Work Text:
If anyone was to be killed it shouldn’t have been him. Ideally no one would be dead but it was already too late for that and now yet another death was added to the tally. Jay. The sheriff. Always so against senseless violence. Always so caring and forgiving. Always the peacekeeper. Always trying to be fair. Always trying to see the best in everyone.
That had cost him his life.
Josie hadn’t had to kill him. He was not a threat to her. He wanted a peaceful surrender and capture while they awaited trial for her being an instigator and accomplice in Gem’s murder. Why couldn’t she just go with him. She could have escaped later or been freed by any one of her allies. Or she could have just run and fled him. She was faster and had a leg up on him, quite literally. Run to the water and Jay wouldn’t have been able to follow with his metal prosthetics. She had options. And she chose to kill.
Ocie watched as the people rioted. Jay had been beloved by almost all. Even those who had issues with him had been able to see how genuine and caring he was. How he just wanted the best for everyone and tried to make that a reality. He was by no means flawless and had made many mistakes but they were well intentioned and he had apologized once he realized his errors. Plus out of all the dwindling authority figures they had he had always been trustworthy. Sen had lied. Red was avoidant. Ness was cryptic. Kharkoal was brutal. Skerma had vanished. When all else failed he was there with the weight of the island on his shoulders and being honest. Jay had been honest from day one even when prosecuted and hunted down with a bounty on his head for speaking it. He stepped up to lead and support a town he barely knew when he saw they needed it and no one else was doing anything. Jay had been good. Jay was now dead. The goodness died with him.
Ocie had never been Jay’s biggest fan but she respected him. She didn’t like laws or enforcement especially in her town not with the secret she was harboring but she could respect that he tried to retain some sense of order in the lawless land. There was no order now. People cried and then their sadness and grief gave way to anger. She watched as it solidified in their eyes. Rage. And that was just Jaxper and Hero and their group. When Noki and Wyn got word, she shuddered at the thought. Hell hath no fury like them when Jay was involved. Noki had figured out how to kill an immortal for his sake! Josie was by no means immortal. She tried redirecting blame and attention away from Josie but only seemed to join her sister in the blame, Jasper and Hero refusing to look at her or speak much of anything around her. Desperate, she tried one last thing. Anything to stop the pitchforks and torches that would soon be on her doorstep calling Josie’s name.
“ Jay wouldn’t want this- he never wanted anyone to get hurt,” she pleaded.
“Well Jay isn’t around to want much of anything anymore! Maybe Josie should have thought of that before killing one of the few people who didn’t want her dead.”
Ocie flinched. He had a point. But as the pointed glares got turned on her she surrendered and took her leave. She would have to warn Josie. But first,
Ocie ended up at the train station. She was never really a believer but she prayed to the sand god, the dirt god, anyone, that Jay would be there no worse for where. They had forgiven Sniper, their literal torturer! If anyone could forgive and calm the army after Josie’s head it would be them.
Jay was not there.
Ocie sat on the uncomfortable seating and rested her head in her hands. “Please Jay,” she pleaded. “Come back. They need you. She needs you. I need you! I need you to stop this. You’d understand. Josie’s my sister like Noki is yours, you get it. Loving someone despite their faults. Not wanting those you care about to get hurt. Jay please! If anyone could get it, forgive it, it would be you. I need you to come back. To calm them down. You were the best of us, Jay. There’s nothing holding anyone back now. No one’s keeping the peace. The people need you Jay. Just- just come back okay. I’d do anything.”
She’s not sure how long she sat there rambling to a dead man begging for his killer’s forgiveness. By the time she left it was dark and shambling corpses wandered the sand looking for prey to kill. Ocie wondered if Jay was among the husks and skeletons and such- no more than a mindless shell trying to do what was done to him to someone else. Normally she would kill mobs, tonight she just rode through them. There had been enough death today, even if they weren’t alive in the first place. No more bodies needed to fall today.
If Jay wasn’t back soon she was gonna pop a totem to try and go speak to him and demand he come back already. She had heard he could hear in the nothingness that lay between life and death. Well if it might work she was willing to try.