We Band of Brothers
Title: We Band of Brothers
Fandoms: My Chemical Romance / Frankenstein
Author: crossbow1
Rating: R
Pairing (if applicable): None.
Summary: Well, there's this monster, see...
Monster(s): Frankenstein's Monster
Any notes/warnings: Written for the mychemicaltest Universal Monster challenge.
X-posted: mychemicalslash, litverse, crossbowarchive
Somewhere in Europe, sometime in the past...
“Well, the food isn't bad,” said Bob, between mouthfuls of stew.
“Probably won't kill us anyway,” agreed Frank. “And the serving girls don't look too dangerous. Maybe we could stay here a few days.”
Gerard shrugged. “Depends on how the first show goes. We've only got enough money for one night in an inn. If we don't make an impression tomorrow, it's back to sleeping in the wagon and eating squirrels.”
“We should do something new, then,” said Mikey. “Something they don't see from every troupe that comes through here.”
“Right,” said Ray, laughing. “You just don't want to do The Rape of the Sabine Women anymore. Come on, you know that's our most popular piece.”
“Easy for you to say - you're not the one getting raped on stage every night! Although maybe you should be. You have the highest voice; why do I always have to play the girl?”
“Aw, because you're the prettiest!” Ray answered consolingly. “Anyway, I'm too tall. Maybe Frank will do it.”
“My voice is too deep,” said Frank, in his deepest voice.
“I'm never, ever, ever shaving my beard,” put in Bob, though no one had asked.
“Don't look at me,” said Gerard. “I'm the lead.”
“We could do something about the execution of Joan of Arc,” Ray suggested. “Then you could be the girl and still be the lead.”
“But I wouldn't mind playing her,” protested Mikey. “She never got raped!”
“We could have her get raped,” said Ray.
“Fine, fine, fine!” Gerard threw up his hands. “We'll do Joan of Arc, I'll play Joan, and Mikey can rape me.”
“Wait, I don't like this any better,” said Mikey.
When the serving girl brought their next round Gerard asked her, “What kind of plays do people like around here?”
“Oh, anything,” she said, “As long as there's murder and rape. You're performers? Do you do juggling? I love juggling.”
“Um, we do mostly tragedy and oratory, and Ray here can play some music... I don't think any of us juggle...”
The girl smiled and began to leave, then turned back. “Oh, there's a wedding tomorrow! You should do something with a wedding. The Baron's son is getting married. There's free beer, so I bet people will like whatever you do!” and she flounced off.
The five players looked at each other. Frank spoke first. “Do we even have anything like that?”
“Not without the bride getting raped,” grumbled Mikey.
Gerard frowned. “There's that Italian one where the couple kill themselves after the wedding. We could end it before that. ”
“It's not much of a play then,” observed Ray.
“Doesn't matter. Everyone will be drunk.”
Ray sighed. “All right, truncated Giulietta e Romeo it is.”
* * *
Thanks to the townspeople being busy with preparations for the wedding, the troupe was left alone to rehearse Giulietta e Romeo, which wasn't a standard part of their repertoire. In the afternoon, a commotion rose in the town square, and Gerard ran to investigate - whatever was happening would almost definitely affect their reception.
The mayor stood on a jury-rigged platform, calling for silence. Before him stood a wet, dirty man holding a small child. No... Gerard squeezed in closer to see. The corpse of a small child.
“My daughter, she's drowned!” said the man.
The mayor looked both concerned and confused. “My poor man! But why do you bring her here to me?”
“She has been murdered!” said the man, and the crowd roared.
“Silence!” bellowed the mayor. “I'll see that justice is done! Who is it?”
Gerard could make nothing from the clamour that followed. He spied the serving girl from the inn and pulled her aside. “What are they saying?” he asked. “Who do they think did this?”
“You haven't heard? No, you only arrived yesterday. There's been a stranger roaming the outskirts of town. He's frightened some people but this is the first time he's hurt anyone. Oh, I hope they catch him!”
The news apparently had reached the Baron and his family almost instantly, for the Baron's son appeared next to the mayor and announced that the wedding would be postponed until they caught the murderer. Gerard found himself developing a sense of awe at how closely knit this community seemed. That a member of the nobility had changed his wedding plans over the death of a peasant's daughter...
And he considered, not for the first time, what he was missing by choosing to lead an itinerant life. Sure, the other four were like brothers to him (one literally was), but it was only the five of them. They would never be part of a community like this.
Walking back to the wagon, Gerard rehearsed a dramatic speech in which he explained all this to his band of brothers, and persuaded them that they had to help these people catch the murderer, but the news had already reached them, and the other four men were already making torches and looking for weapons.
When the men of the town reassembled in the square after dark, the five players were with them, torches in hand.
The crowd's earlier sense of moral outrage had given way to pure excitement. Frank was actually hopping up and down, Mikey was dangerously close to having a facial expression, and even Bob was getting twitchy. Ray was mostly worried about his hair catching fire.
The mayor divided the men into three groups - one to search the lake shore, one to search the mountains, and one to search the woods. Gerard and his troupe were in the mountain party, led by the Baron's son. Of course what the townsfolk called “mountains” were not much to travelers such as Gerard's company, but were rugged enough that Gerard wondered aloud how a nobleman had come to be so familiar with them.
“He's been living out here for months,” explained the man next to him. “He's a scientist, and needs a lot of room for his work. He's taken over an abandoned watchtower up there.”
“Never lets anyone in,” said the next man. “He only has one servant.”
Then everyone was talking at once about Doctor Frankenstein and how whatever it was that he was doing was sure to change the world. No one knew what it was, but they had complete faith in his abilities and his intentions.
“They're really proud of him,” whispered Mikey.
“Yeah, he's a local hero, and I guess the Baron has always been good to them, too,” answered Gerard. Then, “Mikey, you ever think of settling down in a place like this?”
Mikey grinned. “That girl at the inn was really pretty.”
“That's not...”
“I know, I'm just telling you, I noticed her first. Since we're talking about settling down. But I know what you mean - going to church on Sunday, having neighbors who know you - yeah, I think about that, but I'm surprised you do.”
Gerard shrugged. “Sometimes. I mean, look at this - all these people working together, all just volunteering, because one little girl got killed. It's pretty amazing.”
“Hey, up here! They found someone!” yelled Frank from farther up the slope.
The man was injured but conscious, and was able to show them which way his attacker had gone. One man stayed to help him, and the rest of the party surged ahead.
After another half mile or so they heard sound of struggle coming from a windmill just ahead. As the crowd gathered and the torchlight increased, they were able to make out two figures grappling on the balcony above. One was Doctor Frankenstein; the other had to be the stranger. Monster, thought Gerard. He had to be nearly seven feet tall, and his head and hands and feet seemed disproportionately large even for his height. In fact he seemed distorted all over, and not only because of the torchlight.
One group of men was was trying to break through the mill door while another another tried to scale the wall, but before they got far, the creature above them lifted the doctor bodily into the air and threw him off the mill. Landing across one of the blades, the doctor was lowered to the ground by the machinery and quickly carried away by a small group of men.
Now there was no reason to hold back on attacking the creature. Someone screamed “BURN THE MILL!” but several men were already at it, among them Mikey, Frank, and Gerard. They were dimly aware of Bob and Ray farther back in the crowd, cheering.
* * *
The next morning, the five of them crawled down for breakfast at noon, reeking of smoke and hung-over from the celebratory drinking binge.
“That was incredible,” said Frank, as if they'd been in the middle of a conversation. “Bet you could see that fire a hundred miles away!” The others muttered in agreement.
“I was thinking about something, though,” said Bob in a low voice. “That little girl - how did they know it was that - thing - that killed her?”
“Well, he was the only stranger, wasn't he?” said Mikey.
"We're strangers, and we didn't do it," said Bob. "In fact, how do we even know she was murdered? Couldn't she have just slipped?"
Ray was frowning. "Let's get out of this town," he said. "We can't pay for the room last night anyway."
* * *
I gave them the wrong warning. I should have told them to run, as fast as they can. Run and hide, because the monsters are coming - the human race.
- The Doctor, Doctor Who: The Christmas Invasion (2005)
* * *
Notes:
The painting is by Brittany Baily. It's hanging over my desk. I wish I had a better photo of it to show you.
The lines in the scene where Maria is brought to the mayor are taken directly from the movie Frankenstein.
Thanks to stgerard for beta reading and tzimiscegrrl for the cool challenge. Extra special thanks (because she helped even though will never read this) to thedabara_cds for lending me Universal Monsters, Frankenstein, and all kinds of Doctor Who episodes. Thanks also to my idol, Tom Stoppard, for writing this scene.
Links of interest:
Entire text of Mary Shelly's Frankenstein
Psychology wiki on mobbing
Fandoms: My Chemical Romance / Frankenstein
Author: crossbow1
Rating: R
Pairing (if applicable): None.
Summary: Well, there's this monster, see...
Monster(s): Frankenstein's Monster
Any notes/warnings: Written for the mychemicaltest Universal Monster challenge.
X-posted: mychemicalslash, litverse, crossbowarchive
Somewhere in Europe, sometime in the past...
“Well, the food isn't bad,” said Bob, between mouthfuls of stew.
“Probably won't kill us anyway,” agreed Frank. “And the serving girls don't look too dangerous. Maybe we could stay here a few days.”
Gerard shrugged. “Depends on how the first show goes. We've only got enough money for one night in an inn. If we don't make an impression tomorrow, it's back to sleeping in the wagon and eating squirrels.”
“We should do something new, then,” said Mikey. “Something they don't see from every troupe that comes through here.”
“Right,” said Ray, laughing. “You just don't want to do The Rape of the Sabine Women anymore. Come on, you know that's our most popular piece.”
“Easy for you to say - you're not the one getting raped on stage every night! Although maybe you should be. You have the highest voice; why do I always have to play the girl?”
“Aw, because you're the prettiest!” Ray answered consolingly. “Anyway, I'm too tall. Maybe Frank will do it.”
“My voice is too deep,” said Frank, in his deepest voice.
“I'm never, ever, ever shaving my beard,” put in Bob, though no one had asked.
“Don't look at me,” said Gerard. “I'm the lead.”
“We could do something about the execution of Joan of Arc,” Ray suggested. “Then you could be the girl and still be the lead.”
“But I wouldn't mind playing her,” protested Mikey. “She never got raped!”
“We could have her get raped,” said Ray.
“Fine, fine, fine!” Gerard threw up his hands. “We'll do Joan of Arc, I'll play Joan, and Mikey can rape me.”
“Wait, I don't like this any better,” said Mikey.
When the serving girl brought their next round Gerard asked her, “What kind of plays do people like around here?”
“Oh, anything,” she said, “As long as there's murder and rape. You're performers? Do you do juggling? I love juggling.”
“Um, we do mostly tragedy and oratory, and Ray here can play some music... I don't think any of us juggle...”
The girl smiled and began to leave, then turned back. “Oh, there's a wedding tomorrow! You should do something with a wedding. The Baron's son is getting married. There's free beer, so I bet people will like whatever you do!” and she flounced off.
The five players looked at each other. Frank spoke first. “Do we even have anything like that?”
“Not without the bride getting raped,” grumbled Mikey.
Gerard frowned. “There's that Italian one where the couple kill themselves after the wedding. We could end it before that. ”
“It's not much of a play then,” observed Ray.
“Doesn't matter. Everyone will be drunk.”
Ray sighed. “All right, truncated Giulietta e Romeo it is.”
* * *
Thanks to the townspeople being busy with preparations for the wedding, the troupe was left alone to rehearse Giulietta e Romeo, which wasn't a standard part of their repertoire. In the afternoon, a commotion rose in the town square, and Gerard ran to investigate - whatever was happening would almost definitely affect their reception.
The mayor stood on a jury-rigged platform, calling for silence. Before him stood a wet, dirty man holding a small child. No... Gerard squeezed in closer to see. The corpse of a small child.
“My daughter, she's drowned!” said the man.
The mayor looked both concerned and confused. “My poor man! But why do you bring her here to me?”
“She has been murdered!” said the man, and the crowd roared.
“Silence!” bellowed the mayor. “I'll see that justice is done! Who is it?”
Gerard could make nothing from the clamour that followed. He spied the serving girl from the inn and pulled her aside. “What are they saying?” he asked. “Who do they think did this?”
“You haven't heard? No, you only arrived yesterday. There's been a stranger roaming the outskirts of town. He's frightened some people but this is the first time he's hurt anyone. Oh, I hope they catch him!”
The news apparently had reached the Baron and his family almost instantly, for the Baron's son appeared next to the mayor and announced that the wedding would be postponed until they caught the murderer. Gerard found himself developing a sense of awe at how closely knit this community seemed. That a member of the nobility had changed his wedding plans over the death of a peasant's daughter...
And he considered, not for the first time, what he was missing by choosing to lead an itinerant life. Sure, the other four were like brothers to him (one literally was), but it was only the five of them. They would never be part of a community like this.
Walking back to the wagon, Gerard rehearsed a dramatic speech in which he explained all this to his band of brothers, and persuaded them that they had to help these people catch the murderer, but the news had already reached them, and the other four men were already making torches and looking for weapons.
When the men of the town reassembled in the square after dark, the five players were with them, torches in hand.
The crowd's earlier sense of moral outrage had given way to pure excitement. Frank was actually hopping up and down, Mikey was dangerously close to having a facial expression, and even Bob was getting twitchy. Ray was mostly worried about his hair catching fire.
The mayor divided the men into three groups - one to search the lake shore, one to search the mountains, and one to search the woods. Gerard and his troupe were in the mountain party, led by the Baron's son. Of course what the townsfolk called “mountains” were not much to travelers such as Gerard's company, but were rugged enough that Gerard wondered aloud how a nobleman had come to be so familiar with them.
“He's been living out here for months,” explained the man next to him. “He's a scientist, and needs a lot of room for his work. He's taken over an abandoned watchtower up there.”
“Never lets anyone in,” said the next man. “He only has one servant.”
Then everyone was talking at once about Doctor Frankenstein and how whatever it was that he was doing was sure to change the world. No one knew what it was, but they had complete faith in his abilities and his intentions.
“They're really proud of him,” whispered Mikey.
“Yeah, he's a local hero, and I guess the Baron has always been good to them, too,” answered Gerard. Then, “Mikey, you ever think of settling down in a place like this?”
Mikey grinned. “That girl at the inn was really pretty.”
“That's not...”
“I know, I'm just telling you, I noticed her first. Since we're talking about settling down. But I know what you mean - going to church on Sunday, having neighbors who know you - yeah, I think about that, but I'm surprised you do.”
Gerard shrugged. “Sometimes. I mean, look at this - all these people working together, all just volunteering, because one little girl got killed. It's pretty amazing.”
“Hey, up here! They found someone!” yelled Frank from farther up the slope.
The man was injured but conscious, and was able to show them which way his attacker had gone. One man stayed to help him, and the rest of the party surged ahead.
After another half mile or so they heard sound of struggle coming from a windmill just ahead. As the crowd gathered and the torchlight increased, they were able to make out two figures grappling on the balcony above. One was Doctor Frankenstein; the other had to be the stranger. Monster, thought Gerard. He had to be nearly seven feet tall, and his head and hands and feet seemed disproportionately large even for his height. In fact he seemed distorted all over, and not only because of the torchlight.
One group of men was was trying to break through the mill door while another another tried to scale the wall, but before they got far, the creature above them lifted the doctor bodily into the air and threw him off the mill. Landing across one of the blades, the doctor was lowered to the ground by the machinery and quickly carried away by a small group of men.
Now there was no reason to hold back on attacking the creature. Someone screamed “BURN THE MILL!” but several men were already at it, among them Mikey, Frank, and Gerard. They were dimly aware of Bob and Ray farther back in the crowd, cheering.
* * *
The next morning, the five of them crawled down for breakfast at noon, reeking of smoke and hung-over from the celebratory drinking binge.
“That was incredible,” said Frank, as if they'd been in the middle of a conversation. “Bet you could see that fire a hundred miles away!” The others muttered in agreement.
“I was thinking about something, though,” said Bob in a low voice. “That little girl - how did they know it was that - thing - that killed her?”
“Well, he was the only stranger, wasn't he?” said Mikey.
"We're strangers, and we didn't do it," said Bob. "In fact, how do we even know she was murdered? Couldn't she have just slipped?"
Ray was frowning. "Let's get out of this town," he said. "We can't pay for the room last night anyway."
* * *
I gave them the wrong warning. I should have told them to run, as fast as they can. Run and hide, because the monsters are coming - the human race.
- The Doctor, Doctor Who: The Christmas Invasion (2005)
* * *
Notes:
The painting is by Brittany Baily. It's hanging over my desk. I wish I had a better photo of it to show you.
The lines in the scene where Maria is brought to the mayor are taken directly from the movie Frankenstein.
Thanks to stgerard for beta reading and tzimiscegrrl for the cool challenge. Extra special thanks (because she helped even though will never read this) to thedabara_cds for lending me Universal Monsters, Frankenstein, and all kinds of Doctor Who episodes. Thanks also to my idol, Tom Stoppard, for writing this scene.
Links of interest:
Entire text of Mary Shelly's Frankenstein
Psychology wiki on mobbing