Noise Pollution

Chapter 6

Disclaimer: The funniest thing happened. I got a letter that claimed to be from Squeenix, but it consisted entirely of the word 'Ha-ha'. Either I'm hilarious (I'm not) or my attempt to acquire this series has all been for naught. Regardless, I don't own a damn thing related to Kingdom Hearts.

Just a warning, there will be an underage relationship portrayed here, so if that offends you, avert your eyes immediately. I do not condone these relationships in real life, but this is fiction, and I can't say I don't have fantasies regarding this sort of situation.

"Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there-"

"Really, dude? Are we playing that game?" Axel asked in a weary tone.

Roxas smirked, entirely too amused at his own ludicrously immature antics. "You never gave me any hint as to how long I'll be stuck inside here with you. Forgive me for being curious."

"Smartass," Axel muttered, though he too had a bit of a grin on his face. "Shouldn't be much more than a half-hour or so. 'Specially not with my beautiful self behind the wheel."

"Half-an-hour for the place where the band is, or the morgue, leadfoot?"

Axel didn't verbally acknowledge the quip, but the needle on the speedometer mysteriously dropped shortly thereafter.

Roxas sat back in the passenger seat, feeling significantly more at ease than he had roughly fifteen minutes prior. He watched as Axel took many a turn onto back roads, then onto a main street, and back again.

'Wonder how long he's lived around here. All these shortcuts say that these either are, or were his stomping grounds.'

Though that would be a decent topic to springboard off of and into more interesting ones, before Roxas mustered the effort to ask it out of the blue, Axel beat him to the proverbial punch.

"Out of curiosity, what did you think of the show last night?"

With slight confusion in his tone, Roxas replied, "You asked me that last night."

"Yeah, I know," Axel responded without missing a beat. "I remember you being kinda overwhelmed, and I couldn't get a clear opinion outta you."

"So, you're asking me what I thought about it now that I've had the chance to formulate an opinion on it?"

"Basically, yeah."

"On what?" After a moment, Roxas further clarified. "I mean, are you talking about the performance, the songs themselves, the venue, the crowd, my own interactions-"

"All of it."

Axel clearly didn't know what he was in for. Taking a deep breath, Roxas began.

"The songs were pretty much all fantastic. I can maybe think of two of the twelve they played that didn't completely do it for me, and even then, they weren't anything I'd change a radio station for. Admittedly, I don't know how the songs sound compared to a produced, engineered, studio effort, but I can't think of too many ways for them to improve the quality of the performance. The same idea applies to whether or not they had a particularly good show last night, or if it was an off night. Performance-wise, other than a few vocal cracks, and maybe one time where they seemed to lose the rhythm 'till the singer, oddly, got them back on track, they were pretty consistent at sounding harmonious. Harmonious for a noisy punk band, that is." He stopped to breathe for a few seconds, before hitting the word vomit trail running yet again. "I didn't notice any sour notes or mid-song detunings, which is always a plus, and the stage presence and charisma they had was par excellence. The crowd might've been the worst part about it, since they came close to drowning the guys out a couple of times, and I think I saw a few dicks roughing up girls who got sandwiched between them, but nothing that makes me wanna completely disassociate myself with them. The venue itself seemed like the perfect place for them to play, since it's not a complete dive, but still small enough for all the people at the back to be really close to the stage. They seem to respond well to a passionate crowd. And I had a lot of fun."

"Ever think about reviewing concerts for a local zine?" Axel inquired, seeming somewhat serious.

"I wouldn't turn down a job if one offered it to me, but I don't think I'm gonna go actively applying for any position."

Axel shrugged his right shoulder (possibly his left too, but Roxas couldn't tell for sure). "If you ever change your mind, I can think of a few that would probably take you on." Taking a turn down yet another obscure road, Axel conversely got back to his main avenue of discussion. "I'll bet I can guess a major reason you had fun, though."

"Yeah?" Roxas asked, quirking a brow.

"Two reasons, actually, and they both have two X chromosomes."

Realization shined upon Roxas' face. "Oh, the gals?"

'"Gals?"' He internally winced. 'Please let him realize I said that ironically. Well, "ironically,"' he corrected, realizing the flagrant misuse of the term.

Trying but not quite managing to stifle a chuckle, Axel responded. "Yeah, the 'gals.'" Apparently whether or not he realized it was irrelevant. Lovely.

"Well, I'm not gonna lie and say that they didn't contribute at all…" Roxas said, ignoring the well deserved jibe.

"Riiiiight," Axel said with a sarcastic lilt coloring the word.

"No, really; they were good company, but that's about the extent of their contributions to the experience."

"And you mooning over… What was her name again…? Oh! Aqua!" He showcased moment of remembrance with a snap of his fingers before placing his hand back to the 'two' position on the wheel. "Yeah, so you mooning over her all night didn't make it better?"

'And here I thought I was being subtle about it…'

"How would you know? You spent almost the entire show in the pit," Roxas pointed out.

"Yeah, but I still looked back every couple of minutes, in case some dickhead hassled youse guys or somethin'."

Roxas shrugged and discreetly lowered his eyes to his lap, attempting to play it cool. The jury was out on whether or not he succeeded. "Yeah, I admit that being next to her made the night more memorable. The same thing applies to Xion. Why'd you even bring it up?"

Axel went quiet for a moment. The road ahead was a straightaway, so he wasn't concentrating on taking a shortcut. Then, as quickly as the moment began, Axel murdered it with a nonchalant response. "I was satisfying my curiosity." He offered a glance in Roxas' direction before following that sentence up. "And I thought you might wanna know that you weren't the only one who couldn't always focus on the guys."

Roxas' eyes perked up, directing their gaze toward Axel, who sported a tiny grin. "Really?" he asked, hope creeping into his tone.

"Uh-huh. Figured you'd wanna know about that." Axel's eye turned to look at Roxas in his periphery. "Now the question is whether or not you'll do anything about it."

Roxas swallowed and swept a hand through his hair. "I… I dunno. I barely know her."

Axel, either deliberately ignoring or not noticing the underlying insecurity in the blond's voice, kept his reply fairly simple and logical. "What better way is there to get to know her?"

He had a point. "... I mean, you're not wrong, but…" Roxas paused, searching for the proper words to express his exact feelings. "It's just… Seems like an awfully huge risk to take for someone who might not be worth the effort. Who's to say I wouldn't become her laughingstock for putting myself out there like that?"

"Having the balls to put yourself out there makes you seem like somebody worth taking a chance on. You can't expect everyone to make the first move with you."

Roxas sealed his lips, not wanting to dig himself deeper. Really, the truth in what Axel was saying was undeniable, even to the most deluded of souls. Realizing that was simple enough, but accepting it was an entirely different matter.

"I…"

Axel raised a hand. "Hey, I'm not trying to tell you what to do or anything; just givin' you food for thought. Anyway, we're here."

Lifting his eyes from his feet, Roxas saw that they had stopped in front of a one story building colored cold, sterile grey. A sign on the wall next to the double glass doors read 'Empty Melodies Studios.'

"They're recording something?" Roxas questioned, looking sidelong at Axel.

Axel cracked a grin. "You catch on quick." While opening the door on his side he continued speaking. "They've been laying tracks down for almost a month. Last night was a little break for 'em; they wanted to play in a place with some life in it." Seeing Roxas' curious look, he quickly amended his statement. "That's what Demyx said, at least. Ya comin'?"

Blinking quickly, Roxas followed suit and exited the vehicle, almost forgetting about his guitar in the backseat. Axel reminded him by pointing his finger at the rear passenger side door, and he carefully removed it, stood for a moment to allow Axel to lock the doors, then followed Axel into the building.

The halls of Empty Melodies were remarkably sterile in their color scheme. Frigid, unfeeling greys and whites enveloped everything within the building, almost seeming like a hospital.

Roxas was entirely unbothered by the seeming passive hostility. He instead found it oddly intriguing; a metaphor for the idea of soulless machines taking passion and transmuting it into a digestible product. Or he was making analogies where there were none to be made. Probably the latter.

"Huh, this place looked a lot smaller from the outside," Roxas said to no-one in particular.

"Yeah, it's a little misleading," said Axel, who was walking in front of Roxas, acting as a guide. "But it's still a pretty small local studio compared to others."

"I'm not exactly saying it's labyrinthine or anything," Roxas amended, increasing his pace to avoid falling behind. "Still, it'd be pretty simple to get lost in here."

Axel laughed nostalgically. "True. I remember the first few times I was in here - it was embarrassing."

"How long ago was that?"

"Two or three years ago." Axel stopped in front of a door and peeked in the window briefly.

"Why exactly were you in here, then?"

"I was in a band that was cutting a demo here. I think one of the guys' dads either worked here, or knew how to get some snot-nosed punks in here for cheap."

"Now I'm intrigued…"

Axel released a bark of laughter. "It was terrible. We couldn't play, we couldn't write a two-minute song, and we didn't know anything about recording or production. We thought we were hot shit, though, so we tried anyway." He did an about face then, having apparently anticipated the ensuing inquiries. "And before you ask, we broke up before we ever tried to shop the demo around. I also still have it kickin' around, but no-one is hearing it unless I'm hammered."

"Paranoid much?" Roxas jibed.

"You haven't heard it; you know nothing." Before that verbal spar could continue, Axel came to a stop in front of yet another door. "Ah, found it!"

"Why do you sound so proud of yourself?"

"Well…" Axel's tone was as sheepish as Roxas had ever heard it. "I kinda forgot exactly which room they said they'd be in."

"My hero," was all Roxas could utter in response. A very dry response.

Axel didn't appear to see the point in defending himself from that, and pushed the door open, jerking his head at Roxas. The sound of a distorted guitar playing in a slow, deliberate manner pierced the air from the moment the door swung open.

As Roxas entered, he saw what was appeared to be a rather bog standard mixing console at the end of the room, with a glass wall separating it from the pink-haired wonder on guitar in a white room. With no curtains. Large headphones reminiscent of earmuffs adorned his head, and he was playing the same green instrument that Roxas saw him use the previous night.

Tearing his eyes from the deft, precise guitar wizardry, Roxas saw the rest of the band strewn about through the room with the mixing board in it. The only one whose name he had learned - 'Zexion' - was seated at the board, listening intently and operating the machine. The one with the majestic mullet was sitting on a couch that was pushed up against the wall on the right and fiddling with his guitar (also the same as the one Roxas saw him utilize during their gig). The large, imposing drummer was slumped against the wall next to the open door, engrossed in some magazine. All were wearing some variety of a T-shirt and jeans, with the only notable alteration being the drummer, whose trousers of choice were denim cutoffs.

Axel walked in almost immediately after Roxas, and shut the door behind him in a silent manner. Roxas didn't make a sound, wanting to preserve the moment, and Axel did the same. They stood there for a few minutes, as it seemed that they had entered at the beginning of them tracking some lead guitar for a song. Roxas felt something tap his left shoulder, and he looked in that direction to see Axel grinning evilly. The redhead held a finger to his lips and winked.

'Oh, great… The fuck kind of behavior am I enabling?' Roxas thought, facepalming. Nevertheless, he acquiesced to Axel's request. He was clearly above it all, though.

Axel, for all his noisy antics and manner of speech, was surprisingly adept at moving quietly. Granted, the sounds of a guitar being played fairly loudly served as good cover, but they wouldn't have managed to drown him out if he walked as he usually would. He crept up on the slate-haired man at the board, shoulders shaking as he silently snickered to himself. Once he was within range, he stood still, apparently waiting for something. The nature of that 'something' was revealed after about a minute, whenever the guitarist stopped playing

Eventually that hallowed time came. All was silent as Axel stood behind Zexion, who remained oblivious to the encroaching redhead as he started fiddling with some of the knobs. Axel took a deep breath before leaning in.

"ABLOOGY-WOOGY-WOO!"

The noise that then issued from the startled man with the killer bangs defied all forms of onomatopoeia that Roxas had ever heard of. The pitch, however, was shrill enough to be compared to a mouse being eaten alive from the hind legs up. All in all, a fairly understandable reaction.

Pushing his bangs out of his eyes and taking deep, calming breaths, he uttered in a low, weary tone of voice, "How many times have I told you not to do that, Axel?"

"Four-hundred-and-twenty-nine," replied Axel without missing a beat. The shit eating grin on his face just made Zexion deepen his scowl when he turned his head.

"And here I keep hoping you'll listen…"

While Zexion was still fuming, Axel got right down to business like he hadn't just scared the bajeezus out of somebody. "So, Zexion, Demyx, Lexaeus, this is Roxas," Axel said with a gesture at the blond in question, who remained standing still.

The greetings were rather low-key.

A 'Hi!' from Demyx.

A nod and a grunt from Lexaeus.

Nothing really from Zexion. He was apparently still attempting to vaporize Axel with his glare. Alas, no such luck in that endeavor.

Axel, still seemingly oblivious to the death emanating from Zexion's eyes, continued speaking. "Right, so, Demyx, wanna give him back his jacket?"

"Oh, right!" Reaching across his body, he procured the jacket from its former position of being draped over the back of the couch and tossed it over to Roxas. "So, uh, I don't wanna be nosey, but why did you want this back bad enough to come over here?"

Roxas swallowed for a brief moment before answering. "It's a keepsake from my mother."

Understanding dawned on Demyx's face, followed by something in his eyes. It almost resembled… Loss? Envy?

"That makes sense," Demyx said after a spell.

Not being the especially social type, Roxas was at a loss for words, and since Demyx was still distracted, an awkward quiet took over the atmosphere of the room. After nearly a minute of suffocating silence, Axel sought to remedy that.

"Hey, Roxas." Roxas turned his head in Axel's direction. "Why don't you show us all that fancy axe?"

"Oh, uh, sure."

Demyx, suddenly eager, patted the unused space of the couch next to him. Roxas took the hint and walked over to that side of the room, laid down the case, opened it, and gently extricated the instrument to sounds of awe from Demyx as he caught sight of the majestic music producing device.

"Where in the name of Les Paul did you get that baby?"

Roxas relayed the epic tale while closing the case and setting it upright in the center seat of the couch, taking a seat on the opposite end of Demyx, and placing the guitar in his lap. Demyx, Lexaeus, and even Zexion wore looks of envy as they heard just how much of a lucky son of a gun Roxas was in that moment.

"I only wish the cat had been solid back," Roxas finished wistfully. "It would have been way more ironic."

"Still, man, that's so awesome," Demyx said, still sounding awestruck.

Roxas shrugged in silent agreement. Zexion, from his position at the board, raised an eyebrow before turning around to face the console again, and turned on the microphone that allowed him to speak to the person currently in the recording booth.

"Alright, Marluxia, that was good. I doubt we need another take, so come on out here. That guy Axel mentioned brought that guitar, and you're gonna wanna take a look at it."

Within thirty seconds, the door opened and Marluxia stepped in in all his rose-haired glory, having a look of giddiness in his eyes, but still managing to keep his casual stride without scrambling over to the instrument of apparent reverence.

"May I?" he asked once he had reached the side of the room with the couch, gesturing to the guitar on Roxas' lap. The blond handed it over to him with a nod.

Marluxia allowed his eyes to roam over the body, taking in the burst of silver taking up much of the center, as well as the greenish burst surrounding it as it met the black perimeter. With gentle care, he adjusted it to get the neck and fretboard closer to his eyes. He seemed to be stunned at the dark purple crown inlays in place of the standard dots. Looking at him, Roxas could easily tell how overjoyed he was to be able to hold and examine the guitar. It was subtle, but from the way his eyes flashed with awe, and some small amount of envy, it was readily apparent to someone who had worn that look many times whilst staring into a music store and wistfully gazing at magnificent instruments.

"Rosewood fretboard, DiMarzio pickups… And those fucking inlays..." Marluxia muttered more to himself than anyone else in the room. Another minute or two passed while Marluxia fawned over the sacred noise producer in what was a totally normal and not at all creepy manner before turning to Roxas. "Where did you find this?" he inquired, still dazed from the majesty in his hands.

For the second time in ten minutes, Roxas regaled someone with the tale in a most grandiloquent fashion. Marluxia seemed surprised by the end, but not in quite the same way as his bandmates had been.

"So, it was tucked in an alley by the tram station?" At Roxas's nod, he shook his head. "That doesn't seem right… This thing's had a lot of modifications done to it. I can't understand why anyone would just throw away something this valuable."

"I take it the pickups aren't what comes standard?" Roxas asked. Marluxia shook his head, and Roxas proceeded to make another inquiry. "Well, considering all of the addendums, can you tell when it was made? I mean, I can tell it's a Silverburst model, but I got no headway on the actual year it was put out."

"Hold it for a sec while I look it up," said Marluxia before carefully handing the guitar back to its owner, and pulling his phone out of his pocket afterwards. He tapped something on his screen, and patiently waited for whatever command he inputted to process. Whenever it finally did, he stared intently at the screen as Roxas and the others looked on expectantly. After a spell, Marluxia looked up.

"I got nothing. Gibson only keeps public records from about nineteen-eighty-seven at the earliest, so it's older than that. I think it's one of the original run of Silverbursts."

Roxas gaped at that. "Seriously?" Marluxia nodded in confirmation, leaving Roxas staring down at the guitar in his lap, dumbfounded.

While Roxas sat there looking all reverential, Zexion gathered his bandmates' attention.

"Guys," he said, drawing everyone but Roxas' attention, "I'm about to mix 'Slipstream'. You should watch; you might learn something. "

Everybody in the room, bar Lexaeus and Roxas, went over to Zexion, apparently to learn from the seasoned and wise guru that was he. Roxas could hear Zexion going on about which knobs and buttons did what, but he wasn't really listening. All talk of 'equalization' and 'dynamics' entered one ear and were filtered out of the other.

'Holy shit… I... Hell, I could get several thousand dollars for this,' he thought, letting his eyes fall to his lap once again. 'It also explains why it has such a unique and peculiar tone, but fuck… What did I do to deserve this? After everything, why am I getting such a windfall? After her-'.

That train of thought was heading down a pitch black tunnel.

In an effort to brush off such vile, unhappy thoughts, Roxas did one of the only things that ever granted him even momentary solace. He pulled a pick from his pocket (you never know when the opportunity to play might arise), and began to play.

The guitar was unplugged, but it was still loud enough for him to hear, and that was all he needed. Roxas quickly found himself lost as he played, pouring his emotions out into a minor key riff fraught with suspended chords and played with an odd combination of arpeggios and double stops. Everything around him seemed to stop: the voices emanating from his right, the precipitous thoughts that were previously coursing through his mind, everything. All that mattered was the music.

After what felt like an eternity (in reality, it was only about two-and-a-half minutes) he let his hands drop and breathed deeply. Everything was calm, everything was peaceful. All he felt was relief: relief from the burden of his far too frequent intrusive thoughts.

"Play that again."

Roxas started at the unfamiliar voice, darting his head around to identify the source of it. Looking to his left, he saw that the person who had addressed him was Lexaeus, who had placed his magazine on the floor, and had pulled his knees closer to his chest, listening intently.

"Um, okay…"

And so Roxas played the riff again, this time without losing himself completely. As he reached the end of what he had thus far composed, Lexaeus held up a hand.

"That's really good, but you didn't play it the same way that time," he said with no real inflection to his tone.

Roxas hesitated before answering "... I guess I sort of got caught up in the music the first time, which gave it a different feel."

"It shows. Either way, it's still a great piece. Was it improvised?"

Roxas paused to think, seeing as he hadn't been completely focusing on it the first time. "Kind of. I had the basic progression already mapped out - I came up with it a few weeks ago - but as far as the rhythm goes, I mainly followed what felt correct at the time."

"It really gives it that emotional undertone."

He was clearly a fountain from which words sprang readily. "Do you really think it's that good?"

Lexaeus nodded with utmost seriousness. "It's at least as good as any of their-" he gestured toward the crowd around the mixing console - "Strongest work. And I really mean that."

"I… Thanks." Roxas averted his eyes from Lexaeus, unsure of what to say. Lexaeus wasn't really offering anything to break the silence himself, so they just sat there. Awkwardly.

After another few minutes that felt like forever, but in a much less beautiful way, Lexaeus rose and strode over to the gaggle of guys with their bizarre haircuts and hair colors, looking rather purposeful.

"Marluxia."

The man turned his head in the direction of his addressor, his expression belying his curiosity.

"You should let him plug into your amp."

Marluxia's countenance switched from curious to confused, as well as a bit defensive. "It's set up in there, though," he said, pointing at the actual recording booth he had emerged from. "No way."

Lexaeus was undeterred. "You'll thank me if you do," he replied evenly, but a tad more insistently.

Marluxia began to open his mouth in protest - going by the hard-set steeliness of his eyes - but other voices soon joined in.

"Come on, man," said Demyx, almost pleadingly. "I wanna hear how that guitar sounds. You can't tell me you don't."

"Yeah, really," Axel agreed, though in a less whiny fashion. "I wanna hear some of his stuff too." The last bit was punctuated by an encouraging nod in Roxas' direction.

Zexion was easily the least explicitly enthusiastic. "I'm pretty curious, myself."

Marluxia looked conflicted; like he was yearning to please his friends, but something else was gnawing at him, thus preventing him from caving to peer pressure.

"I…" he trailed off.

Roxas chose that moment to speak up. "It's his equipment." The group all simultaneously looked in his direction, Lexaeus and Zexion rotating slightly to do so. "If he doesn't want to let me use it, then that's all there is to it. Don't try to cajole him into it; not for me."

For a good several moments, nobody in the room spoke. Each wore different expressions (some of disappointment, approval, and a myriad of others) but nobody saw fit to voice the feelings fueling them. Axel looked almost ashamed at having brushed Marluxia's obvious discomfort aside, and Demyx looked outright apologetic. Lexaeus' typically blank visage conveyed a contrasting example of respect and disappointment. Zexion looked a bit miffed at the whole affair.

Marluxia, however, seemed to be rather stunned.

While not entirely gobsmacked, his mien still betrayed signs of surprise, at least before he brought his hand up to cup his forehead, obscuring his eyes. Marluxia exhaled, blowing his bangs forward before speaking once again.

"It's okay; go ahead," he said, gesturing to the room behind him.

Roxas, despite being giddy at the prospect of playing on an amp that was of a high enough quality to be played in public, wanted to make absolutely sure that he was okay with it.

"You're sure it's alright?" he asked.

Marluxia nodded, his eyes still obfuscated. "Just," he said, removing his hand and meeting Roxas' gaze again, "please be careful with it."

Roxas simply nodded, though many comments dripping with his usual flippancy sprung to mind, and walked towards the room. Some amount of hesitation seeped out of the calm front he was putting up: his steps had a somewhat noticeable look of assurance, and although he managed to keep his visage stony, it was that particular kind of stoniness that's obviously something of a put-on.

'Well, I'm finally getting a chance to play for an audience,' Roxas thought as he opened the door and stepped inside the recording space. Swiftly locating Marluxia's gear - the Vox double stack he had seen the previous night - Roxas exhaled in an attempt to calm his nerves while making his way over to it. Seeing as Marluxia's guitar - again, the same persian green instrument he had been playing at Betwixt and Between - was still plugged in, Roxas knelt down, and unplugged it from the amp, taking great care to not knock the guitar over. After plugging his own in, Roxas spent a few seconds fiddling with the volume knobs until the sound of his playing rang clearly throughout the room. Not wanting to tinker with Marluxia's pre-sets, Roxas simply switched the treble pickup on, choosing to endure the fact that he would have preferred a cleaner overall tone than what he had been given.

Finally, everything was ready. Looking through the glass separating the two adjoining rooms, Roxas saw Demyx looking at him enthusiastically, Axel looking more expectant than enthused, and Zexion almost looking bored. Roxas couldn't tell what Lexaeus was feeling, since at the moment he looked at them all, Lexaeus brought his face near Zexion's ear, presumably to tell him something. After a brief moment, Lexaeus ceased hunching, looked straight at Roxas and nodded.

Sucking in a deep breath, Roxas stilled. He had to allow himself to become adrift in a sea of emotions. Only then would everything sound correct. He closed his eyes, and let himself forget about the outside world.

'Here goes nothing.'

For once, he didn't think; he felt. He felt the notes calling out to him, he felt the rhythm coursing through him, conducting the movements of his picking hand. He felt every emotion that the music contained: anger, hopelessness, alienation, and a surprising sense of tranquility at the end of it all.

Roxas hadn't planned on it, and later on, he wouldn't have been able to say where exactly it came from, but in the brief moment before he transitioned back to the riff that had begun the as of them unfinished piece, he heard the call of a refrain that he had been hearing inside of his head for a long time. In that moment, instinct took over, and everything clicked.

"Fade into midnight…

The comfort of oblivion…

There's no future…"

Roxas ended it with a furious flurry of power chords, and opened his eyes.

Faces filled with approval were waiting to greet him.

"Is that all you've got?" Zexion said, leaning into the microphone. Despite the apparent nonchalance of his words, he was actually smiling.

"Uh, yeah," Roxas replied, brushing his bangs out of his face. "At least as far as that piece is concerned."

"That was really good. It still sounds kinda raw, but it's a great structure to build on top of. And do you have lyrics?"

"Uhh…" Roxas scratched the back of his head while pondering his answer. "I've got a melody and some basic ideas, but nothing final, no."

"Come on back here," Zexion said, waving him over.

After Roxas had done as he was was asked, taking his guitar with him, Demyx started gushing a little, asking him about various ideas he had for the further direction of the skeleton he had just played for them. Before Roxas had a chance to respond, Marluxia interjected.

"Let him breathe, Demyx," he said, facepalming at his friend's lack of restraint. "I get why he's acting like that." He turned to Roxas, his eyes alight with an enthusiasm similar to Demyx's. "That has a ton of promise. You should really keep at the whole songwriting thing."

"Thanks, but I think I should actually finish writing a song before calling these attempts 'songwriting'," Roxas said, making sure to use air quotes on the word 'songwriting'.

"Speaking of that," said Zexion, who had just been conferring with Lexaeus, "Would you have a problem with us helping you out with finishing that?"

"Wait, what?" Roxas said in disbelief, his eyes going wide.

"Do you want us to help you with finishing that?" Zexion reiterated, sounding slightly annoyed at having to do so.

"I…" Roxas trailed off, still stunned at the sudden offer. "Well, I'd definitely appreciate it, but I'm curious as to why. Why do you wanna help some amateur?"

Lexaeus answered for Zexion. "It took us a long time to finish one song by ourselves. It would have been a lot easier if we had someone to show us the ropes."

'So, an altruistic act, then.'

"You sure you all want to?"

Gestures and sounds of affirmation from all parties served to answer his query.

"So…" Roxas said, still a bit bewildered by their eagerness to help. "Like, when did you wanna do this? Right now?"

"I've got some errands to run," said Zexion, sounding disappointed at his responsibilities' interference. "How about tomorrow, same time? I'm free all day."

"And the rest of you?"

"Zexion handles most of our errands," Marluxia said. "Us three are almost always free."

"Well, as long as I'm not being a bother, then sure." A second after saying that, Roxas remembered that he couldn't reliably rendezvous with them all on his own. "If Axel can take me tomorrow, that is."

The redhead in question waved him off. "No problem. Speaking of which, I should take you back about now."

"Alrighty then." Roxas went over to the couch, re-inserted the guitar into its case, then headed towards the door, Axel trailing behind.

"Nice meeting you!" Demyx shouted in farewell.

"Toodles," was Roxas' goodbye to all of them, before entering the deathly white hallways once again.

"Well, that was something," said Roxas once Axel had finished shutting the door behind him.

"That it was. So, did you make any new friends today, Roxy?" Axel said in an insufferably cheery and condescending tone.

"I don't know; did I?" Roxas asked. Not all that facetiously.

"You're hopeless," Axel deadpanned.

"And you're very encouraging." Roxas could play the deadpan game just as long as Axel could.

"Damn right I am. That thing you played really was good, y'know," Axel said, dropping the sarcasm from his tone.

"Don't oversell it," Roxas said, his gaze falling to the floor.

"Hey," said, putting a hand on Roxas's shoulder, causing him to freeze in place and stiffen uncomfortably. "Don't cut yourself down like that. None of us would have said it if it wasn't true." After saying that, his eyes widened and he removed his hand from Roxas' person.

"I… Thanks," Roxas said shakily, trying to get his breathing under control.

They resumed their stroll outside of the building, and and had reached Axel's vehicle before either of them spoke again.

"So, hearing you play like that got me thinkin' somethin'..."

"Yeah?" Roxas queried, quirking a brow.

"Didja ever think about starting a band?"

A/N: ...Okay, this was less writer's block, and more me being rather unsure about how this turned out. This isn't particularly heavily edited, but I deliberated for a long time before writing most of it, in that I heavily considered my word choice for both narration and dialogue, and I wasn't satisfied with my initial projections to jot them down quite often. Hopefully it turned out okay; I'm honestly just sick of second-guessing myself with this one.

The refrain that Roxas sings here is obviously a partial poem of mine. It'll be featured in full next chapter, so I'll save giving the name until then.

In other news, I've a fic to recommend. Stunning development, I know. It's by the quite talented BlissfulNightRain, and it's entitled "The Price of the Stolen Flower." A word of warning: it deals with some very grin and mature subjects, and isn't particularly heavy on the levity. If you like some of the less humorous aspects of "Noise Pollution", you should heavily enjoy this offering. Go leave the lady a review, please.

Read, review, and I'll see ya next time.

-TheNotSoTalentedPoet