Heavenly ✶ JJ Maybank

𝟬𝟮𝟳 water under the bridge

That was a kind of the pain that couldn't be easily fixed. Nova almost felt like she was experiencing deja vu all over again. She felt like she was standing back inside the waiting room of the hospital when she was told her brother had died in the emergency room earlier that same night. She couldn't go through this again. She didn't want to suffer the loss of not just one, but two friends. Nova felt the crushing grief and paralysing loss wash over her body like a tidal wave, all that pain, loss and unbearable grief drowning her over and over again until she could barely feel anything at all.

"They can't be dead." Nova spoke up, her voice barely above a whisper, tears already beginning to form in the corners of her eyes.

And that was when the crushing grief and sorrow that they all felt in that very moment spiralled out of control. JJ was the first to let his anger take over. "You drove them straight into the storm, man! Are you kidding me? Come here! I'm gonna kill you!" JJ shouted as he shoved Shoupe backwards, his booming voice making Nova jump slightly in her own skin as she began to cry, turning around to see JJ being pulled away from the rest of the group by the other cops in the tent with them.

"This is all your fault!" Juno cried, tears rolling down her cheeks as she stared back at Shoupe with a look filled with anger and despair evident in her eyes. "You got them killed!"

"John B didn't even do anything!" Nova fired back at the cops, turning away as she did her best to hold back the tears that threatened to fall. However, it didn't take long for Nova to lose all sense of who she was, her strength fading away as she slowly began to fall apart, the loss of two friends being all it took to make the girl fall apart.

     Suddenly, Nova lifted her teary gaze to look ahead to see Kiara's parents enter the tent, the pair pulling the hoods attached to their coats off their heads, their worried eyes finding Kiara, before they rushed towards the girl and pulled her into their embrace. Next came Pope's parents, the couple walking over to their son, who began to apologise profusely for some reason as they held him close, the boy crying into his mom's shoulder as he came to terms with the horrifying thought that John B and Sarah were gone. The last people to enter the tent were none other than Ethan and Allison Van Kirk, the pair catching Nova's tears eyes in just a matter of seconds, and despite how Nova felt about her broken family right now, she needed them more than ever in this very moment, causing for Nova to run over to her mother and wrap her arms around the woman.

"They're gone, Mom." Nova cried, her bellowing sobs echoing loudly through Allison Van Kirk's ears, making the older woman's heart ache as she held her daughter close. "They're gone."

Nova then pulled away and turned around to see Juno was standing all alone because whilst JJ had found a family in the Heyward's, Juno O'Connell was left alone, crying by herself as she grieved for her two friends. This caused for Nova to stretch out her hand and grab ahold of Juno's, pulling her closer before Allison reached out and embraced both Nova and Juno, the older woman holding onto both girls as they continued to cry, whilst Ethan stared down at his daughter with sympathy in his eyes. He would have hugged her too to let her know everything would be okay, but after the last time they had spoken, he thought it was best to keep his distance.

Nova then pulled away from her mother and turned around to see JJ standing alone again, staring back at her with tears in his eyes. This caused for Nova to walk over towards the boy and hold him close, burying her face into the crook of his neck as she continued to cry whilst JJ held onto Nova for dear life, the boy wrapping his strong arms securely around her waist as if his life depended on it. However, even though they provided each other with the comfort they desperately needed in that very moment, it wasn't enough to erase the pain of losing their friends.