Hello again peoples. Time to get rid of the gloomy atmosphere from the previous chapter.
Well... that'll actually stick around for a bit. I need to resolve a few things before everything becomes all sunshine and daisies again. Namely that last line from the previous chapter *SPOILER ALERT* so yeah, I suppose I'd better get on with that.
Disclaimer: Yeah, I so don't own the rights to K-On! If I did, the manga would totally not be ending. I really hope Kakifly continues into a new series. Oh, I also don't own rights to any instruments, songs, or lyrics mentioned in this chapter (or any other chapter). Seriously, if I owned the rights to things like that, I would so not be here.
"It's been two days, and Roy still hasn't come out from that room," Melissa said worriedly.
"Has he eaten anything?" Ryan asked. They were sitting in the lobby of the hotel. Yui was standing off to the side, looking distraught.
"I made him eat an apple yesterday," Yui replied in a hollow voice, "but I don't think he's had much else." She looked down at her shoes, apparently rather interested with them. "He won't even talk to me, though."
"Honestly, what has gotten into that boy?" Melissa asked. "I understand this hit him really hard, but starving won't fix anything." She cast a glance at the younger girl.
Flashback
"Oh my God, dad! Are you okay?" Aunt Catherine shouted as the old man fell to the floor.
"Grandpa Lewis just fainted! Roy, call 911!" Ryan said.
Roy stood frozen stiff. His eyes were locked onto the still body of his grandfather, whom he could barely see through the mass of people moving around him. His father's shout went unheard.
"I'll make the call, Ryan-san!" Yui said, noticing that Roy hadn't moved. Fighting back the thought that all of this must be a nightmare, Yui ran to the nurse's station and informed them of what had happened, urging them to call the hospital.
It was far too late by the time the paramedics arrived. Grandpa Lewis was already gone. They loaded him onto a stretcher to take him away, but life suddenly jumped into Roy.
He began shouting, screaming for the medics to bring his grandfather back to them. "Why are you taking him away?" he cried at the top of his lungs, tears already streaming from his eyes. "Bring him back!"
Hurrying to avoid further problems, Ryan grabbed his son and pulled him away from the room. Kicking and screaming, Roy was dragged all the way out of the nursing home, away from where the paramedics were.
"Melissa, take the kids back to the hotel," Ryan said softly with a pained look; tears were threatening in his eyes as well. "They don't need to be here now." His wife nodded and he left.
"Come on, let's go," Melissa said, ushering her son and the girl she already thought of as a daughter-in-law into the rental car.
The guitars lay forgotten in the sunroom.
"You kids stay in here," Melissa told them once they had returned to the hotel room. "You can go down to the lobby, but I don't want you wandering off anywhere other than that. Not right now."
"I don't think we'll be going anywhere, Melissa-chan," Yui said softly. The mother smiled at her and left.
Roy and Yui sat on the far bed for what seemed like hours. Yui watched the digital clock on the nightstand next to her, but Roy just stared straight down into his lap. Even with the pressure of the situation making time feel slow, Yui could tell they had only been sitting on the bed for about twenty minutes before the silence was finally broken.
"Yui-chan," Roy said in a voice rough from crying. She looked around at his face and her heart nearly broke at the pure anguish all over his features. "Please... please tell me this is a nightmare."
Something snapped and Roy flung himself into Yui's arms. His tears fell in what must have been gallons, but Yui didn't mind. After all the small things that Roy had helped her with - guitar, studying... love - she would help him with this huge burden.
End Flashback
"Yui-chan," Melissa began tentatively. The girl barely twitched to show she was listening. "Did something happen between you and Roy after I left you?"
There was no jump or twitch this time, but when Yui turned around to look at Roy's parents, she was crying. Melissa quickly jumped up and took Yui into her arms. "What happened?" she asked softly.
After she had calmed down, Yui explained to them what had happened.
"And... I stood outside the door for a moment," she said finally, "after he- he yelled at me." Melissa and Ryan both frowned. "I heard him say... He said that he would never play guitar again."
Two pairs of eyes shot wide open at this. "Are you sure that's what he said?" Ryan asked. Yui just nodded.
"Think about it, Ryan," Melissa said. "Dad died while Roy was up there playing his guitar. Something like this would have hit him hard no matter what, but now he thinks it's his fault."
"Well, we just got the report in on what he died from," Ryan said, straining with his words. "Apparently there had been plaque building up in his arteries for years, and it finally got him." He took a moment to keep his composure. "The doctor said he would have di- He would have been gone after we left anyway."
"It won't matter to Roy," Yui said.
Melissa nodded sadly. "Yeah, I was thinking the same thing." She cast a glance towards the elevator as if expecting Roy to be exiting at any moment. "But we still need something to snap him out of this."
"Roy?"
Silence.
"We're coming in now," Melissa said.
"Whatever," Roy replied from his position on the bed. His back was against the headboard and his feet were tucked up into his stomach. His hair was messy (more so than usual) as if he hadn't bathed in several days.
"The report came back from the doctors," Ryan said softly, sitting on the other bed in the room.
"That's nice," Roy said, devoid of any thoughts that the report really was nice. Yui frowned, quickly becoming agitated with her boyfriend's demeanor. She turned to the two adults.
"Ryan-san, Melissa-chan, could you let me handle this?" she asked them. "I think Roy might be better off hearing this from just one person." She cast a pleading glance at them. "And I want that person to be me."
Both parents just nodded. Ryan handed Yui the report and then left with his wife. Yui heaved a huge sigh to calm her nerves before turning back to face Roy. He hadn't moved a muscle.
"Don't you want to hear the report, Roy-kun?" Yui asked, hoping that adding the honorific would at least get some kind of reaction from him.
"Whatever."
Yui frowned again, but forced a sad smile again and sat down on the bed next to him. She opened up the file where he would be able to see it over her shoulder if he had been looking. Yui read the file out loud despite the fact that Roy seemed increasingly uninterested in hearing it.
"The doctors said that your grandfather had plaque building up in his arteries for years," she explained. "'It's a wonder he survived as long as he did,' they said. When he died, all of that built-up plaque just clogged the artery to the point that his heart couldn't stand the pressure anymore and just gave out."
Roy tried not to show any response to Yui's words, but tears were beginning to form in his eyes, his jaw was clenched, and his hands had balled into fists.
"They said that his heart must have sped up from hearing us playing that song," Yui continued. "They said, 'His heart swelled with pride. Swelled up so much that it killed him.'"
"Why are you doing this?" Roy finally choked out. His body was shaking violently. "You're just proving my point!"
"If you need proof," Yui snapped, getting up from the bed and turning sharply to look at him, "then you really didn't believe it in the first place!"
"But it's true!" Roy replied, looking up at her for the first time since she'd entered the room. "You just explained it!" He pointed at the file folder which was now lying on the bed a foot or so away from him.
"You don't see?" Yui asked. "If that's why his heart rate went up, then I'm as much to blame as you are. I was up there playing guitar, too, right next to you!"
"It's not your fault!" Roy snapped back. "It's mine!"
"You just don't get it, Roy," Yui muttered.
"No, you don't-"
SMACK!
Roy's head turned to his right sharply with several audible pops. If he could have looked in the mirror, there would have been a large, red handprint on the left side of his face. When he turned back to face Yui, he saw her breathing heavily. Her right arm was in the air above her left shoulder, moving up and down with her heavy breathing. She lowered her hand.
"Roy," she said finally, tears leaking down her face. "This isn't something that you should have to go through by yourself. Sure, alone time is nice, but shoving yourself away from all human interaction and starving yourself is only going to make everyone who loves you miserable!"
"Yui..." Roy muttered.
"Roy, I love you," Yui said desperately. "I love you more than anything else in the world. More than my guitars, more than Mugi-chan's cakes, more than the Light Music Club, more than my parents. More than Ui!" Yui stopped to take another deep breath. "But you hate yourself so much that you would sit up here and waste away into nothing while everyone sits around worrying if you'll ever smile again. Ever eat. Ever play guitar."
Roy looked up at his girlfriend. "Yui, I'm sorry," he said weakly. "I love you more than anything else, too. I'm sorry I made you worry, and I'm sorry I made everyone worry." He wiped his eyes and smiled at his girlfriend. "Thank you."
Roy pushed himself off the bed - purposefully jabbing his knee into the medical report in the process - and threw himself into Yui's arms. He hugged her like he had never done so before, holding onto her for his life. "Thank you," he whispered again.
"I love you," Yui whispered back.
"I love you, too."
"Is it safe to come in now?" Melissa asked as she opened the door.
"If it wasn't, it wouldn't matter now would it?" Roy asked with a grin.
"It's good to have you back, Roy," Ryan said. "I was afraid aliens had come and abducted my son away and replaced him with some gloomy party-pooper."
This is not the best way to great someone after overcoming a great emotional disturbance. Most people would still try to comfort the person and would stay away from mentioning any possibly-hurtful remarks.
Ryan Page was, of course, not most people.
Roy and Yui laughed at the joke even though Melissa frowned. Roy hugged both of his parents. "I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to worry everyone. I don't really know what was going through my mind."
"It's okay to grieve, Roy," his mother said, "but you still have to live your life, too."
((A/N: I nearly broke down from the cheesiness of that line.))
"And that means you can't quit guitar, either!" Yui said from behind him.
"Oh that's right!" Roy said. "Yeah, I'm definitely taking that back." He looked at his father. "Someone did pick up the guitars from the nursing home, right?"
"Of course," his father replied. "We're a musical family; we wouldn't just leave instruments, especially expensive ones, lying around in the middle of a panic like that."
"Good," Roy said. There was a moment of silence as everyone stopped to appreciate being in each other's company. "I want to play a song at Grandpa Lewis' funeral."
Two days later...
"Are you gonna be okay, Roy-kun?" Yui asked him from the seat next to him.
"I'll be fine," he said with a reassuring smile.
Hundreds of chairs had been set up on the lawn of a very prestigious-looking cemetery. Roy and Yui were sitting in the "family row" along with his mother and father. Aunt Catherine had decided to sit near the back of the crowd in case baby Albert began crying.
"Are you feeling better since a few days ago?"
His smile faltered a little. "It still hurts," he admitted, "but I know how to fight through the pain now."
"How?" Yui asked.
"I think of you," Roy replied, causing her to blush, "and of all the people who love me." he turned to face her. "Of my parents, my friends, the Light Music Club, my family. Everyone who loves me; they give me the strength to fight away the pain." Yui smiled at him and then they both returned their attention to the podium set up in front of them.
An old friend of Grandpa Lewis' got up and spoke for a while, telling old stories of how they had been Navy buddies. Having never heard any of these stories, Roy listened intently to the tales of his grandfather nearly dying on a Navy ship that had been ambushed far out at sea; how his grandfather had single-handedly saved an entire town from being blown up by defusing a bomb; how his grandfather had settled down with his wife after returning from the war; how they had two wonderful daughters, Melissa and Catherine, and how they'd lived their lives wonderfully together until his wife had passed on at the age of seventy-four.
After the speaker stepped down, the minister stepped up to the podium and said some words that probably had more religious meaning than Roy really cared about. He asked if anyone had anything they would like to add. Roy stood up.
Roy stepped up to the podium overlooking his grandfather's casket. "It still seems kind of surreal," he began. "If you had asked me two weeks ago what I'd be doing today, I'd have told you I'd be spending time with my grandfather. I'm glad to say that still wouldn't be a lie; I'm still here; I can still live in his place.
"Grandpa Lewis always told me to live life to it's fullest. I know there's not very many phrases more cliche than that, but it always stuck with me. I'm disappointed to say I'd forgotten those words this past week.
"Right after Grandpa Lewis died, I fell into a depression that I had never felt before. It was like the weight of his death was killing me as well. It took two days, a stern talking-to, and a painful slap to get me to realize that I was hurting those I love. My girlfriend showed me that others feel pain when I'm feeling pain, too. They hurt because I hurt." Roy paused to smile down at Yui. "Thank you, Yui, for showing me how to live my life again.
"I know it may disrespectful to some," Roy continued, looking back at the crowd, "but I'd like to play a few songs in memory of my grandfather. And I'd like to ask for some help with that, as well."
Roy stepped away from the podium as four others in the crowd stood up from their seats. Yui led the others to where their instruments were waiting. Once everyone was in place, Roy looked at the group behind him.
"Thank you for being here, everyone," he said. "You have no idea how much this means to me." The smiling of faces of the Light Music Club just looked back at him with the same feeling. Every one of them had the same look in their eyes: "We wouldn't want to be anywhere else right now."
Roy turned back to face the audience. "The first song we're going to do is called 'Kings and Queens' and it's by Aerosmith."
"Long ago in days untold
Were ruled by Lords of greed
Maidens fared with gold
They dared to bare their wombs that bleed
Kings and queens and guillotines
Taking lives denied
Starch and parchment laid the laws
When bishops took the ride
Only to deceive
Oh I know I lived this life afore
Somehow know now truths I must be sure
Tossin turnin' nightmares burnin' dreams of swords in hand
Sailin' ships the Viking spits the blood of father's land
Only to deceive
Living times of knights and mares
Raising swords for maidens fair
Sneer at death fear only loss of pride
Living other centuries
Deja vu or what you please
Follows true to all who do or die
Screams of no reply they died
Screams of no reply and died
Lordy lordy and then then they died
Lordy no then they died
Live and do or die
Long ago were days I told...Lord they died
Kings and queens and guillotines...
Live and no reply they died
Long ago were days I told...
Kings and queens and guillotines..."
As the song finished, all of the people sitting in the chairs applauded. "Thank you everyone," Roy said. "This means so much to me." Roy moved quickly and exchanged his electric guitar out for his acoustic one. Yui noticed proudly that there was no hesitation as he grabbed the acoustic guitar.
"The next song," Roy began again, "is one probably a lot of you know. It was my grandfather's favorite song. Which is strange, because most people my grandfather's age didn't like rock music. But this song just spoke volumes to him about the wonderful state he lived in. This is 'Hotel California' by The Eagles."
"On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night
There she stood in the doorway;
I heard the mission bell
And I was thinking to myself,
'this could be heaven or this could be hell'
Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way
There were voices down the corridor,
I thought I heard them say...
Welcome to the hotel california
Such a lovely place
Such a lovely face
Plenty of room at the hotel california
Any time of year, you can find it here
Her mind is tiffany-twisted, she got the mercedes bends
She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys, that she calls friends
How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat.
Some dance to remember, some dance to forget
So I called up the captain,
'please bring me my wine'
He said, 'we haven't had that spirit here since nineteen sixty nine'
And still those voices are calling from far away,
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them say...
Welcome to the hotel california
Such a lovely place
Such a lovely face
They livin' it up at the hotel california
What a nice surprise, bring your alibis
Mirrors on the ceiling,
The pink champagne on ice
And she said 'we are all just prisoners here, of our own device'
And in the master's chambers,
They gathered for the feast
The stab it with their steely knives,
But they just can't kill the beast
Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
'relax,' said the night man,
We are programmed to receive.
You can checkout any time you like,
But you can never leave!"
With Roy playing the acoustic, Yui played the guitar solo. She put all her heart and soul into every stroke of the pick and every movement of her fingers. When the song was finally over, Roy looked around at his friends and family. He could only think one thing.
'Thank you, Grandpa Lewis.'
A/N: Wow, can you say on a roll? I don't think I've gotten a chapter done this quick since this time last year. Thank you to everyone who reviewed. I hope this calms all thoughts that Roy going to turn emo and end the story on a horrible note. Believe me, this story has plenty of life left. In fact, I worked it out earlier. There's at least 6-8 chapters left for "Brand New Page." That doesn't count album chapters, though. I'll probably be making one huge chapter that includes the info for all of the albums (once I get the last two finished).
This ends the America arc. Next up will be the beginning of the second term in school, which means the cultural festival is coming up soon!
P.S. This is what the alphabet would look like if the letters "q" and "r" were taken away.
No seriously, I have to share this with you. This is an AIM conversation between me and Comma-chan that happened while I was still in the process of writing this.
Comma-chan
Oh, okay. I was about to ask about the rest of the America-trip, given Roy has just decided to stop playing guitar forevers.
Sparanda
yeah, that will be resolved in this chapter
you would know because of the "Roy plays Kings & Queens by Aerosmith at grandfather's funeral" sticky note
Comma-chan
Yaaaaaaayness ^_^ Lack of guitar = sad.
... This is true.
I thought maybe he played it on banjo instead or something.
Sparanda
xD
I might just include that in the ending A/N for this chapter
Comma-chan
xD