King of Anything.

"You didn't hear about it?" Jack asked. "The crash?"

John shook his head.

"Shit dude. We were there." Alex replied. "Scariest shit we've ever seen, and trust me, we've seen some trippy shit."

Distantly, they heard music start up downstairs. Aura was in one of her moods. It sounded like Mayday Parade, which wasn't good, but it wasn't bad either. Usually, they only had to worry if she started listening to hardcore. Still, she was feeling touchy today. She was hurting. For a moment, Jack regretting bringing up her mother.

"She was being a little dramatic though today, wasn't she? I mean, Rebecca didn't even get a chance to finish her sentence." Jack threw a dirty look at Rian who threw up his hands in defense.

"Aura knew her since they were in diapers. She'd probably heard the spiel before." He replied, with a shrug. "Anyway, it was just after she met us. Probably, what, a week?" Alex only shrugged, and Zack and Rian looked blank. "She was just coming back from a rehearsal, and was on her bike, the motorcycle that I don't see in the driveway, so she probably slagged it again."

"Nah, it's at the cliffs." John interjected.

"Oh. Why would she leave Sephiroth there?" Jack trailed. He seemed to shake himself a bit before returning to the subject at hand. The music in the basement rose in volume and Jack realized what song she was repeating. He facepalmed. She was in one of her more morose moods. Fantastic. Miserable At Best denoted bad things.

"The accident?" Garrett coaxed.

"Right. Well. She had just pulled out of the parking lot and was on her way down the road when fucking Izzie came out of nowhere."

"Izzie?"

"Rebecca's older sister. She drives a truck that's stupid high. Could be a fucking freighter or something. Anyway, she's clearly not paying attention to the road, and there's not enough time for Aurz to get out of the way, so, she tips the bike and goes to slid under it. She had the clearance and everything, unfortunately, Izzie swerved, and hit the front end of Aura's bike."

"It went flying, taking Aura with it." Alex added, wincing. "She landed hard, and the bike shattered her ankle when it came down. Did you ever notice she limps?"

Her voice carried from the basement as the track repeated. "Katie, don't cry."

"I've seen her do it once or twice." Garrett piped. "It's not a huge thing though. It's subtle."

John had never noticed before. He was a shoe in for Captain Oblivious this year, he really was.

"There's video on the web somewhere. I swear, people are sick. . . " Zack muttered, and Alex already had his Droid out, hunting it up.

"It's clearer on a larger screen, but, all things considered this will have to do."

Everyone crowded around Alex and his phone to watch the carnage. And it really was carnage. John half expected them to burst out laughing and yell 'PSYCH!' They didn't, and his heart sank. He saw the truck, and Aura speeding off, and the impact. It spun the bike on the ground first, driving her into the ground and forcing her to slide. He saw pieces of denim rip off of her jeans, watched as the secondary impact sent the bike airborne. He saw both Aura and the bike hit the ground, heard bones crunch under the impact, and watched as someone grabbed her arm and yanked her forcefully out of the way before the bike exploded. The only thing that had saved her was the fact that she had been wearing a helmet.

"Cinderella's on her bedroom floor; she's got a crush on the guy at the liquor store." Aura was singing again, which was good. It also wasn't Mayday Parade. A major mood improvement, although the lyrics left something to be desired. John's mind wasn't on her music anyway. It was on exactly how much damage that accident had done, and how much worse his leaving had made the damage. He frowned at himself.

"I see exactly what you're doing, John. You weren't there, it's not your fault." Garrett again. He was becoming very poetic, and a very good Jimeny Cricket. It wasn't his fault; but he still wanted to know why she had never told him she danced.