✯ North Star ✯

Part 35

As we run I thought I saw kie or someone run by.
"John b this way!" I yell taking off towards where there was cover and where I think I saw kie. After a couple more seconds of running I realized I didn't see John b behind me or kie anywhere.
"Shit" I mumble trying to find where to go now

"John b! Hey!" I yell trying to find someone but then someone from behind grabs me and puts a knife to my throat
"Shh. Quite quite. You should've saved me when you could" he mumbles and I realized it was Groff
"Hey! Help! John b! Jj!" I manage to yell out
"Ella!" I hear jj yell
He runs through the door and closes it behind him

"Jj!" Groff says
"J!" I yell
"You let her go!" Jj yells running up but I saw him holding something wrapped up. He found the crown.
"Stop right there! Don't move" Groff tells him holding the knife closer to my neck
"Shh. You know what I want. Give it to me" Groff tells him
"Just let her go" jj tells him
"You could've stuck with me jj. You both could've! Think what we could've had together. But now you, you're gonna get nothing. Nothing." Groff says
"No. I already have everything. And I have everything I've ever wanted, things you'll never have. Like a true family. She's my true family, something you'll never be. You want the crown? Sure take it. Take it I don't want it. Just let her go." Jj tells him
"Perfect hold it out" Groff says reaching for it
"Take it. Easy." Jj says
"Hold it out come on" Groff says
"You see" jj mumbles as Groff grabs the crown and jj grabs my arm and pulls me towards him
"I got you." He tells me and I quickly give him a tight hug
"It's ok" jj tells me
"Thank you" I mumble

"Jj" I hear Groff say and jj turns around
"It's...it's a shame. You and me." Groff tells him
And then he did something I thought he never would. He stabbed jj in the side. I stood there in shock, I tried to move my body but I couldn't feel anything.
"You should have given me the rope" Groff tells him then takes the knife out

I quickly grab jj helping him down. Groff looks at me almost as if he's deciding if he should try to kill me or not. His head snapped to the side as if he thought he heard something. Then he took off running.

I quickly turn back to jj, kneeling beside him.
"Hey hey no no no no. It's ok it's ok." I mumble
"Hey jj, hey look at me look at me. It's ok you're gonna be ok. I'm gonna- I'm gonna save you this time ok?" I tell him
I look at the wound and I try to push down on it with my hands to stop the bleeding.

"Hey don't-don't move. I promise- I promise I'm gonna save you ok? You saved me I save you right? That's how we do it ok" I tell him
"Hey" jj try's to say
"No no don't move don't move" I tell him
"Hey hey" jj says
"No it's ok it's ok. You're gonna be ok. I'm gonna help you. I have to." I tell him still trying to stop the bleeding
"Hey hey hey. I said I have everything I wanted" he tells me
"No no jj it's ok" I tell him
"I have my best friends, kie. And you, you're my family El" jj tells me
"Jj" I say as tears fall down my face
"I have everything I wanted" he says again
"Jj please no please. I'll save you you're ok. Jj please. I can't lose someone else, I can't lose family. Please jj I need you. Stay with me stay with me" I cry
"Take care of the others. Take care of yourself" he tells me
"No no it's not what this is" I mumble

"I love you Ella" he tells me
"I love you too jj" I cry

I see a faint smile on his face before his eyes close. And his head slowly falls to the side.
"No. No please no. Jj! Jj please!" I yell holding his head up

"John b! John b! Kie! No! No! Jj no" I scream laying my head on his shoulder

"So I know I said it before but, fun fact, everyone you know will die. Your father, your mother, your family, even your best friend. I'd like to think it's not so much how many years you get, but what you do with them. And JJ packed it in. A whole life in those 20 years. Adventure. Romance. Some tough things, that was part of it too. Sacrifice. And friendship. If JJ was the king of anything, he was the king of friendship. He held us all together. He was the best friend we ever had. The best cousin I could ever ask for, even if I didn't know it until it was too late." 

I cried on JJ shoulder as I heard people running in. First pope and cleo, then John b and kie, then Rafe. John b came down next to me trying to get him to wake up, then kie came down next.

It felt as if I couldn't hear anything. Everything around me went silent and the only thing I could focus on was jj laying in front of me.

"JJ was someone to me even words couldn't describe. He was family, my best friend, but somehow he was still more than that. He helped me through so much in all the years that I've known him. Wether it was relationship advice, his own personal thoughts, or even just listening to me when I needed. Most saw him as some dumb kid who they thought would end up like Luke. But truth is, JJ wasn't like any of them. JJ grew into the person he was himself. He took what he didn't want to be like and made sure he never was that. Never once had I seen think of himself before others, never once had I seen him back down from a fight to help his friends. JJ saved my life in more ways than he knows. It will forever haunt me that I couldn't do the same for him in the end. I gained back my brother but I lost another one, I won't ever understand how that works and I don't think I ever will. But until the day I do, I'll live on for JJ. Do the things he would do, live free, live careless, live like I won't see tomorrow. Cause now, I'm not sure anymore."

Rafe had stepped up and buried JJ. None of us could move, non of us could do it. We stayed there for a long time just staring, not wanting to believe it was true.

We all sat around the fire, no one uttering a word until Rafe spoke up.
"Groff said he was going to Lisbon. I don't know, if it was my friend, I'd probably go after the guy that just killed him. Yeah?" Rafe says
"Shut up Rafe" pope says
"He's right" I speak up
"You think JJ would sit here if it were one of us? You think he'd do nothing?" Kie asks
"We all know what JJ would do. He'd get even" John b says
"Revenge" I mumble staring at the fire