Author's note: My summer is filled with too much stuff. College is a pain... And I was really looking forward to multiple updates. :( Anyway, to spice things up a bit (even though I've done a lot already), I added another band to the mix. The PH girls need more love and I don't mean just Alice and Sharon. Of course, there will be a little bit of "Piano Lessons with Xerxes Break" in this too. CatXtopia: Vincent and Leo do have a good relationship in the manga too, so I thought it would be okay. The pocket watch inscription is a little cheesy, but I think it's cute. I'm glad you liked it too! Manami Nightray: He will soon. However, all relationships have obstacles they must overcome (I read too much shoujo manga), so Oz will need to deal with that first. Deko-gasu: In the end, there will have to be an "Alice" chapter because Oz can't leave anything left unresolved if he wants to be with Gil. I'm relieved that you're okay with the change in direction though. I was pretty worried. Well, I guess that's all I need to say.
Review please~
Disclaimer: I own one thing. Mirella. Nothing else. The song is called Get Outta My Way by Kylie Minogue
Chapter 14: Band Clash
Gil's POV
How many days has it been since Vince put me on this "lockdown"?
Normally, I would've checked my phone, but Vincent confiscated it as soon as we returned to Reveille, so I had to check the small calendar I kept on the dresser near my bed. Three days. That means tomorrow I have to return to work, so I'll have a little freedom from all of this. However, that also means that Vincent will be keeping an eye on me to restrict my movement.
I sighed as I moved the hair out of my face and stared at the ceiling. He was doing this for my protection, I understand that, but keeping me cooped up in my room is too much. Vincent is here, so I'm not exactly lonely, yet I couldn't rid myself of the empty feeling in my chest. What should I do? I wondered somberly. I let my head loll towards the windowsill and watched the toy raven sitting silently with its bright, black eyes.
"Raven... I feel like you're important to me, but...why?" I murmured softly as I played with its little hat.
Maybe I can ask someone tomorrow, and hopefully I can try to figure out what Oz means to me.
Oz's POV
A few hours after my meeting with Break and Reim, a text arrived to remind me of the band meeting tomorrow to discuss the gigs that will be happening over the remaining course of summer. As much as I wanted to be eager for tomorrow due to the fact that I'll finally get to see Gil, I knew that he'd still have difficulties getting to me with Vincent around. I had to stick to the plan. In order to talk to Gil, I'll need to lure him out at the right time. Tomorrow, unfortunately, is not that time.
It was, however, a time of great change.
Upon arriving at the company building, I noticed that the girls were absent and Lacie was once again smiling as if she has a secret. Showing no concern over Lacie's suspicious smile, Reim informed us of our upcoming concert scheduled in a few days. Quite unusually though, he mentioned that there will be a band opening for us even though we're still new ourselves. Apparently, they will be performing at The Abyss tonight and they are known as "Bloody B-Rabbit".
Elliot and Leo were uninterested in the rookie group, but Break seemed to know something about them by the way he didn't appear to be all too pleased with the news. Actually, now that I think about it, everyone was focused on something other than our next gig including myself. I just could not stop staring at the bandages that were wrapped around Gil's head. Don't think about it, Oz!
Trying to think of something else, my mind wandered to the question concerning Alice and Echo's absence. They've never missed a meeting before, so it was pretty strange. Maybe I should visit Alyss and ask her about it. Watching Bloody B-Rabbit might be a good experience too. After a little more thought, I decided to go with that plan meaning that I'd have quite a bit on my plate today.
Once we finished our discussion and practiced a little, Reim told everyone what time the Bloody B-Rabbit would be performing, in case anyone was interested, prior to Break handing me a piece of paper with his address and a time. Since there was still time to kill, I decided to get some advice from Mirella while informing her of the upcoming concert, so that she wouldn't attempt to publicly humiliate me again. And with that, I headed out the company doors in the direction of The Black Snake.
"Hello Oz. It certainly has been awhile," Mirella commented upon noticing my arrival. "I heard you were at the St. Bridget's Day festival. How was it? Was it fun? Nova just told me it was crowded."
Like a bad dream, images of what happened over the course of the trip flashed into my mind causing me to go silent for a moment. So much for killing time... With a sigh, I honestly gave my opinion about this festival before everything went downhill which she responded to with a firm nod.
"Sorry for stepping on that land mine. How about I make it up to you with a little bit of gossip? It'll benefit you. I promise."
I did want to get my mind off the "Gil incident", so I listened close to what she had to say. Quite eagerly, she informed me that the members of the band Bloody B-Rabbit were all people I knew well, but didn't say who they were. She did, however, tell me that this new band intends to rival Edge of the Abyss by "outperforming" us at our own concert. As she predicted, her information was relevant, but hearing this also made me concerned about her capabilities as the Elliot fan club president.
"So this band is planning on showing us up?"
"It's just a rumor, but there's only one way to find out. I have a backstage pass if you want it. You can always make it up to me later."
Of course, I didn't have any say in the matter. She quickly shoved the pass into my hands and grinned excitedly. Well, at least this gives me the opportunity to find out what I'm up against.
For the rest of the time I had before my lesson, I helped Mirella work on my costume design for the next gig while she rambled on and on about different themes and styles depending on the season. Once that was done and over with, I hurried to the address Break gave me (which surprisingly lead to Sharon's house) and followed a servant to Break's room where he was watching Reim perform the final measures of the piece.
"Oz-kun, you're here. Why don't you try playing a piece so I can gauge your ability?"
Hearing those words felt nostalgic to me for some reason as I took Reim's place in front of the piano and started to play the simplest part of the score in front of me. And just like that, it hit me. The reason why I felt nostalgic upon hearing those words was because Jack once uttered those lines as well. However, the reactions of the audience is different compared to back then. Break maintained a calm facade throughout the whole thing and Reim awkwardly tried to listen without judging me right off the bat unlike Alice, Jack, Glen, and Lacie who all looked rather tired. It was strange.
Once I came to a finish, I noticed Break pull out a pair of earplugs he put in his ears without my knowing before he giving me very blunt criticism in the form of ventriloquism.
According to him, or more specifically, a doll called Emily, I was apparently terrible at playing this particular instrument, but I was too absorbed to notice how bad I sounded. Reim was kinder about expressing the same sentiment, yet it didn't change the fact that I needed a lot of work. After Break played a recording as proof, there was no way for me to label their words as false.
"Do you intend to give up?" Break questioned with a smirk.
"No."
"Then you have until before the Battle of the Bands to complete this. If you are part of a band associated with Pandora, then you are required to participate in the event as a test to see if the band will continue to be backed. I'm assuming you have to return home once summer is over, correct?"
How did he-?
Unable to read him, I simply nodded.
"The Battle of the Bands is set to be held a few weeks before the end of the break, so you'll need to practice as much as possible before you can even attempt making your own song. For today though, we'll stop here or you'll end up missing part of the performance. Starting tomorrow, you will be coming here to practice every day except on concert days at the same time and place."
Since I did have plans after this, I agreed to his terms and raced out the door in a hurry. I was already cutting it close anyway. Fortunately, I am good friends with Alyss which allow me to skip the line and go straight in, but even that will be rendered pointless if I'm late.
With mere minutes to spare, I arrived just in time to see Alyss go up on stage and introduce the debuting band like she did for the Edge of the Abyss. In this case though, it would be a lie to say I wasn't the slightest bit surprised to see four very familiar people enter the stage. Red eyes... Long dark hair... There's no mistaking it.
"Alice?" I blurted out quickly before shutting my mouth.
It wasn't only her. Sharon, Echo-chan, and even Ada were all accompanying her in all this.
"Hello everyone. We're Bloody B-Rabbit and we'll be performing Get Outta My Way. Please support us," Sharon recited as if she has been practicing this several times now.
Alice took a deep breath, and once the music began to play, started to sing wholeheartedly the song that would be the beginning of our greatest battle.
Alice
"What's the worst thing that could happen to you?
Take a chance tonight and try something new
You're gettin' boring, you're, oh, so boring
And I don't recognize the zombie you turn into."
Sharon
"Don't worry 'cause tonight I've got you
You can take a seat, do what you normally do
I'm about to let you see
This is what'll happen if you ain't givin' your girl what she needs."
Echo
"Leave you, move on to a perfect stranger
You talk, I walk, wanna feel the danger
See me with him and it's turning you on
It's got me saying, getting me back at the end of the song."
Ada
"Get outta my way, get outta my way
Got no more to say, he's takin' your place
Get outta my way, way outta my way
Got no more to say, he's takin' your place
Get outta my..."
Sharon
"Now I've got a taste, I wanna explore
Ain't goin' to waste, no, not any more
You're goin' hard now to win my heart but
Too many times now you've been comin' up short."
Echo
"Don't worry 'cause tonight I've got you
You can take a seat, do what you normally do
I'm about to let you see
This is what'll happen if you ain't givin' your girl what she needs."
Ada
"Leave you, move on to a perfect stranger
You talk, I walk, wanna feel the danger
See me with him and it's turning you on
It's got me saying, getting me back at the end of the song."
Alice
"Get outta my way, get outta my way
Got no more to say, he's takin' your place
Get outta my way, way outta my way
Got no more to say, he's takin' your place
Get outta my..."
Echo
"You know I ain't going home 'cause I wanna stay
But I won't be alone, no, I have the way
Now I showed you what I'm made of
This is what'll happen if you ain't givin' your girl what she needs."
Ada
"Leave you, move on to a perfect stranger
You talk, I walk, wanna feel the danger
See me with him and it's turning you on
It's got me saying, getting me back at the end of the song."
Sharon
"Get outta my way, get outta my way
Got no more to say, he's takin' your place
Get outta my way, way outta my way
Got no more to say, he's takin' your place
Get outta my..."
Alice
"You know I ain't going home
But I won't be alone
Now I showed you what I'm made of
Now I showed you what I'm made of."
The crowd cheered and applauded enthusiastically while shouting for an encore, but all I could register was the way Alice and Echo-chan looked directly at me with an expression of challenge (though Echo-chan was much more subtle about it). Why? Were they really trying to rival Edge of the Abyss? I need to know...
With Mirella's backstage pass in hand, I made my way to the band's waiting room to talk to the members of Bloody B-Rabbit. I'm sorry Gil, but there are still some loose ends left. There were not many people with backstage passes due to their greenhorn status, so it wasn't long before I was standing in front of four girls who knew me very well.
"Hello Oz-sama. Thank you for coming," Sharon commented politely upon noticing my presence. "Did you enjoy the performance?"
"I did. It'll be a pleasure to hear you play again soon," I replied in an equally polite and rather awkward manner. "Is it alright if I speak to Alice in private for a minute?"
Instead of letting her speak, Alice sent her a message with a look, triggering a nod from Sharon, before walking out the door and leading me into another room. Once we were sure that no one could hear us, she waited for me to speak. I'm guessing it must have been obvious that I had a lot of things I needed to say. To be honest, I couldn't say that she was wrong to think that.
Do you know what really happened to Gil back then? Did you mean to help form this band for the sake of stealing the limelight from Edge of the Abyss? Are you angry at me for not giving you a proper answer to your question? All of those questions filled my mind as they waited to spill out of my mouth, but the words that left my lips were none of those. Despite how much I wanted to know what Alice was hiding, I decided to trust her instead.
"Are you alright?"
She was shocked to say the least. Most likely, she expected an interrogation. As a result from receiving something else, she curtly insisted that she was fine while trembling lightly.
"I'm fine. He slipped. I'm not lying."
Treading carefully, I placed my hand over her head to pet her for a brief moment.
"I believe you."
And at that moment, she told me everything in hysterics and with teary eyes. It was true that Gil had slipped, but she was the first one to do the exact same thing. He intended to cushion the blow for her, but ended up doing more than that which lead to his current condition. She blamed herself incessantly for this and it was hurting her so much.
I hated to watch her do this. Alice shouldn't be crying. She should be smiling. It was an accident. She shouldn't have to cry when I'm the one at fault. The next thing I knew, I was singing to her softly until the minute her tears stopped falling. With a tiny smile, she wiped her face and spoke a single, heavy line.
"I love you, Oz."
Not thinking clearly, I started to say something without knowing how to get the message across.
"Alice, I-"
I what? I know who I'm in love with, but there was no way for me to say it at a time like this.
"Save it for after we compete against each other."
The Battle of the Bands. It'll be D-Day in more ways than one then.
It was obvious that was what she meant by "compete", so I just nodded. There was nothing else I could do anyway since she was already walking out the door while I was giving her my reply.
Naturally, Sharon immediately hit me with her harisen upon noticing Alice's swollen eyes and falsely accused me of doing inappropriate things to her. Echo-chan avoided my gaze and Ada watched the scene in shock as she asked me if Sharon's words were true. Since it wasn't right for me to reveal what really happened between Alice and I, I gave them all an edited version of what happened in order to get Sharon to stop hitting me and allow me to head back home to think things through.
Battle of the Bands... Gil... Alice... Echo-chan...
Father...
Does this count as a cliffhanger? I'm guessing sort of. Sorry for the really long wait once again. This chapter is basically a flag to represent the fact that this fic will be ending soon even though I still have no clue when that will be. Oz's inability to play instruments was not my idea, but I did agree to write it because I found it amusing. Should I have Break and Reim reveal their past over the course of the story? I'll leave that for you to decide. I'll be going on a trip in a few days and taking my driver's test straight afterward, so another late update is in store. And by the way, if this chapter seems different than the others, then it probably is. I kind of forgot how I wrote some parts of this. Anyway, I hope to see you guys next time!