The Black Parade

We had gotten to the forest fairly slowly. We didn’t have to walk in a rush anymore, and the events that have recently happened have weighed us all down. It took a while for me to process what had actually happened, as it had all come and gone so quickly, and half the time I was too full with anger and hatred to be aware of what was actually happening around me. I do know now that it feels pretty odd without Mikey here. He may not have spoken to me as much as the others, but it feels different nether the less.

Gerard was always behind, leaving Ray to lead for once. He’d barely said a word since we had left the volcano. Even Frank couldn’t coax a word out of him. We’d just gone past that hole that we had all fallen down, I had to slightly manouver Gerard around it, as he didn’t exactly seem to care wether he fell back in again or not. That was when I decided to speak to him.

“Are you okay?” I asked him. His shoulders moved slightly into what could be taken as a shrug. “I know it’s hard, Gerard, but you’re the leader. You’re our leader. We need you. I’m not asking you to forget Mikey, or to pretend to be okay with it, just at least speak to us, please.” I almost started to beg him.


“It’s my fault. I never should have made us all go on this trip in the first place” He sighed. At least we were getting somewhere.

“No, it wasn’t your fault” I shook my head. I saw out the corner of my eye Frank watching us, him and Ray both slowing their pace. I noticed Frank still had a limp from when he got attacked. “We lost one life, but we’ve saved millions back at the city”

He stayed silent and we carried on walking. 
“Gerard, do you wanna lead?” Ray asked. Gerard sighed deeply, looking pained. He started to lead the way though, and we all felt a tiny bit successful.

I think we were all glad that there wasn’t any demons nearby, too. Frank walked with me and Ray stayed with Gerard, as if he was a small child that needed to be looked after in case they did something stupid.

“What happens now?” I asked Frank.

“Hopefully, we all don’t have to work as much as we used to.” Frank smiled. “I think we’ll have a lot of free time now”

“I hope so” I said quietly.

-


We’d reached the end of the forest a few hours later. I looked in the distance, hoping that I would see the city.

“A few more miles. We won’t be able to see it yet” Frank told me. “I can’t wait to get back, it seems like ages since i last saw it.”

Neither could I, I just wished we were walking back as a group of five, not a group of four.