Together Burning Bright

“Taking more than her share, had me fighting for air. She told me to come but I was already there. Cause the walls start shaking, the earth was quaking. My mind was aching, and we were making it. And you shook me all night long. Yeah, you shook me all night long!” Dess sang loudly to herself as she rifled through one of the three closets that were in the back lounge.


They were in Springfield Virginia and damn was it fucking cold! It was early December and their tour was coming to an end, but Dess knew it was only for the holiday season and then they would be right back on tour, but this time in Europe. She was currently running around the bus with a dust rag in one hand and a broom in the other. She couldn’t sit still-a symptom of her pregnancy called ‘Nesting’ that usually happened mere weeks before giving birth but Dess knew it was the organizer in her that was taking over.

The bus was filthy and as she moved to open up one of the seldom used closets against the back wall of the lounge, Dess yelped. An avalanche of clothes, bags, shoes, old flat irons and empty cans of hairspray all fell towards her and thankfully Dess was able to jump out of the way. As she jumped she caught site of herself in the mirror and she cringed.

Not even the cute pair of maternity skinny jeans and large sweater could hide the fact that Dess was pregnant. She wasn’t huge by any means and Dess had never been small in the weight department ever, but this was a new level for her. She was barefoot which made her smile as Dess took in her own tired eyes, but happy expression. She loved being pregnant-now that she was more than half way through the morning sickness had stopped and her headaches had all but gone away.

She had finished getting everything settled for her baby shower and while Dess was hiring people to help her with the nursery-she planned on doing the painting all herself. She smiled, tucking a long strand of blonde hair behind her ear as Dess turned from the mirror that hung against one wall and faced the couch. It was covered with junk-pure junk and she sighed loudly as she began to sift through it all. Five flat irons, eight empty or near empty cans of hairspray, two duffle bags that she was afraid to open and a bass that had its neck broken in two.


“Good lord that’s ripe…” Dess covered her nose with the back of a hand as she unzipped one of the bags and a foul scent met her nostrils. Dirty, old stage clothes that probably hadn’t seen the light of day in years were crammed inside the duffle. She hesitantly opened the other one and her eyes grew wide as Dess began to pull things out.


A pair of skinny black leggings with white writing all over them, black shirts with holes cut in so many places it was a shock that they were still intact, and a strange shoulder pad looking thing that she vaguely remembered seeing Jinxx wear. Dess looked down at her treasures with wide eyes and suddenly her eyes grew misty. She remembered seeing Andy wearing these pants-they had been the pants he was wearing the day that they had met and suddenly she was reminded of someone else-Moira. It had been almost two years since her sister had died and while Dess missed her every day and thought of her often-she knew that Moira was happy where she was. She stood there, her cherry red lips pulled up in a teary smirk and Dess didn’t even notice that someone had been standing behind her in the doorway.

She ran her fingers over all of the studs, belts and bandannas that the guys used to wear and she began to realize-she had never really gotten to see them in all of their big haired old school glory. She and Andy had met at the tail end of it all and Dess felt sad knowing that she had missed out on all of the fun and debauchery. Suddenly there was a loud cough from behind her and Dess turned around, Andy’s black pants still held in her hands as she faced the doorway.


“Whatcha doin babe?” Andy asked as he walked towards her, his black hair hanging in his face and his blue eyes were curious as he looked behind her at the pile of things that was all over the couch and floor.

“I was cleaning, but look what I found…” She smiled up at him, holding out his pants and Andy only smirked as he ran his hands over the old garment. It had been so long since he had seen these-he thought they had been thrown out.

“Wow…look at all of this stuff.” Andy smiled, his hands trailing over her stomach and Dess could only smile as she watched him sift through everything. After a few minutes of him looking, Andy stood up straight and turned towards her, one hand on the side of her face while his other rested on her belly.

“Wha-what do you want to do with it?” Dess asked softly as she looked up at him, her moss green eyes soft and loving. Things had been near perfect between the two-even though they had been apart for a few days due to Andy being sick with a viral form of the flu and he had been highly contagious at that point.

“Hold on.” He said with a gentle smirk on his lips as Andy placed both hands on either side of her face and then walked out towards the front of the bus.


Dess looked out the window and smiled-she could see the fluffy flakes of snow falling, but she knew they were too far north for anything to come of it. She loved living in Virginia, but she knew that the farther north they went the less likely they were to see snow. If only she could go home…just for one day, but sadly after tonight they only had a week left and then it was off to Europe for a short tour and then home. Just around the corner she knew there were tons of fans lined up, waiting to enter the building but there were five guys inside the building that Dess couldn’t wait to see.

She had become really good friends with the guys from one of their opening acts, The Relapse Symphony, when they opened for Black Veil Brides last year at their Maryland dates. She had known some of the guys before that, meeting them at the Empire Club, which is where they would all play later that night. Dess turned from the window; her arms crossed over her now considerable chest as she faced the door and noticed that the guys were all flooding in to the room with smiles on their faces.


“What’s going on?” She asked as Dess looked to Andy and saw that he had a mischievous look in his eyes. He said nothing as he walked towards her, picking up his old pants and belts as he held them up for her to see.

“We were thinking of doing a little throwback tonight. Would you help us?” He looked like a puppy dog with those big blue eyes and Dess only smiled as she looked from him to the other guys. Ashley and CC were both bouncing in place-she knew they missed getting dressed up and looking like rockstars. Jake and Jinxx both had smiles on their faces as well and Dess could only laugh as she finally looked back up towards Andy.

“What do you need my help with exactly? You guys do your own makeup better than I do mine.” She laughed and Andy just leaned down, kissing the top of her head as he wrapped an arm around her and brought her closer. He loved this girl-everything about her was magic and he couldn’t believe he had ever been without her in his life.

“Well we don’t really have much makeup anymore…oh I need you to kiss me.” Ashley said and he laughed so loud he snorted as he looked at Dess’ wide eyed expression.

“You need me to what? You said kiss but I’m pretty sure I heard you say you need me to give you a swift kick in that tiny little ass of yours.” She glared at him, crossing her arms over her chest and Dess only smiled as she felt Andy laughing from behind her. Ashley only pouted as he pointed to his cheek and then smiled.

“Come on babe…help us out?” Andy begged and Dess only smiled at him, her face holding an unsure expression as she looked from him to all of the others.


Could she do this? Could she resurrect the old Black Veil Brides from the dead for one night of pure nostalgia? Dess held her hands out, pushing her fingers out as her knuckles cracked and she smirked at them all. Of course she could do this! She had seen pictures of them and she had seen them all briefly that first summer when they were still rocking the makeup and war paint. First thing first-Dess ran to the bunk she and Andy shared and underneath she grabbed for her two makeup bags. Next she got her flat iron and the only two cans of hairspray that they had on the entire bus.

Dess looked at the clock on the television in the back lounge and grimaced. It was already 5:10 and they had to all be ready and in the venue no later than quarter till. Dess went into frantic mode as she moved towards Andy and pushed him down on to the couch. As she stood over him, applying his eye make up the best that she could, Dess only smiled as she felt his hands rub across her stomach. Andy was obsessed with her growing belly-he used to just hum at it during the night and early mornings, but now Dess woke up often to find him singing.

He would sing anything to her stomach-nursery rhymes, soft songs from his favorite bands and she even caught him singing his own songs to her stomach. The little girl that was in there-whether she was ready for it or not…was going to have a good dad in Andrew Biersack. Dess only smiled as she looked around and noticed that the guys were in various stages of dressing and smearing paint all over their bodies.

This is what it must have been like in the old days-the days before minimal makeup and straight long hair. The days when the guys were still just trying to make it in the music world-where now they were seen as Gods to be held up high. Dess only smiled as Ashley walked towards her-his makeup and hair completely done and he only smirked at her as he pointed to his cheek. Dess capped the red lipstick she had been putting on Andy’s lips-that was weird to think about-and she only turned to face Purdy and his devious smirk.


“For luck?” He said and Dess only rolled her eyes as she bent forward and placed her cherry red lips against his makeup covered skin. Ashley was blushing slightly as she pulled away and Dess only smacked his arm playfully as she turned back to Andy.
Everyone was pretty much done and now…now it was time to make the BVB Army’s night the most epic one they would ever experience.



“Odessa-fucking-Montgomery!” Someone shouted out to her backstage and Dess only laughed as a sweaty, small guy came running towards her with no shirt on and she could only giggle as she was enveloped in a huge hug.

“It’s technically Biersack now. Bret! I fucking missed you buddy!” She squealed as the small singer came running to her and moved in to give her a huge hug. They laughed as he had a hard time getting around her belly but eventually they managed.

“Well I can see how you've been! Did you catch our set?” The singer asked and Dess only smiled and nodded her head as the rest of the young band walked up to her and gave her a hug each.

“It was awesome-you guys have gotten so amazing since the last time I saw you!” Dess said as she hung off of Alex’s arm and looked towards Brandon and JC.

“Thanks! Hey-we’re gonna head over to the merch table, but we’ll see you after the guys play!” JC said as he moved in for one last hug and Dess wrapped her arms around the skinny guitar player. She had grown close to this small band over the past year-probably because they reminded her so much of her teenage years.


Dess watched as the guys from TRS walked over towards their merch table and were bombarded by fans. They had grown so much over the past year and Dess smiled because she knew that they deserved it. She turned back towards the small stage and smirked as the chanting started. They were in such a small club-only 300 tickets had been up for sale and Dess knew that the guys were looking forward to playing such a small show. They had grown tired of playing the big shows with Bullet because while their fans showed, most of the people coming to the show were there for Bullet, who were the headlining act. This show was purely for Black Veil Brides and their fans.

Dess turned as she felt someone place a hand on her shoulder and she was met with Jake’s deep brown eyes. The guitar player had a brilliant smile on his lips as he looked out over the crowd and heard the chanting coming from them. Dess knew they all missed this-they missed their fans and how close they had all been when things were still small. The five guys who had become her family were loving and gracious with their fans, but when you had over a million fans all around the world-you could only give so much of yourself.


“You guys ready to do this?” Dess asked, smiling as she looked over her shoulder at Jake and noticed that CC was standing behind them. He was doing his arm stretches and she noticed that Andy had gone back to their tiny dressing room to warm up while the crew changed their set around.

“You can’t even imagine. Dess when Jon told us about this venue being available during this time and asked us if we wanted to do a small side show…we all jumped at the chance.” He smiled at her as their guitar tech Mark handed Jake a guitar and he pulled it over his head.

“I know…you guys really miss playing the small shows.” She said as the lights dimmed and the crowd began to get restless. Dess looked around one of the huge speakers and noticed that the place was jam packed and she knew these kids were getting more and more anxious for things to get started.

“I wish we could play small shows forever…sadly there’s not a lot of money in it and we have to make money to keep recording and touring. It’s an ugly cycle.”Jake said as he placed his hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently before walking off to join the guys.


Dess looked out over the crowd and smiled as the kids swayed and chanted with one another. She bit down on her lip ring, smirking as she thought back to some of her first concerts. They had been in small clubs like this one-some of them had actually been at this very club and she remembered the pure sense of belonging. You could go to a show-with friends or without and yet you would still meet people. You stand next to them in line, form a conversation over a common love of something and then when the doors open you walk in with them and watch the show with them.

There was nothing in the world like going to a show-feeling the music as it flows through your body and soon your heart beats in time with the bass, your head nods in time with the guitar and your mouth forms the words with the singer. Everything becomes synchronized in that moment and it means the world to a lover of music. Dess brushed her golden bangs from her forehead and smiled as the lights went down and the beginning to Shadows began to play.

CC was the first on the stage as usual and Dess laughed as he twirled his drumsticks, caught her eye and stuck his tongue out at her. He had become such a good friend to her and Dess giggled as she thought back to almost a year ago when they were on tour and having their epic prank war. Next onstage were Jinxx and Jake and Dess only smirked as she heard the crowd go wild at how they were dressed.

Screams and shouts filled the small building as Ashley and finally Andy made it on to the stage and the guys got going into Shadows. Dess tapped her foot along with the beat, her head bouncing up and down as the guys played. Song after song they played until finally they stopped and Dess laughed as someone tossed a book onto the stage and Andy picked it up.

A copy of 50 Shades of Gray. He quickly read a small excerpt from it and then laughed as Ashley approached him and Dess could barely contain her laughter as Andy smacked the covers shut and looked out in to the audience.


“What the fuck is this?!” Andy asked as he looked to his left and smirked at Ashley. Of course someone would be crazy enough to bring this to him-this was all Bryan Stars fault.

“I don’t fucking know man. Why would you want to read about it?” Ashley asked and Andy only laughed as his best friend just shrugged his shoulders.

“You want to read about it?” He asked and Ashley only sighed loudly.

“No I don’t want to fucking read about! I want to actually have sex!” The bassist laughed and Andy noticed that crowd seemed captivated. God he had missed playing shows like this.

“Oh-well it’s a New York Times best seller. Does anyone want to take home a New York Times best seller?” Andy asked the crowd and there was a huge amount of people who just raised their hands in the air and screamed.

“Read on your way home everybody!” He laughed as Andy tossed the book out in to the crowd and noticed that two girls had caught it and were playing tug of war with it. Finally one girl won and she laughed as the other girl gave in and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Oh-fuck man this is awesome…this is fun. We haven’t played this place in a couple years uh-I think the last time was in 2009. By the way do I have lipstick all over my face? I don’t really remember how to wear this shit.” Andy pointed to his lips. Dess laughed as he looked over his shoulder at her and smiled-his lips were smeared with the red substance.


The guys went in to playing Wretched and Divine, which Dess had realized over the summer was her favorite song by the guys. She loved all of their songs, but there was something about this one that just made her smile. Maybe it was the beat or the lyrics-it just perfectly described how she knew their fans felt. She jumped along with them and then laughed as the second verse came up and CC pulled himself up onto his drums and shook his head up and down briefly.

After a few more songs there seemed to be an issue with CC and Dess watched as he bent down and began to adjust something. Andy had thought they were going into the next song, but CC apparently had other plans. Dess only laughed as the guys picked at him and soon Ashley had the entire audience chanting at CC.


“Start the fucking song! Start the fucking song!” They chanted until finally CC got his shit together and went in to playing their next song, which just so happened to be Let You Down.


The guys played and played-this was the longest set they had played all tour and Dess could tell they were loving it. They brought out a lot of older songs-Rebel Love Song, All Your Hate and The Legacy. There was a loud screeching noise and Dess noticed that Jinxx and Jake had both walked over to her side of the stage and were passing off their guitars to some of the crew. Broken strings and they had only unpacked one guitar a piece.

Dess watched as Ashley walked off stage and then it was only Andy. He held the microphone close to his lips and Dess noticed that his eyes were closed slightly as he began to hum in to the mic. She knew this song and she had been hearing it almost every morning as Andy would sing it to their daughter. Suddenly Andy began to sing and Dess noticed that he had tears in his eyes.


“I never meant to be the one who kept you from the dark. But now I know my wounds are sewn because of who you are…” Andy sang and Dess watched as he and the audience clearly had a moment together.

“I will take this burden on and become the holy one, but remember I am human and I’m bound to sing this song. So hear my voice, remind you not to bleed. I am here…” The crowd was singing word for word with him and Andy could only smile in that moment. He had missed this-he had missed having such a wonderful connection with his fans.

“Savior will be there-when you are feeling alone…oh. A savior for all that you do-so you can live freely without their harm…” Dess noticed at the very end that Andy and the audience seemed to harmonize, but that wasn’t the only thing she noticed. As Andy was singing to his audience-Dess felt a slight push against her stomach right above her belly button. As the audience sang on the pushing got faster and then it slowed down towards the very end.

Their daughter obviously had become a fan of this song.


“That was awesome-I love that!” Andy smiled out in to the crowd and then he looked to his left. Dess was standing on the side of the stage with tears in her eyes and both hands on her stomach. Andy felt nervous at first-was something wrong-but then she looked at him and smiled the biggest smile she had ever given him.


They played on, more songs like Rebel Yell and Fiend Club-covers that Andy loved. He was sweaty as they went into Fallen Angels, but Andy loved playing this song for his fans. They screamed-they shouted and then it was over. Andy ran off the stage, pressing a kiss to Dess’ lips as the fans screamed for more and of course there was more-In The End. Andy smiled as he ran back out on stage, his arms held high as the remaining fans screamed and rushed towards them. He reached out, taking the hand of a girl in the front and as he looked down he could have sworn that Moira was smiling back at him.

The girl had jet black hair and light green eyes, but with a second glance Andy realized that it was just a fan. He loved this-he missed playing small shows and he knew that this show would be put in to a special place in his heart. They finally finished, telling the audience to have a good night and then it was over. Andy knew that they would hang out with TRS for a bit while the crew broke everything down, but really Andy couldn’t wait to get into his bunk with Dess and sleep. He had been sick and he had missed her, but he knew that they had a long tour ahead of them.

They had a long life ahead of them and as Andy kissed Dess and placed his hands against her growing stomach-he knew he couldn’t wait to walk down that road with her and their daughter.

Notes

So this is pretty much what happened when I saw the guys back on Halloween and it was amazing. That moment with Andy singing Savior-that really happened and even now when I watch the video of it(yes someone thankfully caught it on video) it still brings tears to my eyes. I actually got to talk to Andy and Ashley after this show and they told me that this was one of their favorite shows in a long time because they do miss playing smaller stages.
Anyways-please review and I will update this again on friday <3

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