Join Me In Death

He let go of my hand and looked out into the crowd. "Helena, please show Delilah where to change. Once that is done we will strike up the band and continue on."

He glanced back at me, clapped me on the shoulder and The Singer left me to join the massive crowd.

A woman with a crow's mask stepped forward. She wore a lengthy black gown that had a red sash tied around the waist. Black gloves adorned her hands, the ends of them coming up to her elbows. She had the grace of a dancer as she reached a hand out to mine.

"Come on dear, let's get you into your new clothes." Her voice was pretty and had a husky tone to it. I let her pull me through the crowd and towards one of the wrecked buildings. It's foundation was still intact and she brought me inside it.

"There we go, there's enough privacy here for you to change." She took of her mask and I was taken back by her face. Black hair fell down in long strands, and her face was as pale as snow. Red lips were smiling at me and crinkling green eyes observed me from behind long eyelashes. Was everyone in this world beautiful?

Her lips pulled down in a frown as I just stood there, unsure of what to do. "Well, come on. Change!"

I looked at her in confusion. "What are you talking about? You haven't given me anything to change in to!"

She looked surprised. "You mean you don't know how to?"

I was clueless. "How to what?"

Helena sighed and held a hand up to her face, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I should have known he wouldn't tell you anything." She looked up to me with piercing eyes. "In this realm, you are able to control your reality. You can change things based on your imagination, energy, and creativity. For example:"

She gestured to my gown. "If you concentrate hard enough and picture yourself in whatever clothes you want, you will be able to make them appear."

I stared at her, unable to discern if she was serious or not. She scowled at my expression. "Don't look at me like I'm insane. Try it."

I nodded to myself and took a deep breath. "But! I wouldn't try any colors except black or white. Even red is hard to create." She warned me. "To create something takes energy, and black and white are the easiest because they're just shades of light, the simplest colors that exist."

Frowning at her assumption that I was weak, I attempted what she had explained to me. In my mind I pictured myself in a dress with a corset top. I based it off of the Victorian style of the other members of the Parade. I pictured fishnet stockings to go underneath the dress with Mary Jane's to adorn my feet. Just to spite Helena, I imagined the corset top to be a scarlet red. There would be black roses stitched into the sides of it, crawling up the sides of my torso. Meanwhile the rest of the dress would flow down in black.

I heard Helena's gasp of surprise and my eyes sprung open. I glanced down to find myself in the exact outfit I had imagined.

"Well, that's quite a fitting uniform." Helena gave me a small smile. I returned the grin.

Suddenly I felt a wave of vertigo and started swaying on the spot.

"Shit." I heard her curse before a hand grabbed my shoulder. "I told you not to try red!"

I leaned against her and tried to catch my strength. "Yeah, well you'll come to find that I'm quite a stubborn person." I smirked at her. She rolled her eyes and put a arm under my armpit.

"God, you're just like him.", she said under her breath. "Come on, we gotta get back to the group, they'll be waiting to see your new outfit."

I nodded and with her help, started to walk out of the crumbling building. Something was eating at my brain though.

"When will I get my mask?", I questioned. The Singer, Helena, and almost the entire Black Parade had a mask that they wore. Would I create mine?

"The Singer will create your's. He created all of our's.", Helena replied, pulling her crow's mask back on as we made it to the rest of the Parade. 'How peculiar', I thought.

The Black Parade saw me in my new outfit and they smiled at me. "Well don't you look beautiful?", a woman said cheerfully.

"Yes, I wonder what mask she'll get. . .", a man said aloud quietly.

"A panther of course, she has the grace of a feline!"

"Don't be absurd, it'll be a bird for sure! Look at how light and springy she is!"

"Perhaps a gargoyle, The Singer always has a fascination for hiding beauty under a cloak of horror."

They continued to argue what they thought my mask would be and I stood by Helena in hesitation. Either way, it seems that I was now a part of the club. Those that weren't in the argument came up and gave me a handshake or a hug in greeting. Literally welcoming me with open arms.

A sudden hand on my arm made me jump in fright.

"You sure stirred things up haven't you?" The Singer was behind me with an amused grin. I glanced around us and nodded. "I suppose I have."

"So I hear you're waiting for a mask?", he asked. I nodded once again, a nervous feeling starting to tug at my stomach. He bit his lip and stared at me in contemplation. "I always try to make the mask have attributes of the wearer.", he explained. Then he snapped his fingers and grinned.

"I have the perfect idea, you're really gonna love this sugar.", he winked at me and turned his back to me. I stared at him, curious to see what he was doing.

A few moments passed before he turned around. In his hands was a black mask. The dark threads of the material were intricately weaved together to form the mask. A small snout protruded where my nose would go with a black jewel for a nose, and pointed ears poked out from the sides. It was a small black cat mask.

He held it out to me and I accepted it, holding it in my hands delicately.

"Do you like it?", he asked. I nodded, looking up at him with a grin. He nodded to it. "Put it on."

There were black ribbons tied to each end of it and I tied them together after placing it on my face. The Singer nodded in approval.

"It's fitting." He came closer and walked around me, looking me up and down with a surveying expression. "Yes, very fitting."

I just smiled under my mask until he was done looking. He threw me a quick grin before turning to the people still watching us.

"Alright, are you all ready to begin again?" He shouted. A resonating sound of confirmation rang out. The crowd made a path for him to the float that was in the middle and he ran to it.

Another hand was suddenly on my arm. These people really didn't have qualms about scaring a person.

Helena grinned at me, "Come on deary, let's begin our march!"

Notes