Rebellion (Sidemen AU) *UNDER EDITING*

Harry

 JJ called a meeting the afternoon after the trip. While everyone was exhausted, it sounded pretty serious. Everyone was just as exhausted as they were anxious, though. Nobody was sure what the next steps were.

I made my way to Ethan's cell and poked my head in, not wanting to interrupt anything. He glanced up at me from his bed and stood.

"Any idea what this is about?" I asked him. I figured JJ might have told him more than he would have told me.

He shrugged. "All I know is that the war isn't over yet."

At that, we walked to the auditorium in silence. It was extremely crowded, therefore making it extremely loud. I had a hard time concentrating on my thoughts, not that I would have been able to think straight anyway. We had a great loss in numbers the night before, and it didn't make it any easier that JJ had called this meeting.

People weren't sure just how close we were to winning or losing. It was hard to tell when you kept hearing different things from different people.

"Do you think they'll come back?" I asked. "They obviously know where we are."

Ethan shook his head. "Nah. After the beating they took, they'll need at least a week to recover. There's no way they'd pull something like that."

"Then what's with the meeting?"

He shrugged, and I closed my mouth. I wasn't in the place to ask questions.

We sat there waiting for what felt like ages, expecting JJ to come up on the stage any minute. After about an hour, I started getting antsy.

The alarm started to sound and we all sat still for a minute, confused. Was it another drill? The loud sound pierced my ears, and I turned to Ethan, who stood quickly. His eyes darted across the room, where there were other confused people.

I followed his gaze and saw JJ, pushing past people with wide eyes. "Move to the West side. Hurry! I want everyone in their cells immediately. You are not to come out until I say it's safe."

At that word, people started to panic. There was screaming and people started to trample over each other. Ethan glanced at me before running over to JJ, helping up people from the ground as he did.

"Ethan," JJ put his hands on Ethan's shoulders and shook him. "I need you to go make sure everyone in Medical is okay. Get them to their rooms or to someone's room that can keep an eye on them."

Ethan nodded and pushed past the crowd, who was running the opposite way as him. I turned to JJ.

"What about me?"

"I need you with me," He grabbed my arm and dragged me to the side of the room, waiting and making sure to tell everyone that things would be fine. Once the room was empty, he motioned for me to follow him into the storage room.

"What's going on?" I asked. I ran a hand through my hair and glanced around.

"Look," He leaned against the wall and for the first time ever, he looked exhausted. I'm sure the lack of sleep was getting to him. "We got word from a Valestein traitor."

"Josh?"

He shrugged. "I'm not sure. But they've got a team rolling in from about a mile south of here, and I believe they're planning an ambush. It's my job to make sure everyone is safe, and for that reason, I am putting you in charge."

My mouth dropped open. "What? Why? Why not Simon or Ethan?"

"They're too hard-headed," He smirked as he put a hand on my shoulder, and I narrowed my eyes. It wasn't a typical smirk.

It was a sad one.

I widened my eyes at that, fiercely shaking my head. "No. No JJ. You're not going to sacrifice yourself just to buy us a few minutes of time. Think for a minute."

"I've made up my mind, Harry."

"It can't be an ambush!" I shrugged his arm off of me as I raised my voice. "Not after the losses they took, JJ. They're doing it to scare us. I say we let it pass, prove to them we can take a hit, and turn it around on them."

He frowned, taking in what I said. He spoke quietly, almost as if he was afraid. "I'm not sure we can take a hit. We took heavy losses too, Harold. We can't take much more."

"We won't," I said through gritted teeth. "Please trust me on this. It'll pass."

He brought his eyes from the door and met mine, letting out a sigh. It was clear he was tired.

"Fine."

Yep, changed this chapter a bit. Also, I'm back! Hopefully  I can make up for lost time with this story!