"… I can't talk you out of this… can I?"
Lydia lifted the mirror to see Melody's heartbroken face. "No, I'm afraid you can't."
Tears came to the girl's eyes, shining in the moonlight. "I just want to go home, Aunt Lydia! Please! I want to go home and be with Dori and Phedrea, with you! Just free my friends and my mothers, it can go back to how it was!"
Lydia turned her head away from the mirror before giving a scoff. "I've done too many unforgivable things… It's too late to go back."
Melody watched as the past muse looked towards the lake where the castle once stood. "We were friends for a long time, your mothers and I. They both loved music and people, the entire world, so deeply… Their friendship, our family, I was fine like that for the longest time."
It seemed like she could see her memories reflected back from that lake: dancing with her friends, teaching the children of the castle music, singing Melody to sleep each night.
"But when I found that cave, my feelings changed…" She noticed Melody's surprised face and laughed. "You thought I found it after I left, hm?"
"You mean-?"
"I like to think it wasn't the magic that corrupted my soul. That I was always like this." The woman hummed. "Then I don't have any life to miss when I'm the only muse…"
The girl sniffled softly before bowing her head in a somber understanding.
"Now then, we made a deal, didn't we, darling?" Her eyes narrowed as the warmth faded from her eyes, possibly for the last time. "Give me the key or I'll send Slyder back to the cave to dispose of your precious friends."
"Okay, okay!" Melody cried in fear, knowing even though Liana had been cut free she wouldn't have abandoned Alexa in that state. Hopefully she'd already found a way to break Lydia's spell and the two were on their way to save her. She had to buy them time, just in case. "The key… is to place diamonds in the diamond."
"And that is?"
"The boulder."
The diamond-shaped boulder she spoke of sat just at the edge of a nearby lake. Dori had carved into it a long time ago, creating a game for Melody and the other children of the castle to play with. Plenty of others were inside the castle itself, but Lydia had always been so focused on her music or her fellow muses that she'd never noticed them.
"I see it." Lydia smiled, walking up. She set the mirror in one of the cracks. "Now what?"
"Each slot holds a diamond…" Melody said slowly, trying to come up with something believable. "… Placed in the proper order, the castle will then be revealed."
Lydia lifted up her arm to reveal a cuff studded with gems. "Where do I begin?"
"I'm so sorry, Liana, about everything!" Alexa blurted out, surprising her partner.
"There's no need to apologize, I should've never left you in that mansion in the first place." Liana insisted, taking her hand. "I love you, Alexa."
Alexa embraced her for the third time since she'd woken up, scared to let her go too long without one. "I love you too, so much…"
"Oy, are we interrupting something?"
The girls turned to see Ian and Jeremy along with Sparkles.
The puppies happily reunited as the couple walked up to the two.
"You always are." Liana teased Jeremy as they got off their horses.
"You two alright?" Ian asked worriedly. "We thought that witch got you!"
"We escaped, but Melody wasn't so lucky. She and Lydia went to find the Diamond Castle. We have to get to them before it's too late." Alexa insisted as she ushered Sparkles and Lily into their baskets.
"Alright! A rescue mission!"
"Are we sure this mad plan will work?" Ian asked as they neared the seven stones once more.
Alexa gave a quick nod as her beloved helped her down. "I believe it will. It has to. If Lydia finds the Diamond Castle and destroys the muses' instruments, the world will be plunged into shadow."
"But if it doesn't work then you'll be…"
"It'll work. I believe in us." Liana insisted, placing a hand to her pendent. "No matter what happens, our love and friendship will see us through."
The twins exchanged a glance but then nodded, ready to help.
"Let's go save our friend."
"The last one!" Lydia grinned sharply, plucking out another diamond from her excavated cuff.
Melody nervously nodded, watching her place it in the final slot. She had no idea what she'd do if her friends didn't show up soon.
Slyder and Melody were silent as Lydia waited for the castle to appear, both waiting with bated breath.
"…Where's the castle?" The woman hissed, turning back to the girl in the mirror.
Melody gave a weak smile. "You see, there are a… few more steps…"
The witch narrowed her eyes in disbelief before letting out a sharp laugh. "Oh, I see what's going on now! You've been playing with me!"
"I just-!"
"Diamonds aren't the key at all. You think your friends will come rescue you! You poor, deluded child~"
Melody's sadness morphed into a feeling of anger, one she'd been holding in her heart all the years she'd been trapped in the mirror but hadn't found reason to unleash it until that very moment.
"Enough!"
Lydia stopped circling her in surprise.
"I don't know who you are anymore, I don't know if it's the dark magic or if it's really you but- but I can't accept it!" The girl yelled, tears in her eyes. "All you care about now is what and who you can keep to yourself! The muses and I have been trapped for ages because of your jealousy and greed! The Diamond Castle was made to share music and create harmony… The way you are now… you no longer deserve to walk its halls!"
Lydia's face twisted in rage before she snatched the mirror up, bringing it close. "How dare you…!"
The girl tried not to show her fear, wincing slightly.
"I was planning on releasing you if you managed to behave but now- now-!"
She was interrupted by the faint sound of music wandering through the woods, seemingly from a guitar.
The two exchanged a questioning glance at each other before Lydia snapped to Slyder. "Go, Slyder, and make it snappy!"
The serpent slivered off into the woods to find the source of the music: one of the young men that had saved the girls before.
Seeing the chance at revenge, Slyder chuckled before sneaking up behind the man.
Once Ian felt the serpent's hot breath on his shoulder, he nodded to his brother who tackled the beast.
Jeremy hit him over the head before being quickly bucked off.
Ian winced seeing his brother land roughly on the ground before glaring at Slyder. "Payback time, beastie!"
"Slyder, what is it?" Lydia yelled, only turning back when she heard her niece's excited gasp. "What?!"
Liana and Alexa were already running to get their friend back.
"So far," Liana whispered, pinpointing the mirror sparkling in the moonlight.
"So good!" Alexa smiled back at her.
Melody smiled so wide her cheeks hurt. Her friends were free and back together again! "Oh, I knew you'd come!"
Lydia glared between the friends who all looked so hopeful until she noticed they weren't wearing their guardian stones. She smirked before raising her flute to her lips, playing the eerily tune.
The girls slowed to a standstill as the magic enveloped them, their faces going blank.
"Now to do what I should've done earlier." The witch hissed. She beckoned the girls forward. "Come to me."
"No… Don't listen to her!" Melody yelled, tears coming to her eyes before turning to her past mentor. "Lydia, they're my best friends! Please don't do this!"
Liana and Alexa walked forward stiffly, neither Lydia or Melody noticing them trembling wildly as they did so, hearing their friend beg for their lives.
"You had your chance to save them before, my dear, and you wasted it. It's time you face the consequences for lying to me."
She played her flute again, the music drowning out the girl's sobs as the lake beside them formed into a whirlpool.
"Liana, Alexa, stop! Stop!" Melody sobbed, choking down breaths.
"Aw, don't cry, darling, they'll go together." Lydia assured her.
They didn't need any command to grab each other's hand as they stepped towards their doom.
Melody took in a shaky breath as they neared the edge. "I'll tell you the key, the real one, just please-!"
Liana snatched the flute out of Lydia's hands as she was about to pass before tossing it to Alexa. "Alexa, catch!"
The girl caught the flute with a smile. "Got it!"
"How did you-?!"
Liana pulled out her necklace with a confident smile. "Do you believe in magic?"
Lydia gave a growl before suddenly holding up the mirror, aiming its glass towards the sharp boulder. "My flute, now! Or I break the mirror, then she nevers gets out, never!"
Melody stared in fear at the woman, tears still not dry from before. She never thought she'd be capable of actually destroying her. A whimper escaped her lips. "Auntie…?"
Lydia couldn't hear her over her ringing ears as she glared at the girls who were now holding each other along with the flute. The darkness in her silenced any part that cared about what happened to any of them.
Liana and Alexa's eyes widened in shock and terror as she raised the mirror higher before swinging it down.
"Wait!" Alexa screamed, Lydia stopping just before the mirror could hit a particularly sharp point.
Liana was against it but knew she had to let Alexa go in order to make the deal.
"You can't…" Melody whispered.
"I have to." Her friend smiled through tears. "You already saved me, it's only fair."
Alexa was ready to hand over the flute, ready to do anything to save Melody's life like she had saved hers and Liana's. Even though she didn't know where she'd been or what she'd been doing when under Lydia's control, she had still heard voices, including the one that saved her.
"You mustn't let her have it, no matter what!" Melody yelled.
"You sound like you want to die in that prison…" Lydia laughed, her voice sounding strained.
"No…" The girl whispered sadly as tears rolled down her cheeks, staring out at her friends before turning her face towards Lydia. "But I will. To stop you!"
She crossed her arms over her chest before thrusting them sharply out.
The mirror shattered in a defining crack.
And Melody was gone.