Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction / Saint Seiya Fan Fiction ❯ The Intense Clash of the Gods ❯ Tale 50 ( Chapter 50 )

Another comfortable day on Death Queen Island shifted to a comfortable night... and as Charybdis, Fenrir, and Cecil laid down to sleep, one member of the group was still in thought.

Isaac sat out on the edge of a cliff, looking out to the sea. He just stared out at it for hours, his mind calm before he finally began.

"Thetis," he said with a smile, "For the time we shared together... I could not have been happier. You're cheery disposition, how you always tried to make the Mariners have an easier time defending their pillars, and encouraging me throughout my fights... I couldn't ask for more.

"But you're dead," Isaac said, his voice saddened. "Nothing I can do will change that. I may not die for a long time, and I can't live my life in the past. You wouldn't want that, and I won't walk down the path that Hyoga probably does to this day... visiting his dead mother frequently and just not letting her go. It's not right. So..." Isaac stood up and saluted the sea. Thetis did not protect one of the seven oceans herself, but it was the importance of the gesture. "So goodbye, Thetis. I'm going to life my life, find someone to care for, and be happy. You'd want just as much. Farewell."

He turned and walked away. His face did not show any signs of sorrow, because he knew Thetis understood. What was important now was to just keep on training here.
_
"How... how bad is she?" Horoki asked as she, Mana, Asuka, Radamanthys, and Aiacos all sat around the hospital lobby. It seemed like all them had been there recently.

The doctor shook her head. "Miss Rajoshin suffered extremely severe burns, but we've managed to treat them as best we can. Other than that, the severe abuse she's undergone is out of my mind. I don't understand how in the world she got to be that way."

"We're still trying to figure that out ourselves," Aiacos said. "Is she well enough to talk to?"

The doctor shrugged. "She's sedated... I'm not sure how much information you'll get out of her."

Asuka smirked. "We'll be fine."
_
Julien sat in his bed, frustrated at his injuries when he saw the Coronas, plus Radamanthys and Aiacos walk by his door. He quickly called out to them.

"Oh, hello there," Radamanthys said, nodding. "How are you holding up?"

"Decent. What's up?"

"Mizuki was sprawled out in a pool of her own blood and Mina's missing. We don't know what's going on," Asuka answered.

"Is... is she okay?" Julien asked.

The group shook their heads. "We don't know."

Julien sighed. "This is my fault... I can't even do anything here. Doctor's orders are I'm not to get out of bed for at least another week and-"

"Well then it's obvious what you do!" Hikari said as she walked up to Julien. "You worry about that schoolwork that's been piling up and leave saving Ambrosia to us! We've got two of the Three Judges of Hades with us, and I'm confident we'll win!"

"Even without our armor, we're still dangerous," Radamanthys said. "Like Minos, Aiacos and I become extremely fast without our Surplices weighing us down... I think about six times faster."

Julien nodded. "Okay then... just get Mina back."
_
A few doors down, the group found Mizuki, strapped up to numerous machines and clearly unconscious.

"Okay," Asuka said as she walked up to Mizuki, "Leave this to me. Okay... let's do this. Magatama form: Clotho."

Mizuki... she probed, Who did this?

Isabeau.

It took Asuka a moment before she realized what this meant. "Mizuki... she said that Isabeau was the one that did this. She's Suzaku."

Nobody said anything at all.

Any idea where they went?

One.

Where?

Kyoto.

Why?

History.

"I got it," Asuka said as she put a hand on Mizuki's forehead for a moment before turning and leaving. "Kyoto's our next stop."

"Okay, I'll look into it," Aiacos said. "Radamanthys, you think you can help?"

"Sure. I'll tell Pandora to get out of Japan, if only for safety's sake. We can't afford for the Underworld's only armor repairer to get killed."
_
"Funny how this all goes full-circle, eh?" Kaede said as he stared Ambrosia dead in the eye, the goddess pinned to a wall similar to how one would be crucified. "And you can't lay a finger on us due to that stupid bracelet."

He tapped the said accessory. Mina's expression remained neutral.

Unsheathing his katana, Kaede rested the blade against her cheek. Still, Mina expressed no fear.

"What's the matter, bitch?!? Start sweating already!!!" Kaede roared. He flicked the blade away, cutting open her cheek. In spite of the blood, Mina refused to show any signs of weakness.

"You will lose," Mina said plainly. "I don't know how, I don't know when, but somebody will stop all of you."

"Like your lover?" came a strong Italian voice. She turned to see Isabeau standing there, her leather outfit unzipped. She didn't want to know where she had just been. "Please. Rajoshin was slaughtered by me in battle. The only reason I let her live is a bargaining chip."

"What?" Mina said, confused.

"Imagine. Beaten within half an inch of her life... yet what if, by some miracle... she woke up? She'd struggle to come here... and she'd be the bargaining chip we need. Since the only person that can remove that bracelet is you, it's our only option."

"But why?" Mina asked, trying to hide the newfound fear in her voice. Not Mizuki... She'd already suffered enough for her goddess.

"Why?" Isabeau repeated, walking up to Mina before slapping her hard, striking the bleeding cut on her cheek, "WHY ELSE!?! WE NEED TO KILL AMBROSIA, NOT SOME BITCH THAT IS HER BUT HAS HER POWER SUPRESSED!" Mina tried to look away, but Isabeau grabbed her and kept her looking straight at her. "I AM GOING TO KILL YOUR LOVER RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU AND THERE WILL BE ONLY ONE THING YOU CAN POSSIBLY DO! SURRENDER AND REMOVE THAT BRACELET AS KAEDE AND THE OTHERS PREPARE TO KILL YOU!!!"

She smiled as her harsh words broke Mina down... the girl suddenly crying very forcefully, the tears on one side mixing with the blood.

Sadistically, Isabeau reached out, and wiped the tears and blood off and promptly licked them. "Heh... your tears and blood are so yummy and sweet."

She turned and walked away before turning to Kaede. "Seiryu. If you lay another finger on her, I will personally rip you limb from limb."
_
Kouji Rajoshin should have been in bed by this late hour. But this was no ordinary day... and his beloved granddaughter had nearly been killed.

He did the only thing he could, pray to the gods of Shinto. Each and every one... wondering, as he reached the end, if a prayer to Ambrosia would be wise.

The sound of a few pots and pans being knocked down in the kitchen caused him to turn around in shock.
_
Julien had been sleeping as peaceful as the situation would allow him... which wasn't really that well... but the sudden shouts from the hall as a few doctors ran every which way caused him to sit up.

"What's going on?" he asked to one of the nurses, who stopped and turned to him.

"It's Miss Rajoshin... she's gone!"
_
Kouji slowly crept closer to where he suspected the intruder was... his granddaughter's bedroom where he suspected the bed was host to more than one person at a time now, and when he opened the door, he wasn't surprised to see Mizuki there, grabbing a number of sets of clothing.

"I see you're back on your feet," he announced.

Mizuki froze, turning to him. There were a number of bandages on her face and arms... it was a miracle she was even standing, or at least that's what the doctors would have said.

“Mina's in danger. I don't have a choice,” Mizuki answered.

Kouji nodded, turning around when he heard the phone ring. He walked away but quickly returned with the cordless phone. “Yes? Oh… so she's missing from the hospital? I'm sorry, sir, but she's not here.” He hung up, Mizuki breathing a sigh of relief.

“Thank you, grandpa.”

Kouji smiled. “Mizuki… you are as much my daughter as my granddaughter. Life is hard when both your parents are United Nations interpreters… but you do so much to keep this place aloft. And then there is what you do… in your spare time.”

Mizuki felt nervous. Did he-

“Now I don't pressure you on any of this, because it is your life. But understand there is very little here that I am completely in the dark about. Ah… we're here.”

They were standing in the center of the shrine. Kouji bowed in reverence before lifting up a floor tile, taking a small box out and turning to Mizuki.

“Mizuki, you might not know it, but in the late 1700s, there was another Mizuki… and her last name is very similar to ours… Rashojin, instead of Rajoshin. Like you, she was a priestess of Ambrosia… and I believe it would be acceptable for you to wear this.”

Mizuki opened up the box, and was surprised by the robe inside. It was of red and white… magnificent in its composition, and at the bottom was another headband… scarlet-red with a single gold band in the middle. “Than-thank you! And I promise on these clothes… I will save both the goddess I serve and the girl I love!”
_
"I see..." the professor said as Horoki stood in front of her. "And you are requesting-"

"A week off, sir. I am very sorry, but there are family matters to worry about. They'll be done promptly. Settling of wills, that sort of thing. That letter is from the King of Prosecutors, confirming everything I just said."

"Well... it won't be too much of a loss..." the man sighed, "After that fiasco two days ago at the Relay for Life, a lot of students are staying home. Miss Rajoshin and Yuki, for one. And then there are your other two friends, Kirishima and Zepplin... and then Isabeau..."

"I know sir, it's rather shocking. Rest assured, I will return," the Corona said as she bowed and walked away, already grabbing her sword pendant as she walked out the doors.
_
It was only noon... but the whole problem with getting Ambrosia to Kyoto had certainly drained much from Kaede's reserves... and he felt it wise to take at least a short nap to prepare him for the inevitable.

True, this was Kyoto, and on the sacred ground he was damn near unstoppable, but it was best not to push luck.

Passing by Isabeau's door, however, he was surprised to see Moriya step out, buttoning his shirt.

"Did you and she-"

"Genbu and Suzaku are opposites, drawn to each other. My sister and I feel it best to honor that tradition in all ways, both mental and physical. Therefor, all things we do, no matter what taboos exist about it, do not apply to us."

Kaede didn't answer... he was too disturbed by it, but he still walked away.

Their plan involved Ambrosia herself dying, not just Mina Yuki. That meant that stupid bracelet had to go. Mina was the only one that could remove it, they knew that. They just didn't know how she could do it.

But in all the torturing Mina went through, she refused to budge. Only with a certain priestess present would Mina break and follow through with it all.

Mizuki would come... Isabeau had been sure not to kill her, and the miko would not wait a second to come and save her beloved Mina or die in the process.

All that remained now was to wait.
_
"I would've chartered a plane, but they would have spotted it instantly," Aiacos said as he and the others sat in a number of train seats. "At least this way, if things go bad, we'll have some way out of it."

"Just wish we'd find Mizuki..." Mana said, "She's going to get killed out there on her own..."

"We just get there first, that's all," Radamanthys answered. "It's only a few days, and we just hope for the best is all."

"That being said... what are we up against... specifically?" Asuka asked.

"Well..." Radamanthys said as he leaned back, "Supposedly hidden in the Kyoto region is fortress of the Four Symbols... we'll find them there. They'll be absurdly strong too... but we should be okay if we take them on one at a time."

"And if not?" Mana asked.

"Worst case, and I DO mean absolute worst case, we stall for time. A pair of friends of mine and Aiacos will be here soon... and one of them will help out a lot by just being there. If he's there, I don't care if they really ARE gods, we'll still win."

He said nothing else on the matter, just leaning back.
_
"Day five..." Mizuki said as she wrote in her journal in the back seat of a pick-up truck. "I managed to hitch-hike my way to Kyoto and should be there soon. The clothes of the Mizuki of the past are stored away... I will not don them until I face Isabeau in battle... I am not worthy to wear them until then.

"I hope Mina-ojosama is still alive, she means the world to me," Mizuki continued. "My injuries lessen with each passing moment... by next morning, I should be back to full strength. I am truly amazed at my recovery..." she smirked before writing in the last little bit, "Love does magnificent things, neh?"

The truck slowed down as the man in front tapped the window. Mizuki looked up, the driver explaining that a few trees had fallen in the way of the road. He'd see if he could help the man already there get them out of the way, if not, he'd turn around.

"Thank you," Mizuki said as she closed up her diary and stored it with her other belongings she had brought along. She started to get out to help him, but froze in shock when she heard the sound of a sword being unsheathed...

The sound of blood being spilled caused her to run into view, a man in a blue ninja suit and a menacing looking katana staring down the dead man's body, blood coating his sword. However, he wore no mask, and his face and blonde hair showed Mizuki that he clearly was a foreigner.

"I spent two days tracking you... and another three setting this trap up," the ninja said as he bowed to her. "Galford D. Weller, at your service, Rajoshin."

Mizuki casually took out her ceremonial wand and looked him dead in the eye. "You're working for the Four Symbols, no?"

Galford shrugged. "Guilty as charged."

"I don't have time for this," Mizuki said as she quickly fired off a small electric spark. Galford took the hit almost willingly, taking the form of a small monkey. Mizuki breathed a sigh of relief before she suddenly felt a blade being held to the back of her neck.

"Idiot bitch," Galford stated, "I read up on your fighting style... I just brought the monkey along to lull you into a false sense of security. And don't think about any of those stupid 'phantom hands' you use so much."

Mizuki didn't seem fazed at all. "Well, if you're so cocky, then just slit my throat already."

Galford was shocked by the words... did she just say-

The momentary distraction was all Mizuki needed to pound her elbow into his gut. He threw him up into the air, generating her trademark large and imposing orb in her hands.

"MAKAI TEMPEST!"

The sphere was thrown into him, but suddenly Galford vanished, being replaced by a tree stump. He appeared on the ground in front of Mizuki, slashing at her. She blocked with her wand, kicking him away.

"You're not up to full power yet... I'm lucky," Galford said, wiping the sweat away from his brow. "If you had been... I'd be dead by now."

"Congratulations... your death will be delayed a slight bit," Mizuki responded, charging and slashing with her wand. Galford raised his katana to block it, but Mizuki grabbed his wrist and plunged her weapon into his neck...

Except again he just vanished as a tree stump, appearing from above and shooting down at Mizuki.

Rajoshin rolled away, kicking him in the head and knocking him away and charging again. She was getting nowhere with this...

Galford suddenly placed his hands together, and one puff of smoke later, Mizuki found herself surrounding by Galfords.

"Which one's the real one?" the Galford in front of her asked.

"We'll give you one free shot too... make it count," added the one next to him.

Mizuki suddenly began sweating... the all looked and sounded real... but she knew only one really did exist. She just had to think.

"Well? Are you even going to try?" Galford asked again before they all primed to attack.

"Give me a secon-"

"TO LATE!" They shouted, each one blasting through Mizuki, slashing her up. She collapsed to the ground, struggling to get up as they all turned to her.

"Mina-ojo...sama..." Mizuki groaned as she rose to her feet, looking at all of them. "You... I... I won't give up. I promise you all that!"

"Then let's try this again! Take a guess already!"

Mizuki nodded. "Fine..." she flexed her fingers, dark masses forming in them.

"MAKAI... BINDING!"

Suddenly the mass spread out around her like in a circle, wrapping around one of the Galfords behind her as the others vanished.

One quality stab of her wand through his head finally did the ninja in.

Standing up and walking around to the front of the truck, Mizuki kicked through the blocking trees before something caught her attention.

She looked down... but the man that Galford had cut down was missing... and there was no blood there either...

Just what is going on here? Mizuki thought as she ran off.

 

A/N: The “tears” line comes straight from South Park… and I have no shame in it. “Scott Tenorman Must Die” was the best Cartman episode ever… and like Cartman, Isabeau is a complete asshole that needs to get beat up… which will happen shortly.

 

Also, stating Mizuki's parents were alive, just busy as UN interpreters isn't really that important, but I wanted to present something that separated her a little more from Rei Hino, since I was reading “Absence” while working on this and it was partially the inspiration for MizukiXMina. Emulation = good. Downright imitation = bad. Stephen Colbert taught me that.