Author's Note: Here's the music used to inspire this chapter:

watch?v=wmvjJ2Eaj50&list=PLtI_hUhuaOILMfwsZEnqU7_1JnMp71yvf&t=0s&index=3

Or, just type in on YouTube: "All I Want For Christmas Is You (Onderkoffer Trap Remix)" By, 'Trap Bomb'

You don't have to give it a listen :) (not like you can read the whole chapter in the time it takes for that song to finish but ya know).

P.S: If you do listen to it, just imagine that it doesn't repeat "mother fucker" towards the end :)

Enjoy the Chapter!

-L.E-Rae _x_

"Be fearless in the pursuit of what sets your sole on fire."

-Jennifer Lee

Chapter 2 - Fire Dance

The same commentator from earlier sounded through the speakers with the familiar feedback making him wince. The introduction was wordy, but Lance guessed it was written to get your heart racing because his certainly was. Soon, all the flood lights shining from earlier blacked out, only the village's street lights slightly illuminating the field, allowing the stars above to sit freely in the black canvas. Then, the music started.

At first, Lance thought it was the commentator again, but the spoken line faded into a light dancing of piano notes. It only took him a few momentary seconds to catch onto the tune of Mariah Carey as soon as both Keith and Olivia took to the stage, the former to Lance's right, the other on his left.

Their expressions were determined, in the mind-set for the stage, expecting the first line of the song to play-

'Merry Christmas ya' filthy animal!'

Keith looked straight to the DJ booth in shock where Peggy leaned over the top to blow a cheeky kiss down to her family and the crowd in fits of laughter. The two performers missed their cue from the initial confusion as to what had happened, rushing forward as to where they should have been.

'I don't want a lot for Christmas-'

Keith held his daughters left hand in his right and twirled until she fell limp onto his arms, slingshotting back up onto her feet as they continued to the other end of the stage.

'There is just one thing I need-'

There was no dancing, but the two still kept to the beat, removing their poi from where they were strung on a wall filled with other equipment.

'I don't care about the presents-'

Still in time with the slow music, they seemed to do their own thing to warm up their muscles by swinging them around, pulling them back sharply until they shared a look, saying they were ready.

'Underneath the Christmas tree-'

They both travelled across the stage to where a pit of fire danced in the lowed middle.

'I just want you for my own-'

Keith lit his poi and stepped over to where he stood in the beginning.

'More than you could ever know-'

As did Olivia.

'Make my wish come-'

They began twirling the fire in regular circles on both sides, occasionally bringing the flame across their bodies and snapping it back against the side it should be on. Despite the simplistic moves, the crowd muttered around Lance about how beautiful it was. Some children laughed and giggled excitedly, two twins jumping up and down like they were about to blast away.

'-truuuuueeee~~'

To the crowd's amazement they pulled the poi to the front of their bodies letting the fire twirl and dazzle and crackle, twisting and swirling together in a circular star with only one hand. As the high note ducked and dived in pitches, father and daughter swung the ignited star to-and-fro over their heads, threw their legs and around their torso's, so calmly Lance was slightly jealous.

'All I want for-'

Then, they began to walk together in strides, the fire still spiralling as they tossed it around themselves.

'—Christmaaaaaaaaaas~~'

Olivia bent towards her father as he leaned back unnaturally far, fire-hand still high in the air, giving it a few extra swings to keep it spinning like a rocketing carrousel.

'—iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiss~~'

This time, it was Keith leaning against Olivia except this time, handed her poi over to her father's free hand once he'd pecked her on the forehead, almost unnoticed, since the crowd was so mesmerized by the spinning light and bodily contortions. As he leaned back up when the pitch changed, she went into a backwards walkover until they both faced each other once again. Keith threw Olivia's poi back towards her as they spun calmer where they both replaced the winding star back to the original singular circle.

'—youuuuu-'

The note sounded normal for a few beats, as did the fire, until stage lights beamed down in reds, oranges, whites and blues as the music dropped and the crowd burst out into gasps. The two skipped backwards in small jumps making the fire pull and push and bump and swirl in zig-zags along their fronts. Once they reached the edge of the stage, they dropped and swung back up many times like a malfunctioning robot, having the fireballs rise up and down erratically yet slowly, having gravity work them more than their arms themselves. Then- the beat dropped completely.

They shifted backwards then forwards into an extremely high round-off. They and fire landed with a bounce as they fell and caught themselves as the fire wrapped itself around them briefly, before unwrapping and repeating.

After many beats of the same move the two spun around once leaning as they threw the poi to each other swapping over continuing that until the set of beats dropped and rose once more. They skipped in a theatrical rhythm towards the front of the stage, sharing a subtle glance before stopping the poi mid-air, pulling the strings shorter in sync. It spun once again, but faster, faster and faster and faster, both blurry flames pulling together closer to their face- backs bending. The performers' wrists twirled to the point of an agonistic pain, the flames nearing their faces- the music dropped, as did the poi into a bucket of water, smoke rising with the steam in majestic clouds around them.

'Feel it comin' in the air—'

'Hear the screams from everywhere-'

The lights dimmed back to where they were at the start and Lance didn't miss the way Olivia's knees buckled slightly as she bent down to gulp on the water at the edge of the stage beside all the other equipment. Giving a grin and a thumbs up to her dad as he too, put down his already half drank bottle, they retreated to the edge of the stage pulling out what seemed like two smaller poles, which connected once they slotted the sides together.

'I'm addicted to the thrill-'

It was only then did Lance realise the change in song to Rihanna and JAY Z's "Run This Town" melding in very nicely with the rest of the remix. As Keith and Olivia began warming up like they did for the first part with the poi, Lance looked to Mateo and Marisa both eyes wide in awe.

"You enjoying this?"

Mouth still agape, Mateo nodded eyes fixed comically on the stage from his shoulder. Marisa however, looked to him like she'd just seen a chest of treasure for her to keep and pointed frantically at the stage, "this is amazing, Papá! I-I-I can't believe you know someone this awesome!"

'It's a dangerous love affair-'

Lance cocked an eyebrow, "who? Keith? P-lease! I'm much cooler than that mullet."

'Can't be scared when it goes down-'

Marisa looked amused, "can you spin fire with no fear?"

"W-well…"

'Got a problem tell me now-'

"Didn't think so." She turned back to the stage with a quick flip of her curly, brown locks, but leaned back into her father's arm like a silent peace offering. Lance gladly accepted.

'Only thing that's on my mind-'

Staring back to the action, both ends of the poles were alight with lapping flames, flying above the two's head, again, in a simple circle.

'Is who's gonna run this town tonight-'

The beat drops once again and he spars a glance to Peggy up in the box jamming with her head to the beat, pressing a few things as the lights switch back on in hysterics. Through the build-up, the spins sped up as they moved backwards away from the crowd. Then the beat dropped and hell broke loose once again with flips towards the edge of each's side of the stage.

"Oh my god, Papá! Jingle bells?!" Marisa shook Lance's arms as the note of 'tonight' was drawn out into a funky jingle bell's rock out. The crowd went wild.

Olivia and Keith pulled the stick apart into its two forms juggling three as the other threw across the third. Then the pitch broke low and Keith spun towards the back of the stage throwing Olivia his other two batons for her to juggle in unique and dangerous ways.

With everything that was going on, Lance didn't really notice Keith leave. He only really realised when he returned with a hoop on a wheeled stand as Olivia killed two of the flames, throwing one of the two remaining back at her dad. In sync with a bow, they ignited the hoop in a surge of orange disposing of the flame by swallowing it. The crowd lapped it up.

They were throwing the hoop, catching it, swinging it around themselves everywhere. Almost like a dance-battle, but with fire. Each move performed, the other copied and over time each got more deadly. Neither seized.

With the crowd high in whoops and cheers, clapping onto the beat once the music changed once more to a more of a humming drum, low and hungry for a build-up as the two dampened the hoop and replaced it with a new one of which Olivia was quick to jump into with a front handspring. At this point, it was only the girl on stage, Keith departed with the old ring and nowhere to be seen. Then this new hoop rose slower at the start, faster with the music later on. Olivia twisted and spun, bending herself in moves of the song, as elegant as an eagle but as fierce as a phoenix. Next, she was building up momentum with a swing forwards and back so as the beat dropped again, she launched her body through the air landing in another hoop, further back than the first. The hoop lowered down to a platform where she stood on shaky legs. She stumbled slightly and the crowd gasped as she neared the edge, but she regained her posture and paced back as if for a running jump.

And that is what she did just after she watched the bar be engulphed in flames, only two hand holds visible. With a sigh of relief from the crowd, she landed the jump, swinging herself onto the up-side of the bar, spreading her legs into an air-split, pausing for a dramatic effect and then snapping them shut like scissors, falling gracefully round and round the bar with such ease Lance gawped. Then the bar lowered itself to a much safer (but not as safe as it could have been) height. With a flash of the lighting, the flames raving around her delicate fingers blanked out into nothing but smoke as she finished up on her final roll.

Olivia pulled herself up so she stood appropriately on the cooling bar awaiting the rope suddenly thrown from the ceiling to cease its swinging. It was then that Keith flipped himself back onto the stage, showing off every gymnastic move in the book- some Lance had never even seen before. There was something off… but he couldn't put a name to it.

When Marisa was seven, she'd applied for gymnastic classes but quit after a year and a half. She'd been to a few minor competitions, and the house TV was almost always switched to championships when that show was running. So, Lance had (not a genius level but) a fair level of knowledge for the sport. And the way Keith sprung into a few springs and landed them… it didn't look as fluent as it should have been. But Lance saved this minor detail and smiled a little wider.

Olivia gripped to the rope and wrapped it around her slim, yet muscly figure then the music sped up and the entire crowd's hearts were racing beyond imaginable. The rope held her and she began rolling down vertically as the knot she had made earlier held her in place. She neared the ground at a plummeting rate and Lance thought he'd have to look away- but Keith backflipped beneath her, holding her up like a trophy, one hand between her shoulder blades, the other on her thighs. Their chests heaved and sweat beads bled from their brows so dense, you must have been able to thread them on a string.

The music stopped. Stopped for real this time. The crowd erupted in screams of applaud. Lance looked at his children who were in hysterical clapping. Lance gazed at the stage at first in awe. Then his wide mouth changed to a wide grin and he cheered too.

Keith and Olivia neared the edge of the stage, smiling so wide, Lance betted their cheeks ached like nothing else. Olivia was stumbling again, shaking with adrenaline and Keith placed an arm around his daughter supportively. They both bowed shakily and the crowd picked up again with praise.

Olivia looked up to her dad and threw her arms around him, they embraced threw the rest of the gratitude from the festival grounds- even through the commentator's thanks and compliments. And with one final bow and wave they retreated from the stage.

Well… Lance could have been wrong, but he could have sworn Keith made eye contact as the crowd began to head towards the food stands once more, ready for the fireworks display, and gave one soft look from him to the bus. Whether it was or not, didn't matter because the three were invited anyway. Plus, Mateo and Marisa were ecstatic to see him and Olivia so they pushed their way through the families gathering and talking either about family-stuff or the breath-taking performance every eye in his village had just been lucky enough to have witnessed.

Author's Note: … I've messed up haven't I?

This chapter WAS written, I swear! I just... I forgot to upload it...

So, so sorry.

There wasn't really much happening in this chapter... but I promise a hint into Keith and Lance's back stories next chapter! So look out for that!

Anyway, take care! I'll upload very soon! Promise!

-L.E-Rae _x_