Start the song. It's Wash Me in the Water by Jamie N Commons.

Tyler was still shaking as he walked back into Ashley's bedroom. She and her father were yelling at each other, and JJ was crying. Unable to form words, Tyler stood in the doorway for a moment. No one seemed to notice his presence, but the anxiety inside of him was quickly turning to anger.

Why the hell had Josh said all of that? Tyler knew him. He knew that his husband would never willingly hurt anyone. What was he trying to distract Tyler from? Something had to have happened while he was here that set him off.

"What did you say to him?" Tyler asked, interrupting Mr. Frangipane entirely.

The man's glare turned to Tyler. "Excuse me?"

"I asked, what the hell did you say to Josh? He doesn't act like that, and he has never said anything like that to me before, but then he meets you and suddenly he doesn't want to be in our lives and he wants to be just like his dad," Tyler said back stiffly. Even just saying those words made his skin crawl.

Ashley's eyes widened. "He said that?"

"He said a lot of things. That wasn't my husband out there, so I don't know what you said to trigger bad memories in him or whatever, but if anything happens to him, I can promise you The Family will be the last of your worries," Tyler said angrily, still not breaking eye contact with Ashley's father.

"Tyler, what did he say?" Ashley was shaking as she stood.

"It doesn't matter. I need to go find him before he does something he shouldn't," Tyler replied distractedly.

Mr. Frangipane rolled his eyes. "So you're going to go out and help a Satanist over-"

"Josh watched everyone in that community die. He lost everything and didn't even try to find us because he was too scared that it would hurt us to know. Josh got us out of that place despite knowing they could kill him for it," Tyler shot at the man.

Ashley nodded, glaring at her father. "And the way they punished him was so terrible that he didn't even want to tell me. If you think for one second that he would hurt any of us, you need to pull your head out of your ass."

There wasn't a single moment over the past year that Tyler had seen Ashley's father this angry, but he didn't have time to deal with this either. As he'd warned Hayley, Josh had been taught to punish himself. He couldn't imagine how his husband was feeling right now, and he'd never forgive himself if something happened to him.

Turning around quickly, Tyler hurried back out of the house before Mr. Frangipane could try to talk to him again. He didn't even bother waiting for Ashley. They didn't have time to figure out what they were going to do with JJ. Besides, Tyler was the only one that Josh had blown up on. He was the only one who could talk him down.

Ignoring the calls for him to come back, he ran out to his car and pulled the door open. He jammed his key into the ignition and started his car. Josh's grandparents' house seemed like a good place to go first.

-----

Maybe it was his frantic knock that caused Josh's grandfather to open the door so quickly, but the old man's face fell as soon as he saw Tyler. "Damn it. I hoped you were Jordan. He's been gone for hours. He didn't say a word. He just left."

"Is Josh here?" Tyler asked quickly. He didn't have time to worry about Jordan. Surely he'd be back soon.

The old man's eyebrows rose. "I thought he was with you."

"Ashley's dad did something. He got really mad and said some shit. Do you have any idea where he'd go?" Tyler explained as quickly as possible.

"Try the house next door. Hayley's usually the first person he goes to for things like this," Josh's grandfather replied, pointing at the house next door. "He'll be okay, Tyler. He runs away a lot when he gets overwhelmed."

Tyler shook his head. "This feels different."

The old man nodded understandingly. "Let me know if you find him."

"I will," Tyler called over his shoulder as he ran down the steps and down the sidewalk to the house next door.

He knocked on their door just as rapidly, trying to calm his anxiety as he waited for someone to answer. There was a terrible feeling in his chest, and he knew this wasn't like any other time Josh had run away. Even inside the community, Josh had never said anything like that to Tyler before. Something was really wrong.

By the time the front door opened, it felt like hours had passed. Hayley's hair was bright orange now, but otherwise she looked the same. She looked surprised to see Tyler.

"Hey. Is everything okay?" She asked, seeming genuinely unaware of the current issue.

"Is Josh here?" Tyler asked quickly, looking around behind her anxiously.

She shook her head, worry instantly crossing her features. "What's going on?"

"I think something bad is going to happen," Tyler told her, hearing his voice waver.

The small girl grabbed her coat off of the hook by the door and pulled on a pair of boots. "I might know where he is, but we have to be fast. Last time I was almost too late."

Tyler nodded, hurrying back to his car with her running beside him. They climbed in quickly, not even thinking to bother with seatbelts.

"Where are we going?" Tyler asked as he started the car.

"Do you remember where the cult used to live?" She asked him nervously.

Tyler was already driving before he had time to register the words. Of course he knew where the community was. He'd lived there. Hayley didn't mention that he was speeding, and he knew that it was because she knew something about Josh's life over the past year that he didn't.

"What happened last time?" Tyler asked shakily.

Hayley didn't try to shelter him from the truth, and Tyler really appreciated that. "He was going to kill himself. I had to stitch him up. It was bad."

Tyler swallowed hard. So he hadn't been the only one who'd wished he had been buried last year. A painful realisation hit him. Josh had told him today that he belonged in the ground with his father. Whether or not he'd given Tyler that information on purpose or not, Tyler knew now. Josh was in serious danger, and Tyler had to be fast if he was going to be there in time to help him.

He parked his car haphazardly outside of the fence before getting out. Hayley had to pull the keys out and lock the car for him because he was already running through the broken gate and straight for the house he'd spent his October in last year.

The house didn't look much different than it had when he'd been here to find Batibat, except for one detail. There was blood all over. A bowl of blood sat on the ground beside a broken pentagram. He rushed over to the bowl, dipping his fingers into he blood.

"Holy shit," Hayley said as she followed him in.

"That's different."

"He prayed when he got here. The blood's still warm. He's got to be around here somewhere," Tyler told her as he stood back up and ran upstairs. "Josh?" He called as he ran through the house.

There was a little bit of blood on Josh's bed, but he wasn't there. That was fresh too. The only other room that showed any sign of being messed with was Mr. and Mrs. Dun's. The mattress was on its side, revealing a hole in it. Tyler swallowed hard before running back downstairs.

"He's not here. We have to look somewhere else. Where was he last time?" Tyler asked quickly.

Hayley was already headed for the door. "I think he called in the temple," she began.

"Oh God," Tyler said as they ran for the building. "Of course that's where he went."

The last time Tyler had run through the community like this had been the night he'd escaped. It felt weird to have it this quiet, yet the level of anxiety was roughly the same. In fact, he was more scared now than he'd been before. If anything happened to Josh, he'd never forgive himself.

The front door to the temple was already open, and Tyler knew he was here. He could feel it. He and Hayley looked in every room they passed, calling Josh's name. There was no response. Tyler was struggling to breathe by the time he pushed open the door beside the room their marriage had been consummated in. His breath caught in his chest as a sob ripped through his chest.

"Did you find him?" Hayley asked breathlessly as she ran to him. Her eyes widened when she looked inside of the room too.

***Trigger warning for gore and blood.***

Blood was everywhere. Josh and Jordan were both laying on the floor, and neither of them seemed to be conscious. With the amount of blood they'd lost, Tyler wasn't surprised. Their wrists were slashed, and they were both still.

Tyler ran in then, dropping down onto his knees beside Josh despite the blood pooled around him.

"Josh?" He sobbed out as he pressed his palm against Josh's chest, feeling for a pulse. It was weak, but it was there. "He's alive," he told Hayley quickly.

She was checking for Jordan's pulse when the younger boy's eyes fluttered open weakly. "Hayley?" He breathed out.

"I'm here. It's going to be okay," she told him gently as she pulled her phone out of her pocket.

Jordan's eyelids started to close again. "Don't wanna die now. Scared," he mumbled out.

"It's okay. I'm gonna call an ambulance, okay?" Her voice shook as she glanced back over at Josh.

He wasn't waking up. Tyler sobbed again as he pressed his lips against Josh's forehead. "Please wake up. Please," he sobbed out as he pulled Josh's head into his lap.

He barely heard Hayley call 911 with how focused he was on his husband. Josh wasn't moving at all. All he needed was for Josh's eyes to open like Jordan's had, but he wasn't responsive at all. He was limp in Tyler's lap.

"Please," Tyler whimpered out. "You can't do this to me. This is worse than the mistletoe. This is so much worse. Please wake up. I love you so much."

Everything around Tyler seemed to be on mute as he watched his husband's chest rise and fall weakly. He didn't see or hear Hayley trying to stop the blood seeping out of Jordan's wrists by ripping his shirt to make bandages. He didn't notice her doing the same for Josh either. What he did notice was when she tied one of them too tight and Josh's eyes opened drowsily.

His gaze was unfocused, and his eyes fell shut a couple seconds later. He mumbled something, but he was much further gone than Jordan. Tyler sobbed as he held Josh tighter.

"Hey, stay awake," Tyler said, trying to sound calm.

It seemed to take a great deal of effort for Josh to focus on Tyler. Tears welled in his tired eyes instantly, and Tyler couldn't help but sob at that. He gently brushed Josh's bloodied hair off of his forehead. Josh tried to say something, but his body was too weak to get it out.

"Shh, it's okay. Just look at me. I'm not going anywhere," Tyler whispered to him. "Do you want me to pray for you?"

Josh nodded weakly as his eyes slipped shut again. His body was just starting to relax into Tyler's again when Tyler shook him awake. He looked tiredly up at Tyler again.

"You've gotta stay awake, honey. Can you do that?" Tyler asked as gently as he could whilst trying not to have an outright panic attack.

Josh's eyelids were already falling shut again. "'M sorry," Josh mumbled out as he relaxed against Tyler again.

Tyler sobbed as he shook Josh again. "Josh, stay awake," he told him.

This time, Josh didn't respond. His eyelids remained shut and his body remained limp. Tyler sobbed as he pressed his palm over Josh's heart. It was still beating. He was still alive. Tyler sobbed as he rested his forehead against Josh's. The last time they'd been together in this building had been one of the best nights of Tyler's life. Now he was at risk of losing his husband right next to the room he'd officially been given to him in.

Unsure of why he was doing it, Tyler hummed the song he always sang to JJ. Josh couldn't hear him or register the words when he began to sing them, most of the words being broken by sobs, but Tyler kept singing until the paramedics came.

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey. You'll never know, dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away."