Chapter Text
“ Jackson .”
Kiara’s breath caught in her throat as Groff’s voice interrupted the conversation. Her eyes snapped up to meet Pope’s, who looked as horrified as she was. The Pogues stood there, tension thick in the air as they listened to JJ respond.
“ Dad, what’s up ?”
“ Now, why would you let me tell you my plan if you weren’t gonna come with me ?”
“ Don’t know what you mean ?” JJ tried to laugh, but it was clearly forced. “ I was just poking around down here. ”
“ On your phone ?”
“ What? Oh, I was just giving my friends a cover story for why I wasn’t back yet. I knew they’d freak out if I didn’t tell them something, you know? ”
It could be a good lie, depending on how much Groff had overheard. The group was frozen in silence as they waited, each saying their own silent prayers that Chandler would buy it.
“ You’re just like your mother. Tricking me into confidences...just to box me in .” There was a sound of movement, and JJ took in a sharp breath. “ And I won’t. Have. It. ”
Boots stomped on the ground - JJ must have made a run for it - but then there was a crash, the audio growing muffled for a moment before both men were grunting with effort as they fought against each other.
And then JJ was gagging - choking -
“What do we do?” Sarah gasped, hand rising to her own throat as if she were the one who couldn’t breathe.
“There’s nothing we can do,” John B replied, shaking his head as he looked down at the phone, almost numbly.
“The fuck there’s nothing we can do?!” Kie spat, lunging forward to grab the cell from him as if she’d be able to talk Groff down herself. “Let go of him! Jayj , get out of there!”
“We have to do something -” Sarah insisted. “We - John B do something -”
“Do what ? There’s nothing -”
Kiara’s hand shook as she brought the phone closer up to her mouth. “Jayj, you have to -”
There was another crash - Groff was shouting - feet hit the floor again, then -
“ Back the fuck up !” JJ panted suddenly. Kie’s words caught in her throat. “ Or I’ll throw this right into the ocean! You want to lose it all, huh? I swear to god I’ll do it - ”
The Pogues shared a look, all assuming the same thing - JJ had the map, the lens, or both. Groff wouldn’t risk losing those, right? He was clearly desperate to get the crown, and he couldn’t do that if JJ destroyed either of the items.
“ Come now, Son ,” Chandler chuckled, seemingly unphased by the threat. “ I know you want that money just as much as I do. Don’t you want to clear your name? What about your girlfriend? How will you ever provide for her when you have nothing to offer ?”
Kie’s hand clenched into a fist. What kind of bullshit had Groff been telling JJ? Is that how he had convinced his son to go along with all this in the first place? For her ? The idea was nauseating. That couldn’t be the reason, right? JJ had to know that Kiara wouldn’t want that - all she wanted was to be with him and the other Pogues, running their shop, living in their own paradise. Surely he knew that?
“ I’m not an idiot. I know what you’ll do to me. It’s what you did to my mom, right? You killed her ?”
Sarah gasped again, but Kiara wasn’t surprised anymore. She would have guessed it herself after Groff tried to kill her earlier, if she had gotten the time to think anything through. As it was, all she could think about when she woke up in the freezer was her own fear, for herself and for JJ. There hadn’t been room for anything else.
“Larissa drowned,” Groff replied in a mocking tone, only to shift into the quivering voice he had used yesterday when explaining JJ’s past. “It was a terrible...terrible tragedy.”
Kiara knew this man couldn’t be trusted. She had known from the moment JJ came home and told her about his real father. She had known , but she tried to push it aside for JJ’s sake. She stupidly thought that was the support her boyfriend needed. She could have prevented this…
“ You're sick, you know that ?” JJ spat, his voice clearly wavering with fear and bottled emotion.
“ My boy ...”
“ Back up !”
The whole group tensed at JJ’s exclamation, preparing themselves for the sounds of more fighting. Instead there was a loud splash.
Groff laughed - why was he laughing ? Kie shook her head, not understanding what was happening -
There was more rustling on the other end of the call. JJ grunted, the phone bumping into something hard. The Pogues had to strain to hear the next words.
“ My beautiful, beautiful boy ...”
“ Dad -” JJ said desperately, his words cutting off into a loud gasp, followed by a heavy thud, something like metal -
Suddenly JJ was crying out in pain, then a splash.
The familiar sound of water filled the speakers, and they could just barely hear JJ screaming, but it was getting quieter every second, while the wet gurgling of the ocean increased in volume.
“JJ!”
“Jayj!”
“Can you hear us -“
“He’s overboard -“
“Swim towards -“
“JJ!”
The Pogues were shouting all at once, but it didn’t matter.
Kiara’s phone beeped. The call had cut off.
“No,” Kie whispered, her heart in her throat and knees buckling beneath her. She didn’t even realize she was sinking down until her knees hit the grass. “No-no-no-no…”
“Is he…” Sarah’s voice trailed off, small and terrified.
John B’s sneakers cut through the grass as he began to pace. Kie’s eyes drifted up to look at her friends. Pope was frozen, shock written all over his face. Sarah’s mouth was agape, fresh tears rolling down her cheeks.
“What’re we goin’ to do?” Cleo’s voice cut through the fog that was threatening to take over all of Kie’s thoughts.
“We find him.” The words were out before Kiara even thought them. She grabbed the phone from where she had dropped it, fingers trembling.
“ How ?” Pope asked, finally speaking up. “The probability that we’d be able to find his exact location in the middle of the ocean is so slim - “
“Here,” Kie cut the boy off, lifting the screen so everyone could see JJ’s little bubble on the map, his icon the only thing floating in the expanse of light blue. Thank God she had talked him into sharing his location status with her months ago, after she freaked out when he went to hangout at Ricky’s for the night without telling anyone. “This is where he was when his phone died.”
“Let’s go,” John B replied instantly, already running to the dock, the other Pogues following right behind.
Their leader was sailing them out into the water a moment later, his face stoick and tense as he went towards where they’d hopefully find their lost friend.
Deafening silence engulfed the boat for the whole ride, only cut off periodically by Kiara’s quick directions.
No one wanted to say anything. There were no words that would make the situation better, anyway. All they could do was scan the gentle waves and pray.
“This is it,” Kie said finally, voice cracking because she saw the same thing as everyone else.
Nothing.
No JJ.
Not a single sign that he had ever even been there.
“We’re too late,” Pope whispered.
“ No !” Kiara shouted, rushing to the edge of the boat, running from one side to the other in a mad hope that there’d be a mop of messy blonde hair peeking out of the water. “JJ! JAYJ! Where are you ?”
She refused to believe that he was gone. He couldn’t be. He couldn’t be .
“JJ!” Sarah joined in, then John B, Cleo, and then Pope. They all screamed their friend’s name, straining their eyes as they looked as far out as they could. After several minutes John B let them drift a bit, as if maybe they’d catch sight of the lost Pogue a little further out.
Kiara kicked off her sneakers and grabbed a pair of goggles before diving into the ocean without a second thought, not even taking the time to strip down first. There was a splash next to her as John B jumped in next, leaving the rest of the group to watch in concern.
The cold water was a shock, but Kiara didn’t care, her head whipping around in every direction, trying to get a glimpse of something - anything. Literally anything that would lead her to JJ.
There was nothing, and she couldn’t go deeper without actual equipment. Even still, she only swam up and broke the surface when her lungs were screaming for air.
Her friends didn’t have to ask if she had found anything. They could see it on her face.
She swam back to the boat, Pope quickly helping her back on board.
“I need the suit and tank,” Kie panted, water dripping in her wake as she crossed to where she knew they had last left the equipment. “I have to go further down.”
Pope’s hand stopped her, gentle but steady on her arm. “The tank is empty,” he reminded her, distress shining in his wide eyes.
Kiara pushed him away, soaked strands of hair sticking to her cheek as she shook her head. Her bandana had slipped off somewhere in the ocean, but she didn’t even notice. She didn’t care.
John B reluctantly clamored back onto the Snapper, his tense silence clearly indicating he couldn’t find anything, either.
“JJ!” Sarah screamed, her voice cracking in desperation, the sound carrying across the mostly still waters. And then they were all calling for him again, a moment later, for what must have been a half hour.
But there was nothing.
Absolutely fucking nothing.
“It’s getting too dark,” Cleo said finally, because no one else was brave enough to. Everyone knew what she was really saying without having to hear the actual words. They were all thinking it.
JJ isn’t out here. JJ is gone.
“Just a little longer,” Kiara begged, her head whipping around to each of her friends. They all avoided her eyes, except for John B. She stumbled closer to him, her lip quivering even as she tried to stay in control. “ Please .”
“One more hour,” he agreed, nodding resolutely, voice unsteady.
The other Pogues didn’t dare argue that it was pointless. They stayed out there for another hour, searching and shouting. John B tried diving in again, pushing himself to stay under longer this time, only to come back up empty handed yet again. They kept at it until they could barely see anything at all, the darkness threatening to swallow them whole.
Kiara wished it would.
John B led the boat back home. Leaving felt like a betrayal, like they had given up.
Kie was shivering as the air cut through her wet clothes. She dully wondered if JJ had been this cold when he drowned. Cleo tried to hand her a towel, wrapping it around Kie’s shoulders when it was clear she wasn’t going to do it herself.
No one said anything.
What was there to say, when your friend was dead?