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The wait for Travis Manawa's appearance was eating Maire Jana alive on the inside. Through it all it had been those two, especially after Chris's death, always MJ and Travis. She feared the worst for her father, any sane person would, but she knew he was a figter and that if anyone was to survive it would be him.
Alicia Clark was who MJ considered herself to be closest to of the Clarks, most likely due to the miniscule age gap; the two teenage girls understood each other well. Marie wanted them both to be safe and she wanted to see their faces, no matter how dirty or blood covered they were, with her own eyes.
There was a commotion at the gates of the Ranch, large enough to gain every resident's attention. MJ stood at the front of the pack, exhausted eyes frantically searching for the familiar faces of family. Nick's girlfriend, Lucianna, was lay on the sand, weak and fragile as her condition worsened by the second. The man known as Jake Otto stood beside Alicia Clark whose melancholy stare met the equally miserable eyes of MJ. The look, that single gaze, translated into any words that the blonde could have said to her step-sister in that moment.
Travis Manawa was dead.
The nineteen year old walked forward slowly towards the mother and daughter whose legs failed them in grief. "He's gone?" Marie Jana Manawa asked tearfully, unable to hide her vulnerability as she usually did. "Fuck." Breathlessly, she threw her head back, a heart wrenching sob escaping her lips as she stared into the sun above. It was blinding and painful. Marie didn't care. She felt nothing in that moment, her entire body numb as tears streamed silently down her face.
It took her a moment to register a person's touch - Madison Clark. "MJ?" It was almost impossible to hear the blonde through the ringing in her ears, her name muffled the more it was repeated. Maddie watched as the brunette's eyes widened, expression growing feral as she tore away from the mother's hold.
Within seconds MJ was making her way towards the cabin she had been assigned to, looking for solitude and nothing more. Upon her exit, the nineten year old bumped shouldres with Troy Otto, the man she had no energy for at that moment in time despite the rage that bubbled deep within her.
•
Night had fallen and tears had dried. Despite the usual limitations on water usage, Marie had showered off the layers of dirt, mud and blood that caked her gorgeous features. Despite the usual limitations on water usage, it took an hour for her to finish, half of that time spent weeping silently. She contemplated leaving the blood stained fingerprints upon her cheeks, the only physical thing remaining of her father. In the old world when somebody died you'd be left items, photographs and valuables full of memories. Not anymore. There was nothing for MJ.
