Hell's Reign (Patrick Stump/Fall Out Boy Fanfiction)

Prologue

                  

The sky that morning was an ominous shade of orange. The red sun cast a distinct shadow over the city of Chicago, covering the buildings in a faint amber glow. The city woke up anyways, and the people left their houses without a second thought. Fathers went to work, mothers dropped their children off at school, and then they went off to work too. None of them regarded the amber sky with anything more than disinterest as they went about their day, unaware that they may never see such a beautiful sky again. At least, not with their own eyes and mind. Eventually, as the day went on, that orange glow turned to a bright blue, as it always did, and again nobody took any significant interest in it.

            Nobody, that is, except for one girl. As school bells rang and tired students filed out of the front doors and side doors, any door that would grant them escape, really, Victoria Mason did not. She did leave the school, of course, but she didn't immediately rush home. She leaned against the side of the building, however, a cigarette hanging between her lips, with two of her friends on either side of her. She leaned her head back and regarded the bright blue sky with a puff of smoke curling from her lips as she slowly exhaled. To herself, she noted that the sun was shining oddly bright for a Tuesday afternoon in the middle of March, right in the heart of the windy city.

            "Tori. You coming tonight?" Victoria looked down at the mention of her name, her eyes landing on her friend, Jess. Jess is the same age as Tori, sixteen, but she dresses like she's twenty and drinks like she's twenty-one. She gets into a lot of trouble in and outside of school. Tori tries to stay out of it.

            "Nah," she replies, dragging on her cigarette, "I don't have the money." And it's true, even if it sounds like a lie to her friends. She was broke at the moment, having spent the last of her babysitting money on cigarettes and a new record. Blink-182, to be exact.

            "It's free," Jess presses her, "They're a new band. They're looking for publicity. I know the bassist, and he said he'd get us in."

            "You know the bassist?" Tori asks, raising one eyebrow as she puffs out another long tendril of smoke. "They can't be that great, if they're hanging around this dump." She drags on the cigarette again, that nagging in the back of her head telling her that she needed to stop this filthy habit. Unfortunately, the nicotine numbed that part of her mind just enough that she could ignore it.

            Jess rolled her eyes and looked at their friend who stood on the opposite side of Tori, Annabelle. Annabelle was the shy, quiet one of the group, but one mention of a boy band, and she was all over it. "I'll be there," she stated when Jess asked her, "I just need a ride."

            "I'll pick you up," Jess promised glaring at Tori as she said it, "Both of you." With that, she shifted her bag over her shoulder and sauntered off to the student parking lot, which was now almost completely deserted. Tori watched her and then dropped the butt of her cigarette onto the ground, stubbing it out with the sole of her worn out converse high tops. Annabelle watched her and sighed, leaning off the wall to catch her gaze.

            "Hey," she said, "It'll be fun, okay?"

            Tori looked up at her, and then glanced up at the blue sky again. She noted to herself that it was getting cloudy, the dark gray wisps of clouds beginning to dampen the blueness. "Yeah," she sighed. "I guess so."