Chapter 1: I'm Done

***Judal***

Judal was tired of all the crap dancers the Al Thamen label provided him with. They all thought they knew better than him. It's his fucking music for crying out loud! He wrote all of it during traveling days on his European tour. But the dancers though their versions of the rhythm and movements were the best way. They had these annoying 'I'm better then you' attitudes and he really just didn't want to deal with a bunch of people who had those attitudes when they couldn't even dance half as well as him.

What sucks was that the dancers weren't even the half of it. His manager kept making him work with rappers, none of whom appreciated his talent, or the stupid, no-talent pop stars whose music was all auto tuned shit, completely computer generated. He was sick of all the bullshit. They wanted to use his name to get bigger paychecks. As if all this crap wasn't enough, they wouldn't let him preform with any of the artists he requested. He hated the Al Thamen, they were using him and he hated being used.

He wanted to switch to a different label, but Kou was working too closely with Al Thamen for his taste and that man-whore Sinbad had denied his request to become part of the Sindria Label.

To say Judal was pissed was an understatement. After the cluster-fuck that today had been, he was done. So done. He told Ithnan he was taking a break for a while. Said he needed to work on lyrics for his next few albums, get inspired, wanted to take some time to take care of his health. He made up an annoying long-and to his chagrin, mostly true-list of excuses and left without listening to the other's reply. He turned his back on what he had spent years to build up. He wanted to work with people who did more than record themselves talking and call it music. He wanted to be the best, and Al Thamen was not working well with him at the moment. The shit they had him doing did not broadcast his unrivaled talent and ability to the world, and that really pissed him the fuck off. They were going to ruin him.

To make matters worse, that idiot Ithnan had gotten him hooked on some shit drug that he really didn't want to take anymore. He had been drinking more the past year-no, he corrected himself, two years now-and between the two poisons, his body had become a complete and total wreck. He had no stamina and he felt sick all the damn time. He packed up his hotel room and left, calling a taxi and ordering the driver to "take me the hell away from this shithole."

He was thinking about going to the house he had in Italy, or maybe renting a place in France. He thought about traveling from country to country for a while. He really just wanted to get the hell out of New York and he didn't really feel like going back to LA for an extended period of time either. Whenever he did he tended to run into the man-whore. He didn't want to deal with any more idiots for a little while. After a while of thinking through his options in the back seat of the cab he instructed the driver to take him to the airport.

Going out of the country meant effort and thinking about languages he only knew the bare minimum of - if he was going to leave the country he would end up in Italy and despite having a house there his Italian really sucked, why he hadn't gotten a house in France where he knew the language he had no idea- he did stupid things while under the influence- and there was no way in hell he was going to visit Russia after the last time he had been there, a crazy fan had almost kidnapped him- and to be perfectly honest he just wasn't in the mood for a flight that long. So, he purchased a ticket to Las Vegas. The flight was uncomfortable. The woman sitting next to him (probably mid-twenties) kept staring. He pretended to sleep hoping she would stop, but she just ended up being more annoying; in the end he had written a note on his napkin and signed the bottom slipping it to her before he exited the plane-it went something along the lines of 'Dear Seatmate, it isn't polite to stare, some people find it extremely annoying. ~Judal.

He spent a week in Vegas planning out his next few moves. First stop, San Diego, then to Hawaii, onwards to Tahoe, ending his little adventure in Portland, Oregon before he dragged himself to LA and back into the big business. His fan base was solid and he figured some time away from the stage would leave them on the edge of their seats for the next thing he released.

***Aladdin***

Aladdin was tired. Traveling all over Australia to give concerts then rushing back to the U.S. left her exhausted. Sinbad had even insisted that she 'keep the ball rolling,' he wanted her to start recording for a music video tomorrow morning at seven in the morning. She hadn't even gotten home until after midnight. By the time she had gotten ready and fallen asleep it was two in the morning.

Recording day started with getting up before-the-freaking-sun. She was so tired. She really wanted to sleep. But no, she had to go learn brand new choreography and block scenes and get makeup and costume and hair done in twenty different styles. She was ready to take a nap before the actual recording even began. She sighed, thinking about the days when she had just been a girl obsessed with the arts. She used to draw and paint everything she saw, she went to all the school dances because she loved to dance all night, she sang while her friends played music at a few different small restaurants and cafes near her apartment. She had preformed in several plays with the theater group she had joined.

As she heard the director call for places she sighed again, yeah she missed the old days. She loved singing and preforming in front of huge crowds and she was really happy that so many people liked her music, but she missed the freedom she had had before she had become a professional. She pulled enough energy out of her reserve stores and did her best throughout the day.

When all the recording was over Ja'far and Sinbad walked over to her, the former giving her a copy of the schedule he had organized for her since her usual manager was on vacation with his girlfriend-it was completely booked from six in the morning until nine at night for the next six weeks, 'Are they crazy?!'- as the latter congratulated her on a job well done. She thanked them before quickly excusing herself saying she was tired and hurrying off to the dressing room that had been prepared for her.

It would take her almost four hours to get home from this shooting location. She was tired. She kept trying to ignore the fatigue but it was just too much, she was pushing too hard. As she removed the makeup and costume and undid the elaborate hairstyle, she thought about what she had accomplished over the past year and a half. Sinbad had watched one of the musicals she was in and insisted on having dinner with her. Not long after she had signed onto the Sindria Label with Ugo as her manager. She had been successful since then, gaining popularity rather quickly.

Although she was supposed to be a singer/actor combination from what they had originally discussed, which meant that she was able to create music and act in movies or television shows produced by Sindrian Entertainment, they had yet to have her do any acting. It made her a little sad. She missed acting. They wouldn't even let her post on her blog without having the post checked by someone in the company to make sure that it didn't 'give anything away.' She loved singing, it's just that recently she had felt as though she was missing something really important and she had a feeling it had something to do with the fact that she had little time to do things with her friends like she used to. Her only focus was on her work, not that she had minded at first. Not to mention that all her education was online now. She didn't have time to go to school anymore, she was too busy with work, so she had to squeeze in all the learning she could in her very limited free time. Let's just say that even though she was an extremely quick learner and had always loved learning new things keeping up with all the work was hard. She was extremely behind where she should have been.

A yawn escaped her as she left her dressing room in a fitted tank top and baggy sweat pants. She probably should have worked on homework on the ride home but she was too damn tired. In fact, she probably would just sleep at her apartment again, even though she really wanted to see her parents. It was in a more central location so getting around to do work was easier from there than from her parents' house. Since her mother was ill and constantly bed-ridden and her father was a workaholic, it hadn't been all that hard to convince them to let her live in an apartment closer to where she worked, it was a really safe area and the buildings security was great so that wasn't a problem and she had been almost entirely self-sufficient since age twelve. She hadn't been to her parents house since a few weeks before she had left for the Australian tour, almost a month ago.

She fell asleep in the car as Sharrkan drove her home. Instead of waking her up he just carried her to her apartment, opened the door with the key she had given him-after having similar incidents to this one happen several times before- and tucked her into bed before scribbling down a quick note to her and leaving it on the table for her to find in the morning, locking the teen into her house and leaving her until the next morning.