The room is dark and filled with bodies. As is the case for a Friday night in a college town, the bars are packed with people. They are too drunk to really pay the music any mind, though they sway on beat for the most part.

Lee hates drunk people, and crowds, and generally everything, but she is lost in the music. Though her foot would normally tap to the beat of the music, tonight is different. Her leg slams down over and over against the stage, and her wild burgundy hair whips around as she rolls her body to the beat of the song. It cascades around her as she dances on the stage. Bright lights ignite her, tinting her shining black leather dress with each flare, red and then gold and then blue. Techno isn't her thing usually but mixing it with her bass guitar makes every beat thump heavily in her chest.

She leans into the mic, a grin infecting her body

"I don't really think I'm alive

I'm waiting for my soul to revive

I don't really think I'm alive

And it doesn't even matter at all"

The words escape June, mostly because everything is fuzzy. As usual, she finds herself pressed up against the wall, watching. It's difficult to keep tabs on the others in here, especially when she has had this much to drink.

She manages to get to the bar, and she is able to do so while walking in a straight line so she can't be that drunk. Tipsy at best, she decides. She makes it next to Erik, who sits on a stool, staring at a shot glass.

"How's your first time in a club?" She asks, leaning closer towards him. Her cheeks are warm and red, and her eyes are fiery.

Erik shrugs, trying to pretend he is in his element despite the drunk people who keep knocking into his barstool. "It's average."

"You're average," June snorts back. She shakes her head playfully at Erik and moves off into the crowd.

A man, a bit taller than her, with shoulders much broader than hers, leans into June from behind. They sway together in the music.

"What's your name?" he whispers.

With a smirk on her face, she responds. "June. Yours?"

"Brandon," he answers back.

Something about him feels familiar. Now, June is pretty good with faces and she knows she hasn't met this guy before, but she can't shake the feeling that she has touched his strong arms before.

"Want to go to the bathroom with me?" Brandon's lips tickle her ear.

June nods and leads the way.

From his spot on the bar, Erik watches the interaction. He finally lifts a shot glass to his lips and pounds one back. Anger courses through his veins and he isn't sure if it's at June or the man she is with.

Brandon.

Okay, maybe the anger is Thea's and not his, but Erik doesn't mind all that much. The feeling is welcome inside him.

"Why are you getting your shit in a twist?" Percy leans in next to him. She keeps her distance, trying to play it cool. She hopes she is doing a better job than Cara at the very least. Cara puts the hot in hot mess. Percy furrows her brow at Erik's frown. "Who gives a shit if June fucks some guy in a bathroom?"

Erik shakes his head back and forth. He doesn't have to answer to Percy. Her questions are getting so annoying. "Don't you have someone else to go try to hook up with? Like Eden, or something?"

"Don't flatter yourself," Percy tells Erik, but she doesn't have another smart retort to say. She can't believe that she is having this conversation with a high schooler. Albeit, one who is impervious to harm, but still. "I came here to talk about June."

"I thought we came to discuss the fact that the police think you are being blackmailed," Erik rolls his eyes.

Percy doesn't respond, because she knows that Erik has had every opportunity to leave since the group adjourned their meeting. He knows it too. Now, they've reached a stalemate.

"Well, when you give up hiding your concern for June, come find me," she tells him, ducking back into the audience.

With nowhere to go, she begins to look for Hope. It's impossible to find her in the sea of bodies, and Percy wouldn't be surprised if Hope is already gone. All this talk about one-night stands has Percy thinking, well, hoping, that Hope is somewhere. Anywhere.

Unfortunately, she stumbles across the rest of the gang first. As quick as she is there, she darts away from them.

Eden catches a glance of her from where he leans against a high-top table near the wall but says nothing. Instead, he swirls his drink around, turning his attention back to pretending to not look at Cara.

"I'm telling you guys, Eden was a badass," Jamie snorts, nearly spilling the drink in his hand. "Like, coolest shit I've seen in my life."

"Man, I thought that Liam guy was full of shit," Cara tsks, smiling at Jamie's excitement. "He's so gross."

"He smells like shit too," Jamie nods. "Like, a certain brand of horse shit."

"I used to work on a farm with horses," Cara tells Jamie. "My Baba loves them. He knows the guy who owns a farm out in Penobscot, and-"

Wesley shrugs. He's got no idea what is happening even though he is trying to understand. Still, he listens to Cara rant about life on a farm. For a second, Wesley has the urge to put his head on her shoulder.

"How's that whole clinic thing anyway?" Wesley asks.

Cara's eyes light up, and then so do his. Jamie watches on, sipping at his glass. He raises an eyebrow playfully at Eden across the group, catching the boy's gaze. The tallest boy in the group tries to hide his grin.

"Come on," Jamie puts his drink down on the high-top. He reaches for Cara's hands and tries to drag her on the dance floor. "Let's go."

Cara shakes her head back and forth. "I don't dance."

Behind her, Wesley nudges Cara into Jamie's arms. Cara nearly trips into them, laughing. Jamie holds her hands, forcing Cara to sway to the music with him. He twirls Cara outwards and then twirls her back in. Her laughter rings in Eden's ears.

"He can dance," Eden mutters to Wesley. Quickly, Eden finishes off his beer.

Wesley rolls his eyes. "It's so annoying it's almost adorable."

Thankfully, Wesley mistakes Eden's choking for a laugh. Rather, Eden is shocked.

"Wait, are you gay?" Eden asks. He hesitates when he sees Wes's face drop. "Not that I care, or anything. I just... I mean... listen Percy told me this thing about gay panic and now I am-"

"Oh my God, would you shut your straight ass up?" Wes asks, trying to hide the small smile beginning on his face. "And that is not what gay panic means. Gay panic more accurately... listen I know you are straight but just trust me. Gay panic is kind of like the way you look at Cara..." Wes trails off as he follows Eden's eyes on to Cara and Jamie, who are snapping and shaking their heads to the beat of Lee's song.

"And you're not listening anymore because you're looking at her," Wes mutters. He snatches Jamie's drink off the counter and downs it. "Go prove my fucking point, why doncha?"

Cara, as she sways, knocks into Hope from behind. She turns around to apologize, but Hope is already disappearing into the crowd. She is a woman on a mission, and that mission is to find Percy. It isn't just power pumping through her veins but alcohol as well, and Hope is deciding that the two just might be a nasty combination.

From her spot, she sees Erik at the bar, his white knuckles curling around an empty shot glass. His dark eyes glance over his shoulder, but he doesn't catch sight of her in the darkness. She would talk to him, but he hasn't spoken a word to her since she felt Him.

Down the hallway, she catches a glimpse of a tall man looking at June. A man she feels like she knows but doesn't. A friend of Thea's, she decides. Or rather, she assumes, because he isn't a friend of anyone else.

Hope lets herself take a second to watch Lee on stage. It is often that Hope sees someone so passionate and so full of life. Though Lee seems as angry as ever, for once she seems in her element. While Lee might not be a lyrical genius, her music is good enough to bop.

"My body decays in the dark,

You'll find it rotting in the park,

I don't really think I'm alive

And it

Doesn't even matter at all"

Then, Hope feels something. It comes in through the doorway, and she feels her knees sinking. Something is happening. Something new.

Hope takes a step closer to the doorway. Her heart slams into her ribcage. The ground lurches beneath her, and Hope prays that it isn't the alcohol catching up to her head. She tries to steady herself against a stranger, but the dancer moves just out of her grasp. Whatever it is, it's coming closer.

Now, Hope shoves her way through bodies, until she sees a figure in front of her. The shadow is blurrier than everything else, except for one thing crystal clear in its hand.

A gun.

Hope launches herself on to the figure to grab the gun. When their skins touch, electricity ignites Hope. The lightbulbs in the club burst around them, a brief flash of red illuminating the room before it goes dark, and the gun fires a shot into the air. It hits the ceiling above Lee as she ducks from it.

Hope's knees buckle beneath her, and she collapses on to the ground.

The crowd rages around Hope, running in every which direction. Percy knocks into a stranger as her eyes roll into the back of her head.

From her spot kneeling on the stage, Lee only tips over. She lands on her side, her head smashing against a speaker.

Wesley feels his feet slipping beneath him. He falls on to the table, his head cracking against the wood and the glass. Then, he slumps on to the ground, blood pooling out of him. Eden attempts to catch him, attempts to reach forward, but he can feel his body slowing.

While Brandon tugs on her arm, June tips unconscious. He catches her and tries to keep pulling her out of the club. People knock into them, and someone spills a drink onto June's white crop top, staining it brown.

Now, Eden can't hold himself upwards. Before he falls, he reaches towards Cara. He trips over Wesley and hits the ground.

Cara lurches for Eden and Wesley. Jamie's arms wrap around her from behind as she slumps forward. There isn't enough time to lower her before Jamie too finds himself tumbling forward.

At his spot at the bar, Erik's fists crack the glass. It shatters into his hand, and Erik is barely able to lean against the wooden countertop.

No one is awake.

~~~~~

It's time to get shreked maties. Lol, RIP (maybe literally?) to everybody. I lured you in with the cuteness, and the promise of a good concert, but I gotcha. I gotcha good.

Anyway, I need more people to apply for Uprise! If anyone knows anybody who likes apply fics, or is nervous to apply, send them on over! I'm super excited to get going, and I don't want to extend the deadline (but I will if need be). 

I hope to see you soon!