Virgo's POV
"And that's my highlights done." Taurus finished, smiling, "looking back, I've really grown a lot." Kaiti, Ivan and Ophiuchus just stared at Taurus, wide eyed and jaws dropped. "Excuse me what the f*ck?" Ivan asked, "is that a made up story? Because Taurus would never beat people up; let alone Aries who's a really strong leader and Aquarius who's just a little sweetheart!" "Thank god Virgo isn't the one who's injured," Kaiti sighed in relief, "or else I'll have to talk to you with my fists and magic Taurus."
I giggled as Capricorn sipped his tea, green emerald eyes lost in thought. I tilted my head at him and poked his soft cheeks, grinning. "Watcha thinking Cap'?" I asked, smiling, "it's not like you to stay this quiet. Normally you'll say something about Taurus' heavy injuries on Aquarius, Taurus disrespecting Aries who is the new leader of the Zodiacs or something." "Well I'm just thinking about our past and how we lived. From Ivan, Kaiti and Ophiuchus' reactions, I can confidently say that events like that seems abnormal..... And here I thought everyone is going say Taurus' stories would be boring."
"Well Virgo has it worse," Taurus said sadly, "she doesn't have wings, which caused quite a number of unfortunate events..." All eyes are on me as I continued smiling, not affected by those past traumatic memories that I've regained after what happened on Earth. "It's time to talk about my memories I guess!" I laughed, "mind you, most of my happy memories are with Leo—" "We heard from Leo already," Ivan pointed out, "do you have any other memories? Maybe some sad angst ones?"
Ophiuchus and Kaiti shot Ivan a look he narrows his eyes "what?" He asked, "can't I not ask Virgo to talk about something else since Leo already talked about his moments with Virgo? Also I'm curious on Virgo's dark memories since Taurus' is pretty bad and he claimed that Virgo had it worse." I blushed, flattered that Leo talked about me before I happily obliged with telling everyone three dark memories buried deep within my head.
'𝓘 𝓱𝓮𝓵𝓹 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓱𝓮𝓵𝓹 𝓶𝓮,
𝓕𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓷𝓭𝓼𝓱𝓲𝓹 𝓲𝓼 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓼𝓽𝓻𝓮𝓷𝓰𝓽𝓱 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓘 𝓼𝓮𝓮𝓴.
𝓘𝓯 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻 𝓷𝓮𝓮𝓭 𝓶𝓮 𝓽𝓸 𝓰𝓲𝓿𝓮 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓪 𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓭,
𝓨𝓸𝓾 𝓬𝓪𝓷 𝓪𝓵𝔀𝓪𝔂𝓼 𝓬𝓸𝓾𝓷𝓽 𝓸𝓷 𝓶𝓮 𝓶𝔂 𝓯𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓷𝓭.
𝓕𝓻𝓸𝓶 𝓲𝓷𝓽𝓮𝓵𝓵𝓲𝓰𝓮𝓷𝓬𝓮 𝓽𝓸 𝓵𝓸𝔂𝓪𝓵𝔂 𝓽𝓸 𝓶𝓸𝓻𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓷 𝔀𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓷𝓪𝓴𝓮𝓭 𝓮𝔂𝓮 𝓬𝓪𝓷 𝓼𝓮𝓮,
𝓘 𝔀𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓪𝓵𝔀𝓪𝔂𝓼 𝓼𝓹𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓭 𝓶𝔂 𝔀𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓼 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓼𝓪𝔂
'𝓘 𝓪𝓶 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓖𝓾𝓪𝓻𝓭𝓲𝓪𝓷 𝓪𝓷𝓰𝓮𝓵 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓘'𝓶 𝓪𝓫𝓸𝓾𝓽 𝓽𝓸 𝓶𝓪𝓴𝓮 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓭𝓪𝔂.'
What can a wingless member of the Maiden do? I am nothing but a mere mortal, a shun to my family. Spica is better off as the head of the family than me. It doesn't matter if she's a Virginis instead of a Maiden, she's the brightest star for a reason. Spica Alpha Virginis is a lovely person with soft golden yellow wings, very much like an angel. Maybe Porrima Gama Virginis can take over. He's an intelligent guy, respected by all and shows all traits a Maiden have with his alluring light lavender wings. And then there's me.
I am nothing but disappointment.
If people have a grudge against the Maidens and would attack us, I would be the shield. I would be the one getting beaten, tortured and used for rituals. Why am I used for rituals? Well, the Virgin isn't associated with Persephone for a reason. We are the perfect vessel for all sort of rituals because of our virgin blood. That's all I am. A mere shield. A mere tool. I can't be anything more than a mere tool.
........Unless I undergo an illegal operation that I have no control over, I will never be able to be a true Maiden, never able to show face to others. The illegal operation is nicknamed as The Mechanical Heart, making a constellation, sorcerer or star into an automaton. It's my only chance to gain wings and it's my only chance to make my family proud. Of course, that doesn't mean I'll have life easy.
...Talos wasn't made by Vulcan for nothing, there's a purpose for his existence after all.
Mythology is nothing but the embodiment of our lives. Cosmetics is a world far far away that existed because of everyone's beliefs and hopes.
"Is everything prepared?"
"Yes madam."
"I see, start the project."
PRΩJΣCT MΣCHΔΠICΔL HΣΔRT: STΔRT
"Madame Mujer Maiden affirmed for the two scientists to commence the ultimate project; The Mechanical Heart Project, good luck." A voice said. She then left me there, strapped in chains and sitting around candles and ritual circles. I widened my eyes in fear and horror as tears streamed down my pale, cold cheeks. Mother left me. I struggled, fumbled and trashed around, screaming nothing but muffled sounds because of that darn piece of cloth on my mouth as the cold chains held me in place.
There are a number of progresses to being an Automaton. The first step is to corrupt your victim and their soul. They need nothing but a deep void of hollowness, accepting to live their life as a thing, a metal thing. They need to have no will to live, so their bodies and organs would completely shut down and be ripped out and have metal as replacement. If this operation ever fails, I will never feel the pain when I pass on since I'm already unconscious in a way.
I watched as the drawn symbols around me glowed, activating itself. Disgusting rotting clawed hands started to ascend from the ground. I closed my eyes, whimpering softly. At first I felt nothing but the cold but after a while, it started.
The crimson liquid splattered all over the room with a many limbs and bones breaking. All I can hear is muffled screams and begs. That voice..... it's me. The demons are haunting me. Help me please, someone. I slowly close my eyes, loosing my will to live along with my consciousness. I don't want to feel all this unbearable pain anymore. I want to die. Someone please end my suffering. Mother, father, where are you? Am I trapped in nothing but the darkness of this endless abyss?
Because all that's around me is nothing but the dark. That's all. Just the darkness. That void in my heart told me that I was trapped... trapped within my own thoughts....... my inner demons. Trapped within metal and steel. Trapped within the electrolytes and ions. I reached out a hand, wanting someone to hold onto me. But alas, there's no hands except the hand that belonged to no one but myself.
...Suddenly something in the darkness grabbed onto my hands. I widened my eyes a a weird sensation flows through my body and that something which I presume is a hand held onto my own pale hands tightly. The hand dragged me through the darkness and the next thing I know, I was face to face with someone.
An elegant, tall woman smiled at me, her long luscious orange locks plaited nearly into a braid. A single golden coloured primrose tamed her braid at the end. Her red eyes widened at the sight of me before returning to normal. She looks like an elf. "Who are you?" I asked as she lets go of my hand, grinning in mischief. "You're younger than I thought..." she muttered, "whatever. You're still an vessel."
I narrowed my eyes at her as she grinned at me, not hiding anything from me at all. "So anyways I'm Boötes Herdsman. I'm known as Icarus for Westerners and the king's throne or the Blue Dragon's Horn for Easterners. I know what your thinking; 'but you're a girl! You're not the Boötes I know!'. Anyways that's not important." She shrugged. I narrowed my eyes, remembering 'Icarus' from somewhere.
"Icarus. That name is a male na—"
"It is. I'm a man, I'm just stuck in this female elf body for a... confidential reason. Oi, I know what you're going to say next; 'Pardon me I forgot to introduce myself' but I already know who you are. You're Virgo Virgin Maiden."
"Why are you here?" I asked, "where am I?"
Boötes expression suddenly darkened, along with her mischievous grin. "Let's just say that this place is your consciousness kinda thing. You got knocked out somehow; to the extent where I can reach you and grasp you into your mind; the darkness in your heart, your inner demons." "Oh I remember," I suddenly said, bonking my fist into my palm, "I'm in the middle of the Mechanical Heart Operation."
Boötes widened her eyes in surprise and blinked a few times before opening her mouth. However no words came out. Suddenly a large grin spread across her face as she looked down at me sadistically. "An automaton?! How interesting. I've got various vessels but never an automaton! This is going to be interesting!" "Vessels?" I asked, "what are those?" The orange haired girl laughed at my naïveté before wheezing and wheezing uncontrollably, clutching her stomach tightly.
She then smirked and clicked her fingers on her left hand. A few sparks ignited as black flames exploded in her hand. I just watched. She then use those flames to burn her right hand, which started to bleed and burn into nothing but ashes. I continued watching the gruesome sight in front of me, unable to feel anything. Must be the doing of the Mechanical Heart Project. "I am Boötes Herdsman, the possessor of Amartía. I give out my abilities to people who needs them under the condition I can live in their body, in their conscience. I haven't had a vessel in centuries and you seem perfect."
"Amartía..." I trailed off, brain clicking and rattling, remembering I heard that word before. Then it hit me. "Amartía is the most advanced and most powerful branch in Black Magic in the history of humankind! It is considered as a threat to mankind because of how powerful it is... It is banished by Merlin during the Vying of the Clans and no one can use it anymore since it's too corrupted and it can destroy one's mind, body and soul. Many people dreams and yearns for Amartía since it consists the mastery of Blood Curdle, ancient necromancy, possible eternal life and even resurrection of the dead!" I gasped, eyes widening in awe.
"You know you facts," Boötes smirked, "you're a good vessel. You worth my time. So what do you think? Do you, a talentless shun, want to possess Amartía and become the head of the Maiden family?"
I hesitated.
It's true that I'm talentless and was nothing but a disappointment to my family but... I don't think I deserve it. "No thank you," I finally replied, "I don't need that." Boötes frowned. "Why?" She asked, "why wouldn't you want to possess such powerful black magic? I'll also be in your mind, helping you get through life!" "...I'm not worth it." "Not worth it...?"
"I'm nothing but a disappointment to the Maidens. Comparing me with all the different Virginis, I'm nothing but midden. I don't know much about the outside world nor this thing called friendship or love. I don't know magic, I don't have the potential to use it even if I haven't reach the age for magic split yet. I don't have the intelligence to be a Maiden, comparing me with my older cousin Porrima-Arich, I'm absolutely nothing. I've been neglected for my entire life and it's going to stay that way. It's my Destiny. Heck, I don't have wings for goodness sake! What am I supposed to do?!?! The Mechanical Heart Operation is the only way for me to get wings... if it succeeds. It doesn't matter if I'm going to be an automaton. It doesn't matter if I'm going to be the head of the family. Nothing else matters if I become an automaton, I'd be nothing but a few lumps of steel with a hollow spirit of a girl called Virgo. I'd have no purpose. So if I do possess Amartía, I'd be useless since I won't be able to cherish this gift. I'd pass it on to the future generations, if they needed it."
"........"
Boötes held up her hand and... slapped me across the face. The loud smack sound echoed through the darkness as she growled at me, dark red eyes piercing into my purple ones. I just stared at her while gently touching my face, where it felt numb.
"Listen here you little sh*t. How old are you? Seven? Eight?! F*ck it. You're still young so why are you thinking so deep into the future? Who f*cken cares about if you have wings or not?! Those things are nothing but a f*cking hassle, I hate them. Thank god you don't have them. I'm Icarius, the man who got wings from my father and flew too high. Those sh*ts melted into wax and feathers and I..... uhm, got heavily injured from it! Why the hell are you comparing yourself with your cousins? They're teens for goodness sake! They're older than you by like what? Ten years? Fourteen years? Of course they'd be better than you! You learn more as you gradually grow older you little dipsh*t. Anyways why are you so sure about loosing emotions as an automaton? Why the hell do you wanted to be corrupted for this operation when you have no say to it? Do you really want to be nothing but a deep void of hollowness, accepting to live their life as a thing, a metal thing?! F*ck off! Get a grip on yourself! You're a small child and you're giving yourself in to the corruption of the demons to be hollow?! Remember if this sh*tty operation ever fails, you'll die! You'll never get to learn anything or grow up! You're the Maiden, the Virgin. The incorruptible. Come on, get a grip on yourself!"
Boötes then gripped on my shoulders tightly, eyes.... loosing its trickery and mischief. It is as if she was stuck in the past, talking to someone else in another place, another time. She then wrapped her arms around me, surprising me. It's warm........ it feels nice. My heart..... it's beating? What is this feeling? It's so warm and fuzzy, light and soft....
"Come on Virgo, accept me and become my vessel," Boötes muttered, urging me to accept her while stroking my hair gently, "operation Mechanical Heart is still ongoing right now. Accept me and lend me your body. I'll get you out of this place. As a human, as an automaton with feelings with a life, as a constellation." A single tear slid down my cheek as I nodded, snuggling into the embrace us two share.
"I'll put myself under your care, Boötes."
"Of course Virgo, I will never let you go. I got your back, everything will be okay. I may be a bad person in the past but..... you can trust me okay?"
"Mhm."
I just nodded and snuggled into Boötes for warmth; a sensation I never felt for as long as I can remember. "Pasiphaë.... Watch over us... I will guide her properly........ for sure this time." Boötes mutters before everything disappeared.
T̢̢̖̗̠͋ͪ̉ͩ̿͊͢h̵̶̡͉̦͚̩͋̓̾i̶̸̪͉̽́̈́̅ͧ͢r̶͙͖͈̈͆͌́d̽ͦ̒ͫ͗ͨͫ̍ͭ͏̖̲̙̩̭̣ ̸̼̝̠̩̗̞̙̥̎̄͋̓̌̇̋̾̾͜ͅP̢̄ͮ͊͌ͧ̀̌͏̻̰͖͎͉̣̝͡ę͙̺̻̭͇̤͉͎̯ͨ͋̏́͟ṛ̨̙͇̱̀ͭ̀s̛̞̘̳̗̗͉̩̹̆͒̿̑͐̋̕o̵̢͔̯̺̰̹͈̘͔͂ͬͪ͒̎̔͝n͖̳̫͕̰̈̆̿ͧ̀́'̸̛̗͕͊͐ͪs̸̶̢̙̦͍̬̈́ͨ ͭ̈͘҉̛̗̙͍P̡̦͎̳̼̮̾̍͑ͭ͊̽̾́O̝̜̲ͤ̾̂ͩͪ̓̂́͞V̛͚̳͍͙̊̓̀
"It's a pity. Really. Such a young and beautiful girl going through an illegal operation like this, giving up her soul and life for her family."
"Be quiet Delta. We're told to do this and we're getting paid handsomely for this too. Let's just quickly get the job done, send her back to Madame Maiden and leave."
The two scientists continued stuffing and tinkering the lifeless body of Virgo with countless wires, ions as well as metal parts. Her organs are laid on the surgery tray, red and bloody, still fresh from removal. Virgo just lied on the surgery table, as still as a rock. Her peaceful expression is very smoothing to look at but maybe not if you saw the pulled out intestines and organs next to her. "Let's work on her eyes," the younger scientist said as the older much experienced one nodded in agreement. "Yeah. You go and do it." "Alright let's open— AAAHHH!"
The young scientist's scream echoed through the unknown abandoned building. The man looked at the younger man weirdly. The young apprentice's face lost all colour, eyes widened, as if he's seen a ghost.
"What is it Delta?"
"S-She's haunting me!"
"What are you on about?"
"I-I opened her eyes and she stared right back at me!"
"What nonsense are you on abou—"
The surgery table exploded into nothing but thick red liquid, the scientists flew back and crashed into a wall at the powerful impact. Those two groggily lifted their faces to see Virgo sitting up, looking around in awe. She then eyed her organs and hesitated.
Her crimson gaze then immediately met with the two scientists' and she smiled cheerfully. "Hello there sirs!" She said with a smile, "mind putting my organs back inside me?" Before the men can reply, they found a giant dark red spike through their guts and they stopped moving. They stopped breathing. "I'll never ask you cunts to do it," she hissed, "I can do it myself and function as better as ever."
She looked over to the surgery tray and grimaced. "I'll put you back together as I promised." She muttered holding out her hand, making the organs levitate and plop next to her before stuffing the organs back into the giant crevice in her stomach, pulling out bits of metal out on the way. She nodded approval. "I hate to admit but this is really well done... Though she doesn't need a this many functions." She hummed before regenerating herself without fail.
The wound enclosed itself, the hole slowly got smaller and thinner as blood surrounded it and hardened and lastly knitting itself together and disappeared, blending into her pale skin. The organs and the insides of Virgo churned and twisted, trying to combat itself and merge into the metal within her. After a while, it stopped. The metal and flesh muffed and her body seems as nothing had happened to it.
"Blood Curdle still works, I suppose I still have the eternal life perk since I'm still alive despite having Virgo's organs there just a second ago..." Boötes muttered, "that contact from years ago is more useful than I thought despite it being a curse... Whatever. Let me put her back together for real and go back to the Maiden manor." Boötes tried to stand up, only to find her back attached to something.
A pair of greyish white mechanical wings.
Boötes hesitated, not wanting to see Virgo's sorrowful face again when she mentioned her being wingless. Boötes decided she should trash it, it's for the best after all. She ripped and snapped all the cords, wire trap and wings off of her back without hesitation. She then stood up and stretched, healing the multiple punctures and holes on her back on the way. "Let's destroy the evidence of the operation here." Boötes muttered before walking over to the corpse of the scientists. She clicked her fingers and those clothes slowly disappeared and the reappeared onto herself. The clothes are undeniably big but it'll do.
"Well then, let's say goodbye to this place." Boötes said as she snapped her frail fingers, summoning a black dancing fame and tossed it onto the pair of mechanical wings carelessly. The wings immediately exploded due to it being half finished and malfunctioned. "Let's try and make this seem like an accident..." Boötes smirked, summoning a number of glyphs.
"I'll curse a child and get that child to have an accident with magic nearby and injure people. While all attention is there, I'll use these two b*stards' blood to destroy machines and data and I'll burn this place down and leave quickly.
Boötes did exactly what she said she would, causing an incident in a nearby orphanage. A child there lost control of his abilities and the whole orphanage exploded and burned down to the ground with severe leakage of natural gas in the kitchen.
While everyone's attention is on the burning orphanage, extinguishing the fire and rescuing orphans as well as staffs and nuns, Boötes slipped off and walked into the shadows, into the darkness and headed back to the Maiden manor.