Never Say Forever - Andley

It was Warped Tour, and they were currently in California. It was 2011, and incredibly hot. All the bands who weren't on stage were walking round, sweating heavily and signing autographs to a bunch of lucky fans, or in their bus', hiding from the sun's harsh rays.

Black Veil Brides were making their debut appearance in Warped that year, having never played in the famous tour before. They were the designated 'BBQ Band' that year, meaning that in exchange for being allowed to play on the tour, they were responsible for cooking food for the other bands and crew, at the barbeque which was held most evenings.

That was why Ashley Purdy found himself in the small kitchenette of their bus, staring at the freezer, which was stashed full of chopped meat. He'd been looking for a tub of ice cream and stumbled upon the stash of chops, which had definetely not been there the night before.

"Andy?" He called to his boyfriend, who was in the bunk-space. A heavy thud was heard, making Ashley cringe, before the tall, slight form of Andrew Biersack appeared, his thick, curly hair half straightened, and a pair of denim shorts covering his bottom half. He was shirtless.

"Yes, Ashley?" Andy asked, impatiently, trying to drag a brush through the curly side of his hair, ripping a few strands of black out in the process. "I'm kind of busy getting ready for our set."

"Sorry...just...where the actual fuck did all this meat come from?" Ashley inquired. He absentmindedly rubbed his 'outlaw' tattoo, which was plainly visible above his navel, showcased by his bare, sunkissed torso. He was barefoot, wearing only a skimpy, leather waist-coat and tight, ripped-leather pants. He was sweating like crazy, the pads of his feet sticking to the linoleum floor. "I'm pretty sure it wasn't there before."

"Oh...it came from Jinxx. I killed him for food and harvested his organs for the black market, omnomnom," Andy said, casually, still trying to tug the brush through his hair. "Fuck my hair for being thick!" He cursed under his breath.

"Oh...OK then...You're getting heat stroke, ain't ya?" Ashley asked, folding his arms, one perfectly shaped eyebrow arched.

"...A l'il bit," Andy admitted, sheepishly, opening the fridge next to him and grabbing a bottle of ice-cold water. He held in to his sweating forehead and sighed in relief. "Oh, that's nice," he moaned. "And I got 'em for the barbeque tonight, duh. I sent my assistant to the nearest convenience store, which was, conveniently, two miles away."

"You're so freaking weird," Ashley stated, amused, his lips curling into a smile. Andy pouted, and was pulled into a kiss by the smaller man. "I love you, though."

Andy grinned. "Love you, too, Ashes," he said, going back to the bunks to finish doing his hair, sipping from the bottle of water.

Ashley smiled, before locating a tub of ice cream. He began eating it, leaving the kitchenette, searching for his signature cowboy boots.

"Andy!" He whined, loudly.

"What?" He heard his boyfriend's deep, husky voice call back.

"Where are my boots?"

"On your feet?" Andy responded.

Ashley rolled his eyes, though this went unseen by the man in the other room. "Fucking wise-ass! Seriously!"

"Um...the cupboard where we keep our shoes, maybe?"

"Oh..." Ashley ran over to said cupboard, pulling the door open. He found his leather boots and grinned, pulling them on. "Thanks!" He said.

Andy called back, "it's cool. We have to leave in ten, be ready!"

"I am ready!" Ashley said.

"Really? Do you have your bass?"

Ashley paused. "OH SHIT!" He yelled, running off the bus to the practice tent where he'd left it the day before, grabbing his cowboy as he left.

Andy emerged from the bunks, now fully ready, minus the warpaint, smiling fondly in the direction his boyfriend had legged it to. His bright blue eyes twinkled in amusement. "What am I going to do with him?" He murmured, thoughtfully, lifting the pencil in his hand to his mouth, beginning to draw stitches.

---

'Fight for what you know,
when your back's against the wall.
Stand against the liars.
Stronger than before,
when your life becomes a war...
Set the world on fire!'

Proud in all you are,
showing every scar,
as your badge of honor.
When you cant take anymore,
of what they're living for,
set the world on fire!'

Andy finished singing, the crowd roaring in approval. Ashley smiled at him, proud of his boyfriend for performing, despite the sweltering weather. He wiped his sweat covered, bandana-clad brow, and adjusted his guitar-strap around his shoulder.

Andy spoke, "alright, guys. This is the last song from us, today, and it's called Knives and Pens." This drew another round of screaming from the fans, all desperate for their idol to sing.

Jake, Jinxx and Ashley started the intro to the song, but stopped as the stage started swaying. The audience frowned, wondering what was happening. They all started walking backwards, watching from a safe distance, talking to each other in low, worried murmurs.

The stage swayed, again.

"What's going on?!" CC yelled from behind his drum set, standing up, quickly, brown eyes scanning above the stage for the cause of the problem. Another tremor caused him to be almost knocked off his feet.

Andy gasped: the over-hanging speakers were falling, bringing the stage down with them! The engineers hadn't done their job right! "Run!" He yelled, rushing forward, pushing his band-members off the stage. He was always looking out for others before himself.

Andy's hands collided with Ashley's back, pushing him forwards. Ashley fell on his hands and knees, with a yelp, landing on the grass below. "Andy!" He yelled, bruised knees aching. Jake had landed beside him, his hands bright red from breaking his fall on the hard, grassy earth.

Jinxx, CC and Andy were still on the stage. Ashley watched as CC jumped/ was pushed off, landing painfully on one side. He stayed down.

Andy was still on the stage, leaning over something. Jinxx was no-where in sight. The singer looked up, eyes widening in realisation.

"ANDY! GET OFF THE STAGE!" Ashley yelled, raw panic rushing through him. The vocalist shook his head, pointing at whatever was in front of him.

There was no time to react.

Brown eyes widened, Andy meeting his eyes with his beautiful blue orbs. Full, plush lips mouthing 'I love you', then a sick crashing noise as something big and dark fell onto the stage, and the rest of it collapsed. A thick cloud of dust rose. Nothing could be seen.

All Ashley could do was watch, helplessly, like a bird with its wings cut off.

A scream sounded, piercing the ears of everyone on the Warped Tour, it was that loud. A scream that was deep and husky, and single-handedly broke Ashley's heart.

It was Andy's scream.

Dust covered the air, it was diffcult to see and hurt the bassist's eyes. Ashley coughed. "Jake!" He called. He sounded scared.

"Right here, brother," the man said from somewhere on his left. He heard shifting, and then a hand on his shoulder.

"Can...can you see anyone?" Ashley asked, thoughts of Andy flashing through his mind. He heard a pained whine and rushed towards it. "CC?" He said, gently, recognising the person lying before him. Jake caught up a moment later, struggling to see through the cloud of dust. "You OK?"

"M-my arm hurts, real bad, guys," CC murmured, weakly. The drummer never usually showed pain, so just by the sound of his voice, Ashley could tell he was hurt badly. "J-Jinxx and Andy...are they out? Andy w-was trying to get Jinxx untangled from some wires. He got c-caught. I hurt my arm l-landing."

"Jake, get him help. I'm going to go find Andy and Jinxx," Ashley said, voice thick with fear and worry.

He bit his lip as he started walking towards where he could see the black outline of the collapsed stage. Jake caught his arm, as he passed, rubbing it reassuringly. "He'll be OK, man. You'll find him."

The shorter man nodded, smiling gratefully. The dust was clearing, and he edged carefully towards the broken debris of the once-large stage. It was hard to believe that just ten minutes ago, they'd been up there, playing.

What had gone wrong?

Pushing the thought aside, Ashley started blindly searching throught the rubble for his boyfriend and Jinxx. Scratching his hands, badly, breaking his nails, he didn't care. In his perpherial vision, Ashley could see firemen and paramedics pushing through the crowd, and searching through the shattered debris. Someone must've called them.

"ANDY! JINXX!?" He yelled, desperation lacing his words. Pushing a heavy girder away, he found a gloved hand. He gasped. "I've found someone!" He called out. Uniformed men immediately started gently digging the body out. It was Jinxx.

Jinxx, covered in bruises, with several bleeding gashes scattered over his body. His warpaint was smudged and mixed with blood in places. One of his eyes was purple and black, swollen and closed, the other blue orb staring up at him, clouded in pain. His legs were blocked from view by a pile of concrete and metal.

Ashley sighed in relief. He was still concious. Stepping aside, he allowed the professionals to take care of his bandmate.

"My legs! I can't feel my legs!" Ashley could hear Jinxx repeat to the 'medics, sounding terrified, while he turned back to look through the rubble. Jinxx was still talking loudly.

"Andy! Andy's still in there!" he cried.

Ashley's eyes widened. Shit. Up until then, he'd been clinging to the slim chance that Andy had gotten out.

A fireman appeared behind Ashley. He looked at the wreakage, before speaking in a low, sombre voice. "It's safe, now, we're a-goin' to go find the boy."

Spotting a gap in the wreakage, Ashley immediately started running, ignoring the scraped knees causing his pain, and entered it, ignoring the man's cries of, "hey, get out of there!"

He started randomly pulling at pieces of broken girders, poles, desperately. He found his bass lying there, on the ground, broken in half, the zebra print design gleaming dimly, covered in dust.

Just beyond, was a pile of girders and rubble. A long-forgotten microphone. A scrap of leather. A pair of handcuffs. Ashley ran towards it, pulling and tugging. "I need help!" He yelled, knowing that his boyfriend was there.

It took five men plus Ashley to get Andy's broken, unconcious body from under the pile.

His breathing was shallow, stuttered, his arm and legs obviously broken. As were his ribs, going by the black and blue bruises appearing on his chest. Deep red was painting his forehead and the ground underneath him, spilling from his mane of black, dyed hair. Strangely enough, though, his face was peaceful, lips curled into a tiny smile.

Ashley choked back tears. "A-Andy?"

Jake appeared behind him, wrapping him into a hug as the smaller boy shook. Ashley didn't respond, just continued to shake, numb.

Crying turned to screaming.

"A-Andy!"

...Andy?

---

The ride to the hospital was rushed. Jinxx and CC had already been taken away by the time the firemen had gotten Andy out and the 'medics had carried him on a stretcher to the waiting ambulance, Ashley trailing behind like a lost pippy.

With much protest, Ashley was allowed to sit in the ambulance. He sat there, cradeling Andy, staring at the broken body of his lover. Wondering, how did this happen?

Now, Ashley sat in a sterile, white room. Andy had been operated on, to remove the shattered ribs, and his arm and legs were in casts. His beautiful blue eyes stared, unseeing, at the ceiling, faded and subdued.

Ashley's calloused, tan hand gently took the un-broken, limp, porcelain hand in his own, squeezing it, lightly, as though the slender hand would crumble like paper under his grip. The feeling wasn't comforting, though, because he knew no-one was going to squeeze back.

The room felt so empty without Andy's big-ass voice and ego taking it up. He missed the wiseass comments he'd make, show-casing how smart he was. He missed Andy's dancing as they partied, wild, crazy, sexy, and all his.

He missed those pouty lips, on his own, smiling, forming the simple 'I love you' that Ashley had taken for granted.

Mr and Mrs Biersack sat at Andy's other side, silent. Amy was crying into Brock's shoulder, while her husband sat there, looking just as numb and lost as Ashley felt. Confusion, pain, fear.

"I-I'm s-sorry..." Ashley whispered, looking at Andy's father, who had never been Ashley's number one fan. Brock knew what kind of player Ashley was, and didn't want his son to get hurt. However, Ashley, despite Brock's fears, had never not been faithful to Andy.

Brock's eyes met his own, holding them in his stony gaze. "Why?" He asked, quietly, green-gray eyes locking onto brown.

"I...my fault..." Ashley stuttered, eyes filling with tears. Next thing he knew, he was being wrapped into a group hug, crying freely into Amy's shoulder.

"It's not your fault, Ashley," Amy whispered, thickly.

"He's my baby! I promised! I promised I'd keep him safe!" Ashley cried, loudly, staring, once-again, at Andy's unconcious form. He looked so little, his skinny body wrapped in a hospital gown a size too big, an IV piercing the skin of his slender hand.

He'd failed.

---

A birthday celebrated in that room. Befriending the kind and sympathetic nurses. Jinxx and Sammi failing to persuade him to go out with them, to get his mind off things.

The constant aching of the hole in his heart. The hole that could only be filled by the one who was always on his mind. The one in the coma that the doctors had explained he may never wake up from.

Andrew Dennis Biersack.

Eventually, when it came to the time when Andy's life-support machine was turned off, Ashley had survived without his love for long enough to know that he couldn't live without him.

He just wanted to die, to get it over with.

To hold Andy in his arms, one last time...to kiss those lips again. To feel love. To feel, period.

---

No-one ever, truely, discovered what happened to Ashley. Some say he commited suicide, some say he died of heartbreak. Rumours circulated, and no-one knew who to believe.

The story of Ashley's disappearence headlined under the title "Real Life Rebel Love Song".

The Purdy family refused to speak about it, eventually moving away from everyone they knew to start a new life in England. Away from cameras, away from prying people who asked about Ashley. Away from anything that reminded them of the lost man.

Black Veil Brides lived on in the hearts of the outcasts, the bridesmaids, the fallen angels, those who never quite fitted into normal society, those who never gave in.

Life returned to normal. If asked what truely happened, most people wouldn't answer. They didn't know what to say.

However, if you asked any of his friends, then they'd smile sadly, wistfully, reminiscing. They'd look up, at the sky, with teary eyes and say: "We may never know...but, I know he's happy now; he's with the one he loves."