SAHLO FOLINA < tyler joseph x reader >

< 23 >

The new camp was nice. Some even said it was bigger than the old one. We still had the same layout, which made everything less confusing. Someone set up a perch for Spencer, but he didn't show up that night. He was probably at the old camp, wondering where we were.

We buried Graham at the new camp. A large stick was stuck in the ground to mark his grave. We lit it and sat, telling stories and remembering Graham and what he did for the Banditos - for the people in his life.

A true Bandito funeral.

Everyone stayed until the fire burned out. Then, it was just me and Tyler.

He'd been crying with the rest of us, so his eyes were red and puffy. He put a yellow flower on Graham's grave. I never saw him pick it. I didn't notice much of anything from the time Graham died to the funeral.

Tyler sat down next to me. We were quiet for a long time. Then, he said, "I'm sorry."

"For what?" I asked. I was staring at what was left of the stick.

He sighed. "Graham."

I looked at him, then. "This wasn't your fault."

"Nico wouldn't've attacked him if it weren't for me. I should've just stayed in Dema."

"No, you shouldn't've," I said. "If you had, I never would've met you."

"You'd be better off." He was emotionally drained. He barely even looked at me.

"No, I wouldn't. I need you, Ty. If it wasn't for you, I would've sat there in that room until Nico came back. And ever since you showed up... I've seen the world in a whole new way. I have hope that maybe one day, we just might be able to take down Dema for good. Now that I know you, I... I know what it feels like to be in love... I would not be better off without you, Ty. Not by a long shot."

He looked over at me. "You mean it?"

I nodded. "I mean it."

He smiled slightly, then wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "I love you, too, you know."

I hummed in response and lay my head on his shoulder.

Then, we heard wings.

Spencer landed atop the burnt stick marking Graham's grave. Tyler laughed. "He always has to ruin the moment, doesn't he?"

I chuckled. "He probably saw the fire and flew over."

Suddenly, he dropped some twigs and leaves on the grave. Then, he flapped his wings, made the loudest noise I've ever heard, and flew over to his new perch. It was across from the grave, close enough that we could still him.

He faced us, and I thought he was still looking as us, but then I realized he was looking at the grave.

"Graham used to feed him," I said to Tyler, turning from the bird and putting my head back on his shoulder. "He'd save some meat from his dinner and give it to Spencer when he showed up. Always talked to him, too - even told him jokes."

Tyler laughed. "Only Graham."

"Only Graham," I repeated, laughing as well.

We sat in silence again, and it allowed me to think. For the first time in two days, I thought of something other than Graham.

I thought of Tyler. And Nico.

"When we were in Dema," I said, "you were choking when Graham choked Nico."

He nodded. "I think Nico and I are... connected somehow. When he hurt, I hurt. And vice versa..." My brows furrowed as I thought about this. Tyler kept talking. "When I was alone with him, I asked him why he didn't kill me - you know, for escaping twice. He wouldn't really answer the question. And then, after Graham showed up, he said, 'Tyler, I want more than anything to leave you to die out there in Trench.' And then Graham started saying that he was right and he knew it, and then Nico attacked him before he could finish."

I bit my lip, thinking. "Graham said he had a theory before we left to come get you out. Maybe that's what he was talking about."

"Maybe."

"So... you and Nico are connected, we know that much. You hurt when he hurts, he hurts when you hurt. And he needs you - so badly that he's come all this way into Trench twice to get you back."

"Do you think he'd come a third time?" Tyler asked suddenly, worry working its way into his voice.

I sighed. "Most likely. But it'll be harder for him to find us this time."

Tyler thought for a while, then finally said, "What if we go after him?"

I sat up and his arm fell off my shoulders. "What?"

"We can go back to Dema - storm it completely. If we bring more Banditos, and we use my connection with Nico against him, we can bring him down." He stopped. "But we'll still have to defeat the other Bishops."

I shook my head, remembering what Keons said to me. "No... No, I think if we get Nico, most of the other Bishops will surrender. Keons said, 'The other Bishops and I rule over you, but Nico rules over us.' He controls everything."

Tyler smiled. "And I can control him."

••••
•YOU'RE A LEGEND IN MY OWN MIND•