A Tragic Affair

Whew! It took a little longer than I thought but here's chapter five. Please review? Also if you haven't read I Am The Way... yet, go read it when you're done here. Sorry, I reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally like that story.

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The next day we were going through everything at my house. I'd shut down all the stores, pulled anything that was relevant and gone home. Mikey was searching just as hard as I was but I kept my eye on him. I didn't want him to mistake my willingness to help as weakness and use it to stab me in the back later. Mid afternoon, I looked up at him. The light was causing a halo effect around him, setting off his dark hair. He looked up, a puzzled expression on his face. "Find something?" I asked, and he shrugged. "I don't know. What language is this?" He handed me a leather bound book, which I quickly realized was a hand written journal.

I flipped through it, then sighed. "It's Romanian, but it's jumbled." I read over the first few pages a couple times and growled as I realized what I was looking at. "It's a cypher." Mikey got up and sat next to me, gazing over my shoulder as he asked, "What the hell is a cypher?" "Basically the whole thing is written in code, we need the keyword to unscramble it then we need to translate it from Romanian to English. If you don't know the language this could take months or possibly never so you'd be fucked." Mikey sighed in frustration, saying, "Christ, I don't know Romanian!"

I favored him with a small smile, shrugging. "Well, I do actually. I'll find the code, you keep looking through that stuff, see if there's anything else we'll need. If this is coded, there's gotta be something important in here." He nodded and went back to his table, sifting through more books and papers. I started searching for clues right away, but it was so late and I was so tired... I drifted off...

Meanwhile...

Moth held Stokes and stroked his hair. the poor man was spaced out now, after everything they'd been put through. Gerard was across the cell from them, his black hair hanging in his eyes as he watched them. "You should just tell him, he won't hurt you if you do. He's really sweet." A lazy smile played across his lips as he twirled a lock of hair around his finger. Moth stared back, a strange look on his face. "Do you even have a soul left Gerard?"

The singer quirked an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" "I work with auras, doing Reiki, mostly healing energy work. It's all a manifestation of soul. I don't feel anything from you... There's a small glow, but it's very faint." Gerard crawled over to them, sweeping some of Moth's hair out of his face. "So what do you think then? Am I damned, am I going to hell?" His voice was soft and mocking but underneath that, Moth could hear a tremor of fear. "I think you're letting him control you because you've lost yourself."

Gerard blinked, then slid his fingers into Moth's hair, gripping it lightly. "Are you gonna save me?" It sounded sarcastic, but desperation showed in his eyes. Moth didn't say anything, he cupped Gerard's face and closed his eyes, looking for something he wasn't sure was there. But he felt it. Beneath the dark, the blackness that wanted to suck him down like tar, there was a spark of light. Yes, Gerard still had his soul, but it was getting weaker. Almost like it was being very slowly drained away.

When his eyes opened, he smiled at Gerard. There were tears in the singer's eyes though his face was blank. "I can save you, if you want." He didn't say a word, and before Moth could say more their lips were pressed together in a chaste kiss. There was a teasing of tongue but there was an urgency there, almost like he was trying to tell Moth to save him. Moth kissed back, trying to tell him silently, 'It's okay, you can turn back, you can save yourself.' But he pulled back and skittered across the room as booming footsteps sounded down the hall. Seconds later the door slammed open.

The Ringmaster strolled into the cell. Stokes, realizing who was there, sat up bolt right and scooted closer to Moth, trying to protect him. Even though Stokes had borne most of the punishment due to his big mouth, he worried more about Moth. But Moth stared fearlessly up at the Ringmaster, who stared back. He then viciously kicked Moth in the side, causing him to cry out. Stokes jumped to his feet and shouted at him, but being chained to the wall he couldn't reach out and strangle the Ringmaster like he wanted to.

The evil man only regarded him with a passing interest. "I suppose I haven't broken you yet if you're still trying to defend him." The Ringmaster said absently. "But I won't have you corrupting Gerard with your goodness." He said the last word like it was a foul taste in his mouth. Gerard stood and walked over to the Ringmaster, a pleading look on his face. "But they weren't. I was just trying to befriend them so I could find out where she is, I swear!" He seemed to consider this, then held out his hand to Gerard. But when the singer stepped even closer he used it to back hand him, Gerard falling to the floor.

Moth got to his feet in an instant, he and Stokes struggling against their bonds. "Leave him alone you sadistic son of a bitch." He growled. "And why should I? He belongs to me. He's of my flesh and blood though it's been muddled by such a long amount of time, and his soul belongs to me. He know that, and knows that he should behave. Just as you both should." Gerard had hunched over on the floor, hugging himself. For all the world he seemed like a broken toy. Stokes glared at The Ringmaster, telling him, "He doesn't belong to you and neither do we." "Oh you're wrong my dear boy. All three of you are unattached. No lovers, no God that you've dedicated yourselves to, so now you're mine."

He smirked at them as Gerard got to his knees, not daring to look up. Stokes shouted to him, "Come ON Gerard, stop being a fucking pussy and kick his ass!" "He doesn't love you!" Moth cried, "He's just using you. He'll kill you when he breaks the spell!" "SILENCE!" The Ringmaster shrieked, a force emanating from him to knock the cousins into the wall. Their chains flew up as though alive and wrapped around their necks, tightening so they couldn't breathe. Gerard's head shot up at this and he crawled on hands and knees to the Ringmaster.

Bowing before him, he trembled as he said, "Forgive my my lord. I love you, I would never betray you." The Ringmaster glared at the two, almost like he hadn't heard Gerard. But after a moment he nodded and waved a hand through the air. Stokes and Moth dropped to the ground, coughing and sputtering as they sucked air greedily into their lungs. The Ringmaster smiled down at Gerard and pet him like you would an obedient dog. "Gerard, would you like to help me?"

The singer looked up at his doppelganger like he was being offered a wondrous treat. "How?" The Ringmaster pulled Gerard to his feet and brought him into a passionate kiss. Gerard's hands slid into the other man's hair as the Ringmaster's arms wrapped possessively around him. Moth stared quietly, a bit defeated as Stokes openly gaped at the two. When they finally broke apart, they'd thoroughly shocked the cousins.

The Ringmaster smirked at them as Gerard happily nuzzled his neck. "Take care of these two, use any methods you can think of to draw the information out of them. My tools are at your disposal but..." He trailed off as his fingers traced over his lips, "You can also use those honey lips, or your gorgeous body, " his other hand slid up his side, "to coax the answer out of them. I want Melissa's descendant."

And with that, he kissed Gerard's temple, released him and left the room. Once he was gone Gerard stepped over to the cousins; suddenly he looked very weary. "You're never going to tell us are you?" He asked, defeated. "No." They said in unison. "Okay..." He collapsed to his knees, then fell over completely. He'd fainted. Stokes and Moth knelt next to him, trying to revive him...

And far away from that scene is when I woke up, gasping in my own bed.