Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction / Saint Seiya Fan Fiction ❯ The Intense Clash of the Gods ❯ Tale 41 ( Chapter 41 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

When Asuka opened her eyes, she found Julien and Mina sitting in chairs off to the side, and herself, Mana, and Horoki in hospital beds.

"Ambro-"

"Please, don't call me that," Mina said as she shook her head. "That's over with. We were pawns. Everything I did simply justified the negative reputation that Ambrosia holds."

They sat together in silence for a bit, Mana and Horoki eventually waking up too to the sight of their friends. They talked a bit more, all of them, when Mina checked the clock.

"I'm... really sorry, but we still need to see Mizuki and visiting hours are almost over," she said, walking off with Julien, leaving the three girls alone.

"We... we did bad..." Mana softly said, looking up at the ceiling. "We were just so wrapped up in the ideals of friendship we really just couldn't tell right from wrong."

"It's painful to realize," Horoki answered, smirking weakly. "It's downright humiliating for me... and I'm the Class Rep... I'm supposed to be the one that's the voice of reason and everything."

"We were terrible friends," Asuka glumly added. "We just got so caught up in the moment and all... we're just not worthy of being Coronas. Plain and simple. It was pretty fortunate too that our little pendants got wrecked too... a nice sign from the powers that be, right?"

"Yeah," Mana and Horoki answered.

They sat there in the beds, together in silence.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" spoke a female voice as they looked up so see a woman in a dark-blue dress with almost jet-black hair, albeit with a tint of dark-purple. She was looking around, double-checking the names on the door.

"Uh... no, but you're really strapped for time here," Hikari spoke up.

The woman shrugged, "It's okay, worst case, my husband is here so there's no real need for me to run back home. I'm Pandora... I'm the one that made that restrictive bracelet for Yuki so she won't cause any problems."

"Well... thanks... I guess," Asuka said as Pandora sat down near them. "What's this for, anyways?"

Pandora shrugged. "You feel really bad about what happened, didn't you?"

"Well... yeah..." Hikari answered. "I mean, we pretty much helped one of our friends almost kill one of our other friends! That's not really something to be proud of!"

"Hindsight IS 20-20 for a reason," Pandora answered, smiling casually and shrugging. "You did what you thought was right. And you were bound by loyalty too."

"But it was the wrong thing!" Mana said. "If you want to be a cop, you're supposed to do what's right, not just what your friends need you to!"

"And Miss Kirishima, are you just a police officer in training? No, you're a Corona. You're supposed to protect your Goddess, just like my husband and his friends protect Hades, Athena's Saints protect her, Mariners protect Poseidon, God Warriors defend Asgard and the Polaris family, and all the other pantheons have their mortal defenders. But..." she stood up, "If you really think you don't deserve to defend not only your friend but your goddess should the situation arise, I understand." She started walking out the door, but stopped.

"If not," Pandora concluded as she turned around and tossed three necklaces into the air, "Then rest well knowing that Cecil Bodu, Isaac Krylov, and Fenrir Volsung trust you to protect Ambrosia and ensure she never has to remove that bracelet, and they used their own blood for the repairs of the Sacred Treasures."

She left without saying another word.
_
Kanon sat down in the waiting room alone, waiting for the doctors to either say he could visit her or she was too tired for him to see her.

He knew he had done well... his goddess was saved, Nerve was destroyed... but...

The sounds of a woman walking behind him made Kanon feel uneasy, the pink hair he caught in his peripheral vision letting him know exactly who it was.

"Chary..."

"Don't call me that," Charybdis answered, "Unless you truly mean it."

"I... I do," Kanon assured. "That was the worst moment in my life... I practically died that day, walking away from you and Calypso as you yelled at me to leave and forget you, because you'd do the same if you ever survived. But I couldn't take my own life... I knew it would be the easy way out. I had to face each day as hard as it was... a few weeks later, I checked back. Your bodies were missing, and I hoped for the best... that one of the various sea gods had taken pity on you."

"Poseidon did..." Chary stated. "You had to decide between us or your brother... didn't you?"

"Yeah... except no matter what, you'd still be killed. My brother... he was a good man. The very best. He didn't deserve to die."

"Saga's dead?"

"Killed... the battle against Typhon. He and three of the Bronze Five. One decided to finally leave and lead the Underworld, the other was promoted to Gold Saint."

"I'm sorry... he did a lot for me."

"It's okay... I serve as the Gemini Saint in memory of him, he'd have wanted it this way."

"... You know... what I said about forgetting all about you... I lied. Every time I looked in the mirror, I saw the face so similar to yours... the only reason my hair's like this is because it was getting in the way during the fight against the Hakkeshu."

"It looks good... when I look at it now, I don't get thoughts of twincest."

Chary looked over to him and raised an eyebrow. "Twincest?"

"Yeah... it's weird..."

She laughed a bit before standing up. "Kanon... it was good, although a bit painful, to see you again and bury all this stuff between us. Enjoy being a Gold Saint."

"I will."
_
Franziska sat at Aiacos's desk, looking around. A collection of pictures littered her view, two of them bringing a smile to her face.

The first showed a younger Aiacos... only 18 at the time, standing with a 13-year-old Lune, a man in his mid-50s in an ornate blue suit, and somebody that looked to be in his early twenties in just a T-shirt and blue jeans with reddish hair that completely covered his left eye all posing for a picture, Aiacos, the boy, and Lune holding up a paper saying "Not Guilty" and seeming much more joyful than the man.

It had been Aiacos's first trial, one filled with so much sadness for Mr. Garuda Specter, and yet through it all, he fought cleanly, eventually working with the twenty-one-year-old Reiji Mitsurugi, the fourth figure in the picture, to clear the man, Manfred von Karma... her father.

The other picture was much newer, maybe six months or so old. Aiacos, Lune, and Reiji were in the picture again, this time wearing suits of black armor... Surplices, she suspected, along with a blonde haired man and another with silvery hair... Radamanthys and Minos. Again, they were all looking very happy, holding up a trophy for "Best-dressed, Tokyo Renaissance Fair."

The phone then rang, and she picked it up.

"Higashi and Co. Law Offices," she said professionally, "Franziska von Karma speaking."

"Oh, Franziska!" came the gruff voice of her father, "What a surprise! I saw in the paper you and Aiacos put Ikari behind bars... excellent work."

"Thank you, father. I just wished Reiji was there to see it."

"Don't worry about him..." Manfred told her, "He's perfectly fine. He just called me a few days ago."

"But father... weren't you a little... shocked by the fact you were called by a man that had been confirmed dead by the country of Japan?"

"Only by your confirmation, Franziska... besides, you were probably in a daze when you saw the body, it must've been somebody else. So tell me... how's Japan?"

"Fine," she answered, "Had to do a little running yesterday and my whip's going to need to be replaced, but everything's okay."

"Good..." Manfred answered, "And one more thing. Franziska..." she heard the sound of somebody clearing his throat... the voice seeming to differ from her fathers, "Franziska..." a different voice said, "Me and Lune will see you soon."

She blinked at the sound of the voice, recognizing it instantly. She promptly dialed her father's number. He didn't practice law anymore in Germany, but he gave her a number to call in case of the need for advice.

She got the answering machine.

Hanging up, she smiled.

"Reiji, you prankster." She smiled. He was older than Aiacos by a good couple of years... yet he literally could take almost nothing seriously.

Not like that was a bad thing.
_
Three beer mugs hit the counter in unison as Aiacos, Radamanthys, and Minos ordered another round of drinks.

"We did good," Minos said proudly, "Damn, we did good."

"Ambrosia's under control, Nerve's down in the dumps, Athena's accounted for..." Aiacos said, "Can't think of nothing that could top this off since we took down Thanatos and Hypnos."

True, Zephyr's defeat had come later, but that had been a hollow victory... the price of it being Laimi's life.

Radamanthys, however, just took a few more sips. "I wouldn't say that... after all... the Pentrine will probably have another fight on its hands in just a few more weeks."

"Like what?" Minos asked. Aiacos turned to him as well, Radamanthys summing it up quickly.

"Think about it. Sanctuary's going to be thrown' a ball since Athena's been found. They always do. That means they'll have a tournament. And that means the Kamui from the Typhon situation will be the top prize."

Silence fell on Aiacos and Minos... Radamanthys was right.

This was bad. Very bad.

I walk along the avenue
I never thought I'd meet a girl like you
Meet a girl like you

With auburn hair and tawny eyes
The kind of eyes that hypnotize me through
Hypnotize me through

And I ran
I ran so far away
I just ran
I ran all night and day
I couldn't get away

A cloud appears above your head
A beam of light comes shining down on you
Shining down on you

The cloud is moving nearer still
Aurora borealis comes in view
Aurora comes in view

And I ran
I ran so far away
I just ran
I ran all night and day
I couldn't get away

Reached out a hand to touch your face
You're slowly disappearing from my view
Pearing from my view

Reached out a hand to try again
I'm floating in a beam of light with you
A beam of light with you

And I ran
I ran so far away
I just ran
I ran all night and day
I couldn't get away

And I ran
I ran so far away
I just ran
I couldn't get away