It was white, eerily white. So white that it was almost dark. Andy put his hand in front of his face, but at first he couldn't see it. "What is this place?" He questioned under his breath as he waved his gloved hand before his face. Once the shape of wiggling fingers started to come into focus, he grinned as though he were inspired. Andy squinted his eyes and took a few small steps forward. "Hello?!" He belted out, not quite sure if he wanted an answer or not. There was something in him though, something he couldn't explain, something that felt like an internal alarm... warning him that he wasn't alone. "I can't be dead... can I?"
"No." A deep voice spoke, oddly soft, but somehow intimidating behind him. "You're not dead, Andrew Biersack."
Andy was almost too startled to comprehend what the voice was saying. He closed his eyes and swallowed hard as he turned his body and took in a deep breath. "If I'm not dead, than where am I? And how do you know my name? And who are you?" Somehow, he managed to get all of this out in that same breath he had sucked into his lungs.
"You are in the room of spirit and time." The male voice was no longer gentle, but instead spoke now with authority. "Also known as, the Hyperbolic Time Chamber."
Andy was positive that this were meant to be some kind of joke. Perhaps one of his band mates was pranking him. But when his eyes opened to call bullshit on this whole situation, he took in an image that would forever be stained into his memory. So many more questions raced through his head, but when he opened his mouth to talk, the words wouldn't come out.
"My name is Mr. Popo." The black hand, which was almost cartoonish, cupped Andy's chin and assisted him in closing his gaping mouth. The dark man was shorter than Andy, but with a single glare was able to make him feel like a small child.
"Wha..." Andy rubbed his eyes in an attempt to correct what he felt had to be delusion.
"I am djinn." Popo knew exactly what the young man was going to say before he even had a chance to think it. "An immortal genie, if you will, that serves as a caretaker for the guardian of earth." Though he spoke slow enough to be sure his words didn't run together, Andy could tell that this was rehearsed.
"So, this is a dream? I knew I shouldn't have drink so much Nyquil..." Andy looked down at his boots, which instinctively began to knock together at the heels.
"What are you doing?" The genie asked, growing impatient.
"There's no place like home. There's no place like home. There's no place like ho..." Before Andy could finish, Mr. Popo 's fist connected with his mouth.
"Though we have time to go through this, a million times over, I do not have the patience for it. So, I will only explain this to you once." Popo's voice grew sterner, and colder, as he watched almost disgusted as Andy's trembling hands cupped his mouth.
The look in Mr. Popo's eyes questioned if Andy was prepared for this explanation. Andy nodded and the genie began to walk in a straight line, speaking now in an almost sing-song voice as Andy followed behind him closely.
"I am aware that this must all be very strange to you, but as it is reality, I need for you to stop trying to figure a way for it not to be so." Mr. Popo said with his hands rubbing the fabric of his vest. "You were born the bastard child of a prince, and a..." Mr. Popo cleared his throat "lady of the night."
"Huh?" Andy was confused, and wanted to stop from speaking and force him to just take him back home, but when the genie turned his head looking behind him, Andy could only shake his head with wide eyes.
"During a great battle, between a creature we came to know as Cell and other formable fighters, your mother attempted to contact your father, and that's when you and I first met. You were only a year old at this point, however there was something in you that showed great promise, Andrew Biersack. I had to protect you. I had to preserve you." Mr. Popo took a couple of seconds to be sure that what he was saying was making sense. "Have you ever heard of parallel universes?"
Though Andy nodded, Mr. Popo couldn't have seen him. It didn't matter though, one way or the other, the genie was going to get through this truth.
"Being an immortal being allows me access to things most wouldn't even dream of." There was a hint of humor in his voice. "As I mentioned before, Andrew Biersack, I am the caretaker to the Guardian of Earth... but this means all Earths. There is almost an infinite amount of universes, each containing an Earth."
Again, Andy nodded, almost now believing him. The pain he felt on his lip had faded and his hands dropped from his lips and folded over his chest.
"Most Earths are admittedly dull, with minor incidences, that cause no reason for divine intervention." Said Mr. Popo. "You, Andrew Biersack, were sent to live on one of those Earths. A boring life was the best gift your mother agreed to give you. I convinced your mother to let me take you, and to not speak to your true father about your existence. I told your mother that it was likely that she would be killed, along with most of those Earthlings."
Andy's lip snarled a little and he grunted. He couldn't believe how nonchalant this black djinn man could be about a topic so incredibly serious.
"Your mother was killed, as I knew she would be." Mr. Popo stopped, causing Andy to nearly walk into him. "I warned her not to try to speak with your father." He shook his head.
"You son of a bitch... you killed her?!" Andy assumed. "You kidnapped me, murdered my mom, then brought me here 24 years later to tell me this? You're sick man!"
"No. I didn't kill her." Mr. Popo hid it well, but behind his blank expression he was smirking.
"But you could have saved her right?" Andy didn't seem to be afraid any longer.
"Yes." had no reason to lie to him.
"Why didn't you?! Why didn't you send us both to this... other world place that you keep talking about? Why would you let her die and me live?!" Andy was pulling up some kind of force from the bottom of his feet, and through his veins. "All these years I knew that there was something different about me... I knew that my parents couldn't have been my parents... I didn't need them to tell me the truth because I already knew it... But now I have confirmation of this and you... you just let her die?! Why am I here?! I don't want to hear anymore of these stories... I just want to go home. To the home I know. I want to go back to my boring life, as you say, where there are no weird genie men wearing turbans and ugly vests!" Andy didn't know it, but he was floating a little, with his eyes clinched shut and tears beginning to pour out. His fists squeezed so tightly that the palms of his hands began to bleed from his fingernails, but the pain reminded him that he was indeed still alive.
"You will go back, Andrew Biersack. But first, you will need to be trained." Mr. Popo 's hidden smirk was now plainly stretching across his face. "There is a powerful creature threatening your home. During an incident with another Earth, a vampiric shape shifter managed to escape through one of my portals, and I have strong reason to believe that she is residing in your Earth."
"I don't care." Andy spoke with a growl under his breath. "I don't care about any of this!" He yelled. "Do you understand me, you fat fucking joke?!" He screamed like a madman.
rolled his eyes, and grabbed hold of the foot floating above his head.
Andy's eyes opened, and in that moment he realized that he was flying. "Wait what?!" With this, all of his anger washed out of him and he fell to the ground, landing flat on his face.
"Let us get one thing straight, Andrew Biersack." Mr. Popo's voice returned to that cold tone filled with authority. "You don't have to like this. You don't have to care for this. But no matter what your feelings are towards me, you will do as you are meant to do." He placed his foot on the back of Andy's head. "I'll forget that weak attempt at an insult, and chalk it up to temporary insanity, but if you ever want to leave this place, you will cooperate with me."
Andy was still in shock that he was flying. So much so that whatever Mr. Popo was saying, wasn't being registered completely. Though his face was being smashed into the ground beneath him, he managed to nod, and that was all Mr. Popo needed to continue.