The Illusion of Being Alone Closed

Kit knocked on the door and entered. "Uh, hi, I hope I'm not being too rude..." Kit sat down and listened to her play. "Wow..." Kit whispered. Kit tried not to be too much of an annoyance, especially in between songs. "So how long have you played?" Kit asked. She whispered the lyrics along with the gliding song.

Kit crossed her legs. "So, uh, I'm Ashtyn, my friends call me Kit. You?" Kit got up, put her hands on her hips. "I hope we can get along. I also hope I'm not being too tenacious or annoying." They sat in silence until Kit sat at a chair with a violin and began to play High Hopes by P!atD. Kit hums along with her playing, being very expressive.

'Had to have high high hopes for the living
Shooting for the stars when I couldn't make a killing
Didn't have a dime but I always had a vision
Always had high, high hopes
Had to have high, high hopes for a living
Didn't know how but I always had a feeling
I was gonna be that one in a million
Always had high, high hopes
Mama said
Fulfill the prophecy
Be something greater
Go make a legacy
Manifest destiny
Back in the days
We wanted everything, wanted everything
Mama said
Burn your biographies
Rewrite your history
Light up your wildest dreams
Museum victories, everyday
We wanted everything, wanted everything
Mama said don't give up, it's a little complicated
All tied up, no more love and I'd hate to see you waiting
Had to have high, high hopes for a living
Shooting for the stars when I couldn't make a killing
Didn't have a dime but I always had a vision
Always had high, high hopes
Had to have high, high hopes for a living
Didn't know how but I always had a feeling
I was gonna be that one in a million
Always had high, high hopes
Mama said
It's uphill for oddities
The stranger crusaders
Ain't ever wannabes
The weird and the novelties
Don't ever change
We wanted everything, wanted everything
Stay up on that rise
Stay up on that rise and never come down
Stay up on that rise
Stay up on that rise and never come down
Mama said don't give up, it's a little complicated
All tied up, no more love and I'd hate to see you waiting
They say it's all been done but they haven't seen the best of me
So I got one more run and it's gonna be a sight to see
Had to have high, high hopes for a living
Shooting for the stars when I couldn't make a killing
Didn't have a dime but I always had a vision
Always had high, high hopes
Had to have high, high hopes for a living
Didn't know how but I always had a feeling
I was gonna be that one in a million
Always had high, high hopes
Had to have high, high hopes for a living
Shooting for the stars when I couldn't make a killing
Didn't have a dime but I always had a vision
Always had high, high hopes
Had to have high, high hopes for a living
Didn't know how but I always had a feeling
I was gonna be that one in a million
Always had high, high hopes'

Kit finished with a pant. Haven't done that in a bit, to think. Kit sat and looked at the girl with Kit's dark emerald-like eyes.

Sapphire reopened her eyes when the other girl reached her 5th statement -- by that time, the girl and her interruptions were becoming a nuance. She stopped playing. "Sapphire Riddle," she said, answering for what her name was, before responding to the first question. "I played when I was 5, 6, and some of when I was seven. Then I vowed to never play an instrument again, which I obviously failed at, and started again in my first year."

The two sat in silence for a few seconds, Sapphire staring at the girl, Kit, and she watched as the ebony haired girl pulled out a violin and sat in a chair. As she started playing, Sapphire recognized the song. The string instrument was joined by a soft humming, coming from the other girl.

"Had to have high high hopes for the living
Shooting for the stars when I couldn't make a killing
Didn't have a dime but I always had a vision
Always had high, high hopes
Had to have high, high hopes for a living
Didn't know how but I always had a feeling
I was gonna be that one in a million
Always had high, high hopes
Mama said
Fulfill the prophecy
Be something greater
Go make a legacy
Manifest destiny
Back in the days
We wanted everything, wanted everything
Mama said
Burn your biographies
Rewrite your history
Light up your wildest dreams
Museum victories, everyday
We wanted everything, wanted everything
Mama said don't give up, it's a little complicated
All tied up, no more love and I'd hate to see you waiting
Had to have high, high hopes for a living
Shooting for the stars when I couldn't make a killing
Didn't have a dime but I always had a vision
Always had high, high hopes
Had to have high, high hopes for a living
Didn't know how but I always had a feeling
I was gonna be that one in a million
Always had high, high hopes
Mama said
It's uphill for oddities
The stranger crusaders
Ain't ever wannabes
The weird and the novelties
Don't ever change
We wanted everything, wanted everything
Stay up on that rise
Stay up on that rise and never come down
Stay up on that rise
Stay up on that rise and never come down
Mama said don't give up, it's a little complicated
All tied up, no more love and I'd hate to see you waiting
They say it's all been done but they haven't seen the best of me
So I got one more run and it's gonna be a sight to see
Had to have high, high hopes for a living
Shooting for the stars when I couldn't make a killing
Didn't have a dime but I always had a vision
Always had high, high hopes
Had to have high, high hopes for a living
Didn't know how but I always had a feeling
I was gonna be that one in a million
Always had high, high hopes
Had to have high, high hopes for a living
Shooting for the stars when I couldn't make a killing
Didn't have a dime but I always had a vision
Always had high, high hopes
Had to have high, high hopes for a living
Didn't know how but I always had a feeling
I was gonna be that one in a million
Always had high, high hopes"

Sapphire had been listening, and had joined in with piano at some point. At the end of the song, she noticed that the other girl let out a heavy breath at the end. Then Kit turned her emerald orbs towards the girl of snow, almost as if expecting something, and Sapphire nodded. "Pretty good, I'll say. A good song too. If you don't mind me asking, how long have you been playing?" She was generally curious, but her tone was flat and devoid of emotion. She also wanted to know more about the tall female, to determine if she would be a friend or an enemy...

The Rehearsal Room was fit fot a grand musician. Koko had once thought herself to be a grand musician. However, after seeing a few American musicians as well as worldwide ones, she was beginning to realise that she wasn't as good at it as she had wished to be.

The girl wore black flats and her school uniform under Slytherin robes, a prefect badge gleaming scarily on her chest. She didn't like it, but why not wear it? It would proclaim her title without her having to say the dreaded words: I'm a prefect.

She was scared of her own powers, that much was true. It was weird. She could now do what had made Fridge scary at first... Not that she wasn't. But it defeated the whole point of being submissive towards authority, and that was because Koko was now in fact a source of authority, and she hated it.

As she passed by the door to the Rehearsal Room, she heard voices... Familiar voices... Sapphire? Sapphire was the only person that Koko could trust, and Sapphire was someone that Koko hoped would trust her. Koko shifted course and pushed the door open, her lips breaking into a grin. That was when she saw Kit.

"Oh. It's you." Her grin vanished in an instant. "I know that song." Though she now lived in America, she still retained her sharp British accent, and it edged her words even now.

"Sapphi, do you mind if I use the piano for a few moments?" Koko twiddled her thumbs. She wanted to show off her favourite instrument. Call her a brat, call her an arsehole, but she wanted to have pride in something if she couldn't have pride in her newfound leadership abilities. The blonde smiled shyly once more, her cheeks heating slightly. Oh, just how much she had changed since last meeting Kit was nearly unfathomable. She wasn't even sure if the Gryffindor would recognise her. Still, she would persist in her smiles even though she doubted it looked genuine. Maybe it did. Perhaps it would be her Veela blood that would sway Kit. Koko wasn't sure, and she also wasn't sure if she wanted to be. Sometimes uncertainty was a plus.

She stood awkwardly as the door slammed shut behind her. Koko's golden gaze set upon Kit's violin. So they had a shared hobby. That was... Interesting... Very interesting.

"Oh. It's you." Sapphire startled as a new voice entered the room. "I know that song," Koko added. There was a pause for a few seconds, then her sister spoke again. "Sapphi, do you mind if I use the piano for a few moments?"

Sapphire turned her gaze to her twin and watched as the other girl's eyes flitted to Kit's violin. "I have no problem with it," she said, getting up off the bench and moving to the floor, sitting there and staring straight ahead, at the door directly in front of her. Her expression was blank and emotionless, but her mind was racing. She wished that she had a notebook or something, to write everything down as a story formed itself in her head.

The only people in the room were her sister and the girl she knew nearly nothing about. She still hadn't gotten an answer for her question, and she hadn't heard anything from the other girl since she'd originally spoken to the albino-like Slytherin. She hated not knowing anything.

She started humming quietly to herself, going through the music of Paralyzed, if only to distract herself. When she reached the rapping, she opened her mouth, not knowing how to convey the words through the music. "I'm paralyzed
I'm scared to live but I'm scared to die
And if life is pain then I buried mine a long time ago
But it's still alive
And it's taking over me where am I?
I wanna feel something, I'm numb inside
But I don't feel nothing, I wonder why
I'm in the race of life and time passed by
Look, I sit back and I watch it
Hands in my pockets
Waves come crashing over me but I just watch 'em
I just watch 'em
I'm underwater but I feel like I'm on top of it
I'm at the bottom and I don't know what the problem is
I'm in a box
But I'm the one who locked me in
Suffocating and I'm running out of oxygen." The words couldn't even be considered a whisper -- they were more like a breath. Then she started humming again, finishing the last few verses and leaned against the wall. She was getting more used to what she used to do; immersing herself in music when she didn't know what else to do always helped her.

"Oh, uh, me?  I've been playing for... maybe 7 years now. Yeah, that sounds right." Kit said, flipping her jet-black hair back over her shoulder. Kit watched as Koko came in. Kit was familiar with all of these songs, so she hummed along, maybe even singing in some.

"I didn't expect you to be here Koko! And of course I remember you, why wouldn't I? You're my friend, I trust you." Kit said, knowing what Koko would say. Kit put her hair up and lifted her violin again. "You can join in as a piano accompaniment if you want to." Kit began with the memorabilia of when Koko sang Bohemian Rhapsody at the train.

Kit hummed as she started along slowly, per usual. Her hand began to tremble with vibrato, gliding along the strings, without pausing. "Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality
Open your eyes, look up to the skies and see
I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy
Because I'm easy come, easy go, little high, little low
Any way the wind blows doesn't really matter to me, to me

Mama, just killed a man
Put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger, now he's dead
Mama, life had just begun
But now I've gone and thrown it all away
Mama, ooh, didn't mean to make you cry
If I'm not back again this time tomorrow
Carry on, carry on as if nothing really matters


Mama, just killed a man
Put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger, now he's dead
Mama, life had just begun
But now I've gone and thrown it all away
Mama, ooh, didn't mean to make you cry
If I'm not back again this time tomorrow
Carry on, carry on as if nothing really matters


I see a little silhouetto of a man
Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango?
Thunderbolt and lightning, very, very frightening me
(Galileo) Galileo, (Galileo) Galileo, Galileo Figaro magnifico
But I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
He's just a poor boy from a poor family
Spare him his life from this monstrosity
Easy come, easy go, will you let me go?
Bismillah! No, we will not let you go
(Let him go!) Bismillah! We will not let you go
(Let him go!) Bismillah! We will not let you go
(Let me go) Will not let you go
(Let me go) Will not let you go
(Let me go) Ah
No, no, no, no, no, no, no
(Oh, mamma mia, mamma mia) Mamma mia, let me go
Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me, for me, for me!


So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye?
So you think you can love me and leave me to die?
Oh, baby, can't do this to me, baby!
Just gotta get out, just gotta get right outta here!


Nothing really matters, anyone can see
Nothing really matters
Nothing really matters to me
Any way the wind blows" Kit finished after six minutes of song, still holding the last note. She dropped her violin down from her shoulder. "So, good or no?" The Black haired commented with a slight smug look.

She wasn’t expecting more singing.

It wasn’t as if she did not want to sing, but rather as if it had struck the blonde by surprise. She hadn’t known that Sapphire sang... And she didn’t want Sapphire to know that she did, too. Koko glanced at the piano bench, her silky hair swaying as she moved her head. Her jaw was clenched and she was clearly irritated by something, but she was sure that no one knew what.

Koko sat down on the piano bench, resting her fingers on the familiar keys, and she played a few notes. Then a scale. Then a series of perfect fifths. If she was singing a song, she sang a perfect fifth higher than most artists. It added contrast as well as simplicity for the soprano. She played chords with both hands to Ashtyn’s violin, but she didn’t sing until her favourite parts. Finally, she just couldn’t hold it in anymore, and her lips twisted into a chaotic smile as words spilled out of her mouth:

”Mama... OooOooOh!” The piano chords got just the slightest bit louder there, and she played a long crescendo. And then a pianoforte. Doot doot doot doot doot doot doot doot...

”I see a little silhouetto of a man.” Now, the chords were soft and marked as different with staccatos. Yes, it was her own cover, but she still imagined sheet music for it in her head. ”Galileo, Galileo, Galileo, Galileo,” Koko sang, hitting the high notes perfectly. The lower ones were much more difficult, so she hit a perfect fifth above as was par.

Once Kit finished, Koko said nothing. A smirk danced on her lips as she tried to conceal it, but other than that the only emotion was in her eyes. It was... glee. All of a sudden, she slammed the keys with quite a loud forte, saying, ”Are we gonna have a problem? You got a bone to pick?” The smile grew. ”I'd normally slap your face off, and everyone here could watch. But I'm feeling nice. Here's some advice. Listen up, biotch!” Now, instead of playing forte, she dropped to a nice mezzo-forte and began to sing the rest of the song.

”I like looking hot, buying stuff they cannot.” Her voice was growing more confident with every word she spoke, and it was wavering less. ”I like killer clothes, kickin’ nerds in the nose!” Hahahahaha. That was so not her. That was the person she wished she could be, rather than a doormat or a pushover.

The girl got even further into the song before bursting out into the chorus:

Honey, whatchu waitin' for?
Welcome to my candy store!
It's time for you to prove you’re not a loser anymore
Then step into my candy store!”

She then sang the second verse, complete with piano chords, before launching into the rest of the song. She finished with a vocal pianoforte and no chords on the piano, and then she leaned back slightly. Her fingers still rested on the piano keys, and her chest heaved, aching for breath. Koko’s lungs felt as if they were shrivelled raisins. Yet it felt amazing. ”Eh,” she said to Kit, slightly masking her feeling but not much, ”It was fine. Could have been better.

Kit looked at Koko and smiled as well, then Koko slammed the keys with the fortissimo. It had scared Kit, but she was not going to show it. As she played the piano and sung along, Kit knew the tune, right then. Kit felt temped to sing along, but it wasn't her turn, and she was uninvited.

Once Koko had finished, she had declared she didn't do great. Kit thought it was way better than she could play. "Oh, ok. Well then, we're just getting started." Kit challenged.

Kit began with a loud fortissimo, if she call it that. Kit knew what she had tried to do, doing another song from the Heathers. Kit walked over to Koko, singing in the beginning.

"The demon queen of high school has decreed it," She sang loudly. Kit played through the song smoothly, note after note, string after string, chord after chord. Her violin seemed as if it was trying to sing even.  Kit continued to shake with vibrato and her right arm getting sore from playing at such fast tempos. "I'm a dead girl walking! I'm in your yard, I'm a dead girl walking!" Kit yelled as she reached the chorus. She thought she was a bit flat, but with her loud violin, she didn't think they'd notice. Kit continued to sing and play along loudly.

She came to the end, slowing and getting quieter, finishing with an accented note. "So, this is now a fandom battle huh?" Kit grinned at Koko, remembering how they sang loudly on the train. Kit put down her violin and  bow. She then stretched and rolled her shoulders. Kit saw earlier how focused they had all been. She then switched a question to Sapphire. "You wanna join, or be boring and decline?" Kit asked, very snarkily. She didn't want to be an arse, she just was eccentric.

"You wanna join, or be boring and decline?" Kit asked. Sapphire blanched and just stared into the emerald green pits.

"That depends," she said quietly, "on whether or not a person understands the term "fandom battle". In which case, I don't see myself as physically capable of doing so. I'm not familiar with the concept." She could practically hear the 5 year old, who was still innocent and believed that happiness existed, chastising her for her response. The little girl was telling her to loosen up a little.

Sapphire looked down. She suddenly found the floor very interesting. Don't let them see your discontent, said the voice of a 10 year old Sapphire. Don't let them know that you're afraid. Then she went into a whole internal argument, in which the 5 year old eventually won. "If you could bear with my imbecilic lack of knowledge of the term and guide me a little, I guess I will join."

She wasn't sure how that sounded. It was a little bit awkward in her ears, but she was trying to piece words together properly. If she couldn't sound normal, her brain hardwired itself to using elaborate language.

"May I add, you'll have to deal with my odd word choices as well," she added with a sheepish grin.

"I never said it was a fandom battle. I believed it to be a competition of singing -" a grin broke across the blonde's face "- And I am glad to partake in it." Koko loved music. There was no lying there. Music was dope. So was singing. Music was an art, art was aesthetic, and Koko absolutely adored aesthetic. Singing was fun because you could put your heart and soul into it quite easily, though Koko believed that to be easier to do when you knew the songs well. Even though her adoptive father had enjoyed Muggle things quite a bit, he had never been able to take her to any musicals without Rosalie's noticing - though once they arrived in America, they did go to see Heathers. With a smile at her sister, Koko's posture straightened. "I'm sure you will do wonderfully."

Koko's index finger rested on a black key, lightly touching the familiar ivory. They didn't have a piano at her new house; she would ask for one for Christmas. She pressed down, but the note that sounded seemed unfamiliar. She didn't know which one it was, and it was one she didn't hear often. Maybe an E flat? She looked at her finger; it was an E flat. Her hands began the intro to the song she was about to play, a beautiful intro that was obviously played in a minor key. The girl then played a chord. "Uh, uh." Her fingers slammed another chord. "I was thinking 'bout her, thinkin' bout me," another chord, this time a major one, "Thinking 'bout us, what we gonna be?" She began to play the chords slightly softer, accenting the feel of the song. "Open my eyes, it was only just a dream."

The next chord she played, a minor one, was a bit louder but was a fortepiano. "So I travelled back," she drifted into head voice and back down into chest for the next part, repeating the notes, "down that road - Will she come back? No one knows." The chord progression became somewhat quieter as she sang, "I realise... It was only just a dream..." Her voice hopped up and down, staying in head voice that time and gaining a slightly breathy sound for feel rather than perfection. She loved perfection, but in music she added her own feel to the work already done; she made it her own when she sang.

Then she began the rap.

It was fast and clear; the breathiness she had used had been completely abandoned for a rapid, clear rap that was right around Middle C in pitch. "I was at the top now it's like I'm in the basement; Number one spot now she find her a replacement." Koko kept rapping and playing chords to go with her rapidly spoken words. Then the chorus whipped around once more. "It was only just a dream... So I travelled back, down that road," she sang, the airiness and lightness appearing once again. Lightness in a voice was considered to be a characteristic of the soprano voice even though there were other types of soprano. "Will she come back? No one knows." Once she sang the rest of the chorus once more, she launched into loud, clear rapping once more. "'Cause I was wrong." An admission, one that was quite difficult to make, escaped from her lips. This song had never hit her in this way before. Why was she feeling this? Why was a poor, scared girl feeling like this? She was feeling sad, enveloped by the definite minor key of the song and almost crying.

"I was thinkin' 'bout her, thinkin' 'bout me, thinkin' 'bout us, what we gonna be?" The girl's voice grew stronger and wavered less with each word. "Open my eyes, yeah, it was only just a dream." Her fingers flew across the keys, marking out a rhythm for her to sing to. "So I travelled back," the girl sang, leaping into the chorus once more. "Will she come back? No one knows." Her right hand stopped playing chords and her left grew much softer as she finished the verse: "I realise, it was only just a dream."

The prefect's fingers hit the keys once more, and immediately after she began an interlude that was reminiscent of the intro. "If you've ever loved somebody put your hands up," she whispered. This was a quiet sort of singing, also fairly harsh, that escaped her lips. It got louder with another round of, "If you've ever loved somebody put your hands up." Her eyelids closed as she pushed the sound out of her throat. "And now they're gone and you're wishing you could give them everything."

She paused with both the vocals and the piano, just long enough to seem as if she were stopping, and then she continued, "I was thinking 'bout her, thinking 'bout me, thinking 'bout us, what we gonna be?" Her voice climbed higher, but the enunciation was still clear, cold, and crisp as she sang. "It was only just a dream." She took a deep breath and continued, "So I travelled back down that road. Will she come back? No one knows." The piano notes slowed and softened; her voice became just a little quieter. "I realise," the blonde breathed, "It was only Just A Dream." Her fingers hit one final chord, and then she grinned at Sapphire, a slight sheen of sweat covering her face and making her pale hair stick to her skin. "Sapphi, Kit," Koko said, "Do you, by chance, have an instrument that you favour the sound of. Not your favourite one to play, but the one that produces the sound you prefer?"