After Celine's quiet talk with her twin brother out on the preschool playground — a swing set creaking beneath gray clouds — Mikayo got the call. It was most definitely NOT what a tired woman would have needed to hear. She picked up the phone and spoke to the people on the other side of the line.
A "tantrum," they said.
She was quickly explained to by the people at the preschool—Celine's breakdown in its entirety. Without any hesitation, she got off of her current work and rushed over to them.
By the time she arrived, both siblings were sitting in silence.
Miyako had been forced to apologize about a hundred times for the incident. She couldn't believe that Celine of all people would be the one to cause this, and yet she couldn't exactly defend the young girl either.
It was a rough scene, to say the least. Miyako was most definitely not suited for this parental work, and yet she found herself stuck in this situation over and over again.
The car ride home felt as awkward as anyone might have expected. No one spoke a single word. The hum of the tires filled the silence between them—Miyako's very bones practically louder than the two children behind her.
Celine pressed her forehead against the cold glass window, looking out of the car at the sights as they passed by. Her kind kept playing on repeat the day's events, her outburst and what Mercury had said.
Storming out of class...
Her brother's strange, too-mature advice...
The girl was so confused by it all that she didn't know what to say.
"I wonder what Miyako and Daichi will do to me..."
The thought tightened her chest—aching more and more. Punishment would surely befall her after what she had done. It would be the most obvious choice for the adults, right?
Looking out of the car window, Celine could see dark rain clouds just off in the distance. She narrowed her eyes as she watched them slowly float through the air. It would be nice if she were a clue right about now—all of these problems gone and the only goal in her life to keep flying by.
Miyako seemed to spot the clouds as well. "Looks like a storm's coming. We'd better get home soon." She sighed, shaking her head. "Scary stuff."
Celine didn't answer any of the woman's statements. She knew that Miyako was implying something else with her words. It clearly wasn't the mere sight of clouds that had her thoughts so entangled.
"She's not scared of the weather..." the girl thought, watching droplets begin to trail down the glass. "She's just saying that."
"This is perfect weather for a nap," Mikayo added softly.
When they got home, Celine was the first to get out of the vehicle. She rushed into the house and up the steps for her room and the sheets that may make her feel a little more comfortable.
Entering her room, the girl fell onto her bed—head falling into the pillows that awaited her. The room was dark and quiet. Celine didn't know if she was supposed to be sad, angry—maybe there was some other emotion that needed to well up within her. She just felt empty as she lay there.
It was such a bleak scene in the girl's early life. What was she supposed to do now that everything had fallen through? Was she supposed to give up and accept reality.
She really didn't know.
"I just don't want... to think about acting anymore."
But even sleep refused to come. No matter how hard she tried, the girl just couldn't seem to escape the life that she was living. She wanted to dive into her dreams and the fictional world she craved... but just couldn't.
"This really sucks."
Downstairs, the atmosphere wasn't exactly much better. Mercury entered into the living room, throwing his back down and then sinking into the couch cushions. He was so incredibly exhausted after the hectic day that had so suddenly befallen him.
Even now the boy didn't really know what he was supposed to do. A part of him did want to go and speak to Celine again—to comfort her and assure her that it would be alright.
But the fact was he had already tried that. If she wasn't going to get back onto her feet after what he had already told her, then there was no point in persisting.
Better to leave it to her now.
Across the room, Miyako was walking towards the kitchen. She held a glass up in her right hand, cleaning it off and setting it onto the counter with one gentle and swift motion.
She glanced at the boy. "So... what happened?"
The boy averted his gaze. "It's nothing. You don't have to worry about it." He really didn't want to tell her of all that had occurred at the preschool.
Mikayo chuckled lightly. "If you say so. But I'd still talk before Daichi and Lina get back. They're scarier when you make them wait." She then turned and walked towards the couch. "Don't worry, Mercury... I'll keep what you say between such you and me."
And, of course, it seemed like Mercury just wasn't going to get out of this one. He felt the woman start to recline right beside him, waiting for his answer.
He sighed in defeat.
"Fine. Just... don't get too emotional."
"Promise."
Mercury stared to explain off the days events to the woman, making sure that he didn't miss anything. From the teacher's first announcement about the skit to the way she had just stormed out, he told her almost everything he could remember.
He did leave out the detail about his conversation on the swings though. Mercury really didn't want to explain what exactly had drove him to do that—heck, he still couldn't explain it himself.
"She's... scared of failing," he admitted. "Ever since that accident the other day, she's been different. I think she feels like she's supposed to be great — because she's Lina's daughter."
Mikayo frowned. "That's rough... poor kid."
"Yeah." Mercury ran a hand through his hair. "But we can't just sit around either. She needs something... maybe a way to see acting as fun again."
It would be the only was that she ever gave acting another shot. The only problem was Mercury didn't exactly have many ideas about how to make the gig more appealing again. He had only started getting involved in the industry recently himself.
The small boy crossed his arms. What could he do. He needed... some sort of idea of plan. There had to be something he could do, right?
Actually thought, it was Miyako who first came up with something.
She chuckled, winking at the small boy. "I might have a plan. Just trust me on this."
Meanwhile, upstairs, Celine buried herself deeper into her sheets. The quiet of her room only made her thoughts louder. Her failures and issues kept resonating through her brain over and over.
This was the exact reason she just wished she had been able to sleep—to forget her problems for the short time. Yet, no matter how hard she tried, she just... couldn't.
Her brother's words from earlier still echoed in her head. Somehow it seemed that he had more faith in her than she had in herself. Celine couldn't exactly explain why he had felt that way, but it was somehow... moving.
"Heh... And yet here I am even still." the small girl thought.
She turned over onto her back, looking at the ceiling above her head. This was really not her highest point in the slightest. It was so pathetic that she could barely defend herself anymore.
"Damn... this really blows."
Thinking to herself, Celine's ears suddenly caught a sound from off to the side. She glanced in the direction. Her door started to creak open, something that surprised her. It seemed that someone had decided to come and visit.
The girl's first thought was maybe it was Miyako. There was a good chance that she had come up with some form of a punishment and was here to finally "dish it out" on the small child.
However...
"Wait... That isn't Miyako."
"Mom?" she breathed, looking at the silver haired figure.
Standing in the doorway, Lina smiled gently. She walked inside, waving to the girl. "Hey, kiddo. Sorry for the intrusion." Her face was just as bright and warm as ever, like the sun itself.
"W-what are you doing here?" Celine asked in confusion.
"Oh," Lina closed the door behind her and then walked over to her daughter's bed. She sat down next to Celine and smiled. "just heard that you had a pretty rough day is all. I thought I'd come and see how you were doing."
Celine blinked. "You came... just to talk about that?"
Lina smiled, sitting beside her on the bed. "Of course. I heard you ran out of class. That doesn't sound like my little actress."
The woman ran her hand through Celine's hair, gently moving each and every strand. Her demeanor wasn't like what Celine would have expected after what she had done—all of the pain and suffering that Celine had caused all of her friends and family.
Something was so off. How could this woman in all of her otherworldly perfection and beauty... How could Lina be so loving? It made no sense to the girl who was so beat down.
And at that, something inside Celine cracked. She clenched her fists, tears slipping free.
"I don't want to act anymore," she whispered.
Those words were enough to make the whole world finally cave in on the child. Of course she would just have to go and say that to the single person who had inspired her to act in the first place.
Lina must have thought she was pathetic.
Useless.
A mistake of a daughter.
Celine's mother didn't say anything to her at first, only looking at the child with that same smile she always more. Celine waited for her to yell, or insult—to finally drive Celine into the ground.
But she just sat there. She sat there like the same radiant being she always was, seeming to never show any expression that would ever give off sadness or anger. She was like the very morning sky, overwhelmingly majestic.
And then, she wrapped her arms around Celine. The blond haired girl could feel the woman's arms close around her small body, something that seemed to surprise her.
"It's okay," she murmured. "You don't have to act if you don't want to. I won't love you any less."
In that moment, something seemed to change for the girl. It was the first time that Celine saw her mother not as the glittering idol from TV, but as something far more real and personal
A she was simply a woman who smiled through the exhaustion—who knew what it was like to fall apart backstage — and still walk into the light anyway.
She wasn't some otherworldly being or some far away star.
Lina... she was just human.
"I'm so sorry that I put pressure on you, baby." Lina said.
So, this was what Lina was really like. She wasn't just an actress seen on the television, but also a woman and a fighter... She was the warrior and also the common citizen, the rising run and the moon at night.
She was... a mother.
"What is this feeling?" Celine asked herself.
Lina smiled gently, still holding the child tightly in her arms. "You know, I wasn't any good when I started either."
Celine blinked. "Wait... that's what Mercury said too."
Lina laughed. "Smart kid, that brother of yours." She stood back up, stretching her arms. "Come on. I'll show you something." The woman held her arms out to the girl, encouraging for Celine to take her hands. "I'm sure it will be of some comfort.
Lina's practice room was cluttered, to say the least. Scattered scripts, lighting stands, props from old dramas. It probably wasn't what most people would think a "star" should have to practice her skits in.
But for Celine, it was something of an ethereal dream. It was everything that she had every wished for, and yet everything that she had ever feared as well.
"Let's start simple," Lina said, handing her a page. "No acting. Just... read."
Well that wasn't very encouraging.
But Celine did what she was instructed. She took the page in her hands and read over the lines, uttering all of them from out of her mouth.
"Knights... come here and... prepare for battle. We... have an... enemy to defeat."
Her pauses and stutters still lacked any rhythm, her performance about the same as it had been a few days prior. Celine couldn't see what it was that Lina had wanted to see from this pathetic display, this show of failure and flaws.
However, the woman simply. "Perfect!" She held a thumbs up, something that perplexed the small girl who watched.
Celine frowned, tilting her head. "But I messed up."
"That's fine," Lina said, patting her head. "You're trying — that's what matters. I'm five hundred percent sure you'll get there."
Celine giggled, starting to feel a bit better thanks to her mother's jokes. "Your math's wrong, Mom." It was a nice little surprise for the girl, the way that Lina seemed to make her feel.
Lina grinned. "Maybe. But my faith isn't."
The days quickly passed.
Then weeks.
Then months.
Both Celine and Lina spent countless hours working on her performance and trying to make the small girl better. Through the effort she put in, Celine's fear started to fade and her efforts started to pick up bit by bit.
It was a nice little change that made Celine feel like she could now do anything—even fly if she was just helped out along the way. Who knew that Lina could be this... inspiring.
"She's still pretty air-headed sometimes though."
One day, during her routine practices, Celine was working on a smalltime skit about a fantasy play. It wasn't exactly what she would consider to be that great of a story, but it was the first time that she had finally found her true self in acting.
Her lines clear and her movements swift. The girl seemed to finally be doing what the small girl from only a few weeks prior could have never hoped to achieve.
"Stop! You fiend!" she cried, reading the script in her hands. "You'll never destroy this city!"
Lina watched her daughter perform, a hand covering her smile. It was a strange look that Celine hadn't seen her make in all the time she had been acting. Was there something that Celine wasn't doing right?
Celine paused. "Did I do something wrong?"
Lina shook her head, eyes glistening. "No, sweetheart. It's just... there's nothing left for me to teach you."
Celine blinked. "Wait... you mean—?"
Lina nodded. "You, Celine... have become a great actor!"