A/N- Soooo. I got bored and seeing as I already wrote this chapter wanted to put it up now. This is for Meg but I won't embarrass her over the internet too much. It cuts off not where I wanted it too but otherwise it would have been way longer. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR REVEIWING! Arrrg I was so happy when I got them . So here is chapter two of Runaway Stars. The story title comes from a line in the song bulletproof heart and I will tell you the chapter titles as we go.
Disclaimer: I don't own MCR or Danger days or The Fabulous Killjoys or anything else you recognise.
I own Death Wish though. She and her blue hair are a figment of my overactive imagination. Enjoy!
Chapter 2- This aint about all the friends you make
Sun shone through the fabric covered window onto my face. I had been awake for a while but I was just lying there, observing the posters that covered graces walls. I had never met the girl but I've always been observant and I think I've figured out the kind of person she is. I had figured she's younger than me, maybe 10 or 11 and has curly hair. She likes the band Mad Gear and the Missile Kid and doesn't have any parents here. But she travels a lot cause I don't reckon she's here very often.
I stood up and stretched out before slipping on my shoes. I needed to shower but I know that in a desert that's not gonna happen. So I walked out into the corridor, still clutching my ray gun.
I heard a voice that I didn't recognise and froze, my hands moved straight to the ray gun. Two men walked around the corner and I held it up at them. They froze and stared. One had bright scarlet hair and a blue jacket with bluish jeans. The other was in a black and yellow jacket with dark dyed hair that smelt of chemicals.
"Whoa dude! You don't wanna do that!" said the black head. I put the gun down. "Sorry. Being careful is all."
"Don't sweat it. You can never be too careful out here. Death Wish right?" the black head said holding out a hand "Fun Ghoul. Cherri told us about you."
"Er cool. She never mentioned you sorry." I said shaking his hand. The red head grinned at me.
"Party Poison, leader of the Fabulous Killjoys. Nice hair by the way." he said in a voice that was oh so familiar. I stopped dead and looked at him for a second.
"Hey, do I have something on my face?" he asked jokingly and I shook my head.
"We've met. You were the redheaded man in the tunnel. Do you remember?" I asked which drew his face to a blank, but his friend the one called Fun Ghoul seemed to remember.
"You're that kid from battery city! Fuck how did you get out?" Ghoul exclaimed. Poison looked shocked.
"You were that kid singing Green Day weren't you?" he asked
"I think so. It was just a song my dad taught me. Look, do you know if there's any food in this place? Cause I haven't eaten in weeks in case they drugged me up."
Ghoul grinned wide. "Sure. We can catch up later. Show Pony keeps cans of Power Pup at the back of the diner. If you don't like that there's always alcohol." he laughed.
"I think I can deal with dog food." I smiled at him.
I strolled into the diner and saw Cherri sitting behind the dilapidated counter.
"Morning Motorbaby. How'd you sleep?" she cheerfully beamed at me.
"Great. But I'm really hungry and the Redheaded guy who's afraid of needles and the one with the chemical smelling hair told me there was food." I told her matter of factly. She laughed.
"The clue would be that it's a diner. How do you know Poison is afraid of needles?" she asked taking a can off the shelf.
"Thunder is too." I said again very matter of factly. She stared at me funny and tossed the can of dogfood and slid a knife across the countertop.
"You are a weird kid. You aren't some kind of psychic are you? You seem to know an awful lot." she asked sceptically.
"No!" I laughed "I'm just really observant. Like how I know your nose piercing was done recently cause there's still a thin red ring round it." I said cutting the lid off the can. With a spoon I took out a big mouthful and chowed down, too hungry to care that it was the nastiest thing I'd eaten since ever.
"You're a weird kid. But I like you. You're like the kid sister I never had." she told me. I nodded and continued eating.
"So Kiddos, may I introduce the Fabulous Killjoys!" said the guy in the wheelchair who was aptly named Doctor Death-Defying.
"Oh Please. You're making us sound like some kind of super heroes." said a guy with curly dark brown hair, taking off his glasses.
"Yeah. We really aren't that good. I'm Party Poison the leader. This is Jet Star" the Redhead said pointing at the curly guy "This is my brother Kobra Kid." he pointed at a guy with bleached blond ends of hair and a stripy green shirt "and you've all met Fun Ghoul." he gestured to the black head.
"Yeah. I reckon we can take em with us." Kobra Kid whispered to Show Pony.
"Where's Grace then?" Cherri asked.
"Here!" came a small voice from outside before a little girl ran into the diner "And I've told you, it's not Grace it's Missile Kid."
"Hey. I'm Death Wish. This is Silent Thunder and Shadowed Sky." I introduced us "We've met."
The Killjoys looked incredulous before Kobra Kid spoke.
"Damn. We have as well! You were that battery city kid in the tunnel!" he said as Ghoul triumphantly mouthed 'I told you so'
"I was. You gave me my name. Thanks for that. So are we gonna come with you?" I said. Poison spoke.
"Yeah. But because it's the start of summer we stay mostly here all summer so we aren't moving anywhere for a while."
"Cool." Thunder said "Now I know why I ran."
**About a week later**
"What you doin Wish?" Ghoul asked walking into the garage. I sat up from off the floor and smiled at him.
"Trying to fix this bike. It's nice and Cherri said if I could fix it I could have it." I told him wiping my forehead "Almost done."
"Cool. Grace was looking for you. I'll send her over here shall I?" he told me. I nodded, smiling at the thought of cut little grace and he left the garage.
"Wish!" I heard a squeal and a tiny body launched itself at me so hard I fell to the floor.
"Hello Gracie." I laughed and hugged her back "Wanna help me fix this?"
She sat up and grinned at me. "Sure. I just wanted to know if you were coming with us to Zone 12 to deliver guns tomorrow. Please do! It would be so fun!" she said jumping around full of adorable energy.
"Did you even have to ask?" I smiled patting her head "I'd love it. I've already told Poison I'm coming and he said definitely."
She hugged me again and grinned. "Yay! I'm glad you're here, it's like having a best friend." she said, handing me the spanner. I smiled at this before re-focusing on the job at hand.
A loud splutter echoed from the engine of the motorbike as my eyes met Kobra Kids as he entered the garage.
"Whoa! You did it!" he said
"No really?" I said sarcastically "Will you teach me? To ride the bike I mean"
He walked over to the motorcycle and touched the handlebars.
"My last girlfriend gave me this bike. It's nice." he said tracing the contours of the bodywork with his finger "She always had a thing for men on bikes."
"Like me then." I said quietly "What happened to her?"
"She was a BL/ind spy and almost got us all killed. Twice." he said honestly.
"Oh. Sorry." I mumbled
"Don't be. I was gonna have to tell you sometime. How about when we get back here next I'll teach you to ride okay?"
"Yeah. I'd like that."
**Next morning**
"Gracie! Wish! Wake up! We've gotta leave in an hour!" Jet stars voice came through the door. I sat up and swung my legs over the edge of the bed, looking at Graces sleeping form curled up on the bed.
"Missile Kid. Wakey Wakey." I said strutting over to the bed to touch her cheek. She stirred and moaned a little in her sleep before looking me in the eyes.
"Five more minutes?" she moaned grabbing the bottom of my yellow pyjama shirt.
"Hey. I'm the moody teenager here Gracie, I negotiate for more time in bed. You're supposed to be full of energy." I giggled at her. She moaned again and dragged at the bottom of my shirt and I sat down on her bed.
"Look. I'm gonna shower and then if you aren't up and at it when I'm done I'll get Jet Star to whoop your ass. Deal?" I said running my fingers through her curly brown hair.
"Urg. Fine." she mumbled and rolled onto her other side.
I laughed and stood up, grabbing my clothes from the end of the bed and a towel before heading out into the hallway. As it was 6am the light was dusty and pale coming through a window at the end of the hall. I quietly padded down the hallway and heard a guitar noise coming from a room. Ghoul and Jet were up so I knew it wasn't them, it was Sky. He's got really calloused fingertips, guitar players fingers but this is the first time I've heard him playing.
"Are you gonna keep hanging around outside the room?" Skys voice came from inside. I pushed the door too and entered.
"Hey. You're gonna say you didn't know I played guitar aren't you?" he said.
"No. I could tell from your fingers. I didn't know you played so well." I told him and he gave me a funny look.
"What! I'm really observant."
"Nothing. It's just freaky. And this is the first time I've played since we got here, cause Ghoul lent me his guitar. You want anything?" he asked looking at the still open door.
"You got any shampoo? Cherri hasn't managed to get me any yet."
"Borrow Thunders. He got it as part of the prize off Show Pony in that bet they had." he gestured to the bottle sitting on the cabinet by the other bed. I took it and left the room.
The water in the shower was lukewarm and washed over me like rain. Not that I've felt rain for a long while. I washed my hair quickly with Thunders shampoo and used the yucky soap before turning off the water.
Living in a desert you learn a thing or two about preserving supplies and water is the most precious of all. That'd possibly be the reason why I haven't showered for a week.
Wrapping a towel around myself I stepped out of the shower and wiped the condensation off the mirror. I grinned stupidly at myself before dragging a brush through my blue hair, still grinning. I got half dressed and dried my hair, then Thunder chose his moment to walk in.
"Nice tattoo." he remarked, looking at my hip just above the waistband of my pants.
"Dude! Really? Can't I get dressed properly?" I threw my towel at him and pulled my strappy top over my head.
"No. Can I see the whole thing?" he gestured at my half obscured star. I pulled down the edge of the waistband of my panties to show off the light blue and silver shooting star on my hip bone with a trail going down onto my leg.
"It's a wishing star" I explained "It was for my name and I got it after I met Party Poison the first time when I was 13."
"Cool." he said and I could see he wanted to touch it but I let the elastic spring back and stepped into my jeans. I tugged them up my legs as he stood in front of the mirror combing his mussy blond hair out of his eyes.
"So Are you coming to Zone 12 today?" I asked him.
"Nah. Poison says I've gotta work on my aim with the ray guns. If he takes me out now I'll be a danger. Plus there's no more room in the car."
"Oh." I said not knowing how to respond "Sucks to be you."
"See ya soon guys!" Cherri shouted from the diner entrance as the whitish grey trans-am sped down route guano. I leant out the window and whooped at the top of my voice as did everyone else in the car but Poison.
"Come on guys. Let's try and be serious okay? We've gotta get over to Zone 12." he told us tapping on the wheel.
"Fine. Why Zone 12?" I asked sitting back down in the front seat next to Grace.
"Zone 12 is really close to battery city and they're having serious drac issues right now. We're Zone 6 which is the opposite side of battery city and way far away so they must need us. Last I heard they'd built a testing facility there and were trying to populate it and add it to the safe zone." Poison explained. Kobra sat in the rear of the car and talked to Ghoul who was just sat staring into the floor. Poison and I talked about our first meeting and I told him about my dad and the Asian lady with the needle. He looked understanding and smiled a lot.
"Okay Campers! Outta the van!" Poison yelled into the back "We're gonna rest here for four hours comprendez? We've got a schedule to keep."
Everyone got up and climbed out the back of the trans-am. Soon, Ghoul had lit a fire to light the midnight desert and almost everyone was asleep on the sandy ground.
"Hey Wish? Who trained you as a killjoy?" Poison came and sat next to me.
"A Guy called Ollie, Broken Record and his girlfriend Candy Bullets. They lived in battery city but BL/ind record said they were dead. So the trained Killjoys out of an old backstreet." I explained "They're both dead and it's my fault."
He let out a small Oh and put a hand on my shoulder.
"I'm sorry. I bet it wasn't your fault, they must have known they were risking their lives you know."
"Maybe. But I led the dracs straight to them and then they were shot in front of me. Do you have any idea how guilty that makes me?" I half cried
"Not at all. You didn't mean to kill anyone. Trust me, they must have been willing to give their lives for you as mentors and friends and you can't go around feeling guilty that they did." he said rubbing a tear off my face. I sniffled. "Thank Poison. I needed that."
"No problem. C'mon get some sleep. You've been on guard long enough. I'll keep you safe now." he said "We all will. That's what Killjoys do."
I snuggled into the jacket he laid on the ground for me and slept.
