The lights lit up all at once, illuminating the stage in a vibrant array of colors, the sudden burst of light eliciting a crescendo of the cheers from the crowd. The entire theatre was packed, millions of people, colorful as the stage, stretched out into rows upon rows of seats, their cries deafening, but nowhere near as loud as the music. The seats went so far away that to some, the stage was but a small, bright blur of color somewhere off in the distance, though the music was just as loud. Those unfortunate enough to be unable to see the five young men upon the stage directed their cheers to floating screens, each of them opaque and the size of a billboard.

“Pushing through the market square,” with the words came cries, louder still. “So many mothers sighing.” A blond on stage had stepped up to the mic, an electric blue guitar in his hands. “The news had just come over.” His violet eyes opened to the masses as he pressed his lips upon the microphone, mass approval immediately surging through the audience. “We had five years left to cry in.”

“The news boy wept and told us, the Earth was... Really dying. He cried so much, and his face was wet, that I knew he was not lying.” Behind him, the band played louder, a dark skinned blonde on bass, a thin, orange-haired young man with glasses playing synthesizer, a small, pale boy with pixie cut, silvery-white hair on the drums, and a tall male with long blood red hair pulled up into a high ponytail and glasses on saxophone. Their ship, which had only moments ago made an impromptu crash-landing through the back of the stage, as electric blue as the blonde’s guitar, with Lady Stardust on it’s hull, acted as their only backdrop. “I heard telephone, opera house, favorite melody. I saw boys, toys, electric irons and TVs. My brain hurt like a warehouse, I had no room to spare; I had to cram so many things to store everything in there.”

“And all the fat, skinny people. And all the tall, short people. And all the nobody people. And all the somebody people.” The occupants of the large theatre—which may have spanned the entirety of a small moon were it actually grounded and not just floating awry in space—had waited long, long past the band’s allotted starting time for the show to begin, late as always, and refused to be sated. “I never thought I’d meet so many people.”

“A girl my age went off her head; hit some tiny children. If the black hadn’t of pulled her off, I think she would have killed them.” Between the sections of seats were long halls, each of them connected at ends to ports filled with a jumble of ships of all shapes and sizes. The long halls were nearly empty now, as many people had rushed to their seats once the show began, and the only individuals unlucky enough to be in the halls still were those unlucky enough to have been too far to make it to their destinations once the show had begun, and were now unhappily stuck, unable to get through the mulling crowd. Nearly all but three, that was. “A soldier with a broken arm fixed his stare to the wheels of a Cadillac. A cop knelt and kissed the feet of a priest, and a queer threw up at the sight of that.”

“He was late again,” came the stern, monotonous voice of the tallest and palest of the three, who was dressed all in white.

“I think I saw you in an ice cream parlor, drinking milk shakes cold and long.”

The shorter of the two males smiled, the corners of his tanned lips quirking upwards whimsically. “They were all late, you know. Not just him.” A frown from the purple-haired man next to him was his immediate reply.

“Smiling and waving and looking so fine. I don’t think you knew you were in this song.”

“He’s really the only one that matters, isn’t he? And he doesn’t even know what he’s singing about..! No one does; it drives me crazy—”

“Now, Illo...” the blonde male interrupted, but his golden-eyed acquaintance refused his words.

“And it was cold, and it rained, and I felt like an actor. And I thought of ma’ and I wanted to get back there.”

“I think the song’s just lovely.” came the voice of the only female, a dainty brunette with loops, bracelets, and bangles all over, reminiscent of a gypsy, and the blonde smiled.

“You would, wouldn’t you..?” Illo retorted, drawing his arms across his white-clad chest.

“Your face, your race, the way that you talk! I kiss you, you’re beautiful, I want you to walk!”

The blonde in the hall, dressed all in black, turned to watch the blonde upon the stage, and the rest of the band as they began to sing along with the chorus, with a more serious gaze of interest. “It’s true, though,” he said finally, a soft sigh escaping his lips as he closed his silver eyes for a moment. “He really doesn’t know what he’s singing about.”

“We’ve got five years, stuck on my eyes.”

“Does he even know when five years began..? Does he have any idea? No. He sings about it like he wrote the song...”

“--Well he did write the song,” the other offered. Illo only frowned.

“Five years. Oh, what a surprise.”

“It’s almost up, you know. And all he does is run around the universe, wreaking havoc wherever he goes, as discrete as a supernova... He has no idea at all.”

No reply came. The blonde couldn’t deny that most of what his companion said was at least partially true, and all he could do was watch the boy up on the stage. He was something, though, whether or not Illo would admit it. He was tanned—though not nearly as dark as the blonde who watched him from the hall with much interest—and he was well toned, and dressed in shades of primary colors, as was in fashion. Though the top layer of his spiky hair was cut in layers just past his ears, the rest of his hair was tied back in two long braids that nearly reached his ankles. Violet eyes glared unforgivingly on the large screens from behind long blonde lashes, slightly pointed ears visible through the mess of blonde hair, parted slightly to one side; the crowd simply adored him.

“Five years, my brain hurts a lot.”

“We really ought to go, don’t you think?” the girl asked finally, though her long brown hair still swooshed slightly as she swayed with the music, and her eyes—deep pink in color—stayed transfixed upon the stage. “Before somebody recognizes us. Besides, it wont be much longer now, anyway...”

“Five years, that’s all we’ve got.”

“Hn,” Illo said, turning to leave without a moment’s hesitation, the brunette following, if a bit wistfully, just a moment behind. The blonde held back, still watching the stage with much interest.

“Five years.”

“He may not be the one who will end the world as we know it...” he mused, entirely to himself. “But he is certainly capable of mixing things up quite a bit...”

“Five years.”

“Four,” Illo called from a ways down the hall. The blonde turned and smiled, nodding his head in consent.

“Five years.”

“Either way, it will certainly be interesting to watch.”

“Five years.”

The music died down, and the blonde stood up on the stage with his guitar hung over his shoulders loosely, his hand in fists by his side, violet eyes glaring out over the crowd that admired them so, screaming such all the more now that they were less drowned out from the music. His hand went to the mic, snatching it off of the stand, and he pulled it up to his lips once more. “I hate you all, and I would off the lot of you if it was legal. Fuck you, and good night,” he said, flipping off the entire audience, including those simply watching him on the screen.

The stage vanished completely, darkness taking over the stage as the lights were all extinguished as quickly as they had flared to life. Again, the cheers swelled, all of them approving, all of them wanting more, drowning out the sound of the ship making its escape much the same way it crashed in. The crowds could not be sated.

¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡!¡

Raine blinked, propping himself up on his elbows and squinting up at the night sky. There was, he had been certain, a star where he had been staring intently just a moment before, a particularly bright one at that, but he no longer saw anything but the fainter stars surrounding it. Intent as he was on that spot, still squinting to make out the vanishing star, he hardly noticed a tanned young man with bright, fiery-red hair making his way down the grassy hill towards him until he was—quite literally and with a large ‘thunk’—on top of him.

The smaller of the two males sat up with a start, or at least tried to, the weight of the other thoroughly pinning most of him down, though he could still flail his legs about enough to squirm. “Aliixaall,” he groaned, trying to push the red-head off of him, to little avail. “You’re too heavy! Get off of me, you big oaf!” he cried, receiving about as much of a reaction as his pushing had just moments before.

“But you’re sooo comfy,” the other protested, snuggling against him as though to illustrate just how comfortable he was. “Besides, you’re just so adorable I can’t help myself!”

“But you’re tooo heavy, Alixal!” Raine protested back, trying again to push Alixal off, with similar results as before. “I’ll die if you don’t get off!” he said, finally going limp, letting his arms fall onto the grass at either side of himself in exasperation. “I can’t breath with you using me as your personal pillow like this!” he cried.

“Oh, come on,” Alixal retorted. “I’m not that heavy! Suck it up and take it like a man, Raine! Besides,” he said, resorting to near-whining again. “You make such a wonderful personal pillow that it really can’t be helped! It’s not my fault that you’re so good at it, now is it, Raine?” he asked. They lay there for a moment in silence, as Raine seemed to have given up protesting and neglected to answer, until Alixal finally lifted his head. “Raine?” he asked again, peering down at the other boy with his perfect, crystalline blue eyes.

Raine had stop moving, his eyes closed and his head tilted somewhat to the side in the grass, and no breath passed his lips. Strange, almost steel-blue hair fell upon his pale face, which had little of an expression on it, and not even his long blue lashes fluttered. “Raine,” Alixal tried again, a little more desperately this time, getting off of him fully, leaning above him with his hands in the grass on either side of him. “Raaiine,” he called, shaking the boy a little by the shoulder, though the other still gave no reaction.

Alixal, who was about to let out a long stream of curses at having actually smothered his best friend to death with his sheer masculinity, caught the faintest glimpse of a smile on the pale lips of the boy who lay beneath him. Narrowing his eyes for a moment, a grin finally crossed his lips as he said, rather convincingly, “Shit, he really did pass out..! Oh well,” he said, leaning down speaking loud enough to the effect that he was sure Raine could fully catch every word. “I guess I’ll just have to give him mouth to mouth, then!”

“Noo!” Raine cried out finally, sitting up as he moved his hand to cover Alixal’s mouth, which had just moments before been inches away from his own. “I’m up, I’m up!” he said, his hand remaining there until he felt safe. “You’re so awful, Alixal!” he said, sticking his tongue out at the other.

“Raine, my love! You’re alive!” Alixal exclaimed, his jubilation quite obviously over exaggerated. He threw himself back upon the frail boy, clinging to him and squeezing him tightly. “Oh, I was so worried, love bunny! I thought for sure I had finally done you in with my oh so manly manliness!” he cried, nuzzling the smaller boy affectionately. “Don’t you ever pass out on me again! Or, rather…” he mused, putting a thoughtful finger to his lips and letting go of Raine all at once so that the other boy landed once again in the grass. “If you do do it again, I might actually be able to give you mouth to mouth next time…” his words trailed off, then, Raine thought, as though he would actually consider something like that.

“Alixal,” Raine began, his tone totally different from their current situation. Alixal, expecting the question, finally plopped down beside Raine, pulling his knees closer to himself as he folded his arms over them, looking over the pale boy whose aqua-colored eyes stared wistfully up at the sky. “Do stars just disappear? I mean like… You know. Really big, bright ones? Just go out all of the sudden?”

Alixal squinted at the other boy, and shifted uncomfortably a little—very out of character for him—leaning back on his hands. “Well I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t watch the sky all the time like you do, you know,” he laughed, but he didn’t really smile. Raine wasn’t looking at him, anyway. “I would guess,” he finally added, a bit reluctantly. “That it might. But stars are like… Trillions of miles away from here, or whatever. So, you know, factoring in the speed of light versus the distance and all that, it takes a really long time.” Raine turned his head and looked at him questioningly, and Alixal, who had been frowning, turned away the moment their gazes met.

“Well all I mean is that even if it happens like that, just because you see it go out right now doesn’t mean it’s happening right now. It probably happened a long time ago or something like that, because there’s nothing close enough to Earth for it not to’ve…” Alixal sort of spat this out all at once, and Raine continued to look at him a bit quizzically, though Alixal was looking elsewhere. He was acting a bit different, but not so much so that Raine could really tell what was wrong.

“Oh,” he answered after a moment, turning his head again to gaze up in the general area where he thought the disappearing star might have been. “So what are you doing out here, anyway? You always call me crazy for coming out here at night like this, but here you are! …Not that I mind much at all,” he added, finding that he smiled as he said this.

His tanned companion perked up at the question, he noticed, even though he didn’t look at Alixal. “Well I guess you forgot,” Alixal said, his tone more like his usual happy self. “But here,” he said, and as he did he tossed something at Raine, who just barely managed to put his hands out in time to keep it from landing on his stomach. Raine looked questioningly at the box, in it’s pale blue wrapping paper, and then at Alixal, who smiled at him and shook his head. “Your birthday is coming up, you know!” he said, as Raine sat up to more thoroughly look over the box. “Well, go on, don’t just sit there staring at my beautiful wrapping job! Open it!”

Raine laughed at this. “Goodness, Alixal! You couldn’t wrap to save your life, could you?” he asked happily, looking the box over before carefully trying to get past he barrier of tape Alixal had put over each end. The box was rectangular in shape, about twice as long as it was wide, the height almost matching the width, so Raine really didn’t have any guess as to what it was. “You really didn’t have to get me anything, you know…” Raine said, as he finally got one end of the paper open. “I mean… I’m an orphan so they don’t really know when it is, anyway…”

“I know, you say that every year. But I got you something anyway,” Alixal said, ruffling Raine’s cerulean hair a bit. “Just open it!” he said, though Raine already had the box pulled out of the wrapping paper, still neatly taped together, mostly retaining the shape of the box. “See?” Alixal asked, noting the smile on Raine’s face. “They’re even red, just like my hair, so you’ll think of me eeevery time you wear them!” he added happily, taking the small, beaded rat tail he had at the base of the right side of his head in illustration.

“Oh my gosh!” Raine exclaimed happily, pulling them from the box. “Converse shoes..! I can’t believe you actually remembered that I wanted some of those…” he laughed, wasting no time in taking off his old, beat up sneakers and pulling the red converse shoes on. “They even fit just right and everything!” he said, rather excited over the pair of new shoes. “Thank you,” he smiled, leaning back a bit to look at Alixal. His smile faded after a moment, though, and he leaned forwards, resting his chin on his knees. “But you know I feel bad because I can’t really ever get you any gifts or anything…” he said quietly, staring up at the sky again through his long lashes.

Alixal smiled, if a little meekly, and changed the subject. “Well look, I also have this,” he said, reaching into the inside pocket of his dark blue jacket. His grin widened a little when Raine turned back to look at him, and he knew exactly what the other teen was thinking. “Relax,” he said, producing a small white pouch from within the confines of his coat. “I didn’t get you anything else; it’s actually yours,” he said, waving the packet around a few times before tapping it against his head once or twice.

“Really?” Raine asked quizzically. Had he lost something? He really didn’t have much, and he was having a hard time thinking of what he could have that was so small and yet important enough to bother returning at all, let alone wrapped up as though it could be fragile. He took the package, though, when Alixal offered it to him.

“Well yeah, you know… It’s from when they found you.” Alixal smiled as he spoke, but he still seemed hesitant telling Raine even though he had just produced the gift. “It’s what they found with you; the thing you’re supposed to get when you turn eighteen.” He paused when Raine turned to look at him, his hand frozen with his fingers halfway in the packet. Alixal gave a faint laugh. “I don’t know what it is, but I’ve known about it for a while. And I know that they don’t actually know your birthday, but I give you a gift every year for the day we met so… I smooth talked one of the nuns into giving up the package, since my family does own the orphanage and all, so…” he said, sounding rather proud of himself at the last bit.

“Wow…”

“I know I—“ Alixal began, until he noticed that Raine was mystified at the contents of the package rather than at his amazing feat. Alixal looked to what the boy’s aqua eyes seemed unable to remove themselves from, staring a the object in a way much reminiscent of how he had been staring up at the sky just moments prior. “Maybe…” Alixal said, a little warily. “You know, you shouldn’t keep it… Maybe. Or uhh, not just yet, that is,” he added, noting that Raine had looked up at him upon his suggestion.

“Why..?” Raine asked, looking back down at his hand. “It’s really, really…” he began, though he didn’t seem to be able to think of anything to describe the object. The orange, molten object in his pale hands captured completely his aqua eyes, a thin silver chain dangling through the gaps in his fingers. He pulled the necklace around his long neck, the fiery tear-shaped stone contrasting vividly against his pale collar. “Help me get it on?” he asked, turning a little to expose the back of his neck to Alixal. “It’s got a really weird clasp on it, and I can’t figure it out…”

Alixal complied, though he was thankful that Raine could not see the troubled expression he wore. His fingers had always been nimbler than Raine’s clumsy own, but the cerulean-hared youth was still impressed by how swiftly Alixal was able to do the clasp, letting the necklace fall perfectly around the nape of his neck. He was surprised, as someone who never wore accessories, let alone jewelry, at how naturally it fit. So immersed in the sensation as he was it took him a moment to notice Alixal’s fingers, which still lingered against his skin, and he turned on his friend with a questioning smile upon his lips. “Alixal..?” he asked, somewhat tentatively. “What’s wrong? You look very distracted, all of the sudden.”

It was a moment before Alixal—who, though he had withdrawn his hands when Raine moved, continued, still, to stare at the spot where his hands had been—answered. His perfect blue eyes shifted upwards to meet Raine’s, and he grinned, thoroughly convincing the other. “It’s nothing,” he said, reaching out an arm to grab Raine around the neck and pull him, if rather unceremoniously, into his chest. “I was just thinking about how much my little baby Raine has grown over all these years!” he said with a woeful happiness, rubbing his chin and cheek through Raine’s silken hair as Raine squirmed in his grip.

“Aliiixaal, lemmie go..!” Raine protested happily, falling back with a large gasp of air when Alixal complied. “Do you really think I’ve grown much?” he asked, and Alixal only grinned at him. “You’ve grown a lot more, anyway!” Raine cried, playfully pushing Alixal on the shoulder.

“Hahaha, yes, you scrawny boy, you,” Alixal grinned, placing his hand on Raine’s head and mussing up his hair to his hearts content. “But I am like two years older than you, if you’ll remember. So you’ve got a lot of growing left yet! I’m sure you’ll catch up with me someday. Now then!” he said, standing up and stretching his arms over his head. “It’s getting pretty late, and we’d better get inside soon. Just because the nuns never get mad at you doesn’t mean they don’t give me heck for keeping you out so late! So come on,” he said, reaching and arm down to Raine.

Raine took a moment to just smile up at Alixal, before his hand absently traced it’s way up to the tear shaped gem, and he looked down at it as his fingers graced the object, strangely warm to the touch though it was stone. “Actually I think I’d like to stay outside for just a bit longer,” he said, smiling back up at Alixal, noting the other’s reaction as he did so. “Don’t worry!” he offered with a laugh. “I wont be long! Just another minute or two! I swear. I’ll be right behind you!”

Alixal made a face, but found, as always, it was impossible for him to deny Raine anything, especially a request so simple. “Fine,” he conceded, sounding reluctant though he grinned. “But only just a few more minutes! Any longer and I’ll borrow a paddle from one of the nuns and—“

“Alixal!” Raine cried in glad exasperation, at which Alixal only winked before running off back up the hill a ways towards the orphanage. Raine watched him go, smiling all the while, before turning and falling back until the grass once more in one, fluid motion once Alixal’s form became little more than a black outline in the distance. His eyes searched the heavens again for that one, illusive spot the star had gone out in, his fingers, he noticed vaguely, still on the necklace. Once he was fairly certain he’d found the spot again, his eyes wandered down and he lifted up the strange stone, holding it up enough to where it caught just enough starlight to set it sparkling.

It wasn’t like anything he’d ever seen before, and he wondered why something so strange would be left for him, and nothing else. He didn’t know much about precious stones, but it wasn’t something he remembered having ever seen the likes of. It was a swirl of red, orange, and yellow, the colors of fire, and if he stared at it long enough without blinking, the colors seemed to swirl and undulate within the stone, as though it really were molten in its core. It didn’t look fake, at least not to him—not that he was any expert—and he found it so strange that the stone, which almost looked as though it gave its own faint glow, likewise radiated its own warmth.

A glint in the night sky in the general direction he’d been squinting at all evening caught his attention, and he sat up on his elbows to look up, dropping the necklace beneath his shirt. His eyes were drawn to a speck in the sky which he was sure had not been there earlier, though it looked just like every other tiny white light in the sky at that point. He was on up on his knees in the grass before it registered to him that the pinpoint had grown substantially larger, and rather quickly at that. Through his fingers, which he had moved up to his face, he squinted at a bright, bright light that now surrounded him, shortly after which he saw nothing at all.

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I don’t own the song lyrics, but I’m fairly certain David Bowie does. Umm and I am a bad person for making another new story, but that’s okay. It took me two years before I got around to starting this anyway. There’re lots of pictures up for it on DA, and um… Depending on the response I get for this, I may or may not do more! And hopefully I’ll be updating some other stuff soon as well

There should really be a lot of warnings for this, I guess, but if you’re mature enough to read it when it gets to be rated M, then you’re mature enough to handle it. Hope you enjoyed! Love me and review