Alexiana

"She’s been with me through the best and worst times of my life. She knows me better than anyone else in the entire universe. I- I feel like a part of me is gone."

- Liana on Alexa

Liana x Alexa is the femslash ship between Liana and Alexa from the Barbie fandom.

Canon
Liana and Alexa live together in a cottage in the woods and make a living out of selling flowers. They spend their days tending to their flowers and singing about how much they mean to each other. After finishing one song about how much they know each other and how happy they make each other be, Alexa describes the song as “magical.” Liana goes on to tease her about believing in magic and wishes, and Alexa chases her with a dish cloth, in an adorable flirty banter. Later, Liana finds two heart shaped stones in the river that runs near their cottage. Her immediate reaction is to call Alexa over and give her one of the hearts. First making sure she doesn’t slip on the rocks, offering a hand as Alexa leaps about one foot over.

Liana holds hands with Alexa as they close their eyes and recite, “Best friends today, best friends tomorrow, and always,” and then share a laugh. A magic spell is cast while their eyes are closed, and the hearts symbolize the physical manifestation of their love for one another. Alexa has the idea to turn the stones into necklaces, but before she can do anything, a storm suddenly rolls in and they head inside. Liana surprises Alexa with the heart necklaces that she had wished for, and puts on hers, calling them “the perfect match.”

The storm ends up destroying their garden, so the couple is left with very little income. They have two options on what to eat: bread and jam, or jam and bread. Alexa wishes that they could have more - more food, more clothes, more house. But when talking about her future plans, she doesn’t hesitate to include Liana in them. So Alexa and Liana acquire a mirror from an old woman, and then proceed to work to fix up the garden. As they work, they sing, and once again, the song is about how their love is unbreakable and how much they mean to each other.

The song ends up conjuring a girl in the mirror. She sings along with them, and they quickly become friends. But, before they can bond too far, a dragon swoops down from the sky and tries to steal the mirror with the girl trapped inside. He burns their lovely cottage down, so the two of them are left with no home. The girl in the mirror is later revealed as an apprentice to three muses in a place called the Diamond Castle, where the stone hearts are from. However, one of the muses went rogue, so the Diamond Castle was hidden, and the key was given to the girl, an apprentice, to protect it. The dragon works for the evil muse who wants to regain access to the Diamond Castle.

Since Liana and Alexa no longer have a house, they decide to journey to help the girl in the mirror find the Diamond Castle. While in the Valley of Flowers, Alexa hears rustling in some bushes and screams, believing it to be a snake. However, it turns out it’s just some dogs, which Liana teases her for. Alexa responds, “Okay, okay, I was only trying to protect you,” in a soft voice. Later, they also take in the dogs and name them Sparkles and Lily.

Liana and Alexa arrive in a town where, to get food, they sing at a restaurant. And some of the song's lines are important to the journey they'll have ahead: "we’ll stick together, staying strong." Later, Liana and Alexa are eating on a break, and they are approached by a pair of British boys who attempt to serenade them with a song about how handsome they are. Liana is unimpressed by this, and her and Alexa share a confident look. After they leave the tavern, the girl in the mirror observes, “They were really cute.” And Liana replies, “You have to be kidding,” as she laughs, once again making eye contact with Alexa.

Unfortunately, while they are in the forest, the dragon reappears with the muse. She tries to hypnotize the girls into giving her the mirror with the girl inside, but is unsuccessful because of the stone hearts they wear. The necklaces, symbols of their love for one another, make them immune to dark magic since they came from the Diamond Castle.

Liana and Alexa manage to escape and are picked up by the two British boys from earlier. One of the boys tries to flirt with Alexa, but is greeted by an eye roll from her unimpressed dog. Liana even comments, “they think they’re charming.” Later, the boys fall into a hole because of a troll who refused them access to a bridge. In order to cross the bridge, Alexa and Liana have to answer a riddle. They must name an instrument that you can hear, but not see or touch. Liana figures out the answer relatively quickly: your voice. The troll is shocked that she got the answer right. And in that exact moment, a rainbow bridge appears. Moments after Liana and Alexa step on the rainbow bridge, the bridge begins to recede so quickly that the British boys cannot gain access to it. Alexa and Liana walk away from the boys through the rainbow bridge.

Once over the rainbow bridge, Liana and Alexa continue their hike. Alexa grows extremely tired and stops to take a break. Liana immediately halts and turns around to comfort her, asking if she's okay. After their break, the couple spots a house in the distance. Upon arriving, the man and woman who live there offer up their mansion to Liana and Alexa, claiming that it was destiny that they ended up at that house and it now belonged to them. As the man recites a tale about how it had been foretold that they would come live there, Liana and Alexa glance at each other when he mentions that they were destined to show up, together.

After this, Alexa and Liana's relationship starts having some tension. Alexa wants Liana to stay with her in the mansion so that they can finally have all of the food and clothes she wanted them to have in the future. The couple can spend the rest of their lives in the mansion and be safe and happy. But, Liana wants to help the girl in the mirror find the Diamond Castle and defeat the evil muse. And this disagreement is what causes the tension between them. "Stay with me,” Alexa begs. Eventually, Alexa erupts in anger: “you’re choosing Melody over me!”

Liana storms out angrily with Sparkles the dog. Alexa rips off the necklace Liana gave her and throws it on the ground with a sad look on her face. Alexa hears a knock on the door, and her head hopefully perks up and she gasps, “Liana?” She already wants to put this fight behind them. Unfortunately, it turns out it was the evil dragon knocking at the door, instead. He kidnaps Alexa and brings her to the muse’s evil lair, proving the mansion was all a trap. And the muse even brainwashes Alexa because she took off the love necklace that protected her.

The muse asks Alexa about Liana's location and Alexa reveals Liana’s location unwillingly because she doesn’t have the power of love to protect her. The movie then cuts to Liana ranting about how much she loves Alexa: “Miss her? Why would I miss her? We’ve only been friends for as long as I can remember. She’s been with me through the best and worst times of my life. She knows me better than anyone else in the entire universe. I- I feel like a part of me is gone.” At that moment, Liana’s so busy expressing her feelings for Alexa that she doesn’t even notice the dragon swooping down and kidnapping her.

The evil muse commands Alexa to walk off a cliff into a pool of acid. All Liana can do is watch in anguish and scream Alexa’s name as she walks closer and closer to the edge. Liana is desperate to stop Alexa from falling off the edge. She can’t imagine a life without her. Thankfully, the girl in the mirror convinces the evil muse to stop and promises to tell her where the Diamond Castle is. They leave, but before flying off, the dragon knocks Liana and Alexa off the cliff into the acid. Luckily, Liana clings onto the cliff for dear life, holding Alexa's entire dead weight with just one arm and manages to pull both of them back up onto the cliff as well.

“I’m sorry, Alexa. Why did I ever leave? I’m so sorry,” Liana mourns as Alexa is unconscious in her arms. Lily the dog comes to the rescue carrying the necklace Alexa dropped on the ground. Liana puts the necklace around Alexa’s neck, and once again recites, “Best friends today, best friends tomorrow, and always.” Liana’s love for Alexa saves her life. Liana helps Alexa stand up, and then they search for a way out. Alexa asks how they are going to do it, and Liana replies, “We’re going to climb up.” Then, she pauses and making eye contact with Alexa, she adds "together.”

As they walk out of the cave, Alexa places her hand on Liana’s shoulder and apologizes for their fight. The two share a hug since they couldn’t bear to be separated from one another for too long. Liana and Alexa find the evil muse and defeat her. They need to unlock the Diamond Castle. Before them lies an empty lake, with no castle in sight. Liana and Alexa realize that they can only see it with the key: a song. After singing together, the Diamond Castle rises out of the water and towers over them.

Inside the castle, the girl from the mirror is safe and Liana and Alexa are crowned princesses of music by the muses. The girl in the mirror asks them to stay in the castle with her. But, Alexa refuses, “Live in this beautiful castle? Once, I would have said yes in the blink of an eye, but now, I just want my old home back. It was more than enough.” She has realized that it isn’t the material things that matter, it’s the love she shares with Liana that she doesn’t want to live without. Alexa wants to return to their simple but happy life in the countryside with their garden and two dogs. The muses grant Alexa’s wish by handing her seeds to plant and regrow their flowers at home. To celebrate their success, the girls reprise the song from the beginning of their story with a change in lyrics.

The girls wave goodbye to the British boys and to the muses, and go on to spend the rest of their lives accompanied by their dogs and at peace in the countryside. Liana and Alexa rebuild their cottage and plant the seeds for their future together.

The movie ends and returns to Barbie and Teresa, who were narrating Liana and Alexa's story at the beginning, in present day. Stacie, the younger sister, comments, “I would have hated it if Alexa and Liana didn’t make up.” Barbie and Teresa then sing the final lyrics of the movie: "Two voices. One song."

Fanon
The ship between Liana and Alexa from the Barbie movie, "Barbie & The Diamond Castle" is one of the most popular ships within the Barbie fandom. Many fans regard them as "the biggest wlw icons from any Barbie movie ever". Also, because of the fact that both of them live together and work self-employed, many fans started calling them "Cottagecore Lesbians" due to the similarities the two of them share with this aesthetic. One of the most beloved scenes of the movie for fans is the one where the both of them float away from the two boys that are supposedly their heterosexual "love interests", on a rainbow. And many fans love the fact that at the end of the movie, they didn't even end up with these boys, instead going back to their peaceful lives, living just the two of them, together.

Although fans of this ship love the love-filled songs they sing to each other, their aesthetic and their adventures, what they love the most is just how devoted they are to each other. That is, their relationship dynamics, how much they care for each other, to the point that when they get the chance to make a wish, they don't even have to think before wishing to be together forever. And how, throughout the movie, we see them risk their lives and rethink their values for the sake of keeping the other one happy and safe.

Many fans have noticed that Alexa and Liana's entire aesthetic, aside from being identical to the cottagecore lesbian one, has the lesbian and bisexual flags colors. Especially their dresses as the end of the movie. While Alexa's dress has the bisexual flag's colors, Liana's has the ones from the lesbian flag.

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 * Barbie x Teresa refers to the ship between their "actresses"/modern counterparts, Barbie Roberts and Teresa Rivera