Elizabeth stood outside the building for only a moment, quickly ending her internal debate. Maxwell’s Melodies. It was supposed to be an excellent music store. Neither small and full of second-hand merchandise nor massive and suitable for only kings and queens, it was nevertheless a welcoming place. It looked to be about the size of an average New York shop, yet despite it being crammed in between two other such buildings, it held its own magical allure. The building just gave off the impression of...elegance? Beauty? Magic? Any word would do.

Liz pulled the glass door outwards and slid into the place. The wondrous air conditioning struck her immediately, refreshing her from the mild heat of the day. Jazz music played softly from ceiling-mounted speakers, subtlely muffling the fews customers milling around the store.

The blonde already liked the place.

With a quick glance around, she noticed a sign hanging above an aisle of miscellaneous tidbits, explaining the location of the pianos and sheet music. Because that’s what Liz was really there for. It had been quite some time since she’d last fiddled with the monochromatic keys of a keyboard or organ and she’d decided that she should get back into the practice of it. After all, the mansion did have a few pianos. There was no excuse for her not to practice.

Traversing the store rather slowly, taking in all the sights as she strolled along, Liz eventually made her way to the mentioned site of the pianos and appropriate music. In comparison to the length of time it took her to merely arrive at the destination, Liz found a song she rather liked. She was quite fortunate that the store managed to accumulate a vast collection of various types of music, including modern songs of a very decidedly non-classic genre.

And, well, since she had the sheet music, and there just happened to be a few pianos near-by, and no one else seemed to be, would it really hurt to test the song out a bit before she bought anything? She hoped not, since she was already sitting down and beginning to plunk out the first few notes.

Despite the glaring directed toward the inert doors, none of them decided to move to let her pass. Maybe it was because they were unable to move without help, or perhaps because there was no one nearby to operate them. Unlike the modern shop that she used to attend where the doors were not only mechanized but were also paired with employees to greet customers.
Fortunately her bodyguard found the task of opening the doors very easy. A pleasant artificial breeze escape the building to the street, both temporary cool her rage. At least the store had air conditioning.

Once inside the store, Celeste noted with sadness the prevailing decadence. As she expected, no one ran to receive her with the honors she believed to deserve and what was worse, no one seemed frightened by her presence as often happened in the stores where she was habitual. The inattention was something to be expected in a store that category, but the lack of recognition and terror were two entirely new things that the girl could not understand. Does the name Manfrella meant nothing there? Apparently not. She had to fix that...

While she was still trying to find a polite way to break the employees, her sensitive ears caught an eerie cacophony that penetrated the monotony of the Jazz music that was playing in the background. The rhythm of the notes and the quality of execution were not bad, but the piece itself was a mockery toward all the great composers... so with a new goal obtained, she moved directly to the center of that soft and modern music.

When Celeste found the culprit of such disastrous concert, she took a seat in one of nearest pianos to observe her behavior but when she read the sheet music, she realized what the problem was. Almost all the pieces were modern and therefore lacking the strength and energy of the old symphonies.
Putting aside the score, her fingers nimbly descended over the keyboard to produce the first thundering notes of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. For a moment, the old notes devoured the world leaving only Celeste and her piano alone.

Singing alongside the music in her head, Elizabeth had become lost in the song. Singin about fireflies and sock hops and the earth spinning slowly, she was content to play the song. Surprisingly, she hadn’t made many glaring mistakes yet. Of course, she wasn’t playing perfectly, but most of the mistakes were minor and could be ignored somewhat easily. If only the same could be said for the sudden roar of Beethoven that practically knocked her off her bench.

As one might understand, Liz lost her place on the sheet music and became utterly distracted. She twisted around in her seat until her brown eyes landed on the only conceivable concierto responsible for sound wall. Another blonde sat at a near piano, pounding away with a clear mastery of classical piano music. Liz had to give her credit, she was pretty good at the piano. It was just too bad it was interfering with her own ability to play, else she would’ve enjoyed listening to the girl.

Liz twisted back around on the bench and tried picking up near where she’d left off. It was difficult, but she eventually managed to tune the other girl’s playing out long enough to compose herself before starting her own playing. She began playing again, trying to do so much louder than before in order to more easily distinguish her playing from the other blonde’s. After all, what good was practicing if one couldn’t hear oneself?

And if the other girl became a bit uncomfortable, well, there wasn’t anything Liz could really do about that.

The force imbued in her symphony soon began to take over everything around her, removing the ugly store, its employees and the other girl toying with the piano. The whole world seemed to crumble under the sweet vibrations of each note. It was then that the powerful beginning of the symphony gave way to a softer chorus of notes that the sounds produced by the other piano used as a soft spot to penetrate inside her mind to finally win the battle and impose their physical and mental presence, destroying the music she loved.

Celeste finally lost the pace and made a mistake, then another and then one more. Her interpretation ended when her two fists fell with fury on the innocent keyboard, producing a cry of agony from the inert piano.

She then stood up and driven by an almost animal rage moved toward the piano of her rival. Once there, she pulled the music sheet from its small stand to tear it into small pieces. Her voice though somewhat impolite did not manage to say how much she hated interruptions. "Try now." The girl demanded with a sweet smile of satisfaction on her face.

Everything was going so well. Elizabeth’s fingers found their marks and the music just flowed. Caught up in the moment as she was, she didn’t really notice when the other musician ceased her own playing. She would just play, flip a page, play, flip the page, play--

Her music transformed into confetti right before her eyes. Elizabeth's fingers slammed against the piano keys, creating a harsh groan that resonated throughout the section. She stood straight up, so quickly that the updraft swooshed the remnants of her music off the piano. That only added to the sudden rage that blossomed on her face.

“What is your problem?” she spat, trying to to include the entire store in the conversation. Fire practically flickered up between them. In fact, if Liz’ mutation would have covered flames, the pianos would have suddenly been ablaze. “Why’d you do that, jerk? I have to pay for that now, and I can’t even use it! Are you an idiot?” Passion rose strongly in Liz, as was evident by the heat in her voice.

But just as reality had not gifted her with firebending powers, neither had she been one to ever explode in wrath and anger. Her eyes narrowed as she fought to restrain her feelings. “You know what,” she said in a lowered, chillier tone. “Don’t answer that. I don’t even care. You’re not worth it.” Liz turned her back to the cretin and sat back down at the piano, taking only a moment to brush it off.

Then, after a frosty glare over her shoulder, Liz cracked her knuckles and began to play a composition she’d memorized long ago. If one had any sort of ear for music, they would feel the pent-up anger being poured out into the music.

When Celeste finally managed to escape from the circle of envy and hatred, it was too late for the poor music sheet. A little voice inside her head said that was wrong, she was just discharging all her tension with tat girl but every time that voice tried to convince her, another voice even louder responded by stating that the girl had started the battle. Celeste was just a victim of that savage who had no taste for classical music.

Her opponent stood, her face showing an expression of pure anger that gave the impression that she would kill her. For a moment Celeste expected the worst, a direct blow to the face, a bite, a slap but nothing happened. The only thing she let go with that murderous intent was her words that caught her off guard. The surprise and rejection changed Celeste´s expression a long moment before she could hide it behind her smile again.

Still, she needed all her willpower to avoid answering with a resounding "you". Judging by the questions and tone of voice that followed, to remain silent was the best thing she could do. And Celeste did it. She closed her lips and kept them closed in a small smile that attempted to hide her nervousness.

At the first opportunity, she ran again back to her piano as if that small distance could give her any protection. Celeste knew she was wrong but she was not going to apologize. Therefore she forced herself to remain silent, without touching a single key on her piano to listen to her rival.

Rage, anger, madness, death.

All of Elizabeth’s emotion poured into her music. The beauty of this piece was that there were so many option sin it to fully express just about any type of mood. Although a music critic would point out that perhaps she was playing too harshly, practically to the point of breaking the keys, Liz would’ve told them to bug off. Right now, she either channeled her annoyance into the music or into Princess Jerk’s face.

Frustration, shock, disgust, and pain.

Exaggerated or not, Liz had plenty of emotions pent up inside, though, to be fair, not all of them were necessarily about Blonde Wonder over there. The pre-teen pirate with an unholy distaste for other people’s enjoyment. Linus And Lucy could still make her forget about that, which was good for that girl.

Despair, horror, disbelief, shame.

Her fingers danced and jived across the keys, intricately reaching all of the needed notes to pull off the piece. Her mistakes were few, but she skimmed through them. Power practically emanated from her piano, sending out waves of passion and heartfelt emotions that would probably skate right over the Ice Queen. But that wasn’t why she played.

Or was it?

Bewilderment and wonder, fame, fun.

It was all about the music. Liz didn’t even know the girl. Why should she let her control what she did or felt? It was bad enough that animals did it to her all the time; why should she let people do it as well? Even if she did come off strikingly similar to the girls back home. But that was over. That chapter of her life was done and she was done with it. This was a new page, and she was not going to allow history to repeat itself with this girl.

Happiness, joy, love, warmth.

She could practically feel the music deep within her bones, filling her soul with its light and magic. A smile crossed her face as the last of her negativity bled through her notes and chords, gradually altering into a pleasant, beautiful piece instead of the harsh, angry thing Liz had originally started it off as. Her emotions started settling into place, even as she came near to the the end of the song.

Harmony, control, serenity, peace.

And then the music was over. Liz merely looked at the girl with a face as blank as a cleaned slate.

The first notes of the new melody were filled with such passion that Celeste could not react, she just stay silent feeling her heart race with each vibration. It was the same she felt with that deadly glared that hide much more anger than her words.
So, she continued with her silent contemplation that was not only a way to analyze her rival but an opportunity for her heart to calm down but even when she tried hard, the music keep accelerating her heart against her will. She was buried deep inside these feelings of regrets and discomfort and nothing she tried seemed to work, until, magically with the change in pace the violence and speed of the song soon relaxed into a more pleasant and enjoyable melody. It was then that a little more relaxed, she put aside her musical tastes to start enjoying that interpretation that was not bad at all.

The lack of glamor in the store forced her to set her eyes on the second most beautiful thing, the beautiful black and white keys of the piano that rested silently before her. In order to calm down more, she tried to imagine that she was the one playing the melody, so she mentally began to press keys while trying to keep up with the song that was not as familiar as she would like it to be.
That silly game proved more difficult than Celeste expected since she had to identify not only the notes, but also restrict her hands from jumping on the piano keys to press them physically.

Halfway to the end of the melody, Celeste left the game complaining silently that it was too boring rather than admitting that the other girl played the song better than her.
By then the melody that started as hellish screams of anger changed to a soft and easy to enjoy sounds that Celeste could not ignore. Although she did not totally agree with the choice of the other girl, she had to admit that she was doing a great job. In fact, she was doing such a great job that Celeste wanted to stand up again, to run to her piano and ruin her execution in some way... That melody had no right to sound as good.

Although jealousy continued to grow inside her, these were kept in a fully acceptable level that Celeste knew how to channel very well. While listening to the other girl she started to get a small interest on her, despite the horrible first impression. Maybe she could replace her old rival Stella, who just could not compete with her skills or her beauty.
Still contemplating such ideas in her head, Celeste stood and headed back to the other girl´s piano. "That..." She said. "... was a lot better." Finally she completed the sentence with a shy smile.

What she had done during that moment of rage was simply stupid, plain stupid. For a moment her brain turned off, then on again just a second after the music sheet was destroyed. She needed to apologize even if she did not want to do it, so she uttered the closest thing to an apologize she dared. "I will pay the music sheet."

The Song Shredder had sat down sometime during Elizabeth’s song. Liz hadn’t noticed. In fact, she’d tried pretty hard to utterly deny that the girl even existed any more. But the girl’s imagined period of purgatory was over. Liz stared at her, mentally daring her to say anything, keeping her face ready for a poker game in order to stifle any negative emotions and hide and weak ones.

Then the girl did something that Liz would never have expected her to do in a thousand years. Of course, Liz had only known the girl (vaguely) for a few minutes, but first impressions were quickly made and stereotypes filled in quite a bit of information that actual communication sometimes could not politely achieve. For instance, based only upon the girl’s obvious classical education in music and the way she became quickly enraged upon Liz ignoring her and continuing to mind her own business, Liz was clearly dealing with a spoiled, rich brat.

But back to our actual story.

Elizabeth’s eyes widened perceptibly and her mouth slightly opened. Was that....an apology? That was nowhere near the top of The List Of Things She Expected Princess To Say. To be honest, it quite shocked her, to say the least. I should possibly try not to judge others so quickly, she thought in the back of her mind. She was pretty sure that there was a Bible verse about that somewhere.

But the girl also offered to pay for the music. With a brief look down, Liz let that sink in. Yeah, “You Break It, You Buy It” was still in effect in most stores. As said as it was to see the music shredded, it was a small piece of compensation to know that the other girl was going to pay for it. She locked gazes with the blonde and slightly lifted her chin in an affirming nod.

“Apology accepted,” Liz spoke in a neutral tone. Just let that sink in, see what she does now.

Even when Celeste was expecting a verbal acknowledgment after her beautiful and sincere compliment, she did not even dare to protest when the other girl accepted her words in silence. Still, she was disappointed at the lack of response and she could not hold a crooked smile from forming on her lips. Incredibly, Celeste managed to remain silent and avoid starting a new fight for the great discourtesy she had just received.
So after a few seconds of silent, she managed to store her jealousy and anger for a future tantrum.

But when she dared to say that she had apologized, Celeste could not resist and started to shake her head vehemently. When that was not enough, the girl added the motion of her hands that began to move as windshield wipers, and then her voice. "I am not apologizing!" She said, raising her voice to the limit of a shout. It was one thing to pay for that piece of worthless paper and quite another to let someone like her to mock and trample her pride. Celeste continued to stare angrily at her end even after all her denials ended. Finally she crossed her arms over her skinny chest to inform her rival that she would not admit it was an apology.

Once she ended shooting invisible daggers at her new rival, she noticed the presence of the piano one more time and her thought raced to a simple conclusion that she stated once the malicious glances were not enough. "Can you really afford one?" She asked with malice while clearly looking at the piano. A faint smile touched her lips as she waited for the girl's answer.

The furnace of emotion had really not been expected. In the face of the other girl’s explosive denial and following glares, Elizabeth’s eyes narrowed in response and reared back. Although one might mistakenly assume Elizabeth’s move was one of retreat, it would be more accurate to say that, like a cobra, she was merely sizing up the situation to figure out where to strike best. Because this girl was really asking for it.

“Oh, reeeally?” Liz drawled in such a condescending manner that even the lowliest of buffoons would recognize it as an insult. That had sounded like an apology to her. But perhaps Liz was just projecting her own, generally benign intentions upon the girl. Maybe she really was a heartless witch-child after all. A fact only further supported by the pointed remark about being unable to own a piano herself.

A sickly-sweet smile of her own graced her lips, but no humor made it to Liz’ eyes. She batted her eyelids several times at the girl and tilted her head a bit. Attempting to project an idea of serenity, Liz spoke in higher-pitched voice. “Sticks and stones may hurt my bones,” she intoned, “but petty words spoken by simple-minded individuals with a Princess complex who seem to be compelled to attempt to tarnish another’s character via pathetic attempts at ridiculing one’s lack of extravagant funds to the point of tackiness shall never hurt me.”

Her smile stretched even wider, although it seemed to contain more smugness than happiness.

Celeste knew very well that the coat of arms used by her family was an elaborate lie, because her family had never been noble enough to own one but each time she stared at the carved wood plate that represented the greatness of her family, she always imagined her family motto as "We do not apologize." There was no better phrase to describe her family. So under the accusation that she had apologized, Celeste burst with a totally justified denial.

To her delight, the strength and certainty of her commanding voice accomplished to frighten the other girl. Celeste in return, stepped forward taking a defensive position with her arms crossed over her chest. Her arms remained as firm as possible, as if that stillness could demonstrate her determination to not apologize and not let her win. It was almost as if an evil which had petrified her with a spell, turning her into a beautiful statue.

But before Celeste could enjoy that little moment of triumph, her enemy broke the silence with a question full of sarcasm that implied she had indeed apologized. Celeste flinched while her pride squirmed inside her chest under the weight of those simple words. Celeste ignored them as best as she could, saving all her anger for her next question about her social status and her inability to buy an expensive piano.

The fact that the response of the other girl was so brutal only meant that Celeste had found one of her weaknesses... but still, that small fact could not defend her against the adjectives and evaluations used against her. Her first reaction was to feel extremely insulted, then angry, but before she could react, a passive sadness descendent over her. Many of these things were true, and deep down, she knew it.

For at least half a minute Celeste remained silent, processing all the information while trying to find an appropriate reply, when she did not find anything to hurt her, she clung to the only thing that had worked before. "Then ..." Her words were almost shy, escaping from her lips very gently, slowly, almost as if she was building the phrase as the words became sounds. "...you can´t buy one."

That wasn’t what Elizabeth expected. The femme fatale’s simple, short rebuttal caused gaps to form in Liz’ defensive wall. Her Cheshire smile shrank to the smile of a person who’s had too many plastic surgeries before fading into a tight, straight line. The spark of delight that had danced in her irises fizzled out and her pupils became lackluster.

The mutant’s head drooped just a notch in submission and exhaled slowly, as if trying to remove a massive burden from her form. “No,” she succinctly stated, just loud enough for only the other girl to hear. “No, I can’t.” And that was all she could say.

Liz turned her head from the other girl, the aristocratic victor who had somehow gained the upper hand, slaying her without any regards to her own defenses. How did one effectively counter such suicidal strategies? Yet despite the nature of the offense, it did indeed get the job done.

Blood burned in Elizabeth’s cheeks as she returned to the shelves of scores, turning her back entirely to the other girl. Let her win. Let her glean some small, measly happiness from a glorious battle with the lesser caste, who is doing good just to pay for a few pieces of paper with special notes on them, much less a beautiful instrument such as a piano. With rampant gloom pervading her psyche, Liz shifted her gaze aimlessly over the various titles on the wall, searching for a song, but never really seeing any.