This song is for the people who live this dream.

[against_all_trouble]

Arthur Black was sitting on the couch trying to tune his guitar, but his perpetually-indecisive roommate has decided that this week she is a singer again.

"Come on, Art, I'm a good singer!" Suzy pleads with big eyes and a bigger wave.

"Suze. That is not the thing that worries me, Suze," Arthur says as he sets down his guitar to the side, "The thing that worries me is that this week you want to sing and the next you'll be back to sculpture. Or painting. Or found-object collages. Or interpretive-freaking-dance!"

"Interpretive dance is silly, Art, why would I do that? And anyway, you know you want to try some of the vocals you wrote ♫ for ♫ high ♫ voices! ♫"

That's two things Arthur is not good at refusing: chances to show off and requests from Susanna Blue. The look he gives back, though, is definitely a scowl. Not a smirk at all. "One of these days, you're going to wear out your welcome... with everyone but me. OK, show up to tonight's practice a little after we start, I'll bring the guys around."

"Yay! You're still the best, Art." She really is happy, that hug was only about a third tackle.

---

Practice comes and goes, and the rest of No Rainbows goes along with Suzy's request. Arthur isn't explicitly in charge, but he's a big personality and the group started out of bluegrass jam sessions he organized, so they're used to following his lead. And her voice is pretty good.

A couple nights later, they are all setting up in the back of an Atlanta restaurant. Suzy's helping Arthur set up the amps while there's still space to move things around near the stage while the other three tune up.

Comments

[against_all_trouble]

"Yeah, that sounds alright," Art replies. With the crisis over, the confident calm is almost totally gone.

A few moments later, he continues "Not sure what I'd do for backstory. I'll try to remember something from a foster-care friend."

Car. Driving. Away from the city center, there should be motels around the outskirts.

[sing_for_the_tears]

Erica has never been terribly social; she considers it a side effect of the combination of school, work and babysitting she's been bullied into all her life. She doesn't have a lot of friends to draw stories from. But her parents are horrible gossips, and her mom at least has a couple of siblings. There's pieces to steal.

"I'll- hmm." She mixes together a girl she used to sit with at lunch, her youngest aunt and her mother's latest Scandal Story fairly liberally. "I'm from Florida, mom's a TSA agent, dad left when I was a baby. Older sister moved to Nashville for school and I'm going to see her cause... she just had a baby. Hypothetical baby daddy to have no details but lots of judgmental disapproving faces made about him. That work?"

She reviews it in her head. "Let's make that sister in Chicago, actually. I'd rather not have anyone know where we're going until we make it there, y'know?"

"So, now we just figure out how you got roped into this road trip with- oh, wait, there!" she points at a Lodging sign on the highway. There's three options listed; they can pick the cheapest, as far as Erica is concerned. If it were just her, she would suggest sleeping in the car. But Art looks like he's starting to fall apart, and she'd rather not be trapped in a car with him overnight until he's calmer.

[against_all_trouble]

Arthur isn't quite falling apart, but the stress is showing on his face and in his posture.

"Sure, let's get a room. Single bed ones are cheaper."

As they pull in, he spins a short life story "OK, I'm from Tallahassee originally and we worked at the same diner. I just got fired and was busking, but that works in any city anyway, so I offered you a ride."

[sing_for_the_tears]

"Sounds good, Zach."

She hops out of the car and retrieves her backpack and the bag of Most Important Items from Arthur's house, the latter of which she hands to him. She makes sure what of their stash is visible through the car windows looks as worthless as possible; no reason to tempt a break in.

Leaving Arthur to fetch whatever he needs, she heads inside to size up the desk clerk. Tall, on the skinny side, a few years older than her and rather scruffy. She decides he is cute enough to flirt with but not worth more.

Ten minutes of smiles and friendly chitchat later, 'Morgan' has a room key, a discount, and a rather foggy-minded desk clerk who's forgotten she didn't provide ID. She heads back for Arthur and holds up the key triumphantly. "Hey, Zach, we're in 204. Got everything?"

[against_all_trouble]

"Everything I'll need until tomorrow. Just let me get my guitar and I'll be right up."

And then he is, as promised, right up.

"Anything to do before morning?"

[sing_for_the_tears]

"We trying to grab your friend? With, y'know, a backup plan in case they can react to it somehow."

[against_all_trouble]

"It's late, and I'm all out of adrenaline. I don't think I'm capable of executing a backup plan before morning."

[sing_for_the_tears]

"In the morning, then. Jesus, passing out sounds good right now."

The room is small, containing only a bed that could pass as a full if you were feeling generous, a couple of rickety nightstands and a metal rack clearly intended for use as a closet. There's no bathroom; the shared restrooms are down the hall. Erica dumps her stuff in a corner and leaves to wash up.

When she comes back, she looks at the room for a moment, rolls her eyes, and grabs a sleep shirt out of her bag. "I don't care enough to walk back to the bathroom," she tells Arthur over her shoulder. "Don't look or don't care." Once she's changed, she sets her alarm and crawls into one side of the bed. "That half's y'rs, try not t'kick," she yawns. "G'night."

[against_all_trouble]

He nods in agreement to the first bit. "Same."

He trades his shirt for a t-shirt and strips down to boxers, then flops down into the other half.

He yawns back, "Night, Morgan," then nods off rapidly.

Something like nine hours later, he wakes up.

[sing_for_the_tears]

Erica makes it about seven hours. She's not bothered by Arthur's presence; Tommy often climbed into her bed at home, and this is still a far sight better than any of the shelters in Atlanta. But she feels too close to Atlanta still, twitchy to move on; she wakes up and her brain takes off, worrying about stalkers and trying to plan escape routes and generally not cooperating with the goal of getting rest. She decides seven hours is good enough, and sets about getting herself organized.

By the time Arthur's awake- she should probably try to start thinking of him as Zach, so she doesn't slip up- she's showered, dressed, and hovering over a piece of paper clearly stolen from the drawer of her nightstand. It has a list of song names written on it; she's been brainstorming lyrics. Songs to try to retrieve Suzy have a "|||" next to them, to imitate prison bars; songs to try to get money or food have "$" next to them, and songs she'd try to use if they run into trouble have a large "X".

When she notices Arthur- Zach- stirring, she waves at him briefly. "Mornin'."

[against_all_trouble]

Arthur wakes up uncharacteristically bleary-eyed this.. morning? early afternoon? "Morn'. Urgh." He shakes his head a bit, peers over, and tries again. "Morning, Morgan. Busy already?"

[sing_for_the_tears]

"Mmhmm. Had trouble sleeping, after- y'know." She waves the paper at him. "Brainstormin' songs we could use. We can give some of 'em a shot when you're not brain dead, yeah?"

[against_all_trouble]

"Yeah, I know. If I wasn't so exhausted I'd never have slept through the nightmares." He runs his hands through his hair and rubs his eyes.

"Let's see what you've got so far. I had one or two thoughts myself, but songs we both know might be better."

[sing_for_the_tears]

Erica offers him the pad of paper. It's almost entirely country music, with some famous old classic rock songs scattered in here and there. She clearly has a musical type. "Both's better, sure, but 'less you like country music that might narrow it down some."

[against_all_trouble]

"I like a lot of bluegrass, and Skynyrd's pretty good, but most country isn't really my style. I do know a couple of these, though."

He looks it over for a bit before adding, "I don't think any of this is going to beat the song I'd thought of for pulling Suzy back. Do you know any Pink Floyd? Wish You Were Here is exactly the perfect sentiment."

[sing_for_the_tears]

Erica snorts. "I don't listen to him much but it's hard t'miss that one." She hums a few bars. "Seems like it'd have a fair shot. Wanna pack up first? If this works, I wanna bail fast."

[against_all_trouble]

Arthur grins and snorts. "Pink Floyd isn't a person, it's a group. But yeah, that's the song. Let me get it playing in the background while we pack, refresh our memories."

[sing_for_the_tears]

"See? Toldja I didn't listen to it much!"

Packing doesn't take her long; she's already up and dressed, after all. Once she's done she sits on the bed and hums along to the music thoughtfully while she waits for Zach to finish.

[against_all_trouble]

Arthur takes a little longer, but not long after the song's finished, he's ready. He checks the tuning of his guitar, then nods. "Morgan, if there's a section where you don't remember the words, dropping into a harmony line is probably a good fallback. Or if I switch them up and we're out of sync. Ready?"

[sing_for_the_tears]

'Harmony line' sounds sophisticated and fancy, but she's good at faking her way through songs. Close enough, right? "Go for it."

[against_all_trouble]

"Alright."

He starts out at the guitar lick that leads into the vocals, eyes half-closed and focused. After a few bars, he nods to - Morgan - when the vocals should cut in, and starts up himself.

So... So you think you can tell \ Heaven from Hell? \ blue skies from pain? \ Can you tell a green field \ from a collld steel rail? \ A smile from a veil? \ Do you think you can tell?

He concentrates, picturing his dearest, oldest friend Suzy Blue as he remembers her, and as he fears she might be, hurting and broken.

Did they get you to trade \ your heroes for ghosts? \ Hot ashes for trees? \ Hot air for a cool breeze? \ Cold comfort for change?

He pictures the people who took her, and who hunted him and Erica. This is wrong. How dare they?

Did you exchange \
a walk on part in the war \
for a lead role in a cage?

He reaches out to Suzy, picturing the moment she disappeared and pulling.

Far away, Suzy hears a familiar voice, and a guitar playing a tune she recognizes. It's playing an instrumental bridge...

Arthur gestures upward to Morgan as the lyrics come back in. These are the most important lines.

How I wish \ how I wish you were here! \ We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, \ year after year.

[ladysunday]

Suzy hears the music draw closer and pull on her. And she falls, upward and sideways and half-collapses forward -

[against_all_trouble]

- onto Arthur. He catches her with one hand, strumming the guitar badly as he clutches her close.

He's tearing up, but the song has to be finished. What if it stops working if he doesn't? So in a pained but relieved voice, he sings

Running over the same old ground. \ But have we foooound \ The same old fears? \
Wish you were here.

And after a few cursory grace notes, he drops the guitar and hugs Suzy like a starving man holding a burger.

[sing_for_the_tears]

Erica keeps up as well as she can. She doesn't have much experience of Suzy to go on, but she has plenty of scary suit men should leave me the fuck alone, so she focuses on that instead.

♫ Harmony ensues. ♫

And then it works.









Well then.









Erica had not been expecting that to work, not the first time. And now she's somewhat passionately jealous. Her stuff only works sometimes, and poorly at that. Whatever he is smoking, she wants it.

But that comes later. First things first: get the hell out. She sizes up Arthur/Zach and Suzy/?, determines them completely useless for the moment, and starts gathering the bags. Once they've detached she wants to be able to get out, out, out.

[against_all_trouble]

Not having tried to do magic much before, Arthur is blissfully unaware that he's made Erica look bad. He'll just keep standing here and holding his friend close and feeling incredibly relieved.

Not that long later, Arthur pulls back and looks Suzy over. She's heavily bruised, but there's no obvious signs of anything more serious.
"Suze, we should probably get going. We think they might be able to track us here. Can you handle going down some stairs?"