thanatophobia // joshler [✓]

alternative ending

[this was supposed to be the original ending but i couldn't handle it, i was an emotional and physical wreck when i wrote it but if you want to follow this ending you could do so, but it's not the canon ending. -frisk]

"the head or chest?" brendon wanted clarification.
"chest. let him suffer." tyler stated.

and so brendon shot gerard, nailing him right above where his heart would be. he yelled in pain as he tried to stop himself from bleeding, but to no avail.

after this happened, pete went off to gather the supplies mcr stole along with the stuff they already had. this left us a good amount of stuff that would help us survive the awful life we were living.

brendon suggested we stay for a bit, and let gerard die in our presence so we could feel the sense of victory. tyler stayed with me to help me stand, otherwise i'd fall to the ground.

"do your forgive me, or do i have to kiss your ass?" tyler joked, mocking brendon a bit.
"i forgive you, no need for ass kissing." i chuckled.

i saw ashley walked over to us with a worried look on her face,
"hey-uh where's mel?" she wondered.

"wait mcr didn't take her?" i was confused, and so was tyler.
"no, it was first me and ryan, then it was me and pete. mel was never here."

"oh... well as soon as the sun rises we should--"
three gun shots went off, all three of them nailing me in the stomach. i fell to the floor, tyler unable to hold someone who was able to hold themselves.

there was no pain this time, time was just slowing down and my ability to hear was muffled. from the corner of my eye i saw gerard was the one who shot me as he was the only one with his gun aimed at me.

he somehow managed to crawl to the far end of the room where there was a control panel hidden,
"you know... i liked josh, and i'm sure you guys did too, but he's too much of risk, right guys?" i heard gerard speak over tyler and everyone else panicking over me.

"the bullets hit his spine... it messed up his nerves..." patrick was unsure of what to do with the information.
"JOSH! JOSH CAN YOU HEAR ME?" tyler cried hard, cupping my face.

"oh and b-t-dubs, this building is like really cool and it can burn itself to the ground to self-destruct important information in here... you guys really should have killed me when you had the chance."

with that, gerard activated the self-destruction system from the panel, which lit the control room in fire first, which is where pete was.

the fire quickly spread to where we were, everyone was panicking, trying to figure out what to do. everyone except patrick, ashley, and tyler stayed. brendon ran out.

the room was dark, flashing red lights nearly blinding me as i felt a very warm sensation all around me as the flames were beginning to take their course.

tyler was now crying hard, patrick and ashley trying to get him off of me to get out,
"JOSH PLEASE!!!" tylers voice echoed in my head.

"i'm sorry." was the last thing i remembered.

until it was all blank.

all quiet.

all over.

__________

--narrator--

this was the story of joshua dun. he took the fall for the team back there. and before you theory makers go crazy, no, josh isn't alive.

he and pete failed to escape the burning building along with gerard. the three burned alive while the others escaped.

it's sad too, tyler finally found someone that he felt alive with. josh was tylers drug, if you will. it's so strange that he lost the one thing that let him live freely.

but ya know, oh well, so what happens next?

as josh and ryan sat in the cozy living room near the warming fireplace playing some card game or other that gabby doesn't wanna get copyrighted for, pete walks in with cups of hot cocoa for the three.

"where's jenna?" ryan wondered.
"in her room, she'll be out in a second." as pete said this, the beautiful blond that was full of life ran down the stairs sitting next to the three.

pete handed her her cup of the warming drink before she thanked him and took a sip.
"are you guys ready to lose again?" she joked.

"uhhh no i think you were the one who lost--"
"yeah i know josh just let me feel good about myself." she chuckled, and so did the other three.

they were mid game and it was already obvious that jenna was losing, until they all got this feeling of worry and uncertainty.

and that's when there was a slow and steady knock at the front door.