#sorry ma'at this is the only way to balance the scales

[sitabethel]

Okay, bit listen...

Afterlife Atem x TKB fic where they get married and TKB moves THE ENTIRE VILLAGE into the palace, and the utter chaos which ensues as Kul Elna throws the biggest party the afterlife has ever seen to celebrate

[houseoflibra]

Saint Seiya: Dark Wing Chapter 25: The Scale of Truth

Page 1

Page 2

Lucas: - Huff… huff…

Eulalia: - Hello?

Lucas: - *surprised* - Huh?! - (Too close!!) - Oh, sorry. - I was lost in thought.

Eulalia: - Well, it's only natural you were left speechless - after seeing my beautiful fight!

Page 3

Lucas: - Eulalia… - Well…

Eulalia: - Heh! - I was… - (Oh no, now I remember! Soujiro told me to keep a low profile!!) - L—let's keep this - between us, please!!

Page 4

Eulalia: - Until next time!

Lucas: - Eulalia… - Just as I thought, - she's straightforward, - noble, - beautiful… - Normally, there's no way - I would even be able to talk…

Page 5

Lucas: - …to a girl like her. - But… - maybe… - …I could make her mine…

Page 6

Karaoke

Students: - Hahahah!

Vassilios: - *singing "Blue Forever"*

Leo Gold Saint, Vassilios

Page 7

Vassilios: - *still singing "Blue Forever"*

Esther: - The anime song selection here is tasteful, but - watching a handsome man sing is even better, huh?

Celestial Beast Star Sphinx, Esther

Suzuri: - I'm not so sure about the song, - but I suppose he can sing… - (So loud…)

Earthly Hound Star Laelaps, Suzuri

Suzuri: - I was ordered to be here because…

Julius: - That sounds interesting! - Hahah!

Suzuri: - …or so he said… - Why did Pandora's Sphinx Specter and - the Leo Gold Saint - have to come to a karaoke?!

Vassilios: - *previously singing "Pegasus Fantasy"*

Page 8

Vassilios: - *singing "Blue Forever"*

Suzuri: - I... - I'm off to the bar…

Page 9

Suzuri: - I… - I can't… - Master Julius told me to do this, - so I should be able to sing at a karaoke!

Esther: - Suzuri Okino! - Hey, pretty lady. I was hoping to hear you sing, - Suzu.

Suzuri: - Ah!! - Su… - Suzu…? - (P—pretty…?)

Esther: - Oh, sorry.

Page 10

Esther: - I was trying to be friendly since we're both specters, but - was it too much?

Suzuri: - Celestial Beast Star, Sphinx Esther!… - I didn't notice you at all!! - What do you want, - Celestial Beast Star, Sphinx?…

Esther: - Oh, nothing. - Actually… - I was hoping to give you a cute nickname and then have some girl talk…

Suzuri: - Not if I get to you first!

Page 11

Suzuri: - Gordian Bond Amputation!

Page 12

Suzuri: - Did I get her…?!

Page 13

Suzuri: - Huh…?

Esther: - The incredible speed - of your swift iai sword draw - almost had me making a careless mistake.

Suzuri: - ?! - No way! - She wasn't cut?!…

Page 14

Esther: - Actually, you'd already gotten stiff back at the karaoke room due to being… - ...under the effect of my Balance of Curse!!

Suzuri: - Guh!

Page 15

Suzuri: - A magic harp…! - My body…!

Esther: - That's why your body feels heavy, - and you cannot reach the dangerous top-speed you're capable of.

Suzuri: - Y—you did this back then?

Page 16

Esther: - As long as you're in my trap, - you won't be able to move at full speed.

Suzuri: - (This overwhelming cosmo…) - (So this…) - (…is the true power of the guardian of the Underworld's second prison…) - (…the Sphinx specter!…)

Esther: - If you try to fight now, - your heart will pop out of your chest… - All right?

Page 17

Esther: - Three, two, - one! - And then it will jump out.

Suzuri: - Wha?!

Esther: - Three, two… - one!

Suzuri: - ?!

Page 18

Vassilios: - Oh! - Well done!

Esther: - You shouldn't interrupt girl talk, - hot guy.

Vassilios: - Well, - if two Specters are having a secret chat… - …as the Leo Gold Saint, - I should come in and say hello, don't you think?

Esther: - Actually, I'm a Specter of Justice.

Page 19

Esther: - Perhaps you could assist us?

Vassilios: - Oh? - A Specter talking about Justice? - Now that - sounds interesting!

Esther: - Are you here to get the girls' attention? - Or are you here - to protect them?

Vassilios: - Heh! - That's obvious. - As a saint, - I'm here to investigate and settle - the incidents involving those girls who went missing, but…

Pages 20 + 21

Esther: - Balance of Curse!… - If you're telling the truth, - then Ma'at's feather, the symbol of Truth, - will be in balance in my scale!

Vassilios: - Are you trying to pull out my heart?!… - Heh…

Page 22

Esther: - Now, let's see your true colors. - Whether or not you are the villain behind these incidents… - …will be revealed now!

Vassilios: - Ugh!

Suzuri: - She's standing up against a Gold Saint - on her own?!

Vassilios: - Huff… huff… - All right! - OK!

Page 23

Vassilios: - If that will get you to trust me - then my heart is as light as a feather!

Suzuri: - What?! - You're saying you'll expose your heart?!

Vassilios: - Well, I'm happy to see - a Specter go to such lengths!

Page 24

Vassilios: - I want you to believe me! - So you're welcome to use your impressive cosmo on me! - Go on!

Esther: - I don't hate - arrogant hot guys.

Suzuri: - Huh?!

Vassilios: - Oh? - Are you going to trust me then?

Esther: - *nod* - At least this once…

Page 25

Esther: - I'm satisfied that you two are not my enemies.

Vassilios: - Yay!

Esther: - Now, - I hope the owner - of the fiercely dangerous and terrible cosmo - coming this way is not a friend of yours.

Suzuri: - Fiercely dangerous and terrible…?

Vassilios: - Yeah. - Somebody is coming, all right. - Somebody with a huge cosmo and eager to fight…

Page 26

Page 27

To be continued...

[yuvon-writes-letters]

Hello again!

I already told you I would re-read some of the letters when I'm home from work and I did.

But first things first: I agree, that's a good thought. I will tell you and Jake as soon as I get new results. And I hope the MWAF stays low till then..I really don't want to leave my home xD

But now to the letters.

Yuvon, again, without wanting to be rude or anything, I'm getting a bit suspicious. Don't get me wrong and please continue reading this letter!

I believe you with the situation you're in, but I don't think you've always been honest with me and I just want to know why. I don't even think the things that weren't 100% true were big things, but it still confuses me.

I have three things:

No. 1: Maybe that's something I overread, maybe you said it, but in your very first letter you said that, wherever you looked, you only saw trees...Right? When did you find the rooms, or more..where are the rooms?

No 2: Again in your first letter; you said you fell down a tree and didn't injure yourself badly but still had somewhat of a sore wrist. So, differently than what you said later, you're still able to be injured, but not badly, right?

No 3: And the last thing, the pencil. From what you said not so long ago it never seemed to become dull. But how in the first place did you sharpen it? I mean, I remember you telling us that it was completely useless because it was as if just newly bought. So not sharpened at all.

I do not mean to insult you or anything, maybe I just didn't exactly realise something you wrote to those things. Sooo..I'm just curious :)

I hope you'll still answer,

Liska🐾🔥

Lis,

I hope the MWAF leaves you alone, too... this all sounds like it could get dicey fast if that jackass ever finds you. I hope your coworkers would notice if you suddenly started missing work or something and would call the cops.

As for your points...

1. Yeah, it LOOKS like there are only trees around here. But in the first letter, I hadn't actually physically felt along the edges of the invisible barrier yet. When I later did did, I walked through not-actually-solid trees and then could see the rooms. Sorry if I didn't specify that properly!

2. I don't really consider bruises "injuries". Sure, they hurt, but they're not debilitating, agonizing, or dangerous the way a cut or a broken bone can be. Still, you're right that I misphrased that, sorry. I don't always choose the right words when I write and especially when I talk.

3. (blacked out) It's not (blacked out) Fuck it.

There are more rooms than I talked about before. Five, actually. One north, one northwest, one southwest, one southeast, one northeast.

Northwest was this... dead, empty space. Dead trees, the grass turned to ash as I stepped on it, dark, and it just sort of pressed on my mind until I thought my head would just end up fucking squishing or something. There was a stand at the far end with a silver chalice on it, and literally just looking at it gave me this horrible feeling of dread to the point where I thought I might have gotten a heart attack if I touched it. I didn't touch anything, just walked out. I don't care if the dread was magically induced or not, I wasn't going in there unless I had no other choice.

Southeast had an altar with some bloodstains on it. There was a decal of balancing scales on it, and on the scales was a white feather and a heart. The heart was heavier than the feather. On top of the heart was a black feather, crow or raven, though I'd bet money it was a raven feather. (That decal, by the way, is from Egyptian mythology. The dead were judged by weighing their heart against a feather of Ma'at to see if they were sinners or innocent. If the heart was heavier than the feather, a monster ate the heart.)

Southwest was very pretty. It was a field of white lilies. There were three upside-down torches, one on each wall. Of course, since I know a LITTLE symbolism and I'm not a complete moron, I didn't take a single step inside. White lilies symbolize death, specifically "innocence attained through death", and upside-down torches are an originally Greek symbol of death and the soul. I'm not setting foot into a room entirely filled with symbols of death, thank you very much.

Northeast just had a knife in the middle of a glade. I took it, and I used it to sharpen the pencil at one point when I was bored. It's the only thing I know of here that can do me actual harm; when I tried it out, I cut myself a little bit by accident. I think I might've actually bled a bit on the letter where I talked about the other rooms.

I don't (the handwriting after this is shaky) want to go into detail about what's in the north room, but basically it indicated that if I waited, I would be here a long but limited amount of time. I think I also know why there's a stasis. I would go into details but I think I nearly went insane just looking at that fucking thing and I cant inflict that on anyone else trust me youre better off not knowing

(The shakiness stops here.) I took a breather. Sorry.

From what I can tell, there are two ways out, one associated with each of the rooms arranged with a cross. I can wait, or

Well. There's a cycle, here. I can tell, and the elder trees confirm it. I'm stuck in between the end and the beginning, but I think I could break everything and solve the case early if I'm willing to give an even price.

I'm going to keep believing there's a third way out, and Jake agreed to, too. But if I need to I'll wait it out. Maybe I'm selfish, but even to protect my friends from that asshole, I can't pay that price. Not unless there's no other choice. Besides, it's against basically all my morals anyhow.

There's not much point in talking more about those other rooms, I think. I'm not touching that path with a ten foot pole.

Jake's been of the opinion that I should search the rooms more thoroughly. So, there's that. But if you could see how freaky those rooms are... ugh.

Anyhow. That's what I've been hiding. I think that's everything I've lied about, at least up to now. I'll probably check at some point.

I think I'm going to talk to Jake and the others for awhile to get my mind off all this shit.

—Yu

(The letter tucks itself into the paper clip with the others.)