Disenchanted

Chapter 4

**Yay, new chapter! This, like all my others in the series, will have twelve chapters just so you know. I like to be organized. **

We drove for what seemed like forever, and in hindsight may actually have been forever, before finally arriving somewhere. It appeared to be somewhere normal, somewhere where BLind didn't have any influence.

"Go do whatever it is you expect to do in there, and then when you need a ride back, just call," the lady on the left said.

Before I could ask how exactly I was supposed to call them, the car disappeared and I was left standing in front of what appeared to be a hotel. I walked into the building, not knowing what else I could do. I walked to the front desk, trying to ignore the things I thought I saw around me. I saw some terrifying people, a lot of which looked dead, but some of which looked like they just wanted to kill me.

"Excuse me, is there a Gerard here that happens to look exactly like me?"

The front desk lady looked absolutely suicidally depressed, and I wasn't quite sure how to handle this, but she replied slowly and sadly. "Yes, there is, but what's the point? Nothing has any purpose anymore."

"Well, that's depressing and all, but I really need to find him."

"Room 13. They're all room 13 here because our luck is just that bad."

"How am I supposed to find him then?"

"I suppose I have to show you, don't I?"

"If you would, yes please."

"Follow me then. Or don't, I don't care."

She led me past a lot of rooms that were all numbered 13. What even is this place?

"In here, or whatever. Doesn't affect me, and I wouldn't care even if it did."

"Thank you. You've been a delight."

"No, I haven't."

She walked away, leaving me standing in front of the door in a much more melancholy mood than when I walked in this place. I knocked on the door and stepped back to wait for an answer.

After a few minutes of waiting, I was about to knock again when the door swung open.

"What do you want?" a voice that sounded just like mine hissed from inside.

"I'm looking for a Gerard?"

"Well, you've found him. Are you going to go away, or do you want something, because I'm kind of busy here." He looked like he hadn't been busy in a really long time, but I decided not to mention that.

"The Black Parade needs you. They tried to put me in your place before realizing I wasn't you, so they had to stop time so I could find you."

He started to slam the door shut. "I don't work for the Black Parade anymore."

I stuck my foot in the door. "Your brother is worried sick about you. So is Frank."

At this, he opened the door again and sighed, a little less pissed sounding. "Fine. Come in, but I'm not going back there ever again."

The room was completely black. All of the furniture, the walls, the ceiling, and there were no lights turned on. It was somehow even more gloomy than the Black Parade.

"You know, some people would kill for the freedom you currently have. They wouldn't waste it having everything black and dismal."

"What do you expect from someone who's dead? You should know, you're dead."

"Yes, but even when I died I still wore my bright colors. I was a proud Killjoy, and currently, people are fighting to add color back to their lives, when you could, but choose to have everything black."

"I don't care anymore. What's the point of anything when you're dead?"

"Wait, I was told you couldn't die."

"That's what we tell everyone. We can die, we just can't die of disease or old age. We can only be killed. You, you're already dead I can see. Just like me. That's why I can never go back."

"I know how you feel. You think your people will break and go crazy or give up if they see you broken. And it's absolutely true, but you don't have to be broken just because you're dead. You can choose to stay strong and be a leader to your people, even if you're dead and reduced to the same thing they are."

"You don't understand. If they see me like this, then they'll know we aren't invincible, and someone will rise up."

"You don't know that. Just because you're not invincible doesn't mean they will think any less of you. I should know better than anyone."

"What?"

"A little while before I died, my brother, my best friend and I were captured by BLind. They tortured us, and I was broken, I had given up. It really hurt them to see their leader like this, but they didn't give up on me, even if they were as downtrodden as I was. They still believed in me as a leader, and they never thought any less of me."

"But this is different. You had personal relationships with them, for me, I don't know or remember any of the people I am in charge of."

"Maybe that's part of the problem. If your people saw you as more like them, then you probably wouldn't be worried about an uprising. Maybe if they see that you're just like them now, then they will see you as a better leader."

Just then, an alarm sounded.

"Quick, come with me. We have to hide," Gerard said.

"What's happening?"

"No time to explain, just come with me," he said, grabbing my wrist and dragging me along. I followed, not knowing what was happening. 

**Pretty long chapter, eh? There's more where that came from, which is just a google doc.**