Duality: Broken Hearts and Broken Bones.

"Why do you leave?"- I asked.

I had felt her sadness, her unease, and, when her familiar warmth went missing by my side, I realized it. She was leaving the Sanctuary. Me. Us.

And I, for the first time, was desperate.

"Was it the toiled seat? My cooking? Tell me!"-I demanded-" I can change it. Saori..."

I was panting, crying, desperately clinging, clinging, grasping her wrist, not even worried if I was hurting her, in that horrible feeling that is the awful need of someone, something, in that hateful sensation of selfishness. "I...I..."-suddenly, my throat went dry.-"I beg you...".

This was the first time I would say something like that, to anyone, anything. And yet, I couldn't say the three, crucial words. 'I love you'. I couldn't say them. I did feel them. But I couldn't articulate them. My voice wouldn't collaborate, my lips wouldn't move, my hands wouldn't stop grasping her shoulders, my tears wouldn't stop flowing.

She was leaving, and it was my fault.

"What did I do...?"- I moaned, finally.- "I will do anything, please, just...please...don't..."

She didn't do any effort to set herself free from my grasp. She only locked her beautiful gaze on mine, and sighed, before taking my face between her hands, and pressing her full, warm carmine lips against mine; cold, thin, cracked, so different from hers.

A ray of hope invaded me for a few moments, the wonderful sensation of relief made me smile into the kiss, as my hands left her shoulders, to let my fingers lose their way between her tresses. Maybe she wasn't leaving. Maybe, just maybe, I could make things right. Maybe...

"Galaxy Explosion!"

I groaned in pain, at the same time that she let me go, stepping away when my body was shot towards the nearest wall, impacting against it, provoking the solid material to shatter into pieces with the impulse. It hurt. It hurt. She had set me up, also, so I couldn't...

My eyes set their gaze on the tall figure coming out from the shadows. The almost identical figure. The movements, the mannerisms,the same colour of eyes, of hair, the same expression across his features, so much like mine. It was Kanon.

"Lady Athena. Your car is waiting for you." - I heard him.

She nodded at him, after looking at me for an extended moment, that, even if they were not more than just a few seconds, seemed like an eternity, and turned on her heels, the fabric of her short skirt whispering with her movements, the cadence of her hips charming as ever, the twitching of her hands at the sudden cold that apparently invaded her body never more enchanting, the pearls that some dared to care tears slipping from her sapphire eyes never more beautiful.

It hurt her, to be taken away from me. It hurt her, to see me suffering. It hurt her, and I liked it. I liked the fact that she felt. She demonstrated something. Anything.

And then, just then, when I understood she wasn't leaving by her own will, I extended an arm, and wrapped my hand around her ankle, and chuckled.

"I will go for you."- I whispered.- "Hang on..."

And then, just then, she smiled.

"I know."-

And then, everything went blank, between broken hearts and broken bones.