Counterfeit

-sixtyfive-

—sixtyfive-

THE OLD ME would have left, but Charleston and I were both so fragile that I knew one of us would break if I did.

"Then I'm altering the Plan." I declared.

"Pip..." Charleston tried to warn me, hinting that it didn't work like that, to say that no matter what I did, nothing could change someone's fate.

"Seeing as I came up with this whole thing, I think it's only fair that I get to add to it. We evacuate The Dormir - that's all the same. Then we get MiKinley a damn cure."

Everyone looked to Charleston to see where his position was. The light revealed a glimmer of water in his eyes, only the slightest amount, but enough for me to see it.

"Well... You heard her. This doesn't end until we find a cure. This isn't only about saving the healthy, but giving a future back to the sick. So who's with us?"

-

As everyone was leaving, someone gripped my wrist, pulling me back into the room. No doubt at who it was.

"I'll catch up with you." I called to Ava, informing her that I might be a while.

For the first time in what I could remember, I didn't know what to say to Charleston. It remained quiet for a few moments until he wondered to a seat, carefully rehearsing his words before saying them to me.

"I'd do anything for you. You know that?"

I smiled softly, relaxing into his words. I nodded.

"And I am. Trying to keep up with everything is so...impossible."

"I'm so proud of you, Charles. All you've done. How far you've carried me."

He sighed as if it wasn't enough. Like he felt he hadn't done enough. "I know you want more time. Pip, I'd do anything in the world to be able to give that to you. But the longer we wait, the less likely it is that we can help him."

It always came back to this: to two of the people that I cared most about in the world. Pulling me in opposite directions, complicating everything. Why couldn't they both just be safe? I had to ask the question - the one that had been destroying me. "What if I have no time at all?"

He sighed, aware that it was a possibility, but having no favourable answer. "Then you have to survive it."

"Charleston." I wouldn't be able to. Surely he knew me well enough to know that.

"No, Pip. I know it's not what you want to hear, but you have to prepare yourself for the worst, okay? I can't lose you, too."

"I'm not the one who might be dying."

"No, but if we can't save him, and you made yourself believe you would, then what's going to happen to you? I need you, Pip. I know he's your best friend, but you're mine. I won't let you go. I won't."

"If I lose MiKinley, I lose everything."

"See, that's what I'm so terrified of! You won't be alone, you'll have me! Ava, Thea, Patrick - they're not going anywhere. Pip, this whole Plan relies on you. Don't you get it? You keep everyone strong. And its my duty to keep you strong for it."

"It sounds like you've already given up on him..."

"I won't stop trying. Tell me you hear me."

"I hear you."

"But I'm not going to let you destroy yourself if you couldn't save him."

Dampened cheeks, Charleston came over, slowly pulling me into his arms. "You can do anything, but not everything. And that will never be your fault."

"I just wish I had the answers, to know what to do." I told him.

"I know. You just got to make it all count."

-sixtyfive—
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