You // Gabriel X Reader // ROTW (COMPLETED) ✔️

Chapter 16: I'm sorry

We all just looked around the room thinking of what we should do. "It's over." Dariush said to us. We all walked passed Dr. Fielding's corpse. "I mean let's be honest, guys. Who do we think we are?" Dariush asked us.

"Nerd." Alex answered.

"Witness." I answered. I looked down at the ground once I said it.

"Troubled." Max answered. I knew why he said that. He had been in trouble with the police and the principal a lot.

"Criminal." Gabriel answered. I looked over at him and took his hand.

"Orphan." ZhenZhen answered. I gave her a sympathetic look.

"A joke." Dariush answered his own question. We all just stood in silence for a minute. We all had different backgrounds. We were all different. "I guess I'll...go try and find my parents." He told us before walking away.

"Me too." Alex told us.

"We should as well." I told Max. I looked at Gabriel with hope that he would say he would come as well.

"I'll come with you guys." Gabriel said. I smiled at him and he returned the gesture.

"I was hoping you'd say that." I told him. We all parted. Dariush and Alex went one way as me, Gabriel and Max went the other. ZhenZhen stayed where she was.

"Dad's probably gonna love having someone else stay at the apartment . Especially someone that's shared a bed with his beloved daughter." Max said sarcastically.

"And dad will love having his pain in the ass back, which is you, back at apartment." I told him sarcastically. "Trust me our dad is not as bad as you think. Him and my mom were only 18 when they had me. Our stepmom is the person to look out for, she can be supportive when she wants to be and strict most of the time." I explained to Gabriel.

"They sound like nice people." He told me.

"Trust me they are. Y/N invites her friends over all the time and dad and Janice don't care." Max told him.

"My friends our going to love you but I'm going to have to tell them back off just a little." I told him with a little laugh.

"Why so you can be the only one that flirts with him?" Max asked. What had gotten into him.

"What's gotten into you?" I asked him harshly.

"Maybe it's the fact that you've known Gabriel for 24 hours and your more closer to him than me." He snapped at me.

"How can you say that when I looked after you since you were 4 because dad went through a stage of severe depression. If I didn't look after you. We would have been put in foster care." I told him. I was so angry that I started crying. "So don't say that I've gotten closer to someone else in day when I was there for you your whole and I'm finally having some time to myself." I said to him. We had all stopped.

"Listen to your sister." Gabriel said to him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know that." Max said to me. I wiped my tears away on my sleeve. I pulled him into a hug.

"In future remember what I did for you." I told him while messing his hair up. I pulled Gabriel into the hug as well. "Don't think your lucky." I whispered to him.

"Where will Gabriel sleep if he lives with us?" Max asked as he pulled away.

"I don't know. I don't mind sharing a bed with him but Janice won't allow that but if he has to bunk with you." I said to Max. I whispered the next part to Gabriel. "You could always sneak in to my room." I told him. I saw a blush appear on his face.

"What did she just tell you?" Max asked.

"Nothing. She said nothing." Gabriel said while he was still hugging me. I heard the sound of glow sticks being snapped so I looked behind me and saw ZhenZhen. "What's ZhenZhen doing?" He asked.

"I don't know." I answered. We all walked over to where she was. We all sat down on the ground along with the others. Gabriel put his arm around me and pulled me close to him. I rested my head on shoulder. This was not how I had pictured my 16th but at least we were finally safe. Dariush found a bottle of wine next to him.

"Look." He said while he picked it up. I could really use a glass of that right now and I knew that Max knew that I did. "They didn't even get to open this. Well, since we're all gonna die together, may I propose a toast?" Dariush asked us I nodded in response. "Oh, crap. This is from 1969! I mean, could at least get some fresh wine if this is gonna be my first time, right?" He said before launching the bottle behind him. I heard the bottle clattering but it didn't smash.

"Happy birthday Y/N." ZhenZhen told me. I gave her a quick smile.

"Thanks." I told her.

"Yeah, Happy birthday sorry I didn't say it sooner." Dariush told me.

"It's ok. This is not how I pictured my 16th but oh well." I said.

"How did you picture it?" Alex asked me.

"My friends and I going to Disney, then at 1am go down to the beach and just live in the moment but we can't do that and I don't even know if their alive or not." I explained to them.

"Maybe next year, if we're still alive." Max told me.

"Citadel, this is Crystal Palace." We heard from behind us.

"What? What was that?" Dariush asked. We all got up and walked from where the noise was coming from.

"Go! What the heck?" ZhenZhen said.

"Citadel..." The voice said.

"Hello?" Alex called out.

"...this is Crystal Palace. Do you copy?" The voice continued. We all gathered round the desk where the wine bottle had landed.

"We're here, over!" Alex said. We're we finally in contact with a person who was alive or was this just a recording, so we would follow a trail of false hope?