"Frankie - come in here!" Gerard's excited voice called out from the living room.

"I'm kinda busy love," Frank answered, because he actually was. He was in the process of making dinner; nothing special, just chicken and vegetables, but Frank was cooking his secret sauce at the moment, and it couldn't be left unattended for too long.

"Hurry up or you're gonna miss it!" Gerard yelled back, so with an over exaggerated sigh, Frank shut off the stove before wiping his hands on a random towel and heading over to see what had gotten his husband so worked up.

It was probably just a really cute cat on some adoption commercial or something, and Gerard was going to try and convince him that they just had to go save it. It wouldn't be the first time that had happened, but Frank would much rather get a dog, and they hadn't come to an agreement on that just yet.

"What babe?" Frank asked, but Gerard simply held his finger up to his lips and pointed to the television which was set on the five o' clock news.

A Hispanic female reporter was currently on the screen, but the volume of the TV was just a bit too low for Frank to make out what she was saying; those couple of years being in a band had messed up his hearing, not to mention working with loud plane engines all day.

Before Frank could ask Gerard to turn it up, he was reaching for the remote and raising the volume, receiving a grateful smile from Frank for his thoughtfulness.

"This horrible tragedy happened early this morning, but we have only now been sent video of the terrible event. We are about to show you live footage straight from Tokyo, which is quite graphic, so viewer discretion is advised," she spoke calmly, and Frank was now very intrigued as to what she was talking about.

The TV screen flashed over to an aerial view of what was apparently Tokyo, and for a few moments, Frank couldn't figure out what was so exciting. The person filming was obviously in some sort of helicopter, at least Frank assumed he was by the sound of the rotors he could hear coming through the faint screams emitting from the people far below.

The population was in a panic, darting to and fro like frightened ants, but Frank still couldn't see what was causing their mass hysteria. Then he saw them, even though he wasn't really sure what they were. Strange figures were flying through the air, alighting on random buildings before pushing off again, and Frank felt his mouth slowly drop open in shock as he continued to watch.

If he had to describe the creatures, he would say they looked like giant bats, but with slightly more human features than the animal usually carried. They were approximately three to four feet tall, and they seemed to be attacking the city, swooping down out of the air to grab a civilian with their extended claws, sometimes dragging them off, other times just raking their skin and leaving them bleeding on the concrete.

The video zoomed in shakily, revealing carnage and blood staining the city streets, people dashing this way and that, trying to escape the nightmarish beasts in the safety of the nearby buildings before the pilot pulled up, disturbing the view for a moment.

When the footage came back into focus, it showed that policemen and a few army personnel had finally reacted, pulling out their guns to shoot at the creatures when they came into range, felling a few, but more kept coming to replace the fallen.

"What the fuck?" Frank whispered, but Gerard simply shushed him again, because the short video clip had ended and a different news reporter began to speak. He was Asian, and he seemed to be at the location of the earlier carnage, which was now surrounded by large barriers and blocked off by numerous police cars.

"We have no idea what prompted this assault, or where these animals came from, but the survivors have been driven off, and the city is healing from this unexpected attack. I believe that this has to do with the string of odd occurrences that has been happening worldwide, even though the situation here differs in many ways from the previous disasters." The original news reporter cut him off as the screen switched back to her abruptly.

"Thank you Chen, but I'm so sorry, we are almost out of time. Discovering these creatures origins has become a top priority, and the recovered bodies are currently being studied by the best scientists in their field at the moment. So far, they still remain shrouded in mystery, but stay tuned to channel five news and we will continue to bring you the latest updates." She continued to talk about the death count and extra security measures being taken, but Gerard turned the volume back down just then, so Frank missed most of her words.

"What the hell was that?" Frank gasped, almost expecting Gerard to say it was some elaborate practical joke or something, because there was no way this was real. It seemed like a scene out of those cheesy sci-fi movies his husband loved so much instead of a real life news story.

"I literally have no idea, but it's kind of cool, if you ignore the fact that they were killing people. Maybe Man-Bat is real after all."

"Only you would think giant mutated bats are cool Gerard, and who the hell is Man-Bat?" Frank scoffed affectionately.

"One of Batman's archenemies - duh, even though in a few comics he is sort of an anti-hero, and -"

"As much as I love your nerdy comic side, please don't give me Man-Bat's whole life story right now," Frank cut Gerard off with a laugh, because he knew that Gerard could talk for days about anything involving Batman, and he wanted to return to their current discussion.

"Seriously though, just think about it. What if there is an entire secret civilization of bat people that have been living on Earth this whole time?" Gerard exclaimed, obviously quite excited about this discovery.

"But why would they show their faces now, and why attack Tokyo? This is just too freaky," Frank muttered, and he was pretty sure he was going to have nightmares about this tonight.

"Don't worry Frankie, I'll protect you from the bat people. Maybe I will even make friends with them and they will turn out to be really nice," Gerard giggled to himself.

"Okay Gee, you do that," Frank muttered quietly before turning his attention back the television, hoping to find out a bit more about this strange event, but they had moved on to a story about gun laws.

Frank didn't watch the news much, he was usually barely getting home by this time, but Gerard did, and he had filled him in on the odd occurrences that had been happening worldwide. First it was a dormant volcano in Washington State that erupted violently and without warning, then it was the torrential rainfall somewhere in Egypt that still hadn't ended yet as far as Frank was aware. There were a few others, but he couldn't remember them all off the top of his head, most of them involving some sort of natural disaster, but nothing like this had happened before as far as Frank knew.

"Do you think this has to do with all the weird shit that has been going on lately?" Frank asked, breaking the silence with his nervous question.

"Honestly - I'm not sure, but I think so. It seems like the whole world is slowly falling apart, but it could all just be a coincidence," Gerard shrugged.

"But what if this starts happening everywhere?" Frank began to worry his lower lip in between his teeth, something he only did when he was nervous, but the idea of mutant bats attacking his home was a cause for worry.

"Then we will deal with it, but it won't Frank, it was just a freak occurrence." Gerard scooted over so he was closer to Frank on the couch, but Frank didn't react, even when Gerard wrapped his arms around him.

"Baby, don't stress about it," Gerard cooed, pressing a swift kiss against his cheek, which finally got Frank to tear his eyes from his hands which were twisted together in his lap so he could grace Gerard with a weak smile.

"How are you not freaking out about this?" Frank chuckled softly, leaning into Gerard's hold with a tired sigh.

"Because it happened a long way from here, and the odds of anyone attacking Belleville is basically nonexistent. I didn't show it to you to make you upset love, I'm sorry."

"I know you didn't...it just seems like - fuck, I don't know, like everything is spiraling out of control, and I should be able to do something about it, but I can't," Frank exhaled heavily.

"Baby - you couldn't do anything to help even if you wanted to. Everything's going to be fine, I promise."

"Okay - I guess I should go back to making dinner." Frank shook Gerard off gently before returning to the kitchen to finish the previously forgotten meal. Gerard followed him though, just like Frank knew he would.

"Talk to me sugar," Gerard stated simply, sitting down on a nearby barstool as he spoke, because he had learned by now not to bother Frank when he was dealing with food, he would only receive a light smack on the hand and a warning to leave him alone.

"I can't really explain it Gerard," Frank sighed as he turned the stove back on before stirring the now congealed sauce, because he really couldn't.

He just felt heavy, like his heart was weighing him down with burdens he didn't understand. This was the first disaster he had witnessed with his own eyes instead of hearing it secondhand from Gerard, and it had really messed with his head. He felt like this was the start of something massive, something terrible, and even though he had no idea what exactly that was, he was scared.

"Can you try?" Gerard pressed onward, and Frank knew his husband wasn't going to just let this go until he gave him some sort of an answer.

"I guess it was just seeing something like that and not having a logical explanation for why this crazy shit keeps occurring is getting under my skin. I don't like not understanding things - you know?" Frank tried his best to voice some of his swirling thoughts, but even he knew that wasn't exactly the root of what he was feeling, but it was the best he could do for right now.

"I understand babe, but there is always sick shit happening in the world. War, famine, disease - this is just something we have never seen before, but the government, or whoever will figure this out, and it will be fine."

"You're right, I'm just being paranoid," Frank managed to produce a real smile this time, returning his attention back to the food he was preparing instead of far off events he had no control over.

~~~

"You know you have to go to him soon Brendon," Ryan sighed out in exasperation.

"I know, but not yet..." Brendon continued staring out the window of their shared room, even though all he could see was the outline of twisted clouds.

"The longer you wait, the harder you are making this on him. He will have less time to make the decision, not to mention these events will keep getting worse." Ryan wasn't letting up, and even though Brendon knew he was right, he was getting irritated with his boyfriend.

"Just give him another week okay, we still have time."

"What if he says no, then we will be fucked. We have to receive his answer soon Bren, because if he refuses, we need to come up with a backup plan," Ryan pushed onward.

"He won't say no, Frank wouldn't do that," Brendon responded stubbornly.

"The old Frank wouldn't, but you don't know this new Frank. He isn't the angel he used to be; he is human now, and they are selfish creatures for the most part."

"You weren't when you were human," Brendon shot back. He knew he was acting like a child, finding stupid things to argue about for no reason other than to piss Ryan off, but he couldn't stop.

"This isn't about me though, it's about Frank, and the point stands that you don't know what he will do." Ryan crossed his arms stubbornly.

"I will go okay, just let him have a few more days at the very least," Brendon pleaded softly.

"He has had fifteen years Brendon, and a couple more days could ruin everything."

"Please..." Brendon whispered.

"Just remember that God is trusting you with this; they have already started to weaken, and if you and Billie Joe wait too long, the fate of the world falls on you," Ryan pointed out, getting up from his spot on the bed and pacing back and forth, which was something he only did when he was frustrated.

"I'm not an idiot Ryan," Brendon scoffed, and he could literally feel Ryan rolling his eyes at him in exasperation.

"No, but you are sure acting like one right now." Brendon didn't have a chance to respond before the sound of the door slamming shut announced the fact that Ryan had left the room.

Brendon wanted to chase after him, but he didn't, instead, he just collapsed onto the bed with a groan. This was happening more and more: the fighting, the storming out, the nights spent alone, and he wasn't even sure why.

He loved Ryan, he always would, and he knew he loved him back, but something wasn't working anymore; maybe something had broken, or maybe they just weren't trying hard enough. The stress of everything that had been happening lately had run both angels ragged, and they were taking it out on each other for some reason.

It hurt to constantly be on the defensive around Ryan, but it was the state he had fallen into, and as much as Brendon wanted things to go back to the way they used to be, it just wasn't that easy. Things had changed now that Ryan was an angel, just like Brendon knew they would, and Brendon really hated change.

He wanted the old Ryan back, the one who always stood by his side, no matter what, the person he could never imagine not loving, but he was gone now, or so it seemed.

He didn't want to think about his relationship problems at the moment though, because then he would end up crying, and he had bigger things to worry about besides his own fucked up love life, even though Ryan still seemed like the most important thing in the world to him.

But right now, his focus had to be on Frank, because he was the only hope for Earth's survival, and it was Brendon's job to deliver the news to him, even though he would give anything not to have to do this.

Because Frank was actually happy now, and Brendon didn't want to be the one to rip that away from him. He had been watching Frank and Gerard from afar for years, and it had been so heartwarming to see the two fall back in love, just like he knew they would.

They were truly soul mates, and they didn't deserve what was coming, they should be allowed to live out the rest of their lives which each other, left alone and unaware of the supernatural world, but it hadn't worked out that way.

And as much as Brendon loathed his task, he didn't have a choice. The events spoken of in the seventh prophecy were already happening, and only Frank and Gerard could stop it from reaching its terrible conclusion.

I am not 100% happy with this chapter, but I'm going to publish it anyway. I might go back and edit it later, but for now, it is good enough, because I am too tired and lazy to fix it anymore.

This chapter is dedicated to 2Human4Nature because your HSM comment on the last chapter made me laugh so hard I had to explain to my sisters what was so funny, plus you are awesome and you read all of my stories.

((((short author's note vibes))))

<3 starr