Silent Dancer's Lament

[Nicolette]

It was six o'clock in the evening, and the majority of students of the T'zenshin Institute were crowded either in the dining room, or on their way to town for a nice dinner. There were some students enjoying dinner in the comfort of their dormitories. And then, there were those who weren't eating at all, too busy studying and cramming for the upcoming final exams.

She was one of the few who was not sitting at the dinner table. Instead, she was in the empty dance studio, dressed in a white body suit that clung to her upper body, and flared out into a light pink skirt at her hips (though there were tights that went down to her ankle beneath the skirt). Classical music played softly in the room, only loud enough for her to be able to hear it as she moved slowly. The mirrors that surrounded the room followed her every move, copying her and bringing her image out at each different angle. Each move she made looked as if she had carefully planned out each and every muscle movement before executing her moves, but at the same time, her moves flowed in a way that rivaled water.

She moved her arm in a circular formation, bringing it around and scooping upward toward the ceiling above, while her other arm reached out behind her. Her foot slid back while the other stayed put, causing her back to arch as she slowly twisted around. However, halfway through her arch, blue eyes widened and her whole body tensed before she collapsed on the hard flood beneath her, clutching her ribcage with her left arm. Her body tensed up tightly, her muscles seizing up and sending pain through her whole body.

Only a few gasps escaped through parted pink lips, but nothing more.

[Kuu]

Lucas loved to hang around the school, he was rarely ever kept in his dormitory and often wandered around in case something interesting happened or if he happened to find one of his friends, in which case he would then talk to them if he could.

Today was one of the days that Lucas was wandering around the school, he had an early dinner so he didn't feel like eating dinner at the moment and so he was looking to see if any of his friends was around. He had so many friends and people that he talked to, it was hard to find out where any of them would be. Hmm...maybe he could try the dance studio? Lucas wasn't really one for dancing, but he'd suck it up, he'd always come up with some excuse if someone found him no matter how stupid the excuse was.

He entered the dance studio, and at first he thought it would be empty but the sound of classical music and the sight of someone dancing quickly disproved that. The Spanish boy stood still, watching the familiar looking girl dance, she was definitely amazing at dancing and she reminded him of someone...

But who?

Lucas was about to rack his brain to try and remember where he saw such beautiful dancing before but he wasn't able to because as soon as he saw the girl collapse to the floor he ran over to were she was. He knelt down beside her, a frown on his face and his eyes glistening with concern.

"H-hey, are you alright? Do you need to see the nurse?" He asked her, waiting for some kind of response or signal.

[Nicolette]

It hurt to breathe, but if she held her breath, then her head would begin to hurt and everything would start to get blurry. She took in soft gasps for breaths, trying to breathe enough to keep the darkness away without hurting too much. She shut her eyes tight for a moment, trying to focus on just breathing and letting the pain pass.

A voice... Had someone found her?

She slowly opened agonized blue eyes to slowly gaze up at the male who had knelt at her side. She continued to clutch at her ribs as her other arm shook. Her hand slipped and it slid until her elbow hit the ground and she could hardly hold herself up. She clenched her jaw to distract herself from the pain for a moment and let her head bow for just a moment.

And then, her whole body relaxed and she slumped down to the floor, letting out a long, deep breath. The pain faded quickly and she was left feeling tired and worn out from the ordeal. She took in a slow, deep breath before reaching her hand out to the floor, attempting to push herself back up into a sitting position.

[Kuu]

The girl's body collapsed faster than Lucas had time to react to, and in a frantic desire to help her out he helped her get into a sitting position, his strong arms helping her to sit upright and not fall. What was wrong with her? He could pick her up and bring her to the nurse...but he didn't really want to do that without consent.

"Um...," he started to speak again, he was hoping that she was feeling better by now and if not...well, he'd decide what to do then. "...I'm sorry for repeating myself but are you okay...? I could help bring you to the nurse if you need it," he felt like a fool for repeating himself but he wanted to know, he couldn't just leave a girl in need.

[Nicolette]

The girl heard the male's voice again, and she brought those dull blue eyes to look up at him, examining his facial features. There was something strangely familiar about him, which caused a small frown to cross over her face. She blinked once, and then again, trying to figure out where she'd seen him before. She realized she'd been asked a question and moved herself into a more comfortable sitting position, letting her legs fold beside her as one hand rested on the floor next to her, propping her up slightly.

She gave a slow nod, trying to show that she was responding to his question of if she was alright. She brought her free hand up to tuck some loose light brown locks behind her ear that had fallen loose from her messy ponytail. Her cell phone was with her things near the stereo, so she really had little way to communicate with this boy, unless he could read her body language.

She took another moment to look over his features, trying to figure out why he seemed so familiar...

[Kuu]

He saw her nod, and he breathed a sigh of relief. Good, he didn't have to worry about having to carry a girl off to the nurse which in all honesty would be a bit weird, especially since he didn't think that he knew the girl.

"Well, that's good! I was getting worried there for a second," Lucas told her, a soft smile gracing his features. "Oh, by the way, my name's Lucas Vásquez...what's yours?" There. A nice, easy way to figure out who this girl is and why she's so familiar. It would be even better if she recognized his name, no matter how silly he would feel for forgetting her name if they did know each other...but her hair was very familiar, her face, her eyes, the movements she had when she danced - it was all so familiar.

[Nicolette]

That smile... It was nice. She found herself watching his smile as he spoke of how relieved he was that she was alright. Such a kind stranger he was (no matter how familiar he seemed), to help a girl he'd never met and to be so concerned for her. It was a welcome change to the isolation she'd come to see from being a mute.

When he introduced himself, giving her his name, her heart all but stopped. Lucas Vasquez? No... It couldn't... Could it...? Her eyes widened and she sat forward, trying to examine his features as best she could. Suddenly, things seemed to click together, but she refused to accept it... There was only one way to be sure that this was who she thought it was.

The girl reached up and grabbed the chain of her necklace, pulling it out from beneath her costume shirt. The golden cross decorated with diamonds shone dully in the fluorescent lights of the dance room. If this was who she really thought it was, then he would recognize this one single item...

[Kuu]

Lucas watched the silent dancer closely, was she surprised about something that he said? It seemed like that was the cas-...

He sat there, completely still, when he saw the necklace that she had on. It took him a short moment to finally recognize the cross that he had given her so many years ago, and seeing it now caused his eyes to go wide and it suddenly got a bit harder to breathe. His eyes went from the necklace back to the dancer's face, then to the necklace again and then back to her face. It was now quite clearly Liliana...how couldn't he have noticed before?

Without thinking about it one of Lucas's hands went to Liliana's cheek, and in a much softer, lighter voice than normal he spoke, "Lili...?"

[Nicolette]

Liliana Espinosa could see the clear shock on the boy's face, and she felt her heart beat faster as she realized what this meant. It had to be true... This had to be her Lucas! The Lucas who had been her best friend for years upon years until the horrible accident that separated them. God must have heard her countless prayers and brought them back together.

Tears flooded blue eyes and she felt her whole body relax with incredible relief. After so long, he was finally there, looking down at her and saying her name. Lucas was there...

She felt a few tears slip down her cheeks before she flung herself toward, wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her face in the crook of his neck as she clung to him. She didn't care if he lost his balance and they both flopped over... It had been so long, and she'd been so lonely...

[Kuu]

Lucas was taken aback by her suddenly flinging her arms around him, which caused the boy to lose his balance and stumble back until he just decided to let them both fall to the ground. During this, Lucas wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer to him though he was careful so as to not hurt her at all.

"Lili...I...," Lucas started, the shock on his face was dissolved into a warm smile and his eyes were shining with happiness. "I missed you so much...I didn't expect to see you here!" He was so happy, though something was a bit off with her...like her lack of speaking. Maybe she just didn't want to talk to a stranger and she would talk to him now that she knew it was him?

That...and he wanted to ask her what happened.

[Nicolette]

Liliana hugged the boy tightly, feeling her tears continue to slip down her cheeks. She couldn't even begin to express the happiness she felt, so she simply stayed in his arms until she could control her tear ducts. She sniffled a few times before pulling out of his embrace, looking down at him as he lied below her. She felt her cheeks warm up as she moved to sit down next to him, letting him sit up. Then, an idea struck.

She rose from the floor and ran over to her book bag. She shuffled around it until she found her cell phone and she snapped it open to the keyboard. She went back over to his side and sat down next to him, looking at him with adoring eyes, waiting for him to say anything to her. She would be ready to answer him this time.

[Kuu]

While Liliana was in his arms all that Lucas could think about was how nice it felt to have her there. It almost felt like something that was missing came back to him and he was filled with such warmth and love.

He missed her so much...he could stay like this for quite a while, but he was deeply disappointed when he felt her pull out of his arms and get up to run over to her bag. Lucas felt a bang of emptiness for a moment, though it quickly dissolved because she was still there with him and that was all he really needed.

Lucas sat upright with his legs crosses as he watched his long-last best friend take her cellphone and sit in front of him. He stayed silent for a moment, his curiosity evident.

"Er...Lili? What's the phone for?" he asked her. His eyes were still glued to her and he was thinking about all the little changes in her appearance since he last saw her.

[Nicolette]

Liliana's eyes softened and though she gave him a soft, sweet smile, both her eyes and that smile were filled with such sadness. It was almost heartbreaking. She brought her phone up and brought her thumbs to rest over the small keyboard.

'It's so I can talk to you.' She typed before she handed the cell phone to him, letting him read the text. She felt her heart thud hard in her chest and she felt like it was just going to explode. It had taken her so long to find him, to be able to hear his voice again, see his wonderful smile, and be close to him after being separated for so long... And even now, she couldn't bring herself to use the voice she'd locked up so long ago...

[Kuu]

Lucas felt his heart break at her sad expression, he hated seeing her like that, it gave him such a horrible and sick feeling in his stomach to see her so sad. Maybe...the accident that separated them had something to do with her not being able to talk?

Slowly and carefully, Lucas brought his hand to brush against her cheek and push back some of her hair so that he could see her pretty eyes once again. In a soft, kind voice, he asked her, "what happened?"

He needed to know.

[Nicolette]

She was used to the sympathy in people's eyes when they found out about the accident (family members, mostly), or the looks of sympathy mixed with pity she got from those who heard about her inability to talk. No one really knew that it was her choice not to speak, even though at this point her voice probably wouldn't sound as great after not being used for so many years...

She brought her phone up, her thumbs moving quickly over the keys, making minimal mistakes.

'Well... As you know, there was an accident before I left Spain. We were hit by a semi, and my parents did not survive. I was in the hospital when I wrote you my letter. After that, Tia Zarita came to take care of me in the hospital until I was alright enough to be transferred to a hospital here on T'zen Island, where she works. I've been here since then... Though, I had to take off a year of school while I recovered.'

There was only so much she could say through text. She wanted nothing more than to tell him all of these things, but her voice... She just couldn't bring herself to do it. She looked down as she held her hand out to give him the cell phone.