“She's singing 'Baby, come home' in a melody of tears,
While the rhythm of the rain keeps time...
Did you ever love her? Do you know? Did you ever want to be alone?" -Jet Pack Blues, Fall Out Boy

---

"And we have no idea where he is?" I cry.

"We thought you would, considering you're the one with the message on your arm," Mikey says. "What does that even mean, 'better off as lovers'?"

"Isn't it obvious?" I ask, popping my hip and crossing my arms. "Poison and I slept together a long-ass time ago. It's not that hard to piece together, honestly."

"I knew it!" Mikey cried. "I knew there was some weird shit between the two of you! They've been friends for 20 goddamn years, and they never did anything! Anything! I knew it!"

"20 years?" Love asks from her place on the top of the bar's countertop. "That's... How old are you?"

"23," I answer. "Poison turned 25 a few days ago."

"The same day you two tried to shack up," Jet says and I cry out, turning on my heel to face him.

"Jet Star! Shall we not?" I exclaim. "And instead of discussing my sex life— while Missile is in the room, might I add!— how about we focus on the problem at hand, A.K.A where the hell Poison went off to!"

Now, it's Jimmy's turn to contribute: "Alright, well, let's look at the facts: he disappeared sometime between midnight and four-ish, 'cause Little Miss I-Never-Sleep woke up at four-ish," Love shrugs, a smirk on her lips. "And he escaped on foot as well, because Lil' Shit is still here, as is Truant's truck; oh yeah, those motherfuckers are still outside.

"He's not exactly all that stealthy, either," Jimmy continues. "Bright red hair, famous for Hesitant Alien. My theory, as of right now, is that he started off for where he was going and caught a ride with some other 'Joys. It's the most likely, as well as the most logical."

Love suddenly cries out, jolting herself upright. "I know where he is!" She cries and turns to her husband. "The Dead Pegasus," she says and Jimmy's eyes light up.

"Yeah, he's going to the Dead Pegasus!" Jimmy repeats. Then, seeing the look on Frank, Mikey, and my faces, adds "The Dead Pegasus, or the D.P as most of us call it, is this marketplace in 3 that caters to any and everything a 'Joy could need out here in the Zones. He probably went to buy something. Or sell something."

"I wanna go," Missile says quietly, reminding all six of us of her presence. "Can I come, Star?"

Jet bites his bottom lip, thinking for a few seconds. "Sure, why not?" He resolves quickly and the young girl smiles and jumped up into his back, lacing her arms around his neck. He takes hold of her legs and she smiles even wider.

"We've gotta get going if we want any chance of getting to the D.P soon," Love says, shoving herself off of the counter and tightening her ponytail. "Everybody, in Lil' Shit!"

After a few hours of Jimmy's determined driving, we pull up in front of a large patch of desert with small tense set up all around the perimeter, and a wooden stage in the very middle that's covered by a red canopy tent. There's a bit of plywood nailed to a fence post near one of the closer tents, and I squint to see the black paint. Dead Pegasus, it reads. If you don't worship anarchy, fuck right off.

"Well, they sure aren't subtle about the whole 'Joy thing, are they?" I ask, getting out of Lil' Shit. 'Joys are milling around the whole place, and it makes me feel slightly nostalgic for the underground rebels in Bat City. Wow, never thought I'd say that I'm nostalgic for Bat City.

"Not really," Love says, getting out next to me. "Alright, men... And ladies. Let's split up— men one group, and ladies the other group. Missile, you'll be with Halsey and me." Missile nods and gives Jet a small kiss on his cheek. She bounds over to us, taking my hand and squeezing tightly. "Now, let's go!" Love exclaims and we head off in seperate directions.

"Do you see him?" I ask as we meander around the tents, intently studying each and every person for some kind of distict Gerard feature.

"No," Love says, disappointed. "It shouldn't be this hard; dude's got cherry red hair. Do you know what the thing behind the red is? Like, why red?"

"I don't know," I lie. The reason seems sort of personal, and I'm not sure if he would appreciate me telling someone. "I think red's his favorite color. Or it's a far cry from his dark brown hair. I have no clue."

"Isn't that him?" Missile asks, pointing to one of the tents. We all turn toward the tent to see a small group of men, maybe four or five, one of which has the tell-tale cherry red hair and blue jacket.

"Son of a bitch," I mutter, then say to Missile: "Stay with Love. I'll go get him."

"Okay," Missile says and smiles up at me, transferring her hand to Love's. Truth be told, Love with a child looks pretty damn cute; but I don't have time to be focusing on that.

I quickly make my way over to Gerard, checking that it is him. Then, I see the red pill-and-x stitching on the jacket and I know it's him.

"Poison!" I shout over the sound of the D.P and Gerard noticeably stiffens, slowly turning to look at me. His eyes flash with something unidentifiable and he runs to me quickly, inmediatly kissing me, his hands going gripping my hips tightly.

"Please play along," he whispers as he hugs me tightly, and I whisper "What the fuck are you doing?"

"Hals, I'm so sorry," he says aloud. "I shouldn't have done that. I'm such a prick. Please forgive me."

Want me to play along, motherfucker? Oh, I'll play along. I shove his arms off of me, trying to look betrayed, and say "I'm not sure that I can. You abandoned me, with not else to go on other than your little note!"

"Hey, P.P," a voice says and a man jogs up to us. He has short, black hair with honey-colored eyes that are a bit lighter than his skin. He has on a red and white baseball shirt with a black vest like mine, black jeans, and black army boots. Tattoos peek out of the sleeves of his shirt and he has a concerned look on his face. "Are you okay?" The man asks, his eyes flicking to me, then to Gerard.

"Grenade, go back to Case and View," Gerard says. He's not much taller than this man, Grenade. "I need to have a discussion with my wife."

Wife? Woah, hold on there. This isn't what I signed up for. I want a refund.

"Okay," Grenade says and goes back to the tent, turning his head to look at us every so often.

"Wife?" I ask quietly but Gerard doesn't answer.

"I'm sorry, Halsey," he says, going back to our earlier conversation.

"'Sorry' doesn't cut it," I tell him. "You didn't leave just me. You left your brother. You left your best friend. You left Missile. She's too young for people to leaving all the damn time. You of all people should know how it feels to have their father walk out on them."

What can I say? Gerard's zines gave some backstory on all of us, and Dr. Death had us memorize it, so we can get into our characters even more.

"I don't know what else to say," he says. "But you have to forgive me. Please. I love you."

I look at him for a few seconds, completely unsure of what to say. "Poison... I can't forgive you. I could if you had left a better note, or if you had given us any type of warning. But... You left me. In the middle of the night, not even bothering to give me a kiss goodbye. You've been my rock for years, Poison, and I love you, but I can't forgive you."

He blinks at me, taking my hands in his. "I understand," he says and hugs me tightly. "I'm so sorry, Halsey. I'm so sorry."

"Please come home," I whisper. "We need you. I need you. Please come back home with us."

"Us?" He asks, pulling away just enough to see my face. "Who else came?"

Someone taps Posion's shoulder, and he lets go of me to turn around. "Me, motherfucker," Mikey says and he punches his brother square in the jaw.

---

"Does it still hurt?" I ask, jumping up to sit on the counter of the bar. Gerard's sitting on one of the barstools, and a patch of his jaw is yellow, with purple blooming on the edges. Mikey really did a number on him at the D.P.

"It's a dull throbbing now," Gerard says, shrugging. "It's not as bad. I still could have gone without my baby brother punching me in the face."

"You were being a dick," Mikey says from across the room. "You deserved it."

"While that's true," Gerard mumbles and rubs his jaw, wincing at the pain of his bruise. "You have a solid right hook, Kobra."

"Thank you kindly," he says.

"So, about what we said at the D.P," I start.

"Oh, not here," Gerard says quietly and helps me down from the bar. "Let's go outside, get some air."

I nod nod and he pulls me out of the building. The moment the door closes, he says "Let's go to the roof. I went up there last night before..." He trails off and clears his throat, quickly making his way up to the metal roof. I make my way up as well, placing my hands and feet in the same place he did.

When I get up there, I see him already laying down, his jacket off and laying next to him. The moon casts a silver glow on his face, making his angles sharper. I lay down next to him, placing my head on his chest, and his arm goes around my shoulder. "So, why did you say 'wife'?" I ask.

"I don't know," he admits. "It slipped out. That was good thinking, by the way, bringing out the thing about my dad."

"I'm a quick thinker," I say and laugh quietly. After a moment, I ask "Why did you leave?"

He takes a moment to answer. "Something inside me
just snapped," he says. "I went sorta crazy and just started to run. I wasn't sure where I was going, but those three guys— the ones I was talking at the D.P— found me and just..." He shrugs and says "Seriously, please forgive me."

"Of course," I say. "That was all part of the act, Poison. I can't stay mad at you forever. The sooner I forgive you— no matter how pissed I may be— the easier our lives will be."

"That's a good way to think about this," Gerard says, landing a kiss on my hair. "I really am sorry."

"I would hope you are," I say and he laughs. "Who were the people that picked you up?"

"The one you met is Heart Grenade," Gerard tells me. "The other two were Basket Case and Long View. From what I could glimpse, they seemed to be, like, the head Killjoys. The ones in charge."

"Wow," I say. "That's amazing."

"Yeah, it was pretty cool. Grenade said that his sons love Hesitant Alien," he tells me.

"That's great, Poison," I say and yawn.

"Tired?" He asks and I nod sleepily. "It's nice out here. Let's stay."

"Okay," I mumble.

"'Night." He says, kissing my hair again.

"'Night. Love you."

"I love you too."

Notes

It's a bit obvious to me who Heart Grenade, Basket Case, and Long View are, but, then again, I wrote them. :)

I know it seems like I'm introducing a lot of characters, but it'll all make later in the story.

.::stay lovely::.

xoøli