My Tourniquet

*A note, I imagine the Japanese version of Lacus's voice, Tanaka Rie and that music.

|~*~|~*~|~*~|~*~|~*~|~*~|~*~|~*~| CHAPTER 17 |~*~|~*~|~*~|~*~|~*~|~*~|~*~|~*~|

Capital City, Orb, Spring CE 74:

"Happy birthday, Lacus!" was the uneven chorus of voices that rang out to start her birthday party. Lorene perhaps got a bit carried away with her 18th birthday, Lacus thought. Between the mountains of gourmet food, the excessive decorations, and the guests overcrowding the hall it was no doubt a party meant for a socialite princess like her. Of course, most of the people who were invited were people Lacus considered friends from school and other organizations. The only people not in attendance were her boyfriend and the band mates. They were doing one more song on a whim to complete their album, meaning no rest until it was done per Amy the Killjoy Witch Bitch (so dubbed by Paul and Dave as of late).

Kira at least had called earlier to wish her a happy birthday and to inform her that Em would be popping by later. So as she chatted with her friends and played a game or two, Lacus kept her eyes peeled for Em.

"And you aren't even listening to me," Miriallia muttered without malice.

Lacus blinked and turned back to her friend. "I'm sorry. What?"

"I asked, where's Kira?"

"Oh, at the studio with the band. Amy insisted they work today."

Miriallia grimaced. "I thought you two got along."

"We do!"

"Then why the containing of your boyfriend on your birthday?"

The birthday girl sighed. "I don't know."

"Cake and presents time!" Cagalli announced happily for everyone's benefit, not interested in listening about Amy's tantrums. All this time later and the two young women were oil and fire.

The party was going smoothly and leisurely as Em, Olivia and the girls walked in through the spacious foyer. Em grasped their shoulders to keep them from bolting through the crowd of well-dressed people. The last thing he needed was for either of them to knock into a partygoer and create a mess. They were all being seated at one of a few round tables as Lacus sat with a couple of her best friends opening gifts. The gifts ranged to lovely accessories and expensive fabrics for dresses to exclusive perfumes and makeup. The most practical gifts, like books or a movie, seemed to come from her closest friends.

It wasn't until she finished and cake and refreshments were laid out that a maid brought them to the birthday girl's attention. By then, the guests were eating and chatting amongst themselves. They crept around the hall to where Lacus sat, dressed in a lovely, but simple, lavender gown. She smiled brightly but it faded just by a fraction when she remembered Kira wouldn't be with him.

"Hello, Em, Olivia," Lacus greeted them. The two girls hastened to her.

"Happy Birthday, Lacus!" they, or rather Emma, exclaimed, although not as loud as she would have liked to be.

"Thank you."

"We got you presents!" Emma piped, bouncing on her feet. "See, see!"

Em looked exasperated with his child but didn't reprimand her…yet. He offered the tote bag of wrapped gifts. "Happy birthday. And Amy apologizes for being a Queen B, but she won't cave."

"I imagined as much."

The two girls received some cake, small slices, and sat down to munch through it. Emmaleigh pointed out her and Lyra's roughly wrapped gift first – a diary with a lock. The others were from the band members. Amy bought her a couple of comedy DVDs she loved from their overnighters. From Kara she got a lovely white and pink crystalline bracelet. Lacus checked the tag on Deanna's gift to be sure it was right when she opened it to find a pink shawl of a lovely material. When she looked up Em, she must have looked puzzled because he laughed.

"Deanna actually picked it out and bought it on her own," Em assured her. "No one knew until we were wrapping. You should have seen Dave's face!"

"That was out her way," Lacus agreed. The goth girl despised pink like it was a viral contagion.

The last gift was a small thing with Paul, Dave and Kira written on it. Opening it, she saw it was a CD with gold initials of LC on the cover.

"Don't ask," Em said before she asked. "I'm just the delivery guy."

Lacus smiled and set it aside for now. She'd have to see what was on it later.

"Will you be staying?" Lacus asked quickly.

"No can do," Em replied. "We need to be back home pretty quick. Emmaleigh and Lyra have that reading program in the morning."

"I'll walk you to the door then," Lacus offered, standing up. She excused herself from the table and led them out. At the door, Olivia took the girls out first as Em held back for a moment.

"Kira says he'll be by to get you at 7," Em relayed.

"Oh. What's he planning now?" Lacus smiled.

Em shrugged. "Probably a nice dinner and what not."

"Okay. Thanks for coming by," she said, embracing her friend briefly. "See you."

"Later."

Lacus was too curious about that CD and opened it once she sat back down. Inside was a plain CD with the initials written again and a folded slip of paper that made up the jewel case cover. Inside were two sets of her own lyrics and she got even more curious.

Just after most of her guests had left, leaving only a few of her close friends behind, she opted to pop it into a player and see what was on it. Beautiful light music played over the speakers. It was wordless the entire time. Then there was a second track of a more upbeat nature. Looking at the lyrics she wrote, Lacus realized just what this was with shock.

"Pretty. What is it? I've never heard it before," Cagalli asked, wondering why Lacus looked stupefied.

It took a moment for Lacus to process it enough to say it. "My music…"

"Huh?"

Lacus knew it would be rough without practice but she tried nonetheless. She played the first track and began singing slowly shortly after. Once she had it practiced, it would be perfect. Now she understood why the band was behind. Those sneaky guys! Paul and Kira were busy making music for her to sing to like she described. No wonder they were always getting her talking and why Kira encouraged her to sing her lyrics the way she liked. Kira had helped her once with writing out her lyrics a little more succinctly.

She didn't doubt it was a team effort only led by Paul and Kira. Paul was a key composer while Kira helped put the music and words together. Amy was a brilliant piano player as Dave was at special sounds. She just didn't know they could produce something so her and not them.

Then she realized she had sung the last words to the song, or as far as she could go for now.

"Beautiful, Lacus," Siegel praised her immediately. "Where did you get this?"

"Paul and Kira made it," Lacus whispered.

"Your own music. It's perfect," her father beamed. After all, one didn't get a better gift than their dreams wrapped in glossy lavender and silver paper.

When Kira arrived through the door at seven o'clock promptly as promised Lacus jumped him, unable to contain her happiness. "Thank you! Thank you!"

"I'm guessing you liked the CD?" he grinned, accepting a kiss from her excited lips.

"Good guess," Cagalli remarked wryly as Lacus exclaimed, "Yes!"

"Great. Here's part two." He handed her a card. It was a business card for a manager at the company Evanescence was with, and on the back handwritten was the date for tomorrow. "We finished our stuff for now, so the studio's open tomorrow for you to play around."

She focused on asking her question before she collapsed from excitement. "And Mr. Benner?"

"Someone to talk to. He's been in the business for many years. And that should get you started. You're on your own after this."

Considering they brought her well over half way to becoming a singer like she always dreamed of, she happily accepted that. If she could she would spend all night kissing him but he had a reservation at a nice restaurant that was waiting for them.

Lorene watched the two drive away and turned to Siegel, a vicious glint in her mirth-filled eyes. "Say hello to your future son-in-law, dear."

His smile slid from his face instantly. "That is not funny, Lorene dear."

"Okay, from the top, Princess." Paul's voice was slightly distorted over the sound system, but the business tone he took with her was more foreign to her ears than the distortion. She had only been to one recording session for the band and Paul had been playing, not directing.

At the moment, she was alone in the sound proof box, with only a microphone at her lips and the headset covering her ears. The world outside the box was faded out.

She nodded that she was ready and waited. The now familiar melody of her first song began to fill her ears and she counted until the start.

"In this quiet night, I'm waiting for you," she slowly sang, letting the air in her lungs carry the words almost breathlessly. "Forgetting the past, and dreaming of you. Time passes by and memories fade. But time can't erase the love that we've made."

Her eyelids fell shut as she listened to her song and sang. It let her imagination play with the words as she spoke them, let the emotion she wrote into them out. Emotions brought on by time spent missing her best friend.

"And the stars in the sky that I wish upon,

Can't bring you back to my side.

Though you're not here with me,

I dream of the day we'll meet again.

Hold me close, so deep in your heart.

I will find you, no matter where I have to go.

And dream of me, for I will be there.

Follow the stars that lead into the quiet night."

Her voice faded with the music and it ended. Opening her eyes a second later Lacus saw the guys had turned on the lights in the technician's room. "Any better?"

"That was perfect," Paul commented with a nod. "Dave thinks you need a few echoes overlapping in the end but it's sounding great. Come over here."

Pulling the headphones from her head, Lacus then set them on a hook by the microphone and exited the sound box to join the others. Today it was only the three guys, Paul, Dave, and Kira. The girls took the time off to do some errands. The four had started at 8:00 am sharp and didn't realize it was now almost 1:00 in the afternoon.

Kira pressed a soft kiss to her cheek. "Lunch after this?"

"Please," Lacus replied. Her voice was a little scratchy from the overuse, so she didn't refuse when Kira offered her a bottle of cool water.

"Just finishing this little echo here...okay! Minus a touch of editing and proper blending," Dave rattled on almost as quickly as his fingers on the keyboard, "this is what you have so far."

It was another second before he actually pressed the play button and she listened to what was probably the near final product of her first song. It had a lulling melody, soft and light to the ears and her voice had turned out as light yet lifting. It almost didn't feel like her voice.

"Wow," Lacus whispered. The repeated echo effect Dave managed in less than three minutes finished the song, lingering in her ears.

"I'll take that as a 'yes, that'll do'," Dave joked. "Wander off. We'll catch ya later."

Kira was grateful he didn't have to drag Lacus from the studio but she was disappointed that she wouldn't get to play with the second song until next weekend.

"When do you guys officially publish your album?" Lacus asked as they sat down to eat at a local deli two blocks away. A waitress took their orders and wandered off. It didn't take more than a few minutes for their quick meals to arrive.

"Next month I think," Kira said. "The first single goes to radios next week. Build up the interest. They know we got a fan base already built up so we'll probably do our official debut concert come summer."

"Evanescence was already popular I thought." They were on several sites and listed as a popular local band, especially since Battle of the Bands. "Is there any worry?"

"Not really. Whatever we do is fine by our standards," Kira shrugged. "But we'll see how the nation-wide response is to the music."

"Bring Me to Life, right? You won't have a problem," Lacus said, her words confident but her tone distant. The picking at her salad gave the rest away.

Kira narrowed his eyes. "Lacus, don't fret too much. It takes a while for people to get started up and going. It won't matter much if you aren't going to enjoy singing."

"I know."

"Besides, you underestimate how talented you are. Even Amy concedes you're going to do great."

She offered a smile finally. "Thanks."

As they sat in a companionable silence, enjoying their lunch while listening to the street noise and deli chatter, Lacus considered bringing up the photos from a few short weeks ago. Her internal debate must have shown on her face because Kira suddenly asked, "Something wrong?"

"No, nothing really," Lacus replied. "It's just, Lorene told me she was asking around about those photos…quietly, mind you. She hasn't heard of anyone who would do such a thing, using fake photos."

"It was obviously someone who wanted us to split," Kira remarked. "We know better now. I'd put my money on someone from Orb Prep."

"Maybe."

Kira regarded her with a look of question. "You think something else?"

"I'm not sure what I think. You're probably right and someone decided on a cruel joke," Lacus forced the matter from her mind. "You're right. We know better and it doesn't matter anyways."

He appeared satisfied with her reply. "Good. So, should we try fitting in the second song today?"

Her smile was wide as she replied, "Definitely."

West Island, Orb, Summer CE 74:

Chaos. Utter and complete chaos had erupted in the top units of the O'Dreary Apartments on Oni Street and that was saying something. Paul and Amy were notorious for constantly disrupting the peace but today was exceptional.

Amy took bossy to a new level, one Lacus couldn't fathom, down to micromanaging Paul so he didn't get into trouble. Of course that only invited trouble by the pound and Paul happily gave. It took less than five minutes before the death threats came and ten minutes before she began brandishing blunt objects.

Next to her on the couch, Kira sighed and pointedly ignored them. "You'd think they've never performed in a crowd before."

"You think it's nerves?" Lacus doubted it. Amy was simply too uninhibited and bold to care. The girl didn't believe in nerves.

Kira shrugged. "Probably. She's a perfectionist and this is our official entrance into the professional world. She'll cool off when we get to the stadium."

They hoped. Kara and Deanna had quickly vacated the apartments claiming to need something from the store down the block. Em had left the two girls in his apartment with Kitty on high volume while he supervised his best friend's descent into madness. He looked across to where Lacus and Kira sat out of the way and quirked an eyebrow. Kira merely rolled his eyes at her drama. It was best to let her ride this out.

"You excited?" Lacus asked Kira.

"A little," he exhaled. "Especially since Cagalli will be there watching with her parents."

"Right. How did that go, by the way?"

Kira finally ran out of excuses to avoid the Athha home and landed himself there for dinner at the start of summer break. Cagalli hadn't indicated it went badly in any way and Kira had been quiet about it.

"It was all right. I'm glad I'm close to graduation and going big with the band, otherwise Uzumi would've happily made me stay."

"I see." And she asked for no further details. A glance to the clock indicated they had less than seven hours before the big show that evening. They were to board the noon ferry in half an hour. Hence the frenzy of getting ready.

"I'm not sure what she's even freaking out about. The instruments are already at the stadium. The program is ready. Even Olivia's done all the outfits. What else is there?"

"It's nerves," Kira decided. "It makes crazy people more irrational."

"I heard that!" Amy shouted.

He chuckled.

Paul took the moment of distraction to slink away from his band boss and sagged over the back of the sofa. "So…if we survive this, we'd have done it. Gone big. And this will all be over."

"Not quite," Kira remarked. "We still have to survive graduation."

"Crap," Paul groused.

"Worse, we make it, you're stuck with her for good," Kira smirked, nodding towards the raven-haired singer. "Day in and day out for years to come."

Lacus laughed while Paul glared at him. "That is not a great pep talk, Kei."