3,384Pandora, the woman who unleashed upon the world all its evils, yet preserved the last vestiges of hope found within the box she had been forbidden to open. She was to represent purity, innocence, and youth along with its debilitating urge for curiosity.
In some ways, her pre-pubescent state was poetic. Her age appeared to be the fine line between adulthood and adolescence. To match, she wore white. A plain white dress with simple shoulder straps and frills at the hem. It was neither decorative or too plain, but carried a refreshing air. Her sandaled feet clopped with every step, the straps reaching as high as her calves. And ugh.
Ugh.
How to put it.
She was a brat.
"Bring him out!" Pandora was glaring daggers, burning with righteous fury as if she'd been greatly wronged. Her hands were on her side, and the prolonged silence of her demand was teetering her towards the verge of stomping her feet.
How 'terrifying.'
Shirou's brow twitched at the display, glancing at Arturia who was hiding behind him. Arturia was quick witted enough to deduce that no matter how childish Pandora was acting, she was a Goddess. Hence, her reservations about what she should say or do.
Shirou became her lifeline against the unreasonable.
"I said bring him out! What does that deformed lump of clay know?!" Pandora was raging, and the irony was that Shirou didn't even know how to bring Enkidu out even if he wanted to.
The Gods that descended into him did so of their own volition, not his.
"Prometheus made better humans from washed up mud than that 'ultimate weapon,' ptooey!" Pandora spit and dug her heel into the ground, displaying the behaviour of a juvenile delinquent. "Hmph!"
How should he say this…if he stabbed her with Rule Breaker, would that solve everything?
Shirou was starting to entertain the idea.
"You are Pandora-"
"That's Goddess Pandora to you." Pandora narrowed her eyes. "What are you waiting for? Did you not hear what he had said about me?!"
"What Enkidu said has nothing to do with me, nor do I think throwing a tantrum is fitting for someone of your station," Shirou said cordially. Considering that Pandora had been keeping Arturia here for such a petty reason, and Shirou wasn't exactly favourable to her. It took getting swallowed to even find this place. "I'll call you 'Goddess' when you act like one."
Pandora's brow raised, as her face heated up and reddened. She wasn't flustered, rather, she was enraged. "What do you even know to say that about me?! If not for me, humans would have never stood a chance against the Gods! I'm their benefactor, and that lump of Clay smears my name!"
In all fairness, Shirou would have to disagree.
For every good a God in his world tried to perpetuate, there was always a cost. The Greeks had not been wrong in saying that the meddling of the Gods was the misfortune of mankind. A mortal could do nothing but be swayed by their whims.
In separation, Enkidu could not be wrong.
"Cursed by Madness, I watched as Gods slaughtered Prometheus's blessed race, my race. The one where a naïve girl let loose the world's evils. All that was left was hope, and even here, I provide that last vestige of hope! He who knows not the efforts of others should not condemn them without proper analysis! Dumb clay, dumb mud, dumb chains that bind rationality! Yeah, I said that! You weren't worthy to be friends with anyone!"
Shirou opened his mouth to stop the tirade he felt would go on forever if he didn't, but he paused.
He could feel a presence growing from within him that had been muted at first, but became apocalyptic at Pandora's last comment.
Perhaps because this space wasn't his real body, but another plane of existence, likely a divine realm, it was possible for direct interference.
Shirou raised his arms to cover his face while shielding Arturia at his back.
A golden light descended before breaking off into segmented pieces of anti-divine chains that clinked over the ground. Twirling, the chains rose into the air, and figuratively ripped a hole into the dimension before more chains pierced through and pried the hole wider.
An androgenous figure stepped through, wearing only white robes, but his expression was far from neutral.
It was the same look Shirou realized was often directed at Ishtar.
"As always, your hairstyle is detestable." Enkidu sneered before retracting his chains and floating in the air. He gave a curt nod at Shirou and Arturia, but maintained his gaze on Pandora.
Pandora bristled in shock, hands moving up to cover her pigtails.
"Y-You, take that back!" She demanded.
"Pig tails? Hn, you bring shame even to the mother harlot of Babylon." Enkidu's features began to cool as he collected himself. A tool does not get swayed too much by emotion.
"Well, you're a friendless bastard whose mother figure was a prostitute!"
"One more beautiful than you, clearly," Enkidu smiled, but it wasn't quite a smile. In his hands, he was starting to pull out what Shirou could clearly see was a Daemon heart. He must have kept them for sport. His aim was true, but Enkidu stayed his hand in favour of another approach.
"Also, do you hear that, Gil?" Enkidu called into the air.
Pandora froze, going pale beyond measure.
"She says I'm friendless which means you are too," Enkidu continued to spare into space where golden ripples were forming.
"Hahahaha, a-a joke. There's no need to bother!" Pandora began to back track, but still stood firm. "Do you not know where you are?!"
Hurriedly raising her arms, Pandora shifted her divine space's coordinates. If there was a figurative 'free to enter sign,' now it had shifted to a 'closed.' However, it looked taxing because Pandora began sweating bullets.
She smiled viciously, getting a second wind. She leered at Enkidu.
"I'm in control here!" Pandora stated, pointing a finger an Enkidu. "And you're not leaving until you take back what you said!"
Far from perturbed, Enkidu gently landed on the ground in front of Shirou and Arturia, acting as another shield if need be.
"I will not take back what I said. Mankind's folly was its reliance on the Gods. Separation is a process of due course. You're meddling as mankind's reward for overcoming divine adversity nullifies the point."
"I saved them," Pandora crossed her arms while knitting her brows. "If not for me, my adopted sons and daughters would have no way to usurp the Authority of the Gods they defeated, leaving them prey to any other errant God."
This was where Enkidu shook his head. "They would have found a way."
"They would have died. I have watched this cycle again and again," Pandora stressed.
"Uhm-" Arturia opened her mouth to express an opinion, but Shirou covered her lips and whispered for her not get involved.
A mortal meddling with the Gods reminded Shirou too much of the folly of Paris.
"Then you would not have noticed the burgeoning potential within them?" Enkidu said with a reminiscent smile. "Oh, Goddess who proclaims herself Mankind's benefactor, did you not see the magic at their own hands. Without need for Authority or Divinity. Magic as it should have been gifted from the era of Solomon."
Pandora could not deny it. In the battle that heralded Arturia's existence in this space, she'd seen it. Magecraft, a source of magic and research outside the realm of borrowing magic from a God. It was a new form of magic tied to a different root.
Still…
"It was weak," Pandora stressed. "Such little power will never offset the Authority of the Gods."
"And that is where you and I differ in opinion. Potential has always existed. From small things to tiny seeds become towering oaks. You would judge and sow before trusting."
Mankind had shown its ability. Not here, but in a place that Enkidu had glimpsed when sharing host with Shirou.
Wielders of power and magic beyond imagination.
It all but verified the conjectures Enkidu and Gilgamesh had known all along.
"Man will walk on their own."
"And then die. What I do is for mankind's benefit, and I did not call you here to have an argument. Now apologize." Pandora crossed her arms. She would not change her perspective so easily. "Lest I make you."
The entire space quivered with power.
Pandora was both owner and gate keeper of this divine realm, but Enkidu was not perturbed. Rather, Enkidu's confidence appeared to stem from Shirou's presence in this world rather than Arturia's.
"I'd think you should reconsider considering who you face." Enkidu said cryptically.
"Just you?" Pandora clicked her tongue. "Look around."
"I should say the same for you." Enkidu nodded at the space beside Shirou.
Soon enough, a primordial rune formed, and forcibly bypassed the lock Pandora had kept on the space by using Shirou's existence as an anchor.
Pandora's steps may have been able to lock out other Gods, but it was different for those that already resonated with Shirou when he masqueraded as them. He became an avatar, or aspect of their Godhood.
"Interesting," Scathatch, the Rune Witch stepped through the divide before staring at a blank-faced Pandora. "Will someone as frail as you bring death to me?"
Shirou tensed upon catching up to the situation.
All the people he's impersonated inadvertently linked their beings to him. Traversing through divine realms was different from descending on the human world. Up here, it was like traveling through neighborhoods.
"Go back to Ireland, witch!" Pandora eventually collected herself. "This does not concern you!"
"Strangely, it does." Scathatch looked around at Shirou, Enkidu, and then finally at Arturia. There was something there. Something she seemed to realize.
"Hmm." Scathatch hummed, leveling a stern glare at Pandora. "Pandora, let the girl go. You have no right to keep her here any longer."
"That I will agree with," Shirou finally spoke up, moving to stand next to Enkidu and Scathatch, the two hardly reacting.
If anything, the glint of battle-lust that flickered over Scathatch's eyes was momentary directed at Shirou before she redirected it. Later. There would be a proper time.
"Now bestow Authority or not, and get this over with." Scathatch snorted, moving to the crux of the matter.
Pandora's expression fell, knowing that the Witch had seen right through her. By right, Arturia had done what was necessary to become a Campione, and yet Pandora was reluctant. She'd always stressed fairness, and in all regards, the company Arturia kept was far from fair. To the point that Shirou practically handed out an Authority to Arturia seemingly on a whim.
"On that we disagree. She does not need your Authority," Enkidu shook his head, glancing at Shirou to side with him. He remained neutral.
Scathatch shrugged. It hardly mattered to her.
Pouting, Pandora hardened her stare on Arturia and chewed on her lips.
"Why should I listen to-"
Shirou decided to press Pandora by calling upon the world within him. Even if it was a metaphysical space, the weight of an endless Steel cowed any courage Pandora could muster, and caused no small amount of interest from Scathatch.
Regardless, all eyes turned to Arturia.
Arturia had heard both Pandora and Enkidu's points, and with Shirou, Enkidu, and Scathatch's arrival, the choice of free power was now given to her.
There was a strong likelihood that Enkidu would stop lending his aid to her and Shirou if she accepted. But at the same time, Arturia could tell that Pandora's stance on her would soften if she agreed.
When Arturia surmised that Pandora would have kept her here indefinitely until Pandora had come to a decision, the choice was somewhat skewed. Yet, if she could gain the strength to fight by Shirou's side…
"I-"
"Think carefully," Enkidu hardened his tone.
"I…"
Arturia looked to Shirou and eventually came to a decision.
"UGh, uoh!"
Blood splattered over the dirt as a girl's petite form writhed and contorted over in fetal position. Her skin and parts of her body were bruising and tearing without any warning.
Curling her toes from excruciating pain, the pitiful sight of a young girl curling up into a shrimp was left unseen in an obscure location in one of Japan's national parks. Grasping the ground with her fingers, she clutched tightly if only to abate the pain. However, it did little in the way of comfort as her nails ended up peeling right off.
In place of the snails, a glistening sheen of metal could be seen with an onset of further bleeding.
"W-What's happening to me?!" Metis could barely raise her voice above a whisper. Her vocal cords had long since grown too hoarse and were stretched too thin to raise the volume of her cries.
Barely managing to get back onto her feet, her knees buckled as she gasped and fell back onto the ground. The impact numbed her face, but the force of the fall was nothing compared to the cause.
On her thighs, a laceration ran from the upper quadriceps down. The wound tore through muscles and into the sinew of the bone. Unable to stabilize herself, the fall had been inevitable.
Was it an enemy attack?
A curse? Or an Authority?
No. It was nothing else but a process of incomprehensible assimilation. It was like a bad stomach ache that showed no signs of relief.
From the wounds that opened cuts across her body, swords pierced through the skin, revealing an interlocking meshwork of Steel that stoppered the wound only to open it up again. It was endless cycle that showed no sign of stopping.
Metis gagged, but forcibly stopped the reflex to vomit through sheer stubborn will.
"It's mine. Mine!" Metis hissed, clawing at herself.
There was hardly any trace of uninjured skin on her. It was like a snake that had swallowed an animal whole, only to find one of the animal's horns had pierce through its stomach lining. "Settle down and be digested!"
She placed her palms over her open wounds, flaring her divinity and using her Authority to stitch herself back together. It was a sight that even Athena would find pitiful. In a way it was fitting.
A snake was the embodiment of a Mother Earth Goddess. A snake that eats Steel was one who tried to wield Steel that didn't belong to the earth. While other Gods of Steel may be able to compound the effects of Steel to resonate with their own, what Metis did was try to usurp it.
And usurp it she did.
'His body was made out of swords.'
"Aaaagh!" She screamed, her voice growing hoarser and hoarser as many more wounds appeared on her body. This time, rather than blood, embers spewed forth, giving way to flames that scorched the area around her black.
'Fire was his blood, and glass was his heart.'
"Dammit, dammit, DAMMIT!"
Metis's pupils dilated as she desperately clutched at her chest. Her core as a Mother Earth Goddess felt as if it were being ruptured, replaced with glass.
The flapping of wings above her revealed several crows that had come to roost, drawn by her screams that sounded like she was dying. Vultures and scavengers, they seemed to eye Metis like an easy meal, merely waiting for her to tire out and perish.
Detestable things.
Metis raised a hand towards them in irritation, but no sooner did her stomach sink and give her shortness of breath. Saliva dripped down from her lips as she dry-heaved.
S-She couldn't stand this. It was impossible in her current state.
She needed her other half, perhaps then at full power, she could hope to fully put an end to this rebellious Steel!
She paused as more thoughts assimilated through her mind, conveyed in authoritative will. Her mouth moved with a will of its own.
Metis tried to stop it, knowing that nothing good would come from speaking the words of the Steel trying to break through the confines of her divine body.
Yet, it was impossible.
"…Have withstood pain to create thousands of weapons-"
Power rushed through Metis, but in turn, she thrashed harder, more desperately as she writhed in agony over the ground.
A searing blade burst through her kneecap and practically severed the shin off. The only thing keeping the leg together was a line of tissue and tendons that managed to remain intact.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRHH!"
Athena.
Athena, the true snake will emerge from the skin of the other!
Metis's eyes grew blood red.
Like a feral animal, she began dragging herself towards the source of her other half before she ended up dying from engorgement.
She didn't know what part of Japan she was in, but understood that she'd digested enough Steel to overpower Athena in a direct confrontation. However, as if Athena knew the extent of the power Metis absorbed from the red-mantled God of Steel, Athena was playing a game of hide and seek.
Athena had suppressed her presence to the bare minimum, leaving hardly any traces to follow.
As if proving her wisdom, Athena could win simply by leaving Metis to her own devices. The Steel was too much for her to bear, and in turn, she'd rage.
There had to be a way to draw Athena out, but Metis knew that Athena was pragmatic.
The destruction of a city or its people would hardly move her considering that Athena was propagator of the tragedy of Troy.
There was nothing stopping Athena from fleeing Japan altogether.
Blood seeping out of her burst lips, Metis wanted to scream in frustration.
She wanted to be an Ally of Justice.
…
..
.
What?
Metis shook her head, hands cradling her temples.
"Athena, where are you?!"
Metis stretched her divine sense thinner and thinner in a bid to locate her other half, but again to no avail.
She just kept wandering forward, inadvertently on route to Tokyo.
Arturia woke up with a start. Her body felt exhausted and her muscles ached. Worst of all, the sense of hunger in her stomach was overwhelming as she hadn't eaten at all in her comatose state.
What she would give for a good set of fish and chips right now.
"For sooth, thou hath awakened from thy rest, young Arthenia."
Blinking dubiously, Athena's surprised face came within view along with the fact that Athena was about to lift Arturia onto one of those medical beds used for transport.
It was the first time Artura had ever seen Athena's expression look so awkward.
Arturia sat up, got herself out of the covers while Athena quickly composed herself and put aside the bed that she was going to lay Arturia onto.
Coughing, Athena craned her chin up and acted as if there was nothing wrong with her actions.
"What doth though think of going on another vacation?" Athena asked, hands clasping together in 'fake cheer' she'd learned from TV. "Italy again? Maybe Prague, or even better on the opposite side of the earth, North America?"
What was Athena even talking about?
Within the dulled state of awake and asleep, Athena's words sounded garbled, but Arturia still understood to a degree.
Obviously, she was confused on Athena's sudden initiative. There was still school tomorrow too, and her family would kill her if she was found skipping.
Groaning, Arturia pointedly ignored Athena and focused on taking in her surroundings.
She was still in her room, and nothing seemed out of place aside from Athena. Oh and-
"Where's Shirou?" Arturia asked as she sorted through her thoughts.
"…" Athena choked, her eyes going owl-like. In the end, she shook her head and stood up into a lecturing pose.
"First thing's first, young Arthenia. Your teacher is the wisest. She can do no wrong, and if it looks like it does, know that it was because of the work of fools." Athena couldn't meet Arturia's flat stare and focused on her feet from embarrassment. "There's a situation that my wisdom insists can be resolved by leaving our base in Japan for a short while."
Arturia continued to stare and Athena pressed on.
"Let me stress we are not fleeing, but a tactical retreat while we scapegoat the Campione into dying a fool's death. Win-Win, can't you see? Your teacher is thorough." Athena puffed up her chest. "I've already enlisted the help of the most gullible idiots, and have them set on dealing with the situation for us. You just have to play your part and feign unconsciousness. Easy, right?"
"Where's Shirou?" Arturia cut through all the blubber and insisted on her original question.
Athena's shoulders trembled as she weighed whether or not she should tell the truth.
Pride won in the end.
"He's temporarily away," Athena said with a straight face.
"…" Arturia pursed her lips.
Behind Athena was the doorway of Arturia's room, and from behind the door, Arturia could hear the sound of multiple people. The voices were too muffled to make out though.
"Is Shirou entertaining guests?" Arturia inquired.
"They aren't guests," Athena denied with a flat expression. Expendables was the better word, truly, but she digressed.
Having enough with Athena's cryptic answers, Arturia knew of a solution beyond anything else. Something Athena was more than aware of when she caught Arturia glancing at her Command Seals.
"I could call him here?" Arturia said in a display of sudden wit and maturity that had bled into her from the prior battle. "Or will you not tell me the truth now? Would you rather I use one of these on you?"
Athena's expression hardened, but inwardly approved of the decisiveness when it came to getting what one wanted. "Very well."
Athena could no longer hide it and explained everything that had happened so far while Arturia lay asleep and trapped by Pandora.
"Then those people outside the door-"
"You take me for a fool?" Athena said indignantly before she realized the blame in Arturia's eyes.
Athena held her tongue and finally softened her stance. A mistake was a mistake even if it was a miscalculation. She did not have the high ground here.
"I would not bring enemy Campione anywhere near you. The people you hear out there have nothing to do with the God slayers. Rather, they are my enlisted help." Athena said.
"This is kidnap, KIDNAP!" A high-pitched voice yelled through the door loud enough for Arturia to interpret.
The way Arturia was looking at Athena subtly shifted for the worst.
That in no way sounded like enlisted, and worry for Shirou had Arturia on tenterhooks.
Without waiting for Athena to explain further, Arturia moved to check the situation out herself.
Arturia opened the door of her room and marched towards the house's living space where two people came within sight. One of them appeared to be a young pubescent girl while the other was a woman of similar age to Arturia. In fact, the Jounan Academy school uniform gave away that they were going to the same school.
In a twist of reality, it was the pre-pubescent girl that was overpowering the older girl. The younger girl was sitting on top of the older girl and tying a sturdy rope to bind the older girl's hands and feet so she wouldn't run away. There was even a gag, oh no, that was a sock stuffed into the older girl's mouth.
"What?" Arturia let out a dubious cry that alerted both squabbling women to her presence.
Hurriedly, the older woman spat out the sock muffling her mouth and called to Arturia.
It was none other than Rin Tohsaka, and Guinevere who was trying to instill the hierarchy between divine ancestors to Rin.
Of course, to a normal civilian which Rin 'obviously' was, there was an easy way to explain everything.
"Help me, they're crazy!"
Rin broke her façade of elegance and burst into tears as soon as she saw Arturia's normal reaction.
Arturia had no idea what the poor girl had been subjected to, but Rin's expression lost all hope when Athena stepped up next to Arturia and Arturia didn't bat an eye.
In Rin's eyes, it was evident that Arturia was also one of them. The crazies.
"Kill me. Just kill me." Rin lost all strength and slumped, Guinevere using the opportunity to finish tying her up.
Un-wrinkling her clothes, Guinevere stepped up to Arturia and extended a hand.
"Greetings ward of Athena, I am the Witch Queen Guinevere." Guinevere introduced herself. "I believe we have an accord with your Goddess pertaining to the defeat of the Snake who swallows Steel?"
"She means rescuing Shirou," Athena translated when Arturia glanced at her.
With a stiff expression Arturia took Guinevere's hand and shook it. "Glad to have you."
Moving her attention back to Rin, Arturia couldn't help but ask. "…And her?"
"My newest protégé," Guinevere smiled. "She is blind, but I will make her see. She'll prove useful yet."
Shaking her head, Arturia sat down and stared at Athena, waiting to hear about whatever plan Athena had.
Like she'd expected, Arturia was appalled at the 'run away,' plan Athena had devised.
After all, it meant sacrificing Japan to Metis's rampage if Godou and Salvator Donni failed.
"We have to stop her ourselves," Arturia stressed.
"No, we don't." Athena denied. "Metis made a mistake in swallowing a Steel she has no hope of digesting. If we wait, she dies in the end."
Arturia shook her head. "Y-You don't get it."
Athena took offence while Guinevere listened on.
"What don't I get?" Athena hardened her tone.
"What if Metis is actually stopped?" Arturia gave a hypothetical scenario.
"Impossible," Athena could see no way. "Shirou's Steel is far too great a power to contend against. I predict that there is no chance."
"You said the same when you sent Shirou to deal with your problem?" Arturia retorted.
Balking, Athena hmphed and grudgingly listened to whatever point Arturia was trying to make.
"If Godou or Donni win, say because Metis is too unstable and destroys herself while fighting, whose Authority would they Usurp?" Arturia asked a key question that Athena had not thought about.
Still,
"Pandora has always been fair when assigning Authority to her adopted children." Athena said with surety born from age. "She would not simply assign the Authority of a defeated God on her children just because the God self destructed without need for a Campione's interference. It defeats the purpose."
Silence. One that stretched for as long as Arturia fidgeted in place.
"…"
"Why are you making that face?" Athena felt goosebumps run down her skin while looking at the nervous expression Arturia was making.
"A-Are Goddesses petty?" Arturia asked tentatively.
"Of course, n-"
"Yes. Yes, they are," Guinevere cut Athena off with surety.
"…We're not going to run away." Arturia decided much to Athena's displeasure. "We will be the ones to rescue Shirou."
/-/
Caught tied in the middle of the room, Rin squirmed in a bid to free herself.
She had no clue what these people were saying, but she did freeze when she heard Arturia mention saving Shirou.
Regret and guilt were wrecking havoc inside Rin. She knew who Shirou was, and could still recall the moment he'd intervened to help her only to get himself into trouble. Even if she was normal, if there was a way that she could be of use in saving him, then what was she hesitant about?
She owed that much, and a Tohsaka always pays back their debts.
Inside of Rin, Divine Authority also listened silently while assimilating with Rin's psyche.
Conquest did sound nice. If she saved Shirou, wouldn't he think better of her?
Is that not how love blossoms in the stories?
Rin felt her heart race before she could get ahead of herself.
Teenage hormones and fantasy at its finest.
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