Of Kings & Queens

Mama, We All Go To Hell

"Damnit!" Mikey ran his hands through his hair, nearly knocking off his glasses, "We should have never left them alone!"

"I hope none of them are dead." Ray murmured.

"Don't say that!" Joe growled.

"Achoo!" Frank sneezed, then sniffed, "As much as I'm worried about Gee and the others, I really hope I'm not getting sick right now..."

"I feel another presence in the room." Montresor spoke, "It is quite weak and getting weaker by the second, but there is most certainly someone else in here with us. I wonder if it is another ghost... Oh, and Pete is approaching! It seems he has found Solis as well!" It was at that moment Pete appeared at the other end of the hall at a run, Solis still in his hands, as the young ghost had predicted. When he saw the others, he was so surprised to see them to the point that he accidentally let go of the phoenix. Solis flew up and huffed at him, but didn't fly away. She flew into the kitchen and perched on the table, grooming herself. Ash fluttered down between her feathers as she did so, probably from when the feathers had been on fire.

"Guys!" Pete ran up to them, "We've got to find Patrick!"

"And where the hell have you been?" Mikey asked, angry at him for scaring them so badly.

"I'll tell you later." Pete waved him off and passed the group to get into the kitchen, "Gervasius found me and I was lucky to escape, but that crazy bastard told me Patrick was alive. At least, I think so."

"Then do you know where he is?" asked Andy.

"Not really." Pete shook his head as he moved over to the sink, "Gervasius said he was giving him some 'cold irony,' so I came back here to see if I could find out where he could have taken Patrick. Any clues would help." The bassist turned the water on and let the cold literally wash over his burnt fingers, the tips having turned a vicious pink. There was no way he was going to be playing bass for a while, that was for sure. Solis gave a soft trill in Pete's direction.

"She says she is sorry for that." Montresor translated, "I assume you tried to grab her while she was on fire?"

"Well, yeah." Pete shrugged, "She would've clawed Gerard's eyes out if I didn't. Gervasius deserves all that's coming to him, Gerard doesn't."

"Thanks." Mikey said, causing the other dyed blond bassist to smile.

"No problem."

"Wait." Bob held up a hand for quiet, "Do you hear that?" No one spoke and Pete turned off the water, trying to hear what Bob was hearing. Softly, from above, they could hear some sort of melody. Looking up, they saw a vent built into the ceiling. The melody quieted down for a second, but then another one came up, this one with lyrics they could hear.

"I've got troubled thoughts and the self-esteem to match..."

"That's Patrick's voice!" Any of the FOB bandmates would have recognized that singing anywhere.

"Then where's it coming from?" Frank wondered.

"'Cold irony'... Gervasius must have meant the freezer!" Ray was the first to figure it out, "Percival burned his body to death, so the irony would be freezing to death!" The group rushed over to the freezer door and tried to open it, but it was stuck tight.

"How can you even lock a freezer?!" growled Joe as they stepped away to figure out a better angle on how to open it.

"You can lock one if it's electronic, like this one is." Bob pointed to the keypad he had just noticed.

"But the power's out. How did it even lock back?" Andy asked.

"If a ghost can lock a regular door or pass through walls, then I have no doubt he can manipulate electricity, too." Mikey said, "Let''s just figure out the number before we lose Patrick."