//------------------------------// // All is Cold // Story: Siren's Light // by Charles Spratt //------------------------------// A full moon shone brightly above the streets of Canterlot. It was a cool December in the bustling city, and as was usually the case, the cold weather had hit the city hard, with the average temperature in the evening being eighteen degrees below freezing. Despite the icy cold weather, the holiday season had resulted in the streets below being jam packed with shoppers, all looking to get gifts for their loved ones. However, amongst all the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, there stood a lone blue haired girl on the sidewalk, who had quite a different goal in mind for the holiday season. “Matches! Get your m-matches here! Does anyone want to buy some matches?” Sonata shouted out to the people walking down the street around her. She knew full well that she was by no means an experienced salesperson, but after her previous escapades at Canterlot High, it didn't really matter one way or the other. Either way, she and her sisters would have to do whatever was necessary to stay alive. And if that meant biting the bullet and selling some of the items they had stockpiled, at least until her sisters had found a way to fix everything, that was what she would do. "Excuse me, would you be interested in buying some matches?" Sonata asked to a high school student passing her by. The student turned to face her, and immediately seemed to frown upon seeing her. “No! Go away!” he shouted back to her as he walked past. Sonata tilted her head in confusion, surprised by the rude response. She wasn’t sure if she had ever met him before, but clearly there must’ve been something he didn’t like about her. Perhaps they had met at some point and she had forgotten about him? “Well g-geez, no need to be a jerk about it.” Sonata said back to the passerby, who only continued walking away, ignoring Sonata’s comment. Sonata sighed. While it was rude, Sonata knew from experience that things like that were just something that happened from time to time. Ever since she had lost her singing voice, she would sometimes run into people who treated her rudely while she was trying to sell her wares. It was just a part of her way of life, and it was something that she had to learn to get used to. Still, she knew that if she just kept her sales up, she would get through just fine. She knew it wouldn’t be this way forever… Sonata walked backwards and sat down on a bench behind her. The streets were almost deprived of shoppers at the moment, meaning it was as good a time as any to take a quick break and let her voice rest a little. She reached into the pocket of her sweat pants, and pulled out a small bronze locket. With a quick flick of her thumb, she cracked it open, revealing a picture of herself and her sisters smiling together from about thirty years ago. Sonata smiled as she remembered that day. They'd ended up visiting a carnival that day, and she remembered it being some of the most fun she’d had in this world. She rode plenty of rides, played a few games, and had sung plenty of songs alongside her sisters, which had resulted in one of the most bountiful harvests of negative energy that she’d ever had since they were banished from Equestria. It was one of her happiest memories post banishment, and Sonata was sure that it wouldn’t be her last. While it was true that the loss of her gem and her singing voice meant that she could no longer feed on negative energy, she was sure it wouldn’t be that way forever. All she had to do was wait for her sisters. They were always great at finding solutions to problems she couldn’t even begin to wrap her head around, and they promised her that they would figure out a solution. All she had to do was wait. Sonata's gaze slowly slipped away to her right. It had been a long, long time since she last saw them, and she had really started to miss the two of them. They had their moments of antagonism sometimes, but at the end of the day, they were still sisters, and she still remembered their time together fondly. She knew why they had to part ways, of course (she knew that it would be a hard and complicated journey, and if they tried to drag her along, her lesser strength and intelligence would no doubt end up slowing them down), but still, she had yet to hear from them since they parted. Sonata sighed as she shifted her gaze back to her locket. She’d tried to keep optimistic, but over the last week, she couldn’t help but wonder. What if something happened to them? What if they never found the solution? What if… they forgot about her? Sonata shook her head violently and snapped her locket shut. No way. They couldn’t fail, and they couldn’t forget her! After all, Dagi never found a problem she couldn’t solve, and Aria never forgot anything! Besides, they were sisters! They always had each other’s backs when it mattered most! She couldn’t lose faith now. They’d be back, she just knew it. WHOOSH! Sonata shivered fiercely as the sudden gust of icy cold wind smacked into her. She quickly covered up her head with her hood. While Adagio had told them once before that the winter evenings in Canterlot could get extremely cold, Sonata had never realized just how bad being out there in the cold could feel. Even the hoodie she was wearing didn’t seem to do much to protect her from the freezing cold weather around her. Regardless, she had to keep at it, at least until she was able to get a sale going. If she didn’t, she could kiss the idea of eating, and by extension surviving, out the window. “P-please hurry, D-dagi…” she said quietly to herself. Sonata looked up. Patrons, presumably exiting from the stores around her, had once again started filling the street, meaning it was a good time to return to selling. Sonata got up from the bench, and continued to shout out. “Matches! M-matches here! Keep yourselves warm with s-some matches!” Sonata screamed. However, despite the number of customers on the street, no one stopped. In fact, her screaming almost seemed to have the opposite effect, as a sizeable number of the people who walked by her seemed to cringe a little and walk past without making eye contact, a couple even covering their ears as they walked past, as if something about the sound of her voice was extremely unpleasant to them. For about ten minutes afterwards, she continued to attempt to sell in vain, before being interrupted by the sudden sounds of her stomach. *Grumble* Sonata paused for a moment and put a hand on her stomach. She didn’t understand it. It was freezing cold, and she was offering everyone something that could warm them up, and yet for the last two days, she hadn’t been able to sell a single thing. And no sales meant no money to buy food with… again. Sonata looked up and sighed. Clearly, if she hadn’t sold anything by now, she wasn’t going to be able to sell anything anywhere in this section of town anytime soon. “May as well see if I have any better luck in the park…” Sonata said, as she walked away from the shopping strip and towards the center of town… “M-matchsticks! G-get your matchsticks here!” Sonata said, as her body's shivering became steadily more intense due to the cold. There was little doubt in Sonata's mind; coming to the park at this time was a terrible idea. Not only was there much less cover from the steady breeze that had started to pick up due to the lack of nearby buildings, but the number of people who were in the park at night were far fewer in number then the shopping district. However, she tried her hardest to not let it distract her. Perhaps if her potential customers were further away from someplace warm, they might be more inclined to buy her matchsticks? It was possible, and that was all Sonata needed to convince her to continue trying here. If she just waited, she knew everything would eventually work itself out. After ten minutes in the park, just as she was about to give up, she finally got her wish. “K-keep warm with matchsticks! Make yourselves w-warm this h-holiday season!” Sonata yelled. “Keep myself warm? What about you, missy? Seems to me like you need it more than I do.” a masculine voice answered back. Sonata jumped backwards, surprised by the sudden response. For most of the day, everyone had seemed content to either yell at her or simply just ignore her, so having someone actually respond with something other than disdain was an unexpected change of pace. Without wasting a second, Sonata turned towards the sound of the voice, and found it belonged to a young, yellow haired, cyan skinned man, around 22 years of age. He was a fair bit taller than her, and judging by the royal blue and yellow lettermen jacket with the C on it that he was wearing, he was probably an athlete at Canterlot High at some point in his life. He wasn’t alone, however, as he was accompanied by two other tall individuals, all wearing similar jackets, one shorter one with spiky green hair and skin who stood at around the same height as Adagio, and a humongous third individual with grey skin and purple hair who stood head and shoulders above the other two. Sonata turned towards them, and tried her hardest to smile. “Oh, d-don’t worry about me! I’ll be f-fine, I know i-i-it! E-especially if y-y-you buy some m-matches!” Sonata said, before extending her matchboxes out towards the strangers. Despite her attempts at being friendly, the group didn’t say anything back at first. Instead, they simply looked over her, as if they were judging her carefully. Sonata wasn’t great at judging facial expressions, but even she could tell that out of the three people in front of her, two of them didn't seem to be the least bit interested in her matchboxes. The only exception to this was the cyan man who had first spoken up, who seemed to have a look of genuine concern on his face. Despite the concerned look, however, Sonata couldn’t help but be intimidated by the trio of large individuals staring her down without speaking. After a couple of moments of silence, the green haired stranger spoke. “So… you’re offering us a light?” He asked. Sonata tilted her head in confusion. “Umm… n-no, I’m offering matches.” She replied. For whatever reason, the response only resulted in the group rolling their eyes, which caused Sonata's heart to sink a little. While she wasn’t entirely sure why what she said was so eye roll worthy, she did know that eye rolls were never good for sales, and quickly tried to recover. “B-but don’t get me wrong, you could use it for l-light too! T-though I don’t know how much a single match would help you s-see…” Sonata said. The large purple haired man put his hand over his eyes for a moment and sighed, before speaking up. “No kid, he’s asking if you’re offering us a light for our cigarettes.” he elaborated, before lifting his cigarette in his other hand up towards his head so Sonata could see it. Sonata looked at the other two men, and saw that all three of them were holding cigarettes of their own. “O-oh.” Sonata said as she looked downwards, suppressing her inner urge to groan. She had never liked smokers; the noxious smell of the smoke they emitted had always felt like it was choking her whenever she had the misfortune of being near them. Still, if dealing with that was what it would take to earn some customers, it was what she’d have to do. She turned her head back towards them, and put on the best smile she could muster. “W-well, you could light t-them with these!” she said, before extending her hands to show them the boxes she had. The trio looked briefly at one another, before the green haired one opened his mouth to speak. “Um… thanks for the offer, but we…” “…Will be glad to buy some lights off of you!” The cyan man said suddenly, cutting his partner off midway through his sentence. Sonata and the other smokers all looked at him in shock. “Wait, really Dune? Why bother? We already have…” the green haired one began, only to be silenced by Dune putting his hand over the green one’s mouth. “I know, Grove. Just huddle up, and I’ll explain.” He said to them, before quickly turning back towards Sonata. “You just wait right there for a bit, miss. We’ll get back to you soon, promise.” Dune said. Sonata said nothing, and simply nodded, trying her hardest to suppress the grin that had begun to grow on her face, due to her excitement over the prospect of a potential sale finally happening. Dune nodded back, before turning back towards the group. For the next several minutes, the trio quietly debated amongst themselves. All throughout the talk, Sonata jittered in place in excitement, nearly besides herself at the prospect of finally getting some money for food at last. The only thing she’d had to eat in the last two days was a small breakfast at a local waffle house from two days ago, a few snowflakes from yesterday, and a single fallen leaf she’d tried eating earlier that day in order to see if she could stomach the taste of leaves (she couldn’t). As such, her stomach’s growling had begun to become a real pain recently, and she was more than eager to get some food to stop it from... GRROWR! …growling. Sonata tightly put a hand on her stomach and looked up towards the trio, only to discover that all three of them were now looking at her in shock. Even Sonata could tell that they were just as shocked by the sudden loud sound coming from her as she was. Sonata blushed in embarrassment and looked down, trying to avoid their gazes. As she looked away though, she noticed that the tall purple haired individual was holding some sort of small silver box in his hand. She focused her eyes on it a little harder, and saw that it was… a lighter? She couldn’t tell for sure, but it certainly looked like one. “You okay over there, kid?” asked the purple haired one. Sonata shook her head slightly and looked up at the group before nodding. “D-don’t worry, j-just didn’t have much to eat today! Or yesterday, I g-guess…” Sonata responded, her second sentence a bit quieter the the first. The trio stared at her with concerned expressions for a moment, before returning to their huddle. The second they returned to their huddle, Sonata thought back to the box she had seen the tall one holding. She was fairly sure it was a lighter… but if it was a lighter, then why would they be asking her for a light for their cigarettes in the first place? Why would they bother even considering paying for a light when they already had one for free? Sonata had no idea. However, she did know one way she might be able to find out more. Slowly, without making a sound, Sonata crept a bit closer to the trio and listened in as hard as she could. However, even then, she could just barely hear bits and pieces from outside the huddle: “…why would…” “…just look at her, man! She’s clearly…” “…but I already…” “…the holiday season! We can…” “…she clearly needs…” Whoosh… Another frigid breeze suddenly blew through the park, causing Sonata's shivering to intensify again. She quickly wrapped her arms around herself in an effort to conserve her body heat and stepped away from the trio. She didn’t see a reason to continue listening in anyway; of the bits she heard, nothing told her anything she wanted to know about the lighter, and she could probably ask them about it after she sold her stock anyway. “AND… BREAK!” the trio yelled suddenly, causing Sonata to jump a little, almost dropping one of her matchboxes. She quickly took a look up at the trio, and saw that they were all nodding their heads in agreement as they exited the huddle. Finally, they were ready. Sonata unwrapped her arms around herself and looked up at the trio, trying her hardest to still her chattering teeth. “S-s-so… you want to buy some m-m-matches?” Sonata asked. The trio all nodded. “Yeah, we’ll take you up on your offer, miss… um, what’s your name?” Dune asked. “I-t’s S-sonata. S-sonata D-d-dusk.” Sonata answered, as she did her best to keep her shivers to a minimum. For some reason, the moment Dune heard the name, he immediately put a hand to his chin and tilted his head in thought. “Sonata Dusk, huh? Hmm… I know I’ve heard that name somewhere before…” he said to himself. Sonata’s eyes widened. She didn’t remember if she had ever met this individual before the incident at the Battle of the Bands, but if he was someone that she had interacted with, then it probably wouldn’t have been an interaction he’d remember fondly. And if that was true, then she knew from past experience that there was every possibility that they wouldn’t buy anything from her anymore. Without wasting a second, she quickly spoke up. “No, I-i don’t think s-so! I’m p-pretty n-new a-around h-here!” she stammered clumsily. The trio stared at her with confused expressions, before the green haired Grove spoke up. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense. I mean, why else would you be wearing only one hoodie and one pair of sweats during the Canterlot winter?” he asked, only to immediately receive a smack upside the head from the tall one. “Ow... what the hell was that for, Contrail?” Grove asked, as he rubbed the back of the head where Contrail had hit him. Contrail simply just rolled his eyes in response. “Did you already forget what we talked about in the huddle? Try to show some tact, you numbskull.” He responded forcefully, causing Grove’s eyes to widen before he looked to the side ashamedly. “Oh, right. Sorry, Sonata. I should’ve thought that through.” Grove apologized. Sonata tilted her head. She didn’t really understand why Grove was apologizing to her, but she didn’t really feel a need to ask about it. After all, she needed to make sure she got a sale in first. “S-s-so… how m-many b-boxes, g-guys?” Sonata asked. “I believe two will be enough, thanks.” Contrail answered. “Alrighty then!” Sonata exclaimed as she reached into the kangaroo pocket on her hoodie and pulled out two matchboxes. As she did, she looked up at Dune, who had remained fairly silent ever since Sonata said her name, and saw that he still seemed to be deep in thought. Sonata quickly pulled out two match boxes and handed them towards the trio with one hand, hoping to get the sale done before he could… “Oh yeah, I remember that name now!” Dune suddenly exclaimed with a snap of his fingers. …remember her. Sonata’s expression quickly became one filled with anxiety as she stared at the cyan individual, worried that she might’ve done something bad to him at some point that she’d forgotten about. The other two looked towards him as well, although they seemed more curious than anything. “You’re that girl that my cousin at Canterlot High told me about!” Dune exclaimed, which caused Sonata’s heart to sink. ‘Oh no.’ Sonata thought to herself. She knew that with an answer like that, there was no way that this conversation would end well for her. Not without her magic, at least. She quickly closed her eyes, put her hands that were still holding the matchboxes over her head, and gritted her chattering teeth as tightly as she was able, bracing herself for the worst, with the only thought running through her head being, ‘Please don’t be mad, please don’t be mad’ over and over. “Yeah, I remember her mentioning your name once or twice a while ago!” Dune exclaimed. Sonata turned her head away from him. ‘Please don’t be mad, please don’t be mad, please don’t be mad…’ “Man, to think that this is the girl she was convinced could do all of that!” Dune said jovially, before chuckling to himself. Sonata paused. Did he… find something funny about the situation? She quickly opened up one eye and looked towards him, and was surprised to see the cyan individual smiling warmly. “Wait, your cousin said something about this girl? What did she end up saying?” Grove asked, his hand on his chin. Dune let out a single chuckle in response. “Not much of worth. Just something about there being several girls who were pretty good at singing trying to control people’s minds with their music. According to her, there were three of them, one of which was a light blue skinned girl with a ponytail named Sonata Dusk.” Dune explained, before looking over Sonata, who by this point had lowered her arms from around her head, “And from the way she talked, she seemed convinced that you and whatever the other two were named were going to take over the entire world or something!” He said to her, before laughing heartily out loud. Grove spun his head towards Dune, as if he was unable to believe what he’d heard. “Seriously? ‘Take over the world with singing’?” asked Grove in bewilderment, clearly not convinced by the tale in the slightest, “That’s the craziest thing I’ve heard all day!” “I must agree. I will admit that I had heard rumors about that a little while back.” Contrail said, before looking to the side, “But honestly, even if they were somehow true, and not completely ridiculous, I don’t think it could’ve been caused by someone like this.” “Yeah.” Dune said, nodding in agreement, “My cousin is a pretty solid athlete, and she's usually pretty chill and all, but when it comes to the things she tells me about her school, it’s almost like she becomes a completely different person, taking simple little bits of high school drama and turning it into huge conspiracy theories and such. It’s honestly pretty impressive how creative her letters can be. I just wish she would try using those skills for something other than slandering other students.” Sonata breathed a sigh of relief. It looked like she’d never met these individuals before after all, and none of them seemed to believe what they had heard about her. She had dodged a bullet. “...Anyway, nonsensical stories aside, are you still willing to sell us those matches? I’d like to get some smoking in soon.” Dune said. “Huh?” Sonata asked. She blinked twice and looked up at him for a second before the reason they had started talking in the first place suddenly hit her: they were asking to buy her stock off of her. “Oh… the m-matches! M-my bad, I f-forgot about that for a second!” she said sheepishly, as she held out the two match boxes she’d pulled out earlier, which the trio quickly took from her. “So how much you asking for?” Grove asked, as he put his cigarette in his mouth. “I-it’ll be 2.25 a b-b-box!” Sonata exclaimed through chattering teeth. Upon hearing the price, Contrail looked down towards her with his eyebrow raised. “Wait, 2.25? That’s a bit pricey for a box of matches. You set that price yourself or something?” he asked, before lighting the tip of the cigarette. “H-huh?” Sonata asked in surprise. She wasn’t sure how much the average store was selling matchboxes for, but she had figured that during the winter, it would be worth about as much as a small meal, given how cold it was around here. Surely warmth would be worth about as much food, right? Dune nodded his head, before taking a puff of his lit cigarette. “Yeah, that’s a bit pricey kid, ‘specially in an age where lighters are a thing and go for about the same price.” Dune said to her. Sonata looked down towards the ground, embarrassed that she had gotten the pricing so wrong. Suddenly, the reason why the few people who had talked to her about her matchboxes turned her down made perfect sense. “B-but… I d-didn’t know! I-it’s been s-so long s-since m-my s-sisters and I w-went sh-shopping… I just thought w-warmth w-would be w-worth about as m-much as f-food in w-winter since it’s s-so cold!” Sonata explained, before suddenly being interrupted by another loud growl from her stomach. GROWGER! As Sonata gripped her stomach, all three of the smokers above her looked down at her pityingly. They weren’t sure what exactly the circumstances that had led her to this point were, but what she said to them, with both her mouth and her body language, had told them all they needed to hear; for one reason or another, this girl had been left alone on the streets, trying to survive without the knowledge or resources to do so. Clearly, she needed help, even more so then they'd initially thought. The following moments were silent, save for the occasional puff of a cigarette and chattering from Sonata, before Grove finally spoke up. “Well... I guess I can see how you would come to that conclusion” he said to her, “But next time you’re selling, you might get better sales if you looked at what similar objects are priced and made yours a bit cheaper.” Sonata looked up from her stomach and nodded. “O-okay.” She responded. “But don’t worry.” Said Dune after letting out another puff of smoke, “We’ll pay for your price this time. Just… be careful about that in the future, okay?” he said, to which Sonata simply nodded without saying anything. Dune quickly pulled a leather wallet out of his pocket, pulled a ten out of it, and held it out to Sonata, making sure that he kept a grip on the edge so it wouldn’t fly out of his grasp in the breeze, “Here you go, this should cover it.” Sonata looked up at the ten, before immediately gasping, “W-wait, t-ten whole b-bucks? Isn’t that a little m-more than what I s-said it would c-cost?” Sonata asked in shock. Dune shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah, it probably is. For this one time only, though, just pretend it isn’t, okay? No change or anything.” He answered nonchalantly. Sonata stared wide eyed at the amount she was being offered. It would be more than enough to pay for something to eat, and maybe even get something extra to help fend off the winter cold! Sonata was so excited by the prospect that she jumped up with joy, only to be sent back down to earth by another sudden growl from her stomach: GRROWAGL! Upon landing, Sonata grasped her stomach, which was now starting to severely hurt due to her lack of food. She quickly grabbed the 10 from Dune’s fingers before looking up at the trio, who were now quietly whispering something to each other. After a moment, Contrail turned towards Sonata and raised his voice. “So… do you have a place to stay tonight, like a shelter or something?” he asked, taking the cigarette out of his mouth to speak. Sonata looked up from her stomach at the giant individual. Despite the fact that the three of them were smoking up a storm, she barely even noticed the fumes, and could only detect feelings of concern emitting from the three. It was an emotion she wasn’t particularly used to. Still, she couldn’t deny that it did feel fairly pleasant. “Y-yeah, I h-have a p-place to s-stay. I-it’s m-me and m-my s-sister’s home.” She answered back. Grove put a hand on his side. “Sisters, huh? Do they take good care of you?” he asked, shifting his weight to his other foot as he spoke. Sonata paused for a moment. It wasn’t an easy question to answer so upfront. They had always taken care of her in the past, but nowadays, she couldn’t exactly say that they’d kept in touch. Still, Sonata knew perfectly well that it was because they were busy trying to find a way to restore their magic, and she was confident that once they found a way to do so, they’d be back to get her. Still, even she knew that wasn’t something she could just say to anyone on the streets. After all, she’d done so once before, and the results were anything but flattering. “Y-yeah they d-do. They’re out b-busy r-right now, b-but o-once they a-aren’t, they’ll come b-back!” Sonata exclaimed enthusiastically. The trio looked at one another all with an eyebrow raised. Despite Sonata’s enthusiasm, all it took was one glance at one another for all three of the smokers to realize they were all thinking the same thing: that there was no way this girl would be in this condition if her sisters took good care of her. Still, none of them were eager to butt into a stranger’s home life just to prove a point. After a moment of staring at one another, Dune spoke up. “I guess you’ll be heading back there tonight, huh?” Dune asked. Sonata rolled her eyes. “O-of c-c-course! I w-wanna m-make s-sure I know if they’ve come b-back home!” she exclaimed. The trio looked up at each other. They stared for a moment, before all nodding in unison. They were all staying in Canterlot for a few more days; it wouldn’t hurt them to at least check up on this girl the following day to make sure she’d be okay. “This may be a bit weird, but would you mind telling us where exactly you and your sisters live? Maybe we could get you some breakfast or something tomorrow if your sisters aren’t back from… whatever they’re doing?” Dune asked. Sonata looked up at the trio of smokers. She wasn’t entirely sure what to say. On the one hand, she had heard many times in this world that it could be dangerous to trust strangers, even if her magic had meant it was never much of an issue for her in the past. But on the other hand, they had already given her more money than they needed to, which seemed a bit strange for a thief, and if they were thieves, it wouldn’t matter if her sister’s had come back. Not to mention, her house had very little that was worth stealing anymore, so even if they were thieves and her sisters were still missing, she was fairly certain there wouldn’t be much they’d be interested in. After a moment of thought, she finally came to a conclusion. ‘It should be fine,’ she thought, ‘I don’t think they’ll do anything bad.’ And with that reaffirmation, Sonata nodded to herself and looked up at the trio, ready to answer their query. “O-okay, guys. My s-sister’s and m-mine’s h-house is located at 360 B-b-bondrop Avenue. It doesn’t have t-too m-much stuff n-now, s-so d-don’t think y-you c-can steal from us!” Sonata said, her arms tightly wrapped around herself in an attempt to keep warm. Grove rolled his eyes. “Believe me, that’s the last thing we were thinking of doing.” Grove muttered under his breath, earning himself another light smack from Contrail. Sonata tilted her head to the side, unsure of what exactly Grove had said, and why exactly it warranted a smack. “Um… W-w-what did you s…?” Sonata began to ask, before suddenly being interrupted by a heavy gust of wind. WHOOOSH!! The sudden gust of the wind blew across her face, almost knocking her off balance. Unlike the other gusts that day, however, this one was unique, as it was not only heavy, but brought along with it what seemed like thousands of snowflakes, causing Sonata’s shivering to intensify dramatically. Even the smokers she was with, who before now had endured the cold with no trouble whatsoever, seemed to be affected by the sudden change in temperature. Contrail pulled his phone out of his pocket, and widened his eyes in surprise. “No way. It’s 11:15 already??” he said in shock, causing the other two’s jaws to drop as well. “Already?? But that means...” they said in unison, before being interrupted by Contrail. “Yep. That means that the storm they predicted is gonna be starting soon. It would probably be best if we got back to Dune’s place before it starts getting bad.” He said, snuffing out his cigarette on a nearby guard rail. "Agreed." The other two said simultaneously, snuffing out their own cigarettes right next to where Contrail had. Before they left however, Dune turned towards Sonata. She wasn’t even looking at them anymore, no doubt due to the fact that the wind would blow right into her face if she were to look at them. Still, he didn’t feel right leaving the girl alone, and decided to make sure she’d be okay getting to wherever she lived alone. “You guys head on back. I’ll catch up with you later. I wanna make sure this girl can get home safely.” Dune said. The other two shared a concerned glance, before turning back to him and nodding. “You really are something else, Dune. Just don’t forget about yourself, K?” Grove said to him. “Don't worry, I wasn't gonna.” Dune responded, causing Grove and Contrail to nod at him before walking off. Without wasting any time, Dune turned back towards Sonata, and began to speak to her. “Hey Sonata?” Dune said with a raised voice, in order to make sure the pale blue girl could hear him. Sonata quickly looked up towards him, and was immediately greeted with a face full of flakes, causing her to immediately look to the side again. “Y-y-yeah?” she yelled back. “Are you sure you’re gonna be okay getting home on your own?” Dune asked. Although the snow around them and her hood being up partly obscured her face, he could see her nod in response. “Y-y-yeah. I’ll b-be o-k-kay. I-it’s only ab-bout f-five m-minutes away, and I d-don’t w-want to w-worry Adagio if she c-came b-back.” She said. Dune sighed, still unable to shake the feeling that she was still deluding herself. Still, she and her sister's lives weren't his business. “Okay. If you want my advice, you should head there right away, because the weather reports have said that this storm is gonna be a big one!” Dune yelled, increasing his voice enough to make himself heard over the wind. Sonata nodded, but couldn’t help but feel disappointed. She was hoping she’d be able to get something to eat with the money she’d earned, but it seemed that the weather had other plans for her. “C-can I g-get s-some f-food f-first?” Sonata screamed. “I’m pretty sure everywhere nearby is closed by now thanks to the storm! If you want though, I can get you some breakfast tomorrow after the storm blows over!” Dune yelled back. Sonata shivered fiercely as the snowflakes that blew through the wind seemed to find their way into her hoodie in every way possible, transferring their iciness directly into her body. Due to the conditions, she didn’t hear much of what Dune had said after the words ‘everywhere nearby is closed’, but she had gotten the basic memo, and the weather was more than cold enough for her to take a hint. Her growling stomach would have to wait; getting out of the storm was more important for now. “O-okay! B-b-bye!” She yelled, before making her way away from the park, and towards the house where she and her sister’s had once resided. “Be careful!” he yelled after her, before turning around and walking off towards his own residence. Although he couldn’t help but feel a bit worried about her, given how she was clearly struggling in terms of both survival and knowledge, for now, he had done what he could do for her. Got her a bit of cash, gave her some advice on sales for future reference, and tomorrow he would see if he could get her a meal to help get her back on her feet. While he didn’t know how much farther this would go, if any farther at all, what happened to her during the rest of the night was on her. “Good luck, kid.” He said to no one in particular, as if he was allowing the wind itself to take his message to its intended recipient.