Chapter Text
In the end, this was the last day Tyler and Josh and Blurry and the rest of them would spend on the island.
The rest of the survivors on the beach, in the laboratory, even Patrick, were dead on their feet.
In the end, nothing could compete with Blurry. He was so filled with rage, so hell bent on destroying everything that he forgot that once he was human too. If you only want to bring death, how can you not be blinded by life?
Tyler was so sure that he had figured out how to stop Blurry. He was so tired of reliving the same scenario over and over again. He died every time the cycle began again. His friends were killed over and over again. He loved them all with his whole heart, and every time they died, it crippled him.
He was so exhausted by it all, some might say he gave up. Others would say he sacrificed himself to save the rest.
Don’t believe what they say. Tyler died because he was scared, and his fear killed everyone else too.
It was just a matter of time.
As this was the eighth and final time on the island, any mistake was permanent.
The first mistake was making Josh the constant. Josh was now forced to live and die in a battle between Tyler and Blurry until they all died a final time.
The second mistake was thinking they could save Josh in the first place.
Because in the end, the only person who could kill Blurry was Tyler.
The worst part of this was the hope the survivors held. Even as Jack’s heart stopped, he truly believed the answers were in the diary he held.
Frank spat in Blurry’s face before his brain exploded out the back of his skull.
Spencer defended Pete until his last breath, and when Spencer fell, Pete tried to escape. As soon as he put weight on his leg, the bone popped out of his skin and he was dead before he hit the ground, pain obliterating his whole being.
Brendon was goofing around on his guitar on the beach when he was decapitated, along with the rest of them.
The slaughter happened in sixteen minutes, and all who remained was Tyler, Josh, and Blurry.
Josh was confused about how he was suddenly in a white room, with two Tyler’s.
“Where are we?” he glanced around the brightly lit area.
One of the Tyler’s was crying silently he looked at Josh with such misery that Josh unconsciously stepped toward him to comfort him.
The other Tyler was shuddering, his skin blurring in the air around him. He was staring at Josh with such a fury that Josh felt the back of his skull warm.
“I’m finally going to finish it, Josh,” said Blurry as he took a step towards Josh.
Josh looked apprehensive. “Finish what? Why are there two of you?”
Tyler crumpled to the floor. He was filled with the agony of the deaths of his friends. He was horrified with himself, with how he tried to fix the situation, and horrified at how his demons had manifested and brought so much suffering into the world.
“I’m so sorry Josh,” he managed to get out between sobs.
“Sorry for what?” Josh’s gaze flickered between Blurry and Tyler.
Those would be his last words.
Blurry leaped on Josh with such a strength that Josh realised he wasn’t human.
Everything that happened next happened in 47 seconds, but to Tyler it seemed like hours.
Blurry punched Josh with such a force that his jaw gave way and his windpipe was filled with blood. He would never take a breath again.
Blurry plunged his hands into Josh’s stomach and ripped his small intestines out of him and threw them at Tyler.
Tyler was sobbing so hard he couldn’t breathe. He took in Josh’s flailing arms, the sounds human organs make when ripped from inside a human. He heard the gurgling as Josh tried and failed to inhale. He saw Josh’s eyes, filled with fear, start to flutter as his consciousness fell away.
Josh was remembering everything. Even as Blurry destroyed his body, he remembered Tyler and everything they’d been through. He remembered sleepless nights on a stuffy tour bus, hearing Tyler’s quiet gasps of fear as he repressed Blurry. He remembered caring for Tyler like a brother.
He remembered all this, and he forgave him for it.
As his vision tunnelled as his heart slowed, he forced his eyes to look at Tyler.
I’ll see you in the next one.
When Josh was finally dead, Blurry got off his body and rubbed his blood through his hair. He smiled so wide the skin on his face split. He wanted to sing and dance, to celebrate all that he’d achieved, even though it had taken so long to get here.
His celebration was interrupted by the sound of sobbing. He looked down at Tyler, who was currently pressing his hands to his face and howling.
Blurry bent down so that his face was level with Tyler’s.
“I don’t know why you’re reacting like this.” Burry plonked down on the ground in front of Tyler, who cringed back when he did so. “I mean, you had to have known it would end like this.”
“Why,” was all Tyler could say. He felt like his heart had exploded in his chest. His eyes kept wandering over to Josh’s lifeless form.
Blurry’s grin grew impossibly larger. “C’mon Tyler, you must have figured it out by now.” He licked some blood from his fingers. “I do it because it’s fun. I can’t wait to do this to the rest of the world.”
Tyler realised something then. He realised how he could fix it all. Josh was both Tyler’s and Blurry’s constant. And now Josh was gone, Burry had nothing to connect himself to this world.
The answer was so simple, so blindingly obvious, that Tyler almost laughed out loud. The irony to this whole thing was that Tyler had restarted time over and over again to save Josh from Blurry, but the death of Josh meant Blurry could finally be stopped.
Josh was always meant to die.
As soon as Tyler realised this, Blurry blinked out of existence.
Tyler sighed in relief.
He was gone within a matter of seconds. He couldn’t wait to see Josh again.