Drabbles from musicals?
I bet nobody saw this one coming...
Ramirez/Fina - "One Song; Glory" from Rent
I'm writing one great song before I...
I will go, he told them stoically. I will go and secure the Moon Crystals. I will go and restore peace to the world, as it should be. How the Elders had gaped at his quiet proclamation! How proud Fina had seemed, standing silently in a shadowy corner of the council room! But his heart was in it, and he had made up his mind. The earth, the air, the skies...they did not belong to any one man, or any single empire...they were gifts to all, and with no price placed upon them.
One song; glory
One song before I go; glory
One song to leave behind...
They gazed down at the sleeping world, the two youngest of their elitist and reclusive race. They watched the people from afar, dreaming the most beautiful dreams, wondering what it would be like to walk among them and somehow too apprehensive to leave this palace of silver and ivory to find out. Another life lay below, cloaked in mystery and intrigue; another place, another time seemingly bereft from their own.
Find one song, one last refrain
Glory
From the pretty boy front man who wasted opportunity...
"You will make their world a better place," she had told him, stroking his slender hand with her own. "You will walk upon their hearts in grace and gentleness, and one day, when they understand all you have given to them, they will weep with happiness at the memory of you."
He believed her, of course; he believed every word with a bleeding heart and a throbbing soul. Those kind emerald eyes would never lie, would never lead him astray; how could she tell him anything but the truth, when she so obviously admired him?
One song
He had the world at his feet
Glory...
"I will do my best, Fina," he assured her gently, and he declined his head slowly to kiss her hand, a gesture of pure friendship. "I will go and better the lives of them all, if such a great thing lies within my power."
She had smiled at him then, with diamonds glistening against the emeralds, and he turned away to depare on his life's pursuit, leaving his greatest of friends behind. There was no despair or doubt in their hearts, for how could such a passionate friendship end here and now? No; both were certain that there would be another day for them both.
In the eyes of a young girl
A young girl
Find glory beyond the cheap colored lights...
And then he had placed trust in another, this admiral that they called Mendosa. He was kind; ambitious, surely, but well within the codes of honor and nobility. He had never known his true father, but Mendosa could be it, so deeply did he care for the older man. And he was raised from childhood into adolescence, from a bud to a young spring flower, strong and determined beyond his years, barely beyond a child yet so much more. And then things had begun to change, only gradually at first, and then the tower had fallen when Galcian had come into his life.
One song before the sun sets
Glory on another empty life
Time flies . . . time dies...
Oh, how he had tried to deny the magnetic pull he felt between himself and the future Grand Admiral of all the world! How he fought with every fiber of will he possessed to stray off that path and find the one he had walked all the years of his life! But the soul is a weak thing; it can be crushed in the grip of an iron, unkind fist when one is still naive, and the instant he began to question was the instant the spider closed in on its prey. He thought of Fina often in those first days as a Valuan Vice Captain; thoughts of betrayal, blasphemy, and treason flitted through his mind, but what was he to do? He was alone, so alone and so frightened, and still merely a child! Why had they sent him at all? Why not someone else?
Glory, one blaze of glory
One blaze of glory
Find glory in a song that rings true
Truth like a blazing fire, an eternal flame...
But then those feelings had been crushed into nothingness, and an admiral arose from the ashes...he at last hardened his face and his heart, that he may better serve the man who had opened his eyes to the sickening paradox of the wide world. Galcian alone could show the misled the sin and corruption; Galcian alone knew the path the wide world should take. His name arose again, not in reverence and kindness but in fear; he was a weapon with an edge sharp as cut glass and poisonous words.
Find one song
A song about love
Glory from the soul of a young man
A young man...
And then one day, during his rise to malevolent excellence, he saw Fina again, and where was that young, gracious man she had grown up with? Where were the kind, loving eyes and the quiet, awkward smile? Where was the purity of a loving child, the compassion of a true friend? Surely it couldn't still reside beneath this machinelike exterior; surely it had been sublimated and destroyed by the uncaring, malicious creature whose sword she now stared down. And for a moment he felt some foreign emotion well up in his chest, some inkling of the boy he had once been, and he labeled it before repressing it; it was regret.
And then the regret was gone, and the machine was back to its mission objective, never again to question, never again to disobey.
Find the one song before the virus takes hold
Glory, like a sunset
One song to redeem this empty life...
But when the smoke and mirrors vanished, when the illusion was exposed in all of its tyrannous lies, he was a child again, a lost and quivering child watching a god perish from the earth. And then he was no longer a machine, but a man made of empty vengeance and rage, nothing even remotely human, but nothing close to death. When they cast him down they only made him hate all the more--he hated time for stealing itself from him, innocence for fleeing from him, and these people for laying all of that bare before his eyes.
When he gave himself to Zelos he felt one brief wash of glory; then it was torn away in the defeat that followed. He gave all to drive them away, for how could he change and go back to the life he had known once, now that the truth of the rotting, infested world was known to him?
Time flies, and then . . .
No need to endure any more...
In his last few moments of life he truly felt little physical pain. The agony he endured was an emotional sensation that assaulted him when he looked up into Fina's eyes. There he saw no negative feelings; she was not wishing him pain, or death, or torment; she wished she could hold out her hand and touch him, that she might restore her dearest friend to life. And he screamed to get out as he labored for breath; he screamed even though it was useless, even though he wanted it so badly it made his heart bleed with the desire for it. How cruel it was to see the errors of his ways in such a clear manner, as though they had been there all along but he was too blind to acknowledge them. And that was most painful of all, he decided; he could not find his breath, and he could not find the strength to reach out his hand and return to her a soulmate.
Time dies...
All in the name of glory, a lost and wayward soul.
Ramirez, dead needlessly. All in the name of glory.
(1,340)
Ramirez/Fina - "One Song; Glory" from Rent
I'm writing one great song before I...
I will go, he told them stoically. I will go and secure the Moon Crystals. I will go and restore peace to the world, as it should be. How the Elders had gaped at his quiet proclamation! How proud Fina had seemed, standing silently in a shadowy corner of the council room! But his heart was in it, and he had made up his mind. The earth, the air, the skies...they did not belong to any one man, or any single empire...they were gifts to all, and with no price placed upon them.
One song; glory
One song before I go; glory
One song to leave behind...
They gazed down at the sleeping world, the two youngest of their elitist and reclusive race. They watched the people from afar, dreaming the most beautiful dreams, wondering what it would be like to walk among them and somehow too apprehensive to leave this palace of silver and ivory to find out. Another life lay below, cloaked in mystery and intrigue; another place, another time seemingly bereft from their own.
Find one song, one last refrain
Glory
From the pretty boy front man who wasted opportunity...
"You will make their world a better place," she had told him, stroking his slender hand with her own. "You will walk upon their hearts in grace and gentleness, and one day, when they understand all you have given to them, they will weep with happiness at the memory of you."
He believed her, of course; he believed every word with a bleeding heart and a throbbing soul. Those kind emerald eyes would never lie, would never lead him astray; how could she tell him anything but the truth, when she so obviously admired him?
One song
He had the world at his feet
Glory...
"I will do my best, Fina," he assured her gently, and he declined his head slowly to kiss her hand, a gesture of pure friendship. "I will go and better the lives of them all, if such a great thing lies within my power."
She had smiled at him then, with diamonds glistening against the emeralds, and he turned away to depare on his life's pursuit, leaving his greatest of friends behind. There was no despair or doubt in their hearts, for how could such a passionate friendship end here and now? No; both were certain that there would be another day for them both.
In the eyes of a young girl
A young girl
Find glory beyond the cheap colored lights...
And then he had placed trust in another, this admiral that they called Mendosa. He was kind; ambitious, surely, but well within the codes of honor and nobility. He had never known his true father, but Mendosa could be it, so deeply did he care for the older man. And he was raised from childhood into adolescence, from a bud to a young spring flower, strong and determined beyond his years, barely beyond a child yet so much more. And then things had begun to change, only gradually at first, and then the tower had fallen when Galcian had come into his life.
One song before the sun sets
Glory on another empty life
Time flies . . . time dies...
Oh, how he had tried to deny the magnetic pull he felt between himself and the future Grand Admiral of all the world! How he fought with every fiber of will he possessed to stray off that path and find the one he had walked all the years of his life! But the soul is a weak thing; it can be crushed in the grip of an iron, unkind fist when one is still naive, and the instant he began to question was the instant the spider closed in on its prey. He thought of Fina often in those first days as a Valuan Vice Captain; thoughts of betrayal, blasphemy, and treason flitted through his mind, but what was he to do? He was alone, so alone and so frightened, and still merely a child! Why had they sent him at all? Why not someone else?
Glory, one blaze of glory
One blaze of glory
Find glory in a song that rings true
Truth like a blazing fire, an eternal flame...
But then those feelings had been crushed into nothingness, and an admiral arose from the ashes...he at last hardened his face and his heart, that he may better serve the man who had opened his eyes to the sickening paradox of the wide world. Galcian alone could show the misled the sin and corruption; Galcian alone knew the path the wide world should take. His name arose again, not in reverence and kindness but in fear; he was a weapon with an edge sharp as cut glass and poisonous words.
Find one song
A song about love
Glory from the soul of a young man
A young man...
And then one day, during his rise to malevolent excellence, he saw Fina again, and where was that young, gracious man she had grown up with? Where were the kind, loving eyes and the quiet, awkward smile? Where was the purity of a loving child, the compassion of a true friend? Surely it couldn't still reside beneath this machinelike exterior; surely it had been sublimated and destroyed by the uncaring, malicious creature whose sword she now stared down. And for a moment he felt some foreign emotion well up in his chest, some inkling of the boy he had once been, and he labeled it before repressing it; it was regret.
And then the regret was gone, and the machine was back to its mission objective, never again to question, never again to disobey.
Find the one song before the virus takes hold
Glory, like a sunset
One song to redeem this empty life...
But when the smoke and mirrors vanished, when the illusion was exposed in all of its tyrannous lies, he was a child again, a lost and quivering child watching a god perish from the earth. And then he was no longer a machine, but a man made of empty vengeance and rage, nothing even remotely human, but nothing close to death. When they cast him down they only made him hate all the more--he hated time for stealing itself from him, innocence for fleeing from him, and these people for laying all of that bare before his eyes.
When he gave himself to Zelos he felt one brief wash of glory; then it was torn away in the defeat that followed. He gave all to drive them away, for how could he change and go back to the life he had known once, now that the truth of the rotting, infested world was known to him?
Time flies, and then . . .
No need to endure any more...
In his last few moments of life he truly felt little physical pain. The agony he endured was an emotional sensation that assaulted him when he looked up into Fina's eyes. There he saw no negative feelings; she was not wishing him pain, or death, or torment; she wished she could hold out her hand and touch him, that she might restore her dearest friend to life. And he screamed to get out as he labored for breath; he screamed even though it was useless, even though he wanted it so badly it made his heart bleed with the desire for it. How cruel it was to see the errors of his ways in such a clear manner, as though they had been there all along but he was too blind to acknowledge them. And that was most painful of all, he decided; he could not find his breath, and he could not find the strength to reach out his hand and return to her a soulmate.
Time dies...
All in the name of glory, a lost and wayward soul.
Ramirez, dead needlessly. All in the name of glory.
(1,340)