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Author's Note: Here's chapter 8 of Syryn's Song. A bit of a warning to start off, there is referenced abuse for those of you who may be triggered by that, and a fairly explicit sex scene at the end. Thank you as always to all my readers for the comments, kudos, and thinking that my work is worth reading. Also thanks to the Big Closet team who work tirelessly to give us all a wonderfully supportive venue to read and post TG fiction ~Amethyst.
 

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Chapter 8: Battle of the Bands
 

When I awoke that Friday, it was slightly after five in the morning, my heart was racing, and I was having trouble breathing. The first was because the Battle of the Bands was going to begin that night and I was a nervous bundle of energy as I realized that today was the day for RevolveR to make it or break it. The second was because of the girl beside me in my bed, clinging to me for dear life as she slept. Allison was just too happy to have a big sister, any sort of real family connection after growing up in foster care, and didn’t want to let me out of her sight. That was okay though, because I didn’t either, at least not for a few days.

I was this mixed bag of emotions right now, and even my dreams had reflected it the night before. On the one hand I was so happy to have a real family connection, and a connection to the father that my mother never really let me get to know. I was excited about tonight and about getting to know Allie and being a big sister and role model for her. On the other hand though, I was blaming myself. I had been gullible enough to believe my mother’s lies and I couldn’t help but wonder if things could have been different, for both me and my sister, if I had questioned her sooner. Maybe she could have avoided all the abuse she had suffered in foster care, and from what Dr. Park… err Maddie had told me privately it had been bad. If only I had taken an earlier interest in finding out what my father was really like for myself, rather than taking the word of the woman who had raised me.

You know what they say about hindsight, well sometimes it’s not really 20/20. Sometimes it can get distorted, by “what if’s” and “should haves”. I knew deep in my heart and my mind that I couldn’t have really done anything for either of us, we were both kids after all, but that didn’t stop me from wishing that I could have. I may not have been able to do anything for either of us before, but now was a different story. Now that we were together I needed to watch over and protect her, that’s what big sisters do.

That was why when we returned home last night I had decided to let her sleep in my room with me and let Jennifer sleep on the couch, or with her new mentor, instead of trying to get a new apartment set up for the two of us right away. Firstly I wanted us to spend the time together, getting a feel for one another and for being sisters. Secondly, we wouldn’t have had much time to set up a new place anyway for the next few days, since RevolveR needed to get in both our regular training session and some band practice before heading over to Sullivan Hall for the start of Battle of the Bands that evening. The event would go on for three days with half of the dozen bands being eliminated on Friday night, three more on Saturday, and then the remaining three would battle it out for the title on Sunday.

It’s going to be a busy weekend, I thought as I turned to look at Allie curled up beside me with her arm wrapped around me as if she was afraid I would vanish in her sleep. After what she’d been through and suddenly having an actual blood relative who cared enough to take her in, that was probably exactly what she was afraid of. She was happy though as she clung to me, it’s not hard to tell someone’s emotions when she looks different for each one, and right now she was looking like a younger, sleeping Tessily.

I gently shook her and called out, “Allison, wake up sis. Come on, the alarm is going to go off soon so we might as well get up now,”

Her eyes opened and she looked around blearily for a moment before she realized where she was and happily hugged me,” It’s real! It wasn’t a dream!”

I ruffled her currently silver hair and grinned at her. “Yup, now get up so we can all eat some breakfast before we start training for the day. Tessily is going to teach you and Jennifer the basic focussing exercises that the Fae use to control their emotions while we’re doing our teamwork training, and that’s something you both need.”

After a quick breakfast with Allison and Jennifer, Leslie and I escorted them down to the base’s recreation room, where we left them in Tessily’s capable elven hands. She was to begin training them both in elven mental exercises meant to help control their emotions, to help Jennifer with her anger and impulse issues and Allie with possibly controlling her shapeshifting. While they were doing that we joined the rest of our team for our hour-long teamwork training session. When we returned so that Tessily and I could start work on my daily training regimen the two younger girls seemed a bit down.

“I see you’ve gained a new form, so which emotion is that one for?” I asked my sister, whose hair and eyes were both now a bright orange. Electricity crackled around her as golden flashes of energy arced along her skin. Jennifer was wisely keeping her distance and both girls were frowning.

“Frustration,” Allie snapped, before realizing how bad her tone might sound. Then she looked down at her feet, “Oh God, I’m sorry sis, I didn’t mean…” Her voice trailed off as her features once again shifted, her hair turning a deep plum and her eyes a near-black brown. I guessed that one was guilt.

“How’d they do Tessily?” Leslie ventured after a moment.

“It was only our first session,” my Mahar replied with an encouraging smile. “It shall take time and practice, but I am certain that they will both master these techniques just as Candice has.”

“Don’t worry,” I offered, trying to reassure both girls with a smile. “It took me a while too, and Jennifer, you should only really need the emotional control exercises. I had to learn all of the focussing techniques that a Fae mage would so I could control my telekinesis. We should probably be teaching you all of them too Allie, and possibly the hand-to-hand and sword techniques as well, since your abilities seem to differ with each form.”

“I guess I’ll let you have at that then, while I take my protégé and we’ll get some training in with Liberty,” Leslie said with a smile. “C’mon kiddo, let’s go see what you’re made of.”

Then Tessily began going through some of the other focussing exercises with Allie while I went through my daily regimen in the pool and we followed up with some sparring and advanced hand-to-hand and sword techniques while Allie worked on some beginner stances and motions that Tessily had assigned her. When eventually we quit for a shower I was feeling the burn from a good workout and Allie was perspiring and breathing heavily.

Once I had finished my post-training shower, and had instructed my sister to take one as well and to get dressed in something comfortable and casual, I started getting ready myself. First I massaged some lotion into my skin to get it feeling nice and soft. Next, I got dressed in a nice white sundress with a floral pattern and a pair of strappy white sandals with two inch heels. I didn’t really need makeup since Brianna had helped Blake program several good make up settings into both mine and Amy’s new and improved second skin pendants a few weeks ago. Trying to get makeup to look right with our disguises before had been a pain in the ass.

“Engage casual makeup,” I said clearly once I had the pendant on and was putting on my hairnet. Then I transferred everything I might need, including my spare anti-gravity belt, into a white purse that would go well with the shoes. Tessily and I had planned to take Allie out for lunch, but first I needed to see my young inventor friend about a disguise for her. He had mentioned last night that he had an idea that should only take an hour or two to finish and he was hoping to have it done before going to sleep.

Blake answered the door with a grin. “Looking good Candy.”

“Only thanks to you,” I quickly countered.

“Nah, you’d look good without my tech, just a bit more… exotic,” he replied with a wink. “I guess you’re here to see if I was able to come up with something for your sister?”

“Yeah, every time a strong emotion hits her she changes. It’s not exactly low profile.”

“Don’t worry, I have just the thing, just let me grab it and we’ll get her all set up.” He dashed back into his apartment for a moment, returned with a small cloth-wrapped item, and then we headed back to mine and Leslie’s apartment.

When we entered the apartment Allie had just gotten out of the shower and Leslie and Jennifer had returned from their own morning activities with Lisa. Allie was wrapped in my white terrycloth robe and the three of them turned to look in my direction as I walked in casually with Blake on my heels and told my sister with mock-sternness, “You’re really going to need to wear more than that if we’re going out to lunch.” Then I turned to my best friend and her new protégé and smiled at the pair. “Mahar and I are going to take Allie out for lunch before this afternoon’s practice, there’s that new sushi fusion place that opened up a few blocks away. Do you two want to come with?”

“Sure, that sounds like a great idea. We can’t really take them to see the sights or get some more clothes until after the weekend, but going for lunch before practice could be nice,” my best friend replied with a grin.

Allie and Jennifer just stared at me in confusion, as Allie’s eyes and hair shifted to match the light blonde and crystal blue of my disguise. “Oh! That’s right! It’s me Syryn, or Candy when I’m like this. You two didn’t get a chance to see me with my disguise on yesterday, did you?” I asked, pausing a moment to let them make the connection before continuing speaking, turning back to my sister/doppelganger. “It’s so cute that you associated me with confusion, or at least this me. Anyway, this is Blake, he made my disguise and all of our gear and he has something for you Sis.”

Blake offered the cloth-wrapped package, unwrapping it to reveal what looked like a long silver-hued strip of shiny and flexible metal about a foot and a half long and a quarter of an inch wide. “It’s a choker of sorts. Just pick it up, place it around your neck, connect the two ends, and it should adjust to fit comfortably.”

Allie was somewhat uncertain, not to mention still fairly confused, but did as Blake asked as I held her hair up and out of the way so it wouldn’t get caught in the choker. Once she had placed the two ends together the silver band tightened around her throat, becoming a little thicker as it did so, until it was firmly in place around her throat but not quite enough to choke her. “She doesn’t look any different Blake,” Leslie pointed out, “though with the same eye and hair color you can really tell that she and Candy are sisters, their faces are pretty similar.”

“This one doesn’t actually generate a disguise,” the young inventor admitted before turning his attention back to Allie. “It’s a modified inhibitor collar.”

Allie’s eyes widened in sudden realization and she suddenly looked torn between relief and wanting to rip the collar off. “Why…” she began to ask in a panic.

Blake gently put a hand on her shoulder, cutting off her questions and protests by offering an explanation. “Your problem isn’t just your appearance changing, you also have different powers with each appearance, powers that it’s going to take time to learn to control and you don’t want to lose control in a public place, your sister could tell you how that feels. It activated when you put it on, and while active it will block out your powers, keeping you from shifting or using whatever powers you may have In that specific form. It will only work on you since it’s coded to your DNA and will only respond to the voice commands of the person wearing it, that being you as well, so that the only one controlling when you can or can’t use your powers is you. To activate or deactivate it just say ‘Activate collar’ or ‘Deactivate collar’, to remove it say ‘Remove collar’, and if you want to switch between it’s normal look and a more casual one just say, ‘Activate casual mode’ or ‘Deactivate casual mode’. I tried to make it as easy as possible, and it has an emergency manual release button at the back if you ever need remove it and can’t speak for some reason.”

“So I control it?” my sister asked, seeming to need reassurance.

“Yes, you and only you,” Blake replied. “You need to be able to choose when you may need to use your abilities or when you can’t risk showing them, I am just giving you that option. Here at home you probably won’t need to use the collar much, but it will help regulate your appearance when you’re not at home and prevent any accidental power use until you have more control.”

Once Allie had put the collar in casual mode, which made it look like a simple black leather choker, she and I went to find her a nice outfit to wear. She really didn’t have much and, since she was a bit shorter and a little less curvy than me, there really wasn’t much I could lend her that would fit decently. I made a mental note to get her some more clothes soon as we settled on a pair of worn, but presentable, low-rise jeans and an emerald green poet blouse with ruffled sleeves. The outfit didn’t really go with the running shoes she had, but we wore same shoe size so I was able to loan her a pair of hunter green double-strapped sandals with a one inch block heel that didn’t look too bad with the blouse.

By the time I was done with her, Jennifer had gotten out of the shower and we helped her to get ready as well. She had a few more clothes than Allie, but not by much. They really were in a situation similar to mine and Leslie’s when we first got out of the hospital and came to New York, except they didn’t have the money that Leslie had to help. Nope, they had even better, they had me and Leslie. My best friend had barely put a dent in her money from the insurance policies and the sale of her car and the property that her childhood home had been on before burning to the ground. I on the other hand had invested a large portion of the start-up money I got from Tara at the HPP with Phil’s help and was currently sitting on a nest egg of roughly forty thousand dollars. It helped that neither of us had to pay rent, just our share of the utilities.

I would have to have Sasha help me invest again, maybe a quarter of what I had, but I felt that caring for my sister and myself would be doable until we started making money from our music. Leslie would have no problem caring for her new ward/protégé either. Our first priorities on Monday after the Battle of the Bands would be new clothes for them, setting up one of the other two bedroom apartments in the building for Leslie and Jennifer, and seeing Tara at the Hyper Protection Program. We were worried about their safety if they kept their old identities, since it wasn’t really too hard to find people on the internet these days.

We had discussed the girls’ situation last night immediately after returning to the base with Blake, Brianna, Sasha, and all the members of both RevolveR and Aegis in attendance. Jennifer’s parents had been murdered after being outed as mutants and there was a good chance that she was being targeted as well. As for Allie, her foster parents had been abusive even before she Activated in the hospital. She had been originally admitted with severe bruising over almost half her body and cracked ribs. She didn’t know what excuse they had used when they admitted her, but whatever it was it was probably a lie. After she had Activated her foster parents had to be banned from the hospital after calling her the spawn of Satan and threatening to kill her in full view of the attending nurse. They definitely needed protection, so Blake and Brianna were going to talk to their father about putting a rush on HPP approval for the pair from his office.

These thoughts were all heavy on my mind as we helped Jennifer get ready. Eventually we managed to get her in a layered skirt and tunic style top, both in shades of blue and a tan pair of strappy sandals that looked good together. After that Jennifer put on some light makeup while I helped Allie with hers and told her what I was doing and why. Despite being born a girl she never really had the opportunity to have much more in the way of makeup than lip gloss and had no idea about most of it. I hadn’t been doing it long myself, but I had gotten used to it over the time we’d been in New York City and I was even getting pretty decent at it, it was kind of fun getting just the right look. If somebody had told me back when I was Ken that in three months I’d be teaching my little sister about how to use makeup I would have laughed in their face. What a difference a few months can make.

By the time both girls were ready for our outing, Leslie had already hopped out of shower and was mostly ready. “I’ll be like five minutes,” she promised as she started on her own makeup.

“Cool, I’ll call and let Tessily know we’re ready,” I replied before snatching my phone from my purse. I quickly hit the Fae’s number in my contacts list and waited for her to answer.

“Nahal hanun lien,” she greeted me. You and young Allison are prepared to leave for lunch?”

“Nahal Mahar. We’re all ready to go, we’ll meet you down in the foyer in five minutes. I invited Leslie and Jennifer to tag along with the three of us, I hope you don’t mind.”

“I do not mind at all Candice, Jennifer and Allison could both use some fresh air and good company I think, and Leslie is always welcome to join us. I shall meet with you all downstairs,” came her chipper reply.

“Jisse Mahar, aine vel amistriel. Nayr vel vise oluhaime,” I responded before disconnecting the call.

“Jeeze Candy, you’re getting as bad as Tess, could you please speak something us humans can understand?” Leslie teased after finishing applying her lipstick and lightly blotting it with a tissue.

I blushed a light lavender as I took Alison’s hand and led her out of the room. “Sorry about that, I just told her, ‘Yes Mom, I love you. We’ll see you there.’ She’s been teaching me to speak Fae whenever we spend time together relaxing and it’s coming to me easier than I would have thought, it’s like I was born to speak it. So it kind just happens sometimes when we’re talking and I already know how to say something in Fae. Maybe it has something to do with the clan mark.”

“Or the pointed ears,” my best friend offered with a smirk as we made our way out of the apartment. “Tess did say it was possible that Allie had Fae blood back in her family line and you both have the same father. I know that most of your features, like the general body shape, pretty face, eyes, blue skin, and pink hair may have been from a subconscious desire to be noticed, but would the ears really make a huge difference to that? Maybe it’s just your Fae genes showing themselves.”

That made a lot more sense than I cared to admit at the moment, not that I would be bothered by being part Fae. I mean I took the clan mark, and since my change I haven’t exactly been the poster girl for normal humans. I just wished that I knew more about our father, for both Allie’s sake and my own. I tried to put all of that out of my mind for the moment though as we joined Tessily in the foyer and headed out to eat.

Lunch, and the band practice afterwards seemed to pass in a blur. The food at the restaurant had been very good and we all enjoyed ourselves, and the girls seemed to really enjoy watching us practice afterward, but now that we were getting ready for our big night I was starting to get just a bit nervous. Well at least we had out own cheering section, even if nobody else liked our music. Blake, Brianna, and all of Aegis were going to be in the crowd in their civilian identities watching with my sister, Jennifer, and Ian’s family The latter had come to the apartment complex to give us a little encouragement and Kim offered to hang with Allie and Jennifer in an effort to get to know them better, since Amy would be helping with our big entrance that night as Rave and couldn’t watch the show with her.

They had all left together and now they were out there somewhere in the crowd as me and the other members of RevolveR waited in the backstage area of Sullivan Hall with the other bands waiting for the show to start. We were already in costume and I had put on some subtle makeup earlier to help enhance my features. They don’t really have foundation for my unique skin color so it was basically just mascara, eyeliner, eyeshadow and a lip gloss in a slightly darker blue than my lips. We were getting a lot of looks from the other bands, most of whom were hard rockers or metal heads and we stood out a bit. Several of them had already come up with dirty looks on their faces asking, “Just what the fuck are you supposed to be?”

My heart jumped in my throat and I nearly hid behind Riff as I noticed Alex and my former friends approaching. I took a deep breath to calm myself and stood up tall as I muttered to the others, “Oh look, it’s the Douchecanoes.”

Mai turned around, her eyes snapping on the approaching group as I spoke her little nickname for them. “We’ve got your back if you need it,” she offered, taking my hand and giving it a tight squeeze. The other’s looked like they wanted to rip Alex’s head off, which is pretty scary since Twilight probably could have. Luckily they too managed to calm themselves and adopt more indifferent expressions as the jerks approached with Alex in the lead and the other’s following in his wake like the simpering toadies that they had turned out to be.

Alex was the only one to speak of course, the other’s just sort of half waved from behind him as he strode up, casually tossed his blond hair out of his eyes and winked at me. “Hey there gorgeous, I’m Alex, and we’re Red Prophesy. That’s an interesting look you guys have going there.”

“I’m Syryn, we’re RevolveR, and I’m familiar with you,” I replied as casually as I could make myself while ignoring his obvious flirting. “I used to live in New Haven and followed the music scene there pretty eagerly.”

“Oh yeah? I don’t think I ever saw you around, but New Haven’s a big place. So what made you decide to go from groupie to joining a band? And why the costumes and blue body paint? You’re pretty hot so you don’t need a gimmick. Hell if you’d come to me I’d have let you audition as a backup singer or something.” The last was said with a leer that made me want to retch in my mouth.

“This isn’t body paint, this is what I really look like,” I responded coldly in a carefully controlled tone while keeping a firm grip on my empathy. “And I would rather die than join you and the Pretenders… Oh wait the Pretenders were actually a good band. You’ve been nothing since Ken Graham died and if you dare pull that ‘we’re doing this for Ken’ bullshit then I will make sure the world knows how Ken really died. Ken’s name isn’t going to carry you anymore, so you’ll have to get by on your own limited talents.”

Alex’s eyes narrowed, “You don’t know anything you blue bimbo.”

I actually laughed at that. Then I smoothly twisted the events that night as if I had been a witness. “Don’t I Alex? I remember that night very well. You weren’t the only ones there that night at Farnam Memorial Gardens, hiding in the trees. I saw everything. You were all drinking and Ken offered to drive you home in your truck when you got too hammered to even stand up straight. He made a grab for your keys and you called him a faggot and when he stumbled you punched him in the throat. He started coughing up blood and couldn’t breathe. I heard that he died later from complications. I... left before the ambulance or the cops arrived. I mean, if you looked like me would you approach a group of drunk idiots in a park at night? Or want to risk being seen by the cops? That’s not the case anymore though, I’m out of the closet and I’m a superhero now. I wonder how the cops will react to a witness coming forward on that case…” I trailed off letting that hang in the air a moment before adding purposefully, “Good luck on stage and in all your future endeavours, we’ll be watching you.”

Alex and the others looked terrified, and I couldn’t help but smile in satisfaction as they half-ran to the other side of the back stage area. “That was awesome,” Twilight said with a smug grin.

‘Did you see them fucking run?” Rave was having trouble holding back her laughter.

As luck would have it, we were up right after Red Prophesy that first night of the battle of the Bands. Each band had to perform one cover song and one of their original pieces. We watched from the side of the stage as we awaited our turn and Red Prophesy used one of the early metal songs I had written as Ken and followed up with Enter Sandman by Metallica. I’m pretty sure they were nervous as hell, either from the crowd or me and their performance was pretty disappointing.

“Showtime,” I told the others with a satisfied smile as the curtain dropped, accompanied by a lackluster applause, and Red Prophesy gathered their instruments and left the stage.

Once they had abandoned the stage we quickly started setting up our instruments and patching them and our mics into the soundboard with the assistant of Sasha and Rave. The latter two had been practicing set-up and take-down in preparation for the past week and things went pretty quickly. We were done well before the MC walked back onto the stage.

I could hear him speaking as we all headed offstage, leaving Rave standing there by herself. “That was Red Prophecy, from New Haven Connecticut! Up next we have, from here in New York City, RevolveR!” We actually got a pretty good round of applause as he said our name and it surprised me a bit. I knew we had our own little cheering section, but maybe some of those people frequenting our website the past week had been telling the truth when they said they couldn’t wait to see us perform here.

As the MC left the stage and the curtain rose Rave turned to the crowd like a cat who ate the canary and spoke through the Mic in her costume. “Hello New York! As you can see I’m not RevolveR. I’m their roadie Rave, but I know I’m not who you’re here to see, so without further ado… here they are, the one, the only, RevolveR!” She tapped her mic off and the patterns and lines on her body flared a bright green as she opened up a portal from the side of the stage where we were standing to center stage. We all stepped through, accompanied by one of Starbright’s amazing light shows, to a stunned silence. As Decibel headed for the drum set and I tapped my costume mic on, the others got to their instruments and got ready.

I gave the crowd an exuberant wave and a smile as I spoke, “Hello everyone! It’s great to be here among such great bands! I’m Syryn, and my friends here are Twilight on the keyboard and organ, Riff on lead guitar, Starbright on backup vocals and bass, and on the drums we have Decibel.” Each of them gave a jaunty wave to the crowd as they were introduced and I finished up by adding, “Our first song is called Crashing Down and I’d like to dedicate it to someone who isn’t with us anymore. He died tragically after being betrayed by people claiming to be his friends. This one’s for you Ken!” Decibel and Riff started laying down the beat and Twilight and Star soon joined in on the keyboard and bass, pumping out the hard rock rhythm that got the crowd moving. Once they had rocked their way through the intro I started in on the first verse, dancing in the air above the stage as I sang out to the crowd.

We were all doing fine until you came along
They let you in, But they were wrong
I knew you’d only take us through the gates of Hell
But you put them, Under your spell
They all took your side after what you did to me
Knife in my back, They couldn’t see
And a person has no need of enemies
When they’ve been ‘blessed’
With friends like these

I practically spat out the last line, turning my gaze briefly off stage to where Red Prohesy had left not long before. Then Riff launched into his first guitar solo to thunderous applause. I grinned over at my boyfriend as he lost himself in the music until the melody changed to the slightly slower chorus. Starbright and I started in on the chorus and I was suddenly glad we had practiced it so much as I lowered myself back to the stage, leaned against her, and we sang in unison.

Is your head heavy?
From your self-imposed crown
And do you hear that?
Very distant rumbling sound
Your broken kingdom
Isn't built on solid ground!
And I hoooooope that I'm arounnnnnnnd
When it all comes crashing down!

We carried the words hope and around, letting that line take hold before practically screaming the last line as the melody jumped right back into the harder and faster one. I was grinning from ear to ear from how well our voices were working together as the chorus ended and I had to take a quick breath before jumping into the next verse. I rose into the air again and held out my arms wide to the audience as the words flowed from between my lips

I held the door for you; you slammed it in my face
Shoved me aside, To take my place
I think we both know what you wanted to achieve
To take it all, And then just leave
There's shattered pieces of the world you stole from me
Tossed them aside, So now I'm free
And now I'm super-powered from the tragedy
Invulnerable
You can't hurt me

I let my anger at Alex and the rest of Red Prophesy be heard in my voice as I sang the verse, but I was careful to keep tight control over my empathy and subsonics. My voice was still angry as I finished this verse, but it was also filled with the confidence I had in myself and the rest of my team. Those who stood by me through thick and thin and who I knew always had my back. Riff started in on his second guitar solo and the crowd erupted again. Once the others jumped back in and the song slowed a bit again Star and I jumped back into the chorus.

Is your head heavy?
From your self-imposed crown
And do you hear that?
Very distant rumbling sound
Your broken kingdom
Isn't built on solid ground!
And I hooooooope that I'm arounnnnnnnd
When it all comes crashing down!

We shouted out the last line of the chorus and as Star joined the others in playing the next verse I took a quick breath and started singing as if questioning the audience. I reached out my hand in inquiry, closing my eyes and swaying to the music as I floated toward the front of the stage again.

Do my old friends ever ask about my fate?
Without you all, I’m doing great
You think with me gone that you’re the one who rules
Blind leading blind, Kingdom of fools
And do you see your golden opportunity?
It’s not really yours, They wanted me
You needed me much more than I needed you
Now that I’m not there
What will you do?

As soon as that question left my lips Riff’s final guitar solo began and had the crowd rocking. His fingers and guitar pick coaxing out sounds that I could still scarcely believe even after two months of having him in my band. He was like some sort of guitar God and I only hoped that the audience enjoyed the song and my singing half as much as they did his playing as the others started in on the chorus again and Starbright and I put our voices to work on the final repetition of the chorus.

Is your head heavy?
From your self-imposed crown
And do you hear that?
Very distant rumbling sound
Your broken kingdom
Isn't built on solid ground!
And I hooooooope that I'm arounnnnnnnd
When it all comes crashing down!

Let it all come crashing down!

I want to see it all come crashing down…

We let our voices slowly hold that that last line out to the audience, softly fading as the music came to an end. Then we all took a quick bow before I turned back to the crowd feeling more energized than I had ever felt before as I spoke again. “That was Crashing Down, I hope you all enjoyed it. For our second song of the evening we’re going to play a little Guns N’ Roses and I think you’ll all recognize this one.”

We had been practicing some cover songs for about two weeks now, since I found out that we’d probably have to do some for the Battle of the Bands. We rocked our way though Sweet Child O’ Mine and I thought I made it work pretty well with my voice. The way that Riff plowed through Slash’s guitar solo really sold it though, and the curtain closed to the sound of a standing ovation.

There were four other bands after us on that first night, but I couldn’t tell you how well they did. We were just too energized from our first public performance to really pay much attention. Hell, I barely remember us getting our gear put away with Rave and Sasha’s help. Mostly we just sat backstage and waited for the results of the first days judging to be announced as we spoke excitedly about how our performance had gone. I do remember some of the other bands coming up to congratulate us on a great performance though.

Finally after what seemed like far too much anticipation the guest judges’ results had been tallied and the MC brought all the bands on stage for the announcement of the results. “We’ve had a lot of great performances tonight,” he began as he addressed the crowd, “so first let’s have a big round of applause for all of our entries this year.” Once the applause that had resulted from that statement had died down he addressed the crowd once again, reading off a piece of paper. “The judging was tough and there were a lot of great performances, but our six semi-finalists who will be returning to play again tomorrow night are: One Dagger Mutiny, RevolveR, The Cramps, Drunk Uncle, Black Malice, and Nuclear Bong!”

We would have celebrated that night, but we were all too tired after our long day and the next round of the Battle of the Bands started in the afternoon tomorrow, so if we wanted to get any band practice in before it started, it was going to have to be in the morning. Our cheering section were all pretty proud of us though, and I was pretty happy that we had made it to the next round and Red Prophesy hadn’t. I felt a bit guilty for that, especially after the way I had scared the living shit out of them backstage, but I kept telling myself that it was no less than they deserved, all of them.

Alex may have taken everything from me, but my ‘friends’ hadn’t lifted a finger to stop him and hadn’t really been my friends since they pulled Alex into the band. No, they all deserved to fall flat like that and I couldn’t let Alex think he’d gotten away with what he’d done. Especially after the way he had behaved backstage. I could have been the better person and let it go, but his comments there had made me want some sort of payback. What can I say, I’m not perfect. Besides, who knew what Alex would do from now on if he kept thinking he could get away with murder. No, he needed to know that if he crossed the line again someone was going to make him pay for his crimes.

The second day of the contest was a bit stressful since we all found out at the last minute that we wouldn’t be playing our own material. It had been decided the night before that, to mix things up and provide a challenge for the bands playing, we would be performing random songs. Before everything was set to start each band was given a set of music and lyrics sheets for six songs, chosen at random, that we would have to perform covers of. The styles weren’t just hard rock or metal either which threw most of the bands for a bit of a loop. We had gotten Together by the Pet Shop Boys, Shoot to Thrill by ACDC, Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, Symphony of Destruction by Megadeth, Zombie by the Cranberries, and Bring Me to Life by Evanescence. I was really glad we had Twilight for keyboard and organ and Riff on guitar for some of those. We’d have been screwed otherwise.

We did a pretty good job overall, especially on Bring Me to Life, since I had the vocal range for it and the song was right up our alley style-wise. I’m a mezzo contralto, as I had discovered during that first month and a half as a girl. I had had to practice with my voice a lot then, pushing it to its limits to get used to it, and to learn to control the secondary vocal flaps that emit my subsonic carrier wave when I’m using my empathic abilities. The good thing about that is that can push into either the contralto or soprano ranges when I want to. I was surprised that we had been able to do as well as we did, given the extremely short time we had to prepare and plan for the six songs. We didn’t even get a chance to practice them beforehand and a lot of the bands weren’t as able to adapt to their song selections as we were.

Thankfully we were one of the three finalists, alongside Drunk Uncle and Black Malice. That evening saw us planning out the set of four songs of our choosing that we would get to play for the finals. I think that we were all pretty nervous about the next day once we had finished a quick practice and headed back to our apartments for the night. I was lying awake just after midnight with my sister cuddled close to me fast asleep when I decided that I probably wasn’t going to be able to sleep for a while.

I slipped out of bed snatching up my bathing suit and a putting my pink silk bathrobe on over my black baby doll nightie, planning to maybe take a swim and relax with some elven focussing exercises to get myself into a more sleepy disposition. I quietly padded out of my room and then the apartment and made my way toward the elevator. It was pretty quiet for a Saturday night in our building, with most of us wanting a good night’s sleep before the final round of the Battle of the Bands the next day, but as I passed Ian’s apartment I heard the strumming of a guitar from inside. Before I even realized what I was doing I lightly tapped on his door.

Ian answered the door wearing only a pair of green flannel pajama bottoms and I could feel myself flush as I stared at him for a moment. “Couldn’t sleep either huh?” he asked.

I shook my head. “No, I was thinking of going for a swim or something. I heard you playing as I was walking by and I figured that we might as well do something together since we’re both still awake.”

“That sounds good, come on in beautiful,” he agreed with a smile. “Maybe we could start those guitar lessons.” He took me by the hand and led me to his couch where he sat us both down and put his guitar in my hands. Then he began showing me the finger placements for the various chords and proper strumming technique and for the next half hour he had me repeating what he had shown me, sitting close enough to correct the position of my hands or my hold on the guitar when necessary.

“Remember you should hold the neck lightly so you can finger the chords properly, you don’t need to grip it so tight, it’s not going to run away,” he said putting his arm around me to correct the position of my hand.

“Umm yeah… okay,” I fixed the position of my hands and tried the chord again as I tried to ignore the sudden dryness of my throat and the warmth of his naked chest pressed so close to me. As his arm lingered there for a moment, my pulse quickened and my breath came in short feathery gasps as I felt my whole body flush. I bit my trembling lower lip as I turned to face him panicking for a moment as I stared at him uncertain which of my warring emotions I should be listening to right at that moment. “Ian… I ummm… ahhh…” figuring that I couldn’t depend on my voice in that moment I gave up speaking and kissed him instead.

He kissed me back eagerly, his tongue slipping between my lips. The guitar fell to the floor, momentarily forgotten as we held one another tight, our tongues dancing vigorously around one another until he had to come up for air. We held each other close, breathing heavily and just staring at one another for what seemed like minutes. My chest was heaving, my nipples poking through both my nightie and my thin silk robe as I once again bit my lower lip and pressed my body into his to kiss him again, running my hands along the muscles of his bare chest. I could feel a heat rush through me, goosebumps rising along my flesh and a moist warmth growing between my legs, as I pushed him onto his back.

Ian broke the kiss again, panting for air as he softly caressed my cheek with his right hand, his left hand reaching for the neck of my robe before suddenly stopping. He took me by the shoulders and looked me right in the eyes. “Candy… we don’t have to do this if you’re not ready yet.”

My answer was to slip my robe from my shoulders, letting it fall onto the couch beside me as I leaned in to kiss him again, my fingernails slowly tracing along his skin, barely touching the flesh and eliciting a shiver of pleasure from him as I could feel the growing stiffness between his legs. I smiled down at him, shaking my head. “I ‘m ready Ian. I want this, I want… you.”

“Okay, but let’s go to my bed first, it’ll be more comfortable and I have condoms in there. I don’t want to risk getting you pregnant until we’re both ready for that.” He stood up and picked me up in his arms, carrying me into his room as I pondered the fact that I could indeed get pregnant. What would that be like? What kind of mother would I be? It wasn’t the first time I’d had those kinds of thoughts though, and I blushed a bright lavender as I considered it and my response.

“Thanks for… thinking of me… and being responsible, but I’ve been on the pill since we started dating. Dr. Park wrote me a prescription for them the day after Coney Island,” I admitted.

“Still, better safe than sorry,” he said with a loving smile as he gently placed me on the bed and we both slipped out of our clothes. Then we just stared at one another for a moment, slowly drinking in what was in front of us. I’d never seen him naked before, I’d never seen any man naked before, unless you counted myself before my Activation. I found myself liking what I saw and in a brief moment of self-conscious uncertainty I wondered if he felt the same. “Oh God, you’re so beautiful,” he murmured after a moment quelling my fears before kissing me again and wrapping his arms around me.

He pushed me down onto the bed, raining soft teasing kisses down on me; my earlobe, my neck, then ever downward to kiss, lick and suckle on each of my hardened nipples in turn. I felt so hot, and it was like my every nerve was on fire as he teased each nipple just enough to make my head fuzzy with growing pleasure before moving on to the next. He gazed up at me and I shivered in pleasure, just from the look of love and desire on his face and then he was kissing again, moving downward toward my navel before the kisses continued travelling ever-southward. He kissed each of my thighs, his fingers tracing along the folds between my legs with a gentleness that sent electric shocks running up and down my spine.

I wanted to do more, but he shook his head and smiled that dazzling smile of his up at me from between my legs when I tried to do so. “No, just lay back and enjoy it. This is your first time and I want you to enjoy it. I want is to be special for you. We can try other things later, but this time it’s all for you.” He began to lovingly lick and nibble between my legs pulling at the folds of my nether-lips as he softly caressed my thighs. My breath came in quick short gasps, interspersed with little moans of pleasure, as I squirmed beneath his ministrations, the feeling of pleasure that seemed just out of reach slowly building until it felt that my whole body was alive with it, an explosion waiting to happen.

His tongue moved ever so slightly upwards to trace my clit in slow circles, licking and flicking along the sensitive nub and I couldn’t hold still, gasping in quick hiccoughs of pleasure. Licking gave way to suckling and little nibbles and then everything turned to bright white light. I screamed out in ecstasy, gripping the sheets of the bed tightly in my clenched fists as my back arched and I gave myself over to the agonizing pleasure that had ever so briefly become my entire existence. Then it was over and I slumped to the bed, my muscles feeling like Jell-O as I mentally bathed in the radiant warmth that infused my whole body.

I stared at Ian in a daze as I laid there breathing heavily with every nerve in my body singing the most beautiful melody. He knelt between my legs, a finger idly tracing the flesh of my inner thigh as he gazed down at me again uncertainly. “Are you still sure you want this Candy? We could stop right now and I’d understand.”

I wasn’t sure what to say to that so I just shook my head at first, giving him what I hoped was a reassuring smile. My voice caught a bit as I finally managed, “No… please… I want this Ian.”

Ian carefully rolled the condom over his hard and slightly twitching member and leaned over to kiss me passionately as he entered me for the first time. There was a short sharp pain at first, but I was fairly wet by that point so soon that brief pain gave way to pleasure as he made slow love to me. The way he held me, kissed and caressed me, and spoke softly to me as we moved our entwined bodies together made me feel like the single most important person in the universe. It made me feel both powerful and vulnerable at the same time and I found that I liked it.

I had fallen victim to two more incredible orgasms, even more powerful than the first, and each time Ian had come as well as, while I screamed out in ecstasy I had lost control of my empathy and subsonics, sending him over the edge right along with me. “Ummm sorry about that, I kinda lost control of my powers there those last two times,” I apologized with a blush when we were done.

“Ummm wow, that was amazing, I had no it was so intense for you girls. You don’t need to apologize for that,” he told me, reaching out to caress my cheek as he stared at me. Afterward we just laid there in one another’s arms for a while. Neither of us said much, there wasn’t really much that needed to be said that we hadn’t just shown one another through our bodies. Instead we just savored the afterglow and the presence of the person that we were in love with; kissing, caressing, and cuddling contentedly. I admitted to myself then that I was indeed very much in love with Ian Smith, and I thought, I hoped, that he felt the same for me. It was to those warm thoughts that I fell asleep in his arms.