A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed. Your lovely comments and words of support are more than anything I could ever ask for. You guys are awesomeness all over. :)
I apologize profusely for the lateness of this chapter. I meant to have it up two weeks ago, but then life… got a bit complicated. :S Thanks for sticking with me though, guys! (And a special thanks to ChibiFrubaGirl, who's little poke reminded to me post this chapter. xD)
With regards to this chapter, I'd think almost 80 percent of it's LiD – there's only scene for Whiplash, and that's because I'm trying to keep the 'timeline' in tact. By the end of the chap, they'll be in sync again.
I do hope this chapter is okay. Happy readings!
Disclaimer: Pfft… I wish…
LiD: Rise and Crescendo
Chapter Ten: Step Up Your Game
One hand gripping the wheel tightly, Riku growled through gritted teeth,
"Yes, we're almost there… and if you ask me one more time, you may just find the number of your future children significantly reduced." From the back, Tidus squeaked in response. Rolling his eyes (not that anyone could see, with his shades pulled on), Riku concentrated on the sign ahead. In the dim light of the dying evening, he could just make out what it read:
Twilight City – 25 km
Another fifteen minutes to go then…
"Are you sure that we'll be there soon? You said that a thousand years ago!" Sora griped in the back – Riku felt mildly sorry for Sora, though. The kid was in the middle, being smashed up against Tidus on one side, with a snoring Kairi sprawled out over his lap.
"A millennium, Sora," Naminé corrected from beside Riku, eyes more out the window. Riku cut off any sort of response from the brown-haired boy though, Riku practically spat,
"Dammit, Sora, if you want to go any friggin' faster, why don't you chuck yourself out? Who knows how much you're dragging us down with your fat-ass flubber." Eyes flicking to the mirror, he saw his friend pout slightly. With attempted discretion though, Sora poked his belly. Scowling slightly now, he responded quietly,
"I am not flubbery, mean-ass."
"Yeah, c'mon Rik," Tidus chimed in. "If we need to lose the pounds, why not just toss Kairi overboard? I mean…" Tidus attempted to jab said girl in the head, but Sora's arm protectively shot out over it. Sora snapped irritably,
"No way! I'm not leaving my girlfriend to wake up on the side of a highway!"
"Awww, but she could pick up a great career… like that movie, Beautiful Lady. Man, I'd pay for a chick like that any – "
A sudden crashing sound was heard, and Tidus yelped, "Ow, Naminé! My knees!"
Ha – sliding his eyes over, Riku saw Naminé had rapidly dropped her seat on top of Tidus, who was sitting behind her. Her curtain of pale blond hair shimmered in the pink light of the sun, and he could just catch the disapproving frown on her face.
"Tidus, don't even reference that movie. It glamourized the life of a prostitute, not taking into consideration any repercussions from such a walk of life," Naminé chastised. From what he saw when Riku glanced over, Tidus had enough decency to look abashed. Or maybe he was just acting.
"Nice, Naminé," Riku said approvingly, to be met by an appreciative smile from Naminé. It wasn't until his eyes had shifted back to the road and a smirk had settled on his face that Riku realized how just over a week ago, the same interaction between him and Naminé would have been utterly awkward. She would have fumbled up, blushed; he would have smirked consolingly (at least, what Riku thought was consolingly) and bit back a grimace.
Riku would have sat here driving, completely uncomfortable with the blonde beside him, shifting around in his seat, counting down the minutes until…
Twilight City – Population: 2 509 820
Shit. Millions.
Like, six-zeros, bigger-than-one-thousand, freaking bigger-than-one-hundred-thousand… just… wow.
How the hell was anyone supposed to find their way around here? Stay safe? Hide away? Get noticed?
Riku was pretty sure that two-million, five-hundred-and-nine thousand, eight-hundred-and-twenty thoughts managed to whip over his head as Tidus' convertible sped into the media capital of the world.
Massive skyscrapers lined the pitch-black roads, towering and threatening as they replaced the stars with their artificially lit windows. And even at nine o 'clock in the evening, car upon car upon bike upon pedestrian upon bus upon… everything… were still whirring nearby – so much that Riku had already slowed down the convertible to the slow-moving traffic of the inner city.
His eyes remained more out the window, taking in the blaring music from numerous shops, the honking horns and angry shouts of jaded big-city dwellers. People jay-walked at every possible moment, dragging armloads of shopping bags and their friends with them, laughing as they headed out for a night of fun. And in spite of all of the crushing vastness of everything, Riku felt his heart swell to burst.
It would be here.
Here, LiD would break into the big; get everything they'd worked day after day to achieve. Riku constantly reminded himself as he studied his surroundings that they had not arrived in the Nationals by fluke – they wanted this, dammit. Everything Riku had ever hoped for – right here. If he could do this, if LiD could pull this off, then that would be it. A life of music and arts, no more home; no more Dad.
Just you wait, Dad. You're going to regret everything; just wait.
Bastard. This was Riku's one chance to prove his father wrong.
"Riku?"
The soft voice of Naminé filtered through his angry ramblings, and Riku paused for a moment. The congested traffic took away any worries of complications, so Riku fully turned his attention to Naminé. The blonde smiled gently, and continued, "Are… are you guys ready?"
Riku began to reply, "Well, al – "
"Dude! Of course we are!" Tidus just had to constantly be spoken to, didn't he? Riku openly rolled his eyes.
Naminé laughed, and turned to partially face the backseat. "So, everything's prepared, then? All I have to do is stand in the crowd and cheer you guys on to an amazing first-place-finish?"
"Hell yeah, that's why I brought you!"
And enter dimwad number two, Riku thought dryly, as Kairi continued, "I mean, we've been preparing like freaking forever, holy crap, so – "
"Weren't you supposed to be sleeping?" grumbled Riku. His pity for Sora hadn't extended that far, jeez. Kairi completely ignored the lead singer though, and would have continued to ramble if Sora hadn't cut in,
"Actually, we're not totally done – Riku, did you get a chance to finish those lyrics?"
Riku scowled slightly. This whole conversation was not going as planned, dammit. Carefully, Riku replied,
"Yeah, yeah… I'm working on it…"
"Riku! The submission deadline is only tomorrow night!" Sora exclaimed, flicking Riku on the back of his head. Shaking his head angrily, Riku replied,
"Hey! Look, okay, its been hard, okay? I just… I'll pull something together, don't worry, okay? I just need to clear my head."
Tidus snickered at this, and chastised, "Hellz yeah, you've been distracted, buddy. Anyone one of us coulda told you that… right, Nami?" Luckily, Naminé hadn't been paying particular attention, so she turned around airily and asked,
"Sorry, what?" Tidus grinned and opened his mouth, before Riku entered with,
"Those children are dead, Tidus. Did you hear me? Dead."
Tidus went silent; Naminé just kept on looking confused. Riku chortled to himself.
LiD
Holy crap.
They made it. They were actually, finally, here. And despite the fatigue cornering her eyes, Kairi was more than awake, had been more than awake to take the entire city in. It was glamorous; it was surreal.
The media capital of the friggin' world. Her eyes were still trying to adjust to the flashing lights.
"Man, I told you, you suck. You didn't get us to our hotel till the next day," Tidus moaned as he dragged both his bags and Naminé's, which he had insisted he carry (meaning he leapt out of the car and raced to the back before Naminé could get a word in)… not without throwing in an 'off-handed' comment to Riku about chivalry and 'learn something or two', or something of the likes.
Riku, in response, had… well, not responded. How typically Riku, Kairi thought wryly, as she watched him send Tidus a begrudging look.
Besides, Tidus was technically right… the clock in the hotel lobby read twelve-thirty a.m., a whole two hours after they'd entered the city. Granted, Sora in the back had talked Riku into taking a drive around the city ("Oh come on!" he had cried. "We finally made it here - let's make the best of it!"), even at this hour in the night, just so that they could take every ounce in. And even now, Sora practically bounded up to the hotel clerk, excitement clearly written on his face. Even the bored servicewoman at the desk smiled a bit at the boy's radiance.
Kairi smiled. That was her Sora, the spiky-brown-haired wonder.
The group gathered around a few of the chairs in the foyer as Riku (who had come in carrying not only his, but what also looked like some of the luggage Tidus had left
behind) and Sora worked out the details with the hotel. Naminé, instead of lingering around, busied herself studying the wall paintings.
"Oh my gosh, guys, I can't believe we're here," Kairi suddenly breathed, as her eyes took in the place. She was immediately in love with the hotel, this Sunset Terrace – beautifully named, if Kairi did say so herself. Everywhere she looked, beautiful lamps hung from the wall corridors; lush plants nestled in its corners. Kairi couldn't see the elevators from where she sat, but she could hear the occasional 'ping!' as the doors pulled open. This was definitely beyond awesome. Holding back a squeal, she cried, "So where do we start first, huh? I wanna see everything –"
"– and buy everything, too," Tidus added, as he peered over at her, stretching his arms up, and resting them behind his head. Kairi wrinkled her nose at him, before continuing,
"–And do everything, while we get the chance – I mean, it's all here! It's just so beautiful and gorgeous, and just so amazing, and ohmygosh, look at that!"
A massive crystal chandelier was hanging in the front hall, the light's rays scattered around the room as they reflected off. She fought off a maddening squeal, the rabid urge to embellish in her delight, but her heels were bouncing, and the light was dazzling off the crystals, and she could just picture the moonlight coming in, and –
"It's so pretty!" she suddenly burst, slightly wincing at the squeak in her voice.
"Ah! Stop that! You're hurting my ears!" the blond idiot mock-whined behind her. Kairi immediately clenched her fists, her ecstatic mood vanished in a poof of air.
"Oh, shut up, loser. Like you don't squeal when you spot pretty girls with your lecherous eyes." Tidus snorted, and raised a brow towards her, as he gave her the once-over.
"Can't say much for you then."
Her hand flew before she knew it, but Tidus had been expecting it all the same. Oddly though, it wasn't he who had caught her wrist, it was the tall, lean teenager standing beside her.
"Riku! Let go! I'm gonna kick his lousy, stupid, good-for-nothing ass, and when –"
The platinum-haired teen sighed. "Drop it, Kai. Just let him be an ass for now. We don't need to get into a wrestling match in the middle of the foyer."
"Oh-ho, yes we do!" she challenged. Her temper rose when Tidus broke out into laughter, victory sparkling in his eyes.
"You –!" But whatever she was going to say was cut-off as something strange caught her eye.
"Whoa…" She blinked. Could it really…?
No way. Kairi carefully stood on her tiptoes, and tried to peer over Tidus' shoulder. There… she could just…
"Tidus!" she suddenly hissed. The blond turned to look at her, his brow raised.
"Noooo way, not falling for the old, over-the-shoulder-while-I-beat-your-fac – "
It took all her willpower not to throttle the bastard, her fingers curling at her sides.
"No, stupid; just look – behind you." Tidus threw a glance over his shoulder.
A wicked grin suddenly split his face, as he turned back around, and Kairi didn't know if that was a good thing or not.
In the next moment, she knew.
"Yo, its that girl! The one with the manly name!" He laughed, and when his grin turned sly, her eye twitched. He added, "But damn, she's looking fine." He bit his lower lip then, and his blue eyes sparkled.
Oh no.
Maybe she should warn them? Let them know that a… a…vicious philanderer was headed their way, and they should arm themselves? Even a pencil would do the trick, really.
"Mmm… and it looks like she brought friends… sweet. Triple the trouble," Tidus said, his gaze fixated on the little group Kairi had spotted only moments ago.
True enough, there were three girls standing at the counter way over on the other end.
Oh. My. Goodness.
What a bunch of skanky, skimpy, no-self-respecting…
There was one, sleepy-looking, soft-faced girl with brown hair cropped close to her head. Another was an apathetic-looking blonde 'goth' (oxymoron, bitches, Kairi thought, rolling her eyes) girl, and finally, the other blonde with the numerous braids.
But it was what they were wearing that shocked Kairi. The brunette was wearing a close cut miniskirt in a velvety, mauve material. On top of that atrocity was a white "dress-shirt"; tied up in a Britney Daggers-esque style – leaving little to the imagination. The 'goth' was wearing tight black leather shorts, riding far enough up her ass to be freaking underwear. She was wearing cotton, steel-grey poncho overtop that fell off her shoulders and left her naval exposed – and from the looks of it, nothing underneath.
And eww, the last one… Rikku was her name, the one who'd caught her eye, and Kairi remembered from the Struggle match; she was the worst. Granted, she was the only one wearing a fully covering shirt – but the complete lack of pants sort of negated that decency. Her long pink spaghetti strap acted more as a dress, only just riding down her freaking hips; any pants or shorts of even skimpy miniskirts were skipped, and was wearing see-through pink pantyhose (ha, Kairi thought to her self, pantyhoes) that came midway up her thighs. All of this, with big, bright, sk8ter-gurl-sneakers. What. The. Eff.
Kairi moved her eyes back to the band drummer standing beside her, and, sure enough, he was eyeing the group of looks with his trademark predatory smirk.
Great. "Tidus…" she warned. "Leave them alone. They didn't do anything to you."
"Ah… but that doesn't mean I can't do… ah, anything to them," he said lightly, avoiding her hard stare.
"But –!"
"Oh come on, I won't scare them away" – a piercing glare – "really!" he emphasized. He began to make his way towards the group. "Just watch how it's – hey!"
Kairi looked up to see that Riku had grabbed Tidus' hood from his sweater as he walked by, and was now dragging the blond along with him.
"Come on, let's go. We got our room," he said, not looking back.
"But dude! I was just –"
"Whatever, save it for tomorrow, we got a bit of work to do."
"Work!? What –?"
A grin split across Kairi's face as they piled into the elevator. Turning around to face the foyer, she caught the small group of girls looking at them curiously, and Kairi exchanged a grin with Tidus.
Well, tried to anyways. When she looked over, she saw that their drummer was peering back at the group, his smirk gone.
Kairi blinked. Wha –?
She tried to look back, see what it was that Tidus was staring at, but whatever had happened, she didn't know; it was just then the elevator doors closed shut.
Huh. Okay, then.
LiD
"How about 'bought'?"
A groan, before,
"Tidus, that doesn't work – it still has to follow the water-coastline theme."
"Huh. Then how about…"
"'Not'? Or maybe even 'naught'?"
"Or 'caught'!"
"Yeah, I like that one… kinda like fish-net caught, right? Sorry, Sor, looks like I'm going with Kairi on this one."
There was a slight slump in the chestnut-haired teen's shoulder, but it was quickly recovered. "So what line, then?"
"The net I've caught," the lead guitarist answered immediately. His aqua eyes lit up as he considered the line, tapping each finger to his thumb as he counted out the syllables. "Yeah, that totally works." They all listened to the gentle scratching of pencil on paper.
"Hey, anyone want the rest of this… uh… whatever it is?" Tidus prompted, as he held up a plate. He was lying on the ground, in a small fortress of uneaten and half-touched food, plus several scrunched up napkins.
Goodness, Naminé thought warily, as she eyed the plate. They had all ordered an extremely late dinner via room service (apparently they were still up…), and since then, Tidus hadn't let go of the phone. For the first hour, to the point of almost abusing room service, he had called them up four times, delivering all sorts of non-sense food that he'd never heard in his life, just to "try new delicacies" as he put it.
The blond was still holding out the plate; a mess of spaghetti and dark brown and green things, with leaves littering the edges. There was a collective rolling-of-eyes (and a wrinkle of the nose from Kairi), before they all shook their heads 'no'.
"Hey – wait! I want some!"
Well, except for Sora.
Sora, like Tidus, was sprawled out, but over a single armchair. Without hesitation, he grabbed the plate from Tidus, shoved half the food in his mouth, before returning it back to the blond. Both Riku and Kairi groaned in disgust ("How do you two eat so much?" Kairi said, her nose wrinkling as she watched as both boys started a mini chugging contest with the leftover drinks); Naminé couldn't help but smile a little at the trivality of it all.
Naminé sat on a sofa of their little suite, watching – or rather listening – as a song was composed before her ears. It'd been two hours since they arrived, and the whole reason they'd all decided to stay up was so that the band could work to finish one of the last few sets of music. Riku had insisted that they all go to bed – after all, composing the lyrics was his job – but that was met with a plethora of objections. Even Naminé had inclined to stay up – hell, it would've been way awkward on her part if she hadn't. It was the least she could do, after all.
She was sitting on the edge of the sofa, which currently sat in open space, and thus making up their "living room". The room was, in fact, an entire suite, with two separate bedrooms, a kitchenette, and bathroom; each room placed in a corner. That left the open space that the band was currently occupying; the door in plain sight of them, and the door to the balcony directly behind them.
It was a beautiful suite, and Naminé couldn't help but notice with her artistic eye the patterns that inlayed the walls. The entire hotel room was bathed in mauves, periwinkles, and beige; light flowers were strung along the crevices adjoining the walls and the ceiling. Everything felt… soft and warm, and a part of her wondered if she'd feel the same way if the band wasn't with her.
Naminé curled her feet underneath her. Kairi was sitting on the other end of the couch, and Riku was on the floor, leaning back against it. The floor was a mess of scrapped lyrics and rejected ideas (as well as uneaten food); a small stereo was set up on the floor, so they could hear their pre-recorded instrumentals.
Naminé was impressed, to say the least. Kairi and Tidus did a magnificent job with the mixing – she had no idea Kairi could do that, and apparently Tidus had some equipment set up at home.
"Where'd you get that from?" Naminé had asked Tidus, when they were setting up on the floor.
"Oh, it's my brother's," Tidus explained, "He's older than me, by a couple of years, and he doesn't live at home anymore. He's a friggin' computer nerd – he loves working with technology, and he can play the piano really well, so he just brought the two together. Music software, ya know?"
"Oh, so where's he now?"
Tidus shrugged, his blond bangs shaking with the movement. "He's living with his girlfriend – I think they're in Zanarkand now."
Naminé nodded thoughtfully. An older brother… and he didn't live at home; they were apart. So that meant they didn't see each other very often either. A wave of empathy washed over her; she could feel the grounds of their small friendship growing a little bit firmer.
"Shit, no, that doesn't work." Naminé glanced up in time to see her sister abashed.
"But it rhymes!"
"Kai… it just… doesn't flow."
Naminé, having been abruptly tugged back to the present, saw Riku rub his head in exasperation, messing up his already disheveled hair.
"What's wrong?" she asked timidly. She didn't feel it was her place to step into their brainstorming session, but the wrought tension hanging in the air was more than apparent.
The blond drummer rubbed his eyes. "Man, we were, like, almost done, jeez." Kairi, who was now leaning against Sora, nodded her head.
"Riku was right… this song is hard. It…"
Naminé bit her lip, and shifted her gaze over. Sora was looking at the sheets of paper, whereas Riku, as she noted with softened eyes, was holding his head in his hands.
"Isn't there anything else you can do? Any other song?" Riku laughed humourlessly.
"Right – and when we are supposed to put that together?" He sighed. "Dammit, we only need to submit one more song… I thought this would be the one."
"It has to be the one!" Sora suddenly cried. "We've already spent like two and half hours together, and we've gotten pretty far with it – c'mon guys, we can do it! We'll finish it…"
Naminé admired his enthusiasm, but she saw that it barely had an effect on the rest of the group. She saw Kairi give his a hand a squeeze; but Riku and Tidus remained as they were.
The sun had long set; Naminé could see the waning light of the crescent moon reflected off their living room floor. The night sky was cloudy, dulling the usual lustrous shine of the stars. They'd left the door to the balcony slightly ajar, allowing small, but cool breezes to whisper through.
"So… what now?" Kairi asked, shifting slightly, as she looked over to their lead guitarist.
Riku pulled his head up, though it was still resting against his palms; they could at least see his eyes through the curtain of silver that hung across them.
He looked over, then, his gaze taking them all in, before finally letting a sigh escape past his lips. Naminé could feel her breath catch, and automatically her eyes softened… there must be something she could do…
"Let's… let's just call it a night, huh guys? My brain's exhausted," he finally replied, as his gaze returned to the floor. Kairi reached out then, while still holding Sora's hand, and braced her head against Riku's shoulder.
"Aw… don't feel bad, 'kay? It's okay to be tired – we all are." She pulled away, and smiled, still watching the silver-haired teenager. He nodded, a slight curve in his lips, but Naminé could see that the smile didn't quite reach his eyes. His eyes were darkened, almost brimmed red with fatigue, but his irises still shone with alertness.
"Riku… come on, let's get some sleep," Sora said, as he began to stand up. There was a slight pause, before –
"Yeah, all right, but I'll come in a few. I'm just gonna try and add some more or something…" There was a quick exchange of glances, even with Naminé. He was determined, she noted with slight wonder. He wanted to see this through.
Tidus apparently noticed this too. He eyed Riku warily, and huffed,
"Come on, man, bedtime."
"But –" He wasn't given the chance to argue; both Sora and Tidus grasped an arm on either side of him, and hauled him up. The blond drummer roughly pushed him towards the bedrooms; Riku scowled, but obeyed, if not grudgingly. Naminé figured the only reason he wasn't putting up much a fight was because he was too tired. It was a leverage for the boys, and she was sure that Riku wouldn't forgive them for being bullied. She watched them turn a small corner, before disappearing into their room.
It wasn't until Naminé noticed that Kairi was still standing in the middle of the room, watching her, when she realized that she herself still hadn't gotten up from the sofa.
"Naminé?" She blinked, and her azure eyes meeting her sister's. Kairi leaned over, and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Aren't you coming?"
"Yeah, just give me a minute." Kairi eyed her carefully for a small moment, before shrugging and heading into their own room.
Naminé sighed, and glanced at the floor. It was still a mess, and there was no point in cleaning it up since they'd need all the rough work. She stood up, stretching out her legs, casting a single glance over her shoulder to the darkened sky. If only… but what, she didn't know, and as unanswered questions coursed through her mind, she made her way to her room.
It wasn't until she passed it that she noticed it; the boys' room door was left ajar, but that wasn't what had caught her eye. It was the lithe form of a teenager leaning against the wall by a window that she noticed, and by the moonlight mirroring off his hair, she knew who it was.
Her eyes softened when she saw that he had his hands loosely shoved into the pockets of his sleeper pants, his gaze lost in the night sky, called by the moon, and shadowed by the grey clouds simmering by.
Naminé bit her lip, and rubbed her arm awkwardly; after a moment, sparing one last glance, she quietly made her way past the door, leaving only a breath in her wake.
He felt bad, that much Naminé was sure of, after taking in the quiet of his eyes as she had studied him in the solemn silence of the room. The deadline was midnight, tomorrow – they could still make it. And Naminé would be there for them, for her new-found friends, helping to see through it all.
LiD
The wind was spinning by lightly, tousling Axel's flaming hair. Damn, it was a good day out today – the sun was shining despite the crisp morning air, the skies were blue… man, it was like some goddamn cliché. Freaking awesome. Hands buried in the confines of his leather trench coat, Axel tried to keep his eyes focused up ahead.
There was no way he was turning to look at him, again… it would no doubt ruin his mood. Well, Axel assumed it would, anyways – he hadn't actually really spoke to the blond at all since he'd come back from his date with the Olette-bitch (and she thought he was a bad influence on Roxas, honestly…), the jerk. Roxas had left Whiplash for a whole five hours and thirty-six minutes… not that Axel was counting, or anything.
Then again, it was Axel who had declared he was going to bed early, with all the drama and finesse fit for a friggin' girl. Not that there was anything wrong with drama, or finesse, for that matter… but hey, Axel was still totally a manly-man. Ignoring the whole Roxas-obsession, of course.
"Sh-shit!" Roxas spat from beside, and Axel had just managed to turn around and grab the blond from tripping face-first into the dew-stained grass. Rolling his eyes, Axel willed himself to look away, before the jerk could mesmerize Axel with his fiercely glinting, ocean-blue eyes that just met him head on and…
"Uh… Axel?"
Damn.
Just don't look him in the eye, just don't look, just –
"Yo, Axel?!"
Axel felt the blond grab his shoulder from behind, spinning him around slightly. Axel attempted his best to glare (right past Roxas' head, though, because the expression on his face was absolutely adorable right now…) "Are… you like… you pissed, or something?" Roxas was struggling for the words of concern; that much was obvious. The blond dropped his gaze, staring at his sneakers instead. Wearing his typical dark sweatshirt with the hood flipped up, Axel could only just make out his friend's blue eyes from underneath the fluttering blond bangs.
But dammit, he'd seen enough. Letting out a sigh, Axel said carefully,
"Dude, why the hell would I be mad?" Willing a smirk to his face, Axel hunched over a bit, so that he could peer up into Roxas' face. Peer rather closely, as in, their noses were only a few inches apart, they could hear the other one breathing like a heartbeat…
Roxas started, backing away quickly, though he managed to compose himself quickly enough to ask,
"We-well, yo-you… you were just acting kinda weird when, like, I came home-hotel! Came back to the hotel. Yeah – pretty, like, just… I dunno. Just wondering… you know?"
Holy shit – the kid was capable of seeing past his movie screens and theatrical stages. This, in spite of everything else, really did make Axel grin. Straightening, Axel replied,
"Naw, man – I had said I was tired, remember? Jeez, what do you think I am, some kinda girl?" Axel bit back a laugh at the wide-eyed expression on Roxas' face. The blond opened his mouth to speak, but Axel cut him off by turning around and waving his hand vaguely for Roxas to follow. "Look, man, if I was mad at you, I'd tell you. Straight up and front – I don't play games, buddy."
Even though he wasn't facing his friend, Axel could guess that the blond was wearing the most incredulous expression. Roxas said nothing, however, and continued to walk behind him in silence. Eventually, light conversation found its way between the boys, and Axel somehow managed to force the twisting-knot-that-could-come-puking-up-any-minute down his throat and ask,
"Soooo… I was thinking we could hang out today, you know? Check out some sights and stuff… " Relax, dumbass, Axel hissed internally, willing the cocky aura to wrap around him. Dammit, usually it was so easy… he'd just chat it up with Roxas, throw in a couple hot lines here and there, and things were good. But now, it was like…
"… great. But I think – Axel, yo, are you even listening to me?" Roxas stopped walking – somehow the boy had gotten ahead of Axel, and had turned around to watch him. "Axel?"
"Eh?" Axel responded, shaking his head slightly. The force of it definitely brought him back to the conversation at hand, instead of the ridiculous anxiety that had briefly plagued him. Roxas rolled his eyes, then grabbed Axel's arm and began dragging him.
"I was saying," Roxas huffed, not even waiting for another word from the redhead, "that sure, the four of us can hang out or whatever today. Well, that is, if Xiggy's even there… yeah, but anyways, I was saying (Axel almost rolled his eyes) that we'd better hurry up and get to the square, 'cause there are some new announcements and – shit! Axel! Shit!"
Axel looked up sharply to see what exactly was worthy of such high praise. Eyes swiftly moving, he realized that Roxas had dragged the two of them to the city square. And looking up on the platform, standing right by the podium, in front of the microphone…
… holy mother-friggin' shit. The woman couldn't just leave, could she?
The said young woman flipped her blond hair back, and brushed off invisible dust from her sharp dress-shirt. Leaning back into the microphone, Larxene said to the crowd (Axel noticed Roxas duck farther into his hood),
"… and I must say, this is truly a charming experience – in our school's honour, I wish all the best to all our competitors, and I'm sure all of you could make Hollow Bastion Records proud. You've come far – don't stop now. It will take hard work, diligence, and a keen ear for music to impress our panel of judges. Speaking of such, I would like to introduce you all to…"
Axel groaned – the girl was just shoveling out the dry bullshit. Roxas' step-sister drabbled on, introducing each of the judges personally: their name, their company, their expertise… ugh. What Axel wanted to know was why – why the hell was she here? He'd seen her yesterday… but this was worse, actually having to hear her spit out shit. And in her school uniform, at that? Dammit! Axel was never gonna be able to have any school-girl fantasies now, seeing Larxene's stupid bitch-face with one.
It was a pity that Axel was too busy glaring and hating the blonde to notice her condescending eyes sweeping the crowd – locking right on Axel's shock of red hair. Axel almost flinched.
"… I think a round of applause is in order, for all of these highly-qualified people for coming down with us today." The crowd seemed to agree, whooping. Axel was willing to bet it was more pent up energy, than actually excitement. She continued to drone on, before introducing the next speaker, some fellow student or something…
"Axel," Roxas hissed, tugging at his friend's arm. Axel turned quickly, fighting the urge to place his hand comfortingly over Roxas'. When Roxas saw Axel raise an eyebrow, he added softly, "Let's get outta here, huh?" Roxas glanced over at the stage, and Axel followed his gaze briefly – someone else was up there speaking now, but the important thing was that Larxene wasn't even on stage anymore.
Sympathetic to the note of urgency in Roxas' voice, Axel allowed himself, once again, to be dragged away.
This wasn't going well at all. This whole trip, this whole chance to be away from D'Arc… and now this? Axel cast a sidelong glance to his blond friend, now that the two were walking more easily since they were out of sight of the stage. Axel frowned – dammit, what was he supposed to say now? What was he supposed do to put the kid at total ease… stupid, bitchy, ugh… Larxene was definitely something he could do without.
And just while Axel was still roaming his mind for some sort of instigation, words of comfort, Roxas stopped and turned to the redhead.
"Hey, Axel?"
Axel blinked, having not expected it. Raising an eyebrow after a quick recovery though, Axel replied, "Yeah?"
"I… look, I just… back there, with, you know, her… I think…"
"Well, isn't this a surprise."
Whipping his head around, Axel glared heatedly. He knew that voice, dammit. It had to be –
"What do you want, Larxene?" he heard Roxas sneer, though the tiniest quiver could be heard. Subconsciously, Axel moved to stand closer to the blond (though Axel was feeling the mad urge to put himself in front of his friend – though he highly doubted Roxas would appreciate that). His fist clenching tightly at his side, Axel breathed in. He wouldn't say anything, not yet. This could just pass and go and just be gone, if they let it.
Larxene's brilliant green eyes narrowed under pencil-thin eyebrows; she continued, with a manicured finger to her lips, ignoring the boys' reactions, "I have a proposal of interest for you." Axel didn't like the way she did that, fluffed up her dry bullshit and wore that grim, smug expression. And all the while, trying to act completely innocent, completely flawless, completely… ugh; damn, how Axel hated her.
"What the hell do you have that I could possibly give a damn about?" Roxas snapped back, though he shuffled a few steps backwards all the same. Axel fought the insane urge to reach over and drape an arm over Roxas' shoulders; he doubted that that would make a good impression on Roxas' step-sister.
Not that there was much to ruin, to begin with.
The young woman took a step closer to them, and after placing her hands on her hips, she looked ready to sneer down at them again. Axel's mind was still racing – why? What would Larxene and her high-class, socialite demeanor want from a band competition?
Larxene briefly glanced over her shoulder, though as to what, Axel wasn't sure. Narrowing his eyes, he demanded, "Look, if you've got something to say, then say it now. You're wasting our time, got it?" Axel kept the glare steady on his face, even when it was matched by an equally sparked one from Larxene.
Tossing blonde tresses over her shoulder, Larxene bit down on her delicately painted lip, making quite the show of hesitation. Resting one hand on her hip, Larxene casually swept a glance around her, seemingly having lost interest. Dammit, if the woman took up one more friggin' second of his time, Axel was gonna… finally, Larxene replied, "Well, if you must know…"
She frowned, eye sparkling and for a moment, she looked… unsure. Axel felt a moment of triumph – he'd have turned around to see what Roxas' expression was, if it wouldn't have ruined the moment.
Larxene recovered quickly, however, and continued, "… come back stage with me. I'll explain everything there, hmm?" Without waiting for a response – or rather, already
knowing the response – the girl turned and walked away from them, back towards the stage. Yeah, right, like… a brushing against his arm made Axel look up, and he saw Roxas following his older-step-sister, hood up and hands in his sweater's pockets.
Axel saw the slight bow to Roxas' head, the way the blond kept his eyes more to the ground than to what was going on around him… Axel cursed as he picked up his pace to follow as well.
This had better be good.
LiD
Touched by the sun, the sky was a vivid blue.
Naminé stood outside, awaiting for her companions, as she took in the morning air. It was warm, and she could sense the awakening humidity that would rise and fill the air. She'd decided on a light skirt, shades of red and pink shimmering through the fabric, with a white blouse completing her apparel. She had a feeling, though, that she might not last long in it.
They were running a little late, as they had all expected to be, and Naminé was a little relieved to see her friends looking okay, after a short night's sleep. In their morning haste, it had not helped matters when Tidus had (again) dawdled over the phone. It was fortunate that a peeved-Riku was able to stop the orders in time, and directed everyone to eat in the café on the ground floor instead (which then, of course, led to Tidus redirecting his charm towards the unsuspecting waitresses).
Speaking of which…
"Morning sunshine," a voice cooed, as Naminé felt an arm wrap around her shoulders. "Thinking about me?"
"Probably, and how to castrate you, at that."
Naminé shifted her glance over, and saw her redheaded sister cross her arms as she walked up beside them.
"No way," Tidus put in, and then rested his head against her shoulder. "Naminé loves me too much for that, right darling?"
Naminé could only smile, and Tidus winked, after sticking his tongue out at the fiery redhead. Said redhead only huffed in return, emphatically rolling her eyes. Another cry followed soon after,
"Hey guysh, we gosht'em!"
They all turned to see Sora running towards them, waving some pamphlets and papers in his hand. Riku, as he was walking, was still behind, and only shook his head at the teen's energy.
"Come again?" Kairi asked, eyes squinted in perplexion. Tidus had quirked a brow, and even Naminé was confused – what did Sora say?
"I said, 'Heysh guys, we'sh got… er… hey guys… guysh…" Sora trailed off into a mumble, and proceeded to scratch his head. "Uh, I can't remember how I said it – damn."
Kairi's eyes only squinted further, placing a hand on her hip, and she threw back a glance at Naminé and Tidus. "Remember what? How to talk in gibberish?"
"I wasn't talking gibberish! It was Hyperpello-talk!"
"Hypello, you mean," Riku corrected, now that he'd caught up with the rest of the group standing between Sora and Tidus. Naminé caught the quizzical look he sent Tidus' way, when he saw that he had his arm still draped over her shoulder. Tidus only waggled his eyebrows in response.
Naminé blushed. Count on Tidus to make an awkward situation even worse. Timidly, she shifted so Tidus had to drop his arm (well, she almost turned completely; his arm was putting up that much of a fight).
"Yeah, whatever! Hypello – it's so cool! It's like a whole 'nother language, or something, it's –"
A sigh, before Riku cut in, "An accent. Nothing else, Sor." Riku turned to face the rest of the group. "Dumbass here wouldn't stop talking Hypello! Keeps adding a 'sh' in like every word!"
"Dosh – uh, do not!" Sora cried defensively.
"Ha.."
"Nuh –" But Kairi had quickly clapped a hand over his mouth, silencing him with a glare. Riku's irritation was not lost on Naminé – there was a lot more on his mind, she knew.
"When did you talk to a Hypello, Sora?" Naminé suddenly turned to ask, and Kairi slowly pulled her hand away. She watched as Sora's eyes brightened with the morning sun, and replied,
"When I was getting directions; see, he was like, 'Gosh shouth, pasht ta-the garden shop, and then turn shleft.' Noshing to it! Uh, I mean, nothing to it!" Sora held out the piece of paper on which a roughly sketched out a map of the area was drawn. Warily, Kairi took it from his hand, and studied it with a curious Tidus peeking over her shoulder. Naminé, too, leaned over, blinking at what she saw.
"So, where exactly are we going?" Kairi asked, her eyes never leaving the paper. Huh – Naminé had expected a map, but not one as drawn as poorly as this one. There were several intersecting lines, and arrows drawn all over the page – for what reason, it was
beyond Naminé. She could only guess that they were headed towards the big 'X' circled off to the left side of the page.
"Downtown!" Sora exclaimed. "All the opening ceremonies stuff is going on there –"
" –And it's already started." Riku pointed out. He turned around, and threw over his shoulder, "We really should get going. We need to register, and apparently there's a speech going on, too." With that, he began walking down the sidewalk.
"What?" Tidus whined, and stretched his arms behind his head, as he followed their lead guitarist. The rest of the group, too, began to follow, immersing themselves in the diffused crowd of pedestrians. "I think we'll be okay if we miss an introductory speech… pfft."
Kairi flicked him in the back of his head. "Well, what if it's something important, huh?" she asked.
Tidus snorted. "Nothing we can't hear from someone else –"
"You know, because we've befriended so many people in this city already," Kairi huffed. "Don't be a dick. This isn't a classroom where we can just borrow notes off each other, you know. We're in a competition."
"Yeah, but not everyone can be that cruel," Sora suddenly pointed out. "I mean, we'll all have a fair advantage to win this, right? Why wouldn't anyone share info?"
Naminé didn't miss the slight frown carved onto his best friend's lips, as she watched him and Kairi exchange quick glances. Naminé understood in a heartbeat.
"Whatever," Kairi said, and then moved to intertwine her fingers with Sora's. "Let's just get going."
The group weaved their way down the street, Kairi and Tidus bickering about nonsense, and Sora constantly pointing out things he'd seen in a brochure. As they passed the lined shops, Naminé couldn't help her eyes from wandering all around her. Bright, neon signs, even in daylight, cast their nets, catching several patronage from all over streets, no matter the distance. There were even students milling about, complete in their blue-and-grey uniforms. How odd. Isn't school over? she thought vaguely. Or perhaps it was different here?
Well, the differences didn't stop there, as Naminé couldn't help but notice all the different races apparent through-out the streets. Sure, her Academy was home to a few of them, but they weren't very common around the area. However, here, the place seemed to bloom with every colour, size, and form of races, and Naminé's chest swelled with the very fact that she was even here.
Naminé had to smile – at least she found some new subjects for her portraits.
"I think we were supposed to take a left one street ago…" Kairi suddenly pointed out. They all looked up and around. It was a moment before Riku's voice spoke up.
"We're pretty close, though, right? I mean, damn, there sure are a lot of people here." True enough, the crowds had grown denser. Stores and shops clustered the streetwalks, and traffic was slower due to the heavy flow of pedestrians – many with cellphones clipped to their ear, and several shopping bags in one hand. It amazed Naminé at the way people barely glanced at the traffic as they carelessly crossed the street; most of them so caught up with idle chatter amongst their friends, phones or not.
High-rise buildings towered over them, and one in particular carried the banner: Welcome to… BATTLE OF THE BANDS – CLINCHER - Step up your game. Hm, yeah – they were close all right.
"Come on! This way!" Naminé looked over to see that Sora had back-tracked, and was waving them over. A blue-green creature-like person stood next to him, nodding its head briefly, before going back to tending the little garden of his shop. A Hypello.
"The garden shop," Tidus voiced, and Riku nodded. Wow – it wasn't a surprise they had missed it. It was a small shop, enveloped in several flowers and bushes, that the entrance was barely visible. The store sign read 'Garden Gates'.
"Yesh, yesh, jusht go shroo here, mishter-er, and yoush should shee it," said the small Hypello, as Naminé strained to hear the conversation. When it turned around to look at the approaching group, Naminé smiled.
"Hello, nice to meet you!" she said, and the rest of LiD followed after. Sora grinned, and waved his hands.
"Yeah, thish ish my band! Cool, huh?" Riku shook his head.
"Well?" Both the Hypello and Sora turned and pointed down the street.
"Thish way!" they cried. Naminé cringed. There was a slight growl, before Riku grabbed the back of Sora's shirt and pulled him closer to the group.
"Stop playing around – we gotta be somewhere!" Sora actually threw him an irritable look, throwing in a "wet blanket" remark to the older teen. Riku only rolled his eyes in response.
Naminé caught Kairi's eye, and she saw the redhead smile and shake her head. Glancing away in her own smile, Naminé's eyes trailed off to their surroundings, to the endless shops that Kairi was dying to explore; to the vast locations that Naminé had yet to visit; taking snapshots of the new scenery and framing them to memory – when a wave suddenly caught her attention.
It was brief, and Naminé wouldn't have noticed, if she hadn't been looking in the direction. There was a tuft of dark hair, a vivid smile in which Naminé suffered a brief déja vu, and it was gone. Naminé blinked.
Was that even real, or had she imagined it? She looked again, but among all the wanderers crowding the street, there was no chance she'd spot it again – if, of course, it had been there in the first place.
"…all right! Let's go guys! Nami, you ready?"
"Huh?" When Naminé came to, she saw that her sister was peering at her.
"You okay? Where'd you fly off to?" she laughed, but from Kairi's eyes, Naminé saw her older sister looking at her.
"Oh, um, it was nothing," she lied – well, kind of. What if it really was nothing? Naminé smiled, and picked up, "Let's go."
Sora jumped, and cheered, and within that same instant, Tidus was ready. "Race ya! Last one there –"
"– Has to wear Kairi's bra!"
A shriek, and a chain of curses, before, "Tidus, you friggin' stupid dumbass! GET BACK HERE!" There was a yelp of laughter, and the blond drummer took off running at lightning speed, a furious Kairi hot on his tail, as Sora kept up with the chase.
With a rolling of his eyes, Riku muttered, "Idiots. Feels like I'm babysitting them more than anything, for crap's sake. They're such a bunch of kids."
Naminé, amidst holding back her laughter, smiled. "Yeah, but it makes things that much more fun, right?" Well, that's how she felt anyways. Biting her lip, she briefly wondered what it would've like to travel with a serious group – but then, a serious group wouldn't have made it as a band, she realized.
Riku only shrugged in response; his countenance as apathetic as ever, with his hands shoved into his pockets, but she caught the brief twitch-of-a-smile he'd thrown her way. Ignoring the race, they chose to walk.
Banners and coloured flags were everywhere. A huge crowd had assembled on the grounds of the center square, and Naminé could barely see what was going on. She found the trio of troublemakers beside her; Kairi was avidly trying to choke the life out of the blond, but Sora was trying to retrain her, all the while laughing. Tidus wasn't helping matters by provoking the fiery redhead.
"What's wrong? Too short? Can't reach? Well –"
"Ti – going to rip your little – , and shove it –"
But what it was that Kairi was going to do, Naminé never heard. Another voice had intervened altogether, ringing through the air as it blasted through the speakers.
"… I think a round of applause is in order, for all of these highly-qualified people for coming down with us today." The crowd suddenly cheered and clapped, and Naminé stood on her tiptoes to see what it was they were applauding. Several men and women stood on stage, lightly bowing to the audience before them. "Thank you," continued the speaker, an all-too-familiar voice, Naminé realized. The people on stage inclined their heads in acknowledgement, as they walked off stage. But it wasn't the small group of officials that Naminé had her stare fixated.
It was on the pert blonde standing off to the left by a podium, in front of a massive stage background, clapping softly, picture-perfect smile on her face.
It couldn't be.
Oh, but it was – the bright, blonde hair that fell just below her ears, and grazed her neck. Her smug smile, and her eyes always laughing, as if sharing a private joke. And the way she tilted her head, jutting out her chin, forever looking down on others.
Larxene.
Or rather, President of the Bitch Club, as Naminé recalled the title her friends had endowed her.
Naminé could feel her breath rattling in her lungs – but for what? Maybe this was nothing – a fluke, really. An entire coincidence…
… that wouldn't really explain what Naminé had seen earlier. It couldn't be… a coincidence, could it?
"Now, I would like to introduce my partner, also a Master of Ceremonies for this riveting event, a promising candidate for this year's elections at Radiant Garden –"
Shit.
"– and an active member of the musical community. A fellow representative, well-honoured, and well-deserved; please welcome –"
Naminé forgot how to breathe. This wasn't happening – it just wasn't. This wasn't what her summer was supposed to be about! She was sure – positive – that she'd left it all behind a month ago; hell, more than a month ago.
What was going on here? What was Radiant Garden doing here? Or rather, what were they doing here, of all places? Wasn't she told anything?
Kairi. Naminé whipped around, determined to catch Kairi's eye, but she was already looking back. And when she saw her eyes, she knew that her sister knew, too.
"Naminé?"
She jumped when she heard her name, and she knew her fright wasn't lost on the person holding her shoulder. When she flicked her eyes back, she saw that Riku had been startled.
"What –?" But Naminé looked away; only to see that Larxene, full in her Radiant Garden attire – a navy blue blazer, with a matching tie, and a grey skirt – had stepped aside. Even from here, Naminé could see her electric green eyes radiating with conceit – as always.
And as always, it never rivaled the solid blue of her partner-in-crime, now taking the place at the microphone.
Naminé closed her eyes. The hand on her shoulder had never left.
"Nami…?" a voice barely whispered by her ear. The world was quiet.
The only thing she could see now was the stage's background. A gigantic portrait; it's subject forever imprinted in her mind, and still tugged at her heart whenever her thoughts lingered.
She opened her eyes, glance fixated back at the podium, back at who was standing before her, and in that instant, their eyes locked.
And he smiled.
Something flashed in Naminé's eyes, before she felt a pulse run behind them. The humidity was thick in the air, but that wasn't what causing the sweat gathering at the base of her neck.
This was not good. Not at all.
A/N: Well, another long chapter… but I blame Naminé and her descriptions for that. ; ) Again, I hope this chapter was okay – and the only way I'll know is if you review :-P