Echo, desired ending
Version 1

Note: I highly recommend you play/read Echo and Leos route before reading this story!

…In the distance I can see the lights on the train, slowly winding its way toward us.”
At this point dawn is just breaking. Somehow, it's only been one night, even though it feels like it's been several weeks. “Alright, for whatever reason that train is moving pretty fucking slow. We should just be able to hop it.” Flynn says. The train wails in the distance again, much closer now. “I thought I was gonna have to drive alongside it with you all in the truck bed, honestly.” The train does seem to be moving pretty slow, but as it gets closer, I realize that it's not exactly going to be a jog to run alongside it. I might be able to catch it at a full sprint. “Alright, here's what we're gonna do; I'll get on first, along with Kudzu, and we're gonna pull the rest of you on, alright?” Flynn explained. Carl fidgets nervously, and says, “I dunno if I can run that fast.” “You will, now—” Flynn begun. I feel a paw land on my shoulder and turn me around. It's Leo. “Hey Chase.” “Hey, what is it?” I reply looking back at Flynn, wanting to hear what he's saying, but Leo talks over him. “Listen to me. Everything you said at the house...did you mean it?” “Huh? What did I say?” Leo looks impatient as he replies. “What you said about loving me, wanting to be with me forever, you meant that, right?” “What!?” I have no clue what he’s talking about! I see that the train is approaching, we have maybe a minute.” “What the fuck? Why are you acting like you don't fucking remember?” Leo bristles, teeth bared, eyes narrowing. “Oh my god, Leo, let's get out of here first!” I start to back away, toward the others as they continue to discuss jumping on the train. “No!” Leo says as he grabs my shoulder, looking me right in the eye.” He makes an effort to calm down, closing his eyes a moment before opening them. “Then tell me now...are you going to stay with me when this is all over?” “We can talk about this when we get on the train.” I glance at it again, almost here! “No, I wanna know before.” Leo replies, still holding my shoulder. I see Kudzu looking at us and it looks like he's about to head over. “Just tell the truth. That's all I want.” Leo asks. “We'll work something out.” I say. “I promise. When we get on that train, we'll figure everything out, okay?” Leo watches me carefully, looking unsure. Kudzu is next to me at that moment, though, and he pulls me back toward the group. “Come on, we're going now!” Kudzu says, pulling me along. Leo's eyes flash as he watches, his teeth showing. I don't have time to try and console him anymore because the train starts pulling up. I hear Flynn shout, “Run!” Flynn shoves Carl forward and the ram takes off alongside the rails, looking over his shoulder at the train. The next thing I know, we're all running after Carl as the train catches up. I look back. Flynn waves both arms at the locomotive as it whizzes passed, but if there's a reaction from the driver, I don't see it. I have just enough time to read the letters on the side of the engine “PRESCOTT RAILWAY” before it's moving past me down the tracks. I realize then that the train is quite short, maybe only five cars in all. We won't have many chances! Flynn yells, “Kudzu!” Flynn points at the caboose and starts running beside it, next to two little steps that drop down at the very end from a platform. Gracefully, the Lizard jumps, landing his feet on the steps as his hands scramble for some kind of purchase. He finds it and pulls himself in and the next second he's reaching out, holding onto a handle on the caboose as he grabs one of Kudzu's paws. With much more ease than Flynn had, Kudzu jumps up onto the steps and pulls himself onto the platform. I pass Carl at this point, the ram already losing steam. He calls after me in a hoarse, ragged voice. “Shit, I'm not...gonna...make—” Flynn grabs the ram as they pass and Carl hop-skips on the uneven gravel, and for a horrifying moment I think he's gonna fall...but Kudzu leans in and snatches him up as well, practically lifting Carl onto the platform. Jenna, who's right beside me, is next, reaching out a paw to Flynn. He grabs it and Jenna easily jumps on, over the two steps. I think it's my turn next, but TJ slows down abruptly, and I move to the side to make room for him. Flynn grabs his arm and TJ hesitates several times before Kudzu gets a grip on him as well and he's able to step up onto the first step. It's then that I realize that the train is picking up speed and I'm starting to slow down. I move up beside the caboose, seeing Flynn's outstretched hand. Now that I'm next to it, I can see how terrifying this is! The wheels clack loudly in my ears, and I have no idea how I'm going to lift one leg up while keeping up this speed. At that moment my right foot gets slams into something! As I smash through the sagebrush and slam face first into the dirt, I hear Flynn and Kudzu shouting, “Chaaase, oh shit he tripped!” “What do we do?” I look up spitting out dirt to see the train still picking up speed as it leaves with Flynn and Kudzu staring at me. I landed badly, all the toes of my right foot are throbbing, my whole left arm feels sprained and I feel a sharp pain in my left knee! I hear heavy footsteps run next to me and stop. “Chase! Are you ok?” Leo says bending down over me. “No, I think my knee is cracked or… Just take me inside before something else happens!” As Leo begins to pick me up, I see Kudzu limping towards us. I gasp realizing what’s about to happen. “What do you want? Get away!” Leo shouts, setting me back down. Kudzu puts his hands up defensively and says, “I just want to see if Chase is ok, I’m just offering help.” “I’ve got him, he doesn’t need your FUCKING HELP!” Leo sounds scary, his voice totally different. I then see his gun in his hand. “NO! LEO DON’T! HE’S NOT A THREAT!” I shout at him and nudge his leg with my foot, trying to make sure he hears me. I must look like an idiot shouting and squirming in the dirt like this… “Leo please listen to me; Kudzu’s saved my life and yours too! He’s not an enemy, he’s not here to hurt me. Just calm down alright.” Leo Lowers the gun slowly, but still glares at Kudzu. I look up at Kudzu, he’s backed several yards away. “Kudzu you should have stayed on the train! I know how he’s been acting, but Leo wouldn’t hurt me! Look you guys, just… Leo just get me inside, Kudzu we’ll talk about this another time, let’s all get inside before anything happens!” Leo puts his gun back in his waistband but keeps his eyes on Kudzu. “Leo he’s not going to do anything alright.” I say as he gently lifts me up. Honestly it would be really nice to be held by him if he wasn’t going insane! If I let him take care of me will he calm down? Will he go back to normal? 

Leo is holding me like I weigh nothing and walking quickly towards his house, Kudzu is following a distance behind. “Hey Leo slow down, if you trip, I’ll just be hurt more!” He does slow down. The sun is coming up now, maybe the hysteria lasts only one night? We’ve reach Leos house after a couple minutes; it seems we left the door open. As Leo is carrying me in Kudzu starts following. I quickly shake my head at him and mouth “no” hoping he sees me but Leo doesn’t! It looks like he did as he stops and turns towards his trailer. Leo slams the door behind us, he holds me with one arm for a moment. I’ve never thought of it like this before, but it’s kinda unnerving how much stronger he is then me. “Alright let’s get you cleaned up a bit”. Leo says as he takes me into his bathroom. He hesitates for a second. I guess he remembered whatever he saw last time we were in here? He sets me down in the sink like before. He moves to take my shirt off, I hesitate but let him. It hurts my arm to do so. He’s not going to want to take my pants off, is he? Do I distrust him now? Am I afraid of him now? There was once a time where I trusted him completely and loved him. I wanted to be with him forever! How do I feel about him now? Could I ever trust him again? Maybe if the hysteria leaves him. I look up. Leo has been looking me over but also keeps glancing in the mirror, he never told me what he saw. “Well, your cut up and bruised, not really any worse than you already were. I’ll clean out the cuts. I should probably check your knee. Anything else hurt?” Leo says. His voice seems calm and comforting, is he going back to normal or is it just that he sees no “threats”? “Which knee hurts? …Chase you ok?” I realize I’ve been staring off into nothing. “Uh the, my left”. He gently touches it, I expected it to hurt but it’s just sore. Leo carefully feels around my knee. “I don’t think anything’s broke just seems bruised. I don’t really know this stuff though; I’d take you to the Payton hospital of my van didn’t have all flats...” He says as he starts wiping the dirt off my face with a wet towel. Then he starts cleaning the cuts with disinfectant. It stings but it’s not too bad, my foot and toes don’t hurt so much now. He’s being so gentle and totally different then earlier. Is it because it’s just me, or could it really be ending? “Leo we really need to talk. I have some things I want to tell you and ask you”. Leo sighs. “Yeah, we should… Maybe somewhere more comfortable?” Before I can say anything, he picks me up again. He takes me to the bedroom and lays me down on my back on his bed. 

He sits down. He speaks before I can. “Alright Chase, tell what was up with you back there. You told me how much you loved me and all that, then you acted like you didn’t fucking remember! Why?” I take a deep breath. “Because I wasn’t there! Brian had me! You where hallucinating! That’s what this hysteria does, it happened a hundred years ago and it happened today! I don’t know what the fuck causes it, but it happened to you!” He starts to talk but I continue. “It changed you! You were always protective and aggressive, but you’ve been just extreme! You were going to kill Clint; you were going to kill Kudzu! You terrified Carl and TJ! The Leo I knew would never have done that! The Leo I knew would never have been a murderer!” (“would he want you to be a murderer?”) “Wh-when we were at the stadium, I really felt love for you again and remembered how much I enjoyed being with you. But how you lied to all our friends and manipulated me, that just was so fucking wrong! It HURTS that you did that! (“you’ve hurt him plenty”) How could I ever trust you again? How can the others trust you again?” My voice is horse now, and I can feel the tears on my face. Leo sniffs and when he talks his voice is almost squeaky, is he crying now? “I’m sorry Chase, I really am! I just so much wanted you back. It was a fucking stupid thing to do, I just wanted to be with you again so badly!” Then his voice changes. “You haven’t been so good yourself! Did you ever think how much that prank hurt me? Did you care that I couldn’t breathe when I thought it was real? Did you think it was fucking funny that I had a panic attack?! And then when you left did you ever imagine what I felt like? Would you have cared that I thought you had never loved me, that it was just a big joke to you!? I punched those holes in the wall when you left Chase, not because of a videogame! I was starting to build a life for us, I would have provided for you, I would have taken care of you and always been loyal to you! I was go-going to…” His voice falters and cuts off with a sob. “I’m sorry Leo. I didn’t think you would take it seriously. But I shouldn’t have done it regardless! I can’t believe you still love me and tried to win me back! Maybe you don’t, maybe Flynn was right and your just obsessed with me?!” Leo gets up, but I grab his hand. “Don’t go, we need to get this out! If you really love me then you could forgive me! I- I’m forgiving you! No more lies” (“oh really?”) “no more pranks. And no more fucking Echo! I’ve always hated this town, the only thing that made it bearable was you and the others! Maybe now that you’ve seen and felt whatever it is that’s in this town, you can leave with me?” I look up at Leo, his eyes are watery and his face fur is wet and matted. He gets into the bed next to me, he starts gently stroking me. He gets his face right over mine. “Chase, I forgive you”. His voice is a whisper and I feel his tears fall on my face. “Um Leo I don’t think we should cuddle with a gun!” “Oh, shit I forgot!” He says as he puts the gun into his dresser. “So, uh there’s something else I should tell you, and well I know it’ll make you mad! So, c-can you promise you’re not going to hurt me or something?” “Oh, Chase what did you do now? (sigh) I’d never hurt you, I told you before when you saw the holes.” Leos voice sounds gentle enough. “That first day I was here, when you were in the bathroom, I looked through your internet history and saw the otters”. “Come on Chase! Why? You looked through my phone and my computer! Have you searched my house too? What about public records of me? What the hell Chase!” Leo certainly sounds angry, but his hands are still gentle on me. “I know, I’m sorry! I checked your phone on an impulse and I was curious about what kind of porn you like, and now I know! But now I have to ask you. Do you really love me, or has this all just been an otter fetish?” “Puchica otter! After all we said you still doubt me? I love you! I love to hold you, to feel you, even your musk smell is kinda good to me! The uh web otter thing started after you left, I guess I was starved of seeing and touching you.” Leo sounds hurt now! “I’m sorry again Leo. I love you! I want to make things right this time, we would argue so much and it’s because I would always embarrass you and frustrate you! But this time I want to do it right!” “Wait, what do you mean by this time? Y-you want to be together with me… as a couple again?” Leo seems almost afraid to have said that, like it’s too good to be true. I say one word, “yes”. (“what? Are you fucking kidding me? I don’t believe this shit!”) “Chase are you serious? I can’t take another brake up like that after this, please don’t be… I don’t know”.  Leo sounds like he’s pleading for it to be true. I reach up and take his hand, feeling the anchor bracelet “Leo, I mean it! I really mean it! I fucked it up before, but this time I’ll work at it, I’ll shave my goatee if you want, and my documentary is ruined so I don’t think I can pass! I’ll come back here as soon as I can, lets chat online or whatever every day! I’ll talk to the others; I’ll explain that the hysteria got to you. That you didn’t know what you were doing!” “Chase, this is better than I had ever hoped for! Please don’t be a dream or a prank! I’ll work on my aggression and quit smoking!” Leo really sounds hopeful. “This is real Leo! We can work things out, we have each other now!” (“Unreal! Impossible! Not fair! Nothing worked out for me! This is caused by an outside force! I feel its presence now, it came here from far away! What the hell is it and why did it do this?”) Shut up, I don’t care what it is as long as it helped us get back together! I tell the voice. Then I hear the sound of sirens. “You hear that Leo? Sounds like the police are here!” We both get up and even though I’m feeling better I let Leo help me over to the front of the house. Out the window we can see police cars, firetrucks and ambulances racing into Echo. I see the name “Payton” on them. “You want to go out?” Leo asks me. “Yeah, I think I should get looked at by a paramedic, also don’t forget that cut on your head!” Leo opens the door and we step out together.