𝟎𝟖𝟎.                                    𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐛𝐲𝐞, 𝐝𝐚𝐝

ain't no sunshine      ────     bill withers

( the end of act three . . . )

☀︎ 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐥𝐲𝐧'𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐯

𝖠𝖭 𝖤𝖷𝖯𝖫𝖮𝖲𝖨𝖮𝖭 𝖲𝖧𝖠𝖪𝖤𝖲 𝖳𝖧𝖤 𝖤𝖭𝖳𝖨𝖱𝖤 𝖨𝖲𝖫𝖠𝖭𝖣．Okay, not really, but I like to be dramatic. I felt it at my feet, meaning the extent of the explosion must've been large── much larger than that of the explosion we created with the dynamite earlier.

We're nearing the tippy top of this mountain where El Dorado supposedly resides, and based off the ricochet at which the ground shook from the explosion, I sense we are much, much closer than we thought. I feel closer to my brother as ridiculous as that sounds, but call it a twin thing. He's close. He's here. He's okay.

Well, actually, he might not be okay because an explosion is never a good thing, not in the grand scheme of things, so I do feel my heart plummet slightly as we quicken our pace up the mountain, machetes in hand.

Yes, JJ handed a machete to me.

I haven't had the chance to use it, but if I catch anybody harming those I love, I will absolutely be slicing a bitch in half.

Minutes later, we find ourselves crouching behind a tree, watching as Ward Cameron points a gun in my family's direction. I had every right to be fearful because here I am, staring at a horrifying picture. My heart is about to plummet under the ground, bury itself in a grave at this point because I feel as if I can't breathe.

I can't lose him. I can't lose John B.

My eyes flit between John B and Dad who I find is clutching his side, and if I'm not mistaken, he's bleeding. He's injured. He needs help, assistance, anything. I need to be there for him. I need to help him. That's what I'm supposed to do as his daughter, right?

I have this intense need to charge forward and check on Dad, to check on John B and Sarah, but I feel a hand on my lower back, forcing me to stay where I am. I snap my head over at my brother, watching as his eyes meet mine. He sees me. He knows I'm here. I'm not going anywhere.

We've come too far for this── for another defeat at the hands of a Cameron. We've lost too much, so I refuse to lose anything else.

"Alright. So, what are we gonna do?"

"Is this ride or die?"

"Isn't it always?" I ask, moving away first, knowing I cannot stand by and watch anyone I love get hurt again.

We each say, "P4L" as we bring ourselves away from the tree, knowing damn well what we've got to do. I even hear Emory utter our saying, meaning she's one of us now for life. She's on our side, she's fighting with us. She knows what to do. She can see who the bad guy is. She knows exactly who we're heading for, we each do.

We charge forward, screaming before Ward gets the wild idea of killing my father once and for all. We catch him by surprise, his attention turning to us instead of my family as we meet the others, our machetes raised and pointed towards him── the villain in our story.

"Put it down!" I yell, finding that I'm the one who's closer than the others, not caring if he takes it upon himself to shoot me. He can go ahead and try. "Put it down, Ward!" My friends yell at him, each contributing in throwing him off, and even though Emory has got little to no clue on who Ward Cameron is, she fights for us.

"Stay back, stay back!" Ward shouts, pointing the gun in every which way, wanting to try and scare each of us off. No, that ain't happening today.

I'm not scared of Ward Cameron, I don't think I ever really was. Sure, he's done unspeakable things, brought terror and pain on my family, but I've never been afraid of him, and I'm not about to back down now. I still have the scar on my hip from where he dragged a hook through my skin, and if that didn't scare me away all those months ago, nothing will.

"You're outnumbered, Ward." I lift my shoulder in a shrug, watching as he directs the gun in my direction. "You can't shoot us all."

"Brooke!" I hear the plead in John B's voice, but Ward doesn't turn away from me. He just keeps staring, my eyes looking at the barrel of his gun, knowing he could end my life in moments.

Just as I slowly begin to accept that I could die at this very moment protecting the people I care about, I feel a presence step in front of me, and then I hear my dad's voice that cuts through all the madness. "If you gotta shoot somebody, Ward, shoot me."

I find JJ to be standing in front of me, my eyes glaring into his back as he doesn't shy away, instead raising his machete higher. He'd do quite literally anything to protect me, even stand in the way of a man who has murdered people just to get what he wants.

Ward's attention is stolen by my father, but John B steps in front, his eyes now staring down the barrel of the gun. My mouth gapes, my eyes bulge, and my body goes into overdrive as he breathes out two terrifying words, "Or me."

"John B!" I yell, already moving to fight when an arm wraps around my wrist, yanking me back. "No!" I fight, trying my best to snatch my arm back from the tight grip that Pope has on me. Sure, it may be insane of me to consider jumping in front of a gun, but I can't lose John B.

He's half of me. He's my best friend. He's my big brother (by two minutes). I don't want to lose him, not now, not ever. I can't lose him.

I watch Ward inch closer, the barrel of the gun mere seconds from touching John B, but Sarah steps forward, stopping her father. "Stop." She moves towards Ward, her chest meeting the gun. His eyes widen, obviously not having expected to see his daughter at the end of his gun.

Sarah isn't afraid, not of her father, not of anyone. She's one of the bravest people I know, that much I can see from how she doesn't coward away, instead stepping up to the man she calls her father. "You're not gonna kill all of us," Sarah speaks, not a single ounce of worry or fear in her voice. "I know you won't. I know you. You forget that I know you."

I take a second to look at my own father, a desperate familial urge to charge forward and soothe the wound that's causing him a great deal of pain. At the end of my day, despite all that's happened, he is the man I call my father much like Ward is who Sarah calls her father.

I think his head turns, eyes meeting mine for a quick moment. I feel the back of my eyes burn, knowing I can't just lunge forward and save him as Ward could attack any of us at any given moment.

I hear a sharp intake of breath nearby which steals my attention, and I look to find Ward's hand shaking as Sarah touches the barrel of the gun, beginning to lower the weapon as her father breaks down before us. "I couldn't," he cries, no longer the man who wanted vengeance on my father a moment ago. "I couldn't do it."

He touches his daughter's face, tears continuing to stream down his face. I let myself lower the machete, subsequently dropping it to the ground as I know Ward cannot use the gun, not anymore. He's holding Sarah. It's going to be okay.

I move, leaving my friends and heading straight for my father.

I make it three steps before I hear a gun cock behind me, causing me to come to a standstill. "Well, I can." I don't recognise that voice, but when I turn around, I suspect he's one of Singh's guards.

My brother reacts quickly, also raising the gun that Sarah just snatched from Ward.

Knowing my brother won't shoot that gun, Singh's guard trains the gun on me, knowing full well that I'm his sister, and knowing John B would drop that gun if it meant saving my life. "Toss it," he demands.

"Take it easy," Dad speaks, forcing the guard to shift the gun to him. I peer at Dad over my shoulder, afraid this is the last time I'll ever look at him. "Your boss is dead. You got no reason to do this."

Singh is dead. He's dead.

"I can think of a few reasons. Toss it!" John B surrenders as the guard flicks the gun between Dad and I. He drops the gun to his feet. "Thought you'd end up with the gold, eh?" He steps towards us, going to collect the gun from the ground, but all I can focus on is the fact that we have the gold.

We have the gold? Singh has been defeated and we got the gold?

"Alright, nobody move." Like we have anywhere to go anyway. "My mate back there is dead. Because of you." The gun cocks again, pointed in Sarah's direction. "You go first."

I look forward, catching eyes that resemble mine in every which way. John B looks just about ready to lunge at the gun to prevent the love of his life from being killed, but we don't prepare for what's coming, none of us do. We don't expect it. How could we?

With a final look to his beloved daughter, Ward charges forward, heading straight for the guard who doesn't hesitate as he shoots once, twice, thrice. With each shot, a gasp catches in my throat as I stare at Ward who pushes through the pain and heads headfirst into the guard.

He tackles him by the waist, knocking himself and the guard down and over the cliff that hangs just behind them. What was once there is no longer there. In seconds, everything just shifted and changed. Ward Cameron has just sacrificed his life for his daughter, and now he lays at the bottom of a cliff. Dead.

Sarah is the first to move, the shock pushing her body to look over the edge of the cliff. John B then moves to join her, his hand reaching out for her. Each of my friends move forward too, including Emory who has only just joined our group and has just watched a man she doesn't know die.

Yeah, welcome to the day in the life of being a freaking Pogue.

I don't move to the edge of the cliff, what I already know being at the bottom, and I instead turn to the man bleeding── my father.

"Dad." I fall to my knees, hands reaching out to touch the wound that bleeds through his lower stomach. His face contorts, the pain eating at him. He was shot, that much I can see, but he's clearly held off for a long time. He's been in so much pain for so long.

"It's okay. It's okay," I say more to myself than him, my hands beginning to press down on the wound.

He winces, body jerking. Shit. I'm making this so much worse. I don't know what to do. "Brookie." My bottom lip trembles, the stinging behind my eyes hurting the more I press down on the gunshot wound. "H-Hey, kid."

"It's gonna be okay, Dad." I look at him, seeing him as I did when I was a kid── when he was a superhero and I looked up to him with such wonderment and admiration. He's still that man. Despite all that's happened, he is still the man I believed to be a superhero when I was a little girl. "It's gonna be okay, Dad, I promise."

His eyes flicker down, a smile tugging at his lips. "Oh, Brookie." With a shaky hand, he lays it over my left one. "Y-You..." He inhales sharply, his gaze meeting mine. "You found it."

"Yeah, I-I just, I..." I shake my head, not knowing what to say right now.

"You look just like her, kid. Beautiful."

I bite down on my lip. "Stop, Dad."

He huffs out a laugh which I know hurts him, but I can always count on my father to make any situation a joke. It's something I do, after all. "Oh, Brookie. I-I──"

"It's okay," I interject, knowing that he shouldn't say too much. "It's going to be okay."

Dad falls back, his eyes beginning to close. "John B!" I scream, looking over my shoulder at my friends who are still gathered around the cliff, staring down at the two bodies. "Guys!"

I take Dad's face in my hands just as I feel John B come to stand behind me. "Dad," I cry, doing my best to pull him up with the help of Pope and JJ. "Dad, it's okay. It's going to be okay."

──────────────────────────

𝖡𝖱𝖨𝖭𝖦𝖨𝖭𝖦 𝖣𝖠𝖣 𝖣𝖮𝖶𝖭 𝖳𝖧𝖤 𝖧𝖨𝖫𝖫 𝖶𝖠𝖲 𝖬𝖴𝖢𝖧 𝖧𝖠𝖱𝖣𝖤𝖱 𝖳𝖧𝖠𝖭 𝖠𝖭𝖸 𝖮𝖥 𝖴𝖲 𝖠𝖭𝖳𝖨𝖢𝖨𝖯𝖠𝖳𝖤𝖣．It was painfully slow, harrowingly nerve racking, and fucking terrifying. We each took it in turns to help him down the hill, but John B and I made sure that at least one of us held Dad at all times.

I did my best to comfort Sarah while we aided Dad in getting down the hill, but I could barely speak, too afraid of my own father's fate to help my own best friend who just suffered a major loss. Thankfully, she had Cleo and Kiara at her side, helping her as she cries over the loss of her father while I try to keep mine alive.

I've lost Dad before. Well, I thought I lost Dad before, but now it could happen all over again. The thought of losing him all over again pains me greatly because despite all the hurt he's brought on me and John B, he's still our father.

Upon reaching the boat, we lay Dad down.

Emory, being the one that barely knows us, decides to steer the boat. John B and I sit on either side of our father, watching as he does his best to keep his eyes open for us. I know he's holding on, trying his best to stay in our view, but he's growing exhausted with every passing second, just about ready to let himself go.

John B takes one hand, I take the other. "You're okay, Dad," John B assures, tears glistening his own eyes. I've since let my tears fall, sobs catching in my throat as I watch my father do his best to hold on for as long as he can.

"It's okay, Dad. You're gonna be okay," I say, a crack ripping through my voice.

"We did it, kids," Dad breathes out, bringing smiles to our faces as we know what we did. After all this time, we finally won at something. "Just like we drew it up." His eyes shift between John B and I, pain adorning his features.

John B sniffles, nodding. "Yeah, we did."

"Bird, Bird, Bird." His mumbles are quiet, almost incoherent but we hear him perfectly, knowing he's whispering John B's nickname. His lidded eyes then greet mine, my nickname falling from his lips like a prayer. "Brookie. Brookie." While his nickname for me has always appeared to be silly and cutesy, I've never loved hearing it more than I do right now.

I may never hear it again.

"Bird." Dad glances at Sarah who sits behind John B, her chin resting on his shoulder as she watches our father attempt to hold on. "You gotta hang on to this one." A smile breaks out across Sarah's tear-stained face as she reaches out to take our father's hand too.

His head tilts, dropping to look over my shoulder where JJ is. His hand is moving up and down my back, soothing me in the best way possible. Dad blinks, attempting to hold JJ's gaze as he speaks slowly. "Y-You look after h-her." I sob, squeezing Dad's hand tightly.

JJ nods nonetheless, overwhelmed as he always looked up to our father. For as long as I've known him, JJ has always taken care of me. He doesn't need reminded by my father, but he listens to a dying's man wish either way, promising to always take care of me no matter what.

"Dad," I cry, holding on tighter to him.

"You know that I wasn't any great shakes as a father." His eyes meet mine, and I've never realised just how similar our eyes are as I've always compared myself to my brother, but never to him. With the way he looks at me, I find a hidden apology tucked behind the brown in his eyes.

"Stop, Dad," I insist, not needing to hear about how he views himself.

"But you kids..." His eyes flicker between me and my brother again. "...you were the best kids any man could hope for." I turn my head away from Dad, my body consumed by fear and upset. JJ's arm slides up my back, squeezing around my shoulders to bring me closer.

I feel him kiss the side of my head, his other hand raising to wipe the tears from my face.

"I want you to know that..."

"You can tell us when we get home, Dad. We're almost there." John B reaches into his bag, pulling out the one thing that Dad waited his entire life to have his hands on. Sarah and John B were victorious this time around in collecting the gold, in winning. "Look, Dad." I look over at my brother, the upset on his face making me cry harder. "We did it. You did it."

John B places the gold against his chest, allowing Dad to free his hand from John B's so he can move his hand over the one thing we never thought we'd ever see in this lifetime. His head tilts, eyes meeting mine, and I know what's coming. I can sense it.

"I'll see you..." He breathes out his final breath. "I'll see you kids at home."

His eyes come to a close, his hand going limp in mine, and I feel my body shake as the one thing I feared comes true right before my eyes. "Dad?" Raising my fingers, I touch his wrist, no longer feeling the beating pulse that's supposed to be there. "Dad?" The crack in John B's voice forces me to then move my hand, bringing it over our Dad's body to take his.

John B's hand latches around mine, his head leaning down to rest against Dad's as he cries. With one hand holding John B's and another holding Dad's, I fall into JJ who allows me to bury my face into his shoulder.

With a final squeeze on Dad's hand, I whisper, "Goodbye, Dad." I love you. I forgive you.

──────────────────────────

❀ soph speaks

well big john is gone but we all knew that would happen, right?

i was going to write the 18 month jump at the end of this chapter but i thought there'd be no point as i'm going to write season four so i'll just mention all the ending of season three in act four if that makes sense

so this is the end of act three!!

thankyou for reading along and supporting,, it's been very fun

i'm terrified to write season four like i've never been more afraid of trying to write it,, but it's gotta be done.

updates on act four may be a little slower as i've, of course, never published it but i'll do my best to update as much as possible.

i won't spoil anything i have planned for season four, but i'd love to hear all your thoughts on what you may like to see,,

(not just about the potential death of jj that i MAY NOT WRITE okay (its not been entirely decided as i have about sixty different endings written as of now))

but if you wanna see anything else in act four,, please share your thoughts, i love when y'all comment, it's amazing

also i just realised that brooke is gonna be an auntie AH

thankyou again!!!