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𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗵𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗻: 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱'𝘃𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗱

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Cassie, JJ, and Groff left the family plot as Groff directed JJ where to go. Apparently, he needed to run an errand before they made their way back to Poguelandia but he promised it would be quick.

Cassie and JJ had not talked since their mini argument back at the family plot. Cassie understood that JJ really wanted to trust his father since he had never had a stable father figure in his life, but Groff was making it extremely difficult for that to happen.

Cassie was trying to look out for JJ, not wanting to put all of his trust in this man just because they were blood-related only for them to be betrayed by him. But JJ didn't want her to get in the way of any possible bond forming because she couldn't stop herself from questioning everything the man did.

At least if JJ had been the one to do it, it would make more sense since he was Groff's son. But JJ's girlfriend questioning her boyfriend's father? It wasn't a good look.

"You can pull in right there," Groff instructed his son as JJ pulled up to Toler's Cove Marina.

JJ furrowed his brows, unsure of what they had been doing at the marina. "Wait, right here?"

"Yeah." JJ slowed the car to a stop, turning the engine off. "I'm just gonna pick something up. Hang tight."

"Pick something up? What are we doin' here?" JJ asked as Groff got out of the Twinkie.

Groff didn't answer as he slid open the Twinkie's doors to where Cassie was sitting. She had been giving him a suspicious look, her head tilted but she didn't say anything because of what JJ said just before this.

"Uh...Can I borrow your phone?" Groff quizzed JJ. "Mine's as dead as Julius Caesar." He held up his phone to show that the screen was black, laughing breathlessly.

JJ searched his pockets for his phone before he pulled it out, handing it to him. "Can we, like, please hurry up? Seeing as we're sort of fugitives."

"Yeah, just lay low," Groff replied as he shut the door. "Sit right. I'll be right back." He went to go leave before he paused. "We make a good team," he added directly to JJ. Cassie rolled her eyes in the back of the car because A. She wasn't sure if Groff was just manipulating him, and B. She was not included in that so-called "team."

JJ blinked at him before he nodded in response, allowing Groff to walk off to go do whatever he had to do that was just so important it couldn't wait.

Cassie got up, leaning against the back of JJ's seat. "I'm not sure about this, JJ," she voiced her concern, seeing as though they were supposed to be back at Poguelandia already.

"It's fine. He's just gotta pick somethin' up or something, I don't know," JJ mumbled, running a hand through his hair.

"Pick what up, though?" Cassie pressed, her eyes wide.

"Cass, I don't know, okay? Just-just stop. I told you to stop. Let's just listen to music or something," he said as he turned up the radio to make the music louder, making Cassie sigh as she moved away from her boyfriend's seat.

Normally, she would have said something back but she didn't want to ruin this for JJ. Maybe she had just been paranoid because of her own shit parent, but she also had a feeling she wasn't.

They waited out in the Twinkie in silence after that. JJ had been playing with the mini, wooden surfboard along the steering wheel while Cassie had been trying to text Kiara to let her know they should be back soon although her phone was close to dying.

Kiara, however, had not been answering for whatever reason. Cassie assumed she had turned music on to pack up everything and had been getting distracted by it to not look at her phone since that was a Kiara thing to do. At least when she did look at her phone, Kiara would see that her and JJ were okay.

Groff came walking back over to the Twinkie after a little more waiting. "Finally, all right," JJ groaned once he noticed his father walking toward the car. "Come on, let's go. What took you so long?"

"Sorry, son. I've got one more teeny tiny request to make," Groff began as he held his hands up.

"Oh, because what's another just another tiny request, right?" Cassie spoke up sarcastically as she threw her hands up.

JJ sent her a warning look and she pursed her lips together, shutting up. He turned back to his father, asking, "What?"

"Leave the van," Groff requested. "Come with me."

"What do you mean— What? Leave the van?" JJ stammered as Cassie scoffed from the back.

Groff held up keys. "I've got a boat here. Come on, let's go. Get you both off the streets."

"JJ..." Cassie trailed off, not knowing if this was a good idea to go out on a boat with just them two and Groff. Sure, it would get them off the streets, but they had been easily evading the police for a couple days now. They could keep on doing it on land.

JJ thought it over for a second before he looked at Groff out the window of the car. "No, no. We gotta get back right now. With that little lens thing. All right?"

"I'll take you two back. Here's yours lens. Come on," Groff said as he held up the lens in his hand. "This is the safest way. Take a boat. Get you off the streets right now. Let's go. We're losin' time."

JJ's bottom lip jutted out before he opened up the door to get out. "JJ, seriously?" Cassie questioned as she slid open the back door, sticking her head out.

"He'll drop us off with the lens," JJ told her before he looked at Groff. "Right?"

"Yes. With the lens. It's a deal," Groff assured them and Cassie bit the inside of her cheek in frustration before she stepped out of the car, sliding the door closed. Groff handed the boat keys to JJ. "Slip forty two."

"Slip forty two," JJ repeated.

"Go," Groff urged them both as they started to head toward the docks. "Get her started. I'll keep lookout."

"Forty two. Okay," JJ muttered as he and Cassie made their way along the dock.

"JJ, I'm not sure ab—"

"Didn't I tell you to stop already, Cassie?" He sassed and Cassie closed her mouth once again, looking down. JJ sucked in a breath, feeling bad that he had basically been telling his girlfriend to shut up the whole time but he just wanted this to go smoothly. The blonde boy then looked over his shoulder, seeing Groff still by the Twinkie. "Coming?"

"Coast is clear! Go ahead!" Groff told them as he followed them on the dock over to the boat. "That's the one!"

Back at Poguelandia 2.0, Emery came driving up in her pink Jeep, almost hitting the shark in front of the surf shop yet again. "Oh, shit!" She yelled, slamming on her breaks right before she could. "Phew. That was close."

Emery stepped out of the car and walked into the surf shop since that was where Kiara texted her she would be packing for their journey. "Kie?" Emery called out, smoothing down her jean shorts and her floral pink top.

She received no answer from the Carrera girl, but saw that there had been some things already packed on the table. Emery guessed that the girl had gone to the bathroom or something, so she would start helping before she came back.

She had put some chips into the bag that were left on the table before she turned around, seeing the large cooler with pictures Coca-Cola on it. "Can't have chips without soda," she muttered to herself although she wasn't even sure if the Pogues had put soda in this cooler.

She went to go open it before she realized that a screwdriver had been wedged between the lock. "What the...?" Emery trailed off as she grabbed the screwdriver roughly, ripping it out of the lock.

She pulled open the top of the freezer only to look inside and see...Kiara inside of it, knocked unconscious?!

"Oh, my God, Kie!" Emery shouted with wide eyes, reaching down to pull the girl out of the cooler.

Since Kiara had been passed out, it was a lot harder to pick her up. Especially since Emery was shorter than the girl by some noticeable inches. She reached inside, trying to pull her body over the rim of the cooler before both of them collapsed down on the floor from Kiara's deadweight.

"Kie? Kiara?" Emery questioned as Kiara's head laid on her chest while Emery looked down at her. Her body had been cold to the touch from being inside the cooler and Emery placed a hand on her cheek, feeling the coldness. "Kie, wake up! Wake up!" She tried shaking her awake. "Kie!"

Kiara's slowly eyes fluttered open as she regained consciousness, looking around the room in confusion. "Kie? Kiara?" Emery repeated.

"Emery?" Kiara breathed out as she looked over her shoulder at the girl pressed up behind her on the floor, still trying to figure out what happened. "What-what happened?"

Emery didn't try helping her up just yet. "You were-you were in the cooler. How did you end up in the cooler?"

"Oh, shit," Kiara cursed once she started to remember. "Groff."

"Groff?" Emery repeated in confusion. Suddenly, they heard the shouts of their friends outside calling for Kiara. "Guys, in here! In here!"

John B and Sarah came rushing in, their brows furrowed once they saw Emery and Kiara on the floor. "What happened? What happened?" John B immediately interrogated as he made his way over, grabbing onto Kiara's arm to find that she had been freezing. "Why are you so cold?"

"She was in the cooler," Emery answered for her and the couple gave her a bewildered look. "I-I don't know, I just found her."

Emery shuffled back to help the shivering Kiara up along with John B. "What's going on, Kie? What happened?"

"Groff happened," Kiara revealed, coming back to her senses. "He came here, and he took the scroll. And— Oh, my God." Kiara grabbed the back of her head in pain. "Wait, I dropped my phone. I dropped my phone." She began to run out of the surf shop despite just waking up from a head injury. "I think he's still with JJ and Cassie."

"What?" Sarah spoke in puzzlement.

"Where's my phone? Where is it? Where is it?" Kiara panted as she ran out and the others began to follow.

"Pope! Cleo!" Sarah called out.

"Hey, we found her!"

"We found her! Where's your phone?"

"I dunno. It's over here somewhere," Kiara answered as she searched the ground where Groff had pushed her against the Twinkie, trying to find it.

"You okay?" Pope inquired.

"Kiara, where you been?" Cleo added.

"Hey, Kie?" Pope furrowed his brows, seeing how panicked she looked.

"She was in the cooler," Emery told them and the couples' eyes widened in surprise.

"Oh, my God!" Kiara exclaimed breathlessly once she found her phone lying on the ground, picking it up. She immediately went to Cassie's contact first since she had been pinned and called her, holding the phone up to her ear.

"Hey, it's your girl, Cassie. I'm probably not answering the phone because I don't want to. Leave a message if it's that important," Kiara heard Cassie's voicemail message.

Kiara cursed and went to JJ's contact instead of leaving a message for Cassie, clicking on it. "Hey, this is JJ. You know what to do at the beeeep."

"They're both not answering," Kiara groaned and they all shared worried glances. "JJ, can you call me back or tell Cassie to call me, please?" She pleaded.

"Did you check Find My Friends?" Pope suggested.

"Yes. Lemme check Cece's," Kiara said as she went to her best friend's location. "She's on the water."

"What?" They all said in unison.

Kiara showed them the app, which displayed Cassie's contact over the water. "If she's there, JJ's gotta be there too. They're leaving the island," Kiara realized.

"Shit, man," Cleo whispered.

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

Groff steered the boat across the water as the couple anxiously waited to get back home. Cassie's phone had to die, of course, since Groff took so long coming back to the mausoleum and she had stupidly used it the whole time on the trip there. She had no way on contacting Kiara or the others to tell them they left the Twinkie and would be arriving by boat.

Groff slowed the boat to a stop in the middle of the water, making the couple look up to give him a confused look since they were on the deck. "We're here! This is it!" He told them.

"What? I thought you said we're going back. What the hell are we doing out here?" JJ questioned.

"Come around back. I want to talk to y'all," Groff urged.

"Okay, but first, can I see my phone? Cassie's is dead and we gotta let our friends know when we're coming back," JJ told him.

"Yeah, sure thing."

"Plus, I gotta let 'em know that, uh, we found that little lens thing," JJ said as he walked closer to where Groff was standing above. "Can I see it?"

"Yeah, sure. Here, I got it. Here you go. Go long!" Groff tossed JJ's phone terribly bad to him, making the phone land directly in the ocean. "Sorry, my-my bad. I'll get you a new one, a better one, the upgrade." Cassie and JJ slowly turned to look at the man, not believing that he just threw JJ's phone in the water. "In fact, I'm going to replace everything you own. From now one, everything you have is going to be better! Come on!"

"JJ, do you think that was an accident?" Cassie asked once Groff walked away, giving the boy a concerned look.

JJ turned to her. "What?"

"Like, do you think he did that on purpose so we can't text our friends?" She clarified.

The boy made a face. "What? No, I— You're reading too much into it, it's fine," he assured her although he couldn't help considering the idea of that being the truth in his mind.

JJ went to go turn to follow his father, but Cassie grabbed his wrist. "But what if I'm not?"

He pulled his wrist away, making her swallow hard. "It's fine, Cass," he told her before he turned around again, going to where Groff was heading. "How long is this gonna take? Because we gotta beat the tide to get the boat back up the channel."

Cassie reached up to her necklace as she licked her lips nervously before she followed after JJ. The couple made it up to where Groff was, who had placed his bag onto an alcohol cart that was on the boat.

"Okay, but first, hear me out. This...this crown. It's...very valuable, and there's a lot of pretty important people who will pay a lot of money for it," Groff explained to them both with a slight laugh.

JJ nodded. "I like the sound of that." Cassie glanced over at him once he said that, chewing on her bottom lip.

Groff chuckled. "I thought you might. I thought I was gonna need the Corsairs to get it, but I think you and I...and Cassie, the three of us, could get it on our own."

On our own? What about the others? Cassie thought to herself as she looked at JJ again, who had started to smile at Groff's words.

"First things first." Groff took out the amulet and placed it on the alcohol cart. "Moment of truth." Groff pulled out the tube the scroll was in and took the scroll out, which made the smile drop from JJ's face and for Cassie to blink in confusion. When did he get that?

"Wait. Wait, when'd you get this?" JJ voiced Cassie's thoughts.

"Kiara," Groff answered and Cassie stood up a bit straighter. "So we could check it with the lens. She gave it to me."

"She gave it to you?" Cassie slowly quizzed as Groff began to lay the scroll out on the cart, placing a glass jar on the corner of it so it could stay flat.

"Yeah," Groff confirmed before he began to look at the scroll through the lens.

That doesn't make sense. Kie wouldn't just give it to him. Not without me or JJ there, Cassie thought as she turned to JJ, who was looking at Groff with furrowed brows.

"Oh! It works!" Groff breathed out excitedly.

"What?"

"I knew it."

"Wait, really? It works?" JJ asked, starting to share the excitement with Groff while Cassie looked between the two of them anxiously.

"Come look at this!"

"Let me see it. Let me see it." Groff gave JJ the lens and he peered through it. "'Mogador,'" the blonde boy read aloud.

"Yes, that's Essaouira," Groff responded.

"It really does work. Holy shit," JJ mumbled before he asked, "Cass, you wanna see?"

Cassie glanced over at Groff since JJ was still looking through the lens while he asked his question. "No. I'm good," she replied as she narrowed her eyes a bit at the older man.

Groff cleared his throat, looking at JJ. "I have the location of the crown. From-from Murad himself," he spoke before he began to cackle joyfully and go over to the bar area to pour them some drinks.

"It actually works," JJ said again in disbelief before he took the lens away from his eye, looking over at his father. "So this is why you actually came back. I knew it." He dropped the lens on the scroll, placing his hands on his hips.

"Listen to me, son. You and me, together..." Groff handed JJ a glass of liquor, conveniently not having poured one for Cassie, "we are unstoppable."

Groff clinked their glasses together and JJ chuckled breathlessly. "You know it." Cassie resisted the urge to scoff at JJ's words. He had usually been the one to include Cassie into the conversation, but now he just totally missed the fact that Groff didn't even hand her a glass.

"But we gotta hop to it. I say we head east to Bermuda," Groff quickly planned.

JJ's smile fell. "What?"

"And gas up."

"Wait, like, right now?" JJ queried.

"It's a long way to Morocco. We gotta get going, son," Groff told him.

"But we gotta pick up our friends. That's what we gotta do first, though," JJ reminded him. "I mean, the map, the lens, like, they put in the work to get that too. Wait, and we're just gonna take it? We can't do that."

"Of course we can!" Groff exclaimed with a laugh. "Listen, once we find the crown, we'll give them what they deserve. Don't you worry about that."

JJ looked down, the cogs in his mind turning before he looked back at Groff. "Yeah...But we can't just take it."

"I give you permission," Groff joked. "Just this once."

Groff walked toward the steps of the boat with a laugh, leaving the couple standing where they were. "JJ...We can't do this. We can't leave our friends," Cassie whispered to him so Groff wouldn't hear. "I know he's your dad, but...JJ, these are our best friends."

JJ nodded at her words, looking at Groff over his shoulder before he piped up, "No, I can't do that. We can't do that." Groff stopped walking, looking back down at the boy. "We're not gonna steal from my friends." Groff stepped back down as he sat on the step, giving him a perplexed look.

"And also," Cassie began, making Groff look at her, "I don't think Kiara would give you the scroll. I've known her for years. She wouldn't do that." Groff scoffed, acting to be dumbfounded with a stupid smile. "So what did happen, Groff?"

Groff's smile fell as he licked his lips. "Now...why would you both let me tell you my plan if you weren't gonna come with me?"

"That was before we realized you stole the scroll from Kiara...Didn't you?" Cassie confronted as she took a step forward.

Groff hummed. "You know, JJ, we really are alike," he stated and JJ tilted his head. "I thought you reminded me of your mother, but Cassie here is just like your mother. Tricking people into confidences just to box them in. And I won't have it. I won't let you be with a woman who does that so you don't end up like me."

Cassie gaped. "Excuse me?"

"She's led you astray, JJ. She's been telling you not to trust me this whole time. Maybe to steal the treasure for herself and go back to being a Kook," Groff went on and Cassie scoffed in disbelief. "See, just like your mother. Tricking you. It wouldn't be good to keep her around."

Cassie looked at JJ beside her, who seemed to be at a loss for words. He wanted to defend Cassie, but he honestly had no idea what had been going on. Was he wrong to trust Groff? Did Groff think he was just looking out for JJ? Or was he just looking out for himself?

Cassie turned back to Groff, her blood boiling. "You know, you keep saying I'm like JJ's mom. And you just said you shouldn't keep me around." A theory suddenly formed in her brain. "Makes me think that you killed her."

Groff released a gasp mixed with a scoff. "What?" He drawled, getting up from where he sat on the steps to get closer to her.

"You lied about JJ this whole time...It makes sense you would lie about Larissa, too," Cassie put the pieces together as Groff stared her down. "You killed her."

"Larissa drowned. It was a terrible...terrible tragedy," Groff kept up the act as Cassie continued to stare him down. JJ looked up at Groff's wrist since he had been leaning his hand above them, seeing a tattoo that looked extremely familiar to him.

"You know, Cassie, I was willing to accept you as part of the family for my boy. My beautiful, beautiful boy," Groff began as he got closer to her, giving JJ a loving smile that JJ did not return. He was so busy trying to make sense of it all that he had just been frozen in place. "But I don't think I can do that anymore," he stated before he roughly put his hands on her shoulders.

JJ broke out of his confused trance. "Dad, what are you—"

Groff suddenly shoved Cassie backwards, making her fall to the back of the boat and cut her abdomen on part of the anchor before she fell into the water.

"Cassie!" JJ shouted before he turned to his father, who moved to put his hands on him as well. "No, wait!"

But Groff had already shoved him down the same way he did with Cassie, but this time, JJ narrowly missed the part of the anchor that had sliced Cassie open.

Cassie groaned in pain, reaching for her side in the water before she looked at her fingers to see blood on them. "JJ!" She choked out as she tried to keep herself afloat, seeing that JJ had fallen into the water.

"Cassie, I'm coming! I'm coming, baby! I'm coming!" JJ promised her as he swam over her, grabbing her to help her stay above the water. "Groff! Come back!" He demanded as he watched Groff speed the boat away from them.

"JJ..." She cried as the wound throbbed immediately from the salt water seeping into it. She felt JJ's arms trying to hold her up as she had trouble swimming, but there was only so much he could do. If no one was able to find them...they would drown.

"Come back!" JJ tried calling out again, but it was no use. Groff wasn't coming back. JJ looked down at Cassie, seeing that some of the water had turned red. "Cassie, baby, it's okay. It's okay, I got you. You're okay."

"Jay," she weakly said, her eyes clamping shut from the amount of pain she was in.

"It's okay, baby. Just stay with me and we'll be okay," he assured her although he had no idea how they would be able to survive this unless some miracle happened.

And that miracle came in the form of the Pogues on The Snapper.

JJ heard the sound of a boat nearing them after a few minutes of them floating in the water as he kept telling her it would be okay. He looked over, seeing the boat in the distance but it was too far for him to make out who it was.

"Hey! Over here! Hey!" JJ screamed to try to get the boat's attention.

"JJ! Cassie!" They heared their friends yelling out to them as JJ waved his hand.

"Over here!"

"Hold on!"

"We're coming!"

"You hear that, baby? They're coming. You're gonna be fine. You're gonna be fine," he breathed out to her and she manage to nod as she whimpered in pain.

The Snapper neared the two of them and Cassie could hear John B say, "Pull them in, pull them in, pull them in."

"Hold on," Pope said he stepped over the rim of the boat to reach for them.

"Take her first, she's hurt!" JJ instructed and Pope pulled Cassie onto the boat before JJ climbed up with the help from Emery.

"Sit her down. Put her down," Kiara told Pope as Cassie groaned in pain. Pope gently placed her down as she leaned against a part of the boat, trying to catch her breath as her body twitched from the shooting pain in her side.

"Cece, are you okay?" Kiara questioned before JJ came over, crouching down in front of his girlfriend.

"Cass, baby. Cass, it's okay," JJ panted as he reached out to touch her arms while she coughed in pain.

"What happened?" Emery frantically asked.

Kiara looked down, noticing the bleeding wound on Cassie's abdomen. "Cece?" She spoke.

"It was Groff," JJ answered as his lip trembled, watching as Cassie grabbed her side. The others all shared a concerned glance at his words before they turned their attention back on Cassie. "I should have never trusted him...I should've listened to you," he said to her as he began to cry, sniffling. "I should've listened."

Cassie wasn't in the right state to say, "I told you so," but she would have to make the situation lighter. Instead, she grunted from the searing pain in her side, "Oh, my God."

"It's okay. Baby, just breathe for me, okay? Just breathe for me. Can you do that?" JJ said as he tapped on his chest for her to see and she nodded, trying to focus on her breathing. "We're gonna get you back, okay? I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

JJ laid his head down where her heart was, hearing it beating at an extremely fast pace. But at least it told him she was alive.

authors note!
fuck groff fr when he pushed jj off the boat
in the show and jj was calling after him, it
made me so upset. ugh. they did my man so
dirty the last few eps like omg he lit did not
catch a break before his death its so horrible.
anyway, i just moved back into college and
classes are starting so just letting you all know
that now since my updating schedule might
change!!! tell me why we are almost done with
this fic and i wanna make another jj one...
somebody sedate me