Chapter Text
After their performance at the Orpheum, Alex, Reggie, and Luke vanished from the stage and reappeared in Julie’s garage. They had felt that they weren’t crossing over, so they fell back to Plan B, which was that they would go to Julie’s garage. After all, Julie would go straight to bed after the performance. Alex thought otherwise, but it wasn’t like they had another plan.
When they appeared in the garage, everything was fine for a moment. That feeling of peace was quickly replaced by fear and pain when that awful electric jolt surged through the three of them. They collapsed, hitting the concrete floor.
They lay there for what felt like an eternity, waiting for the pain to stop or for whatever lies beyond being dead. No words were spoken, because how could one talk when they were being violently shocked through their very core? They knew each other so well, though, that they didn’t need words to know how the others were feeling: Scared.
“I…” Julie’s voice cut through the silence like a knife. When did she come in? The hours seemed to blend, and none of the boys had ever heard the door open. “I know I’ve already said this, but, uh…” She paused and let out a shaky breath. “Thank you, guys.” Things got quiet again, and the darkness was beginning to feel heavy and constricting.
“...You’re welcome,” Reggie whispered, attempting to grin, not that anyone could see it in the dark. Alex groaned and tried to smack him for blowing their cover and ruining the moment, but he ended up just pushing his hand into Reggie’s face with no power behind it.
“Dude.” Luke elbowed Reggie in the side. There was a scuffling sound, and then the lights turned on. Alex groaned again and covered his eyes with his arm. The three of them must have been a pitiful sight, practically piled on top of each other and weakly coughing every so often.
Julie saw them, confusion was written all over her face. She started to ask the boys something, but she was cut off when they all felt that jolt again. Once it was over, she spoke. “I thought you crossed over. Why didn’t you cross over?” Julie was close to tears, obviously distressed from seeing her friends in pain. She thought that they had just needed to do their unfinished business, which was playing at the Orpheum, so why didn’t they cross over?
“I guess playing at the Orpheum wasn’t our unfinished business,” Alex said as he sat up, a hand clenched over his chest as if that would somehow stop the pain from flaring up again.
“Point Caleb.” Reggie leaned against an armchair, looking utterly exhausted and defeated. A heavy silence hung in the air, the atmosphere turning grim when the realization set in that Julie couldn’t help her friends. The one time that they needed help, and she couldn’t do anything about it. This is unfair! They’ve already died once, why do they have to die again, she thought.
“We wanted you to think that we crossed over, so we pretended to,” Luke admitted, looking up at Julie before quickly looking away, ashamed. “We had nowhere else to go.”
“We thought you’d go straight to bed.” Reggie lifted his head off of the chair to look at Julie. He wanted to say something funny, something to lighten the mood like he always could, but he just felt so tired. He felt like if he couldn’t even make someone crack a smile, then what was the point?
“Yeah, well-” Alex coughed as he stood, leaning against an amp for support. “I knew she’d come out here, but nobody ever listens to me.” His attempt at a joke went unnoticed since the boys doubled over in pain as a particularly strong shock coursed through them. Julie sobbed and ran to Reggie, stopping abruptly in front of him.
“You have to save yourselves right now!” She turned to Alex, tears threatening to start falling. “Go join Caleb’s club!” Finally, she looked over at Luke, desperation in her eyes. “Please…” The boys slowly but surely struggled to stand up, wincing in pain. Julie was frantically pacing, not even bothering to try to hide her tears anymore.
“Go, poof out! Do something!” Julie pointed towards the door, then turned around and looked at her friends. “Please, do it for me,” she begged. Reggie shook his head, and Julie uttered another ‘please’.
“We’re not going back there.” Reggie sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. To him, and probably to Luke and Alex, second death was a far better way to spend the rest of their “lives” rather than performing at Caleb’s club for all of eternity. Also, Reggie was here right now with the only people that ever cared about him. Fading away with them sounded much better than being Caleb’s puppet. Anything was better than that.
Luke stood up, his legs shaking. He took a second to make sure that he wouldn’t immediately topple over before speaking. “No music is worth making, Julie, if we’re not making it with you.” This was absolutely true. Somehow, Julie had stuck with them. Despite the fact that they were literal ghosts, despite the fact that they had let her down when she needed them, despite everything that had happened. “No regrets,” he added. He wasn’t sure if he was reassuring himself or if he was letting Julie know just how much he, or rather the three of them, cared about her.
Julie closed the space between her and Luke and hugged him tightly. He didn’t hesitate before hugging her back. They were both so wrapped up in their emotions that they didn’t stop to question just how Julie was able to touch him.
“I love you guys.” Julie sniffled, looking over Luke’s shoulder at Alex and Reggie. They both half-heartedly smiled, for this was a bittersweet moment.
Julie seemed to finally realize that she was able to touch Luke. She pulled away from their embrace, but she moved her hands down to hold Luke’s hands. He was...glowing? It was subtle, but he was most definitely glowing. “How can I touch you..?” Luke looked down at their hands, obviously just as confused as Julie was.
“I-I dunno.” Luke shook his head in disbelief. Julie reached up to touch Luke, her hands resting on either side of his face. He did the same, still not believing that this was happening. Alex and Reggie looked at each other, then back to Julie and Luke.
They let go of each other, and Luke turned around to look at the other two boys. “I feel stronger,” he remarked, a smile on his face. Alex and Reggie looked at him with wide eyes, then they looked at Julie.
“Alex, Reggie, come.” Julie motioned for them to come over, and they quickly obliged. They formed a group hug, feeling shocked when Julie could touch Alex and Reggie as well. It was sweet and emotional, and every one of them actually felt truly happy for the first time in a couple of days.
“I-I don’t feel as weak anymore,” Reggie said as he pulled away from their hug. He looked more alive, happier even (save for the tear stains on his cheeks).
“Me neither,” Alex added. “Not that, y’know, I was ever that weak.” He smiled, which was good. Everything was good. They felt like they could take on the world!
Simultaneously, the boys felt a tingling on their wrist where Caleb’s mark was. They quickly looked down at their wrists, only to see that the mark was lifting off of their skin. It glowed and disappeared into a cloud of purple glitter, and none of them could take their eyes off of it. They had one collective thought: Did that just happen?
“What do you think that means?” Julie’s question was met with silence. Not an uncomfortable silence, just a moment so everyone could collect their thoughts. It was very much needed since a lot just happened all at once.
“I think the band’s back.” Luke looked up and smiled softly, though there was so much emotion and feeling behind it. The band was back. The thought made his bandmates smile as well. Caleb’s curse seemed to have lifted if the lack of painful shocks and the seal that had just disappeared were anything to go by.
Again, there was a comfortable silence, only broken when Alex asked if they could hug again. They all laughed, but of course, they hugged. Why wouldn’t they? After all, they very nearly lost each other for good, and they could finally touch Julie, so it seemed like hugs would become a regular thing.
“I like this,” Reggie stated, his signature smile on his face. Everyone agreed, and Reggie felt a happiness that he hadn’t felt in...a pretty long time if he was being honest. This atmosphere, this love, it was foreign to him, but also so familiar. It felt right.
“We played the Orpheum!” Julie grinned, it suddenly dawning upon her that she just got up on stage in front of that huge crowd, and her bandmates were able to finally do what they didn’t get to before they died. They all cheered, and Julie bounced up and down from excitement, prompting the boys to do the same. They were safe. They had each other, and that was all that mattered.
...Though, Alex had someone else that mattered, someone that he hadn’t gotten to properly tell goodbye. And he had left so much unsaid, so much that he wanted to tell and confess. He felt...regret. Yes, he deeply regretted not just confessing his feelings, for not saying any of the other million thoughts that had been running through his head. He wouldn’t get that chance now…and he probably never would.