Author's Notes:

Uh, yeah.

I slept poorly, as a fully-dressed guy on top of the covers only can.

At some point I stirred and opened bleary eyes to see Adagio there, finishing up on getting dressed. She noticed me and moved over, settling me back and even managing to somehow get me tucked in. I was too dazed to really do much about it.

“Shh, go back to sleep, I’ll be back later,” she said, even going so far as to give me a stroke, something which - had I been more awake - I might have had more of an opinion on. As it was I just mumbled and closed my eyes.

There hadn’t been any compulsion in what she’d said, but then there didn’t need to be. I just went back to sleep because I was sleepy.

Predictably, after that I slept for longer than I might have intended and woke up still groggy some time later feeling like I’d wasted a good day for escape attempts.

Splashing water on my face and maybe waking myself halfway up I stumbled out from that room into the main part of the suite where Aria and Sonata were just sitting around. The television burbled, but neither seemed particularly engrossed. They looked up on my entry, Sonata with something like actual warmth and Aria just with irritation.

“Morning. Or afternoon. One of those,” I said, finding an unoccupied chair and slumping down.

“It’s afternoon,” Aria said, the way one might phrase an accusation. I didn’t feel especially bad about it. I doubted there was a lot I could do to improve her opinion of me at this point.

“And you guys are stuck here with me?” I asked, scratching, getting another irritated glare from her.

“Adagio says you’re important, which means we have to make sure you don’t go anywhere. So just sit there and be quiet,” she said.

“That and, like, she said we were dead weight ‘cos we couldn’t do anything to help her yet,” Sonata added brightly. Aria just grunted and sulked harder, eyes back on the screen though I had a feeling she wasn’t paying the show her full attention.

There wasn’t a whole lot of conversation after that. Just the three of us sat in varying types of silence. I wondered if I was unhappy about having missed breakfast, then decided I wasn’t hungry and then wondered about that for a bit. It was not interesting, and got me nowhere.

“Ugh, bored. I’m having a shower. You watch him,” Aria said out of nowhere, rising and pointing an imperious finger at me.

“Okay!” Sonata said, swivelling in place towards me as Aria went back towards their room.

Having Sonata literally watch me was unsettling after maybe a straight minute of it. I cleared my throat.

“I, uh, don’t think she meant it literally, Sonata. I think she meant just generally,” I said.

“Oh, oh I get it. Yeah, you’re probably right,” she said, going a little pink and swivelling back again to keep watching the television, stretching her legs out across the sofa she’d claimed.

I tried to follow what was happening on-screen too but it all so much noise to me, and besides something a little more important had caught my attention.

Sonata had one of the keycards to the room. She was playing around with it, I could see, just flipping it around and passing it from hand to hand before putting it down beside her. I did my best not to look like I noticed this.

A plan formed. A very much spur-of-the-moment plan, set into motion and given haste by the sound of the shower running off elsewhere in the suite. It would not run forever, so I knew I had to run now.

Getting up and moving over beside Sonata and taking a knee I made sure I got her attention before calmly and with as much sleight-of-hand as I could muster just reaching up and swiping the keycard off from where she’d laid it down. Sonata, looking at me quizzically, did not notice.

Inwardly I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Is there a minibar in here?” I asked her, off the top of my head.

“Yeah! But, uh, Adagio said we weren’t allowed to touch it,” Sonata said, glumly.

“Am I?”

This thought plainly hadn’t crossed her mind.

“Uh, she didn’t say.”

“Hmm, well, I’m willing to get in trouble. I’ll share with you if I find something good,” I said. Sonata looked delighted.

“Ooh! Thank you,” she said.

Instead, I headed for the door, obviously, fiddling with it and the keycard a moment before figuring out how it worked and getting the thing open. The ‘clunk’ the electronic lock made sounded deafening to me but I didn’t care, it was the sound of success.

“What are you doing?”

I jumped about a foot. Sonata was right behind me. Freezing with the door open a crack I turned back, giving what I hoped was an expression that said ‘This is fine I’m allowed to do this’.

“I’m just going to step out for a minute Sonata, okay? Just a minute. Just have to check something first,” I said, jerking a thumb towards the door.

“Uh, I don’t think you’re supposed to?” She asked, as though checking with me, casting her eyes in the direction of where Aria had gone. The shower was still running.

“She just didn’t want me leaving but I’m not leaving, I’m just stepping out. I’ll be back,” I insisted, pulling the door open another inch or so.

“I dunno, that still sounds kinda like what I’m not supposed to let you do,” Sonata said warily, still checking to see if Aria was there to confirm with. Aria, thankfully, was not.

“I know, but it’s not, really,” I said.

“Really?”

“Really.”

She scrutinised me, peering close as though she might be able to somehow see if I was lying if she came within a specific distance.

“You’re not trying to escape?” She asked, phrasing it as a ‘gotcha’ question.

“No, I’m just stepping out for a second. To check something, “Sonata looked to be just on the cusp of buying it so I drove the point home: “I wouldn’t be trying to leave if it wasn’t okay, would I?”

Sonata chewed this over for a moment, then smiled.

“Yeah! Yeah that makes sense,” she said.

The guilt I felt from doing all of this was alarming. It was rather like putting a blanket over a puppy then running away before it knew what was going on. But needs must.

“Cool, I’ll be back alright?”

“Okay!”

You know, honestly, it was a little too easy. Not a good idea to spit on providence though. I made good my escape, slipping out as quietly as I could and hurrying down the corridor. I took the stairs - no time to wait around for lifts.

Kept expecting Aria to come running after me at any moment, kept glancing back. Got to the bottom without a hitch. Got through the lobby without a hitch, smiling and nodding to the receptionist. Got outside just fine, turned left just because it seemed like a good direction to go in.

Saw a very, very familiar head of very, very big hair coming the other way, attached to someone who looked surprised to see me.

Shit. Oh my timing was bad. How can it be that bad?

But my legs are long though! Long enough to compensate for mistakes. So I ran.

I ran around a corner and into an alley, which was probably a mistake as it turned out to be a blind alley.

Shit.

Leaping behind a bin I hunkered down and tried to make myself scarce. Not one of my finer moments, hiding from the scary mind-controlling girl, but my options seemed limited. In fact, there was only really one way this was going to go, probably. She’d seen which way I’d gone. She was going to find me. But that didn’t mean I had to make it easy.

I heard footsteps stop. Then I heard nothing. I kept very still.

“Come out, it’s okay. I’m sure there’s a good reason you’re outside the room. Come out now.”

She wasn’t talking directly at me, so it didn’t work immediately. But I could still feel it. Something tugging on me, trying to pull me up to my feet. Like the world was tilting to tip me forward. Gritting my teeth and squeezing my eyes shut I focussed all my energies on sitting the hell in place as perfectly as possible.

More footsteps, getting closer.

“Come out. I’m going to find you, so just come out.”

She wasn’t wrong. She was going to find me. I knew that already. Keeping on hiding was pointless. Keeping on hiding was just wasting her time. Why bother?

Because wasting her time is the point, damnit!

Continuing to grit my teeth while working a thumbnail into the palm of my hand I stayed there behind the bin all the way up until Adagio came saunting around in front of me, whereupon she stopped and looked down, arms folded.

“It’s a fair cop,” I sighed, getting back to my feet.

I expected an immediate and forceful telling off and couldn’t really look her in the face. Confrontation was never one of my strong suits. Instead, Adagio sighed as well, which got me to look up, albeit carefully.

“I understand,” she said.

This I hadn’t expected. I wasn’t even sure what she was talking about.

“You do?”

Adagio nodded.

“I do. I know this must be difficult for you to take in, and that’s okay. I know you’ll understand, it’ll just take time. It’s okay. I’m more interested in how you were allowed out.”

A big, hefty weight in my gut told me this wasn’t going to end well for the other two. For some reason that made me unhappy. Seemed wrong somehow I get let off with an ‘I understand’ and they get all the blame for me slipping away. I felt culpable.

“Oh, that was, uh, I snuck out. Yeah. Snuck out when they weren’t watching me. Not their fault,” I said, breezily, flapping a hand to show just how damn breezy I was being. Adagio wasn’t convinced.

“Key,” she said, holding out a hand. I passed it over and she hid it away somewhere so quick I didn’t even managed to see where.

“Which one left it lying around?” She asked.

“You know, I didn’t see.”

I could tell she didn’t believe me, but she smiled and said no more about it, instead just linking an arm through mine and gently but firmly steering me back out the alley.

Rumbled, fuck. All for naught.

“If I hadn’t have spotted you, what was your next move, exactly?” She asked, coy enough to use the same intonation when I’d asked something similar last night. No sneaking anything past her, apparently.

I remained breezy, doing my best to act like this whole situation wasn’t that big of a deal.

“Walk maybe? I hear hitchhiking is making a comeback. Sure I could have figured something out. I just thought it would be, uh, helpful not to have me to worry about. Kind of figured what with you trying to, you know, regain your powers and so on you wouldn’t want me slowing you down,” I said.

Her grip on my arm tightened as we moved back into the hotel lobby. I gave the confused looking receptionist a sheepish look. Adagio did not slow down and her grip did not loosen as we stood waiting for the lift.

“I’ve carried those two this whole way on my own, even before we lost our powers. I think I can manage with you around. And anyway, I needed them around before. I want you around. There’s a difference,” she said.

Not sure what to make of that. Not sure if I wanted to make anything of it. I decided it would be better to just not reply, and Adagio didn’t make an issue of it.

“I was thinking you and I could have some dinner out, later,” she said once the lift arrived. This blindsided me. The dinner thing, not the lift arriving. I’d been expecting that.

“Uh, okay?”

The lift doors closed and up we went.

“Friends do that sort of thing, don’t they?” She asked, pouting, unsure. I scratched my neck. Sharing a confined, inescapable space with Adagio made me unaccountably nervous.

Best play along. As ever, just play along.

“I guess? Sounds nice either way, sure.”

Adagio smiled.

“Just some things to take care of first,” she said.

There was a ‘bing’ and we arrived, Adagio steering me again - to keep me from making a break for it, I had assumed - until we were back outside the room. She opened it up and herded me in, following close behind.

From the looks of things we got back in time to Sonata and Aria caught in the middle of having an argument. If I were to take a wild guess I would say that it probably had something to do with me having disappeared.

That guilt came back again when they both looked our way on hearing the door go. Aria just looked angry, but Sonata looked genuinely hurt. I’m a bad man!

Seeing Adagio the pair of them immediately snapped to what was basically attention, smoothing themselves out and doing their best to look as though they hadn’t just been caught out and that everything was fine. Sonata even waved, though she still looked a touch upset. I’m still a bad man!

“I have good news and I have bad news,” Adagio said, making sure the door was shut and locked before walking over to them both.

“Um, what’s the good news?” Sonata asked, sounding hopeful.

Adagio stepped up to the table and wordlessly produced from somewhere about her person a frankly staggering amount of cash. Like, I have no idea how she was even managing to hide it given that I don’t think that thing she wore even had pockets.

“Cash. Cash is useful,” she said.

Not much denying that. Seemed kind of a crude and crass way of getting things started but you’d be hard pressed to find a situation that couldn’t be made considerably easy just by throwing money at it. Certainly, Aria and Sonata both looked like this was very good news indeed.

“And the bad?” Aria asked cautiously while Sonata looked at the money with wide-eyed awe, her hurt at my betrayal forgotten.

Adagio moved and took hold of my wrist, tugging me forward. Why she couldn’t have just asked me is anyone’s guess. Dramatic effect, I assumed.

“I found him outside. Tell me, how is it he managed to get out?”

“Ah…” Said Aria.

“Um…” Said Sonata.

Further answers or elaboration were not forthcoming.

This really seemed like a storm in a teacup to me, nowhere near as serious as Adagio seemed to be taking it, but that was from where I was standing. From where Sonata and Aria were standing they had their leader looking like she was six inches away from throwing them both out the window.

And who knew where Adagio was standing. I couldn’t fathom what was going on inside that girl’s head.

“Anything?” Adagio prompted, drawing out further noises but no actual words. She growled and that shut the others up immediately.

“If I had been Sonata on her own I might have understood, but you were here too, Aria, and I seem to recall you being vaguely competent, so how did it happen? Were you not paying attention, or did you wander off? What could you have been doing that was more important than the one thing I told you to do?”

There were no correct answers to this. Even if Aria told the truth she’d be screwed, because that would immediately go from ‘I was showering’ to ‘I left Sonata on her own to do the thing’ and that would just mean trouble.

You know, personally speaking, I felt most sorry for Sonata in all this. Poor girl.

“Sonata hugged him!” Aria blurted, hand whipping up to point over at Sonata, who just blinked, uncomprehending. Very poor girl! Getting dropped in it like that. And Aria wasn’t done: “Yesterday! When you were booking the place, she hugged him.”

Adagio went very quiet and then turned towards me.

“Is that true?” She asked.

Jesus she sounded serious. Like someone had died. It was just a hug! Friendly-like!

A hug is a two-person deal, isn’t it? At least generally speaking, so it didn’t really seem fair for Sonata to shoulder all of the blame.

“Well, strictly speaking we hugged each other, I mean-” was all I managed to say before Adagio’s hand whipped up and pressed a finger to my lips. I was shocked enough by how quick she moved that I shut up.

Adagio apparently did not share my viewpoint on hugs, as the look she gave Sonata was far from friendly. It was a look that suggested something bad had happened and that all the blame lay solely on Sonata.

Kind of the opposite of what I’d wanted.

“You hugged him?” Adagio hissed. I tried to speak again but she just pressed the finger further into my lips, doing a good job of pushing my head back as she spared me an alarmingly kind look.

“Shh,” she said to me. “Don’t worry. Relax. Sit down.”

Adagio could handle this. This was fine. I didn’t need to worry. And I did want a sit down anyway. There was a chair just behind me! Handy. Sitting down, relaxing, I tried to remember why I’d been so worked up a second ago.

Then I saw Adagio getting in Sonata’s face and it all came back to me.

Fuck! She did it again!

“He’s not your friend! He’s my friend! Mine! All you had to do - all you have to do! Both of you! - is make sure he stays put and that he stays safe!” She snarled, reaching to grab Aria and hauling her around so she could glare at them both at the same time.

“Sorry Adagio,” Aria said, eyes wide.

“Y-yeah, sorry Adagio! It was an accident!” Sonata squeaked.

“An accident? An accident?!” Adagio spat with righteous indignation, pausing only to give me a significant look when I tried to stand up again, significant enough to make me stop trying.

It did seem to make her consider what she was doing though, as she let go of the other two - having been holding them both by the collar - and took a step back.

“I wonder…” she said, stroking her chin, eyes narrowed. “Without the gems, without magic, we were basically mortal, which means you two still are...basically…I wonder…”

She was peering at them as though looking at something new for the first time. Aria and Sonata squirmed in discomfort, clearly unsure where it was going but knowing it couldn’t be anywhere good. I was just confused. And a little scared. I’m a big boy, I can admit that.

“Does that mean you’re human enough for me to make you do anything I want? I wonder…”

Still stroking her chin, she was now smiling. And not one of her nice smiles. The very opposite, in fact. This was the kind of smile that made me want to move further away.

“A-Adagio, please…” Sonata whimpered, inching behind Aria who held her ground but looked no-less frightened.

“You wouldn’t,” Aria said. Adagio’s smiled widened.

“Why don’t we find out if I can first? Jump,” she said.

They both jumped. Adagio giggled and clapped while the others just looked terrified.

“What could I get you two to do that might make you remember to be better at doing as you’re told…” Adagio said, grinning and advancing as the other two shrank back.

Holy shit what was happening, this was ridiculous. This was ridiculous! What was she doing? Why was she so pissed off? This wasn’t a big deal! I had to act! A force compelled me to act!

“Hey! I said, interjecting, leaping up and in between them all, blocking Sonata and Aria. Adagio’s eyes snapped up to me, surprised. “Didn’t you, uh, say something about, uh, dinner out?”

“Um, yes, I did but I really should-” she said, tilting her head towards Sonata and Aria, but I carried on:

“I mean, I don’t know if it works different here but we should probably go now if we want a table, right? A good table, I mean.”

This must have sounded pretty convincing because Adagio turned fully to face me on that, head cocked.

“Really?” She asked. I nodded.

“In my experience.”

Mostly I was guessing, but she didn’t know that, and I was laying it on thick enough even I was starting to believing myself.

“I can get us a good table,” she said with a savage grin.

Hadn’t actually thought about that. Made sense, she probably could. Easily, not discretely. But I kept it up, pressed on.

“Uh, well, yes, you could, but wouldn’t want to strain yourself would you? You’re not fully recovered yet, right? Don’t want to wear yourself out. I - I wouldn’t want to see you hurt yourself.”

I was making all of this up as I went along, feeling my way forward, hoping against hope that at least a bit of it would be enough to catch and divert her attention. The last part I was especially proud of, mostly as I hadn’t even really thought about it that much until after it had left my lips. In my head it seemed like the sort of thing Adagio would like to hear.

“You don’t?”

“Course not. You’re my friend, aren’t you?”

That was what Adagio had wanted to hear, it seemed, as she had the face of someone who’d just been told her birthday had been moved forward to today. The sudden change was pleasant to see, but unexpected. She really did look a lot nicer when she wasn’t filled with inexplicable, cold fury.

“So - so you think we should go now?” She asked in soft tones a million miles away from the way she’d been speaking just seconds before, the smile on her face genuine and warm.

It really was like I’d just defused a fucking bomb. All the tension bled away almost at once and just over Adagio’s shoulder I could practically read the relief written across Sonata and Aria’s faces. I tried to keep my attention on Adagio though, knowing it was important that I did.

“Yeah, we should go now,” I said, nodding, moving in to take the initiative and hook my own arm through hers this time. She blushed. I swallowed. “Did you have somewhere in mind?” I asked.

“Uh, n-no not really. But we can find somewhere. Yeah?”

Was I fucking kryptonite to her or something? She’d been just about ready to lay out some evil shit now she was asking me for confirmation about where to find restaurants?

I just smiled back at her.

“I’m sure we can,” I said, using this as my opportunity to be the one to steer, taking her back towards the door which she fumbled out a key to open.

Before we left the room proper I got one final, fleeting look at the other two. They were clinging to one another and looking shaken, but I could also read relief plain across both their faces. Even Aria looked grateful, or at least as grateful as was possible for her.

Then it was just me and Adagio back outside the room again, heading back to the lifts, me thinking furiously about what had just happened and what I could possibly do from here on out.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and label all of this as disturbing and unusual behaviour. This whole thing, top to bottom, from the kidnapping and everything after that.

I think Adagio might have some kind of problem.