In this chapter: Axel and Kairi meet and Roxas' world slowly starts to unravel, whether he notices it or not.
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Ballad
Chapter Five
"The Sweater Song"
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"Okay, and this is a g-string. Yeah, yeah, stop laughing. It's one of the most important- And, hey, put your finger here like this and wrap your thumb around the neck like this and… Okay, strum."
Roxas looked down at the guitar skeptically, pick at hand, and clumsily brushed across the strings. Without the guitar plugged into the amp, the sound was terrible.
"Great! Okay, now that was a chord. You learn three of these and you can join a punk band."
The blonde looked up at Axel, who was sitting on the coffee table across from him. "You really think so?" Roxas asked, a small smile on his face. He readjusted his fingers and swooped the pick across the strings again, making a more affirming, acoustic sound.
"Of course!" Axel said happily. "Anyone can play and it's never too late to learn new tricks. I'm actually sort of proud of you for wanting to learn. With school and a wedding to balance and all, and on top of that helping us with our shows… I'm surprised you aren't too busy for this."
Roxas looked down at the guitar, wondering what sound it would make if he moved his finger placement down one tab. He started strumming and trying to get the hang of making new sounds. "Well… Namine is the one who keeps track of all the wedding stuff. I don't know, the whole idea is really scary once I think about it?"
Axel laughed. "Getting cold feet already?" Axel checked his watch. "Wow. A record sixteen hours and two months before the big day."
Roxas playfully pulled Axel's arm down so he wouldn't notice the time anymore. "No, it's not cold feet," he stated like a stubborn mule. "Well, I mean, think about it? Spending the rest of your life-"
"-With one person? Oh my God, blondie, it's like you and every other cookie cutter fiancé out there always feels the same way. Don't even hesitate about it now, you still have months to worry." While he was up, Axel took a moment to peruse Roxas' living room, spending most of his time looking at the photographs on the wall.
It was almost depressing, Roxas thought, how similar their apartments were, but how different they were at the same time. Axel's apartment was clean, spotless. The walls and carpet were just as pristine white as Roxas' living room. However, the redhead brought a more devilish charm. The guitars and the old movie posters were a start. Roxas felt his face heat up in embarrassment, wondering what Axel was thinking of him seeing the room decorated with flowers and random bowls of potpourri purchased from Pier One.
The walls in his apartment were decorated with family portraits only. Roxas remembered buying a print of a skull study painting by his favorite illustrator, but Namine said it didn't match the aesthetic mood she was trying set. To this day the print still sat rolled up in Roxas' side of the closet. He felt so whipped.
Axel laughed, and Roxas turned, in horror, to see Axel looking at a portrait of himself and Namine taken not long after the proposal. Namine had insisted having a picture to send with their wedding invitations. The happy couple's faces were feathered in from a white border to a backdrop of a waterfall in a jungle with a rainbow. Roxas was wearing a blue button-up shirt, and comparable to even the cheesiest portraits, the blonde had a large, toothy grin and vacant eyes looking off-frame. It really was a terrible image. Roxas had actually refused to send them to his friends, but in the end Namine got what Namine wanted, and the photographs were sent with the invitations without him knowing.
"Wow. Roxas, I'm sorry, but… Wow."
"Shut up, dick, it wasn't my idea," Roxas replied, laughed shortly despite himself. Axel pointed to Namine. "So this is your wife?"
"Fiancée? Yeah." It took Roxas a moment to remember that, yeah, Namine and Axel had never met.
"She looks just like you," he commented.
What?
"What?" Roxas asked, his lip curled up into the most confused expression he had ever displayed. Of all the comments he had received about him and Namine, that was never one of them. "What do you mean?"
Axel took a step back from the portrait, resting his chin between his thumb and forefinger in a thinking motion. "I dunno. She's blonde, you're blonde. Blue eyes. Pale skin. If it weren't for the facial structure I'd think y'all were brother and sister."
"Ew, no."
"Or maybe it's like humans and their pets, you know?" Axel commented walked away from the portrait and further inspect the kitchen. "Like how the butcher owns a bull dog and rich old ladies own Pomeranians and shit? Something like that."
"Please don't tell me you compared my fiancée to a dog."
Axel let out a bark of laughter as he opened up the fridge and looked around inside. Roxas stepped into the kitchen not long after Axel and watched him search inside the icebox. Axel closed the door and started opening the cabinets.
"What are you doing?" he asked, crossing his arms and leaning against the entryway. Axel peeked inside the cabinet reserved for cups and closed it after a brief inspection, turning towards Roxas.
"You can tell a lot about a guy by the way he keeps his house. But this seems like more your fiancée's wicked creation than your own."
"Wicked?"
"Like the play." He put his hands behind his back and scrutinized the notes left on the refrigerator door like it was fine art. "You know, Roxas…" Axel trialed off. The blonde didn't like the tone in his voice one bit.
"What's wrong?"
"Well, now that we're friends and all, I've decided to make you my new project!"
The only projects Roxas had ever been concerned about were the curricular kind. Since Axel wasn't a student and seemed to have copious amounts of time on his hands, there was only so many terrifying projects he could muster, and Roxas didn't want any part of it. "Oh… You don't have to do that, really," Roxas said, trying to turn his offer down politely.
It could have been his subconscious telling him what to say. In high school, Olette was a big fan of Wicked and would listen to the soundtrack and sing the lyrics all the time. When Roxas spoke those words, he almost covered his mouth to stop him from saying what came next. The look in Axel's eyes told him he wasn't that lucky.
"I know," he replied with a curt smile. "That's what makes me so nice."
Roxas held up his hand, pointing a threatening finger at the redhead. "I swear to God, Axel, if you continue, I-"
"Continue what?" he asked innocently. "We were just having a simple conversation." He seemed to be paying heavy attention to the events calendar that was kept in the kitchen. For October, the picture of the month was a babbling brook in a forest with leaves having just turned into their fall colors. He curled a lip at it. "What is this?"
Roxas walked up behind him and looked at the caption under the image. "Uh… It looks like a photo from a forest in Halloston taken by D. Izzard," he read blandly. Axel still had a look of skepticism on his face. "What? What's wrong with it?"
"I don't know. There's something about scenery that doesn't seem very… Never mind, do you like it? That's the important thing."
Roxas took another look at the brook. It was a nice photograph, all things considered. The water that was jumping off the rocks weren't motion blurred, the blue sky in the background seemed to clash with the orange and red leaves beautifully. It was a very nice picture, but at the same time Roxas didn't like it. The picture should have been taken closer to night, with stars, and bats in the sky. He shook his head. "What does this have to do with anything?"
Axel opened his mouth to answer, the very beginnings of his retort whispering out of his throat, when the sound of a key being shoved through the apartment door cut him off.
"I think that the strapless top would look best on you. You look weird in a wrap gown since your boobs aren't big enough."
"Mean. I'm not doing strapless. The bottom half is too heavy. What if there was a fashion disaster?"
"Fine. What about the sash top? That was cute."
"And I'm not wearing the sash top. I'd look like Tarzan."
"You mean Jane."
"Whatever." Namine looked up and saw her fiance. "Oh. Roxas, I didn't think you'd be back yet," Namine stated. She placed her purse and keys on a small table next to the door and approached. Halfway through reaching up to give him a welcoming peck on the cheek she saw Axel standing in the kitchen. "OHMYgod," she almost yelled, jumping back and clutching her hand to her chest. "Wow. Roxas? Um… Who's your friend?"
The blonde man blinked and turned to the redhead. "Oh, sorry. Jeez, I keep forgetting you guys haven't met… Namine, this is Axel, the lead singer to 13 Hearts. Axel, this is Namine, my fiancée."
"Pleasure to meet you, Miss…" Axel trailed off, holding out his hand. Namine held out her hand and allowed Axel to take it into a firm shake.
"Gibson. Although, not for long. Go ahead and call me Mrs. Strife if you want," she replied with a giggle. "And very nice to meet you, too." Roxas sighed as his fiancée seemed to calm down slightly. He supposed anyone would be somewhat scared and intimidated meeting someone like Axel for the first time.
"Namine Gibson… Marrying Roxas Strife…" Axel's lip was puckered in through. "Why do the names Gibson and Strife sound so familiar?" he whispered aloud to himself. Roxas shrugged and shook his head. Namine turned behind her and pulled Kairi from behind the wall between the kitchen and the living room.
"And this is my sister, Kairi." The short redheaded girl looked shocked for a moment, face frozen into a hesitant smile.
Roxas was studying Axel's face the entire time. His green eyes went from pondering to confused to absolutely overwhelmed in the span of five seconds. The front man's jaw dropped as he shook Roxas' sister-in-law's hand.
"Axel," Roxas prodded, "is there a problem?"
"Kairi. Kairi Gibson?" he asked.
The petite redhead looked at Axel questioningly, pulling her bangs behind her ear to get a better look at Axel. She was hesitating, but put on a curious face regardless. "I was," she stated, "but I'm Kairi Strife, now. Did we know each other before?" She asked, making it obvious that she didn't recognize Axel at all.
The older man shook his head. "No, we never met, but I think I knew your husband…" That caught Roxas' attention. Axel turned to the blonde man, his cheek curled up and his eyebrows quirked in a way that represented total confusion. "Is your brother Sora?"
"You know him?" Roxas didn't feel comfortable about this at all. It was one thing to know Demyx, a boy from high school who went on to one of the best colleges in the country. It was a completely different situation if Sora hung out with Axel, a dropout and a tram driver.
"Sora Strife?" Axel said to himself again, looking into the middle distance vacantly. He caught himself, quickly glancing at the odd looks Roxas, Namine, and Kairi were giving him. "Oh, it's nothing, just a… nostalgic moment, you know?" he said quickly. "Well, you guys probably want to settle in for the evening, so I'll just see myself out."
He nervously laughed and tried to squeeze between Kairi and the kitchen wall, careful not to so much as accidentally brush against the redheaded tart. Halfway out the door, however, Roxas stopped him.
"Hey, wait up a second," Roxas said, following Axel outside.
Axel bowed his head, focusing all his nervous energy into glaring a whole into the concrete walkway. "Look, I'm sorry I acted like a douche back there, but-"
"Yeah, I don't blame you. Kairi makes me nervous, too." Roxas held a box under Axel's nose. The smell alone was enough to cut the redhead out of his 'nostalgic moment.'
"Mothballs?"
"For your closet," Roxas explained. "I mean, you own a lot of nice cases and stuff… It would be a shame if they disintegrated the next time you used them."
Axel took the box in his hand and looked at it casually. "Wow… thanks."
"So are you going to tell me how you know my brother?"
Dammit.
"It's not that big of a deal. Do you have a brother complex or something?"
Roxas shook his head. "It's just that Sora… Although he's older, he hasn't exactly lost that innocence yet. I don't exactly trust him a-"
"Around people like me?" Axel finished. Although he seemed good-natured about it, Roxas caught the icy glower before Axel directed his attention to finding his cigarettes. "Trust me, that boy's lost his innocence enough," he muttered with a stubbed cancer stick in his lips.
"And just what's that supposed to mean?" the blonde asked, hands on his hips. Axel took a long drag, waving his hand in Roxas' face to tell him to wait. He held the nicotine in his chest for a moment before releasing the smoke in a hazy sigh. The vapor faded around his head, almost obscuring his face.
"It means: Talk to your brother." He reached his free hand out and flicked the younger man on the forehead. "Thanks for the mothballs," he added, holding up the box and shaking it with a loud rattle. "Normally we have shows on Saturday, but this is our day off. Go ahead and get a good night's sleep. I'm sorry for bugging you all day."
"No, you didn't…" Roxas sighed, deciding it was for the best to keep Axel's advice and just confront Sora on his own. However, after the awkward reply he got for the brunette about Demyx, Roxas was certain that he didn't exactly feel comfortable talking with his brother about people he seemed to purposely hide from him.
"Are you going to be playing at Traverse?"
"Nah, that was a special occasion," Axel stated, leaning against the banister overlooking the courtyard. "The Organization's our regular gig. They're good to us there." They must be, if they brought a crowd that size every week. "I'll keep you posted on gig times, don't you worry."
He snubbed the cigarette out on the pavement and made his way towards the stairs. The blonde noticed he was taking his exit and felt the need to say something before Axel just left. The last thing he wanted was for their day to end on a sour note. "Bye!" Roxas called awkwardly. Before the redhead disappeared into the stairwell, he turned and smiled.
"See you later, Rox."
oooOOOoooOOOoooOOOoooOOOooo
"Who's this?"
"You know who."
"NOOoooo… Ohmigawd! How've you been?"
"Fine…"
"I ran into your brother at the grocery store last week, but I totally didn't think you'd actually call!"
"How were things at the harbor?"
"So fucking amazing! So many good shows, I wish you could've been there!"
"Yeah, but you know-"
"I know, I know. How is she, anyway?"
"Doing good. We're both working. I guess… I didn't exactly expect to be this settled by now, y'know?"
"…Sora, what is it you really want to ask me?"
oooOOOoooOOOoooOOOoooOOOooo
"So… that was the singer for 13 Hearts?" Namine asked after Roxas got back inside. The blonde turned to his fiancée and nodded. "Wow… he's a lot…"
"A little rough around the edges?" Roxas suggested. She nodded and started boiling a kettle for tea. Kairi situated herself on one of the couches in the living room.
"That's so weird that he knows Sora," his sister-in-law said, turning on the television. "Small world, I guess. I bet they met through Demyx."
Roxas' eyes widened slightly, stepping backwards to pay attention to Kairi in the other room. "You know Demyx?" Kairi looked at him quizzically and shrugged.
"Not really. He was Sora's friend, not mine. But they met in high school and I think they hung out last summer when he came home for break." She started channel surfing. "Demyx is a real weird kid." Roxas almost swore there was another emotion buried deep within her purposefully neutral tone.
"Roxas, what's that?"
He turned and saw his fiancée pointing towards the amp and guitar leaning against the second couch pressed against the wall. "Oh, Axel's letting me borrow those. I sort of wanted to learn, and he said he had a spare…"
Namine laughed. "That's too funny. You've never wanted to learn before."
"Well, it's one of those things that everyone should learn to do." Namine gave him a look. "I mean, not specifically like guitar, but… You don't really understand. You have your drawings, and I'm not really good at anything except…" What was he good at?
Namine waved her hand carelessly and kissed him on the cheek. "Nevermind. You've never expressed interest in learning an instrument before. I think it's funny." She brushed past him to sit next to her sister on the couch. "Can you fix the tea when the kettle's done?"
"Um… sure." Roxas started to move to the kitchen when Kairi stopped him.
"By the way, where is Sora?"
Honestly, Roxas hadn't thought about that. Luckily he was in the kitchen and the girls didn't see him reaching for his back pocket where his cell phone was tucked snuggly. He had one text message. It was from his brother.
'I'm home. Is Kairi there?'
Oh, thank GOD.
"He's back at your place. He wanted to know where you were," Roxas replied casually. Kairi made a surprise hum and shuffled through her purse to call her husband.
"Hi baby! I'm at Namine's… Oh, that's cute. Did you boys have fun?" Roxas wanted to continue listening, but the kettle started to whistle, and by the time the clatter of preparing the tea was finished, so was Kairi's phone call. "I'm going to stay here to watch a show… …Okay, I'll be home in few!"
She click the phone shut and turned to her sister as Roxas entered the living room with tea. He placed the tray on the coffee table next to one of Namine's open textbooks. "Man it's crazy thinking that midterms are coming up. It's great nothaving to study for them anymore, and now Sora has all this free time…"
Sora was known to study hard. Once exams and tests were coming up he would dedicate every waking moment of the day to studying, even Saturday nights. Not that there was much for him to do anymore now that he was married. Now that Roxas thought about it, he hadn't gone out on a weekend night without Sora or Kairi until he went to the Organization with Hayner.
"Roxas, do you have any mid-terms coming up?" Namine asked, taking a cup from the tray the man had placed on the coffee table in front of them.
"A few, but I've been studying," he lied. Roxas hadn't opened a book all week. Luckily, since his and Namine's classes clashed, he was able to tell her he had been studying while she was in classes when really he was playing Madden. He swore, Namine was like his mother when it came to school.
"Lucky," she sighed. "I have two projects due by the end of next week… I need to get started." She took a sip and watched as a commercial for a new Jack Skellington movie came on the television. "Oh, it's so nice that Halloween's on a Saturday this year. We can go out and do something fun without exams the next day. Roxas, do you have any plans?"
Halloween was next Saturday? "Yeah, I have to help Axel with his show."
Namine pouted. "Aw, but it's Halloween. Can't you ask for that day off or something?" she asked like Roxas had any control over the matter.
"I don't think I can," he mumbled, scratching the back of his head. "But you can come, if you want. Their shows can get a little rowdy, but you can sit near the back." The idea of Namine fitting in with a crowd like the Organization kids almost made Roxas laugh. His fiancée was white collar at the least, and after seeing the front man of the band in the flesh, she had probably come up with some clear opinions of the man herself.
The look on her face at being propositioned to go to a 13 Hearts show was almost speechless. Her eyes widened for a moment, and she glanced to the table quickly. "Well… that's a nice offer, but if you're going to be busy the whole show, it wouldn't be much fun. I'd just get in the way." Roxas knew she'd say no. Namine pointed to the guitar and the amp. "Could you put those somewhere where they aren't in the way?"
Roxas sighed and nodded, cradling the guitar the way Axel taught him to and placing it softly on the feather down comforter in their bedroom. After another trip he placed the amp by his side of the bed and sat on the mattress, picking up the guitar and carefully balancing it in his lap.
The guitar was such a beautiful shade of red. It was the color of maraschino cherries that glittered like the sand in the moonlight. The pick guard was black with numerous scratches and gouges that it was amazing the rest of the guitar wasn't in worse wear. The strap was worn black leather tied securely to the top and base of the body. This guitar was a temple.
Roxas took the tortoise shell pick from between the strings and slowly started strumming. He started turning the tuning keys, noticing that with each turn in a different direction would make the notes higher or lower. He continued strumming and tuning until the sound was perfect.
He started humming to the tune of the strings that he plucked, wondering if he could come up with his own melody the way 13 Hearts did.
"Roxas! Can you try to be a little quieter? We're watching our show," Namine called from the living room. Roxas gave and exasperated sigh, blowing the bangs out of his eyes. He stood and walked to the door, shutting it possibly a bit louder than necessary. Taking his iPod out of his book bag, he put the buds into his ears and sat back down on the bed. Scrolling through the artists, right on the top of the list was 13 Hearts. He had put their music on his player in case he was every stuck on a tram in rush hour and wanted to listen to something new. That instance never came up, so he took the opportunity to listen to them while not disturbing the girls. On the bedside table was the small zine that Fuu had given him last night. Now was as good a time as any to give it a good read.
The cover was of a train with a wizard's hat as a smokestack. Instead of exhaust, there were stars and mystic swirl lines. For such a cheerful, fantasy-driven cartoon, there was a picture of a boy conducting the train with slick black hair that covered most of his face. Under the picture of the train was 'Magic Train' written in bold letters.
On the inside cover, it declared that it was the lucky seventh issue, and for the occasion it would interview seven bands. But first, there was a hand-written letter from the editor.
Magic Train: vol 1 Issue 7
Lucky Number Seven isn't a term you hear often in the rock community. It's not a lucky or blessed number by any means. I don't believe in luck and I don't believe in fate. That's why this zine has made it to its seventh issue. Nothing in life should ever be led by faith and chance. You make it the way you survive (in the same way you're destined to die the same way you live, right?) I've asked seven bands to sit down for an interview and talk about how they started and where they want to go. Hope and wishing never had anything to do with talent, which is what these musicians possess. Enjoy.
- Fuu Kuroyama
On the opposite side of the cover, the first page held a short table of contents. The lettering appeared to have been done by painstakingly tearing out individual letters from magazines and newspapers and taping them down. 13 Hearts was the last band interviewed, so Roxas flipped through the bulk of the zine, pausing only to look at the photos of the band with a younger looking Fuu standing next to them.
The picture for 13 Hearts was just Fuu and Axel standing together. The rest of the band wasn't in the shot, but judging from the background and Axel's haggard appearance it looked like it was right after a show. Roxas was amazed at how different Axel looked. His hair was much shorter, where now it was bright red easily reached his shoulders, then it was short and spiked, and in the black and white photograph appeared to be a darker color, although no telling what. He had his lip ring, but it wasn't gauged yet. The most noticeable difference were the diamond tattoos missing from underneath his eyes. If it weren't for the caption 'Axel Rose from 13 Hearts' under the image, Roxas wouldn't have ever guessed they were one in the same.
13 Hearts: Taking and Breaking
After 13 Hearts' seventh performance ever, I got a chance to sit down with rhythm guitarist Axel Rose. He talks about love, live, and his new band.
F: Welcome.
A: You're going to be saying more than one word at a time, right? (laughs) This is going to be the most awkward interview ever.
F: Do you want this or not?
A: Sure, sure. This is gonna be cute.
F: Okay, this is your first interview ever, so I'll be asking the questions fans want to know.
A: It's flattering that you think we have fans.
F: Where did you meet?
A: Well… you know how it happened! We all met in high school, go Traverse Titans!
F: How did you come up with the name 13 Hearts?
A: Well, it wasn't completely my idea. Your brother's really good at coming up with band names. 13 Hearts kinda has a ring to it, you think?
F: The day I believe he came up with a good idea will be the day I die.
A: So cute!
F: Okay. So you just finished playing your seventh set ever. Do you believe in the luck behind the number?
A: What, lucky number seven? I don't really believe in luck of numbers. I mean, I was born February second, so I guess 2 has always been my number. But really, I don't pay attention to stuff like that. I don't know if anyone in the band does.
F: What about your bassist?
A: Lucky Luxord? Yeah, well, he's completely different.
F: Where did you pick him up?
A: Somewhere between Vegas and Bastion. We were on the road and he had an 'ANYWHERE' sign with a guitar strapped to his back… I mean, these are the types of things that only happen in movies. We had to pick him up.
F: Anything else before we reach the character limit?
A: The band is so full of characters we probably reached the limit with our drummer alone.
F: We'll save him for another issue. Say goodbye to the readers, Axel.
A: Later, punks!
That was all the magazine had to say for the band. Roxas checked on other pages to make sure there wasn't anything else about 13 Hearts hidden in other articles. On the back page there was the publishing date, which was over two years ago. Roxas would have still been a senior in high school then.
All the while he had 13 Hearts playing on his iPod. The music had better sound quality than actual performances, but he still couldn't understand half of what Axel was screaming. He was slightly confused about the interview because it made it seem that Fuu had a brother in the band, but from his personal experience, none of the men in the band were related to her.
The zine was so old that the paper it was printed on was turning yellow around the edges. He wondered why Fuu would give such an old zine to him. As enthralling as this mystery was to him, his eyes started to get heavy and he started to doze off to the sounds of 13 Hearts playing in his ear buds.
"Roxas. Roxas, sweetie, wake up."
After feeling a gentle nudge on his shoulder, Roxas groaned and cracked open an eye. He saw the blurred image of Namine leaning over him. "What's up?" he murmured. "Kairi leave yet?"
"She left an hour ago. You fell asleep in your clothes." Namine, who was already in her nightgown and under the covers, leant back down to her side of the bed and clicked her lamp on the nightstand off. Roxas looked at the time on his alarm clock and noticed it was past eleven. He had spent more than two hours napping right before bedtime.
He stood up and groggily reached for his pajama bottoms that he left in a pile next to his bed. After changing clothes, he started to crawl back into bed when Namine stopped him. "Put them in the hamper," she muttered through the comforter. Roxas sighed and snatched his clothes up from the floor, going into their bathroom and shoving them in the hamper. By the time he got back to the bed, he wasn't sleepy anymore, but it was obvious Namine was. It wouldn't have killed him to sleep in his clothes. Now he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep until much later. Situations like this were what TV Land was made for.
oooOOOoooOOOoooOOOoooOOOooo
Roxas sat in his seat in the large lecture hall. Today was the mid-term exam for World History, and he didn't study. His stomach clenched with the standard 'you're screwed' nervous cramps.
"You have an hour and fifteen minutes," the professor explained as the teaching assistants walked up each isle and handed out the tests. The students were under strict rules not to flip the paper over to read the prompt for the essay they had to write. After all the exams were handed out, and the TAs had returned to the front of the lecture hall, the professor raised his hand. "Begin."
"Please be about religion, please be about religion, please please please…" Roxas whispered under his breath.
He flipped the paper over and read the prompt quickly.
"Why didn't the early Amazon River develop great civilizations as did the Tigris, Nile, Huang He, and Indus Rivers? Focus on geo-political, migratory, and biological reasons for cultural development."
Dammit, dammit, DAMMIT.
Who's bright idea was it to create a World History class? There was way too much history in the world to cover in one lousy semester. Roxas bit at his pen cap while trying to come up with a good thesis statement.
All around him he could hear the sounds of pens brushing against paper, no doubt coming up with amazing arguments with citations and end notes and perfect grammar and everything. Roxas barely remembered where the Indus River was on a map, much less what civilization grew near it.
While trying to come up with the perfect opening sentence that was sure to impress his TA so much that she wouldn't have to bother reading the rest of the paper to give him an A, Roxas started drumming his pen on the edge of his desk. He even began tapping his foot where the bass should go. It was a very familiar rhythm to him, because the song was the only thing he had listened to all week.
"Excuse me, you're causing a distraction!" one of the TAs called from patrolling isle down the middle of the seats. Roxas didn't realize he had gotten so loud, but continued anyway, only a bit softer.
Your affable smirk looked so alive
In the darkest day no way to survive
I took this deep dive.
Roxas added another sentence to his essay. Something about the geology of rivers and streams how sediment got transferred. Too bad this wasn't a biology paper. A TA stood and walked to the chalkboard, erasing the time remaining written on it and writing that there was just an hour left.
Your eyes were the genuine sky,
On these glass wings I try
To reach you and fly.
This was the part where the guitar would drop out for a moment before kicking back in with the drums. Luxord would have a heavy bass solo, almost masked by Axel's guitar, but Roxas knew it was there. He tapped the rhythm on his desk while adding another sentence briefly bullshitting some cultural movements that would have happened near the Tigris River.
You gave your whole
I lost control
I had your soul
AND YOU HAD MINE, FUCKER!
Axel had an amazing screaming voice. Whenever Roxas had tried to scream, honestly, he sounded high pitched and sometimes his voice would crack. This was the point in the song where Axel started shouting and yelling instead of singing, and Roxas wasn't exactly sure what came next. There was another moment where the music instantaneously stopped and left alone Axel's vocals before kicking in again.
This wasn't meant to last.
OH! And when I pinned you to bed
When I gave you head
With the screams unsaid
I didn't know- never known-
YOU WERE DEAD!
Before Roxas could stop himself he realized that he had written the lyrics to the song on his exam paper, and he had written in pen. He cursed to himself and started scratching at his blue book madly. He quickly scribbled an anecdote about how the Amazon was situated in a jungle habitat and how that would be unsuitable for human living. Once again, a TA walked to the chalkboard and replaced the one hour remained with a half hour. Did he really just lose a half hour to daydreaming of 13 Hearts?
Now he had an entire side of a page written. He hadn't touched on politics yet. Roxas wasn't as politically charged as his friends Olette and Pence were, but now he wished he were so this essay would be easier. He couldn't tell the difference between Libertarians and Librarians, much less the politics of ancient civilizations.
Gone! Missing since the moment we met
You gave me such a sweat
Just one look and I was wet, kid
I'll always remember, never forget
You pretty little brunette
Your blue eyes were such a threat
Axel must have gone through a bad breakup after writing this song. It was 'I Cried My Bleeding Heart Out For You,' which sounded like he was really upset after breaking up with her… or after paying closer attention to the lyrics, him?
"Okay, and that's time, folks," the professor called from the front of the hall. The scattered students that were still working on their papers scribbled in their conclusions. "Everyone turn in their blue books. I want to go home." Roxas looked down at his blue book. He was only a page and a half in, and he never brought up a whisper about politics or names of the ancient civilizations. Fucking civilizations…
Roxas wrote a quick note about time constraints at the end of his paper, saying that he tried his best but just couldn't finish with the time allotted. And pigs could fly. He stood and walked down the steps, handing the book to a TA sitting behind a table.
Even though he was positive he obliterated that exam, he was glad it was over. That was his last mid-term for the season, and now he could thankfully sit back and relax on Friday night. Of course, his fiancée had other plans.
"You want to go out?" Roxas sighed, looking into her baby blue puppy dog eyes. All he wanted to do was fall asleep on the couch. Going out required Namine dressing him in uncomfortable clothes and trying to find a parking spot. Since it was the day before Halloween, there would probably be more traffic in the club district than usual.
"Please, Roxy? You've been so busy the past few weekends and with testing finally being over it could be a good chance to unwind." Yeah. For you. "What d'ya say?"
Roxas gave an exasperated sighed and covered his face. "Nams, seriously? I just want to sleep…"
As if expecting that reply, Namine stepped her pout up a notch. "Aw, c'mon. I was out with Kairi last weekend and I bought this scandalous little dress to wear. I'll look so hot with you Roxy, c'mon!"
Roxas almost choked on his spit. "What? Namine!"
"Just one night out. It's the least a fiancé can give his fiancée, please."
Before Roxas had a chance to complain again, she scuttled into the bedroom and returned with an insanely short white dress on a hanger. The hem was lined with dainty lace. Roxas was almost certain that if she wore that dress her underwear would peek out even while standing up. There was no way in hell he was going to let her go outside in that.
"Burn it with fire."
"But I thought you'd like it," Namine sulked, losing a bit of gleam in her raspberry blue eyes.
"I do like it," Roxas told her. Of course he liked it, he just didn't want every creep on the street liking it as well. "Can't you wait until next weekend or something?"
She shook her head. "Next Monday I have portfolio reviews. I'll be in the studio all weekend."
Roxas tried to weigh the pros and cons of the situation. If he did go out tonight, he'd have to buy Namine drinks and pay for the covers, which would put him out a lot of money. If he didn't go, he'd be on Namine's bad side and she wouldn't talk to him for days. "Fine."
Namine clapped her hands happily and rushed into the bathroom. "You're the best, sweetie. I'm going to get ready." While the shower water was running, Namine stepped into the bedroom wearing only her towel. She walked to the closet and started rummaging through Roxas' side.
"What're you doing?" he asked warily from the closet door. She turned to him and grinned.
"Picking out your outfit for the tonight! I have the cutest idea!"
Roxas nodded solemnly, trying to hide his grimace from her until he at least faced the opposite direction. "…Great."
xxxXXXxxx
I'm so sleepy. So my parents live in town and only a few blocks away from my dentist office. To avoid rush-hour traffic (which is stupid where I live. Like it's something we're famous for, it's so bad.) I stayed at their place last night. My dad is old and apparently doesn't sleep, so he kept me away late and night and then I heart shuffling around the house at 5:45am. I missed my bed and computer so much T_T. The dentist said I clench my jaw when I sleep and it's fucking with my teeth and jawline so I have to start wearing a mouth guard when I sleep. GOODBYE SEXY YOUTH. HELLO MOUTH GUARD. On top of that my appointment started late so I had to book it outta there so I could get to my computer at home and upload today's chapter before driving to work.
And in general upkeep news: I had to do some very minor edits to previous chapters because… I decided to write another chapter. I don't want to say what it's about because I won't really wanna spoil anything, but it has a lot to do with Sora and Demyx and the origins of their weird friendship. It'll fit into the story before the final chapters. I'm excited about it, and I hope returning readers see it as a bonus for putting up with me… It's been surprising a lot of fun writing these characters again.
/UPDATE FEB 03 2015/ I MADE AN BALLAD-THEME 8TRACK PLAYLIST! A link is in my profile page so check it out!
So I hope everyone has an awesome week! See you next Monday!