Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Miss Watson, wake up ! We have arrived.”

Opening her eyes with difficulty while grumbling, Amelia Watson gets out of the car.

Here she was, in the middle of nowhere, in a no name Wyoming city.

Wyoming.

Does that state even exist !?

The city was so far from national roads she had to pay a lot to be able to get there. It could have been called “lost city” it would have been the same, since she basically had to give geographic coordinates to get to it.

Razielburgh.

This is the city her research led her to.

While paying the driver, she starts to reminisce about how it all started.

A month ago, a client of hers came with a peculiar request. Ounaia Leilani, the client, asked her to unveil the truth about the four goddesses of salvation.

At first, she refused. Her job was to unveil the truth, not chase after fairy tales. She spent a lot of time building her career to be a proud Watson and throw troublemakers in prison to stop now. There was not enough time to do everything.

That should’ve been the end of the story.

Except it wasn’t.

A descendant of Holmes called her and gave her an appointment. He received a letter threatening the return of the four horsemen of apocalypse if the four goddesses of salvation weren’t reunited in time.

“What do you think about it ?” he asked once they were in the same room, sipping on a cup of tea.

“It sounds a bit too far-stretched to be true, but at the same time, I wouldn’t want to risk your life, Holmes.”

“Well, dear Watson. You know what I think about folktales ?”

“They lie to you and get away with it ?”

Holmes sighed and shook his head.

“They’re a way to transmit knowledge through time. And if we believe those, I found three goddesses already.”

Amelia raised her eyebrow.

“What about the fourth one, no mention of her ?”

“Not a single one. I believe she is the one we have to find. She must be close to the other three, one way or another.”

“Well, give me what you got. I’ll manage to find the rest.

After all, I wouldn’t want anyone to harm you.

I don’t believe in fantastic existences like goddesses, angels, reapers and whatnot. But I do believe in terrible human beings.”

Holmes laughed before handing over three drawings.

Three ladies so gorgeous Amelia whistled instinctively.

The first one had tree-like horns, the second one had fire wings and the last one wolf ears and a tail.

“The first one is Fauna, goddess of life. It is said that her presence strengthens every living being around her.

The second is Kiara, goddess of purity. She brings cleansing flames that take away vermin and sicknesses.

And the last one is Mio, goddess of abundance. She’s so caring that any crops she helps with will produce lots of food no matter how bad the weather gets.

They were sighted a lot of times throughout Europe until the XVIIth century. Then, tales of them are scattered throughout all of the USA.”

“I guess I’ll just have to find out where, huh ?”

“You’ve always been a better field agent than me, Watson. It should be an easy task for you.”

“You’re right on that part, Holmes. I’ll go there and solve your problem.”

And so, after a month of investigation, she found out about Razielburgh.

Every sighting of the XXth century was reported in Wyoming, there had to be a clue in a city standing out. The name Razielburgh stood out enough for Amelia to take her chance.

Raziel, or “Secret of God” in hebrew. And burgh, a suffix used mostly in United Kingdom Cities, specifically Scotland of Northern England.

Why was a city named like that in the USA ? It was suspicious. It didn’t feel like a coincidence.

And now she is here, in the middle of nowhere, with no place to stay and nothing to eat tonight.

Good planning, Watson.

Looking at the city, she can tell something was weird. Wyoming is a desertic state, so why is the flora so luxurious around here ? Not only that, but she can see several elderlies from here. They must be eighty at least, in the middle of nowhere with access to modern medicine, it is hard to believe.

She enters the city with her little luggage. She didn’t have much, just a few outfits and her notes.

Her ears instantly catch the sound of trouble; people yelling at each other. She runs in their direction to know what was up, and notices a beautiful looking green haired woman trying to calm two men down.

“I tell you I didn’t take more than I should have ! Listen to Darby for once in your life, asshole !”

“And how can you prove it, huh ? You’ve always profited from Darby's gentleness to take more food than us, even though we have the same amount of children !”

Amelia gets between the two of them.

“Hi, Amelia Watson, detective, might I help uncover the truth about this dispute ?”

Her tone is confident and her smile looks arrogant, but the badge she’s showing is a genuine one. It usually pisses people off more than it calms them, but if they do recognize her name…

“What’s a Watson doing here in the middle of nowhere ?” one of them asks

“Searching for a good vacation spot. Somewhere where journalists wouldn’t find me, you know ?”

“Then you’re in a good spot. Close to nobody from the outside comes here. Not for food, not for medicaments, we make do ourselves. That’s why it is so unnerving to see someone stealing from their neighbors !”

“Hey hey now, let’s all calm down now. Is there a record you could check to see if he is indeed taking more than he should ?”

Her eyes are directed towards the green haired lady. She stands out in this remote village. And it is curious to Amelia that the two men didn’t even try to push her away even though she was trying to calm them down.

“There is a record, let me fetch it.”

After resolving the incident by looking at the record, Amelia discovers it was the lady’s mistake that led to this dispute. She was giving more than she should’ve to one of the two and less to the other one. To Amelia’s surprise, nobody blames the woman. They just correct the mistake and go home.

“Is that normal here ? I thought they were going to hit each other.”

Looking more attentively at the lady, she notices that not only does she have green hair, but her eyes are also golden.

What an unusual sight.

“It wouldn’t be the first time. Maybe isolation from the world for too long makes people’s nerves fragile ?”

Her voice is as soft as marshmallows and her presence puts Amelia at ease. It is the first time Amelia ever felt that way towards anyone. Then again, why does she feel like a threat ?

“So, are you some kinda big shot around here ? Miss…”

“The name’s Darby. I’m just the humble mayor of this city.”

“With a voice that soft, I wouldn’t have guessed” Amelia says, winking to a blushing Darby.

“You flatter me…”

“I just tell the truth.”

Darby is looking away in embarrassment while Amelia’s smirking.

Having an insider that is the mayor will surely be useful.

“I plan to be here for a week maximum, is there a place I could stay in ?”

“Well… We don’t have any hotels since outsiders rarely come here. But we do have a free room at my place… if you want to, I mean…”

While Darby’s cheeks are becoming red as beetles, Amelia notes that she might have a chance with her.

Not that she’s interested long term. There is just the possibility for a bit of fun.

The job will always be her priority though.

“I’d be really glad to ! It’s really nice to talk with you, and maybe you could show me around as well ?”

This time, Amelia is using the puppy eyes.

“We’ll see if I have time” answered the mayor, giggling.

They walk side by side and talk banalities. The everyday life in this city is easy going according to Darby, but it gets a bit boring after several decades here.

From the way she’s speaking, Amelia guesses she must be forty or so, which is more than fifteen years older than her.

Amelia tells her about some cases she resolved in the past. It is a novelty for her, to speak to someone who doesn’t know anything about those because they’re quite literally cut from the world.

No phone, no internet, no electricity.

For everyone but Amelia, that is. She took batteries in case, and her phone’s internet is provided by a private satellite. It will be her trump card if anything goes south.

Once inside Darby’s home, she is welcomed by a dashing ginger beauty hugging her really tight.

She would normally do a judo technique to throw them down, but she can’t really do that to Darby’s roommate, can she ?

“What a cutie pie you brought home !”

“Let her go, Nina ! How many times did I tell you to not startle strangers ?”

“Okay, okay ! I’ll let her go, for now.”

Stepping back and pouting a little bit, the one named Nina looks at Amelia up and down with her bright violet eyes.

“You have a fancy outfit and you’re pretty, lady ! What’s your name ?” she immediately says.

She feels like a child to the detective, quite a contrast to the motherly and relaxing air around Darby.

“I’m Amelia Watson, pleased to meet you.” she says with an elegant bow, provoking a giggle from the mayor.

Nina looks like she is about to ask more questions, but a third figure pulls her back by the collar.

“You were supposed to help me cook, Nina. No slacking off !”

That third woman has really long dark hair with a strand of red hair. Her eyes are orange, which is yet another rare color. How come the three of them look all so unique ?

Weird, really weird.

“But, Theresa, an outsider is so rare !”

“You’ll talk with them once we’re done cooking !

“It is really lively here, huh ?”

“Well, yeah, the two of them make quite the ruckus. But that’s what makes it fun to live with them !”

Darby is genuinely smiling when she says that.

“How cute” the detective thought, but dare not say out loud.

“Can I drop my stuff in my room real quick ? The trip's been long and the first thing I did here was solving a problem so…”

“Oh my, of course ! Let me lead you to your room”

Once in her room and Darby’s out, Amelia starts to set up her tech to be sure nobody will touch her stuff.

Hidden camera, set.
Mic in the room, set.
Mic in her coat, set.
Phone, plugged into external battery.
Gun, ready to fire.

Is it too much precaution ?
Honestly, yes.

She doesn’t believe in fantastic beings. But something here is making her senses scream really hard.

Are the goddesses of harvest hidden here ?

What can she learn about them ?

Will she be able to find the fourth one before Holmes pays the price ?

It is annoying to her. For the first time in a long while, she feels completely lost on a mission. She doesn’t know what to search for, she just knows it’ll be hard if she doesn’t look out.

“I don’t know what heavenly beings I’m looking for, but I’m sure going to find yall.
If you exist, that is.” she mutters to herself on the bed, resting for a minute.

Chapter Text

The city is undeserving of any particular notice. Darby is incredibly sweet so at least it is a pleasant walk, even though every single person they meet always waves to them.

Darby has to be a good mayor.

“And last but not least the one and only attraction of our humble city, the ancient underground temple!”

At the mention, Ame holds a screech of joy. An underground temple screams “suspicious”! A perfect place to start, that of course, has a “keep out” sign in front of it.

“Sadly some inner walls are falling out so I can’t show you.”

“That’s a shame! Is it a catholic temple? Or is it for some native deity ?”

“It isn’t catholic. Actually, we don’t have much information for what it was for, it's an unknown pantheon. But I feel that’s what makes it interesting.”

Amelia was considering pushing for entering, but she doesn’t want to cause suspicion. Maybe bribing the mayor is an option? Unfortunately, her rumbling stomach has other plans for now.

“Oh my! It is lunchtime after all.”

With crimson embarrassment, the detective complied.

The lunch’s a lot more varied than she thought, with various fresh vegetables and fruits Ame didn’t think would be able to grow there.

“I’m sorry I went a little overboard. We haven't had guests over in such a long time…”

“Theresa knows that if we eat like this, I will be happy to help”! Says Nina, already shoving food on her plate.
“You know, most of this was grown by Theresa herself! She is one of the best farmers in the city!”

“Oh, Darby, don’t make me blush! You help a lot too!”

Amelia feels a strange heat in her chest. She hasn't seen such a loving family in a while. Or maybe it’s the good food and the wine that turns out stronger than she thought.

“You like it? A friend of mine gave it to me, it has a strong punch doesn't it?”
The purple eyes are gleaming… Almost burning.

Shaking her head, the detective can see now there isn’t anything wrong with them.

“Uh yeah I do, I think it's probably a little too strong for my taste.”

Nina chirps loudly while getting back to eating, while Theresa talks and pushes her raven hair to the side.

“So what brought you to this city, Amelia?”

“I’m a detective just laying low, I wanted a more secluded place for taking a break.”

Nina chirps with joy, “OH MY, a detective? So we are colleagues! Well, kind-off, I’m the sheriff of this little town! We can exchange some work stories!”

“Let’s finish eating before it gets cold. You two really outdid yourselves!”

After finishing and talking a bit about work over a coffee, all three of them have to go to their duties, leaving Amelia suddenly alone in the house.

First, she goes back to her room and looks at the goddesses' files, then searches some of the temple pics online.
Of course, there isn’t a single one of the insides. A little weird but she isn’t surprised at all. Another strange thing is that they left her with a house key. She doesn’t think she has that much of a trusty face, so why?

“Do you think I believe it?”

If someone acts like they have nothing to hide they succeeded in making the detective suspicious.

Even the rooms aren’t locked!

Checking every single one, Ame starts to feel a little like a creep, especially after she doesn’t find anything. Maybe they are just really gentle people?

After taking a shower to calm her nerves, she decides to take another stroll around the city, asking around about folk tales. She hears stories about a single apple in a basket becoming full after a night, about a poisoned kid that was cured with white fire, and of a puppy born without breath opening its eyes after an offering at the temple.

Those are definitely related to the goddesses but nothing more than fables.

Going round she’s back at home. In front of it there is Darby resting outside with two cups of tea. It smells of sunflowers, her favorite.

“If you are trying to win me over you are doing it perfectly.”

“Oh my thank you. I did assume you would like it. Are you enjoying your stay here?”

The detective walks and sits beside her, sapphire and golden gazes challenging each other.

“I am! The city is pretty even though not as much as you.”

Soft giggles fill the hair. “Slow down, cowgirl! If you wanna flirt, at least take me out on a date. Also, I heard you were questioning around today.”

Well, it’s not like Ame tried to be subtle about it. But the fact she already knows surprises her. In small cities, everyone do know about everything.

“Well, as a tourist, I wanted to know about some of your history.”

“Well, usually tourists just go around talking to townsfolk. Are ya searching something, detective?”

Her lips locked, Watson finishes her tea and stands up.

“I think I will stay a little longer. How much should I pay you?”

Darby gets up too.

“We will talk about it when you have to go. Now come with me let’s make dinner”

“Is it your turn now?”

“Theresa is already sleeping, she wakes up early. I will ask you to not make too much noise when going to sleep.”

“I will be a stone!”

The detective life doesn’t always permit you to cook so she isn’t feeling confident. Thankfully Darby just makes her cut some vegetables.

“OUCH.” And her finger.

“Oh my, let me give it a look.” She takes her poor bloody finger and just gives a bite with her lips, breaking every possible circuit in the detective's brain.

“AH ehm, tha-THANKS?”

While taking away her hand, she notices the cut is gone.

“No questions! This is a secret of Razielburgh! Let’s finish this!”

The rest of the night is uneventful. Nina comes back saying she had to stop two drunkards from fighting each other. And after finishing eating Ame gets up in her room to wait. At midnight she gets up again and without snags, gets out. Her objective is the temple.

“Good luck detective,” says a golden eye fogging the glass while looking at Ame run away.

A magenta light comes behind her dark treads with tangerine eyes speaking.

“Fauna. Are you sure about this? If she vanishes it will be a hassle.”

“Oh Mio don’t worry I feel she is the right one.”

.
.
.

Ame feels lucky; not a soul outside. Entering was a piece of cake. And, with the flashlight in hand, she slowly descends.

The temple isn’t that big, 10 people could probably sit around before feeling cramped. But what interests her more are the paintings of the goddesses.

Even though they’re ruined, she can recognize them; purity on the left, abundance on the right, life in the middle, and above them all… nothing.

“Really.”

It doesn’t make sense.

Why are all of them looking up a white canvas? Maybe the part crolled is the ceiling and they cleaned it? How unlucky would it be?

With nothing else to do the detective decides to go back home for today. If she goes back too late, she fears meeting Theresa. But instead, when she gets out of the temple, she finds Nina looking at the stars.

The thought of just running away in that instant crosses her mind but that isn’t a detective's way at all.

“MY favorite Sheriff! Thank god you found me, I couldn’t sleep and while wandering, I lost my steps!”

She won’t buy it.

“Really? I see”

IS SHE REALLY BUYING IT?

“Do you like Stars Amelia?”

It’s probably some kind of trick question, but changing the subject doesn’t seem bad at all.

“I never thought much about them… They are pretty?”

“They are the prettiest.”

The change of tone startles her.
She isn’t recognizing the affectionate girl met today.

“They burn endlessly, never stopping, never changing, untouched from the outlying. The Stars are the purest things in the universe.”

Trembling. Amelia doesn’t fear her voice, but her gaze.
Those beautiful purple eyes now burning in a white blaze.

“Are you pure, Amelia Watson?”

Amelia can’t respond.

She wants to run but her feet are glued to the ground. She can’t escape. Meanwhile, Nina waves her hand.

“Good. Stay still. It will be over in a minute.”

A star falls from the sky, taking their direction. It becomes bigger and bigger until it’s over them. Thankfully, the fear of death is the greatest of them all. It is so strong that the detective finally manages to move, evading the white orb of fire fallen from the sky.

“Amelia, wait!”

But she is already running away.

What is this hell of a job Sherlock gave her? Is all of this even real?

Thinking about what to do she looks up to the sky; all the stars are falling down.

Stumbling on a rock, she is now on her knees, crying as she watches the night cracking down while the fire from the firmament engulfs her.

It doesn’t burn.

Amelia wakes up suddenly, feeling a breath on her cheek; Nina is hugging her in the bed.

“AAAAAAAAAA”

“WHAT WHAT THE FUCK?”

“Wha, what happened!? Why are you in my bed?”

“You silly; don’t you remember what we did yesterday?”

The stars falling? Yeah, she remembers them vividly.

Wait, then why are they in the same bed? Unless, is it the wine? The blood rushes all over Ame's face.

“You hit your head!”

“Sorry?” She instinctively touches her head; feeling bandages and searing pain.

“Don’t you remember? You hit your head while entering the temple! Fauna did warn you it was falling apart! Thank the gods I always check in my night patrol. It didn’t seem bad, you talked all the way walking here. I slept near you to be sure everything was fine!”

Amelia isn’t trusting her memory of what happened yesterday, and the big headache isn’t helping.

“I… I see. Thank you Nina, I’m in your debt.”

“It’s my duty! Don’t worry about it! Now rest a little more while I bring you breakfast!”

After Nina gets out, Amelia focuses on trying to recollect what happened.

First, she needs to know the truth.

Thankfully, the mic on her jacket looks fine. If yesterday was real, she has in her hands proof of a real god’s existence.

The first part is how she remembers. She listens to her shout when looking at the white canvas.

Hoping the next isn't real, she continues to listen…

The moment she hears her voice and Nina’s talking, she is on the verge of tears. The sky really did fall on her head.

“... are the prettiest BZZZ.”

“The audio corrupted?!”

Her luck in this town is the worst.

At least she is sure she didn’t hit her head inside the temple.

Gods are real and liars.

Good, she missed the existential dread in her list of worries.

There are still too many questions. This is going to be the strangest case of her life.

.
.
.

“I knew she was the right one.”

“C’mon Fauna, she isn’t the first one to survive my flames.”

“Nina. Maybe she is listening! Don’t use that!”

The sheriff has a sudden realization.

“I…I may have already fucked up.”

The furious eyes of Fauna were the scariest things for her.

Chapter Text

"Okay, Watson, you can do it." Ame cheering herself
"There has to be something in it. The events are hardly connected."

The night when the stars fallen from the skies. A magnificently terrifying scene I have ever seen.
I know how scared I was that one will eventually hit me.
Still... I couldn't move my legs. What the starry night offered me with her command. That has paralized my legs.
That lady was certainly a Goddess.

"She probably knew that I went last night to the temple. Even Darby knew that I was asking around the [gods]."

It goes back to the underground temple.

"There were three of them. Purity, abundance and life."

While Ame reviews the pictures she sneakily shoots before she goes out. She heard Nina and Darby talking outside.
It was dim, so she went closer to the wall.
They spoke about someone, Nina called her [The right one]

"C'mon Fauna.."
Ame was surprised by what she heard.

"Did I hear that right?"
One of the three goddesses' names.
"I had a hunch on who these gods can be. That painting is a good point too."
Ame is still looking at the pictures she took.

The door rapidly and quite aggressively opened.
Nina entered the house first.

“Hi Ame. What you looking at?”

When Ame noticed some of them were behind her. It gave her a spurge of emotion, the feeling of guilt. Like she did something unthinkable. She was looking at the picture. Ame quickly shoved that picture in her jacket.

“It is a picture of my friend. I.. like to keep it around me.”
“Ookay”

Darby comes second and last to the living room, which is the entrance of the house.
“Your friend? Can you introduce him to us too?”
“The Sherlock one he is…..”
Darby gave another gaze to Nina. She felt Darby’s gaze piercing through her.
“I will go.. to help Theresa..” With this she left hurriedly.

The thing that Nina said catched Ame’s focus. “Him? Did I mention him here, to them? Or even in this little secluded town reached by the fame of the Sherlocks.”

“Ame how was your night?”

“Could’ve been better.”

“How was the starry sky? Beautiful?”

Darby’s question caught Ame. “So you all knew about my nightwalk. Alright” the thought came to her. Realizing that Nina wasn’t playing solo, instead they work in a team.

“That night? It was like a dream, too surreal and vivid to call it real."

Ame gave an answer to them and posed instantly a question for Darby.

“I heard about the four goddesses of salvation. It was Purity, Abundance, Life and Peace. There are folktales about three of them.”

“There are tales of them here too. But why do you bring them up?”

“Cuz, something is missing from this.”
“Purity was always depicted as a fire red feathered phoenix that cleanse every impurity, weakness and errors in a being. Said that bird’s fiery feathers cleanse anyone who touches it.

Every time abundance is mentioned she is paired with the outlook of a black wolf. Stories of hers are about Abundance wandering town to town making the soil incredibly fertile. Which would bear a copious amount of harvest. The villager took care of that Black wolf everywhere she went.

In the folklores of Life, she was a green deer with silvery antlers. In her folktales Life lured peoples to the depths of the forest. Often seen by foresters and lumbers. Every time one of the foresters saw that deer. They felt the urge to follow it. Those who followed it, noticed when they got back to their home that nothing looks like when they left. The deer gave them eternal life.”
Ame told a summary of stories of the three goddesses folklore.

“What a beautiful stories isn’t it, Darby?”
“What do you think of it, our detective?”
“It's full of holes. It doesn’t tell us the methods, the whys and hows.”

“Isn’t it better? Rely on faith and hope. Not clutching desperately to know
everything?”

“With only those two you won’t reach the truth. Hope and Faith can be dangerous if it is directed in the wrong directions.”

“Doesn't this apply to your “truth” too?”
Darby gave a reply which made Ame to think about it. She knew how cruel hope can be, but was her “truth” had that mercy? Was “truth” a kind and forgiving being?
No.
“You have a point in that. There is a reason why we called them [Kind lies and merciless truth]. Because no one is willing to take the route of coldhearted unfazened truth when there is an easy, unchallenging way of life. I don’t like those who choose the latter one. That led to a dead end.”

“Everyone has their beliefs.”
Darby put an effort to end the topic, with her sentence.

Theresa came to them saying
“Darby ~ Ame ~ Lunch is ready. It is much better when you eat fresh and hot.”

“Wait lunch? Did I oversleeped the breakfast?”

“We couldn’t wake you up. You sleep so dreamly."

The lunchtime was both similar and different compared to yesterday. Looking at the yesterday feels nostalgic. An effect which taints others memory, blanking out every bad or negative feeling, event. Leaving a happy rose colored memory.

Today

It was if you applied to truth those tainted memories. Getting layers of nostalgia scrubbed away.

The happy atmosphere has changed to bittersweet. The pressure of it increased at first two fold then it crawled up further five fold, ten fold.

At the table it was now an obvious thing. every one had a suspicion that the other knew something she was not supposed to.
“I heard you talking about the stories of the four goddesses."
Theresa posed a question for Ame. Genuine curiosity shown from her.

“We did. Though we have different views on it, I think we discussed it well. Only one
thing has been left out.”

“There are more things which are missing. I have one which bugs me more than all the others.”

“When someone is speaking about folktales. The person always saw it differently, depending on its life. So Ame, why did you brought up our deities' folklore? What did a detective saw there?”

“Even the name of it tells one of my biggest problem. [Tales of the four goddesses of slavation] you saw the problem. A huge hole in all.”

“What do you mean with this Ame? Can you explain it to us? Surely the other are glad to hear it to”

Ame sensed the bait lingering in her sentence.
“She definitely knew what is the missing part. Is she curious about what I can take from it or does she want to silence my discourse? I chose the first one.”
Her ideas when heard Darby’s reply

“Stories of said gods only consist of the first three. Purity, Life, Abundance. In this line of order. I would ask where the fourth one is. Where’s the stories, the folklore about her? There is nothing of her, no mentions, no proposed form. Nothing.
Peace’s stories are now the same as a blanked out fresco, painted to pure white to erase its presence.”

“You were oddly specific there, detective.”
“Did you see something there, in the underground temple?”
Nina and Darby pointed out.

“Why were you there? The signs said that you weren't supposed to go there?”
Theresa gently asked the question.

It would be an easy question for Ame to answer. In normal circumstances she could talk it out with them. Without feeling to hide her reason. But she left those circumstances when she took this job. The room with its heavy pressure, dread and doubts sitting with them at the table .She had the feeling that after a wrong answer she could no longer leave this town. Not with on her two legs.

“Theresa, you made a delicious lunch for us. Isn’t it Ame?”
The stellar night of yesterday, the new resident [bittersweet] and [dread] and the increasingly heavier atmosphere started to take a toll on Ame. A nauseated asphyxiant feeling came over her.

She stood up to take her leave.
“Ame don’t you want you to finish your lunch? You almost ate any of it.”
Theresa asked her. Theresa had a point, Ame’s plate was almost full.

Ame wanted to reply, still she didn’t do it. It was too difficult.
Ame walked to the door, then left.

Nina looked at ame’s plate too.
“Ooh… Darby? This won’t turn into a problem?”
“Look, Nina. Theresa isn’t mad. Just sad that Ame missed two of her food.”
Nina looked at Theresa. She looked happy, there was a smile on her face too. But her aura was completely different. Anger radiated from her entirely.
“Darby.. I don't think she is just [sad]. Honestly it scares me.”
“Then don’t have more slip offs. Okay?” Darby said it with a hellfreezing coldness, while smiling.

At the outside Ame tries to get herself together.
When she was finally outside, she collapsed to her knees.
Hyperventilating.

In an act to calm herself.
*breathe in*
*slowly breathe out*
This continued for a few minutes.

“Sherlock, just what kind of work did you offer me?”
“When we meet again I will definitely ask you about this. Take it as a promise. Until then I should finish my part of the job.”

Ame based her info collecting about what she heard from the tales. The methods of offering, most of their folklore mention offerings.
“But the temple is closed, so where do they do it?” A thought which came to her.

The townfolks said to her that they offer their fate and heart. By believing them and working for them. The farmers work for The Blessing of Mio, the caretakers are working to acknowledge the boons that Fauna gave to them. Everyone is on their way to keep themselves pure to show their gratitude for Kiara.

While collecting info Ame coincidentally bumped into a long pink haired girl, with crimson red eyes. She immediately handed over a book to Ame. With a message
“Only read it when no one sees it!”
She disappeared, just as quickly as she came.
The book looked exactly like her book, but thirty years older.

At night when she made sure that no one saw her. She flipped through the pages of that book. She was right, it was that same book. But it served more than just that. In her hand was a journal of a formal candidate to peace. The full and detailed versions of the four goddesses story.

Life only granted her boons to her loyalists, bringing death to everyone else.
Purity cleansed EVERYTHING, if she could purify it perfectly she rather ignited it to nothingness.
Abundance always brought harvest to where she was. She despised those who wasted her power, or the food she provided to them. Those who were hedonistic had a name in her presence “offerings”.
“As a former candidate for Peace, I saw all the horrors of these three goddesses. Let this enlighten the next one!”

Chapter Text

How did it come to this ?

I am taking a bath, sighing while I try to make sense of this mess.

Mio is angry.
Kiara can’t do anything right.
My little detective isn’t going in the direction I wanted her to go.

How did it come to this ?

As I close my eyes, the memories of my whole life come back to haunt me, as usual.

XIst century.
The first crusade.

I was merely a humble nun among the masses that participated in the slaughters. At first I thought it was just. God didn’t want heretics to occupy his Holy Land. But as soon as the truth of war was laid bare in front of my eyes, I changed.

Dozens of thousands of corpses, inhuman screams I could hear as “envoy of Gods” were doing evil deeds.

Nothing could excuse such cruelty.

I always thought the God in the text was more cruel than in reality, to warn future sinners, to make them stay on the right path. But what if it was how God truly was ?

As my beliefs shifted, the power surged through me. I was bringing death to knights I was supposed to be allied with in a single touch, while healing innocent souls with another one.

I had become a knight of the apocalypse; Death herself.

But what if instead of bringing the apocalypse, I tried to bring salvation ?

I just had to find the ones who were destined to become Famine, Pestilence and War, and rally them to my cause. Humanity would then know a golden age of peace it couldn’t even dream of achieving.

If a horrible experience like a crusade could create a goddess out of a simple nun, I had to wait for great wars, for famines, for pandemics to find those I was searching for.

The XIVth century brought me two of those.

The black death.

The greatest pandemic of all human histories, killing millions after millions and bringing a great famine alongside it.

I roamed these lands trying to heal whoever I could. My powers could fight injuries, but not sickness or hunger. I saw so many of them die while I was looking at them, powerless… I was going in Crimea, the country the pandemic started in.

It took me a whole year to find Mio, a descendant of an asian slave family.

She was alone, farming as she could, refusing to give up on her crops even though it was none of her responsibility. Her masters were dead, and so were the other slaves, but even though her stomach was empty and her body slowly decaying, she couldn’t let her crops go to waste.

I stayed with her, trying to keep her company, to help.

She didn’t care.

Her crops were her everything, her only hope of surviving through hunger and loneliness. She should have already passed away, she was afflicted by the black death, and ate a really light meal even though she worked all day.

When she was finally brought down to her knees, light engulfed her body. She was a solitary wolf, she fought as hard as she could the famine but couldn’t win against it, she ascended out of determination.

All the crops died as she got back on her feet, now half wolf herself.

When I explained to her what we could do together, her smile lit once again; she was a farmer at heart, raising crops and feeding people was what made her the happiest.

We roamed fast, trying to inspect as many infected cities as possible before the end of the pandemic. Famines were common during the medieval era, but pandemics of this scale weren’t.

Thankfully, our goddess bodies were able to defy human limits.

We arrived in Austria in less than a year, and in Vienna, saw a terrific sight.

A ginger haired teenager sitting atop of a pile of dead bodies, laughing her heart out.

Most of her skin was slowly falling out due to the bubonic plague, swoles everywhere, ready to explode and leak infected mucus.
When she turned to face us, we could see that her face wasn’t even a human face anymore; her cheeks had rotten away, exposing her full broken dentition. Her eyelids were no more, making her eyeballs gauge out slightly.

Pestilence was in front of us.

We tried to talk, but she wouldn’t stop laughing as she approached us. To her surprise, our bodies weren’t showing any sign of sickness.

Mio and I talked for days, living next to that… thing. What was the opposite of pestilence ? Was it health ? That would make sense, but how would we turn that monster into a divinity of health ?

Then we realized that the best way at this time to prevent sickness from spreading was to burn the bodies. So we attached the monster onto the pile of bodies, and, with oil, immolated her.

I’ll admit I wasn’t exactly thrilled about the idea, and neither was Mio.

Touching her was disgusting. Spreading oil onto dead bodies was immoral. Hearing her screaming in agony was unbearable.

From the ashes of Pestilence, Purity rose. The ginger haired woman spread her wings as she became our third member.

She had no memories of being Pestilence, so we took her in as if she was our child. She never stopped being an adorable ball of energy.

Decades passed.

Centuries passed.

But to our dismay, no matter which war we tried to find our goddess of Peace in, we weren’t able to find her.

Joan of Arc had been our biggest hope… but in the end, she just died.

We tried our best to fulfill our duties as best we could. Bringing hope to humanity without Peace wouldn’t be that hard, would it ? But to our despair, all we do would just end up creating war.

A healthy city would just try to invade others to expand its influence, only to collapse on itself.

We moved to America, tried everything to create what we needed, but it was no use.

Even Calli, the Vietnam veteran that we somehow managed to convince to try, ended up leaving us.

She was so disgusted by the war. She couldn’t see the point of it. She was so close to ascending. So why did she leave us ?

Why didn’t she stay ?

The tears are rolling on my cheeks.

I’m so scared that Amelia is going to leave.

She knows, she most certainly knows about us. Her vision of the truth over peace scares me.

Religion isn’t as strong as it was, so our names are losing importance and our powers are slowly fading. If Amelia doesn’t ascend, we won’t be able to spread our names without creating war. We will be forced to die without ever creating the utopia we all dreamed of.

I have to talk to her.

Getting out of the bath, I dress up and walk to the guest room. What we’re doing is right, we might all have a bad temperament that leads to mistakes because of our powers, but we’re only humans with godly powers.

She will understand that, right ?

I open the door.

Here she is, standing in front of the bed, staring into my eyes.

Was she expecting me ?

“Well, Fauna.” She starts, already confirming that she knows.

“I have to admit that I feel bad as a detective for not having noticed anything until now.

Ounaia Leilani. Leilani means ‘heavenly flowers' ' in Hawaiian, Ounaia doesn’t mean a thing, but Hoounaia means ‘envoy’. So you were the one who lured me here in the first place.

Darby is derived from the town of Derby, or should I say the Deer Town.

Nina means ‘fire’ in Aymara language.

And finally, Theresa, derived from ‘Terizo’, ‘to harvest’ in Greek.

I should’ve looked into your names earlier, given that even this freaking town’s name was a clue for whoever was trying to track you three down.”

Amelia’s voice is, to my surprise, cold and incisive. It isn’t anger or frustration that I feel, but something far scarier; murderous impulse.

“I know it looked like we played with you, Amelia. But I swear it only was to make sure you were the right one.”

“The right one to become the fourth goddess, I take it ?

The canvas for Peace is blank because there never was one to begin with. No matter how hard you tried, nobody ever wanted to become your obedient dog.”

“I don’t want an obedient dog, Ame ! I want someone to help me achieve my dream to create an utopia for humanity !”

The tears are rolling on my cheeks again.

I don’t like the direction this conversation is taking.

I don’t want her to leave. She is so nice and caring. Something would probably have happened between us given enough time. I just want the good for everyone, please see it.

“That kind of utopia ?”

She throws a journal at me. It is old, and filled with observations about us three.

I feel hurt as I read what the things we did looked like from the exterior. We looked like self important, egoistic dark goddesses.

When I realize Calli is the one who wrote this, something within me breaks.

My goddess aura is leaking as I start to scream in agony.

“I JUST WANTED TO BRING PARADISE !”

“But the only thing you ever brought were convenient lies.

All three of you, you don’t care about humanity deep within.

You don’t care about the Truth of your actions.”

I breathe heavily and erratically.

Control your breathing, Fauna. She is just next to you, she hasn't ascended yet. She could die if you let it leak too hard.

“I know we’re not perfect… Amelia. But please, give us a chance. Please become the Peace that this world needs more than ever. Please become the leader I could never be so we can do what is right.

“Oh, don’t worry. I know what is right.”

She smiles at me.

It isn’t a warm smile. It is the cold smile of someone that has already won.

“You see, Fauna. I’m really glad you let your goddess powers leak a little. If you didn’t have, everyone wouldn’t have seen it.”

“Everyone ?”

“We’re live streaming now. On the official Watson account that I use to expose dirty stuff hidden by governments most of the time.

Today’s broadcast was, of course, a special one.”

“But we don’t have any internet here ? To keep up with the world, I have to go out of the town every week to the only spot where you have a mediocre signal !”

Amelia takes out her phone in front of me, points to the small camera that she set on the right wall. She has a triumphant smile on her face.

“Watson incorporation got an exclusive satellite so that I can provide the truth as effectively as possible whenever I want to. It Costs a fair bit of money, but it’s worth when it means I can pull stunts like this one.”

No words come out of my mouth as the aura around Amelia thickens.

It is the blue aura of Peace.

But something isn’t right.

Why is half of it slowly becoming red ?

Kiara and Mio arrive behind me and realize what is happening. Without even a warning, Kiara materializes her fire and throws it at Amelia. The fireballs instantly disappear.

“What ? How did you do that, Watson ?”

Amelia’s laugh is becoming more hysterical, much like Kiara’s laugh when she was pestilence.

“How naive, Purity.

I can feel the power rise within me. It seems I became a goddess as well.”

As her aura grows, her right eye changes color. The sapphire blue is becoming a ruby red.

“What even are you ? Fauna and Mio can’t erase my fire like that !”

“It is quite simple, little one.

I am what causes War and Peace.

I am what tears through the lies of your powers.

I am the goddess of Truth.”