Chapter Text
Subaru sat quietly, staring intensely at the only other thing with him in the cage of shadows he had trapped himself in.
Pandora, Witch of Vainglory.
And she was staring back at him, with a similar unchanging gaze.
They had been like this since shortly after their arrival into the cage of shadows known as the ‘Seal of Eternity’. It didn’t take long for both of them to learn the rules of their confines since Pandora had immediately failed to rip off Subaru’s head after their confinement while his feeble punches went as equally unfelt.
In the seal there was no feeling, no hearing, no taste, no sight, no smell. There were only pale imitations if there was anything at all. There was sight without sight, they could not see but they could recognize each, the shadowy constructs they were. There was hearing without hearing, their intentions could always be broadcast to the other. But feeling, taste, and smell were fully stolen with nothing to be left in their place.
They felt nothing besides their hatred and thus, separated.
They both found out that the Seal was much smaller than they initially thought, After their ‘body’ stopped moving away, only the size of a small room. And so they both took up their vigil on opposite sides of the room.
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Who knew how long had passed already? Years? Decades? A Century? Subaru did not know.
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The witch continued her watch alongside Subaru. Though, after some time, there was a change. She began speaking to him. Her words were threats, insults, and other vile words meant to both hurt and fuel her hate.
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At first Subura ignored her. But maybe she had worn him down, he grew bored, or maybe he felt his own hate start to fade and so he joined her in spewing unending vitriol at each other. He did not know.
Neither truly heard what the other had to say. After all, any meaning behind the words had long since been lost. And eventually, they both stopped, returning to the damning silence.
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And so once again they stared.
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After many more centuries of silence Subaru found that the only thing, the only emotion he had felt for the passing centuries, hate, had even begun to leave him. So, he made an unthinkable decision. He offered a hand to Pandora, The Witch of Vainglory.
And more unthinkable yet, she took his hand.
They moved closer together and began to speak and unlike before they listened.
They told each other everything. Not a word left unspoken between them.
“I can Return by Death”
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Subaru laid bare everything and Pandora responded in kind.
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“I am the head of Witch’s Cult”
And so they talked, they shared, and they understood. No other person knew the two individuals better than each other.
They shared everything, not a detail was left unsaid between them.
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And then once there was nothing left to be said the silence returned. The silence they both hated so much. So they argued, they fought, they raged. ‘What” did not matter. Any belief behind the words extinguished. The words didn’t matter but letting the silence return did.
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They did eventually willingly let the silence return to them. They had both changed. They were unraveling. Together.
“Pandora”
“Subaru”
“I think I love you”
“I think I love you to Subaru”
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They had both unraveled, but they were woven back together, and then unwoven. Over and Over and Over and Over again.. Their minds continuously shattered and reformed by the millenia passing by them. But they were together. IT Expanded and they understood. They finally wove together, as it was meant to be. Nothing Mattered. Except Subaru. Except Pandora.
And so they sat in silence, willing, together for the first time.
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“”I love you””
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“”I love you””
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“”I love you””
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“”I love you””
“”I love you””
“”I love you””
“”I love you””
Their love became everything. It was the only feeling that they had left, the only one they could share anymore. Nothing could impart any other feeling besides love. It was pure, unfiltered, unconditional love. One that could only blossom after an eon of love. One no other could attempt to understand.
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And so they sat. Joined together, woven together, while they could not feel the ‘other’ the idea of being separated from their ‘Subaru~Pandora’ was not a thought that could ever cross their minds again.
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Finality
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There was peace, they were together ‘limbs’ bent and wrapped around each other as if to never let the other disappear. They knew that nothing else mattered. No. They did not just know, they understood. It was the only truth. The other, Pandora, Subaru. They were everything.
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And then. After their first second of eternity together there was light.