A/N:Yeah, this is an Akuroku, and it's rated M for good reason. If you are not comfortable reading about sexual content, well, nothing much is happening now, but all too soon it will. Thanks forr all who read and review~
Axel's POV
"What are you guys up to?" I said to my friends. They looked as if they were getting ready to head out.
"Going to chill at the mall. We were waiting for you and Demyx," Marluxia told me.
"Sorry, I was grabbing something from my locker. But I don't know where Demy's at," I said shrugging.
"He needs to hurry up before he gets left," Cloud stated. He looked at his watch for the fifth time in the past minute.
Leon pulled his arm away from him so he would stop checking the time like he had OCD. "Could you go look for him real quick? He might be at his locker too."
I highly doubted that. I mean our lockers are right next to each other, and I hadn't seen him when I was there, but I agreed to go anyway. Sure enough when I got there, Demyx was buried in his locker searching for something.
"Yo, Demyx," I called out, making him jump. He spun around but once he saw it was me, he relaxed.
"Ah man, you scared the bejeesus out of me Ax," Demyx sighed with a hand to his chest.
"Can't scare something out of you that wasn't there in the first place," I joked. Demyx smiled and we did our guy handshake.
"So, what's shakin' bacon?" he asked, his voice muffled since he turned back to dig through his locker.
"Well, Cloud's 'bout ready to do you in for taking so long, and I'd rather not share the same fate, so would you hurry up and get whatever the heck you're looking for so we can bounce?"
"Got it!" Demyx cheered. He pulled it out from the junk piled up in his locker, slamming it shut before it all tumbled out.
"A glow stick? You've gotta be kidding me, that's what you've been looking for? What the hell do you need a glow stick for at the mall?" I said incredulous.
"Nothing. Cause I'm not going to the mall," Demyx said mysteriously. He even waggled his eyebrows.
"What are you talking about? Why, something up?...Recently you never want to hang out on Thursday nights. What's up with that? Got a drama you need to catch? Just DVR the stupid thing."
"Ah, you've caught me red handed. But not about the drama thing. Do you wanna know what I've been up to these past few weeks?" Demyx whispered.
I leaned forward so I could hear him tell this "secret". But all he did was take out his cell. I waited for aa few moments until he put it back in his pocket.
"What was that?" I asked.
"I just told the others to go on without us." Demyx grabbed my arm and we both rushed down the hallway. I thought we were exiting to leave the school, but before we pushed through the double doors Demyx took a sharp right. We kept going down corridors until we reached the back stairwell. Barely anyone ever used this one since it was so small and out of the way. But Demyx continued to drag me into it and down a flight of stairs.
"Why are we going to the school basement?" I asked. Demyx only winked at me before continuing pass the basement to an even lower level where there was a sole door with a broken exit sign. Only the 'X' was lit up.
What is going on? I stared as Demyx dug in his pocket and produced a key that looked like a little like a blade. 'TLE' was engraved on its base. He peeked up the steps a moment and listened for any sounds. Deciding the coast was clear I guess, he unlocked the door and quickly ushered a reluctant me inside.
We walked down a long, dark, narrow hallway before coming to another door. It was thick and had a small window that was pitch black.
"What are we in, a Sherlock Holmes movie? Where the heck are you taking me?"
Finally, Demyx turned around to speak to me. "Okay. You are about to enter a world of pure bliss. There aren't many, but there are some rules. Rule 1: What happens in X, stays in X. Meaning everything that you see tonight is a complete secret. For life."
Dramatic much?
"Rule 2: You must have access to enter."
"What, you mean your key?" I interrupted.
"Not only that. To prevent someone from just accidentally finding the key and the room, you had to have been here before. Watch." Demyx turned back to the door and waved his glow stick in front of the small window on the door. After a few seconds, the door opened slightly and someone stuck their head out. He looked like a student.
"Here last time?" said the boy loudly. The noise coming from the unknown room was immeasurable. Even worse than the cafeteria during afternoon lunch.
"Yup," Demyx said.
"What sound played?" the boy asked.
"Akane. UxMishi," Demyx answered. The boy nodded then looked over at me.
"Newbie?"
"Hoping to be a Trubie," Demyx chirped before I could rebuttal at the rude comment.
"Trust?"
"Absolutely."
"Well, hurry in. They're about to start." Demyx took the door and the boy shirked back in. I stood, staring at him.
"Trust me on this, Ax, you'll love it."
"Well, you seem to trust me, so I guess I'll find out what the hell all this is," I said. Stepping in, Demyx close behind, I couldn't really see much. But from the noise, the hundreds of glow sticks, cell phones and lighters as the only source of light in the room, and the unbearable closeness of human bodies, I knew the place as packed. "So you've taken me to an underground club with no music?" I yelled to Demyx over the noise.
"Oh, there'll be music! And this isn't a club per se, but you'll see."
The crowd began screaming and cheering louder all of a sudden, startling me. I felt Demyx grab my arm, and we squeezed our way through the crowd. Getting closer, I could make out a stage in the front. It was dark but you could see shadows moving around on it. The speakers screeched for a moment, loud enough to quiet the crowd down a little. That was when it started.
Chorus:
Hey oh
Here comes a danger up in this club
When we get started and we ain't gonna stop
We gonna turn it up till it gets too hot
Everybody sing, Hey oh
Tell 'em turn it up till they can't no more
Let's get this thing shaking like a disco ball
This is your last warning, a courtesy call
When the instruments started to come in, spotlights hit the stage, lightly illuminating some of the crowd. I could see that these were definitely students of Twighlight High. I recognized a lot and wondered what was really going on here. But when the final spotlight came over center stage, my thoughts immediately ceased. I stared at the boy singing in the middle of the stage, decked out from head to toe in shades ranging from black to light gray.
Chorus:
I am not afraid
Of the storm that comes my way
When it hits it shakes me to the core
And makes me stronger than before
It's not a question about trust
But will you stand with us
Can you feel it?
Make it real
Pre-Chorus:
I think it may wash away tonight
Awaken from this never ending
Fight
It takes more than meets the eye
This war we're fighting
Is not just rotting
Chorus
There's a rumble in the floor
So get prepared for war
When it hits it'll knock you to the ground
When it shakes up everything around
But survival is a must
So will you stand with us?
Can you feel it?
Make it real
Make me feel it
Pre-chorus
Chorus (x2)
After the last chord, the crowd went wilder than before if that was even possible at this point. I continued to stare dumbly at the boy on stage who was breathing heavily after that excruciating performance. Feeling a tap on my shoulder, I turned to see Demyx grinning.
"Awesome right?" he mouthed to me. I nodded automatically. Turning back to the stage, my breath chose to leave on an extended vacation.
He is looking at me.
I'm not sure if it's me specifically he's trying to look at, but I swear our eyes meet. I stared into those deep ocean blue eyes. They look like a storm from here with the lack of light, and I feel them pierce through me from the distance. He doesn't seem to be looking away either. We keep our gaze locked on and I feel like we are the only two in the room.
The bass kicks in then, breaking me out of my trance. I glare at the one who caused the interruption. He has silver hair and- wait. Isn't that…
"Isn't the bass that guy, Riku?" I shout to Demyx. The crowd is still in rapture over the last performance.
"Yup. But down here he's known as Omega," he shouts back.
"What? Did you say Omega? What's with the weird name? And hey, it's that chick-"
Demyx slaps his hand over my mouth. "Dude, you can't call them by their real names here! It's another rule. Look, the bass is Omega, the drummer is Crisis, guitarist is Pandora and lead singer/sometimes on guitar too/ as well as leader of True Light's Eclipse is Xero."
It took a moment for me to process all that. I only kind of knew Riku and the drummer "Crisis" whose actual name was Yuffie, I think I feel like I'd seen the guitarist before but I didn't know him. And the leader…well, I sure wanted to know him.
"Zero…" I said to myself. Demyx seemed to have heard him, I don't even know how over all this incessant noise, and crossed his two pointer fingers.
"Xero, with an 'X'. Like in 'xylophone'," he corrected.
The other band mates started up as well, and the band went into their version of "Numb". My god, Xero singing into that mike looked so seductive; I could feel myself go hard. I looked around frantically to see if anyone saw but everyone was either fist pumping, grinding, or attempting to reach for the band on the stage.
They finished up and Xero grabbed the mike off the stand. "True Light's Eclipse will be waiting for the next obscuration." He then dropped the mike and walked off towards a backstage, his crewmates following. The crowd was screaming and cheering for the band once again. Some of the things they were saying, especially about actions they wished to perform on individual band members, were meant to stay behind closed doors.
People slowly made their way out a side door that I just noticed was even there.
"It's so if people see us come in, they won't see us coming out. Then they'll think it was just their imagination," Demyx said. I guess I had a look on my face. But my mind was so filled up, I didn't even notice that we had made our way outside of the school already. Demyx must have led me here.
"Demy, who was that?" I asked him as we walked up the block. I didn't need to explain who.
"Ax, you know I'm not supposed to say. What happens in X-"
I grabbed him by the shoulders abruptly cutting him off and shook him. "Who was that?" I repeated firmer.
"Okay, okay," he sputtered. I let him go and he dusted off his shoulders. Like he was offended by my touch! "You would have found out anyway. Everyone knows since they don't really wear disguises. The drummer Crisis is Yuffie and the bass is Riku, as you know. The guitarist Pandora is Sora and the leader is,"
Axel held his breath.
"Roxas," Demyx finished.
"Roxas…" As soon as the name crossed my lips, I never wanted to stop saying it. Roxas, Roxas, Roxas. God, I was getting so excited. The way it rolled off my lips, the way his eyes found mine in that huge crowd. I usually didn't believe in all that bull cocky, but maybe this really was fate. Roxas, Roxas, Roxas, Rox-
"Axel?" Demyx asked, a little worry in his voice.
"What?" I responded, slightly annoyed. He interrupted my happy mind moment.
"You're not…you're not in love with Roxas, right?" he asked hesitantly.
Was that what this was? I had never felt this way before now. Sure I've been in dozens of relationships, but they were never very serious. This feeling though, this intensity was something else, something altogether different. And I liked it.
I began to smile which made Demyx sweat even more. "Axel . You can't."
"What do you mean, 'I can't'?"
"Look, Ax. Remember those rules I mentioned before? Well, I forgot to mention one of the most important ones. Now you know you're my best friend, and I love you, and I'm really happy that you might actually be falling in love for once,"
I snickered at that.
"But the one you fall in love with can't be Roxas," he stated strongly.
"What, is love interaction between a band member and a 'fan' prohibited?"
"Huh? No. They can date whoever the hell they please. It's just Roxas' private rule. And I quote: 'Don't fall in love with me, 'cause when you do, I'll break your heart'."
"…he said that?"
Demyx nodded. "During a concert. It was one of the earlier ones, but I heard from one of the fans. Apparently, after he said it, everyone ended up falling in love with him anyway. But no one dared confess."
We finally made it to the train station. Demyx takes the bus home, so this is where we usually part.
"Demy."
"Hmm?"
"I've been thinking…"
"Uh-oh. That can't be good," he joked.
"I'm gonna go for it."
"Go for what?"
"I'm going after Roxas," I said with a smile.
"Oh, this isn't good Ax, I told you-"
"Yeah, I know."
"And?" Demyx prodded.
"Don't care," I responded smugly.
Demyx groaned and shook his head. "I forgot you're like this."
"Of course. It's what you love about me, right?" I said with a smile. This made him laugh.
"For sure," he answered, grinning. "Just be careful, okay? Love is tricky business and I don't want to see you get hurt." He patted me on the shoulder. I knew Demyx was genuinely worried for me. But I refused to give up on this before I even tried.
"Victory awaits me," I cheered. I threw up a peace sign.
"I hope so, Ax. Well, see you in school tomorrow!" He turned to go and waved goodbye. I myself proceeded into the station. I need to see him, outside of X. I continued to think as I boarded the train and went home.