Alex and Sunset continued to help the Rainbooms as much as they were allowed to by the rules of the contest, and between songs they both helped make suggestions for song lyrics for the counterspell since Twilight still seemed intent on creating something new using the new information they had about it just needing to be an enjoyable song that they could put their hearts into.

Sunset’s insight on that part helped bring out some much better lyrics, but figuring out the notation and instrument balance was a much nastier problem without the proper rehearsal time. Every time they made a little progress it was showtime again, and they had to stop so the Rainbooms could stay in the contest. Before they knew it, the contest was down to the semifinals and Trixie had just finished performing.

“You guys can do this.” Alex stood with Sunset, looking out at the crowd. “All you have to do is beat Blue Man Group over there and it’s straight to the Dazzlings.”

“As if. These ‘Raingoons’ shouldn’t even be allowed to compete since they’re bringing in outside help to give them an advantage.” Trixie taunted as she walked off of the stage. “Everyone’s talking about trying to convince the principal to throw them out of the contest over it.”

“I don’t need Twilight to beat you Trixie, unless you already forgot how I won our contest at the guitar store and decided I liked this one better in the end.” Rainbow Dash patted her guitar with a cocky grin.

“Two minutes to stage, Rainbooms!” Luna’s voice came over the PA system.

“You mean noticed the price tag on the guitar we were fighting over was well outside your range. Besides, I had a stomach ache that day. You couldn’t beat me unless the judge was blind and half-deaf.”

“Oh please. I could win this entire thing as a solo act, and everybody knows it!”

“Will the two of you stop measuring your non-existent dicks and get on with it?” Alex questioned, looking between them. “Either start making out or actually do something productive.”

“Me? With her? UGH!” Trixie made a face and quickly tossed something at the ground that burst into smoke in front of the other group.

“She’s gone!” Pinkie gasped as the smoke cleared and everyone stopped coughing.

“Yes, that’s the idea when someone throws a smoke bomb. Shut up and get on stage so Trixie can be declared the winner!”

“Well, you heard David Copperfield, go!” Alex insisted, pushing Dash out from the backstage area. “If you get kicked out, this will have been a very, very, very big waste of time. Now get on that stage and put your money where your mouth is!”

Sunset put a hand on Alex’s shoulder as the rest of the Rainbooms filed out on stage, grumbling and utterly lacking in energy as they set their equipment up quickly and found their marks. “I think this is going to be bad.”

“Something’s gotta give,” Alex agreed, shaking his head. “We should get Maud and Limestone just in case we need a backup plan.”

Before they could say anything else the Rainbooms started playing, and Rainbow Dash was going all-out on her guitar right from the start, practically headbanging. Pinkie was barely putting forth more effort than it took to move the drumsticks, and was visibly slouching in her seat while the rest just seemed to be standing in place and playing along for the moment.

Sunset’s grip tightened on Alex’s shoulder. “No. Oh this is bad. If I was about to just because I was having fun...she’s practically trying to force it out and the rest are barely trying!” Spotting Dash’s ears starting to glow, Sunset moved past Alex and lunged onto the stage, tackling Dash right in the middle of a guitar solo.

Jeers began coming from the audience after the comedy of errors the that tackle caused. And another argument about what could have been done differently started up backstage despite Sunset reminding them that they did something similar to her, and she didn’t have the luxury of a nearby cord to tug on.

“Ah don’t care what Sunset did! None’a this would’a happened if you hadn’t tried showin’ off, as usual.” Applejack was right up in Rainbow Dash’s face, her hand inches from the blue girl’s throat.

“You’re just upset you don’t have my kind of skills!” Dash pushed Applejack away, sneering at her. “All of you are just weighing me down!”

“Nice job, ‘Rainbrooms!’” Trixie laughed as she re-entered the backstage area. “That couldn’t have possibly gone better, for me!”

“SHUT UP, TRIXIE!” Everyone but Twilight, Spike, and Alex yelled at the annoying blue showoff not named Rainbow Dash.

“I feel like I’m on an episode of Jerry Springer,” Alex muttered rubbing at his head. “Will everyone just stop!?” Alex commanded, glaring at Dash and Applejack. “Knock it the hell off and grow up.”

“Hey, Twilight, are we sure this world doesn’t have a version of Discord who’s still evil and turned everyone into jerks just like back home?” Spike spoke up, prompting Trixie’s eyes to pop open wide before she decided it was time to check what she’d recently drank.

“Girls, please, we aren’t going to get anywhere bickering like this,” Twilight commented, her voice strained. “Everyone just needs to calm down. We can’t perform the counter spell like this.”

The arguing settled down a little as Twilight’s plea seemed to smooth over a bit of frayed nerves, thought Rarity and Pinkie both seemed more than a little strained by all this. Trixie actually pulled out a compact and started to primp in the mirror as Celestia and Luna entered the backstage area to make a somewhat bigger presentation of the results and who would move on to face the Dazzlings in the final match. The Dazzlings entered right behind them and began singing something without any lyrics. The song was brief, and, once the Dazzlings had finished it, Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna stepped up on stage to make the announcement.

Another argument broke out between Applejack and Rarity over how there was no way they were moving on and there’d be no chance to show off the costumes Rarity had been working on. Astonishingly, it was Rainbow Dash who broke them up this time, just before Celestia cleared her throat and lifted the microphone. “The winner of this semifinals match, and the band that will be going on to face the Dazzlings in the finals this evening is, The Rainbooms!”

“It’s totally a set up,” Alex commented, glaring over at the Dazzlings. He looked eyes with Adagio and subtly flipped her off. “They got something planned.”

“Don’t antagonize them, we still need the countersong,” Twilight reminded, her shoulders sagging. “Let’s go get something to eat. I think we could all use a break.”

They all moved off quickly, after at least thanking the principal for letting them move on and studiously ignoring all the jeers that came from the students in the crowd who thought that it should have gone to Trixie given the interruption. Not one person in the auditorium even seemed to support the Rainbooms at all, but Maud and Limestone were waiting outside the backstage door.

“That was a bunch of horseshit. No way you should be moving on after that debacle.”

“Limestone, not in here. Let’s go get something to eat so we can talk freely.” Maud’s voice was calm, but she did move in to hug Pinkie. “We’ll also get your drum fixed up.”

“Aw, thanks, Maud!” Pinkie smiled, returning her hug.

”Just get in the van,” Limestone ordered, taking the driver’s seat. “We’re going to Five Gals. Anyone got a problem with that?”

“Five Gals? Please tell me they have at least one salad on the menu?” Rarity whined.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and glared at Rarity. “We’ve been hauling instruments around all day today, and you’ve probably burned more calories than you’ve eaten in the last week. Eat a damn cheeseburger for once in your life!”

“Can we please just take a chill pill?” Alex rubbed at his temples, groaning. “You’re giving me a headache. A bad one too. Limestone, can you put the radio on? Anything is better than listening to them.”

“With pleasure, little dude.” Limestone actually smiled as she started the van and turned on the stereo. What immediately started blaring from the speakers, completely drowning out pretty much anyone talking in the back, was a metal song that started with an almost-gentle guitar riff soon joined by a heavy drum beat and vocals that seemed to make the vehicle jump in place.

Alex sighed in relief, leaning back in his seat and relaxing for the first time in hours as they drove to get some more substantial food than vending machine snacks. On the way there, Pinkie’s damaged drum was dropped off at a repair place that promised to have it fixed within the hour as soon as Limestone showed them her credit card.

To call what the group proceeded to engage in next a regrouping would have been an insult to the word ‘regroup.’ Most of the meal was eaten in silence, and any attempt at conversation resulted in heated exchanges. Twilight seemed to shrink in on herself and paid more desperate attention to her notebook than she did to her food, which Spike ended up eating most of.

“Some band this is, huh?” Alex asked Sunset, taking another bite of his cheeseburger. Never had a cheeseburger tasted so good. He chalked it up to either the nature of the world, or just the lack of meat back in pony land.

“It’s gotten kinda bad the last few days, but I can’t blame it completely on the sirens and their emotional manipulations. Some of it might be that, like the magic inside them only protects them so much, but not enough. I’m not sure why I’m unaffected.”

“Doesn’t do us much good though, does it?” Rubbing his head, Alex sighed. “Still got that headache though. Probably something left over from the brainwashing.”

“Speaking of lingering side-effects, you look like this back on the home-side of the portal, right?”

“Yeah, this is me now.” Alex nodded. “Why do you ask?”

“I was just wondering. I mean, there are a few things that caught me by surprise when I came over and I thought you’d be the first one to suggest a trip to a drug store or something.”

“I’ll be fine,” Alex waved her off. “I know how to human, former pony.”

“Okay, okay. I just figured I’d ask. I guess you’ve got it all figured out and arranged back home then?”

“Sunset, quit botherin’ the poor guy. If he says he’s fine, he’s fine.” Applejack ordered from Alex’s other side.

“How is the song coming, Twilight?” Fluttershy inquired, risking yet another argument with her question.

“Not so well, I’m afraid. It all keeps coming back to the same basic problem...I’m not a songwriter, I’m a student of magic and science.” She sighed. “Maybe we should have just gone with one of your songs from the start, like Alex suggested. That way we’d at least know if it worked or not.”

“You still can, no reason you can’t,” Alex pointed out, tossing a fry into his mouth. “Nothing’s stopping you other than Dash’s John Lennon-sized ego.”

“Right, but could any of you agree on just one song to play? I’ve looked through your book for inspiration, and you’ve all written at least one song.”

“I’ll play anything that isn’t more of Rainbow Dash stroking her own ego.”

“Hey!”

Twilight put her head in her hands as an argument about what song to play began racing around the table. “Could we...not do this again?”

“I’m with Twilight, let’s just eat and be merry,” Alex pressed, shaking his head. “Please?”

“I can’t believe she’s doing the same song twice,” Alex muttered, looking up at the ceiling. “She doesn’t have another self-aggrandizing song?” It was catchy as hell, making him having to listen again all the worse.

The Rainbooms had found themselves trapped under the designated stage for the finales. Instead of using the schools auditorium, the principals, of their own free will or the Dazzling’s song, had decided to hold the finals at the town’s outdoor amphitheater. The band had arrived early to practice, which came to an end shortly afterward when Trixie pulled a switch and dropped them under the stage.

And that’s where they had been for the past few hours. Trying and failing to get out, falling into arguments. It was business as usual for the Rainbooms. Twilight was even curled up into a corner, holding her legs against her chest and poking her fingers together as if there was nothing better to do. Sunset hadn’t stopped pacing while avoiding the argument, mostly, and all of them had tried the door, but it simply wouldn’t budge, not even after Alex had tried to unlock it with Aubade.

“Trixie’s not exactly the most creative person to begin with. At last year’s talent show all she did was bring in tricks she’d copied from some big-shot stage magician. Poorly. She ended up getting disqualified after one of the setups collapsed on another student who volunteered.” Sunset muttered as she continued searching through the various things stored away under the stage. “Need a crowbar, or a sledgehammer, or an axe. I just want to get out already.”

“Aubade’s pretty sharp,” Alex replied, hefting the keyblade over his hand and swinging it at the door. “These things can cut through skyscrapers!”

“Alex...no.” Twilight spoke up as she slowly stood. “You could hurt someone if that’s true, or cut something dangerous open. Who knows what kinds of chemicals are in some of these containers?”

“I know how to swing a big key, Twilight.” Dismissing her concerns, Alex took a few more swings at the door. “Come on, just break already!” Gripping the hilt tighter and using both hands, he raised Aubade back over his head to use all the strength he had against the obtrusive door. “Open!!”

“Alex!” Twilight yelled as his blade was quickly hooked by something while Sunset gasped. That gasp was followed by a couple staggering steps. “I warned you you could have hurt someone!”

“I’m trying to get us out of here!” Alex hissed, whirling around to confront Twilight. His anger bled out, eyes locked onto the object in Twilight’s hands.

Twilight followed Alex’s gaze down, having acted without even thinking about what she was doing, or trying to do. She gasped at the sight of the keyblade that had manifested in her hand, one whose body was the same shade of purple as the primary color of her mane, or hair, with six brilliant pink gems separated into two groups of three, each the same color as the primary star that formed the center of her cutie mark. Three of them were arranged into a cross at the tip, with a silver circle connecting the spaces between them and reaching around for a space that looked to be left open for a fourth at the top, a seventh gem in total. The other three were arranged in an almost crown-like way along the top of the guard, and where the guard met the body of the blade, and the grip itself was silver as well. A small keychain dangled from the bottom of the guard, with three much smaller gems surrounded by more of the purple material into a vaguely heart-like shape.

On the floor between the two of them was a scattering of red and yellow hairs. “I-I was just going to pull him away and give him a hug. I didn’t see it coming…”

“Jesus... I-I’m sorry.” Alex let Aubade slip from his hands and allowed himself to slide down against the door. “God, Sunset, I’m sorry.” Placing his head in his hands, he let out a shaky breath.

“I-I’m okay, it’s just hair.” Her voice was shaky still, and she walked back up to him quickly. “I just forgot blade safety 101 is all. Never get within the possible swing arc.”

None of them had really noticed the absence of sound from above after Trixie’s song ended, and even the five native to this world utterly ignored a different bass beat starting up as they were still caught up in their ongoing arguing.

“It’s okay, nobody got hurt.” Twilight knelt down to pick Aubade up and hand it back to Alex. “We don’t have a lot of room in here, that’s why I told you not to.”

Alex took it from her, eyeing it critically. “Yeah well, that doesn’t excuse me acting like a psycho.” Shifting his gaze back to Twilight, he paused. “Hey uh, anyone else see the weird green mist or am I having a mental breakdown?”

Sunset looked around, and her eyes opened wide as she observed the green glow suffusing the air around the Rainbooms and rising up through the cracks in the ceiling that formed the stage’s trapdoor. “They‘re after our magic! You have to stop fighting!”

“There was nothing in the literature about the sirens being able to absorb magic...how could that have gone unnoticed?”

Applejack scoffed, turning her ire to Sunset. “And how could they do that? Our magic is the magic of friendship”

“Ever since you started this band you’ve been letting little things get to you. I never said anything because I didn’t feel like it was my place, not when I’m still so new to the whole ‘friendship’ thing.” Sunset paused for a moment to look back over her shoulder at Alex and Twilight. “I still have a lot to learn, but I now know that if you don’t work out the problems right at the start, then this magic of friendship can clearly turn into something else. Something wrong.”

“I’m sorry, I knew things weren’t going well but I didn’t try and fix it.” Twilight sighed, letting her body sag. “I was so caught up trying to get the counterspell just right. I thought if I could get it ready, we’d just work it all out.”

“Well it’s not like you could have know this was a worse situation than any other argument between friends, Twilight.” Alex offered. “Sure it was more annoying than usual, but that’s what arguments are for outsiders: annoying.”

Sunset placed a hand on Twilight’s shoulder. “That’s another thing, and I know this applies to me as well, friends should be able to see when someone’s in over their head and offer to help. I should have offered my advice about the counterspell after that first session in the barn. Nobody has all the right answers, and pinning all of it on you wasn’t really fair of any of us. You’re supposed to be able to find the friend that has the right answer, or hope that you can all find it together.”

“Is this a bad time to remind you guys that I had the right answer from the start, or are you going to keep ignoring the little guy because it’s disrupting your ‘girl talk?’”

“He’s got a point.”

“Ah’m sorry ya’ll.”

“I can make apology cupcakes!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! We can’t be doing all this apologizing stuff now!” Dash pulled Fluttershy and Rarity close, grinning cockily. “We’re the Rainbooms! Are we gonna let some fish brainwash our school?”

“NO!” They all said in unison, except Alex, who added a ‘fuck’ at the beginning.

“Then let’s break down that door and get out there so we can fight them, stop them, and kick their scaly butts!”

“Rainbow Dash, dear, as much as am for taking back our school, we’re still trapped in here,” Rarity said, pointing to the door.

“I think Alex and I have a solution to that problem.” Twilight held her keyblade up and pointed it towards the door where a couple slash marks were evident. “Maybe without the argument distracting us we can cut through it this time with Aubade and…” She paused and looked over at Alex. “Is mine one that you know the name of from the game series, or is it something new that I have to name for myself?”

“Sign of Innocence,” Alex answered after a beat, gripping Aubade with both hands. “I think that’s one that fits you well. Everyone else, stand back.” Stepping forward, he slashed the door again. “Get in a tempo with me, Twi.”

Twilight nodded and adjusted her grip so the keyblade felt comfortable in her hands the same way it had in her magic. She then copied Alex’s form as much as possible, and channeled all the frustration she’d been feeling about the counterspell into each swing. “You got it, Alex.”

In almost no time, the two of them managed to cut through most of the door, allowing in a rush of cooler night air. The two of them began focusing their cuts with that breach as the center, and it wasn’t long before the wood began to creak and split under its own weight. The section with the doorknob fell in first, seemingly freeing them, and Twilight slammed her shoulder into the door only to still bounce off and stagger backwards...as the door swung open inwards.

“Uh, everyone okay in there?” Spike’s voice came from outside.

An alabaster girl with blue hair waved, her eyes hidden behind a pair of shades.

“Ow...” was Alex’s only response.

“I’m okay.” Twilight stated quickly before reaching out and pulling the door open the rest of the way. “Spike? Thank Celestia you’re safe, but what took so long? Where have you been?”

“I had to find someone who wasn’t under the sirens’ control, and apparently she just never takes off her headphones.” Spike pointed back at the girl behind him. “Looks like you guys figured...oh, neat, Twilight. You got your own keyblade like Alex’s.”

“Y-yeah. It really saved the day in here, I guess.” Twilight almost seemed bashful about it in front of Spike. “Anyways, we’re free now, so how are we going to beat the sirens?”

“What we have in store. All we want and more. We will break on through! Now it’s time to finish you!” The Dazzlings sang out from where they were floating on stage, and their eyes began glowing red as their gemstone chokers flared. Monstrous magical constructs formed as the three sisters raised their hands to the sky, and the Rainbooms all fell silent for a moment in shock.

“Uh, Twilight, I think it’s time for plan K. Sunset and the girls should keep singing while you and I use our keyblades to take out the gems. That’s clearly the source of their powers.” Alex fumbled a bit with the replacement coat Rarity had made for him as he stepped back to the white car the mystery girl had brought along to help, holding out the spare microphone to her. “Thanks but, I think the time to mash X has arrived.”

Twilight nodded and let go of the microphone she was sharing with Sunset. She smiled at the former troublemaker and nodded resolutely in response to Alex. “I think that’s a great idea, Alex.”

“Go save the day, Princess.” Sunset smiled as she took a deep breath before bellowing out a death-metal roar that really didn’t fit with the song they were singing, but managed to push back all three approaching monstrous seahorses for a few seconds. The star-shaped metal studs in the space-themed dress Rarity had made twinkled in the lights of Vinyl’s car, and the sequins forming her stylized sun mark scattered more light all around.

This was followed by Pinkie finally breaking the trance that had seemed to come over the group and start playing the drums again, and that seemed to break the rest out of it as Twilight and Alex started racing for the stage with their keyblades forming in their hands.

“Just the chokers, you really think that will work Alex?” Twilight asked as they ran.

Alex shrugged. “Even if it doesn’t, we’ll be right up in their face with keyblades to smack them down.” He looked over at Twilight again. “Hey, do your wings work, or are they just decorative on this side?”

“Oh no, they work.” Twilight demonstrated by giving them a flap and hovering in the air.

“Then how about you carry me and we make use of them? It’ll be better than trying to move through the crowd at the stage, faster getting there than just running too!” He quickly moved over to Twilight’s side, and she slowed down a little to match his pace before scooping him up in her arms and taking off.

It took Twilight a moment to adjust to his added weight. She grunted, beating her wings hard. “Be ready, something tells me they aren’t going to give up easily.” With a final burst of speed, she reached the stage and released her grip on Alex.

Aria hissed as they landed, immediately throwing out what looked like a burst of watery magic. “Keyblades. We should have known there would be keyblades involved when it came to getting back some of our power. You won’t stop us!”

Alex rolled to the side, suddenly wishing he had magic of his own. “You fucking brainwashed me!”

“You lied to my sister!” Aria threw another blast of magic out at Alex’s legs, this one looking more like fire.

“You screwed with my head!” Alex leapt over the magic, hurling Aubade at Aria. “Brought up shit I buried!”

Aria ducked, but the hurled keyblade slashed through one of the fins that had grown from her back, causing her to let out a shriek of pain as she flew forward. “If it weren’t for Sonata objecting, you’d be buried! You should be thanking that moron!”

“The hell is wrong with you?” Closing the distance, Alex’s fist connected with Aria’s jaw. “You kill happy psycho.”

“It’s survival, kid!” Aria ignored the punch and brought her clawed hands around to scratch at his face, then summoned a glob of water to hold in front of his mouth. “We’ve been starving for centuries on this world, and now we can finally access our full power, and you were putting this in jeopardy!”

Another burst of water curled around Aria’s leg and pulled her off of Alex even as it climbed up and began healing her shredded fin. “NO! No killing, Aria. Drive him off!” Sonata’s voice was clear enough, and drew Alex’s attention across the stage briefly.

Twilight and Adagio were locked in combat together in a complete stalemate. Each time Twilight swung her keyblade it was met with a matching slash from a clawed hand, and the few cuts she’d managed to inflict were also being healed by a stream of water that led back to Sonata.

Alex coughed, stumbling backwards. Recalling Aubade to his hand, he took a step closer. “I don’t care if you’re starving or not. I’m not going to let you play any more mind games.”

“You don’t care? What a surprise, neither did the pony who banished us!” Aria roared as she closed back in and lashed out with three swift strikes at Alex’s head and neck. “He didn’t care about anything but himself!”

Pain coursed through Alex as Aria’s claws cut him across the forehead. “Maybe if you tried to find another solution that didn’t involve mind fucking everyone around you, this wouldn’t be an issue!” He thrust forward, Aubade’s teeth grazing Aria’s side.

“Our father was dying! Our mother was starving herself for him!” Aria sucked in a breath and ignored the pain as she lashed out again, her claws raking at Alex’s extended arms. This was followed by a loud scream full of concentrated magic that slammed into Alex like a hard kick. “We were just trying to save our family!”

Tumbling away, Aubade spun out of his hands. Alex trembled, his arms warm with blood. Ignoring the ringing in his ears, he pushed himself up. “Ends never justify the means, Fish-Bitch.”

Aria let out a bitter laugh as she floated forward and used another burst of magic to knock the keyblade further away. “You have no idea what we actually did back home, do you? That asshole probably claimed he’d banished a ‘great evil’ didn’t he?”

“I don’t know, I’m not from there.” Alex glared up at her, holding onto his bleeding arm. “What are you going to do this time? Make me think I’m a high schooler? Oh, maybe you need a maid? You seem like the slave keeping type.”

“You don’t know a damn thing about me, other than that I helped Adagio subdue you when we saw through your ruse.” Aria sneered as she leaned over him. “You’re subdued again, now, so I’m done. Go back to your mother.” She reached up and tugged at her choker, then sighed. “Still stuck…”

A slow smirk crossed his face, even as he opened the hand on his uninjured arm. “Considering you know what a keyblade is, you should know I’m not disarmed.” Aubade reappeared in his hand and he gave her no chance to retaliate. Thrusting it towards her neck, a thin beam of light emitted from the tip of the blade, striking the gem.

Aria let out a choked gasp and fell backwards as the choker unsealed itself from around her neck, clattering on the stage and emitting a gentle purple glow. Interestingly, nothing changed about the way she looked, other than the fact that she was slightly more pale. She curled up into a ball and began groaning in pain while clutching her stomach.

“Aria!” Sonata raced over and seemed to completely disregard Alex as she knelt down next to her sister and began looking for a wound to heal. “Hang on, hang on. I’ll get you healed, I can do that again!”

“I got her necklace off,” Alex commented, leveling Aubade at Sonata. “Yours too.” Forcing down his guilt, he shot another beam at Sonata’s choker. “If it matters, I’m sorry I lied.”

Sonata jerked and gasped as that beam hit her choker. Staying upright, she caught her choker as it began to glow blue, and immediately wrapped it around Aria’s neck. The other siren stopped groaning and gasped as energy began to flow back into her.

“S-sonata...what? I...I don’t feel hungry anymore…”

Sonata giggled as she started to sag, bringing one hand up to caress Aria’s cheek. “I gave you mine. Collect and share, remember? It’s been...so long. I finally got to give all that hate it wouldn’t let me eat to someone else.”

Aria moved quickly to catch her falling sister, and looked around for her own removed choker. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck, Adagio, surrender! They can get these things off and we can finally feel full again!”

“What?! These things have been stuck since we got here. There’s no way they’d come loose now!” Adagio had been pushed back as Twilight grew more confident in swinging the keyblade, and each attack she attempted was now being deflected instead of the other way around.

“Twilight! Point Sign at her choker and make it unlock the damn thing!” Alex dismissed Aubade, swaying ever so slightly. “So uh... can you do your Avatar water healing on me, or is that just limited to other fish people?”

Aria looked at Alex like he’d grown an extra head before shaking her own. “I can’t do the healing thing, never learned how. Sonata’s great at it and Adagio could always fill in if Sonata was asleep or something.” Aria’s hand found the choker that had been removed from her, and she tossed it over towards where Adagio and Twilight were fighting. “Adagio, hurry up! Sonata’s gonna die!”

The glowing stone caught Adagio’s attention, and she scrambled for it immediately at the cost of another few slashes before Twilight realized this wasn’t an attack and backed off. “I surrender! I surrender!”

“Twilight! Unlock the damn thing!” Alex shouted, doing his best to ignore the blood flowing into his eyes.

Twilight nodded and held Sign of Innocence out towards Adagio’s neck, the tip of her keyblade within an inch of the necklace before a thin beam of light shot out and the enchanted silk loosened.

Adagio actually began crying as she pulled the loosened artifact off her neck and threw it over to Aria, then brought Aria’s up to her neck and held it in place. She immediately slumped as all of the tension in her body flowed out and old aches began to be soothed.

Aria caught the now-yellow gem and slapped it in place against Sonata’s neck, not even taking care to use less force as any hurt she caused was going to be healed immediately. Sonata’s skin lightened within a second, and she started breathing regularly again.

“Thanks kid...fuck me. If I’d known a keyblade could fix a broken locking enchantment I’d have told my sisters to surrender the second you set foot on the stage.”

Letting himself fall back, Alex didn’t respond. Bringing a hand up, he wiped the blood from his eyes. A cold clinical haze seized his mind, telling him just how bad his wounds were. How long he’d have to bleed out, if any arteries had been nicked.

Adagio stood up slowly and held her hands up as she walked over to sit with Aria at Sonata’s side. After a few seconds of chatter between the two of them, Adagio sent out a small gush of green-tinted water that seeped into Alex’s wounds and began to heal them. “You...we hurt you the other day, and yet you rescued us while we tried to drive you off again.”

Sonata came back around after a minute or so, a bright smile on her face. “We’re free!” Wrapping her arms around both Aria and Adagio, Sonata began laughing with raw, unbridled joy. “We’re finally free!”

Alex gave a thumbs up before laying his hand back down. “Honestly? I just wanted to hit you a lot. Still do.” Closing his eyes, he let the strange numbing touch of the water sweep over him. “We all just got lucky.”

“All because I decided to check and see if maybe all this energy had fixed the broken things. I want to go home so we can take them off forever.” Aria looked up at Twilight, her normally-hard face looking almost pleading. “Please tell me we can go home again, at least for a little while?”

Pulling away from her sisters, Sonata bowed her head. “C-can we ask for pardons? I-I just... I wanna say goodbye to our parents. I-I they... you know but...” She fought back a sob, hugging herself.

Adagio pulls Sonata back into a hug, but stays silent for a while in thought. “I don’t think I deserve to go back home. I’m the one who convinced you to wear these for mom in the first place. I’d miss you two, but I should probably stay here for the time being. Maybe we can meet again in another thousand years for a while, or whenever the worlds connect again.”

Pushing himself to his feet, Alex grabbed Adagio’s shirt and pulled her down to his level. “Don’t you ever, ever abandon family. Your scaly ass is going back through that portal. We clear?” He pushed her away, and rested a hand on Sonata’s shoulder. “Go say bye to your dad, okay?”

“We can’t all leave forever. I’ve got a couple businesses to run here, or at least arrange to transfer control.” Aria shifted uncomfortably as she said this. “How long does the portal open for, or do you have some kind of spell you can cast that allows you to return?”

“I will, and thank you, Alex. This...this means everything.”

Nodding absentmindedly, Alex walked off the stage. Finding a nice spot away from any prying eyes, he allowed his emotions to pour out. An envious thought wormed through his head, feasting on nurtured resentment. “I hate you, Dad,” he whispered to himself, desperately trying to wrap his mind around the idea that someone had a father they’d risk everything to save.