Aftermath of the Last Kiss

“Hey, Princess! How was your day?”

Andy stood outside his daughter’s new school, grunting softly when she ran full-speed into him and wrapped her arms around his hips. Because she was the daughter of two men, she was taller than your average five-year-old, and bound to be a fairly tall woman when she was grown. He reached down and wrapped his arms tightly around her, then picked her up so he could hold her on his hip as he’d done ever since Ash’s passing.

“It was pretty good, Daddy,” Legacy answered, then frowned.

“What’s wrong, Princess?” he asked, immediately concerned.

“I missed you,” she answered, burying her face in his neck as she began to suck her thumb.

“Yeah, she had a tough time at the beginning of naptime,” her teacher said, walking over to join them. “She said she was used to napping with you.”

“That’s because she is,” he confirmed, nodding. “She used to have nightmares, though what about, I don’t know. It’s only been within the last couple years that I got her used to sleeping in her room through the night, but naptime…that’s a different story.”

“It’s perfectly fine, Mr. Biersack.” She gave him an apologetic look, and he knew she’d done that because she didn’t know how he felt about being addressed by his given name in front of his daughter.

“You can still call me Andy.” He gave her a warm smile. “She’s used to hearing people call me that, and knows better than to do so herself. In fact, she knows better than to call any adult by their given name unless given permission, and without putting ‘Miss’ or ‘Mister’ at the beginning.”

“Such a respectful little girl,” Randi said, smiling at her.

“There’s very few things that anger me, but disrespect—for any reason—is one of them. Actually, one of the biggest.” He frowned at the memories of his high school years. “To raise my daughter to be anything but respectful would be the opposite of everything I stand for.”

“Understandable. I’ll see you guys tomorrow, all right?” the teacher asked.

“Mmm hmm,” Legacy hummed around her thumb. “Bye, Miss Cane.”

“See ya tomorrow,” Andy agreed, refusing to use her given name in front of his daughter. He might’ve been given permission to call her Randi, and his daughter might’ve been raised to call her Miss Randi if she didn’t call her Miss Cane, but he doubted she’d like that very much.

The teacher stood there and waved to them while keeping an eye on the rest of her class, who ran around the playground while they waited for their parents to pick them up. The young ex-frontman walked back to where he’d parked his car, ready to get his baby settled in her booster seat so they could go home. He’d felt like he was being watched, like Ash was trying to talk to him from beyond the grave, ever since he got home that morning since he didn’t have his baby to focus on.

It was unsettling, even though he still loved his husband with every fiber of his being and would give anything to hear his voice again. He didn’t believe in an afterlife, that he’d gone to a better place after his death, so he couldn’t bring himself to believe that he was now his and Legacy’s guardian angel, that he was trying to tell him he still loved him, even though he was dead. Andy shook his head to clear it as he started his car, listening intently to his daughter’s excited babble from the back seat as she told him everything she’d done and learned at school that day.

Legacy’d always been smart for her age, and he wouldn’t be surprised if she started skipping grades as she got older. He and Ash had always been highly intelligent for their ages growing up, although they hadn’t had the opportunity to skip grades, and even if they had, it was doubtful they’d have snapped them up. They’d made a decent life for themselves in the end, and that was really all that mattered.

By the time it was time to start readying his little girl for bed, he was exhausted. Closing off his mind and ignoring the paranoia he’d felt from thinking he was being watched all day had taken a lot out of him emotionally and mentally, causing it to transfer to his physical being. Thankfully, though, his baby felt the same way after a long day of being engaged more so than normal while at school, and she didn’t try to fight bathtime. In fact, she came to him, wanting to take her nightly bubble bath and go to bed early, which surprised him. Once she was dressed in her pajamas and had her teeth brushed, she reached up to him with grabby hands, and he couldn’t resist picking her up and carrying her to bed.

“Good night, Princess. Daddy loves you, and sweet dreams,” Andy murmured, gently kissing her forehead.

“Good night, Daddy. I love you, too, and sweet dreams,” she answered sleepily, yawning as she grabbed her favorite Hello Kitty plushie. It’d once been Ash’s, and it was the next best thing to snuggling with her mama, considering the circumstances.

As quietly as he could after tucking her in, he left her room to go to his own, leaving her door cracked slightly so he’d hear her if she woke in the middle of the night. Considering how tired she seemed from her long first day of school, he doubted that’d happen, but he couldn’t help but worry. His beloved Outlaw’s murder after the bitch had tried killing his baby had left him broken and scarred in more ways than one.

Now undressed, he stepped under the warm spray of his shower in the master bathroom, ready to wash away the grime of the day. The warm water felt so good against his chilled skin, his eyes flying open when he thought he felt a gentle breeze behind him. Andy looked over his shoulder, wondering if he’d see something behind him that he shouldn’t, shrugging when he saw nothing and turning back around. Maybe it was just from the AC kicking on, so he decided to just ignore whatever it was and finish his shower. He was exhausted now, as well, and wanted nothing more than to go to bed.

Once dressed in his own pajamas, he towel-dried his hair, which he was growing out to the length that it was back during the Set the World on Fire era of his life and band. He’d always liked his hair that long, had only cut it because being on stage made him too hot with his hair like that, and besides, the fans only seemed to like him because his hair was long. Now that Black Veil Brides had disbanded and been that way for years, he could care less if he was liked simply because his hair was long and gorgeous. His beloved Ashes wasn’t there to run his fingers through it like he used to do, and no one else besides his mother got that right, so he didn’t care what anyone thought about it anymore, not that he ever had.

Yawning as quietly as he could, just in case Legacy was already asleep, he turned back the covers of the bed he’d once shared with Ash. The covers were the same as when he was still alive, although they’d long since lost any of his residual scent from the number of times they’d been washed over the years. Andy found that he needed something to help him feel close to his deceased husband, and their old bedding and some of his favorite old clothes did the trick. He sighed softly as he turned off his lamp, rolling onto his side as he cuddled the older man’s pillow and fell soundly asleep, dreams of him once again plaguing his mind.



Time continued to pass, and before he knew it, Andy was watching his daughter skip both first and second grade and go straight to third after finishing kindergarten. Most of the kids in her class were eight, nine, or ten years old, but she was only six and a-half when she started her second year of school. She was just as tall as the rest of her classmates, actually taller than a few, so she blended in fairly well. He still worried that she’d get teased to high Heaven and back, though, but tried not to worry too much.

One afternoon when she had a teacher work-day in October of 2020, he’d left Legacy in her room to play while he answered a phone call. His old manager, Jon Feldman, was wanting him to consider a reunion show for Ash’s birthday in January, as the fans were going nuts wanting to hear the guys play. The show would be played on his sweetheart’s birthday as both a memorial of him, and a tribute to the man and musician he was before his death. Jon promised him that, unless he and the guys wanted to, it would be the last show they’d ever have to play if they agreed, but Andy told him he’d have to think about it. They’d had a hard enough time trying to tour after releasing For the Love of Ashley a year after his death, especially him.

After getting off the phone with the man, who understood perfectly well why he’d have to think about it and told him he’d understand if they chose to say no, he headed back to his baby girl’s bedroom. Just as he got to her doorway, he heard her sweet, melodic voice talking to someone, but was pretty sure it was only the two of them in the house. Scared for her safety but curious, he stood outside her door listening for a few moments, trying to make out any of what she was saying. She seemed to be having a conversation with someone she knew and trusted, and it wasn’t abnormal for kids her age to have imaginary friends.

Having decided that she was talking to an imaginary friend she’d dreamt up for when she was lonely without Katie, her baby sister Jenni, or Jinxx’s son Logan, he gently knocked on her door. Andy chuckled when he heard her excited response that he could come in, and he opened her door to see her sitting in the middle of the floor. She held her Hello Kitty plushie close, apparently talking to it or her imaginary friend.

“Hey there, Princess. Who were you talking to?” he asked curiously, sitting down beside her.

“My…imaginary friend,” Legacy answered. He knew she was lying because of the way she hesitated and looked off to the side, as if looking at someone.

“Is that right?” he asked, brushing it off. He decided that starting a fight over it wouldn’t do anything but upset them both, and he didn’t want that.

“Mmm hmm. Their name is Ashley,” she answered, nodding.

“Ashley, huh?” He tried not to let his reaction show at knowing she’d named her imaginary friend the same thing as her mama’d been named. Ashes, if you’re here and making our daughter lie to me, it’s not funny.

“Yeah. They came to me one afternoon and told me that’s what their name was.” She nodded vigorously. “They prefer the nickname Ash, though.”

All right, this is just too weird for it to be a coincidence. “Well, is this imaginary friend of yours friendly?”

“Very! They love playing with my Hello Kitty plushie with me! Says its their favorite cartoon character, like yours is Batman, Daddy.”

“Well, so long as Ash is nice to and doesn’t hurt you, I guess that’s a good thing, Princess.” He was beginning to feel like he was being watched, and his eyes locked on the place beside his daughter that she’d looked to just a few minutes before.

“Never! Ash would never hurt me! They love me!” Legacy denied, shaking her head furiously.

“All right, all right. You have fun, Princess.” Andy gently kissed the top of her head and ruffled her hair. “Daddy’s gonna go get started on dinner while he makes a few phone calls, okay?”

“Okay,” she agreed, gently kissing his cheek before he got up.

The young ex-frontman shook his head as he pulled his daughter’s door closed, leaving it cracked slightly as he always did upon leaving her room. He thought it was unsettling that she supposedly had an imaginary friend whose name was the same as his deceased husband’s, especially when he realized that she’d been lying to him. He wondered what would make such an honest little girl tell a story like that, knowing it wasn’t true, but decided confronting her over it wouldn’t be smart. He put the confused and jumbled thoughts in the recesses of his mind as he four-way’d Jake, Jinxx, and CC as he began to cook their dinner.

* * *

“Mama, why wouldn’t you let me tell Daddy that you’re here?”

Legacy sat in the same place she’d been when her daddy came to check on her, confused by what her mama’d told her to say when he’d asked who she was talking to. She’d have thought her mama would be happy for him to know that he was there, watching over the two of them and doing everything he could to protect them and make them happy.

“Because Daddy doesn’t exactly believe in angels, sugar,” Ash answered, his image just a tad transparent. “He’d just think you had an imaginary friend, anyway, and find it cute.”

“But you saw the look on his face when I said my ‘imaginary friend’s’ name was Ashley, and they preferred being called Ash,” she argued.

“Yeah, and you should’ve heard the thought he had, too.” Her mama sighed, his beautiful black wings drooping a bit. “He’s not happy that I made you lie to him.”

“That’s because he’s raised me not to tell stories.” Legacy frowned at him. “You’re a bad mama for making me do that.”

“If he could see me like you can, and wouldn’t think you were being imaginative, I wouldn’t care.” Tears welled up in his beautiful brown eyes. “In fact, I’d love nothing more than for your daddy to know I’m still here, even though I’m an angel now. But he can’t see or hear me, and I know he can’t because I’ve tried to show him several times, and it never works.”

“Maybe if I told him I can see, hear, and talk to you, he’d be able to, as well,” she said thoughtfully.

“Thanks for the offer, sugar, but I’d rather you not. He’ll tell you all about me, how we met, and why I’m an angel when you’re older on his own.” He paused again. “I don’t want him to feel like he’s forced to do that, and definitely not before he’s ready, just because he knows I’m still here.”

“You sure, Mama?” He hated seeing the uncertainty and tears in his daughter’s eyes.

“I’m sure, sugar.” Ash wrapped his arms around her, and she couldn’t help but snuggle up to his chest. “I appreciate your offer, though. It’s the thought that counts.”

“I love you so much, Mama,” Legacy told him, returning the hug.

“I love you more than I can ever scream, Legacy Aurora,” he answered, kissing the top of her head before yawning softly.

“You sleepy, Mama?” she asked, concerned.

“A little. Mama has to sleep at different times than you do.” He grinned at her. “Things are different in the Land of Angels.”

She quickly got up and ran over to her bed, pulling the covers back and gesturing to it. She didn’t care if her mama was an angel or not; he deserved to be comfortable while trying to sleep. Ash smiled at her as he caught her drift, walking over to her little twin bed and laying down on it. She’d long since outgrown her toddler bed, and he didn’t feel like, even in his weightless state, he’d break it by laying on it.

Legacy gently tucked her mama in and kissed his cheek, smoothing his hair back from his face as he closed his eyes. She knew he’d disappear once he fell asleep as he always did, but that was fine by her. So long as he was comfortable until he went back to his new home in the Land of Angels, she’d be happy. It wasn’t long before he was sleeping soundly, and she watched as a glowing white light surrounded his slightly transparent form. Moments later, the light and her mama both disappeared, and she couldn’t help the sadness she felt, even though she knew it wouldn’t be long before she saw him again.

It wasn’t long afterward that her daddy called her to the dining room for dinner, enticing her out of her room by saying he’d made her favorite, mac ‘n’ cheese. She whispered softly that she loved her mama and that she’d see him again, gently blowing a kiss in her bed’s direction before doing as her daddy’d told her. She was still a bit torn about hiding her mama’s presence from him, as she’d been raised not to lie and didn’t like lying to him, but even at her young age, she understood his reasons for wanting her to do so all too well.

After dinner, she allowed her daddy to take her plate to the kitchen to wash while she went to take her bath, something she’d gotten decently good at doing on her own within the last couple years. Legacy never felt closer to her mama aside from when he was around than when she took a bubble bath, and it helped her cope with knowing he was now an angel. She loved him with all her heart and wished he were still there, like her daddy, but knew it’d been his time to go. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she wished he could come back to them, and not as an angel, but she hid them well when her daddy came to help her get ready for bed. She couldn’t let him see her crying because she couldn’t upset him; she had to be her mama’s strong little girl.

Notes