Chapter Text
Melody was alone.
Her dorm mates Yukiko and Yui were off doing their clubs, and both had to stay behind. Yui had recently entered the Communications Club since not a lot of people wanted to join her kendo club. She still did kendo, but it was just between her and Grim. The Communications Club was based on writing newspaper articles and doing interviews, and Yui Enma loved being a sleuth. Melody was sure that if Yui could she would have made an Investigator Club, but the pinkette settled for being a reporter.
Yukiko on the other hand had A LOT of clubs she was involved in. Film Studies where she got to make costumes, Track and Field was possibly her favorite one, and finally, the Board Game club where she got to play with Idia and Azul. Her platinum blond friend loved to keep herself busy.
Meanwhile, Melody was just part of the Light Music Club, and the Mini Vargas Fitness Club… That last one wasn’t a club as much as it was a requirement to not fail PE. Loath she was to admit it… she actually improved.
Today though she had The Light Music Club. It was just four members including herself. Cater was the lead male singer and guitarist. The redhead was fun to be around and attached to social media. He was always on that phone, especially on Magicam. He was like an older brother to her, and he certainly acted like it.
Then there was Lilia who was the leader and bassist. Possibly the most talented when it came to playing instruments, and in Melody’s opinion the band's ‘Dad’. She accidentally called him ‘Dad’ once during practice, and now he won’t let her live it down. Now he comes up to her at different times asking,
‘Are you eating Marianna-chan? I can cook for you if you wish~’
‘Marianna-chan are you sleeping right? I noticed that you are developing circles under your eyes.’
‘Marianna-chan~! Daddy’s here!’
‘You must relax, enjoy yourself Marianna-chan. Even take a nap!’
‘Hello Princess~’
‘Are you worried about Daddy? Aren’t you sweet!’
‘Relax Marianna-Chan, this club is very laid back. Let Daddy Lilia take care of you.’
It made her cringe so much! At least he was like that everyone, and she didn’t mind the pets on her head at times. Her head was hurting a lot of late, and he seemed to sense that. Actually… he seemed to sense a lot of her discomforts. After getting back her necklace from Floyd she started feeling weird.
Then there was Kalim. Kalim was possibly the sweetest guy she ever met, and she wished he would stop giving her mixed signals! Kalim was the drummer and an energetic one at that. Out of all of them, he’s the newest to play an instrument. Or rather he was the newest to play the Drum Kit, he had these drums in his homeland that he’s played before but they were too exotic to play in a normal band. If the band was bigger then maybe. Kalim… if she had a little brother then it would be him. Even though… he’s older than her…
Then there was her. Marianna AKA Melody. She never told them her real name. Or anyone really. The only one who knew her real name was Crowley. She remembered what her father told her multiple times. Her true name held a significant amount of power, and it was important to hide it when with strangers. For you do not truly know who means you harm.
‘Those who know your true name could easily make you their slave. Always have a second name. There will be a time when Melody Heilong will have to hide. Only reveal it to those who you trust.’
‘Dad? Are you just trying to scare me?’ her father pressed his lips together. As if he wanted to say, but… something was holding him back.
‘... You don’t know it yet but your name is very important. If you ever end up somewhere not like… here… please use your second name.’
Now her mother told her that he father liked to mess with her, and when she got older she didn’t use her second name until she came to Twisted Wonderland. Her body seized up when she was in front of that mirror, and her paranoia reared its ugly head. Her father's warnings rang in her ears. So she used Marianna Kross in a heartbeat.
Her place in the Light Music club was the second vocalist and piano player. She settled for the keyboard most of the time, and… wrote some original songs for the group. They were currently developing an album. Before they were doing covers which were fine, but Melody was inspired. So… she became the group's songwriter. In fact… they were doing more projects since she came around, and it excited her and frightened her at the same time.
In the songs, she wrote she wanted everyone to have their chance to shine.
Due to her voice being so powerful, and very clearly soprano she only came out when the songs needed a punch. She had a giant range of course, she could do an alto, but Cater was to take point in most songs. At least… until recently.
– Last Monday –
“Marianna-chan! People have been asking about you!” Cater slung his arm over her shoulder when she was sitting at the grand piano, testing a melody.
“Huh? Who has?” Melody turned her head towards him. He was taller than her so she had to crane her neck towards him as he took a picture. Her glasses were off so she could see the music clearly. One of the few times her glasses were off.
“Rare phot-op! Mari-chan without their glasses!” Cater winked and began typing on his phone.
“Cater, who’s asking about me?” Melody insisted, poking Cater in the arm.
“My followers! They keep asking when we record our song covers who the high-pitched voice is. When I say it’s you they’re all so impressed that a ‘boy’ can SING that high. If only they knew huh?” he winked down at her.
“I see…” Melody wasn’t sure how she felt about that. The photos and recording of them made her look rather androgynous due to her uniform illusion. “What do you tell them?”
“Well, I tell them you’re a soprano. But I let the mystery of whether your a girl or not simmer, you should see the arguments and theories! I did a poll of who they wanted to hear more from and… DUH DA DA DA!!! People want to hear from you more Mari-chan! They’re even asking if you got a Magicam, and I can’t help but feel bad when I tell them you're completely off the grid! You totally need a Magicam account your getting like… popular.” Cater said it with such a smile, but she couldn’t help but feel that he was feeling bad about himself and trying to cover it up.
“Well, I don’t have a phone guys. I can’t exactly afford one.”
“And I told you that we can find one at Sam’s Mystery Shop that we can cheapo phone for ya. It’s a crime I tell you! A crime!”
“Marianna if you need money to buy a phone, I can get you one!” Kalim popped in with a bag of snacks, and drinks.
“Yeah, Marianna-chan take up Kalim’s generous offer, and let him buy you a phone.” Cater got off the piano bench and reached to grab a bag of Twisted Spice Hex Mix. It opened with a pop,
“It’s… very nice of you Kalim, but I don’t… feel comfortable with someone buying me something that expensive.”
“Nonsense! I don’t mind getting you something nice! Ever since you joined our club, we actually started DOING things! You’ve been putting in a lot of work! You wrote most of the songs! You’re doing so much work for The Band of Many Things!”
“Oh dear… I’ll think about it.” Melody smiled, “Besides I think the mystery is what is bringing new people in and stuff.”
“Honestly, the mystery of you is building up. In fact, more and more people are following our band’s Magicam account.”
“Oh Cater, Lilia is just as mysterious.”
“Well you’re not wrong there, but the information on you compared to Lilia? At least people know where Lilia is from. They can look him up and find SOMETHING. You? Zip. Zilch. Nothing. Nada- by the way, I dropped our first original song, and look!” Cater had the phone in her face again. The band's account, The Band of Many Things, followers had skyrocketed from a humble 50 to 200.
“Oho? What’s this?” Lilia suddenly appeared upside down, causing Melody to jump, holding her heart to calm her beating heart. “Kykekekeke don’t worry it’s just Daddy checking up on his children.”
“Oh god stop that!” Melody covered her ears, her face going pink,
“Neeeeeeeverrrrr… you make it too much fun! The cringe is delicious!” Lilia cackled, “But speaking of popularity… I think you should get a phone.”
“Yes, yes! Get a phone!” Cater insisted,
“I’ll be fine!”
“No, no Marianna-chan… I think you SHOULD consider getting a phone. For safety reasons.” Lilia got very serious,
“Safety?”
“I’m not sure if you read the comments… Or looked up your name recently. You’re getting a lot of attention Marianna-chan, a lot of people want to know who you are, and they even made fan pages… it’s only a matter of time before things get intense and people start trying to find you. They technically know your location.” the bat fae continued to explain,
“But isn’t Night Raven College super protected?” Kalim asked,
“It is, but that doesn’t mean Mari-chan shouldn’t be careful.” Cater added, “Careful Mari-chan, your rising in popularity, and sometimes you might draw the eye of some… questionable people.” Melody felt a chill on her back.
“I’ll be fine! You guys are overexaggerating. No one is going to come after me. There’s hardly anything about me, this should be just a passing fad-let’s just… have a snack break!” Melody was honestly considering at that moment… to maybe step away. They were getting followers sure, but it was only a couple of 200, hardly anything. The band was still considered small-time, but followers were trickling in more and more. She joined this band for fun and figured that no one would care about her songs. That she would be considered a drop of water in the mass ocean of musicians.
It was Cater’s idea to start sharing their band. It was Lilia’s idea to start doing some paperwork for the songs, just in case someone wanted to use their album for a project, and it was Kalim’s enthusiasm to incorporate herself in more songs. The boys were so excited, that she ended up getting swept up with them, now she was getting concerned.
At one point in her life, she would have loved to be in the spotlight, but now that it’s starting to shine on her, she was feeling… uneasy. Is this what she wants? They won’t make it big right? This was why she didn’t want the phone, or to create an account. She’ll start obsessing over it, and her anxiety will eat her alive. Perhaps if she doesn’t have access, if she is cut off, she’ll still have this barrier to protect herself just in case things don’t work out. Like she was behind a hidden veil.
When she left band practice that day she bumped into Jade. “Oh? Jade, I didn’t see you there.”
“Quite alright. You seem rather distracted though. Is something the matter?”
“Ah… it’s just stuff. Lots on my mind. The usual.”
“I’m afraid I don’t know what the usual is.” Melody laughed,
“Well… uh… it’s just band and stuff. I’m writing songs, and we’re almost done with our album.”
“Ah yes, I remember seeing a post about your first original song drop yesterday…” Jade commented, making Melody pause in her step.
“Oh uh… did… you listen to it?”
“I did… I liked it quite a bit. You wrote it right?”
“Uh… yeah I did.”
“You're talented… I can’t wait to hear more from you. It was quite an intense song. Life Will Change I believe it was called?”
“Yeah, I figured if Cater was going to share any of my songs it should be an intense, energetic one. But the album is going to have other types of songs too that will show our range.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah, it’s the reason why we’re called The Band of Many Things. Our first album’s name is Throwing It Out There.” Melody proceeded to talk about the music club with Jade following her. When she realized how much she was talking, she stopped herself, “Ah, I shouldn’t keep you. You were off somewhere right?”
“Hmm? Me? I didn’t realize how much time had passed.” Jade looked at the time, “But other than that I didn’t realize you lacked a phone… perhaps it would be wise to have one.”
“Yeah but… I don’t want a phone?” Jade gave Melody a look with a tilt of the head.
“Oho? What an interesting answer.”
“I know it’s weird, but I don’t like… the idea of just anyone calling me, or contacting me. I kinda don’t like the idea of how dependent I’ll be on it either. On the other hand, I understand why it’s good to have.”
“It’s rather surprising to see someone so young be wary of technology.” Jade chuckled,
“Right? Maybe I’m overreacting and cave into Kalim buying me one. Oh god, but then that’s a bill to pay.” Melody was starting to feel that this would get complicated fast.
“You know… if you are pressed on money, I’m sure Azul wouldn’t mind giving you an opportunity.” Jade offered, “He might even enjoy it himself.”
“To cook?” Melody heard this offer before, but she always said ‘no’, worried about the stress of working that kind of job along studying at school. She needed time to rest, she wasn’t like Yukiko bouncing from place to place.
“Well… to cook or perhaps even perform?”
“... what like with The Band of Many Things?” she asked, quirking up an eyebrow, but Jade kept his poker face smile.
“Just think about it.” when did he place his hand on her shoulder? She didn’t notice it before but he got close to her. There was no pressure, he wasn’t hurting her, she just didn’t notice before. His hand brushed back some of her hair behind her ear. “There you go.”
They both stared at one another, the bluenette's eyes trailed up Jade’s hands, then to his mouth, before settling on his eyes. This felt intimate. “I uh… will think about it.”
“Come this Friday. I’m sure if nothing else it will be a nice break from cooking. I feel I have a great debt to repay to you since you helped Azul-”
“Marianna-chan!” she heard Cater call out, her gaze turning to his. He was running along with Kalim, Lilia wasn’t with them. “You left before Kalim thought of it, but- oh. Hey Jade! Ahem… are we… interrupting something?” the ginger asked, looking up and down at the couple.
“Hello, Jade! Sorry but we need Marianna for something-” Kalim greeted, before grabbing the bluenette away from Jade. The teal-haired man stayed perfectly in place, smiling, his eyes closed, “Marianna, Marianna! Let’s make a music video!”
“A… music video?”
“Yeah! I said wouldn’t it be cool if we did music videos with dancing and everything to promote our stuff? Lilia even mentioned that playing for venues would be good to-” Kalim quickly said,
“We’re going to go shopping soon too, so you can have… other clothes than the ones you have, we’ll talk to Vil-” Cater began to say,
“Woah, Woah! Stop! Aren’t we jumping the gun here? Next, you're going to say that we should start selling merch-”
“That’s right! We should start planning for that too-” Cater was on his phone rapidly texting,
“Guys! Our first song only has like… 200 views and our following is pretty small-”
“Mari-chan look!” Cater brought her in close, “I said it to Lilia before that if we want to build steam now is the time.” Cater waved his phone in front of Melody’s face. “And build connections, connections, connections!”
“Connections huh?” Melody began to say, looking back at the teal-haired man, who looked rather complacent standing off to the side, listening to them. He just smiled when Melody looked at him.
“We should meet up tomorrow. To talk about the deets.” Cater said as he and Kalim raved about the different things they could do about the album. They failed to notice that Melody was beginning to feel uncomfortable. She wondered if they were rushing things?
But collectively they failed to notice Jade, who was holding a tight fist, watching Melody being held, and carried away by the other two boys.
Kalim dragged Melody, “You should come to my dorm, and we can even have a feast! C’mon Marianna! It’s been a long time since you relaxed, and never wanna come! I swear it’s good food! You like Jamil’s cooking right? We can have it tomorrow!”
“Y-yes Kalim, I do love the cooking but I-”
“Kalim you’re overwhelming her!” Cater said, “One thing at a time. Mari-chan, come with me shopping, I know all the latest trends. Being a little brother to some bossy sisters has it’s perks.” the ginger winked,
“Oh, I wanna come too! We can then do the party after!” Melody felt like she was falling. WHEN DID SHE GET POPULAR AND IN THE CENTER OF ATTENTION!? She wanted to curl up.
“No offense but I think it should be a Marianna-chan and my thing, you’ll overwhelm her by trying to pay for everything and get things that are too expensive. We can go this Friday!”
“Eh!? No, I won’t! Besides, if you do it on a Friday, that means Jamil won’t be mad at me if we do a party or feast that day! Cause it won’t be last minute!”
“Boys!” clapped hands as Lilia appeared above them upside down. “Aren’t you ashamed of yourselves! Take a moment to look at her. She looks so tired. Let Mari-chan rest. Okay? She can decide on Friday if she wants to do all of that. But she might want to nap given all the work she’s done, the poor dear. If you want I can show you a great spot to rest where the pesky world will be quiet for once.”
“Can you guys stop fawning over me!” Melody pushed herself away from the group, taking deep breaths. “I… I need space. We can talk throughout the week. But I have work to do.”
“... Of course.”
“Kay, kay!”
“We’ll talk soon right? You promise?”
-Present Friday-
Melody was in the Ramshackle Dorm, laid down on the couch. She had been put through the wringer these past couple of weeks. Now she can rest… she had nothing to do, and was thoroughly peopled out-
There was a knock at her door. Melody sat up, wondering who could it be.
Choice 4 Creep
Choice 5 LOCKED