Free & Flightless (Trench)

Chapter 17-Tyler

Tyler had no desire at all whatsoever to talk to Josh about Clancy. Clancy was the unspoken thing in between Tyler and his darkest thoughts. But the moment he had let the name Clancy slip from his mind to out of his mind, he knew he had messed up.
"Clancy?" Josh repeated. He wasn't pressing, just repeating. And Tyler understood that.
"He was...well, as I said, my best friend. Ever. At the time, anyway. But some...stuff happened." Tyler took in a breath, closing his eyes momentarily, before sighing and slowly reopening his eyes. Josh's head was tilted, causing his hair to fall over his eyes a bit, and his lips were pointed down in a almost pitiful frown. It seemed truly sincere though, which caused Tyler's lip to quiver. Josh scooted forward and pulled Tyler into a hug.
"You don't have to tell me all at once, Ty. I can tell it's hard." Josh said. Tyler shook his head, pulling away. Josh looked at Tyler expectantly.
"It's fine. I have to get it out." Tyler mumbled. Josh nodded once, hesitant in his actions.
"The reason I found Dema was flawed was because of Clancy. Clancy had escaped, but then a few hours later the alarms sounded that there was a Failed Perimeter Escape—an FPE. So I ran out, obviously, through the Necropolis and everything, to go find him. And I found the Bishops pummeling him and both physically and mentally abusing him. And then they found me staring.." Tyler shook his head. He glanced up at Josh. Josh was looking at Tyler, a sad expression on his face.
"They pulled me out of social interaction for three months. And I was closely monitored by Nico, who..well, you know who he is. And I haven't seen Clancy since. So in short..I realized how screwed up Dema was." Tyler mumbled the last part. Josh nodded, in understanding, then abruptly grabbed his temple and cried out. Tyler looked up, surprised as Josh buried his head in his hands. His shoulders were shaking a bit, almost like he was being tortured from the inside-out. Tyler scrambled forwards, leaning down onto his kneecaps to look at Josh in the eyes.
"Josh?" Tyler pressed. He was very concerned. One moment Josh was fine, the next he was racked with uncontrollable pain.
"What's wrong?" Tyler asked. He was about to call another Bandito, but Josh suddenly grabbed Tyler's hand. Tyler looked up into Josh's eyes.
They weren't mocha though...
They were red.
Bishops red.
This wasn't Josh, this was...
"Nico?" Tyler whispered.
"Hello, Classified. We've been looking for you. So we had to go to more...extreme measures." The Not-Josh said.
"Get out of him!" Tyler shouted, standing up. Just then, Jenna decided to come into the room.
"Ty, what's with the shouting?" She asked. She glanced at Josh and saw the red eyes and squinted. The redness suddenly disappeared, showing that Nico was no longer possessing Josh. Josh dropped to his knees, coughing and wheezing at a somewhat alarmingly velocity. Jenna and Tyler kneeled beside him, concerned.
"What happened?" Jenna asked. Before Tyler could respond, Josh looked up. His eyes were their mocha self like before, not the blood red of previously.
"Nico." Josh rasped. Tyler practically cringed at the pain Josh was clearly in.
"I'll get the Banditos to wrap this place up." In a moment, Jenna was out of the tent and shouting at everyone to 'move their asses'. Tyler helped Josh up, which was rather difficult due to the muscle-size difference.
"I'm fine, Ty. You don't have to help me." Josh insisted. Tyler shook his head, supporting Josh's weight as much as he could.
Josh looked Tyler dead in the eye.
"I'm sorry I didn't finish talking about Clancy, it's just hard." Tyler mumbled, a bit humiliated by the experience.
"You're not the only one with difficult secrets, Ty. Don't worry." Josh said quietly. Jordan decided this was the time to walk over to them and pick up Josh rather dramatically. Josh grumbled a few insults and protests, before they fell into line with the other Banditos who were already leaving to another location.
Tyler fell to the back of the line, all the while questioning what in Dema Josh was hiding.

A/n: sorry for crappy update.
What's your guy's' least favorite twenty one pilots song?