The Black Parade

We’d reached the end of the forest, which had suddenly thinned out to a large plain, with a volcano in the distance. There was thick black ash around it, and we could hear distant screams of the demons. In fact, if you looked closely enough, you could see silhouettes of the demons roaming around near the top of the volcano. I glanced to Ray, realising. He had placed a mask over his fear, but I could see through it.

When we had gotten back together, with him and Frank, he had decided to tell me about how he had died. He was the oldest of all of us, as he had died in the 1940s.

He told me that when war started, he was denied to be soldier many times all because he was too young, but when the country got desperate for new recruits, despite still being a year under the limit, he got in. He felt so much pride, he told me, defending our country.

However, the country had never mentioned what terrible conditions they will face, and Ray had said that more people died where he was from the conditions instead of from the enemies. He had made a close friend, though, who he had no trouble speaking to about anything. He and his friend along with a few others were told to stay behind to look after the trench and protect it from enemy lines, whilst the others went to No Mans Land. Unfortunately, they got gassed. Ray had slipped his mask on, turning to his friend who was struggling to put his own on.

“It’s broken!” He cried, his now shaking hands trying to put it on, despite his last remark.

Instead of running like all the others did, Ray slipped his gas mask onto his friend’s face.

“B-But-” They began. Ray said he said goodbye to them, and then he saw a load of yellow smoke, before waking up here.

“But unlike you, I didn’t get any girls” he laughed. “Just the cold ground”

We had both laughed at this, walking a little behind Gerard and Frank. I frowned when I saw a pack of black things run across the plain. “Lupus” Ray told me, watching them suspiciously. One charged straight for us. Gerard quickly pulled out his gun, shooting the wolf like creature. Suddenly the whole pack repeated the other wolves actions, charging towards us. By that time we all had our guns out, and we were all shooting whatever we could.

I heard a cry and saw Frank getting attacked by one. I ran as fast as I could over to him and shot the wolf that was scratching and clawing at him, tearing his clothes. There was a large gash on his leg.

We’d destroyed the flock in a few minutes, all breathing heavily.
Frank wiped the blood off his forehead with his sleeve, looking rather pale. “Are you okay?” I asked him. He nodded, although he didn’t put his foot fully on the ground. He tried to walk but hissed in pain, his legs almost buckling.

“Frank, turn back” Gerard said to him. “Ray can go with you so that you’re not alone.”

“No” Frank refused “it’s just a scratch. I’ll be fine”

Gerard sighed, looking at him for a while. He didn’t look like he wanted Frank to come along, but he knew that Frank was stubborn and had already made up his mind.

“Fine, but as soon as you start to worsen, you’ll be going back” Gerard told him. He nodded.

---

We were at the volcano, thankfully most of the demons paid us no attention, apart from the odd one who was shot before it caused a fuss. I stayed a little bit behind, helping Frank up.

“Mikey’s here” Gerard whispered so he didn’t provoke any demons. “I can feel it.”

We had gotten to the top. What we saw, was something none of us expected.

This was how demons were made. Out of the fires of a volcano.

“The shapeshifter!” Frank hissed, pointing to the figure walking out of what seemed to be a door, but could easily be mistaken for rocks. We all ducked simultaneously when it looked our way. It then went back into the room. We all then slipped down, a few rocks fell with us but they didn’t make much noise. Gerard lead the way.

“We’ll corner it and destroy it” he explained quietly. We all nodded and followed him to where the shapeshifter had gone. Gerard pushed open the door, his gun in his hand. As soon as he opened it we all held our guns out. There was a clatter as Gerard had suddenly dropped his.

Mikey. It was Mikey. He was being held by the shapeshifter...No, he wasn’t a shapeshifter. He was human, but he wore a cruel grin that only a devil would wear. He laughed at us.
“I wondered how long it would take for you to come here” He said, his fingers closing around a struggling Mikey’s neck.

“Drop your weapons, or you won’t see your teammate again” He growled. I let the gun slip out of my hands, not taking my eyes off the man.

“Perfect” He smirked, throwing Mikey against the wall. 


“Get off him!” Gerard yelled, charging towards the man. The man smiled and from his hands appeared a raven-like creature. It clawed at Gerard’s face, who tried to fight it off.

Ray ran to help him, so I ran towards Mikey who was barely conscious.
“Mikey? Are you okay?” I asked. I could hear Frank cry in pain, but I couldn’t be in two places at once.
“He-he’s a fallen angel...look-look out!” Mikey’s eyes widened. I turned to see him smiling down at me.
“I haven’t seen you before” He purred. “You must be new to The Black Parade”
I swallowed and looked straight into his blue eyes.
“Just because you got rejected, doesn’t mean you can tear us apart” I growled. He looked taken aback by this, but it soon was replaced with anger.

Dark smoke flowed around his outstretched hand.

“You shouldn’t have said that” he snarled.