Gerard woke up, once again, to the concerned face of his friend. He groaned. This nightmare never ended.

"Gerard!"

His actual name coming past Ryan's lips caught Gerard's attention immediately. Gerard turned to him, seeing full recognition in his friend's eyes. "Ryan, thank fuck."

"What's happened?" Ryan asked, extending his hand to help Gerard sit up. "It got real fuzzy then I was just with Brendon and I saw this face..."

Gerard shook his head. "There's something really wrong with this whole world." He said looking at the mixture of fear and confusion on Ryan's face, "That man we met on the way to Brendon's party. Something's wrong with him."

"Korse." Ryan replied almost as if by instinct. He looked surprised by his voice immediately after speaking.

"Yes!" Gerard exclaimed, "Ryan, has anyone ever even seen Korse?"

His friend shook his head with uncertainty. "He's scary..." Ryan trailed off, as if he was on the verge of falling back into his character.

Gerard grabbed hold of his shoulders. "Stay with me, Ryan." He spoke calmly, despite the small heart palpitation that came with the thought of already loosing Ryan again. "Has anyone ever seen Korse?"

Ryan's eyes were wide as he shook his head. "Not anyone who's come back." His eyes snapped shut, "He's scary, Gerard. I..." His eyes slowly reopened. Gerard could practically see recognition flickering between reality and this killjoy world. Ryan's brow furrowed before he looked back at Gerard. "How are you back?" Ryan whispered.

"He wasn't right, Ryan." Gerard insisted, "I don't even think he was human. He had these weird, blue markings on his skin. It was almost like glowing tattoos."

Ryan nodded, though his eyes continued to flicker between reality and fantasy. "He's scary."

Gerard wanted to scream. He needed Ryan in the moment. He had no idea if Northern Downpour could be of any help right now. He just needed his friend. He moved his hands from Ryan's shoulder to cup Ryan's cheeks. "Focus!" He hissed, locking eyes with his friend. "He may have just taken out an entire group of..." Gerard trailed off. "Where's Frank?"

"Fun Ghoul is back at your base with Demonic." Ryan responded, "They were getting reinforcement." He bit his lip. "He remembers being a captive, then suddenly dumped in the desert near here."

"Okay... Good." Gerard nodded. Fun Ghoul was safe. The others at that base, however... He didn't want to think about it. "Where is Korse located?"

Ryan looked confused. Gerard dropped his hands from Ryan's face to grab his shirt collar. "Where. Is. He. Located?" Gerard demanded through his teeth.

Ryan yelped, bringing his hands up to clasp around Gerard's wrists. "B-battery City! He and the Dracs ran everyone else out when they took over." He coughed, his face turning red as Gerard tightened the grip on his collar. "Gerard..."

Ryan's soft, choking voice made Gerard's eyes widen. He released Ryan from his grip and looked down at his hands. Why had he done that? He could have hurt one of his closest friends. "Oh, god..." He looked up at Ryan, who had watery eyes as he tugged at his shirt. "I'm sorry..."

"You're getting lost in the game too..." Ryan whispered. He was looking at the ground beside Gerard with a haze growing over his eyes. "He's going to suck you into his better living and you won't be able to get out..."

Gerard looked back down at his hands. Was he going to loose himself to his character? He had already experienced instances where he was more of that persona than himself. Would he end up like Ryan? The thought terrified him as he looked up at his friend. Ryan was blinking slowly. Each blink brought more clouding to it; he was reverting back into Northern Downpour.

"How can I stop it?" Gerard asked weakly, "Please, Ryan. Remember, remember..." His head dropped as a sudden dread washed over him. What if they were all trapped? He wasn't strong, how would they get out if he was the only one to know of their life outside of this place?

A hand placed itself lightly on Gerard's shoulder. He looked up, just as tears were beginning to brim in his eyes. There was just a hint of recognition left in Ryan's eyes as he smiled at Gerard. "Don't give up, Gee." He whispered before his legs gave out underneath him.

Gerard had to move quickly to catch the confused killjoy. Northern Downpour looked at Gerard with wide eyes. "Party? What happened?" He sounded like a lost child. Gerard felt sadness tear at his heart. His friend was lost again, but this character was almost equally as lost.

"You okay?"

"Y-yea." Northern nodded, "My legs just kind of..." With Gerard's help, he resteadied himself with a soft sigh. "Thank you."

"Northern, what did you say Fun Ghoul and Demonic were doing?" Gerard inquired.

Northern was silent in thought for a moment. "Back to the killjoy base. They were getting back up."

Gerard nodded. "Is there any way we can contact them?"

"Radio." Northern said, pointing to the counter across the room.

Gerard pushed himself off of the bed and hurried across the room. There was nothing on top of the counter, but after jumping up and leaning over it, Gerard found a walkie talkie. He snatched it up while only narrowly avoiding falling head first over the counter. He readjusted himself so that he was sitting with his legs criss crossed on the counter. Figuring out the radio took a small chunk of time, enough for Ryan to finally wander over with curiosity.

"Fun Ghoul. Ghoul, come in, over." Gerard spoke into the device, just hoping that his voice was carrying through. "Ghoul?"

There was a short silence before a response came through. "Party?"

"Demonic!" Northern  exclaimed, though Gerard wasn't holding the button that allowed the other side to hear them.

"Demonic, what's your status?" Gerard asked, authoritatively. He hated how simply it came when it wasn't a characteristic of his own.

"Nearly at your base. Why, has something happened? Is Downpour okay?" It sounded Like Demonic was attempting to keep a level tone, but there was a subtle rise in pitch with the question about Northern Downpour.

Northern took the communication device. "I'm okay." He spoke softly into the device before hastily holding it out to Gerard.

Gerard quickly retrieved it, "So you aren't back yet?"

"No, sir."

"Good." Gerard smiled as the gears began to shift in his brain, "I have an important inquiry for you to make with Kobra Kid and the others once you get there."

"Yes, sir."

---

Gerard and Northern waited for two days. Ryan didn't come back once during that time frame. Northern was good company, however. He shared very little with Ryan, but it was comforting to at least have a familiar face nearby.

"Is anyone there? Over."

When Demonic's voice came through over the radio, Northern nearly slapped it across the counter during his frenzy to grab it. "Demonic? Where are you?"

"We're here. Open the damn door."

Northern grinned widely with excitement. He rushed out of the room, leaving Gerard in the dust. Gerard took a much slower approach to the doors. He still couldn't believe that his character's authority had gotten his plan set into action. A possible suicide mission!.. Party Poison was a pretty convincing guy.

Gerard smiled when the doors opened and Fun Ghoul was the first one to jump down. The killjoy hurried over to Gerard. He wasted no time before planting a kiss on Gerard's lips. Gerard grabbed hold of Fun Ghoul's jacket, pulling him closer. He wanted to savor this moment; this closeness. He wanted to remember this, in case he did lose himself before this was over.

"Missed you." Fun Ghoul whispered, somehow casually when they finally pulled apart. He leaned his head against Gerard's chest for a moment, causing his butterflies to flutter in his stomach. Maybe he didn't want give this up...

"So, this is what the supply base looks like!" An excited voice exclaimed, causing Fun Ghoul to pull away from Gerard.

Silent Strike was looking around with wide eyes as Ghosted Disturbance dropped down beside him. Silent grinned wildly, making Ghosted laugh as he wrapped his arm around the skinnier boy.

Gerard bit the inside of his lip. Did he really want to endanger his friends? He had no idea if this place had Nightmare On Elm Street rules. He still wasn't 100% sure what the fate of the young renegades had been.

"Don't touch anything." Demonic instructed, pointing between Silent and Ghosted. Both boys nodded in response.

"Kobra and Gasoline Threat?" Gerard asked Fun Ghoul in a low voice.

"Back at base, working as last resort and communication." Fun Ghoul reported. He looked Gerard right in the eye. "Are you sure you want to do this? Battery City is a death trap."

Gerard cast his gaze downward. "I'm not." He admitted before looking back up, "A part of me knows I have to."

Fun Ghoul nodded. "Then I know that I have to stand by you." He grinned as his hand moved to intertwine with Gerard's. "We'll do it loud, and do it proud."

"Killjoys." Gerard grinned, despite the butterflies that continued to fly through his stomach. At this point, however, he couldn't tell if it was due to nerves from Fun Ghoul's affection, or what could potentially happen...

"Make some NOISE!" Fun Ghoul yelled the last word, pumping a fist up in the air. The others in the corridor joined in with a cheer, despite not knowing why Fun Ghoul had called for it.

Gerard heard himself laughing before he realized he was. He couldn't control it. His friends, his characters, were all here because they were willing to have his back. They believed in him and his mission... Even if they did believe him to be someone else.

"Party Poison!"

Gerard turned to find Jet Star strolling towards them. He nodded when he caught Gerard's gaze. "Sir, I needed to ask you about your experience with the renegades."

"Yes." Gerard nodded, "Go on."

Jet Star looked nervous. "Is it true that Desert Hurricane lead them? She and Villainous Pills?"

"Yes." Gerard confirmed.

Jet Star's eyes widened. "You're sure?"

"Wait a minute." Fun Ghoul froze beside Gerard. It was a good twenty seconds before he spoke again, "They... They were on our side." He looked between Jet Star and Gerard, "They were never rejected killjoys."

"What?" Gerard questioned, "But, she said..."

Jet Star shook his head, "They just disappeared one day! We thought they got ghosted but, if you guys actually saw them..."

"What happened to them?" Fun Ghoul asked.

"Hurricane was determined that I rejected them in a time of need." Gerard recounted, "She had a gun to my head," Fun Ghoul's grip on his hand tightened dramatically, "and would have pulled the trigger if it wasn't for Villainous..."

"He always was calmer in situations like that..." Jet Star muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. He shook his head, "It just doesn't make sense!"

Gerard gulped. Why hadn't he remembered before? During the first whirlwind of events in this strange, fabricated world, he could now remember a conversation he had with the killjoy holding his hand.

"Desert Hurricane? Where's she?"

Fun Ghoul shrugged, "Probably with Villainous Pills at one of the other fill up location bases. She hasn't been around the main complex in a bit."

Where had that conversation gone before Jet Star brought up the fact of her being an allie?

"There's so much I just don't understand..." Gerard spoke without thinking about it. He couldn't help it.

"There's far too many strange ongoings to understand." Jet Star replied.