The Life I Had Before (6/?)
Title: The Life I Had Before
Author: Charlotte (altogingenting )
Beta: The always fantastic ms_belle10 , thank you so much!
Pairing: Belldom
Rating: G
Summary: Can they see past their pasts, embrace the present and look forward to the future?
Warnings: This chapter: none
Feedback: Highly appreciated
Disclaimer: I don’t own Muse or anyone/anything related to them, this is pure fiction
Notes: AU
Dominic’s POV
“Dominic! Can I ask you a favour?” Arthur, one of my co-workers asked, as he walked past me in the corridor.
“Sure,” I answered. “What do you want me to do?”
“I have this accounting that is due tomorrow, but I won’t be able to finish it and I can’t work overtime, since I’m going out with my girlfriend, soon to be fiancée, if everything goes as I’ve planned,” Arthur smiled.
“I’ll be more than happy to take it and good luck with the proposal,” I said.
There is apparently someone who still believes in love, I thought as Arthur handed me the files.
“Thank you so much, Dominic,” Arthur said as he hurried out down the corridor.
As I looked through the files, I regretted saying yes to helping him out. This would take much longer then I originally thought.
---------------
When I finally arrived home, William had left for football practice. I sat on the couch and decided to watch a bit of telly before making dinner. I flipped through the channels and landed on a program about politics and rebellion groups. I watched with my eyes half closed and only one ear listening until I heard a familiar name.
“… Matthew Bellamy…Resist gained members faster than ever under his time as leader. Bellamy was a wordsmith. His well-written speeches drew a lot of attention to the group. Resist had around 200,000 members when Matthew Bellamy suddenly disappeared for a year. When he reappeared, he refused to have anything to do with Resist and the rumours were swirling. What had happened? Which of the stories were true? We will most likely never know. With the downfall of Matthew Bellamy, Rose Johnson took over as leader. Under Johnson the numbers have only been going one way: down. Resist is now down in…” the narrator of the programme spoke.
I played back the monologue in my head a couple of times. Politics, Matthew Bellamy, Resist, stories. Could Matt be Matthew Bellamy from this organization? And what stories? Sierra had told me to believe in his side of the story, the true one. I got up from the couch and found my laptop. As the computer started up, I thought about what I was going to do. It is not normal to do research on your friends, is it? No, it’s not I answered myself, but that didn’t stop me, I was too curious.
After just over half an hour of searching I had a pretty good picture of Resist and their old leader Matthew Bellamy. It seemed like Matt shared a lot of my political views as Resist shared a lot of mine. I saw videos of Matt holding speeches; he was truly brilliant with words. Resist had gained a lot of members because of him, I was sure. And the statistics proved me right; Resist was at their height under Matt’s leadership. Then he disappeared.
From there on was where the stories and rumours started. They were all different, but the one thing they all had in common was murder, a murder committed by Matt. For minutes I just sat and stared at the screen, a part of me was in denial. Who could someone so kind and nice commit a murder? I figured I should listen to Sierra and believe Matt’s side, that he didn’t mean to kill the other person, that it was an accident and in self-defence.
“Dad, I’m home! What’s for dinner?” William asked as he entered the living room.
“Erm, I haven’t made dinner yet, I got distracted,” I answered. “What do you say to just ordering some pizza?”
“Sure, but I don’t want the one we got the last time we ordered pizza, it tasted awful,” William said and headed for the shower.
---------------
During dinner I didn’t say much. My thoughts were all about what I had just discovered: I had spent my lunch over the two last weeks with a man who had committed a murder.
“Is there something wrong? You’re so quiet today,” William said.
“No, everything’s fine,” I lied.
William gave me a look saying ‘I know you’re not telling the truth’.
“Alright, everything isn’t fine, but it is nothing serious. You don’t need to worry, just had a bit of a rough day,” I said. I didn’t want William to worry about my problems; he did enough of that when Annie and I split up.
---------------
When I was on my way to meet Matt for lunch the day after I figured out Matt’s past, I felt nervous. I tried to tell myself that it was the same Matthew that I had met over the past two weeks, but it didn’t work; I felt different about him now. I was scared of him, but at the same time I felt sorry for him. It hadn’t been his fault, if his side of the story was the true one.
“Hi, Dominic!” Matt said and waved as he spotted me sitting on the place we’d met on for two weeks.
“Hi,” I said. I tried to look at him but I couldn’t, not after what I had found out. I forced myself to look at him as I asked: “So how was your day at work?”
“Actually, I haven’t been to work today. I had a bit of a row my boss yesterday, but it will be fine. It is not the first time; by tomorrow she will be saying sorry,” Matthew answered. His face pointed to the ground, like there was a weight forcing him to keep his head down.
“A fight with Sierra? And not the first time? How come?” I blurted out; I completely forgot that it was none of my business and what I had figured out the day before.
“It’s complicated. Her past…well, our pasts, say that we shouldn’t get along. It is not relationship or sex related, it’s more complicated than that,” he said. He looked at me again; I could see that his eyes were filled with sorrow and pain.
“Has it got something to do with Resist?” I asked without thinking.
“Kind of… Well, ehm, yeah,” Matthew mumbled and twitched uncomfortably. “Anyways… there is this band playing at The Crow this Friday, they’re supposed to be really good. Want to come along and check them out?”
I appreciated Matt’s attempt to lighten the mood, I didn’t like the way the mood had headed earlier and was more than happy to continue the conversation in a brighter mood.
“Sure, that will be great. It has been way too long since I saw some live music.”