A symphony of screams went out, but all I could explicitly hear was Jaycee's blood curdling scream. That's gonna live with me forever.

He shot me.

Did he though? Because I don't feel anything. Maybe I'm dead. Oh that wasn't bad. Good now I can find Casper and we can both haunt this demented, psychotic dumbass.

It felt like slow motion, but I fell on the ground with a big ass boulder on top of me. The weight on me made it so hard to do anything. I opened my eyes - yeah turns out I'm still alive, bummer— to find someone in a black hoodie lying on me facedown.

"Why the hell won't you die!" He said in a rage, coming towards me at an ungodly speed - his men still aiming their guns at us, Jaycee aiming his gun on him.

"FBI! Put your hands in the air where I can see them!" Emerged the shadow from the trees.

That put a halt to his maniacal jog. All his men surrendered faster than you can say "what". Giovanni and his men also surrendered their guns and got on their knees. Everyone ran over to me, Jaycee leading the way.

"Lexi! Oh my God are you ok! Alexis!" He pushed the person off of me and started checking for a pulse.

"My eyes are wide open Jay. I'm ok. Hey. Hey. I'm fine." I said against his bone crushing hug.

"I thought I lost you. I thought I lost you." Was all he kept repeating.

Once I regained my vision from the blurriness brought on by his hug, I could see that the person who was on top of me was facing upwards now. Although the hoodie was concealing some of his face, I could still easily make out those think rimmed glasses and blonde hair anywhere.

"Lucas?"

"Huh? What?" Said Jaycee, finally releasing me from his death grip.

"Lucas? What the hell?!" I repeat in disbelief, my hands over my head.

"Isn't that our other chemistry teacher from hell?" Asked Ashton.

"What the hell is he doing here? What the hell just happened? He appeared out of nowhere!"

He coughed up blood, and I sat next to him in disbelief. He tried getting up but the pain of his gunshot wound dragged him down again.

"Lucas.. why? Why did you jump in front of me?" I asked, tears starting to form again like they've been on standby.

"I couldn't do it Lexi." His breathing got difficult, and he was barely keeping his eyes open.

"Uh guys you wanna go find CJ and Ross?" Asked Ashton as he pulled Jaycee and Aaron away.

"Hell no I'm not leaving her with this psycho again. You go get them. They're behind the tree."

"He has all the right to call me that after what happened. I deserve it. I'm really sorry Alexis. For everything. You don't deserve any of this and neither does CJ..."

"Why did you jump in front of me?" I repeated, trying my best to not be fazed by his words.

"Do you think I ever lost track of you? I always kept track of you. Your success and your accomplishments, it always brought me so much joy knowing you were living your best life. I felt so proud of the girl you've become little X, and I always will be. Always. Please apologize to your mom for me..." he coughed up blood again, and his wound was oozing more blood than I've ever seen.

Why isn't he answering my question?

"Please. Please tell her I've always loved her and I always will and she didn't deserve this. None of you did. You'll find out why it all happened eventually - you'll see it yourself. But I did the right thing Little X. I... I did the right thing..." he whispered out, color draining from his face.

He took his bloodied hand and held my face with it, drying my tears in the process. He couldn't talk but his eyes... his eyes told me everything I needed to know. His smile slowly faded, as life left his eyes. His hands dropped to my lap and his heart stopped beating erratically.

No.

"Luc... Lucas? No. No. Please! Lucas!" I held his hand back back on my cheek.

Why was I crying for this man? He made my life absolute hell and signed my brother's death certificate. So why am I bawling right now?

"It's because he saved you." It's as if Jaycee read my mind. He got on the floor and held me to him.

"He did some unspeakable shit but he did come through in the end. The fact that he still loved you, and kept track of your progress is what's making you emotional right now Lex. It's okay to cry babe. Let it out."

And so I did. I let it all out. The frustration of school. Of being pushed down that basement. Of Brad's bullying. Of my parent's accident. Of CJ's imminent death. Of Lucas's death. Jaycee just sat there, stroking my hair and keeping me safe. Because that's what he is to me; my safe place.

"I love you so much Alexis Pierce. So much."

"Oh my dear girl. My Lexi are you okay darling? Are you?" Annabelle came running to me, her FBI uniform making her look like a badass.

"Annie!" I got up and hugged her so so hard I felt her bones crack under my arms.

"Oh my goodness I'm so happy we got here on time! What... how? What happened?"

"It's a long story. But he came through. He...he came through."

"Lucas? He was the one who tipped us to your location. He swore to me that he'll always protect you fifteen years ago and I guess he kept that promise." She ushered to her people to come handle his body.

"It's CJ Annabelle. You need to save him. Please. I don't know what they did to him ... but ... but you need... please..."

"Jared! We need two medevacs right now! Patients are CJ Walker-Pierce and Jace Ross, both in critical condition!" She yelled out.

"And we need one more over here! Please!" Yelled out Giovanni.

I ran to see who it was and to my dismay, Alec Xander was lying on the floor, clutching his side. There was blood seeping out his wound.

"Don't worry babe. It's just a small bullet wound. I'll be fine." He coughed then regained his normal breathing. "And besides, if I die tonight, I would've done it for you. And that would be the only good thing I've ever done in my life."

"Oh Alec. It's okay. Don't say that. I know that they'll help you." I said, stroking his hair and holding his hand.

"Excuse me miss." Said one of the medics, as they bent down to stop the bleeding.

He gave my hand a final squeeze before letting go to be treated. Annabelle and Jaycee came to me with a blanket that I very much needed.

"They really helped us Annabelle. They don't need to be tried or anything." I said as we stood there, watching this rescue mission unfold in front of us.

"Illegal possession of weapons. Kidnapping. Aiding and abetting. Assault in the first degree. I mean the list goes on and on Lexi. But we'll see what happens."

"I won't stop do you hear me! I'm never going to stop until you're all dead!" Yelled out Blake as he was being dragged to the holding van in bright, grey handcuffs along with all his minions.

"What are you going to do about him?"

"Well he'll be tried for his crimes. Everything he's ever done to you. The murder of Luis. Using CJ as a test dummy for drugs. That should put him behind bars for a very long time." She took a deep breath, as if to calm herself. "He won't hurt you again Alexis. I promise you that. Thanks to Lucas, we have enough intel on him to make sure he never sees the light of day again."

I watched them put Lucas's body in a bag and take him away. He lived his life on the run from something he didn't do, and died protecting me from something he didn't mean to happen. My heart will forever hurt. This is one pain I know I'll never get over.

As the sun finally started to make its way up, I looked at this place for the very last time. The pain and hurt, the smell of blood and death, the people that sacrificed themselves for me. This will always stay with me. Forever.

"So whataya guys say? Should we go home? Get out of this shit hole?" Asked Ashton, putting his arms around Jay and I.

"What the hell kind of dumbass question is that? Let's get the hell out of here."  Said Jaycee.

"You kids remember though, that I'm going to need your statements. Everything that ever happened. Every detail of it. I'm going to let you go for now, but in a week I'm going to need you all to come to our station in downtown LA and we'll talk. Deal?" Asked Annabelle.

"Deal." We all said in unison.

"Hey where's Aaron?" I looked around but between the body bags and the gang being taken into custody, he wasn't there.

"He took the helicopter to the hospital with CJ and Jace. They're in really bad shape guys. I don't know if they'll make it. You should've seen CJ Jay, his eyes..."

"Okay Ash. Doesn't seem like the right time for this." Said Jay in gritted teeth. I mean it's not like anything is going to phase me after what happened.

"Brenda. Brenda for the love of God stop  yelling in my ear! You're worse than the echoes of gunshots." Yelled Ashton, as we made our way towards the vehicle that brought them.

"You'll be fine Alexis. I promise you that. You'll be fine." His arms around me was all the reassurance that I needed.

"Hey Royce!"

We both turned around to find Giovanni turning to us, him too in handcuffs.

"Just so you know. This isn't over between us. What we have will never die, and I will not rest until I make sure you paid for what you did to my brother. Every single bit of it." His eyes turned a dangerous shade of red, and it masked the kind person that helped me out of here. This person is... is unsettling and scary.

"And what we have between us will never die after what you did to Yasmeen. Her blood will forever be in your hands Herrera do you hear me? I will not rest until I make sure she can look down from heaven and smile because you died." Replied Ashton.

Who the hell is Yasmeen?

"You think your brother liked you? Or even tolerated you? He made a deal with the frickin CIA to take down one of your stupid meth labs.." Started Jaycee.

"Alleged meth labs. I don't do drugs!" He replied, the vein in his neck about to pop like a balloon.

"You think I don't know that?! But he was going to set you up and set up my brother with you! I had to do something or else I was going to lose him. To hell with you. I was doing it to save my family! Let's go Lexi." He said, tightening the blanket around me.

"Bye Gio. And thank you again. For everything." I don't care what issues they have, this guy risked his life to save mine. The least I could do was hug him.

Jaycee barely let go of my hand but I gave him a death glare and he let go.

"You take care of yourself Lexi. And if you ever change your mind, you know where to find me." The smile he wore now contradicted the evil show I just witnessed.

"I think I'm going to hold on to him for now." I replied, waving goodbye as the agents took him and his crew away.

"Wait hold on to who? Did he tell you to leave me? You're not gonna leave me Pierce. You know too much." He rambled on and on about something, but my mind was way too far away to figure it out. I just clung to him for dear life - afraid that this might all be a dream.

"Lexi. Lex. Honey. My kidney is about to burst."

"I don't care." I smiled as we got into the car that drove us back to my old life. My parents, my friends, and unforunately the final year of high school.

As we drove off, my mind wondered back to my parents.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Home babe. I'm taking you home." He rested his cheek on my head. As I held him tight, I felt myself drifting to sleep.

"Home." I repeated as everything around me went dark.

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AN: Welcome to the official countdown!!! We have one or two more chapters left (depending on how the next chapter goes)

Thank you all for reading this far!!! Don't forget to leave a like and comment so I can know your thoughts!!

Until next time!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️