A/N: Gomenasai minna-san for the late upload. School's a pain yadda yadda, you know the story.
I stormed through the empty school hallways, muttering to myself the whole time. When I had gotten home yesterday I had dragged Sebastian to the study to tell him about what I had discovered. He listened to my sudden revelation with a tell-tale smirk on his lips and a glimmer of amusement in his eyes.
"Stupid demon, of course he already knew! He can't lie to me, but that doesn't mean he has to tell me everything." He was taking advantage of the loopholes, and I was furious at myself for not noticing it sooner. When I looked up I found myself in the hall, and I wondered briefly why I was there.
"Oh Jasmine, there you are. Good, now we can get started." The teacher waved me over to the group of people up by the stage. I remembered now, why I wasn't outside, why I had come in here in the first place. The meeting for the show. The same teacher from before, who I had never seen before yesterday, held up a black hat.
"Everyone will get a turn to grab a slip of paper out of the hat. The numbers on the paper will correspond to what order the performances will be in." Everyone lined up. I ended up with the number 4.
"Is that all?" I asked, bored, once everyone had their numbers. They all looked at me and I shrugged.
"Well yeah, that's pretty much it. Remember though, the show starts at 7pm, but we want you all here by 6:30pm." I waved my hand absently.
"Sure, whatever." With the other contestants glaring daggers at me I turned and wandered quietly back outside. "That's right. It's a competition. They all want to win, and I don't even care. No wonder they were so mad." I bit my thumb nail, thinking of a better way to act in front of the others.
That evening…
It took me ages to find somewhere to sit, since I wanted to keep my bag with me. I'd brought my katana along with me, and it was sitting in my sports bag, along with a puffer jacket to hide it. Eventually I had settled with one of the seats at the edge of the row beside the stage.
I watched in relative silence as the three performers before me got up on stage. One girl was singing, and everyone was singing along. Another girl was doing magic tricks, making me roll my eyes in irritation. The third act was a girl doing a tap dancing routine. I never did understand the attraction of tap. And then it was my turn.
"Next up we have Jasmine Phantomhive." The girl, I think her name was Hannah, signalled for me to come up on the stage. A wave of pain washed over me from my stomach when my foot came down on the bottom step. It was a mixture of nerves and also the fact that I had stomped down too hard, causing my cut to protest. When I reached centre-stage Emma and Mary started screaming encouragement at me. I glared in their direction. It was their fault I was up here in the first place. The door at the back of the hall swung open as the music started, revealing a red headed boy with a green eye. I froze up. What is he doing here? Closing my eyes I focused on the music, waiting for the cue to start singing. Taking a deep breath I opened my eyes again and looked over the crowd.
"As lucid as the dream,
Where you wake behind the wheel.
Strange that you should feel,
Paralysed.
The dream where you can fly,
And you rise above your hometown,
And tell them they can keep,
Their gravity."
The crowd was silent, with the exception of Emma and Mary, who were still screaming at me. I smiled, their reaction was so different from the first singer. No-one had ever heard the song before, and it was exhilarating.
"Are you wide awake?
Caught in the crossfire, caught in the crash.
Are you wide awake?
Born in the crossfire, living the crash."
"As lucid as the punch,
You're throwing in slow-motion.
A fist you cannot lift.
A fight you cannot win.
And would you really die,
If you hit the bottom?
If the ground didn't wake you up,
In the falling dream."
"Smashing your way through the looking-glass.
Fantasy can still be razor-sharp,
For you."
"For you who wanted everything,
You who promised everything."
"Something followed you back,
And woke up in the crash.
Somehow, followed you out of your domain.
Something followed you back,
Out through the looking-glass,
Somehow bringing a cloud of the surreal."
"Are you wide awake?
Caught in the crossfire caught in the crash.
Are you wide awake?
Born in the crossfire living the crash.
Now are you,
Are you wide awake now?
Now are you,
Are you wide awake now?
Are you wide awake now?"
The music ended and the crowd erupted with applause. I was completely taken aback by their reaction. Since my performance was over I made to get off the stage but the two hosts came up and told me to stay.
"Wow that was amazing wasn't it?" Hannah addressed the crowd and they all cheered in agreement. "So, are you in the choir?" I shook my head, not trusting myself to speak. "What about singing lessons?"
"I haven't had any." I muttered quietly. Hannah's eyes widened.
"Seriously, no lessons? I think the choir teacher will be tracking you down." She whispered that I could leave, which I did gladly as they announced the next performer. I snuck out of the side door into the hallway and slumped against the wall, catching my breath. Reaching into the pocket of my black jeans I pulled out my phone and checked the time. Noise flowed into the hall as another door opened. Looking up I saw Lavi walking towards me. I shoved my phone back into my pocket as he calm over and leant against the wall opposite me.
"You were pretty good out there." He grinned. I met his gaze for a second before looking away, blushing slightly. I was trying to think of a witty comeback when I was attacked from the side by my crazy mental mates Emma and Mary.
"You were awesome up there!" Emma cried, jumping up and down.
"It was amazing!" Mary added, doing a much better job at restraining herself. My blush deepened, they were being embarrassing.
"Well it was you guys who signed me up in the first place, and you're telling me you didn't know I could sing? What kind of friends are you?" Emma stopped bouncing and pouted, putting on a wounded expression.
"Of course I knew you could sing! I've known you for 13 years, how could you doubt me?" She whined. I grinned, and a flash of metal caught the corner of my eye. Frowning slightly I looked around, trying to find it, but it was gone. Mary had her hands behind her back.
"Hey Mary," I called cheerfully, "What are you hiding?" She skipped back, but I grabbed her sleeve and held her in place. "Let me see it." Lavi watched, a confused expression on his usually cheerful face.
"Is something wrong Jasmine?" he asked, not moving from his position against the wall. Mary stopped struggling and turned to ogle Lavi, whom she had somehow failed to notice until then.
"Wow, he's hot." She stated bluntly, making me pale and glance back cautiously at the flirtatious redhead. To my utmost surprise he didn't rise to the bait, instead reverting to his serious expression from the other night. That was when I knew something was up.
"Lavi, you came here for a reason. What's wrong?" Emma and Mary glanced at me and stepped back slightly, sensing the heavy atmosphere. He stepped away from the wall and glanced down the otherwise empty hallway. I pointed to the hall, indicating for Emma and Mary to go back through, but when they refused to move I simply wandered further up the hall with him.
"Are you sure they can't hear us?" He asked me. Taking a quick peek over my shoulder I glared at them.
"I'm not sure, but they definitely won't come any closer." He nodded, apparently satisfied. "How did you find me anyway?" His features melted back into a smile.
"Bookman said I needed to go talk to you, so I sent my golem off to find you and this is where we ended up." The flash of metal passed across my vision again and I looked around.
"Where is your golem anyway?" His eyes rose above my head and I flinched as a slight weight settled on my head. Holding my hand out flat by my shoulder I gasped in surprise when the small black bat-like golem alighted on my palm.
"He was keeping out of sight since all the noise was scaring him." I was grinning as I examined the golem sitting in my hand. Suddenly the golem flew into the air again and hovered at eye level in front of us. It started beeping and Lavi looked at it curiously. "Answer the call." The golem opened its mouth to reveal an expandable screen. A light flickered, revealing a familiar white haired teenager.
My jaw dropped and I mouthed his name. "Allen…" Lavi gave me a reassuring grin before focusing his attention on the screen.
"What's up beansprout?" Allen was silent, visibly clenching his jaw to avoid yelling.
"Was that Lavi I heard just now? That means you finally got through." He turned to look at something off screen, probably chief Komui. Something clicked in my mind and I remembered something important I had neglected to do. I shoved Lavi out of the way and waited for Allen to look back at the screen.
"Allen I'm so sorry!" He blinked in surprise.
"Jasmine?" I ignored his intrigued gaze and continued my rant.
"I completely forgot to tell Lavi about the mission! Please forgive me." Lavi was watching our conversation interestedly from the side lines. There was a loud clatter, making me jump, and I spun around in fright, serving to further confuse Allen.
"Jas, it's alright, that's what I was trying to get through for anyway." I wasn't really listening to him; instead I was glaring at Emma and Mary who had decided to attempt to sneak up on us, against their better judgement. What had alerted me to their approach was the metallic clatter of the falling video camera. When I was absolutely 100% sure that they wouldn't follow us again I pulled Lavi and the golem into the office.
"Sorry about that." Another voice cut in from the other side.
"Is that Jasmine? Ask her how her innocence has been adapting." Damn that Komui, always so straightforward when you don't want him to be.
"Chief lay off. Allen, what did you want to talk about and what did Jas mean when she said mission?"
"To cut a long story short, we're going to Greece. Happy?" Lavi opened his mouth to say something but I waved him off. "Now's not a good time. Allen, is there anything else?"
"Reever called the pilot; he's ready to go whenever you are, so just say the word. Other than that, there's basically nothing else to say." I nodded briefly, glancing out the door.
"That sounds like a good plan. Lavi, do you know if Bookman is finished with whatever it is he's doing over here?"
"The panda? I wouldn't have a clue." He had a strange glint in his eyes which made me think he was lying, but I wasn't going to push it now.
"Okay then. Thanks Allen, we'll call you later." He said his own farewell and the golem retracted the screen before closing its mouth. It landed on my shoulder and snuggled into my neck, making me giggle.
"He really likes you." Lavi pointed out as I walked over to the door. I grinned back at him over my shoulder.
"Are you ready for the interrogation?"
A/N: Change of plans. This time I don't want you to review, since it seems so off topic to me.
I want a golem now! But I'd rather have one like Timcampy as opposed to the regular golems... hmmm...
I ALMOST FORGOT SOMETHING REALLY IMPORTANT! All credit goes to the NZ band I Am Giant for the song :) They rock. and the song is called Living the Crash.