"Don't touch me." she said, furious "What do you want, Pope?"
As Saga still dressed in the Pope's robe, Australis used the protocol to ask him inadvertently; she had embedded in the subconscious the way she should talk her superior, even if no one was looking at them. Afterward, Elyn looked away, remembering that she could now speak to Saga using his own name in the same way that she didn't need to use any protocol to talk with him, she could yell at him and respond like a spoiled child if she wanted to because there was no one to witness the scene:
"Elyn, please, think about the..."
"Stop, Saga." she cut with a sarcastic laugh "You are not going to come to me with that shit. Precisely not you."
"Please, act like someone mature; reconsider at least."
"You should do that, dammit! Reconsider my situation. My rule isn't a whim, you gave me the position of being the Master of the apprentices who wanted to choose the Caelum cloths and I acted accordingly. The person who gets the cloth can not waste a single second thinking about whether or not their face is exposed, that second of doubt can lead to death the companions. Is it so difficult to understand?"
"But there are stories, Elyn. Stories that cannot be solved overnight and that are hidden under those masks."
"Fuck off with that shit, you can't hide your whole life behind that trash as a shield, Saga. You know it. What was the use of hiding your face behind the horrible helmet of the Grand Pope? You just hid your identity but did it remove the charge of conscience at any time? Did you forget for a moment the death of Aiolos? Your acts with Kanon? Your betrayal with Athena or Shion?" Saga looked at the girl while inspiring, hated that someone like her used his past to teach him a lesson "Yes, I know that Elektra has a story, we all have it; but it isn't an excuse to hide forever. So who is the spoiled girl here? Me because I'm worried for her future in a battles? or she for coming here and protest her wounded pride?"
The silence ended the meeting. Elyn had nothing more to say and Saga had run out of arguments. She was right, what good had it been for him to wear the Pope's helmet? Nothing, only to hide his true face from others but hiding behind that object hadn't removed the guilt of his heart... In fact, the only thing that had redeemed him was to be exposed to his goddess, with the face exposed and that was exactly what Elyn wanted to try with Elektra.
But unfortunately, the rules were the rules and in the same way that Australis imposed theirs in the coliseum, the Sanctuary would executed its own regardless of the stories behind of each Saint.
***
When Elektra opened the door to her house, she was speechless but the mask didn't let her visitor notice it:
"What the hell is going on in your head?" Elyn asked in a fury. "Have you really gone to protest to the Pope and Athena as if you were a kindergarten girl?"
"You have no right to compel us to remove the mask and that is set forth in the Sanctuary rules."
"So, are you satisfaced by have getting your goal? Damn, Elektra, I've been removed from office!!" Australis's scream froze Elektra's heart "Tsk ... It's humiliating, as if I was a novice or a stupid for to teach you!"
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't... I didn't want you to..."
"And what the hell did you want, Elektra? Huh? Stay above of me? Did you think that, by crying to Saga and Saori, your Master would adapt to what you want?"
"No! I just wanted to keep my mental health…
"You just want to keep that shit mask on your face! You cannot lie me, Elektra, you only care about your fucking trauma and you don't care if others have problems or not by your desitions, you only worry about being hidden behind that trash."
" AND WHAT WILL YOU KNOW OF MY TRAUMAS!?" Losing her nerves, the redhead pushed Elyn forcing her to take a step back.
"NOTHING, I KNOW NOTHING! But if the mask is your excuse for not facing them, it seems great to me but stop fucking bother us!" Elyn answered talking with the same manners than the redhead.
"It's not my excuse, it's my life buoy!"
"And why, huh!? Why do you love this shit?!"
Australis's hand moved again as fast as the wind to remove from the face of Elektra the mask and without think on it, Elyn trew the object to the ground. The mask broke in half, as the Elektra's heart when she saw the act of her superior:
"NO!! WHAT DID YOU DID?!" she screamed, kneeling down on the floor as despair began to run through her veins.
She couldn't believe it, her greatest treasure had been destroyed in just a second without her being able to avoid it. That which helped her maintain sanity was broken on the ground, she could no longer protect her mind from the prejudices of people, she could no longer hide behind anonymity... Now everyone would recognize her wherever she went and the fault was from Elyn.
"Now, tell me, Elektra. What did you hide under this mask?"
"THE FACE OF A MURDERER, STUPID DAUGHTER OF BITCH!"
Tears suddenly welled up in Elektra's red eyes and at the surprise that Elyn's face showed by such words, the redhead got up to push her again, the farther the better.:
"Are you happy now, huh?! Yes, I am an murderer! I set several Rodorio's premises on fire when I was a child! I adored the fire, I was an arsonist with only seven years old!... Until two people died because of me... Two innocent people lost their lifes because they couldn't flee the flames..."
"And do you think that is solved by putting a mask on your face?"
"AND WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU CARE, FUCK? I already asked to be locked up and I even begged for a punishment! But as I was seven years old nobody wanted to condemn me..." Elektra calmed her anger a little but the tears still continued to run down her cheeks while Elyn looking her with a painful expression "When I turned eighteen I asked again but that crime already prescribed, I don't have to be condemned. That is why I wanted to opt for Caelum's cloth, because if I cannot pay for what I did at least I want to protect people!"
There was silence but it just was a pair of seconds. Long enough for Elektra to confessed her darkest secret:
"If I fail here, I will take my life myself. If I can't protect anyone, I will fulfill the destiny that Capricorn Shura avoided in the past: I will die engulfed by fire."
"That... that's great because, in the end, Shaina was right, you're just a coward."
The disgusted face Elyn drew on her face shattered Elektra's soul, who instead of letting herself be carried away by the pain caused by that discussion, preferred to succumb to the pride and hurt the person who had damaged her first:
"And that is said by the girl blessed by the Pope's traitor, the girl who believes that she has the power to tell others what they have to do just because she didn't have to suffer anything during her childhood... You know? I think it's perfect that you have been dismissed, perhaps so you learn that you also have to follow the rules.
"Oh, thank you for your words, I had forgotten that you hate my real personality and the only Elyn that you think is good is the one that ends up prostrating at your feet eating your pus..."
The slap Elyn received prevented she finishing the sentence. While the heat of her cheek made the blow evident, both looked at each other, discovering how far they had come in that discussion. Australis saw the disappointment in that reddish look of Elektra and that's when she realized how cruel she had been, however… how to apologize after have caused all this pain in her ex apprentice? She really was a horrible person, someone capable of emotionally attacking any loved one just for making them understand that they were wrong under her opinion.
For her part, it was true that Elektra wanted to rip off the hand herself with which she had beaten Elyn but her mental stability was colapsed after the pressure Australis had thrown at her... she really adored the positivism of Elyn, her smile and the tranquility generated by being close to her, even she admired her for her ability to control the cosmos, for the image of solemnity that Australis detached among the Gold Saints... but she also hated with all her being that cruel mouth that didn't allow you to give an explanation:
"It's enough. Please, get out..."
The pride prevailed over feelings of both. Heartbroken, Elyn turned and walked away without saying anything else. A red cheek along with conscience hammering in her head were the punishment for not having thought the consequences of her words. What part of her brain had considered saying the last sentence to the redhead a good idea? Surely, the same one who thought that not paying attention to Elektra's story and to provoke her until the limit was better than try comforting her. How stupid she had been. And above all, how proud.
When Elyn arrived at the temple of Pisces, Aphrodite was waiting for her at the door of the house but the girl didn't even want to greet him. She walked past him, ignoring the questions that the Gold Saint generated without pause seeing her so badly. Australis shut herself in her room and there, she let each and every one of the feelings that poisoned her inside come out in the worst possible way.
***
Without knowing the reason very well, the whole Sanctuary seemed to sink into a state of constant lamentation during the following days. Some Saints saw their spirits diminished for no apparent reason, just because they saw other companions with long faces; at first everyone believed it was due to a general bad streak but the days passed and nothing on the sacred ground improved.
Shion passed in charge of continuing the training of the apprentices who wanted to opt to get the Caelum cloth although he found that Elyn practically had the job done, he hadn't had the opportunity to meet Elyn in the past so he was pleasantly surprised to discovering that she had a good way to teach others; he tried to let her know, but his words didn't help much, Australis didn't want to know anything about the ex apprentices and neither about Elektra. The Silver Saint was the source of the discomfort generated in the Sanctuary, there was no doubt about that, but no one could think of a way to solve the problem. Thus the days passed, even the weeks, without improvement. Sometimes more laughter was heard than usual but generally, the humor of Athena's underlings remained hooded, gray and without any illusion.
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