Taking Route East, Not Calling "Home" ? Twenty One Pilots

TRENCH: 0.6: chapter six

"She's right you know." Debby said, suddenly with a grin on her face.

"Yes, she is." Tyler said, never looking away from Jenna's eyes.

"Do you want me to cut your hair while I can?" Jenna whispered, Tyler looked up at the hair that had grown since the last time he saw her. It could've been months now, yet neither really knew how long it was in that moment.

"Please." Tyler begged. Jenna smiled, taking his hand and pulled him up, before Josh pulled him back down, shaking his head, looking to Debby who could talk for him.

"He doesn't want Tyler to be taken without him there." Debby translated through the silence, Josh nodded. Tyler turned back onto his stomach to Josh's, looking into his friend's eyes meaningly.

"Even if they take me, you know that I'll be back. I'll always be back." Tyler said. Josh caressed his friends locks, tugging on them anxiously, and looking to Tyler's eyes for consent before kissing his forehead out of affection and worrisome. Josh got like this when he was scared. Tyler blushed a bit, hugging his friend.

"Make sure you come back." Josh said, nearly silent.

"Always." Tyler said, hugging him and kissing his forehead in return. He turned to Debby before standing up.

"Take care of him, please." He said, Debby scoffed jokingly.

"Like I wouldn't, take care of yourself Tyler." She said, Tyler nodded, intertwining his hand with Jenna's, letting her lead him into the vast region of Trench.

Josh and Debby's tent was a good size compared to most, and you could stand in it. It faced the edge of a cliff that oversaw Dema miles out, but if anything was out of the color scheme it was far too visible for anyone's benefit. There was no red in the valley yet, meaning Tyler was safe. He sighed of relief at the methane like-grey sky that hung low. Jenna tugged him past banditos who said kind remarks and welcomes to him, all aware of his struggle to stay in the cavern.

Jenna and Tyler's tent was small but enough for them and to their pleasure, cozy. Jenna pulled a log out from a nearby firewood pile and put it on its side, Tyler sat down upon it. Jenna went into the tent in search of her razor. Tyler looked around, taking in Trench while he could. The dewy silence that took the ring out of his ears, the peaceful chill in the air that ultimately calmed him, the white-like grey that hung above, seemingly low for the sky but high for everyone on Earth.

Jenna came back with the razor, turning it on and putting it at the base of Tyler's hairline, leaning over for assurance. Tyler nodded, taking her other hand into his and kissing it on the knuckles. Jenna smiled, letting Tyler hum the notes to a tune he conjured up whenever he got his hair shaven. It was always the same tune too, but Jenna never questioned it. She took her time, running the razor across Tyler's scalp multiple times to shave the hair all off completely. By the end, Tyler was left with a satisfying buzz-cut.

"Thank you." Tyler said softly after she finished. Jenna came around to the front, taking his hands into hers and kissing him. She squeezing his hands in hers, nodding.

"We'll get through this, okay?" She asked, Tyler nodded, trying to ignore the red hooded figure that appeared behind her.

"We're okay." She said, Tyler nodded, bobbing his head back and forth as an assurance for his prevision of reality not being altered by his mind.

"I love you." He said, Jenna smiled solemnly.

"I love you too." She said, nearly crying with her eyes starting to look glossy. Before Tyler knew anything, he was being painted by the bishop's black-marked hands on his neck and hands, being pulled and dragged from Trench's peace to the city of Dema and back into a cell that he had awoken in earlier that day.

Tyler played with the loose thread of his prison sock that had just come back to him from the wash of the morning after he left. His mind went to Jenna, remembering all the facts he knew about love. He never really thought on it too hard, he just let it happen. His relationship with himself was always denied. He didn't really believe he loved himself, because he hated most things he instinctively did or just wasn't appealed by the person he was. 

Tyler realized who he was recently though, and learned he wasn't as bad as he believed. That all his traits added up and contradicted each other. Understanding the karma they had on one another, and how they played. Learning how to love it in his own, gnarly way. To an extent getting how Jenna would love him from them. Only, Jenna taught him real love. She was the most amazing girl, and one of the most amazing people he had ever met and one of the two he loved the most.

Jenna's sweetness blinded Tyler on how anyone could be so optimistic in Dema. He quickly fell in love, letting her teach him so much in that dark time. Josh had taken her to Dema on the third mass-escape. Tyler almost got killed that time, by a guard who didn't know a thing about who got cut from the death list and who didn't. Tyler learned about who he'd die for, and though he firmly wrote out that list he had to alter it every rare occasion. He remembered it vividly.  

His love for Josh was undefined, and he was content with that. He'd do anything for Josh, and he'd do anything for Jenna. The love he had for them was the same, but then again different. He saw labeling love as pointless, because it was different for everyone. It made no sense. Tyler sighed as he longed to see their faces again. For the first time in a while, dreading the cell he learned to call home more than his apartment. Showing how the progress through acceptance that Josh told him to start was working. 

The cycle never owned him, he owned the cycle.

Josh sat across from him in the cell opposite, smiling. The silent Josh looked over in earnest, pride. He was proud of Tyler for making it this far, and knew he'd go farther. Tyler knew Josh was proud of him. If only he were there. Before his thoughts could go on, feet ran down the hall, and as the sunlight was absent from the high windows as night fell inward to the city and terrain surrounding it, Paige ran to Tyler, emotions filling her face and concern leading the riot.