The Jon's One Man Band

The Return of Michael. Twice.

(TS's POV)

When I saw the van pull up on the manor driveway, I felt something strange. Like the bottom of my boiler was about to fall out, and my main fluid curculitory system bagan pumping faster, and for some reason, I couldn't stop twitching and fidgeting. After a while, I realised it must be some sort of emotion. I accessed the data bank Peter installed with the emotion chip... nervous? Figures, I guess. I mean, I've got to tell him that the person he loves has left, and may or may not be coming back. And given that there's a million ways that conversation could go, I'm not exactly looking forward to it.

As Peter, Sam, Steve, Michael and GG walk through the double doors of Walter Manner, they're greeted by David, Bunny, a very excited Rabbit and QWERTY announcing their arrival with "The return of Peter. The return of Sam. The return of Steve. The return of Michael." I have no idea why he does that every time someone comes back. I guess it's his way if saying welcome back. I was instructed to stay mostly out of sight, so it wouldn't look strange that The Jon hadn't come to greet them either, or least until the Bennett twins had told of our situation, so I stayed in the library, and watched through the window. Why there was a window looking from the library to the main hallway of the manor, I have no idea, but I suppose Pappy had the same ideas as me, as it's hidden behind a shelf of very boring books, that nobody ever wants to read. The other side, the side seen from the hallway, is mirrored, so nobody, apart from me, actually knows what's there. I only found it because I was bored and had read every other book in the library, and that was the only section I hadn't yet tackled. I then see Rabbit dissappear, most likely to try and find Bunny's hair dryer in the garden, while Bunny leads everyone else to the briefing room, mainly used by Peter when he needs some of the Walter workers' help. I stand in the doorway of the library, just so that Michael can catch a glimpse of me, nods subtley in understanding, before I move out of view again until everyone goes. I'd explained to David before hand that I was going to tell Michael on his own, 'because they're exceptionally close' and left it at that.

I notice the anxiety written on his face as he walks in and sits down. I don't blame him.
"So, uh, Spine, what exactly is going on? I noticed everyone else is being told something, but how come you're telling me on my own? Or are you telling me something different?"

"I'm telling you the same as everyone else. But I'm telling you privately because I know something they don't, and don't need to. It's about The Jon..."

"What have you done to him...?" He shoots off the sofa, worry taking over his voice.

"Michael, calm down, he's not hurt." He sits back down and gets enveloped by the extra cushions I put there. "A decision was made, with a lot of thought and consideration. It was based on a lot of things, and trust me, it wasn't an easy decision. But given that his contribution to the band is stretched too thinly, among other things, we... uh... We had to let him go." Seeing the pain being etched into Michael's face is core breaking. The next thing I register is Michael bolting out of the manor toward the woods. I run after him. He keeps running the full perimeter until he has reached back at the doors into the manor, just as I catch up with him, to be greeted by "The return of Michael"
"Shut up QWERTY" I yell at him. I'll apologise later. Michael begins his outburst when we arrive back in the library and the door is slammed shut.
"You kicked him out? You got rid of him? Just like a hunk of metal and wires?" he seethed, angry and upset tears streaming down his face. He goes to punch me in the face out of anger. However I manage to react quick enough and use one of the spare cushions I put there (for this reason) to shield my face, more for his protection than mine. He could quite easily break his hand if it connected full force with a bit of solid titanium alloy framework, nose or otherwise.
"No, we didn't! We went over it with him, we sorted everything, Michael, he's gone to travel the world. That was the second thing on his list of things he wanted and loved the most."

"And the first?" He says with confusion, as he flops back down on the sofa in defeat. I sit next to him and face him. I practically whisper "You." His face turns from sorrow and anger to absolute disbelief and slight horror quicker than you could say 'Walter'.
"Wha... you... uh... how... wha... ok how much do you know and how??"
"I know most of it, if not all of it, partly because I've pieced bits together over the last few months, and partly because he filled in the gaps, and how it all started. And no, don't worry, no one else knows. And I don't intend to change that, unless you really want me to, which I doubt."

After a lot of pacing back and forth, and several changes in his expression and body language as different thoughts pass through his brain, he finally stops in front of me, turns to face me and manages to for a sentence.
"I loved him, The Spine. I loved The Jon. I still do. And now he's gone... just to know he's there when I go to his room to talk and end up asleep there. Just to know that I could turn over into a pair of cold golden arms that I could lie in forever... and now they're not gonna be there..." he trails off and cries into my shoulder. I try to soothe him for a bit before speaking up.
"There a few words he wanted me to tell you. Eleven, to be exact." He looked up at me in hope
"He said 'I love you, with all my Pepsi-filled Blue Matter heart' And if it's any comfort in knowing, he's over the moon to be travelling the world, and he'll contact us from wherever he is every week, and once he's done that, he's gonna become mayor of biscuit town. That's also all were gonna tell the fans." He seems to take enough comfort from that, and goes to bed as it's nighttime by now. We agreed we'd talk more in the morning when he wasn't so tired and irritable and he'd have been able to sleep on it. We said our good nights and I headed to the Hall Of Wires. Time to apologise to QWERTY and face up to the wrath of BeeBop, who's no doubt been told an exaggerated version of me telling QWERTY to go away, and he was being less than helpful, to be fair.
Well, here we go...

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Authors note:

Yea... sorry that was kinda a crappy chapter, and kinda sad. I may have overplayed it a bit... but hey, that's me and all I can do, and if you can think of a way to improve it, leave a comment.

Once again, thank you for all the reads and adding to read in lists, although sorry if that's gone strange or disappeared etc coz my tablet decided it would unpublished the lot, so I had to republish it and life's a lot more complicated than it should be.

Rant over, I'm curious as to whether my friend is reading it or not, so I guess there's a only one way to find out. Or you know, six. Btw to anyone else, just ignore it, it's literally words that don't even link up.

Spine.
Rabbit.
Thighs.
Necrostar.
Voice.
Lincoln.

Hopefully she'll comment if she is reading, and to everyone else, please don't judge those six words, they literally don't make sense this is just an experiment XD

Also, sorry to drag this on, but hopefully I will update next either Thursday or Friday, if not, whenever I get wifi.