As they entered the building, Forest had a sense of dejavu. The entrance floor seemed familiar, then something in his brain clicked. He was in the same building he was during the last snow festival, when he met Melody. The first floor looked the same, warm with multiple seating areas, but the second floor on the other hand, had transformed.
Melody had shooed them all towards the bathrooms on the first floor. As they stood outside of the bathrooms, Melody shouldered the bag onto the floor and began to dig around in it. After a moment she pulled out a pile of black clothing, she then handed one to Forest, Wyatt and Jack.
When none of them moved she put her hands on her hips and stared at them. "Come on, go!" after a moment of realization, the three headed into the bathroom to get changed.
Melody rolled her eyes, then picked up the backpack and entered the girls bathroom with Julianne.
Forest was the first to finish changing, so he stood in front of the bathroom mirrors and looked at his reflection. His tux was simple, consisting of a black jacket and pants, a white button up dress shirt, plum purple tie, and a matching boutonniere.
He was hesitant and nervous about the entire thing.
Jack emerged from the bathroom stall next, sporting a similar look, except with a periwinkle blue tie and boutonniere. Wyatt on the other hand emerged with his red tie tangled in a knot.
Jack looked at his younger brother and sighed. "I'll tie that for you." He stood over Wyatt and untangled the tie, and then he swiftly tied it again. Once Jack finished, he stood off to the side and revealed a smiling Wyatt. He also wore a black jacket and pants with a red tie and boutonniere.
The three exited the bathroom at the same time the girls exited, both had their arms full with waded clothing. Forest stopped in his tracks and admired Melody. She wore a long plum purple off shoulder dress. The quarter sleeves were mostly made up of flowers, a black bow was tied in front and it hung nicely on her waist. There was slight flower detailing on the top of the dress and it ran down a little past the ribbon.
Julianne stood next to her, wearing a long periwinkle dress. There were no sleeves and a cluster of flowers were placed on her shoulder and ran down to the neckline of the dress. There was another cluster of flowers around her waist.
While Forest stared in awe, Melody didn't waste any time as she dug through the backpack and handed out masks. Forest looked down at his, it was plum purple and had tiny detailed flowers carved into it. Wyatt and Jack had similar ones, except theirs were red and periwinkle blue. Julianne's mask was periwinkle blue and had a large flower on the side of it, it also had swirly detailing in white and varying shades of blue. Melody's mask was black, and like lace. It too had swirly detailing and went upwards more on one side than the other. Two small plum purple flowers were attached to the upward side, along with a few jewels.
Melody began stuffing all their regular clothing back into the backpack, when she was done she looked up at everyone and then nodded. "Alright, let's head upstairs." With a sigh, the backpack was back on her shoulders. The group turned and began to make their way towards the stairs across from them.
Julianne looked over at Melody. "These clothes are gorgeous, thank you."
Melody smiled. "It was no problem, honestly."
"I like how they are color coordinated."
Melody nodded. The stairs made a soft noise, from the weight of their feet. Once they were in front of the entrance to the second floor room, Melody ran in front of the group making them all come to a sudden stop. "Wait, we all need to be in our pairings," She then craned her neck and looked at Wyatt. "Sorry Wyatt, you're on your own."
Wyatt nodded slowly in understanding. Julianne stepped towards Jack and they linked their arms, Forest and Melody did the same. They then glided into the room.
The second floor looked similar to when it had during the last snow festival, but yet completely different. It still had multiple open floors above, the bar area, and the bottom floor with the dance area. Although the floor was now red, and the railings now gold with flowers laced on the them.
Before he knew it, Melody began to drag him left, towards the bar area. He turned to look back at the others. Wyatt had went back towards the stairs to the upper floors, and Jack and Julianne had went over to the right side.
All the other guests were just as dressed up as they were, flower themed dresses, suits and masks.
Melody sat down at one of the small tables that was amidst the bar area. Forest sat down across from her. "So, you, uh, made us a pairing, huh?" He asked, teasingly.
Melody's face was focused as she scanned the crowd for anyone that they might want to investigate. She waved his question away. "Now's not the time."
Forest sat back in the chair. "It was... back at the garden, y'know when we were about to kiss..."
Melody faced him now. "Yes Forest we almost kissed, and yes I made us a pairing, are you telling me that your complaining?" At that moment Forest felt bad for pressing on with the same topic.
Forest gently shook his head. "No ma'am, no complaints here." Held up his hands in surrender.
A small smile emerged on Melody's face. "Good. Now focus, we're here for information." She turned away from him again and continued to scan the crowd. Forest also scanned the crowd, but he didn't see anyone that could be of interest to them. Melody, on the other hand, noticed one of her dad's old colleagues. She stood up and Forest, after a moment of hesitation, did too. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to follow her or let her handle it.
As Forest rounded the table and stood next to Melody, she held out her arm, and he linked their arms. She led him to the bar where an old and tired man sat at the bar holding a drink, dressed in a black suit. Forest noticed that his mask sat next to the drink he held, and he seemed to remember his face from somewhere...
Melody plastered a fake pleasant smile and held her hand out to the man. "Hello Mr. Kettening."
Then Forest remembered as if it were suddenly zapped into his head, this was the Prime Minister. He felt suddenly nervous and he wiped his free hand down the side of his pants, he suddenly felt grateful for the mask he wore.
Kettening slowly turned his head to look at her, he then nodded and shook her hand. "Yes?"
Melody curtly nodded then continued. "We would like to ask you a few questions," Forest looked over at Melody, she gave him a reassuring look that told him that she would do all the talking. "Are there any new leads regarding the Guardian head's kidnapping?"
Kettening squinted at her. "Melody?" She didn't reply and he continued. Forest's heart stopped pumping from adrenaline for a moment as his heart sank to his stomach. "Look Melody I understand your worried about your sister, but we're doing everything we can to find her, you just need to be patient." Melody opened her mouth, about to argue. Kettening held up his hand to stop her. "Don't try lying to me, I know it's you and I'm telling you to stop looking for Steffi. It's incredibly dangerous and we already have it covered."
Melody nodded. "I understand, sorry to bother you."
Kettening gave her a small smile and they walked back over to their table, but they didn't sit. Melody dropped her arm and placed a finger on the corner of her mouth in thought. Forest looked over at her. "How does the Prime Minister know your name?"
"My father used to be the Guardian head, they're good friends, so he knows me," Forest nodded in understanding and she remained deep in thought. "He recognized my voice so you'll have to do the talking this time, too many people know me."
Forest sighed. "Alright I'll try..." He said this as if it were alright with him, but it certainly wasn't. Just thinking about it made butterflies form in his stomach. He was sure that something bad would happen, especially being surrounded by Guardians and other powerful people.
They linked arms once more and made their way over to the other side of the bar, to a young man who stood not too far from it. The man wore a grey suit that complemented his darker skin tone, he held a drink in his hand and talked to two young women. Unlike the Prime Minister, he still had his mask hiding his face.
As they approached, he turned his head to look at them. His smile slightly fell, almost forming into a scowl. "I understand that you have connections to the Guardian head investigation, could you tell me anything?" Forest said, skipping any form of a formal introduction and getting straight to the point.
The man rolled his eyes. "Look kid, that's a grown-up topic." The girls beside him snickered at his comment. Forest opened his mouth, about to speak, when the man cut him off. "Stop asking around, no one's gonna tell you anything." With that he turned around and walked off with the girls trailing after him.
Forest turned to look at Melody with an apologetic look. "Sorry Melody."
Melody waved him away. "No, it wasn't your fault, he's like that," she let out a weary sigh. "But it doesn't matter, he was right."
Forest furrowed his brow in confusion and slight anger. "What? How could he be right? Don't tell me your giving up?"
"I'm not giving up," She stated and then looked off in the distance in thought. "Maybe the others had better luck, besides it's not like the mission relied on the information we got tonight. We can still save her with or without information from these people."
Forest stared at her intently, trying to decide if she was lying or not, but then he slowly nodded. "Ok."
Suddenly a smile burst onto Melody's lips. "Lets go dance."
Forest was about to argue, but then she dragged him towards the stairs that led to the lower dance floor. Once they reached the dance floor, an upbeat song played. Melody faced him and began to dance. The floor was glowing white, and he stood awkwardly in front of Melody as she danced.
A slight frown stretched across her face as her dancing slowed to a stop. "What's wrong?"
Forest scratched the back of his neck. "I don't know how to dance..."
Melody smiled, then stepped forwards and grabbed his hands. Just as she did, the previous song ended and a slow song reverberated through his ears. Melody lifted their entwined hands and stepped towards him. She placed his hands on her hips, then rested her hands around his neck. She leaned into him, rested her head against his chest. His heart pounded so hard that he was certain that she could feel it through his chest.
Forest smiled as they slowly shuffled their feet to the song. They stayed like that for a while, before Jack and Julianne danced their way over to them. They were in a similar position to Forest and Melody, except not as close. Julianne beamed at the two of them.
"I feel kinda left out here." The voice came from behind him. The two pairings shuffled in the direction of the voice. It was Wyatt standing alone, arms folded. "But it is really cute," A large smile spread across his face. "I hate to break it up and dampen the mood, but I couldn't get anything..."
Forest then looked at Jack and Julianne expectantly. Jack slowly shook his head, they had found nothing.
Julianne looked at them like she was sorry. "Everyone just told us to stop asking because it was dangerous and confidential."
Melody nodded in understanding. "Maybe we should call it off," Forest suggested. No matter how badly he wanted Melody to trust him again, it wouldn't be worth it if she got hurt. If everyone said it was dangerous and it was being handled, then maybe they should listen to them.
"No," Melody shook her head and her face relaxed as she pulled her focus from her thoughts. "We have to do this. They didn't tell us anything because they don't have any information. She'll be killed if we don't."
Forest nodded in determination and understanding, but he was plagued with guilt.