Sibling spotlight - billie and Finneas story

What if?

Chapter 66: What If?

The room was silent, save for the soft, rhythmic sound of Y/N’s breathing as she slept between them. Billie and Finneas sat on either side of her, their minds racing with everything that had happened. Y/N had fallen asleep from sheer emotional exhaustion, but her face still bore the signs of her earlier breakdown—tear-streaked cheeks, furrowed brows, and a tension in her small body that wouldn’t seem to let go.

Finneas glanced over at Billie, his expression heavy with worry. “What would’ve happened if we let her go?” His voice was low, careful not to wake Y/N.

Billie’s eyes didn’t leave their sister’s face as she sighed, her thoughts mirroring Finneas’. “I don’t even want to think about it. If she’d left alone, in this state...”

Finneas ran a hand through his hair, exhaling deeply. “It’s like she’s on the edge of something, Billie. She keeps going back and forth—one minute she’s okay, the next she’s falling apart.”

“I know,” Billie whispered, her voice shaky with the weight of their responsibility. “It’s terrifying. We’ve never seen her like this.”

There was a long pause as the two of them sat in the quiet room, watching over their sister, the weight of what could’ve happened settling heavily in their chests. What if they hadn’t stopped her? What if she had walked out the door, broken and vulnerable, alone with the noise in her head and the cruel world waiting outside?

The thought of her out there, without them, scared Finneas more than he wanted to admit. The music industry, the public—the things that once brought her joy had become too much for her to bear. The pressure, the constant scrutiny, the lies and hate... it had all piled up, pushing her to the brink.

“She doesn’t want to be left alone, but at the same time, she’s so afraid of... everything,” Billie continued, her hand resting gently on Y/N’s arm. “I feel like we’re losing her to something we can’t control.”

Finneas shook his head, his jaw clenched. “We won’t lose her. We can’t. But I don’t know how much more of this she can take.”

Billie finally turned her gaze to him, her blue eyes filled with worry. “She’s only 16, Finneas. She shouldn’t have to deal with all of this.”

“I know,” he whispered, his voice thick with emotion. “But we’re here. We have to be.”

The two of them fell silent again, both of them lost in their own thoughts. The gravity of the situation weighed on them more than ever. The “what ifs” haunted them—what if they hadn’t been there to stop her? What if the weight of everything crushed her completely? What if she never found her way back to the music, the thing that once made her so happy?

Finneas reached over and gently squeezed Y/N’s hand. “We have to keep her close, Billie. She’s not okay.”

Billie nodded, blinking back the tears that threatened to spill over. “We will. We’ll keep her safe. But...”

“But we can’t protect her from everything,” Finneas finished her thought, his voice thick with frustration.

They both knew it was true. They could be there for her, hold her when she broke down, and comfort her through the darkest moments, but they couldn’t shield her from the world. The fame, the expectations, the hurt—it was all still out there, waiting for her. And no matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t take it away.

But they could make sure she wasn’t facing it alone.

“We’ll get through this,” Billie said, more to herself than to Finneas. “We just have to.”

Finneas nodded, though the doubt still lingered in his mind. “Yeah. We will.”

For now, all they could do was be there—holding on to their sister and hoping that, together, they could find a way to pull her out of the darkness before it swallowed her whole.