One of them doesn't wake up.

Erik's eyes shoot open. He pulls himself off the bar, spinning around. College students are still shoving past him, trying to get out of the front door. His hand is still bleeding, and there is still glass inside it, which means that he hopefully wasn't out for long. As he moves, he walks through the bar, he pulls the chunks out of his hand so that his skin can reform.

Jamie pulls himself off of Cara. He hears her gasp as air enters her lungs, maybe for the first time in seconds. Quickly, he flips her on to her back and hangs overtop of her. "Are you okay? What the fuck just happened?"

Instead of answering, Cara shakes her head. She turns her head to Eden, who is just pulling himself off the ground. She begins to stand up, which is easier than she imagined. Her body is electric.

Now, June comes to, and she comes to sober (unfortunately). She pulls herself out of the arms of Brandon, and darts into the crowd after her friends. June hopes that Brandon takes the hint.

Eden grabs Wes's shoulder and rolls him on to his back. There is blood, so much blood. Too much blood outside for there to be enough inside. He isn't breathing. He isn't doing anything.

Cara comes up behind Eden, delicately moving over him and cradling Wesley's face. Jamie stands behind the pair, his hands covering his mouth and his eyes watering. The crowd is loud, shoving into him and tossing him left and right, but he can't move in his defence.

Wes's eyes flick open, and he immediately hides them from the light. He has a splitting headache, and he has never felt more tired in his life. All of the energy has been ripped from his body. He tastes the bitter metal of blood. Slowly, he lifts his hand up to his head.

"Holy fucking shit" Wes mutters as he feels the blood soaking his hair. "I think I should be dead."

Lee doesn't get up. She's not stupid enough to move when someone just shot at her. Instead, she lies on the ground, playing dead. After all, she can feel her head bleeding, so it's a fair game to play.

Quickly, Percy pulls herself off the dirty floor. She stumbles through the crowd, glancing around until she sees her. Hope, on the ground, unconscious. Or dead, but hopefully unconscious. Percy puts her hand to Hope's lips. They are cool to the touch. Percy tries to feel for breath, she prays that there will be breath, but it's dark and people are bumping into her, and she's got no idea exactly what constitutes breath.

"Cara!" Percy turns around, calling out. She keeps herself hanging delicately above Hope. "Cara!"

There is too much noise for Cara to hear her. Instead, she inspects Wesley's head. It's smashed, but it's healing, and it's healing rapidly. His head is cut in a jagged line, one that is slowly disappearing. There is blood trailing out of his ear, which means the wound is internal too.

"Get him out of here," Cara turns to Eden and Jamie, who are hanging over his shoulder. "He is fine and too fine for this much blood. Don't let the cops see him."

Eden nods, throwing one of Wesley's arms over his shoulder. Jamie joins in too, but he is much too small to be much help.

"What are you doing?" Eden asks. "You need to leave with us."

Cara swallows. This is why it is easier not to love him. "I'm going to get the others and get out of here. We'll reconvene tomorrow. I promise."

Before Eden can protest, she darts off into the crowd. Jamie begins to pull Wes out of the room, and though Eden's eyes trail Cara, he follows Jamie. He tries his best not to linger, but he can't help it. Eden knows he is Cara's ghost.

Her mind is on Wes while she scans the crowd. Cara makes her way up to the stage, where she stares at Lee, and the red blood sticking to her head. Thankfully, it's not as much as Wesley's. There is little of Cara's medical knowledge which applies to them, but she is pretty sure Lee is fine.

"Get up," Cara tells Lee, leaning no the ground.

The musician listens. She pulls herself into a sitting position. Her head is spinning, but when she raises her fingers, she feels no wound. Which isn't great, considering the copious amount of blood on the floor. Lee does the only thing she knows to do; she charges into the bathroom and throws her head in the dirty sink and begins to wash out her hair before the cops arrive and notice.

Cara moves her hands around, panicking. Eventually, she darts off the stage and storms behind the bar. The club is clearing out now as the final people file through the door. Cara piles napkins into her hand.

Across the room, June watches Cara. Without words, she understands what is happening. Still, with the adrenaline losing its power in her body, she can feel her feet stumbling beneath her again. Which is less than good.

June finally runs into Erik in the crowd. From a few feet away, Erik can smell the booze on June. She takes a step towards him and vomits on the floor. Quickly, Erik dodges out of the way. He raises his hands up to his hair and pulls at the strands.

While Cara goes up to the stage, June and Erik makes her way over to Percy, who still hangs overtop of Hope.

"We... need..." June stumbles.

Percy stands up to help Erik just as bile spews out of June's throat. It narrowly misses Hope's unconscious body on the ground.

"A little help," Erik grunts, beginning to carry June out of the room.

Though Percy looks back at Hope, she helps June out. It's hard, but not that hard since she can hear sirens in the distance and can see Cara on the stage, desperately trying to clean up Lee's blood. Someone is still here for Hope, even if that someone can't be Percy.

The three of them meet the three others outside. Wesley is able to stand up by himself, but he can feel his feet sliding out from beneath him. As they see the bright flashing lights of the police siren pull up, the group moves into the alleyway, and then ducks behind another café.

"What just happened?" Wes finally manages, staring between the group. He rests himself against the wall so that she stops swaying. "What is going on?"

Nobody answers, because nobody has any idea. Erik assumes that the others went unconscious as well, but he has no way of affirming that. Besides, if he is wrong, that will surely be embarrassing.

"Hope is unconscious," Percy tells the others. "Or dead. Fuck if I know."

"I think I just died," Wes shakes his head back and forth. "Like, my head just split open and shit. Would I know if I had died? Also, if I lived, how could Hope be dead?"

"How the fuck would I know?" Percy demands, her voice rising. Quickly, she straightens her back and corrects herself. She makes her voice soft. "I think someone shot Lee. Cara is back there cleaning up the blood off the stage."

"So, Lee is probably still alive," Erik rolls his eyes.

The group nods. They can hear the cops walking into the building, so they hold their tongues. Hamilton is a quiet town, and their voices could carry miles. June reflects that they've not really got anything to hide, hopefully.

"You knowwww, at least I'vve de-du-ceed," June feels herself holding on to Erik longer and longer. Whatever burst of energy hit her has left her more vulnerable. "That alcohol..."

Erik cuts her off. "She's wasted. Someone needs to take her home."

"We should wait for Cara," Eden offers, stepping forward. With Cara gone, they need a new leader. Eden is still running high off of the energy from tearing into Liam earlier. "And Lee and Hope."

Jamie shakes his head. "I think they might be in there for a while. Besides, the less contact we all have with the police, the happier Cara will be, you know? It's been a long and stressful night. Anyone who wants to come back to my place can... or wait never mind because Kyle is there. I guess I can take June home because she lives close to my parents. Only if someone who lives near Wes can take him though."

No one answers for a minute. Instead, all eyes turn to Erik. Not that anyone knows where he lives, but that everyone knows that Percy and Eden are next-door neighbours, leaving only him.

"Fine," Erik sighs. He slowly helps June over to Jamie. He wraps an arm around Wesley while his face contorts in disgust. "Everyone here owes me big time."

Without another word, Erik takes Wesley away. Jamie tries his best to hold June and offer Eden a hug, but he gives up and simply waves good-bye to Eden. At last, Percy stalks off with Eden following close behind.

Inside the bar, Cara hangs over Hope. She watches as police officer check for breath, waits with her while they call the paramedics. Once it is only one officer and Cara, Cara kneels beside Hope. She takes Hope's hand in hers and feels a jolt of electricity enter her body. Though Cara tries her best to hide it, the energy makes her joints tingle. She slips and lands on the ground next to Hope. Desperately, Cara tries to cling on to the tears that fill her eyes.

Across the room, Lee turns her back. She shrugs off the trauma blanket which an officer put on her, instead of using it to dry her hair.

"Can you explain to me exactly why you ran into the bathroom?" The officer asks.

Lee stops her movements to stare at him. Obviously, she can't tell him that it was to wash out the blood, or at least, to make her best attempt at having the blood blend into her hair. She raises an eyebrow at the man, curling her hand into a fist around her hair. "I was in shock. I was trying to calm myself down. Have you ever heard of a bath, officer?"

The officer doesn't answer, so Lee resumes her movements. Now, she can hear Cara crying behind her, which is kind of crap.

"It's odd that Cara Nightly is here," the officer postulates.

Lee sighs heavily. "It's not like there are more than three bars in Hamilton. Also, I've already told your buddy that I don't know her or Eden or Thea. So fuck off."

"Do you think any of those people might try to hurt you?" The officer asks.

Suddenly, Lee remembers the shot. So much happened, including falling unconscious, the shattering bulbs, the chaos, the cleaning of the blood, the unconscious Hope, and whatever bloody mess happened on the back wall. Someone had attempted to assassinate Lee.

"Perhaps," Lee reflects because the answer is perhaps. After all, Erik was here tonight. "I just don't think any of them are stupid enough to shoot me in the middle of a bar. Especially if they were able to suspend Thea's body in a fucking tree twenty feet in the air as you suspect. Are we done now? I'm traumatized and want to go home?"

~~~

Wes and Erik walking home in silence, which is not abnormal for the pair. At a few points, Wes can feel him dozing off while standing up, which isn't exactly a good look for him. Not even once does Erik look his way.

"Look, if you are going to try to get Jamie to like you by taking care of me, you could at least help me walk straight," Wes offers a slight grin on his face as he tries to catch up to Erik.

The taller of the two boys spin around, turning to stare at Wesley. Erik's dark eyes scan Wesley's face, his mouth tight and stern. "Excuse me?"

"Dude, I was just joking," Wesley offers, rubbing his eyes. He is really too tired for Erik's whining. After all, he might have just died. Still, he can hear his Moms reminding him to be kind in the back of his head. "I'm sorry."

"I'm not fucking gay," Erik bites back.

Wesley grimaces. Of course, it had to come to this, didn't it? Wesley couldn't just be nice. This tired, he is losing his patience. "Okay, sure. But also, there is nothing wrong with being gay, if you were."

"Well, I'm not fucking gay like you," Erik takes a step back, crunching his face up. Sure, the cat is out of the bag with Hope, but that doesn't mean he can't pretend it's not. He can feel his Dad's fists, telling him over and over again to be more normal.

Wesley breathes in a deep breath. His voice is calm and steady because he is. He's not angry. He's exhausted. "Erik, I think you are a half-decent person who has had too much to drink, so I suggest you shut up. I've gone to juvie for hitting people who've said less shit to me than you just did."

"I just don't understand how you can go parading it around," Erik shakes his head back and forth. "It's like, you and Jamie don't realize how weird it is. As if it's something normal, and not freakish and disgusting."

Wesley crunches his hands together. He grabs Erik by the arm and throws him against the ground. The younger of the two boys hits the sidewalk, the backs of his hands skinning open.

"Since I know that you'd live, I'm half-tempted to curb-stomp you," Wesley threatens. He wonders if he would be like Erik if he didn't have two Moms. After all, Wes did pretend in juvie he was straight, to avoid situations like this. He is done hiding now though, and he hopes soon Erik will. "Don't go running your fucking mouth, asshole."

Wes begins to stumble away as Erik collects himself off the ground. The blonde boy reaches to his phone and sends out a text.

Don't get so drunk again.

~~~

June's laugh rings out through the empty Hamilton streets, blocking out the sound of her text notification. Jamie shushes her, staring up at the large houses, full of people far too rich. At least out here, the panic of the night seems long behind him. Hopefully, Wes will still be awake when Jamie gets home.

"Ya know, I'd fucccc ya tonight if you weren't gay," June jokes. "And if youuu wan-ted to. Thatss impor-tant."

Even though she is drunk, Jamie can't miss out on an opportunity to educate June. "I'm actually bi, just so you know."

"Wellll, wouldcha fucc me ifyouweren't fuccking Wesssssssss?" June practically hisses the last word.

Jamie shakes his head, flabbergasted. How does June know about that? He and Wesley have been so on the downlow that Jamie isn't even sure if they are a thing. Besides, they aren't fucking. At least, not yet.

"Cara thinks weee shouldn't screw da crew," June laughs at her own joke, leaning into Jamie. "Which Idontthink Eden understands."

Jamie is too distracted to answer.

~~~

Back in the apartment, Percy and Eden ride up the elevator together in silence. It was only just now that Eden caught up to Percy, and though he has no idea what he wants to say he desperately needs to say that nothing to Percy.

"You said Hope is unconscious," Eden begins, looking over at her. "Like, longer than the rest of us?"

Percy nods as the elevator finally dings. Thankfully, she can escape Eden. At least, she will be able to once she is inside her apartment. They walk together to her apartment door. There, Percy fumbles for her keys. Her hands are shaking; how fucking embarrassing.

"Whatever knocked the lights out and all that stuff must've started with her," Eden reflects. Percy rolls her eyes because that much seemed obvious to her. "Do you think it has anything to do with the shooter?"

Percy finally unlocks her door, ready to tell Eden to go home. Her mouth drops open in shock and she stumbles back into Eden. He tries to catch her, but she pushes his hands away from her.

Hades lies in the doorway, a pool of blood underneath him. Percy charges in after her dog. Though Eden raises a hand to stop her, he doesn't have the energy to contend with a grieving Percy.

Percy kneels, her jeans soaking in the blood. She slowly puts a hand against Hades' head, rubbing her hand through his soft white fur. Her eyes flutter back to Eden filled with tears.

"Get out," she whispers.

He shakes his head back and forth.

Percy pulls herself up. Her shoes leave a bloody trail as she stalks over to the door. When she slams it in his face, she leaves a bloody handprint on the lock. She falls to the ground, leaning against her back against the door, wailing at the sight of her dog.

Eden hears her. He slowly leaves.

~~~~~

Hey, I am a monster and welcome to Hell. Lol. I'm sorry. God, poor Percy. Also, like, this Erik and Wesley beef is so FUCKING good. Like, argh, my boys. All of my boys. Ooh, also Hope, like fuck. Jeez.

I should have forewarned; every novel I have ever written before is a tragedy (whoops).