a/n: Hey Horsemen! Sorry I missed yesterday; I was a bit busy seeing Pippin on Broadway! It was a fantastic show- I highly recommend it. Anyway, in my penultimate update today, I have for you the second intermission. If you recall, an intermission is a rewrite/alternate ending for a past or future chapter. It does not apply to the story outside of itself. Today's intermission is a rewrite of the ending of the previous chapter. I must warn you, however. The first intermission was happy. This one is not. Enjoy!
The door slammed open. "Stop where you are!" Jack didn't turn around, and instead made for the window. There was a loud bang and a searing pain in between Jack's shoulder blades as he fell through the open air, landing, as promised, in Daniel's arms.
Daniel knew something was wrong as soon as Jack fell into his arms. The boy's body was limp and unresponsive. His back felt warm and sticky, and Daniel knew without having to look that it was blood. He didn't think; only ran toward the car where Dylan and the other Horsemen waited. Daniel nearly threw himself into the car as he screamed at Dylan to get them to a hospital. Upon seeing the frantic man and the pale and bloody boy, Henley and Merritt jumped into action. Tearing off his shirt, Merritt tossed it to Daniel to use as a compress. Henley gently turned Jack over and used a pocketknife to cut open his shirt, revealing the extent of the wound. She caught Daniel's eye, and in that silence glance they both understood the truth that neither wanted to accept. His eyes brimming with tears, Daniel nodded an answer to the unspoken question. They would make Jack comfortable. It was all they could do.
Daniel pressed the crumpled shirt to Jack's back and carefully turned him over. He swallowed hard and brushed a few strands of hair out of Jack's eyes. "Hey babe," he said.
Henley was leaning forward and whispering to Merritt and Dylan. Tears streamed openly down her cheeks as she fought to keep her voice steady. Merritt turned in his seat and gripped her shoulder tightly. His eyes watered as well, but there was a mutual agreement to give the young couple some privacy.
Everything spun in swirls of light and dark as Jack clawed away from the abyss forming in his mind. He saw Daniel above him and he tried weakly to reach out. "You caught me," he murmured, before his consciousness was swallowed into the black.
"Yeah," Daniel replied. "Yeah, I did." He gripped Jack's hand tightly. "Jack, babe – please. You have to let me catch you again. I'm still here. You still have me." His voice broke. "You'll always have me Jack, please…" A sob escaped his lips as Jack's hand went limp in his. He pulled the body of the young man tightly into his as more sobs shook his defeated frame.
Henley dropped her head into her hands, biting her lip until she tasted blood. She thought back to when, not long before, they had pretended Jack was dead. Before shooting the short video clip for the internet, the three of them – Daniel, Merritt, and herself – had sat together to try and imagine life without Jack. They had done so then to get into character and conjure the necessary emotions. The three of them had been on the verge of tears as they filmed the video; life without their youngest member was an unimaginable horror. As soon as shooting had finished, Daniel nearly sprinted off the set, tears threatening to pour from his eyes. Henley glanced over to him now. Daniel was no longer the strong figure he always appeared to be. He was small and weak. It scared Henley to see him like this. She reached out to lay a hand on his shoulder, but stopped herself. There would be time. There would be far, far too much time.
a/n: sorry sorry sorry sorry. Tomorrow will be the final update in which I finish up this story. Of course, as this was only an intermission, Jack will be back and alive (though still with a bullet in his leg).
See you tomorrow!
Julia