Chances In Life Chapter 7: The Show, a kingdom hearts fanfic

Chances in Life

XO'MagickMoon'OX

.Chapter VII. The Show

A/N: -dodges the rotten fruit being thrown at her by angry readers- So sorry it's taken me so long to update! I hit a road-block, which Novelist helped me overcome. Thanks so much for beta-ing and giving me your opinions. :D -glomps ch00 and gives ch00 a big cookie-

For -insert amusing name here-, yes, the blonde girl (not Nicole nor Nancy) was Naminé. And for getting it right, you also get a cookie:D -hand ch00 cookie- And yes, I think we should phone the dictionary-people (who may or may not exist...) and tell them to recognize "molestable" as a word. I like that word, too. Hehehe. XD And as for the whole "tragic hero" thing, I did get that from my English class. We were studying terms and stuff before we read Julius Caesar. That was a good play. :) And though your guess on the foreshadowing was, of course, completely wrong, it was still freakin' hilarious. XD And thanks so much for the awesome review! It's very much appreciated. Long reviews make me vewy happy. :D

Sora KokiriLink: You're from Chile:D I feel internationally loved. I'm glad you like my stories. Very glad. Thanks for the review! -joins you in cheering for yaoi-

AbnormallyWeirdPerson: Sorry for the long review? Oh, hehe, I totally don't mind long reviews! In fact, I feed on them. Anyway, yes, Riku does go to school, but only in the morning. Seniors... can have early-outs when they only have to go to classes in the morning or afternoon, 'cause they have enough credits that they don't need to take classes all day. I think. I don't know all the details, 'cause I'm a freshman, but I'm pretty sure that's how it works. And thanks for the review, of course!

Oh, also, if you want to listen to Alkaline Trio, I could send you some of their stuff. :D

black-n-white-stockings: Yes, the girl was Naminé. -gives ch00 cookie- Thanks for the review!

BeuitifulDisgrace246: 8D I loved your review. It made me feel so loved. -glomps ch00 to death- Needless to say, THANK YOU. And yes, the girl was Naminé. -gives ch00 cookie-

Hikari: Yup, the girl was Naminé. -gives ch00 cookie, too- Thanks for the review!... No graphic-ness? Hmhmhm... that might come later. Sorry if ya dun like it... I'll warn people before it starts to get "graphic".

0xoox0friendless0xoox0: Yup, the girl was Naminé. -gives ch00 cookie, as well- Thanks for the review!

Okay, PLEASE READ: this chapter contains...lots'a lyrics. Lots'a song lyrics. Which means I have to put in here lots'a disclaimers.

I do not own:

Mercy Me by Alkaline Trio.

The World by The Starting Line.

Cut! Print It by The Starting Line.

This is the Countdown by Mae.

Dethbed by Alkaline Trio.

All right, I think that's it. Um, so yes, I'm sorry if anyone's annoyed with all of the song lyrics... but I feel they're sorta key to the story. This was, in fact, the road-block that was keeping me from updating, deciding whether or not I should keep all the lyrics. Again, thanks, Novelist! Anyway, hope ya enjoy!

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/Riku's POV/

We sat in the music room while we waited for our turn to go on. I plucked at my bass and began playing Dethbed, trying to occupy my fidgeting body.

We'd been preparing Dethbed at every practice since I wrote it. I hadn't exactly told them why I wanted to play it so badly (though Tidus found out; oh, he has his ways, and he'll be holding it over my head for some time, I'm sure), even while we'd just written it and it still wasn't totally perfect. But, we were doing it anyway, along with a few of our older songs, like Mercy Me, The World, Cut! Print It, and This Is The Countdown. We'd been playing at "Battle of the Bands"—an annual fundraiser held by the high school—for nearly five years, so we were pretty renowned among the student body. We also played at talent shows, parties, anywhere where we could make ourselves known. We'd be famous some day, we were sure of it.

Mrs. Nakamura—one of the fundraiser's supervisors—came in, then, and told us that we were on next. My stomach lurched, but not from nervousness. Pft, like I was one for stage fright. No, I was excited about seeing Sora again and unveiling the song I'd written for him. Or, I suppose it hadn't really been written for him, more like because of him, but whatever.

I adjusted my strap and followed the others as we filed out of the music room, going down the hall towards the auditorium. We disappeared through the door that led to the backstage and began getting ready with our cables. The amps, drum set, and keyboard were already on the stage. The other band that was playing struck their final chords and the audience cheered before the band walked off, the singer waving an animated farewell before slipping behind the curtain.

Mrs. Nakamura stepped onto the stage, adjusting her glasses, and announced into the microphone, "And now—the band I'm sure you've all been waiting for—"

Already the crowd began to cheer.

"Kingdom Hearts!"

The cheering started to crescendo to a near-hysterical level as we stepped out and greeted the audience enthusiastically (although Leon and Sephiroth looked just as stoic as ever, but that was only to be expected—even by our fans). Tidus grabbed his microphone, Yuffie pulled hers over her keyboard, and I stepped up to mine off to the left.

"Hello everybody!" Tidus spoke into his mike. He had to almost yell to be heard over the excited screams, even with the aid of his microphone. He continued to rattle off an introduction while I scanned the crowd, looking for the familiar blue eyes and heart-shaped face. Though the lights in the auditorium were dimmed so that it was almost completely dark—save for the stage lights—I knew I'd be able to spot him.

And sure enough, I did, and my heart leapt with delight. I smiled, and I think he smiled back.

"—and for those of you who don't already know, the lyrics in almost every one of our songs are born from the poetic genius and talented bassist that is Riku Ishiguro."

I tuned back into Tidus's introduction to hear him crediting our lyrics to me, as per usual, and grinned as the audience roared.

"The actual songs are, of course, composed by the entirety of Kingdom Hearts. This year we have three new songs for everyone to enjoy—"

The roar rose a few decibels.

"—and, naturally, we'll be playing a couple of your favorites."

"Just start already!" someone from the audience shouted excitedly.

We all laughed. I think even Sephiroth and Leon managed a chuckle. Tidus just grinned, not a trace of shame on his countenance. He was infamous for his usually long introductions, and ridicule was always expected. "Okay, okay."

I heard the clack, clack, clack of Wakka's drumsticks as he counted off. "One. Two. One, two, three, four …"

We launched into Mercy Me, and the crowd cheered again, the renowned melody blaring through our amps and wafting over the loud enthusiasm filling the auditorium from wall to wall to ceiling to floor.

I completely lost myself in the music, as I was wont to do, experienced fingers moving across the frets and plucking at the strings. My eyes caught Sora again, shouting in the ear of the man next to him, Kairi and Selphie dancing at his other side, cheering and screaming. The identity of the man vaguely registered with me: it was Mr. Strife, if memory served me right. Although, my mind wasn't really registering much else then, because the music consumed my consciousness, the din of the audience naturally melding into the tune.

Before I knew it, we'd reached the end, and I rode down the neck of my bass with the final chords and the mindless, zealous applause and cheering from the crowd filled the suddenly music-less auditorium. I took a deep breath and flexed my fingers as Wakka counted off the next song, my hands going immediately back to my instrument as we dove into The World.

/Sora's POV/

Just as expected, they sounded amazing. I hadn't known the name of their band, though; funny I'd never thought to ask. But I liked the name. Kingdom Hearts. It reminded me of a dream I'd had once…

"They're not bad," Cloud said, bringing me out of my thoughts.

I smiled and nodded. Cloud was less tense than he had been in the car. I think upon learning that Riku wrote the lyrics for the songs, he'd gained a new sort of respect for him. I doubt he really trusted Riku yet, or even liked him, for that matter, but…Riku wasn't just some obnoxious punk in Cloud's eyes anymore. And I was happy about that.

The World began, a song that Riku had only mentioned before. He said he'd written it because of some assholes that had been harassing Leon, one day, about being gay or something like that. Hn, I could relate. And I was eager to hear the song. I was sure Cloud would like it, too.

The intro started with an enthusiastic, powerful tune supplied by all of the instruments. And then Tidus came in with:

"You've gotta hold, hold open my eyelids,
If you're gonna shake, shake, shake 'til the morning.
I'm gonna put, put things in perspective,
And it's gonna take, take, take my precious time.
All we need is a reason,
For us to dance, dance, dance 'til the break of dawn.
All I need is a hook now,
For us to shout, shout, shout these words out!"

Riku stepped up to his mike and Yuffie pulled hers a little closer, one hand still on the keyboard, and prepared to sing backup.

"'Cause we're all! All! All!
We're ahhhh-hah-ah-all ...
You know we're all a part of the world, of course,
If you know it sing out,
Yeah, sing it out!"

The song was so…full of energy and passion, and it encouraged my already bouncing feet as my body joined in to dance in time with the beat.

"I'm gonna snap back into formation,
And get to work, work, work 'til the job gets done.
Everyone's getting ready,
'Cause they've been wait, wait, waiting for Friday night.
All we need is a chance now,
For, for us to get, get down in the after hours.
All you need is a voice now,
For us to shout, shout, shout these words out!"

"'Cause we're all! All! All!
We're ahhhh-hah-ah-all ...
You know we're all a part of the world, of course,
If you know it sing out,
Yeah, sing it out!"

"'Cause we're ahhhh-hoowah-all a pahhh-ah-ah-art!
You know we're all a part of the world, of course.
If you know it sing out,
Yeah, sing it out!"

"Work! Work! Work!" the singers shouted.

"Should! Should! Should!"

"Good! Good! Good!"

"I'm gonna keep it up, keep it up!
Gonna keep it up, keep it up!"

"Work, work, work if you
Should, should, should and you're
Good, good, good, all right now
Keep it up, keep it up, keep it—"

The singing began again, replacing the shouts the three had been previously spouting into their microphones.

"'Cause we're ahhhh-hoowah-all …

We're pahhh-ah-ah-art …
You know we're all a part of the world, of course.
If you know it sing out,
Yeah, sing it 'cause we're all! All! All!
We're ahhhh-hah-ah-all ...
You know we're all a part of the world, of course,
And if you're feeling me, sing it out,
(Yeah, sing it out!)

Yeah sing it, 'cause we're ahhhh-hah-ah-all,
We're pahhh-ah-ah-art,
You know we're all a part of the world, of course.
If you know it sing it out,
(Yeah, sing it out!)

You know we're all a part of the world, of course.
If you know it sing it out,
(Yeah, sing it out!)

You know we're all a part of the world, of course.
If you know it sing it out,
Yeah, sing it out!"

The song ended abruptly, and a moment later, we burst into applause. I chanced a glance up at Cloud to see him cheering right along with everyone else. Kairi and Selphie were lost to the hysteria of the crowd.

Tidus was able to hush the audience as he stepped back up to his microphone. "And now for our newest songs. The first will be something called Cut! Print It."

Tidus took a deep breath and began a heartbeat before the instruments.

"So I flew across the country just to find your broken word,
Like the drywall in the bathroom of the hotel room she left me in alone,
Excuse me while I let your secrets out.
(Ahhhh-out)
Does it comfort you to think about how wonderful this was up until now?
(N-ahhhh-ow)
(Nowwwwww)"

"'Cause this is closure once and for all,
Oh, this has to stop right now.
'Cause I've been running for my life,
And you could never catch me now!"

"So I guess I'll just get going, I've got better topics now,
And I'm off to find some blank pages to write all of them down,
Because these ones have been dirtied with the mentioning of you,
And you know I wouldn't say 'I hate you' if it wasn't true,
Because you're the talk of the town,
(N-ahhhh-ow),
And everybody's found it out!"

Riku and Yuffie's harmonies contrasted so perfectly against Tidus's melody, and Tidus was able to fill his voice with so much angst and flare that I was…amazed. This was the first song I'd heard by them that had such an angry and remorseful air, and it was utterly beautiful, especially with the backup singing. And the strong instrumental chords, along with Wakka's clever drumming, playing whispers off the cymbal…thingies…and the other, smaller drums…and the big one…and yeah. Give me a break. I don't know anything about drums.

"'Cause this is closure once and for all,
Oh, this has to stop right now.
'Cause I've been running for my life,
And you could never catch me now!"

"So I guess I'll cut my losses 'cause I lost a lot.
I guess I'll quit complaining and I'll starting walking it off,
Because there is no point in living in a past with that unhappiness.
Consider it a promise we both broke,
Consider it mistakes on both our parts!"

"'Cause this is closure once and for all,
Oh, this has to stop right now.
'Cause I've been running for my life,
And you could never catch me now!
Yeah, this closure once and for all,
(Yeah, this is closure once and for all),
Yeah, this closure once and for all,
(Yeah, this is closure once and for all),
And you could never catch me now …"

Wakka continued to drum for another few seconds before silence fell completely over the auditorium, the crowd taking a moment to soak in the aftereffects of the new song. And then the room erupted in cheers, applause, whoops and shouts and screams.

Riku's eyes met mine again, and I was sure his already-wide grin widened more, even if just a little. His face was flushed and glistening under the stage lights, hair sticking to his forehead and neck. His eyes were brighter than I'd ever seen them, shining with the sheer delight of playing music.

I waved, bouncing on the balls of my feet. Tidus introduced the next song as "This Is The Countdown".

Seph and Leon started out with a soft guitar melody, backed up by the keyboard, soon joined by the drums, and then Riku entered with a strong bass part that preceded the singing.

"Are you getting tired?
I think we've gone and lost the fire.
But I don't wanna fight anymore,
I've had enough,
Of this town."

"I can see the signs,
And I can read between the lines.
But I don't know what we were fighting for,
I'm just trying,
To break out."

"I've been waiting for something,
I've been sitting for too long.
I've been waiting but oh, tonight,
This one last try, goes on and on and on…"

Again with the tortured voice, the haunting melody. It was such a beautiful song. It almost surprised me that the audience didn't stop their cheering to just…listen. Had I not been caught up in it all, I know I would've. It was so sad and so angsty and so gorgeous.

"I've been waiting for something,
I've been sitting for too long.
I've been waiting but oh, tonight,
This one last try, goes on and on and on…"

"You put your nets out,
But still you chose to do without.
The only way to catch the butterfly,
Is never waiting for the wings, and…"

"As seasons bring change,
And as the seconds fade away.
I still don't know why we were holding on,
But I'm still trying,
To breakout."

And did I mention that the lyrics were amazing? Even above the din of the crowd, I could clearly decipher Tidus's words, and immediately my chest swelled with pride. I was proud, proud of Riku, and proud that he was my boyfriend. He was my boyfriend, and I was his.

"I've been waiting for something,
I've been sitting for too long.
I've been waiting but oh, tonight,
This one last try, goes on and on and on…"

"Should've known better than to listen,
When the dreams and the words started falling apart."

"Should've known I would've hit the ground running."

"Did you think that the night would posses us?
Take us over like the rain that's falling down?"

"Did you notice when the clock stopped running?"

"Running."

"Running…"

"This is the countdown; you see our time is running out.
I tread to stay above the waterline,
But never taking off the weights that…"

"Keep us stuck here.
In the comfort and the fear.
I'll never know what we were fighting for,
But I'm still looking,
To break out."

"I've been waiting for something,
I've been sitting for too long.
I've been waiting but oh, tonight,
This one last try, goes on and on and on…"

As the tune faded away, I clapped ardently, cheering and calling and just smiling. My jaw was beginning to hurt. But I wouldn't stop. I don't know what happened to Kairi and Selphie. But whatever. They'd turn up eventually.

As Tidus pulled the mike to his lips to announce the next and final song, he passed Riku a devious grin. The healthy flush in Riku's cheeks seemed to drain, and I couldn't help but laugh.

"This next song," Tidus said, a hush falling over the crowd as he spoke, "Riku wrote specially about his—"

"OKAY!" Riku intervened, shouting into his own microphone to cover Tidus's amplified voice. "It's called Dethbed—"

"And he wrote it about his newest boyfriend!" Tidus interrupted quickly.

There was a collective sigh from the audience, some whoops, and definitely some disappointed whines from the girls. I could feel my cheeks burn, although the smile was still glued to my lips. Riku sought out my gaze and held it, with an almost apologetic smile of his own. I just laughed. I looked up at Cloud. His eyes were narrowed, and he looked down at me, murmuring, "'Newest'?"

I shrugged, not really understanding the point that Cloud was trying to make, and turned back to the stage as the band began the song.

The keyboard faded in with a haunting sort of sound, followed quickly by the intro with the guitars and drums. And then Tidus started singing.

"Calling all cars, all coroners, we've got a dead one here,
And anybody else receiving this, the west coast is far from clear,
Like a time bomb, or sudden death, it's going to find you,
When you least expect, it's going to leave you,
With the emptiest feeling inside."

"(Over-analyzed)"

The tune was…oh, I don't know, there was no actual way to describe it. Full of a soft sort of sadness? Longing? Remorse? All of the above. And despite the angst-ridden air, it made me smile.

"They found me face-down in the street,
On the night you left to find another place to sleep,
In rain and regret,
They said they tried everything but it was no use,
Yeah they tried everything and everyone but you."

"Falling like stars into the ocean black we're going to disappear,
And anything left recognizable is rubbed away with fear,
We've got our hearts dipped in time release,
We've got the know-how and the elbow grease,
We've got our victim all cut up down here on the floor."

"(Over and out the door)"

The song was drawing to a close. The instruments suddenly changed their melody, and launched into a sort of solo, I guess. If it wasn't obvious already, music wasn't my forte.

"… one but you.

… one but you."

As Tidus stepped away from the mike and bobbed his head slightly to the music, Riku's bass line was suddenly made more pronounced, and I watched in awe as his fingers danced dexterously down the neck of his guitar, bringing the song to its climax. The guitars supported him with a muddled sort of harmony, while the drums and keyboard kept up their part.

And suddenly, they stopped, save for Leon, who rode up the neck of his guitar with (what I assumed to be) his pick, creating this sort of ascending, grating sound. Then the others joined in with a renewed flare.

The song came to an abrupt stop, and I could just feel my stomach flip-flopping uncontrollably. Just as beautiful as the others, the song had just been…perfect. Totally and completely. And to think, it had been written about me. I just felt…appreciated. Special. As if I weren't a worthless nobody, however fleeting the sensation was. I saw Riku again and he pointed off stage, mouthing "Meet me" against his microphone as Tidus said the farewells. I nodded and slipped away after telling Cloud.

Stepping out of the dimmed auditorium into the bright hallway, I squinted. Suddenly, a silver head appeared from around a corner down the corridor. Immediately I found the familiar aqua orbs trained on my own and blushed happily. Riku handed his bass to Wakka, who took it and continued on with the rest of the band with a suggestive wink at his platinum-haired friend. Riku chuckled and rolled his eyes.

The next thing I knew, I was being plowed into the wall by my boyfriend.

"SORA!" he shouted happily.

"R-Riku!" I gasped. "Hi."

Then he stood back, holding me at arm's length and scanning his eyes up and down my body, a hungry glint lighting his aqua irises. I blushed fiercely. "Well," he purred, "don't you look hot."

And with that, he pressed me to the wall and captured my lips in a searing kiss.

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A/N: Hopefully no one hates me for all of those lyrics. -.-;; Hm, on a random note, this part:

The song was drawing to a close. The instruments suddenly changed their melody, and launched into a sort of solo, I guess. If it wasn't obvious already, music wasn't my forte.

Hehe, that would be the "bridge", Sora. The bridge comes before the solo, which in that case was Riku's bass solo.

Sora: ...Shadup. -.-;;

Magick: XD -gives Sora cookie-

Revieweth, pleaseth!