Demyx glanced around nervously backstage. Axel was busy staring at a lighter, which one tech crew member was trying to get away from him. Saïx was replacing the strings on his guitar, something he should have done hours ago.
"Where's Zexion?" Zexion was the programmer, and the band could not live without him. Especially not now, when the band before them was just finishing up their last song. This was not going to end well.
"Right here, Demyx." Zexion approached him from behind.
"Nice time to show up! We're about to go on!"
"You'll survive," he said, handing Demyx his guitar. Demyx glared at him and waited as the band in front of them walked offstage. Their lead singer, Riku, walked by with an exhausted look.
"Hey, are you okay?" The silver-haired boy's eyes widened.
"That crowd is dead, man. You'd better come up with something crazy to get them excited. I think the most exciting thing to them was the plastic ball people have been chucking at each other." Demyx smirked.
"Crazy is my middle name."
"Demyx, your middle name is retarded. Now let's go. They're announcing us," said Zexion. They walked onstage to about half the crowd cheering halfheartedly. Riku was right. Total zombies.
Xigbar, the host of the event, gave each of them a short interview. Demyx gulped nervously when it was Axel's turn.
"So, do you ever come to Las Vegas by yourself, or just with the band?" Axel shrugged lazily.
"Usually just with the band, I don't like it here that much." The crowd started booing, and some of them started loading up water bottles (and those large plastic footballs) with stuff. One guy even had a mini Arrowhead cooler filled with beer, and he wasn't sure whether it was worth filling with rocks to throw at them or not. Demyx hurriedly grabbed the mic before Axel could do any more damage.
"He just means he doesn't like gambling and losing money. He still likes Vegas, though, right, Axel?" he said nervously, shoving the mic in Axel's face. He muttered through clenched teeth, "Don't ruin this for us, man."
"It's okay."
"Ooh, I don't think the crowd is very happy about this." Demyx stole the mic from Xigbar, getting a dirty look.
"Hey, maybe we should throw him out back and deal with him later!" Demyx shouted. This got cheers from the same people plus a few of the more violent ones. Axel gave him a wide-eyed look, begging for him not to continue. Zexion sighed, knowing their act was already finished. Saïx glared at all of them. Demyx was determined not to let it die.
Their first set of songs went well. Almost.
"Okay, this next song is about how great you guys are, and how fantastic our year's been, and…and…is that a fight? Holy crap!" he shouted. The crowd looked in the direction of the fight, where two guys were fighting about the inflatable ball. People had been throwing it at one another earlier. Now it was popped.
"Well, um, this next song is about happy people...and little bunnies frolicking in meadows...and not killing each other," said Demyx, trying to get the concert back on track. A security guard broke things up, and while one could say everyone was focused again, they hadn't really been focused to begin with.
"Anyway, let's try something I just thought of last night!" 'Or five seconds ago,' thought Demyx. "It's called the reverse wave…"
In the background, Zexion and Axel were talking.
"You have to give him some credit. He is trying to get them excited," said Zexion.
"If he would just let me light the drums on fire again…"
"Now, Axel, you know what happened last time," chided Zexion. Axel frowned.
The band went backstage for a break, where Xemnas the manager pulled Axel aside and gave him a firm lecture about "What we do when we're live on national television". Demyx drank his way through three bottles of water. Trying to make a bunch of dead guys seem excited was hard work.
They returned a few minutes later for the second set, where Zexion took his place next to Axel. The quietly whispered for a few minutes, when Axel's eyes fell upon a nearby water bottle.
"Zexion I'll give you five bucks if you chuck that at the crowd." He received a dark glare in response.
"Why in the name of all things sane would I do that?"
"Because it's fun?"
"Strike one."
"To excite the crowd?"
"Strike two."
"Twenty bucks?" Zexion sighed as the band launched into another song. 'Fine,' he mouthed at Axel. The pyro grinned maniacally.
Halfway through the song, during Demyx's guitar solo, he discreetly grabbed the almost full water bottle and unscrewed the lid almost all the way. He took a few steps for momentum and launched it at the crowd, showering several people. Normally this would excite any crowd, but most of them were drunk and didn't even notice. Zexion returned to his place near Axel feeling almost embarrassed.
"That went well," he muttered at the end of the song, taking his place at the soundboard for the next one.
"You tried." A few should-have-been-exciting minutes later and it was all over. Demyx pulled every trick he could think of, but the crowd was unresponsive. He retreated backstage, dragging a lighter-wielding Axel away from a drum set that didn't even belong to them.
"And now for our last group…" said Xigbar. When he announced the name, the entire crowd went insane. All the previous bands' mouths dropped wide open. No wonder they had been unpopular.
The crowd was made of Sora fangirls.