FicWad

Mari started awake, blinking unseeingly into the sea of anxious faces. As they came into focus, she screamed again, startled by the odd assortment of characters within inches of her face.
"Is she okay?" "What's wrong?" "Are you okay, Hon?" "Give her some air." "Momma, we all go to hell." The chorus of voices added to the confusion.
She closed her eyes and moaned.
Scott bent down and brushed a stray lock of hair out of Mari's face. She opened her eyes and gave a weak smile. "Sorry, guess I had a bad dream" she said sheepishly.
The others, satisfied that the excitement was over, quickly lost interest in the whole drama. They took up where they left off, laughing and singing.
"Come on. Get up." Scott urged her to her feet. Mari struggled to stand. One leg was numb from the blood flow being cut off.
"Hey, Scott. Are you coming?"
"Come on, Mari. Todd, Sandi and some of us are going over to the hotel to see if we can see the guys. Todd found out that that's where they're staying." The hotel was actually situated across the parking lot from the arena. "Wanna come?"
"I love ya, but not just no, but hell no." Scott looked crestfallen.
"You go on and I'll save your place in line." Scott was satisfied with that and quickly scampered over to join Todd. They were soon involved in an animated conversation as they headed across the lot with the small group of people.
"Scott" Mari yelled. Scott turned. "Give him a kiss for me." Scott laughed and blew her a kiss.
Mari turned to the group left in line. They, sensing her discomfort, tried to make her feel welcome; asking her if she wanted something to drink. Mari noticed a cooler and hibachi now stationed near the group. She looked back toward the group headed to the hotel. She shivered.
"Hey, you wanna share a blanket?" The temperature had dropped while she slept. She definitely felt better. Most of the darkness she had felt earlier was gone. She was soon right in the thick of things, eating hot dogs, drinking sodas and listening to MCR stories. It seemed that everyone there had a personal story of how MCR had touched his or her life. How they and their music had given them hope, understanding or just the strength to slog on through life. Mari was amazed.
When Scott and his merry band of intrepid explorers finally made it back from the hotel, they looked disappointed.
"Well, either they weren't there or they kicked your puppy."
"Funny. We slipped the front desk clerk money to tell us when they were coming down and the jerk finally tells us - after we've been sitting there forever - that they left an hour before to go to the radio station for an interview. So now we've missed them and the interview."
"Don't worry. It wasn't one of their best." Mari helpfully offered. Her group had listened to the interview a few minutes earlier.
"Yea, they said that they had been warned away from the hotel by the desk clerk. Some group of nuts was stalking them," someone else added. Mari joined the laughter. She looked over at Scott and his group. None of them looked terribly happy. In fact a couple were scowling. Mari shivered again.

At long last the gates opened and they moved to get into line for security.
Scott was jumping from one foot to the other and glaring at the security guards who were checking each concertgoer with the metal detector wand. The doors to the arena had finally opened but the process to actually get inside was long.
"Hold still" Mari hissed, "You look like a little girl who has to pee."
Scott stopped a moment and glared at her, "Excuse me?" he said in a shocked tone, "I most certainly do not look like a little girl."
Mari cut him off, "Oh yeah, you're wearing girl jeans and are wearing more eye liner than Liza Minnelli in Cabaret."
His face lit up, "Oh did I tell you that Gerard's mom got to meet Liza? How exciting is that?" He stopped only long enough to shoot some more eye arrows at security. "Of course Gerard being the sweet boy that he is thanked her for being nice to his mama."
"Do you realize we just went from talking about your eye liner to Liza Minelli to Mama Way in a matter of moments?"
Scott smiled, "Sure, all roads lead back to Gerard." He started the jumping from foot to foot again. "Besides it's man liner, not eye liner."
Mari was going to say something smart-ass but the line moved and they were getting closer to the doors. "What's the hurry anyway? There is still plenty of time before the concert starts."
The look Scott gave her was one of utter disbelief, "Mari, we have to get in there and get our spot on the barrier."
"The barrier?" she repeated.
"Oh my little mosh pit virgin, you don't understand. Fear not, I shall teach you the way of the pit." /One more person in front of him, come on, come on/.
"Empty your pockets" the bored guard said to Scott. He complied but lost his lighter in the deal. Once the wand was passed over him, he was in. Mari did the same and was soon on his heels trying to keep up as he broke into a dead run.
There were people already in front of the stage but they were still close. "Damn, this is OK but not great." Scott told her.
"What do you mean? Look how close we are." Mari could see the stage was just a bit past the metal wall she assumed was the barrier.
Scott spoke in her ear, "This is the plan so listen closely. As soon as the lights go down you start to snake your arms through the people in front of us. Grab the barrier and hold on for dear life. If you have the barrier in your hands, you're golden."
"You really think the people in front of us are just gonna let you sneak past them to be near your heart's desire?" She snuck a glance at the fans in front to her. Nope, she didn't think so.
Honey, where there's my will there's a way. Gerard Way that is." His eyes were scanning the stage getting the lay out of the place. "See back there is the spotlight Gerard is gonna shine on us."
"You already know what's gonna happen, don't you?" She shook her head and rolled her eyes.
"Of course, but I don't know everything Gerard's gonna say. He changes it up, all great artists are always changing, evolving you know."
"Great artist?" Mari laughed, "He's a singer."
Scott looked wounded, "He is a singer, a songwriter, an art school grad, an actor...There's nothing he can't do." He said with pride in his voice, "I can just see him in the remake of "Gone With The Wind".
Mari snorted, "He is awfully pretty, I guess he would be a good Scarlett."
Just then the lights went down. The roar of the crowd was deafening. "Grab the barrier" Scott yelled in her ear. Mari felt the crush of the people behind her and thought for a moment she couldn't breath. Then she felt the hands of people behind her trying to snake by her. She thrust out her hands and an act of God caused her to feel the coolness of the metal barrier. She had it. At the same time a crowd surfer almost hit her in the head. Beside her Scott was actually a bit further up than she. His eyes were glued to the stage where Mari saw a hospital gurney being pushed out to center stage. When Gerard's voice began "Now come one, come all to this tragic affair" the crowd somehow surged even closer to the stage. The crush was painful. She realized that she could literally pick her feet off the floor and not fall. Breathing was hard, which turned out to be a good thing. The young lady next to her didn't seem to believe in baths...or showers... or deodorants. But none of that mattered. The music was phenomenal. As many times as she had heard the album, nothing compared to hearing it live.
Strangely, during "I Don't Love You", she felt her phone vibrate. It was in the pocket of her hoodie and pressed against her ribs.
'Damn it' she thought. 'I was sure I turned that off' Oh well, not much she could do about it now. There was no way she could reach it.
As "Famous Last Words" ended, the curtains closed. "Blood" played over the loud speakers and the crowding eased somewhat. Mari pulled her phone out of the pocket and flipped it open. She had a text message. She quickly retrieved it. It was from an unknown number and simply said,
"She's here."