Veronica was trying to search in her mind for the moment when all of this became so screwed up, wondering if this was all her fault, that JD became the man he was now because of her. There was Heather Chandler, she complained and whined and told him how she had wanted her gone, she had screamed in her sleep from the nightmare of the blonde girl and he was there. She had killed Heather, she had been distracted and not realised she picked up the wrong mug, Heather’s life wasn’t on JD, it was on her. Then Kurt and Ram, they were disgusting but they were young, only seventeen, they could have learned to become better people and the reason they were dead was because of some gross rumour that made her cry, if she hadn’t called them and decided to get revenge would they still be alive? JD was just going along with her, following her like she was his shepherd. The monster that he was because of her, she was his God. Her stomach churned at the sickening realisation that she knew was always there and yet she hadn’t touched it scared of the truth, and now here they were, JD looking into her eyes but she knew he was lost. He was so far gone that she wasn’t sure she’d be able to save him, but she had to try right? This was her fault…. right? “…. You’re the one that I chose.” And that was after the murders, after everything, she still chose him because she loved him? Because she was scared? The emotions all flooded together and she couldn’t pull the one out that held the most truth, the worst thing about this all was that she never truly felt bad about the fact they were dead, in honesty she had felt more pain when she thought she had shot JD dead. Was she just as twisted as him?
“The people here aren’t like them, this isn’t Sherwood and it’s not Westerburg. No one here needs to die!” She exclaimed, her mind clouded but not enough to know that. “Killing them would cause me harm, I don’t need protecting that way. If-… if you kill anyone and I mean anyone then… I’d be next, because no one else deserves to die when I’m still alive.” It was an empty threat, but she knew JD, she knew how he felt about her and if it was choosing to kill someone or lose her for good then she confident on what he’d pick, or at least she hoped she was. She held her hand out for him, letting him choose on whether or not he wanted to close the gap between them, just as she had done many times, “Life is not war, JD. You don’t have to do this anymore, we can start over, we can live in this new world and not have to have the demons we carried in the last, it doesn’t have to be the same as it was back there.”
It was obvious she was doing a lot of thinking things over. He could almost see the little gears turning in her head and all he could wonder was how her mind worked and what she was thinking about. JD just wanted her to understand how much he worshipped her. He wanted Veronica to stop second guessing everything and just own it. She was everything. She was all that mattered. Perhaps there had been a time where he would’ve considered his actions reckless and irresponsible, but ever since his mother killed herself nothing was the same. Veronica was the first good thing to come into his life in a long time and what he feared most is that his dad would decide it was time for them to move away again and he’d lose the best thing about him. JD couldn’t lose her. He wouldn’t lose her.
“How do you know they’re not like them? Bad people are everywhere Veronica. There’s bound to be some different remake of a Heather or a boneheaded jock,” he reasoned. “No one here needs to die? So you agree back in Sherwood those three needed to die? Finally,” JD replied, twisting her words into concepts that made more sense to him. Veronica was going to have to own that they were both damaged. Perhaps she wasn’t beyond repair, but now that he had a chance to be with her again, he was afraid repairing her would mean he would lose her again. JD refused to accept that. “My life has been nothing but war. High school was war. I have no clue what you’re on about,” he retorted. “Maybe. But you can’t expect the demons to be gone. Like I said, what we did will never go away. Even if you began fucking Mother Teresa or something -- you’d always have blood on your hands,” JD insisted. He suddenly got up and threw the slightly crushed slushie cup into the trash. He looked back to her, “I choose you, Veronica. You’re always going to be the one I choose. In this lifetime and the next. I’d do anything for you.”