WHEN Eden woke up, she was in her own isolated cabin.

Blinking away the hazy feeling left over in her mind, the Bexley groggily sits up. She's against a wooden wall, slumped—not in the bathroom. The sterile smell of wood polish and reaches her nose within seconds. On the wall across from her, the phrase 'I Feel So Much Better' is written out in sloppy Sharpie. 

She glances around the room, everything lit by a window on the door. The walls of the cabin were plain and bare, and everything seems to be stiff and lifeless, minus the smallest excerpts of handwriting on the wall from prior patients, Eden assumes.

Though her thoughts feel sluggish, the Bexley wonders how long she's been out. 

The click of a lock interrupts her thoughts, and her eyes move towards the door. 

"Kiara? Sweetie?" A new woman's voice echos, different from the counselor's. "Can you come out here?" 

Eden doesn't argue, only cringing as she gets onto her aching limbs. She moves to the door, opening it to reveal a woman with curly hair and a bigger frame. The lady looks sweeter than the counselor did, but her lips twist downward in a sympathetic frame. Eden prays the counselor didn't make a big deal and spread the news about her panic attack in the bathroom.

One of her Converse hesitantly makes contact with the deck outside of her cabin, but no one stops her. The fresh air feels nice against her skin.

"I'm sorry, sweetie, but at Kitty Hawk, we feel you have the strength to hear all the news." The lady begins softly, empathy clear in her tone. "Including bad news." 

Eden's brows furrow—wasn't she not supposed to be in contact with the outside world for a month? And besides, she's technically Kiara right now; no bad news can correlate to her real identity, right? "What happened?" 

"Well, your cousin was here a minute ago." 

Eden doesn't have any cousins—both her parents were only children. She knows Kiara has a few, but none were that close; close enough to already know about Kitty Hawk, that is. Already, the Bexley is slightly confused.

"Um, what cousin?"

"A young man, blonde." The woman briefly explains. Eden doesn't recall any cousins of Kiara holding those traits, though she nods along anyway, just in case. "He asked me to tell you that Jack, well, he died." 

The lady's lips tremble as she spills the information. Eden has no fucking clue what she's talking about. 

Jack? Who the hell was Jack?

As far as Eden's aware, there is no Jack present in Kiara's life. She tries to hide the confusion in her mind at the lady, given Kiara would probably be sad if she found out this Jack—whoever they may be—died. 

"Um...." Eden clears her throat, "Jack?"

"Your kitten." The lady nods, tears prickling in her eyes. "He...he drowned, sweetie. Jack drowned."

Kiara didn't have cats of any kind, either.  Eden herself was allergic—her and the Pogues learned that well earlier on in that friendship with a mishap after the Bexley had a full allergic reaction to a kitten being brought to the Chateau. 

Wait.

The woman's words suddenly click together in Eden's mind. Jack drowned.

The Bexley's favorite movie was Titanic. She's seen Jack Dawson drown, on the floating door with Rose DeWitt Bukater at his side, promising she'll never let go. She's seen Jack drown, and he's not a kitten. 

Kiara Carrera wouldn't have any connection to cats whatsoever, but Eden was allergic to them. The name Jack didn't mean shit to Kiara, but it would to Eden because he's the lead in her favorite movie, to which his fate is drowning. 

The only people who would know these things about her and know she was at Kitty Hawk were the Pogues, and only one of them would meet the description of young blonde man. 

Eden almost let out a laugh, though it caught in her throat, emerging as more of a disbelieving gasp. The entire story was a set-up—a message, of kinds. A way for JJ Maybank to get a word in with her without even breaking in. For JJ to let her know he was here.

The woman must misinterpret Eden's gasp of that of grief and shock, because suddenly she's engulfing the Bexley in a solemn—and unexpected, on the Bexley's end— hug. "Oh, come here. It's okay—it's okay, sweetie."

"I can't believe he's gone. And I wasn't even there." Eden says as the woman hugs her, trying to make it believable that her kitten did in fact die. "When—when did this happen, ma'am? I just need to know how long my baby's been gone for."

"We got the news just after you arrived." The woman pulls away, still frowning. "We thought you should know."

JJ had been here recently. Eden nods her head, "Thank you."

"Oh, and your cousin asked if I could give this to you." The Kitty Hawk employee pulls something out of her pocket, handing it over to Eden. The Bexley barely spares a single glance at it before feeling her breath hitch. "They manage to salvage his collar."

In the woman's hands is JJ's bracelet—the very first one Eden had made him, back in the third grade. It's colors were faded and worn with age, and she hasn't seen it off JJ's wrist in years, but it's unmistakable to her eyes. 

Eden takes the bracelet, fingers closing around it as a new sense of hope grows in her chest. JJ knew she was here. 

"You know, uh, I think I'm gonna need some more alone time to process all this." the Bexley shakily exhales, hoping the woman lets her go. 

"Of course, sweetie." The woman lets her go, shooing her back towards the cabin she'd woken up inside of. "Take all the time you need."

Eden walks back inside of her cabin, shutting the door behind her. She hears the click of the lock but instead of feeling scared, she slides down the door to sit on the floor with a small smile on her face. She clutches the bracelet to her chest.

 Maybe she would get out of here. 

After about an hour left in isolation, Eden was relocated to a cabin full of other girls. 

Unlike the one she'd previously been inside of, this one was wide and lined up with bunk beds on each side. None of the girls were nice—they hadn't spoken to her at all since she was introduced as 'Kiara; who was just told tough family news'. 

They all just stared at her bug-eyed, judgmental-eyed. Eden wasn't quite sure what they were judging, given they were all wearing the same outfit. Her hair's probably a little stale, and she doesn't have makeup on. Maybe they didn't like her dirty Converse.

Then again, these girls have all probably been stuck in Kitty Hawk for months and have some little bond happening, and Eden's an intruder. 

Either way, Eden thinks they're being a little bitchy. 

There had been a dinner that Eden had been forced to attend, sitting alone as other girls chatted—she'd rather have starved, the food wasn't great and she hated being alone—but otherwise, the girls were all locked in the cabin by nine o'clock. The sun had set long beforehand. 

Surprisingly, most of the girls did go to sleep. For most of them probably being here for a rebellion move of kids, Eden's surprised they all changed into their pajamas and laid their heads down without complaint. 

The Bexley is unable to sleep; not after finding out that JJ had been to the camp. Her lips were sealed as she listened to the other girls breath and snore, but her mind was wide awake with hope that maybe her friend was here to get her out. That maybe he was coming back.

She doesn't doubt that JJ could break into a camp. She wrote 'Bracelets in Cabin 6' on the wall of her isolated cabin, just in case. Delusional or not, Eden wasn't going to risk the Maybank not finding her.

So, for the past however many hours it's been since lights out, Eden has been sitting cross legged on her bunk, twiddling around with JJ's bracelet around her wrist. The feeling of the rope is soothing against her finger pads, easing any nerves that could show. 

Click. 

Eden quickly looks up from her hands and at the door, which slowly creaks open. There's a slim amount of light that shines into the room before the door closes. A figure creeps in, panting breaking the thick silence that had coated the cabin beforehand.

"Eden?" 

There's no fucking way. 

The figure starts peering into the feet of beds like a creep. Eden sits up straighter, peering open. She can't believe it. 

JJ Maybank broke into Kitty Hawk for her. He was here to get her out.

"Ed'?" JJ whispers, quietly tip-toeing past bunks as he searches for his friend. "Eden?"

A light clicks on and Eden quickly looks across from her, to the bunk closest to the door.  One of the girls sits up right, expression groggy and confused as she stares down and the blonde boy crouched down in front of her bed.

Despite the situation, Eden can't help but smile as the light reflects onto JJ, his familiar messy blonde hair coming into view. He has a bandanna drawn on his face for cover, but she recognizes him nonetheless.

The girl in the bunk looks down at JJ. "What are you doing in here?" 

One by one, all the other girls in the camp start to stir. 

"Hi there. Uh, evening, miss. Uh....sorry. Sorry. Sorry to bother y'all." Beds creak as all girls start to sit up, and JJ suddenly realizes how suspicious he looks, peering into a girls cabin in the dead of night. He didn't mean for them all to get up. "Okay. Hello, everyone. Uh...shit. I know this looks bad—I come in peace. I'm just—"

Eden throws her legs over the bunk. She should be down already, running to her best friend.  God, he looks like an idiot, trying to explain himself—though, JJ always looks like an idiot. 

"Looking for someone?" Eden finishes his sentence, voice slightly shaking. 

JJ turns around, and it feels like a weight has been lifted off his chest when he sees Eden Bexley, legs dangling off a bunk. She offers him a weak smile, reminded of when he was the first one to find her after she got kidnapped by Singh. The same relief settles in her chest.

"Eden..." the Maybank breathes, her name coming out like a prayer. He's staring at her with soft eyes and his hands tug down the bandanna covering his face.

Quickly, the Bexley hops out of her bunk and sprints over to her best friend, throwing her arms around his neck without hesitation.  JJ is ready to catch her, holding her tightly to his figure. Her feet slightly lift from the floor, and a chuckle of disbelief passes his lips. He'd found her. Like he always did. 

 Eden's feet dangle over the wooden flooring as she buries her face in his shoulder. He smells like home. Much better than the clean and sterile aroma Kitty Hawk has. 

JJ laughs softly, the sound full of relief, as he tightens his hold around her. Eden can feel his heartbeat, fast but steady, as he holds her like he's afraid to let go. For a moment, neither of them says anything—just letting the embrace speak for itself.

After a long beat, Eden pulls back just enough to look him in the eyes. "Do I want to know how you did this?" 

"Okay, yeah—it's a long story." JJ replies, briskly. Unsurprising, given he'd broken into a wilderness camp. "No time to explain, though."

"Yeah, we should probably get out of here." Eden doesn't have any items, other than the clothes they took and replaced with Kitty Hawk uniform and the shoes on her feet—there's no reason for them to still be here. Quickly though, she pulls the bracelet from her wrist and hands it over, "I'm assuming you want this back?"

"'Course I do." JJ murmurs, taking back the string jewelry and sliding it back over his wrist. He can't remember the last time he ever took it off until today. "Glad Jack's collar made it to you."

Eden rolls her eyes at the mention of the stupid lie he'd made up to get through to her. "You're actually a dumbass for that."

"It worked, did it not?" 

"Wait, so her name's not Kiara?"

At the sharp voice both teens look up to see one of the Kitty Hawk girls staring down at them, narrowed-eyed and confused. 

JJ casually replies, "Yeah, no. Long story, but this is Eden, and we really gotta go."

"What?"

"Cool, cool," JJ cuts her off, grabbing a hold of Eden's hand and starting to make a run for the door he'd entered in. "Nice to meet y'all. Y'all have a great night now. Don't mind us. Just a rescue mission, nothing to worry about."

Eden suppresses a laugh as she lets JJ guide her out of the cabin. God, she's free.

She can hear the clambering of her fellow roommates as they all press up against the door to watch Eden run away. JJ lets go of her hand and pushes her forward, "To the right! Go, go, go, go!"

The Bexley makes a right, "You got a ride or something?" 

"Couldn't exactly go through the front gate." JJ shrugs, running so he was in front of the Bexley. He made a sharp right, Eden following. "You good?"

"Never better, J." Eden admits, breathless. 

The two teens run right out of the camp, hopping off docks and landing into damp green grass. They sprint through a forest that surrounds the front of the nature camp, feet padding right past the 'Kitty Hawk; Adventure Therapy' sign. 

She's free. 

"Whoo!" JJ cheers, "Go that way!"

Eden follows his lead, smiling despite the burn in her legs. She lifts her hand into the air, raising her middle finger towards the entrance sign. The Bexley doesn't care if it's childish or not because truly she thought she was about to be stuck there under the alias of Kiara for God knows how long. 

"Atta girl," JJ chuckles amusedly, "Wilderness camp." 

"Yeah," Eden replies, a bitter amusement infiltrating her tone. "Wilderness camp... where they shove medication down your throat and lock you up like an animal."

JJ loses the smile etched on his face. "They gave you shit?"

"Uh, yeah?" the Bexley runs a hand through her messy hair as they walk through the forest. There's a clearing up a head, leading to a road—the Bexley's assuming a vehicle is there. "I kinda freaked out when I'd realized what I did, when a lady was going over the rules and told me that  Kiara had some 'oppositional defiance disorder' and that I was gonna be medicated. Had a panic attack and shit. All that fun stuff." She shrugs, "Then when she found me in the bathroom freaking out she just—she gave me something."

JJ narrows his eyes. "What do you mean she gave you something?" 

Eden exhales through her nose, shaking her head. "I don't know, J. I just took it. I wasn't thinking—I wanted to calm down."

The blonde scoffs. "That's not fucking okay," 

Eden shrugs, thinking about a few months back, when her mother drugged her to sleep. "Nothing new." She skips ahead of her best friend out to the clearing. "Where's the car?"

"Eden..." the Maybank begins, but realizes she's clearly finished talking about Kitty Hawk. With a sigh, he admits,  "It's right up here." 

The Bexley climbs up a small incline towards the road, peering her neck out for any sign of a vehicle, or the Twinkie. She's met with the sight of John B.'s busted van a decent way down the road. "Okay, I know there's one way into this place, but that's a little dramatic." 

"People know what the Twinkie looks like." JJ meets her at the road, shrugging. "I thought it would be best to leave it as a decoy."

"Did you leave the rest of the group to go to South America without brain cells 'cause it seems to me you took all of them for the day." 

"Yeah, well—that's a cop. Go." A bright light comes into view, sirens ringing through the quiet night. Eden barely has time to process before JJ's pushing her back down the incline and behind some greenery. "Cop, cop, cop." 

The two crouch down, watching as the cruiser passes right past them.

"That's what the decoy's for." JJ remarks as they stand back up.

"Speaking of South America....how are we getting there, exactly?" Eden asks, as they step back onto the road. "I thought Ward's plane left?"

"We did miss Ward's plane," JJ admits, "But I have another plan."

"What, you got another plane hiding up your ass?" the Bexley doesn't know how else they're getting to another continent if not by plane, and there's no way JJ has his own.

"Come on, man. Where you at, dude?"

Eden guffaws, "Wait, JJ, are you, like serious?" 

"You have got to have more faith in me once and a while, Ed'." JJ says as another pair of headlights comes into view. The blonde waves a hand in the air to signal it closer. "Here he comes—dude, come on!" He checks to make sure the cop is still stuck at the decoy. "Hurry up, man! Come on!"

A small black convertible slides to a stop in front of the two teens, engine revving. The Bexley cranes her neck to look through the dim windows, frowning as a familiar man comes into view. "Is that Barracuda fuckin' Mike?"

JJ grins and swings the car door open, looking way too pleased with himself.  "You remember Barracuda Mike, right, Ed'?"

"Kinda hard not to after what we did, yeah." Eden purses her lips.

"Bus is waitin'. All aboard." Barracuda Mike leans towards the open door, the Maybank climbing in to adjust the seat. He shifts his glance to the Kook standing beside the blonde, "Would you look at that, the princess is back." 

"Sneaking into a wilderness camp was actually easier than expected—Eden, put it down." JJ begins to explain, before noticing the raised middle finger on his best friend's hand. 

Barracuda Mike drawls, "I appreciate that formality. Hop on in there."

JJ backs up, having lifted the back seat for the Bexley to climb into. Eden does as the older man instructs, filing into the small space offered for her in the back. 

"That bars for your safety." Barracuda Mike states.

As Eden sits, JJ crouches in next. "The plane's ready, right?"

"Plane is ready. It's been ready, dude. Let's go."

"Whoo! That's what I'm talking about! I did good—I'm a hustler, baby!"

Mike glances in the rear-view mirror at the Bexley, who's sitting as comfortably as she can. "His ego always this big?"

Eden offers a nod. "Unfortunately." 

"And to think I went to your house and stole you a change of clothes." the Maybank throws the bag that had been slung around his shoulder back to her. It lands with a soft thud as Barracuda Mike speeds off. 

"For me?" the Bexley dramatically guffaws, opening the backpack. She ignores the other items inside, instead feeling around for a pair of clothing—which she finds with ease. 

JJ grins. "Just a little somethin'-somethin'."

Eden continues to feel around—jean shorts, one of John B.'s button downs, a tank top. Her fingers brush over lace and her eyes narrow, "What the fuck—" She snaps her head toward JJ. "Did John B. tell you that was my favorite bra?"

JJ stays unbothered. "I've been your best friend since third grade, I think I know you." 

"You're just creepy, that's what you are." 

"I tried my best to pick out what wasn't burnt in the Chateau, okay?" 

"Well, in that case, you're the best." the Bexley sets the bag down, relaxing in her seat as she hums a familiar phrase. "I love you." 

"Mhm, thank you." 

Barracuda Mike lets out a groan. "Jesus Christ." 

Realizing it was probably better to keep the man who was graciously offering his own plane to them sane, Eden and JJ both stayed quiet. Speeding through the Cut, Barracuda Mike made quick work to get the vehicle to the airstrip—which was really a giant patch of untouched land. 

Sitting in the center of it is a large engine plane, red lights blinking upon it. It looked rather run-down, but then again, it was owned by Barracuda Mike—drug lord of the highest order. Clearly, this plane was merely used for importing and exporting under the radar. 

Smuggled drugs sat in boxes in the back, but Eden decided it was best not to comment this time. Instead, she trudged through the grass with JJ towards the giant plane, engine blurring out the sounds of the night. The propellers blew her hair over her shoulders, chilly against her bare legs.

"Direct flight to South America on Barracuda Airlines. What more could you ask for?" JJ asks, projecting his voice over the sound of the engine. It came into Eden's ears muffled, but she heard well enough.

"There's no turning back now." Eden replies. She has no doubts in mind about hopping on this plane, sketchy and illegal or not. It was for John B, and she'd do anything for him.

JJ stops walking and turns to her at the comment, "You got somewhere else to be?"

Eden could go back home. She could go back to her father, and finally make it up to him by choosing herself over the Pogues. It's an option that would probably do her much better than flying with a drug dealer to another continent to find a man who could be dead.

But, in the last few months of running and mystery, the Pogues have become Eden's everything. They were before, but now, after, the Bexley had thrown away her whole life for the sake of them, they were all she needed and all she had. She didn't know what South America would bring her, but Eden trusted her friends. Together, they were always okay. 

Pogues for Life. That was their motto, and Eden would be damned if she didn't live by it. 

So with an honest smile, the Bexley shakes her head. "Not without you guys." 

"Next stop, El Dorado." the Maybank seems to like that answer, because her pushes her forward with a soft grin. "Let's go."

From the plane, Mike ushers them forward hurriedly. "Come on, let's get the hell out of here! Go, go, go!"

Eden throws her life away and steps onto the plane. The smile doesn't leave her face.

"Going down." Barracuda Mike murmurs, closing the back compartment they were standing inside. Right after does the engine rumble even louder, wheels rolling over the grass as whoever was piloting started.

"Let's go!" JJ has a childish grin. 

Eden lets out a laugh, too. She feels more free than she ever has.

Pogues for fuckin' life. 

mara's misc!

i said i was gonna prewrite and then i found no motivation to write for like two months but FINALLY do i have a chapter for you guys 

this chapter was so hard to push out, i'm not gonna lie. however, now that i've finished my stranger things series until st5, i have no choice but to write for eden. i have plans for the next episode and i STRUGGLED to figure out how to make them work with eden being at kitty hawk and i rewrote this ending about 5 times but i'm just gonna stick to this 

but now i'm onto the finale so..... (#not ready to write for s4!!)

just wanna say i've had the whole jack the kitten idea since this summer and i had to use it and bring back the fact that eden is obsessed with titanic.

this chapter is for mvybanksss (first tag of the new year look at that) to make her feel better, which is why it's legit all jjeden. everyone go spam on tourniquet bc she deserves sm love that isn't just from me (kensie i love you i love you i love you). 

on another note i haven't updated since this but can we all just appreciate the cover potter_spellbook made because OH MY GOD it's been weeks and i'm not over it. 

can't promise when the next chapter is gonna be out but i'll try to write you guys. 

hope you enjoyed <3 see you back with chapter 79!!