Hi!
Again, sorry for taking so long to update. I have a very limited time to devote to my computer, including homework and such. So please, bear with me. On the up-side, usually the longer I take to update, the longer the chapter is, so yay!
StakeMeSpike04-I am so sorry! I did spell your name wrong didn't I? Well, if it makes you feel any better, I feel horrible that I mistook your name for a piece of meat! Forgive me! Heehee, I was beginning to worry myself, it is taking me so long to update. Yay! I'm so glad you think it's 21st century enough. I was worried it would be too much like the real thing. Hope you like this chapter!
StarfireFowl-thank you! I am sorry it's taking me so long with these chapters…
AnotherFreakishFan-Thank you! And I agree, if you like dialogue, then "Notes", "Prima Donna", and "Twisted in every way" should be well anticipated.
TitansFan-I know, I could never figure it out either! They always talk so dang fast, its just like whoa, SLOW DOWN! But, yeah, I don't care much for this song either, but that's mainly because it's not as interesting in my point of view.
Robin+Starfire-haha! Yes, it is VERY funny! I agree, the "wrotewritten" line was like the best part, I thought.
Laurashrub-I still can't find that mistake…sheesh, I'm so blind. Well, super happy you liked it! Hope this one is as good!
Robin and Star Fan-thank you! I hope you like this one, and please pardon my taking so long to update!
"Kori!"
Kiona almost screamed in anger at the words being said in the letters. Her tan delicate face was now twisted into an outraged mess of fury.
Victor backed away from her in fear. He rolled his eyes in the other direction so she would not see.
"Whatever next…?"
He suddenly shut up as he heard Kiona continue to screech her anger out at all who surrounded.
"It's all a ploy
To help Kori!"
Gar backed away as well.
"This is insane…"
Kori pointed an accusing finger at Richard and yelled all the more.
"I know who sent this,
Richard Grayson, her lover!"
Richard gave her a look of a person to whom had lost their mind. He gave a bitter snort of sarcasm as he glared at the popular girl.
"Indeed?"
He turned to Gar and Victor, a look of true impatience on his face.
"Can you believe this?"
Victor in turn, looked to Kiona, trying to keep peace.
"Kiona…"
She ignored him.
"Oh, Xhal!"
She complained in her native language out loud in frustration; half to the thespians and half to herself.
Gar put his hand to his head.
"This is a joke…"
Victor interrupted him, trying to gain back the calmness of the diva.
"This changes nothing!"
"Oh, you Klorbag!"
"Say what?"
"Kiona!"
She flipped her hair haughtily. Her better-than-thou attitude was getting on Richard's last nerve. He walked to the opposite side of the room with a desperate wave of his hand to his two friends, who were now at the dismal mercy of Kiona Anders. Gar quickly ran over to the girl and tried to override her emotional outbursts.
"You are our star!"
"And always will be!" Victor added. Gar got in front of him.
"Kiona!"
"The man is mad!"
"We don't take orders!"
Victor said aloud so all could hear,
"Miss Anders will be playing the Pageboy,
The silent role…"
Victor regretted these words. He would much rather have Kiona kicked out of theatre for all eternity for all he cared. But the problem still remained of how people were to continue to see the shows.
The only answer was to keep Kiona in the musicals, for she brought the biggest crowds. Being the most popular girl in school, it was very hard not to give her what she wanted. Nevertheless, the more popular you were, the more people who come to the plays. For this reason Gar and Victor kissed up to her like she was a queen. Gar and Victor said together in front of her,
"Kiona will be playing the lead!"
She swiped her hand at the air where they stood. She melodramatically argued that they did not care enough, that they could never win her over.
"It's useless trying to appease me!
You're only saying this to please me!"
"No dip, Sherlock…." Gar muttered under his breath. Victor elbowed him in the stomach. Kiona did not hear. She merely continued to rant and rave in her native tongue. Gar at once noticed Raven's change in appearance. He glanced at her from a few feet away.
Her eyes were fixated on the trio as if to say she had no way of helping you out of a helpless predicament. Her wise eyes rolled over the two boys and tried to persuade them to change their primitive minds.
"Who scorn his word,
Beware to those…"
Kiona, in her fit of drama, had not noticed that Raven had spoken. She continued to rant.
"You have reviled me!"
At this Raven walked closer to the boys, as to make sure to get their attention. At the same time Richard had walked over to see what stupid fuss the girl was making of this time. Raven looked Gar straight in the eye, and he could not look away.
"The angel sees,
The angel knows…"
"What?" Gar mouthed in a slow confusion, almost in a whisper. He quickly tried to understand what she meant by this. His thoughts were immediately cut short by the continuation of yelling and questions. He suddenly heard Richard speak in the midst of all the confusion.
"Why did Kori fly from my arms?"
He then heard Kiona's annoying trill pipe up above the rest. Sometimes he really regretted that she was a soprano.
"You have rebuked me!" she wailed.
Gar and Victor said in a quick pulse at the same time,
"Kiona, pardon us…"
"You have replaced me!"
They tried once again to calm her.
"Please, Kiona, we beseech you…"
Raven shook her porcelain-like head at them, her delicate features showing the full extent of her warning.
"This hour shall see
Your darkest fears…"
Jinny and Richard walked toward the door. They both said at once,
"I must see her…"
"Abandoned!
Deserted!"
The soprano's high voice was becoming more annoying to all ears who could comprehend her complaints. Raven stood firm where she remained.
"The angel knows,
The angel hears…"
Richard approached Raven with worried eyes.
"Where did she go?"
"Abandoned!
Disgraced!"
Victor and Gar approached the wailing girl, attempting to make her stop.
"Kiona, sing for us!
Don't be a martyr…"
Jinny, Richard, and Raven all looked at one another, now all worried.
"What new surprises lie in store…?"
They were soon drowned out by Gar and Victor.
"Our star…!"
"I will not…" Kiona shrugged her shoulder proudly. Victor pointed to the auditorium door in persuasion.
"Your public needs you!"
Gar piped up, popping out from behind Victor's tall figure.
"We need you, too!"
She simply sniffed her nose in the other direction, obviously unassuaged. She then retorted snottily back at them.
"Would you not rather have
Your precious little ingénue?"
They looked at eachother, both thinking the same thing. They, in truth, rather would have Kori back instead of this horrible monstrosity. But they both knew who would bring more people. They then looked back at the awaiting senior.
"Kiona, no!
The school wants you!"
She lowered her airborne nose back down to earth for a short moment. She looked back over to the desperate boys as they approached her once more.
"Prima Donna,
First lady of the stage!
Your devotees
Are on their knees
To implore you!"
Victor gently touched her shoulders to direct her back toward the stage.
"Can you bow out
When they're shouting your name?"
Gar came up from behind and walked ahead, pointing out the door.
"Think of how
They all adore you!"
They moved their heads together and looked at her with biting lips.
"Prima Donna,
Enchant us once again!"
Victor got onto the stage.
"Think of your muse…"
"And of the queues
'Round the theatre!"
They both rolled their eyes once again; this was so pathetic, even for them.
"Can you deny us
The triumph in store?
Sing, Prima Donna,
Once more!"
Kiona smiled. She registered her diva-like acceptance to those surrounding. The boys sighed in relief that she finally gave in. From then on it would be much easier. Now all they would have to do is continue to suck up to her, and she would do as they wished.
Richard, not paying attention to the situation at hand in any way, walked slowly to the far end of the stage. He saw something jut out from the other props that were lazily hung about. He gingerly picked up. It was the cut rope that Mark had found. He held it to the level of his forehead and eyed it suspiciously.
"Kori spoke of an angel…"
He, however, was able to tune out Kiona's loud lulls of pride. He could no longer hear her continuous bursts of obviously expressed triumph.
"Prima Donna,
Your song shall live again!"
She giggled at her conquered assistants. They, in turn, approached her again.
"Think of your public!"
She smiled smugly.
"You took a snub,
But there's a public
Who needs you!"
Raven was also able to block out the girl. She worriedly looked the fallen backdrop up and down. She whispered to herself in concentration.
"She has heard the voice
Of the Angel of Music…"
Gar and Victor heard this, but ignored it and thought nothing of it. They were far too occupied at the moment.
"Those who hear your voice
Liken you to an angel!"
Gar flinched at this comment he and his friend had said. He gave a disgusted look to Victor and muttered, "…an angel of hell…"
Kiona did not hear, but Victor did. He gave Gar a deathly glare and unnoticeably mouthed the words, "don't even…". His code was sliced when Kiona continued in her rampage of confidence.
"Think of their cry
Of undying support!"
Richard, still oblivious of Kiona and her whereabouts, gazed on at the rope. He inspected it, finding that it seemed not to have been cut, but burned…
"Is this her Angel of Music?"
Gar, turning away from Kiona, looked to Victor with his trademark toothy smile.
"We get our opera…"
Victor caught on immediately, widening his eyes in understanding and smiling as well.
"…She gets her limelight!"
Kiona, delirious to the boys' game, chimed in.
"Follow where the limelight leads you!"
Jinny walked up behind Richard, and saw the rope. She cocked her head curiously, as to see what it reminded her of. The looped rope, she realized, did look in exact detail identical to a noose. But not just any noose.
"…it's the…" she stuttered blankly pointing at it, causing Richard to turn around. She gaped on in fear, "it's…the Punjab Lasso!" she backed away, not wanting to be near the prop. She looked up, over and around the high tops of the backstage.
"Is this ghost
An angel or a madman?"
Richard heard her, and repeated her words, pondering them.
"…Angel or madman?"
Gar and Victor, of course, still paid attention to neither Jinny nor Richard. They continued on, seeing as they were finally winning the diva over.
"Leading ladies are a trial!"
Kiona walked to the opposite side, almost not recognizing their presence, so full was she of herself.
"Prima Donna,
Your song shall never die!"
Jinny had not moved from her spot. She stood, fixated, with the rope on which hung in Richard's hand.
"Voice of Hell, or Heaven...?"
She did not hear Raven come up from behind her. Jinny jumped with a nervous squeak when she heard Raven's dark voice echo out of nowhere.
"Heaven help you,
Those who doubt…"
Kiona tossed her head, still unphased by the continuous murmurs of her fellow classmates.
"You will sing again,
And to unending ovation!"
Richard walked over to where Raven stood. His worried eye told her of his suspicion.
"Orders!
Warnings!
Lunatic Demands!"
She merely stared back, and she had an eerie look about her. Her controlled face had the overruling tint that persuaded that she knew something he didn't. Her eyes had the all familiar glow of insinuation that not many could catch. Little did he know, she knew more than anyone imagined.
"This miscasting
Will invite damnation…"
Her wise words struck Richard like a knife. Yet, he had no idea what she meant by it. He cocked his head in confusion, not fully understanding how much she knew. His thoughts of pondering would have to wait, for Victor and Gar had interrupting his thinking once again.
"Tears…oaths…
Lunatic demands
Are regular occurrences!"
Although very good friends with each, Richard glared blankly, wondering in vain how these boys could act so carefree in a time such as this. At a time of confusion and threats, he knew this was not the opportunity to take things lightly. The easygoing duo would not realize this until a true disaster would prove them wrong.
Jinny had now tuned out all, with her steadfast gaze now hovering over the balcony. She moved her big eyes slowly from one side to the other, scanning the entire space thoroughly. She peered intently, and could have sworn on her life that she saw something move. She shivered quickly and turned away, afraid to see more.
"Bliss or damnation?
Which has claimed her?"
Kiona walked past her, neither girls acknowledging eachother's being there.
"Think how you'll shine
In that final encore!
Sing, Prima Donna,
Once more!"
Raven approached the two boys, only to be unnoticed. She expected this, at this time.
"Oh, fools,
To have flouted his warnings!"
Richard walked to Jinny, seeking agreement, since Jinny was Kori's good friend.
"Surely, for her sake…"
She looked at him with the new fear in her eyes.
"Surely, he'll strike back…"
They looked at the boys, who still had their attention on Kiona.
"Surely there'll be further scenes
Worse than this!"
Raven's haunting voice rang out from the walls, her being the only voice that made an echo in the room.
"Think, before these demands
Are rejected!"
Richard looked to Jinny, his eyes now lit up with determination.
"…I must see that these demands
Are rejected!"
"…If his threats and demands
Are rejected!"
Gar and Victor, now very into the persuasion, had gotten a bit too carried away with the things being said. But Kiona ate them up either way.
"Who'd believe a diva
Happy to relieve a chorus girl,
Who's gone and slept with the patron?
Richard and the soubrette,
Entwined in love's duet!
Although he may be demur,
He must have been with her!"
Richard had not heard, paid attention, nor cared what was being said about him. He only cared about one thing at the moment, and it was obvious what it was. Richard and Jinny had shared the same concern for Kori, and gazed on at the spectacle at hand.
"Kori must be protected!"
The two were soon drowned out with Kiona's loud cries of victory and self-praise.
"Oh, fortune!
No longer abandoned!"
Victor and Gar just continued on, not at all getting bored with the subject. As time went on, it became more and more amusing with each word.
"You'd never get away
With all this in a play,
But if it's loudly sung
And in a foreign tongue,
It's just the sort of story
Audiences adore, in fact,
A perfect opera!"
Richard pounded his fist into his hand, with another agreeable glance from Jinny.
"His game is over!"
The unused wisdom poured out of Raven's mouth once again, but all in vain.
"This is a game
You cannot hope to win!"
"And in the balcony
A new game will begin…"
Raven stood next to Jinny now, the poor ballerina helplessly wondering how she could sneak up behind someone without a sound. She turned her head before Raven could startle her, and heard Raven speak again.
"For, if his curse
Is on the opera…"
Jinny gasped in realization and a newfound suspicion of the ghostly suspect.
"But if his curse
Is on the opera…"
Victor and Gar heard neither warning nor hesitance when they continued their lively conversation of persuasion to the pretty girl.
"Prima Donna,
The world is at your feet!"
A high school waits,
And how it hates
To be cheated!"
So prideful was she that Kiona could not see through the obvious transparency of the boys' performance to her. She merely continued to strut about, nose held high.
"The stress that falls
Upon a popular Prima Donna!
Terrible diseases,
Coughs and colds and sneezes!
Still, the driest throat
Will reach the highest note,
In search of a perfect opera!"
Raven's pale face was now in a state of disgust at the girl. She glared threateningly at Kiona, once again without hesitance or notice. Her voice now cold as ice, she retorted at her.
"…Then I fear the outcome…"
Jinny looked in agreement, but not with spite.
"…Then I fear the outcome…"
Richard looked over to Raven, then to Jinny, almost in a confused way.
"Kori plays the pageboy,
Kiona plays the countess…?"
Raven walked slowly and ghastly toward the group.
"…Should you dare to…"
Jinny saw this, and followed.
"…When you once again…"
They all came together and said all at once, some in confusion, some in fear, some in displeasure, and some in gratification,
"Light up the stage
With that age-old rapport!
Sing, Prima Donna,
Once more!"
And, unbeknownst to all, even Raven, someone had observed the entire scene with extreme intent. A dark shadowed figure hovered over the stage in the high lofts of the backstage, watching every move that was made, every word being said. The Phantom gazed on in anger and frustration, the upcoming threats pouring from his mouth. He spoke in a quick, loud boom, but no one heard.
"So, it is to be war between us! If these demands are not met, a disaster beyond your imagination will occur!"
"…Once more!"
WHOA…that thing was long. No wonder it took me so long. Well, I must admit that, sadly, this is my least favorite song (no offense to any who think otherwise). I don't mind it all that much, but I just like the other ones SO much better. Hope you all liked it!