The Only Hope for Me Is You

I followed Gerard back into the shack, and Show Pony saw us walk in, concerned looks on our faces.

"What? What's going on?" He asked, getting up off the couch.

"Someone's hurt, and bad," Gerard said, putting his hands on his hips. "Fucking shit, why did he go that way?" I wrapped my arm around his, comforting him. To be in his position...I don't even know. He was the leader of our gang, and to loose one of his people would be just...devastating. And it was even worse that we were all great friends. To lose someone so close...I don't know if I'd ever be able to recover from it. Even if it wasn't Frank who was dying, I still would be crying. Ray, Mikey, and Lauren were my family too, and I loved them just as much as I loved Gerard and Frank. To lose them, I would be losing a part of myself. I looked at Gerard, shaking his arm.

"Babe, we got to go..." I said. Pony rolled his way over to us.

"You'll need all the help you can get," he said, grabbing his helmet and gun from the table. "I'm coming too." I nodded, and the three of us made our way out to the car, and got in and drove off once again, taking the highway until Gerard took a hidden turn, behind a broken down billboard, and parked the car behind it. Looking out the front window, I saw a small light coming from behind a giant bush. That must be the exit from the tunnels. We got out, and Pony put on his helmet and cocked his gun; Gerard walked around to the trunk and took out a gigantic cat mask, the same that was on the rearview mirror and from the cartoons, and held it under his arm, slamming the trunk closed.

"Whoa, what's that?" I asked, and he lifted it up to look at it.

"Aw, this thing?" he said. "This is my real mask, Cy." I examined it, seeing the gas tank tube coming from its mouth, the blue fur on the top of it, a couple colored spots on the cheeks and face, and the mouth of the Cat being red, and slightly open.

"You know how Mikey's got his GOOD LUCK helmet, Frank's got his Frankenstein mask, and Ray's got his astronaut helmet?" I nodded. "This one's mine. We all have our real masks, the ones we promised to die wearing. I found this one in an abandoned shack in Zone Three, and I fell in love with it." I nodded, thinking that I needed to find one of these for me. He walked over to me, Cat mask still under his right arm, and leaned down to put mine on for me, and kissed me on the mouth, hard, his hair blowing in the wind, tickling my face.

"Whatever happens, " he said. "Know that I will remember you." I hugged him tight, tearing up.

"If living was the hardest part," I said, smiling, remembering what song he was quoting. "Then one day we'll be together." I kissed him back, and we walked hand in hand, meeting Pony by the bush. Gerard put on the Cat mask, and I could no longer see his face at all when I looked at him; just the unmoving, vacant face of the Cat.

"You okay?" he asked, his voice muffled, and I nodded. Pony pushed the branches aside, letting us walk through, and followed us down the tunnel. It was dimly lit, and the only sound was Pony's roller blades echoing off the walls, making a dull roar as we ran down the tunnels, towards the others. It was a straight shot, and there were no Dracs around, so we got to the door to BL/ind in no time. Gerard stopped at the door, looking up, hands on his hips, and took the mask off, flicking his hair out of his eyes.

"I'm gonna need help opening this, " he said, handing me his helmet and looking at Pony, who nodded, and together they unlocked the giant lock on the door, and pushed the door backwards, just enough for us to slide through the small space and get on the other side. I handed him his helmet, and he shoved it back on, disappearing behind the vacant face once again. As I climbed through, I was blinded by the contrast of light. It was way too bright on the other side, and I had to snap my eyes shut so my eyes didn't go blind from the lighting difference. I groaned, and Gerard held out his hand, and I took it, and he helped my up the ledge, into the BL/ind hallway. Pony turned around, having rolled slightly ahead, and came back.

"You guys ready for this shit?" he asked through his helmet, his head moving slightly as he spoke. He leaned against the wall on his back, and wiped his gun on his leg. I nodded, and Gerard did as well.

"Let's go," He said, and Pony lead us down the halls, rolling a little to fast for us; we had to sprint to keep pace with him, but it helped in the long run. Before too long, we made first contact with a group of Dracs; Pony saw them walking down the hall, and they spotted him first, shooting at him. He dodged the lasers, spinning in a circle, then went into the Shooting the Duck position, on his blades, still rolling forward, and fired multiple shots at once as he rolled between them, shooting their knees out from under them. Gerard finished up the job by shooting their heads, and we continued running after Pony, who was so far ahead of us, I could hardly see him.

"Shit!" I said. "Pony's amazing!" Gerard nodded, grabbing my hand, and we ran together, following Pony's roller blade noises, realizing that he was far ahead on purpose; he was clearing the way for us, so we had all our energy to save the others. Pony was truly amazing, and I had just gained so much more respect for him for coming with us on this rescue mission. We kept running down the tunnel, seeing dead Drac after dead Drac lying sprawled on the floor. Eventually, we caught up with Pony at the end of the tunnel; he was leaning on his back against the wall again, and though he had his helmet on, I could tell he was smiling.

"Holy. Shit." I said, walking over to him. "You are........amazing. I--I have no words..." He rubbed his hand in my hair, laughing.

"No prob, babe," he said, and rolled himself off the wall, and pressed the button to unlock the door.

"Now someone needs to stay here to keep the door open," he said. "I'll keep an eye on things here. You two go get the others." I nodded, and Gerard pulled my through the door, and we stopped right outside of the door, and it closed and sealed behind us. I looked at Gerard, who I know looked concerned under that mask of his.

"Gerard, everything is going to be alright," I said, trying to convince myself, even. We walked down the hall, and heard screaming from a few halls over. I started running, Gerard close behind. A few more Dracs showed up, and I didn't want to deal with them; as I ran past them, I shot one directly in the head, and punched the other one in the face, hearing Gerard take him out after I stunned him. Eventually, we made it down the hall, and I saw Mikey's back, his red jacket making my eyes hurt because it contrasted so much with the blinding whiteness.

"KOBRA!" I yelled, running over to him. He turned around, stone faced, and let me wrap my arms around his skinny waist, wrapping an arm around me.

"Thank god you're all right..." I said, letting go of him, and Gerard ran up behind me, throwing his Cat mask off to the floor. He had tears in his eyes as he ran over to his brother, and wrapped him in his arms in a tight embrace, sobbing.

"Mikey............Mikey, shit, thank god you're okay!" he sobbed. "I have no idea what I would do without you...." Mikey looked sad as well.

"Oh my god Mikey if you were dead...I don't even know."

"I would have no famous last words..." Mikey said, and I saw a tear run down his cheek and fall off his chin.

"Mikey...stop...I can't laugh right now..." Gerard said, smiling. Mikey was always one to try to lighten the mood with a joke, and this one, I understood it, and I chuckled slightly. Mikey, the secret comedic backbone of our gang, making jokes in the presence of death.

I stood there, admiring their brotherly relationship. They needed each other, helped each other live every day. The two of them were each other's best friends, inseparable; nothing could ever tear them apart. I walked over to where Gerard had dropped his helmet and picked it up. I waited for them to end their moment, and Gerard let his brother go finally, patting his shoulder, sniffling.

"So what's the damage?" Gerard asked. Mikey looked at the ground before looking back up at his brother.

"Ray and Lauren are fine, thank god," he said, then paused. I shifted my eyes, then ran past them, shoving Gerard's Cat mask in his arms as I passed, and felt my tears running down my face as I ran down the hall, until I saw Ray standing guard in the hallway.

"RAY!" I yelled. "What the fuck is going on?!"

"We're holding them off..." he said slowly. "Lauren's with Frank in there." He paused, seeing my concerned face, and read it like a book.

"He's not doing to well," he said, and I shook my head, and turned into the hallway to see Lauren hunched over Frank's motionless body, tending a giant fucking gun would on his stomach.

"NO! FUCK!" I yelled, running over and sliding on my knees from my momentum, and ended up right next to Lauren, who's face was shining from tears.

"Lauren, what the fuck happened?" I asked her, and she explained everything.

"We were undercover, in the factory, and...." she looked up from Frank to look at me, her eyes shining. "And I tripped....Mikey and I got separated from Ray and Frank..." She finished putting the gauze and wrappings on Frank's body. "And the next thing I know, we're trapped in here, and Frank gets blasted right in the stomach..." I look at Frank's small body, lying sprawled out on the floor, his head turned to the side. I saw his scorpion tattoo from under the Scarecrow uniform, and I started bawling uncontrollably. Frank was dying, and I couldn't do anything about it. I scooted around to his other side, and saw the ugly wound; there was blood everywhere, pouring out from his stomach; he had just barely been shot in a vital organ, and from what I saw, he was dead. I looked at Lauren.

"Is he alive?" I asked, and she nodded.

"Barely..." she said, and I took a deep breath in relief. Frank wasn't dead, he was just unconscious.

"His heart beat is faint," she continued. "And I managed to stop the bleeding, but he lost a lot, Cy...." I nodded, seeing the pool of blood at his side.

"I'll wake him up," I said, crawling on top of him, lying my body on top of his. I don't even care if I got blood on my shirt, my boyfriend was dying in front of me. I saw a tear fall from my face onto his nose, and it rolled down his face slowly and disappeared under his head.

"Frank...Frank...wake up, babe, come on..." I lightly slapped his cheeks, but there was no response. I saw Lauren get up and leave me with Frank, and noticed that Mikey, Ray, and Gerard were outside of the hall, watching me wail and moan.

"Frank, god damn it, WAKE UP!" I yelled, and put my face to his, kissing his unmoving lips with all my heart, trying to get some sort of response. Nothing. I sat back up, crying uncontrollably, wishing that it had been me instead of Frank. He was too kind, to amazing...to perfect to die. He was a Fabulous Killjoy, and I was nothing. He didn't deserve to die; but I did. I leaned forward and whispered in his ear.

"Frankie, babe, wake up, please........" I said. "Frank, please. I love you........" I said those last three words, and realized that I truly meant them. Not like I had with Gerard, though; this was different. This was real. I had finally chosen. I cried even harder, feeling the weight lifting off of my shoulders, and crawled off of him, and waved for the others to come in.

"How is he?" Mikey asked, and I shook my head.

"Nothing......just......nothing..........." I said, wiping tears from my eyes. Gerard set his Cat mask down on the floor and kneeled next to me, wrapping his arm around me. I still felt something though; had I really decided, deep down inside? I wasn't sure.

Gerard leaned over Frank's motionless body, and kissed him on the lips too, just like I had done, and still nothing happened.

"Fuck, Frank...." Gerard said, his face falling, the tears starting. "Frank...don't die, buddy, please, god no......." He picked up Frank's head and dragged him up to put Frank's head on his chest, and rocked back and forth, crying out in anger, sadness, and confusion. I looked up at the others, and they were all crying as well; Mikey had both arms wrapped around Lauren, who was soaking his shirt with her tears, cries muffled by his jacket. I turned to look back at Gerard, who was still rocking back and forth with Frank's head in his hands.

"GOD, WHY?!" He yelled, pounding the floor with a fist. "WHAT DID HE EVER DO TO YOU?" I crawled over to Gerard, and joined him in the embrace with Frank, resting my head on Gerard's shoulders.

"Babe...babe, we gotta get out of here..." I said quietly, and he shook his head.

"No."

"Babe--"

"NO! We aren't leaving him here to die!" I licked my lips, wrapping an arm around Gerard's.

"Gee...We won't leave him here..." I said, and Gerard nodded. I let his arm go, backing away and standing up, picking up his Cat mask with me. He struggled to get to his feet, carrying Frank's body in his arms, and sniffled.

"Let's go..." he said, and walked past everyone to walk down the hallway, back the way we came. Mikey and Lauren followed, hand in hand, Mikey comforting her as much as he possibly could. I walked side by side with Ray, and he wrapped his arm around my shoulders, bringing me in close.

"He'll be okay..." He reassured me, but to be honest, I was not too optimistic.