[Teaser] I Stayed Out Too Late

[Katarina Kane]

Katarina returned to her room, alone. She locked the door behind her -- paranoid, perhaps, but being stuck here tended to make one paranoid.

Looking around again to make sure no one was lurking in a corner, she lifted up a corner of her mattress, pulling out a small red circular object connected to some headphones.

Placing them in just one ear, so she could still hear, she took pen and paper and started taking notes, as the music started playing...

[Katarina Kane]

Sighing, Katarina hit the stop button, and lay back on her bed, staring at the ceiling. She blew hair out of her eyes as she stared off into the middle distance; one perhaps filled more with water than air. Aimlessly, she reached back and scratched at the growing and spreading patch of scales; one that had worked it's way up her spine.

Slowly, from out of nowhere, piano chords started hitting, as she took a breath and sighed.

♪♫ Once I had the spotlight bright,
Songs that soared and took me high
But now I hear the ocean's call
Changing me; I wonder why...♪♫

Strings came into join as she rose from the bed, leaning against the concrete wall of the prison room she found herself in.

♪♫ Echoes of the waves, they pull;
Lost my voice to siren's song
Cursed am I to sing alone
Wish to go back where I belong... ♪♫

♪♫ I want my old life back again
I dream of stages in the night;
Far from seas that claim my soul
Need my heart to feeeeel the liiiight... ♪♫

Percussion. Synthy strings, with a pulsing rhythm as she stood up. An acoustic guitar, hitting the rhythmic chords. Katarina slammed the CD player under the bed, and opened the door, coming back into the hallway as the second verse kicked in.

♪♫ Every note I sang was mine
Now it's just the siren's cry
Heartbreak in each melody
Yearning for the days gone by ♪♫

Her voice was full in throat now as she hit the bridge, agents moving out of her way at the last moment as she continued to walk.

♪♫ Sea winds whisper; can't escape!
Magic binds what once was free
Tears fall down like salty rain...

The music cut. Katrina stared straight ahead, the agents behind her lined up...

Will this tide release me? ♪♫

A swell! The instruments coming back in as the agents behind her dramatically fell to their knees, Katarina walking through them as if she was parting the waves themselves.

♪♫ I want my old life back again
I dream of stages in the night;
Far from seas that claim my soul
Need my heart to feeeeel the liiiight...! ♪♫

A vocal glissando, dramatic swelling of background, as Katarina's professional training kicked in; full throated vibrato echoing through the halls! A splash of water from an empty room; wiped from her face as she continued to march forward.

♪♫ I want my old life back again
I dream of stages in the night;
Far from seas that claim my soul
Need my heart to feel the liiiight...! ♪♫

Key change! High note! But only for a moment, as Katrina sang a series of descending runs.

♪♫ The liii-eiiii-eiiii-eiiight...
The light...♪♫

She trailed off, the acoustic guitar finishing the song as she stood in the garage, looking away from the 'camera', as it were.

[Erynies Adrasteia]

Ryn arrives, as she always does, on silent feet and wreathed in the shadows between the pools of light cast by the garage's intermittent lights. The difference is starker than it should be, perhaps because the darkness harbors a monster. Before she gets too close to Katarina to startle her she reaches into her pocket and pulls out a rumpled, partly flattened present. Not that it was expertly wrapped to begin with. She fixes it as best she can and then gives it a gentle shake as she approaches. From inside of it sounds the clear, tinkling sound of a bell to announce Ryn's presence.

[Katarina Kane]

Lost in her own thoughts and the dying of the music, Katarina misses the sound of the bell at first. It is, however, enough to get her attention before she's right on top of her.

"Ryn! Ah, hello. Was there something you needed?"

[Erynies Adrasteia]

Of course there is. And yet she's still stymied by the question. She opens her mouth, then closes it again. There's the faintest hint of music starting with the distant ting of the small bell she's still holding but it stops as soon as it started. Ryn tries again, this time the music has an electronic swell to it and once again she stops.

"No. Yes. I..." She straightens and closes her hand over the bell, clutching it. Behind her the darkness of the garage seems to swell, billowing behind her in a gentle cloud. This time when the soft strings set in they don't stop and Ryn holds out her hand to Katarina. "I want to... I need to show you something I didn't know how to show you before."

[Katarina Kane]

Katarina tilts her head to one side, looking a bit confused, but reaches out to take Ryn's hand as the music swelled...

[Erynies Adrasteia]

Ryn pulls her in and catches her around the waist with startling ease. With her arm still wrapped around Katarina and clasping her hand with the other she spins them around and into the darkness. The billowing cloud at Ryn's back envelops them and reveals itself to be thousands of long strands moving in soft undulations, soft to the touch where they occasionally brush against them. As Ryn slowly moves them through the dark she starts to sing in a low, quiet voice.

♪♫"Nighttime sharpens, heightens each sensation
Darkness stirs and wakes imagination.
Silently the senses abandon their defenses."♪♫

♪♫"Slowly, gently, night unfurls it's splendor.
Grasp it, sense it, tremulous and tender.
Turn your face away from the garish light of day
Turn your thoughts away from cold, unfeeling light
And listen to the music of the night."♪♫

♪♫"Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams
Let them reach for the life you knew before.
Close your eyes, let your spirit start to soar
And you'll live as you've never lived before."♪♫

Ryn's hand shifts in Katarina, lacing their fingers together. Around them the world appears to have plunged into darkness, only broken up by Ryn's 'cloak' that almost makes her part of the dark. They're moving weightlessly, dancing in the night until above them the darkness is parted by the night sky, stars twinkling above.

♪♫"Softly, deftly music shall caress you
Hear it, feel it, secretly protect you.
Open up your mind, let your fantasies unwind
In this darkness that you know you cannot fight
The darkness of the music of the night."♪♫

Ryn continues to lead, their dance speeding up across the roof of the House, ending with Ryn dipping Katarina low but following her in the same movement, tipping the both of them over the edge in a stomach-lurching thrill.

♪♫"Let yourself start a journey through a strange new world
Let it change the life you knew before
Let your soul take you where you long to be!
Only then can you belong with me."♪♫

Still falling, inexplicably not having hit the ground, they slowly come to a stop, cushioned by a cloud of darkness they sink into. Softly billowing around them it rights them and parts to gently place them back in the garage where they were before.

♪♫"Floating, falling, sweet Intoxication
Touch me, trust me, savor each sensation
Let the dream begin, let the darker side give in
To the power of the music that I write
The power of the music of the night!
You alone can make my song take flight
Help me make the music of the night."♪♫

This time when Ryn dips Katarina she holds her there, her face inches from the Siren's and with the audacity of being not even a little bit out of breath. And yet her breathing is trembling ever so slightly.

[Katarina Kane]

For a moment, the two hovered there, inches apart, their hearts beating in time with the music and one another. A moment, frozen in time...

And then Katarina looked away, as the strings turned minor...

♪♫ Yes, a made a choice. For the society, I will stay.
But I don't deserve to lose my freedom in this way...I'm a monster.
If you think what I am is right, well then... you're a fool. Think again...♪♫

Katarina gently disentangled herself, slowly pushing Ryn away.

♪♫Is this home? Is this where I should learn to be happy?
Never dreamed, that a home could be dark and cold

I was told, everyday in my childhood, even when we grow old
Home will be where the heart is; never were words so true.
My heart's far, far away; home is too.♪♫

Katarina kept striding forward, coming to rest with her hands on the hood of her car.

♪♫Is this home? Is this what I must learn to believe in?
Tried to find something good in this tragic place!
Just in case, I should stay here forever, held in this empty space
Oh, but that won't be easy, I know the reason why
My heart's far, far away; home's a lie. ♪♫

The music swelled, as Katarina looked off into a distance space, belting.

♪♫What I'd give to return to the life that I knew lately
But I know that I can't solve my problems going back!

Is this home? Am I here for a day or forever?
Shut away, from the world until who knows when?

Oh, but then, as my life has been altered once, it can change again.
Build higher walls around me, change every lock and key.
Nothing lasts. Nothing holds all of me...

My heart's far, far away...
Home and free...♪♫

The music died, with Katarina unable to look Ryn in the eye.

[Erynies Adrasteia]

She's sure Katarina understood this time. She could see it in her eyes, the beating of her heart, how she moved with Ryn. Which makes it oh so much worse. Words failing her she can fight. Katarina choosing to step away from her. From the world she represents. Monster, gentle as it may be, is still a monster. And Katarina would rather cling to something other than her. She can feel the heat of her heart crackling in her chest like fire. Behind her shades her eyes flare brightly and her fingers twitch.

♪♫"Very well.
I understand.
You'd rather languish than take my hand.
Turn your back. Walk away. Hold on to fears that won't let you stray
From what you call normal."♪♫

♪♫"Well then I don't see why I should be
Trying to fit into normal perception, rejection of what you declare the call of the sea.
No more!
I'm done pretending, always pretending, to make the true more attractive to you
I reject this charade of suits oh so formal!"♪♫

♪♫"We are what we are what we are!
Accept it, reject it, denied and dejected.
No!"♪♫

The music abruptly cuts and Ryn rips off her suit jacket with the tearing of fabric, throwing it on the ground along with her fake FBI badge. She takes two steps backwards and is swallowed up by the darkness of the parking garage.

[Katarina Kane]

"...This has been a very strange day."

This was an understatement, but the combined effects of the multiple songs and Ryn coming out and pouring her heart out, before disappearing entirely, had fried her brain.