Soulbound (Carlos x OC)

Chapter 4, Realization

                                          ***
                               Serenity's POV

     Carlos and I explain everything to everyone as well as we are able, but to be quite honest, we don't entirely know what happened either. It all happened so fast. How long had Jill been against us? Did she lure us here? Was finding Lily all a part of Jill and Jades plan? Christ, this sucks.
     "We're just glad you're okay. Let's get outta here." Claire says.
"I highly doubt Jade and Jill are just gonna let us walk free." Chris tells her.
"What do we do then? They can't have Lily." Claire feels hopeless.
"We'll figure this out. We're all getting out of here. Together." I tell Claire as I place a hand on her shoulder. She looks me in my eyes then pulls me into a hug. It was unexpected, but I hug her back. Then Lily allows herself to join in the hug.
     Once we release the hug, I kneel down and talk to Lily.
"Are you okay?" I ask her.
"I guess so." She replies.
"You are so very brave, Lils. You're the bravest girl I know. I'm sorry you got dragged into this, but I promise you.." I struggle.
"I promise you..I will protect you. No matter what, hun." I finish.
She doesn't say anything, she just hugs me again. I hug her, then stand up to meet the height of all the other adults.
     "So, let's get planning." Chris says. We nod.
After a lot of discussing, disagreeing, and arguing, we finally found a deal we all agreed with. It wasn't going to be easy. Not even close to easy. But, we had to do it. We were going to do this, and we'd all get out of here alive.
We split up once again. Carlos went with Chris, I stuck with Claire and Lily. The three of us roamed the halls together.
"Are you okay? After the..Jill thing." I ask Claire.
She shrugs, "Not exactly. It's definitely a lot to handle, especially on top of everything else we've been putting up with." She replies.
"Listen, it may feel crappy now, but we're gonna figure it out and we'll be okay." I try reassuring her.
She forces a half smile, "Thanks, Serene."
We continue on our way. Claire and I were to hand the kid over. So, we headed to the main area of the whole police department, Jill said we'd meet there once we had a decision.
As we're walking, Lily grasps onto my hand tighter than ever before. I look down and see her already looking up at me.
"You'll be okay, kiddo." I whisper.
She nods.
Once we've all finally reached the main area, we take a seat and wait for Jills arrival.
"You know.. you turned out to be a real great friend." Claire tells me.
"You did too." I reply.
"I wish we would've gotten to know one another soon, under better circumstances and whatnot." She adds.
"At least we've gotten to know each other now. And when we get out of here, we can continue to do so." I say in an attempt to be reassuring without being too corny.
She smiles.
     We begin to hear footsteps approach. Not only was Jill here, but Jade too. Right about now, I wish that bullet I put in her head had killed her. How did she even survive that?
     "Serenity, Littlest Redfield, always a pleasure." Jade greets us as she walks over to us.
"Jade.." I say.
"Have we got our decision?" Jade asks us.
"Can I ask you something first?" Claire asks.
     I look over to Claire with a confused look on my face. We didn't plan for any questions. I'm fine with her asking things, but I hope it isn't something fueled by emotion, because that could blow over our whole plan.
"Go on and ask then." Jade tells her.
"This is for Jill.. not you." Claire clarifies.
"Hurry and ask before I change my mind." Jade demands.
"Jill, honestly.. why would you do this? Your life's work has been against Umbrella, and all that bad shit..so why go and support Jade?" Claire asks.
The question was definitely fueled by Claire's emotion, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious too.
Jill struggled for a bit before Jade spoke up for her.
"She doesn't have time for your idiotic questions." Jade snaps at Claire.
Claire only nods, then shoots Jill a sincere look. Jill looks away.
"Have we got our decision or not?" Jade asks once more.
"You can have the kid.." I say.
"Wait..what?!" Lily shrieks.
I looked down at Lily. Honestly, she felt like a little sister to me, maybe even a daughter. Seeing the horror on her face when I said that truly hurt my own heart. The sense of betrayal in her eyes.
"I'm sorry, Lils." I told her.
She didn't say anything.
Jade began walking over to where we all stood. She looked down at Lily, then at me.
"I knew you'd come to your senses." She said with a sinister smile before she knelt down and tucked Lily's hair behind her ear, then took her hand.
Jade began walking away with Lily. Lily looked back at me until they were out of view. Jill slowly trailed behind them.
We waited a few seconds, hoping to hear the sounds of chaos. That sound was mine and Claire's cue to run over where everyone was. But the sounds of chaos never came.
"Serenity!!" Carlos called as he ran to me, then hugged me. Chris was with him.
"Let's get out of here." Carlos says as he releases me from the hug.
Huh!?
"What do you mean get outta here? What about Lily.. and the plan?" I ask.
"There's no way that plan would've worked. We just wanna get you and Claire out of here." Carlos explains.
"You.. intentionally didn't follow through with our plan?!" I shouted at him.
"Listen.. Serene, they won't hurt the kid.. she probably just has information they need. They'll get it and let her go. But you.. Jade won't hesitate to hurt you, and you know that's true." Carlos attempts to explain.
"Fuck you, both of you. Chris, you should've stopped him." I scolded them.
"I want you and my sister to be safe." Chris replied.
I was shocked. How could he so carelessly disregard our plan? It would've worked. We could've left with Lily.
"It's already done. Let's just go—" Carlos begins.
"No! You didn't see the look on Lily's face. She felt betrayed. It was plain to see. This must be terrifying for her! She's just a kid." I shout at Carlos.
"Hey..Serenity— I'm sorry.." Carlos apologizes.
"Yeah.. I am too." I reply, then walk away.
Claire looked to me, then back at Chris and Carlos. She shot them a dirty look, as if asking what's wrong with them only using her facial expressions. After she shot them the look, she chased after me.
Once she caught up to me, she put a hand on my shoulder to stop me from walking further.
"Listen, Serenity.. I know, that was an asshole move of them, but they had your safety in mind." Claire tries telling me.
I knew she was right. I knew Carlos did it because he couldn't handle losing me. And because he wanted me to get out and be safe. But we had a plan, and he went against it without even saying anything. He expected me to just leave Lily behind. Lily adores him, how could he just discard that.. she's such a sweet girl..
"I'm not leaving without Lily." I say.
"Then let's get her. I wanna help." Claire suggests.
"I couldn't ask you to stay back with me." I tell her.
"You're not asking me. Plus, I'm not losing another friend tonight." She says then follows with an awkward laugh.
"What about Chris and Carlos?" I ask.
"Well.. I know Carlos isn't gonna leave without you, and Chris won't go without me, so they've got no choice but to help." Claire explains.
Claire's a really good friend. I appreciate this more than she could ever begin to imagine.
"Let's go tell them we're getting Lily back, then." I tell her.
She nods and begins leading the way back to where we left Chris and Carlos.
I felt bad for dragging the guys into helping us, but that only lasted a second, because if they would have followed through with the original plan, we'd already be leaving.
Once we got back to the guys, Carlos and I didnt speak. I shot a few looks his way, but he avoided eye contact with me.
"We aren't leaving without the kid." Claire tells Chris.
"Well, I won't go without you. You know that." Chris replies.
Claire nods.
"Carlos?.." Claire asks.
Carlos looks up.
"You gonna help?" Claire asks.
Carlos finally looked over at me. He had his answer almost immediately after we locked eyes.
"I'm in.." He says.
"Alright. Let's split up. Me and Chris, Serenity and Carlos." Claire suggests.
I sigh, and Carlos doesn't say anything, but it's probably best we stau together. We know how to work together.. well, for the most part.
We all agree on splitting up and going up opposite stairways of the police station. We'd find them quicker that way. Once we found them, we'd call for the others and hope they hear. If we didn't find anyone within an hour, we were to meet back at the main area and come up with a new plan to get Lily back.
Carlos and I started walking in the direction we were supposed to explore. Neither of us spoke. We searched in complete silence. Finally, Carlos spoke.
"So are we.. done?" He asks.
"Where'd you get that idea?" I seem confused.
"You said you were sorry too- that just kinda seemed like- doesn't matter." He cuts himself off.
"I was just upset. Can't say I'm any less upset now. But I don't want things to end." I tell him.
"I'm really sorry, I thought it'd be for the best." He apologizes.
"I know you did." I say in response.
     We continue walking awhile longer, but we were out of luck. We didn't find anyone or anything.