Immortals have infinite baggage.
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Aria in the Light

Immortals have infinite baggage.

Sunset pulled her shirt off over her head and discarded it unceremoniously on the floor, stepping into the steaming shower. It was a therapeutic experience, after the freezing ride home on her bike from the siren’s estate. Despite being the heart of winter, she kept up her visits to the mansion that played host to the three lost souls.

Just the one is lost now, I suppose.

Sonata had been the first to come to the girls after the battle. It didn’t really surprise anyone; she’d always seemed just along for the ride and more interested in goofing off than in any of the skullduggery the other two were into.

Adagio was less compliant, and had generally refused to leave the house after the Battle of the Bands. With Sonata’s help, however, she eventually submitted to visits from Sunset, and eventually ventured out of the fortress, both the physically and mentally. Her personality still rubbed Sunset the wrong way, but Adagio was a functioning, less-than-evil member of society again, which was more than she had dared hope for.

Sunset dipped her head under the rush of water, letting the suds wash away.

What am I going to do with you, Aria?

The last siren had been far more elusive than the other two. Somehow, she seemed to know when Sunset planned to make a visit, and consequently made herself scarce. Even when she was home, Adagio and Sonata reported that she barely talked to them and spent most of her time behind closed doors. Until recently, the most Sunset had gotten out of her was a muffled order to go away from the other side of the door.

Shutting the water off, Sunset wrung her hair out as best she could and stepped out, shivering as the cold air grazed her private areas.

Earlier that week, though, Sunset had the strangest encounter with the siren. It had been late and almost dreamlike when it happened, etching the details permanently in her memory.

There were Christmas lights everywhere. They’d been wrapped around the lampposts, strung along the edges of storefront awnings, and draped over shrubberies all down the street in both directions. Sunset appreciated that the businesses and organizations in this section had good taste, and kept the gaudy colors to a minimum. The cheery quality traditional bulbs gave to the gently falling snow gave her warm fuzzies inside, even if it was cold enough for her to see her breath.

She followed along the sidewalk, noticing the distinct lack of people about at this time of night. She still felt perfectly safe though; this was a good part of town, and everything was well lit, even considering the precipitation. As if to confirm this to her, a church across the way caught her eye, sitting firmly between this cosy collection of shops and a rather well-off residential district.

Looks like I’m not the only one out after all, Sunset thought, seeing a vaguely familiar silhouette treading up the stairs before the church door. The figure reached the doors, but didn’t enter immediately, prompting Sunset to keep watching, if only out of curiosity.

After a minute, they finally grabbed the handle to one of the doors and heaved it open, letting light spill out of the gap and paint a bright stripe across the snowy porch and lighting up the character briefly.

Sunset almost dropped her bags when she caught a glimpse of the girl’s purple hair, shot with streaks of teal.

There’s no way that could’ve been her—a church is the last place someone like Aria would go.

Sunset looked around, before dashing across the street and up to the church, stopping and hesitating at the threshold, much like her quarry.

What if it wasn’t her? What am I going to do in a church?

It wasn’t Sunday, so while the church was always open, it would probably be mostly empty. Sunset mentally slapped herself for being worried about entering the building; there’s a reason it stayed open.

The warmth was the foremost change attached to the interior. It was sufficiently lit as well, but not as overwhelmingly so as she expected; dark wood panelling and pews absorbed most of the light, and none came in through windows this time of night. The ceilings were high and vaulted in likeness of Romanesque architecture, made to imitate the look of traditional barrel vaulting. Naturally, many features of the modern times took precedence; there were no carved capitals and pews lined the nave.

A faint choir was audible, probably a practice session for Christmas. It sounded like a carol of some sort, though Sunset wasn’t familiar with it. She crept into the largest room from the rear, scanning the seating quickly for Aria’s unmistakeable hair. The place was nearly empty, with only a figure in a nondescript white hoodie some ways toward the front, and another figure off to the other side of the aisle who was just now taking her seat.

It is her.

Sunset wondered why she had never actually thought about what to say to Aria, just then realizing she had no idea how to approach her. She was especially worried about startling her here, where she preferred not to make a fuss. Moving as quickly and silently as she could, she ducked into the row behind her target and slid over, still not saying a word.

If the siren noticed, she didn’t react. Her head was tilted back and her eyes closed, though the way her fingers tapped repeatedly against the backboard of the seat in front of her betrayed her wakefulness. The devilish smirk that Sunset had known to play across her face was absent, replaced instead with a slight frown that lacked any intensity. After a few minutes of this, Sunset warmed up enough to shed her scarf and coat, which she did delicately.

“Don’t stay on my account.”

Sunset jumped, smacking her knee into the seat in front of her. She looked around, but the two of them were far enough away so as to not disturb anyone else.

“I… I wasn’t sure if it was you or not from outside.”

“Well? Satisfied?”

Sunset leaned forward. “I know you probably don’t want to talk, and I promise I’ll stop trying if that’s what you really want, but please talk to someone, even if it’s not me.”

Aria didn’t reply immediately.

“What about Adagio or Sonata?” Sunset ventured. “Wouldn’t they understand?”

“Apparently not.”

Sunset grew confused. “What?”

“Nevermind. Look, Sunny, I don’t hate you for what you did. I mean, I do, but only because of the side you wound up on—not because your personality sucks. We were fighting for survival, and so were you. You won. It’s that simple.”

“If it’s not me, then what’s with all the avoidance?”

“You can’t understand, and the others haven’t realized yet, so why would I bandy words with you? Give up now. Live out what life you have left.” Spite was beginning to crawl back into her voice, though her volume didn’t elevate.

Sunset leaned back, processing Aria’s dismissive strike. What life I have left? Is that a threat? And none of this answers why she came into the church in the first place.

She continued staring at the back of the other’s head. Sunset frowned stubbornly and bent forward again, crossing her arms next to Aria’s shoulders. Stay calm. Remember how you felt after crawling out of the wreckage.

“Look. I know you feel like no one else understands, but I’ve done a bit of time in the dumps myself—”

Aria finally looked at her, turning her head ever so slightly and lifting one eyelid. “It’s not that. Even I’m not that petty. I said you were barking up the wrong tree, didn’t I?”

“Okay. You’re right; I don’t get it,” Sunset said finally, giving up guessing. “Help me to.”

Aria closed her eyes and resumed her former position. “Even if I could make you understand by some miracle, there’s nothing you could do to help. Drop it already.”

Sunset was growing frustrated, both that the siren wouldn’t tell her what was wrong, and also that she seemed so sure Sunset was powerless to help with it.

“Look, if you just—”

“Have you ever been fucking immortal?” Aria hissed, cutting Sunset off and taking her by surprise with the sudden curse. She stared back at the other, not sure where to go from here. She thought running into Aria tonight had been a rare opportunity, but the inhuman individual was just as cold in person as she was through a door.

“Well, you know where to find me if you change your mind.” Sunset stood, moving to lay a hand on Aria’s shoulder, but the latter shied away from the touch, causing Sunset to stop. “See you later.”

Sunset exited the church, pausing under the door’s awning to re-wrap her scarf. Even if she is truly not sore about losing, something’s still bugging her. She pulled out her phone and opened a new message to Adagio.

Just ran into Aria at a church, of all places.

She didn’t have to wait for a reply.

A church? Why was she there?

Don’t know. She still wouldn’t talk much. Thought you might know.

Sorry, no. Thanks for letting me know, though.

Sunset slipped the phone back into her pocket and set off back down the street. The snow and lights hadn’t changed, but they didn’t captivate her attention like they had earlier. She shivered and hurried toward her apartment.

Sunset put her novel down and looked at the clock, which flashed 1:26 a.m. Her covers weren’t keeping the cold out anymore, so she tossed them back and reached over to a peg board, where her pajama bottoms still hung. She quickly pulled them over her bare legs and hopped back into bed, wishing she could fall asleep already.

Her phone dinged, announcing a text reply. She groaned, bemoaning the need to abandon her covers again. She retrieved it and brought it back to her warm nest, unlocking it. The message was from Adagio.

Still up?

Yeah. What’s going on?

Aria just got home.

This late?

Yeah. She was silent like always, but I could tell she’d been crying. What the hell did you say to her? She hasn’t done that for six hundred years.

Sunset read the message twice. Aria, cry? She’d always seemed like the toughest of the three, and Adagio’s text seemed to support that. What could she possibly be going through that the other two hadn’t?

Like I said, she wouldn’t really talk to me. She seemed more pissed than sad.

Well, something’s gotten under her skin.

I’ll drop by sometime tomorrow and try talking to her again.

Maybe she’s just slower in processing it all, and is just now going through what Adagio and Sonata already did.

She flopped back, rolling it over in her mind. The siren trio’s composition had always surprised her. Adagio had enjoyed the power that came with her abilities, and Sonata had always just been along for the ride. Aria, though, struck her as the more sadistic of the three and would understandably have the hardest time giving up her siren powers. Any reason explaining why she wouldn’t share with her fellow sirens still escaped Sunset, however.

Ah well, we’ll see if anything’s different tomorrow.

The mansion belonging to the three sirens was old, but grand. They’d been in this world long enough that they didn’t need their insidious voices to pay the bills; thanks to Adagio’s keen financial management, they’d be set for the foreseeable future off nothing but the interest of their accumulated wealth. Sunset would’ve been more insistent that they give up any ill-gotten gains, except that anyone they’d charmed money out of was long since dead, and Sonata had even gotten a new job out of sheer boredom, while Adagio had picked up piano.

Dismounting her bike, Sunset trudged up the unplowed walk and knocked once before letting herself in. The foyer was large but fairly barren, like most of the house. Sunset pried off her boots and shed her coat, dropping it over the back of an elaborate but rickety chair.

“Hello?” It was a large house, and so the greeting was more of a way to find the location of anyone there than any sort of formal salutation. Sunset kept moving.

“In here, Sunset.”

She found Adagio and Sonata in the kitchen. Judging from the apron, the latter was in the process of forging an afternoon snack for the two.

“Hello, Sunset. How’re the roads?” Adagio asked, dropping a ribbon in her book and setting it aside.

“Not ideal, but plowed—which is more than I can say for your sidewalk.”

Adagio shrugged. “I’m not going anywhere today.”

Sunset had long ago discovered that there are some traits of people that you just don’t change.

“So what are we cooking today, Sonata?”

“Dunno!”

“Pardon?”

“It was going to be brownies, but I ran out of the right chocolate, so it’s half milk and half dark. I also used almond flour instead of regular.”

“Uh… why?”

“Because I was at the store and it looked cool so I bought it.”

“Don’t take her grocery shopping, by the way,” Adagio interjected. “And especially don’t when she hasn’t eaten in five hours.”

“Good to know,” Sunset replied, taking a seat on one of the stools at the island. “Anyway, anything interesting happen recently?”

“No, not really, not besides last night’s incident.”

“Aria, you mean?”

Adagio nodded, but the change of topic seemed to remind Sonata that she had a bone to pick.

“Yeah, what gives?” She bent over the counter and pointed a finger at Sunset. “She’s having a hard enough time adjusting, you know?”

Adagio planted her elbows on the granite and held her forehead in her palm. “Sonata…”

“What? Clearly something Sunset said upset her.”

For as light and bubbly as she usually was, Sonata was also the most vocal and apparent in the protection of her fellow sirens.

“Do you know why she was in a church, Sonata?” Sunset asked.

“Uh, no, not really. Why?”

“I don’t know either. It doesn’t really seem like her kind of place, though. Ergo, whatever she’s wrestling with is probably more than just me.”

“Oh. Yeah, that’s true,” she replied, dropping the accusatory finger. “Do you have any idea of what it is?”

Adagio sighed. “Oh, gee, I don’t know. Maybe it’s the fact that we were robbed of all our magic, can’t sing worth a shit now, and basically lost everything that was at the core of our inner selves—but that’s just a guess.”

“You two are both doing alright.”

“I adapt to survive, and Sonata doesn’t know any better.”

“Hey!”

“Oh hush.”

“So what’s your take on Aria then?” Sunset wondered.

“I think… I think she’s still trying to be a siren.”

Sunset wasn’t convinced. “She seemed oddly at peace about the whole Battle of the Bands, actually. She seemed to think I couldn’t understand her current trouble, and that you two didn’t. Whatever that means.”

“Well, she’s upstairs as per usual—that is, if she didn’t sneak out between three a.m. and noon. She’s still gotta sleep sometime, right?” noted Adagio.

“Just…” Sonata started as Sunset moved for the stairs, “Just please take it easy on her if she lashes out. After so long with just the three of us, it’s pretty much the only way she knows how to communicate anymore. I know she’s nothing more than a villain to you, but I love her like a sister.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Good luck with the brownies.”

Sunset headed for the staircase which, like the rest of the house, was large and had probably been the height of style once upon a time. Even the railing and spindles, though worn and scratched with use and time, were particularly intricate. After ascending, she took the hall to the north wing, where she knew from past visits Aria’s room was located.

As was usually the case with big and aging buildings, the insulation was poor. Sunset zipped up her fleece as she approached Aria’s room—a futile effort she knew, but a reflexive one. The draft in the house went right through her garment anyway.

She stopped when she came to Aria’s door, like she’d done a dozen times before. She wasn’t sure why this particular door was Aria’s; it was just an average door partway down the hall, with many just like it on either side. The first time she’d paid this particular siren a visit, she’d been expecting her to have her own tower, at least.

It’s just another thing in the long line of many that don’t add up about her.

Sunset knocked gently. Though the house had its own set of creaks and moans, the emptiness exaggerated every sound an intruder made. Even her gentle knocks made her afraid she’d startled Aria on the other side.

There was no response, though Sunset wasn’t dissuaded. She’d gotten used to being initially ignored in her attempts to communicate with her troubled acquaintance. “Aria?”

So far, it appeared that this foray would be as fruitless as her past incursions.

“Aria, are you in there?”

Sunset put her hand against the door and pressed her ear to it, listening for any sign of life within. Much to her surprise, the door gave slightly to her pressure. In her past experiences, it had been solid as a rock. For the first time, the door was unlocked. Though she felt slightly guilty at taking advantage of what was most likely negligence on Aria’s part, Sunset turned the handle and crept forward.

The room was dim, even considering the overcast skies outside. In contrast to the hall, her first footstep was nearly silent; there was almost no reverberation in this space, most likely due to the draperies and carpets hanging on every wall. It didn’t help that most of them were extremely dark shades of indigo or vermillion, as they absorbed light as well as they did sound. Considering the only source of illumination was what little natural light managed to leak around the edges of the curtained window, Sunset had to tread several paces into the room before she was able to make out Aria’s shape on the bed.

The door banged shut behind Sunset, the off-kilter frame giving it a natural tendency to swing closed.

Aria looked up from her book. The night hadn’t been kind to her. She’d taken out her pigtails at some point, ditched her shirt, and from the darkness beginning to spread under her eyes, she hadn’t slept much, if at all. Closing the book, she tossed it carelessly onto a disorderly nightstand.

“It’s… It’s nice, this place,” Sunset offered, looking around. Well, it may have been, once upon a time.

Aria followed her gaze around the chamber.

“The door was unlocked. Is it okay if I stay for a minute?”

Aria repositioned herself to a cross-legged posture at the head of the bed, making room for Sunset. “There was probably a chair around here once, but… I haven’t really been in the cleaning sort of mood.”

Sunset glanced around at the general chaos of the bedroom and mirrored Aria’s position.

Aria tugged at one of the straps on her brassiere, rubbing the pink flesh where it’d been. “Fuck, I hate this.”

“Your bra?”

“No, the part where I acknowledge that I blew up at you and you pretend like it’s all hunky-dory.”

“Oh, that.” Sunset looked at her lap. “Honestly, I’m still just confused, not offended.”

“See, this is why it’s better for me not to say anything. Now you’re going to want an explanation.”

“Well, you can’t blame me for being curious,” Sunset replied, mindful of how far she was, and not wanting to push the other girl back into her shell. “But, I’m sure it can wait.”

Aria seemed to find this amusing, chuckling darkly and flopping back loosely on the bedspread.

“Can I ask you something, Sunset?” she asked.

“Sure, anything,” she replied, psyching herself up for a deep question.

“How old are you?”

“Oh. Well, some time differences and portal-made quirkiness aside, I’m roughly twenty-two. Why?”

“So you’re… what? A quarter way dead?” Aria said, doing some multiplication on her fingers.

“I… suppose…” Sunset wasn’t sure how to take Aria’s new necromantic interest. “Is this important?”

Aria shrugged. “It’s only your life. What would you do if you found out you were going to die soon?”

“How soon are we talking about?”

“Sooner than you’d like.”

“Huh.” Sunset had never been much for hypothetical situations; her actual life usually provided plenty of excitement. “Ignoring the fact that almost everyone dies sooner than they’d like, I suppose I’d dig out my bucket list, I guess.”

“That’s really the first thing you’d do?” Aria quizzed, sceptical.

“Well, I’d probably have a pretty good cry first,” Sunset replied, running a more realistic simulation through her mind. “Especially when I realized what it would do to all my friends.”

An icey snake slid up Sunset’s spine, though she didn’t know why. As she kept playing out the scenario in her head, she became surprised that she was feeling more pain knowing the sadness her death could cause others than any lost time of her own could induce.

“Would you tell them?” Aria asked quietly. She’d clearly run through this in her own head before, and knew what Sunset was thinking.

Suddenly Sunset knew why the unpleasant chill had been growing menacingly in the back of her mind. She gasped and leapt forward, grabbing Aria’s shoulders. The siren didn’t struggle.

“No… Aria, are you dying? Aria!”

“Would you get off? I’m not dying, genius.”

“You’re not?”

“I’m not. Now do you mind? My leg is going to go fall asleep.”

Sunset obliged. “Dammit, don’t scare me like that.”

“Hey, you’re the one that jumped to the conclusion,” Aria retorted, sitting up. “But seriously, would you tell them?”

“No, probably not. Not right away, anyway.”

Aria seemed to be thinking.

“Are you sure there’s nothing bothering you?” Sunset asked.

“Nothing bothers me.”

“Bullshit. Everyone has something that bothers them.”

“Eh.” Aria’s bored facial expression indicated she didn’t seem to care enough to argue the point. Her abrupt termination of the conversation forced Sunset to cast about for a new point.

“Can I ask a question in turn?”

Aria shrugged in response. “Knock yourself out, though I can’t guarantee an answer.”

“If nothing’s bothering you, why did you leave the door unlocked this time? Why were you crying when you got home last night?”

Aria’s expression darkened. “Fucking Adagio. I told her to shove off.”

“She only told me because she’s worried—”

“I think it’s about time you shove off too.”

Sunset reluctantly got up and left, closing the door behind her and heading down the way she came up. Adagio happened to be passing the staircase as Sunset descended, a plate of brownies in one hand and her book under her other arm.

“Struck out again, huh?”

“Not exactly.”

Adagio stopped. “She talked to you?”

“Sorta. I’m still not sure what to make of half of it.”

“Well, that’s progress anyway. Brownie?”

“No, thanks. Also, I may have ticked her off at you”

“Eh, don’t worry about it. She won’t stay mad at Sonata and me.”

“I guess we’ll see if the same goes for me.”

“Yeah, good luck with that,” Adagio said, spinning on her heel and continuing on her way. “I’m always a text away if you need anything.”

“Right.” Sunset headed off to find her coat. A warm shower would do her good when she got home, she decided.

Sunset stashed the last of her groceries in the hard saddlebags on her bike, crumpling the paper bag and shoving it into a pocket. Ever since her usual haunt had ceased carrying her favorite Cabernet Sauvignon variety, she’d been searching for a replacement. She had been forced to try three different stores to find a wine that was acceptable, leaving her running around two more hours than she expected to be out, but she’d found what looked to be a worthwhile substitute at last.

A snowflake landed on her nose, catching her attention. The skies had stayed overcast, but snow hadn’t fallen since that night by the church, almost four days earlier. Sunset frowned; she didn’t mind biking in the cold so much, but snow and ice could get dangerous in a hurry, especially once dusk fell. Her plan had been to be home already, before the moisture-laden system hit, but the wine ordeal made sure that didn’t happen.

Sunset quickly slipped a glove off and pulled out her phone.

Adagio, the conditions are going to get unsafe before I can make it home. Mind if I crash with you guys tonight?

I’m out of town, actually. You’re free to use the house though.

Sonata?

She’s with me. Aria should be home, but in case she doesn’t answer the door, there’s a key above the porch light.

Thanks.

Sunset pocketed the device and mounted the bike, donning a helmet and taking off.

By the time she made it into the sirens’ drive, she’d already passed two vehicles in the ditch. She guided her bike under an overhang and forced her stiff legs to bend, hobbling off of it. Though she was in plenty a hurry to get inside and restore some feeling in her extremities, she had the presence of mind to grab the wine out of her saddlebags, lest it freeze. Granted, the alcohol content meant that it wouldn’t freeze as easily as water, but it still would once the temperature dropped sufficiently.

She yanked her helmet off once she reached the partial cover of the porch and carefully felt around the top of the light fixed to the wall next to the door. She felt the outline of the key she was expecting, and hurriedly unlocked the front door to let herself in. The house was so large, she doubted Aria could hear a knock from her bedroom, to say nothing of whether or not she’d come down.

Sunset squinted to see in the unlit interior, stamping the snow off her boots and dumping her jacket and helmet to the side. The jacket fell unusually heavily; since she’d begun to befriend the sirens, Sunset had taken to carrying the magic journal in an inside pocket at all times, just in case.

“Hello?” Sunset didn’t expect an answer, and she didn’t get one.

Tucking the bottle under an arm, she set out on the familiar route to Aria’s room. Knowing the house was even more deserted than usual exaggerated her footfalls, which echoed down the hall. Knocking once, Sunset tried the handle to Aria’s room, which opened without resistance.

Let’s hope this is the new default.

“Aria?”

Sunset was met with only more darkness and silence. She stepped in, closer to the covered window.

The bed’s empty? As her eyes adjusted to the unlit interior, she found that Aria wasn’t anywhere in the room at all.

“Aria!” she called again, louder.

Well, shit.

She produced her phone and brought up Aria’s contact. Adagio had given it to her months ago, but she’d never been able to get a reply out of her before.

You’re not in your room and I’m worried. Where are you?

Sunset cheered internally when her phone dinged a minute later.

Head out the back.

Though confused as to why she would be outside in the current conditions, Sunset dutifully traveled back to the ground floor and navigated through the house, passing the kitchen along the way. She didn’t make it to this part of the house much, but knew where the back door was.

Sunset braced herself for the drop in temperature, and pushed it open. Though cold, she was pleasantly surprised to find no wind or snow; the deck fixed to the back of the house was covered with an overhang that extended some nine meters. Under this was a hot tub, and in the tub was Aria.

“I didn’t know you guys had one of these,” Sunset said, staying in the doorway.

“Sonata uses it the most. You gonna join me or what?”

“I didn’t bring a swimsuit. I could get my coat though, and keep you company.”

Aria sat up, draping her arms along the tub’s edge. “Swimsuit? Why the hell would you need a suit?”

Sunset swallowed when the new position exposed Aria’s breasts fully, which she couldn’t help but noticed were unrestrained. It took Sunset a few seconds to recover.

“B-but, aren’t you worried—”

“About what? You’re surrounded by thirty-six hectares of unkempt woods, it’s night out, and to top it off, the snow has dropped visibility down below twenty meters. That’s not even mentioning the cold. Now quit stalling and strip already.”

Though Sunset couldn’t argue with any of Aria’s points, there was something that just felt wrong and risky about being nude outdoors, regardless of the circumstances. She was practically hardwired to expect obstacles between her and the outside world, not just distance.

“Well? There should be towels on the washing machine next to you.”

“Right… Just a minute.”

Retreating inside, Sunset closed the door and located the towels, just as Aria said.

What the hell am I doing?

She grabbed the edge of her shirt and peeled it over her head, following it with her trousers and undergarments. After folding them into a neat stack and setting the wine gently on top, she picked up a towel and returned to the door, sucking in a breath.

The frigid air of the outdoors felt completely different without even a single layer of cloth between it and her skin, which instantly bristled at the contact. Sunset approached quickly, walking awkwardly on the balls of her feet in an unconscious attempt to prevent too much heat from being sapped away by the boards of the deck.

Clambering over the side, she released the towel and dropped into the steaming whirlpool gracelessly, creating a small wave as a result.

“Sorry,” Sunset apologized after righting herself.

“We didn’t even hit the iceberg yet, and you’re already trying to sink us,” Aria deadpanned. “What are you doing here anyway?”

Sunset wrung out the portion of her hair that got wet, making sure to keep her breasts below the surface of the water. She supposed it was force of habit, since Aria had clearly seen her between the door and her rushed entrance. “I was out on my bike, and an errand took longer than expected. This place was closer than mine, so I came here to get off the roads.”

Aria looked out into the inky blackness, punctuated with fluttering flecks of white that eventually drifted to the ground. “You’re going to be here overnight, huh?”

“Looks that way. I’m sure this is a redundant question, but do you have a spare room?”

“I’m sure we can make something work. What about your errand? Did you finish it?”

“Yes, hopefully. Do you know anything about wine?”

“I usually go for vodka myself, but sure, I’ve garnered a bit of info on the subject. What’d you get?”

“A Cabernet Sauvignon. I’m trying to find one to replace my discontinued favorite.”

Aria lifted one leg out of the water, wiggling her toes in the air. “Maybe we’ll go break into Adagio’s stash later on. She’s got all kinds of old-as-fuck red wines and brandies down there. We’ll find you a nice Bordeaux or something.”

“Huh.” Sunset tried to keep her gaze from following Aria’s leg back to its base. “Adagio didn’t strike me as the collector type.”

“She’s not. She just has a good head for investments is all, and more than enough time to make them profitable. She used to, anyway.”

“Used to?”

Aria dropped her leg. “Valuing things more because they’ve been around longer seems like a silly concept when you live as long as sirens do.”

That didn’t really explain her last phrase to Sunset’s satisfaction. “Did something change?”

“Nothing that won’t resolve itself in time.”

With that door firmly shut, Sunset ceased her prying. When nearly half a minute had passed, Aria spoke again.

“Was it this quiet when you befriended Adagio and Sonata?”

Sunset chuckled nervously. “No, not exactly. As I’m sure you can imagine, conversation around Sonata isn’t an issue, and Adagio and I shared many of the same lusts for power. I don’t really know what was making you tick before, and I certainly don’t now.”

“Good books and moonlit walks along the beach?” Aria sarcastically offered.

“Didn’t you ever have a conversation with anyone?”

“Never really had the need. We asked people for what we wanted, and if they didn’t give it to us, we’d make them. A few hundred years ago, Adagio was smart enough to realize that we wouldn’t have anyone left to terrorize if they all killed each other, so we got our hands on some gold and bearer bonds and laid low, creating just enough turmoil to feed off of, but not enough to start a chain reaction—and we’ve been doing that ever since, until… well, you know the rest.”

“What about the other two? Didn’t you ever talk to them?”

“Sure, but I wouldn’t go straight to conversation. I’d probably start at scornful insults and work my way to hell from there.”

“Sounds lonely.”

“Can’t miss something you never had. It did get monotonous after a while. Repetitive, I guess—though I’ll take that over the pointless drama all you mortals go through any day.”

“We do put ourselves through quite a bit that we don’t need to,” conceded Sunset. “However, erroring is kinda necessary for growth. I wouldn’t be half the person I am now if I’d been the good little student I was supposed to be. Of course, it’s usually preferable that those errors don’t involve the destruction of half the school.”

“Or the mental enslavement of it?”

“Yeah, or that.”

“Sorry, there’s something I just don’t get there.” Aria shook her head.

“Oh?”

“An error is a mistake. It’s detrimental, by definition. We made a calculation error at the Battle of the Bands, and we lost because of it. True power lies in perfection.”

“I don’t actually disagree, per se. It’s just that we can’t ever be perfect—ergo, we have to rely on redemption.”

“That’s cute and everything, but there’s some things that can’t be redeemed.”

Sunset considered herself somewhat experienced on the subject. “As long as you have people around you willing to help, and you’re truly repentant, I don’t think there is.”

“After you’ve been around for a few millennia, you see some pretty fucked up shit.” Aria got to her feet and stretched, giving the other girl an eyeful. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to prune. What do you say we go try that red you got, hmm?”

In the depth of their conversation, Sunset had almost forgotten they were both naked. “R-right! Sure.”

Aria exited first, waiting by the fold-up cover for Sunset to likewise vacate the tub. Sunset complied, hurrying to the opposite side to help replace the unwieldy foam insulator over the top. If possible, the environment felt more bone-chilling than before, given her wet body. That done, Sunset grabbed her towel and hurried inside, with Aria following more casually behind her.

If she were just judging from body language and posture, Sunset couldn’t have guessed the siren was sans clothing. Meanwhile, she found herself with an arm reflexively clasped across her breasts and her thighs squeezed together. She quickly wrapped her towel around her torso.

Aria seemed to have none of these reactions. As Sunset was finishing wrapping her towel, the other was knelt, pulling one of her own from the dryer, which she then used to actively rub away any droplets clinging to her skin.

“Is this it?” Aria asked suddenly, catching sight of Sunset’s bottle.

Sunset struggled to dry herself with the rectangle of fabric still tied below her arms. “Yeah.”

“I’ll get a corkscrew, and then I’m going to go find some clothes,” Aria said. “Bring it up to my room, ‘kay?”

Sunset was sure the order in which Aria prioritized those two items said something about her, she just wasn’t sure exactly what. “Right, sure.”

Alone for the moment, she quickly grabbed her clothes and began slipping into them, stumbling over once or twice in her hurry. Once her legs matched the holes in her panties and trousers, the rest went on easier. She wended her way back to the more familiar parts of the house, where she was able to track her way back to the stairs and down the hall to Aria’s room.

Aria was buttoning up a pajama top when Sunset turned the corner. “Knowing myself, I’m not going to feel like changing when the time comes. Want a set?”

“I’m okay, thanks,” Sunset declined. She needed the familiarity of her own clothes after the little adventure downstairs.

Aria deposited herself on the bed, motioning toward Sunset’s wine. “Let’s get this party started then, shall we? I’ve got a dozen lifetimes to forget and one night to forget them in.”

“I didn’t know I was enabling an alcoholic,” Sunset replied, unsure of if she actually was or not.

“Nah, don’t want to develop a tolerance. Defeats the point,” Aria explained. “You’ve got to save events like these for a day like this.”

“Snow days?” Sunset passed the beverage over, taking a seat on Aria’s bed as well.

“Days where you put everything on the line, and you don’t even know why.”

“‘Everything on the line.’ I feel like there’s an explanation due there.”

“There will be.” Aria uncorked the drink, pulling two stemless glasses out of the dresser. “I think a little mental lubricant is in order first.”

She poured a generous amount into each, passing Sunset one and raising her glass. The crystal clinked, and they both swished a mouthful. Though the light in the room was less than ideal, Sunset swirled the liquid out of habit anyway, examining the refracted image of the room stained in crimson.

Sunset swallowed and held her breath, allowing her to focus on the taste without the burn that would be created when the air hit the lingering alcohol in her mouth. She couldn’t postpone it forever, but when trying a new flavor, she wanted to focus on the nuances before indulging in the burn. Half a bottle and she’d submit to the fuzzy feeling that any alcoholic beverage could give her, but just then she wanted to compare with her old favorite.

When she opened her eyes, she found Aria hadn’t undergone the same analytical process she had, but was instead refilling her glass already. Sunset raised an eyebrow. “Have somewhere to be?”

“Sorry,” Aria apologized, sipping her second glass more slowly. “It’s not a bad wine, but after you’ve had the best hard stuff for a few centuries, it’s difficult to go back to something as… diffused as a three-year-old Cabernet.”

Sunset took another measured sip. Whatever conversation they were about to have, she wanted to remember it later on. A few minutes went by, both girls letting the drink set in.

“You remember that thing we talked about last time?” Aria asked, once she’d worked up the nerve to bring up a less-than-trivial topic.

“Which one?”

“Your bucket list.”

“I guess I mentioned it, yeah. What of it?”

“What’s on it?”

Sunset didn’t respond right away. Some of the things on it were innocuous enough, but some of them were a touch personal. Despite their recent breakthrough, they still didn’t know much more about each other than what strangers on a train might share with the person next to them. We don’t even know that much about each other.

“The usual stuff I guess. Skydiving, publish my thesis on some of my spell research, maybe visit Equestria again—y’know, normal stuff.”

Aria stared at her for a moment, and Sunset got the uncomfortable feeling that Aria knew she wasn’t listing everything. “That’s it? With the friends you have, that could be handled in a week. A month, tops.”

She didn’t press Sunset to expound, instead taking the lead. “Do you know what I would like?”

Sunset shook her head. “What could someone who’s been around as long as you have left?”

“I’d like to forget. Everything. All of it. You, the other two, Equestria, being a siren—all of it.”

“Why?” Sunset had her guesses; the joy of discovery is often more enticing than the satisfaction of learnt knowledge.

Aria let her hair hang over her face. “So many people are living normal lives without problems—like you, no offense. I guess it seems like it’d be easier to deal with the everyday inane shit if I didn’t have the memories of being a god.”

“You were never God, Aria. If it makes you feel any better, though, there were times I wanted to forget my less-than-stellar record.”

“But not so you could just go on living, right? You wanted to forget because it hurt.”

“Well, yeah,” Sunset said, slightly confused. “Isn’t that why you try not to remember?”

“I… don’t know. Hurting would require…”

Sunset waited. Maybe it was just the tinge of alcohol in her system, but she felt closer to Aria than she had ever before. “Regret?”

“Morality.”

That hadn’t been where Sunset was expecting that to go.

“Anyone who has screwed up can regret that action, regardless of ethical polarity,” Aria explained. “Good and evil, though, is an entirely different animal.”

Sunset grasped at Aria’s implication, one she may have not intended to let slip quite yet. “You think you shouldn’t be able to feel pain because… you consider yourself evil?”

Aria pulled her knees up under her chin. “Actually, I know I’m evil. Irredeemably so.”

Sunset remembered Aria’s last comment on the subject before they’d exited the hot tub downstairs. “You weren’t talking about things you’ve seen other people do, were you?”

Aria didn’t speak, which was answer enough for Sunset.

She tried to adopt an encouraging tone and expression. “I’m of the mind that there’s hope for redemption, no matter how great the error. Even murderers have turned their lives around before.”

“There are fates worse than death, and crimes worse than murder.” The not-quite inebriated siren’s voice had lost most of its sass and sarcasm, and the creature herself seemed somewhat less spirited than she had minutes ago.

Sunset was sure Aria had done her fair share of devilish deeds, but she was pretty familiar with both the history of this side’s last few millennia as well as the general capabilities of magic.

She scooted closer to the other girl. “I talked to Adagio and Sonata about things they’d done. They had some dark stuff, but seem to be handling it well enough, and I always kinda got the impression you were the toughest of the three. What could you have possibly done that’s more reprehensible than killing?”

Aria didn’t respond for a moment, then finished off her glass and grabbed the bottle, standing. “I’m not intoxicated enough for this, but I suppose it had to come out sometime. C’mon, follow me.”

She didn’t bother to grab bottoms, trusting her oversized sleeper top to maintain a semblance of protection from the cold and cover her undergarment—if she was even wearing one.

“Where are we going?” Sunset asked, obediently following as Aria led her into the hall and down the corridor.

“Did you ever find it at all weird that I chose the room I did to make into my bedroom?”

“I guess I noticed it was a bit uncharacteristic for you, but I wouldn’t call it ‘weird’ really.”

They walked to the outermost part of the wing, where the hall ended in a set of double doors.

“I moved to my room maybe a week or so after the battle,” Aria explained. “This one used to be my bedroom.”

She gave the doors a graceless shove, causing them to swing inward, and reached around the corner for a lightswitch. When the room’s lights flickered to life, Sunset was met with quite possibly the largest bedroom she’d ever seen.

Besides the size, she also noticed it wasn’t nearly as darkly decorated as the siren’s smaller room, with more reds than blacks. The four-poster bed sat directly in the center, complete with dated curtains rimming the edges along the ceiling—though the canopy had been replaced at some point with a colossal mirror directly over the mattress portion. Off to one side, a walk-in closet led off, with a bathroom opposite it. That left the bedroom relatively open compared to most, with the exception of a well-used high-backed chair and ottoman with long-broken spring cushioning sitting next to a liquor cabinet with a good view of the bed. Like the other room, the walls had been insulated with drapery making the place seem less barren, despite the fact that there really wasn’t much else to speak of there.

It was much more like what Sunset had been expecting the first time she’d opened Aria’s door. “It’s… big.”

“I’m sure you figured out at some point or another that ‘subtle’ isn’t my strong suit.” She took a drink out of the bottle, drifting over to a window and ripping the curtain to the side. Snow was accumulating on the sill outside the glass, showing up sharply against the black as it drifted by.

“So why bother to move just down the hall?”

“Sonata never really did anything all that horrible,” Aria said, choosing to pick up their earlier conversation rather than answer Sunset directly. “And Adagio did what she did because it offered one kind of advantage or another.”

She closed the drapes, turning and leaning against one of the bed’s posts and met Sunset’s eyes. “I did what I did because it was fuckin’ fun.”

Sunset tried not to flinch as the other girl continued.

“I don’t think either of them were ever really evil; Adagio just didn’t know being virtuous was sometimes beneficial. Me, though… I found ways to use a siren’s gift that never even occurred to them. You know a thing or two about mind control, right?”

Sunset sat on the ottoman, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly.

“We didn’t normally have the need to do so directly, since general disharmony was enough to sate our appetites, but it came in handy in a pinch. I prefered it though, because of a little quirk I discovered about it—see, it turns out that the part of the mind that controls motor functions can be controlled independently from the consciousness.”

“What’s the advantage to that?”

“Normally, none—unless you want to trap someone inside their own unwilling body, forcing them to watch as they do… things to others, things they would never consider doing, things they would never wish to see done to anyone.”

Sunset sat silently, her brain only beginning to grasp at Aria’s implications. She didn’t want to believe someone capable of putting others through such things was standing in the same room as her, but she couldn’t ignore it. It was like a slow-motion train wreck as her neurons collided; she couldn’t watch, and she couldn’t look away.

“And the best part was, neither one knew the other was being controlled. They must’ve lost so much faith in human nature. Anyone would, after having that done to them by another of their own kind.”

Aria didn’t expound on what ‘that’ was, and Sunset didn’t ask. She didn’t need too, really; there was only one major piece of furniture in the room, which had a pretty explicit purpose. Sunset suspected the only other item—what she sat on currently—had been where Aria had watched her puppet show from.

The silence stretched. It wasn’t awkward or comfortable, but instead almost scary for Sunset—scary, and incredibly cold.

“Judging from the expression on your face, I guess you didn’t toss those ideas around in your head, even in the depth of your demonic rampage.”

Sunset shook her head. She was fairly certain her voice would only come out as a croak if she tried to talk.

“It’s easy to believe in a redeemable world, if you think death is the worst thing that can happen to someone.” Aria dropped her gaze to the floor, shoving off from the post and making for the door. “I’m going to go drink until the room goes black.”

Sunset didn’t follow her. The habitual part of her told her to go after her friend, and to list off the same things she did every time somebody wandered from the straight and narrow, but the more active part of her mind was too busy replaying imaginary rape scenes on the bed that still sat in front of her.

What the fuck can I say to that?

Sunset had only ever been after greater power in the depth of her rampage. It bred hate, but only out of greed and jealousy. There was gain to be had in it. What Aria had done, though… Sunset had never stood so close to sadism like that before. This wasn’t the sort of problem that could be cleared up in twenty minutes with better communication or a compromise. How long had the siren played her sick games with defenseless mortals? How many times in this room, on that bed, had she found satisfaction in the terror of others?

Sunset suddenly didn’t want to be alone in that room.

She sprang for the door, slamming it behind her as though the walls had been red from blood, not curtains. The sudden burst of activity dispelled the unsettling vise of panic that had clamped down on her spine, but she still didn’t know what to even begin to say to Aria; the girl had to be regretting what she’d done a little or else she wouldn’t have switched rooms, and yet she didn’t seem abhorred by what she’d done. It wasn’t pride that kept Aria from seeking help either, Sunset knew. The way she’d talked about the Battle of the Bands in the church demonstrated that much.

Suppressing the shivers that ran the length of her anytime she dwelt to long on the red room behind her, Sunset stopped before Aria’s door. It was closed, but it didn’t look like Aria had bothered to lock it. She glanced down the hall, in the direction of the stairs. It would be easier that way, just to go down and sleep on the couch. If the roads were plowed by morning, she could probably slip out then while Aria was still sleeping off a hangover.

But no, that wasn’t Sunset.

Without the slightest clue what she was going to say, she rapped lightly on Aria’s door and slipped inside. The only light came from a lamp whose shade had been knocked askew since Sunset had last been in the room. Aria seemed to have found her way back to the bed, and was now keeping the nearly-empty bottle company. “You don’t give up easily, do you?”

“So I’m told,” Sunset answered. She didn’t know where to sit, so she rubbed one arm idly in the middle of the room.

“Drink?” Aria extended the bottle.

“No, thanks. I think you need it more than I do.”

After a sufficiently long pause spawned an awkwardness in the room, Aria spoke again. “This is why I didn’t want to tell you.”

“Hmm?”

“You’re abhorred enough that you’re staying out of arm’s reach. Not that I blame you, of course—it’s the appropriate action for any sane person around something like me.” She hiccupped. “Still sucks, though.”

Sunset could tell that the alcohol was finally getting to Aria. She wanted to comfort the Aria she’d gotten to know up to a few minutes ago, but couldn’t quite shake the one that kept appearing in her imagination, smiling cruelly while she manipulated a marionette into doing unspeakable things.

There was something she had to know. “Would you do it again? Would you do it now, if you still had the power to?”

Aria blew over the empty wine bottle’s opening, producing a low whistle, then dropped it. “I’d like to tell you no. I could probably get myself to believe it, too. Honestly, though? Who the fuck knows.”

Sunset almost turned and left right then. As much as she believed in redemption, there had to be repentance first. Without that, evil would just get back up and take the first advantageous shot it got to backstab again. I’m not even sure why Twilight forgave me, back then. It was a huge risk on her part, since I had every reason to lie and no evidence to indicate I actually regretted my actions—and yet, here I am.

It occurred to Sunset then that she had far more reason to support the siren in front of her than Twilight had once had to support her. Relaxing a little, she walked over and sat down at the end of Aria’s bed. “I don’t think you would’ve been in a church if you weren’t looking for a way to heal, nor told me if you weren’t looking for someone to listen.”

Aria met Sunset’s eyes, and the surprise in them showed. Her mouth opened and closed a few times while she tried to put words together in the right order. “No… I didn’t say all that just for you to turn around and fucking forgive me.”

“You… don’t want forgiven?” She knew Aria didn’t think herself redeemable, but to turn it down even when offered it…

Aria was growing hysterical. “What I did was appalling, right? Horrendous. Repulsive. Monstrous. Unforgivable. All of it!”

“All but the last one, sure.”

“Fucking fuckity fuck…” Aria collapsed onto her side and planted a pillow over her head, tiny convulsions running through her thin frame every few seconds.

Could she be…? As gently as she could, Sunset slid closer and put her hand on Aria’s shoulder. “Aria, are you—” ‘okay’ didn’t seem like the right word, considering, “—crying?”

The hand that was clutching the pillow flashed Sunset the finger quickly, before going back to its place. Now, though, the tiniest sobs could be heard in sync with the quakes Sunset felt emanating from Aria. Sunset didn’t take the gesture personally; it was fairly obvious to her by that point that Aria’s emotional defense mechanism was hostility. And she’s certainly not in any condition to talk as long as she’s like this.

Without a lot of options, Sunset gave the one thing that made her feel better when she wanted to curl up in a ball and cry: a hug. She wrapped her arms around Aria and rested her head on Aria’s back, matching the siren’s curl like a big spoon. At first, she was worried it wouldn’t be well-received since they had never so much as shaken hands, but when she felt Aria push back into the embrace, she smiled and clung all the tighter.

Eventually, Aria’s sobs ran themselves dry, and she came out from under her pillow looking a little worse for wear. “I think I might be a bit drunk.”

Sunset knew Aria couldn’t be all that drunk, considering she was still speaking fine—a few sniffles aside. She didn’t say so though, and she didn’t let go. “Sometimes you just have to let it out.”

Aria let out a small chuckle and wiped her nose. “I did alright without the emotional breakdowns for a few centuries before you showed up.”

“That just means you’ve been packing it all away for a long time.”

“Yeah, sure.” Sunset could almost feel Aria rolling her eyes. A minute of silence glided by.

“Aria?” Sunset didn’t know if they’d ever be this close again, and didn’t want the moment to slip away. She broke the spoon to roll Aria over, so that they were lying face-to-face next to each other on the bed. “Why don’t you want to be forgiven?”

Aria tried to look away, but as Sunset’s face made up most of her vision, wasn’t very successful. She sighed. “It’s not that I don’t want to be, so much so as it would’ve simplified things a hell of a lot if you hadn’t.”

“Why?”

“You know more about redemption than anyone. If you wouldn’t forgive what I did, well, that would be that, wouldn’t it? Certainly nobody else would if even you didn’t.”

“What are you apologizing to me for, though? You didn’t rape me… did you?” Memory removal wouldn’t be that far fetched alongside the rest of a siren’s abilities.

“No, of course not. I haven’t abused people like that for a few hundred years. Kinda hard to apologize to dead people, y’know.”

Centuries ago? The small flame of hope for Aria in Sunset’s chest flared. “What made you stop?”

“Hmm…” Aria’s fingers played with an errant thread fraying from her shirt. “I don’t know, exactly. It just wasn’t fun anymore, after a while. I guess you can get numb to anything if you do it enough.”

Or, just maybe, that was when she started listening to her conscience. Sunset had always assumed that the Battle of the Bands had been the defeat of the sirens, and that they hadn’t begun to question themselves or experience regret of any sort until after it was over. Now that she thought about it, the sirens had undergone defeat when Starswirl the Bearded banished them a millennium ago. What they’d done since was nothing especially grand or world-shattering, and was seeming more and more like a strange combination of survival and denial. There’s no way Sonata would’ve come to us so early and definitely no way someone like Adagio would accept help so easily if they’d really just lost everything.

“I think… I think you’re going to be okay, Aria.”

“You just don’t know a lost cause when you see one, do you?” Aria said, and gave half a pitying smile.

“And what exactly makes you so depressingly sure you’re all that, exactly?”

“You mean besides all the mind control, rampant spreading of discord, and proxy rape?” Aria said, cringing as she forced herself to say those things aloud.

“Yeah, besides all that,” Sunset said, completely sincerely.

“Oh, you’re serious.” Aria stared at the floor. “Well, up until now, nobody once went out of their way to say otherwise.”

“What, not even Adagio or Sonata, in all this time?”

“Eh, for us, being nice was not actively insulting one another.”

Sunset couldn’t take it anymore. She reached out and surprised Aria with a sudden and fierce hug, pulling the recipient's head against her chest and holding it there while she rocked them. “Dammit Aria, you’re just too darn tragic and huggable all at once.”

There were a few muffled exclamations of indignation before Aria could pry her face free of Sunset’s breasts. “Fucking hell, warn me next time you’re going to do something like that. I couldn’t even breathe in there.”

Sunset released her. “Huh?”

“What, nobody ever told you that you’ve got a nice pair there?” Aria had sat up and was looking away, fidgeting with one of her hanks of hair.

“What, these?” Sunset squeezed one of her tits. They were larger than Aria’s, sure, but nothing out of the ordinary. Pinkie and Adagio both had far more impressive busts. “No, not really. Flash was more of an ass-guy, back in the day.”

It might have been her imagination, but Sunset could’ve sworn she saw Aria’s shoulders drop a little. “Oh, yeah. Guys are a thing, aren’t they?”

“You don’t swing that way?” Sunset asked, sitting up as well.

“I’ve done it with both before, of course, but it was always just about getting off when it was with guys—or anyone, really—under our spell.”

“You’ve had sex with people that weren’t?” Sunset inquired, trying to hide the surprise in her voice.

“Two, to be exact. See, siren song doesn’t work on other sirens.”

“Wha—” The implications caught up to Sunset’s brain. “No way. Adagio and Sonata? You’re kidding me.”

“Well it’s not like it was often, and it certainly wasn’t romantic. Sometimes, when we were laying low or else too lazy to go find someone, we just got the urge and went for it, y’know?”

Sunset was busy fighting off a blush and the images popping up in her head. “How’d that work?”

“Not great. Sonata’s fine, but loud as fuck. Best with a ball gag or something. As for Adagio, well… she’s a hardcore dominatrix, and that gets old real fast when you have to live with her running the gang anyway.”

“Not gonna lie, I did not see that coming.”

“Never had that problem with Sonata,” Aria said, snickering.

“I didn’t need to know any of this,” Sunset said, wondering how she was going to look any of them in the eye again without smirking or blushing.

“But I guess that’s not an issue with guys, huh?” Aria’s humor dropped a little bit.

“I wouldn’t really know, actually. I only really dated Flash for his status, and only ever gave enough to string him along. Never actually got around to fucking him.”

“But if not him… you’ve never fucked anyone, have you?” Aria said, peering at Sunset. “You’re a goddamn virgin, aren’t you?”

“I guess, yeah. I was too busy practicing and studying magic on the other side, and I didn’t really care about people by the time I got here. It was always just easier to take care of it myself when I got pent-up. Never got around to deciding on a team, I guess.” Sunset found Aria looking at her with a sharpness and awareness that she hadn’t seen in her since the Battle. “Aria?”

Aria seemed to be thinking to herself, the loose thread on her top forgotten. After a moment’s hesitation, she muttered to herself “Ah, fuck it. Only one life to live anymore.”

Then, all Sunset felt was Aria’s lips on her own.

Something shorted in her brain, preventing her from reacting to the unexpected advance, even after Aria released her. If I’m being perfectly honest with myself, I don’t mind Aria. She’s easy on the eyes, and doesn’t beat around the bush once she opens up to you. A bizarre flavor of reclusive honesty. And yet, minutes ago we were discussing how she used people to violate others in the worst possible ways.

“Sorry if that was your first. I could’ve done better with it.”

Sunset finally found her controls again, and blinked. “It wasn’t, I just didn’t expect it. Do you really want to…?”

“I’m well enough aware that I don’t know jack shit about love and compassion, and I’m guessing your policy on flings isn’t as loose as it might have been.” Aria wrapped her arms around herself. “But that doesn’t change the fact that I’m cold, we’re snowed in, it’s dark outside, I trusted you with my nastiest history—which you didn’t completely shun me for, and lastly… oh forget about the last one. So yeah, I’d like to, but I understand why lots of people wouldn’t. More accurately, I don’t understand why anyone would, knowing what you know now.”

“I… uh… would you like some hot chocolate?” Sunset had no idea where the words came from, only that she was far too close to saying ‘yes’ without a second thought than she was comfortable with. She needed to think, preferably in a place where Aria’s bare legs weren’t touching hers. “I need something to warm me up. Do you want a cup as well?”

“What? Sure, I guess.” Aria’s gaze dropped to the floor as Sunset stood up to leave. “I said something wrong, didn’t I?”

“Huh? No! No, I just…” Honesty seems to be on a roll tonight, so why stop now? “I really, really do want to, Aria, but I just need a second to clear my head. Promise me you won’t leave or do something as equally stupid until I get back.”

A tinge of relief was visible on Aria’s face as she lay back down. “Cross my heart and all that shit.”

Sunset carefully shut the door behind her and slouched against the opposite wall of the hallway. She was quickly learning that Aria was as intense as she was outwardly apathetic, and as a result, dealing with her took a lot of energy—not the same sort of energy that dealing with someone like Sonata took, which was really more just patience than anything else, but instead a combination of carefully-read body language and a strong sense of empathy.

I almost let my reaction to some of the things she said decide my opinion of her as a person now, even though those things happened ages ago. Most people don’t even live long enough to see themselves change as much as Aria has. Keeping a hand against the wall to guide her in the near-darkness, Sunset fumbled her way down the steps and into the kitchen, where the light from the clock’s stove made navigation a tad easier. The light from the refrigerator's interior nearly blinded her when she went for the milk. At her pace, most people would’ve died of old age before showing any signs that would indicate the changed girl she seems to be now. So she took more time to repent than is given to most; is that a reason to hold her in contempt for an equally extended period?

She poured two glasses and watched them rotate on the glass plate behind the microwave oven’s metal mesh. The thought of how easily Twilight had forgiven her after their confrontation returned to Sunset again. How did you know I had something worth saving inside? You hadn’t seen any but the worst of me. Does that ability come with being a princess of friendship?

“Wait,” she muttered to herself. “This is stupid. I could just ask her.”

Feeling her way toward the front door, she found the spot where she’d ditched her jacket and helmet, moving quickly to retrieved the magic journal from the former and carry it back to the light of the kitchen.

‘Hey, Twilight. I don’t suppose I’m lucky enough to catch you still awake?’

She was surprised when it vibrated in reply almost immediately.

‘Sunset! I’m up. The time ran away from me while I was reading. What’s new with you? How are the sirens doing?’

‘Pretty well. That’s kinda what I wanted to ask you about, actually.’

‘Go for it.’

Sunset took a deep breath. ‘Why did you decide to forgive me when you had no reason to believe I was actually sorry?’

There was a longer pause before the next reply came. The microwave oven behind her beeped.

‘Wow, that’s heavy. I doubt I could give you any single reason as wholly responsible for that choice. What’s your motivation for asking?’

‘I’m getting to know someone, and they told me about some pretty horrible stuff they did a long time ago. I just thought I could talk to them better if I knew why you did what you did. Have you ever not forgiven someone?’

‘Yes… though none of them were asking for forgiveness. That’s the first criteria. Is your friend asking?’

‘Yes, sort of. They regret what they did, but don’t think they’re worth saving—so ‘asking’ is a bit of a stretch.’

‘That’s so sad. If your intuition tells you that they’re sincere, go for it.’

‘That’s it? Go with your gut?’

‘Well… yeah. Use what you know about them to make the best possible choice. Sometimes it’ll come back to bite you, forcing you to deal with them again, but better that than burning a bridge you didn’t have to, right?’

Sunset wondered if Twilight had ever dealt with rapists before. ‘What if my gut is doing somersaults?’

‘If that means what I think it means, try listening to your heart instead. Cadence always told me that truly unconditional love does wonders for the soul.’

‘That’s not what I meant!’ Sunset scribbled hastily.

‘My mistake. In any case, do the best with what you have to work with. With you, it was true that I didn’t have much good behavior to go on, but I also knew that you’d been Celestia’s pupil at one point. Having been one myself, I guessed something had rubbed off, even if it was buried deep down. I don’t know how well you’ve gotten a grasp of your friend’s character, but if they’re exhibiting signs of regret and you’re confident they’re not in it for the long con, I’d say go for it. People don’t change in a day, but you can’t count on tomorrow. Someday it won’t come for one of you.’

‘Thanks, that helps a lot. I’ve got to go for now, but we should talk more again. Don’t stay up too late.’

‘No problem! Goodnight.’

Sunset closed the journal and absent-mindedly retrieved the hot chocolate mix. Just wing it? Not really what I expected to hear from Princess Egghead. Still, it did give her something to think about. She didn’t love Aria. Love at first sight was a myth as far as she was concerned, and irrelevant to boot as Aria and the other sirens had been secretly hell-bent on sucking every drop of Equestrian magic out of her when they met.

And she had to mention Celestia… Sunset pushed the thought out of her mind and focused on stirring up the hot chocolate. She’d been having mixed feelings about her former teacher, and didn’t feel like now was a good time to get into it. “Hmm… I wonder…”

Peering around in the dim kitchen, Sunset spotted the liquor cabinet and stole over to it. She carefully removed a glass flask with a rectangular stop sealing it, adding some of the amber-tinted contents to each of the tall glasses and replacing it. She nearly burned her palms when she attempted to grip them around their middles, which prompted her to use the teacup-like handles. Hot drinks weren’t a staple for her.

She retraced her way back up the stairs without too much difficulty and pushed the door in with her foot. Aria was sitting on the bed still, her back to Sunset as she watched snowflakes drifting down outside the large window, the dark curtains of which had been pulled back on either side.

“It’s still coming down, huh?” Sunset climbed up next to her and sat, offering one of the beverages. “Careful, the sides are hot.”

“Yeah, these are shitty mugs like that. I need to get Adagio to buy us some of those newfangled double-walled ones.” Aria’s voice had calmed somewhat, an element of her usual disdainful and bored self returning; she seemed to have used the time to clear her own mind as well. An eyebrow raised after she took a sip of her hot chocolate. “The amaretto is a nice touch.”

“Well I don’t about you, but I needed a little more social lubricant if we’re going to keep this level of conversation up.”

“Are we?” Aria exaggerated a sigh to the point of sarcasm. “Damn. I thought for sure you’d come back and just be like ‘Take me, Aria!’ and we’d bang.”

“The thought occurred to me,” Sunset said and chuckled, not wanting to kill Aria’s mood completely. “In all seriousness though, it’s not as if we’re in any kind of rush. The plows will tackle the main routes first, and if the weather keeps up like this, that’ll be enough to occupy them for a day or two.”

Aria hummed her assent, something Sunset hadn’t noticed her do freely before. Then, with a start, Aria’s slowly leaning figure jerked straight again.

“What time is it, anyway?” Sunset was pretty well exhausted herself, and now that she thought about it, was rather amazed Aria was still awake what with the copious amounts of alcohol she’d had over the course of the night. “It’s got to be two or three in the morning.”

“Still early for the likes of me,” Aria insisted, though she didn’t look it. She’d already drained her hot chocolate and the liqueur was kicking in; her eyelids blinked more frequently than was normal and, despite her best efforts to conceal it, she yawned.

“Come on, let’s get you in bed.”

“Technically, we are in bed.” Still, she didn’t resist when Sunset took her glass and set it aside, along with her own.

“Yeah well, technically, you’re an asshat.”

“If that somehow means I wind up on top of your ass, I’m not going to deny it.” Aria toppled backwards and stayed there, trying to watch Sunset close the various layers of curtains over the window again.

Yeah, she’s definitely a little more drunk now.

Aria frowned. “What are you going to do?”

“About what?”

“Y’know, stuff. Sleep. Pajamas. Bed. That stuff.”

“I’m sure I’ll be able to find a suitable room somewhere. Don’t worry about the rest—I think I’ll need all the clothes I can get anyway. Any room in this mansion that isn’t smothered in hangings is drafty as hell.”

“Oh, right.”

Sunset took a step toward the door.

“Or, you could just stay here.”

“Pardon?”

“If you really want to, I could point you in the direction of Adagio’s or Sonata’s rooms. They’re both fixed up pretty well too. But, I’d much rather you stay here, if you’re amenable to that.”

Sunset glanced at Aria’s bed. It wasn’t as big as a four-poster and would be a little snug for two. Then again, any extra heat would be welcome…

“You won’t get handsy?”

“Me? As if.”

Something about Aria’s tone struck Sunset as more than a little insincere. “Fine.” Sunset sat on the side of the bed and took off her socks, but hesitated after that; she was still wearing her bra, and didn’t want to sleep in it. “Um… could you turn around for a second?”

“Huh? Why?”

Sunset explained.

“Seriously? Did you forget I saw you naked out back? Not to mention that I haven’t been wearing bottoms this whole time.”

“That was different!” Sunset protested, hoping she wasn’t blushing. “Now we’re in a bedroom, a little intoxicated, and I know you would see it sexually. Besides, it’s not like you’re not wearing underwear, pants or not.”

Aria’s eyebrow rose.

Sunset swallowed, glancing at Aria’s legs. The pajama top was just long enough to cover her nether regions, though that could change very quickly if Aria moved any number of ways. “You… you are wearing underwear, right?”

Aria smirked, but turned around. “Well, if you’re going to bitch about it… just hurry up already.”

Fumbling in her haste, Sunset stripped off her shirt and bra.

“Nice.”

“Aria!”

“What? It’s a compliment. Your tits are cute.”

Sunset yanked her shirt back on, glaring at Aria who was watching her over her shoulder. In response, the siren stuck her tongue out, but rolled back to make room.

“You’re insufferable,” Sunset chided, slipping under the covers in the vacated spot. It was still warm from Aria’s body heat. “You’re also very warm.”

“You should try sleeping next to Sonata; she’s a damn fireball.”

“I can imagine.” Sunset reached over and turned out the lamp, the sole remaining light source in the room. In the sudden near-darkness, everything she couldn’t see became amplified to her senses. The window rattled in its old frame with the occasional gust of snow-laden wind, the sheets rustled every time Aria shifted next to her, her breath tasted like red wine and chocolate, and Sunset even thought she could smell Aria’s shampoo.

A pair of lips touched hers.

Instantly, she was fully awake again, though she didn’t dare move. The panicked part of her mind immediately went to the unspeakable acts Aria had once enjoyed in the red room, wondering why on earth she’d decided it was a good idea to sleep in the same bed with someone capable of that. Then, the rest of her brain caught up.

Aria doesn’t have the capability to do that anymore, much less the nerve to. She hasn’t been that person in over a century; the only reason it’s at the forefront of my mind is because I learned about it just tonight. She could’ve just as easily not told me about all that stuff at all. Besides, Aria isn’t exactly the type to ask for written permission before kissing someone.

Gently, Sunset put her hand on Aria’s breast and gave enough pressure for Aria to take the hint and end the kiss.

“Too far?” Aria had rolled back onto her side of the bed, though the only indication of this was the direction her voice came from.

“I uh, I don’t know…” Of all of the things she had expected out of a slightly intoxicated, sexually attracted Aria, a kiss like that was not on the list. It was so… gentle.

“Explain something to me, Aria.”

“I’ll give it a shot.”

“How do you go from being… well, you, to that? Five minutes ago you were giving my tits two thumbs up. But that kiss was—or at least felt—really sincere. Not at all impulsive and down-to-business like you usually are.”

There was a sigh, and the bed shifted as Aria moved again. “I stopped taking much very seriously a long time ago. Worrying about things like nudity and reputation and money gets boring after you’ve seen it all or have as much access and control over it as you want. When I had sex with Adagio and Sonata, it was out of boredom. There was no illusion of romance, and it didn’t change our relationships with each other really. Things are changing, though.”

“From losing your siren song?”

“Indirectly I guess, but no, not really.”

Sunset almost pushed for more, but something in Aria’s voice warned her against it. “Well, it was a very sweet kiss.” Fumbling in the dark, she felt for Aria’s form, leaned closer to her, and reciprocated with a light peck. When there was no response, she wished she could see if only to get some judge of the siren’s reaction.

“Thank you.”

“Hmm?”

“Not for that, specifically, but just in general, for keeping me company and not freaking out.”

“Oh… yeah sure. No problem.” Sunset changed her mind, now thankful for the darkness. It’d warmed her heart, but she wasn’t sure she wanted Aria to see her smiling to herself like an idiot.

“Goodnight, Sunny.”

“Goodnight, Aria.”

There wasn’t as much light as Sunset would’ve expected for… 11:09 AM. She could barely make out the face of the ancient clock shoved into the corner, with upside-down upholstered chairs stacked up on top of it. Most of it looked like it had been native to the room, before Aria moved her bed in and put them there to get them out of the way. The only light was a cool, natural type leaking in from around the edges of the curtains she’d closed the night before.

She blinked a few times and braced to sit up, but an unusual weight on her chest stopped her. Aria was still asleep, sprawled unceremoniously with her top half resting on Sunset. Apparently, she wasn’t a graceful sleeper. Moving a centimeter at a time, Sunset extricated herself from Aria’s slumbering form and tiptoed to the door, stealing down to the kitchen.

The floorboards were freakishly cold, keeping Sunset on her toes as she put on a pot of coffee. She waited on a bench next to the window, rubbing her shins to warm them up. Outside the frosted glass, nothing but a white blanket was left of the landscape. No going anywhere until the plows go through.

Aria’s night had been emotionally exhausting, that much Sunset knew. If possible, she didn’t want to wake her earlier than she had to. Her mind drifted to the night’s conversations while she waited for her dirty bean water.

Is she starting to care? Is that what’s changing? Is Aria regarding me as a friend?

Sunset remembered the kiss. Everything about it was unalike the girl dozing upstairs, different from how she interacted with even her siren compatriots.

Is Aria regarding me as… more than a friend?

Sunset breathed on the glass and wrote Aria’s name on the foggy area, staring until it faded out. And what about for my part?

That was five questions in under a minute, and no answers—not a great ratio. She put her back against the wall and pulled her knees up. She’s just letting me in, is all. What she did last night only seemed vaguely amorous because she hasn’t revealed that part of herself to anyone else, yet.

Footsteps brought Sunset back to the present. They belonged to Aria, who stumbled into the room looking somewhat less than awake, stopping in front of the coffee machine and leaning against the island. She didn’t acknowledge Sunset at all.

“Morning,” Sunset greeted.

Aria spasmed, leg smacking the cabinet, doing a half twist in mid air, and finally tripping over herself and landing hard on the floor, just behind the island and out of Sunset’s sight. There was a second’s pause, then, “Fuck you, Sunset Shimmer.”

Sunset scrambled to help Aria up. “You okay?”

“You scared the shit out of me.”

“Um, sorry?”

Aria kneaded her forehead after righting herself. “When I didn’t find you next to me, I figured the whole thing must’ve been a dream or a bad trip or something. It was kinda fuzzy, after all.”

“How much do you remember?” Sunset poured them both a cup.

“The hot tub. Talking. A lot of that… and the red room.” Aria cringed. “Probably shouldn’t have opened that can of worms.”

“I’m still here, aren’t I?”

“Yeah…”

“Remember anything else?”

“Drinking, obviously. And then…”

Sunset stared at her own reflection in her cup, not sure if she wanted Aria to remember or not.

“...did I kiss you?”

Sunset looked up. “Yeah, just a little bit.” She was surprised to find Aria meeting her gaze.

Aria didn’t flinch or apologize. “You kissed me back.”

“I didn’t mean… it was—”

“It was nice.”

Oh. Sunset hid in the depths of her cup to keep from having to continue the conversation. What does that mean?

Aria pulled out her phone when Sunset didn’t respond immediately. “Nothing from Adagio or Sonata. No news is good news, right?”

“So I hear. You really think they don’t understand this stuff?”

“Don’t understand?”

“What you said, back at the church. You said they haven’t realized yet.”

Aria stiffened, and set her coffee down. “I wasn’t talking about this stuff then. I’m sure those two are light years ahead of me in making friends and shit, especially Sonata.”

“What, then?”

Sighing, she ran her hand through her hair, still free of tails as it was. “Look, Sunset. You’ve pried up a lot of layers and stuck around for the shitstorm that comes with that, and I appreciate that—but I stand by what I said then. Getting short was uncalled for though, so sorry for that.”

“It’s okay. Don’t worry about it.” Sunset deflated a little. Whatever it was, Aria was budging about as much as a stone wall. I guess not even a friend you can kiss on the lips like you mean it is close enough for her to share with.

Wandering over to the window, she noticed the roads had been plowed. That’s not entirely fair, I suppose. It’s still all new to her, and she was a little inebriated. Maybe she just needs time. “I should be going, before the snow starts up again.”

Aria frowned. “Does me not telling you mean we can’t be friends?”

“What? No, no no. I didn’t mean it like that. I just figured, with the road and the weather and my bike…” Sunset moved back over to the island and set her cup down, taking Aria’s hand in hers. “Aria, I will never make you tell me anything you don’t want to, even if I think it would help. Real relationships, or the healthy ones at least, aren’t conditional like that. They’re just one kind of love or another, no strings attached.”

Aria’s eyes bored into Sunset’s for a long time, then she set her mug aside too. “Stay.”

“What?”

“You should stay.”

“But what about the—”

Aria put her free hand around Sunset, tilted her head, and stopped barely a centimeter from Sunset’s lips. “Stay with me.”

Words failed Sunset. She’d always been the most proactive, most dominant, most likely to take initiative of her friend group, so being outdone on that front (and especially in a sexual manner) was a new experience. Before she could reorganize her thoughts to form a coherent reply, Aria closed the remaining gap and kissed her. It was full-contact, but delicate, like earlier.

“Aria—” Sunset felt Aria’s fingers slip between her shirt and waistband, grazing the skin. “Aria!”

“Mhm?” Aria’s breath was close enough to Sunset’s neck that the hairs there stood on end.

Sunset freed her hand and pushed Aria to arm’s length, keeping her hand on the other’s shoulder to hold her there. “Why? Last night, I thought it was because you were tipsy, but… you haven’t been drinking already, have you?”

Aria laughed. “No. And for future reference, you’re going to need to bring something a lot stronger than half a bottle of that Cabernet Sauvignon to get me wasted enough to start doing things I’ll regret.”

“Then…?”

“It’s not that complicated. I kissed you because I wanted to, and because I want you to kiss me back. You don’t have to, of course, but I’ll never know if I don’t try, right?”

Sunset let her arms fold, no longer keeping Aria at bay. If I’m being honest with myself, I liked it too. But knowing Aria…

“Problem?”

“No, it’s fine.” Sunset interlaced her fingers with Aria’s. “It’s not like I’ve never made out with someone before; I’m just not used to having someone make the moves on me.”

Aria continued looking at her inquisitively. It made Sunset squirm under the stare.

“What?” Sunset broke eye contact.

“You never told me what was really on your bucket list.”

The floor became very interesting to Sunset.

Aria was smirking, and closing in again. “I think someone wants to do more than make out.”

“I’m perfectly happy to wait for the right time. Don’t get cocky.”

“It’s Christmas Eve, cold as fuck, no one’s around, and…” Aria ducked her head to the side, “it looks like it’s starting to snow again.”

Sunset freed one of her hands to retrieve and check her phone. “So it is.” How did I not remember it was Christmas Eve?

“So…?”

“So… we see where things go?”

Aria hooked her hands under Sunset’s thighs and helped her hop up onto the counter. “Hi.”

“Hi.” Sunset brushed one of Aria’s long bangs aside.

“Is this okay now?” Aria asked, peeling up Sunset’s shirt from the waist up. The shirt came off easily when Sunset raised her arms, allowing it to be taken off over her head. With her bra still discarded upstairs from the night before, her breasts hung freely, nipples standing out in the cold.

“Yeah, yeah.” In response, Sunset wrapped her legs around Aria’s middle, pulling her in and draping her arms over Aria’s shoulders. “I seem to recall you liking them.”

“They’re almost as big as Adagio’s, and much perkier.” Aria cupped one with her palm, running her hand over the gooseflesh and rolling the nipple between her fingers. Sunset twitched.

“Thanks, I guess?” With her hands already tangled amidst the violet and teal strands of Aria’s hair, it was easy for Sunset to grab a yarn of it and tug the other’s hair back, exposing the neck to Sunset. A trail of teeth marks were left after she kissed from Aria’s jaw down to the neckline of her shirt. “Your turn.”

Aria sighed, but obediently started pulling her shirt over her head. With both of the girl’s hands occupied and her sight temporarily limited, Sunset smiled and ran her hands down Aria’s stomach until they met Aria’s waist, where she snapped the elastic of the pajama bottoms. The rest of Aria’s top came off swiftly, to reveal a raised eyebrow.

“I’m allowed to go on the attack too, if I want,” Sunset defended, forestalling any witty retorts from Aria by bringing their lips together again. A wet heat met her mouth, Aria’s stored vigor unleashing in the lip-locked duel of tongues; it was a battle Aria won quickly, leaning forward until she was looking down on Sunset, and the latter was nearly on her back. Just to make sure her point was being made, Aria felt along Sunset’s shoulders and arms to her wrists, which she also pinned to the countertop.

When she finally got the chance to breathe and speak again, Sunset smiled. “That’s the Aria I was expecting.”

Aria returned the smile, and pecked her on the nose. “If you’re allowed to be dominant, then I’m allowed to be sweet occasionally. Emphasis on occasionally.”

Sunset pretended to weigh her favorite in her mind. “Both?”

“Both.”

“Both is good.”

They returned to making out, paying more attention to each other’s top halves, eventually settling into a mix of slow, intimate kisses, and rough, impassioned groping. Mostly, Aria would take the offensive in trying to corner Sunset, and then revert to her tender and considerate self when they connected during a kiss. It was a new experience for Sunset, but not one she minded in the least.

Sunset’s phone buzzed.

Aria groaned, but begrudgingly extricated her tongue from Sunset’s anyway. “Is that important?”

“Dunno, but you should definitely make more noises like that when you’re that far down my throat.”

Aria smirked. “Do I sense a turn-on for someone?”

“Why don’t you check, smartass?” Sunset replied, leaving herself unguarded while she checked her phone. In an instant, she felt Aria’s hands slipping under her bottoms and panties, probing delicately around her lower lips. The action elicited a shiver that ran the length of her spine, but she otherwise managed to maintain composure until Aria removed her hand, a string of natural lubricant following it out.

“What’s up?” asked Aria, licking her fingers clean of Sunset. She stopped her assault for a moment, apparently having noticed Sunset trying to read something on the little screen.

“Adagio and Sonata will be back in a bit.” She stretched her arms, then hopped to her feet and stumbled a bit trying to get her balance back. “We should probably clean up before they get here.”

Aria’s face had a thoroughly displeased expression on it. “We were just getting to the good stuff…”

“I am not going to let the two of them walk in on us fucking on the kitchen countertop.” Sunset adorned her top again, though she wasn’t sure why since it was going to come right back off again. “I’ll take my shower first and be back down in a few minutes.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

As she plodded up the stairs to the bathroom, Sunset tried to clear her head. She wasn’t sure where she was at with Aria, and while she was confident it was somewhere good, it still bothered her that it wasn’t all spelled out in black and white. Vagueness had a way of causing misunderstandings, and those in turn ended in drama.

Sunset liked as little drama in her life as possible.

The water was ice-cold when she turned on the shower. In a house this large, it’s going to be forever getting warm water here from the heater. She undressed while she waited, and looked around. It was a large bathroom and—as did every room in the mansion—had more square footage than it strictly needed. Judging from the lack of freestanding tub, the height of the counter, and the walk-in tiled shower, the sirens had obviously had it renovated within the last ten years or so.

The glass door opened soundlessly under Sunset’s touch, allowing her to test the temperature of the water’s stream with her toe. Finding it warm enough to start, she began her usual routine of wetting her hair, then shampooing it with a bottle she found sitting on the tile ledge. Whatever it was frothed beautifully, spawning so many suds when she vigorously scrubbed at her scalp that she had to close her eyes to keep it from washing into them.

This is Aria’s shampoo, she realized. It smelled just like her.

“Feeling sentimental?” Aria’s voice in her ear and hand on her ass was enough to make Sunset jump blindly, whirling.

“A-Aria? Aria, what’s gotten into you?”

“Nothing, not for a while. I was hoping you and your dexterous, guitar-strumming fingers could change that.”

“I get that you want to do this, but I’m trying to get clean, not… the other thing. It’s not like there’s a rush or—”

“There’s kind of a rush,” Aria interrupted, cutting her off with a devious hand around Sunset’s hip, creeping toward her nethers.

Shampoo forgotten, Sunset succumbed to the siren’s touch. She backed into her assailant's arms, feeling Aria’s wet skin against her own as Aria’s breasts pressed into her back. Suds rushed from her hair, coating her body and Aria’s arms in a slippery white cascade.

“At least,” Sunset uttered between sharp intakes of breath, “nobody can say you don’t know what you want.”

Aria brushed Sunset’s hair away from her neck, and bit it—not enough to break the skin, but still firmly enough to let her know none of the passionate rush from before had abated.

“Hey, no hickies,” Sunset complained. “People will notice.”

Aria didn’t answer verbally, only sucking harder and flicking the captured flesh with her tongue.

“Ah, fuck…” I should’ve known better than to tell Aria ‘no’ to anything.

Before she could regain the composure required to tip the scales, Sunset found herself pushed against the shower door, breasts pressed against the glass, though it was far from an attempt to truly immobilize her; Aria was being forward, but not unduly forceful. The touch of the siren’s hands down her abs and along the inside of her thighs felt positively electric to Sunset’s senses, an expert mix of kneading, massaging, caressing, and stroking of the flesh. Aria was no novice to this; that much became readily apparent when her hands found their way between Sunset’s legs, where they immediately felt out Sunset’s clit and targeted it with teasing flicks that evolved into gentle rubbing over the next minute or so.

Meanwhile, Sunset was using most of her rapidly-evaporating brain power and physical stamina to stay on her feet. Any thoughts of turning the tide on Aria were shelved for the moment.

“You’ve been awfully quiet for a minute,” Aria practically growled in her ear, then adding more seriously, “...this is okay, right?”

Sunset grabbed Aria’s wrists.

“Just stop. Stop with the teasing.” Sunset guided Aria’s fingertips to her slit and slipped two of them inside, prompting her partner to go further.

Aria blinked.

Her next assault was even more paralysing than the last, the barrage of attention targeting Sunset’s nethers directly making the unprepared girl’s legs shudder and threaten to collapse.

“I guess you weren’t yanking my chain with the whole virgin thing.” Aria put her free arm around Sunset to help prop her against the glass while the other continued escalating her arousal. “Are you close already?”

Sunset gritted her teeth and shook her head. Aria may have caught her by surprise, but she could still make her work for it.

“Uh huh.” Sliding a third wet finger in, Aria curled all three until she happened upon that one more sensitive spot that brought stifled moans from Sunset. “Why don’t I believe you?”

How the hell is s-she—mmph—doing this? It’s just her hand and yet… this is entirely different from doing it with my own!

Suddenly Aria’s ministrations vanished, and in the space where her fingers had been, Sunset felt a ravenous ache. “Wha—?”

Aria idly held up the hand soaked in Sunset’s essence to the spray, letting it wash off. “I need you to hold yourself up for a moment, okay?”

As Aria knelt, the stream of warm water returned to Sunset’s quivering body, and she wanted desperately to do the exact opposite of that instruction. But, with this chance at a reprieve, she steeled herself and turned around, determined to exact her retribution. It was not to be.

Sunset found herself surprised when she looked down, seeing Aria on her splayed knees, violet hair flattened over her shoulders and back by the shower. Before she could consider why Aria would adopt this position (much less capitalize on it with her intended revenge) Aria was on the offensive again, seizing Sunset’s ass with both hands with forearms along the thighs, thus restoring some measure of support—something Sunset would be thankful for momentarily.

Though she had thought Aria’s touch an enlightening experience, the girl’s tongue gave that phrase new meaning to Sunset. A high-pitch noise escaped her as she doubled over, grasping Aria’s head with both hands out of a desperate need of support more than any particular desire of dominance. Shudders and shivers ran up her legs and down from her neck to meet with an involuntary pelvic thrust against Aria’s skilled tongue.

That felt… right. Is this her way of handing off the reins?

Slowly, Sunset gathered Aria’s hair into to clumps that roughly resembled the tails they usually existed as, and tentatively tugged Aria’s head even tighter against herself. As Aria fully explored Sunset and settled into a steady rhythm of swirling and prodding, she noticed the mirrored response in Sunset’s hips. The grip on her wet hair kept her from letting up while the lesser experienced of the two gave in to instinct and started humping her, closing her eyes and sinking into the rising bliss.

The telltale signs of an orgasm snuck up on Sunset, who was too absorbed in the frenzy of Aria’s stimulation to notice it as soon as she usually would have. “W-wait, your tongue…”

Her eyelids fluttered and her thighs clamped together as pleasure took her by storm. Wet inside and out, any thoughts of decorum and impression were evaporated in the blossoming warmth overtaking her. Then, for that split second between intense arousal and orgasmic euphoria, Sunset had perfect clarity; of what, she wasn’t sure, and before anything more concrete could materialize, she tipped over the knife’s edge into the ecstasy of climax where thoughts became blurred and fleeting.

A tap on her hip brought Sunset out of the haze.

She abruptly let go of Aria and collapsed on the tile floor next to her. The latter gasped, sucking in air after being prisoner to Sunset’s thighs for the duration of the orgasm. They just lay against each other and breathed deeply for a moment, trying to get enough oxygen out of the steam-laden air to avoid passing out.

After a minuted passed, both of them recovering somewhat, a hesitant question came from Aria. “Do you regret it?”

“Regret what?”

“Sex.”

“What? No. Why would you think that?”

“It didn’t really occur to me before, mostly because I was—am—horny, but it occurred to me afterward that maybe you didn’t want your first time to be a fingerbang in the shower. I assumed you’d be fine with it before from what we were doing downstairs, but I never really asked…”

Sunset slid herself in front of Aria and lifted the wet hair out of the girl’s eyes. “Aria, if I didn’t want to, I would’ve said something.”

Aria didn’t look convinced.

Outside of messing around with Adagio and Sonata, Sunset realized, she’s never had sex end with the other party happy it happened. Even with the other sirens, it wasn’t romantic in the usual sense.

“Hey.” Sunset lifted Aria’s chin and delivered a heartfelt kiss to her lips. “I liked it, okay? I’m glad it was with you and as of two minutes ago I’ve discovered I’m actually very fond of shower sex.”

“I’m… I’m glad too.” The tiniest hint of a smile returned to Aria’s face.

Sunset pecked her on the forehead before attempting to stand, with one hand supporting her on the wall. “Come on, let’s dry off before we prune.”

Turning off the shower, they stepped out onto a fluffy bath mat. Aria dug an armful of towels out of the cabinet and tossed one to Sunset. It was colder now, with their bodies cooling down from sex and the warm water absent from their skin, so they dried hastily.

“I’ve got a hairdryer in my room,” Aria volunteered when she noticed Sunset wringing out her hair.

“Thank fuck.”

The towel-clad girls traversed the hall to Aria’s room, where the room’s resident threw a towel to the bed and gestured for Sunset to sit. The hairdryer she retrieved from somewhere within the dark recesses of the cluttered room looked ancient to Sunset, but proved more than satisfactory; Aria climbed onto the bed behind her and took Sunset’s crimson locks between her fingers, letting the warm air drift through them and envelop Sunset in a bubble of comfort.

“Thanks,” Sunset said when Aria finally turned it off. “That’ll put you right to sleep. Your turn?”

They switched places.

Her hair actually looks pretty good down. “Do you have a brush?”

“Yeah, in the nightstand.”

Sunset switched to the brush, and for a while the grooming continued in near-silence. It was strange, that somehow Sunset had been trying to get Aria to talk to her for so long, and now after one night, sharing her company in quietude could be so pleasant. Brushing Aria’s hair to the side, she leaned against her back and tenderly kissed the back of her neck.

Everything was soft: Aria’s flawless skin, Sunset’s supple lips, and even this kiss itself. Beneath her touch, Sunset could feel Aria melt, leaning back into Sunset until she slipped into her lap, such that her head rested between Sunset’s crossed legs. Sunset could see her face now, hair spilling around her shoulders and blocking out everything but each other.

Aria reached up and touched Sunset’s cheek. “No one has ever brushed my hair for me before.”

“No wonder you’re such a mess.” Sunset kissed Aria on the lips this time, an equally affectionate but more empassioned embrace than before, and it was met with similar fervor. “You might have shown me sex, but I’m going to show you how to make love.”

From there it was an outpouring of raw emotions communicated through the physical language that is lovemaking: a caress to reflect tenderness and care, a kiss of passion, an embrace for trust and faith in each other, and so many indeterminate variations of these that words fall short in attempting to describe their subtleties. The effect all of this had on Aria was different from what Sunset had seen in the aroused Aria. Dominance was one of her sexual tendencies; Sunset knew that already. But this, this was almost desperation, a plea for more of this newfound emotional conduit Sunset had provided to her.

Sunset pulled back for a breath when she noticed slight trembles occasionally running through the other girl. “Aria…?”

“W-what is this? I feel… I don’t know what I feel. It’s like there’s a lurking dread in the back of my mind that you’ll vanish if I’m not touching you.”

Sunset caught Aria’s hand with her own and interlaced their fingers. “This is called ‘intimacy.’ Sex is great, don’t get me wrong, but it’s pleasure for the body and mind. This is for the soul.”

“Huh…” Aria sat up, leading Sunset by the hand to the bed proper where the whole length of their bodies could touch as they lay together in a tangle of limbs. “I never understood the attraction to cuddling before.”

“Nice, isn’t it?” Sunset booped Aria on the nose, then trailed the finger down to the towel still wrapped around Aria’s torso. “Of course, intimacy and sex aren’t mutually exclusive. You can have intimate sex… at least, I think you can.”

Aria’s hand wandered to Sunset’s hip, but Sunset caught them before they could go lower and folded them back up between the two of them.

“No, it’s your turn. Remember?”

A shadow passed over Aria’s expression

Sunset paused. “Something wrong?”

Aria shrugged. “Just… we don’t have to take turns, y’know? That was what the three of us sirens did, since each of us was there for our own pleasure. Whatever we were just doing… it isn’t even on the same spectrum.”

“Aria, this isn’t about obligation. Sometimes, when you’re intimate with someone, you genuinely want to do something just for them.” She propped her head up on one elbow. “It really doesn’t feel like I’m the recent virgin in this relationship sometimes.”

“Yea…” Aria trailed off and rolled onto her back, staring at the ceiling. “What kind of relationship is this anyway?”

One with a lot of baggage on both sides.

“Hm…” Sunset followed Aria’s gaze to the ceiling. “I wouldn’t say no to a date, for my part. But, if you’re not ready for that and just want to be friends that hang out and fuck occasionally, that’s fine t—”

“Marry me.”

“W-what?” Sunset sat bolt upright and looked at her lover incredulously.

Aria sat up, more slowly, and faced her. “We should get married.”

It hung in the air for a second, Sunset silently hoping for a ‘sike’ or ‘just kidding,’ but none came. After the moment had grown sufficiently awkward, she broke the gaze and rubbed her temples.

“No, no we shouldn’t. What the fuck, Aria?”

Aria didn’t seem perturbed by the rejection. “Why not? You’re okay with being with me in a romantic sense, clearly.”

“Well sure, but… Aria, there’s a difference between ‘I’ll be there if you need me’ and ‘I’ll be there for the rest of my life no matter what.’ What’s wrong with taking some time, seeing the sights, and falling in love? Are you in some kind of rush?”

“You said you’re twenty-two, right?”

“Somewhere in there, yeah.”

Aria shrugged. “So even if you live to the ripe old age of eighty-eight, you’re basically a quarter of the way dead, not to mention that this was probably the best quarter you’re going to have in terms of health.”

“That’s one way to look at it, I guess.”

“So if this is what life and happiness and all that bullshit is about, then shouldn’t I be getting on it so I have as much time as possible to enjoy it before biting the bullet?” Aria was gesticulating by this point. Whatever she was on about was close to her heart.

“But that’s not really—” Sunset cut herself off as a familiar icey realization crawled into her head.

Wait.

“Hold on…”

Wait. No.

“Aria, why did you say ‘I’?”

Aria’s arms froze in the middle of her gesture, then retreated to her chest where they crossed. “I’m going to get dressed.”

Before Aria could get more than a few centimeters off the bed, Sunset grabbed her by the back of her towel and yanked her back to the bed, ripping it free in the process and leaving Aria bare and on her back. Sunset straddled her and held her wrists to the mattress before she had a chance to bolt again.

“Look at me.”

At first it was only out of reaction, but then they stayed locked once their eyes met; Sunset’s expression held concern thinly masked under sternness, but Aria was in turmoil. Her cold aloofness that was her panicked defense melted the longer she stayed locked with Sunset, and beneath it was something Sunset had never seen in her before.

Terror.

Not even in the darkest revelations of the past few days had she seen that from Aria. Anger, yes; regret, possibly; but never terror like this. It was a fear left to fester in isolation until Sunset had, layer by layer, carved her way to the rest of Aria’s emotional spectrum. In moments, the layers had fallen away like flower petals and Aria was no more than a terrified, naked girl, pinned to a bed.

“Aria, you told me you weren’t dying.”

“It’s… sorta true,” she managed through tears. “At least, I’m not dying any faster than anybody else.”

Sunset released Aria’s hands. That’s what it was all about, then. The church, saying that Sonata and Adagio didn’t understand it, all the talk about repentance and forgiveness. It’s been eating her from the inside without someone to talk to.

“You lost your immortality.”

Aria nodded, trying to wipe her face clean.

Sunset scrambled off the poor girl—who immediately curled into a ball—and grabbed a thick blanket from the bed to wrap around the both of them. Thus cocooned, Aria curled her trembling form against Sunset, and the latter held her until the tremors and sniffles began to subside.

“When did you figure it out?” Sunset asked, offering up her own towel to dry Aria’s spilt tears.

“A couple of months after we lost our magic. At first, all three of us were worried we’d starve immediately without the ability to feed, but when that didn’t happen within the first few weeks, the others didn’t give it a second thought. One night, something woke me from my sleep and… I don’t know how, but I just knew. Maybe my heart wasn’t beating in quite the same way or the tiniest nerve somewhere went numb, but suddenly I knew this body was no longer insulated from time.”

“Why didn’t you tell the other two?”

Aria shrugged. “I was a little absorbed with my own depression, and when I did think of it, I thought it better to give them a few years of blissful ignorance until they noticed it themselves.”

Sunset just lightly rocked Aria for a minute.

“This must all seem very selfish to you,” Aria said when her voice had recovered somewhat.

“What? Why?”

“I’m sitting here bemoaning mortality while you and everybody else deal with it just fine and move on with your lives.”

“Well, for the record, lots of people get depressed over stuff like that. But no, I wouldn’t expect you to be mentally fine with dying all of a sudden. There’s a big difference between being born mortal, and being born immortal and then becoming mortal.”

“I’m not sure if you really have a point, or if you’re just trying to make me feel better.”

“Yes.”

A pause.

“How do you deal with this, Sunset? Before, the future was a bottomless bag I could throw anything I didn’t feel like doing into and always come back to it later; now, whenever I decide not to pick up a book or not to go into a store, I have to go on knowing I won’t know. Meanwhile, the one thing I suddenly want to know about, no one can prove even exists!”

“Afterlife.”

“How did you know?”

“Anyone not at peace with death ends up there eventually.”

“And do you…?”

“I accepted that no one is going to prove anything. But, that said, I can recommend a book if you like.”

Aria rolled her eyes. “I’ve read the Bible already, thanks anyway.”

“That wasn’t what I was going to suggest, actually.”

“Oh. Sorry…” Aria apologized sheepishly.

Sunset ruffled Aria’s hair. “Hey, don’t worry about it. I’m sure you guys have had more than your fair share of door-knockers.”

“Yeah… what book were you talking about, then?”

“The Lord of the Rings. Have you read it?”

“No. That’s the one with the kid with the edgy lighting scar on his face that runs around shouting in pig latin and point sticks at things, right? Not really my speed.”

Sunset hid her amusement in a cough. “Not quite. This is about… well, it’s about a lot of things really but I want you in particular to look out for a character called Arwen.”

“What’s her deal?”

“She is immortal and has to make a choice between immortality and someone she loves. Perhaps you don’t have the choice she did, but maybe you can find something worth sticking around for, like her.”

“Doesn’t this somehow or other put me back to proposing to you?”

Sunset chuckled. “Even when you’re sure someone is right for you, that doesn’t mean you have to get married right then. Dating is just as fun, y’know.”

“I’ll take your word for it.”

“Or, we could go on an actual date tomorrow.”

“On Christmas? Is anything open on Christmas?”

“The church is.”

Before Aria could respond, a third voice shouting from the foyer downstairs interrupted.

“Heeeeelllooooo, are you here Sunset?” Sonata bellowed, muffled though it was by thin floors and echoing halls.

“Oh shit,” Sunset cursed, bouncing off the bed. “My clothes are still in the bathroom!”

Adagio was dusting the snow off her coat when Sunset and Aria descended the stairs. “It’s coming down thick and fast again. I wish it would just make up its mind already.”

“Hey, check it out.” Sonata dropped her own coat on the floor and elbowed Adagio, who looked up to the staircase as well.

“Well well well, look who’s getting along. I thought for sure we’d be burying your body in the woods if you ever got that door open, Sunset.”

Aria rolled her eyes.

Sonata met the two of them at the bottom of the stairs and tackled Aria with a forceful hug. “You okay, Ari?”

“I’m fine, kiddo. Or, I will be as long as you don’t crush my ribcage.”

While Sonata assaulted Aria, Adagio took the opportunity to sidle over next to Sunset. “So? What’s the story?”

“I think she might want to tell you herself.”

“Well then she can tell us in the kitchen!” exclaimed Sonata, one arm still ensnaring Aria. “Who’s hungry? Besides me, I mean.”

“I suppose lunch would be in order,” admitted Adagio, “assuming you two haven’t eaten already.”

“Not yet,” answered Sunset.

“Not food, anyway,” Aria added under her breath. Sunset elbowed her in the ribs.

The troupe moved to the kitchen, where Adagio, Aria, and Sunset took places around the island while Sonata donned a garish pink apron and busied herself with a meal of sorts.

“So where did you two run off to anyway?” Sunset asked.

Adagio produced her book, pointedly not meeting the other’s eyes. “Just spending a little time in the city.”

“She took me to the aquarium,” offered up Sonata as she continued to work, “and then we went to this five-star restaurant that serves the absolute best calamari on the planet, and when we got back to the hotel, we—”

Adagio’s book flew across the room and thumped Sonata smartly on the back of the head. Sunset had never seen Adagio’s face so red, though if it was due to anger, embarrassment—or both—was impossible to tell with her palm firmly pressed against her forehead.

Sonata, meanwhile, did not seem the least bit perturbed from the assault. “You’ll have to excuse her; she’s a lovesick idiot.”

“Oh my god, it was one time!”

Aria looked at Sunset and back at the other sirens. “You two were on a date? Like… romantically? When did that start?”

Adagio shrugged. “After we lost our magic, she helped me figure some stuff out. With you mostly keeping to your room, the dynamics were a little different and… it just sorta happened without us noticing.”

“Right, the magic disappearing…” A shadow passed over Aria, one Sunset was becoming quick to recognize.

Sunset held Aria’s hand. “Tell them.”

“But they’re so happy now…”

“Tell us what?” inquired Adagio.

Aria sighed. “Sonata, would you mind sitting down here for a second? You need to hear this too.”

Sonata, struck by the serious tone foreign to Aria, did so without any antics.

“The reason I’ve been aloof lately—more than usual, that is—is because of something I know, something I found out after our magic vanished. Our magic…”

The other two sirens were giving her their full attention.

“Our magic took our immortality with it when it went.”

Adagio and Sonata looked at each other, and then back to Aria. “Yes, and?”

Aria frowned. “You two are taking this a lot better than I did.”

“We, uh…” Aria flicked some hair out of her face. “We already knew about that.”

“What?”

Sonata got back up and stretched. “Well, yeah! What stuff do you think I was helping Adagio sort out? Turns out she was a tiny bit addicted to that stuff.”

“But…” Aria sputtered. “But we’re mortal now that it’s gone. A hundred years goes by in a flash for us; we’ll be old and crippled before you can blink!”

“We’ve found the days go a little slower now that we’re counting them.” Sonata pecked Adagio on the cheek, instantly turning the recipient red again, and went back to the stove. “I mean, it’s not like I’m happy about being mortal, but letting it spoil your day when you have a limited number of days is just not good sense, y’know?”

Aria planted her face on the countertop. “I can’t believe I was laying in my room the whole time like I was guarding some dark secret, and you guys knew the whole time and handled it so well.”

“Hey, I would’ve been in the same situation, worse even, without Sonata,” admitted Adagio, stealing a glance at Sunset. “From the looks of it, you just needed the right person too.”

Sunset nodded. “Anything that messes with Aria now is gonna have to wrestle with me too.”

Aria rolled her eyes, but smiled.

“I’ll drink to that,” said Adagio. “Speaking of which, what kind of wine do you prefer, Sunset? I’ve got hundreds of years worth of alcohol downstairs and one lifetime left to drink them in.”

“Dry reds, right?” Aria volunteered for Sunset. “Though I’d be conservative, Adagio; I don’t think she’s used to the kind of stuff you have down there.”

What Adagio did eventually produce from her stash was indeed something that captured Sunset’s attention. “I’ve seen this stuff at auction houses. This is a three-hundred-dollar bottle of wine.”

“Yep.”

Sunset looked over her shoulder. “And Sonata, what did you make?”

“Mac n cheese.”

“Right…”

“Etiquette goes out the window after the first century or so. It’s not as bad as it sounds,” said Adagio.

It really wasn’t, although Sunset was sure the remarkable strength of the wine was helping substantially. Dishes piled in the sink, more wine bottles appeared, and afternoon slipped into evening as darkness and snow fell. Loosened lips told stories, mostly Adagio and Sonata taking turns going through past Christmases in historically significant periods, while Sunset listened and Aria leaned against her, feet dangling over the edge of the armchair they occupied. Everyone was surprised when the clock chimed eleven.

“Well,” Adagio said, yawning, “the weather is terrible, this house is drafty as hell, we’ll probably lose power when the storm picks up, and we’re all going to die in a few decades. But, we have wine, and we have friends and lovers. To those lucky few out there that have both, I say only that you already have your Christmas miracle. Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas,” they echoed in an uncoordinated cacophony.

Aria stood unsteadily and addressed the other sirens in the room. “I think it’s time to call it for me. I will see you two in the morning.” As she passed Sunset on the way out, she whispered, “Hopefully I’ll see you a bit sooner.”

“I’d… better go make sure she gets up the stairs alright,” excused Sunset, and followed behind, though she wasn’t much steadier.

Sonata watched them disappear up the stairs. “They’re gonna bang all night, aren’t they?”

“Yep.”

The youngest siren traced small circles on the couch with her finger.

Adagio put her book down. “Did you want to as well?”

Sonata was already racing out of the room by the time Adagio finished her question, yelling back, “I’ll get the gag!”

'Dear Princess Twilight,

In the light of this Christmas (or Hearth’s Warming for you) morning, the world beyond the comfort of this snowed-in mansion will return to pester Aria with its woes, but now she has the best gifts possible to weather them: her friends returned to her in Adagio and Sonata, and… perhaps something more than that in me.

Yours truly,
Sunset Shimmer

jk, it’s Adagio. Sunset left her journal in the foyer while she and Aria went upstairs to fuck each other’s brains out all night, lol. What’s up, bitch?'

Author's Note

This has been sitting around at 80% done for about two years, and I decided if I didn't push it out by this Christmas it probably wasn't ever going to see the light of day, so I went ahead and wrote it.

It was really more of me experimenting in writing depression/dark territory, so apologies if it's not as cohesive as it could be. Let me know what you thought; I always read comments even if I don't always have something clever to reply with!