Author's Note: This is my first time trying an Indiana Jones fanfic. I've only seen Last Crusade and Raiders, and I've only seen those twice, so please correct me on anything that is wrong. Cimarosa is a piano and opera composer, so there is musical jargon that will be in later chapters. Please tell me if you like the concept, or if it is too weak. To my knowledge, I only own Halle Alice Jones, the rest belong to Steven Speilberg, the genius that he is. Please review, as I'm always looking to improve.

-Darlene

Indiana Jones and the Lost Cimarosa Manuscript - Prologue

"And the one thing we must worry about is the legends surrounding archaeology. We only need the facts, never the myths ladies and gentlemen." Professor Indiana Jones was standing in a lecture hall, facing almost one hundred eager freshman archaeology students. As he started on his day three "Myths vs. Facts," rant, a soft knock at the door interrupted him. The slightly plump blond secretary, April Manning, poked her head through the door of the classroom.

"Mister Jones, might I interrupt?" she asked.

"I'm in the middle of a class, April, can't it…"

"It's urgent, Mister Jones." Mrs. Manning interrupted. "It's about your daughter."

At the mention of his daughter, Professor Jones dropped his chalk, earning a few giddy giggles from the girls in the front row. "Class dismissed." he barely managed to speak.

Indiana Jones' daughter, Halle Alice Jones, was Indiana Jones' only child with his wife, Marion, who had died three years earlier. Halle never learned of her father's earlier adventures concerning artifacts like the Holy Grail and the Ark of the Covenant. The early September heat did not offer Indiana any comfort for the impending phone call. Halle was strong-willed, as were her mother and father. Though small in stature, only five feet four inches, she possessed a girlish look with soft brown eyes and curly brown hair, but a spirit like that of a wild mare…uncontainable. Indiana mentally prepared himself for the worst when he picked up the telephone.

"Halle?" he asked.

"Hi, dad." Halle sighed into the phone.

"What's the matter, sweetheart? Are you hurt or something?" Halle didn't respond.

"Halle?" Indiana asked once more.

"I'm fine; I'm just need to get bailed out of jail."

Bailed out of jail! This is a new experience…Indiana thought. Words could not express how angry he was with his sixteen-year-old daughter.

"Why are you in jail?" Indiana asked calmly.

"Some idiot on the street in front of school was starting to bad mouth you and mom. So I said, 'Shut up, or I'm going to have to hit you.' but he kept on going. So then I said 'I told you to shut the f…'"

"Halle!" Indiana warned to cut his daughter off.

"Sorry." came Halle's non-remorseful reply. "But then he said, 'You're a girl, you wouldn't hit me if you tried.' so I did, and then his buddies got into this brawl, and the cops him and me in jail for unnecessary roughness on school grounds."

Indiana rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on. He would rather face a pit of snakes than his lately rebellious daughter.

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Halle Jones sat in a cold, cement prison cell, finally separated from those jerks that insulted her mother. Mom would never deserve that…she thought angrily. And neither would Dad. A guard came to the door of the barred cell, using a barrage of keys to open the door. "Your father has paid your bail, Miss Jones…you are free to leave." he said in a gruff baritone. Halle pulled herself up from the hard cement floor, walking out down the hallway, to be met with her less-than-amused father. "Let's go." he said, no emotion being expressed in his voice. Halle sat down in the Jones family car, her gaze remaining locked on the parking meters lining the street in front of her.

"Care to explain this, Halle?" Indiana asked, starting the car.

"I was just standing up for you and Mom." Halle said.

"Sometimes, you need to let things go, Halle."

"So, you've totally forgotten Mom."

"I never said that…"

"It was most definitely implied."

"What are you talking about, Halle?"

"Why do you feel like you have to hide everything from me? I'm sixteen for God's sake, Dad! You hardly ever talk about Mom, and you say that she was just making up stories about the Holy Grail, and the Ark of the Covenant, and your days fighting Hitler in his quest for total and complete domination of the human world as you and I know it! What are you trying to kid me about?"

Indiana was stunned into silence, as he put the car into park in the driveway. Halle looked back at him, her brown eyes flashing with defiance. Indiana was shocked at his teenage daughter's resemblance to her late mother.

"You know what? It doesn't matter. You'd never understand…Mom would. I want adventure…but you are the one who can't let things go."

Halle turned and ran into the house, up the stairs to her loft/converted bedroom, locking the door to the staircase behind her. Indiana called her name multiple times up the staircase, only to be met with stony silence. Indiana walked back to the kitchen, sitting down with a heavy sigh. He looked to Marion's smiling face in the last family portrait they ever had taken. "Marion…what do I do now?" he asked.

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It was late that night when Halle finally decided to come downstairs. There was the temporary "How was your day?" dinner conversation over minute-rice and leftover chicken. Indiana had to admit, it was getting harder to connect to his teenaged daughter. Halle left the table to go practice piano, surrounding the living room with the haunting sounds of Chopin's Nocturne in E flat, and Cimarosa's Sonata in D minor, an unfinished classical Sonata. The shrill ring of the telephone interrupted his thoughts.

"Hello?" he asked wearily.

"Junior? Are you there?"

"I told you, I like Indiana, Dad."

"Never mind that. Do you know the Dominico Cimarosa Sonata in D minor?"

"Yeah, Halle's playing it right now. As I recall, it's unfinished…the last part was lost in a separate manuscript or something like that…"

"Yes! A Spanish friend of mine says they now have a definite lead on where that particular manuscript might be! Along with that missing final movement, there are two other completed Sonatas, as well as a few Italian arias for an uncompleted opera, "Antimezia," shortly before his death. They say it was stolen from Cimarosa, and never recovered in time for him to publish it. Instead, they say credit for some of the stolen work was given to Antonio Salieri, who's style was very similar to that of Cimarosa."

"Salieri…the Kapellmeister of Austria from 1788 to 1824?"

"The very one. Junior, they want you and Halle to come to Venice and recover the missing manuscript!"

"Halle? No Dad, I don't want to put her in harm's way, she's too young for this! Besides, when Halle was born, I decided and committed to Marion that I wouldn't go back to hunting down historical artifacts."

"Junior…they specifically requested you and Halle. They're willing to pay handsomely, and provide military support. However, the Austrian royal family isn't too keen on this. They have military patrols to protect the manuscripts of the Kapellmeister."

"Then we're not going!"

"Indiana…think about it…please?"

Indiana sighed and hung up after promising to think about it. Upstairs, Halle set down the phone after making sure that both her father and grandfather had hung up. "We're going to Venice…or there's going to be hell to pay. Halle Jones and the Lost Cimarosa Manuscripts..." she smiled. At the sound of Indiana walking up the staircase, she quickly turned off her nightstand light and threw the blanket over her head.

"Goodnight, sweetheart." Indiana whispered to the dark. Halle smiled to herself. Whether it was by hook or crook, she would convince her father to go to Venice, to find the Lost Cimarosa manuscript, and bring her with him. The prospect elated her beyond comprehension, until she was able to drift off to sleep.