Author's Note

Set two weeks after the last chapter of Hospitality.

And Away They Did Run

Sparkle & Dusk

I stared down at my phone.

Seven missed calls, twenty-two unread messages, four voicemails… all from either my mother or Cadence.

A month had passed since the family dinner that had imploded and ended up sending Sonata to the hospital after she made a good-intentioned but perhaps ill-advised effort to make us understand one another. Linking our emotional states through an empathic gateway vis a vis her Siren magic had emptied her of all of her stored emotional reserves, and although she’d recovered… it had nearly killed her.

Sighing, I tucked my phone away and resolved to do the adult thing and ignore it for another day.

I just didn’t really know how to broach the subject of what had happened back there. I didn’t know how to explain magic to my mom and dad, although Cadence had a rudimentary grasp after witnessing the events the Friendship Games seven years ago.

Still, that was better than half a decade ago, and memories fade. I’m living proof that a human being can choose to turn a blind eye to a substantial body of evidence suggesting something is true in favor of comfortable ignorance.

I’d done it with my feelings for Sunset for pretty much that same amount of time, after all.

Closing my eyes, I concentrated on relaxing my body. My legs were crossed one over the other, and my hands were held out with palms open. I let my eyes fall into soft focus and my breathing became a low, steady hum as I slowly raised both hands to clasp the geode that hung from the necklace I was wearing.

The world bloomed around me.

It’s hard to describe telekinesis to someone who has never experienced the method and mechanics of it before. Imagine your proprioception, your sense of awareness of yourself, spread out to a wide radius around you centered on your body. Imagine having a vague sensation of touching the whole world around you, like the lightest brushing of fingers across the air, the floor, and the furniture.

Even with my eyes closed I could count all the tools scattered around the VIP room. I could sense the entirety of the dismantled stage; every bolt, every screw, and every wire.

I let out a breath, and lifted.

The grind of metal filled my ears as I slowly began dismantling the stage. The screws came undone, swiveling in place at the slight urging of my will. The bolts were unfastened and placed in neat orderly lines to the side, organised by location and size.

Furrowing my brow, I put out my true surge of effort and raised the whole platform up.

“Alright, get in there,” Tempest’s smooth, accented voice gave the command and several workers dove under the floating mass of steel to fully remove the main wiring manifold that powered everything in the room. “Careful!”

The new manifold they were installing would not only last longer and be less expensive to maintain in the long run, it would also be able to run the system and power the newly expanding room once the additions were made.

Most of the work had already been done prior to this, but my help meant that they could install the whole thing in a matter of minutes rather than have to manually dismantle the whole stage, move it away, install the manifold, then reverse the process.

That would’ve been the work of an entire day, but thanks to my geode it was the work of a little under an hour.

“Alright, l’oscura, it’s all you,” Tempest shot me a grin as she stepped back, with the rest of the workers following suit.

I could feel all of the components in their places, everything was laid out and positioned where it needed to be, waiting for me to begin.

Taking a deep breath, I spread my influence across all of the knuts, bolts, screws, wires, and delicate machinery. A dozen pieces at a time began to float gently into the air before affixing to their correct points. Every part in its place, every wire in its socket, each bolt and screw fastening every plate and support.

It was a symphony of order, the gentle clinks and soft scrapes of metal as the entire stage began to settle itself into a single cohesive whole, and I couldn’t help but smile. The perfect geometry of it, the assemblage of the machine that took place both in my mind and in reality in perfect synchronicity, was almost euphoric.

Sweat beaded at my forehead as the last bolts were fitted, and I opened my eyes only to wince at the sharp stab of pain from the lights around me.

“Done,” I let out a soft breath, and a moment later a roar of applause rattled around the room.

I flushed as the praise washed over me. I wasn’t used to attention like this, but I had to admit it was kind of nice to be recognised. For a long time my life was defined more by what I wasn’t that what I was. It helped that everyone in the room was privately contracted by Adagio and her sisters, and that they all knew the score when it came to magic.

Apparently, Adagio had used a number of them in the past for construction purposes, in some cases even their parents. It was a strange relationship that the elder Siren hadn’t seemed terribly keen on elaborating on.

“That was awesome!” Sonata wrapped me up in a tight hug, pulling me close and brushing her lips across my cheek. I blushed as I returned the affection before laying my head on her shoulder and sighing.

“That was a lot of weight… I haven’t done something like that in a while,” I admitted with a small laugh. “It’s easier than I remember it being, actually.”

“Probably because your head’s on straighter now!” Sonata said cheerfully, giving me a good-natured nudge.

I stepped back and gave her a questioning look.

“Magic is like energy, remember?” Sonata gave a small shrug before giving my nose a small boop. “It loses efficacy if it encounters resistance, if your mind is full of stress and anxiety and other gunk it takes more power to do whatever it is you’re trying to do.”

“So my chronic anxiety is crippling my magic?” I asked blithely, sagging a little at the thought.

Realistically, though, it made sense. Every time she and the girls had pulled through a hairy situation back in the day it had been when everyone synced up, for lack of a better term. There hadn’t been time to be anxious or jittery, there had been too much at stake, and too much happening.

“I dunno if I’d say ‘crippling’,” Sonata replied with a small laugh. “But it definitely makes stuff harder, y’know?”

Sonata brought her hand gently up to my chin, tipping my face up so she could lean down and press her lips to mine. I enjoyed the way she’d gently take control, not forcing the issue, but more politely asking with her hands. I smiled around the curves of her lips as I press a little deeper, letting my hand stray across her waist and come to rest on her hip.

“Tell me you love me,” I said as I pulled away, kissing her bottom lip gently as I did. “Please?”

“I love you, Twi’,” Sonata smiled as she obeyed, and I felt my heart swell a little. “You know you don’t have to ask me to say it, right?”

“It just… feels nice,” I shrugged, then turned and pressed and back to her and leaned against her as she wrapped her arms around me.

I loved it most of all when she held me. There were still days when it felt like I was so anxious or so rattled, that I was afraid I’d just fly apart at any moment. There wasn’t really any rhyme or reason to it either, and the worst part was that it wasn’t even all that uncommon.

Some days I just wouldn’t be able to crack out of my own head.

Sonata was always there for me, though. Anytime there were too many thoughts vibrating in my mind I could always curl up next to Sonata in bed, or hold her hand at the bar, or in the worst case just call her up.

She always answered, no matter how tired she was.

It was one of the reasons I knew I was one of the most important pieces of her world.

I twitched in surprise as my phone buzzed and rattled in my pocket, then sighed in annoyance as I pulled it out and glared at the caller ID.

“What’s wrong?” Sonata leaned around my head to look at the screen, then let out her own sigh. “Twi’... you should-”

“Don’t, ‘Nata,” I cut her off, then sent the call to voicemail.

“You can’t just ignore them forever,” Sonata chided gently, and I scoffed quietly before pulling away and stalking out of the VIP room.

Sonata followed me as I stormed up to the bar and settled onto one of the stools, dropping my phone onto the bar with a clatter as I glared at it like it had betrayed me.

“I don’t blame them,” Sonata spoke softly as she slipped behind the bar. “The way they reacted? The things they said? It’s nothing I haven’t heard before.”

“Okay, but what if I blame them?” I asked acidly, still glaring at my phone and all the missed calls and message notifications.

I glanced up at Sonata was who leaning on the bar and staring sadly over at me, and I let out a grumbling sigh as I reached out across the wooden slab to rest one of my hands on hers. It was really unfair how cute Sonata was when she wanted to be. Her eyes did this thing where I swear they actually got bigger, and her lower lip trembled just a little as she stared at me.

It was awful.

I loved it.

“You know you’re doing the same thing you did with Sunset, right?” Sonata said as she gave my hand a squeeze, and I stiffened a little.

“I fail to see the comparison,” I replied testily, flicking my gaze up to stare at her.

Sonata didn’t flinch away, meeting my hard look with unflinching endurance. Her bright, berry-colored eyes had colours to them I couldn’t really place, something in the spectrum of red I’d never known before, but they left me feeling a little unnerved anytime I looked at them too long.

I never looked away though. I couldn’t help it, I wanted to keep looking. There was something about those depths and the strangeness of her eyes that made them even more endearing to me.

“You didn’t want to face Sunset because you were afraid it would mean goodbye,” Sonata’s words caught me in the throat like a blade.

There was something to be said about being straightforward, but Sonata took it to another level. Even Aria had a certain amount of good grace when it came to the things she said or how she approached hard topics.

Sonata didn’t really have that inclination.

Where Adagio might dance around an issue or come at it sideways, and Aria would flounder the moment she was forced to reconcile her emotions with whatever was going on, Sonata would just… say it.

For better or worse.

“You know they love you,” Sonata pressed, “you know they won’t reject you.”

“But what if I reject them?” I asked quietly, and Sonata froze. I waited for a moment to see if she had a response, but she looked genuinely wrong-footed, so I continued. “What if I’m the one who says goodbye? What if I see them, and then…”

“It… it wasn’t that bad,” Sonata said nervously. “They didn’t mean anything by-!”

“You know that’s not true,” I shot back, and Sonata backed up a step. “I… I know my parents and my brother and Cadence are nice people but that doesn’t mean they weren’t looking down on you.”

“Exactly!” Sonata argued, slapping an open palm on the bar. “Me! I was the one! Not you! You don’t have to lose your family because-!”

“It’s not about you!” I shouted back furiously, standing up as I clenched my fists hard enough to turn my knuckles white as Sonata jerked back in surprise. “It’s not always about you, ‘Nata! This has nothing to do with you!”

I was panting, my breath coming in short gasps as I stared at the hurt look on Sonata’s face, and felt my heart clench as I realised I’d been yelling at her.

“I… S-Sonata I’m sorry…” I choked the words out, but I could feel my heart breaking at the tiny sob she let out.

She wiped at her eyes quickly, rubbing at them with sharp, uneasy motions.

When Sonata had been trying to get me to hold her hand she’d given me the impression she was about to cry, but I think somewhere deep down I knew it wasn’t real. I knew she was just playing with me, and it was all good-natured specifically because it wasn’t real.

This was real.

Her tears were real this time, and they’d been my fault.

Slowly, I took a step back, then another, and as I saw Sonata’s eyes widen I turned on my heel and scampered out of the Last Note. My sneakers smacked dully against the tile as I barreled out the door and into the parking lot as Sonata called out for me.

I didn’t turn though, I couldn’t. I’d just made Sonata cry!

I just… I couldn’t.

Gripping my geode hard, I poured my will into it. I needed to be somewhere else… anywhere else! I needed to be-

The world spasmed violently around, and for a moment I was consumed by the strangest sensation. It was as if I was feeling the whole of the world at once, every tree and blade of grass, every wave of the ocean and every mountain summit. It was like going blind, deaf, and mute, and obtaining omniscience simultaneously, and that was my last thought before blacking out.

I’m not sure how long I spent unconscious, but it couldn’t have been long. I woke up in darkness, but I still had the scent of the city in my nostrils meaning I was probably only out for a moment or two, but I fear struck me as I glanced around, uncertain of where I was.

“Hello?” I squeaked gingerly as I tried to get to my feet.

My head was throbbing. I felt like someone had tried to squeeze my skull through a pinhole and succeeded only by the barest margin. Every inch of my body was sore, almost like I’d gotten a very minor body-wide bruise.

“A-Anyone?” I tired again, my voice a little stronger. “Is anyone there?”

My took a few deep breaths before holding up my geode and focusing. My head pounded worse, but I managed a little spark of illumination from the stone, held it up, and scanned my surroundings.

I was in a cave, there was crude, unworked stone all around me, and I had the oddest premonition of familiarity as I made a slow circuit of the cavern.

“I know this place,” I muttered softly, narrowing my eyes as I swung my geode around, back and forth, while I fished for the memory I was searching for. “This… the Everfree!”

I remembered.

The cave in the Everfree Forest that lay not far from Camp Everfree where we had all originally found our geodes. It was where we had found the truth about our powers, and the truth about Gaia Everfree along with it.

“I wanted to be somewhere else, so the geode took me home,” I glanced down at the shimmering stone and smiled a little wanly.

Its home. The place where the geode had been forged by an onslaught of Equestrian magic mixing with the natural energy of the Everfree Forest, only to be found by a desperate human searching for an answer to her prayers.

I held up the geode higher and walked forward, my memory guiding me until I found my way to the crude stone pedestal where my friends and I had discovered the artifacts we still held.

Even though there hadn’t been an outbreak of Equestrian magic in better than half a decade, the geodes never lost their power. I knew for a fact that Sunset had tucked her stone away a long time ago because, even though it had great power, she’d confided in me that she thought the potential for abuse with something like the ability to see memories and read minds was too dangerous, and that it frightened her.

That was true back then the same as it was now, I think. Sunset had used the power because she knew it was necessary, and because without her geode the Terran Elements, as we had started to call them, were incomplete.

With that being said, she’d never felt fully comfortable with it.

I wasn’t sure about the other geodes aside from AJ and Fluttershy’s.

Applejack still used her near constantly. As it turns out, super-strength was pretty useful on a farm, and it made her life significantly easier, and the same was true of Rarity who put her ability to create planes of kinetic force to good use on the Apple Family Farm. It was a secret that the family kept quiet, and Applejack liked it that way, she had no desire for a bunch of reporters to come crawling over her family home.

I also happened to know that Apple Bloom was capable of using the geode too.

I’m not sure how many of our friends know, but Applejack had once asked me about the mechanics of it. I hadn’t been certain but I theorised that a combination of Apple Bloom’s relation to Applejack as a sister, combined with her being around so much magic, might mean the geode recognised her a valid wielder.

Either way, I’d promised not to mention it.

Like Applejack, Fluttershy used hers near constantly, although it helped that it was almost impossible to tell. Despite technically being veterinary tech, everyone in town knew that the little vet’s clinic she worked at was the best one in Canterlot. Somehow, they always knew exactly what was wrong with your pet.

And me?

Like Sunset, I’d put my geode away years ago, never unearthing it unless I wanted to test some hypothesis on the nature of magic as it related to the world. I’d always planned on doing more with it, of course, but I knew I didn’t have the facilities yet. I wanted to know the truth one day, though, about how magic functioned in our world and why it did it was did. There wasn’t really any such thing as magic in the mystical sense, just energy, like Sonata said.

I only took it out recently because Aria had mentioned how being able to lift hundreds of pounds of metal and wood would be handy for the construction and I’d really wanted to help.

“And now I’m in a cave,” I grimaced as I looked around.

It was odd to see it as just a cave. For some reason I’d always thought of it almost like a holy site, or a shrine. A place where magic flowed into our world should have more gravitas to it than just ‘a cave’.

Right?

I sat down on one of the stone steps leading up to the pedestal and curled up, resting my head on my knees as I sighed.

“How did I even get here?” I looked around, holding up the geode again to get a better look. “One minute I was in Canterlot at the Note, the next it’s like I tele… ported.”

I teleported.

I’d only done it a few times seven years ago when I was Midnight Sparkle, but I supposed, theoretically speaking, telekinesis and teleportation weren’t strictly alien to one another on a mathematical level.

The translation of energy over distance.

“I bent the laws of space and time,” I mumbled in disbelief. “I executed the first instance of human-directed FTL travel…” nervous laughter bubbled out of me as I slapped my palm to my face, “...and I used it to run away!”

Because of course I did.

Of course I did.

Running away was pretty much the only thing I was good at. I was the worst sort of coward, the one whom you couldn’t tell was a coward until they abandoned you at the eleventh hour.

The kind who could never face the things that truly frightened them.

Dark magic? Fine.

Monsters from another dimension? Also fine.

Potentially coming to grip with the fact that I might hate my mother?

…

Not fine.

“I wonder how much of it they really felt?” I stared up at the pedestal above me, leaning back as I did and sighing.

Another reason I was terrified of facing them… even though I felt what they felt for me that day… I wasn’t sure how much of what I felt for them translated over. If it was as much as I got then they would have to know.

They would have to know how angry I really was.

They would have to know how furious I was with them, and not just for how they treated the woman I loved, although that was bad enough, but how much I resented them for how I’d grown up. How pressured I had felt, how miserable I had been, how lonely I had been for so long.

All because they wanted me to live up the Crystal Prep ideal.

To them it had been a point of pride, something to strive for and something that would be a memory worth cherishing, but for me it had just been a lonely, frozen hellscape of test after test after test as I ended up more and more isolated.

All because I had wanted to live up to that ideal and finally just make them proud. To finally just… be enough for them.

How was I supposed to look my mother in the eyes knowing how much she loves me and see the pain on her face because she knows that I hate her, even if just a little bit, for what she and my father put me through growing up?

How could I look at Cadence, knowing how much she adores me, and live with the fact that deep in my heart I blame her for feeding me to Principal Cinch? That I blame her for not protecting me from that awful woman who only wanted to abuse and take advantage of my intellect?

I couldn’t help it though.

I was just so angry.

Sighing, I stood up and held out the geode. Even after seven years I remembered which way to go; perks of having a near-eidetic memory. Plus, this place was etched into my mind for more than one reason.

Being careful with my footing on the rough stone, I walked slowly towards the exit, and squinted as the darkness began to lighten gently until I stepped fully out of the cave mouth and into the canopied verdance of the Everfree Forest.

The sky was overcast and gray, and the tall, thick trees blocked most of the light that was coming through the clouds. That left the forest not terribly brighter than the fields, but-

Moments after stepping out of the cave, my phone began buzzing wildly, and I snatched it out of my pocket.

One hundred and three missed calls from Sonata.

I felt a stony pit open up in my stomach. I had done it again… I’d run out on Sonta after shouting her down in the middle of the note.

After making her cry.

My phone began to ring again, and I very nearly hit the power button to send it to voicemail on pure instinct. The image of Sonata’s smiling face came up on my screen, and the green ‘Accept Call’ button blinked at me accusingly.

I froze for a moment, stuck between two impulses. On the one hand I wanted to run away so badly. I was terrified of what I had done, and of what it might mean, and what Sonata would say but…

But I loved Sonata.

I loved her so much.

Even if I yelled at her, even if I made her cry, she still deserved to hear from me, right? I owed it to her to talk to her because I loved her and I knew she loved me. I’d felt it, back then, on the heels of all of my mother’s and Cadence’s feelings I still remember that sweet, chaste, fledgling love Sonata felt when she looked at me.

How could I possibly betray something that pure?

“I’m here,” I said quickly, the moment I hit the green button.

//TWILIGHT?!// I jerked the phone away from my ear at the volume, before putting it back. //Are you okay?! What HAPPEN?!//

“I… I guess I teleported,” I said sheepishly as I took a seat in the grass. “Sorry, I ended up somewhere with no cell reception, I just got out into the open again.”

//It’s… it’s alright I just…// I flinched as I heard the waterworks start as whatever Sonata had been trying to say dissolved into a wash of relieved sobs.

“I’m so sorry, ‘Nata,” I cried, feeling my own eyes tear up, “I’m so sorry I yelled, and I’m sorry I made you cry, and I-”

//It’s okay!// Sonata’s voice came through a little raw. //I… I know you get scared, and I know you get angry, b-but I also know that you l-love me, right?//

“Always!” I cradled the phone in my hand. All I wanted was to be next to her again, I ran because I was scared, but this wasn’t about me it was ab-

The world spasmed again and suddenly I was falling.

“AH!”

I blinked in confusion as the warm air and familiar smells of the Lounge filled my nose. I was staring up at the ceiling of the Last Note, flat on my back, and my head was pounding again.

“You’re BACK!”

“Sonata?!”

I turned my head and found Sonata beneath me, having apparently broken my fall when I’d teleported back to the lounge, grinning up at me before wincing a little.

“Ow… my back…” Sonata grunted.

Working my limbs free of the tangle I’d ended up in, I flipped over and wrapped Sonata in a tight hug, one that she returned before twining her legs around mine and pulling me into a deep, gentle kiss.

I could still taste the salt from her tears mixed with the sweetness of her lips as I let my fingers play through the arctic strands of her hair. Sonata giggled lightly as we kissed, again and again, laying in a sprawled-out pile on the floor of the Lounge, and I cradled her face in my hands as I smiled tearfully at her.

“I’m so sorry…” I sobbed the words out as I ran my thumb over her cheek, savoring how soft she was. “I really… I didn’t…”

“I know,” Sonata said quietly. “It’s okay.”

“It’s not, though,” I sat up and pulled her up with me. “It’s seriously not!”

“But-!”

“No, ‘Nata!” I cut her off, but took her hand and gave it a squeeze. “I’m seriously, I’m not just kicking myself here, okay? What I did? It wasn’t any kind of ‘okay’!”

“But I forgave you,” Sonata said softly, looking a little hurt, and I grimaced.

“It’s not about that,” I softened my tone a little and tugged at her hand, drawing her closer until I had my arms around her. “I shouldn’t let myself get so mad that I’m shouting at the girl I’m in love with… that’s really messed up.”

Sonata fidgeted uncomfortably for a few moments before shrugging.

“I guess I’m just used to it,” she said after a moment, and I felt my heart sink. “My… my sisters love me, I know, but for thousands of years the Heartstones were poisoning them, making them mean, and…”

“...and they took it out on you,” I finished.

“Or on each other,” Sonata admitted. “Siren’s butt heads to stay in power, it’s just how we are, so Adagio would always bully Aria and I into line,” she looked up towards the VIP room where their shared rooms lay beyond the back door. “Adagio would bully Aria and I, and Aria would bully me because I was under her,” Sonata’s eyes took on a distant quality for a moment before sharpening as she looked back up at me and smiled. “But it’s better now! Ever since the stones were broken it’s better!”

“I… I get that,” I said quietly, taking both of her hands in mine, “but it was still wrong, you know that right?”

Sonata fidgeted silently for several moments before leaning forward and resting her head against my shoulder and nodding.

Slowly, I brought my arms up and around her, patting her back as she cried quietly against me. For so many years she’d be forced to just endure whatever was thrown at her… I didn’t need to be a part of that.

We stayed that way for a while. Once, Aria stepped out into the Lounge, but the moment she saw us she just stopped and slowly backed up back into the VIP room. I assume she probably told people to stay out and give us some space, which I appreciated.

“They did apologise,” Sonata said quietly as the tears finally came to an end and she rested comfortably in my arms, her head still on my shoulder. “Adagio and Aria… they feel awful for how they treated me, it’s why they’re so…”

“Protective?” I offered, and Sonata nodded. “Adagio threatened me pretty thoroughly about treating you well… y’know, the night I asked you out?”

“Heh, I’m not surprised,” Sonata chuckled, then leaned forward and nuzzled against my neck. “Adagio loves me, I know… and she feels terrible about how she used to hurt me, and Aria is always trying to make it up to me even if she’s not very good at it.”

“Aria’s kind of a disaster,” I admitted with a laugh.

“Yeah, but she’s my disaster,” Sonata replied with a grin. “Or, well, I guess she’s Sunset’s disaster now.”

“Sunset is an even bigger disaster,” I pointed out, which Sonata just nodded in agreement to. “That seems like a bad match.”

“You’d think so,” Sonata shot a glance towards the VIP room, “but honestly, I think they’re like two shelves full of crap that managed to tip over in just the right way and now they’re like, holding each other up.”

“That seems kind of precarious,” although I didn’t necessarily disagree with Sonata’s assessment.

Aria and Sunset were one of those couples that I tried really hard not to think too hard about otherwise it would give me serious anxiety.

“Nobody is perfect,” Sonata said quietly. “I’ve lived a long time, Twi’... I’ve seen a lot of people fall in love, then out of love, then back into love again sometimes, if they’re lucky,” she sighed and turned until she was sitting in my lap and resting against me. “I’ve seen awful people find love, and good people die alone… I’ve seen some really weird, terrible relationships just… work somehow, and other ones that looked perfect fall apart in a year.”

“What’s that mean for us?” I asked pensively.

“Dunno,” Sonata shrugged and turned her head to kiss my cheek. “But I want it to last… I wanna make it work.”

Tears trickled from my eyes as I wiped at them, and I hugged Sonata tight, burying my face in her long, soft hair.

“Me too,” I replied wetly.

“So… so now what?” Sonata brought a hand up to run her fingers gently over my cheek.

“Now?” I laughed a little bitterly. “Now I should probably find a decent therapist because I apparently have a trainwreck’s worth of issues to work out.”

“What about… y’know?” Sonata ventured uneasily, and I grimaced.

“Mom and Cadence?” I guess, and Sonata nodded. “I dunno… I want to talk to them, I think… but I don’t know how to say what I want to say, or even what I want to say at all, really.” I hugged Sonata tight, and she let out a dramatic squeak that prompted a laugh from me. “Do I say sorry? Do I ask for them to say sorry?”

“It’s kind of a mess, huh?” Sonata kissed me just under the chin, and I smiled as I angled my head down to kiss her back.

“Do they know?” I asked softly as I pulled away, meeting Sonata’s eyes evenly for a moment. “Do they know how I… how I felt?”

Sonata looked troubled for several moments before finally nodding sullenly.

“I… I didn’t know you felt that way about them when I did it,” Sonata said quietly. “I’m sorry.”

“I know,” I hugged her tightly again. “I forgive you.”

“What do we do now?” Sonata leaned in to kiss me on the cheek before standing up and holding out a hand.

Gripping her wrist, I levered myself up onto my feet and pulled out my phone again, staring at it with a feeling of sick apprehension in my stomach.

“I guess we start with this,” I opened my contacts, selected my mom and Cadence, then opened my messenger app.

//Hey mom, Cady, I know we haven’t talked in a while, and I guess you probably already know why… things are complicated right now, but I-//

I paused, staring down at the message screen and sighed. What was I supposed to say here? That I forgive them? I wasn’t sure I was there yet, and I’m pretty sure it would come out sounding disingenuous if I tried.

A pair of warm lips pressed to my cheeks as Sonata looped her arms around my waist and held me close, keeping me from flying apart the way she always did.

“I’m here for you,” Sonata said gently as she laid her head on my shoulder.

“I know,” I leaned my head to rest on hers and inhaled her calming scent.

//-want to talk to you again… I just don’t know what I want to say yet. I’m going to find someone to talk to, and I’ll let you know how it goes, but until then… I need some space. I’m sorry.//

SEND.