Sitting in the audience, Ivan watched with wary eyes as the lights on the stage switched on again and revealed a setting like no other. Sitting center stage was a small, wooden dining table set for two—complete with chairs, plates, and cups. Behind it all was a large grand piano, sitting almost unnoticed in the shadows.

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Despite the piano, the speakers came alive with the sound of quiet piano keys playing music. It was calm and serene—yet sorrowful. Ivan wondered why the mood felt so sad just as his younger sister walked onstage, her previous coat removed to reveal what she was really wearing. Natalya looked very pretty in her long, dark blue dress, her usual bow switched for a much smaller one on a headband that held back her tumbling platinum-blonde hair.

Natalya carried a silver candelabrum to the table and placed it carefully on its center, adjusting the two place settings to be perfectly straight. Suddenly (to his surprise), Ivan's older sister cheerily skipped onstage from the other side, beaming (and wearing a similar blue dress to Natalya). Katyusha stopped right before Natalya and quickly swept her sister up into a great big hug. Ivan was shocked to see Natalya embracing back, a small smile on her face.

Katyusha pulled away to kiss her on the forehead, and then both sisters suddenly looked up towards the end of the stage. Clapping her hands excitedly, Ivan's older sister ran off as if going to answer the door. Meanwhile, the sad music turned a bit more nostalgic. Natalya's expression fell as she watched her sister welcome someone in, and her eyes widening when she saw who it was.

Tope walked in with Katyusha, dressed casually in a jacket and jeans, arm-in-arm with Natalya's older sister as if they were best friends. Hatred flashed in Natalya's eyes, but it was gone the second her sister looked at her.

Katyusha led Tope to the dining table, eyes sparkling with happiness, and then stopped as if she forgot something. Gesturing to the plates, she looked at Tope with a question in her eyes. Tope graciously accepted the dinner invitation.

Rushing offstage (probably to grab an extra chair), Katyusha left the two girls alone.

Natalya was giving Tope her deadliest glare, but Tope was enjoying the younger sister's obvious jealousy. She taunted her with a wide and jeering smirk—an expression that was immediately wiped off her face when Natalya moved to grip Katyusha's chair possessively.

"Go away," Natalya mouthed clearly. The music was beginning to get louder.

Tope's dark eyes smoldered. "No."

Natalya looked so furious that Ivan almost felt the need to pull Tope out of the way. But before his sister could fly at her, Katyusha came back—carrying a chair in her hands. Throwing one last smirk, Tope's whole expression changed when she faced his older sister. Smiling broadly, she took the chair herself and placed it right next to Katyusha's, much to Natalya's displeasure.

Looking at a watch on her wrist, Katyusha realized that she was late for an appointment. She rushed over to fuss over Natalya's hair, gave her a quick kiss on the head, and moved to rest her hands on her sister's shoulders—reminding Tope to watch after her sister. Tope gave her best friend the most reassuring smile in the world, and bid Katyusha goodbye.

"I'll be back soon," Katyusha told them.

Ivan felt like he was invading in on a private moment—a scene that which he could do nothing but watch as tragedy unfolded. His eldest sister, instead of running offstage, strolled to the shadows of the background and became nothing more than a silhouette. She calmly took her place at the grand piano, and just as the recorded CD track ended, she placed her long, slender fingers on the keys and began to play. The sound of a real piano was louder and felt much more real than a simple recording, and Ivan felt his mind become more engrossed into the story. This auditorium was no longer a simple place for contests… It was now a place of something much, much more than that.

The audience could feel Natalya's hatred roll off of her in icy waves, but Tope continued to smirk at her, egging the girl on to make the first move.

As blindingly fast as lightning, Natalya's whole body moved into action. She pulled out something from her dress pocket and whipped it right at Tope.

Tope's eyes widened in shock. Taking a startled step back, there was a loud THUNK that echoed clearly across the stage. Embedded into the head of Tope's chair where her hand had just been was a knife—so deeply sunk into the wood that it stuck out on the other side.

Both Ivan's and Tope's eyes were wide with alarm. The Russian noticed how the confident look in Tope's posture had changed, and his panic rose. Natalya was supposed to throw the knife…wasn't she? WASN'T SHE?

And then suddenly, after an eternally long pause of silence, the girl grinned—and it was a look of grim animosity. Tope yanked the knife out of her chair, flourishing it in her hand, examining the silver blade. She strolled around the table to Natalya's chair and put her other hand on it, appraising the blonde girl with a critical eye. Abruptly, she shoved the chair down and kicked it savagely so that it slid across the ground and stopped at Natalya's still figure. Tope then slammed the knife into the table—moved to Katyusha's chair—and gripped it possessively—all the while never once looking away from the sister of her best friend.

The message was painfully clear.

Both girls hated the each other, but loved Katyusha. Neither wanted to share.

To everyone's astonishment, Natalya—her face twisted into rage—picked up her fallen chair and heaved it with all her might at the girl. Tope was taken aback, forced to dodge out of the way as the wooden projectile nearly met her face full-on. But the assault didn't stop there… Natalya lived up to her deadly persona and snatched the plates off the table, giving Tope exactly two seconds to realize what was happening and snap to the ground as the platter was flung her way.

The anger had still not left Natalya. Furious that Tope avoided getting hurt (the nerve of her—!), the Belorussian threw herself at Tope―but was caught unawares as the fallen girl suddenly kicked her foot up—and Natalya was thrown back, gasping for air.

"Bitch," Tope hissed, her eyes seething. Standing up, she pulled her knife out from the table and walked over to Natalya.

Ivan gripped his seat. Tope—Natalya—his sister—the—she—fuck—

Natalya's eyes flashed to the oncoming danger, and she lashed out with another blade conjured from the pockets of her dress. Tope jerked out of danger's way and then, by some stroke of luck, swung her knife in such a way that both blades seemed to ricochet out of their hands. The two girls recoiled as one knife flew into the darkness past the curtains and the other landed ten feet away from them.

Natalya must have realized that her pockets had ran out of knives, for she whirled all around, searching for her beloved weapons. Tope saw it first and started for it, but was soon stopped by Natalya as the vicious girl snatched her by the collar of her jacket and yanked back. Stumbling unbalanced and angry, Tope whipped around and blindly threw a punch—but in vain; she missed.

The whole audience could only watch, eyes wide in alarm, as the two girls struggled against each other. It was a fight no one could touch—no one could interfere. As if to emphasize this point, Katyusha's piano playing—gradually growing more chaotic by the second—was so loud that no one could even hear the sounds of their skirmish as the girls tumbled over each other on the ground.

As one, the audience held their breath, until—

—there was the cracking sound of flesh on flesh, and Tope staggered back into Katyusha's chair, bringing both her and the chair to the ground. Immediately, she began to get up to face her opponent—but it was too late. Natalya had already grabbed the knife and pinned Tope to the ground by straddling her stomach.

Natalya raised the knife high for all to see, and there were gasps all around—some people even cried out. Ivan wasn't breathing at all. The blade streaked down in a flash of silver—

But Tope threw her hand up just in time to seize the knife-arm. Eyes hard with concentration, she used all her might to heave the girl off of her, rolling to the side so that now Tope was above her.

Forcefully wrestling the knife out of Natalya's hands, Tope drew her arm back, eyes narrow with the full intent of murder—but something bumped her elbow, and she glanced back.

It was Katyusha's chair, fallen and defeated on the ground, lying on its side. Tope's whole expression froze, and then twisted into horror. Katyusha—Katyusha—her wonderful, wonderful friend—and now her beloved friend's sister was below her—and they had been fighting—and now there was a knife in her hand—and she was just about to—

The music paused. Natalya gaped in bewilderment as Tope's shoulders began to tremble and she just sat there, staring at the knife, eyes lost in a world of their own.

Ivan watched as the once-playful girl deteriorated in just seconds before his eyes. Slowly, she started shaking her head, murmuring something to herself over and over again. As her eyes squeezed tight, Ivan could see what she was whispering:

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…"

Natalya angrily glared at her as if to say, "What are you waiting for?"

Slowly, the knife lifted into the air. But just before it began to swing down, Tope's hazy eyes seemed to suddenly clear. Something quietly slid down the side of her face, and she seemed to whisper something to Natalya—something that made Natalya's angry glare disappear—replaced by a look of surprise.

This time, when Tope spoke, it was aloud—and as everyone was anxiously watching the pair, straining to hear—her whisper could be heard all across the auditorium.

"I'm sorry."

The knife arched down—but Ivan could tell—the angle of the blade wasn't right—it wasn't for Natalya—

Someone screamed as all the lights in the auditorium suddenly turned off, hurling everyone into complete darkness.

When the lights illuminated the stage once more, Natalya was alone on the ground, breathing hard as if suddenly roused by a nightmare, hand stretched out and reaching for someone that wasn't there. Natalya looked all around her, a confused look on her face (along with everyone else in the audience). Standing up warily, her searching eyes skimmed across the untouched dining table and its three place settings, all three chairs undisturbed.

Was it all just a dream? Everyone dared to believe.

Ivan hadn't realized that Katyusha had disappeared until his older sister came running onstage, waving a letter in her hand, looking extremely distraught. Natalya numbly took the letter from her sister and read it carefully. She looked up in surprise, disbelieving, just as Katyusha embraced her tightly, body racking with sobs. Natalya's eyes slid over to the third chair sitting innocently at the table—and then she closed them, bringing her arms up to quietly hold her sister together.

They were still embracing when the speakers suddenly emitted what sounded like the last notes to Katyusha's piano solo, and someone from the audience jumped in surprise, yelping out, "Jesus!" This relieved some tension within the crowd as some students chuckled. The laughter, however, did not reach the many that were still watching the show, mesmerized by the sisters' every movement.

No one noticed that Ivan's face had paled, or that his whole figure had gone deathly still.

Finally, the two sisters onstage pulled away and turned towards the piano. A light was slowly illuminating the back half of the stage to reveal a small crystal vase sitting all alone, tiny purple flowers reaching up to touch the sky. They approached it with a sense of solemnity. Katyusha bent down to pray while Natalya remained standing, watching the grave with not an expression of hate, but an expression that simply seemed to ask, "Why?" The shadows fell in such a way that their blue dresses seemed black.

Katyusha was the first to leave. She walked away, her boots echoing across the stage in the silence.

Hesitating before the grave, Natalya sighed to herself and crouched down, running her hand through her hair and pulling the bow-headband off. Placing it by the vase, she brushed her hair behind her ear and mouthed, "Merry Christmas."

Natalya drew herself up and left the site, pausing to look back only once.

All eyes were on the single grave that stood alone. Slowly, the glow of the spotlight spread out, and the audience could finally see what the shadows had so deftly hidden: across the stage were at least a dozen other vases, all adorned with flowers—many of them decorated with holiday gifts.

And then the lights finally faded away, and the house lights came on, illuminating the audience.

The entire auditorium was swept away by a deafening applause that went on for a straight five minutes. The performance received a standing ovation from nearly every member of the audience, at least twenty or so whistling as loud as they could. Some were quickly wiping their eyes while others swallowed their emotions down awkwardly. Even the teachers sitting at the judges table joined in on the ovation.

Of course, through all the grand applause, not a single person noticed that one boy was neither clapping nor cheering. Ivan Braginski was standing up in his seat, mouth firmly set into an indefinable line—expression unreadable on his face, but intense all the same. His eyes, like many, were still on the stage, waiting for the contest partners to come out.

And so they did—an enormous grin on Tope's face and an impassive look upon Natalya's. Both girls came center stage and took a deep bow, inducing another roar of applause by their audience. Someone threw a rose at them and it landed at their feet; the audience laughed. Tope picked it up and handed it to Natalya, who took it without a word.

"Alrighty," said a familiar hostess. Katyusha walked back onstage holding her microphone. "Let's have a round of applause for all our wonderful contestants! Thank you to everyone who participated and made this a wonderful evening. Now, the judges will be scoring our final performance and discuss the winners for our competition."

The audience clapped once more and the whole auditorium was lit. People got up and stretched, excitedly discussing the performances they had witnessed and making bets on who would win.

More than one placed their money on the very last performance.

xXx

"Holy crap!" Alfred exclaimed as Tope rejoined them (graciously thanking all those who approached her). "You were—that was so freaking AWESOME!"

"That fight was amazing," Arthur said in awe. "Did you choreograph the entire thing?"

Tope grinned at this. "Actually, most of the fight was improvised. We didn't have time to practice."

"Does zat mean ze fight was real?" Francis said. "Don't tell me it was!"

"I did pretty good considering, eh?"

The girl grinned embarrassingly as her friends congratulated her, her eyes alight with pleasure. She shook hands and returned grins, loving the feeling of their attention. But as she started to discuss the contest with her excited friends, she noticed that there was one less person nearby. Looking up, Tope realized that Ivan was still sitting in his seat, head down, eyes lost in thought.

Someone in the crowd initiated a hush, and soon everyone was taking their seats again. Tope purposely sat down next to Ivan.

"Hey," she said to him. "Are you okay?"

The Russian's eyes looked up at her. There was something in his eyes that made Tope pull back a little, wondering if she did something wrong.

"Why did you kill yourself?" he asked hoarsely.

"I-I'm sorry?"

His eyes smoldered. "Why did you kill yourself?"

Tope's worried gaze turned just a tad bit irritated. She grinned playfully nonetheless. "That's for everyone to interpret on their own."

The answer didn't quench the fire in his eyes completely, but after a long moment of searching her mysterious smile, Ivan seemed to accept it. He turned away from her and said nothing else.

"Is everyone ready to hear the results?" Miss Katyusha's voice came over the speaker.

Everyone called out, "Yes!"

"In third place are Kiku Honda and Xiao Mei with their video on Christmas in Japan and Taiwan," Miss Katyusha announced. There was a round of applause as the two Asians were brought upstage to receive their award. "They will receive a gift card for $50 for the mall."

Kiku and Mei stayed behind Miss Katyusha as she waited for the applause to end.

"In second place are Ludwig and Francis Bonnefoy with their beautiful Christmas cake. They won the gift card and a pass to skip school for a day." More clapping. Ludwig and Francis walked to the stage.

Then came the moment everyone was waiting for…

"And in first place for the World Academy's Christmas Contest," Katyusha said dramatically, a wide smile on her face, "are Natalya Arlovskaya and Tope for their marvelous storytelling and acting!"

Alfred clapped Tope excitedly on the back (though looking a little grim that he lost) and urged the girl to stand up. Tope stood up and made her way to the stage. She and Natalya accepted their prizes from Miss Katyusha.

"Because they won first place, Natalya and Tope will get a gift card, a school pass, and a seat on the School Council." Katyusha turned towards the girls. "Tope, will you accept the opportunity to join the Council?"

"No thank you," the girl said easily. Some students gasped. Katyusha nodded good-naturedly and held the microphone to her younger sister.

"What about you, Natalya?"

For a moment, the girl didn't answer.

"No, I will not."

More gasps, and a surprised look from Tope. What made her change her mind?

"Oh, well," Katyusha said (though she looked quite happy with their choices). "Let's give these students one last round of applause!" And then, "Now, Headmaster Rome would like to say a few words."

The winners were led offstage and back to their seats as old man Rome himself came on stage and greeted the whole school.

"Good-a evening!" he boomed. "Your performances were all so wonderful! I'm-a so proud to be the Headmaster of such outstanding students. Congratulations to our winners and thank you all for participating in such an amazing contest. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holidays! Buona notte, everyone~!"

xXx

~~~1st POV~~~

We followed the crowd to the dining hall for some much needed Christmas dinner. It was a feast to remember; I had a big piece of roasted chicken and mashed potatoes, carrots and peas, a big glass of Cola. Alfred brought up two plates filled with nearly everything from the menu, but laughed as Arthur commented on his eating habits. Next to me, Ivan had gone back to normal and was smiling pleasantly, enjoying the typical bicker and banter on our table. I felt happy just sitting with everyone, surrounded by friends and food and warmth.

"Joyeux Noël!" Francis slurred, holding up his wine for a toast. We all cheered and tapped glasses in celebration.

"Merry Christmas!" I sang.

xXx

I was so exhausted that when I returned to my dorm that I collapsed on my bed and fell right asleep. I didn't even glance at the closed drawer on my desk.

That night, I dreamt of sunflowers.