Well I'm doing what I promised myself I wouldn't-writing yet another AU fiction. Since my attempt at writing my first epic non AU story failed and I'm looking for a way to revamp it this will be what I write in the meantime.

"Unrequited love is a ridiculous state, and it makes those in it behave ridiculously". ~ Cassandra Clare

She was on the stage again.

Her feet glided against the floor. Her back arched and her fingers extended. She looked graceful, beautiful even. Her eyes were lost in the music. Her feet were lost in the movement.She was lost in the moment.

The scene seemed familiar to her. No one was there except for her, but somehow the spotlight managed to stay on her. The song- it was one of her favorites. It was the finale to "Swan Lake" when Princess Odette jumps into the lake after the betrayal of Prince Siegfried and the trickery of Rothbart.

She was carried on her tiptoes -en pointe, a skill that had taken most of her career to learn. She pushed through the pain of literally all of her weight on her toe. When the dance was over, the curtain were drawn, and in the standing ovation she didn't remember the pain. She only remembered the dance. She understood that most would never know the pain of dance, but she gladly welcomed that pain every time and pushed a little more of herself into each step and each turn. Each dance was better than the last because each dance was a little more herself.

She spun into the famous thirty-two fouettés en tournant with bent knee. Then there was someone sitting in the audience. She was spinning so fast she couldn't tell who it was. She spotted the person to keep from getting dizzy. Then with each turn more people were appearing in the audience. Her face lost concentration and portrayed confusion. She lost track of the first person and hence lost her spot. She suddenly became worried about getting dizzy. She didn't think she'd be able to finish the tournant.

Sixteen…

Seventeen….

Eighteen…

But she managed. She fell back into flow with the music. She even managed to straighten her leg completely by the end. She fell into rest position one bended knee with one leg extended behind her. The audience began to applause. A smile almost found its way to her face. Her body slid up and the applause died down.

Suddenly someone was behind her, his hands on her waist. He led her across the stage, his hands never leaving her. They both performed a few glissades to the left and then to right. She tried to see his face but he was wearing a mask and whenever she got the chance he would twirl her around, lead her into another move, or lift her high above him. She readily conformed to however he moved her. It was like Hans Christianson Andersen tale "The Red Shoes". The mysterious prince threw her into the air and she transitioned into a final Grand jeté before landing gracefully on her feet in first position.

She turned in horror to find that her prince had turned into a hideous crow. He leaped at her. She screamed in surprise falling backwards. Where her back was expected to hit the stage she felt a falling sensation that seemed not only continuous but endless. She opened her eyes to find herself falling backwards off of a cliff…

Raven's eyes snapped open. Out of all the countless dancing dreams she had endured in her lifetime that was amongst the strangest. It took her a moment to remember where she was, but the rough rocking of the train reminded her. She stretched and glanced at her cellphone and found that she had only been asleep for about ten minutes. The trip from her hometown of Armonk, New York to Greenwich, Connecticut was not a particularly long one. She saw that she had missed a text from Roy Harper.

Roy was sweet and charming in his own right, but he was also a notorious womanizer. She had been forced to spend an entire two and a half months with him as they spent the summer touring with the Boston Ballet Co. through their summer production of Swan Lake, done to death of course but it was still one of her favorites.

As much as she loved to dance she was glad to be returning the Briarwood Academy of the Arts for what would be her last year. Briarwood was the one of the most prestigious performing arts school in the country located in one of the wealthiest towns in the nation.

The taxi drove Raven to the Academy from the train station. Despite the gray in sky and the chilly fifty-eight degree weather she felt a warmth as the cab pulled into the rusted gates. From the outside Briarwood resembled any other boarding school. The intimidating Tudor mansion did not reflect what it held indoors. A classical ballroom, furnished ballet studio overlooking Greenwich, and a massive theatre style auditorium.

The cab pulled into the south entrance. With a little difficulty Raven got her trunk and a large suitcase to the third floor of the girl's dormitory and found her room. There were two paper roses taped to the door. Her name was written in neat calligraphy. The name of her roommate, Karen Breecher, was written on the other.

Karen was classically trained musician, who was coming off a four night stint at the House of Blues in Atlantic City. Karen and Raven weren't really what you would call friends. They were roommates last year, both had such hectic schedules that they were rarely in the same room together. They were even on different sleep schedules. However after they both had had traumatic experiences with past roommates they decided not to risk it and requested to room with each other again.

The room was empty indicating that she had not yet arrived. The room was basic; two beds, two desks, two dressers, two nightstands, and two armoires. Her favorite feature was the large bay windows that overlooked the campus.

Raven quickly unpacked and stored her suitcase in the closet. The room still looked bare. She added her minimum personal features, three black and white posters of Anna Pavlova. Unlike most students Raven didn't clutter up her space with pictures of family and friends. She didn't have a lot of consistent friendships to speak of and her relationship with her parents, her only living relatives, was cold at best. She remembered when she left this morning her suitcase in hand. She had stopped in the dining room where her mother and father were sitting at opposite ends of the table. After a moment without notice she cleared her throat awkwardly.

Both of them looked up at her. "Oh you're leaving already?" Her mother asked.

"Yes." Raven said standing up stiffly.

"Will you be returning home soon?"

"I don't think so. I probably won't be back until winter break." She stated.

"Oh okay." Her mother said returning to her newspaper. "Have fun."

Her father merely grunted. Since Raven came to Briarwood she spent a collective no less than five but no more than twelve weeks with her parents a year. The three weeks in between first and second semester were almost unbearable. One year when she was fifteen she didn't even bother coming home. She rented an expensive room at the Mariott in New York City and spent Christmas watching the New York Ballet's performance of "The Nutcracker". They never even asked her about the extra charges on her credit card.

"It's good to be back." She said to herself as she flopped down onto her deep amethyst comforter.

This would be Raven's last semester at Briarwood. After the winter ballet production, which she was sure to star in, she would have enough credits to graduate a semester early. What she would do afterwards was still up in the air. If worst came to worst Ms. Petrie one of her first ballet instructors had offered her an internship, which she would accept. Anything was better than having to spend the next five months with Tristan and Angela.

Raven spent the next hour reading her battered copy of Wuthering Heights. After a while she got bored and decided to clear out her in box, not that there was much too clean. One email caught her eye. Her heart immediately sped up.

It was from the Royal Ballet School in London. She had auditioned for a spot in their company during spring semester. It was her childhood dream to study there. She had already been rejected from the Paris Opera Ballet School and the Marrinsky Ballet School in Russia. She had gotten those notifications in between scenes during a couple of her performances a few weeks ago.

She mentally prepared herself for the possible rejection. Even if she was rejected from the Royal Ballet she was by no means out of options. She had a spot waiting for her at the School of American Ballet in New York and Royal Academy of Ballet in Hawaii. Plus she could always apply to Julliard. Though conventional education wasn't really for her, Raven had taken her SATs in the spring as a net. She had done very well, not that her English comprehensive skills mattered to any of the ballet scouts that she had tried out for.

Raven finally worked up enough nerve to open the email.

Dear Ms. Raven Roth,

Thank you for your interest in the Royal Ballet School. We appreciate your time in auditioning and patience with the admissions process. As you may know our scouts are dedicated to finding the most talented and dedicated dancers to train in the classical art of ballet. We see thousands of auditions every year from performers all over the world, and though we are impressed by the talent and hard work conveyed by every dancer we cannot admit every hopeful as our available spots are scarce. With that being said we are pleased to inform you that have been accepted into one of the few available positions at the Royal Ballet School-

Raven couldn't get past the first paragraph. She gasped audibly, which was very uncharacteristic of her. Her body suddenly felt hot as the relief- the unbelievable sense unbridled joy flooded her. If she was an emotional person she would have cried. But Raven Roth was not one to emote.

She simply closed her eyed, leaned her head back, and sighed. It was going to be a great year.

Raven sat in her AP European history class impatiently tapping her pen. It was the first day of classes and they had a quiz on the summer reading, all about renaissance. She spent the only two weeks of her summer vacation that wasn't spent on the stage at the Manhattan Public Library catching up on her schoolwork. It was a good way to avoid having to spend time with her parents. Raven quickly breezed through her quiz and passed it into the teacher.

The ballet department had to meet in a half an hour and discuss this year production. This is when they would always announce what they would be performing for the winter session. She pushed the doors open and a gust of wind rushed past her. Raven tightened her scarf before braving the journey across campus. She made it to the dance studio and found a group of ballerina huddles outside of Ms. Cotillard's office chattering heatedly.

Raven's eyebrows furrowed. "What's going on?" she asked a first year student.

"The Headmaster has decided to allow the theatre department to perform during the winter session." She said.

Raven's heart dropped.

She needed the credit from her final performance to be able to graduate this semester. If she didn't she wouldn't be able to go to the Royal Ballet School. She suddenly felt like all eyes were on her. Raven was by far the best dancer at Briarwood and everybody knew it. This news was much more devastating for her.

In Briarwood's 121 year history the ballet department was always allowed to perform for winter session, while the theatre department got the spring session. However in the past few years there had been some disputing between the programs over the right to winter session.

Without another word Raven stormed off to the auditorium to find Headmaster Bryant.

Bryant was outside of the side entrance to the stage in the corridor. He looked up to see an unhappy ballerina approaching him and had the sudden instinct to run in the opposite direction. The ballerinas were…testy.

"Uh, oh Ms. Roth nice to see you. Ms. Cotillard told me about the Royal Ballet, I believe a congratulation is in order." He immediately started blubbering and walking briskly down hall.

"Yes, thank you. It isn't true is it? What they were saying about winter session." She asked following him.

"Yes, it's true. The theatre department has been riding my ass, pardon my French, for years about so I'm giving them a chance."

"But what about the ballet? I need the credits from my final performance to transfer to the Royal Ballet next semester."

"You'll have a chance to get that credit-next semester. I'm sure they'll hold your spot until the fall." Bryant said quickly entering the safety of his office. "Once again congratulations Ms. Roth and please continue to make us proud."

With that she found his door slammed it her face before she could argue. Raven stood in front of the door for a long moment her heart breaking in her chest. She looked up to see a group of actors outside of the auditorium side entrance watching her curiously. She wondered how long they had been standing there. Raven recognized them; Garfield Logan and his friends.

She stood up straight and mustered up whatever dignity she had left. They all looked uncomfortable as she walked towards them.

Garfield smiled. "Uh hi!"

She brushed past the group with saying a word. Victor shook his head once she had disappeared from sight.

"That wasn't rude at all." He said sarcastically as they entered the auditorium.

Raven spent the better part of the next week and a half brooding. She could say goodbye to her spot at the Royal Ballet School. It really did devastate her and her heart felt heavy. After about three days of laying in the dark listening to nonstop Tchaikovsky Karen mustered up enough courage to ask her what was wrong. Raven spilled her guts like it was her job. She just needed someone to listen to her for a minute.

After another two days Raven decided to be proactive. She would not let her dreams be ripped out right from under her without a fight. She volunteered as a junior dance instructor for children aged six to ten. She would spend every Wednesday night and Saturday morning teaching ballet to kids with rich parents. It wasn't ideal but the credits would bring her one step closer to graduating and hence one step closer to London.

As far as the play, Raven attempted to avoid hearing anything about it which was next to impossible. From what she had heard the play would be a contemporary piece called the "The Prince and the Crow (1)". Her childhood nanny had often read her that fairytale. It was about a prince who had lost his heart in a battle with an evil Crow and the princess who was fighting to restore it. It was an unconventional choice but Briarwood was an unconventional school.

Auditions had been last Friday and that morning Richard Grayson was chosen as the lead, which surprised absolutely no one. Briarwood was filled to the brim with talented actors but Dick Grayson was like Johnny Depp of the academy. He was immensely talented, good looking, and didn't hurt that his father was a major sponsor.

That was as far as Raven cared to know. She sighed as she placed her bag far stage right and turned on her iPod® speakers. Dance in the Dark began to blast as she warmed up. The auditorium was empty at this hour in the morning, and she took advantage. Her feet began to move with the music.

When she was on stage she felt like a different person. All of her troubles her worries, her anxieties, her parents they were all left at the door. She got lost in the music and time just stood still. Even in front of an audience she felt like she was the only person in the world.

She was warmed up in time for the bridge. She turned into a tournament on bended knee. She could feel the stage swooshing around her. The scene melted into nothing and there was nothing around her besides the spotlight. With every graceful move she was reminded of why she had worked so hard the past near fifteen years. She could brisé, she could do chaînés turns, she could leap, she could pique, she could pirouette, and she could do it all en pointe.

As the song came to the last thirty seconds she ended in arabesque position. All of her weight was on her right toe with her arm and leg outstretched. She was in the moment.

Suddenly a loud screech echoed through the auditorium. Raven gasped and fell out of position. Sitting in the audience looking like the cats that ate the canary was Garfield Logan and all of his friends. Raven felt flushed. Were they stalking her? She, as calmly as possible gathered up her speakers and stuffed them into her bag as she, hurried down the stairs and fled the auditorium.

"Wait!" She heard a voice call out to her as she hurried from the auditorium.

Garfield Logan was jogging up to her. "Hey wait."

"What do you want." She said curtly.

"I uh," he said rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. "I saw you dancing, you were really good."

"Thank you." She said walking away.

He grabbed her arm. "Hold on-"

His forest green eyes penetrated her. It was as if he could see right through her.

Raven winced and yanked her arm out of his grasp. She face felt hot as she rushed out of the hall and into the drizzly September air. She hastily wrapped a scarf around her neck. She was still slightly shaking from the encounter. She was more embarrassed than she should've been. She took quick refuge in the dining hall. It was medieval style and had long table and high curved arches.

She wished so very much that she could return to the solitude of the stage. After ten minutes her hands were still shaking and her heart was pounding in her chest. She pulled out a bottle of prescription pills and a water bottle. She walked back to entrance and braced herself for the sudden downpour. The rain immediately soaked through her sweater and the rest of her clothes. The wind stuck her hair to the side of her face.

The rain is the most powerful element. She mused as she crossed the campus. It could be heavy and sudden. It could extinguish a fire and leave no evidence behind. She stopped briefly and watched a flood of water fall into the drain. The water was a reddish color having mixed with the freshly applied mulch in the garden.

She wished she could be like the rain, and wash all of her problems behind.

So that's where it ends for now. I've been trying to write this since 2007 and since I need to write something while I revamp my non AU story I decided to go for it. It gets a lot darker or at least dramatic later on.

(1)The play is based on a anime called Princess Tutu