Enjoy. :)

Read my note at the end. I know its long, but its important if you care about my stories at all.

All rights to Kiera Cass, because she is wonderful and so freaking imaginative. :)

Chapter 23

America's POV

We were safe... we were. It had been an hour, though, and no one else had made it down to the safe room. I kept looking around every few minutes, hoping that the doors would open and my family would walk in, healthy and without a bruise on anyone of them. They couldn't be in danger so long as I had hope that they would show up eventually. They couldn't die... they just couldn't.

Celeste was in the corner of the room on a cot with an IV line in her arm. Thankfully, the doctors had found a portable monitor in time and had her ready to go with minutes to spare. They were watching over her like hawks, but at least I could know that she was alive. I had followed through on our promise to Avery, and I felt slightly calmer and more like myself knowing that I at least did one thing for my dead friend.

I sighed, curling up close to Maxon and putting my head on his chest. He wrapped his arms around my waist and squeezed me closer to him.

"They'll be fine, America. My parents and your family are probably just hiding in a small safe room like we did a few weeks ago. They probably aren't making out in it, or wiping blood off of each other's backs, but I can feel it. They're safe." he kissed my forehead and rocked me back and forth. "We can't sit here and let the fear of losing them keep us from staying calm and composed. America, people are looking at us for an example on how to act right now. As much as this is freaking me, and you, out...we have to try and keep our emotions to ourselves." I felt his breath on the back of my neck and shivered. "I'm sorry, America. Hopefully this will be over soon."

I scrunched my eyes up to ward off the tears that had started to form in the back of my eyes. "I want to go find them, Maxon." I said, grabbing on to his shirt front haphazardly. "I need my family. I've lost too much; I can't lose them too."

A tear escaped and he kissed where it fell. "I love you. Don't break on me now. Please, just be patient. Soon the rebels will be gone and we will find our families and be back to normal."

I swallowed. "You're too optimistic."

May's POV

Everything happened so fast. One second, we were all in the gardens, relaxing... Gerad was playing soccer against the side of the palace's wall, Mom was reading some sort of book on royalty, Dad was sleeping under a willow tree, and everything felt so peaceful. A second later, and all of those thoughts vanished from my mind.

Rebels swarmed in ten by ten, going different directions, taking orders from their officials. They all had guns, glocks, tasers, knives, and what looked to be a bayonet. They marched in unison, blank expressions filling their faces as they advanced closer and closer to us.

I started to shake, unable to move. The reality of the situation I was in had not occurred to me yet, and I was perplexed at how they had infiltrated the palace so easily when the number of guards was doubled since we got here.

Gerad stopped kicking his soccer ball when he heard them draw nearer and turned towards the sound. He started hyperventilating, but I couldn't help him, because I was just as scared as he was. He finally got a bit of control over his breathing, and screamed as loud as he could.

"MOM! DAD! Ke-"

The sound of a gun shot. Bullets flying through my little brother's body. Screams echoing through the gardens. My father waking up as my brother violently shakes and falls to the ground. My mother diving towards her little boy. My brother, dying. My heart breaking.

"GERAD!" I screamed bloody murder, falling to the ground, dragging myself towards my little brother who just months ago was dreading being a Five because all he wanted to do was play sports; an innocent kid that smiled all the time and laughed and had so many friends back home; a child that had so much love to offer to everyone he met, who never gave up on anything he felt strongly about, but who always gave up on things he was terrible at (i.e. art, singing, dancing, music, poetry, etc.). I fell towards his blood-streaked body and cramped up in tears, barely able to move because of the terrible pain that stirred in my chest.

"My boy! My baby boy..." my mom kissed his head a million times, letting her tears drop on his face as she did so. "No," she wailed, "No... Gerad...please...fix this. Someone fix him. He can make it. We can get him help." she closed her eyes and my dad cradled her in his arms, staying strong for us.

"We need to move. Fast." he said urgently, waking me up from my stupor and misery. "They got one of us in a matter of seconds. Think about how far away they were. We don't have time to waste. Mourne when we're all safe. Please. I can't lose another one of you today." he bent forward and placed a kiss on Gerad's forehead. "I love you son," he said softly, "We have to leave him and get him later."

"But we can't just-" I protested, getting cut off in the process.

"You don't think this is killing me right now, May? Do you think I enjoy seeing my son die in front of my eyes? Sons and daughters are supposed to live longer than the mothers and fathers. That's the goal. I wanted to die knowing that all of my kids were alive and well with families of their own, and now I won't get to see that with Gerad. So, please; don't. Not now, not ever. Right now, its either we all die sitting here with him, when he's no longer here with us anymore, or we try to escape the gardens and get to safety and risk getting caught, but still try making it out of here. Which would you prefer?" he asked harshly, "Would you like to see me die as well? Your mom?Kenna?"

I shook my head. "No, but..."

"Then as much as it hurts right now, we need to leave him. We have to get out of here before its too late."

I nodded, reluctant. "Okay." I sighed, "Can I at least say good-bye?" I asked, tearing up.

Dad looked down and I finally saw a tear slip from his eyes. "Go ahead. But hurry."

I looked down at my brother and whimpered.

It could have been anyone here; me, mom, dad, Kenna... and fate picked you.

I shuddered, thinking.

"But you're my brother forever and always, no matter what. Remember that, even if you're gone, I'll never love anyone more than I love you, little guy." I sniffled, getting caught up in the moment. "I'll never forget you, Gerad."

An arm landed on my shoulder and I knew it was time to go. Mom, Dad, and Kenna were already up and hiding behind adjacent bushes, waiting for me.

"Alright, pumpkin. On three, we run as fast as we can to the doors." he said, pointing to the palace's main entrance from the gardens. "One, two, three."

YOU SHOULD READ THIS...

I'm going to stop there out of the sheer fact that I am extremely tired and I want to sleep. I really hope you all enjoyed the new chapter. I am sad to say this, but I will be ending this story very soon. I made a promise to you guys a while ago, I am not sure if you remember or not, but... I said that the day The One came out, I would stop writing for this no matter what. I am sort of standing by my promise. I am going to post two to three more chapters that are all-encompassing sometime in the next week. The last one will not be an epilogue, per say, because there is a sequel. It's called my other story; and now you all understand why the prince's name is Gerad. So I get that some of you like this story a lot, but I feel like drawing this out forever will just make me hate writing on here. Every story must come to an end eventually, and America and Maxon's is coming to a slight close on my profile. You will still see a bit of them in my other story, but that's it. I know, it's very sad. I might do a one-shot here and there as a little tie-in if you really want it. Thanks for everything guys. Thank you for reading this story that came to me out of nowhere one day; thanks for reviewing constantly, even after I missed writing for like a month; thanks for being understanding of my circumstances and knowing that I am a busy person; thanks for PM-ing me with crazy answers to questions and ideas on what should happen next and random requests for books I should read; thanks for following and favoriting my stories and always checking them out when I updated them. I just feel so loved by you guys, and I really hope you enjoy these last few chapters (and my other story if you haven't read that yet).

Okay, that's enough mushy-gushy stuff. Hope you guys liked the action because that's always my favorite part of any story...well sometimes I like the romance, too...if I ship the couple, that is. :)

#MAXERICA

I still haven't read The One. Please don't spoil it for me, people!

-Property of Illea