A Wishful Thought: Why am I so bad at updating stories? I will never know. ToT I blame life.
ANYWAY, I guess that it's easy for me to say that the story finally started picking up last chapter, huh? XD There's not much for me to say on this chapter. Other than apologizing for this incredibly late update, of course.
I have some really happy news, though: I'VE RECEIVED MAIL FROM OXFORD, CAMBRIDGE, L'ACADÉMIE DE PARIS, L'ACADÉMIE DE FRANCE, LA ACADEMIE DE ESPAÑA, PRINCETON, COLUMBIA, AND THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. OH SHIT, YOU GUYS, I PRACTICALLY PEED MYSELF WHEN I SAW THE PACKETS. :'D It's nothing big like "OMFG, COME TO OUR SCHOOL. NOW." It's more like, "We are interested in you, and are interested in keeping track of your progression through high school. For the time being, we'd like to offer you a position in our elite Summer Programs…"
It's too bad that I can't go to any of them. -_-;;
OH. AND MEGACON IS TOMORROW, SO I NEED TO UPDAT E THIS BEFORE THEN. LAKFJAL;KFJALKJ
I'M GOING TO MEET TOM FELTON AND VIC MIGNOGNA, YOU GUYS.
BUT WHO CARES ABOUT MY INSIGNIFICANT LIFE! XD Let's get on with the story!
I'd like to thank: TwinToshiro, Jarm957, Oblivion fantasy, Someday's Future Dreamer, jetpackswayses, Poopsickle. Stick, Cupcake Lerman, and Sookdeo for all the reviews. It means so much to me, you guys! :'D
Don't own any of the songs here, you guys. :)
Bold is when the main singer is singing.
Italics is when the backup singer(s) are singing.
Bold Italics is when the main singer is singing with the backup singer(s).
Oh. And remember how I said that Battle of the Bands wasn't actually all that important to the story, but that it would tie in later and be really important? Well, that time is now. ;D
Now, since I owe you this chapter, I won't hold you from it any longer. Here's the next chapter of Nonexistent!
I don't consider myself an optimist and I don't consider myself a pessimist.
I don't worry too much when it comes to emotions or the lack thereof.
I don't care much about the future and the past is something that only matters remotely.
But hell if I know anything. Everything I know feels so screwed up.
I mean, I'm not even sure if I can trust my own mother anymore.
N 0 N 3 X 1 $ + E N +: Life Sucks.
Date- The end of January?
Terra/Aqua/Lightning/Vanitas: I haven't seen them since the last round of Battle of the Bands. I'm seeing them tonight again though. Congratulations to us, we somehow made it to the second round.
Demyx: Clueless as ever.
Larxene: I think she's still in the middle of initiation to become a member of the Organization.
Axel: . . . . . . . . . . .
Uncle Cid/Tifa/Cloud: Only see them at school. And I think that they're trying to ignore me as much as your teachers possible can.
Kairi: Having issues with Sora. Kissed me for some reason I still have yet to understand.
Hayner: Having issues with Olette. The idiot's too idiotic to do anything about it though.
Olette: Grandmother died. I think she's living in the Land of Departure now.
Pence: Utterly normal.
Riku: There's some kind of tension between Xion and him, but hell if I know what it is.
Xion: There's some kind of tension between Riku and her, but hell if I know what it is.
Selphie: Still stalking Irvine. I'm surprised he hasn't requested a restraining order yet.
Tidus: Still obsessing over Yuna. Most likely hopeless.
Hope: Continues to try and figure out "what's up with me," but I still can't find it in me to tell him. He's been acting… suspicious lately.
Mom: Still acting awkward around us. I. . . I don't know how to act around her anymore.
Zack: Gone…..?
Sora: Going through what I'm going through, and acting like how I'm acting. Lifeless.
Naminé: I. . . Don't know anymore.
Cold weather seems almost inescapable. No matter how warmly you try to dress, bitter cold always swarms your body, and you just can't get rid of it.
I let out a sigh, and did my best to convince myself that the frigid air around me just didn't exist. That was pretty easy since I had been pretending that a lot of things didn't exist lately.
But you can't ignore your problems for forever. Which is why I decided to write them down on a pathetic scrap of paper that I found stuffed in the back pocket of my jeans.
How incredibly convenient.
"You're ready, aren't you?"
I wasn't even fazed from the sudden appearance of Sora at my side. I think that over the past few weeks I had become accustomed to having him popping out of nowhere and acting like it was the most normal thing in the entire world.
I grunted in affirmative, and together, we continued down the driveway.
Between the two of us, it was absolutely silent. There was absolutely no conversation going on, because we were each absorbed in our thoughts. And I guess I'm starting to believe in that twin telepathy thing Sora had been talking about the year previous since I felt like I knew that we were thinking the exact same things.
I guess we just weren't speaking about them.
It felt like ages, but eventually we arrived at the Land of Departure.
People were in a frenzy around us while music continued to blast, but Sora and I just forced our way through: we stopped feeling bad about shoving past people a while ago. If we had places to be, we had places to be. It was their fault for getting in the way.
"Oi! Sora, Roxas!"
The two of us let out a mutual sigh, before pivoting on our heels to face the silver-haired boy that was bounding towards us. He wore a black, rather simple Balmain Coat, a crimson red scarf wrapped around his neck, beat-up black Vans, a cup of Starbucks in his left hand, and a shining grin that made me wince.
Holy shit. How could he so freaking happy?
When he arrived directly in front of us however, his smile seemed to falter. "You guys… You look… bad… Is everything alright?"
No. Hell no.
I think he seemed to realize the stupidy of his question, as he quickly changed the subject, "Well, Axel picked a pretty decent song for tonight then." Of course he did. Sora wasn't doing so well when it came to putting on performances for upbeat songs, even with Vanitas trying to talk him into it from the sidelines. It wasn't until we forced Axel to realize this that he finally changed the song: two weeks before our scheduled performance. "I'm sure you guys'll pull it off perfectly!" At our blank looks, his expression turned almost as bleak as ours and he muttered a halfhearted, "I'll bring you to the rest of the group."
We said nothing as we quietly trailed behind him, stepping through the path that he was clearing for us. For some reason, all these people seemed to part like the Red Sea for Hope, which I couldn't help but not understand.
I felt the confusion begin to draw my eyebrows together, and purposely took in the crowd, which I soon realized wasn't just a crowd of random audience-members. No, of course not. We were nearing the makeshift "backstage" area, so most of the people that we were passing were either crew members hired by the Organization or volunteers that were working for the Land of Departure. Yet, all of them were allowing Hope a direct passageway through the precise center of the mass of people.
And on closer inspection, I realized that a majority of them were trying to avoid looking in his direction.
This just wasn't making any sense.
I flickered my eyes towards Sora to see if he was catching any of this, but his expression looked as bored and passive as it usually did nowadays.
A small frown took place on my lips, but I chose to say nothing at the time, despite the fact that my heart was screaming at me to ask questions about pretty much everything.
Thankfully, I was forced out of my thoughts when we finally arrived at our destination, and I was greeted with tired, but forcibly excited expressions, along with a few genuinely ecstatic faces. "Look at who finally decided to show up!"
Sora rolled his eyes before bluntly stating, "Shut up, Tidus."
If it was anyone that wasn't in our close friend group, they probably would've been at least mildly offended, but not Tidus. In fact, he seemed like he didn't even register the carefully laced annoyance in Sora's voice. "No, thank you! Shutting up is booooring. And I'm so freaking excited!"
My twin raised a single eyebrow at Tidus' obliviousness, but it seemed to quickly settle in that he was speaking to Tidus, so of course he wouldn't have noticed the tint in his voice. At the realization of this, my brother allowed a minute smile to grace his features which, though barely a twitch of the lip, lit up his features to extreme levels. Then again, it wasn't that big of an accomplishment since it didn't take much anymore. With the dark bags, miserable blue eyes, pale skin, and generally morose aura, he definitely beat Kairi in the "excessively depressed" department.
Then again, it never really seemed like she was even trying.
Speaking of Kairi… There was no sign of her. Or any of the members of her band. The only familiar faces I saw were those that belonged to Hayner, Riku, Tidus, and of course Hope and Sora. "Where's…?" I allowed myself to trail off as I turned to face Hope and Sora, who were still to my left, thinking that they'd answer me so that I wouldn't have to expend energy using more words.
"—Vanitas?"
I felt my eyebrows furrow together, but before I could say anything, Hope waved away Sora's curiosity, "Probably just busy with all of the acts."
Riku nodded, "Yeah. Out of the one hundred ten people that auditioned, can you believe that we were actually picked to be part of the top fifty? It's pretty miraculous if you ask me."
Hayner simply crossed his arms, "Yeah. I doubt that it'll last for long though."
This statement caused Tidus to promptly whack the back of the brown-eyed boy's head, ignoring the responsive scowl and yell of anger. "Shut up! You'll jinx it!"
The sight was enough to elicit a short chuckle from me, but it quickly cut itself off.
"Axel's co-MC tonight, right?"
"Yeah. I guess that they realized how idiotic it was to let Demyx host the whole thing all by himself."
Tidus erupted in a fit of laughter, before adding on, "There were so many awkward silences during a freaking concert that I guess that they realized that they had to do something about it."
Sora muttered a blunt, "With Axel hosting, there will be anything but silence."
"Nonexistent to the stage? Nonexistent, to the stage."
"Well, here we go you guys!" A large grin was on Hope's face as he threw his arms around Sora and I.
Our main response was a tired grunt.
"…And that's the story of how Demyx came to be an idiot."
The crowd erupted in laughter, while a certain blonde-haired "jenius" with a gravity-defying mullet glared at his fellow MC on the stage, "H-Hey! That's not nice!"
"Yes. And neither is the world. It's something you'll just have to get used to. I can't hold your hand forever. Especially since I'm not gay that way. And because when I'm busy having sex with—"
Demyx let out a hysterical scream, and immediately sprinted away from Axel, who was cackling like a maniac, while the crowd continued to roar in an unstoppable laughter.
"Anyway, I'm not supposed to have favorites, but oh well. The next band has my favorite person in the whole wide world in it!" He paused for a moment, looking around nervously. As though satisfied, he pretended to whisper something to the audience, while talking into the mike, "My favorite minion, of course."
"Axel!"
His eyes widened, before he stood up a little straighter, awkwardly looking to the upper-right side of the stage, to where I assumed the manager of his mike was. In a low hiss, he asked, "I thought you said she couldn't hear me from where she was! ? I thought you made sure of that!"
A blonde woman with hair that was (for the most part) slicked back stomped onto stage, a plush robe clumsily pulled over her. She grabbed the mike from a still cowering Demyx, before marching up towards Axel, who looked like he was about to shit himself. Her green eyes narrowed into slits as she turned her gaze onto him, "No. I could hear you loud and clear, Axel."
The pyromaniac immediately turned his head away from her, so that it looked like he was mumbling to his shoulder when he said, "Oh shit."
Despite all this, the crowd was still eating up. I guess that they were just in love with the psychotic mess that was Axel ohmygawdimonfire. Seeing this, the redhead couldn't help but crack a small smile that somehow managed to even make Larxene twitch her lip upwards. "Well, whatever. Without further ado, I present to you, Nonexistent!"
As the stage blackened, the crowd cheered wildly. Although it was probably just for the hell of it. I doubt that they actually remembered which band we were since there had been so many bands that had played last time.
Oh well.
With a minute nod from Sora that we could barely see through the darkness, Hayner and I opened up with our guitar and bass, before Sora started singing, initiating a single spotlight to light up over him.
Give me any reason to believe,
'cause I swear I'm done here.
'Cause I've seen a bigger picture,
and I'm looking for some answers…
Tidus hit his drum, and somewhere in the fray, Hope began to play his keyboard as well.
Tell me that it's worth it 'cause I'm doing all I can to fight it,
and I've never been this scared,
and my moment's finally here…
Time's racing…
Please slow down…
I gotta find my way out.
I'm hopeless…
But hoping…
My lungs won't fail me now, 'cause
I'm still breathing.
With the entrance of the chorus, all of the spotlights began to flicker around the stage, while the crowd broke out of their silence and began cheering.
It's hard to be a man,
but I'm doing all I can.
I'm ready to give this all I have,
I'm ready to be amazed.
'Cause I'm standing here alone,
trying to make this life my own,
and nothing will keep this heart from beating,
I'm still breathing…
Sora wasn't running around the stage like he had been doing during his last performance. This time, he was gripping the mike that was still attached to the stand, holding on to if for dear life as he continued to sing.
Promise me some dignity if I were to stand and die here,
'cause my heart is somewhere else…
It's a pain I've never felt.
Time's racing…
Please slow down…
I've gotta find my way out.
I'm hopeless…
But hoping…
My lungs won't fail me now, 'cause
I'm still breathing.
It's hard to be a man,
but I'm doing all I can.
I'm ready to give this all I have,
I'm ready to be amazed.
'Cause I'm standing here alone,
trying to make this life my own,
and nothing will keep this heart from beating,
I'm still breathing!
Where… Do we all find love?
Where… Do we all find love?
Instead of running and dancing around the stage like he had done before, Sora seemed to settle for banging his head against the air in time with the music, which seemed good enough for the fans, who seemed to be eating up the emotion that he allowing to pour out through his voice. At this point, I couldn't help but realize that even though Sora never really tries during our rehearsals, whenever he starts singing in front of a crowd, he'll do anything to become a crowd pleaser.
I guess it's a part of him that'll always remain the same.
It's hard to be a man,
but I'm doing all I can.
I'm ready to give this all I have,
I'm ready to be amazed. (I'm still breathing…)
'Cause I'm standing here alone,
trying to make this life my own. (I'm still breathing…)
And nothing will keep this heart from beating,
I'm still breathing!
The song ended with a punch, and I found that there was a smile evident on all of our faces, which made the minute smile plastered onto my features widen.
But as soon as I glanced at my brother, the emotion quickly faltered.
Why… was Sora crying?
Hayner, Tidus, and Hope had already made their way offstage since they hadn't stopped to wait for him, and it seemed like the crowd was too busy cheering to notice my twin's tears. His face was scrunched up, the kind of face that someone makes when they're overcome with emotion and trying to stop the emotion from completely taking over.
Unfortunately, it looked like Sora was losing this battle with himself.
I immediately rushed to his side, putting my arm around his neck as I led him offstage.
"And that was Nonexistent! See? I told you that you'd love them!"
"S-Sora? Are you okay?"
My chocolate-haired brother was stumbling clumsily in the direction I was leading him, before finally stopping to sit on an amp that didn't seem to be being used. The rest of the band had realized a few seconds after they left the stage that something weird was up with Sora, and now wavered behind me awkwardly, obviously as confused about the situation as I was.
I know that my brother had managed to stop his tears not too long ago, but interestingly enough, he kept his brown hair shadowing his face.
Maybe he was embarrassed? Was my brother that type of person?
I frowned, before crouching enough so that I would be on eyelevel with my brother. As I desperately searched his face for at least some sign of life, Tidus cautiously continued to poke his limp arm. This continued onward for a couple of seconds, before my twin sporadically threw his head back, slamming it against the makeshift wall.
Luckily, it only trembled slightly against the sudden force.
However, the shrieks that came from the other side provided some evidence that Sora's brash movement had caused at least something to happen. In the blink of an eye, several pouting women appeared before us, a majority of them with their eyebrows creased together in a mix of confusion and anger.
A certain blonde with frightening blue-green eyes stood in the front of the group, arms crossed angrily over her chest, "The hell was that for! ? You know that that's our makeshift dressing room, right?"
I felt someone come up behind us, and after a quick flickering of my gaze, I realized that Riku had finally managed to fight his way through the crowd and back towards us. "Calm down, Larxene. It was just an accident."
Her glare seemed to intensify as she got ready to grumble out a retort, but surprisingly Kairi—Yes, Kairi. You read that right—spoke before Larxene could do anything.
"S-Sora…"
At the mere mention of his name (or perhaps, it was her voice), Sora immediately sat up and looked in our direction.
Stormy blue met gentle violet.
He opened his mouth to respond, but no words seemed to form. At this realization, a look of frustration crossed his features, before he allowed his head to fall back onto the wall, making it tremble once more. At a loss for words myself, I allowed my gaze to meander towards Kairi.
It seemed that her and her band weren't even close to ready for their performance. Larxene and Selphie were both sporting plush robes, while Olette, Xion, and Kairi seemed to be comfortable in old sweats.
Immediately, I racked my brain for some sort of explanation, when it finally clicked: Kairi's band was so popular that they were chosen to be the big finale since the Organization figured that since everybody would want to see them, they'd all stay later than they usually would. At least, that's what Demyx told me.
How reliable that information is, I'll never know.
THE POINT IS, we virtually stood no chance against them.
Larxene still looked relatively annoyed at the whole situation, and had taken to forcibly moving Sora. I guess my brother was heavier than I thought he was, because after trying to push him off the amp for a while, the blonde haired vixen seemed to give up and settle for sitting on the half that wasn't occupied by Sora's butt.
Selphie, who had originally been just as pissed off as Larxene, seemed ecstatic as she excitedly turned her head back and forth from Kairi and Sora, obviously expecting something big to happen.
Xion and Olette seemed to be in their own little worlds, only remotely interested in what was going on between Kairi and Sora. From what I could tell, they were trying to avoid looking at any of us, but who knows how accurate that observation is.
At that point, a question finally muddled itself into my mind: Where the hell was Naminé? And Vanille? Weren't they supposed to be here?
But before I could ask anything, something pretty… random happened.
Sora stood up, stumbled over to Kairi, fell to his knees at her feet while clutching her hand, and just full-on sobbed.
In that one moment, it was like nothing else existed. The aura changed dramatically to the point that we could barely hear the music blasting from the speakers. Kairi's eyes had widened significantly and she stared at Sora in minute disbelief. Tidus and Riku were looking at each other with incredulous, grinning expressions. Olette and Xion were looking at the two with wide eyes, but there were small smiles on each of their lips. Hayner's jaw had literally dropped to the floor, while Selphie was grinning from ear to ear, clapping lightly, and Larxene was awkward twitching her eye.
And yeah, I guess there was a little part of me that was happy that Sora was willingly interacting with the auburn-haired teen, but the majority of me was screaming, "WHAT THE HELL! ? MY BROTHER'S HAVING A FREAKING EMOTIONAL BREAKDOWN! HE NEVER HAD ONE OF THOSE IN FRONT OF ME!"
N-Not that I was jealous or anything….
AHEM.
After Kairi got over her initial shock, she awkwardly stroked his hair. At her touch, Sora's sobbing became more hectic and erratic, and at this, Kairi herself began crying. She fell to her knees as well, hugging him as though he was her only anchor to the entire world to gentle. In fact, he was holding on to her just as tightly.
They were suddenly a mess of pale skin, tangled limbs, and salty tears.
The smiles that were on the faces of the others hesitantly disappeared as they averted their eyes from the two individuals embracing on the floor, before Selphie muttered a, "Um… Let's go to another room?"
We all immediately nodded, not wanting to get in the way of the sudden reunion between the two teens, and promptly left the room.
All of us settled for meandering towards the large field behind the makeshift stage to sit in the freshly-mowed lawn. Sure, it was still super cold, but for some reason, it didn't feel as cold as it did before. I mean, my mind still registered it as being cold, but my body didn't feel as uncomfortable as it did this morning. Sunset was just starting now, and the lovely shades of the various oranges, reds, yellows, pinks, and even purples illuminated the sky perfectly.
Naminé.
At the mere mention of her name, I felt myself perk up a bit. I looked around for a certain silver-haired boy, the only one that I felt could really provide any reliable information as to the whereabouts of the blonde-haired teen. "H-Hope?"
Olette shook her head abruptly, "He left a while ago. Didn't you notice?"
I felt something inside in me drop, as I quickly whirled my torso around to face her, "He did? When?"
The green-eyed girl paused to ponder it for a moment, before she stated, "A little after Larxene spazzed on you guys, but before it got really awkward in the room."
At the mention of her name, Larxene shot daggers at her fellow bandmember, but the brunette seemed to pay no attention to it. I nodded slowly, before suddenly acting on random impulse, "All right, I'm going to go find him." I was met with mostly bored stares, or empty expressions as I stood up from the frozen ground. "Anyone wanna come with?"
It was silent for a moment, before Tidus and Selphie started some other random conversation about God knows what, and it clicked that no one really wanted to come with me.
I felt myself roll my eyes as I walked back towards the "arena."
Tch. Who needs them anyway?
The thing that sucks about looking for one person in a gigantic mess of people, is that… Well, it's kind of obvious, isn't it?
It's something that's practically impossible. I don't really recommend it for anyone.
I had been searching for about fifteen minutes, and yet, I had found no trace of the specific teen. Exasperated, I allowed myself to throw my head backwards to let out a low groan.
"Uh… We're going to be having an intermission now… It wasn't planned, but… Well, you know. Boss' Orders. And you can't defy those. Especially when your boss is my boss."
Demyx's awkwardness ended up coming off as completely adorable in the eyes of the girls in the crowd, which was obvious from the cooing in the audience. Seeing this, the blonde-haired man seemed satisfied as he jogged off the stage. It seemed that Axel had already left in advance.
Maybe it was my fate, or maybe it was just pure luck, but suddenly, a thought consumed me: Not this crowd, not the makeshift stage located behind the orphanage, but the actual orphanage itself. And before I allowed myself time to think it over, I felt myself turn on my heel and begin marching towards the general direction of The Land of Departure.
It didn't take that long, and once I got there, I easily threw open the door.
To find that it was empty.
I felt a small frown come upon my features, already moving to leave.
But before I could, I heard a sudden scream, followed by an immediate roar of anger and a low hiss.
Immediately, my eyes widened. My brain was screaming for me to get my ass out of there, but I guess my heart just wouldn't let me. It was clear where the noise was coming from in the otherwise empty building, and without another thought, I darted in that general direction.
After turning several sharp corners and running up two different flights of stairs, I had finally made it.
The commotion had become louder than ever, and since there was only one door in the entire hallway, it was obvious where I needed to go next. Slowly, I walked closer and closer towards it, trying to do my best to ignore the incessant pounding of my heart.
In no time, I was standing directly in front of the doorway, my shaking hand resting on the doorknob to open the door. Thankfully, something possessed me to stop and look through the glass in the door first.
And the sight was…
Well, I'll let you finish that sentence for yourself.
From what I could see, the entire Organization (not including Larxene. Remember, she's not an actually member of it yet.) stood with the man called Xemnas at their head, each and every one of them cloaked in their trademark black coar. All of the members were armed with various different weapons, all pointed towards three individuals on the other side of the room. Most of their expressions were twisted with malice, or there was absolutely no expression on them at all. In all actuality, it seemed that a majority of them were find with killing off their enemies without a second thought.
And it looked like Axel was one of them.
Out of all the Organization members, only Demyx seemed to be wavering. The young man was shaking as he pointed an object that looked more like an instrument than anything towards the other side of the room. His eyes were wide, and I could see the sweat near his hairline.
I'm honestly not sure which half of the room surprised me more: The half with the entire Organization looking like they were ready to kill someone, or the half with Naminé, Hope and Vanille.
Yeah, that's right. The Organization was pointing their weapons at Naminé, Hope, and Vanille.
Naminé looked as though she was on the verge of tears as she clutched the heart-shaped locket around her neck. She was wearing a white pea coat with a white beanie pulled over her head. It seemed that she had been knocked down by something as she was on the floor. Hope and Vanille each stood on opposite sides of her, both of them taking protective stances. Hope had thrown off his coat to one side of the room, now sporting only a black sweater and his red scarf. Vanille was panting and seemed out of breath as she tried to stop the blood flow from her arm, still managing to maintain her protective aura. None of them were armed. Which scared me. A lot.
My body had run cold and I knew that I was trembling severely. Despite knowing that I couldn't just let something happen, I found myself backing away from the doorway with wide eyes. And I probably would've continued backing away until I was out of the entire Orphanage if I hadn't bumped into something on my way.
My heart stopped in that single instant.
"Ven! ?"
"No. It's just one of Hope's friends."
At the familiar voice, I felt part of me calm down. When I finally turned around, I was met with four new individuals, each one with gleaming weapons, probably getting ready to enter the fray as well.
Lightning stood at the head of the group, a shimmering weapon that I remembered was called a gunblade in her hand. Terra, Aqua, and Vanitas were close behind her, the three of them wielding strange swords.
It was obvious that they were getting ready to fight, but… for which side?
Aqua's eyebrows drew together as she whispered, "Roxas… Get out of the way."
My mind was screaming for me to get out of their way, but I… couldn't.
"Roxas."
I felt myself shake my head slowly.
At this, Vanitas stepped in front of the other three, a stony glare etched onto his face. He had a threatening aura surrounding him, which was only intensified by the pointed weapon he held in his right hand. "Move now. Or I'll cut you down myself."
"Van!"
Lightning shook her head softly, lightly nudging my brother's lookalike out of her way, "Listen, Roxas. If you don't move now, those bastards are probably going to hurt Naminé."
They're going to help them.
I knew that I was still shaking, but I managed to sidestep out of their way. At this, a small smirk appeared on the pink-haired woman's features. Immediately afterwards, she led the charge down the hallway towards the door, the other three still following behind her. Before they had considerably neared the door, Aqua whirled around to face me with eyes that showed concern for my wellbeing, "Roxas, we'll straighten things out. Go back to the stage. We'll be there soon."
I opened my mouth to refuse her, but that look in her eyes made it practically impossible.
Before I completely registered what I was doing, I found myself running out of the orphanage.
When I had made it back to the backstage area where most of the others had returned, I collapsed onto the floor.
"Roxas..."
"Is he okay?"
"Wake up, bro…"
"What… happened to him?"
"How long has he been out?"
"I'm kind of worried now…"
"Roxas… Please…"
My eyes flickered open to the sight of several worried faces.
Including… her's.
"N-Naminé…?"
She looked startled for a moment, before a nervous smile appeared on her face, "You all right?"
Slowly, I sat up from my position on the ground, "Y-Yeah…"
Many of the people that surrounded me seemed satisfied at this and left almost immediately after the words left my mouth. But a couple stayed. Namely Sora, Hayner, and of course, Naminé. After looking around a little more, I spotted Hope leaning against the makeshift wall, still without his jacket despite that the night felt colder than ever, his silvery hair shadowing his features. As though he could feel the weight of someone staring at him, he looked up with a smile that looked incredibly forced on his features. "Glad to know that you're okay."
I nodded slowly.
There was something… I needed to ask him something…
I furrowed my eyes in confusion, trying to remember why I had so desperately been searching for him before.
And that was when the memory came flooding back.
My eyes widened considerably, as I practically screamed, "Vanille! I-Is she okay! ?"
Hayner and Sora looked at me curiously as the former muttered, "What are you talking about?"
I shook my head, "No… No… She was here. I saw her."
Sora shook his head as well, "No, she wasn't, Roxas… Are you sure you're okay?"
I shook my head more violently this time, "No... I know she was here. Right, Hope? Naminé?" My eyes immediately darted towards the two of them.
There was something unreadable in their eyes, and in Naminé's case, fear. However, Hope frowned at me as he stated, "From what I know, she's been at home the whole day with a fever."
I felt my insides run cold again. Because I knew he was lying.
Hayner let out an awkward laugh, "Hey, maybe you hit your head a little harder than you thought."
The rest chuckled softly with him, while I said nothing.
I… Didn't imagine the whole thing… Did I?
"And for our final act of the night…"
"The band that we all know everyone loves…"
Those aren't Axel and Demyx's voices…
"Kairi's band is on!"
I glanced at Riku, who was smiling now as he walked towards the wings of the stage to get a good look at the performance, quickly followed by a large mass of people. Sora glanced at me, a peaceful sort of smile on his face as he helped me up, "You sure you're all right?"
I forced myself to nod. There was no point in worrying Sora.
He walked with me towards the front of the group so that we could have the best view.
However, I still managed to hear Naminé worriedly murmur to Hope, "He… He couldn't possibly have seen, right?"
"…And here they are, performing a cover of Breathe by Paramore!"
The crowd went crazy as Kairi's band took center-stage, before gradually dying down to allow them to start.
Except they never did.
In my band, we had this sort of unspoken rule: If you're playing an instrument, you don't start playing until you get the signal from your lead singer. Because awkwardness ensues when everyone's playing, but no one's singing.
So maybe Kairi's band had the same basic rules. All of the instrumental members were giving Kairi curious looks, save Larxene, who was impatiently glaring at the auburn-haired girl that stood center-stage.
Compared to their outfits for their last performance, what they were wearing was pretty simple. It was obvious that Kairi was the real star in this performance. Olette, Selphie, Xion and Larxene were each dressed in simple dresses that varied slightly in design, each ranging in colors between light gray to black. On the other hand, Kairi was dressed in a light coral strapless dress. The waistband was jeweled and when it caught the light, they were practically blinding. The skirt part of the dress seemed simple enough, but what made it look special was that there were sash-like ruffles that ran vertically down the waistline of the dress, short in the front, long in the back. Her auburn hair was pulled back from her face for the most part, only her bangs remaining. The rest of her hair had been rolled into large curls. Makeup was coated on her face, but this time, not that much. I assume that it was just a bit of foundation, blush, mascara, eyeliner, and lipgloss. Infact, she looked a lot like her old self…
I wonder how they managed to transform her so quickly.
I also wonder how I managed to describe that dress. Like, seriously? This time, Selphie didn't help me. I did it all by myself.
Oh yeah. Back to the important things.
Kairi squirmed uncomfortably under the single spotlight over her, before taking a deep breath, and tapping the mic on the stand before. Hearing the sound of her pokes through the microphone, she forced an awkward smile and laugh, "W-Well… I guess this is on then?"
The crowd seemed a little confused, yet they still laughed as though what Kairi had said was the funniest joke in the world. When they finished, the auburn-haired girl spoke, eyes downcast. "I know that a lot of people will be angry at me for doing this… Especially my bandmates behind me… But I feel like it's something I have to do… And I hope that everyone understands."
Her unique violet eyes raised themselves to stare at the crowd straight on, "The song I'm going to be singing is dedicated to a frien—" She stumbled over the word, trying to cover it up with a forced cough, "—A special person…"
As this left her mouth, her eyes widened considerably. It was obvious that she was going to try and change her wording once more, and she probably would've, but a member of the audience encouragingly yelled, "Get on with it!"
A blush rose to Kairi's laugh and she averted her eyes from the audience as a few members of the crowd laughed at the individual's blunt statement. "O-Okay… Um…" She twiddled her thumbs for a moment in thought, before letting out a heavy sigh, "You know what? I give up being shy over this. I'm just going to be blunt." She took a deep breath, and then focused her eyes on the mass of people before her. "I know that you're here somewhere, listening to me. And I know that you know who you are."
I felt an odd aura to my right, and turned to face my brother, who was staring at the woman on stage with wide eyes.
Yup, he definitely knew who he was.
"I can tell that you're obviously going through a lot right now, even though you haven't really said anything to me about it." She let out a forced laugh, "Hell, you barely even talk to me at all nowadays." As she shook her head, a sad smile formed on her face, "But… I just want you to know that you're not the only one hurting inside. There are other people out there that are hurting just as much as you… and maybe even more.
"I know that changing song last minute isn't the best idea, especially since I'm taking away a performance that my bandmates have been working hard to perfect for the longest time…" She paused, and turned to look back at the shocked expressions of the rest of her band before turning back to the audience to continue, "But, well… Here goes it."
Throughout her entire speech, the only part of the stage that had been illuminated was where she stood. As though she was finally realizing this, she fidgeted painfully, but then grabbed the microphone for dear life. She closed her eyes, probably to settle down her nerves. And I really couldn't blame her… Changing her song like this meant that her bandmates wouldn't have time to learn the sheet music… Meaning that her performance would be based on just her vocals, and nothing else.
And that was probably the most nerve-wrecking thing in the entire world.
Suppose that I missed you…
Suppose that I care…
And suppose that I spent all my nights running scared…
And suppose… That I was never there…
And my eyes… Are screaming for a sight of you,
And tonight… I'm dreaming of all the things that we've been through,
And I can't hold on to you…
So I guess I'll be lonely, too.
Her eyes darted open as she seemed to gain more confidence on the stage, and she even began to sway to the tune that she was singing.
Suppose we were happy…
Suppose it was true…
And suppose… that there were cold nights,
But we somehow made it through.
And suppose… that I'm nothing without you…
My eyes… I'm screaming for a sight of you…
And tonight… I'm dreaming of all the things that we've been through…
And I can't hold on to you,
So I guess I'll be lonely too.
Slow way down…
This breakdown's eating me alive…
And I'm tired.
This fight is fighting to survive…
At this point, she raised her arms to the crowd, beckoning them to sing with her. Some of the ones who did actually did sing with her, and Selphie who seemed to be familiar with the song as well , finally took the time to sing into her backup vocal mic.
Tell me a secret… (I want it)
Tell me a story… (I need it)
I'll listen intensively…
I'll stay awake all night…
All of me is a whisper (So don't leave)
There's nothing left in me (Please help me)
Not even my body is strong enough to fight (Let's make this right)
Please help me make this right…
My eyes flickered to see what Sora was doing, especially since it was incredibly obvious that she was singing this song for him. His blue eyes were still wide with an emotion that I couldn't exactly describe, and I wasn't really sure how he was feeling. Of course, I didn't have much time to decipher his expression, since Riku and Tidus took this opportunity to force my brother onstage, pushing him onward against his will until he was only a few feet away from Kairi, before darting off themselves.
Realizing that he was who Kairi was singing the song to, the crowd whooped and cheered, and Sora found himself unable to move. Noticing that he was so close to her, Kairi took the microphone off the stand, and turned to sing to my brother. And now that she was facing my direction headon, I could make out the unshed tears that were glistening in her eyes as she continued to sing.
Suppose that I was wrong…
Suppose you were here…
She slowly closed the distance between the two of them, so that she was looking directly up into his eyes now. Hesitantly, she raised her hand to touch his cheek, and I couldn't help but notice my brother flinch minutely at her touch.
And suppose… that I reached out and caught your tears…
And suppose… this fight just disappeared…
As though she finally noticed my brother's small movement, she turned her head away from him, and dropped her hand from his face so that it returned to her side once more. She paused for a moment, and by the time she started singing again, her hand was clenched in a tight fist.
And my eyes… are screaming for a sight of you…
And tonight… I'm dreaming of all the things that we've been through…
Sora awkwardly backed away from centerstage, his eyes still wide. The crowd was openly gawking at him for just leaving Kairi like that, but I pitied my brother. I still don't think that he was emotionally prepared for something like that.
And that was proven to me when he returned to my side, trembling.
And I can't hold on to you…
So I guess I'll be lonely too…
Kairi paused once more, turning her head slightly so that she could just see Sora over her shoulder. A single tear slid down her cheek, as she whispered the final line of the song:
But I'd rather be here… with you.
Needless to say, it was extremely awkward after that performance as we all patiently waited for the results to be revealed. When we had all thought that Sora and Kairi were finally going to make up after their ridiculously long fight, the only outcome we got was for their relationship to only increase in awkwardness.
So it wasn't too surprising when Kairi was nowhere to be found while the rest of us remained in the lounge room that had been reserved for us.
"I'm surprised that none of you are upset about Kairi's sudden decision for a song change."
It was Larxene who responded with a mild shrug, "To be honest, I was never really into the whole band thing anyway. It was mostly for her."
All eyes immediately turned to look at her with shocked expressions. "Larxene! ? Being nice! ?"
Her blueish-green eyes narrowed into slits, "Shut the hell up, Tidus."
Laughter sounded throughout the room, and eventually casual conversation started up again, which I couldn't help but find hard to believe.
Still, my eyes found themselves staring directly at Hope and Naminé, who were isolated from the rest of the group, and seemed to be in deep conversation about something.
And that something was probably about what really happened in the Land of Departure.
I shifted my eyes momentarily to Sora, who was still lifelessly staring at a wall, before making up my mind.
I stood up, and walked over to the two.
Immediately, their conversation came to a stop.
The two of them stared at me with unreadable expressions, obviously waiting for me to say something.
I scrambled for proper words in my head, but all that I managed to come up with was, "Uh… Hi."
Automatically, one of Hope's eyebrows raised itself as he muttered, "Yeah. Hey."
Before I knew what I was doing, I felt the words tumble out of my mouth, "I want to talk to you guys. About what I saw tonight. At the Land of Departure."
As soon as the words left my mouth, I mentally facepalmed myself.
Damn. I'm such an idiot.
Naminé's eyes widened considerably at my words, while Hope's expression darkened. I felt my heart beat fast, something in me telling me that I had not gotten myself into a good situation.
"Look, Roxas—"
He never got to finish. Because at that moment, Xemnas, leader of the Organization decided to begin the announcing of the results. His voice boomed through the speakers located throughout the area, "All bands, report to the stage. It is time to find out who has advanced to the next round."
It was shocking for many of us that Xemnas had suddenly decided to take over as MC.
Throughout the entire competition so far (which I'll admit, isn't much to go by), he had stayed on the sidelines. And if I remember correctly, he hadn't even shown up to the first round of the competition. Infact, there were only a few members of the Organization onstage… I struggled to name each one of them for a few moments, but it eventually clicked:
Xigbar. Xaldin. Saïx.
This was especially strange, since those three hadn't shown up to the first round either.
Still, I stood there with the rest of my band, along with all the other bands that had also performed.
Name by name, he announced which bands would be moving on to the next round.
It wasn't that shocking when Kairi's band was called, and the crowd cheered the loudest for them.
"The final band that is moving on… Is Nonexistent."
I blinked in surprise, but cheered along with the rest of my bandmates, jumping up and down in excitement. The crowd was cheering, but not nearly as loudly as they had cheered for Kairi's band. Although, that was probably because Sora was in our band. And after Kairi's performance and his reaction to it…
Yeah. That explained it.
"Oh. What's this?" We stopped, turning to look at the head of the Organization. His amber eyes were widened it was obviously fake shock as he continued, "That seems to be my mistake. Nonexistent has been disqualified."
Even though we weren't really one of the crowd's favorites, they joined us in our shock.
"W-What! ?"
"Disqualified! ?"
The members of the Organization only smirked in our general direction.
No… Not just in our general direction… At someone specifically.
My eyes darted to Hope, whose expression was unreadable.
But it was obvious that he glaring at them.
Lightning, Aqua, Terra, and Vanitas appeared at that moment, stepping out from the wings of the stage, though this time, Terra was at their head. "Xemnas, on what grounds are they being disqualified on?"
The Organization leader's expression turned into a bored one as he carelessly stated, "They interfered during another band's performance. And I believe that that is enough to be eligible for disqualification."
Terra's eyes narrowed as he continued his parade towards the Organization members. The rest of the workers from the Land of Departure stayed put, the same expression as Hope plastered on each one of their faces.
Except Vanitas. Who looked openly pissed.
The brunet young adult was suddenly right in Xemnas' face, speaking in a hiss low enough that the crowd couldn't hear it, but loud enough that I could make out a bit of it, "Don't let what happened… They're just…. We made an agreement…"
Xemnas shoved Terra, lightly enough that it didn't cause an uproar, but harshly enough to intensify Terra's glare. The amber-eyed man let out an eerie laugh, a large smile still on his face, "Why does that matter? I'm leader of The Organization, which is sponsoring all this. I can make whatever call I want."
Terra looked as though he was about to strike him, but Xaldin stepped in front of his leader, easily grabbing Terra's wrist and stopping the blow.
The crowd's murmurs had escalated, and it was obvious that they were just as confused as I was.
However, Xemnas made his way to center-stage again, and all eyes were on him and his sickening smile, "Now… Let's see what happens next…"
His eyes darted to one of the wings of the stage hungrily, and I immediately followed his gaze.
Naminé.
A Wishful Thought: Damn. This is longer than I thought it would be, and it's already one o'clock in the morning. -_-;;
So yeah, this is being published unedited. XD
I don't own the songs "Still Breathing by Mayday Parade" and "Suppose by Secondhand Serenade."
LMFAO TO THE RAPIST-LIKE XEMNAS AT THE END. XD
Really don't have much to say in this note. But it's probably because I'm tired. AND I NEED REST FOR MEGACON.
Me and my bestie made Team Rocket outfits. XD
ANYWAY! Please make my day and review. :3