The Game Master's eyes grew wide. "You have no idea what you've just done." He growled. Despite his threat, he took a few stumbling steps back to lean against a wall.

"I know exactly what I've done." Gerard said, aiming for another shot with a sniffle. "If you created this world, taking you out should end it."

"Will that really make you happy, Gerard Way?" The Game Master hissed, "To lose all I gave you?"

Gerard shook his head. "You took away a lot more than you gave." He took another shot, hitting just below the Game Master's heart.

The Game Master groaned. He began to slide down the wall. "Will this make you happy?" The Game Master croaked, "Going back to a reality where you're only second best?"

The tears that had been building in Gerard's eyes spilled over, running down his cheeks. "Going back to a reality where everyone is themselves." He corrected. He aimed another shot with a shaky hand. "I'll be happy when everything is back to normal."

The man locked eyes with Gerard, sending a chill up his spine. "So be it." He replied before slumping to the side.

Gerard dropped the weapon in his hands. More tears spilled down his face as he stared at the Game Master's still form. It couldn't be so simple. could he really have found a way out?

There was a thud to his side, drawing his attention away from the monster that had trapped him. Frank had fallen to the floor. Gerard hurried over, dropping down beside him. "Frank! Frank, can you hear me?.."

There was nothing readable on Frank's face. He just seemed to be blissfully asleep.

Gerard looked over to where Ryan had been, seeing a similar expression on his face. Gerard was in the process of turning to check his other killjoy friend when a wave of exhaustion seemed to smack him in the face. His eyelids were too heavy to fight. He fell flat to the ground with his hand on top of Frank's for one last time...

Coughing.

Coughing was the next conscious thing that happened to Gerard. He kept his eyes closed, continuing to cough as if he had inhaled an entire desert into his lungs.

Eventually his breathing evened out. He took a few breaths before finally letting his eyes open. His surroundings were dark. Colorful lights flashed and a dull beat found its way to Gerard's ears. Gerard pushed himself up from where he was lying slowly. It took him a moment to realize where he really was.

It was the party. He was back at Brendon's party.

An insane laugh escaped him. He was back. He was back in Brendon's makeshift dancefloor of a living room. He felt so happy he could cry; he was back.

He sat up, holding his arms out as he looked down at himself. He was back in his normal clothing. He had really done it.

He turned to his side, feeling his heart jump. His friends were stirring around him. They looked confused, but otherwise alright. No one was dead. Everyone was okay. He turned to his other side, remembering how he had been reaching for Ryan just before the start of the nightmare.

Ryan was still slumped against the wall with his head down. He hadn't started to stir.

"Hey." Gerard crawled to him, placing a hand on his shoulder and shaking it lightly. "Ryan, wake up. It's over. It's really over!"

Ryan groaned. He opened his eyes slowly, blinking down at his lap. He started to lean to the side, but Gerard caught him. "I don't feel so good..." Ryan croaked, reaching up to hold his hand against his head.

"I'm sure there's some aspirin around here." Gerard laughed, "Look around! We're home!"

Ryan looked up. He seemed tired and confused, trying to fight himself from swaying. "Where are we, Party?"

"We're-" Gerard stopped himself when Ryan's words fully sink in. He had called him Party. He could practically feel his heart sinking.

"I-I mean, Gerard?" Ryan turned to look at him with a now fearful confusion. "Am I Ryan again? Or... Or am I Northern?"

Gerard felt helpless as his friend's breath began to quicken. He tried to ease the onset panic, but it was almost like Ryan couldn't hear him.

Ryan held both hands against his head and shut his eyes tightly. "I'm going to throw up." He said, bringing his legs up to his chest. "I don't know what's happening. I don't know what's happening."

"Is everyone okay?" Brendon came stumbling into the room, still dressed in as little clothing as he was when Gerard and Ryan had first arrived to the party. The only difference was that the flashing glasses were gone from his face. "It was like we all got unplugged. That was creepy."

Most of the others had risen from wherever they had dropped. Some were moving towards the exit while others lingered, scratching their heads. No one paid Gerard and Ryan any mind except Brendon.

"Dude." Brendon hurried over. He crouched down in front of Ryan, placing a hand on Ryan's knee. "Are you okay?"

Ryan's face scrunched with Brendon's words and touch. "I don't know, I don't know!" His voice raised with each word. Tears began to leak out of the corners of his eyes, spilling down his cheeks.

"Woah!" Brendon pulled his hand away with a frown. He turned to Gerard, "What the hell happened?"

Gerard gulped. "I think he might have hit his head." He replied, unsure how the response to the real reason would be.

"Take him upstairs to my room." Brendon said, looking at Ryan with concern. "At least until I can clear everyone out."

Gerard nodded. Brendon stood, extending and arm to help Gerard up before assisting with getting Ryan into Gerard's arms. Ryan kept muttering, keeping his eyes tightly shut. His hands gripped fistfuls of his hair while Gerard made is way slowly up the stairs.

"I don't know who I am..." Ryan sobbed, tugging harder at his hair. "Everything's so blurred..."

"You're Ryan!" Gerard wanted nothing more than to sit with Ryan, look him in the eye, and have him be back to himself. "Ryan, you're my best friend, not some futuristic comic character!"

Ryan whimpered in response. Gerard wasn't even sure if Ryan had heard him.

When Gerard got to Brendon's room, he found Lyn-Z rubbing her forehead. "Gee?" She pulled herself to her feet as Gerard set Ryan down on the bed. "Is he okay?" She asked.

Ryan cried out, falling into sobs. He rolled to his side, facing away from Gerard and Lyn-z. His shoulders shook as he continued to cry silently.

Gerard wanted to reach out to him, but he was almost afraid to make things worse. Ryan still seemed to be trapped, despite them being free from the world from Gerard's comics. Was it because of what the Game Master had done after Ryan had...

"What the hell happened?" Lyn-z asked softly, "I came up here to breathe and I had such a weird dream of getting lost in the desert before waking up and..." She traveled off, thinking for a moment before turning to Gerard. "You were there, but just for a second. You saved me."

Gerard laughed, feeling ready to cry again. "I had a really similar dream." He said, wiping the threatening tears from his eyes.

Lyn-z tilted her head at him curiously. "Are you okay?" She asked, lightly touching his arm.

Gerard bit his lip. He thought he was. He thought everything would be fine now that he has found the way back. Everything was supposed to go back to normal. Ryan wasn't still supposed to be tormented over whether he was himself or a character anymore...

"I don't know." He admitted with a shrug. "I feel like I may have messed up..."

Lyn-z frowned. "You don't do that often." She smiled softly, "Especially in my dream."

Gerard smiled weakly back. "Saving you is definitely something I'd do again and again." He tried to avoid thinking about finding her near lifeless body in the desert or dragging her from being hit by lasers as she wiped a tear from his eye. He sat on the edge of Brendon's bed. Lyn-z followed suit, sitting at an angle that allowed her to see both Gerard and Ryan.

"Would you sit with him for a minute?" Gerard asked. She nodded, so Gerard rose from the bed and went out into the hall. He shut the bedroom door behind him, immediately sucking in a breath. It almost felt too much to be back. Everything around felt too normal compared to the comic world he had been trapped in.

The bathroom door a few feet away opened. Frank stepped into the hall, raking his fingers through his hair. He grinned when he saw Gerard. "Dude, that punch was crazy spiked." He laughed, "I had such a trippy dream."

"Yea?"

"I mean I think it was." Frank shrugged, "I kind of already forgot it, but I was crazy." His expression became unreadable for a second, but it was barely registerable before he started laughing. "Crazy, dude."

Gerard nodded. He wasn't sure what to say. Frank didn't remember anything. At least he wasn't trapped in his head over it all like Ryan. He just played it off as some forgotten dream.

"Anyway, I've got to find Jamia." Frank walked past him, tapping his arm along the way. "Talk to you later."

"Later." Gerard nodded, watching Frank walk down the stairs without a single worry on his mind. He really didn't remember anything.

Gerard went back into Brendon's bedroom and sat on the bed beside Lyn-z. Ryan whimpered softly, but he had calmed tremendously since waking up. Lyn-z was looking at Ryan with a frown.

"Was it real?" She whispered.

Gerard turned to her, eyes wide. "You remember?"

She shook her head. "It hurts too much to only be a dream." She said, holding her side with one arm and gripping that arm with her other.

"It's all my fault." Gerard looked down. "It's really my fault. Everyone was trapped there, but Ryan was torn between himself and the character I wrote because of some genie or djinn or whatever..."

"Hey." Lyn-z grabbed hold of one of his hands. "It couldn't have been your fault. We still don't fully know what happened, give it time."

Gerard looked up at her reassuring smile. He smiled back, despite the guilt he felt. Despite his friend still being stuck between worlds. Despite everything. He smiled. At least he was back home, and that was a start.