To say that Sunset was nervous right now would have been a great understatement. It had been a full day since the incident at the pool, and nobody had spoken to Aria since it happened. As for Sunset, she had been thinking about it for every single moment that had passed, and now, she stood outside the door to the music room, where she knew the Siren would be found. Hesitantly, she raised a hand, grasping the knob, before letting out a long sigh and finally opening it. Sure enough, Aria was there, staring out of the window on the other side, arms folded and not even bothering to turn and see Sunset enter. Her expression now a concerned one, Sunset closed the door behind her, making her way to stand beside her friend. There was silence between the two girls for a time, but, in the end, it was Sunset who broke it, though her words were tinted with clear nervousness.

“Are…are you okay?”

Aria said noting, merely frowning as she continued to stare out of the window. Sunset knew in her heart that the girl was bothered by something, and even more so that probing might lead to further conflict. Even so, she was her friend, and she was uncomfortable about something. That alone was more than enough motivation for the former unicorn to keep talking to her.

“You know…it looked as if you were doing pretty well back there…with that guy, I mean.”

And yet, nothing but silence came from Aria. Folding her own arms, Sunset looked out of the window herself, while still speaking to the nearby Siren.

“If…if it was something he maybe said to you, you know you can talk to us about it, right?”

At long last, Aria spoke up, though her voice was clearly angered.

“It wasn’t him. And I thought I told you that I didn’t wanna talk about it?”

Turning to her, Sunset’s expression softened somewhat before continuing.

“I know, but…you’re my friend, Aria. And…well…I’d like to think you can come to me if you need help.”

Aria, still staring out of the window, narrowed her eyes to that.

“There’s nothing to help! It’s my problem!”

To that, Sunset took on a slightly confused look.

“Your problem? What problem?”

A brief flash of hesitancy crossed Aria’s eyes, as she cast a glance over to Sunset before looking back to the window.

“It’s…it’s nothing! It’s something stupid. Not something I wanna talk about.”

Hearing those words, Sunset continued to stare at her, gently placing a hand upon her shoulder.

“Aria…if something is bothering you, you know getting it off your chest is going to be the first step to feeling better about it.”

Aria rolled her eyes.

“Ugh! You sound like Fluttershy!”

Sunset chuckled a little.

“Maybe…but that doesn’t mean it’s not true, right?”

At long last, Aria turned, looking Sunset right in her eyes. There was no hint of deception or mockery there, merely honesty. Sunset had meant every word when she said she wanted to help, and when Aria saw this, her own expression softened considerably. She opened her mouth, as if to speak, only to shut it tight again as she regained her earlier serious look. Then, to Sunset’s surprise, she walked off, briskly making her way to the door of the music room. Opening it up, the Siren poked her head out, checking to make sure the hallways were clear, after which she closed the door shut, and even, to Sunset’s confusion, locking it. Turning to face her once more, Aria marched towards Sunset, stopping just a few feet of her, before looking to her with utter seriousness.

“Okay, I’m gonna talk about this, but you gotta swear that you’re not gonna tell anybody what I say, okay?”

Although a little taken aback by that, Sunset soon shook herself out of it, raising one hand as if she were about to swear a national allegiance or the like.

“I swear, I won’t tell anyone what you tell me here.”

Aria stared for a moment, until she was satisfied that the girl had meant that. When the promise was done, and Aria cast another nervous glance in the door’s direction, she let out a sigh, before speaking to Sunset in earnest.

“I…I just freaked, okay?”

Sunset’s expression was one of confusion after hearing that, prompting Aria to explain herself.

“Look…I was doing all my regular stuff. I struck a pose, I flirted, I talked in that tone I know the guys like. But…as we were talking I just…I felt like I needed to be out of there, away from him.”

Sunset opened her mouth to speak, only to be stopped when Aria beat her to it.

“I know what you’re gonna say, and no, the guy wasn’t the problem. The problem is that…I knew where things were going there. It’s like it’s always been whenever I was with a guy, I’d do all the right things, say all the right things and then…well…you can probably figure out how that ends.”

The look on Sunsets’ face made it clear that she did indeed understand, however, her curious look returned soon afterwards.

“Aria…I don’t understand. I mean…I thought that was what you wanted? Some admiring looks, some…some intimacy. All that stuff?”

Aria nodded, folding her arms as she did so.

“I did, but…when I started thinking about it and how I might actually get it, I…I don’t think I actually wanted to go through with it.”

For a moment, she hesitated, looking away from Sunset.

“At least…not that way.”

Needless to say, that earned Sunset’s attention, as she raised an eyebrow before speaking again.

"That way? Um…what way?”

Aria looked to her, and as before, she showed clear nervousness about it all. However, also like before, Sunset’s expression was a reassuring one, and that did a lot to put the middle Siren sister at ease.

“Sunset…for all the centuries, the thousands of years my sisters and I have been here…we’ve been able to get pretty much whatever kind of guy or girl we wanted.”

Looking away, Aria frowned slightly.

“And when this whole things with you and the others started, I was all set and ready to get right back into the game, if only to know I hadn’t lost my touch.”

Soon afterwards, her expression became one of discomfort.

“But…there’s something different now. Something about the idea of me getting together with a guy that I’m not too sure about now.”

Sunset, upon hearing that, tilted her heads slightly.

“Aria…what is different?”

Turning back to her, Aria regained her frown from earlier.

“Can’t you figure it out? It’s our magic!”

As one would expect, Sunset looked rather taken aback by that. However, after Aria let out another sigh, she began to speak in a somewhat softer tone.

“Look…I’m not saying I used magic to get them in the first place. Like I said, my sisters and I had more than enough going for us to guarantee that magic wasn’t really needed to get people’s attention.”

For a brief moment, a slight smirk had appeared on her face as she’d said that. However, it vanished almost as quickly as it had come, returning instead to her earlier look of uncertainty.

“But…our magic…my magic…what it did guarantee was something far more important to me.”

Sunset stayed silent, waiting patiently as Aria got her thoughts together, before the latter spoke up with utter seriousness.

“That I…I was in control.”

Sunset, briefly, didn’t understand that, and seeing that expression caused Aria to let out a sigh as she started explaining herself, moving over to the nearby window as she did so.

“Look…when I was with a guy…I was only ever comfortable doing what I did with them because I knew that, when push came to shove, I was the one on top, the one in charge. I never needed to worry about them or what they might say or do to me, because I knew that all it’d take was a few notes from me to keep them liking me, wanting me.”

Turning away, the middle Siren sister’s face became one of concern.

“But without it…I don’t have that certainty. I don’t have that control. Now, if I get with a guy, I have no idea what’s gonna happen! I don’t know if he’ll stay as long as I want him to, or if things between us are gonna go well. And when I realised that, I…I was…”

But, Sunset had already heard enough to understand, and so finished her sentence for her.

“You were scared, weren’t you?”

Aria looked to her, somewhat surprised to hear that. And in these few seconds, the two girls shared a look of understanding, ending when Sunset finally broke the silence, adding her piece.

“Believe me…you’re not the only one who knows how difficult it is to be with people when you no longer have any power over them.”

Needless to say, Aria felt, at the very least, marginally more comfortable around Sunset after hearing that, a knowing nod passing between them. Even so, she still looked, of all things, almost ashamed with what she’d just admitted to. Sunset, seeing this, gave her all the time she needed to get things together. After a minute or two of uncomfortable silence between them, Aria exhaled deeply, speaking up in a lower tone than normal.

“Maybe…maybe we should just call this whole thing off. If I’ve got this kinda baggage going on, it’s probably not a good idea to keep trying to find someone.”

But Sunset, hearing that, shook her head.

“I disagree. You may not be comfortable going all out with physical intimacy, like you used to, but that’s no reason to stop trying to find someone to be with. I mean…”

A thoughtful look crossed her face for a moment or two before she carried on.

“…there must have been someone. Someone you and your sisters didn’t have to use magic on for them to stay close to you. Someone…someone you didn’t feel the need to enchant.”

Hearing that, Aria looked away, a brief look of nostalgia crossing her eyes.

“There…there was one.”

Smiling at that, Sunset walked over to a nearby chair, sitting upon it and gesturing to another one close by. Aria, seeing this, got the message soon afterwards, shrugging her shoulders before taking a seat herself. After thinking things over for a bit, the Siren finally started explaining things.

“It was shortly after my sisters and I got dumped in this world to begin with. In the place people today called ancient Greece. We’d travel from place to place, scraping by on whatever negative energy we could scrounge up. And by this point, we’d already gotten used to humans, and Adagio especially had been with more than her fair share of them.”

Aria reclined further into her chair before continuing.

“Then, one day, we got on this boat, travelling from Athens to Thessaly, when this storm hit. We were swept way off course, running aground on this tiny island, right in the middle of the Aegean. The ship was wrecked, and we knew we weren’t getting off the island until a trading ship or something came our way.”

Looking away, that same nostalgic look returned to her.

“That island…it was a small farming community. And we found this guy, an old-timer, who offered to let us stay with him until a ship arrived. Since he and those around him weren’t enough to give us our usual energy, we had to play nice, offer to work on his land and stuff.”

A chuckle escaped her at that thought.

“That month was probably the most honest labour my sisters and I have ever done.”

But, her smile faded a little afterwards.

“The guy…he had a son. Scrawniest kid you could ever meet. He and me, we were set up together, working one side of the nearby farmland while Sonata and Adagio worked the other. And as we worked, we…we got to talking.”

Sunset watched her, enthralled by this story, always staying silent as Aria continued.

“As the weeks rolled on, we…well…I kinda started to like him. He was the first guy I’d met in this world that I didn’t need to cast a spell on to make him interested.”

Gradually, a smile formed on her face.

“And he was interested. Oh sure, he blushed every time he looked my way, which was kinda cute, I guess. But…even then, I knew. As for me…it was weird, being able to get a guy without magic. It felt…nice. Different from what I was used to.”

Looking straight at Sunset, Aria’s expression was, to the latter’s surprise, a contended one.

“When he and I were together, I…I didn’t even mind that we were stuck on that island. And when a ship finally came for us, and we got off…I found myself actually missing him.”

She turned, a slightly sad look in her eyes.

“And even now…I still miss him. I know he’s probably dust by now, just like everyone from back then…but I can’t think of anyone I’ve met in this world, anyone I’ve been with…that I actually enjoyed being with as much as I was with him.”

At long last, it seemed as if her story had come to an end, and Sunset, sitting there staring at her, had listened to every word of it. She thought long and hard about what she’d just learned, thinking over her words carefully, before looking to Aria with a soft expression.

“Aria…I think…what you’ve been wanting isn’t what Adagio might want. All these years, you’ve been getting together with guys, when you can, but…have you ever felt…you know…happy with it?”

Aria looked to her with a raised eyebrow, prompting Sunset to explain herself.

“I mean, I know you might have been physically satisfied. Like Adagio said, you’ve got urges just like any Siren. But…did you ever feel at those times that you were…well…happy on the inside about it?”

The Siren stared at her, opening her mouth to speak, only to shut it again when being asked that question. She looked away, appearing deep in thought for a moment, before looking right back to her, letting out a sigh.

“No…I don’t think I have been.”

To that, Sunset actually smiled.

“Okay…now we’re getting somewhere. What you’ve wanted all these years is something emotional. Someone to make you feel good without having to charm or seduce them. You wanted someone to make you feel safe around them, right?”

Again, Aria thought on that, and again, she gave a nod, confirming what Sunset said.

“Yeah…I guess I have. Kinda weird to think of it that way though.”

However, her expression became that of a frown soon afterwards.

“Wait…does that mean I’m gonna have to look for one of those sappy types of romances like in those bad love books and stuff?”

To that, Sunset let out a brief chuckle.

“No, I don’t think that would suit you in the slightest.”

But, moments later, she looked to her more seriously.

“But I think that, from this point on, you shouldn’t just be looking for someone to share your bed or shower you with flirty compliments. You need to find yourself someone you can talk to, someone you can feel comfortable with.”

Leaning back into her chair, Aria gave out a huff.

“Ugh! I don’t even know how to start doing that!”

Smiling, Sunset leaned forward placing a hand upon Aria’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry. Now that we now what you really need, I think it’ll be better for us to help you find someone.”

Aria thought on that, and after a long silence, looked to Sunset with an appreciative smile. But, before either of them had a chance to say anything else, they were interrupted by a knocking on the door. They turned, somewhat surprised by this, but both got up to walk over to it. Unlocking the thing, Sunset opened it to find, on the other side, that Adagio herself was standing there, hands on hips, looking at her sister.

“There you are! I’ve been looking for you all day!”

Aria rolled her eyes at that, after which she gave her sister a softer look.

“Yeah…well…thanks for being worried about me, I guess.”

Adagio, hearing those words, looked a little taken aback by them, for which Sunset could not blame her, given Aria’s usual personality. Looking from Sunset to her sister and back again, Adagio took note of the fact that Aria seemed to be lacking the uncomfortable look she’d had since the pool incident, causing her to raise an eyebrow.

“Is…is everything alright here?”

Sunset opened her mouth, only to close it again before looking over her shoulder to Aria. There was a silent glance between them, during which Aria seemed a little worried. But, Sunset, offering her a small smile, looking back to her sister.

“Everything’s fine, Adagio. I think we can move ahead with helping Aria now.”

Needless to say, Adagio was a little surprised by that.

“Okay…anything I need to know about?”

Again, Sunset looked to Aria, and when she turned to face Adagio once more, she simply offered her a smile.

“Let’s just say we need to take things in a different direction now.”