[indent][indent]The day Krista had been waiting for was finally here.

It had taken many days to plan and set everything up in the music plaza, and looking at the final product, she was proud. [url=https://imgur.com/KKKU6of]The second-floor resort looked a lot different to what people were used to.[/url] There was a stage in the middle of the music plaza, blocking the path between the plaza and the rest of the hallway. Surrounding the stage was four rectangular tables, three of which could seat up to six individuals and the fourth that was pressed against the door leading into the zen garden could seat up to four. There was plenty of space between the stage and tables, a dance floor if you want to call it as such. Beside the stage was another table pushed against the dining hall, a buffet of epic proportions sitting on the table waiting to be eaten.

The lights were off, but instead of darkness, there were lights everywhere. On top of each table were a few mason jars stuffed with multicoloured fairy lights picked up from the arts and crafts store from the third floor. Some lights were hanging from the walls, giving the room a faint glow, but the stage was lit up in a special way. The string lights behind the stage were sewn into the fabric, shaped as two penguins standing on either side of the wall facing each other. [url=http://www.christmastopia.com/items/201703/500pobi.jpg]One was distinctly smaller than the other, a baby penguin, flailing towards the larger one[/url]. She thought it depicted a story of a child trying to return to family, one that Krista thought would personally touch many of the infinites.

One by one people filed into the music plaza, lead by one of four people: Daimyon, Bliss, Faith or Felix. Faith and Max searched each person thoroughly, only allowing them in once they had been checked for anything potentially dangerous such as a weapon. Once the searches were done and everybody was inside, Daimyon and Felix joined Krista on top of the stage. The poet's expression shone of relief as he looked over the gathered crowd from the stage. At first, he had been apprehensive about the turnout, but it looked like everyone found it within them to attend. He was, however, certain that this was in no small part thanks to the enthusiasm of the organisers. From the moment he had heard the plan from Felix in the break room that morning, the same motivation had been driving him. They would give the whole group something to remember.

He grabbed the microphone that was prepared for him on a stand, cleared his throat and began.

[color=seagreen]“Ladies and gentlemen, Infinites, every dear guest!”[/color] He waited until all attention was him, and continued once he was sure the sounding worked properly.

[color=seagreen]“We've overcome many a danger—now it's time to rest, and take a breather. Binge on the refreshments, and listen to some quality music, as you may have guessed. The great melodies and songs will be provided fully,”[/color] he motioned towards the members of the little band they had assembled, [color=seagreen]“by Krista here, Felix there, and yours truly. Of course, many more of us deserve praise.”[/color] Here, he opened his arms towards the crowd. [color=seagreen]“Everyone who helped organise; we are grateful, duly. I am not one to mince words—I am, but not this time, keeping you from entertainment further would be a crime. So I hereby welcome everyone to our gathering; let the concert begin. Showtime!”[/color]

[center][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSaMbiP9dCM[/youtube][/center]

Once Daimyon finished his introduction, Krista shared a look with Felix, hoisting her violin up to her shoulder and waiting for Felix to begin the opening melody of the first set of music. As the first notes on the wondrous instrument sounded, Daimyon, still silent, took one last glance at his notebook, at his lines, before sliding it into his pocket. He waited for a good timing to begin his own part, which he received soon enough. And so he started reciting his poem, with varying cadence and tone to match the piano play.

[color=seagreen][i][center]This is the story of a group of strangers
Bonded by living through many dangers.
They call us Infinites, blessed with talent
But now our fates hang in the balance
Freedom feels like an eternity ago
Our prisons give us nothing but woe
Locked into awful cages, left to die
Will we fall apart, or will we fly?[/center][/i][/color]

Krista joined in the melody while the poet paused, bringing forth her grace with the violin. Daimyon took a deep breath: he would not stop now until the end of the song.

[color=seagreen][i][center]This is the story of life and death
Of action and chilling aftermath
Of heroes and heroics, of greatness
Of the blackened and blameless
Of strained trust and cruel betrayal
Of disbelief, rage, misery and denial
Of an endless struggle, a war waged
Of a lot ventured, but little gained.

This is the story of light and darkness
But where there is evil, there is also brightness
Our valiant knight shone a star's worth
Now she looks down from heaven on this earth
She watched sorrowfully when one of our own
Look as he might, took a life and was thrown
Into the jaws of death himself for his offence
Thus we lost our friend and our innocence.

This is the story of bravery and cowardice
What was meant to defeat only empowered us
Take heart—a new resolve filled our souls
To see our journey through, though the tolls
Still weighed on us heavily; high we rose
And took the fight to our enemy to depose
The machine that stood in our way
For its aid in our folly, we made it pay.

This is the story of truth and deception
Of ruthlessly playing on our perception
Not everyone was who they seemed to be
We were shown his true colours, 'twas surreal
He played us like marionettes, that roach
He deserved his final, fatal reproach
Our grief then was another reminder
Of the reality of our prison: a meat grinder.

This is the story of noise and silence
Eight murderers' ruthless violence
Once again we fought for one we loved
Marred victory was ours, pyrrhic, bathed in blood
Two were taken, ripped from this world
They sacrificed it all, and our hearts churned
Yet, many of us bore incredible resilience
And we made them rue re-experience.

This is the story of weakness and strength
Of keeping the Grim Reaper at arm's length
We won our peace for now and became
One step closer to ending this sick game
Nothing is stronger than an indomitable will
An unyielding spirit, a beating heart that will
Instill the fiery courage that we need to bring
Us our freedom, and turn this winter into spring!

This is the story of the hopeful and despaired
And it's my plea to you, my friends: don't be scared!
Show our captors that we are not to be ensnared!
Let's be the ones who did not give in, but dared
To break out of this unholy cage, and be prepared
To keep your faith, like before, when it flared
Share the burden, and the reward too shall be shared
When our freedom, our joyous freedom, will finally be declared![/center][/i][/color]

The instruments struck their final notes on a dramatic high, and Daimyon raised his hand, balled into a triumphant fist, in the air for his last words as well. With the music swelling to an end, Krista let her arms fall back to her sides. [color=6c9b8f]“Thank you for being here, everybody! I really want to thank Bliss and Faith for helping me plan this concert, as well as Daimyon and Felix for helping me with the concert. You guys are the best!”[/color] She gave each member of her party a grateful smile. After all, this concert couldn’t happen without their help! Daimyon beamed back, happy with the note this concert took. With his part in the performance over, he walked off the stage and took a seat at his assigned table, watching Krista as she took a deep breath and addressed the audience this time.
 
[color=6c9b8f]“It’s been… a rough few days… or weeks, actually… I don’t even know how long it’s been since we all woke up in that elevator but… err...”[/color] She laughed slightly awkwardly. 
 
[color=6c9b8f]“I have a few reasons I wanted to talk to you all. I… I’m aware I’ve been a pain to you all since the beginning and I want to apologise for it. I’ve caused you all a lot of trouble and I’ve never once thanked any of you for tolerating me this long.
 
“Bliss… you helped me set up this concert even though I never thanked you for helping me when the first motive was released. I cannot thank you enough for all you’ve done for me.”[/color] She gave Bliss a large, grateful smile before turning to Cyrus.
 
[color=6c9b8f]“And… I’m sure you know that this concert was largely inspired by you. Even from the beginning, I questioned myself but you told me not to underestimate my ability to be a mood maker. I… I’m not sure how well I’ve done my job, but I hope that I did well this concert. You’ve done a lot for this group… and even if you can be a little mean at times, you only have the best intentions so...”[/color] She gave him a bright smile too. [color=6c9b8f]“Thank you for being my motivation!”[/color]
 
With that out of the way, Krista’s smile faltered and she addressed the rest of the audience, clearly nervous about the next part of her speech. Krista bowed deeply on stage, her hair almost touching the floor. [color=6c9b8f]“I also want to apologise for all I’ve done wrong. Everything. I’ve put my trust in the wrong people and it’s always lead to trouble. I’m sorry Zach, Jezabel, to those that lost their life because of my naivety.”[/color] She holds her position for a few moments before standing upright.
 
[color=6c9b8f]“I was told that keeping secrets was bad, and I apologise for not telling anybody about the handbook but… after my handbook got stolen by Justiciar… I couldn’t risk someone stealing it and using it for anything bad… But… I agree. No more secrets, not from me. And so… I’ll tell you my most guarded secret.”[/color]
 
[center][hider=:)][color=6c9b8f]“I’m sorry but this will be a long one…”[/color] Krista sheepishly admitted.

[color=6c9b8f]“This... what I'm about to tell you, it's about a good person named Arno Bauman."[/color] Krista paused, realising most of them wouldn’t recognise the name. She shows her violin to the audience, pointing out the name etched onto the instrument carefully. [color=6c9b8f]“I met him when I was ten when I moved to central Berlin for school. He was my best friend, we did everything together. I even joined his violin classes to understand him, but back then I never really played it properly. I just wanted to listen to him play. I fell in love with music because of him. I wanted to play with him, but Arno was always better than me.

 “It was all okay at first. I thought we'd stick together forever, just the two of us. His mother had died years ago, so he and his father would visit us often for dinner. We were all very close. Did you know he would play the violin while I would do homework? He was the one that realised that music helped me think."[/color] She began running her finger along the instrument to distract herself. [color=6c9b8f]“But, I woke up two months before my birthday, and I felt sick. Usually, I wouldn't skip because Arno was always too shy and nervous to be on his own, but I could barely get out of bed. That morning he came to see me so we could walk to school together, but I had to tell him we’d see each other later."[/color] She paused briefly. [color=6c9b8f]“We never did."[/color]

[color=6c9b8f]“There was a storm and it had been raining constantly for what felt like months. Heavy stuff. Arno never liked the rain." [/color] Keeping her eyes averted, she takes a moment to think about how she was going to carry on. [color=6c9b8f]“That day the roof of our old school building collapsed. Because of the tragedy, building maintenance was never a big deal and so… 14 kids had to lose their lives that day, and Arno was one of them. They held his funeral that weekend. I couldn't get myself to leave my room that day, so I never went. A few days later, Arno's father came to visit with some of Arno's things in a box. He was planning on giving some items away to charity but thought that I might want to keep some of them. I took everything. I wanted to cherish his memory.

“He left me his violin and sheet music. One of the sheets had an incomplete piece; Arno was planning on surprising me with something he would've created for my birthday. I saw the sheets and pushed the whole box under my bed. I couldn't bear to touch them for a while after that, but I never stopped thinking about his incomplete music. I hated that he left something open-ended, that he wasn't there to finish it and to play it for me, so I finished it myself. I don't know whether he wanted me to finish it this way, but it was the best I could do. And on my birthday, I played it for him at his gravesite."[/color] She sighed. [color=6c9b8f]“I... My parents ended up moving me and Herman to the US to help me move on, but I never stopped playing Arno's song. I even joined the music club in high school to keep practising with the violin to get better at playing his piece. I played nothing else; I wanted to do nothing else. But then my teacher told me she had put forward my name for a competition being held across the nation. Fairly known competition too, it was sponsored by the Infinity Initiative. They wanted us to try and wow them, and I didn't know anything other than Arno's song, so I played that. I was 15 when I first went viral, and it was to a song I didn't even compose myself but still had to take full credit for. I even won the competition and won my title as the Infinite Violinist as a result. Things should’ve been better, right? But no. I don’t deserve my title as the infinite violinist, because I’m a fraud. I was discovered because I took somebody else’s property.”[/color]

[color=6c9b8f]“People praise my skills but… I don’t deserve it. Arno should be here instead, as the infinite violinist, but here I am instead.[/color]” She swallowed uncomfortably. This was the first time she had admitted such a thing aloud, the only other time being to her therapist right after winning the competition.[/hider][/center]

[color=6c9b8f]“I... I also have something I found in Marianne's room back at the last trial. A note. I don't know what it says because it's been a very busy few days."[/color] She admitted. [color=6c9b8f]“However, we can all read it together next time when I do have the note."[/color] And with that, Krista grew silent.
 
Krista waited for a moment, letting people react to her secret before she could continue. That was a lot to react to, and Krista wanted to give everyone enough time to come to terms with her reveals. [color=6c9b8f]“I know I shouldn’t be standing here after telling you what I just did but… if there is one thing I hate more than this situation we’re in… is that I hate leaving things unfinished. And so... if there is one last thing I can do for you all… I’d like to finish this concert with a bang! Despair will never win against our hope!”[/color]

She pulled her violin up to her shoulder again, looking at Felix. [color=6c9b8f]“Whenever you’re ready.”[/color] And with that, the duet played together once again. The first set was somewhat a tragedy, in remembrance for those they have lost along the way: Shona, Mondatta, Marianne, Rika, Aleecia… even all the blackeneds.

The second set, however, was the opposite. Where the first was filled with despair and sorrowful pieces, the second set had many upbeat songs to inspire hope and joy in the audience. The concert went on for an hour long, filled with emotion from the two players.

When the concert was finally over, Krista spoke again after thanking everybody for listening. [color=6c9b8f]“And now, please enjoy the party!”[/color] With that, the party had begun.

[center][hider=Seating Plan]

A seating plan created by the infinite [s]goddess[/s] matchmaker herself! Each seat is decorated specifically for an infinite so everybody will know which table they're supposed to sit at.

Table 1:
        Cyrus, Bliss, Caora, Lucy and Thomas
Table 2:
       Felix, Mercy, Max, Noel, Daimyon and Mary
Table 3:
       Faith, Alice, Ice, Calvin and Emily
Table 4:
       Denis, Braden, Jez and Zach
[/hider][/center]
[/indent][/indent]