Ghost!Brendon/Ryan Chapter 3
Title: Morts ou Vivants [Ch. 3/?]
Author: Meeeee! cobrapandemic
Beta: mikeycway
Summary: Brendon should have listened to Travie. Now he’s dead too.
Pairing: ghost!Brendon/Ryan, eventual Spencer/Jon
Words: This Chapter: 2.344
A/N: This is based on a dream I had. I hope you love it!
::Chapter One:: ::Chapter Two::
RYAN:
To say that Pete had flipped out on Ryan would be an understatement. Pete didn't just flip out, he ran into a back room of his apartment and came back with a aluminum bat, swinging it recklessly in every direction. The blunt end went straight through Brendon's head a couple of times.
Needless to say, Ryan got the fuck out of dodge, Brendon on his flanks muttering, “Pete would never...Pete isn't violent. Pete is my best friend.”
Ryan wants to say, “He was, Brendon. He was your best friend.” But he doesn't.
They don't go back to Ryan/Brendon's apartment. Instead Ryan follows Brendon up three flights of Emergency Only stairs to what Ryan presumes is the roof. The October air is cool and windy as it whips Ryan's hair into a tussle across his gradually paling skin. He manages to look over to where Brendon is staring off over the Vegas skyline. Ryan notices that the wind doesn't move Brendon's hair. He also notices that Brendon is somehow paler. Maybe even slightly transparent.
Ryan wills himself out of his place near the large iron door and moves to stand next to Brendon. The boy is all but shaking and Ryan wonders if ghosts can feel cold.
“If I'm just in a coma...why did my mom sell my apartment?” Brendon says monotonously. Then, “If I'm just in a coma why is Pete at home mourning and not there by my side?” Brendon's voice is becoming bitter. “If I'm just in a fucking coma why the fuck am I a ghost?!” Brendon looks to Ryan as if Ryan knows all.
And Ryan can't answer any of those questions. And God, he wants to be able to answer Brendon and tell him everything will be fine but Ryan doesn't know if everything will.
“I'm sorry.” Is what he eventually says after weighing a dozen responses in his head. None were quite enough so he summed it up. Why use five words for what you can say in two?
“I am too.” Brendon responds and Ryan notices Brendon's body is flickering. Notices how he can see the A/C unit through Brendon's abdomen. The darkening sky through Brendon's gravely sad face. Ryan wants to cry.
“Brendon, don't leave.” Ryan whispers but Brendon isn't there anymore. Just something cold where he used to be and Ryan swears he hears his own name as a gust of wind whips past him.
BRENDON:
Brendon has no fucking clue where he is right now. One second he's talking to Ryan and the next he's...here. Brendon's not even sure where here is but from observation he thinks it's Central Park. Which, okay is pretty fucking random.
He's sitting on a bench next to a pond and there are people. Walking, talking, smiling, living human beings. It makes Brendon irrationally upset.
Across the way there is a swan, all white feathers and pure indescribable beauty, feeding on the tiny bread crumbs that the old couple is throwing onto the surface of murky green waters. And Brendon sighs. Because, wow.
“The world just seems so much more beautiful when you're not a part of it anymore, huh?” A sweet female's voice makes Brendon jump in his seat. He turns sideways to see a beautiful blond girl with shiny blue eyes and legs to die for. The girl is dressed in tight white jeans and a white tee shirt and white heels and she has white, gaping, remarkable appendages attached to her shoulder blades. Brendon recognizes them as wings.
The girl giggles at Brendon's awe-stricken gaze. “I'm Maja. I'm you guardian angel, Brendon Boyd Urie. Born April 12,1987.”
And Brendon is speechless. Speechless because the only fucking way this is real is if he is in fact dead. Seriously, legally, all-hands-down dead. He want's to throw up.
Maja shifts herself to face forward and her wings expand wide, nearly knocking Brendon off of the bench. She sends him an apologetic smile and he doesn't smile back. He can't.
“I suppose I'll do all the talking then.” She says, eying Brendon sideways. Brendon doesn't even look at her. Just turns away to watch the swan from earlier. But it's not there anymore. The beautiful, white swan is gone. But Maja, the beautiful angel with the white clothing and white wings, is here. Brendon connects the dots pretty quickly but stays silent.
“What happened to you, Brendon, was a tragic scene. It was never supposed to happen that way but you weren't heading in the right direction. You were straying from your path.” Maja begins, and Brendon is listening. Still not looking at her, but listening nonetheless.
“Father has a plan for everyone Brendon. He has a big plan for you. And for Peter and Gabriel as well.” She says Gabe's name very gravely. “And for Ryan Ross too. But what happened to you that night, Brendon, it construed that path. And now I have to help you get back on the right track. That is if you want me to help you.”
Brendon can't say anything. Because all of the years and years of going to church could not have prepared him for this.
“Will you allow me to help you Brendon?” Maja presses gently. And Brendon finds his voice.
“If I don't let you help me?” He asks, voice shaking with fear of what her answer may be. God would send him to hell?
“Well, you would become a guardian angel to some lost soul as well. Like myself and countless other before me. But I made the wrong choice, Brendon. I want you to make the right one. So, will you let me help you?”
Brendon can tell this is Maja's final time asking. There will be no, “Is that your final answer?” because this isn't a television game show. This is Brendon's life.
So Brendon opts to just nod. Maja smiles. Everything goes black.
RYAN:
Ryan hasn't seen Brendon for almost a week now. Work has been tedious. Jon has been... high. Things have been relatively normal. But Brendon could still come back which is why he has to lie to Spencer.
“Yeah, Spencer. I just, we can't do this dinner party thing tomorrow. At least not at my apartment.” Ryan says into his Blackberry as he walks down the nearly empty Vegas strip. Which is, okay, weird because it's the fucking Vegas strip.
But then again it is 12 am and Ryan is refusing to enter his own apartment.
“Ryan, what the fuck do you mean? You were just babbling about how absolutely perfect the place is and now you don't want to have the house-warmer? Gerard will be pissed.” Spencer bitches and Ryan can practically see his bitchface.
“I figured as much. Gerard is a dick. And it's not that I don't want to it's-” Ryan is trying to think of a lie when he trips over something furry and strikingly white.
The cat mews at Ryan pathetically, looking at him with strangely beautiful blue eyes. Eyes that put Spencer's to shame.
“-It's a flea infestation. The creepy neighbor lady, Pearl. She has a dozen fucking cats, dude. And there are like...fleas. All over the place. So the exterminator is coming tomorrow. It wouldn’t be right to throw a party in that kind of mess.” Ryan breathes out and the little white cat is sitting on it's rump looking absolutely bored shitless.
“Ryan, I've known you for 16 years, goddamn you! You're lying to me and I swear-”
Ryan rolls his eyes. “Oh, Spence, I have to go. That's my landlord calling. Probably about the fleas. Bye, Smith.” And he hangs up abruptly on his best friend.
He will pay for it later. Spencer Smith holds a mean grudge.
Ryan is about to continue his walk but the little white cat mews again, more demanding now. Almost saying, “Hey, look at me!”
“Hey there, girl. What's the matter?” Ryan coos down at the feline, scritching it behind one of it's folded ears. The cat mews again, then pulls away.
“Where you going, kitty?” Ryan asks, as if the cat was going to answer. The cat swishes it's tail at Ryan as if to say, “Follow me.” and starts sprinting up the sidewalk.
“Okay.” Ryan draws out and paces behind the cat, keeping up easily with his long legs. The cat takes him about four blocks down the way and stops on the steps of a building. Ryan looks up at the sign.
SUNRISE HOSPITAL AND MEDICAL CENTER
He looks down at the cat who is haphazardly clawing at it's little white collar. Ryan squints as a red sliver of paper falls from it, landing on the step below the cat.
Ryan bends, first looking at the cat's silver tag.
MAJA
“Strange name for a cat.” Ryan says and the cat almost rolls it's eyes. If cats could do that.
Next Ryan picks up the sliver of red paper, turning it over in his fingers. He reads:
ROOM 510
He reads it over and over before deciding to make sense of it. Room 510 must be in the hospital. That cat must want Ryan to go to Room 510.
“Okay, Maja-”
Ryan turns around in a full circle, searching for a ball of white fur. He sees none. The cat has run off.
“Great.” He murmurs and ascends the steps, refusing to think about how weird his life has become.
The hospital is very quiet and very clean. Ryan assumes it's privately owned. Only for people with mansions and limos. Ryan never thought he could hate hospitals more.
There are a couple of senior citizen sitting in designated places reading Life and Style and Daily Diabetic magazines. Across the way there is a bored looking receptionist chewing loudly on gum. Ryan instantly wants to smack her.
He approaches her and she gives him an uninterested look. “Can I help you?” She asks.
Ryan scratches the back of his neck because remind him why he is doing this again?
“I...Room 510.”
“And how are you related to Mr. Urie?” The girl surveys, eying Ryan skeptically.
Urie? As in...
Why hadn't Ryan seen this coming?
“He's my cousin. I heard what happened. Flew all the way from New York.” Ryan lies. Spencer taught him well. Even though his lies don't work on Spencer.
The girl stops chewing. “Fifth floor, fifth door on the left.” And then she's back to looking bored.
Dumb bitch.
Ryan keeps his head low as he enters the nearby elevator. There's a doctor in it and Ryan doesn't want to draw attention to himself.
The guy is a hell of a lot taller than Ryan by far and he has a goofy air about the way he stands. He's more of a character than a human being.
The elevator doors ding open and the doctor motions for Ryan to exit first. Ryan does and starts to count the doors. When he reaches the fifth door, he realizes that the doctor is still behind him. Waiting.
“I...My cousin-”
“It's quite alright, young sir. I'm Brendon's doctor. Dr. Ripley.” The doctor explain quickly, reaching around Ryan to open the door. “I'll give you time with him.”
Ryan takes the cue and goes inside.
The room is full of flowers and balloons and blindingly colorful stuffed animals. It's clear that Brendon was...is a loved person.
Ryan walks carefully over to the hospital bed, the heart monitor's consecutive beeps matching his foot steps. He closes his eyes against the sight in front of him. Because he would rather have seen Brendon beaten and bruised beyond repair than to see this perfect caricature of angelic beauty.
Brendon's hair makes a messy auburn halo against the white pillow beneath his head. His face is pale but unbelievably perfect too. Ryan wants to reach out and touch the purple veins under his thin lids. Trace the curvature of his pink lips that seem to be smiling almost.
Ryan gasps though, at Brendon's neck. The skin is withered and dry and black and purple. There are several punctures there from a needle and Ryan has to hold a hand over his mouth to stop the vomit.
Ryan doesn't know Brendon. Not the real Brendon but he does know that Brendon could have never done anything to deserve this.
“I'm so sorry this happened to you.” Ryan says, more hoping that a stupid movie miracle would occur. Hoping that Brendon's eyes would flutter open and he would smile at Ryan and things would be alright.
The door opens and Dr. Ripley enters, holding a chart to his chest.
“Have you said your farewells, young man?” Dr. Ripley asks and Ryan freezes. Farewells?
“Excuse me?”
“Well, I would assume, since I haven't seen you here before, that you are here to say goodbye to your cousin. Am I correct?”
Ryan is seriously being mind-fucked to hell right now because, what?
“Why would I be saying goodbye to him? He's going to wake up. It's just a coma.” Ryan says, staring at Brendon's angelic beauty. And the boy just looks peaceful.
“Sir, the family. Your family decided weeks ago to pull the plug on this. We will be doing it on Wednesday afternoon.”
And time seems to stop. Because that's two days away. And Ryan doesn't know how his life has become this. He just moved into the place a week ago! What the fuck is going on?! How can he give a damn about a person he's never met a day in his life?
Ryan doesn't say another word. He takes off running, a mantra of Brendon, Brendon, Brendon dancing in his head. He needs to find Brendon. He needs to save Brendon.
He thinks he loves Brendon.
A/N: I really didn't expect as much feedback on this as I got but WOW! I'm sooooo happy you guys like it and I will do my best to update on a regular basis! But I was so excited today I decided to update twice!!! Awesome huh?! Anyway, thanks again, bbz.