Marlene knew she shouldn't be kissing him, but she couldn't bring herself to care as his hand gripped her waist and his tongue ran across her bottom lip. She wasn't sure if this was a part of their fate, but she desperately wanted it to be. Suddenly her mind was flooded with possibilities of them. A life of both her powers and happiness because she had Sirius. And he only reinforced these feelings with his remorse when he brought his lips to hers. She wasn't some plaything to him, Marlene was sure of that. But all of these thoughts seemed immensely unimportant as Sirius' lips caressed her.
She was content to lay with him for eternity on that cot, but the cell lock rattled and Sirius bolted upright, bringing her with him, just before the guard entered.
"You've been summoned by His Majesty," the guard looked fearfully at Marlene.
She bit back her unhappy and conflicted feelings on being interrupted and assumed the character Sirius had worked to build for her.
"We will oblige him, but he will not find what he seeks in this meeting." She put added emphasis on the word 'we'. She wanted it very clear that she and Sirius were a package deal. The guard seemed to catch the edge in her voice and nodded to Sirius.
The walk back up to Minos' main throne room was long and gave Marlene far too much time to think about what had just happened.
She had been shameless in her flirting leading up to Sirius kissing her, mostly to try and figure out where his feelings had been. Marlene smirked to herself, he had made that relatively clear. But now that she knew he cared for her as she did for him, there were decisions she had to make.
Sirius obviously had feelings for her, but they had known each other a grand total of five days. To be fair, they had spent almost every waking moment of three of those days together, and she'd confided in him things she'd not even told her parents, but they hadn't spent all that much time together. There was no guarantee that if they pursued a relationship after this they wouldn't tire of each other a month into it. She barely knew him.
You know him better than you know Giannis. A part of her argued. Sure Giannis was a guarantee of stability, but she'd spent all of four hours with him. Suddenly Sirius seemed less of a wild card. He didn't fear her. He was already her equal, she would give up nothing to be with him. And she indulged in admitting that the demi-god could kiss. But she would still be Fate's daughter with him, in that her mother could still pull these stunts, like sending her to kill the Minotaur with another halfling. Giannis was an escape from all that. Giannis was her choosing to be human. Sirius was her choosing to be an instrument of Fate. Did she really want to be that? Considering where it had got her thus far?
Her internal struggle was cut short as the guard opened the door to Minos' throne room and marched them in. If Minos had been hoping to only see her, he didn't let it show on his face. Instead, he turned to a servant.
"Chairs, for our guests," he smiled at Marlene and she wished her foresight would kick in. As if wishing were all it took, suddenly she saw herself and Sirius bound in their chairs heading back to Athens.
"How dare you?!" She thundered. Well, Sirius did tell him she had a temper. She turned to the chairs being carried over and concentrated. If this didn't work she'd just berate Minos. If it did work, then hopefully he would take them seriously. It took a great deal of effort, but both chairs splintered under her gaze. Marlene smirked, she could get used to this level of control over her powers.
She turned back to Minos who gaped at her. "You are too weak to deceive Fate, Minos!"
Sirius sighed and began tossing bunches of grapes at random people in the throne room as if he was bestowing blessings himself. "I did try to warn you, Minnie." He tutted. "You had to go and make her mad, didn't you? Now she'll be a right terror to you. What were you planning? No sense in lying my pet, she already knows."
Minos sputtered, "I, I, I only wanted to speak with you!" He insisted.
"One more lie Minos," Marlene stared him down, "one more, and you will spend this day a leper, so as to let your Kingdom know the true nature of your mind."
Minos choose to set the issue aside and try a new tactic. "I do not wish you to die at the hands of the Minotaur. Please, for your safety, return to Olympus."
"That's sweet of you, pet," Sirius walked up to some poor noble and took the man's goblet from his hands before taking a long drink. He grimaced and turned to Minos. "You drink this? Maybe you are as crazy as Miss Fate says, this is awful! Maybe after we kill your toy I'll teach you how to care for grapes, pet, because this won't do."
"It is written in the Book of Fate that we will enter the maze with the twelve mortals." Marlene had tired of these games. If Zeus was this bad she had no idea how her mother put up with him. "You can either allow it willingly, or you can face the consequences that come from disobeying destiny. There is nothing to discuss!"
Sirius had sauntered over to Minos' throne and as Marlene gave her ultimatum, he plopped down on Minos' lap.
"See, I told you not to make her mad, you naughty boy you." He popped a grape off the bunch he'd been idly snacking on and bumped it against Minos' nose, making a high pitched boop sound that nearly caused Marlene to break from her role as the cold and unfeeling daughter of Fate. Then Sirius proceeded to toss the grape into Minos' open mouth. "Aw, what a good pet. See it's not so hard to be reasonable. If you do as you're told you might even get a reward." Sirius leered before placing a sloppy kiss on his cheek and standing. "Oh, and those cots were quite thoughtful, Minnie. I think I'll be far more comfortable tonight."
Marlene bit her cheek to keep from laughing at the look of total and complete disbelief on Minos' face as Sirius flailed back across the room to her side.
"Are we clear, Minos?" Marlene asked in a tired voice.
He nodded silently.
"Then, good day," she turned on her heels and stalked out of the room towards their cell, the guard running to catch up to her and Sirius.
"Soooo," Sirius sang as they walked, "the chairs were impressive."
Marlene sighed, "He was going to bind us once we sat down and send us back to Athens."
Sirius grunted, "That would have been an inconvenience. Is he going to keep playing these games?"
Marlene tried to focus and took his arm so she could close her eyes while they walked. Her foresight suddenly seemed much clearer but her heart also lept at the feeling of his skin under her hands again. "No, we descend into the maze at sunset."
"Wow," Sirius' voice had a bit of a tight edge to it and it was as if she had somehow turned her sight to him as she could see his desperately good intentions concerning her, and the conflict he had over her. Marlene immediately opened her eyes. As much as she wanted to pursue that conversation along with perhaps continuing their activities from earlier, the noon high sun told her they only had a few hours to figure out how the two of them were going to lead the twelve tributes into and out of the maze, along with the little problem of killing the beast.
The guard placed them back in their cell, and Marlene had an idea for the latter.
"I want to try something. Up for some experiments?" She smiled at Sirius, finally dropping her inhumanly bleak facade.
"Am I going to explode like those chairs?" He chuckled.
She rolled her eyes, "Minos upset me and I wanted him to know it."
"Where do you think I came up with the story of you having a temper?" He smirked at her.
"You're ridiculous," she shook her head before plowing on. "I'm going to close my eyes and turn to the wall. I want you to move around the room and then stop. I'll see if I can see it before you do it."
Sirius nodded as she shut her eyes and turned away from him. She concentrated on Sirius and suddenly she could see him and the path he chose. She smiled and turned to see Sirius halfway to his stopping point.
"It worked," she said excitedly.
Sirius stepped closer to her and took her hand, "Of course it did."
She wanted to kiss him, desperately. She wanted to run her hands through his hair again and hear him groan as she pulled her nails along his scalp. But she had enough of her mother in her to somehow deny herself.
"I should try it with someone else," she said quietly staring up at him, "make sure that I could do it with the Minotaur too. If you know every move before he does it, he won't be able to touch you."
Sirius smiled, "And perhaps I might lasso a bull-headed death-beast in the process." He chuckled as he looked down at the vine around his neck. "Father did say it would be both useful and fabulous."
Marlene felt her heart soar. They had a plan.
She spent the rest of the day practicing, reaching out to the other cells and to the floors above them and while she was never able to see more than a minute into their futures, she could control her sight and she could direct it, that was what mattered.
However, walking down with Sirius and the other tributes managed to dampen her enthusiasm just a bit. The guards locked them in the entrance and Marlene turned to give the twelve the instructions to stay out from underfoot and they'd be fine.
"But how will we make it back out if you and the Son of Dionysus are separated from us?" One of the girls cried.
Marlene was about to assure her that it wouldn't happen when she felt her cloak catch on the wall and begin unraveling. And as her mother had promised, her destiny revealed itself to her, and he was standing to her right. In her foresight she saw him step away from the dead bull and kiss her, she saw him standing next to her in her mother's home, she saw him standing next to her in a million scenarios all at once, and she knew she was fated to be the Instrument of Fate, with this Son of Dionysus by her side.
"My cloak was made to unravel," she smiled at the girl. "Its string will be your guide out. Sirius's nose will be our map in." Marlene turned to smile at him and he took his cue, shifting into his adorable dog.
Sirius barked once and then started down the maze, their group close behind him, Marlene's cloak unraveling with every step.