Hi everybody! I decided to update early this time!

Yay! That didn't take long!

Right Cross. Anyway, here you guys go, I hope you enjoy this chapter. It's kind of rushed, so sorry about that.

Disclaimer: See Previous Chapters. I don't own the song How to Save A Life by The Fray either.

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Chapter 8: How to Save A Life

"They kicked you out of your own band!" Sora's voice was loud and surprised. Matt nodded, looking around his living room at everyone he had called: Tai, Sora, Izzy, Mimi, Joe, Tk and Kari.

"Yeah, but I gave my drummer a parting gift." he said. They looked at him questioningly. "I punched him in the nose." Everyone's eyes went wide, and after a few seconds they all burst out laughing. When they all stopped laughing Matt cleared his throat to get their attention.

"Yes, it made me feel good too. Actually he didn't kick me out until after I punched him." he added as an afterthought. Joe looked at him again.

"Then why did you punch him?" he asked. Matt sighed.

"He was making fun of Tai." he said. Mimi gasped theatrically.

"Why would anyone make fun of Tai?" she asked. Matt looked over at Tai, who nodded and took out a cloth, which he ran across his face. He caught Kari's look of worry, but simply nodded towards her too. When he had succeeded in removing his cover-up, everyone stared at him. He suddenly felt self-conscious, until Mimi squealed louder than he had though humanly possible.

"OMIGOD! Tai, you are soooooo cute!" she cried. He smiled in thanks, and Sora put a hand on his shoulder.

"Tai, where did you get those scars?" she asked. Tai pointed over to Kari, who stepped forward.

"Are you sure? Are you going to be okay?" she asked him. He nodded, and she sighed.

"Alright. It was six years ago, when we lived in Tokyo. We had a small apartment, two bedrooms, really tiny rooms. Anyway, it was the middle of winter, and the heat in our building failed, so he had a small heater in our main room. One day, we decided to put the heater in our bedroom to warm it up. As it turns out, there was a lot of faulty wiring in our building too, and when we turned the heater on it set the whole room ablaze. Tai and I were terrified, and we were stuck in our room with the fire." she explained. She pulled up her right sleeve to show burn marks on her upper arm and shoulder. Tai also stood up and lifted his shirt to show burn scars all over his upper back and shoulders. Everyone gasped.

"I know, it wasn't nice. Our parents finally got the fire out, but not before we got burned. They have a few scars too. Mom has some small ones on her face, but not as bad as Tai. She uses make-up all the time, so it's not noticeable. Dad's are mostly on his hands and arms. They only got small burns because they were outside, so they weren't right in the fire. After that we moved to Odaiba to start fresh, but we knew we had to get away from cities, so we moved here." she finished. Matt noticed that she had started crying, and Tk was holding her in a tight hug. Matt grabbed Tai's hand and pulled him close, not caring that the other hadn't yet gotten his shirt back on. Tai's face was already wet with tears, and he was sobbing into Matt. The others looked around the room with sad expressions.

"That's terrible." said Sora finally. Izzy nodded.

"Yeah, I can't believe it. You guys must have been terrified." he said. Kari nodded, having pulled away from Tk enough to sit, his arms still wrapped around her shoulders.

"Yeah, it was awful. I was really young though, so I don't remember what the whole experience was like. Tai was 10, so he remembers it all. He's been terrified of fire ever since." Kari was still crying a little, but Tai had yet to pull himself from Matt's chest. He was shaking violently and sobbing uncontrollably. Matt was rocking him and whispering softly.

"So is that why Tai can't talk?" asked Joe. Kari nodded. "Smoke inhalation." he said. Kari nodded again. Tai had finally stopped shaking and was now just leaning into Matt, who stroked his back soothingly.

"I think we should do something to get our minds off of this." said Mimi suddenly. Everyone looked at her, surprised at her directness. "What? Everyone's been really down lately. We should all do something fun, relax and forget about the horribleness for a while." she said. Tai, who was now sitting up, nodded, smiling. Matt smiled too.

"Actually that's not a bad idea. Which reminds me of why I wanted you guys to come here. I think we should start our own band."

Everything became suddenly silent. They were all looking at Matt. Tk smiled widely.

"I call second guitar!" he shouted. Sora laughed.

"I know how to play a bass guitar." she said. Kari and Mimi squealed excitedly.

"Backup singers!" they cried. Sora looked over at Izzy.

"Izzy, I know you can play a drum set." she said. Izzy nodded.

"Yeah, I guess I can." he said. Everyone looked at Joe, who laughed.

"I can't really play anything, but I'm good at setting things up. I could be, like, your manager or something." he said. Matt nodded and looked at Tai. Tai smiled and made a motion like playing a piano.

"Keyboard?" asked Matt. Tai smiled and nodded. Everyone agreed that they would start a band, and Matt brought up the question that everyone had ideas for. "We need a name."

"Didn't you get to keep you old band name? Why not that?" asked Joe. Matt shook his head.

"No way. We can't be the 'Teenage Wolves' or people would think we're a cheap knockoff. We need a new name." he said. Everyone threw out random names, but no one could agree. Finally Tai grabbed a piece of paper and wrote a name that everyone thought was perfect.

'Eternal Flames'

"That…that's perfect!" said Matt. Nobody disagreed, so they had a name.

"We are 'The Eternal Flames'!" they all shouted (sans Tai, of course).

All eight of them spent the rest of the night watching movies, eating junk and just having fun.

And for one night, they forgot about the world outside, and just lived in the moment.

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I hope you enjoyed it! Please Review!