"Hold it right there!"

"Cops! Come on!"

They all sprang into action. Elora and Tyler rammed into the back of the truck whilst Sarah and Topper went in the front, all with their windows rolled down as Pope and Cleo sat in the back with the cross.

"Punch it, Chewie!" Pope screamed, banging on the top of the truck.

"Go! GO!" Sarah yelled at Topper.

He slammed his foot down on the accelerator, yelling. "Sarah, how the hell can you live like this?! You come from a good family! You too, Ty!"

"If you're talking about our family, Topper, then you're the insane o-"

"Just DRIVE!" Sarah cut Tyler off, screaming at Topper as she looked behind them to check nobody was following.

But somebody was.

A police car. Lights on. Sirens blaring.

"Fuck!"

"Go faster, Top!"

Topper, despite much doubt, went faster, and they went skidding off the dirt path near the tracks and back onto the road.

"We got somebody on us," Topper informed them, Elora craning her neck behind them to see if it was the police car, which she thought they'd lost.

But it wasn't. It was a red motorcycle, speeding along behind them, with two people on the back of it.

"That's JJ and Kie," she breathed.

But behind them, around twenty metres back, was the cops.

And JJ, it seemed, was on a mission to get away from them as he revved the engine even further, trying to draw even with the truck.

"What's he doing?" Topper spluttered, as Elora's heart hammered against her ribs and she looked from JJ and Kie to Pope and Cleo in the back, starting to realise- "What is he doing?!"

"I don't know," Tyler shook his head.

"TOP, KEEP GOING STRAIGHT!" JJ bellowed, his voice reaching them through the open window.

"He's ditching Kie," Elora breathed, eyes going wide as she realised what JJ was attempting to do. Have Kie jump off the motorcycle and into the back with Pope and Cleo.

"Topper, hold it steady!" Sarah yelled, as she caught on as well.

"I'm trying!" Topper shouted.

"Try harder!" Tyler replied, his eyes trained on the motorcycle.

"Get ready to jump!" JJ was shouting to Kie.

"What?!" The brunette screamed.

"What?!" Pope echoed.

"Have you lost your mind?!" Kie demanded.

"Probably! Get ready to jump!"

Elora watched, her heart in her throat as Pope held his arms out, ready to catch the girl.

"Kie, what are you doing?" Sarah screamed, as she began to stand up-

"Kie, watch out!"

In a flash, Kie had jumped from the back of the motorcycle to the back of the truck, being caught by Pope and Cleo as the cops really started to close in.

"Oh sh-" Topper burst out in shock as he looked in the mirror with wide eyes. "Did she make it?"

"Do you think we'd be fucking driving if she didn't?" Elora yelled, just completely and utterly pissed off at Top now.

JJ, meanwhile, was falling back behind them again, now Kie was off the bike. Elora watched him fall back with a horrified expression, because if there was one thing she knew about JJ, it was that he often was very... reckless, when he was alone.

"KIE, ARE YOU OKAY?!" The redhead yelled from inside the truck.

"FINE!" Kie yelled back.

But JJ wasn't.

In fact, when they looked back, he was stopped right in the middle of the road.

"Shit-"

"What's he gonna do?" Cleo shouted.

"I don't know," Pope replied. "I don't think he knows, either."

JJ looked the picture of casual as he chilled out on the dormant motorcycle, as if a cop car wasn't hurtling towards him. He shrugged slightly as he picked up a rock on the road, holding it in his hand.

"He's trying to get killed," Kie whispered.

"Okay, maybe he's just trying to get rid of the cops," shrugged Topper.

"You don't know him, Topper!" Tyler clapped back.

And that was evident in the way that JJ rode straight towards the cops, getting faster and faster the closer he got. When he was about ten metres away he chucked the rock at the car, shattering the front window as he rode past them, getting further and further away.

The cop car didn't take that lying down, turning round and setting course for him instead.

"He did it! They're chasing him!" Topper shouted excitedly.

"You fucking assh-" Elora started, before getting interrupted by Kie's loud gasp.

"Oh, shit."

"Topper, stop! Stop the truck!" Tyler roared.

"Oh my god, I'm not stopping the truck, Ty-"

"STOP THE FUCKING TRUCK-"

"HEY! STOP THE TRUCK!"

"TOPPER, STOP IT!"

"We're going to get JJ!" Sarah shouted decisively, facing Topper.

"Topper turn around!" Elora yelled.

"I'm not going to jail for y'all, no chance-"

"STOP THE TRUCK, PLEASE-"

"Alright, alright! Goddammit, alright!"

He stopped at a three way turn, Elora about two seconds from fucking strangling him as Pope shouted. "Turn around!"

"I'm not going- I'm not going to jail-"

"Topper, look at me," Sarah placed a hand on his shoulder as his eyes met hers. "They're gonna arrest him. We can't leave him behind."

"Get back on the road, Topper, or I swear to god-" Tyler started.

"Fine!" Topper yelled, turning the truck round.

"If I wasn't sitting here I would've punched you by now," Elora snapped, as they got back to driving.

"Go faster!" Sarah shouted agitatedly as they got back onto the road with the police car, seeing JJ less than ten metres in front of it. "Go faster, you need to go faster!"

"Move it!" Kie shouted, banging on the truck.

Topper chuckled sarcastically. "Risking my whole life for this shit-"

"He's our fucking best friend, Topper!" Tyler shouted sharply. "Maybe you'll understand what that means someday!"

Elora would've laughed if the situation wasn't so dire.

"Turn left!" Pope commanded as they came to a crossroads.

"No, I'm not-"

"Go! Yes, yes Topper, go-"

"No, I'm getting outta here!"

"NO, Topper-!"

Elora watched in horror as Tyler lunged forwards, wrenching his hands over to the steering wheel and jerking it left sharply.

"Tyler, stop!" Topper yelled in shock as he shoved his brother off, but Tyler was stewing, panting harshly, and didn't pay attention.

"There he is!" Pope shouted, as they came onto a road that ran parallel to the one JJ was on, watching as he continued to race away from the cop car.

"What is he doing?" Topper demanded.

Nobody answered him, their eyes all locked on JJ.

"Turn right!" Pope shouted as they got to the end of their road, Topper obeying him without complaint this time.

However, as they turned, they lost JJ, not being able to see him for a second.

Then they saw him. The familiar flash of red on the motorcycle. The lights and siren on the cop car.

All happening above them.

"No way, he's up on the overpass," Sarah breathed, the whole group tensed in not only anger, but fear. Because JJ with the Pogues was reckless, sure, but JJ without the Pogues was a thousand times more so.

And that was proven a second later.

As a section of the concrete barrier of the overpass practically exploded, raining rubble and dust on the truck.

As a red motorcycle followed it, falling right down to the side of the road, crashing onto the ground with a loud sound that echoed in all their ears.

Topper skidded to a stop as the nightmare played out.

"Pope, go!" Kiara yelled, as the three in the back of the truck climbed out.

Elora was already opened her door, tears coming to her eyes as they all ran over to where the fallen motorcycle was, looking at it in shock and horror.

"Jayj," Kiara gasped, her chest heaving. "JAYJ! Jayj, where is he?!"

"No..." Elora was shaking her head, a tear falling down her face.

They couldn't lose JJ. He was the most loyal, most energetic, most worthy Pogue ever. He was the definition of a Pogue. And he was g-

"No, no, no, no, no!"

"Shit!"

"JJ! Jayj?"

"Where is he...?" Kie was kneeling down beside the crashed motorcycle, her hands in her hair, her teary eyes shut tight. Elle was right next to her, shaking her head.

"Maybe he's up on the bridge," Tyler suggested weakly.

Kie was sobbing, panting, struggling to breathe.

Elle was feeling the same.

"I wish I could say I did that on purpose... but that was the gnarliest power slide I've ever done."

Elora was in shock as she turned and saw JJ, not a scratch on him, looking up at the overpass and then back at them.

"You're alive!" Pope shouted in glee, rushing forward and almost knocking JJ off his feet with the force of his hug.

"I know, I'm surprised too," JJ chuckled slightly as Pope whooped into his neck.

"Oh shit, that was gnarly!" Topper yelled, until Tyler hit him in the chest, moving forward himself.

"We thought we lost you there," he said, hugging the boy tight as Pope let go.

"Nah, you didn't get that lucky, Ty," JJ joked.

"Don't even- you fucking asshole!" Elora yelled, running in after her boyfriend and hugging the boy as tight as possible. "You- you absolute-"

"Yeah, I've heard it all before, Elle," JJ smiled into her.

Elora just held him for a second, absolutely shocked at the fact that he was here, and he was unharmed. He wasn't dead, he hadn't broken anything, he was completely fine.

Sarah had her own approach, absolutely shoving the shit out the blonde boy before hugging him tightly, whispering. "We really thought you did it this time, Jayj."

JJ nodded into her, sighing slightly.

"The pleasantries are nice, but we should really get outta here!" Pope said hurriedly, casting a gaze up to the cop cars that were still up on the overpass.

"Yeah," Sarah agreed as they all moved towards the cars.

But there was one person who hadn't said anything to JJ yet. One person who meant just a little bit more.

And Elora couldn't help but watch as Kie moved slightly closer, whispering. "Don't... don't ever do that again."

She did know what had taken place between JJ and Kie that night, or what had been said, but she did know that something had. It was in the way they looked at each other, in the way they would do anything for each other.

"Hey! Hey, you kids, don't move!"

"Go! Go, go, go!"

"Stay right there! I said stay right there!"

As an officer up on the overpass spotted them, the teens all rammed themselves back into the car, sitting and lying on each other to make it work.

"Go, go, GO!"

Topper sped off, taking them off that road and along another one, going faster than they probably could given that the cross was bouncing about in the back with nobody to protect it.

"Shit, they definitely called it in!" Topper worried.

"Top, turn here!" JJ instructed as they came to a left turn, leaning forward to try and guide Topper like Tyler did before.

"Hey, don't touch the driver man-"

"Topper, just turn here-"

"Don't-"

"He said don't touch the driver!" Sarah snapped, slapping JJ's hand away.

"Then go faster!" Cleo yelled.

"If I go faster, it's gonna draw their attention-"

"Well done, Top," Tyler applauded. "Finally got the hang of this heist thing."

"Shut the hell up, T-"

"I feel like that ship has sailed at this point-"

"You guys are a nightmare," Topper stated. "Do you argue about everything?"

"Only when you're in the car, now go FASTER!" Elora yelled.

"Maybe put it a little bit, you're going sixty five!"

"Alright, alright, screw it! Here we go!"

"There you go! That's what I'm talking about!" JJ hollered as Topper sped down the road faster and faster, obeying their wishes and getting them outta ther-

CRASH!

"Shit! Stop the car, stop the car! We lost the cross!"

"Great work, Topper-"

"Well, you guys told me to go faster!"

"Stop the fucking truck, bro!"

The tires screeched heavily on the road as the car came to a stop, and all the Pogues inside jumped out of it to see the crate with the cross in it lying on the road, having fallen out of the truck bed.

Pope got to it first, shoving open the crate lid. Elora ran behind him, expecting to be enamoured, expecting to see gold and jewels and crystal and-

And nothing.

Because there was no Cross of Santo Domingo inside the crate.

There was simply four tires, stuffed with concrete.

"What is this shit?" Elora uttered.

"What the hell?" Kie demanded.

"Shit," Pope cursed under his breath, his whole demeanour collapsing. "It's fake."

And as all the Pogues gathered round him, each and every single one of the deflated.

Tears came to Elora's eyes as she realised that everything they had just been through; the truck, the heist, the police chase, the bike crash... it was all for nothing.

And then it hit her. Tyler was being taken away from her for nothing too.

"No..." she whispered, shaking her head as a hand came up to cover her mouth. "No..."

Pope knelt down beside the crate, a look of confusion and anger and sadness and defeat on his face.

"It's all freaking fake."

"Of course we did, of course we stole a fake," JJ shook his head.

"Shit," Tyler gritted out.

"Pope, I'm so sorry," Sarah murmured.

JJ came up behind the boy, and put a hand on his shoulder, trying to reassure him. The sirens started up again in the background, but none of them cared.

Well, apart from Topper.

"Y'all hear that? Okay, I can't be here," he said.

The Pogues all looked at him in shock.

"Do you think we care?" Tyler demanded, his voice raising as he marched up to him. "Does it look like we give a SHIT RIGHT NO-"

"TYLER!"

"TY, STOP!"

Both Sarah and Elora cried out as they watched Tyler shove his brother as hard as e could, sending Topper stumbling backwards.

When he regained his footing he just shook his head, chuckling slightly. "Our grandfather's a judge, Ty! How can you live like this?"

"Shut the fuck up," Tyler snapped.

Topper shook his head. "Get in the car, Ty. I'm taking you home."

Elora looked despetately at Tyler, who was absolutely defeated, tears forming in her eyes. She wanted to tell Topper this wasn't fair, that because they hadn't achieved anything he couldn't do this, but deep down, she knew he could.

"Pope, we gotta go," she said, averting her gaze from her boyfriend and instead fixing it on Pope, who was still kneeling beside the worthless crate.

He moved slowly, way behind the others as they all barrelled into the truck again, more defeated than the rest of them, because he had lost more.

But Elora had lost too.

And right now, sitting in the back of the godforsaken truck with Tyler's leg pressed up against hers, his jaw clenched and eyes sparkling with anger, she realised just how much she'd lost.

"It's okay," she whispered to him, turning his face round to look at her in the darkness. "It'll be okay."

Tyler nodded slightly, tears filling his own eyes as he whispered his reply. "I love you."

Elora bit her lip, because it may be the last time she heard that in a while.

She didn't know what was waiting for them when they got back to OBX.

But she knew it couldn't be good.

𔓘𔓘𔓘

At least they got a goodbye.

When they got back to Kildare, Topper drove  straight back to Figure Eight, and to the Thornton house, making them all walk back to the Chateau, which they had independently decided to stay at.

The sun was rising due to the long drive, and people would be waking soon, which meant they had to get the fuck out of Figure Eight as soon as possible.

"Come on, Ty," Topper muttered as soon as they got out, as Tyler stood, facing the Pogues.

He wasn't going to fight this. But he also wasn't going without a proper goodbye.

"Come on, don't look like that," JJ joked lightly as he hugged the boy tight, pulling back and doing the Pogue handshake with him. "You'll be outta there and back to us in no time."

Tyler sighed. "I hope so."

"Nah, ain't no hope about it," smiled Kie, getting in with her own hug. "You're a Pogue, Ty. Through and through."

"Thanks, Kie," Tyler chuckled slightly.

"Be safe, please," Sarah said on her turn.

"Of course I will," the boy chuckled. "I'm not that reckless, Sare."

The girl chuckled slightly. "Could've fooled me.'

When Pope got in for his embrace, he wasn't loud like the others, but quiet and careful. He was still torn up about the cross, but he wasn't about to let Tyler go without a farewell.

"Don't become a Kook again, please," he begged in a whisper, squeezing Tyler tightly.

The boy just chuckled. "I couldn't be one if I tried, Pope," he said lightly, before becoming solemn again. "And I'm sorry. About the cross."

Pope pulled back, shaking his head. "It isn't your fault."

Tyler's lips twitched.

"See ya later, blondie," Cleo said, hi fiving Tyler and using the nickname she'd formed on Poguelandia.

Tyler laughed. "You too, Cleo."

As they all stood back and looked round at him, Topper rolling his eyes from beside the truck, he said. "Tell John B I'm happy for him, alright? For finding his dad."

"We will," Sarah promised with a small smile.

And then it was only Elle that had to say goodbye.

The others gave them space, waiting at the end of the drive as the girl said goodbye.

"I'm gonna miss you so much," she said, tears blinding her vision slightly as they crashed into a hug, him holding her body tightly and her wrapping her arms around him.

"Me too," Tyler chuckled slightly, his own tears overtaking. "But listen to me, okay?" He said, breaking their embrace slightly so he could look at her. "Listen to me, Elle, it's gonna be fine. I'm gonna be out of here in no time, okay?"

Elora nodded up at him, swallowing the lump in her throat and trying to stop crying.

"Yeah," she nodded slightly, holding eye contact.

And as he looked from her eyes to her lips and she did the same, he knew it was time.

Their lips met in a flurry of salt and dryness, but neither cared as they kissed, holding onto each other tightly, not wanting to let go.

"Tyler."

Topper's voice ruined it, and they pulled apart. The blonde's brother was waiting for him at the top of the steps, his arms crossed, an impatient look on his face.

Tyler rolled his eyes, turning back to Elora. "See you later?"

Elle nodded, biting her lip. "See you later."

And as he headed off up the steps, giving her one last glance at the top of them, she tried not to feel all the regret in the world as it snuck up on her.

But she did know that she'd love him forever.

And she really, really hoped he knew that too.

𔓘𔓘𔓘

The reunion was inevitable.

"John B!"

It was the first time the majority of them had seen JB since he ran off the catty, so they were understandably to see him.

But it didn't feel the same without Tyler.

And then Big John revealed himself, and then Pogues were ecstatic.

"Look at you, big man! Look at you!" Pope burst out, hugging the man tightly as John B went to get some beer.

Elora chuckled slightly as she watched JJ jump on the man's back, ruffling his hair up as Big John spun him round and round, laughing loudly.

She got in herself, of course, yelling. "You asshole, we thought you were dead!"

Big John just chuckled slightly, embracing the girl. "I couldn't've expected a warmer welcome, Elora."

The redhead grinned as she broke the embrace, turning to John B and saying. "Are you just gonna let this asshole yet away with this? I mean-"

"Elle."

The smile vanished off her face as she turned to John B, who had said her name, and saw the way he was looking at her.

She looked at him, frowning slightly, and asked. "What?"

John B looked at her, his heart beating out his chest. "Listen to me, when I went to go find my dad, he wasn't the only one I found in the church, there was also someone else and she-"

"Ellie!"

All at once, every single Pogue went completely still, and silent.

Elora froze, feet rooted to the ground as a redheaded woman gasped, hand covering her mouth as she walked out the Chateau.

She didn't know what to do. She didn't know what to say. Her insides felt like mush and her body didn't feel like her own.

Her heart was beating at a billion miles per hour and she could feel the bile rising up in his throat.

Because she was here.

She was back, actually.

Her mother.