Itadaki no Hecate

Decision, Action, Retribution

"So, you live in this huge house all by yourself? Margery said, addressing Keisaku. A glass of quality alcohol was in her hand, and Eita was eagerly on his way to fetch another bottle.

"Yeah, what of it?" he said.

Margery smirked as she leaned back on the couch she sat on. "Doesn't it get lonely for you?"

"Not really," Keisaku said. "My parents don't really care about what I do or where I go, so I spend most of my time outside of the house with Tanaka."

Margery watched the other young male go through the shelf, selecting another good drink that the one he called Onee-san might enjoy.

"Hmmm, I kinda wonder how growing up was for you, silver spoon kid," she said.

"Hey, don't call me that," Keisaku said as he stuck his chin up in the air. "I can handle myself just fine."

Margery leaned closer. The young man could almost smell her booze breath. "Were you always getting in trouble like that?" she asked.

Keisaku averted his eyes. "It's none of your business," he told her.

As Margery settled in, she sensed the surge of power some distance away from Keisaku's home. She grinned.

"A pale white flame, huh?" she said. "So the other Crimson Lord here must be the Hunter Friagne."

"I'm rearing to go, my scorching blaze, Margery Daw!" Marcosias said. "Let's go and smash his face in!"

Margery Daw finished her drink and opened the window.

"And what do you expect us to do in the meantime?" Keisaku asked with arms crossed. By this time, Eita returned with a couple more bottles of alcohol.

Margery winked at him. "Just be a good boy until I get back," she said before riding out on the covers of the open grimoire.

Yuji looked up at the sky. There was no sign or trace of the Priestess. She was gone.

He put a hand on his chest. With the Treasure gone, he suddenly felt a little emptier. Could it have been from the feeling of having something so violently yanked out of him, or was it the knowledge that Hecate had no real reason to come back.

He bowed his head. Although he had put up such a bold and confident front earlier, he now felt doubtful that she would return. Then he remembered another thing Lamies had told him.

"What it means is that you mean something to her. And it's not just because of what you carry, but something else."

Was he really to be believed? He and Friagne had both told him that she was one that was isolated from others, even her own kind. True to her name which had meant "far-off". If such was the case, then the fact that she talked to him was proof that he meant something to her. Yet why, he wondered, would she find him important to begin with?

Could it be that Konoe Fumina was still active within herself? Or could it be the memories from her fragment?

In either case, there was a chance she would be back, even if it was a small one. But she needed to return soon, before Friagne could devour the city before he would even have a chance to understand her. But she had no reason to fight him either.

He sensed the Seal as it came up. It was not too far off from where he was at the moment. If what Lamies said was true, then there was one way to get Hecate to face Friagne.

"Even if I fail and she doesn't come, it's better than waiting around for the city to be wiped out," Yuji told himself. Gathering his resolve once more, he hurried in the direction of Friagne's Seal.