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Akio, in all his gleaming white and grandeur, let loose his monologue again. The scene was tense. Utena bit her lip, the dry, tense air unable to pull her away from the direct focus to the man that had abused her. Abused Anthy. She, somehow, choking on her nobility managed to suppress the bile and vomit that sickened her stomach, her needle sharp blade pointed directly at Akio, poised to not toss a rose this time, but to kill.
Akio was an immature man who had never grown up. He gasped for air as beads of sweat slunk down his tan forehead. Moments before the effigy of both the castle in the sky and Dios had shattered around them, blasting the sky with golden light.
The pink haired girl in the enrapturing black gakuran hadn't relented.
The man who controlled Ohtori was about to lose. His everything. His revolution. But to Akio, he had been in this situation countless times before. And each time, he persevered. He merely felt the presence of his sibling behind him - his faithful Anthy, who would be the final pawn in his calculated game. But he had to act quickly.
Utena pounced, sword rearing. This time she would kill, this time she would-
Akio pushed Anthy, the girl draped in a long red damsel dress, towards Utena. He expected for Utena to collide with Anthy and stop her assault, and stop her assault she did -
However Anthy didn't make it to Utena as planned. Miracles as it may, a crack in the floor, or her shoe caught in her red dress, Anthy tripped. She fell to the ground with a thud.
Utena however didn't see through the smoke and mirrors, this was - to her - another endless case of Akio abusing Anthy. It fueled the conviction she had suppressed deep inside to restart her charge, her sword poised, she dived with a different passion. A passion paved in blood.
No bell tolled. Just the pained gasp of Akio as he had been run through. Without so much as glance at Anthy in that moment, Utena had funnelled her hatred into this single strike. It ran straight through the rose on Akio's breast with the blade tip exiting just to the right of his shoulderblade.
They both paused in a freeze frame. The pure white of Akio’s vest began to pool with red blood, dripping also from his mouth as he gagged for breath. “You…!”
“...You really think you can bring revolution…!?” Akio was a coward. He didn’t expect to be on the verge of death and now he was scared.
Utena offered a sullen glare. It didn’t seem noble, but after what she had seen from Akio, she knew deep down princes were not completely pure. Anthy looked up in horror as her world started crumbling.
Akio yelled out in a gargle of blood. “ANTHY! SAVE ME!”
“Don’t worry Anthy, I’m freeing you from this prison.” Not once did Utena actually look back at Anthy. All Anthy could see was her abusers glazing eyes.
She pushed the sword further to seal Akio’s fate. “You don’t have to keep living like this.”
Anthy rose to her feet. It was then Utena finally whisked around and saw the blade that Anthy was hiding in her dress. Akio was fighting for life behind her, his hands vicing over the sword Utena had inserted, desperate to pry it out. His purple rose was now drowned in red, his white robe increasingly crimson.
Utena let go of the sword she had pushed deep into Akio. He desperately tried to pry it out while Utena confronted Anthy.
Anthy held her sword in a pose that was as if she was going to protect her brother. It was aimed at Utena. The “Prince” persona that Anthy had seen in Utena had always sickened her as it reminded her of how Dios used to be, before he transformed into Akio.
Meanwhile, Utena understood that Anthy was merely a bird with a broken wing that had been conditioned to love her abusive brother. She could see plainly now that the plan would have been to have Anthy run her through.
The system is broken. Utena thought.
“You don’t have to do this Anthy.” The pink haired girl seemed strangely despondent. Unlike Anthy, she hadn’t actually tried to take a life before. She seemed completely unaware that the blood of Akio splattered on her white epaulette tassels.
Anthy charged. Utena didn’t want to really hurt Anthy, but she was a danger right now. Without her sword in hand, she pulled out her foot to trip Anthy on purpose. It wasn’t noble, but it was needed to keep the both of them safe.
Meanwhile, Akio behind them panicked like the coward he was and attempted to pull out the sword. Utena didn’t even look back at him. This was the man who had violated her, let alone Anthy, countless times. It was a fate he deserved. Somehow, Akio’s hands won in the panic - pulling out the sword opened the wound further, laying him in a pile of bleeding flesh.
Anthy sobbed horribly. The man she was with almost all her life - that had abused her - was gone. She crawled across the floor, she begged and clutched his hand, but he gradually grew cold. She had no idea how to live without him.
It was painful, but it was the best for Anthy. Today Utena had crossed a line she had never stepped over before. She looked at her blood stained hands for a moment. This was the “sacrifice” necessary for salvation.
“I’ll take eternity if I have to.” Utena scolded.
The bloodied swords lay on the ground next to Akio and the distraught Anthy. Utena cast a tall shadow that blotched them both.
“Stand up Himemiya.” The words felt like a command. The cadence was a little different from Utena’s usual manner of speaking. She continued “You don’t have to be afraid of him anymore. I will help you forge a world where nothing can hurt you anymore.”
Anthy tried to wipe her tears “Yes… Utena-sama…”
As the rose bride looked up at Utena, she saw something different. It was almost like - at the moment Utena drove the blade into Akio - Utena had died. And in her place… was someone else entirely. Her stare was vapid, with a layer of control in her tongue.
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Years later, the succession of Utena controlling Ohtori Academy had completed. As the hands changed, Utena used her wit to sign away the mysterious death of Akio as merely a “disappearance” - but it mattered little as the students began to forget him.
Some “renovations” during that time had certainly occurred, and some areas of Ohtori had structurally changed.
The former chairman’s tower had been rebuilt with a frosted glass globe at the peak. This was where Utena and the student council members would assemble with various plans about a “revolution”.
Anthy has become merely a shadow in the background. Her glasses shine, hiding her true emotion in her eyes. She sees the revolving scenario. She has been here before. It’s the same as always.
The one that she had tried to wake up from their princely delusion had only sunk further into the system of control. Utena was now dressed in a pure white vest, pearl trousers and a shallow lavender cape - she looked like Dios with a touch of Aphrodite.
Somewhere along the way, Utena was doing this all for Anthy. But as she sliced an apple on the desk, she had forgotten for a moment what she was doing.
Ohtori had now become a true prison for Anthy. By falling from one bond to another, the curse of control had simply migrated to Utena.
In one fleeting moment, Anthy tried to speak up towards Utena - being witness to the horrific change from a noble girl to someone closing in on everything that made Akio.
“You cannot… be a Prince…” Anthy trembled.
Utena raised a nailed finger to her lip and bit down in curiosity. “Oh…?”
“...Because you are a girl…”
Without a moment's hesitation, Anthy felt a vice around her hand. Utena leaned in close, her face warped, mature like a witch. “You still believe in that?” The pinked haired woman squeezed Anthy’s wrist harder. “I did everything for your freedom. I killed him so you can be free.”
And yet, Anthy was still in a bird cage.
A prison.
A cell.
A jail.
The one she loved no longer existed.
This was Anthy’s world, forever.