Remember the moment, you know exactly where you're going
Cause the next moment before you know it time is slowing
And it's frozen still and the window sill looks really nice, right?
You think twice about your life it probably happens at night, right?
Fight it
Take the pain, ignite it
Tie a noose around your mind, loose enough to breathe fine and tie it
To a tree, tell it "You belong to me.
This ain't a noose, this is a leash and I have news for you: you must obey me."
You are surrounding all my surroundings, sounding down the mountain range of my left side brain
You are surrounding all my surroundings, twisting the kaleidoscope behind both of my eyes
And I'll be holding on to you!
Holding On To You – twenty one pilots
[-[-]-]
At some point during the night, Jack had tucked himself into bed right next to Piper; not that she minded at all.
He was lying stomach down on the bed, one arm slung across her chest and a leg crossed over her own. Jack's head laid right next to hers. Piper slowly reached her hand to his head, running her fingers through his hair, just as she always did. She remembered when she first starting showing him the sign of affection; they were sitting side by side on a bench, right before Piper had started to go off on a tangent about the disrespect she often got and her self-doubt. He never rejected the gentle touch, and didn't reject her and what she wanted, no, needed to say. She remembered him telling her that if she tried to not let it get to her, he would try too. But what good did that do? The past week, he had been locked away in a cellar bunker, thoughts running rampant and losing himself every time that helmet was slid onto his head. Piper knew it would take a lot for him to heal, and she'd be there, standing by his side. She would promise that to him.
Piper looked back over at Jack as he lifted his head and smiled at her. His smile could always brighten up her day. "It's good to be waking up next to you again, you know," Jack said, pressing a kiss against the side of her head before rolling over onto his back. "God, I missed you."
"I missed you, too," Piper admitted, letting her head rest on his shoulder. She looked down quickly at his hand wrapped in bandages, frowning for a second before adverting her eyes. Jack must have noticed her looking at it, because he lifted his injured hand into the air. "I told you, it won't happen again. I promise you."
"Don't make a promise you know you can't keep, Jack," Piper spoke, her voice quiet. His hand fell, allowing his fingers to lace with hers before lifting both of their hands into the air.
"And I intend to keep it, my love," he told her, squeezing her hand before standing up. Piper quickly followed him, watching over him like a hawk. He nearly fell over as he stood up, holding onto the wall next to him. Piper grabbed him by his forearm, helping him regain his balance. She pulled him closer, her grip tightening on his forearm as she pressed her lips against his. She smiled as they pulled apart, Jack clearly flustered over the kiss.
"Woah-wow, it's, uh, it's been a while since that's happened," Jack stuttered, stumbling over his words. "Damn. I forgot how great that was."
"You make it sound like we haven't kissed in forever," Piper added, folding her arms, smiling wryly.
"It sure as hell feels like it," Jack replied. Piper let out a rather high pitched squeal as he wrapped his arms around her waist and picked her up, spinning her around before their lips met once more. As he let her down, he winced in pain. "Scheisse," he swore in German, his arm slung across his stomach and his bullet wounds. "Not a good idea." He grabbed a needle filled with Med-X and winced as he injected it into his side. "Please, be careful, dollface," Piper told him, using the odd nickname for the first time.
"'Dollface?'" Jack asked, lifting an eyebrow.
"You know… because you're pre-war?"
"Oh, gotcha," he answered, stepping down the stairs. Jack flopped onto the couch, yawning. "I want to do something."
"Like what?" Piper inquired, sitting next to him, leaning her head against his shoulder as he wrapped his arm around her. She traced circular patterns into his chest as he talked.
"I dunno. I kind of want to go back to Pickman Gallery, but I also want to just go back to Sanctuary," Jack explained. Piper's eyes widened as she looked up at him as if he had three heads.
"Pickman Gallery? Jack, we're not going back there. If I recall, that's the last place we went before you lost your mind and decided to hide in a bunker for a week straight," Piper reminded him. No way in hell was she going to lose him again because of Pickman.
"Piper," Jack began, looking into her beautiful green eyes. "I'm going to kill him. And then, maybe, I'll be at least a little relieved."
"Blue, I can't risk-"
"I know, Piper. I know you don't want me to go through that again. I know you cannot risk losing me completely. I get that. But this is something I need to do," Jack tells her, turning so he's face to face with her and able to look directly into her eyes. The eyes are the window to the soul. The usual shine that glistened in Piper's eyes faded out as he finished the sentence. She didn't want him to have to go through it all again. She didn't want to go through it again. Piper almost went insane waiting for him to return; whenever one of their songs played on the radio, she couldn't listen to it. When out in public, she would often have to excuse herself. Piper couldn't go back to that again. She begged him to not return back to that damned gallery.
She knew that Pickman would warp his mind all over again.
Jack brushed her hair behind her ear before cradling the back of her skull in his hand, allowing them to touch foreheads. He struggled to keep his lazy eye in order. "I need to do it," Jack told her, earning a sad glare from Piper. "Alright, fine. It is way too soon anyways."
"Thank you," Piper says with a sigh of relief.
"But once I'm healed up, we're going back to the gallery."
[-[-]-]
Memories consume like opening the wound
I'm picking me apart again
You all assume I'm safe here in my room, unless I try to start again
I don't want to be the one the battles always choose, cause inside I realize that I'm the one confused
I don't know what's worth fighting for or why I have to scream
I don't know why I instigate and say what I don't mean
I don't know how I got this way, I know it's not alright
So I'm breaking the habit, I'm breaking the habit tonight
Breaking the Habit – Linkin Park
[-[-]-]
-A week and a half later-
Piper bit her lip as the two approached the door to the gallery. Her rifle shook in her hands. Jack stood on one side of the door, Piper on the other side.
"On three, we breach," Jack whispered to Piper, who hesitantly nodded in response.
One. Piper checked the rounds in her hunting rifle and checked her bag, making sure that she had everything she needed. Water, ammo, stimpacks, Med-X…
Two. She closed her eyes as she took a deep breath, trying to rid herself of her anxiety. I'll be fine. He'll be fine. We will be fine.
Three. Jack barged through the door, M1 Garand at the ready. Piper followed behind him, keeping him in her peripherals whenever he wasn't in her main line of sight. There were more raiders in the gallery than there was last time, and surprisingly, they weren't all dead or turned into goddamn paintings. The two continued through the gallery, watching each other's backs. They eventually reached the back room that they found Pickman in the first time, to find a small group of raiders. Pickman stood in the back of the room, arms folded behind his back with a shit-eating grin plastered across his face.
"Hey, Killer," Pickman smiled. Piper could feel his eyes on her momentarily, and then on Jack. "I thought I'd see you again. Come back to see little ole me?"
"I'm not here to listen to your bullshit, Pickman," Jack growled, tightening his grip on his rifle.
"A shame. Sic' 'em, my friends," he replied. The raiders that resided by Pickman's side were now storming the two, weapons at the ready and rage in their eyes. Piper fired her rifle multiple times, one of the bullets reaching the head of a raider. Jack had already started fighting the other raiders. The two worked together like a tag team in wrestling. Piper had locked one of the raider's arms behind his back. Arms don't bend that way. She kicked him towards Jack, who grabbed him by the neck and head-butted him multiple times. The raider tried to break free of his grip, but earned a kick to the groin and a knife through the bottom of his jaw. Jack pulled the knife out of the man's head with such force that his body did a flip in midair.
Piper smiled to herself momentarily. That's my Blue. She ducked when a fist came flying her way. She grabbed the raider's arm, pinning it down on the nearby table. Jack threw his knife to Piper, and with it she stabbed the raider's hand. The raider let out a high pitched scream as the knife pierced her skin and went through the table, leaving her unable to move away from the table. Before the raider could pull the knife out of her hand, Piper kicked her in stomach, pushing her farther away from the table and causing the knife to rip through her hand. Jack shot the raider with his pistol in his outstretched hand as Piper ducked underneath his arm and knocked the gun out of another raider's hand.
Piper blocked all of the oncoming punches the raider threw at her. "Come on, just die already!" he shouted at Piper in frustration. Piper chuckled. "I'm going nowhere, buddy." In the moment of Piper's cockiness, the raider got the chance to kick her in the knee, almost forcing her to fall to the ground. Another raider behind her wrapped his arms around Piper's neck, attempting to cut off the oxygen to her brain. With a swift elbow to the neck, the raider reeled back in pain. The other raider, regaining his composure, swung an uppercut fist at Piper. She could hear the connection of his fist to her jaw. She grabbed onto her jaw, wincing as she set it back in place and taking a moment to catch her breath.
"Did your mother ever teach you to never hit women?" Jack hissed as he gouged his thumbs into the raider's eyes. The raider bent over, shouting in pain. Jack took advantage of that, jumping over his back and delivering a punch to the nose of another raider. Jack locked his hands around the raider's neck, pressing up hard enough on the raider's head that a crack came from his neck. He fell limp to the floor, his head snapping back as if his neck was a bungee cord. Jack turned to the other raider and kicked him in the head, rendering him unconscious.
Jack approached Piper, worry in his eyes. "You good, Red?" Jack asked as he placed his gloved hand on her shoulder.
"Well, I could be better," Piper half-joked, her breath shaky. "But I'm good." The two turned their gaze to the last raider that challenged them. They locked their pinkies before advancing towards the woman that was left in the middle of the room.
She threw a punch at Piper first, to which she caught it and head-butted the woman, her press cap falling off of her head. As the woman tumbled backwards, Jack grabbed onto her head and slammed her down onto the floor. Piper struck the raider in the head with her boot, using as much strength as she could muster. Jack nudged the raider with his boot, checking to see if they were awake or not, getting no response. The two looked up as clapping came from the other side of the room. They had gotten so caught up in beating the absolute shit out of the raiders, that they had forgotten about the main reason why they were in the gallery in the first place.
"Well done," Pickman congratulated them, still clapping. His smile and tone of voice sent chills down Piper's back. Never had she ever met someone so chillingly creepy and insane. Well, besides Jack… except he isn't really too 'creepy.'
"Your time is up, you lunatic," Jack hissed. Flames of fury and hatred cloud his eyes. This was a different type of anger.
"How sure of that are you, Killer?" Pickman asked. With great haste, he knocked Jack onto the ground. The anger that had clouded his eyes not too long ago had quickly turned to pure fear. Piper understood now; Jack feared this psycho. Pickman was agile and knew how to get into someone's head. Pickman knew exactly how to get into every opponent's cranium, and it scared her Blue. Piper went to clobber him, but he easily pushed her away before knocking Jack out with little difficulty.
Piper was on her own. Well, at least until he woke up.
Jumping back up onto her feet, Piper swiftly grabbed Pickman's oncoming punch. She pulled on his arm and kicked him hard, dislocating his shoulder. She watched as he tumbled to the floor, grunting. It's the first time Piper had seen the mad man in an 'informal' way. She rushed to Jack's side, making sure he was alright. Without warning, Piper was greeted by a foot to her back, and it hurts. "What the…" Piper mumbled, turning over to see Pickman looking down at her. He grabbed onto his dislocated shoulder, and shoved it back into place. Piper winced at the gruesome sound it made.
Standing up, she ducked as Pickman swung a punch at her. Having the lower ground, Piper kicked him in the midsection, causing him to double over. She took him being bent over as an advantage, grapping him by the ears and bring her knee up into his face. His face is absolutely covered in blood. He swung another punch at her, but missed as she ducked out of the way once more. He pressed his arm against her neck and pushed her into the wall. Her vision became spotty as she mouthed, "you son of a bitch," to him. For the first time, she noticed that his eyes had a mischievous look to them, and they sent chills down Piper's spine. With ease, she broke out of his hold and aimed for his throat, but failed in the process. He blocked every one of her attempts, and Piper shouted in pain as he elbowed her hard in the face.
Stumbling away from Pickman, Piper wiped the blood off of her face. While she was distracted, he managed to get a hold of her and throw her across the room, crashing into the table. Piper struggled to get out of the position she was currently in. The broken wood of the table dug into her back through her leather trench coat. Pickman took care of that, though, grabbing onto her arm and launching her into one of the large poles that resided in the room, her spine connecting with the metal. Piper groaned, wincing as her eyes watered from the pain. She slowly got up, moving out of the way as Pickman threw a punch at her, missing and hitting the pole. He nearly screamed at the top of his lungs in pain, so much that it hurt her ears.
Piper reached a hand to her back. Keep going. Come on. For Jack. As Pickman goes for her neck again, Piper launches her elbow into his stomach over and over again. She grabbed the knife that laid next to one of the dead raiders and dug it into his stomach before kicking him in the head, sending him tumbling to the floor. She nearly freaks out when she felt Jack's hand on her shoulder.
"Remind me to never get into a hand-to-hand fight with you, Piper," Jack begins, looking over at the discarded psycho on the floor. "Please, take a break," Jack urges her, much to her gratefulness. Jack approached Pickman with a wild smile on his face. He grabbed him by the collar and pushed him against the wall, repeatedly shoving the knife into his abdomen.
As she watched him give Pickman the same fate he did to many other people, Piper could hear him softly singing.
"We swim against the rising waves and crash against the shore. The body bends until it breaks, the early morning sings no more. So rest your head it's time to sleep and dream of what's in store."
The calmness of his singing worried Piper. Please don't go back to last week, please don't.
"The body bends until it breaks and sings again no more. 'Cause time has torn the flesh away, the early morning sings no more."
The song he sang were almost like a child's lullaby with a sick and twisted turn to it. How fitting, Piper thought. As Jack let's Pickman's body fall to the ground, Piper can't help but stare at Jack's eyes. The fear is gone and so is the hatred. She can't quite put her finger on it, but Piper doesn't question it.
"Come on. Let's go," Jack says, and Piper doesn't hesitate to follow him close behind after grabbing her hat.