DISCLAIMER: Nu-uh…not mine. Just borrowing the characters and setting for a little while.

A/N: Well, here's chapter two. Sorry I didn't get it out there sooner, but I've been a bit on the busy side. I don't quite know when I'll be updating this. I would like to tell you all that I'll be updating at least once a week…but I don't think that that'll happen. Just don't have the time for it, really. So you all will just have to be patient with me on this, alright? Thank ya.

And one more thing before I continue on. I'm going to domy best not take the characters out of character, but sometimes I'm sure it's going to happen. Mostly, however, I think it's going to be in the way that the characters are going to be more serious in this story then they are in the anime. I'll still try to include some of the 'cute' kinda humor that the show is known for...but expect this to be a bit more on the 'serious' side then anything else. Just wanted to warn you about that.

And now...on with it, I suppose!

--------------------------------------
Chapter Two:
Explanation
--------------------------------------

Quickly he made his way through the familiar halls of the main backstage area of the Kaleido Stage, the only sound around him the steady 'thump' as he placed one foot in front of the other. He moved on auto-pilot, the path he took so familiar to him that no thought was required to turn down one hallway, to open that door. This building was like a second home to his own, as beloved and familiar as the house that he lived in with his father, mother and younger sister. It wasn't just the building, either, that he though of in this way. The feeling extended to every person who worked in and for the show. So many of these people had become so dear to him, so much a part of his life, that they had become as a second, albeit larger, family.

Some people, however, had become even more dear to him then that.

New sounds began to assault his ears, low at first but steadily growing in volume the closer he came to the large training room where he knew everyone would retreat to for a party of almost ridiculous proportions.

He paused outside the large double doors and drew in a breath. He was really in no mood to deal with so many cheerful and happy people at the time, not after finding Sora the way she was. What he really wanted was to go back and continue to hold her, to offer comfort against whatever it was that had so hurt her. To do that, he would need to know just what it was that was bothering her, and the best way to do that would be to go straight to what appeared to be the source of the problem: Layla Hamilton.

Reaching out one arm he pushed open the door before him, the sounds previously held in check behind the shut entry increasing in volume. Silently he slipped inside, pausing just there for a moment to scan the heavily occupied room.

Music pumped through speakers he knew to be hidden in each corner of the room, and everywhere on the floor people danced to the steady beat of the bass. Of course, not everyone was dancing. Around the edges of the floor familiar people stood in clumps, talking and laughing loudly.

No where in the room did he see the one whom he was looking for, but then again that didn't mean that she wasn't in here somewhere. He would have to leave his post by the door to go look for her, that was all. With that in mind he finally stepped away from the doors and began further into the room. Blue eyes searched diligently for the elegant form of one of the leading stars of the company, but continually failed to find her. The further he got into the room without seeing her, the more he began to think that maybe he was wrong, and that she wasn't there at all. Before he could think to much on that idea, he heard someone shout his name above the crowd.

"Ken! Hey, Ken!" Turning to his left he winced at the figures now approaching him. Charlotte and Julie, two of only a handful of people who he wasn't really all that fond of, though they seemed to be plenty fond of him. As soon as they were within arms distance of the young stage manager, each girl grabbed one arm to hang off of.

"Did you see it Ken? It was amazing, wasn't it?" Julie practically squealed the words, hugging his left arm close to her body.

"They were flying! Like…like they had wings!" Charlotte continued on his other side just as soon as her friend left off, Ken's right arm just as trapped as his left.

Well…at least it seems they've forgotten about their rivalry with Sora in all this. He thought with an inner sigh. If the night were different the though might have carried with it some amusement, but tonight it came out a bit bitters sounded to his own internal ears.

"Yes, of course I saw it." He replied to them patiently, as he might to a smaller child, before carefully extracting his arms from their hold. "And it was amazing. But right now I have something that I need to do." Blue eyes scanned through the crowd once again, seeking, before settling once again on their faces. "Maybe one of you have seen Layla?"

The two girls before him exchanged glances before shaking their heads in identical answers of 'No'.

"I thought for sure she'd be here at the party but…" Julie began, trailing off only to have Charlotte pick up the rest of the sentence.

"She's not. And neither is Sora." At the mention of the pink haired performer she lifted her nose into the air a little and sniffed. "That Sora Nagino…probably thinks she's too good for the rest of us, now."

Looks like they remembered that rivalry, after all. He noted silently, resisting the urge to roll his eyes skyward.

"Yeah, exactly!" Quick to support her friend's opinion, Julie had to throw in her two cents. "She's always been like that, you know." She told Ken seriously, annoyance for their fellow performer coloring her words. "And after tonight, she'll just-"

Unable to take any more of the girl's words, Ken stopped cut her off mid-sentence, struggling to keep his voice from reflecting the annoyance and aggravation he was feeling currently.

"No, she hasn't." He stated firmly, some of the feeling he was trying to cover managing to slip through. Each girl's eyes widened just a fraction of an inch. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to find Layla."

"Well…I'm sure Kalos would know." Julie offered before he could turn away. "He always seems to know where everyone is."

Ken nodded. If Layla wasn't here at the party, that was going to be his next destination. He was already positive that if anyone knew where to find the woman, it was their main boss, and Ken knew right where to find him.

"Ya, thanks."

Waving one hand absently at the two in departure he quickly made his way back to the door he had come in through, and finally back out to the hall.

"Alright. Next stop, Kalo's office." He muttered to himself as he began in that direction at a fast walk. "And there better be some answers there."

--------------------------------------

Anna and Mia half supported, half carried their friend through the halls of the Kaleido Stage, occasionally pulling their gazes long enough from Sora's broken form to share concerned expressions over her head.

Neither of them had ever seen, or had expected to see, the seemingly ever cheerful Sora Nagino in such a way. It wasn't even a thought that had crossed either of their minds. The Japanese girl was just so bubbly and cheerful, almost overbearingly so, it was quite impossible to imagine her in any other way.

To see her so now, Anna was sure that somewhere in the world a pig had just grown itself a pair of wings and took off into the clear blue sky.

The trio had now made it to their destination. Allowing Mia to support Sora, Anna stepped forward to open the dressing room door, stepping to one side to allow the other two entry. Just as soon as they were all inside the comedic hopeful swiftly shut and locked the wooden door before turning and quickly making her way to where Mia had sat with Sora on the only couch in the room.

Taking her place on the right side of Sora, Anna placed a calming hand on her the back of her friend's trembling body. Mia, on Sora's other side, already had her arms wrapped about the girls shoulders, softly murmuring words of comfort into her ear.

On the way to the room Sora's sobs had begun to slow, the tears to stop flowing so freely from her pink eyes. Now alone in the dressing room with her two best friend's it only took a minute or so for it all to stop completely. The hiccups had set in, a 'condition' not at all unusual for a person who had just cried so hard as she, and every so often her small frame would jerk with the spasm of her diaphragm (1). Silence was dominant in the room, broken only occasionally by the small 'he-yuck' sounds of Sora's hiccups.

Over Sora's bowed head, Anna and Mia's eyes met, and a whole conversation took place without words.

Is she alright? Anna's expression seemed to ask silently, one hand still moving in small circles on Sora's lower back.

I don't know. Mia answered in the same silence, shaking her blonde head slightly. A small frown turned pulled her lips downward. Should we ask her what happened?

No. Anna shook her head. Unless she brings up what happened, or until Ken comes back with it we should just be here for her.

A nod from Mia to show she understood and agreed, and the conversation for the time was over. The silence last for only a short while longer, and when it was broken it was neither Anna nor Mia who broke it. It was Sora herself.

"Anna…Mia…" Her voice was soft and hoarse from her previous sobs, the names punctuated by another loud hiccup. Anna's hand on her back stilled in it's circular pattern. Sora shifted, and as she began to straighten from the half bent slouch position she was in Anna removed her hand completely at the same time that Mia removed her arms from around Sora's shoulders. Within a moment the pink hair Japanese girl between them was sitting up straight, shoulders pressed against the back of the couch. For a moment she simply gazed ahead at nothing, before turning her head first in Anna's direction and then Mia's. Her eyes were swollen and bloodshot, her nose dripping, face red and tear streaked. All in all, she wasn't a very pretty sight to behold. A few tears still stubbornly clung to her lower eye lashes, and raising one hand she began to wipe them away.

Without a word Anna stood and made her way across the room to the nearest make-up station where the performers always keep a box or more of tissues. Grabbing the rectangular cardboard box she made her way back across the room. Reclaiming her seat beside Sora she pulled a few from the box herself before offering them to her friend, receiving a soft 'thank you' in return.

Setting to cleaning herself up a little, Sora blew her nose with one of the offered tissues before wiping at her eyes with a second clean one. She didn't want to think about what had happened, about the words Layla had spoken. Didn't want to think about losing the partner she had found in the other performer. Didn't want to think that that same partner had lied to her…had kept something so important from her…

If she had any more tears left to cry she knew they would be falling. Closing the twin brown orbs at the thoughts running through her head she forced herself to think of something else. Of her friendship with Anna and Mia beside her. She could feel their gazes on her, could feel the concern radiating from them both like she could feel the sun's heat on a summer day.

"It…" She began, swallowing down the large baseball sized lump that had managed to wedge itself in her throat. She knew that they wouldn't ask her what had happened, wouldn't want to upset her in thinking about it once again after she had just managed to calm down. However she felt that she should tell them, that it wouldn't be right to make the two girls worry so much over her. "La…Layla…she…" Her throat constricted painfully, and no more words would escape from her. Another sob broke free of her throat, and she lifted her hands to cover her face.

"Sora…" Both Anna and Mia began, each girl reaching out to their friend once again.

Lowering her hands once again, the pink haired performer shook her head and tried again, fighting past the lump in her throat that she now could not get rid of.

"She didn't tell me." She managed in a choked, pain filled whisper.

Anna's eyebrows drew down. "Didn't tell you what, Sora?" She asked, assuming that the 'she' that Sora spoke of was Layla.

"Didn't tell me that…her shoulder…no longer…perform…" Sora's words ended in another sob, and Anna wished she could take back the question. Mia just looked to her and sighed before gathering Sora into her arms, and once again whispering words of comfort to her hair; Her mind, however, was whirling with the meaning to Sora's garbled explanation.

------------------------------------

Elsewhere in the Kaleido Stage complex, Ken stared wide-eyed silence. In front of him, seated as always behind his desk, Kalos stared back, unblinking and cool.

"What?" The young stage manager finally managed to get out, voice soft and reflective of his shock.

"Layla Hamilton has left for the hospital with Dr. Kate earlier this evening, just after the completion of her performance with Sora." The spiky haired man explained once again in a voice devoid of emotion. "During the training for the Legendary Great Maneuver she received an injury to her right shoulder. In honesty she shouldn't have preformed tonight, but insisted. Now, because of that injury received during training and made more extensive tonight, she will never be able to perform as a Kaleido Star again."

"…Did Sora know about this?" Ken questioned, despite the fact that he already knew the answer. If Sora had known, there was no way the performer would have let her partner go out there tonight. "About her shoulder being so bad?"

Kalos said nothing, just shook his head once in a negative.

Ken stared at the man a moment more, Kalos gazing right back. Finally Ken nodded once, a thank you for the information, before he finally turned to leave the large office space.

Once he was outside the room and the door was shut behind him he shut his eyes and leaned against the wall.

So…that's what had happened. This would be Layla's last Kaleido Stage performance and no one bothered to tell her partner.

Anger sparked in his heart. How could Layla have kept that from Sora? Something so serious? Sora should have been told, should have been warned about the consequences, but she hadn't been. Now, because of that lack of thought, the young woman was totally heartbroken over the loss. It wasn't right.

She should have been told! Ken shouted in his mind, wishing that there was something softer around him then hard concrete walls to bash his fist against to release some of his boiling anger.

Sucking in a deep, not as calming as he would have liked, lungful of air he began to make his way towards the halls for the dressing rooms. He didn't want Sora to see him this angry, even on her own behalf, but he still had to tell Anna and Mia what he had learned.

A/N: I couldn't seem to fin myself a good stopping point, this go around! Not that that's a really bad thing, I guess, but I certainly didn't want this chapter to go on forever and a day!

Anyhow…reviews are always wonderful to see (hint hint ), and any questions you have can be asked there as well.

Hope you all enjoyed the waited for Chapter Two of my still nameless fiction.