THE RHYTHM OF MY HEART

===

Hoping to forget about their unpleasant encounter with Brandon, Jake, and Chad, Erebus and Angel opted to go home, sharing the rest of the pretzel along the way. They returned a different way than they had come, so that Erebus was able to see more of Crossrose and learn about what sort of things it included. As they walked, their conversation trailed off back into music, and Angel grew even more excited to show him the type of music she was into.

"The Dark Side of the Moon is a musical masterpiece," she had rambled as they neared her home. "You just wait and see! Oh my god, the guitar solo to 'Time' is insane..."

Giggling, she dashed up to the door, pulling it open and allowing Erebus to enter the house first. He thanked her softly as he did so, glancing around as she came inside too.

"Howdy, Clara," Angel greeted, beaming at her aunt, who was sitting on the couch, knitting something indiscernible with a dark red yarn. "I got the album!"

Clara looked up, smiling warmly at the two. "That's lovely, dear," she said. "I'm excited to hear what you think of it." She turned her attention to Erebus. "What do you think of Crossrose so far?"

Erebus pulled his attention from the object that Clara was knitting. "It's a very interesting town, compared to the others I've seen," he told her. To Angel's relief, he chose not to bring up the encounter the two had experienced with Brandon, Jake, and Chad.

"Others more familiar with this world would have thought the opposite," Clara said, chuckling softly. "But I'm very glad that you're enjoying it so far. It's a lovely town, really."

"Much better than the city," Angel chimed in. "Plus, you can basically just walk to everything, which is great."

Clara nodded. "It's very convenient."

"Where's Tom?" Angel asked. "On the phone?"

"Yes," Clara told her. "He's speaking to Mr. Feynman about his accommodations tomorrow. We will be picking him up from the airport and taking him to the hotel where he'll be staying."

Angel glanced over at Erebus, who wore a mildly puzzled expression now. "I'll explain later," she reassured him. "Right now, we're going to go and listen to The Dark Side of the Moon."

Clara raised an eyebrow. "You're not going to listen to Animals? I'm surprised at that."

"Well, I'm hoping to listen to that with Erebus, but I want to get him accustomed to Pink Floyd's style, since he's never really heard music from this world."

A knowing smirk spread across her aunt's face. "How lovely," she mused. "Well, I hope the two of you enjoy yourselves. The Dark Side of the Moon is a very interesting album, and I hope you enjoy it, Erebus."

Erebus smiled at Clara. "Thank you," he said. "I'm sure I will. I trust Angel's judgment when it comes to music."

Flustered and ecstatic from the comment, Angel couldn't help but giggle, bouncing a little on the balls of her feet as she grabbed Erebus's hand. "I can't wait any longer, I gotta show you this!" she exclaimed, starting to pull him off. "Sorry, Clara!"

Erebus stumbled slightly as Angel dragged him to her room, glancing back at Clara, who looked amused. "Have fun," she called after the two, before resuming her knitting.

"Oh, my god, oh, my god, oh, my god..." Angel was muttering to herself, practically bouncing with every step as she pulled Erebus into her room. "I'm sorry, I'm so excited right now, no one has ever listened to my music before..."

"Angel, why are you apologizing?" Erebus asked, tilting his head to the side as he shut the door behind the two. "I like when you get excited over things that you're interested in, it's cute."

Angel looked over at him, her eyes widening as her face grew red. "You can't just say shit like that, man, what the fuck..." she muttered, letting out a flustered whine as she moved over to her vinyl player, bending over it to hide her expression. After a moment, in which she began to set up the machine, she spoke again. "Do you really mean that...?"

Erebus chuckled softly, moving behind Angel as he watched her. He was close enough that Angel was able to feel his body heat on the back of her neck - surprisingly, this wasn't something she minded in the slightest. "Why wouldn't I have?" His voice was low in her ear, and Angel knew that if she turned around, he would be inches from her. Somehow, she was tempted to do so. "The way your eyes light up when you're talking about something you enjoy... the way you keep apologizing for rambling even though it's something that makes you happy... yeah, it's cute."

Angel quickly crouched down to the bottom shelf of her bookshelf where she kept her records, trying to hide how flustered she was becoming. "God's sake..." she huffed, pulling out The Dark Side of the Moon. Before she could straighten up, however, she felt a warm hand on the top of her head, gentle fingers ruffling her hair and messing it up as Erebus chuckled.

"You're not denying it..." he murmured.

"Erebus, I will break this record over your head if you don't quiet yourself." Angel stood up, turning to face him; as she had expected, he was mere inches away, a sly smile on his face. His hand moved out of her hair and drifted down, his fingers brushing against the side of her face as he allowed his hand to rest on the bookshelf behind her. This made it so he was leaning over Angel a little, and she had to tilt her head up to face him. The close proximity almost made Angel feel dizzy.

"I don't see you making me," Erebus said, smirking. "Maybe it's because you don't want me to."

Angel rolled her eyes. "Fine, you know what?" she muttered, reaching up and pressing her free hand over Erebus's mouth as she pushed him back, causing him to let out a muffled chuckle at her assertiveness. "I'll make you be quiet, you cocky motherfucker, just get on the bed..."

Erebus raised an eyebrow.

"Sit down!" Angel exclaimed. "To listen to the album! God, get your mind out of the gutter-" She yelped suddenly, yanking her hand away from him. "Did you just bite my hand?!"

Cackling to himself, Erebus moved back, sitting down on the edge of Angel's bed and looking up at her with a shit-eating grin. "Well? You wanted me on the bed so bad, aren't you going to join me?" he asked, patting the spot next to him.

"You kinky asshole..." Angel turned away from him, quickly going back to the record player so that she could move on from everything that had just happened. "Keep this up, and we're not gonna listen to the album at all."

"Not until you admit that you really are cute," Erebus said. "I'm not stopping until you do."

Angel huffed, looking over her shoulder at him. She couldn't deny that this was fun, she had never had the opportunity to banter with someone like this before. "Fine," she muttered. "I'm cute when I talk about shit I like... you happy?"

Erebus leaned back a little, his cocky smirk fading into a warm smile. "Yeah, I am," he murmured, before gesturing to the record in Angel's hand. "Is that The Dark Side of the Moon?"

Angel nodded. "Yep," she said, raising it up to show off the iconic album cover and trying to put everything that had just happened out of her mind. "It's such a good cover, and very fitting for the songs..."

She moved over to her record player, opening the album and pulling out the packaged record. "These are really wonky," she murmured. "If you ever handle these, it's important not to touch the main black part, 'cause that's where the music comes from. The edges and the middle are okay, though, but you have to be careful."

She pulled out the vinyl, placing it in the player before turning it on. "I think I'm just gonna try and skip to 'Time'... the others are great, but I'm just super excited to get to my favorites. 'Time', 'Money', 'The Great Gig in the Sky'-"

"How do they come up with these names?" Erebus asked, watching with interest as Angel worked with the record player. "I remember the discs that they had in Minecraft, their names didn't sound nearly as interesting."

"Well, usually it has to do with the lyrics, and what they're about," Angel explained, setting down the needle somewhere in the middle of the album. "Hang on..."

Turning up the volume, the synthetic strains of the ending of 'On The Run' began to emit from the record. "This is the ending of a song, you don't have to concentrate on this. It doesn't have any lyrics either."

She stepped back, walking over to the bed and sitting down beside Erebus, pointedly ignoring his cocky smirk as she did so. "With 'Time', if you concentrate on the lyrics, then it's about the passing of time and the inevitability of death, and how you waste your time doing pointless activities instead of something that actually matters, and only realizing this when it's too late..."

Erebus tilted his head. "That's... That's certainly interesting," he murmured as he looked over to the record player. "Do all of their songs have such deep meanings?"

Angel nodded as the rhythmic melody of 'On The Run' dissolved into the sound of what seemed to be an explosion. "Most of them do, at least, the ones I heard," she said. "That's one of the reasons why I like them. The lyrics are usually really meaningful, but even the songs that don't have lyrics, like 'On The Run', are really cool. I just wanted to get to 'Time' so you can experience what a guitar solo is really like... oh, god, I'm excited..."

She giggled a little, bringing her hands up to her chest as she grinned up at Erebus. "Thank you for listening to this with me, and, like, being so attentive. Even if you don't really want to, the thought of you actually putting in effort to listen to me do stuff is-"

"Do you really think that?" Erebus asked suddenly, frowning a bit. "Angel, I don't not want to listen to your music. I know how excited you are talking about it, so I don't doubt that it's good. I've actually been looking forward to this, really."

The sounds of multiple clocks beginning to tick filled the air as Angel paused. "I dunno..." she mumbled. "I've never really done this before with anyone, so maybe I had that fear. Just you being here is good enough for me, I- Jesus!"

Erebus winced slightly at the mild jumpscare of a clock chiming, others rising in volume to join it. Angel grimaced.

"That always gets me..." she huffed, before chuckling. "I try to predict when it's gonna happen. Usually I'm wrong, and it ends up freaking me out, but that's 'Time' for you. Now for the two minute long intro..."

"How long are the songs, normally?" Erebus asked.

"It varies, sometimes they say on the back of the album, but usually songs are, like, four or five minutes long. The Animals album seems to be an exception, though, since the songs are apparently over 10 minutes long..."

She trailed off, listening to the sound of the clocks fading away as the guitar and drum introduction began. Shuffling closer to Erebus, she immersed herself in the music that she had learned to love for most of her teenage years. It had been an escape for her, a sanctuary where she didn't have to think about anything else besides the lyrics and the songs, where she could forget about the pressures that her parents put on her to be their perfect child.

"Ticking away, the moments that make up a dull day..."

"Fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way," Angel mumbled along to the tune, nodding her head to the beat. Every lyric, every note of this album, had been memorized long ago, despite her only being able to listen freely to rock music when she moved to Crossrose. Back when she had been living with her parents, she was unable to do so, since rock music was considered 'Satanic' in their eyes.

It was truly a shame, Angel reflected to herself, that some people thought this way. The lyrics of Pink Floyd songs were deeply meaningful to her, some in a way that she was able to relate to. If people took the time to look beyond their biases and see the music as it really was, they would learn to appreciate it at the very least - at least, that was her thought process behind it. Things like this were something that she herself was able to relate to, just by being herself.

At least she didn't have to deal with her parents anymore, since she knew there was no way they could see anything beyond their biased beliefs.

Glancing over at Erebus, she could see that his eyes were closed, and that he was fully immersing himself in the music. His fingers were lightly tapping against his leg to the beat of the song, and a faint smile was spread over his face. It was clear that he was enjoying himself, and Angel couldn't help but feel a rush of excitement, and it was quite hard to keep her hands still.

It wasn't too long before the tempo changed, and the chord progression changed to something smoother and slower. Erebus glanced up upon noticing this change, looking over at Angel.

"This is a callback to the first song on the album, 'Breathe'," Angel said. "It's basically the same song, but with different words, that's why it changed so much. Whenever there's a callback to a previous song, it's called a reprise."

Erebus nodded in understanding. "I see," he mused. "I enjoyed that song, by the way, especially the part in the middle without lyrics - you called it a-a solo?"

"Yes! Yes, a guitar solo," Angel told him enthusiastically. "It's amazing how someone can use one simple instrument to make you have such an enthralling experience when it comes to this kind of music. I want to learn how to play the electric guitar - that's the instrument that was making the solo."

"You seem like you would be good at it," Erebus said sincerely. "You have experience from listening to this kind of music, so you'd have a head start."

Angel placed a few fingers over her mouth, giggling a little to herself. "That's such a compliment, oh my god..." she muttered, before pausing, raising her hand to bring both of their attention back to the music. A soft piano melody was emitting from the record player, and Angel's eyes widened.

"Oh..." she softly exclaimed. "This is 'The Great Gig in the Sky'... it's literally the best song ever, you've gotta listen to this, I played this one a lot over the past month or so..."

She shuffled closer to Erebus, watching him closely to see his reaction. "This one's much more gentle than the other one was," he commented.

Angel chuckled softly. "Yeah, it's about to not be," she said, smirking a little. "This song's pretty intense, I suppose you could say."

Erebus didn't reply, too invested in the melody to say anything back to her. Angel began to focus too as the buildup to the main part began, allowing her mind to sink into the music.

"And I am not frightened of dying... any time will do, I don't mind."

She smiled to herself, closing her eyes and swaying softly to the music. Despite there being no true lyrics to the song, it was her favorite on the album, due to the way that the emotions and meaning were able to permeate through what seemed to be her very soul.

As the wordless vocals began to take over, Angel couldn't help but grow lost in thought. It was wonderful, this moment that she was able to spend with Erebus, listening to the music that she loved with a person that she cared for, but how did it even come to this? Erebus wasn't even supposed to be alive right now. She wasn't even supposed to be alive right now. What had brought them together? Was it God, or fate, or some other divine power? Or just the will of life overpowering that of death?

The flow and swell of the song was accumulating within Angel, taking residence in her chest and through her heart, like the arrow that had pierced through it - or like the stabbing pain she had experienced when she realized that Erebus had been killed. Why had she reacted so strongly to the death of a man she had considered to be an enemy not long before it happened? The screaming vocals of 'The Great Gig in the Sky' fully encompassed that reaction, that pain of feeling his body falling limp in her arms, the heat from his body fading and leaving her colder than ever.

Why had she felt any of that? Was it because she knew how he had felt moments before his death? Was it because she was able to understand him when nobody else could, for she herself had gone through similar experiences? He was astoundingly kind to her, in his own unique way, and a part of Angel couldn't help but wonder why she had even considered him an enemy in the first place. The biases of Gameknight and his villager friends shouldn't have mattered to her. What could have happened if she hadn't heeded Clara's advice and refused to go back for him? The thought was terrifying, and almost overwhelming for her to think about.

"Angel?"

She opened her eyes, glancing up at Erebus. "Hm?"

The music had calmed itself down, returning to its original chord progression, and she had barely even noticed. "Are you okay?" Erebus asked.

Angel nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I'm just... I'm just thinking," she murmured. "Y'know, this song has a meaning to it too, despite not having lyrics like 'Time' did. It's meant to be interpreted in whatever way you think it would be, but there's an official meaning to it. I'm curious to see what you think of it, though."

"You want to know what I thought of?"

Angel shrugged a little, watching Erebus closely. "I just think it's interesting, what peoples' interpretations of this song are. For example, Tom says he pictures someone falling into the void of space, or something like that..."

Erebus's gaze was on her, but he did not seem to be looking at her. His mind was somewhere far away, in a featureless expanse of bedrock surrounded by nothing but void and death, screams and bloodshed, warmth and pain and hope and hopelessness all converging into a shrill, singing scream.

"It feels like dying."

It was such a simple way to describe what he was feeling right now, and yet, anything more complex may diminish the meaning. Angel did not look away - instead, she reached over, taking his hand in her own, her shoulder brushing up against his.

"I can't believe we're thinking of the same thing..." she mumbled.

Erebus looked surprised. "Really?"

Nodding, Angel looked over at the record player. "This song is supposed to be an auditory representation of grief and death, and as the song gets a bit calmer towards the end, it represents the acceptance of those things. I couldn't help but think of that day, at the Source... It felt like that song. And it still does."

"Even right now?"

There was a pause, the silence only broken by a soft piano arpeggio and a female voice, whispering.

"I never said I was frightened of dying."

As the powerful, albeit softer, vocals started back up again, Angel returned her gaze to Erebus, a heavy weight in her stomach.

"The day after that battle was when I relapsed," she told him. "After I woke up from nightmares about your death, about the pain and aftermath of war. I only did it because-"

There was a pause. Erebus ever so gently squeezed her hand, hoping to reassure her that she was okay.

"Because I was cold..." she murmured after a moment. "I was cold, and I was hurt. I tried to distract myself the only way I knew how, but... but that arrow in my heart was still there. And you weren't."

No further words were spoken - there was no need for them. All that mattered was that they were there, and they were together, alive. The lyricless vocals sung of acceptance, and in turn, their hearts did too.