Trigger warning: Implied Abuse and Transphobia. Also blood and implied puking.(Just in case.)
Walking, that's all Corinna seems to be doing now. Walking from home, walking around town. Walking with h….her only friend. But now Corinna was walking to her best friend, the only one she really had left to turn to. Hopefully they can help her again. Corinna rubs at her arm again, bruising ugly shades of blue and purple all over. But before she's ready the house is towering over her, seeming to exude hatred. Feeling like she was already being swallowed whole by life, she knocks on the door, and waits, taking shaky breaths. Her heart feels like it's about to explode in her chest, battering up her ribs. The door creaks open quietly, and Corinna sees Iovita standing there, eyes trained on the floor. Corinna feels like she's seen her saviour, her own personal angel. Iovita starts to mumble.
"Welcome to the Theodotus household, my father," Corinna quickly cuts them off, with an almost cheery voice.
"Vita, it's me." The sudden hug sends a rush of air out of her chest, Iovita gripping her like they will never see eachother again, which is quite possible. Corinna cringes, her arm twitching. This immediately goes noticed by Iovita, who lets go of her, but grabs her arm instead and brings it close to their face. Their eyes widen and after mumbling something, they rush into the house for a moment. Corinna tries to peer into the darkness, but Iovita quickly comes back. Bandages and some other healing things Corinna doesn't know about gathered in their arms. They gesture to the meadow with their head, and after receiving a nod from Corinna, they both set off to the usual spot.
Just outside of town, in a dying patch of grass sitting next to each other, the pair stare at the dull gray wall surrounding their home. Corinna looks down at her bandaged arm, wishing Vita could bandage her heart, since they're so good at it.
"What happened this time?" The question stirs Corinna from her thoughts, as she turns to look at Iovita, whose gaze suggest they know what happened anyway. Corinna sighs, curling her knees up to her chest and holding them there.
"He smashed my arm into a wall when I accidently called myself a boy again."
"You are a boy."
"I wish that was true," Vita gives Corinna that look again, it screams at her to believe in what they're saying, but she just can't do it. She sighs again, hiding her head. "Thanks for patching me up." Her muffled voice just reaches Vita.
"You don't have to thank me. We're in this together," Vita tries their best at a reassuring smile, but Corin...Ovid isn't looking anyway. "Ovid, you-"
"You remembered?"
"Of course I remember your name. What kind of friend would I be if I didn't?"Ovid looks up to smile at Vita, who smiles back with what they can muster up.
"I wish we were siblings Vita. With Parents that weren't awful people."
"At least it's not all bad. We're still together. We'll work through it."
"Together forever, right?" Before Vita can respond, a crash shakes through the earth around them, and the center of their town goes up in a blaze, the smoke billowing into the sky. Ovid jumps up, and gasping, he looks at Vita, whose too stunned to move. More shots land on the town, rumbling like an earthquake. The screams of pure terror fall over the two. Ovid takes off running, right back to the gate of the city. Vita comes back to their senses just enough to scream at Ovid to stop, but he's too far to hear them. Vita knows this is no good for him, and runs to catch up.
"Ovid! Ovid!" Vita screeches, running through thick smoke and people running in the opposite direction. They cough, but they have to keep running. They have to find Ovid. Vita's vision blurs more than usual and they cough again. A rather vicious push from some unseen force shoves them down into an alley, landing on their wrist painfully. As they look up they see him, the slightly distorted person that could only be Ovid. They just know it's Ovid.
"Ov," They cough again, "Ovid!" There's a distressed gurgle from him, and Vita crawls over as fast as possible, wrist held to their chest. When he finally is close enough for Vita to see him, his mouth is dripping small amounts of blood down his chin, (along with larger portions of whatever he ate). The strangled breathing is enough to worry Vita, let alone the unfocused eyes. Sitting back on their legs, Vita uses their good hand to shake Ovid who lets out a pained noise.
"Ovid, come on. We have to go," They have a tone of urgency seeping into their voice as they shake him more aggressively. But he's just like a rag doll, as his tongue lolls out of his mouth. "Ovid! Please! We have to go now! I can't help you here!" Ovid coughs a bit, and Vita looks hopefully at him.
"Br...brot...her…" He chokes out, before coughing a bit more. Vita's face contorts into a look of worry. Their good hand comes up to cover their mouth. Ovid's little brother, his parent's pride and joy. Ovid's only loving family member. Vita shakes their head, and wrings their hand in their hair.
"No, no, no, no!" They cry out, eyes squeezed shut so tightly you'd hardly think they'd open again. But then they hear it, and they feel it looming over them. Opening their eyes in disbelief, they glance over. The underworld monster's breath steams over them, it's mouth wide open, tongue rolling around. It's appendages sway innocently almost. The disgustingly green color of this monster makes Vita's whole being shudder from the sight of it. Vita lets out a blood stopping screech, tears well up in their eyes, spilling down their ashen face. Ovid's tired eyes strain to look at the creature from his position, and after looking, his eyes slide shut. Vita keeps screaming, like it's the only thing that will save them both. By some miracle, Vita barely hears the voice of an old man cry out to the monster, taunting it. By an even greater miracle, the sickening beast turns to go after the voice, effectively leaving Vita and Ovid safe. Vita breathes deeply, before looking back at Ovid. His unsteady breathing brings them back to reality, and Vita moves to stand him up. Struggling with only one arm, they manage to pull him up to a sitting position, and throw one of his arms over their shoulder. Then they haul both of them up, and set off to walk slowly to the outside gate, the dead weight of Ovid making anything faster than a snail's pace near impossible. As they're walking away, Vita hears the screams of some old man, but they know. Tears seems to fall harder now, but they both make it outside, and past that, until they can't hear the town anymore.
"Vit...a?" Ovid's hoarse voice rings out in the night, but Vita wasn't sleeping anyway. They look from the stars down to Ovid's troubled face. Ovid takes a few gasps of air before continuing. "What...happened? Was I drea-"
"The Underworld Army." Vita interrupts coldly, fixing their eyes back on the sky. They coming, they'll be back. Vita just knows this isn't it. It can't be. Ovid falls silent again, staring at Vita, trying to wrap his mind around what happened. It isn't until a few minutes later that Vita realizes he's crying. But they just can't figure out what to say anymore. What would you even say to someone who's lost everything? Instead Vita just looks at the sky, they will protect Ovid, no matter what. There's no other options. Ovid will not die, not unless Vita already is.
"They're all dead?" No response. "My...my brother….my home….our town?" Few tears leak out of Ovid's eyes, his head reels.
"Everything's gone." Vita doesn't have the energy to give off emotions anymore. It's a bit much to ask, honestly. The whole talking thing is already tiring. Ovid chokes down a few sobs, throat stinging. It's all too much. What are they supposed to do now? There's only one hope for them, but really…
"The Goddess Pal-"
"Don't you dare bring her up. You know that she never cared," Scowling, Vita spits their words like poison in their mouth. "The Goddess Palutena will get you! She'll fix you! If she doesn't were better off without you anyway!" Vita takes on a fake cheery voice, sneering. Ovid sighs, looking at the ground. Sitting up, he turns to face Vita.
"I know. Believe me I know. But doesn't she normally help the towns?" Ovid sounds almost hopeful. Vita growls in response.
"I'd say I hope she suffers in the underworld, but we both know that'll never happen." It falls silent again after this. Vita stays vigilant, anxious about the seemingly dead night. The sight of that monster is forever burned into their memory, feeling like their soul was stared down by a being without eyes. The shiver, looking at the stars, maybe they're really just looking for guidance, but who can say. Ovid breaths out, turning to look at the same sky. The stars still twinkle blissfully, their existence is safe. They don't care about the trivial matters of man, a lot like some other higher beings. After a few minutes, that feels like a few years, Ovid decides to try and break the silence.
"I like the way the stars shine. Like some unattainable beauty we can never really see," Vita looks confused at Ovid, who takes it as an excuse to continue. "I was just thinking about them. They always made me feel better, you know? Mostly because they wouldn't care about me, boy or girl. Or anyway at all. They just shine down brightly. It's comforting." Vita looks back to the stars, thoughtful for a moment.
"I can see what you mean."
"Good. I think we need the stars right now."
"At least they're constant. Always there when they should be," Vita looks for another moment, before covering their face with their hands. "I'm going to try to sleep." Vita lies back down, hands still on their face.
"I'll watch for anything. I slept most of today away anyway." Ovid smiles down at Vita, who doesn't see and just murmurs something inaudible. Looking away, the smile melts off Ovid's face. Waiting until Vita's breathing evens out, he sighs for what feels like the twentieth time today. Looking to the sky with a pleading face, he begins what he hopes is a good enough prayer.
"Uh...look. If anyone up there, or wherever you all actually are, is listening to me right now, please. Just listen for a second okay? I know I...I messed up really bad today. I'm so...so sorry. Please...take care of my little brother, okay? He's a little stressed out from my parents, he deserves a break. And...uhm...please don't let Vita die. I know, you may not agree with their...uh...gender. You probably also don't agree with mine either then, but you know. Just, as my final wish or whatever, spare them. Please, they try so hard, just to get by. They always try to make others happy, and fix their problems. So please, if anyone deserves a little divine intervention, it's them. So...thanks for listening, I guess. But if you weren't then screw you, couldn't have even at least tried huh? Anyway, bye for forever now." And with that, Ovid looks back to the ground, wondering why he even did that. it's so stupid, no one ever listened to his pleas anyway. Gods or not. But maybe this time, just this once. Just for Vita, and his brother. Ovid looks back to the sky, and gulps. It's going to be a long time before they feel safe again.
Isn't It?
AN: Ha that got pretty cheesy didn't it? Ah well, I still like it. So yeah tell me what you guys think! But in case you didn't get, Ovid is a transgender boy and Iovita is nonbinary. So yeah. Uhm okay I know it's pretty early in the story for this, but if you have any ideas, or anything you want to happen in the story, leave it in a review or pm me and i'll see what I can do! But also Iovita and Ovid are nowhere near a romantic or any other type of relationship other than like, friend soulmates. In case you thought that's where it's going. Anyway thanks for reading! Don't forget to review!(i feel like a dork)