Before Destiny gets herself ready to play to the audience, Theo sat stiffly beside his mother on the pew, his hands clenched tightly in his lap. His peridot eyes flickered with guilt, darting nervously toward the stage as Destiny prepared to perform. He bit his lip, fighting the urge to look away, but the weight of his decision pressed heavily on his chest.

  "Finally! I got the harp I wanted! Now I can play and rearrange my composition!" Theo squealed with excitement the moment he sees a brand-new harp right in front of him in his room. But, his excitement ended when he thought about his family, and Destiny.

  'But why is it that Destiny always gets whatever she wants, whilst I never get anything?' he thought, clenching his music sheets in his hands and embrace.

  Footsteps then came. "I see that you finally have the harp you wanted." Kaori spoke whilst having her arms folded and looking down at Theo, "So, you've asked Destiny to get your mother to purchase a harp on your behalf, in return, you agreed to let her perform your composition under her own name and credit?" The light-brown haired boy nodded solemnly.

  Kaori observes the harp, allowing her fingers to gently pluck the strings in a smooth manner, "And does it feel good to get what you wanted?" Theo hesitated, "I... I don't honestly know. I just don't get why Destiny's going to be playing my song under her name and credit as her way of 'helping' me. That's wrong... Isn't it?"

  The sand-beige haired summoner sighed, feeling a mixture of pity and empathy towards the boy who she once didn't cared for. "Unfortunately, Theo... People don't always do the right thing."

  Theo clenched his teeth. "But... Destiny's a part of my family." He defended, "She sometimes might be nasty to you, but she wouldn't do that to me!" Kaori's transformed crimson eyes gazed into his, her tone becoming more serious, "And tell me this - why is it that you were never allowed to purchase anything such as a harp until Destiny wanted one out of the blue? Your mother know full well that she has no interest nor talent in using a musical instrument. And not only that, you're a much faster leaner. Haven't you also questioned to yourself why your tutors have to follow and set to Destiny's pace of learning instead of yours?"

  This angered Theo, even though the truth hurts. He grits his teeth in anger, his peridot coloured eyes glaring into her serious crimson ones. Knowing that she had angered him, and that she doesn't want him to get angry at the truth, Kaori placed her brown-gloved hand on his shoulder and crouched down to his level.

  "Theo... I hate to break this to you, but... If you stay silent and not make any protests or anything like that... Everyone will go on with their normal lives, and no one knows that you've been wronged by your sister." She then frowned at him, "Don't you realise this, Theo? Destiny stole the credit and your composition piece from you—"

  "Stop..." He muttered under his breath, his eyes darkened.

  "If you just try and make things right by—"

  "I SAID, STOP!!" Theo burst out. "I'm not going to listen to you and your 'harsh truths'!" He defended himself, "You might be the rising star to everyone at the moment, but that doesn't give you the right to insult my adopted older sister! Destiny... And Mother... Both love me with all their heart! And what's more is that I'M A TRUE HERO, UNLIKE YOU!!" Hot tears begin to fall down from his peridot eyes.

  "You're nothing but a liar..." He then sobs and runs out, not wanting to deal with the summoner anymore. Kaori frowns as he flees away from her, and she really does understand his position. 'Theo...' she thought, 'I was once in denial as well. I know that facing the truth hurts, but you can't keep up with listening to the lies anymore. I've done all that I can for you, however. You choose your path now.'

  "Now, shall we begin?" Destiny gathered all the musicians up. All of them on the stage begins to perform, creating a relaxing and pleasant tune. The audience sitting on the pews were in awe and feeling impressed by the performance, and some even clapped along to the tune, until the poor strums coming from the harp made the majority of the audience puzzled and confused. Some who clapped along to the music begins to question whether they should continue clapping or not.

  Even the conductor in charge of the orchestra awkwardly performed his leading skills to his musicians as he tried to focus on the music piece and ignore Destiny's godawful harp strums, but the goddess kept on going, her slender fingers plucked the strings hard. Theo is in total embarrassment and shock at how his adopted sister's performance is. 'Oh no!' he thought, his teeth clenched in grimace, 'What do I do now?! I must have either made a mistake in the piece, or that I have given them the wrong one!' As the conductor raised his arms to declare the finishing stage of the orchestra performance, all you could really hear is the harp being played poorly by Destiny, as she finishes it with a full string push.

  Everyone begins to clap awkwardly at the performance, their confusion turns to Destiny as she bows with a gleeful and proud smile, whilst the musicians within the orchestra weren't too sure on whether to take a bow or not.

  "Umm... Thank you, Lady Destiny," the conductor spoke, his ginger eyes turned to the lilac-haired goddess, "This concludes the end to our orchestra performance. However, I do hope you have the answer to our curiosity." He brought the music sheet to her, and points at the part where he feels that it is off.

  "This part seems quite off and unusual, since it is in the middle of the melody. May I ask your intentions in this section?"

  "Oh, I was aiming to bring out the melody a bit more prominently at that part!" Destiny admitted with her signature sweet smile on her face, causing the conductor to hesitantly accept her response.

  "I... see. I... guess I do understand your thinking. But even so, the beginning of the harp just seems to be out of place in the piece. The scale shifted from B to F. And the fact that there's some notes that seemed out of place makes it difficult for musicians to cover the range with one hand only." The conductor explained his concerns, "Lady Destiny, would you be willing to demonstrate this section to us, please?" Her twilight pink eyes widened in surprise.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  "A-Are you asking me to play the piece just by myself?!" She asked, and Theo manages to overhear the conversation. 'Destiny doesn't know how to read music!' he thought and nervously bit his lower lip, listening to his adopted sister argue with the conductor.

  "You call yourself a professional and you can't even change the scales?! You should be ashamed of yourself!" Destiny defended.

  Remembering Kaori's words, Theo's face turned detemined, and stood up. 'I need to get Destiny back!' "Excuse me!" He raised his hand, approaching the fight between the expert conductor and the... amateur goddess. Susan's pink eyes widened in surprise. "THEO!!" she called out her adopted son, but he refused to listen.

  "Please! Allow me to help." Theo took the music sheet from the conductor's hands, got himself a pencil and begins to add some music notes whilst explaining to alleviate the situation, "This version of the score has some wind instruments being absent. The change in scale is not intentional, and it definitely is impossible to play it by hand—no wonder this segment for the wind instruments went missing. That's why I changed it to this..."

  Suddenly, whispers of confusion filled the room.

  "Hold on. I thought Lady Destiny was the composer of this arrangement?"

  "Did she lie to us?"

  Theo's peridot eyes gazed into the uncomfortable atmosphere. The conductor looked at Destiny, who's holding her tears back as she bit her lower lip.

  "I thought so. The Goddess of Destiny has no talent in music."

  "To think that she would steal her adopted younger brother's work just to gain all the fame..." Sharla sneered, covering her mouth with her hand as her fiancé stared at her in shock, "Destiny is so brazen."

  Destiny grits her teeth in anger. "Everyone, please!" Susan stood up from her seat and begins to explain, "It seems that there is a misunderstanding going on. This arrangement was actually collaboratively composed by these two children of mine. Destiny came up with the original, whilst Theodore handled the details. Since my daughter made her own contributions to the piece, she was indeed the main composer. I just hope that everyone here won't be spreading around false rumours." Then, a lone, masculine laughter interrupted the commotion.

  "Ha, ha, ha, ha!" The culprit came from the corner entrance to the cathedral. "Is that really the truth, Lady Susan? Or are you just trying to ease your daughter's tensions off?" It was Lazarus, his dark brown eyes gleaming as he approached the front stage, and people greeting him. The God of Aspirations stood before the Goddess of Destiny, and knelt down on one knee, holding her soft, pale right hand.

  "It has been too long since I last witnessed such beauty, Lady Destiny." he kissed it, "I see that your radiance has been added quite significantly due to our time apart. I expect nothing less of Askr's fairest flower. But... A flower's beauty will only fades when it envies the petals of another. What I'm trying to say is..." He stood up and leaned forward to whisper in her ear with a smirk on his face, "You straining to mimic the petals of another will only tarnish your own. Take today, for example. That is a perfect illustration of that."

  The Goddess of Destiny's pink eyes furrowed in anger. "Fades when it envies?! I do not know what you mean!" She defended, her hands clenching into fists. This proves Lazarus's point as he smirked. "Oh? You do not know?" He asked.

  "Why should I feel envious of someone who is so beneath me?!" She protested. Lazarus scoffed, his white-and-red robes approaching her. "I do not recall mentioning a particular name, but I can definitely tell that you already have someone in mind." He scoffs with a confident smirk. Destiny grits her teeth in anger.

  "And I see that your intelligence pairs with your appearance. That's quite impressive. Everyone!" He then turns to the audience, "Are you not impressed by her stunning display of intelligence?" Some actually snickers at this embarrassment.

  Her blood boils with rage. "Now, look - Lord Lazarus—" The lilacette approaches him and tries to grab his wrist, but he swats it away. "I only came here to be entertained by the music, but... Here I am. Being entertained by something completely different. If today's amusements is the end, then I shall take my leave. Good day to all." he bows, and exits the cathedral. Soon, some from the audience begins to follow. Susan's mouth opened wide in shock at the display. Theo hung his head down low. Destiny remained still, until she noticed a couple's awkward reaction to the goddess, making her glare hard. "WHAT ARE YOU ALL STARING AT?! GET OUT!!" She yelled, gripping her arms together.

  Later that evening, Destiny sits with Susan (her adopted mother), sobbing into her arms as she is being comforted. Susan's sympathy resonates with the Goddess as she rubs her daughter's back to soothe her. "How am I supposed to display myself out to the public now, Mother?!" The lilacette sobs, "Did you see Lord Lazarus's gaze that was directed at me?! What if I become an outcast?!"

  Susan strokes Destiny's long, lilac hair. "Now, now. There's no need to cry, my dear Destiny..." Soon, at the corner of her twilight pink eyes, she instantly glares at Theo, who was shifting his sleeve cuffs.

  "WHY COULDN'T YOU JUST REMAIN SILENT?!" Susan yelled. "M-Mother..." Theo trembled, twiddling his fingers, "I just wanted to help Destiny, since she was in trouble, and... The piece was about to be played with the wrong arrangement..."

  "SO WHAT IF IT WAS WRONG?!" His mother yelled at him, "DESTINY'S REPUTATION IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR PETTY MUSIC!" Destiny lifts up her head and also argues to back her mother up. "That's right!" She sniffles, "This is all your fault! Everyone is saying such horrendous comments about my music!"

  This breaks Theo now... "Your music...?" He questioned his sister's words, "But that's my music." The young boy then snapped, "I WAS THE ONE WHO WROTE THAT PIECE MYSELF!! YOU WERE THE ONE WHO STOLE IT FROM ME!!" Destiny cries louder in response. His peridot eyes turned to his mother's harsh pink ones. "Mother... Please... YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE ME!!" He begged to Susan's feet, not caring if his navy blue tuxedo gets stained. "I WAS THE ONE WHO WROTE THAT SONG, AND DESTINY CLAIMED IT AS HER OWN!! I'M TELLING YOU THE TRUTH!!"

  Susan glares at her youngest. "Theo... You dare to go against your sister?" she spoke intimidatingly, then leaned down to raise and grab Theo's shirt, "Let me remind you this—Destiny is our pride and joy. She is the Goddess of Destiny—a type of deity who is supposed to be powerful. I will not allow you, or anyone else to stand in her way, and I will not hear any more of your music. Do you understand? Now, go and apologise to your sister at once."

  Theo's already in tears as he continued to protest to stand up for himself. "But it's Destiny's fault for stealing my music in the first place! If she didn't, none of this would have happened!"

  "I see that you refuse to do what I have instructed you to do." Susan raised her whip up...

  SLAP.

  SLAP.

  SLAP.

  "I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG!!" Theo yelled as he cried.

  He closed the door behind him, his body weak from the beatings and whip marks. Some of the servants and maids whispered amongst themselves at the sight of Theo as he limped each step, his expression darkened. Until he bumped into someone, and he tilts his head up. Her transformed, concerned cerulean eyes looked down on his state. She crouched down to his level and opened her arms out. "Theo... Come here." Kaori offered. Theo's mouth opened, his peridot eyes grows big as they begin to well up with tears, and dashed into the summoner's arms, sobbing uncontrollably. Kaori remained silent and felt sympathetic for him as she strokes his short, light-brown hair to comfort him.