AN~ Thanks to you guys who reviewed! Also, I don't know if it's my account or what, but whenever I have a sentence or two that are italicized, the spaces are taken out. So sorry if I don't catch that before posting. Okay, The dancing that goes on in this chapter, I am very sorry if its completely and utterly off. I don't dance, and I don't know a lot of dances, so- sorry.
Last thing (I promise) there is alot of songs in this chapter, and I'm sorry if you don't like that in a chapter, but too bad, it's here.
DarkRoguePhantom: All will be reveled shortly.
On ta tha chaptah!
Talk to me softly
There's something in your eyes
Don't hang your head in sorrow
And please don't cry
I know how you feel inside I've
I've been there before
Somethin's changin' inside you
And don't you know
Don't you cry tonight
I still love you baby
Don't you cry tonight
Don't you cry tonight
There's a heaven above you baby
And don't you cry tonight
~ "Don't Cry" - Guns N Roses
Ray
The slap didn't hurt the most (surprisingly). It was the look that she had. Her eyes were unforgiving, and they looked hurt and sad. I know I was stupid. I know that if I had pushed Tabitha away, this whole thing should have never happened.
I knew this entire thing was my fault. I walked away from her, my black coat over my slumped shoulders. I passed the bench by the bus stop on my way. There were only to people on it. Two people I knew.
Thos and Nyx Montleeonii. I almost laughed, it seems that following Styxx has become a new game. I hung my head as I passed, it was still my fault they had to be here.
As I walked I fished around in my pockets, finding my old lighter. I'd kicked the habit after moving to the institute, but I couldn't throw away the cheap plastic thing. It was a tie, I guess, a tie back to home. I pulled it out of my pocket and lit it. The flame was it's usual orangish-yellow. I dropped the flame. I was almost out of lighter fluid, almost out of an excuse to keep it.
I did the thumb scanner thing and entered the mansion's grounds. Everything was covered in snow. The only thing that remained uncovered was the sidewalk, and even that had been plastered with snowballs. The rest of the New Recruits had just finished one of their famous snowball fights, and the terrain showed it.
I turned the corner of the mansion, and looked out at the ocean far below the cliff. It was a steel gray, and most likely freezing. I looked around the horizon, the steel wool sky was more depressing than ever, and matched with the lead ocean and the disturbed whit snow, it felt like I lived on a chalk board. There was no color. Even my coat, a boring black, didn't provide any sort of freedom.
I don't know how long I stood there, feeling so small comparatively to, well, everything, but I finally got my legs to carry me into the mansion. The hallway was warm, and there was color everywhere. Oak floors, Christmas wreaths, a Hanukkah Menorah, and every kind of indoor decoration imaginable.
There was music pouring from the ball room. A classical piano arrangement of Carol of The Bells, the song Ororo always plays. The song ended and the sound of clapping echoed off the walls. I shed my coat and draped it over my arm as I walked into the marble room. Ororo was sitting on the piano bench, and Nyx was sitting beside her. Both were smiling proudly. I looked around the room, everyone was here. Even Styxx. Guess she came back when I was by the cliffs.
Thos and Styxx stepped onto the floor then, Styxx held an electric guitar, and Thos held an electric bass. Styxx whispered something to Nyx and then they started. In the beginning it was only Nyx playing a simple piano part, and then Styxx and Thos joined in. The tempo was slow at first, but soon picked up the pace. Then I recognized it. Mad Russian's Christmas by Trans-Siberian Orchestra. The song ended and there was applause. All four performers beamed.
Styxx handed Thos her Guitar, and Thos put his Bass on it's holder. Styxx once again whispered something to Nyx, she nodded. Styxx picked up the microphone that was mounted on a stand near the piano.
"This is another TSO song, and I really hope that you guys enjoy. For this song I would like for everyone to grab a partner, and step onto the floor. Traditional dances are optional, but I think the waltz would do well in this case," Styxx flashed a perfect smile and the group. "Hope you enjoy."
The song started with a low and slow piano, then came the lyrics. Styxx sang the traditionally bass song part in her usual alto and tenor part:
"There is an ornament
Lost inside the night
There on a Christmas tree
With a thousand lights
No one can see her
She's standing all alone
The students had started dancing. Jean and Scott were twirling around the edges of the room, Kurt and Kitty were doing an upbeat version of the waltz, Rahne and Roberto were following Kurt and Kitty's lead, Jubilee and Bobby were circling each other in the back, Sam and Amara weren't really dancing together, more like dancing in close proximity with one another.
"Some where she glistens where no one can see (Thos started on the electric guitar)
I don't believe I can say what had happened
All of those words that we put into play
No longer matter, I should have known that then
I just know you're far away...
On this Christmas Day
On this Christmas Day
On this Christmas...
Somewhere the wind
Carves moments in the snow
And if he sees her
He never lets it show
He just drifts behind her
Erasing every step
Tinsel and garland are whispered through trees
I don't believe I can say what had happened
All of those words that we put into play
No longer matter, I should have known that then
I just know you're far away...
On this Christmas Day
On this Christmas Day
On this Christmas...
Come Christmas, stay Christmas
Watch over her this day
Keep her, protect her
From harm now in every way
Shelter her gently
There in your arms she'll be
Until the day
When you bring her back home to me
There is an ornament lost inside the night."[1]
"One more?" Kitty asked more the Professor than anyone else. Professor looked at Styxx, she nodded.
"Do you guys want another Christmas song? Or something else?"
"Christmas." everyone said. Styxx nodded and thought for a second, then whispered something to Thos and Nyx. Thos started out long and hard on the electric guitar as an intro to a song I didn't recognize until the lyrics started.
"Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon Virgin Mother and Child
Holy Infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace
"Silent night, holy night!
Shepherds quake at the sight
Glories stream from heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!
Christ, the Saviour is born
Christ, the Saviour is born
"Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon Virgin Mother and Child
Holy Infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace
"Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon Virgin Mother and Child
Holy Infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace."[2]
Everyone had given up the traditional dances and had basically just rocked out. And we needed it. We needed a night to forget what is waiting outside the mansions doors, and we just needed an excuse to let go.
Styxx and Thos were almost deafened by applause, and gave low bows before putting their instruments in their cases. After goodbyes had been said everyone headed to their respected rooms to sleep. Tomorrow was the last day of school before Christmas break.
Professor had made the announcement that after Christmas break, we would have school at the mansion. Professor had called in a few favors and got teachers to come in and teach a few courses for us, and some of the larger rooms were being renovated into classrooms.
I watched Styxx walk from the room, and stood solemnly in a hallway that branched off from the one all of the students were currently going down. She leaned against the wall and sank to the floor. At first I was about to rush over and see if she needed help, but she pulled out her guitar and started to strum the strings. The river of mutants had gone down, and finally stopped all together as doors closed upstairs and downstairs alike.
With the silence that came with being almost alone, I could hear what Styxx was saying. It was a My Chemical Romance song, one that I really like. Styxx told me it was one of her favorites by them.
"Well if you wanted honesty, that's all you had to say.
I never want to let you down or have you go, it's better off this way.
For all the dirty looks, the photographs your boyfriend took,
Remember when you broke your foot from jumping out the second floor?
"I'm not Okay
I'm not Okay
I'm not Okay
You wear me out
"What will it take to show you that it's not the life it seems?
(I'm not Okay)
I've told you time and time again you sing the words but don't know what it means
(I'm not Okay)
To be a joke and look, another line without a hook
I held you close as we both shook for the last time take a good hard look!
"I'm not Okay
I'm not Okay
I'm not Okay
You wear me out
"Forget about the dirty looks
The photographs your boyfriend took
You said you read me like a book, but the pages all are torn and frayed
"I'm Okay
I'm Okay!
I'm Okay, now
(I'm Okay, now)
"But you really need to listen to me
Because I'm telling you the truth
I mean this, I'm Okay!
(Trust Me)
"I'm not Okay
I'm not Okay
Well, I'm not Okay
I'm not o-frickin'-kay
"I'm not Okay
I'm not Okay
(Okay)" [3]
Even if the guitar was almost silent, the song still cut. Styxx had silent tears rolling down her cheeks by the end of the song, and she was biting the inside of her lip, trying to make the tears stop. I had never seen Styxx like this, she never cried. To tell the truth, she never liked showing emotion much. She kept herself carefully guarded when it came to her emotions. Even if she was happy she tried to contain it. She never showed anything.
I remember asking her about it once, she'd said it was a result of growing up in a broken family. I hadn't pushed the subject further. The only time she had really gone in any depth on her past was back in the sewers when we were with the Morlocks. That had been a long time ago. Styxx had started on another song, MadWorld, the one by Gary Jules, not the Tears For Fears cover. She was quietly picking the strings on the piano part as best she could.
"All around me are familiar faces
worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for the daily races
Going nowhere, going nowhere
Their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression, no expression
Hide my head I wanna drown my sorrow
No tomorrow, no tomorrow
"And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very very, mad world, mad world
"Children waiting for the day they feel good
Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday
And I feel the way that every child should
Sit and listen, sit and listen
Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me, no one knew me
Hello teacher tell me what's my lesson
Look right through me, look right through me
"And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very very, mad world, mad world
Enlarge your world, mad world." [4]
I had never heard Styxx sing this, she said that she would hum it to herself when she couldn't sleep, but whenever it would come on the radio, she'd change it almost instantly. She never listened to it with me, she never listened to it alone. To almost anyone it would be a simple case, she hated the song, but that wasn't the case. The song hit too close to home. It reminded her too much of a time she could have been stronger. It reminded her that one time she was powerless, that at one time, she had failed to protect the people she loved.
The next song was different. It wasn't one that a lot of people would know, not considered 'in'.
"Love of mine, some day you will die
But I'll be close behind
I'll follow you into the dark
"No blinding light or tunnels to gates of white
Just our hands clasped so tight
Waiting for the hint of a spark
If Heaven and Hell decide
That they both are satisfied
Illuminate the NO's on their vacancy signs
"If there's no one beside you
When your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark
"In Catholic school as vicious as Roman rule
I got my knuckles bruised by a lady in black
And I held my tongue as she told me
"Son fear is the heart of love"
So I never went back
"If Heaven and Hell decide
That they both are satisfied
Illuminate the Os on their vacancy signs
"If there's no one beside you
When your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark
"You and me have seen everything to see
From Bangkok to Calgary
And the soles of your shoes are all worn down
The time for sleep is now
It's nothing to cry about
'cause we'll hold each other soon
In the blackest of rooms
"If Heaven and Hell decide
That they both are satisfied
Illuminate the No's on their vacancy signs
"If there's no one beside you
When your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark
Then I'll follow you into the dark." [5]
She played song after song for hours. She never quit, not for a second. And she never moved. Styxx stayed under the grand staircase and played all sorts of music. I checked my watch, it was three in the morning. I looked back up at Styxx, she hands were slowing, her words were becoming slurred. I watched her head tilt and then her eyes droop closed. She had fallen asleep. I walked over and crouched in front of her.
I gently moved her arms off the turquoise painted guitar and set it gently in it's case. I latched the case, and held it in one had. I scooped up Styxx and carried her to her room.
Thats when I encountered a problem. The door was closed, and I can't open it. I sighed to myself and kicked on the door. A few seconds later Nyx appeared at the door, her hair messy and her eyes sleepy. She silently took the guitar and pointed to the black sheeted bed. I walked over and put Styxx down. Nyx took the liberty of covering her up, then pointed to the door.
I was in the hallway with Nyx at the door when she tapped my shoulder.
"Thanks, Ray." she said. The door closed, and I walked to my room. When I crashed onto the soft navy blue sheets, I couldn't quit smiling.
AN~ I hope this helps make up for the time I was gone!
1: Ornament by Trans-Siberian Orchestra
2: Silent Night Bad Religion cover
3: I'm Not Okay My Chemical Romance
4: Mad World Gary Jules
5: I Will Follow You Into The Dark Death Cab For Cutie