Chapter 66: Goodbye For Now
So here it is; the last chapter. I just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who has supported or read this story. It really does mean a lot. As of posting this chapter this story has has 162 reviews, 126 followers, 58 favourites and over 70,000 views! This story is so much larger than I ever could have hoped for, so I just wanted to say a massive, massive thank you! On to the final chapter...
Clary's POV
For some reason, Royals for a Day wasn't nearly as emotional as our final concert.
Despite it being the last thing we would officially being together as a band, it was new. It was a TV special - it was only ever going to go for one day. Doing our last concert together was the end of something big - something that had consumed the last six years of our lives. So that's what I told people when they asked how I could be so put together today, when I could barely hold it together for our last concert.
What I didn't tell people, was that this didn't feel like a band thing. This was more like us hanging out for a day, while people happened to be filming and an audience was watching. Performing was us. So ending that was what really felt like the end. This just felt like a silly little add on.
"You ready for today?" Magnus asks me, coming to sit next to me. I was sitting in one of the seats in the audience, looking at the stage that we would be on for the next eight hours.
"Yeah, I mean we're well rehearsed, and we'd all agreed it's live TV, so it doesn't really matter if someone messes up." I say, not turning to look at him.
"That's not what I meant. I was talking to Alec this morning, and I've been watching you for the last little while. You all seem to be in some weird limbo." Magnus says, and I can hear that he's concerned.
"I don't think we realised how much our last concert would feel like the end. And I mean, sure, we have this. But it almost doesn't feel real. After today, I have nothing planned. Jace and I are going away, but after that, there's nothing," I tell him. I can remember the last time I didn't have my immediate future planned out. It was both a calming and terrifying thought.
"I thought that was the point of all of this," Magnus says softly. "To take a break. To have a rest. And then start something new."
"It was - it is." I say, finally looking over at him. "But it's just scary having nothing. To have a future so uncertain."
"Hey," he says, resting his hand on top of mine. "You're going on a three month holiday on your own private island. Your engaged to an amazing man. You've got friends who will never leave your side. And you're building an amazing house which I remember you being so excited about. That doesn't sound like nothing to me."
"I sorry. I know I sound ungrateful-" I begin, but Magnus cuts me off.
"Clary, you are one of the most appreciative people I know. What I was trying to say… is that your life has been so consumed by your job, that maybe you've just missed everything else that was going on. Now is your chance to really appreciate it. Be a 21 year old! Live in the moment. Remember when you were sixteen or seventeen, and I told you to just look to the next concert, and you could deal with everything else later?"
I nod at him. It was the only way I could cope.
"Well now you can just look to the next day, or the next hour. But because you're living in the moment, not because you're so overwhelmed with what the future holds," he says, squeezing my hand.
"When did you get so… logical?" I ask, blinking quickly to stop any tears from falling.
"It's the glitter - it adds years of wisdom," he says, smiling at me. "Now let's get you into hair and make up so you can get this day over with, and really start living your life." He stands up and holds his hand out for me to take, and then leads me to a room where all the guys are. Simon is getting his hair blow dried so that it actually has shape, instead of just sticking wherever it wants to. Alec seems to have had a hair cut, as indicated by the black hair on the ground, but I can't really see a difference. Kit looks annoyingly perfect as always.
"She finally shows up," Kit says, as I sit down in the chair next to Simon. I just roll my eyes at him, not bothering with a comeback.
"Now I know you've been rehearsing - and I'm not worried, but just so I can be 100% confident, can you please tell me the running order," Magnus says, sitting down next to Alec, who gently rests his hand on his thigh.
"There are pieces of paper with it hung up everywhere," Kit says. "I don't think we'd be able to forget."
"Well then it shouldn't be a problem telling me," Magnus replies.
Before their quarrelling can get any more out of hand, Alec says, "from 9.00 to 10.00 we're all on."
"And then 10.00 to 11.00 is Alec and I," I continue.
"And then 11.00 to 12.00 is me and Kit," Simon says.
"And then Clary and me for the next hour," Kit says, trying to annoyed.
"And then Simon and I," Alec says, with a pointed look at Kit.
"Then it's you and me, big guy," Kit says, winking at Alec.
"And then you and me," Simon says, looking over to me.
"And then all of us again," I finish.
"Ignoring the attitude from the 22 year old blond, I'm happy," Magnus says, leaning back into the couch some more. "It's 8.30 now, so once you're finished here, you have to go get dressed and then get into vocal warmups."
All the guys get up to go get changed, and I follow them into the change room about ten minutes later when I'm finished in hair and makeup.
In the middle of my vocal warmup, Jace comes into the room and waits patiently for me to finish.
"I know you have to go one really soon," he tells me as our vocal coach leaves the room. "But I just wanted to wish you luck. I know you're going to do amazing."
"Thank you," I say, walking up to him and kissing him quickly.
"And I wanted to give you this," he says. "I was going to give it to you before your last concert, but it was all so crazy I couldn't really find the right time."
He pulls a little box out and hands it to me.
"You didn't have to get me anything," I say, not taking the box.
"Just take it," he says, laughing a little. I roll my eyes and take the box from him. Inside is a necklace with a small silver crown. "It's got a moon engraved into it," he says, and as I look closer I can indeed see a little crescent moon. "You know - for Royals for the Night…"
"Thank you," I say, looking up at him.
I hear someone call my name in the distance.
"I'll let you go," he says. "I know you're going to kill it today."
"Wait," I say, grabbing his arm before he can leave, "am I going to have to put this on myself?"
"Oh," he laughs, and takes the necklace back from me. I turn around and hold my hair up so he can put the necklace on. His hands pause at the nape of my neck, make the hair stand up underneath his fingers. I can feel his gentle breath on the back of my neck, making my heart beat faster.
I slowly turn to face him, his fingers gently tracing my neck as I turn, and then he moves them up so the lightly grip my face, his thumbs gently moving over my cheek bones. He's about to lean down, when Magnus comes into the room.
"You're meant to be on stage right now - no time for boyfriends," Magnus says lightheartedly.
"Fiancee's," Jace gently corrects him, and smiles down at me.
"Right, fiancee's. Whatever you are, and whatever this is, it can wait," Magnus says, sounding exacerbated.
Jace quickly kisses me on the cheek, where his thumb was a moment ago. "Break a leg," he says, smiling down at me.
I wink at him before following Magnus to the stage, which all the guys are already on.
"You've got thirty seconds until you're live," one of the stage hands tells us.
"You're going to kill me one day, Fray," Magnus says.
"I was just living in the moment," I tell him with a grin.
He just shakes his head and quickly gets off the stage so he won't be on camera when it goes live. The man behind the main camera starts counting down from 10, and then holds holds up his fingers to finish the count down. When he points at us, Simon starts speaking. "Hello everyone and welcome to Royals for a Day."
"For the next eight or so hours, we will be gracing your screen doing pretty much anything and everything," Kit continues.
"That includes musical performances, skits, guests to the show, answering your questions, talking to you live, challenges and so much more," Alec says.
"There will also be never seen before video footage from our documentary, unreleased video clips, and exclusive content on all of our social media accounts, so make sure your checking those out during the day so you don't miss anything," I say.
"In the lead up to this day, we've been asking plenty of questions about what you wanted to see today. One of those questions was about the songs you wanted to see performed the most. We've taken the top ten most requested songs, and we're going to do them all today, about one each hour," Kit says.
"Starting right now with number ten… She's a Riot," Simon says.
Some sort of video into to the whole day plays while we all get into places. There's a little screen above the audience that shows us was everyone watching TV can see, and as soon as the intro is over, Kit begins playing.
After about forty minutes of us just messing around, answering a few audience questions, and doing a food challenge, it's time for the first unreleased video clip.
"Now as you all may know, Ink is a song from our most recent album," Kit says. "It was originally going to be released as a single, so naturally we filmed a video clip for it, but then plans changed… and long story short, we've been holding onto this one for a little while now."
"But we're going to share it with you today," I say.
"For a little background on the video… we all decided it would be a good idea if we rented out a tattoo parlour and spent the night there, getting tattooed and filming footage for the music video. So it kind of sucked when it didn't get released, because it was something we'd be holding onto forever, but you would never get to see," Alec says.
"So we figured, because you're finally getting to see the video, you may as well get to see the tattoo's as well. You get to see them in the video, which we're going to play in a minute, but we don't really talk about the significance behind them or what they mean to us, so we're going to talk about that today as well," Simon says.
We sit down and watch the video clip with everyone else, and then when it's over, it's time to talk about our tattoos.
"So, we decided to each get two tattoos. One matching, and one that was completely our own. But then we realised we already have matching tattoos, and we really didn't need to be too matchy-matchy," I say, as we all show the simple three pronged crown on our inner forearm, just below the elbow. "So instead, we all decided to get the same theme of tattoo, which we decided should be a song lyric. It could be from any song, and we could put it anywhere on our body, but it was still something we'd all have, plus the memory of us all getting it together."
"So I guess I'll start," Kit says. "I got the lyrics, 'I got soul, but I'm not a soldier,' on my ribs. It's from the Killers song All These Things That I've Done. It's there to remind that it's okay to have feelings, and I don't have to fight them off or pretend not to have them. Having a soul and feelings doesn't mean you have to fight everything off to stop yourself getting hurt. I'm sure that's not what it means to him, but it's what it means to me. And I think that's what a great song is - it means something different to everyone that listens."
"Okay, I think I'll go next," Alec says. "I got the lyric 'come as you are,' just above by elbow," he says, kind of moving his arm so everyone can see the back of it. "It's from the Nirvana song of the same name. I think for so long I was afraid of who I was, and I didn't want anyone to see or know the truth. So for me this tattoo is kind of a reminder not to hide that part of myself away again."
"I think it's my turn," I say. "I got 'don't look back in anger,' from the Oasis song. It's…" I say, turning around and lifting up my hair, while Simon pulls the back of my shirt down a bit to show the tattoo, which is just below where my spinal cord begins, "right there." I turn back around to face the camera. "To me it kinda says, don't look back back at everything bad that's happened to and let it turn you bitter. Look back and learn from it, and appreciate the person it's turned you into today. Because I really do believe that everything happens for a reason," I look over to Jace who is standing on side stage, watching, "even if it isn't immediately clear why."
As much as it sucks, if everything hadn't happened to me, then I never would have met Jace.
"So I guess mine isn't as deep as everyone else," Simon says laughing a little, "but I got the lyrics, 'the magic's in the music and the music's in me,' from The Lovin' Spoonful's Do You Believe in Magic? Kind of just like a reminder that while there's still music in the world, and I still get to do what I love, then everything's going to be okay at the end of the day."
"That's still deep," I tell him. He just shrugs, and then laughs a little.
"And we also got another tattoo that are completely different, because why not?" Kit says. "So I got a music note behind my ear, because I've always got music on the mind."
"I got a rainbow coming out of a cloud on my chest," Alec says.
"Show them," I say, laughing a little. He rolls his eyes at me, but stands up and lifts his shirt up none-the-less, and I hear an actual gasp in the audience. Alec must hear it as well, because he starts going red, and quickly pulls his shirt back down.
"I got just like a little apple - just the outline on the inside of my wrist," Simon says, showing the camera, "to remind me of home - 'the big apple'" he says with a wink.
"And I got three small symbols on my ribs; a star, a heron, and a crown. If you can figure out what it means… good on you," I say looking over to Jace again and giving him a wink. Almost no one knew that my birth name was Morgenster, hence the star so I'm not sure how many people will be able to figure that one out, but they will probably be able to figure out the heron for Herondale and the crown for the band; my three families.
"Well show them…" Alec says, looking at me with his eyebrows raised. I roll my eyes at him, but I guess this was payback. I do what he did, and quickly standing, flashing the tattoo for all of five seconds, before pulling my shirt back down.
"And that about brings the first hour to a close," Simon says. "After a quick ad break, you're going to get to spend some quality time with Alec and Clary."
Everyone loves when Alec and I recreate our dance number from Annie, and we have the original video playing in the background. And then, so carry on the broadway theme, I sing Defying Gravity with Kristin Chenoweth, which is absolutely a dream come true.
Simon and Kit have this whole pre-recorded thing where before a couple of concerts they got dressed up and had all of these prosthetics stuck to them, and then they would go out and stalk to people before the show acting like security guards, and absolutely nobody knew it was them. They then do a modelling show, with Cara Delevingne as the judge - which Kit wins, much to Simon's disappointment.
Kit and I have a drawing competition where we take suggestions from the audience, because everyone wanted Kit to have a redemption from his Christmas video, but it's right about then that everyone learns that I'm halfway decent drawer. We also get Magnus out to do blindfolded makeup looks on members of the audience, which is slightly unfair on Kit, because at least Magnus and I know what all the makeup products are. Despite my slight advantage on Kit, Magnus still does a much better job than both of us.
Simon and Alec get Diego out and have a fitness competition with him to see who really is the fittest, which of course, Diego wins and both Simon and Alec are outraged. They also have a trivia competition, where fans send in pop culture questions from the time we were in the band, which Simon kills Alec in.
In the transition between hours, while were all on stage, we sing Mad Rude Future Dude, which is a song I wrote years ago and brought up in an interview when we were asked what the weirdest song we'd ever written was. I'd never planned on actually performing it, but it had been in the top ten requested songs, so we had to do it. Thank God Simon actually sung the song so I didn't have to.
Simon and I get Izzy and Jace out for 'tea time' where we talk about stupid things the whole time, which drinkning tea and eating finger foods. We also sing We're Going to Be Friends by the White Stripes, which there are all of these photos of us when we're younger playing on the screen behind us.
Finally we all come out together again, and just mess around with the audience, play videos and games, and just generally have fun with each other.
"It's been the best past eight hours," Kit says. "But to be honest; I'm kind of tired now. So it's about time to wrap this all up."
"You know what the number one requested song is, we knew what it was going to be… how could we not end with it. This is Shiver," Simon says.
When the song ends, it's not nearly as emotional as when we finished our concert. It had been a fun day, but like I said before, this was just a day. A nice way to end everything.
"Before we go, we'd just like to say the biggest thank you to every single person who has supported us over these past few years," Alec says.
"Whether you've gone to ten concerts or none," I say, "whether you were supporters of ours from the beginning, or you only discovered us… thank you."
"Without you, our dreams wouldn't have come true," Simon says.
"We'd just be four losers running around New York city," Kit adds.
"So thank you so much for six great years. We love all so much, and we can't wait to see you all again one day," Simon says.
"So it's finally time to say goodbye. But remember, just because you may not physically be able to see us, or just because we're not releasing new music doesn't mean we're not there. We love you, and we believe in you," I say.
"And we're going to miss this, and you all so much. Thank you for everything," Alec says, and then the camera man counts down, and we're finished.
We all look at each other. That's the end of the band for a while. Who knew when we'll actually get back together.
"This is so stupid," Simon says, wiping away a tear, "it's not like we're never going to see each other again."
"We're literally all about to get in a car and go to the airport together," Kit agrees.
"It's just going to be weird not seeing you guys everyday," I say, as Simon pulls me into a side hug.
"We're just a phone call away," Alec says.
I take a deep breath, "I know. I'm being silly."
We all head back to the dressing room, and give back the mics and get changed back into what we came in. After that, we all pile into a minivan, which is packed with all our bags and is taking us to the airport. Jace and I are heading to Greece, Simon and Izzy are going to New York, Magnus and Alec are going to France, and Kit is going to London.
We let Izzy and Simon out first at the domestic airport. And then we all check in together, and head to the airport lounge together.
"This is so weird," Kit says, "all going different places."
"Yeah," I agree, "and without Simon here."
"I barely noticed he was gone" Kit says, smiling at me. I roll my eyes, and lightly punch him in the arm. A couple of minutes later, his flight is called. A little while after that Magnus and Alec's flight is called, and just Jace and I are left in the private lounge.
"You okay?" he asks me.
"You know, I really am. I'm excited. I finally get to decide what I do. And sure, it's scary as hell, but I'm excited to see what happens."
"Well you know, I've got plans for tonight," he says, wiggling his eyebrows. I laugh back at him, and can't wipe the smile of my face.
"We've got three months of total bliss coming up - just you and me," I tell him.
"I really hope you don't get sick of me!" he says, laughing. I'm not sure if he's laughing at his joke, or at the idea that anyone could ever have too much Jace.
When they call our flight, we collect all of our things and head towards our gate. Towards three months of total bliss. Towards our unplanned future.
I hope you liked this chapter... and the story! Once again a massive thank you to everyone how has shown any support in the last year as I've been uploading. Hopefully you enjoyed it! If you did, I'll be uploading a sequel! I'll start uploading this Friday, and the story will have the same upload schedule as this one, so look out for that.
The story will follow Clary and Jace as well as the rest of the gang as they try to figure out adulthood and life outside of the band.
Anyway, I hope you liked the story, and have an absolutely amazing week... and look out for the sequel!