There you go. You're always so right, it's all a big show. It's all about you You think you know what everyone needs You always take time to criticize me.
This was the worst.
Aria tentatively rolled the sleeves of her jacket up her arm to idly tug at the elastic bands that adorned her forearm.
She was alone that day, something that she was extremely thankful for. The world around her seemed just a little less awful to her when she was by herself. Still, it was pretty awful, regardless but at the very least she didn't have to deal with her sisters, of whom shall remain anonymous as they are by far, the worst.
Especially that air-head, Sonata.
Her slender legs strode on their own accord down the long porcelain halls as her arms folded over themselves tightly, closing herself off from the world. Her deep violet eyes glared around in boredom at everything under her hood, mindful of making no contact with the people that walked by her. At the sight of such a crowd roaming about the mall around her, Aria almost missed her sisters.
Almost.
Still, she had to wonder. Just how much negative energy could they extract out of group like this? Her mouth almost watered at the thought. It had been far too long since she had proper feed. A real meal but it was just like Ms. Cheesepuff-Hair said, time and time again, this world just didn't have the same kind of magic that she craved. That she know they also craved. The slightest signs of a grin betrayed her scowling face, no matter how much she held such distaste for her fellow Sirens, she could always fall back onto the hunger they all shared as something to relate to.
Sonata was still the worst though.
She was pulled out of her inner ramblings as something crashed into her shoulder. She groaned and whipped around only to watch some kid walk on by his merry little way like nothing happened. Aria sneered at the stupid black denim vest he wore over his back and promptly flipped him off. Freaking humans, honestly.
At least they had colourful sign language that she felt was a necessity to learn. You know, for moments like those.
When she turned and started walking again, it was then that Aria discovered something. Something that she already kind of knew but she only took full notice of it until now. She was bored. Like, more than usual. Though, she'd never admit to them, Aria hardly knew what to do with herself with her free time when her sisters weren't around, at least when she was out of the house. Maybe it was time to get a hobby or something, she was bound to have another thousand or so years left of her life ahead, she might-as-well find something to pass the time.
Discord knows that she was tired of hearing all about Adagio's go on and on all throughout the night about her affinity for her daily trips to the salon. Don't even mention Sonata's arbitrary stamp collection. It was time to bug them with something for once.
Aria's ears almost twitched at the sound of a new tune that caught her hearing under the drawl that they played through the mall. No, that wasn't how to describe it. A tune defined to her was melodic, harmonious and when it came to her and her sisters, hauntingly seductive. The sound was discorded and harsh on her ears but she strangely liked it, which was weird for Aria, she didn't necessarily like anything. She followed the noise, as if her feet were gently whisked off the floor and she was being carried to the source of that hypnotizing sound. It got louder and louder as she approached and before she knew it, her curious new sound was accompanied by a curious new sight.
It reached out to her, whispered to her, made it her's and her, it's. It was dark, no, it was lightt but the walls were dark, the whole place felt dark. Just like her. The mall and everything else that was in it or a apart of it no longer existed besides, it was just this place and her. It was music but it as more than that and it was everywhere, in the air and in her veins. Pure, unadulterated music that promptly wrapped it's cold hands around her and made her it's bitch and she loved it. Aria doesn't love, she can't, she's a Siren, her whole existence is driven by getting those around her lover her but this was about as close as anything was going to get to being loved by the toughest sea-horse-thing-turned-human ever in the history of all time. For realzies.
Punk.
This is what tacos were to that idiot, Sonata for her and she couldn't get enough of it.
They didn't have it in Equestria, see. For the longest time, ever since she could remember, Aria was very self-aware of her mannerisms or lack thereof but she never had any other way to express them into something to relate to or admire. It's safe to assume that the clothes that they had on their backs when they came through the portal after being banished, (to this awful place) reflected their personalities. Hence, why her sisters and her went ahead to rectify that problem almost day one of their exile.
She just refused to conjure up the images of what they were wearing in her head. Words can't even...
Of course, with the passage of time, their looks changed aswell as these "humans" did. For almost a thousand years, they watched and they fed. Living among the ignorant race of evolved apes as they continued to build, thrive and kill over their history. Throughout the whole time, Aria stood there, her body leaning on her hip with her arms folded and her eyes pointed straight to the sky in an eternal roll. Something that wasn't likely to change for the rest of her life in this awful place.
That is until music hit a golden age. No matter what, deep down, she could look back on the past thirty years of her life and crack an uncharacteristic grin at the memory of what her old, sensitive ears heard.
Rock.
Aria thought it was fucking beautiful.
Her hand slid lazily into her jacket pocket as her other hand pointed a finger absentmindedly to stroke the air in front of her vision, all her eyes saw were names, titles, cover art and the bordering shelf-racks that lined them all up for her viewing pleasure. The faint little smirk on her lidded-eye expression never left her features.
That is until she stopped moving as soon as her shoulder pressed against something to her side. Out of confusion, she turned her head and much to the kindling that aided in the burning of her fury, it was the same figgin' guy that bumped into her earlier.
Her piercing violet eyes glared holes into the side of his head but he never even looked at her. Not that she could tell through the dark sunglasses resting on his nose. Why did he even need those? They were inside!
Aria scoffed and shoved him aside, quickly turning back to stare giddily through the assortment of music.
She didn't get to enjoy the spoils of her small for very long before she felt a firm weight push against her arm. Her gaze snapped to the side only to stare into that frowning mug for only a second before she was roughly pushed back. Aria staggered to get her bearings and stared in seething rage as he just turned away from her and tilted his head down at the collection assorted along the store rack, his lengthy white hair teasing at the edges of his face.
Arrogant prick. Time to get verbal.
"Do you friggin' mind?"
Aria paid no mind to faces of those around within reach of her voice snap towards her. All she acknowledged was the way that he didn't even look at her, not even the red tendrils that slowly consumed her vision. "Huh?!"
The extra volume in her tone prompted a slight turn of his head. The way his eyebrow cocked slightly behind those stupid black lenses just made her madder and there's one thing you never do and that's make Aria mad, he didn't know that but by Tirek's goatee was she going to make him know. Aria stormed the few steps back to where she stood, reached up and yanked him as harsh as she could by the hem of his black T-shirt to meet her at eye-level, baring her teeth wider. "Well?"
Her other hand raised up and balled into a fist. Seriously, if he didn't take that look off his face..."What's wrong, tough guy? Can'tcha talk?"
Aria cracked a smirk as his lips twitched into a firmer frown. That hint of victory was then promptly rolled up in linen and burnt to ashes as she felt a hard grasp wrap itself around her forearm. Aria glanced down to the spiked-bracelet coiled around his wrist, following it down to his fingers tightly squeezing in on her muscles. She felt the strain immediately and released her grip on his shirt. Grunting, she looked back up at him, his brow creased ever-steadily behind his shades.
"Talking is pointless."
With that, he let go. Aria rubbed her hand over the elastic bands on her arm where he had held her. Okay...so he has a good grip. Whatever.
Something happened in that one moment as he stood up to his full height again, blankly and silently staring down at her while she scowled back up at him. She didn't even know his name but she couldn't care at all about that. Aria felt a strange sensation cut a pocket into her flesh and slither inside in the most unpleasant of manners one can imagine. Nobody was tougher than her and there he stood, proud as a friggin' peacock standing above her like the pretentious douche she knew he was. There was just something, something deep that got under her skin about this guy, burrowing into her mind and heart and it was the worst. Was it the way he looked? What he said? She didn't know but it was definitely the worst.
He was a punk but nobody was more punk than Aria.
Aria's glare never left the floor as the bastard silently strode past her. She didn't watch him go, what would be the point? Aria groaned, reached behind her and pulled her hood tightly over her head.
Except it wasn't that easy. Aria spent about fifteen minutes pushing her overgrown hair into the confines of her shroud as she walked, finding herself now in the cool late afternoon breeze outside, the sky above her turning from fluorescent white to waves of orange. Not like she cared.
Aria's face contorted in a mixture of embarrassment and rage. If there was one thing she couldn't stand was being humiliated...
...that and that idiot, Sonata.
Except she knew how to deal with Sonata. This new guy...this prick was a different problem.
Aria swore that if she ever saw him again, she'd mount his stupid head over her fireplace. As soon as she got one. They should totally get a fireplace. For this exact reason.
Nobody was more punk than her.
"Talking is pointless...Tch."
Aria spent the whole walk home in complete silence.
If I had a perfect day I would have it start this way Open up the fridge and have a tall boy Yeah
"Sorry, these pendants are very valuable to us." Aria rolled her eyes, trying in vain to find interest in something besides her sister and the weirdly nice bacon-haired girl that was showing them around. The Siren cast her eyes down to glance at the crimson gem adorning her throat. "We'd just hate for anything to happen to them." Her sister added. Aria smirked at Sunsetwhatsit and followed Ms. Cheesepuff Hair in tow as she took off walking.
Except Sonata didn't get the hint. The idiot didn't even notice, she just stood there, her hand on her hip and smiling dumbly at Bacon Girl, looking like an idiot because she was an idiot. God, she was an idiot. Aria just groaned, not even looking as Adagio gritted her teeth and yanked their idiot blue sister away from the oddly friendly orange girl.
Aria kinda wished that that was that but realistically, they had barely covered any of the school grounds and as much as she would've have just loved to throw little miss obviously-trying-way-too-hard-to-make-friends into one of these grossly green-coloured lockers, Adagio would have her giant purple head if she aroused any kind of trouble for them before they could get what they came here for.
Aria wasn't too sure if they were actually going to find any real Equestrian magic here but she had to admit, just the thought of getting some of the good stuff, that unbelievably delicious energy made her internally shiver with excitement. It had been far too long. She needed her fix and Adagio had promised that this place was going to hook her up. Hook them all up. Inwardly, she felt like a little giddy baby Siren, suckling on her first feast of magic. Happy.
Of course, outwardly, she looked just as resentful and stagnant as ever...because she's Aria and no one's more punk than her.
Oh, joy, Bacon Girl caught up to them. More joy, here she goes again with her 'and this is the-bluh, bluh, bluh, BLUH!'. Whatever. Aria glared at the fluffy mass of bright orange and yellow her sister called her hair, she could practically feel the smug coming off her swaying hips. Just why did she have to walk like that? It annoyed her but not as much as the half-assed 'uh huhs' and other fake quips of interest escaping her voice. Honestly, the amount of work Adagio put into her human facade was baffling to her.
Aria had to admit though, it was probably what had gotten them through this bullshit banishment for all these years. There was no way she could have persuaded that pope or charmed that president, if she knew herself at all, she'd take one look at them, sing something and if it didn't work, they'd be tasting her fist with every future meal they ate.
Of course, if this went the way they wanted, she could. After all, whose going to stop her when the whole world can do nothing but adore her.
Ohh, the thought was so seductive.
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught pair of humans leaning up against the wall, eyeing her wearily. Aria only needed a single glance and bared her teeth a little at them. She almost smiled as the two immediately took off in a hurried walk down the hall. The simple pleasures in life...and being evil. Nevermind the fact that she was, admittedly an over-grown seahorse demon from the ocean, she was evil. Like Cthulu. Aria took a moment and decided that that comparison was stupid, who'd ever listen to her sing through all those stupid, gross tentacles? Still, bat wings would be cool instead of her tiny webbed fins.
No matter what, she'd still rather be a giant lyrical water monster than one of these humans.
Being human was the worst.
She was broken out of her rambled musings as her eyes caught a familiar sight, Aria almost took that back when the image registered. Almost.
It was the guy from the other day. She couldn't see his face as half his body was hiding behind an open locker door but she could tell it was him by the totally stupid black leather vest he wore around his torso. Her suspicions were confirmed when his head popped into sight, are you serious? Again with the bloody sunglasses? He didn't notice her and just took off walking away from her. Something about how he turned his back on her sparked something deep within Aria, she didn't care if he hadn't seen her, she was going to make him notice her.
Then punch his friggin' face in.
Wait, Adagio was still here...and there's no way Sonata wouldn't just be a narc and tell on her because she's the worst.
Screw it.
"Oh? And what's the principal like?"
"Well, Principal Celestia and Vice-Principle are alright. Their door is always open to any student that has a problem but-"
"-Aria?"
The conversation and the calls of her name fell on deaf ears. Her pigtails sashayed about as she stormed off, marching with a purpose. An angry one. Her fingers curled and prodded at the bands aligning her opposite arm, as if tightening in preparation as she grunted and gritted her teeth, never taking her scowling eyes off the prick sauntering slowly away from her. With no small amount of malice, she punched her fist into her open palm and almost grinned as her knuckles gave a satisfying crack as she applied pressure to the joints between the segments.
"Aria!"
Fuck her sister's protests, she made a promise to herself.
"Hey, tough guy!"
There was only the slightest swivel of his head in her direction before she lunged at him. Her hands reached up, grabbing him by the back of his shoulders and with a harsh swing, Aria threw him into the adjacent wall aligned with steel, his back hitting the ugly mural of lockers with a resounding clang. His head went back as his teeth bared under his shades in a scowling groan. Aria didn't miss a single beat and dashed in front of him, taking his collar in both her hands and pinning him to the wall. Aria leaned in and grinned maliciously down at him. "Remember me?"
...What is...
His mouth didn't even twitch, in fact, he didn't move at all, just stood there like an idiot, staring at her blankly again like an idiot. All the better, she didn't want to have to hear what he had to say, this pretentious bastard had this coming. Aria recoiled back, tightening her fist behind her head.
That isn't...
Her knuckles felt something firm push hard back against the force of her punch. The look of his face never changed as his grip tightened around her fist and caught her wrist in his other hand. For the second time, the sudden strain caught her off-guard and her fingers unhooked from his clothes. For a while, he just stood there, looking down on her with both her hands bound in his own. Aria couldn't stand the fury that burned within her as he did. Even if she couldn't see them, she hated the thought of his eyes on her like this. It made her feel vulnerable, weak, two things she was anything but. Above all the rage was the embarrassment and it was the worst.
Even still, there was something...something gnawing at the back of her mind that comforted...and it was the WORST.
Except it wasn't.
Aria's ears twitched lightly at the sound of a familiar tune. No, not a tune. Her eyes were drawn to a single vine of black suspended there between their bodies. She followed it up and found that it split into two separate tethers that extended up and were firmly dug into both his ears. She could hear the blaring static escaping the tiny speakers but beneath all that, her inhumanly attuned, trained and sensitive seahorse ears could pick it up. The sound. The music.
It was...
...It was fucking beautiful.
Aria stared back up at him, her eyes softening slightly, betraying the emotions she felt. He frowned just a bit more noticeably and without a word, he shoved her back. Aria staggered to get her bearings and found herself standing dead-centre in the middle of the hallway. Her gaze flickered from the smooth floor back up to...she didn't even know his name and only for a moment, she felt as if she could see his eyes past his dark lenses in the brief few seconds they stared at eachother.
He didn't talk. She didn't talk.
It stayed that way as he turned, she never stopped watching him as he walked away with the same pace, the same attitude he had just moments before, as if nothing had happened. Maybe nothing did happen, at least nothing significant, at least that's what she thought. It was...pointless.
"What the Hell was that, Aria?!" Her deep violet eyes snapped up to see her sister, Miss Cheesepuff Hair standing there. She didn't want to pay attention to the smoldering anger layered in her light orange features.
"Who was that?" The worst asked, more to herself than anything else while she chewed on her nail, her eyes looking dopey, as usual.
"Uhh, well, I can see you've already met Grimlock." Bacon Hair chuckled nervously off to the side. The idea that he had an actual alias almost seemed wrong to her but at least she had something to go off of. Whatever, he was still the worst.
"Clearly." Adagio seethed between clenched teeth, glaring at her as she folded her arms. Oh, goodie.
"Well, I haven't." Sonata squeaked in her stupid, annoying voice. "How d'you know 'im, Aria?"
She just looked away, pushing her crossed arms up her chest and slouching her neck down, gritting her teeth slightly at nothing particularly. "I don't wanna talk 'bout it."
"And I hope we never have to." Hippy McswayingHips whispered cautiously. 'Warned' was a better way to describe it. Aria stifled a scoff as she hid her fury with her with a bright fake beam, turning back to the girl that was showing them around. "I'm sorry about my friend here. Please, I'm dying to know where we can grab some grub."
When Bacon Hair wasn't looking, Adagio promptly smacked Aria between her pigtails with a swift crack. It hurt. Whatever. Aria's arms tightened around her body, her scowl never leaving her features as she walked, mindlessly following her sisters wherever they went throughout the school.
So...Grimlock, huh?
At the sound of his name echoing within her brain, only one thing came to mind, a question.
I open my eyes I try to see but I'm blinded by the white light I can't remember how I can't remember why I'm lying here tonight.
The Dazzlings.
By the Sea, did she hate that name.
For a while, it felt like Bacon Girl was never going to leave. Ever. Aria didn't think she could live like that, she was just so...ridiculously nice to her and her sisters. It takes a lot to get under her skin, okay maybe that was a lie but seriously, this chick was starting to creep her out. She could deal with Cotton-candy Hair constantly glaring at her whenever Pig-locks wasn't looking but this 'tour' was really getting on her nerves. It was the worst.
Never in her life was she more thankful for Cheese-Head than when she stopped and gently tugged at Bacon Girl's totally not-awesome studded leather jacket. Aria resisted the urge to spin around and clock the worst in the face when that idiot, Sonata slammed into her back but instead bared her teeth and scowled at the obliviously stupid Siren.
"Thankyou, ummm, Sunset." Adagio started in her ever-saucy tone, glancing back over to her and Sonata. "But I think we'd like to have a look around on our own."
"Uh huh!" Toothpaste Hair nodded, beaming all the while through the unbelievably annoying voice of her's.
"Yeah." She muttered.
"Oh." Flame-head breathed, smiling. "Okay, I'll see you girls in the cafeteria later, alright?" Aria couldn't stand the hopeful optimism in her totally-not-kinda-sexy voice.
"You just might." Winked Adagio.
She stopped and smiled. Oh, Lord Tirek please, just go. "Okay, well...bye!" Aria watched Cheese-Head halfheartedly wave at her as she took off walking down the hall in her absolutely-tacky-and-not-cool-as-all-Hell-flaming boots. Good, she's gone.
Though, maybe they should have kept her around for just a little bit longer. She'll never get those fifteen minutes of blindly following their steps and listening to Sonata's repetitive 'I remember! It's this way!'s.
Aria stared ahead with little emotion at her sister all the way down the hall, pointing down the corner and calling out to them. She looked to her left, Cheese-Head stood there, meeting her gaze and looking just as dead as she felt. She looked to her right. There was a big, fat door in the middle of the wall with the words 'Principal Celestia' written in black printed on it.
The amount of force of her open palm colliding with her face could have moved mountains but it was no way near as powerful as the harsh smack across the worst's head when she finally realized and moped her way over to them.
It wasn't long after that when she heard it.
That horrible...horrible name.
She bit her tongue and forced the scoff that threatened to escape her lips, she didn't need another scolding from Cheese-Head over there. Aria fastened her improv-vest against her chest, idly glancing over to where her sister stood in the room with little interest. Adagio leaned on her elbow over the desk, she could practically feel the seductive stare she was giving Miss Rainbow-Hair, of whom sat behind the table in her chair, her fingers interlocking together in front of her eyes.
Aria glanced over to Sonata, she just stood there, rocking back and forth on her heels and toes. Back and forth. Heel and toe. Smiling like an idiot the whole time, looking at everything as if it were the most interesting thing in the world because she's the worst.
However, she was very close to handing that title over to the so called 'band name' that Adagio had just miraculously come up with on the spot without consulting either of them. The second she said it to the grossly tall lady behind the desk, Aria instantly felt the urge to throw up. Seriously? She always knew that her sister was a bit of an egomaniac but did she really, really have to make themselves know as the friggin' Dazzlings? You don't see her walking up to people going 'Hi, my group's called the Blazlings!'.
Lest they sound like a bunch of junkies.
"So, what do you think?" Fluffle Mcfluff-Fluff asked, glancing at her nails.
Chapstick-Lips over there glanced towards the over-grown smurf standing in the corner, of whom stared back blankly, and sighed. "Interesting proposal, girls. But I I don't think any sort of conflict would be best, given recent events. Perhaps we..."
Aria's ears neglected to register the rest of what she had to say and her gaze snapped downwards as Adagio clacked her heel against the side of her boot. She looked over to Toothpaste, she grinned maliciously at her before she closed her eyes and parted her lips, the gem set in the black band around her light blue neck glowing faintly.
Ah~Ahhh~ Ahh~Haaahh~
Aria gently glided her finger over the smoothed-out cuts of her jewel and smiled, joining her sister in their wordless chorus.
Ahh~Haa~ Ahhh~Ahhhhh~
Adagio idly flicked at a stray fluff of hair from her face and lidded her eyes, resting her chin on her knuckle. "Yes?"
Green tendrils teased at the edges of Rainbow-Head's eyes. "...We should-"
"Maybe we should instead have a battle of the bands, sister." The lady from Avatar interjected, her eyes swirling in pools of emerald. "After all, what's so wrong with a little competition?"
She heard Cheese-Head cackle under her breath and rolled her eyes. "Ahhhhhhdagiooooo Can we please change the naaaaaammee Ahhhh~?"
Sonata giggled.
"No."
"FuckAhhhhh~You."
Tartarus hath no fury like a Siren scorned. Except it just wasn't any Siren, it was the toughest Siren and she wasn't really scorned but it was close. Aria's muscles tensed under her skin as her teeth steadily ground together, her eyes never leaving the white spot in the table. She sat there, rigged with rage, listening to the grotesque gnawing of her sisters jaws and the giddy humming that escaped her throat.
Aria clung to every wisp of negative energy that seeped into her amulet, trying to take comfort in it and distract herself from the worst. Glancing across from her, she eyed Miss Triangle-Leggings (she was beginning to run out of different names) leaning back there in her seat, looking as smug as ever with that facetious smirk on her face with her legs crossed as she twiddled her pendant between her fingers while it absorbed the foggy green mist that permeated the air.
Her deep violet eyes lazily scanned around, the sight almost got her to grin. Everywhere she looked, there was conflict and it was delicious, friends turned on each other, lovers squabbled and names were cursed with the fires of Hell and it was delicious. Never had she seen a pack of hormone-raging adolescents get along so well before setting foot into Canterlot High.
It was sickening.
Thankfully, they managed to change that and all it took was a little song. It had been far too long since she'd had a good feed. A real meal like back in the old days. She didn't expect anything less though, after all, nothing screamed 'Tense Social Powder-keg' more than a high school, even if it wasn't the type of Equestrian magic Adagio had promised. They just had to light the fuse.
"Mmph!"
Speaking of fuses. Dynamite...yeah, dynamite would be good to have right now.
Aria groaned, letting forehead smack firmly down on her forearm. Ever since this morning, there had been something nagging at the back of her mind. She couldn't help but feel it was connected somehow to the weird tugging in the chest. It wasn't really a bad feeling but it was new and it was annoying her. You don't annoy Aria Blaze.
Aria felt something fly out and get caught in her hair. She lifted her head up from her arms out of confusion just in time to have a piece of mince meat promptly stick to her cheek. Her eyebrows lowered ever so slowly.
Sonata just sat there, her eyes closed while she munched away without a care with a half-eaten taco in her hand. Her face was caked in salad dressing and crunchy shell crumbs.The crazy bitch had another whole taco in her other hand.
Aria growled under her breath and reached up, locking her finger behind her thumb and flicking the worst's nose like a mini-catapult. "Ow! Aria!" All that managed to do was spur her into a second strike. "Stop it!"
"No."
"Stop!"
"No."
"Stahp it!"
"No."
"Ariaaaaaaaaahhhh!"
"Then chew with your mouth closed, Toothpaste."
"Oh...sorry."
"And you wouldn't be if you weren't the w-" Aria's voiced caught in her throat as she caught sight of a very annoyingly familiar sight.
There he sat on the far end of the room, what was his name again? Something stupid and lame, she'd bet. He barely moved at all but that wasn't what got to her, something was different this time and even though he was still wearing those douchy glasses of his, this time, she was sure he was looking at her. Something about that fact made her feel uncomfortable, very uncomfortable.
Grimlock. That was it.
As the name echoed around her giant, lavender noodle, that blasted grabby feeling in her blackened heart strengthened. Soon enough, her whole steadily betrayed her. Her palms began to sweat uncontrollably and her knees wobbled under the table. Her eyes fluttered and twitched relentlessly. Everything about everything was wrong in that one second in time and it only got more so the longer she stared and he stared back. Ever so slowly, her lips curled up into the beginnings of a stupid, dopey smile. "...w-worst..."
For a moment, it felt like it was just him and her. Her and him. Them. Only. The whole world went black, turned to a inky void, except them or maybe the world was colour and they were two shadows, two darkened souls never breaking eye-contact with each other from afar, over an ocean of hues. Aria couldn't decide or describe it. For a moment, she thought she could hear the tones blaring from his ear phones like before. It surrounded her, all she could hear was the music. All there was was the music.
Aria felt sick. Very, very sick.
Her head felt like it had just up and turned to sludge that swirled around in her cranium. "You are!"
Her gut twisted and writhed beneath her skin, almost as if it were a snake curling and tying in on itself. Except it was like a billion snakes. "Oh by the Sea! Would you two just shut u-Aria?"
She felt the bile rise up in the back of her throat like a tidal wave a tar crashing in on her tongue. "Hey, what's wrong?"
She could have sworn she just saw the briefest flashes of a smirk adorn his face. "You okay?" It takes a lot to scare Aria Blaze but this was doing it. Hard. Just what the actual fuck was this feeling?
...and why was it so warm?
Aria gulped. Her cheeks expanded as her mouth went to cover her lips. She gave one quick look to both her sisters before jumping out of her chair and bolting out of the chaotic war-zone that used to be the cafeteria.
She had never ran so fast in her long, long life.
Aria tried to recall the events leading up to her current predicament but it was all just a blur to her now. One filled with porcelain walls, stupid orange and blue concerned faces and greenish yellow slime. Lots of it. She decided to take that as bad sign.
There she sat in the room, there were no words for how bored she was nor were there for how she felt. At least, she didn't think so, there shouldn't have been, this was indescribable. It was the worst. Her eyes drifted up to the glass frame etched into the door at the far end of the room. In big, fat black letters, in reverse read the word 'Nurse'.
She hated doctors.
Why in all the multi-verse Adagio thought this was a good idea was beyond her. For all she knew, she just had a bug or something. One of those human ailments that they get and in turn, she gets. That makes sense, right?
"You must be thankful to have friends like that." She moved her head at the sound of the voice. Her gaze was met by that of a pale, young woman standing by her side, smiling sweetly at her. Holy Discord, she was white! With a quick glance down at her chest, she read the name 'Red-Heart' scrawled in cursive, simple writing on her tag. Aria would never admit that she was also pretty, sorta, kinda well-developed, at least, by human standards. Not that she would ever think anything of it. Humans were gross creatures. Why the Hell did she have to be one? "They were really worried about you, you know."
Aria crossed her arms and scowled at the wall ahead of her. "Whatever."
Licorice-Head ('Cause, seriously, her hair was RED) let out a quiet sigh and walked over to the other side of the room where a desk rested. Aria caught the sounds of something rummaging around but didn't bother to watch her. "So, sweetheart, why don't you tell me what's up?" She asked.
Aria gritted her teeth. "Your friends said that you just up and felt sick out of nowhere."
The warmth was still there. Why? "...Aria, was it?"
At the sound of her name, she briefly caught the genuinely friendly look the nurse was giving her. Fuck it. "Alright, doc. Ya wanna know what the friggin' problem is?"
"I-"
"This!"
All at once, Aria's whole body snapped.
Her muscles convulsed under her skin, her arms slumped to her sides and her neck slouched forward more. She could hear the rapid beating of her heart in her ears, feeling the blood burn in her veins. It was warm. Everything was warm. Her tongue softly lolled slightly out of her mouth as her lips were cracked and forced into a droopy, dumb smile. Her eyes rolled to the sides and her eyelids lowered steadily. She blinked. Very slowly. Her head swam with euphoria and it felt good. Aria didn't like that. Not one bit. Her entire figure relaxed into what could be classified as a sluggish mess.
Nurse Licorice-Locks's expression shifted to one of stark smugness. "Uh huh." She grinned. "And how long has this been happening?"
Aria's back straightened and her eyes rolled as she crossed her arms again. "Just today."
"I see...and when exactly does this happen?"
"I just told you! It only happened today, right when I..." She paused. "When I looked at him."
"I think I've found out what's going on with you, dearie." She laughed.
I'm in the business of misery, Let's take it from the top. She's got a body like an hourglass, it's ticking like a clock. It's a matter of time before we all run out, When I thought he was mine she caught him by the mouth.
"...You're a friggin' idiot."
Several things could have happened in that one moment in time. A newborn future leader could have born, a house could have blown up or a doctor could suddenly found the cure for cancer. Not that she cared, those were all human things. She could have proceeded to flip her shit in rebellion and that definitely wouldn't have been the only thing flipped. Tables, fingers, you name it but for a while, there was just silence. A small, eerie, awkward noiseless era of seconds between a magical seahorse demon and a high school nurse. Neither of them said another word for what felt like an eternity after Redheart's little declaration.
Aria felt the briefest flicker of panic arise in her chest before she scoffed, really? That was her great revelation? Never had she heard anything dumber and her sister was Sonata Dusk. Just take a minute to think about that, over a thousand years with that little blue air-head and never had she said anything stupider than what this two-bit doc was dishing out to her. She was a Siren, the toughest Siren.
She couldn't be...that. There was nothing punk rock about love. Barely another thought crossed her mind before she finally spoke. Bitterly. Licorice-Head was taken aback.
"Not...quite the reaction I was expecting."
"Well, you are...So, can I just get some kinda medicine or something to make me feel better 'cause I'm not...that."
The nurse cocked an eyebrow. "Really?"
"Yeah, that's impossible." Aria muttered, more to herself as her fingers gripped tighter around her biceps. Wait, what was...
"Are you sure about that?" Bleach-skin's lips cracked in an annoyingly amused grin.
"Yes!" She blurted, feeling the sudden burn of anger in her blood. Why was she..."There's no way! I'm a Si-" She stopped. Even if she didn't believe her, Adagio would have used her giant head as a bowling ball should she scream out that little fact. As that train of thought chugged on through her mind, Aria slowly came to an idea. One that frightened her beyond all reason and it was literally the worst.
"I'm sorry, you're a..?"
"Nothin'." She managed to grunt out.
"Well, regardless..." Redheart chuckled, sauntering back over to her desk. "You can deny it all you want, dear but I think you should instead listen to what your heart says."
Aria was about to tell her to shove but that's when it occurred to her. Her heart. That weird tight feeling in her chest, the spinning in her head, the bile in her mouth. Her arms hung loosely to her sides, eyes never really saw anything as they widened, unfocused as they were while her jaw slacked lazily open. No...she refused to believe it. It wasn't true. She couldn't...not for him.
Aria growled under her breath and wordlessly walked out of the room, finding her sisters standing by the wall, looking more bored than worried. The doc didn't know what she was on about. Like, seriously, her? In...that? C'mon, get real.
Now, only if she could get that guy out of her head, she'd be fine.
"Okay, just what is going on with you today?" Fluffle McFluffington The First pestered, Aria wasn't sure whether to take her tone for annoyance or concern.
"Nothin', Adagio."
"What's the matter, Aria? Are you dying?" The Smurf added.
"No, Sonata." She grunted. "But I wish you were."
"...'Dagi!" The Worst whined. "Aria's being mean to me again!"
"Shut up, Toothpaste." She growled, not bothering to look at her sister as she sauntered off, aimlessly.
"You shut up!"
Oh, she did not...Aria's teeth almost ground together into dust as her fingers clenched into a hard fist. She raised her hand and spun around, ready to clock the little blue waste of space. Only when her eyes rested on where her sister was standing, she wasn't there.
Aria's heart stopped, her mouth dried to the point where it felt as if someone had just made her swallow a desert with the sweat drenching her skin as a stark contrast. The image of Sonata, glaring at her irritably and totally-not-super-adorably flickered back and forth in her eyes. Her cyan skin darkened, her bright magenta eyes were shielded by black and her long, curvy hair turned white and shortened considerably, the band holding up her ponytail falling to the ground silently. Her stupidly coloured coat morphed into leather and cotton and her frowning slowly curled into a haunting grin. It wasn't long before all she could in place of her ditzy sister...was him.
And it. Was. The. WORST.
"...Aria? Why're you looking at me like that?" Oh, by Discord's beard, he still had her voice.
Aria bit back a scream and spun around, immediately forcing her legs to move. Adagio's irritated calls fell on deaf ears as she ran through the halls. To her chagrin and her horror, her retreat only disturbed her more. She had to tighten her eyes shut, she didn't want to see. To see anything. He was everywhere. Everyone she passed melted into the same fucking image. She saw him on the walls, in the posters, glaring at her from the outside of windows. Her heart felt like someone had set it on fire before sinking their cold, hard nails into it and trying to rip it out of her chest and it was fluttery.
Her black heart did not flutter.
Aria caught the briefest sight of a bathroom and skidded to a halt, not even taking a minute to breathe before she dived straight into the door. She hacked, her head crashing first into the nearest sink. Everything felt wrong. She felt sick, her throat muscles heaved but nothing escaped her mouth. She chalked it up to her earlier spasm. Her hand found the cheap knob by the tap and hurriedly twisted it, she drank greedily from the stream of water that escaped the faucet. It tasted terrible.
Aria's back slowly straightened as her head emerged from the small porcelain bowl in the bench. When her eyes met the reflective glass of the mirror, she almost yelped. Almost. For the briefest moment, she could swear he was standing behind her. Right over her shoulder, staring into the mirror with her. What scared her the most was that she could swear she could have smelled him. That horror was dashed away by her unending rage, her fist recoiled back and collided with the glass. Her knuckle cracked the shining surface and she let herself grin a little as the distorted ripples forming in it made him go away. Finally, she made him go away.
So, why was he still in her head?
Ugh.
Aria took a moment to stare into the visage of terror that stared at her in the mirror. Her dark purple eyes were bloodshot and dilated, her hair was matted and wet and her lavender skin was coated in thin layer of sweat. For a while, she just scowled into her reflection, as if it was the cause of all this. Her eyes trailed down to her chest, right above the space where that little pulsing thing that pumped her blood would be. She glared just a little harder, clutching at her vest hard and flicking her gaze back up to where her reflection's eyes were.
Yeah here we go for the hundredth time Hand grenade pins in every line Throw 'em up and let something shine Going out of my fucking mind
Nothing felt right.
Aria replayed the day's events over and over again in her mind as she stared into herself for the second time since this morning. Her eyes flickered over to the window, catching sight of the soft glow of the moon, suspended there in the blackened sky. She envied the ivory orb, the lazy son of a bitch, what did it have to worry about? All it had to do was just sit there, look pretty and be surrounded by darkness. Saying it like that made her want to grab it out of the sky and punch it in it's stupid non-face, that'd show it to mock her.
It was during that line of thought that Aria came to a conclusion. She had officially lost it. She just groaned at that, watching her teeth bare themselves in the mirror. This was the worst and she knew just who to blame.
Not that idiot, Sonata and not that prick, Grimlock but her stupid, stupid heart. Or whatever that thing was in her chest that pumped her blood. That was about to change, however. She couldn't stop thinking about it. A wicked smile crept onto her face at the very thought. A way out, a solution and it was so simple. She wouldn't go through another day of this, she just wouldn't. No one could make her.
Those two idiots better get home soon.
Aria turned away from the mirror with disdain and stepped out of the bathroom, steadily sauntering over to where the open door leading into her room was. Her hair hung and flicked about wildly on it's own, unhindered by her bands. 'Dark' was an understatement to describe the surrounding walls that she called her own but there was no where else in the world that felt more like home to her. Well, not home, to be fair. Home to the toughest Siren ever was an island of rocks...in the middle of the ocean...in another world...
Whatever. It was dark, she was dark. That was enough.
Aria walked up to where her stereo lay, her ears caught the whispering words of a chorus and as she recognized it, she grinned, barely taking another moment before leaning down to twist the volume dial. Her efforts were rewarding by hauntingly edgy yet beautiful tune gracing her hearing. She felt a little piece of who she was flood back into her from the music but that damn feeling in her chest was still there and it wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. At least she had control of her eyes again. She loved moments like these, when she was alone. When she was alone, she could do what she wanted, act like she wanted, listen to what she wanted. So long as she didn't destroy something in the house, Cheesehead would have her scales. By the sea, did she miss her scales. Neither of her sisters really got the sheer divinity of rock.
Sure, that idiot, Sonata liked pretty much anything, even if it made her ears bleed but that wasn't the same thing. Which was probably a good thing, the last thing Aria wanted to be was like Sonata. Still, that idiot being like her was less-gag-worthy. Aria's eyes drifted over the aligning posters donning the walls of her room and noting that none of the faces in them morphed into...him, she smiled at the fact that she now had reclaimed control of her eyes.
If only she did over her mind. It was as if her head had just been sliced down the middle...twice. Aria missed the days when she could focus on only one thought process. Bitterness, power, distaste, more power, hate, need more power, power, hate. Those were the years. Aria couldn't help but feel her age kick in at that stray line of thinking. She was far too adolescent to start getting nostalgic yet here she was, lying flat out on her bed, decked out in her plain black set of pajamas, staring up at the ceiling and recalling the days when she didn't have to deal with these stupid bipedal limbs and she could just swish her tail about and get fucking going that way.
She used to be a demon sea-horse that could fly. That's bloody metal but now look at her. She had skin now, no scales to speak of and instead of her gorgeous fins, she had this dumb stuff they called 'hair'. What was even it's purpose? Before she had something that was aerodynamic, something useful, it helped her. Now she just had stupid threads of yarn spewing from her scalp that got in her face.
Humans were the worst but being human was THE WORST.
Scratch that, both of those combined with that dumb-ass, Sonata were still not as bad as being in l-...l-l-lo-Love. Ugh.
Aria's hand dragged down her face, almost as if punishing herself for even saying that accursed word in her head. As her fingers trailed off her chin, the nails tapped against something hard, a contrast to her soft flesh. She didn't even bother to look down at it, she of course already knew what it was. Her most prized and valuable possession. A fact that, deep down in the blackest pits of her soul, terrified Aria. Before, as a true Siren of Equestria, that little jewel that hung tightly on a piece of leather was her heart. Whether literally or metaphorically, she forgets but it was a part of her, a piece of her body, the centerpiece, in fact. Smack-dab in the middle of her magical sea-whorehorse chest shone it's bright red beauty as it absorbed the chaotic energy that just wafted up from the lands of pony land everywhere they sang.
Now it was separated from her. From all of them. It wasn't a piece of them anymore but rather an item, a possession. No matter how important they were to them or how much they needed them, their sources of power were reduced to common not-so-common necklaces. Pendants, jewelry, whatever, can break.
That scared the shit out of Aria.
Her ears caught the faintest hint of a door swinging open over the blaring euphoria of her music. The rustling of thin plastic bags came next and then, much to her chagrin, came two annoyingly familiar voices.
"Aria! We're home!" Screeched the annoyingly bubbly tone of the Worst. Already, in her mind, she could see Cheesehead's hand violently smack against her stupid face. Not that she could blame her.
"Do you have to do that? Every. Single. time?."
"Well, what if she didn't know it was us?" Aria rolled her eyes and shimmied off the bed, onto her feet. She could almost taste her older sister's disdain from where she stood. "So, anyway, Adagio..." The giant smurf began. "If you had to have sex with one of the friends, who would it be?"
Aria stopped, her hand lingering on the door-frame. Wha...?
"Sonata...what kind of question is that?" The overgrown umpa-lumpa asked...you know because she's orange and she sings...whatever, shut up. Please smack her, Aria silently pleaded. Please, please, pleas- "Chandler, obviously."
Aria almost buckled to her knees at that. "Ugh! Ewwww."
"Alright, then. Who would you go for?"
"Joey! Duh." Okay, now both of them need to be smacked.
"Gag."
"What?"
"You know he's like a million years old now, right?
"Yeah, so? I'm a thousand, it's not that much of a difference!" Hard.
Aria slowly walked out into the hall. "You know what? I take it back. You're about the same intellect, you're perfect for each other."
"Thank you...Hey!" Adagio laughed heartily at that, much to spur on the slapping need that flowed into Aria's palms. As much as she wanted to feed her urge, there was something more important to do and as much as she hated it, she didn't think she could do it without those two idiots. Being assaulted by the image of her sisters bickering over nonsense next to a table, struggling against the weight of the groceries they had brought i only spurred her. Aria snarled, crossing her arms and took in a deep breath.
"I want you to cut it out."
Sonata spun around to face her, exasperated. "But she started it!"
"Not that." Her gaze flickered between the air-head and the cheese-head, taking note of their sudden confused looks, she narrowed her eyes. "My heart. I want you to cut out my heart."
A deathly silence fell upon the Sirens in that one moment. Aria only stared at the other two, being the way she was, she expected them to just go with it and then do it for her. With smiling faces, they would lay her out on the table, take the sharpest knife in the kitchen and take out that damn pulsing plague from her chest. Everything would be fine and she'd never have to deal with emotions ever again. That wasn't to be the case, however. Sonata's head slowly, ever-so-slowly tilted to the side, to the point where her neck almost snapped. Adagio, on the other hand, with her eyes wide in alarm, just met her blank stare with bewilderment. That is until she spoke, replacing her look of shock with one of exhaustion.
"Aria...why?"
"I'll get the tongs!" Both Sirens snapped to Toothpaste who smiled brightly and dashed into one of the drawers, searching frantically. She stopped, groaning before jumping into a nearby cupboard. Aria bit back the edge to murder her sister with her a spoon when she got hit in the head by a bowl of cereal. Twice.
Adagio's hand met her face again. "I'll ask again. Why? I really hope you're joking about this." She repeated with bitterness, not even looking at her.
"I don't wanna talk about it. Can we just do it?"
"No. We can't." Cheesehead sighed, taking a seat at the dining table, glaring at her through her clasped fingers. "You are aware that you'll, how do put this...Die if your heart were to be cut out?"
Aria pouted, leaning against the door frame."Whatever. Can we just do it?"
"Ugh. What's wrong with you, Aria?"
"N-nothing." She stuttered, locking her hand around her opposite arm.
Adagio sighed. "Look, whatever it is, can it wait? Now is not a good time for you to start having suicidal thoughts. Especially when you want us to commit it. Not when we're so close..."
The constant clanging of kitchenware stopped. "So, wait. We're not cutting out her heart?"
"No, Sonata."
"...Awwww."
Aria gritted her teeth. "I'm not asking for much here!"
"Why are you asking us at all? Seriously, this has got to be the stupidest thing you've ever pulled."
"Because-!" She stopped. There was no way she could say it out loud.
The Worst popped up next to Cheese-head, curious and bubbly as ever. "Because...?" She drawled, placing her elbows on the table and resting her cheeks in her open palms.
"I'm-" No, she refused. She couldn't. "I'm..."
Aria's felt the sweat begin to form on her forehead. Forget them. She could do it herself, she knew where it was, she knew how to slice things, it'd be easy. Who needs them? Not her, no way but now she was stuck. She tried to speak, to shrug it off and retreat to the confines of her room but she was, again, stuck. Her brain sent command after command into her body but it jut didn't respond, so she just stood there, mouth agape, like an idiot. Snap out of it, sea-horse! Try to think, you're the toughest fucking Siren! Get it together, girl!
The faster we're falling, We're stopping and stalling. We're running in circles again Just as things we're looking up
"...You're an idiot, Aria."
A lot of things could have transpired in the short span of silence among her and her fellow demon seahorses. Dexter Holland could have kicked down their door, wielding not one, not two but three rubber chickens, of which had layers and layers of nails stabbed into their squeaky fake feathers and proceeded to frantically wave them around while singing stupid, old Elton John songs. He wouldn't actually try to kill them but instead just kind of, sort of maybe jumped out the nearest window before lighting on fire, sprouting wings and engaging in a fight to the death with Cthulu. Aria didn't like Elton John, who even was that? She didn't know, she was punk. Anything would've been more acceptable to her than...that.
"What?"
Adagio's hand went straight to her forehead. Again. "That's impossible. Why in Tartarus would you even think that?" Aria just gritted her teeth.
Sonata giggled, the mirth and smugness in her tone stoking the fires of Hell within Aria. "Yeah, you idiot."
"Shut it, Sonata!" She screeched. Why was her face so warm? Oh, God, she was blushing! "This is serious!"
Adagio raised an eyebrow. "I don't see why you're getting so worked up about."
"Ugh! You just don't get it, do you, Dazzle?"
There was something about the way she had used her second name that made Adagio feel like she was in trouble. She could feel her hair sending little warning singles into her brain because it could friggin' well do that. It was alive, after all. She shrugged it off and shook her head, this was getting ridiculous. "Alright, calm down."
She did but only her way. Her eyes cast to the right and her arms folded tightly flat against her chest. Sometimes Aria wished she had boobs.
Before anyone could speak, the Worst popped back in. A piece of toast lodged in her teeth because why the frig not? "Sooooo...why do you think you're in-"
"Don't say it!" Aria snapped.
"What? Lo-"
"I said don't say it!"
"I said calm down!" Adagio yelled. "For Tirek's sake, Aria, you of all should know that this is the stupidest thing ever. We can't love!"
"What did I just say?!"
"We're Sirens! You know this!"
"No, we're not!"
"...What're you-!?"
"I'm fuckin' human!" Aria couldn't remember a time when she screamed like that. "We're human now, Adagio! We have human minds, humans hearts, human fuckin' vaginas now! I can't stop myself, I can't force it down, it's always there now! It's only been a day and I'm fuckin' losin' it! He's always there! It's like he's laughing at me with that stupid sexy face of his and I want it out! I want it out of me! You don't know what it's like...it's the worst..."
Adagio was about to come back with something but it was only then that she caught the distinct glassiness shining in her sister's dark violet eyes. It was enough to stop her, rendering her silent.
Aria's hand went instinctively to grasp around her right arm and she hated it. Her gaze went straight to the floor as she held herself close. "I-I can't handle it...I don't wanna feel it anymore." Okay, no, she hated that. By the Sea, did she sound pathetic but it was their fault for not helping her! You know, like a real sister would.
Adagio's mouth hung slightly agape at that. Never, in over the thousand years she had known her, never did she ever hear her sound so...
"So, could you please..!" Aria's piercing glare snapped up to stare right into Adagio's eyes. Did she just say...? "Just cut. It. OUT?!"
Don't you dare cry, girl...
Crunch.
Adagio closed her eyes. Taking a slow, deep breath in through her nose, she parted her lips without even looking at her. "No."
Crunch.
Well, that's that. She couldn't count on either of them for anything, it looked like. That was fine, really. She could do it herself, no problem. Stop shaking fist and tear, don't you fucking drop or else. Alright, heart, nice knowing you. "Fine."
Crunch.
Aria spun around and was about to storm back to her room but stopped at the beginning of the hall. Her shoulders shook and her teeth felt as if they were filing down to points with the way they ground against each other. C'mon, it'd be so easy.
Crunch. Crunch.
Aria dashed back into the room. Her steps were precise but angry, so very angry. Briefly, her eyes caught sight of Adagio just sitting there at the table, a shadow looming over her blank features. Who the Hell needed that arrogant bitch? Not her, she was the toughest damn demon seahorse thing ever, she didn't need anyone.
Crunch.
Aria's hand went straight for the sharpest looking knife sitting there, suspended in the air by the wall magnet off to the side. Just one quick thrust, a few twists and some ripping, it'd be fine. She could it, yeah, she could do it. It's only, you know, one of major things that keep her stupid bipedal body going but she could do it and if she died, she haunt these two idiots for the rest of forever.
Something firm wrapped around her wrist before her fingers felt the hard black plastic handle. It was warm and there was something about it that made her feel...safe? It got tighter and it was then when Aria noticed just how shaky every single one of her muscles were. Why did all of this have to happen to her? Slowly, she turned her head, her watery eyes looking on unfocused at the sight of a familiar shade of orange and...and a smile.
...crunch.
Adagio's lips formed into a warm, soft smile. Something that in any other situation would have scared the ever-loving shit out of her but not this time. In that little grin, she saw something she thought she'd never ever see again. Aria stared back into those two sparkling pools of magenta for what, to her, felt like an eternity. Slowly, her grip loosened on her wrist. Aria didn't give the knife another look as her arm fell to her side, her feet never moving away from the spot in front of her sister. Adagio titled her head slightly to the side as her smile cocked to the left side of her face.
"You are a Siren, Aria Blaze."
Tentatively, Adagio's hand went up to her massive, cheesepuff head. Her fingers combed back through her hair before they stopped at the protruding spikes jotting out from the mass of orange and yellow. With a satisfied grunt, Adagio's raised her hand back over to her sister, her signature head-band in her fingers. Aria closed her eyes and didn't move another muscle as her sister gently set the ornament upon her head, behind her ears, feeling her hair rest flat against her scalp under the pressure. When she felt Adagio's hands fall away from her face, she opened her eyes again.
"There we go." She muttered.
"Please, Dagi'." Aria breathed. "I just wanna hate again."
"And you will." Adagio's hand fell unto her sister's shoulder. "Because I have an idea."
For the first time in what felt like a long time, Aria genuinely smiled.
Cru-
"IF YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT EATING THAT TACO, SONATA! I AM GOING TO SHOVE IT UP YOUR ASS!!"
Better beware I go bump in the night, Devil-may-care with a lust for life, And I know you can’t resist this You know you are so addicted. Boy you better run for your life!
Aria hated sugar.
So when the sweet, fruity flavour of the confection swirling about in her mouth hit her tongue with a certain pleasantry, she didn't know whether to bite back the hum of satisfaction or the urge to spit it out. She decided to simply trap the white stem between her grinning teeth and saunter on without another thought. That managed to get a few more heads to snap her way.
Cheesehead assured her the stupid lollipop would help, she would've stuck it to her but Hell, she had already gone along with everything in her plan so far, why rebel now, right? The black leather of her jacket sashayed smoothly against her body as she walked along the winding path of the halls. Her pastel bangs swung back and forth, bouncing in front of her vision. Cocking her head slightly to the side, she eyed Sonata walking alongside her-
"I hope they like the fruit punch!"
...looking just as oblivious and care-free as ever and for once in her life, it didn't make her want to gouge out her own eyes with a rusty spork but instead, left a familiar pang of disdain in her heart. By Discord, did that feel good.
Past her sister, one of the forsaken humans snapped in place, staring at her with her hand holding onto her locker door. Aria's gaze waved over the insides of the small alcove and she was immediately hit with a flash of movement. It was barely even a second but in that one microcosm of her looking into the small mirror, hanging there, suspended in the locker, Aria Blaze genuinely and maliciously grinned to herself. Much to the spur on the amused, satisfied smirk adorning Cheesehead's mug as she walked by her side. It was weird to Aria but not unwelcomed, for once, she made the head of the Sirens and she lead the way.
It had taken hours, but not a single penny spent for obvious reasons *coughmagicalseahorsethroatmagic* ,of work and shopping. For every single time Aria felt as though they were wasting their time and should just do it her way, Adagio would always shoot her down with a smile and carry on with her plan and by the Sea, did it friggin' make an impact on her.
Her hair hung free and straight down her back and shoulders, the familiar natural emerald green striping it was flooded in ebony, her parted bangs were brushed aside to cover over her left eye. Her old favourite top was replaced by a rather revealing plain white singlet. Wrapped around her legs were a pair of purposely ripped dark blue jeans, a thing chain clipped to the...the...whatever the Hell you call them, the things on the waistband, she didn't know but the metal bounced against her thigh with each stride just as her studded, heeled leather boots clacked along the floor. She almost cut herself on the spiked bracelets her sister had given to her, Sonata had a whole assortment of things just as Dagi' had a entire collection of spiked headbands. Weird.
Even as much as she hated being told what to do or changing her style, never did Aria think she looked like she felt more than today. Maybe, just maybe, if this all worked out in the end, she'd actually thank Adagio.
Well, would you listen to this bitch? She was a whole new Siren.
No...no, she wasn't. This was how she always was. Hate still filled her heart and that made her smile. Finally, it had been far too long. She'd have to keep up this style, she could practically almost taste the bubbling adoration draining out from the humans. Hell, for a second, she thought she caught Adagio jealously scowling at her. That only spurred Aria into forcing a bit more sway into her hips, just to add insult to injury.
Girls wanted to get with her and guys wanted to be her...wait...
Whatever students that littered the hall gave way to her and her sisters up until she came up to the two steel doors. Her joints cocked and with one fell movement, Aria kicked in their entrance. She grinned, Sonata giggled and Adagio hummed. She could get used to this.
The expanse of the gym was crowded by scurrying little groups of adolescent bipeds. The bitterness and competition was in the air but above all of that was anger and disharmony, her mouth watered a little at that. She knew her sisters could taste it aswell. Adagio walked ahead of her and out of instinct, she took to following her. When she stopped, Aria had a quick look about the gymnasium, seeing nothing of particular interest. Damn. He wasn't here.
"Oh no! No one's mingling." At the sound of suddenly annoying fake squealing voice, Aria's attention was brought back to the cloud of orange in front of her. "It's like there's some underlying tension that could bubble to the surface at any minute..."
"It's the fruit punch, isn't it?!" Shrieked the horrible choir of horrible, horrible screaming mimmies of The Worst's voice. Aria suddenly became aware that she could only care for her sisters...if they weren't talking. "I knew I used too much grape juice!"
Aria crossed her arms and rolled her eyes as Adagio slapped her face. "It's not the fruit punch, it's us!"
She barely paid attention to the conversation, still scouting her surroundings. "Yeah but the punch sucks too." She muttered, leaning her weight onto one leg.
"You suck! What do you know about good fruit punch?!" Squealed the Smurf.
"More than you."
Aria didn't even look at her as Sonata mocked her stance, turning her back to her and folding her arms. "Do not."
"Do too."
"Do not."
"Do too."
"Do not."
"Do too."
"Do no-OW!"
"Hahaha-Argh!"
And that is when Sonata Dusk and Aria Blaze were left suddenly very painful foreheads due to the savage snapping of Adagio Dazzle's flicking fingers.
"Both of you shut it." Cheesehead growled. Her mirthful grin came roaring back to her face as she took one more glance at the bickering student body. Aria had half a mind to cut her smiling lips off and feed them to her but bit back her murderous impulse, absentmindedly looking to the side. "This is just the kick-off party, girls." She said. "Imagine what a..."
The lollipop in Aria's maw almost fell from the grip in her teeth.
Whatever Adagio might have said was lost on Aria. The world seemed to fade away to black, such a familiar feeling...and she hated it. There he was, standing right next to the door they had come in from, leaning with one foot propped up on it with his hands deep in his pockets. His name registered in her mind and much to her embarrassment, she half-expected herself to cave in and run off, maybe lose the contents of her stomach again. She blinked. Nothing. Absolutely friggin' nothing. She felt nothing!
Perfect.
"...'ce the battle of the band st-Aria?"
Without even a thought, her legs kicked into gear, driven by the sheer bitter determination coursing through her very being. Finally, she'd show that smug prick just what he was fucking with. It was if something had taken out her brain, bathed it in contempt before screwing it back into her head and her heart? Not even the darkest pit of Tartarus could measure up to absolute blackness of the demented thing in her chest that pumped her blood. She was ready and by all the fires of Hell, she was ready.
Like water around rocks, they cleared the way for her, those who didn't were shown the error of their ways. Her fists tightened to the point where she could swear blood began to pool in her palms. Ara reached up to pull the white stem from her lips and flicked it away non-nonchalantly-
"My eye!"
...the candy she gnawed between her teeth was decimated into tiny, glistening shards of sugar swirling around in her mouth.
She stopped, standing directly in front of him. She barely paid attention to the few lingering, watchful gazes turned her way but she was aware. She couldn't even tell if he was looking at her through those stupid shades. All the better though, might as well make it a surprise when she busts his skull wide open, right?
...Wait...
"Eveything's pointless, huh?" She grinned, never moving her eyes away from his stupid, stupid face as she cracked her knuckles. One after another. "Then you shouldn't worry 'bout this, then."
Then it happened again.
The music. The fucking beautiful music pumping out from his headphones, muffled static to all, rang clear in her ears. The world turned black to her and all the was left in the inky void was her and him. The toughest damn seahorse demon ever and the silent, emo bastard that had taken her heart and made his plaything without even trying. Aria could see it in the way his head tilted down at her that he felt it too and he saw the darkness...he heard the music. It was without melody, without harmony, it was distorted, edgy, just like her. A connection was made that day, something beyond the primal desires of the heart, something other than the sentimental qualities of any emotion. She didn't move and neither did he, both of them just stood there, staring, glaring at eachother, her knuckles shook with each second that stretched into eternity. It wasn't love., it was hate...mutual hate and Aria had no-
"Excuse me?"
Aria brought her clenched fist back but stopped at the sound of Cheesehead's voice. Her uncovered eye glanced back to where her sisters were standing and several things were already incredibly wrong to her about this picture.
"That's what your band is called, right? Or do you prefer 'The Sirens'?"
Purple. Just like her. There was a purple girl standing there in Adagio's face with six other girls at her back, including Bacon-Hair. The purple one. What the purple one just said. The purple one knows. How in the fuck does the PURPLE ONE KNOW?!
Sonata slowly stepped quietly behind Cheesehead. Adagio scowled. "And just who are you, Dorky-bangs?" Heh, good one, Dagi'...
"My name's Twilight Sparkle." Ugh, really? "And we are the ones who will stop you!" Is this bitch for real? "Ready girls?"
At this point, everyone had snapped their attention to the seven girls standing resolutely in the middle of the gym. Nobody knew what to make of it as they joined hands like some kind of sectioned off team of hippies.
"Friendship is magic!!"
...
No words.
No words could describe the sheer awkward stupidity of today's sudden turn of events. Aria has no idea what to do, part of her wanted to gawk, to really process the absolute idiocy of the sight. Another wanted to hit her face so hard, it would come flying off her skull and then her skull would light on fire and she'd burn them all to ash with her flaming cranium of contempt. The scene was so stupid, she didn't even want to know it existed and hence, we shall leave it to your imagination. She even spotted Sonata's gaze becoming lidded and bored as she looked on at the girls, snaking away from her hiding place behind Adagio's great mass of poofy locks.
Before she could do anything else, a voice stopped her.
"This is pointless."
Aria's stare turned back to the very manifestation of her recent suffering as he kicked himself off the wall, a loose headphone swinging back and forth in front of his chest with each move he made. She watched him, barely moving as he approached the door and to her surprise, he stopped. Even more to it, he looked back at her through his sunglasses.
"Wanna get outta here?"
Such a simple question, such an over-used expression except she couldn't even associate the word 'expression' with the way he said it. Barely any emotion coated his tone but she didn't care about that. It was the music, quiet as it was flowing from his pair of speakers but she couldn't but feel attracted to it. At first, she wanted to spit at him, to turn her back, cross her arms and fold back into the surrounding safety of her sisters. After all, he was the very creature that had brought her so much misery, why would she ever even give into a request made by him? She got all dolled up to stick it to him, to teach him the lesson he dearly needed, nobody messed with the toughest Siren but...
Aria took one more look at the display in the gym.
"Whatever, let's go." She groaned.
He held the door open for her as she stormed out the door.
She'd kill him later, she just needed to get away from that.
I slither like a viper And get you by the neck I know a thousand ways to help you forget about her That bitch can eat her heart out! Love bites, but so do I, so do I.
Aria couldn't help but grit her teeth to herself.
Barely minutes ago, she was a kick-ass, punk-rock diva on the prowl. The heads that swiveled her way only stoked the fires of her confidence and spurred her on in her quest for retribution. Now, here she was, her brow lowered and her arms crossed briskly, flush against her abdomen, following someone else like she'd always had. She lingered behind him by barely a single step's worth but to her, it felt like her neck was chained to a ten-foot leash and he was holding the handle with a vice-like grip. He didn't say a word and neither did she. What would there be to say? She didn't have anything to say to him. One doesn't need to speak in order to murder someone and that's just about all Aria wanted to make the extent of their interaction. Yet, she followed him.
When he turned a corner, she groaned and followed. When he took out his phone to switch the track pumping into his ears, she rolled her eyes and followed. The few lingering students littering the halls that weren't in the gym for whatever stupid human reasons they had still coiled their way. Their way, not her way. That's something that truly bugged Aria. They didn't see her, not like before when she was with her sisters, they saw her...and him.
Together.
A pair of girls standing by an opened classroom door caught Aria's attention as she followed when they turned, her gaze flicking between their own. They turned back to each other and giggled, there was something about the empty bitterness in that laugh that annoyed Aria. You don't annoy the toughest Siren. Just as she passed them, her ear caught the muffled comment one of them made.
"Looks like the goths have found love at last."
Aria stopped.
She barely noticed Grimlock walking on without her, her brain seemed to simply stop processing information as her body stood rigid, frozen in the same crossed-armed pose she strolled in. Slowly, her head cocked to the pair, red brimming at the edges of her vision.
She walked up to the girl. Waited for her to notice she was there. Brought her arm back.
And punched the bitch square in the face. She went back, out cold. The other one just kind of stood there with her jaw reaching the ground.
You don't annoy the toughest fucking Siren.
When she turned back and started up walking, she was immediately caught off-guard. Grimlock had stopped at some point and had his body turned but more importantly, he was looking right at her. His ivory locks teasing at the edges of his glasses, she could feel his eyes on her. Aria instinctively went to just blow at her hanging bang and avert her eyes but that's when she noticed his lips curled into a small smile.
There was something about that smirk that made her, indeed, avert her eyes but not in the way she wanted.
The second he turned back around and started walking ahead again, Aria's eyes bulged with rage. She followed on. She cursed to herself again and again, hoping to whatever omnipotent entity of evil that would hear her cries that it would make her face feel cold and not...warm like it was. Still, she followed. To her credit and slight glee, not another disgusting human batted an eye at them her and-WHY THE HELL WAS SHE STILL FOLLOWING HIM?!
That's when she focused her attention on the music again.
During every step, every turn, every towing stride she took, she listened. She listened intently, like it was guiding her, like a moth to a flame except the flame was moving. Aria felt a sudden slight strain on the muscles in her face but shrugged it off and just listened. Nothing else mattered to her when she listened to the music. What else was there? She took comfort in that and just listened. There was a slight misdirection in her steps but she didn't notice. Her eyelids felt heavy but she didn't notice. All there was was the music and her, the waving of her free-flowing her, swinging like a pendulum back and forth behind her and the clikkity-clack on her boots, thumping along with the distorted symphony. She didn't even notice that her arms had unfolded and now hung slack by her sides, swaying uselessly.
That's when she felt it.
Ever so lightly, her fingertips brushed against something warm and textured. It...didn't really feel bad to her but she kept it at the front of her mind that she hated surprises or, for that matter, physical contact. So why didn't it bother her?
And then suddenly, it really, really bothered her.
Aria's eyes snapped wide open when she noticed Grimlock looking back at her, uncharacteristically appearing confused. She had half a mind to punch him in the jaw but for some reason, she just crossed her arms again and averted her eyes to the side.
It wasn't long after that she suddenly found herself outside. She only really took note of that when she automatically let a thin grin slip across her features when a stray cloud blotted out the sun. There she stood, leaning back on the hard bricked wall of the school, slowly growing more and more irritable. Standing beside her was the same cause of all her recent problems, right there, within eye-gouging distance. Yet, she did nothing. Without any real compelling feeling to go by, strangely enough, Aria tried to feel content just hanging at the back of the school, alone, in (mostly) silence...with him. At least that idiot, Sonata wasn't here to ruin it for her with her stupid stupidity and at least Grimlock was quiet.
The only way they'd look like stereotypical high school goths is that if they were smoking. Aria chuckled a little at that thought.
As her mouth closed to a curled smile, her head rolled to the side, her eyes landing back on the form of the catalyst to everything wrong with her life. Aria decided that the human was now literally the source of all her problems. Ever. That's just how much she hated him. Even if it didn't make sense, he just was. Yet, the smile on her mug didn't wipe off her face until she made a conscious effort to do so, something that weirded her out immensely.
Her gaze lingered back to the thin chord extending the length of his torso and her eyebrow cocked slightly at the sight of one of the dividing speakers just hanging there. Aria took note of the length of the thinner chord and steadily, the urge got evermore compelling. Her super Siren hearing or whatever wasn't picking up anything, so she assumed nothing was playing. Without really paying attention to what she was doing or rather, what it looked like she was doing, Aria moved closer to her latest nemesis. She didn't see him slightly turn to look down at her as she took the suspended earphone in her fingers, carefully.
Tentatively, she brought the small black bud up to her ear, the distorted symphony bringing a feeling of excitement rising in her chest. As she fastened the speaker within the grooves of her ear, Aria...
There she sat, her back against the wall, one knee tucked into herself while her other leg lay lazily, flat along the ground. Her free purple and ebony hair dropped and hung chaotically from her head as it tilted ever so slightly to the side, propped up by something. Her arms loosely and comfortably crossed over her stomach and her dark lashes came together in a river of black where her deep purple eyes would be. To her, there was nothing. In her mind, there was nothing. Nothing but the blaring sounds echoing from the tiny black bud lodged in her ear. She focused hard on it, to the point where it was second nature to her, the silence that reigned in her other ear making it all the easier. For the first time since she could remember, she was at peace and that brought a genuinely happy smile to spread across her mouth.
Ring.
She frowned. Damn school bell.
Aria's eyes gently opened to nothing but a blurry haze clouding her vision. Why was she so tired? She reached up a hand to brush her hair back but something stopped her or rather, did it for her.
Aria involuntarily gulped as her eyes widened, her mouth curling into a suddenly sick-looking frown. Why did her face feel so warm? Aria watched, silent and shaking as a hand, larger than her own morphed into her sight and gently brushed her stray locks back. At first, she thought it would bring it behind her ears but instead seemed to know what she wanted and brought it to gently dangle over her left eye. Just like that, as soon as it appeared, it vanished from sight and all she could do was just sit there, stunned.
Slowly, Aria swiveled her head in the direction of where the hand came from. She had to know, even though she couldn't believe it, she had to. That's when she noticed that her head was already slanted and she was leaning on something. No, not the wall, she knew that but...what was she laying her head on? Oh, by Sea, let it not be...
Aria's eyes shot to the side. Then up.
And as if on cue, the speaker in her ear fell from it's hinges all on it's own. It was comical, really.
Oh, fuck. It was him. She was leaning on him! Why were they even this close?! Oh, God, now he was looking at her! Why won't he say anything? Why isn't she saying anything?! Why does he still have both of his eyeballs?! WHAT IS THAT NOISE?! What happened?! Why was her face so fucking hot?! WHAT THE FUCK HAPPE-
Oh. Yeah, now she remembered.
Hours.
They had been alone together here for hours. Why? How, even?!
"Heheh...I love this song..."
"...Yeah...me too."
Aria suddenly felt very sick. Again.
Her face turned a shade of green, feeling as if she was going to throw up on spot, she brought a hand up to her mouth out of reflex. Her body shot right up and her eyes bulged. Oh, fuck, here it comes. Quick! Dive for the bushes-
To her side, Grimlock rolled onto his feet and stood up to his full height. Her head snapped to him, standing above her as she struggled to keep in the confines of her stomach. Except, she wasn't. As she watched him gently tilt his head so that their eyes met, the bile rising in her throat seemed to die down. He didn't smile, just stood there with his hands in his pockets, staring down at her. Evermore, her body just seemed to ease under his gaze in a way she couldn't explain. Not that she was complaining, I-I mean, she was, of course! He was looking at her and she hated him, he should stop looking at her! But...whatever it was, she didn't feel sick anymore. Not like before. Not like yesterday when the mere thought of him made her want to upchuck.
It was different...and not overly-unpleasant. Aria remained cautious, even as her hands dropped to her sides and her lungs took in a deep, relieving breath of air as her stomach settled.
And that's when he did smile.
"C'mon." He said. Aria was slightly shocked that she heard him say anything. No, not anything new, just straight up, anything. He bent downwards slightly, extending his hand. "Let's get a drink."
Much to her disdain, Aria's first reaction was to actually take his hand. Her face got warm again at that, why does it keep doing that? She glared as hard as she could, gritted her teeth and slapped his open palm away. That stupid smile never left his face. Aria grumbled and got to her feet, her back hurt at that. She didn't care, she was suddenly very thirsty and even though she was sure Adagio would have her head the next time she saw her, one drink couldn't hurt. Depending on what it was.
Oh, wait, he was already leaving.
Brushing the grass from her butt, she took off following.
But she had no idea why.
This wasn't part of the plan...just what the fuck was she doing?
Little did she know that her current escort was having the exact same self-questioning experience.
Some like beautiful, perfect, and pretty I see the good in the bad and the ugly I need the volume one louder than ten Put the pedal to the metal, needle into the red
Aria refused to look up.
The sky was up. It was dark so that meant the moon was up as well and for the second time in her life, she felt the moon mock her. The great ivory orb in the inky blackness was just a reminder. A realization of just how much time she had spent during the day. Normally, that wouldn't have bugged her but tonight? Tonight was different. Instead of embracing the darkness that flooded the void above her, maybe basking in the afterglow of a quick snack, she loathed what it meant. She had spent practically the entire day, all the way through the afternoon and past the sunset with him.
Aria took a quick swig of her sugary drink. How many of these bloody things had she had by now? Eh, whatever. He was buying, might as well take advantage, right?
She shivered. The night's cold was already falling upon her.
As her steps clicked and clacked along the pathway, her mind wandered to the spiraling events that had led her up to now. She gritted her teeth slightly, nothing went as planned. Nothing went according to Adagio's plan and the very alive, very-still-not-eye-gouged human walking in the opposite direction from her just moments ago was a clear indication of that.
So, why wasn't she livid about that? She had so many opportunities and she left him with all of his teeth still in his mouth. What was wrong with her? She could finally look at him without feeling the urge to coat the world in bile and she didn't even break a finger off. What the Hell stopped her?
Aria glanced down at her drink as she shook the contents around in her hand. A soft smile fell upon her face. She didn't even notice.
True to his word, he took her somewhere where they could sip on something. Not that she much cared, not like she was thirsty. And maybe a little hungry. Being human's the worst, after all. She could definitely have picked a better place to go than whatever the joint was that she followed him into, it was full of them. Sugar-something or other, it was called, she wasn't really paying attention. The lady behind the counter was fat and blue though. Much to her chagrin, he clearly wasn't as distasteful towards his kind as she was and picked out a booth. Not that she said anything about it, mind you.
They sat there for a while. For the life of her, Aria can't remember why but he was buying her food, so she ran with it.
Even as time seemed the drag on forever for her as she just sat there across from him, sculling down every smootie, milkshake and soda that was put in front of her, she felt...not bored. He barely spoke a word to her, Hell, the only sounds he really made was when they split an order of muffins. It was the strangest thing, she wasn't really content to just do nothing with the entity of her suffering but at the same time, she didn't know what else she wanted to do.
That is until she noticed him take out his phone. It was barely five minutes later of him just silently scrolling through whatever he had open when she lunged forward and snatched it. Don't ask her why, she just wanted to. Her eyes widened at what she found on the tiny, illuminated screen.
Aria's face felt warm again at the memory. She gritted her teeth at that.
The slightly dumbfounded look on his mug was lost on her as she leaned her face closer to the screen. It was music. Titles, artists, albums, years, genres, it was all music. More importantly and much to her light bewilderment, it was music she knew. Well, most of it, anyway.
She'd like to say that she just scoffed and handed it back. Or better yet, cackled madly while she ran outside and threw it into heavy traffic but then she'd be lying.
They started talking.
It seemed for every song she found that she was familiar with was just another short conversation. The word 'short' became relative after a while. Before she noticed, she couldn't shut up. She didn't like that, that wasn't like her, it was too Sonata-esque but...she just couldn't. Neither could he, oddly enough and when a rare moment of silence happened to fall over the two, she could see something in his face. It was as if he was wondering the exact same thing she was. She found herself staring. And staring.
Smiling. He was always fucking smiling at her too. She prayed to Tirek that she wasn't too...
Suddenly, she didn't feel so cold.
"Ugh."
Aria was purple but she was as pink as that stupid lollipop the whole way home.
She was at the back again.
Aria raised a hand up to the base of her neck, her fingers danced lightly around the jagged curves of her pendant. It felt cold, lifeless to the touch. Weak and empty. She couldn't wait to fix that. Luckily, she wouldn't have to wait very long, today was the day the stupid humans all got in their stupid bands and played in the stupid tournament thingy. All she had to do was get up on stage when it was their turn, sing her boring harmonic back-up singing while Adagio fucked the minds of the stupid, stupid humans. She does that and boy, did she like it. Maybe too much. Aria was just in it for the energy, Cheesehead always needed to make it weird and seductive. How anyone was attracted to that flat-chested cheeto was beyond her.
Aria felt a little extra bitter towards the orange skank after the ordeal that took place when she got home last night. The phrase; 'where in Tartarus were you?!' sprung to mind more than anything. Still, her skill at slamming her door shut never fails to end a confrontation. She's good like that.
The black that filled her natural green streaks hadn't come out yet. She was kind of on the fence about that. She never had to dye her hair before, truth be told, she wasn't really sure how the stuff worked. After a long look in the mirror this morning, staring at herself in that leather coat and thinking more and more about how annoying that stupid Bacon-haired bitch was, she ditched it. Besides, she liked her ripped green shirt better. As much as she enjoyed wearing what possibly used to be a pony, she'll wear whatever the frig she wanted. Problem, bub?
"Hey, Aria!" Screeched the Worst 'cause she's the worst. She turned to look at her with half a mind to staple her eyes together. "It's your boyfriend~!"
More confused than anything, Aria looked in the direction Toothpaste was pointing. Huh, it was hi-Wait, what?!
"Shut up, Sonata!" Just to emphasize. Just a quick jab to the shoulder. Just...she really needed to shut up.
"Owwww!!" Taco-bitch whined. "Daaagiiiiiiiiiiiii'! Aria hit me!"
Cheesehead just scoffed. Aria snickered and folded her arms, grinning to herself.
And she kept grinning as she looked back up to him further down the hallway. His head buried in an open locker. She didn't frown. She still wasn't frowning when his face popped out into view. He looked...different. His gaze rose up and much to her chagrin, met her's and her eyebrows cocked. The dumb vest was still there but he wasn't wearing those stupid shades anymore or the dumb shirt with the sleeves that could stretch over his fingers. She didn't like it, she didn't like the new look. She didn't. She hated his eyes and she hated whatever band was printed on his T-shirt. She even hated the shade of black that it was. Not that she liked the other one but she definitely did not like the new one...really. What was wrong with his face? Why was it pink? Why was she still not frowning!?
Oh, he was smiling at her now.
The amount of conscious effort it took for her to avert her eyes and keep on walking like not an idiot was embarrassing. What the frig was happening to her? There was a weird force she felt course through her body as she past him. She shrugged it off and was glad to just be on her wa-
"Hiya!"
She stopped. Adagio stopped after a few more steps.
"I'm Sonata! Nice to meetcha!"
She slowly turned around. She felt cold. At least, she thought she did. There, standing just out of strangling reach was literally the two worst things in existence. They were looking at eachother, one confused, the other beaming like an idiot because she was an idiot.
"Do you love Aria?"
"What?"
The indignant smack of Cheesehead's hand hitting her face fell on deaf ears to the toughest fucking Siren. The little beating thing in her chest felt like a cartoon anvil right then and there. Her face morphed into a horrifying shade of blue as her pupils shrunk in the great pools of white in her weirdly large head. Why the frig was that idiot doing?!
"'Cause she loves you~."
Petrified, Aria watched Sonata lean up to Grimlock (You can see how serious this is given what she's referring to them as) on her toes, holding her hands together and batting her eyes at him like some...some...what the Hell was she DOING!?
Adagio giggled lightly.
An emotion stirred within her bowels. One she just couldn't put a word to but whatever it was, it drove her. Every step felt like one eternity after another. Her muscles in her arm felt strained as she reached out. The next few moments were filled with screaming, running and at the end of it all, Aria opened her palm to find a bundle of blue hair sitting in it.
Her face scrunched up as she dusted off the ripped-off cerulean locks from her hand on her knee and gave a quick look around.
Humans. Everywhere.
She sat on the highest step in one of the, you know, those really tall rows of chair you they had around here. If they had a proper name, she didn't care about it. Next to her was Cheesehead with her legs crossed and looking extra smug, like more smug than usual, you'd think that'd be impossible but she was doing it. Sonata had pulled out a brush from...somewhere and just kept on and kept stroking it through her freshly torn hair. That got Aria to chuckle.
A voice caught her attention. Oh, good, it was Chapstick-Lips Mclonglegs barking away something on the stage below. Aria groaned and turned around, putting her left foot up and leaning back on the wall behind her.
"...our three newest students encouraged us to turn this event into something exciting!"
Slipping in a little smug smirk, Aria glanced to her sisters. Sonata waved. Adagio flicked at her hair. Aria raised her hands and clasped them behind her head. All was as it should be.
But wait, it gets better.
"...who is it going to be?"
Just as the shorter blue one said that, it was like a buffet. It was amazing how quick they went from cheering excitedly together in the stands to almost cannibalizing eachother. Not that she was complaining. She eyed the green mist that seeped from the adolescent chaos with glee as it swam to her and her sisters. One quick look at the other two, noticing the absolute malicious delight of Cheesehead's mug and the almost ravishingly hungry expression of Toothpaste's, all she could was relate to them as their pendants sucked in the emerald fog faster than Bill Murray in the Overlook Hotel.
"Do you feel that girls?" Adagio asked, looking over to her. "Our true power is being restored." She said, balling her hands maniacally. Aria chuckled. Sonata giggled. They did not sound evil at all.
"And that's before-" Aria followed Cheesehead's gaze. Oh, good, it was the Raindropbooms. Yeah, she got a good briefing about who they were this morning. Adagio had been busy yesterday while she...had also been busy. "-we tap into the strongest magic here."
Her brow creased. "But the Painblosoms or whatever the frig' they're called aren't under our spell. How exactly are we supposed to get to their magic?"
"The Rainbooms are just as-"
"Ya know, I've been thinkin'!"
Ever so slowly, both her and Cheesehead turned their now very confused and slightly frightened gazes to Sonata, who sat there with her chin resting on her knuckle, her face morphed into a look of pure contemplation.
"How do the Rainboogers even have Equestrian magic?"
Aria counted the seconds. She only got up to two before Adagio's hand made a bee-line for her face. To her surprise, no smack was made, right before impact, she stopped, staring straight ahead at nothing as if her brain had just been punched. Watching her sister sink back into her spot, Aria began to think aswell. She refused to believe Sonata had actually asked a valid question but she couldn't deny it.
"...Huh."
"I mean...right?"
"It doesn't matter." Adagio said. "We can find out later. The plan hasn't changed." She continued. "All they need is a little push in the wrong direction and I guarantee..." She grinned. "By the end of this, everyone will be lining up to give them a shove."
Aria shrugged.
Rap.
She couldn't stand rap.
And they were rapping. Badly.
Aria tried desperately to block all sound from entering her ears. One of her eyes cracked open and she spotted some blue-haired bitch sitting at the opposite end on the top of the stand bobbing along to the music blaring from her headphones like no one's fucking business. She turned her head to see the other blue-haired bitch patting her knees, smiling and swaying her head about to the horrible bloody noise. Adagio just kept checking herself over like some Prom queen. Seriously, you nails look the exact same way they did two minutes ago!
She couldn't take it anymore.
First with that stupid, classical violin performance by that...strangely and kind of grossly ripped guy, then with those freakin' hippies! Seriously, those tree-huggers might as well have just come out of stage with a couple of buckets. Now this?! It didn't help that no matter what the frig' it was, that idiot, Sonata would rock out to it like it was the greatest thing since star-shaped hair-scrunchies!
Oh, no. Don't. Please don't. Don't you friggin' dare, no, don't you dare drop the fucking Micro-
YOU DROPPED THE MICROPHONES, YOU BASTARDS!
Oh, good, it's the 'good guys' up next. Nope, her ears have bled enough today.
"Hey Aria~ Where ya goin'?"
"Anywhere but here." *coughriseagainstcough*
"Gonna go make-out with your boooooyyyyfrieeeeennd~?"
Too late to gouge out her eyes, she was already at the door. "Shut up, Sonata." She muttered.
"We've just got the day-"
SLAM. Nope.
Aria leaned back on the wall adjacent to the door and sighed, crossing her arms over her chest. Just once. Just one time in this whole stupid thing would be enough for her. To watch one of the other bands and not feel sick to her stomach. None of them got it. None of them really knew music like her. It was all too...light. Her fingers dug a little harder into her arms at a stray thought. Even her own music was too light. Too harmonic, too...clean but it wasn't up to her. She was a Siren, her entire purpose swirled around the word 'harmony', that's just how it was. Time and time again, she sang the same friggin' thing. It worked but...Aria couldn't help but feel a little hollow at tha-was she being watched?
Sure enough, she wasn't alone. Was she ever for her time standing out in the hall? Her gaze shifted to the opposite wall from where she stood. Her mind went blank as she caught his stare. He was just sitting there with his back to the wall, looking at her without expression. She found herself staring back.
"...Hey." Don't ask her what compelled her to speak.
"I was wondering."
"What?"
"How long it would be before you got the Hell out of there." She didn't want to admit it but her first reaction was to giggle. Aria Blaze did not fucking giggle.
"Yeah, well...they all suck." She stopped. "Hang on. Aren't you competing?"
He shook his head. "It's pointless."
Her teeth gritted together. "Why do you say that about everything?"
He smiled. "I don't...at least, anymore." Her face felt warm. Why did it keep doing that? "Which is weird..."
"Why?"
"Well...I guess I just haven't been feeling myself lately."
She rolled her eyes. "I know what that's like." Her hands squeezed her arms a little tighter. "Trust me."
He grinned to himself. "Well, after you punched me the other day, you'll have to forgive me if I don't."
She groaned. "Oh, get over it, you baby." Her head sank a little into herself. "It wasn't even that hard..."
There was a few moments of silence before he spoke again. "Do you play?"
"An instrument?"
"Yeah."
"Yeah, I played guitar but I gave it up a long time ago." She muttered. Strange, why did she give it up? Oh, that's right, it didn't matter. Their voices were enough, more than enough, even. "You?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"It's pointless." He grinned.
"Ugh." If he was just a little closer, his eyes would be gone. "Just...just shut up and play something."
Grimlock cocked an eyebrow but smirked regardless. She can neither confirm nor deny that that little chuckle he made her face just a little warmer as he reached into his pocket. He swiped at his phone twice and smiled. Seconds later, Aria fell into a new world, or rather, a very familiar world of bliss. Now, this was music.
He knew music...just like her.
"You know..." He began. "I've heard your group's act and..."
Aria's body slithered down the wall until she was sitting across from him. "What?"
"It's not you."
Her eyes widened slightly. "And how would you know what I am?"
She kind of felt like an idiot when she saw the expression on his face. As much as Aria loathed to admit it but she knew that by now, she was an open book to him. Just as he was one to her. Aria thought that a little odd. In reality, they knew next to nothing about eachother. Surely he'd be alot more frightened of her if he did but after yesterday and the kindred look in their eyes.
Two snares of the same drum-kit, it seemed. She didn't like how that sounded. Disregard all of that. In fact, this entire scene never happened, deal? Cool, let's keep going.
"I think you should do something."
"Like what?"
"Don't know." He said it but Aria had some idea of just what he was thinking about. It was in that sly little smirk on his face. Finding herself staring again."Hey, listen." He began out of nowhere. Aria took note of how weirdly quiet he was being. "There's this music store on the edge of town, just opened up and I've wanted to check it out..."
Her body shot up so her back wasn't hitting the wall anymore. Why did she... "Uh huh?"
"So, tomorrow. Do you wanna...wanna go with me? I mean, see what's it all about and stuff, you know." He scratched the back of his neck.
Her mouth moved faster than her brain. Her stupid, stupid brain. "Alrig-"
BANG
"Aria and whatshisface! Sittin' in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-"
"SONATA!!"
One more moment.
That's all she needed, she only needed one more moment. Just one. More. Moment of choking that little blue brat to death before that bitch, Cheesehead pulled her away. Aria didn't even question why her sister's suddenly decided to leave the show and start aimlessly wandering the halls. She just scowled at everything and kept her arms folded while she walked alongside them.
Still, seeing that purple know-it-all crying like a bitch cheered her up a bit. Just a bit.
"Tears already?" Adagio said. "This is only the first round."
Aria chuckled. Sonata giggled. They really need to work on their evil laughs.
"The next band to perform will be Trixie and the Illusions."
Ugh, if she had to hear that grossly tall bitch's voice again..."Better head back. We're supposed to go on after Trixie."
"Who's Trixie?" Toothpaste asked, like the idiot she was.
Adagio scoffed. "Oh, just some girl with an ego too big for her own good."
"Ohhhh...what's an ego?"
Oh, good, it was Bacon-hair. "Uhh, Adagio?"
"Yeah."
"You're never gonna get away with this."
Aria scoffed. "Why? Because you didn't?" Adagio teased.
Long story short, Aria felt just a little better after that encounter. The fact that they missed all of the previous show didn't fail to help a bit either. She got the feeling that this 'Trixie' wouldn't be any different from the rest of the bands. Ugh, she hated that name.
It wasn't long after that they were standing behind the curtain. Sonata kept playing with her collar. "Remember girls." Adagio began talking but Aria couldn't stop staring. "We wanna save the good stuff-" Staring at something right in front of her. "-for when our true power-" It was a guitar. An electric guitar, still plugged in it's amp from it's last performance. It looked so alone to her. Her fingers twitched slightly at the sight. Old urges resurfaced, it had been so long..."-is restored."
The curtain rose but Aria wasn't standing there.
Oh Whoa Oh Whoa
Adagio didn't even noticed until she heard the noise.
This goes out to anyone whose heart beats like a kick drum When a bitchin' riff comes Knows the words to every line, every time And you know you gotta go get some, get pumped Find yourself and lose it at the Rock show!
Stupid....s-stupid Adagio...
This was all her fault...and that idiot, Sonata, that stupid...stupid idiot.
Aria's hand kept grasping at the space where her neck connected to her shoulders. As if the next time her fingers grabbed desperately between her collarbones, she'd feel something small, hard and smooth there. Like it had always been. Yet, every time she touched that spot, it was void, stopping dead at the stupid gold patch wrapped around the black leather that made up what was left of her necklace.
Aria glanced down at the useless ornament for a split second before screaming through her teeth, yanking it from her neck. She didn't even give it another look as she threw it into the darkness. Her knees scooted closer to her chest and she buried her face in her folded arms. She didn't cry though, Aria Blaze did...not...cry...
How c-could this have happened? They had done it! They had won!!
They rose through the ranks of the dumb battle of the bands thing because, you know, duh, of course they did. Aria had to admit that it got better as it went on but it still sucked. That one guy wasn't too bad, she didn't give shit about his name but his jacket was cool, his stupid spiky blue hair will go unmentioned however. Before she knew it, it was that pompous magician bitch up on stage, spewing some half-assed 'song' that sounded like it was written five minutes ago.
The dumb Rainbow girls were up next and finally, they saw it. The magic they had yearned for for so long and that arrogant blue dyke was showing it off with her 'awesome wannabe' song or whatever, as if putting on a private show just for them.Then Bacon-girl tackled her off stage. It was funny.
Except..."Uhh, Dagi'?"
"Yes, Sonata?"
"How do we get their magic now?"
"We make some fake ballets." She stood up. "C'mon, girls."
Hypnotizing humans can be so much fun sometimes. Just once, Aria wished she could have it her way and maybe make the stupid principles just flat-out punch eachother in the face. Who knows? Maybe they'd bleed the same colour as their hair. Aria tugged at the bands along her arm as the taller one announced who would go up against them tonight in the finals, not that she was listening, she already knew who it would be. Not the band she was going to say. She hung back while Toothpaste and Cheesehead walked out on stage.
"See you at tonight's big show, Rainbooms. We are really looking forward to it." Aria just smirked and rolled her eyes. She looked to side as her sisters approached her, Adagio already practically glowing with stupid, sexy smugness.
"Y-yeah, well-Not as much as we are!" Aria caught the rainbow bitch's eye for a split second. She walked off with her sisters, flipping her off the whole time. How the entire school just turned on them was almost mouth-watering. Soon...
And you know, manipulating humans without even having to sing was even more fun.
Aria folded her arms as she looked out at the stupid giant pringle that was apparently the stage for their rise to power. She couldn't believe it, did no one stop and think about just how the thing was shaped while they were building it? It was a giant fucking pringle! Adagio snickered when the annoying boastful bitch, Trixie confronted the painblosoms. She just laughed when Bacon-hair and her possy got dropped into a hole. It was great.
Cheesehead clasped her hands together. "Told you someone would give them a shove."
"She didn't shove them." Aria turned to Toothpaste. "She pulled the lever."
Snap.
"WHY. ARE. YOU. SO. STUPID!?!"
The amount of angry shoulder shaking, shouting and strangling that happened afterwards shall go unmentioned. However, the fact that a certain idiot did in fact not die that day shall.
Aria could not believe what Adagio made her wear. I mean, who the Hell wears white and purple striped leggings? It was fucking freezing too! Her bare arms felt as though they were going to just straight up break off. Oh, wait, they weren't bare. No because Adagio made her put on these stupid GREEN and white striped...THINGS on her hands! And what even was her skirt...or was it a dress, she didn't know and apparently, the fucking designer didn't know either! Yeah, let's show as little as possible of her ass but the front? Oh, that's all gravy. Truly, a fashion masterpiece! At this rate, she'd beat that Gaga in no time.
But seriously, why couldn't she wear what she wanted to? Aria crossed her arms and glanced over to her sisters. And what was with Cheesehead and weird triangle patterns, nevermind that, where does she get head-bands that you can use for murder? Still, at least she didn't look like a tiny purple umbrella. The tie The Worst wore under her pendant was not cute, nope, not super adorable at all. At least after a quick look at her magical seahorse demon siblings, she didn't feel like such a slut.
That didn't mean she didn't want something inside her right now.
Oh, good, Miss. Holier than Thou is finished. "Try to top that."
Aria rolled her eyes. "Piece o' cake, Bitch."
They all stopped and stared at her, Trixie looking mortified. Adagio's indignant shock gave way to sly snickering and Sonata just laughed the girliest laugh as the wannabe stormed off stage, growling. Aria chuckled lightly but stopped when she felt it, she knew the others did aswell. They each glanced to the stage, hovering just over the trap door was possibly the most beautiful thing she had seen in a long, long time. Sonata squeed. Magic. True, Equestrian magic, right there, waiting for them to take it as their own. It really had been just...so long. Almost brought a tear to her eye.
She turned to her sisters, their faces matched her own. Nothing needed to be said. In their devilish and hungry grins, she found kindred spirits. As the beat started and they sashayed on stage, surrounded by the power they had yearned for for centuries, she knew that the whole world will adore them and nothing could stop them now. She sang almost effortlessly but better than ever. She could already feel her amulet drinking in the magic and by Tartarus, did it feel good. It was almost overwhelming feeling like this again after all this time. She could feel it building inside her as she sang.
Aria barely needed to move or sing at all and still, the love and praise draining from the humans bathed her and her sisters. Still, she sang and she danced. For whatever reason, she couldn't focus her eyes, they kept darting back and forth amongst the crowd, as if looking for someone. At this point, she didn't much care about anything. It was going to be good again and maybe, just maybe, if they found a way...they could return home.
"Well make you wanna stay~ay~"
She closed her eyes. This was it, the magic, she felt her body crawl with it. Her feet floated off the stage, their was a brief surge of pain in her back as she felt it consume her. Her hair grew wildly, the star-shaped bands flying off as it flailed about freely. An extension formed, almost as if becoming a tail behind her. She felt an ethereal tingling as her ears disappeared, replaced by the equine-like receptors that spawned atop her head. There was another bout of pain but as soon as it was there, it was gone, her magic released, forming a pair of fin-like wings that protruded from her back. She gave a quick glance to the side and saw the same thing had happened to her sisters, their hair was unhindered and the growths on their back all the more reminded them of her true nature.
They were goddesses.
And that's about the point where things started to go wrong. Horribly wrong...
They had done it, they had won.
Their power was restored and these stupid girls thought they could just march in and take it back? No, no way was she giving this up for anything. Her true form exposed for all to see, she fought alongside her sisters with malice. She took on the stupid butterflies and diamonds that they threw at them like it was nothing and she sang, the power and the music flowing through her, guiding her into the fight. They were losing and they knew it, they brought them to their knees with nothing but their voices. They had won.
Then Bacon-girl picked up the microphone. Really? Does the she-demon really wanna go? Nuh-uh, this shit ain't gonna fly.
Wait, what the fuck? WHAT THE FUCK WAS THE RAINBOW SHIT?! That actually hurt. Aria shook her head and bared her teeth at the stupid band in the distance. That quickly gave way to shock. No, no way. Bacon-hair does not also have magic, no way! Stop singing, stop levitating, you're cheating! Seriously, what is that rainbow thing? WHY DOES IT HAVE WINGS?! Wait a second. Aria looked down at the crowd, they were all singing. They were all singing their song. They weren't looking at them, they weren't adoring them. Stop it. Stop singing. No, no way, this isn't happening. That's it, some bitch is going to die. Aria glanced up.
Her ears folded back.
WHAT THE FUCKING FUCKER FUCK IS THAT GIANT BLUE SPACE HORSE??!?! Oh, good, it was shooting rainbows at them. Ow. OW!
When the dust cleared, she found herself on her knees and her head hurt like Hell. Everything hurt like Hell, as if someone had just ripped out what was keeping her all together.
She groaned. "Argh, Dagi'? You okay?"
By the sound of it, she wasn't alone in the pain department. "Y-yeah. Sonata?"
No answer.
Sniff.
At that, she turned to her sister. Both her and Adagio stared as she brought her hands up to her face, kneeling, almost cradling herself. Her eyes watered and her lip quivered as she stared down at her palms. Aria gasped as her eyes widened, her hand immediately went for her jewel. Nothing.
Aria cast her gaze back down and her breath caught in her throat.
"No..."
For a moment, she stared down at the crimson shards heaped in a small pile in front of her, like it was the most useless thing in the world. Her chest began to heave in quick, shallow breaths. "No, no, no."
The edges of her hair brushed against the floor. "No. No!" Aria clawed at the stage, digging up what was left of her gem. Whatever she scratched up fell from her grip. "No! No...No!" She picked up the two biggest pieces and pushed them together. For a moment, she smiled, they stuck. She went for another piece but as soon as she moved, they broke apart, her fingers now only holding a single chunk of her jewel while the other fell to the ground like a hunk of rock."NO!"
Aria fell to her hands and knees once more, struggling for air. Her eyes shrunk and she gave a quick look to her sisters. Adagio just sat there, unblinking, her mouth agape, staring down at nothing in particular. Sonata was crying, almost silently as she hugged the remains of her gem to her chest as tight as possible, as if it would merge with her once more if she tried hard enough.
She growled and hurriedly scooped up every fragment she could and brought them up to her neck, she squeezed with all her might, hoping, praying. As soon as her hands let go of the pieces, they fell to ground, a few catching on her dress. She choked up, feeling a few tears gather at the corners of her eyes. "Please, no..."
She looked up. The crowd's expression had changed. The humans gazed up at her, at them. All confused and maybe even concerned. She didn't care. Her gaze rose up to the girls high on the hilltop. They looked the same. How dare they look upon her with pity? They had just taken everything from her and from them and they have the nerve to look at her like that?
"I'll kill 'em."
It was barely above a whisper. Her brow furrowed and teeth bared so hard, her gums began to bleed. "I'll kill 'em."
She didn't even notice Adagio and Sonata looking up at her through puzzled, teary expressions as she rose to her feet. "Aria...?"
"I'll kill 'em."
"Aria, stop."
There were mumblings in the crowd now. Her hands balled up into fists. "I'll kill them!"
They were all starting to back away, that concern gave way to fear. Good. She felt weak, drained but she staggered onward. "Aria!"
"I'LL KILL THEM!!"
She snapped.
"Aria!"
"Lemme go, Dagi'!"
"Aria, we have to go!"
"I'LL KILL 'EM ALL!"
"Sonata, help me!"
"LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE!!"
"Aria! We're leaving!"
They were all crying now. "YOU'VE KILLED US!"
"ARIA!"
"YOU'VE KILLED US!!"
"Aria, calm down!"
"YOU KILLED US!!!"
"Dagi'..."
"C'mon, Sonata! We're taking...Aria...home!"
"YOU KILLED US! I'LL KILL YOU!!"
They dragged her away. Through all the screams and the rage, they pulled her away. They didn't bring her home though, they tried. She broke away and she ran. She was crying but she ran, she didn't care where, just away. She didn't want to look at her sisters, see her own face staring back at her, seeing the tears and the loss. So much loss.
She ducked into a alley and fell to her knees. She huddled there, cradling herself. Alone.
And that brings us up to date.
She had no idea how long she had spent there, hours maybe? She was beginning to not care. Sooner or later, she'd have to go and face them, maybe Adagio had a plan for this? She always did tend to plan for everything. She could only hope. Her worst fear had just been turned into a reality, a very real reality. Could they even be referred to as Sirens anymore? Without their pendants, they were just ordinary human girls. She felt disgusted with herself, for first time in her life, she was actually one of them and if she wanted to live, she'd have to accept that.
Still, not living sounds better and better as the minutes go by.
Just how could this have actually happened? It was theirs, the magic was theirs and just as soon as they got it, it was taken from them and to add insult to injury, they broke their pendants. The one thing that they kept closer to their hearts then their own lives and they shattered them. Useless bits of crimson, lifeless stone left behind. What were they going to do now? They relied so much on those stupid things. Never again will she feed.
Aria glanced down at the wet spots staining the stupid glove things she was wearing. She growled and ripped them from her arms, throwing them into the darkness.
Aria sprung up slightly at the sound of footsteps. Even more so when they started closing in on her. She didn't budge though, why? Because the next thing she heard was the faintest buzzing of tiny speakers blaring. She watched him walk up to her, pulling out his headphones and never taking his eyes off her.
He stood in front of her. She just stared up at him as he stared down. There was cracking in the sky, Aria always liked thunder. A single drop of rain fell on the bridge of her nose.
"Hey."
"...Hey."
He crouched down so that were at eye-level. Aria watched him intently, a new emotion stirring in her chest. Gone was the sickness, gone was the disdain, she didn't think she could hate if she tried, all there was within her was sorrow. He moved, reaching his hand out to her, he laid his palm against her knee.
She was overcome.
Aria cried out and lunged at him. He opened up to catch her as she began to cry again, there was no use saying she didn't. She wrapped her arms around his neck loosely but his grip on her tightened around her body. She buried her face into the crook of his neck and let him hold her, just for a little bit. She needed it, she needed just a little bit of this. She didn't even care. Aria felt broken, just like her pendant.
Her eyes dried over time and when she wasn't sniffing or wailing anymore, she tightened her grip around him. "Hey?" He spoke up.
"Yeah?" She muttered.
"What're you wearing?"
She laughed. It felt good. Slowly, they separated but Aria kept one hand on his shoulder. "I don't know."
"C'mon." He said, standing up, his grip on her bringing her to her feet aswell. "Let's get you in something a bit more respectful." He smiled.
She loved that smile.
With all the sadness clouding her mind, there was no room for anything else. At least, that's what she thought. Aria felt changed in that split second. Little did she know that there was a completely different emotion filling her form. Guiding her. One that she had damned but it felt...right. Everything about it felt rushed but the rush felt good, it was all so sudden but she liked it.
And she knew he was the one that made her feel like that.
He started walking away, his hand slipping from her. She reached out and clasped it with her own. He stopped and turned to face her, confused. Her grip squeezed around his palm, a shaky grimace fell over her face and she felt like she may just throw up again.
But she didn't.
She leaned up to him, squeezing her eyes shut and planted a forceful kiss on his lips.
She pulled back not two seconds later, barely catching the shocked look on his face as she stared off to the side. Her cheeks felt incredibly hot and a tiny smile replaced her once indignant frown. She didn't even look at him when he smiled at her again. She gripped his hand tighter.
