Øverturning the lies (a twenty one pilots fanfiction)

~Jøsh~

[I drew this a while ago. It's not that great...all right, you might say otherwise, but I'm a bit of a perfectionist and don't feel like its my best work....but anyway, I think it might be a pretty good depection of a recent addition to the story. Her name is Mari. You'll meet her soon. Oh, also, remember that woman Josh talked to earlier? Yeah, keep an eye on her. She might be important later. :). Actually I'm not that certain what will happen later, but she'll definitely be in it. Whoever she is, because I'm honestly not all that sure!]

How old was she? Josh wonders, horror-struck.

This is something he just notices.

His attention is drawn to her, and he feels a need to comfort her.

To let her know that, if no one else, he cares.

But...he's drawn back to the question at hand. It's hard to say. The girl might be about fifteen or sixteen, maybe a little younger.

She sits by herself in the midst of all of the yellow, seemingly oblivious to the world. She has her arms wrappd herself and her head tilted towards the ground. It looks as though she were either in tears or nearly in tears.

None of the others seemed to notice her.

Josh almost didn't, either.

But he did.

And he might not have known exactly what was going on inside of her mind or what she was dealing with, but he knew one thing for sure: she needed his help.

The other banditøs would be okay for a little while. They had to be.

But just in case, Josh scans the crowd, looking for a specific face.

"Tell them the latest," Josh says quietly. "There's something I need to take care of."

The woman nods. She sees where Josh is looking and places her hand gently on his arm.

"I will."

Josh carefully makes his way towards the girl. She looks up when she sees him.

"Can...can I sit here?" he asks quietly.

The girl nods and wipes away some of the tears staining her face with her sleeve.

"What's your name?" Josh asks.

She's quiet for a moment.

"M-Mari," she says.

"I'm-" Josh begins.

The girl smiles. "I know who you are. You're the the leader of the banditøs. Josh. You led me out of that place, you know."

"It was the least I could do," Josh says.

"Well," Mari says, meeting his eyes. "Thank you."

Josh gently places his hand on the girl's shoulder.

That makes her smile again.

Then her expression shifts, turns serious.

"Will you listen?" she asks. "Please?"

Josh nods. "Of course."

She twirls a strand of her dark hair around her finger. "I...I..."

She lets out a sigh. "Inside those walls, it was hard to think. It was hard to live, to...to exist."

Josh knows only too well what she is talking about.

"But once you and the others found me, and we left, I felt only relief. I'd escaped, at last. And the rest of the banditøs, they were nothing but supportive. Then I found myself drifting. I felt something stirring. I..."