Flaming Ice

Chapter 2

The Amazing Chance

By: ArcticWhisper

“Gomen--- I-I mean I’m sorry I’m late…” Aqua stuttered, bowing very low in respect and trying her hardest to get her English right. She was now realizing how nervous she really was with all of these stares slicing through her confidence.

“Sorry isn’t good enough… I meant what I said, the auditions are over.” The gorgeous woman stated simply.

“M-Mrs…..Hamilton…” Aqua gasped, her face showed complete awe, her eyes full of stars.

“What? Did you not hear me?” she snapped.

“Layla… now don’t you think that you’re over doing it?” a calm, friendly voice asked from around the corner.

Everyone’s attention was yanked away from Aquarius and, as if pulled by some force… they all looked over towards a door in the front of the room. A woman appeared from behind the drapes.

This young woman had a childish face with straight, purple hair that flowed below her chest. She looked very sophisticated in a white trench coat that hugged her curved silhouette and long, brown boots. She tipped her sunglasses down and looked towards Layla. Her brown eyes were friendly and yet they expressed her demands.

“Ms. Sora?!” everyone screamed as a young woman with orange-red hair scurried up towards her.

“Sora, I thought that you were in France with Leon on a vacation.” The young woman questioned before giving her a quick hug. They were obviously good friends.

“I know, but I told Leon that we had to come home to see the auditions. And I’m glad that I made it for this… Now Layla…” Sora said, talking like a sister to Layla.

“Remember when I was late for my audition and you told me to leave?” she then asked.

“I vaguely remember...” Layla answered unwillingly.

“I won’t get into details but don’t you think that you should give this girl another chance?”

Layla thought this over for a moment.

“Oh do as you will…” Layla responded as she got up to leave. Sora, was stood in front of Layla and simply put both of her hands on Layla’s shoulders and sat her back in her chair.

“You sit here and I’ll take care of this.” Layla simply looked through Sora’s deep brown eyes.

Sora walked towards Aquarius. Aqua bowed as low as she could.

“No need for so much respect. Please come with me.”

Aqua stood up straight and nodded but didn’t look Sora in the eyes; she would rather die than look into the eyes of someone that held so much honor.

Sora led her out the way that she had come in; through the draped door.

“Okay, now I’m going to ask you a few questions alright?”

“Q-questions…? I-I-I Don’t have a criminal record… if that’s what you mean…?” Aquarius shut her eyes tightly… blushing out of embarrassment and nerves.

“You’re funny…” Sora giggled softly.

“Oh no she’s going to ask a really hard question… and … and I won’t be able to answer it… oh no… I just know that I’m going to make a total fool of myself in front of Japan’s biggest Kaleido star…. and…. And---”

“So… where do you live in Japan?” Sora asked smiling down at the blushing girl in front of her.

“Uh…. Um…. I-I….” Aqua stuttered her nerves were really getting to her and she didn’t know why.

“Don’t be nervous… I’m not that scary am I?” The young star of Kaleido Stage asked with a giggle.

“No… no mam…” Aqua answered, casting her eyes down as a pink color kissed her pale cheeks.

“Awww, just call me Sora,”

“Yes…. Ms--… I mean… Sora” Aquarius smiled up at her idol.

“So you never really told me where you live in Japan…”

“I used to live in Tokyo with my parents, when I was still just an enfant, but my parents passed away so I now live with my Aunt and Uncle in Mori, since then I have grown up in a very rural city. A lot of this is still pretty new to me.” Aqua looked away as she finished her statement.

“I, I’m so sorry about your parents, you know I never knew my real parents either! They also died when I was very young. So we have to stick together, okay?” Sora said showing Aqua a “thumps-up” for more emphasis.

“Yeah!!” Aqua replied with a smile.

“Anyway, now I have to ask you some serious questions okay?”

“Alright.” Aqua replied somehow she had her nerves back under control, it’s almost as if by Sora just letting Aqua know that she was in the exact same situation, she magically gave her the confidence boost that she had lost as soon as she had walked through the audition room doors.

“Okay, so, how much experience have you had on the subject of gymnastics?” Sora questioned.

“Well, up until about six years ago I did rhythmic gymnastics. I also took ballet to make gymnastics a little bit easier. But my big forte is my figure skating!” Aqua listed enthusiastically.

“Wow, good thing you took ballet or your teacher would probably have your head. He… and everyone else almost had mine when I told them that I hadn’t taken ballet!” Sora giggled as she pictured the memory in her head.

“What? You got in with no ballet experience…?”

¸.••.¸¸.••.¸¸.•• .¸Change Scene¸.••.¸¸.••.¸¸.••.¸

“Okay. It’s not that I don’t believe what you said, but I just need to see your talent.” Sora said as they both walked under the hallway arch that led to the stage.

“Wow!” Aqua marveled as she turned her head from the right and then to the left. She had never seen a stage this large in real life.

She then turned to Sora

“Um… none of the other candidates got the chance to show their skills to you, right? Why am I the only one?” Aqua asked.

Sora giggled.

“Well… you were forty minutes late to the auditions… plus… everyone else got to put on a performance in front of Layla and the rest of the crew here… also, I’m quite interested to see someone else from Japan here—we haven’t had someone come from there in three years now…”

“Really?”

“And I really didn’t want to have to sit through the lecture that they have to go through… I never did like lectures” Sora admitted honestly, sticking her tongue out and tapping her head lightly with her fist. Aqua giggled.

“Lucky for you the rink’s still here from the last performance, so we can use that. Uh, I don’t think that anyone will be using the trapeze any time soon… and I think that the trampolines are free! So we should be all set… okay so I can give you routines to do on the trampoline and the swings but do you think that you could come up with your own routine for skating…? I don’t have very much experience in that area...” Sora instructed her.

“Um… yes of course. Would it be okay if I used a routine that I performed in a competition?” Aqua asked.

“Uh… yeah I don’t see why not…” Sora replied not really knowing what to say.

“Wow th-that’s a lot to do for one audition. So which one should I start with?”

“eh… any you choose.” Sora said as she happily took a seat in the front row of the audience seats. It was her first time in a long time sitting down and watching the stage.

“Uh… okay… I’ll just start now…” Aqua said as she bent down and un-zipped her bag. She took out a pair of pearl white skates and laced them up on her feet.

“Okay so I have to try and remember the routine without the music the best I can. The competition wasn’t that long ago so I should remember it pretty well…”

Aqua stepped up to the trapeze, she grabbed the bar firmly… tying to think about which trick she was going to perform. She pushed off the edge and started swinging…

“I can do this I’ve done it a million times… I won’t mess this up… I can’t mess this up…” she thought to herself as she was swinging in slow motion.

As the swing reached its highest point she jumped off and curled herself into a summersault position and then stretched her body out, her legs and arms in a pretty pose as she reached for the next swing. As soon as she grabbed hold of it, her body suddenly started to fall vertically with gravity and the swing started to come with her.

“O-oh no… this can’t be happening is this structure still construction…? I can’t land like this on the ice or I’ll die! I have to try and land on my feet!”

Sora stood up quickly and started to run for the rink. If this young girl were to die because she put her on a trapeze that was under construction, she would never be able to forgive herself.

Aqua landed on the ice, pushed herself forward and then lifted her body into a perfect arabesque before Sora could get there. Then routine didn’t even have to run through her mind… it just went straight to her feet…

The trickiest bit of the whole performance was next… and even though Aqua had nailed it in the competition before… it didn’t mean that it was easy to pull it off a second time.

Aqua raced her way to the middle of the rink. She dug the pick of her right skate into the ice and sent herself soaring six feet in the air while spinning as fast as she could… she meant to spin twice as she was air borne but she ended up spinning three times instead, the only problem now was… could she land it?

As gravity dragged Aqua back towards the glassy surface of the ice she was starting to worry how she was going to land… her skates started to brush the ice she tried to change her mind too quickly to an arabesque but it was too late and her feet almost came out from under her but she stopped herself for falling over by putting her leg higher and brushing her fingers against the ice to ensure more balance.

She ended it with a finishing pose slightly out of breath. She lifted her long, blue hair from covering her face and whipped some sweat from her face.

Sora came up to the rink and sighed with relief,

“I think that I just lost ten years on my life…” she whined.

Suddenly, as the air around Aqua calmed, a slow, sharp clapping echoed throughout the stage. Aqua then turned, her delicate hand to her face. Her skates turned on the ice smoothly as she faced the oncoming silhouette of a man who stood in the same archway that they had come through. As the dim stage lights cast their lights upon his face he walked forward and chuckled kindly.

“What are the odds of meeting you here, Aqua?” the man said. His midnight blue hair shimmered in the soft light, and his blue eyes looked at her with a sense of appeal.

ArcticWhisper: MWAHAHAHA… I left you with a cliffie: P what can I say I’m a meanie! Well anyway I hope that you enjoyed this chapter… I’m sorry that the story is moving so slowly… I really don’t mean it to it just kind of comes out that way sorry!!

Well thanks for reading.