NO NAME
FOR A WHILE, the pain disappeared. Neon curtains of hot-white pain receded from her consciousness, and she found herself standing in a golden room instead.
The sudden shift in scenery was shocking, and it made her wince. Every surface glinted—the corner of the table ahead of her, the smooth floor, the slender leg of the chair—and everything looked like it was made out of gold. Even the back profile of the man who sat on the chair looked like it had been masterfully sculpted out of pure molten gold then left to solidify.
She flinched when his arm reached out behind him to brace the back of his chair. She'd almost expected him to be a statue. As if sensing her movement, his head snapped around to look at her, golden curls bouncing with the motion.
He was... very pretty. Unbidden, heat rose to her cheeks, and she quickly looked down at her feet.
"Who are you?" he demanded. Oh, even his voice sounded perfect. Her body began to sway at the sound of it, her balance teetering with every second. "I said, who are you?"
When she didn't answer, there was a high squeaking sound of chair against floor. He strode towards her. "Look at me."
But pretty boy or not, she remembered what happened to her when people approached. She flinched and shrank in on herself as he got closer. When his presence was too unbearable, she shuddered and stepped back until the wall met her. Having no other choice, she sank to the ground and curled up into a ball, trembling.
She felt him kneel beside her. She tightened her embrace around herself.
"Why would my son send you to me?" he murmured curiously. His hands settled on her nape, and she flinched. But his touch was gentle and light, even as he lifted her head from its hiding place in her arms.
She tensed, waiting for the brute strength to show itself. They locked eyes, and she felt like she could drown in them. They were so clear and vivid, like the sky under which she had fallen asleep. She felt her muscles go slack under their calmness, and the man smiled.
"That's it. Tell me everything."
And all of a sudden, she was watching all that she had experienced from the moment she'd first woken up. She jolted and buried her head in her arms again, unwilling to relive it.
But he did not move. He watched with intent eyes, hands still cradling her head.
When Enyo's final words resounded in her head, he let go. But she clung to him quickly, not wanting to let go of the one kind gesture she'd been shown. He obliged, opening his arms for her to settle her head against his chest.
"What the Hades is Asclepius doing?" she heard him sigh. He sounded exasperated. He then looked down at her. "You can't talk, can you?"
She did not respond.
He sighed again. "I'd bless you, but you'd be rhyming in quartets for the rest of your life. While that would usually be nice, Enyo might end up doing you in."
She looked up at him questioningly. He looked back at her and snorted.
"We're going to be doing this the long way, aren't we?" he mumbled. He pointed a finger at himself. "I am Apollo. You are..." he trailed off. "My gods, you don't even have a name."
He went silent for a few moments, hand resting on top of her hair.
"... Scarlet. Your name is Scarlet. For your weird hair color."
He pointed at himself again. "I am Apollo." He then pointed at her. "You are Scarlet."
She tilted her head. She pointed at herself. "I am... Scarlet?"
"Yep." He smiled at her again, nearly blinding her with his rows of pearly white teeth. He reached for her hand and clasped it, shaking it. "Nice to meet you."
"Nice... to meet... you..." she repeated, if a little awkwardly. His smile brightened beyond belief, and she felt pleased with herself. Infected by his smile, her own began to grow. "You are... Apollo."
"Yes. You..." He pat her hair. "Your hair is very nice."
She reached for his head of golden curls and pat it, too. "Your hair is very nice. Apollo."
He kept grinning stupidly, and then he squealed. She—Scarlet—jumped in surprise as he swept her up in a tight hug. "You're so cute," he gushed. "I swear... Oh my gods, you're really you're so precious."
Her face heated up, and she buried her face in her hands, embarrassed. His coos turned into delighted laughter.
"Ah, come here, you're so innocent." He ruffled her hair, and she pointedly fixed her hair. "I'll teach you some more stuff."
They spent what felt like eternity sitting across each other on that wonderful, shining golden floor. Apollo taught her new words to say, each one sounding different as they rolled off her tongue. He told her about the blue sky, the rolling green grass, and the things in the sky that came out at certain parts of the day.
"You know the sun?" he said excitedly, his hands very animated. "It's this big round thing in the sky when it's clear and blue and day, but you can't look directly at it. It's too bright. I drive that. It's actually takes the form of a cool Maserati Spider so I look cool while driving it."
She frowned. "Maserati Spider?" she asked. "What's that?"
His jaw dropped. "You don't know about designer cars. I forgot about that. You see, it's this—"
Then after that, he had to explain what a car was, and Scarlet frankly only understood that it was a thing on four circles that moved people around very quickly so they didn't have to walk.
But all too soon, the blankets of agony came again and swept over her. Body jolting, she whimpered and reached for Apollo. His arms instantly went around her, and he soothingly rubbed her back.
"You're waking up," he lamented. "I'll see you again, Scarlet. I promise."
She shook her head, tears welling up in her eyes. "No. I do not want go. I do not want wake up." More agony pulsed through her consciousness. She bit back a scream.
"You have to. Stay alive for me. Live."
She began to sob, panic taking over her. Then she began to grow angry. It was so cruel, so sadistic, letting her have this taste of freedom and paradise, only to rip it from her.
"Who wakes me, I kill," she growled. Apollo stiffened then held her at arm's length to look at her.
"Scarlet, listen to me. There is a man, his name is Asclepius. He is a doctor. You can trust him. I know him. Do you understand?"
She seethed, "Then I kill Enyo."
Apollo's blue eyes widened. "No. If you do that, you will not win. You. Will. Die."
"I am dying already!" she roared, tears still flowing. "Help me!"
His face fell. "I already am," he whispered. "I'm sorry. This is all I can do."
He let go of her, and she fell through the golden floor, screaming.
She came to with golden blood and flesh under her fingernails.
Enyo stood at the foot of her bed, her dark eyes wide and the curl of her mouth pleased. The light streaming from the open windows all around landed on her, making her look like the goddess she claimed to be. The wind swept up her white dress, wrapping it around her figure.
"Not even a week, and look what I have made of you," she whispered proudly. "My little warrior."
Enyo's gaze lifted from hers to a figure at Scarlet's right. Scarlet followed and gasped.
Against the railing of the bed next to her, there was a man in a white coat slumped over, breathing hard and staring at her. He was relatively normal-looking bespectacled man. Or he was, save for the three deep gashes that marred his cheek. They looked fresh, and golden blood still streamed out of them in great amounts.
Scarlet stared at her hands.
"Who wakes me, I kill."
She lunged at the man, sending the bed he had been leaning against rolling away. He gave an alarmed shout and tried scrambling away, but she was on him in an instant. Her hands wrapped around his throat and squeezed hard. His eyes went wide behind his spectacles, and his body writhed under her.
She grit her teeth. He was putting up quite a fight. But she bore down all her strength on him throat, and he started spluttering and choking for air.
There was a strange sort of elation in her chest. She started wheezing out laughs and gripped harder. And harder. And—
"Okay, that's enough."
Enyo's hand buried itself in her hair and yanked her head up to meet Enyo's penetrating gaze. Scarlet yelled in pain, her hands leaving the man's throat and gripping at Enyo's wrist.
"You've got quite the anger there, my sweet. Let me take it," Enyo crooned. Her eyes began to glow like someone struck a match behind them. The small flicker soon blossomed into a full ring of fire, and the intensity of it dug straight into Scarlet's mind. "Ah, there it is."
All the fight, all the rage Scarlet had been feeling, had been harboring, had been storing up, it was all suddenly being sucked out of her. She choked on air, unable to break Enyo's gaze despite her body twitching to do so. She grappled for the furious heat that fueled her entire body, but it was like trying to catch the wind. It slipped away from her without a fight.
Enyo let go. She slumped to the floor, trembling and watching Enyo's face go slack and her eyes roll back, drunk on her rage.
"Ahh," Enyo groaned in satisfaction. "That's it. So much fire. Really, it's making me blush."
Her head snapped back, and her eyes were once more the blackest black.
The man grunted as he got back on his feet. With shock, Scarlet saw that the gashes on his cheek were already beginning to close all by themselves, as if an unseen hand was stitching them up. Even the bruises around his throat were losing their discoloration.
"Maybe you should start chaining the injured ones up, Enyo. They keep attacking me," he huffed. "It's also for their own health. They might exhaust or re-injure themselves."
"Ah, but where's the fun in that?" Enyo hummed. Her eyes were still on Scarlet.
"You mean you let her attack me?" he fumed. "Whatever, I'm not even surprised."
"If you like, doctor, you can choose to discontinue your services to me."
"Someone has to clean up after your sadistic games, o goddess," he sarcastically said. "And I'm the god of medicine and doctors, for Olympus' sake. This is my whole job."
She smiled. "See, Asclepius. This is why you're the only doctor that I can trust to continue servicing us."
Scarlet jolted. "Asclepius?" she asked.
He turned his gaze on her. "Yes, that's me."
Boldly, she said, "My name is Scarlet." Both of their faces morphed into shock. "Ap—"
"Also, you should stop injuring your people so severely," he hurriedly interrupted, turning to Enyo. "Especially this girl. Her body is still developing. And I thought you said that she didn't remember anything?"
Do not speak his name or of anything that happened in your sleep.
She flinched. That was Asclepius' voice. It echoed in her head as if it were hers.
"She doesn't." Enyo leaned into whisper to Asclepius, gaze now entirely focused on Scarlet.
Why?
Enyo cannot know. I sent your dreams to him, you see. She wouldn't like that. Also, she says Scarlet is not your name.
Apollo said I am Scarlet.
Ah.
"Your name is Scarlet, dear?" Enyo asked pleasantly. This was a trap. Scarlet started panicking.
"Scarlet." She grabbed her hair, showing it to them. "Scarlet."
Enyo narrowed her eyes at her. "I see."
Asclepius cleared his throat. "Anyway, she's all well now. Her dislocated shoulder has fully settled back into place, so has her kneecap. Um, she seems to also have fully recuperated from the massive blood loss, and her skin and muscle tissues should be all healed now. There will be scars, though."
"Scars are no concern," Enyo dismissively said. "The more she has, the better it is for her."
"Enyo, please be careful with her. She's just human."
"She has the blood of the gods!" Enyo hissed. "And you will keep her alive as long as I wish." She paused. "Are you developing concern for the patient, Asclepius?"
"Well, I wouldn't be a doctor if I didn't care about my patients, Enyo," he replied drily. "And what I recommend is, as always, in the patient's best interests." She scoffed. "I could swear on the Styx if you'd like, Enyo."
"Styx, schmix," she snarled. "Do you have anymore recommendations?"
"Actually—" He pulled out a pad of paper and a pen. "Yes. If you want her to survive."
Enyo's face twisted into an ugly snarl. "I can keep her alive, you arrogant toerag. All I have to do is keep her from dying in the arena."
"If you keep doing that, she will die, but sure." He started writing anyway. "No strenuous physical activity for at least three days. Very light exercise on hour a day. Full meals thrice a day, not just nectar and ambrosia. Actually, keep her away from those—you almost turned her to ash the other day if I recall. Give her at least a little sunlight once a day. Uhh, no sleep deprivation tactics, too." He tore off the note and stuffed it into Enyo's hand. "Alright, I'm out of here."
"Beings like you are the reason humanity has gone soft, Asclepius," she spat at his retreating figure.
He paused at the door. "Uh, okay then. Bye." He exited and shut the door behind them.
Then it was just the two of them. Scarlet averted her gaze from Enyo's, too afraid to see her face.
"Well?!" Enyo demanded. "Get back on the bed!"
Scarlet leapt up onto her bed and buried herself under the blankets.
"Ugh," Enyo scoffed. "Pestilent doctor." She crumpled up the note in her hand and stormed out of the room.
For a while, Scarlet lay there, not knowing what to do. But there suddenly appeared a platter of food and a cup on her bedside table out of thin air, and she blinked.
Then she grinned and reached out to get her hands on what looked like—
Manacles materialized, wrapping and locking themselves around her wrists and ankles, and chains followed, reaching down to the floor and burying themselves in the surface.
She stared at them, then gave a violent tug. The floor did not give.
She slumped back down on the bed, defeated once more. Things had been going well, for once.
Scarlet despondently reached for the platter of food and placed it on her lap. It was cold.
She picked up the first piece and bit into it. It was stale and tough.
She gnawed on the food for a few minutes and swallowed it with some difficulty.
The tears came, and she couldn't stop them.
author's note
*owen wilson voice* wow. update in two days. and apollo makes an appearance. AND OUR NAMELESS NARRATOR FINALLY HAS A NAME! GOODBYE PRONOUNS
sooo : i just really love apollo i guess so he's the first olympian to appear. i really love how his dynamic with scarlet turned out lol
alex parker is next chapter! we get to see Team Kronos brawling around... then some :D
