Chapter 2 (Rated PG)

"WHAAAAAAAT! You have to WHAT!" shrieked Rosenberg, his hands flying up to his chest as if Salieri had just stabbed him through with a sword.

Salieri closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead where a headache was staring to blossom. He knew Rosenberg was going to react this way once he heard the news. Salieri had come back to his house and had only been home for a few hours before the porter announced Rosenberg's arrival. He wasn't surprised at all by Rosenberg's appearance, no doubt he had heard of Salieri's visit to the palace and was curious to know why he'd been summoned there. News often traveled fast along the gossip grape vine.

Knowing he could not get out of telling his friend he explained what the Prince had wanted, and who he had wanted Salieri to work with. As expected Rosenberg was scandalized and starting ranting about the travesty of it all and how Mozart's musical nonsense was going to taint Salieri's beautiful work. Salieri would have found Rosenberg's incessant ranting amusing had it not been for the fact that he didn't know how to deal with this mess. And he was starting to get a pounding headache.

"This…this cannot happen, it's a mockery of your work Salieri! Making you work with that lunatic, that immature scoundrel, why…Mozart wouldn't know how to put together a decent set of musical notes if they…if they came up and bit his arse!"

Salieri barely managed to keep from rolling his eyes at that comment. Rosenberg was working himself up into a right state and unless Salieri wanted to listen to this all night, he figured he'd better intervene.

"It's not like either of us has a choice in the matter Rosenberg. Its at the request of the Emperor and you know very well we could not deny him. Mozart and I will find a way to work together, we have no other choice" Salieri sighed "I appreciate your concern my friend but what's done is done. Mozart and I will start working on the Sonata at the palace tomorrow, the sooner we complete it the sooner this whole ordeal with be over with".

"Yes yes, your quite right Salieri" Rosenberg stated, motioning towards him with a few shakes of his walking cane. "Best to work as quickly as possible and be done with this nonsense, just don't let that imbecile ruin your work, your reputation is at stake here. I'm going to see what else I can find out regarding this ugly situation. You would do well to use this opportunity to find out Mozart's weaknesses so we can get rid of him once and for all. Something good must come out of this nightmare!" With that said, Rosenberg swept himself out of Salieri's house, acting like a man on a mission. Salieri knew the only thing Rosenberg was going to accomplish was spreading the news like wildfire. No doubt all of society would know about it by the end of the night.

Salieri sighed deeply again. Rosenberg's antics and hatred towards Mozart was starting to get tiring, the man was obsessed! Salieri leaned back in his chair and thought about the situation. He didn't hate Mozart, he was simply annoyed and confounded by the other man's behaviour. He could not deny Mozart's talents as a composer after hearing his music for himself. But he couldn't understand why Mozart insisted on acting like an immature child when he could have all of high society eating out of his hand if he simply followed the rules of decorum and acted more refined. He was so busy chasing ridiculous dreams he didn't seem to care how many toes he stepped on or who he insulted and that was going to be his downfall. One cannot simply change the way society works.

Salieri was still apprehensive about the whole situation. He worried that Mozart and himself would not be able to mesh their work together into a Sonata that would please the Emperor. However, he also couldn't deny that a small part of himself was intrigued at having the chance to observe Mozart over time. This might be Salieri's only chance to finally figure out the man who consistently bewildered and perplexed him.

...

Mozart flopped onto his bed face first, not bothering to move for a long moment. Eventually he rolled over onto his back and just stared up at the ceiling. What in the hell was he going to do! This whole situation could make or break him and he knew it.

Mozart also knew there was no way out of this, that he and Salieri would have to work together. The situation wouldn't be so horrid if Mozart had been forced to work with someone else, anyone but Salieri. The man was always so cold towards him, and he looked at Mozart as if seeing a badly behaved child. It didn't matter that Salieri seemed to except his musical work, at least, that's what Mozart assumed after he'd seen Salieri's reaction to one of his rehearsals some time ago. The man just didn't seem to like him, and he wasn't even going to start on Rosenberg's problem with him.

Mozart didn't think Salieri would try to sabotage the Sonata just to make Mozart look bad. His reputation was on the line as well and Mozart just new that Salieri was not the type of person who would deliberately try to fail at something. His love for music wouldn't allow it and he was far to proud of his work as a composer. Despite Salieri being a cold, emotionless piece of stone most of the time Mozart had seen him in public, he had witnessed a speck of something more in Salieri on several occasions when the man had performed his musical work and that gave Mozart a sliver of hope.

Hell, when Mozart had first come to Vienna he'd all but idolized Salieri, for he was everything Mozart had wanted to be, a successful, well known and respected composer. He had been thrilled when Salieri had first come to see his work. His hopes of becoming acquainted with Salieri and possibly becoming friends however where dashed when he realized that Salieri and his friends seemed to openly scorn him and his musical abilities. And so instead of friendship a rivalry began between them and before he new it, it seemed that he and Salieri were always at musical war.

Well, Mozart was not going to let Salieri's cold attitude effect his passion when writing music. Salieri would just have to deal with it. Mozart looked out the window to see the sun setting. He must have laid there longer then he realized. Mozart finally got out of bed to get himself dinner, thoughts of the situation and what tomorrow would bring weighing heavily on his mind.

...

The next day Mozart found himself sitting across from Salieri at a desk in the palace music room which was reserved for the Emperor's favoured composers. Mozart couldn't help but snicker to himself at Salieri's current expression. The man looked pissed. Not that Mozart could blame him, he was quite annoyed himself. The funny thing was that their mutual feelings of exasperation were not directed each other but at everyone else.

It seemed everyone now knew Salieri and Mozart were working together at the request of the Emperor. They had only been in the music room for a few hours and had been interrupted seven times already. If it wasn't a servant checking to 'see if they needed anything' then it was a maid or someone who 'got lost'. Mozart swore he saw someone's head peeking up from outside the window ledge an hour ago. It was as if everyone was checking in to see if they'd killed one another yet.

Throughout it all, Mozart had received the rare chance to actually observe a change in Salieri facial expression. After several brief encounters with Salieri, Mozart had honestly started to believe that his face was fixed in a permanent mask of cool indifference. Apparently not, for Mozart had watch Salieri go from cool to annoyed to irritated and finally to anger. He'd never seen Salieri so openly annoyed before. Not that it was blatantly obvious, Salieri was still a master at schooling his features but Mozart could tell in the way his eyes narrowed and how his mouth pressed into a firm line at every interruption.

As if on queue, another knock sounded at the door. Oh for the love of… Mozart looked over to see yet another servant come in and ask if there was anything they required, food or drink?

"No, we are find, thank you!" Mozart heard Salieri say irritably. As the servant left Mozart looked over to Salieri. The man suddenly put his quill down on the table and stood up abruptly. "We're leaving" He stated, and started gathering his things.

"And were exactly are we going?" Mozart replied, crossing his arms "We have to start planning this Sonata".

"We will go to my home where we won't be gawked at and constantly interrupted. Where we might actually get enough peace and quite to get some work done" Mozart was surprised to hear that, he hadn't expected to be invited to Salieri's house. Mozart was tempted to argue with him simply because Salieri acted as if he expected Mozart to obey without question but he refrained. It wouldn't do any good to add more stress to the situation and Mozart had to admit that if they stayed here, they would never get anything done.

"All right then, lead the way Salieri".

And with that they both left the palace and headed for Salieri's coach and household.

...

As the coach stopped in front of a modest home, Mozart couldn't stop himself from looking around. So this is where Salieri lives. Mozart was surprised to notice that it wasn't that far away from the Weber household, possibly six or seven blocks away.

He followed Salieri into the house trying to take in as much as possible without falling behind. Salieri led him into what looked like a study/music room. There was a large desk in the far right corner with several comfortable looking chairs stationed around it. There was a grand piano off to the left, a couch, and a bookshelf that ran from the floor to the ceiling along the back wall. Two large bay windows along the left wall let in the afternoon sun, lighting up the room in a warm glow. It was peaceful and quite, it was perfect.

Salieri glanced back behind him to see Mozart looking around, taking in his surroundings. "Please make yourself comfortable. I'm going to let my staff know we are not to be disturbed". Salieri quickly left and walked back out to the foyer, explaining the situation to his porter and asking him to rely the message to the rest of his staff. Salieri didn't have a large household, a porter, a cook and two maids, so the rest of the afternoon should be uneventful. Salieri's staff were very discrete, quiet, and respectful of his wishes.

Salieri was somewhat uncomfortable bringing Mozart into his home, it was like he was letting Mozart see apart of himself that remained hidden to most others. But he didn't have much of a choice, there was no way they would get anything accomplished at the palace. At least within his own home they could have the privacy to work. Salieri composed best in a peaceful, serine atmosphere so he could concentrate on the music flowing through his mind. The constant interruptions at the palace had completely shattered his focus. Walking back to his music room he stopped before opening the door.

Salieri could hear a beautiful string of piano notes playing through the door. It was a lovely melody. Salieri laid a hand on the wood and listened, letting the music wash over him, calming his mind. A sudden inspiration hit him and he walked into the room where Mozart sat at his piano. Salieri was struck at the sight. Mozart was lit up by the sun streaming through the windows, playing softly, eyes closed as his fingers moved deftly across the keys, letting the music flow through him. Mozart looked almost…beautiful. Salieri quickly wiped that thought from his mind. Of course Mozart would look more mature and perhaps handsome sitting there quietly instead of floundering around like a love sick fool.

Salieri cleared his throat to get Mozart's attention. Mozart looked up at him and smiled. "Sorry Salieri, I hope you don't mind my playing your piano. This is an amazing room"

"That's quite alright Mozart, it was a…nice piece" Salieri started walking over to his work desk and motioned for Mozart to follow. "We need to get started on the Emperor's Sonata. I was thinking that we could write it solely as a piano piece. Keep it simple between the two of us instead of getting other people and musical instruments involved"

"But don't you think the Emperor be expecting something…more grand?" Mozart questioned as he took a seat at the desk across from Salieri.

"Just because we only use a piano doesn't mean it can't be as moving and dramatic as using an orchestra. You don't always need such grand displays to make an impact" Salieri said as he gave him a pointed look. Mozart bristled at the implied double meaning.

"I know that Salieri, but I still think that a solo piano piece is not going to impress the Emperor".

"That's why were going to make it a double piano piece. The Emperor expects the work from both of us, why not have it played by both of us as well?" Salieri stated.

"Ahh, a four hand Sonata on one piano. That would make it far more complex, and your quite right, there would be no denying it was created by both of us if we're both playing it. We could also make it a bit longer then the average Sonata, make it six movements instead of four" Mozart suggested. Salieri nodded his head in approval.

"Then its agreed. Shall we begin?" Salieri handed Mozart a blank music sheet, a quill and an ink pot. Mozart excepted them with a smile and excitement in his eyes. Perhaps Salieri thought, this won't be as unbearable as I thought.