A/N: Hey everyone! My god, has it been far too long since my last update? I was actually thinking bout completely canning this story! Yea, I know. Its just that I lost the motivation to keep this story going…I was actually just going to post this chapter (since it was sitting here) and then delete this story. But as I was finishing this story up, a bit of motivation was rekindled so hopefully I cud keep regular updates going.
Right now, its like EXAM WEKK! I'm just quickly getting on with this and then returning to my Accounting (yes, I take accounting…don't laugh) and my Chem study. Hope u guys enjoy this chapter tho!
Chapter 14: Second Performance and Elimination
"Woah…talk about tense." The drummer stated after the door slammed shut from Jin and Hwoarang leaving the building.
"This I gotta see!" The bassist laid down his guitar and jogged up to the rehearsal door when Miharu stood in his path, hands on hips.
"You," Miharu poked him in the chest, "-are not going anywhere! We need to practice."
"But we can't practice without our keyboardist AND lead." The bassist whined.
"Oh yes we can. Back to your guitar." Miharu ordered, pointing over his shoulder. The bassist hung his head and trudged back to this guitar.
"Ok…so it's just a drummer, a bassist and a vocalist? Come on Miharu, there's no way we can practice this song without two of the major instruments." The drummer reasoned, standing up from his place behind the drum kit, placing the sticks firmly on the snare drum.
"But the performance is in 2 days!" Miharu retorted.
"I think that the people who need the most practice aren't here," The drummer stated truthfully. "We should just rest up for the next couple of days and do some solo practice…then maybe on the day we can get in one group practice." He suggested. Miharu rubbed a couple of fingers on her forehead while resting her elbow on her other arm. She sighed in annoyance. You picked the best day to not show up Suki, Miharu thought sarcastically.
"Alright, we'll call it a day." Miharu gave in. Before anyone moved though, Asuka entered the rehearsal hall, dumping her bag on the ground by the door.
"Hey guys, sorry I'm late," Asuka smiled, masking the emotions she truly felt.
"YAY! Suki's here! Looks like we can practice after all." Miharu chirped. The bassist glared at Asuka.
"Asuka! Why'd you have to show up NOW? We were this close from having the day off!" The bassist complained, making the gesture of distancing his thumb and index finger only a centimeter apart. Asuka shrugged.
"Sorry bout that. Didn't really bring my keyboard though," Asuka smiled sheepishly.
"Asuka, how can you turn up to rehearsal without your instrument? Are you gonna hum what you're playing?" The drummer asked rhetorically.
"I was kinda in a hurry. Might have to hum it actually." Asuka covered up, dismissing the subject
"But we still can't really practice an Evanescence song without a guitarist," The bassist continued, obviously determined to have this day off. To the bassist's dismay, as soon as he said that, Hwoarang limped through the door with his bleeding lip.
"Well, we have our guitarist," Miharu stated, a big grin forming on her face. The bassist slumped his head in defeat.
"There goes the day off." He said glumly.
"Hwoarang, what the hell happened to you?" The drummer asked, approaching him. Hwoarang hastily wiped the blood trail down his chin in an effort to remove any presence of blood but he only succeeded in smearing it all over his chin.
"Me and Kazama got into a little fight. No biggie." Hwoarang said hastily pushed passed the gaping bassist and limped towards his guitar, flinching with every step on his right leg.
"Uhh…Hwoarang? You sure you're fit to play?" Miharu asked with concern. Hwoarang automatically slung the neck strap over him and strummed a distorted A major chord. He silenced the chord and looked up at Miharu.
"I'm good."
"Okey dokey then," Miharu clapped her hands in excitement and leaped back to stand in front of the band. "Let's go!" Asuka sat on the floor and began taping her fingers on the purple carpet, as if playing a piano. Whilst doing this, she hummed the tune according to what her fingers were playing. Miharu snatched her drink bottle off the floor and began singing into it as if it was a microphone.
After running through the whole song for the umpteenth time, Miharu decided to call it a day. The rest of the band complied without hesitation. Everyone was packing away all their instruments (well, just the bassist, drummer and Hwoarang) while Asuka and Miharu were discussing their performance.
"Do you think you guys are ready for Wednesday? We didn't do much practice on this." Miharu asked.
"I reckon we'll blow the judges away! Even though we didn't do a lot of regular practices, this one definitely packed more than enough to set us up," Asuka stated confidently.
"Thanks for helping us through this…I don't know what we'd be doing or where we'd be without you, Mi." Asuka gave her friend an appreciative hug.
"No worries…just doing my job, is all." Miharu joked with a grin on her face.
2 days later
Asuka was sitting in the lobby, like all the other competitors, anxiously waiting for their turn for the performance. Asuka bit her lip and her foot started tapping unusually fast. It's one of the symptoms she has of stage fright.
"Calm down, Suki," Miharu placed a hand on her shoulder comfortingly. "You guys will do great." Asuka turned to her friend with a worried expression.
"I hope you're right," Asuka smiled weakly.
Hwoarang was standing at a distance with his guitar slung over his shoulder. He was watching Asuka, contemplating whether to go up to her and talk to her. No…no way she'd talk to me after that…there must be something I could do to earn her trust again…The performance didn't worry Hwoarang at all. He learned his part so well that he could perform it perfectly with the guitar behind him. All that concerned him was whether if he could ever be her friend ever.
"Just talk to her," Hwoarang turned around to see the cross-armed bassist with the insistent look on his face.
"What?" Hwoarang asked blandly. The bassist rolled his eyes.
"Its plain obvious that you want to talk to her…SHE probably knows it too," The bassist said, a goofy grin coming to his face.
"Piss off," Hwoarang spat. The bassist raised his hands up in defence.
"No need to get nasty. All I'm saying is that if you want her so bad, just talk to her," The bassist continued. Hwoarang glared at the bassist.
"Do I need to tell you again?" Hwoarang said in annoyance.
"I've seen you two hanging out, and she definitely likes you man." The bassist stated. Hwoarang opened his mouth to retort but stopped himself.
"She does?" Hwoarang asked dumbly.
"Definitely! But I can see that something happened between you two…but just talk to her, sort out your differences. It won't take long for her to come around. Just try it. What's the worst that could happen?" The bassist lightly punched him in the shoulder. Hwoarang looked down, thinking about what he said.
"Could band number 3 please make their way to the auditorium now?" Dom, the host of the show shouted over the thick murmurs.
"That'll be us. Think about what I said," The bassist picked up his guitar and moved to the auditorium, along with the drummer, Asuka and Miharu. Hwoarang nodded and followed the rest into the auditorium.
The panel of 3 judges sat in the same area as last time, watching the group move onto stage. Asuka hooked up her keyboards, Hwoarang and the bassist took out their guitars and plugged them into the relevant speakers, the drummer sat down behind the drumkit, testing the bass drum and hi hat. Miharu grabbed stand with a wireless mic on it and looked back at the drummer. He gave a thumbs up for the equipment check. Miharu shifted her gaze to Hwoarang and the bassist. They both gave a brief nod of assurance. Finally, Miharu looked at Asuka, who took a deep breath and began playing the piano intro to the song on the Grand Piano setting.
"How can you see into my eyes, like open doors," Miharu began singing.
"Leading you down into my core, where I've become so numb," Hwoarang began playing some power chords. Miharu took the mic off the stand (which took her a while to master, since the first few times, she fiddled around with the stand).
"Without a soul," Miharu walked to the left of the stage, glancing back at Hwoarang with a smile. Hwoarang smirked back in response and shifted his gaze back to his guitar as he was preparing for a chord change.
"My spirit's sleeping somewhere cold. Until you find it there and lead it back…home." At this point, the bass and drums joined in for the chorus.
"Wake me up," The bassist sang through the mic that was in front of him.
"Wake me up inside," Miharu proceeded back to the centre of the stage.
"I can't wake up,"
"Wake me up inside,"
"Save me!"
"Call my name and save me from the dark,"
"Wake me up,"
"Bid my blood to run,"
"I can't wake up,"
"Before I come undone,"
"Save me!"
"Save me from the nothing I've become."
"Now that I know what I'm without, you can't just leave me,"
"Breath into me and make me real. Bring me…to life"
"Wake me up,"
"Wake me up inside,"
"I can't wake up,"
"Wake me up inside,"
"Save me!"
"Call my name and save me from the dark,"
"Wake me up,"
"Bid my blood to run,"
"I can't wake up,"
"Before I come undone,"
"Save me!"
"Save me from the nothing I've become!"
"Bring me to life,"
"I've been living a lie! There's nothing inside!" Hwoarang's screaming talents came into play here as he screamed into the mics as he did in previous rock bands he's been in.
"Bring me to life," At this point, Miharu's mic generated some feedback with the speakers, which caused an ear shattering screech. Miharu reflexively covered her ears and the music stopped for half a second as the feedback passed. The drummer started drumming again and everyone managed to pick up where they left off and carried on.
"Frozen inside without your touch, without your love darling," Miharu sung, with sum soft harmony of "Ahhhhh"s by Hwoarang and the bassist.
"Only you are the life among the dead!"
"All this time, I can't believe I couldn't see. Kept in the dark, but you were there in front of me," The bassist sung while Hwoarang played some steady power chords.
"I've been sleeping for a thousand years it seems. I've got to open my eyes to everything!" Miharu now took a few steps back to the bassist and the two looked like they were having a conversation with each other.
"Without a voice, without a thought, without a soul,"
"Don't let me die here," Miharu sang in a very dark voice which seemed very un-Miharu.
"There must be something more!" Hwoarang screamed.
"Bring me to life!"
"Wake me up,"
"Wake me up inside," Asuka filled in for Miharu as she continued the last "life"
"I can't wake up,"
"Wake me up inside," Miharu joined Asuka in this line.
"Save me!"
"Call my name and save me from the dark,"
"Wake me up,"
"Bid my blood to run,"
"I can't wake up,"
"Before I come undone,"
"Save me!"
"Save me from the nothing I've become! Bring me to life,"
"I've been living a lie! There's nothing inside!"
"Bring me to liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiife!" As Miharu went for the long note, Asuka's piano entrance once played again to end the song. Miharu took a deep breath after her long note and looked up at the judges. Paul nodded a couple of times in satisfaction.
"Was a good performance. Tested everyone's playing ability…you guys kept it together even after the slight feedback from the mic, which I commend you for," Paul gave a thumbs up directed at the drummer at the back.
"Well, a few notes were a bit off on the singer's part, but that's not what you're being marked on. Beautiful piano, hardout riffs, smooth drumming…on the whole it was a good performance…not sure if it wowed me though," Eddy stated coolly.
"The way you kept it together even after the feedback was good. Disrupted the fluidity of the piece but in the real world, shit happens and it's important that you can carry it on if something should happen, which really impressed me. A group that came on before completely messed up when the lead for the rhythm guitar failed. It all came apart…of course, they started up like 4 seconds later but a crowd notices that delay. On the whole, great job," Nina praised. This brought a smile to everyone's faces, who directed "good job" looks at each other.
"Now get your ass off the stage," Paul said with a joking grin, pointing a thumb at the door.
"Thank you," Asuka thanked, before a huge chorus of thank yous came from the group before they left the auditorium.
After about half an hour's worth of performances, the judges were left to determine who was the weakest link. During that time, anxious whispers and murmurs were all that was heard in the lobby, wondering who will be out. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Dom emerged from the auditorium with the verdict. Pin-drop silence swept the lobby, attention focused on Dom.
"All of you have played valiantly today…I'm sorry to say that one band must leave. That band is…band number 6." Band number 6 said their goodbyes and all headed out of the lobby. As well as the tears shed, there were sighs of relief.
"Congratulations for making this far. Now things from now on, are going to be a little bit different." Dom announced. The remaining bands halted their celebrations to listen to Dom.
"You guys…are gonna be on TV!" Dom announced.
A/N: Whew! Man, the one time I update this, its during…EXAM WEEK! Yeah, well the Maths and English exams are over…which reminds me, I have thought up a new idea for a new fic during my English exam :P See? Inspiration hits u at the weirdest times! Expect to see it up after Exam week, which shud be in the middle of next week. Anyhu, I hope that chapter was worth the wait…. I actually started this chapter like AAAGGEEES ago! Its only now that I actually finish it!
Well, once again, absolutely sorry about the massive wait..hopefully things can run smoothly from now on.
Review!
Oh, and before I forget, I have totally revamped Happy Birthday for all u Xiaoyin-ers! Its soooo much better and longer than it was before! Wud appreciate it if u headed to my profile now and chekd it out. Leave me a review for that too!