Welcome to the Black Parade (TYftV Sequel)

Chapter 8: Zero

I soon find myself located within the hospital room I first woke up in when I arrived here. I groan, pinching my eyes shut and lazily running a hand through my hair.

As I was with Frank in the forest only moments ago, confusion shook my body. The same questions I had the first time I awoke here have resurfaced, leaving me to wonder how exactly I got here and what happened leading up to that phenomenon.

Sitting up, I see Zero standing before me, appearing from absolutely nowhere. I was used to the way they'd materialise before me, but not so much to the growing smirk smeared across their smug face.

Usually their face was settled in a neutral expression, and the fact that any sign of emotion was now evident frightened me. I hate that I'm alone now in all of this; everyone has left me to fend for myself. Lindsey and Frank are gone, and I don't feel safe in myself. I wasn't sure whether or not I could trust them anymore, not now that they'd taken Frank away from me.

"You, Gerard Arthur Way, have remembered your past. This means thay you are now qualified to pass on. Gerard, you will now be faced with a choice, and you must contemplate your answer with care. Each of the choices is backed with consequences, and once you have decided, there is no going back. I do hope I've made this clear."

I can sense that they're enjoying themselves, causing me to gulp. They know exactly how uncomfortable they're making me at this very moment.

Zero snaps their fingers and we are soon transported to what appears to be a white void, absent of any other color or life forms. There don't appear to be any walls or objects, it is only Zero and I. There truly is nobody to help me find a way out now.

Another observation I've made over the past few seconds is that I'm stark naked, and my body aches terribly. I begin to feel light headed, swaying slightly as the flames overtake my body, merging with my soul. My eyes roll back into my head, and I lose the ability to see almost wholly. I close my eyes, hoping that doing so would make me able to neglect the pain overrunning me. It doesn't.

I drop to the ground weakly, crying out in agony. Piercing daggers attack me internally, though the weapons are metaphorical. My body attempts to twist in each direction they come from, although I eventually just result in a crumpled pile, my eyes glossing over. The pain is almost numbing, yet paralyses each and every part of me. I feel my organs individually shutting down with no correlation, and the air is stolen from my lungs. Gasping for the oxygen I crave, I inhale desperately, but my luck runs short. And just as it were, my body ceases to function at all.

"So what will it be, Gerard? I informed you of these choices when you first joined the Black Parade. You can either pass on to 'The Other Side,' or you will be given the chance to be resurrected and return to your life on earth. Nobody will remember you leaving, nobody will know a thing. However, there is one condition, if you recall the conversation we had upon your arrival."

I weakly glance upwards, peering at Zero through my hair and nod slightly, ignoring the searing pain in my neck as I do so. If I go back, my life is hereby exchanged for my soul. How could I possibly forget such a condition?

"That's excellent, truly remarkable. I'm glad you remember our agreement, Gerard. I have faith in your choice. Now all that remains for you to do now is decide which path you're going to take."

Zero is making it sound like an easy decision, when it's anything but that. Maybe I'd be grateful if there were a third decision where I simply ceased to ever even exist, but they wouldn't be kind enough to grant me such an easy way out now, would they?

First case scenario, I return to my previous life, lacking a soul. I'd wake up in a hospital bed, and nobody would even know I was gone. Frank would already be dead, and I'd be left to myself once again, in the very same way I'm afraid to be. I'd spend the remainder of my life praying for my death to come sooner, just as I always had.

Alternatively, I could move on completely and go to heaven, although I doubt there'd be anything there for me. Somehow, I doubt I'd ever even make it. I'd most likely be damned to an afterlife in hell, assuming such a place exists.

The more sensical idea would be to return to my ordinary life, however if I go back, I'd still be missing the one person that I've ever truly cared about. And, well, passing on never really appealed to me either. I always just assumed once my life on Earth came to a close, that would be the end, although the it appears I was wrong. There's a chance that I'd be able to see Frank again if I moved on though, so maybe I should-

"Time's up, Way," came a booming voice above me, cutting my decision short. I'd never reached a final verdict, and now I would even have a chance to decide for myself. Zero became nothing before my very eyes, and now I truly couldn't bring myself to move at all.

I felt as if someone was tearing me apart, piece by piece, and maybe they were, because nothing could possibly surprise me anymore. This is a dimension where I don't doubt anything could occur, no matter how extreme of impossible the deed may appear.

My eyes begin to close, though this time not due to my own will, and I feel myself start to slip away into nothingness.