repeating the sentence that he was sure would haunt him for the rest of his life.

It's better for everyone to forget me.

That was upsetting.

I'm not fond of how this chapter turned out wholly – I can't do sad, mushy scenes to save my life; go figure – but I tried, damn it! :D

Who do you think is justified in their thoughts here? Chase? The Davenports? Who's right?

Feel free to review and tell the world. Or don't and admire your thoughts in private. :3 Whichever works best for you.

Remember, after review 75,people get to ask one question that I might answer, if it isn't personal or a major Hybrid spoiler. Just sayin'. ;)

And, as always, enjoy.

*Bows and exits*