Phoenix

“You have guests, dear!” came a familiar voice, following a quick series of knocks. The room brightened as the main entry door slid open, followed by the sound of multiple people entering the room. The girl sat up slowly, aided by the hydraulics in her bed shifting her upwards.

It was the end of her first full day, having received new sheets earlier along with a vegetarian supper, much to her happiness of not having to try meat again, and was resigned to watching television.

“Right this way you three, she looks a lot worse than she actually is, thankfully.” instructed the nurse, Kind Heart was her name if the girl remembered right, who walked around the corner, followed shortly by a group of three other girls.

“Ah, good, she’s up.” Kind Heart gave a warm smile as she saw the girl sitting up in her chair, before turning to the three other people. “Why don’t you introduce yourselves?”

Before the last word was even started, one of the girls rushed forward, her dual toned blue ponytail swinging around madly as it’s owner rushed forward to grab the girl in the bed in a massive hug.

“C-careful please, miss!” Kind Heart called out, rushing forward and attempting to separate the two. “We don’t need your aggravating her injuries any more!”

“S-sorries!” the girl said, backing up and straightening her magenta top as the other two shook their heads, the pale fuchsia skinned girl with twin tails groaning loudly as she face palmed.

“You are such an idiot.” she said aloud as she stomped towards the pale blue girl, grabbing her back and restraining her. “Are you blind or something?”

“Hey, Sit.” commanded the third, giving her massive collection of orange curls a shake. “Do ignore the outburst by the two idiots here.”

“U-um… sure?” The three girls paused, looking at the girl in the bed with weird looks.

“Oh! My apologies, dear.” Kind Heart said, coming to stand beside the girl in the bed. “These are the three other people that found you the other night.”

“Oh, well thank you, you three.” the girl nodded in appreciation to each of the girls standing in front of her, queer looks still spread across their faces.

“Do…” the first one started, her large, rose coloured eyes taking on a weird glint. “Do you not… remember us?” The other two girls looked at one another as the first asked her question.

“She was unconscious, you know.” said the second.

“Well, she is suffering from amnesia, why?” asked the nurse, looking at the three of them, tilting her head in wonderment.

“Oh?” the third girl’s voice carried a tone of… something… familiar, as she tilted her head, her expression shifting to one of worry, but her eyes carried a glint of something less so. “Well the three of us are her sisters.”

“Oh!” Kind Heart shot straight up, following the emotion in the injured girl’s stomach. “Family! This is so good! We hadn’t heard from anyone else so we were starting to worry, to be totally honest.”

“I am so sorry to hear that. Truth be told, we didn’t know our dear sister was in here.” the orange haired girl said, brushing a stray curl out of her face.

“Oh?” the nurse once again tilted her head. “May I ask how come? Surely you all noticed that she was missing last night?”

The girl in the bed nodded slightly as well, only to notice the yellow skinned girl nod at her two compatriots, the two of them looking at one another before closing their eyes and starting to hum a tune, comprised of two different tones. One sounded pleasant, like a robin announcing the coming of spring. The other sounded… scratchy, off tune and wrong. But as the sounds filled the air, something seemed to change about the other two girls. They seemed to start… glowing? The hospital bound girl shook her head, she must be really tired.

“We… Our sister here has been away for a long time, and we didn’t know she was back in town, to be honest.” The third said, a spritely tune following her voice.

“A-ah… O… Okay, I understand.” the nurse said, staggering momentarily before straightening up.

“Would you be fine leaving us for a little bit?” asked the girl, tilting her head.

“Sure, I will just be outside if you girls need me.” Kind Heart said, before slowly making her way out of the room, leaving the four alone. The girl in the bed finally noticed that the other two girls had stopped humming, the weird glowing gone as well.

“So, be honest with me,” the three girls had come to loom over the girl in the bed, looking her in the eyes as she rested still, the third crossing her arms as she narrowed her eyes, studying the figure lying down. “Do you really not remember us?”

She looked around, intently studying the three of them, their separate details and appearances, trying to piece something, anything, together. She hung her head, sighing.

“I don’t, I’m really sorry you three.” she apologized, looking up at the three of them with a sad frown. The three others looked at one another, sharing weird looks and shrugging, before the third girl sighed and stepped forward once again.

“Well, I guess it must have been one hell of a crack to that head of yours. My name is Adagio Dazzle, and these two,” Adagio said, motioning forward the second girl, followed by the first one, before turning back to the girl in the bed. “Are Aria Blaze, and Sonata Dusk. We are your sisters. Quadruplets to be exact.”

“Really? Then why did it take you so long to come visit me?” the girl asked, tilting her head as she studied them.

“Because we were in school.” Aria said simply, resting her hands on her hips. “ We’re only 17 after all, got one more ‘last year’ of high school to go through.”

The girl’s face grew more puzzled at the emphasization Aria put into her sentence, causing Adagio to speak up again.

“Don’t worry about Aria, she always complaining about school.” she explained. “All that matters is you are alive and well.”

“I’d say!” Sonata added, rushing forward and once again embracing the girl in the bed. “I’m so glad to see you again!”

“Er… Again?” the injured girl asked, awkwardly wrapping her good arm around Sonata.

“Er, yes!” Sonata said, shooting backwards with a worried look on her face. “You, um… You see…”

“You had been studying abroad for the last couple years, ever the independent one.” Adagio interjected, glaring at Sonata through the corner of her eye. “You’d been growing homesick, you see, and wanted to spend our last year in high school all together. You came back unannounced though, we did not know you were back in town until we found you the other night.”

“Do you remember anything about?” Aria asked, sitting down on the chair and kicking her combat boots up onto the foot board of her sister’s bed in a nonchalant manner.

“I don’t, sorry. I don’t have any memories of anything before I woke up in this room.” the girl gave a sad, apologetic smile as she looked at Aria. “But what happened, happened. All that matters is I am alive and well, reunited with my sisters once again! I do have a few quick questions though.”

“Whataya want to know?” Sonata said happily, cheer and joy seeming to radiate from her as she rested her hands on the girl’s bedside.

“Well firstly, and most importantly, what’s my name?” all three of her sister’s visages faltered for a moment upon hearing her question, each of them looking at her dumbfounded.

“Y-your… name…?” stuttered Adagio, a worried look flashing across her visage momentarily.

“Yeah. I’m thinking it must be annoying to not have a proper moniker for me.” was the fourth sister’s reply, shaking her head slightly. “Could you imagine how hard it would be to just describe me as, ‘the girl’, constantly?”

“R-riiight…” Aria said with a somewhat self conscious chuckle.

“Well? Are you three gonna make me wait all day?”

The other three girls looked at one another, before Adagio cleared her throat and stepped forward.

“You see, dear sister of ours… you didn’t exactly like your name if we are being honest.”

“Y-yeah! You absolutely despised it, so you went by a nickname, but you totally never told us it cause you made it up after you left.” Aria added hastily.

“Point being? I don’t remember anything right now, so maybe my name will help me.” the girl said, motioning to the trio to hurry up.

“F-F-F-Fireside!” Sonata burst out between stutters, the other two standing sister’s whipping their heads around to look at her. “Fireside G-Glow! That’s your name, yup! Fireside Glow! Heh heh…”

“Fireside Glow, huh?”

A single smooth and unblemished amber hand reached up slowly, delicate digits grasping tight as it’s owner aquamarine orbs studied the slight reflection in the window.

“I like it.” said Fireside Glow, contently.

“Oh! Perfect!” Sonata said through nervous chuckles, rubbing the back of her head as she smiled. “I, uh… I’m glad you like it, Fireside.”

“Anything flashing back?” inquired an uneasy Adagio, moving forward and resting a hand on the firm, uninjured right shoulder of Fireside. She let out a shallow sigh as she shook her head, before shrugging and looking back at her sisters.

“Not a thing… But if I can be honest here? I don’t really think I care. You three said I was coming back to study with the three of you, right? So I was probably looking to start over, which is what I’ve gotten.” she raised up her good hand, shaking it in time with her head.

“I know this isn’t how anyone wanted it, but maybe it’ll end up being for the best? I’m sure I’ll get my memories back over time, and this way I can make new ones while we wait, right?”

She watched as Sonata started to tear up, her hands balling before of her mouth as she looked down at Fireside.

She watched as Aria looked away, hand grabbing her upper arm and gripping firmly, her twin tailed head tilting down and farther away.

She watched as Adagio studied her intently, her visage a passive fortress of stoicness.

“Umm…. Did I say the wrong thing?” Fireside asked, worried chuckle mirroring the look on her face.

“No, dear.” Adagio said, gripping firmly on the shoulder still in her grasp. “You just keep finding ways to surprise us with how you seem to turn everything to a positive. How you can truck through anything and shrug it all off.”

Fireside watched as Sonata and Aria each nodded in turn, causing the girl to chuckle softly. She rested her hand gently on on Adagio’s, tilting her head to rest on the slender yellow arm.

“Thank you… all three of you…”