Talk to me softly
There's something in your eyes
Don't hang your head in sorrow
And please don't cry

I know how you feel inside I've
I've been there before
Somethin' is changin' inside you
And don't you know

Don't Cry
- Guns N' Roses

The long, elegant fingers glided swiftly on the old keyboard, echoing notes in a hypnotizing song in the room. A dimple formed in the corner of her rosy lips as she gave him a sweet smile. Her hazel eyes with green flecks locked his golden ones in a game of seduction. She continued playing without moving her eyes, the music becoming slowly passionate.
He smirked from the doorframe and walked a few steps before reaching her at the grandiose piano decorating the spacious room. With a hand on her waist, he put her up on her feet, their bodies close. He moved his other hand on her soft cheek, caressing it as if scared not to break it ー she was in his arms again.

In a matter of seconds, the girl started coughing, blood spilling on her hand and onto the marble floor. His eyes became big at the sight. The girl took a few steps back, still coughing.

"No, don't go away from me!" he shouted, trying to approach her again. He took another step, and another step, but to no use. She was still far away. Tears rolled down her cheeks all the way to her lips as she silently mouthed a sentence before her body dropped dead to the ground.

"NO!" Axel jumped with eyes wide open only to find himself on the red velvet couch from his waiting room.

With one punch on the couch, he stood up, head on his hands. He thought it stopped. He thought he could finally get over it! It has been almost two centuries since then. She was already dead for so long, yet her image was clear in all of his nightmares. Every time, I just lost her all over again.

Cursing, he went to the vanity that had its mirror covered, putting his black leather jacket on. There was no bigger fear than seeing the incomplete reflection of a dead man walking alone his whole life. Searching in the jacket's pockets, he took one pill out and put it in his mouth, swallowing it without water. One knock on the door before it was opened, and the now-balding forehead of his manager's assistant showed up. Lenon, a man only in his thirties, although he looked more like forty, probably used to be a loser in his early years and now was an obsessively organized person, overly stressing when, to Axel at least, it seemed not to be the case.

"Five minutes before you go on the stage," he reminded him, a roll of papers, probably schedules and checklists, in his hand as he used it to hit the door. Before closing the door, he opened it again. "Don't get too high and be late again," he warned.

"Yes, yes," Axel motioned his hand to let him know he should leave before Lenon, although unbelieving, closed the door. He yawned, stretching a bit before taking off the lid of the whiskey bottle. At first, wanting to pour it into the refined glass that was lying next to it on the table, he changed his mind, putting the bottle to his lips. He took a big sip and let it back where it was before leaving the waiting room.

Catching the electric guitar from one of the staff, he positioned himself in the middle of the stage. With golden eyes like melted gold and a dangerous dark aura, the eccentric Axel Lux was once again capturing the souls of thousands of people from the crowd as he was losing himself in the songs one after another. He furrowed his eyebrows, feeling a familiar air. Looking at the crowd, he couldn't spot anyone, yet he saw everyone.

***

Elbowing his way through the people, Eric finally entered the luxurious club where the after-party was held. He won tickets he couldn't otherwise afford from a radio game. Eric could not have been happier in that moment.

Four years ago, he accidentally heard Axel Lux playing the piano the day he visited his father at his job. His soul was captured by how he played the song. His hands caressed the keyboards as if they were a treasure while he lost himself in between the notes. But he stopped abruptly, as if burned by something, and left hazardously. He followed his word afterward, but Axel never played the song again after that day.

"Hello, young man," a big security guard greeted him. "You got chosen to have the individual fan meeting with Axel Lux tonight," the man in a black suit announced to a confused Eric.

"You are so lucky! I went to ten shows, and I still didn't get the chance to meet Axel Lux!" a girl with colored hair, dressed in an oversized T-shirt with the rockstar's name and chunky boots, squeaked. Eric smiled shyly and followed the man through a dimly lit corridor.

They say that the life of a rockstar is one of depravity and sin. Still, even so, no one would've thought that after leaving the stage, Axel Lux is indulging himself in bloody orgies filled with all kinds of drugs, sucking dry the fans that they invited for an "individual fan-meet."

The man opened the door, shoving him inside. Looking scared at the door for a second, he turned to face the room, and there he was, the one and only Axel Lux in flesh and bones, sitting on a luxurious divan with his white shirt unbuttoned. The young man started shaking as Axel stood up and approached him like a gazelle going for its prey. The one who became Eric's inspiration for studying and creating music was right in front of him. After four years, he finished the song from that day. And today was probably the only chance he had to show him.

Axel stopped in front of the skinny boy with chocolate hair that almost made him laugh with his chihuahua shaking. The boy wasn't necessarily his type, but if he was not fulfilling enough, Axel could easily choose one more blood bag from the crowd wishing to be with him. He bowed down a bit to match the boy's height, with his head next to the scared cat's neck. Shivers went down Eric's spine, feeling his breath down his neck without understanding why. 

When opening his mouth, he was ready to let his fangs penetrate the pristine skin. As his canines slightly scratched it, he took a deep breath and, with wide eyes, froze. It was the same scent! Her scent.

"C-can I play something for... For you?" Eric asked after seeing the piano lying in the corner of the room, half-scared, half-confused by his idol's actions, in a means to save himself. Axel sighed deeply and softly kissed the boy's neck before taking a step back.

Eric barely made his way to the piano, his feet shaking and his heart beating rapidly. He took a few deep breaths as he sat down, positioning his hands over the keyboard. One by one, he started to touch the keys, slowly forgetting about the tremor that Axel had caused him to feel.

As he finished the song, Eric turned around to see the expression of the song's creator, who did not let out a sound. He was graced by an Axel, who stood there where he was left before the song, frozen in place as one tear rolled down his cheek before falling to his knees. Shocked, Eric jumped from the chair and rushed to him.

"Just who are you...?" Axel pulled Eric's hand, making him fall to the ground, too. "How did you continue that song?" he clutched to Eric's shirt in despair. His urge to kill him Skyrocketed. The golden eyes were filled with red pigment as anguish and wrath took over his mind.

"I-i..." Eric stuttered in panic. Was it a wrong decision to finish the song? Did he leave it incomplete for a reason? 

"I heard you play it once at The Central Opera. You just debuted back then. But you never played the rest of the song... I couldn't get over it. It was tattooed in my brain, in my eye,-and in my soul. So, I took it upon myself to finish it so I could show it to you one day. It was as if I already knew what I wanted to play, but it was hard to grasp as I didn't know how to play the piano back then. I hope I didn't destroy your work, " he ranted with innocent eyes as Axel glared at him the whole time.

He had the same hazel eyes. He sadly smiled to himself as if just realizing. Attentively, his hand moved to Eric's cheek, caressing it softly. 

"I should've killed you, "Axel confessed, looking at the floor at the terrified boy. "Why... Why did you play that damned song?" his eyes moved to look into the hazel spell of the one in front of him. "Why can't you just let me get over you?" his face was contorted in pain as he spoke. "It's another body, another life, but I know it's your soul," his hands slid to Eric's neck. 

"Why do you come back only now?! I tried so hard to get away from that weak, human-like persona! Why?" he shouted in despair as he started choking the boy in front of him.

Eric blinked, trying to understand what was happening while fighting to take his hands off of his neck before fainting. With one last bet, thinking that the man lost touch with reality for a bit, thinking that he was his long-lost love, he took all the courage to speak.

"You... were never weak for feeling like a human. You were strong." Axel softened the grip on his neck. "I know you hurt..." he took a deep breath. For some reason, tears were forming in the corner of his eyes. "Don't blame yourself; it was not your fault," he said, and Axel let go of his neck. Even then, and even now, the exact same words, he thought to himself, remembering the last moments they had together.

Looking more closely, he looked almost the same; he's just younger now. Warm. Human. The same haze eyes and rosy, inviting to be kissed, lips. The same chocolate hair and thin body. Without waiting another second, Axel let his lips make their way to Eric's rosy ones and invited them to a passionate reunion. Nonetheless, taken by surprise, Eric didn't stop him but responded the same way to the kiss as short flashbacks made their way to his mind.

"I will not let you be taken away from me this time," Axel said, pulling away from the kiss and resting his forehead on Eric's. The boy, even though he didn't know the reason, smiled back at him. Before their lips met, the two kissed once more.