Take Back the Night Chapter 25: Sinful Pleasure, a final fantasy vii fanfic

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the songs used in this fanfic.

I'm deeply sorry for taking so long! This past week was hectic for me! I haven't even had the time to be on this site too much. Please forgive me. I know I should of tried harder.

I don't know how you're going to enjoy this chapter because it wasn't as entertaining to write as I thought. I'm extremely sorry for the delay. Lately I've been under some stress so it's been difficult to update.

That's all I have to say for now.

I tiptoed down the grand stairs, careful not to make any of the carpeted stairs creak. Through the windows, I could that the moon and stars were already out. Unfortunately for me, nearly all the lights were on in the mansion. At least there wasn't anyone in sight. Step by step, my heart pumped more swiftly. I gulped when I was on the last three steps, the creakiest steps in the whole staircase. I took my chances on stepping on the next one. My weight caused it to moan. My stomach immediately dropped at the squeaky noise. My eyes darted around to check for anyone. No sigh of either the servants, Veronica, Johnathon, or Andrew. Since I didn't want to take anymore chances of getting caught, I pushed on both railings to lift myself up, then I bent my legs so I wouldn't hit the steps. I swung back and forth to prepare to leap. On the fourth swing, I pushed the railing with all my strength to hop over the last two steps. I wasn't too high up, so my landing wasn't too noisy on the marble floor. As I slowly treaded towards the front door, I kept glancing in various directions rapidly to make sure no one sees me. If the mansion wasn't so big and if most of the servants didn't often travel around in the back of the mansion, I would of snuck out through the back door like most normal teenagers.

So far so good. This nearly felt too easy. My arm stretched out towards the knob. Sluggishly and cautiously, I twisted the knob. As soon as the door clicked, I quietly yanked the door open a little at light speed. I stepped out, and quietly closed the door behind me. As planned, I could see the limo parked near the front gate. This brought a smile on my face.

And Johnathon thinks he's so smart. I'm practically sneaking out under his nose.

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"Thanks, Len. I owe you BIG time!" I speedily stepped out of the vehicle, then glanced back at Lenny with my hand still on the door.

"Good luck," Lenny said while taking a swift look back at me. He sure has changed the last three weeks since I joined the band. I never knew how supportive Lenny could truly be until now.

I smirked at his two words. "Thanks." I slammed the door shut, and treaded toward the back door. As expected, I could see a muscular bald man guarding the door with his arms crossed on his chest. As I approached him, he only kept giving me a blank stare.

Once I was in front of him, he signaled me to stop by raising his hand like a crossing guard. "Pass?"

I dug in my pocket for the pass. It didn't stuff much in my pocket so it took less than a minute to find. Once I found it, I flashed it in the front of the guard.

All he did was simply give me a quick nod to show his approval. "Go ahead." He sidestepped a few steps to his left, and away from the door.

"Thank you." I twisted the knob, and rushed in. I released the door behind me to let it shut on it's own.

Right when I took time to take in what's around me, I could feel several eyes beam at me. The room was completely packed with teenagers and young adults in a band. It was so packed, I could barely keep track of what everyone was doing. Most people were spread out in groups, and talking. A lot of them even glanced back at me from time to time. Surprisingly, the room wasn't too noisy. It mostly just had whispers. I took a deep breath before making my way through the sea of people.

"Excuse me. Pardon me. Sorry. Excuse me. Pardon me. Opps, sorry again." I kept saying all this nearly in a pattern as I tried to get pass a everyone. Finally, I spotted my band mates talking in a corner to the right. I eagerly squeezed through a couple people, forgetting to say excuse me. I sprinted toward them with my heart leaping in random directions. I've been waiting for this night for so long. By the time I caught up with them, I was huffing either from being excited or from putting too much effort into my running. "S-sorry...I'm la...late." My sentence was broken up from my huffing.

Viper was the first to twirl to face me. Her hands were on her hips. A frown was already made on her lips. "Kid, there's some...hey, why are you wearing glasses?" She asked while scratching her head with one finger. "I thought you got the surgery."

It took a few moments for me to register what she said. "Wh...oh!" Remembering my glasses, I snatched the glassed off my face. Carefully, I stuffed them in my pocket. "It's a long story."

To be honest, it wasn't really a long story. I basically been wearing them when I'm at school or home because I didn't want anyone to get suspicious. I only said it was a long story to make up a excuse from actually having to tell them the truth. I'm still trying to earn a good reputation.

Viper continued to scowl at me. "Bad news...we've been talking and...decided that we...you shouldn't play with us for tonight."

Reality didn't sink in at first. My shock state kept it from happening. I can't believe what I was hearing! "W-what!?" I didn't want to make a fool of myself in front of everyone by yelling, so I did my best to keep my voice down. "Whudoya mean I can't play tonight!? This...this can't be right! I've been praticin' with you guys for nearly three weeks already! I..."

My sentence got cut off when Skull Basher walked over to me with a bit of a disapproved look. To further express his cool temper, he had his arms crossed on his chest. "We're sorry. This contest is REALLY tough, especially for newbies. You're catching on guitar playing really fast, and you play quite well. But we can't risk the Battle of the Bands contest this year no matter what. It's just...you don't seem as experienced as some people here. It's just for tonight. Maybe you can be apart of the contest next year. For now, we're getting an old friend to play, but you can come with us to the party that's after the contest. It's just...we want to be sure our newbie has more time to freshen up on his skills before he plays in a actual major contest. It's the biggest one of the year!"

Newbie. I hate being called that. Even though I wanted to further argue, I knew better. What he said made so much sense that it made me feel like a fool arguing. Admitting defeat, I let out a rough sigh. "...fine. I...wish you told my sooner, though."

To avoid showing a disappointed gaze, I let my eyes all to the ground. I've been lucky Johnathon hasn't been giving me any after school classes, and it's been too easy to sneak out for band practice. All that work felt like a waste, though. My heart felt as if it was being lightly stabbed from needles over and over. It's not the worst feeling I ever had, but it still was a big burden. My heart felt a little crushed from all the wasted practice I done.

"C'mon, kid, I don't wanna replace ya either," Skull Basher started to reason with me, "especially since the replacement will probably cause me to pull all my hair out of my skull! He drives me crazy!"

"Talking about me again, old friend?" A smooth voice with a fancy accent said. Before I had much of a chance to wonder who said that, a older male teenager, probably seventeen to eighteen years old, trooped towards us slowly. He had fiery red hair that didn't really have any length. His bangs went clear down to his eyes a little. His eyes were brown, and weren't too big or small. Both his ears were pierced some many times that I couldn't count them all at once. His shirt was black with a very detailed red Wutain dragon with a very hostile look in its eyes. As for his pants, they were black jeans with many pockets and a couple chains on it. His face was so well shaped that even I have to admit he looks handsome. Call me gay for that and I'll punch your lights out! I'm serious.

As he approached us, Skull Basher gave him a very spiteful glare. I could actually see his teeth slightly grinding. Tricky didn't show much a reaction. All he did was gaze at the stranger unemotionally. Viper's eyes quickly lit up before she went running towards him. Her arms quickly wrapped around him in a embrace. The guy returned the embrace with a small smirk.

"It's been awhile," Viper said in a tone so low it nearly was a whisper. She released him. Since he was a little taller, she had to look up at him for their eyes to connect. "And you really convinced us that you weren't ever coming back."

"Sorry to worry ya," The redhead replied. "Even I thought I was leaving for good."

Skull Basher snorted, then looked away in dismay. "Too bad you were wrong. So what happened to your band."

The redhead frowned at Skull Basher. "We...broke up. Two of 'em went to college. They were mostly apart of band to get money for college in the first place. The remaining one walked out of the band without telling me why. I guess he just wanted to lead another life. A guy should know when to let someone go."

Skull Basher's expression didn't change. "So you came crawling back to us?"

The redheaded stranger still kept a straight face, despite being insulted. "Whatever floats your boat, call it what you want. I'm not in the mood to argue with you right now."

"Because you can't think of a comeback?"

"No, because making you look bad in front of everyone here might embarrass me for ever working with you, and the rest of the band. They shouldn't have to suffer, too. Basically, I can come up with good insults, but just choose not to use them."

Skull Basher nearly launched himself towards the guy who bad mouthed him, but Tricky raised his arm in front of him to stop him. "Just let it go," Tricky commanded with a emotionless tone.

This is the first time I ever saw Viper make googly eyes at any guy...except maybe when she pretended to be interested in me the first time I had my glasses off. She was only pretending, right?

Finally, the stranger glanced in my direction. "Who's the kid?"

I could tell by Viper's slight jerk of her head and when her eyes went wide for a few split seconds that she forgot about me for a while. Viper tread towards me, then pointed at me as if she had to show me for I was standing. "This is Vince, but you should call him Sin, his band name. Sin, this is Flame. He got his name cause of his hair and because he sees beauty in flames. He used to be our other guitarist and..."

"Other?" Flame interrupted.

"This is the new guitarist I told you about," Viper told Flame. "I hope you get along with him. He shouldn't be much trouble."

"I hope so, too."

Footsteps interrupted the conversation. The entire group's heads turned in to my right. I turned my head at whatever they were staring at. What a sight! There were three guys and two females, probably at least three years older than me. The goths nearly looked like clones. All of them had jet colored hair with barely any length at all. Their cloths nearly all black, and either had skulls, black make up around their eyes, chains, piercings, or anything Gothic. I could feel my own eyes widen at the sight.

"Look what we have here, it's the emo squad," Skull Basher teased.

"Humorous," the guy in the middle sarcastically and unemotionally replied. "Since when did you start babysitting private snobs."

It took a few seconds for me to realize he was talking about me. I know coming with a private school uniform was a bad idea. I figured since I was going to change into new cloths once I got here, it wouldn't matter what I wore on the way here.

"Is that all you can come up with?" Flame challenged.

"No, I just haven't used it yet."

"So use it then," Viper snapped back.

The leaders eyes focused on me as if my band's weakness was written on me. "What does this look like? A simple band group at school? Go home if you know what's best for you. This isn't for runts."

Right when "runt" hit me, anger aroused in me. A knot twisted in my chest. The room's temperature seemed to heat up. It's already bad enough Johnathon calls me that. The last thing I need is someone else calling me that. "Picking on a younger band member...that's a low blow. You go for me, but not for my other band mates all because I'm the youngest? Sad, really sad."

The leader's eyes narrowed at my insult. "Wanna fight?"

"Take two steps. I dare ya!" A sly smile formed through my lips. I guess "having fun" with Andrew made me develop it.

Right when the leader took a few quickly steps, one of the female members snatched him by the arm and started to drag him away. "Save it for after the contest," she commanded while dragging him away.

One last glare was thrown at me before they disappeared in the crowd. I looked back at the other band members to see their reactions. Their eyes were widened! Tricky's mouth even dropped!

"Kid!? You crazy!?" Skull Basher questioned as if I ran through busy traffic. "You could of gotten yaself killed!"

"What? Don't you guys deal with that everyday?" I asked in a low tone. My stomach dropped a little. I had no clue that they'd take what I did seriously.

"It doesn't matter," Viper stated. "That guy is way older than you! And he doesn't take insults like that without a fight! Do you realize what he could of done to you!?"

I tried to pretend it wasn't a big deal by forcing a frown, and making my eyes more narrow to shield the shock look in my eyes. "I could take him on. I know how to fight and...had some experience with taking a hit. I'm not in school. I can't really get in trouble that easily. The worst thing that can happen is for me to get charged for battery, but that would only ruin his reputation for being so weak."

"I must admit..." Flame took a few steps toward me, then stared into my eyes. "You have guts, kid. You just earned yourself twenty rep points from me."

"Who was that guy?"

"That was Shadow, leader of our rival band, Empty Redemption."

"Oh..."

"He and his band really hates us, and we hate them."

"There you guys are." Our boss, Mr. Aron, strided towards us with a small stack of paper in one hand. "Let's go over the plan before we go on. We'll be one of the last ones to perform, so let's take advantage of that by rehearsing. "Sin, sorry that you can't be apart of the show. We would like you to be at the party for whoever wins after the concert. Interested?"

I gave him a nod. "Sure."

"Also we would like you to change cloths in the dressing room. We need you to blend in with the crowd."

Without another word, my other band mates followed Mr. Aron down the hall. I decided to follow them to find the dressing room.

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Even inside the dressing room, I could hear my boss yapping. I sighed to myself at how easily I can hear him as I grabbed the cloths laid out for me off a chair. I got to admit that I mentally drooled over all the garments when I first saw them. I felt a little of a draft on my body, making it shiver a little. Being in a cold room with only boxers isn't comfortable. I first slipped on the silver tank top. Grabbing it by the slightly pointed collar, I lifted the black leather vest up. The torn off sleeves gave the vest a more hardcore effect. I slipped into that, then grabbed the jet black leather pants that came with it. It was nearly only plain pants except it had a couple pairs, then slipped into them also. I grabbed the fingerless leather gloves off the table then pulled them over my hands. I kicked off my shoes across the room then put on the black boots that went well with the outfit.

I snatched the paper with the lyrics I came up with off the table. I looked them over once more.

It's a shame I can't be in the band to play it.

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As I trooped backstage back and forth, I could still hear another band finishing up their song. My band was up next. My heart leapt in various places. Perhaps I felt unsure of my own lyrics? Finally, I saw Viper running towards me. She slid to a stop in front of me, huffing. At first, she just looked down on the floor as she caught her breath. When she looked up at me, I immediately knew something was wrong. Her eyes were fearful for the first time. It all shocked me. Normally she's a girl everyone should always fear if they know what's good for them, but this time she nearly looked like a damsel in distress.

"Someone...knocked..." Her sentence kept getting broken up with her breathing in between. "...out Skull Basher...we can't...go on."

Both my heart and stomach dropped at the same time. It felt like this was a bad dream.

"W-what!?"

"I'm afraid it's true, kid." Flame approached me with a frown on his face. "We don't know for sure who did it. Without a singer, we can't go on."

"Who do you think did it?"

"We have no proof, but our rival band probably tried to eliminate some competition," Flame sighed the went on. "A few other bands just got eliminated because of their instruments being trashed."

"Of all times to get knocked out..." Mr. Aron rubbed his forehead as he headed toward us with Tricky close behind. "We're gonna have to drop out."

My world felt as if someone came in and trashed all my hope and fantasies. "D-drop out!? B-but you can't! What about all the times we practiced? Can't we just get someone else to fill in?"

"I can play the bass and keyboard, but I can't sing," Viper admitted. "And Tricky sings worse than me! No offense." She turned her head towards Tricky on the last part of the sentence.

"None taken," Tricky replied with a content tone.

"Besides, we need him to pay the drums."

"Don't look at me!" Flame warned. "I'm only a okay singer. I have to admit Skull Basher sings a little better than me. I don't even know the lyrics anyway. I just know how to play the song with my guitar."

"Say...Sin, you said you had photographic memory once, didn'cha?" Mr. Aron questioned.

"Yes." I don't think I like where this is going...

"You memorize the lyrics, right?"

"Yeah, but..."

"Then get out there!" Mr. Aron pushed me out before I could object or even react.

My heart leapt to my throat as I was forced out. I swiftly glanced over me shoulder back at him. "But, Sir, I can't..." The feeling of eyes watching interrupted my sentence. I would see everyone staring at me. I gulped as I finished my sentence for an unknown reason. "...sing."

Tricky, Viper, and Flame already got in their positions. The sight of the crowd made me feel like I was going to faint. I would feel my body burn. My legs felt like jello. My heart nearly bursted out of my chest from pumping so swiftly. People slowly whispered toward each other, probably at my nervous appearance.

"Kid, don't stand there like a retard!" Viper harshly whisper toward me with her bass in her hands. "Pick up the mic off the floor and use it!"

I gulped down the lump in my throat. My feet nearly acted on instinct as I got closer to the front of the stage. It felt like my feet were tied to bricks. Once I was in the front, all my stage fright sense grew worse. With my eyes still glued on the audience, I reached for the microphone off the floor. It was the wireless kind, so I probably won't have much trouble with it.

"Uh...I'm sorry to say...Skull Basher can't be here tonight because...he...uh..." People, mostly the boys, glared at me. All the females mostly just gave me some confused looks. I gulped down another lump down my throat. "I'm filling in for...him."

Angered whispers sounded out in the room. I guess there are many disappointed fans.

Remember it's for the band, Vincent. I hope this thought is enough for me to have the guts.

I took on deep breath to finally start out. My body went numb enough for me to be able to sing

I started out in a lower tone to try to add more effect to the song.

Pain without love

Pain, I can't get enough
Pain, I like it rough
'Cause I'd rather feel pain than nothing at all

The rest of the band played out the music while I waited for part I'm suppose to start singing again. The crowd focused their gaze on me some more. They seemed...to be interested! So far so good. The audience seems content. Finally, it was time for me to start singing in a normal tone.

You're sick of feeling numb
You're not the only one
I'll take you by the hand
And I'll show you a world that you can understand
This life is filled with hurt
When happiness doesn't work
Trust me and take my hand
When the lights go out you will understand

Pain, without love
Pain, I can't get enough
Pain, I like it rough
'Cause I'd rather feel pain than nothing at all
Pain, without love
Pain, I can't get enough
Pain, I like it rough
'Cause I'd rather feel pain than nothing at all

Now I could see the crowd cheering loudly! At first it startled me. Good thing I recover quickly. I could feel my face blush a little, and a pleasant warm feeling formed in my chest. I must be going something right, but what...CRUD!!! Nearly missed my part.

Anger and agony
Are better than misery
Trust me I've got a plan
When the lights go off you will understand

My throat felt a little weird after saying the last word so long, but I ignored it to speed up the rest of the lyrics.

I know, I know, I know, I know, I know
That you're wounded
You know, you know, you know, you know, you know
That I'm here to save you
You know, you know, you know, you know
I'm always here for you
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know
That you'll thank me later

On the next set of lings, I returned to using the slower tone I started out with.

Pain, without love
Pain, can't get enough
Pain, I like it rough
'Cause I'd rather feel pain than nothing at aaaalll
Nearly at light speed, I forced my vocal cords to adjust to returning to a normal tone so quickly.

Flame and the others wrapped the song up by playing a few more notes. Now that there was no more music the audience's cheer could be heard better. I think they ever cheered louder! This nearly made me jump out of my skin. There has to be a catch. Maybe it was Flame's guitar playing or something. The lump returned in my throat, so it was hard to say much more.

"Uh...thank you...and good night!" I gently set the microphone on the floor than ran backstage.

All this was too much for me to bear. I've never had this much attention before, and don't know how to handle it.

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I was still backstage with my face burning, sweating a little, and sitting in a veto position against the wall.

"C'mon, it wasn't THAT bad," Viper assured as she gazed down at me.

"What are you saying!? I ran off the stage and humiliated myself all 'cause I can't handle a little attention!"

I had never been so embarrassed this much since Johnathon started taking it easy on me with the beatings and the humiliation. I don't know how I'm ever going to live this down.

"I've seen worse," Flame informed. "You shouldn't make such a big deal out of it."

I didn't want to talk about it anymore or I won't ever live it down. Instead, I decided to change the subject. "How's Skull Basher?"

"Talking about me?"

I looked to my right and saw Skull Basher walking up to us while rubbing his head.

"Are ya alright?" Tricky asked.

"Yea, fine." Skull Basher continued to rub the back of his head.

"What happened anyway?" Viper asked as she got closer to check on him.

"Dunno. First I'm in the lobby to get a drink, then next thing I know I only can see nothing but black. The punk must of snunk up behind me. Damn, my head hurts!"

"Oh, don't be such a wuss," Flame sneered. "You've had a lotta hangovers to know how to handle a little bump on the head."

"Shud up! It's not like he gave me a sissy blow."

"He must of because your empty head would of bursted already if he didn't."

"That's it! You asked for it!" Skull Basher took a few steps toward Flame, but Viper grabbed him by the arm and dragged him on the stage.

"Not now! We gotta get on stage with everyone else to see who won," Viper reminded as she dragged him. They disappeared behind the red curtain. Tricky, Flame, and I followed. I still felt humiliated, but I'd make it worse it I don't show my face on stage. By the time we were on stage, most of the other bands were already present.

It seemed we missed some type of speech the judge made or something because he was now getting ready to open the envelope with the winners.

The judge, probably only in his late twenties with black hair, tore the envelope open. "...and the winner is...the Lasting Pain!"

The audience cheered once more. This...can't be right. I must of heard wrong. I stood there to let the real winners go forward with the judge. A familiar hand snatched me by the arm and started to drag me at the front of the stage.

"Don't stand there like a idiot!" Viper commanded. "We won!"

My emotions went numb. It just felt so unreal. It felt too good to be true. I gulped as I stood there with the band. This can't be right, can it? I can't sing!

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"Cheers for our much better lead singer," Flame commented as he lightly tapped the side of his beer can on mine.

We pulled our cans away from each other to take our sips. Flame quickly took a long chuck of it while I just stared at it for a while. Smoke from drugs made the air have a vile smell. It was so thick that it kept making my eyes feel watery. The party's music wasn't too loud, but I thought it was a little much. I knew if Johnathon caught me here, he'd tear me to pieces. It's a party every parent warns their kid about. A queasy feeling filled my stomach as I remember how Luesa told me to be careful around these kind of places. Luesa...it's been weeks since I've last seen her and...I couldn't find a way to escape to her house since I got stuck with bodyguards. I just have a feeling that Uncle will notice me gone, and I'll have to pay for it. Well, if I'm going to die, I mind as live a little first.

I glanced back at Flame who was still sipping his beer and watching other people dance. I rubbed my watery eyes, but my eye's state didn't change.

"Uh...Flame...I need to ask you something."

Flame looked back at me with a smirk on his face. "Lay it on me. Whuddoya wanna ask?"

I gulped before letting myself saying it. "Am...I mean...was the judge paid or something to make us the winners?"

"What!?"

"I'm sorry!" I bursted out panicky. I looked away from him because I could feel my face burning again. It was unbearable to make eye contact with him "Sorry I asked"

To my dismay, Flame walked where I was looking. "Why would you ask something like that?"

"I...I can't sing! This can't be right!"

"Kid, what are ya talking about? You sing a LOT better than Skull Basher. YOU should be the lead singer instead."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I never thought I could sing. I always thought I was terrible. I had some singing lessons for a few years before I went off the private school, but I never thought I could sing. Johnathon and everyone else didn't react to it much. I guess they were too busy yelling at me or hitting me when I mess up a note.

"Now that you're the new lead singer, we need a new band name."

"W-what!? Since when!?" All this was happening too fast. I can't take all this in at once.

"Since tonight. Didn'tcha hear Mr. Aron?"

"B-but..."

Before I could finish, Flame flashed out a cigarette out of his coat pocket. "Here." He put in in front of me to grab.

I was in shock. I never and I mean NEVER thought anyone would ever offer me a cigarette. My heart nearly stopped at the sight. A small chill went down my spine.

"Try it," Flame offered.

With a shaky hand, I sluggishly snatched the cigarette. "Is this..."

"Don't worry. One won't kill ya. Just inhale and exhale out the smoke. Let me lit it." Flame pulled out a lighter out of his other coat pocket. "This is another reason I'm called Flame. I usually provide the group with the fuel."

I gulped as I held the drug with two fingers. Flame put the lighter closer to it, then flicked the trigger until a tiny blaze came out. The cigarette immediately got lit. For a few seconds, I stared at the cigarette before putting it towards my mouth. On instinct, I took a huff of the cigarette. A nasty burning taste filled my mouth. Within I second, I exhaled the smoke out, then had a coughing fit. My hand came flying on my mouth (I was always taught to cover my mouth when I cough or sneeze). Before I could complain about the foul taste, my nerves felt soothed. The peaceful feeling dominated my morals. I wanted more relief. I repeated the steps once more. This time I didn't have a coughing fit. I've never felt so alive!

"What's the new band name?" Mr. Aron asked while treading towards us. Viper, Tricky, and Skull Basher were also standing beside him.

I looked down at my cigarette once more.

"Give the kid a break!" Flamer ordered. "He just found out about the new change in plans."

I knew what I'm doing right now is sinful. I knew just being here was sinful. Heck, even my birth is sinful. You know what else? I kind of like it. This brought a smile on my face as I glanced back at the band. "Sinful Pleasure."

My boss and band mates glanced back at me with a little surprise on her face.

"You mean the new band name?" Mr. Aron asked.

"Yeah. I suits me quite well."

"Love it! It's a lot better than old one."

Suddenly I could hear footsteps behind me. I twirled around to find a hot, curvy teenage girl probably my age. Her eyes were brown. Her hair was ebony colored . She wore a short black mini shirt, revealing her well shaped legs. Her tops was black with a skull in the middle. She wore black lipstick and spiked jewelry. She was quite a site!

"Hey, cutie," the hardcore girl said with a flirtation voice. "Wanna dance with me?"

All my words seemed clogged in my throat. This is the second time I ever had a girl interested in me. Before I could reply, another girl, this time a blond, came over to me.

"No way! He's mine!" the other girl said.

"Get lost! I was here first!"

"Wanna scrap with me for him?"

The Gothic girl responded by snatching a handful of her blond hair, then jerked her hair up. The blond respond back by using her long nails to dig in the Gothic girl's arms. Just like that, a fight broke out. Fists launched. Kicks rapidly did damage to each girl. Nails clawed off the service of the other girls skin. Curses were shouted. Many of the people at the party crowed around the fight.

"Cat fight!" Skull Basher shouted. "I'm putting my money on the blond."

"Mine goes for the goth girl," Tricky betted.

Flame walked right beside me, then joined me on watching the fight. "Awesome! Two girls fighting over you! What's it like?"

I didn't bother making eyes contact with Flame as I answered. "To be honest...scary, really scary yet...pleasant."

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My stomach did somersaults as I walked down the street. Even the school uniform I had on again was a mess. I had the worse headache in my life! My eyes drooped from the lack of sleep. Street lights and lit stories burned my eyes. Traffic noise made my ears ache. This city never sleeps. I felt so ill that walking nearly became unbearable. I doubt I'll make it home without dosing off, so I decided to find a place to sleep. Luckily for me, I spotted a bus stop bench, and immediately lied down on it. My limps ached as I slowly rested my body. I lied on my side to add comfort to the hard bench. I blinked a few times to clear my vision. Just when I gained back my vision, I could see a boy with wavy auburn hair, probably only three or four years old, and a woman, probably in her late or mid twenties, with curly sandy colored hair came out of the shop across the street. They both had hold of each other's hand.

"Mommy, I'm tired," the boy yawned. "Can you carry me?"

The woman smiled a toothy smile, the scooped him up. "Sure." She started to carry him toward the end of the street to my right. "What do you want for breakfast when morning comes?"

"Can we have chocolate muffins?" the boy requested with a very drowsy voice.

The mother giggled. "Sure. Why not?" She took a left turn at the end of the street, then disappeared.

My heart felt shattered at the sight. Tears came out, but now sob came out. I shut my eyes to plug up the tears, and embarrass myself in public. I opened my eyes only a few seconds, only to have them shuts again.

It's not fair! I never had that kind of love at his age! Why don't I have what he has? Maybe I'm just not good enough. Maybe I just have to try harder. I might get lucky one day. I guess I'll get it. I just need to work for it. Until then, I guess dreaming about a mother isn't so bad.

Please review. Remember, the more reviews I get, the quicker I update.

Whew! This chapter was a huge pain to write. I know I did a terrible job of writing out Vincent while he was singing. I just wanted to try something new. I never read a fanfic where someone actually goes into details about a character singing, so I was unsure of what to put. Most fanfics only have the lyrics and nothing more when a character sings. I also made a few touches to the lyrics to make it more realistic. I know, I need work.

Sorry for this chapter being rushed. I tried my best not to add any unnecessary scenes.

This chapter is dedicated to Northsky and I Cyn I. Thank you, Northsky, for helping me come up with the band names. Thanks you I Cyn I for beta reading Take Back the Night for me. You should give them a PM thanking them. I Cyn I worked hard to make chapter 1-19 to look more decent and is still fixing up chapter. Also if it wasn't for Northsky, it would of taken even longer to get the last chapter and this chapter done.

I hope this long chapter makes up for the long wait. I'll try to update whenever I get the chance. I promise the next chapter will be better.