Prologue
If you'll be my star, I'll be your sky.
"Get those lights ready on set."
"Where are the backup dancers?"
"Somebody get Allen Davis on the phone, RIGHT NOW!"
People were rushing back and forth behind stage, voices shouting like there was a dangerous wildfire, as the sound of music stilled played loudly in the distance. A man with a large headset quickly paced in front of a control panel being operated by a small woman, his brow scrunched with worry as he glanced down at all of the flips and buttons below. He scratched his beard, before looking over the panel once more and quickly flipping a few switches on the panel.
"Are we ready to go?" he asked the mouse like woman, that stood in the back of the room, observing the large tvs that were mounted against the front wall of the room.
She nodded flipping a few switches as well, watching the screens like a hawk.
The man smile, and pressed a button that was located on his small head set, "We're live in three, two, one!"
On the large stage, a man in a shimmering blue tux stepped out in the shining spot light that was pointed directly onto the stage, adjusting his black bowtie as he smiled to the roaring audience ahead of him. He stood in front of a mic, still smiling as he waited patiently till the applauses died down-to almost quiet.
"We have had an amazing show tonight," he shouted excitedly at the crowd as they roared back once more at the man, "which means it's almost over!"
The crowd let out several loud "boos" as the host just smiled and laughed at the crowd from their reactions. After a couple of seconds, he raised his hands up, lowering them up and down into the air, as to say "alright, let's calm down".
"But," he spoke into the mic, getting a roar of excitement from the audience, "it's not through yet! We have one more grand performance to close this year's Grammys, and it's my pleasure to introduce these amazing girls. Just with their first album,The New Beginning, they skyrocketed up the charts with best album and best song. Tonight singing their top single, "Problem", here they are, the Destiny's Angels!"
The crowd cheered louder than they had all night, and the lights dimmed to black in a matter of seconds after the man had quickly ran off the stage. Music started playing in the background with various saxophones and other musical instrument playing, and with that, five spot lights lit brightly onto several figures on the stage. The lights pointed onto different regions on the stage, one pointing to the back, on to each side of the stage and two towards the front. On the large screen that hung up behind the metal stage, words in colors of pinks and greys began to flash on the screen, reading , "One less, one less, problem".
(Problem by Ariana Grande)
"Uh huh! It's the Angels. I got one less problem with you girl (one less, one less, problem)." One of the figures spoke, her voice having a bit of sass and attitude to it, while in the background the same words flashed upon the screen, once again.
Like a Christmas tree, the stage suddenly exploded with colorful lights, sparks, and the music exploded from the speakers, causing the audience to burst out in cheers and screams of excitement. On stage were several extra saxophone players, blowing into their instruments as a few dancers wearing white and black dresses danced to the beat of their tunes. As the lights came on, it was easy to see that all the five girls all had on black and white, sparkling cocktail dresses on with knee high, white Louboutin boots that seemed to make them look like famous models walking down a runway. You could see the figures clearly now, there stood, the girls of Destiny's Angels. Kairi Lockhart, lead vocalist, Selphie Tilmitt, vocalist, Naminé Lockhart, pianist and vocalist, Olette Swan, Guitarist, and Aqua Adams, drums. The five had met back at their girls private school, Radiant Garden Academy, where the juniors, except for Aqua who had already graduated a year before, went to school.
"Hey baby, even though I hate ya, I wanna love ya (I want you). And even though I can't forgive ya, I really want to (I want you)." Kairi sang as she walked gracefully across the stage followed by a few male dancers, wearing fancy black tuxes that seemed to match the girl's ensemble. Kairi, the fiery redhead who couldn't contain her excitement on stage, was the leader of the group, being the one who originally came up with the idea of starting a band. Her mother was the famous singer Tifa Lockhart, which was where she had gotten her amazing singing talent from. Also sharing her mother's singing ability was her sister, Naminé, the band's main pianist. Physically Kairi and Naminé didn't resemble their mother, besides having long gorgeous hair, that seemed to be one everyone's wish-list. But even though Kairi and Naminé are full blooded sisters, they couldn't be more opposites from each other. But instead of disagreeing and causing majors issues with each other, they used their difference to work together, and make the band a success. Kairi was outspoken and has confidence for days, while Naminé, or Nami as the girls call her, was rather reserved, not being really the loud one in the their personalities seemed to be opposite from each other, so did their physical appearances; Kairi with her long red hair and tannish fair complexion, while Nami was blonde with a fairer skin color. Both the girls have bright cobalt, blue eyes that seemed to shine through the darkness.
Kairi seems to be always singing in her classes, and doing anything to be in front of crowds, while Nami was always practicing with her piano any time she got. Instead of taking singing classes like Kairi had started out with, Naminé was gifted at playing the piano, and she was always playing for when Kairi needed a musician. She hoped to be accepted into a top music college when her high school career ended, but that was way before they had become uprising stars.
"Tell me, tell me baby, Why did you leave me?'Cause even though I shouldn't want it, I gotta have it (I want you)," Kairi sang as the men danced back and forth between her, doing various flips and twists, while Selphie trotted away towards the other direction with a few female dancers following her. Selphie wasn't as musically talented as the Lockhart girls, but she definitely had something to bring to the table. Selphie grew up in the rocky side of the Radiant Garden, and at first didn't have all the luxuries that she has now. She barely had anything. Selphie was lucky enough to earned a scholarship to go to their school by entering a singing contest at her local library, with helped her meet her best friend, Kairi. Selphie didn't have a talent with any instruments though, and her singing wasn't the best at first- in fact, Aqua claims that Selphie was actually part squirrel. Coming from the south side though, Selphie knew how to rap very fluently; none of the other girls can take on a Nikki Minaj song like Selphie can, and Selphie has always been proud of her only talent. Over the months of practicing, her singing voice has come very far and it a lot better.
"Head in the clouds, Got no weight on my shoulders. I should be wiser, And realize that I've got…." Kairi hit the high note with a perfect tone, as she threw her hair back behind her bare shoulders. Selphie meanwhile, was walking over to the guitarist, Olette Swan, who was swaying back and forth to the beat. Olette was Naminé's best friend, ever since kindergarten. The two had automatically clicked over the color of their eyes, which seems strange to them now, but didn't really matter when they were little. Olette's father was the first one who taught her how to play guitar, when she was just six years old, and helped her become the guitarist she is today. Olette practiced and practiced relentlessly, every chance she could, and for a while she had a job at a local café playing soft music after school. It was a paying job, but really didn't fulfill her dreams. So when Nami asked her to join the group as their guitarist, Olette couldn't have been any happier. Selphie leaned on Olette as she strummed the notes with perfect key,the two girls smiling back at each other as Selphie got up and strolled away.
A male voice suddenly started speaking, "One less problem without ya, I got one less problem without ya. I got one less problem without ya, I got one less, one less problem."
Kairi playfully danced with the male dancers, and Selphie made her way across the stage once again, giving Kairi a little smack on the butt as she passed by. Olette slowly followed her, but stopped halfway to stay with the female dancers that danced around her. Selphie climbed the stair up to where their drumist, Aqua, was keeping the beat of the song. Aqua was the oldest of the group of teens, having just graduated from high school after she turned eighteen. Aqua found her way to the band by being related to the Lockhart girls', being their first cousin from their dad's side, which is how they found her as their new drummer. Aqua was in another band for a while before joining the Angels, but she decided to quit when Kairi asked her to start playing with them. Aqua's way more into the whole music thing rather than the fame, but all the girls truly did love doing what they had been doing.
The male voice continued saying the chorus, "One less problem without ya, I got one less problem without ya. I got one less problem without ya, I got one less, one less problem."
Kairi made her way back to the center of the stage where Selphie, who gave a little wave to Kairi, was also heading that direction. The two met up with the female dancers, and soon jumped into a dance that included hip shaking and arm crossing(see problem dance).
"I know you're never gonna wake up, I gotta give up-"
"THIS IS COMPLETE AND UTTER BULLSHIT!" Vanitas shouted, from the couch he sat on as they watched the performance on the small television, in the Strife Household located on Destiny Island. Vantias was the oldest brother of all the Strife boys, and was the most aggressive one as well, always seeming to be causing fights with everyone he met. With jet black hair and golden, amber eyes, Vantias was the one who was always joked upon being an orphan, since he looked nothing alike the rest of the Strife boys with their caramel hair and piercing blue eyes.
"Vantias! Watch your language, at least while I'm in the room!" Aerith Strife called, gentle brushing the black haired boy's hair, which if anything agitated him a little more than he already was. Aerith was the voice of reason in the Strife house, being a mother and all, and also being one of the kindest people on Destiny Island.
He grunted, "I can't help it, sure they're hot and all, but what? They sing about stuff that is total crap. Aren't all their songs about feminist rights and stuff?"
"I don't think so." Ventus, one of the twins, said with a laugh. He was the older of the two,Roxas and himself, but unlike his brother, Ven was very intelligent and handsome as hell. He was even the valedictorian of his class. Unlike Vanitas though, Ven and Roxas had sandy blonde hair with crystal clear, blue eyes. With being a twin, his brother and him clashed a lot with their personalities, but Ventus seems to always be the responsible one-most of the time.
"At least not this one, it's about having one less problem when you break up with your boyfriend slash girlfriend." A small black haired girl spoke up from she sat perched on the side of the couch. Xion was the only other female of the Strife household, beside her mother, but that didn't stop her from voicing her opinion in a house full of boys. Usually she's rather quiet outside, but at the comfort of her home, she's a chatterbox.
"That makes sense," Vanitas sighed stretching his lean arms into the air, "what do you think it's about Roxy?"
Roxas was staring intensely at the tv, because of one thought. Fame. Roxas and the rest of the boys, plus Xion, had a band called Destiny's Embrace, named after the small island they lived on, called the Destiny Islands. The band was pretty popular in the town, but it wasn't good enough for Roxas. He wanted to be on stage at the Grammys, he wanted millions and millions of fans, and he wanted to tour all over the world. Roxas was one of the lead vocalist, and he could play guitar pretty well-that was better than most performers. Vanitas was another guitarist and so was Xion, while Ventus played bass. The guy's friend Riku, joined the band around a year ago and now was their new drummer.
"What she said." Roxas was able to mumble out, getting a "Ha, told you" from Xion as Vantias grumbled in his hands while he glared at the girl.
"What do you think Sora?" Cloud Strife, the man of the house, asked his other son, who was sitting on the opposite side of Roxas. The brunette looked back at his father and smiled, but didn't say anything. He thought about it for a minute, and he came to the conclusion that music is music, no matter what it is about. It can be about anything, and everything; breakups, makeups, parties, revenge, sex and a lot more. It didn't really matter what's it about, all the matters is how much you put your heart into it-or that's the way he felt about it.
"I don't know," he said as the song ended, and sparks flew from the ceiling of the arena as the crowd cheered even louder than they had before. The host, still in his shiny blue tux, made his way back onto stage with a smile to where all the girls were meeting in the middle of the stage, hugging each other as if they were performing for their final time.
"Amazing show ladies! Couldn't ask for a better closing, and with that we also have one more tiny surprise for you..." he said, and from the other side of the stage walked out a woman in a sparkling black dress, holding a shining, golden Grammy. She walked over gracefully to the girls, while Selphie practically met her halfway and ripped it out of her hands. You couldn't hear what she was saying but it looked like she was screaming 'OH MY GOD'.
"Do you ladies have anything to say?" The man asked placing a microphone in front of the group.
"Yeah I have something to say… BULLSHIT." Vanitas said getting up from his spot on the floor, "I can't watch anymore of this shit."
"Vanitas, language!" the mother called from her seat on the couch next to her husband.
The girls all huddled around the mic, settling with Kairi in front, as she fanned her face to stop from crying, "I can't believe this is happening." She took in a deep breath while Nami patted her back. "Okay, sorry about that. So we want to thank our producers, the guys in the studio, our manager, Xemnas, and most of all we want to thank our fans. We have such amazing beautiful fans! We love you all so much!"
"And ladies, everyone has been wondering," the announcer said stepping up to the girls again, with a curious grin plastered on his face, "will we be seeing you at the Battle of the Bands?" The audience erupted in cheers and screams.
Battle of the Bands was a contest that separated the good bands from the best bands. It's open for anyone but mostly famous bands compete. It runs for twelve weeks and each week a band gets eliminated until there's only two left, where the two bands left battle it off as the fans decide who is the winner. This year the contest was being held on the Destiny Islands for the first time. Winning the contest meant you get to tour all over the world, and become super famous from winning, usually the bands well known today have once in their life competed in it. The contest was tough this year though, lots of new bands coming to compete, and the competition was beginning to looked pretty stiff.
The girls looked at each other, and with a nod, Kairi turned back to the mic with a beautiful smile graced upon her lips, "Ya know, yes. We will be there."
The crowd screamed and hollered, and the screen started rolling the credits at the bottom of the screen. Balloons came rolling down from the ceiling as well as streamers, and with that, the Grammy's were officially over for this year.
The Strife household was quiet as the credits rolled down the screen, until Vanitas threw a plastic ball at the television, almost knocking off some of the decorative candle holders that rested next to the screen. Aerith turned around quickly in her seat, and started to scold him, while Roxas got up to shut the tv off.
"Hey I was watching that!" Xion shouted throwing a pillow, trying to hit him in the back of the head- you can probably now see the resemblance of how they like to throw things.
Roxas grabbed the pillow, and threw it back to her, "Sorry, just didn't want to hear about the Battle right now."
"Come on Roxas, we could still get in," Ventus said while he pulled out his phone to look up how many bands had entered. The boys had all entered the band on the competition's website at least a hundred times, but only five were going to be chosen out of the millions of low key bands that were entering to get in for free, otherwise you had to pay to get in (and it wasn't cheap either).
Cloud suddenly got up and headed for his office, while the boys discussed their chances of being picked-which Vanitas concluded their chances of being picked was like his chances of getting an A+ in Pre Calculus. The older man walked into the small room, and went straight towards the desk, pulling out one of the drawers and picking up a small envelope with the letter B.O.T.B stamped across the front in bold, red letters. Cloud turned around and headed back towards the living room, still hearing Vantias complain about how he had gotten a 38% on his math test. Cloud walked in once again, and handed the letter to his wife, as he took a seat next to her.
"Mom, what's that?" Xion asked as she saw her father hand the letter to her mother. Aerith smiled , and handed the letter to Xion, who immediately recognized the acronym.
"No Way."
