Hey, everyone! I know I should have posted this earlier but I'm having problems with my internet connection. But now it's here! I'm so excited because now the story really starts!

Enjoy! (and leave a review if you do!)

Chapitre Cinq

Danse Comme Il Est La Dernière Fois

"Mom? Mom, what are you doing?"

Karen looks up from her phone.

"Oh, I... it's nothing," she shrugs, putting the phone away.

Today's the big day. Marie is getting ready in the the dressing room. It's the first time she has a room all to herself and she can't help but feel a little lonely. At least her mother's here with her.

"You're watching STAR Labs live stream," Marie guesses.

"Wrong. I was watching STAR Labs live stream," she rises from the chair and grabs a long eyeliner brush. "And now I will do your makeup!"

Marie can't help but laugh. Her mother looks like a fairy godmother holding her magic wand, in this case, a makeup brush.

"Just don't make it too dramatic, okay? I'm playing the Sylph, not Odile."

Karen gives her a pointed look. "Darling, the Sheperd girls are dramatic by nature."

"Marie, how are you?" Director Moore asks while Marie stretches behind the closed curtains.

"I'm nervous, but I'm fine," she answers with a true smile. She's so excited that she can barely remember that in some hours she'll be hanging from the ceiling.

"Good. I don't want to make you more nervous, but we'll be recording the performance tonight," noticing Marie's suprised/terrified expression, he adds quickly. "It's for the company's YouTube channel. It'll help to divulge our work and your dancing, of course."

"Yeah," she nods weakly. "Sure."

"Great," Moore claps excitedly. "I'll leave you to get ready."

He leaves without saying nothing more. Marie don't want to disappoint anyone, especially in camera. If she screwed up, that would be a video to prove it.

Tonight you better dance like it's the last time, Marie.

The curtains open. Marie can't see very well without her contacts and that helps her getting calm. All the faces in the audience are just blurs to her.

Marie is gone. Only the Sylph remains. She floats around a sleeping James, curious and charmed at the same time. Then he awakes and she flees.

Paige is dancing Effie tonight. Now is her time to shine. But then, when James starts to forget the Sylph, she comes back. During the pas de trois, she remembers mistress Kane's words: "you are an ethereal creature". For the first time, she believes in it.

James needs to choose. He chooses the Sylph, leaving a heartbroken Effie behind. End of act one.

Marie's on the backstage, getting ready for act two. While they're tying her to the strings, she hears the conversation of two ballerinas behind her.

"Hey, look at this," one of them says, pointing to her phone. "Looks like the rain affected the Particle Accelerator."

The other comes closer, Marie listens as she fakes a surprised gasp. "It seems like it's a huge fail!"

The two share a laugh and Marie feels disgusted. People could get hurt, how can they laugh at that?! Part of her wants to turn around and lecture them, but if Marie doesn't have courage to do that in a normal day, how could she do that now?

Damien appears beside her. "Don't be nervous, okay? You're doing great," he says in a low voice before leaning in and kissing her cheek. For a moment she thought he would kiss her lips, but she's grateful he didn't. Marie doesn't think she could get on stage just a minute after getting her first real kiss.

He leaves to get in position. It's now. Marie's not afraid. She's flying.

The orchestra starts to play and the Sylph floats from the ceiling. James, completely besotted with the spirit, looks at her with adoring eyes. The Sylph starts to go down. Once she lands, James will untie the strings and the dance will really begin.

But that's not what happens.

In the middle of the way, the strings stops. Marie's stuck. She's too high for Damien to pull her down.

The lights flicker. Now she's getting scared.

The power goes off. She hears the voices of the audience, wondering what happened. Then something, like a wave of energy, makes the ground shake and goes through her like a lightning bolt.

Something snaps. For a moment, she's flying. Then she realizes she's falling.

It's so fast she doesn't have time to scream. Marie's hits the floor with a loud bang. The emergency lights are on now.

Everything feels fine.

...No, it doesn't.

The pain hits her hard. It's so strong that she knows she'll past out. Marie never felt like this before.

She hears Damien calling her, than Paige's voice, but she can't see anymore. Everything's black, and then she falls into oblivion.