Chapter Text
“The Hawk”
March 4th, 8:04pm
Apartment
Simon Blackquill opened the door to the apartment. Moonlight shown through the window, and the atmosphere of the apartment felt… empty.
“Cykes-Dono? Are you h-?”
Simon spotted a note on the counter. It read “Tired - AC”. Simon sighed. It made sense, she had barely gotten any sleep for the past few days, and her yelling in the mirror certainly wasn’t helping matters either. At least she would be recovering her strength.
Simon walked towards the kitchen and opened the cabinet door. He reached out for some Instant Ramen in a Styrofoam cup. Athena had shown him a neat trick with using a coffee machine to pour hot water. By not putting any coffee into the machine, it only poured out scalding water.
Simon ripped off the seal on the Instant Noodles’ Styrofoam cup. Placing the cup under the coffee maker, and pressing 8 ounces, Simon waited. Whilst he waited, he figured he could dispose of the paper seal of the cup. Opening the trash bin, Simon haphazardly tossed in the seal…
But before he could close the trash bin, Simon caught something from the corner of his eye. Something that looked like a medicine bottle…
Simon reached down into the bin to grab it. Picking it up, it felt far emptier than normal. Simon couldn’t help but feel a sense of foreboding. Looking at the name of the medicine, Simon realized that it was the slee-
Simon felt his heart sink at the realization. His hands began to shake rapidly. It felt as if, somehow, he was engulfed in a horrifying nightmare. All he could think of were questions, all worded differently, but all asking the same thing.
The jingle of the Coffee Machine alerting Simon that his instant noodles were finished shook him out of his thoughts. He slipped the medicine bottle into his jacket as he raced towards the bedroom door, praying to anything that would hear him that he wasn’t too late…
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“The Robot”
March 5th, 9:32am
Cell 5
Aura laid on her back, staring at the ceiling. She didn’t have much to do today. Her assigned therapy animal would be decided in a few weeks, but she really couldn’t fathom taking care of an animal with all its responsibilities. She’d rather be tinkering with machinery.
Her handcuffs had to be replaced multiple times given how… effectively she disarmed them. In retrospect, she should have utilized those skills far less early on. Aura sighed to herself. She wondered if she could e-
”Dr. Blackquill, you have a visitor.”
Aura turned to look at the guard. The only visitors she had were her brother and the princess, whenever she could. But they never came this early.
”From whom?”
”From Prosecutor Simon Blackquill. Will you see him?”
Aura felt a tinge of foreboding. This wasn’t usual at all. But she would never downturn a request to see her brother, especially knowing how hard it was on her when he refused her requests.
”I’ll see him.”
Aura rolled out of the bed she was on and got to her feet. As the Prison Guard led her to the detention center, she wondered why Simon was seeing her now. He should be at work, so whatever it was must be incredibly important.
As the Prison Guard took off her handcuffs, she looked into the detention center from the window on the door. She could see the look on Simon’s face. A look reminded her of what he looked like when he spent his first days in prison. The Prison Guard opened the door, and she walked towards the chair on her side.
Aura sat down at the desk.
”What’s going on? You don’t ever visit me this early.”
”…… I have…. Two layers of bad news.”
Simon turned to look at Aura… and he somehow looked even worse. His hair was messy, his eyelids were baggy, his eyes bloodshot, and his suit wasn’t nearly as well put together as it should’ve been, almost as if it was yesterday’s suit… It seemed like he had pulled an all-nighter.
”… Lay them out.”
Simon closed his eyes in hesitation for a moment, and released a heavy sigh.
”I… will be unable to visit you for the foreseeable future.”
Aura was taken aback by this… but it made sense. He was a skilled prosecutor, and his talents were being recognized by the Chief Prosecutor, likely allowed him to tackle even foreign cases…. But he said he had two layers of bad news, so he wasn’t bringing any good news to the table, which meant that…
”…. I see… You can’t come to see me because of this other bad news, I take it?”
”………… yes…. The other news is…………”
After what felt like an eternity of silence, Simon finally spoke.
”Cykes-Dono has been hospitalized for overdosing.”
Aura’s eyes widened in shock. A thousand thoughts ran through her mind, but not even one managed to completely form before another took its place.
”…What? You’re…. You’re joking, right Simon?”
While Simon stared at Aura, he shook his head.
”W-What the hell do you MEAN she overdosed?”
”I don’t know! I found a nearly empty bottle of sleeping pills and saw her passed out on the bed and rushed her to the hospital! The doctors say that surgery is still ongoing even now and I frankly don’t know if she’s even alive right now, and I choose to come to talk to y-….”
Despite Simon’s rambling, Aura couldn’t hear a single word he said. She had hated the Princess once, but that was before she learnt that she wasn’t Metis’s killer. But… but why? From all of the conversations that Simon had with her during her time in prison, Athena sounded like she was doing fine, although she did tend to yell at stuff out of nowhere at times… though on reflection, Aura did seem to recall that the smile Athena had was more forced each time she visited, but not in the way that suggested that she hated her, but instead just that she was having a long and rough day.
While her thoughts drifted, she paid more attention to Simon. This was the first time in over a decade in which she’d seen him be stressed out in person and confide in her for advice. Most of the time it was for homework when the two of them were in school, but that was a lifetime ago. Here she saw something she thought she’d never see again: her brother begging for help. For advice… it meant a lot to her. Far more than she’d ever admit.
Aura knew what she had to do.
”Simon.”
”-nd I di-! ……….. My apologies, I trailed o-“
”Does Mr. Wright know?”
”……. I can’t bring myself to call him.”
Aura closed her eyes and sighed.
”It’s going to be hard… but you have to call him. Seven years ago, you shut yourself off completely. I know now why you did what you did, but that feeling of being unable to do anything to help you? Having my requests to see you denied? Being left in the dark about the wellbeing of someone I cared about?… that is a pain that I don’t want to experience ever again, and I don’t think Mr. Wright would like to be in that same position.”
Simon turned to look away from Aura.
”… Thank you for telling me about Athena. I… I won’t be out for a long time. But promise me you’ll stay by the Princess’s side until she wakes up. And when she does wake up, you better visit me again. Understood?”
Simon nodded. Before he was about to get up, Aura spoke.
”One last thing. Simon.”
”…Yes?”
”… Do NOT blame yourself.”
”…!”
Simon was caught off guard by that comment. It seems as if he didn’t expect to be read so quickly… But she knew how it felt blaming herself for something that wasn’t her fault. It was what she did for that painful, agonizing month after Metis’s death, before she placed that hatred onto Athena. And she didn’t want her brother to feel those depths of self-loathing.
Simon nodded and got up. Aura looked at the Prison Guard and nodded. Getting up and having the Prison Guard place those extra-secured handcuffs, Aura silently hoped beyond hope that Athena would wake up.
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“The Lamented”
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Athena opened her eyes.
The sky was crystal clear, as well as the floor. The floor she was lying on was made of water, yet she did not seem to sink into its depths, nor did it appear to get her clothes wet. Athena got up from the surface and looked around her.
Miles. Miles upon miles of water, with no end in sight. There didn’t appear to be a sun in the sky. Athena began walking. Each step felt like walking in a tiny puddle, but she never sank into the supposed ocean. She didn’t appear to have widget on her. Athena wondered what happened that led her to this place?
The last thing she could recall was Mr. Wright sending her home for the day off, and her deciding to go to bed e-
Oh. Oh.
“Athena.”
She turned around to see a face she never expected to see again.
Metis.
“Why are you here at this age?”
Athena looked away from her mother.
“I… I’ve done some… really, really, awful things.”
“Nothing you could say would make me think any less of you.”
“…I… I made a deal with a… a devil. It promised me that it would save Simon… but in return it demanded I murder two people very close to me.”
“From what I’ve observed that demon did not tell you the true nature of his contra- “
“THAT DOESN’T MATTER! I shouldn’t have accepted its contract no matter what it offered! I should have paid attention to Boss’ and Apollo’s past cases! I should have had basic fucking faith in the Boss! I sh- “
Metis hugged Athena. Athena cried her eyes out as she gripped her mom back.
“I-I, I nearly killed them! Multiple times! Damn it, I don’t even know if all those times were completely under its control!”
Athena looked up at her mother, eyes red from wailing.
“I can’t even go back now! I can’t apologize to Simon, I can’t tell Juniper I’m sorry for leaving, I couldn’t even write a half-decent reason for deciding to k- “
“Athena. Just… let your emotions out.”
It felt as though the entire area changed shape with her sorrow. No longer was the sky crystal clear, but instead stormy, with rain pouring all around. The ocean started to move violently, as though a flash flood was happening. Despite the surrounding area having the water rise to tsunami heights, the water around the two could only reach up to the waist.
“I-I… I just want them to be safe! From someone low enough to deal with a devil because they didn’t have enough faith in their friends! From someone willing to sacrifice their life for someone else who they hardly know! F- “
Metis brushed Athena’s hair.
“You’re in a lot of pain and grief… but I’ll be here for as long as you need.”
The storm ranged on for what seemed like hours. Slowly, after exhausting every single ounce of pain and sorrow she had gone through for the past few months that Devil had tormented her, the ocean slowly began to calm, and the sky slowly started to clear up. Day turned to Dusk, and yet Metis did not let go.
Eventually, after what felt like an eternity... Athena’s tears ran dry.
“Athena, know that I will always love you. More than anything else in the Cosmos.”
“…Thank you…. Mom.”
“…Athena… you can choose to go back.”
“……… what?”
“I can’t guarantee that that monster will no longer be around you… but I can assure you that your friends could not possibly hate you, no matter how much you feel you deserve it.”
“…Do I deserve the chance to go back?”
Metis smiled sweetly.
“Of course. I would love to talk with you more…. But it’s not your time yet.”
Athena stepped away from her mother. She looked up at the endless sky. She then looked down at the bottomless ocean. She knew there was only one choice she could make. Diving down into the ocean, Athena swam as far into the depths as she could. She had to make it through. She HAD to persevere. She HAD to choose to…
live