Chapter 25: Follow Your Dream
There's a vision in your heart
Only you can achieve
You can climb the highest mountain
If you only believe
If you try to do your best
Nothing stands in your way
Why put off until tomorrow what you can do today?
I remember I saw you shine
Like a diamond in the sky
I knew that you had a dream
A dream that would never die
Follow your dream
You've got to follow it
Follow your dream
No, don't you ever forget your dream
Follow you dream
And you'll never regret it
You'll find all of your dreams come true
Follow Your Dream – Carbone and Zito (Project A-Ko)
During music, Aeris sat down with Shera to discuss her demos.
"I've got to warn you, Aeris, they don't normally take much notice of newcomers, unless they've worked with other artists, or have connections in the company."
"Yes, Marlene warned me about that. But I might have an idea." She said. Shera looked interested.
"Well?"
"After class today, I'm meeting up with a band, who are already signed on at Midgar Media ltd. I was going to ask them for tips. And I have a friend who works there too."
"That will help." Shera laughed. "Which band, if you don't mind me asking?" Aeris dropped her voice to a whisper.
"It's The Turks. We were at their concert last night and they invited me to watch them work."
"Really? That's… well, that's quite incredible, really." Shera said, stunned. Aeris laughed and said,
"Tell me about it."
"Well, let me know how it goes." Shera said, standing up with a secretive smile on her face.
Aeris saw James throwing her a sorrowful look from the corner. How pathetic. She went to join Yuffie at the piano.
"How's it going?"
"Pretty good!" Yuffie said, stopping the piece she was playing. Aeris waved for her to continue. As she played, Aeris asked,
"What day are you and Reeve flying to Midgar?"
"February 20th."
"That's when Vincent and I are going. We're meeting Mom and Dad out there."
"Cool. Vincent's going to love it; there are loads of art museums there. Oh, I got a letter from Dad this morning."
"So why do you sound less than happy?"
Yuffie looked embarrassed.
"There's a new orphanage opening and they want me to open it." Aeris burst into laughter.
"Lady Yuffie! Oh my god, that is SO funny!"
"It SO isn't! Gawd, it's gonna be in all the papers and everything…"
"I HAVE to be there!"
"No! I won't let you! Besides, you'll be too busy with your parent's conferences."
"Nah, they're only speaking at one, and then they're going home. It's basically just a chance for Vincent and me to go away with them." Aeris said, tapping her nails on the piano top.
"Aeris, come in!" Elena said, as Aeris entered the studio. The other Turks said hi. They looked different out of their blue suits. Aeris sat down next to Reno. He grinned.
"Look at this. Article about last night.
The Turks performed some of their very best songs at last night's performance in the Midgar Stadium, as well as some new songs of the usual incredible quality. However, are the public getting bored with the blue suit image? Surveys have shown that they would prefer to see the band with a new style."
Reno laughed.
"They're always like this."
"Really? But the blue suits are your trademark." Aeris said, glancing over the article. Rude nodded.
"Exactly. Of course, if we got Elena to strut around in a bikini, it might improve record sales."
"Urgh, I hate you guys." Elena said, throwing herself into a chair. Tseng cleared his throat.
"Shall we start work?"
"Tseng's the responsible one." Reno explained. "Rude's the serious one who actually has a wicked sense of humour, I'm the fun-loving one and Elena's the perky one."
"I am NOT perky! I'm just cheerful!" Elena protested. Reno folded up the paper.
"Let's get to work. We're starting a new album before our break."
"You're taking a break?" Aeris said, surprised.
"During June. We've decided to do some real work for a change. The album comes out at the beginning of June. We're going to let it sell itself, while we take on the real world. Then, after a few months we're starting a tour."
"Wow… what are you all doing?" Aeris asked, a suspicion growing in the back of her mind. Rude said,
"I'm going to manage a new band for a while. It's going to be interesting, seeing it from the other side."
"I've got a co-presenting job on a TV show." Elena said, grinning.
"Video production. Making music videos." Reno yawned. Aeris looked at Tseng.
"What are you doing?"
The others started to laugh. Tseng glared at them.
"I'm teaching for a couple of months."
"Let me guess. Music, at Midgar University?"
"How on earth did you know that?" Elena said in surprise. Aeris grinned.
"I take that course. Shera told me that she was taking some time off before the baby comes."
"Shera used to let us use her music room for practise, when we were in high school. She was a neighbour of Rude's." Tseng explained.
"She never said!" Aeris said. Tseng smiled.
"It was going to be a surprise. Don't tell anyone, OK?"
"OK… but I hate keeping secrets. Especially ones as good as this!" Aeris complained.
The Turks had quite a unique way of working. Basically, each member wrote a song, they passed them all round so the others could see them, and they decided which the best one was and wrote music for it.
They also kept a scoreboard, of who had written the most songs, out of the last three albums. Here were the results.
Tseng: 19
Rude: 14
Reno: 10
Elena: 2
"And Elena is still in last place!" Reno crowed. Elena threw a notepad at him.
"But Elena gets the most fan mail and has been voted the best voice out of us four." Rude pointed out. Elena smirked at Reno who shrugged.
"OK, Rude goes up another point." He said, scribbling out the fourteen and replacing it with fifteen.
As they messed around with instruments, Rude sat down with Aeris.
"Can I see your music?" He asked. She handed him the notebook. He spent several minutes studying the songs inside.
"Elena?" She looked up from, the keyboard where she and Reno were pressing random keys.
"What?"
"Come and look at this." She went over and he showed her a song, without letting Aeris see which one it was.
"Oh my… Reno, get over here."
Reno too examined the song. His eyebrows shot up and he waved at Tseng who came to look. Aeris sat opposite the four, wondering desperately which song they were looking at and if they hated it or liked it.
"Aeris, did you REALLY write this?" Tseng asked. The three others looked at her. She went red and nodded.
"Is it that bad?"
"Bad? Aeris… this is fantastic…"
"Which one is it?"
"I'll Be There For You." Elena said, handing her the music. Aeris glanced down at it.
"Oh, this one… I haven't quite finished it yet."
It was the song she had been struggling on. Reno took the music.
"OK, we don't usually do this, but can we hang on to this? I mean, I don't know if we'll end up using it, but it's a really good song, and if we do use it you'll get full credit."
"Sure! Of course you can." Aeris said, in disbelief.
"Thanks. Oh, god, look at the time. We've only got another hour and a half here, and then we've got an interview across town. Better get to work." Reno said, looking at the clock.
Aeris went back to Vincent's flat after that. He was at a class, but he had a spare key which he had given to her.
"You basically live here now. You should have your own key." He had told her. She tended to knock if she knew he was there, in case he was busy painting, but now she unlocked the door and went in.
Vincent had left a canvas out and she stopped to admire the painting. It was one of herself, Yuffie, Tifa and Cloud, sitting in the park on a bench. It was like watching a photograph. Cloud might have just told a joke, because Tifa's face was creased with laughter. Yuffie was flopped back on the bench, arms over the back, face lifted to sunny sky. Aeris herself was sitting between Tifa and Yuffie, looking at something in the distance with a slight smile on her face.
Aeris smiled at the picture and went into the kitchen half of the room. She unpacked some shopping and made herself a cup of tea. And then she went over to the piano and took out an old song, one she knew well. Although she loved to write new songs, she sometimes felt the need to just play for the sake of playing.
As her fingers danced across the keys, she felt her attention slipping away. She played absent-mindedly, pondering things in her head.
The one she concentrated on most was the issue of her father. She wanted to see him. But she didn't as well. It was so confusing. But she would. While she was in Wutai, she would go to see him. She wouldn't tell anyone, but she would go and see the man who was her father, who had left her before she was born.
But maybe that was a bad idea. After all, he had left her. And he must know about her. Those articles had been published all over the world. He would know where she was and if he had wanted to make contact, he could have. Maybe he had a whole other life now. Maybe he had a wife, kids…
She'd have to see when she got there.
Aeris turned her attention back to the piano. She stopped playing and looked at the piece in front of her. She swapped it for something more challenging. After that, she took out her clarinet. It had been a while since she had practised that.
She spent the rest of the day with her instruments, revelling the joy that music brought her. That afternoon, when Vincent returned, she was playing the violin, practising some classical pieces. Beethoven, Mozart… the old favourites.
Aeris didn't notice Vincent come in. He closed the door silently and listened to her music. She was facing the window, the violin perched elegantly on her shoulder. He smiled slightly, went over to her and put his arms around her waist. She smiled and put down the violin.
"Hey."
"Hello. How did it go this morning?" He asked.
"It was so much fun. They don't seem to take anything seriously apart from their music. It was incredible. How was art class?"
"It was fine. Still life drawings. Shall we go and get a coffee?"
"Sounds good. I didn't realise how much time has passed." Aeris said, looking at her watch in surprise. Vincent smiled.
"Let's go then."
Once they had coffee, they sat at their usual table. Vincent peered at Aeris.
"What's wrong?"
"What?"
"I know when something's bothering you, Aeris. What is it?" Aeris rolled her eyes.
"You are far too intuitive for your own good."
"So I'm told. What is it?"
"It's… its Eric Gainsborough. I was wondering whether or not I should go to see him. And I know it's something I should decide for myself, and you can't help me decide it… but it's been bugging me so much."
"Then you need to take your mind off it." Vincent said. Aeris looked at him.
"And how exactly should I do that?"
Vincent considered it.
"I didn't exactly think this through." He admitted. Aeris laughed.
"You're right, as usual. Don't you ever get tired of being right all the time?"
"No, actually." He said, sipping his coffee with a smirk.
A/N: OK, another dose of filler. I've got to stop doing that! But that's how I try to pad my characters out a bit. I decided if I was going to write an AU, I was going to do it properly, with believable characters. Am I succeeding? You should probably review and tell me! LOL, sorry about the non-subtlety of that. I realise that this story is starting to get ridiculously long. I didn't actually plan it that way; it just kind of turned out like it. And there's still a lot to come! My longest story is thirty chapter, but I get the feeling that this is going to end up longer than that… not so much a multi-chapter, as a multi-multi-chapter! Anyway, please do tell me what you think. And thank you for all the support!