[b][u]~ Gerard’s POV, Aged 7 ~[/u][/b]
[i][b]“...Look alive, sunshine.”[/b]

“I’m sorry... I’m sorry... I’m so sorry Mikey, so sorry...” I repeated, not daring to open my eyes and let the terrifying image of Korse standing before us blur my vision; he most likely has an evil grin on his face that would burn into my mind forever, even in the afterlife. I could feel my bag constantly hit against my legs as I trembled viciously, and I tried to hold in my tears which threatened to fall anytime soon.

“Throw them in the van. We’ll deal with them in private.” Korse said through clenched teeth, and when I opened my eyes his face was right in front of mine. His brown eyes reflected my terrified image within them, and the small smirk on his face made me want to attack him right here and now. I restrained myself though, I had my scared little brother in my arms – who is actually starting to feel heavier and heavier – and I wasn’t going to risk his life any more than my own.

Soon after several seconds of just staring at Korse and him staring back at me, I finally felt strong hands on my arms, and someone even had a tight grip of my hair. Their hands knotted themselves into it, and I tried to hold back cries of agony as a couple of Draculoids dragged me to their white van that read ‘Bli/nd. The Aftermath is Secondary.’ on the side in big black letters. I glanced at the logo next the word ‘Bli/nd’, and I frowned; why would someone even by smiling about a life under control by Korse?

The next thing I knew I was being shoved into the back of the van, and I quickly placed Mikey on the floor before they pushed me to the ground. I whimpered as one of the Draculoids grabbed the front of my jacket and held it up with his gun pressed under my chin, and I was so scared at that moment that I could actually just die of a heart attack; my heart couldn’t stop speeding up, and I could feel myself sweat slightly as I stared hopelessly at the white mask that covered the man’s face. The mask had black messy hair that was stuck up in random places, the lips were black and open to reveal vampire-like fangs stuck on the inside of the plastic mouth, and the eyes were also surrounded by black. Even if I couldn’t see his real face, I could tell he was smirking at me.

“Sit still and don’t mess around.” He said blankly, practically throwing me back onto the cold white floor. I felt Mikey’s arms wrap around me when I sat up, and as I cradled him in my arms I shot a glare at the Draculoid walking out of the van.
“What are you going to do with us?! Why did you-” I started asking questions that I know they’d never answer, but I stopped dead in my tracks when my eyes caught sight of my worst nightmare. I tried not to let Mikey look, but he had already seen them before I could do anything.

“G-Gee...” Mikey started, and I could tell he was trying to make sense of what led in front of his eyes. “W-What’s wrong with m-mommy and d-daddy...?”
“I’m so sorry, Mikey...” I whispered, shaking my head and finally letting myself break down as I held him close. “They’re dead, Mikey.”

I felt him tense up in my arms, and as I held him closer he flailed his arms around, trying to get away from me and towards our blood-stained parents who were led on the floor in the corner of the van. “No!! They are not dead! They are not!!” He screamed, now crying too. I heard somebody else outside of the open van door, and when I glanced around I saw Korse, breaking into a heart-breaking laugh. That was when I lost it, and I put Mikey down on the floor and swung my bag off of my shoulders before running towards Korse with anger boiling within my blood.

“You murderer!” I screamed at him, grabbing a pole that rested against the side of the van with many others. I swung it at his head, but before it hit him he grabbed it and pulled it out of my hands without even breaking a sweat.
“Thoughtless child.” Korse hissed, throwing the pole to the side. He then shoved me back into the van, and suddenly I caught a glance of another person running towards the van.

“Hey! Baldy!” He shouted as he drew closer, “That’s child abuse!”

I couldn’t help but smile a little at both his comment and the fact that me and Mikey were one little step closer to being saved. I crawled back towards Mikey who sat in front of our parents, and I rubbed his back a little as tears continued to fall from his face. “C’mon Mikey, we’re being rescued.” I whispered into his ear so Korse wouldn’t overhear. He then turned to me and nodded, and I wiped his tears away before hugging him softly.

I glanced over at Korse who was watching the unknown man shoot down his Draculoids, and I noticed that he had clenched his fists and his face was all screwed up. I was then just about to grab my bag, when all of a sudden Korse slammed the doors shut and I heard more gun shots from outside.

I cursed under my breath as I ran to the door, and I tried opening it again by punching, kicking and doing anything else I could think of to try and take the solid metal doors down. I gave up after several minutes, and then collapsed in front of the doors with my tired and throbbing body.

“Gee?” Mikey asked, now refusing to look or even think about mom and dad. “How do we get out of the bad man’s van?”
“I don’t know, Mikes...” I sighed, shaking my hands to try and reduce the aching feeling. We both then jumped a little when we heard the engine start, and I moved away from the van doors to lean against one of the walls. “I guess this is it...” I quietly said to myself, running one of my hands through my hair. Mikey had a scared expression on his face, and motioned for him to come over and sit with me.

The journey lasted for what felt like hours, and my arm stayed around Mikey for the whole way as he rested his head on my shoulder and fell asleep. I wasn’t scared to look at my parents on the floor anymore; it was almost like I had grown out of it... And it hasn’t even been a day yet.

It was then that I realised that everything had gone quiet, and the engine had been switched off. I hugged Mikey for one last time as footsteps walked around the outside of the van, and he stirred a little when I whispered ‘I love you, Mikes, don’t forget that.’ in his ear. When the doors opened I held him tighter, expecting rough hands to drag me out by my hair again.

But nothing happened.

I didn’t dare to look around, though – I was scared that Korse or Draculoids were going to be pointing their gun at my face; waiting for me to turn around so they could have a clear shot of my face. I cringed as I thought of that sort of scenario, and tried to remove the graphic images from my mind.

“Are you alright?” I heard a deep voice ask. It wasn’t Korse; this voice didn’t sound bitter or emotionless at all. It was full with sympathy and concern, and that ruled off the option for Draculoids too.

“Who are you?” I asked, still refusing to turn until I knew he was safe. I guessed that he was the man that was running towards Korse shouting that he was committing child abuse after he had pushed me to the ground.
“I’m afraid I can’t enclose that sort of information, sunshine.” He replied, “But everyone knows me as Dr. Death-Defying.”

My eyes widened a little when I heard that name; he was the man from the radio that made the broadcast about Korse!

“I-I’ve heard of you,” I stuttered, “You’re a Killjoy...”
“Indeed I am.” I turned to see him smiling, his eyes covered by the large brown shades that fit over his nose perfectly. He had a brown coloured bandana wrapped the top of his head over his shoulder-length brown hair, and he had a little amount of brown facial hair that covered the lower part of his face. He was wearing a black jacket that looked similar to mine; only his looked worn and it had brown strips on the arm parts. I smiled.
“Man, if mom was alive right now she’d freak...” I started, suddenly feeling depressed again.
“Hey, it’s alright,” Dr. Death-Defying reassured me, walking into the van and kneeling on one knee next to me and Mikey. “You can stay with me; I’ll take care of you kids.”

The last sentence warmed my heart and made me smile a little as he rested his large hand on my shoulder.
“Thank you.” I replied; I would have hugged him if Mikey wasn’t leaning on me to rely on something to keep him upright.
“C’mon, I’ll give you a hand with your, uh...”
“Brother, he’s called Mikey.” I informed him, “And my name’s Gerard.”
“Well, it’s nice to meet you Gerard and sleeping brother Mikey.” He chuckled a little to himself, and then reached over to Mikey to lift him into his arms.

When we came out of the van with Mikey in Dr. Death-Defying’s arms and my bag in my own, I looked around to where we were now. We were surrounded by the desert with nothing in sight apart from an endless two-way road and a Diner the only had the letters ‘D’, ‘I’ and ‘E’ hung over the roof. The building looked abandoned because it looked so run down, but I guess that was a typical Killjoy hideout.

We walked to the door before he kicked it open, and as we walked into the main room of the Diner I noticed that it was a lot cleaner on the inside. It was still quite messy, but it actually looked like someone was living here. I snapped out of my trance when I suddenly heard a child crying in a different room.

“Sorry, I’ll be right back.” Dr. Death-Defying said as he set Mikey down on a chair before walking through the Diner and into another room. He was starting to wake up now, and I grabbed another chair to sit with him so he wouldn’t freak out about where we were.

“Mikey?” I asked as he lifted his small hands to rub his eyes, “Are you alright?”
“Yes Gee...” He slurred, yawning. I smiled, then decided to tell him where we were and who Dr. Death-Defying was before he returned.

When he did return, he had a small boy in his arms that looked younger than Mikey, but only by a year or two. He also had brown hair, and his brown eyes matched the colour of my little brother’s who was now fully awake and aware of what had happened when we escaped.
“Sorry about the noise, he’s probably been crying like this all day...” He sighed, taking a seat on one of the chairs near me and Mikey. He cradled the boy in his arms and rocked him back and forth slightly, and after a little while he finally started to calm down.

“Anyway,” He started, breaking the awkward silence between us all, “Gerard and Mikey, this is Show Pony.” He smiled, and Mikey moved closer to peer at the boy, with me following soon after.
“Is Show Pony even a name?” I asked curiously, and Dr. Death-Defying chuckled.
“No, it’s his Killjoy name. If Bli/nd knows your real name; well... You’re screwed, kid.” He frowned. “That’s why we Killjoys need unusual names; so they find it harder to track us down. Which reminds me... You two need your own Killjoy names.” He explained, and me and Mikey exchanged glances. “Is everything alright?” He asked; I suppose he could see the little bits of worry on my face.

“Well; yeah... But, our mother always told us to never talk to a Killjoy, because we will pay our lives for it sooner or later... But we never really knew what she meant.” I explained, and he frowned.

“I see...” He started, “Well, your mother knew that when you meet a Killjoy, hardly anyone has had the guts to turn and walk away. Many actually join us. However, once you join us, you are automatically enemies of Bli/nd, and they will kill you whenever they get the chance.”
“So why did you not die when you rescued us?” Mikey asked, and I smiled as I tried not to laugh at how he said that.
“I guess I had luck on my side,” He smiled, “But anyway, there’s no turning back now. Unless; do you want to leave now and get taken by Dracs again?” He asked, and Mikey and I shook our heads. “Good; then welcome to the Diner!” He exclaimed, and we all laughed a little.

We spent the rest of the day coming up with our Killjoy names, and after several hours, we finally had them.

Mikey’s name came to mind when a snake had found its way into the Diner, and he had just casually walked up to it and picked it up before taking it to Dr. Death-Defying and showing it to him. Both of us sighed when we knew it wasn’t a venomous snake, and it was relatively small so it couldn’t do that much damage anyway. Dr. Death-Defying then came up with Snake Bite, but we didn’t think it sounded like Mikey. So after a few more minutes, I came up with Cobra Kid, and Dr. Death-Defying said that it would be much better if we spelt Cobra with a ‘K’. He said it gave the name an extra ‘kick’ to it.

It took a little less time to figure mine out, though. He asked me what I liked to do, what music I listened too, and if I was popular or not, and once I answered those questions he asked me if I was fond of parties. I replied by saying that I had never invited to them, I only snuck in for the music and food. We laughed at that for a little while, and he then revealed my own name.

Party Poison.

I couldn’t stop smiling; it suited me perfectly.[/i]

[b][u]Party Poison’s POV[/u][/b]
It was only at that moment when I realised I was smiling at the memories I had. Of course, I had grown up a lot since then. I’m now 20, Mikey is 17, Pony is 16 and Dr. D is 42. Wow; where did those 13 years go?

“Are you okay, Gee?” Kid asked. He never did call me by my real name when he was younger, and he still uses that nickname whenever we aren’t with the others.
“Yeah, just thinking about the time when we met Dr. D.” I said, turning my head to smile at him. He smiled back, and then stood up.
“I’m gonna go and get some food. Want some?” He asked, making his way for the entrance of the Diner.
“Nah, I’m fine thanks.” I replied, standing up and stretching. He then nodded and walked inside, and I put my hands in my jeans’ pockets.

“Party,” I heard a voice behind me speak. I turned to face him as he sat in his wheelchair in the doorway, and he motioned for me to follow him.

[b][u]Dr. D’s POV[/u][/b]
I led Party into the medical room, and when the bed had come into view, I turned to face him so I could watch his eyes open a little wider and tear up a little.

“H-He...” He started, and I nodded.
“He’s going to be alright. If he can move, that’s a very good sign.” I informed him, now looking back at the body that had changed position. Instead of lying on his back with his arms by the sides of his body, he was now led on his side facing us, and his arms stretched out in front of him.

“Thank you, Dr. D...” He whispered, bending down to hug me tight.
“It’s alright. Do you want a moment alone with him?” I asked, and he nodded, pulling back as we both smiled at each other. “I don’t think he’ll wake up until a few more hours have passed, he might not even wake up until days have passed, so don’t get your hopes up too high, sunshine.” I stated, wheeling myself out of the room as he took a seat next the bed.

[b][u]Fun Ghoul’s POV[/u][/b]
[i]Darkness.[/i]

That’s all I could see. The unknown swallowed me whole after I had been shot; I don’t think I want to know how long I have been like this. It seems like forever is finally here in its depressing state; I would never get the chance to talk to anybody ever again. It doesn’t even look like I’ll be able to meet God or Jesus... Even the devil wasn’t visible in this black hole.

[i]I’m scared.[/i]

I want to wake up. I want to speak. I want to race Show Pony down the endless road again. I want to sit next to Kobra Kid and listen to him when he babbles on about something that only he really knows about. I want to joke around with Jet Star and fake a fight with him again. I want to sit next to Dr. Death-Defying and watch him make another broadcast to every Killjoy that’s out in the desert right now. I want to break into Bli/nd and shoot Korse through his head for what he’s done. I want to personally kill every Draculoid without my gun. I want to rescue everyone from that death city known as Battery City. I... I want to...

[i]I want to hug Party Poison and tell him how I really feel.

I want to tell him everything.

I want him to hug me back and comfort me.

I want him to be my other half.

I want him to love me.

I.
Love.
Him.[/i]