Hey guys! This is a really angsty fic that I came up with after reading the poem Invictus (and seeing the preview for the old movie for the first time, sue me). As I was figgerin' out the storyline, I read this fic that WiseGirlGeek had written based on a line from Invictus. Believe me, D, I'm not takin' the idee. Great minds think alike.
R&R!
Out of the Night That Covers Me
I am death. I am darkness. The prince of the dead, the ruler of the monsters that haunt your nightmares.
Fear me.
I am the son of Hades.
He drew his sword. Raised his hands. This was not his fate.
He brought the blade down upon the beast. With a wail, it was absorbed into the Stygian iron and destroyed. Forever.
He raised his face to the skies. "I am not afraid of you!" he screamed. "You cannot hold me!"
The only answer to his defiant cry was a distant rumble of thunder.
"Come to me, prince of the air," the warrior said again. "Don't hide behind your hellhounds and harpies. Fight me yourself!" The last word he roared into the air. A gust of wind came up and blew the echo into his face, a mockery of his futile strength.
Another rumble of thunder. A crack of lightning. A bulwark of stormclouds rolled from the East, as if an airborne army was preparing to face the lone boy in battle.
"Fight me!" he said again, a plea this time. He sank to his knees. One tear rolled down his cheek. "Kill me," he whispered.
His enemy materialized in front of him. Blonde. Tall. A scar on his lip.
"Surrender, son of Hades."
The black haired warrior flinched at the cold, steel tone of the prince of the air. But he took a breath, letting it out slowly. "You know me, Jason," he pleaded. "We sailed together. Quested together. We're friends."
"I thought I knew you," the son of Jupiter spat. "But you proved me wrong...murderer."
Another tear raced down the boy's cheek. "I didn't kill him..." he whispered. "You know how I would never kill him."
Jason drew his sword. "Stand down," he commanded.
The boy also stood. "Give me a chance to explain myself," he said softly. "Let me prove I am innocent."
Jason ignored his request, just pointed his sword to the sky. Another rumble of thunder sounded, this time just above them.
"Ah, sir," Nico whispered softly. "Is there none other grace with you? Then keep yourself."