He was kept awake by the sound of music.

Alone in his cell, in the dead of night, Seymour Crider lay staring at the stone ceiling as the melody of 'Here I am' taunted him relentlessly. He was so sick of that damned song, he wanted nothing more than to erase it from existence. Of course, the fact that the pop star who had written it was one of the people responsible for his capture only served to exacerbate that annoyance, but the song was such an ear worm that Crider knew full well he would have grown tired of it regardless.

Earlier that evening, he'd been told, there had been a very real concert performed by the princess of pop herself, to whom Crider was no longer manager. However, the music he heard now was not quite as such. Nor was it 'Here I Am' as it should have sounded, but rather an eerie, haunting version of the tune that was distorted and warped, reverberating yet cutting out here and there, as though coming from a broken record. Contradictory as it may be, it was the only way he could think to describe the sound.

He heard this night after night, and even his dreams taunted him, for too often were times when all his subconscious offered him, if not memories of his latest downfall, were those of his career-ending performance at 14. His voice breaking, the fruit pelting him, the mocking laughter...all he had ever wanted was to chase this imagery out of his dreams, and it made his blood boil that he still had not managed to do so.

But the dreams got worse when, in a strange twist, his 14-year-old self morphed into his adult self only for the memory to repeat. When his desire to avoid the fruit being thrown reached its peak, he found himself floating away mercifully – until he looked down to find himself back in that ghastly blue dress.

He still didn't know how the two girls had pulled that off, but it was too humiliating a memory for him to truly care. He just wanted to redeem himself, succeed, shake away those embarrassing experiences and craft a new image of himself that would never have to know the feeling of nothing ever being enough to make his ambitions come to fruition.

But how on Earth was he to make that happen when, three years later, he remained a prisoner?

**

Fans had screamed and cheered and chanted her name, the platform she stood on rising to meet the stage as the familiar sound of 'Look How High We Can Fly' met the pop star's eardrums and the stage lights overwhelmed her eyes. Having opened with 'Here I Am' for many of her performances, Keira had more than welcomed the change, though 'Here I Am' would always have a special place in her heart.

"Hey, Meribella!" This exclamation was met with enthusiastic screaming and cheering from the audience, as Keira knew it would be. Of course, no one was cheering with more zeal than Victoria and her little sisters, Trevi and Meredith, who sat with their aunt in the fancy, throne-like seats reserved for the kingdom's royals.

This concert held something of a different feeling for Keira, as it was the first one to be performed since the passing of her twenty-first birthday. She had been considered an adult in the eyes of the law for the past three years, of course, but it wasn't until now that she, in her own eyes, felt more like a fully-fledged adult.

Tori had also reached her twenty-first birthday and, as a result of her father's unfortunate passing a few weeks later, was to ascend the throne of Meribella very soon. She, of course, had insisted Keira attend her coronation, an invitation Keira had accepted right away, for the soon-to-be-crowned Queen was and would always be her best friend.

Keira's manager, Star Jensen, stood with Nora in the stage-right wing as she observed the pop star in action. Crider had done the same thing when he was her manager, so this was not unexpected. Besides, her presence was something of a comfort.

The woman in question was roughly an inch taller than Keira was, often dressed in a business casual manner and had her blonde hair styled into a pixie cut. Her dark brown eyes gave her the look of someone cold and detached, someone whom one would not want to mess with and might feel they needed to tread on eggshells around. Keira, having had three years to get to know her, knew better. Star was quite pleasant to be around really, she simply had an icy exterior that could be difficult to see past. Despite this, she could also be extremely charismatic, a trait required of a pop star's manager.

After a handful of songs, a second, larger platform rose to the stage, this one bearing a grand piano and a pre-adjusted mic stand. Keira knew this to be her cue to announce, "Alright, folks, I'm going to do something a little different now. This next song, 'Goodbye', is originally by Jessica Lowndes. Hope you all enjoy it."

As her fingers drifted over the piano keys and the lyrics flowed into the microphone, Keira noticed most of the audience waving their phones in the air, flashlights on, doing their best to follow the beautiful song's tempo. Further evidence that they approved of the song choice was that, when she finished the last note, the cheering that sounded was tremendous.

After several more of her own songs, followed by an encore, the show finally came to an end ("Thank you so much! Meribella, you guys rock!"), and Star wasted no time in approaching Keira as she was making her way backstage.

"You performed well, Keira," she told the pop star, "That cover you did was wonderful, and not just because I happen to love that song."

"Thank you," responded Keira, "Where's Nora? I want to schedule an early morning rehearsal for tomorrow. I feel like my newer choreography could use a bit of work."

"She's taking care of something now, but I can pass along the message to her for you if you'd like."

"That would be great, thanks."

'Of course."

The moment Keira entered her trailer, she pulled off her royal purple wig and set it on its mannequin head, letting her naturally brown curls flow freely down her back. Riff, her ever-excitable puppy, wasted no time in bounding over to her, yipping happily all the while.

Keira laughed as he bolted over to one of his toys, a stuffed Batman symbol, then ran back to Keira while holding it in his mouth. "Oh, alright," she told the puppy, knowing full-well he wanted to play tug-of-war, "But only for a little bit. Sleep is kind of important, y'know...plus there's that song I'm working on writing...."

It only took about fifteen minutes for Riff to tire himself out, Keira going to bed soon thereafter when she found herself stuck on some of the lyrics she was putting together. She knew what the song was meant to be about, but she was struggling to put her thoughts, her message, into words. Oh, well...I can try to figure this out tomorrow. I'm exhausted.

The dream she had that night was a rather odd one, mostly consisting of warped versions of memories she had shared with Crider over the time they had worked together. It began with the two driving somewhere, presumably for an interview or a photoshoot, and Keira beginning to write a new song while they were at a rest stop. This was a very real memory, the only one throughout the entire dream that remained accurate to true events, in fact. This included a minor joke she had made that day about playing her guitar, sleeping, and driving all at once.

The next part of the dream saw the two of them, along with Nora, Rupert, and Daniel, in some sort of mall-like setting with Crider riding around in a wheelchair despite having no injuries, with one of her own songs playing over the mall's speakers. It was true that she had gone clothes shopping with Nora once or twice, but none of the men in the dream had been present when she had. She had no idea where the wheelchair thing could have come from, and she had to look back on that gem with amusement upon waking. It was just that funny to picture.

Her phone alarm buzzing was what woke her, as she'd set it for 5:30 AM to prepare for her rehearsal. She hoped Star had remembered to tell Nora about it. She probably had – her memory was impeccable.

Sure enough, there was a knock on her trailer door fifteen minutes later. "Keira, you awake?"

"Yeah, Nora, be out in a few minutes!" Keira yelled back. Having just gotten out of the shower, she was in the process of choosing an outfit for the day. In the end, she paired a black tank top with a denim ruffle skirt, topping off the look with a leather jacket of vibrant purple. After slipping into her usual sparkly purple boots and signature wig, she was ready to exit her trailer.

However, just as she reached the door, the realization dawned on her that song lyrics had been forming in her head since the moment she'd opened her eyes. So, in a moment of blissful inspiration, she grabbed a nearby pen and notepad, scribbling down a title:

Reminiscent Dreams