Chapter Text
Iris leaned over the small bed, her honey-blonde hair slipping over one shoulder as she tucked the little girl in with practiced care.
“There we go,” she murmured. “Nap time!”
The child, no older than four, pouted up at her with round, stubborn eyes. “No nap.”
Iris grinned, unfazed. “Nice try. Your mom said you were up at six this morning, and you look like you could fall asleep standing.”
The little girl wriggled under the blanket, hugging her favorite stuffed animal—a worn bunny with one floppy ear.
“Story?” Iris asked, lifting *Goldilocks and the Three Bears* from the nightstand and waving it like a magician revealing her final trick.
The child tilted her head. “No book.”
“No book?” Iris repeated, faking shock. “But this is a classic! Bears, porridge, a girl with questionable boundaries—what’s not to love?”
The little girl giggled but shook her head.
“Song,” she said firmly. “Lull-a-by.”
“Oh.” Iris blinked. “Right. Um…”
She looked around as if a lullaby might appear out of thin air.
The little girl patted the blanket expectantly. “Pleeeease?”
“Well… okay,” Iris said softly, setting the book aside. “But you have to promise to actually nap this time.”
“Promise,” the girl said with a sleepy nod.
Iris cleared her throat gently and began to sing.
“Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are…”
Her voice wrapped around the room like velvet, low and comforting. The child’s eyelids began to flutter closed, her breathing slowing as she snuggled deeper into the blanket.
“Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky…”
It was simple, innocent… and yet, Iris felt something in her chest stir. A familiar warmth. A shimmer of something just out of reach, like the memory of a dream she couldn’t quite remember. As always, singing filled her with a strange kind of energy—quiet and glowing. But she never mentioned it to anyone.
As she reached the last line, a loud slam echoed from downstairs.
Iris jumped.
The little girl, however, didn’t even stir.
Iris stood carefully, trying not to disturb her as she crept toward the door.
Then—clatter. Something metallic.
Iris froze on the threshold, straining to listen.
Footsteps approached.
The girl’s mother appeared, purse slung over one shoulder and keys in hand. She raised an eyebrow.
“Hey,” she said. “Everything okay?”
Iris let out a breath and smiled sheepishly. “Yeah. Sorry, I think the wind slammed the door.”
The woman looked amused. “That old thing? Probably. It always catches just right at this hour.”
She stepped into the room, checking on her daughter, now fast asleep with her bunny tucked under her chin.
“I didn’t expect her to be down so fast,” the mother whispered. “You have a gift.”
Iris flushed a little, rubbing the back of her neck. “It’s just a lullaby.”
The woman gave her a look. “Don’t sell yourself short. When you sing, it’s like the whole room listens.”
Iris glanced back at the sleeping girl, a quiet smile tugging at her lips.
Maybe she was imagining things, but… sometimes, it did feel like her voice carried more than just melody. Like it reached deeper.
She brushed off the thought. “Glad it helped,” she said simply.
---
Iris leaned over the counter of the Sunny Bay Smoothie Bar, chin resting on one hand. Outside, the late afternoon sun shimmered on the sidewalk, but her thoughts were far away.
Nathaniel hummed quietly to himself behind the bar, wiping down a blender that looked like it had just survived a fruit explosion.
Iris sighed. “Every time I open my mouth to sing... something weird happens.”
Nathaniel glanced up, eyebrow raised. “Weird how?”
She shrugged, swirling a straw absentmindedly through her half-melted smoothie. “Maybe I wasn’t meant to be a singer.”
Nathaniel paused, then set down the blender cup and reached across the counter, placing his hand gently on top of hers.
“You kidding?”
Iris blinked, looking up at him in surprise.
“You have a beautiful voice,” he said softly, sincerity replacing his usual teasing tone. “Actually… I saw this and thought of you.”
From beneath the counter, he pulled out a small, brightly colored flyer and handed it to her. Iris took it curiously.
“‘Wanted: Lead singer for girl band. LoliRock. Auditions today,’” she read aloud, eyebrows lifting. “Cute name.”
Nathaniel leaned forward, smiling. “You do love singing…”
Iris hesitated, fingers brushing the edge of the flyer. Her heart gave a little flutter—but then the memory of strange flickering lights and rising winds flooded her mind again. She quickly set the flyer aside on the table.
“I can’t. Something weird would happen.”
“So what?” Nathaniel said, resting his elbows on the counter. “There are two things I know about you, Iris. One, you’re weird. And two, you’re happiest when you’re singing.”
Iris couldn’t help but smile at that. She glanced at him, touched by the gentle warmth in his voice.
“Thanks, Nat,” she murmured, rising from her stool. “But I just... can’t.”
She turned to leave, her shoes tapping softly against the tile floor.
“Wait,” Nathaniel called after her.
He stepped around the counter and caught up, gently grabbing her wrist—not forcefully, just enough to pause her movement. He pressed the flyer back into her hand.
“Just... think about it, okay?” His voice lowered. “Promise me?”
Iris looked down at the flyer. The logo sparkled in playful letters across the top, and she imagined herself onstage—just for a moment—singing, free, fearless.
She smiled softly. “I promise.”
Then, with the flyer clutched in her hand, she walked out into the golden light of the early evening.
---
The line outside the Sunny Bay Community Theater wrapped around the block, buzzing with hopeful chatter, vocal warmups, and the occasional off-key shriek that made Iris wince.
She stood at the back of the line, arms crossed, tapping one foot anxiously.
After the tenth girl attempted a high note and missed it by a full octave, Iris groaned aloud. “Okay, maybe I’m not the weirdest singer here.”
Inside the theater, the scene wasn’t much better.
A girl in sparkly leggings and a blindingly pink hoodie stood center stage, singing into the microphone while doing an awkward shimmy.
“Oh, when I start the day I’m checking on my friends,” she crooned—off-key and overly enthusiastic. “To see if they’re okay they can count on me, yeah!”
Auriana winced, sinking deeper into her chair. “Oof…”
Beside her, Amaru, the small fuzzy creature hidden in plain sight by his glamor, groaned dramatically and covered his ears with his paws.
“And if I’m feeling down my friends will come around…” the girl soldiered on. “We’re gonna make some noise, we’ll be laughin’!”
Auriana sat forward suddenly. “Thank you!” she called out, forcing a polite smile. “Um, we’ll call you if we’re interested!”
“We’re not interested,” Talia muttered, deadpan.
Auriana leaned over and whispered, “We *might* be.”
“Not while I live,” Talia whispered back firmly.
The girl onstage raised her chin with a huff, rolled her eyes, and stomped offstage without so much as a goodbye.
Talia pulled off her sunglasses and let out a long, tired sigh. “Okay. We’re done here. I say we leave this town and set up auditions somewhere else.”
“But we just started looking for her in Sunny Bay,” Auriana said, pulling her own shades off and rubbing her temples.
Talia raised an eyebrow. “Have you heard them? They scream like animals in pain. It’s obvious she isn’t—”
The doors at the back creaked open quietly.
Iris stepped inside, clutching a flyer in one hand and her courage in the other. She didn’t make a sound as she walked down the aisle, her eyes fixed on the stage.
Amaru’s ears perked up. He turned toward her and immediately began flailing his arms, eyes wide.
“What is it, Amaru?” Talia asked with a sigh.
Amaru pointed eagerly at the newcomer.
The two girls turned in unison.
“I’m here for the audition,” Iris said softly.
Auriana sprang to her feet. “Great!” She grabbed Talia’s shoulders and shoved her back into her seat. “Go ahead! The mic’s right there—don’t be shy!”
Iris hesitated, then nodded. Her fingers trembled as she stepped up to the mic. She unfolded a small sheet of lyrics in her hand and took a deep breath.
She closed her eyes.
Her voice started soft, uncertain.
“Oh, when I start the day I’m checking on my friends…”
As she found her rhythm, her confidence grew. The lyrics rolled off her tongue with ease.
“To see if they’re okay they can count on me…”
A soft shimmer of pink energy glimmered around her feet—unnoticed by most, but not by Amaru.
Auriana’s eyes widened.
“And if I’m feeling down my friends will come around…”
The air in the theater thickened, crackling with something unseen.
“We’re gonna make some noise, we’ll be laughin’!”
The pendant around Iris’s neck began to glow faintly—then brighter, pulsing with every note she sang.
“Hey, there the stars out in the sky—!”
Suddenly, a burst of pink light exploded from her chest, racing up her raised arm and illuminating the stage. Sparkles erupted around her like a magical windstorm. The energy surged outward in every direction, bathing the theater in pink radiance.
Talia leapt to her feet. “What—?!”
Auriana shielded her eyes as the glow intensified.
With one final, blinding flash—*BOOM!*—a magical shockwave rippled through the auditorium, knocking over empty chairs and sending a wave of awe across the room.
And then… silence.
Iris stood at center stage, panting, surrounded by the soft glitter of fading light.
---
Inside the dark, crumbling throne room of an ancient palace, shadows clung to every wall.
On the throne of obsidian, a hooded figure stirred.
Gramorr’s eyes snapped open—burning red like fire in the dark.
He let out a low, guttural growl as the lingering trace of Ephedian energy flared in the air, distant but unmistakable.
“So… she has awakened.”
His hands clenched the arms of the throne.