Party Games (Frerard)

Nine

"What the hell is going on here, Ryan?" Gerard demanded, stepping into the area behind the bar with his doe eyed friend. "Why is everyone one of my damn characters!?"

"I was gunna ask you!" Ryan exclaimed. He reached up and tugged at his hair as his he shook his head. "I'm freaking out! I can remember the party, but then I felt really funny and... I've just been having lapses..."

"Lapses?" Gerard questioned, "What do you mean?"

Ryan's eyes shut tightly. "I mean, sometimes I'm me, and sometimes I'm just watching me... The character you created version of me be me?.." He opened his eyes, revealing an uncertainty within them. He looked back at Gerard with the shake of his head, "I-I don't understand."

"That doesn't make any sense." It was Gerard's turn to shake his head, "How are we talking right now, then?"

Ryan shrugged, dramatically. "I don't know! I was Northern Downpour, but, then I heard someone using my actual name and I was just me again..." He looked up at Gerard, "You're actually Gerard?"

Gerard nodded, putting his hands on Ryan's shoulders. "Yes, except I've been awake this whole time. Everyone's acting like one of my characters, Ryan, but you and I seem to be the only ones with memories of the party and beyond. Hell, Frank gave me a- it's just not Frank! It's a copy..."

Ryan looked somewhere between sad and scared. His brown eyes were starting to fill with tears as his mouth opened to speak. "Brendon said he loves me."

Gerard watched Ryan blink out soft tears as he continued. "He only knows Dallon as a bandit here, even then he barely knows him. He said he loves me and he's kissed me and-"

"Ryan, it's not real." Gerard insisted, tightening his grip on Ryan's shoulders. "Brendon and Dallon are together, just like how Frank and Jamia are." It hurt Gerard to say the words, but he had to. If Ryan was conscious of the party, that meant this had to be some kind of illusion, right?

Ryan's wide eyes looked back at Gerard as he gave the quick shake of his head. "It's different here. It's like we all got our wish. I wanted Brendon, Breezy wanted Dallon, and you wanted Frank. Where's the harm?" As he spoke, a clouding was starting to fill his eyes.

"Ryan?" Gerard tightened his grip on Ryan's shoulders, "Hey! Don't space out on me!"

Ryan blinked rapidly, but the clouding was still visible in his eyes. "Why is this happening?" He asked, softly. "It's getting harder to remember... To be me."

"It's only been a few days." Gerard shook Ryan's shoulders, but not enough to jar him. "Get a hold of yourself!"

Ryan just stared at Gerard for a minute. "I'm just becoming part of the game."

"What?"

"You made a deal, and I witnessed it. Maybe that's why I get spurts of consciousness." Ryan spoke softly before tightly shutting his eyes, "I want out of this... I think?"

Gerard shook his head. "Ryan, this isn't funny, please, what are you talking about?"

"That man." Ryan's features scrunched, "That's when the funny feeling started..."

"What man!?" Gerard demanded, feeling his frustration increase immensely, "Ryan!?"

Ryan's eyes snapped open. The cloudiness had almost consumed it, leaving only a small vacancy that it was closing in on fast. "Help me." Ryan whispered before the clouding finished filling his eye.

Just like that, the recognition was gone.

"P-party?" Northern Downpour blinked at him, "W-what are you doing here, sir?"