FicWad

AN: I took another look and realized I could do something. I have a basic idea planned out, and an ending, so chances are Howl will get to be a decent length before I drop the sword.

Frank dressed and went to the cemetery, possibly to meet his doom. On the way there, he couldn't help but notice that he could still see, smell, and hear everything. The thousands of colors in a ray of light, the smell of pancakes three hours away, even the sound of a car horn honking in town. Whatever Gee had given him, it lasted a long time.

When Frank approached Mikey, he almost expected the brownish-black wolf from his dreams to appear next to him. But Mikey just slid off the headstone and growled, actually growled, at him.

"What did you do to my brother?" he hissed.

Frank blinked, shocked. "What did I do to him? I'm still trying to figure out what he did to me!"

Mikey crossed his arms over his chest and glared at him. "Explain."

"He drugged me or something!" said Frank. "One minute I'm fine, next minute I'm high on something!" He shook his head furiously. "I'm still high!"

Mikey stared at him, his mouth hanging open. "He drugged you? Are you sure?"

Frank nodded, relieved that someone believed him. "Why else would I be able to smell pancakes?"

"What?!"

Frank frowned. "The Dows. Three houses over? They're having pancakes." He paused, listening. "Oh, and Ryan has a new cat."

Mikey's eyes were bugging out of his head. "Oh shit," he breathed. Suddenly he was standing right in front of Frank, his eyes huge behind his glasses. "Frank, I need you to tell me something."

Frank, who was still trying to understand how Mikey had moved so quickly, nodded.

"Did Gerard kiss you?"

Frank blinked stupidly. "How did you-"

Mikey screamed and clamped a hand over his mouth. "Shit shit shit shit SHIT!" he yelled, his voice muffled by his hand. "What did you do?!"

Frank stumbled back, and Mikey seized his shoulders. "I-I don't know!" Frank spluttered, afraid. "I thought he drugged me, and I-" he broke off. "I slapped him," he finished in a horrified whisper.

Mikey's eyes were so wide that Frank wondered if they were going to swallow his glasses. They didn't, but Mikey did grab him by the wrist and start dragging him to the far side of the cemetery.

"Wha-?"

"Shut up!" Mikey snarled. "You need to see this."

Stunned beyond words, Frank did as he was told and shut up.

Mikey dragged him over to a mausoleum made of black marble. Without even pausing, he opened the door and stepped inside. Frank followed hesitantly.

"I came here last night and found him like this," Mikey said, pulling a flashlight from a shelf. "All I could get out of him was that he was with you."

Light flooded the mausoleum, revealing...

Nothing.

Frank almost puked. His stomach had been in knots and the feeling of relief was almost too much. Mikey, however, looked even more anxious.

"Where is he?!"

Frank blinked. "Who?"

"Gerard! He was..." Mikey trailed off. He seemed to be listening for something. After a while, he gave up. "He's gone..."

Frank didn't know what to say or do. For some reason, he was terrified out of his mind. Gerard was missing. His Gerard. Frank frowned and bit his cheek; something he did when he was nervous or confused. Gerard wasn't his, so why did he-?

Mikey slammed his fist into the wall, sending flakes of stone onto the floor with a sound like rain. "Damn it!" he screamed. With a snarl, he whirled on Frank. "This is your fault!"

Frank took a step back and whined. Mikey's eyes were dark and huge, like bottomless pits of pure anger. Was this the same Mikey that had followed Gerard like a puppy so long ago? The same Mikey that had giggled himself into hiccups when Frank and Gee had played tag with him?

The Mikey that stood before Frank couldn't be real. This was an animal, not a boy. His lips were pulled back, showing sharp teeth. His nose was wrinkled in a vicious snarl.

"Get. Out," Mikey growled.

Frank didn't hesitate to obey. He scrambled out of the mausoleum like a bat out of hell, not looking back. Instead of running home, however, Frank was running toward the woods.

Once inside the protection of tree-trunks and cool shade, Frank slowed. What was he doing here? Wasn't this how horror movies started? Boy runs into forest alone, only to be killed viciously by an unseen force. End scene. Continue movie with deeper plot and introduce main characters. Was that how this was going to be?

A leaf rustled, but with his new sense of hearing, Frank couldn't tell how far away it was. His heart pounded, doing nothing but letting him live longer for something to find and eat him. Great. He wished he'd run home, but it felt better beneath the leaves and branches of the tall trees that surrounded him. Something was pulling him deeper in, making Frank itch to disappear into the wilderness.

His heart-rate slowed to normal, making it easier for Frank to breathe. He looked back inthe direction of the cemetery. Mikey was still in the mausoleum, he knew, so going back wasn't an option. Shrugging, Frank followed his instinct and plunged deeper into the woods.

Frank walked in a straight line, almost as if he had a purpose other than to escape the wrath of a seemingly-murderous Mikey Way. There was some unknown force that was dragging him to one specific place, a place that he was anxious to get to because-

-FrankhatesmeandohhowIwishIdidn'thurtsomuch-

Frank stopped dead. What the hell was THAT?! Words tumbled around in his head; unpleasant thoughts that made his eyes burn and water.

-Ishouldn'thavedonethatI'mdyingbutI'mstillbreathingbutIWANTTODIEbutIcan't-

Frank carefully made his way forward, hardly daring to breathe. As he got closer,

(closer to what?)

the strange thoughts that didn't belong to him became clearer.

-Iam such anidiot and now Frankhatesme and I wantto killmyself and die-

His throat was painfully tight, allowing only small amounts of air into his lungs. Frank was crying, but he stayed silent. Something told him that he needed to be quiet.

-I miss him so much. Why couldn't I have just held his hand? Why did I have to kiss him?!-

'Because,' Frank thought. 'You were always so straightforward.'

The thoughts stopped quite suddenly. Shock crashed through Frank's mind like a tidal wave.

-!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!-

There was a huge snap, and a branch went hurtling to the ground. A dark figure went with it.

"Gee!" Frank cried, rushing forward. The older boy stirred feebly. Fearing the worst, Frank put a hand on Gerard's shoulder.

At once, Gerard was on his feet. His hair was sticking in all directions, but other than that, he looked perfectly fine. There was only a smear of dirt on his jeans to show that he'd fallen about twenty feet.

Frank gaped at him. "How did you-?"

Gerard stumbled back, cutting Frank's question off. "Oh God!" Gee said. "I'm sorry about... I didn't... If you're still mad, go ahead and hit me."

Frank stared at him, shocked. He still didn't know what Gee had done to him, but the agony that he'd felt inside his head had wiped his anger cleanly away. "Why would I hit you?" he asked, his lips moving of their own accord.

Gerard blinked. His eyes were incredibly bloodshot, Frank noticed. "Because I kissed you," he answered, looking pained. "And you slapped me."

Frank was silent for a moment. "I don't want to hit you," he said after a while. "I just need you to tell me the truth."

"I'm a werewolf," said Gerard immediately.

Frank felt his eyes bug out of his head. "What?!"

Gee smiled uneasily. "I'm a werewolf," he repeated. "You know, full moon, silver bullets, fur?"

"I know what a werewolf is!" said Frank. "But they're not real." No matter how steady his voice was, Frank thought he would pass out. If Gerard was a werewolf, that would explain a lot of things. If Gerard was just crazy, that would explain a lot of things too.

"I'm real," Gee insisted. "Just because the world says werewolves don't exist doesn't mean they aren't real. We're just... really good at hiding."

Frank tried to back away, but he seemed to be rooted to the spot. He saw black spots in his eyes. "The wolf..." he mumbled.

Gerard's eyes seemed to glow, hazel and familiar. "What?"

"My wolf..." Frank said, almost sighed.

And then he was falling.

Faster than any human, Gerard lunged forward. He caught Frank's upper arm in a tight grip before he could hit the ground. Frank made a sound that could've been a gasp, but everything seemed muffled to his ears. His legs were wobbly and uncontrollable. He was only barely aware of Gerard's hand on his arm, and that was because the other boy's touch was like a jolt of electricity.

"Frank!"

Frank was caught between unconsciousness and reality, his mind smashing itself to pieces in its haste to connect the facts. There had been a wolf in his dreams, a wolf with Gerard's eyes. Frank saw Mikey's face, wild and enraged, with razor-sharp fangs. His senses after Gerard had kissed him; impossibly strong. And the kiss itself...

Unnatural and yet completely natural.

When did his life become Twilight?

Gerard was cradling his upper body, one hand under Frank's head to keep it from hitting the forest floor. Frank gazed up at him through half-closed eyes. Gee's eyes were wide with fear, surrounded by black hair and pale skin. The sun was directly over his head, which made it painful for Frank to look at him, but he couldn't look away.

His wolf. His Gee.

Using all the strength he had left, Frank raised himself upward a few inches until their lips touched.

Gerard gasped in surprise but drew Frank closer. Frank felt strength flooding into his veins, along with a bolt of adrenaline that snapped his mind back into place. He closed his eyes, letting himself melt. It was if the kiss had healed him, and now it was strengthening the bond that tied himself and Gee together. Gerard's thoughts were spilling into his mind in a never-ending stream of words and images.

-I'm so sorry if I hurt you, Frank. I never wanted you to hate me-

'If I hated you, would I do this?' Frank thought back. Before Gee could react, he lifted a hand to Gerard's hair and slipped his tongue between the other boy's teeth. He both heard and felt Gee's heart stutter.

-I guess not-

'Damn right.'

-- HoWL --