Chapters Adagio was faintly aware that she was waking up, just a few moments before she heard the click of her radio clock and the start of one of the station's rotating "Good Morning" songs. She sighed and tugged the blanket a little closer around herself. She blinked, yawned, stretched in her little warm cocoon, and got ready to get up soon. But first, she would stay in bed, for as long as circumstances would let her. It was only a matter of minutes anyway.
As if cued by the thought, the door to her small bedroom was shoved open. She flinched, gritting her teeth and pressing her eyes shut. Maybe this time, if she tried really hard, she could just fall into a spontaneous coma.
"Dagi, Aria stole my fucking cereal!"
"It's not your cereal, dumbass! We bought it together, so it's mine too!"
Adagio had paid for it, but pointing that out would give away her non-comatose state. She tried to block out her sisters' voices and focus on the song on the radio.
"Well what am I supposed to eat, then!? You want me to go to school hungry!?"
"There's leftovers in the fridge, eat those!"
"What, Dagi's weird vegetable kish thing? Ugh-yuck-pew!"
Quiche. It was a quiche. And she had spent two hours on it so Sonata wouldn't stuff herself full of sugar before bed. Though right now, she wished the cavities on her. Maybe that would stop her from having a shouting match from right next to her bed into their kitchen.
"I dunno! I'm hungry too, Sonata! Don't yell at me about it!"
"I'm gonna keep yelling as long as you're yelling!"
"Shut the FUCK up!" Adagio emphasised the curse by flinging one of her pillows against the back of Sonata's head. She angrily kicked off her blanket and slammed her hand on the radio clock to silence it. She wasn't going to hear much of it anyway. "Can I get one morning without you two bickering like toddlers!?"
She staggered up, trying to clear her voice of sleep with aggressive vocal exercises, while making her bed. Sonata daintily put the thrown pillow down in its spot with her 'don't kill me please' smile.
"You two need to get to school. I need to go to work. And I'm already going to have a rough day without this shit. Now please tell me you at least did your makeup already."
She finally looked up at Sonata properly. Infuriatingly, her eye-shadow was perfect. "Yup-yup, not blocking the bathroom this time."
"Do you want an award?" Adagio asked bitterly. Sonata's lips parted, but her stare seemed to convey the sarcasm this time and she quickly just turned to leave the bedroom instead.
With a slow sigh, Adagio tried to let it go. She had more important things to do than be mad about every single thing. And there were a lot of things to be mad about. Instead, she took off her nightshirt, got dressed, brushed her hair and tied it back, and finally headed into the bathroom to put on her face.
When she came into the kitchen, stomach empty, she was relieved to see that Aria had at least washed the bowl and spoon she'd used. Her sisters were sitting at the table, on their phones, passing the time until they absolutely had to leave. Adagio took a plate with half a vegetable tart from the fridge.
"Pack some quiche for lunch," she said while cutting off a piece for herself. "Eat it, trade it, I don't care. I don't want to find it in your backpacks later. You got that?"
"You go through our backpacks?" Aria barely looked up from her phone to ask.
"Got that?" she asked more pointedly, getting mumbled resignation as a response. "Good. Now don't miss the bus, be safe, I love you."
She grabbed her purse and ate the quiche from her hand while pushing her way out the front door. If she tried, she could have probably made the last part sound more convincing, but she was in no mood to.
With their previous income dried up and their savings dwindling, Adagio had to grab for every job she could get. Luckily, through personal interests, she had managed to pick up some skills that at least qualified her for assistant positions. Some days she had a shift at the boutique, on others a few hours at the music store. On some, she had to rush from one end of the mall to the other when she was double-booked.
It wasn't as terrible as she had feared, but it was still draining, most of all the constant happy, smiley attitude she had to put on for customers. No day of work went by without the desire to shout, bite, or strangle. Maybe if their music career never did take off again, she could try to be an actress.
Aria got to be as grumpy at her part-time job as she wanted to be. Nobody at the comic store seemed to care. Adagio wouldn't be surprised to find out some of the customers were even into it. And while Sonata also had to smile at her fast food job, bright smiles were her default setting. And yet, both of them complained to no end.
Work was stressful and just the anticipation of having to hear the others complain too made the end of her workday much less of a relief. She trudged home, knowing she'd be met with the same old evening routine again.
But as it turned out, today was much worse. She could already hear them shouting as she fished in her purse for her keys. She sighed and leaned her forehead on the door. Maybe she could just sneak past them and slink right into bed. Or stand out here until they had finished. But even while she thought about it, she put the key in the lock and turned it, steeling herself.
"What's the big deal!? You don't even like him!" Aria snapped, pushing Sonata's shoulder.
"I'm trying to make friends , Aria!" Sonata's voice squeaked, tears at the corners of her eyes. She was blinking rapidly, giving away that she was trying to tear up on purpose. "Why do you have to be such a bitch !?"
She really should have stayed outside. Adagio could see Aria fuming and her fists clenching. "Okay, stop," she said weakly, but it was enough to get both their attention. Now both of them were glaring at her . "What is this even about?"
"She made fun of me!" Sonata shouted, pointing an accusing finger at Aria. "In front of others! She makes everyone hate me!"
"They all hate us!" Aria snapped back again. "We're monsters to them, remember!? You're a monster! A broken, whining monster pretending to be anything else!"
Sonata's breath caught in a hiccup. The tears weren't fake anymore now. Adagio sighed and dropped her purse to reach out for both their shoulders. "That's enough now. I've been on my feet all day and I don't need--"
Sonata slapped her hand away. "Shut up! You're not our mom! You're not even actually my sisters! I hate you!" She sobbed and shoved Adagio aside, running out the door she had still left open.
Adagio weakly reached out to try and grab her arm, but she was so tired she couldn't quite follow through. She looked at Aria, who tightened up her body language, crossing her arms and pulling up her shoulders.
"Fine!" she scoffed after a still moment, "I'll get her back!" She went out the door after Sonata and slammed the door behind her.
The Family That Fights Together...
Adagio sunk onto the nearest armchair. She really didn't handle them well this time. It was slowly getting worse between them. What used to be light-hearted jabs and only occasional disagreements had morphed quickly into loud arguments and casual insults. What they needed was therapy, both individually and as a family, but that took time and money that they didn't have. That Adagio didn't have.
She sighed deeply and rested her face in her hands. She was tired, but she couldn't go to bed until she knew they were both back home.
It was already dark out and the sky was covered in thick clouds. Only the light of the widely-spaced streetlamps broke through the darkness, aside from a few lit windows facing the street. But Aria knew where Sonata would run to, where she always ran to. She stalked after her, walking quickly with her arms wrapped around her chest. She should have at least grabbed a proper jacket on the way out.
"If that idiot gets me sick, I swear..." She turned the corner and started heading towards the playground at the corner of the small park they lived near. Sonata would just be sulking on the swings again, or hiding under the slide.
"H-hey, let go!"
Aria's steps slowed, before she fell into a short run, rounding into the entrance of the playground. Sonata wasn't on the swings or under the slide, she was right in the middle of the playground, surrounded by two boys and a girl. None of them looked much older than teenagers, but the guys had quite a bit of height on her. And one of them had her wrist in a vice, one she was futilely trying to pull out of.
"Now why don't you say what you said again, but to my face?" he asked in a threatening tone, yanking at her arm. In the light of the lamps posted around the playground, his face was flushed, either with anger, intoxication, or both.
Sonata sneered at him, smudged eyeliner betraying the now dried tears. "I said leave me alone, asshole!"
Aria fell into a second sprint and her arm slammed against his elbow from below, making him yelp out and release Sonata's wrist. She reached for her sister's hand herself, but the other boy had caught the back of her shirt and dragged her back. She tripped over his leg and fell into the sand.
Growling under her breath, she reached up when he came down to follow up and grabbed his collar before raking her nails across his cheek, dangerously close to his eye. He flinched back and she tucked in her left leg, bringing her foot up into the pit of his stomach. There wasn't enough force to really make it hurt, but she heard him gasp as he rolled off of her.
Quickly getting up, she looked to Sonata, who was struggling with the other girl, who had an arm around her neck from behind and was pulling at her ponytail. The first boy was shaking out his arm and clenched his fist. Aria grit her teeth and ran up, tackling him with what little body weight she had. It was enough to throw him down and before he could recover, she slammed her closed fist into the side of his face. When he looked like he was about to recover, she grabbed a handful of sand with her other hand and threw it into his open mouth and eyes. She regarded him with a final stomp to his chest after getting off of him again, leaving him coughing and gagging on the ground.
The girl still holding Sonata stared wide-eyed at Aria as she turned to her. "Let go of my sister!" she hissed, her own hair dishevelled. Sonata yelled and kept trying to stomp on the girl's toes, foiled by her steel-capped boots.
"You bitch!" Aria turned to the voice, just in time to see the second boy back up and for his closed fist to connect with her temple. A sharp pain rushed through her head as she stumbled and a moment later, something warm ran down the side of her face.
"Aria!" Sonata wiggled in the girl's hold, before she managed to push herself back enough to reach the arm holding her with her teeth. The girl howled and shoved her away, making her stumble and trip. Aria grabbed Sonata's arm so she wouldn't fall and pulled her next to her, one eye closed as warm blood touched her eyelid.
Another light flashed over the playground, followed by two more. "Stop right there! What's going on!?" Aria didn't relax, only pulling Sonata closer, when a small group of police officers came rushing closer.
Sonata's head leaned on Aria's shoulder, both of them staring against the opposite wall of the jail cell. They'd been silent during the drive in the back of the patrol car and after quietly and begrudgingly giving up their personal information and giving their account, they had been silent again, though Sonata had been clinging to Aria the whole time. The other kids were just one cell over, but they'd been silent too.
"I'm sorry," Aria finally said, her voice weaker than she had expected.
"Hm?"
"I'm sorry I called you a monster and all that stuff."
Sonata wrapped her arms around her sister's shoulders. "I'm sorry I said I hate you."
"Do you?"
"No... Thanks for helping me."
She put her own arm around Sonata's waist. "No one gets to bully my little sister."
"I'm older than you."
"Who cares."
They sat in silence again for a while, Aria's head coming to rest on Sonata's.
"Is your face okay?"
Aria felt along her temple and glanced at her fingertip, but the shallow cut wasn't bleeding anymore. "Yeah, I'm fine... motherfucker was wearing a ring..."
"Do you think we go to prison now?"
"No, that was self defence," Aria said more confidently than she was, "And you don't even get prison time for doing it unprovoked."
"Why do you know that?"
Aria shrugged. "I dunno, I just wanted to know at some point, so I looked it up."
Sonata's expression turned suspicious. "Were you going to beat me up?"
"No," she said, more confidently now, running her hand up and over Sonata's hair.
They both shifted and sat more upright when one of the officers came stepping up to their cell and opened the door. "Someone paid your bail. You can go home."
Aria stood up to head out and Sonata was right behind her, lightly holding onto her arm again. It wasn't a big mystery who could have come to get them and Aria prepared herself to face the storm. She slipped her arm out of Sonata's hand to take it with her own instead, before the were led through into the lobby.
Adagio was pacing when they got there, chewing her nails, the way she only did when she really didn't care about the polish anymore. Her heels scraped on the tiles every time she turned and they scraped even more sharply when she finally turned to look at them.
Instead of the maternal fury Aria had expected, she was met with reddened eyes and runny eyeliner. And instead of lecture them, Adagio rushed up and wrapped one arm around each of her sisters, pulling them in tightly. "Thank everything under the sun," she said breathlessly before sniffing quietly.
"Dagi, what are you--" Adagio pulled back before Aria could finish and cupped both their chins, looking at them sternly, but the relief was still present in her voice. "We are just people now, do you understand that? Do you realise we can't just go pick fights anymore?"
"I'm sorry," Sonata mumbled and Aria found herself voicing the same words. She didn't want to look at Adagio right now, so her look went past her, over her shoulder, and found the girl leaning near the entrance.
Sunset Shimmer was leaning against the wall, her hands in the pockets of her jacket, quickly looking away when she met Aria's eyes, trying to pretend she wasn't watching.
"What is she doing here?" Aria asked with a sharp frown. She felt Adagio's fingers claw into her hair and turn her head back to her.
"She posted your bail!" she hissed sharply, finally revealing the fury boiling underneath the relief after all, "I had to call her because we are broke ! I swallowed my pride and now you two will do the same and thank her !"
Adagio turned and pushed both of her sisters forward towards the waiting girl. Aria shot Sonata a short look, before they both turned to her, uncomfortably. "Thanks," Aria grumbled, while Sonata gave a more earnest "Thank you, Sunset".
"Don't mention it. I'm just glad you're okay. Will you be okay going home?"
"We'll be fine," Adagio said with a sigh, putting an arm over each of her sisters, "We're together now."
The door fell into the lock heavily behind them. Adagio put down her purse and finally slipped out of her shoes. Her sisters did the same, taking off their boots in heavy silence. They were just about to slink off, before Adagio caught their hands, though her grip was tight out of stress rather than anger. "Girls. Let's clean ourselves up first, but we need to talk."
The others shared a tired look. "I'm not mad anymore," she promised. It was a lie, but a white one at least. She didn't want to be. She left the two of them with the bathroom while she just quickly washed her face in the kitchen. She would look like a right mess without taking her makeup off properly, but at least she could get the dried tears off of her cheeks.
After a few minutes, her sisters joined her again in the living room and she held open her arms. She would have expected groaning and comments about how she was getting soft, but tonight they didn't argue with her and sat down with her. She pulled them both close again and closed her eyes.
"I love you," she said softly and as earnestly as she could muster with the load of an entire workday and the panic of the evening still weighing on her, "You're my sisters, no matter where you came from." She could feel the tears stinging her eyes again already, but she continued even has her voice faltered. "I'm sorry we ended up like this. I'm sorry I can't give you more than this."
"Adagio." Aria pushed herself up out of the hug a little but stayed close to her. "You know what your problem is? You take your role way too seriously. We're all responsible for what happened."
"Yeah," Sonata added sadly, by contrast cuddling closer into Adagio's shoulder, "You work so much but you're really not our mom. And you don't have to be."
"You shouldn't have to be," Aria confirmed, then added after a short pause "I'll quit school and work more."
"We discussed this." Adagio tried to sound stern, composing herself again. "You need to get diplomas if you want a better future."
"Yeah, well, my grades are shit. And I can probably get my boss to put me in full-time. We'll earn more money and save half the school fees."
Sonata hesitated, looking at the both of them, before Aria pinched her cheek. "You stay in school. Make friends or whatever."
"No fair. You don't get to treat me like a kid." She pouted and lightly batted her hand away.
"No, she's right," Adagio affirmed, "At least one of us has to get a proper education. And that's definitely not me." She wiped her eyes carefully, aware of the remains of makeup she still had on.
"And we'll get to those vocal lessons faster," Aria mumbled, settling back again.
"And therapy," Adagio added, to the groans of her sisters. "Girls, we have trauma !"
Adagio was awake a few minutes before her radio clock switched on. She took a deep breath and blinked, getting her eyes used to the light, stretched and yawned a little so she'd be ready to properly get up. As soon as she enjoyed the peacefulness of this moment a while longer. It was only a matter of minutes, anyway.
The minutes stretched on until finally there was a knock on her bedroom door. She sat up and stretched again while the door opened by itself.
"Dagi, you better get up if you want breakfast," Aria grumbled, poking her head in, "Sonata is going to eat all the cereal."
"We have bread, you know," Adagio said with a tired strain in her voice, "And eggs."
"Okay, your loss." Aria shut the door again. Adagio sighed and pushed herself out of bed, doing some vocal exercises while she made her bed. She got dressed and came out into the hallway just as Sonata was shoving a big lunchbox into her backpack.
"I'm auditioning for the play today, so I'm coming home later," she announced while struggling with her boots.
"You're home before us anyway," Aria pointed out bitterly, "I'm gonna get stuck carrying all the boxes again today."
"Well, good luck, I love you," Adagio said casually as she headed into the bathroom.
"Uh-huh!" Sonata said brightly just as she rushed out the door.
Adagio put on her face and took some extra time to check over her hair again, just to make sure it sat right, before heading to the kitchen and quickly frying two eggs. A short breakfast later, she took her purse and headed out with Aria, walking alongside her to the mall.
"So, I found an open therapy spot," she said after a few minutes of walking and listening to music.
"Not it," Aria said flatly, putting her finger to the tip of her nose.
"Aria, you have trauma."
"We all have trauma. You go first."
