The world was nothing more than a red blur. Were you drunker than was responsible? Perhaps. All you knew was that the object of your anger was in front of you. You hit him again. He was a bit pudgy, he hadn't put up that much of a fight. He moved in slow motion while you decimated him with heavy blows. Again and again, you hammered his face. You were on the ground at this point. This was no gentleman's duel, it was a savage beating. Hit him. Hurt him. Make him pay. . . for. . . something? What was it?
The fight had only lasted for a minute or so but you were having trouble rationalizing what had offended you so much. You looked around the room. It was one of the small conference rooms in the hotel. A small white and beige room with a couple of light sources and a six-person foldout table. There was no one else in the room. . . wait. . . yes, there was. Sona. Sona was in the corner. Her eyes were that of sheer terror. She had a small trickle of blood coming from her nose. He did that. That was why you were beating him. Jefferson. You remembered now. He was her manager. He had grabbed her arm. You walked in right as he had slapped her. He called her a bitch.
Yeah. that was right. You had to make him pay. It was the right thing to do. It was the righteous thing to do. But to hell with all of that. It was personal. She was yours. No one was allowed to hurt her.
You pounded him again as he put his hands up to defend himself. He yelled in pain but you didn't hear it, all you heard was the ringing in your ears. It made sense, the blood had rushed from your head, that happened to people when they overexerted themselves when they weren't in good physical shape.
He screamed out as you hit his forehead. you raised your arm to strike again, but you were caught this time. A heavy force pushed against your back and forced you to the ground. The man was built and heavy with darker skin, he was bald with a crooked nose, at least that was what you saw out of the corner of your eye. Hotel security. Yeah, that made sense too. Someone had obviously heard the shouting.
Another man grabbed hold of Jefferson and a shorter woman was over with Sona, telling her it would be alright and attempting to comfort her. Sona couldn't speak. They wouldn't know what she was trying to tell them.
Y/N: She's mute. Can't speak. Get her a pen.
You calmed down and let yourself go limp as the security staff held you. It would be best to let them do their job, resisting would make you look bad. This was all his fault. They would make sure he paid.
After a few minutes, she was given a pen and paper. After a few more minutes, she wrote out what had happened. Twenty minutes later, you were being put into a police car while an officer was reading you your rights.
_______________________________________
Evelynn: Why are we here?
Akali walked past her, balancing on the rail as they made their way through the train yard. The sun had yet to rise and the younger girl had ripped Evelynn from the warm embrace of her sheets. She then had to endure an insufferably cold motorcycle ride that took almost an hour to get here. Evelynn was tired and hungry, and her ass hurt from the bumpy ride. Needless to say, she was less than happy with Akali at the moment.
Akali: Just wait. It's up ahead, I promise it'll be worth the wait.
The rapper did a, completely unnecessary, dramatic flip off of the rail and ran across the dirt and rocks to a decommissioned subway train with a crude blue paint job. She gestured to it with both hands and her eyes screamed 'ta-da!' forcing Evelynn to quirk an eyebrow in mild irritation.
Evelynn: What is. . . this?
Akali: It's an old train car decommissioned after going off the rails last year. Took bout' a week to find one, they are good with their repairs over here.
Evelynn stepped closer to the old car, minding the rust on the rail next to her. She did not remember getting her tetanus shot recently.
Evelynn: Fascinating. . . why do we need it?
She prodded the door with one of her invisible tails, making it almost fall off of the hinge with a tap. Well, that certainly wasn't up to regulation. She pushed the door away with both tails and peered inside. It was visually in good condition, though the rails and sides needed new paint. The seats looked like they could have used a good scrubbing and some polish.
Akali stepped up beside her and sighed.
Akali: So. . . you know how we were all gonna have our own sets for the video. . . and. . . ya know how Ahri said we could only budget for three?
Evelynn did recall the conversation. When they were going over what to do for the music video. Ahri suggested they all have a theme or a stage, taking something everyday and mundane and turning it into something fantastical or magical. Ahri's idea was to turn a laundromat into a weird alternate reality throughout the video. Kai'sa wanted her part to take part in some sort of tunnel that turned into a black void with lights. Evelynn herself. . . well, she wanted a row of Lamborghini's that she would drive her own through. All replicas of course, except her own.
Akali had not voiced what she wanted to do but seemed a little put out by the prospect, perhaps this was why.
Akali: I didn't want to suggest something that would go over budget, Ahri has been so accommodating already ya know? So I asked Colt-Hawk-whatever to help me see if I could get an old train car to use relatively cheap. This is what I found. And I figured since you'll be doing part of the video on my set, I should get your approval first.
That was what this was about? She didn't think that the budget could afford to build the interior of a train car for the video? Evelynn patted Akali on the head and sighed.
Evelynn: Oh, you sweet summer child. Did you really think we weren't going to let you have a set as well? Ahri meant that we could only create three full sets. Kai'sa and I are using the same set for ours, we had more than enough to accommodate you.
The rapper looked flabbergasted.
Akali: Wait. What?! I thought. . . but. . . why didn't you say that?
Evelynn: We did sweetie, you just weren't listening.
Eve made her tail corporeal, running it along her friend's chin as she stepped past her and hoisted herself into the car. There was definitely a layer of dust, but it seemed fine regardless. She sat on one of the seats and prayed that it would not collapse under her. It had a certain charm to it.
Evelynn: Still, points for authenticity.
She ran a fingernail over one of the rails, peeling up a bit of the paint.
Evelynn: It's going to need some work. . . but I approve. And I applaud your ingenuity.
Akali's face lit up so bright that the sun itself was no longer needed. It was adorable how excited she got over the simplest things and compliments, it was something that made her stand out from the rest of the musicians she knew. Akali was as genuine as they come. In fact, all of the members of their little group were genuine people, she felt the most out of place.
Evelynn: I'm sure you could get this spic and span by Monday without issue. I'm sure Ahri or Hawk could lend you a car to bring everything needed.
Akali laughed and retreated back to the bike and leaned over it to grab something. She pulled up a green sack that Evelynn did not remember being there before. She hauled it over to the front of the car and started taking things out of it.
Evelynn's jaw hit the floor.
Akali had produced a mop, bucket, three different paint cans, brushes, rollers, trays, disinfectant, several dust pads, and rubber gloves. She hefted a bucket full of water in one hand and grinned at Eve.
Akali: I'm glad you think so. We best get started!
Evelynn did not know why she was surprised. She was part of a band containing a fox, a ninja, and a voidling. It was possibly the oddest lineup in history. But she was still befuddled on how the ninja had transported all of that on the side of the bike without spilling any of it, never mind Evelynn noticing they were there in the first place. She set her jaw and put on a smile.
Evelynn: Sweetie I'm. . . not the best with dusting. Maybe you should get one of the boys to help you?
Akali's face fell slightly. No, no don't do that. Akali wasn't supposed to make the kicked puppy look, it was too powerful.
Akali: Oh. . . okay. I just. I know Ahri well enough and Kai'sa. . . is still a mystery to me. I thought that we could use some bonding time ya know? Just talk and get to know each other while we work. But if it's too much trouble then don't worry 'bout it.
The girl shrugged and hoisted the bucket up and into the train car. Oh, for fuck's sake. Akali was trying to use this project to bond over? After threatening to cut her throat last week? Well, it was sweet in an odd way. It was an Akali way of thinking. And Evelynn saw no good reason to refuse her this. It had been a while since she had done real hard labor, she might not be up for it.
But. . .
She pilfered the rubber gloves from outside with her tail before carefully moving them back to her.
Evelynn: Well, I guess we should get to work.
_______________________________________
Y/N: I think we should change it again.
You made a few more notes on your pad, striking out a line of lyrics.
Ahri: Seriously?
Y/N: Yup.
Ahri: it's really good. It makes perfect sense.
Y/N: Does it though?
Ahri: Yes!
You leaned back on the sofa and sighed, rubbing your eyes. It was too early for this shit.
Y/N: Okay. But it doesn't feel like we have a story here. It's so vague and open-ended. The whole song is just "Hi, we're K/DA, we're the best." There's no substance to it.
Ahri clicked her tongue and moved closer to you. She motioned you to sit up and look at her, you did so. She then spoke slowly and deliberately.
Ahri: I understand that a lot of your music has very specific stories. I listened to a few of those bands you like and it became very apparent. They tell epic ballads and such. But the reason that pop has a larger reach is that it can speak to many different people at once, there is no set story, and people can apply it to their own life and situation.
You sighed again. Yeah, you understood that. It just felt wrong to not have a specific story in mind when writing. It had taken weeks to get this far and several rewrites of the lyrics. Either the music was too specific or not specific enough. Everyone in the group wanted a different aspect incorporated into the song and it was difficult to blend them all together. This was why you did not collaborate with other writers or enjoy group projects.
Y/N: Fine, we'll leave it. Besides, If we make changes then we have to rerecord the whole song for consistency. That means we gotta get the whole crew back into the studio and they're scattered to the fucking wind at the moment.
Ahri: Kai'sa and Hawk and getting our wardrobe together. Akali and Eve are somewhere outside the city making some train car look pretty for a background in the video. I wouldn't call that 'scattered to the wind' it's just a bit inconvenient. What's got you all grumpy today?
You twitched at the accusation. Okay, yeah, you were being difficult. Your brain had been plaguing you with nightmares. Last night was Akali. She was hanging over a ledge on the side of a cliff, you tried to save her but the further you reached the lower she went. It felt like you trying to help her with the thing bringing her closer and closer to falling away. It was a bit on the nose, but that's how dreams for artists went. They were often always nightmares, always the worst possible situation. Overactive imaginations sucked.
Y/N: Didn't sleep well.
You grumbled the words and tossed the stack of papers at the coffee table, they fell to the carpet instead.
Y/N: It seems the closer we get to actually putting out a song, the closer we are to failure.
Ahri: Aren't you just a ray of sunshine? I can see that your cousin got all the positivity in the gene pool.
You grimaced and gave her an unamused stare. Despite your sour mood, Ahri was actually one of the highlights of your morning. She was an optimistic person by nature and was generous to a fault. The ears twitching when she yawned didn't hurt either, it was adorable. You saw how Colt could find her so attractive, but she wasn't your type. She had an untouchable aura around her as if she walked on air and everything she touched turned to gold. . . gold. . . touch. . . unobtainable. . . can't touch. That's it!
You started laughing to yourself, that was the answer to your problem. You pulled out your phone and pulled up your search bar, beginning to type.
Y/N: I got it!
Ahri quirked an eyebrow and leaned closer. You showed her a video of a camera pulling back from a row of trees and a woman standing in the middle of the frame. It was an ominous scene from a movie you had seen years back.
Ahri: Okay, I'll bite. What's on your mind?
Y/N: I'm just the script guy, don't do this if it's a bad idea. This is not my area of expertise. . . but, what if instead of making the song relatable, we make it as unrelatable as possible? You had the idea of turning an ordinary place into some sort of cosmic void right? Well, what if we play into that idea all the way? Make it so the camera is pulling you away the entire time. Subconsciously it'll make you and the girls seem unobtainable when combined with the lyrics. Like you're on another plane of existence.
Ahri shook her head, obviously confused.
Ahri: But. . . why? We want people to actually like it. We want people to relate to the song, to seem like they can be just like us.
Y/N: No offense Ahri, but no one will ever be like you. Aside from Akali, you're all supernatural beings. Okay, um, have you ever seen a superhero movie or read a comic book?
Ahri nodded slowly, she was still confused as to what your train of thought was. It made sense, your thoughts often went from A-C without making that B connection that would let normal people understand. It made your writing a bit difficult to follow at times. You were surprised that anyone even liked your stuff honestly.
Ahri: I mean I saw the Spider-Man movie when I was a kid. It was pretty cool.
Y/N: Exactly, it was pretty cool. Why do we also get so invested in things like the Olympics and other sporting events?
Ahri: Andddd you've lost me.
Y/N: It's because we like to see extraordinary people do extraordinary things! It's the reason people love my fantasy books, the average person wants to see things that blow their mind and tickle their imagination! You and the girls are already ridiculously above all of us mortals, so we should play into that. We should fully display your abilities in the music video while the camera pulls away from you. It'll make you seem like giants!
Ahri's face became a rigid grimace.
Ahri: Our abilities? I don't think that's such a good idea. I don't think the other girls would be entirely comfortable with it, Evelynn especially.
Y/N: Are you comfortable with it?
Ahri: I have fox ears and a tail, I was never given a choice to hide them. Eve and Kai'sa have managed to keep their unique traits a secret. If they wanted everyone to know about them I think we would have known by now.
You nodded your head. It was a good point. You were getting ahead of yourself and making decisions for other people. But then again, it's what you were used to. You had spent way too much time writing alone, playing god to characters created by you. Sometimes you had to remember that the real world did not bend to the same whims as your stories.
Y/N: Regardless, I have another idea. Everything should be gold, white, or purple. Those are the colors of royalty. We need you to look majestic and badass.
Ahri: This seems a bit vein, don't you think? I don't know if I'm comfortable making us look like we're better than normal people.
Y/N: That's literally what your song is about.
Ahri thought about it for a moment. You weren't wrong. There was no better attention grabber than kicking in the door and exclaiming your greatness, at least that was what the westerns you watched taught you.
She rubbed her neck and sighed once more.
Ahri: I. . . we'll have to run this by the other girls tonight and put it to a vote. Let's not rush into it.
You nodded your head, you felt hyped up like you had had two shots of espresso.
Y/N: You hungry? I'm hungry, let's get some food.
_______________________________________
Sweat dripped down Evelynn's back as she finished applying the second coat of paint to the rail. Akali had decided to paint the yellow handrails a bright silver instead. The seats had also been recolored to glossy blues and purples.
The rapper was currently in a sports bra and leggings, putting the decal of a set of blue fangs over a control panel on the left. This outfit also revealed a dragon tattoo that Evelynn hadn't previously known about. It wrapped its way up her torso and around her back. It was rather sexy. Her hair was in her signature ponytail and she had an earbud in one ear.
Most people would have found it rude for someone to be listening to music while speaking to them, but it was just another Akali thing. She would go stir crazy if, god forbid, there was actual peace and quiet for once.
Akali: So, where did the tails come from?
Evelynn smiled at the question, it was something she had been waiting for.
Evelynn: I was born with them. You see, my mother was a demon and my father was human.
Akali laughed. That adorable laugh that you couldn't help but love.
Akali: Yeah, that seems to be a common theme.
It really was, unfortunately. Interesting how so many people with special parentage ended up in the same place. It was almost as if God himself was running out of ideas to make the world interesting.
Evelynn rolled her back and stretched, this type of labor was not her forte.
Evelynn: Indeed. So I was born with tails. I can also make my body nearly completely invisible. And my yellow eyes aren't just for show, I can things that are not visible to the human eye.
Akali went stiff and glanced at Eve out of the corner of her eye. She laughed nervously.
Akali: Oh, yeah? That's pretty cool. So, what do you actually see?
Eve smirked to herself and got back to work, washing her brush and moving to one of the doors, touching it up with some silver.
Evelynn: Oh, all kinds of things. I can't see through walls or clothes so don't worry about that.
Akali breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
Evelynn: But I do know about your little friend that's been hiding in your jacket since last. . . Friday maybe?
Akali fumbled and dropped her paintbrush, quickly swiping it from the ground and holding it behind her back. She gave a horrified smile and laughed.
Akali: What do you mean? You're obviously seeing things. I would never hide a little green thing from you. . .
Evelynn's smile widened, but she just continued her work.
Evelynn: I never said it was green, love.
Scylla: Awwwwww, you could see me the whole time? That's not fair!
A little green orb emerged from Akali's chest. Akali desperately grasped at it but her hands went right through the small orb. It was completely incorporeal it seemed.
Evelynn: I was suspicious of you at first, but then I realized that our dear Akali was keeping you for a reason. I was waiting for her to explain herself, but she never did. So she obviously didn't want us to know about you.
Akali's face fell, deep shame blanketing her usually carefree expression. She sat on one of the chairs and sank into it.
Akali: So, Scylla here is a fairy or pixie or something. She was sent to keep an eye on you. Her master thinks that you might be dangerous, some guy named Luther. Says her daddy is some god named Lazarus. But that they're the same? I don't understand, yet. But they think you are some evil descendant from this Trasyn guy and that you have some ultimate goal of galactic domination.
The light floated closer to Evelynn. She took a swipe at it with her tail but it just phased through the light. That was interesting.
Eve hummed to herself, tapping her lower lip with a finger.
Evelynn: That all seems. . . heavy. I mean yes, I'm a demon, but my mother's name was not Trasyn, it was Lilith. And I can assure you I have no plans of world conquest. A pop band would hardly help me become the evil queen of the universe.
Scylla hung in the air for a moment before twirling. Her form seemed to become physical and she took on the appearance of a young girl with a long dress and beautiful long hair.
Scylla: Oh, that's a good point. I didn't think about that. But you still might be up to something!
Evelynn might have found the whole thing to be quite the hilarious misunderstanding if the implication didn't bug her so much. Eve put down the paint can and brush. She then backed up slightly, keeping a healthy distance between her and Akali.
Evelynn: This little light thought that I was some dangerous galaxy domination demon. And you were helping it spy on me?
Akali jumped to her feet quickly and put her hand out.
Akali: That's not it at all! She was going to spy on you anyway, and that Luther guy was going to hurt you. I was trying to show her that you weren't bad! It's why I've been so clingy to you recently, I wanted you to feel accepted and be less hostile.
Evelynn: Oh? So that my guard was down and you could stab me in the back?
She was walking further into the train car, her tails coiling in the air like serpents ready to strike. She should not have expected better from Akali. The woman had dragged that poor boy into this whole mess just to satisfy her own selfish whims. Akali was already shown to be emotionally unstable and prone to outbursts at the slightest hint of trouble or deceit.
Akali: No! If I wanted to hurt you then I would have done it! You gave me plenty of opportunities!
Evelynn: Oh, but agreeing to spy on me for someone you don't even know is completely fine? That makes sense. I don't know why I thought I could trust you. You're a naive little girl who's prone to temper tantrums and emotional outbursts because she doesn't have the balls to tell her idiot of a boyfriend what she feels about him. That's all this has been about, right? That's all any of this has ever been about. You care more about your stupid love story than our group. It has been weeks and we have barely gotten anything done. All you do is drink and make gooey eyes at Y/N. Do you want to know why you don't feel close to any of us? It's because you don't take the time to, you don't care about it. Y/N was upfront about it, he came to see what happened to his cousin and you. I knew his motives from the start. But all you have done since we got here is be a horny, angsty teenager with no self-control! Your personality flip-flops like a fish on the beach. Pick. Either you're smart and competent or you're a bumbling idiot. Choose, Akali. Choose.
Eve let out a breath, she was actually panting over the outburst. She looked at Akali, whose expression had become cold and dead. She glared at the demoness with a blank stare. Her next words were dry and monotone.
Akali: Seems like you've been holding onto that one for a while. Guess I'm not the only one who's not been entirely honest. I wanted to show you as a good person. But I guess I'm not the only that can spit poison. Maybe you should have been the rapper. You definitely got that dangerous edge.
Evelynn: Of course, you think that I'm dangerous. I'm the demon, right? Evil and cold? Just wanting to get close to you so that I could tear your heart out? Well, I guess you were right. I think I just did. Come find me when you're ready to apologize.
Eve rolled her eyes, sighed, and vanished into thin air.