"Six Kildare teens who went missing nearly six weeks ago are now reported alive, safe and back on Kildare Island. And now a live update from the sheriff's department.

"'Yeah, after six weeks, the six teens that had been missing from Kildare County have returns, reunited with their loved ones. We're still waiting for details about their journey, but I'm sure they have quite a tale to tell. Right now, we're just trying to get those kids settles back into school, with their families-'"

"Fuck off," Tyler scoffed, but Elora nudged him to stay quiet.

"'-they've been through a lot.'

"The teens were down in the Carribean with another Kildare teen, Sarah Cameron, the daughter of disgraced real estate magnate, Ward Cameron, who confessed to the murder of Sheriff Peterkin two months ago. All the teens back, safe and sound on Kildare Island, that's about as good as a result as we could hope for."

As the reporter on the radio faded out to a song, Pope turned it off. All of the Pogues but two (John B, obviously, and Cleo, who waa helping the Heywards) were sat up the shed at the Chateau, having their rendezvous and trying to formulate a plan.

"When I went back to Tannyhill, Rafe was on the phone with Ward, and he just kept saying 'my thing, this is my thing'," Sarah explained. "He had to be talking about the cross."

"Absolutely," Pope agreed.

"And he's coming into Wilmington tonight at eight o'clock," Sarah continued. "It's being shipped by train to Raleigh from there, but this is our chance to get it back."

"Yeah, and we need to," Elora agreed.

Pope nodded. "You get any other information?"

"Uh, Sarah got the cargo number," Kie said, picking up a small bit of paper that had it on.

"Okay, well, that's a start," nodded Pope.

"They're definitely fencing that shit off as we speak, so we should probably get a move on," JJ voiced.

"Sarah, you hear from John B?" Tyler asked.

"No," Sarah shook her head. "I mean, he's probably off somewhere with his dad, but the problem is they have the Twinkie."

"Our transportation," Pope sighed, tipping his head back and rolling his eyes. "I could ask Heyward for his truck."

"Uh... don't mean to dredge up the past, but remember what happened last time you did that?" Elora asked.

"Yeah, that's not gonna go well," JJ agreed.

"I know, but we have no other options," Pope announced.

"Well, good luck convincing him," Elora said. "We'll be waiting with a body bag when you need it."

𔓘𔓘𔓘

Surprise, surprise, he hadn't managed to get it.

He had brought Cleo along, though. And Kie had gone to talk to her parents about this, her and JJ arriving back together.

They'd all met back up and were currently on a small cruise boat with a bar and a few other things, trying to find a place they wouldn't be overheard. All seven of them were sat around a table, discussing.

"Honestly, the hardest part is gonna be security," JJ laid out. "So most of the guys are gonna be at the rail yard."

"Right, so, we're gonna need some place to guard it maybe a little futher down the line, like a whistle stop," Pope nodded.

"Yeah," Elora nodded, her eyes unfocused.

"You guys are getting ahead of yourselves as per usual," Cleo told them.

"Well, it's nice to know you're on board with this, Cleo," Elora joked airily.

"What I mean is, we don't have a way to transport the cross," Cleo snapped. "What do you think? On JJ's motorcycle?"

JJ grunted. "That's not my fault."

Sarah, meanwhile, had her eyes focused elsewhere. That was until she drew her head in a second later, putting her hands together and closing her eyes. "Oh my god."

"Oh my god what?" Cleo demanded, as they all looked the way she'd been looking before.

"Is that Topper?"

Elora's eyes widened as she saw the blonde boy, chatting happily to another guy up at the bar, grinning slightly.

"Why... is he everywhere?" Kie demanded.

"Oh hell no," Tyler ducked slightly, his whole body tensing at the sight of his brother.

"Brilliant!" Pope, meanwhile, was grinning as he turned to the others Thornton. "Hey Ty, I know Elle crashed your dad's truck a month ago-"

"-way to throw me in the dust, Pope-"

"-but I can bet Topper has another truck, right? A way to transport the cross," he smirked at Tyler.

"Actually, Pope's right, he does have a rig," nodded JJ, a smile coming to rest on his face.

"What? No!" Tyler hissed.

"I agree," Sarah nodded.

"What's the problem? This is the only way we're gonna get it back," Pope shrugged.

"The problem, Pope, is that I haven't even seen him, let alone spoken to him since we got back!" Tyler snapped. "I can already imagine how that conversation's gonna go. 'Hey Top, so you know how I sneaked out the house one night a month ago and you've not seen me since? Well now I'm back, and I need to borrow your truck because-'"

"Ah, ah, ah," JJ said with a smirk, waggling his finger at him. "We never said you would be the one to convince him."

Tyler frowned slightly, but Elora already knew who he was suggesting be the one to convince him.

"No," Sarah instantly objected.

"Yes," JJ fought back.

"No, absolutely not!"

"Yes, come on," JJ begged. "Sarah, you already got him whipped anyway, alright? So why don't you just take one for the team?"

Sarah frowned. "What would John B say?"

"I think John B will completely understand," Pope shrugged. "Think about the circumstances, it's about treasure."

"We can handle John B," assured Elora.

Kie nodded. "Just try and talk to him."

"Tyler," Sarah turned to the only other person that she thought would help her. "You said it yourself, it's crazy, just- come on, back me up here!"

Elora's eyes flicked to Tyler, who looked very conflicted. His jaw was clenched, his eyes trained on the ground. His arms were folded tight across his chest.

"I don't think he's going to agree," the boy finally said. "And I know him better than any of you. But I also know that he's literally the only option we have to get the cross back, so... I'm sorry, Sarah."

Sarah sighed, resigning to the fact that she was having to do this. However, Elora only had eyes for Tyler, looking at his tenseness, his taut muscles. He didn't seem at all comfortable with this.

And she understood why.

𔓘𔓘𔓘

"Hey," Elora murmured to Tyler as she plonked herself down next to him.

The Pogues were waiting in a small vantage point, watching as Sarah spoke to Topper on the top of the ship. She was going to convince them, they were sure of it.

Tyler, however, had ducked out of watching immediately. He'd been sat down a couple metres away from them all for the past two minutes, not watching as the rest of the Pogues spied upon Sarah and Topper's reunion.

"Hey," he said, his voice slightly choked.

He didn't look at her, so she lifted her hand slowly, touching his chin and turning his head to connect their eyes.

"I said I didn't wanna see my family," he murmured, biting his lip. "And now we're including my brother on our mission."

"We need a way to transport that cross, Ty," Elora said.

"True," nodded Tyler. "And I understand that, that's why I didn't stand in the way, but-"

"Elle, Ty, get over here!" JJ hissed, calling them over. Elora and Tyler jumped up, rushing over as they looked up at Sarah and Topper, who appeared to be arguing.

"This isn't the plan, she's supposed to be getting on his good side-" Pope hissed.

"This might just be her own plan, it's fine!" JJ countered.

"Her own plan? This isn't convincing him!" Kie shouted.

"Alright, fine!" They heard Sarah shout, eyes imploring. "Fine, let's go and talk to him!"

"Alright," they heard Topper agree.

The Pogues all looked at each other in shock.

"He's coming to talk to us-"

Instantly, they all dispersed. Kie and Cleo began to stage a conversation, Pope, JJ and Tyler started talking about the sea, and Elora grabbed one of the abandoned drinks at a nearby table and held it in her hands.

When Sarah and Topper came down the steps, that was what they saw, all six sets of eyes coming to focus on them.

"Guys," Sarah said, her voice sharp and angry, but not directed at them. "Topper says he'll help us with the truck, but he has a condition."

"Hey, Ty," Topper said, his pale eyes locked on his brother's shining ones. "Long time, no see."

Elora's gaze jerked to Tyler. He was standing up, looking angry and hostile and a combination of repulsive and intrigued.

"Heard you've been back a couple days," Topper continued, his own tone thick with sarcasm and spite. "Planning on coming back home, or...?"

"That house isn't my home," Tyler snapped.

Topper chuckled slightly. "You would think that, wouldn't you?"

"I think that cause it's true-"

"Mom's been worried as fuck about you," Topper raised his voice. "She searched everywhere the first week you were gone, I was hard pressed getting any attention from her!"

Tyler faltered slightly, and Elora frowned. Cynthia Thornton had actually... cared about her son? She'd actually searched around for him? That alone made her confused, and Tyler as well.

"I'm not going back," he said simply to his brother. "And mom had no right to be that worried about me."

Topper chuckled slightly, shaking his head. "My condition," he explained. "For helping you with this heirloom. After we're finished, you're coming home with me."

No.

Elora wanted to scream as she watched the look on Tyler's face flicker from shock, to anger, to defeat. She wanted to fight for him, to tell Topper he had no fucking right to suggest that, to tell him that it wasn't happening. But he had to fight his own battles.

Tyler, too, was undergoing immense internal conflict. He didn't know what to do. If he said no, they didn't have a way to transport the cross. If he said yes, he was to be taken back home, put on lockdown for the rest of his life or longer, and taken away from the Pogues.

He looked round at them, then. At Sarah's anger, Kie's shock, JJ's readiness to throw hands, Cleo's pursed lips, Pope's hopelessness. At Elora.

Elora, who was clenching her fists. Elora, who was looking at him with love and fight and bravery within her, wanting him to say no, positively encouraging it.

But he couldn't say no.

"Alright," he said, nodding. "Alright, I'll do it. Get us the truck and take us to Wilmington, be part of our mission and then I'll come home."

"What? No!" Him saying this seemed to light a spark inside Elora. She shot up, shaking her head as she came to stand beside him, looking at Topper with a look reserved for dirt on the bottom of her shoe. "You've got no fucking right to demand that-"

And the other Pogues joined her, shouting and yelling in protest.

"Topper take your head out your ass!"

"Who the hell d'you think you are?"

"Why the fuck are you demanding that Ty leave u-"

"Okay," Topper wasn't looking at any of this, his gaze fixed on his brother. "Okay, I'll help you."

Yet, as Elora's gaze settled on Tyler, and a thousand silent words passed between them, it didn't feel like he was doing them much help at all.

In the next twenty four hours, Tyler was going to be taken from her, and made to face horrors inside his own house.

He wasn't going to be able to come round to the Chateau anymore, to crack jokes with JJ anymore, to turn the jets in the Cat's Ass up way too high, to shotgun a beer whilst standing on the motorcycle.

They were going to lose him.

And to Elora, that was the opposite of help.

𔓘𔓘𔓘

The entire ride up to Wilmington was a complete disaster.

JJ and Kie took the motorcycle, so it was just Sarah and Topper in the front, and Pope, Cleo, Elora and Tyler in the back. All seven of the Pogues were angry as shit at Topper right now, who had developed a quite smug attitude.

However, all that gave way to fear and worry the nearer they got to their destination, and by the time they got to the rail yard he was full on bricking it.

He stayed by the truck as the rest of the Pogues climbed up on top of one of the trains, looking over all the other ones stopped on the tracks. The sky was dark above them, so it wasn't that easy to see, but they could clearly see the shit tonne of vehicles surrounding them.

"Well, there's like a thousand trains here," Sarah announced.

"Well, we know it's car seven hundred and fifty X on the track to Raleigh," Pope said.

"Yeah, so now we just gotta find it," JJ shrugged.

"Talk about a needle in a haystack," Tyler sighed.

Elora glanced at him. He'd been uncharacteristically quiet since he'd agreed to Topper's condition, and whilst she knew it was understandable, it still needled her that he was feeling like this.

"Well, newsflash," Kie told them. "We're not getting out of here unnoticed with a giant cross."

"We won't have to," Elora corrected her. "We'll steal it when the train's futher in the country. Except there's a minor flaw to that-"

"Yeah, how do we stop the train?" Pope finished.

"Exactly," Elora nodded.

"Great," Kie sighed.

JJ, meanwhile, just hummed. "Leave that to me."

"How you gonna do that?" Cleo demanded.

"I got an uncle up in New Bern, right?" JJ began. "When he got tipsy, he'd just throw an old chain across the tracks, just for shits and giggles. And that old little chain would stop all the train traffic in coastal Carolina."

"Well, he sounds like a piece of shit," Elora commented.

"A chain?" Kie frowned.

"He's actually right," Pope explained. "There's a low voltage current that runs across all rail tracks. Throw a chain on it, you close that circuit. It would read as another train. Crossing lights come down."

"And bam, train heist starts," Elora said.

"Exactly," Pope nodded. "Science is actually pretty sound."

"Science, I knew my science," JJ grinned.

"Well, we don't have a chain," Pope pointed out.

"No, but I can bet there's jumper cables in the truck," Tyler muttered. "Would that work?"

"Yeah," nodded Pope.

"What's going on? Are- are we doing this or what?!"

Topper's voice from down below, filled with worry and fright, made Elora's blood boil. She looked down at him, at his raised arms, his wide eyes, his slightly open mouth, and all she felt was spite and anger.

"Alright," Cleo said, causing Elle's gaze to shift back to the group. "You all wait here. Me and Pope will go look for it and send a signal once we find it."

Pope nodded.

"Do we actually have a plan right now?" Sarah asked with a small smile.

"Think we do," JJ joked back.

"Holy shit, we must be maturing," Elora chuckled.

"Don't jinx it whilst we're ahead, come on," Pope said, beckoning Cleo to slip down amongst the rails.

Elora watched as they went, a warm fuzzy feeling filling her heart.

But one look at Tyler, with his clenched jaw and irritated expression, his normally calm blue eyes that seemed on fire right now, shattered that.

Not because she was angry at him, but because he was a reminder of what she was about to lose.

And she fucking hated it.

𔓘𔓘𔓘

"What's taking so long?" Sarah demanded after about five minutes of Pope and Cleo being gone. The five remaining Pogues were crouched low on top of the train they were on, trying to catch another lookout.

"Hey," Elora nudged Tyler, whispering to him. "I know you're angry about going home, but-"

"I'm angry at Topper, not you," he assured her, his eyes soft as they gazed upon her. "And I don't know what's gonna happen after we finish this tonight, but I know that I'm always gonna love you, okay?"

Elora nodded, looking at him with a small smile. "I love you too."

The future was very, very unclear, but it didn't mean she was ever going to give up on Tyler. Didn't matter if she had to wait a lifetime for him, she would do it.

And just as they began to lean in-

"Guys!" Sarah hissed, turning her gaze immediately away from Tyler and towards the other trains, where she saw Pope, climbing up a train compartment. When he got himself rested, he turned and switched his torch on, shaking it slightly.

JJ put his thumbs up as they others watched, Kie saying. "That's it, we're green!"

And that was just as the rails began to screech.

"What's happening?"

They all watched in horror as the train began to move. The train Pope and Cleo were on, no less.

"The fucking train's moving, come on!" Elora shouted, shoving JJ to go. "Let's go! Come on!"

They all hurried as fast as they could to climb down off the train they were on top of, running back to the truck as they heard the horn begin to sound.

"Oh hey, Sarah-" Topper said as they reached him, jumping about in fear.

"Do you have jumper cables?" Sarah interrupted him.

"Here I am involved in illegal activities-"

"Not that illegal-"

"Sarah, I am not even close to being okay with this-"

"Shut the fuck up, Top, and give us the cables," Tyler snapped, striding forwards and wrenching the door open, retrieving them in seconds.

"Jumper cables- what are we doing with those-?"

"Listen to me," Tyler snapped, getting right up in his brother's face. "If you don't wanna go, then that's fine. But could you shut the hell up for a second?"

"Oh, I wanna go, that's for sure Ty-"

"Then cut the fucking bullshit," Elora snapped.

Topper was speechless. "Seriously, Ty? Are you just gonna let your girlfriend speak to me like-?"

"Don't even speak to her," Tyler snapped back, eyes full of fire as he faced the boy he'd known almost his whole life, but was unrecognisable now.

He handed the cables to JJ, who was readying his motorcycle for him and Kie. They were going to stop the train whilst Elora, Sarah, Tyler (and Topper) kept an eye on Pope and Cleo, riding along with the train.

Topper was still ranting and raving, now announcing. "I just wanna make sure that everyone here is okay with ending up in federal prison!"

"If it comes down to it, then yeah, I'll do it for Pope," JJ shot back, him and Kie getting on the motorcycle.

"We all would," Elora snapped, giving a speechless Topper her middle finger before she jumped into the car, Tyler beside her.

As Sarah and Topper jumped in the front, Kie gave them a salute from the back of the motorcycle, and those two sped off. The truck wasn't far behind, Topper driving it because he didn't trust the rest of them.

"You guys are insane," he breathed out as they sped down the road, following the train slowly.

"In case you hadn't noticed, we don't give a flying fuck," Elora snapped back.

"Well, maybe you should!" Topper shouted back in panic. "In case you haven't noticed Elora, you're the only one here that doesn't come from a good family, and-"

"I told you not to speak to her!" Tyler shouted at his brother.

Elora just shook her head, anger coursing through her.

"Slow down, we can't get too near the front," Sarah instructed Topper in the awkward silence that remained.

"You know, I know you've all been on a desert island the past month but I didn't think that made you this crazy," Topper protested as he followed the order.

"Just keep driving," Sarah, who was keen to keep Elora or Tyler (or both) from strangling Topper, said quickly, before either could interject.

Topper nodded, continuing to drive. Tyler, however, didn't stop.

"You know, I never had you down as being this vindictive, Top," he said, crossing his arms.

"Vindictive?" Topper repeated, chuckling. "Tyler, I haven't seen you in a month, and neither has mom!"

"The last time mom saw me she threatened to send me to the fucking mainland!" Tyler exclaimed, anger in every syllable he spoke.

"Because she was worried about the company you were keeping, and frankly, after this, I don't blame her," shrugged Topper.

Tyler shook his head, rolling his eyes.

"You're coming home with me after this, Ty. You promised," Topper reminded him.

"Yeah, I know," Tyler snapped.

When silence overtook the truck again, Sarah gasped slightly, pointing ahead. "Look, it's Pope and Cleo!"

She was right enough. Pope and Cleo only were just visible to them, clinging onto the edge of two carriages, one of which Elora presumed contained the cross.

"Oh my god, oh my god- they're hanging off the train-"

"Topper, shut the hell up!" Elora and Tyler shouted in unison.

"Noo!" Topper protested. "This is crazy, and Tyler, you should be glad you're coming back home after th-"

But even he shut up when the train came to a complete stop right in front of them.

"Stop driving, stop driving!"

Topper listened to Sarah again, pushing the brakes hard as the truck skidded to a stop. Elora bit her lip as she watched from afar, Pope and Cleo jumping off and facing the compartment they had been hanging onto.

The one the cross was in.

And for a second, the end was in sight. They'd stopped the train, they were getting the cross, and they had a way to transport it out of here.

And then an officer walked up to Pope and Cleo, facing them with a torch in hand.

"Shit!" Elora cursed out loud, bringing a hand up to cover her mouth.

"What the hell? I'm turning this car round, I'm turning it- I am not doing this-"

"Turn this car round and I am not going back with you," Tyler hissed.

They all watched, ducked down low in the car, as Pope and Cleo held their hands up, talking to the officer.

Elora was scared. Because if they weren't able to get this cross, and they returned to Kildare empty handed, then Tyler was going back to his family for nothing.

She couldn't let that happen to him. She wouldn't. She didn't want to fail at this, because even if they ended up failing, Topper had still had to help them. So Tyler would still be dragged home.

"Guys, look!"

Tyler's pure sigh of relief at the sight ahead made the tension in Elora's heart immediately ease slightly. More so did the sight of Pope and Cleo hauling the door of one of the train carriages open, no officer in sight.

Holy shit.

"Come on, let's go!" Sarah said, as she, Tyler and Elora opened their doors and hurriedly jumped out.

"How's it looking?" Elora panted as they ran up to Pope and Cleo, who were now inside the compartment, looking around.

"Still searching," Cleo answered.

"Come on," Pope muttered as he held a hand out to Elora to let her climb in, Cleo holding her's out to Sarah before they all helped Tyler in.

"Topper, drive the truck up!" He instructed to his brother once he was inside, gesturing him to come forward. "That's good there," he said once the back of the truck, where they'd put the cross, was in line with the carriage.

Meanwhile, the others were looking around the container, which was dark and full of wooden crates, trying to find the one that contained the cross.

"Hey! This one says Cameron!" Cleo called, causing them all to turn and see a box with CAMERON DEVELOPMEMT inked on the end of it.

"Cameron Development," Pope repeated, his eyes going wide. "This is it, this is the cross, this is it!"

"Hey, what are we doing here?" Topper demanded, jumping out the car.

"We're gonna put this in your truck bed!" Pope informed the boy as they all worked together to begin to drag the crate out.

"No, no, that's gonna scratch the paint-"

"Don't pretend like mom wouldn't spend a shit tonne of money on a paint job after this," Tyler snapped.

"Tyler, this isn't up for negotiation-"

"Just help us spot it!" Sarah begged.

Topper rolled his eyes, opening up the end of the truck and helping them as they began to shove the cross out the container.

"Mom's gonna kill me-" he gritted out as he helped them.

"If you're dragging me home, you'll be the last of her worries," Tyler rolled his eyes.

But just as he said this, Topper became the least of the Pogue's worries. Because in that moment, the power came back on, and the sound of the train's steam began to fill their ears.

"Shit!"

"That can't be good."

"Quick!" Elora yelled, as she and Sarah jumped down, helping Topper lower the massive crate down into the truck bed.

"Don't mess up the cross!" Pope shouted.

"Don't mess up the truck!" Topper countered.

"Does it look like we give a shit about your truck right now?" Elora seethed.

"Come on, come on, come on-" Sarah whispered as they managed to lower it down, dumping it onto the truck bed.

"Stop! Hey, stop!"

And when the officer came running towards them, Elora just knew that they were in for trouble.

"We've gotta go," she said urgently, worry laced in her tone, from where she was crouched next to Cleo, hands on the crate with the cross.

"We gotta go, now!"