Twisted Wonderland

The Following Act

"Lighting and audio are all set! Royal Sword Academy, you're up!"

Neige smiles sweetly. "Come in out, boys."

"Coming!"

Everyone's eyes widen when the other dance members join Neig on stage. You recognize a few of them as the dwarves you encountered earlier.

"Uhhh, what is this," Ace scoffs. "an elementary school play?"

Jamil shakes his head. "I don't think those are children, actually. They're fae, dwarfs, to be specific."

Grim leaps to your shoulder. "Oh, those are the guys who got lost on campus!"

Neige waves. "Hello, everybody! I'm Neige LeBlanche, with Royal Sword Academy. Say hello, boys."

The dwarves step forward.

"I'm Snick." He sneezes.

"I'm Dominic!"

"I'm Grum." He folds his arms.

One of the dwarves yawns. "I'm Shelpie."

"Hiya! I'm Hop!" He holds up a peace sign by his head. "Peace!"

"I'm T-Timmy." He hides his face. "This is so awkward..."

One boy scratches his head. "What was my name again?"

Grum rolls his eyes. "Quit playin' dumb already, Toby!"

He chuckles. "Oh yeah! I'm Toby!"

You tilt your head. Seven dwarves, huh?

"We've practiced day and night with the goal of putting on the best performance ever!" Neige cheers. "I hope you'll enjoy our song!"

You and the boys sit in the audience seats. Vil takes a seat next to you as Neige starts singing. Their song is more cutesy and childish compared to your group. But it's quite charming in its own way.

"Wow, what IS this song?" Kalim asks. "It just keeps coming back around to the hook in circles!"

"It's an arrangement of a Shaftlands children's song." Rook answers. "Even I've heard it, and I'm from the Sunset Savanna. I'm sure it's quite famous."

Ace scratches his neck. "Huh. All those dance moves are so simple, anyone could do them. They're not even in sync."

"One of 'em almost fell over!" Grim laughs. "Neige helped him catch himself, but all of these guys look like they could go toppling at any second."

Jamil folds his arms. "Frankly, the quality is nothing worthy of note."

"You can't even call this competition." Ace scoffs. "Am I right or what, Vil?"

Everyone looks to Vil who only stares wide eyed at the stage.

"We've been outplayed." He whispers.

You look back to the stage and see the film crew talking amongst themselves.

"This song really takes me back!"

"Just watching those cute, wholesome kids makes all my stress melt away."

"I know! It's so heartwarming. Almost makes me wanna cry."

"Their dancing is out of sync, and their harmonies are clunky at best but I'm glued to the performance. I want to root for them!"

Deuce's eyes widen. "Whoa... Neige LeBlanche has everybody awestruck!"

"Ah ain't never knew 'charm' could come off like that." Epel says.

Vil growls as the performance ends. Neige waves. "Thanks for listening, everybody! I love you all!"

The film crew and staff cheer.

"Hey, get in touch with Neige's agency! We're running this video on the evening news!"

"Yes, sir! I'll verify permissions with them now."

"This is gonna go more viral than cute kitty videos!"

"What a coup we just witnessed. Have you ever seen an image so perfect for the whole family?"

"Neige LeBlanche. He definitely earns his title of most likable celebrity in the world. Mega-hits aren't born from simple trendiness and beauty. They need to be accessible to all ages, from children to the elderly, not just the teen demographic."

Neige rushes to the crowd. "Thank you for helping with our rehearsal, staff!"

Reporters race to talk with the boy.

"Hello, Neige! That was the best performance I've ever seen! I got goosebumps just watching! We're with a Shaftlands TV station. Would you be willing to share a few comments for your fans?"

"Absolutely!" Neige nods.

"What made you decide to sing an arrangement of a children's song?"

"I wanted to have a fun time and share it with everybody watching the SDC." Neige smiles as he answers. "I figured something familiar would be the way to go. The reason why I decided to take part in this year's SDC was because I wanted to share some special memories with my friends at school. And I thought that if we could get the whole world to sing along with us, it would make for an experience we'd treasure forever."

"So you weren't just thinking about yourself; you were thinking about people all over the world." The reporter grins. "I have to hand it to you, Neige. We just uploaded the clip we shot to Magicam. 'So cute! My kid was imitating their dance! That's the most wholesome, beautiful thing I've ever seen!' That's just a small sampling of the comments people are posting. I'd say you've got a real good chance of taking home first prize with this, my friend!"

Neige laughs. "Oh, you never know with these things. Thank you for your kind words, though!"

You look to Vil. He's frozen stiff and stares at the stage. You gently place a hand to his arm. "Vil?"

"What's the matter?" Rook asks. "You look pale. Are you feeling out of sorts?"

Vil shakes his head. "No... I'm fine. Nothing's wrong. It was a school play hardly worthy of my notice. I'll be in the dressing room."

Vil stands and you watch as he walks away. You think back to the dream you had last night. How the queen was going to poison that girl. A chill goes down your spine. Vil wouldn't do that... would he?

Epel waves a hand in front of your face. "Um, Y/N? You're staring into space. Are you all right?"

You run a hand through your hair. "I-I'm okay."

Grim jumps to your lap. "What's wrong? Gettin' hungry?"

Ace rolls his eyes. "Project much, Grim?"

"I myself actually AM hungry, though." Deuce says. "Let's get something to eat before showtime."

The Heartslabyul boys and Epel leave. Now only you, Kalim, Jamil and Rook remain. You hug Grim close to your chest.

"Vil is going to be alright, right?" You ask no one in particular.

Rook only frowns as he stares after Vil.

In one of the hallways in the coliseum, Vil paces as he takes out his phone. "Mira, Mira. Tell me something."

"What would you like me to look up?"

"Who, at this moment, is the most beautiful of all?"

"Displaying results for 'account with the most comments using the word 'beautiful': Neige LeBlanche."

Vil grips his phone tightly. "No... no!"

He throws his phone against the wall and it shatters. Vil breathes heavily as he runs his hands through his hair.

"Neige!"