Title: Craving Normality to Some Degree
Pairing: Bog/Marianne
Summary: They just craved the silence, to sing for themselves and not what is expected of them but it's kind of hard to do when you're famous.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything Strange Magic related!

Third Point of View

Bog sighed harshly as he kicked open his dressing room in exhaustion. The concert was a long one and even now he could hear the crowd screaming for more, but his throat is dry and his mask itches. Thankfully he had forgone his usual winged attire and just kept the upper half of his costume with the breastplate, spaulders and pauldrons.

"You did good tonight honey." Griselda supplies from her chair, smiling softly as her son flops into the other. "Now I have…"

"Not now mother," was the muffled response before Bog began to unclasp his mask, taking a deep breath of clean cool air when it was finally pulled free. He really needed a new mask but there was no other way, the latex plastic mix was so far the most comfortable and he really didn't want to change the style.

His band Broken Carapace was one of the top rock bands there are, so with that came the crazy fans and that… he didn't… all his band members wore face masks either full face or half to keep their identity a secret. Each one was different and customized; they never changed no matter what show or song.

It was also a comfort to Bog, cause skies knew that rockers were supposed to be handsome by some degree and he was too tall, to wiry with scars across his pointed chin, lips too thin, sunken tired eyes and a hooked nose. In other words he was hideous.

"Thankfully this is the last night of the tour, BK." Stuff - the band's guitarist - exclaimed happily as she shuffled into the room. Thang nodded from behind her with Brutus taking up the rear.

Bog hummed and closed his eyes once more, throwing his arm across his eyes. "Three months o' a break 'til we have tae be back in th' studio tae record oor neist album. A'm lookin forward tae bein' hame wance mair."

The others smothered their smirks at their lead singer as his brogue slipped out in his exhausted state. Normally he smothered it well, only coming out when he was angry, drunk or exhausted.

"Any plans for those three months?" Griselda asked simply, a little glimmer in her eyes as plans formed.

"Sleep." Bog muttered. "Writing, fine tuning songs but mainly sleep."

"M'sister is moving back home, she's asking for help." Brutus rumbled as he unclasped his own wide goblin mask.

"Oh she's finished school already?" Griselda asked excitedly. Bog cursed and thanked Brutus for the distraction, because he knew that tone his mother had when she asked and it wasn't something he was in the mood for to listen right now.

Bog took a look at the time and let his eyes drift close; they couldn't leave until everyone had left since they usually helped their crew pack up all the gear. Though that was usually a pain since the only ones who knew what they really looked like were in this room or their family, Bog made sure of that after what happened to their other guitarist.

A scowl formed at the thought of Lizzy, she was his cousin and her mask had been knocked off by accident after the crowd got a little rambunctious. Paparazzi hounded her and a crazy obsessed fan had broken into her home, had harmed her partner severely and nearly killed her in a fit of rage.

Pare had suffered from three stab wounds and a fractured skull while Lizzy lost the use of her left hand when the bastard severed her tendon and muscle in her arm. She has some function back after the surgeries but she would never be able to play guitar again. That's also when the new masks were made so they wrapped all the way around and held together with hidden clasps at the neck.

"Bog honey, time to wake up." Griselda hummed softly, her small hand shaking him gently.

Casting a look at the time Bog was surprised to see that two hours had passed; he must have drifted off lightly or was thinking longer than he thought.

"Like a river flows surely to the sea

Darling so it goes

Some things are meant to be

Take my hand, take my whole life too

For I can't help falling in love with you…"

"Someone please turn that off!" He snarled furious, cutting the radio a glare as the wretched song from the Fairfield pop sensation and her 'prince charming' filled the room. He's thankfully never had the pleasure of meeting the Fairfield Sisters but he's had the horrible pleasure of meeting Roland Knight before, the arrogant bastard.

X

Marianne tore the clothing from her closet in a scream of rage, grabbing them blindly as the tears spilled forth and blurring her vision. Her heart ached in fury churned in her stomach as she destroyed everything within her room.

When all her rage was done, when everything she thought reminded her of the woman Roland turned her into was destroyed, only then did she collapse onto the bed while her chest heaved with sobs.

"Marianne?" Dawn's soft voice called worryingly from the door. "Marianne?"

"Dawn." It came out of her throat in a hiccup and she knew that it was unlike her. Dawn had never seen her cry, not once but now here she was.

Dawn felt her heart clench. "What happened?"

Shame bubbled up in Marianne's throat, shame for the lies she had been caught up in and played for the fool Roland obviously took her for. Four years of her life she had devoted to him, loved him, and not once was it returned in kind. She could see it now, him with a new woman on his arm every month or week laughing about how stupid she was. Four years and she had finally caught him doing the unthinkable, how could she be so stupid!

They were to be married next week and she had gone to surprise him and oh did she, she surprised him alright and the woman he was with.

'Come on buttercup, it aint what it looks like.'

"I— I don't want to talk about it." She managed to choke out before collapsing into her sisters arms. "Not now, not yet."

Dawn wrapped her arms tightly around her sister, she didn't know what happened but she knew it was bad and if Marianne didn't want to talk about it yet, she wasn't going to push her. "Okay, what do you need to do Mari? What can I do to help?"

"I need to get away, I'm going home."

Home was a modest house in their old hometown; it was the house they actually lived in before their mother died. Her father had sold it when they moved to California and when it was put on the market once more, Marianne bought it without her father knowing. In fact the only people who knew were Dawn, her Stylist Violet, Violet's sisters Rose and Fern… they were the ones who set it up under Fae Summer her middle name and her mother's maiden name.

It was a getaway home for her and Dawn when needed to escape. No one has found out about it but then again the house has only been used twice but kept in repaid and order from house keepers. But it was more home to the Fairfield sisters than their large mansion in Cali, hell even their tour bus was more home then that.

"Okay, I can keep dad off your back if you promise to message me daily and call me every few days. Our tours are over and we have three months of a break anyway, what do you want me to do about the wedding?" Dawn asked seriously and Marianne felt a ping in her chest.

When did my little sister grow so? It was only yesterday she was running around singing her love for every boy she laid her eyes on.

"The wedding is off, I can't— not after— I'm taking the other phone with me so no one can track me down… I just need some normality where I can do what I want, sing how I want, dress and eat how I want… I am tired of being a pop sensation… it is not me, it was never me." The eldest Fairfield confessed.

Dawn blinked in surprise. "Mari when did you feel this way, why didn't you stop? I wouldn't have stopped you."

"Dad insisted, he refused to help me if I chose to move to rock. Roland talked me out of it as well and when I decided to quit, Dad threw a fit and guilted me into it saying if I left …" She trailed off casting her sister a look.

"If you left then I would struggle because everyone loves your voice and it's you who draws them in." The tone was furious. "Well stuff that Mari, go and be happy. I'll waylay dad and then hopefully by the time three months is up we can do something else! I don't want to be a singer forever, you know this, I want to design!"

"A little piece of Normality. I'm going to leave tonight, there is not much I can take with me but the last pair of jeans and my band tees, I also have the jacket you made me, the long one that looks like butterfly wings." Mari explained with a fond smile, she didn't ruin everything in her closet.

The jacket she spoke of was a soft grey near black leather with soft cotton and velvet that hung down her back in four sections from her shoulder blades and when in the mood she could flare them out. It was the first of the jacket Dawn had made; the other was Dawn's own in a soft blue fabric with pink and peach coloured wings. She of course never wore it out, only when she was home.

"Good, I'll send you more later. I just want you happy Mari, you've been so down for a while now. Don't worry about me, I'll be okay." Dawn whispered softly and Marianne pulled her into a tight hug.

"When did you grow up?" She whispered into her sister's hair causing her to giggle wildly. Maybe she didn't grow up after all.

Author Note: Ohhkay, this is something… I'm unsure how it'll pan out but yes! Tell me what you think!