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⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

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.*･｡. EFF IT! .*･｡.
————THE GOLD
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055.
LOST BOY.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

━━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━━

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SUMMER 2020

    "Hey, bird?"

   Sonny didn't reply.

   She'd been pretending to be asleep for hours now, and just when she started to get somewhere, John B had to open that big mouth of his. Always the way.

    "Bird?" He whispered, "You awake?"

    "No."

   John B smiled, "Me neither."

   Sonny rolled her eyes. He was such a loser. She suddenly wondered why she'd even bothered to let him crash on her floor, that night. Why she'd let him into her bubble. Maybe because, when he'd knocked on her door with a blanket in hand, he'd looked so... little. A six foot teenage boy who, in that moment, resembled a child.

She forgot he was that, sometimes. A kid. He just had so much ambition in him, so much drive.

   So much he was fit to burst.

She wondered if, one day, he would. Maybe John B was going to burst and leave them in his wake. Sonny wouldn't dare admit it, but she really hoped not.

"Can't sleep?"

"What d'you think?" She hissed at him.

"Right," it was quiet for a short while. Only them and the darkness of Sonny's room.

That was probably where Sonny was supposed to ask him something, why he couldn't sleep or whatever, but she didn't have it in her. She was tired, and she just wanted to mope in her usual silence. It had been a while since she'd been given the opportunity to.

But getting that camera from Blake... her mom's camera, well, it just sorta ruined everything, and Sonny wasn't sure how she should feel about it.

It wasn't that she didn't want it. Sure she did.

The camera was a piece of her biological mom, after all, and that made it a piece of Sonny. But it felt sudden, and it had taken her off guard, and she didn't really have time for some kinda life crisis right now.

"I keep thinking about the gold."

Yeah, Sonny pursed her lips, she did too.

That's what they were doing tomorrow — or maybe it was late enough that it was today.

Going to the Crain house, climbing down the well, getting Denmark Tanny's gold.

There was a lot riding on it for John B. It was his father's mission, what he'd died trying to find, and they were so close. The gold was within reach, now. And if they were right, if that gold was in that well under the Crain house, then their lives were about to change.

Everything was about to change.

And Sonny wasn't sure that John B was ready.

"You know whales?"

Sonny frowned. What?

   Where had that come from? She wished she could say she was surprised: he always came up with random shit like that, she was learning. He was weird.

"The animal, not the country." John B added, just in case she'd gotten confused. Sonny might've called him an idiot if she'd actually had the effort.

"What about them?" She sighed.

"Well, you know how they make those deep noises? And they call to each other across the ocean?" He asked. Sonny frowned, thinking about it, but didn't respond. She listened instead. "It sounds really dumb, but I used to think I could hear my dad calling to me."

Sonny's face softened.

"And I used to call back," John B swallowed a lump in his throat, "But nobody ever heard."

Sonny knew how that felt. She'd spent her whole life just calling out, hoping somebody would hear, but they never did. Nobody ever heard that call, because nobody ever spoke a similar language.

The kind only heard in the silence.

"Until I met you."

His words struck her.

Her eyes fluttered shut, holding her breath.

There was nothing wrong with what he'd said. In fact, he was completely right — she did hear him, even if she didn't really want to. Something about John B called to her. Even worse, something about her called back. And John B could hear her, too. Every single time.

"I think... I think you hear me. When I call," he sniffled, eyes watery as he stared up at her ceiling. Sonny still didn't speak, but she didn't need to. He heard. "So, thanks, I guess."

   Sonny nodded, but he couldn't see her.

    "And hey," John B smiled small, "If I'm ever lost, maybe you'll be the one to find me."

————

   BE IN TOUCH. P4L

   That was the last message John B had sent.

   Sonny had been staring at it, since. Worried that looking away might make it disappear.

   She still couldn't believe they were alive. Part of her was pretty sure she'd dreamt the whole thing.

   Because what the fuck?

   How had that even happened? Their boat had gone down, they'd been lost in the storm. How the fuck had they found their way to the Bahamas? And what were the odds they'd ended up in Nassau? It all just seemed too good to be true. And yeah, Sonny was a pessimist, but even a blind optimist could admit this was fucking crazy.

   But what could Sonny do about it now?

    "I'm not going in there."

    "What?" Benji frowned, pausing on the bottom step and turning to look at her. "Why not?"

   Sonny scoffed, "'Cause they fucking hate me?"

    "What? No— they don't hate you. Why would they hate you? That's not—" her narrowed eyes made Benji stop. He pulled a face, shoulders sagging. "Okay, so, maybe they are kinda still a little upset, but—"

"Bye."

"Wait!" Benji jumped from the step and rushed after the girl, chasing her down the path. "Hey, no— you can't leave, dude! Where're you even going?"

"Literally anywhere else."

"What about JB?"

Sonny rolled her eyes, "I'll clear his name myself."

"We told him we'd work as a team," he reminded her, a hand reaching out for her arm. She glared when he pulled and turned her to face him, but Benji only shook his head. "What about P4L?"

"Booker said that, not me." She retorted, "I never said anything about working as a team."

"Isn't that what Pogues do?"

"We are not Pogues," she hissed at him.

   He blinked at her, "Sure we are."

    "No we're not," Sonny stressed, "We're not even broke, Bayview! You seriously think we're one of them? That they don't see us differently?"

    "Where's this coming from?" Benji looked hurt.

    "I'm just being honest with you," she took a step away, shaking her head. "God knows nobody else is."

Usually, people backed down at that point; she would say something mean and they would walked away, leave her on her own. But Benji wasn't having it — it wasn't who he was. He wasn't the type to leave, even when he was pushed. Not even close. Actually, Benji Bayview was the type to show up unexpectedly, to pop up in the middle of nowhere, to make his way to you when you needed him most.

Like when he bumped into her at Midsummers, when he scared the life out of them at the Crain house. Like when it was looking like Rafe was going to kill her at the hangar, or when he found her at school.

Benji always showed up. He stayed.

"Yes we are." He finally said. "Everything we did, all we went through this summer? That makes us Pogues."

Sonny clenched her jaw.

"John B and Sarah need our help," Benji told her. When her blank expression didn't change, he span on his heel and walked away. "So, I'm going in there. Feel free to join me."

She had to give it to him. Benji gave one hell of a speech when he wanted to.

It reminded her of the night on the HMS POGUE, when everybody was butting heads when they were supposed to be figuring out where John B was. He'd taken matters into his own hands, that night. Put everybody back in line. It didn't seem to happen very often.

Only when it was really necessary.

She watched him stomp down the path and up the steps, pulling open the patio door and disappearing behind it. He really had meant what he said.

Sonny stared up at the house a little longer, stirring in an endless pit of indecision, then groaned.

Fine.

With a face of thunder, Sonny stormed after him, up the steps and into the chateau.

The chateau. God, when was the last time she'd been here? Not since they lost the gold-game, when Ward duped them and stole every last bar from the well. Days before John B's face was thrown on a WANTED poster, before they chased him out to sea, before he and Sarah—

Sonny pushed the thought away.

She made her way through the old fishing shack, kicking aside old beer cans and snack wrappers.

When she figured nobody was inside, Sonny decided to head for the back door, which lead her to the yard. It was exactly how they left it.

The hot tub. The string lights. The flamingos. It was all there. Was it weird that Sonny was surprised? She couldn't decide but, for some reason, this wasn't what she expected. She couldn't quite explain why.

"Well, if it isn't the smallest woman who ever lived."

JJ's voice made her freeze.

It made everybody else freeze, too. Benji, Kiara, Pope, all three of them stared at her, something different glinting in each of their eyes. Something different to JJ's— but Sonny hadn't brought herself to look at them, yet. Those swirling ocean eyes. Because, if she did, then Sonny wasn't sure she would be able to stay.

For a second, nobody moved.

Then Pope was jumping up and flying towards her.

"Sonny!" He nearly yelled, throwing his arms around her and squeezing her tight.

Her eyes widened, stumbling back. Not the reaction she was expecting. Not even close to it, actually.

"Heyward," she said after a few moments.

   Sonny wasn't sure she'd ever been greeted like that before. Especially not after going radio silent for three weeks. Sonny almost sank into it, almost gave into the attention she silently craved, but had to remind herself who she was. After all, she had never been one for hugs — not even from somebody as soft and gentle as Pope Heyward.

    "Alright," her hands awkwardly patted his back, "You can let go of me, now."

"Right," he quickly let go, "Sorry."

   While she preferred being able to breathe, Sonny felt a bit guilty when he shuffled away. Maybe she'd missed him more than she knew. Pope was always her favourite, after all. That certainly hadn't changed.

"Why're you sorry, Pope?"

   Kiara had, though.

   Sonny slowly looked at her, watching her face twist. Anger, hurt, betrayal. There were many emotions there. Regardless, it was more the reaction she'd been expecting.

    "She's not said sorry to us," Kiara's eyes narrowed.

"Kie," Benji tried.

"Where were you?" Kiara ignored him, stare boring into Sonny's face. "You haven't talked to us in weeks. You didn't show up for their memorial," she gestured towards a tree in John B's yard, their names burned into the bark. Sonny felt her eyes started to sting. "Like— you didn't even invite us to your family's vigil, dude."

That was true. All of it.

Sonny hadn't been able to face them. She pushed them away selfishly, ruined a good thing.

   Because that's who she was, wasn't it?

"And what?" Kiara sniffled, "Now you've come crawling back because he's alive?"

   Okay. That one stung. But she couldn't deny it.

   That was exactly what she'd done, wasn't it? Pretend they didn't exist, then decided otherwise the minute things were looking up again — it wasn't cool. She knew it wasn't. But it was too late to change it now.

   She was only here for John B and Sarah anyway. To make sure they came home and that his name was cleared. That's all. Nothing else mattered.

So Sonny shrugged, "Basically."

Kiara scoffed.

"At least you're honest," she mumbled.

"Guys," Pope sighed.

"Nah, Kie's right, Pope." JJ cut in. Sonny finally looked in his direction, watching him kick his feet in the hot tub. It felt like the tables had turned, somehow. Like they'd been there before, but traded places. "Pogues don't bail on Pogues. Not even when shit gets hard,"

   Another sting. Her cheeks burned.

"Wasn't it you who bailed and spent Barry's money?" She shot back before she could stop herself. JJ's face fell. Sonny's eyes rolled. "Yeah. I thought so."

"Yeah?" His teeth grit together, "Well, I don't remember you thinking much before ditchin' us."

"Like you're one to talk about thinking—"

"Look," Pope tried again. They fell into silence. "I know I speak for everybody here when I say the last few weeks have been tough."

Understatement.

"But if John B and Sarah actually answered their texts, I'm pretty sure they'd be telling us to work together so we can clear his name and bring them home." Pope looked at each of the teenagers intently. At first, Sonny, Kiara and JJ didn't speak. He frowned, "Right?"

    "Nice speech, Mr President," Sonny drawled.

   Pope squinted, "Right?"

The trio sighed.

"Yeah," they muttered. "Right."

"Great," Benji smiled. It wasn't much but it was progress and he'd take it. "So, where do we start?"

————

The Wreck, apparently, was where they started.

Mostly because Kiara had a shift, and hell knows the others didn't have anywhere else to be, so it made sense to follow her to work and think of a plan there.

"Just for the record," JJ said, "I never doubted 'em."

"That's actually true," Pope agreed.

Kiara shook her head, "I owe you five bucks."

Sonny rolled her eyes, arms folded as they walked away from the restaurant and down the dock, to a quieter place where nobody could hear. The last thing they needed was some loser overhearing them talk about John B and Sarah being alive and in the Bahamas. It would only get back to Shoupe and Ward, and then there'd be another manhunt. And, this time, they couldn't guarantee they'd come out in one-piece. This had to stay on the low.

Not even their parents could know.

It was just too risky. Even when Sonny knew Nat and Ed could keep a secret, especially one concerning John B. She knew they'd be upset when they found out, too. Angry. But they'd be more upset if he didn't come home at all and the only way to prevent that was to clear his name. To clear his name, it had to stay between them.

They would understand that. Eventually.

"Kiara!" Her mom yelled after them, "I still need those setups done by five!"

"You know, there are other people that work here!" She called back to her, rolling her eyes.

"But ain't none of them my children!"

"I feel that," Pope breathed, nodding his head slowly as their group took a seat. "On a deep, emotional level, I really understood that one."

Sonny elbowed him.

"We heading to the Bahamas, or what?" JJ jumped head-first into business. The others frowned. How the heck were they supposed to get to the Bahamas? "What?"

"Dude..." Pope shook his head, "There is no way we're getting to the Bahamas."

"Sonny has a boat," Benji suggested.

"We're still not going to the Bahamas," she said. It made Kiara and JJ roll their eyes, but she chose to ignore it. The effort wasn't worth it.

"Look, John B's only gonna get nabbed sooner or later." Kiara told them, to which Pope nodded. They were always the more logical ones, it seemed the last three weeks hadn't changed that. "So, if we're gonna try to clear his name, we need to have done it, like, yesterday."

That was one thing they could all agree on.

The clock was ticking.

The longer they took, the longer Ward Cameron had to drag John B's name through the dirt.

And the more time he had to do that, the less time they'd have to try and redeem it. Three weeks was already enough for him to ruin John B's image forever— they couldn't wait things out for much longer.

"Okay," JJ nodded, standing up straight. "I'll tell ya how we're gonna do it—"

"Oh, god."

"Here we go..."

"Write this down," he spoke over them.

Sonny frowned, "Where?"

"I got this all planned out," JJ just ignored her.

"Oh?" Pope blinked, face disbelieving. It wouldn't be the first time JJ claimed to have a plan in his head, only for it to end up being a total nightmare. Actually, that was probably part of his charm. "You have it planned out?"

"As a matter of fact, I do." JJ took a seat and waited for them to listen. They eventually sighed and nodded. He let himself grin, "We kidnap Rafe."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"We kidnap Rafe," he repeated.

   They were stunned to silence. It took a second to process what he'd said, to come to terms with just how dumb it was, before finding their voices.

"No," Sonny immediately denied, "We do not."

JJ looked at her with a locked jaw, irritation written all on his face. "Did I ask you, princess?"

"Sonny's right," Benji defended. He shook his head, "We can't kidnap Rafe, bro."

"Yes, we can!" JJ argued with them, acting like it was the most logical plan there was. "Look— we go kidnap Rafe, tie him up, stick the gun in his mouth and we just wait until he starts squawking."

As much as she longed to see Rafe Cameron squirm in the face of death and as much as he deserved it, Sonny knew it was possibly the worst idea that JJ had ever come up with. It just wasn't going to happen— even if he had killed Peterkin and left her to die there on the tarmac, then let John B take the blame. Kidnap wasn't an option.

"You know, torture's a war crime." Kiara sighed.

   Sonny scoffed, "Literally."

"Yeah," Pope nodded, "So, how exactly do you plan on clearing John B's name from a prison cell? 'Cause that's a felony, JJ," he told him, "A big one."

"Orange jumpsuit, dude." Benji reminded.

JJ huffed, "Alright, well, what do you guys got? I was just tryna keep it simple. You know. One stop and we're done."

"Simple? It was stupid—"

"Hey—"

"We just need a material witness," Sonny interrupted an argument before it could begin. Everybody looked at her. It made her feel uneasy, suddenly. "They didn't believe Sarah, but if we can find somebody else who saw it, they'll have no choice but to investigate."

Pope's eyes widened, "You mean...?"

   Sonny nodded.

"The plane."

    "The plane," he pointed at her.

   The other three exchanged confused looks.

"You guys, we saw Ward's plane fly right over our heads with the gold inside of it." Pope explained, "He didn't fly it. Ward was still on the island,"

"If somebody else flew it..." Benji realised, "That means they were on the tarmac. They saw—"

"—Peterkin get murdered," Kiara finished.

JJ blinked, "Well, shit."

   Finally, Sonny thought, they were getting somewhere.

    "We find them," she elaborated, "We get Booker off the hook. He can come home."

"You're a genius," Pope told her. It reminded Sonny of earlier that summer, when they were all asking her to stick around and help them solve the Redfield mystery. It made Sonny's gut twist. It was different now.

John B wasn't here. They weren't hunting for a treasure. Kiara wanted her to get lost.

The only same thing was Sonny and JJ.

He didn't want her around, and she didn't want to stay. They'd gone back to how they were before, maybe worse, and she was the only one to blame.

   That thought made her want to claw her own eyes out. Sure, Sonny had always known she self-sabotaged to keep people at arm's length, to protect her peace, but this held different weight. It wasn't like Topper. This was different. Something about it killed her.

    "So, what do we do?"

    "We just have to find out whoever that was," Pope told Benji, "And get them to confess on record."

   Kiara arched a brow, "How?"

    "A little light espionage," Pope smiled.

    "A little ghost recon," JJ added, giggling quietly.

   What was this? A spy movie?

    "Okay," Benji nodded slowly, watching Pope with a fond smile. "I like the sound of that."

    "Woogity-woogity?"

    "Woogity-woogity!" The Pogues chimed. Sonny watched, a glint of something in her eyes, before standing and walking away. Each of them eventually followed.

There was no time to waste, after all. Because John B was lost, he was calling out to her, and Sonny was going to find him. Whatever it took.

━━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━━

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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀   ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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⠀⠀⠀   ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀   ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀