Ruby// East Is Up (Josh Dun)

Chapter 3: Dema's Walls

Ruby

The girl was on her 13th year in Dema. The bishops surrounded her as she walked down the hallway and into the bishops' sanctuary. As they entered, the bishops in front of her stepped to the side, putting her face to face with Bishop Nico.

"Do you know why you are here?" Bishop Nico asked her.

"Because you are scared," Ruby said, her head down.

"Scared of what, my child?" The bishop asked, threatened.

"Scared of what Josh knew. Scared of all he told me," Ruby looked up directly at Nico, breaking the ancient protocol.

"You are unwell, my child. You have been hurt by the loss of your friend. If we do not fix you now, you may stray as he did." Nico said to Ruby before giving a nod to the surrounding bishops.

"Fix me?" She asked and Nico nodded.

"The loss of Josh is what pains you, we will remove the memory in order to remove the pain." He said as he stepped forward.

"I didn't lose Josh, he made it out." She said and Nico gave her a small smile.

"Josh did not make it out, my child. There is nowhere to go outside of Dema." He said. The bishops began to kneel around Ruby and Nico.

"You are wrong. Josh knew what was out there and that's why you chased him. He made it out!" Ruby began to cry.

"Hush now, my child. Close your eyes," Nico whispered to her as he ran his fingers over her neck, leaving black marks.

"Do not dwell on the past. There is nothing outside, there is no Josh, there is only Dema." Nico said before placing his hand on top of her head. Ruby let out a scream, then there was darkness.

I opened my eyes to see Josh looking down at me.

"Josh? Is it really you?" I asked and he nodded.

"Are you ok? You blacked out and...." He started but I cut him off by wrapping my arms around him. He embraced me and I felt safe in his arms, I always had.

"The bishops told me you didn't make it," I said as I pulled back. Josh gave me a confused look.

"What did they do to you?" He asked concerned.

"They took my memories of you away. Seeing you brought them all back," I said and he pulled me back into his arm.

"I'm sorry, I should've never left you here." He said.

"It wasn't your fault. You're here now," I replied. We held each other for as long as we could, trying to make up for lost time.

"Why do you return to the city so often?" I asked him, breaking the silence.

"How do you know when I come?" He asked.

"I had dreams, I guess they were actually memories, of you. Every night I had them, the next morning I would find your messages. I had them before you started writing on my windowsill, so I guess every time you returned to Dema, a memory of you returned too." I explained. Josh took it all in for a moment.

"We've been trying to break others out of Dema. I've wanted to break you out for so long, but you seemed too close to the bishops. They couldn't risk you exposing us. If I'd known what the bishops had done..." he started but I cut him off.

"Who are they?" I asked quickly and Josh got quiet. He looked around before whispering to me.

"Banditos. They are the people who have escaped Dema, they live just outside the desert, in the Trench. They took me in after I escaped the bishops. We return once a moon to break out those inside Dema who know about us. I've asked them to let me break you out for so long, but the bishops were always watching you, they couldn't risk getting caught. They told me to give up on you but I couldn't. They don't know I'm here now." He whispered to me. I tried to understand all he said, but I couldn't wrap my mind around it all. Before I could say anything else, the sound of the chapel bell rang out through the darkness.