A/N: This is the result of myself listening to waaaaay too much piano music. I've been planning the idea for a week or two and finally decided to actually write the damn thing.
My determination to finish and have this published was the overwhelming amount of positivity I got from the description and promotional image I posted regarding the story on Tumblr. I was not expecting that much feedback to be perfectly honest, but I'm glad people seem genuinely interested in the idea. I hope I don't disappoint anyone!
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail despite what I may wish. Trust me, all my ships would be canon by now had I been granted the ownership of Fairy Tail.
The auditorium was empty aside from the lone woman who sat at the grand piano on the darkened stage; the pianist was illuminated only by the one stage light that was cast down on her. She wore a serious face as she glided her gloved hands over the dusty keys before slamming them down onto the piano producing a stream of notes that echoed throughout the large room.
The woman kept playing until another figure entered the room from the back of the stage. She didn't notice him at first as she was fixated on playing the instrument perfectly, lost within it's enticing sound. That is, until she noticed the man, to which she stopped playing rather abruptly and the two were silent as the last chord faded out.
"Bloody hell, Rogue. I'm trying to practice." The girl snapped breaking the silence and glaring up at the raven-haired man who now stood before the piano.
"You're in here later than usual, Minerva." Rogue said raising an eyebrow. "I was a tad curious to see why."
Minerva sighed and tugged at the black elbow high gloves that covered her arms, she couldn't really get too annoyed with the one person she actually trusted, even if he did interrupt her session.
"If you must know, I got a gig down at the Oracion Bar and I need to practice so I don't make a fool of myself." She huffed, folding her arms as she did so.
"You won't make a fool of yourself, you're playing is brilliant." Rogue told her. Her face softened at the praise. The two fell into silence until the boy spoke up again.
"Wait, did you just say you were going to the Oracion Bar?" He asked, a bit too snappily for Minerva's taste.
"Your ears have not deceived you. But what's it to you?" She replied with a tone to match his.
"Min! That bar is full of perverted creeps and ex criminals!" Rogue shouted but his face was masked with concern.
"So what?" She shrugged. "You think I can't defend myself?"
Rogue's eyes drifted to her gloved hands but he quickly retracted his gaze. If the long haired girl noticed this, she didn't call him out on it. Instead she simply looked up at him with a challenging stare.
"You cannot go in there, at the very least, you're not going in there alone." He said with a sigh. "Since when do you take up gigs anyway? You never take requests or do shows."
"I found a flyer saying they wanted live music so I enquired the owner about it and he seemed all for it. If it gets me out of the house, I'm in." She explained. She then looked up at him with a slight smirk. "And now, seeing as I can't go alone, you will be accompanying me."
Rogue's eyes widened. "Wait, what?"
Minerva stood up and began to walk towards the exit at the back of the stage but stopped next to Rogue for a moment.
"Well, I'm taking up your piano time, so I best be off. I'll pick you up at eight. Make sure you're ready." She said and patted him on the shoulder before strutting behind the stage curtains, ankle length skirt flowing and heeled boots clicking as she did so.
Rogue didn't even have time to respond. The boy stood at the piano with a stunned expression on his face. Didn't she yell at him for interrupting her session not too long ago?
He sighed and shook his head. Honestly, the girl confused him sometimes.
He slumped down into the chair behind the piano then began to fiddle with the sleeves of his hoodie. He sat with only the company of the silence that surrounded him and gently covered his face with his hands, elbows propped up against his thighs.
Something told him it was going to be a long night.
A blond haired bartender closed his eyes and sighed as he filled up another round of drinks for the aggressive looking biker gang that had been here for the past hour and had claimed a table toward the back of the bar. They were currently on their fourth round of drinks, heading to a fifth, and the boy was going to go crazy if he heard one of them start yelling about how his bike had broken down in the middle of Crocus again. He forced a smile and walked over to the group and handed over the drinks. As he was about to turn away one of the men, whom the young man assumed was the leader, called out to him in a drunken slur;
"Hey, boy!"
The blond sighed and looked at the man. The drunken biker began to laugh before picking up a large glass of fizzing liquid and tossing the contents onto the bartender's face.
"You looked like yer needed a drink." The man said laughing heavily, as did his mates. The boy breathed in deeply and grabbed some of the empty glasses from the table and began to walk away. The top of him was soaked in the heavily scented brew and his eyes stung. He struggled to keep his eyes widened but while so focused on doing that he wasn't looking where he was walking and before he knew it he'd collided with the floor. Laughter erupted from the few tables that occupied people and he could feel his eyes watering. He blinked away the tears and looked at his hands, they had been cut from the now smashed glasses and crimson colour now dripped down his hands.
The boy could feel himself shaking as he picked up all the pieces of shattered glass, ignoring the laughter that still echoed through the bar. He could see bits of his reflection looking back at him, his piercing blue eyes wide with panic. When he managed to shove all the major bits of glass into the pocket of the white apron he was wearing he shakily stood up and walked at full speed toward the door that lead to the back rooms. There he emptied the shards of bloody glass into a bin. As he was about to turn around he was stopped from doing so for the second time that day.
"Oi, faggot!"
He recognized the voice as that of the one belonging to his boss. Out from the door behind him a tall, muscular man emerged. He had very tan skin and in contrast to that, shoulder length white hair. The man was known as Brain.
The boy knew that in other places a boss or anyone who bullied others in the workplace would normally be fired for that sort of thing but the Oracion Bar worked differently, so it would seem. For a place that mistreated it's employees terribly it was a popular place to drink - more so at night than during the day. He'd only been in the bar of a night once, when he was applying for the job. It was crowded to the point you where you couldn't move without bumping into someone.
"Ye… Yes?" He hadn't meant to stutter, but man, did Brain scare him.
"Jellal's taking the night off so you're taking his shift for the night." Brian told him, Bright blue eyes once again flew open and his mouth agape. He didn't even like putting up with the people who came in during the day! He didn't want to imagine the sort of people that came in during the nights.
"But sir! Can't Ultear and Meredy take the shift by themselves?" He questioned, raising his voice a little. Bad move. His boss glared back at him. The kind of glare that made you want to be swallowed up by the floorboards beneath your feet.
"What was that Eucliffe? You aren't questioning me are you?" Brain asked. He picked the smaller boy up by the collar of his shirt, the before mentioned glare becoming more intense by the second. The blond gulped.
"N… No sir." He whispered and the larger man dropped him. The younger of the two sighed in relief and rubbed his throat.
"Ultear and Meredy will still be on, you'll need three sets of hands on deck." Brian said with less aggression than before. He turned to leave before calling out one last time.
"One last thing Sting." The boy in question looked up at his boss once again, fear still lingering in his eyes. Brain could see this and smirked a little.
"There's a pianist coming in tonight, Minerva Orland, make sure she's not treated too roughly." And with that said, he left the room.
Sting sat against the wall in the dimly lit room and looked at the apron that was now stained with his blood. With a sigh he pressed the back of his his head against the wall and closed his eyes
How had his life come to this?
"Sorano, I don't want to go." A white haired girl said shaking her head as she stood at her bedroom doorway, arms folded against her chest.
"Yukino, you're coming. If we're forced to hang around each other and bond or some shit, I want to have fun." A girl with white hair that danced around her hips, stood on the other side of the door pleading with her younger sister.
Yukino sighed and fiddled with her short hair, she knew no matter how hard she tried her sister wasn't going to give up. Their parents were forcing them to spend one night together as they'd noticed that their relationship had been strained since Sorano had hit high school and got worse when Yukino had started. Though when the idea had been suggested, Sorano didn't whine or complain, she'd smiled and gone with the idea, telling their parents they were absolutely right and she was going to take her younger sister for spa night.
Now she knew her sister's true intentions, due to an incident that had happened a year prior Sorano couldn't leave the house of a night unsupervised so she was taking this as an opportunity to go out and go to a bar with her friends, dragging Yukino with her, knowing perfectly well that Yukino wouldn't tell her parents anything.
"Okay." Yukino told her. She let her hands fall to her sides and shook her head, she couldn't believe she was actually going along with this, however, at the same time she could. Like she could actually go against what her sister said.
"Ah! Perfect." Sorano smiled a sickly sweet grin. "Now go get changed into something that actually looks nice, thanks!" She snickered a little at her own comment. Yukino sighed and looked down at her clothes, a pair of light blue shorts, a blue singlet and white cardigan. She saw nothing wrong with it personally. She was about to comment but her elder sister was already gone. She closed her bedroom door walked over to her bed. She sat down and bought her knees to her chest.
She was sick of letting herself get pulled into these situations, but she didn't exactly have friends to talk to or any to help her. At school she was 'Sorano's Useless Little Sister' and at home the label didn't really change all too much.
Yukino could feel tears brimming in her eyes and shook her head rapidly and wiped her tears away, smudging her eye makeup a little. She couldn't give up just yet, no matter how much she wanted to. She leaned back onto the bed and stared at the bland white ceiling above her.
Why was she so alone?
Rogue stood shirtless before the floor length mirror he had in his bedroom. He stared at his pale and bony torso with a grim expression. He could see his ribcage through his skin and there were dark purple and green bruises that surrounded it. He looked at his arms, pale and marked with faint pink lines as well as newer and redder ones that trailed up both his arms, the fierce red colour screaming at him or anyone else unfortunate enough to catch sight of them.
He disgusted himself.
Unable to look at the sight anymore, he turned away and grabbed an old grey shirt and black hoodie. He knew Minerva would be here to pick him up at any minute, when the girl set a time she was going to be there at that exact time and if you weren't ready, God help your soul.
He slipped on a pair of converse and slid his phone into his pocket; he was as ready as he'd ever be. He looked at his bedroom door and sighed.
Despite however much hope he held onto, nothing went the way he wanted or needed it to. So why was he still holding on?
Maybe he needed to let go.
A/N: Yeah, I don't really like the ending too much. Anyway, I wanted to have this chapter up by the first day of Fairy Tail Angst week because I have nothing else to post for it, can't say for sure when this'll be updated - my goal is to have a new chapter every fortnight.
Have a nice week all ^_^