Breaking up is hard to do
Chapter 2: Finale
The next day saw Klavier back at work, reading through files, answering phone calls, occasionally strumming a guitar while leaning back in his seat in his office, as though nothing had happened. He went about his work as usual, questioned some witnesses, examined a crime scene, dodged a few Snackoos as per the courtesy of Detective Ema Skye, all while having that grin on his face, even as she admonished him for being a 'glimmerous fop'. Even as he informed her that 'glimmerous' was technically not a word, he had to deal with more Snackoos flung his way, and he acceded to her request to leave the crime scene in her hands.
He thought he could keep up this charade.
Unfortunately, Klavier forgot something, or rather someone. It had very conveniently slipped his mind and it was only when there was a knock on his office door and a bespectacled man with a lab coat entered that he remembered. "Ah, Herr Forte." He greeted. "The forensic report, ja?"
"Yes." The man, 'Herr Forte' said. "When did you become so formal, Klavier?" The red head gave him a suspicious glance, as if analyzing him from head to toe, making sure that he was indeed Klavier Gavin, the prosecutor, the leader of the Gavinners.
He shrugged and took the file from Odin Forte, the drummer of the Gavinners. He chose to open the file and read through it instead of answering the question, and when he was finished, he raised an eyebrow to see Odin still standing there, arms crossed. "Don't you have work to do, Odin?"
"Klavier," Odin began, "are you really okay?"
"Ja." He replied. "Why do you ask?"
"You know why I ask." The drummer said, giving him a disapproving glance. "Stop pretending that you're fine. You pretty much lost your cool yesterday during the trial remember?"
"It was a momentarily lapse." Klavier only shook his head and turned to put the file on his desk. "I was just...shocked that Herr Wright had been wrongfully accused of tampering with the evidence."
"And that the person who did that was your brother." Odin interjected.
"And me." Klavier added.
"It wasn't your fault." The other man admonished him. "It wasn't, and it isn't. What happened to Kristoph and Daryan wasn't your fault."
"I never said so."
"Do you really expect me to believe that you didn't think so? One's your band member and good friend, and the other is your older brother. Look, I admit, I've," He paused and glanced away, turning to focus his attention on the wall of guitars instead, "asked myself if it was my fault that Daryan got into this mess. He's my friend, my bandmate too." He then turned back, glasses glinting in the light. "You can't just pretend it doesn't affect you."
"What can I do then?" Klavier asked, expelling a sigh as he glanced down at the floor. "Do you want me to mope around all day long?"
"I have a better idea." Odin said. "Let's start band practice again." At this, Klavier's head jerked up. They had put band practice on hold ever since Daryan had gotten into jail. Ever since the Gavinners had lost their second guitarist. The others had suggested finding another to replace him, but it just didn't feel right. He had spent seven years, seven years with Daryan as the second guitarist of the Gavinners. All of them had. It was a blow to them all, and getting together for practice only reminded them of the painful fact.
"Nein." Klavier said and it came out more sharply than he had intended it to be. "We're all busy with our work."
"That never stopped us before." The drummer of the Gavinners said. "Do you really want the Gavinners to die? Let seven years of hard work go away? Disappoint all the fans?"
"Fine." Klavier conceded. "But we don't have a second guitarist."
"Then let's just do a band meeting." Odin said. "We need to talk about this. All of us need to." With a nod in Klavier's direction, he turned and left, closing the door behind him, and Klavier was once again left alone in his office, left alone to ponder. Perhaps Odin was right; they all needed to reconvene again. They had met after Daryan's confession, it was true, but only due to the connections of their jobs, but it was usually only meeting one member of the band at the time. Even their manager had simply given them some time to get over Daryan's absence; it was almost as if they were treating him as if he was already dead. Klavier only smiled dully at this thought and turned back to pore through case files.
When he met Odin again, it was at the band meeting, arranged to be at Klavier's place. It really was a usual setting for them all to hang out together; they took turns going to each other's houses, laughing, talking, playing Guitar Hero and mainly just having fun. Today however, the mood was much more sombre, though they each tried to crack a smile; something just seemed to be wrong.
"So." The bassist began. "We're just gonna...get back on track again?"
His question was greeted with silence and a few twiddling of thumbs before Klavier spoke up. "I think... I've come to a decision of what we're going to do with the Gavinners." Three pairs of expectant eyes alighted upon him and he only smiled grimly. "We'll just break up to focus on our careers."
"Whaaaaatttt?" The keyboard player spluttered. "Not cool, man! Not cool! This is our career too!"
"We can't continue without Daryan." Klavier said this as calmly as possible, quelling the disappointment rising in him as he said that name. "The fans wouldn't accept a new member. And our jobs as law enforcers are more important, ja?"
"I can understand your decision, Klavier." Odin said, though he looked somewhat disturbed by this. "But you need the approval of all of us before you break up the band. The three of us aren't much of an issue..."
"Hey!" The keyboard player interjected but fell silent after he was glared at by both Odin and the bassist, and immediately slumped down in his seat, muttering. "Whatever, man, whatever."
"But you have to ask all of us." Odin pointed out. "And I mean all of us. That includes Daryan."
"Daryan shouldn't count." Klavier replied.
"He never officially quit the band." Odin said. "We're going to have to pay him a visit, Klavier. None of us have, and it's time to."
The blond man took in a deep breath, and for a split second, an agonized look crossed his face. He thought he wouldn't have to face Daryan again, face the man who had betrayed them, face the man who had actually killed, the friend that had been too proud to ask them for financial help when he needed it. He had avoided it; the trial for Daryan had been passed onto another prosecutor. He didn't want to do it, he didn't want to talk with Daryan with a wall of glass separating them and a security guard in the room, reminding them both of what Daryan had done. The extreme lengths Daryan had gone to in an attempt to protect himself. Klavier felt that it was himself that was responsible because it had been his guitar that served as the carrying case for the cocoon. It was because of the strings he could pull that Daryan actually got the cocoon out of Borginia safely. It was because of him that everything on the fateful day of the concert happened. He felt responsible for this mess, and he didn't want to see Daryan behind bars.
But he would have to. They would all have to.
Klavier closed his eyes and nodded.
Just so you guys know, the title of this chapter doesn't mean the end. I just thought it would be appropriate for the 'breaking up of the band'. There are still quite a few more chapters to come, though I'm unsure of how many more I want to do; there are a few ideas I have that could extend the story, but at the same time, I might not use them. Thank you for those who favorited and reviewed, and please continue to do so! I'm attempting to update this story on a regular basis, perhaps once a week? It could be more frequent now that my exams are all over....or not. Time will tell.
I never really got to flesh out a character for the bassist and keyboard player properly; their personalities are there, but I'll probably work on the names and jobs in later chapters, most likely in the next. If you have any ideas for names, please include it in your review! Names to do with music are preferred; like the one I did for the drummer, Odin Forte. His name does come from that Norse god, but he wasn't named after him; he was named because I decided to add an O in front of "din" to make it sound nicer. It's ironic because Odin's name generally means loud, but he's a rather mellow kind of guy. As for the other two; the bassist is basically the stoic, quiet type and the keyboard player is the loud, rather flirtatious, fun-loving guy which usually speaks without thinking. If any of you have ideas for their professions as well, do go ahead! (Or I might just make them detectives. If it's not clear enough, Odin's a forensic detective. )
-Melodine