Yøu Ønly Live Twice

3- Grasping at Straws

A/N- Thank ya'll for the love, I'm feeling much better. Echosmith was performing at my sister's college so I drove 2 hours up there and got to see them last night. I saw them open up for TØP back in October, they do a really good job! Also, I'm really bummed out about Prince, Purple Rain is one of my favorite movies and albums. #ripPrince

He was ok; my Baby Boy was still alive and breathing. I can finally think. I was unsure of what our next steps should be, but thankfully for me I didn't have to try to figure it out on my own.

Dallon returned, bringing with him Pete and Patrick. They still don't realize that just popping up out of thin air scares people, because when they came they were visible to Brendon and Tyler.

Patrick's cheerful "Hello!" was met with high pitched screams from the two lanky brunettes.

"Sorry!" Patrick said. They both had sheepish expressions on their faces.

"You guys need to work on that," I said while shaking my head at them. I crossed my arms over my chest as I looked over at Tyler and Brendon.

They both still had wide eyes and Tyler even had his hand over his heart as he took deep breaths to calm himself.

"We just forget." Pete answered with a shrug.

"Anyways, down to business. Dallon has us pretty much caught up with everything that has happened in the past few days. Sorry we couldn't be here, there was an uprising in the Halb of people who thought they should've gone to heaven or something like that. The angels had to come and chill everyone out and no one was allowed to anywhere. It was annoying. But we're here now! So, let's try to fix you guys." Pete clapped his hands and rubbed them together.

"What's going to happen now? What is the Agma going to do? He got so close to...you know. I'm afraid of how pissed off he probably is right now," I asked the other three dead men.

"The what?" Tyler questioned.

"Agma. Blurry isn't technically a ghost, but he's very similar." I answered, leaving out the fact that he was pretty much a demon. I didn't need Tyler panicking anymore than he already was. That'd be very, very counter-productive.

"Dallon? You've been through this before." Patrick asked.

"Actually, I don't know. Brendon never tried to commit suicide, he never got that bad. So...yeah." Dallon trailed off at the end. His face was apologetic.

"Oh...ok then...well, any ideas for at least tonight?" I asked, looking over at Tyler.

He and Brendon had started their own conversation off to the side since they knew little about the details of all this. Brendon's face was very serious, and Tyler's face looked a little apologetic and a little appreciative. I guess they were talking about what Tyler had just tried to do.

Patrick was the first to speak. "Well, he needs to stay here. That part is obvious. Depending on when we leave here, Pete and I might be able to come back for a little bit tonight and help keep watch. Dallon, would you be able to stay?"

"Only if Brendon stays here tonight. After the sun sets I have to be in whatever building he is. Sarah is coming back from a bachelorette party tonight, so I know he couldn't stay here alone, Sarah would have to come too. I don't really want to drag her into all of this, and if Tyler starts screaming and she starts panicking, that's just energy for the Agma to feed off of. It'll make it ten times harder to get rid of him."

"Damn it." Pete muttered under his breath. I was feeling more and more discouraged the longer this conversation went on.

Tonight might be the worst night ever, and I'll probably have to face it alone. If Blurry would show up when Patrick and Pete are here it wouldn't be as bad, but things hardly ever work out in my favor. Blurry would probably show up right as they had to leave.

I wish Dallon could stay, but everything he said proved that he couldn't. We need Blurryface to have as little power as possible, and from what I've heard Sarah reacts strongly to things, so that would definitely not be good. I ran a hand through my hair and took a deep, shaky breath.

"Looks like it'll probably be just me." I said quietly.

The three men in front of me gave me pitying looks. I know they wish they could do more to help tonight, but they've already done so much for me. More than I'll ever be able to repay them for, so I am in no way mad or upset with them. I just wish they could be here with me.

"Dallon, is there anything else you can teach him? Something offensive instead of defensive like that wall is?" Patrick asked, grasping at straws on my behalf.

"There is one thing...I never had to use it and it's dangerous to use. Practicing it is fine, but actually using it against an entity is a different story."

"What do you mean 'dangerous', what would happen?" I asked

"Well, if you do it right, you can draw enough energy out of the Agma to keep him away for a few days at least." Dallon hesitated; I knew that he had more to say.

"And? If I do it wrong?"

"It will take all of your energy, and you'll dissipate completely. You won't even go to the Halb or heaven or anything. You'll just...cease to exist. Entirely. That'll leave the Agma free to do whatever he wants. I can teach you what to do, but you have to promise me you'll only use it as a last ditch effort. Like, you and Tyler are already about to die and no one else is around to help you guys. Ok?"

"Ok, I promise." I said, a little unsure but desperate for any advantage I could get. Hopefully I won't have to do it. With my track record, I'd probably screw it up somehow.

"Ok, well Patrick and I are going to go ahead and leave so we can stick around longer tonight. See you later Josh, good luck with everything." Pete said, pulling me into a tight hug before stepping aside and letting Patrick do the same.

"Make sure you talk to Tyler about some sort of plan for tonight in case something does happen. Some way to calm him down or keep him from panicking too much" Patrick said.

I nodded my head, and he gave me a final pat on the shoulder before he and Pete left. Glancing back over at Tyler and Brendon, they had noticed the departure of the two shorter men and were walking back over to Dallon and I.

"So, did you guys come up with something?" Brendon asked, looking at Dallon.

Meanwhile, Tyler was looking at me with a hopeful expression on his face. It made me feel guilty that we hadn't been able to come up with something fool-proof as of now.

"We think so, I have something I need to teach Josh, so I'm going to have to steal him for most of the day, if that's ok." Dallon said looking over at Tyler to check.

"As long as it'll help us that's fine. Brendon and I haven't just hung out in awhile so...it'd be good to get some fresh air and talk after this morning..." He face looked guilty and sad as he spoke those words.

"No one blames you Ty; we all understand why you did it. We're just going to make sure you don't do it again, ok?" I said with a, what I hope was comforting, smile. He gave me a small smile in return.

"Ok."

"Do you want to go to that small café near the old book store? The one with the really good bread and the hipster music? We could get ice cream afterwards and walk around town too if you're feeling up to it." Brendon asked Tyler.

"Sure. We'll be back soon Josh, I promise." Tyler said.

"Ok, just be careful. Don't let Brendon drive. From stories Dallon has told me that'd put you in more danger than anything else has so far."

"I'm not that bad of a driver, guys!" Brendon said in defense. Dallon and Tyler gave him disbelieving looks. I kept my face neutral since I hadn't experienced or seen his driving first hand.

"Whatever, let's just go." He mumbled as he slouched out of the apartment with his head bent down. Tyler smiled and gave me a little wave before following Brendon out the door. I heard the click of the lock and their footsteps retreating down the hallway.

"Ok Josh, you ready to get to work?" Dallon asked, clapping his hands together.

"As ready as I'll ever be..."