Author's note: A short chapter because of... uh... look at the calendar and you should understand why I don't have time to write this week. I wish you all a merry Christmas, be in good health and stay safe.
Christmas Special
Whether in Italy or a military one, nothing resembles a hospital more than another.
Sitting on two medical beds with white sheets, Ishtar and Ereshkigal were facing each other on both sides of a small table covered with white plastic. They were dressed in very short medical tunics and their hair, usually styled in dual ponytail style, floated freely on their shoulders.
Both had bandages and burns covered with a gel that reeked as much as the ethylated spirit.
Between them, there was a kind of checkerboard in shape say... in the shape of a dumbbell (if there are dumbbells with rectangular weights) of which each square was decorated by a polychrome drawing. It was a game, the oldest known board game. Modern archaeologists simply called it the "Game of Ur".
The goal was simple. You had to lead your pawns in the right part of the board. But if the square line close to the player could only be used by his pawns, the central line was common... and so was the tightening between the two parts of the 'dumbbell'.
Ishtar smiled at her sister... a Machiavellian smile full of mischief.
"Ufu ufuu, I feel that luck is with me."
"If I were you, I would wait to brag... you would look really ridiculous when you look at me crying out as I pull out my last pawn," mocked Ere.
The Mistress of Heaven did not respond, throwing the four 'dice' into the bronze cup next to the game board. The 'dice' were blue crystal tetrahedra. Depending on how they fell, each die could make a score of 1 or 0. So it was possible to have a total score of 0 until...
"Four!"
Ishtar had a haughty smile, before looking at her sister with the look of a cat that has milk on its whiskers.
She took the first pawn placed in front of her and placed it on the fourth square decorated with a rosette design...
"Oh, little sis, can you remind me of the rules of the game? It seems to me that this box has a special meaning."
"You know as well as I do, you've been playing this game for five thousand years," grumbled the Queen of Kur.
"I want to hear you say it. I love your voice so much."
"You have the right to play again!"
The Goddess of Venus put a hand on her cheek, mimicking an exaggerated look of surprise.
"Oh... I must have forgotten. Thanks for reminding me, sister."
Ishtar threw the dice again into the bowl and scored 1. The goddess took a second token and placed it on the first square.
"Your turn."
Ereshkigal did not reply, only sending an acrimonious glance to her sister. The Lady of the Mountain took the dice and threw them into the bowl, and then advanced a pawn of three squares.
"Oh... but what luck I just made a 2 and you saw, this pawn is 2 squares from your pawn so..."
Ereshkigal took the pawn she had designated, placed it in place of Ishtar's pawn, and then threw it at the Queen of the Nocturnal Sky.
"Ah, it was too early for such a young pawn to venture on the central squares, there are adult pawns... the pawns of Ereshkigal. I hope he will have more luck in a future life little pawn, but but you're out of luck... your 'mom' is Ishtar so..."
The Queen of Venus looked at her sister, eyes squinted, visibly furious.
"And what does that mean?"
"I may have said too much," replied Ere, hiding her mouth with one hand in false shame.
"Do not argue!"
The two goddesses turned to the third person in the room. Hakuno was sitting on a chair near Ere's bed and cutting apples into slices. She does not peel them, merely cutting the skin and lifting it in two places.
She smiled and turned to Ereshkigal.
"Usagi."
Indeed the slices of apples now had the ears of a rabbit (usagi, in Japanese) and Kishinami had even carved a small muzzle and eyes.
As Ishtar rolled the dice and moved one of his pawns, the Last Master of the Moon rose and handed one of the apple slices to Ereshkigal.
She was both happy and very proud. Happy, because Hakuno took care of her, but also proud because she could display a 'victory' before her eternal rival. And she decided to ram the point home.
"I'm really lucky to have Hakuno with me."
The Great Goddess of Uruk looked up from the board and squinted without answering.
The smile of the Goddess of the Netherworld grew strong.
"Of course... Shirou is not here and I don't want to spill salt on the wound. If he were here, he would take care of you... a little. That's the big difference with Hakuno."
She took her friend's hand, forcing her to sit near her.
"Because how long have you been waiting for your moronic idiot to understand that you love him? And how long will you wait to tell him? Because you can't expect him to understand for himself... even when it's in front of him, that it's obvious to everyone... he doesn't."
Ishtar crossed her arms and turned he head, contenting herself with a haughty sigh, refusing to respond to the provocation.
Ere took the dice.
"Two... oh I can play again." She threw the dice again. "Four... oh... the rosette there is free. I can play again..." Again the crystal dice rolled into the bronze cup. "Two... and right where there's a cute little pawn belonging to Ishtar, back to Mom, what a misfortune to die so young. But he had the misfortune of being born a blue pawn and it is the red pawns that will win."
Ereshkigal turned to her sister.
"It is obvious that luck knows how to recognize a great and noble goddess... which explains your current bad luck, Queen of Heaven."
The Doctor-Major Claudio Moretti stopped to plug his ears while a cry of pain resounded throughout the hospital, followed by various noises (objects that fall or are thrown violently, rustle of jostling, insults, chase...)
A voice was heard, the voice of a panicked teenager, momentarily dominating the sounds of combat.
"Ishtar, don't bite Ere!"
The doctor shook his head, exhausted by his two patients certainly divine, but above all totally unbearable.
He went down a staircase and entered a hall.
He advanced towards a young man with blond hair who, sitting on one of the sofas in the waiting room, was watching a television program about fishing.
"Mio re (My king) I would respectfully ask you to separate the goddess Ishtar and the goddess Ereshkigal. One of my paraplegic patients got up from his wheelchair... certainly, it's a miraculous cure... but he got up to run away! All patients who could walk fled before!"
Lord Salvatore Doni turned his head and looked at the doctor and shrugged his shoulders.
"Separate them? Their quarrel began in mythological times when humans still wore animal skins; even a Campione can't stop the fire from burning."
And Doni went back to watching television. Often considered a fool, the Devil King had just shown amazing wisdom.
Several hundred kilometers away, a strange phenomenon had just occurred.
In a still smoking ash plain a vortex of violet energy had appeared.
Seen from the side, it was a thin bright line. But seen from the front it was a tunnel of energy similar to a vortex of air, like the center of a tornado.
Leaving the Fairy Corridor, Emiya Shirou emerged into the devastated plain and recognized the landscape he had seen before fainting... months earlier... at least for him. But the ash was hot and still smoking. Queen Titania had not lied, only 24 hours had passed on Earth.
As he looked around, Smith's mask, which he held in his hand, began to glow and vibrate. Surprised, Shirou let it go and backed away.
But, instead of falling, the Divine Authority levitates above the ground gracefully rising to float at the same height as Shirou's head. Particles amalgamated, gathering to form a silhouette... a human one, which densified, taking shape and substance
A few seconds later, John Pluto Smith stood in front of the redhead.
"After a year in limbo, it is nice to return to the world of the living."
He looked around and even though he was masked... not actually having a face... it was visible that Smith was horrified by the scenery he was discovering.
"I think I'll have to apologize... because this desolate landscape is not the work of the Strongest Steel, it's the result of my own stupidity. I thought that by sacrificing myself I would save everyone... instead, I was the one who caused the death of countless innocents."
Immersed in his thoughts, I did not realize that Shirou had shuddered at this sentence...Smith could not know that this nightmare landscape was eerily echoing the redhead's inner doubts.
The Godslayer remained silent for a few moments then turned his head to look toward the sky.
Three helicopters were advancing towards them. They were military ones painted in khaki and sporting the tricolor Italian cockade (red, white, green). Two were Mangusta (attack helicopters). They supervised a troop transport NH90 TTH Essercito.
The two combat choppers came to rest above the area, raising ash clouds around them. The transport aircraft landed. Through the wide-open side door, a helmeted gunner with anti-impact glasses looked around him. Then two soldiers jumped to the ground. They were dressed in camouflage fatigue but had a small hat topped with a rooster red feather, typical Alpini equipment, they were a mountain troop. A Beretta sub-machinegun hung on their chests.
They saluted and then one of them said a long sentence to Smith which answered with a few words.
Not understanding the Italian, Shirou had to wait for the Campione to speak to him to understand what had been said.
"We are expected, a Hime-Miko had predicted our return. The final fight against the King of the End is imminent, we will have our part to play, it seems."