After

Sean's P.O.V.

Our first album after Richey went missing was Everything Must Go. It was extremely successful.

But I didn't care about success. All I wanted was our friend to return. But he never did.

The years went by. We released the album Thus Is My Truth Tell Me Yours, which had out first number 1 on it. Then came to new millennium, and with it a few more albums. Know Your Enemy and Lifeblood weren't as successful as our previous albums, but they were decent, and our fans liked them.

Then came Send Away The Tigers. Another great album. Before that though, Nicky and James had each released solo albums, leaving me on my own for a year or two. I didnt mind, though. It was good to get a break from stardom.

I wonder if Richey ever felt as though he needed a break.

2008 rolled around. The inevitable happened. In November, Richey was pronounced legally dead.

But we never gave up hope. His body had never been found. He could be still out there, somewhere...

About two months before it happened, we held a meeting.

"I've had an idea," Nicky told us. "Richey left me this box of paper with lyrics written on it. He wouldn't have left me them if he didn't want us to use them, right?"

He held up a few pieces of paper. We studied then carefully, our eyes skimming over the words that Richey had written over ten years before.

"Seems logical," James eventually said. "What better time to use them than now?"

"We'll call the album... Journal For Plague Lovers, after this song," Nicky held out one piece of paper.

"Good idea," I said. "We'll work on it."

And so we did. Just a year later, the album was released. Everyone loved it, especially the song 'William's Last Words', on which Nicky sang the vocals.

Even though the album was popular, we still felt disappointed. Maybe we thought that Richey might here the lyrics and come back to us. But of course that didn't happen.

"I wonder where he is," I would sometimes hear Nicky mutter to himself. "And whether he's happy."

"I'm sure he is," I said to him. "He'll be proud of us, no doubt."

"I wish he'd just call us or something," Nicky replied. "You know, to tell us that he's all right or something."

"Maybe one day," I said wistfully.

The days turned into months, and then years. We released more albums as usual: Postcards From A Young Man, Rewind The Film, Futurology, and Resistance is Futile. Each one more successful than the last.

2015 was an especially hard year for us, as Richey had been missing for twenty years by then. We had all but given up hope by then. We rarely mentioned Richey anymore, as it brought back too many bad memories for the three of us. We didn't want to dwell on the past.

But then, on the first of February 2020, exactly twenty-five years after Richey's disappearance, there was a slight knock on the door of Nicky's house, where we were all hanging out.

We had agreed to go there to share our memories of Richey and think if all the happy times we had with him. It was a hard day for all of us, and our fans, too.

Anyway, I got up to answer the door. When I opened it, I saw a pair of vibrant brown eyes staring at me.

I knew those eyes anywhere.

"R-richey...?" I could barely get the words out.

He looked different from the last time I'd seen him, obviously. It had been twenty-five years, after all. His hair was short, and he was wearing a hoodie with some jeans. But there was no mistaking his eyes. It had to be him.

He stared down at me. "Sean," he replied softly.

For a while we just simply stared at each other, taking in each other's appearance. Then, suddenly Richey pulled me into a tight hug. "You have no idea how much I've missed you," he whispered.

"We've missed you more," I replied. Just as I said it, Nicky came out into the hallway. "Who is it--" he started to say. Then stopped.

"Hi, Nicky," Richey said calmly.

Nicky just stood there, his mouth hanging slightly open. "Richey."

What happened next was honestly tear-jerking. The two of them ran to each other, tears falling down their faces. Then they gave each other a big hug, staining each other's clothes with their tears.

"I-I thought y-you'd never come b-back," Nicky sobbed.

Richey didn't say anything, just hugged Nicky harder.

"I came back to say that... I love you, Nicky. I always have," Richey wiped his eyes with back of his sleeve.

This made Nicky cry harder. Then James came out to see what all the commotion was about. The next five minutes was just a mess of everyone crying and hugging. It was heartwarming.

When we all finally calmed down, we sat in Nicky's living room, and chatted.

"I listened to all of your songs from after I left," Richey told us. "Honestly, most of them were disappointing. I mean, come on, half of them are love songs!"

We all laughed. Richey had vowed never to write a love song, and all of the ones that Nicky had written afterwards were about Richey.

"But there was some good ones, too," Richey continued. "Even some of the love songs are alright. 'Nobody Loved You' is a great song."

"That song's the one everyone thinks of when they think of you," Nicky replied. "And I mean what I said in it. Nobody loved you like me."

Richey blushed. "Uh, right. Anyway. I'm really sorry I disappeared like that. I had to get away from everything, you know. Being famous is harder than it looks."

"We forgive you," I said. "Honestly, there were times where we wanted to disappear, too."

Richey smiled. "Yeah, but you guys are stronger than me. You guys can deal with more stuff. When things get bad for me I just run away from everything."

"You're back now, and that's what matters." James said gently. "You have us to help you. Together stronger, right?"

Richey laughed. "Oh please don't mention that song, James. Out if all the stuff you write after I left that has got to be the worst one!"

We all laughed loudly. At that moment, it seemed that nothing could ever go wrong again. It seemed as though we ruled the world.

Aaaaa so I wrote this chapter on the 31st of January sooo idk if Richey actually does come back on the 1st of February but it's nice to dream lol

And if he does, well... we'll see. Honestly I might die of being hyped over it lmao

Anyway I hoped you all liked this random story lol. I know I got a lot of facts wrong in it but I can't be bothered to change everything so deal with it. Hey I'm new to this fandom so you have to forgive me :))

I don't think I'll do a sequel to this but I might wrote more MSP fanfics. Btw if you haven't listened to any of their songs I advice you to go start NOW because they are amazing :) If you want to know where a good place to start with their music would be, I suggest to listen to 'A Design For Life'. It's what I started with so it has my approval!!! And there is a reason why Nicky cried when he heard it in chapter 7!!! IT'S THAT GOOD!!!!!!!!!!

Also the last part of this chapter is inspired by a random fanfic on fanfiction.net from 2002 but whatever lmao

Imma go now because I've been ranting for nearly 300 words oof :)))