When Sunset Shimmer joined the Rainbooms in their singing, adding her power to the rest of them, the combined power of the seven humans released a small shockwave across the audience, freeing them from the Dazzling’s control. When the shockwave reached the three Sirens on stage, Adagio was now worried for the first time since they had put their new plan at Canterlot High into motion, and her facial expression showed it. In that moment, she could feel her power slipping, as her control over the humans was wrested from her by the Rainbooms, as evident by her eyes turning from red back to normal.
Adagio wouldn’t have this. She had spent over a thousand years trapped in this world with her two sisters, with barely enough magic to get by. And now, after all that time, there was finally a source of Equestrian magic in this world to fuel their powers. She wouldn’t allow herself be defeated now after having come all this way.
However, as she looked around the area, worriedly, there was nothing she could do. The Rainbooms magic was more powerful than theirs and there was nothing she could do about it.
Then, looking up into the sky, Adagio’s eyes widened even more in shock, as she saw the physical representation of the Rainbooms magic begin to take the form of a large alicorn stallion with a flowing rainbow mane. Seeing this sight in front of her now, immediately brought back memories of when that bearded unicorn wizard had first banished the three of them to this world, and she could somehow feel that this would be no different.
As it continued forming, rearing up on its hind legs, Adagio desperately started looking for a way out of here before it struck. However, the mighty alicorn God quickly stepped back down on four hooves, and fired an enormous rainbow beam of pure, harmonic energy directly down on the three sirens.
As the rainbow power encompassed the Dazzlings, everything around them turned so white that they couldn’t see anything beyond it. They also felt a pain more intense than anything they had felt before; however, at the same time, it felt familiar. It felt exactly the same as when that bearded unicorn wizard had first banished them to this world.
It was in that moment that Adagio’s fears were confirmed. She tried with all of her might to struggle out of the rainbow’s field of energy, using all and anything she could think of to escape from her fate, but it was hopeless. There was nothing she could do now; they had lost.
Relaxing her powers and closing her eyes, she begrudgingly accepted her fate. In her last moments, she wondered where they would be heading next, and suddenly an image of her sisters flashed in her mind.
As the light around them intensified, the pain that they felt got more intense.
Then the all-encompassing whiteness around them started to fade and get darker.
And then everything was black.
---
Adagio couldn’t see anything or hear anything or feel anything. She couldn’t even move. She was in an endless black void, with nothing but her thoughts to keep her occupied. She remembered being blasted by the rainbow beam of the Rainbooms magic, and then everything fading away.
That feeling had felt similar to when they had first been banished, but also felt slightly different. Had the Rainbooms power banished them to another world again? Or was it something else this time? Would they still be able to use their magic? Could they still control others and make them do whatever they wanted? Did they still have a chance at victory?
As Adagio continued to think about things, she suddenly got the feeling back in her body. However, she didn’t feel the same as she had a moment ago. She felt different, but at the same time familiar; she felt right.
She still had two arms out in front, but she didn’t have any fingers at the tips, like hooves. In the back, however, she only had one limb, which felt like a long tail.
This revelation brought a smile to the siren’s face. She was in her siren form right now, which meant that if they really had been banished to another world, than it was a world that had magic, which would be easier to take in this form.
She was also happy to be her real self again. Sure, she had briefly returned to this state in their battle against the Rainbooms, but that was just a projection of herself that she was controlling mentally. She was now one hundred percent her old self again. She was her again; and it made her smile.
The smile seeming to restore some more of her energy, she struggled to open her eyes. Opening them slowly, and gently lifting her head up to look around, she saw that she was currently lying in the middle of a large sand crater in the middle of a desert. Looking up, she could see the night sky, with a crescent moon shining down on her.
Looking back down and around the crater she was in, her eyes then widened some more when she saw both of her sisters, Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk, a few feet away from her, lying unconscious, but still breathing. Like her, they were also in their siren forms right now.
Lying in front of her right now, Aria and Sonata looked like a cross between a pony and a seapony, with purple and blue hides respectively. They were lying on their sides, with their underbellies exposed, showing a red jewel embedded into their chest. Right now, they looked exactly the same as they had a thousand years ago, with one difference; and it was that now they both had a large hole in the middle of their bodies, just under their jewels, where their hearts would be.
Without turning away from her sister’s sleeping forms, Adagio brought a hoof up to her own chest and felt that she also had a large hole in her chest. However, she didn’t dwell on this fact for long, simply brushing it off as a side effect of being blasted by the rainbow beam.
Seeing the two of them in front of her right now unknowingly brought a smile to her face. Aria and Sonata were her sisters, and while she sometimes acted like they annoyed the hell out of her, which they kinda did, she still cared for them deeply. They had all been through a lot together. Although she would never admit it, she loved having them around and couldn’t even imagine living without them. They were the only family she had.
Using her two front hooves, the leader of the Dazzlings pushed herself up, and reaching deep inside of her for the latent magic that she could now access in this form, she started hovering a few inches off the ground. The familiar feeling of flying felt good to the siren. Oh, how she missed flying through the skies as a disembodied spirit all those centuries ago. Once you had that, walking on two legs just wasn’t the same.
Hovering in the air without a problem, and now with a surprising amount of energy, Adagio made her way over to where her sisters lay. When she was right in front of them, she reached out a hoof and poked at Sonata to get her to wake up. “Hey girls, come on. Get up.”
At the sudden intrusion, the blue siren shifted her position slightly, and moaned in the manner of a small child. “I’m still tired. Five more minutes, Mommy.” She said without opening her eyes.
Adagio’s expression drooped upon hearing this, immediately returning her new happy state of mind to her usual demeanour; like she did every time she heard one of Sonata’s stupid little quips. She then let out a little sigh of annoyance like she always did. Sonata was the youngest of the three of them, but sometimes she acted like such a baby.
Adagio then turned her head to the right, towards Aria, when she heard her other younger sister begin to rustle. She then also let out an annoyed sigh, even louder than Adagio. “Shut. The hell up. Sonata.” She said, also without opening her eyes.
Adagio just rolled her eyes at her sister’s remarks. Now feeling like her usual self once again, Adagio hardened her expression into a tougher one. “Get up, you two. Seriously, you need to see this.” She said to them in a harsher tone.
The two of them then started to properly wake up and open their eyes. Sonata was being more understanding, while Aria was more annoyed with Adagio’s tone. However, no matter how different their current moods were, they both opened their eyes wide when they saw the other in front of them, in their siren form. To two of them then both instinctively jumped back, using their front hooves to push off the ground, and started floating in the air.
After taking a moment to inspect their new forms, Aria and Sonata then both turned to face Adagio. “What’s going on here, Adagio?” Aria asked. “Where are we? And why do we look like old selves?”
“I don’t know.” Adagio replied. “I just woke up too. I have no idea.”
“Ooh, ooh, maybe we’re back in Equestria,” Sonata chimed in, with her usual out-of-place upbeat attitude.
Aria let out another sigh. “Equestria doesn’t have deserts, Sonata; just Badlands.” She spoke in a tone like she was talking down to her. “And I doubt that deserts can form in a thousand years.”
“Well, and just hear me out on this,” Sonata continued. “Maybe Celestia got tired of moving the Sun one day and left it in one place for too long, and the area got so dried out that it made a desert really quickly.” She ended with a smile.
Aria just facehooved. She couldn’t even think of a response to that it was so stupid.
“If the two of you are done…” Adagio spoke up again, causing the other two to look at her. “We need to figure this out. First, we need to find out where we are.” She then gave a quick look between the three of them. “Firstly, judging by the fact that we look like this, that must mean that wherever we are, this world has magic, which means that we’ll be able to take it that much more easily.” She smiled to herself, happy about that part. She then turned towards Aria. “Also, like Aria said, we’re probably not in Equestria anymore, so we need to find out where we are exactly.”
The other two sirens simply nodded their heads in agreement. Adagio was the oldest of the three of them, not to mention the smartest, and she was always the most capable of being the leader.
Seeing that she and her sisters were in agreement, Adagio also nodded her head in agreement. “Alright then,” she said. “Firstly, we should…”
However, their conversation was suddenly interrupted by a low cackling of laughter that they heard nearby. Quickly turning around in the direction that they heard the laughter, there, at the top of the sand crater they were in, they spotted a strange creature that they had never seen before. It was bi-pedal, which looked kind of like a cross between a minotaur and their old human forms. It was about as tall as they were right now, or even a little bit taller, with two arms that looked elongated compared to the rest of its body, which ended in four long and sharp claws. Its skin looked like a combination of grey and very, very dark green, except for its head, which was completely white, with several small red markings on it, like a mask. It also had a devilish smile on its face as it regarded the three Dazzlings in front of it.
The three sirens simply stared back at this strange creature, in silence. After its creepy laughter had died down, it moved to speak. “Well, well, look at what we have here.” It said in a deep, masculine voice. Its devilish smile then suddenly grew even wider. “Easy prey.”
The three sirens all suddenly floated back a few inches upon hearing it say that, Adagio also spinning around to face it fully. Prey? Did this thing actually think that it could take them so easily? They had once roamed Equestria for centuries, and were only defeated by one of the most powerful sorcerers to ever exist. But this thing in front of them? Sure it looked strong, but from the looks of it, it was all brawn and no brain. The three of them should easily be able to take care of this thing.
Feeling confidant in their chances, Adagio floated closer to it again, with an arrogant look on her face. “Oh, you think that you can take us?” She asked in a sarcastic tone.
The strange creature leaned forward a bit on top of the sand crater. “Of course I can. The three of you are all weak females. You could never stand up to a Hollow like me. Like I said: you’re easy prey.”
Adagio simply sneered back at this ‘Hollow’ as it called itself, with a look of disdain, after hearing that it looked down them simply because it was male. Leaning forward herself, Adagio then smiled at this thing, as if challenging it to step forward. “Oh, really?” She asked, sarcasm evident in her tone. “Then bring it.” She spoke, while furrowing her brows, still confidant in their chances against this thing.
The Hollow then reared back and pounced into the crater. “You will soon live as a part of me!” It screamed at them, as it jumped through the air. When it landed inside the crater, it then got down on to all fours and charged towards them rapidly.
Seeing the Hollow approach them quickly, Adagio then shouted out, “Girls! Scatter!”
At this order, the three sirens then all quickly flew into the air, with Sonata going left, Aria going right, and Adagio going straight up. The Hollow tried striking at Adagio with its claw, but she managed to fly up to avoid it just in time.
Once Adagio was in the air, she smiled to herself, glad that they were able to react in time. It had been a long time since they had flown in this form, and if they hadn’t briefly transformed during their battle with the Rainbooms, they might have been out of practice long enough to struggle. However, it seemed like that was not the case. All three of them were still able to handle themselves just like they used to.
Adagio then started floating backwards a little bit, while keeping her gaze on the Hollow in front of her. The three of them then formed a triangle around the Hollow, equidistant between each other.
Looking up at Adagio, the Hollow just sneered at her. “So you can fly, huh? Impressive,” it said in a faux compliment. It then smiled smugly at them. “But it won’t be enough of an advantage against me.” Looking straight at Adagio, it then opened its mouth wide, and a ball of red energy began forming in its mouth.
Adagio regarded the creature strangely as it did this. However, about two seconds later, in a split second, she noticed it open its mouth slightly larger. Noticing this detail proved invaluable to her, as it then shot a large, red beam straight at her, and she had just enough time to angle her body so that she was able to avoid the attack. The attack passed by her by the width of a few hairs and kept going.
After the attack had faded away, Adagio quickly turned her full attention back to the Hollow. Not wasting any time, she quickly sped off in its direction. Seeing her come in closer to it, the Hollow moved to attack her; however, Adagio then quickly pulled herself out of the range of its claws, and then quickly spun around in the air, whacking it in the head with her tail.
With the Hollow temporarily knocked off balanced, Adagio used the opportunity to rush passed him and re-join with her sisters, placing herself in between the two of them.
Quickly looking between the two of them, with each of them also turning to face her, Adagio asked, “Girls, we need to take this guy out. Think we can take control of him with our siren powers?”
Aria, turning away from Adagio to look down at the Hollow, who was starting to get back to its feet, her face grimaced, looking sorrowful. “Sorry, Adagio, but I’m not sensing anything from this guy that we can use.”
Glancing briefly to her sister, Adagio then faced forward again to look at the Hollow, who had picked himself back up and turned back to face the three of them. Putting on a strong look of determination, her gaze drifted over towards Aria and Sonata. “Alright girls, let’s do this. Follow my lead.” She spoke in the confidant tone of a true leader.
With strong looks of determination as well, the two of them simply nodded their heads in affirmation. If Adagio had faith in them, then they would have faith in her. “Right.” They said in unison.
Rearing back slightly, getting ready to put on a sudden burst of speed, the three of them then dashed forward, towards the Hollow before them. As they were approaching the Hollow, Adagio then pulled back slightly, so that the other two were out in front of her. “Aria, Sonata, hit it from both sides,” she said to them, as she kept her gaze firmly locked on the Hollow in front of them, who was bearing down, getting ready for the attack.
The purple and blue sirens then suddenly flew out further to the side and swiped at the Hollow from both sides at once. The Hollow, not having time to decide which one of them to target, simply raised both of its hands to swipe at both of them. However, just before they came within striking distance, they both suddenly pulled up and flew away.
The Hollow was confused at their course of action, and looked over at Sonata as she flew away. However, he then realised too late what their plan of attack was. Quickly facing forward again, he saw Adagio coming at him fast, staying low to the ground. Quickly reaching to try and grab her, Adagio simply swept lower to avoid it. She then zoomed in underneath the Hollow’s legs, and once she was halfway through, she extended her tail out sideways, between the Hollow’s legs, causing him to trip and fall face first into the sand beneath him.
Spinning around quickly in the air, she then landed atop the Hollow, before it could get back up, pinning it down. After Adagio had pinned the Hollow down, however, she then suddenly felt something inside take hold of her, like an instinct she didn’t realise she had. Then, before she could think about what she was doing, she opened her mouth wide and brought it down on the Hollow’s shoulder. With her teeth locked firmly on to the Hollow’s skin, she then dug in with her teeth with all of her strength and bit off a large chunk of the Hollow’s body.
With a piece of her attacking enemy now in her mouth, and after chewing it a few times, Adagio was able to regain her senses of what she was doing, and backed off of the Hollow again, hovering just a few inches off the ground, a few feet behind it.
As soon as Adagio had gotten off it, the Hollow immediately pushed up off the ground, and clutched at his shoulder, where Adagio had bitten him, with his right arm. The previously callous and full-of-himself Hollow now looked worried, scared, and most of all, very very pissed off. “You devoured me.” He spoke in what was barely even a whisper, but was undoubtedly addressed at Adagio. Quickly getting back up and spinning around to face the orange siren, the Hollow started glaring daggers back at her. “Do you realise what you’ve just done?!”
As Adagio listened to the Hollow screaming at her, she finished chewing the Hollow in her mouth and swallowed. She then smirked devilishly back at him. She didn’t exactly know why she did that, or even why she had swallowed what she had bitten off him, but judging from how angry he was at her right now, she guessed that it was not something good for him, which made her feel good. She also felt good after devouring a piece of this Hollow, for some reason she couldn’t explain; like she trying to fill a piece of herself with it.
When she didn’t respond, and he only got a smirk in response, the Hollow gritted his teeth in annoyance. “I can now never become an Adjuchas.” It then sneered down at her again for a second before it screamed out, “I’M GONNA KILL YOU!”
Without missing a beat, the Hollow then angrily stepped forward, crushing down hard on the sand beneath him, and rushed towards Adagio again. When the Hollow came within striking range of her, it then stepped forward and swung its huge clawed arm out towards her. Seeing the attack coming, Adagio simply backed up at the moment, causing the Hollow’s arm to strike at the air, just a hair’s breadth away from the siren’s face. Adagio couldn’t help but smirk to herself in response.
However, this moment was short lived when she also saw the Hollow smirk to himself. He then quickly leaned forward with his other foot, extending his reach. He then brought out his other arm and slashed Adagio hard across the chest, sending her flying back into the side of the sand crater.
Seeing this, Sonata’s eyes immediately widened in worry. “Adagio!” She called out to her. Her face quickly changing from worry to anger, the blue siren put on a sudden burst of speed and charged forward. Nobody hurts her sisters.
Seeing her sister get so riled up and charge off, Aria also put on a strong expression and dashed forward, on the other side to the Hollow, flying parallel with Sonata.
As Sonata quickly approached the Hollow from the side of the crater, she then turned sharply, charging towards the Hollow, faster than she had ever moved before. “Get away from my sister!” She screamed towards the Hollow, with tears in her eyes.
The Hollow heard Sonata’s outrage, and turned to face her. She was approaching him quickly, so he got into position to strike her with his claws. However, as soon as she was within striking distance, she quickly ducked under him, spun around in the air, causing her tail to whip around and strike the Hollow hard in the chest, sending him flying away, towards Aria.
Aria hadn’t moved as fast as Sonata, and by the time she had reached the spot that her sister had reached on the opposite side of the sand crater, the Hollow was already coming towards her. Seeing the big ball of grey coming towards her, she simply smirked derisively to herself and reared back with her tail, getting ready swat him away. “And the pitch,” she called out in a mocking tone, as she brought her tail back around, striking the Hollow like it was a baseball, and throwing it back into the side of the sand crater, using more force in her strike than Sonata.
With the Hollow dealt with at the moment, Aria and Sonata both quickly made their way over to Adagio. They landed down beside her as she picked herself back up again, leaning on her two front hooves.
“Are you alright?” Aria asked her, in a calm tone.
As she steadied to get back to her feet, and then the air, Adagio turned to face her younger sister. Although she didn’t show it on her face, Aria was likely just as worried as Sonata. “Yeah,” she replied, in an equally calm tone.
“Thank goodness!” Sonata cried out, throwing her hooves around her oldest sister. Okay, maybe Aria wasn’t worried as much as Sonata, but she still worried.
Adagio didn’t like having her sister all over her like she was right now, and wanted to shove her away, but she also didn’t want to be too rough with her, knowing how fragile she was. Sighing softly to quiet her nerves, Adagio just lifted her hooves up and gently lifted her younger sister off of her.
When she did, she saw the saddest look that she had ever had on her face, and that there were tears in her eyes. Adagio’s heart choked up at the sight of this. She then decided to briefly put her stubborn pride aside and brought her baby sister in closer again in a deep hug. “I’m alright.” She spoke quietly to her in her ear, in a calm and reassuring tone. “I really am.” She stroked her sister’s mane with her hoof.
It worked, and Sonata was relieved to hear her say that. Even still, she buried herself deeper in her older sister’s chest, and quietly and happily sobbed, so glad that everyone was alright.
Aria was equally moved by the display of sisterly affection, though she quickly through her gaze away in the opposite direction, so that the other two wouldn’t see her like that. However, the direction that she had looked away in just happened to be the same direction in which the Hollow had been knocked earlier, and who was now getting back to his feet.
Aria then turned back to her sisters again and reminded them about the enemy that they were still currently facing. Sonata raised her head out of Adagio’s chest, and the both of them looked back up at Aria, who gestured over to the Hollow, who had turned around to face them again. “We’re not done here yet.” Aria said.
Adagio and Sonata quickly got back into the air, and lined up alongside each other, with clear and confidant looks on the faces, as they stared back at the Hollow.
Looking between her sisters on either side of her, Adagio faced the Hollow again. “Let’s do this.” She then added, “Together.”
Aria and Sonata both simply nodded and said, “Right.” Now sounding much stronger and much more confidant.
As they bore down and got into battle position, the Hollow roared back at them, threateningly, and then reared back and started charging towards them.
The three Dazzlings all got ready for their counterattack; however, before they got the chance to move, a snake suddenly shot out of the sand in front of them, straight at the Hollow. The Hollow was confused the snake’s sudden appearance as well, and it used this moment of surprise to coil itself around the Hollow’s body, restricting its movements.
“Hah, sneak attack!” The snake shouted out, in a feminine sounding voice.
Before the three sirens could think further on this sudden change of events, they then suddenly heard something land down on the patch of sand next to them. Turning around to see what it was, they saw another creature, which looked remarkably similar to the unicorns from back in Equestria; its body the same colour scheme as the snake.
“Sung-Sun,” the unicorn called out, also in a feminine sounding voice, directed towards the snake. “It kind of defeats the purpose of a sneak attack to yell it out.”
At this, the snake’s tone suddenly shifted to an annoyed one. “Wh… Shut up, Apacci. I already had him ensnared before I yelled it out. Why do you always have to get on me about every little thing?”
The unicorn-creature, apparently named, Apacci, simply closed her eyes before responding. “Maybe if you just stopped doing stupid things, then I wouldn’t have to keep mentioning them.”
“Wh-What?!” Sung retorted. “How dare you?!” She shouted back, sounding offended.
While the two of them were arguing, the Hollow that she was coiling around started to try and break out of his containment. The struggling of the Hollow’s muscles pulled Sung back to the matter at hand. “Will you just hurry up and attack this thing while I have it contained?” She said to Apacci, as she tightened her grip on the Hollow.
Apacci opened her eyes again and simply let out a small sigh before responding. “Fine.” She then suddenly started charging up a ball of red energy from her horn, similar to what the Hollow did earlier.
Sung kept her focus on the Hollow as she continued to bind herself around it, to keep him contained. When she looked back at Apacci, her eyes suddenly widened in shock. “Wait, what? Don’t use your Cero now. Wait until I’m…”
However, the rest of what she was going to say was cut off when Apacci fired her Cero at both Sung and the Hollow, creating a huge explosion that kicked up a lot of sand, scattering it all over the crater.
The Dazzlings all started coughing as the dust cloud surrounded them. After a few seconds, Aria and Adagio started using their tales to blow away the dust cloud. After it cleared, they could see that the sand crater now only contained the three of them and the strange unicorn creature.
Keeping their eyes on her, Apacci then turned towards the three sirens and asked, “Are you three alright?” The three of them simply nodded back without saying anything, still trying to figure out what was going on.
All of a sudden, the silence was broken when something popped out from underneath the sand. The four of them all turned to see it, and they saw Sung leap out of the sand and get right into Apacci’s face. “What the hell, Apacci? You should have gotten in close and used a physical attack. Or at least wait until I’d moved before using your Cero.”
Apacci simple shoved her face into Sung’s, to counter her own momentum. “Or maybe if you had just moved when you saw me using my Cero, instead of just wasting time, asking questions.”
Sung then pushed her face into Apacci’s again. “Why you?”
While the argument between the unicorn and the snake was going on, the three sirens simply looked on at them, completely lost as to what exactly was going on.
“What exactly is going on?” Sonata was the one to break their silence.
Before one of her sisters could answer her, however, the three of them all heard the sound of another creature landing down near them. Turning in the direction of the slight sound, this time they saw a creature that looked like a lion, with a golden head. “You’ll have to excuse them.” The lion creature said, again in a feminine voice. “They’re idiots.”
Adagio actually cracked a smile at the familiar sounding words she just heard. “That’s my line.” She said in what was half way between a whisper and under her breath.
The lion looked at Adagio strangely when she heard this. “Uhh, what?”
“Nothing.” Adagio quickly brushed her off. Slowly glancing back at her again, she started to speak up again. “So what exactly is going on?” She asked.
“That’s my line.” Sonata suddenly spoke up, slightly louder than Adagio had said it, with a happy smile on her face. With the way things have been going lately, Adagio couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Well, anyway,” the lion continued. “I’m Mila Rose.” She then pointed to the still bickering snake and unicorn. “The two over there are Sung and Apacci.”
After another moment, Adagio looked back over to Mila Rose. “Okay, so why did you decide to help us?” Adagio could understand fighting to protect her sisters, but not complete strangers.
Mila responded with a small chuckle. “Simple; with all of these male Hollows preying on anyone they see as weaker then themselves, we girls need to stick together.”
Hearing this response, Adagio couldn’t help but smile. It was true that things were easier to do when there were more people around you to help, but she had always had her sisters with her for that. Would she really able to make friends as well? And if things in this world were always this hectic, would she need to?
Suddenly, the moment was interrupted yet again by a huge pile of sand being blown up in the air from below, as the Hollow appeared before them again, having finally dug his way out from the blast the Cero had buried him in.
Standing back up, with a furious look on his face, he regarded the six females in front of him. “You think that you’ve won?!” He screamed at them, angrily, not really expecting an answer. “Even the six of you together could never hope to defeat me. I am all powerful.”
Adagio made a move to step forward; however, Mila Rose just raised her claw in front of her to stop her. Seeing this, Adagio was confused and looked over at her, but Mila just kept her gaze forward, locked on the Hollow in front of her. All she said was, “Wait.”
Still confused, she looked back over at the Hollow, who was now standing up as tall as he could, to try and make himself look terrifying. He then threw his arms out wide. “Now prepare for sudden dea…”
However, before he could finish whatever he was saying, he was suddenly struck right down the middle, cutting him in two. His two halves then started falling down at either side before dissolving into nothingness.
Adagio had to rub her eyes in confusion from what she just saw it had happened so fast. When she looked again, she saw another creature, this one most closely resembling their old human forms. She was female from the look of her, and she was covered from head to toe in grey and white scales. She was currently kneeling down, looking like she had just dived out of the sky to strike down that Hollow in one strike, which she had, with the enormous blade on her right hand that looked like a shark’s fin.
After five seconds of just kneeling there, she stood back up again and turned around to face them. From the front, they could see that the scales covered every part of her body, except for her head, although that was mostly covered by a huge mask, exposing only her eyes and her blonde hair.
Her eyes, however, were all that was needed to read her expressions. She was completely calm, although her eyes also seemed to show a bit of worry.
As she walked over to them, Apacci, Sung, and Mila Rose all bowed their heads to her. When Mila poked her eyes open and saw that the Dazzlings weren’t bowing as well, she nudged Sonata, who was to her right, to get their attention. “That’s Master Halibel. Show some respect.” She whispered to them.
However, before they could process this, they turned back around and Halibel was already standing right in front of them. Aria and Sonata both looked a little worried, but Adagio was different. She couldn’t explain it, but it was as if she could tell that this ‘Halibel’ was insanely strong; almost like another instinct she didn’t know she had.
After another five seconds of silence between them, Halibel then took a knee in front of the Dazzlings, and placed her left hand on Adagio’s chest.
Still confused about what was going on, the three of them all simply looked at Adagio’s chest as well, and suddenly their eyes all widened in unison when they saw that her chest was completely clean. They knew for a fact, especially Adagio, that she had been badly scratched by that Hollow during their battle, and that it had left a nasty scar. However, looking at it now, the area was completely clean, as if she had never been attacked.
Somehow she had regenerated from her injury.
“Are you alright?” Halibel asked, snapping Adagio out of her trance. Quickly looking back up, to look her in the face, still looking a bit nervous, she simply said, “Y-yes.”
Hearing that, Halibel smiled a little underneath her mask and stood back up. “That’s good to hear. There are a lot of Hollow’s out here who see us as easy prey.” She then turned to the side and crossed her arms, which is not easy to do when you have a huge blade that takes up most of your arm. “The best way to survive is to stick together.” She continued. Her eyes then drifted back to the three sirens, watching them closely. “Do you want to come with us?” She asked them, focusing mostly on Adagio.
After hearing the question, Adagio looked between her sisters on either side of her. As prideful as she was, she had to admit that they had had a pretty rough time going up against just one of those ‘Hollow’ things, and yet Halibel had taken it out no problem.
Adagio wasn’t one to accept help from others, or especially work under anyone else, which is undoubtedly what she’d have to do if they went with them. However, just one look at her sister’s faces and she had her answer. This was the only way she could ensure that she and her sisters would be alright.
Looking back at Halibel, looking her square in the eye, she said, “Alright.”
After only a second’s wait, Halibel nodded her head. “Alright then. Let’s go.” She then turned around fully, so that her back was to theirs, and started walking away. She was then joined by Apacci, Sung, and Rose, after she had taken a few steps forward, the three of them remaining a respectable distance behind her.
After the three of them had taken several steps forward, the three Dazzlings then pushed up off the ground so that they were floating in the air again. They all looked between each other briefly, and with confidant and strong expressions on their faces, they moved forward to catch up with the others; their new teammates.
When they had all crawled out of the sand crater, Halibel looked over her shoulder, looking passed her Fracción, so that she was facing the Dazzlings. She then said, “Welcome to Hueco Mundo.”
To be continued…