September 3rd-October 3rd

[Amber Eyes]

Write a short story based on your favorite song, using the song’s title as your story’s title and as many lyrics as you can in your plot.

Sorry for the delay, but now we're back and running smooth! Good luck!

[Ashla]

OUT OF CHARACTER: Hmmm... I have a lot of favorite songs, lol! A very top favorite would have the be "Get Well" by Icon For Hire. I actually want to use a The Letter Black song like "Moving On" or "Hanging On By a Thread", but I can't see any good storylines I could make up with those; so I'll use IFH's "Get Well".

~ Get Well ~

Ashla threw another glass at another man, she was angry! She could throw tantrums like parties! She wasn't happy, not 'till everyone knew... She smiled, sometimes, she liked living like this... She had been hurting so long, you could say she earned it.

She suddenly felt someone grab her arms! She looked up to see two men behind her, trying to capture her! This getting caught thing is getting too old, she thought. They began dragging her out of the building, how many more times would this story be told? Her getting captured and all? They took her to the town jail and threw her into an empty cell, they left her alone. Ashla got up, no one was there. She was used to being lonely, but she felt even more pain from being left alone right now.

"I wanna get well..." She said pulling herself into a corner, she heard coughing, I'm not alone after all! She looked across the cell to see a man staring at her.

"Get well?" he asked in a rough tone, "do you mean that?"

"I meant it when I said, 'I wanna get well!' I want to get well!"

He just stared at her, "Are you so content in this cold cell?"

He nodded his head, "I have nothing to live for..."

Ashla got up, "Fine, stay where you are. It hurts like help! And I need help..." She felt a tear fall from her eye, "And I'm sure it's fun to break the law at first." She smiled at she went to the cell bars, she checked her pulse, then touched the bars, they so slightly turned to ice. "Is this a game?" she asked, "If so, you've lost me..."

He got up and stared at her, she looked back at him. "So now you know all my secrets..." she looked at the bars and grabbed them, shaking them violently, "I want out! I know I don't need this!"

The man walked up to her, "Why? What is your story?" Ashla sighed, so many people she knew judged her only by what she's been through, she scoffed the more battle scars, the more attention it gets you.

Suddenly a guard came in and opened the cell doors, he turned to the man, "Ready for your execution?" His eyes widened, "I should've known it would end this way..." Ashla starred at him, she could tell he was sorry for whatever he did. She smiled, she was getting out! She ran over to the guard and shoved him into the cell, grabbing his hands and pulling them together, numbing them, "C'mon! Dry your, eyes! Meet me on the other side!" He starred at her, "run as fast as you can. We'll make it alive."

He looked at her, then ran outside the cell, Ashla followed, they ran outside the jail, they ran away from the city. The man smiled at her, "Thank you. You taught me something. I don't have to live like that."

She smiled at him, "We don't have to live like this." And they parted paths.

OUT OF CHARACTER: I tried to make this story go along with the lyrics for the song the best I can. the song "Get Well." belongs to Icon For Hire and Tooth and Nail records.

[TheOnlyGhost]

Song is "1000 words" by Jade:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKlQ9_7A-Hc

....and the lyrics to it:

http://ffx2.com/1000lyrics-e-j

I took the liberty of bolding the lyrics for your convenience so you know where I used them.

1000 words

"Even though you are a ghost, you still will always have a place in my heart for a good friendship." said Alicias' friend Tom.

"I know that your hiding things, using gentle words to shelter me. Your words were like a dream, but dreams could never fool me ... not that easily." said Alicia in return.

"I knew I couldn't keep the exact truth from you, although you have to admit that my buttering up has extreme skill." said Tom as he smiled continuing to pack his bags to leave Althanas. "Don't forget to say goodbye before I leave."

"That would be far too easy." Alicia joked as she winked at him. "I could think of a thousand words to say to you before you go, but I wouldn't want to keep you waiting to long. Don't worry, I can swear to you that I can hide the pain of you leaving just fine." She started to shed a few tears, missing her friend already before he even left. "What if I cried my eyes out and begged you not to depart?"

"Wouldn't work Alicia, although I'd miss you too for I would only be gone for a year. You've been there with me all the way and I can still relive that day when we first met. I wish I could suspend myself on silver wings to return to you anytime I please, but I can't." Tom said as he started to sniffle a little bit, realizing that one year is indeed a long time. Shame I can't make the lonely year into a few lonely days but you get the cards you are dealt with in life."

Alicia nodded in agreement as she wiped away her tears with a tissue as Tom departed to leave Althanas. Waving goodbye for the final time, she added "I'll write you letters! At least I can do that!"

Tom smiled and nodded as he closed the door behind him, not to be seen again for a whole year.

[Moonberrycat]

Out Of Character: I've decided to use Katy Perry's "Wide Awake" because, it was the first song that was story-worthy, and the first song I thought of! ^-^

♥Wide Awake♥

Iris watched the boy walk away, the boy she fell in love with. She was SURE with this boy, he told her he loved her! "Yeah I was in the dark, I was falling hard with an open heart," she whispered. He was now out of sight, and she felt tears fill her eyes now. She turned and started to walk home, well, actully to meet up with Ashla, but she'd rather just go home and cry her heart out as of right now, but she knew her friend could help comfort her, which she didn't want.

"I'm wide awake," She whispered again. With a sigh she kept walking "What did I do wrong? How did I read the stars so wrong?!?" She shouted in the empty streets. "And now it's clear to me, that everything you see ain't alway what it seems." She scoffed angrily. "I was dreaming for so long!" She cried. She felt tears run down her checks as she started to run, run away from everything, from him who would never turn back, would never care again. She wasn't looking as she ran, she wasn't keeping an eye on in front of her, and she bumped into someone.

Great She thought, something else to ruin her perfectly horrible move. "Sorry!" She tried to say, pleasently. "Come, come girl, I could make you feel better," the voice said. Not looking up she yelled at it, "I wish I knew then what I know now! I wouldn't dive in, wouldn't bow down! She quickly moved away, and walked into a empty ally. "

She was sobbing now, "Gravity hurts, you made it so sweet," Coughing she mangaged out "'Till I woke up on, on the concrete!" She knew if she talked it out, it was like somebody there, to comfort her, almost. "I wish I never met you! You jerk! Lying idiot! You never...never cared!" She shouted to nobody. "I'm falling from cloud 9! I'm crashing from the high, I'm letting go tonight, I'm falling from cloud 9!" She swallowed, painfully, "And you never cared...when you hit me, I thought you were just angry, never ment it...I was blind..."

She walked out, trying to find Ashla now, she figured her friend was worried about her by now. She was glad her kitten, Deer was not with her right now, or else the poor thing would of been beaten, probably. But she took a deep breath and kept talking to herself. "I am trying to hold on. Oh, I'm trying so hard...but...i'm breaking at the seams..." She whispered "God knows I tried, seeing the bright side, I'm not blind anymore," She blined quickly, trying to stop the tears as she saw Ashla acrossed the street, without prevail. "I'm falling from cloud 9...."

Feeling more tear run down her check, she murmered, absentmindedly to herself "I'm wide awake..." As sh walked across the street to meet her friend.

[Requiem of Insanity]

The Red - Chevelle


Katherine walked upon the floors of the mansion to her mother’s home, tears of rage in her eyes as her angelic wings fluttered behind her. The angel of Blessed Torture felt her will crumble as she turned a corner, passing a group of Cultists who looked to her with awe, jaws slacked in a stupor as they gawked to her. She gave them a baleful eye, snarling instead of sniffling as she shoved one into the wall, nearly killing him as his head bounced against the wood, cracking it. She looked to the damage, her nostril’s picking up the scent of blood as the cultists hand lifted from the back of his hand, crimson liquid staining it. The group muttered words as they lifted their companion and turned down the halls, leaving Katherine alone again.

“They say freak,” Katherine mumbled. “When you’re singled out.” She looked to the red; it filtered through, her sight hazing the world around her. “So lay down, the threat is real,” she snarled back to the group as she moved on. Many knew when the Crimson Angel’s sight goes red again, many were not above her temper or desire to see bloodshed.

“Seeing Red again?” a gentle sing song voice spoke. Katherine lifted her head to see her adopted sister, Aerith. She moved forwards, pushed by Samantha Dahlios in her wheelchair after Sei Orlouge critically injured her. “Seeing red again?” Aerith asked once more.

“This change, it won’t keep contained,” Katherine replied as her answer, knowing that Aerith understood her need to shed blood and the migraines that plagued her when she wasn’t maiming. Aerith was fully aware Katherine needed to Slip away, to clear her mind. “When asked, who made it show, the truth…you can’t sing to most…” Katherine let out a snort of frustrated laughter, her stress and pain of dealing with being the Angel of Blessed Torture causing physical harm to psyche.

“So lay down…” Aerith offered, trying to be supportive as Samantha Dahlios flicked her white hair, looking to the chains that were wrapped to the Wheelchair. Katherine shook her head with a sorrowful grin.

“The threat is real,” Katherine insisted. “When my sight goes red again…” She lifted her axe up, looking to her own sister with a predatory growl. Aerith felt the back of her neck hair raise, and she kept a neutral face, but she could tell Samantha already was prepared to run with her in the event her sister’s lust for blood wasn’t sated soon. The daughter of Seth knew that anything that happens to her was returned three times to her, and five times to her family. “Seeing red again,” Katherine muttered under her breath, a pitch of hysteria. “Seeing red again….”

“So lay down,” Aerith said again. Samantha began to wheel them both backwards.

“The threat is real! When my sight goes red again!” Katherine let out a jolt of laughter, her body uncontrollably tensing as she began to half run, half drag herself towards the pretty white haired girl…the red head’s blood would…

“So lay down!” Aerith shouted, her voice squealing as Samantha turned the wheelchair to run. Katherine saw her prey run and unfolded her wings, beating them against her back and floating forwards with axe held tightly, her free hand open to grab at Samantha’s shoulder. When she was inches away a deft, porcelain life hand snatched out of the darkness, and Katherine let out a giggle of pain.

“The threat is real…when my sight goes red again!” she repeated once more, before she looked to her mother, Cassandra who held her. The sight of her mother, the madness within those calm, calculating eyes drove her into a madness and with a fanatical plea for help she began to repeat;

“Seeing red again! Seeing red again! Seeing red again! Seeing red again! Seeing red again! Seeing red again! Seeing red again! Seeing re~ed!” She screeched it into her mother’s face, in attempt for her to see what she made of her own daughter. But the remorse, the regret she hoped she could see was never to come. Her mother simply held her wrist as she screeched and moaned, before with the tiniest of motion’s her mother dug a solitary nail into Aerith’s flesh. A trickle of blood dripped down her wrist, and with the sight of the blood she felt her heaving chest start to relax as the crimson life force dripped off her skin. Cassandra released her daughter, cupping her face in her other hand with a motherly smile. Katherine looked to see if Aerith was still around, but she was long gone. She didn’t have to look behind her to know there was a chorus of cultists, already labeling her as Cassandra moved away from her.

Without addressing anyone Katherine left her mother’s side and headed for her room, her wings furling around shoulders.

“They say freak…” Katherine whispered. “When you’re singled out….but the red… well it filters through…”

[Dissinger]

Footsteps echoed in the alleyways of Radasanth. They had long since been abandoned in the wake of the Ixian’s attack on Gisela, and further of the ever increasing crime rate. Still they were used by predators of all stripes to get to the thorough fares where the prey was. It didn’t take much, a flick of a wrist, a flash of lace, a sultry pout, but it worked like a charm. Her crimson lips promised so much more, but all she gave was death. She loved the feeling of someone’s death spasms under her; it was its own drug. She spied the people passing down the ways and her heart skipped a beat when she spied the flat topped wide brimmed hat.

“Round one?” She asked softly as he looked upon the man who hid his form under a coat, “I swear to god I do it for fun…” A finger twirled her crimson locks as she whistled to the hatted man. His head turned to look upon the lady and she could see him shiver in anticipation. She crooked her finger and jerked the hook in as if reeling in her newest catch, and smiled seductively when she saw him follow her into the alleyway.

Leather shone in the scant light of the alleyway over the corset and pants she wore today as she smiled leaning against the wall and said softly, “So, what are you looking for a good time, a quick thrill? Or should we get a room and take our time?”

“Just a dead man walking,” The figure replied. She stopped as she heard the voice and let her eyes widen as the hat and coat came off, showing a mess of brown hair. Grey eyes looked out from under the brown locks as they drilled into hers. The vest and shirt that had made the man who he was were proudly on display even as gauntlets clad his hands, protecting them from the wounds that would end any knife fighter’s career. Seth Dahlios, her cousin, stood in the alleyway, with his full complement of knives, “Ain’t a single fucker left to fear…”

“Showdown?” The woman asked as Seth winked.

“I ain’t backing down from anybody.”

“Throwdown?” She arched an eyebrow as her grin widened.

Seth shrugged, “If I don’t get some space…”

“Seth Lay down, just accept that this is a mistake…”

“Not in this life or another,” A finger pointed harshly to underline the words even as his other hand dropped to his waist.

“Deny me if it’s not your way…” Beatrix said with a courtly bow before knives were pulled and she closed the gap. Knives flashed in the alleyway as the dance began between these two. Beatrix using the confines of the alleyway to press any advantage she could get as she finally spoke candidly, “Seth I have to ask, why?”

“You don’t deserve the truth…” Seth replied as they locked up. He could see it in her eyes, a tiny glimmer of life, something that was drawing her back from the abyss she had thrown herself willingly into.

“All I asked for was your honesty Seth. Something more than this, more than us…” She said earnestly as Seth shoved hard sliding her back on the garbage in the alleyway. She kept her balance only barely as she said softly, “Something more than me…”

“You had your chance, and you chose Mordechai! I said it once and I’ll say it again Death can take me if I can’t be free…”

“I wish I could be like you, that conviction. You sit there so sure of yourself even as your world fell apart around you. That’s what let Liliana escape the arena, what made Samantha survive Berevar, and Letho and Myrhia move on with their lives! But I’m not like you!”

“I’m a dying breed…” Seth replied as he took up stance. Beatrix came at him again as she kicked him hard in the gut, shoving some distance even as she took the moment to launch a knife at him. He caught the blade twirling it expertly as he flung it into a nearby barrel, obviously showing her what he thought of her skills. They closed the gap once more as arms locked up and Seth took advantage of opening, punching Beatrix in the gut. With the wind knocked from her sails he punched her hard in the face, shaking a gauntlet clad hand as she sprawled in the grime of the alleyway.

“Round two,” Seth said as he began to twirl his knives in that damnable style that he had mastered. Beatrix looked upon him as she carefully pulled herself together and stood up.

“You let me get up, that’s something you just don’t want to do,” Beatrix taunted.

“You’re dancing with the devil if you’re wearing my shoes,” Seth teased, “Do you think you have what it takes to be me? Can you willingly throw off the chains of fate and become something more? You’ve got nerve and I’ll give you that, watch the world crumble as you sit on your ass…”

“Wha-“

“Wake up!” Seth said cutting her off, “Get your head together motherfucker! You can’t be trying to destroy this world and save it at the same time! Straighten up now before it’s too late…now stand up.”

“Nothing ever lasts forever…”

“Don’t cry and that’s how it’s going to stay. You can either accept that you are useless in the grand scheme of Mordecahi’s stupid dream or that you have a chance to be worth something…” Seth said firmly even as Beatrix got her feet shakily.

“All I wanted was your honesty! Something more than this…” She said as the daggers fell from her grip.

“You need something more than me,” Seth finally said as he sheathed his blades and crossed his arms. She broke down as she slid to the ground, finally emotion showing in those eyes as she realized what she was doing to herself.

“Death can take me if I can’t be free…I’m not like you Seth, I can’t do it!” Beatrix cried as she pointed to him, “Do you realize you’re the first rogue Magi who escaped? You are the first one to spit in Mordechai’s face and laugh as he can’t strike back! You made him impotent when you razed Haven like that, and the generals I have never seen them so furious!”

“I’m a dying breed,” Seth repeated. He reached into his vest and pulled out a handkerchief as he offered it to her. Beatrix sniffled in the alleyway as she took it and cleaned her face of the makeup. She was a beautiful woman even without the enhancements she meticulously used each morning, like a ritual. She was breaking out of the pit as she looked up at Seth.

“All I wanted was your honesty Seth, can’t you see that?” She asked softly.

Seth nodded as he said softly, “You need something more than this, more than me…”

Her eyes widened as she realized what he was talking about, “You can’t mean…”

“Death can take you if you can’t be free,” Seth said firmly a hand resting on his dagger as he waited for her answer.

She looked up at him forever, even as people had gathered at the entrance. The masses they had been created to destroy watched on in silent awe as the Lavinian Demon confronted one of the notorious serial killers in the city, and had her a weeping wreck in no time. She finally nodded as she pulled herself up and said softly, “I’ll be just like you, a dying breed.”

[Silence Sei]

Last one I has to step in for!

Dissinger wins and gets 1600 exp, 200 GP

Requiem of Insanity comes in second, netting her 720 exp, 175 GP

BlueGhostOfTheSeaside gets 100 exp
moonberrycat gets 100 exp
TheOnlyGhost gets 100 exp

[Letho]

EXP/GP added.