DESPITE HER absence on the Redfield Mission, the Pogues had made it back to John B's Château in one piece. The group had decided to ignore Aurora's bruises, although they were all suffering from desperate concern for the girl. They knew she didn't like to talk about it.
"That bread had mold on it three days ago." Aurora said to JJ, as she watched him spread peanut butter on the bread on the kitchen counter.
"I'll just pull off the bad parts." JJ replied with a shrug, continuing to eat it, "Plus, mold is actually good for you. It's just a natural organism."
"Guys." Kiara called to the siblings, who rushed into the dining room in response.
John B was cautiously opening a envelope which had 'for bird' written in bold on the front. Aurora's eyes lifted to JJ, as he gagged and spat the half-eaten bread into the palm of his hand.
"I told you." Aurora remarked, as JJ stuck his middle finger up at her. She looked at John B again, "Where'd you find that?"
"In a grave." John B replied, but kept his eyes on the envelope in-front of him. Rory's eyes widened at the mention of a literal grave and why her friends were so calm about this whole situation.
The envelope contained a map inside, which John B flattened out on the table. It had annotations labelled on the different locations around the map, which made no sense to Aurora.
"X marks the spot." Pope said, as he placed his finger on a black X located on the map.
John B frowned as he pulled out a black tape recorder from the envelope. He cautiously pressed play,
A man's deep voice spoke, presumably Big John's, "Dear bird."
"Who's Bird?" JJ questioned curiously.
"It's what my dad called me." John B replied softly, his eyes swelling with tears.
"I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so. And you doubted your old man." The tape continued, "I suspect at this moment, you're filled with guilt and self-loathing over our last fight, but don't kill yourself just yet, kid. I didn't expect to find the Merchant either."
Everybody shared looks, their eyes widened from shock and surprise.
"You were probably right to call me out- wasn't exactly the father of the decade. What can I say, kid?" Big John explained, "Hopefully we're listening to this in our brand new sugar-shack down in Costa Rica, livin' off passive investments and pulling in permits."
A safety trigger of a gun clicked on the Tape, and I shared a worried look with Pope.
"If not, and you find this for less optimal reasons, well, that's what the map is for." The Tape explained, "There she is. The Wreck of the Merchant. If something happens to me, finish what I started. Go for the gold, kid. I love you bird, even if I didn't always act like it.... I'll see you on the other side."
The Tape bleeped, before John B put it down and made his way towards the door. He gripped onto the door frame tightly, before sobbing silently.
"He did it." JJ exclaimed, unaware of John B's reaction, "Big John, he found the Merchant! He did it-"
"JJ." Rory interrupted him as he fell silent.
"Sorry." He replied quickly, as he watched his sister comfort the crying boy.
Aurora was surprisingly good at comforting people, despite her shitty upbringing. She cupped John B's face, and calmed the hyperventilating boy down,
"It's okay, it's okay." She reassured, as she pulled him in for a tight hug- ignoring the aching pain from her beaten bones, "You're alright."
Later that night, the Pogues had sat outside in their peaceful surroundings. Kiara played her ukulele, before JJ broke the silence,
"How much was it again?" He asked, as he took another sip of his beer can.
"Five hundred million." Pope replied, and Rory's eyebrows raised in shock.
"Alright, let's talk the split." JJ sighed, "Now before we say evenly, may I remind you that I'm the only one who can defend us from those Groupers who were after us. Protection? Not cheap, okay?"
Pope retorted, "You haven't trained. You've done zero training."
"YouTube, bro!" JJ reasoned, "That's at-least a five percent bump right there-"
"What are you gonna do with your 100 million, Pope?" Kiara interrupted.
"Pay for college in advance." Pope replied, "And also, textbooks. Those are expensive."
"What about you, Kie?" Rory questioned curiously.
"Yeah, what does a socialist do when she's rich?" Pope questioned sarcastically.
Kiara chuckled, "I just wanna make a double album. About OBX, the Pogues."
JJ explained, "I know what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna get a big ass house on Figure Eight and go full Kook."
"You're gonna go full Kook?" Pope scoffed sarcastically.
"Yup." JJ nodded, "Gonna get a marble statue of myself, and then I'm gonna get a koi pond."
"I'm never visiting." Kiara chuckled, then turned to Aurora, "What about you, Rory?"
"Uh, maybe purchase my own private island so nobody can trespass." Aurora explained, "Except you guys. We can live on my island and be filthy rich with waterslides and shit."
"Waterslides on an island?" JJ scoffed sarcastically.
"Don't mock the Vision, bro." Rory replied, then turned to the unusually silent boy, "What about you, Booker?"
He hesitated, before snuggly raising his beer can into the air, "To going Full Kook."
"To going Full Kook!"
a/n:
shorter chapter :(
happy new year everyone<3
