Golden Heart

(29) How it would end

Warning: Mature Content for themes around self-harm, violence, strong language, drugs, alcohol and sex will be mentioned in the story.

Golden Heart

Everyone was gathered in the living room, every single one of them either standing or sitting. Even the maids had come to see what was going on, had come to listen to their plan. The plan that they still hadn't figured out. All around were worried faces, fear, fear like a knife in their guts that was slowly being twisted. Some were standing quietly, trying to hide themselves, others were determined, strong enough to push away the fear. And Alice? Well, she was standing in a corner, trying to go unnoticed and hide herself in the shadows. And it seemed to work for a while. They were talking quietly, exchanging a few words, mostly trying to think of what to do next. But what really was there to do? They had to wait. Wait and see. Because if Brooks came they'd have to fight, and there was nothing that could prepare themselves for that. Nothing could really prepare them for Brooks, he was full of surprises. 

Alice wasn't going to ask any more people to fight for her. She had started this. Too many people had been dragged into this already. No more would risk their lives. She wasn't going to let that happen. The scared faces of the maids made her feel even more guilty, she couldn't believe all of this was really happening. Now that she was here, basically alone with her thoughts, it all seemed to surreal. Three weeks had past, three weeks that had felt like three months. And it had all let up to this one moment, this final moment. 

"How long do you think we'll have to wait?" Gwynn asked Miles who was standing leaning against the wall. He seemed tired, dark rings were under his eyes. She couldn't believe how happy she had been this morning, now all the happiness had been drained out of her, replaced by the ever growing fear and anger at herself. This morning's happiness was long gone. She wasn't sure if she was ever going to feel that happiness again. 

"I'm not sure," Miles admitted. All their eyes were on him. On Miles. He was like their leader, the one guy that knew Brooks the best. And still he had no plan. It didn't look very good for them. "It takes about 45 minutes to get here. If that was really one of Brooks men out there they probably started searching outside of town. I don't think Brooks helped searching though, he always lets other people do the hard work. Which means that maybe in an hour or two he'd be here. Maybe less."

"One or two hours," Kylo mumbled. "What can we do?"

"We'll wait," Miles said. "We prepared ourselves a little. We're outnumber but...we have to try. It's our only chance."

"I can help," Alice heard a voice between all the people in the living room, a red head sticking out from the "crowd". And it didn't take Alice long to understand who the voice belonged to. Jocelyn came stepping forward, her raid hair now hanging down over her shoulders. She seemed determined, like she wasn't the least bit scared. Did she even know in what kind of danger they were in?

"No!" Alice quickly said, coming out of the shadows, despite feeling like she had no say in this. Not after she had messed this up and put them all in danger again. But she couldn't let any more people get dragged into this. "You're not going to fight, I won't let that happen. Enough people have risked their lives for my mistake."

"We could use all the help we can get," Kylo said and it made her want to scream at his face for even saying that. He knew they could all die and he still wanted Jocelyn to join? Was he crazy? How could he be so selfish? He of all people. 

"No, I don't want it," she said. "She can live, she can leave now, all of them, and she can have a beautiful life. But if she joins us, there's no guarantee she's going to survive."