Song No.5

Note: 𝐼𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑠 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑠 - Thoughts

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The car only moved inches from its original place and it annoys Luc to no end. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑦'𝑠 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐? 𝑊𝑒 𝑏𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒 15 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑔𝑜! The brunette had enough the view of lined up cars outside the window he's been staring at since forever; he hated getting stuck in a traffic jam, especially a bad-like this-one. He grunted, tapping his fingers impatiently on the paper cup he's holding.

"It's usually isn't this bad," the pink-haired man beside him said, mimicking the brunette's action tapping his fingers on the steering. "I wonder what happened over there?" he indicated the front with his chin. "Hope it's not an accident."

Luc sighed and told himself to be calm; there is no need to rage over this since it is completely out of the older Shepherd's power to control. Loathe as he was being stuck in a middle of the road, unmoving for almost half an hour, there is nothing he can do to change the situation he is in. 𝑁𝑜𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑟 𝑓𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑦 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 '𝐴𝑏𝑟𝑎 𝐾𝑎𝑑𝑎𝑏𝑟𝑎' 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑤𝑎𝑦.

"It's weird to see you're getting mad over this kind of thing," Gray chuckled, staring at his little brother. "You're usually very calm in whatever situation you're thrown in."

Luc turned to him. "Really?"

"Mhmm. But I'm not surprised since you did, after all, lost your memories. I kind of expected there'll be changes on you aside from you not remembering anything."

"Well…," Luc took a sip of his drink. "I don't know how to answer that since I'm not sure myself of…my previous self." 𝐼'𝑚 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝐿𝑢𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑜 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝐸𝑟𝑖 𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑟 𝑡𝑤𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒, 𝐼 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑚𝑒𝑒𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑟 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛. "Since we're stuck here, humor me; how was…uh, my previous self before the nearly drown experience? Maybe then I can act accordingly and…uh, be more like…me?"

Gray laughed. Wholeheartedly. "I never thought I'll see you being unsure of something, Luc," he replied as he wiped away tears-from laughing so hard-from his eyes. "Let's see here…You're not categorized as a quiet person but you're not that talkative either. You're always confident in everything you do and in choices you made. Some of…nay, a lot of them did lead to trouble but hey, your optimism doesn't seem to mind much about that. Or at least that's how me and everyone else see," he said, focusing back to the road in front of them and tch-ed as there is still no movement detected from the long line of cars in front of theirs. "So that's basically what you are; a reckless fool. Wow, chill with that squinting stare of yours," he grinned when he saw the expression his younger brother gave him from the rear view mirror. "Ask someone else; I bet my paycheck this month they will tell you the same thing. Hehehe."

Luc sighed. 𝐼'𝑚 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑘𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑜𝑛 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑎 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑘𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑜𝑙 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝐼 𝑔𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑒𝑡 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛. 𝐼𝑡'𝑙𝑙 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑...𝐼 𝑔𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑠. "Hm…any other things you wanted to share besides that…as you're saying, basic info about me?"

"You're a college student with major in architecture."

"Okay."

"You're single but I heard still quite popular in college," Gray whistled. "How did you manage to charm the boys and girls there anyway?"

𝐵𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑠 𝑚𝑒. "And?"

"Your favorite color is orange and you have a lot of outfit in said color. You're a carnivore and avoided vegetables like they're a plague; you claimed they give you nausea and stomachache…Wait. You're not going to puke in my car, right? It's weird that I only notice it now but you did order vegetable juice before we left at the store near the hospital," the pink-haired man pointed a finger at the paper cup in the brunette's hand.

"I won't. Don't worry," Luc replied and sipped on his juice, grinning at the older man as he stared in horror at his action. 𝑉𝑒𝑔𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑦 𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑡. 𝐼 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑦 𝑓𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑓 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑔. "Relax. My memory is messed-up; my brain won't register the things I hated now so it's okay. And you better be ready to see me gobble up some of those vegetables in the future because they are suddenly my favorite due to the loose screws in my head," he added, smiling slyly.

"That's like indicating you've turned crazy," Gray chuckled, drumming his fingers on the steering.

"I might be," Luc replied, shrugging as he turned to the front and continue sipping on his drink. 𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑑, 𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑦 𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑓𝑢𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙, 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ 𝑎 𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑤𝑙-𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑠𝑓𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟'𝑠 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑓𝑙𝑎𝑡 𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑟 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒 𝑝𝑢𝑛𝑐ℎ-𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑔𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑣𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑘𝑒 𝑢𝑝 𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦 𝑤ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑒𝑥𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑙 𝑛𝑜𝑤. 𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑦 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑓 𝐼 𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑚𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑧𝑦. "Oh, hey. The line is starting to move. Focus on your driving."

"Aye aye, captain," the older man saluted, grinned and switched his attention back to driving.

Luc, still sipping on the drink in his hand went back to staring at the view outside of the car. Now that they're no longer trapped, unmoving on the road, Luc can see the changes in the landscape outside; tall buildings to short ones, boutiques to restaurants and cafes to groceries stores. He stared at the people shuffling around the area, doing things and moving forward to make progress in their life. Luc was envious of them being alive. 𝑊𝑒𝑙𝑙, 𝐼'𝑚 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑒𝑥𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑚 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑡𝑒𝑐ℎ𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑚𝑦 𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦. 𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝐼'𝑚 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑚𝑦 𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑦𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑡𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑒𝑙𝑠𝑒. 𝑀𝑦 𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑒? 𝐿𝑢𝑐𝑎𝑠 𝐶ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑟. 𝐴𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑠 23 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑙𝑑. 𝐴 𝑣𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑅ℎ𝑌𝑀𝐸, 𝑎 𝑝𝑜𝑝𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑. Luc bit on the green straw. 𝑅ℎ𝑌𝑀𝐸. 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑑? 𝐴𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑣𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑔𝑜𝑛𝑒? 𝐼 𝑤𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑛𝑒𝑤𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑚𝑦 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ? 𝐼 𝑑𝑖𝑑𝑛'𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑—

"Oh, hey. I think I know the reason of the traffic jam earlier," Gray cuts the silence in the car as it slowed down to the red color of the traffic light. "Look over there," he said as he motioned Luc to check out the thing he's pointing with his pouting mouth. "I totally forgot about this event happening today."

The brunette turned to the direction the pink-haired man is pointing-a park where lots of people are gathering and plenty of cars parked haphazardly-and he froze at the view, at a particular item.

"No wonder the road is jammed with a lot of cars earlier. Just look at that amount of people attending and the cars parked around. They even blocked the main road! Damn it," Gray cursed. "I know it's hard to find a place to park in a limited place but at least avoid parking in the middle of the road and disturbing others! I seriously hate people who only think of their own convenience and ignoring the fact that their convenience is actually inconveniencing others," he continued, shaking his head and turned back to his driving as the traffic light turned green.

"…What kind of event is that?" Luc quietly asked as the car speed off from the crowded park.

Gray looked at him from the rear view mirror for a split second before switching back to the road in front of him. "Huh? Oh, that. It's the official announcement of the newly reorganized RhYME. Those people must be reporters and fans," he answered. "I'm not sure if you remember the most famous band-and it's not just a self-proclamation-in the world but that band took a break a month ago after their vocalist died in an accident," he added and turned left at a fork they came across. "I've heard they disbanded and reformed with a new line of members…well, except for the main guitarist; he's the leader after all. They've been laying low for a month but the fans are still there. The stories and gossips about them still pop out here and there like mushroom too. Guess their popularity is not something to be underestimated with, eh? I hear—hey, you okay?"

"Huh?"

"Dude, your vegetable juice is spilling out from your cup. Stop choking it. But feel free though if you're willing to clean up your mess and the car later," Gray laughed and continued driving in silence, unaware of the heavy atmosphere surrounding the younger Shepherd.

𝑅𝑒𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑅ℎ𝑌𝑀𝐸? 𝑁𝑒𝑤 𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑠? Luc's grip on the paper cup in hand softened as he turned to stare the view outside the window again. He cradled his face with his free right hand, burning an invisible hole on the tinted window with his glare. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑢𝑐𝑘 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝐾𝑒𝑖 𝐼ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑎? 𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑚𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡? 𝑊𝑒𝑙𝑙, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛'𝑡 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑠𝑘 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜'𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑦 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦? 𝐻𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑏𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑅ℎ𝑌𝑀𝐸 𝑡𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑦? Luc bit his lip and his nails dug deeper into the flesh of his cheek. 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑠𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑒 𝑎 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑔𝑜 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡…𝐴𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑓𝑢𝑐𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑘𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑒? 𝐼𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑙𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑒? 𝐼𝑡'𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑎 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑔𝑜𝑛𝑒. 𝑌𝑜𝑢'𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑦 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ. 𝑁𝑜𝑡 𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑣𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑅ℎ𝑌𝑀𝐸!