Adriana + Her Guitar
It all started when she was ten years old, and her parents bought her a guitar to keep her out of the way. Ever since then, Adriana has loved the guitar.
When her parents first gave it to her, she ran to the library to find a book on how to play. Needless to say, it didn't teach her much, but she didn't care. She read that book until she had it memorized. Eventually she actually bought her own copy, not that she needed it. She wanted to learn to play a song.
When she knew enough chords, Adriana brought her guitar to the park to practice. She sat on a bench with her case open. People thought she was busking and gave her money. She tried to refuse, but nobody would take their money back. She was only ten, after all.
Lilith found out Adriana played the guitar when she saw it peeking out from under her friend's bed. She nagged the other girl into playing for her. So Adriana set to work on learning a song for Lilith. It took months, but for Lilith's twelfth birthday, she played , and sang, a song about not giving up despite how stereotypical Ā the two found it. Ā Lilith still danced to it with tears in her eyes.
A couple months later, Damian happened to be walking through the parks when Adriana was busking, or practicing, as she insisted. She sighed and said she play something for him. He didn't actually care whether she did or not, but he was sort of hurt his friend didn't tell him about her hobby. She told him the song would be an apology, once she learned it.
It took many videos and pages of sheet music, but eventually she learned Damian's favorite song. She waited until that spring to play it for him. Damian was walking through the park again when Adriana saw him. She beckoned him over and began playing the song he loved. The rock song sounded odd on the acoustic guitar, but he still loved it. He would also swear there weren't tears in his eyes after that.
Seth found out about Adriana and the guitar when they were thirteen, and he scaredly came out to her. They were sitting in her yard when he told her with tears in his eyes. His parents were very homophobic. Of course, she didn't care, but Seth was still freaking out, so she ran to her bedroom and grabbed her guitar. She came outside and sat in the grass next to him.Ā
She hadn't completely learned the song she played, but neither of them cared. They stayed like that for most of the night, Adriana strumming the guitar, as Seth leaned up against her and listened. Neither of them forgot that night, they couldn't.
Adriana ended up playing for almost everything. When it was one her friends' birthdays, Adriana played. When Lilith needed encouragement, Adriana played. When Damian discovered a new song he liked, Adriana played. When Seth went through his musical phase, Adriana played. When she was bored, Adriana went to the park and played. When the friends were fifteen and went to summer camp, Adriana played.
When the group got transported to some strange world, Adriana hid her guitar before they were captured. She didn't see it for two years, but for some reason, she left it where it was. Maybe because she didn't need it to become a guardian, or maybe because she was scared she wouldn't know how to play it anymore.
After Seth went evil, she found it again and took it with her. When she was alone, Adriana would play to herself to distract from what her friend had done. It didn't work that well. The memories of that night were always fresh on her mind.
The first time she played for anyone in years was when one night, she, Lilith, and Damian rested from their journey to save or stop Seth. Her two friends begged her, and she finally gave in. She played a song about saying goodnight to the one you love. By the time the song was over, Lilith and Damian were asleep, and she was looking at the sky with tears in her eyes. She whispered the last line of the song and tried to fall asleep herself. Oddly, she never questioned how her friends knew she had her guitar.
She didn't tell any of the other guardians she could play until she found out she and Lux were soulmates. That night, the two girls were sitting outside the Temple of Light and Dark, also known as the guardians' headquarters, when Adriana pulled out her guitar. She played Lux a song that she had been trying to learn before she came to that world. Adriana barely remembered it, but that didn't matter to Lux.
After the guardians managed to stop and save Seth, and Adriana had gone in and out of pure dark form, and Lux had gone in and out of pure light form, Adriana played again. She played the group a song about how good life was. After almost everyone had gone to bed, she played Lux a love song. Adriana had never been the most confident in her singing, but Lux was the one to change her mind.
When Damian and Veronica, a couple that had been through too much, got married, Adriana played for them. When Lilith and Echo, a couple that seemed separate from everything else, got married, Adriana played for them. When Seth and Hugh, a couple that nobody thought would work, got married, Adriana played for them. Adriana even played when she got married, to Lux of course.
Adriana kept that guitar for almost her entire life. It didn't matter that the people who gave it to her never heard her play, the people who mattered did, and they loved it.
