Taking Over

The base wasn’t there. Or that’s what my twin and I thought. We looked around the freezing runway as the plane landed, bouncing a little. Rashel was happy to be back on the ground, we could all tell. She kept whispering “Oh, dear earth, how I missed you!” as we giggled at her. Except Alex, as he pointed out- he manly chuckled. The plane stopped, and we all stood up to grab our bags. Alex only had a tiny duffle bag because he had been in Massachusetts with Samantha for the two days. Samantha had bought some stuff, so she needed a suitcase. My twin and I, of course, had all of our possessions with us in the two larger suitcases.
This desolate wasteland of snow and ice seemed unwelcoming, uninviting, the polar opposite of the warmth and love I felt with the Army that I was now a part of. I looked over at the two mentors (as they had called themselves earlier) in askance. They both smiled lightly.
“Ze base is underground. It stays warmer und is harder to find. Ve vill have to sign you both in before you can enter, though.” Samantha looked towards a small camera mounted on the wall of the plane. “Anthony, ve need ze papers for ze girls!”
That strange voice came over the system again. “Alright, we’ll come get you. There’s no time for the formalities- there’s a bad ass storm heading our way, and it’s gonna hit hard.” I looked out the window again, at the darkening sky that suddenly seemed more menacing. Samantha nodded to Alex, and he walked towards the front of the small plane, where the door was located.
“Alrighty, Rashel. You and Rylee need to keep close together. The base is pretty confusing, so keep up with us. We’ll give you both a formal tour after we get you both entered in the database.” Alex smiled at us warmly. “Don’t worry, it’s just procedure. It’ll go without a hitch. Especially considering everyone back in the mainstream thinks you're dead…” he trailed off. I looked at him.
“Mainstream?”
Samantha nodded. “Ja. In the normal world, where ve are not velcome.”
My twin and I nodded.
We walked out the small door of the plane, into what almost looked like a small airport, minus the usual shops and food court type places. It had little chairs, which were currently all filled with people that looked…; well they looked like my definition of “normal”! Everyone seemed to be in black, with colorful designs on their band tees and converse. I saw sleeves and wristbands everywhere, and everyone was smiling at us like we were the best Christmas present ever!
I nudged Rashel. “Isn't this awesome!?” She nodded. In the language her and I had made up when we were younger, she replied.
“Sarjata, mirry.” (I love you, twin)
I smiled. “Sarjata zdu, twin.” (I love you too!)
~ALEX’S POV! ~
Both of the girls looked incredibly happy. I smiled at them as widely as I possibly could, knowing how happy they would be in their new home. It seemed everyone had skipped training to see the new arrivals. I looked around. “Ok, everyone. You can meet them later. For now, we have to all get to work; there’s a pretty bad storm heading our way. You all have your jobs, hop to it!” And with those last words, everyone was off to their positions. A tall boy jogged up to us.
“Hey, Alex, Sammie-girl. And these are our newest recruits?” he spoke in his smooth, soft voice. I nodded.
“Yup. Rashel, Rylee, meet Anthony, formally known as The Tech. We all have names here that fit us as who we are, and no two are alike.”
Anthony stuck his hand out, smiling. Each girl shook his hand, and then he tackled Samantha in a bone-crushing hug.
“An-tho-ny…ich… kann...nicht … breath! “ he let go, smiling.
“Sorryz, Sam!” all three girls laughed at the silly teen. He shook his head, making his fluffy blond hair fly wildly in all directions.
“Alright,” I said. “I have to go and, uh, work with some newbies.” I know Samantha looked at me with suspicion, and I cursed myself for my slip-up. I couldn’t really say much to fix it though, so I turned and walked towards the information wing.
~THIRD POV! ~
Rashel and Rylee walked behind Samantha and Anthony, as Samantha attempted to fix his “jewfro” as he called it. (A/n: He really does call it that, to the point it’s a nickname)
Samantha was so into what she was doing, she didn’t notice when a tall male stepped in front of her. “Samantha?” he said. She turned to him.
“Eep! Bill!” and with that near-fangirl scream, she tackled him. He held her close, as though he would never let her go. When they finally pulled away, Rashel squealed quietly.
“You- you're- I mean…. Samantha!” Samantha looked at her.
“Ja?”
“You had hinted at it but…. You didn't tell us- I mean… holy shit!”
Samantha and Rylee looked at Rashel, who was slightly hyperventilating. They each slapped a cheek lightly to get her attention. The guy, Bill Kaulitz, smiled at Rashel’s dazed composure.
“Hallo. I guess you know who I am then?” he asked. Rashel nodded frantically. He laughed. “Vell come here then, Bridesmaid!” he held his arms open and pulled Rashel into a hug. She timidly hugged back, blushing crazily. It wasn’t every day, after all, that a girl got to hug the singer of her second favorite band.
Bill let go and grabbed Samantha’s hand. He leaned down and kissed her cheek, then pulled her in the direction they were already walking. “Ve vill need to go und see The Brides first. Zey vanted to know as soon as ze new recruits vere in.” Bill had a heavy German accent, heavier than Samantha’s. Rylee spoke up.
“Why would they want to meet us? I mean, they’re the leaders and we’re just pawns in this big war. That makes no sense.” Rashel looked at her, shocked.
“Twin, I love you, but you're crazy. That is nothing like anything the band would ever do! The Black Veil Brides are a band that lives for the fans. They lead us through sad and happy times, and you know they’ve kept me alive. Rylee, they would never, ever use their devoted Bridesmaids and Ushers as simple pawns in this war. Hell, they would be more likely to lead us on the front lines! I might not understand why they would want to meet us specifically, but dammit they definitely love and respect their BVBArmy as a whole. That’s why The Prophet preached the New Religion. That’s why The Mystic and The Mourner played their hearts out and The Deviant set the deep rhythms and The Destroyer cleared the path for us. We are all one. We are all a part of the BVBArmy, forever and always.”
~RASHEL’S POV! ~
As I finished my rant, slightly out of breath, I heard clapping behind us. I turned and felt myself stop breathing as I took in the five applauding men before me. Samantha laughed loudly at my expression. “Prophet, I think you zent her into shock!” Andrew Dennis Biersack walked up to me and smiled his heartbreaking smile.
“Hi there. We couldn’t help but over hear your little...uh…rant, and that is exactly why we wanted to met you. Samantha here has been keeping tabs on you for a while, and thought you and your twin’s story were worth us helping.” He spoke in his smooth, yet still raspy, deep voice. I blushed heavily and looked at the ground. The rest of the band walked up and greeted my sister and me as we walked towards a plain looking door with the words “database” written in black and red letters. We walked into the slightly dark room, Rylee and I looking around at all the strange technology. The ten of us filed into the room fairly quickly, and watched as Anthony sat in the single computer chair and began typing quickly on a keyboard.
“Alright,” he said. “We’ll need your birth names, for reference files only, and then the names you’ll go by here. We also need your basic info- shit like height, weight, blood type, religion, blah blah blah.” We all laughed at the end. Jake put his hand on Anthony’s shoulder.
“The Tech is the best brain we’ve got here. He’s also a damn good fighter. He’ll make sure you're both settled in well enough.” Anthony turned slightly pink at the compliment, then turned and got to work. On the big screen in front of them, they saw a file pop up. It seemed totally blank, until a picture of Rylee popped up on the screen. Rylee told him her name, and past address, then she was pulled into the next room by a scene girl in a lab coat. I got slightly worried- I didn't like to be separated from my twin.
“Where are they taking Rylee?” I asked.
“Don’t vorry! Zey just need to give her a basic check up for ze files. You're next, und I know it’ll be fine!” Bill put a hand on my shoulder. I was internally freaking out- my newest friend was dating the singer of my second favorite band, my first favorite band was taking over the world, I was helping, and I was currently in a small, bright room with hospital-looking beds along the walls. Rylee was sitting on one of these, in a silly looking hospital gown, a copy of which was being shoved into my hands as I was ushered into a bathroom. I heard a voice call out “Leave your undergarments on. The rest, pass out to me.” I did as I was told and put on the thin paper thing. I handed the girl my clothes as I walked past, joining Rylee on her bed.
“Hiya chicky. You look amazing in that gown!” I laughed. She flipped me off and I heard her mutter under her breath. “Oh, what was that?”
“And I think you look like a donkey’s ass. What's your point?” I laughed again and kissed her cheek.
“I love you chick. So….” I looked at the girl in the coat. “Are there shots involved here? And is it just me, or is it fuckin freezing in here?” she laughed.
“Yes, it is pretty cold. And no, we have no need to vaccinate- we’re pretty healthy here. Although we get the occasional cases of flu or pneumonia, it’s rare enough that none of us worry.” She pulled out a stethoscope. “Alright, which first?”
I smiled. “Rylee! She's younger, so I assume she’d want to be first for something for once!”
Rylee stuck her tongue out at me. “Yeah, babe, we all know you're older. At least we know you’ll get wrinkles first!”
I hugged her once, and then moved out of the way so the girl could do the checkup shit. “So, are you the only medical doctor person here?”
She laughed and moved to check me over. “Ha, no! We have a whole team. I'm the head though, so I'm in charge of the newbies. My name is Stephany, by the way. You two are? Sorry, I forgot to ask. It’s been a while since we had any new faces around here; I forget that not everyone knows me.”
Rylee giggled. “Yeah, we understand. I'm Rylee, she's Rashel. We’re the Archer twins.” Stephany nodded.
“Alright, Archer twins. I'm pretty much done; I just need to know your blood types.”
I looked at Rylee, and she looked back at me. “We have no idea….” We trailed off. Stephany nodded.
“That’s fine. We may need it in the future though.”
~Time Skip of about half an hour! (Back in the Database room)~
“Alright, so you two are in for a treat today! The Brides are doing a lesson today, which they're setting up for now. They're our main sources of learning mentally, even if we have people here for physical work. We need to head to the main workroom so you two can be up front.” Anthony had finished getting us set up, and then led us to the hallway. Bill and Samantha were in front of us, holding hands and being all lovey-dovey cute.
“So, Anthony, I have a question.” I looked at my twin, knowing what she wanted.
“Shoot.”
“If you're the Tech, and the Brides are all named, what’re Samantha’s and Bill’s and all of them?”
He laughed, “Well, Samantha is the Foreign, because she learned German faster than anyone we’ve ever met. Bill is the Child, for obvious reasons. The rest of Tokio Hotel are-“
“Ze Hobbit, ze Big Brother, und ze Player. Rashel, kannst du guess who ist who?” I laughed at the Child.
“Ja, und ich kann spreche deutsch, fur dir Bericht.“ (yes, and i can speak German, for the record.) I think everyone looked at me in shock. I had learned German two summers ago, when I got bored. Rylee had gone to Indiana to visit her older sister, so I had nothing to do. And so, I learned German.
“O…k… Vell, guess who ist who!” Samantha laughed.
“OK, Hobbit is Georg, Big Brother is Gustav, und Player is Tom!” they looked shocked again. I think today was “shock everyone with my amazing Shelly powers” day.
By the time we looked around, we were in the Main Workroom. We headed to the front of the room, in which people were already starting to converge. I looked around at all the different forms of Outcast that surrounded me, smiling widely at anyone who caught my eye. They all laughed and smiled back, or waved happily at the two “newbies”. There were no dirty looks, no mean whispers or sniggers following my twin and me wherever we went. I held said twin’s hand tightly, conveying my feelings to her in our strange best friend way. She squeezed back, laughing at the amazingness of our situation. I laughed with her, breaking down into loud giggles that made everyone around us look at us in silent amusement. By the time the two of us had ceased our bout of insanity, we were looking into the eyes of the entire BVBArmy and the Brides themselves. Everyone was watching the two new crazies laughing our asses off at a joke even we didn't understand.
“Well, I'm sure everyone has noticed you two by now, but I want you both to come up here for a second!” Andy said into his microphone. I then noticed all the sound equipment and instruments in front of me, including a small stage, which we were now being shoved onto by the Army. I held tight to Rylee’s hand, thoroughly scared. I wasn’t scared of being in front of people; I had been in every talent show since first grade. I was just scared of making a fool of myself in front of my new “family”.
“Bridesmaids and Ushers, followers of the best damn Army to ever walk this earth, I want to welcome two new Bridesmaids into our ranks. These two have their own scars, their own stories to tell. They're finally home.” He looked at us. “Am I right, girls?”
We both laughed and nodded.
“Alright. So let's give them a real BLACK VEIL BRIDES ARMY WELCOME!” The entire room was thrown into deafening screams that seemed to shake us to the bone. Rylee and I looked around in shock. Jinxx nudged us both lightly. “Smile!” he whispered. “They’re cheering for you!”
I felt a few tears escape my eyes, happy tears. I was finally home. The Prophet’s words echoed in my mind. Home. I had one now. My twin and I were safe.
When the cheers stopped, my twin and I returned to the floor in front of the stage, wondering what could possibly happen next. I was still clinging to Rylee’s hand, and could almost feel her panic. She wasn’t very good with new situations, but I was pretty sure she’d be alright. A few people came up and patted us on the back or shoulder, saying a quick greeting or welcome.
As I felt more tears slip down my face, the same thing happening to my twin, I heard the first few chords of a song I knew well. As one, the Brides and their Army sang.
“saints born together to fight against their holy fables
The streets are where we pray.
Hymns for the lonely,
Wretched and forgotten,
The feeling in our hearts won’t ever fade away.
We stand tall (united)
Watch them fall (divided)
Break the chains and now we’ll show them all (FIGHT)
Fight for all 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!”
The Brides took over, as though the Army had rehearsed this performance a million times.
“sing out united against the ones you left in hatred
Our message of today!
Like children crying, when all they knew was dying,
And we will raise our flags up; it’s time for them to pray.
We stand tall (united)
Watch them fall (divided)
Break the chains and now we’ll show them all (FIGHT)
Fight for all 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!”
The Army joined back in, our voices rising together beautifully.
“Whoah- oh! So sing it loud, you hold the key.
We’re the rebels and we’re free.
Whoah- oh. It’s time to burn all that you see.
now the world belongs to me!”
I felt myself getting shoved back onstage, my twin beside me. As quick as lightning, Andy put his microphone in my hand. Someone had put one in Rylee’s hand, too, so I knew we were expected to sing. I smiled, and let my voice flow.
“Fight for all 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!”
Rylee took over.
“proud in all you are, showing every scar
As your badge of honor.”
We flowed together.
“when you can’t take any more of what they're living for,
Set the world on fire!”
Screams and cheers broke out as I handed Andy his mic. My sister and I tried to leave the stage, but Ashley and CC kept firm holds on us.
“It’s time for these girls to get their names!” Andy said. I blushed, wondering what they had in mind.
“I just heard two voices that I never expected. Rashel, I, as the Prophet of the BVBArmy, name you The Voice. Rylee, no one expected you to sing! Not in a bad way, but unexpected. You therefore, are our Secret. Voice and Secret, go meet your family!”