This story was extensively researched! I did use an encyclopedia of all these different myths that I'm bringing together, including Selene's seduction of Endymion. The story of Pandora is really quite interesting, if you ever get the chance to read it. And I'm not just using Greek and Roman mythology in future chapters, too. I found Norse myths…just wait and see! ((laughs evilly)) I don't own any of the myths or Cyborg 009!
Mika is FOLLOWING CANON LAW – the world must be ending.
-&-&-&-
Riprendere
Chapter Three: Metronome
-&-&-&-&-
After the ordeal was over, each person on the Dolphin was given a watch period to stay in the infirmary with Joe and Francoise. Since no one could be certain what had happened, this was instantly put into effect.
Joe could not sleep for the life of himself, not even if someone paid him to. The soft bleeping noises emitting from two machines (hooked up to himself and Francoise) had already lulled the two other occupants of the room to sleep. Sadie was curled up in an armchair that she had brought in for herself, her head resting on her crossed arms. Her face looked vexed with worry, and she looked much older than seventeen. Francoise murmured something in her sleep then rolled over to face the opposite wall.
Joe sighed. The sound caused Sadie to shift and open her eyes. Something was lurking in her eyes that Joe wasn't used to seeing again: it was fear. As soon as she saw him, the look vanished and she smiled. It wasn't a very happy smile.
"You okay?" Sadie asked. Her voice was tired. She sat up and rubbed her eyes beneath her glasses. "You look fine."
Joe returned the small grin. "I'm okay. Just a little nervous about what happened. Pandora didn't explain it very well. Could you?"
Sadie nodded and sat up in her chair cross-legged. "You weren't the only one who was awake that late. Most of us were, wondering why Arien and Mirllyne were so connected. Francoise had been the first of us to fall asleep, then Fate, Mirllyne, and it went on. You were about halfway down the list. After God knows how long we talked, we heard Francoise screaming in her sleep. Pandora ran in and got her into the infirmary. As Jet was walking by your room, he heard you talking in your sleep. At first, he didn't find it odd, but when he went back, you were gasping for air. So he brought you.
"Putting you two in the same room didn't seem like such a good idea. As soon as you were in, Francoise stopped breathing. When Jet finally got it through his head to put you down, the exact same thing happened to you. I trust you can put the puzzle together from there?"
Joe nodded. What was going on? He didn't want to ask Sadie. She had no idea. "Does anyone know what happened?"
Sadie shook her head. "ISV says that she's going to see if she can trace the dream in the morning. Pandora's stalking around, too scared to sleep. Oh yeah, Omega wants you two to stay here for a while."
She stopped and coughed a little. "Pardon."
"What happened to you?" Joe asked. Sadie looked at him.
"Exactly what do you mean?"
"Why aren't you so…crazy?"
"I went into such a hard course that I had no real time to myself. I had to do schoolwork all night and go to evening classes for theory of knowledge. My sisters entered middle school and I had to help them. Life picked up at an alarming rate for me…and now I'm turning eighteen and leaving for college."
Joe watched as she curled up again. She laid her crossed arms on the arm of the chair, then her head on her arms. She didn't remove her glasses, as if she knew she'd be awake again soon.
"Don't worry about keeping me up." Sadie said. "You can go to sleep or stay awake. Either one is perfectly fine with me."
She rubbed her eyes again and closed them. She looked so worn out. Joe felt wrong to keep her awake. He lay back into his own pillows and closed his eyes.
-&-&-&-
"Tell me again exactly what the hell that was about." Tsukasa said. In front of her sat an angel with dark chocolate hair and golden eyes. Her dress was very simple: only a golden shirt and a long brown skirt. Her hair was tied in a set of pigtails.
"I still don't know," The girl protested, playing with her halo. Tsukasa played with this girl's wings. Nirine had interrupted her and Zaffiel. The wings were very pale brown.
"You do know. Why else would you have burst in on us?" Tsukasa implored. She was now stroking Nirine's wings. Nirine felt a blush creeping up her cheeks. She knew that Zaffiel and Tsukasa were in love.
"I DON'T FUCKING KNOW, BITCH!" Nirine shouted. Tsukasa looked into the angel's eyes.
"Are you jealous? I can make you very happy. Follow me." Tsukasa said, still petting the soft wings. Nirine's deeply tanned skin turned flaming red.
"Tsu-tsukasa? What do you mean?" Nirine asked.
"I have some impatient angels that will not work until they get what they want." Tsukasa said coldly. She pressed a key code into a door and it opened. Inside was a content-looking angel.
Her hair was light pink and her wings were the color of red roses. Her eyes were perfectly green, and she wore a pink tube top, a micromini skirt, knee-high pink stockings, and red shoes. She laughed. Nirine gulped. This wasn't real; this wasn't happening…not her…please…
"I believe this is what you wanted?" Tsukasa asked, shoving Nirine into the room.
"Oh yes, Miss Tsukasa!" The girl said.
"Don't stop until she agrees to tell us what she did. We'll be watching." Tsukasa said. The door slid shut. Nirine began to sob. She knew who this was. This was Fiella, the angel of romance. Fiella approached Nirine.
"You heard her. You're mine until you agree to her terms." Fiella said contently, "Come now, let's begin…
-&-&-&-
"You're not doing us any good asleep," ISV's far-off voice said to a sleeping Joe. "It's time to wake up, sleepy bones. Don't make me wake you up."
Joe's eyelids parted slowly. ISV beamed down at him.
"Good! Now that the two of you are awake, we can get to work seeing what caused those dreams and reactions to them." ISV said pleasantly. Next to her, Francoise was sitting up and smiling shyly at him. Sadie was still sound asleep in the chair.
"Hold still and think about the dream," ISV said in a calm voice. Joe closed his eyes and racked his brain for details. Francoise did the same thing. ISV sat down on Sadie and began to watch the scraps that both of them were remembering.
"PAAAAAAAAANNNNDDDOOORRRAAAAAAA!" ISV shouted. In seconds, Pandora was watching the lengthening streams of memory with ISV.
"I've seen enough." Pandora said.
"You can stop now." ISV announced. Both dreams stopped flowing. "If you two had been dreaming separate things, we would have seen two different streams. But we didn't. You two had the same dream. Or should I say, memory."
"And we aren't even past breakfast," Panthos said in passing. "Yet Pandora already has it all figured out. So, can you explain the plot so far?"
For now, we'll just say that Panthos was shoved into a very uncomfortable position.
-&-&-&-
"Tell us again?" Enx asked. She was still miffed on this whole 'Joe and Francoise existed in the past and blah blah blah' thing.
"For the last time. Joe and Francoise were Prometheus and Pandora. Francoise set something off when she re-opened the box, therefore causing the past to repeat itself. If we're correct," Epona paused, "All of us could be in a lot more danger than just loosing things precious to us."
Fate was caught having lengthening conversations with Mirllyne while they thought no one was watching them. On one such occasion when Enx found them, she had almost succeeded in killing Mirllyne and was well on her way with Fate. Poseidon had been going by at the time and only stopped Enx once Fate had screamed 'STOP!' for the three hundredth time.
Is this very relevant? The betas say no. Mika says no. Joe says crap. Sadie just walked away. So yes, it is! Now, let's continue, shall we?
Joe was now walking along the hallways, trying to get the general idea of what was going on out of his head. Pandora had only hammered it in, what, a couple thousand times? 'If you had the power to change the world…would you do it?'.
He couldn't answer.
As he continued to walk, he heard someone singing. It was Japanese. Though he wasn't used to using the voice's dialect (her accent was evident), it was unmistakable Japanese.
"Shizuka ni deguchi ni...tatte," She sang. Joe knew this song. It was that song that Sadie was always singing. Hikari. Light. As he rounded the corner and entered the kitchen, he found the named girl singing the named song.
"I didn't know you knew Japanese." Joe said, rather bluntly. Sadie stopped singing instantly.
"I don't. I've always loved that song, and I've memorized the lyrics. And why are you out here?" Sadie answered. She smiled at him. It was more of a real smile than he'd seen only the previous night. "You aren't missing anything, trust me."
-&-&-&-
"FINE! FINE! I'LL TELL YOU!" Nirine sobbed. A frightening Fiella reluctantly drew off of her. "If you're watching, Tsukasa, get your fucking ass down here!"
Within a minute, Zaffiel was standing with them in the room. Her composure was the same as always, but her face was much harsher to the now lower-ranking angels. Fiella was smiling toward Zaffiel.
"So, tell me. What happened?" Zaffiel demanded.
"Sit down and get comfortable, it's a very long story I have to tell." Nirine replied.
-&-&-&-
A willowy girl with long, wispy black hair sat on a cliff, staring out into the ocean. Her hazel eyes were glazed over. She wore a long black skirt and black boots, along with a navy blue skin-tight full shirt. In her hand swung a golden clock with sapphires and rubies to mark the hours.
"The pendulum swings still," She said to no one. The golden chain that the clock hung from was wrapped around the girl's hands, which were completely stationary. "Will anyone ever break my pendulum? As it swings on, only time can tell…time will yield the worst and best results…so why does my luck rest with them?"
She moved. Her hair flew in a wild breeze, but the pendulum swung ever as perfect. It seemed as if whatever she did was dependent upon the little clock with its swinging hands and sparkling face.
"Won't you break my pendulum?"
-&-&-&-
It was now twilight and nearing twenty hours of puzzlement from the brains of generations zero through three. Tie was now sitting on the top of the Dolphin, as they had surfaced for the night. Luke was sound asleep in her lap, like a heated pillow.
"So I'm not the only one who needed to clear their head." Lily said, poking her head out and her body emerging not far behind. "What an interesting day it's been so far."
Tie nodded. "Yes, it has been."
They sat in silence and watched the sky. Purple-gray clouds looked like another ocean floating in the sky, coming to wash up onto the calm fading blue heavens. It was a peaceful silence, not a tense one.
"DINNER!" Chang's loud shout penetrated all their deep thoughts.
"Hey, you know what?" Another voice demanded. This time, it was Kim. "If an army moves on its stomach, then…then…a Jet moves on its ass!"
"Was that a direct insult? I'm forever fas…" Mirllyne began, then cut herself off. "I'm forever amused at your insulting techniques!"
Tie jumped back down with Luke in her arms. "What is that supposed to mean?"
Mirllyne blanched. "I'm from another country, what can you expect?"
Tie eyed her, but accepted this reply.
Elsewhere on the Dolphin, Omega decided that it was fine for Joe and Francoise to leave captivity. Joe had nearly thrown his arms up to rejoice. Being in there was horrible. As he stepped out, a small girl began to float in front of him.
"Bon soir, Joe!" D.S. said. "I 'eard about your probleem. Are you okay?"
Her tiny face was showing only concern for his well being. Joe nodded in reply, not wanting to repeat the dream to yet another person. D.S. accepted the reply and sat down on his shoulder. She hummed a song that he couldn't place.
When Joe emerged into the kitchen, he also stepped onto a battlefield. It was a volley of fireballs, flying from Mirllyne to Tie to Chang and back to Mirllyne again. Then something new started on the twentieth volley of fireballs: little fire-like pixie things began to fly around. Their naked bodies were covered by flame, and their hair seemed to be burning with their bodies. He stood, watching the little pixies dance their way around the fireballs.
"OY! JOE!" Joe heard. Mirllyne was shouting at him. He shook his head and the room came into normal focus once again. "Hello, you're on Earth! Welcome back!"
Her wide smile and the fireball clenched in her fist gave him the impression that she was getting ready to punch him if he didn't stop watching the pixies. The fireball vanished once Mirllyne saw that the confused look was gone from his eyes.
"Can you see the fire sprites?" Mirllyne asked, turning around to continue setting the table for dinner. "If you can, it's fine. Don't worry."
"That's what they are?" Joe asked. Mirllyne laughed at his shock. "They're beautiful, like living flame."
Mirllyne bobbed her pigtailed head. "Yes, that's right. They're the embodiment of fire. Make them mad, they could burn to so rare that Chang could serve you tonight. They usually only show up at major fires…but I suppose this was a special case."
Joe looked to his shoulder. D.S. was gone. Something told him that Mirllyne was beating around the bush on about this whole fire sprite thing. Another something told him that she was also avoiding the topic of angels for a reason of her own. Had one hurt her?
"Earth to Joe, Joe, can you hear us?" Mirllyne said. Her entire face was beaming at him as if there was no tomorrow. Joe imagined that he did look pretty stupid, spacing out every five seconds.
"Good, then. He can help get ready." Tie said happily.
-&-&-&-
"…I see." Zaffiel said, smiling her tight-lipped smile. Nirine nearly collapsed from relief. For the last four hours, she'd been explaining to Zaffiel and Tsukasa about the dream Joe and Francoise had. The miserable angel now wanted nothing more than to go to sleep for herself.
"Have you been able to contact Etaf yet?" Tsukasa asked Zaffiel. Zaffiel shook her head and returned her gaze to Nirine.
"Thank you for explaining this whole process to us. I'll escort you to your chambers so you can rest, then you can assist us further. Is this acceptable?" Zaffiel commanded to Nirine.
"Yes, that's fine." Nirine replied, rising from her chair and following Zaffiel from the room. In truth, Nirine was terribly sorry about this. She resolved to loose another night of real sleep and call one of her old friends through an old link.
-&-&-&-
"STAY IN THERE!" Omega shouted, slamming the door to a broom closet and locking it so Panthos couldn't escape. She heard his laughter through the steel door and wanted to punch a hand through and throttle him.
"Whoa, what happened?" Pyunma asked. Omega was practically blowing steam at the broom closet. "Are you afraid…"
"PANTHOS, SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Omega bellowed, storming away. As soon as she was out of range, Pyunma unlocked the closet and freed Panthos. He was laughing hysterically, as if this was all planned out.
"I'm gonna get you, Omega!" Panthos shouted, wheeling down the hall after her. Omega screamed in fury and began to curse Pyunma. She was so wrapped up in her screaming that she didn't hear a certain green-haired person sneak up behind her. And by the time she knew he was there, it was too late.
Panthos had already pressed his lips to hers.
"UGHHHHHH…Panthos!" Omega demanded, a furious blush climbing up her cheeks. "I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"
Omega seized Panthos by the collar right as Lily turned the corner to begin this hallway. Lily was coming to clean, as it had been getting dirty in her absence. Panthos began to struggle; fearing what Omega was going to do to him. Pyunma also came down the hall; eager to see how badly Omega mutilated him.
But this scene was quite the opposite. Omega brought Panthos an inch from her face, looked at him with all the ferocity she could muster with her burning blush, then crushed her lips against his. Lily dropped the vacuum and Pyunma laughed at the strange outcome.
"Bad time?" Lily asked, blushing apologetically. Omega dropped Panthos. Lily turned and walked away, still blushing deeply. Pyunma also ran off to tell the others what had happened, as much as to escape Omega's wrath.
"So…did you mean that?" Panthos asked, fighting to remain coherent. Omega played with her sweatshirt. She raised her eyes to glare at Panthos and nodded. He burst into a wide smile and began to laugh.
"You're an evil bastard, Panthos." Omega said, joining him in laughter. "You forced the end to fall in love."
"I don't know about that," Panthos said, kissing her again. "Are you sure you didn't fall in love with me off your own accord?"
-&-&-&-
"IN SOMNIS VERITAS! BITCH! WAKE THE FUCK UP!" Nirine screamed through the dream link. She was in bed, asleep, but her conscience was wide awake. ISV stepped into the dream, cursing about how she was awakened.
"What? Who the shit is it, I wanna kill you! Fucker!" ISV swore. Then she registered Nirine and caught herself. "Whoa, Nirine. How long has it been? I trust you were the one who gave those dreams to Joe and Francoise?"
Nirine nodded her head. ISV's favorite background came into instant play, river, moonlight and all.
"It's been quite a while, I must agree with that." Nirine said. "I did cause them to remember what happened to them those thousands of years ago, though I did not want it to have that exact result. When I pictured it…they remained alive."
ISV laughed like she hadn't since she watched herself slap 002 over and over again. Nirine blushed a little. Even elementary dream workers knew what was needed to fabricate a false reality.
"There was intervention," Nirine explained once ISV had stopped laughing. "While I was drawing the memory out, someone tried to break the connection. Someone was trying to access them, since I was pulling the memories at the same time. Would it happen to be you?"
"No, why would I want to contact them? Hello, we're living together right now." ISV protested, sitting down on a rock. She began to play with the tree's leaves. "In any case, did you get their fingerprint?"
"I did." Nirine replied. "I'll give it to you. Night."
-&-&-&-
"How the hell can you be so dead?" Panthos asked upon walking in on Omega and Pandora. Both were practically asleep over the controls. "You just had four cups of coffee APIECE! Even Josephine's happier than you two, and she's dead!"
"I thought I told you to be a good little dork." Omega snapped back. "Oh, hey, Lily."
Lily entered, looking a little tired, but she still had a far way to go before she even rivaled Pandora or Omega. Panthos rolled his eyes.
"Don't change the subject, dork. You're gonna get yourselves sick as hell and it's not gonna be my fault." Panthos said.
"What are you talking about?" Lily asked, wondering why Panthos was the only one capable of half-coherent speech. "Hey look, it's raining outside. I hope that there's not thunder…oh how I hate thunder…"
"That's not natural rain." Pandora observed. "Lily, could you cover for me while I find Tirzah?" She stood up and Lily took her place.
"Jet! JET! It's safe to come out now!" Tirzah called, searching for Jet. "Omega is gone right now!"
"Tirzah?" Pandora asked. Tirzah paused her search for Jet to look at Pandora. "Are you causing it to rain?"
"No…no, I'm not." Tirzah said. "FRIG YOU, JET! COME OUT OR I'LL KICK YOUR ASS!"
They got to the control room to find Fate, Poseidon, Riko, Joe, Francoise, Epona, and Kim waiting for them. Panthos was smiling at his handiwork. Pandora gave him the 'don't-get-too-happy-too-soon' stare.
"So, what did we get dragged in here for?" Kim demanded. "I was going Jet-hunting."
"That rain isn't natural," Epona remarked. "Is that the problem?"
"You bet. Do any of you think…wait, I'm stupid. Francoise, do you think you could find who's causing this?" Panthos asked. "And Fate, put your wings away. We all know who they're from."
Fate was stroking her tattered wings. "I can't, you idiot. Once you receive the wings of a broken angel, you can't take them off. My angel gave them to me once they deemed her a black angel. Oh…"
"There are two types of angels," Poseidon began to explain. "There are white angels. They're angels like the angel of fire, water, dreams, and stuff like that. Black angels is misleading. They're the angels such as the angels of death, fate, and the angels of emotion. Usually, their wings show what type they are. But in some cases, they don't."
"To the northwest, thirty-three degrees!" Francoise said, causing Pandora to nearly jump out of her skin. Lily turned around and smiled.
"You got it."
-&-&-&-
"Um, good fucking morning!" Ra shouted. Her hair was standing on end and she had marks from her sheets. "We're in the fucking middle of fucking nowhere! Fuck! I could have slept for another five fucking hours!"
"Shut the hell up." Enx growled. She, like Ra, was not a morning person.
"Both of you, shut up before I make you." Omega was pacing now. Joe stood next to her, wondering what was going on. It was only five in the morning, everyone was in their pajamas, and everyone was ticked for being up.
"Here's the deal. This rain is unnatural, and it wasn't caused by Tirzah. Only one other person could have caused this, and that's Zaffiel, the angel of storms. I know most of you have abilities from your reconstruction, but you have magic. We all do. Find it inside yourself. You should feel it as a certain color, like a color you really like. You should be able to access it and force it out of yourself. No, Panthos, not like shit." Omega explained. "There's something else. Generation Zero wasn't just chosen for their natural talents. Epsilon was the communicator between angels, Gods, humans and all other races at that time. So…that's all for now. Tune in later for more fun facts!"
Pandora tugged a sweatshirt over her head as the others went to get changed. Poseidon hung back, since he was already dressed. He pulled a pair of gloves on that only cut off at the top joint of his fingers.
"You shouldn't go, Pandora." He warned. They kissed briefly. "You're going to come down with the flu or something if you don't let yourself rest. And since I know you're planning to use magic, you'll use most of it since your body has been trying to deal with the sleep loss and the sharp increase in caffeine intake. Rain is not going to help."
"Calm down, Poseidon. I'll be fine." Pandora assured him as they kissed once more. Poseidon grabbed her by the wrist and took one of his gloves off. He pressed the back of that hand to her forehead, then drew it back. Looking at her over his glasses, he gave her a look of warning.
"You're already coming down with something. Stay back." Poseidon said. Pandora wormed free of his grasp. She ran up to the ladder, climbed it, and jumped out. He shook his head at her. Somehow, he got this weird feeling that she'd end up getting worse.
-&-&-&-
"Where's this bitch supposed to be?" Ra demanded, back in full Xeno-Hearts uniform. "I didn't get up for fucking nothing."
GB was still puzzling over how ladies could have such filthy vocabularies, and didn't notice it was hailing until a large chunk hit him square on his bald head. He jumped and transformed into a clone of Eleanor. She looked at him and cast him a look of utter loathing.
"So, Pandora. We meet again." Zaffiel said into the storm. Pandora looked up and saw the angel sitting on a cloud, looking rather smug. "For those who haven't met me before, I am Zaffiel, the angel of storms, second in command to Tsukasa."
She jumped down off her cloud. She was now wearing a rather dull outfit. Her shirt was plain gray with a hood on it, and was too long for her fingers to reach out. Skin-tight purple-black-gray-blue shorts covered very little of her white knees, which were decked of swirling tattoo designs. Across her feet were silver stilettos with little lightning streaks on the sides. Her dark pink hair hung around her face, and at times, obscured her vision.
Seconds later, Zaffiel held up a finger toward the sky. Lightning directed itself to that finger and began to charge.
"I'm so glad I was chosen for this," Zaffiel said, aiming her finger at Pandora. "I get to kill the bitch who put me out."
She fired the yellow-purple streaks at Pandora. Pandora held out a single hand, and an ice blue shield formed around her.
"I see you can use magic again. Well, I didn't come here to have tea. Let's see what the rest of these jackasses can do!" Zaffiel cried. The wind picked up drastically and white wings unfurled from Zaffiel's back.
(Let's see if Omega taught you well enough,) Epona said. She herself raised a hand to her face, then swung the other around in a circular motion. Green light shone where her hand had already passed, and when she dropped the hand away from her face; leaves and vines grew from her fingers. She held a hand out and began her command over the vines.
"Such as shame," Zaffiel said. The hailstones grew in size and increased in their already persistent fall. "Magic gone to such a waste. Enala would be so sad to see what's become of her position."
Tirzah began to argue with Zaffiel's weather changes. Zaffiel was interested in something much different, however.
"Well, this is nice. I'm changing with Fiella and Enala. I'll be finishing this later, bitches. Have fun!" Zaffiel said. She vanished, though the storm did not. Two replacement angels came. The first was Fiella, then was an angel with brown hair and hazel eyes.
"Epona, right?" The new angel asked. "I'm Enala, angel of the earth."
"And I'm Fiella, and these are my arrows! Like 'em?" Fiella asked, launching a wooden arrow from a bow.
"DON'T LET IT HIT YOU!" Fate burst, sending a red bang from her left hand. "You idiots, those arrows will turn you inside out with love for someone!"
One went flying toward Pandora, regardless of the gale. This time, she didn't protect herself. Instead, a huge wave curled up to guard her. Poseidon stood a few feet away, holding a hand out. He smiled at Pandora, then jumped onto a wave and rode off with it.
(Is that all he can do?) Jet scoffed.
(If that was all, why did Black Ghost want us so badly?) Panthos asked. Usually, he'd cast the illusion that there was a large emerald-scaled dragon flying above the battle, but he didn't. Instead, he closed his eyes and concentrated. A dragon with emerald scales landed and allowed him to climb onto its shoulder.
(Bull shit,) Omega challenged. She, too, hopped onto the dragon's shoulder next to Panthos. They flew off into the black skies, circling the fight below.
"So, we're finally remembering," Enala said with a smirk. "Watch and learn how to use magic!"
(I ALREADY TAUGHT YOU! DO IT!) Epona's voice shouted as thorns began to attack her vines. Green flames licked the thorns from Panthos's dragon above. Fiella launched another arrow as the others were preoccupied. This was aimed for Francoise.
Francoise saw it coming. Pandora watched it, powerless to stop it. Francoise tried to do as Epona had instructed, and seconds before the arrow came in contact with her right arm…
-&-&-&-
"Ah, this is nice to watch." Tsukasa said, curled up in her chair. In front of her sat a milky blue crystal, showing the progressing battle.
"It proves that Mister Scarl before us was correct about them." Zaffiel said, also observing the tactics used by the sister angels.
"What do you mean, Zaffiel?"
"I mean, he was correct about their power. They are the Gods and Goddesses of the court, proving that their powers are as they seem."
"Will they have them until they die?"
"I suppose. I would not know."
"Do you think they'd still have them if we had Pierre and Marco reconstruct them?"
"…"
-&-&-&-
Fiella jumped in rejoice before she saw what had happened. Omega closed her eyes and dug her nails into Panthos before she realized what Francoise had done.
"…Francoise?" Enx asked into the wind. A ruby red light shone through the sheets of ice and rain. Inside it was a beaming Francoise, clutching a broken arrow in her hands. Fiella was rooted to her spot, wondering what the hell had just happened. Pandora walked forward, laughing.
"Yes, Fiella, some people have already chosen who they love." Pandora said, taking the angel's bow and snapping it in two pieces.
"That means that they can't deny fate." Enala said. "The two of them must repeat the past…"
"Hold on," Joe interrupted. "What do you know about us?"
Enala placed a hand to his cheek. "You truly are her son. The same eyes…how very amazing…"
Joe slapped her hand away. "What do you know about me?"
"What I need to. It's not like you can force it out of me." Enala retorted, turning to a shaken Epona. This, however, was enough to really set Joe off. Re-listening to Epona and Omega's magic tutorial, he reached deep inside himself for something. Aiming a finger, golden flames blazed around Enala.
"TELL ME WHAT YOU KNOW!" He demanded as Enala tried to quench the fire.
"You'd be torn apart by it! I refuse!" She cried, then vanished. Fiella threw the broken bow at Pandora. Then she too vanished into the storm.
Pandora laid a hand on Joe's shoulder. "We'll find out in due time, Joe. Until then, don't worry about it."
But this was quite the opposite of what Joe thought. Enala and Fiella knew about his mother. They knew everything about what was happening to him right now. And for some strange reason, he felt like he just got smitten with the lead role of Mika's latest multi-chapter story.
D.S. appeared next to him. She was looking a little more depressed than usual. As Joe was about to ask if they could go inside, a sapphire shield came up around them from the rain.
"Joe…they've told you too much." D.S. said. Her voice was devoid of its prior accent. "I fear that you're going to chase what they gave you. Don't. Please."
"Oh yeah? What the hell do you know?" Joe snapped. D.S. gave him a nasty look.
"I know what you've gone through. You have no idea, Joe. Right now, I'll only tell you this: nothing is as it appears." D.S. said. "By the way, have you seen a golden clock hanging from a golden chain with rubies and sapphires to mark the hours? I've lost it…"
"Sorry, I can't help you." Joe said. "And what happened to your accent?"
"I already told you. Nothing is as it appears."
-&-&-&-&-