To House Sirens
By FromTheMoon
~*~*~*~
Hey Dad,
Just writing to thank you for letting my friend live at the house until she can get back on her feet. I think it’s cool that you’ve trusted me enough to let me do this. Don’t worry, I’ve locked yours and mom’s room so that it doesn’t get messed with. With you and mom living out of town for work the house seemed pretty empty but has definitely become more lively with her living here. I won’t lie to you and say that it’s all been good though. There are some days that she's a complete airhead. Other days she's bored out of her mind it seems and just lounges around the house watching tv. She also has this forward way of thinking that's forced to me to lock my room at night. Don't worry, I'm behaving myself. She does get on my nerves but I guess I was expecting that. I already told her that if she wants to keep living at the house then she has to get a job. It’s frustrating at times but I think that eventually she can turn her life around now that she has a roof over her head. There are days where it gets really bad between us. Sometimes I’m tempted to just throw her out and say that I tried. I don’t know, maybe some people just can’t turn their lives around even when they get help from others. I’m going to keep pressuring her to get a job though, I already told her that she can’t live at the house forever. Anyway, I hope that you and mom are doing alright. Can’t wait to see you two again.
-Flash
***
It wasn’t going to be easy, this he knew.
He wasn’t going to earn their gratitude by helping them, this he knew as well.
At the time it seemed like a good idea. Oh who was he kidding? Before he had even finished his offer to them he had begun to have regrets. It didn’t help matters that he practically felt like a traitor to his friends and school for offering his assistance to the three girls.
It would have been easy for him to just walk away those two weeks ago and ignore the trio that he had found digging through his trash bins. It wasn’t like it was his responsibility to look after the former would be conquerors of his school. If anything that task fell to a certain group of magical friends. Although he didn’t have to keep it a secret that he was housing the sisters.
Flash Sentry now stood in the entrance of his home looking at the food wrappers, magazines, news papers, and clothes scattered across the floor. Letting out a long sigh he closed the door behind him as he entered what had once been a private residence. As he walked through his home he was greeted by a clamor of noises. From the kitchen he could hear the smoke alarm going off. The television was blasting at full volume from his living room and he was almost certain that there wasn’t anybody watching it. Climbing the stairs to the second floor of his house he heard the bickering voices of two girls coming from the guest room at the end of the hall.
“I’m home!” He yelled before unlocking the door to his room and stepping inside. He took a quick glance around to make sure none of his belongings were missing. Satisfied that no one had entered his room while he was out the next task was to make sure that his parent’s bedroom door was still locked.
“Flashyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!”
In an instant he found himself engulfed by a hug from behind. Glancing down as much as he could he saw two bluish arms wrapped around his torso. “Welcome home! Now I know you asked me not to use the oven anymore while you weren’t home but I saw this really neat recipe for something called ceviche on the cooking channel this morning and I really really really wanted to try it out! I was so excited that I didn’t even wait for the lady speaking a weird language on the tv to even finish explaining how it was made! I mean, it seemed like it was an easy enough thing to make and...oh! I think the smoke alarm in the kitchen is busted, it’s been making that annoying sound for a couple of hours and…”
“So-Sonata…”
“Yeah?”
“Can’t.Breath.”
“Oopsies!” With an innocent smile the former siren released Flash from her bear hug and the boy toppled onto the floor. It never ceased to amaze him how much strength was bundled in such a small package.
As sweet air entered his lungs again he stood up and turned to face his assailant. She no longer wore her neo-gothic outfit, at least not completely. Sonata Dusk still wore her pink skirt but settled on wearing a plain white t-shirt along with her pink socks.
“So, anything else happen while I was out? What about your sisters?”
“They were actually pretty relaxed for most of the day until they got into another argument.”
The sheer amount of profanity coming from the guest room clued Flash in that it was a heated disagreement. “What about?”
Still smiling, Sonata twirled a hand in the air. “Oh you know, about which one of us three is going to go out and look for a job.”
“So you still haven’t decided on who’s going to do it?”
“Nope! I just know that they already decided that it’s not going to be me!” Sonata pumped her fist in the air a few times to celebrate. “Hey, if you’re not busy can you...like...make the smoke alarm stop doing that awful noise?”
It wasn’t like Flash was going to just let the thing ring all night anyway. “Sure, just let me check on something and I’ll be down in a minute, okay?”
Nodding enthusiastically, the girl twirled around and made her way out of Flash’s room. Out of the three girls it was Sonata who seemed to at least be grateful to her host for taking them in. Flash didn’t know whether to be happy or concerned that the blue haired girl seemed to become more friendly towards him as the days went by. He liked to think of himself as an optimistic guy though, Sonata being friendly to him had to be a good thing.
Opening his window curtains he saw that the sun was beginning to set. He had been gone longer than he had expected which in truth didn’t surprise him all that much. Time outside of his home meant that he wasn’t subjugated to the almost constant complaints, sass, and headaches from his house guests.
He made his way out of his bedroom and after making sure that his parent’s bedroom was still locked he went downstairs to the kitchen. It wasn’t as bad as he thought it was, there was no fire and smoke at least. Sonata sat at the kitchen table, hands covering her ears.
Flash tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention. “Just out of curiosity, is there a reason why the smoke alarm started going off?”
“Well…”
“I’m listening.”
“It turns out that making ceviche was like super duper harder than the funny speaking lady on the tv made it out to be.”
“Of course it was.”
“I don’t even think I even had the right ingredients! All I did was put a piece of bread on a plate, squirted it with mustard and ketchup, and then put it in the oven. Also we’re out of bread, mustard, and ketchup. Sorry.”
“I’ll go grocery shopping during the weekend. So then what happened?”
Despite the smoke alarm blaring, Sonata continued her tale. “I put the plate in the oven and then turned it on to what I think was like four hundred degrees. Twenty minutes later smoke started to come out of the oven and that’s when the alarm got mad and started making that annoying sound. Adagio came running into the kitchen and told me to turn off the oven. She said something about you kicking us out of the house if I made it catch on fire.”
Flash would have been lying if he said he wouldn’t consider doing that if his parent’s house was set ablaze. He didn’t know, he wasn’t thinking straight. He blamed it on the whining of the alarm.
As he opened the cabinets under the kitchen sink and dug out a screwdriver Sonata finished her recap. “When Adagio was sure that the oven was off she made me fan out all of the smoke from the kitchen. It didn’t work though! The alarm didn’t stop making that noise!”
“Uh’huh.” Flash brought a chair out from under the kitchen table and placed it under the ceiling mounted smoke alarm. He stepped up and unscrewed the battery cover from the alarm. Taking out the battery finally brought silence to the kitchen.
Stepping off of the chair he found himself the victim of another one of Sonata’s attack hugs. This time from the front. “Yay! You did it, Flashy!”
“Sonata. Lungs. Can’t.”
“Oopsies!” Once again she released him and again Flash fell to the floor catching his breath. “So is it...like...fixed forever now?”
“Probably not. For now though it shouldn’t be a problem.” Looking at the oven, Flash placed a hand under his chin. “I’m also going to have to make sure that the oven still works.”
“So what now?” Sonata asked.
Peace, but Flash knew there was a slim chance for that. “Gonna watch tv for a little bit. Get my mind off things.”
Sonata hopped up and down in front of Flash. “Can I watch too? Pretty please!?”
“Sure as long as you’re cool with watching what I pick.”
She replied with an enthusiastic nod of the head and her trademarked innocent smile. It always surprised Flash about how such a seemingly sweet girl had once been a creature that fed on the negativity of others. The two walked out of the kitchen, down the hallway, and into the living room. Just as Flash had suspected when he had arrived home no one was watching the television and the room was devoid of life. It worked out just fine for him.
Grabbing the remote control off the top of the coffee table he lowered the tv volume significantly and sat down in middle of the couch with Sonata taking her seat to the left of him. A few minutes of channel surfing and he came across a war movie that he had already seen a healthy amount of times. With nothing else to watch he settled on it.
Sadly it seemed that some higher power had deemed that he wasn’t to watch the movie, or any television for that matter. From out of seemingly no where a hand snatched the remote away from Flash and changed the channel. “Move it! My show is about to come on.”
Without being given any time to react Flash was shoved into Sonata. Taking her seat on the right side of the couch, and still wearing the same attire that she had at the school, was Aria Blaze. “Geez, what’s with humans and their obsession with killing one another? Not enough to have it happen in real life you got to make whole movies out of it.”
Flash cocked an eyebrow at that. “This coming from a girl who used to feast on the negative energy that came from things like that.”
“Reminding me of the good old days to make me feel bad?”
“No, and besides,” Flash reached to snatch the remote away from Aria but the girl quickly moved it from out of his reach. “I was here first so I get to watch tv.”
Aria scoffed at that. “Show me the law and then maybe I’ll humour you.”
“I could just pull rank and say ‘too bad, this is my house’.”
“Yeah I bet you would just love to do that, wouldn’t you? Use your position of power to make me do whatever you want. Freaking fascist.” With that being said Aria propped her feet up on the coffee table and turned the television volume back up.
Flash didn’t even get a chance to defend himself with Sonata leaping off of the couch and standing in front of Aria’s view of the tv screen. “Oh don’t tell me you’re gonna start now too, loser.”
“Flashy was here first, Aria! It’s not fair that you just get to come in here and do whatever you want!”
“Life ain’t fair. Du’h. Now move before I make you.”
While he had never been hugged by any of the girls other than Sonata, and he doubted that it would ever happen, Flash had come to the conclusion that these girls were physically stronger than they made themselves out to be. The last thing he needed was Aria or Sonata powerbombing the other through the coffee table. He noticed that Sonata was already clenching her fists and that Aria had already taken her feet off of the table.
“Just give me a reason, twerp.”
It seemed like an appropriate time to step in. “Girls,” Flash stood up now ready to come between the two, “Let’s all just calm down a bit. It’s okay, Sonata. I don’t need you to defend me. I can handle Aria on my own.”
“Okay!” Just like that all the anger in Sonata’s face washed away and was replaced by her cheerful look. She moved back around the table and took her seat on the couch again.
Flash turned to give his attention to the other girl. “As for you…”
“Oh here we go.” Aria interrupted in a rather bored voice.
“I just got done taking care of the smoke alarm.”
“I know, why do you think I came down here to watch tv? The damn sound it was making made it impossible to watch my shows before. I even turned up the volume all the way before I said ‘screw it’ and headed upstairs to do something else.”
Surely there had to be some reasoning with this girl. Aria seemed like a sensible albeit morally depraved person. “How about you just DVR your show so that me and Sonata can finish the movie. When it’s over we’ll call you so that you can watch the recording.”
“But then I wouldn’t get to watch tv right now. Why don’t you just record your stupid war movie and then watch it later?”
No success on that front. “There’s a tv in your room, why don’t you go watch your show there?”
That earned him and eye roll from the fuchsia girl. “I can’t watch tv there because Adagio is there and we just had a fight and she’s being a bitch about it. Besides, the tv here is bigger than the one in our room which automatically makes watching my shows here better. Also I'm pretty sure you have a tv in your room too. Why don’t you watch the movie in your own room, huh? That way you and the little dweeb can make out on your bed to the sounds of humans being blown apart.”
“Aria, for the the five- hundredth time, I am not going out with Sonata.” Flash caught his own mistake too late.
“Why? What’s wrong with me?” Sonata asked in a shaky voice. Flash turned around and saw that the girl was practically on the edge of tears. “Is...is there a reason why guys wouldn't want to go out with me?”
“I’ll say there’s a reason, it’s because your face makes them lose their lunch.”
The waterworks were gearing to start unless Flash put a plug in Aria’s teasing. “Sonata, don’t listen to her. She’s just trying to get us to leave the room so she can watch her shows. There’s nothing wrong with you...that I know of.”
Sonata sniffled a little as she wiped away the few tears from her eyes. “For realzies?”
“For realzies.”
“Thank you, Flashy.”
“Spoilsport,” Aria huffed as she crossed her arms. “If you two are going to have a tender moment then can you at least go have it somewhere else where I won’t be forced to listen to it? Thanks to you two I’ve already missed like a third of my show!”
Letting out a frustrated sigh, Flash again took his seat on the couch. “You know, you could stand to be a little nicer to Sonata. At least she’s still not angry about what happened.”
Aria shot him a death glare from out of the corner of her eye. “I thought I told you that I didn’t want to talk about that.”
“I’m just saying that being hostile towards everyone and everything isn’t going to make your life any easier. Why don’t you at least treat Sonata how you'd want to be treated?”
This time Aria turned to her side to face Flash. “Oh? So let me get this straight. You want me to treat Sonata and Adagio like we’re all equal? But wait, you get to decide exactly how we should treat each other and what we should do! What, are you more equal than the rest of us? Freaking communist.” With that said Aria turned away from the dumbstruck boy and gave her attention back to her show.
At that point Flash was about ready to concede and head back up to his room for the rest of the night. He covered his face his hands and let out a loud groan. “Why do I choose to put up with this everyday?”
A new voice had the courtesy to answer his question. “The answer is actually quite simple, dear boy. You felt pity for me and my sisters. Now while some may believe that this makes you weak and exploitable I hope you know that all three of us are truly grateful for your hospitality.”
Flash moved his hands away from his face and turned to look at at the newcomer. “Yeah, thanks for clearing that up for me, AdaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” Flash immediately turned to look the other way, his face burned from embarrassment.
“What’s the matter, Flash?” Adagio Dazzle asked teasingly.
Still looking away and covering his view of Adagio with his hand, Flash mumbled out his response. “Adagio, how many times have I asked you to please wear clothes, especially underwear, when you’re going to talk to me?”
Adagio laughed at the boy's nervousness. “Always the gentleman, aren’t you? I can see why the little pony princess has taken a liking to you.”
“Can you put on a towel at least? Please?” Flash pleaded.
“I will never understand humans and their obsession with nudity. Out of all the teenage boys in the world we get taken in by seemingly the only one who doesn’t want us to undress in front of him, lucky us. Right, girls?”
“Flashy’s the best!”
“Eh, I guess life could always suck more.”
The other two had gladly complied when Flash had asked them to stay clothed around him. It was Adagio who still insisted on walking around the house exposed. “Silly boy, I wanted to talk to you about our living arrangements but I guess I’ll have to go and cover up first. You may want to get one last good look at this young and firm body before I walk away though.” Another laugh and Adagio exited the living room.
Once Flash was sure that the girl was gone he brought his hand down from the side of his face and let out a relieved sigh.
“You get a good look at my sis’s ass?”
“Aria!” Flash practically shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Do you like Dagi’s butt, Flashy?”
“Sonata!” Flash could swear that he heard Adagio laughing from upstairs. The three of them had to be in on some sort of joke.
It didn’t help matters that the joke insisted on continuing. “I’m surprised Flashy can even see Dagi’s butt.”
“I know, right? Girl’s hair practically covers her entire back. I thought guys would be turned off by that sort of thing.”
Frustrated, Flash stood up from the couch and threw his arms up. “Can we please stop talking about Adagio’s butt!?”
Speak of the devil. “Well well, I’m gone for a minute and you’re talking about my body? Can’t really blame you now, can I?” Adagio came back into the room wearing a towel around her torso. Why she couldn’t just get dressed like her sisters Flash would never know.
Covering his face with his hand out of irritation this time, the young man moved from the couch to lean against the television. Adagio took his place on the sofa sitting in between her two sisters. “Now can we have our conversation, Flash?”
“Sure. What is that you want to talk to me about, Adagio?” By this point Flash was on the brink of collapsing. These girls had a way of exhausting him and not in the way that most guys his age fantasized about. He just wanted to get this conversation over with and sleep the rest of the night away in his locked bedroom.
Adagio smiled at him, already a bad sign. “As I’m sure you heard when you got home today me and my beloved sister Aria here had a minor dispute over which one of us was to apply for a job.”
“You call that a ‘minor dispute’?” Aria interrupted.
“Yes, dear sister. I do. Now please, allow me talk uninterrupted with our generous host.” Aria crossed her arms and propped her feet back up on the coffee table as she silently complied. “Good. Now then Flash, me and Aria came to the conclusion early on that poor Sonata would be unfit to hold a job right away. That left only me and Aria, unfortunately we seem to have come to a...snag...as to who would go out and apply.”
Flash knew it was a long shot when he had told them after their first week of living together that all three would eventually have to get jobs. He had made it very clear that either they went out to earn a wage or he would turn them in to the very same people who had stripped them of their magic. “Adagio, can you just tell me what you’re getting at here?”
Once again Adagio gave him a smile that was accompanied this time by a bat of her eyelashes. “Well...I was just wondering if you would reconsider my proposition to repaying you for your generosity.” Adagio asked in a sultry voice.
“No!”
“No?”
“No, you can’t repay me in sex!” Flash replied sternly. “Do you know how messed up that is? You want to prostitute yourself and your sisters so that you can continue living here? I don’t want that! I want you three to go out and earn money!”
Coming to the surprise of no one in the room, Aria took the liberty of saying exactly what she thought about earning an honest days pay. “Pffffffffft, surprise, surprise! Our so called ‘generous’ host is already looking to collect on his investment of taking us in. Freaking capitalist.”
Flash’s patience was now all but gone. He was tempted to just walk out of the room, but no, once again he had to remind them of the living conditions. “I thought I made it clear that you’re not getting jobs so that you can repay me. You’re getting jobs to save up some money so that you can move out and find a place of your own. How many times am I going to have to tell you girls that you can’t live here forever?”
The sound of whimpering reached the teen boy’s ears. “But I like living here…” A quick look over at Sonata showed the girl already had tears streaming down her face.
“Way to go, Flash. You made your girlfriend cry.”
“Honestly, Flash. You could stand to be a little more considerate to Sonata. The poor dear is still terribly frail after the loss of our powers.”
Cursing under his breath, Flash moved towards Sonata in an attempt to explain that what he had just said sounded more cruel than it actually was.
Surprisingly, his explanation wasn’t needed. Adagio put her hand on her weeping sister’s shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. “There, there, Sonata. I’m sure that Flash here didn’t intend for his words to be so harsh. You and I both know that he isn’t the unkind type. You yourself said this morning what a great guy he is for taking us in.”
“Flashy is a pretty amazing guy.” Sonata replied solemnly.
With a gentle nudge Adagio helped her sister off of the couch. “That he is my sweet sister. Now, how about you go upstairs to our room and calm down a little? Regain that smile that our caretaker loves to see.”
Not another word was said as Sonata got up and made her way out of the living room still rubbing her eyes. With the blue haired girl gone Adagio turned her attention towards her other sibling.
“Aria.”
“Adagio.”
The two sisters continued to stare at each other for some time in silence until finally the twin pony tail haired girl let out a loud groan. “Fine! I’ll leave, jeez. Probably wasn’t going to able to watch what’s left of my show down here anyways with all the talking.” Picking herself off of the couch and turning off the television, Aria gave Flash an annoyed look out of the corner of her eye as she left her sister and their host alone.
Adagio patted the now empty seat on the couch next to her. “You shouldn’t have to stand just for me and my sisters sake, not after all you’ve done for us already.”
Cautiously, Flash accepted the offer and took a seat to the the right of the former siren. He made sure that there was a comfortable amount of space between the two of them. The boy’s wary manner earned him a chuckle from the orange haired girl. “With the way you act around me it’s almost as if you’re scared of getting bitten.”
At that moment a thought occurred to Flash. “Do you bite?”
“Well...that depends.”
“Depends on what?”
“Do you want me to bite? My work substitute proposal is still on the table.”
If Flash had any energy left in his body he would have erupted in anger. At the moment however he was mentally and physically burned out from dealing with the former siren’s sisters. “Adagio, can I ask you question?”
His companion beamed him back a smile. “Why of course, Flash.”
The teenage boy thought for a moment about how to word his question in a way that wouldn’t be entirely offensive. “Don’t you have any regrets about what you want me to accept?”
Almost immediately Adagio dropped her smile and she took on a more serious expression. “Regrets are for those who act before thinking. I am perfectly aware of what I am asking.”
“But your sisters…”
“Let me stop you right there. I want you to understand one thing very clear, Flash Sentry.” It quickly dawned on Flash that Adagio had only called him by his full name only once, on the night that he had offered to help them. “My sisters and I have never worked a day in our lives, our voices granted us that luxury.”
Flash made to speak but was silenced by Adagio. “Uh, uh, uh, still talking. Continuing, our banishment to this world stripped us of almost all of our power. We were left with just enough magic so that we wouldn't starve and didn't have to work in this world. Our spell was weak but just potent enough to get us by. Now here the three of us are stripped completely of our powers and being forced to adapt to this world. I believe you saw with your own eyes when you found us how badly we were coping.”
“You’re right, I saw how bad off you three were. I thought that maybe if you had a place to live you might be able to change your lives around.” Flash argued.
Adagio laughed at that. “Turn our lives around? I never thought of that! What an original idea you just gave me, Flash. Tell you what, tomorrow my sisters and I will turn our lives around! Easy as that!” With a roll of her eyes and a shake of her head the former siren leaned into the palm of her hand.
Thinking it over, yeah, Flash realized how that may have sounded too obvious. “Okay, so maybe that was a dumb thing to say but that still doesn't change the fact that maybe now you and your sisters could turn your lives around.”
“Wow, you just don’t realize it yet, do you?”
“Realize what?”
Adagio showed Flash two fingers. “A couple of things.The first is something that we realized soon after arriving in this world. Sex talks and sells just as much here as it did in Equestria.” Flash could feel the heat coming from the blush spread across his face. He half expected Adagio to jeer him for it but she kept her serious composure.
“The second thing, why we’re so hesitant to get jobs. We’ve lived for over a thousand years without having to so much as lift a finger to get what we want.” Adagio curled her fingers into a fist that she then slammed down onto the couch cushion. “We don’t want to get jobs! That’s why I asked you to give into your carnal desires and just take me up my gracious offer.”
“I already said…”
“Think about what you’re refusing before you answer again.”
Flash’s resolve remained unchanged. “Still no, Adagio.”
Adagio made her dissatisfaction visible by violently standing up from the couch. “What is wrong with you!?”
“Wrong with me!?” Flash pointed a finger at his accuser. “What’s wrong with you? What makes it worse is that you’re offering your sisters too! I’m sure that they, especially Aria, don’t want anything to do with that!”
“Oh? I suppose that you know more about them then I do? I mean it’s not as if I’ve spent more than a millennia with those two. I’m the one who’s obviously in the wrong here.”
Flash opened his mouth to further dispute but was silenced by an indignant look from Adagio. “If it would ease your mind then know that Aria and Sonata are perfectly okay with it. Sonata seems to have taken a liking to you so there’s that. Aria on the other hand would probably make you wear a bag over your head.”
“Why?”
“Well it isn’t because you’re hard to look at, Aria just doesn’t like you so I’m guessing she’d put a paper bag over your head to…”
“No,” Flash interrupted, “Not that. I mean why the three of you would do that just to keep living here. I’m just confused because from my point of view getting jobs would be better.”
“For you perhaps, but for us it’s a very different story. We don’t want to change the way we live our lives. I’m not sure if you’re aware of this but you’re the best thing that’s happened to us since our failed attempt at domination. That’s why I’m willing to do whatever it takes to please you that doesn’t clash with our prefered lifestyle.”
Just like that it all clicked in Flash’s mind. “So you never wanted to turn your lives around and planned on bumming off of me in my parents house for the rest of your lives.”
“Well when you put it like that you make it sound like we’re selfish.”
Taking all this in, Flash closed his eyes as he covered his face with both hands. “I’m an idiot. Here I am thinking that maybe if you had help you could make a better life for yourselves. Like Sunset Shimmer did.”
Adagio wasted no time sharing her own thoughts on the matter. “Glad to see you’ve come to the conclusion of how idiotic that is on your own.”
Opening his eyes and letting out a long sigh Flash let out as much as his frustration that he could. “Great, good to know that these past few weeks have been pointless then.”
Letting his stare wander towards the ceiling, all the headaches and annoyances that he had endured for seemingly nothing now came rushing back to him. Anger began to seep into his mind and for a few moments took hold. His hand darted into his pocket and clutched his cell phone. He was tempted to just call Sunset Shimmer right there in front of Adagio and be rid of his burden.
“The time I’ve spent with you three girls has had to be the most taxing and confusing time of my life, and I’ve dated Sunset Shimmer! I just don’t know what to think anymore.”
“Well what do you think of three of us now?” Adagio asked in a collected tone.
If she wanted to know then so be it. “Well for starters there’s Sonata,” Flash began, “She’s got to be one of the sweetest girls I’ve ever met in my life. Honestly, if I didn’t know about the whole siren and trying to take over the world thing...then...I don’t know but it doesn’t really matter either way. She’s sweet but also clumsy and an airhead at times who takes things either too seriously or not seriously enough. I’m surprised how you were able to keep her out of trouble living in this world.”
“Well we used to keep her on a leash but that attracted unwanted attention.”
Paying no heed to Adagio’s remark, Flash moved on to the next girl. “Thinking about Aria just reminds me of all the names that she’s called me ever since you three started living here. The very first one being 'pervert' and that was right after I offered to let you three live with me. Out of the three of you she seems to be the least grateful and the most stubborn. I’m honestly afraid that one day a war veteran is going to come knocking at the door and she’s going to call him some name that results in her getting headbutted in the chest.”
That last statement left Adagio visually stumped. “That seems...oddly specific.”
Now Flash brought his gaze down from the ceiling and stared straight at the girl sitting next to him. “Then there’s you, Adagio.”
“Oh?”
There was only one thing that came to Flash’s mind when he thought about Adagio. “You’re the reason why I lock my bedroom door when I sleep at night. I figure that if I don’t I might wake up with you naked on top of me, or worse.”
“So you have thought about it then.”
“You’re also so freaking persistent about trying to seduce me! It gets really tiring after a while, you know that?”
All the displeasure that Flash had kept bottled up was almost all poured out. “To top all of this off I can’t help but feel like the biggest traitor and asshole to my friends and school for helping you three out in the first place. I’m just so confused right now. Confused over something that turned out to be pointless.”
With everything out in the open now, Flash got up from the couch and turned to leave the living room. “I’m calling it a night. I’ve got way too much to think about after this little talk of ours.”
Right when he was about to step away from the couch Flash felt something tug at his jacket sleeve. “Wait,” Adagio ordered, “Just sit down for a minute more.”
“No offense, but I think I’ve heard enough for one night. Anymore and I might get depressed.” Flash replied flatly.
“Will you cut the drama and just sit down so I can tell you why these past weeks haven’t been pointless?” Without having any say in the matter Flash was yanked back onto the couch. “What you did for me and my sisters wasn’t meaningless. When you found us we were pretty much on our last legs. Without our magic this world overwhelmed us in a blink of an eye. I’d have given us a week or two more before we faced the dire inevitable.”
“Come on,” Flash interjected, “I know things were bad but they weren’t that bad.”
Adagio begged to differ. “You found me and Aria fighting over the fast food leftovers you threw out the night before, things were that bad. I don't think you realize just how lucky we felt after you found us. You not only took us in but clothed us and fed us out of your own pocket.”
“My parents’ pocket, technically.” Flash corrected.
Adagio waved her hand in the air dismissing the difference. “Whatever. The point is that all you asked of us was that we get jobs to support ourselves. You didn’t ask for any payment, favors, or even that we do any chores around the house.”
That provoked a quick response. “I did ask you to do some chores around the house.” Flash rebutted. “Pretty sure I also asked you three not to leave your clothes and trash laying around. I’ve also told you specifically how many times now to please wear clothes around me?”
“No one’s perfect. You going to let me finish explaining now?” The former siren received no objection from her care taker. “I wasn’t kidding when I said you were the best thing to happen to us. Flash, as cliche as this sounds, you saved us.”
Adagio’s eyes fell to her lap where she slowly and gingerly rubbed her hands. “For you to say that these last few weeks have been pointless is the equivalent of stabbing us in a vital organ. It’s like you were saying that we were better off dead.”
The girl’s bluntness hit Flash hard. “Adagio…”
“I know we’ve done some pretty terrible things in the past. I know that there are those who wish us dead for what we’ve done in this world. I just never really cared or thought about it though. With our little magic I thought we were unstoppable. Funny how all that can change in a flash of prismatic light, isn’t it?”
Flash wanted to say something about how despite what they did the school would forgive them, yet part of him knew that may not be true. He thought back to Sunset Shimmer and how the school had treated her after the Fall Formal. She had been shunned by all but a few. Eventually though she had been accepted by the student body. His ex-girlfriend was living proof that acceptance was possible.
The three girls had wanted nothing to do with going back to the school when Flash had brought it up before. Adagio and Aria had asked him to not tell a soul about their whereabouts. “Adagio, why don’t you three just try and come back to the school? Why do you want me to keep it a secret that you’re living here?”
“Why don’t we want to go back? Well it’s not a simple answer. Aria hates the school and everyone who attends it with a burning passion. Given the chance I’m sure that’d she tear it down brick by brick. Sonata on the other hand, she’s completely terrified of the place. The girl has nightmares about being up on that stage after we lost our powers.”
The former siren closed her eyes and went silent. Her breathing became quiet and she became deathly still. It was as if she was trying to vanish.
It got to the point where Flash felt that if he didn’t break the silence then the girl would indeed disappear from in front of him. “What about you?”
Adagio slowly opened her eyes, her gaze still fixated on her lap. “I don’t know if you’ve ever gone from being lovingly adored to completely hated in the span of a few seconds, it’s not a pleasant experience. Try to imagine it, will you? A sea of eyes full of animosity directed solely at you. You feel as if your life is about to end. For the first time in a long time I felt something. I felt fear and I hated it. I never wanted to feel it again. To face those eyes again...to feel fear again...that’s why I don’t want to see anybody who we’ve wronged. Good thing it’s a big world, huh?”
Something about that didn’t quite add up for Flash. “What about me? If that’s the case then shouldn’t you be trying to avoid me also?”
“You’re special, my dear boy. I did consider running when you stumbled across us that night. I didn’t though. Why? Even I can’t seem to answer that. When I finally brought myself to look at your eyes that night I saw something different. In those swirling pools of blue I saw not cold hatred, but warm empathy.”
The night that Flash had found them, the night this whole ordeal began. Adagio didn’t know why she hadn’t run from him. If the boy was being honest with himself he didn’t know why he even took pity on them in the first place. It stood to reason that he should have hated them for what they did to him and his friends, but he hadn’t.
He hadn’t hated them, he had felt bad for them and wanted to help them. “Adagio, when I said that these past weeks have been pointless...it didn’t mean that I hated you. It meant that I was frustrated that you weren’t like Sunset Shimmer and trying to turn your life around. Even with the help that I’ve been giving you.”
Adagio finally lifted her gaze from her lap and stared directly at Flash. “Could you please stop comparing us to your ex-girlfriend? My sisters and I are nothing alike to her. That’s why I called you an idiot before. You seem to have automatically assumed that we could be reformed the same way she was. Let me ask you this, how effective is it to treat two different illnesses the same just because they showed some similar symptoms?”
Finally breaking her serious tone, Adagio smiled a little. “I think I may have gone a little off topic. Oh well, I think I'll head upstairs for the evening. I'm sure you're also exhausted after being out of of the house all day. It would be rude of me to take up anymore of your time.” Without saying anything more Adagio coolly stood up from the sofa and began making her way to leave the living room.
“Hold on, Adagio?”
“Hmmmmm?”
“You said that you wouldn’t treat two different diseases with similar symptoms the same. Were you saying that there was a still a way that you and your sisters could turn your lives around?” Flash asked with a little faith.
For her part Adagio responded by turning around, smiling and shrugging her shoulders. “Stranger things have happened that surprised me.”
It wasn’t the exact answer that he had hoped for but it sufficed. “Then could you tell me how I can help you and your sisters turn your lives around?”
Adagio simply smiled and shook her head. “Flash, haven’t you been paying attention? We don’t want to turn our lives around. Why would I tell you how to accomplish it? If you really want to help us then that’s something you’re going to have to figure out for yourself.”
“Something I’m going to have to figure out for myself?” Flash whispered to himself as he dug his phone out his pocket. He quickly thumbed through his apps until he opened his email.
“Oh, Flash?" Adagio called back. "Catch."
Flash looked up from his phone in time to have a white towel land on his face. Removing the piece of cloth he caught a perfect view of Adagio fully exposed from the front. She...they weren’t going to make it easy for him. That was alright with him though. It hadn’t been a walk in the park from the start so why have it be easy now?
***
Hey Dad,
Just checking in again. I know I just sent you an email a few days ago but I wanted to tell you some stuff that I realized tonight after talking with my friend. There’s more to helping someone than I thought. I used to think that putting a roof over their head was good enough. Turns out there’s a lot more to do if you really want to help someone, like a lot more. It won’t be easy but I think it’s possible to do it. Also I may need more money this month to have the oven looked at, it’s on the fritz again. While we’re at it I think we should also change the smoke alarm in the kitchen. I’m sure it’s nothing serious, just looking after the house like you trusted me to.
-Flash
Author's Note
I had this idea floating around in my head for a while.
