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"Why have you called me here, dear star?" Sparkle questions, a teasing tone, her eyes following Robin's figure as the Halovian gracefully pulls out her seat and sits down in front of her. She rests her chin on her hands, leaning forward slightly. A smirk adorns her face.
Robin looked different. The Robin that was in front of her was not the same Robin that the world knew. This Robin in front of her had a solemn expression, the light that usually shone in her eyes no where to be seen. She watches as Robin glares at her, her expression hardening.
"Do not call me that. I'm merely here to make a deal with you, devil." Her tone was cold and harsh, Sparkle almost flinches.
Almost.
Her face momentarily goes slack in shock. She recovers quickly, her expression returning back to her usual playful smirk. If Robin had noticed the change, she did not comment on it.
"Woah woah woah... Devil's a bit harsh, isn't it?" She laughs and leans back, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes, trying to read the Halovian's emotions. Robin's defences were up, that Sparkle knew.
It was to be expected, of course. Sparkle was from the Masked Fools and one of the most dangerous members of them all. Which is exactly why Sparkle wanted to know why, exactly, the universally-renowned and loved star had chosen to meet her. In such a private setting, no less.
The room Robin had booked was sectioned off from the rest of the restaurant, away from prying eyes and ears.
"I'm sorry.." Robin's expression softens slightly, her eyes momentarily betraying her true emotions, but it was enough for Sparkle to understand.
Robin was tired. The star in front of her was fading, her light slowly dimming. She seems to have given it her all for one time too many.
"I'm just..." She rubs her temple, releasing a tired sigh. When Robin opens her eyes, she sees that the expression on Sparkle's face has changed from playful to full of curiosity.
"I need your help, Masked Fool."
Sparkle doesn't quite recall when Robin had stopped addressing her as "Masked Fool" or "Miss Sparkle", but sometime during their relationship the Halovian had begun to let down her walls around Sparkle. Opting instead to call her simply by her name, or a nickname she had come up with. The brunette wasn't complaining, she was never a fan of formalities to begin with.
"Hana, this plan... it will work...right?" Robin asks, pushing her food around the plate. They were at yet another restaurant, in yet another private room reserved by Robin just for them. They were only a few weeks away from the Charmony Festival, where Robin had planned to expose The Family.
She looks up from her food, nodding. "It will." She assures, her hand reaching across the table to squeeze Robin's hand comfortingly. She watches as Robin's shoulders relax ever so slightly.
"I will make sure of it."
Robin was breaking, she had been on the verge of breaking for awhile now. Breaking from the years of abuse and torture that she had to endure, the way The Family's watchful eye had never left her, even when she ran to the ends of the universe with her new career, trying to forget it all, was all getting too much for her.
She could not wait to see all their faces as she broke them down from within, like how they had done to her. But now that the day was drawing so near, she was getting nervous. Everything had to go right. Or all this suffering in suffocating silence would have been for nothing.
"A falling star." they had called her, even back then before she had left. She pretended not to hear, not to notice her perfect facade cracking at first. She had plastered a strained smile on her face, hiding away at gatherings out of fear that members of The Family would notice the way her smile did not quite reach her eyes.
A firm hand reached out to grab her arm, squeezing it tightly. She bit back a scream as she turned around to face her brother. She saw how his expression was hard, his mouth a thin line before it broke into a smile. Robin shivered in his grip, trying to twist out of it. She hated it when he smiled.
"My dear star," He began, his grip only tightening as he noticed Robin trying to break free. His smile grows as he watches Robin shrink into herself.
"You are not mingling with the guests. Didn't I remind you that nothing can go wrong today?"
"Sunday, the party's going fine-"
"This isn't about those insolent fools. Those- Those nobodies." His voice lowers as he cuts her off and pulls his sister closer to him, looking around to make sure no one heard his words. He couldn't have people see through his own facade. "This is about you. You need to be perfect for them. You absolutely cannot let The Family down."
"Sunday, please, I'm trying-" She tries to argue back.
He grips her tighter still to send her a warning and she stops talking, wincing in pain. She could feel his rings digging into her skin. She felt her arm turning numb, the blood circulation being cut off with how tightly her brother was gripping her.
"Brother, it hurts.."
He lets go of her, glancing down at Robin's arm. A light bruise had bloomed over where he had gripped her.
He adjusts his suit and backs away. His cold smile returning to his face and Robin fights down another shiver.
"Let that be a warning, Robin."
She nods meekly and watches as he disappears back into the crowd.
"...Hey, you okay?" She blinks as two fingers are snapped in front of her. Right. She wasn't with Sunday anymore. She was far away from him and everyone else in The Family, for now. She was safe here, with Sparkle.
"Oh thank god, I thought I lost you for a second there." Sparkle sighs as she retracts her hand. The brunette feigns nonchalance, immediately going back to eating her food, although she does steal glances at Robin to check on her.
The two fall into another wave of silence. The sounds of cutlery scraping against the plates the only noise coming from either of them. The light chatter of other patrons in other rooms could be heard through the walls.
Robin seemed to be deep in thought. Sunday still had such an effect on her. Even when he wasn't around. His words left a bitter taste in her tongue and a sinking feeling in her stomach. She clenches her jaw and tightens her grip around her fork, her knuckles turning white. She closes her eyes and wills herself to relax.
Soon, she tells herself, they'll all get their payment.
When she glances up, she is surprised to see the brunette already looking at her. The other girl coughs and looks away, her face flushing slightly at being caught staring. A small smile appears on Robin's face.
"Thank you."
"Hm?"
"For snapping me out of it, by the way. I was spiralling again, wasn't I?" She smiles apologetically at Sparkle. To her credit, the other widened her eyes and waves her eyes frantically, as if trying to brush off how bad it had been.
"It's nothing, you just looked really sad, that's all..." She trails off when Robin shoots her a look. Don't try and downplay it. She seemed to say. Sparkle feels her shoulders slump slightly under Robin's gaze.
"Yeah.." She sighs, before leaning back and crossing her arms. A playing grin appearing as she waves her hand in front of her face. "You had this really panicked look on your face and everything.." Her expression changes to mimic Robin's face when she was zoning out. She furrows her brows, a pained look appearing on her face as she stares of into the distance. She does an exaggerated tremble before breaking character and grinning again. "I did a pretty good impression of it, if I do say so myself."
Robin frowns, nodding as she takes it in. Sparkle's impression had been pretty spot-on, albeit a little exaggerated at the end, to what she felt. Was she really being that obvious with her emotions? It seemed like she was losing more control over herself than she thought. She knew she was cracking under the pressure, but she never realised how much of her had shattered already.
She smiles at Sparkle, reassuringly. "Well, I'll be fine, so don't worry about me." She watches as Sparkle looks away, her face heating up slightly and she waves her hand dismissively. "I wasn't worried."
The Halovian laughs, one of her more genuine ones, her eyes crinkling. Ironically enough, the very kind of person she was raised to not trust the most was the person whom she found it so easy to relax around. She might be the only person she's ever shown her real self to, fucked up thoughts and all. "I know, I know. A Masked Fool doesn't worry about things, much less Miss Sparkle."
"It's been awhile since you've addressed me so formally." She looks back at Robin, a brow quirked playfully. "I hope I haven't been demoted."
Robin waves her hand dismissively. "Oh, nothing of that sort. I was just teasing."
Sparkle leans forward, resting her weight on her arms. Her eyes twinkle with mirth. "The oh-so-somber fallen angel is teasing me? Did she hit her head while she was falling from the stars above?"
She tenses up slightly at Sparkle's choice of words. Fallen Angel. That was a new term. The Halovian looks away, letting the words sink in. Sparkle falters slightly, realising the shift in atmosphere once again, and mentally punches herself. She always had trouble knowing how to manage her words and read the room.
"Hey, I-" She begins to reach a hand out to comfort Robin but Robin raises her own hand up, stopping her.
"It's alright." She begins, a smile forming on her face once again. Sparkle feels a shiver run down her spine as she retracts her hand.
"Fallen angel. I quite like the sound of that." The Halovian glances to her wings at the sides of her head, seemingly deep in thought.
"Not quite an angel anymore, but not quite a devil yet. It seems to fit me quite well, don't you think?" She looks at Sparkle expectantly. The brunette quickly nods, a part of her was curious to see what Robin was going to do now at her new revelation. The other part, the slightly saner part, was a little afraid.
"Robin the Fallen Angel." She echoes back to the Halovian, furrowing her brows as she thinks.
She had heard Robin's plans to expose The Family and the entire corrupt system of Penacony when they had first met and had agreed to it on a whim, just wanting to see how things would play out. It was a performance from a Star she simply could not miss. She remembers thinking. It was only as Sparkle got to know Robin more did she realise how twisted the Halovian was. Hypnosis and manipulation? This was definitely in her lane of work. She just never expected the supposed darling angel of Penacony to harbour these same thoughts as well.
Was it bad that Sparkle liked it?
Sure, a seemingly sweet girl turning insane as she breaks under the pressure of never being perfect enough no matter how hard she tried would be quite off-putting for some people. But not Sparkle, for she was even worse, in theory. A part of her wants to protect the little bit of sanity Robin has left. The other part of her wants to push her and see how far she can go. There was a sort of comfort in knowing that they were both drowning, but at least they were drowning together. Sparkle was quite used to going down alone, for she believed she would always be alone. Until Robin had hired her on that fateful day, months back.
She was harsh and unable to read the room, always joking about something, causing her to seem insensitive to so many. Robin was patient and kind, always having a polite smile on her face. She knew when to speak and when to stay silent. She always knew exactly what to say and exactly when to say it. Logically speaking, they should be worlds apart. But what many people never realised was that Robin was only silent because she was calculative. She planned her interactions and the words that she spoke to a concerning degree. Only a handful of people knew of Robin's manipulative tendencies. Sparkle is lucky to have seen through it immediately.
She glances up and realises Robin was still staring at her, expectantly. A small smile still gracing her features. Ah, how lovely her smile was. Sparkle catches herself thinking. Her facade of being a graceful angel never breaks, even as the world crashes and burns around her, at her own hands.
"You seem to be deep in thought, Hana."
Sparkle hums and flashes her a grin, her mischievous nature returning as she shrugs nonchalantly. "Just thinking about how much I like this side of you, more than your perfect side."
And Robin's eyes flash with sadness for a second at Sparkle's words, again.
"You might be the only one who thinks that."
"And mine's the only opinion that matters." The brunette counters back, her words coming out surprisingly firm. Robin momentarily looks up in shock. She clears her throat and continues. "What I mean to say is, the real you is much more important than whatever your stupid *Family* thinks. Fucked up and all. I like it. Isn't that enough?"
Robin stifles a giggle, bringing a hand to her mouth.
"It is." She agrees, noticing the way the brunette's eyes light up at her words. "You're the first person that I didn't have to act perfect around."
"Well, I find your imperfections quite beautiful." She widens her eyes as the words leave her mouth. Ah.. she didn't mean to let that slip out.
She watches the way Robin raises an eyebrow at her, teasingly.
"Quite beautiful, you say.."
Oh what the heck. Sparkle thinks, shaking her head to dispel pounding of her heart in her ears.
"I mean... you are quite the sight to behold, even if you are a little messed up on the inside... Which is what I like about you." She quickly adds.
She watches as Robin laughs, another genuine laugh, her shoulders relaxing. The laughter travels around the room. And Sparkle thinks the Halovian's laughter is far better than any song that could be sung on its own.
"Are you confessing to me, Masked Fool? Do know I have broken hearts before." She teases, her eyes twinkling. She wants to capture the stars in her eyes. Oh no, Sparkle's heart is thumping even louder now. She feels it rising up her throat, clogging it. She swallows it back down.
"Perhaps I am.. Is that such a crime?"
She watches as Robin closes her eyes, smiling.
"A disgraced Halovian of The Family with a Masked Fool. A Fallen angel, with a devil." Robin's smile grows as she opens her eyes and stands up, grabbing Sparkle's hand and pulling her over. It is then that Sparkle notices their height difference. The Fallen Angel towered over her.
From all the times that they had met, they have been seated. Sharing meals and keeping a professional distance between them. Sparkle used to suspect it was because the Halovian was too wary of having people get too close to her, both literally and figuratively. Maybe she was right.
"I think we fit quite well together, don't you?" Sparkle dares to ask, trying to keep her usual playful tone but Robin was oh-so-close to her.
She giggles and nods in response, her shoulders relaxing as she looks into Sparkle's eyes.
"I think we do."