Once more, I bring to the Mayakuro nation a story from the mind of the wonderful 0mniessence. If sadder themes aren't your cup of tea, please read at your own risk. This first chapter will give you a good idea of the tone of the overarching themes.
Disclaimer: I do not own Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight.
My Dream Is You
Chapter 1. A Cruel Fate
Dreams. Goals. Aspirations. Ambitions.
All things any young girl would have.
Ever since she could remember, Tendo Maya had always been proud of her family name. She had always wanted to follow in her famous parents' footsteps - to become a star.
She wanted to stand onstage in front of thousands of people.
She wanted to act. She wanted to sing. She wanted to dance.
She wanted to fill her audiences with emotions the likes of which they'd never known before they had laid eyes upon her, a unique experience that Maya alone could make them feel. She wanted to change the very world of theatre with her talent. And being that she had the purebred genes of her parents running through her veins, Maya had quite literally been born to achieve such goals.
From the day she could stand, she was teetering around her play pen trying to dance. From the day she could speak, she was cooing and trying to mimic the voices on the radio. When she was old enough to watch cartoons and movies, she studied the ways the characters spoke and moved and acted.
All of these bits of information seemed to stick with her, even after she'd only experienced them one single time. And as she aged and her body grew stronger, she was able to replicate such things, but while giving them her own unique flare.
By the age of seven it was clear to all of her teachers and family that she was going to achieve great things in life. Her parents indulged their only daughter in whatever lessons she craved to study.
By the time she was twelve, Maya was on every Gifted and Talented list in her middle school, as well as the Honor Roll. She not only had exceptional physical capabilities, but her grades in all other subjects were also second to none.
When the adults spoke of potential, prodigies, and success, Maya's name was at the center of every conversation.
She was meant for greatness, for revolutionizing her field, for taking the stage by storm and claiming it as her own, for blazing a trail like no one else before her, and leaving a path for the next generation to follow in her footsteps.
Tendo Maya was going to do incredible things, and she'd always known it.
… So why?
Why is it that, one day, she suddenly feels a slight pang in her skull during her dance lessons?
Why is it that she suddenly gets hit by a wave of dizziness when stretching, or nausea while on a water break?
Why is it that the things that had normally been second nature to her are now suddenly interrupted by the slightest of inconveniences, the tiniest prickles of pain or discomfort...?
At first, Maya does what any fifteen-year-old who was working her hardest to get into the most prestigious acting high school in the nation would do, and ignores it. She keeps quiet about every little pang and cough and sway that tries to throw her off her game.
Now is not the time to lose focus. Not when she's training her hardest to get accepted into Siegfeld Institution.
Not that she needed to try any harder than she already did, being that every theatre and arts school in the nation was begging for her to apply - Siegfeld included. But just because she essentially already had a guaranteed spot in that freshman roster the following year didn't mean she could relax or put any less effort into her studies or education.
So why?
Why?
Why is everything she always did previously without incident now suddenly being sprinkled through with tiny hinderances?
At first, they come just a few times a week; a dizzy spell during practice, a hitch of her voice during a solo, an unforeseen ache during play rehearsals. She continues to ignore it all for a time.
That is, until she collapses live onstage at a pre-showing for a dance recital.
Only parents of the participants had been in attendance at that time of evening, so thankfully Maya hadn't embarrassed herself in front of the entire town. But she'd been rushed to the nearest children's hospital for a thorough examination.
Upon regaining consciousness, Maya had confessed to the doctors that she had been experiencing strange ailments for the past several months, unbeknownst to her parents. They kept her overnight, running all sorts of tests on every part of her body. Her parents spared no expense to get to the bottom of whatever was wrong with their daughter who had so much ahead of her.
All throughout those next several days in the hospital, Maya had heard the murmurings of the nurses outside her room. She couldn't catch their exact words, but judging by the muffled stiflings of their tones, she could ascertain that her diagnosis wasn't good.
She knew it wasn't good… but she hadn't expected it to be as bad as it was.
Stage IV liver cancer.
It was unheard of. No one else in her family had ever been diagnosed with any form of cancer. It was incredibly rare that she would have developed it so badly so quickly, given that her genes had such a slim chance of being affected by anything so detrimental. Alongside that, she was such a healthy and active girl, with a strong mind and an even stronger body.
How could this have happened? To her of all people…?
How had it developed and progressed so quickly, to the point where she was essentially already beyond saving…?
Before she had even turned sixteen years old…
Tendo Maya's life was already over.
The doctors grimly explained to Maya and her parents what the options were from here. Being that the cancer was already so far along by the time it was detected, there were few treatment options. It was expressed right away that the treatment they can offer isn't guaranteed to work. Essentially, it might help her live slightly longer, or it could end up killing her faster.
Either way, there was no hope for a cure.
At that point, the best they could do was delay the inevitable.
It was on a summer afternoon, where the air outside was clinging onto a residual heat before autumn would soon blow in, where Maya finally accepted her fate.
She was dying.
There was no hope. There was no cure.
She was going to die before the spring, before she could see any of the flowers bloom, or any of her dreams realized. Had she known this previous birthday would be her last, she would have savored the bittersweetness of it a little more…
This would be her last autumn, her last winter. Maybe if she was lucky she would live long enough to see the buds begin to blossom for one final spring thaw. But she wouldn't see another summer ever again. She would never turn sixteen.
It was a lot to take in. A lot to process. For both Maya and her parents.
For days, they sat in that room together and mulled grimly over their options.
Naturally, her parents push her to accept the treatment, including chemotherapy. If it could mean she'd live just a week or even a day longer, they wanted her to do it.
However, Maya felt differently. She didn't want to spend her final five months of life going through treatment. She didn't want to follow a schedule that was designed to give hope when her body was ultimately doomed to fail anyway. She didn't want nurses and doctors fussing over her at every step. She didn't want to lose her freedom anymore than she already had.
And so, Maya decides to forego any treatment. And though her parents don't agree, they understand.
And so, they tell the doctors, who also disagree with Maya's choice, but they accept her wishes.
And so, on a chilly winter afternoon, Maya seals and accepts her own fate.
She will never achieve her dreams.
She will never see any of her ambitions or wishes fulfilled.
She will never be able to stand onstage and invoke profound emotion in thousands of people.
No. She will simply fade away.
She will die, and she will take all of her dreams and potential and aspirations with her.
Before the world had even truly begun to start knowing her, it would lose her and forget about her, like a flower that never had the chance to bloom.
Such was the fate of a young girl named Tendo Maya.
A/N: Maya's life will be cut short before it can even truly begin... How will she choose to spend what little time she has left...?
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