Calibrations

California 2014

When Youngblood opened his eyes, he found himself in another fancy neighborhood in LA. There were houses all along the winding road, but he could immediately point out which one was his. It was the only one that really matched his style: artsy, gothic, a little eccentric. As Youngblood approached his future home, Figment, Revenge, Pepper, and Poison went with him, taking in their surroundings.

"What year is this?" Youngblood asked his future selves as he poked around in the backyard. There were a handful of picnic tables set up, and Frank was busy assembling his vegetarian grill. Youngblood backed away, careful to make sure that Frank didn't see him, but he occasionally peeked over there, curious to see what was going on.

"Who cares?" Pepper said. "I want to go back to bed."

"Judging by the fact that Los Angeles still exists, it's definitely before the apocalypse," Poison said. "My best guess is 2011, but it could be early 2012."

"Actually, it's 2014," Figment said.

"2014?" Poison said, confused. "Then how come LA isn't a pile of rubble? How come I don't see any advertisements for Better Living Industries? Where are the droids? The dracs? The ray guns?"

Figment stammered, struggling to find an explanation. "Uhh...this neighborhood was pretty unaffected by the apocalypse," he finally said. "You should see downtown Battery City though. It's insane."

"Oh okay, that makes sense," Poison said. "You know, I bet the version of me in this era is pretty badass. I'm imagining him driving around in the Trans Am with the rest of MCR, shooting up all the bad guys..."

While Poison rambled, the door swung open, and the Gerard from 2014 came outside. He was wearing a blue suit and a red tie, and he was carrying a bowl of chips. All of a sudden, he looked straight at Figment. "I was wondering when you'd come back," he said.

"It's nice to see you, Alien," Figment said.

Pepper hesitated for a moment before he said, "Alien? Is that a reference to something?"

"I was thinking the same thing," Youngblood said.

"This is not what I expected," Poison said as he looked at his future self. Like Poison, Alien had bright red hair, but it was much shorter. His whole demeanor seemed different too, although Youngblood couldn't quite describe how. Surely, Alien was not the fabulous, post-apocalyptic anti-hero that Poison wanted him to be.

Alien ignored his past selves and turned toward Figment. "I almost forgot about all of this," he whispered. "Frank's going to die in two years, isn't he?"

Figment nodded. "We don't have much time left," he said.

Alien sighed and said, "Well, we're going to fix it, right? We'll stop him from dying."

"Exactly," Figment said.

"I just wish you guys had come a little earlier," Alien said. "This really isn't a great time for me. Everyone's going to be here soon for the Second Annual Post-MCR Barbeque."

Youngblood took a moment to process what Alien had just said. When he realized what this meant, his jaw dropped. He knew that My Chemical Romance wouldn't live forever. Even when he had first started the band, even before he'd time traveled, he had known that there would come a time when it would stop being something special. There would come a time when his band, his creation, his work of art would need to die, and he knew that time would probably come sooner rather than later.

But knowing all of that didn't stop his heart from breaking.

"Wait a second," Poison said. "Post-MCR?"