A/N: same ol', same ol'. I own Nyx and her family.
I don't own any of the songs. Yoake no Legend is from Final Fury: the Motion Picture. The Perfect Fan is by the Backstreet Boys.
Thanks Angel's Falling for beta reading, and BTW, the muses did something, and I don't know what.
Avalon: What is she talking about?
Luna: Us, you upper-class twit!
Magick: Lun, one, we are not British. Two, we are middle class. Three, we are not pregnant nor goldfish!
Zephyr: AngelDragonStar somehow lost her fragments, and we took their places. You can figure out the rest. We can do introductions in the next chapter.
Zephyr glances at the three other teenagers with a hint of worry.
Zephyr: that is, if Angel can survive for that long…
Chapter 1, Part 2: Final Performance of the Year and a Glimmer of What is to Come
"Corona Nyx Mooney!"
Nyx flinched and looked at her grandmother, Anastasia Requiem. "Yes, grandmama?"
The matron of the Requiems, Anastasia was a widow and a stage manager. She helped out at all concerts that Nyx Requiem, real name Corona Nyx Mooney, performed in. She was very strict when it came to the only female Requiem that was in music.
"Young lady, calm down! You have a hour before you go up." Her grandmother said soothingly. "Look on the bright side: this is the last gig you have before going to Hogwarts." Her blue eyes were the closest to Nyx's blue-purple eyes.
'She's right, Nyxie pixie.' The bold voice said cheerfully. Only the voices got away with calling Nyx 'Nyxie pixie.' In the beginning, it was because she couldn't pummel them into the ground, but now, she was used to it.
'You're just playing four songs, and then, if they want an encore, you're playing 'Darkness and Light.' The soft voice purred.
'So, no worries, mate.' They both said. Nyx could tell when they would have been grinning, and this was one of those times.
"Nyx?"
Nyx looked at Anastasia, who smiled. "Yes?"
"Nyxie, you need some food. What do you want?" Nyx's mother, Cornelia Requiem, asked. Her family got away with 'Nyxie' if they said it without giggling, meaning that her brothers never used it.
Nyx's Muggle school friends called her 'Moony,' while the teachers knew her as 'Miss Corona.' Some of the more disdainful students called Nyx's band 'the Songs of Doom.' Funny, since only Nyx was in the school band and choir.
The soft voice spoke up in Nyx's mind. 'Whenever Nyx is nervous, she always asks for-'
Nyx smiled at her mom. "Sweet and sour pork!" She bounced happily and giggled. "Oh god, and can you get some Ben & Jerry's?"
Peter Carmichael Mooney shook his head and looked at his only daughter. "You need help. You shouldn't eat so much."
Nyx's eyebrows arched. "Dad, I didn't have lunch, it's an hour before I play, and my sponsor is taking me to England right after the gig. Fuck off!" She snapped. She paled and covered her mouth.
'Oh god. You've been in hot water with your dad all week, Nyx! You know better than to piss him off! He can-'
"Peter!" Nyx's sponsor placed his hand on the angry Peter's shoulder. "You know more than anyone that Corona, like yourself, is irritable this close to a show!" His cool eyes burrowed into Peter's dark Italian eyes. "People have paid to see Corona, and some would start a riot if she is prevented from playing this close to the time. She takes after you, remember?"
Cornelia shook her head. "Peter, all of our fights were before you played at an concert. You should have sympathy for her. She is actually calmer than you."
'Remember your first performance, Nyx?' the bold voice asked, obviously relieved to be out of that crisis.
The soft voice chuckled. 'She was close to tears!'
"I know, I know. I nearly had to be dragged out on stage." Nyx said softly with a smile.
* Flashback *
"Miss Corona, calm down." Nyx's sponsor said gently. "You're going to be magnificent."
Nyx shoved her thumb in her mouth and squeezed the sponsor's hand. "I don't wanna." She said sulkily. "They'll all laugh at me." She had had practice with talking with her thumb in her mouth, so she was clear.
'No they won't.' a confident voice spoke.
Nyx looked about wildly, searching for the little boy who spoke.
'Don't even try, Corona.' A softer voice, but still a boy of her age, added. 'We're in you.'
'We both have heard you play. You're the best.'
"I'm probably the only thing you have heard." Nyx sniffled.
"I beg your pardon?" the sponsor said.
Nyx looked up, blinking her blue-purple eyes. "What?" she asked innocently. Her thumb was out of her mouth.
"You said something about being the only thing." He said with a warm smile.
Nyx shook her head. "Nope. You must be going nutty."
'Am I going nutty?' she thought to herself.
'Nope. You are quite sane, Nyx. Um, do you mind that?' the softer voice asked.
Nyx shook her head.
'Good, you like it.' The bold voice said cheerfully.
"And, now we have a little lady coming up onstage, the only daughter of a musical family, give it up for NYX REQUIEM!"
'Showtime!' both voices said as the cheering grew louder.
Nyx gulped and grabbed her sponsor's robes. He gently pried open Nyx's tiny hands and pushed her out onstage with the same gentleness.
'Remember, breathe.' The soft voice said.
'Dancing bears…' the bold voice said, prompting Nyx.
'Oh yeah.' Nyx took a deep breath.
"Dancing bears,"
'You're doing good!' the soft voice cheered.
"Painted wings
Things I almost remember
And a song someone sings
Once upon a December." Magical snow began to fall down from the ceiling, dusting Nyx's black robes. The snowflakes shined like diamonds on the little girl's clothes and already dark gold hair.
"You should see yourself! You look like an angel!' the bold voice laughed with delight.
"Someone holds me safe and warm," Nyx spun around, embracing herself as she looked up.
"Horses prance through a silver storm
Figures dancing gracefully
Across my memory..." Nyx watched as a line of carriages rode by, drawn by silver horses.
"Someone holds me safe and warm
Horses prance through a silver storm
Figures dancing gracefully
Across my memory..." A group of men and women spun about the little girl as her voice rang clear and happy.
"Far away, long ago
Glowing dim as an ember,
Things my heart used to know,
Things it yearns to remember..." All of the people and horses vanished like snow under the sun.
"And a song someone sings
Once upon a December…"
* End Flashback *
Nyx smiled to herself. She no longer had stage fright. After that first song, any show with her in it was sold out. Only wizards knew about her.
"And thank god for that." Nyx said as she watched her father and Mr. S (her nickname for her sponsor) talked about other times.
"Remember that time when Ferre Kiki snorted those pixie sticks?" Mr. S said with a smirk.
Peter groaned. "Good god, yes! Didn't she bust a hole in the steel wall of the theater?"
Nyx looked up. "Who's Ferre Kiki? Wait, are you saying that my godmother snorted Pixie Sticks?!"
Mr. S looked at Peter. "You made her Nyx's godmother?!" he gasped in horror.
Peter nodded. "Well, yes. Corona, she didn't punch a hole in the wall. She was bouncing around so much that she broke through the wall of the theater we were in."
Mr. S shook his head.
"I am back!" Cornelia said with a smile. "Here's the pork, Nyxie. I got it from your brother."
The soft voice groaned. 'That guy is going to poison you someday.'
Nyx rolled her eyes and dug into the Chinese food. Her oldest brother, Gabriel Mooney, had his own restaurant, Around the World in Eighty Minutes. It was well known for its variety and quality of food. It was a great deal, since it had Gabe going across the world, looking for good entertainment and better food (keeping him out of the teenage Nyx's hair). The food was at a decent piece and the international shows were spectacular.
The middle child, Raphael Requiem, was a writer. He was very popular with the young adults, who loved 'the Travels,' which were about the adventures of a family whose souls have been split apart through space and time, and now were trying to find each other and get back home.
"So today is the big day, huh?" the latter brother said, startling his kid sister.
"Raphael! Don't do that!" Nyx snapped. "I have forty-five minutes before a show! I'm nervous!"
Mr. S sighed. "Wrath, how's Luna?"
Luna was Mr. S's favorite character in the Travels. She was the oldest and only daughter of the Arkamens. Her last adventure involved her becoming a cyborg and marrying an elf. But, that's another story.
Raphael answered back, "Ah, but I can't tell you!"
Mr. S's face fell. "Oh."
Nyx sighed and finished the dinner. "I'm going to take a nap. See you."
*
"Hey, everyone, it's great to see you all here. It's little ol' me, Nyx Requiem!" Nyx said into the microphone, her voice loud, clear, and devoid of any nervousness. "As you know, I like to sing theme songs from Muggle Japanese animation. Tonight, I'll sing the first song that I heard, Yoake no Legend, or Whoa, whoa, oh, angel!"
The music began to play.
'Take a breath.' Whispered the soft voice.
'Then let your soul fly!' The bold voice said.
Nyx nodded to herself, and heard the cue.
"Whoa, whoa, oh angel…
Come greet the dawn;
It's a brand-new day
Whoa, whoa, oh angel…"
Nyx's black robes began to turn the pearly gray of the pre-dawn.
"Let burn the passion
That fires your soul."
The gown became the colors of the dawn, and Nyx's dark gold hair shined like sunlight in the light.
"Each lonely night
I get through without you
Becomes my victory."
Nyx took a step forward, spreading her arms out as if to embrace something. She snatched her arms back unwillingly.
"Each empty night
I fight against the light."
Her robes turned back into black, and she spun away from the spotlight, keeping one step ahead of the beacon.
"That is my destiny
Yet I know that
Having might
Don't mean you're right."
Nyx stopped, letting the stoplight catch her.
"(I can be both cruel and kind)
When nothing makes sense
I look up at the clouds in the sky…"
The teenager looked at the ceiling with a look of longing.
"They don't answer,
But I still ask why
Stand tall,
You won't fall."
Nyx looked out into the audience and spun gracefully.
'Keep it coming, Nyx!'
'You have them in the palm of your hand!'
Nyx cleared her mind of everything and tapped into the core of her being.
"Even a wolf gets lonely now and then
Then run into the sun
Sharpen your claws;
Bare your fangs;
And go on."
A wolf flew out of Nyx's chest with a howl.
"Race your own race,
Why go for second place?
Go on and grab a star
You can't survive,
You've gotta stay alive
Heaven is not that far."
Nyx reached up into the sky with a smile, causing silver angel wings to spread out from her back, framing the teenager in the glow of starlight.
"When you're on the edge
You pledge to live just for today
Ain't no sense living in the past
Look ahead."
Nyx looked up as wind with a few cherry blossoms ruffled both her new wings and her robes, yet not even moving her golden curls.
"And you'll see
That tomorrow has already come
Time heals all wounds
And life does go on."
Nyx spread out her hands, her eyes shut again. She looked like she was about to catch someone.
"Stand tall,
You won't fall
Courage is no more than this
So then you run into the sun
Seek out those songs which have not yet been sung."
Nyx's eyes flew open and she cupped her hands together, catching some of the drifting cherry blossoms.
"People do fall in love,
Tho' they may swear
That the pain won't let go
Oh forever more…
I'll burn the flame of your dreams in my soul!"
The lights dimmed to wild cheering as Nyx blew into her hands, causing a spray of glitter to fly out. Nyx quickly changed into a white Grecian gown and waited.
"Okay, who knows Muggle boy bands here?"
Several people scattered across the theater raised their hands.
"Good! This song is by the Backstreet Boys, and it's a tribute to what I consider the most painful profession, motherhood. This is to Anastasia and Cornelia Requiem, my grandmother and my mom!"
"It takes a lot to what is love,
It's not the big things,
But the little things that can mean enough,
A lot of prayers to get me through,
And there is never a day that passes by,
I don't think of you."
"You were always there for me,"
Cornelia walked out onto the stage, her voice as sweet and clear as her daughter's.
"Pushing me and guiding me always to succeed.
Mother and daughter then joined their voices together in harmony.
"You showed me
When I was young just how to grow,
You showed me,
Everything that I should know,
You showed me,
Just how to walk without your hands,
'Cause mom, you always were,
The prefect fan."
Nyx stole a glance at her normally staid grandmother and was not surprised to see silvery tears trickling down her smiling face. The two, Cornelia and Nyx, finished the song to silence broke only by sobs.
Nyx turned to her mother. "I love you, mom." With that, Cornelia cried out and hugged her daughter.
"And," the woman whispered, "I love you, Corona." With that, Cornelia left, wiping the tears from her cheeks.
"To think that I didn't plan to sing that." Nyx said with a sniffle. "But, it worked out. I got to say goodbye. Opps. I forgot to tell everyone."
People leaned forward to catch the teenager's words.
"Thanks for all of your support. I just realized this was the same place where I sang 'Once upon a December' as a little girl." Nyx said with a smile. "I bet some of you were here when I did that. That was the only time I was ever nervous onstage. Can you imagine that? Being so young, and in front of an audience who knows of your family's reputation? It can be scary. But, hey, this isn't the time for fear."
People cheered.
"As you, hopefully, have heard," Nyx said, "the Dark Lord, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, Voldemort," almost everyone flinched, "is alive and well. I have an announcement. I am transferring to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in Scotland. My career path is dangerous, but I believe it is the right one for me." Nyx lifted her chin. "I'm training to be what the English Ministry of Magic calls an Auror."
Gasps and cries of "Are you crazy?!" were shouted.
Suddenly: "I think she would do well."
Mr. S was onstage. "I have known Nyx before she came on this stage for the first time. Her heart is good and I believe that she would be excellent." He turned to the people. "Would you like an encore?"
Cheers again.
"It's your stage, Nyx. Make it unforgettable."
Nyx looked at all of the people. "No music, please. I have never sang this song before. I heard it in a dream a long time ago…"
Nyx took out a violin, and began to play. The sorceress pushed all thoughts out of her mind as she shut her eyes. A harp began to accompany the violin, and Nyx stood up, leaving the violin to play by itself. Her gown shifted. The loose white cloth slid up to her throat and fell down, creating simple black robes that clinged to her body. It was obvious that she was in a trance.
"Ashes to ashes," this Nyx spoke in a dark clear voice, "Dust to dust. Let madness take its toll on the innocent in due time."
The listeners were entranced with fear and horror.
"A child's innocence, taken advantage. Power from three, stolen away by fear for others." Nyx continued in that eerie voice. "Moonlight, never truly charming. Shadows, always weak from light. A seed of madness planted in a bright star, to sprout by the Dark Lord. Will the shining star be saved before the shattering?"
Nyx's robes became gray, and her voice became different once again. Her eyes opened. "One plus one equals two, two plus one equals three. Three equals destiny. There are many in this game of game, but only four are important. Ashes, Grave Dust, Innocence, and Darkness. If Darkness taints the innocence, a fifth will come. I can't speak any more. Fare thee well!" Nyx blew a kiss and a silver mist gathered around the people.
"Let the young forget what they have heard."