Øverturning the lies (a twenty one pilots fanfiction)

~Jøsh~

"What-what happened?" Josh asks, his voice hoarse. "Why-what's going on?"

He manages to sit up.

Then he notices his friend.

His fren.

"Tyler-what-" he pauses. "Are you okay?"

"You-you almost died," Tyler says.

It takes a moment for his words to sink in.

No.

That-that can't be right...

But it would explain why Tyler looks the way he does-exhausted.

Utterly, utterly exhuasted.

And, Josh realizes with a pang-why his eyes are so red.

Because of how much he must have been crying.

"I thought you were dead," Tyler says.

Josh tries to think but his brain's being terribly, terribly sluggish.

"How...how did I get here?" Josh asks.

"I-I don't know," Tyler says. "But we need to get out of here. Now."

"What is it?" Josh asks.

He looks at his friend.

"I'm scared," Tyler says.

He certainly looks it.

"What's wrong?" Josh asks.

Tyler scrambles to his feet all of a sudden, looking at something in the distance with wide eyes.

Josh quickly gets up as well, cursing himself for not being able to move fast enough.

"Josh..." Tyler says.

He's pointing at...Josh follows his gaze.

He's shocked to find what's unmistakably one of the bishops standing in the distance.

And he has a pretty good idea of which one.

Tyler looks back up at Josh.

"I-Josh," he says, "He w-wants me dead. So he came after y-you..."

His friend clings to his arm like a small child would do to their mother, but there's nothing amusing about that.

He looks terrified, scared out of his mind.

Josh tries to think.

He puts his arm around Tyler.

"I-"

"Oh, tell him the whole truth, would you?" Nico asks, appearing behind Josh.

Tyler buries his face in Josh's shoulder, holding onto him like there's nothing left to hold onto.

Meanwhile Josh knows his friend's in no state to fight this on his own.

But he doesn't know what he can do.

He doesn't want to mention that. 

Tries to quell it. 

Fear...

What he does know is that's probably how Nico managed to appear to Tyler here, in Trench. 

He feeds on fear. 

Fear and uncertainty. 

And while Nico never seemed to show much interest in him personally in the city, he knows the bishop could still feed on his own.

So he tries to focus on his other emotions. 

Rage-at Nico. For what he did to Tyler. 

Numbness-unable to feel what's truly happening, not everything.

Confusion. Not understanding what's going on. 

Exhasution. So worn-out he can barely function. 

Rage...

That's a powerful one. 

But. 

He has a feeling. 

If he's to help Nico disappear, it needs to be a positive emotion that he channels. 

Love? 

No matter how sappy it might sound he really does care for his friend. 

Seeing him that broken...it hurts. 

Nico laughs, and it's a horrible sound. 

"There's more to this than simply death. It's living still after death, in a way, leaving your mark-" 

"Do us all a favor," Josh says, "And go back to whatever hole you crawled out of." 

Suddenly the bishop is staring at him directly in the face. 

It's all Josh can do not to flinch. 

"Yes..." Nico says, and he reaches his hand up, do to what, though, Josh has no idea. 

He has no intention of finding out, either. 

So he slaps the bishops' hand away. 

At least, he tries to. 

But his hand goes through the bishop's. 

"You aren't really here," Josh says. "Now. Get away from this place. Now." 

"I've seen your thoughts," the bishop says. "And-" 

"Dude. That's literally the worst conversation-starter there is. 'I've seen your thoughts.' Well, I've seen your face, and it's ugly." 

He doesn't even know what he's saying. 

Just that he knows he can't let the fear show in his voice. 

"Very well," Nico says, and he tries to make a move towards Tyler.

"It's okay," Josh whispers. "I promise." 

"Leave him alone," Josh says. 

"I-"

"It doesn't matter," Tyler says suddenly, letting go of Josh. 

"It doesn't matter what you try to tell me," he says. "You can tell me it's okay to let go of everything, you can tell me it's the right thing, but it's not. I'm going to stay alive. Even if you try to tell me otherwise that no one cares. Do you hear me?" 

Josh doesn't know how it happens, or why. 

But they're alone now. 

Nico's gone.

And it's a relief. 

Tyler turns to Josh. 

"You have no idea how glad I am you're okay," he says, hugging him tightly. 

"Oh, Tyler," Josh whispers, hugging his friend back. "You have no idea how much that means to me right now. No idea."

There are other words that could be said. 

But they don't need to be. 

Really, they're just happy to be together. 

Happy to be alive. 

Because in a world that's broken, you take what pieces of happiness you can get. 

And you hold onto them, you keep them close. 

Just in case the darkness comes back. 

And it will. 

But they will fight it when it does.