IT'S AN UPDATE, GUYS. I'm so sorry it's been so long, but I have not forgotten this story! I've just been so busy with school and homework and tests and theatre, which kind of just sucks the life out of me, but my theatre competition is over, so now I have time to write again! Yay! I hope you enjoy the following chapter, and I'll hope to get the next one up and going pretty soon, so stick with me here! Thank you so much for being so patient, and thank you for the lovely reviews. I love them all. :]

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except this plot.

Chapter 4 - I'm Sorry

Aiden does not know where he is.

He knows that his hands are bounded together by something strong and made of metal, but he knows they're not handcuffs because no one locked his hands together. It was like they had just tied it around like a piece of rope. He thinks they must be small chains.

He knows that he is in a truck, going somewhere, and there is a tiny little window that opens up with bars to the driver's seat, but it is covered with a piece of cloth.

He knows that it is dark, cold, and lonely, and he is the only one in the back of the truck.

He knows that if he makes a sound or says a single word, they will stop the truck and come yell at him and beat him like they had done the first few times.

He also knows that they tell him sorry afterwards. He doesn't know why. All he can hear them mumble is that they're sorry because they have to make sure he looks presentable. For who, he doesn't know.

Aiden is terrified. He wants his mommy and his daddy, but he knows that there has been tension between them for a while. He knows his mommy has been upset and has been breaking down as of late. He knows his daddy is tired and scared of what is to come.

Aiden does not know what to do.

He is not sure if he will be saved, but as young as he is, he absolutely refuses to cry because for some reason unknown to him, he has a feeling that his mother and his father will do everything in their power to at least come to him.

"Pascal, I have some questions for you," Chase mentioned flatly, as he strode into the fish store with diligence and confidence.

There seated across the counter was Pascal, standing and counting the money they had earned just last week. Pascal raised his old, weary eyes towards the younger man. "There is nothing I know answers to."

"Oh, but you do, Pascal," Chase argued as he leaned against the counter with Pascal on the other side. "You run this sea in Waffle Town. There is no one who knows this ocean better than you do, so you have to answer my questions, Pascal."

"Please, Chase. Leave me out of this," Pascal pleaded tiredly, taking a seat on an empty stool. Pascal didn't care about the town, the people's reputation, what they thought of him, what they gossiped about. The only thing he cared about was his beloved boat and his beloved sea and the fish that swam consistently every day. Nothing else mattered except for his family and the sea.

"I can't, Pascal. I'd like to, but I can't let you sit out for this one. My son is missing, and I need your help. Have you noticed any odd disturbances around here lately? Any new boats? Anything at all? Akari and I just thought we'd like to check to see if maybe Aiden was kidnapped or something... by people... outside, you know? We just wanted to be sure before we started investigating." Chase paced back and forth and finally stopped again, breathing in heavily and letting out a sigh of exasperation. "Please, Pascal. Anything you know would help."

Pascal rubbed his temples thoroughly with a slight pressure, enough to temporarily calm his headache that he was already receiving from thinking about... people and their problems. But Chase had always been a help to him. He always did bring in good fish to sell, and not only that, he had always been a sweet gentleman towards Pascal. If there was anybody in the town Pascal was actually willing to be beneficial towards, it'd be Chase.

Pascal got up from his stool and slowly made his way over to a cabinet where they stocked up all of their records of who checked in, what fish they brought, what he spotted when he was out on his boat, et cetera. "If there was anything foreign, it'd be documented in here, Chase," he said, pulling out a few stacks of paper and turned around, handing them to the younger man. "These are all of our documentations. We may have missed some things, but at least it's something. You can take them home for now, and when you're done with them, just return them to me."

Chase's eyes brightened, as he retrieved the papers from Pascal's hands. "Thank you, Pascal," he said gently, a lift in his tone. "I appreciate this."

Pascal's eyes gave a little twinkle. It had been a while since he felt like he made such a difference in anyone's life, but the way Chase had responded had seemed so genuine. Maybe there was hope in the town and its people after all. "Chase, I do hope you find your son."

Chase could only grimace. "Me too, Pascal. Me too."

Chase came home to find his wife dead asleep on the sofa in the living room. She had been having nightmares as of late, so he was glad she could finally catch up on her sleep after she had finished her ranch work. He took the stack of papers in his hands and placed it on the coffee table. He sat down next to her and slowly ran his hands through her hair, brushing it softly with his fingers and caressing her cheeks softly with his thumb.

When she was asleep, she reminded him of the girl he fell in love with, the girl he was still in love with. The girl he knew was still deep inside of her. It wasn't a feeling of longing. It was... a feeling of knowing that she was still there. It wasn't a wish that she would go back to her old self. No. He never really thought that. It was more... knowing that the girl he was looking at had always been within her, just not in reach. It was knowing that when he had promised to love her forever, he meant it—no matter who she became, she would still always be Akari.

Right now, she was mentally unstable, and he knew that. She had been slowly reaching towards insanity for the past three years, and she was probably not even at her peaking point, but he didn't care. Akari was still Akari. He would always love her because he knew that deep inside of her, there was still Akari, despite her insanity, despite her anger issues as of late. She was still Akari, the open, honest girl he had come to love.

So what if she wasn't quirky and innocent? Those were personality characteristics that changed over time. Sure, it was nice to have her be fun and innocent with a bounce in her step, but at the end of the day, he was just happy to have her by his side.

And he knew when she left him, he'd be the one dying on the inside, the one to become insane and weak.

Chase broke out of his trance when she stirred slightly in her sleep.

For now, he thought, at least he could enjoy the time while they had it. Just for now.

Kathy would do anything to get her hands on Chase, the only guy who had never succumbed to her seductions. Oh, she knew that Maya had always had this big puppy crush on the guy, but Maya could understand if Kathy went out with the guy once, right? She had to, had to somehow make Chase fall in love with her. Every other guy had at least gone out with her once, but no, not Chase. From the very first day that he had come into town, he was immediately in the arms of stupid Akari.

Kathy hated seeing them together. The sight of them made her sick and her stomach church. At first, it wasn't so bad. She thought it wouldn't last anyway. But nine whole years, they were stuck to each other like glue. Who could live like that? She liked having different men around.

Oh, please, she wasn't a whore or anything. She just liked having variety. Different people, different months. Same bored her to tears. She liked adventure, a variety of circumstances, occasions, taking risks. Going steady and marrying was just... not her thing.

How Chase and Akari had managed to stay together for so long was beyond her.

Kathy didn't have a crush on Chase. In all honestly, she just wanted to rub it in Akari's face.

There was just something about the girl that she despised. Seeing her made her sick to the stomach. She didn't really know why, per say, she just... did. Maybe it was the way Chase looked at her like she was... an angel, and she just wondered why no one ever looked at her like that. Even though Akari had been a part of something so... despicable, Chase still loved her.

She hated it. No one loved her. No one cared for her ambition, her rowdiness, her love for horses, for anything. Sure, she liked variety, but she knew half of the reason why she did was because she was waiting for the moment someone would finally sweep her off her feet.

So when Akari had mentioned she was twenty-nine and still single, it hit a nerve inside, and the fire of hatred towards her just grew even more.

When Chase came late to work, Kathy immediately glued herself next to him. "Hi there, handsome," she smirked.

Chase only threw her a look of confusion before replying with, "Hello, Kathy."

"I hear you and your wife are finally divorcing."

Chase stopped midway through putting on his apron. Slowly, he finished tying a knot at the back and turned back towards her, narrowing his eyes fiercely, fists clenching. "Shut your mouth, Kathy. It's not something I'd like to talk about."

"What are you talking about? You did decide you wanted to leave her right? I mean, who could possibly live with her after what she did anyway? It'll be good for you, Chase."

"Shut up, Kathy," he repeated tightly, as he went back to his kitchen and started wiping down the counters with a wet rag.

Kathy followed him, ignoring his comment, and leaned against a pillar. "It's Akari, for heaven's sake. You know, the big slut. She doesn't deserve someone as fine as you anyway. What's so special about her? It's a good thing you'll be a free man, Chase—a very good thing indeed. You guys were never good together. You're such a sweetheart for putting up with that thing for so long. Poor you. You have such a good heart—"

Chase slammed one of his pans against the wall, right next to Kathy's head, slightly touching her long blonde hair. Kathy's bright green eyes flashed with fear for a mere second, as Chase leaned in, his hot breath right up her nose. "Didn't I already tell you, Kathy? Shut your fucking mouth. Don't talk about Akari like that. She's still my wife, and I still love her. If you want to talk about her, talk about her with Maya or something, but don't ever mention it to me. Got it?"

Kathy stayed frozen for a while, watching, as he gathered himself up and away from her, going back to his kitchen to turn on the stove. Her eyes stayed fearful before they fiercely glared at his back. She just didn't get it.

Why? Why in the world did Chase love Akari so much? Just what was so special about her? To make her seem like the bad guy and Akari the victim? Akari was the one who had slept with another man, for heaven's sake!

Chase paused in his cooking one more time to turn back at Kathy, who was still standing there, frowning with angry eyes towards the floor, completely lost in thought. "And Kathy?" She stopped and looked up, raising an eyebrow. "I would never, ever go out with you."

Kathy lips turned into a sneer. "Well, lucky for me. Every other guy would."

"I'm not every other guy."

"Figures."

Chase shifted through the papers that he had received from Pascal. He skimmed through each page and finally turned to the page of the day that Aiden had disappeared from their life. As he scanned the page, he realized he wasn't really sure what he was looking for, but he knew that he just wanted to make sure that there wasn't any possible way that someone outside of the town had possibly taken Aiden. The only way would be to check incoming and outgoing boats the night or a few nights after the kidnapping had occurred.

He heard the front door to the house open, and he looked up to see Akari come in, wiping her gloves together to get rid of the dirt before tossing them in a drawer. She looked up, startled at his presense. "What are you doing home so early? You're usually home by midnight or so. It's ten," she mused.

"I took the rest of the day off. Some things at work... kind of bothered me today," he replied, recalling the events that had happened with Kathy and the way she had glomped all over him. He shuddered. There was something vindictive in her eyes. He hated it. She walked with a condescending manner, and her eyes screamed dishonesty.

"What are you looking at?" she asked, as she pulled out a chair in front of him and sat herself down. "Are those the papers Pascal lent you?"

He nodded, as he glanced back down at the page. The day that Aiden had disappeared, nothing went in, and nothing went out. That didn't mean that someone from outside hadn't taken Aiden; it just meant if they had, it probably was delayed for a day or two, but even then, they'd have to stay somewhere right? The only place that held any lodging was the Sundae Inn. He made a mental note to check the information of the guests after he finished searching the data from Pascal.

"Can I look at it?" Akari asked, breaking his thought-process.

He shuffled the papers together and handed them over to her.

He watched, as her delicate fingers peeled page off of page off of page. He saw her eyebrows scrunch together in confusion at one particular page and noticed that her hands had frozen stiff in place. "What is it, Akari?"

She brought her eyes to meet his, and he noticed how fear had controlled the rest of her emotions. She slowly gave him the paper in her hand. "Look at what Pascal wrote down," she whispered.

The date scripted on the paper was only a day or two after Aiden's disappearance. He scanned down the paper, oblivious to the normal functions that went on throughout the day until his eyes hit the numbers 4:05 P.M. Next to the time slot in big, messy scriptures were the words, "Stranger. Who is he? Never checked in but is checking out. Has a few more men with him. Big sack in hand. It's moving. Odd group."

Akari bit her lip, eyes filled with worry. "Do you think...?"

He found himself nodding slowly.

They both had a bad feeling that the big sack mentioned was what most likely held their little Aiden.

"You're despicable." She turned around and saw Kathy standing there, gloating with fierce, green eyes scorning upon her. "I can't believe you cheated on Chase."

"He's given you so much, Akari," another voice said, softer, more genuine, more... saddening. Maya. It had to be.

A force pushed her to the ground, and she found bloody knees adorning her body. She felt pain echoing, as she brought up her elbows and pushed herself up with them. She could feel the concrete scrape her skin, the pain searing, as she flinched. She looked up, eyes searching for him. Where was he? "Chase?"

"He left you, bitch," another voice piped up, snarling. "He doesn't want anything to do with you anymore."

"I didn't do anything," she managed to cough out, but she screamed, as she felt a foot kick her in the back and knock her back to the ground. She wiped the blood that had started to seek through her swollen lips. "I didn't!"

"You're pregnant, Akari. Don't even try to lie!" someone else said. "You were gone for three months! You can't be one month pregnant without having cheated on Chase."

"I didn't cheat—" She felt a slap to her face. She looked up to meet the burning green eyes of Kathy. Next to her was timid Maya, standing, worried, but she didn't do anything. Behind them, she could see the scornful looks of Selena and Luke. Why? Why were they treating her like this?

"You did," another voice said. She strained to turn around and saw Jin standing next to her, towering above her with his deathly eyes. "You cheated, little girl. You're pregnant. Haven't you figured that out yet? You're one month pregnant, and you've been out of town for three months. That says something right there. Stop trying to hide it."

"Don't you see what you've done?" Kathy's sadistic voice cut in. "You've hurt Chase. You've caused a scandal in town. You know how old-fashioned we are, and you caused a fucking scandal. You're pathetic, a worthless human being. You don't deserve to live. You're worth nothing! All this time, Chase has loved you; I don't know why. What's so special about you? You're just a piece of shit. And I was right all along! You went off to go fuck some guy, and here you are, with your precious little mistake. You can forever remember the mistakes that you made, girly. Just get out of here! Get out of town! No one wants you here. You'll just be a reminder of what we hate so much in life—betrayal." She raised her hand to slap her again but suddenly felt a force stop her. "What?"

"Shut up."

Akari, tears flooding her eyes, managed to look up to see her husband grabbing a hold of Kathy. His eyes were a dark shade of midnight purple, the darkest she had ever seen. His lips were in the form of a line, a grimace, and his face was void of emotion. She tried pleading with him through her eyes, but they remained emotionless and dark; she could sense hatred pouring out of every bone of his body. "Chase," she cried out.

"Shut up," he repeated, his voice cold and callous. "I don't want to hear it. Any of it. I don't want to hear you, and I don't want to hear them. I'm done."

"Done?" she croaked out. "You have to hear me out, Chase. You have to—"

"I don't have to do anything. Leave her alone, Kathy. Just leave her alone. I don't want to see anyone hurting her."

"What? Why? Look what she's done!"

He shot her a glare. "Don't even fight with me right now. I'm not in the mood to talk." With that, he turned around and headed home.

"Wait, Chase," Akari managed to scream out, crying, sobbing.

He stopped for a few seconds, standing there, hands in his pockets. He slightly turned around, envisioning the pained girl on the ground in the corner of his eyes. He closed his eyes and breathed in before saying coldly, "I don't want to talk to you, Akari. Not now. Please." He ignored her pleas to wait, to listen and just walked forward.

Akari could hardly breathe. What had happened? Why... why would no one listen to her? Her tears were coming out as full-fledged sobs, pain searing through her body. Her shoulders shook heavily in heaves. She couldn't stop crying. She felt bodies bustling around, "accidentally" shoving and kicking her. She barely had any energy to just scream out and yell at them or push them down with her. She was independent, but she had no strength left to fight, to plead.

She had never felt so alone in a crowd.

She stayed there on the ground for the longest time, unable to move. Her body was aching. It was in so much pain. She attempted to pick herself up but failed miserably when she felt her sprained ankle twist even more and cried out in pain. What was the point, she thought miserably. She had nowhere to go anyway. In only a matter of minutes, everyone in town hated her. How did this happen? If only they'd let her explain, but what difference would that make? She smiled ruefully to herself, tears streaming down, slipping across her swollen eyes and puffy lips. They wouldn't care.

She had noticed the hatred burning in Kathy's eyes—it wasn't the type of hatred to just spring up suddenly. It was the kind of contempt that had been building up for quite some time, just waiting on the edge of the sidelines to come out and jump at her. She didn't understand. What had she ever done to Kathy?

She bit her lip, squeezing her eyes shut. What had she done to deserve this? To be ostracized and hated in a matter of minutes? She thought people had found her friendly, had liked her. But Kathy was right. It was a very old-fashioned town. A scandal like hers was like a sin against everyone.

She felt something tap against her shoulder, and she blinked a few times to scatter away her tears and then looked up. She felt herself stop breathing for a minute, surprised and startled. "Chase...?" She blinked a few more times, wondering if the tears were still pooling in her eyes, but most of them were gone, and the man was there, clear as day.

He grimaced, as he looked away shyly, running his fingers through his hair uncertainly, left hand outstretched for her to grab.

She looked at his open fingers, wondering exactly what he wanted her to do. Her first instinct was to grab it and let him help her up from the ground, but she didn't know if he wanted her to do that.

"Just grab it, for goodness' sake, before I change my mind, Akari," he sighed gruffly. She delicately let him grab a hold of her and cringed, as she forced herself up. Her body ached with pain, but she couldn't just sit there all day, and she knew that. His voice softened, as he saw the pain written on her face, and he found himself gently voicing out, "Steady there."

He took his time taking a sweep over her injured body. She was badly hurt, he noticed. Dark splotches of blue and green decorated the edges of her cheeks with its dark, ghastly beauty. Her small lips were now swollen up in size, dried up blood crusting the corners and cracked lines of her lips. Her pale arms and legs were scraped badly, blood encircling each wound that occupied her skin. Long lined cuts ran from her ankle to her knee, blood crusting along the sides. "Why..." she whispered, as she felt her body go numb, and her vision go black.

She could faintly hear him whisper, "Because I still love you, idiot. Let's go home, Akari."

"I'm sorry," she murmured softly, barely a whisper against the winds, but he heard her quite clearly, as he picked up her injured body and carried her home.

"I'm sorry," she muttered, tears spilling down her cheeks. "I'm sorry; I'm sorry. Chase... I'm sorry."

"Shh, Akari," she heard a whisper murmur against her ears, fingers softly brushing her hair to soothe her. "It's okay. It was just a dream. You've been having these nightmares lately."

She squirmed in the bed, crying. "I'm sorry, Chase."

"Shhh. It's okay, Akari. It wasn't your fault," he softly whispered, as she continued to cry in the dark. He pulled her against him, and let her sob against his bare chest. "Akari, shhh. It's okay. There's no need to apologize."

"I'm sorry..." After a few more tears, and a little more soothing on Chase's part, she fell back into a deep sleep against his body, her heavy breathing taking over the sounds of the room. He took his thumb and gently wiped away the small tears from her florid cheeks but kept her flushed against him. His fingers continuously brushed through the soft strands of her hair, knowing how much it helped her go to sleep. He had used to do it when they were in happier times, but it had been a while since she had allowed him to lull her to sleep.

"It's okay, Akari. You know I'll always love you," he said softly, as he tenderly watched her sleep in his arms. "Always. I can promise you that."

Yay, guys! Another chapter down! I'm sorry how OC so many of the characters are, but I need someone vindictive and evil and even though I love Kathy, I just kind of like her character to play it more so than anyone else. But I do love Kathy! I hope you guys like the story so far, and I'll do my best to update as soon as possible. Criticism is very much welcomed. Thanks for reading and please review! I love hearing your thoughts.

Edit (4/19/11): If you guys read this chapter before this edit, there was a time where I put Kathy with red eyes, believing that she had them, but I just remembered that's Eve from HM:MM, not HM:ToT. I just got a review that stated Kathy's eyes are green, which totally blew my mind because I haven't played this game in the longest time ever. SO! I'm super duper sorry about that. Without meaning to, I've been modeling Kathy after Eve from HM:MM this whole time, who also happens to work at a bar/inn in the game and has blonde hair. Whoopsy daisies. Again, I'm so sorry, but it has been changed!