LAST CHANCE → sean macguire ✔

two , seven

She woke with a start, head pounding and body aching, and she wondered if she was still on that cliff ledge. The thought of seeing Horaz like that again made her stomach churn.

"Willa?" The voice was soft, but slightly accented. She smiled at that voice.

"Ah, I'm not dead." She opened her eyes, only to be met with Sean's bright blues. He smiled.

"Not for t'he lack a' trying, let me tell ya. You gotta stop gettin' yer'self hurt all t'he time." His smile was all Willa needed to feel better. She grabbed his shirt and pulled him into a kiss, which he eagerly returned.

Willa pressed her forehead to his and closed her eyes, "I thought I was going to die up there. Horaz... He..." She felt her throat tighten and Sean cupped her cheek with his hand.

"I know. I'm so sorry."

Willa let out a short breath, swallowing back the lump in her throat, and sighed. Light footsteps echoed through the creaky old house as someone came in, up the stairs, and approached their room. Sean sat back in his chair, squeezing her hand gently.

"We, uh... There's someone you might want to meet." He nodded to the door. Willa followed his gesture, eyebrows raised to her forehead as the footsteps turned the corner. She gasped and sat up, heart and stomach lurching at the same time.

There, dressed in a clean little flowery dress, with a daisy tucked behind her ear and her nose in a notebook, was Libbie.

"Libbie, you're-- they..."

"Willa!" She tossed the notebook aside and threw herself into her sister's arms. Willa wasn't sure if she was laughing or crying as she cradled her sister close. She was so caught up in it that she didn't notice Dutch walk in.

"Oh, Willa, we missed you so bad," her little sister drawled, "Momma fret terribly when we heard you'd joined with a gang and she cursed your daddy everyday you were gone." Libbie sobbed. Willa never wanted to let her go.

"Oh, I was the one she shoulda been cursin'. I shoulda come home and told you guys, I wanted to so bad, but the law was after me for a long time. I never got th'a chance to settle down." Willa breathed, "Then I went back and found Milton's note. I thought you guys were already dead." Libbie pulled out of her sister's grip and looked at her for a long moment. Her smile fell.

"Momma's dead."

Those two words were like a shotgun to the gut and Willa stopped short. She tried to hide her tears with a faltering smile, looking between Libbie, Sean and Dutch.

"What?" Her voice cracked and her smile waned. Sean caught her hand and squeezed it.

"We did all we could, I'm so sorry. She passed before we got back." Dutch murmured. Willa felt her heart slamming against her ribcage.

"No, she's not. This ain't funny." She turned to Sean, silently begging him to smile and say it was one big joke. He didn't smile.

"She fought against them a lot and they beat her each time. Your friends came, but it was too late... It's just us now, Willa." Libbie spoke up. Willa looked at her little sister, imagining everything the young girl had seen. She had fought so hard to protect her baby sister from the harsh realities of the world, but it was all for nothing.

Liberty Willis. Only five years old and she had watched her father die of a unseen disease, weakening until he collapsed beside the chicken coop, then fifteen years old when she watched her mother get beaten to death. She had never had a friend outside of her mother and sister, and now she was the cargo of some highly wanted gang of criminals.

"Oh, Libbie, I'm so damn sorry." Willa pulled her little sister into a hug, "I'll never leave you again, and that's a promise."

Libbie buried her face into Willa's shoulder.

Willa looked past her, to Dutch and Sean. Dutch nodded as a sad smile settled on his lips.

"She'll be safe."