Keeping Us Together (Izzal)

He Plays An Old Guitar

He plays an old guitar
With the coin found by the phone
It was his friends guitar
That he played
Foo Fighters -Friend Of A Friend

"And what are you going to do with your life?" Duff asked Slash when he got back home in LA.

Slash strummed a guitar with Izzy's name carved on the head. Izzy had abandoned the guitar that was gifted to him by Axl, at the Hell House that was home to only Slash, Duff, and Steven now. But Steven couldn't even be considered living there as he was in the beds of other people each and every night and Slash and Duff don't even know if they'd ever see him again once he had left a week ago.

Slash actually worried for his friend and drummer but with every surge of worry that passed through his body another surge of heroin would pass through his abused veins. Duff couldn't stand the sticky substance his friend was addicted to, but he couldn't say anything he was addicted to the bitter taste of vodka.

"I don't know," Slash said strumming the guitar a bit faster, his fingers gliding expertly against the thin strings. "I wanna continue to make music, maybe go on with the Snake Pit but I don't think they're gonna go anywhere." Duff hummed and drank up the last of his vodka in the small cup he pulled out of the pantry. He has never drank from a cup in years, but he didn't wanna get wasted tonight.

"Hey, Duff, how is Axl?" Slash asked. Duff looked at Slash, scanning the worry and interest dancing on his face, hos lips tugged in a frown, his big brown eyes wide and liquid. "He's alright, he doesn't wanna do music anymore," Duff said. "He started eating again not long before I left but Amy said that's not gonna last very long. She claimed I made him happy enough to eat and when I left he'd be depressed again." "He doesn't wanna do music?!" Slash asked surprised. "Music is his passion, he's just gonna give up?" "Yeah, he doesn't have it in him to play anymore. He doesn't have it in him to do anything but I think he's just afraid of the clear failure in front of his eyes," Duff said. "If Izzy found out, what would he say?" Slash asked. "I don't know," Duff said.

He really didn't think about it, had no clue what Izzy would say if he had found out how broken Axl really was. The last thing he ever said to Axl was that he wanted to push him off of the building and Axl was just okay with that. Duff didn't know if Izzy was being serious. He didn't know a lot about Izzy as he had come to find out.

"To be honest he probably wouldn't care," Duff said. "He doesn't seem to care about Axl at all. But you never know with Izzy." Slash nodded and began to play the most melodic riff that Duff had ever heard. "It's something Axl and I would play together. He'd make up some of the most emotional lyrics I've heard, he'd sing softly. It'd go something like. Um..

We've been through this such a long, long, time just tryin to kill the pain.
love is always coming, love is always going.
No one's really sure who's lettin go today, walking away.
If we could take the time to lay it on the line
I could rest my head just knowing that you were mine,
all mine. So if you wanna love me, darlin don't refrain.
Or I'll just end up walking in the cold November rain.
Anyway, I think it's about Izzy. I know it is. Sometimes he'd cry. Sometimes he'd play the old grand piano in the corner. Sometimes he'd do it alone," Slash explained a hint of pain and longing in his voice. "I miss it, I miss singing with him."

Duff understood too much of that, he understood the words Axl would sing, he understood the longing Slash felt, because he too missed Axl with everything in his whole body. He too missed Axl more than anything in the world. Nothing could ever bring the joy that Axl brought. He made the whole house laugh and burn with joy. Duff remembered around the time they bought the house and the piano. They gathered around it. Axl sang and Slash played. Their chemistry was something else. Duff was sure Izzy was jealous of it.

It was clear Izzy was jealous of how.much Axl and Slash got along and poured passion into each other for their music.

Thinking on it now, Duff was sure that's what broke Axl and Izzy's relationship. The same relationship he hoped to fix.