He stared up at the young, handsome hero. Yes, he had waited so long for this blissful release, and now it was only seconds away "NO!" screamed the auburn-haired beauty in the corner. For years he had waited for her to say those words to the cruel interactions of those who considered him a freak.
Six years earlier"Come now, princess," he looked up from where he and the girl knelt by a baby lamb. "'tis time to go." The handmaiden reached for the little girl's hand.
"But I want to stay with Asterios!" Protested the little, auburn haired princess, pouting beside the lump next to her. The lump was a gentle giant that would soon be known as a beast of the Labyrinth. The twelve-year-old reluctantly stood at the urging of her maid.
"I'll be back when I can get away," she managed to whisper to him before she was dragged away. He watched them; the maid leaned over to keep holding the still chubby, perfect hand that belonged to the beautiful princess of Crete.
He was still unsure how he felt and why he felt, but he did know a few things:
He was sixteen years old, by human years.
He was locked in a cage every day when he wasn't out on his walks with the little princess… although there were two dozen guards guarding against his imminent temper.
And he was also a freak; a curse of the guards; a plague against his parents.
He also knew that he was the reason that the Athens thought he ate their children. He knew that his step-father, Minos, had the Athens send fourteen youths, (seven boys, and seven girls,) to be 'eaten' by the 'terrible' monster of Crete.
He knew that his step-father had only made that lie up to protect against the more powerful Athens army.
He also knew that he had never, not ever, eaten a human being.
He also knew that his temper was famed; he knew that anything could set him off.
He knew that the little princess walked with him as a way to rebel against his parents.
He knew that she was an adopted daughter of Crete, not a true offspring of Minos and Pasiphae.
He knew he had some strange feelings for her that he couldn't explain.
He willingly lumbered back to his cage while the guards encircled him.
He knew he was strong enough to take all guards down with little pain to himself, but he didn't; he knew if he did, he might not see Ariadne tomorrow.
Four years earlierAriadne laughed, a sound that blessed his ears.
"Come now, Asterios! You can catch me; I know you can! You can't let me win all the time!" He followed her at his lumbering trot, complying with her request to snatch her up gently by her slender waist.
"Happy now?" He grunted teasingly. She shrieked joyfully.
"Asterios!" He loved it when she said his true name; the only one, actually. Even he thought of himself as Minotauros. "Not the water!" she giggled happily; this meant, "Throw me in the water!" He obeyed.
With a splash, she landed in the dead center of the pond that was overlooked by Minos' castle.
"Come in! The water's brilliant!" He leaped. He landed right next to her. "Asterios!"
"Happy now," He asked, ducking her head under the water's glittering blue surface.
"Never," she answered, rising up and, cupping her hands, splashed him. He sent a wave after her. She was swamped. "Asterios!" The tone of her voice was different, scared. He instantly looked for her. Then he saw it; the wolf approached her from where she lay on the shore of the pond. The wave had sent her tumbling head over heels straight to the predator; his fault.
This was no ordinary wolf; this was a dire wolf, larger than life with black, heavy fur, beady eyes, and fangs stained with previous meals.
He began to slowly move through the water, hardly making a ripple, which was stunning for a creature his size.
"Asterios," she whispered, her voice barely a breath, but his ears were incredibly sensitive. "Please,"
He lunged just as the wolf did. With a yelp like a whimper, he caught the overgrown dog in the midriff and threw it back. He felt himself changing; his rage startled him when he saw that the wolf had managed to catch her cheek with a claw. It bubbled up in him, erupting in a roar of fury.
The wolf was hungry. He could sense its thoughts as it came closer. He struggled with the beast inside. He could control it; he would.
"Asterios!"
He whirled; while he had been preoccupied with the animal inside him, the one on the outside had crept up and cornered Ariadne in a corner.
"NO!" He roared, and lost any control he'd had; he felt his skin stretch and break open like an over-ripe grape. Horns burst from his forehead as fur spread down his face and neck. His muscles rippled, and he doubled in size. He pawed at the ground with a hoof. He charged, bellowing like a bull.
He scooped up the wolf and threw it back into the forest. It skulked to its paws and circled to hide behind thick-trunked trees. He waited, and bellowed. Then he lost patience. He followed it.
He yelled in pain as it landed on his back from a boulder just behind him. Claws dug into his fur-covered shoulder blades and scrabbled at his hips. He reached behind him, ignoring the jaws that snapped at his hands, and grasped the wolfs neck fur. He hurled it off, and slammed it into the ground.
He then scooped it back up and began to pull, one hand on its neck, the other grasping its tail.
With a snapping sound, the wolf's spine was pulled apart as its skin separated and he held two distinct halves of wolf now, blood dripping and fur clinging to patches of dried sweat and blood.
"Asterios?" The voice was soft and foreign to him in his rage of red. He whirled, flinging the wolf parts to the ground. He threw back his head and bawled, lifting his blood covered hands to the sky, claiming his kill.
"MY LADY!" Guards came thundering to them. "You're not safe here; quick leave the beast to his kill. My lady please, he may hurt you… he is not himself."
"He is not a beast!" Shouted Ariadne. The noise confused him. He bellowed. They all froze. He looked at them, breathing heavily, his thoughts breaking apart and coming too rapidly and sporadically for him to get a hold on them. One thought came to him though, repeating. Ariadne, not Ariadne; gogogogogogogogo. He went.
Two years earlier"You don't come to see me very much anymore."
"I am very busy, as you may very well know,"
"Who was that prince you were with?"
"Why would you care?"
"I did not like the way you let him touch you,"
"So? What is it to you?"
"I-I don't want you to get hurt, or—or,"
"Or what? What do you care what happens to me? I can do whatever I want with whomever I want and you cannot dictate who or what I do with whom!"
"I-I just think he wants more than you can give."
"So? What if I want to give it to him?"
"… You don't mean that."
"What if I do?"
"… I can tell you don't. What is it with you and the wrong kinds of people? That man—that beast! He—I could read his thoughts, Ariadne. He wanted something and I know you didn't want to give it to him."
"Did you read my thoughts? I know you didn't. I know you wouldn't…."
"… I'm sorry."
"You did! O gods! What will I do with you?"
"Please, Ariadne, that beast—"
"AND YOU WOULD KNOW SO MUCH ABOUT WHAT MAKES A BEAST I SUPPOSE!"
"…"
"Oh, but that's right, you would, wouldn't you? Who would know better than a half bull?"
"…"
"I'm sorry. Please, don't go… I'm sorry… Asterios!
"…You're right; I guess I don't know about beasts; especially not that kind of beast, Ariadne. I would never, ever do something to you you didn't want me to do. I've—I wouldn't—Ariadne I…"
"O, wait Asterios! COME BACK!"
One Year EarlierThe maze twisted out of sight before and behind him, branching and winding incredibly confusingly. He smiled. He lifted his nose to get a smell; there.
He followed the scent down a side trail, his bare feet making no noise on the packed dirt floor that made up all of that of the labyrinth's.
Over the years, he had learned to control his immense temper, and even managed to control his changing. Now he only changed once a month, during the full moon. He timed it so that it was consistent so that all of Crete would know to stay indoors in case he managed to escape the Labyrinth.
He made another turn and paused. Where—?
He heard a voice suddenly; was she still playing? Who was she talking to?
"My lord…" He had never heard her voice like that before; light and flirtatious.
"Ariadne, blossom of Crete… who would expect us to meet in the beast's cage," He heard a twinge in her mind, but she let the term slip.
"I know; I know how to do… lots of things." He heard something suggestive in her words.
Silence; even though he couldn't see, he knew from their thoughts. With a bellow he lunged into the dead end where she and the lord were situated.
With a flash, he saw through her eyes; muscled torso, uncovered, slightly sweaty, dirty, and streaked with soot. His soft brown hair matched his twinkling eyes, now dark with rage; he was much taller that the lord, and looked so much more… direct.
He blinked, and was back in his own mind.
"Asterios! What—what do you mean by this?" Ariadne sputtered, pushing away the lord.
"I could ask you the same thing," He murmured, keeping his eyes on the lord, who whipped his mouth and took a step forward.
"Who are you?" He asked, straightening his jacket.
"Not of your concern," He replied evenly.
"Do you know who I am?"
"Do I care?"
"Why you—Ariadne! Look away while I take care of the insolent slave!"
"That isn't wise,"
"Do not dictate to me what or what is not wise! I will teach you a lesson or two you bast-."
He didn't let him finish the vile word. He looked back at Ariadne.
"Please get him away from here before I lose my temper," He said. Ariadne watched him for a moment, before her eyes widened in fear.
"My lord, please," She whispered, and the tenderness in her voice and touch sent a cold fist into his stomach. "You must go… he—he is not like you or I he-."
"Insolent woman!" He threw her away from him, so hard and suddenly that she hit a wall of the maze and slid down, dazed. He felt rage boil up, his skin starting to bubble slightly.
"That was not wise," He told the lord, feeling his muscles begin to grow and double in strength and size. "You may fight me, but you will never, ever, again touch or hurt her. EVER!" He felt the man's fear even as he saw red.
"WHY! Why must you always get between me and the men I like?" She was brushing her hair as he took a bath, the door to the bathroom cracked open so he could hear her. He ducked under water to wash his dirty hair.
"I mean— gods! I need to have some life without you interfering!"
"Is that what you call having a life? You do not understand the joy of living, of picking flowers and making things with your bare hands; life when you breathe fresh air and be with loved ones. I know that you have been a bad little princess recently." His voice took on a careful tone. "I hear you have become reckless, careless, irresponsible, and wild."
"And where do you hear this from?"
"Not from you; you never visit me anymore. Not since…" He trailed off, fearing to mention their last angered conversation. He stepped out of the tub and toweled himself down briskly.
"Asterios I—"
He stepped into his breeches. He pulled on his tunic, and stepped out of the bathroom.
"Why?" She finally asked him.
"Do you honestly not know? All these years? Gods, you are unobservant." He looked down at her, her face so open, so soft and pale and sweet, and felt a feeling he couldn't control that he hadn't felt since that day he had ripped apart the wolf; a feeling quite different from rage. He bent to her face, and just as he'd seen several people in the palace do, kissed her lips softly.
She hesitated, then kissed him back. Her hand brushed against his cheek, and then gripped both sides of his face, holding him to her. He felt her thoughts, felt that this was what she had been missing, had been longing for all those times she'd been reckless and wild. He pulled her to her feet and pulled away.
"I—I never—I didn't—I'm sorry I never knew," Ariadne rested her head against his chest. He felt so much happier. She wanted him, too.
Six Months EarlierIt was time for the Athens to come. It had become custom to set the tributes free in the maze and have him scare them; he never killed any of them though, and never allowed himself to change. He was so much happier now, that he didn't even mind scaring them this year.
He and Ariadne took walks all the time now, sometimes talking, sometimes kissing, always enjoying being near one another. He held her tight at night when she cried; he didn't sleep and she had nightmares, so sometimes she'd come outside to the clearing where he slept and lie next to him. He had told her the first she came to his clearing that he refused to indulge in marital desires before they were married. She agreed, and slept better when she was with him.
His life was better, and he never lost his temper around her unless she was in danger; he was better than he had been in… forever.
The day the Athens were to arrive came. Ariadne stood next to him as he watched from her window, preparing for that night when he would enter the maze to fulfill tradition.
She touched his cheek; "You'll be fine; it'll be different this year, I promise." She kissed his neck and went to her mirror, brushing her hair into a long plait so that she could wind it atop her head. She was to get ready for her own tradition as the priestess of the Minotaur.
"I don't know—I feel—different this year… something wrong is going to happen. I can feel it." He murmured as he watched the Athens' boat dock. His excellent eyesight helped him to see the faces of the woeful youths who expected to meet their end in the maze. One looked strangely familiar…
She was behind him again. "I asked father; he says that after this year, he will say the Minotaur died; then we can be together as a married couple…" There was that suggestive tone again. He still didn't know what that meant. She turned him to her and kissed him softly, sweetly, drawing it out so that he kind of knew what she meant.
"I need to get ready; so do you. I will see you tonight, Asterios." She kissed him again, and then he left.
AriadneAriadne crossed her shawl across her bare chest and tucked the edges of the shawl into the opposite side of her skirt. She looked into her looking glass and saw a priestess watching her.
Her hair was pulled in a spiraling dome of brown curls; lose strands brushed her shoulders and the longest of which trailed down her back. Pearls threaded through her curly locks and her tunic and skirt were of the traditional white draped fashion of all the priestess' before her. She wore gold bracelets running all the way up her arms and legs, each studded with emeralds, rubies, and sapphires. Herr eyes were outlined in kohl and powdered colors. She had oiled her whole body so that it shinned attractively in the lamp-light.
She was ready.
"My Lady? There is a gentleman here to see you," a hand maiden called from her doorway.
Ariadne grinned; Asterios obviously couldn't stay away. "See him in."
The man entered. She turned, portraying her outfit to full effect, tilting her head back. "What do you think Aster-." She opened her eyes and gasped. "Theseus!"
"O gods!" She gasped, covering herself with a spare bit of cloth.
"I think, that you look… beautiful." His eyes roved all over her as he stepped closer.
"Theseus… what are you doing here?" She was breathless. Why he was here was what she wanted to ask him.
"I came to defeat the beast that defeated me years ago. He shan't be in our way anymore, fair Ariadne. We shall be wed as we talked of all those years ago—never fear." He took another step forward.
Ariadne took a step back. He grinned like a wolf.
"Why so tentative, Sweet Ariadne? You most certainly weren't so when last we met."
"What do you mean, 'defeat the beast that defeated me'?" Ariadne shook her head, trying to make sense of what he had said, and what he was doing and—
"Wait! You don't mean to k-kill Ast—the Minotaur, do you? O gods!" She sank onto the sofa that rested flush against one wall. Her heart beat erratically.
This can't be happening. Asterios!
She gasped as she realized that Theseus was now directly in front of her; her pure horror in what she was understanding had, for a moment, wiped everything else out of her mind.
"Love?" His eyes were now not only cocky and lustful, but also confused. Ariadne looked at him—truly looked at him—and didn't see the handsome, dashing young man she had thought she once loved. She saw a man who saw a prize he couldn't have, and who needed to have it. She saw his concern in only the fact of her horror—he thought her horrified at the procpect of him. This, in fact, was true.
Ariadne was truly horrified at what he professed that he was going to do.
He meant to kill the Minotaur.
He meant to kill Asterios.
TheseusHe sat in wait, enjoying the feeling he always got before the hunt. He had told the rest of the Athenians to wait by the entrance. He had even asked one of the servants to hand him his sword and a piece of string. The servant had laughed at him before handing him the essentials.
Laughed at him.
He would show that incredulous servant that he could kill the beast that had once embarrassed him in front of the lovely Ariadne.
Beautiful Ariadne, he paused to think about her for a moment, remembering her lips and her smile and her winks and words—O! he just had to have her.
And he would.
Just as soon as he killed the monster.
Thinking of Ariadne and the monster, he remembered what she had said before he'd locked her in her chambers.
"You know that he doesn't actually kill them, don't you?"
"He wouldn't dare hurt anyone on purpose—he's gotten so much better at controlling his temper! He even controls when he changes now!"
"Yes. Yes I do love him. He is mine. I am his. This means that you cannot kill him! For if you did, it would surely kill me."
"You can never beat him! He is stronger than a dozen men and oxen; he is blessed with intelligence by Athena herself; he is blessed by Ares in the arts of fighting; Nike has given him the gift of victory. What do you have that is so much better? How do you know that he shan't kill you?"
That last comment had stung. You cannot beat him. O, he would show her. He would show her just how dangerous he was.
And the fact that she'd said that she loved him? What an idiotic girl-child. She did not understand true love, what it felt like and who it should be with. He knew that he could win her over if he just impressed her by the enormous feat of killing her would be 'lover'. Ha!
"What do I have to defeat the beast?" He asked the maze itself. "I have my father's blessing."
And he pelted into the maze, with a roar that echoed around the chamber.
FOR MY FATHER!
ZEUS!
MinotaurHe heard the human's cry echo around him.
It was faint, and he thought the pitiful creature had cried something about Zeus, but that was impossible; he was the half-bred, creature of destruction blessed by the gods and goddess'; strength, victory, intelligence, beauty, (When he was not as a beast,) heart, and a thirst for blood. He would never lose, for Zeus himself had blessed him.
He would scare the human, he decided. He needed a laugh. Besides, he'd promised himself and Ariadne that he wouldn't kill any one. He chuckled to himself as he felt his skin ripple as he changed; that didn't he couldn't have a little fun scaring some idiot Athenian witless.
OmniTheseus couldn't see where he was going.
Where is he?
Asterios watched the human with a smirk marring his bull's face.
Where does he think he's going?
Ariadne pounded on her door, screaming for someone to unlock the door and let her out.
Where is everyone?
Theseus felt something against the back of his neck, but thought nothing of it.
Asterios blew a soft gush of breath against the human's neck. The human smelled familiar, but he thought nothing of it.
A maid passed by Lady Ariadne's rooms. She heard a soft thump and a squeal from inside, but thought nothing of it. Except to wonder why she could never have fun like that.
Theseus felt something cold and wet against his arm.
Asterios touched his cold nose against the human's elbow.
Ariadne threw open the window and looked down at the lake below her. Soft landing… maybe.
Theseus whirled. "WHOA!"
Asterios reared back, recognizing the human. "WHOA!"
Ariadne leaped from her window sill to the lake below. "WHOA!"
Theseus regained his control. "Fight foul beast; I'll teach you to interrupt a lord and his princess!"
Asterios laughed, suddenly forgetting his control on his temper and all about his promises. "Your princess? We shall see, THESEUS!" He bellowed.
Ariadne was wet but she didn't care. Where was Asterios and—a bull's bellow rent the air; THESEUS! The maze!
Theseus was no match for the beast raging toward him. He felt himself being picked up and thrown.
Asterios smiled at the crunch Theseus made against the wall. This would be fun.
Ariadne ran, forgetting about the looks she was getting from people who were waiting for the festival to begin.
Theseus slowly got up, feeling his body groan—that was going to leave a big mark.
Asterios laughed and gestured toward him. "Come, tiny human; I will show you hell."
Ariadne burst through the doorway that led to the maze. Where were they?
Theseus lunged between the Minotaur's legs and jabbed him with the knife he'd strapped to his back in the leg.
Asterios felt pain in his calf. The stupid human had hit him! How?
Ariadne stepped forward, intending to run into the maze even though she'd no idea where she was going. She bumped something round and soft on the ground.
Theseus yelped as he was picked up by the hair and thrown back into the ground.
Asterios bellowed, ready to finish what he'd started those many years ago.
Ariadne raced along, the ball of string in her hand, quickly winding the thread back as she followed it.
Theseus felt a tug on his ankle, and looked. His ball of string!
Asterios began to approach the human who'd made him so jealous and who would be nothing but a disgusting memory.
Ariadne heard a soft whimper and a growl just around the corner. "ASTERIOS!"
Theseus began to slowly pull himself along the ground toward the entrance to their dead end.
Asterios laughed as he bent his head, pawing his hoof against the ground in the universal sign that said; I'm going to kick your butt. Prepare yourself for serious pain. "ASTERIOS!" he froze.
Ariadne burst into a dead end, and saw Theseus prone at her feet and Asterios in full Minotaur-form, reading himself to charge the prostrate Theseus.
Theseus saw his chance; while the princess and beast looked each other deep in the eye, he used the last of his strength and leaped to his feet, yanking Ariadne in front of him.
Asterios saw the knife, the manic gleam in Theseus' eye, and he didn't care anymore. "DIE!"
Ariadne felt a cold kiss of metal across her wind-pipe. She had been so locked in the battle of wills with Asterios that she hadn't even noticed Theseus.
Theseus felt true fear as the Minotaur charged.
He was going to kill the sniveling pampered-mama's boy.
"ASTERIOS, NO!"
Theseus watched as the creature of death froze before him.
Asterios froze; he remembered Ariadne standing between him and his target. O gods curse it all!
Ariadne exhaled slowly. "Breathe Asterios, please."
Theseus saw his way out. "I'm leaving now, and I'm taking her with me. Don't follow or she dies!"
Asterios growled low in his throat. "Over my dead body!"
Ariadne shook her head as emphatically as she could with a knife pressed tight against her throat. "No! You can't; he'll just kill you and anyone else if you do follow. I don't care about me; I can't stand to have you hurt. Stay; you—you need to. Please?"
Theseus waited with baited breath as Ariadne shook against him.
"I won't let him take you!"
Ariadne had one course of action left to her. "I love him Asterios; I—I thought I loved you, b—but I was wrong. Let me g-go with him. I have n—no need for you anymore."
Theseus felt the thrill of victory at the sight of the beast's heart breaking in his eyes.
…
"I'm so sorry, Asterios…"
Not the End … YetHe watched the man he hated drag the women he loved—whom he thought had loved him— away.
In all his life—not even when he'd kept the secret of his love hidden, not when he'd lost control of his temper and felt the guilt of killing after—had he felt such deep, wrenching, heart-shattering pain before.
He felt the world fall to pieces around him.
"I love him Asterios; I—I thought I loved you, b—but I was wrong. Let me g-go with him. I have n—no need for you anymore."
Her words echoed in his head as he watched his life walk away with him. They cut deeper than Theseus' sword had, cut deeper than anything ever before. He had known what pain was.
At least he had thought he had.
Don't despair yetIt's not over yet.
There's still a second part.
Want to know what happens next?
You'll get part two—coming soon!
Let's get some feedback—
Constructive criticism please!
—Imma Diva