Chapter 15 - Our Bond, Everlasting

With a light rapping onto the confines of hardwood, Irma's delicate fingers pulled aside slight the thick, black drapery that embroidered the walls of the carriage. 

"Almor, we wish to depart at once." 

Stirring to life, the carriage impelled an indistinct rumble of movement, the wheels to the side squeaking extensively with every second swivel and from ahead, Diona discharged a gruff roar of exuberance. 

"Really sorry about the squeaking sound, we really meant to get that fix one of these days. Quite annoying, isn't it?" Irma spoke, as casual as can be, her hand giving a rueful wave as if brushing away said annoyance, "We've been traveling a lot lately... I suppose you can blame her for it if it annoys you that much. She insists on spending every waking moment inside this carriage!"

Ilma's head rested sideways, a sluggish lean against the carriage silks, her misty white eyes trailing to the small slither of light that poured to the floor. "It's boring staying inside the castle all day..."

"So you mean to say, all this time... That you rather be bored in a small wooden box, than you do in a gargantuan castle?" 

Ilma's lips receded to a thin line. "Well... At least the box moves..."

"At least the box moves," reiterated Irma, her head shaking in a grimace, "I remember now why you're not the one giving excuses whenever we do something mother doesn't approve of."

A hint of a scowl was visible on Ilma's face, only hastily overtook by gradual fatigue and any retort she might have, had ultimately succumbed to a mere silence.

Subaru sat, mute, petrified to a frigid. Ominous dread a fester on every inch of his skin, every nerve in his body screaming, clamoring for a hasty retreat. The two spoke of his scent. They spoke of love. What conclusion is there to derive other than the single one?

The grasp of the Witch Cult had ensnared him once more.

His eyes fell back to the twins. Ilma, her head still slumped against the folds of the blindings, a wistful, faraway glance towards her sister, who proceeded to hum a gently quiet melody to no one but her own, her legs swinging unknowingly with a repressed vigor yearning to be spent.

For a while, he watched. Anticipating the worst, speculating even graver things. But nothing. Indications of threats, surreptitious or not, the twins do not seem intent on doing anything else aside from simple leisure.

Throwing caution to the wind, Subaru risked a question. "What... what are you guys planning on doing with me?"

They both reacted in simultaneous fashion. Ilma, still wallowing in the domain of slothfulness, merely glanced lazily in his direction. Meanwhile Irma, melody abruptly ended, turned towards him with a frown.

"Planning on doing to you? What do you mean?" asked Irma.

"You just talked about my scent. You can smell me."

"Without making it sound creepy, yeah, we can smell you... and you smell real nice!"

"And you talked about love."

"Yes... and how loved we are, indeed."

"So what's going to happen to me?"

"Gifted as I am with extraordinary talents... unfortunately, predicting the future is way beyond even me. Why, is there anything that's supposed to happen to you or something?

Peculiar it was that hostility did not present itself affront, peculiar evermore that they too seemed confused as to what he was trying to say. But yet, it couldn't be. The love they mentioned, the scent they distinguished... 

"But... you're members of the Witch Cult, aren't you?"

"The witch - what?"

The expression that formed on Irma's face, a sincere bemusement that hid no lies... Ilma too wore a look of interest, her head slowly perking upwards in attention.

"The only witch I know..." Ilma said silently, her eyes meeting Subaru's, "is that nagging old hag down in the kitchens. Truly deranged, she is."

Irma's bepuzzlement was whisked away into laughter. "Maybe stop sneaking away with all the desserts before dinner's even served, that might put you in a better light."

"Dessert is dinner... if the other maids have no qualms about me taking it, why should she?"

"Because she's the one slaving away all afternoon making the desserts, dear sister."

"Oh," Ilma simple said, bewildered by her own ignorance, "why do we have only one dessert maker, then? There should be more, shouldn't there? I'll... I'll go talk to father about it."

"We did have more," spoke Irma, a smirk now forming, "Then you complained none of the others make them the way you like. Then they were fired." 

"Oh... oh yeah..."

Slowly, the frenzy stirring within him started to subside. It seemed they really had nothing to do with the Cult after all... and yet - the question still remained, reeling at the tip of his tongue.

"If you're not involved with the Witch Cult, then... what is this love you referred to just now? You guys mentioned 'the love that all of us share' what's that supposed to mean?"

Irma's smile remained, only now conveying pure bemusement.

"You'd think that be obvious," she said, sharing a knowing glance with her sister, "It's as Ilma said... the love that we three are connected to, a bond that we three shares amongst ourselves."

"But whose love is it?" asked Subaru, images of the Witch cult pestering him with imprints, "who are you referring to? Are they more?"

"Sister perhaps, uhh... Supa - this guy... isn't from around here," Ilma suggested.

Mild surprise flickered within Irma's bright blue eyes, turning hers towards Subaru. "Wait, really? Subaru, you aren't from here?"

Subaru hesitated an answer. Can he risk telling them? Strangers met within a measly hour. Ones that possibly embody the sole reason he had ran away in the first place. Still, it's only information trivial, he did not have to tell them the full whole.

"Hitched a ride from Lugunica... I'm still new around here, so forgive me if I seem stupid to you. I'm just way beyond clueless right now."

"Oooo, Lugunica!" Irma shrieked, her eyes sparkling bright with enthusiasm, "I've always wanted to go there! To go to the capital, see the Flugel Tree - you gotta tell me more about it! Please Subaru, sister's interested as well! You are, aren't you Ilma?"

"Give me a soft bed and some quiet. I'll be more content in dreamland than any other place in the world." Ilma replied, yawning once before drifting off into slumber.

"Sleep again, despite having a guest right in front of her.... seriously, shes's worse than a cat," Irma muttered at the sleeping figure across from her, then turn towards Subaru once more, "You'll tell me more about it won't you, about Lugunica?"

Subaru, growing weary of interruptions, spoke aloud, "Look, I'll tell you every single thing about Lugunica, down to every single type of flowers that grow there if you just tell me what I wanna know first."

"You got a deal," Irma spoke eagerly. 

"Okay... whose love-"

"Oh for - It's just a saying! It just means we're blessed, is all. It's a blessing from Maka." 

"Maka?" Subaru repeated, his surprise unhidden.

"Legends states that Maka too had a lingering stench about him. I always joked that it's only because he's never showered in his life. I mean, just one glance at his portraits in the castle... how does a beard get that frazzled? Anyways when inquired by a priestess once, he claimed it was a sign that he was loved... and that stuck. To those that possess a similar aura as Maka did, they were referred to as being blessed by him. Hence, we are loved." She finished, her finger twirling around to the three of them.

"So... there are more that are blessed?"

Without thought, she began fiddling with the braids of her silver hair, deep in contemplation. "Aside from my sister and I... you're the only one we know of that shares this bond." 

Silence. Then she continued. "To be honest, I've been smelling you for a while now. A couple of days ago, I picked up your scent from the castle... and from there, it just keeps getting stronger, until just now, where I caught a strong whiff of you at the marketplace. Naturally, I had to go and find out for myself."

Subaru had eyes solely to the ground, also in thought. Something wasn't adding up. Puzzle pieces that did not fit.

(They claim the scent originated from Maka. But I know for a fact that it's the scent of the Witch. And they are completely clueless about the Witch. Yet they have the same scent as me. What does this mean?)

He looked upwards into her gaze and asked another. "What does it mean to share this blessing? Does it symbolizes anything?"

She began slowly, drawing information from depths long neglected, "I... can't say for certain. There are theories, though. Just speculations... from scholars in the east district. Those that are endowed with it at birth are connected by something... mystical in nature. They are also speculated to do great, remarkable things. Actions that can alter the course of history. Our birth, my sister and I, everyone believed we were the second coming of a greet pioneer, just as Maka was. We were and still are, regarded as deities, waiting to be served on hand and foot."

She considered him for a moment, as if in assessment before a sly smile donned on her face, "I have little doubts that if people knew of your connection to us, you too will be treated like a king." 

A hollow echo rang back at him, one that dawned him with sudden realization.

-"My... fame too bothersome a thing to tolerate, then? Notoriety might suit you actually... given your mission."-

Questions began sprouting up, endless, relentless, he found it difficult to choose which he wanted answers to first, but at last, managed to wretch an inquiry away from his lips.

"What else does this blessing provide us, other than, y'know... expectations to live up to?"

"Well... we were told the blessing's one of a kind. That there are no others like us. Obviously, that isn't true now, since you're here. But we were also told that fate would be fickle towards us. Things we didn't want happen, didn't. Things we did, did. So perhaps meeting you... we did - well, I did anyways - yearn to meet another like us... perhaps, this was also fate... that you came upon us. The blessing of Maka, that we were to meet each other."

Silence overtook the discussion, a silence as firm as the gaze they held. Subaru only then started to notice the silvery hue of her hair, as vibrant, as flushed and as captivating as Emilia's. The deep ocean of her eyes, a lustrous vivid blue that had met his countless of times before. Also as alleviating, as alluring as Rem's.

Irma was first to break contact, her cheeks with a hint of flush, "But, as I'm sure you know. I didn't mean it... like that. I shudder to think about what Father would think if it was you that I... mmm, not a relishing thought, to be honest. Anyways, there's one other thing I forgot to tell you! Wanna hear?"

Sensing the abruptness, Subaru nodded his head.

"Maka's blessings aren't just all about 'what will and won't be', no, there is another thing bestowed upon us loved ones. Maka himself too was in possession of one, but I believe it's different for each individual, seeing as my sister has something different."

Subaru blinked. "You mean some kind of ability?"

"Just watch."

Watched. For a moment, for it only took a moment - nothing. A fracture of a second then, when confusion malformed to the utter paralyzing shock of unbridled terror. His lips, wide as can be, yet only a silent scream manifested. 

Watched. An infernal pitch darkness of terror. A slithering outline of purple writhing out of Irma's back, grotesquely, it stretched forward. 

Watched. It formed a palm. It formed fingers. A hand. 

In rigidness, Subaru watched as the Unseen Hand lurched itself towards Ilma. He wanted to reach, to hinder it somehow, but he remained frozen to his seat. Slowly, the hand lowered itself to her and with a twist of a wrist - it caressed her head, strands of her hair, as dark as the Unseen hand, fell to obscure her eyelids closed shut. 

It continued petting her. Ilma moved slightly but did not stir.

Wide-eyed, his gaze found Irma's, who looked at him with a self-satisfying smile etched upon her face. 

"Cool, right?"