Flashing stagelights gave way to the euphoric darkness of the wings. Saber Lynne’s friendly grin dropped from his face the moment he was out of the audience’s sight. Julie, a short woman with a round, kind face and a questionable sense of fashion, offered a towel to Saber. Saber smiled weakly and pressed the damp cloth across his skin. 

As usual, it was room temperature. But compared to the burning stagelights it felt like ice. The added implication that Julie prepared the towel before Saber began his final number more than made up for the lack of coolness. 

“There’s been an issue with the venue,” Julie rubbed her thumb and forefinger along the seam of her pants pocket and gnawed on her lip. The news was no shock to Saber, who’d had a front row seat to one of the stagelights bursting in a flickering shower of sparks, “They need to discuss some things with me so you’ll have to wait in your dressing room for a while.” 

Saber stopped and put his hand on Julie’s shoulder. Julie stopped fidgeting and finally met Saber’s eyes. Saber smiled at his manager reassuringly, “Would it help if I came with you?” 

Julie shook her head frantically and held a hand out, pushing Saber back, “That would make things worse…much worse.” 

Julie’s lip was once again pinched between her teeth. Saber sighed but nodded obediently. 

Saber’s five years of live performing told him that the discussion could be about one of two things: 

• Either the venue intended to punish the performer. Claim the performers set was too strenuous for their equipment, the performers crew was negligent or some-such bullshit. 

•Or they wanted to reassure themselves that the performer wouldn’t sue for unsafe working conditions. 

Since Julie believed Saber’s presence would heighten tensions it was likely the latter. Unfortunately this meant all Saber could do was sit in the dressing room twiddling his thumbs as he waited for the issue to be resolved. 

Once he arrived at his dressing room, Saber instantly began stripping off his stage clothes. After the last hoop of fake jewelry fell into its case with a muted clink, Saber fell into a soft armchair squeezed next to the clothing rack provided by the venue. 

When Saber’s phone booted up he was met with a wall of notifications. He quickly pushed past the majority as if he were shifting a beaded curtain out of the way and falling into the comforting room beyond. 

DollyDailyDream

A website filled to the brim with all things ball jointed doll. Saber cooed fondly as he looked over the new doll on the coverpage. She was a ⅙ primadonna with a prestyled wig reminiscent of historic french aristocracy. Her skin was a cool, night-dark umber. She was fully articulated and the seller was also offering a bundle of eyes in various colors. 

Saber quickly flicked off the site to check his bank account. An old habit from his pre-debut days where he was always strapped for cash. As to be expected from a man who’d just been performing to a full house, Saber was solidly in the green. 

There was one more thing to check before Saber felt comfortable snatching up every doll that caught his attention. The ‘doll dowry.’ A designated spending cap for each month serving as a kiddy lock on Saber’s spending. It was Julie’s suggestion after hearing Saber worry over his own spending habits. Saber checked it and swore when he saw that his allotted amount just barely fell short. 

Maybe the seller could be haggled down? Saber opened the post again and groaned when he saw “PRICE NON-NEGOTIABLE” 

As he considered the best way to convince Julie to up his allowance by fifty dollars- if he begged and offered to do that sports drink commercial he’d turned down. Or if he waited to ask after Julie indulged at a staff outing-

A crash in the hallway. 

Saber jumped to his feet. 

“You!” A deep voice Saber didn’t recognize, speaking words that made Saber’s blood run cold, “What are you doing back here? This area’s off limits!” 

Saber could feel his heart pounding in his throat, choking him and making the world around him spin. He took a shaky step towards the door. 

Was it another stalker? 

A deranged fan? 

Had he been released early?

“ARGHH! Agah-” Something hit the ground, hard. 

A struggle. 

Panting breaths and dull smacks against the ground. 

A crashing, stomach turning bang echoed off the walls in the hallway. 

Saber couldn’t stand still. 

Not again. 

Memories of a body crumpled on the ground, the smell of gunpowder, and the taste of misty blood on Saber’s lips drove his body to action. 

The scene before him was as confusing as it was terrifying. 

A man in a dark hoodie lay motionless atop another wearing one of Saber’s older promotional t-shirts. The man on the bottom painted with blood-- whose blood? Saber couldn’t tell. It pooled under both of their prone forms. 

“Who..” Saber trailed off as the man on the bottom looked up at him. The man has striking features, a face Saber wouldn’t have been able to forget even without the extreme circumstances. He had such unique eyes. They swam with a hypnotic, purple pattern. They were dizzying and calming. They shook Saber to his core even as they disappeared from view.

“You’re ok,” The stranger smiled. His head fell back as he breathed his last. Saber didn’t know how he knew it, but he was sure. He was gone. 

Through Saber’s blurry vision he saw his own fingers stretching out towards the bodies in the middle of the hallway. 

[Saber! Run!] 

The disconnected voice startled Saber out of his stupor. His self preservation reawakened. The man on top was still moving. He pushed himself off of the corpse. His head jerked up, showing his face to Saber in the half a second before Saber turned and sprinted down the hallway. 

[Duck left!] 

Saber complied. Something-- a bullet --whizzed past Saber’s right ear. One of the lights in the ceiling exploded in a cascade of sparks not unlike the incident on stage. 

Saber wondered if there’d be a second meeting with the venue. 

Assuming he survived this. 

[Go down the hallway on your left. Take the second door to your right.] 

Again, Saber followed the instructions without thinking. The door opened as Saber approached. A tall, broad, woman wearing a security uniform caught Saber as he ducked towards the door. 

“He’s-” Saber wheezed while the woman wrapped an arm around him. Saber pointed back down the hall and managed a single word, “Gun!” 

It was all the woman needed to hear. She shoved Saber behind herself and pulled a taser out of her belt. She murmured something into the walkie talkie on her shoulder before turning back to Saber, “Stay put, you’ll be safe here.” 

Saber was about to protest. To tell the woman to wait. Wait for the owner of the voice that guided him to safety. But the hall beyond her was empty. Saber watched helplessly as the door closed, slowly swallowing the sliver of light from the hallway. The door's soft click signaled the start of Saber’s unraveling. 

He’d watched a man die. 

He’d almost been killed. 

And someone-something saved him. 

“Where…?” Saber trailed off as voices shouted beyond the door. Saber couldn’t make out what was being said. There was a soft buzzing and the sound of a body hitting the floor. 

Saber hadn’t heard a gunshot since he rounded the corner. His body hadn’t stopped holding that tension. Waiting for the next pop-crack to sound off, signaling that even more people would die in Saber’s place.