Work Text:
Why?
Under the cool shade of the tree, Echidna flipped the pages of her book, fully engrossed in its content, when a distant soft, lovely voice called out to her. “Echidna!”
Snapping Echidna out of her trance, she sighed. Closing her book, she turned to look at the source of the voice. Standing in front of her, was a silver-haired half-elf, dressed in a primarily black outfit with orange highlights. His color.
“What do you want, Satella?” With half open eyes, exasperated tone and a face full of annoyance, she glared at her.
Satella, ignoring the hostility in her voice, tilted her head. “Why do you sound so annoyed, Echidna?”
“Maybe because someone interrupted my precious reading time in the hopes of getting my attention.”
“Ah, sorry to disturb your reading time, Echidna, but I need your help!”
Echidna sighed. “What do you need?”
“Please teach me how to get better at Yin magic!”
“Sorry?”
“Please teach me how to get better at Yin magic!”
Echidna rubbed her temple “I heard you the first time.... why do you need me to teach you when you're already so proficient?”
“As you know, I have a lot of mana, but I do not know how to use it well, and Flugel told me you are skilled in magic and you reeaaalllly are good at teaching people!”
“Of course he did…” She muttered to herself.
Echidna recalled that she taught Flugel basic stuff that he should have known, such as the monetary system and mana, but given that Flugel had claimed he was from “another world” it would make sense that his knowledge and values are different from what she knew.
At that time, Flugel was truly impressed with how much she had known. She surmised that he had blabbered about the time they spent together to Satella, which shouldn't be a surprise, considering they are a couple.
“I really have no reason to teach you, Satella.”
“Please?”
“There is no benefit in me helping you.”
Despite the double rejection, Satella wouldn't budge. If anything, she moved closer to Echidna each time she rejected her.
“There is a benefit!”
“Oh? And what would that be?”
Satella answered with a huge smile on her face, “We can be good friends!”
“That is not a benefit!” Flabbergasted, Echidna lost her cool and retorted with a raised voice.
“It is a benefit! We can talk more openly, play together more and you can read your books to me!”
“The things you listed are not beneficial to me, it mainly benefits you!”
Satella tilted her head, “But it does? You can share the joy of happiness with people around you. Flugel-kun taught me that, so I want to teach you too!”
“....Flugel has truly influenced you so much to the point you are starting to sound like him.”
“Hehehe, Really? That makes me happy, thank you Echidna!”
“That was not meant to be a compliment!” As usual, Echidna was pulled into Satella's pace. Satella was one of the few people that Echidna was unable to handle, even more so when she was pulled out of her depressed state by Flugel and she more or less adopted his happy-go-lucky attitude.
“You would continue to bother me until I agree, wouldn't you?”
“Yes!”
“....the guts of you to admit it. Fine, I accept. It is better than constantly hearing you pester me everyday for help, I suppose.”
Satella’s eyes widened and she cheered. “Really? That's great to hear!” She went up and grabbed Echidna’s hand who instantly pulled back. Seemingly unfazed by it, Satella was still full of smiles. “When do we start? Is there a time we should meet everyday to practice?”
“Slow down, firstly, the time I teach you will be decided by me, if I feel like it, I will teach you. And I expect you to execute whatever I tell you to do without complaining, is that clear?”
“Yes, sensei!”
“What…did you just call me?”
“Is that not what students call the person teaching them? sensei?”
“They do, but why are you calling me that?”
“Am I not your student? You are teaching me right?”
For the first time, Echidna was speechless, Satella was correct in her assessment, however it was something she did not expect to be called and she wasn't particularly fond of it.
“Please refrain from calling me that, it doesn't feel pleasant to hear you call me sensei.”
“Is that so? But to show my respect, I will continue to call you sensei”
“....you are just going to ignore my feelings on the matter, aren't you?”
“Hehehe.”
It seemed that Satella was not going to budge on the matter and Echidna was growing weary of repeating the same request, only for it to get ignored.
“...do as you please, I give up. You are an extremely hard-headed selfish fool afterall.”
“Hehehe, thank you!”
“That is not a compliment!” Once again, Echidna retorted.
As Echidna felt exasperated, Satella simply laughed, this marked the new beginning of their relationship, where Echidna would teach Satella whenever she felt like it.
Why did you not trust me?
Days carried on as Echidna taught Satella how to utilize her mana better, be more cost efficient, understand the essence of Yin magic and to help Satella create her own original magic. Despite Echidna being harsh on Satella, giving her tasks that she deemed to be impossible to complete, Satella persevered and completed them without complaining. Even though she might have gotten help from Flugel, who was an expert in thinking outside the box, Satella was the one to implement his ideas into reality. Everytime Satella would accomplish the task given to her, she would go up to Echidna, full of smiles and show the result of her training to her teacher. Each time, Echidna would be surprised and give a backhanded praise to Satella, who would be happy to get a compliment, to which Echidna would deny, but soon gave up as Satella was unmovable.
On a particularly cold night, where Satella was practicing creating shadow tendrils made of Yin magic, Echidna would glance up once in a while to check on her progress. What used to be a mass of Yin mana has turned into a tangible mass of shadow. This feat could only have been done with a tremendous
amount of hard work and training, Satella’s original spell is turning out to be rather impressive.
During Satella’s break, she asked Echidna a question.
“Sensei, do you have plans on teaching other people once we are done with our journey?”
Echidna answered without looking up from her book, “I do not.”
“Is that so?”
“The only reason I even taught you is because you were annoyingly persistent. I do not have any intentions of teaching other people.”
“That is sad to hear.” a tinge of sadness could be heard, sparking Echidna’s interest.
“Out of curiosity’s sake…why do you ask?”
Satella dispelled her magic, the dissipating mana floated into the sky before slowly disappearing, looking like the stars shining above. she walked to Echidna who had a fire going beside her, keeping her warm. Satella sat on the tree log where Echidna was sitting.
“Because I think you would make an amazing teacher, you make things easy to understand, you give tasks that are hard, but not hard enough that it is impossible to clear. You make it so that we see our limits, but we can always surpass them. You always give us hints to help us focus and find the correct answer, I think you would be quite popular.” Passionately listing what she felt about Echidna’s teachings, Satella looked at her and smiled, flashing one of the brightest smiles that Echidna had seen in her life.
Echidna was stunned, she did not expect Satella to gush out words of praise. Especially since the entire time, Echidna was giving Satella the hardest of tasks that she could not accomplish by herself. How she looked at everything in such a positive light was truly a mystery.
Echidna narrowed her eyes “...is your head ok? The only reason you are able to clear your objectives is because of Flugel isn't it? Without him, you would not be able to clear them.”
“That is true, but it is part of your plan, right? You knew that I would ask Flugel for help and we would accomplish it together.”
What was this girl saying?
Seeing the look of bafflement on Echidna’s face, Satella continued, “Flugel-kun also uses Yin magic, right? By helping me, you are also helping him learn, while he did call you an ill-intentioned witch, I do not think it was true, so I told him off.”
What a flowery way of looking at things, Echidna was impressed. Flugel was correct in his assessment of Echidna and how Satella looked positively at everything was certainly admirable. Echidna wanted to tell Satella that Flugel was correct, but when she looked into Satella’s sparkling eyes that were filled with confidence that she was not wrong, she didn't feel like correcting it and decided to let it be.
“I suppose you are correct.”
“Hehehe, I knew it! You truly wanted the best for us, that's why you are the best, thank you sensei!” Kicking her legs joyfully like a little girl, Satella started to hum off-key a bit before getting up and going back to practice, leaving Echidna to her lonesome self again.
“Good grief,” muttering to herself, Echidna looked at the distant Satella practicing, her fluttering silver hair glistening under the night sky, showing off how beautiful it was. Her amethyst eyes, full of concentration as she practiced creating a shadow tendril, oh how full of determination they were. Looking at it all and what Satella said about her, Echidna mentally made a note to switch the training programme she had planned for Satella. She opened the book in her hand, intending to finish it before going to bed.
Unknowingly, unwantingly and unwittingly, she cracked a smile, a very small but noticeable smile to Satella’s galant figure under the bright moonlight.
Was I that unreliable?
“Not this one….”
Pushing away a note.
“Hmmm where is it.”
Searching her pile of notes, Echidna had been searching for a specific note for a few hours now, the note she wrote for the concept of transfering of souls. The note was written years ago when she found a book talking about the subject of soul, a topic she was interested in, but never dwelled deep into.
Determined to find it, she did not know how much time had passed and continued to search until she felt a tap on her shoulder.
She looked around and saw Satella with a worried look on her face, “What are you looking for? you have been looking frustrated recently, are you ok?”
…? Frustrated? Her?
Echidna cocked her head to the side, not understanding what Satella had meant.
“Can you elaborate on that?”
Satella put a hand onto her chin “Well, when you get frustrated, you tend to tap your finger on your lap, your eyes would narrow more than it already does normally, your eyebrow would scrunch up and the corner of your lips would drop a little.” Using her hand to tug the corner of her mouth to show how it would look.
Echidna was taken aback, she did not realise that she had these little habits and even more so that someone would pay that much attention to it. “...that's quite disgusting of you.”
“Eh?! Why?”
“To pay that much attention to me, are you really that free to observe my habits? Do I need to increase your training programme?”
Satella shook her head “I do not mind you increasing my training programme, I trust you anyway, but it's not that I am free, it's that I always pay attention to you.”
“What…?”
“I mean, you are my friend, and I am always interested in seeing what you are doing. I like it when you find a book that you like and you get so engrossed that nothing can bring you out of it. I like it when you have a look of pride when I complete my work. There are other things I would like to say, but I guess I just really like looking at you.”
Speechless.
“Hmm? What’s wrong Sensei?”
“You really are shameless aren’t you?” having a look of disgust on her face, Echidna recoiled slightly, but Satella paid no attention to it.
“Eh?! how?”
“Saying that you look at me the entire day, paying close attention to whatever I do or say, do you think that would not creep me out?”
“No.”
“Why would you say that?”
“Because you pay attention to me too, right?”
“Excuse me? Please do not insinuate that I would pay you any kind of attention.”
“But you do.” Coming off strong, Satella moved in closer. Since Echidna was used to it, she didn't flinch and just raised an eyebrow.
“Recently, everytime I am stuck on a problem, you always look up from your books to see how I am doing. You don't look surprised when I finish a homework because you check on my progress all the time. You also force me to stop when I am going overboard, something you never did before.”
..Did she..? Did Echidna really do all of that? She couldn't fathom herself doing any of that.
“I do not recall doing any of that, are you sure that whatever you are noticing isn't just what you want to see?”
Satella giggled, “Of course you don't, you only notice your books and not the people around you or your own habits.”
Feeling indignation, Echidna replied, “How rude, I will have you know I always pay attention to everyone to make sure our journey would be perfect.”
Satella shook her head with a smile, “That isn't what I meant, do you know why Flugel-kun was angry recently?”
“Because Reid fought with another dragon.”
Satella shook her head.
“That was the only incident that happened recently, dont lie to me”
“You are not wrong, but Flugel-kun wasn't angry because of Reid’s fighting.”
“Oh? Do enlighten me on the real reason.”
“It was because Reid fighting almost caused harm to you.”
“...I am sorry, did I hear that correctly? Flugel was worried about me?”
Satisfied with Echidna’s reaction, Satella puffed her chest out happily, to Echidna’s annoyance. “This is why I say you don't pay attention to the people around you, Flugel-kun was worried that you would get injured.”
“But I wasn't injured, even if they get close to me I can protect myself just fine,” Echidna huffed.
“That isn't the point, sensei. It was the idea of you getting injured due to carelessness that made Flugel-kun angry.”
Echidna didn't believe it, however, Satella knew Flugel like the back of her hand and she would never lie to Echidna. Somehow, knowing Flugel was worried about her gave Echidna a sense of satisfaction.
“Ah ~ it's good to see you look better.”
“...tsk, having you understand my mood quite well is unpleasant.”
“Hehehe, that just shows how close we are.” Satella said, grinning to Echidna who shifted away slightly. Unbothered by this, Satella continued talking “So…why have you been frustrated recently?”
Echidna still did not know if she was frustrated by anything, but she decided to tell Satella. “I am looking for a specific note that I require knowledge from, but I can't seem to find it.”
“What is written on that note?”
“My research on transferring of souls to other vessels.”
Satella's eyes widened, “There is magic that can do that?”
“I do not know, but I have read theories on that and I plan on continuing that research. ”
“Hmmm..this feels like it came out of nowhere, is there a reason you are suddenly looking for this?”
“....it's beca- nevermind, Satella, can you promise me something?”
“Eh?? Wha-” Confused by the sudden shift in what Echidna was saying, Satella wanted to ask what happened, but stopped when she saw the serious look on Echidna's face. “What is it?”
How pure, how trusting, how honest. This was how Satella was always like, constantly shining, always looking forward, despite being an outcast, despite given such a terrible fate, despite having a horrendous foretold future.
“Promise me, when the day comes where you know you will lose yourself, trust me to help you.”
“I promise.” Without missing a beat, Satella replied back.
“I am surprised you didn't ask me anything.”
Satella shook her head with a smile “I don't need to know the future, I know with your Authority, you have an idea of what the future will be, and whatever you are doing is meant to prepare for whatever is to come.”
“...how unexpectedly insightful of you.”
"It's because I know you, you are doing everything to make the future good for us, aren't you?”
“That's certainly something, trusting a witch to make the future good,” she snickered.
Without missing a beat, even catching on Echidna’s snide remark, Satella replied back earnestly “You are a good witch.”
“....”
Keeping silent, the usual long banter they had was cut short due to Echidna’s unwillingness to continue the conversation.
Satella broke the silence, “I do not know what you saw in your book, but the future will turn out alright.”
“Even if the future has the entire world against your entire existence?”
Staring at Satella, Echidna studied Satella’s expression for any sign of change, the world looked like it was waiting too, there was no wind, no sound of the usual bird’s wings flapping, nor the sound of the tree's rustling.
Satella closed her eyes and smiled, with a serene expression, she calmly said. “Mhm, it will be fine, I am ok with it.”
“...that is certainly a thing to say, given how you started off.”
Satella pouted “How rude, I have grown too, you know? And besides, I am ok with it because you said it yourself. You would do something to help me.”
An unexpected answer…..No. What was not unexpected was not the answer, but the absolute peace in her voice that shocked Echidna. “....I did, yes.”
“Then, I am not worried about the world or the future.” A sweet smile formed on Satella’s face as she looked at Echidna. The wind started blowing, the trees rustled, distant sounds of birds making noises could be heard, the world seemed to be continuing again, for good or for bad.
Echidna couldn't say anything, there was nothing to say. Satella’s trust in Echidna was easily felt. Echidna looked at the setting sun, its red color soon disappearing and replacing it with a dark color painting the sky. She looked at Satella, her dress looking like it was blending with the color of the night. Echidna was unsure of how long they could be casually relaxed like this, where she could watch the sun rise and fall with Satella. For the day that Satella will absorb the Envy factor will come and she will lose control of it.
Satella!
Tears.
The bumping of the heart.
The anger.
The desperation.
Feelings Echidna never thought she could feel, all came to her at once. Normally, Echidna would feel glad she is experiencing new things, however, she couldn't afford it, not when the view in front of her is Satella slowly getting sealed by Reid, Flugel and Volcanica.
Rushing straight to Satella, the miasma she was releasing was so heavy, that it was slowly getting a physical form that could be seen.
“Echi-” Flugel shouted after her, but she ignored it. She simply ran up to Satella, Flugel wanted to move to stop her, but was stopped by Volcanica, who shook his head.
Echidna was weak, she was so weak that she couldn't climb a single step without feeling exhausted. Despite that, despite feeling like she couldn’t breath from running, despite feeling like her lungs were about to give out, her voice was full of emotions, “Satella!” She screamed.
“Ah…sensei…” with a voice full of pain, Satella called out. Upon seeing Echidna’s figure, she cracked a smile, much to the witch’s frustration.
“You-what?? What are you doing?! Why did you force them to seal you?!”
“Th..there was no other way, if I don't get sealed, envy will take over….”
Echidna tried to grab hold of Satella, but by using her shadow hands, Echidna was gently pushed away.
“Satella! Stop pushing me away! Let me help you!”
Satella sadly shook her head, her smile getting sadder the more she looked at Echidna’s desperate figure fighting to reach Satella.
“Didn't you promise me Satella?! That you would come to me when this happens?!”
Desperate pleads turned into frustrated shouting, tears starting running down Echidna cheeks, Satella's eyes widened slightly and a hint of happiness shined in her eyes.
“This…is the first time I've seen you cry, sensei.”
Grabbing onto Satella’s shadow hands tightly, Echidna was annoyed by Satella’s nonchalant attitude. “This is no time for jokes! Why did you break your promise?! Why didn't you trust me?!” She cried out in anger.
“I had no choice.”
“You had a choice! You had a choice when you went to Flugel without coming to me first!”
“...if i didn't, the world would have been destroyed”
“Screw the world! It can be rebuilt, it-”
“And you would have been killed, the people I know and love will be killed.” Firmly stated by Satella, Echidna had nothing to say, she understood Satella’s motive and she absolutely hated it, but she understood. That her own plans simply could not make it in time to help Satella.
Regardless, Echidna slowly fell down on her knees, even knowing all of these, she still weakly asked. “Even so…why didn't you come to me first…? Am I that unreliable..?”
“I am sorry, sensei, I really am.” Satella couldn't help it, seeing the usual headstrong Echidna breakdown into tears because of her, made her weep. She wanted to be strong like Reid, when he told her to ignore everyone else because they weren't worth her time. Strong like Volcanica, who despite being feared by everyone wasn't bothered by it and carried on, walking forward. Strong, Strong like her beloved Flugel, who brought her out, who despite being the weakest of them, walked in front of them all, constantly smiling, constantly showing courage like no other. Echidna, Echidna who always made the best decision for the best of the group without letting emotions get the better of her, even if she had to be scorned by others for it. She wanted to be like them, yet it all broke with Echidna despairing in front of her.
She could feel her end coming, the seal was almost complete. In the back, Flugel was biting his lips so hard that it was bleeding, his clenched fist was violenting shaking, his eyes conveying a sense of despair.
Volcanica looked on with a rare look of regret and sadness. Reid, who normally didn't care about anything, was staring straight at Satella with a serious look on his face, posture stiff, just absorbing whatever he was looking at. Satella loved all of them, her comrades, her companions, her friends, her family. It was a shame that she couldn't travel with them until the end of time, but at least she wouldn't hurt them.
“...thank you for everything Sen-Echidna, I real-” choking back on her tears, Satella managed to let out her final words of appreciation, “I really love you.”
“Sat-”
Gone.
She was gone.
“Satella!”
The seal was completed.
Satella was truly gone.
“AhhhHHHHHHH, AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH”
Echidna screamed her heart out. Despair, sadness, anger, regret, hate. Negative emotions that Echidna never felt before were rushing in her body, and the person who was responsible for it was gone, she couldn't talk to her anymore, nor could she scold her for giving her all these experiences she never thought she wanted to experience.
Gone.
I hate you.
As Echidna was looking at the wench called Emilia, memories of her adult-self with that girl flowed within her, greatly annoying her. Emilia had the looks, the voice and the mannerisms of that girl, but she was so weak-willed, so pathetic that she felt it was an insult to compare the two.
However, when Emilia came back and attempted the trial the second time, her attitude changed. She was now full of confidence, thanks to Natsuki Subaru, the boy who flirted with her in her tomb and kissed Emilia.
Now, Emilia acted like that witch too, the way she would completely ignore Echidna’s insult and would talk to her affectionately like they were close friends is just like her and it infuriated Echidna.
Echidna didn't want to have anything to do with her, but she was given no choice as she had to follow Emilia throughout the trial.
The second trial, the happy life that Emilia could never have gotten, Echidna waited for Emilia’s response when she heard her passionately say. “I want to be like Mom, who I look up to so much. I want to be gentle and strong, like Geuse. I want to be like Granny Tanse and the others, who were never mean to me
even once. I want to be like Archi, who smiled to the very, very end so that I wouldn’t get scared.”
That passion in her voice, similar to how she would sound.
Stop.
“And I want to be like Subaru, who suffers and gets all beat up, who’s always reckless—who told me he loves me.” A strong affection in her voice, similar to how she would speak of Flugel.
Stop sounding like her.
“I’m alright. I’m not afraid of the outside world. I’m not afraid of the future.”
Then, I am not worried about the world or the future.
Stop using her words.
“Thank you for showing me this world, Echidna.”
Thank you for everything Sen-Echidna.
“Maybe this is a world that could never exist, but I never thought I’d see the day that Mom and Geuse...that Mom and Dad could be together like this, smiling side by side. So thank you.”
I hate you.
“Echidna...?”
“I hate you—I just...hate you.”
I truly do.