//------------------------------// // Coming Home // Story: The Siren Life // by Michael Hudson //------------------------------// Sonata blinked. She had been staring at the floor for… for so long. She blinked, her eyes hurting as they finally moved again. Not a part of her had wanted to move though, not while she had ‘listened’. Of course, when Dagi got like this, there was no listening. There was simply being a wall to be yelled at. She looked up, to see the yellow siren in one of the other chairs that was in their small apartment. She looked peaceful, with her hands on her thighs, and her head resting against one of the sides of the chair, and Sonata wondered how long she had been like that. She wouldn’t be surprised if it’d been quite some time, as she herself had checked out for most of the rant that she had been given. Not that anyone could blame her, or, so she hoped. She didn’t like negative stuff like this. She could be mean, sure, but just being angry, or sad, or cruel, that wasn’t her style. Or, at least, that’s what she told herself. Then again, if she wasn’t a bad girl, then shouldn’t she have won tonight? She reached to her necklace, and felt the now loose fabric that was her choker. Before it was tight, held together by a very unique clasp. Now that it was gone though, the choker was useless, and she’d had to hold onto it tight to not lose the fabric on the walk home due to the wind. She didn’t want to lose it though, no matter what the others said. She glanced at the hallways that led to the three’s bedrooms. Sonata knew that she should go to bed. It was far too late, and there was a lot that they needed to figure out tomorrow. She didn’t want to think about why though, as that thought caused her head to start shutting down, and made her want to run. It couldn’t be ignored forever though. Sooner or later, she would want to open her mouth again, and she bet she would even want to sing eventually, despite… Sonata shut her eyes against the tears in her eyes, and the voices that screamed at her. She couldn’t face it alone though. She just couldn’t. She ran down the hallway, her chest feeling like it was about to implode, before she slammed her fist against one of the doors. Her whole body shook as she tried to bring it back for another slam, but no part of her wanted to move. She was simply paralyzed, and the voices in her mind, ones she’d hoped she’d banished after a century of living in this horrible dimension, began getting louder. She tried to choke something out, but again, nothing came out. She didn’t want to go back to her room. Didn’t want to be left alone in the dark, where she could blame herself, hate herself… harm herself. No, she needed in. “Come in, Sonata.” Sonata almost crashed through the door, the words having given her the strength to even move. She continued to stumble across the room, and making her way slowly to the third siren of the house. She only hoped Aria was in a… okay mood. She of course trusted Aria more than Adagio did, as their ‘leader’ usually acted like Aria was out for her position, but that didn’t mean she could simply ignore how cruel and cold the purple girl could be. But she needed her. “A-Aria, I-I hope I’m n-not waking you up.” The other siren shuffled a little bit, but still kept her back to Sonata. Then, she threw out some of the blanket behind her, showing that it wasn’t tucked under her anymore. She then said, in that same, gruff tone as always, “Come on over. I know why you’re here, and besides, who could sleep through that cow’s screaming? Sonata slowly stepped over, making sure to control her movements. She didn’t want to end up breaking down, and getting made fun of by Aria. Not when she was already being plenty of a burden. So, she slowly slid under the sheet, and wrapped her arms around the other girl, making sure that she wasn’t hissed at, or told no, as she did so. Instead, Aria was quiet, a fact that Sonata was happy about. A quiet Aria usually meant a happy Aria, and they all could use that right now. She didn’t dare question why though, because she knew that would make the other girl angry, and she didn’t want that. She just wanted something to cuddle. She squeezed Aria a bit more, her shaky breaths beginning to calm as she felt the other girl’s warmth against her. She was tired, so tired, and was just ready for a bit of sleep. Then she could wake up and be happy, and peppy, just like she always was. Then Dagi could calm down, and they could begin to be a happy family again. But first she needed sleep. As Sonata finally relaxed, Aria glanced over her shoulder and let out a soft sigh. She had thought of telling the blue brat that she couldn’t come in, but she had never been able to shake the image of Sonata after Adagio’s first rant here, and the… She shut her eyes, the tears in her eyes coming back, and continued to stain her cheeks. “Stupid tears.” She hadn’t been able to look at Sonata because of them. Didn’t want the girl to see how much this hurt. Hell, they’d stopped her from even going and stopping Adagio from putting the poor, blue siren on the edge like this. But the tears proved that she would have just started yelling too, and then Sonata wouldn’t have been willing to come see her. She raised a hand and wrapped her fingers around one of Sonata’s hands. They felt fragile in her hands, and Aria couldn’t help but remember the long, somber talks that her and Adagio had had over the centuries. Always about the same topic, but always dismissed in the end. But now, with this having happened, could she simply say ‘She’s our sister’ when asked about Sonata? She shut her eyes, knowing, like Sonata, that if she thought about it too much, she would just go into shutdown, and she had a lot of work ahead of her if she didn’t want their family to be destroyed. And she wasn’t going to let that happen.