Frank Iero, You Are My Hero

She had no idea how long she had been walking, nor how far. Her legs kept carrying her further and further away from Frank. She never looked back, never checked to make sure she wasn’t being followed. Instead, she lost herself in her mind, in her daydreams. Sad enough, they involved Frank. It was like she couldn’t get him out of her head, no matter what she did. He was like a poison, coursing through her veins, enveloping her, threatening to overwhelm every piece of her. It made her feel queasy, yet at the same time, like she was floating on the clouds. She couldn’t make any sense of it, couldn’t seem to sort through her thoughts and make everything understandable.

“Hey girlie. Are you lost?”

A man’s voice broke Mercy out of her thoughts and her blue eyes shifted to the right, where the voice had come from. A tall man stood there, a sneer on his face. His deep brown eyes, nearly black, bore into her. He wore dark blue jeans and a plain white t-shirt. His muscles bulged everywhere. Probably one of those stupid meathead weight lifters. And he was looking at her like she was dinner.

Mercy shook her head and turned to head in the opposite direction, but in a flash, the man was by her side, grabbing her upper arm in a vice grip. Mercy’s eyes went wide and she fought to free herself.

“Let go of me, you fucking prick,” she said, swinging her left arm. It wasn’t the one she usually used, so her aim was way off and it went beside his enormous head. The fear was starting to take over every part of her and her heartbeat and pulse began to quicken. She was by herself, in a city where she knew no one. And she was about to be beaten and raped. She was officially and royally fucked.

“Aw, now that wasn’t very nice,” he growled, grabbing at her blonde hair with his other hand, yanking hard, ripping her head back. Tears of pain welled up in her eyes and her knees buckled, but his hand on her arm kept her from hitting the ground. He then started dragging her away from wherever they were, and she noticed that he was taking her into a deserted alleyway. If it was possible, her fear grew.

“My friends will be looking for me,” she said in desperation, her shaking hand going up to grasp at the one that had a hold of her hair, trying to pry his fingers free.

The man chuckled. “Let them come, darling.” With that, he slung her hard against the brick wall of the building. Mercy crashed against it, hitting her head hard. Her surroundings swam in her vision and stars were seen at the edges. She fell to the ground, a hand going to her head. Mercy could feel the warm goo of blood dripping over her fingers. It was hard to breath, and she realized that the contact must’ve broken a rib or two.

A shadow played over her and her blue eyes went upwards. The man was standing above her, a leer distorting his face. He crouched down next to her and grabbed her hair, making her yelp. He was tugging at the spot where she was bleeding, making it feel even worse. Where were the guys? Why wasn’t someone coming to save her? Was this really how she was destined to die? Beaten and tattered in a forgotten alleyway somewhere in Virginia?

His other hand went to her chest, groping. She tried to fight him off, but she was steadily losing consciousness. The corners of her vision were starting to go black, her breathing coming out uneven from the harsh pain that was erupting from within. Mercy felt a tug, then heard a ripping sound. The warm Virginia air hit her exposed skin and she shuddered. He mistook that for pleasure and grinned, a slight chuckle coming out. His hand went to her now exposed breast and fondled it roughly.

And then, he was gone. Mercy hadn’t heard anything, hadn’t seen anything else. But then, she had closed her eyes tightly against his touch, not wanting to see his hungry eyes on her. At that moment, when she no longer felt him on her, she opened her blue orbs. Frank was on the ground a few feet away, wrestling with the larger man. And not doing so well.

She cared about Frank, but he really needed to know his limits. Mercy struggled to stand, the feeling of dizziness threatening to make her sink once more to the cement ground beneath her feet. She stumbled forward. Frank needed her help now. If she didn’t jump in, he was going to be seriously hurt, and then the man would move back to her.

Before she could throw herself into the tangled mass of limbs, Frank broke free and rolled away, onto his feet in a show of insane gymnastics, or whatever the fuck that was. His hazel eyes tore over to her, and she saw that they were wide with fear. Then, he took a few stumbled steps and caught her in his arms, picking her up and tossing her over his shoulder as he ran out of the alleyway.

They ran for several minutes, the only sound reaching Mercy’s ears was the steady thumping of Frank’s feet on the cement. The constant movement was hurting her ribs, and she knew that she was about to go over the edge, losing herself in the pitch black of unconsciousness. A few minutes later, right as Frank skidded to a stop, she did. Blackness covered her vision, and she was gone.

*****

Her eyelids fluttered for a second, but quickly clenched shut at the bright white lights that were surrounding her, making her head feel even worse. She could hear a steady beeping next to her, and the shuffling sound of movement next to it. Where was she? What happened?

The events from earlier flooded her mind. Frank. He had saved her. He had saved her from that man, throwing himself into the line of fire in the process. He could’ve gotten killed, yet he had done it anyways. A warm fuzzy feeling erupted through her entire body. He had saved her.

“Mercy? Are you awake?”

Mercy forced her eyes to open and she was met by five sets of eyes boring into hers. From her surroundings, it seemed that she was in a hospital, attached to all sorts of machines that were watching her heartbeat, her pulse, her brain waves. Well, shit. She hated hospitals. Not as much as Bob, but close enough. She had spent enough time in here growing up.

Frank was the closest to her, hands gripping the railing as he peered at her, hazel eyes scared. He was biting at his bottom lip, his brow furrowed in concern as her blue eyes looked up at him. Slowly, Mercy reached over and laid a hand over his.

“Frank,” she whispered.

He gave her a small smile and brushed some of her blonde hair out of her face gingerly. “Shhh. It’s okay, Merc. Get some sleep. You have a lot of healing to do,” he muttered.

Mercy didn’t feel like arguing, so she closed her eyes and let the darkness once more overwhelm her.

*****

He watched as her eyelids fluttered closed once more and he looked down at her small hand, wrapped around his own. Tears seemed to come to the corner of his eyes, and he blinked them away. He had followed her for some way after making sure their clothes were being watched over by the elderly lady who was running the laundry mat. Mercy had rounded a corner and he had sped up to catch her before she disappeared, but he had the shiftiest luck. He turned the corner, and she was nowhere to be seen. Frank had stopped, his hazel eyes looking around for her.

If he hadn’t stopped, if he hadn’t paused, he would’ve gotten to her sooner. He should’ve continued onward, shouldn’t have stayed in that spot for so damn long. He felt so horrible about it. But nothing compared to the way he felt when he saw her on the ground, eyes clenched shut, fear etched on her gorgeous face as some man groped her exposed chest. The rage, the fear…it ate him up inside and he lost himself once more. He had thrown his small body as hard as he could into the man, knocking him to the ground.

Frank and the guy had rolled around, exchanging punches. He now sported a busted lip and a black eye, but he didn’t care. He had delivered a kick to the balls, making the guy curl up and groan, giving him a chance to get away. He had stood and saw Mercy standing there, a determined look on her face, like she was actually considering getting in there and getting herself even more hurt. Frank wouldn’t have any of that, so he made towards her, picking her up as he went. He knew that he had to get her away from there, had to make sure she was safe but far away from that man.

The guitarist had ran all the way down the street, rounding the corner and ducking inside a small store. The customers there turned, looking at the two of them. A mad rush ensued when he laid the unconscious girl on the ground. He realized then that she was completely uncovered on the front and he took off his hoodie and threw it across her chest.

“Somebody call an ambulance!” he had called, looking up at everyone frantically. An employee picked up the phone and quickly called the local hospital.

It didn’t take long for it to get there, and in the meantime, I had attempted to get Mercy to wake up. It was killing me, seeing her laid out like that, unconscious. Her head was bleeding profusely, and her breathing was labored. Frank had never felt so scared in his life. She wouldn’t wake up, wouldn’t respond to his voice, to his gentle slaps to her face.

Frank had called the other members of the band on the way to the hospital, and they said they’d meet him there. Mercy was instantly taken to Intensive Care, just to be on the safe side. At first, they wouldn’t let Frank go in there with her. It wasn’t until Bob showed up, claiming to be her brother, that they were all allowed in there after she was taken care of. They had decided to monitor her for a few hours, to ensure that nothing was too horribly broken. The doctor had confirmed that she had two broken ribs and a concussion.

“Hey, um, Frank?”

He turned his hazel eyes towards Bob, who was running a hand through his blonde hair, his intense blue eyes on his sister. He had broken down in tears once he had seen her, forgetting about his hatred for hospitals. Seeing Mercy like that was heart wrenching, especially because this wasn’t something she had done to herself, like most of her other injuries.

“I just wanted to say thank you. For saving her. I um…really appreciate it,” Bob murmured, shaking his head slightly. “I’m going to get some coffee.”

The other guys nodded in approval and left Frank there with Mercy, still clutching her frail hand as she slept on. However, a few minutes later, her eyelids fluttered open once more.

**Mercy’s POV**

The light blinded her once more as she fought her way out of sleep. She wasn’t sure how long she was out, but when she opened her blue eyes, she noticed that Frank was the only one in the room, his hand still gripping hers. A small smile came over her face and she gingerly lifted her other hand, running it over his cheek.

“Frank,” she whispered again.

He closed his eyes, snuggling against her hand. She could tell that he had been crying, that seeing her like this was paining him. It was in that moment that she realized that she couldn’t do this to him anymore. She couldn’t stand it, couldn’t stand to see him hurting. She was going to give this a shot. She was going to take those risks, and flush them down the toilet. Frank would be hers, and hers only.

“Frank Iero, you are my hero,” she murmured, bringing his head down to crash her lips against his own.