In the eyes of the beholder (closed to Sadico)

It had been a very long drive to Los Angeles, one which had only been made all the more enjoyable with Lilia's surrogate sibling, Sheryll, singing at the top of her voice whenever a song would come onto the radio, Lilia would simply laugh along with her delicate chime of a voice...still not capable of catching onto American music, but enjoying the free entertainment nonetheless. The drive to L.A was Sheryll's idea to begin with and of course the meek agent tagged along. It had been a week since the dark haired woman had found an advertisement calling out for any particularly talented dancers to represent their country for some nation-wide competition. Although hesitant at first and certain that her skills were not up to national standards the Russian girl had finally caved in and allowed Sheryll to drag her along on this cross-country drive all the way to the strange competition.

Upon arriving to the destination, an impressive tower which spiralled into the summer sky, Sheryll gave her little sister an almighty grin as she brushed sandy brown hair out of Lilia's porcelain face, pinning it behind blushing ears. This was their first proper trip together that did not involve anything related to Dominus and both girls had made the most of it so far, enjoying the various hotspots and attractions along the way and for the first time in a long time Lilia was simply another teenage girl out having fun, any tragic memory that sought to ruin her day was smothered with the genuine joy she was feeling throughout the long road-trip.

Entering the gigantic tower Lilia silent tip toe like stride elegantly followed Sheryll's more confident and brisk pace, keeping as close as possible as they turned corners and entered elevators. Once they had arrived to the designated floor Sheryll gave her a gentle grin, leading the way to the reception desk "Just remember to smile okay and if they start talking to you... just nod your head," her beaming voice echoed throughout the marble corridor, bright innocent blue eyes stared up into older more relaxed ones, " and you look beautiful, I'm sure you'll do great" Sheryll noted clasping Lilia's petite form around the waist as she gave her a tight hug making the much more delicate female giggle.

Releasing the ballerina from her protective grip Sheryll stretched and exhaled before pointing to a large wooden entrance, "The door is just over there okay, they'll call your name and you dance your little ass off alright?" she laughed with cheeky glee, "I'm just gonna find us a place to stay, if anything happens call me okay", Lilia bobbed her head up and down with a little grin plastered on her peachy lips. Once Sheryll had made sure that Lilia understood what was to be done she plonked a playful kiss on the younger agent's forehead before spinning on her heels and darting off to find accommodation...most likely something 5 star.

Lilia exhaled and quietly sat down on one of the available couches in the waiting room, a few other girls were scattered throughout the well lit air-conditioned room, some dancing to the music that was being played through their earphones whilst others stretched their limbs and contorted their young bodies, making sure that there was going to be zero chance of muscle sprain occurring in their respective auditions. The young agent patted her white skirt down and furiously picked at the lint that dared to stick itself to her stockings which had proven to be successful in covering up the various scars that ruined her otherwise flawless and toned lower body.

It was going to take a while before they were going to call out her name, so the girl sat with legs clenched together and fingers interlaced..content with how things were going so far...

Renata stared down at her hands and balled them into fists so tight her fingernails began to cut into her flesh. Even then the shaking would not stop... it never stopped. It had only started in her fingers at first, the day of her escape. Then it had crept up her hands at an alarming rate. She was already having trouble focusing before, but this was absolutely maddening! Lately she'd discovered herself losing track of reality. Bits and pieces of her memory returned to her as twisted versions of the truth, but occasionally she caught herself in the lies and reminded herself of what was real.

Father tore the family apart... not me. I would be dead now if I hadn't run in the first place. I am not to blame for Vitoria's death. But it was becoming increasingly difficult to hold onto the facts. What did those people do to me?

The paranoia was getting worse too. At times she knew she was being unrealistic, but far more often was she looking over her shoulder. They caught me once. They'll take me again. They're following me now... I can feel them watching me! She had felt their eyes on her in Brazil, so she had fled north to the United States. Even living under the radar in the streets did not hide her from those feelings though. This was the wrong country. Too many government eyes on foreigners. She had to go south again. Mexico could hide her, which was what drew her south through California. It was much easier to get through the border south than north.

L.A. was just as bad as Chicago, if not worse. Everything was so flashy and chaotic. Sure she was used to that in Brazil, but that was part of the problem. Brazil was where everything started.

Renata fled away from the hectic L.A. life all around her to the rooftops of the giant buildings. Scaling the buildings proved easy for her with her acrobatic talents coupled with these disturbing spikes that kept sprouting from her body. She hid, but didn't think she could for long. The blood dripped down her still-shaking hands from her fresh wounds and splattered like thick raindrops down the side of the building. She reflexively released her fists from their tight grip and looked down at the open cuts on the palms of her hands. If only there were music. That would make the shaking go away...

And then she heard it. It wasn't the drum beats she was used to, but it had its own rhythm to it that was somewhat soothing. She felt the quivering muscles in her arms relax, but it was not enough. She felt drawn to the music like a snake helpless to resist its prey. It came from somewhere below, so down she went. Her spikes latched into the side of the building as she scaled her way down... and there it was.

A spike stuck out of her hand and cracked its way through the thick window. Now she could hear it all... finally.

A few minutes had passed since Lilia had waved a silent 'goodluck' to the last girl, the gesture was quickly returned with a giddy grin before the evidently excited dancer strutted through the great big doors to face whatever lay in that studio. A brief moment of silence wavered before the muffled bass of the girls song-choice began to penetrated the thick marble walls, just barely but still loud enough for Etoile to hear it, nonetheless the young agent could tell that the dancer had chosen a much faster, more 'modern' route to impress those judging. She had decided upon Tchaikovsky's 'Swan lake' to be her accompanying melody, the sheer beauty of the orchestral piece always prompted the petite Russian to let her worries and fears drift away and in turn causing her to embody the spirit of the tune itself, she became ethereal in her beauty and skill, perfectly complimenting the composer's grand melody.

Taking in a deep breath Lilia stretched her leg in front of her, pointing her toe in an elegant manner as she casually scanned the large waiting room in which she was its only occupant. Simple polished marble pillars added weight and height to the room and the occasional splash of vibrant reds within the furniture added an very potent air of classiness. She peaked around the corner, gazing at the Renaissance piece that a droned the grey walls and intently gazed at the heavily textured Persian rug that embraced the floor. This brief moment of childish curiosity was shattered however as the sound of glass against concrete rang through the air.

She let out a meek yelp as the noise sent her back into reality, jerking backwards as she snapped her naturally quick instincts back on. Taking in a deep breath the girl cowered near the corner of the hallway, peeping her far enough just so she could see what had happened. Pale dainty fingers clutched onto the cold hard edge of the wall as she let out a sharp breath, completely unprepared for the sight before her.

A strange looking woman was attached to the window, her eerie form appeared to be floating just outside the building as she stared with crazed eyes into the 50th floor. Lilia gasped, the woman was bleeding. The red liquid seeped from the palms of her hands and before the innocent albeit naive Russian could think it over she dashed to the woman, intent on helping her.

"Come inside..", she beckoned, speaking in her best attempts at english whilst bouncing on the balls f her feet as she worriedly begged the strange bleeding inside. Lilia was no longer concerned with this little dance competition, she could not see someone hurting and ignore them...that would weigh on her mind for days to come. Reaching out to grab the woman's tanned armed the young ballerina was too absorbed in helping her inside that she completely ignored the vicious spike that protruded out of the woman's body...