Chapter 4: Unrequited

Splashfire99: If anyone gets confused as to when Concerto and Sonata got each other's numbers, it was during the interval from when they were at the café talking to when Sonata sang to him in the alley.

Without any hesitation, Cleffis walked across the road towards the girl. She was walking a distance away from him, hands shoved in her pockets. Seconds later, she turned into a deserted alley. Cleffis followed her, but before he could turn into the alley he saw a big, burly guy shoving her against the wall and holding a knife to her throat.

"Cough up all your money!" The guy threatened. "I don't have any money." The girl said. The guy, unconvinced, got angrier. "Then cough up whatever you have on you!" He roared. As in answer to the robber's question, the girl suddenly raised both arms and gave him a big punch in the left cheek. Cleffis, watching from behind the wall, was too shocked to move. Whoa, she's…tough, He thought. The blow made the robber drop his knife and stagger backwards. The girl adopted a stance, ready to land another punch. The robber quickly recovered, let out another roar of outrage and charged toward her, but she swiftly dodged out of his path. He instead smacked himself right into the brick wall. Still strangely captivated by this event, Cleffis stared as the girl's hood fell back from the momentum of her movement. He could see her face more clearly now: light purple skin, violet eyes, and long violet hair with green streaks. Her hair was in two ponytails, both tied with Silver Star bands. And she looked more angry and annoyed than fearful.

Aria faced the robber as he stumbled to his feet, groaning in pain and swaying from side to side. This was really getting old. Having been in the human world for many years, she had run into robbers, lechers and other good-for-nothings many times, and eventually, she had adapted to these little…situations. She was confident that she didn't need to run away...She could take down any crook easily now. But one thing for sure, this guy in particular was bigger and stronger than the rest. Just how many more blows would he need to get knocked out? The robber steadied himslef angrily and tried to charge at her again, but out of the blue, a bolt of silver smacked into him before he could reach her, startling Aria. As the man fell over backwards, Aria realized the bolt of silver was a boy. He was around her age, and seemed oddly familiar. The silver-grey haired boy gave the man an accurate and precise blow to the head, which was just sufficient enough to knock him out. As if on cue, two policemen appeared at the mouth of the alleyway. "What's going on? We heard noises." One shouted. The silver-grey haired boy jabbed a finger at the man. "He tried to rob her." He said, nodding to Aria. Both policemen looked at her. "Are you okay, miss?" The other policeman asked. Aria nodded. "I'm fine." "Alright, then we'll just take this crook into custody." The first one said, the two hauling up the unconscious man and handcuffing him. As they did so, Aria remembered where she had seen the boy. Silver-grey hair…hazel eyes…it was the same boy from the concert! An alarm went off in Aria's head when she realised that it was none other than Cleffis Steel, and while the policemen were hauling the robber off, she quickly walked away. The winking thing which Cleffis had pulled off on her while she was at the concert gave her a rather bad feeling. But unluckily, she didn't make it very far before he caught up to her.

"H-hey!" The boy slowed to a stop beside her, as Aria made no effort to conceal the fact that she wasn't happy to see him. "What do you want?" She grumbled, refusing to look at him and crossing her arms. "You were at the concert, right? I saw you from onstage." Cleffis said, ignoring her expression. "Yes, I was." She grumbled again in reply. "I had a feeling it was you!" Cleffis exclaimed, his tone showing an amount of happiness. "I never got to know your name." Her name? Just what exactly was this guy up to?

Cleffis watched the violet haired girl hunch her back a bit more, a small scowl on her face as she thought over his words. After a while of more silence, she finally sighed in annoyance. "Aria Blaze." Came her rather frosty mutter. "Aria?" That sounded like a music-related name: just like his! Cleffis hid a pleased smirk. Knowing they probably had something in common was going to make charming her a lot easier. "Wow," he remarked to her coolly. "That name's almost as beautiful as you are." Aria's only response was that her scowl got bigger. Okay, so that compliment wouldn't work on her, and so Cleffis's mind expertly formulated something else. "So why were you at the concert? You're not a fan, obviously." "I just like music." The girl grunted. "I was bored and came upon one of your tickets." "Bored?" Cleffis echoed, letting out a disbelieving laugh. "Why would a girl like you be bored? You must've had a lot of guys after you." "Oh really? There were no boys after me." Aria scowled, her face showing more and more annoyance. "Don't ask me such a silly question, Clef." "It's Cleffis." The boy corrected, rather shocked at the cold response he was getting. She wasn't falling for any of his lines. And before he could do anything else, she let out another cold mutter. "I need to go now." With that, she quickly walked off into the street, leaving a dumbfounded Cleffis behind. This girl, wherever she was from…she was the first girl whom he'd failed to charm. He had no idea why, but Aria wasn't the least swayed by him or his lines. Gah, cheer up, Cleffis, He thought to himself with a shrug. You'll have better luck with other girls. But as he walked back to his hotel, ne word constantly echoed over and over again in his head, resonating through his brain.

Aria…Aria…Aria…

*The Next Day*

Concerto waited outside his hotel when his phone beeped. Concerto grinned to himself. He knew who that was. He took out his phone and glanced at the screen.

Where 2 meet?

Concerto smiled at the text and quickly answered it.

Right outside Canterlot Garden Hotel. See u there: D

As Concerto put his phone back into his pocket, he heard a voice.

"Concerto?"

At the calling of his name, the boy looked up. "Yes…?" His voice trailed off when he recognized a pair of amber eyes. This pair of eyes belonged to a beautiful girl with pale lilac, curly hair. Concerto's heart almost stopped beating when he saw her. This…this was impossible, this…couldn't be. He hadn't seen her in…four years! Shocked, he could only choke out a gasp. "Ch-Cherry Blossom? I haven't seen you in a long time!" Cherry Blossom smiled at Concerto. "I moved here those years ago. You've been getting famous lately, haven't you, pal?" She asked. Concerto's face grew hot, and he struggled to find words to say. "I…um…yeah, I'm famous. Triple Rewind, heh." He stammered sheepishly. Cherry nodded. "Yeah, I know." Concerto couldn't keep his eyes off Cherry. She looked so much more beautiful than he remembered, and…."So… you're here now…" He fumbled for words. "Would you… get back together? With me?" At that, Cherry's smile faded. "Oh…I'm sorry I couldn't tell you, Concerto." She told him. "I…I'm with someone else now." The poor boy's heart was smashed to bits when he heard that reply. That had been what he feared most when he'd spent so much time waiting for her like this. "I see…" He couldn't hide the dismay in his voice. "It's fine." Then, without further thought, he found more words slipping out of his mouth. "I've found someone else, too." "You have?" "Yeah. She's a pretty nice girl." "Really?" Cherry had a rather skeptical look on her face. "Who is she?" Concerto was at a loss. He forced himself to look the girl right in her amber eyes. What could he tell her? "She's, uh…"

"Hey, Concerto!"

Both turned to see Sonata running toward them, a big smile on her face and both eyes only focused on Concerto. Concerto smiled when he saw his new friend. "Sonata!" The girl launched herself right into his arms, and he wrapped his arms around her waist, twirling her around happily. Cherry watched the ecstatic pair, suddenly looking blank. "Who's this?" She asked quietly. Concerto set Sonata back on her feet and turned to Cherry. "This is Sonata, Sonata Dusk." He said, gesturing to Sonata, who gave a cheerful grin and waved at Cherry. "Sonata, this is Cherry Blossom, my ex-girlfriend." He saw Sonata freeze for a moment. "Your ex-girlfriend?" "Yep." Concerto said. "And Cherry, Sonata here is my…" He stopped short, an idea forming in his head. "Hold on a sec." He hastily told Cherry, before pulling Sonata round. "Listen, Sonata, I need you to do a favour for me." He whispered to her. "I need you to pretend to be my girlfriend." As expected, Sonata was shocked at his request. "Huh? Why?" "Just do it for me, okay?" "Okay…" Both teens turned back to Cherry, who had been waiting patiently. She hadn't heard a thing. "Okay, um…" Concerto pretended to look nervous. "Sonata's my…girlfriend." Cherry's eyes widened. "She's your girlfriend?" "Yep." Sonata quipped, happily allowing Concerto to take her hand. He couldn't help but gaze a little at Sonata as well: she looked just beautiful in her dark pink shirt with blue straps and pink skirt. It was cheering to see that Sonata looked livelier in terms of her outfit rather than wearing that dreary dark purple hoodie again. And, the look on Cherry's face told him that she felt the same about Sonata's appearance. "Wow, you look…beautiful." She said to Sonata, who flashed another big grin. "Thanks!" Concerto glanced around. "Come one, Sonata, we'd better go." He waved to Cherry. "I'll see you around, bye!" "Bye, Concerto." Cherry waved back, but Concerto could sense a tinge of unhappiness in her voice, which was quite pleasing to him.

"…That was your ex?" Sonata asked, once they had walked a safe distance. "Yeah, my ex. We started dating a few years before I became famous. We were childhood friends also." Concerto's face became dreamy at the memories. "I thought we'd be forever, that we'd hold on to each other no matter what, but…" His face darkened with sorrow. "She moved away, and the distance just…killed it. I still loved her, but in her heart, we'd grown too far apart." Sonata couldn't help but glance at Concerto as he spoke, sympathy and pity welling up in her heart. "She's here, but she told me she's…moved on…" He lamented. "I'm sorry about that." Sonata said comfortingly. "But…why'd you ask me to act as your girlfriend in front of her?" Concerto sighed sadly. "Sonata…I want her back with me. She has to realise that she shouldn't have broken up with me in the first place. I've waited for her, this whole time…"

Both Adagio and Aria always said Sonata was the dumbest of the sirens, and Sonata had no idea exactly how dumb. But once those words left Concerto's lips, everything in her head clicked into place. Back with me…shouldn't have broken up…waited for her… His words rang in her ears, as Sonata realised what was going on. And at the same moment, an arrow went right through her heart.

Her first love…loved another.