PeaceMaker

Maria was scared stiff. She didn't want to perform. No matter how beautifully her outfit looked on her, no matter how many compliments her maid gave and no matter how many times she fed herself motivational speeches, she didn't want to perform. 

She didn't know what was coming over her. Whether it was the air around her, tension, or maybe it was the pressure that was squarely on her shoulders. She couldn't move without feeling its heavy weight on her shoulders, it was heavy, it weighed her down tremendously. 

She looked in the mirror again and filled her mind with encouraging thoughts. She drummed on the table and peered down at her instrument. She had spent hours just for this moment. 

She had spent all her days cooped up in a little room repeating the same measures, repeating the same song over and over again until she would get it under the immovable eyes of her mother. Her fingers would throb and she couldn't stop, her arms would burn, her shoulders would ache but yet she couldn't put down the violin. 

Her practice would never end until she finished the piece successfully 6 times time after time. Her fingers would get cuts and her hand would tremble whenever she held the instrument. Its curves were fully embedded into her arms and movement, the notes would now be played without thought. 

The notes were long ungraded into her muscle memory now and she couldn't erase them even if she wanted to. Just like she couldn't leave the room even if she wanted to. 

She knew doubting herself was purely useless. There was no way it was going to help her in any way, she had already come this far, she had already gotten dressed, already spent her days with her eyes fixed on the instrument's piece and she was already seated in the chairs inside of one of the waiting rooms.

Any chance she had to leave was already gone. Any chance she couldn't hit reset was already diminished to a go button. 

She could only go forward from here.

She had the chance to fully ruin her performance but that would directly affect her future along with her family pride. She wouldn't dare to. She had already done more than enough for her family. 

No matter what thoughts she filled her head with, they couldn't undo the strong force that was pulling her toward the performing floor. It was something she had to do at this point. Something she had to do and excel in it, she had to ruin her sisters purely based on her performance.

That she looked forward to. The applause that would rain on her soon after she would be done presenting. 

She looked down at the instrument on the table and raised it up to her body, examining the delicate curves of the instrument in her hand. It was true, it was beautiful. She looked up in the mirror and sighed. Its wielder was also beautiful. It was a beautiful combination. 

She knew it was her turn. That the silence of the room, the waiting rooms filled up would soon be filled with waves of applause, and then clicks of heels would wonder their way back into the room. Her sister would be done performing. She would be next as the 15th performer. 

Would they already be sick of seeing the performers? Tired of watching them perform and tired of seeing their faces? There was a high chance for that. A chance she didn't want to come true. This was her only shot to clear the hate-filled glances her mother gave them, even for one night, even for a few hours, her eyes would sparkle again. She would smile at her, maybe even a hug. 

That was the only thing she wanted out of this. 

There was an eerie science that filled the waiting room and then seconds later, waves of applause washed in, filling the room with constant clapping and drawing out her thoughts. Her cheeks smiled and she shivered. That was the same response that she was going to get… how amazing would that feel to stand in the middle of all of that? To hear the constant applause echo off the walls of the room and into your ears, to see the smiles on people's faces. 

Could it replace her mother's smile? Even if her mother didn't grin at her, didn't glance at her during her performance, would she still be ok? She would look into the smiling faces of the people in front of her and take a deep bow with a smile on her face. 

Would she? Could she?

She didn't have that much time to think about it. It would be mere minutes until the performer would make her way back to the room. Whether that may be Jena or Annabeth, she had to beat the reaction she just got. And her confidence needed to be sky high in merely a few minutes before she reached that performing floor. 

Maria looked in the mirror again and let out a long breath of air, letting her worries flow out with the air in her lungs. She would be fine. She always was. This was nothing, she's seen more. She's been through more. 

She filled her mind with immature thoughts, thoughts that demeaned others in the room by making herself feel like she was in a higher position. 

They were working. That and the amazing massage her maid was giving her. 

Her tense shoulders were calming down and her thumping heart was cooling down. She could breathe again, the air didn't stifle her and the instrument felt light in her arms as it brushed against her sheer sleeves. 

The gold designs and shapes randomly place on her sleeves stood up against her skin and shone on the white sheer material they were embedded into. On her once tight neck was the long-necked part of her dress was colored black and a white pearl string hung down from, down from the collar to the middle of her dress, at her waist where it was sewn right into the middle frontal part of her dress.

On her hair hung two long lines of pearls that swung down from the two partings in the middle of her head and ran down with them before curving to a space behind her ears. There was one on each side of her head. 

Her lips shone in a confident blossom pink shade. And her eyes shimmered with the pierce gold outlines on her eyelids and under her eyes. They simply enhanced her beautiful icy cold blue eyes. 

She stood up from her seat and began to get ready. Stretching first and massaging her wrist. 

She didn't want to leave anymore. She wanted to win. To beat her sisters and to impress her mother. He didn't know who was the next performer after her but she wanted her performance to reduce them to simply noting. To fill their heads with complete fear of the huge wall they had to climb to impress the audience. 

She was going to win now. There was no doubt in her fierce eyes. She picked up her instrument and let out a long breath as the clicks of heels filled the room. 

It was her turn. 

* 

Ciergo simply didn't want to answer the question. It would put doubt in the eyes of his friend, Antonio, when he looked at the performers and would only prove a statement his friend has said earlier correct. 

How his eyes were able to notice the tiniest detail, to pick out something from nothing. To read deep into a truth that is false. 

It was already his fault that Antonio's gaze had become one like that, he didn't want to add to it with instruments. He didn't even like the fact that he noticed what he did. 

When he looked into Antonio's eyes, however, it didn't look like he had a choice. He wouldn't dare to lie to see the flash of disgust that would appear on Antonio's face but also didn't want to ruin the newfound interest he had gained from the Crowly family and their daughters. 

He still wanted a second look at the gaze Antonio had directed towards one girl. It was something new he had never seen on Antonio's face. That love-stricken gaze. It was a concept he wasn't oblivious to but at the same time something he was completely unexposed to. 

He couldn't lie. There was no way he would escape the gaze that Antonio would give either. He had to delay telling him until after their performances. 

Ciergo glances at the disappearing figure of the girl that had performed. 

"She played nicely," Ciergo began. "But… there was something off with it," He added. 

Antonio's head tilted curiously. "Something off?" Antonio muttered. 

Ciergo nodded his head in reply. "The next performance will be starting soon, I'll tell you after it."

Antonio stared into Ciergo's eyes for a minute before nodding. Only he would notice the change in Ciergo's deep dark eyes where no light seemed to reach. 

He was curious to know.. What secret the girl was hiding that Ciergo noticed.