Jay's POV:
"You motherfu*ker" I muttered, voice shaking more with rage than fear.
A man stepped forward, smirking like he'd already won.I had recognize him.
Sato.
The name rolled off my tongue before he even spoke.
"You're Sato."
His grin widened. "Good. Saves me the trouble of introductions."
Behind me, Honey cursed under her breath, Freya tried to twist free, and I caught a glimpse of Aries—tied to a chair, face bruised, blood at the corner of his mouth.
My heart dropped straight to the floor. "What did you do to him?!"
Sato's voice was smooth, too calm. "Your brother got curious. Curiosity kills, doesn't it?"
He crouched near Aries, dragging the edge of a blade across his cheek, just enough to draw blood.
I lunged forward—two men slammed me back against the wall.
"Coward!" I spat, struggling. "You touch him again, I swear—"
Sato laughed. "Swear what? That your little gang will save you? Oh right… he isn't even here."
The mention of Keifer made my chest tighten, but I forced a smile. "You talk too much for someone hiding behind an army."
That hit a nerve. His jaw twitched. "Call him," he ordered, tossing a phone at my feet. "Call Yuri and the gang. Tell them to come. I want all of them here."
"I'm not calling anyone."
The slap came before I could blink.
My head snapped to the side, copper filling my mouth.
He knelt, his voice low. "You will. Or I'll carve that defiance out of you piece by piece."
I stared right into his eyes, blood dripping down my chin. " Go to hell."
Something in my tone must've cracked the thin leash on his patience because the next second, he kicked me hard in the ribs. I fell—breath gone, pain searing like fire through my lungs. Honey screamed, Freya cried out, Aries roared against his restraints.
Still, I laughed. Weak, broken, hysterical. "That all you got, bitch?"
He froze, face twisting with fury. He grabbed my hair, yanking me up till our faces were inches apart.
"I'll kill you," he hissed.
"Then do it," I whispered, smiling through blood. "Because they're coming. All of them. And when they do—you're f***ing dead.I trust them they'll come for me and then slowly make you feel hell."
A gun cocked somewhere behind him.
Then a voice, smooth and dangerous, echoed through the room—
"Trust, huh?"
The air shifted.
Boots on concrete. Shadows flooding the entrance.
"Trust, trust, baby…"
Section E walked in, smirks carved like knives, eyes cold with purpose.
I exhaled—half laughter, half relief—as Sato straightened, finally realizing what mistake he'd made.
Because this wasn't a rescue.
This was a reckoning.
He kept me on the floor because it was easier that way — easier to hurt, easier to frighten. The world narrowed to the sting in my ribs and the taste of metal in my mouth. Sato's shoe ug into the cut along my jaw and I felt the skin split again; a hot line of pain flared and I swallowed a sound.
Then he pulled me back up fighting his nails deeper into my skin.. I looked around searching For him....
"Is he here?" I demanded, voice raw. I looked up at the boys at the doorway — Section E — and for a second they looked like kids caught with their hands in a cookie jar. Eyes darting, shoulders tensing. Shame? Fear? Something like it. They weren't meeting my gaze.
Sato chuckled, slow and satisfied he turned to section e and he said, bending his face just hovering right above mine. "Tell them to bring Keifer and yuri . Or she dies."
When he tightened his grip on my hair, the anger that had been coiled in my chest snapped loose. I spat at his boots. It was stupid and spectacular and he slammed his fist into my face in answer, sending another bright flare through my body.
"Step your Fuc**ing body away from he," a man's voice cut through the room so suddenly the words felt like a physical shove.
Everything went sliver-quiet for a beat. Then, like a cut to a film, the air around the doorway hummed and time slowed.
He came. He was right here...
Keifer moved through the frame as if the world bent for him: blazer slung over one arm, tie loose, sleeves rolled just enough to make him look dangerous. His suit was dark, immaculate where it hadn't been bloodied in other fights, and his hair had that windblown edge like he'd been running. He didn't rush; he didn't need to. He simply walked in, and the room rearranged to fit him.
Behind him came a formation that read like a promise of violence: Yuri close at his shoulder, face stone-calm. Percy wild-eyed and furious; Cole, Stella, and David flanking them, every line in their bodies a loaded gun.
And then—Section E, bursting in, half-angry, half-heroic, the ridiculous, determined grin on Cin's face as bright as a banner.
The entire place exhaled.
Sato's men hesitated. Sato himself froze in the exact half-second required for someone to realize they'd made a catastrophic mistake.
"You heard me," I hissed, every word a shard. "They'll come. All of them.You're nightmare is here sato."
My eyes flickered towards him then I muttered"gago"
Keifer's jaw tightened. He didn't smile when he stepped forward; he only clicked his tongue once — tskk — so soft it might have been a reprimand.
"You heard from there too?" My voice said to the room and him. Profanity rolled off my lips like a dare. It was not a gentle sound.
"You haven't seen me in a while and that's how you greet me?" He said with utter amusement which was highly questionable.."We literally saw each other two days ago."
He inclined his head, a hard little curve of amusement. "Right, two days ago," he said. "You welcomed me with a spectacular greeting, baby." The word was a smirk wrapped in silk and knives. It made the back of my neck prickle.
Sato stepped back hold firm upon me.
Sato barked an order. The room exploded.
This wasn't choreography. It was raw, fast, messy. Men lunged. Boys hollered. Keifer moved like someone who had learned violence as a language — precise, efficient, terrifyingly calm. He ducked a swing and twisted a wrist; a thug flew into a stack of rusted crates. Percy was in the center of a blur, dislocating a shoulder with one elbow and laughing like a lunatic as he did it. Yuri's strikes were cold and surgical. Cole's hands were everywhere — first to block, then to find the nearest throat.
I tried to stand because staying put felt like giving up myself to a monster, because every part of me wanted to fight beside them, to be stubborn and brave. A thug caught my arm and shoved me, and pain lit the side of my body. I found myself pinned, breath sucked sharp, and my vision doubled.
"Jay!" Keifer yelled over the chaos in one single, terrible note. It cut the room clean as a knife through silk. My name was the only thing that stabilized me.
"Take her," he snarled at David, voice as near-quiet as a command that flattens a room. "Now."
David was already moving — a tidal hand. He scooped me up like I weighed nothing, efficient and sure and while I wanted to wrench free, to stay and spit back, to be there when the last man fell, it was stupid to insist. There were lines we did not cross if we wanted to win. He carried me as if the way he held me would make the world even again.
"No," I breathed, resisting. "I—"
"Shh," David said, jaw clamped, every inch of him telling me he meant it. "You go. This is ours."
Stella and Cole nudged Section E, directing them like referees guiding an unruly, noisy fight. Tesco-slam chaos, fists, smashed chairs — it was theatre and war all at once. The room smelled of sweat and metal and a terrible, raw adrenaline.
Keifer was a hurricane. He collided with Sato, their faces close enough that we could see the little mistakes and the arrogance in Sato's eyes crack. Sato lunged for the worst idea of a man with a knife; Keifer's hand moved like a piston. There was a sound — a hard, ugly crack — and Sato's arm went slack. No mercy. No theatre. Just the arithmetic of defeat.
I wanted to be there as the last blow fell. I wanted to stand on shaking legs and spit and scream and claim my vengeance with my own scarred hands. But David had my weight balanced against his chest and he was already turning heels to the door. Percy's wild grin flashed across the room one last time at me — half apology, half promise — and then we were out.
We stumbled into the sunlight and I wrapped my arms around David's neck because the world had become too sharp to face alone. My breath came in ragged pulls. People shouted behind us; the sounds of the fight were distant and close at once.
"Jay," David said softly, his fingers threading into my hair to keep my head from jerking. "You're safe. You're safe now."
I tried to go back inside but David and eren held me tight, all of the girls along with entire section e was out.. Only they were there inside..
Aries, yuri, stella, percy, David, Cole and Keifer....
Cole's POV:
The air reeked of smoke and blood — heavy, metallic, burning into my lungs. The room was chaos. Sato's men surrounded us, the clatter of guns and blades echoing against the concrete walls. Keifer was in front, blazer torn, blood soaking through his white shirt but still moving like a storm — precise, ruthless, unstoppable.
"Cover left!" he barked, and we scattered. Yuri and I moved in sync — like years of knowing each other's rhythm. Sato's men were fast, but we were faster.
Then it happened too quick — one of them lunged toward Yuri, blade flashing. I saw it, yelled his name, but before either of us could react, Keifer stepped in, taking the blow straight to his side. His expression didn't even change. He just grunted, twisted the knife out of the guy's hand, and drove it right back into him.
"Keifer!" Stella screamed. But he only glanced over his shoulder and said, "Focus."
I turned—and froze. Another man had his gun aimed at Yuri. My heart slammed. Instinct took over. I lunged.
The shot fired.
White-hot agony tore through my side. My legs gave out, and the world slowed. Behind me, the sharp report of Yuri's gun echoed. Sato fell—one clean shot between the eyes. Time itself seemed to fracture.
Blood warm and sticky ran through my fingers. Stella's scream pierced the haze of ringing in my ears. David's arms caught me before I hit the ground, panic etched across his face.
"Cole! No Cole Stay with me!" he shouted, pressing hard against my chest, his hands trembling.
I tried to smile. It came out ragged, broken. "Hey… don't make that face, man. Not you."
"Shut up… not now!" David's voice cracked, sharp with desperation.
I turned my head just enough to see Stella clutching my hand, trembling, tears streaming down her face. "Don't cry, shortcake," I rasped, my breath shallow. "You look ugly when you cry."
Her hand struck my shoulder softly—not in anger, but in grief.
"I need you to promise me to take care of yourself okay,take care of them… all of them. My family, and Jay Jay " I gasped.
" No don't say it like that Cole you'll be fine we'll take you the hospital don't worry hold on please don't leave me we need you to take of us you are our Keeper Cole Wilson" Stella cried
I looked over to David and he understood.
David's eyes glistened as he nodded, holding me tighter.
And then… I saw her. Jay. Frozen, trembling, eyes wide and wet. My lips curved into a faint, pained smile.
"Hey… Jay…" My voice barely carried. "…you know I loved you, right? Like… my own sister.My Jay baby forgive me for any wrong I ever did to you okay, be brave always my lil baby shine brighter and make me proud okay..."
Her lips quivered, a sob lodged in her throat.
"Keep… them together," I whispered, struggling for every syllable. "You're… good at that…"
"No Cole I need you.. You can't just leave me like this we still need to achieve so many things... " Jay cried like a lil baby.. Stella hold her tight..
I looked towards keifer and whispered " Take care of my Jay, she's my lil baby don't hurt her ever after you're done and keep loving her the same and more most importantly protect her keep my baby safe..."
He nodded quietly...
And then—like shards of sunlight piercing storm clouds—memories flashed:
Jay laughing as I tripped over my own feet, her hand slapping her knee.
Stella snorting at a dumb joke I'd made, pointing at me with bright, teasing eyes.
David smirking, rolling his eyes as we all bickered over something meaningless, the sound of our laughter echoing in the empty classroom.
All of us under the bridge playing , laughing around my happy place....
The world around me dimmed. The lights flickered, the noise blurred, everything slipping into silence.
David shook me harder. Stella's sobs grew frantic. Someone shouted my name. But all I heard was Jay—her voice distant, fractured, calling me… calling me…
And then… nothing.
Aslow, infinite stillness swallowed me....
Jay's POV:
I clutched David's arms like a lifeline, shaking uncontrollably. Stella pressed against me, her own sobs muffling into my hair. My chest heaved, my mind refused to comprehend what had just happened.
Cole. My Cole.
His words — his love, his trust, his sacrifice — cut through me like shards of glass. I wanted to run, scream, fight, curl into him… but he was gone.
Keifer's hand found mine then, strong, warm, steady. His gaze met mine, and in his eyes I saw fire, promise, and unyielding protection.
I wanted to believe him. I had to. Because right now, all I had was this moment, these people — Section E, Keifer, David, Stella, Percy — and the echo of Cole's last plea, urging me to survive, to shine, to fight for all of us.
And as the sun rose weakly through the broken windows, the world outside chaotic and bloody, I held onto that. One breath at a time. One heartbeat at a time.
We had survived. But the cost… would haunt us forever.