A nice change

"How do you feel about knocking out a 14-year-old?"

TW:mentions of past death/murder, alcohol, and religious language

Lindsey Ballato never thought of herself as that good a person. It was Steve's fault she was in this mess in the first place, and Jimmy's that she was still here. She tried to leave, once upon a time when she was told to get close to the Killjoys and ended up falling for their kind, geeky leader. But he kicked her to the curb when they sobered up. Sometimes Lindsey wished things had worked out, but there was no use living in the past.

These thoughts just floated by because the guard who was marching her to a holding cell had dyed red hair, like the persona Gerard used to draw. He had a gentle hold on her for someone imprisoning a trader. Almost a metaphor for Gerard's hero complex being to kind to someone as, well, sinful (for lack of a better word) as her.

Lindsey stumbled and on one of the stairs that the guard was taking her down. The guard helped her up.

"Thank you," She whispered.

He didn't say anything until they were down the steps when he quietly said "Josh,"

"Huh?"

"My name. It's Josh."

"Lindsey,"

He looked over his shoulder before whispering "I only joined because they got my sister."

Lindsey nodded. She understood what that was like. "There was a family that took me in along with another boy. Him and the son were closer to me then I ever thought people could be. One of the mothers worked at Liseil after the Killjoys took it down the first time. We were just stupid kids and did what one of the only parental figures we had told us to, kinda like Brendon and Dallon and Ryan back there."

"The tall kid and the one with blue hair didn't even acknowledge you?"

"I'll admit I always treated Brendon nicer then the others, and even to him I'm practically a stranger."

"May I ask why?"

"He's the son of the other boy I mentioned earlier."

"What happened to him? Your friends?"

"Gerard Way killed him. When the Killjoys took down Liseil. Steve never forgave him."

"And you did?"

Lindsey stopped walking and looked into Josh's eyes "Wouldn't you want to be forgiven for what you've done?"

Josh looked down,"Do you forgive The Doctor Man for his sins?"

"He doesn't deserve forgiveness."

"How do you know who deserves forgiveness and who doesn't?"

"Because he knew what he was during when he made Stumph kill Toro back there."

"And we know what we're doing when we do what Liseil asks. We chose to act without question. You and that boy back there are the only ones in this building who aren't cowards."

"You're doing this for your sister."

"I haven't seen her in years, but that's how they work, they separate you from the people you care about and so you always have a reason to stay. For all I know she could be dead, but they'd never tell me that."

"Then why are you still here?"

Josh didn't say anything as he kept walking, leading Lindsey into one of the rooms being used for holding cells. Tyler Joesph sat there, glassy eyes set on a fixed point, not moving. Lindsey flinched at first, but got a hold of herself and managed to keep the fear out her eyes when she turned back to Josh.

"Once upon a time," He said sadly "I fell in love with a man who thought he could join the Killjoys. Now I guard his cell in the basement of a hospital. I'm still here because he no longer recognizes my voice because they made a 14-year-old brainwash him. I'm still here because The Doctor Man just smiled as he made a man kill his husband. I'm still here because I'm to much of a coward to fight that kind of evil."

He had been staring at the floor sadly when he said this. Lindsey's eyes flashed from Tyler Joesph's dead expression to Josh's dead spirt. She stood straight as she made her decision, faux-confidently asking "Well why don't you do something brave then?"

Josh looked up but still hopeless, "What do you mean?"

"I mean: how do you feel about knocking out a fourteen year old?"