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𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗶𝗳𝘁𝘆 𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁: 𝗽𝗼𝗴𝘂𝗲, 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵

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The Pogues all began to shout once Pope collapsed onto the ground, Kiara and Cassie bending down to try to help him back up.

"What about the cross?" Sarah reminded them since they couldn't just leave it out in the open.

"JJ, try and hide it," John B quickly instructed.

"I got it. I got the cross," JJ said as he moved toward the cross, trying to figure out how the hell he was supposed to hide this seven foot golden cross.

Once the girls got him up, they slung him over their shoulders to try to get him out of the church as he wheezed. "I can't breathe," he told them through his wheezing.

"I know. It's okay," Kiara tried to soothe him.

"Guys, I don't know how I'll hide this!" JJ shouted over Pope's wheezes.

"Just figure it out! We'll come back!" Cassie told him from over her shoulder, hearing JJ groan in frustration once she faced the front. "Can you guys get the door?" She asked John B and Sarah and they moved to the doors, opening them up to get Pope outside.

"JJ! We gotta go!" Sarah urged.

"It's so heavy! I can't — I'm coming, I'm coming!" JJ yelled as he ran out of the church, closing the door behind him. "Jeez, that thing's heavy. Sarah, I didn't hide it well enough."

"Don't worry about that. We gotta get Pope some help," Sarah said as she ran over to the Kiara's truck, opening the door.

"Pope, what do you need, buddy?" JJ questioned from behind as Kiara and Cassie placed him in the backseat of the truck.

"Keep his legs elevated!" Sarah directed.

"Pope, what do you need?" JJ repeated and Pope started slamming his fist down into his chest,

"A shot?"

"He needs a shot!"

"Where are we getting a shot?!"

"JJ, your cousin!" Cassie recalled and JJ's eyes widened.

"Okay, I know where to go! Give me the keys! Kie, give me the keys!" JJ demanded.

"They're in the ignition! Go!" She told him.

"Right, I knew that!"

The Pogues all piled into the truck and JJ zoomed off as fast as he could, making his way to his cousin Ricky's house since that was their best option.

Once he pulled in front of the house, JJ started to honk the horn obnoxiously. "Ricky!" JJ yelled and he pulled into his driveway. The others immediately stumbled out of the truck, trying to help Pope out. "Ricky! Hey! Bro! Ricky! Ricky!" The blonde ran up to the door, trying to get it open.

Cassie looked over at Pope, seeing that the others were getting him out so she quickly ran over to the door with JJ, seeing that Ricky was on the other side with his shirt off and boxers on.

Clearly not ready to help a boy going into anaphylactic shock.

"Ricky, hey! I got a problem, bro! I know you're mad at me!" JJ began.

"Remember that time you stole my ambulance?" Ricky replied angrily.

"Yeah, I know! I know! I know you're mad. No, don't do that!" JJ pleaded once Ricky shut the inside the door, making them no longer able to see him through the glass door.

"No! Please, please, please! Open the door!" Cassie banged on it.

"We need help!" Sarah added. "He got a stung by a wasp! He's having a reaction! Please help!"

JJ moved over to bang on the windows, trying to make Ricky open the door again. "You know what? Fuck this," Cassie cursed as she dug into her jeans pocket, pulling out a Bobby pin.

Ever since JJ helped her escape her room that night, she secretly kept one on her just in case. She totally forgot until now and realized it could have been helpful when Limbrey tried kidnapping her and Pope. But she couldn't dwell on it now.

She had to help Pope no matter what.

"He can't breathe, Ricky!" She heard JJ say as she plunged the Bobby pin into the door, maneuvering it around before she heard a click.

"Guys!" Cassie called them over, making them look over at her with wide eyes.

"You got it open? How?" JJ questioned and she twiddled the Bobby pin in her fingers, making his eyebrows raise in awe. But now was definitely not the time to be finding her hot. Pope was dying for crying out loud!

Cassie pushed the glass door open and then the inside door Ricky hadn't thought to lock. "Hey, what the hell?" Ricky spoke as he went up to them, blinking rapidly as all the Pogues gathered in his front hallway.

"Look at him! Help my friend!" John B pleaded as Pope sagged down in their arms.

Ricky thought about it for a moment before he let up, "All right, Jesus Christ." He moved out of the way for them all to rush further into his home.

"Hi! Nice to meet you! Sorry!" Sarah greeted frantically as she ran through, pushing laundry baskets off of the table so they could lay Pope onto it.

"You know, I wouldn't come to you if it wasn't an emergency," JJ told Ricky as they put Pope on the table that Sarah had just cleared off. "Hang in there, buddy. Hang in there."

"Come on, Pope," Cassie pleaded.

"What's wrong with him?" Ricky inquired as he looked at him.

"Wasps," Sarah told him.

"Wasps?" Ricky repeated.

"Yes!"

"Wasps!"

"Is he allergic to wasps?" Ricky asked.

"What the fuck do you think?!" Cassie yelled at him.

"Clearly!" Kiara exclaimed at the same time

"It was a beehive worth of wasps!"

"Raise his legs, raise his legs," JJ instructed as he grabbed Pope's legs, raising them.

"What's his name?" Ricky queried.

"Pope!"

"Hey, Pope. Hang tight. I gotta get my kit," Ricky told them as he ran off.

"Hang tight?! Hang tight?! Ricky!" JJ screamed with wide eyes.

"He's looking for a kit! Go help, go help," John B told the Maybank boy.

"A kit?" JJ repeated as he rushed after Ricky, going to help him find his kit.

"Just try to breathe a little, okay?" Cassie said to Pope, unsure if he was even listening to them with the state he was in.

"Just breathe," Kiara reiterated, placing her hands on his arm anxiously before she moved them up to his face. "I just need you to focus. Focus on your breathing, okay?"

"What does it look like?!" JJ screamed furiously from the other room.

"It's like a duffel bag!" Ricky detailed as he jogged back into the room. "A duffel bag!"

"Where's your kit?!" Cassie bellowed once Ricky went past them, going into a different room to search for his kit.

"Out in the garage, maybe!"

"I swear to God, how is he an EMT?!" Cassie seethed.

"Cassie, calm down," Sarah tried to tell her.

"I can't calm down! Pope can't breathe and this fuckass paramedic can't find his kit, the most important thing to have ready when you're a goddamn paramedic!" Cassie raged, her face almost turning red with how upset she was.

"Okay, I got it!" Ricky suddenly shouted as he hustled back into the room. "I got it! I got it!"

"Finally!" Cassie breathed out as the others urged Ricky to come over.

"Okay, what do we do now?" JJ immediately asked as Ricky came over, setting his kit down.

"You don't do anything 'cause you're not a paramedic," Ricky answered as he began to take the stuff out of his kit, the others backing away to let him do his job. "Okay. Hey, Pope. How you doing, man? You look like shit," Ricky voiced as he took out a syringe. "Here's the thing. This is a pediatric dose of epinephrine."

"Is that gonna be enough?" Sarah asked.

"Wait, pediatric? Like kid?" John B scratched his head.

"He's not a kid," Kiara cried.

"It is ten times a normal dose. So if-if it doesn't stop his heart, it'll help him. But I gotta use the whole thing, or it won't work. And I'm not going down if he dies," Ricky prefaced, making them part their lips in shock.

Pope can't die. No, he can't die. No, if he dies...

Cassie's eyes started to water at the thought as she looked at JJ, the latter turning to his cousin and yelling, "Okay! Fine! Do it! Hit it! Come on! Hurry up and hit him with it! Come on, hurry up!"

"All right, Pope, hang in there, buddy," Ricky soothed as he pushed the needle into Pope's arm, making him groan.

"I hate needles, man," JJ whispered as he turned his gaze away, not being able to watch.

Ricky took the needle out after he pushed in the epinephrine. "Okay, um, that's it."

"Now what?" Sarah said.

"Now we wait," Ricky answered as he zipped up his kit.

They waited in silence, the only noise being the sound of Steve Harvey talking on the television in the other room. Cassie looked down at the Heyward boy, her chest rising and falling heavily.

Her skin felt hot and her vision started to blur once Pope hadn't moved. She felt her mouth dry up and her chin wobbled, just waiting for any movement from him but there was nothing.

Pope can't die. He can't die. If he dies, this is all my fault. I told JJ to bring him here.

Cassie couldn't deal with this. She couldn't deal with losing somebody else. She couldn't lose Pope. The boy who was as kind as they come and as smart as Einstein. The boy who was the easiest to talk to because she never felt judged. The boy who had the brightest future ahead of him compared to them all. The boy who was a true Pogue at heart.

She couldn't lose him.

Did she lose him?

Was it her fault?

"You killed him," Kiara spoke up.

"No."

"Yes, you did!"

"I didn't do shit."

"What did you do?!" Cassie suddenly barked as she rounded the table, stepping toward Ricky with a fire behind her eyes.

"I did exactly what you asked me to do," Ricky argued as he stepped back from her, trying to get away from her.

"You killed him!" Cassie growled as the angry tears started to fall.

"Please! Please! Pope, please, come on!" Kiara pleaded behind Cassie as kept her eyes trained on Ricky, who looked scared out of his mind.

"Pope, come on, bro!" JJ shouted, gripping Pope's shirt to try and shake him awake.

Suddenly, Cassie heard Pope inhale a sharp breath and she paused right before she was about to attack JJ's cousin, slowly turning around to see Pope had awakened.

"Wait, wait, wait, he—"

"Pope? Pope, Pope, Pope?" Kiara repeated before Pope pushed himself up, coughing.

Cassie let out a shocked breath as she went back over to the boy, holding a hand up to her mouth and then wiping her hot tears away.

He was alive.

She wouldn't have to go through the five, torturous stages of grief she seemed to so close to going through again each day that went by.

"Pope!" She enthused in relief as she wrapped her arms around the boy to envelop him in a hug, which was something she never did before. She'd had her fair share of group hugs with him, but she had never hugged the boy one on one.

Cassie wasn't a huge hugger. It was usually someone else initiating it. But she realized that she hugged every single person in this room (apart from Ricky, of course) so that had to mean something.

She loved these Pogues.

She was a Pogue, through and through.

"There he is! That's my boy right there!" JJ cheered, pointing at Pope whose face was still puffy from the wasps.

"Hey, Cassie, good to see you," he panted as Cassie pulled away, beaming and blinking away her tears. "It's hot! I'm like real hot, guys," he started to complain as he started to take his sweat jacket off, making Cassie take a step back.

"It's okay. Take it easy," JJ smiled at him before Pope hopped off the table.

"I gotta go outside."

"Okay, simmer down," John B tried as Pope pushed past him and out the door.

"I owe you," JJ pointed at Ricky.

"Take your time! Take a second!"

"I need to get outside. It's HOT!" Pope groaned as Kiara and John B rushed to follow him outside to try to contain him.

"Ricky, I am so sorry. Forget everything I just said to you. You're a great paramedic," Cassie breathed out, feeling extremely bad that she was just about to dent Ricky's face.

Ricky laughed nervously, still a bit scared of the girl. "Thank you...?" He trailed off, not knowing her name.

"Cassie. I'm Cassie," she nodded rapidly, causing Ricky to glance at JJ with an arched brow. "What?"

"You're the one who also stole my ambulance?"

"Oh, oops. Sorry about that too, then," she apologized and Ricky shook his head. She glanced at JJ, who shrugged and waved his cousin off.

"Thank you so much," Sarah thanked to Ricky. "Are there any side effects we should be concerned about?"

"He'll have a rocket up his ass for about half an hour, and then he'll be fine," Ricky told them.

"Let's go get that cross! Whoo!" Pope screamed as he jumped in the air. "Game six, baby! I'm Michael Jordon!"

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

Pope sped Kiara's truck down the road to get back to the church as fast as they could once night had fallen. JJ kept telling them he hadn't hid the cross too well, so they were worried someone would somehow stumble upon it.

"Uh, Pope, you're driving pretty fast," Sarah pointed out from the backseat, where they all smushed together, apart from Kiara who was sitting in the front.

That basically made it so Cassie sat upon JJ's lap, but honestly? Neither of them were complaining. The only thing they did want to complain about was the speed at which Pope was driving.

"Whoooooo!" Pope howled, not listening to the Cameron girl at all.

"Pope, last to judge and all, but I think you should slow down just a little," JJ suggested.

"A little?" Cassie repeated, gaping.

"That would definitely delay our arrival to the cross. We gotta get there," Pope explained, not slowing down at all. In fact, it felt like he made the car go faster.

"Why did we let him drive again?" Kiara wondered.

"Because I said I'd rip your ears off," Pope answered.

"Because he said he'd rip our ears off," Sarah confirmed.

"You did say you were gonna rip our ears off," Kiara remembered.

"I was joking about that, by the way," Pope admitted.

"Oh, great," Cassie deadpanned.

"That's a really funny joke," Kiara smiled sarcastically.

"Hey, hey how ya feeling, buddy? How are you doin'?" John B spoke up.

"Uh, uh, fantastic. I don't know what JJ's cousin gave me, but I am moving!" Pope responded energetically and Cassie raised her eyebrows at him, never seeing him act like this before. It was like JJ, but on steroids.

"We couldn't tell," Kiara shook her head.

"Okay, well, um, you're going really fast right now," John B cut in, trying to slow him down again.

"Yeah, really fast!" Pope agreed like it was a good thing before he looked behind him, driving the car without looking forward. They all began to shout at him since he began to swerve around the road.

"I don't know if you noticed, but there's these giant oak trees all along this road right now," John B told him as Pope turned back around. "They're like six inches off the road."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Kiara shouted as Pope tried passing a car which would make him go into the oncoming lane. "You don't need to pass! You don't need to pass! You don't need to pass!"

Pope passed the car, another car coming right towards them. He swerved to the right at the last second, causing the other car to swerve the other way and almost drive off the road. "What an asshole, right?" Pope said like he wasn't the one at fault.

"He's going the speed limit!" Kiara breathed out.

"We're not gonna get to the cross if we're dead, Pope!" John B raised his voice.

"We're not gonna die. It's our divine right to get that cross," Pope said, shaking his head at them as if they were acting silly.

"Divine right? Bitch, the fuck?" Cassie made a face.

"Pope! Look at the road!" John B suddenly shrieked as Pope swerved the truck, making the tail of the truck hit
a tree before they slid off the road, hitting into more trees which caused the windows to shatter around them.

Cassie grunted since she had fallen into the seat in front of her, but JJ had grabbed her waist to hold her steady. "You good?" He croaked quietly.

She looked over at him, seeing that his eyes were shut and he was panting. "Yeah. I'm fine," she murmured.

"Is everyone okay?" John B asked after a moment.

"I think so," Sarah answered weakly.

"Never better," JJ replied sarcastically before he pushed open the car door. "That is the last time you drive, Pope."

Cassie got off of JJ and got out the truck, her feet hitting the ground. Once she did, she got down on her knees and pretended to kiss the ground. "Sweet baby Jesus, the ground!"

"Do you have a concussion?" John B deadpanned and she shot him a glare.

"Sorry that I'm glad I'm not dead!" She snapped and he held his hands up in defense.

Kiara hopped out of the truck, immediately running in front of it to check out the damage. "My dad's truck! Noooo," she whined as Cassie got up from the ground, dusting her pants off.

"Kie, one word: Totaled," JJ said as he flashed his phone light over the car, showing how completely shattered the windshield was and how wrecked the truck was in general.

"My parents are gonna kill me...for real this time," Kiara breathed out.

"Yeah, well, weren't they already gonna do that anyway?" JJ pointed out.

"Helpful. Thank you," Kiara made a face.

"I'm sorry, Kiki."

"Thanks, I guess."

"We're gonna have to walk the rest of the way," Pope spoke up.

"Dude!" Sarah exclaimed.

"I'm going to get my cross." He began to walk, making the girls all give each other a frustrated look.

"Hey, just relax for a second," John B said, stepping in front of him.

"Get off of me."

"No. I'm trying to help."

"Move. I'm getting my cross."

"We just crashed the car," John B tried, but Pope just pushed past him. "I'm trying to watch out for you. Hey! No!"

"Pope!" Kiara began to call out. "Pope!"

"Yo! Look out!" JJ warned since they spotted a truck heading their way down the road.

"Come on!" John B grabbed him, but Pope continued to push away. "There's a truck coming!"

"Get off of me!"

"Hey! You're gonna get hit by a car!" John B told him.

Cassie looked over at the truck, looking through the windshield to see none other than Renfield and Rafe. Her mouth parted before she made eye contact with Rafe in the driver's seat, who had a hint of a smirk on his face before he waved with his just his fingers at her.

Her nostrils flared before she turned to the others. "Guys, that was Rafe and Renfield," she told them and they all turned toward the truck, blinking.

"We gotta get back to the church!" Pope urged, running down the road followed by the others.

Once they made it back to the church and turned their phone flashlights on so they would be able to see, Pope pushed the doors open and slowly walked inside to see that the cross was no longer there.

"It's gone," Kiara stated the obvious.

JJ ran over and kicked one of the cushions. "Damn it!" He grunted in anger. "I knew I didn't hide it well enough! Damn it! Okay. What do we do? What do we do? What do we do?"

Cassie placed her hands on her hips as she sucked her lip in as Kiara made her way over to a pew, sitting down and holding her head in her hands.

"Okay, think, think, think, think. We need a plan. We need a plan. What's the plan?" JJ panted before he thought for a moment. "All right, here's what we do. We'll grab some kerosene tanks from the Chât, then we...we go to my dad's shop and grab some dynamite. And then we drive down to Charleston and tell this lady whose she's messing with! Because this is some bullshit, y'all!"

"I'm with that. Let's light this bitch up," Cassie nodded in agreement as she met eyes with JJ, who had a determined spark in his eyes.

"That's not gonna help," Sarah told them.

"Well, what is, Sarah?!" JJ snapped at her.

"I'm thinking, okay?" John B told him calmly. "We can't just go blow shit up, guys."

"Why not?" Cassie replied and John B gave her a look. "Fine," she held her hands up.

"Pope, I'm sorry," the blonde boy apologized to his friend, who was stood behind the wooden podium.

"Denmark would've stood right here...preaching to everyone he set free. A slave, the sole survivor of the Royal Merchant, he got the gold and the cross, and he brought them both to shore and he used it to free every person who walked through those doors," Pope began, pointing at the doors behind them. "He made a church, a family, a congregation...a home. And the Limbreys took everything from him." Pope stepped down from the podium. "They sicced dogs on his wife and his kids, and when he tried to go get her remains, they hung him. Well, I'm done. I'm tired of that shit. That is not how this is gonna end. We need a freaking win, guys. I'm going to get my family's cross," Pope finished before he walked towards the church's doors.

Cassie tilted her head, impressed by his speech and honestly, pretty inspired. She made eye contact with JJ, the two of them beginning to grin.

Pope opened the door, making it creak before he looked over his shoulder. "You guys coming?"

"Well, if you put it that way..." John B trailed off.

"Well, maybe we should think about it, you know?" JJ went along with the joke, touching his fingers to his temples.

"Pros and cons?" John B suggested.

"Pros and cons list," JJ pointed at him before they all began to head towards the door. "Hell yeah, we're coming, Pope!"

"Are you sure we can't blow shit up, though?"

"Cassie...No."

"Damn it."

authors note!
cassie hugging someone basically means
she trusts them with her life if you haven't
realized that yet. she has hugged kie a bunch
obviously, she's hugged john b when he
welcomed her as a pogue, she's hugged jj
many times now, and now she's finally
hugged pope although it's been long overdue
:) also she has hugged sarah in the past bc
they were best friends before but she hasn't
recently since she's still trying to regain that
trust back from when sarah ditched her. just
thought id say that since physical touch is
important to this story (if u look at the lyrics
of the guilty as sin? song hehe) and to cassie's
character. also just thought id get another
update in just in case tmrw is hectic and im
also itching to get the other chapters out since
im excited for yall to read those 😈