all marshmallows and no cereal - Remaining Relevant .:Prologue:.

Title: Remaining Relevant .:Prologue:.
Author: neverxnever
Rating: Pg13- R
Pairing: Ghost!Brendon/Ryan, various others mentioned
POV: Third
Summary: Sequel to Heedless in Rain. Brendon’s dead, he’s lost his love, his friends can’t seem to move on. And what happens when the psychopathic murderer who killed him shows up again?
Chapter Summary: Other ghosts linger at the edges of his vision. When he turns to look directly at them, they’re gone. He swears he hears them call his name sometimes, and it’s torture. He might feel agony and despair and hopelessness if he let himself feel anything at all.
Disclaimer: I do not own/know anyone mentioned in this piece of FICTION.
Author Notes: At the end, bbz.



Prologue

Brendon blinks and several months pass. The leaves go from brown and wilting, to bright and green before he can really process it. He can’t feel the lingering chill leftover from winter, but he knows it’s there.

He makes a considerable effort to slow down time, to keep himself in the now.

But even so, time slips away from him. It slips through his fingers like water, hard to catch and keep a hold of. He struggles with it, and finds that it’s easier to slow things down if he’s moving. If he’s keeping his mind focused on things of this world.

Other ghosts linger at the edges of his vision. When he turns to look directly at them, they’re gone. He swears he hears them call his name sometimes, and it’s torture. He might feel agony and despair and hopelessness if he let himself feel anything at all.

He hasn’t forgotten his life. He hasn’t forgotten any of his friends. They still haunt him too, just like the other ghosts. They continue to visit his grave and he wishes they wouldn’t. He wishes they would move on. Especially Frank, who’s eyes are bruised and who’s shoulders are slumped and who cries harder every time he reads Brendon’s name, engraved on cold stone.

Brendon especially hasn’t forgotten Ryan, who changed everything.

But he doesn’t allow himself to think of Ryan for too long. The disappointment in finding out that, even in death, they can not and will not be together, still makes him cringe.

He can’t pretend that he’s completely numb. Some things still get at him, make him hurt. But only if he lets them. Only if he thinks of those things for too long.

He quickly discovers that his limitations are different than Ryan’s. He has boundaries, still. He’s bound to the graveyard, for one. But the rain has nothing to do with his solidity. He isn’t sure why, or how, but he’s able to affect the things around him, make himself visible, whenever he wishes.

He doesn’t often, though. Why should he? When he’s real it’s easier to feel. He’s less numb and he doesn’t like it, because all he feels is heartache, usually. And it would only ruin his friends lives. Frank, especially, who wouldn’t ever be able to let go if there was even a small chance he could hold Brendon again. He’d said as much, once, while he was weeping over Brendon’s buried body.

Brendon tries to close his ears against these kinds of things, but always finds it impossible.

-

Jon comes to see him- his headstone- on a dreary Saturday morning. He talks of Spencer and of Greta, who’s recently gotten engaged to Vicky-T. Brendon nods at everything Jon says, if only to pretend like it’s a two-sided conversation. He won’t admit to flinching when he realizes he can’t remember a Greta or a Vicky-T.

“Everyone misses you,” is how Jon always ends these ‘conversation’s’. It’s no different this time, and he parts with these not-quite-accurate words once again.

And leaves something behind.

Brendon inches forward and tentatively reaches out for accidentally discarded newspaper. His fingers ghost straight through the paper on the first try, but the second time he gets it and is able to pull it into his lap and read the headline.

MURDERER ESCAPED FROM HOSPITAL, it reads, a rather blunt headline.

Gerard Way was sentenced to live out his remaining years in prison after being charged with two counts of murder. Several weeks ago, however, Way attempted suicide- and almost succeeded. He was sent to the hospital, where he was put under heavy surveillance while he recovered.
But last night, Way escaped. Several hospital staff members were found dead at the scene…

Brendon flings the newspaper some several feet away. He can’t say he feels scared, or sad, or worried. He can’t honestly say he feels anything, but he knows he can’t read anymore about Gerard Way. Too many memories.

-

Gabe comes to visit later that same morning. Gabe is always the lighthearted one, making jokes and laughing and telling stories like he knows Brendon can hear him. Hell, Gabe probably does know. Brendon wouldn’t put it past the guy.

“So this new family moved to town,” Gabe says, looking thoughtfully up at the sky. “A boy and his dad. The boy’s about your age, I think. You’d probably like him if you met him.”

Brendon wants to ask Gabe what he means by that, but refrains. As if able to sense this, Gabe smirks. “He just seems like your type,” he says in answer to the unasked question.

Brendon shakes his head and purses his lips. He only has one “type”. Ryan.

-
An 2- Just a taste of the sequel. I spent several hours planning out the entire fic (I don‘t ever actually plan for fics, so.), and while my plans are subject to change, I expect there’ll be about 15 chapters to this.

NOW FOR THE FLAILING ABOUT THE 50+ COMMENTS YOU GUYS LEFT ON THE LAST CHAPTER OF HIR. OMG, YOU GUYS. That’s more than I’ve gotten on anything ever and they were all so amazing. I wanted to answer every single one and tell each of you thank you, but I just didn’t have the time. But those comments are the reason I got this out so quick. They really motivated me, thank you so much!

I really hope to not disappoint with this. I don’t think it’s going to go quite the way any of you were thinking (for instance, Ghost!Ryan isn’t even hardly going to be in this one. Don‘t worry though. There will be Ryan ;]), but I still hope it pleases :]

I’m going to try and make the chapters a bit longer than the HIR chapters, too. But with my short attention span and eagerness to post, we’ll see xD

SO leave me more pretty comments so I post the first chapter sooner, yes? /super long AN