a/n: Also, IT'S "PET CHEETAH, CHEETAH" not "Pet Cheetah, Pet Cheetah" idk where any of you are hearing that from. Also shorter chapter, Lane Boy is semi-significant but not horribly.
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Tyler and Josh jointedly looked out upon the unsettled part of Trench. Where anyone who dared go beyond walked through. The pair's legs swung in the air back and forth from the cliff. Though the height was harrowing, it was an odd sense of calmness rather than fear. Alone together, as it should've always been. Josh looked to Tyler, who kept looking out to the valley, knowing only those who walked out there could come back, only if they needed to. Most did but left again, but everyone who left had come to Trench first, and will always remember the Banditos. Tyler's siblings were out there. Josh tried to comprehend what was happening in his mind, looking behind them to see Banditos guarding them from behind, Josh smiling at them in earnest.
"They're over there, somewhere." Tyler said. Josh looked back out, then out Tyler again.
"Let's hope they never have to come back this way." Josh stated. Tyler looked to Josh, leaning into his friend, Josh wrapped his arm around him, rubbing his arm.
"I know, you miss them." Josh sympathized. Tyler shrugged, becoming more comfortable in his arms.
"I could've done such a better job. I'm a horrible brother." Tyler said, Josh looked to his friend.
"I think you're the best person I've ever met." Josh said, Tyler looked to Josh and rolled his eyes.
"That's different. I didn't care for you, I didn't raise you." Tyler said. Josh put a finger to Tyler's lips, knowing full well y the tone of his voice he didn't want to talk about them, even though the development he would gain by doing so would just advance his communication, he didn't need more pain, did he?
"They tell me, to stay where I am. They think it's a highway." Tyler analyzed. Josh looked out to the masses, empty clean air that was topped with dew and mist and a silence so eerie it should've made the pair shiver but it only calmed them.
"Yeah, but we go where we want, look." Josh said, gesturing out to the valley off the cliff, kicking both his feet in the air at the same time. Tyler laughed.
"I know, but not everyone has that freedom. Their minds don't let them." Tyler said, Josh shrugged, unwrapping his arm from around Tyler and leaning on them both as he sat.
"Maybe their minds don't, but a lot more of them don't let their minds let them. That happened to you." Josh said, reaching up and ruffling Tyler's hair. Tyler laughed, play punching Josh's covered but colored arm. Tattoos in Trench were illegal, but he got a whole sleeve and left the next day for the first time. A celebration. Tyler got many too, with Josh at the time, and hid them.
"Why do they think they own the place, this world, it's our own. It's what we make of it, so why do they believe otherwise?" Tyler questioned existentially.
"I like to believe they are power junkies. Drunks who down bottles of control a day to keep themselves in check. It's always a coping mechanism at the end of the day, in places like that." Josh said simply, Tyler nodded in agreement.
"I think you're right." Tyler said.
"Believe me, I am," Josh said. "They want you all to hide and surprise everything. It wasn't initially like that you know. They changed it out of fear."
"Fear of what?" Tyler asked. Josh shrugged once more.
"Change. Religion. A lot of things." Josh said solemnly.
"Will they be alive tomorrow?" Tyler asked. Josh shook his head.
"Not if it's not stopped. No." Josh said. sitting up again, hunching.
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Taking Route East, Not Calling "Home" • Twenty One Pilots
Fanfiction"'We're not machines, not here.' He said, turning back, his torch the only light source in the pitch black valley. 'Then what are we, Josh?' Tyler asked, the silence echoing between them. 'Whatever we want to be.'" - Overdue Trench story, hope you...
