Sirius was vaguely aware of the thirteen followers behind him, but he was far more focused on the smell ahead of him. It hadn't been hard to find the sent, in fact, it was one of the only scents in this twisting labyrinth. The monster seemed to enjoy snacking on anything unlucky enough to end up down here.
The smell continued to get stronger and finally, Sirius turned the last corner and found the beast sleeping in the center of the chamber. He carefully shifted back to human form and turned to see Marlene without her cloak, a string in her hands being all that was left. He was suddenly very glad that he hadn't seen Marlene without her cloak on before now.
He brought a finger to his lips to motion for everyone to remain quiet before leading them quietly back down the corridor. Then he started handing out bunches of grapes.
"Are you providing them with food for the show?" Marlene scoffed at him.
"No, I'm enlisting them. They're going to be pelting him with grapes." Sirius smirked at her and took a bit of satisfaction in the way her face softened.
"That's not a bad idea," she chuckled.
"Will we need to wake the thing?" Sirius handed the last bunch of grapes over.
Marlene closed her eyes. "No, he'll wake here in a few minutes."
Sirius hurried along, "Tributes, it's your job to create a diversion. Confuse the beast. Don't give away the angle of our next attack. Are you with me, my grape throwing army?"
The tributes nodded, though perhaps they did not look entirely convinced of the value of grapes as a weapon of war. Sirius thought this showed a major lack of creativity, but he didn't have time to teach these youths the many uses of grapes. He had a monster to subdue.
Sirius didn't consider himself a morning person by any means, but he really hoped he never woke up in as foul a mood as the Minotaur appeared to. In fact, he'd never seen anyone at all look quite as angry as the Minotaur looked at that moment. This was saying something, considering Sirius spent the first 20 years of his life in the company of his mother.
"Hey Ugly! How does it feel knowing that your mum had to disguise herself as a cow to get your sire interested?" Insulting the beast's mother was the first thing that came to mind. Luckily, the mother in question was not exactly hard to insult. She'd enlisted Daedalus to construct a cow suit for her intended seduction of a bull who'd caught her fancy. That craftsman must have had some major lingering questions, and Sirius hoped the Cretan Queen at least paid him well.
Right on cue, the tributes started pummeling grapes at the beast from all directions.
"Sirius, left!" Marlene's voice cracked and he jumped left just in time for the Minotaur to run past him. The monster seemed a bit disoriented as he realized Sirius had sidestepped him. Sirius chanced a glance at Marlene, who stood with inhuman grace her face fixed on the bull but her eyes closed. He turned back to the bull who grunted as he had found Sirius again.
"Jump!" Marlene's voice cracked again. As Sirius hurled himself a good three feet into the air, the Minotaur lunged, viciously charging towards where Sirius' legs had been. When the beast failed to collide with Sirius, it tripped under its own momentum, sliding on the ground for several feet.
"Oooo not too graceful. Both hideous and clumsy? That's just shameful."
The Minotaur stood itself up straight, then kicked back the dirt under its feet, which in and of itself seemed absurd since it's lower body was that of a man.
A well-aimed grape hit the beast on the back of its bullish head, causing it to turn for only a second. Sirius took this opportunity to throw the loop of vines around the Minotaur's thick neck.
It looked back towards him in confusion, but before it could take another step, vines grew rapidly around its body, restricting all movement.
"Didn't your father ever teach you to keep your eye on your opponent? No? Oh, that's right. Your father was a bull. So sorry about that."
The vines overtook the angry creature in full, suffocating it. Sirius hoped the beast's body would provide nourishment to the earth. It seemed only right that would be the purpose the beast would serve, after dining on the flesh of mortals for years. Food for the plants and the worms; a fitting fate for the Minotaur.
Fate had smiled upon Sirius in this endeavor, and he did not fail to notice that her daughter was smiling as well as she ran into his embrace. He wasn't prepared for the kiss she planted on his lips, but he was not going to waste the opportunity to kiss her again. He pulled her closer to him and brought a hand into her curls. Marlene's hands tangled themselves into his hair as she deepened the kiss.
Sirius had completely forgotten there was anyone else there with them until one of the tributes cleared their throat. He sighed as Marlene pulled away with a look of happiness on her face he'd never seen before.
"Let us return to Athens," Marlene smiled at the twelve tributes. "You have all performed admirably." She took Sirius' hand in hers and looked down at the dead monster. "We'll need that," she sighed and turned to the six young men, "Would you please bring it along?" The tributes were aided in their task by the vines which served as handles on the great horrible dead thing.
"You were brilliant!" Marlene stood on her toes and whispered into Sirius's ear in a way that made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.
"You always seem surprised. So rude, honestly." He kissed the top of her curls and wrapped a hand around the far side of her waist as they continued following her string out of the maze.
All at once, reality hit him like a punch in the gut. This was it. They'd completed their task. Now they'd return to Athens and Marlene would go back to the life she'd planned. He had no plan but knew that a life without Marlene was an unacceptable option.
She was promised to another man. She'd kissed him, but she hadn't given him any indication that she was willing to break her contract and throw her life into disarray for the chance to do so again. No kissing was quite that impressive, he thought.
He hadn't told her how he felt. Not in words, in any case. Would it be cruel to do so now? Would it bring her anything other than pain? Would she accept his offer to go with her as her dog and accept only stolen moments when her mortal husband was away? It was dishonorable and made him a little sick to his stomach, but he still preferred it to never seeing her again.
He kept his arm around her as they ascended from the maze and braced himself for heartbreak. He'd gone into the day knowing there was a serious chance he would be lunch for a monstrosity, so he could manage this.
He let the tributes who carried the corpse of the Minotaur ahead of him and stood just outside the maze, taking both Marlene's hands in his. Blue eyes met grey and he dropped down to his knees. He had no idea what he was doing. He very seldom did, so it wasn't as if this was a new feeling.
"Marlene, I love you. I can't let you go on and marry some mortal and give up your powers without telling you. I know you have plans and a destiny and I know it has nothing to do with me, but I had to tell you. I love you, Marlene Daughter of Fate. I would do anything to continue my life at your side. Did I hear you say you were in the market for a dog?"
He attempted to smile but felt tears threatening in his eyes as he looked up to her. This was perhaps more terrifying a challenge than the Minotaur. At least now the thing was dead and dealt with, but no matter what she said, his heart would still ache for Marlene at the end of the day.