Chapter 7

Sora's POV

I slept in that night until two in the afternoon. Even then I didn't want to move around. However, when I did decide to make an effort to be alive I realized that the soreness from last night had lessened considerably. I could now walk across the room without dragging my leg behind me and groaning every time I moved my arms. When I woke up the nose tubes were gone and the needles were out of my arm. I opened my door and nearly tripped over three bouquets of flowers. It was really a stunning array of colors. I stooped down to read a tag that was connected to a petunia, it read: To Sora, we hope you feel better soon. Come back quick! P.S. the nurse said we shouldn't disturb your rest so we left it out here! From, Anna and Mia. I couldn't help but grin at their sloppy handwriting.

The other bouquets were from May and Ms. Sarah. I carried each of them inside of my room and put them on the windowsill. After that I walked outside and down the hallway. Nurses were running past me with clipboards and there were other handicapped patients sitting on benches or walking around the hallway. I turned down a corner trying to find the elevator and knocked straight into a particularly young doctor.

"Oh I'm so sorry sir!"

"You are Sora Naegino yes?" He asked me putting his glasses back on.

"Oh! Yes, how do you know my name?" I asked him.

"Well you are kind of famous around here, it's not every day that we get an acrobat up here who was caught in a fire, normally it's something like they fell off a tightrope or they were doing a particularly hard trick on the balance beam and wound up breaking a leg." He grinned.

I laughed and handed him his stethoscope which I had knocked off of him.

"You're quite young to be a doctor aren't you?" I asked.

"Yup, I just got out of college and I'm kind of like a trainee here, I get to watch Dr. Danis to try and learn from him. It's kind of boring sometimes, but at least I get to look like a professional in the work clothes." He gestured to himself.

He was right, the student was tall with short brown hair and black-rimmed glasses, and he wore a white doctor's coat with a pocket that had three pens clipped to it. He had sea green pants on which I found kind of funny-looking.

"I agree. Do you mind pointing me in the direction of the elevator?" I asked.

"Sure, it's down the hallway and to the left, you should come up on it immediately, there's a handicapped sign next to it. Oh, and just so you know, my names Ian."

"Thanks and nice meeting you!" I said walking in the direction he pointed out. Sure enough I found the elevator and the handicapped sign. I hit the "down" button and waited a couple seconds for the elevator. I gasped when the doors opened. Mia and Anna stared back at me. There was a small pause and then they both jumped at me showering me with hugs and 'I missed you's.'

I laughed as we fell to the ground. I slowly stood up and Mia started telling me the details of the Kaleido Stage.

"May wanted to come but she has practice, being the Evil Queen and all. We can only stay for a little while, Kalos wants us back pronto."

"We came to drop these off." Anna said after Mia finished. She handed me an unlabeled white box. I thanked her and took the box. There was a lot more hugging and finally Mia and Anna were gone again. I smiled at the box in my hand and turned back to the elevators. I had completely forgotten why I even wanted to find them in the first place.

I shrugged and headed back down the hallway to my room. When I got inside I sat on my bed and opened the box. Inside was a pile of sugar cookies and a small note. I grinned and picked out the note and read it.

Sora:

We miss you so much! Eat these, we baked them for you! It was a lot of work! Kalos kept on yelling at us to stop using the oven-he thought we'd start another fire. Hurry back! Leon hasn't got a princess without you!

From: Anna and Mia.

My face turned red at the last part and I set the note down beside me. I thought about last night, how distant Leon seemed, as if he was not telling me something. I pulled out a sugar cookie and started eating it. They were very good and it cleared my head now that I had some food.

I mostly stayed in the hospital room watching TV, every time a commercial came on I would do some stretches and conditioning, but I couldn't do much, otherwise I would hit some of the equipment. I longed to get back to the Kaleido Stage.

Finally the doctors came in and gave me one final check up. They told me that I'd have to come back a few times in the next few weeks to make sure that I wouldn't drop into a coma randomly, and that I would have to stay here until tomorrow morning to see that my condition was stable. After that I put the medication on my burns and went to sleep.

The next morning I woke up at seven and was ready to go. After, the doctors did one final check they told me to contact Kalos. I did so and he said he would meet me outside. I changed into some jean shorts and a tank top and ran downstairs. I nodded to the people at the people at the front desk, signed one final form and ran outside.

Sure enough Kalos was parked right outside and I opened the car door and slid in.

"Nice to see you energized, you'll need it. We're going to have some extra practices with you and Leon over the next week. The production is coming up and we need you in top shape so you'll start on the advanced practices two days from now." I nodded and grinned. I was finally going back to Kaleido Stage. I would be able to see everyone again, and maybe I would be able to thank Leon properly this time.

We arrived at Kaleido Stage at around nine and I jumped out of the car and ran towards the training rooms. I opened the doors and breathed in deeply. I saw May walking on the tightrope she turned to look at me when I walked in and promptly fell off the tightrope, being trained so well she landed on the net and did a front-flip and waved to me. I smiled and waved back.

Kalos walked up behind me and I turned to see Leon striding towards us. His long hair swishing behind him, his posture perfect, but something was wrong. I could already tell, he wore the same mask of indifference but he walked as if every step cost him something. I was confused as he stopped a few feet away from us. Kalos was the first to speak.

"Ah, Leon. I want you and Sora here at this spot three hours from now; we need to discuss some revisions we're making to the performance between you two. Sora being Snow-White and you being the Prince we have decided we need to put you two in more scenes together."

"I'd like to resign from my position." He spoke and it seemed like everything had just gone silent.

"What?" Kalos said genuinely confused.

"I would like to resign from this part in the performance. I realized that I would rather play a different part. That or find a new partner." He finished, his face showing no emotion.

I stared at him dumbfounded. Did he say he wanted a new partner? The thought kept racing through my head. I stared wide-eyed up at him, hardly breathing. Was it because of the mistake I made on the trapeze the other day? Or the fact that someone is targeting me and he doesn't want to be messed up in something like that? Either way, what he said cause my stomach to drop to my feet. I finally regained my voice.

"Did I do something wrong? What makes you want to drop out so suddenly?" I spoke loudly. He fixed his emotionless face on me.

"I never said I was dropping out, I merely said I either wanted a new part, or a new partner." I felt as if every single bit of energy had just been drained from my body. His voice was cold like ice and what he said sounded like it had been practiced a million times. Kalos stepped in front of me and took Leon's shoulder.

"Let's talk about this in my office." He said steering him away. That left me standing there, unable to move or speak, watching my partner walk away without a second glance.

Author's note:

Yup. I have no idea what's going to happen next. Anyway, feel free to R&R, or favorite this story, or follow this story. (hint-hint-wink-wink) Hope you guys like it so far!

Eliz