Please note. This is basically a fanfic to Chi, and it does NOT really happen in the story!

Chi Ficlet

Audience of One

Kat and Charlie find themselves back at the place they left a year ago. The gang hideout is falling to pieces as they look up at it. Kat holds Charlie's hand while holding back tears. Had so much really changed in one year? The inside was more devastating. Most of their stuff was gone, stolen or sold, they did not know. The place is covered in a thick layer of dust, Serena's charm no where to be found. Charlie knew what they had done would cause an impact on the gang, but he never knew it would be this bad. A year away for just him and his love. Such a simple request that effected so many lives.

"Charlie..." Kat buries her face in his chest, not crying, just not looking around at the death that surrounded her. The death of their old lives, and their friends.

"It's all right. Let's see if we can' find someone," He pats her head and leads her to all the rooms. Most are empty, or hold only a broken item or sleeping rat. Kat's face alone brakes Charlie's heart in two. The grief, the guilt, all swimming in her eyes. He has to get her away from here.

Pulling her from the building, they round the corner to peer into the alley way. The dumpster and couch still sit there in the same places. They walk over to it to find a lump covered in a blanket on the couch. Charlie puts Kat behind him as he pokes the lump. They step back as the lump moves and sits up. The blanket falls and reveals a bruised and beaten Philly. Kat gasps and run to him, Charlie behind her. She touches his face, tracing a light bruise, making him wince, yet waking him up.

"Ch...Charlie? Kat?" His eyes grow big and he turns paler then he usually is. He shakily stands and falls off the couch onto the hard ground, still staring at the pair like they were ghosts. He slowly picks himself up. "Is it...really you?"

"Yeah, Philly. It's us. What happened here?" Charlie asks.

"Where is everyone, Philly?" Kat all but shouts from behind Charlie. He pats her as Philly takes a deep breath.

"Wh...when you guys left, everything went down hill, and everyone didn't seem to notice anything anymore. Serena stopped cleaning, and Trevor and Mike stopped playing video games and just stared at the TV mindlessly. Andres rarely talked, while Aiden rarely moved," He takes in another breath. "And poor Nick. It was just like kicking him while he was down still from David's death. No one knew where he went every night exactly, but when he came home he was usually limping or bruised. I...well I...developed an addiction," He rubs his arm where needle tracks are seen and looks down in shame.

"No one cared about the bar anymore, so people stopped coming. We lost all our money since Aiden and Nick wouldn't go into work across the street. We almost always had no food, and the hot water heater broke. Everyone...we were so hungry, and depressed. When you left, you took any hope that was left in us. Any hope that we would actually live good lives, and not these lives full of...crap.

"But it was about two months after you left that really hit the nail on the head. Serena seemed to have cracked and started yelling at us all to get up and get outside. Of course, no one really listened, but she some how got us all up and walking towards the store.

"Once inside it was Trev and Mike who snapped. They started kicking stuff and knocking shelves over. The man at the register started yelling at them, but they...Trevor...he shot the man in the shoulder. The rest is a blur for me. All I remember is yelling and police sirens," He shakes and hugs himself, sitting back down on the couch. Kat sits down next to him and pats his knee. He continues, while rocking back and forth, "After that we all got split up. Mike and Trevor got sent to juvenile, while somehow Aiden and Nick got sent to jail for a short while. Last I heard of Serena, she was put into a mental institution. Andres tried to stick with me, but I ended up sending him to the emergency room because he overdosed. I'm all that's left, and I know it's my turn to crack soon. I mean look, I'm talking to you guys!" He laughs dryly. "I bet you're not even there. I'm probably hallucinating..."

"No, Philly. We're here! We really are!" Kat tries to reassure him, but nothing works. A police siren is heard in the distance and Philly jumps up.

"I have to go! Gotta...get away," As he bolts from the alley he calls a good bye to the two. They sit in silence for a moment before Kat stands up and heads back inside the hideout. Charlie follows, calling after her. When he reaches her, she is locked in the bathroom. He can hear her crying and his heart seems to just dissolve.

"I'm so sorry, Kat. I did this. All of this. I brought you into this, and I only wish I could take you out," He sits down in the dusty armchair behind him and covers his face with his hands. Why did they leave? What were they running from? They ran like vampires from the sun, but in the end, they should have stayed. Now it's too late to do anything about it. Charlie sighs and looks over at the bathroom door. It's open just a crack. He stands and walks over to it. "Kat?" He pushes on the door and it opens to a dark bathroom, but Charlie does not need enough light to see what has taken place.

Kat lay in the bathtub, her wrists slit and an empty bottle of pills on the ground. Foam is slowly rising from her mouth. On the mirror, written with soap, it says "Don't blame your self. I love you. ~Kat."

With that, Charlie bolts up the flights of stairs and onto the roof. He's sick of everything that's happened, and he's sick of trying to be strong. He lets his tears flow freely as his knees hit the ground of the roof. It was not supposed to go like this. They were all supposed to be happy together. He remembers when they were all together and happy, but then they had to run away did they? They ran from nothing, and now everything is gone.

Charlie picks himself up and sits on the edge of the roof, his legs dangling off the side of the 40 foot drop. The sun is just rising over the buildings in front of him. Behind him, the night still rages on. He wipes his tears away with the back of his hand and looks out to the sun. Why did it have to look so beautiful? It reminded him of David, all bright and shiny. That led to Nick, who, because of him, threw his own life out the window. Life. Death. Kat was now dead too, and who's to say for any of the others. Perhaps people can outgrow things they once loved. Charlie loved his life, he really did, but now it just felt empty. As he stood up, a determined look upon his face, he knew a name for his emptiness. As he raised a foot and stepped off the edge, he remembered what it used to mean to him and his friends. As he fell through the air, the name was just as hollow as he was. Chi. 血

It's funny, cause im not deppressed at all as I write this. Any questions, just review. ^^

Audience of One (c) Rise Against