Uhm, okay this was obviously inspired by Fort Minor's song "Red To Black". Again, my English is not the best around considering it's not my first language. It may also be a bit AU but that's just my freaky mind with its plot bunnies.

Disclaimer:I don't own the song or Linkin Park or anything. Obviously. Wish I owned Mike... Disclaimers suck.

Red To Black

Mike had a friend named Victor. I knew him as well. Victor. I still wonder how Mike kept him in his memories after such a long time.

It seems like ages ago that they were in high school. He and Mike became best friends in their second year and since then nothing could separate them. It didn’t matter how different they may have been. No matter how many times I think about it, I will always find it absurd how these two developed such a strong friendship.

Mike was quite sociable a person from childhood and could be friendly with anyone. Victor on the other hand, preferred to distance himself from others. But it wasn’t as though he looked down on others as inferiors. He would always smile to anyone who greeted him, although he’d rather sit in peace than even try to socialize. Soon enough, other students lost any interest in him and simply ignored him. That was just fine with him. What he really wanted to do was finish school and then get into a university or somewhere else where he could be as far as possible from his house. And no one could blame him for that.

It seemed a great pity that he just happened to come from a broken home. With a father addicted to alcohol and gambling and a mother, who had given up on life, the only thing left for this boy was to hope that someday he’d get away from his captivity. Due to this fact, he did surprisingly well in most school subjects, perhaps for fear of ending up like his father. His mother took much pride in his achievements and most likely her son was her sole reason for not leaving her husband.

One day, however, she was bound to snap. While she struggled every day to find a place to work and get a decent salary, his father would put one more bet using the money they so needed in order to pay the house’s rent. Victor himself knew one day his mother would pack her things and leave and he could merely hope he’d go with her. That day didn’t seem to draw even close so Victor started feeling more secure as he always did in her presence.

Until one night when his father returned with no money at all, as he had squandered everything in bars and card games. The desperate woman didn’t say a thing neither that night nor the next morning leaving her husband and son in deep sleep. Without a note or a word of goodbye.

All of these were known only to the school staff and to some students that were into gossip. Of course, that didn’t improve Victor’s profile to his fellow students. Obviously, Mike knew the most of it considering he was the one individual Victor fully trusted. He would always show understanding to his friend and somehow managed to cheer the other boy up.

After his mother left, to Victor’s disbelief and indescribable gratitude, the entire Shinoda family took care of him from time to time as if he was one of them. There, he could finally feel safe and hide from the shadow of the man he despised so much. That was until his father came every single time and dragged him back to their almost decaying house.

As the time passed by, Victor had the right to get angry with the condition of his father but there was nothing he could do about it. All of their fights were a waste of time since his father got only worse combining alcohol with medication. Before Victor knew it, he was swept away by his anger and rage and fell into the very bad habit he disapproved his father for. Among all the illusions and dizziness, the overwhelming feelings and thoughts, he could pretend it was okay and let himself fall into an abyss of depression.

Hadn’t it been for Mike, Victor would be nothing now. Or most likely dead. Mike opened his eyes, made him see that if he wanted he could make a difference and not trace his father’s steps but choose his own future the way he wanted it. With Mike’s contribution, Victor was introduced to another world better than that of alcohol, the world of music. It was because of Mike’s encouragement, that Victor went to university. Indeed, Victor owes everything, his whole life, to his best friend because he helped him change and hide away from his doomed life and dark memories. And now Mike even wrote a song about him. I had almost forgotten about him but somehow Mike didn’t.

What happened to Victor? I, myself, wonder about that sometimes. I know, though, that he’s always with Mike doing the only thing he can do in return for everything he has done for him. Remaining his loyal friend. But apart from that, I guess that he is still hiding somewhere deep, changed but without being someone totally different at the same time. Changed.

From red to black.

From anger to silent depression.

From Victor to Brad Delson.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, this can make an one shot as it is but I could also make it multi-chaptered. If it's good enough which I seriously doubt. Uhm, okay other than that Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!