Arianne was standing behind the scenes of the theatre once more, waiting for Eloise to finish playing her song, since she was next.

Although she hated to admit it, she had to say that Eloise was a very good violinist. She showed that she enjoyed playing the violin a lot, and the song she was playing was quite unique. It had a very fast tempo, but she was managing well. Arianne didn't know if she could ever play as fast as Eloise did, even if she had played 'Guren No Yumiya' several times.

When Eloise finished playing, the room erupted in applause, and many people even stood up to clap for her. Eloise smiled and bowed, as she moved to the side of the stage to see the marks she got.

Arianne opened her eyes wide as she saw her score: 9-9-9-10-10. Even though she shouldn't be surprised by it, it was still kind of shocking, and put her even more nervous. She went over the notes of 'Gateway' a couple of times as Eloise left the stage and walked backstage.

When she saw Arianne, she smirked.

"Did you see that?" she questioned, incredibly (and annoyingly) proud of herself "That's the highest score so far. Good luck beating that"

"We'll see" replied Arianne, narrowing her eyes, and making Eloise smirk.

"C'mon, Aria" said the girl, angering Arianne. She hated it when Eloise called her that, they weren't friends, and she was just doing it to irritate her "Do you really think you can beat me with those songs of yours?" Arianne raised an eyebrow upon hearing that.

"What is that supposed to mean?" she questioned in a challenging manner, folding her arms.

"Let me give you some advice" she placed a hand on the girl's shoulder "In order to win this competition, you need to be original, and...that's not a quality you possess" Arianne looked at her silently, and couldn't help but be surprised that she said something like that "I mean, have you listened to your songs?" she added with a dry chuckle "It's always the same notes, same style...it's getting kind of old, don't you think? The judges will get bored sooner or later" 

Doubt started to cloud Arianne's mind when she heard that. Was what Eloise saying true? Were her songs really that boring? Should she change them? Try another style?

Oh, no. What if she confused the notes while playing? Or worse, if she forgot them! Would she get disqualified?

She started to imagine standing on that stage, completely still and frozen, not moving a single bone as the sudden realisation that she didn't know the notes to 'Gateway' sunk in. The judges would give her disapproving glances...and she would see clear disappointment in her friend's faces. Just thinking of that gave her the chills.

"If you wanna know what I think..." Eloise spoke up, flooded with a feeling of triumph as she saw the effect she was causing on the girl "I think you should quit this before embarrassing yourself. Stick to the covers, since that's what you're good at"

"Arianne Mercier, you're up!" announced the backstage assistant, and the girl's eyes opened wide as she started to sweat nervously. 

Eloise smiled with a clearly fake sweet smile.

"Good luck, Arianne" she wished falsely, before going off and leaving the girl alone with her dark thoughts.

"Arianne Mercier" the assistant called once again, bringing her back to reality. Arianne gulped and nodded, before walking through the door to the stage.

She had lost all confidence due to Eloise's words.

She stood on the stage, with all the people staring at her expectantly. Her friends were smiling at her from the audience, but she couldn't bring herself to smile back. Taking a deep breath, she started to play the best she could.

But she didn't have the spark of passion she had during the first round. She was playing the song mechanically, with no feeling at all. Almost as a robot.

"Something's wrong" whispered Adrien to Thiago next to him upon seeing the girl's playing, and he had to agree "Look at her eyes" they were opaque, as if all the colour from them had suddenly vanished. They were usually glistening when she played the violin, but they weren't this time.

"Her fingers" Thiago pointed out "They're shaking" Adrien indeed saw that Arianne was playing the notes hesitantly, as if she feared they weren't the right ones.

"What happened to her?" questioned Adrien, with concern written all over his face. Thiago, clueless, shook his head "C'mon, Ari" Adrien whispered, trying to get the encouragement to reach the girl he was in love with.

It didn't work, though.

The room clapped politely for the girl, even though her performance lacked passion. Her score was 6-5-7-6-7. Her lowest one so far.

Arianne stood on the highest story of the Eiffel Tower, watching over the city and flooding it with the beautiful melody of 'My Heart Will Go On', from the movie Titanic. She loved that movie, even though she had cried her eyes out while watching it.

The sky was clear that night, and the stars were twinkling in the skyline, with the half-moon accompanying the twinkle with its white light. It was more or less 10 PM, and, surprisingly enough, there was nobody else in the tower but her, which was quite weird, since it was usually at that time that more couples were there.

Arianne didn't felt bothered by it, anyway. She really preferred being alone now, the sour memories of the second round of the competition that day were still replaying in her head.

And the worst part, was that she actually believed every word Eloise said to her.

When she finished playing, someone clapped behind her, and she turned around to find Adrien looking at her with a smile.

"You scared me!" said Arianne, placing a hand on her chest to calm her racing heartbeat.

"Sorry!" he replied with a chuckle "I didn't want to interrupt" he approached the rail, and leaned his arms against it.

"You didn't" replied Arianne with a small smile, putting her violin back on the case and leaning against the rail next to him.

"Thiago told me I'd find you here" he explained, making Arianne look at him surprised.

"You were looking for me?" she asked, genuinely astonished.

"Yeah" replied Adrien, looking at her with a smile "You looked quite blue today, so I wanted to know if you were okay" Arianne sighed as she turned to look back at the moon.

"Not really" she replied, downhearted, and Adrien looked at her with curiosity, wondering what happened to her. Arianne noticed his glance, and proceeded to explain "Remember that I had the second round of my competition today?" she asked, looking at him, who nodded.

"Yeah, I was there" he reminded, the memory of Arianne playing her song coming back to him.

"There was a girl, who was the one that played before me. Her name was Eloise" she made a pause, gathering her thoughts before reviving that terrible moment for the fifth time that day "She...told me that I was totally unoriginal, and that my songs were always the same thing. She said that I should quit, that I wasn't skilled enough to take part in a contest like that"

"You don't actually believe that, do you?" asked Adrien when she finished explaining. He couldn't believe that someone would say something like that to Arianne.

He arched his eyebrows when the girl didn't answer, she was just keeping her glance fixed on the horizon.

"Aria?" he called once more, and, this time, the girl did answer.

"She's sort of right" she replied, looking at Adrien sadly, who couldn't believe that she actually thought that "The chords are always the same, only in different order"

"Because people love them!" argued Adrien "That's what got you to where you are now"

"Still" she replied "I can't help but think that maybe she's right. Did you see the song she was playing? She changed notes so fast, and she played with such passion!" she said, as she remembered Eloise"Maybe she's right and I should just stick with covers. Maybe I can't win competitions"

"Arianne Mercier, don't ever say that!" said Adrien. He couldn't believe she was actually thinking that. He hated Eloise for making her feel like that, when she was always so confident before "You are going to go to that competition, you're gonna play a wonderful song, and you're gonna win!"

"What's the point?" she questioned "If it's the same styles as my previous ones, what's the point of going if I can't play anything else?"

"Arianne, look at me" he grabbed her face between his hands, making her look at him. Her heart raced as she saw how close Adrien was to her, it gave her a close-up of his beautiful green eyes "You are an amazing violinist, and you shouldn't let anyone else tell you otherwise. What does it matter if it's the same style? That means that you own it, and you shouldn't let go of it, because it's yours. It is what makes you a unique violinist" he looked at her deep into her eyes, and she did the same thing as she placed her hands on top his, wanting to feel more of his warmth "You are going to go back to that stage, you are going to play whatever amazing masterpiece you come up with in two weeks, and you're gonna play it with pride and passion, because it's something yours and they can't take that away from you" Arianne stayed silent, listening closely to his words "And I'll be there every minute of that song, supporting you, like I've always done"

"Why?" questioned the girl softly. Why waste time on someone like her? "I'm not worth it"

Adrien stared at her for some minutes, still holding her face in his hands.

"You're to me"

Then, he connected their lips together.