Welcome To The Black Parade

Mason Cooper closed his eyes. He wanted to hold on to this moment and all it's glory. Mason lay in his hospital bed clutching on to his newly wedded wife, Shannon.
She took everything extremely well. The cancer, the chemotherapy, even this. Even as Mason lay, death closing in on him...she remains calm.
"I'm sorry" Mason whispers in a voice so quiet he was unsure whether Shannon had heard him, but of course, she did.
She looked at him directly her vibrant blue eyes piercing his soul. She squeezed his wrist and whispered quietly in his ear,
"Never be sorry." Mason couldn't help but be sorry though. He was leaving behind everything he'd worked so hard for.
"It's okay" Shannon said, though everything was far from okay. "Please Mason, let go."
Mason didn't want to "Let go", but we found himself obeying her command. He began thinking back to every important memory he had ever experienced. His life was flashing before his eyes. But then he remembered something. A memory he had hid to keep his mind from distorting and changing the scenes. He'd saved that memory for this very moment....
He was a very young child at the time and he's father had taken him to the city to see a marching band. He excitedly watched all the men marching by playing various instruments, when his father turned to him. He said,
"Son when you grow up, will you be the saviour of the broken, the beaten, and then damned?"....He said, "Will you defeat them, your demons? And all the non-believers?...The plans that they have made?...Because one day I'll leave you. A phantom to lead you in the summer, to join The Black Parade...."
Mason went very still for a second...and all the life left his body, but he died smiling. He died happy......Then, everything went black....
It stayed like this for several minutes when Mason began to worry that this was all the afterlife had to offer. Suddenly, a float came into focus. Surrounding the float were hundreds of people, marching in sync with the float, but it seemed no one dared to get to close, as there seems to be a large gap between the float and the surrounding marchers. On the float, however, were five men. Each in black marching gear. But each uniform seemed slightly different. Not one was exactly like the other. But he also noticed that each person looked very different. In the center was a handsome man with shockingly white hair. On his left was a stunningly short man with black hair. Then a man with blonde hair, a beard of sorts, and a lip ring. On the right stood a man who greatly resembled the one in the center, but had brown hair and looked slightly younger. He was separated from the others by a medal around his neck. The last of the five was a man with an unsightly afro.
The marching people and the float stopped only feet away from Mason and the five men walked in single file off of the float. The man with the white hair stepped forward and looked at Mason as if sizing up his pray.
"You will bow down when approached." He commanded casually. Mason surely didn't want to bow down to someone he'd just met, but he couldn't help but obey the mans voice. He bowed.
"I'm Gerard Way and they're Mikey, Ray, Frank and Bob. You'll spend the rest of eternity marching with us." Gerard handed Mason a metal similar to Mikey's. It had a symbol of a skeleton in black marching gear and was engraved with "The Black Parade".
"Welcome to The Black Parade." Said Gerard. And in that moment Mason felt excited, joyful, and proud. He finally felt like he was doing something. He finally felt at peace...

Notes

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