Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys

Bulletproof Heart

Show Pony came and delivered the news. He told Frank first, who was outside. Frank buckled next to the bike, falling to his knees in the dust. Tears fell down his face silently; he had only known Ray and Mikey and Gerard for a little over a day, but they had been his friends and he knew a bit too keenly how the loss would affect Gerard.

Indeed, Gerard did not take the news well. He broke half of the breakable things inside, the crashes causing Frank to cower behind the bike and cover his ears, rocking as his body was wracked with sobs. Show Pony sat next to Frank for a while, comforting him, but soon the grief was too strong and Show Pony skated forlornly off, his usual vigor and excitement dulled. It had been a hard few days for him, and he had the feeling it was only going to get worse.

About an hour after Show Pony left, Gerard stormed out of the base, his face stony. Frank was still in the dirt, curled up in a ball. His tears had stopped but he was terrified, and when Gerard went to help him up he cried out loudly and flung his arms out wildly in an attempt to protect himself. Gerard just patiently wrapped up the smaller, younger boy's arms and waited for him to calm down before speaking quietly.

"I'm going to go get them. I'm taking the motor bike. I'd like you to come with me so you can ride the motorbike back. You'll need a gun." Gerard didn't leave any room for protestation, and Frank didn't attempt any. He just walked into the base, gingerly avoiding the aftermath of Gerard's destruction. He grabbed his gun, which Gerard had decorated with stickers and words, the most prominent one reading 'horror'. Walking back outside, Frank clambered onto the back of the bike; Gerard had already started it and was staring straight ahead with his yellow mask and bandana covering his face. Frank pulled on the Frankenstein mask Gerard and Mikey had made for him, blinking back tears again.

They found Mikey and Ray out on Route Guano, disturbingly close to their base. It was still a bit of a ride to get out to the bodies, but it was too close for comfort. As soon as Gerard saw Mikey, his helmet blown off and eyes still open, he hopped off the bike and instructed Frank to go back to the base. Frank tried to protest but Gerard turned around, his eyes rimmed red.

"Go home," he repeated. Frank turned the bike around and sped off.

The Exterminators were long gone, the only aftermath left the lifeless bodies of Ray and Mikey and the old trans-am, scarred by laser blasts but still completely intact. Ray was slumped over the hood of the car, his black leather jacket singed and his helmet still on. His gun had fallen from his hand to the ground in front of the car, so Gerard collected it before pulling the helmet off his friend and closing his eyes.

Mikey was next to the driver's side door, propped up against the vehicle. His gun was a few feet away from him and there were footprints in the dust all around him; Gerard guessed he had died after Ray, and that he had put up quite a fight. He smiled proudly through his tears, sitting down next to Mikey and pulling the younger boy's head into his lap.

"So brave," he whispered to his little brother, the tears flowing freely now. Gerard smoothed Mikey's hair down, rubbing a bit of dirt off his nose. He closed his vacant eyes gently, pressed a kiss to Mikey's forehead, and then hauled his brother up onto his shoulder, laying him carefully in the backseat.

Ray was a bit harder to drag into the backseat, as he wasn't a skinny little runt like Mikey was. Gerard managed, however, crying for his friend as he hauled him next to Mikey. The Exterminators were long gone, so Gerard sat there for a while, eyes closed and hands gripping the steering wheel until his knuckles were white and his hands began to cramp.

Mikey was Gerard's last living relative, his only tie to the world, it seemed. Now that he was gone... Gerard wasn't sure how he was going to live. Of course, he had Frank, and he needed to stay strong for Frank. Gerard may have lost his one last relative, but Frank lost everything. His house, his family, his friends, his way of living. Granted, he had adjusted fairly well to his new life, but Gerard easily forgot that Frank had not been with them but two days. It had been two days since Wolfblood Beach had been eradicated.

Back at the base, Frank was sick with worry. He had grown accustomed to the comfortable, if not a bit cramped, living space, but not to being alone. He lay on the couch, surrounded by a suffocating silence that only made him remember lying alone, encircled by fire, listening to the sounds of the people he loved and hated crying out. His hands shook, and then his arms began to shake, followed by his torso and then his legs, and then all of him was shaking and he was crying. It had been an hour and Gerard still wasn't back, and Frank knew deep in his heart that he was alone again.

So when he heard the car bumping over the rough ground outside, Frank shakily took a breath and grabbed his gun, grasping it tightly with both hands and pointing it straight at the door. When Gerard nudged open the door, carrying Mikey, Frank shot wildly at him, hitting the door frame and scaring the daylights out of Gerard, who fell to the ground with his brother on top of him. Frank jumped to his feet, dropping the gun in terror.

"Oh, my God," he exclaimed, hands shaking and the color draining from his face. "Oh, no. I've killed him."

"Not dead yet," Gerard remarked dryly, peering at Frank from under Mikey. "Care to give me a hand?" Frank nodded, jolted out of his stupor. He went over to Gerard, pulling up Mikey and gently laying him down on the couch. Gerard went out to the car and heaved Ray out, carrying him inside and laying him on the metal table that doubled as a bed occasionally. Once both of the bodies were inside, together Frank and Gerard went outside with two shovels and began to dig.

A/N: sure, go ahead and rip my heart out and stomp on it until it breaks into a million tiny pieces. Oh wait... I wrote this, didn't I?

Sorry.