//------------------------------//
// Family Bonding 
// Story: Three More Things! 
// by Tatsurou 
//------------------------------//

After a time, the emotional intensity of the moment began to fade, and all five individuals pulled back from each other as the magic faded.  As overjoyed as Bai was to have her daughters back - and as overjoyed as they were to be reunited with her - all four knew that despite the nigh-immortality that had kept them alive for so long, they were no longer the same people they had been when they'd last been together.  Time had changed all four of them.

And then there was Valmont.  Despite it being his wish granted by Santa and his own actions that had brought about this reunion and his own strong bond with Bai, he was an outsider as far as their history was concerned.  One wrong word on anyone's part could cause problems.  He took the time to read faces so he could determine a best way to ease things into comfort.

Of the three sisters, the one with the massive amounts of orange and yellow hair was obviously the leader, if not the eldest.  Even as they stood about uncertainly, she had - subconsciously, plainly - shifted herself to be between Valmont and the other two, though only slightly.  Had Valmont not been specifically looking for that detail, he might have mistaken it for simply an aggressive step forward as she shifted in an attempt to present herself fetchingly and dominantly, trying to take control of the situation.  The girl with the star-shaped hair pins also had an aggressive stance, but it looked so natural on her that Valmont deduced that she was the 'Enforcer' of the trio, the primary muscle.  The way she held herself - and the position of her feet once he looked that low - showed she had at least some knowledge of martial arts.

The third sister, with the long blue ponytail...had clambered up onto Bai's back for a piggy-back ride, completely ignoring the tension of the situation.  With the way this drew flat-eyed gazes from her sisters and delight from Bai, this was obviously the baby of the trio.  And he felt he saw a way to diffuse the situation somewhat.  "S'na, right?" he asked, looking at her with a smile on his face.  "Or do you go by Sonata now?"

"That's me!" Sonata declared happily.  "Who are you?"  She looked up at Valmont with happy eyes, a wide smile...and no less than three knives hidden in her ponytail, which was held closed by what Valmont recognized on close examination as an assassin's loop, a thin thread of wire with a grip at either end that when wrapped around a neck could be pulled taut, slicing into flesh and - with enough torsion and at the right place - take someone's head clean off.

Valmont found himself grinning widely.  They were definitely their mother's daughters, and frighteningly tough in their way.  "I'm Valmont," he introduced himself happily.  "I'm your new step-father, and I hope we'll get along well."

"You got married, Mom?" the daughter Valmont had pegged as the 'Enforcer' declared in shock.

Bai smiled warmly up at Valmont.  "That I did," she purred softly.

"Aww, so sweet!" Sonata squealed happily before bouncing over to a nearby window before gasping.  "Wow, we're really high up!  Is this, like, your penthouse?"

"My building, actually," Valmont corrected.

"Okay, what is it you've got that's so special Mom went and got hitched?" the one Valmont had pegged as 'leader' demanded, once again positioning herself in a pose that was at once sensual and aggressive.

Valmont smiled.  "And you would be the eldest daughter I heard described as 'as bad or worse than Bai in your own right'?  That would make you Adagio?"  Seeing her widened, shocked eyes, he chuckled.  "The names Bai called you were ancient, and it only made sense you would modernize them as you lived through the ages.  S'na becoming Sonata says you chose a musical theme, possibly to remind yourself constantly of your siren heritage as you got further and further from home."  He turned to the middle sister.  "Which would make you...Aria?"

"...okay, he's good," Aria allowed with a smirk.  "Loaded and has a brain."

"Still doesn't tell me why you married him," Adagio said to Bai.  "I mean, I get keeping him as a sugar daddy - I've kept a few when we were trying to gather power to get back home, just to make getting the right food at restaurants easier when someone could pay instead of making it while hypnotized - but marriage?  I mean, he's human!"

Bai smiled softly.  "I admit, it surprised even me that it became the path I chose...but he won me over even when he was human, that he could meet the Brotherhood on our own terms and come out ahead."

Adagio snorted.  "Like outsmarting most of our Uncles is a big-was?"  She spun to look at Valmont in shock.

Valmont's brow twitched as he felt something at the edge of his magic.  "Excuse me a moment, ladies," he offered softly.  "Something calls for my immediate attention.  Give me...a minute at most."  With that, he discarded his human form to zip down to Personnel Resources.  "Yes?" he asked calmly.

Standing in front of the desk was a green skinned woman in a business suit, her hair blonde with white tips, her eyes solid gold.  A glowing green gem hung around her neck.  "I heard you needed a new bodyguard, brother," she offered in a familiar - if much quieter than expected - voice.

Valmont smiled widely.  "I believe I do have an opening for you, Sister.  Come on up to the Penthouse and talk it over with the family."  Knowing Po would make her own way there, he zipped back up to the Penthouse...to find Adagio and Aria were staring at him - since he reappeared in the same spot - with their jaws hanging.  Sonata was busy pretending to crush passing planes out the window with her fingers.

Bai smiled, a trifle smug.  "Your step-father, girls...the newly ascended Demon Sorcerer of Light."

"Sorcerer?" Sonata asked eagerly as she bounced over, pulling out a pouch.  "Does that mean you can fix these?"

Valmont took the pouch and poured the contents into his hands...finding crimson gem fragments that looked like they had once held magic.  Bai gasped in shock and dismay as she caught sight of them.  "Girls...what happened to your power jewels?"

Adagio frowned darkly.  "We stumbled across Pop's world," she muttered darkly.  "We thought we could get his help getting back to you, but he didn't even remember you, or know who we were.  And it turns out as potent as the magic was there..."

"We got rainbow blasted by some mean girls, our gems cracked, and we lost our magic and voices!" Sonata explained happily.  "It was the worst!"

"How you can say that so happily when it was less than a week ago I'll never know," Aria muttered darkly.

"Oh, girls..." Bai moaned softly, pulling Adagio and Aria into a motherly embrace.

"Rainbow blasted you say?" Valmont mused as he floated the gem shards over his hand.  "I think I know that power...ah!"  Light shot out of his hand, bouncing rapidly between the fragments as flashes of rainbow light burst off of them.  "I see.  It seems the rainbow light was specifically targeting the aspect of your magic derived from chaos and disorder, since that plus Siren magic - which relies on the Order of musical flow - was an unstable mix to begin with.  That's what made it necessary to focus your magic through these gems to begin with, but if I tweak the balance of the gems like so..."  The shards suddenly flew together, blazing with crimson light as a soft pink glow slowly flowed into them from his body.  "There we go," he said as he held the gems out.  "They should only draw out your Siren magic now, rather than the Chaos aspect, which should allow you to gather magic and power just from having people enjoy your performance...and possibly if they desire you, but I get the feeling that's one aspect of being a Siren you'll enjoy anyway."

All three girls stared in awe at their whole gems.  Sonata quickly grabbed hers, pressing it against the choker around her neck with a wide grin.  Aria and Adagio each took theirs a bit more nervously, but a warm glow passed through them as they pressed them to their chokers.  They then began to sway.

"Oh whoa ho...oh whoa ho...you didn't know that you fell..."

Their eyes lit up with delight as they heard their voices coming out clear and pure, and felt the magic in their bodies.  A slow smirk spread across Adagio's face.  "Okay, you made a good choice, Mom," she said softly.

"So you're rich?" Sonata asked excitedly.

Valmont chuckled.  "Yes, I should say so."

"Does that mean I can have a pony?"

"Magical talking variety, or mundane?"

"Ugh, mundane," Sonata pouted.  "We had enough of that other variety with the bearded unicorn that banished us for, like, the 36th time-"

"37," Aria corrected idly.

"Mundane, but enchanted for durability and longevity so you can ride it for many years to come it is," Valmont offered firmly.

"Best new dad ever!" Sonata squealed happily as she threw herself at Valmont in a tackling embrace.