"Snuff" by Slipknot
Walking into the dressing room, Uruha found it mostly deserted except for the band's bassist and the cleaning staff, and the lead guitarist felt somewhat alienated. Kaolu, Hishinuma, and Kyoko's make up stations were deserted, a vacuum cleaner buzzed at a corner and the noise reverberated throughout the empty space instead of Kai's excited chatter, and the sterile smell of cleaning supplies tickled his nostrils. He looked over to the couch in the far corner to see his best friend lying on his back with his eyes closed listening to his iPod at full blast. At least he seemed to at least be content with himself'; Uruha thought miserably as he scrutinized Reita's relaxed posture as the noseband-clad male tapped his fingers on his chest to the rhythm and silently mouthed the words to whatever song he was listening to occupy his time. Instead of greeting him and going over the day's events like he would on a normal day, the guitarist walked to grab his belongings from the other side of the room.

Everything he did was so robotic and nonchalant. His body felt like it was being held underwater for a long period of time and he just couldn't escape from the sea's firm fingers pulling him down into a deep abyss of darkness. It was suffocating- numb in a painful sort of way and he wasn't sure how he was going to live with the huge pressure that weighed down against his shredded heart; the guilt. The agony, the shame...he could live with those emotions as they were only temporary. However, he wasn't sure how he was going to live without his true love by his side.

There was a light tap on his shoulder and he slowly looked around to see a lady custodian. She informed him that he and Reita had to leave to they could close down the building. Uruha nodded stiffly, put his jacket on, and secured his guitar case on his back. Walking over to Reita, without warning, the blond guitarist snatched the ear buds from the bassist's ears, an antique he only practiced on his childhood best friend. An amused smile flashed for the span of a second at the corner of his intricately shaped lips as Reita jolted upright in his seat and looked at Uruha in shock. "Dude, what the fuck?"

~

"Get out." Uruha said coldly. Reita glowered at his best friend but his resenting face quickly morphed into one of concern. Uruha looked horrible. His wide doe eyes were small and puffy, awfully red, too. The blank expression on his face was a normal thing, but his eyes held emptiness and despair.

One helpful perk of knowing each other since childhood is that Reita and Uruha could pick up each other's mood like it was second nature. Only half an hour ago, the dirty blonde was in a cheerful mood saying he would spoil his partner, Aoi, stoked and bitchy after practice, to make him feel better and get rid of his nasty attitude that accumulated the entire day and annoyed the hell out of everyone. But now he sported the grimmest expression plastered onto his pale, makeup-less face and the black haired man was nowhere to be seen. The bassist gave him a questioning look but Uruha quickly averted his gaze, indicating that he didn't feel like talking. "The custodians need us to leave so they can close down the studio."

"Okay..." Reita turned his iPod off and walked out to the now empty parking lot with Uruha. The silence between them was tense and slightly uncomfortable. Even though he knew there was something troubling the lead guitarist, Reita knew it was best to just give him comfort in silence. If he needed to know about it, the other would probably tell him when he was ready to share. After a brief farewell, the bassist straddled his bike and zipped up his leather jacket before clasping the helmet properly. Through the tinted shield covering his hawk like eyes, he scrutinized his best friend unlock the car, almost like he was on the verge of breaking apart. When his car started up, Uruha rolled down his window and turned to face the bassist, his eyes glimmering with unspoken words that Reita couldn't fathom just at the moment.

"Get home safely, alright? I'll call you when I get home to make sure you're okay." Uruha said softly, with the sliver of a heartbreaking smile at the corner of his lips.

There were a millions of things that Reita wanted to ask, wanted so badly to know what caused the usually happy-go-lucky guitarist to be this way, the bassist chose to guard his lips at the moment and only nodded his head, "you too, dude." He started up his motorcycle and revved the engine a few times. "And hey..."

Uruha turned to him with dead eyes. "Hmmm?"

"Whatever is going on with you, it'll be okay. We can talk about it in the morning if it's alright. Tell Aoi I said goodnight."

Uruha stiffened at his words and hurt flashed in his eyes before quickly disappearing. "I will...thank you. Oyasumi, Aki-chan."

"Bones" by MSMR

"Ja." The two friends exited the parking lot in the same direction, but parted to go on opposite ends of town. Reita really hoped that Uruha would be okay; he already felt guilty for not staying with him to talk it out. But he noticed how the honey blonde's face transformed when he mentioned his fiancé. Had something happened to them? Did they get in a fight? Neither the raven nor his partner looked all too happy today. That must have been why Uruha looked so sad.

After ten minute's drive, the blonde took the time to stop at a gas station since his bike was running low on fuel. While he was filling his tank, he realized something that made his stomach make uncomfortable turns.
He called me Aki-chan.

Now this may seem normal to observers since they'd been friends since childhood, but Uruha only called him by that particular nickname when he was silently screaming for help, when he needed attention. It was a plea and he had overlooked it.

Right after his realization he heard BABYMETAL blasting from his phone, effectively bringing him back to reality. He answered the phone without looking at the caller ID; he already knew who it was. "Hey, babe. I'm on my way-"

"Reita!" Kai cried loudly through the phone. The blonde jumped in surprise. "You have to go to Aoi NOW! Please, Rei, please!"

Reita removed the gas pump quickly and got back on his bike. "Why? What's wrong? Kai, I need you to calm down, okay? What happened?" The bassist tried to get his boyfriend to talk, but Kai couldn't seem to calm down enough to form a complete sentence because he was crying so hard.

"Baby, calm down." A louder cry replied to his soft command. "Kai, listen to me! Breathe, okay?" And it twisted Reita's guts in apprehension as Kai's rapid breathing became shaky, silent ones accompanied with sniffles and hiccups.

"Now, what happened to Aoi?" The bassist asked when he heard Kai let out a deep breath and he was already putting the address to his friend's apartment into his bike's GPS. This wasn't good.

"H-he had a fight w-with Uru and t-they broke up." Kai whimpered. "He said t-that everything is his f-fault and he didn't want to cause Uruha m-more pain." Reita froze and looked ahead, fearing the worst. "D-do you mean he's going to..."

Kai broke down and sobbed so hard that the blonde knew that if he didn't calm down soon, he was going to have another panic attack. "Rei, I tried to stop him, I really did,
but I failed; I failed! He hung up on me while I was telling him not to and my car is still in the shop! I can't even get to him! You have to get there, Reita, because he's going to kill himself!"

Reita's blood ran cold and his whole body started shaking. Aoi's going to try and commit suicide...and Uruha is going to find him in less than 15 minutes.

"Kai, don't panic okay? Calm down, sweetie." Reita tried to compose himself but his voice came out pathetically shaken as he spoke into the phone, "You have to calm down. Calm down baby and do exactly what I say."

~

"Hurt" by Christina Aguilera

When Uruha parked his car, he sat in the car for a while, looking at nothing in particular. Wild and unnerving thoughts raced through his mind like rockets, but all of them were centered on the man he still loved- and will probably would never cease to love. He wondered if Aoi would be in there waiting for him, reading some old book with a shawl draped across his lap and glasses perched on his pretty onyx eyes like some old grandfather. He wondered if he'd be forgiven and welcomed inside a warm, inviting apartment lightened by Aoi's crooked smile. Or would he be packing his things? Aoi had probably left already, deciding on crashing the night at a motel or something… and Uruha didn't know what he'd do if Aoi really left him. Daunting possibilities haunted his mind and soul as he shivered involuntarily, feeling too cold all of a sudden.

In all truth, he was the one that was going to move out. He was, after all, the one that chose to leave. He may not have wanted to leave the raven, but he deserved to be happy and not treated like trash. He deserved someone who wasn't such a hypocrite and so accusing.

The guitarist scoffed to himself. Keep telling yourself that, Kouyou. You still love him. As much as he wanted to block out his conscience, he knew it was right. No matter how mad he was at Aoi, no matter how selfish he was, and no matter how bad things had gotten, he still loved him. He always would.

His suspicions of whether or not Aoi was there were answered when he looked to his right and saw the flashy Jaguar sitting under a blinking, ominous light. He looked at the front half of the car near the tire and noticed it was slightly dented. Uruha gulped when he realized the damage was from when it was kicked in. The memory of the previous night's events suddenly flashed in his mind. The thought of the dreaded look in the raven's eyes caused a pang of hurt in his heart and a small tear escaped his tiny almond shaped eyes. He choked down the lump forming in his throat and climbed out of his car. As soon as he started walking towards the gates, light drizzling rain started falling from the heavens. How ironic, Uruha thought.

Making his way up the tall staircase, Uruha noticed it was eerily silent. The night was quiet, of course nights are supposed to be mysterious and quiet, but there hung an air of suffocating horror that Uruha could almost smell. The arcane aura shadowing the surroundings seemed to crawl under his damp, goose bumped skin and the honey blonde guitarist didn't like it one bit.

Something was terribly wrong, he could tell.

He hurriedly climbed the stairs and dug in his pocket for the key to his apartment. The keys were retrieved and he was about to unlock his door…only to see that the door was already cracked open. Anxiety crept its way into his senses and he felt an unfamiliar sting at the corner of his eyes where moisture was gathering rapidly. He was scared, so damn afraid.

Aoi always locks the door...

With careful movements, he pushed the door open and stepped inside of the dark living space. It was quiet. Too quiet.

After closing the door, he felt around the wall for the light switch. He had to take a few steps to achieve the simple task, and when he did, he thought he heard glass being broken under his feet. What the hell? After struggling and a few lame attempts with his shaky finger, he finally found the switch and illuminated the apartment.

What he saw made him gasp and clasp his mouth in horror.

The place was a complete and utter wreck. Broken wine bottles were strewn all over the place, the deep red liquid splattered all over the tiled floors as well as the once white walls; the papers and magazines that were stacked on the coffee table were now soaking wet and all over the place. The table itself was flipped over. Photos that were hanging on the wall were smashed and crooked. There were also the poor remains of one of Aoi's favorite acoustic guitars resting near the bedroom. And it was so cold. So, so cold.

"The Only One" by Evanescence

Tears crept from Uruha's eyes as he walked slowly and took the scene in. How was it even possible to create such wreck? Did Aoi do this? Uruha knew the raven was devastated, but this...

This was a whole other level of despair.

The blonde stepped over large shards of glass, somewhat glad that he'd forgotten to take his combat boots off in frenzy. He silently cried to himself when the fact struck him right across his face- the cause of everything, from Aoi's madness to this utter havoc- everything- he was the cause of this. The destruction and chaos ripping and demolishing Aoi's heart had made its way into a physical form and every bit of it was his fault. "Aoi?" he called out shakily, and his shaky plead was all but answered with silence.

He made his way across the freezing apartment to check if the rhythm guitarist was in their bedroom. He flicked the lights on and sighed. No Aoi, but to his relief, everything looked unscathed by the violence. Nothing was destroyed, broken, or out of place, the bed was still made, his and Aoi's rings were on the side table...

Wait. The rings were on the table? Uruha rushed to the table and picked up the silver band. He never takes this thing off. Even with the recent events, he was sure that the raven wouldn't take it off unless he was ready to. Worry was etched into his facial expression when he heard ambulance sirens in the distance. With everything happening now, it didn't sound right; it actually made him on edge. Uruha placed the rings back where they were and noticed a tiny piece of folded paper. He unfolded it and read the message.

I'm sorry I can't become an umbrella for you, but if it's raining in your heart, I'll hug you tight so you don't get wet. I'll be the one to protect you from the harmful red waters.
I'm so sorry.

For the second time that night, Uruha felt his world turn upside down. This wasn't just a simple 'I'm going to back off to make you happy' goodbye note; it sounded dangerously close to something more permanent. Absolutely terrified of the words written on the slip of paper, he dropped it and stared at it with wide eyes, cringing in fear, and feeling like that paper would burn him if he went any closer.What does this mean? Endless flashes of scenarios played through his mind, none of them with happy endings.

What did he mean by harmful red waters...?

He'll hug me tight so I don't get wet...

Can't become an umbrella for me..? What did that mean? That he couldn't protect me like he wanted to?

Only then did he notice the timid sound dripping of water coming from the bathroom. The lead guitarist slowly turned his head and stared at the mahogany wood with such intensity, feeling like the desperate stare would break the door off the hinges any second. Uruha had no clue if his hunch was correct; and he sure as hell didn't want it to be correct.

Out of fear, his tears swelled up again as he took small steps towards the door, and tentatively touched the polished surface with the tip of his finger, his face ashen with morbid fear and something told him that he didn't want to see what awaited him behind the barrier of wood.

Right in that moment, Uruha stopped breathing. In that moment, his body became numb to any physical feeling. In that moment, he knew he would never look at the color red without imagining it splattered all over his walls in messy ribbons. The image of the ugly vermilion covering the face of the lifeless body, the man he loved, would haunt him forever and a day. It would follow him to his grave and torture him in the afterlife as a reminder of how atrocious was the mistake he made- how it cost him what he loved the most.

The image of Aoi lying in a tub full of bloody water was shamelessly carved into his memory like a sword slicing through a human body.

In that moment, he stopped living.

~