A Shimmering Heartbreak

Chapter XVIII: Afternoon Surprises

"I will talk to her. She wasn't trying to be malicious, so I'm sure she'll take my words seriously."

"You're telling me that you're not the least bit mad anymore? As soon as I show up, you are suddenly fine with what she did?" The red liquid falls off of her dress towards the ground, her red gem glowing brightly.

"Of course I'm mad," I whisper, looking back towards my feet with a shake of my head. "But I don't need your help to decide what I will do."

"You needed my help to realize that Sunset's dear friends haven't necessarily made amends with each other. And this day is going just wonderfully, by the way," she whispers before laughing at the situation, reappearing on my other side with ease. "The way you handled Twilight is exactly what I have wanted to see~ I never thought I'd see you cause fear in someone again, given the path you're trying to go down."

"That wasn't intentional... I didn't mean to do that." At this point, I'm given little choice about listening to her words, leaving me with ignoring her as my only option.

"Whether it was intentional or not, it still serves to show you have what it takes to bring out those old siren tendencies in you. Maybe you have potential yet." Her chuckle stabs at my mind, making me shake my head out of frustration. "You want your chance to talk to Sunset and 'try to make things right'? Here she is now."

Looking up, I see that all too familiar hair, the sun reflecting off of the red leather jacket I bought for her. Her eyes scan the crowd around her before connecting with mine, waving to me with a big smile on her face. She quickly closes the distance between us, running up to me and giving me a big hug, one I return slightly. Despite what usually happens, she doesn't disappear... "Hey, Adagio~ how did things go with Twilight?" Sunset asks me after letting go of our embrace, the shadow of myself crossing her arms with a smirk.

"They went fine..." The siren queen laughs to herself, drawing amusement from my response as she floats above the ground.

"If you call that scene fine, then sure," her striking whisper ensnares my mind again, forcing her words to be heard.

"Did something happen...?" Sunset slowly asks me, noticing the clear lack of motivation I have in our small interaction.

"Yeah, actually," I say quietly, crossing my own arms as I keep my eye contact with Sunset, trying to desperately ignore the siren queen. Taking a deep breath, I sigh, rubbing my forehead slowly. "I found out that Twilight was studying me." My tone comes across as more annoyed than I had meant it to, but there's nothing I can do to take it back. Sunset's eyes open wider as she hears my statement, a nervous expression coming to her slowly.

"Oh...? Did she tell you why she was...?" Sunset asks me slowly, tightly gripping her bag's strap out of nervousness. Without saying a word, the evil demon just floats there, watching everything happening with an amused stare.

"Yeah, she did," I say quietly, looking away from Sunset. Words fly through my mind, forming incoherent thoughts and forcing me to try and think harder of what words I want to say.

"I... I'm sorry, Ada-" before Sunset can finish her apology, I hold my hand out in front of me, stopping her sentence.

Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath and try my best to compose the thoughts in my head, holding onto my scarf. That monumental task isn't exactly helped by the presence of her, the shine of her red dress still distracting me. "Sunset. I lied to you for a while and that hurt you. I just want you to know that you hurt me too... You could have talked with me rationally, but you went behind my back and..." My words trail off into nothingness, trying to think of exactly what to say rather than spouting off whatever words I can because I'm angry... "We made up last night and I thought that would be the end of it, but you asked Twilight to treat me like some study animal rather than a person. I would have considered it if you had talked to me, but it was sprung on me, making me feel like you lied to me too."