“Hey, Ellie, wait up.”

I’m just about out of the compound with Erin, after saying my goodbyes, when someone calls out to me. I turn around and see Finn coming towards me. I know it’s Finn, because I made it my mission to learn who they all were, that was the least I could offer them. I mean, it’s bad enough I don’t remember, let alone not knowing their names. That would be awful.

“Hey, Finn,” I say, rubbing my arms, my mind still spinning from the hazy memory flashing around and around in it.

“I know you don’t remember me, and that’s all good, but I wanted...can I talk to you?”

He glances at Erin, and she studies him, and then looks to me. I nod.

“I’ll meet you at the car.”

She nods and disappears towards the car, and I turn back to Finn. “I don’t remember anything, Finn, so if you’re going to ask me to, I can’t help you.”

“I’m not asking you to remember, I’m just...fuck, I don’t know what I’m doing to be honest. All I know is my brother searched for you for ten years, and in that ten years, we rarely saw him. He signed his life over to Shanks, letting us all go. I missed out on him, and fuck knows I needed him more than once in that time. But look, that isn’t what this is about. He is broken, even now, and he’s goin’ to get hurt. I know you don’t remember, but you’re the only one who can help him, I guess...I guess I’m askin’ you to.”

“Hurt?” I ask, narrowing my eyes.

Finn nods. “He’s fighting, and he’s good. He’s going to climb that ladder real quick, and Ellie, I’m afraid he’ll go darker and deeper, and start doing death matches. He’s got a lot of money on him, people makin’ offers, and he’s considering it. He doesn’t think he has anything left to work for, and he’s fading away.”

Death matches.

That’s a...thing?

“That’s a thing?” I whisper, horrified. “Death matches?”

Finn nods. “Yeah, it’s dark and fuckin’ twisted, and a world I do not wanna see my brother go into, but he’s considering it.”

“I didn’t even know he fought...let alone that.”

“I know you’ve been through enough, fuck knows, I know that, but I’m askin’ for your help. Please...”

“Finn...”

“Please, Ellie, I can’t lose him again. Those guys, they’re all I have.”

There is a broken emptiness in Finn’s eyes, and I wonder what happened to him when Slater was gone. It’s clear as day Lincoln grew hard, and Damon uses humor to cover up his pain, but Finn shows it, he wears it for the world to see. He is damaged, and I guess, in a sense, he’s not afraid of that.

“What exactly do you want me to do?”

“To understand. To talk to him. To... I don’t know, let him at least try and make you remember.”

“And if I don’t remember, that is leading him down an even more painful path.”

Finn sighs, and runs his hands through his hair. “Yeah, it’s a risk, but...you two...you had something. From day one. It’s there, and it’s a connection I’ll never understand. Maybe, even if you don’t remember, you’ll feel that again and you can...”

“You’re asking me to hope that I might fall in love with him again,” I whisper, confused. “That’s a big ask, and something that very likely might not happen.”

Finn exhales. “Look, come and see for yourself, okay. And decide from there. Meet me at the garage tomorrow night, I’ll take you down, you can see him fight, you can see...how fuckin’ broken he is, and maybe then you might change your mind. Can you at least give me that?”

“You want me to watch him fight?” I gasp.

“Yeah, I want you to see him raw, I want you to see everything he is and has done...because of how much he loves you.”

“You’re making me feel guilty...”

He shakes his head quickly. “Not what I’m trying to do, but you’re the only chance we have. Please, Ellie, will you come and watch, just give me that. If you’re terrified and don’t want a bar of it, I won’t push you anymore. I’d never put you in danger, I just...please? You have to see.”

I take a shaky breath, and stare at him. I kind of feel guilted into it, and yet, at the same time, I feel like it’s the least I can do. After all, they’re all keeping me safe, I can at the very least, give them something back.

“Okay, I’ll meet you there.”

Finn nods. “Thank you, I really appreciate it.”

I nod, and turn.

Finn calls out my name.

I turn and glance at him.

“I really missed you, Ellie.”

And that hits me like a damned sledgehammer to the heart.

It feels like I’m the glue that binds all these boys together, like I was the only thing holding them as one.

And it makes me even more frustrated that I can’t remember.

Because now...now I want to remember.

So I can stick their broken pieces back together.

~*~*~*~