I walked up to the door that read 429. This was Jian's dorm. I silently wondered if it was okay to start showing this information to one of the people that might have been sending me these letters in the first place. I shook my head. If he was the person that had threatened to kill me twice already, when I showed him the note, he'd obviously be surprised. The notes might even stop coming if the traitor knew I was on their trail. I convinced myself that I wasn't completely insane for doing this, and that this was actually quite a good idea either way.

I took a deep breath and knocked on the door. It took two minutes before it finally opened. I heard the heavy rock music that had been blaring suddenly stop. I was met by Jian's face, his brown eyes staring at me curiously.

"Yeah?" Was all he said.

I cleared my throat, trying to sound as professional as possible. "Look, I know it must be really strange having the Prince of Sciana randomly appearing at your door, but I need to talk to you about something." I pulled out the letter and handed it to him. "I've gotten two of these so far; once today and once yesterday. Talia said that you're really observant and might be able to tell me who's been writing these letters."

Jian nodded. "And what happened to the other one?"

I blushed and tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. "I kind of threw it away."

Jian sighed and leaned against the door frame. "It would have been a bit easier if you would have given both of the letters to me, but I guess I'll have to work with what we've got. I'll see what I can do."

He motioned for me to follow him inside. I did so and watched as he sat down on a chair next to a bunch of instruments. I looked up on the wall, where something caught my eye. There was a poster hanging there, with a picture of four boys with stage makeup and black and red contacts. One of them was holding a guitar, the other held an electric bass, and another one in the back was holding a pair of drumsticks over his head. The one in the middle held a microphone over his head and looked as if he was screaming. I knew that guy. That was Jian! I gasped as I read the heading. "Die for Tomorrow: Live at Madison Square Garden!" I picked up a CD case that was lying around. It read "DFT demo for new album".

I couldn't believe it. Jian was the frontman of one of my favorite rock bands. It was easy to understand why I hadn't made the connection sooner, since I was never really the type to memorize all the band member's names and favorite hobbies.

"Go on, say it." Came Jian's voice from behind me. "It looks like you're going to explode if you don't, so why don't you just say it?"

I took a deep breath. "I am a huge fan! Usually, my music taste is a strict diet of electronic, but Die for Tomorrow is probably the only heavy metal band that I listen to regularly. I bought your first album on iTunes! I love how your songs bring up issues that almost anyone can relate to!"

Jian chuckled. "Thanks." He looked up at me. "It means a lot to me when people say that they like my band's music. I mean, DFT wouldn't be where it is today without the support of our fans."

I nodded. Jian seemed like a really modest guy, and one that was easy to get along with. Stars like Raziya could learn a thing or two from him. I nervously waited for him to speak up as he looked over the note. He frowned as he looked up to meet my gaze.

"This doesn't make any sense." He said. "The handwriting is a perfect combination between mine, Hazu's, Madoc's, Luc's, Kallan's and Talia's. They even worked in a bit of Adrian's handwriting by crossing the t's with a diagonal line."

"So you're saying that the traitor seriously thinks I would suspect Adrian?" I asked, crossing my arms. "Adrian is the person I'm trying to protect! He's innocent! He couldn't have gone back to Kali! You can't fake the pain and trauma that I saw in his eyes, in the depths of his soul. He's not the traitor!"

Jian gave me a thoughtful look. "You really care for that boy's well being, don't you?"

I was kind of taken aback by his statement. "Well, yeah. I mean, Adrian is my family: my blood. Who wouldn't want to help their family?"

"Blood alone doesn't necessarily make someone your family." Jian said. "It makes you related to that person. Family are the people that accept you one-hundred percent as you are, and be there for you on your best and worst days."

I nodded. "In that tense, I would still consider Adrian my family—or more accurately, I'm his family. I've got to help him. The more I find out about the people around me, the more I realize that I need to protect them, fight for them." I sat down on one of the beds. "This isn't just about me. For me, it's about helping everyone else."

Jian gave me a small smile. "You're a lot like Omori-sama, you know. You're willing to help people without basking in your own glory, just out of the good of your own heart. We need a lot more people like that in this world."

I looked him in the eyes. "I hope this question isn't too personal, but how do you know Hazu so well, anyways? And why do you always call her 'Omori-sama'?"

Jian ruffled up the hair on the side of his head that wasn't shaved. "The Gao family and the Omori family have been friends for a very long time. It was only about a hundred years ago that the households finally became related by marriage. I call her Omori-sama as a sign of my respect for her and her family. The Japanese suffix, -sama, is an honorific used for someone of high respect. She saved me from my very own personal nightmare, and for that, I am eternally grateful."

I chuckled. "You and Adrian both, huh?"

He nodded. "Care to hear the story?"

I laid down on the bed and gave him the 'go on' gesture.

Jian chuckled. "I came from a broken home. My father disowned me at a young age because he couldn't take care of me. It was then at the age of seven years old that I was sent to my first foster family. Things went well for a while, until I started getting into fights. My foster parents gave me up after that, saying that they didn't want to raise such a violent and destructive boy. I was then shipped off to Japan, where I was raised by about five more foster homes before I finally gave up.

"I had gotten a reputation in my neighborhood as a thug. Nobody wanted to associate with a boy who was so bad that he had gone through six foster homes. Vicious rumors were spread that I would beat people to death if they even looked at me wrong. It was only so long before I became associated with the yakuza, or the Japanese mafia. My world became centered around drugs. That was all I cared for; cocaine, marijuana, meth, heroin, you name it. It was the only thing I wanted anymore. I started to do whatever I could to get them, literally killing people just so I could get high.

"It was when I saw my cousin, Hazuki, that I finally realized what I had become. Hazuki was the only one that I trusted in and confided in during my days in Japan. She was the only one that loved me. When I saw her for the first time in two years, she looked at me and screamed. She was the only person I trusted and cared for, and she ran away from me, thinking I was some kind of monster.

"That's what made me realize that I needed to clean up my act. Not only for Omori-sama, but for myself as well. I started by taking the scholarship that had been given to me awhile back for Eternal Academy. Once I was sent there, I talked to Xiao-Long, who admitted me to a rehabilitation facility. Then, I started working towards my education. I graduated last year at the top of my class.

"About two years ago, I got together with a few of the people that I had met in rehab that had helped me through my addiction. They all knew my pain as fellow addicts, and we came up with the idea that we should start making music to help express our struggle. We called ourselves "Die for Tomorrow", because we all felt like we were dying when we were going through our withdrawal periods, but it was all worth it for a better future. Our music got popular, and we ended up signing a record deal. The rest is history."

I felt my jaw drop. "That's amazing, Jian."

He crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. "You're telling me. All of the people that I've met here at Eternal have some sort of story. Some may not want to share it with you, others will tell you even if you don't ask. The point is, we've all been hurt in some way, shape or form. Nobody's life is perfect. Life is full of pain, but what separates the failures from the successful is how one takes that pain and turns it into something beautiful."

I smiled. "That's really poetic.

"Thanks." He sighed and picked up a notebook. "But lately, my poetic skills have seemed to be flaking out on me."

I cocked my head. "Are you stuck on your song lyrics?"

He nodded. "I'm writing them for some new songs for DFT's new album. The only problem is, I have no idea what to do from what I have here."

"Do you mind if I read it?" I asked him.

He handed the notebook to me. "It couldn't hurt."

I looked over the lyrics.

You know that I'm a monster, right? I don't know why you stay; A beast like me lies in the night; never to see the day.

I gave him a nod. "Okay, why don't you try something like this?" I cleared my voice and began to sing. "We can't do this, you'll only end up hurt; and in the end I'll only tear you apart."

He nodded. "I like it!" Jian got up from his chair and grabbed a guitar fromt the music equipment. "I could follow it up with something like this." He walked in front of the microphone and began playing a riff on the guitar. "Yes, I love you, but that's what makes it worse; I'm only gonna end up tearing out your heart." He grabbed the notebook from me and furiously wrote down the words on the lined paper. "You know, these lyrics don't exactly have a heavy metal feel to them."

I laughed nervously. "Yeah, sorry. My expertise kind of lies in electronic music."

"You write music, too?" Jian asked.

"Well, amateurly." I admitted. "None of my stuff has made it big, but, you know, I do write stuff."

Jian nodded. "Do you happen to have any demos of yours on hand?"

I shrugged and nervously brushed a lock of hair behind my ear. "Well, I mean I do have a few demos on my YouTube channel."

He nodded again. "Pull them up for me, if you wouldn't mind."

I was shocked. Jian wanted to listen to my music. I quickly pulled out my phone and opened up the YouTube app. I pulled up one of my more recent mixes and played it, handing the phone to Jian.

His face revealed nothing as he listened, remaining stoic the entire time. I felt anxiety rising up in my chest as each moment passed. It probably sounded so amateur to him. Why did I ever think that this was a good idea? What was going through Jian's head? My anxiety made the seven minute track feel like seven decades.

Jian looked back at me and handed back my phone. "You've got a gift. You know, for a while, I've been looking for an artist that DFT could work with."

I felt my jaw drop to the floor. "Are you saying-"

"Yeah." Jian answered. "I want you to help us make a song for DFT's new album. You can remix an original, make your own track that we can play or sing, or we can do an honest collab. Whatever you want."

I gasped. This was such a rare opportunity. He was literally going to give me publicity for doing literally whatever I wanted with his music. I swallowed the lump that was forming in my throat. "Are you sure that you want me?"

Before Jian could answer, the door opened. Three guys walked into Jian's room, who I recognized as other members of the band from the poster. These were the other members from Die for Tomorrow. This was any fangirl's dream.

"Hey, Jian..." One of the guys started. "You wanna tell us the name of the hottie that you got here?"

I did all I could to resist walking up to the guy and slapping him across the face. Jian placed a hand on my shoulder, which somehow managed to calm me down. "Kevin, you know how we've been wanting to do a collab for a while now? This is the artist that I think we should work with. Boys, this is Scarlett Kaida."

Another guy with messy gray hair looked me up and down suspiciously. "What, female vocals? If we wanted female vocals, we could have asked Raziya. She'll do anything if it means she gets more money."

"For your information..." I snapped, placing a hand on my hip. "I mix music. I'm a DJ."

The other guy with lime green hair laughed. "So this is your grand plan; a DJ? What are we going to call our collab, DFTDM?"

He pat my back. "Yes, this is my grand plan." He looked at me. "Hey, Scarlett, would you mind giving me your phone again?"

I nervously nodded and pulled up the mix track I had let him listen to. I watched as he plugged my phone into a speaker via an aux cord. He took the microphone that was set up next to all of the instruments and began to sing as the track started playing.

"They say they'll break me, but you've already done that; You said you loved me, but why the hell'd you do that? You shatter me, shatter me, shatter me to pieces; Shatter me, shatter me, you were my release!"

I felt my jaw drop yet again. I had always felt like something was missing from that track. Jian had listened to it once and gave my music lyrics. The two melodies fit so perfectly together, like they had been looking for one another their entire lives. The rest of Jian's band watched in awe as well. I knew they were thinking the same thing that I was.

Jian smirked as he looked back at everyone. "So what do you say? Kevin, Eliot, Blade? Are we going to collaborate with this DJ?"

The one with green hair crossed his arms and nodded. "Yeah. I think this could definitely work."

"You have to work with us." Came the gray-haired guy.

The other one, the guy who had hit on me, smirked and said, "Will you do it?"

I swallowed. I knew what I had to say. I'd never get an opportunity like this again in my life. "Yeah!" I exclaimed.

I wondered why Jian chose me. There were so many artists out there that were more professional than I was. Something about this seemed a little suspicious. Was he doing this just to get close to me? But his story matched with one of the memories that the Eternal Flame had shown me in that dream. That meant Jian was innocent...right? That's what it had to mean.

"I'll do it."

Oh my gosh you guys make me cry. We have reached 1.4K reads, 182 votes and 180 comments and we ranked #776 in Wattpad Fantasy. It's thanks to readers like you guys. You keep me going. If I didn't have such an amazing fan base like you guys, I would have given up this writing thing a long time ago. One of you in particular, janmwhite, dedicated one of her chapters to me and wrote a lovely shoutout for this book! It nearly made me cry tears of joy...it's amazing! Thank you guys so much for everything you do! So here's the new chapter. I hope you enjoyed it.

Signing Off, Kiera Savage