blame me, blame me, blame me. noah.

Mom had ripped her from Jules limb by limb. The Keepers didn't have to. Noah whined, wounded and desperate - and then when Dad picked her up in his arms like when she was little she cried, and then when she could barely move she whimpered all the way home.

When they arrived, the house was cold. Deathly still. Empty, void of Jules. Noah wandered through each room in a daze with an echo of her own name in her throat. No... no... no...

Noah Monaghan!

Later, Sidonie curls up in her bed and Noah swallows the absence of Jules. Tomorrow she would wake, and there would be her sister making her bed or brushing her hair or still sleeping soundly. There are no need for words, because Jules is just out. Just working. Just at the shop. No need for words. Not ever. Jules would say them for her.

The back of her throat aches to scream, but as Sid slumbers softly next to her Noah can only manage a weak sigh.

Mom whispers frantically to Dad. Dad furrows his eyebrows, runs a hand down his face, nobody made breakfast. Noah goes looking for Juliet the next morning, but Juliet is nowhere to be found. 

Nobody is.

A pencil and a piece of paper, Noah scribbles down letters and shows them to Mom.

J U L E S ?

Mom bursts into tears. So does Noah. Mom screams. Noah is an echo of her mother's grief. Dad comes rushing in, his own eyes red and purple, and picks Noah up from behind. Noah screams, kicks out into the air, struggles and groans and scratches at her father until they are back in the bedroom she shares with Juliet and all she can do is weep into her father's shoulders and scream her sister's name.

No, Jules, no!

- Sid?

Jules!

- Sidonie?

Her father weeps, when his eldest daughter is finished with her rage. "I'm sorry Noah. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, she'll fight for you Noah. She will, she will-"

Noah just stares at Juliet's pillow and says nothing, wishing everyone else had the strength to say Juliet's name.

Eventually her father leaves Noah in her grief. A while longer of nothing, Noah falls asleep and dreams of her sister, her brother, the walls of the Justice Building falling away. She sees a field of flowers and 5 letters, Sidonie on the stage, blood on Jamie's hands, vomit on Eli's shoes. Of her place underneath the desk in the shop, of empty bottles and train tracks, Jules tied up with string and twine singing an echo of her name.

No, no, no, no, no-

Tomorrow she will try again. Be strong. Keep looking for Jules. Solve her mystery. She wonders if the rest of her family will too.