Keep the Faith

"Hey. Wake up."

He stirred a little, grunted once.

"Hey! Hey, get up!"

He jumped and rolled over. Eyes widening at the sight before him, he nearly rolled right off the bunk.

He was staring down at him, looking a bit uncomfortable. But... That couldn't be him, he was lying right here on the bunk, barely awake! Or was he awake..?

"Yeah, you're awake."

He just read his thoughts!

"I think you can read mine too. Us being the same person and all."

The man in front of him took a step forward, into the light, and Gerard choked in the middle of a swallow. He-- No, not him, he was here on the bunk. His doppelganger (or whatever the hell the guy was) was blond. His hair was cut short and dyed not just blond, but this weird, silvery shade of blond. Gerard fingered his own long, black hair, streaked with dirt, and wondered again if he was dreaming.

"I'm telling you, you are not dreaming. I'm you, just a few years from now."

No way. He would never dye his hair blond.

"Well, you will. I did. I'm the future you."

Would he stop doing that?!

"Reading your thoughts?"

"Yes!" Gerard finally spoke, his voice hoarse from sleep. "Stop it!"

"Read mine. Try it. Then I don't have to waste my breath telling you why I'm here. You'll see things in better detail too, anyway."

Gerard regarded the man before him with some suspicion. This had to be the weirdest dream he ever had.

"You're not dreaming!" he snapped. "If I have to say it one more time, I'm leaving!"

"How... How do I read your mind?"

"Just look at me and think, I guess. I don't know how to explain it."

Gerard did and was astonished to find that his head was suddenly filled with thoughts that weren't his. Well, technically, they were, just not yet. If this man was to be believed.

"You kind of have to believe me. I mean, I'm you. Now, look."

New thoughts, feelings and experiences bloomed in Gerard's mind. People flinging bottles at him, screaming hateful things; his nervousness just before playing a show with his new hair, unsure of how people would take it; a woman, beautiful, witty, captivating; Mikey leaving the band and coming back; people spreading rumours that he was back on drugs-- He wrenched himself out of his thoughts.

Looking up at himself with some apprehension, he said, "You're not... I'm not... You--"

"Of course I'm not! Fuck, you're just like them!"

"But I thought, you know... If they changed so much, maybe I did too."

"They 'changed so much' because of our new album." Gerard sat up a little straighter. "I can't tell you anything, of course. I mean, I wouldn't want anything different to come out. Just write what comes out, okay? Especially when Mikey goes. Write, just write."

"Oh," he said, his shoulders slumping again. "You're right, I guess. Can't go changing history, playing God and all that."

"But that's why I'm here. I want to give you a choice."

"What's that?" he frowned.

"Do you want to continue with this? Do you want to continue My Chemical Romance after seeing what's going to happen? Some other stuff you didn't see is that Bob nearly dies" -- at this, Gerard looked horrified -- "and Frank is going to tackle you and rip all the ligaments in one ankle. And it's going to hurt like a bitch, let me tell you. Ray's going to get this weird premonition thing and freak out and refuse to fly. On planes, I mean.

"MCR is going to lose way too many fans. People who used to love you and want to fuck you and stuff like that will say you've changed and they're all gonna hate you. People will spread sucking stupid rumours and your Wikipedia page is going to say that you hanged yourself in your hotel room

"All this won't happen if you stop this, quit now. So... Will you?"

Gerard's slack-jawed look of shock quickly turned into anger.

"You want me to just walk out on MCR?" he demanded.

Future him looked uncomfortable.

"I'm just saying. 'All this is going to happen and do you want to go on'. I'm not pressurising you to stop or anything."

"Well, good. Because I'm not going to."

Now future him looked angry too.

"You're not even going to consider it?! Bob nearly dies, do you know that?"

" 'Nearly', that's the important part! I would be dead if it weren't for this band, have your forgotten that? If I were dead, you wouldn't exist! No blond hair, no fame, no... No nothing!"

That shut future Gerard up.

"You're right," he said finally. "No band, no nothing -- no turning away from drugs, no Lyn, nothing..."

"No who?"

"N-nothing. You know, you're right. I'm being an ass. Selfish fuck. This means everything, this band. I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry."

"It'll be okay," said Gerard, softening a bit. "Just keep in mind that there's always rock bottom and be glad that you're not there yet. And even if you think you are, things couldn't possibly get, you know, worse. Remember the drugs?"

"Do I!" said future Gerard, a rueful smile on his face. "You know, I think I better go. Thanks. A lot. This... It really helped." They smiled at each other.

"Are you sure this isn't a dream?"

"I'm telling you it isn't, but it is what you think it is, I guess. Well... See ya."

"I hope not. Not again. This was weird."

Future Gerard left the bunks, chortling. Gerard supposed he must have disappeared or something once he was out of his sight. How cool was that? Like something right out of a comic book.

Gerard waited and waited, but he never did wake up.