The Endless Hourglass

Chapter Four

Guila had already made the noodles so all Pandora had to do was serve. She put noodles down then a generous amount of sauce and then a piece of bread on the side. Somehow, everything looked and smelled delicious.

Moonlight flooded through the window, allowing Pandora to realize how late it had gotten. Gilthunder still wasn't here despite the fact he said he would be here hours prior. She had never known him to be late. He was always early so he could help cook or set the table. She sighed and brought out the plates, two at a time, realizing she couldn't do anything but wait for him to show up. Everyone finally sat down, Gilthunder's seat still empty.

"Can we just start eating? This looks so good I don't want to wait for Gilthunder." Pandora smiled with pride at Howzer. She felt like she finally learned how to cook properly.

"Okay. It does look really good. Let's dig in!" Guila said while picking up her fork. They all dug in and Pandora watched in anticipation. She watched as their excited faces quickly turned to disgust once they took a bite. Pandora's face fell.

"No. Please don't tell me it's bad." Pandora looked like she was about to cry. Zeal ran to the bathroom to throw up while the others discreetly spit their food in their napkins. Pandora placed her head on the table in defeat.

"It's okay! The bread looks perfect. I'll try it." Everyone looked at Howzer with concern. They thought the pasta looked good too. He ignored them and took a big bite. He froze for a moment before running to the garbage in the kitchen to throw up.

"I'm so sorry guys. I wanted us to have a nice dinner. I guess we should clean this mess up and just buy dinner." Pandora grabbed her plate and walked into the kitchen to dump its contents into the garbage.

"Don't worry about it! I'm going to run to the tavern down the street to pick up dinner. I'll be right back." Jericho left in a hurry as if she thought Pandora would make her try something else. The remaining dinner guests sat at the table and talked about what they thought the next day would entail. A few minutes passed and they heard the front door open and slam shut. The three adults walked towards the door, fearing the worst.

"Zeal, go to your room now. Don't come out until I come and get you." The young boy nodded and ran up the stairs without a word of protest. Once Pandora got to the foyer, she gasped slightly. Gilthunder stood there, his blue eyes wide in shock as if he had just seen a ghost. His armor was slightly torn in places and covered in small pieces of debris. The most startling feature however was the deep cut in the side of his cheek with blood flowing freely from it. His three friends just stared at him in shock, not knowing what to do or say. At last, Guila and Howzer snapped from their daze. Guila went to check on Zeal, knowing how scared the young boy could get and Howzer went to find a first aid kit. Pandora, however, remained in her trance. The two continued staring at each other. Both trying to read the other's mind. Both having a million things to say with no idea how to.

Howzer returned and started shuffling through the medkit. He was preparing to stitch up his friend's face when Pandora walked over to the pink-haired man. Her movements were very calculated yet thoughtless like she was running on auto-pilot. She stopped in front of him, staring up into his blue eyes. She knew they lived dangerous lives but this was the first time she realized she could lose any of them at any given moment. She could lose everyone she cared about in a second. She had known Gilthunder since he was fifteen. He was just a boy with a heart of gold trying to avenge his father. She knew death was imminent, but he was still young. He still had a whole life ahead of him. Or at least he should.

She let her hand go up to his cheek, letting her fingertips inch closer and closer to the wound. Her fingers barely touched his cheek before a bright orb left her hand. The cut stitched itself back together as if it were never there in the first place. Gilthunder noticed at once that the pain disappeared and looked to the blonde girl in front of him for answers. Right as he was about to ask about it, Pandora's body went limp. He quickly wrapped his arms around her waist to keep her from falling to the floor.

The two boys looked at each other in confusion. Both faces shared the same puzzled and concerned expression. The two stood there for a moment in silence, neither knowing what to do or say. Keeping one arm wrapped tightly around the girl, Gilthunder reached a hand up to his cheek to feel that the wound had entirely disappeared. He looked down at the girl in his arms as if her face would hold all of the answers to his questions. The thing that finally snapped the two confused men from their daze was the sound of the front door slamming shut.

Jericho stood a few feet behind Gilthunder, his back to her. In her arms was a large bag of food she had picked up. The purple-haired girl started into the room, immediately freezing once she saw her friend unconscious. After a moment of hesitation, she spoke.

"Lay her down on the couch." Jericho placed the bag of food on the ground and helped Gilthunder set her on the couch. "What on Earth happened?" Guila returned with Zeal, both staring at the blonde girl in shock. Zeal tried to run over to Pandora, but his older sister quickly caught him in her arms, pulling him into a comforting embrace. She walked over to the group of people huddled around Pandora and sat, still holding onto Zeal.

"What happened?" That seemed to be the question of the night. The only problem was there wasn't a clear answer in sight.

"Gilthunder came back with a cut on his cheek and she...she healed him." Howzer said, trying to figure out for himself what just happened. He never knew she could heal others. None of them knew.

"Is she-"

"She's breathing." Gilthunder said quietly, guilt starting to gnaw away at him. This was all his fault. He's the reason she's in this mess. He couldn't live with himself if his mentor, no, his friend remained in a comatose state because of him. No one knew what to do, but wait. Seconds bled into minutes as they waited for her to open her emerald eyes. After almost an hour of waiting, Pandora sat up, gasping for air. Everyone stared at her in silence, no one knowing what to say. After a moment, one of Pandora's hands shot up to her head, feeling a migraine coming on.

"What happened?" Her voice was raspy and quiet.

"We were kinda hoping you would tell us." Howzer said, eyes full of concern. Pandora gave him a questioning glance. "You can heal people. Why did you never tell us?" Pandora felt a pain in her chest like a knife stabbing into her heart. The last time she tried to heal someone, she was too late. Hundreds of years have passed and yet the guilt and shame never did. She hadn't been able to find the courage to try and use her magic since then.

"I didn't think it mattered." But the truth was she knew it mattered. She knew that they deserved the truth, but it was a truth she wasn't ready to give them. She wasn't ready to share the fact that gnawed away at her mind; She was alone and it was due to her own failure. "Enough about me. Gilthunder, what on earth happened to you?" Pandora repositioned herself so she was sitting up with her back against the couch.

"I got hit with a spear." Everyone stared in shock. "The Seven Deadly Sins are alive. I threw a spear and their Captain threw it back. Meliodas is alive."