Fragments of the Past

~~~C~~~

"Loki...," Chronos called out to the unwelcome guest in his head.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Loki sighed, "But only after he leaves." Chronos smiled as he stared at Pupagenti's eyes of regret.

"What's wrong Chronos?" Pupagenti called out with a sadistic smile. "Your eyes don't match your mouth. Is it because that fool is still in you?" She then turned towards Alan who was at the top of the ladder and spoke in a stern voice. "Chase him." The android that stood beside her nodded then elegantly bowed and vanished into the air.

"Tch," Chronos closed his fists as a purple mist appeared around him. Within an instant, a blackened scythe then appeared in his hands. "I really hope I don't cause her to die." He spoke to Loki.

"Don't worry so much, she's not the type to lose so easily. Renne is one crafty girl."

"But how's Pandora?" Chronos said with a sorrowful tone.

"Pissed, but at this point, I'm not surprised. Buuuuut~ that's not the point," Loki's tone shifted from playful to serious, "She's growing impatient."

Chronos focused his attention back on Pupagenti who was tapping her foot in irritation. Chronos's aqua body blacken as ancient symbols appeared on his ghostly figure. Chronos took a death breath as he prepared to strike at her. Without a word, an aqua mist devoured the area and he lept at Pupagenti, swinging his scythe from the right, aiming for her head. Pupagenti smiled and stood her ground without flinching. As he approached, a silver mist appeared and a large silver hand punched Chronos straight into the wall of the chamber they were in, leaving a small hole in the stone.

"How rude, I wanted to have a civil conversation with my old friends." She walked over to Chronos and used her mist to summon a set of small silver arms that suspended Chronos in midair. He looked at her with a smile. "Damned freak." She then threw him across the room once again.

Upon impact, Chronos's spiritual body began to glisten as his appearance began to fade away.

Chronos slowly rose to his feet and stumbled a little. Loki's scythe then reappeared in his hands and he used it as a support to keep him standing. "I do hope you enjoyed my friendly reunion gift." He flashed a menacing that held little meaning in the presence of his current adversary.

Pupagenti chuckled a little, "What present? Last time I checked, you failed to even touch me." She then pointed towards him with the stub of her right arm with blood dripping out. "W-when!?" Then looked at the scythe that he held in his hands and found blood dripping from the tip. "So Pandora would also dare to stand against me. How pathetic, to think the people I have given a new life to would backstab me like this." She summoned a small arm from her mist that ripped a small piece of her suit and tied it around her missing arm to stop the bleeding.

"Nobody is on your side." Chronos said, "You betrayed us first." He dropped his weapon and weakly walked towards her. His body was slowly fading away. "Nobody asked for us sinners to be turned into weapons. You decided that after you deemed us too weak since we refused to return to the battlefield. You killed us and experimented with our souls." He stopped in front of her with tears flowing from his eyes. Pupagenti did not move or even defend herself in case he was to attack. "After we lost that battle, we all agreed to back down. But you, and only you, had an issue with that. You then attacked all of us and then killed us in the name of power and love towards that damned bastard of a King."

Papugenti's expression darkened as Chronos spoke those words, she then shoved him away and he fell to the ground. "I did what I had to, we lost so much during that war. God was weakened. It was the perfect opportunity to finally end the suffering, so I did what I did." Pupagenti looked down at Chronos with a disgusted look.

"Weaken? WEAKEN!? He played us for fouls. He had the whole thing set up, why can't you just believe that? We were played with, then tossed away within seconds. He allowed us to damage him to that extent just so he can watch us as we fell to despair after he grew weary of us." Chronos's voice was mixed with grief and anger. "And now..., thanks to you..., we apostles have been stuck in an endless loop of aiding new sinners to their death as they are forced to fight our battle." Chronos fell to his knees, "I'm tired of watching these young souls die before me. That…that is why I'll make sure to end this here and now."

"How? HOW!? How are you gonna end it? They are all weak, only that boy has the princess that corresponds with his sin. So how are you gonna end it here?"

Chronos smiled as his body began to rapidly fade, "You'll just have to see from the grave." Chronos then faded away, leaving behind Papugenti who fell to her knees, crying.

"I'm not wrong…this is the right path…right my love?" She held a small locket that contained a picture of an older man fully dressed in business attire wearing a small, cracked, and worn crown on his head with a cheerful smile as two little girls tugged at his arms. She then clenched her fists and gently put her locket away, "No…I know this is the right path."

~~~0~~~

Moments after Alan had fled the scene, he stood quietly at the end of a long tunnel that was blocked off by a wall of metal bars that appeared to overlook a ledge that led into a large underground chasm filled with ruins of the old. Dim lights could be seen from afar from what looks to be some dig sites. Alan looked around and found similar openings as his, littered through the upper layer of the chasm.

"This used to be our home," Alice spoke softly, interrupting the silent atmosphere, as she gazed upon the sight before her, "Our last stand against God and his creations, a safe haven of sorts. The land above was dominated by creatures that sought out only the destruction of those God deemed 'unfit to live'. However, it was here we banned together to develop the weapons needed to slay the creatures and fight God. Though we successfully killed the creatures, we failed horribly against God, which leads us here."

"So if that's the case, why does she continue to fight? You've reclaimed the surface, so why seek more?" Alan asked as he tried to find a weak spot in the metal bars.

"As much as I hate to say it, it's not her fault. She's blinded by love. The King she had once served under became greedy after we won the fight for the surface. He asked all of us to push towards heaven's gate and kill him. The apostles agreed. They pushed all the way towards God's chamber and began to fight him, however, we were mistaken. We were blinded by our emotions at the time and failed to see through his bluff. After a few minutes of what was seen as a victory for us…" Alice paused, recalling the scene was painful for her, "He then wiped 90% of us in an instant. He laughed at how weak we were and gave us two options, 'Live or Die'. The apostles were the only ones still standing and all decided to accept his mercy and came back to this world. However, the King wasn't pleased with the outcome and demanded us to return and kill him. When we refused, Pupagenti single-handedly slaughtered all the apostles and transported their souls into what unique item they created within their dreamworld." She was again paused, this time for a while. As Alan waited, he found a weak part in the metal gate and used his fire to melt it. Once he was finished, Alice once again spoke, this time in a discouraged tone. "And that's how this endless cycle of death had started."

Alan said nothing and continued to melt the metal gate that stood in front of them. Once he finished, black markings emerged around his legs, and moments after, he found himself being launched out of the gate at full speed.

"!!!" Alan was terrified, "A WARNING!?" He shouted as small balls of fire exploded under him, thrusting him towards the top of the cavern. While he flew uncontrollably through the cavern, the sound of gunfire reverberated throughout the cavern. "!?" Alan groaned as the bullet grazed his left leg. Without warning, a large fireball appeared next to him and slammed him towards the wall of the cavern. Alan looked back towards the direction of the fireball and spotted a large volley of rockets homing in on him. Despite the pain in his left leg, he quickly regained control of his body and shouted: "Prohibere tempus!" It did nothing. Alan realized that he didn't have time to say it again, so he scurried towards a large rock and jumped over it. The rockets then demolished the large rock, sending stone and shrapnel everywhere.

"GET UP!!" Alice called out. Alan did not attempt to analyze his surroundings as an invisible threat chased after him. Alice, to the best of her ability, guided him through the ancient ruins. While he ran on the side of a cliff path that led towards the top, he caught a glimpse of a small metal door off to the distance. Assuming that was the key out of the massive chasm, he sprinted at full speed towards the door. "DUCK!" Alice once again called out and Alan listened. As he fell to the ground, a volley of missiles whizzed past and blasted the metal door open. However, just before Alan could lift himself off the ground, Alice took control and rolled him to the left. As she did that, a large blade-like hole appeared in the ground and Alice shot a fireball in towards the hole. Once the fireball collided with the invisible entity, it revealed itself to be the crimson-eyed android that attacked him earlier. The machine stared at Alan with its soulless eyes as it attempted to free its bladed arm out of the ground.

"Tch," Alan made haste towards the exit, as he regained control of his body. "This damn thing is a waste of time." After Alan disappeared past the door, the android freed its weapon and resumed its chase.