"Well where the fuck would they be?" Hercules hissed, pinching the bridge of his nose and squeezing his eyes shut. "We're spending too much time sitting here discussing it, let's just get on the road and- and go somewhere!"

"Shut UP!" Maria snapped for the third time now, holding her throbbing head in her hands and sniffling softly. "Either lower your voices or get the fuck out of here," she mumbled weakly, sinking down to rest her head in Eliza's lap and coughing weakly.

"Sorry," Thomas muttered sassily, rolling his eyes.
"Hey, have some fucking respect, I didn't see you trying to single handedly take on Levi and his henchmen," Eliza snapped, brushing Maria's fringe out of her eyes and frowning at how badly her temperature was rising.

"Maybe because I'm not stupid enough to go in by myself!" Thomas shot back, crossing his arms.
"Alright that's it," Maria croaked pushing up from Eliza's lap. The parking lot instantly started spinning and she squeezed her eyes shut, blinking a few times as she wobbled to her feet. "Y-you fucking dick, ta-take that back!" She hissed shakily as she stumbled forward.

Thomas opened his mouth to retaliate when Maria collapsed back to the ground, throwing up on the road and groaning. Eliza gasped and rushed to her, brushing her hair away from her face and rubbing her back soothingly.

"Maria you need to stay down," Eliza muttered calmly with a solemn gaze.
"It's just a little c-cold," she muttered, waving her hand dismissively. "I'm fine,"
"Maybe you wouldn't be such a mess if you hadn't-" Thomas began to interject before James smacked his arm. "What?" He hissed defensively.

"I think we can agree everyone was in the wrong, Thomas." James hissed. "Maria went alone, Alex and John left without telling anybody, and everybody else didn't notice them leaving. We all fucked up. But now we're going to make it right," he nodded firmly. "So stop making petty toddler comments-" he paused to smack Thomas across the back of the head. "-and help us figure out where Levi would've gone!"

"The apartment," Lafayette muttered. "Maria's old apartment,"
"Why there?" Hercules frowned.
"I do not know, it has a relevant history I guess, it is better than nothing," Lafayette shrugged sheepishly, earning a few nods of approval in return.

"Are you good to get up?" Eliza whispered to Maria with a small frown, supporting her back as she sat up straight.
"Y-yeah I'm fine," she muttered, shaking her head with a glint of determination in her eye. "Let's just go,"

Eliza nodded and held her arms as she slowly stood up, slinging her arm around her neck to hold her up. Slowly she lead Maria to the passenger seat, helping her in and carefully strapping on her seatbelt for her.
"Thank you," she croaked tiredly, watching Eliza with sad eyes. She was starting to feel very guilty.
"Don't mention it, us girls gotta stick together huh?" She smiled warmly before stepping away and closing Maria's door.

She sighed and threw her head back against the seat, fluttering her eyes closed gently. Eliza was being too nice, and she wasn't meant to be. Maria didn't deserve it.
She felt the car shake a little as the boys all jumped in the back, swinging the door shut behind them. Here we go again.

Eliza popped into the driver's seat, strapping her seatbelt on and adjusting the rear view mirror to her height. Maria chuckled lightly , shaking her head.
"Don't you just love b-being short," she muttered with a weak smirk, glancing at Eliza playfully. Eliza giggled melodically and sighed.
"It truly is god's gift," she rolled her eyes, before grabbing the hair tie that was holding half her hair away and tugging it out, shaking her hair free.

Maria felt heat crawl to her cheeks and she averted her gaze with wide eyes. That was hot.
Fuck the guilt was back. Not only from what she was doing to Eliza, but now what she did to John. She didn't regret it at first, at all, sex was her coping mechanism and it helped her relieve the trauma of being back at the apartment. And John seemed to enjoy it, he consented to it, right? "Go on," she repeated under her breath, shifting her gaze out the window as Eliza began reversing.

"What was that?" Eliza asked softly, keeping her eyes on the side view mirrors as she spoke.
"Huh? Oh n-nothing," Maria softly mumbled, closing her eyes.
She could still go for Eliza right? It was no-strings-attached-sex, John was gay. She didn't really-

No, what was she thinking? She couldn't do that to Eliza. She couldn't be with Eliza. She was a terrible person, Eliza deserved so much better than a slut like her. Maria squeezed her eyes shut and drew her knees up to her chest, caving in protectively. She felt vulnerable, and it was the worst feeling ever.

The drive was mostly silent after that, everyone respecting that Maria wasn't feeling well and that this was a very solemn situation, not a time for joking around. When they arrived at the apartment the boys swung the doors open without hesitation, jumping out into the street. The road was lightly coated in snow, close in resemblance to caster sugar dusted over a warm apple pie. It was no surprise Maria made that connection, the combination of her relentless hunger and sweet tooth were attacking her stomach with the same persistence as her sickness.

"You girls wait here, we'll check it out," Hercules instructed calmly.
"W-what you th-think we can't handle ourselves?" Maria spat, swaying a little as she sat up.
"No, Eliza needs to be ready to slam on the gas and you're... you need to rest." Hercules sighed, shaking his head.
"No I-"
"Maria can you just keep me company?" Eliza hummed softly, turning to her with a small smile. There was no way she could say no to that.
"Fine," she mumbled, glaring past her at Hercules.

"I'm getting better, it's just a morning thing," she defended as they watched the boys step into the apartment building.
"Being sick isn't a morning thing," Eliza giggled, shaking her head. "It's snowing outside and you're walking around in shorts and a bralette, it's no wonder you got a cold,"

"I'm perfectly capable of anything they can do," she pouted, crossing her arms.
"I'm sure you are, but for now you need to take a break," Eliza sighed.
"We came all this way, and I just have to sit on the s-sidelines and watch the boys have all the fun?" Maria frowned. "I don't think so,"

"You're not just sitting on the sidelines, Mari," Eliza sighed. "You've done so many amazing things since I've met you that I could only dream of doing. You have so much confidence and skill, and it's very admirable, but even the best of women need to rest sometimes,"

Maria didn't say anything, simply nodding once before leaning her head back against the seat once more. Eliza opened her mouth to continue when she head the doors being shoved open. Her head whipped around to see the boys briskly making their way out of the building. She rolled down her window, leaning one arm out as Lafayette came over.

"Anything?" She frowned.
"We did not find anyone, but we did find this," Lafayette spoke quickly, flashing a card to Eliza and Maria. Samuel's old officer ID card for King's.
"Do you think-?" Eliza muttered, taking the worn card and inspecting it, a photo Sam beaming in his uniform displayed right at the front.
"It is the best lead we have got right now," Lafayette sighed desperately.

"Okay, okay, King's Correctional Facility, here we come,"

---

Alex was lying on his back in front of the cell door, weakly kicking at it over
and over
and over again.

He was so hungry he was sure his stomach had begun eating itself by now, so dehydrated he wasn't sure if water was even a real concept anymore. The aching in his skull ebbed and flowed like a cold tide, yet the pain was always there.

None of that mattered anyway, nothing else mattered. The only thing on his mind was John, and the horrific guilt eating away at him. He made a promise that he couldn't keep and now he was reaping the consequences. God knows where John was, Alex just prayed it was anywhere away from Levi.

He tiredly continued kicking the door, hoping that maybe he wasn't the only one being driven crazy by the motion and they would let him out. When he was let out, he was going to rip Levi apart limb by limb with his bare hands, and ensure he suffered a slow and painful, very painful, death.

Then he was going to stab the shit out of him with Maria's knives until there was nothing but-
Woah
Alex closed his eyes and massaged his temples slowly. Keep it together. This is what they wanted, they wanted to drive him mad. He needed to stay perfectly sane, for John's sake.

Alex lay, staring at the ceiling, suspended in silence.
Fuck sanity.

"LET ME OUT!" He screamed, throwing both feet into the door with a harsh jab. "LET ME OUT LET ME OUT LET ME OUT!"
With each scream he threw another kick, thrashing on the floor in a sobbing mess. "JOHN!" He cried, sitting up and throwing himself against the door. The sudden movement made his head throb violently and he yelped in pain, catching his head in his hands and groaning.

Above him he heard a click and gasped, throwing his head up. The slit in the door had been slid open. The end of a hose popped through the window, pointed down at Alex, he barely had a second to react before freezing cold water was sprayed right at him in a sharp burst.

Alex scrambled back with a yelp, the water soaking through his clothes and making him feel like a human ice block. He opened his mouth to yell but the hose only snapped on again, water spraying directly at his face. He gasped and choked on the freezing water, shielding himself as he scrambled forward towards the source.
"Drink while you can!" A stern voice ordered on the other side, directing the spray right at his face.

Alex ignored the instructions, launching forward and hooking his hand up to grab the hose. He ripped it forward into the cell, pulling the holder up against the door with a harsh bang. James Reynolds was slammed into the door, glaring at Alex with his cheek squished against the metal.
"Where is John." Alex growled in a low octave, a sadistic glint in his eyes.

"John? He's with Levi," Reynolds smirked, pulling away from the door and pulling the hose up. He waited, expecting a sharp remark from Alex. Maybe a 'leave him alone' or a 'let me out', but Alex only squinted at him carefully, tightening his grip on the hose.

Somehow silence from Alexander Hamilton was scarier than any words that could be uttered from his lips. Perhaps it was the fact that he never stopped talking, or perhaps it was the fact that everything he needed said was told through his piercing gaze, either way Reynolds shivered in fear and tried to tug the hose back but Alex kept his grip as firm as his facial expression.

"Let go you dick," he muttered with a scowl, tugging harder, but with one yank Alex ripped him forward again.
"Drink while you can, Reynolds," Alex mocked monotonously as a warning, a small smirk dancing on his lips as he let the hose slip from his fingers, making Reynolds stumble back a little.

"What the fuck is that meant to mean?" James hissed, whipping the hose back and clutching it tightly in defence.
"I don't know James, you might not be alive to do so tomorrow," Alex shrugged innocently, slowly stepping backwards, sinking deeper into the cell.

Reynolds' eyes widened in shock and reached forward to quickly slap the slit shut, locking it up with a growl.
"Fucking creep,"

A/N I'm in the car with my family on a road trip we've been in this fucking car for 4 hours and I'm being driven to a deeper insanity than Alex right now. Send help.

And you should totally read the meme story im making about John being a ghost. Ghost Boy is absolute bullshit but it's fun to write!

Also, sorry my updates have grown less frequent, exam week like slaughtered me woo! The other reason is we just found out my doggo has cancer so I'm spending a lot more time with the old man now while I still can :) Olly goes into surgery Thursday next week so lets pray for the poor sod xx