Mikey's POV

I freeze while I decide how best to digest this information. I am aware that Gerard is in the room and while he may look as if he's concentrating on the ceiling I don't want him to think I'm freaking out. Secondly, the psychotherapist is watching me, analysing my every move. Thirdly, I am Mikey fucking Way and if I don't have self-control then nobody does.
I decide to very calmly take a breath, then another one.
"Green," I say with crystal clarity, eliciting a pitiful mewl from Gerard and he clutches at my fingers.
"As in, Tom Green?" Frank says, "Gerard's doctor?"
"The very same," I reply and I tell him everything Bob said in the office and all that Gerard told me earlier about what Green had supposedly done to him.

"I see," Frank says when the account is over. "Well, rest assured that we will do something about that immediately. For now though, my priority is getting your brother back together. Would you be okay if I put him in a trance for now? It saves a lot of pain on his part."
"A trance?" It sounds a bit new-ager to me but I shrug. "Fine."
Frank leans over and takes Gerard's hand back in his. "Gerard, I'm going to count backwards from ten. All I want you to do when I reach zero is fall asleep."

Gerard's terrified eyes flicker from the ceiling to Frank's face. He's too confused about everything to even understand what's going on. His lips press tightly together and the bottom one wobbles slightly. Frank knows what's going on as well so he smiles reassuringly.
"Ten...nine...eight...seven..."
Gerard looks puzzled but his tense posture remains defensive.
"...six...five...four...three..."
He takes shallow gasps of air out of sync with Frank's steady counting.
"...two...one...zero. Sleep."

Frank snaps his fingers and the change is extraordinary. Gerard's eyes roll up into his head and shut tightly. All the muscles along his jaw, his shoulders, his arms, un-tense and his hands hang limply from their cuffs. His head lolls sideways and he appears to deflate a little bit, sinking into the mattress.
Frank flashes me a quick smile for reassurance then carries on concentrating on Gerard. "Well done, Gerard, that was perfect. I don't want you to try and move, just concentrate on getting your breathing back to normal."
Gerard's panicky breaths slowly return to normal under Frank's guidance.

"Okay, hush now. I would like you to listen to my instructions and let me guide you, okay? You're safe here, you're in a section of my world. Think of this as my office and nothing can get you in here that I haven't let in. Now, every time I snap my fingers and say 'sleep' I want you to respond by relaxing a little bit more. I just want you in a place where you're comfortable and almost asleep - you'll still be able to hear and feel what's going on around you."

For ten whole minutes Frank does nothing but talk in a low, soft voice and at the end of it I am entirely convinced that Gerard is sleeping. Frank assures me he can hear what's going on around him but he's too tired to respond to it so nothing will bother him.
"Good grief, I've never seen anybody crash so fast. He's mentally and physically exhausted," he says in a worried voice. "That's not good at all, keeping this level of tension up for a prolonged period of time can potentially be fatal."
"How long?"
"A matter of days. The longest I ever heard of anybody surviving at this level was eleven days, provided we're not also dealing with sleep deprivation."

Frank's hands once again move to lift Gerard's t-shirt. "Gerard, we're just going to have a little look at your tummy," he says and he directs me attention to the smooth skin.
"Run your fingertips over that patch of skin," he instructs and I do as he tells me. This time, Gerard doesn't react at all.
"It's bumpy," I say slowly. "Like grit."
"Precisely. This is the sort of pattern we expect to see from somebody going to a very bad acupuncturist." He looks at me carefully. "Or somebody who's had a load of pins stuck in him."

I feel my jaw tighten in anger and my lips press into a thin line. "Can we at least take the cuffs of him now?" I ask, staring at my harmless brother.
Frank nods. "Gerard, I'm going to unbuckle your restraints but I don't want you to try and move. Stay still, stay sleeping."
His fingers deftly slip the buckle and pick Gerard's hand out of the cuff. He rubs his hand around Gerard's thin and bruised wrist before settling the hand down on the bed by his hip and repeating the gesture with the other hand. He also unbuckles Gerard's ankles and rubs some life back into his bare toes.

Gerard stays asleep, causing Frank to smile widely. "That's brilliant, Gerard," he says then turns to me. "Mikey, I'd like to find out exactly what happened to him, if you don't mind."
"Okay," I say, dragging a seat up close to the bed and taking Gerard's left hand in mine - it's warm now.
Frank picks up Gerard's other hand and curls it around his own wrist. "Okay, Gerard. I'm going to let you move your right hand and I want you to squeeze my wrist gently." I see Gerard's fingers contract and relax once more. "Good. Now, if you start to feel scared I want you to squeeze my wrist and we'll stop. I promise you are totally safe with me. Do you understand?"


Gerard's POV

My body feels weird, heavy and light all at the same time. I instinctively trust Doctor Iero and so I don't mind not being able to move. I probably could if I really wanted but he promised he would keep me safe so I don't need to. He asks me if I understand and I nod once. Wow, my head is heavy, this feels better than Bob's little pills.
"Gerard, I want you to show me around."

I blink and I'm suddenly in the back garden to a house. I know this house, the weeds choking the windows, all the empty rooms and the dusty wine cellars filled with bottles of memories. I built this house with my own hands.
I turn and Doctor Iero is standing behind me in the garden. His hands are thrust into his pockets and the light summer wind is tugging at his short hair.
"You want me to show you around the house?" I ask. He turns to look at the house as if he's only just seeing it.
"Ah, a type of mind palace," he murmurs. "Yes, I'd like you to show me around, if that's okay."

I open the back door and we walk through the kitchen together into my old bedroom, the one with the tiny single bed taking up most of the available space.
"What can you tell me about the history of the house?" he asks, still looking at me.
"I built it nine years ago," I tell him proudly. "It's made of bits of my memories. Ignore the mouldy patches, they're just parties."
"Which room are we in now?" he asks and I frown. Can't he see the bed?
"One of my bedrooms," I tell him, looking around. "Although, I'm not sure about the wallpaper, I don't think orange really goes in here."
"This is your childhood bedroom," he says, now looking around. "You could have changed the wallpaper if you wanted but you haven't. Why?"
I shrug. "I like the orange," I tell him. "It makes me happy."

He smiles once again and I scratch at the palm of my hand - it feels like I'm holding something in it. "It's okay," he says as I tighten my fingers to get rid of the itch. "You're safe here." Suddenly he looks down at my clothes.
"What are you wearing?"
Can't he see what I'm wearing? I sigh because people are so weird sometimes. I honestly wonder about them, asking all their obvious questions. Like Mikey that time; there were very clearly grains of rice all over the kitchen floor but he simply refused to see them. I ended up just getting a brush and sweeping them up myself.

"I'm wearing the same clothes I wore to the first Green Day concert I ever went to." I look down at my oversize green hoodie and grey skinnies. I wriggle my bare toes and giggle at the sight of them.
"Did you enjoy the concert?" Doctor Iero asks.
I smile as the sound of the crowd cheering swells through the orange walls, it's joined by the smell of people and makeup and cheap alcohol. "I loved it," I tell him. "It was only three years ago. Mikey and Ray took me to see them as a treat."
I look over at Doctor Iero in his smart suit then glance down at his feet which are still encased in shiny shoes.
"Doctor Iero," I begin politely.
"Yes, Gerard?"
"Um, not to be rude but could you please take your shoes off? You're leaving marks on the carpet."
To my surprise he laughs. "I suppose I should have seen that coming," he says, bending to slip off his shoes and tucking them neatly outside the door.

"Gerard, you said you built this out of memories. Was that only good memories or bad memories as well?"
"There are bad ones here," I tell him. "I keep them in different rooms."
"So, if I asked you to show me one, could you?"
"Yes, in theory," I say carefully. My palm itches again and I clench it into a fist briefly.
"If it's okay with you, I'd like to see what happened to you during your very first appointment with Doctor Green."
I narrow my eyes. The cheering crowd has stopped and the warm smell of people is fading fast.
"You needn't be scared, Gerard. All I need you to do is open the door for me and I can walk in by myself."
"I don't have to come in?"
He shakes his head. "Just open the door."
I struggle for a moment but he promised nothing would happen, that I would be safe. And I'm in control here, so what's the worst that can happen?
"Okay," I say and turn around.

In the wall behind me is a door which wasn't there before. It's solid metal, three inches thick. I tell this to Doctor Iero who runs a hand over the surface of the door. I pull a key from a chain around my neck and insert it into the tiny keyhole. There's a small click then I dig my fingernails into the edge of the door and pry it open slowly. Beyond it is just white light.
"There," I say, stepping back. "You can look if you want but I'm not coming it."
He smiles and takes a step inside. "Thank you, Gerard. You've done exceptionally well but you look a bit tired now. Why don't you go and have a sleep?"
The door is just starting to close when I black out.


Mikey's POV

"...Why don't you go and have a sleep?"
Gerard's right hand once again relaxes around Frank's wrist and I stare at him. "What was that?" I ask.
"Gerard's psyche," he answers. "When he retreats inside his head that's where he goes, to the house he was just describing to me."
"So, he thought you were there with him?"
"I was there with him. He sees the house as a physical place and in a trance state like this I can communicate with him. He sees me in the house with him, interacting with it."
"So, what did you just get him to do?"
"I got him to safely access the memory of his first therapy session. The one he's locked away behind a door made of three inch steel." He looks at me darkly. "I'm going to ask him what happened. He's sleeping really deeply now, he won't remember this part."
"You're sure?"
"Please have a little faith, Mr Way, I'm a professional."

Frank settles himself down in a more comfortable position on the bed and out of his trouser pocket he pulls a small dictaphone. He waves it at me, asking my permission to use it, and I acquiesce with a nod. "Brilliant. Gerard, I'm going to guide you through this so stay with me and we'll be fine. I want you to remember the first time you came into the hospital. You were probably lying down on a bed, the lights flashing by overhead, noise. You would have been helped into your room by nurse Bryar and given a change of clothes. After that you would have had a meeting with your doctor. Tell me what happened in the meeting. Tell me about the memory behind the three inch steel door."

I'm careful to keep my grip loose on Gee's left hand as all three of us watch his face intently. He draws a small breath to speak. "He came in with a cardboard box and locked the door behind him. He took a battery out of the box with two probes attached to it and said it was for electric shock therapy. I tried to run but the door was locked and he strapped me to the bed."
Gerard's knuckles are white where he's gripping Frank's wrist but the hand I'm holding is still limp.
"He turned it on," he whispers. "He put the paddles on my head and it hurt so much. I think I was screaming but nobody came. I felt like I was dying all the time. When he stopped it I was nearly unconscious, everything was too loud. He packed it away and I thought he was leaving but he...he..."

A tear rolls down Gerard's impassive cheek and I wipe it away with my thumb. My poor Gee, if only I'd known.
"It's okay, Gerard," Frank says softly. "You can tell us. Me and Mikey and Ray, it's only us in here. Take a deep breath in...and let it out again. That's it, shh. Now please continue."
Gerard's fingers flex around Frank's wrist. "He...touched me."
No! Why on Earth did I send him here? This was all my fault, I'd sent him away and he'd been broken. I hear Frank asking Gerard to name the doctor who did this to him just for the dictaphone records and then my breathing gets in the way.

"Babe?" It's Ray's worried voice but it's far away. My head starts swimming, the room goes loud and lurches sickeningly. Ray's cool hands appear on either side of my face and his lips move, telling me to slow down, to breath normally. But I can't, the guilt won't let me because I'm responsible for this, all of it. I sent Gee here, sent him to this, to Green.
Frank's face appears in front of mine, one hand goes to the back of my neck and the other goes towards my wrist. His lips move quickly as he speaks to me in a low murmur but I only catch the end word.

"Sleep."
My muscles relax and I slump forwards. He catches me and passes me over to Ray who sits down with me cradled in his lap, my head resting on his shoulder. I don't know quite what's just happened but it feels good. My breathing slowly returns to normal and Ray runs his hand through my hair soothingly.
"What did you do to him?" Ray asks.
"He's in a very light trance, he's not even asleep like Gerard is. Frankly, it's the same as the feeling you get when you're really tired and you close your eyes for a second. He's freaking out too much and he was scaring Gerard. They do seem to share a very deep bond even for brothers."

It's warm against Ray's shoulder and I calm down quickly. "I think that should do it," Frank says, coming over to us and crouching down. "Mikey, on three you can wake up. One, two, three."
I open my eyes and blink at Frank.
"You started hyperventilating," he tells me as I flex my fingers and curl them around Ray's for comfort.
"I'm sorry," I say. "It's just...Gerard. I sent him here, this is my fault."
"Babe, you couldn't have predicted this," Ray says and Frank nods his agreement.

"Right, I'm going to wake him up now so you can spend the rest of your visiting time together."
"Are you leaving the cuffs off?"
"Damned straight, I'm leaving the cuffs off. In my professional opinion, your brother is as dangerous as a pom-pom."
Frank goes back over to Gerard and starts talking to him, bring him up layer by layer. It takes five minutes before Frank gives him a countdown and he opens his eyes.

"Take a second to adjust," Frank tells him, scooping his blazer up from the floor. "How do you feel?"
Gerard rubs his hands around his wrists and sits up straighter. "Um, okay," he says cautiously. "What just happened?"
"We used hypnosis on you," Frank says. "You might not remember all of it and that's perfectly normal."
"Okay. Um, thanks."
"You're welcome. I'll see you tomorrow at three o'clock again then." He scoops up his blazer and leaves.

Gerard looks at me and his face splits into a wide smile. "Mikey," he squeaks, hopping off his bed and stumbling over to give me a hug. I'm certainly taken aback but I wrap my arms around him anyway and squeeze.
"I missed you," I tell him sincerely.
"I missed you too," he says. "Promise you'll visit more often."
"Okay," I laugh, "I promise."

Notes

Obviously classic hypnosis can't work like this but my world, my rules. I do feel slightly cruel though...
Thank you all for commenting and reading :)
xxx Ghost