Feed the Flames

..::^~Ronan~^::..

“What do you mean Mason took Mikey?” I asked as Gerard paced back and forth in front of the couch with his hands on his hips. Cell sat next to me as Ray sat on the other side. Bob sat in front us on the table, and Frank sat on the arm of the couch, “Why would he take Mikey?”

“Because Mason is a fucking asshole, and whatever he’s doing is blocking my ability to connect with Mikey,” Gerard was seething, but I thought he was jumping to conclusions.

“I don’t think Mason would do that. I don’t think he would leave Cell here if he left,” I tried to think rationally about the situation. If we automatically assumed that Mason had taken Mikey, then we might not find Mikey. Cell stood up and walked into her room. I guessed she wasn’t comfortable with everybody shit talking Mason.

“Maybe, just maybe, he’s going to come back,” Frank said loudly, likely so that Cell would hear that he was trying to be defensive. I knew that he hated Mason with every corner of his very being, but it was quite opposite how he thought of Cell.

“Yeah, and what if he comes back without Mikey?” Bob stood up and began pacing with Gerard.

“So which one of your two faces is saying that?” Frank asked as he picked at some of the threads on his trousers. Bob shot daggers through his eyes at him. Cell emerged from her room with a notepad and a pen. She sat back down next to me and began writing on the pad before she leaned it over towards me in order to read it.

“Mason was with Cell when he disappeared,” I read aloud to everybody.

“I can’t listen to this,” Frank snorted as he got up from the arm of the couch and walked into my room. We watched until Frank closed my door and got back to talking.

“Cell said something wasn’t right,” Cell began writing on the paper again and I watched as the words appeared on the paper, “It’s like he was paralyzed, and then he was…gone.” Everybody looked around at each other, and the thought that it was an act had likely gone through everybody’s mind. I just didn’t think that Mason took Mikey, however. Plus, he had promised me nothing would happen to any of the guys if I stayed out of their business, which I was doing.

“I agree with Cell,” I said, breaking the silence, “Something is wrong. Mason promised me he would leave you all alone. Perhaps…somebody took both Mikey and Mason?” Gerard and Bob sat down on the table across from the couch and began to think. His jaw was tightened as he thought, and his thumb and forefinger pinched the bridge of his nose. His eyes were shut, and I could hear how deep his breaths were. A thought slithered into my mind, making me want to wrap my arms around him, and he opened his eyes to look over at me. I quickly looked away and shoved the thought out of my mind.

“But who would take them?” Gerard said. He didn’t move from his position besides putting his hand down.

“Do you think it’s another attempt from your family? You know, this wouldn’t be the first time they’ve tried to lure you back home,” Ray suggested. I furrowed my brows as I looked back at Gerard. Mikey had told me that he and Gerard had come from a family of nobles…but that wasn’t in the vampire hierarchy. At least, not when Frank explained it to me.

“Fuck,” Gerard growled, stood up, and kicked the table next to the couch.

“Gerard, calm the hell down,” Bob stood up in front of Gerard. He placed his hands on Gerard’s shoulders and sat him back down on the table, “So what if it is your family? Then we can get Mikey and Mason back.”

“If I go back there, I will never get out. N-not alive,” Gerard stammered. For a moment, I almost saw fear in his eyes. Even then, I could feel the fear rolling off of him meaning that there was something about their family that Mikey had never mentioned.

“You’re already not alive,” Ray pointed out. I noticed that through this whole conversation, Cell just sat back on the couch doodling on the notepad.

“And if I end up in the hand of my family, I won’t exist at all.” Gerard’s statement hurt to hear. I didn’t like thinking about Gerard not existing.

“What did you do?” I asked. I couldn’t help but wonder what he had done to believe his family would completely end his life like that.

“It’s a long story,” he brushed my question aside, causing me to feel slightly disappointed, “We have to come up with some sort of plan. We have to get Mikey back.”

“And Mason,” Cell finally said, surprising us all. I’d heard her say a few words in the past, but not in front of a large group of people.

“FRANK,,” Ray called, “WE’RE LIKE, PLANNING THINGS.” I had forgotten that Frank had taken refuge in my room to have a little pity party. Frank opened the door and shuffled back into our sitting area. I noticed Cell didn’t really pay him much attention, or at least, tried not to.

“Okay, some of us are going to have to go,” Gerard said with a large sigh, “Some of us will have to stay here in case Mason and Mikey show up.”

“Your family…they live in Italy, right?” I asked, remembering that Mikey had told me that they were born about a century before the Italian Renaissance and that Gerard had taken me back to one of his memories in Italy. Gerard nodded his head as he bit the nail on his thumb.

“Ronan and I will have to be split up, since we’re the only one with a mental connection. I’m obviously going, so Ronan you’re staying here,” Gerard said. I didn’t like the fact that he was deciding for me.

“I want to go. Mikey is my best friend and I can’t just stay back here and do nothing,” I said.

“There’s no other option, the two groups, and we’re the only ones-” Gerard was about to go on about how I had to stay here until Frank interrupted him.

“Ronan and I have a connection,” he stated, causing everybody to look at him, “We’re related, remember?”

“Oh, that’s right, Grandpa,” I said, patting Frank on the back. I had completely forgotten about that detail. I turned back to Gerard and raised an eyebrow, “I’m going, and you don’t have an option.” I was expecting a sour look on his face, but I had never received one.

“Okay,” he said calmly, “We’ll take two more people. Ray, you’re coming because you have that weird persuasive ability, if you don’t mind.” Ray nodded his head in agreement. Gerard looked at Bob, and I could tell he hesitated – the guys were trying to regain their trust with Bob again. I know I was still in that process.

“Me too,” Cell chimed in. She stood up from the couch with a rather serious look on her face. She didn’t need to explain why she wanted to go, it was pretty obvious. She cared a lot for Mason and wanted to ensure that he also came back. She didn’t trust the other guys with him, and I completely understood that. I was happy that she offered, because I would probably go insane if I was only around the other guys. Gerard nodded his head in agreement.

“Gather your things. We leave tomorrow,” he said and looked at me, “I know you already have your things packed so it looks like you don’t have a thing to worry about.” Everybody left the room, leaving Cell and I alone.

“I’m going to go get some rest,” I said softly. She nodded, and I retreated into my room, closing my door behind me. As I turned around to face my bed, I noticed a black leather journal lying on top of my comforter. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion as I walked over and picked up the journal. I opened the front cover to reveal the first page to find a green post-it note. ‘He’s not going to give up on you. –Frank’. I removed the post-it note, and had the words ‘Gerard Way’ written in small intricate cursive.

Frank had given me Gerard’s personal journal. I turned to the first page to see the date May 14th, 1715 written on the top left corner of the page. I closed the journal and put it in my bag. I couldn’t start reading it now. Ray, Gerard, Cell, and I were all leaving tomorrow. I needed rest, and I needed to avoid anything that would cause me to decide not to leave with Gerard.
_______________

Gerard, Ray, Cell and I were able to sneak off the school grounds, catch a cab, and get to the nearest airport. So there we were; four awkward vampires sitting at the gate for our flight. It was a connected flight since, shocker; the school we went to in the middle of nowhere was not near an international airport. I stared nervously out of the large windows at the planes that were taking off, and Ray rubbed my back as he noticed, “You okay?”

“I don’t like flying,” I admitted, even though it was a lie. Okay, so it wasn’t really a lie; it was an understatement. I was terrified of flying. I’d only been in a plane once, and I made a decision that day to never get on a plane again. When I kept pushing to come on this rescue trip, I didn’t think about the fact that there was only one quick way to go across the ocean to Italy. I’d also forgotten that the only one capable of teleportation was not anywhere to be found.

“It will be okay,” Ray promised. I let out a deep breath, even though vampires didn’t exactly need to breathe. It was still a calming mechanism for me, however.

“I’ll make sure nothing bad happens to you. I promise,” It was Gerard, thinking the promise over to me. I looked up to see him looking at me a couple of rows of seats from me.

“I would really appreciate that,” I thought back to him, and I could see the corner of his mouth turning upwards. I almost thought that I was beginning to grow feelings for Gerard. I knew I couldn’t deny it anymore, however, I wasn’t ready. After Liam left, I just wanted to make sure I knew myself before I opened my heart up that quickly to anybody ever again. I thought it was perfectly okay, we had eternity. We were immortal.

Gerard and I ended up sitting next to each other on the plane. I cherished each moment that the plane was on the ground, but at the same time, I wanted the flight to just be done. Once the aircraft started moving, Gerard held his hand out – palm up – so that I would be able to hold it. Under normal circumstances, I would decide against it, but I entwined my fingers into his. Once the plane took off, I squeezed his hand higher.

My eardrums felt like they were going to cave in, so I kept swallowing. I wanted the ability to not worry, but I couldn’t stop myself from thinking things along the line of ‘if this plane goes down, we’re fucked’.

“Ray,” Gerard said softly. Ray and Cell were sitting in the seat in front of us. Ray turned around, his hair bouncing as he did.

“Yeah?” he asked, looking at me apologetically.

“Do the thing to her,” he said as he cocked his head to me.

“What thing?” I asked suspiciously.

“You’ll thank me for this,” Gerard said softly. Ray looked into my eyes, and I started to feel different. Tired, almost.

“You’re going to sleep,” he mumbled.

“I’m going to sleep,” I repeated. Suddenly, my eyelids felt as if they weight a thousand pounds. Was this how Atlas felt holding up the globe? It wasn’t long until I drifted off to sleep finally, all my worries about flying escaping me. I didn’t bother letting go of Gerard’s hand, since it gave me comfort. My eyes rolled to the back of my head, and finally I was able to just let go.

©Shannon