We're All Outcasts (Gerard Way/ MCR Fanfiction)

I Am Not Afraid To Keep On Living

A piano began to play, notes resonating and lingering in the air before Gerard began to sing. His voice was captivating, mesmerising; I couldn't help but lose myself and all track of time.

"We'll carry on."

The drums pounded for the last time, the notes ringing in my ears and bringing me out of the trance- like state I had assumed.

"What do you think?"

"I loved it. Your voice is beautiful."

"Thank you."

Thus, a few days were spent in a similar manner: listening to the songs being played, patrolling the streets, occasionally introducing new people to the Parade. None, however, shared my seemingly unique situation - indeed, I was the only one in the entire Parade who had a pulse.

When the days were over, the polluted sky darkened steadily until the final song had finished; whereupon everyone not standing on the float dropped to the ground in a sudden, deep sleep. Needless to say, the first time it happened it panicked me greatly. Tonight, as they fell to the floor, Gerard put his hand on my shoulder and led me away from the Parade.

"Come. There are still things I have yet to explain; I have questions of my own also. It feels necessary to go somewhere a little more private."

I followed him blindly (literally; it was getting very dark and it was becoming hard to see a few steps in front of me) through streets and over unsteady mountains of rubble, until we left the city behind us. Finally, we came to a stop at the top of a hill covered in dry, patchy grass that was scorched in places.

He sat down, facing the city.

"Scarlett, you intrigue me for several reasons. It takes an incredibly strong mind to be able to travel between realities. Every other person who has ever come to us with a situation like yours have lasted for but a day before either returning to their reality or joining the Parade permanently. You have stayed with us for several days without even flickering once between realities, which is a feat within itself.

This reality is void of warmth and here, your heart is but a redundant muscle which by rights should be still. You have no need for a heart here, the reality itself suspends its inhabitants in a life of sorts, yet yours still beats in your chest. While everyone else here is cold, you radiate warmth.

If my thoughts are correct, your mind is what is keeping you alive, even here."

Well, I always was stubborn, but hell, I never thought someone would be telling me I was alive because my brain wanted me to carry on living!

"Do you have names here?" I asked.

"I suppose there was a time once, at the beginning, but it has been so long since we have used names that they have been forgotten."

I took a deep breath and asked:

"Was your name Gerard?"

The look on his face was perfect: surprise and wonder - it was as if he had been told he'd won the lottery.

"It's been so long since I have heard that." Tears welled in his eyes.

"Thank you." he said.

He put his arm around me, his icy cold fingers reaching around my shoulder and clutching me tightly. That was how we sat for a while, close to each other and talking about so many things, asking questions about the places we called home, about the things we did. As the night drew on, our conversation turned to slow murmurs until it stopped altogether. We stayed as we were, though, watching the sky as it began to brighten. Finally, bleary- eyed and stiff, Gerard and I helped each other up and began to walk back to the Parade. Finally, the float came into view. We were just about to climb over a pile of broken pieces of concrete when he suddenly grasped my hand, looked me straight in the eye and said:

"There are many worlds out there. Please don't feel you have to stay in this one."

"Thank you. Would you be interested in accompanying me?"

He smiled sadly and replied:

"As much as I would love to take you up on the offer, I have a duty that I must perform. The Parade needs me and I must never abandon it."