This is pretty much the most messed up fic I have ever written. Its pretty much meaningless, random drabble. Read at your own peril.
He first heard the news late one night, when a son of Apollo rushed up to him , headphones around his neck with a newspaper in his hand.
"Chiron!" he gasped, clutching at the stitch in his side. It was several seconds until he was able to speak, stuttering a few incomprehensive words.
"What?" asked the tall, aged centaur. He straightened forward to look at the demigod in the eyes. "Speak, for you have nothing to fear."
The boy simply dropped the newspaper on Chiron's lap and ran.
Sighing, the centaur creased his forehead and leaned forward, his eyebrows furrowing together in concentration. What was on the front cover shocked Chiron beyond belief.
A girl.
Specifically, a blonde girl.
One with blonde hair, stormy gray eyes, and a facial features Chiron knew all too well.
Looking at the headline, his breath caught in his throat again.
TEENAGED GIRL FOUND DEAD IN BACKSTREET ALLEY WITH CHELSEA SMILE ACROSS HER FACE, POLICE INVESTIGATING.
Scanning the article, he looked at the definition.
A Glasgow smile (also known as a Glasgow grin, Anna grin, Chelsea grin or Chelsea smile) is a nickname for the practice of cutting a victim's face from the edges of the mouth to the ears. The cut – and the scars it leaves – form an extension of what resembles a smile. Sometimes to further hurt or even kill the victim, he or she would then be stabbed or kicked, most notably in the stomach (or in case of kicking, the groin), so that the face would be ripped apart when the victim screamed. The practice originated in the Scottish city of Glasgow, which gave it its name. It also became popular in Chelsea, London (where it is known as a "Chelsea grin") and other areas of Britain, for gangs hoping to leave a message to rival gang members. If cut deep enough, the victim may bleed to death.
Sighing, he sat back. He knew he could have prevented it. Chiron thought back to that day, long long ago.
***
They stood together, next to each other, a centaur and a young female figure, in the festive autumn forest, where creature and nature could live in peace. It was raining, yet both looked at each other, their eyes filled with trust and compassion few could ever hope to achieve. What I believe we now call love.
"I must leave." whispered the centaur, his face downcast. He stood tall, shoulders drawn back, but his figure was diminished by the quaint sadness in his eyes, and the worried look he gave the other. Bags lay under his eyes from the increased lack of sleep, but he showed an inner sense of warmth and justice, as if he could be slaying hordes of people indiscriminatingly in a second.
"Please! No!" replied the girl frantically. She was human like in appearance, lithe, yet glowed with a strange green light. Also, she was shorter than the average human, looking around twenty, with long tapered pointed ears. A dryad. The girl would be beautiful, if not for the strange scars that ran from the sides of her mouth up to the tips of her ears, immediately giving her face a gruesome effect, and darkening her appearance.
The centaur looked calmly back into her eyes, placing his rough, callused hands, used to pulling bowstrings and gripping swords, on her shoulders.
"Understand that I don't wish to do this, but I must."
"YOU LIE!" And with that, the girl spun and lashed out, conjuring a thin silver stiletto out of nowhere, stepping forward to slash at his chest. The centaur retreated and brandished his own blade, galloping forward and disarming her. Then he raised his arm for the final blow…
And then the arrow flew out of Chiron's bow and smote him in the chest, sending his body stumbling all the way to the foot of a tree. The immortal trainer of heroes charged forward, slaying the other centaur in the blink of an eye with a blade across the throat. By then the girl was up, looking at him with a strange emotion on her face.
"Everything's okay. You're safe." Chiron whispered comfortingly, trotting to a stop before her.
"You killed him." murmured the dryad.
"He was a…traitor to our cause. He would've slain you before you knew it."
"You still killed him."
Chiron, exasperated, threw up his arms in frustration. "Don't you understand? He was evil! He never truly loved you! He was manipulating you every second!"
The girl had no response to this, except to walk over to the dead centaur and gently cup his head in her hands. A single tear dropped from her eye and landed on his face, running down to damp the ground in a single round patch.
Steely resolve overcame her sadness, and she rose, turning to face Chiron, her arms at her sides.
"Chiron." she uttered calmly. She seemed taller than before, more full of herself, controlled, and completely efficient.
"What?" asked the centaur gently.
"You slew him. You slew the one I loved. For this heinous deed I condemn you forever-if you ever love someone, they shall become as cursed as me!"
Raising one hand, she traced the scars from the tip of one ear down to her mouth and to the other ear. A burst of green light sparkled along her fingertip, and energy flashed for a brief second. When it was over, her scars were gone.
***
And now Chiron knew what had happened. He had fallen in love with someone he had mentored and been like a father to, and now he paid the price. Annabeth Chase.
I told you it was messed up.
My ten words I had to include: hospitality, damp, immortal, headphones, autumn, lithe, running, raining, festive, warmth.