The Perfect Duet

Chapter 3
The Realm of Night

As Rin grasped the boy's hand, she felt a strange sense of nostalgia. It seemed, at that moment, that she was reuniting with him from a far off memory and that she knew everything about him without knowing anything. Farther and farther, they came in past the mirror and farther and farther they came away from the room. They drifted down a hall with cobwebs at every corner and candle sticks that bent back to mark their path to the realm of shadows. As Rin clutched tighter to his hand, the deeper enchantment seemed to surround her. She looked back behind her at the world where all seemed so stagnant, and then she looked forward to see the back of the boy's head—the heart of this dream world. He glanced back at her again and again to gaze into her wondering eyes and continued to walk forward.

"I beg you to speak to me again..." Rin breathed.

"Does my voice please you?" He sneered, "Wait just a moment—I shall sing for you until the night ends, but we must reach my sacred realm of music first."

They had come to the edge of a lake now with a boat gently rocking back and forth, decorated in elegant Gothic carvings with a single lantern lighting the way at the front. The boy stepped forward and prepared it, making sure everything was in its proper place. He then looked back at her once more and held out his arms, telling her to board the boat without words.

"Please," Rin said once more, "please tell me your name."

"My name?" Asked the boy softly.

He lowered his arms and slowly and gracefully walked towards her. He then raised a hand hesitantly toward her, but it had eventually landed on her shoulder and gently brushed down her arm to her hand, where he slowly entwined his fingers with hers. He brought his face and brushed his cheek against hers until his lips touched her ear. Then in a soft, seductive whisper he replied,

"My name is Len."

Rin breathed out when she heard the name and the blood in her body seemed to come alive at that moment. Len had stepped back away from her, slowly untangling his fingers, but holding out his arms once more to offer a gentleman's assistance for Rin to step into the boat. Now Rin came more freely and as she stepped into the boat, Len set a hand on her back and grasped her hand once more to gently set her down in front of him. Then they once more were drifting, this time across the misty water deeper into Len's enchanted world.

Once they turned the corner, Rin unintentionally let out a gasp. An entire wall was covered with organ pipes, towering far above them to the ceiling. In between and around the pipes were carvings of vines and singing faces. If the entry hall of the opera house was the realm of day, then this was the Gothic realm of night. It rivaled in it's elegant and detailed space and every corner was lit with the light of soft candles.

When they had reached the shore, Len walked passed her and stepped out of the boat. Turning toward her, he grasped the edge of his cloak and lifted it off his shoulders, revealing his petite, yet defined body. He wore a black vest embroidered with similar gold designs, similar to that of his cloak, over a white shirt with frills at the cuffs over his black gloves and around his neck was a black ribbon tied into a bow. The moment he removed his cloak, Rin seemed to have a better image of his face, his expressions, everything. The bangs of his golden hair that was tied back into a short ponytail fell in front of his eyes as he lifted a corner of his mouth to smile. He brought his hand forward and grasping it once more, Rin came up to the shore with him. The two gazed into each other's eyes for a moment before Len led Rin further in toward a long, black grand piano.

"Come away from that cruel, bright, misunderstanding world and listen to the music here."

Len slipped his gloves off his hands and sat at the piano. He set his hands on the ivory keys and looked at Rin who approached his side. Smiling, he turned toward the piano and some scribbled notes on a piece of sheet music.

"When I heard your voice, sweet melodies were inspired from you, and I knew that your voice was the one match my own."

Len's fingers then flew across the piano in the most beautiful melody Rin had ever heard. Bringing both her hands to her chest, tears welled up in her eyes. He then began to sing along with the pressed keys, his voice ringing like a clear bell through the air. Rin clutched her chest now, because it seemed her heart was about to fly out of it. After he finished a certain phrase, Len stopped both playing and singing and looked at Rin and smiled.

"Now sing with me—I know you can do it."

He began to play again, and this time when he began to sing, Len gazed back at Rin. After a moment she joined him in harmony. Their voices mixed together in a brilliant tone of heaven as it echoed throughout the warm darkness. Rin closed her eyes when she felt a fire burning through her chest and smiled. The piano had eventually stopped playing, but Len was still singing with her. Rin felt a warm embrace from behind as Len began wrapping his arms around her. He held one hand over Rin's and together, he brought them up, feeling Rin's slightly trembling body to where he could feel her pounding heart under her own hand. As Rin continued to sing, for a moment, Len whispered into her ear.

"Turn all your thoughts away and close your eyes to that world from before. Allow the warm shadows to embrace you. Let your soul soar with mine and listen to how our voices fly together in the darkness of the night. Know that the dreams here exist—touch me and know that I'm real..."

Rin immediately lifted her hand and touched his cheek, trailing her fingers down to his chin. Now Len joined her once again in song and led her throughout his enchanted lair, holding her hands and gazing upon her. The image of the two of them there, surrounded by the swirling shadows of the night was like gazing into a perfect portrait. And as both of them sensed that the end of their song was coming, they faced each other. The release of their voices were perfect, and an echo lingered into the air a while longer.

Rin stared into Len's eyes intensly, breathing deeply until her eyes rolled back and she collapsed into his arms. Len seemed to know he was expecting it and immediately caught her. Gingerly, he took her up into his arms and brought her to his bed that lay in the corner, covered with satin sheets of black and gold. He gently laid her head on the pillow and bent over her, once again whispering into her ear.

"Only you can make my song take flight... Only with you, can we make the perfect duet..."

Then gently once more, he brushed her cheek with the softness of his lips.

When Rin next awoke, she found herself laying in her own bed in the familiar space of her room and dressed in her own nightgown. It was as if what happened before was merely a dream. The candles were lit once more, but the vast amount of flowers were still there, assuring that the events of last night were in fact real, banishing the notion of the dream. She sat up and rubbed her head before standing up from her bed. The first thing she did was look into the mirror, expecting to see Len staring back at her, but all she saw was herself this time. Was he some kind of phantom?

Rin then turned toward the door and set her hand on the doorknob expecting it not to turn. However, against her expectations, it gave way and she pushed the door open. She came out into the corridor and found complete silence and brightness from the sunlight that leaked through the windows.

"Rin!"

The sudden break in silence by the shrill voice that echoed down the corridor made Rin jump. She quickly turned to see where it had come from and found Miku running towards her at full speed. When Miku had reached her, she grasped Rin by the shoulders and glanced over her body.

"What happened? Are you hurt? Did anything happen to you?"

"I don't understand why you're so frantic." Rin replied rather calmly.

"Your door was locked all night! When I came to get you to meet Kaito, your door was locked and I heard voices in your room!"

Rin thought for a moment. Should she tell Miku of Len? Should she tell her of how positively haunting and enchanting he was? Should she tell her of the magic of the music that flew between them the night before in that enchanted chamber? Rin had decided against it and quickly came up with an excuse.

"I must have locked my door on accident and fallen asleep suddenly—I was a bit tired from the performance. And I was probably talking in my sleep."

Miku's eyebrows arched together in confusion. But then she decided after a while to trust that Rin was telling the truth and let out a deep sigh of relief.

"Why are you so worried?" Rin asked, no longer being able to hold in her feelings of confusion. It was the same as the time that Miku held an expression of terror when Rin had first told her that she was the new diva.

"It's just..." Miku started, but then quickly stopped before glancing around. She then took Rin by the hand and said, "Follow me—"

They quickly walked down the corridor and went to the lower levels of the opera house and eventually came into the small chapel that Rin had first practiced in. All throughout their travel, Miku did not look back at Rin as if she was concentrating hard on getting there as fast as possible without being noticed. When they had reached their sanctuary, Miku glanced around herself once again before turning to Rin to speak.

"When I thought I heard voices from your room, I thought the Opera Ghost had come to take you away..."

"What?" Rin blurted in surprise. Was she referring to Len?

Miku shook her head to silence Rin, then closed her eyes thinking of a better way to explain her plight, "Have you heard the rumors? Of all our divas mysteriously disappearing?"

"I have... but that was because the rehearsal work was so rough and the performances were so numerous to them that they quit or were kicked out right?"

"That's what the opera house managers and the maestro have been telling the newspapers and the press," Miku's voice became hushed, "but the truth is that they turn up missing and never return... no one knew what happened to them. If they're somewhere out on the streets or completely gone from this world."

"And you think this 'Opera Ghost' is responsible for this?"

"You see... whenever a new diva came in we were all quite proud to have such a brilliant star in our midst... but sometimes, she would make a mistake in her singing. Or she would forget where to move on stage or she would bend a pitch the wrong way. The maestro and the two opera house managers didn't mind because she was able to fix her mistakes... but the Opera Ghost would not have it."

"How do you know—" Rin interrupted rather loudly before Miku shushed her.

"The night of the day she would make a mistake in either a performance or a rehearsal, she would suddenly vanish from her locked room. And the next morning, the door would be unlocked, but there would be a single note on the bed that would read 'Your star could not light the sky of the world of night' and we wouldn't see her ever again. So whenever a new diva would come, we would hope and pray that she would be good enough to satisfy this unknown source."

"The world of night..." Rin muttered to herself.

Rin had recalled Len speaking of the night and the shadows quite often when she was embraced by his seductive aura. And she could clearly imagine him scribbling those words in elegant writing on a note. But would he take the divas away to some unknown place? And if it meant that she was the only one to return, was he satisfied with her voice?

"But when you came here and sung for us for that first time, all of us knew that you would be the diva that would satisfy the Opera Ghost—and that he would leave you alone."

Rin's head was swirling. If this was Len, why did he take the other divas away? Did he bring them to his world of unending night like he had done with her? Why was she the only one to return? For a moment, Rin felt a strange tingling in her fingers and in the back of her head. She felt frustrated and betrayed. Was this jealousy? She thought to herself that it was odd that she was feeling such an emotion, but it was completely undeniable that she was jealous that he would even consider bringing anyone else with him, even if he would say that they didn't satisfy them. Had she merely "performed well" for him that she was able to return like this?

"Rin, what's wrong?"

Rin hadn't noticed that she had begun to furrow her eyebrows. Quickly gaining her composure back, she assured Miku that nothing was wrong.

"I'm just a bit tired, that's all..."

The rehearsal for the next performance was already under way. The opera that they were performing was an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. Naturally Rin was to be playing the part of Juliet and Kaito was to be playing the part of Romeo. The first rehearsal was rather stressful to her not only because of the lingering thoughts of Len, but the set builders were still in the process of building the props themselves, and people were running back and forth on stage behind her. It was hard to concentrate on the performance, especially during one of the most romantic duets between Romeo and Juliet in the whole opera.

"We shall begin again." The maestro said, "And both of you should act more as lovers just slightly more—I'm not entirely convinced of your performance quite yet."

Rin pursed her lips together. The last thing she wanted was to pretend to be Kaito's lover. She wanted Len to be by her side, to have the assurance that his sweet embraces and words were not lies—that they were not merely a dream of the night. The orchestra had begun to play the introduction below when she felt an embrace around her. For a moment, Rin thought her wish had come true, for the warmth behind it held the same longing and wanting that Len had possessed. But the moment the voice echoed into the air, she knew she was mistaken—Kaito was the one with his arms around her waist. He was oddly seductive to her, stroking her body in such a way that they really were lovers. And Rin became so distracted that she had almost missed her entrance.

The maestro was now pleased with their performance and was brightly smiling at the intimacy happening before him. But a strange, evil dissatisfaction was hanging in the air that no one knew where it was coming from. Above the stage, Len was looking gravely down below at his Rin in the arms of another man. He would twitch whenever Kaito would bend his head so that he was breathing down Rin's neck, and he would cringe whenever he saw their hands entwine. With a swift, flowing movement, Len began to walk toward the ropes that held the backdrops...