Chapter XIII


Anatoly looked at his watch, 6'o clock. Only one more hour until the contest was meant to start. He turned back to Peace, who was balancing 10 thick books on her head.

"All right Peace, do you remember all your lines?" - Anatoly spoke.

"yes anatoly, i know them all" She replied calmly, trying to keep her posture correct.

"Okay good, just remember to fake a few tears when you make your speech about world hunger," Anatoly spoke, "That always wins in these types of contests."

Peace walked over to the couch and leaned her head over it, so the books fall without making much noise. "i don't know anatoly, this feels kind of fake"

Anatoly nodded his head in agreement, "I know Peace, but literally everyone in this contest is fake. You might as well be too," He justified, "It's the only way to beat Nightmore.

"yeah... i guess so" She replied uncertainly.

"Hey don't worry about it! Once we put her pompous butt in her spot, we'll never have to deal with her nonsense ever again!" He reassured her.

"y-yeah!" Peace yelled excitedly, "i wanna beat her!"

"Yeah!" Anatoly responded. "Anyway, I need to get ready myself. I can't go out like this," he spoke while gesturing at his clothes. He went back to his room to change.

A few minutes later he walked out wearing a black tuxedo with a red tie hanging around his throat and black shoes to go with the suit. Peace blushed. He really looked great in it.

"I only reserve this suit for special occasions, and I think now constitutes as one of them," He replied with a sly grin on his face. "Anyway, we're going to need some sort of transportation, I can't have my lady walking all that distance."

Peace blushed harder from this compliment as Anatoly pulled his phone out of his pocket. He typed something in and put the phone back in his pocket. He said, "The Uber should be here in a few minut-"

He was interrupted by a text message, his Uber had arrived.

"-seconds," Anatoly corrected, "He's right outside. Let's go, m'lady."

He grabbed her hand as they walked out together, and got into the silver Toyota Prius. It was going to be a long drive, but it'll all be worth it into the end.

...

The car stopped as the Uber driver announced, "This is your stop, right? The mansion of Carrie Dover?"

They looked out the windows of the car, spotting a large mansion laced with Italian architecture. The beautiful dolphin fountain surrounded by a hedge maze, with colorful lights enlightening all parts of the marble house.

Directly above the wooden doors hung a sign "Don't get Carried Over! ;)" which Anatoly presumed was made out of crayons and glitter. It fit beautifully with the rest of the scenery.

"yes this is it!!" Peace proclaimed excitedly. Anatoly paid the Uber and they walked out together. They stepped in front of the mansions towering doors as they opened automatically.

Anatoly looked at his watch. They were right on time. The stepped in to the mansion's humongous main hallway and were surrounded by many beautiful women that were wearing a large variety of dresses.

But none of them were as gorgeous or as elegant as Peace. The other girls stared at her with a mix of jealousy and admiration written on their faces.

But Anatoly felt that something was off. Someone... wasn't there. He scanned the room and quickly whispered to Peace, "Nightmore isn't here!"

Peace examined the room to check, finding out that Anatoly was right - she really wasn't there. The contest had begun and her biggest rival wasn't participating! A huge weight fell off Peace's shoulders.

Carrie Dover stepped out and stood on the top of the large staircase, grabbing the microphone standing next to her.

But just as the hallway rang silent, everyone could hear a sound... No... It was a song... A song Anatoly and Peace knew too well.

Moonlight Densetu. In Japanese.

Anatoly whispered under his breath, "Fuck."


Chapter XIV


Peace's face morphed into an expression of disgust, like she just had just sucked on a lemon. She was hoping she wouldn't have to interact with Nightmore again, but lo and behold, here she comes.

The music outside stopped, and the automatic doors opened once more, revealing the one and only Nightmore.

Everyone's jaws dropped in realization of what she was wearing. Her outfit was a perfect replica of Peace's dress, slightly stretched out to fit her body size.

Anatoly spoke, "H-How is... that... possible?"

Anatoly turned his head to talk to Peace, but found that she wasn't standing by his side anymore. She rushed in front of Nightmore to confront her.

"you! you copycat!!" she angrily shouted as everyone stood silent.

Nightmore smirked, "How... I don't know your the copycat?"

Peace gasped at the accusation, "id never!! anatoly made this for me!"

Nightmore replied, "well, the my dress is maded by the famous... yon... an... okay?"

Even though it seemed impossible, everyone's surprise grew even further. YonanOkay was a very famous and very talented artist, beloved by many.

Anatoly started to wonder... "YonanOkay has long retired from her career... she couldn't have made this dress. Is Nightmore... Lying?"

Nightmore walked past Peace and talked directly to the hostess, "Hi Carri love, I'm here!"

"You're late," Carrie replied.

Nightmore chuckled and snapped her fingers. As soon she did, a random agent stepped out of seemingly nowhere and fired a wad of cash toward Carrie. Her face lit up as the money landed in her hands. She responded, "Oh, you're fashionably late, I understand. You may compete."

"Naturally," Nightmore responded, giving a wink to Anatoly still standing in the crowd.

Anatoly's bitterness for the woman grew, and he had a feeling it would keep growing during the duration of the competition.

"This contest has officially begun," Carrie exclaimed, "May the best woman win!"

A loud cheer echoed in the mansion, and the competition began.

...

"All right everyone!" Carrie announced, "On this beautiful night, we have reached the final two! One of them shall be crowned "Queen of the EE!"

Everyone cheered.

"Let's bring out our finalists," Carrie continued, "everyone, give a round of applause for these two wonderful women!"

The applause was thunderous, Anatoly felt like he was going to go deaf from the noise.

"Nightmore!"
"and"
"Peace!"

The two ladies stepped on stage next to one another and smiled for the audience. Anatoly knew how hard it must be for both of them to smile in vicinity of one another.

Carrie continued, "For the final challenge, both of you must give us a speech about a topic you truly care about!"

Anatoly felt a rush of relief flow through his body. His speech was personally written by Luka504, a phenomenal Spanish author famous for his many books, often admired by critics for invoking emotions within them.

Nightmore was up first. She grabbed the microphone and spoke to the audience, "Today I'm going to be talking about world hunger."

Anatoly grimaced. That's what Peace's speech is about!


Chapter XV


Nightmore started talking about world hunger in a very emotional manner. It was a perfect replica of the speech Peace is meant to give right after her.

Anatoly and Peace could only listen in horror. How did she get all of this information? Did she hire someone to monitor us? The dress could be written off as a coincidence, maybe, but there's no way an entire speech can be accidentally the same.

As Nightmore finished she let out a few fake tears, slightly disturbing the five layers of make-up she was wearing. The audience was clearly moved by 'her' emotional speech.

As it was Peace's turn to speak, the thought washed over her: If she gave the same speech, everyone would think she's a copycat.

She stood there in silence, and her body started to shake. After everything she went through, Nightmore would still beat her in the end. Tears rolled down her eyes. The crowd started to boo and the smug expression on Nightmore's face only grew wider.

Anatoly couldn't watch this scene unfold, so he rushed up to the stage. He grabbed the microphone shaking in Peace's hands, and started to mumble something to the audience. Everyone stared at him quietly.

"Uh... Uh..." Anatoly spoke, trying desperately to think of something, "A thing... a thing Peace is passionate about... is..."

He had an idea. "Peace loves... The act of dancing."

The audience was confused and they started whispering among themselves. Anatoly continued.

"Peace loves... to dance. She loves everything about it. And instead of giving you a boring speech, she'll explain why dancing is so beautiful... without words!"

The audience still had no idea what was happening, but they were intrigued by Anatoly's promise.

Peace put her hand on the microphone to muffle it. She whispered to Anatoly, "i dont know how to dance!"

"Just follow my lead." he whispered back.

He put the microphone down and grabbed his phone from his pocket. He turned on his music app and played the waltz no. 2.
He put it next to the microphone for all to hear. He stood up and turned to Peace. He put his hand on her back and used his hand to grab one of hers. Peace put her free hand on his shoulder.

Anatoly was an expert at dancing, and she knew that, but he has never done something like this. He wasn't sure if he could do it. No. He HAD to do it. For her.

He started with some basic steps and whispered to Peace in which direction she needed to step. It seemed to go well, but Anatoly knew he had to step it up.

He grabbed Peace's arm and placed it above her head and spun her around. Her dress flutters during the spin, wowing everyone in the room.

He returned his hand on her back as her body dipped down. They both smiled as their eyes met. She stood up and continued.

Anatoly grabbed her torso and lifted her with easy, spinning her around himself like she was the Earth orbiting around him, the Sun.

He put her down, and let her go. They both turned to the audience, holding each other's hand tightly.

Silence remained for a second, before hearing a single clap, followed by a louder and louder clap until the entire crowd started to do so too. Peace hugged Anatoly tightly.

"i love you anatoly"

Anatoly returned the hug, "I... I..." but he started to feel lightheaded. His vision became darker, his knees started to wobble, and he lost consciousness.

...

"Oh my god Anatoly wake up already," someone spoke to Anatoly. He didn't know who it was, but they sounded... familiar to him.

He felt a pressure bouncing on his chest rhythmically. He thought it was his heart pumping, but... no... someone was applying the pressure to his chest.

He woke up and felt dirty pool water exiting his mouth. The lifeguard knelt near him, giving him first aid.

"Huh...?" Anatoly spoke.

"Oh thank god he's alive." the lifeguard spoke.

And then Anatoly realized. He was drowning in the kiddie pool and dreamed this entire predicament while unconscious.