Disclaimer: Unless my plan for kidnapping Jhonen Vasquez fails, I still do not own any of his characters or paraphernalia. (Just joking!)

Rose yawned deeply and stretched her arms above her head. The morning light poured in through her open window, along with the sound of morning car traffic. She gently rolled out of bed and stretched her arms all around. But she frowned. This morning, all she could think of was how to say goodbye to Johnny. When really, her heart was screaming…

Don't let him go. You need him. You need him!

Rose looked off to the side, where her black dress was hung on the hook of the closet door. He said she looked beautiful. Not just in the dress, but however she was. No one other than her family and Yoko had ever told her that. Maybe Johnny really cared about her too.

Her ears pricked to a strange noise coming from the living room. It sounded as though the T.V. was on. Johnny must have already been awake. Rose quickly slipped on some clothes, just a pair of jean shorts and bright green tank top. Rose opened the door not to find Johnny, but Squee, playing a game of Piggy Doom Battles on the Playstation.

"Squee," Rose looked at him in bewilderment, "How did you get here?"

His eyes were glued to the screen as he fumbled with the controller, "Johnny brought me over."

"Johnny?" she looked around, "Speaking of which, where is Johnny?"

"He went home. But he bought you doughnuts." Squee tapped away at the buttons.

Rose looked over to the table, where a box of doughnuts from the 24/7 station sat waiting to be eaten. Atop it was a piece of lined yellow notebook paper folded in half. She picked it up and unfolded it, unveiling Johnny's just legible hand writing.

Dear Rose,

I didn't want to wake you up. You look too peaceful when you're dreaming. I tried not to laugh when you snorted though. I can't thank you enough. I always believed that humans were stupid, insolent, and pathetic goblins. But because of all the time I've spent with you, I can see that there are people who aren't like that. I hope there are more people like you in the world. Take care of Squee.

Nny

Rose was having a hard time holding back her tears. They were already filming over her eyes and beads rolled down her cheeks. The simple note crushed in her tightened fist. She didn't want him to leave. Her arms were shaking. Squee, whose game had long been lost, was just watching her. He approached her and gently tugged on her shirt.

"Are you okay, Rosie?" His eyes began to widen.

Rose merely crumpled to the floor, kneeling on her knees. Her long slender fingers covered her tearing eyes. Squee stood before her. He had never seen Rose cry before. Maybe he didn't understand why she did, but it really hurt him. He gently put his little stubby arms around her. If it were anyone in the world right now, Rose needed a loving embrace. Rose smiled lightly as she hugged him back.

"I'll be fine, Squee." Rose held him tightly.

I need Johnny…

"Have you ever fallen in love?" Johnny spoke to the man suspended on the wall.

He hung there by rusty iron shackles, his punishment for tripping Johnny. There were several throwing axes lodged in the wall around him where Johnny had missed. He twisted his neck vigorously to itch his chin on his shoulder, "Yeah, but I let her go."

Johnny looked up from his corner in the dilapidated room of bloodstains and skeletons, "Why? There must have been a good reason to separate yourself from someone you love so much."

The guy nodded his head, "She got too fat."

Johnny gave him a serious look, "What a waste of oxygen you are."

He chucked the last little ax at his useless target. Blood spurted in all directions as the man's head flew off his shoulders and landed on the floor with a 'thud'.

Johnny looked up, "What about you?"

Another man who several heavy duty staples latching him onto the ceiling gave him a look of thought, "Hmmm. Yes, I have fallen in love before."

Johnny waved his hand around in a continuous hand gesture, "What happened?"

The man closed his eyes, "I loved her with all my heart. She was kind and beautiful. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect woman. I was the happiest man ever when I found out a little girl was coming our way. But fate seemed to be my enemy the day a drunk driver crashed his truck into the side of my wife's little car. The sadness darn near killed me."

Johnny looked down to the toe of his boots, "That's kinda sad."

"Being stapled to the ceiling is nothing compared to how it felt to carry my wife's casket." He looked onto Johnny's mop of black hair.

"I see. I'm still not sure about things." Johnny stood up from the corner and marched up the stairs to the higher levels.

"I thought you'd never be back." Nail Bunny called out to Johnny across the room.

Johnny looked around. The doughboys were gone. Their Styrofoam shells had disappeared. They must have been swept away along with the hundreds of captives Johnny kept. All that remained of most of them were just remnants or random limbs. He always wondered what was behind that wall he always coated and recoated with blood. Now he sees that there is nothing back there. What ever it was, it escaped. All that is left is a broken wall and the mass of insulated support beams within it.

"What happened?" Johnny wondered aloud.

Nail Bunny answered, "The thing you spent so long imprisoning escaped from the wall. It was horrible, so many tentacles and teeth."

Johnny gazed about his disheveled house. With the exception of being completely destroyed on the inside, it was all the same.

"Home, sweet home." Johnny sighed.

It was missing something. Not the rambling of the doughboys, not the screams and howls of his victims, not the former condition of his home. He looked at the black coat hanging on the rusty nail of a wall plastered with Happy Noodle Boy comics.

I need Rose…

The Maiden of Light: The end of another chapter in this little love story. I know it's kinda slow, but these things take time. Just a little tip, this story is going to become a bit bigger with what is coming. Something evil escaped and Rose is going to find out first hand. Read and Review! sneaks away with a giant sack over her shoulder If selling Jhonen Vasquez on eBay doesn't make me rich, I don't know what will.