That night, Olivia failed.

The darkening, twilight sky didn't feel real as she stood outside the Core Chamber. It felt more like she was watching a movie than participating in her own reality. The stars twinkled in the sky, waiting in silence, the same way that the Luminaries and High Speakers behind her did. DragonFae and Golem were elsewhere, keeping watch over the four High Speakers who were still Manifested from earlier in the day.

They hadn't told Olivia, of course, but her tattoo still burned cold on her chest with their presence. Her head was filled with what she had to do, with Stefan's teachings firmly planted in her thoughts. She knew exactly what she had to do.

"You can do it, Liv," said Stefan from his place beside her. "Just like what you've done in the past, only with a little more guidance behind it." He made some gesture that she didn't quite catch from the corner of her vision. She couldn't take her eyes off the stars. "Remember, breathe, and just let yourself feel the Song."

Olivia didn't know how to tell him that she wasn't feeling anything. The aurorasong was lost, somewhere inside her head, ripped and torn by the echo of Envy's broken Song that leaked into her skin from her wrist. There was nothing but a dull ringing noise inside her head. She'd hoped that the time, the place, that something might trigger a change, but...

She touched her wrist, rubbing her fingers just low enough to avoid that. "I don't hear anything."

"It's there," said Stefan. "It's faint, but it's there. Reach out. Feel it." When she didn't reply, he clucked his tongue, foot tapping against the ground nervously. "Remember what we said about good memories? About things that made you feel like singing? Tell me about one of those."

She tried. She really, really, tried, but it was so hard to get past the desperation creeping into Stefan's words. "Um, there was this time when my sister and I got ice cream after school, there was music playing in the shop." Starlight, it'd been forever ago since she'd last seen her sister. There'd been so much tension, so much fighting that didn't make sense. Their family had never really felt whole again after she'd left, but Olivia couldn't blame her sister. She blamed herself. "She dropped hers, but she made a deal with the owner that if I could sing the next song that came on, she'd get a new one for free."

"Did you do it?" asked Stefan. She nodded. "How'd it go?"

He prompted her through another few memories, but even the story about the time Ericka had attempted to get Hydra to go on a date with her failed to highlight anything except an ever-growing hole in Olivia's chest. The harder she tried to grab onto these memories and the feelings they were supposed to contain, the faster they slipped away from her.

Ella Manifested like those High Speakers. Envy broke her Song, too. She wasn't enough to save her partner, and you won't be, either.

Every time she thought she'd found something, a spark of the feeling that had called the aurorasong to her, a discordant note would rip it away from her. When she thought she had the start of the melody, the rhythm would be off, striking the entire thing into disarray and the notes into a scattered mess inside her skull.

Maybe... maybe she just needed a little motivation. Something to pull her back together long enough to do what she needed to do.

Olivia turned back to look at Cryo, and it was then that she realised the High Speakers were Manifesting.

Cryo, Pegasus, and Nereid were doing what they could to restrain the High Speakers as soon as they began to stagger and writhe, but they were outnumbered. Wings erupted. Skin became stone. A dark, violet light crackled over the golden glow of the starstone, and soon enough, it was only Ariel and another Frostspeaker who remained safe.

"Olivia," said Stefan, grabbing Olivia by the shoulders. "Olivia, you need to focus. Focus on the aurorasong--find it, embrace it. You can stop this. You can save them. All you have to do is sing."

She nodded. She meant it. She tried to find the notes. She managed a few, but they were forced--unnatural sounds in the silence that had claimed her throat. She squeezed her eyes shut, reaching out with every part of her being in an attempt to force something, anything to happen and completely and utterly failed.

"Ariel, Ariel no, Ariel, babe, you've gotta fight it. Fight it."

The sheer panic in Lucian's voice compelled Olivia to watch. He had Ariel's face in his hands as she hunched over double. Crackles of corrupted auroralight ran across her skin, causing elegant, graceful Ariel to erupt in violent tremors as she tried to resist it.

"Good memories, Olivia," said Stefan, unsuccessfully trying to pull her attention away from the scene. "What about a memory with Ariel? How is she supposed to be?"

"I--we went shopping one time, and we had a nice time--"

Ariel looked up, grabbed Lucian by the arms and shoved him away as the corrupted auroralight engulfed her.

"She... she had snow cookies, she'd packed them just for me--"

The corrupted auroralight became cloud. Cloud became long, feathered dark blue wings, and Ariel stood as a Pegasus for the second night in a row. Her blonde tail flicked the last of the cloud from her form, and her eyes locked onto Olivia.

Not enough to save her. Not enough to stop this, no matter how much you care.

Lucian was already back on his feet, Lightblaster drawn and pointed at his girlfriend. "Ariel, I need you to fight it! Don't make me do this!"

Faster than Lucian could squeeze the trigger, Ariel launched herself off the ground. Her hooves caught Lucian on his shoulders, and with one, powerful downward flap of her wings, she slammed his body into the starstone. He hit the ground with a cry, Lightblaster falling from his hand before Ariel landed on it and crushed its starstone frame beneath her hooves.

She didn't remain uncontested for long. As she turned to assess Lucian's threat, the real Pegasus flew straight into her from somewhere off on the side. They collided in mess of feathers and cloud, wings frantically flapping as they both attempted to gain an advantage on the other.

"That's my cloud!" said Pegasus. "Okay, look, I know I chose the right High Speaker but you can't--hey no you can't just touch a guy's wings like that--!"

"Olivia?" someone was saying from beside her, repeating her name over and over and over but she barely heard them, felt them. "Olivia!"

Ariel stood up. On the ground, half of Pegasus's wings had been turned to cloud, then used to bind his arms and hooves behind his back. The tangle of limbs left him struggling to stand, let alone get back in the fight.

Ariel advanced on Olivia. Behind her, Cryo was still fighting off the other High Speakers, having trapped some in a myriad of icy traps and slowed others with obstacles. Olivia was looking at him--not Ariel--as the Pegasus strode up to her. She saw the sinking look on his face as he realised he wasn't getting there in time. That he couldn't out-fly a Pegasus, especially not with the rest of the Manifested High Speakers slowing him down further.

Olivia knew she was going back to the Serpent's cage.

She knew that this time, she wasn't getting out again.

Ariel reached down, pulling Olivia to her feet. She hadn't even realised she'd sat down. She struggled in vain as Ariel pulled Olivia's arms tight against her body and wrapped her torso in cloud. Mind blank with panic, Olivia wriggled and Olivia kicked, but it wasn't enough to stop Ariel from lifting her up and spreading her wings, preparing to take to the skies.

Eyes and blades and whispers and padded floors and stripes of agony and an endless, endless dark swept across Olivia's mind.

This time, there would be nothing that could save her.

Then it did.

Stefan's voice filled the air with sound and light. The auroras engulfed Ariel, soothing the dark-edged light that transformed her until the clouds and the ice and the magic and the stone and the water of the Manifested High Speakers dissolved back into light.

Ariel's robes returned. Olivia found herself back standing on the ground. Across the courtyard, the High Speakers were restored to their civilian forms, dazed and confused by the icy, broken starstone around them. Stefan had collapsed and been caught by Nereid, who pressed her fingers to his throat and relaxed with a look of relief.

And Olivia...

Olivia just curled into a ball and tried to stop herself from shaking.

*+*+*+*

A/N - A shorter one, but one that didn't feel right anywhere but alone.