Title: Le Cygne

Genre: music (does that count?)

Word count: 1,502

Pairing: Adrienette

A shout-out to gloumelmed in Tumblr for giving me the permission to write out the scene on her post of Marinette playing the violin! Thank you so much! This was challenging to write, but was so much fun as well! I hope you all will like it! Also, this piece is a movement called Le Cygne by Camille Saint Saëns. I based this fanfic off of Joshua Bell's rendition of the piece. Even if it's a solo meant for the cello, this version is the violin.

Enjoy!

- เพลงในหัวใจของคุณเป็นความจริงเท่านั้นที่คุณต้องการค้นหา -

"The plain was grassy, wild and bare.

Wide, wild and open to air,

Which had built up everywhere

An under-roof of doleful gray.

With an inner voice the river ran,

Adown it floated a dying swan,

And loudly did it lament."

An excerpt from The Dying Swan by Alfred Lord Tennyson

~NS268~

If you were to describe Marinette as a bird, which one would best describe her?

A sparrow? A common little bird that you see everywhere? Shy and small?

Or maybe a nightingale, famous for its beautiful song of love and longing, symbolizing a creative individual who is uncovering her potential!

But for him, she was a swan. And he did not think of her as such until one Saturday night.

~NS268~

Adrien felt very self-conscious in the Theatre de Champs-Elysees lobby, being surrounded by middle aged men and their spouses in elegant evening wear. Being the youngest in the room, he tried not to be noticed. But it was hard when his face was on every large billboard in the city.

Chloe was supposed to be with him, but the idea of sitting through a two hour concert of classical music 'bore her' because 'who listens to classical music nowadays anyway?' Her words, not his.

He checked his watch. 7:00 PM. 30 minutes until the concert started. Looking around the room, hoping to see a familiar face, he didn't notice where he was going and bumped into someone, sending them sprawling on the ground.

"Ouch!"

Adrien whirled around in shock as he looked down at the figure on the floor. "I'm so sorry – Marinette?"

She looked up and her blue eyes met his sea green ones. "Adrien!" She squeaked.

"I'm sorry Marinette." Adrien apologized as he held out his hand.

"It's okay." Marinette said shyly as she took his hand and stood up. The young model had to blink a few times to make sure the young girl in front of him was actually his classmate.

Marinette had her hair down, falling around her bare shoulders as she wore a simple sleeveless ladybug red evening gown. Adrien caught her look of uncertainty and cleared his throat. "You look stunning tonight, Marinette."

He had almost called her princess, but stopped himself in time. Seriously, if she looked like that, no one would think she was anything but.

"Thank you." Marinette smiled shyly, her face almost as red as her face. "You look good as well."

Adrien looked down at what he was wearing. Aside from the black pants and formal black shoes, it wasn't really anything different from his normal every day wear. He grinned. "Not as good as you. To be honest, I feel a little under dressed."

"No! No you look hot! I- I mean, you look fine with what you're wearing!" Marinette stuttered, her face now as red as her dress. After a few seconds of awkward silence, Marinette said, "So you…um…came. To the concert."

Adrien raised an eyebrow. "If I didn't, I wouldn't be here right now wouldn't I?"

"O-of course!" Marinette said quickly. "So why did you come?"

"My piano mentor was planning on coming, but she couldn't make it so she gave me the ticket instead."

Marinette blinked. "Oh…Okay."

"Would you rather I not come?" Adrien asked, a twinge of hurt in his voice.

"I didn't say that!" Marinette said frantically in a loud voice. Several people stared at them. Marinette lowered her voice. "I didn't mean it like that."

He looked at his classmate closely. She was blushing like crazy, but there was a hint of guilt in her eyes. But then, a buzzer sounded, indicating that the performance would start in 15 minutes. Marinette breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I have to go."

"You're not going to watch the show?"

Marinette smirked at him and said, "I am the show."

Adrien stared at her. The way she put her hand on her hip and that twinkle in her eye, it reminded him of his lady for a second. That image was broken however, when Marinette realized what she said in front of her crush and turned into a sputtering mess once again.

"Um, do you have the program with you?" Adrien took out the blue program notes and opened it. Marinette pointed at a line in the program.

Le Carnaval des Animaux by Camille Saint Saëns

Mouvementé 13: Le Cygne

Guest soloist : Marinette Dupain-Cheng (violin)

"I didn't know you played the violin!" Adrien exclaimed in amazement and delight. "Why didn't you say anything?"

Marinette grew embarrassed. "Well, it's just something I picked up six years ago. I'm really not that great. With all the things going on right now, I don't think I'll have time to play it anymore."

"You're dropping it?" Marinette nodded. "But why?"

"I'm too busy with school and…it isn't really my passion." And I have superhero duties to attend to, she thought, but didn't add. "So I don't really have time to practice anymore."

"That sucks. We could have totally done a duet together." Adrien frowned, not noticing Marinette's steaming face. A duet with Adrien. But then the buzzer sounded again, 10 minutes till the concert. "Looks like you have to go get ready."

"Looks like it." Marinette nodded. She smiled at him. "I hope you'll enjoy the show."

"I will. Good luck." Adrien said. Marinette nodded and headed backstage to prepare.

~NS268~

There was a loud round of applause as the audience clapped at the finale of Hector Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique. Adrien checked the program. The next piece the Paris Youth Orchestra was going to perform was Saint Saëns' Le Carnaval des Animaux. He fidgeted nervously in his seat, his ears not really registering the first few movements of the piece as he waited for Marinette's solo part.

As the Fossil movement ended with the tutti, the musicians turned page and waited for the young guest soloist to come out of the stage. Adrien held his breath.

And there she was, walking out to the center of the stage just beside the conductor. She had her head held high, a nervous smile on her lips. She looked around and spotted Adrien in the middle of the front row. Adrien smiled widely and winked at her. Marinette blushed, and then stood taller, confidence now replacing the nervousness on her mouth.

The piece started with a soothing series of rolled chords and rippling arpeggios from the harp, introducing the mood of the movement. Adrien watched as Marinette swayed with the music.

1...2…3…

Marinette tucked her violin under her chin.

4…5…6…

She lifted her bow.

Andante Grazioso

Adrien was hypnotized as the first three sweet notes drew him in. The lament of her instrument's haunting tone pulled on his heart strings.

The music was breath-taking. From the highest crystal note to the lowest solid sound, each one was precise and detailed. He felt tension in the air as he anticipated the next melody. She bowed through the slurs of the notes, as smoothly as water flowing through a stream.

Passion, calmness, and unbreakable concentration were expressed on her face as she played.

It was like Marinette was crying in the piece. The song was titled The Swan, but to Adrien, it was so much more.

Here she was, the sweetest most cheerful girl he knew, playing her raw emotions in the violin. The ascending notes indicating hope, but as it fell back to the main melody, it was like it was no use.

Everything fell away and it was just him and her. She stood in front of him, several meters apart, but she was an eternity away from him. They were in a bare land, gray sky, and Marinette was standing on top of the lake. The image of an elegant swan and her overlapped.

As her notes shifted an octave higher, it was like reaching up to the sky, but she couldn't because she was chained to the ground. She couldn't because she had lost her ability to fly.

Gazing at her, he remembered an ancient belief.

The swan is the most beautiful of all creatures.

And so was Marinette. First glance, she was cute. But as he watched her every move, the contours of her body and the violin, the toned slender arms, her blue hair catching the light, he was knee deep in love with her.

Her beauty, her nature, just...her everything.

Everything was beautiful.

The swan is silent until its final moments in life.

Marinette had never spoken about her music until her last performance.

The swan sings the most beautiful of all bird songs.

Out of all the renditions that he had heard, nothing pierced through his heart like Marinette's interpretation of the piece.

It was like it was a message to him.

A bittersweet message.

A message of goodbye?

Or perhaps…of love.

His eyes widened in realization.

"And it was then that I wondered…why I had not noticed before…"

She loved him.

But this was her farewell.

Was it too late?

I can't believe I wrote this! This was so challenging! I hope you guys liked it! This can be read as a oneshot, but I'm thinking of writing a second part from Marinette's POV.

Anyway, mini Adrienette moment there and such. Glad you read it! Listen to Joshua Bell's rendition of this piece, okay? It's AMAZING!

Again, Thank you again to gloumelmed for letting me write it! Stay tuned for Part 2!

See ya'll next time!

- เพลงในหัวใจของคุณเป็นความจริงเท่านั้นที่คุณต้องการค้นหา -