Adolescent Suicide

He made his way down the hallway towards the other guys’ room. Frank wasn’t quite sure what he was going to say to Mercy, but he knew that he had to make things right. Gerard showed him that. Mercy didn’t deserve to be so depressed when she was merely playing a joke. Yes, it had hurt. More than it probably should. But that was his own fault. He blew things up, blew them way out of proportion. And now, he had to go in with the band aids to fix a mess he had made himself.

Frank brought his hand up and knocked softly before shoving it back into his pants pocket, his hazel eyes looking both ways down the hallway, glad that no one was out wandering. He would hate to be recognized at the moment. He wasn’t in the greatest of moods, and most fans saw right through that. He knew that if someone were to see him at the moment in his shit state of mind, there would be stories plastered all over the tabloids.

Within a few minutes, his knock was answered by a disheveled looking Ray. Frank arched a brow before brushing past him. From the looks of it, Ray and Gerard had been battling it out on the Xbox again. Gerard was doing some sort of happy dance in the middle of the living room, exclaiming that he had once again killed the shit out of Ray.

“Where’s Mercy?” he asked, almost having to yell to be heard over Gerard.

The taller man stopped what he was doing and looked at Frank, his head tilted to the side, contemplating something. After a few seconds, he shrugged his shoulders before moving to sit on the couch. “Did you finally decide to pull your head out of your ass?”

Frank rolled his eyes. “Come on, Gee. I’m serious. Where’s Mercy?”

“She went down to the bar. She said she needed some time alone,” Gerard replied, shrugging again as he picked up one of the controllers.

His eyes went wide as he rushed over to the couch, yanking the item out of his hands and tossing it onto the floor. “What?! She went somewhere alone?! And you let her?! Are you out of your fucking mind, Gerard!? Must I remind you what happened last time she was alone?!”

Gerard jumped at Frank’s outburst, his dark eyes wide as he attempted to scoot out of the man’s reach. “Um, yeah, I let her. She’s a grown woman, for one. And for two, the hotel is perfectly safe. Come on, Frank. You’re blowing things out of proportion again,” he said, wagging a finger at him.

“Oh fuck off,” Frank muttered, turning on his heel to leave the hotel room, Gerard right behind him.

He let out a low growl as he reached the elevators right as they were closing shut around a group of people. He slammed his fist into the wall in frustration. Fuck. If Mercy was hurt, or if something happened to her, he was going to kill Gerard. This was his fault. Okay, some of it was his own for doing this to her in the first place, but Gee should’ve known better than to allow her to go off somewhere by herself. Not after what had happened last time. The Faithless was bound to come back sometime. He would want revenge. And if not him, he was sure that there were other mentally unstable people crowding the streets of Greece, wanting to do something that would harm them in some way. And the best way to harm them was to harm Mercy.

“Come on. The stairs will be faster than waiting for the stupid elevator,” Gerard said, grabbing his sleeve and yanking him through the metal door near the end of the hall.

Together, they flew down the stairs. Their footsteps echoed in the dimly lit stairwell, making it sound like a horde of elephants rushing down several flights. They barreled through the door at the bottom, the both of them gasping for breath. Without a moment’s hesitation, they crossed the lobby and entered the bar. Mercy was nowhere to be seen. She wasn’t sitting at the bar, wasn’t sitting at one of the tables. She had disappeared.

Frank, still breathing raggedly and wishing that he didn’t smoke as much as he did, made his way over to the bartender, grasping at a stitch in his side.

“Excuse me. Have you seen a young woman? Black hair falling around her shoulders? Piercings in her lips and her nose? She should be wearing a pair of jeans, a bright red tank top, and a black jacket?” he asked, leaning on the counter for support as he fought to regain control over his lungs.

The woman stared at him with a broad smile, nodding her head. “Of course! She left just minutes ago,” she said in broken English.

“Fuck,” Frank muttered, slamming his fist onto the bar top, making the small woman jump. “Sorry. Do you know where she went?”

She vaguely pointed towards the doors that led outside. “I do not know. She went with some guy. Tall, very tall. Much taller than you are with huge muscles. Scary grey eyes,” she said, pursing her lips as she tried to think of anything else.

But Frank and Gerard didn’t need anything else. By her descriptions, they already knew who it was. The Faithless. He had shown up here, in Greece. He was supposed to be in jail, damn it! And now, he had Mercy. He had the love of his life. They had no idea where to find her, no idea where to even begin searching. Athens was a large city. They could be anywhere. Tears sprung to Frank’s eyes as he placed his head on the wooden surface, his hands balled into fists.

“I’m going to call the police,” Gerard said softly, placing a hand on Frank’s shoulder.

Before he could flip open the cell phone, it rang. The sounds of some random song echoed through the bar, making people stop and stare at him. The number wasn’t local, and not one that he recognized off hand. Hoping that it wasn’t a crazed fan, he pushed open the top of the cell phone and brought it to his ear.

“Hello?” he asked before pausing, his lips pressed in a thin line.

That was when Frank looked up. Gerard’s face was etched with anger and concern, all mixed in together. He was nodding his head as he listened to the other person on the line. After a few minutes, he handed the phone out to Frank.

“It’s him. And he wants to speak to you,” Gerard said, not even attempting a reassuring smile for his best friend.

Frank yanked the phone from Gerard and stomped away from the bar, making his way to a corner of the room where no one could hear him. Gee followed close behind, his hands in his pockets.

“Where the fuck is Mercy?” he growled into the phone as he leaned his forehead onto the cool wall.

“Now, now. That is not the way to greet someone who has your precious Mercy’s life in their hands, is it?”

“You touch her, and I will fucking kill you! Do you hear me, you sick bastard!”

He heard the click of a gun cocking and he froze, his hazel eyes going wide. Shit. He needed to calm down. He needed to keep his cool. The way he was going, The Faithless was going to kill Mercy. And it would be his fault. He couldn’t bear to lose the love of his life. He needed to just act rationally. He just needed to focus on getting her back. That’s what he needed to do, damn it.

“Watch your language, Frank, or I will pull this trigger. Now, where were we? Oh yes. As you’ve found out by now, I have Mercy here with me. To get her back, I want you to meet me at the Temple of Zeus with a million dollars in two hours. Do not call the cops, do not tell anyone else what you are up to. Do I make myself clear?”

Frank squeezed his eyes shut as he nodded, swallowing back bile. “H-How do I know she’s still alive?”

“F-Frank?”

Mercy. His knees threatened to buckle beneath him and he reached out for Gerard, asking for some sort of support. His best friend obliged, wrapping an arm around his waist. The tears that had sprung into his eyes fell down his pale cheeks as he took a shaky breath.

“Mercy? Baby, is that you? Are you okay? He hasn’t hurt you, has he? I’m going to save you, love. I promise you. I’m so sorry about earlier. I’m so sorry,” he said, choking on the knot in his throat.

“It’s okay, Frank. I love you, okay? I lo-,” she began, but was cut off by the phone being taken from her.

“You have your proof. Be there with the money, or I fucking kill her.”

With that, the line went dead. Frank kept his white-knuckled grip on the cell phone as the dial tone resounded through his ears. At least she was alive. For that, he was so ecstatic. But she hadn’t denied that The Faithless had hurt her. And who knew what the man was going to do to Mercy in the next two hours. Who knew what was going to happen to her in that time frame. She was at the man’s leniency.

“Come on Frank. We need to go talk to the guys,” Gerard said softly, keeping his arm wrapped around the shorter man as he led him out of the bar and to the hotel room.

**********Time Elapse**********

Two hours later, Bob and Frank were making their way down the dirt road towards the Zeus temple. Night was starting to fall over the city, casting the streets in a purple haze. The wind was violent, whipping their shaggy hair and clothes every which way. Frank’s fingers were starting to go numb around the metal handles of the briefcase since he had forgotten his gloves in his haste to get to the place on time. The street, for the most part, was empty. Only a few late stragglers were standing near the great marble structure, their heads tilted back as they took in the famous ruins.

“Do you think she’s alright?” Bob asked softly as he shoved some of his longish blonde hair out of his face with a gloved hand.

“Yes,” Frank replied simply, not wanting to talk about the subject any more than necessary.

He was scared. He was so very fucking petrified. He wasn’t sure what he would do if she was lost to him, if she was hurt. Or even worse, dead. A part of him hadn’t wanted to come, hadn’t wanted to see her in the clutches of The Faithless again. But the other part, the one that loved her fiercely, knew that he had to. He had to do this for her. He had to put their plan into action. He just hoped that it worked out like he thought it would.

“Are you ready?” Bob asked as they came closer to the large structure.

“About as ready as I’m going to be,” Frank whispered, clenching his eyes shut for a second, trying to clear his mind of what was about to happen.

They rounded the corner of one of the massive pillars and stopped dead. There, half hidden by shadows, was where he stood. His back was pressed against the wall of a small run down building. Mercy was clutched tightly to his chest, her blue eyes wide with fright. A black pistol was pressed to her temple, the last rays of sunlight glinting off the barrel. Even from their distance, Frank could see Mercy shaking. He knew that it was a mix of fear and having someone so close to her.

“You showed up,” The Faithless drawled, smirking at us.

It took everything Frank had to not go after him in that moment. He clenched his teeth together, making his jaw bones stick out more prominently. Next to him, Bob’s fists curled and uncurled as he fought back the urge to beat the shit out of the man in front of them.

“Here’s your money,” Frank said heatedly, tossing briefcase at him. It landed with a thud at his feet, stirring up dust around him and Mercy.

His eyes never left Frank and Bob as he shoved Mercy down onto the ground. “Make sure it’s all in there,” he said, moving the aim of the weapon in his hand from her to the two men.

Frank prayed hard that she found the item he had stashed in there. Everything was going as planned so far. But who knew what would happen next. Now that The Faithless had the money, he wasn’t sure if Mercy would be safe. Nothing else had been said on the phone. He couldn’t imagine what else the man could want from them. Unless of course, he was still on that stupid rampage about their music.

He watched as she scurried over to the briefcase, her shaking hands going for the clasp. He fought back a small smile when he noticed that she was purposefully shielding the case with her body, keeping The Faithless’ prying eyes away from whatever was in there. For a second, she looked up, their eyes catching one another’s. Everything was said in that look. She had found it, and knew what it meant.

She had to fight her way out of there.

Nodding slightly, she clicked the case back shut and stood with it in her hands. The towering man behind her jerked her body back against his chest, his arm snaking around her throat.

“Is it all there, darling?” he asked quietly, his lips brushing against her ear.

Bob had to grab Frank’s upper arm when he took a step forward, the rage within him nearly overpowering him. He looked over his shoulder at his best friend, who merely gave him a cautionary shake of the head. His heart was beating a million miles per second as he turned back to the love of his life and the man that was holding her captive.

Mercy scrunched her eyes together tightly as she nodded. “Yes, it’s all there,” she whispered.

“Good,” The Faithless replied, his gun still pointed at Frank and Bob.

And then, a loud ringing filled the air. Frank watched as The Faithless pulled the trigger, letting loose a bullet that was hurtling straight towards him.