Sweet Vendetta //Danger Days//

3. There He Was

   I couldn't find the right commands to make myself move.

"He-what?" I stammered.

"You heard me. He's back. Vamos nodded vigorously. The group of people behind be fell silent.

"Don't you fucking dare makes jokes like that around her." Toxic warned, his voice quivering. Vaya just shook their head, trying to fond words.

"Come back to the Nest." The pink haired Killjoy told me.

"I don't believe you." I hissed, my eyes welling up with tears.

"Oh for god's sake..." Vamos pulled something out of the back pocket of their ridiculously tight skinny jeans. It was a mask, and one that I had seen before. A bright yellow masquerade with three blue dots on it. I quickly made a grab for it, pulling the familiar mask into my chest.

"Where did you get this?" I demanded.

"Where d'ya think? Come on!" Vamos insisted before hurrying out of the church.

"Drive down to the nest right away." I ordered my friends, stepping out into the night. The cold midnight air came as a shock to me, as I wasn't used to feeling a chill outside. I ignored it, hopping into the Trans AM. Vamos and Vaya lead the way, their motorcycles kicking up dirt behind them. The entire time, I had to remind myself to breath. I believed that the two were just fooling around, as they did so often. But this is something new, and they wouldn't take a joke that far. My chest felt heavy with worry, and I kept Party's mask on my lap, making sure that it was never out of my sight.

---

The nest was in utter chaos when I arrived. Hundreds of Killjoys were swarming the main building that was being heavily guarded by a selected group of residents. Among the group of guards were Cola, Show Pony, Vinyl, GoGo and Psycho's girlfriend, DJ Hot Chimp. The black haired girl immediately caught sight of me storming towards the building, and tried to clear a path for me.

"Alright, clear out. Leader coming through." Chimp commanded, pushing a few bodies away from her. I nodded firmly in gratitude, walking towards the door. Cola was next to notice me, and hurried over.

"Don't go in there." He warned.

"I have to." I ignored him, continuing my strides. He pulled the sleeve of my jacket, bringing me to a halt.

"You're not ready for this."

I shook my head, swallowing violently. He understood, and let me go. I slammed the big wooden doors of the common building open. Dr. Death was blocking my view of a bench in the back of the room. Val was pacing back and forth, biting his fingers nervously. A few other Killjoys were inside. I recognized them as a makeshift medical team. Val saw me in the doorway, and his expression turned from confusion to fear.

"Oh no, who let you in?" He hissed, jogging towards me.

"Where is he? What happened?" I pushed past him.

"Atomic-" He started, but I ignored him. The medical team opened a path for me to walk through. Some of them seemed frightened of me.

Party was sitting on the bench, his face resting in his hands as he crouched over. His red hair was exactly the same, hanging softly over his fingertips. His Dead Pegasus jacket was cleaner than I had ever seen it, and his white jeans were lightly caked with sand. I covered my mouth when I saw him, muffling a cry. Party seemed to notice me standing there, and whipped his head over to me.

"Freia, what's going on?"

His eyes widened when he saw me. He examined me up and down.

"What the hell?" He tilted his head.

That's when I started screaming. Val sprinted over, grabbing me by the waist.

"Get her out of here." Dr. D advised weakly. I was crying hysterically.

"Don't touch her!" Party shot up. I dug my face into Val's jacket as he guided me, ignoring Party's shouts of confusion.

"He's dead. He can't be here." I sobbed, clinging onto the second in command for dear life. Val lead me around to the back of the building, away from the crowd. He held onto me tightly, and I was scared that he would let me go.

"I don't know what happened. We were in B.L.I, and he just turned up." He told me, resting his chin on the top of my head. My brain was pounding, and every single time I opened my eyes, all I could see was him. The living, breathing red-head. I saw him die, falling to the floor as his life shot out of him.

"Please, make it stop." I begged. Val stroked my hair softly, trying to calm me down.

"I'm sorry." He spoke with pity and sadness in his voice, the same as he did the night my friends died.

A car and three motorbikes pulled into the nest. Sugar, Toxic, Neon, Volume, Smoke and Ghost sprinted towards me. My brother appeared from withing the crowd, looking at me with fear in his eyes.

"What the hell is going on? Is he actually back?" Sugar asked me as the group reached the back of the building. I couldn't seem to form words, so Val made them for me.

"We don't know how to explain it." He told them. Ghost exchanged a confused glance with Volume and Toxic. Neon was completely silent, appearing to have zoned out. Sugar wrapped her arm around Mad Gear in an attempt to reassure him.

My brother was crying, and that was a rare sight.

"What about the others?" He asked, wiping away the tears from under his eyes.

"No sign of them." Val shrugged, trying his best to sympathize with the others.

"Are you doing okay?" Volume asked. I still remained motionless.

"I'll take her inside. We'll figure everything out in the morning." Val helped me into his house, leading me towards his bedroom.

"Please say something." He pleaded, sitting down next to me.

"I-" My eyes drifted off into space. This was just a dream. It had to be. There was no way he could be back.

"I don't know." I choked, barely making a sound. Val sighed, pushing his fingers through his hair in an act of stress. I curled myself into a ball, not even taking my shoes off on the bed.

"I'm scared." My voice couldn't seem to work properly.

"Should I go?" Val asked.

"Please, don't."

He nodded, wrapping his body around mine.

"You'll be alright." He reassured me, resting his arm around my tense shoulder.

I closed my eyes, trying desperately to wake up from whatever the hell was going on. Party Poison was out there right now, probably freaking out about me.

That didn't matter though. What mattered was that he wasn't dead.

__________
I lied, I'm updating today. But the data out here is shit.

The things I do for you guys.