"Mar..... Mar wake up."

"Mmhm?" Marissa felt warm. She felt very warm and didn't want to open her eyes. As far as she was concerned, she was dead, and Ellie Rae was here in heaven with her. It was a nice thought.

"Damnit Marissa, open your damn eyes." Another voice. Jax. How had he made it into heaven?

How did Marissa make it into heaven?

Marissa opened her eyes and winced at the bright LED light that was shining above her head. So maybe not heaven- they wouldn't need LED lights in heaven.

And her head and chest would not hurt this badly if she were dead.

"Mar! Oh thank goodness you're awake." It was Ellie Rae, hair tied back and face cleaner than last time she had seen her. Jax was on the other side of her, dark skin gleaming in the light of the room, grinning from ear to ear like the Cheshire cat.

"Water." Marissa croaked. Jax offered her a straw that was in a bottle and Marissa accepted it, wincing as she lifted her arm to hold the bottle. Jax moved the water away from her before she could take it. "Oi!"

"You have broken ribs, don't move your arm." Jax plopped down in the chair beside her. She looked over at Ellie Rae who grinned at her.

"So you're probably wondering how we ended up here." Ellie Rae began.

"I don't even know where here is."

"Yes we know that. That's why we're starting with 'so you're probably wondering how we ended up here."

"Yeah, Marissa. Let the girl tell the story." Jax pushed back on his chair and rested his feet on the bed by Marissa's hip. Marissa turned her head to poke her tongue out at him. She winced as she did this.

"Why does everything hurt?"

"You fell off a brick wall and we found you. Jax pulled me into like, an alcove when we started crawling away. The alcove led to a tunnel and-."

"You remember how I said there were gangs out here?" Jax interrupted, grinning. "Yeah, well I have friends in some of these gangs."

"Friends is a bit of a strong word there, Darren." A new voice entered the room. "Mar?"

"Lincoln?"

"Oh thank all things good and mighty." Lincoln appeared at the end of her bed, wheeled in on a wheelchair with a man behind him, pushing him along. He grinned at the three of them and put the brakes of Lincolns chair on. Lincoln looked as bad as Marissa felt. His arm was in a sling and his face was bruised, nose bruised and swollen. "You alright?"

"Been better. You?"

"Same here. Have they told you where we are what happened?"

"We were just in the process of doing so." Ellie Rae blushed at the man who was pushing Lincoln along.

"I'll get Raven to come and have a look over you, okay? I'll be back." He grinned and left the room. Marissa frowned.

"Who is that?"

"We'll get to that. So as I was saying, I have friends in some of the gang members around the place." Marissa raised an eyebrow at Jax as he spoke. She nodded her head and he continued. "So while we were walking along with ERs young lion bastard, I recognized some markings on the walls and realized we were in their territory, I knew it was a matter of time before they would see us and probably take us hostage." Marissa frowned.

"So, when you two disappeared..."

"They had been there and dragged us to safety, yeah. They couldn't go very far until you two morons jumped the fence and bruised yourselves to kingdom come but they did decide to wait for you."

"Only because the only way you would let us take you away from that travesty was if we waited to see if they survived." Another new voice entered the room, only this time, it was female.

Through the door, a young woman probably a little older than Marissa walked in. Her hair was dyed pitch black and had vibrant streaks of violet running through it. Every inch of her tanned skin was covered in a tattoo but the most eye catching one was in the middle of her chest. It was a massive teardrop with what looked like the crossing of two guns in the middle, the big water drop surrounded by what could have been hundreds of miniature ones. Marissa grimaced at it, thinking about how painful it must have been before looking up at the woman standing in the door. She was inspecting all of them one by one, eyes warming when she looked at Jax, but her stare went cold as she took in everyone else.

"Do you realize how much danger you are in being out there with no protection?" She asked, directing the question at Jax. Jax looked at her and gave her a lazy grin.

"We weren't alone. We had a lion."

"Speaking of which, where is he?" Marissa asked before taking another sip of water and wincing as she put the glass down. Whatever she had done to herself from falling off that wall, it was probably going to hurt for a while. Ellie Rae looked at her sadly and shrugged.

"He's a wild cat, he'll be fine." Jax said airily. That didn't seem to comfort Ellie Rae at all, but she said nothing. Marissa narrowed her eyes at Jax before looking up at the woman who was in the room with them.

"Who are you?" She inquired, not breaking eye contact with the woman. She stared back, expression hard but she had a cheeky quality to her. She raised her left arm and held it out for Marissa. Marissa did the same and shook hands.

"I'm Taveina but everyone calls me Tavvy. Welcome to the Violet Tears."

The Violet Tears was a gang that ran zone 34b- according to a young botanist by the name of Riley. 34b used to be called Brooklyn but when the gang wars broke out, they figured it was easier to call the different sectors by zones and with those zones, they assigned numbers. From there, they were able to allocate the different sections to gangs to bring peace to the place and let them live out their lives. There were always mini gang wars on the go- each had their enemy and each always wanted to expand their territory. Riley started talking about how The Violet Tears and kept to themselves these past few years as he was redressing Marissa's scrape on her leg, pressing all sorts of medicinal plants into the wound, and packing the dressing well. He was just about to start talking about one of the other gangs that was getting a little too comfortable on the edge of Violet territory when Tavvy walked in with Daniel. Daniel was the guy that Marissa met when he wheeled Lincoln into her room and today wasn't much different only this time, the wheelchair was empty.

"Miss Jackson, your chariot into the real world awaits." Tavvy gave her a sly grin as she waved at the chair. Marissa sighed. "Come now, Jax has been telling me all about your adventures thus far and I am intrigued to hear what you have to say, isn't that right Daniel?"

"Sure is Tavvy. Here, let me help you up." Daniel stepped around Riley who had just pulled the leg of Marissa's sweatpants down and stepped out of the way of his older brother. Daniel scooped Marissa out of the medical bed and plopped her in the wheelchair. She was too stunned to speak as he took the brakes off and wheeled er around to face the door. She heard Riley grumble something that she didn't catch but Tavvy shushed him quickly.

"Where are we going?"

"To the conference room, of course. It's been a week since you got here so now it's high time we sat and had a chat." Tavvy patter her shoulder heavily and Marissa felt each of her heavy rings drop into her shoulder. She winced.

A week had passed. Since waking up from tumbling to the ground, Marissa and Lincoln had both been kept under close observation by members of the Violet Tears gang. She wasn't entirely sure why seeing as Jax had verbally vouched for her multiple times- he reluctantly included Lincoln as well- but Tavvy took no chances. She had apologized for this a few times at the beginning, saying there's no knowing who could be spies these days.

Ellie Rae had spent her time in and out of Marissa's make-shift hospital room. She also had this weird sense for when Daniel turned up at the room and would make herself magically appear by Marissa's bed moments before he would walk in, younger brother in tow. Riley Parker was nothing like Daniel and Marissa had come to like him a lot more quickly than she did Daniel. He was a quiet, hard worker and loved all things fauna and flora. He was the self-appointed botanist of the gang and worked closely with Raven, the medic, in creating medicinal herb things to get rid of infection- much like what he had just packed into Marissa's leg. He was sweet and Marissa had great fun poking at Jax who was very sweet on him. To a point of sweetness that Marissa got the idea that maybe there was something between the two of them.

Until she was told that Jax had had a thing with 80% of the gang's population, broken up two marriages and inadvertently gotten married himself – Raven had told Marissa this while she had been changing the dressing around her ribs and swore her to secrecy. The fact that Jax had no idea he was married to someone was hilarious and made his 'infidelity' more comedic for them.

Apparently, his 'sort-of-but-not-really' husband had come up with the idea after Jax had blown their cover in a rival gangs' territory.

At least they weren't that big into murder.

Marissa was wheeled into a conference room and smiled as she saw the faces of her friends. Lincoln still looked a little worse for wear, his arm still in a sling but Ellie Rae and Jax beamed at Marissa as Daniel put the brakes of the wheelchair when Marissa was sat at the table. She herself, still felt like she had taken on a cement truck and lost, but her leg was healing and supposedly, it would be safe to walk in within the next few days.

"Now that you two appear to be in better shape than when you first arrived, I felt it was time we had a little chat." Taveina dropped into a chair and swung her legs up to rest them on the table they were all sat at. Marissa raised her eyebrow. "So, let's start with some easy questions for you folks." She looked at Marissa. "What are you doing heading into the Expanse?" Marissa eyed Tavvy before looking at her friends. Jax gave a small nod of his head. She looked back at Tavvy and thought out her words before speaking to them.

"We're looking for refuge away from our home."

"Did you do something to be cast out?" Tavvy intertwined her fingers as she watched Marissa. She shook her head. This felt more like an interrogation than a casual conversation.

"No. Our home was hit by... I don't know how to say this without sounding like a mad woman... We were hit by a horseman who called himself War." Tavvy nodded her head, appearing as though in thought. She looked at Ellie Rae next, who was sat beside her.

"And what do you know about War?" She inquired. Ellie Rae shrugged.

"Nothing except that half of the village area we live in went mad and started fighting and killing each other. We were lucky to get away." Tavvy nodded. She looked at Lincoln next.

"So what happened next?" Lincoln looked at Marissa then back at Tavvy.

"Do you want the long story or the snapshot?" He waited for Tavvy to answer. They all did. She sat there for a moment, appraising him. She pulled a knife out of a leg sheath and one of her lackeys threw her an apple, which she caught deftly with one hand.

"I have all the time in the world."

3 hours. That's how long that sat there, telling Tavvy their story. She didn't question Jax until he entered their story. She appeared pleased when he told her about the Diablos- apparently they had a target on their back and Jax antagonizing them may just help the Violet Tears expand their sector.

She was a good listener, though. Marissa was still uncomfortable talking to her all about this- they hadn't even figured out what was going on.

".... And now here we are." Marissa zoned back in on the conversation as Ellie Rae said that. She blinked a few times then looked over at Tavvy. She was now sitting with her arms crossed on the table, nodding to herself.

"Now that's.... I wish I could say that is all crazy but honestly, that's the sanest thing I've heard all week." Marissa's eyes widened in surprise.

"You're kidding."

"I wish I was." Tavvy leaned back in her chair and sighed. "We don't usually have communications with the gangs around here. Mainly because it always ends up with someone killing someone and then it's a full-out war." She rubbed her face.

"I've seen one of them. He had a pale helmet on and his horse... It's given me nightmares. But he was traveling through and yelling something about famine. And then he disappeared.

"That's when the hell storms began. We've been running on canned food and reserved crops for the past month. Riley was a little genius though, our little botanist." Jax smiled a little bit causing Marissa to raise her eyebrow at him. His cheeks took a pink hue to them and he looked away. "He came up with transforming some of the basements into underground greenhouses. But nothing has been the same since that thing came through." Marissa tapped her fingers on the table, thinking.

"So.... Just to put this all together in a simple little question. Uh, are we having the end of the world? Again?" Tavvy looked over at her and sighed.

"That was two questions but that doesn't even begin cover the amount of questions."

"Like why this is happening?" Ellie Rae nodded to herself as she spoke. Tavvy nodded in her direction. "And what is there to do about it?"

The question hung heavily in the air. What was there to do about something that seemed to be the end of the world. They sat in silence, pondering Ellie Rae's question.

"Look," Jax was the one who broke the silence. "I'm not good at this crap. I haven't hung around people that much but I quite like you lot – Sorry Tavs, you've beaten me up more times than I can count- and that's just because I can't be bothered taking my shoes and socks off. But the original end of the world had a reason, right?" Everyone nodded. Marissa looked at Jax and could almost see his brain ticking.

"When the world ended originally, there was a catalyst. End times. Revelations come true. And then once it came to pass, everything stopped." Marissa was watching Jax who looked at her and nodded. "So what would happen if the harbingers of the end of the world wanted a round two?"

"With no being to say it's time." Jax nodded as he said it, eyes widening.

"God gives everyone free will. Everyone makes their own choices which lead them down their own paths. What if..."

"What if these Horsemen decided they wanted to do it again but by their own rules?" Lincoln chimed in. Ellie Rae's eyes widened.

"Which means that they are in full control this time. They aren't myths. They are running the end of the world in their own way, torturing how they like. Ending it as they please."

They sat there in silence, too stunned to speak. The earth-shattering realization that the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse were bringing the Worlds end round 2 was startling. There would be no safe place to go.

And on top of that, who knew how long this would go on for.

Because it may be ending the world, but then again, the world may never end. And the more thought that was put into their predicament, the more the end of the world sounded like a really, crappy idea.

Some hours later, Marissa sat in the conference room with her friends in silence, all staring at something blankly. Tavvy had excused herself at some point, leaving the four to have existential crisis.

"So." Jax finally said after a while, causing Marissa to jump. They all looked at him, waiting for him to say something else.

He didn't.

Marissa cleared her throat and everyone looked over at her suddenly. She sighed.

"So," She started, looking over at Jax. He still didn't say anything. "I guess we need to figure out what's next." Ellie Rae nodded but she didn't look like she was even paying attention. Marissa pulled herself out of the wheelchair and winced as her limbs stretched. Sitting for so long and then also mending from falling off a brick wall was not something she would ever be attempting to do again. She moved out from the wheelchair and began pacing, electing to move around now as she thought. "So what's next?"

"We go live out our days without dying painfully by the Horsemen." Lincoln suggested. Jax kicked him under the table, scowling at such a preposterous proposition. "What? I'm kind of into the idea of a peaceful death."

"That's beginning to be more and more less likely." Jax scowled. He looked back at Marissa. "So what, you want to stop them?" Ellie Rae laughed at that, surprising everyone.

"Only Mar would want to do something as ludicrous as that." Marissa stopped pacing to poke her tongue out.

"I don't think we could stop them. I think that's what they call a fever dream." She rubbed her eyes with her hands. "There has to be a reason behind why this is happening again. There has to be." Jax groaned.

"I thought we concluded that those dudes just want to bring the end of the world around again in their own way. Does there have to be a reason?" Marissa shrugged. They watched her for a few minutes as she continued to walk up and down the room. While she thought, a random image popped into her mind. She stopped by Jax and leaned on his chair.

"You remember those guards? With that insignia and all that?"

"When we went to go get my kit kat? Solid bonding time for us. Why?"

"Something is bugging me about it. Those four shadows on the emblem... I don't know but now that I think of it, maybe there is something going on."

"Or you could just be picking at straws and hoping to find a needle." Lincoln said, causing Marissa to turn and scowl at him. "Don't make mountains out of mole hills, Mar."

"You're exaggerating."

"Because I'm tired. We've figured out that the world is going to end, do we really need to do anything else?" He asked, eyes dark as he fired back at her. Marissa scoffed.

"Of course we do! I'm quite enjoying living my life, aren't you?" Lincoln raised an eyebrow at that. Ellie Rae and Jax looked between the two of them, trying to figure out if they needed to break them up or to just leave them to argue.

"Now that is beside the point. If the world is going to end, let it. It's done enough, don't you think? It carried on for a thousand years longer than it was supposed to."

"Annnd before we get further into this, I would like to suggest we take a break from these very lively discussions. Marissa, why don't you follow me." Jax stood up, blocking Marissa's view of Lincoln. As he moved, he pulled Marissa with him, taking her outside into the cooler air, and leaving Ellie Rae to manage the situation with Lincoln.

"He's insufferable."

"Oh trust me honey, I know that." Jax snorted. He pulled Marissa by her forearm and then pulled her onto a bench outside the conference room door, making her sit again. He let go of her arm when he was sure she wasn't going to make a run for it and start up round two. "Okay so talk to me about what you're thinking. That insignia with the gold and the sword..." He prompted. Marissa took a breath and nodded.

"Something in my gut makes me think they are connected. Four shadows, four horsemen. I don't know why but it just makes me think that those guards at that facility are somehow linked to them." Jax nodded thoughtfully.

"Okay so why would a bunch of guards be interested in mythical apocalyptic bringers and be using storage facilities to trade food for random items people have?" Marissa groaned and shrugged. Her ribs were starting to hurt again, the painkillers that Raven had given her wearing off.

"I don't know, Jax. I just.. It's my gut feeling." Jax nodded.

"If there's one thing I have learned in my 13 years of being by myself, the gut always knows what is up. So if you say something feels off, then something must be off. Either that or you just need something to eat." She laughed at that. She leaned back on the bench and sighed.

"You're creative. You're an inventor. You make things to help you get through life based on gut feelings. What does yours say?" She looked up at Jax, cocking her head slightly as she waited. He wasn't entirely focused; his gaze was elsewhere. She followed his line of sight and smiled. Riley was wandering up from what must be one of their greenhouses, his face smudged with dirt from working in it.

"I think you might be on to something, but at the same time, I see where Lincoln is coming from. While part of me wants to just let it be and we can make use of the time we have left on this planet, another part of me wants the adventure of finding out what is happening. Plus, I really want to shoot that Death one. I hold a personal grudge against him for almost squashing us with that building." Jax looked down at her and gave her a half smile. She bumped his shoulder and looked back out on the busy courtyard. Once upon a time, this would have been a business district of some kind, a small one but still. Gang members were milling around, doing odd jobs, or just enjoying the cool air.

"So. What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that I'm tired and my ribs are sore."

"But?" Jax probed. Marissa gave him a side eye glance.

"But" she started. "I think there is something going on and I want to know what it is." Jax grinned as she said that and then clapped her heavily on the shoulder. She winced from the pain but couldn't help but smile.

"I know we haven't known each other that long but Marissa, I'm in."

"You sure? I think Riley would be quite happy for you to be out." She teased. Jax rolled his eyes but he was still smiling.

"You are ridiculous... But he's adorable, right?" The following conversation felt so normal. The joking and the teasing about everyday life things. This was what they should be doing. Not worrying about the fact that there were four horsemen out there- although only three had shown up- trying to end the world. Normal things like boyfriends and girlfriends, what to have for dinner that night, why the dishes weren't put away properly.

Marissa wished for that back. She enjoyed having this peace back, even if it were for only a few moments.

Because no sooner had she though that, there was a piercing scream that broke through the little haven they were in. Marissa's heart leapt into her chest. Ellie Rae-

"Marissa! Jax!" Ellie Rae and Lincoln came running out of the conference room they had been in, coming to a stop. Marissa felt her heartbeat again. Ellie Rae was okay. Sort of.

"What? What's going on?"

"We just... Out the window.... I-." Ellie Rae seemed to be struggling for words. Lincoln huffed.

"Those guards we met earlier. They're here. And they brought company." Marissa shot to her feet. The scream hadn't come from within the boundaries. It had come from just beyond.

Tavvy appeared, face white as she marched up to them.

"What did you do?" She grabbed Jax by the throat. Marissa was a little startled at that, fully expecting that to be directed at her but was low key relieved she was not the target of her aggression.

Jax wrapped his hands around her wrist and pulled back slightly, trying to get some air in.

'We didn't... do anything." He gasped. Tavvy stood there, face hard as she contemplated her next move. She growled and let go. He took a deep breath.

"You four need to leave. Now." Marissa raised an eyebrow, shocked.

"What is going on?"

"We're under attack. The Citadel has come to lay claim to our territory and they followed you." She hissed. There was the sound of gun shots being fired, followed by someone yelling orders. "We were quite content to just get on with the end of our lives but no. You pissed them off." Marissa was too stunned to speak. Lincoln seemed to have caught on to her unvoiced train of thought, though.

"Citadel?" Daniel ran up to Tavvy and whispered something in her ear. She nodded and turned around to bark an order at someone. "What the hell is the Citadel?"

"I don't have time for you lot. Daniel will take you to your stuff and get you out of here. I don't want to see your faces when this is over." She spat. Daniel smiled grimly at the four, very confused faces before him as she walked away.

"I'll try and explain in a bit but follow me. I have a feeling that things are about to get very ugly." He motioned for them to follow. Marissa looked up at her friends. They were looking at her. Their expressions looked how she felt. She looked at her best friend. Ellie Rae was her one source of comfort. Ellie Rae looked terrified. Hell, so did the boys. It was that that made the decision. She looked back at Daniel and nodded.

"Let's go." She said to the three. They ran on to catch up to Daniel who was speed walking, leading them away from the gun sounds and yells of fury. Marissa's body ached but she tried to keep pace.

Lincoln was beside her, limping as he fought to keep up. His breaths were laboured and it was no surprise that it looked like something was bleeding again. Marissa didn't dare look down at her leg wound that Riley had packed up with herbs. It felt like it was on fire but she refrained from looking because looking always made the pain worse.

Ellie Rae was just ahead of her with Jax. As the two hadn't had any major pains from the building collapse slash introduction to Death on his horse, they were much faster on their feet. Marissa caught Ellie Rae looking behind her a few times, either making sure that they were right behind her or to see if there was any nasty surprises sneaking up on them. Either way, Marissa could see her face was bloodless.

They never should have left home.

"Right, here are your things. And your weapons that you came in with. Sorry we can't give you anything else but... Well let's just say the others need them right now." Daniel had led them through numerous streets, avoiding the fighting that appeared to be getting closer no matter how fast they moved. They were now stood in a decrepit building that lead to an underground tunnel. Jax's face had lit up when he saw the tunnel. Marissa had almost laughed.

You can take the boy out of the ground but you can't take the ground out of the boy.

"Why are there five bags here?" Ellie Rae asked, frowning down at the five bags that leaned across the wall. She looked up at Daniel, frowning. "Last time I checked, there were only four of us." Daniel knelt and pulled one of the bags out and stood, hefting it onto his back. He looked at them as he adjusted the straps.

"Oh, I'm coming with you." He said it as if he had discussed it with them. Marissa's eyes almost bugged out of her head as she slowly accepted one of the bags Daniel offered her.

"No... No you aren't."

"Yes I am. And this isn't up for discussion. Tavvy requested that I come with you to make sure you get to wherever you need to go safely. And I do as my boss orders." Lincoln and Jax both exchanged looks.

"Yeah, I don't think Tavvy would ever order someone to make sure people she's sure brought that... thing," Jax waved his hand around in the air behind him, pointing towards where the sounds of the fight were coming from. "With them. Besides, what about Riley? You can't just leave your brother here." Daniel stared at Jax, eyes hard. He held out a bag to him.

"Riley is none of your concern, Darren. And my orders are also, none of your concern. I am coming with you whether you like it or not. Plus, you might need some more muscle out there." Jax didn't say anything, face unreadable as he grabbed the bag from Daniels' hand. Now it was Marissa's turn to exchange glances with Lincoln and Ellie Rae.

"As much as we appreciate your offer, we don't actually know where we are going." Marissa said. Daniel grinned.

"That's the beauty of it, isn't it? I can guide you through the Expanse no problem. You'll find where you need to go and that will be my job done." He hefted a gun off a table and looked at the four of them. "So. Are we ready?" Marissa blinked a few times before gradually nodding her head. "Good. Arm yourselves. You're going to need them."

"Well that's comforting." Lincoln muttered under his breath, loud enough only for Marissa to hear. She coughed to hide a laugh. She turned to Ellie Rae, helping her tighten her bag straps. She was watching Daniel as he stepped down into the tunnel, flashing his torch around the dark interior.

"Do we trust him?" Marissa heard her ask. Marissa kept at what she was doing as she thought

"I don't know. We can add that to the list of things we don't know right now. What does your gut say?"

"That it's hungry." Marissa gave a light laugh as she handed Ellie Rae her machete that she had hung on to. "It's telling me we need to be careful. I want to trust him but if you've taught me anything...." Her brown eyes were serious as she said that. Marissa nodded.

"I agree. So we'll be careful." Ellie Rae pulled Marissa into a tight hug, scaring Marissa slightly at the fast movement. She hugged her back though, just as tightly. "We'll be okay. And if not, we sacrifice Lincoln first."

"I heard that!" Lincolns voice joined the conversation. The girls pulled apart and shook their heads at him, amused by his reaction.

"I'm kidding." Marissa assured him. Jax appeared, seemingly having gone down some of the tunnel and had only just realized they weren't with him.

"Are ya'll coming? Despite Daniel being a red head, I can't actually see him in the dark." The three looked at him oddly. "What? Don't red heads glow in the dark?"

"We will definitely be talking about that later." Ellie Rae said as she shook her head. She looped her arm through Jax's and led him back into the tunnel, leaving Marissa and Lincoln. He looked at her for a moment, clearly thinking about something. Marissa frowned.

"What?" Lincoln shook his head. "Okay then. Let's go before we have to shoot anyone." They joined their friends walking through the tunnel. Lincoln was just up ahead, waiting patiently. He looked paler in the white light of the torch. Marissa thought for a brief second that he looked like one of those wraiths from the books Ellie Rae used to read. That made her shiver.

When he could see all four of them closing in on him, he turned the torch light towards the way that would lead them out.