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𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗵𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗻: 𝗶 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗲

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The Pogues sat around the bonfire they had made after the sun had gone down. They had been over the moon at the fact that JJ and Sarah were safe and sound and their once crushed spirits were now risen.

Cassie had been lying her head on JJ's chest as the flames kept them warm. She was so glad that he had been okay and that she was able to be touching him in this moment. She didn't know what she would do if she would never be able to feel the touch of his skin on hers ever again, romantic or not.

The boy had changed her in ways that she didn't even know could be changed. She once went from a girl who was so scared to even put her trust in anyone that wasn't Kiara, to professing her love for JJ at every chance she got.

She had become a better person because of him and she hoped he knew that. She hoped he knew how much they needed each other to be the best versions of themselves. When they tried pushing each other away, that's when their ugly sides came out.

But neither of them had been planning on pushing the other away anymore.

"I think next time we take a trip, we should maybe plan ahead," John B joked as he stood up to grab more wood for the bonfire.

"Maybe we can stay in a hotel next time," Kiara suggested.

"Yes, please. With a bed," Emery gushed, already missing her bed back home although it hadn't been that long since they left.

"And a shower. Yeah, I smell awful!" Sarah complained and Pope chuckled.

"I smelled myself today," John B admitted as he snapped some logs in half, adding them to the fire.

Sarah laughed, "You weren't the only one who smelled you."

"I got used to his smell when we were on Poguelandia 1.0 together," Cassie piped up and John B sent her the middle finger, to which she returned by sticking her tongue out at him.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot. You guys are already used to living like this," Emery recalled from when Cassie detailed it to her, shaking her head. "I don't know how you guys did it."

"I don't know how we did it either," Kiara expressed as she blinked rapidly, thinking about their time on Poguelandia 1.0. They had spent over a month there and had actually been doing pretty well somehow.

"We did it because of me, duh," Cleo voiced as she pointed her thumbs at herself and they all laughed while also agreeing with her. Without her resourcefulness, they might not have survived on that island for as long as they did.

"Yes we did, baby," Pope agreed as he rubbed his hand up and down the girl's arm, pulling her closer to him.

"Awww, how cute," Cassie enthused, making the couple blush with shy smiles.

She had always liked Pope and Cleo together. She knew something had sparked the night she brought Pope back home after he almost shot Rafe, and that theory had only been confirmed when Pope told her Cleo kissed him down in South America. Pope deserved someone like Cleo who would appreciate all his little intricate quirks in a romantic way. They were good together.

"Hey, uh, you know what's a good name for a baby?" JJ spoke up, changing the subject. "JJ. Goes both ways, actually, if it's a girl, if it's a boy."

"I don't think we need another baby JJ running around," Cassie jested as she patted him on the chest with her hand. "No offense."

JJ laughed breathlessly. "Nah, you're probably right. A baby JJ would probably be a little devil running around," he imagined, making the ones who knew about Sarah being pregnant burst out in a fit of chuckles.

Pope glanced between them all with a smile. "What baby?" He asked.

"Um..." John B trailed off.

"Oh, that's right," Sarah realized.

"...Yeah."

"You guys don't know." Sarah reached for John B's hand and he smiled down at her. Pope looked between the couple, starting to put the pieces together without them having to say anything.

"No way. A Poguelet?" Cleo registered.

Pope pointed at Sarah, his eyes wide. "You?"

"Yes!"

"You're gonna be a freaking dad!" Pope exclaimed as he got up and hugged the Routledge boy excitedly, knocking him down on the sand.

"I'm gonna be a dad," John B confirmed as Cleo got up to give Sarah a hug.

"Oh, thank God, it was getting so hard to keep that a secret," Emery breathed out, causing them all to laugh.

The Pogues watched Sarah and John B with joyous smiles since Pope and Cleo had been the last ones to find out and had been congratulating them. Although the timing of it all wasn't exactly the best, they couldn't be more happy for the couple. They had been through thick and thin for each other and they finally made it out the other end.

And now with a baby Pogue on the way.

"You're so ill-equipped for that!" Pope exclaimed.

"I know, I know, but that's okay," John B expressed.

"I mean, you know, we'll help you out a lot."

Sarah looked past Cleo, seeing Rafe watching from a few feet away. He had been separated from the group on his own accord, knowing that he wasn't one of them. Sarah sent him a quick smile before she looked down at Cleo, who had been placing her head on Sarah's stomach.

"A little baby," Cleo cooed in a high voice, causing Sarah to giggle.

Soon after, the Pogues and Rafe all slowly drifted off to sleep. They had a big day ahead of themselves and getting their much needed rest would ensure they would be on top of their game. They needed to be in order to find the scroll and locate the legendary Blue Crown.

Cassie had been laying her head on JJ's chest, staring up at the stars since she was having some trouble going to sleep. Her side had been throbbing just a bit, but it wasn't too bad. She was just going to have to fight through it on their hazardous journey.

"Hey, isn't that Cassiopeia?" JJ whispered, making Cassie flinch a bit since she had no idea he was also awake. He pointed his finger up to the constellation in the sky, trying to show it to her.

A small smile formed on her face, recalling how they had seen the same constellation on Poguelandia 1.0. "Yeah. It is. Good job."

JJ hummed warmly in response, bringing his hand up to pull her waist closer to him. "This is really giving me some major deja vu right now."

Cassie laughed quietly as the thought about when she and JJ laid on the ocean rocks together. It had been only a month or two into their relationship and the Pogues had no idea that had been together. It seemed like a lifetime ago now and she felt so stupid for wanting to hide it from all of them. She had been a different person back then.

"Yeah. Yeah, me too."

There had been a beat of silence as the two stared up at the bright stars in the sky, no air pollution to block them out. Cassie could feel the rhythmic feeling of JJ's heartbeat as his chest rose and fell, almost making her eyes close until JJ started speaking again.

"I really am sorry for what I said back on the boat and-and everything I was doing before that," he began. "I shouldn't have been drinking like that. I was just doing exactly what Luke would do and I don't wanna end up like him. Even if he's not my real father, I don't wanna end up like him. You deserve better than that. And I shouldn't have tried to push you away. It's just...Everything that we've built was just taken away from us and I didn't know how to deal with that. Because I finally had something to call my own and my fake father allowed it to be ripped away from me. And then my real father," he scoffed, "my real father was just trying to get rid of me and I let you get in the way of that by being blind. I thought that if I pushed you away from me, you'd be safer. But...but I was wrong. Like I always am. We need each other, Cass. I need you."

Cassie's lip trembled a bit at his words. Hearing him tell her that he needed her, it made her fall in love with the boy all over again. He made her feel needed and like she had a purpose to be in this world. Without him, she probably would have gone off the deep end a long time ago.

"I need you too," Cassie responded before she felt him lift his head up, planting a soft kiss on the top of her head. "I understand why you did what you did, but please know that I'm gonna stick by your side no matter what happens. I'm not the same girl I was two years ago. I'm not the girl who was afraid to show you how much I really liked you— Love you even. I'm not afraid anymore. I haven't been for a while. You're the only one I want by my side and I'll do whatever I can to make sure it stays that way."

"I'll do whatever I can too," JJ spoke. "I meant it when I said I would do anything for you."

"I meant it too," Cassie told him sternly. "And by anything, that means finding this scroll and getting the Blue Crown so we can live the life we want. We can finally go on our surf trip and just...live."

"Our surf trip," JJ repeated quietly with an adoring smile. "Yeah. I like that plan."

"Me too," she said before she let out a yawn, her eyes fluttering to a close for just a second. "Oh, and JJ?"

"Hm?"

"I think you'd be a great dad," she told him before she snuggled up closer to him, closing her eyes to allow herself to drift off into a much needed slumber.

JJ's heart skipped a beat at her words, it swelling to a size that probably wasn't humanly possible. Back on the ship, he had told John B he probably wouldn't want him around his child since he didn't have a good father figure to model himself off of.

But hearing Cassie, the girl he loved so deeply he couldn't even express it in words, tell him he would make a great dad...he was beginning to believe that maybe he would be a great dad. Maybe he would be able to break the cycle his fathers started and start anew.

JJ didn't even realize a tear had slipped from his eyes until he felt it drip down to his nose from how he had been lying on the sand. He reached up and wiped the tear away before he looked down, seeing that Cassie had fallen asleep on his chest.

"Cass?" He said quietly, but she had made no movement to show she had heard. She must have already fallen asleep from the exhaustion.

JJ smiled fondly as he looked down at the girl, seeing how peaceful she looked lying on his chest. She was the only girl he ever wanted to love. He couldn't imagine doing this with anyone else in the world. It was just her. It would only be her.

He never thought he would have aspirations to settle down with a woman and be with her for the rest of his life. If you would have told him he would be dreaming about that when he was sixteen years old, before he fell for the girl lying on him, he would have called you insane.

But now, it had been something he had been thinking about for months on end to the point where he wanted to make it a reality.

"I'm gonna marry you when all of this is over. When all of this is over...I'll propose and we'll have our wedding on our surf trip. You'll be my wife and I'll be your husband. Mr. and Mrs....Maybank," he whispered as he touched what he had stolen from the jewelry store downtown in his pocket before he soon fell asleep as well.

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

The next morning, the nine of them had began their trek into Morocco. They first had to find the scroll and then figure out where the crown was from there. This was definitely going to be a lot harder their previous missions.

"All right, all is not lost, right? Like, we got a bead on Groff, and he can lead us to the crown. And listen, I know I've had a little bit of a wobble the last couple days like we talked about last night but...I just wanna say, I'm back. And I feel good," JJ expressed to Cassie as they trekked through the sand in the heat. "But...are you good? You know, with..." He trailed off, looking down at her shirt that had dried blood stained on it.

"Yup. I'm good. Barely even hurts anymore," Cassie told him, which wasn't exactly a lie. Her wound still did hurt a bit, but it wasn't anything major. Not enough to slow her down unless she needed to run a lot. Which she hopefully wouldn't have to, but with her luck, she was definitely going to have to. "Can we promise each other to be careful though? I mean, I got stabbed and you almost drowned. Our track record...isn't looking too good so far."

JJ nodded, licking his chapped lips. "Yeah. Yeah, I promise." He held out his pinkie finger to her and she smiled a bit, hooking her own pinkie finger around his.

"And I promise."

Emery walked a few feet away from Kiara since the others had been walking with their respective partners. Aside from Rafe, who had been largely separated from the group as he walked on his own.

Emery kept looking over her shoulder at him a few times, seeing the serious look on his face as he kept his stare focused on the ground.

Kiara glanced over at Emery, seeing how she kept flicking her gaze over to Rafe. "Careful, M&M. If you keep looking at him, you might turn to stone," she warned.

Emery tore her gaze away from Rafe and met Kiara's. "I know he's, like, a terrible person and everything...but I can't help but feel a little bad for him. I mean, I guess that's just what I do but if I was being excluded like this...I'd feel bad."

Kiara pursed her lips to the side. "Yeah, I guess. But, I mean, can you blame us? He's basically almost killed every single one of us. I know I was the one who chose to save him on the boat, but if it were one of us, he wouldn't have done the same. He's just...different."

"And you don't think he's changed?"

Kiara shrugged. "I mean, he's not as psycho as he once was but he's definitely still a bad person."

Emery nodded slowly before she looked back over at Rafe, accidentally making eye contact with him before she whipped her head back to Kiara. "Shit, he saw me."

Kiara let out a quiet snort. "Don't worry, you're good. I did say he's psycho, but he's not gonna get triggered by eye contact...Hopefully."

Emery's stomach dropped. "'Hopefully'? Did you just say 'hopefully'?" She questioned worriedly, swallowing thickly. Kiara couldn't help herself from laughing harder, making Emery give her a look. "Oh, my God. You suck."

"Sorry, I'm sorry!" Kiara apologized as her laughter died down. "I'm bored, what can I say?"

"Bored to make me almost piss my pants?" Emery raised her brows at the girl.

"That would make things less boring, yes," Kiara confirmed before the two looked at one another and bursted out laughing even more.

Cassie looked over her shoulder at her cousin and her best friend laughing with one another, a small grin on her lips. "I'm glad they're finally getting along. But now I know how the others felt when we would argue nonstop."

JJ let out a low whistle. "They were not as bad as us though. No one can be as bad as us."

Cassie pointed at him. "Yeah, you're right. We're the originals." She reached out her hand to him before they did the Pogue handshake with one another, giggling a bit.

JJ took his hand away, looking around at everyone before he clapped his hands in encouragement. "All right, come on, y'all! Civilization can't be that far, right?"

The Pogues and Rafe hiked through the hills of sand and through the blasting heat for what felt like years. It honestly felt worse to walk there than in South America since the sand just made it so much harder on their calves.

Finally, after a long while, the sand began to flatten and they came across buildings up ahead. "There it is. My calculations were correct. That's Essaouira," Pope said as beads of sweat dripped down their foreheads.

"So you're telling me he doesn't do calculations in bed?" Cassie muttered to Cleo and the girl sent her a scary look. "Okay, never mind."

"Hey, Sarah, you okay?" Emery gently asked since the girl had been holding both her chest and stomach, trying to catch her breath. The Routledge girl nodded before she made eye contact with her husband, who had been looking at her worriedly.

The nine of them continued to make their way over to the buildings, entering Essaouira. "All right, so the plan is, locate the wharf and find Groff, okay? That's all we gotta do," JJ planned out.

"Oh, that's all?" Kiara deadpanned before they all paused at the entryway, seeing the large crowds of people who were walking in the large town.

"Okay, yeah, that might be a little harder than I thought," JJ admitted and Kiara rolled her eyes at him.

"Ya think?" Pope sassed.

"Let's go," JJ urged as he began to make his way through the crowd. "Let's go, come on! Jesus Christ."

"Jay!" Cassie called out, reaching her hand to take his so that they wouldn't be separated as they tried to push their way through the hundreds of people.

"Come on, stick together!"

"We're trying!" Kiara barked.

"Well, try harder!" JJ told her.

"You're sounding like me," Cassie groaned as someone hit into her side, making her wince a bit.

"Hey, hey, you good?" JJ asked worriedly and she gave him a thumbs up with a forced smile.

They kept making their way through, getting stopped by vendors who were trying to sell them products that they didn't have the money to buy. It was beginning to get really overwhelming, especially because they had already been sweating from before and now it felt like they were all being squished together.

"Can't we stay as a group?" Pope spoke, moving his hands together frantically.

"I'm trying!" Cleo yelled at him.

"Try to stay as a group!"

"Yo, we gotta get out of these alleys. I don't know where I'm going," JJ mumbled before he noticed a large statue of a man up ahead once they escaped the crowd. "That might be something. Come on."

"What is that?" Emery quizzed to no one in particular.

"Guess we're gonna find out," Sarah breathed out as she prepared herself to keep on walking.

They walked along the bridge to get to the statue that JJ had spotted. "Yeah, I knew it," he said once he got closer.

"Yo, that's Murad. The Barbary pirate. That's the guy Groff was telling us about," Pope recalled.

"Holy shit. That's him. The Berber. The one who made the map to find the crown," John B remembered.

"So Groff wasn't lying about that? That's good to know," Cassie remarked with a look of contempt on her face, sharing a glance with her boyfriend.

"So that means it might be closer than we think," JJ realized.

Kiara looked up at the statue. "It's a sign."

JJ nodded. "Yeah. Let's keep moving. Come on," he instructed as they turned away from the statue. "You think it's here, maybe?"

"I don't know," John B shrugged.

Cassie hummed. "Well, time to find out."

authors note!
lowkey cried writing the first part of this
chapter 😃 and on that note, today marks
3 months since jj was taken from us. still
grieving about it tbh!!! i miss him :(