Author's Note: nothing much to say this time. when real life's a mess- write what makes you happy...
no song this time. but some soundtrack!
Mahoutsukai no Yome / The Ancient Magus' Bride - Main Theme.
Enjoy!
Alecto leads us deeper into the castle, chattering away as she does
"I am just so glad to have some company!" she exclaims "I mean, my sisters visit and all and there is pain and panic but all in all it can get kinda gloomy around here sometimes/ you know… it being the underworld. It's full of dead people!"
I chuckle at that. I have a feeling she probably has no one else to throw these puns and jokes at, and that she must have been planning to do so for a while. I am about the answer and ask something about her work down here and what needs to be done. I want to ask about my mother's old night bloomers garden, the throne room and the armory and all the other places I heard of growing up. I want to ask her so much. But I don't get to.
A growl from deep within the caves stops me before I have time to ask any of my million questions. A deep, rumbling sound like thunder and a volcano erupting. It is the sort of growl and animal makes when it is on the dangerous line between fear and rage, the sort of growl that start in a deep feral space in a beast's chest, a place of fire and life, and ends with another poor creature losing theirs. I know who is making this sound. But I somehow expected him to be happier to see me.
"Is that?" I ask in a hushed tone.
We have all stopped now. Alecto looking deep into the cave where something dark and enormous is moving closer. Her face is a dark unreadable mask as she squints her eyes at the darkness.
"What is it?" asks Gill. He is quickly shushed by a look from Alecto and me.
"I guess for him you are just strangers" Alecto whispers. I look to her in disbelief. She seems so casual in her approach to the situation and I am too baffled to argue with her. There is a gigantic, angry, hellhound approaching from deep within the castle. Possibly to attack. And she is just... Standing there.
"what do we do?" I ask her, hoping that the calmness is a result of her having the whole thing under control.
Alecto seems to consider it for a moment before turning to me with a cheerful smile.
"No clue" she says, with a tone as bright as a sunny day.
Then, before I have time to argue or shout at her she spreads her enormous wings, and with a single beat of them takes into the air, sending a gust of air in my face as she does. She flies so quickly and silently I barely see her. She disappears into the darkness above us, leaving nothing wind and echoes in her wake.
"Shit" I say. There is simply nothing else to say. Rarely ever in life you get a situation in which a simple syllable could summarize everything so perfectly. Shit. shit. And shit again.
"do we attack it?" asks Gill, he might be asking for confirmation but he has his sword out and ready all the same. I look to the others and see that they are all equally combat ready.
The padding of gigantic feet sounds from the inner cave like the beats of an ancient drum. He shakes the earth as he walks towards us, his repressed growl echoing in my rib-cage.
And then he steps into the light. And he is more than I have ever imagined.
When we were young, on a nice day we used to run around the streets, holding sticks between our legs and pretending to ride horses into incredible adventure. There are no horses on the island, but given that most of us grew up on stories of these creatures being the general thing you ride into battle we all made do with random pieces of debris and a healthy dose of imagination. Mal used to tell us that she turns into a dragon, or rides a dragon and thus claims victory over whatever was the adventure we imagined. Not one to be left behind Uma exclaimed she was ruling over an array of sea monsters, from docile hippocampuses trough ferocious krakens, and all the way to scylla and charybdis (she was an imaginative child). One night after a very successful imaginary adventure I came home and asked my father what would he ride into battle. He said in the past he ridden a chariot, strapped to two nightmarish horses with bat like wings. I wouldn't have that. I wouldn't have that because all the other kids had imaginary horses and besides I wanted to be special. And so my father told me the story of his beloved hellhound.
He was the son of Echidna, the mother of monsters, and Typhon, the Father of dragons. How these two reptile parents gave birth to a hound was not something I bothered myself with as a child. Echidna was ambitious in her attempt to create perfect horrifying monsters, a project she attempted to improve with more and more heads on her children.
After she created thy Hydra, a creature with a potentially unlimited number of said heads- she had no more use for his younger brother, Cerberus, and so she threw the little pup out of sight and into the deepest pit she could find. The pit she found just so happened to be my father's young domain, shortly after being assigned to it by a stroke of bad luck and being the weakest of three godly brothers.
back then the three headed creature was relatively small, about the size of a small cow, with a wagging tale, three heads that only wanted to play with each other, and feet that were still to big for the pup's body. He raised the puppy here in the underworld, trained him to guard the gate and the castle, attack strangers and protect the rivers and the vortex.
The next day, and the days the followed, I ran into an imaginary adventure riding a gigantic hellhound. I imagined him fluffy with eyes that glow in the dark. I imagined him fiercely loyal. I imagined his fur really soft.
This is not the creature that stands in front of me now. No. the creature that stands in front of me now is so much greater than this.
The real Cerberus is much bigger than I could have ever imagined. He is probably 15 feet tall or even higher, it's really hard to tell with all of his three heads bent towards me menacingly. His fur is not nearly as soft looking as 6 year old me would have liked to imagine, It is a black so dark it seems to suck away the little light around it, like a black hole in the shape of a dog. His teeth are sharp and as large as swords, ready to tear, destroy, and kill.
Except those menacing teeth, I notice, are not fully bared.
"Harry, and Sem, I want you to create the distraction" says Uma in a hushed tone
"What?" I ask, I barely register what she says, too captivated by the creature that inhabited my dreams for as long as I can remember.
"so that Gill can go for the kill" She explains
"Got it" Harry says and I hear the hiss his sword makes as it leaves its scabbard to join his hook. I know the general drill, Harry and I are to fight but defensively, clumsily, make sure the enemy is too preoccupied trying to catch us to notice a the menace that is Gill with a sword and an intent to kill. We played that trick on other gangs, on shop owner and the like. There is no reason an adapted version would not work for a 20 foot high dog.
But Cerberus is not attacking. He is an intelligent creature, I know this. He is not just old- he is ancient, thousands of years my elder in here. His eyes are red, dancing between the menacing dark of blood to the fierce brightness of heated steel. They burn as they look at me and I know that these ancient eyes have seen everything that ever passed through this gate, watching over it at my father's side. And for the past 20 years this magnificent creature has been without the master who raised him. All alone on the underworld. They are wise and old, at this moment, angry.
"on my mark" Uma whispers beside me.
And scared. There is fear in these eyes to. He is an ancient being, one of the oldest monsters in this world and at this moment those ancient eyes are looking at me and they are scared.
"wait" I say
I turn to look at them. The three of them looking between me and the beast before us. They have their swords ready, and Cerberus has his teeth, three sets of them. And all 7 of us must look so foolishly terrified. This is not how I am going to rule this kingdom, I decide. If my father left me no instruction- he doesn't get to complain I do things my way.
Drawing them as slowly as possible and unlatching my belt of daggers- I lay my weapons on the stone floor.
"What are you doing?!" Uma hisses at me
"He is my father's hound" I answer
"Sem, you heard the demon lady, he doesn't recognize you" Says Harry
I can't argue with him. mostly because , objectively, he is right. The hound doesn't know me, has never met me, and has no reason not to tear me to shreds like a puppet made of meat and bone. In fact, he has been specifically trained to shred anything that passes the gate without the Lord's approval. With the Lord dead and the steward gone- my chances are not great to say the least. And yet – I am still alive. We all are. I can't help but think that if all was lost we would already be dead. He was trained to attack and kill, and 18 years without a master should not have changed that. I turn to look at it, at those three gigantic heads with their teeth half bared.
I decide to trust my gut.
I take one step forward toward the hound before a strong grab to my wrist stops me. behind me Harry is holding to my hand with a painful death like grip.
"Don't" he says. his eyes are wide with fear, his hold is firm. I have never seen him so afraid and this display catches me off gurad. I planned to just wriggle my hand out of his but now...
"I need you to trust me on this" I say as calmly as I can.
"this is insane" he says.
"Sem, this thing would eat you alive" Uma says behind him
"We can take it" Gill agrees
"No!" I bite back. I try to shake my hand free but Harry stays firm. He will not let go. Not so long as Uma and Gill have his back on this. Not so long as he things he is saving my life. And maybe he really is, but now is not the time to discuss this.
I look to Uma instead. Trying, wishing, willing her to understand. Hoping that the way we could tell entire secrets to each other without words is still alive between us. That year of growing up have not ruined that. once upon a time I could reach her beyond words, some strange code that was completely non magical and yet so much more that that. I hope something of it is still there.
'please' I say with that look 'trust me'.
This is a long and agonizing moment that probably lasts about three seconds in real time. Eventually she lets out a defeated sigh before placing a hand on Harry's shoulder.
"we will be right behind you" she says
"What?!" Harry hisses "Uma, you can't be-"
"Harry" I say " I will be alright" I shift my hand to hold his hand instead of being gripped by it
"Please don't"
This is the closest thing I have ever seen harry hook to begging. It's uncharted territory and it is terrifying to look at. It's foreign and strange and heartbreaking at the same time. I feel an all consuming urge to hug him and kiss him and promised him that I know what I am doing. But I can't. because I have no idea whatsoever is this s going to work.
Reluctantly. As though is causes him physical pain to do so. He let's go of my hand.
"thank you" I whisper.
He doesn't answer.
With my friends behind me and my heart hammering in my chest I take a step closer towards cerberus. The enormous animal is staring at me intently, all it's heads are bent forward. He doesn't move. His upper lips are still trembling, showing monstrous teeth before calming for split second, back and forth, over and over. He hasn't quite decided if he wants to tear me to pieces or get to know me. I still have time to change his mind for the better.
I have to be right about this. Because if I am not then the others will never catch up in time to save me.
If I am wrong then this is where I die. I take another deep breath.
"It's ok" I say to cerberus before I risk another step forward towards him, slowly and carefully. I moved to fast. He responds by tensing up and flashing those teeth back at me. The growl is still vibrating off him and when it erupts out of him in a bark he shakes the walls of the cave.
"Sem!" I hear harry hiss behind me and I see cerberus tense even more. Baring his teeth, crunching his muzzle in a snarl of rage and panic. I say nothing, simply send my arm back, signal Harry to stop. To not come any closer.
I take another step, a smaller one towards Cerberus. I am now close enough to smell his warm breath, smelling like burned metal and, oddly, just like an ordinary canine.
I reach my other hand, the one not trying to hold my friends at bay, towards the animal. Willing him to just smell me. To just give me a chance. To not fear me.
"I know you are afraid" I say, my voice is barely more than a whisper but I have no doubt that Cerberus hears me "you've been here alone for so long"
After an agonizingly long moment one of the heads, the right one, moves to sniff me outreached arm. It stares at me in confusion for a moment before bending down to sniff again.
"I know you miss him" I say to the other two heads "I miss him to. But he missed you so much. He told me stories about you. I used to imagine playing with you and going on adventures. He never meant to leave you behind" I mean every single word I say. I just pray that Cerberus can sense that.
Soon the other two heads lean closer and sniff me. Now they don't just smell my hand, they small my hair, my body, my magic. They move close enough for me to touch but I don't dare to, not just yet. They keep smelling, sniffing, getting to know me and soon they relax. They sheath their fangs, their body relaxes from it's taut position into something that is not quite friendly, and yet no longer hostile.
When he is satisfied all heads got a good sniff of me he stands before me and waits. Those eyes, enormous pools of lava, are staring at me. Waiting. I know what he wants me to do and yet I am so terrified I can hardly breath.
I reach up my palm again, but Cerberus doesn't move to smell it. My heart is hammering in my chest and I am sure he can hear me, what with those gigantic ears and standing so close. I want to turn my head away, I want to close my eyes or stop breathing as I move my hand closer. But he wants me to trust him. He wants me to show him that I am willing to not fear him.
And so I place my open hand, slowly, softly, on the hellhound's fur.
It's softer than I anticipated and he is as warm as I expected a beast of the underworld to be. I move it gently, burying my fingers in his fur and feeling the sheer power of him under my palm. This is absolutely magical. I let out the breath I was holding and it comes out as a sob of a laugh. I am petting Cerberus, I am not only not dead- I am petting the guardian hound of the underworld.
He relaxes into my touch, moving his center head to lean and give some weight into my hand. I reach my other arm to hold him as he leans closer to me. A giddy laugh erupts out of me when he nudges me with his gigantic head, nearly toppling me over. I reach on the tips of my toes to scratch him behind the ear, only to be rewarded with a lick from the left head that leaves my soggy and smelly but still laughing from the bottom of my heart.
"It's safe!" I call to the others "come say hello"
Expectedly- Gill is the first one to rush forward.
Harry's POV
Gill rushes past me to join Semele with the gigantic Hellhound.
Growing up with an elite hunter for a father Gill was always a bit of an expert about animals. Not in a way of knowing anything about them, no, he was still Gill and still very much a knobhead, but in a way that he just knew how to be around them, how to behave to get them to welcome him, obey him even. He knew his way around animals better than he did around people, knew not only how to hunt or kill them but how to train them, how to treat them, and in most cases- how to get them to adore him. it's one of the many things about my old friend that makes everyone around him scratch their head in confusion. How can a person who is an absolute moron in most things can be nothing short of a genius in others. I can't say I understand it either.
Anyway, it comes as no surprise to see him approach slowly to the creature, raise his hand to his nose and let one of the heads of the hound give him a similar all-over sniff before allowing him to reach high and scratch behind one of it's six ears. And just like that Gill, son of Gaston, became best friends with a three headed hellhound the size of a house. Of course he did.
I should find this funny. It is funny. It's insane and weird and the sort of weird bollocks that would still make an incredible story to tell around the table ten years from now. I should be laughing, or moving closer because for fuck's sake- there is a three headed hellhound before me that is just a few pets away from flipping on his back and asking for belly rubs.
Instead I stand exactly where I did when Semele made me let go of her hand, and I can't move.
My heart was beating so fast in the moments before Cerberus recognized her, so fast and so hard I thought I might be going into a heart attack or something else of this pathetic sort. In my head I saw the creature bite her, just her top half, leaving her legs broken like chicken bones on the ground. I saw it stump her and crush her to death. I saw it kill her a million times in the time it took her to get acquainted with the creature.
And if it did then what? What would I do if Semele died right here in front of me.
There is a part of me that feels like I would have drawn my sword and just… go for it.
Why not?
Attack the multi headed immortal monster. Because there a part of me that knows it would have been the only things I COULD do. That if she was to die I would throw whatever survival instinct I still have in me out the window and tried to save her. This thought is terrifying in its simplicity- I will lay down my life for hers. I thought I would do it for Uma, for my family, my sisters, my father, maybe even Gill. but Semele- that's new. And there is no point lying to myself about that.
"You ok?" Uma asks beside me. I look down to see that she seems just as troubled as I feel.
"Sure love, never better" I answered with a forced smile.
She lets out an amused huff as she elbows me lightly, just a short jab of her arm against my side. Strong but not painful. Physical proximity always been an easy thing with the two us. A way to support of show affection like a lean against one another, a stroke of the hair, a pat, a hug. Or a way to show frustration and anger- anything from jab like this one to a full out fist fight. It's a lottery with me, I am well aware of that. It's not sexual, that was just one time and was so weird that we couldn't speak for a week. No, touch and proximity with Uma is another form of speech. It's easy and natural and fluent.
For example, this elbow right here is saying "Stop Fucking around".
"I don't know" I admit
"ok" she says "just so you know. I will wingman you if you decide to tell her that you love her"
It's a problem with Uma. Sometimes she can drop something like that on you and walk away. Leave you bleeding in the water for the sharks, that is if you are lucky and the shark isn't her. She does that in battle- quick and deadly and merciless. She does that in friendship to- honest, and brash, and no nonsense. She doesn't pull punches. Not even with her friends. Especially not with her friends.
With this remark she leaves me to stand there like a stone statue, before she quickly joins the others in the world's weirdest petting zoo.
If you decide to tell her that you love her.
Things were different from the moment we left the isle, I wasn't sure what but something woke inside me. inside Semele well. That first night when we made our way across the bay into Auradon territory was like nothing I have ever seen. She ruled the wind like it was nothing, and later the next night opened a door to who knows what and spoke to who knows what. And just now on the river… the image of her raising flames out of her open palms was the sort of image people would write songs about and makes stained glass off. I can still see her standing before the undead, bathed in light and warmth that reflects on the river and makes her golden eyes come alive. Her bright her looked like it was made of fire, or sunlight, or something even more divine that than either. It was in that moment, I think, it really clicked for me.
She wasn't like me. I was the son of pirates. A thief on salt water, some mongrel made of violence and rum and that wicked sea breeze. I was human. One hundred percent, undeniably human. That elation she and Uma described- of feeling the air rich and alive with magic and possibility- I felt only a glimmer of it when I was on the open sea. But her?
It finally dawned on me- Semele was a goddess. Terrifying and beautiful and out of reach. Because the moment the we win, the moment she goes free of the isle- why would a creature like that ever want anything to do with the thief who had the most precious treasure in the world, her heart, and decided to just toss it away. Uma was right about one thing- I have been pathetically in love with her for a while now.
With a sigh of defeat, I make to join the others.
"Well done!"
I hear Alecto before I see her land behind us. He cheerful face is as bright as it has been since the moment I met her. she doesn't seem surprised to see us all alive and friendly with Cerberus. Impressed maybe, but not surprised.
"what, the actual fuck?!" Uma yells at her, the others don't seem to happy to see her either. I don't imagine I look any friendlier.
"watch your tone Uma" Alecto purrs with a wicked smile and this is about enough for me.
"No she won't" I say and I step towards her. Behind me Cerberus stops playing and takes a stand. I realize with a jolt that he is standing on my side. Strong in front of what he thinks must be my enemy. the feel of this enormous power on my side is intoxicating.
Alecto looks to the beast behind me, and to the group of furious pirates before her before she decided to do the smart thing, and whips that annoying smile off her face.
"you had to be tested" she says, thankfully serious, "the fates dictated three tests to make sure that you are who you claim to be"
"Don't they already know?" I ask, perplexed, the fates, by definition, were omnipotent- they knew everything. It's part of what made dealing with them so damn annoying.
"they do" Alecto says "But I don't"
"was Cerberus a test?" asks harry, he didn't join us in saying hello to Cerberus, sticking around at the back looking woozy and pale. Right now he looks just about ready to snap.
"and the river" says Alecto in form of agreement.
"we could have died!" I yell at her. fury is a living thing in my veins, feeling hot and ready to burst. As if to echo my rage Cerberus bares his teeth and let's out a low, guttural, growl
"and that would have proved you are not my old friend's daughter now wouldn't it?!" Alecto snaps back, her red eyes are wide as she turns them to Cerberus "don't give me that look" she tells the hound she shakes his head as a strange form of answer.
"so is that it?" asks Gill. He sounds hopeful, but I know the answer to this question even before Alecto answers. The God's are creatures of story after all, and what story has only 2 trials?
"No" she answers simply
"What's the third trial?" I ask, dreading what could possibly be worse that the river and Cerberus.
Alecto lets out a long sigh.
"you will have to jump into the Vortex"
