The Shelby brothers had dragged Lili halfway back to the boat when she'd broke free and sprinted off in a blubbering mess. Of course they'd tried to catch her but she was small and it was dark and they hadn't a clue where they were going.

After a few hours of searching Tommy lost all hope and started to walk back to the boat. John quickly caught up with him and shoved him back, getting in his way.

"Where the fuck do you think you're going?" John questioned bitterly.

Tommy didn't meet his eye, "The girl clearly doesn't want to be found, just let her be"

"No, we need to find her" John said with a shake of his head, "She's just lost her sister, she has no one else. Pearl would've wanted us to take care of her"

"Well Pearl's not here anymore!" Tommy snapped, "Is she? So what point is there in trying to guess what she would've wanted?"

Arthur rounded the corner just in time to see Tommy staring daggers at John.

"Tom... I know. But we all loved Pearl-"

Tommy cut John off by brushing past him and making his way silently back to the boat. John watched his brother's back retreat with disdain, hardly believing that Tommy would want the fate that was sure to befall Lillian if they left her.

Pearl would roll in her grave if she knew.

"Arthur? We can't leave her" John pleaded but Arthur's eyes were just as empty as Tommy's.

Arthur looked back and forth between the boat and the darkened streets for a moment, "If she wants to be a street rat, let her"

"Arthur, you can't-"

But just as his brother had Arthur stalked past John and back to the boat.

"Fuck!" John pressed the heel of his palms into his eyes in frustration.

He hoped desperately that at any moment Lillian would slink out of some gloomy corner and come back to them. He couldn't bear the thought of leaving her to fend for herself - anything could happen. Alas, she never showed and John doubted she ever would.

Against his better judgement he too walked back to the boat and let London and all that had passed slowly disappear behind them.

The brothers didn't expect that Lili would return back to the wreckage of the house but that was exactly what she had done. She'd gone to mourn at the grave of her sister and weep until she had nothing else left to give.

And that's what she did. She sat and cried for what seemed like an eternity but at most could have only been an hour. She only stopped once her nose was stuffed and her eyes were almost swollen shut and all that was left was a deep aching hole right through the middle of her very being.

That's why she put it down to grief when she saw a figure limping towards her down the street. She thought insanity had taken hold of her when the very image of her sister was before her, battered and bruised and saying her name. When Pearl placed a hand on Lili's cheek she thought that perhaps she had also passed away from the insurmountable pain riddling her very being.

But when the ringing in her ears stopped and the world seemed to focus in before her she realised that she wasn't dead and this wasn't in fact an apparition.

Pearl was stood in front of her - severely wounded - but alive!

Lili jumped up and wrapped her arms around her sister which caused her to wince but even then she refused to let go. Once again tears sprang from Lillian's eyes as she cried into her big sister's shoulder.

"How are you here? I watched you die... how could you-" Her voice cracked and she continued to weep.

"Lili it's okay... i'm okay" Pearl hushed, stroking her sister's hair.

After a few more minutes Lili calmed down and she helped Pearl to sit beside her on the pavement. Her clothes were all torn and it revealed the cuts and marks all over her body. Once they were sat Lili asked a million questions but refused to let go of Pearl's hand for fear that she might fade away.

It turns out that when the explosion hit, Pearl had indeed flown through the air, however she landed on top of a roof a few doors down. She was pretty sure she'd broken her arm and cracked a good few ribs but she had survived it. She couldn't say the same for everyone else.

Grenfeld's scorched body had landed on the front lawn of the house and the other men who had been on the roof were nowhere to be found. As for everyone who had been inside the house, there was no chance they could've made it out. It was hard to say how many men were trapped inside but there was no use in pondering on the thought.

What's done is done.

After everything had been explained Lillian urged Pearl to get up and that they might make it back to the boat before the Shelby's left. Lillian thought it was because Pearl was so injured that she couldn't go so she suggested that she should run back and inform them but once again Pearl stopped her.

"Why?" Lili asked, "They'll be thrilled to know you're okay. When they thought you were dead... well they were utterly heartbroken"

"They'll heal, Lils, and then they'll forget all about us. It's better this way. It never could've worked and, whilst devastating, this is the cleanest break I could have asked for"

Lili cocked her head like a confused puppy, "You want them to think you're dead? Even Tommy? The way you looked at each other... I thought you loved him?"

Pearl wrapped her good arm around her sister's shoulders and rested her head atop of hers.

"It's because I love him that I'm letting him believe I'm dead. If he even thought there was the slightest chance we could ever be together, neither of us would get what we wanted. I want Tommy to succeed, I can't hold him back" Pearl sighed, "I want to set him free"

The girls let the words hang in the air as no more needed to be said. Pearl was willing to let her life in Birmingham die if she thought it would be to Tommy's benefit. She knew one day he would become a powerful man and perhaps later in life their paths would cross once more; but by then she imagined he'd be settled down with someone new and he would've built a life for himself - she believed he'd hardly throw her a passing glance if they were ever to run in to one another.

So as the girls watched their childhood go up in flames Pearl allowed herself to shed a few tears for the life she almost had, however, she also made it her new mission to and claim the life she'd always wanted.

A/N

short and bittersweet final chapter, well sort of final chapter, there will be an epilogue.

I have ideas for a potential book 2 so we'll see what happens with that because I have so many ideas for other fics that I want to work on.

So for now this is the end of Pearl and Tommy's story. I've loved writing these two so much and I really hope you've all enjoyed reading it - thank you so much for all the love and support for this book!

I'll see you in the epilogue ;)