who: joshua and lullaby
where: streets
when: night

Joshua was in good spirits. Carnivals did that. Carnivals with Lullaby in them, at least, for sure. Because he hadn't really been to many in the first place. But he'd had an awesome time, eating too many corn dogs and cotton candy, riding rides, and cheating just a little at games of chance. So maybe he cheated a little for Lullaby too, seeing as how she had her arms full of stuff for people. It didn't really hurt anybody, and it was actually good practice for his TK focus. He was grinning broadly as he slipped an arm around her shoulder, the abso-fucking-lutely huge teddybear he'd won for her tucked by the neck in his other arm. Joshua leaned over and kissed her temple. It had been a great night, even with Dean there in spots. He was determined to walk her home as slowly as possible.

Lullaby was fine with the slow walk home, also having had a good time. She wasn't even as nervous as usual, walking home in the dark. The sounds from the carnival were starting to get quieter behind them, and she was pleasantly buzzy and tired at the same time. But she'd won people stuff, and that was awesome. And she had a few things won for her too, so all was right with the world. When he kissed her, she beamed up at him. "Best carnival ever." she said. "Usually it's kinda lameish, but this one was the best." Her grin turned into more of a smirk. "I think it had to do with the company." Or, it definitely did.

I think I love you, that's what I think. He just grinned at her. "I didn't know you had a thing for carnies," he teased her, reaching with the hand on her shoulder to tug at a bit of her hair. God, she was beautiful. He'd been thinking it all night, watching her throw balls at wooden milk jugs and munch down on some funnel cake. With all those colored lights around her, she just seemed to shine and glow. More than usual. It was good to have a good night with her. One that didn't involve any trauma. She felt better, and that made Joshua feel better.

"Not them! You. I have a huge thing for you." she insisted. She giggled at him, and stopped them. She pushed up on her tiptoes to give him a proper kiss, the only thing making it not so proper being since she was carrying stuff, she couldn't put her arms around his neck. But she was happy with it anyways, and he looked spectacularly kissable right then and there. So...smooching was happening. "Do you have that down now, or do you need more evidence?" she asked when she pulled back some.

Joshua held her with the one arm he could do that with, and kissed her back when she was there. As she pulled back, he twisted his lips to one side in a thinky-face and rolled his eyes skyward. "Hmmm ... no ... no, don't think I've gotten it yet," he said, looking at her again and grinning. "You might have to give me another example." Cheap ploy, but an effective one!

Lullaby laughed again, then set one of the stuffed animals down on the sidewalk by her feet so she could reach up, and yank him down to give him a serious kissing. She was fine with it. It was a Friday, it was carnival night, and people were no longer missing. She was calling it good, damnit, and she was going to kiss her boyfriend like she might require it for continued survival for a minute. She was sixteen, she was entitled.

Likewise, he dropped the big-ass teddy bear, in favor of holding her correctly. Which was tight against him as his mouth worked over her's like they weren't at all on a public street. Joshua? Couldn't care less. He was young and in love with the most perfect girl ever, and things were better, and it was all good. And she tasted wonderful and felt even better and he wanted to take her home with him.

Lullaby thought this was probably one of the most romantic things ever. It was all...normal. Happily normal, even. So, she kissed him til she couldn't breathe anymore, then pulled back--but not very far. Looking up at him, she searched his eyes, ticking her own between his. "...want to come with me to Journey's?" she asked. She bit her lower lip, a thrill of nerves going through her--but the idea had struck, and she kind of wanted to get it out there before she chickened out of it. She wasn't ready for the evening to be over, and she wanted to be alone with him. That was the best place.

He felt his stomach drop out a little. Equally from the look in her eyes as her suggestion. Going to Journey's at this time of night could really only have one or two purposes. And all the options made his heart flutter nicely and made him nervous at the same time. But there was no question what his answer would be. "Yes," he breathed, looking back at her with parted lips before he swallowed and kissed her again. Soft and slow this time, savoring her taste. This could Be It.

There was an eruption of butterflies in her stomach, pleasant ones, though there were a few nervous ones in there too. But she felt all warm and tingly and like she really wanted to do this. There wasn't a regret in there anywhere. So...she kissed him, and let herself sort of drift into it, with the promise that there could very well be more, in a few short blocks. Her mind was sort of absently drifting towards when they got to their destination, but not so much that she wasn't in the moment then. When she pulled back that time, she smiled at him, cheeks faintly flushed. "Let's go then."

Going was totally the best thing to do. Before he had time to overthink things and pussy out. Not that he wanted to back out, seeing as how this was one of the things on his Most Desired And Dreamed-About list, it was just ... he tended to screw things up. Unintentionally, and if there was ever at time that he didn't want that to happen, it was then. But Joshua gave her a smile and nodded, picking up the bear again so they could be on their way. Their way to something that made him feel like he was going to have the best heart attack ever.

Lullaby snagged up the stuffed animal she'd set at her feet, and then started along with him. She was probably smiling like an idiot, but she couldn't help it. She'd made a decision, and things might actually work out. She thought she was ready for it, anyways. And okay, it wasn't set in stone or anything what they were planning on doing, but...she had ideas. It felt to her like the right time. Things had evened out, they were going alright...all seemed well. Or like, given enough time, they would be. Besides. She and Joshua had been very good, and not only that, but it still felt to her like she hadn't gotten nearly enough time with him lately.

Even though a part of him missed her, Joshua found himself kind of glad that September wasn't still looking after him. For just the simple reason that she would have one eye on the clock right now. Sean was much more likely to lose track of time, or just sort of ... let him do his own thing as long as he wasn't getting hurt. So it was unlikely that his phone would start to ring or anything and interrupt them. Because he wanted to take his time with this, make sure she enjoyed it. It was important to him. And if that meant feeling his way through it blind, so be it.

She walked along beside him, feeling all giddy, when she noticed she'd accidentally dropped one of the stuffed animals. "Oh--hold up." she said, dashing back where she saw it. She grabbed it up, then started back towards Joshua. When she was about caught up to him, something strange happened.

She was walking, and all of a sudden, there was red splashed on Joshua. Frowning, she tripped forward a step just a little and stopped, and noticed she felt like...was it burning? Something felt like it was burning. Looking down, she saw there was red on her shirt, too--and was it ripped? Slowly, the stuffed panda she'd been carrying under her right arm dropped to the sidewalk, and she touched her abdomen, turning her fingers over to see more red. "....Joshua?"

At first the loud crack that he heard didn't combine with the blossom of red that bloomed on Lullaby's stomach. He was looking at her, he saw the way her body kind of jerked a little, but it just didn't reconcile. "Lu?" he questioned right back, turning to walk toward her. As he went, it felt like things started to ... slow down. Everything began to shift into hyper-clarity. The growing patch of red on her cute shirt was the reddest red he'd ever seen. "What happened?" he asked, and his voice sounded a billion miles away to his own ears all of the sudden. She was ... hurt. Something had hurt her ...

"I--" She made to step forward towards him again, but stumbled. The strength seemed to bleed out of her all at once, and she pitched forward, dropping everything else she'd been carrying. What happened? God, was that blood? She didn't feel well. She felt like everything was burning, and what was on the ground? What was over there? Why was there blood? All at once she felt like she had no control anymore, and after that happened, the pain hit. It seemed like a door opened, it was so abrupt. It went from burning to the worst pain she'd ever felt in her life, all radiating from her insides.

Joshua darted forward as she started to fall, though even that felt like it took far too long. He dropped the teddy bear and caught her, falling down to one knee painfully in the process. Or what would've been painfully, if he could feel it. The whole front of her shirt was almost soaked, and she looked yellow in the streetlight, like all the real color had drained completely out of her. "Lullaby?" he said again, his brain still trying to catch up to current events. She was ... bleeding, a lot. Too much. He cradled her with one arm, kneeling in the road, his breath starting to pick up sharply. "Lu, what -- ?" She'd been what, shot? Somebody shot her? Somebody shot her?! He felt his jeans start to get warm and wet and knew she was bleeding from both sides. And laying on his cell phone ohgodwhatthefuck?! The hand that wasn't under her moved by some distant first-aid memory, and pressed over the wound in her belly.

She screamed at that, immediately trying to curl up, hands going over his, but there was blood there. A lot of blood, and they slipped. She didn't feel like she could do it, either. Like she wasn't strong enough. On her side, she tried curling up more, reaching for him. "Stop...stop--" she tried to say, but she didn't know if it came out right, or anything. Squeezing her eyes shut tight, she tried not to cry, but it happened, her gasping in air like she couldn't get enough of it. Hyperventilating, she was confused, and couldn't figure out what happened. All she knew was everything hurt. Bad. And she didn't feel good and she was starting to shiver. Was it cold? She didn't remember it being cold. Why was it cold? Nothing made sense.

That scream felt like it ripped his entire soul in thousands of tiny little pieces, but it shook him out of the confused and shocked daze that had been starting to descend. Lullaby was shot, and she was bleeding to death on his lap, and he had to stop it somehow. He had to. "HELP!" he shouted as loud as he could, looking wildly around for a second. If somebody was nearby, they could maybe ... do something. She'd moved when she curled, and he leaned back some to shove his hand in his pocket and grab his phone. Which immediately, upon being freed, slipped out of his bloody fingers and bounced completely out of reach. "Oh god oh fuck oh god," he was chanting under his breath without realizing it. She was shaking. And though he'd initially let up pressure with his hand when she screamed, he had to not. His other hand jammed between them, searching for the hole in her back, as if he could keep her blood in her body all on his own. "Stay with me, Lu, stay with me, okay? You're hurt, but it's okay, all right? Look at me," he was saying in a voice he hoped was loud enough to get through to her.

She could vaguely hear. There was talking going on, she could catch some of it, but it was muffled. Like she was hearing really loud music coming from another room. It was almost like she felt it more than she actually heard it. She let out another scream when he put pressure on her stomach again, and while her hands went to try and push it off again, she didn't have the strength to do any more than clumsily slip her hands over his. Looking up at him, she couldn't see him very well. Did it get darker? Darker and colder. What was happening? He looked worried, and upset, and... "It hurts." she said, a mumbled, not very coherent sort of statement. "I don't...can...stop, it hurts..." she mumbled further, and she tried once more to push at his hand, not that she even did more than rest hers over the top of his. Some little thread of concern drifted through her dying mind, and she latched onto the look on his face. "...are you 'kay? Are you..." She started to sink then, into more blackness. No, things were happening, she needed to stay awake--but she was so tired. And cold, and...

He tried to say something more, something to beg her to stay with him again as he saw her eyes start to roll some, but nothing came out by a choked sob. He didn't even know it was coming. Joshua's head lifted again. "Somebody FUCKING HELP!!" he screamed, voice cracking badly on the last word. God, where was everyone?! What the fuck were they doing, why couldn't they hear him?! He blinked hard to clear his eyes out, looking down at her again. He hated to, but he pressed harder on her stomach and jostled her a little. "Stay awake, Lullaby!" he half-shouted, half-sobbed at her. A part of his mind was far far away from this, watching it with numb amazement. Because she wasn't really shot, this wasn't really happening, it was ... something else. Something not real. She wasn't really dying, two minutes after he'd been kissing her. "Stay awake, baby, stay with me, please don't go oh god I'm sorry I'm so sorry, but you have to stay awake!"

She heard, but it was distant. Her hand slipped from over his, and she went limp, dropping down into blackness. Lullaby mumbled something, but there weren't any real words there, nothing properly articulated as she bled to death. Her heart fluttered in her chest, blood beneath her, on Joshua, everywhere but where it should have been. Everywhere but where it needed to be, where her heart could keep using it. After her eyes dimmed so much she couldn't really see anything anymore, she drew in a few shuddery breaths more, and everything stopped.

She didn't scream again. He wanted her to, desperately, to give some sign that she was still there, but she didn't. Her hand fell away and her neck went limp, and then he couldn't see her anymore at all. Everything blurred and shifted and his head swam violently, but unconsciousness would be too much of a mercy. "No no don't please," he wheezed down toward her. She got heavier on his lap. "Please don't ..." His grip on her shifted, hand moving away from the gaping wound in her front. He gathered her up -- small she was so small and petite -- and held her to his chest, caught up in hysterics now. He didn't know it, didn't have any control over it, but six of the streetlights surrounding them exploded into falling glass as his TK lashed out. A nearby car alarm began to sound as all the glass and the clear plastic over the instrument panel in it shattered violently. "No, Lu, please," he cried between sobs. "Please NO GOD WHAT ... the ... fuck ..." He couldn't see them, but a few concerned people had heard him, and were drifting in. Someone was calling paramedics. He started to rock with her, one hand cradling the back of her head like a little kid, the force of his crying shaking both of their bodies. He couldn't get enough air, couldn't --

Breathe.

There were colored lights everywhere, all around him, lighting up the darkness he'd created, though they'd turned the sirens off by the time they reached him. Them, because she was still there in his arms, her skin cooling off rapidly in the night air. The paramedics had to pry her away from him. He protested violently, kicking and fighting them as best he could, cursing them and their mothers and their entire family lines in barely-understandable English. It was hard, when it was three on one, and he was scrawny on his best days. He couldn't even hear himself anymore, couldn't hear anything at all over the rushing pain in his ears.

Held to the pavement by two large men, Joshua watched as they put her into a matte black body bag. He caught a glimpse of her pale cheek as they zipped it up. There was a smear of blood on it. Blood on her cheek, and nobody had bothered to wipe it off. Such a tiny thing, when below the neck she was surely soaked, but it was like a knife through his gut. He tried to get the air to scream, but he couldn't --

Breathe.

Sitting in a plastic chair in the police station. They'd asked him questions that he couldn't hear very well, forcing them to repeat them over and over. He didn't know anything. Not who had done it, not what direction it came from, nothing. Nothing nothing nothingnothingnothingnoghtingnohtgngi. And now he was just staring at the linoleum between his bloody sneakers. That was her blood, her blood all over his jeans and his shirt and his arms and hands. Her blood was in the wrong place. He tried to tell a man who passed by him, but nothing came out of his mouth. His head didn't even lift. He just sat, slumped in the blue plastic, and stared. Everything empty, everything hollow, everything nothing.

Somebody had found his cell, and the cops used the numbers in it to call Sean. They'd separated him from her, sending her to the hospital and he to the police station. There was a phone in his peripheral vision, and he was willing it to ring. Willing it to be Marquette General, to tell him personally that she was okay, it was close but they'd saved her, and she was fine now and asking for him. Willing it to put an end to this thing that had just begun. Or trying to. Everything felt faraway, wrapped in cotton, too bright, not really happening. Because this was all just a horrific nightmare.

Meanwhile, the man sitting behind the desk that held the phone was wondering why his pen kept rolling to one side of the desk. It had never been an uneven surface before, and the pencil wasn't doing it all ... He eyed it and tried not to --

Breathe.

The low murmur of people around him. A man with a notebook talked with one of the policemen, jotting things down. The little embroidered logo on his shirt was from a news station. Someone had called TV 6. Words drifted to Joshua, through the thick air and his own cotton-wrappings. "Lullaby Draven? ... sixteen ... student Marquette Sen-- ... dead on arrival ..."

He imagined that he could slow his heartbeat down through sheer force of will. That he could make it stop if he wanted to. He tried to turn his telekinesis inward and heard something crash over on it's side in the room behind him. While he waited for his guardian to appear to take him home and listened to the man who'd never met Lullaby, never seen the way her eyes danced when she smiled, never heard her take little sippy gasps of air between kisses, or seen the line between her eyebrows when she was mad ... while he waited and listened to that man take notes about her death, Joshua imagined he could squeeze his lungs together and cease to --

Breathe.