FicWad

You've heard the drums for several days by now, a steady thumping noise that seems to come from a great distance away.

In the beginning, it was thumping rapidly, like a jackrabbit's heart trying to burst from it's ribcage. Then, it stopped for a few moments, before coming back, one slow thump after another, building up speed until it's reached the rhythm that you've gotten used to by now.

In the beginning, you'd found the ceaseless thumping annoying, and thought the strange cuty you were wandering odd. You also found it odd that you didn't need to sleep, or eat, or use the bathroom.

But now, you were growing lonely, and tired of wandering around the city, never encountering another living soul.

The drums were also drawing nearer.

By now, you could pick out one particular drum, deeper and louder than the rest, thumping heavily every so often.

As the drums began to draw closer to you, you realized something else odd about the city you stood in. The louder the drums grew, the colours of the city began to fade, slowly becoming muted and taking a grey tinge to them, a far cry from the vibrant colours they'd been previously.

Now, you could hear footsteps, keeping time with the drums, and the colours were entirely gone from the surroundings. Some part of you was afraid, but the other part of you couldn't quite care enough to let you run away from the source of the noise.

Now, the buildings began to decay, stones cracking and windows shattering. Flakes of ash began to float down through the air like wretched snowflakes, leaving a thin covering over everything. The once-beautiful city was grey and decaying, with nothing living in sight.

This was enough to scare even the part of you that couldn't be bothered to run previously.

You started to run down the avenue that you stood in, now unrecognizable as ash and debris floated by with the faint wind that had begun to blow. You came to the end of the narrow street you were on, and were emptied onto the main street of the metropois. It was at least 6 lanes wide, but the few motor cars in sight were parked along the sides of the street, windows shattered, with rusty and burnt husks that would have previously been gorgeous classic cars with vibrant and gleaming paint.

You looked to your left. A parade was coming for you, lead by a large float. The float was draped in black ribbon, with a large grinning death's head decorating the front. On the float were 5 men with various musical instruments, dressed in parade uniforms of stark black and white. On either side of the float were two women, one per side, dressed as baton girls, in the same colours as the men on the float. Thousands of people, dressed in matching uniforms, each slightly altered, trailed behind the float, further than your eye could see.

In front of the float, quite near you, stood a skeleton dressed as the others were, a large drum strapped to his front.

This was the one drum that you could pick out above the rest.

As you looked on, the skeleton beat the drum one last time, before throwing his head back and letting out a manic cackle.

The man with the microphone on the float turned to you, and asked, "Have you heard the news that you're dead"?

Then, the city was filled with the sound of a heart monitor flatlining.

After nearly a decade, I've gotten around to writing a 'Black Parade' fic.