Chapters Adagio, Sonata, and Aria have been trying for hours to hit a single, pleasant sounding chord. But to their dismay, each attempt only ended in absolute failure. Sonata sighed, “I think I’m going to call it a night…”
Adagio nodded, Aria had her head down, she clenched her fist in rage, tears rolled down her face “Why did they have to take our voices away?!” Adagio turned her head to Aria “I—“ Adagio opened her mouth intending to answer Aria’s question, but she closed it, knowing her answer would only further enrage her.
Aria walked off, her anger descended into hopelessness, she slammed her body on her bed, old and noisy as it was, it was all they could afford for the moment. She stared at the ceiling of her room, “Are we ever going to be able to sing together again?” she asked herself.
Adagio walked into her room, she sighed and sat on the side of her bed, she slammed her fist down on the bed, “Why did they destroy what made us?” tears rolled down her face, she tried to calm herself down, she looked at her clock and saw that it was 1:32 A.M. Adagio walked into the kitchen and grabbed a glass, she turned on the sink and filled the cup. She took three long gulps and saw Sonata laying on the couch. She had fallen asleep already. Adagio grabbed a small blanket and draped it over Sonata’s body, she smiled a bit at Sonata’s content face. Her smile faded as she knew that Sonata’s happiness was only temporary, she walked back into her room, with grief slowing her steps as she approached her bed. Adagio flopped down on her bed, she slowly covered herself with the bed sheets and fell asleep.
Morning came, and the window in Adagio’s room let light from the morning sun shine on her eyes, she slowly sat up and got out of the bed. As she walked into the kitchen, she saw Aria getting her work uniform on, Aria turned and saw the groggy Adagio “Adagio?” she asked “Are you alright?”
Adagio rubbed her temples, she sighed and said “Yes, I—I’m fine.” She laced up her boots and grabbed her backpack. Adagio asked “Where’s Sonata?”
Aria turned to her and said “She’s probably still asleep.”
Adagio sighed, “Are you going to wake her up?”
Aria responded with a slightly irritated tone, “No, she’d probably just whine about it being early…”
Adagio sighed once more “I’ll get her.”
Aria quickly responded “You said it, not me.” Aria opened the front door and said “see ya.”
Adagio waved her hand as she proceeded to Sonata's room “Er, see you.” Aria walked out of the door and began her long walk to her job, Aria worked tirelessly through high school and managed to finish early. Aria’s job is currently one of the only reliable sources of income for the group. When Adagio and Sonata helped out with funds, it usually came in the form of rewards from odd jobs.
Adagio walked over to the couch, as she approached, she noticed Sonata wasn’t there… Adagio then walked to Sonata’s room, as she opened the door, she saw Sonata lying in bed, wrapped in a literal cocoon of blankets and sheets. Adagio grabbed one of the loose sheets from Sonata’s cocoon, she ripped it off and watched as Sonata tumbled onto the floor. Sonata’s eyes shot open as she sat up, she tried to move her hand to rub her head. Only to feel it be restricted by the cocoon, Sonata began to panic and squirm inside of the cocoon “ADAGIO HELP MEEEEEE!!!!”
Adagio face palmed herself, she kneeled down and tried to remove the sheets “Hold still!” Adagio then thought of something, “How DID you get stuck in here?”
Sonata quickly responded “I don’t know!! I only remember waking up on the couch and walking into my room to go to sleep!”
Adagio unraveled three of the sheets, Sonata then squirmed out of the last two. Adagio stood up and held out a hand to Sonata to help her up “Come on! We’re going to be late for school.” Sonata clutched Adagio’s hand as she hoisted her up. Sonata quickly ran to her closet and began to lace up her boots. Sonata and Adagio ran through the kitchen and out of the front door, Sonata quickly realized she forgot her backpack, she quickly ran back into the house and grabbed it. Adagio saw Sonata was extremely far behind, and trying to catch up with her.
Sonata yelled ahead “HEY WAIT UP!!!”
Adagio yelled back at her “What on earth are you doing?!”
Sonata yelled back, “I FORGOT MY BACKPACK!”
Adagio replied, with her voice beginning to hurt “I WOULD PREFER WE STOP YELLING!!!”
Sonata finally caught up with her. The two ran the rest of the way to school, when they finally reached the entrance of the school, they felt piercing stares hit them as they walked in through the entrance. As they walked through the halls of the school, they saw several glares from the students. A tense silence filled the air, as they walked over to their lockers, several students began to harass them. Adagio wanted to use her sirens voice, but she knew it would fail, she glanced down at her shattered necklace, and looked at the students.
One of the students jeered “What are YOU doing here? I thought Twilight ran you idiots out of town!” Adagio remained silent, Sonata grabbed her books and she and Adagio began to walk away.
Another student yelled at them, “You don’t deserve to be here!” all of the students in the hall joined in, they yelled and screamed at them, normally they would feed off of the negativity, but because their amulets were shattered, they couldn’t redirect their anger, or gain power from it.
A teacher walked in between the two Dazzlings and the mob of angry students, “HEY!!! Break it up!” The teacher shot a glare at the two girls, as the mob dispersed, a few of the students mumbled and groaned. Adagio and Sonata proceeded to survive their usual school life. Whenever they saw the members of the Rainbooms, they saw them happy and content, one of the many thoughts that shot up when they saw them, was Why did this happen to us? Soon the school day began to draw to a close, as they trudged back home, they were alive, but just barely... As they proceeded inside, Aria greeted them with a extra large pizza. Adagio and Sonata were starving, gym class was merciless and they needed food. Sonata wolfed down five pieces in a matter of moments, Adagio was slower, but just barely... Aria watched in awe and horror as the two nearly consumed the entire pizza in a matter of moments...
Aria quickly grabbed three slices and put them on a plate, "HEY! Leave some for me!!" she yelled. Adagio and Sonata left the table shortly and laughed to themselves, the school was the most tiring thing in their lives since they lost their voices. They shortly retired and fell asleep in their rooms, knowing that they would only face the same hardships in the halls of Canterlot High.
Chapter 2: The Trio of Titans
Elfeed hopped up out of his bed, he looked over to see his two brothers, still asleep, Ray and Chris were both face down on their pillows. Elfeed raised an eyebrow, he made several attempts at waking the two up, all of which failed. He finally gave up, he hates having to do this to wake them up. Elfeed cleared his throat. His throat bulged and turned to stone, Elfeed created a loud roar that would make the room quake. Ray and Chris finally woke up, Ray slowly sat up and stretched his arms, while Chris tumbled onto the floor. After seeing Chris fall, Elfeed began to stifle a laugh. Chris’s eye twitched in fury, Elfeed burst into laughter, he slowly calmed down “So the lethal weapon finally awakens!” he said.
Chris began to freeze the floor below him, “Elfeed you jerk!!!” Chris stood up and began to chase after Elfeed.
Ray’s eyes slowly opened, he saw the frozen floor begin to creep under his bed, to his less than wise decision, Ray stood up and began to slip on the ice, “Whoa… Whoa whoa!! OH CRAP!” he fell down on his back, his eyes lit up with a burning fire. Thankfully, a titan proof house could sustain the intense fire Ray could create, the immense mass of Elfeed, and the chilling frost of Chris. Ray began to light himself on fire, the ice underneath him melted as he ran after the two in a raging stampede of burning fury.
Elfeed saw Ray running after them in his titan form, Elfeed and Chris screamed, Elfeed knew that Ray’s abilities could end up melting him. Elfeed quickly transformed his skin into igneous rock, it was one of the few forms that gave him hope of surviving Ray’s “fiery personality”. Elfeed ran down the stairs, he tripped and fell on an ice patch Chris made after fleeing to the kitchen, he then proceeded to fall down the last flight of stairs.
Ray ran after Chris and conjured up a flame in his hand, “THAT’S THE THIRD TIME YOU MADE ME FALL DOWN THIS WEEK!!! IT’S GONNA STOP HERE AND NOW!!!” Ray promptly threw several fireballs at Chris.
Chris barely dodged them and began to freeze the floor below him, Chris yelled at Ray “Chill out man! Er, no pun intended.”
Ray laughed like a mad man, he threw several more fireballs at Chris, they missed and left scorch marks in the walls. Elfeed finally got up and rubbed his head, he saw the elemental titans begin to fight each other. Elfeed walked up behind the two as Ray was choking Chris, he promptly smacked both of them upside the head. “WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING?!” the earthen titan yelled.
Chris rubbed his head, “Ow… What the hel—“ Chris noticed Elfeed was now at least twice his size,
Elfeed raised his stone eyebrow, the titan's gravely voice erupted from within him “What were you about to say?”
Chris continued to rub his head, he forced a smile and said “Oh nothing…”
Elfeed had a suspicious tone in his voice “Are you sure? Because it sounded like you were going to say H E double hockey sticks.”
Chris removed his hand from the red spot that Elfeed left, “Really it was nothing!”
Elfeed quickly responded, with suspicion overwhelming his body language “Because you know mom would’ve washed your mouth out if you said, THAT, word, and dad would've beat you within an inch of your life!”
Chris had a tone of annoyance enter his voice “Fine, I get it, I get it!”
Elfeed looked down with pride on his brother, “Good.”
Chris felt Elfeed’s massive earthen hand pat him on the head, he grumbled “Screw you man…”
Elfeed’s eyes beamed with a near murderous intent, “What was that?”
Chris jumped back and quickly interjected “Nothing!”
Elfeed smiled “Good! Now c’mon, we’ll be late for school.” Elfeed reverted to his reduced size, he ran back up the stairs into
their rooms and grabbed their back packs. Elfeed threw Chris and Ray their back packs. They walked out of the door and waited for the bus to pick them up.
Chris’s stomach growled, he looked at the time on his phone, 6:43… Chris said to his two brothers “Hey, I’m going to go and grab some banana’s out of the kitchen, you guys want any?”
Elfeed nodded, Ray replied “Yeah.”
Chris ran as fast as he could, he ran into the house and grabbed three bananas, the bus finally came. Elfeed and Ray couldn’t see Chris. Elfeed had an expression of worry enter his face, he walked up to the bus driver and asked “Do you think you could wait a moment?”
The driver replied “Sure.”
Elfeed sighed, and relaxed a bit “Thank you!” soon, Elfeed spotted Chris running towards the bus.
Chris hopped up the steps into the bus, he gasped for air, and the entrance doors slowly closed. Elfeed and Chris took a seat in the next to the last row on the bus, while Ray sat in the opposite row. Ray’s fiery red hair blocked the lower half of Elfeed’s view through the window.
Elfeed smiled, he was excited to see what this new school had to offer, and Chris and Ray traded eye rolls with each other. Ray tapped Elfeed on the shoulder, “Dude, we went through all of this hundreds of times, why are you so excited now?”
Elfeed looked at them and replied excitedly “Because I heard this school has sirens!”
Ray sighed and face palmed himself, “Elfeed, let’s be real here. This is what? The seventh time you thought other creatures were in a school?”
Elfeed replied excitedly, “Yeah, but I am absolutely sure of it this time!” Ray raised an eyebrow, Elfeed added on to his sentence “The sirens in the school convinced the principle and vice-principle to change the music show case into a battle of the bands! They showed their true forms and everything!”
Ray put a hand on his shoulder, attempting to bring his brother back to reality, but Elfeed kept the same excited face on, he was acting like a child during the night before Christmas. Ray laughed a bit, “Well, let’s hope you’re right this time.” Elfeed excitedly nodded, and began to bounce a bit in his seat.
The bus slowed to a stop, as Elfeed, Ray, and Chris hopped off of the bus, Elfeed’s smile beamed with excitement. The school day had finally begun, Elfeed opened the door and walked into the school, his excited face brought attention and smiles and a few laughs from the other students. Elfeed and his brothers were greeted by two of the Dazzlings, Elfeed attempted to contain himself, but he kept smiling and laughing, he began to bounce. The room shook, until his brothers finally held him down and expressed in their faces for him to calm down.
Elfeed blushed, and forced a smile “Heheh… Sorry!”
Sonata giggled a bit at Elfeed, she paid next to no attention to the earthquake from moments ago. Adagio rolled her eyes,
Sonata happily greeted the three brothers, “Hello! I’m Sonata and this is Adagio!” Sonata happily shook hands with Elfeed.
Sonata ever so subtly motioned to Adagio to greet them. Adagio held out her hand, Elfeed shook Adagio’s hand like a mad man. Adagio yelled “Let me go you idiot!”
Adagio received several suspicious looks from several students, she blushed a bit as Elfeed apologized “Sorry! It’s just that I'm really excited to be here! We heard about some amazing things that happened here in the last year!”
A face of worry grew on both Sonata and Adagio’s face, Adagio said in a worried tone “Really? Like what?”
Elfeed replied in a happy tone “We heard sirens came to the school and sang beautifully in the battle of the bands competition.” Elfeed realized he had been covering up Ray and Chris for some time now. “Whoops!” Adagio and Sonata shot a raised eyebrow at Elfeed. Elfeed held his hand out introducing his brothers.
Ray smiled, he blew a bit of his red hair away as he introduced himself “Hiya! I’m Ray.”
Chris walked up and introduced himself in a very formal manner, “Greetings, I am Chris.” He bowed and stood back up.
Adagio quickly said “It’s nice to meet you!” she shook hands with the two brothers and proceeded down the hall. As Adagio and Sonata finished, Elfeed, Chris and Ray walked off to their classes. Their classes all went the same, they finished incredibly early compared to the other students. A few students mumbled about them and how it's like they finished the class before it started… The three always knew what the answers were in each and every question, every time one of them shot their hands up and the teacher called on them to answer the question, they answered it post-haste and in a startlingly correct fashion...
Soon, lunch rolled around, and the three brothers all got into the line at the cafeteria, Elfeed walked up to Granny Smith and said “Two fritters please!”
Granny smiled and asked “Aren’t you one of the new young’uns?”
Elfeed happily replied as his two brothers showed their faces from behind Elfeed “Yes, I’m Elfeed, this is Ray, and Chris!”
Granny Smith then walked over to her register, “Alright… that'll be $17.42”
Elfeed grabbed his share of the money out of his pocket, Ray and Chris handed Granny their share of the money. Granny quickly cashed it in and handed them their change, she happily said “Nice meetin' ya!”
Elfeed grabbed an empty table, he looked over and saw the two Dazzlings, and they sat down at a table with several other students, the students began to mumble to themselves, they stood up and dispersed to another table. Elfeed waved at
them, Sonata and Adagio walked over to the brothers’ table.
Adagio half-forced a smile, Sonata smiled wholeheartedly. Elfeed welcomed them “Come on! Take a seat.”
Adagio and Sonata slowly sat down, Chris asked the two “What was with those kids you sat down with?”
Adagio responded in a slightly disheartened tone, “Well… We haven’t exactly been “popular” since our arrival…” Adagio emphasized “popular”.
Sonata didn’t know what Adagio was talking about, she shrugged at her. Adagio sighed, “Everybody hates us.”
Elfeed replied "I see..."
Adagio rested her head on her hand, she looked down and laughed a bit, “Yeah, we took over the school.” She looked up at Elfeed “We had it all set up, we had the principles under our control, the students were enraged and we sucked up every drop of their negative energy.” She sighed, she clenched her fist, “And then… THEY came.”
Elfeed raised an eyebrow, “They?”
Adagio reluctantly pointed at a group of girls sitting at a table at the end of the room. Elfeed saw each individual, Rainbow Dash had a cocky smile on her face, Rarity had her arms crossed and had a frustrated look on her face. Fluttershy was cowering behind her lunch plate, while Sunset Shimmer tried to calm her down, Pinkie Pie was laughing so hard she started crying, and Apple Jack was laughing with Pinkie Pie.
Elfeed looked back at the two, “I see…” Elfeed held his hands, each finger intertwining with another, a questioning look appeared on his face “Now, what exactly have they done to you?”
Tears began to well up in Adagio and Sonata’s eyes. Adagio opened her mouth, intending to answer, but Sonata interjected
“They took our voices.”
Ray repeated the statement “They took your voices?”
Adagio had a strange feeling, she felt for some reason, she could trust them. Adagio spoke up “They destroyed our amulets, our amulets allowed us to feed off of the hatred and the negative energy.”
Sonata wasn't sure about the situation, she interjected “Adagio!”
Adagio placed her hand on Sonata’s shoulder, “We can trust them.”
Sonata replied in a shocked tone “What?!”
Adagio turned Sonata and around and whispered to her, “Sonata, I know this might be hard for your miniscule brain to handle, but I think we can trust them.”
Sonata looked back at them, Elfeed, Ray and Chris looked at her. Adagio turned Sonata’s head back, Sonata replied to her in a worried tone “Are you sure?”
Adagio whispered to Sonata “For the last time, YES.” Adagio and Sonata turned back to them, Chris was holding some ice, while Elfeed was throwing a rock around.
Elfeed looked at the two “So, would you like our assistance?”
Adagio responded “It would be our pleasure.” Her old, sly smile crept over her face.
Elfeed held up his phone, “Here, our numbers.” Elfeed wrote down his, Chris’, and Ray’s numbers on a small sheet of paper.
Sonata picked up a napkin and wrote down their numbers before Adagio could object, Sonata quickly handed the three their numbers. Elfeed raised an eyebrow “Who’s… Aria?”
Adagio was rubbing her temples, in frustration of Sonata’s hastiness “She’s a friend of ours.”
Elfeed stood up, he grabbed all of the empty trays and placed them over the trashcan, the two Dazzlings looked up and saw everyone was leaving. Elfeed looked at them and said “Well... we’ve got to get going.”
Adagio looked up at them, “Yeah, we should get moving too.” Adagio sighed as she entered the girls’ locker room and got her gym uniform on. Sonata followed in suit, and changed into her uniform as well.
Elfeed put on his gym shorts, he walked into the room and grinned, he had joined wrestling club today. Several of the club members sneered at him, they towered over him, and their muscles had veins bulging out of them. Elfeed slowly walked up to the wrestling platform, someone who was a literal giant got up off of his seat in one corner. A referee walked up and announced for a moment, after some exposition, he finally yelled “ROUND 1, START!”
Elfeed waited for the wrestler in the opposing corner to make his move, the wrestler taunted Elfeed. Elfeed yelled his version of a battle cry and tackled the wrestler. The wrestler felt like he was hit by a ton of bricks, he fell to the ground and had the wind knocked out of him. The announcer and all of the members in the room were amazed, Elfeed took down the second in command of the wrestling club. He was then promptly pushed out the door. The door slammed shut, “DANG IT!” Elfeed’s yell echoed throughout the hallway. The school day had ended and since he finished all of his classes early, he texted his brothers “I’m done here, you guys wanna go home?” a few moments passed, and Ray replied, “I’m going to get something to drink. You guys want anything?” Elfeed and Chris responded “No.”
Ray walked towards one of the local cafés, he opened the door and felt something strange. Ray walked in and saw nothing was wrong in here, but there definitely was a tension in the air. Ray walked up to the register, an employee asked “May I take your order?”
Ray responded “Mocha latte, with caramel.”
The employee’s eyes darted to a corner for a moment, her eyes then shot back to her register, “That’ll be $2.39” Ray pulled out his wallet and counted up three dollars.
“Here you go.” He said as he handed the cashier the money.
“Alright, it’ll be out in just a minute.” The employee went to one of the coffee makers and began the usual procedure. Ray felt the silence in the air, he looked at everyone in the café, and noticed their eyes were all focused on this single hooded girl.
Ray then thought to himself “What’s wrong with this picture?” the employee handed Ray his coffee, he tasted it, ahh perfect!
He walked over to the hooded girl in the corner and said “Excuse me.”
The girl looked up, her purple eyes glared at him, an annoyed voice replied “What?”
Ray replied in a chipper tone that completely contrasted the girls’, “I was wondering if I could sit here.”
She stood up, “Fine, take it.”
Ray replied “Oh no! I didn’t want you to go away, I was wondering if we could talk.”
Ray’s friendly smile was greeted with an annoyed expression, the girl sat down, Ray asked her “Why do you keep your hood
on?”
The girl responded in a sarcastic tone while pulling her hood down a bit more, “Because I’m shy.”
Ray faked a laugh “You’re hilarious.”
The girl laughed, “You remind me of someone I know.”
Ray replied in an interested tone “Oh really?”
The girl replied half-laughing “Yeah, she always screws around with us.”
Ray asked “May I see your face?”
The girl’s tone lowered, “… I think I should be going.”
Ray questioned her “Why?”
The girl replied “I have to get home. It’s late and I have to get up early.”
Ray looked at her, “Alright, do you wanna talk again sometime?”
The girl clutched her chest, she finally looked back at him. She grabbed her phone and turned it on, Ray saw Aria’s face. She
shut off her phone and replied “See you.”
Ray watched her leave, and whispered to himself “Later…”
Ray then began to walk home, it was nightfall, and he picked up his phone, 8:34… Elfeed’ll beat the crap out of me if I get home late… So, Ray grabbed a bus heading for his neighborhood. As he got in, he saw some shady characters. He felt immediately uncomfortable, he waited for the bus to get to his house. A period of time passed, with each he saw people get on and off. He finally got off of the bus and walked down the street to his house. He looked up and saw the two-story house with crème colored walls and a large grey-black door. He got out his keys, he inserted the keys into the lock and unlocked the door. He looked into the den and saw that the TV was on. Elfeed passed out on the couch and Chris was operating the TV, searching through the instant TV queue. Chris looked away from the TV and saw Ray was finally home.
Chris asked “What took you so long?”
Ray replied “I got held up at the coffee shop and the bus took too long to get me here.”
Chris looked at him, he knew his brother was a liar when it was convenient, “Alright, for real. What held you up?”
Ray sighed and sat down on the chair adjacent to Chris, “I was talking with a girl, and I guess I lost track of time.”
Chris smiled, he knew his brother was telling the truth this time, “Alright, did you get her name?”
Ray replied in a slightly disheartened tone “No…”
Chris looked at him “Really? You left school at, like three and you spent that much time in there?”
Ray replied becoming annoyed “I don’t know! Maybe I got side-tracked along the way, and maybe I didn’t!”
Chris rolled his eyes and shut the TV off, “Ugh, there’s nothing good to watch.” He yawned a bit and said “I think Imma go to bed.”
Ray looked at him, his body felt a bit fatigued, “I think I’ll hit the hay too…”
Chris looked at Elfeed, his body was turned to stone, “What are we going to do about Elfeed? We prepared his bed to sustain his weight, but the couch is a different story…” Chris heard the couch groan in misery as Elfeed moved around.
Ray and Chris looked at each other, Ray decided “We need to get Elfeed back onto his bed!”
Chris looked at him, “But he’s too heavy for us!”
Ray said aloud, “Wait, can’t you just make something like an ice pillar and thrust it into his back?”
Elfeed’s eyes shot open, “OKAY OKAY!!! I’m up.” Elfeed lifted himself off of the couch, listening to the couch as it groaned while he stood up. Elfeed hobbled up the stairs and flopped onto his bed.
Ray and Chris followed Elfeed up the stairs and into their room, Chris and Ray flopped onto their beds, Chris could finally let the restraint on his power go, frozen air fell off of him as he nodded off. Ray let his power restraint go, fire began to consume his body as he burned and fell into a deep sleep…
Chapter 3: Elfeed reveals Himself
Sonata woke up, Saturday, one of the most merciful days for her, had finally arrived. She looked at her bedside, and picked up the torn piece of paper that Elfeed and his brothers gave her. She picked up the phone, after she dialed the number she heard a ringing tone, shortly after, a voice that sounded soft and gentle answered “Hello?”
Sonata said in a questioning tone “Elfeed?”
Elfeed replied “Yeah, is this Sonata?”
Sonata replied “Uh, yes…” she looked back and forth a bit, Adagio heard Sonata talking on her phone, Adagio crept up to Sonata’s door and cracked it just enough for her to peer through it, and listen in on her conversation.
Elfeed laid back in his bed “So, whatcha doin’?”
Sonata immediately responded “Nothing… What about you?”
Elfeed started to play with his brown hair, “Nothing really, I’m just listening to music…”
Sonata asked “What are you listening to?”
Elfeed said “It’s a band called TrebelMakers.”
Sonata raised an eyebrow, “Are they any good?”
Elfeed replied “Yeah, they’re pretty good… So did you need something?”
Sonata blushed a bit, “I um, well…”
Elfeed waited for Sonata’s response, Sonata began to stammer “W-well, I was wondering if y-you’d like to go do something? Together?”
Elfeed replied with a smile “Sounds good! What do you want to do?”
Sonata couldn’t believe his response “I was wondering if you’d like to go roller-skating with me…”
Elfeed smiled even more “Alright! When do you want to go?”
Sonata responded “Well, since they open at 4:00 do you wanna meet up then?”
Elfeed relaxed a bit, he sunk into his bed, “4:00 sounds good. I’ll see you then!”
Sonata smiled and said “See you then! Bye!”
Elfeed responded “Bye!” he hung up his phone, and sat up in his bed.
Chris walked into the room carrying a cherry and an orange soda, “Hey heads up!” Chris threw the can of cherry soda at Elfeed, who was preoccupied with thoughts and plans of what he would do and how Sonata would react, the can promptly hit him in the head.
“OW!! The heck was that for?!” Elfeed exclaimed.
Chris had his hands up “I said “heads up!””
Elfeed picked the soda up and walked over to his bathroom sink, he slowly opened the can and let the excess fizz pour over into the sink. He sighed in frustration, Chris saw the frustrated look on his face “Dude, are you okay?”
Elfeed looked up at him, “Hmm? Oh, I was talking with Sonata.”
Chris smiled slyly “Oh, you were “talking” with her?” he put air quotes around talking.
Elfeed smiled, and jokingly said “Shut up.”
Chris looked at him, “So… What were you talking about?”
Elfeed took a sip of the soda “Well… She invited me to go roller-skating with her…”
Chris’s eyes widened when he heard “invited” he said knowingly “Oh, I see how it is…”
Elfeed’s voice made the house shake “I SWEAR, IF YOU DO ANYTHING TO SCREW THIS UP FOR ME. MAY GOD HAVE MERCY ON YOUR SOUL.”
Chris knew that was a very spiky and threatening caution sign of Elfeed’s design, “Okay! I’ll stay away.”
Elfeed sighed in relief, Ray walked up the stairs and opened the door to their room, “What’s going on?”
Elfeed replied “It’s none of—“
Only to be interrupted by Chris “Elfeed's going on a date!”
Ray mockingly made his eyes tear up, “They grow up so fast!”
Elfeed exclaimed in an annoyed tone “Shut up.”
Chris got in between the two, he quickly said “Alright. Alright, let’s let Elfeed relax about this. If he’s stressed out for his date, he’ll screw up.” Chris walked beside Elfeed as he was drinking some of his soda, Chris slapped Elfeed on the back, “Don’t worry bro! We’ll leave you alone during your date.”
Elfeed had a quick fit of coughs, “Dude, Do--*cough* Don’t ever do th--*cough* Don’t ever do that again.” Elfeed cleared his throat, he finally stopped coughing, “Alright, let’s see, what time is it… 12:43, alright, I should start getting ready.”
Elfeed took off his pajamas, Chris jokingly screamed, Ray yelled “MY EYES!!!!”
Elfeed rolled his eyes and put on his jeans and his favorite grey shirt, he opened his laptop. He realized Sonata forgot to tell him the name of the roller rink. Elfeed picked up his phone and scrolled down to the contact under “Sonata” he clicked the contact and his phone dialed Sonata’s number, he heard it ring for a few moments…
“Hello?”
Elfeed asked “Hey, I forgot to ask. What’s the name of the roller rink?”
Sonata responded “Uh… It’s called “Keep Calm and Roll on”.”
Elfeed smiled “Great! Thanks, I just wanted to know the name.”
Sonata replied “Alright! Bye!” Sonata hung up her phone and continued to look through her closet full of shirts.
Elfeed went back to his laptop, he looked up “Keep Calm and Roll on”, Elfeed looked at the address and mumbled to himself as he wrote down the address “Alright… 143 Celladon way…” Elfeed stood up, he layed down on his bed and watched some TV for the few hours in between, the clock on his bed room wall said it was almost three. He looked down at his phone, 2:57, Elfeed quickly slapped his roller skates on. Elfeed skated down the road. He had the GPS on his phone activated, thankfully the rink was close to his house. He zoomed out on his GPS’s map, “Oh wow, I won’t even need this!” He turned the GPS off and soon, the roller rink was in sight.
Chris was in Elfeed’s room, he sat down on his brothers’ bed, and bowed his head, "I hope he'll be okay..."
Elfeed arrived at the roller rink, he stood outside of the door and waited for Sonata. Elfeed picked up his phone and began to call Sonata, before he pressed the “call” button, he thought carefully. “I shouldn’t make her rush.” Just as Elfeed finished his thought, he saw Sonata wave at him from inside of the building. Elfeed walked in and saw Sonata “Sorry about that!” he forced a smile and paid his and Sonata’s admission fee. Elfeed walked in and laced up his black skates he bought a few years ago. Thankfully his slowly aging body didn’t change in size that much. He laced up the skates and ran off to the rink. Sonata waited for him out there, she held onto a smooth brick wall that was placed on the edge of the rink. Elfeed rolled out on the rink, only a few other people were here, Elfeed thought to himself “I better use something lighter than igneous rock.“ he transformed his hardened skin into a lighter material.
He rolled up to Sonata and apologized “Sorry to keep you waiting!”
Sonata smiled “You’re fine! I wasn’t here for that long anyway.”
The DJ walked into the booth that controlled the music that played through the speakers. Elfeed heard the track change to one of his favorite songs. The words “Like the legend of the phoenix, all ends with beginnings. What keeps the planet spinnin’?” boomed out of the speakers.
Elfeed exclaimed “Oh my God I love this song!”
Sonata replied “Really? You like Crazy Punk?”
Elfeed smiled, “Yeah! They’re one of my favorite bands!”
Soon, the song changed the words “Let me take a selfie.” Boomed out of the speakers.
Elfeed’s smile disappeared, “Aaand this is one of the songs I happen to loathe.”
Sonata soon figured out what Elfeed meant, the excruciatingly loud club music boomed through the speakers. Sonata soon had to cover her ears “This is really loud!!”
Elfeed looked over at her and said “What?!”
Sonata replied “I said, “This is really loud!”.”
Finally two minutes passed, and the club music that was shaking the air changed to a slow song.
Elfeed’s eye twitched he thought to himself “Oh crap, I’m no good with these songs.” He turned to Sonata and said “Finally, they changed the song.”
Sonata smiled, she held onto Elfeed’s arm, and slowed down.
Elfeed slowed down simultaneously, soon they were rolling at a walking pace. Elfeed blushed as Sonata held her body close to his arm. Elfeed looked down at Sonata, the words that came immediately into his head were, “She's too friggin' cute!”
Elfeed guided Sonata off of the track, they had announced it was time for them to close. Elfeed’s stomach growled, he and Sonata laughed a bit, Sonata’s stomach growled as well, Elfeed asked “What do you want to eat?”
Sonata’s eyes beamed with excitement “TACOS!!!”
Elfeed put on a face that parodied the brave adventurer he always saw in the movies. He yelled aloud “Then let us venture forth! Unto Taco Campanilla!”
Sonata shot a fist pump into the air, “YAY!!”
Elfeed and Sonata ate, and laughed, soon after the dinner, Elfeed walked Sonata home, they were about three blocks away from where she lived, Elfeed broke the silence a few times, “So, do you have any talents?”
Sonata responded “I like to sing!”
Elfeed smiled “Cool! I want to be a chef.”
Sonata smiled, Elfeed shot his arm out in front of her, blocking her path. Elfeed pointed at three shady figures standing under a lamp post. Elfeed said “Let’s take a different way.” One of the three made a mad dash after him, he held a spiked bat up in the air, and swung down at Sonata, the bat was shattered by Elfeed’s stone arm.
The man was startled, he yelled “What the hell are you?!”
Elfeed said to Sonata “Get behind me.”
The two accomplices held up their silenced guns, the man with the bat ran behind him, they showered the two with bullets. Elfeed’s body was pure stone by now, the bullets ricocheted off of his body, Elfeed threw up a wall of stone, and his gravelly voice spoke to Sonata “Everything is going to be okay.” He held Sonata in his arms, and then set her down, he threw up a dome of stone over Sonata. The stone wall succumbed to the merciless shower of bullets. But the dome stood stalwart over Sonata, all she could hear was the intense storm of bullets ricocheting off of the dome, and a raging roar. Elfeed lunged at the men, he began to roll like a boulder and left massive ridges of earth in his wake. Elfeed had forced the men to retreat, they couldn’t think of fighting against such a creature. Elfeed pulled down the barrier that safeguarded Sonata, the first words that came out of Elfeed’s mouth were “Are you okay?”
Sonata nodded “What are you?”
Elfeed replied with reluctance in his voice "I--I am a titan."
Sonata looked at him, "Alright then."
Elfeed raised an eyebrow "You--you aren't going to freak out? No "ERMAGERSH THAT'S AWESHOME!!!"? or "You freak of nature go away!"?"
Sonata looked at him "You honestly think I care what you are?"
Elfeed looked at her while clutching his arm, "Well, *laughs* I guess so. I'm probably just being stupid."
Sonata looked at him "C'mon. Adagio will kill me if I'm home late."
Elfeed smiled at her while reverting to his human form, "That would be quite unpleasant."
Sonata laughed a bit, "Indeed!"
Elfeed smiled back at Sonata, he held Sonata and reverted to his human form. “Let’s get you home.” Sonata remained silent, they held their hands for the rest of the trip home.
Adagio and Aria peered out of the window, even though they both insulted her for being an idiot or “the worst”, they both still cared for her. Soon, Sonata walked into the door and Elfeed waved goodbye, Sonata stood in the doorway still waving at Elfeed. Adagio and Aria pulled Sonata in and quickly examined her body.
“Did he hurt you?”
“Did he pay for your dinner?”
“Did he take you somewhere nice?”
“Did he skate with you?”
“Was he polite?”
“Was he prepared?”
All of the questions shot off in a rapid fire fashion. To Sonata, the questions all came at her at once. Her head was spinning, she couldn’t process anything Adagio or Aria asked to Sonata it came out sounding like they were spewing mush, and all she could tell is that they were worried. Sonata pushed them away from her “Guys! I’m fine! Elfeed was a great date.” She smiled.
Aria and Adagio had an expression of slight shock, Adagio said “Really?”
Aria added “What did he do?”
Sonata pulled up her hand and counted off a finger for all of the things Elfeed did, “He paid for my admission, he held the door open for me, he listened to me, he made me laugh, he got me dinner, he walked me home, he protected me, and he was respectful to me.”
Adagio mumbled to herself “Impressive…”
Sonata turned her head “Sorry?”
Adagio added “Oh no, it was nothing. I was just thinking out loud.”
Sonata had a look of suspicion enter her face, but she shrugged it off and decided to grab a quick shower. Adagio and Aria watched Sonata exit the shower and walk into her room, she got her pajamas on and fell asleep on her bed. Adagio walked into her room, she heard mumbling coming from Sonata.
“Of course I’ll accept your taco…. brave knight… Elfeeeeeed…”
Adagio’s face of worry became amplified as she heard Sonata mumble Elfeed’s name repeatedly, Sonata was well over one thousand and she appeared to have fallen in love with a human. Aria opened the door quietly, and whispered “Adagio? What are you doing?”
Adagio shushed Aria and motioned her to come here. Aria crouched beside Sonata, she was mumbling Elfeed’s name repeatedly, over and over, “Elfeeeed… Elfeeeeeeeed… *giggle* Elfieee”
Aria soon duplicated Adagio’s face of worry, they both walked into the living room and sat down on the couch.
Adagio had her face in her hands, “Oh… This is not good.”
Aria replied in a sarcastic tone, “Oh really? Sonata falling in love with a human? It’s not like, oh I don’t know, he’ll DIE or anything right?!”
Adagio slowly stood up and began to pace back and forth, “We can’t just let her bear that kind of heartbreak…”
Aria stood up and put a hand on her worried friend’s shoulder, “Listen, she already likes him, we’ll just let her deal with it, but if one thing comes to another, we’ll intervene? Does that sound good?”
Adagio reluctantly nodded. They both went off to bed… Both with thoughts of worry and doubt.
Elfeed reached his house, he ringed the doorbell and saw Ray coming to get the door, as Ray opened the door, he smiled and asked “So… How did it go?”
Elfeed walked in, “It went well.”
Ray smiled “Oh really?”
Elfeed replied “Yes, really.”
Chris was watching ‘Murica’s Funniest Home Videos. Chris pulled his attention away from the screen and said “How did it go?”
Elfeed repeated his answer, “It went well.”
Chris smiled “Awesome, so… How into you do you think she is?”
Elfeed laughed to himself and rolled his eyes at the statement, he began to walk up the stairs, Chris yelled “Hey! You didn’t answer my question!”
Elfeed remained silent as he ascended the stairs, Elfeed wasn’t sure what to think of, Sonata fell in love with me… He knelt down and bowed his head, he spoke in his mind to himself. He flopped in his bed, and then he realized how bad he smelled, this prompted Elfeed to take a quick shower, as he jumped in, and turned on the water. He felt the water temperature before he hopped in, he smelled beef, he shut off the shower and unscrewed the head, “Aha! A Bouillon cube!”
Elfeed heard several frustrated groans come from the den, he chuckled to himself a bit and waited for the steaming water to flush out the stench… After the relaxing shower, Elfeed changed into his pajamas and went to sleep feeling secure, due to his foiling of his brothers' prank. Elfeed’s brothers ascended the stairs silently, Ray and Chris were holding shaving cream cans. They walked up to Elfeed’s bedside, Chris began to generate a large flat plate of ice, while Ray sprayed each can until they were empty onto the plate of ice. Ray held up his smartphone and looked into the camera “Smack cam” Chris let the ice plate fall down on Elfeed. Elfeed began to squirm under the plate, he shoved it off and saw the camera.
Elfeed burst into a rage only he could produce, “C’mon man I’m tryin’ to frickin’ sleep here!!!”
Chris and Ray laughed and flopped in their beds, Elfeed had to take another shower. Elfeed got into his bed, and noticed his phone began to vibrate, he picked it up and saw he had a text from Sonata,
“Elfeed, I had a lot of fun tonight, hope we can do it again soon.
-Sonata”
Elfeed smiled and shut his phone off, soon he fell asleep feeling secure once more.
Chapter 4: The Titan's Fear...
Aria was laying in her bed, her mind was still in confusion as she wasn’t sure to take her own advice. To let Sonata keep her feelings for Elfeed, and to only intervene when necessary. Aria was frustrated, she knew she shouldn’t worry, but the thought of Elfeed dying and Sonata mourning over him plagued her still. She sighed “If I keep worrying about Sonata, I won’t be able to focus.” She pondered why on earth Sonata seemed to find interest in this, guy… They had all had fallen “in love” with men tens if not hundreds of times, but her love seemed genuine this time. Aria sighed, she looked at her clock, “11:23… If I don’t get to sleep, I’ll end up crashing in the middle of my shift.” Aria comforted herself, she curled up into a fetal position under her covers and fell asleep.
The alarm on the side of Aria’s bed blared in her ears, her eyes shot open, she looked to see it was 5:46, she hopped up and brushed her teeth, she ate some of her cereal, Adagio emerged from the door to her bedroom.
Adagio’s eyes were struggling to stay open, she moaned, Aria chuckled at her, “Did you forget to turn your alarm off?”
Adagio grew a questioning look “What are you talking about?”
Aria looked at her friend’s body that seemed to dread every moment she stood up. “It’s Sunday, you can go back to bed.”
Adagio looked at her, “Why are you up then?”
Aria replied “Eh, I dunno, for some reason if I oversleep I feel more tired than if I under sleep. I’m weird like that I guess.”
Adagio limped back into her room, she flopped down on her bed and treasured every moment of sleep she had from there on in. Sonata sat on the side of her bed, “A titan, huh.” A smile grew on her face “I met a titan!!!” the yell echoed throughout the house, Aria paid no attention to it, she figured Sonata just went insane. Adagio simply covered her head with one of her pillows and tried to ignore Sonata’s yelling. Sonata shot up out of her bed and walked out of her room, a beaming smile streaked across her face.
Aria looked at her “What are you so happy about?”
Sonata said “Oh nothing…” attempting to brush her earlier announcement under the rug.
Aria had a suspicious look on her face, “Last time I checked, yelling about meeting a titan either meant you had a weird dream, or you went insane.”
Sonata stammered in embarrassment “Um—hehehehe…” she slowly shrank back into her room. She picked up her cell and began to text Elfeed, she stopped texting and wondered to herself “If I tell Elfeed that I yelled about meeting a titan, would he be mad? Then again Aria just thought I was crazy… And Adagio, as far as I know, didn’t hear it. I should tell him, if I want to get serious with him, I have to be honest.” She made a vow to herself to be completely honest with Elfeed (to a certain degree…). She finished her text and sent it to Elfeed.
Elfeed’s phone began to ring, his eyes lazily drifted open “I thought I turned my alarm off…” he stood up and grabbed his phone, he opened his text from Sonata “Elfeed, do you mind if I tell Adagio and Aria you’re a titan?” Elfeed raised an eyebrow and texted “I guess there’s no harm. Just try to keep it amongst yourselves, okay?” the text popped up on Sonata’s screen, her face grew a small smile as she read it. She walked into her living room, Aria was watching a cooking competition.
Aria heard Sonata walk in, she turned her body to her, “So, what’s up?”
Sonata replied “Elfeed is a titan.”
Aria’s face became one of concern, “Sonata, the titans were imprisoned.”
Sonata replied “Elfeed is a titan.”
Aria’s face was one that showed her lack of amusement, “You aren’t going to answer my question are you?”
Sonata looked Aria in the eye, “Aria, this is the one time I need you to take my word for it.”
Aria looked at her, “Ugh, Sonata, I know you mean well, or whatever… But telling me Elfeed is a titan. It’s just—so random.”
Sonata held her hands behind her back, “Well… I guess you’re right.” She looked down at the ground, feeling discouraged at her friend’s disbelief.
Aria turned her attention back to the TV, while Sonata began to text Elfeed, “They think I’m crazy.”
Elfeed texted her back, “Don’t worry, they’ll see soon.”
Aria patted one of the cushions, “C’mon, let’s watch some TV.”
Sonata grew a small smile and plopped herself on the couch… a few hours passed, soon Aria had her feet kicked up on the coffee table in front of her, while Sonata was sitting upside down on the cushion. Aria’s stomach growled, “Ugh, I’m starving.”
Sonata agreed “Yeah, I’m hungry too…”
Adagio wanted to reply to the two, but as she opened her mouth, she was interrupted by Aria, “We don’t exactly have anything to eat…” they frowned as they came to this sad realization, their barren pantry and deserted fridge were especially discouraging.
Elfeed was looking at his YouTube profile, he noticed someone had posted a video called “The Dazzlings, Under Our Spell” his eyebrow shot up when he saw the thumbnail contained Adagio, Sonata, and Aria. He clicked on the video and saw that someone was videotaping the performance of the Dazzlings, as Elfeed watched, he noticed in the corner of the screen several students’ eyes were flashing green for just a second… He stroked his chin, he grinned as he remembered the sirens… “Their amulets… They appear to suck up the green fog generated by hate and strife…” a few moments passed, “Wow, they’re good…” He grinned as he yelled to his two brothers, “HEY GUYS!!! C’MERE!” Ray and Chris walked in the door, “What is it?” Ray’s irritated voice replied, Elfeed restarted the video of the performance over again, he glanced down the suggested videos and saw the additional songs they performed, “Battle of the Bands” and, “Welcome to the Show…” one video in particular caught Elfeed’s attention.
A video titled “Awesome as I want to be”, as he watched the video, a girl with rainbow hair began to have glowing ears appear in her hair… Elfeed’s eye twitched, “Please tell me that wasn’t what I thought it was.” Chris shuddered a bit, “Equestrian magic… Wait a minute… How the heck did it get here?!” Elfeed returned his brother’s alarmed response “I don’t know! I thought we were rid of it when those alicorns teleported us! I’m not sure if it was an act of cruelty or an act of mercy…” Ray tried to keep a stern expression, “It doesn’t help, considering the humans of that time were utter idiots… Watching me get hit with a lightning bolt and assuming it was a gods doing…” Ray still couldn’t believe the thought. Elfeed looked at his brothers, “As long as that source of Equestrian magic stands, our powers are in jeopardy!” Ray barked at Elfeed, sparks began to fly from his mouth “No freaking duh Captain Obvious!” Elfeed’s fist began to turn to stone, as he raised it up to his brother “Thanks for the clarification sergeant Sarcasm!” Elfeed looked down at the screenshot of the rainbow haired girl “What do we do? I’m sure everyone will notice the sudden and potentially bloody disappearance of a rainbow haired blowhard…” Ray fell down on his hands and knees, he looked up at his two brothers, “I--I need to rest…” Elfeed turned to his downed brother and helped him up, “This will have to be a matter for another day… Until then, we’ll have to distance ourselves from her and her friends…” Chris stood up and said to his brother as he was helping Ray into his bed, “What about Adagio and them? You saw their transformation when they got those ears and wings!” Elfeed laid Ray down on his bed, he glared at his brother, "Their amulets appeared to be their source of power, its a shame they were destroyed. Their voices were beautiful..." Chris nodded in agreement, "Well..."
Elfeed looked over at his brother, "Well what?" Chris looked Elfeed in the eye while stroking his chin, "What if we give them our excess Equestrian magic? It would help us keep ourselves in check and it could help them regain their abilities." Elfeed nodded in agreement, "But those rainbooms... They can use what appears to be Equestrian magic, to eliminate Equestrian magic..." Ray looked at his brothers "Guys, it's late, and we need to sleep on this. It's not the kind of problem you should try to solve overnight." Ray rolled over and put his back to his brothers, Elfeed and Chris flopped in their beds, until they both lulled off to sleep.
Elfeed’s eyes opened slowly, Chris and Ray’s eyes shot open. They all rose out of their beds, they prepared for school and hopped up on the bus. Elfeed whispered to his brothers to his right, “Alright, we have to act as if nothing happened for now. If we all start acting weird around them, they’ll know something is up.” Chris nodded, Ray replied “Well, no time like the present…” Chris looked out of the window “Almost no one is here… What happened?” Elfeed looked out and saw Sonata waiting by the statue in front of the school. Ray saw Sonata as well, and mimicked a stereotypical French accent, “Ahh, young love, between two high school lovers…”
Elfeed rolled his eyes at his brother’s statement, the few students hopped out of the bus, Elfeed, Chris, and Ray soon followed the horde of students. Sonata ran up to Elfeed, “Elfeed!” she yelled. Elfeed felt a bone crushing hug greet him, even his hardened earthen bones struggled against the fearsome force. Elfeed struggled to speak “So-Sonata.” “Yeah?” “You can let go now!” Sonata released Elfeed and set him down, “Sorry! I’m just happy to see you again!” Elfeed gasped for breath, as Ray let out a hearty laugh, and Chris snickered. Elfeed asked “So where’s Adagio?” Sonata held her hands behind her back, “I dunno, she said she would be here…”
Adagio could be seen running towards the school, Sonata pointed “There she is!” Adagio slowed to a walking pace and approached the four students, “Elfeed, Ray, Chris, er, so nice to see you!” Adagio awkwardly spouted. Sonata looked at Adagio “What took you so long? Usually, this is the other way around…” Adagio replied “I forgot to lock the door…” Sonata rolled her eyes, “Anyways… We have to get to class.” Adagio was a bit confused, she had never seen Sonata so… so, in charge. The two walked off, Adagio asked “Are you alright?” Sonata looked at her with a confident smile “Why wouldn’t I be?” Adagio showed some concern, “You seem very, well, assertive. And you appear to actually be thinking!” Sonata giggled at Adagio’s comment, “Yeah, Elfeed’s been teaching me some martial arts, it’s a real confidence booster!” she smiled a goofy smile, as Adagio leaned back a bit, as if she was suffering a slight recoil to her comment. “Hmm… Did he say how he came to know martial arts?” Sonata replied “Something about decades of training…” Adagio’s eyes widened, “You mean years of training, right?” Sonata replied in a defiant tone, “No, I meant decades of training! He’s mastered almost every martial arts techniques out there! He even showed me some pictures of the tournaments he’s been in, haha! You need to look at this!” She showed Adagio a picture of Elfeed taking a selfie, while holding up what appeared to be one of his many black belts.
Adagio’s eyes narrowed “Uh huh…”
Sonata looked at her with excited eyes, “It’s so cool! He said whenever he gets in a fight with his brothers, he always comes out on top!”
Adagio’s face grew suspicious, “Uh huh…” she thought to herself “This is… just wow. I can’t believe someone of his age is a black belt in multiple types of martial arts...” Adagio felt she had a revelation
“Wait a minute, what if this could be a lie to test how much Sonata would believe?” Her attention turned her back to Sonata, who was looking at her as if she was confused “What is it?”
Sonata replied “Oh, it’s just that I was almost yelling at you and you didn’t respond!”
Adagio apologized “Er, sorry. My mind was wandering a bit…”
Sonata replied with one of her stupid smiles “Don’t let your mind wander silly!”
Adagio thought to herself “Why do her responses not even bother me anymore?” she laughed awkwardly, “Heh-heh. Anyways, has Elfeed, er, demonstrated?”
Sonata held her finger to her chin “He has.”
Adagio’s look of suspicion changed to one of concern “Sonata, maybe Elfeed is leading you on…”
Sonata soon duplicated her friends’ look of concern “I—I don’t know. I don’t think he’d do that.”
Adagio held Sonata’s shoulder “Maybe you should ask him to come over, and see if he’s, well. You know.”
Sonata cocked her head for a moment, she thought she realized what Adagio was talking about and looked over at the bulletin board, the school was having a week off in celebration of the Rainbooms rising to national popularity, turns out kids apparently like the songs they made… Sonata texted Elfeed “Hey, you wanna come over to our house?” her phone vibrated as she looked down, “That was quick…” she thought to herself. Elfeed responded “Wait, don’t we have class?” Sonata typed “Just found out we have a school holiday, the only kids here are the kids with stuff to do after school.” Elfeed replied, “What’s the address?” Sonata texted Elfeed the address and saw Elfeed text back “Wanna meet up and walk over there?” “Sure :D”
Sonata saw Elfeed alone by the statue at the front of the school, Sonata walked up to him “Where are your brothers?” Elfeed responded with a slightly disappointed tone, “They decided they were going to go play paintball. I didn’t want to go, they always beat me.” Sonata raised her eyebrow, “You want to go over now?” Elfeed simply responded “Sure!” he followed the two girls to their house.
Adagio walked up to the door and grabbed her keys, she unlocked the door. As she opened it, an Elfeed of extreme excitement walked in. “So this is your house! Cool…” he looked around, and saw a curious looking Adagio in the doorway, she plopped herself down on the couch. Adagio patted the middle cushion beside her, Elfeed walked over and sat down, he sat down very neatly, with his hands in his lap, sitting straight up, and his feet in front of him. Adagio waved her hand shooing away Sonata, she raised her eyebrow and walked reluctantly into her room. Elfeed felt Adagio’s hand go up his leg, he tensed his leg up. Adagio laughed, “Getting flustered already?” she smiled seductively and chuckled under her breath. Elfeed was blushing, he grabbed her hand and set it on her lap, he sat Indian style and turned his body to Adagio, he then began to speak as if he was explaining something to a lawyer, “Adagio, as much as I appreciate your interest in me, I am unable to reciprocate your feelings, as I am currently interested, and wish to devote myself, to Sonata. Therefore, I request that you cease these seductive actions and seek someone else.” Elfeed stood up and walked towards Sonata’s room.
Adagio had a face of confusion, she felt in shock on the inside, her main thoughts consisted of “I, um… Wow.” Elfeed yelled towards Sonata, “May I come in?” Sonata replied “Sure!” Adagio followed Elfeed into the room, it was surprisingly neat, her bed was all made up and her floors were completely clear of any possible clutter. It was incredibly neat, especially considering how absent minded Sonata used to be.
An awkward silence filled the room, Adagio broke the silence, “So… What do you all want to do now?”
Elfeed directed his attention to Adagio “I, er… That’s a very good question… Idea!” Adagio raised her eyebrow and crossed her arms, Sonata simply cocked her head to the side. “How about you guys get Aria, and you come over to our house?” Adagio replied cheerily, “Um, alright then. I’ll get Aria up. Hey, what’s your address?” Elfeed looked over his shoulder, “Uh… 732 Fire Brand St.” Adagio grabbed her cell, she dialed Aria’s number and heard her answer, “Yeah?”
“It’s Adagio, Elfeed was wondering if we’d like to come over to his house.”
Aria replied, “When does he want us to come over?”
“Uh, hold on just a second,” she put the phone on her hip and yelled to Elfeed, “Hey, when do you want us to be over
there?” Elfeed turned away from his small talk with Sonata and replied, “I don’t care, we can go now if you want.”
Adagio pulled the phone back up to her ear, “He doesn’t care, we can go over there now.”
Aria replied “Let’s do it. I’ll be home in about five-ten minutes.”
Adagio smiled a bit “Alright, see you in a bit!”
Elfeed, in his head, bravely escorted the three to his humble, two-story, almost mansion like abode. Sonata stared at the marvel of architecture, “Wow. You guys have WAY too much money.” Elfeed laughed, “Our parents were “eccentric” to say the least.” Aria raised an eyebrow, “Were?” Elfeed replied, looking down at the ground a bit, “Our parents passed a few years ago, everything in this house and our inheritance is all they left us.” Aria felt bad for asking that question, “Oh… I-I’m sorry.” Elfeed looked at her with an unnaturally happy smile, “Nah, you’re fine! C’mon, there’s no sense in standing out here in the cold.” Elfeed hopped up the stairs to the doorway, he held the door open and motioned to them with an open palm, “After you.” The three walked in, and proceeded up the stairs and into their bedroom, he swung the door open and yelled “Behold! Our fortress of solitude!!” Ray and Chris’ attention snapped to the three girls being led into their room, “Er, what’s going on?” Ray wondered, Elfeed looked at his disgruntled brother, “We, have guests.” Chris shrugged, and turned back to his computer screen, where he was beating a grandmaster difficulty AI in chess.
Aria walked over to Ray, “Hi, I’m Aria.” Ray kept his attention locked on the screen, “Ray.” Aria grabbed a controller from the small bin beside the television, “Mind if I play?” Ray laughed a bit, “Sure, go ahead.” Aria plugged in the controller, the announcer in the game yelled “Free-for-all! Your enemies are everywhere!” Aria quickly ran and grabbed a shotgun, she quickly met another player and killed him with a sliding shotgun blast. Another player reared his head above a wall, Aria pulled out her pistol and got a headshot on him. Aria smirked in confidence, she finally met Ray’s avatar, who was currently in first place, Ray quickly shut Aria down with a three round burst from his rifle. Aria growled, “You will regret that.” Ray replied in pride “Oh really?” Aria grabbed a rocket launcher and shot a shell at Ray’s avatar, “Yes, really.” Ray’s face became one of rage, “Alright! I was going to go easy, but now, the gloves are coming off!” Aria returned Ray’s old smirk, she grabbed a sniper rifle and quickly landed a head shot on Ray, she grinned “Wow, is that all you have for me?” Ray smirked as he grabbed a fusion rifle, he killed three other players with three swift, consecutive shots. He finally ran up to Aria’s avatar who was sniping off some other players, and charged up his rifle, Aria quickly reacted and struck him with the stock of her rifle, Ray fired the shots and watched in pride as Aria’s avatar’s body was incinerated. “Haha! I got you good!” Aria laughed a mocking laugh, “Haha, you got lucky.”
Adagio finally grew bored of watching the two killing each other, she looked over at Chris’ screen and saw he was just about to beat the AI. He moved his knight and saw the words “Checkmate” appear on his screen. Adagio smiled a bit, “You play chess?” Chris smirked at her comment, “Yeah, do you want to play me?” Adagio replied with a sly smile, “With pleasure…” Ray pulled out an old chess board, the pieces were carved made of iron and the board was a slab of stone with checker markings on it. He grabbed a white and a black pawn, he put his hands behind his back and began to shuffle the two. Chris held out his fists, Adagio tapped his right hand, a black pawn greeted her in his open palm. Chris moved his pawn forward… The game dragged on, until Chris had a knight, a queen, two rooks, and his king. Adagio had two knights, one rook, two bishops, and her king. Chris moved his knight forward and quickly declared with pride “Check and mate!” Adagio yelled in frustration “I demand a rematch!!!”
Elfeed and Sonata were relaxing on his bed, “So… How’s life been?” Sonata replied “It’s been fine… you?” “Eh, could be a bit better.” Sonata yawned a bit “I’m bored…” Elfeed turned to her, “What do you want to do?” Sonata turned to him with a smile on her face, she held Elfeed close. Elfeed felt her body against his arms, her eyes were shut, and she was clutching onto his arm. Elfeed smiled a bit and laid her head on his shoulder. They fell asleep moments later…
Elfeed finally woke up, he felt something poking his side, it was Sonata, he groaned. “I don’t wanna get up!!!” he threw a pillow over his head to keep the light from the ceiling fan out of his eyes. Sonata said “C’mon, we accidentally dozed off, and we should try and get back to the others.” Elfeed moaned, “Ugh fine.” He literally rolled off of his bed, his body created a quake like crash as he hit the floor.
Chris looked up towards their room, “Sounds like Elfeed’s up.” Adagio and Aria were a bit confused at how huge the crash was, Elfeed had the body of a teenager, but it sounded like a sumo wrestler keeled over in there… Elfeed hobbled down the stairs with Sonata, she held his arm over her shoulder and supported him. Elfeed heard gasps of amazement and shock come from the room, his eyesight finally reached into the room, and he saw Chris with a spear of ice, and Ray was juggling fire balls.
Elfeed smirked, “Wow, you guys need to step it up if you really want to impress them.” He drew a chunk of earth from his gut, Aria and Adagio were both amazed and horrified. Sonata watched the chunk of earth come out of Elfeed, “Eeew…” Elfeed turned to her, “Oh it’s not permanent if you’re wondering.” He sent the chunk back into his stomach, and the gap that was left by the drawn out earth was restored. Sonata looked down at Elfeed’s gut, “But still… Eeeeww…” Elfeed laughed a bit, “Yes, I know it looks gross, but my body is pretty much all rock. Only when I’m in my human form, does the display shock.” “I see…” Adagio remarked, “Wait a minute, human form?” Elfeed reeled back a bit, “Wait a minute, you guys didn’t tell them yet? You already showed them your abilities, we might as well show them our original forms.” Chris and Ray shrugged, and the three brothers reverted to their titan forms, Elfeed’s earthen plates running up and down his spine and his ribs soon covered his whole body. His head was covered in earth, until his eyes could only be seen by their glowing green prominence. Soon, the earth was smoothed out, like ancient rocks, eroded by rushing water and eroding winds. Ray’s body was engulfed in flames, his eyes beamed red, his forearms grew in size, and his fingernails became flaming talons, his face was hidden by the harsh flames and only his eyes could be seen, he opened his mouth, and it was like staring into the fires of hell. It was both terrifying and awe worthy. Ray’s body became engulfed in glacial ice, the ice covered his face like a mask, until all that could be seen were his glowing icy blue eyes, his face became jagged and crystal like, his hair froze and left frozen spikes in their place. His fingers tapered into needle like formations, his feet were jagged, yet smooth… Once their transformations were complete, Elfeed yelled in a comical fashion “Tada!!!”
The three were without words, Sonata held up her phone, and showed them the footage from one of their most recent failures, strange, thorny, butterfly like wings shot out of their backs, soon their human ears were replaced by ears of ponies. Elfeed raised an eyebrow, as he watched the rest of the video, he saw the remarkably strange cosmic alicorn come from the Rainbooms, “What the—“ came out of his mouth as he watched the beam of light from the alicorns’ horn cover the stage. Soon the light faded, the Dazzlings clutched to what was left of their amulets, and made a discordant attempt at singing a verse of their song. Elfeed cringed a bit as he heard the off-key lyrics. The three watched the storm of various food products cover the stage and heard the roaring boos from the students, Sonata, Adagio, and Aria held up what shards they could recover from their amulets. Elfeed held his hand out with an open palm, “May we see them?” Adagio held her shards to her chest, she sighed and nodded to the other two Dazzlings, they handed Elfeed their shards. “I’ll be right back,” he said. He quickly descended into a door under the staircase, they could hear the giant’s foot-steps. Elfeed grabbed a book and ascended the stairs, leaving thudding after-shocks in his wake. A large encyclopedia was set down on a small coffee table, Elfeed opened it up, Adagio felt something cold touching her arm, she shot an annoyed look at Chris, “Sorry!” Chris replied, he distanced himself a bit as Elfeed opened up the book of extensive lore. “The Telekhines were skilled craftsman, they created legendary artifacts, like Poseidon’s trident, and Cronus’ sickle. You guys remember Barry right?” Chris nodded, Ray replied “Yeah, what about him?” Elfeed patted his flaming brother on the head, “We, my brother of hellfire, are going to see the wonderful craftsman of Oz.” Ray face palmed himself, Elfeed reverted to his human form and grabbed his cell. Elfeed held it up to his ear and said “Hey Barry, I need a favor…” “What do you need?” a gruff voice replied, “I met three sirens whose amulets were shattered, you think you could fix ‘em?” The gruff voice sighed “Alright, I’ll give it a shot, but you owe me.” Elfeed smiled “Thanks man, we’ll be right over.” Elfeed hung up the phone and announced to the five others, “Alright, who’s ready for a little trip?” Sonata had a confused look on her face, Aria cocked her head to the side, Adagio simply replied “Alright then, let’s go.” Ray yelled “Road trip!”
They had all piled into Ray’s truck, Ray sat in the drivers’ seat, Adagio was in between him and Elfeed, Aria sat behind Elfeed, Chris sat in between her and Sonata. A few hours passed, and Ray pulled up into Barry’s driveway, he hopped out of the truck and looked at the log cabin, with a large pillar of blackened smoke emerging from the chimney jutting out of the roof. Elfeed jumped out of his seat and walked up to the door, he rang the doorbell and saw a large scruffy man open the door, “Hey man, how ya doin’?” Elfeed clutched Barry’s hand and gave him a hardy handshake, Barry replied with a gruff voice “I’m good. Now you said something about some amulets you needed repaired?” Elfeed replied, “They’re mostly crystal,” he looked behind him and saw the three young girls emerge from the large red truck. Adagio held out three small leather bags, each contained the shards from the each of their respective amulets. Barry held the bags and looked at the contents inside, he opened the door, “Alright, I’ll see what I can do, I’ve refurbished a few other relics, but I’ve only done one or two crystalline relics.” The three brothers followed Barry downstairs into his forge, it was extremely impressive, automated hammers crashed down on burning red metal, massive buckets full of water gushed steam as the automated claw lowered the red metal into the bucket. Barry handed the three Dazzlings specialized blacksmiths’ aprons, and masks. Barry turned to them, he asked “You guys wanna see a party trick?” he pulled his thumb off of his hand, Aria rolled her eyes at the trick until Barry dropped his thumb on the floor. “HOLY CRAP!” Aria yelled, Barry laughed a hearty laugh and placed the thumb back on his hand. “I’m a Telekhine! We can transform into anything we want.” Aria grumbled and crossed her arms as Sonata giggled at Aria’s frustration. The three brothers laughed, Elfeed slapped his earthen hand on Aria’s back, “Don’t worry, he got us with that one too!” Elfeed laughed and proceeded towards the workbench Barry stood over, “Alright, so how do we go about this…” Elfeed thought out loud. Barry looked at him, “Well… I’ll need some certain items of legendary status…” Barry ever so subtly held out his hand expecting something from Elfeed and his brothers, Elfeed sighed and handed him a chunk of his living earth, Chris handed him a glob of eternal ice, and Ray handed him a small wisp of living fire. Barry replied smugly, “Thank you.” He shooed them out of the room, and began to work on the amulets. Sonata raised her hand like a student in class “Why did Barry need us outside of the room?” Elfeed replied like a teacher “An excellent question, one, the forges Barry uses will affect you in, er, interesting ways if you stay in there for too long. And two, the ways of the Telekhines have been taught to only a very select few. They’re secrets anyone would rather take to the grave with them, rather than for the techniques to become commonplace.”
They all made themselves comfortable in Barry’s living room. A few hours later, Barry emerged from the depths of his forge. The three Dazzlings all stood up in expectation of the coming event. Barry held three shiny red gems in his palm, the three had smiles beam across their faces as they all grabbed their amulets. Barry took a few liberties and encased the edges of the gems in gilded gold, and gave them golden chains. The three pulled their amulets over their heads, as the amulets drifted down to their necks, their smiles beamed as wide as physically possible, they sang a wonderfully harmonious chord and giggled in delight. They got their powers back. Barry whispered into Elfeed’s ear, “I need you to do a bit of heavy lifting for me.” Elfeed frowned a bit, and followed Barry downstairs and in through the forge and into Barry’s quarry. “I need you to carry this pile of depth cores over to that processer over there.” Elfeed replied in a questioning tone “That’s it?” Barry walked towards the entrance to his forge, as he walked in the middle of the doorway, he replied “For now.” Elfeed decided to get a move on, he moved the chunks of minerals, as he picked one up he almost immediately dropped it on the ground, he hefted it up and used his titans’ strength, “What the heck are these made of?! Dwarf stars?!” Barry snickered while he listened to Elfeed’s frustrated groans.
Several hours passed, and Elfeed finally finished hefting all of the rocks into the processer. He hobbled back into the house, he was quickly met by Barry, who had a disturbingly happy smile on his face… Elfeed was a bit offset by him, “What are you so happy about?” Barry replied in a legitimately happy tone, “You, my friend, are done!” Elfeed raised an eyebrow “Done? What do you mean “Done”?” Barry kept his stupid smile, “You and I are even!” Elfeed wasn’t sure if Barry was serious, “Really? You restore three sirens powers, and me doing some grunt work by moving a few rocks around, makes us even?” Barry’s smile began to beam, “If you want, I can make you work some more.” Elfeed threw his hands up in surrender “Nope! Nope, I’m good!” Barry smiled and smacked him on the back, even though Elfeed was in his titan form, Barry still managed to knock the wind out of Elfeed. “Now go on up with your friends, they’ve been waiting for you while you were working!” Elfeed jumped up the steps, ran into the den, and ran out of the front door, all while yelling “FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!” “I’m not sure if he’s ready to go back yet…” Ray jested, Sonata and Adagio snickered a bit at the comment.
Barry waved goodbye as the six teens drove out of his sight, he chuckled a bit under his breath, “That sounds like the start to a bad joke… Three sirens and three titans drive up in a red truck…” he mumbled to himself as he walked back down into his forge. “Now where’s that order for the partisan?” He descended back into the depths of his workshop to continue forging weapons…
Chris yelled to Ray, “Are we there yet?” “No.” Ray replied in a very annoyed tone. “What about now?” “No.” “And now?” “No.” “What about now?” “No.” “And now?” “GOOD GOD SHUT UP!!! YOU ASKED FOR THE PAST TWO HOURS AND, NO WE AREN’T, FREAKING, THERE YET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Aria had her earbuds in and was listening to some music, she couldn’t hear a single word, and she loved it. Adagio, Sonata, and Elfeed, were not as fortunate. Elfeed covered his ears with some of his earth, but Chris and Ray’s yelling could still be heard…
Eventually, Chris had shut up, and they were but an hour away from home. Elfeed had fallen asleep, Sonata laid her head on his shoulder, Aria was still listening to her music, and Adagio eventually got bored and began to play games on her phone. Ray had stopped at a gas station, he pulled up to the pump and sliced his credit card. Two shady characters began to walk over to the truck, Ray literally lit a fire under Elfeed and Chris. Elfeed stirred from his sleep and moved Sonata’s head to the side. Chris simply exited the truck, the two characters began to feel something weird come from these three… Ray set his face on fire, he opened his mouth, and scared them half to hell. They thought they had met a demon. They began to run away and jump in a dark blue pick-up truck. Ray paid for his gas and they jumped back in the truck, Sonata set her head back on Elfeed's shoulder. Elfeed smiled softly as she smiled, Ray turned his key and the truck came to life. Ray pulled out and got back on the highway, everyone had resumed their original activities.
Ray pulled up into their driveway, he sighed as he announced “WE ARE HOME.” Elfeed jarred awake “M’nyeh! Ebola!” he slapped his hand on his chest, he began to examine himself “Ten fingers, two nostrils, a full head of hair, I’m still alive.” Elfeed sighed in relief as he woke Sonata up. Sonata grumbled “Five *yawn* more minutes…” Elfeed sighed, he wasn’t sure what to do. Sonata slumped her body down into his lap, and began to cling to his shirt and pants, she looked so happy and peaceful, tears began to roll down his face T_T “C’mon, I don’t want to have to be THAT guy right now.” He complained to himself. Sonata stirred, Elfeed’s eyes widened in hope. Sonata woke up, Elfeed shot his fists in the air in victory, “What are you doing?” a sleepy eyed Sonata asked. Elfeed put his hands in his lap, “Oh nothing!” Sonata got herself up and climbed out of the truck, Elfeed followed in suit. As they walked into the door, they saw that everyone else was making themselves comfortable in the living room, Adagio and Sonata were obviously worn, while Aria looked like nothing had happened. Elfeed walked into the kitchen and fixed himself a glass of ice, he grabbed a can of his favorite cherry soda and poured it carefully into the glass. He yelled over his shoulder “Anyone want something to drink?” only Aria responded “Do you have some orange soda?” “Yeah, I’ll grab you a can.” “Thanks!” Aria turned to her exhausted friends lying on the couch, “Why are you guys so tired?” Adagio almost didn’t respond, “Sitting for six hours tends to do that to you.” Aria couldn’t understand what Adagio meant, Elfeed walked into the den and handed Aria her soda. “Thanks.” “No problem.” Elfeed replied. “If you want, you guys can spend the night here.” Ray offered, Adagio raised a cautious eyebrow, Elfeed raised his hands, “We have three separate bedrooms you can sleep in.” Adagio spoke with the two girls in private, “Do you guys want to do this?” Sonata replied “I think we should just go home, they’ve already done so much for us. I don’t want to inconvenience them.” Adagio was surprised at how considerate Sonata was being, she turned her head to Aria, “Aria?” Aria returned Adagio’s gaze, “We should go home, I don’t really have a good read on them, I can’t really tell if there’s some sort of hidden agenda or if they're just being nice…” The three nodded in agreement, Adagio turned her gaze to a curious Elfeed, “I’m sorry, we should probably get home.” Ray offered “I can drive you guys over there if you want.” Adagio replied, “No no, we’re fine. Really, you restored our powers, so we should be okay on a quick walk home.” Ray had a concerned look on his face “Are you sure?” Aria put a hand on Adagio’s shoulder, she half-whispered into her ear “We haven’t tested our powers out on humans to see if our singing can affect them yet, we should play this safe and ride home.” Adagio conformed to Aria’s wish, “Alright.”
The four piled in the truck, the three Dazzlings piled into the back, while Ray jumped in the drivers’ seat and cranked the engine, the truck roared to life. Ray pulled out and began to drive down the road. “Do you know how to get to your house?” Adagio replied, almost yelling, due to the truck’s engine being so loud, “Okay, turn right up here…” a few minutes passed and Adagio could see the old house they lived in, “Alright, pull up here.” Ray turned the wheel and pulled into their driveway, the three girls jumped out of the tuck and slammed the door, “G’night y’all!” the three waved good bye as Ray pulled out of the driveway and drove back home…
Ray pulled into his driveway and pulled out the ignition key, the engine died down and the headlights shut off. Ray jumped out of the truck and knocked on the front door to his house. No response, he sighed as he pulled out his keys and unlocked the door, he swung the door open and slammed it shut. He could hear Elfeed playing videogames upstairs, and decided to grab a few sodas and go and see what he’s doing.
Ray opened the door to their room, Elfeed had just killed a guy with a sliding shot gun blast. The announcer yelled aloud “VICTORY!” Elfeed shot his hands up in success, “Yes!” Ray warned Elfeed “Heads up!” Elfeed’s nerves were still on a hair trigger. Ray threw the cherry soda at Elfeed, he grabbed it out of the air and quickly popped it open, he took a few swigs and turned “Ahh, the taste of victory is still sweet.”
Ray turned his attention to Chris, who was writing a story. Ray looked over Chris’ shoulder and down at the screen, “Whatcha doin’?” the words startled Chris, he slammed the laptop shut, “NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!” Ray became extremely curious, “It’s my business when it comes to my brother.” Chris clutched the computer as Ray played tug of war with him, Ray snatched the laptop out of his hands and ran into the bathroom, he locked the door as he sat down on the toilet and opened the laptop.
The computer opened up a writing program, Ray clicked on the most recently modified file, the file opened up and to his horror. Chris was writing a fanfiction… About Adagio… Ray completely read the whole file and carefully opened the door, and was greeted with a swift punch to the face, “What the fu—“ Elfeed’s eyes gleamed with murderous intent “What was that Ray?” he cocked his head to the side. Ray replied in a panicked fashion “It was nothing! I swear!” Elfeed’s disposition became relaxed and cheerful, “Alrighty then!” Elfeed snapped his attention back to his next match. Ray finished his thought, “What the heck was that for?!” Chris snapped the laptop back from Ray, “Dude, this is my stuff you’re messing with!” Elfeed raised his hand up, “Actually, the computer’s mine!” Ray and Chris unanimously yelled “Nobody cares!” Elfeed resumed his match, while the brothers bickered for five to ten minutes… Elfeed heard his alarm go off on his phone, “Guys, time for bed!” Ray and Chris defused their hatred towards each other for the night, Chris held out his hand “We shall finish this another night. Deal?” Ray met Chris’ hand with a bone crushing grip, “Very well.”
The three jumped into their beds, Elfeed quickly fell asleep. While Chris and Ray were trading glares over their shoulders as they went to sleep. Elfeed laughed to himself, he rolled onto his stomach a nodded back off to his dream. He laughed to himself and thought, "I wonder what they were fighting over..." he thought to himself the various idiotic things that they would bother fighting over until he finally fell and stayed asleep.