Bonds

Queen's Conspiracy

Queen played with the ends of her long, black hair as she sat just outside the cave's only entrance, watching how the land slowly rose and fell as if breathing. It was peaceful, relaxing, and possibly even beautiful once she got over the twisted pieces of flesh and bone that dotted the landscape. And watching the world pass by was something that Grandma May liked to do with her when her brothers were away for the day. Which was becoming more and more frequent.

Leaving her in the dust.

"Grandma, I'm bored," Queen sighed, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "Can we do something?"

The old woman chuckled and looked up from her sewing; working to patch yet another hole in Jack's pants. "You could help me with mending your clothes." Queen frowned. "I figured that would be the case," her grandmother smiled. "What about all those toys and gizmos your brother made ya'll?"

Queen did smile at that.

Every time Knight went to learn from his cyclopes masters, he always returned with something he or the cyclopes had made that day. What he brought back ranged from toys, such as a windup music box, a small mechanical telekhine that did flips, and a disk with four different colored lights that randomly lit up and you had to remember and repeat the sequence, to the practical, like a heater that required no fuel, a large cylinder that cleaned the air so it didn't sting as much, and a purifier that made the waters of the Phlegethon turn from red to crystal clear. She didn't like the water purifier though, as she found the clear water to be unnerving and unnatural. But she loved everything else her brother made for them.

Unlike Jack, who just brings home stinky furs...

But one can only play with toys so much, especially when there was a whole world out there to see.

"They're nice Grandma, but that's not what I want to do," Queen huffed, folding her arms to her chest just like Lord Hyperion.

"Then I bet you don't want to do a little extra studying with Dr. Thorn?" the white-haired woman smiled.

"No..."

Grandma May set Jack's pants aside and turned to face her. "I know," she said with a sad little smile. "It's not fair that your brothers get to go off on adventures while you're stuck here with me." The old woman wrapped one arm around Queen's shoulders and pulled her close; resting the daughter of Kronos' head on her ancient shoulder. "It's not fair, is it?"

Queen nodded slightly in agreement. All her life she had been told she was the strongest and most important of her siblings by Lord Krios and Lord Hyperion, that she was the one who would restore the natural order to the world. But, she never felt like she was that strong or that important. She never got to use Soul Forge during training, which allowed her brothers and the titans to defeat her with ease. She was never allowed to go anywhere without being accompanied by one of the titans or the manticore, and they only took her to the training area, Dr. Thorn's classroom, or back to the cave, making her feel trapped.

And what was worse, was that she could see her brothers changing everyday while she remained the same. Jack was becoming quieter and more agile by the day and talked to the hellhound pup that followed him around or Knight more than he did to her. Not to mention the fact his use of Babylon had changed dramatically, using it as a projectile rather than using it with his hands. Knight, while always the quietest, smartest, and strongest of the three of them, was becoming even more so. In Dr. Thorn's lessons her brother would sometimes raise his hand before the manticore even finished asking the question! And sometimes he even corrected their scorpion tailed mentor! Who did that? And he was becoming so creative with his use of Shatter! Knight once used it to smash the ground beneath Lord Hyperion's feet, making the flaming titan fall; the titan still won in the end, but she knew it was only a matter of time before her favorite brother emerged victorious!