There were millions of reasons to why he shouldn’t really believe in this. But only one reason to why he should. He still can’t get over the image of the mysteriously flying apple over his head thrown by nobody and then that blue eyed girl would laugh hard at him like everyone else. He’d gotten used to being the laughing stock of his friends but this was different.

He watched Jimmy being carried away in an ambulance and still couldn’t erase how confusing his thoughts were at the time. Jimmy used to be the greatest bully to him when he was alive but he was also the greatest friend he’s ever had. He looked up to him as a brother. In fact all of them are, but only Jimmy would listen to his whines, and complaints and just everything.

Sure Jimmy was close to the other three too, but he was the only one that was allowed to see another side of Jimmy. A side that he’d never knew Jimmy had it in him.

“Dude, you’re okay? Coz, if you’re not, we can do this some other time.”

Johnny turned off his bass amplifier and went over to Jimmy who was bending his upper torso over his drumkits.

“I’m okay. Just…let’s get this over with.”

Johnny fumbled with his decision whether to go on with this recording or not. The other members weren’t here, especially those two guitarists whom already had their part recorded. Vocal wasn’t going to be final until all of the tracks are included in the master and bass will always going to be paired with the drum parts. Which means only him and Jimmy were in the recording process of their self-titled album right now.

“Jimmy we can stop if you’re not feeling okay.”

“Damn it Johnny, I just told you that I’m okay! Would you just leave me-”

Jimmy grabbed his chest briskly, his face scrunched up in agony. He laid his cheek onto the snare of his drumkits and wailed in pain.

“Jimmy!” without stopping himself, Johnny ran towards him, ignoring his Schecter Hellraiser bass guitar which strapped onto his shoulder.

“It burns Christ. My chest!”

“Dude, where’s your meds?!”

“I..don’t need them.”

“What are you talking about, Jim?! You really need your fucking meds, right now. I’ll call Frank. He’s out smoking. We’ll get you to the hospital-” Johnny started to unplug his guitar and making a move towards the door.

“Christ, let me go in peace.”

Johnny Christ stopped and stood there, motionless. His mind left blank watching his friend struggled to breathe and with a few seconds later, Frank - their audio engineer came into the studio and panicked as he saw Jimmy was shattered in pain. Johnny saw something new in Jimmy’s eyes at the time. Despite Frank succeeded in saving Jimmy for the day, Johnny didn’t dare to witness those again.

“Don’t…don’t tell them about this, Christ.” Jimmy mumbled in a low voice, making sure that it will go past Frank’s hearing sense after taking his meds forcefully by him. Johnny didn’t know what to say, or to do except nodding in agreement.

That was the last time he saw Jimmy in pain. After that he led on a normal life happily as if nothing had happened.

Now, Jimmy was back again. Why would he want to come back? The first month of his passing, Johnny kept recalling the moments where Jimmy seemed suicidal. He didn’t want to take his meds on purpose and just let the pain ran through him. It was painful to watch him giving up but Johnny couldn’t do anything. It was his choice. Right now, upon his comeback with a mysterious girl, Johnny needed to know the truth.

He threw his cigarette off the window of his car and killed the engine. Ignoring how awful his parking skill was, he went towards Brian’s mansion and rang the doorbell.

“Morning!” he greeted warmly at the friendly face in front of the door, Michelle.

“Morning Johnny! You’re early.”

“Well, I haven’t had breakfast yet. Whatcha cooking?”

Michelle smiled and let the door open to invite him in. Johnny and Zacky had always come here to eat on a daily basis. Michelle didn’t mind, she loved cooking anyways.

“Eggs with bacon. And pancake if you’d like.”

“I’d like them all please, Chelle.”

She smiled again and set up a plate for him. Even Brian hadn’t woken up yet as he was tired from the baby making activity earlier this morning.

“Where’s uh…Blake?”

Michelle perked an interest. Her eyebrow arched as she sneered at him. “She’s upstairs. Why? You wanna jump her?”

Johnny’s mouth dropped in O, his eyes blinking fast. “No! I’m perfectly happy with Lacey! Why would I want to-”

“Johnny, relax. I was just kidding. Here’s your coffee. Careful it’s -”

Johnny took it and immediately sipped on it. “Ouch!”

“ – hot. What’s wrong with you today? You seem all over the place.”

Johnny chuckled and bit his own tongue in agony afterwards. He wanted to answer Michelle when footsteps of little feet came running from upstairs accompanied by the sounds of little bell, followed by a humming voice behind it.

“Morning, Johnny Christ. Slept well last night?” Brian appeared from behind the wall with Pinkly running by his side and went straight for Michelle’s waist and lips after greeting him briefly.

“Did you just ask me that, Brian?”

Brian stopped midway as he was about to kiss Michelle and turned to look at Johnny.

“Well, after a few pranks Jimmy pulled on you last night, I bet you’re having nightmares.”

“Damn it Brian, don’t you feel it? I know we already grabbed hold of him being in Blake’s body but him being out of her…I felt – Jesus, I don’t know how to describe it.”

Brian inhaled deeply and let go of his wife’s waist to approach Johnny at the breakfast counter.

“I know. Scary. But he’s our brother, and this is the best of him that we can get now. We can’t lose him again.”

Johnny looked down at his mug while his palms mindlessly playing with the sides of it.

“Brian, if only you’d know.” He muttered under his breath, close to nothing came out of his mouth but Brian can hear him crystal clear.

“Know what?”

Johnny tilted his head up abruptly to find the couple was staring at him. He was startled, and determined at the same time. His mind debated on whether he should tell Brian Jimmy’s secret or not. But when he was about to open his mouth to speak;

“Oh morning Blake! There you are. Come and sit, I’ll prepare a plate for you.” Michelle warmly greeted and made Johnny turned his back. Blake was standing awkwardly like she always did with a pair of bluest eyes set on him. She smiled briefly before taking a seat next to him.

“Hello, Blake. How are you feeling today?”

“Hi Johnny. I’m good. I think we could skip the polite part now. I’m here with Jimmy and he kept mocking your hair. I can’t concentrate anymore.”

Hairs on the back of Johnny’s neck stood up like he was electrocuted. He saw Brian laughed and went over to Michelle casually. Blake on the other hand smiled at him in amusement.

“Jeez, that bastard never learns how to stop huh?” Johnny ran his hand through his drooped mohawk, as he didn’t style them this morning.

“Nope.” Blake shook her head, her lips didn’t grew out from a smile. “Jimmy said that.”


They all ate breakfast in peace as Jimmy stood over Pinkly who stared at him, with her tongue out. Pinkly would occasionally bark, letting him know that she can see him alright. Jimmy ruffled her fur, but as usual his touch just went through her.

“Blake, tell us about yourself. You know who we are now.”

Jimmy heard Johnny brought up the conversation after a short moment of pause between them.
“I – thought I said it all?”

“Well, apart from living in a bookstore, you didn’t actually tell us anything.”

Brian sipped his coffee and glanced over at Pinkly mindlessly. He saw that the dog was staring up at the ceiling and he knew that it was Jimmy who stood there watching her. Brian felt goosebumps but happy at the same time.

“Well, apart from I am Blake Delilah Quinn, My parents are both live in Ontario. I rarely get to see them, I assumed they’re still angry at my brother.”

Quinn. Where have I heard that name before?

Jimmy thought to himself. He never remembered Blake’s last name because it didn’t matter to him at the time. But now, it was like, something important just slipped by him and he ignored it.

“Your brother?”

“Yeah. He went against my parents will so I was forced to lose contact with him.”

“Oh poor guy. What did he do?”

“He got married.”

Both Johnny and Brian shot a glare at each other with their eyebrows elevated.

“Is that so bad, that he got married?”

Blake shrugged. “The girl he was marrying was pretty rough. They met through a wild night, I guess. I don’t really know her.”

“Wow, I’m surprised that there are still parents like that.”

Jimmy watched them talking with his back leaning against the wall. Blake would glance at him from time to time, meeting his eyes with a smile on her face. In his head he tried to recall where he had seen those amazing blue eyes before, and that surname. He felt like it hadn’t been too long since he encountered both of them. He ruffled his hair in frustration.

As the four of them conversed on, an emerging sound of a vehicle approaching suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Michelle ran over to the front door and greeted both Matthew and Valerie. Valerie tried to run into Michelle’s arms but Matthew restrained her from doing that.

“Val, watch your step!”

Valerie rolled her eyes and went to hug Michelle anyway. In the corner of her eyes, she saw Blake was standing behind them and smiled at them awkwardly.

“Blake, hi!” She initiated a hug on her and whispered; “Is Jimmy here?”

“Yeah.” She answered, also in whisper. “He’s standing right next to me.”

“He is? Good. I have an announcement to make.” Matthew suddenly pulled up, hearing the girls’ whispers and just went in easily without requesting for an entrance.

“Zacky and Arin’s not here yet?”

“No, and since when did my house becomes our headquarter?” Brian frowned at the crowd in his living room currently. He and Michelle weren’t used to having a group of company over, except when they were throwing parties and a few of dinner gathering they held among each other. But they mostly would gather at Matthew’s house if anything.

“Because Jimmy stayed with you, that’s why.” Matthew replied, taking his sunglasses off and settled himself on the couch.

Jimmy was also curious as to what Matt was about to announce. He’d been shocked and surprised last night when Matthew told Blake to pass it to him, that Valerie is pregnant. He couldn’t be any happier. He was about to become an uncle! He hoped he’d stick around when the baby is born.

“Jimmy, you’re awfully quiet this morning.”

He spun and found Blake was standing behind him, smiling curiously. She talked in a low voice ignoring Matthew and Brian’s small argument about something random like, Zacky’s probably stuck in traffic.

“You seem comfortable with them. I don’t wanna intrude anything.”

“Intrude? Jimmy, they’re your friends. They are dying to talk to you.”

Jimmy sighed and smiled sweetly at her. His hand rose and ran through her hair as his ghostly heart beating faster than it already was.

From afar, Johnny could see how Blake would smile silly by herself, spoke in a low voice towards a wall and tilted her head up to nothing. He couldn’t bring himself to believe that this wasn’t a dream. There was a ghost among them and they can’t see it. Moreover the ghost was none other than someone he wanted to see the most. He needed to communicate again with Jimmy. Probably without the others this time.

“Screw Zacky. I’ll let him know later.”

Johnny drifted his eyes away from Blake to Matthew who touched his stubbly chin and grinned widely. Johnny wondered why.

“We’re going to Vegas next week guys. We’re gonna play with Metallica.”

Johnny rose to his feet abruptly. Brian too, gaped at him after hearing the news from Matthew.

“Seriously, Matt? Metallica?”

“Yeah, Hetfield requested us.”

“What?! This is great!”

“Yeah, but Brian. You’re okay with this right? I mean, you and Lars had a little history-”

“Dude, I’m fucking married to the best woman in the world. I don’t care anymore.” Brian snaked his left arm to Michelle’s waist and gave her a convincing glare. She sneered at him. Both of them recalled a dark dot in their past – Maya. But quickly washed it away seconds later.

“Jimmy, are you listening to this?” Matthew glanced at Blake who stood directly in front of him. She blinked for a couple of seconds, before turning to Jimmy. He looked shocked and excited combined into one expression.

“He’s – speechless. But I guess he can’t wait for it to happen.”

Matthew smiled at Blake. He’d still feel awkward using a middle person to converse with Jimmy. He needed Jimmy right here, right now.

“Most of the songs are tributes to you, Jim. My dream of making you listen to them live is finally coming true!” he walked in farther steps until he was standing n front of Blake, towering over. She had to tilt her head up as Matthew was around Jimmy’s height but he was a little more buff than Jimmy.

“I know we’re already recorded the demos for that album but I haven’t heard some of them with the lyrics.” Jimmy mumbled, his eyes fell to the floor. He recalled Fiction, a song that he wrote just three days before his passing. There were a lot of emotions going on when he wrote that piece. An awful lot of predictions and decisions.

Blake was watching both him and Matthew for a second, but when she was about to tell Matthew what he said, Jimmy grabbed her shoulder softly.

“Don’t tell him that.”

Blake frowned at him, but obeyed nonetheless.

“So, you’re invited too Blake. I bet you’ve never seen us live.”

“No I haven’t.”

And Jimmy can’t wait to show her just how awesome they are.

Notes

A/N: sorry guys it's been too long! i've been awfully busy and at the same time writing my one shot stories too... feel free to check them out. it's called Five Kings and A Prince