AN: As usual read and review!! I'm updating earlier than usual because of I'm going camping this weekend! It's my birthday on July 3rd so that's what I choose to do. :grin: Unfortunately no comp so no updates until NEXT weekend probably. I'm hoping this will tie you over till then!
My Immortal
by BluWine
Chapter 09: Now I'm Bound
Six months... Six months in a passion Paris had never known before and it was all over. It couldn't be over. It wouldn't be over. This was one thing promised to him by a goddess herself. And, with all the power vested in him by the gods, he would keep her. Helen was still in deep slumber as Paris looked down at her. They were still lacking clothing, just stopping in the night before to burrow under the blankets of his bed.
Paris sighed, trailing a hand down the porcelain skin of his lover. Zeus, she was beautiful. It was almost like looking at some ethereal being... She couldn't possibly be human... She was on a pedestal far higher than the lower mortals, himself included.
"Now, I am bound by your beauty and forever shall be," Paris murmured, leaning down to kiss her. Helen stirred, her eyes fluttering open. "But I'm afraid, my love, that you must to your rooms... Dawn is warning us of your husband."
"Must I leave?" Helen murmured, stretching and then wrapping her arms around Paris' neck.
"Unfortunately..." Paris sighed.
"What is the matter, Paris?" Helen asked seeing the deep thoughts reflected in Paris' brown eyes. "Something ails you..."
"I leave today. Do you not remember?" Paris whispered into her ear, his lips kissing the skin below.
"I was hoping that if I did not remember it would not come to pass," Helen replied. "Gods..." She threw her head back in frustration, before letting out a groan. Paris had buried his face into her exposed neck trying to savor every last moment he had with her when an idea slipped into his mind. It was ridiculous, crazy.... borderline suicidal but let him be damned to Hades if he cared. He needed this woman by his side for the rest of his days. "Must it be over?"
"If you wish it badly enough to continue, it can..." Helen stopped Paris' kisses and looked up at him.
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that I wish you to come with me..." Helen's mouth fell slightly open.
"You can't be serious..." Paris just grinned at her. "Oh my lord... you are being serious, aren't you?"
"I've never been more serious before in my life."
"Don't... Don't offer me something you cannot give, Paris," Helen said, turning away, grabbing her dress to slip on. "You are asking me something that could kill us both... literally."
"And I'm willing to accept that... For our sake, I would be willing to go into the pits of Hades and back, if it means that you'll stay beside me." He wrapped a blanket around his waist before grabbing Helen's waist to him. "The question is are you?"
"Of course, I am... but then reality can't be what you ask it to be. My husband... His brother, as well... They'll go after us with all the manpower of Sparta and all of Greece as well. You know not the conditions to which all my suitors agreed to when they had let me marry Menelaus... It was a pact. A pact of unconditional loyalty to my husband. If I am taken that loyalty is called upon to defend Menelaus' honor," Helen explained.
"Troy's walls have never been breached before. We can win against anything they throw at us," Paris argued. "Come, Helen. The sun calls you to my home." He gestured towards the eastern waters that Paris would soon be sailing upon. "My time here is nearly done, Helen. Please... I love you too much to let you go. Come with me. I'll... I'll protect you."
Helen looked up at Paris, wondering if he was truly aware of what consequences their actions would bring about. He was just staring at her eagerly, his brown eyes begging. How could she possibly say no to the one person that she truly loved?
"All right... Must I bring anything?" Helen answered. Paris put his arms around her waist in his ecstatic happiness, then kissed her on the lips. Helen just laughed at his antics.
"No... just get a cloak to hide your identity... When we get to Troy, I shall buy everything you could possibly want..." Paris answered. "Now go... before Menelaus catches you missing." Helen giggled, her heart leaping with either the happiness or the terror of what she was about to do. She left hurriedly across the halls into her room and got under the covers just before Menelaus opened the door.
"Helen, my Queen," Menelaus greeted. Helen forced a smile and stretched on the bed as if just waking up.
"Yes, Menelaus?"
"You must rise... We are about to send off our guests," Menelaus said, his old hand going to her waist.
"Guests?" Helen stared up at her husband, playing a fool.
"Our Trojan visitors, my love." Helen faked a dizzy spell and looked away from her husband. Menelaus' brow furrowed with worry. "Is something the matter?"
"No... I just... I'm a bit dizzy, my husband," Helen lied through her teeth. "Is there anyway I can be absent from today's activities? I'm not feeling too well."
"Of course, my love," Menelaus agreed wholeheartedly. "Shall I send Adelaine for your company?"
"No... No. There is no need," Helen replied. Menelaus smiled and bent down to give his wife a kiss and she obliged, unquestioningly.
"Get well, Helen," Menelaus said before closing the doors behind him and leaving. Helen listened for the fading footsteps of her husband. In a bit longer, they were gone and Helen jumped out of bed. She grabbed her drabbest, darkest cloak and snuck out of the palace, going through the least used corridors and doors. She slipped into the crowds of the Spartan markets and was safe in the chaos, until she got to the docks. She didn't know where to find Paris until he found her, hiding behind crates of fish.
"A bit of an undignified way of hiding, isn't it, Elle?" Paris grinned using his shortened nickname for her for discretion's sake.
"Paris!" Helen grinned, throwing her hands around his neck and kissing him. "I'm here... I'm really here."
"Yes, you are and there couldn't be a happier man in Greece," Paris murmured, returning the kisses with his own. "But you must hurry to our boats and hide underneath the deck." Helen nodded. Without another word, Paris led her to one of the boats carrying him and his brother back to Troy.
Troy... He hadn't really thought about what was waiting for him back at his home. His mother and father would be proud that he had chosen such a woman to be his bride. Hector might revert back to his hostility but Paris didn't care. Cassandra already hated him so no change there. Briseis, he didn't know what her reaction would be. Katriana, on the other hand... He missed his best friend and couldn't wait to see her again. All the treasures and trinkets he had acquired for the sole purpose of spoiling Katri was held in three boxes all on their own.
Katri... Something brief rushed his mind. It was as if something was beginning to surface but then ripped out of his head by stronger forces before he could even tell what it was about. He didn't know what it was and had half a mind to wonder before he turned to Helen once again and her smile literally washed his brain of any discomforts.
Helen disappeared under the wooden deck, hidden from view by those who saw the boat and Paris hurried out to meet Hector was takling with Menelaus and .
"... So the papers are signed... Our friendship has been finalized, good prince," Menelaus grinned, shaking Hector's hand with one and placing his other on Hector's shoulder. "And bring my congratulations to your wife. With you as a father, the both of you will surely have a strapping young man for a son."
"Thank you," Hector nodded. "And to you and your wife as well. I hope you'll have the joy of a son soon. Hopefully your attempts at children shall be more fruitful." Menelaus laughed and turned to Paris.
"And you, my boy," Menelaus said placing a hand on Paris' shoulder as well after letting go of Hector. "How did you find Sparta on your first trip away from your homeland?"
"It's very different from what I'm used to but your land is splendid, milord," Paris said graciously. "And I will be leaving with my own treasures so I thank you."
"Hahaha," Menelaus chuckled. "I've seen what you've taken..." Paris froze for a second, terrified. "... Three crates for that girl, Katriana, isn't it?" Hector hid a grin as he looked down, laughing silently at his brother. "Must be quite a bird, isn't she, for you to being half my land's treasures back to her alone. She your betrothed, lad?"
"No... Goodness, no," Paris laughed as well. Hector looked up his laughter replaced by a frown.
"What?" Hector choked out in surprise. Paris looked at him, curiously, confused by Hector's shock.
"She's... She's my deepest and closest friend. That is all," Paris said, still looking at his brother but Menelaus turned his attention to him.
"Well, I believe it is time to make your leave, princes," Menelaus announced. "I'm sorry Helen could not come. She said she was feeling a bit under the weather. I'm sure she sends her greetings as well, however." Paris just grinned and nodded, before making his way on the boat. After a few moments, Hector followed and they were set off, back into the Aegean and back to Troy.
In a few days time, they were safely away from the waters controlled by the Spartans. Hector couldn't help but feel odd about Paris' strange behaviour: his agitation, trips up and down the deck, his nervousness. It seemed like Paris was hiding something and Hector knew in the pit of his stomach it was something with great consequence.
"Hector?" Paris called softly. Hector was sitting at the stern of the boat, carving at a piece of wood, turning it slowly into a boat.
"What is it?" Hector replied not looking up.
"I need to tell you something... Something important but I need to tell you before we get to Troy..."
"What is it?" Hector repeated, this time his hands dropping the knife and wood.
"I... I think it'll be best if I show you," Paris murmured. Hector was taken down below deck to the far reaches of the storage area. Behind the crates was a figue huddled underneath the protection of a cloak and Hector rolled his eyes in exasperation.
"Please don't tell me..." Hector groaned. The figure looked up and the hood fell back. The woman's hair fell onto her shoulders. There was no mistaking that beauty anywhere in this world.
"Hello, Hector," Helen murmured.
"Paris, what, in the gods' names, were you thinking?" Paris just stepped back, lowering his head at the scolding he kne he deserved. He knew what they did was wrong but it did not stop them from not even wanting to look back and regret. "Menelaus... will... go into a rage! He probably already knows and it's a wonder his armada hasn't been behind us already!!"
"I love her, Hector. I won't let her go!" Paris snapped.
"And what about..." Hector was about to say Katriana but something stopped him and he ended up saying something different. "... Troy? Have either of you thought about what, who and HOW MANY will be sacrificed because of the war that will be sure to come?!" He turned to Helen. "Did you explain to him the pact all of Greece agreed to at your betrothal?!"
"I did," Helen nodded. "But we were hoping Troy will protect us..."
"Troy?!? Against one kingdom I can guarantee your protection. But ALL of Greece?"
"Then I'll return," Helen replied. "I'm not worth all those lives."
"And if she returns, I stay with her..." Paris said. Hector looked at the two, incredulously.
"The two of you will be shot to your death before you even set foot on land..." Hector scoffed. Hector thought for a moment, and just gritted his teeth at a decision he didn't want to accept. "We shall accept you in Troy..."
"Thank you..." Helen murmured, her hands grasping Paris'.
"But you poor naïve fools..." Hector spat out. "You have NO idea what is to come..." He began to stomp away. "She stays below deck, Paris!" When he was in the open air of the sea again, he just shook his head at the Fates.
"Naïve fools," Hector repeated, taking up the knife again and carved his thoughts away.
Menelaus' land was at a chaos with their missing queen still to be found. He sat at his throne, thinking hard at who would have the audacity to kidnap his most precious treasure, when his own thoughts struck a possible lead.
"And I will be leaving with my own treasures so I thank you..."
Selfish, ungrateful bastard...
Menelaus started for the door screaming for his guards to assemble before him.
"Go to the docks! Find every man that had business there on the day of the Trojan princes' leaving! Interrogate them and bring them to me if they have any information about what Paris had brought onto his boat!" The guards nodded and went on their way, Menelaus seething, red in the face with his rage.
"Leaving with treasures, indeed," Menelaus sneered.
Shells = my story will differ from the movie but it'll stay within the original plot of the actual BOOK. And the Maia I'm talking about in this story isn't Maia, Mother Earth. either way I learned that name as Gaia.. I think.. 0o I just used that name because it has correlations to 'mother' which was what Maia was to Paris.
sci-fiwitch = Haha.. Never liked Helen either.
me = Angst galore and major fluff!! I love the two especially together! Ack! Love angst and fluff!
Nevasaiel = Soo many questions!! And I can't answer any of them!! Otherwise it'll be considered spoilers. hehe sorry!
drummerchick1988 = hehe same here.. I stare waay too much when reading or playing video games. Just curious... Does your body sort of move when you're playing racing games... Haha.. not to sound weird but I sort of move with the car when playing racing games. haha..
Maren L P = Yes... evil stepmother isn't it? Except she's the REAL mother... urck.. You get what I'm saying, right?
roselynn geigel = But Helen HAD to come in! Otherwise I got no conflicts!
Larrikin = Amen! All men are pigs. I just hope by the end of the story you'll forgive Paris' oink-oink phase.
jamy = Welcome! Thanks for the review, first off. And about Hector. I had actually begun writing this story LOONG before Troy came out. And I found a quote that wasn't very nice and it was noted to be from Hector to Paris. So that's why Hector starts out like such a jerk. But he gets better, right? I really liked the movie-Hector. :( Sad that he has to die. You have no idea how much I'm dreading to write that scene.
babyg2988 I'm all for you and the wringing of Helen's neck and the beating of Paris. Isn't it weird that I'm the one that wrote but I'm STILL frustrated?!? haha... ANd like i said before there's a reason to why he forgets and I'm hoping that by the end of the story you'll forgive dear ole Paris be satisfied.
Enelya = I'm sorry that the last chapter was annoying to you. THis one might be annoying to you as well. Paris.. sigh Paris in all reality actually is a selfish asshole. He's naive and stupid and irking and the hugest coward. Either way, if you keep reading, (which I hope you do!!) it MIGHT get better!