Death Is Strange

TWENTY-SEVEN

Two hours passed silently. Gerard and Frank had moved to the booth as far away from Quinn as possible; Gerard was leaning against the wall, Frank was leaning against Gerard, his fingers tracing listless circles against Gerard's thigh.

When the power shuddered and went out, nobody seemed surprised. The water was rising quickly, covering the docks and beginning to spread across the roads.

"What if we're not in the right place?" Gerard whispered.

"What do you mean?" Frank whispered back. "I can't drive back to the dorms in this."

"In your dream, when it was storming, you went to the lighthouse," Gerard whispered. "What if you go up there and the storm stops? Right now the town is going to fucking flood."

Frank sighed. "That makes sense." He straightened, looking over at Gerard. "Are you coming with me?"

Gerard leaned over and kissed him, ignoring the cold stares of several older people in the adjoining booth. "Of course," he murmured.

The walk to the lighthouse was time-consuming and difficult, with the wind whipping one direction and rain crashing down in torrents, the water up to their ankles in some areas, until they reached the hill.

Frank's vision flickered, and his head throbbed. "Gerard!" he yelled. "If I pass out, you have to get me up there no matter what!"

Gerard nodded, eyes wide with worry. "I've got you!"

Frank fumbled for Gerard's hand, skin slick with rain. He hoped desperately his vision would stop wavering, that his head would clear...

He blinked slowly, raindrops dripping from his eyelashes. He was lying on the bench by the lighthouse, his head in Gerard's lap.

"Are you awake?" Gerard yelled over the roar of the water below.

"I am now!" Frank lurched into a sitting position. "How long was I out?"

"I carried you up the goddamn hill! It's been a few minutes since we got up here. Thank me later," Gerard replied.

There was a shrilling sound in the distance, and the dark clouds seemed to be touching down against the surface of the water.

"Oh, SHIT! I feel like something needs to happen right now!" Frank shouted. "Is that the tornado? Everyone's gonna fucking die!"

Gerard fumbled with his pocket, pulled out his wallet, trembling hands frantically unfolding it and pulling out a creased picture. "I think we have a few options," he said shakily. "First, you could turn back time to when I took this picture with Bert. But that would mean you lose everything. My second idea is to let the tornado hit town and we make it out alive. We would both lose everything. And... that's all I've got."

Frank fumbled with his phone. "I wonder if pictures on my phone would work."

"Frank!" Gerard nudged him hard, and Frank snapped to attention, eyes locking on the whirling vortex of darkness and fury that was approaching the town.

Frank started to put his phone away and just watch everything play out, but a thought wormed its way into his mind.

Give Bert back to Gerard. Prevent the disappearance.

Frank grabbed the damp photograph from Gerard, and yanked his head down, pulling Gerard's mouth to his, and kissing him desperately, an agonizing grief beginning to settle in his soul. And when he pulled back, he realized they were both crying. "Now you can have that chance to take your shirt off," he choked, stroking his shaking fingers across Gerard's cheek.

"Frank, no, you don't have to," Gerard wept, grabbing Frank's hand and holding it in a bone-breaking grip. "I love you."

"I have to let everything reset," Frank insisted, pulling away and stepping back. "If I don't make this choice, so many people are going to die. I have to go back and not fuck with time again."

Gerard took a deep breath. "I guess it's up to you and not me." He wiped his hand across his face.

"Thank you for changing my life, Gerard Way," Frank cried, and forced his eyes away from Gerard, down to the photograph, his hand shaking as he fought to focus on it.

The scenery blurred and shifted, and gradually, everything brightened, coming into focus again.

He heard Gerard's familiar giggle, and turned, realizing he was on campus. It was sunny, the air was warm with the promise of spring, and Gerard wasn't alone.

"So much better than the last one," Gerard was saying to Bert, showing him something on his camera.

Bert laughed. "I was born to look like shit."

"Shut up." Gerard was clearly closing in to kiss Bert now, and Frank turned away, trying to steady his aching heart, closing his eyes.

Someone cleared their throat beside him. "How does it feel, Frankie?"

Frank's eyes flew open. "Pansy? What the fuck?"

Pansy's mouth curved into a half-smile. "Do you realize what a goddamn hero you are? That's some real sacrifice, man." She scratched at her mop of blue hair, eyes narrowing, her irises nearly hidden by her black eyeliner. "I hope you realize how dope you are."

Confused, Frank just stared. "How do you know me? Right now, I mean? I went back to time before I even came to school here."

Pansy shrugged. "Maybe I pulled a few strings for you, since you turned out so goddamn sacrificial." She pointed, and Frank turned, seeing his suitcase and backpack propped against the tree beside him. "You can start over. Don't get weirded out. And don't look at me like that."

"Who the fuck are you?"

"A transgender. But I know that's not the answer you want." Pansy crossed her arms. "Don't ask questions, you cocksucker. You know more than you think." She started to turn to leave, and then turned back. "By the way, I was kinda inspired by how you handled the whole situation with Whore-snop and Armstrong. Neither of them are at the school now, because I fucking got them arrested."

Frank realized his mouth was hanging open.

"Don't let your face get stuck like that," Pansy said lightly, and turned, walking off as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

"Hey, are you new?"

Frank turned, startled. Jeph Howard was smirking at him.

"I— yeah, I am," Frank said.

"I assumed so," Jeph said. "I knew there was no way in hell someone that looks the way you do would go a day without me noticing."

Frank reddened.

"We'll have to hang out," Jeph continued casually, fiddling with the gauge in his left ear. "You know your room number?"

Frank reached into his pocket, a surge of relief flooding him when he pulled out his schedule. "Yeah. 342."

"Oh, fuck! That's actually my room. I guess I'll finally get a roommate. We have some lit people on our hall, that's for sure. My friend Dan is a fucking riot, and then there's those two," Jeph said, pointing at Gerard and Bert. "They keep to themselves a lot, but Bert and I are tight. You'll have to meet him. Yo, Bert!"

Bert turned, pushing his long, straggling locks of red and black hair back from his face, smiling mischievously. "What?"

"Meet this new kid. You too, Gee."

Bert grabbed Gerard's hand, pulling him over to Jeph and Frank. "Hey," Bert said brightly. "I'm Bert McCracken." He energetically shook Frank's hand.

"I'm Frank Iero," Frank answered, glancing at Gerard.

Gerard was staring at him, and for a few moments, Frank thought Gerard recognized him. But then Gerard slid his arm around Bert's waist. Bert smirked and pinched Gerard's ass. "This is my boyfriend Gerard."

And in that moment, it was hard to remember what had made this such a good idea to Frank's panicked mind.