A/N: Ah, the smell of a new fic. If you've been reading RoD, then you'll prolly catch a TON of references to it. If not, it's still cool. It's AU, so it's kinda like author-fanfiction.
Just sketching one day, I drew a headshot ofDavand thought: 'Davri would look really good as a Jrocker'. Thus this little thing was born. All three songs were written for this fic and therefore copyrighted to ME. No stealy. But I still need music for them, so suggestions will be loved. Sheet music will be treasured.
If anyone can guess what song he's singing later, kudos.

---

Faith, Jessica, and Gloria stared at the television screen, enraptured by the music video that was playing. In it, a young man with extravagantly wild gray hair and capsizing blue eyes lounged on a formal wrought iron balcony, staring into a starry nighttime sky and singing gently in a deep soothing voice. As he sang, everything around him seemed to speed up, clouds racing across the sky, the sun rising and setting, but the balcony remaining untouched.

Simultaneously, all three girls sighed. Faith was short, tan, and freckly, her mouse-brown hair pulled back into a ponytail and glasses perched atop the bridge of her nose. Jessica was the embodiment of a cheerleader (even though she wasn’t one), tall, willowy, and blonde with a killer body. Gloria was dark and tall, her curly black hair cropped short. For all their differences, they had one similarity:

They were all obsessed with the new pop singer Eien.

He had appeared from nowhere, sweeping teenage girls everywhere off their feet with his hit song ‘Ballad’, where he sang longingly of a girl he knew. Every girl dreamed that it was her he sang about, and that someday he would come and take her away.

Somehow, it had gotten out that Eien was coming to their town for a special Halloween concert. Some rich girl on the student council had pulled some strings and viola! Instant appearance for the party. With this newly-acquired information, Jessica had a plan for the approaching Halloween, next week. She was going to take the lyrics from the song; “Where is my little stranger,/With her hair of silken white/Her skin of palest snow/And her eyes of darkest night” and dress like that. With any luck, she would meet the famed pop singer—and with even more luck, her would take her away and she could finally realize her dream of being a famous actress.

Gloria sighed again. “He's so dreamy,” she murmured. The other two nodded in agreement.

“Hey, I heard that he was from our hometown,” Jessica mumbled, still staring at the screen. “I wonder who he was?”

“Was?” Faith peeled her eyes from the video to stare at her blonde companion. “From here? No way.”

“Way. And yeah, who he was before he left and was transformed into a teen idol.” She flipped her hair behind her shoulder, glancing at Faith before returning her eyes to the screen.

“Oh.” Faith returned her attention to the video. “I wonder why he wears a wig like that.”

“I heard that’s his real hair. How he gets it dyed I don’t know.”

“His real hair?” Now it was Jessica’s turn to gape, astonished. Gloria nodded knowingly.

“Got it off the official website, hun.”

“Wow.” Jessica stared at him. “It looks good on him. On anyone else it would look stupid, but he pulls it off.”

“I wonder what his real hair color is,” Faith mused, twirling a strand of mousey hair around her finger. “Like, if it’s blonde or red or black or something.”

“I think it’s blonde like Jess’,” Gloria mumbled. “Then they’d just have to bleach it once to make it white so they can do a really good dye job.”

“Mm,” Faith grunted. “I like to think it’s black. He’d look really sexy with black hair.”

“Girl, he’d look sexy with red hair, blonde hair, black hair, or hot pink hair,” Gloria pointed out.

The instant the music video ended, the TV was switched off and the three girls were crowded by Jessica’s closet.

“So, when I dress as Snow White, what should I wear?” Snow White was the commonly accepted name for the mysterious girl in ‘Ballad’.

“Something to accent the fact that you’re her, I guess,” Gloria replied, hiding the sulky note in her voice. She wouldn’t be able to attempt this stunt—it would be much too hard to cover her dark skin and hair.

Faith had the fashion sense, and immediately took control of the situation. “I’m thinking something dark. If we put you in something light, you’ll look too ghostlike and we don’t want that. We could put you in black to accent the paleness, but the problem there is that it might be a little too much.”

“What about red?” Jessica asked, pulling a sparkly crimson dress from her closet and pressing it against her body. Faith cocked her head to one side, contemplating.

“That might work. Any blue?”

“Blue!” Jessica’s eyes grew wide. “Blue, of course!” Gently, she reached in and pulled out a dress that was midnight blue with small rhinestones scattered about, making it look like a piece of the night sky. It had a wide sweeping skirt and a wide ribbon tied around the waist, which ended in a large bow in the back. There was a necklace, too; a wide silvery disk engraved to look like the moon.

Gloria and Faith sighed in appreciation. It was a beautiful dress, one that she had gotten custom-made. “I was saving it for prom,” she explained, holding it in front of her, “But this seems like an equally important occasion, doesn’t it?”

Both girls nodded furiously. “It’s amazing, Jess.”

Before they knew it, Halloween had arrived. Having gained permission from her parents to bleach her hair white, Jessica was resplendent in her midnight gown, Faith was plainer than ever in her Meg Murry outfit, and Gloria was unidentifiable as a Drow sorceress. The three swept into the gym where the concert was, staring around at the other people in costume. There were nerds dressed as their favorite scifi characters, and Gloria pointed out a group of what appeared to be three Spocks, two Darth Vaders, and five various aliens chatting casually in a corner of the gym.

The stage was draped in black and red, perfectly matching the dress of the female announcer, and various instruments were placed there already.

Chatter filled the air as the trio made their way through the attired crowd to the refreshment table. This was the spot they stayed and chatted about the big plan until a newly-formed local band, The Halloweeners, came up onto the stage and launched into a loud song oozing Emo.

“What a timely breakup, I can’t take it no more, what a timely breakup, you’ve become such a whore…”

“I don’t understand why anyone listens to this!” Jessica shouted over the din. “It’s so…loud!”

Then the song ended and the crowd screamed as The Halloweeners exited and the announcer swept gracefully to the mike.

“And now the moment we’ve all been waiting for---forever…the one, the only, the absolute---EIEN!!”

The crowd went absolutely insane as the gym went dark. “We love you, Eien!” Groups of girls screamed out in unison, one cluster even holding a small sign aloft.

A spotlight appeared onstage, illuminating a solitary figure standing in the center, a slim headset on.

He was slender and tall, his primarily gray, black-tipped, white-streaked hair falling gently over his left eye. His outfit was refined and stunning; a black vest with long sleeves that belled out near the hands, showing white lace beneath, with matching pants and shiny black shoes. His stunningly blue eyes were heavily outlined in black eyeliner, and a miniature sword hung from one ear. The final touch—and most elegant one—was an aristocratic red necktie.

Opening his eyes, he whispered the opening lines of ‘Ballad’, forcing the rabidly shrieking throng to fall silent in order to hear.

“Where is my little Stranger?

Why is she not here?

Is she hiding in the corner?

Is she trembling in fear?”

Jessica could tell that half the crowd was mouthing along to the words, unwilling to sing along lest they drown out his soft voice. The whisper gained strength, his light tenor caressing the words.

“Where is my little Stranger,

With her hair of silken white

Her skin of palest snow

And her eyes of darkest night?”

Staring into space above the crowd, he paused, allowing piano music to fade in. Jessica blinked. She hadn’t noticed it before, but now that she looking, she saw shadowy figures behind the idol, and could only assume it was The Halloweeners playing backup to Eien’s vocals. They did have a synthesizer, after all.

“Searching for what can’t be found

Looking for a guiding light

My hands are numb, my eyes are blind

And you must be my sight.

A single lost philosophy

Hidden by the way you sing

Drowning in a sunset sea

You are my Everything.”

The words swelled, rising through the air and wrapping around the hearts of the teenaged girls. Eien himself had one hand, clenched in a fist, pressed to his chest, and he half-shut his eyes, staring ahead dreamily and leaning forward slightly into an invisible breeze.

“I miss my little Stranger

And her solemn, saddened eyes

Her broken heart is tied with lace

And wrapped in misty lies.

A demon dark

Does clutch her heart

And has stolen it away.

But the day will come

When it is won

By smoke and storm and spray.”

Now he turned towards the audience, looking at them for the first time. In the pause between verses, Faith heard some unfortunate girl behind her faint. The piano grew louder, joined by what sounded like chimes, or a harp, or something like that; Jessica couldn’t tell one instrument from another.

“When the moon begins to rise

I’m wishing for your Darkened eyes

Around your head a glowing ring,

You are my Everything.”

The song swelled, his voice rising emotionally, fists raising in a symbol of agony and longing, hypnotic eyes raised above the audience, as if he was not singing to them, but to that single special girl, standing in the back. A few people in front of Jessica actually turned, as if to see what he was looking at.

“And if I don’t see you again,

I know the skies will weep!

My lonely heart

Will fall apart

Forever yours to keep.”

Now he sighed sadly, looking down at the stage, his hair obscuring his face. Oh, how Jessica yearned to be the girl he was singing about! Just as every other girl did. The music slowed gently, fading softly away until only the piano remained, playing softly in the background as he murmured the last stanza faintly.

“I love my little Stranger

But I cannot heal her heart

Yet since I hold my Stranger dear,

We can never be apart…”

The song ended with a last wavering note from the piano. Silence reigned for only a second before the gym erupted in sound; yells, whistling, and fangirl screams, with the occasional shout of ‘Encore, encore!’ thrown in for good measure.

Eien looked up at the audience, seeming to hesitate about something. Then he flashed a dazzling smile at the crowd, making the already wild fangirls go even more insane.

“Hello, High School Students!” He had a way of making every word he spoke seem capitalized, putting such inflection as to make every syllable important. Jessica suppressed the incredible, overwhelming urge to scream and swoon along with the rest of the girls, attempting a cool demeanor like some of the boys—the ones who weren’t yelling along with the rest, that was. “I see everyone’s ready to party till midnight. Wonderful—maybe, if we’re just lucky enough, we’ll get to see some ghosts.”

Everyone agreed raucously.

“Then let’s jam!”

Behind him, a Halloweener released a rippling chord from an electric guitar at a signal from the idol. The drums set forth in a wild rat-a-tat, soon joined by the bass.

Narrowing his eyes, Eien stalked forward, shoulders hunched. The spotlight vanished, replaced by lights around the stage, lighting his face from below in the classic creepy style. Reaching the edge of the stage, he flipped his head back, flinging his hair away from his face—and in that split second, his eyes shone like twin beacons of sapphire.

“Catch my heart as it breaks

Cast off your midnight cloak.

Leave me with the broken dreams

Of the blood you left to soak.”

Eien crooned darkly, pacing the length of the stage and reminding Jessica strongly of a feral, caged tiger. He pulled it off, but she was surprised nonetheless; she had only ever seen the calm, elegant side of him from the music video of ‘Ballad’. She had certainly heard this song, ‘Midnight Cloak’, on the radio before, but seeing it live was an incredibly different experience. When she heard this, he had always imagined him in the role of the darkly seductive modern vampire, not in the part of the mysteriously alluring werecat.

“We will dance

Upon the graves

Of broken, shattered lies

Under a sky of sunset red,

Staring only straight ahead,

Call to mind the things you said

While staring in my eyes.”

He certainly seemed the part. The song had an underlying tone of calm grace despite the fast-paced lyrics.

“Misty dreams cannot be caught

Tell me of the things you bought

Tell another silly tale;

My heart is not for sale.”

It seemed that the entire audience had kicked in to sing the chorus, and Jessica, Faith, and Gloria found themselves adding their voices to the throng in spite of their wish to be cool, calm, and collected. The gray-haired idol spun on stage, filled with vivid energy; the crowd moving with him, slowing when he did for the next verse.

“With a single shining star

Lock me in a blackened room.

Spiderwebs shall be my shroud

In my living Tomb.”

The words almost seemed to stumble over his tongue in their race to hang in the air above the audience. Yes, it was certainly a pseudo-rap speed, but sung in such a way as to differ completely from rap in all ways. His style was refreshing, a strange mix of the typical pop/hip-hop/whatever and some strange style that was all his own. And the fangirls---the trio included—adored, loved, and worshipped that.

“I will sing

For days gone by,

And waiting for a change

Reaching for that piece of hope,

Falling from the steepest slope,

We can never think to cope

The world is growing strange.”

The electric guitar broke out the instant his voice paused, the notes fleeing from the strings in a frenzy. Eien swayed in time to the bridge, and the crowd responded by throbbing back, pulsing in time to the music like some great gelatinous creature. Then the chorus came and the entire crowd belted out the words along with him.

“Misty dreams cannot be caught

Tell me of the things you bought

Tell another silly tale;

My heart is not for sale.”

And finally, the last stanza. The crowd died down, seeing as Eien had resumed his prowling stance, crouched in the center front of the stage and purring the final words in a dark, throaty whisper. Looking down at the audience and the hands of his fans reaching towards him, he crooned:

“The broken stars that hang above

Cannot pay the price of love;

Your sneaky tactics tend to fail--

My heart Is not For sale.”

The stage darkened as the crowd screamed, hooted and whistled. Then the lights returned, Eien was nowhere to be seen, replaced by the announcer. “Calm down, calm down!” She yelled, voice magnified by the microphone she was bawling into. “We’re gonna take a slight break. Mingle amongst yourselves, chatter, buy a raffle ticket, rearrange your costumes—” She eyed a mummy who had become rather unraveled. “Eat, drink and be merry, for tonight we party. The costume contest will be happening shortly, and in the meantime here’s The Halloweeners!” She left gracefully to a smattering of polite applause. In control of the stage, the emo group began a cover of The Monster Mash.

Jessica, Faith, and Gloria raced to the girl’s restroom to adjust their costumes, which had gotten a tad jolted in the pseudo-moshing—although Jessica was more worried about the fact that her beloved dress may have gotten stepped on and/or torn. Luckily, it had not, and she heaved a sigh of relief as she touched up her makeup in the bathroom mirror. Gloria’s white wig had fallen loose, and Faith helped her put it on again as Jessica left.

She didn’t want to head back to the gym. After Midnight Cloak, her ears were ringing slightly—she needed quiet.

Turning abruptly, she trotted off to the Art hall.

As she reached the door, she saw a figure at the other end of the hallway, their silhouette misty against the moonlight shining through the doors. Hearing something, she realized they were singing softly to themselves.

“Staying awake to chase a dream, tasting the air you're breathing in, I know I won't forget a thing…” She knew that voice, realizing with a shock that the figure at the end of the hall was no other than Eien himself!

She approached quietly, unsure of how to react. The idol Eien, alone here—with her. Her heart, discovering this fact, got on its hamster wheel and started running. Her palms grew clammy and a small knot tied itself in her chest.

As if sensing someone, Eien broke off his singing. His body tensed in the classic fight-or-flee manner and he called out warily, “Who’s there?”

Jessica froze, the knot tightening. But he spotted her and took a single step forward.

“Kassie?”

Her voice finally returned from hiding. “N…no…it---it’s Jessica,” she whispered in a high-pitched squeak. “My name’s Jessica.” This was not how she had wanted them to meet…

“Jessica.” He seemed to be confirming the fact, but she almost swooned at the fact that he had said her name. He walked closer. “Ah, I see. You aren’t her.”

“Aren’t… who?” Curiosity overcame her initial paralysis. Who was Kassie?

“Kassandra. My younger sister.”

“Sister?” Jessica clapped a hand over her mouth. The word had come out in a high half-yelp—how rude of her! But still—his sister?

He didn’t seem to notice. “Yeah. She’s sick a lot of the time, and doesn’t get out much. So I wrote her a song.”

Her hand muffled her words slightly. “This song...” A feeling of anxiety crept over her.

“Ballad.” Spotting her expression, he smiled gently. This smile held none of the dazzling brightness that it had earlier; Jessica now realized that the smile had been forced, false. “Yeah, I know what you’re thinking. “‘Ballad’ is a love song”. But if you listen carefully, you’ll notice that not once do I actually sing the words ‘I love you’.”

It was true. ‘Ballad’, when thought about and the lyrics considered, was not sung boyfriend to girlfriend, but rather brother to sister. It was quite a startling revelation. Somewhere in the back of her mind, the rabid fangirl went wild—Eien had said ‘I love you’ to her!!

“I…I guess you’re right…”

He nodded, then swore lightly. “Damn contacts…”

“Contacts?” For some reason, it had never occurred to her that Eien—perfect, wonderful Eien—wore contact lenses. Of course, it had never occurred to her that he had a sister either.

“Uh-huh. You don’t really think my eyes are this blue, do you? They enhanced the color for the video, and I have to wear contacts for live concerts. But at least they let me pick my own wardrobe this time---you should have seen what they were trying to put me in, all neo-punk, chains and skulls and the whole shebang…”

Suddenly, everything Jessica had ever wanted to know came spilling out. All the gossip and rumors. “Is it true that your hair is dyed? What color is it, really? What do you want in a girl?”

He blinked, the contacts keeping his eyes sparkling sapphires in the moonlight. Then—lo and behold---he laughed. Chuckled, really, but Jessica blushed. She had made him laugh!

“Yeah, they dyed my hair. I can’t really complain—I wanted to be unrecognizable, and I came up with the coloring and style myself. My hair is really a dark blackish brown, which means they had to bleach it a bit to get rid of the color.” Blackish brown!

“As for a girl…I’m not really looking for one. Why get tied up in celebrity politics? I don’t want any of that. Say, you’re not a reporter, are you?”

She had to shake herself out of a daze. “Uh, no, no I’m not. Why?”

Eien simply shook his head.

“Well, one last question, please.” He waved a hand noncommittally. “I know Eien can’t possibly be English. So…what does it mean?”

“Eien is Japanese for ‘eternity’. I dunno why I picked it—just seemed to fit, y’know?” He shrugged. “I just wanted something different.”

She stared. Revelation.

“Oh, my, God,” she breathed. “David?”

He looked at her sharply. “How’d you know?”

“Ohmigosh, David, it’s you? I—I can’t believe this—we were in Biology together, remember? I sat behind you to the left!” Manic fangirl energy repossessed her. “You were always saying that music was the pathway to the soul—‘words didn’t matter, so long as emotion got across’, that kind of stuff, and you played this insane music all the time on your headphones…”

He shrugged again. “Sorry if I don’t remember you—my memory’s like a sieve. I do remember saying that, however.”

“It makes so much sense!” Jessica ranted. “You should put it in a song!”

He paused, then turned away. “Y’know, Jessica, you’re deeper than I originally made you out to be. Not a whole lot deeper, but I guess it’s a start.” Glancing over his shoulder, he added, “Sorry for being rude--diplomacy was never my strong point.” His earring glittered.

“Oh, uh, it’s okay…I didn’t know you had pierced ears, David.”

“I don’t.” He tugged at the sword and it came off in his hand. Showing it to her, he grunted, “Clip-on.” He clasped it on again. “That’s a very pretty dress.”

“Oh, thank you,” she gasped. “Uh, we should be getting back to—to the gym…” She gestured back over her shoulder.

“Yeah. Uh, you go ahead.”

“R…right.” Smiling sweetly at him, she turned and raced back. Turning a corner, he knees suddenly felt weak and trembly, and her heart got off the wheel and started doing jumping jacks. She had held a conversation with Eien, a former fellow student!! Wait until her friends heard about this!!

When she arrived, The Halloweeners had just finished a song and were exiting the stage to applause; the announcer was at the mike.

“We’re going to have the costume contest in just a second, don’t worry, but first, a new song from Eien!”

Jessica’s news would simply have to wait, it seemed. He was faster than she at getting back, for he walked onto stage the instant it was clear. Closing his eyes, he stood in the center and addressed the audience.

“I wasn’t planning on releasing this quite yet, but just think of it as a sneak preview.”

And he started to sing. No instruments, no light effects, nothing. Just him and the song.

“As I fall

I'm letting go

Of all the things

I used to know.

They never helped

Just stood and stared

The world around me,

Disrepaired.”

It was sung almost like a dirge, with no instruments or catchy tune.

“A web of trust

Wrap me in

Keep me from

My hidden sin

And all the things

We used to know

I'm letting go,

Letting go.

Gather all

Your sticks and stones

Pave my way

With broken bones.

I miss my life

With all my soul

But stay with me

And make me whole.”

Jessica wondered who he was speaking to—Kassandra? Then he looked out to the audience and met her eyes, and nothing else mattered.

“I want to stay right here so bad

But know that I cannot

Life moves me on

Through spring and snow

I'm letting go,

Letting go.”