Serenading The Fading Light

by Flash Notion

Take Warning

I woke up, unsure. Unsure where I was, or of anything really. I felt something against my side, something big and soft, and-

Oh, right. The couch. I fell asleep on the couch.

So what woke me up?

I blinked in the moonlight, my fuzzy brain taking a minute to realize it was still nighttime. I sat up and looked around the loft, noting that nothing seemed too out of place. Still, my hand instinctively went to my throat. My fingers wrapped around the familiar jewel, and a slight tingling flooded my body.

Power hummed in my skin now. More confident, I swung my feet out onto cool carpet. I got up.

Moonlight was flooding in through the big window, filling the entire main living space. It cast everything in shades of silvery blue and black shadows. The effect was so strange; I almost wondered if I was really awake.

And then I heard something.

A voice, as soft as the light. It wove its way into my ear, stroking my senses. I felt... longing. I wanted to go home.

“Upon an autumn's morning...”

My eyes were drawn back to the window. There was a figure there, little more than a shadow herself. One moment, she was there, the next, she wasn't. I couldn't seem to focus. Watching her, I shivered.

“With haste I did awake...And left behind what all I'd known...”

She leaned against the window, as though reaching for the moon. The light brought her face into sharper detail, and with a start, I finally recognized Sonata. It was strange- she hardly seemed real in the night. She looked ethereal, a true ghost. No costume required.

“For the ne'er ending lake.

“A journey long and dangerous... And always so alone... Crying out with e'ery step... I wish I- I wish-” She suddenly faltered. Slowly, her hand traced over the glass panes. She left trails in the slight frost that covered the old windows.

“Don't stop!” I blurted. Then cringed.

Sonata blinked, slowly. She turned. “Sunset,” she said with equal slowness. “You... heard?”

“Um... yeah.”

Her eyes seemed to refocus, an expression I'd seen a lot, and not just on her. She was coming out of her own little world. “Sorry,” she said, with a slight grin. “I couldn't sleep after all.”

It was my turn to react slow- I was still studying the shadows of her face, and the way they shifted in the light. “What was that song?”

Sonata's mouth quirked down. “A memory.”

“Ah.”

Silence.

“I guess you could say it's my... it's a siren song. My song. The one I always hear.”

“Does that get annoying?”

“Sometimes.”

The words faded into nothingness. I wasn't sure what to say- I'd never woken up to someone singing before. Let alone in the middle of the night.

“Am I doing this right?” Sonata said suddenly.

“Hows that?”

“It's just...” She drew her arms in tight, like a hug. “It was easier, before. Back when it was just me and Ari and Dagi. I know we were the bad guys, but we didn't have to worry about all this stuff. We didn't have to worry about making friends, or disappointing people, or- or hurting...” She broke off.

The shadows darkened.

“Sonata-” I struggled to my feet, the cool floor almost burning. “Sonata, it's good that you worry about that stuff. Nobody wants to, believe me. But if you don't, you end up going to a really bad place. The kind of place where you, I dunno, turn a high school into zombies for your own personal army?”

“Been there, done that.” White flashed, for just a moment. I felt a thrill. She'd smiled, that was a good sign.

“Exactly. I know I don't want to go there, ever again.”

“I don't think I want to, neither. I like people smiling when they see me. But all the rest of it...” Sonata turned back to the window. “It was a lot simpler.”

I thought about that. “I guess so. Back... before,” I forced out, “Everyone around me was either an obstacle or a tool. There was no room for their feelings or anything like that. That changed when I was beaten.”

“So how do you deal with it?”

“You just accept it. It can be exhausting, at first.” I walked over and picked up my quilt, trailing from her door to the window. “But that feeling? Worrying about other people? That's what makes you different from Aria and Adagio. It's what makes you better.” I draped the blanket over her shoulders. “We should get back to bed. Don't want to be too tired tomorrow.”

As if on cue, her mouth opened wide in a yawn.

“You're right. Thanks again, Sunny,” she said. She took a step forward, almost smacking into the window. Gently, I turned her around. “Whoops,” she giggled. “G'night.”

Sonata wobbled off to her room. I smiled, too, and felt my eyes close, slowly.

And then they snapped open.

I watched Sonata stagger the last few feet to her bed and collapse onto it, butt in the air. Her snores dug their way out.

But I barely noticed. I was focused on something else, something I'd felt. Or heard.

I was trembling.

And I was sitting on the couch. How-

I glanced up at the clock, and saw it was half an hour later than I remembered it being. What...

My arm. It was tingling. As Sonata passed, her arm brushed my arm. Contact.

The geode.

My hand flew up again, grabbing the crystal. It was warm. Not from my skin. From use. The magic was active. No...

I ran through it again. The sensation. The stolen thought.

That can't be right. It can't be true!

I replayed the conversation in my head. I thought I'd been convincing her... I was convincing her. It made no sense.

One more time. I recalled it. Seven words.

Sorry, Sunset... But I have to go.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Where can I read the previous story?

[Flash Notion]

8397866
what previous story?