//------------------------------// // Of Battle and Betrayal // Story: How to Train Your Siren: With a Kind Touch // by sixftbrown //------------------------------// As Aria very well knew, Battles can leave your soilders in pretty bad shape- she just never expected a Battle of the Bands to be what did her in. Rain pelted down from a thundering sky and onto Aria Blaze’s head as the ancient siren marched down the deserted alley. Her wet fists clenched as the last few hours kept playing in her mind’s eye, as if on repeat. Over and over again, her mind subjected her to the humiliating defeat at the hands of those Rainbow Idiots. She snarled as she remembered their victory, as she and her sister’s lost control of the crowd. Let them have their small triumph. She was a Siren, Gods Bellow, and she would show… The furious immortal reached for her Gem, only to stop when she realized the last piece of it lay in her tightening fist. Suddenly all the rage broiling inside vanished, replaced only with a powerful wave of despair. She wasn’t a Siren. Not anymore. The sudden sound of crying snapped her back to earth as she looked to her two sisters. Sonata had collapsed onto the pavement, tears and rain streaming down her face as she uselessly grabbed at her missing Gem. Her missing Soul. Ahead Adagio was still shuffling forward, a blank face staring ahead at nothing. Her hand limply clutched to a handful of ruby shards that used to make up her Gem. Aria watched as her elder sister tripped on nothing and fell to the ground, shards scattering on the wet broken pavement. Broken. After millennia after millennia of struggling in the cursed world, that bastard of a wizard had finally done it. They were broken. The once proud Siren fell to her knees, and puked into a gutter. The pattering of rain and the quite sobs of Sonata were the only way to tell time was passing as the three ancient sisters lay collapsed on the alley floor. Eventually, as she always did, Adagio took charge. “Aria. Get Sonata on her feet. We have to keep moving.” Aria stared blankly at the mound of bile beside her, watching as the running rainwater pulled it down the grate. “Aria! NOW.” Jumping at her leader’s shout, Aria snapped out of her empty mind and nodded silently. The Purple Siren grabbed Sonata by the arms and lifted her up. Adagio had already stood back up, limping slightly on her right leg as she went to stand by her younger sisters. “We have to keep moving.” Adagio repeated, watching as the other two sirens nodded in understanding. “Those salt-stained idiots could come after us at any minute. They might already be on our tail! We…” The Orange siren stopped as she looked down into her hand, a single red fragment shinning. Sonata and Aria both looked down into their fragments, taking their eldest sister’s lead. Sole shadows of their power, their very Selves, looked back up at them. Aria herd Sonata’s voice catch. Suddenly the Brute Siren saw a flash of gleaming red light. Blinking she looked back at the shard, but saw nothing but a dead piece of her soul. Adagio was saying something. “What.” Aria rasped looking at her leader. Gone were her sister’s lifeless eyes. Now Adagio stood glaring at the purple siren, teeth snarling and eyes livid. “This is all your fault.” Came the reply. “What. What! I…” Adagio stopped Aria’s response with punch to the face. “The Hell Dagi! What are you…” “This never would have happened if you just followed orders!” Adagio yelled, eyes flaring. Aria stood stock still. She had rarely seen her sister this angry- and never directed at her. “Adagio I…” What Aria was going to say even she didn’t know, but she was stopped at the sudden, blinding pain between her ribs. The Siren shrieked as she fell to her knees, hands bewildered at the knife sticking out of her dress. Adagio and Aria looked over at the only other person in alley. Sonata was glaring down at her sister with even more hatred and disgust than Adagio. Eyes never breaking contact with Aria, Sonata addressed the leader of the Dazzlings. “If we leave her, it will slow the Rainbooms down. Idiots might try to save her.” Sonata half sobbed as she looked away from Aria’s confused eyes. “Its her fault. She should be the one to pay the escape toll.” Sonata tried to giggle at the joke, but it came out as another half sob instead. Adagio silently nodded then kicked Aria in the diaphragm, leaving her winded on the pavement. Purple and red hands clutching the knife, Aria watch as her Elder Sister turned around and started walking down the alley. Sonata bent down into the wounded siren’s vision and whispered, “Now who’s the Worst.” Before running off to follow the orange siren. “Hope…you both…drown in Hell.” Aria gasped as she watched her oldest allies leave her for dead. Aria lay for what felt like an eternity, the rain pouring down on her drenched form, the water and blood following her bile down the sewer grate. Eventually, the remaining siren herd footsteps walkup to her and come to a stop. A small, idiotic part of Aria hoped it was her sisters. Maybe they had second thoughts and come to apologize. Turning her head Aria glanced at the person looking down at her with concern. Sunset Shimmer. “Celestia! What happened to you!” Aria struggled up to her feet, refusing the shocked girl’s help. “Listen, I can help you. My friends and I can help you get to a hospital!” Aria ignored Sunset as she inspected the knife wound. It would be better to leave it in for now. Deal with the wound later when she could put some pressure and bandages on it. She might need to cauterize the thing. “Listen, I don’t know your name. But I know your hurting. I went through something similar a month ago. I can help!” Silently Aria turned to face Sunset with dead eyes. The young mage looked so full of hope and sympathy. She actually wanted to help her. Help her get better. Help her off this dark path she found herself on. Help her see the light above the trench. Holding the knife buried into her side with one hand, Aria reached the second towards Sunset. Sunset smiled as she went to accept it, then promptly stopped smiling when she found the hand clenched around her neck. “You. Took. EVERYTHING from me!” Aria screamed, rage dispelling the despair as the anger that had left her filled her body full again. Sunset let out an unintelligible choke. Aria straightened. The pain in her side forgotten as she faced the one responsible for this mess. Gnashing her teeth, the distraught siren continued. “You shattered my Gem! MY SOUL! You stole my POWERS! You…You Took my SISTERS AWAY!” Sunset’s face was turning purple, her eyes screaming with sheer panic. Aria’s eyes glared back, like windows into Hell itself. “You want to HELP ME! After everything you’ve done! I SHOULD KILL YOU.” Lightening streaked across the sky, thunder booming close behind. Sunset managed a whimper, the fear finally escaping her gasping lips. As Aria heard her enemy’s whimper, her rage suddenly vanished, leaving her empty once again. The fire in the siren’s eyes died down, as if put out by the rain. Her hand going limp, Aria let Sunset collapse to the pavement as she leaned against warehouse wall beside her. The purple siren looked down at the orange mage coughing atop the rain and blood-soaked pavement. Eventually Sunset looked up at Aria, eyes filled with both relief and fear. Aria looked back with eyes dead of all emotion. “If you follow me, I will kill you.” Sunset gave a stiff nod in understanding, to which Aria returned with dry pleasure. “Great. Knew you were smart one, Shimmer.” With that Aria left Sunset to recover on her own as she made her way down the alley. Looking down at her shaking, free hand, the ancient girl realized she had somehow managed to hold onto the Gem shard. With a grunt she dropped it into the alley. Hobbling back the way she had come, Aria spat some blood out of her mouth and ignored the sounds of Sunset standing up. And so it was that Aria Blaze walked away from her sisters and everything she had ever known and towards her new, Kraken-damned life.