Adagio sunk onto the nearest armchair. She really didn't handle them well this time. It was slowly getting worse between them. What used to be light-hearted jabs and only occasional disagreements had morphed quickly into loud arguments and casual insults. What they needed was therapy, both individually and as a family, but that took time and money that they didn't have. That Adagio didn't have.
She sighed deeply and rested her face in her hands. She was tired, but she couldn't go to bed until she knew they were both back home.
It was already dark out and the sky was covered in thick clouds. Only the light of the widely-spaced streetlamps broke through the darkness, aside from a few lit windows facing the street. But Aria knew where Sonata would run to, where she always ran to. She stalked after her, walking quickly with her arms wrapped around her chest. She should have at least grabbed a proper jacket on the way out.
"If that idiot gets me sick, I swear..." She turned the corner and started heading towards the playground at the corner of the small park they lived near. Sonata would just be sulking on the swings again, or hiding under the slide.
"H-hey, let go!"
Aria's steps slowed, before she fell into a short run, rounding into the entrance of the playground. Sonata wasn't on the swings or under the slide, she was right in the middle of the playground, surrounded by two boys and a girl. None of them looked much older than teenagers, but the guys had quite a bit of height on her. And one of them had her wrist in a vice, one she was futilely trying to pull out of.
"Now why don't you say what you said again, but to my face?" he asked in a threatening tone, yanking at her arm. In the light of the lamps posted around the playground, his face was flushed, either with anger, intoxication, or both.
Sonata sneered at him, smudged eyeliner betraying the now dried tears. "I said leave me alone, asshole!"
Aria fell into a second sprint and her arm slammed against his elbow from below, making him yelp out and release Sonata's wrist. She reached for her sister's hand herself, but the other boy had caught the back of her shirt and dragged her back. She tripped over his leg and fell into the sand.
Growling under her breath, she reached up when he came down to follow up and grabbed his collar before raking her nails across his cheek, dangerously close to his eye. He flinched back and she tucked in her left leg, bringing her foot up into the pit of his stomach. There wasn't enough force to really make it hurt, but she heard him gasp as he rolled off of her.
Quickly getting up, she looked to Sonata, who was struggling with the other girl, who had an arm around her neck from behind and was pulling at her ponytail. The first boy was shaking out his arm and clenched his fist. Aria grit her teeth and ran up, tackling him with what little body weight she had. It was enough to throw him down and before he could recover, she slammed her closed fist into the side of his face. When he looked like he was about to recover, she grabbed a handful of sand with her other hand and threw it into his open mouth and eyes. She regarded him with a final stomp to his chest after getting off of him again, leaving him coughing and gagging on the ground.
The girl still holding Sonata stared wide-eyed at Aria as she turned to her. "Let go of my sister!" she hissed, her own hair dishevelled. Sonata yelled and kept trying to stomp on the girl's toes, foiled by her steel-capped boots.
"You bitch!" Aria turned to the voice, just in time to see the second boy back up and for his closed fist to connect with her temple. A sharp pain rushed through her head as she stumbled and a moment later, something warm ran down the side of her face.
"Aria!" Sonata wiggled in the girl's hold, before she managed to push herself back enough to reach the arm holding her with her teeth. The girl howled and shoved her away, making her stumble and trip. Aria grabbed Sonata's arm so she wouldn't fall and pulled her next to her, one eye closed as warm blood touched her eyelid.
Another light flashed over the playground, followed by two more. "Stop right there! What's going on!?" Aria didn't relax, only pulling Sonata closer, when a small group of police officers came rushing closer.
Sonata's head leaned on Aria's shoulder, both of them staring against the opposite wall of the jail cell. They'd been silent during the drive in the back of the patrol car and after quietly and begrudgingly giving up their personal information and giving their account, they had been silent again, though Sonata had been clinging to Aria the whole time. The other kids were just one cell over, but they'd been silent too.
"I'm sorry," Aria finally said, her voice weaker than she had expected.
"Hm?"
"I'm sorry I called you a monster and all that stuff."
Sonata wrapped her arms around her sister's shoulders. "I'm sorry I said I hate you."
"Do you?"
"No... Thanks for helping me."
She put her own arm around Sonata's waist. "No one gets to bully my little sister."
"I'm older than you."
"Who cares."
They sat in silence again for a while, Aria's head coming to rest on Sonata's.
"Is your face okay?"
Aria felt along her temple and glanced at her fingertip, but the shallow cut wasn't bleeding anymore. "Yeah, I'm fine... motherfucker was wearing a ring..."
"Do you think we go to prison now?"
"No, that was self defence," Aria said more confidently than she was, "And you don't even get prison time for doing it unprovoked."
"Why do you know that?"
Aria shrugged. "I dunno, I just wanted to know at some point, so I looked it up."
Sonata's expression turned suspicious. "Were you going to beat me up?"
"No," she said, more confidently now, running her hand up and over Sonata's hair.
They both shifted and sat more upright when one of the officers came stepping up to their cell and opened the door. "Someone paid your bail. You can go home."
Aria stood up to head out and Sonata was right behind her, lightly holding onto her arm again. It wasn't a big mystery who could have come to get them and Aria prepared herself to face the storm. She slipped her arm out of Sonata's hand to take it with her own instead, before the were led through into the lobby.
Adagio was pacing when they got there, chewing her nails, the way she only did when she really didn't care about the polish anymore. Her heels scraped on the tiles every time she turned and they scraped even more sharply when she finally turned to look at them.
Instead of the maternal fury Aria had expected, she was met with reddened eyes and runny eyeliner. And instead of lecture them, Adagio rushed up and wrapped one arm around each of her sisters, pulling them in tightly. "Thank everything under the sun," she said breathlessly before sniffing quietly.
"Dagi, what are you--" Adagio pulled back before Aria could finish and cupped both their chins, looking at them sternly, but the relief was still present in her voice. "We are just people now, do you understand that? Do you realise we can't just go pick fights anymore?"
"I'm sorry," Sonata mumbled and Aria found herself voicing the same words. She didn't want to look at Adagio right now, so her look went past her, over her shoulder, and found the girl leaning near the entrance.
Sunset Shimmer was leaning against the wall, her hands in the pockets of her jacket, quickly looking away when she met Aria's eyes, trying to pretend she wasn't watching.
"What is she doing here?" Aria asked with a sharp frown. She felt Adagio's fingers claw into her hair and turn her head back to her.
"She posted your bail!" she hissed sharply, finally revealing the fury boiling underneath the relief after all, "I had to call her because we are broke! I swallowed my pride and now you two will do the same and thank her!"
Adagio turned and pushed both of her sisters forward towards the waiting girl. Aria shot Sonata a short look, before they both turned to her, uncomfortably. "Thanks," Aria grumbled, while Sonata gave a more earnest "Thank you, Sunset".
"Don't mention it. I'm just glad you're okay. Will you be okay going home?"
"We'll be fine," Adagio said with a sigh, putting an arm over each of her sisters, "We're together now."