CHAPTER NINE: ANYTHING YOU SAY CAN AND WILL BE USED AGAINST YOU

 Fable Leon's hands were cuffed behind her back, the cool metal tight around her wrists.

There was a crowd at the front of the building.

Some small part of Fable knew that her friends were in the crowd somewhere. That if she were to turn around, she would be able to see their faces one last time.

But Fable didn't turn around. She couldn't. She couldn't have her friends see her like this, like she was some sort of criminal, who needed to be locked away, someone dangerous.

"Fable!" she heard, and against everything, she turned around, to look at the crowd.

She could hardly see anything, all of the bright lights of the cop car were flashing around her, and she could hardly see past the police officers that surrounded the crowd, making sure that they didn't get any closer to her. Making sure she didn't hurt someone else.

"Miss, I need you to stay put," The officer that was standing beside her said to her, and she nodded her head, looking at the crowd, trying to source her friends through the loud sounds of the sirens.

"Fable!" she found the person that was shouting her name, Johnathan, who was pushing against the officers. Fable took a step towards him, and immediately she had two officers holding on tight to her arm.

"My friend, can I see him, I just need to say goodbye, please," Fable insisted, pulling against the officers, trying to get to Johnathan, who was pushing with all his might to get free of the officers that were holding him back.

Johnathan managed to push through, sending the officers around him tumbling, and he ran like a bullet towards Fable, wrapping his arms around her tightly. And just like that he had officers all over him, pulling him away from Fable.

"Let him go!" one of the officers shouted, and everyone else slowly backed off of Johnathan, who had been wrestled to the ground and pinned. Fable struggled and struggled to get out of the grips of the officers that were holding her, but to no avail. The officer that had given the command to the other officers, walked over to Johnathan, helping him to his feet. Fable saw that he said something to Johnathan, who then ran back to Fable.

"Give them a second, let her say goodbye to her friends," the officer, the one that Fable had guessed by now was in charge, commanded, and slowly the officers backed away from her.

"Vicky, I didn't do it, you have to believe me, I didn't do it," Fable murmured, her head in Johnathan's shoulder.

"You are my family," Johnathan told her, wiping away the tears that were streaming down her face. "And I love you, and I would do anything for you. Which means that I am going to get you out of this, I swear on my life." Fable let out a small sob, and Johnathan's arms were around her once more, pulling her tight.

And then, just like that, he was being pulled away from her, pushed back into the crowd.

Fable let out another sob, and the officer that was in charge took her by the arm, and began pulling her behind him.

"Where are you taking me?" Fable asked frantically, trying to crane her head behind her to see her friends, to see them one last time. The officer stopped, and Fable ran into him, looking at him with confusion.

"Your other friends wanted to say goodbye," the officer told her, and Fable looked in front of her, all of her friends standing beside one another. "You get ten minutes."

She ran over to her friends, and in less than a second in was being held in one of their arms. And someone was running their hand through her hair soothingly.

"I didn't do it," Fable told them, trying to look them all in the eye and make sure that they knew that she was innocent. She knew what she had to do. Because it was her time to say her goodbyes.

Fable walked over to Austin first, and pressed her forehead up against his, and he wrapped his arms around her protectively. "Make sure that they don't do anything stupid, alright?"

"Alright," Austin replied weakly, squeezing her closer to him.

"And don't ever stop playing the guitar, you hear me?" Fable said strongly, and he let go while letting out a small sob. "You're going to be okay while I'm gone, alright? You're going to get out of town, and you're going to tell my family what happened to me, and you are going to make sure that nothing else happens to any of you, you hear me?" Austin nodded his head, and took a slow step back, wiping at the tears in his eyes.

Fable walked over to Beckett, who gave her a quick hug, before stepping back. "I'm going to break you out, it's super easy, they have low defenses, and then we're gonna run and we're not gonna stop, okay?" Fable shook her head, and gave Beckett a small smile.

"I can't let you do that Beckett," Fable told the dark haired boy, who looked up at her and gave her a pained expression.

"Please?" he asked her, his voice soaked in regret. Fable shook her head.

"Take care of them for me? Especially Evie, I don't know if she'll ever be able to forgive me. And don't let whatever happened between you and Austin get in the way, you guys are two of the smartest people I know, I'm sure that you're smart enough to work it out," Fable responded, and bumped her head against his head lightly. Fable was going to say something else, but Beckett took a step back, into Austin's arms, which slowly wrapped around the dark haired boy.

Beckett would be able to move on with his life. He was strong, he didn't need her.

"Please don't go," Amy begged as she wrapped her arms around Fable, and Fable choked back a sob as Amy squeezed her tight. "Please."

"You're going to be okay," Fable told Amy, and as Amy was slowly pulled away by Evie, Fable felt a tear streak down her face. "Tell my parents. Tell my brother that I loved him, Amy, please tell them that I loved them." Amy nodded her head, and turned to Evie's shoulder, beginning to cry into the red head's arms. Fable looked at Evie, and nodded her head. Evie slowly signed "I will take care of her. I will take care of them." And Fable knew that she meant it.

Fable walked over to Jonas, whose hands were shaking, and he quickly wrapped his arms around her.

"Take care of him for me, alright?" Fable asked, her voice was laced with pain, and she knew that this had to be the hardest thing. "He trusts you, and I need to make sure that he's going to be okay." Jonas nodded his head, and as he pulled away from her, his face was wet with tears.

"What are we supposed to do without you?" And then, without missing a beat. "What am I supposed to do without you?"

"You are going to do what you do best," Fable told him. "You are going to live. You are going to grow up and be a famous photographer and you'll have a nice house and a nice spouse and nice kids if you want them, and you are going to live. And you are going to make sure that this doesn't hold you down, that this doesn't hold any of them down." Jonas nodded his head, wiping at his face with his hands. "No matter what happens to me, you are going to make it through this."

As Fable was pulled away, she wished she had more time.

She wished that she could tell Jonas that she always saw him as her little brother, and that he was so talented.

She wished she could tell Amy that she couldn't have asked for a better friend.

She wished that she could tell Beckett that he was smarter than he let on, and that she knew he was going to grow up and do incredible things.

She wished that she could tell Evie how she knew about the poems that she wrote, and how they were about her, and how they were some of the prettiest things she had ever read.

She wished she could tell Austin that she knew he meant everything to his family, and that he was sweeter and smarter than he wanted anyone to notice.

And as she watched Johnathan fall down to the ground, Jonas pulling the older boy close to him, she wished she could have told Johnathan that she loved him too. Loved him with her whole heart, loved him like he was the older brother she had never had, she wished she could tell him that he was her family, no matter what.

That they all were.

Fable was pulled away, pushed into the back of the police car.

She looked out the window, and her eyes met with a pair of familiar ones.

A pair of ever color changing eyes.

story gif made by: skaikrurogers

AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS:

If you guys liked the chapter, please comment your thoughts and vote to let me know what you thought! This was a bit of an intense chapter guys, and let me tell you, I was definitely crying while writing this, so I hope you guys think it turned out decent!

Also yeah, we're almost done with Act One! I keep saying this and then there's like, more that comes up, but there will be at least two more chapters of Act One, more than likely three! So let me know what you're most looking forward to seeing in Act Two, and what ideas you guys have! (if there's some characters that you would like to see more of, or some idea that you have, please let me know!!) :D