The Music Box

     Finally after climbing some mighty stairs Elon stood face to face with a door and behind that door would be the person that Elon was looking for.

     Filo Desenz.

     He wasn't quite sure if what he was about to do was a good idea. Tonie had encouraged it when Elon had carefully brought it up, but he still felt at unease.

     Apologising was so much harder than it looked like.

     Elon sighed. He couldn't run from this forever. He'd already written a long letter to Jair and gotten an equally wordy reply in return. They eventually had agreed to Team Maraqua coming to Roo Island for some practise matches.

     If Elon could smooth things over with Jair of all people then he should be able to talk to Filo.

     Right?

     Elon raised his hand a carefully knocked on the door. For what felt like an eternity Elon just stood there, waiting for the door to open. His heart was going so fast it was almost stupid. It was just Filo. They knew each other.

     Kinda.

     Sorta.

     Ok, not really.

     It had been over a decade since Elon last saw the guy. That probably didn't help. He had no idea of what to expect.

     Finally the door opened and Elon stood face to face with his old teammate.

     Elon felt every muscle in his body tense up. Filo for his part just blinked. He was the one to break the silence.

     "Elon, is that you?" He asked. Had his voice changed? Elon couldn't tell. His memory was pretty bad.

     Awkwardly Elon lifted is right tentacle and waved it a bit.

     "Um, Hi," he said in a thin voice. By Fyora this was embarrassing!

     "Can I, um, you know?" Elon's voice had not been the best as of late and it had the habit of cutting out in situations where he was nervous. It was far from ideal. At least with Jair he could say what he wanted through pen and paper.

     Filo stepped aside and gestured the room behind him.

     "Why don't you come in?" He asked in his "I'm-a-caring-and-patient-leader-voice". At least that was what Elon had called it. He'd gotten that tone directed at him a lot in the beginning of his yooyuball career. Hearing it again was odd and so was being able to place it immediately despite everything that has happened between the two of them.

     Elon swallowed hard before slowly entering what he assumed to be Filo's office. "Thank you," he said quietly. He slowly looked around the room. It was pretty big. The entire right wall was made of glass so one could look down on the yooyuball pitch below. In the far back was what Elon assumed to be Filo's desk. Above it was Filo's old Team Maraqua jersey, framed neatly on the wall. His old sling was placed above it again.

     Elon didn't even know Filo had kept all of that.

     "You should knock a bit louder next time," Elon heard Filo say from behind, "I almost didn't hear it."

     Elon looked back at Filo.

     "Tonie told me you're a coach now." He said. You made small talk before discussing important stuff, right?

     Filo swam past him and sat down behind his desk. "Yup, I teach kids now," he confirmed. "I have fun honing the new talent." A sly grin made its way to his face. "Any day now and one of those kids will be good enough to kick you off the team. You better not get lazy!"

     It was a joke. Elon knew that, but when he tried to laugh at it, it fell incredibly flat. Yooyuball was the passion that had held him together somewhat. Losing that part of his life wasn't something Elon could honestly say he'd survive right now.

     Filo's expression turned more serious as he gestured the chair opposite his. Elon took that as a hint to sit down.

     The desk was covered with picture frames Elon could only see the back of. Filo was married and had children, right? That was something Tonie might've told him about. Filo being a father was an odd thought.

     Family, huh?

     "Now then!" Filo said, bringing Elon out of his own head, "What is it I can do for you, Elon?"

     Elon looked down at his own hands. "Well," he mumbled before falling silent. He knew that it was like, three words, at most. Why did it have to be so darned difficult?

     Elon took a deep breath. He could do this. He hated backing down from a fight. This was an internal fight he had every intention of winning.

     "I'm sorry for being a dumb jerk and a bad teammate!!!"

     The words exploded from his mouth much louder than he intended. Elon immediately covered his mouth.

     "I'm also sorry for yelling." He mumbled with a muffled voice. It'd be a miracle if Filo managed to hear that.

     Slowly Elon looked up at Filo, who in turn was looking at him with a single raised eyebrow. Elon knew that Filo was well within his rights to not forgive him. Even if his apology wasn't accepted, however, he still gave it. That was the important thing. At least that’s what Tonie had told him.

     "What brought this on?" Filo asked. Elon turned his attention to the glass wall.

     His memory of what happened after he'd confessed that his entire family was dead was fuzzy at best. It had been a mess and he hated every minute of it. How Maraqua managed to bring in the bronze this cup was beyond him. Vere had joked that her cheering had been so good that Team Kreludor had been brought to their knees and honestly?

     That was the most reasonable explanation he'd heard about the matter. It most certainly wasn't him that brought on that victory.

     "Stuff happened," Elon said eventually, "Kinda broke down."

     While Elon wasn't looking at Filo he could still feel his eyes on him.

     "That sounds serious," Filo said, "You're getting help with that?"

     Elon sighed. "Tonie recommended a therapist to me and I've started counselling." He kept it at that.

     Much to his surprise Filo clapped his hands together. "Really?" he said, "That's great, Elon! Well done!"

     Elon turned back to look at Filo. The Flotsam seemed genuinely happy with him. Elon blushed, but didn't look away this time.

     "There was something I wanted to ask you, actually." Elon began. Filo folded his hands and rested his chin on top of them. When he didn't say anything Elon continued.

     "Why did you give me that music box?"

     Filo seemed to be in a much better mood than he’d ever been in Elon’s presence. "What do you think, Elon?" he said, turning the question back at him. "Why did I give you that music box?"

     Elon frowned as he thought it over.

      The Folly of The Prima Donna was a story that was vastly altered to appeal to the masses at the time the ballet first came out. The water Kyrii, who was originally a lonely sick girl that made a mistake and let that mistake almost kill her, was changed into a self-centred villain who deserved everything bad that happened to her based on her mistakes. The maraquan Hissi, who was originally the Kyrii closest friend who wanted nothing more than to make amends, was changed into a spiteful and vengeful character though he still managed to look good compared to the Kyrii.

     One self-loathing person was altered to be a villain to appeal to the masses.

     Hang on.

     "Filo?"

     "Yes?"

     "Were you giving me a hint this entire time? Through a music box?"

     Filo burst out laughing as Elon looked at him in shock.

     "And to think!" Filo said in-between laughs, "It only took you over a decade to notice!"

     Elon pouted. "I was surprised enough by the fact that you knew about my fondness for Maraquan ballet," he said, "how was I supposed to know you were playing 5-D chess? That's usually Tonie's thing."

     Filo laughter died down a bit. "I'm sorry, but you're right. I was hoping you'd pick up on that." He said before quickly adding, "Also you've literally incorporated Maraquan ballet into the way you play yooyuball. I'm surprised Tonie and I were the only ones that noticed!"

     Elon sheepishly looked down at his feet. Filo noticed that, huh?

     Suddenly the sound of the school bell ringing out caused both Elon and Filo to look up.

     Filo sighed. "It looks like we have to cut it off for today," he said, "I have a class to teach." Elon got up from his chair. He'd told Dorina he'd come and visit sometime soon since her son was on a school trip. She wanted company.

     The both wordlessly headed for the door. Elon exited Filo’s office first. "I suppose, um, this is goodbye." he said, looking at everything, but Filo.

     "I suppose it is for now," Filo replied, "See ya, Elon."

     Elon nodded and began swimming back down the stairs from which he came when Filo called out.

     "Elon, just one more thing!" He said. Elon stopped and actually looked Filo in the eye for once. Filo was grinning.

     "About what happened between us, don't worry about it." He said.

     "All I want for you now is to move forward." His expression turned cockier as if he was giving out a challenge. "Think you can do that?"

     Elon smiled back at Filo. With a chuckle he turned around and began swimming towards the school's exit.

     Elon could try that.

     The End.