The car screeched to a halt next to the entrance to Better Living Industries. Me (Generation Nightmare), Lucky Jinx, Cyanide Sunshine and Static Disaster jumped out. As we approached the doors, a flash of white light illuminated the whole of the front of the building. It was evident Dr Death-Defying was right – they really did need our help. I pushed the door open, pulling my ray gun out. I tripped over a body right next to the door. Looking down, I saw Fun Ghoul lying on the floor, blood seeping from his leg, groaning in pain.
"Ghoul!" I said, shaking him. He half opened his eyes.
"Get him back to the car!" said Jinx, drawing her own ray gun and aiming it at a Drac. I picked him up and put him over my shoulder, laying him down across the back seats when I got to the car.
"Ghoul… Fun Ghoul!" I said, but he didn't respond. "No, Frank…" my tears spilled onto his chest as I fumbled for his wrist, checking for a pulse. I couldn't feel anything. I grabbed the other wrist. Still nothing. I checked his neck, clinging onto the last hope, but no hint of a pulse was felt beneath my fingers. I stared at him, he looked scarily pale. His jeans were covered in blood, a rip in his jeans where a bullet had embedded itself in his leg. I guessed he'd lost too much blood. I covered my face with my hands, sobbing. Never again would I see that childish grin spread across his face. I'd never get to look into his gorgeous hazel eyes and confess to him how much I loved him.
After ten minutes, I realised I had to do something. There was a furious battle going on, and all my closest friends were involved. I had to go and try to prevent any more fatalities. I couldn't afford to dwell on this now. I covered Frank up with a blanket; I didn't want any Dracs to see him and take him away. I let out a couple more sobs, before taking several deep breaths and returning to the fight, my ray gun at the ready. As soon as I entered the room, I spotted all the others. They were clearly recognisable in their colourful clothes against the scape of white. I wondered if they knew Fun Ghoul was dead. Maybe they had guessed by the fact that I was back, without him. I turned around to see a Drac advancing on me. I instinctively raised my ray gun and pulled the trigger, adding to the blasts and yells around us. I suddenly noticed someone. Grace. She was knelt down on the floor, her hands over her ears.
"Sunshine!" I yelled, seeing her temporarily without anyone to fight. She looked round. "Get Grace out of here!" I screamed, seeing two Dracs advancing on the small girl on the floor. She nodded, picking her up as I shot both the Dracs in the head. Suddenly someone knocked me forward, causing me to fall, my ray gun sliding across the floor away from me. I looked round to see an unconscious Drac and Kobra Kid, his fist raised. He seemed to be without a weapon.
"Nightmare! I'm sorry!" he said hastily, before turning to take down yet another Drac.
I looked back round for my own form of defence, but it had disappeared. I stared around, seeing out of the corner of my eye, Party Poison, with Korse's gun pointed at his neck, a finger poised over the trigger. I jumped up, sprinting across the room and pushing Korse away from him, as he pulled the trigger. The bullet missed him by a millimetre, but Gerard was safe. Korse's gun clattered to the floor and I grabbed it, turning back to the fight.
With a final gunshot, I realised who I had just killed. Korse was lying on the floor. We all looked around at each other, wondering if this was really it. Had we really won? Bodies littered the floor, every single one dressed in white, disturbing masks over their faces. I spotted my gun on the floor, next to a dead Drac. I picked it up, sliding it back into my pocket.
"Where are Ghoul and Sunshine… where's Grace!" Jet Star enquired, breaking the silence. Jinx and Static looked over at me.
"Sunshine's with Grace. They shouldn't be far off." I said quietly, dreading the next question.
"And Fun Ghoul?"
"He… he…" I couldn't bring myself to say it. They all knew anyway. They'd all guessed when Frank's absence had been brought up. There was a shocked silence. Party Poison stepped over to me, pulling me into a tight embrace. I sobbed into his shoulder. My chest physically hurt. Maybe my heart was literally breaking. I'd not let myself think about it all through the fight, told myself that I would face it when I wasn't in such danger. Now the fight was over, and I couldn't hide away from the fact that Frank Iero would never look at me again. Fun Ghoul would never speak to me, never hug me, never smile at me, never know how much he really meant to me. I felt a couple more people join the hug, heard more sobbing. I looked up to see Jet, Kobra and Jinx had joined us. None of us could believe it. After twenty minutes, someone muttered that we should get back home and tell everyone else that we had won. The victory, to me at least, seemed bitter sweet. We went outside. Cyanide Sunshine was walking towards us, Grace just behind her.
"We couldn't hear any more noise, we guessed it was over." she said, looking around at our solemn, tear-stained faces. "What's happened?"
"Fun Ghoul." whispered Jinx.
We went back to the car, some of them getting into a Better Living Industries car that had been left open, as we couldn't all fit in one. I approached the back door of the car, my heart sinking as I remembered Fun Ghoul's body was still in there. I couldn't face this. I suddenly noticed the blanket was no longer over him. He was sitting up in the car, his face in his hands. I stared in disbelief, tugging the keys out of my pocket and unlocking the car, wrenching the door open. Frank looked up in shock, staring at me. I stared back for a few minutes, before throwing my arms around him, hugging him tight.
"Frank…" I whispered into his neck. "Frank, you're alive."
"So are you." he said, mirroring my shock and relief. "Are the others all ok?"
"Yes, we're all fine." I said, tears pouring down my face. "I thought you were gone… I couldn't feel a pulse. How's your leg?" I pulled back slightly, looking down at the wound.
"Very painful."
"We need to take you home… oh God the others still think you're dead. Oh yeah, we've won." In the shock of Frank's surprise recovery I'd almost forgotten that. "We killed all the workers and almost all of the Dracs, but they won't do any harm if Korse isn't giving them any orders."
Frank stared at me, that wonderful smile appearing across his lips. "So that's it? We're safe now? We don't have to hide anymore?"
"Yeah, no one's after us now." I was still crying. I got out of the car and shouted at the others; "FUN GHOUL'S ALIVE!" They all stared at me, rushing over.
After a lot of crying and hugging, we went back home. I sat in the back, with Fun Ghoul. We were hugging the whole way home. We got in, and Kobra Kid sorted out Frank's leg as best he could, although he was still limping.
"So what did you think had happened to us?" I said, after we had explained to Frank what had happened while he was in the car.
"I guessed we'd lost and you'd all been killed. I was starting to wonder how long I was going to be locked in that car, just when you came back. I can't believe we won, and we didn't lose anyone."
"Well, we thought we'd lost you… and I nearly got killed by Korse too, but Nightmare saved me." said Party, grinning at me.
"So I guess I'm just a lifesaver." I said, shrugging and winking at Gerard.
"You really are Nightmare... I owe you my life." said Frank, putting an arm round me and kissing me on the cheek. I smiled, and could feel myself blushing.
I fell into bed, absolutely exhausted, pulling my pyjamas on under the covers in a few seconds and closing my eyes. A smile was still across my face, still riding the high of killing Korse and saving Frank and Gerard's lives. I jumped as I heard the door open and opened my eyes, but it was pitch black. I heard footsteps coming closer, and the light on my night stand was turned on, to reveal Frank. "Ghoul, what the fuck are you doing here?" I said, sitting up. He took a few steps towards the bed, limping slightly, before sitting on the edge, biting his lip as he looked at me.
"I wanted to tell you something... today made me realise I needed to get this out 'cause it's not worth hiding it. Life's too short. Nightmare, I love you."
I stared at him, wondering whether I was dreaming. "I love you too." I whispered, leaning forward and pressing my lips to his.
