The Second Coming || Guns N Roses, Bon Jovi, David Bowie

The Second Coming: Ten

No one said a word, not even Stevie who was long past sober.

Axl read the letter out loud twice, and still, no one broke the silence. After he was finished, he tossed the note to the floor. I was afraid he might grind it into dust under his heel, but he didn't. The singular piece of paper fluttered to the ground, and no one touched it.

"Fucking burn out," Axl finally said, after the silence had become too uncomfortable to bear.

Stevie's lips were quivering, and his eyes were unnaturally large.

"Izzy... h-he... left... the b-b-band?"

"Steven, I swear if you fuckin' start crying like some kinda little bitch, I will hurt you," Slash growled at him fiercly.

I could easily look into Slash's eyes and tell that he wasn't irritated with Steven, he was just hurt and wanted to hide that using a mixture of anger and testosterone.

Duff said nothing. He looked disappointed, that was all.

"But! Axl! We gotta call Izzy, we gotta fix this! He's probably back in Lafayette, like whenever he left us to get that detox! Maybe if we call him and ask what's wrong, we can fix it and he'll come back! Maybe we can-"

"No!" Axl snapped at Stevie and grabbed his collar roughly.

"If there's one thing we don't fucking do, it's beg! Izzy left, and that means he's out of the fucking band, that's it, done! We've gotta move on and do what's best for us."

Stevie slapped Axl's hand away in an act of hostility I'd never seen from him before.

"Once RUG, always RUG! What about that?" Steven's voice was unrecognizable.

Jon took my hand, leaning in to whisper to me. "I think... we should probably step over here and let them hash this out..."

"Good idea," I agreed and followed him into the kitchen.

He went to the refrigerator and opened it right up as if he'd done that every day for the past year. He scanned its contents briefly before he pulled out a few cans of soda, looking over his shoulder to ask me if I wanted one.

I accepted and took a long drink, trying to ignore the quarreling that was going on a few feet away.

Jon stood at my side, sipping his awkwardly. "I don't see why it matters anyway... every since you know what happened last year, we haven't even discussed any official business."

"Oh."

I was worried, to say the least. Stevie looked genuinely upset, and that was never good. I could tell Slash was panicking about what was gonna happen next, Duff was arguing with Slash. For some reason, Axl was completely calm. He might've even looked pleased.

I rested against Jon's shoulder, holding my half-empty soda can. "Axl will figure something out."

He kissed my temple gently. "He always does, Cal."

The yelling eventually subsided, melting into hushed whispers and occasional outbursts.

"Hey Calliope."

I stood up straight as a board and set my soda on the counter. "Yeah?"

"I got a little Christmas present for you." Axl moved into the kitchen and stared at me.

"Well... what is it?"

I was a little creeped out when a smile oiled it's way onto his face. I half expected him to say something like "in my pants", I hadn't forgotten what a dirty mouth he could have when the mood struck him.