@xeperno
The porcelain tray her pale and slander fingers held was quick to reach the marble floor, shattering completely in small pieces across the room. Chris remained immobile in place, with aqua eyes wild and lips parted, as if she had been hit with a full blow in her stomach. In a way, however, she had. The feeling she felt in the pit of her stomach couldn’t be true. Her throat felt dry, and an unbearable pain swiftly paralyzed her entire body.
That couldn’t be.
As grief filled her from inside out, becoming stronger and bigger and pouring from her crystal eyes, she went to seek for answers to the sentiment that threatened to tear her apart from the within. Aspros was... dead? How? How could he, that strong willed and extremely powerful man that had saved her from the claws of an unhappy destiny, be now gone? Her mentor, her friend was... No.
That couldn’t be.
But the responses to her inquires were immediately dismissed, before her assumption was revealed to be true. ‘His soul lies in the Underworld, now’, someone unknown to her had said. Why, that place wasn’t completely unfamiliar to her, at least not regarding its nomination and what it represented. Chris was formerly ‘specter’, wasn’t she? Which meant she could certainly act like one - trying her best - with the possibility of rescuing him, wasn’t so? The idea, as delusional as it sounded, brought a sparkle of hope into her grieving heart. If there was a chance, there was hope. And Chris would hold tight onto it, no matter the cost. Even if it was her own life that would be at stake.
He had saved her many times before. It was only natural she would return the favor.
-
She guessed that the Underworld wouldn’t be a welcoming place, but now she had no time to spare being a coward. She had to act like the specter others would assume her to be, and Cetus was no ordinary one. First, Chris required to find someone who could lead her to the place Aspros was being held, and luckily at least, she was acquainted with a name that could help her way in, in a sense. Gambling with death wasn’t her specialty but all she had for now were chances. And she had to make them count.
Eventually she met a short and bald specter called Markino after wandering alone for a while in search for clues of Aspros’ whereabouts. She made sure to keep up with a firm posture, not to let herself lower her guard or get too frightened by her surroundings. It was difficult to believe Aspros could be in such a place.
“I have orders for you to take me to where the Gemini Saint is located,” she said as firmly as she could manage, with an unswerving and authoritarian voice.
At first the other specter seemed to be reluctant, with suspicion clear in his small eyes, but Chris did not falter, and even completed:
“They are Lady Pandora’s orders.”
And that seemed to be enough to convince him.
The uneasiness she felt, as long as with her cosmo, had to be completely concealed, for she couldn’t draw any unnecessary attention to her figure. While she was taken to where Aspros was, she would hope deeply that no known individual would come to cross her way. No Pandora or Rhadamanthys, not even Valentine, or that would be the end.
She could easily feel other specters’ gazes on her the further she would go, but she avoided them gracefully by keeping her head up and her eyes locked to the view before her, and luckily enough she wasn’t approached by any of them. And apparently, luck was indeed in her favor, for once arriving the prison, even the specter who had guided her asked himself where the Mandrake specter was, the prison guard, if not keeping his eye on the prisoner.
“Leave us now,” she said, still maintaining her previous facade. “And do not allow anyone else to enter here. I have private business with him, and to defy those orders would be to defy Lady Pandora herself.”
Chris spoke with confidence enough to make the lesser specter’s skin grow even paler, and he simply gave a short bow to her command before doing as he was told.
At last the girl found a bit of time to take a deep breath filled with comfort. Yet, she was aware she couldn’t let her guard down for as long as she was there, so she was quick to regain her composure.
Until she found Aspros in one of the cells, that is.
“A-Aspros!” She exclaimed quietly, instinctively gripping the bars that kept them apart. Her eyes started welling up as quickly as she saw him there, sitting on the ground with his head lowered, unmoving. “Aspros, it is me! Are you awake?”
