[260] Music: Libretto

[minntaka.livejournal.com]

Challenge: [260] Music
Title: Libretto
Word Count: 575
Rating: G
Spoilers:  None
Notes: A bit of Darwin, and a bit of Demyx.

 

Libretto

Overture

There's a piano in the Castle That Never Was, a framework of sandy walnut and dull gold. Beautiful and outlandish, it juts out of the empty white walls like a bone tearing through muscle and skin. Ice cold winds call through the cavernous mouths of sky windows, skim under the lid and over the strings, and for one second that lasts an eternity, Saïx hears music for the first time, and it might just ache.

Recitative

Saïx is going to make sure – personally – that the piano has a pitifully short lifespan.

"No, wait—!" Demyx tears past the ghost-legged pillars, staggers backwards onto the keys. "I can explain!"

"Oh you can, can you," Saïx replies, as flat as the clipboard he carries.

"I'm not going to use it to slack off, I swear. It's just that the piano is the most versatile and expressive of musical instruments—"

"Expressive," repeats Saïx. "What would we know about expression?"

"A lot." Demyx's reply is swift, piercing, maybe even true. "We're Nobodies talented in mimicry; it's bitterly fake, but an echo – in some forgiving eyes – may still constitute as a sound. You might argue we have no hearts, but music goes beyond the heart, even beyond human nature. It's interesting. Did you know it's one of the biggest mysteries?"

"I'm not interested in any word that escapes your mouth, except the acknowledgement you will remove this piano."

Bitter, resentful.

They have a mission, and getting a piano isn't it. But Demyx doesn't back down; he returns with double the defence, a misplaced refrain.

"Maybe the reason you reject music is because it evokes the things you don't want to remember."

Aria

"From an evolutionary standpoint, the origin of music is untenable at best. To label musical ability as an extra component to natural selection is unfinished, stretching, too ugly a definition for the reason for song. No one knows why we react to music the way we do. There's no survival benefit to tapping your foot, nodding your head, clicking your fingers in time.

"Music runs deeper.

"It's the signposts of your memory.

"It's the marker of life, the core of an event you thought you had forgotten. Words, touches, routines that then were insignificant, the way you felt – these things blur and fade, but at the opening chord, it comes home in a breath, it effloresces like the first day of spring. The song you first danced to; the melody you'd hum to cheer yourself up in the rain; the annoying tune your father liked to whistle.

"You start to remember. Where you were, what you were doing, how you were feeling. Music reaches into your soul and never leaves – not really. You need it. It's an appetite that exceeds any biological requirement. Emotion is a response from the heart; but the origin of music – that's from your soul."

Finale

Saïx thinks that if his soul had a voice, it would be wordless.

He tries a few keys – soft ivories and austere ebonies – and relents. He shouldn't indulge himself, but at the same time…why shouldn't he?

He has a soul, and it wants to breathe.

"Do you know this?" Saïx tests his throat, stretching new legs on new territory. He hums, just the first four notes of the chorus. Demyx nods. "Play it. Faultlessly, perfectly. Do that, and I'll let you keep the piano."

"What does it make you remember?"

"Everything I'm not," he replies.

Comments

[mirrorbrothers.livejournal.com]

Oh, Demyx...

"What does it make you remember?", I love that line... in a perfect world there would be a way to end on that line, but a question needs an answer...

[minntaka.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I was going to omit that from the ending as i wasn't overly keen on it XD

[roterstern.livejournal.com]

This is absolutely fabulous. Fucking wow. I love your writing HARDCORE.

[minntaka.livejournal.com]

Thank youuu ♥ I do think I took the prompt a little too seriously/literally so I'm not particularly fond of this, but thanks for reading :)

[kagome-angel.livejournal.com]

My god this is so beautiful. I can't even begin to explain how reading this made me feel. I've played piano for years, and this is such a perfect tribute to the piano, and to Demyx, and oh, Saix.

Loving this.

[minntaka.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I'm glad you like it! I've played the piano for years too actually so I couldn't resist this prompt ^_^' Thanks for reading! ♥

[iki-teru.livejournal.com]

okay, first of all, kudos to writing Demyx as more than an incompetent flake and making it believable ♥

second of all, great job on the prompt, this was delightfully unexpected and beautiful.

[minntaka.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it! I personally think I got too liberal with the prompt XD

I tend to resent stupid!Demyx - his attitude in Days gives enough indication that he is just as smart and callous as the others :)

[synchroshatter.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed this, especially your take on Demyx- I love how eloquent he is about music. The whole thing is beautiful and a really interesting take on the prompt! : D

[minntaka.livejournal.com]

Thank you! ♥♥ I shouldn't spam this comm so much because I should be writing someone's gift fic but the prompt was too irresistable; I did rush it a bit, but I did have fun writing Demyx without him being too goofy :)