The room was silent as the girls all stared at Marie in shock. Nadia was the first to recover, and she was not happy. “What the hell are you talking about?!” Marie looked at her, a smile still on her face. “You know I'm right, silly! It makes the most sense for me to leave. I don't want you guys to suffer because of me. I talked to the doctor and he explained everything to me. Who knows what would happen if I went on stage? We shouldn't risk it." "But-" "No buts," Marie cut Elisabeth off before she could argue, "I love you guys, and I love Spica. I want you guys to make it, I want you guys to be a huge success, even if it is without me. We don't even know when I'll recover."

Emi observed Marie carefully, trying to read her face. For some reason, it was impossible to tell what Marie was thinking. Maybe because she always seemed to naive and innocent? When it came to serious matters it was hard to guess how she would deal with it. Emi tried hard to find some trace of sadness in Marie's eyes, but she could not. Was it possible that Marie was really okay with the decision? Emi decided to remain cautious just in case.

Emi sighed worriedly, “I understand how you feel Marie, but don't worry about it too much just yet okay? Nothing is for sure yet.” Marie nodded, seemingly obedient. Emi nodded, satisfied with her response and then turned to the rest of the girls. “Alright, we should probably get going now. Marie needs her rest.” The girls groaned in protest but were immediately silenced with a motherly look.

Everyone said their goodbyes, and soon Marie was left alone with her thoughts. She sighed sadly and slumped down into her bed. What was she going to do now? She knew what she should do, but that was completely different from what she wanted to do. She was stuck trying to make a decision between what she wanted, and what was right.

The right thing to do was clearly to quit, and pull out from Spica entirely. It was fair. Marie knew that it was her own fault that she had ended up in the hospital. She had been careless. Of course, it was an accident, but Marie still held some responsibility for it. But Marie didn't want to quit, and honestly, who would? She has worked incredibly hard to get to where she was today and it seemed incredibly unfair that she had to let it all go. But it would be far more unfair to make the other members put their lives on the line just for her.

“Ugh!” Marie shouted into the darkness of her room. No one was there to see her now, she didn't have to put on a show. She could let her real emotions out. Marie quickly felt tears well up in her eyes. It was just so unfair. But then again, so is life. Marie knew that better than anyone.

“Why is it that I can never be truly happy? Why are the thing I love always ripped away from me?” Marie asked the darkness. No one responded. Although that should have been obvious, it made Marie feel more lonely than ever.

That night Marie's sobs could be heard echoing throughout the hospital corridors.

--

“Today was the longest day in the history of long days,” Elisabeth stated as she collapsed onto the couch. Everyone nodded in agreement. It had definitely been a long day. It was hard to believe that it was just earlier that day that Marie and Nadia had been bickering during practice. So many things had happened in just one day. It was hard to process it all. Ji Yeon sighed loudly as she stood up from her seat, “I'm going to bed. I'll see you guys in the morning.”

“Don't you think it would be smart for everyone to go to bed now?” Wren questioned, her eyebrow raised as she walked into the room. “And why is that?” Nadia rolled her eyes. “Because we're going to have to wake up early tomorrow to rehearse. You guys seriously have to put in more effort or our debut stage is going to be a complete failure.” “But what about Marie?” Joo Li piped in. “What about her?” Wren retorted coldly. “Her accident just gives us all the more reason to work harder. You weren't honestly planning on ditching practice to stay by her side were you?” No one spoke.

“Skipping out on practice is not going to help anything, but do what you want. I'll debut solo if I have to,” Wren walked off without another word. Emi nodded, “Wren is right. We have to attend practice as usual. Hiro is already watching us closely because of what happened to Marie. If he sees that we aren't even rehearsing it might affect his decision negatively. We have to show him that we can keep it together.” “But what about Marie?” Ji Yeon asked tentatively. Emi smiled reassuringly at her, “We can always visit her after practice. Now, let's all get some sleep. I'm sure we could all use it.”

--

Marie did not want to wake up, she refused to wake up. Nothing could make her open her eyes. She was determined to stay in her dreamland. Reality had been nothing but unkind to her as of late, and she would have nothing more to do with it. Nope, her eyes would forever remain shut.

Click. The door slid open.

Marie's eyes shot open as she turned her head towards the door. A visitor? Marie's eyebrows knotted in confusion when she saw the figure standing in the doorway. It appeared to be a male, judging by the clothing and short hair. Although she couldn't really see much of the hair as it was covered by a hat. Their face was indistinguishable as well, sunglasses covered their eyes and a surgical mask covered the rest of his face.

Marie raised an eyebrow, “Sorry, do I know you?” The person let out a short laugh, a very unique laugh, one that was impossible not to recognize. “Oppa!” Marie shouted happily. The boy walked into the room, quickly removing his hat, sunglasses, and mask to reveal a smiling face. “Hey clumsy, how are you?” He quipped as he sat down beside her.

Marie pouted, “I am so not clumsy!” “Sure you're not,” he rolled his eyes. “But.. Oppa..” “What?” “How did you get here without being mauled by crazy fangirls?” The boy laughed, “How could I not? I am the almighty Key.” Marie nodded as if that explained everything. “What on earth happened to you anyways? I heard through the grape vine that one of the members of Spica had fallen down a flight of concrete stairs and I nearly had a heart attack. You can imagine how I felt when I found out that it really was you!” Marie looked at him apologetically, “I'm sorry Oppa.”

Key laughed, “Only you would apologize for falling down stairs and ending up in the hospital.” “You know me,” Marie mumbled sheepishly. Certainly he did. Key was one of Marie's absolute best friends, aside from her members of course. Ever since her childhood Marie had always gotten along better with boys. It hadn't been until she joined Spica that she made girl friends for the first time. Marie and Key had been friends for years now, since before SHINee had debuted.

They had immediately hit it off. Somehow they just clicked, their personalities, though different, complimented each other well.

There was a comfortable silence for a few minutes, but then Key remembered something. His face became serious as he scooted closer to Marie, who turned to him with a questioning look. “I heard you have amnesia.” Marie's face immediately fell, but she was quick to put her guard back up. She smiled brightly, “Yes, but don't worry about it! I'll be fine. You know me.” “Yeah, I do. So I wish you would stop trying to trick me with that fake smile of yours,” Key eyed her expectantly.

Marie sighed. There was no use hiding things from him. “There's really nothing that can be done, but it's not so bad. I just sometimes forget where I am, or forget what someone just told me. It's nothing serious. It should go away soon.” “And what did your company say about this?” Again, Marie's face fell. “They want me to quit.” Key looked up in shock, they would really make her leave the group so close to debut? Just because of an accident? He supposed it wasn't really all that surprising.

Marie's company was a lot like his in that way. Both companies were only focused on earning money, not on the well being of their employees. “They said it was up to the members to decide though. Whether they want to risk ruining our debut stage by keeping me, or play it safe and have me leave.” Key sighed, could they get any more cruel? It would have been better if they just made the decision themselves. It would hurt Marie a lot more if it was her own members who kicked her out. “So what are you going to do?” Key asked carefully. “I'm going to quit.”

If Key had been drinking anything at that moment, he surely would have spat it out. “Are you crazy?!” He spluttered, he couldn't believe it. Marie looked at him in mild annoyance, “What did you expect me to do?” “Gee, I don't know, march into your boss's office and demand that he give you a chance.” “Yeah, right...” “Seriously Marie! You're forgetting who you are. This isn't you. You're Marie! The girl who never gives up no matter what. The girl who will do whatever it takes to prove herself, to get past all barriers. You can't just give up now. Not when you're so close to achieving your dream!” Key shouted, getting worked up.

“There's nothing else I can do!” Marie choked. She could feel the tears filling her eyes, and the lump growing in . Key felt the fire in him burn out immediately. He should have known not to yell. Of course Marie would have thought everything through a million times already. She was someone who came across as naive, childish, and even slightly odd. But underneath it all Marie was a very perceptive, calculating person. She was incredibly intelligent, and always thought of others first. Key realized that she must have been worrying about it all night.

It wasn't just about her, there were others involved, and that is why she was hesitating. “I'm sorry Marie...” Key said softly. Marie nodded, trying desperately to keep her tears from falling. “You don't have to be strong right now Marie. No one is here except me. You have every reason in the world to want to cry. Just let it out.” And she did, soon finding it impossible to stop.

Key reached over and pulled her into a hug, gently patting her back and her hair. He felt relieved that he had come to visit her. If he hadn't, she would have tried to handle everything on her own.

And soon, she would have cracked.

_________

♥
_________

Why hello again. Here is the newest chapter of Spica. And the plot thickens! Mwahahahaha. -coughs- Sorry about that.

Anyways! This chapter was a bit Marie-centric and I apologize for that! But it is necessary for the plot. Don't worry, she will be pretty much absent in the next chapter.

Usually when I write fanfiction I focus a lot of the character's thoughts and feelings, rather than conversations. But because of how many characters we have in this fic it's a bit hard to do that! So I will delve into everyone's characters at some point, it will just take time!

So in one chapter one character will be focused on more, and then in another, it will be someone else. So be patient with me! I'm trying my best!

I do realize I indulged in my character a bit in this chapter. But I think I deserve it. I've been rather down lately.

Anyways, there should be another update coming soon since I am rather inspired by my plot at the moment. So look forward to that!

(IMPORTANT EDIT: I have three more chapters already written. Yes, three more chapters besides this one. What can I say, I seem to be on a roll today. I am full of inspiration. But I seem kind of stupid if I post all three of them before you all even comment on this one.. So the fast you comment, the faster I post.. But do make them meaningful comments! Don't just say, I LOVED IT, because you want me to update. I see through youuuuu! .. Right. I need sleep. -dies-)

Also, Andanza! You were worried about my health so this is for you! (If you don't wish to know my medical history, I suggest you skip this part.) Don't worry too much about me! I go to the doctor a lot more than the average person. I've been there plenty of times, with different symptoms and different problems and it hasn't really gotten me anywhere. There apparently isn't anything serious going on, I just happen to have ty health. They seem to diagnose me with a lot of little things every time I go and their advice is usually take vitamins and supplements, eat well, drink water, and exercise. So yes. I apparently have a crap load of random allergies which just all of the sudden pop up out of no where (recently it's been strawberries, my favourite fruit -cries-). I have extremely low iron. So I take that. I also have IBS, which I will not explain, you may look it up if you want. I will say that it is related to the digestive system. And taking iron supplements makes that worse. I also have a very low immune system, which means I get sick a lot, and I get it bad.. And I just had to live with it. So basically, I pretty much always have a stuffed up nose, a stomach ache, a head ache, or nausea everyday. It's always interesting trying to guess what it will be today. Note the sarcasm. Hahha, wow, sorry for complaining to you! Basically, there is nothing seriously wrong with me so no worries! Thanks for your concern though, I appreciate it!

Listening to: Tegan and Sara - So Jealous (Check them out. They are really amazing, I love all their music. Plus, they are Canadian.)
Eating: Nothing, but drinking Diet Pepsi
Thinking about: .. My head hurts. DIE HEAD!