Keep Running (Killjoy)

18

M.K.'s POV:
Party Poison came over to me in my room the next afternoon. He looked really sad and his eyes weren't as bright as usual. The dark circles under his eyes didn't make his appearance much better either. He sat down on my bed beside me and stared at the floor for a few seconds, thinking about what he was going to say. I crossed my legs over and held my hands under my chin to prop my head up on.

"Why'd you come into my room, Party?" I asked.

"I haven't really spent much time with you lately, Missile, and I feel bad about it. And I need to get my mind off of something, so what would you like to do?" He replied, finally looking at me.

"I don't know."

"Wanna mess around with some of the game machines and eat junk food?"

"Okay!" I smiled and followed him out of my room.

He was like a big brother for me- always caring, extremely fun, and just wanted to spend good times together. We had been together for almost six years, hiding out and fighting against the side of my actual relatives. The ones that didn't care about me anymore because they came up with the pills to take away cares and feelings. Whenever I found myself thinking back, I'm forever glad that the killjoys took me in. They saved me from being a human form of a robot.

Party Poison motioned his hand out over the room filled with machines that you could play old games on as if he was offering me the option to choose which one to play. My eyes caught on one in the corner with bright colored characters all around the edges of the blocky screen. Party stood at my side and battled against me, not even faking his several losses. He poked jokes with me and brought both of us bags of various snacks and sweets whenever we stopped for a break. This included a large stockpile of some of my favorites- warm brownies, salted potato crisps, sweet powdered-sugar donuts, and cheesy fries. They were so delicious for me to even think about, instantly making me feel hungry for them over and over again.

"Slow down there, Missile. You're gonna wake up tomorrow with a stomache ache and puke up rainbows." Party chuckled as I scarfed down some vibrantly tinted chewable candies.

"They're just too good." I waved off his playful caution.

"You still in the mood to play against me?"

"Nah, we've done every game and I'm tired of them now."

"Well then what should we do now, Missile?"

"You should tell me about that new killjoy girl that came here a while ago. The one with blue and silver hair. I know you know her."

A sad expression shadowed over his face. I frowned, regretting mentioning her without even knowing the reason why. Maybe she'd done something to him? I didn't know but Party Poison looked so upset that it didn't even matter. He sighed and opened his mouth to answer.

"She got hurt saving me. And she woke up earlier then we got in a bit of an argument which ended in her passing out in the hospital bed."

"Is she going to be okay?"

"A drac shot her abdomen and it was really soaking through the bandana she put around it the first time. She probably has another week or so left to stay in the hospital section."

"Well at least you know someone cares about you and you can trust her."

He looked thoughtful over what I had said, "Yeah, you're right I guess. But it's another reason added onto why I hate hospitals- they're upsetting and have needles all over the place. Let's talk about something else."

"Oh, okay. When can I start coming on missions?"

"When will you go through training?"

I rolled my eyes, knowing that it would take more than a year until I would even be able to get training here. Party knew I couldn't wait to help out the killjoys that saved me from my "father" and it just always seemed to be so fun to be able to go out there. It's not that the base wasn't fun, it just got boring after you had to spend every single day in the same building. Unless, of course, you got captured by some dracs which never happened to me since everyone protected me the most. Just because I was one of the youngest and Korse was after me.

"Alright, how about I start helping you out with the absolute basics on your birthday and then you start getting your own gear later." Party offered with a smile.

"Deal." I shook his hand.

"You'll be the toughest killjoy out there. Promise."

"Really?"

"You have the strongest spirit of anyone I've met. And you're not even twelve."

My eyes looked down at the floor while the smile on my face grew wider. Then I question popped into my mind:

"Party, how do killjoys get their names? I mean, I don't think your parents named you Party Poison and your brother Kobra Kid."

"We chose our names when the rebellion started so BL/Ind wouldn't be able to use our real identities against us."

"What about mine?"

"My group found you when you were really young and brought you back here. Fun Ghoul had to watch you and decided to go down to the weapons stockpile. You reached towards the missiles on one side of the room so he came back and told all of us the story. He was cracking up at how interested you were in the missiles, so we called you Missile Kid."

"That's funny. Thanks for everything, by the way."

"We love you, Missile. We're glad we saved you from being another one of Korse's robotic workers so you should know that it was absolutely worth it."

"Even though I was an annoying five year old? And you were stuck with me?"

Party crouched down to my level so our eye levels were almost even.

"I would never say that. You were a great kid. Never that annoying. And don't say negative things about yourself, it won't help you with anything; it'll just make you feel worse about yourself. We don't need a sad Missile Kid. You don't have anything to be upset about when it comes to who you are. Unfortunately, there will be a day when you will feel that way. You'll have to learn to love yourself and keep in mind that a lot of other people love you too."