kh_drabble | [133] Triumph and Tragedy

Challenge: [133] Triumph and Tragedy
Title: One Song
Word Count: 494
Rating: Nah… G.
Comments: Inspired by One Song Glory, from Rent… though I haven’t heard it in several months.

He’d written plenty of songs before—that was nothing new. This one, though… this one was different.

He’d seen starved Heartless with less persistence. The melody bit at his mind in the late hours of their arbitrary night, clawed and gnawed and chewed his brain, filling his head with a shower of tones, and it absolutely, positively would not let him go.

Naturally he had to get out his sitar and begin playing it. And playing. And occasionally writing down what he liked… here a chord—no, that didn’t sound right… oh, but that one did—and there a sharp—no, a flat, yes… oh, and that one was even better…

It was his masterpiece. It was his obsession. He had to finish it—this one Song, just make it perfect and finish it and write it down, and then he wouldn’t care if he had a real heart or not, because this Song would be enough. He played until his fingers bled, and then he just bandaged them and played some more. His Dancers twisted and twirled like muses, wilder than the sea, dancing themselves into exhausted slumber, only to resume again the moment they woke. He himself rarely slept… only when his fingers could no longer find their notes, and even then the haunting, exciting melody pulsed through his dreams.

He didn’t eat much, either. It really wasn’t all that urgent, he told himself, and he could eat when he was finished composing. Occasionally Xaldin would come by, armed with his skewers and as much food as he could carry, and threatened to stuff the entire load down Demyx’s throat, so the Melodious Nocturn managed to get some nutrition. It worked for a while, anyway.

Then Xaldin stopped coming.

That made Demyx wonder a little bit; had he gotten tired of force-feeding a fellow member all the time? He promised himself that he’d thank his friend for the effort, and apologize… as soon as the Song was finished. Then Xaldin would hear it and understand why it was so important. Until then, food lost its appeal altogether.

One note at a time, the Song neared completion. Just a few more… and a stunning finish…

His pen had barely left the paper when Saix’s boot landed on top of it.

“You have been given an assignment,” he said icily.

Demyx tried to protest—he had to sleep, had to eat, had to show Xaldin the Song—

But finally he let himself be bullied into going to Hollow Bastion, where the Kid would be waiting. For the first time, he played his masterpiece to completion before his enemies, while the dancers whirled and leapt and thrilled with the glory of the last song their master would ever play.

The refrains passed, one by one, and the last dancer was sliced away as the final notes were plucked.

Starved, exhausted, utterly defeated, he felt his beloved sitar dissolve in his hand, and the Song fell silent.