Fuzzy Blue Lights

The club was beating with life already, much more so than I could have imagined. We drifted through the crowd, and I wondered momentarily if we were moving ourselves subconsciously to to the bar, or if the crowd was doing the work for us. Though, as we continued, I saw a little shot of a familiar face. My eyes bulged out a bit and I went to turn, to walk away, lifted my feet of the ground at once to run.

...Yet found myself still moving in the same direction. I looked down at the arms of Bill and Tom before I looked back up at them with a confused expression. They had hardly noticed that my feet were of the ground and that they were the ones that were moving me to my doom, just about. That thought was squashed as Bill looked down at me and tutted a bit.

"Silly Candy, did you really think that we would let you loose just yet? If I have to deal with both a drunk Tom and Andi, then so do you," he cooed with a wink. It was hard to believe that this was the same person that had just been stressing and worrying all over the place just a few moments ago.

...Then again, he didn't understand the situation. If I was seen, it may or may not prove to be very, very bad for me. It didn't help that they spot of the bar they were headed towards was just next to the people I feared to see. Or, at least, where I remember seeing one of them in this spot...

Just before we reached the bar, a man with red streaked black hair turned. I don't know why he turned, but he did. The one coal-black eye visible on his face took in our approach. Almost the entirety of the right half of his face was covered with his hair, which was perfectly straight and stopped just below his shoulders in the back. With the exception of the left half of his face, everything else was covered- from his neck down to his toes, not one bit of flesh showed, save for his slightly exposed fingers, and that was only due to his fingerless gloves. He was dressed in a big, baggy white Hoodie with peculiar black designs all over it that hadn't been zipped up all the way, showing that he wore a red tee-shirt with random black designs that matched his hoodie, and he had on white and black Tripp pants- it's chains connected with straps that clearly were from a different pair of pants, considering that the were the only pieces of red on the pants.

I only vaguely recognized him, though he clearly didn't recognize me at all as tilted his head slightly in confusion, his hair still managing to cover his face perfectly. He tapped the person with sandy-blonde dreads- held up and off of their neck by what I suspected to be a hair tie and a black bandanna- that sat at the bar to his left on the arm and whispered something in their ear. He fled as she turned around to address him, only to see no one there. She wore a slightly loose Hoodie and its sleeves stopped at her elbows, but went almost all the way down to her knees- her's was blue with a large green star directly on the back. When she turned the rest of the way, I could tell that she wore a plain black tank-top and that her Hoodie, like the other person's was not quite zipped up all the way. She also wore bell-bottomed blue jeans that covered over her feet.

She'd changed her hairstyle drastically since the last time we had seen each other, and she wore absolutely no noticeable make up, but that didn't matter. The moment those ocean-blue eyes set upon me, I knew who it was. And, unlike the man, she recognized me and was on her feet in an instant. I slammed my feet to the ground and actually forced the two boys dragging me along to stop.

...Well, it looks like the brute strength I was once known for still hadn't left me after years of not needing to be used. Bill and Tom both stared down at me, shocked that I had been able to do that. Georg bumped into me from behind on accident from the sudden stop- I just knew that he would likely hold that against me later. But that didn't matter now. What mattered was the person that stood just about a meter or so away from me.

"Ca--... Candice?" she tried, squinting a bit. I could tell she was in disbelief as I nodded lightly and wiggled the boys off of my arms. Their eyes were flicking between the two of us, wondering what was going on. "Candice Ushakov?"

I nodded a second time. I watched as she shook her head, lip trembling lightly as a few tears welled up in her eyes. She started walking towards me now, still fighting back sobs, but her head no longer shaking and her arms outstretched. She knew it was me now, no doubt about it. I tensed and held my arms up a bit as if to accept the hug that she seemed to be offering the moment she got close enough.

...Only to receive a nice, harsh, and stinging slap to the face. I swear, the sound echoed. Before any of the guys had time to react to this "assault" they likely thought was about to occur, I was pulled into a grappling hug and someone sobbing into my shoulder.

"D-don't you EVER do that ag-again." She pulled up for a moment to study my face. I was torn to see a long time friend of my like this. Sam had never deserved the treatment she had gotten. None of my friends did. Even though I had thought it was for the best at the time, I could now see that. "Vin had managed to convince m-me that you were dead, Candy. Can you believe that?"

Yeah, I could. Vin didn't like me much. That, and Sam didn't have a real connection to any of my family- she was actually rather afraid of the rest of the Ushakovs- so she would have had no connection at all to me. It would have been fairly easy to believe that someone was dead when you had no contact and no idea where the person was, or what they were doing, or anything...

I rested my head on her shoulder and finally returned her hug. I didn't want to my employer to see that I, too, now had tears in my eyes- and not because my cheek still burned from the slap I had received.

"Imagine that..." I muttered. The two of us could tell that we were getting a bit too much attention from the people around us, so we separated. I saw a humongous grin form onto Sam's face as she rubbed off the tears from her eyes and face.

"Yeah, what's worse is that... I found out that you were still alive only because I decided to start watching Tokio Hotel TV again," she whispered into my ear. I burst into laughter and she gave a sheepish smile. Most people wouldn't have found this funny but... Well, the only time we ever used to watch any sort of thing related to Tokio Hotel, was when we went to joke them, like the evil little people we were.

...And, I will admit, those were some good times.

"And, quite honestly, I thought it odd that Tom would get on with Tom. Now, how did that happen?" she mused in a rather ridiculously high-pitched voice that only caused me to laugh harder. That was her "Bill" voice- the voice that she would use when she would dress up like and impersonate Bill. Of course we had known that Bill didn't actually have a high-pitched, squeaky voice, but it was always much more fun to pretend that he did. I was the one that would always dress and "act" like Tom.

I took one look over my shoulder at the guys behind me. Yep. They wore confused expressions like you wouldn't imagine.

"It's all just a misunderstanding, and it was his fault." I made sure to point at the real Tom, so to add emphasis that I was referring to him and no one else. I leaned towards Sam so that the guys wouldn't hear me this time. "And, to tell you the truth, Tom really isn't my favorite anymore."

She gasped and drew back, appalled for a moment. She knew I was talking about which one we each preferred- she had always liked Bill more, and I always Tom. But, quite honestly, I had a feeling I knew where her inspiration to get dreads came from. She smiled and laughed a bit.

"Don't worry, the same has happened for me, except, well... YOU KNOW," she added extra emphasis onto her last two words and waved her hand around a bit. At this point in time, I grabbed her arm and turned the both of us towards the guys. If we were going to stand here in front of them, talking about them, I might as well introduce them.

"Guys, this is my friend Sam. We've been best friends for ages," I gushed, a grin spreading out on my face as the two of us threw our arms around the each other's shoulders at the same time. I held a hand out, indicating to the guys. "Sam, this is Andreas, Georg, Gustav, Tom, and Bill. Of course, you already knew that."

"It's nice to meet you, Sam," Bill offered first as he held out his had for Sam to shake. She complied, and went on down the line, shaking the guys' hands in reverse order that I had introduced them. Bill was smiling at me now and bouncing a bit. To him, he had just gotten one step closer to my past, which I have a feeling was what he was trying to do.

"I'm sorry for making the whole scene a few moments ago. Oh! And, Candy, I do apologize for the hand-print you now have on your face. I hadn't realized that I had hit you that hard..." She trailed of and chewed on her lip a bit. I laughed and waved it off.

"Eh, I've gotten worse-" and I could honestly say that, "-besides, I deserved it. Don't get too worked up about it. So, why, might I ask, are you in Europe?" I mused, diverting the conversation elsewhere. I could see the gleam in Bill's eyes- had I not asked the question, he would have tried to get all of the information he could about me that he could out of Sam.

"Oh, you know I've always wanted to take a nice travel through Europe. Once I found out that you were working for Tokio Hotel, I decided that now would be the best time to do just that. Vin still doesn't know that the only reason why I decided now was because I had a slight hope that I would find you. 'Cause, you know, I just had to see it for myself," she informed, looking down sheepishly. A pained look came across my features. Here was my best friend, admitting that she felt that the only way she would ever see me again was if she had attempted to seek me out. In Europe. An entire ocean away from her home.

...If I didn't feel like shit a few moments ago, I most certainly did now.

"I'm... I'm sorry about all of this, Sam. I really didn't think..." I stopped myself there. I didn't want to have this conversation in front of the guys. "How is Vincent, by the way?"

The question had startled her. She blinked once or twice before grinning and shrugging my arm off of her shoulders as she removed her own from mine. She pointed off into the crowd where I could see the black and red-haired man from before making his way back to us. A sickening feeling attacked my stomach as paranoia bubbled up in my chest. I hadn't really been afraid of confronting Sam; she had been my friend, and still clearly is.

Vin, on the other hand, was a different story all together.

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" she offered innocently, carelessly. Vincent stopped just at the edge of our little bubble next to the bar. I could tell some of the guys wanted to wander off to where they would be safe in the V.I.P area, but they were too enveloped in this little rare revealing of my past that seemed to be unfolding before them. Vin stared at me with his one exposed eye- now that I was closer, I could see a thin rim of blue around his unnaturally wide pupils that prevented his eyes, when close up, to look entirely coal-black like they would from far away. He studied me carefully. It was clear that he didn't recognize or remember me, still.

"Hi there, Vin," I tried with a light smile and a tilt of my head. His one visible brow raised as he continued to examine me, quite confused. He then turned to Sam and pointed at me in silent question. Sam smiled and took a few good steps away. She knew that something would likely go down the instant Vincent learned of who I was.

...Yet she was still willing to risk it to repair the damaged relation ship between her best friend and brother. How sweet.

"Vincent, don't you remember? It's Candice. Please tell me you at least remember Candy," Sam urged. Vincent's entire attitude suddenly shifted as you could just feel hostility radiate from him- if there was ever a person to compare to how violent I used to be, it was Vincent.

And that's exactly what I was afraid of.

He arm suddenly shot up, and I flinched and backed away out of instinct. Only, he didn't swing at me. Rather, he pulled the hair up and away from the right side of his face. A horrid looking scar running from just above his right eyebrow, over his closed eyelid, and right on down to the corner of his right lip revealed itself now that it was no longer hidden under hair. The damaged eyelid opened slightly to show, just barely, the cloudy, milky-white coloration of his pupil and iris.

It seemed like forever that I stared at that eye, the once beautiful green eye now clouded over and blinded permanently, when it had only really been for perhaps a fraction of a second that he had waited to speak.

"Oh yeah. There's no way that I could ever forget."

With that, he let the hair fall back over his damaged face, covering the scar entirely, and stormed off. The guys were stunned into silence. I could feel their questioning eyes on me, but they would have to wait for their answers. Without a second thought, I chased off after Vincent, calling his name in hopes that it might stop him.

...What a brilliant night this was turning out to be.