A/N: Hi! So this is kind of based on the album 'The Black Parade' by my favorite band, My Chemical Romance. I haven't used any lyrics in the narrative, and the vision is pretty much my own, I just got the idea from the album and the summary from the song 'House Of Wolves'. And though there is little hope, QQ, if you're reading this, thank you for everything. Anyway, sorry for the long A/N, hope you enjoy.
Alex Collins was defeated at precisely 10:21 P.M, PST.
It wasn't as much a defeat as a surrender. He had nothing much left to live for, considering the fact that his girlfriend decided that his deathbed was a good time to say she was with another man (that she loved more than him), Alex's brother Liam decided he didn't particularly like living and offed himself, and that they were the only two people that he loved.
He had no one left.
So he let himself fall.
For some reason, at about 10:20:27, everything got unbearable. The lights of the hospital suddenly became too bright, and all the beeps got so loud it hurt…except the beep was getting slower and slower and it descended (at approximately 10:20:55) into a flatline, a drone that made him want to cover his ears.
He couldn't.
The battle was lost, and he knew it.
Black vines sprung from the floor, cracking it, and grew up the walls and onto the ceiling. There was a bit of hospital left, but it was soon obscured by spiderwebs that seemed to be spun from absolutely nothing.
Alex could only watch as a door appeared. He couldn't move any part of his body, couldn't breathe—but that didn't seem to be a problem. He wasn't trying to breathe, really. He didn't feel the need to.
The door seemed to be an average door, white and person-height with a silver knob. When it had fully materialized, Alex was suddenly freed.
He heard something that sounded far away, a drumbeat, maybe. It seemed to be beating at exactly the same tempo as Alex's heart once had.
As far as Alex could tell, he had no choice but to go through the door. He wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but he only hoped he wasn't in the Egyptian Underworld (for he knew full well that he was dead, that flatline didn't lie). He felt like if it was Egyptian, he would get his heart eaten.
He wasn't an angel in life. But it's not like he was a demon either.
He pushed himself into a sitting position, his arms shaking and threatening to give out on him. The effort of sitting tired him, and he closed his eyes for a second.
He had been fighting for so long that every act of his surrender hurt.
He swung his legs off the side of the bed, nervous about what was going to happen next. He hadn't gotten out of bed, hadn't stood for so long.
And sure enough, when he put his weight on them, he fell forwards. He thought he wasn't close enough to the wall to catch himself on it, but as it turns out, he didn't need to be.
Because the wall reached out to catch him.
Alex couldn't believe it, the wall literally grew a hand that grabbed Alex and steadied him.
Unsure of what exactly to do, Alex said "Thank you."
And he didn't know if he was going crazy in death, but it seemed like the room got a bit warmer.
Alex took a few more experimental steps, getting stronger with each one. It felt good to walk. It hurt, yes, but it felt good. It made him feel alive, as ironic as that was.
He took his time reaching the door, walked in circles around the room, just to get used to the feeling. He had a feeling that maybe he wouldn't have access to a car for awhile.
When he finally got to the door, he barely touched the knob before it swung open, revealing the world that he supposed he would spend eternity in.
At first, Alex thought it was snowing. The open field of dead grass that he was standing in was starting to get coated in white, but when he stuck his tongue out to catch the snow, he realized it was ash.
So ash was raining down from the skies.
And it was cold. That's probably why he thought it was snowing. He looked back to the hospital room, to see if he could stay there, but, as he was half-expecting, it was gone.
The smell of campfire was starting to reach Alex, who was inhaling, but only out of habit. He figured that breathing was a habit he would learn to break. But for then it felt natural.
And he was starting to hear singing. He couldn't make out the words, but the mood seemed raucous and almost…joyful?
That seemed odd.
Alex didn't know if this was Purgatory or Hell, but he was fairly sure it wasn't Heaven, so he was wondering why people seemed happy.
Maybe it wasn't all torture. Alex could live with that. (Or rather, die with that)
He walked towards where he heard the singing, his legs complaining every step of the way. Every so often, he felt like something was biting his leg, but when he looked down into the grass there was nothing there.
He was starting to see things other than the field. There was a forest (which was where he was headed), a city, and a hill.
The hill was really quite tall, but Alex wouldn't have classified it as a mountain. Not that he knew shit about mountain classification.
It looked like there was a building on top of the hill.
But behind Alex there was nothing. Field until he couldn't see anymore.
When he turned back to face his destination, there were two people standing in front of him with wolves at their heels.
They were a man and woman, or maybe a boy and a girl—they seemed fairly ageless to Alex. The girl's face was changing by the second, morphing between all of the women Alex ever fell in love with.
The man's face stayed the same. Alex was actually more fixated on him, because there was something behind his eyes…something terrifying. He wasn't sure what it was, but he sure as hell wouldn't want to be trapped somewhere with that guy.
"…hi," Alex said, eyes still trapped on the man's face. "Um, I'm Alex?"
"We know," the woman said, and Alex allowed his eyes to flicker to her for a brief moment. "I'm Heartbreak."
"Psychosis," the man said, smiling a smile that made Alex want to run and hide.
He didn't know if these were just names, or if they were actually physical embodiments of…heartbreak and being psycho.
He decided to ask. At least he didn't have to fear death anymore.
"Are you…" he started
"Yes," Psychosis said, baring his teeth in another horrible smile. Alex decided to look at Heartbreak for a bit.
"I didn't—"
"What's started can never be finished now," Heartbreak said.
Alex sighed.
He had a feeling he would be getting some cryptic bullshit. He decided to believe that they were the actual embodiments of those…things. He wondered if there were more, and if so, how best to avoid them.
"Are there…"
"Yes, plenty," Psychosis said, not smiling now, but rather growling after the answer was finished. One of the big-ass wolves behind him growled too, and Alex took a step back.
"There's more of everything, Alex. There are always more fish in the sea, and no matter how many times they get off the hook and swim away you will find another," Heartbreak said.
Okay, Alex was sick of her relationship-metaphor shit. He had a feeling that in life, he and Heartbreak got on a bit too well.
He was planning on changing that. Because she was reciting everything that some combination of Alex's mother and multiple ex-girlfriends had told him.
And…she was probably going to do it again, too.
"You get one more question," Psychosis said, looking delighted with himself for setting a new limitation.
"Wait…why?" Alex said, before he could stop himself. Then he realized that was a question, and cursed himself.
Psychosis laughed a clichéd mad scientist laugh that chilled Alex to the bone. He really wanted Psychosis to get the fuck out of Alex's way. "Three's a magic number, sugar!" he sang, grabbing Alex's face with freezing hands and kissing him on the cheek before disappearing, somehow leaving the taste of blood in Alex's mouth.
"Want to have break-up sex?" Heartbreak asked, face stuck in Alex's last girlfriend, looking perked up at the prospect.
"…uh, thanks for the offer, but not right now."
"Some other time?"
Alex figured it was easier to go along with her. "Yeah, sure. Call me."
Heartbreak grew dark again. "Why won't you call me?"
"No, seriously—call me. I'll be waiting."
"But I'm not allowed to call you! It's against my behavioral pattern," she said, grabbing Alex's hands. Her hands were really warm, and they took Psychosis's chill off.
"Fine. I'll call you someday," Alex said, sighing and mentally shaking his head.
"Thanks, baby!" Heartbreak said, before kissing Alex on the lips and disappearing. The wolves remained, but they soon ran off into the grass and melted into the shadows.
Alex figured that Psychosis and Heartbreak were probably the weirdest embodiments of concepts/conditions/emotions/whatever he'd ever met. Or…really, the only ones. But he figured there were more to come.
So far, being dead wasn't looking that great.
A/N: All feedback is appreciated.