Hi! First off, I just wanted to say if all this seems a little familiar. It should. This story started out as the brilliant brainchild of Pixel Alice and Tic-tac101, originally called by the title "Life of Rock." I liked the story and was really sad when I heard they weren't going to continue it. But Pixel Alice was totally nice enough to let me pick up the torch on this plot, and allowed me to continue it. So, I edited it and fleshed it out just with more detail. Now this is just a trial run to see if people (and most importantly Pixel Alice) like how I re-did this. I tried to keep it as close to the original plot as possible and only really changed the title, so again I say it's only temporary unless Pixel Alice says otherwise. Until that time, I hope you all will read this and indulge me with a review. I accept 'constrictive' critisims and flamers will be ignored. Thank you and on with the fic:)!!
"Gackt, stop it! We're going on in a few minutes..." I hissed trying in vain to sound firm, but it came out rather as more of a hushed giggle. As our entire entourage/staff was scurrying to and fro just outside the door of our shared dressing room, in the united and frantic attempt to make this monumental evening a success.
Which as far as I was concerned, didn't need anything more than two people here in this room.
"I love you, you know?" He whispered seductively into my ear, making my spine shiver deliciously in response. I loved how he could do that to me.
Now I had always had a fair tone, even before the 'change' took place. None the less, while you could never exactly compare my skin to the Medieval romantics definition of 'lilies and roses'. Even under layers of artfully applied makeup the resulting blush must have looked remarkably more like a sunburned tomato on my skin, even as a vampire some things never change.
"I know, I love you too." I whispered, giving his Armani coat a quick, gentle tug towards me. I met with no resistance as soft, pliable lips met mine and we sank into a familiar world of our own, away from stark reality, from worries, and most importantly memories of HIM. Ugh!
However, a loud knock on the door interrupted out reverie. "Gackt? Bella? We need you two on stage in five..." Kaito Keto, our perpetually high-strung manager, not to mention, errand boy, babysitter, valet, goose-chaser (Don't ask. We vamps were bored and wanted to play 'Mess with the gullible human,' so sue us.) All in all, our unsung hero, figuratively speaking, of course. One of the few humans I both knew, trusted, was worth his weight in gold. And whose head is endlessly fun to mess with. I could just see him then, his head swiveling around like some demented bird making sure no one could see him embarrassing himself. As he crouched behind the safety of his ever present clipboard for what came next, we could practically hear the blush as he whispered, "...preferably unmussed and fully clothed."
Poor dude, you have one rowdy night in Paris, and you don't live it down for the rest of the decade. It wasn't the first time either (snicker). In our defense, it was the Moulin Rogue after all, the place practically screams rebel.
Reluctantly, I unwrapped my arms from around his neck. I heard my love give somewhere between a low groan and a sigh deep within his throat. But not before I gave a feather light ghost over his hard stone chest in admiration, our eyes met and I shared a sly wink that captured my lover's interest. I leaned up to the door.
"Aww and we were just about to get to the good part too." I mock lamented in a pitiful drawl that had once worked on my dad to perfection and had been in refinement for the last few years. We heard flustered sputtering on the other side in response and shared a toothy grin. As I said, way too easy.
I decided to cut the poor guy a break anyway; he had enough on his plate tonight, calling back quietly. "It's alright Keto-sama, we're in the same mint condition that the stylists and make-up people left us in two hours ago. (How we did that I'll never know?!) We'll be out in time, I promise."
Hearing an almost breathless sigh of air being exhaled in sheer relief, and other -more sensitive- senses picked up his heart and pulse going back to a not-so-close heart attack level. Just barely catching his receding footsteps and uttering curses about 'being the death of him' and other such stuff. I made a mental note to be nicer to him for the next year or two, after all what was a few to me?
Suddenly, I was pulled back into the loving embrace of my current lover. His bright blue eyes shining down at me with nothing but love in them, and a tinge of...melancholy?
But the answer came quick. "Why do we do this Bella? I hate having to sing and perform with anyone other than you." He sighed regretfully into my hair. I couldn't help but smile, he was my angel. Gackt picked me up when I was broken and brought me back to life, no pun intended. He was my new love, my only love. Nothing could ever tear us apart. And we would stay together for eternity.
"Alright, let's get this over with." Gackt quickly kissed my forehead, I giggled. (Ah, the pleasures of being eternally eighteen.) As we walked hand in hand towards the familiar sights and sounds, of a stadium full of light, music and thousands of screaming fans.
Meanwhile in Washington...
Where a typical American evening was taking place, as a young man sat in front of the TV flipping relentlessly through the channels. Which despite paying out the wazoo for the pleasure of a dish equipped with several hundred of them, still could find nothing good on. Needless to say by that time it was safe to assume Emmett Cullen was monumentally bored.
"There's nothing to watch!" He whined piteously like a five year old. Which was interesting considering how old he actually was.
"Then read a book, listen to a CD, make a cake just do something!" A very cranky voice grumped from the direction of the floor. Edward Cullen his 'older brother' so to speak and the voice's owner. Then rising up from his comfortable spot behind the couch, surrounded by reading materials of his own he removed the earphones of his old CD player. Which he had donned in order to spare his sensitive hearing the brunt of Emmet's caterwauling, glaring at his 'little brother' like any annoyed older sibling naturally would.
Emmet in turn, glared right back at Edward his topaz eyes smoldering indignantly. "Fine, I will then." He huffed, turning back to the TV proceeding to resume his former activity, flipping through each and every channel.
Edward had just settled back down into his book when Emmett's voice was raised once again.
"Alright, a live concert from...Tokyo?! I didn't know this thing got that kind of range. Aw, who cares I might not be able to understand what they're saying, but heck these guys are really good." Emmett said in happy satisfaction.
He rolled his eyes and was just about to put the headphones back on, before he heard another voice come into the room.
"I agree. I know that a camera adds ten pound and all, but I could swear at this angle." Rosalie said entering the room nonchalantly stepping over Edward's prone legs and tilting her head at the screen. "That girl looks a lot like Bel- I mean someone we used to know."
"That covers a lot of ground, metaphorically and literally." Said Emmett matter-of-factly.
Only to be joined by a third voice, "Really?! I have to see this." This time it to Alice who came rushing in to see what the big commotion was amongst her 'siblings'. "Oh my goodness, you're right Rose! She does indeed!"
"I bet it's your imagination. She's dead remember, has been for years." Edward said, feeling a slight twinge of both guilt and regret in the depths of the heart that had long sense ceased to beat. An old echo of one he once loved, which from time to time still whispered out a single, solitary word that seemed to cry throughout his entire being...Bella.
"And that was tonight's guest stars singing their latest Number One hit, our own Camui Gackt and the beautiful, multitalented Isabella Schwannsee. Next by popular request is the hit song Ryuusie, sung solo by Bella herself. " Boomed the some Japanese suited announcer/show host in their native language into a microphone whilst standing on a red carpet in front of some huge stadium a world away. The translation coming in the form of subtitles at the bottom of the screen courtesy of the network.
"Oh my GOD, Rosalie, Alice, Edward!! Did you see that? That girl's name is Bella! Maybe it's her...except this one has highlights and wears way too much black." Emmett chattered excitedly, jumping up and down on the soft cushions.
Edward leaped sharply to his feet, taking a long hard look at couple on the screen. In particular, the young woman dressed in the what appeared to be the style called Elegant Gothic Aristocrat, that he'd read in one of his sister's fashion magazines had become popular in America in the last few years. He scrutinized even closer as the camera zoomed in onto the youthful face with its expertly applied makeup. She seemed to have stepped out of his childhood of centuries before with her ribbons, lace and even pseudo bustle-hoopskirt on her mock Victorian gown. As she raised the microphone to her lips, the lights dimmed and her kohl-rimmed eyes opened time seemed to stop for an instant looking straight at him across time, space and the years. Like she was just across the room, rather than across the ocean. If he was capable of dying of shock, he would have because he would have known that face anywhere. Not just because it had haunted his dreams all the time, everyday for the last twenty years.
It was true, it was HIS Bella.
It was my turn to sing a song solo. Even though I knew that Gackt wouldn't go to far from me. It was a long standing joke in the Japanese music industry, look for one and you will find the other not more than a few feet away. Even on stage. He and I really were joined at the hip so it seemed, it had been like that from almost down to the very hour that he had found me in that craphole where I'd ended up in L.A.. A lonely mortal and a newly formed fledgling vampire, what a pair we made. Even though it was years ago, a part of me still hurts to remember.
Funny, a vampire with 'abandonment issues,' I would laugh at the irony if it wasn't so painful. Just one of many in my life the past couple of decades.
Anyway point of the story; we simply just don't like to be apart. Outings, photo shoots, in the studio, dates and society functions and of course, concerts. How don't we get on each other's nerves? I don't have the foggiest idea. But it definitely helps being a rock star and all; I get to be around my muse all day long and vice versa, as Gackt is ever fond of telling me. Not that I mind, because what I intended to sing I had written and dedicated with Gackt in mind, it was one of my favorites. But before I did sing, I wanted to show to the world just how much he meant to me.
"Before I start this next song, I want to thank Gackt for picking me up when I was down and broken." I said into the mike towards the vast cheering crowd before me.
"You're welcome." He said from behind me, his normally low and gentle voice made loud from his own microphone. "And Bella, I want to ask you something."
"Yes?" I was cut with a gasp of surprise; I wouldn't figure out until later that it had been my own. As he came around in front of me and got on one knee in front of the crowd. Was he going to do what I think he was going too?
"Bella?" He questioned concerned as he took both of my hands in his own. Oh my gosh, if I could faint on the spot, it would definitely be now. Was he about to propose to me, of all people?! Oh my God!!
Back in the States, Edward was still frantically reading the subtitles, just not believing what he was seeing. The motions on the TV seemed like a pantomime to him, making him live out his worst nightmare in front of his very eyes. Some freak was about to propose to Bella. HIS Bella. Was he mental or something?
He grabbed the TV and put his face towards the screen, it was taking all his power not to break the stupid hunk of metal in his intense anger. Ignoring the protests and outright dumbfounded stares of his family, he shook it yelling.
"SAY NO! SAY NO!!"
"Bella, will you do me the great honor of becoming my wife?" Gackt said gently taking out a velvet box from his coat pocket, opening it to reveal one of the most beautiful rings I'd ever seen.
Again I digress, OH MY GOD!! I couldn't believe what I was hearing, that it was actually happening to me. The one thing I had wanted but had thought would never come since the 'incident'. I immediately threw myself at him with such immense joy (and a touch of unchecked vampiric strength) that we were knocked over crying out in my intense happiness, "Yes! Yes I will!"
He took the ring and placed it on my finger, it fit so perfectly. He lifted my chin up and placing a tender, yet passionate kiss on my ruby red lips. The crowd went absolutely wild with cheers and applause that made what they had given during our song seem a mere whisper. They loved it.
"Aishiteru." I whispered, breaking the kiss.
"Watashiwa ni." He responded with a smile.
"Wh-wa-WHAT?!" Edward wasn't able to form a single coherent sentence. Bella. His beautiful Bella, was going to marry some some stupid ass that wore too much black and had a sissy earring!
"Edward?" Alice asked cautiously breaking the silence from the far wall. Where the entire family was backed up, well except for Emmett, who was staring at the TV in shock with a blank look on his face, and Jasper, who was clenching his fists to his sides as if he didn't trust himself currently. Probably didn't to tell the truth, he had always been like a mirror reflective to everyone else's emotions, and was probably experiencing a good portion of Edward's anger at the moment.
Emmett as usual in a tense situation didn't have a clue outside his own little world. "Guys, didja hear? Bella's getting married?" He turned around yelling with a stupid smile plastered on his face.
"NO ONE IS MARRYING MY BELLA!!" Edward roared at him, his fangs extended and eyes dilated. Without thinking he jumped at the TV and chucked it at Emmett, who dove under the antique coffee table to duck the oncoming projectile. But not soon enough for it just grazed the side of his temple.
"What the hell, Edward?" He growled rubbing his head. In a mad frenzy Edward lunged at him and started wrestling with him on the floor, despite being somewhat bulkier than his older sibling. Edward had a heated anger fueling his blood, so poor Emmett was huge disadvantage of his own.
"Edward calm down!" Carlise's voice boomed a loud order that could be heard and felt throughout the family structure.
"Don't tell me to calm down, father." The addressee hissed in a condescending tone. "My Bella is about to marry some foreign asshole named Gackt, and you expect me to stay calm?! Would you do the same in my position? HELL NO!!" Suddenly the enraged vampire could feel his body wanting to calm down so bad it hurt.
He whirled around to the offending party. "Damnit Jasper, stop it!" He yelled glaring daggers at the other vampire. Alice, as the so-called peacemaker of this little family bravely stepped in front of him pointing a stern finger at her enraged 'brother'.
"Edward, don't you dare yell at us for your stupid mistakes! You were the one who told us to leave Bella and have nothing to do with her life! She isn't stupid Edward, not by a long shot. While I do admit being around us probably made that poor girl grow up sooner in some ways than she should have. I will not go any further than that, when she saw you weren't coming back, she moved on. You heard what she said on TV, this Gackt fellow was the one person to pick her up when you left her broken. She fell in love with him because of you! So don't you blame us. Don't you dare?" She screamed at the young man's face.
Edward felt the last wisps of his misplaced anger dissipate when he realized. She was right. Alice was absolutely right. It was his own fault that Bella was getting married to that ass Gackt. He had left her for her own safety and look what had happened she was a vampire and was getting married to that weird gothic guy. His mental functions screeched to a complete halt as it yanked back into focus, picked apart and replayed the information several times before the rest of him caught up and accepted it as fact.
"SHE'S A VAMPIRE??" He yelled in astonishment.
"Uh?!" Went the rest of the family exchanging uncertain looks with each other.
But Edward took advantage of the silence to steer their higher mental functions towards his point. They had all seen her close-up on TV; it shouldn't have been that hard to figure out. "Don't you see Bella hasn't aged, at all?" The rest of the family took this all in and nodded with increasing vigor as it sunk in.
"That means she's a vampire, meaning this Gackt guy will grow old and die someday."
"Yeah, but what if she decides to turn him into one? She's been on her own long enough to figure out the basics of being one of us." Said Rosalie. She had barely finished her sentence, when Alice's eyes went blank with an oncoming vision.
There was a beautiful seventeenth century mansion, recently and lavishly restored. Bella and that Gackt guy were entering through an arched doorway from another room. Amidst the laughter and talking, Bella suddenly froze. "Bella?" Gackt asked more than concerned for her. Bella said nothing, only clutching at her head in obvious pain. "Oh no, Alice is having a vision of me!" She screamed, her anxiety and own concern for her fiancée overriding her own pain and panic. Alice felt her heart go into her shoes, as Bella stood up and glared right at her in the dreamscape with furious, blazing eyes. "Get out of my head and leave me alone!" She screeched hysterically, as Alice felt herself being sharply thrust back into her own body with the force of a meteor. But not before she saw the address, which even in Japanese she could seem to read easily for the information just seemed to slide into her mind.
13995 Hasagawa Street. Osaka.
"Edward, did you see that?" asked Alice. As she returned to her usual self, none the worse for the wear. He simply nodded. He was going to get to see his Bella again, he'd get a precious chance to apologize and explain himself. And most importantly, have a chance to stop this sham of a marriage in the making.
"Edward?" Said Alice once again.
"What?" He growled a little perturbed at being brought out of his pleasant reverie. One that currently involved disemboweling a certain mortal.
"How did Bella know I was having a vision of her?" She inquired innocently.
He stopped. Now that was a very good question, one that he didn't quite have an answer to, not even a dumb guess, yet that is. But he'd be damned if he wouldn't find out. "I don't know, but we are all going to Japan right now!" His tone left no open argument, even to the 'parents' who surprisingly didn't seem to object to the overall idea.
"WHAT?" Screamed Rosalie in disbelief.
"Yay! We're going to see my little sister!" Cried Emmett.
"I'm getting to see my daughter again!" said Esme, eyes tearing at the thought of the unexpected reunion to come.
"But that means we have to meet this Gackt fellow. I am about due for a vacation." Carlise replied sensibly.
"Either way, I'm going to get a his autograph! And a new Barbie doll!" Alice said dreamily.
"Great, now I definately am going to crack." Said Jasper with a groan.
It was a whirl of activity in the large house after that, as the family prepared to go and solve the mystery of what had happened to their wayward daughter so many years ago.
Ok, a few little extra notes: I figured that since Bella had a new life she'd want to forge a new identity too so both the Cullens, family members and other humans couldn't find her for various reasons. So, I figured that I'd just use another version of her name to make it reflect the person she has become. Schwannsee is actually German for 'swan', just a more elegant play on Bella's original name. And being in a foreign country that is used to all sorts of Europeans going in and out, just using Isabella would have probably have been enough to hide her.
Japanese have many ways to say "I love you" ironically, it's like going up a scale depending on the tone and who one is speaking too. Aishiteru is like the "Ultimate" form of the phrase and propriety demands simply if you don't mean it keep your piehole shut!! Usually reserved for lovers and ultra-serious romantic couples.
Watashiwa ni; means 'me too'.
Sama is a prefix of highest respect, usually reserved for a very ranked or upper-level person. I guess you could translate it loosely as 'Lord'.
And lastly, I really wanted to include this about the new title. A long time ago I read somewhere that when a swan dies, it will sing it's own requiem (death song) and to those who've heard it it's supposedly the most beautiful heartwrenching thing ever. Don't know if it's true or not, but I thought it'd make a cool title for various reasons.
Like it, hate it, want me to cram it in the trash can? Please click the pretty purple button and help me improve. Thank you.