Backstage with the other competitors, Daren used his Semblance to fix my leg. It would last for till midnight. Plenty of time to wreck these poor dears from the floor up.

There was a light in Daren's eyes, the fire of competition. The same fire that burned in Elise's eyes in the arena. We stretched and did our breathing exercises. There were three levels to the competition. First the singles. Then the two duo rounds.

Your score was your score in the single round and the duos rounds added up. So we both had to kill the singles then come in, hit the first duo hard and then finish them in the second duo round with In Noctem. The interesting twist was you didn't know what song you were dancing to in the singles and the first duo round till the song came on. They could pull from any genre from any kingdom. The second song was the song that you had to prepare for the judges.

I was excited. More than excited. I was ready.

For the singles round we were dressed in a basic black pair of canvas dance pants, a cropped black tank top for me and a full tank top for him and a sleeveless hooded jacket with The Dance in multicolored rhinestones with a silhouette of a man and a woman held close, one leg stretched out behind them and one of their arms reaching up to touch fingertips together.

Plain black dance shoes were on my feet and they could feel the rhythm of every song. I was dancing to myself backstage, relaxing, touching Daren's aura and letting his calm wash over me. Tonight he would be my center.

"Contestant 38: Daren Glass!" Daren grabbed my hand, kissed my knuckles and winked at me. "Wish me luck, Quicksilver." I ran my free hand through his windswept ash gray locks. "Knock 'm dead." I said before he vanished onto the stage. The crowd went wild and I wasn't surprised to hear mostly female voices cheering for him.

Daren was handsome, suave and probably the finest dancer I've ever met. He was also one hell of a teacher, partner and friend. Of course, he was a crowd favorite.

This was not his first competition of course but it was our first one together. The crowd went quiet as the music started up. At first, I thought it was going to be an operatic song and winced. Those were hard to pull off on a moment's notice.

Then I heard the words in a low baritone: "Let the Beat drop…" And I sighed in relief. They were favoring a hip hop style from Atlas and the Latin style music of Vacuo.

The song was of a medium tempo with heavy beats and pops in it mixed in with the opera soprano singing, melding into a techno movement. The lyrics were just at home in Raindance and so were Daren's moves.

Good Gods, no man should be able to move his body like that.

I reached out and felt around for Elise. She was towards the front of the audience, totally enraptured. I managed a quick peep when the music paused for a dramatic moment and Daren froze in his pose with his hips jutted forward, exposing his hipbones, staring intensely at someone in the crowd. Even when the music started up a heartbeat later, his eyes stayed fixed on that one person.

He's not dancing for these people. He's dancing for Elise.

I searched till I found her in the third row. He eyes were wide and fix upon her boyfriend, mouth partially open in awe. Yes, Elise, that is all yours.

The others were there in the audience around her, cheering for my partner, but Elise was totally still, hypnotized by the gorgeous guy on stage. I smiled at the cliché. One girl in the crowd, the attractive performer and out of all the girls in the crowd, his eyes found hers.

Tonight Daren was my center, but Elise was his.

When he finished his song and dropping into his final pose, the crowd went crazy. The judges were nodding and whispering to each other. Before he walked off the stage, he pointed at Elise with both index fingers and thumped his chest with his right hand.

He came backstage breathing heavily, seething with adrenaline and pride. He had killed it. "Contestant 39: Dahlia Derivalle!" He grabbed my shoulders and smiled with that insane smile of his. "Go get 'em, Quicksilver."

He backed up and I jumped high, tucking my knees up and clapped a couple times, hyping myself up.

I was going to own that stage.

I pulled my hood up so that my hair spilled in front of my shoulders and I ran out on stage. I was greeted with the bright lights of the stage and the rolling darkness in the audience. I could feel my friend's right in front of me.

The music started and they held their breath in anticipation. The beginning of the song was just a double timed beat before hitting a slow heavy beat as that beat dropped and the lyrics started. I don't know where this song was from but I'm fairly certain that it was not an appropriate song for a dance contest.

I shoved those thoughts away and focused on the beat. The beat would guide my moves and in my head I went screw it. If Daren could pull off sexy but clean then so could I with this song.

Push up to my body, sink your teeth into my flesh (Get undressed, t-taste the flesh).

Memories of the flashback earlier tried to attack but I turned that weight into a counterbalance on which my body moved. This was a sex song, no doubt about it but I was going to make sex look professional.

Hold me up against the wall, give it 'til I beg, give me some more.

I crossed my wrists above my head and rolled my body slowly. I was going to let everyone in the audience know that there was more than just terror in sinking your fangs into someone. Sometimes, there is pleasure.

I pulled out some dance moves that Daren would have called 'risqué' but from the feelings of approval coming from the judges, they were enjoying the sensual nature of my dance but were relieved to see that I wasn't preparing to do a strip routine on stage. I stayed strictly hip hop with sex appeal thrown in.

I moved my body, popping and rolling, dropping down and using my flexibility to emphasize the animalistic quality of the music. My hood fell back and my long loose hair became another prop in the show. It the light, each strand glowed like silver wire.

Even my fangs which I usual hid became a sort of prop. Many would think that they were fake, just a statement for dancing but for those who knew, those sharpened canines were all mine.

So at key moments in the dance, as I was rolling or bending my body, I peeled my upper lips back and exposed them to the audience. Everyone applauded passionately. But it was nothing compared to the cheers I got when the song finished and I stood legs wide, my left thumb in my waistband, running my other hand slowly through my hair.

Then I broke set and jumped on the balls of my feet smiling widely. I waved, threw kisses at the audience and then ran off. I blew a kiss at the private box that I could feel Oz residing in. Even from the stage, I easily reached out to him. He was on fire. I grinned and walked confidently off stage.

Daren caught me up in a tight hug, spinning me around. "That was a hell of a performance, lady luck. What was that song doing in the lineup though?" He said setting me down. "I know?! It seems so out of place but, I made it work." His pale blue gray eyes were full of energy and laughter.

"Yes, you did. So tell me, is our beloved Oz out there somewhere?" If I hadn't already been flushed from dancing, I would have turned red. "In the private box in the back. That's where he said." Daren enjoyed teasing me about Oz but when he had met the man for his interview, they had found each other quite companionable.

Maybe it was a shared position of being in love with a student of theirs. After all, once Daren started teaching, Elise would be one of his students. For that matter so would I.

The thought made me laugh and Daren just quirked an eyebrow at me as he handed me a towel. I wasn't sweating but I ran it over my face anyways. "One down, two more to go. And these we do together." I held up a fist and Daren bumped it with his. "Two till victory, Quicksilver. No one can touch us."

His confidence flowed into me and the call for the second round began. I had been second to last in the singles round and now all the people who were just competing in the singles were sitting in the audience to see the duos. The competition was heating up.

"We're on after these first guys. You ready?" He murmured stretching again to keep his muscles loose and warm.

"Bring it." I said fiercely following his lead and stretching. I especially stretched my right leg. It had the tendency to tense up as if it was preparing for the pain all the time. There would be no pain though, not till later.

"I hope it's a fast song. I need to move and get all this out before In Noctem." I said, breathlessly. Daren agreed wholeheartedly. My feet were still feeling the rhythm and gods I just wanted to dance.

So, well, I did. I just started randomly moving my body in the most awkward way I possibly could, trying to shake it all off. Daren saw this and had to bite down on his hand to keep from laughing.

When I was finished, I was still pumped but no longer jittery. "That, my friend, was glorious."

"Next up: Daren Glass and Dahlia Derivalle from The Dance!" We went out on stage and the music started as we ran out. They didn't want us to have time to coordinate and they wanted to test our reflexes.

What they couldn't know is that we knew the song. From the first beat and clap of the song we looked at each other and grinned.

It was a song straight out of the urban cities of Vacuo. It was street dance style, very hip hop but Daren and I had plenty of the more traditional moves thrown in for flavor. We hadn't done that particular routine in a while since both of us enjoyed the traditional style dances like salsa but it came back to us quickly.

We even incorporated some fighting moves into the dance. A few punches, toss over kicks, dodges and face offs. I let the attitude of the music use me like an instrument. I felt sassy and hyped, ready to dance and fight in equal turns.

And Daren, God of Dance, moved just as well as I did, each pop, lock and drop, matching me flawlessly in attitude and style. We stomped and shook, rolled and rocked, flipping and throwing in bits of fancy foot work whenever we thought it appropriate. We knew each other well enough to roll with any additions. We excelled at freestyle for that reason.

I wanted to laugh at the differences in our two performances. Soon we would do In Noctem which was a solemn Ballet performance and here we were doing street hip hop.

Talk about a 180.

We finished in a pose with me on my knees facing the audience, knees wide, looking sassy with a raised eyebrow and Daren behind me, feet on either sides of my legs with his hands in the air like he just did a throw down.

Nailed it.

Daren helped me to my feet and we dashed off stage as another team went on, tango music beginning behind us. I took a deep breath in and let it out. "One more." Daren nodded doing the same as me. "We'll leave them weeping. We go on last. Since ours is such a slow song, they figured we'd be a good way to end the night." I nodded, feeling the rush earlier begin to fade.

He pushed me towards the girls dressing room, grinning. "Go get dolled up, Quicksilver. By the time you're finished it'll be time for us to go on." I stuck my tongue out at him and walked lightly to the dressing room.

There were plenty of other girl lounging around waiting for their first round and one other girl getting ready for her prepared dance. She was stunning in a royal purple dress that matched her hair with a high slit up her right and a low cut bodice. I noticed though, as I'm sure others did, that her dress was strapless.

There always one isn't there? I sent a quick prayer up that she wasn't doing a fast dance. I didn't like secondhand embarrassment and that's all I would get if her dress fell while she was onstage.

Instead of dwelling on her, I went and found my costume. It was a lovely piece of art that Elise had created with Daren. The bodice was black with touches of gray around the fringes and down the front in a lattice like pattern. It was held up by mesh that came right up to the hollow of my throat, giving the look of strapless with no chance of a slip up. The skirt was a ruffled many layered tutu made of black silk with gray edges so that the underneath of it looked gray when I did my standing splits. My point shoes were all black with a gray sheen to them and black ribbons crisscrossing up my calves, reminiscent of my new attire.

My hair was smoothed back and done into a large sock bun at the crown of my head, which had a fake black rose tucked into it dripping with fake black gems. And for the final touch, Elin had drawn up my makeup. The artist back stage was impressed with the detailed instructions Elin had written her and when she was finished, I rested my chin on my hands and looked for my face since I didn't recognize the creature in the mirror.

The woman whose face bore resemblance to mine in the mirror had shadow in eyelids with black wings that extended out to her temple and the sharp points faded to gray. There were deep shadows beneath her prominent cheekbones and she was very pale. Her nose was contoured and highlighted to look sharper, her eyebrows highlighted but color untouched as the darkened silver was a hard color to match. The blackened silver lashes were coated in midnight black mascara and had fake lashes glued to them to make them look thicker. She could hear whenever she blinked. Finally her lips were painted as deep a black as her eye makeup.

Only my eyes didn't change. They remained that wonderful dark blue that my father had gifted me.

I smiled in the mirror and then closed my lips. I looked like something out of a vampire novel.

And Daren was right. By the time I was perfectly made up, the room was crowded with girls getting undone from their performances. I watched for a solid five minutes as a girl ungelled her hair from a neon green spiked Mohawk.

I stepped carefully out of everyone's way and flounced out of the room. I had to flounce. It's impossible not to do so in pointe shoes.

Daren looked striking in his black dance suit. His normally wild hair was now carefully combed and swept to the side. There was even subtle makeup on him, making him look haunting as well.

"Well, Quicksilver. I will say. You clean up nice. Even if it doesn't look like you are actually you." He said grinning, his eyes flicking up and down before fixing on my face. I went to kiss his cheek when he dodged and laughed. "Forgive me dear, but black lipstick doesn't come off easy."

My teeth flash white in the black of my lips. "Indeed. You ready?" I asked and he held his hand out. I gently place my hand in his and we faced the curtain together. I took a deep breath in, reached for Daren and relaxed.

"Our final performance of the night: Daren Glass and Dahlia Derivalle of The Dance performing In Noctem!"

Then I stepped out of the stage, released Daren's hand and got in my beginning pose before I let In Noctem sweep me away.

Carry my soul, into the night

May the stars guide my way

I glory in the sight

As Darkness takes the day

Ferte In Noctem Animam Meam

Illustre Stelle Viam Meam

Aspectu Illo Glorior

Dum Capit Nox Diem

Cantante Vitae Canticu

Sine Dolore Acte

Dicite Eis

Sing a Song

A Song of Life

Made without Regrets

Tell the ones

The ones I love

I never will forget

Never will Forget…

We finished in our final pose, holding each other by the waist and leaning back as far as we could with our necks exposed. My eyes were closed and though the song had ended, there was silence.

We came back up and turned to the audience. Stunned faces, teary faces, awe filled faces. The judges were holding tissues to their eyes. Daren looked at me startled. This was not what we had expected. So I took his hand, walked up a few steps and dipped into a deep curtsey while he bowed accordingly.

That was the que apparently to cheer. It wasn't loud since no one wanted to be loud after that but it was intense and lasted forever. It didn't stop even when we exited the stage.

I looked up at Daren. "We won." I said matter of factly. He smiled and let the tension he had been holding leave his body. "I do believe you are right, Quicksilver." I hugged him tightly, willing myself not to cry and mess up my makeup.

I felt my team coming and turned to greet them. Elise squealed and threw herself at us. Daren gallantly caught her and swung her around. Elin came to congratulate me and inspect my makeup and hair. Peyton was carrying a bouquet of a dozen roses. "Oh, Peyton you shouldn't have." I said accepting them graciously.

"Oh, they aren't from me." He said with a self-satisfied smile. I looked at Elin who grinned and shook his head. Elise was staring at me intensely waiting for my reaction.

I blushed a red crimson from my crown to my toes. "HAH! I knew it! Pay up boys!" Elise yelled, marching over to Elin and Peyton with Daren in tow. I looked at the card which simply said in his graceful handwriting, 'I will love you till the last rose dies'.

What an odd thing to say.

Daren read the message and looked at the bouquet knowingly but refused to tell me what it meant.

"I was also told to tell you that a dance has been requested of you." Elise murmured in my ear when she came to hug me. "What are you now, a go between?" The blonde girl waggled her eyebrows and swept away but not before turning.

"Dahlia? That was the most beautiful dance I've ever seen in my life." I smiled and waved as she vanished with her arm linked happily with Daren's who, when I touched his soul, felt warm and content. It was wonderful to see his inner strength blended with her physical strength, becoming a whole new entity.

"Dahlia. You've got a dance to get to." Peyton said, pulling Elin in close. Suddenly I was eager to be gone. "I'll see you all bright and early to report for our assignment." They nodded and shooed me. "We know. Daren will make sure Elise is ready. Now go!"

I cast one last loving look on them before I disappeared into the throng to grab my clothes and my makeup bag. I had a dance to get to and I didn't want to be late.

The hardest part was taking the makeup off.

I felt like I could still feel traces of it on my face, even after I had scrubbed and wiped and scraped it off my face. In the corner of my room now stood a vase of roses that stood near my unused bed.

Once I had the makeup off as best I could, which there were still shadows beneath my cheekbones and my lips were a touch darker than they should be and I still had a slight black sheen to my eyelids, I threw on a long black nightgown, a grey over robe and ran to the tower with condensed Orchid in my hand.

I had a few more hours till Daren's Semblance would wear off but I'd want her to get around in the morning.

The days were growing colder and the night longer. It was a relief to reach the elevator entrance and go inside. It would be highly embarrassing to show up with the intention of dancing when I couldn't stop my teeth from chattering.

The office was quiet except for the clunks and thunks of the clock's machinery.

Pulling the lever, I climbed the stairs to Oz's- my room. He was there, sipping his nightly tea and smiling.

He had taken off his overcoat and left his vest and button up on but rolled his sleeves up to his elbows. His spectacles were on the nightstand and the room was only lit by star and moonlight that gleamed off his silvery gray hair.

He stepped forward to embrace me and I sank into his arms like it was as natural as breathing. Home.

Kissing the top of my head he gently eased back and cleared his throat. "I'm not sure I could do all the dances you did tonight but, I can do this." He walked to a music player and his Scroll on his bookshelf and pressed the play button for both of them, the song title simply being: Our Song. Beautiful music filled the room and he walked to the middle of the space and held out his hand.

I was in a nightgown and a robe with traces of makeup stuck to my face and my hair curling in the oddest way from my bun.

When I walked over to him and curtseyed low and he bowed. I placed my hand in his and let him pull me close, clasping my right hand in his left and settling his right hand on my hip. My left hand gently cupped his muscular shoulder. Then we were waltzing. He really was quite the dancer, all poise and warmth. I could picture us doing this years from now in our own home with our children fast asleep, waltzing in our bedroom.

It was a small room but I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else, not even the grandest ballroom. We dipped and flowed around the music, not saying anything. There were no words needed.

We were dancing among the stars.

Song list:

Elin's song for the contest: "Adele Medley"- Alex Goot, Justin Robinett & Michael Henry

Dahlia's song for the contest: Scarborough Fair – Celtic Woman

Weiss' song for the contest: Mirror Mirror-Casey Lee Williams (because I'm super lame)

Daren's first dance song: Beat Drop- Simon Curtis

Dahlia's first dance song: Flesh- Simon Curtis

Daren and Dahlia's first duo dance: Latino's Go Dumb- Freddy Chingas

Dahlia and Daren's final dance: In Noctem (From Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince movie)

Oz and Dahlia's Waltz: River Flows in You- Slow Waltz