When the Cat Met the Wolf

12. Of Secret Visits & Hieroglyphs

Arianne stared at herself in the full-body mirror backstage. She was kind of nervous because this wasn't a presentation nor a competition; she was the opening show for Jagged Stone. Millions of people that had never heard of her before were going to be there, and she had no idea how they would react to a violinist opening a show for a rocker.

She smoothed out her dress as she bit her lip, and Charlotte appeared behind her.

"Nervous, aren't we?" she questioned with a smile, and Arianne looked at her through the mirror.

"Of course I'm nervous!" she replied "There are over fifteen-thousand people out there who may have never heard a violin in their lives, and I'm the opening show for a rock concert. Can you blame me?"

"Aren't your friends there?" asked her teacher approaching her "That should ease your worry. They'll sure like it"

"I know that" replied Arianne, rolling her eyes a bit. Marinette and Alya were in the audience; Adrien couldn't make it, and Thiago either, but she didn't worry about them because the show would be recorded, and they would see her once it came out. 

"Then don't worry so much!" assured Charlotte with a smile, and placed her hand on her shoulder "Look for them in the crowd, and you'll be fine" an announcement came on, saying that the show was starting "Are you ready?" Arianne took a deep breath, turned around, and said, with determination:

"I'm ready"

Another reason why she was nervous, was because she was playing her original song, and 'Guren No Yumiya', which had taken her hours to master.

She did as Charlotte told her, and looked for Alya and Marinette in the crowd. She spotted them after some minutes, and they smiled at her with their thumbs up. Arianne smiled back at them and took another deep breath, before starting to play 'Guren No Yumiya'. She had purposefully chosen upbeat songs so the rockers wouldn't get bored, and had specifically asked that a band made the background music.

When she finished, the crowd cheered satisfied, and Arianne couldn't help but sigh in relief. They seemed to like that one, but she didn't know if they would think the same thing about the next two songs.

The next song she was playing was a rendition of 'He's A Pirate'. She had played it before, and it never got old, because everyone seemed to like it. It was Thiago's favourite, and, when he got the chance, he always asked her to play it. Arianne included it in most of her shows or presentations.

Obviously, the audience loved it, like everyone did when they heard it, but the most anxious part was about to come: her original song. Out of all the ones she had written, she chose to play 'Awakening', because it was the most upbeat out of all of them and, frankly, Arianne loved it. She hoped that everyone would, especially the friends that would see her playing it.

And they did. The more time she played it, the more bewildered they became. Alya and Marinette were looking at her with eyes wide, and huge smiles on their faces.

"She's amazing!" whispered Alya to Marinette, and the girl nodded.

"Yeah! Look how everyone is enjoying it!" both friends looked around, and saw every single person in the audience staring at the violinist in awe as she played "Hey, there's someone up there" added Marinette, looking up at the top of the Eiffel Tower (Did I mention that the concert was outdoors, at the bottom of the Eiffel Tower?).

Alya followed her friend's gaze and saw that, indeed, there was someone up there.

"I wonder who it is" replied Alya frowning.

It was Thiago Reyes, who had found some time to come to Paris and watch her best friend's opening act. He was standing and the top of the Eiffel Tower, staring down at Arianne with a huge smile.