Holding Onto You (A Twenty One Pilots Fanfic)

Prologue

"Kaede!" His voice rings out, full of happiness. "Come play with me!"

"Coming!" The girl toddles over, her chubby little legs glowing a pale pink in the setting sun. 

"Look at the sunset." The small boy says. "There's pink, and yellow!" 

"And orange!" The girl shrieks. 

He laughs. "Your favorite." 

A star flies across the fading sky, its brilliant color gleaming. The white streak will continue to soar, like an eagle, to the end of the galaxy. Where all colors roam. Blue and purple. Yellow and green. Black and white. And, yes, orange too.

"A shooting star." The girl says in awe. "Make a wish."

"I wish..." The boy began, his young voice stumbling over the words. "I wish we'd be best friends forever."

"Yeah." She holds the boys hand. She held Mommy's hand all the time. She held Grandma's hand. Not Daddy's. Never Daddy's. "Even when we're old."

"Forever."

~TIME SKIP~

She sat on the curb. The hard concrete dug into her bones and she ached all over. From the concrete, the hot sun, his mean words. Waiting. Always waiting. Waiting for the next moment. She didn't know she was waiting, and even if she did she wouldn't understand. She was only eight. She wouldn't understand that its human to want the next thing. To always want what you don't have. Its part of humanity. But she used to be content. When she was younger, she didn't feel anything was missing, didn't feel the itch for something more. 

The roll and skitter of the awaited wheels finally came. He appeared riding a scooter of blue, its pale shine glowing bright in the noon sun. 

"What took so long?" She asked.

"My Mom made me clean my room." He answers. The pure rage of having to take ten minutes to clean his mess is still clear on his face. 

"Oh. Let's go!" She got up and started walking south. The boy followed, his leg kicking him forward, his mouth running.

"She made me pick up my toys and put them in the closet! And make my bed! Its stupid. Why would you make your bed when your just gonna mess it up later? She even made me tuck in the sheets. And then I had to put up my laundry. Aren't moms supposed to do that? And..." He rants on and on, the girl listening the whole time it took to walk the six blocks. 

They step inside the building. The nice riiing sounding as the door swung open. The man behind the counter scoops up a yellow mound and hands it to a customer. He spots the girl and boy. 

"Hello kids!" His gruffy voice boomed. "The usual?"

"Yes please!" The girl answers.

The big man handed the girl a butter pecan and the boy a peppermint cone. "Don't forget the garage today. That's all that really needs it."

"OK." They responded, licking at their cold treat.

He eyed them suspiciously. "Your moms don't know you're here, do they?" 

The kids hung their heads. "We just wanted to get some ice cream..." The boy mumbled.

"And Dad was home." The girl said. "Today's a Bad Dad Day." She added.

"Well then its alright." The man said with sympathy laced in his voice. "Its alright as long as you don't tell your mothers I'm feeding you sugar." He winks playfully.

"We won't!" They cried. 

The children licked the remains of the sticky sweetness from their fingers. They headed to the back of the shop where one grabbed a broom while the other seized a mop. Together they worked, humming an aimless tune. Aimless. That was the word that described it, at least that's what she thought. An aimless waiting.

Walking down the road back home in silence. It was a comfortable kind of silence, one that didn't need words to fill up the spaces. They didn't want to part, didn't want to leave each other to their separate paths.

"See you." The girl said.

"OK." He responded, the sad disappointment clear in his voice. "Bye."

She walked up her steps to the house and gently eased the door open. She slipped inside without looking back. The boy waved, though he knew she didn't see. He trudged back home.

~TIME SKIP~

*SLAM* The door bangs behind her as she storms out of the house. She runs down the cracked sidewalk, her bag slapping against her hip. Cracked sidewalk, cracked heart. Broken cement, broken home. 

He had come home late again, drunk. His eyes red and puffy, staggering around with anger in his eyes. He had barreled toward her, his blinding rage consuming him as he blamed his daughter for his faults, his mistakes. Her death. Especially her death. Kaede and her father both loved her. The woman that held them together. She was caring, smart, beautiful, funny, brave, strong... Everything you'd want in a mom. Or a wife. His wife. Who died. Her death he blamed on his daughter. She remembered the way he charged at her, bottle raised high. He brought it down, aiming for her head. She ducked and it crashed against the countertop, where it smashed to pieces, the shards slicing through her arm. She held her arm now, the blood running down her skin in the rain. 

She slowed to a walk, her black combat boots making a *SQUISH* sound in the never ending pouring water. She knew where she was going. The only place she found comfort, the only real home to her since her mom died. 

She walks up the steps and before she knocks he slings open the door. "Kaede." His face looked worried, the lines on his forehead creased and his eyebrows knotted together. His eyes wander to the blood dripping down her arm. "Oh my gosh, again?" He knows what happened, the look of pain crossing his face. "Come in!" 

He pulls her into his house. The walls are a soft yellow, the gray couch, the dark wood flooring, the smell of lasagna; it all screams 'home'. The boy, now twelve, brings her to the bathroom. Sitting on the edge of the tub, she watches him leave the room. 

"Mom! Come here!" His voice rings out throughout the small house." "Mom! Hurry!"

"What? Tyler, I'm trying to cook. You know I always burn it." The woman's voice has a pleasant tone to it. She follows him into the bathroom. 

"Oh my gosh, Kaede!" The mother exclaims. "I-"

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to ruin your rug." The white rug beneath her was now red, but that wasn't what she had meant. She didn't want to destroy this wonderful place with her problems. "I should go..."

"Nope, you're staying here." The boy says. 

The mother rummaged in a medicine cabinet, pulling out gauze and ointment. Peroxide and bottles of medicine. She brings them to the girl. Cleaning her wound, rubbing in medicine, wrapping the cuts. 

It's painful. But the girl doesn't feel it. She's watching the mother work. Thinking of her mother. Her hands, her eyes, her smile. Always smiling, her mom. The boy's mom reminds her of her own late one. Maybe that's why she comes so often. Her gaze strays to the boy. Maybe not... He had always been there for her, always been her best friend since they were little. As far as she can remember. She remembers the sunset and the shooting star so long ago. A smile grows on the girls lips. 

She sees the happiness here. Even when pain is present, there is always a kindness. If only it could be like this forever...

~END OF DREAM~

I bolt awake from the dream of memories, the worst kind of dream. Because I know what I had is gone. Forever. They just remind me of the past. And since I know that dreams are dead, its just like a bird. Here one day, gone the next. Singing its sad, forgotten tune, reminding you of the lost things.