Now that I was assured that Aria was innocent, it was time to hatch a plan to mess with Silver. The only problem was that Sunset wanted in. She was nice enough not to tell Rainbow about Silver's infidelity and even nicer to to mention that I knew about it but I didn't want her getting more involved than she already was. She, however, insisted that she be included in the big Get Back At Silver Plot. I was powerless to resist.
After brainstorming for a couple hours, the best we came up with was my original plan: having Dash find out about it herself. We planned as best we could but I wasn't the devious type and the magic in Sunset seemed to cause her physical pain every time she came up with something clever. In the end, the plan was for Sunset to lead Rainbow to Aria and Silver's next date. I was to trail behind them and make sure that they stayed together no matter what. Our plan date came three days later on Saturday.
Sunset had told me where Aria and Silver were hanging out and I was already there in the mall's movie theater. They were watching a Swedish chick flick, I'm guessing so that none of Rainbow's friends would be there to catch them. I hung back a few seats from them and spied; Snail's phone in my pocket. It wasn't long before I got tired of watching them and paid a little attention to the movie. Almost two hours later, I was in tears and Aria and Silver had yet to come up for air. I dialed Sunset.
"Were you crying?" she asked after hearing my weak hey.
"No," I lied. "The movie just ended and I think they're going to head out now."
"Alright," she replied. "I'll try to get Dash over there now."
I hung up and followed Aria and Silver. Ducking behind potted plants and benches and people, I managed to keep my distance and not lose them. They had stopped to get some ice-cream when I got a call from Sunset. I felt comfortable that I wouldn't be seen from behind the giant fern so I answered it.
"We have a problem," greeted Sunset.
"What happened?"
"I was trying to convince Rainbow to go to the mall but she wouldn't go and I got a little frustrated and..." Sunset trailed off.
I understood though. Sunset let it slip. Rainbow knows. And now she knows we knew.
"How long till she gets here?"
"At the speed she's driving, about ten minutes," Sunset replied.
"Excuse me!"
I looked up from my position to see both Silver and Aria glaring down at me.
"I really hope you just lost a contact," Aria said. "Or this is going to get really awkward."
Silver wasn't as trusting. "The hell are you doing here, Legacy?"
I had no answer. Scratch that. I had an answer but none that wouldn't label me as a creep to Aria or cause Silver to beat me a few heartbeats from death. I sighed. I had about ten, maybe fifteen minutes before Rainbow found us in the entire mall, if I was going down, the least I could do was stall them.
"I was actually looking for you guys," I told them.
"Why?" Aria wanted to know.
Well, that caught me off guard. Who knew they'd want to know why I was skulking around looking for them?
"Because..." I scrambled for the best lie I could think of. "My grandmother died!"
"What?" Aria sounded horrified; Silver glared harder at me.
Too far Common Sense let me know.
"Would you like some fries?" I corrected. "That's what I said."
Aria was understandably confused.
"You were sneaking behind the plant because you want to ask us out for fries?" she asked.
With no other ideas, I nodded.
Aria looked at Silver. Astonishingly, he smiled.
"Sounds legit," he said.
I was surprised at first that Silver was buying my story but then I realized that his hands we just as tied as mine were. If he showed unnecessary aggressiveness, Aria would get suspicious as to why and he'd have to tell her. It would all come down without me touching it. Silently thanking God, I led them to the stand that sold hay fries. My school's obsession with horse related things was unnerving to say the least but it was even scarier in the mall. At the same time, hay fries aren't half bad. We sat down to eat and I checked my watch. About six minutes left.
"So," I asked. "How'd you guys meet?"
Aria grinned as if she was waiting for an excuse to tell the story. Silver narrowed his eyes at me but remained quiet until he could find a reason for her not to tell me.
Aria went off explaining how Silver had found her shortly after she split from Sunset and the others at the Competition and had told her how pretty she was. Of course, she wasn't as easily swayed but he was so smooth in talking to her that her defenses soon broke down. I had no doubt that even his charm couldn't have swayed her before her concussion. I silently cursed myself and wore a fake smile. As Aria chattered on, Silver racked his brain for any reason to shut her up.
"Why do you want to go out with us all of a sudden?" he asked.
Aria stopped, her eyes becoming quizzical as she wondered as well.
Luckily, I didn't have to answer that as Snails' phone began to ring.
"I've got to take this," I told them and turned around to answer it.
"Maybe we should abandon this mission," Sunset told me. "Rainbow is pretty pissed."
I shuddered as I imagined what Rainbow being angry was like.
"What then?" I queried.
"Get them to sneak out of the mall, give Rainbow some time to calm down," she said. "We're just at the food court and- Oh shit."
"Oh shit," I heard Silver mumble behind me.
I turned to see him looking to his left. I followed his gaze to see Rainbow at the entrance of the food court with Sunset behind her looking like a scared animal. Rainbow started toward us.
Silver whipped around to glare at me. "You set me up!" he yelled in realization.
He raised his fist but Rainbow got to him first. Her fist struck him solidly across the face and took him off his chair.
"What the hell do you think you're doing!?" Aria screamed.
"I could ask you the same damn thing!" Rainbow retaliated, her fist going up again.
"Rainbow, stop!" Sunset pleaded. "Aria didn't know."
"Shut up Sunset," Rainbow snapped. "I don't think I've forgiven you just yet."
"Look, Dashie," Silver said standing up. "It's not what it looks like."
Rainbow folded her arms and waited for him to explain. Surprised at this rare moment of Rainbow being reasonable, Silver struggled to find words.
"Aria and I were just out shopping, like friends," he said.
"Excuse me?" Aria said. "Friends?"
"No, no," Silver tried again. "I mean, you and I are obviously on a date but Dashie wouldn't understand that."
"Wouldn't understand that I'm being cheated on?" Rainbow piped in.
"I'm not cheating on you," Silver insisted. "I just happen to be here while Aria is..."
I almost felt sorry for him, watching him struggle between the two girls like that.
Aria held up her hand to quiet him. She seemed calm but I could tell that she was anything but. I wasn't sure if the others noticed it but there was a faint red glow in her eyes.
"Just tell me this," Aria spoke. "Are you and Rainbow going out or not?"
"It's not like that," he said. "Not really! I mean..."
Rainbow punched him again. "Just answer the fucking question!" she spat.
Slowly, he nodded.
Aria grit her jaw and nodded.
"Not anymore you aren't," Rainbow said. "I honestly can't believe you. We were... You and I... I thought you loved me."
"I do!" Silver claimed.
"Then give me a halfway decent reason why you're out with this siren!" Rainbow demanded.
In rare moment of decency, Silver admitted, "Aria is beautiful but I was the one who initiated. There's no need to call her names."
As nice as it was that he decided to take the blame himself, I felt the need to jump in, "You don't understand. Aria Blaze is an actual mythological creature."
"You keep your ass quiet," he snapped at me. "In fact, this is all your fault."
He lashed out so quickly that I almost didn't see it. His fist stopped a centimeter from my face. I was so frightened that I almost didn't hear the haunting melody in the background. It took me a second to place it, but I eventually recognized it as the same thing that wafted through my mind a few months ago when... The Dazzlings performed. I looked to Aria to see her singing, her eyes glowing bright red. On her chest, a red jewel formed from thin air.
I looked to Rainbow who had forgotten her spat with Silver and was looking as concerned as she should have. Sunset was mouthing oh no over and over again. The weird thing was, as hauntingly beautiful as the melody was, it didn't influence me in anyway. I wasn't feeling angry or jealous. Sunset and Rainbow only looked reasonably scared but otherwise unaffected. Then who was it affecting. I got my answer when Silver reached for his own neck. He looked as if he was trying to fight himself but was getting nowhere. He began to scratch.
I looked at Aria but she was glaring at Silver, her voice producing green mist that surrounded only him.
"Aria," Dash said sympathetically. "Maybe you should calm down a bit."
"NO!" that was definitely a legion voice. "He's going to pay for what he did!"
Silver's fingernails broke his skin but he kept scratching.
"Aria," I tried. "Murder isn't the way."
The song stopped for a moment while Aria turned her attention to me. She smiled a very creepy smile and replied, "It's not murder if he does it himself." The song continued and so did Silver.
Not seeing any other options, Rainbow launched a fist at Aria but she caught it and squeezed until there was a crack and Rainbow pulled it back hurriedly to nurse it.
"Don't feed the bad wolf," Sunset pleaded.
Aria's song stopped as she looked at Sunset.
"You remember I told you," the ex-villain continued. "There are two wolves that are always fighting inside each of us: a good wolf and a bad wolf. The one who wins is the one you feed. Don't feed the bad wolf, Aria. You're better than that; I know you are. We all know you are. Lost knows you are."
She looked at me and I tried my best to look like someone she would calm down for rather than the scared child I felt like. She switched her gaze to Silver who was covered in blood at this point. The mist seemed to be hurting him just as much as his flayed neck. Aria blinked and the red glow was gone. Silver's arms fell limply to his sides and he took a deep breath as if Aria's song had also prevented him from breathing. All the green mist flowed into her jewel and she swallowed, the red glow in her eyes briefly flashing back into existence. I wasn't a doctor but I could see that Silver's injuries were only skin deep. It looked as if Sunset had stopped Aria before he could dig straight to his thorax. It would grow back in time but he was never going to forget Aria, that was for sure.
"Leave," Aria bid him.
He seemed stunned. Stunned at her just letting him go or stunned that she had almost forced him to kill himself, I wasn't sure but he just stood staring into her face.
Aria slammed her fist on the table and shattered it, "LEAVE!"
Silver snapped out of his stupor and hightailed it from the mall taking with him the attention of all the bystanders.