(Hey fam, just wanted to mention that this will be a lot of repetition, but there will be some new stuff, mostly at the end, so if you just want to skip down to the bottom to see the new content, wait until you see a line of ***, at which point it'll be all new content. Enjoy :))
Your POV
You shook your head in disgust.
You'd think that when all of their lives are on the line, they'd at least be able to keep from tearing each other to shreds.
You closed the door behind you.
You started down the street. You knew the route by heart. Many, many walks this route flashed through your head.
You inhaled, and exhaled.
Everything is going to be fine.
You tried to steady your racing heart. Your nails dug into the flesh of your palms.
"Just keep walking."
You said out loud.
"Keep walking."
You repeated when your feet refused to budge. You tugged your feet off the ground, feeling as though you were moving mountains, and continued down the street.
It wasn't long before you saw the treehouse ahead of you.
"Well, here we go."
You said, eyes glued to the treehouse. You remembered several careless afternoons here, without worries or fears of being hunted down.
Maybe there can be more.
Maybe, just maybe, there was somewhere in your future that involved hanging out in the treehouse you saw in front of you, friends new and old alike playing games without pain, or anxiousness, or betrayal (I doubt it).
There was nobody else who was going to make the first move. You had to lead.
"Here we go."
You repeated, if only to convince yourself that yes, in fact, here we go, and we will not curl up in a ball and weep.
You took a few steps forwards, and began your ascent of the rope ladder. The ropes swayed as you climbed, and you clung tighter to the ropes. It wasn't that high up, not really, but it would still probably break one of your oh so necessary bones, and that was not something that would aid your already low chance of success.
Your feet faltered on the rope, and you suddenly felt yourself dangle precariously around 9 feet in the air, only holding on by your hands. You suppressed a scream.
I'm fine. I'm absolutely fine.
You looked at the ground beneath you. Nobody to catch you if you fell.
You swung your legs back onto the ropes.
You took a deep breath. Sure it was going to be harder than last time. You only had one fully functional arm, after all. But was that going to stop you? Well, maybe, but you were going to try anyways!
You looked up to see the entrance to the rickety building close. You grinned. It was working. You moved faster. You swung your arms onto the platform, and hoisted yourself up, and-
"WAIT!"
Were promptly beaned in the head with a rock.
You went tumbling back out of the treehouse, before a hand came out after you, and dragged you back in.
You looked up to see Astrid, your arm still clenched in her hand.
"Goddamnit Maeve!"
Someone shouted.
"Look what you did! You just smacked (Y/N)! The hell is wrong with you?"
Ah, there it is. That's Theresa.
"Well yOu were the one that said throw the rock if anybody's coming in, bitch!"
Yes, and that was Maeve.
"Yeah, and I also said 'WAIT'."
Theresa snapped, before turning to you with a conspiratorial look.
"Missed ya', dude. Had to deal with these dumbasses on my own."
You smiled shakily.
"I've, uh, had some dumbasses to look after too."
You had thought about what you would say when you got here, but now it evaded you.
What do I say now?
You didn't remember it being this hard to talk to Theresa in the past. Maybe it was the danger of the situation, or maybe it was your time apart, but suddenly you couldn't find the right words.
"So! I need your help with something!"
You blurted, trying to sound less out of place than you felt.
"Th-"
"Guys in suits?"
Freya asked. You paused.
"Yeah, actually. How did you know?"
You asked, confused.
"You aren't the only one they want."
Theresa laughed mirthlessly.
"They're trying to erase you. Make sure no trace of you is ever found again. You learned a little too much, and now you have to die."
Your heart dropped.
"How would you know?"
You said, trying to keep the waver out of your voice.
"It's just common sense. Listen, so imagine you're a shady rich dude. You're doing your shady shit and all of a sudden some kid comes along and figures it out. So what do you do?"
The answer was obvious. You kill the kid, and everyone they might have told. You erase them. Make it like they never existed. Remove the parent, remove the confidants, remove the person completely.
"Theresa watches a lot of kickass crime TV shows."
Maeve groaned.
"And she gets really insufferable when she knows shit."
Theresa shrugged.
"Maeve gets really insufferable when I know more than she does, so that might be a factor too."
You choked out a laugh. It was surprising that even though the situation was so dire, your dumbass friends could still laugh and joke.
"I need your help to save my mom."
You said. Theresa grinned.
"Any time, amiga."
Time skip
Theresa stretched, and gave you a cocky smile.
"Alright! Time to go do some hero-ing shit!"
"Not quite, ladies."
You whirled, to see the men in black, each with guns pointed at you.
"Any of you scream, and we will shoot."
Theresa paled. You'd never seen your friend look so terrified.
"H-how would-how would you explain that? A bunch of kids just-just dying?"
Theresa managed. The one who seemed to do the talking smiled nastily at her.
"Accidents happen. This isn't the safest of neighbourhoods, after all."
You thought fast. How many could you get out alive. Who had to die for the rest to live.
In the books you read, the heroines were selfless, and would gladly die for their teammates, but now that it came don to it, you felt a shiver go through your core.
I don't want to die.
No matter which way you thought about it, there was no way around it. You did not want to die for your friends. You loved them, but you wanted to live to see another sunrise, to see Waffle again, to tell your mother you loved her......so many things you had to live for.
"How did you find us?"
You said instead, surprised at how calm your voice was.
Two of the men stepped to the side to reveal a nervous face.
"Damien?"
You cried. He wouldn't look you in the eyes.
"I'm...sorry, (N/N). They are.....rather persuasive."
He murmured. Theresa hissed behind you.
"Once a traitor, always a traitor."
She spat.
"Selling us out."
You felt a pain in your chest. You looked down, expecting to see a bullet wound, but found none. The pain of betrayal. One you knew far too well.
"I hope you and your pathetic family live out the rest of your miserable lives in fucking comfort, Damien."
You said coldly, trying to hold back the tears. The apparent leader handed Damien a thick envelope.
"Good work, kid. Y'even found their base."
He said dismissively. Damien looked up at you once, before darting off with his money.
Coward.
It made terrible sense now. Why waste assets on trying to hunt down the one you need when you can send an inside man to wait until they're out in the open, helpless.
Of course.
The leader nudged you with his gun.
"Let's go. The cars over there."
He snarled, gesturing at a set of town cars on the other side of the road.
They weren't killing you yet. Another breath to take, another minute alive.
You looked in the direction of the house, and saw Felix peeking out from one of the bushes. Your eyes widened. Never had you been so happy to see his smug face in your life.
"Move it."
Your guard said, nudging your forwards with the barrel of his gun. You'd started lagging behind.
One of the other guards was looking at him too.
You met Felix's eyes.
Run.
You mouthed. He stared at you.
Run?
You nodded. He gave you an antagonized look, then turned and ran, back towards the house, and hopefully, to warn your friends. To tell them to run.
The guard who'd seen him looked at you, and smiled sadly. It was then that you noticed her hair.
It was very distinctive. The hair color only two other people you knew had. Ted and Felix.
Mrs Huxley.
She nodded at you, as if affirming your thoughts.
There was nothing you could do now. Your fate was in Mrs Huxley's hands. Why she was helping you, you didn't know, but for now all you could do was hope.
You didn't fight after that. You let them lead you to their cars with no resistance, and entered without pushback. As you watched the world pass by you from the car window, you wondered where your friends were.
***************************************************************************************
Time Skip
They were idiots.
Ella and Freya.
Absolute idiots.
As you had been about to enter the manor, the two of them had ducked and ran.
It was, in theory, possible, had they executed a distraction.
Which they had not.
They ducked from their guards and ran. One shot at them, and hit Ella in the leg. You saw her stagger, but was dragged along by Freya. The shooter was waved off by another guard.
"Don't. They know this one-"
He'd said, gesturing at you.
"-so they'll know where she's hiding the others. They won't be hard to track, with one of 'em bleeding."
Your heart sunk. They were right. Your friends would be going straight to your house, and with Ella bleeding, they wouldn't get far.
If Ella even lived long enough to get to the house.
She had been bleeding a lot, and none of your friends knew much in the way of medical support.
You lay on your cot, and tried not to cry. You rubbed your eyes.
You'd barely gotten to see your mother, only from across the hall. You'd been given no time to speak to her, although your mother had spoken to the guards.
Or, well, yelled.
You'd never known your mother had such a sailor's mouth.
It made you smile a little bit, to know that she hadn't given up yet.
Breathe.
You wouldn't be any use to anyone of you died because you forgot to breathe.
Just keep going.
Your arm felt off. You'd been thrown into the cell at gunpoint, and your arm had made a cracking noise against the wall. It had hurt then, but now it didn't feel like much at all.
As you felt yourself about to slip into unconsciousness, you had one final thought.
Please, god, don't let me die here.