For some it may be comforting to know that there was someone out there on their side, someone out there that wanted things to go well for them, someone that wanted them to be happy. But this did not work for everyone, especially people who feared what impact they could have on others should they not provide things worth cheering for, should they not be able to put a smile on their unknown supporter's face.
There was a point in her life that Emilia would have been completely ecstatic and over the moon to hear that there was someone who cared about her, who wanted the best for her, who wanted to know that she had a big smile plastered across her face at all times of the day. But Emilia had long passed this point in life, and doubted that she would ever well and truly find it again.
You could not possibly say that it did not make her heart just a bit lighter; it would be wrong to say that it did not light a tiny candle inside her, that it did not give her the tiniest bit of drive to just keep moving forward a little longer.
But you also must consider the pressure and pain it put her under to know that for every tear she shed, someone else would shed two. It gnawed at her heart to know that when her depression rose that it spread from not just within her, but to this other person as well. It meant that Emilia would have to live with the fact that she would be and had been hurting someone who cared about her over and over again.
"Haaaaaah, good morning Lia"
Puck let out a yawn as he stretched while floating midair in front of the window, leading to the great spirit of fire to be bathed in the crimson glow of the newly rising sun.
The rising sun, something that Emilia had used to tell herself represented a new chapter, a new day where everything that happened over the course of the previous day would be erased, a new opportunity to make everything just a tiny bit better.
But that was then and this was now, and while there were opportunities to make everything better on this new day, to say Emilia was especially hopeful would be incorrect, but she would keep trying if it meant that whoever wanted her to keep going could feel just a tiny bit better.
"Good morning Puck…" Emilia said, her voice tired and heavy with fatigue.
"Did you not sleep well Lia, y'know its important to get your beauty sleep!"
Puck flew closer to Emilia's face as he examined her, and truth be told she could use some beauty sleep, if not to help her physical state then to help her mental one.
Her previously fair skin had began to take on a sickly pale colour, only to be contrasted by the dark rings and bags around her eyes. As Puck flew closer to her eyes which had grown just slightly duller and had the tiny red veins streaking through them, a tell tale sign of fatigue, Emilia noticed something, Puck looked smaller then normal.
"I didn't sleep at all Puck…..I just can't get over what I saw in that tomb….. I can't get over what Carmilla said to me about there being someone out there that cares about me…"
Emilia said this in a voice that sounded down and broken, but also confused due to her minds inability to process the paranormal memories of the past day, so much had happened yet it was just so hard to believe that it left her feeling just a bit lost.
Puck cocked his head as he floated with crossed arms, looking at his daughter as he did so with a slightly pained expression, its obvious that he did not enjoy seeing her in such a state.
"How is it so hard to believe Lia, I care about you a lot! Maybe this Carmilla was probably talking about me, who is she anyways?"
Puck tried to sound cheerful as he said this, almost puffing out his chest at his own reference to himself, yet Emilia's expression did not change in the slightest.
"No, I don't think so Puck; she kept saying that this person was 'up above' like she was really far away but could still see me somehow, it just made me really confused….. Carmilla confused me too, she called herself 'The Witch of Lust' but she was really timid and anything but lustful."
Emilia began to look more defeated than anything else as she eventually found herself closer and closer to giving up on trying to decipher the events of the previous day but she couldn't bring herself to do so, she just could not get those memories out of her head.
"Well then I guess that means that there is another person who must really care about my daughter, as your father I'm not sure how to feel about this really, especially seeing as you were out seeing someone who called themselves a witch late at night….. I might have to ground you later Lia…."
Puck then floated there with his head balanced on his tiny paw as he was obviously deep in thought about something before his face broke out into a smile like a lightbulb turned on above his head.
"But first lets turn that frown upside down Lia!"
Puck exclaimed as he flew down to the frown on Emilia's face and by pushing the corners or her mouth with his paws he was able to turn her expression into what looked like the most forced smile ever seen. However the second he stopped holding up the corners of her mouth it fell back into its now natural resting state of a frown.
"Not even a little giggle from Lia, I was sure that I would get at least a chuckle for that one…"
Puck hung his head in shame at his failed attempt to lift his daughters spirits, it had seemingly done more harm then good as Emilia's spirits sank just a bit lower, most liekly a result of it resembling something that the first friend whom she had a not so genuine reunion with would have done.
"That sounds like something the old Subaru would've said…."
Emilia mumbled this as she could do nothing more but let her head droop so she stared down at her own legs that dangled aimlessly over the edge of the bed.
"Why are you brining him up now, I thought you would've gotten over him a long time ago after all those stunts he pulled?"
Puck simply tilted his head as he looked at his daughter suffering, seemingly confused and unable to understand why she was getting as upset as she was.
Emilia looked up with her tears beginning to pool in her eyes, replacing the dullness with a coating of water that gave off a gentle glisten, every muscle in her was tensed up as her soft and pale skin began to turn a gentle red hue, her lips spread apart as they quivered, Puck's statement had well and truly dredged up a fair bit of emotion.
"I DON'T KNOW PUCK, I REALLY DON'T KNOW! CARMILLA SAID I ONLY SAW HER AS HIM BECAUSE HE WAS REALLY IMPORTANT TO ME, HE SAID SO MANY MEAN THINGS TO ME BUT I JUST CAN'T GET HIM OUT OF MY HEAD. THEN I FOUND OUT ABOUT SOMEONE CARING ABOUT ME, LIKE REALLY REALLY CARING ABOUT ME, ITS ALL JUST TOO MUCH. IT FEELS LIKE MY HEART IS JUST GOING UP AND DOWN, LIKE ITS GETTING TWISTED TO THAT EVERY LITTLE BIT IS GETTING WRUNG OUT, I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHATS HAPPENING BUT I JUST CAN'T TAKE IT…."
Emilia's breathing began to accelerate, catching in her throat and causing her voice to hitch as tears began to stream down her face. Her fingers began to curl inward with the exception of the knuckle joint, which tried to bend outwards, resulting in her hands taking the shape of something resembling a gnarled and flattened claw. With her hands like this she pressed them into the bed with considerable force, causing the mattress to sag as her breathing reached levels that could only be described as a textbook example of hyperventilation.
"I REALLY DON'T NKOW WHY I FEEL LIKE THIS, I JUST WANT IT TO STOP…. IT'S LIKE THERE IS A STORM SWIRLING INSIDE ME… I DON'T UNDERSTAND IT… IT JUST MAKES ME FEEL SO HORRIBLE….."
Emilia started to feel herself getting a bit dizzy yet even the dizziness did not provide relief from the emotional torrent swirling inside her, however at this point there was something off about the whole situation, why had Puck not done a single thing since her outburst started.
Perhaps he did not care anymore, perhaps he was cross with her for shouting at him, perhaps he had simply given up on her.
Maybe this was why Carmilla had never made the slightest mention of Puck when she had spoken of this mysterious person who cared about her.
This may have been just a maybe, but in the end it was an unknown that must become a known.
Whilst continuing to hyperventilate Emilia slowly looked up as she pulled her legs in close, prepared for the worst, yet utterly and completely unprepared for the sight that greeted her.
Puck was frozen in midair in the position that made him look like he was about to hug her, his two short yet furry arms spread wide, it was a hug that Emilia well and truly needed, yet it was a hug denied to her by a world that seemingly despised her like everyone else she had ever met.
Yet the frozen Puck only occupied her attention for so long, on account of the person she saw standing outside her window, however she was visible for such a brief instant that Emilia only got the briefest of glimpses. The only things Emilia could be sure she saw was a streak of platinum, white, and crystal blue, she did not even know for certain how long she had been outside the window.
"Lia I think there is something we need to talk about soon, regarding our contract…. It needs to be broken…"
Emilia's attention was immediately snapped back to Puck by these words, words that she could not believe she was hearing, words that were so shocking that they managed to maker her hyper active breathing come to a complete and rapid halt.
Emilia could feel it happening, the bond that intrinsically linked her to her father changing, the string that held them together beginning to fray. It felt like it was stretching well beyond its means, that the middle of it was under so much stress that it verged on snapping if one were to tug on it just a little bit harder, and that extra tug felt like it could happen at any time.
"Puck, wait….WHAT, PUCK, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO! YOU ONLY JUST CAME BACK, DON'T LEAVE ME PLEASE, JUST WAIT!"
Emilia grew more and more frantic as she reached out for the floating cat spirit in front of her but just as she was about to touch him with the tip of her fingers it was like time froze for her, it was a moment so horrid that it could only be expected to feel like it was dragging out into a timeframe longer then it really was, the world well and truly enjoyed her suffering so why would it not prolong the experience.
"Lia, you probably don't know but our contract seals away a significant portion of your memories, and without those memories I doubt you'll be able to escape this place. But you've grown so much since I first met you, I know you'll make it if I just give the last little bit of help you need. You're strong enough to have made it this far so I'm certain you'll overcome the obstacles ahead, you even seem to have some people willing to look out for you! It's sad this is how things have had to end and I hate to have to say this, but goodbye my daughter, I know you'll do fine." As the last of these words left the little cats mouth, he gave her a wink before the final tug came that caused his body to explode into a burst of mana that briefly lit up the whole room.
Emilia instantly grasped the green crystal at her neck that Puck normally resided in, hoping to see the dull glow that it emitted when he was resting inside, but the sight she saw was not that, instead she was greeted by the emptiness brought on by the utter absence of the glow.
Crack
With that harrowing sound a split formed across the crystal as Emilia cupped it in her hands, her mouth wide open as if she wanted to call out once more but not a single sound emerged.
Crack
A second Crack shot across the crystal perpendicular to the first, Emilia held her breath as she was afraid that the slightest movement would be the final straw that would break the crystal, but in the end it did not matter even in the slightest as one last, horrify sound echoed across the room.
Shatter
The sound of the crystal shattering into a more then a thousand tiny pieces, each no larger than a single grain of sand.
Emilia's consciousness seemingly went with the crystal as her body fell limp, causing her to fall from the bed and to send the small pile of broken crystal a strew across the room.
The light of awareness was gone from her eyes even if they remained half open while she fell, perhaps this was all a result of her hyperventilation followed by how she held her breath, perhaps it was recoil from her contract with a great spirit being unilaterally and forcibly broken, perhaps it was something else entirely.
Whatever it was that was the result of her passing out, it ensured that she was not the least bit aware of her surroundings when her head hit the wooden floor with a dull thud.
The world that she believed hated her had seen fit to take advantage and grant her one last final vision.
A man stood atop a lone hill with a vast forest before him, a sudden gust of wind rushing towards him, flattening the grass as it went along until it slammed into him face first, blowing his hood off to reveal his long black hair with streaks of grey running through it.
The man continued to stand atop the hill as the wind caused his robes to flutter and his satchel to sway just ever so slightly as it hung by its strap from his shoulder. The man could have entered the forest in order to be shielded from the impressive strength of the wind that continued to whip the hair on his head every which way along with the mostly grey beard that extended far from his chin. The man knew however that it would be immensely hard for one to see him should he leave the top of this hill for the cover of the trees, and as he was waiting for someone, he knew that such a thing just would not do.
He had scoured the ends of what remained of this world, walked through the coldest blizzards of the north, endured the harshest sandstorms of the east, a gust of wind was nothing for him at this point.
But then with a subtle twitch of his eye he saw what he was waiting for, a procession approaching the forest from the east. The procession was comprised of both wagons and large groups of robed figures walking along side them, with a trio that stood out from the rest at its head.
He immediately noticed a platinum haired woman in white walking in the lead, she was flanked on one side by a white haired man wearing an ornate white overcoat; on the other side of the woman walked another man who wore a robe similar in appearance to the rank and file of the procession, his striking green hair being the only thing that led to him standing apart.
It seemed that they had noticed him as well as the woman turned to face him and enthusiastically waved despite the vast distance separating them, an action that Flügel returned albeit with less enthusiasm before he raised his left arm to point somewhere into the forest. It may have been unnoticeable due to the distance separating them but if one were to have been close enough to Flügel then they would have noticed that the hand he was pointing with was missing every single finger, each seemingly amputated right at the knuckle.
Flügel then lowered his arm and began walking in the direction that he had just pointed, the procession altering its course just ever so slightly, they both made way towards the point where they would meet within the forest.
As Flügel walked amidst the trees in order to make his way deeper and deeper into the forest he passed by the occasional dweller of the forest. Some of them had blond hair, some brown, a few pink, and even fewer had a particular shade of silver that reminded Flügel of days long passed. There was however one thing that all the forest dwellers had in common, each and every one of them was an elf.
The elves seemed happy and content as they went about their day, some picked wild fruits that grew on bushes and smaller trees, some fished, and others collected deadfall to use as fuel for their fires. Some of the elves nodded to Flügel as he walked past, a gesture which he made sure to return; meanwhile some of them waved to him, a gesture too which Flügel made sure to return, however he used his right hand to do so, his hand which still seemingly had four fingers attached, missing solely the thumb.
Yet as Flügel continued to meander his way closer and closer to what appeared to be the centre of the forest, to the point that he expected to arrive within the next minute or so he soon found captivated by the sight of someone running towards him.
The captivation was not brought upon by something as vain as beauty nor as disgusting as lust, but by guilt instead. She was but a young child, probably no much more then two season old, yet her silver hair, her amethyst eyes, and even the structure of her face hidden beneath the characteristic roundness of a toddlers features reminded him of someone that had been lost many years ago.
Even though the little girl appeared to be running as fast as she could it still took her some time to reach Flügel on account of both her short legs and the clumsiness that she ran with, she was still clearly getting used to moving on two limbs instead of all four.
Despite how long it took and how Flügel was supposed to be meeting others here he found the time to kneel down and wait for the child with a smile on his face, he held out both his arms to catch the giggling and merry child as they ran right into him.
"Ohhhhh Hello Emilia! How're you on this fine day!" Flügel said in the kindest and old man-esque voice he could manage as he looked down at the giggling child squirming around in his arms.
"Hi Floooogel, I'm reaaaallly happy today!" Emilia exclaimed with glee as she finally stopped squirming long enough to look up at Flügel.
"I'm happy to hear that Emilia, I hope I can contribute just a little happiness to your day as well, I brought a treat just for you!" said Flügel as he scrummaged around through one of the pockets of his robe with his right hand before producing an intricate and expensive looking cloth bag, within which he removed a single pearl white candy.
Emilia's eyes went wide as she looked at the candy before looking back up at Flügel with wide and expected eyes, her mouth just so slightly agape.
"It's…. for me?" said Emilia as she seemed to be in pure wonderment at the idea of being given a piece of fancy looking candy.
"Yes, just don't tell Fortuna about it, it's our little secret okay?" Flügel said this as he handed Emilia the candy, ruffling her hair after she plopped it in her mouth.
"MMMMMMHHHHHMMMM" Emilia closed her eyes and brought both her hands to her cheeks as she ate the candy, completely consumed by how delicious it was.
"Emilia! Where did you go, you know you shouldn't run off out here like that!" A female voice called out as Flügel saw the woman whom it belonged to slowly rounding a bend in the direction which Emilia come from.
She had the same silver hair as Emilia except hers was cut much shorter, the same amethyst eyes except instead of Emilia's kind and round ones she had sharp and mean ones, her name was Mother Fortuna and she was the one who looked after Emilia after the passing of her birth mother.
Emilia however did not seem ready to see her, quickly scurrying around Flügel and burying her face into his robes the second she heard her Fortuna's voice.
"What're you doing Emilia?" Flügel said in a slightly hushed voice so that he could play along with her attempt to hide from Fortuna.
"I sneak!" Emilia said in what was probably the loudest whisper ever heard by man or elf.
"Huh?" Flügel forced himself to question the actions of the little one as he did his best to stifle the laughter that seemed ready to pour out of his mouth.
"I. SNEAK!" Emilia pretty much shouted out loud in a voice that managed to carry all the way to Fortuna's ears.
"Emilia I heard you, its reallllllly time to stop hiding. Mommy is going to be busy soon and its time for your nap!" Fortuna said this in a motherly yet stern voice as she walked towards Flügel and Emilia, making it completely obvious that Emilia had not exactly done the best job at hiding.
"The jig is up Emilia, I guess its nap time for you." Flügel said while chuckling a bit as he stood up, revealing the still hiding Emilia behind him as he did so.
It took Emilia a few seconds to realize that Fortuna could now see her as she was only a few paces away, but once she did realize this, she turned to run away only to be scooped up almost instantly before she could get far.
"Got ya you little trouble maker! Where did you think you were going to be going, you know that its nap time." Fortuna cradled Emilia with one arm while poking her right on the tip of her nose with her free hand, making Emilia close her eyes and cover her nose with both hands.
"I don't wanna sleep, I wanna play more!" Emilia stammered as Fortuna was fussing over the bits of dirt that she had gotten on her clothing.
"But you'll be really cranky if you don't have a nap, do you want to be cranky?" Fortuna posed this question to the young Emilia who answered almost instantly with a resounding "No!"
"Then its time we go back and put you down for you nap missy!" Fortuna tickled Emilia's side as she held her causing her to squirm around and giggle, but as she giggled Fortuna got a look at the candy inside her mouth.
"Flügel you didn't giver her candy did you, she's already so hyper…..she's never going to sleep now….." Fortuna's voice sounded slightly despondent as she lamented the fact that her toddler had just indulged on a sugary treat right before their nap time, like she foresaw a future where Emilia wouldn't nap on time and then wake up in the middle of the night as a result.
"I don't get to come here often, and with how things have been going lately for me this could be the last visit I'm able to make. Just how much could a little candy hurt, its only one nap and its not like she's going to get many opportunities to eat candy from Kararagi in the future anyways." Flügel kind of shrugged his shoulders as he said this with an almost unconcerned tone in his voice.
"Come on, you're talking like you're about to keel over any minute but even in your human lifespan you've got at least another decade or two left in you. And if you think that missing one nap isn't a big deal then you can try to handle her when she has a tantrum over the colour of the grass or how her hair doesn't have the same pattern as the butterfly's wings, its realllllllly fun." Fortuna almost laughed as she said this, but Emilia had already gotten board and was starting to pull at her hair, causing Fortuna to have to defend herself from the toddlers onslaught while still trying to carry on a conversation.
"See, she's already getting fussy, I'm going to go and try to put her to bed. Pandora, Geuse, and the man who accompanied them are waiting for you in the village centre so you should probably join them unless you intend to sabotage my ability to be a parent even more." Fortuna said the last bit of her sentence as if it were a joke but when she saw Flügel start to reach into his pockets she shot him a scowl that he could only laugh at before he joined her as they walked back into the village.
It may have only been a few minutes walk that would leave little opportunity to further converse but there was still one thing that Flügel had to confirm with Fortuna, one of the reasons why he had told Pandora to meet him here to begin with.
"Emilia seems to be doing well, no signs that the key is causing any issues? No signs of her acting any different, even in the slightest?" Flügel's tone was completely serious as he focused intently on the toddler who was presently playing with Fortuna's hairclip as she was being carried.
"No signs of anything physically wrong, and if you're worried about what I think you are then that isn't an issue either, Emilia is just a normal toddler who does normal toddler things, even if she is a little troublemaker!" Fortuna then tickled Emilia again and smiled as she heard her daughter squeal and laugh, it even brought the smile back to Flügel's face as well.
"I see, that's good to hear, amazing actually. Well, I wish you both the best but I think that its time for me to get to work." They then exchanged goodbyes as Flügel and Fortuna split at a fork in the road, one heading to the village centre while the other went to their home towards the edge of the village.
It did not take Flügel long to find the people he was looking for as the three stood right in the middle of the village as the other members of the procession unloaded goods from the carriages and distributed them to the eagerly waiting elves.
As he approached the three halted their conversation in order to turn and face him, not saying a single thing until he had joined them to form a closed circle that none of the robbed members of the procession nor the elves of the village disturbed.
"It's marvellous to see that you have returned from your journey in good health Sensei Flügel, I have made great headway on the task you gave me, The Witches Cult already has already grown immensely in size and I believe that the two here will be suitable to serve as two of the first Archbishops at its head."
With the mention of their names the two Archbishops stepped forward and knelt before the Great Sage, only then did they introduce themselves.
"My name is Betelgeuse Romanée-Conti, it is an honor to be able to assist you in your endeavours Flügel-sama."
The tone that Betelgeuse used could only be described as respectful, resulting in an image that starkly resembled that of a knight kneeling before their liege.
Flügel watched Betelgeuse kneel without responding in any way, shape, or form, his expression only grew more and more grim the longer he looked at him. Pandora could be seen to be getting slightly uneasy at this response from Flügel, he did not seem overly enthusiastic about her first choice in the slightest.
Flügel then turned to face the white-haired man who knelt just like his compatriot, his face not changing in the slightest as he looked upon the prospect to be the second of the first archbishops.
"I am Regulus Corneas, I'm eager to help lead the world out of the shadows it was cast into by the Witch of Envy, I think I can help turn it into a kingdom that is truly perfect."
Just as he had with Betelgeuse, Flügel did not respond to Regulus, but unlike with Betelgeuse a slight smirk could be seen spreading across his face before he immediately banished it so that his grimace may return.
Flügel looked up from where Regulus continued to kneel to face Pandora, while doing so he reached into the satchel that hung from his shoulder with his right hand as he began to speak.
"They will do, now find four more to follow behind them, if one of these six ever falls then it is imperative that the replacement be sought out immediately." Flügel then removed his hand from the satchel so that he held out two tiny black boxes in it before he began to speak again, except this time he spoke to those who continued to kneel, yet he could not bring himself to face them.
"Protect these with your lives, not just your own lives but also those of everyone around you, if need be you must be prepared to drown the entire land in blood to ensure that they remain protected. But above all else you must know that they must never be opened, if you can retain them in their sealed state until the time that I return to collect them then you will have preformed your duties to the highest degree of perfection. That is all I have to say to you two, now Pandora please follow me as there is still one last ting for us to discuss."
Flügel watched as the two slowly raised their heads to look at the boxes in the palm of what remained of Flügel's hand, Regulus eyed the boxes with what seemed to be the fire of desire behind his eyes, the golden sheen of his pupils seemingly growing in intensity as he confidently plucked one from Flügel's hand. Betelgeuse was a lot more hesitant as he cautiously reached for the remaining box only to quickly hide it within the many folds of his robes. Yet throughout this whole process Pandora's eyes did not deviate from the missing fingers of Flügel's hand.
With the two boxes taken from his hand Flügel walked past the two Archbishops in order to cross the town centre and head off into the forest with Pandora in tow. They walked for a bit in silence before Pandora decided to speak up.
"Sensei Flügel, what happened to your hand…..I could fix them if you let me….." There was a heavy hint of sadness when Pandora brought up the missing fingers on Flügel's hand, which only became worse when he revealed that his other hand was missing all five of its fingers.
"It's quite alright, in fact should you return them with your authority it could pose quite a problem as their amputation proved to be a necessity in order to seal the witch factors inside those boxes. Should the fingers be returned to me then both Regulus and Betelgeuse would likely be immediately corrupted as the factors jumped and burrowed into their body, and I would be the victim of the other four here." Flügel then patted his satchel with his right hand, causing the remaining four boxes to gently bang against one another with a hallow thud.
"In fact the reason I asked you to come with me is not just because there is something to discuss, that could've been done in front of the Archbishops, I need to ask you a favour." As Flügel said this he turned to face Pandora as the continued to walk along a narrow path that led them through the trees, he could see her spirits raise at the mention of him needing her to do something once again.
"Yes Sensei Flügel, whatever it is I shall do my best!" Pandora exclaimed in anticipation.
"Well you see, since I'm missing so many fingers, including both my thumbs its pretty much impossible to hold the razor and my beard is getting just a bit too long….." Flügel sounded slightly embarrassed as he brought this up, he was in the beginnings of becoming an old man and he was incapable of properly grooming himself.
Yet Pandora seemed to find this absolutely hilarious as she let out a burst of laughter that she could not stifle no matter how hard she tried.
"You need help with that, you just wanted to ask me to help you shave you, did we really need to walk this far out for that?"
Pandora was still laughing as she looked up at Flügel awaiting his answer, at this point however they had reached a point where the forest had opened around them to reveal a clearing with a large black door at its centre, seemingly leading to nowhere; yet neither of them seemed perturbed by its presence in the slightest.
"Well I don't think its exactly fitting for the mysterious great sage to be seen being so incapable as to require assistance shaving…." Flügel did not sound exactly happy as his voice fell as he once again was forced to mention his new shortcomings.
"That is quite vain of you, unexpectedly so. Anyways give me the razor and I'll get to work while we discuss this other topic, Sensei Flügel." Pandora moved behind a rock on the outskirts of the clearing as Flügel sat down, producing an elegant straight razor from his satchel and passing it to Pandora by clamping the blade twixt two of his remaining fingers before setting down the satchel beside the rock.
"No cream or soap?" Pandora tilted the straight razor to one side to the sun gleaned off its long and sharp blade, a blade so well polished that Flügel could see his own reflection in it. He could see that he was no longer the refined looking young man that he had been when he had started the journey that had led to him becoming the Great Sage. His face was wrinkled when before it had not been, his hair had grown out long and developed streaks of grey when before it had been short and completely black. He had even lost the spikes of hair that had been turned up at the front of his head, in fact the only part of himself that seemingly still remained was the intensity of his glare, and yet something in his eyes even eclipsed that.
Flügel knew that he was slowly losing who he was after everything he had done to his own soul, yet he had done it, in the end he had managed to arrive here at the last step before the end of his journey, if it was one that could even be considered to have an end.
"I don't, it doesn't have to be perfect so just try your best, anyways I will be leaving the other four witch factors with you to entrust with who you see fit, Regulus and Betelgeuse seem to be good enough choices so I will trust your judgement on the remaining four."
Flügel's voice did not seem to be full of praise as he said this, yet Pandora's seemed to change showing her gratitude at the complement as she slowly and methodically began to scrape the hair away from his face with the razor.
"It's wonderful to hear that from you Sensei Flügel, just why are you unable to do so anymore? I don't want to complain about the trust you have in me, I think its amazing and it makes me truly ecstatic, but you were so adamant on meeting the first two that I thought you intended to meet the rest?"
Pandora had moved begun to shave Flügel's neck and so he had tilted his head straight up, allowing her to see his eyes even though she stood behind him.
"Today marks the end of my journey for now, I have ensured that the Witch Factors are safe with people who can be trusted to do what is right with them; you, Roswaal, Regulus, Betelgeuse, and whoever will bare the other four. You each may go about their safekeeping in your own way, even deviating from my instructions, but the path laid out is one that should generally minimize the damage done by those abhorrent things. I'm sorry for this Pandora but now it is time for us to each begin our last and final task, that is truly the reason I brought you out here."
Flügel's voice was filled with regret and guilt as he said these last few words, yet Pandora saw the sudden flare of determination in his eyes, and before she knew it, she felt something warm flowing onto her hand.
Pandora slowly looked down at her hand that held the razor against Flügel's neck and saw it covered in the red blood that flowed out from the wound created by the blade being jammed halfway through her Sensei's neck, a blade with his own hand on the other end.
"Sensei…. Flügel…." His name fell out of her mouth as she was struggling to comprehend what she was seeing in front of her.
Pandora looked back to his eyes and as she watched them grow dim as his soul left his body, she finally became aware of reality, the reality where Flügel had seemingly killed himself while in the middle of a conversation with her.
Her hands started to tremble as she stumbled back before falling to the ground. Pandora watched as the blood ran down from Flügel's neck and stained his clothes a deep crimson, she saw as his now limp body slowly slumped off the rock and fell onto the grass with the straight razor still firmly jammed in his neck, the whole area around the body soon being dyed red by the sheer amount of blood leaving the wound and pooling on the ground.
She could still fix this, she had not been thinking straight, her Authority of Vanity could undo everything, it could bring him back as he was not able to block its effects while being deceased.
"Sensei Flügel is a…..Sensei Flügel is alive just as he should be." Pandora's voice sounded broken at first, she could not bring herself to accept that he was dead and to use her authority to state that he should be alive right now was acceptance of that fact. Yet in the end she had gotten herself to say it, however in seeming defiance to her power nothing changed, he still lay before her unmoving with blood still pouring from his neck.
"Sensei Flügel is alive as he should be!" Pandora's strained voice grew in volume with the hope that the world would hear her cry and bring back her Sensei, one of the two only real family members she ever had, one of the two people who had come on that faithful day to save her from the sin that plagued her original family.
But the world would not grant her wish, it would not bend to her will this time, it would not because contrary to every other demand she had made of it, this specific one could not be fulfilled due to one of two very specific sets of circumstances being fulfilled.
Seeing that he was not getting up Pandora scurried to her feet and rushed to where he lay in a pool of blood, where she knelt down and pressed her hands against the wound in an effort to stem the blood flow from an already deceased body.
It could be said that in this moment something broke deep within Pandora fore the trembling in her hands suddenly ceased, the look in her eyes changed the panicked mania being overtaken by an eery and unnerving calm. Pandora no longer saw the world as one of wonder, but one of vanity, one that hide the incomprehensible truth beneath a layer of comprehensibility that mortals referred to as reality. She realized that one would need to look beyond this reality if they were to attempt to understand things in sufficient detail such that they may follow a path towards their desired future.
If one were to say that up to this point that Pandora had just been a willing follower who bore the title of Witch of Vanity in name only, then it could be said that it was in this moment that she truly became fitting and deserved of the title. In but a single instant she had become just as twisted and incomprehensible as every other being to ever carry the title of witch or warlock, an incomprehensibility that a certain older sister had done their best to shield her from.
And it was in this moment with her hands being drenched in blood from trying to hold the wound shut and her legs painted red by the blood that had already flown from his body that Pandora came to a realization, his last words finally clicked in her head.
It was when she looked down at the bloody corpse of her Sensei that Pandora made a decision that would affect her and many others for the rest of time, it was when she decided that the Flügel she knew could never possibly end things like this while the world still needed him, it was when she refused to accept that he was well and truly dead.
A wry smile crossed her face as she released the pressure on his neck, allowing the last of the blood that had been held back to flow free. She leaned down to his ear even though she knew that there was no purpose behind such an act, that such an act could be described as nothing but vain.
"I'll do just as you said Sensei Flügel, but after I'm done I will save you, and then we can all have a grand reunion; you, Sister Satella, myself, and even Echidna can all be happy once again, just as we should have been…." Pandora's voice had gone completely calm as she said this, the smile remained on her face as she stood up and turned to see three people staring at her in abject horror.
They had arrived because while Pandora had been with Flügel something had gone very wrong on the other side of the village.
After splitting up with Flügel, Fortuna had continued to walk towards her home with Emilia in her arms so that she could put her daughter who was growing ever fussier down for a nap before things got too out of hand. Yet after brushing the dirt that seemed to be attracted to Emilia like a magnet off, she reached what she thought would be the hardest part of the process, getting the little one to actually close her eyes so that she could fall asleep.
Yet as she looked back up at Emilia's face she saw that her eyes were beginning to tear up as her face started to get red, she looked like she was going to cry.
"What's wrong Emilia, tell Mommy what's wrong so she can make it better." Fortuna used her most sympathetic voice possible as she was internally preparing herself to have to deal with a tantrum from her toddler.
"It hurts, it really hurts….." Emilia whimpered as her eyes remained closed, her little hands bawling up into fists as she pulled them close to her body.
"Show me where it hurts Emilia, I'll give it a biiiiiig kiss and I promise that it'll feel better!" Fortuna tried to mix some enthusiasm into her voice as she said this, she was not the slightest bit worried because as far as she was concerned Emilia had probably just bumped into a tree while running around or had a slight tumble.
As tears began to roll out from between Emilia's eyelids, she managed to unfurl one of her hands and point to the area right above her heart, which caused Fortuna to furl her brow a bit as it was a very odd area for a child to hurt themselves. This confusion was further increased because when she shifted her daughter's clothes so she could see the area there was nothing there, no scrape, no bruise, not even a red mark.
Fortuna's gaze shifted right back to Emilia's face afterwards as she prepared to tell her that she did not see anything except when she did so she was hit with an image so shocking that it caused her entire body to freeze.
Emilia stood there looking completely devoid of emotion, fists unfurled with her arms down at her sides, eyes open and looking at her with complete calm, the redness completely gone from her face. Her gaze bore down on Fortuna with an intensity that did not seem natural coming from a child that was only two years of age.
Emilia looked right into the depths of Fortuna's eyes as her mouth opened and she spoke in a voice that was far more mature then what could ever possibly be heard coming from someone Emilia's age,a voice that belonged to someone Fortuna had only met once or twice in her entire long life.
"He did not violate the contract, yet he stole something important from me, therefore I shall not violate the contract yet I shall due my utmost to disrupt it short of breaking it." The voice that came from little Emilia's mouth was completely empty yet it still made Fortuna's eyes widen as she instantly grabbed Emilia and sprinted out of her house as fast as she could.
As she sprinted along the path to the centre of the village Emilia continued to stare straight up at her with her unnaturally blank expression, she continued to speak to Fortuna as someone who certainly was not Emilia.
"To say that I failed to notice the change in Flügel's personality would be entirely incorrect, and because of this I prepared certain countermeasures in the key given to the witch's daughter, I hope dear Sensei Flügel yields a more interesting reaction as so far yours has not been worth the wrath I will have to deal with after this whole ordeal."
Fortuna heard this as she reached the centre of the village, elves and robed cultists alike turning to face her in surprise at her sudden arrival. She stopped and scanned the surrounding area as she looked for somebody who she did not end up finding, but she found who ended up being her second choice.
"GEUSE, WHERE'S FLÜGEL?" Fortuna shouted across the square as both Betelgeuse and Regulus turned to face her.
"He went down the path leading to the gate with Pandora, wh…" Betelgeuse's voice suddenly halted as he saw Emilia in Fortuna's arms and the desperation on Fortuna's face, causing him to immediately chase after Fortuna as she ran off down the path he had mentioned, Regulus not far behind him.
While Betelgeuse seemed to have some idea of what was going on Regulus did not have one in the slightest, unlike his companions he had never been to this forest before or met any of the elves who lived in it. Of course he did understand that something was amiss the moment he saw Fortuna running around looking for Flügel with her child in her arms, but his lack of understanding regarding the current situation was not the only thing bothering him at this point.
He looked at the small black box clenched in one of his hands as he ran, unlike Betelgeuse he had not put it in a pocket inside his jacket, it felt far too precious to do something like that. He held it in his hand as it almost called to him, the sheer desire radiating from it gnawing away at his mind, calling to him, tempting him, demanding that he open it, that he accept it.
But that was something he should not do, he was told not to, at the very least it would have to wait until whatever the current crisis was had subsided. Then he heard the little girl in Fortuna's arms speak in a voice that sounded like it belonged to a mature woman, not a toddler.
"I was thinking I'd give this little one a nice three hundred year long nap, with the amount of mana she has in her it should easily run the stasis algorithm for that long, it'll put a nice little pause on both her life and whatever that traitorous Flügel was using her and that key for. Yes, I think I shall do just that, but first I want to see Flügel's face when he realizes what exactly are the repercussions for his earlier actions."
Regulus had no idea what to make of what the little girl was saying, but when he saw the scene in front of him as the trees began to open into a clearing, he found himself in an even deeper pit of confusion, one that left him completely speechless.
Flügel, the one who had given him his task of guarding the black box lay sprawled out on the grass soaked in blood with a blade lodged in his neck and kneeling beside him covered in what appeared to be his blood was Pandora, and she was smiling.
"Well to say that I did not expect this would be the understatement of the century, to think that you would kill Flügel Pandora, I thought it even less likely then Satella doing the deed….." The little girl's unnaturally blank demeanor was torn as surprise and even a bit of shock managed to seep into her voice.
However not even the expression on Betelgeuse's face lived up to the one on Fortuna's, all the colour was gone from her face as her eyes moved from Flügel's corpse back to Pandora, before going back to the corpse to repeat the process again.
"W-What have you done Pandora, w-why would you do this….." Fortuna stammered as she stood nearly speechless whilst staring at the scene before her.
"Done something? I have merely provided Sensei Flügel with the assistance he needs for the final part of his journey, it's really wonderful isn't it, getting to help someone so important to you one last time." Pandora turned to face them whilst speaking in a completely calm voice, when she began to stand up all the blood that soaked her arms began to slowly run down and drip to the grass below.
"I believe that I have seen enough, you can have this wretched being back whenever the stasis wears off." Fortuna's daughter spoke with complete disinterest at the situation before her body went completely limp, causing Fortuna to become even more panicked.
"I let him into the forest because my brother and his wife trusted him, I let him build his gate because he said its what she would have wanted, I let him give Emilia the key because of similar reasons. But now Emilia's been condemned and he's dead, leaving nobody to help her. You all better leave this forest, LEAVE BEFORE I MURDER YOU LIKE HOW YOU MURDERED HIM!" Fortuna began by looking down at the unmoving Emilia that barely seemed to be breathing, yet as the anger and vitriol seeped into her voice she turned to face Pandora who seemed utterly unphased by the threats being levelled at her.
"The love and adoration you hold for Emilia is admirable Fortuna, its marvelous, if only the whole world held such a thought for one another, if only then we would not all need to suffer, only then would Flügel not have to go through what he is right now." Pandora began to clap and give a round of applause as everyone just looked at her completely stunned, the eery calmness in her eyes made this action appear utterly insane.
"YOU'RE INSANE, YOU'RE BEYOND MAD, FOR YOUR OWN SAKE I HOPE YOU FIND YOURSELF IN DEATH!" Fortuna shouted as she raised her free hand and conjured mana into an array of sharp ice crystals and prepared to fling them right at Pandora, but she was stopped by a familiar face appearing right in the path of her magic.
"Fortuna-sama, this isn't the time for rashness, please calm yourself so we can find out what happened to Flügel-sama!" Betelgeuse had flung himself in between Fortuna and Pandora where he spread his arms wide apart in order to prevent even a single piece of ice being able to reach her without hitting him in the process.
"OUT OF THE WAY GEUSE, SHE KILLED HIM AND TOOK AWAY EMILIA'S ONLY CHANCE AND SO SHE DESERVES TO DIE, DON'T TELL ME YOU WERE PART OF HER SCHEME TO KILL FLÜGEL AS WELL?" Fortuna's pupils had reduced to small pinpricks as she stared at Betelgeuse, giving off the impression that she may have become slightly unhinged due to the sheer amount of anger coursing through her.
"Regulus Corneas take Pandora-sama and our followers out of the forest, I'll calm Fortuna and join you later to get to the bottom of this!" Betelgeuse turned to face Regulus as he shouted this to him, and Regulus did exactly that.
Regulus Corneas rushed forward and grabbed Pandora by the wrist and pulled her along as they ran from the forest, and to his complete surprise, Pandora did not resist in the slightest except to grab a satchel as they left. He ran with her from the forest, he shouted at those that had followed them here to leave as they blew by them only to be met by empty stares and sluggish movements. He ran with her until they found themselves atop a small hill with a strong breeze that stood outside the reach of the trees.
And it was atop this hill that he expected would be a time where they would wait in silence until Betelgeuse returned, yet this expectation could not farther from the truth.
"Bishop Corneas, do you know why Sensei Flügel decided to create the Witches Cult?" Pandora sounded just as she had when she had stood beside Flügel's corpse, completely calm as if her future had been decided and she just had to wait for it.
She said this as she stood atop the hill, the wind gently blowing her platinum hair behind her as she looked off towards the forest that they had just left, not facing Regulus as they conversed.
Regulus was still apprehensive on how he should be dealing with Pandora, as far as he knew she had just murdered the Great Sage, but he decided it would be best to hear her out in the least.
"I'd never met Flügel-sama in person prior to today Pandora-sama, so I cannot say that I do." Regulus turned to face Pandora after saying this, yet she continued to face away from him and towards the forest.
"For as long as he knew of, there has always been Witches of Sin roaming the earth, each possessing a mighty ability that defied common logic and even the bounds of reality at times. Sometimes they have had good intentions, sometimes bad, yet no matter what they have always brought devastation upon the land regardless of any intent. Their hands are stained with the blood of hope, the blood of choice, the blood of both the future and the past. It was the Witches of Sin of this era that showed Flügel that a single marvelous action was needed, it was my Sister Satella and the love she held for this world despite her inability to control her own destruction of it that drove him to take drastic action to free the future of the sins of the past. It is her wonderous love that we seek to live up to, her love that we seek to spread, and her love that we seek to make our own, it is the very reason why we carry the gospels as we do, to let the guidance of her love show us the path. It is because of this love that we are more apt to call ourselves 'The Wtich's Cult' rather then 'The Witches Cult' as we seek to only follow the love witnessed from Envy and not the ways of the others, not the devotion of Melancholy nor the forced martyrdom of Wrath."
Pandora then paused as she turned around and pointed towards the small black box that Regulus still clutched in his hand with her own blood stained one.
"Bishop Corneas, do you want to open that box?" Pandora looked directly at him as she said this, looking straight into his eyes with her own, her unnatural calmness unnerved him as he pondered the question.
"Flügel-sama said that the box should not be opened no matter how many lives must be spent to ensure its protection. I intend to do my best to follow his request, especially on the day of his passing, so no I do not wish to open the box." Regulus matched the stare of Pandora's crystal blue eyes with his own golden ones, doing his best to avoid the call that came to him from within the box, the call to take what was inside for himself, the call to claim what was rightfully his.
"Bishop Corneas, Sensei Flügel can be quite prideful when he speaks, putting far too much emphasis on certain aspects of the task to make it seem far more important than it actually is, and this here is a wonderful example of such behaviour. The reality of the situation is that it does not matter in the slightest whether the factor resides in the box or within your body, he has already judged you as an adequate protector of it, so the choice of how to protect it is in fact yours. Your determination and devotion to your duty is truly wonderful, should that devotion be combined with the power to drive away the unbelievers who seek to undermine our mission then our cult would be truly unstoppable. I will not force you down either path Bishop Corneas, but do not think for a second that I do not see through your vanity, I understand what your heart truly desires in this circumstance."
In the time that Regulus took to blink Pandora was gone, having vanished in a mere instant, yet she was not gone for long as he soon felt her hand on his shoulder as she now stood behind him.
"No matter what you choose I think the fact that you have even arrived at a crossroads like this as being truly marvelous, to have the chance to truly confront ones own vanity is something that many go through entire lifetimes without doing. I eagerly await your decision, Bishop Corneas."
Pandora then went silent as Regulus could feel her breath continue to brush against his neck with a continuous rhythmic frequency as he looked down into the box he held in his hand. He felt something squirming and writhing within it, it cried out to him yet it remained bound in place unable to reach him. It offered him everything, even perfection, yet it demanded nothing from him other then his acceptance of it.
He could not bring himself to reject it any longer, it was clearly a product of fate that they had been brought together and such it would only be a denial of his own rights to experience his rightful future to deny it.
And so Regulus gripped the lid of the box with one hand while holding its base with the other and opened it, thereby greeting him with the sight of a glowing black mass that seemingly clung to a severed finger.
He dropped the lid of the box to the ground and reached inside inorder to touch the mass, yet just as his finger was on the verge of reaching the mass it suddenly jumped to him and disappeared inside his body.
There was no struggle between them for control, the instant they made contact they were one and the same, they had absolutely perfect compatibility. As such the only change was like that of a mask being taken off, the true face of Regulus Corneas was finally revealed for the whole world to see, and he was ready to take what was rightfully his.
"That was truly a wonderful sight to see Bishop Corneas, truly truly wonderful" Pandora's calm voice could be heard alongside her applause at the sight of Regulus' transformation from a normal Archbishop of the Witch's Cult to that of a Sin Archbishop of the Witch's Cult, yet it was in this moment that they were rejoined by their third companion.
Betelgeuse finished running up the hill as he struggled to catch his breath, behind him the procession that had followed them here could be seen waiting a short distance outside the outskirts of the forest.
"Pandora-sama, Regulus Corneas….. I finished talking to Fortuna-sama…..She'll let me continue our duties in the forest….She still doesn't want either of you coming back however…And even I'm not allowed to see Emilia ever again….." Betelgeuse had his hands on his knee's as he struggled to get the words out between hurried and anguished breaths.
Regulus however just looked at Betelgeuse as one of his eyes slightly twitched before he took a step towards him and began to make his opinions on the matter perfectly clear.
"Huh, who is she to tell me what to do, I Regulus Corneas, Sin Archbishop of The Witches Cult representing Greed, the most perfect being in existence. It is a complete and utter violation of my rights to do such an absurd thing as restrict my freedom of movement like that! The nerve, the pretentiousness, the utter and sheer pig-headedness of that wretch to even dare and do such a thing. From my point of view it is utterly and completely unjustified, is such behaviour due solely to how I pledged to work towards a brighter future for this world? Is it because I, the embodiment of one who desires nothing in this world lent a hand in aide to those in need that the feel like they can simply grab it and hurl me into the mud with them? It is so utterly and incomprehensibly unfair to even think that such an action is at all justified, to think that you have any say whatsoever in what the purest being in the entire world can or should due is nothing but utter derangement and delusion. She is a piece of obnoxious, annoying, irritating, delusional, indignant trash if she even presumes that she could stop I, Regulus Corneas from walking down into that forest and reducing every last living being in it into nothing more then a puddle of blood. Yet for her to due something as greedy as to demand that I Regulus Corneas, the most humble and merciful being in the world, come down into her forest in order to educate her on why she is wrong is so horrendously greedy that it leaves me almost speechless. To demand something like that from someone else is nothing more then an infringement of their rights, to force them into a situation where they feel like they must teach you, must educate you on why you are wrong just so they can go about their life. It is so thoroughly and utterly insane to expect something from someone that it would vex me if I was even capable of something as lowly as anger. It makes me so utterly indignant and vexed to have to think that there could be someone so goddamn greedy out there as to even presume to try and make me want to enter a forest as downtrodden as that by stating that I cannot enter it in the first place. To try to trick me as such is so irritating, annoying, maddening, vexing, enraging that if I weren't so peaceful, so humble, I would level that forest until it was so flat it could be used as a pasture. I,I,I,I,I,I,I,I,I,I,I,I,I,I,,I,I,I,I WANT NOTHING MORE THEN TO RIP HER AND THAT DAMN CHILD TO SHREDS FOR DARING TO EVEN BELIEVE THAT THEY COULD INFRINGE UPON MY RIGHTS AS SUCH. TO FORCE ME TO HAVE TO EXERT MYSELF, TO FORCE ME INTO ACTION IS NOTHING MORE THEN TRODDING UPON MY RIGHTS TO LIVE LIFE AS I WANT."
Regulus seethed with sheer rage as Betelgeuse looked at him in complete disbelief, and it was only then that he noticed the two halves of the open black box on the ground that he realized just why Regulus had changed so much in such a short time.
"Regulus Corneas….you didn't…" Betelgeuse sputtered in disbelief.
"Do what? Do you presume that you have the right to tell me what to do just like she does, do you think that I am such a pitiful existence as to allow you to infringe upon my right to decide my own life. Do you think I could disregard something as serious as you daring to posses an opinion, daring to even comment on a choice I have made. I am Regulus Corneas, an existence that is only capable of making choice that are perfect. You dare pity my existence, you dare stand so tall on your pillar of virtue as to think yourself above me, it is simply madness to think you could place yourself as such to me. To even imagine that I deserve something as lowly as the pity from someone who places themselves above me, to believe I need to be pitied upon by being given such advice. To presume yourself better then me, to even dare to think that you have a right to comment as such is nothing more then a violation upon my right to be free of criticism. By criticizing me you attempt to stain my perfection, who do you even think you are to even try to do such a thing as that to me! I am Regulus Corneas, The Witch's Cult Sin Archbishop Representing Greed, I am the most perfect being in the world, AND THERE IS ABOLTULY NOTHING YOU NOR ANYONE ELSE CAN DO TO EVEN AFFECT ME IN THE SLIGHTEST!" Regulus's vision bore down on Betegesuse with sheer rage, his golden pupils glowing with such intensity that he seemed on the precipice of unleashing true devastation, yet before he could even take the slightest action to cause harm a calm voice rang out from behind him.
"Regulus Corneas is back in his house with his family, just as she should be"
And with that statement Regulus suddenly vanished form right in front of Betelgeuse's eyes, so suddenly in fact that it was almost like he was never there to begin with.
"I have sent Bishop Corneas away, he seemed to be verging upon taking an action that would jeopardize our position and ability to carry out the tasks Sensei Flügel left in our hands. He may be an example of perfection in this world, yet he is unable to see the wonders of imperfection, so Bishop Romanée-Conti I shall have to leave the task of handling the imperfect situation in this forest with you."
As Pandora said this, she shouldered the satchel that her Sensei had brought into the forest with him before turning and walking down the hill, leaving Betelgeuse alone at its peak.
"Of course I will Pandora-sama, but what will you do, what about Flügel-sama's death?" Betelgeuse called out after her as she walked down the hill, causing her to stop and turn her head so he truly got a good look at her eyes for the first time since it happened, and what he saw chilled him to the bone.
The happiness and innocence were well and truly gone, her eyes gave off the impression that she no longer viewed anyone nor anything in the world as truly existing, merely as sets of puppets and props that were maneuvered to give the audience a specific impression. It scared him to look at her, if he had to choose he would rather spend eternity with what Regulus had become then another second with this twisted abomination of what used to be a devote student of the Great Sage.
"Sensei Flügel has left me with one final task to attend to, to find the remainder of your fellow Bishops, and afterwards I will work towards easing his suffering so that things can be just as they should have been. Do not think for a second Bishop Romanée- Conti that he is truly gone, Sensei Flügel is a wonderful person and he will surely return, despite his actions I know that he would never truly subject us to something as horrible as to suffer alone until our inevitable deaths."
And with that Pandora turned her head away from Betelgeuse before she continued to walk down the hill, before she vanished from all sight completely, before leaving Betelgeuse Romanée-Conti alone atop the hill wondering how things had changed so suddenly.