Cry for the Moon

I grinned to myself, quietly making my way over to the stereo. Before turning it on, I cranked up the volume, glancing at Casey. He was sprawled out on the floor, snoring quietly. His peaceful slumber was about to be rudely disrupted. I put my finger on the on button, turning in the direction of the stairs.

The second I heard the click I ran like hell for the steps. Casey shot up from his sleep, screaming and yelling. My feet pounded as I ran up the steps, music blaring behind me. Hearing the music abruptly made me run faster. When I made it out into the hallway, I turned, running for the kitchen.

“Thomas!” I yelled out, hearing Casey behind me. Thomas, who had gotten up to get something to drink, turned to me and I jumped behind him.

“Ana,” Casey growled out, looking none too please that I’d woken him up the way I had. I opened my mouth to reply, but Thomas beat me to it.

“Don’t even start, Casey. Just get you some breakfast so we can head over to Mark’s,” Thomas spoke bluntly. I smiled.

“Thomas,’ Roy chimed. Everyone turned to him to see that he stood there with a smile on his face.

”Yes, Roy,” Thomas asked.

“She’s doing it again,” Roy answered. Thomas looked back at me with a smirk and I buried my face in my hands.

“Shut up, Roy!”

.X.

“Good morning guys, how was breakfast,” Yves asked as we walked through the door. In reply, I let out a loud yawn, unable to keep it back.

”Flying pancake batter,” Thomas answered as I rubbed at my eyes, trying to wake myself up. Thomas was just as tired, but he was better at hiding it. Yves let out a laugh.

“Again,” Coen asked from his seat on the couch.

“Analii flung pancake batter at Thomas,” Roy clarified. “It wasn’t like last time.”

“And just why would she do that,” Mark questioned, appearing from the studio. I shot a warning glance in Thomas’ direction as he opened his mouth to speak.

“We were teasing her about her cr-“ Thomas let out a yelp of pain when he failed to jump out of my elbow’s reach. He looked at me with a glare while I kept my face straight, trying to look as innocent as possible. It wasn’t that hard, considering how tired I was.

“What was that for,” he grumbled.

“You know what that was for,” I said shortly.

“Well, it hurt,” he answered.

“It was supposed to, Thomas.”

“If I have a bruise tomorrow, I will not be a happy man.”

"You can tough it out," I replied, smiling at him. He smiled back, but then quickly tried to hide it. Failing miserably, he turned back to Mark with a shake of the head.

"She's abusive," Thomas laughed.

"Oh, you know I love you, Thomas."

"I don't even want to know what you two are going on about," Mark laughed, smiling.

"You probably d-"

"Roy," I hissed. Roy flashed a grin my way before moving to stand on the other side of Casey.

"Smart move, Roy," Thomas laughed.

"I know," Roy answered.

"Yeah, but you wanna know what's even smarter," I asked. "Keeping quiet in the first place. Thomas, don't forget I have Mari's phone number and Roy," I continued, turning to him. The Norwegian singer arched an eyebrow at me, a look of amusement in his brown eyes.

"You're just shit out of luck," Casey spoke, saying exactly what I was thinking.

'Yeah, what he said."

.X.

I sat on the couch, headphones in my ears with the music up loud enough to drown out the world. I let my head fall back to rest on the back of the couch as I closed my eyes. Focusing on the beautiful, melodic guitar riffs of Arch Enemy's song 'Blood On Your Hands', I drifted off into my own little world, but yet, I tried to keep myself awake.

When I realized that it was quickly getting harder to keep my eyes open, I sat up. Letting out a yawn, I stretched a bit and got up, making my way to the kitchen. As I turned the corner, I nearly walked into Mark.

"Hey," I grumbled out, turning off my Ipod. Mark smiled at me and I felt my stomach trying to do a backflip. I ignored the feeling, of course. I couldn't have a thing for Mark; I refused to let myself feel anything for him because I knew nothing would happen, but even still, that smile of his killed me inside.

"You are either extremely bored or you're tired," Mark stated, humor lightly laced into his voice.

"How about both," I replied.

"Do I get anything for being close?" I smirked at him.

"Nope, there's no points for second best, Mark," I answered, grinning at him.

"Hey, if you're bored, why don't we go for a walk? I know it's cold out, but it's better than sitting around here," Mark replied.

"Yeah, that sounds good and I don't mind the cold."

"Sweet," Mark laughed as he threw my coat at me. I laughed as well, pulling on my heavy leather jacket. Despite it's appearance, my coat was a lot warmer than it looked and I was thankful for that.

The frigid winter air swept over us as Mark and I walked outside. The snow that was on the ground only came up to my ankle so it was nowhere near as deep as it normally was. Knowing Norway's weather, all it would take for that to change was a couple of hours of heavy snow.

Thankfully enough, it was still easy to walk, as long as I kept an eye out for deeper spots. The real problem was the ice. As Mark and I walked down the trail leading into the woods, we ducked and navigated ourselves around the tree branches that were weighed down because of the ice. Thinner branches touched the ground while the thicker ones were considerably lower. Every limb looked as if it were covered in glass.

"So," Mark said finally, breaking the peaceful quiet.

"Are you excited for Kamelot's live show next week," he asked. I nodded silently, looking up at the pale grey sky. It was going to snow a lot tonight.

"Yeah, of course I am. Thomas has been freaking out a little bit because it's for the live dvd, but he knows everything is going to be great. That show in Kongsberg in a few days is going to be fun too," I replied somewhat absentmindedly. I kept my gaze fixed on the sky, rather than at my feet.

"I can't blame him. The idea of Epica doing something like that freaks me out," Mark replied. I smiled slightly.

"It shouldn't, Epica is gre-" I let out a sudden scream as I felt myself suddenly start sliding. I swung my arms frantically, trying to find something to grab onto, but as I did so, I lost my balance. I closed my eyes, bracing myself for the painful, cold impact, but it never came.

I felt a jerk as something grabbed a hold of my arm and then I realized that a pair of arms were wrapping around my waist. My eyes snapped open only for me to see that Mark was right there in front me. I was so close that I could feel the warmth coming from him.

One hand rested on his chest while my left hand held a death grip on Mark's arm. Mark looked down at me with an amused smirk on his face. I kept my eyes locked onto his throat, trying to fight back my blush. That wasn't working though, so I was silently and desperately hoping to the invisible in the sky that Mark would notice my face turning red though I knew he would. Even more so, I was hoping that he wouldn't ask why. Maybe he would just assume it was from the embarrassment of me nearly falling on my face.

"You should be more careful, Analii." Mark spoke with a quiet voice, but yet, there was a subtle hint of amusement. I kept my eyes down cast, my face heating up even more.

"Yeah, I know, I'm sorry. I just..."

"What," Mark asked.

'Just tired, that's all."

"Why is that," he asked. "Bad dream or something," he added as we made our way back up the trail.

"Yeah, uh... It's just an old memory. It's nothing, really," I replied quietly, looking down at my feet.

"You sure?" I cringed slightly at the concern that was present in his voice.

"Yeah, don't worry about it," I answered, faking a smile in Mark's direction. Reluctantly, he smiled back at me, but it was a brilliant smile, nonetheless and it lifted my mood. Mark reached over, putting his arm over my shoulders. With a smile, he pulled me over to him.

"Well, as long as I have a say in it, I won't let anything happen to you." I looked up at Mark skeptically.

"Do you really mean that?" I asked quietly.

"Of course," Mark replied. "I will always be there for you when you need me. I promise." Smiling, I wrapped my arms around him in a hug.

"Thanks, Mark. I appreciate it," I replied.

"Come on, let's get back to the house.

.X.

I sat in the windowsill, my notebook in my lap. The page it was opened to was blank except for a couple lines of lyrics.

"Hey, Analii, what are you writing," Simone asked, sitting next to me.

"Right now, I'm going blank," I answered, closing my notebook.

"Well, the trick is to not think too much," the redhead replied, smiling.

"Oh, I know, it's not as easy as it lo-"

"We're back!" came Isaac's voice from the front door. Simone and I both let out a laugh as we got up, walking towards the kitchen. The smell of chicken from my favorite Norwegian restaurant wafted to me and my stomach growled.

"It's about time you two got back. I'm starving. What'd you guys do, make a pit stop or something?" I asked.

"You could say that," Isaac replied as I turned the corner. When I did, my eyes widened.