A Ghost Within the Song

by Shadow_Wolf

Chapter 4 - Frigore

Theme: The Beauty of the Beast - Nightwish

Sometimes, when she dreamed, she could still remember the ethereal breath of the sky around her; reassuring in the memory of its presence and cruel in the knowledge of its passing. In those dreams she ached to feel the ecstasy of freedom in flight just one more time, to retake her abandoned heritage and be washed clean of her sins. But even in dreams her birthright remained denied to her, her fragile merriment smothered beneath a mist of suffocating terror that always accompanied such dreams.

And with the fear came the voices.

Silenced as she was within the ominous grasp of that mist, she could only listen as they whispered around her; and the longer she listened, the more frightened she became. How many of them surrounded her was impossible to guess, though one always seemed to ring out above them all. She did not know to whom that voice belonged, only that it was she of whom it spoke and that it contained a wisdom that was as enigmatically familiar as it was unquestionable, a wisdom that promised her the ugliest of truths alongside the most beautiful of lies. With each passing moment she longed to deny the wisdom of that voice and beg for its forgiveness, but each time she tried, her own voice failed before she could utter a single word of reason.

Yet in spite of her misery, a small part of her remained resolute before the voices as a peculiar song began to fill the growing void they left within her soul; a cacophonous symphony that slowly corrupted her thoughts even as her soul struggled to resist its call. But in this effort she knew she would fail, for the final notes of that song always signaled the end of her dreaming. How she knew this she could never explain, just as she could never escape the questions that waking always left behind.

When would things finally change, and why did that voice terrify her so?

---

Shadows swirled about her as she jerked awake, dazed and unsettled as the last remnants of the dream melted into nothingness. On instinct, her hands moved upwards to seek the slight weight that lay against her throat, whimpering softly as her palms closed around it. Still filled with the energy she had feasted upon earlier, the jewel hummed in time with her heartbeat and eased her tremors as she took in her surroundings blindly.

All around her, a mixture of familiar sensations tickled playfully at her senses; the scent of jasmine carried by the caress of cool air against her cheek as she lay curled beneath something light and silken. Shifting nervously, she felt the weight brush across her bare skin and disturb the lingering sensation of pressure that clung gently to her back, nearby movement catching her attention even as it brought a new rush of heat to her skin. Rather than add to her uncertainties, however, the feeling brought forth a kind of comfort that further eased her thoughts and returned a bit more of her concentration.

"Aria," she thought, barely daring to breathe. "My name is Aria Blaze..."

Her name sounded strange and unnatural as she thought it, almost as if doing so should have hurt her in some manner; but the act erased the last of her chills and disorientation as she forced her eyes open to see what had disturbed her sleep. Fortunately, even through the shadows surrounding her, she could still make out the vivid orange curls with their golden highlights that cascaded in waves down the flawless, pale apple skin of the form that sat across from her. Shifting just enough to keep from alerting her partner, Aria let her eyes take in that familiar sight as she felt herself begin to breath once more.

"Adagio," she thought.

She remembered sitting at the kitchen table earlier, the three of them giggling over the day's events when her remaining uncertainties had drawn her into Adagio's embrace as stressful situations usually did, a smirk running across her lips at the memory. Even if she would not admit it, such moments were special to her, a relief to her soul and the chance to cast aside resentment and bare her emotions as surely as her actions bared her flesh. Of course, fascination had always been part of their nature, something they had used many times when thier powers were at their weakest; but such times had become little more than hollow interludes weighted against the unremitting hunger which stalked them since their banishment. Her times with Adagio, however, had always been something more; but this time, whether from the spiritual high of Equestrian Magic or the serenity of shared euphoria, for the first time she could remember, Aria felt truly at peace in the aftermath of their love-making and felt herself studying her fellow siren - her lover - much closer as a result.

Controlling, conceited and unrepentant, the kind of person who would cackle as the world burned; that was the Adagio Dazzle she knew, but that was not the Adagio she had laid with earlier. This Adagio seemed to be none of that as her usual air of authority had vanished to be replaced by a posture of need and uncertainty. Even at her most callous, Aria could never have described Adagio as weak, but as she looked at her now, she saw a kind of weakness the likes of which the girl would have normally denied to her dying breath.

Surprisingly, that feeling seemed to call out to Aria as it brought back some long abandoned sense of protectiveness that took hold of her spirit even as her earlier shivers began anew. It was hardly uncommon for Adagio to slip away sometime in the night and return to her own room, but this time it felt as if her every instinct was urging her to call her back, to offer her a safe haven and shield her from the evils of the world so that she no longer had to feign strength she did not feel. Try as she might, she could not muster the will to simply let her leave as perplexing thoughts swirled within her in ways she could not explain.

But as quickly as the thought took hold, the feeling of protectiveness turned to one of loathing that boiled up inside her like a furnace. She was not a creature that protected others, she was a creature of animosity and mistrust given form; a monster born to feed off the conflicts she inspired. She was a siren!

Her eyes swiftly focusing upon Adagio's unguarded back, Aria felt her lips curl into a predatory smirk as her fingers spread outwards and elongated, her nails extending into razor-like talons as she watched; her mind filled with the sudden desire to know what it would feel like to tear through that smooth expanse of flesh and tear out the beating heart from within it. A single motion, she knew, was all it would take to snuff the life out of the oblivious girl and rid herself of the intolerable feelings she had inspired. All she had to do was lunge, but at the last second a halo of violet midnight at the corner of her eye stilled her actions.

In an instant her teeth clamped down upon her tongue, her eyes widening as her claws retracted, her body frozen as she watched Adagio stand and slip out of the room; thankfully ignorant of what had nearly happened. Shivering and barely able to contain her tears, Area reached out and took hold of her spare pillow, curling around it like a life preserver as all semblance of comfort fled from her thoughts. No matter the reason, she had always considered murder a waste of useful conflict and knowing that she had not only considered, but had sought Adagio's death filled her with a biting numbness unlike anything she had ever experienced.

Cold was an unfamiliar sensation to Aria, one that her bitterness and barely contained anger always refused to acknowledge. As she curled herself more tightly beneath the covers, however, she could no longer keep her body from shaking. How she could have ever blamed Adagio for her own moment of weakness was impossible to understand, but far worse was the now seemingly irreplaceable sense of safety that fled the room with her.

Author's Note:

Frigore = "Cold"