My heart was pounding against my chest as if it was demanding the same amount of attention as the baby within my belly. Something was wrong, and not even the familiar setting of the Last Drop provided me with its usual feelings of home. Ignoring the curious looks from the demons as I headed towards the bar, I saw Hermes with Ares in the back, both talking furiously at a bored looking Hades.
Of course they were here. They seemed to forget they had a world all of their own to be in, rather than annoy me in mine. A shiver ran up my spine at the thought; it should make me angry that they were here. But why?
Their world.
They had something else they should be doing but what that might be...
"Bunny! What are you doing here?" Apollo moves fast, nearly knocking over the stool he had been sitting on and a flicker of relief at seeing him makes me forget about the three in the corner. "You're supposed to be resting at home. How did you get away from your Mum?"
Mum.
The frantic pounding of my heart pauses for a second as if to make way for the ache that takes over. If I was just with her, why did I miss her so much? Thinking of home, and Alfie, sitting on the sofa with Jordan watching TV and eating her cooking had my eyes burning with tears. Apollo tugged me against his side, yet as he went to kiss me, I turned my head away so instead of my lips, he found my cheek.
"You okay?" He whispered, the hand on my stomach only adding to the feeling of unease as I slipped out of his hold. "Bunny?"
"What are we doing here?" I ask him instead, moving towards the bar.
We were supposed to be somewhere else.
"Well, I came to check in with Paul and where he was at with the paperwork for taking over this place while you were supposed to be resting. You don't look all that good, you didn't walk all this way did you?" Apollo frowned. "Listen to what the doctor told you, Elise. Now isn't the time for you to be so stubborn. Our baby is due within the next couple of weeks and you can't just-"
"Our baby?" I look down as if expecting it to answer from inside of me.
"I think you need to go back home." Apollo decided.
"No, I-" Where was home?
Looking around again, Hades catches my eye as he ignores the other two completely. There is something about the look on his face that I wasn't expecting to see. Hate. Anger. Had we argued?
"Oh look, it's her majesty!" A familiar voice called from behind me, and turning around, Kara drunkenly walked over. "All hail the Queen!"
"Fuck off, Kara. Not tonight and not here." Apollo snapped.
"Don't talk to her that way." I warned, yet he didn't seem to hear as instead I am gently moved behind him as he squares off against her.
"That crown still seems a little too tight on your head, Apollo. Might want to get that checked before permanent damage is done." She spat at him.
"I am your King, in our world and this one. Do not upset her tonight." His tone is dark, and dangerous in a way I never knew Apollo could sound.
Wait, King?
"What is going on?" I push past him, looking at Kara for answers I knew I shouldn't hear.
"Baby Brain kicked in then, Queenie? I thought you were never coming back here after what you did?"
What I did?
"She makes a good point." Hades says from behind us.
"Let's go, this is why I told you not to come back here." Apollo angrily whispers, spinning me around towards the exit.
"No, Apollo. Stop!" Again I push back but he's holding my arms tight and for a second I have no choice but to move with him. My own anger flares, and this time when I say stop, we do. Kara looks impressed as I practically push him away. "I'm not leaving."
"Elise. Not now. We can discuss this when we-"
"Discuss what? You don't get to call me Queenie, and why do you like you've been sucking on a lemon all night?" I snap at the other two. "Don't you have anywhere else to be?"
Kara laughs, shrugging me off as she heads back to the bar.
"Elise," Apollo warns, his tone grating on whatever nerves I have left after everything about this, here and now, is destroying the rest.
"Hades?" I demand, moving closer to him.
"You know my thoughts. This was supposed to stay as a neutral ground in which we may both visit on occasion, though never at the same time." He said coldly, like each word was difficult for him to get out. "You're breaking that rule."
"Since when?" This was my bar. My sanctuary. What nonsense was he on about now?
"Since you killed him!" Hades broke; if there was a time for him to develop a burst of flaming blue hair, this was it.
"Who?"
"Elise-" Apollo grabbed my arm again.
"Cain. Is the Valkyrie right? Have you lost your fucking mind?" Hades roared, the demons near us not hiding the fact they were running to the exit and getting out there.
I felt his power pushing against mine, shields I hadn't even known existed in place and holding.
Was I powerful enough to stand up to Hades?
"I didn't kill Cain?" Though glancing at Apollo and the rest of the group that were joining us, I started to doubt myself. "I didn't!"
"Elise. Let's go." Apollo looked a little paler now, yet even he was shielded away from me. The surprise on his face replaced the look of pure impatience, before he just got frustrated. "We shouldn't have come. I should have listened to Art and kept you home, where you belong."
Where did I belong?
It wasn't here.
I killed Cain?
I couldn't swallow, as no memory of it happening came to me. Closing my eyes I tried to remember, but my clarity disappeared as we stood on the hill watching as Genzo prepared to start a new war once Hercules was defeated. Then what?
The pain.
So much pain.
But why? Why did it hurt so much?
Themis crowning me as Queen.
A drunken night with Apollo.
Kara and Hades arguing. I made Apollo, King.
Crying in the bathtub with a pregnancy test.
No.
"No." I shook my head, instantly out the back in the office where everything was clean, organised and the piles of boxes and excess stock were missing.
It didn't look how it did with Cain or any of his aliases in charge. It didn't feel like it did when he was here. Nothing felt right. I didn't feel right.
I remembered then, the sword through his chest.
One of us had to die.
I fell to my knees with a sob as everything started to become clearer, the pain making more sense and now it was remembered, it came back to life with a vengeance. I couldn't breath, and as the faint click of the lock broke into my thoughts, I turned in time to see Hades behind me.
"It isn't supposed to be like this." I cried to him.
"I know." He sounded almost sympathetic. "You told me."
I did. Hours of tears and talking out on the balcony at the forgotten palace. No one bothered us out there after it was done. I turned up at the castle when I had to, letting Artemis do what had to be done because the people only wanted the God Killer who had nothing left to give them. The Fates helped. Guiding us like a light in the dark as we tried to put back together a broken world.
Everything was starting to make sense.
"Why do you hate me?" I slowly stood, knowing very well the threat he posed right now. "We are friends."
"No. We are not." Hades sighed, like we'd had this conversation before. "You are a danger to everything. You were kept alive because just like him, you fooled me into thinking you were different. Now you are simply a puppet to the Fates, a shell of the girl who was. The God Killer had her time to rule, and I will do what I should have done years ago."
Hades' power surrounded me and I barely had a second to defend myself. I may be able to hold him now, but not for long. I felt the baby moving, a tiny little pumpkin that was innocent in all of this.
I'm sorry Pumpkin.
No. Blueberry.
A new power entered the room and I saw Hades hesitate for the briefest of seconds, but it was enough. Papers scattered from the table as it was tossed into the wall, and the small window in the corner shattered. I stood my ground, and glaring at Hades I let whatever this was inside of me out. It felt new yet familiar, and the more Hades tried to stop me, the easiest it was for me to take control.
The walls began to crumble, lights flashed before sparking and then, there was only darkness. Hades was slumped in the corner, surrounded by broken glass and fragments of the wall. The door was still locked tight, and I could hear Apollo and Ares shouting on the other side, banging as hard as they could to get it open. I checked on Hades, making sure he was still alive. I needed him, but the reason why still escaped me.
Hurting this place hurt me, and as I stood in the middle of the destruction I felt something else new yet familiar surround me. It was as comforting as stepping into a hug, the missing element since I got here and relief at knowing that I was right, I hadn't killed him at all had me walking outside. If I could see Cain, talk to him again, everything would be okay and we'd work out what was happening together.
Together.
I heard the crunch of the gravel with each step as the sweet yet sour stench of the bins hit my nose. A part of me wanted to run across the field, follow the path I knew as well as the back of my hand and go home to my parents. To find Alfie and lay on his satin like scales, feel the muscles of his body restrict around me as I made all of this disappear. I wanted one of Mum's cups of tea and a piece of whatever cake she had just made. I hugged myself, knowing his name isn't Pumpkin but Blueberry. Instead of going back to where I knew I should logically go, I sought out Cain instead.
"Elise, you can't be out here." Apollo came around the corner, looking furious.
I laughed, realising he actually thought he could tell me what I could and couldn't do. "I can. Your concern has been noted."
"No, you can't. Come with me. Now." He held out his hand and I shook my head at his obvious order.
Looking at him though, he really did expect me to do as he said and it wasn't as funny as it had been a moment ago. Something else sparked in the back of my mind, of a different time and place where we hadn't been able to get past that. He knows I'm not his to control only that wasn't what was happening now.
"This isn't right, Apollo. Don't you feel it?" I ask, turning to look for Cain in the darkness.
He was out there. I knew it.
"All I'm feeling right now is worry that you've lost your fucking mind! Hades it unconscious back there, your weeks if not days away from giving birth and should be resting. Just, for once in your life, listen to me. Please!" He begged.
"Do you love me?" I ask him instead.
"Of course I do." Yet even as he said it, something passed over his face. "I do, love you?"
"Like you did before? When I'd come here, and get drunk and start bar fights? Like before when you were still just Logan to me?"
"Yes." Neither of us believed it.
"Help me find him." I decide.
"Who?"
"Cain. Apollo, this isn't real. Us, together, King and Queen? It isn't real." I took his hand in mine, and squeezed it. "This isn't our baby. Kara and Hades aren't the enemy here."
Hades had mentioned being a puppet for the Fates, yet closing my eyes, I saw Portia and Adala die. The Fates didn't exist anymore. "I didn't kill Cain. I killed Nieve."
"What?"
"This isn't real." I repeated, louder, stronger this time.
And just like that, a glimpse at what could have been, shifted to what was and within the chaos, Apollo vanished, the Last Drop as well as I found myself alone in the darkened field. No, not alone. Across from me, stood a lone figure. He was little more than an invisible silhouette, yet I could find him and I always would. The coldness of the wind that brushed by me sent a shiver down my spine and caused goosebumps to break out along my arms. It was Cain, there was no doubting it, only what reality did he need to wake up from to see the truth too.
Movement from behind me made me turn and my friends returned to me.
The moon came out as if it were a stage light, highlighting the madness of the moment which was more like a dramatic pause between scenes. Act two, if at first you don't succeed, try again. The second Cain appeared closer to us, I knew where he'd been sent back to. He never had the bother of an alternative life path, doing what had been seen and demanded of him beyond ensuring he was dead in that narrative.
It was a weak attempt at setting us up, but one that might work. Cain looked at Apollo, then at my stomach. His pain made me flinch, but only confirmed what I already knew. Setting us up in a seaside castle hundreds of years ago would have been more appropriate since we had such warm and fuzzy memories already established there. The field wasn't the best choice of places; it was the first glimpse of just how real his feelings actually were when I nearly died here. Before I killed them, I'd be sure to thank them for making this easier for me.
"What do we do?" Hermes whispered.
"Stay out of it." I warned them.
"I think I can make a portal and get out of here, wherever here is."
"Then do it, Hermes." I'd get Cain, and then we'd destroy whatever the fuck this was.
"Elise, you can't know how this will end. If they'd weakened all of us with their tricks, everything has now gone into doing that only to him." Kara added. "Please be careful."
Even when Eris had turned him against me, she hadn't fully succeeded. The Furies wouldn't either, but how had we not expected to be walking into a trap?
I held up my hands, spotting Zane being kept back by Ares. "All of you, just, go. Use the time to get ready for whatever happens after this. Zane. Stay."
"Zane?" Apollo scoffed. "Wouldn't someone with actual-"
"Shut up, Apollo. For once in your life, trust her." Kara snapped. "Hermes?"
"Okay." He quickly agreed.
Neither Cain or I moved as Hermes opened the portal. I held his gaze, refusing to be intimidated or believe any of the mistrust or hate for a second. I also hoped to keep his attention on me and not the fact they were all leaving to what I hoped was actually where they intended to be going and they'd have the time to prepare for the next battle, or assist if one was already happening.
The urge to just run up to him, and make him listen was growing stronger by the second, much like an itch you tried not to scratch. I felt his powers around me, and constantly pushed them back, thankful he didn't seem as aware of my own as he was these days. The war I felt within him was stronger than ever and the second they were gone, I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding.
"Feel better now you've played hero to your friends?" Cain taunted, yet any real venom was missing in his tone.
"Didn't you stop them, because they're your friends too." I reminded him.
"No. They're not."
"Tomato. Tomata." I shrug. "This doesn't have to be done the hard way, Cain. Please, come back to me. The Furies did this. None of whatever you think is happening right now, is."
"Good start." Zane mumbled beside me.
"Shut up."
He was only here because Cain had a soft spot for him, and well, if he had to almost die again to spark that back to life so be it.
"The Furies?" Cain frowned, and I moved closer to him. The second he tensed, I prepared myself, but kept going so we were almost touching.
"I love you. You are mine. I am yours. We are yours." I motioned around me. "I need you with me. Whatever you think is happening, is them messing with your mind."
"The Furies did this?" He didn't sound like he was believing me.
"Yes, to all of us. You missed the first part" Zane added.
"The most powerful of the other world, all got their heads fucked with by, what did you call them, The Furies? You expect me to believe that, God Killer?" Ah fuck. Crazy Cain was back again. "What did they do to you then?"
I rolled my eyes. "For starters, I don't like your tone, and we got a glimpse at an alternate reality. Nothing major."
"I mainly just drank beer at the bar." Zane sighed.
"An alternate reality?" Cain laughed. "Right. And what happened there? Get to relive what went down here? Isn't this where you should've died? Before I made you immortal and a fucking eternal thorn in my side."
"No, I got a glimpse of what could have been if I had killed you." I poked him hard in the chest. "You happen to love this thorn in your side."
Something dark crossed his face then. "If you had killed me?"
"Oh right, you don't know what's coming if you're only up to the need to kill the God Killer to be taken seriously, part." I frowned. "Can I just kiss you and make you remember? That works in movies right and since you aren't actively attempting to kill us, again, I think it would work."
He actually looked like he was considering it. "What was your alternate reality? You killed me, and then what? You and Apollo get your happily ever after? Since you already married him, doesn't seem like that much of a stretch."
"I forgot about that too. We're broken up Cain, he only said all of those lies to hurt you. Remember? None of that is true and Art isn't plotting against you either. You've all called a truce now. Where are we at in the scheme of things, can't kill me but planning on using the Magician to lock me away in the past instead? Got those gold chains ready?" I taunted, enjoying the pure confusion on his face as clearly I was guessing all his next moves.
"Is this some kind of foreplay thing for you two, cause I'm done and why did you make me stay?" Zane sighs.
"Back up plan." I shrug.
Cain made some kind of grunting noise, pinching the bridge of his nose as he began to pace back and force dealing with whatever was going through his mind right now - which was hopefully enough to pull him out of whatever he'd been put into to.
I gave him a minute and then stopped him. "Cain. Please, you're stronger than this. It's you and me. Always."
His eyes narrowed, as I held onto him yet his tone changed slightly. "What happened to you?"
"I was at the bar, and Hades now hated me though how we got to that point never became completely clear as he'd been with me after I killed you. It wasn't pretend this time. Kara and I didn't seem like we were friends anymore. I do think she had issues with Apollo though and that's why. I think I gave up. Hades said I was the Fates puppet. I got really drunk and sad one night which apparently ended up with me making Apollo King, and the rest. We called Blueberry Pumpkin like that's normal." I rolled my eyes. "Nothing felt right, because you weren't there. I only want you."
Cain pulled me closer against him, and I let him, breathing in his smell as if we'd just been apart for a year not minutes. "Did he hold you like this?"
"No."
"You only want me?"
"Always." I promised, looking up at him to find his gaze had softened and as he kissed me, I found myself feeling grounded and complete once more. "Wait, what was that?"
"What was what?"
I shoved him back. "You were pretending?"
"No, not completely. It kind of all made sense and cleared up after your little declaration of you and me. Always." He smiled. "You probably could have just kissed me and it would have been enough."
Zane laughed.
"I fucking hate you. Are you that fragile, you think even while being badly mentally messed with, I'd run back to Apollo? Let him hold me. What about a kiss? Want to ask that?"
"No, no." He said firmly. "I thought you'd realise, I was teasing, but I did want to know what happened to you. If you'd been hurt, or tortured, or, you know what. I'm sorry, I should have just come clean immediately. Even if anything had happened, it wasn't real. Like you said, you're mine."
I rolled my eyes again as he pulled me back against him as best he could.
"Blueberry, is not a Pumpkin." He agreed softly, daring to touch me.
"How ridiculous, right?"
"So, as much as I'd hate to break whatever this is up, but what next?" Zane interrupted.
Cain looked around. "This is impressive, and while Hermes can portal in and out, he has found them in our world. This is more like a box being placed inside a larger box."
"So we destroy it." Zane decides. "Before they do anything to the bigger box?"
I shake my head. "No."
Cain kissed the top of my head and then left me to walk around, inspecting the sky as if it held our solution. "What are you thinking?"
"We bring them here. Use their own trap against them." I suggest.
"Shouldn't we have kept everyone else with us then?" Zane frowns.
"No, they want us separated." Cain decided, rejoining us.
This seems to make my Protector think a little harder. "Wouldn't they want you two separated? That's what I would do."
"We're going to want to be together, which would make us extra determined. Nieve always shared her little, burn the world down, outcome if something happened to either one of us." I point out.
"Oh right, and well, you're a fairly easy target right now." He agreed. "Cain is likely to be quick to defend you, distracted and so on."
"Watch yourself, Zane." Cain warned, before I could even respond. "Though they may not be as quick to underestimate her after Nieve."
"That's literally what they're going for though," It was so obvious. "Look at everything they know about us, or what they've been told. Of course I'll get my friends out of harm's way, and of course I will do whatever I can, even at my own expense to help you. But look at me? It's only natural to see me and then you, and think I'm the weaker link. Even before I had this growth, you're seen as the bigger threat and the way to ruin Nieve's plans, so likely their plans too."
"They're going to use you to take me down." Cain says what I'm thinking.
It's even clearer now, and for a second I'm back on the floor daring him to kill me. They are more powerful than Eris. There are bigger, stronger feelings to manipulate. I saw the hurt more than anything for those brief seconds of him seeing me pregnant and with Apollo. If he'd come into the Last Drop, everything could be in a very different position than it was right now. It would be the push he needed to take things too far. I saw how quickly he could change at the hospital when Deimos and Kara had turned up after we'd saved Zane. It had been instant and irrational.
That's what they had wanted.
Seeing Cain walk into the Last Drop, with everyone in the mindset he was dead, Apollo and I playing happy families, while he was set on having to kill me to get rid of my ghost and gain complete control over everything. We'd all fight, and in his mind there was no one he could trust. I'd want to stop him, protect my friends; Apollo would never allow it and he'd be the first to fall. Hades would fight with me to a point before his own agenda became clear, and if either he or Cain killed me, it didn't completely matter. Cain would get revenge on Hades, another threat to them after us.
Even worse than that, if Cain was the one to do it, the guilt would destroy him without the Furies or Uranus needing to do a single thing. Could Hades come to his senses by that point, save Cain or at least direct him to where that fury needed to go?
The vision changed, and instead I stared at Matt's painting where Hades and Cain were coming, a storm of revenge and rage, but too late.
My heart broke for Cain and opening my eyes, I threw myself into his arms instantly.
"Where'd you go, Elle?"
I just saw how it happened. How we got to that point for Matt's vision to have existed, but also there were parts that had never been clearer, what was hidden was now bare for all to see. They didn't know about us, my power fought for my attention, it's what had first come back to life when Hades tested me. Before that, I had only been the old Elise. The one that had no idea what she could do with the power she had been given because they hadn't known what to hide, and change.
"It doesn't matter. We don't have long, and when they get back, we have to be ready. What wards can you do to trap them in?"
"Nothing too fancy, but hopefully it'll be enough." Cain nodded, but I could tell he wanted to say more.
"It has been enough to keep them here, Uranus won't come. Not yet. They think they are better than us because there are still three of them and this trap worked. The others will be on the field, readying our army for a fight and not aware its already there until we bring this place down."
"You mean that's where they put us?" Zane looked completely confused.
"Seriously, if any of those Powers had half a brain they might actually be dangerous. Luckily ego takes up more space than common fucking sense."
"Hiding us in plain sight." Cain gave a little chuckle. "Nice touch."
"Go get the wards ready, and I'll do the rest." I kiss him quickly and then head back to the fake Last Drop.
Within seconds it's reduced to rubble and I set Zane up so he'll be hidden, protected but ready. He said nothing as I did what I had to do, despite the tears on my face as I let out what I could before I had to step back into the Empress and he was little more than my Protector.
"Nieve nearly killed you, and there being the three of them may-" I froze, pain I'd been doing so well at ignoring making me gasp as my steps faltered. "Fuck."
"Kid, you need to stop for a minute." Zane let me rest against him as tiny black spots blinded my vision.
"I can't. I don't have a minute."
I was so damn tired, and as I realised just how sore, exhausted and hungry I was, it all seemed to be amplified until I ended up taking a seat on a small pile of bricks. Dust and debris covered my pants, arms and hair. I know I smelt bad. Zane managed to get some water from somewhere, and I gulped it down faster than I should while just as much seemed determined to escape from my eyes.
"I know what this fight might be, for both of us, Elise." Zane said a few minutes later. "No goodbyes, but just know, I wouldn't change a thing Sunshine. Survive. They all need you to."
Closing my eyes, I saw Zane running towards where I was stretched out on the ground. The blood that stained Kara's crown. The dirt my nose was pressing into.
"I don't know if I can." The vision changed, but the outcome was still the same. "I'll be trying and I expect you to do the same."
Cain appeared in front of us, and taking his hand he helped me stand. Again the question was in his eyes and his mouth opened then shut with words lingering between us unsaid. I wanted to tell him how much I missed my Mum, and Alfie. I should tell him just how tired I really am, and the fact I end up with our fallen friends every damn time because I can't do this, and he is going to have to do it alone.
There isn't going to be an us, or an always or a together.
"I'm fine." I lied, trying to reassure him as best I could.
"The wards will hold, but I can't say for how long. We have to move fast." He glances towards Zane as he gets himself in his position. "You've bested Tisiphone before. Twice. You destroyed Nieve. Together, we can do this. I know we can."
His finger ran down my arm, the cuts and bruises that appeared mimicking his own as prepared to put on the final show. Despite the risk as I sensed our time drawing closer to an end, I kissed him. My hands gripped his shirt like a lifeline, before hooking my arm around his neck and drawing him in as close as possible. I savoured his taste, his smell, the feel of his body against mine while the fear of what was coming made the tears return. Fragments of the time we first met, the late night study sessions where we'd talk about everything, and the ache on my knuckles as he shed his alter-ego Darius and revealed his true identity.
How did all of that bring us here?
Cain's arms went around me, Blueberry making it harder to be as close as both needed to be. For a moment, I imagined us away from here, outside the real Last Drop as if the walls of the old tavern could shield us from the reality we were stuck in. There was a tenderness in the way he touched me; a hand on my arm, another in the curve of my back as a tingle of his power spread through my body in effort to be as close to one another as we could be. This was not a goodbye, neither of us wanted to accept that yet it was hard to ignore the pain deep within my chest that told me it was.
Breathless, we parted and I wiped my tears away not giving any further explanation. As if I'd summoned them, we barely let each other go as we sensed their arrival and the moment was over.
I love you.
Instantly his power was pressing against mine, the resistance as reassuring as a hug that was just that fraction too tight. There wasn't time to dwell on the past, or think of the future as the switch for chaos was flicked and the battle they'd planned for was the only thing on full display. We were beaten and bloody, our voices hoarse from screaming and still I begged him to see me, notice me, love me.
They stood behind Cain, three angels of revenge with promises of pain and freedom on their tongues as they assumed his mind was still poisoned. A gift from them and in return all he had to do was what he most wanted - my death. Somehow I knew the Furies were smarter than this, that our act shouldn't fool them but they carried the tired and desperate aura so many of the ones I'd defeated in the past did. It made them blind to the truth, only would it be enough?
My shield fell as I went onto my knees, hitting the gravel as I fell forward. My hands felt each stone and glass fragment on the dirt making me wince for real, as my stomach contracted yet again. The weight of Blueberry in this position felt daunting, and I regretted putting myself here within seconds.
Cain's shadow fell over me.
Glancing up I followed the trail of his body and used him to steady myself into a standing position. I gripped onto his shirt, still begging him to snap out of whatever spell this was. Just to his left, Tisiphone looked like the cat that caught the mouse. All of them were huddled together, looking giddy at how well this was all going.
Victory was finally in their grasp.
"You're right, I am better than this. I am better than you." Cain snarled, grabbing my forearms and freeing himself from the hold I had on him.
"Stop, please. You're hurting me!" I cried, catching his wink before he let me go with the intent to throw me back down..
Only I didn't fall, I barely stumbled backwards, and then I stopped pretending.
We both did.
As one, our powers merged and within the net cast we caught the Furies. I thought I knew what I was capable of, that I no longer bothered in keeping what I could do leashed but I was wrong. It was as if I had only just been given these abilities, and a new sense of overwhelming inexperience threatened to take over. Before it could I sensed Cain, but not just him. It was us. Me. Him. We. We burned as one and my fear abandoned me, replacing it with hope. This new sense of power was primal and strong. The spark between us disappeared as instead a wildfire emerged, connecting us to something more, something greater.
No wonder Uranus feared what Gaia had created.
The Furies' surprise was short lived, as instantly Megaera screeched in pure rage. Her hands reached towards us like claws, her reaction quicker than the others as she somehow managed to fight off the hold we had. Maybe I had let her go or maybe I'd dropped my guard as this new sense of power took over - either way, I saw the attack coming. I saw her coming. It had been too long since my sword last received a taste of blood and I held it in my hands quicker than I could think to summon it. Then in a similar motion to how I did with Nieve, her left hand was swiftly removed as she reached for me.
Anticipating her reaction, I was gone, leaving her to stubble forward as she screamed, the warmth of her blood hot on my skin. Cain spun around, kicking her in the back so she had no way of staying upright as her remaining hand was overflowing with a dark red liquid, a weak attempt at holding her wound as she visibly paled, squirming around on the ground as she called for help. I struck hard and fast, her cries cutting off into a gurgle as my blade was impaled through her neck ending her.
I didn't dwell on my kill.
We weren't done yet, and the other two barely managed to hold us back as the pressure around them left their bodies stiff; their eyes bulging as air escaped them. There wasn't time to waste, and as blood pooled at the edges of her chapped lips, Tisiphone slowly began to smile. Our grip was slipping and around them, something else was growing stronger. I thought this new power would make us unbeatable, but now I wasn't so sure and as Tisiphone gasped, I heard her whisper; Uranus.
In the same moment that I killed Megaera, Cain made his own. Alecto barely gasped as the soul destroying crunch of bones breaking was the only sound we heard yet Tisiphone seemed immune. Alecto's body was limp, soft, and fell in a stomach churning heap as she joined her sister. My throat burned as the nothingness in my stomach threatened to empty itself; the blood on my skin was no longer considered war paint but as uncomfortable as acid.
As if reading my mind, Cain was there. His touch more a caress as his request to never show weakness lingered in the air as words unsaid. It was his energy that filed the gaps that existed within me and in the blink of an eye, we both looked unbothered and untouched. Brand new.
Tisiphone was all that remained and yet, she wasn't alone. Despite our efforts, she managed to get free and shield herself, as she sized us up trying to come up with her next move. There was no time to grieve her sisters, despite Uranus's aid, he wouldn't save her beyond what help had already been provided. The look on her face was one I knew too well. She was just as much a pawn in these games of the gods as we were, and it still made me pity her in a way I shouldn't. Not now. The time for alliances and change had passed, and there was only one thing waiting for whoever didn't pass this test.
Death.
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So... that was a lot.
Do you think they'll change the vision now they're all twin-flamed up and super powerful?