Chapter Text
They passed over.
They did it.
Julie was still riding the high as they drove home from the Orpheum, not having fully processed the weight of everything. Her hands were still shaking from the nerves and the crowd and the playing. Together. They got to play one last show together.
And they passed over.
They did it.
It was bittersweet. Getting to play with the guys in front of a large crowd like the Orpheum was surreal. The relief that had washed over her as they appeared in full force, one by one, looking okay was immeasurable. At the same time though, it was also their last show together. Everything that they had built together was gone now.
As she approached the front door, a sinking feeling was settling in her gut.
They passed over.
They did it.
Julie had gotten everything she needed back in her life; music, friends ( family ), a sense of purpose- and it was all gone within a month. It felt like she blinked and her time with the band was over. It was cruel and unfair, but it was out of their hands. The universe just decided to deal the worst set of cards possible to the boys of Sunset Curve through life and death. They finally used up the deck, and there were no more games to play.
Julie wasn’t sure if they won or not.
Every feeling hit her at full force, slamming her into the swing on the front porch. Cautiously, she sat down, trying not to make a big scene of it. She closed her eyes and let the cool air brush against his skin, pretending that she could see the stars glisten past the light pollution.
She waved off Carlos and her dad’s concerns, instructing them to head inside. Julie just needed to breathe, alone.
She didn’t plan to go to the garage, but there was a small hook in her chest, dragging her towards it without thought. She never did get to give them a proper goodbye, not unless you counted the brief pre show pep talk they had. It almost seemed fitting to say goodbye in the place she met them instead of backstage of some forgien concert venue. All she wanted was to give them a proper goodbye.
But she wasn’t ready for that closure.
Besides, Carlos knew. She knew he would piece it together eventually, so she didn’t want to finish this chapter in her life yet. It would be like digging your fingernails into a wound that hadn’t started to heal over. If she could help it, Julie didn’t want to tell him the truth. In an ideal world, she could play dumb and just keep calling them her hologram band. However, he was persistent, and she wouldn’t get to sleep until he got answers out of her. It was pointless to stitch up a wound and bandage it if you were just going to hastily cut it out minutes later.
She just stood there for a moment, as if the door was a portal into another life. One where she could save the guys and they didn’t have to go so soon, but she didn’t have the key to open that door. It was left in the past, somewhere between when she accidentally revealed Trevor’s success in life, and her school’s dance.
Instead of going inside, she rested her forehead against the cool white door and whispered, “Thank you… Thank you guys so much….”
Julie wasn’t ready to see the garage empty again. It will always be their space from now on. First her mothers, and now the guys, and she would come back in here and make music again soon. For now though, she wanted it to exist the way it did this morning. Not cold and devoid of life, but bright and happy and filled with three annoyingly loveable ghosts.
Would their instruments still be there? Was she going to have to put them back up there? Or will they be gone now that they’ve passed over? They were attached to their souls, but all of their instruments had laid dormant in the loft collecting dust for years before they came back.Would everything be gone? Erasing any mark that they’d even been there at all?
She closed her eyes to keep tears from welling up and for a brief moment, she could almost hear the three of them bickering. The thought almost caused a smile to creep up on her face.
Maybe they were still there by a stroke of luck, or maybe they had one last shot of saving them…
Or maybe (most definitely) she’d be greeted by a cold, empty studio, void of any memories. Or maybe it would all be there, creating too many memories. Julie had no idea, but she wasn’t ready to face it yet.
She straightened her back, put on a small smile, and then made her way back to the house. She had a lot to do, but a lot of it could wait until tomorrow morning. For now she needed sleep. Her feet ached from jumping around onstage and in the crowd, and her heart ached from knowing it was the last concert Julie and the Phantoms would ever play. Now it was just Julie Molina… Solo again.
But at least they crossed over.
At least they did it.
________
They didn’t cross over.
Something went wrong.
Something went very very wrong. The Orpheum wasn’t their unfinished business. Maybe it had something to do with Bobby or their parents, but it wasn’t playing the Orpheum. That they knew for certain. Now, they were running out of time. Fast.
They agreed that if it came to it, they would meet in the studio. They didn’t want to deal with the hypotheticals, but Alex insisted they had somewhere to meet. Alex pushed the roof of the Orpheum, but Reggie and Luke wanted it to be the studio. They didn’t think they would need the back up plan, but they wanted to have it just in case. Which in hindsight, was a good thing.
Because they didn’t cross over.
Something went wrong.
Another jolt went through the three of them as they collapsed on the floor of the studio. For a brief, horrifying second, Luke didn’t come back. In a sick way, he was hoping he didn’t. The pain was starting to get like nothing he had felt before. It lingered in between dying jolts, giving him almost no time to recover. They weren’t supposed to be in the studio. Alex insisted it was a bad idea, but now all three of them were too weak to stand, little lone poof out of there safely. They had nowhere else to go...
“What do we do?” Reggie asked, slowly reaching for the coffee table so he could sit up.
“Nothing,” Luke said. Another blast and all three of them were back on the floor, cold hands clawing at them from their insides until they ripped them open and scattered off, leaving them with just a brief moment of relief.
“Fuck dude,” Alex muttered. Luke hadn’t seen it, but he managed to get himself off his feet and over to the piano, leaning over it heavily.
“This really is it,” Reggie muttered. Luke just nodded slowly.
“We did our best… We tried and-“ another jolt. Luke flicked longer, taking more time to hold his ground, but it was getting more and more exhausting.
“No,” Alex said suddenly. “I- I may be dead, but I’m not ready to stop living I… I’m not ready to say goodbye to either of you or Julie or music or the what ifs and the future or… or the sun or… I just…” He looked between his two best friends, the words lingering on his tongue like an apple rotten before it was picked off the tree. He opened his mouth, but another jolt delayed it.
“I think we should take Caleb’s offer.”
He wouldn’t have suggested it if it wasn’t a last resort.
They didn’t pass over.
Something went wrong.
Instantly he was met with objections, Reggie asking if he was crazy and Luke saying something about Julie and betrayal. The thought of caving into that asshole had Luke seeing red. Alex took it all, watching the two carefully.
Luke was shaking with pain now, staring at the ceiling from the floor because he couldn’t even bring himself to sit up. Even if he wanted to, his hand went through the couch as he tried to grab at it. He closed his eyes tight, blocking out the ringing and the bullshit coming from Alex’s mouth.
“It can’t be bad. I mean- we’ll still have each other and music,” Alex continued.
“Music isn’t worth making if it isn’t our own songs,” Reggie said. Luke lulled his head to the side to look at Reggie, offering a small, weak smile that faded quickly. He knew- he didn’t even have to look at him- he just knew that Reggie was saying that on his behalf.
“Music isn’t worth making if it’s not with Julie,” he added, voice hoarse.
“We’ll find a way back!” Alex said, pushing himself off the piano only to use the wall as support instead. “I promise you we will… We escaped tonight! We can escape him again...”
Another jolt, and this time Luke didn’t come back.
“Luke?” Reggie said. For a sickening moment, there was nothing. Phantom hearts dropped into the bottom of both the boys' stomachs as they exchanged glances.
“I- I’m here,” Luke’s voice came through, hoarse and displaced. Instantly, they both deflated with relief. Another second and Luke’s form came back, weaker and more frail, but he was back.
“Let’s… let’s do it,” Reggie whimpered, his scared eyes darting between the other two. “Alex is right- this is scary and I’m not ready.”
“No!” Luke snapped, using every ounce of energy he had left.
Another jolt.
Luke was lucky to come back, and Reggie was taking longer to come back now too.
They didn’t have a choice.
“I don’t want to,” Luke said, hot tears welling in his eyes. He pressed his palms harshly into his eyes, stopping any of them from falling. He didn’t know what his words were directed at. He didn’t want to do any of the options that had been laid out in front of them.
But they had no choice.
They didn’t pass over.
Something went wrong.
One last jolt, and this time Luke almost didn’t expect himself to come back.
“Fine,” Luke broke. “But we… we find a way out… We find it and we get out of there as fast as we can.”
They had no choice.
They didn’t pass over.
And something went horribly wrong.