Reconciliation Part I


It is night-time on Cloud Carrier Epsilon and Chase Suno is twisting in his sheets, his body covered in sweat. He is experiencing a vision, depicting Six sitting in his prison cell. Six' back is turned to Chase as he is hunched over and hugging his knees, completely silent. He slowly turns his head to Chase, his face dark and unreadable.

All is quiet except for the sound of Six' voice reverberating in the darkness of Chase' mind.

It is as though I was meant to fight alongside you.

Chase awakes, startled and gasping. He finds himself in a dark room, the quarters that he shares with Bren, Dax and Beyal. Chase sees them all asleep on their respective beds, which calms his frazzled mind somewhat. He sits on the edge of his bed, looking down at his feet.

What was that about? thinks Chase. He hasn't had a vision in months. He looks at Beyal's sleeping form and thinks about waking him up but refrains from doing so. Chase stands from his bed and makes his way to the kitchen to get some water.

With a half-empty glass in hand, he retraces the path back to his room until he stops in his tracks. Chase bites his lip and ponders shortly on his next action before deciding a quick trip to Six' cell wouldn't hurt. No one would have to know about it.

Six was let off fairly easy compared to Klipse, especially considering most of his criminal actions were directly related to his father. His cell was isolated from the adult prisoners and the accommodations were on the nicer albeit more basic side. However, his room was under constant surveillance. Escape was unthinkable.

Because of this, the same security measures didn't apply for Six as they did his father. A mere swipe of Chase' security card and an optic scan is enough to grant him access to the area of the prison facility that holds Six' cell. As there were fewer guards patrolling the halls at night, Chase makes sure to sneak around unnoticed. This is hardly the first time he has avoided being caught by S.T.O.R.M. onboard their own ships, friend or not.

Soon enough, Chase finds himself standing before the very cell his dream depicted but doubt settles in his gut. Before he has a chance to do much of anything, Chase lets reason win over curiosity and returns to his room in a hurry. He tries to forget the vision ever happened.


Cryptic images of Six continue to haunt Chase' mind the following night. As he rubs his eyes in the dark, Chase musters the courage to attempt another visit to Six' cell.

Once again, Chase finds himself at a loss for why he is here. His voice catches in his throat several times, constricted by uncertainty and hesitation. Chase almost loses the will to stay when a voice calls out softly from within.

"Who is that?"

Chase stiffens but leans closer to the door and answers just as quietly.

"It's. . .it's me. Chase."

Complete silence settles over the small holding area and Chase' heart is pounding. He awaits a response but gets none. As he is about to leave, his ears pick up soft footsteps from the other side of the secured door.

"Hello, brother. To what do I owe the pleasure of your rare visit?" Six asks from near the door, his voice much clearer with the closer proximity. Chase' eyes drift downwards as he is struggling for words once more. Why did he come?

"I just. . .I wanted to know how you were doing."

The reply sounds awkward and lame, even to his own ears. Chase' fingers absentmindedly brush the steel door, fingernails lightly grazing the cold metal for lack of better things to do.

"I am alright," Six answers monotonously.

"Oh. . .that's good."

That vision was nothing but the result of indigestion, Chase thinks to himself with a smidge of frustration. He can't believe he wasted two nights doing nothing but worry over something that wasn't even tangible.

"Was that all?" comes Six' inquiry from behind the reinforced door.

Chase promptly leaves without a word.


Despite Chase telling himself otherwise, he is still having nightmares that all link back to Six. Chase was always shouting something to the clone whose back was turned to him. The more recent visions would include the clone's skin melting off his bones and his eyes falling out of their sockets. Chase was left petrified and screaming every time.

He decides to confide in Beyal in absolute secrecy. Chase is worried that these sleepless nights will hinder his judgement during missions and eventually reach the attention of the higher ups. Trey would be all over Chase' case if he screwed up, and Jon Ace would notice his tired demeanor and insist he take the time to rest, which is the last thing he needs. He doesn't need to sleep — except he actually really does — he needs a way to resolve the nightmares preventing him from sleeping. Hence the reason why he decides to tell Beyal about them.

"Most curious," says Beyal thoughtfully. The rest of the team had gone ahead to grab a Cloud Hopper for their new reconnaissance mission, while Chase had pulled Beyal aside for a moment to speak with him. "Given the details you have described to me, I can only advise you to seek out Six himself."

Chase rubs his weary face with a groan. He hadn't waited to share these strange visions with their one and only expert, only to receive an answer he already knew. "I already spoke to him last night, Beyal. Six is fine but the nightmares continue! What does this mean?"

"I am not certain. However, it is clear that there are unresolved matters between the two of you," Beyal speaks, words laced with a serious undertone. "No matter what you may think, these visions are foretelling you of events to come. You must attempt to speak to him once more. But do exercise caution, Chase. Six is not to be underestimated."

Beyal's words fail to dispel the uncertainties in Chase' mind but he decides to heed them anyway. For the third night in a row, Chase seeks out Six to talk to him.

"What is it now, brother?"

Chase looks down, somewhat speechless and confused. He sighs. "I don't know. I'm here because. . . because I've had visions about you for the past couple of nights. I don't know what they mean."

"Sadly, I cannot aid you in that regard, Chase."

Chase barely catches the words that Six proceeds to mutter under his breath, but he hears the faint disdain and he knows it's nothing pleasant. "What did you just say?"

"I said I expected this much from you. You do not waste a fraction of a second for someone like me unless you are given a reason to."

"Excuse me? I don't?" Chase repeats, hotly. He likely would have been better off pretending he hadn't heard Six instead of asking him to repeat his insult, but the damage had been done. "That's rich of you to say! You betrayed us, Six! Twice even!" Chase quickly remembers no one is supposed to know he's here and lowers his voice.

"I'm not the one at fault here. You could've walked away from your dad and joined us. But you didn't," he continues, feeling his sudden anger dissipate just as quickly as it had come. The memory of Six' betrayal and near success in stealing Lock still stings to this day. That had been months ago and he thought he was over it. He blames the visions entirely for even bringing up Six in the first place.

"It is certainly easy to preach about the right choice until you face a similar experience. I wonder," Six says, after a moment. "Do you truly believe you could heed your own advice if placed in my position?"

Chase pauses for a moment, perplexed by Six' words.

"Emmanuel Klipse may not be the perfect father, but yours is no saint either, Chase. Jeredy Suno worked with S.T.O.R.M. on several questionable projects. Surely even you must realize how unethical some of them were."

Chase' brows knit together as he processes what Six is implying. What is he talking about? His dad hadn't — okay, using Chase' DNA for Lock's creation wasn't exactly something he had consented to but Lock was his buddy! Although, the Wild Core explosive device that killed Quirkforce had been his father's original design. And that wasn't even mentioning how his dad had lied about the disappearance of Chase' mom, betrayed his trust on multiple occasions and—

Chase bites his lip, his eyes blinking after having stared at the floor for a while. He proceeds to shake his head to rid himself of the negative thoughts sprouting from the dark seeds of Six' words. "No, that wasn't," Chase chuckles weakly, trying to find his words. They slip from his mind like sand rushing between spread fingers. "He didn't — that's not the point. Your dad is corrupt and. . .you're too loyal to see what he's doing to you!"

There was silence on the other end of the cell door. Six sighs as if Chase is the one denying the truth, as if he's the one trying to convey an important point. Chase shouldn't be feeling this defensive, shouldn't be dreading whatever Six was going to say next but he was, and he hated it.

"Getting a bit repetitive, aren't we? I will ask you this, then."

Chase' breath is stuck in his throat.

"If Jeredy Suno ordered you to, would you leave a friend behind for the sake of his cause? Or would you reject him and join his enemies?"

Chase' eyes widens, and his jaw goes slack. He has nothing to say.

"There is your answer."

Chase leaves the cell in a hurry once more.


Chase appears again the next night despite his better judgement. It seems the situation worsens with every visit, but he has no other choice but to come. What's worse is that none of what Six had said the previous night was untrue, and it scared Chase to think how similar he was to his brother in that regard. There are bags under Chase' eyes, and his mind feels fragmented as he sits down on the cold tile floors with his back to Six' cell door. For a while, Chase says nothing, his silence prompting Six to speak.

"I tire of fighting you, Chase Suno. I do not wish to be hostile towards you, nor do I have the strength to."

Six sounds as exhausted as he says he is. Chase can relate to that.

"Me too," Chase says, defeated. He looks up at the ceiling, counting the lines in the air vent in hopes of tiring himself out, but realizes it would defeat the purpose of coming here unnoticed if he is found sleeping near the prison hold the following day. And so he talks, the words trickling out much easier now due to lack of proper sleep. "I really. . . really wanted to get to know you, you know."

You really did feel like a brother to me.

Chase hears slight rustling behind the door. "Have those feelings changed?" Six asks. Chase must imagine the sad note to that question.

Chase turns his head to the side and shakes his head. Then he remembers that Six can't see the motion. "No. I don't think they have."

There's silence before Six replies. "I feel the same. Despite our current circumstances, I very much enjoyed our brief time spent together. With you and team CoreTech."

A bittersweet smile settles on Chase' face. It wasn't just him, then? "Maybe we could just. . .talk? There's a few things I'm curious about and I can't imagine solitary confinement being any fun to you."

"My imprisonment is warranted. I wasn't strong enough to protect my father and he is suffering now because of me."

Chase almost tells Six that Klipse deserves to rot in prison, but he's not up for another argument that will leave them both feeling like crap. Instead, he raises his hand to touch the pendant on his necklace. "None of this is your fault. This whole Monsuno thing is bigger than all of us. None of us asked for this."

That seems to be something they can both agree on. They chat for a little while until Chase' eyelids start to droop, and he almost falls asleep. He wishes Six a pleasant night before leaving and hears faint coughing in response.

If Six is bothered by his continued appearances outside his door the following nights, he doesn't show it. Chase spends time talking to him about anything and everything. Little things around the Cloud Carrier, sightings around the world, his own hopes and dreams. Six would talk about his own experiences since 'birth', most of which included his time carrying out Klipse' orders. Chase naps during the daytime and spends his nights talking to his brother. It isn't exactly an option during the day. Beyal asked him at one point if his visions had stopped and Chase gave him a half-truth and said that they had. They are less frequent, he'll admit, but they have yet to cease completely with his continued visits. In a way, he is grateful for that. It's a valid excuse to offer Jon Ace or Trey, should they find out he was doing this. And when all is said and done, he really enjoys his nightly visits to Six' cell. Chase doesn't want it to stop.

Six opens up a lot more over the course of their nightly chats as well. On few occasions he is even laughing, a soft laughter so unlike the ones that used to taunt him during their previous encounters. However, Chase has found that Six' coughing continues the more they talk, the more each day passes. At this point, it has reached a concerning level.

"You sound sick," Chase notes one night, out loud. "Want me to get a medic to check up on you?"

"No, I—" Six swallows. "I am fine. Please continue."

Chase doesn't buy it. "I'm serious. It sounds like it's only getting worse. I can get them and be back here in no time."

"Do not concern yourself with me, Chase. I am alright."

"Six," Chase stresses, fear seeping into his voice. Why is Six being so stubborn about this? "You're sick. Let me help you."

Six' next coughing fit sounds deeply unpleasant and painful. He heaves a few quick breaths, sounding as if he can't breathe properly. Chase' anxiety spikes as a result. "Chase, listen. You. . .cannot help me. It is. . .s'too late."

Chase rushes up to stand from the floor and presses himself close to the door. "What do you mean? Six, what's wrong?"

Six doesn't answer for a moment and Chase bangs his hand against the door in desperation, secrecy be damned.

"Six, answer me!"

Six' grueling chuckles meet his ears from near the door, sounding equally fearful and relieved. "I am. . .I am glad I could be a 'good' brother to you. . .in my final moments, Chase Suno. Take care."

"Six!"

Chase doesn't hear another response from the other side and his stomach drops. He takes a split second to contemplate what he's about to do before he swipes his security keycard against the lock pad and enters Six' cell for the first time. Six is lying on the floor, sprawled against the door with his back turned to Chase. Chase turns him over to check his condition and is shocked at what he sees.

Six is burning up. Sweat is coating his red tinted skin and the heat emitting from Six is astounding. Chase quickly tries to find a pulse and finds it in a weaken state, barely thrumming under the tips of his fingers. Six had been feeling this bad for days and he hadn't said anything. Amidst the late night conversations, the teasing and the retreats at daybreak, Chase had been gleefully ignorant of Six' condition this whole time.

He realizes with a nauseating sense of cruel irony, that this was what his vision had been warning him about all along.

Six is dying.

"Guards! Someone, anyone, I need help!" Chase shouts loudly, leaning down to wrap his arm around Six' unnaturally warm body. He wouldn't be able to carry him, but he could still try to drag him closer to the medical wing. Chase feebly shakes Six, feeling the sting of tears pressing against his eyes as he encourages, pleads and begs for Six to regain consciousness. "Come on, Six, stay with me. Please, please, wake up. Guards!"

Two S.T.O.R.M. soldiers finally enter the cell and rushes to his side, puzzled at the scene before them. Before they can ask, Chase is already shouting. "Don't just stand there! He needs serious medical attention! Help me carry him!"

Six is easily picked up by one of the two guards on their way to the medical bay, while the other informs the medics of the prisoner's current condition with his earpiece communicator. A couple of nurses later meet them halfway with a stretcher, carefully placing Six on it before rushing back from where they came. Chase can only helplessly tag along as Six is taken away, regret and guilt eating him up from the inside. He can only hope they aren't too late, can only hope his stupid decision of not telling anyone won't end up claiming Six' life. He sends a silent prayer to whoever is listening, not usually the type to ask for help from the heavens except when his mother disappeared but if there was ever a time to hope for the best, this was it.

Please, don't let this be the end for him. Don't let him die because of me.