BROTHER DEAREST | PART 2 | CASPAR&CHASE&ELLIE&JESSE
Tw: Sleepwalking, Violence
Summary: The members of the Morpheus cabin go from dreaming together to a rude awakening.
"I'm going to kill your brother" The woman's face was so close to Chase's that he could feel her breath. It felt as though she was sinking into his chest and weighing him down. He suddenly could not move his arms, could not close his eyes, could not stop the hag's beast from attacking Milo. He fought against it, forced his arms up to grab her and throw her off of him, then flipped himself over so that he could grab at the hag and slam her into the ground. He yelled at her to drown out her laughing, and brought an elbow down to the center of her chest to try and silence her, to stop the laughing, to stop her bird from attacking Milo.
Chase flipped himself over onto Jesse and balled his fists around Jesse's shirt. He pulled Jesse up and slammed him down into the bed twice, then brought an elbow down into the center of his chest. "Stop it. Don't you fucking..." Unlike his movements, his speech was halted.
Jesse woke with a start as his back slammed into the bed. There wasn't time to react before the breath was solidly knocked out of him, and it wasn't until Chase spoke that he realized what was going on. "Whoa, whoa, Chase, what–" he wheezed as he tried to grab for Chase's wrists to slow him down.
As he hit her, the old woman let out a wheeze and looked to her pet. She reached up to grab him with her claws, but he countered her, grabbing at her wrists instead. “Make it stop!” He brought his knees up, somehow knowing that the way to stop the bird was by stopping the hag herself.
Chase rolled his wrists and grabbed Jesse's forearms and pushed to hold them down above his head. He shifted to move his knees up against Jesse's chest. "Make it stop," he mumbled.
Acting on instinct now, Jesse yanked his arms out of Chase’s grip. There wasn’t time to try and wake him, with Chase still actively going after him, so he went for the first thing he could think of and rolled, shoving Chase off of the bed and onto the ground. “Caspar!” he tried to yell, but there hadn’t been time for him to catch his breath after Chase winded him and it was too quiet. He stayed on the bed and gave another attempt, louder this time. “Cas! Help!”
Ellie was with Caspar in his room talking, when she heard Jesse call out for Caspar. Ellie looked at Caspar, confused. "Uh, that didn't sound good," she said, already pulling off the blanket that she had around her.
Caspar was honestly fighting to stay awake at this point but it wasn't because of the topics of conversation with Ellie. It was the comforting familiarity of it all because soon he knew he would be dreaming alongside Ellie if all worked out, but he was forced into a more lucid state of mind when he thought he heard something from the other rooms of the townhouse. He pulled himself up to a sitting position and rubbed his eyes. "Was that Jesse calling out?" He asked Ellie.
"So I didn't imagine it? Good," Ellie said, concern seeping from her voice. "Let's go, come on."
Chase was suddenly plucked up and thrown onto his back. He rolled over and reached out, trying to take Milo’s hand, his arm, make any attempt to save him, but as he grasped for his brother, he just seemed to get further away. “Milo, please get up! Get your legs under him!” Milo didn’t respond.
Chase was off the bed and onto the ground like a ragdoll. He hit the floor with a small crash and rolled over, reaching a hand out next to him. He groaned quietly.
The crashing sound jolted whatever sleepiness was left lingering. Caspar tried to push the blankets off of him and get up but stumbled at the fact the blankets caught on his long limbs. Once detangled, he quickly followed Ellie out of her bedroom door. "Gotta get to Jesse's room," He idly spoke his thoughts as the two headed down the hallway to the next bedroom where he guessed the sounds had to of come from.
Ellie picked up her step, making it into Jesse's room. Ellie looked at her brothers. "Jesse? Chase? What the hell?" Ellie ran over to them, looking at Jesse first. "Are you alright?"
Caspar entered the room and wasn't sure what to make of the scene. Jesse was in bed but Chase was on the floor and it didn't make sense? He stepped on over to Chase and crouched down. "Chase? Hey, are you okay?" He asked. "Did you fall?"
“I’m fine,” Jesse said shortly, watching Chase. “Don’t get too close!” He leaned over the edge of the bed. “Can you wake him up without touching him? I think he’s having a nightmare and he’s lashing out.”
There were more of them now; the monsters. They all called out his name. He grit his teeth and looked around for her, the one causing this. She was still laughing. He locked in on her and attacked.
Chase turned onto his back and pushed himself up with his elbows. His body moved as if on autopilot as he brought his feet under him and turned so he could launch himself at Jesse.
Jesse slammed back into the bed again as Chase caught him by the shoulders. He tried to grab him and push him off, but this time, with the surprise, he couldn’t get a strong enough grip on him.
When Chase went for Jesse again, Ellie gasped. "Jesse!" Ellie went into protective mode, and she tried to pull Chase off Jesse, but Ellie is a foot smaller, and Chase is definitely stronger than her.
When Chase moved, Caspar heard Jesse, and moved to stand up and take a step back. His face was one of horror as he saw his brother turn on the other. "Uh, no, no. I have to put my hand on him, but it takes a second," He explained finally understanding what the situation really was, shaking his head and rushing up to where Ellie was pulling at Chase.
They were cornering him, coming at him from everywhere, protecting their master.
Chase brought his leg up to knee Jesse.
Jesse was just managing to lean up when Chase’s knee came forward and caught him in the cheekbone, snapping his head to the side. His tactics changed, and Jesse brought his arms up to protect his head now instead of trying to shove Chase off again.
Ellie put her arms around Chase's upper chest, to try and gain more strength to get him off Jesse. "Caspar, try it now!"
Caspar came to Ellie's side and placed a palm of his hand on Chase's side. The other hand other gripped at his arm. "Chase, Chase. It's okay," He urged as he could feel his own body began to tingle and spark to life just like every other time he used his ability. "We need you to..." Caspar's eyes flickered shut and his palms felt weird (almost as if they were wet). Just then, he wasn't sure if he spoke it out loud of just heard his own internal voice. "Wake up!"
The beasts spoke his name again, and again, until it sounded more familiar. He felt warm. Everything went light, and then dark.
Chase struggled when Caspar first touched him, but he went limp in Ellie’s arms. His eyes fluttered open. He breathed heavily, still waking up. It was a dream. There was a moment of relief. “Where’s Milo?” He looked around at his other siblings before his chest clenched with realization, now fully snapped out of his dream. His heart pounded in his chest as he looked around at their panicked faces. “Was I yelling?”
Hearing their brother’s name hurt more than anything that had happened in the past few minutes. Jesse pressed a hand to his cheek. “You were dreaming about Milo?” He shook his head- that wasn’t what was important right now. “Not.... exactly yelling, no.”
Ellie let Chase go limp in her arms, getting him so he was off of Jesse, but he wasn't falling off the bed. When he said Milo, Ellie basically held her breath, she never knew Milo, but she knew of him, most importantly she knew he was dead. "What's going on Chase?" She looked to Jesse. "Are you alright, Jess?"
Caspar dropped his expression to one that showed and remained sullen even as he looked back at Jesse. He felt heavy as he turned back again to face Chase and Ellie. "Uh, you, um," He vocalized, not sure if it was even a good idea to tell him, but then figured it had to be. "You were moving around." He clarified to Chase.
“I’m okay,” Jesse said to Ellie, not taking his eyes off of Chase. Should they tell him? He sighed. “You were flipping out.”
Chase inhaled shakily and untangled himself from his siblings fully so he could sit on the edge of his bed. He rubbed his eyes, feeling as though he was about to cry. He ran his hands through his hair a few times to try and calm himself down. “Yeah, I...” He wasn’t sure if he should answer Jesse’s question belatedly or not. “I’m sorry. It felt... real. Did I wake you all up?”
When Chase untangled himself from Ellie, she inched herself toward Jesse, looking at his face, making sure it was okay, because she knew he'd lie for Chase. When she realized it didn't look bad, she looked back to Chase. "Uh, you did a little more than that."
Jesse frowned at Ellie when she continued. He didn’t want to drop his hand from his cheek, even though Chase wasn’t looking at him. “You started thrashing around, got me by accident,” he lied before Ellie could keep going.
Chase took in a shuddering breath and swallowed past the lump in his throat. He tilted his head toward Jesse and touched his own elbow, thinking about his actions in the dream. He blinked quickly. “Did I get you badly?” He looked at Caspar and Ellie. “Did I hurt you guys?” He swallowed again.
Ellie looked at her other brothers, before giving Jesse the look of 'if you don't tell him, i will'. "You didn't hurt me," she said, which was the truth.
“Just a bruise,” Jesse responded to Chase, still frowning at Ellie. He dropped his hand from his cheek. “Could’ve been worse. Cas got here and woke you up.”
"Yeah," Caspar said, realizing he'd gone silent. "I woke you up to make sure you stopped before anything got too, uh, wild."
Ellie let out a breath through her nose. "You had him pinned down," Ellie whispered. "I don't want to just ignore this, we can't just ignore this, you guys. I'm sorry Chase, but it was really scary to see you like that."
Jesse rubbed his temple when Ellie spoke, a thread of annoyance twisting around him amongst everything else. “We’re not going to ignore it.”
"Then tell him the damn truth," Ellie snapped back at Jesse. "He didn't do anything on purpose, and it wasn't his fault, but going around acting like it was something little, isn't going to help."
Chase’s chest felt tighter and tighter with each time his siblings spoke. He rubbed at his eye as his heart pounded in his chest and he was unable to swallow down the lump in his throat. “Oh,” the word came out as a breath. Chase could barely breathe. He shook his head as Ellie and Jesse spoke to each other. “Stop.” Another whisper. “Please don’t fight.” His chest felt like it might pop from the pressure.
“I’m not acting like it was something little, I said it could’ve-“ Jesse cut himself off when Chase spoke and turned to him immediately. He touched Chase’s shoulder with the tips of his fingers. “Sorry.”
Caspar looks at Chase. "Are you okay?" He asks intently.
Ellie wanted to yell and scream that it sure seemed like Jesse was just saying it was little, but when Chase spoke, it brought her back a little. Ellie had a short fuse lately, and it was usually her brothers who made sure she didn't lose it. "Sorry," she apologized also. She looked at Caspar, knowing he didn't really like much confrontation, and she was looking to make sure he was alright. She looked back to Chase. "Chase, this isn't your fault. Please don't think it is."
Chase blinked again, looking from one sibling to the other. He’d never seen any of his siblings afraid of him, never even dreamed that they could be. He tried to take in another breath but it was too much. Jesse touched him and he closed his eyes, trying to swallow.
Cas’s question was somehow the straw that broke the camel’s back. Maybe it was the inflection, or the fact that his siblings were looking after him after he had just done the unimaginable, but it was all too much. Chase choked down a sob and felt tears rush forward against his palm that was pressed into his eye. “Um.” He let out a shuddering breath, unable to say any more.
Jesse froze for a second before wrapping his arms around Chase and pulling him against him. He hadn’t seen Chase cry in years- not since Milo died. “We’re gonna figure it out,” he said into Chase’s hair. “And we can fix it.”
Caspar' frown remained as he saw Ellie looking at him. He then watched as Jesse pulled Chase into a hug and Caspar let out a breath he'd been holding. "We're together like always," He added and stepped forward to place a hand on a free spot on Chase's back too as Jesse had his arms around him. "That, uh, dream, I know how real it felt, but it's not." He reminded him.
Ellie put her hand into Chase’s, giving it a tight squeeze. She doesn’t remember the last time Chase cried, she wasn’t even sure if she has ever seen Chase cry, and here he was. “We’re here for you Chase, no matter what.”
The comfort only made Chase feel worse, somehow. He tried to keep himself under control, but as they all held him, he found himself shaking in Jesse's arms, his face hot and wet with tears. He shook his head. "I- I-" He couldn't speak without shuddering and tried to swallow it all back. "Please." He sniffled. "Don't... Just don't let me sleep."
Though, Ellie didn’t advise it, but she couldn’t stand looking at Chase like this. “I can, uh, I can induce insomnia for you,” she said. “Till we figure this all out. If you want, Chase.”
Jesse rested one hand on the back of Chase’s head as he cried, looking to his siblings over Chase. “I think we should ask Morpheus, too. If there’s anything he can do.”
"I agree. They might know something, or have advice." Caspar added as he rubbed Chase's back.
Chase sniffled again and wiped his face with his hand. "Please." He nodded at Ellie. He felt helpless. He just wanted to sleep off the incident, to sleep away how tired he was from crying. He never wanted to sleep again. He got his breathing under control and wiped the last of the tears from his face, but there was no way that he could smile at this to relieve any tension. He was crumpled against Jesse and squeezed Ellie's hand. "Dad'll know what to do."
Ellie closed her eyes, holding onto Chase. She made it so he felt more awake and unable to sleep, even if he wanted to. It took only a little out of her, but she wouldn’t tell her brothers that. “Just let me know when you need me to help you again, I’m not entirely sure the exact amount of time it lasts.”
“I can ask L or someone in the meantime? They might have advice for making staying up less, uh, bad.” Jesse patted Chase’s back.
"And, uh, we can all try to stay up as much as we can." Caspar offered sincerely.
Chase sniffled again, feeling somewhat less like he had to sleep now, though only physically. He was more exhausted than ever. "Thank you," he whispered as he attempted to pull away from his siblings. "No, no, please sleep." He frowned. "Act like you're making up for me, alright?" He almost smiled.
“You act like you’re the only one who has insomnia,” Ellie teased, giving him a small smile. “This is where my own can actually come in handy for once. Besides, I’m not really into sleeping lately. So, you’re kind of stuck with at least me.”
"I really will Chase. I know what you, uh..." He paused. "I know what it's like to not want to sleep, I guess," He settled for saying this and eventually pulled away to give Chase space.
“With our sleep schedules, I’m sure one of us will be up anyway, no matter the time.” Jesse kept one arm around Chase, but dropped the other.
"Okay." Chase felt like crying again, but he just exhaled a sigh and nodded, head down. "I can, um, make everyone hot chocolate. Or coffee, if we plan on staying up now." He sucked his cheeks in and glanced at Caspar. "Thanks. For... stopping me."
Caspar figured a simple nod of his head would do the trick to answer Chase. Then, he looked at Jesse again with sad eyes. He exhaled too and nodded again, only to look back at Chase when he was thanked. "It's fine," Caspar replied. "I would do it again. I'd always pull you out," He tried his best at a comforting smile. "Did we, uh, finish off all of the marshmallows last time, you think?"