Author's Note

The God of Second Chances...

Intermission IX - All Your Wildest Dreams

FOUR MONTHS AFTER THE FRIENDSHIP GAMES EVENT

"Adagio... why is time moving so slow?"

"It's pretty simple, Aria. We're dead."

Aria sat upon her bed and stared out the window beside her while her sister Adagio laid in bed. Every day, Aria would gaze out of this window and at the grand display before her.

White.

The most uninhabited and devoid of life place to probably ever exist in our entire universe. Or at least as far as Aria could think. She sometimes wondered just how far the white stretched, and how exorbitant it truly was.

Her hair had been changed from its characteristic pigtails to simply falling to her shoulders. Unlike Adagio, Aria had decided to simply stop tending to her hair, and its color seemed to become dry and stagnant.

"When we were immortal," Adagio continued, "Time moved quickly because it didn't apply to us. Weeks felt like days, months felt like weeks, years felt like months, decades felt like years, and centuries felt like decades.

"Now that we're dead, everything feels exactly as it should. Long and boring. Why do you ask?"

"Adagio, if that statement were true, and we were alive, we should've been nearly a decade into this. Yet, we're not even half a year through. It has been five months, four weeks, three days, two hours, and eleven seconds since we died at that school."

"What's your point?"

"I think I'm losing it."

Adagio sat up and sighed, "Aria, what are you talking about?"

"Adagio, I've been looking out this same window since we first received it, and not once have I seen anything change. We only know it's night time because the lights turn off. And I've watched every single film on that bookshelf. Twice.

"The food is all the same, it's always warm in here, the water is constantly changing force in the shower, we've been making carrot cake for months now, and the cable barely ever works."

"Okay, that just sounds like we live in a crap hole."

Aria faced her, "But that's not all. I wash my hair every day, but I feel like I miss a spot every time. My eyes have begun to twitch and water, my throat feels sore, and I keep hearing this ringing.

"I've been in this house for so long, I don't know what to do or what's happening. I just want Noah to drop dead already so we can move on with our existence. I don't care if we perish, I can't stand this fucking void anymore.

"I want it to end already."

Adagio fiddled and stared at her fingers as she thought to herself. She peeked over at Aria, and she promptly spotted tears welling up in her eyes. She cursed underneath her breath as she couldn't disagree.

Adagio herself had also felt like this void was picking away at her sanity. She thought that perhaps the house would keep her sane, and it did. But not for very long.

She'd find herself staring at the mirror every time she left the bathroom. Thinking to herself as if she was truly all alone. Who was that in the reflection? It wasn't Adagio Dazzle, that's for sure.

"I was meant to be adored," she'd whisper.

"I was meant to beautiful," she'd mutter.

"People would look to the sky and cry tears of joy because their leader, their lord, had arrived. Instead, I'm just a sad, lonely, little bitch."

Thanks to Noah, she'd turned her thought process around, and had realized just what type of monster she was. A cold-blooded, sadistic, inhumane, thieving, fabricating, lying, narcissistic, indiscriminate, genocidal, psychopathic megalomaniac who committed mass homicide on a global scale and hadn't a clue what compassion or humanity signified.

Might as well have been the Devil's daughter.

Adagio understood her past mistakes, but that didn't mean they never haunted her. Sometimes, she'd stare at Noah as he slept. Wondering just how much damage she could do to him. Wondering if she could do damage at all. Wondering if Noah or Aria was aware of the gaze she gave to his temporarily unconscious body. And what thoughts ran wild inside her head.

Besides sleeping, Noah had become friendly for some strange reason. And despite abhorring him for getting in her way in the past, she'd somehow warmed up to him as well. Treating him less like an enemy, and more like a friend. Aria, however, was a different story.

She'd watched from the not so dark shadows of Noah and Adagio's strange friendship and was horrified yet absolutely livid at the same time. To her, it'd seemed like Adagio had thrown everything they'd ever done out the window, and just accepted Noah. Like she'd never met him.

It was sickening.

She wasn't mad at her sister, of course, she was just in a terrible state as she knew if Adagio acted the way Aria knew she did in the past, it'd be endless pain. And Aria knew said pain all too well. Turns out being flung faster than the speed of sound can render your clothing unwearable. The bloodstains as well, of course.

Adagio looked back at Aria and found that the tears had finally dropped. The last time she'd seen Aria cry was during the American Revolution in which America won. She didn't cry for the British though, she cried because she'd lost a bet with Sonata after centuries of beating her. She lost nearly everything to that imbecile, and never betted again.

But Adagio was well aware that these were sincere tears. Tears she hadn't seen since they were banished to Earth for a millennium. Tears she hoped she'd never have to witness again.

Despite the trio's behavior and actions, they cared for each other deep down. Unfortunately, it was painfully difficult for them to express any sense of love towards each other.

The last time Adagio ever saw Sonata and Aria hug was after they caused the Invasion of China in 1214. Albeit, it was fairly, "half-assed," as Noah would call it.

Thus being in this void only made things worse. The sisters only had themselves, not to mention they were missing one. Adagio spent entire, "nights," wondering where Sonata would be.

She'd probably be trying to make friends with some stray dogs only for them to die three days after and leave her sobbing in an alleyway somewhere on the other side of Equis. But at this point, only God knew.

Right now, Aria was the focus. And Adagio couldn't remember the last time she'd done anything sentimental or gave any sense of love towards her. She wondered if she'd done anything at all.

Adagio stood off her bed and ran a hand through her hair. "Aria... I know we're going through some things at the moment. I get that things aren't easy. And I'm well aware of what this place is doing to our heads.

"But... this is an opportunity for something we've never had before. Something Sonata always seemed to hold within her heart despite whatever we faced. I can imagine she still has it now."

Aria looked up at her sister, "Opportunity for what?"

"Eternal happiness."

"... the hell?"

Adagio smiled despite Aria being rather serious, "I-I mean, I'm talking about that thing the humans would believe. That place above. Heaven, or whatever they called it.”

Aria narrowed her eyebrows, "Are you talking about those stupid Christian guys who believe in some white-bearded loser up in the clouds all from a book with stupid folk tales from more than thousands of years ago?"

"... yeah..."

Aria's face fell flat, "Adagio, that's ridiculous."

"Well, just think about it for a second. I know it sounds crazy and that there isn't a lick of proof, but just think. This belief is scattered across this entire planet with entire empires believing it. Don't you think there's something else to it?"

"Spit it out, Dagi."

"I'm saying there's a chance this heaven place may actually exist, and you know what else?"

"What part of, "spit it out," did you miss?"

"If we maybe become better people here, there's a chance we could go up there and spend eternity happily. It'd be like paradise, only we never have to leave! We can do whatever, whenever, however, whyever, forever!"

"But Adagio, how are we supposed to become better people when we're losing our sanity not even halfway through a year? By the time that God dude decides our fate, we'll be drooling and laying on the floor like it's a way of life. We won't even speak proper English! Not to mention the millenniums we’ve spent terrorizing people. How are we supposed to do jack shit?"

"I... I..." Adagio sighed, "I don't know Aria. The best we can do is... the best we can do is wait until tomorrow, I guess."

Aria climbed back into her bed and pulled the covers close to her. Adagio wiped her face and climbed back into her own bed. She pulled the covers over her head, and Aria looked back out the window.

I don't even know if there'll be two of us...

"Oi! Fuck nuts! Wake up!"

"Ah!"

Aria and her sister scrambled out of bed as Noah burst in unannounced. Adagio fell out of bed and landed on her chest and Aria followed, landing on her back. Noah's face fell flat and he chuckled.

Aria sat up, "Noah, what the hell?!"

"I got a surprise for you losers! Now come outside!"

"Is it nice?"

"It's gorgeous, let's go!"

Noah shut the door behind him and Aria groaned at the sound of his steps. Adagio stood up on all fours and Aria slid off. She came to her feet and Adagio followed.

She flicked Aria’s forehead and she cried, "Ow! What the hell was that for?!"

"That's for falling on my back! You know it hurts!"

"How's that my fault?!"

"You're supposed to be the one with faster reflexes and more attentive!"

"I was sleeping!"

"Oh, shut the hell up and let's go!"
Adagio, irritatedly, forced her slippers on and didn't even bother with her robe. Aria rolled her eyes and slipped on her slippers and robe as Adagio headed downstairs. Stomping quite madly all the way.

Though she was indeed sleeping, Aria herself was slightly surprised that she didn't awake to the sound of Noah's steps. They weren't loud, but they were just noisy enough to wake her up in a heartbeat as she was always the sentry of the group.

There were times where the Sirens were hunted down, but it was unfortunately and fortunately lost to time with no record of it in the history books. When those times came, Aria was chosen to be the lookout as she was the most observant, attentive, and a light sleeper. Paying attention to several details that would make the common man shudder.

The detail of one's clothing, the clothing itself, their hair, the amount they blink within a minute, what they drink, their facial expressions, and when required, the amount of breathes one take.

There was a time the Sirens had decided to ignite the first world war out of a dare, specifically Aria. Her sisters weren't up for it, but she made it work. And as the others don't remember, it's for the best that some secrets stay just as that. A secret.

Though for Noah, Aria slept like a dog. It seemed so much time in the Void of Siren Hell had made Aria rather sloppy and careless. Not that it was her fault, of course. There just wasn't anything to be watchful of or for.

Shaking her head, Aria exited the room and began downstairs. As she reached the bottom floor, she faced the left expecting to see her sister and Noah, she instead saw nobody. She turned to the right and saw the front door open. But something caught her eye. Shining through the window appeared to be...

"Sunlight? What in the..."

Aria promptly approached the front door and yanked it open. She spotted her sister along with Noah but felt her jaw fall off as she gawked at the sight before her as if she'd just seen the sun go supernova.

It was a town. A happy, little, town.

Aria felt her eyes dilate as she approached her sister. She turned to her for a brief moment and saw her eyes weren't just dilated as well, but tearing up. She even spotted a slight genuine smile.

Aria poked Noah's shoulder, "What... what is all this?"

"Oh, this? Eh, nothing major, major. Just a chill as fuck town I happened to pull out of my ass."

Aria turned her attention to Noah and tilted her head. His eyes were also dilated, but they were also red. As if every blood vessel in his eye just went off like a nuclear detonation. She quickly spotted the slide seal bag in his left hand, but what caught her attention were its contents. Aria's face fell flat.

Cocaine. Of course it's cocaine.

"So, I heard you crazy bastards going on and on about how death sucks and you want to me to die so you nasty piles of dogshit can go to hell already! But you were going on and on about how you'd go crazy from isolation and perhaps even kill each other!

"I said that's a fuckin' no-no, so I made some souls and a town and a bunch of other shit you'd need that I'm too cracked out to name, and gave it to you! And the best part!?"

"... would be?"

"The souls are actual people! Like, they were saying they were from Equestria or whatever the fuck and that there was this whole prison to become better people and other souls to monitor those other souls and yadda, yadda, yadda!

"So I said, "Meh, fuck it. Why not?!" And now we have a town and you stupid little cunt nuggets won't go insane! Aren't I just the best motherfucker that you have the privilege to spend a long and unforgiving century with?!"

How much cocaine did he inhale?

"Uh," Adagio began, "Yeah, I guess. Thank you, Noah, uh... I'll just take that..."

Adagio slowly reached for the slide seal bag while maintaining eye contact with Noah. Aria held her sides, disturbed, as Noah's eyes twitched uncontrollably as if he'd just witnessed a human and a baby horse have sloppy, sinful sex.

"Fuck off ya puffy-haired titty sprinkle!" Noah shouted maniacally as he drew the bag back towards him and held it close to his chest. Adagio yelped and drew back as well. Aria placed a hand on her shoulder to leave him be.

"Okay, we're just gonna... W-We're just gonna go check out the, uh... The town, heh heh, you just uh... Just... Don't do anything stupid," Adagio finished as she and Aria slid away from the Super Element higher than the underwater sun.

Once they reached a reasonable distance, Aria analyzed every inch of what she could see and was speechless. The town was perfect. The people were relaxed and joyous, the town was bright and gorgeous, and the sun above made her believe she was no longer lifeless.

Noah had given them a chance to become better people with others besides himself. Giving them the ability to go above, if there was an above, anyways, and have all their wildest dreams come true.

Aria looked up at Adagio and noticed a tear of joy drip off her left cheek. Out of her happiness for her sister and herself, Aria wrapped her arms tightly around Adagio, pulling her into a loving embrace. One that hadn't been given since Sonata came into their lives an unfathomable amount of years ago. Adagio slowly grinned and cuddled her back.

"Let's give it another go..."