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For the young Joys that live in the zones, it’s hard for them to remember that there was a time before Party Poison. A time when Dr.D was the defacto leader of the Killjoy movement, and Party was a kid like them. It’s hard for Party to remember that, too, but sometimes when he’s looking up at the stars, he remembers the person that came before Party Poison.
Gerard had just turned sixteen when something changed. It was like a switch flipped on, and suddenly he was awake. This wasn't existing like he had been doing, this was truly being alive, and it was terrifying. All Juvie Halls had similar stories, where one second they were sleepwalking, then the next they saw the way the world around them was robotically marching forward. He'd thought for a while that he was the only one, the only person who had been acting like everything was normal, until he walked into a bathroom and school and found a boy whispering to himself.
"The antidote is deception" over and over and over.
"What does that mean?" The boy gasped and spun around, alarmed hazel eyes locking with Gerard's. Maybe there was something about Gerard that tipped him off that he was awake. Maybe asking this question in the first place was all the hint the kid needed, but Gerard watched as the boy's face set in defiance, and he answered.
"It means we're lying to the city, making them think we're one of their zombies till we can make a break for it." Gerard's heart sped, and he stepped closer.
"A break to where?" The boy's expression turned smug and secretive
"There's people out in the zones, hundreds, they're all free." Something passed between the two boys, an instant camaraderie that was like setting fate in motion; they were going to run away.
Frank had become Gerard's new best friend, he was polite, and Gerard's mom liked to pinch his cheeks and coo at him in a way that made it hard for Gerard not to laugh. After homework and dinner, after everyone would go to sleep, Frank would pull the old analog radio out of his bag and turn it down so low they'd have to press their ears close just to hear. One night though, he pulled Gerard away before the usual routine could happen, locking the door and pulling the radio out immediately.
"Frank, what's wrong?" Frank looked up with a quicksilver smile.
"I got a transmission through, Gerard's eyes went wide, and he dropped next to Frank, pressing an ear against the speaker; the static fizzled as they watched the clock 5:57,58,59-
"This is Dr. D coming at ya with a traffic report. There was a clap in Zone 5 that went all Fourth of July; the dracs route there has been officially claimed by The Fabulous Killjoys. Tommy Chow Mein is set up at the nest tonight, serving up his funky fresh chow half-off. And The Loretta's got a hold of some battery acid to make your times good." After that, he started rattling off numbers and letters, Gerard and Frank had come far enough to figure out that it was a code, but they still didn't know how to decipher it yet.
Gerard turned to Frank and whispered.
"What's battery acid?" He still didn't understand the full meanings of the zone slang, but Frank, who spent all his free time listening to Dr.D, had started picking it up enough to fill in the gaps.
"Means drugs. Apparently, there's this one called Party Poison that gives you an adrenaline spike and dyes your mouth bright red." Gerard giggles at the mental image but cuts himself off as Dr.D stops listing off numbers and clears his throat.
"Now to upthrust the volume cause this first song is goin out to two very special listeners, we got two Juvie Halls tuning in all the way from Battery City. This is for you, and remember, Art is the Weapon." Then the first ringing notes of Gerard's favorite song came from the speaker, and he gasped, eyes flying to Frank, who looked proud of himself; they pressed closer to the speakers and enjoyed the overflow of emotion the songs caused.
Later that night, Mikey opened the door. The only reason that was strange is because Gerard's parents wouldn't have even noticed he was gone. They'd tested it before, watching in sick fascination as the two adults laughed and bantered with two empty seats. Gerard really should have noticed how Mikey kept glancing over, looking uncomfortable and all too aware. He hadn't noticed, so when Mikey barged into the room, arms crossed and fuming with anger, Gerard didn't know how to react, and all that came out was a choked little
"You're awake." Mikey's anger dropped then, fading to something more annoyed than anything as he looked between Gerard and Frank.
"I've always been awake; the pills never worked on me."
It had surprisingly been Mikey's idea to finally leave. Now that the three had all started becoming something other than BLI's perfect little children-robots it had been harder to act. Not only that, but since they didn't really have supervision, they started finding new talents they had.
Gerard could smirk, bat his lashes, and with a few honeyed words, get anything he wanted.
Mikey stole forbidden stuff and rarely got spotted, but even when he did, he was too fast to be caught.
And Frank had made the tiny bathroom attached to his room pretty much unusable with the delicate chemicals that no one but him trusted themselves to be around.
It was the day before their school had a field trip to one of the Helium Wars monuments on the outer edges of Batt City, and they were all lounging around in Gerard's room while Dr. Death Defying waxed poetic through the speakers. Then, finally, Mikey sighed and sat up.
"Let's leave tomorrow." Both Gerard and Frank were silent as they looked at him with shocked expressions. He kept going as if he had to convince them.
"It'll be the perfect time. We'll be out of the tunnels. We can sneak away from the group and make a break for it." He turned to Frank
"You said Dr.D helps Juvie Halls get out of the city, do you think he would help us." Frank's eyes had shifted; he looked the same way he did before messing with a particularly dicey batch of chemicals.
"I've been talking to him for a while now; he said whenever we're ready, he'll meet us and the border to Zone 2." Gerard sat up
"That's still a few miles away." Frank and Mikey shared a look.
"The Scarecrows leave their keys in their cars, and Frank can make a distraction." Frank was nodding now.
"I can make one big enough for us to hit the getaway mile before they even realize we're gone." Gerard bit his lip, going over the details in his head before standing up, grabbing a map, a piece of paper, and a marker off his desk.
"Okay, let's make a plan."
That night Frank left and went home, packing clothes, stealing food and water, and making enough non-deadly explosives to make any heads in the general vicinity turn. On all of them, he wrote in green marker, 'FunGhoul.'
Party drilled the plan over and over again in his head. He would have to be the one to drive, both Frank and Mikey were too short to drive without adjusting the seat, and they would need to be quick. He heard Mikey's door click shut and sighed in relief; he'd gone out and stolen enough supplies to last them for a good while. Gerard looked down at the bracelet he had made out of the braided threads that he'd been systematically pulling from his jeans dyed in the red ink from a broken pen. It took him a second to remember what it reminded him of, and a laugh bubbled out when he did. Party Poison gives you an adrenaline spike and leaves your mouth dyed red. Gerard liked that.
The next day Gerard and Mikey grabbed their bags and went downstairs. Yesterday the planning had seemed almost fun, but today the idea of what they were doing seemed more daunting. And if they hugged their parents too tightly or a bit longer than normal before they left for school, no one was aware enough to notice. Frank stood in the doorway of his mom's office as she typed away on her computer. He hesitated before walking in and wrapping his arms around her, making the woman jump.
"Oh, hi, Frankie. Are you heading to school?" Frank nodded and squeezed his eyes shut.
"Yeah, mom, I just wanted to say goodbye" his mom smiled, warm and inviting.
"Bye, sweetie, have a better day." His insides twisted sickly, and he forced a smile back as he realized fully that this was all just internal planning out there by the drugs. Frank left his house and didn't look back.
-
They sat next to each other. Frank's knee was bouncing, so Gerard slid a hand onto it in a quiet gesture of "calm the hell down." They didn't dare look at each other; now they noticed how everyone stared ahead silently and who knows if BLI was watching. The three split up to do their tasks when they finally got to the monument. It didn't take Gerard long to find a car, an old trans am model that made him excited to see how fast it could go, and by the 3-minute mark, explosions of green powder shot into the air, sending the guards running. He was already in the car with it on by the time Mikey jumped in, Frank following closely behind. Gerard wasted no time flooring the pedal; it felt like they were being followed almost instantly. Mikey was yelling for him to go faster, and Frank was talking into a walkie-talkie. Gerard had the pedal all the way down till he hit the red line. Behind him, the two BLI vehicles were sideswiped by a van and a truck that quickly fell in line behind Gerard.
-
When they all finally stopped outside Dr.D's station, they were met face-to-face with the people that had helped him. Dr. Death Defying was an older man in a wheelchair. He looked at the boys with an expression that made Gerard feel like he'd seen how bad the world could be and still found a way to carry on. The person that had been driving was wearing polka dot tights and roller skates, they said their name was Show Pony. When the person in the truck jumped out, Gerard felt his mouth drop open because it was a kid, probably around the same age as them.
"This is Jet Star; he's living with me too at the moment." Jet had poofy hair and a goofy smile as he excitedly looked at the three boys.
"It's nice to meet you. What're your names?"
Gerard glanced at Mikey and Frank. It didn't seem right to use their city names now that they were in the zones. Frank stepped forwards first.
"Fun Ghoul, nice to meet you."
Mikey followed close behind with a polite nod and a quick
"I'm Kobra Kid." Gerard thought for a second and gave a smile full of chaos and fire.
"My name is Party Poison."
Ghoul sat next to him on the hood of the stolen Trans Am that entire first night. Neither of them had been able to sleep, and when it had gotten dark enough, Party felt his breath get knocked out of him as he looked up at the stars. They were so bright without the light pollution from the city. Ghoul yawned and leaned over against Party's shoulder, tucking his face into Party's neck. Suddenly Party felt warm from the inside out, like when you drink hot coffee on a cold day. He didn't know what this feeling was yet, Dr. D had mentioned that Juvie Halls had trouble putting the names to the emotions sometimes, and he'd help him learn.
He was seventeen when he took over the Killjoys from Dr. D. He, Jet, Ghoul, and Kobra quickly made a name for themselves and became the epitome of Zone flash. They weren't the same boys they'd been a year ago, and it went beyond the red hair dye and newfound bravado. Ghoul had almost been killed, leaving him with a scar that always made his face look pinched; he'd been self-conscious at first, and it took many nights of Party whispering through the darkness of Ghoul's room at night, reassuring him that no matter what, Party still found him beautiful. Jet was too close to an explosion; the shrapnel caught one of his eyes, leaving him permanently in an eye patch; nowadays, it had become second nature to cover his blind side and never mention it. Kobra had gotten quieter, long heavy silences that stretched on to the point that Party sometimes thought he'd forgotten how to talk; sometimes though he would just sit beside Party late at night in one of the diner booths and hum songs under his breath and it would be like old times again. It was like any other lazy day around the diner. Everyone was either cleaning their guns or humming to the music blasting from the radio. That was until a car drove up. A person dressed in all-black robes got out. They almost seemed to glide as they approached the diner, never letting their face be seen as they bent down and left a box sitting on the ground before driving away. The boys looked at each other cautiously before slowly walking to the box. When they opened it, there was no bomb or body, but a child. An infant that giggled up at Party with innocent shining eyes.
The first time The Girl had asked Party a question was when she was four, and he was braiding her hair.
"What was your name before you lived here?" Party locked eyes with her in the mirror and quickly glanced back down.
"Does it matter?" She just nodded, and he sighed.
"Gerard Way." The Girl nodded again.
"Can I have a name that starts with G, too?" Party laughed slightly and nodded. Then, he thought of how clumsy The Girl was and smirked.
"How about Gracie?" She smiled brightly and perked up.
“Does it mean anything?” He laughed slightly
“Well, grace means moving with elegance, like the way dancers do.” She nodded thoughtfully
“I like it.”
Gracie was five when her powers showed up for the first time. Party had taken her out on a drive, Ghoul following closely behind, ever the protective older brother figure. Party couldn’t help himself as he watched the way Ghoul and the girl would banter back and forth or the way he would ruffle her hair. It made something in his insides twist all up.
“Like a tumbleweed,” he huffed under his breath, low enough that only he could hear it.
They had been driving down one of the abandoned backroads with the music blaring for close to two hours when Party caught a glimpse of white in the distance. He slammed the pedal down, hitting the red line in under a minute as he willed the car to go faster. Ghoul saw him glance in the rearview mirror and turned, seeing the growing silhouette of a car in the distance. Party turned to him, tensely giving orders to call for backup. Ghoul nodded and turned to get the radio, stopping suddenly when he saw the car barreling straight for the side of the Trans Am.
-
Party screamed and thrashed as he was drug from the car, trying to break away and get to the girl who was being held in place. A crack and a blinding pain struck across his temple, causing him to crumple to the ground. He could hear Gracie crying and Ghoul screaming a flow of threats and profanities. He looked up through his bright fuck-you red hair and looked at Gracie. She had stopped screaming and crying and was looking at one of the dracs that had captured them with an eerily calm expression. Party was so entranced by her that he barely noticed how the air changed, the wind was gone, and it felt like the moments before a lightning storm. Party had a metallic taste in his mouth, and he was pretty sure it wasn’t from the blood dripping down his cheek. Then Gracie smiled, and it was like someone had thrown a match into fire.
-
Party didn’t realize he was screaming until the ringing stopped. Somewhere to the right, he could hear Ghoul too. It was hard to breathe, the air was too hot, and it felt like he was scorched from the inside out. He finally managed to roll over onto his hands and knees, using the better vantage point to look around. The sand was black like it’d been hit by lightning, Ghoul’s clothes were smoking in some places, and the dracs were charred corpses. Gracie was sitting untouched in the middle of the chaos; there was a glow around her as she locked eyes with Party and passed out.
-
She slept for a long time after that, through the first day and night and into the second. During this time, they huddled around one of the tables and talked in hushed whispers. Ghoul still had scratch marks from the explosion, and Party felt like his insides were burnt. There was never talk about turning Gracie out, just what to do and what she was. Since that first day when she’d been left outside the diner, stories of the Pheonix Witch had spread, and they knew she was the one that had brought the girl to them. Now they understood why.
“She’s a weapon,” Party thought. Even with the bitter self-hatred, the idea caused, he knew it was true. He wouldn’t train her to be one, though. Instead, he would teach her to be a Killjoy.
Gracie had forgotten about what had happened, and none of them were eager to bring it up. Life continued as usual. She would giggle and chase dust swirls and beat Jet in card games. She would look up in the mirror at Party and smile as he braided her hair. Party noticed now that sometimes the shadows in the corners of the diners would seem a little more solid, a little more person-shaped. He knew it was the witch. He just didn’t know if she was watching out for the girl or waiting for him to die and cross over finally. Either way, he knew he would go down fighting.
“You okay? You’ve been up here for a while now.” Party turned back and saw Ghoul, the same quicksilver smile as when they were kids and the same defiant hazel eyes.
“Yeah, just thinking.” Ghoul dropped down on the edge of the roof next to Party.
“Too much thinking will turn your brain to mush.” Party laughed and leaned over, face pressing into Ghoul’s neck as he took in the smell of peppermint and sweat. Ghoul’s fingers laced up into his hair and massaged Party’s scalp.
“Come to bed with me?” Party glanced up, expecting to see the wolfish look Ghoul got when he was pushing Party against a wall or had them falling into the back seat of the Trans Am with lips locked. But, instead, his eyes were soft and loving, and how was Party supposed to say no to that?