A/N: For those of you who have read the predecessor, you'll recognize more than just the quoted vows. I was getting Writer's Block and got lazy, which are my only excuses.
~Cyn



Four long years later, with barely any visits from the angel she knew was her mother, Legacy finally got sick of not knowing much about him. She waited until after she finished her schoolwork for the day, which was around the same time that her daddy finished any work he had with her uncles, or an up-and-coming band he was helping, before she decided to do something about it. Once she was sure he wasn’t busy, she quietly entered his office, the same one where her mama’s basses were either hung on the walls or in display cases, and cornered him about what she wanted to know.

She told him that she knew he had his reasons for not really talking about his beloved Outlaw in the past, but she wanted to know more about him. Knowing he was cornered, Andy took a deep breath as he lost himself in his thoughts for a moment. He recalled with the clarity of a perfectly-polished white diamond the day they met, every significant day they spent together, and every silly and stupid little thing in between.

After collecting his thoughts, he looked up at her with the icy-blue eyes they shared while patting the spare office chair beside him. He told her to take a seat, that his tale was a long one, but supposed that it was finally time he told her all about Ash and what he’d meant to him since she was sixteen. It’d been a long, hard fifteen and a-half years without that crazy, perverted, cuddle-bug of an Outlaw by his side, and he was already choking up from the memories that had haunted—and hurt—him so much over the years.

He started his tale on the day they met when he’d come over to the old apartment he’d shared with Black Veil Brides’ second drummer, Sandra, to audition for the role of bassist. It was one among many days that he’d never forget because, although only his parents and Sandra knew it at the time, he was queer as a three-dollar bill and, unknowingly, had met his future husband. The day was one that his life had been changed forever, at first for the better since it was when he met Ash, later for the worse since he lost him in such a tragic—yet noble—way. It was all he could do not to burst into tears, an endeavor that ultimately failed, as he worked his way up to the night he’d proposed to him.

“Mama seemed like he would’ve been really sweet,” Legacy said thoughtfully as he drew the tale of the night he’d proposed—sans sexual details—to a close.

“He really was,” he sighed sadly, playing with his necklace before twisting the wedding band he still wore around on his finger.

“I wish I could see his old engagement ring; it sounds like it was really pretty.” She sighed at the wistful thought.

“Actually, you can,” Andy told her. “Even though it was one of the most precious things in the world to him—aside from you—because I gave it to him, I didn’t have your mama buried with it. Between wanting a little piece of him besides you to keep to myself and it meaning so much to me as well, I took his wedding set off his finger before they closed his casket.”

“Really?” the teen asked, her eyes lighting up.

“Really, really, Donkey.” He chuckled as he pulled the silver chain he wore it on out of his shirt collar. “Why do you think I wear this necklace every day?”

“I never knew what kind of charm was on it, but figured it had something to do with Mama,” she told him, leaning forward. She gasped softly in awe as she fingered the wedding set, which was breathtakingly beautiful.

“Your mama was such a Hello Kitty addict that he owned as much Hello Kitty memorabilia as I do Batman memorabilia,” the ex-frontman chuckled softly, leaning forward a bit himself so she could have a better look. “I had this ring custom-designed, spent every dime I could possibly afford on it, just so that it was Hello Kitty-themed. I knew it’d make him cry when he saw it, and I was right.”

“Mama actually cried when he saw the ring?” Legacy asked, sounding a bit surprised.

“Mmm hmm. He thought the way the oval-cut ruby, marquis-cut tourmaline, and round-cut topaz separating the two were laid out were beautiful,” he answered, nodding. “He’d already been on the verge of tears once he figured out my intentions, especially considering that he was fertile that night and his emotions—and hormones—were always outta whack when he was like that. Seeing that it was Hello Kitty-themed pushed him over the edge and while he didn’t start sobbing out loud, he did start crying into my neck.”

“I’m not even gonna ask if you guys…consummated your engagement that night,” she laughed, blushing at the thought of her parents going at it like rabid monkeys.

“I wasn’t gonna tell you if we did or not, anyway,” Andy chuckled, then sobered up.

He continued his tale starting about a month later with the morning he’d gone to check on his Outlaw, only to find their bedroom door locked up tighter than Fort Knox. He’d been worried about him and halfway scared out of his mind, on the verge of finding the key to and unlocking it when he’d opened it on his own. What had really worried him was that he collapsed into his arms in a sobbing mess, something he’d never done before.

The teen was more or less entranced as he told her about how Ash’d come to the realization that he was having a miscarriage, which basically told her without any details that they’d gone at it the night they got engaged. Between his hormones being out of whack due to the pregnancy his body was basically aborting and his sorrow over losing a child, he’d burst into tears the moment he came to that realization and didn’t really stop crying all day. She remembered from when she was young that he’d told her he’d only had to see his sweetheart cry once before having her, and it’d nearly had him in tears, and she supposed this was the time he was talking about.

Legacy could honestly see her daddy, and later Uncle Jinxx, trying almost futilely to calm her mama down, to reassure him that it didn’t have to be the only time they conceived since he was a hermaphrodite, a term she now understood. Just the thought of her mama being so sad, trying to imagine what the beautiful chocolate-brown eyes she’d seen in pictures of him over the years would look like puffy, red-rimmed, and bloodshot from crying, made her want to cry.

Andy continued the tale with how they barely spent any time apart after that, that his beloved Outlaw hadn’t ever really been the same. Any night that the younger man couldn’t sleep due to his insomnia, or chose to stay at the studio a bit later to get a bit of extra work in, he couldn’t sleep until he’d gotten home for the night. He’d later learned that it was because he feared he’d lose him as quickly and easily as he’d lost their baby. Neither of them had realized at the time that it wasn’t the young frontman’s death they needed to worry about, but Ash’s. Looking back on it, he wondered if his sweetheart had feared his own death was approaching, too, or if he really had been that worried about him all those nights.

“And I guess Mama got even clingier after you guys got married, didn’t he?” she asked curiously.

“A bit. I mean, once we admitted that we liked each other and got together, we were always really close,” Andy answered. “Your uncles were forever teasing us about how cute we looked together, saying that we were made for each other.”

“Really? That doesn’t sound like the uncles I know,” Legacy told him.

“Trust me, we were all a lot wilder and crazier back then,” her daddy chuckled. “Uncle CC was actually the wildest and the craziest of us all. I called him Animal on a routine basis because of that, too.”

“Like the Muppet?” she asked.

“Exactly like the Muppet,” he answered. “Uncles Jake and Jinxx weren’t quite as wild as Uncle CC, Mama, and I were, but they had their moments. I’m actually surprised that your Uncle CC has mellowed out as much as he has over the years.”

“So what about your wedding? What was that like?” she asked curiously.

Andy had to blink back tears as he thought of the day he’d watched his beloved Outlaw walk down the aisle to him on the arm of his long-deceased Grampa Ray. He’d been so beautiful in his black tux, his black veil-adorned silver tiara standing out against his raven hair like the full moon on a country night. His makeup had been flawless, not even a single smudge, despite the tears of happiness he’d been crying.

He could barely force out the words to tell her about that day, as remembering how beautiful Ash’d been then hurt so much he literally felt his chest constrict painfully. The ex-frontman had to pause several times during that part of the tale to get himself under control, the lump in his throat almost too much to speak around. He told her about how they’d had Rebel Love Song played as the wedding party walked down the aisle and took their places, then The Mortician’s Daughter as he’d walked down himself, the words Ronnie Radke had spoken as he opened the ceremony.

“What were Mama’s vows?” she asked, gently rubbing his arm.

“‘Andrew Dennis Biersack…words can’t possibly begin to describe how much I love you, and what you mean to me. You came into my life at a time when I desperately needed someone to understand, respect, love, and care about me, but I was too stubborn to admit it. You finished the healing of my shattered heart and taught me how to love again; for that, I can’t thank you enough.

“‘I want you by my side and in my arms for the rest of my breathing days. I want to share this life with you while building one that has been but a childhood dream of mine. We’ve been on a roller coaster ride the past couple years between our careers, which we get to live our dreams through together, and our relationship, which has had its ups and downs, to be certain. I make this vow today to remain loving and loyal, and will do everything humanly possible to make sure that happens,’ is what your mama said to me that day,” Andy told her, quoting his Outlaw’s vows word-for-word.

“Oh, wow,” the teen breathed, covering her mouth with her hand. “They were so beautiful. What about yours?”

“‘Ashley Abrocket Purdy…such eloquent vows that I’m not sure how to top them. You’re the love of my life, the apple of my eye, and the sun my solar system orbits around. There was something about you that made me know at an instinctive level that I had to have you in my life, eventually as my husband, the day we met. I was just too scared to ask you out, but you took care of that for me.

“I decided to step up and turn the tables when I asked you to marry me, and today’s the day we finally get to do that. Sure, it’s just a couple of pieces of metal and a piece of paper making it legal, but either way, I couldn’t see me living a happy life without you in it—and my arms. I want you by my side until we draw our final breaths, and I’ll do everything humanly possible and then some to make sure that happens’,” he quoted himself, having never forgotten either of their vows.

“Awww,” Legacy cooed, grinning at him. “You two had such a way with words.”

“Your mama certainly did, and I still do,” her daddy agreed, barely able to give her a return smile.

“So what happened after your wedding?”

Andy took a deep breath as he told her about their honeymoon in Hawaii—again, sans sexual details—before they returned home to continue the Church of the Wild Ones tour. She’d listened to their music enough over the years to know that that tour had been associated with their third album, Wretched and Divine, the one put out only about a year before her birth.

He moved on to how they’d finally bought the very same house the two of them still lived in, how her aunts and uncles had helped them move before they embarked on Warped Tour 2013. Even though he’d wondered if it was a good idea for Ash to be touring, considering that he was three months pregnant at that point, he couldn’t really stop his sweetheart when he put his mind to something. It was during that tour, while Sammi and Ella got their house set up and decorated, that the bassist had realized that the rigors of touring on top of being pregnant just didn’t mix, and had decided not to go on anymore until their daughter was at least six months old.

That’d broken his heart when he’d told him that, considering that they’d both been looking forward to Monster Energy’s Outbreak tour later that year, but he understood. Legacy, the very same baby he’d been pregnant with at the time, meant too much to both of them for him to endanger her in any way. He’d applauded Ash for being able to make such a hard decision, still did to this day, but that didn’t mean it hadn’t hurt, especially when he went into labor while they were in Berlin, Germany.

Legacy sat and listened as he told her about how he’d gotten a call from Sammi while in the middle of a dream he’d rather not share the details of, which made her blush. She’d told him to give her a minute seconds after he’d answered and asked what she’d wanted, then he heard her asking if Ash was still there. Knowing she’d three-way’d him with his Outlaw, he’d perked up a bit, but was still half asleep…until he heard his voice. It was the second he’d heard the pain lacing it that he was fully awake, knowing something was wrong, and Jinxx’s now ex-wife had told him he’d gone into labor. From there, getting a flight back home had been a bitch to manage, but he’d done it and was by Ash’s side when she was finally born.

“So Mama had to push me outta his butt?” the teen asked, cringing and grimacing.

“Well, he didn’t have quite the same parts as you,” Andy laughed, tears rolling down his cheeks. “Aside from having a C-section, which he was adamantly against unless it was the only option for a safe delivery, it was the only way he could deliver you.”

“That’s just… Ugh! I did not need to know that I was ever that close to my mama’s rear!” she cried, cringing and rubbing her hands down her face.

“You might think it was gross, but I thought it was beautiful,” he told her. “I got to see my sweet baby girl’s face as she was born after having watched her grow in his belly for nine months. Well, as much as I could when we were on tour and at home together. Aside from our wedding day, no other moment in my life was ever as beautiful as the day you were born.”

“I guess that’s one way to look at it,” Legacy conceded. “I still don’t like the thought of ever having been that close to Mama’s rear end, though.”

Chuckling, he continued telling her about how they’d had to find a comfortable and happy medium between raising her, getting into the studio to record their fourth, self-titled album, and touring after she was born. Jinxx finding out that Sammi was pregnant with Logan, and later getting divorced from her, hadn’t helped the stress they were under. It was a wonder they hadn’t blown a fuse, so to speak, and made the band take a hiatus for a while until things calmed down.

Then he came to that tragic, fateful day that he’d lost the only thing to ever mean as much to him as his daughter did. He started with that morning and told her about the routine they’d always gone through: get up, get dressed, have breakfast, and basically spend the rest of the morning playing with her until naptime if they weren’t on tour or in the studio. It was a simple, sedate life they lived unless one of those other factors was involved, and they’d loved it as much as they’d loved each other and their daughter. He even told her how he’d considered asking his beloved Outlaw if he’d really meant what he’d said about never getting pregnant again sometime within the near future, not expecting his chance to do so to never come.

He recounted how they’d been woken from the nap they’d laid down for after he’d gotten her to sleep by a crash in their living room. Legacy’d noticed in older pictures of the house how the front door had a beautiful oval-shaped stained glass portion in its center, but the door that was there now didn’t have that. The second he’d realized what was going on, Andy’d grabbed his gun while Ash ran down the hall to the nursery.

Whatever was going on soon headed back down the hall toward the master bedroom, so he’d followed the commotion. By the time he’d gotten into their bedroom, his beloved Outlaw lay on his back on the floor, a large butcher’s knife protruding from his chest, his attacker looming over him. He hadn’t thought beyond trying to save the man he loved when he shot the psychotic bitch, instantly killing her, and didn’t care when she dropped to the floor beside Ash. He only cared about his sweetheart, hoping and praying that he’d survive the nasty stabbing she’d inflicted upon him. The fact that he was already surrounded by a pool of blood, the very same body his heart was pumping out of him, hadn’t been a good sign.

Ash’s last moments were spent in his beloved Batman’s arms, telling him that he wasn’t going to survive and he knew he wasn’t as he gasped for air and coughed up his own blood. He’d begged him to do his best with Legacy, knowing that she was going to need him more than ever after he passed on. She was going to grow up motherless after having had him in her life for only a mere year and a-half, unless one counted the time he was pregnant, because of that one homophobic, psychotic bitch. Andy told her about how he’d begged him for one last kiss before he died, something he’d been all too happy to oblige in when he’d realized he wasn’t going to make it, and how he’d died as peacefully as he could in his arms moments later.

“So Mama…didn’t leave?” she asked, sounding choked up.

Unable to answer her, the ex-frontman shook his head, his tears too much for him to bear at the moment.

“Oh, Daddy.” She gently wrapped her arms around him, only tightening the hug when he wrapped his tightly around her.

It was several minutes before either of them could speak again, Andy reliving the day he’d lost his sweetheart to a force he couldn’t reckon with, much less control. He’d hated every day he’d lived after that because, although he still had his precious daughter, he no longer had his Outlaw. He’d been the only thing to mean as much as, maybe more than, Legacy did to him.

“I know I’ve hurt you many times over the years by pulling away from a hug, or not letting you kiss my cheek,” Andy finally said quietly, his breathing still shaky. “Or even because I refused to look at you. But it’s not because I never loved you; I’ve always loved you more than I could scream.”

“I understand, Daddy,” she told him, gently brushing his tears away. “Even if he hadn’t died in your arms, Mama’s death still would’ve made it hard for you to raise me.”

“Ash dying in my arms like that was a good thing, though, in a way.” He paused to attempt steadying his breathing again before he continued. “Not only was he happy when he died, both because he died in his favorite place in the world and got his deathbed wish, but it helped give me closure. I doubt I would’ve been able to handle it as well if I hadn’t seen it for myself, nor granted him that one last kiss.”

“And he really used a Lita Ford lyric to ask you for that?” Legacy asked, looking up at him.

“He sure did. He used the entire lyric, ‘Gimme one last kiss before I die’, from the single Shot of Poison off her 1991 album Dangerous Curves.”

“So the song had no similarities to the way he died?” she asked curiously.

“None at all. But he was trying to be sweet and funny all at the same time, even though he knew he was about to die.” Her daddy gently ran his fingers through her hair, silently noting that it had the same texture as his sweetheart’s.

“No wonder Uncles Jake, Jinxx, and CC, and even Auntie Sammi and Aunt Ella, never wanted to tell me anything about your relationship.”

“Well, they all came to a mutual agreement when us remaining members of Black Veil Brides found it too hard to continue without our fifth Fallen Angel that if anything was said about our relationship, I was the only one who really had that right.”

She kept quiet as they hugged each other again.

“Until now, it was a combination of you being too young to understand, and me finding it too hard to tell you, why I never said anything.” Andy gave her another tight squeeze. “It was hard enough to tell you about him now; I know the longer I waited, the harder it got, but you deserved to know.”

“And you never loved anybody else?” Legacy asked.

“Other than my parental love for you, never. I was so in love with Ash—and to be honest, I still am—that I knew I could never love another. Even if it weren’t for what most consider a ridiculous deathbed vow, I made that vow to him, even though I know he’d want to see me happy, even if that meant loving someone else,” he answered sadly.

The moment he closed his mouth, they were both blinded by a bright white light that lit up the room from the corner opposite of where they were sitting. Andy and Legacy both held their arms up in front of their faces for a moment, waiting for it to dim a bit before they even attempted peeking beyond them and into that corner. What they saw when they finally did shocked both of them, but for different reasons entirely, as what was happening finally registered in their brains.

Standing before them as if he’d never left at all was none other than Ashley Abrocket Purdy-Biersack. He looked just as beautiful as he ever had while he was alive, and other than his image being just a tad transparent, the black wings that sparkled with silver glitter behind him, and his glowing silver halo atop his head, it appeared as if he’d never left. He was dressed in tight, ripped black skinny jeans, one of his many black denim vests that was left open to reveal his infamous OUTLAW tattoo, fingerless black leather gloves, and his customary black cowboy boots that he’d never gone anywhere without.

He gave them a sweet, serene smile before slowly making his way over to them, almost timidly as if he didn’t want to scare them. When he was close enough, he reached out a hand to brush his lover’s hair back, startling his love with how solid it felt. He then turned his attention to his beautiful young daughter, who’d grown up to be far more beautiful than he’d ever dreamt since she was the perfect combination of them, and did the same thing to her.

“A-Ashes?” Andy stuttered, his eyes wide in surprise.

“Yeah, Batman. It’s me,” the angel before them said, chuckling softly. “Maybe not in the flesh, but I’m still here. I always have been.”

“Mama!” Legacy cried excitedly. “I knew you’d show yourself to him eventually!”

“I told you I would, sugar,” Ash said, wrapping his arms around her. His ghost was so solid that she was able to return the gesture, even though he appeared slightly transparent.

“What are you talking about, Legacy?” her daddy asked, sounding confused.

“Mama’s been coming to see me since I was really little,” she answered, looking back at him, even though she never stopped hugging her mama. “He refused to tell me much about himself, and definitely refused to tell me anything about your relationship. But he’s been coming to see me for so long that I’ve forgotten how long it’s been.”

“Since the night I died, sugar,” the deceased bassist told her. “I couldn’t really talk to you before you were four or five, other than telling you how much I loved you.” He looked up at his husband. “I didn’t think I’d get that kinda chance; that’s why I told you to tell her how much her mommy loved her before I died.”

“You’ve really been here all these years? And refused to say anything about our relationship to her?” Andy asked.

“Mmm hmm. My wings are black not only because of my personality, but because I saved her once when God was telling me not to.” His chocolate-brown eyes dimmed for a moment. “As not only a mother, but her mother, I couldn’t let Him take her away from you. Not after He took me when he did.”

“Oh, Outlaw.” Tears welled up in the younger man’s eyes once again.

“I always told her that you’d tell her the story of how we met when she was old enough and you were ready. I also refused to reveal that I was still here until you did that because I didn’t wanna feel like I was forcing you to tell her.” Ash gently caressed his cheek. “I always knew you’d tell her eventually, no matter how much it hurt you.”

“I miss you so much, Ashes. I miss being able to hold you in my arms, especially at night when I’m trying to sleep,” his lover told him, returning the gesture. “It took me years to be able to sleep through the night without you by my side, and not because of Legacy.”

“I know. We got so used to cuddling up together that it was hard for me to watch you go through that,” he told him, a tear slipping down his cheek. “I wish I were still alive, but we’ll be together again someday.”

“Sometimes I wish that every day.”

“Don’t be saying that, Batman. Legacy still needs you, and it’s nowhere near your time.” Ash gave his lover a stern look. “I know you miss me; believe me, I miss you, too. But you have so much more you can accomplish before you join me on this side of the barrier, if you put your mind to it. I’ve been here ever since I died in my own way, even if you didn’t know it. I might not always show myself, but I’ll still be here for many years to come.”

“You have to go again, don’t you, Mama?” Legacy asked, looking into his eyes.

“Unfortunately. My energy reserves are running low since it hasn’t been long since I visited you.” He gave her a tender smile, the same one he’d given her when she was put into his arms for the first time. “I’ll always be hanging around, even if you don’t realize it. I’ll try to materialize as often as I can so you can see and talk to me, but no promises, okay?”

“Okay, Mama. I love you so much, and…thank you for protecting me, even though it meant your death.” She quickly wrapped her arms around his waist again from where she sat in her daddy’s lap.

“You’re welcome, sugar. You’re my baby, and always will be; I couldn’t have let you die that young if I could help it. I love you that much.” He gently kissed the top of her head.

“Even if I see you as the beautiful fallen angel you are, I’ll be by your side again soon, Outlaw,” Andy said, his basement-deep voice sounding choked up again.

“Not too soon, I should hope, Batman,” Ash chuckled, moving to wrap his arms around him. “You’ve done so well with her since that night. Never give in, never back down.” He gently pressed their lips together in the first kiss they’d shared since his death. “I love you more than I can ever scream.”

“I love you more than I can ever scream, too,” his lover answered, returning the kiss as if he were still alive, rather than an angel standing in front of them.

After ending their kiss, the bassist stepped back and waved to them, a beautiful smile on his equally beautiful face. Andy and Legacy couldn’t help the desire to return his wave, not bothering to shield their eyes as another glowing white light enveloped his image and took him away again. Their eyes were drawn to the corner he’d appeared in, up next to the ceiling, where his spirit rested above them as he restocked his energy reserves.

The years following his death had been so hard for his lover to cope with, especially since looking at their daughter brought back so many memories for him. She couldn’t help that she looked identical to her mama, and even though it’d hurt him greatly, he was glad she did. He never got to see that sweet face before now aside from when he looked at Legacy because he refused to look at pictures of Ash, but now he was kind of glad he hadn’t. No picture could capture the older man’s beauty as well as his actual face, or even the angel of him who’d been hiding in the shadows since he’d died.

It would still take time for Andy’s wounds to heal completely, seeing as they weren’t gaping any longer, but he knew they’d be together again someday. Hearing his sweetheart, his Outlaw and deviant, tell him as much from beyond his grave helped him gain that much more closure, and he wrapped his arms around their daughter. Maybe now he could find it in him to tell her stories of some of the little things he’d done, but for now, they were happier than they’d ever been since Ash’s death, and he wanted to keep it that way.

Notes