Caspar was, unsurprisingly, unable to rent a car at 3 pm on New Years Eve. So, with little thought, they download an app that was pretty similar to airbnb, but with cars. People who were not currently using their cars rented them out to others, through the app, and that was how Lou, Caspar, and Nadia ended up in a beat up old chevy truck, flying down the highway towards the others.

Marc had given them so little to go off of, and no one was replying to their texts, so they were all undeniably worried. The fear had sobered Nadia and Lou up quite quickly, and now they all rode along in an uncomfortable silence that no one wanted to fill.

In comparison to the other's journey, theirs seems to both fly by and take forever. Perhaps it was because Caspar was speeding, something he never did, but he couldn't be bothered to care. He had enough sense to keep an eye out for police, slowing whenever he seen them, and for that reason alone they thankfully never got pulled over.

Once they arrived, Caspar parked quickly on the street behind the car he recognized as Amory's rental. The three of them bolted from the truck towards the house, banging on the door the second they got there.

Ophelia answered, her face soft and unreadable. They looked her over, their chests heaving as if they expected another fire, but she just moved to the side and let them stroll in.

It was a modest house, the entry way opening to a small hallway that appeared to open up to a larger room. Caspar went first, Lou close behind him, slowly making their way into the house. They didn't bother taking off their shoes or coats, still half-expecting some tragedy to be awaiting them. When they finally entered the living room, they looked around. Amory was on the couch with his head in his hands, his knee bouncing. Marc was beside him, looking like he had seen a ghost, staring off into space with a dazed look in his eyes. There was a third person in a chair across from them, sitting quietly with her hands folded in her lap. A scruffy cat sat purring by her feet.

"Oh my god." Nadia was the first to realize, drawing her hand up to her mouth as the woman looked up. The cat shot up, and scurried off when Nadia spoke.

She was blonde, and her bangs had grown out to be more face framing than straight across. Her eyes were blue, rather than brown, and she wore glasses over them. Her face looked fuller, and her hair was much longer than any of them had last seen, but she was unmistakable. At least to them.

Vallie.

Caspar felt like he had been thrown into an ice bath. He was torn between the urge to scream his lungs out and hug her. He was hurt, and confused most of all. This couldn't be real.

Lou faltered, swaying into Caspar's side and grabbing onto his arm for support. She couldn't make a sound even if she wanted to, she was effectively frozen in place.

"We've been waiting to speak until you all got here." Vallie spoke, and that did it for Nadia. It was her, there was no mistaking it. Nadia felt her eyes begin to fill with tears.

"Now that you are," Amory breathed out, raising from his seated position. He was mad. He was so mad that it was radiating off of him, so palpable that the others could feel it in their bones. He took a step towards Vallie, but still kept his distance, and pointed a finger towards her. "What the fuck?"

"That's a valid first question." Vallie sighed, looking once more at her lap.

"No, seriously Vallie, what the fuck?" Amory's voice was growing in volume, his teeth barred and his jaw clenched. "What the fuck is going on? What the fuck are you doing in middle of no where Arizona, living your best life while the rest of us fucking suffer over you?"

Vallie flinched, her eyes squeezing shut. Ophelia wanted to move to her, to squeeze her to her, but she couldn't find it in herself to move. She feared if she touched Vallie, she'd turn to dust and flitter off in the wind.

"Please don't raise your voice." Vallie requested quietly, eyes still shut.

"Oh no, fuck that." Amory let out a cruel laugh, completely shocked by her audacity. "You're not making requests right now Vallie, you're answering questions. I don't care if you hate confrontation, you're not running away from this."

"I'll answer any questions you have, but not if you're yelling." Vallie opened her eyes, looking somewhat fierce under his scrutiny. That made Amory falter. It was a look he had never seen before.

Vallie stood then, taking one timid step towards Amory. He didn't move back, which she must have taken as a good sign, because she nodded slightly and held his gaze.

"Where would you like me to start?"

"The beginning." Caspar croaked out. He had found his voice, and he was no beginning to fill with an emotion he hadn't expected; disgust. He could barely look at Vallie, the thought of her living on, after what they'd done. She must know, and here she was, just hiding out. Just the sight of her was beginning to make him sick, something he had never hoped to happen with her.

"Well, this will be a long story then." Vallie spoke softly, as if she were carefully choosing each of her words. "I suppose you all know better than most how awful Tyler was, but you still don't even know to the full degree. And if you had found me a year ago and asked me about it, I would have told you that all of his cruelty was my fault, that I simply was not enough, but I no longer think that way, so I will state it plainly; he was a sadistic asshole, and I am not sad that he is dead."

Marc sputtered, finally pulled from his trance. He saw the way that Amory began to shake, and quickly stood up, placing a hand on Amory's shoulder to try and soothe him. He shot Vallie a cold glare, because he was too tired to be happy that she was alive. Not after what she'd put them through.

"You wouldn't say that, if you knew what we did." Marc's voice was almost a whisper, like he himself couldn't even utter the words aloud.

"I know that you killed him, and burned down the house." Vallie spoke simply, a bit of sympathy finally filling in her eyes as she fixed her gaze on him, then Amory. "I don't mean to be cold, I never wanted you all to have to do that, but I can't pretend now that he was some great loss."

"How did you know?" Ophelia questioned quietly, taking a further step into the room. She was shaking, too, but more from the restraint of holding herself back. Perhaps she should be angry, and perhaps she would be, once the elation of Vallie standing in front of her wore off.

"Because I was there." Vallie whispered, as if the words were meant for only Ophelia. Her gaze was only on her, soft and gentle and so very much like the Vallie they once knew. "The whole time, I was there."

"You..." Amory took a moment to process her words before shrugging out of Marc's grip. "You were there? At the cabin, you were there? And you let us go mad looking for you, you let us think we were sleeping under the same roof as your murderer?" His voice was growing in volume once more, and Vallie winced at the sound.

"Volume, please." She requested gently, turning her soft gaze back to him. "None of what happened was supposed to happen. None of it was apart of my plan."

"Your plan?" Nadia sputtered out, an incredulous laugh escaping her through her tears. Her voice was high-pitched and shaky, just as loud if not louder than Amory's. "You had a fucking plan, Vallie? And what, we were just pawns in it?

"Nadia, please—"

"No, no, fuck this." Lou had begun to laugh as well, an angry, madness-induced sort of laugh. She threw her hands up in the air, stepping away from Caspar just slightly. "You don't get to tell us how to react to this Vallie. Oh my fucking god, you don't get to ask anything of us. Do you even know what you've done to us? All of us?"

"Lou, I swear—"

"This is fucking insane, Vallie." Amory took another step closer, gripping both of her arms to force her attention on him. He was the first to touch her, and he was almost shocked to find how very real she was. "I... I fucking killed somebody, Vallie. I shot someone. Do you get that? Do you get that at all?"

"This is a duplex, Amory!" Vallie hissed, shying away from his touch. "I have neighbors, you need to keep your voice down!"

"Why?" Nadia stepped forward, a challenge. "Afraid they'll find out the nations sweetheart is alive and well, using people to do her dirty work and just fucking running away?"

"You have no idea what you're talking about, Nadia." Vallie had begun to shake, a slight tremble in her voice. Ophelia could see it, see the way Vallie was beginning to shut down, like she always had. She was never good with confrontation, and it surprised Ophelia that she had made it this far entirely.

"Don't I?" Nadia raised her eyebrows.

"Guys," Ophelia interjected softly, garnering the attention of the room in the way only she could. "If we want to hear what she has to say, we all need to calm down. She'll just shut down otherwise."

"Fuck that." Nadia spit out, and Amory found himself nodding along in agreement. "You don't get to shut down Vallie, we won't sit around and have a civil talk about how you rose from the fucking dead. Fuck. That."

"It's not that—" Vallie started, but she was cut off almost immediately. The sound of a wail sounded throughout the house, and everyone clamped their mouths shut and widened their eyes. "Ah, see, this is what I was trying to avoid." She groaned and squeezed her eyes shut. After a moment, she looked around at the others before sighing. "Just, give me one minute, okay? I swear I'll be right back."

Vallie made a move towards the stairs, and Amory almost stopped her, but Marc once again placed a hand on his shoulder and shook his head. Amory's brain couldn't quite catch up to what was happening, meanwhile everyone else was still in a state of shock.

"I need to sit down." Caspar muttered, and Lou followed right after him. She took a seat beside him, and when he reached for her hand and laced their fingers, she let him.

After several minutes, the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs alerted all of them. Vallie emerged, a bundle in her arms, and she looked sheepishly around at each of them.

"She's not going to calm down for awhile unless I'm holding her, so if you all wouldn't mind asking your questions, quietly, she would greatly appreciate it. For her, not for me." Vallie requested in a near whisper. The other's gaped at her, no one nodding or making a move.

"Is that...?" Ophelia trailed off, her eyes staring curiously at Vallie's arms. Vallie smiled softly and nodded in response, knowing what she meant to ask.

"Her names Juliet." Vallie spoke softly, looking straight into Ophelia's eyes. "I'd let you hold her, but like I said, she's fussy."

"Juliet, as in?" Ophelia nearly choked on her sob, and when Vallie nodded, Ophelia completely broke down. Vallie had a baby. And she had chosen to give her Ophelia's middle name. Ophelia couldn't hold herself back any longer, so she rushed to Vallie's side, eyeing the baby with more awe than she thought imaginable. "How old is she?"

"She'll be 2 months in a couple days." Vallie responded with a small smile, her eyes on Ophelia's face. After a moment, she glanced around at the others, trying to gauge their reactions.

"Is she his?" Marc couldn't bring himself to say Tyler's name, and he found himself gulping just a bit. Vallie's eyes seemed to darken slightly, and she let out a small cough before focusing back on the baby in her arms.

"She is, yes." Vallie moved to sit in the chair across from the others once more, and Ophelia followed. She was still crying, but she sat on the arm of the chair and let Juliet play with her fingers, giggling through her tears. Vallie cleared her throat, and the others prepared themselves to listen. "I invited you all to the cabin one week after I found out I was pregnant. Prior to that, I had been hopeless and resigned to my situation, I had no sense of self-preservation, or care for what he did to me. In fact, I thought I deserved it, most of the time. Then, I found out I was pregnant, and I knew I had to get out."

"So you planned to put us in close quarters with the very man you called a sadistic asshole so we would deal with your problem for you?" Nadia asked flatly, though now her voice was much quieter.

"No, no, not at all." Vallie shook her head and sat up slightly. "Tyler was never supposed to stay with you guys, that was never apart of the plan. The plan was that he would meet you guys there to let you in, tell you I picked up an extra shift at work and would come the next day, and then he would go home. The plan was that when I didn't show, you all would call the police, they would find the evidence I left, and Tyler would be charged, eventually. I planned to run the second Tyler let you all in, but then he told me he didn't trust you all in the house alone, and I knew I couldn't just leave you there with him, so I stayed."

"Why didn't you just call the whole thing off, then?" Amory bit out, feeling much closer to sadness than anger in that moment. "Why didn't you just tell me what was happening and leave him?"

"It wasn't that simple." Vallie looked at him sadly. "Tyler was a sadistic asshole, but he also was possessive, and crazy, and jealous, and had a cop for a dad. If I told him I was leaving, he would have killed me, genuinely. Especially if I told him I was going to you. If I snuck off in the middle of the night, he quite literally wouldn't have stopped until he found me. A restraining order wouldn't stop him, nothing would. Aside from being behind bars, or well... Dead."

Amory wanted to say I could have protected you. I would have protected you. But he didn't. Instead, he just stayed quiet.

"When he decided he was going to stay, I stayed too, creating the text chain of further evidence. And I hated myself for it, hearing you all worry for me, but I couldn't call it off then. It would have been me and my baby's death sentence, and I had to put her first. He never even knew I was pregnant, just kept making remarks about me putting on weight. I don't even know what he would have done if he found out, but I couldn't take the chance."

"Where were you?" Marc questioned quietly, looking between her, the baby, and Ophelia doting on the baby.

"My grandpa was a bit paranoid, you could say." Vallie smiled sheepishly. "He had a secret room in the back of the closet of the master bedroom, it looked like just a wall but could be pushed open to the space under the stairs. He kept his guns in there, some cash, that kind of thing. Not like a doomsday prepper, but more like a redneck ready to defend his property, you know? I stayed in there the whole 5 days, only venturing out when I was sure everyone was out of the house, but god was that terrifying, because anyone could have come out at any time. Do you know what it's like to be 4 months pregnant, what it does to your bladder? God, I deserve an award for that alone." She smiled a bit, but that quickly fell away when no one smiled back. "Right, sorry. Anyways, Tyler didn't know about the secret room, so I stayed there. I altered my plans, still thinking you guys would just call the police. I listened, ready to run whenever it got to that point, and then the gun went off."

Amory drew in a deep breath and looked down. Vallie looked like she wanted to go to him, but clearly thought better of it, so she carried on.

"I swear to you all, I ran out the second I heard it. I thought... I thought it was him, and I was prepared to kill him myself if he hurt any of you, I swear it. Then, I peaked in the entrance way, and you were all too shocked to notice me, and I counted out all 6 of you, and saw him on the floor, and I just froze. I was going to come out, then Ophelia was telling Marc to go to the shed, and I just ran back to hide. All I could think was how much worse it would be for all of you if you knew I was alive, if you did what you did and saw me still breathing... I thought it would make it worse." Vallie drew in a shaky breath. "Not to mention, your plan hinged solely on me being gone. I needed to be gone, not just for me and Juliet anymore, but for you all too. If the cops knew I was still alive, then your story that he killed himself fell apart, and I knew I couldn't let that happen. It was easier if none of you knew, especially then."

Everyone was silent for some time. There were still so many questions, but it seemed none of them could form the words. After some time, Amory stood abruptly and went towards the front door without a word. Vallie stood as well, making like she was going to move after him, but Ophelia placed a gentle hand on her arm.

"Give him some space, okay?" She requested lightly, then gestured towards Juliet. "You just got her to sleep, too. You don't want to take her around his loud mouth."

Vallie gave Ophelia a weak nod and settled back down in her seat. No one seemed able to look at her, except for Ophelia. The anger still hadn't hit, and she wasn't sure it ever would. How could she find it in her to be angry, when she'd fought this hard and hoped so deeply that the outcome she got would be her reality? Vallie was her best friend, and she was alive, and she was here, and that's all she needed, really.

Lou's hand was still holding Caspar's, and her head was killing her. Too much information had just been thrown at her. Her life had been completely upended, and for what? Vallie was still alive, and of course she was grateful for that, but did she really have to just accept her role as a casualty? She didn't think so. This was not how things had to be, there had to have been another answer.

Caspar periodically squeezed Lou's hand, and never once looked at Vallie. He couldn't because he did not recognize her. The girl he knew all those years before would not have been so resigned to hurt them, to put them in danger, no matter what the end goal was. He supposed he didn't know and would never truly know her trauma, and he hated that she had to go through it, but it all still felt so cruel. The Vallie he once knew was anything but cruel, but that was not this Vallie at all.

Nadia was no longer seething with anger, but she wasn't happy either. She didn't know what she was, there was no word to describe what she was feeling, she thought. What was she meant to say to Vallie? Was she meant to forgive her? How do you look at a person who has been so deeply hurt, and tell them it's okay that they hurt you, in return?

Marc had become restless, glancing between Ophelia and the hallway, where he expected Amory to return from any moment. Except, he wasn't returning, and Marc wasn't sure if he should go check on him. He didn't know what to say to Vallie, so instead he thought through the lists of various crimes their group had committed over the span of the last 6 months. Murder. Tampering with a crime scene. Arson. Identity fraud. And so on.

Amory was staring out at the night sky, his hands in his pockets. He wanted to scream, but he held himself back. Soon, it would be midnight, and fireworks would be going off, and everyone would be ringing in the new year. He wished it truly could be a fresh start for him, but the past year had been too much baggage to leave behind. Through it all, through all of his anger and sadness and hurt, his mind just kept repeating the same thing over and over again. Vallie's alive.

Vallie was alive.

---

wooooooh chapter 23 is here :D

I'm sure some of you feel very vindicated rn, while others are not very pleased w/ me or Vallie. All valid feelings, really.

Of course, this is not the end, and there are still questions to be answered, but Vallie has made her appearance!

This chapter was so much longer than mine usually are, and I know there was some questions left unanswered, but I couldn't reasonably dump the whole story in this chapter, yanno.

Anyways! I made a gifset months ago with Motion Sickness by Phoebe Bridgers lyrics, like literally when I was writing chapter 5, and have been saving it up for this chapter. Pls enjoy <3