“Oh.” Sonata froze and looked at the rose. She took it from Sunset’s hand and twirled it around. “Ouch!”
She had pricked her finger on one of the thorns. Without thinking much of it she put her hurt finger to her mouth. But she smiled at the other woman and giggled. “’hank you!” she told her. “t’s ‘eatiful!”
“Well, it is a magical artifact. I doubt super glue would hold it together. But… I… I’ll help you.” Sunset said, looking up at Sonata and giving her a small smile. “It’s the least I could do for what I did to Aria.”
Sonata frowned and took a seat down next to Sunset. She looked her in the eyes. Perhaps it would be clearer how much older she was than Sunset if she looked into her eyes. So she didn’t look too long. Her pain lingered in her gaze.
“You want to help?” she asked. “Sunset…” she rubbed her arm. “We’re monsters, you know that, right? That’s…that’s not something we can change. I will always need to sing to feed off of people’s energy. When you broke my gem…it was like…you took away most of my fangs. You de-fanged me. I’m still a monster though. If you help me get my gem back you’ll be giving me my fangs back. And I can’t lie to you about that. I can’t say if you do this I’ll be a changed person. Because I am what I am. Are you sure you want to do this, Sunset?”
“Yes.” She said, looking at the siren with a smile. “I’ll be straight with you: losing my friends… It changed me. Made me think about who I could really trust and who I could call my friends. When I think about my old ones… If it hadn’t been for Princess Twilight asking them to watch over me, they would’ve left me in the dirt and moves on with their lives. Hell, that’s what they’ve done already.
But now… Fuck them. If they didn’t wanna believe me, that’s their problem. Besides… I think you all have changed. Well, at least you have. I’m not too sure about Aria or Adagio. But… I don’t think you’ll try and take over the world again. And even if you did, well… I don’t think I’d really try to stop you.”
She took a deep breath and pulled out a carton of cigarettes from he pocket, taking the last one in the box and using her fingertip to light it. She gave Sonata a look as she took a drag, saying “These thing will probably kill me, but… Eh. Anyways…”
“Oh.” Sonata froze and looked at the rose. She took it from Sunset’s hand and twirled it around. “Ouch!”
She had pricked her finger on one of the thorns. Without thinking much of it she put her hurt finger to her mouth. But she smiled at the other woman and giggled. “’hank you!” she told her. “t’s ‘eatiful!”
Sunset seemed to take a seat as she rubbed her chin in thought. Finally she looked at Sonata asking, “Do you have your gem with you?”
“Which one?” she tilted her head. “My broken one or the replacement.”
She pulled the replacement one up on its necklace so Sunset could see it. It was a black ruby, close to what the their red bloodstones had looked like but different in some ways.
“Adagio has the pieces of our broken ones.”
“We’ve tried putting them back together. Nothing works. Not even super glue!!”
“Well, it is a magical artifact. I doubt super glue would hold it together. But… I… I’ll help you.” Sunset said, looking up at Sonata and giving her a small smile. “It’s the least I could do for what I did to Aria.”
“Oh.” Sonata froze and looked at the rose. She took it from Sunset’s hand and twirled it around. “Ouch!”
She had pricked her finger on one of the thorns. Without thinking much of it she put her hurt finger to her mouth. But she smiled at the other woman and giggled. “’hank you!” she told her. “t’s ‘eatiful!”
“Yeah…” Sunset said trailing off.
“But… Aria did tell me why she needed my blood. For some kind of new heartstone?” Sunset said scratching her ear. “I just… well, to be frank I didn’t give any to her because she did try to stab me. But… Sonata… are you guys ok?”
Sonata looked at her rose again and twirled it, this time carefully
so as to avoid the thorns.
“Yeah, we’re fine. See, the black gems we have now? They let
us digest about fifteen percent of the energy we pull from crowds or people when
we sing. Any kind of energy. Not just Hate like you saw us doing. That’s just
our specialty. But um…well, the fifteen percent keeps us from total starvation.
Which was…what was happening right after our gems broke.”
She wasn’t sure how much she should tell Sunset. She used to
be an enemy after all. And she did fear Adagio’s wrath. Even if she liked
Sunset quite a bit.
She bit her lip.
“We’re just really hungry. It makes us more impulsive,
irritable, moody…” she explained. “It’s not as bad as it was with no gem at
all. That was total starvation. We’re…like, immortal so. We don’t die. We just
starve and starve forever. It’s why Aria’s such a bitch about it, I think. She’s
scared. Forever is a long time.”
She shrugged. “But it’s not your responsibility to fix it,
Sunset. We tried to mind-warp your whole school. You retaliated. All’s fair in
love and war. We played hard and we lost hard.”
Sunset seemed to take a seat as she rubbed her chin in thought. Finally she looked at Sonata asking, “Do you have your gem with you?”
“Oh.” Sonata froze and looked at the rose. She took it from Sunset’s hand and twirled it around. “Ouch!”
She had pricked her finger on one of the thorns. Without thinking much of it she put her hurt finger to her mouth. But she smiled at the other woman and giggled. “’hank you!” she told her. “t’s ‘eatiful!”
“I… I’m glad you like it…” Sunset said with a nervous smile. “I… I didn’t know if you’d wanna talk to me still after that… I just… I don’t know what I would’ve done if you didn’t. You’ve been one of the nicer people I’ve met, and I feel I can’t thank you enough for that…”
She tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear before reaching over and giving the siren a swift kiss on the cheek.
Sonata felt the slightest of blushes from the cheek kiss but
she managed to keep her composure and giggled.
“Why would I not be nice?”
She thought about that a little late after saying it.
“Well, I mean besides our being enemies before. That’s kind
of silly to make that a personal thing. I am a siren. And you were just doing
what you had to do stop me at the time. So…it’s like…aha, yeah. Not really something
to take personally.”
She left out the negative side-effects of her gem breaking.
Or that it was literally a part of her body missing. Like an organ or a heart.
She felt Sunset was suffering enough guilt and trauma right now to have to deal
with that on her back too.
“You were just defending your friends and school,” she gave
a sheepish smile. “So, we can put it behind us, right?”
“Yeah…” Sunset said trailing off.
“But… Aria did tell me why she needed my blood. For some kind of new heartstone?” Sunset said scratching her ear. “I just… well, to be frank I didn’t give any to her because she did try to stab me. But… Sonata… are you guys ok?”
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