Guns Fic. Paradise City; The Interview
Title: Paradise City; The Interview.
Author: Screamer06
Pairing: Axl Rose/OC
Warning: None
Notes: Thank you to my Beta, and thank you to those still reading Paradise City. Sorry that this has taken so long to get out there.
They could hear the audience cheering and clapping, Axcelises heart beat so hard in his chest he thought it would stop any moment. He felt giddy and sick and clasped his father’s hand to steady himself. A producer approached them and spoke rapidly;
“Mr. Rose you’re on, then your son. Okay?” She gave them both a smile and thumbs up as she walked off.
“Today we are privileged enough to have with us, ladies and gentleman, ah such a pleasure to introduce Axl Rose!”
With a final reassuring squeeze of his sons hand Axl took his cue striding out with confident steps he smiled and waved at the audience. He shook hands with the host before settling himself on the sofa opposite and leaned back, arms spread and one foot resting on the opposite knee. He was the picture of confidence but Axcelise had felt the trembling through the hand that had gripped his. The interviewer smiled warmly and leaned back in his chair also, almost mirroring Axls relaxed posture.
“Axl, how are you?” he asked with false familiarity.
“Great thank you and yourself?” Axl asked with all politeness and equal familiarity. Though in reality neither had met before except before the show where the interviewer sidled up and introduced himself.
“Wonderful, wonderful it’s great to have you here. We’ve not seen much of you.” The question was posed as a statement.
“Well I’ve been very busy. There are no days off in the Guns camp but I like to keep myself private.”
“I expect you had to have time to recover from a fairly recent shock.” The interviewer smiled widely. Axl laughed warmly; “A shock is an understatement.”
“Can you remember that day?”
“Yes, very well.” Axl shifted in his seat, leaning forward with his arms on his thighs, “I was rushed off my feet with something or other, I don’t know I seem to always be rushing about, anyway Izzy had been talking about a Guns tribute band that he wanted me to see. I told him as nicely as I could to fuck off.” Again Axl smiled to show that he meant nothing in the statement. “He came up to see me, I was expecting him so I just continued with what I was doing. When I finally sat down, I came face to face with Izzy and a young man, no more than eighteen.” Axl paused. The interview seemed spontaneous but had in fact been well rehearsed by Axl who had requested the questions be sent to the studio.
“And that young man of no more that eighteen was?”
“Axcelise Rose Valentine, my Son.” Axl beamed.
Backstage Axcelise had been sipping diet cola and watching intently as the goings on and slipping nervous glances to the audience. At the mention of his name he was ushered on to the stage by a stage hand. He sauntered on, the lights hitting him in the face and the audience clapping was disorientating. He saw the back of his father’s head and made a beeline for it and sitting close to him. He realised that he was holding the cola and placed it on the glass table.
“How nice to meet you Axcelise!” The interviewer smiled widely and stood up to shake hands with Axcelise. Damn he’d forgotten, his father had told him to shake hands first, if they lean in to kiss your cheek or pat your arm let them....he stood back up to receive the welcome feeling the fool that he’s missed such a simple thing.
“Well well, quite a shock huh? Find out that the infamous Axl Rose was your biological father, how did you feel?” the interviewer launched straight into the questioning even before Axcelise had got himself comfortable catching him somewhat off guard.
“Ah yeah shocked.” He agreed as he could feel every eye from the audience, almost hear them swivel from interviewer to interviewee.
“Tell me how it happened.” The interviewer prompted. Axcelise cleared his throat;
“Well I moved out here when I was seventeen, or just coming up to my seventeenth birthday. I moved in with my Auntie and Uncle.”
“And were you a rock fan, for example did you like Guns N Roses?”
“Yeah, yeah I really did and I’m not just saying that. My Mum used to listen to them all the time and would buy magazines and show me so I grew up with them.” Axcelise smiled at the few good memories he had of his mother. The audience seemed to have disappeared, faded into nothing as Axcelise concentrated on the questions.
“And then what happened after that? How did you come in contact with Axl?”
“I was playing with a band called Pistols N Posies, a Guns N Roses tribute band when Izzy approached me. We became friends and one day he took me up to Da-Axl’s house.”
“Axl how did you feel when you first laid eyes on Axcelise?” The mood had become quite serious but Axl still smiled.
“I was stunned...I remember he had my red hair but long, really long it was at least down to his waist. And my cheek bones and just being stunned, really it was like looking in a mirror. It was Beta that convinced us to do the test.”
“Your housekeeper?”
Axl nodded vehemently; “Yes for years now, she’s like family and decided that I was beating myself up about Axcelise and sitting there wondering whether or not I had anything to do with him. I was having crazy dreams and everything.”
“Axcelise how did you feel when the test came back positive?”
“I don’t know.” Axcelise said quietly and folded his hands in his lap, “Suddenly there was a man that was my father, but I thought I’d screwed everything up you know? Like the tours and his life, and just everything.” Axcelise shrugged and cast his eyes down.
“But things did change didn’t they Axcelise?” The interviewer prompted; it was Axl that answered for his son.
“Yes they did.” Axl gave a whimsical smile then, remembering the nights the two had spent curled on the sofa together going through pictures and telling stories.
“There was an accident I understand?” Again the interviewer prompted, seeing the two had momentarily closed up.
“Yes there was.” Axcelise answered in a very small voice. “It, ah was a hit and run, um it has left me with nerve damage and brain damage.” Axcelise faltered over his admittance of the disabilities and pain the plagued him.
“It interfered with an upcoming tour, so I just cancelled the tour.” Axl picked up the story, cleared his throat, “ I sent out an apology to the fans and I’m sure there are still some that see their entertainment as more important than somebody’s health, especially as at the time we weren’t sure whether Axcelise will pull through. He paused as a shiver crept up his spine. “It was a very scary time for all involved.”
“Rumours have circulated, and Axl I’m sure you’re aware of them, that the driver of the car was Slash.”
“That is untrue and unfounded.” Axl replied shortly.
“He was seen by witnesses.”
“He was there, he was the one that called the ambulance but he was not the one who hit Axcelise. Police investigated the incident but there was no conclusion.” Axl lied effortlessly as Axcelise’s stomach flipped over. Police did approach Axl after the accident but Axl had refused to press charges. The negative publicity wasn’t worth it, for either party involved. “....big bunch of flowers and cards and balloons, you could hardly move in the lounge for them.” Axcelise tuned back in again and smiled when his father did.
A picture then flashed up on the screen behind them earning gasps from the audience. It was Axcelise, lying prone on the hospital bed surrounded by machines. His eyes were taped shut and there were tubes in his arms and mouth, heart monitors stuck to his chest and his skin had an unhealthy grey pallor. Oddly it made him shiver to see it. Another picture came up on the screen, a super sized imaged of his face, his lips were swollen, his eyes bulged under the tape there were scratches and scrapes. His face was blackened by bruises.
Axcelise tucked his hands uncomfortably between his knees.
“Axl how do you feel, seeing those images?” The interviewer cut in;
“Ummm, not sure really. I just remember praying that he would be okay. That he would wake up and be just fine. We had only just got to know each other really; it was too soon for him to be taken away from me.” Axl broke off to smile warmly at Axcelise, sensing he was uncomfortable.
“Axcelise, how has your life changed?” The interviewer asked, flashing a big smile;
“Wow, ummm, my bedroom is huge.” The audience laughed, Axcelise appearing to be cute; “and there is a pool and a tennis court, I don’t play but still....we use it as a car park when Dad has parties.” Axcelise explained gesturing wildly in his excitement.
“And how are you adjusting to this?”
“At first it kind of, felt empty, you know? I’m so used to people being round me all the time and now Dad locks himself away in the dungeon and Beta is usually running about. But I find lots of things to do, Izzy takes me out a lot because I’m not allowed to drive yet. I love swimming and I chat online with my friends back in England.”
“So typical teenage things?” The interviewer had a chuckle in the question.
“Yeah ‘cept now I’m spoilt.” The audience laughed while Axl gave him a playful push on the arm.
“And what of your Mother Axcelise, are you in contact with her?” Axl froze, the only movement a minute shake of his head that the interviewer ignored, Axcelise shot at look at his father trying to read what to do next. He could see Axl glaring at the suited gentleman in the chair opposite. Unable to gain any insight as to the next step Axcelise took a deep breath,
“She died, killed herself.” His head hung as emotion washed over him his hands shook and his stomach rolled over. The audience was shocked the silence. Saying it out loud made it final. Made him feel small and alone. A tiny touch from Axl, merely his ringed fingers brushing his jeans was his anchor. “But,” Axcelise continued, “she is in a better place now and I know she is looking down on me.” And just like that, everything was okay.