Heavy Hearted Wings

By: Freedom98

Chapter 5: Rescue of a Damsel in Distress

Alphaios'.P.O.V.

I walked out of my cave and smelt the mountain air. The sun was just beginning to peak over the pine covered mountains. I yawned and stretched. I shrugged a bit, as I got comfortable in my new form. My female form was rather…small compared to my natural form. I stretched once more and looked at the mountains that surrounded me.

I stood on a cliff at the mouth of my cave; all around me were the rolling mountains and the blue sky above. I was near the top of one of the tallest mountains. Above my head eagles screeched their good mornings. I waved my hand cordially. Eagles are very particular creatures, they do like to talk a lot once one says 'hello'. I turned around and there my faithful dog, Bruno, trotted up beside me. I patted her head, as she affectionately nuzzled my hand.

"Good Morning, girl." I cooed

I sauntered back into my cave and retrieved my bow and quiver of arrows. I placed the quiver across my back and buckled the strap. I held the bow in my right hand, parallel to the ground.

"Shall we go hunting today, girl?" I asked Bruno, scratching behind her ears. She wagged her tail, seeming to like that idea.

"Something feels wonderful today, don't you think?" I asked, heading down the side of the mountain.

Birds chirped as a light summer breeze blew through my hair and I felt free as the wind. It was only a few weeks into summer but already the heat was scorching. Bruno walked beside me as I trudged down the mountain side. She eagerly sniffed the ground, her eyes alight with mischief. I let my senses take over me. Not just the normal senses, but my other ones as well. I could sense and feel all the animals and plants around me. The life that flowed through them, their life forces. I sighed. The forest was tranquil and everything was at peace. That was what had always drawn me to the forested mountains, the peace. I wished that the world around me would be like that.

I ran a nimble, but calloused hand through my long raven locks. My hair is pitch black and my eyes the exact same colour, my mother used to describe to my eyes as pits that everything disappeared into, nothing but the blackness of them could remain. My skin is extremely white, almost translucent. No matter how long I stay in the sun, my skin stays the same pale white. My mother, when she was alive, had declared that I was the spitting image of my Father, Hades. I'm the child of a god and a human.

Because of my unique heritage, I had decided to live the life of solitude after my mother's untimely death. I never had any friends as a child, and no relatives to speak of. My dog was the only companion that I ever had, apart from my mother. My mother was the only person that I loved with my whole heart, my entire being. After she died two years past, I had gone insane with grief. I ran to the forests of these mountains as a wild man. The villagers who lived at the base of these mountains had been terrified of me and at the time I wouldn't have had it any other way. They would chase me off whenever I went too close to the village. But that changed. About a year ago, a plague swept through the land. No healer could make head or tails of the plague and nothing could cure it. By that time I had regained part of my sanity (thanks to Bruno, a little secret for another time), and was able to heal most of the villagers. That being one of my 'gifts'. The power to heal others.

These troublesome thought flew about in my mind as I walked through the forest. We had been journeying for quite some time and I was too absorbed in my own thoughts to take notice of how quiet the forest had become. I also had forgotten how close I had gotten to the western border.

Suddenly there was a soul piercing scream. A shrill, high, fear filled woman's scream. Instantly my bow and arrow were drawn and I was at a dead run, Bruno hot on my heels. Then I heard it, a sickening sound…the growl of a hell beast. I ran even faster. I could feel other life forces. There were I thought 3, but it was hard to tell because one was so faint that I could have just been mistaken. One life force of the hell beast, the second one a woman and the third…it was strange. It was there and it wasn't there. It was part of the woman's life force and independent of it at the same time. I shook these thoughts as I burst into the clearing where the woman and the hell beast were.

There, two figures fought. The smell of sickness and blood filled the air. I gazed at the woman. She was very beautiful, despite the bruises and scratches that deterred from her beauty. Long blond hair was pulled back into a log ponytail. Her sky blue eyes were filled with terror. She was thin, painfully so. She wore tattered trousers and a loose fitting white tunic, a dark blue cloak billowing around her small frame. In her right hand she held a gleaming silver dagger, her face in a scowl.

The hell beast loomed over her menacingly. Hell beasts are terrible, and this one was no exception. It was at least 6 feet tall with gleaming yellow eyes. Its skin was a dull grey, stretched over bones; it had absolutely no fur, so it mimicked a bat in a strange way, only it was without wings. Blue tinged froth dripped from its mouth as its blue tongue hung limply from its jowls. Bruno growled beside me, her eyes alight with fury.

I could see that the girl had stabbed the hell beast for its purple blood dripped down from the knife wound on its left shoulder. I dropped my bow and arrows and calmed my mind. I let all pretense drop from my appearance and let my true form appear (sans my truest appearance). Black wings unfurled behind me, in my hand a black scepter appears. The hell beast snapped at the girl, nicking her shoulder.

"Agh." She groaned, clutching it. But she still stood, eyes alight with fury.

She punched the beast, dropping her dagger. The beast lurched back, and then I knew that she was abnormal. No one could punch a hell beast and move it. But the hell beast quickly recovered and bit her forearm. She began use moves that I had only seen at the best fight rallies. Kicking and boxing, swaying and bobbing like grass in the wind, but she was losing and becoming unbalanced by all the blood loss.

Then I noticed how there was crimson stains all over her body, the bruises that covered her. Her clothes stained by the ghastly colour.

"Stop!" I yelled, with such force that both immediately stopped fighting. I flapped my wings and landed between the woman and the hell beast. I faced the hell beast.

"What do you want with me, heir of Hades?" the hell beast asked, its feral voice filling both my ears and my mind.

"You attack which is not yours, the girl is mine! You are not permitted to harm her!" I commanded, waving the scepter both regally and menacingly.

"I am allowed to eat what I wish, by command of Lord Hades. She is with child and will make a good meal. She is weak, and is a runt. You have no jurisdiction, cursed spawn of Hades." The hell beast retorted, snarling, stepping forward menacingly. I rose into the air a few feet.

"You forget your place, beast!" I spat, causing him to growl. "Mine is the power to give life and to take it away. If I say this life is mine, it is mine. The woman and her unborn child are mine. Do you wish that I send your soul to Hades, instead?" I asked, smirking.

The hell beast growled, but a spark of fear could be seen in it eyes. He turned around but said,

"I will be back!" he warned before disappearing into the depths of the forest I quickly turned around got a better look at the girl. Her arm had itself wrapped around her relatively flat stomach. If the hell beast hadn't told me I would never have guessed she was pregnant.

"Thanks." She murmured.

"You shouldn't travel these mountains alone. Where is your husband?" I asked, sounding harsh, even to my own ears. I hadn't meant it to come out that way. I just hadn't had any human contact for about 3 months now.

"I have no husband." The girl replied, becoming visibly angry. Even though I now spoke to people (to a point), I didn't like them much and was very, very wary of them.

"Well…go back to where ever you came from. I don't wish to protect a woman who is incapable of protecting herself."I said, dismissing her with a wave of my hand.

"I...I can't go back." She whispered her voice cracking. She sat (more collapsed) to the ground, clutching her shoulder, grimacing.

"Why can't you go back?" I asked, curious despite my gruffness.

"It's…complicated." She sighed.

"Nothing is that complicated." I retorted indignantly, sitting in spite of myself. Bruno came, holding my bow and quiver of arrows in her mouth. I took them from her and put them back on.

Bruno padded over to the girl and licked her forearm, where blood was dripping. The girl winced as Bruno's pink tongue licked the wound. I sighed, my compassion getting the better of me.

"Do you wish for me to heal those for you?"

"Yes, please." She replied.

I leaned forward and cautiously touched her. I concentrated and closed my eyes. I could see her life force in my mind, it was bright and pure. I could see where bits of it were tattered and worn. I gently patched them up, pouring myself into them. For a moment the brokenness passed onto me before disappearing. While healing her I could feel the baby's life force. It was weak, but it pulsed steadily. It was warm and beautiful. It tentatively reached out to me. I took it into my life force, holding it.

"Tell mummy, it's okay. Everything will be alright now that we found you. Swear to me that you will protect her, alright?" the baby's small voice filled my mind.

"She is human. I cannot…will not protect humans." I retorted, defensive.

"He is more than he seems Hades' heir. Do not view things with your eyes and your head, but with your heart and soul." The baby replied before leaving me. I felt empty after it left but my mind was left reeling with new found questions.

"He?" I asked aloud after healing the girl. Her blue eyes went wide with shock before she recovered her composure.

"Thank you. But I think I'll be on my way now." She said politely. She began to get up only to clutch her abdomen in pain.

"Nngh." She winced.

I placed a hand on her stomach tentatively. She stared at me questioningly with those pools of blue. "Take care of mommy." The baby whispered in my mind as I came into contact with the bulge (tiny). It was round and hard, but no bigger than the fist of my hand, if that. The fabric of the tunic did not disguise the fact that the girl was suffering from malnutrition.

"You're starving." I said, plainly and to the point.

"Yes…I can't remember the last time I ate properly." She confessed, wistfully.

I then noticed the shadows under eyes (they looked more akin to the bruises that went up her neck to her jaw line). Her cheeks were hallow making her look sickly, which she probably was. I could see her ribs through her loose shirt.

"Your child has requested that I take care of you." I explained.

"You talked to it?" she asked in wonder.

"Yes, apparently it says there are more to you than I can see." I replied, getting up haughtily.

Her features contorted angrily.

"I do not need to be coddled. You, daughter of Hades, are arrogant and pompous. At one time I was one of the best warriors of Greece and I can take care of myself. I do not care what my child said but I will not become someone's burden." She nearly shouted with determination her eyes were like pits of angry fire. She stood up trembling.

"I got myself into this mess, and I will be the one to get myself out of it!" She said. She then promptly turned on her heal and picked up her satchel. I noticed the way her body shook and shuddered. It wasn't out of anger. I reached out and touched her life force. Even though I had healed her, it was blinking dangerously. She was fading. Just after I made that observation, she collapsed. I caught her just before she hit the ground.

"Meet me at the cave, Bruno." I instructed. Bruno wagged her tail in response before running off.

I hefted the girl in my arms. She was light, too light for one in her…delicate condition. She felt almost weightless in my arms. I flapped my wings rising higher and higher into the air. They were massive, my wings. Longer than my body's height two times over.

The summer sun shone on the girl's skin. Her skin was bronze in the sunlight. The skin was soft and beautiful, where it hadn't been marred by scars, wounds or bruises. Her long hair was now unrestrained, billowing around her gaunt face.

I gazed at her intently as we flew to my cave. In her sleep, she grimaced and moaned. I could feel her life force fading even more. In my mind I could hear the baby's desperate please. I quickened to the beat of my wings. Soon we reached my cave and I swooped down to the cliff at the mouth of the cave. I landed and closed my wings, while running into the cave.

I laid the girl on my bed, taking off her clothes in haste. I quickly ran my hand over her body, giving her and the baby some of my body energy. Some of the colour returned to her face.

I had gained myself some time. I quickly whipped up a concoction. Iron for the blood loss, and other herbs and medications to give her and her child nutrients her depleted body required. I prayed as well, something I hadn't done since the death of my mother.

"Hades…Father…you can't have her or the child! They are mine!" I entreated. I never got an answer but in my heart I knew he had heard me and wouldn't take her from me.

I went to the girl's bedside; re-clothing her (for modesty (which mostly was only for her sake)) I grabbed a stool and slid it beside her bedside. I sat down and put some of the herb medication liquid into my mouth. I gently opened her mouth and put my mother over hers. I pushed the syrupy liquid into her mouth. She instinctively swallowed. I took some more and repeated the action over and over until she ingested all of it. I licked away the syrup that way around her mouth.

I took away the dishes that held the liquid and went to wash them in the stream that flowed beside my cave. Bruno trotted beside me, licking my hand. Something was worrying me, this girl was special. There was an aura that surrounded her.

"You like her too, don't you?" I asked Bruno, patting her head distractedly. Bruno stared at me with mismatched eyes. The left was forest green while the other was ocean blue. I stared into the endless orbs, they seemed to hold all the answers and I only needed the key to open it.

"Watch over her, I'm going to go flying." I instructed. Bruno walked back to the cave. I transformed again, unfurling the large black wings. I inclined one towards me, preening the feathers carefully. I switched to the other wind, doing the same task. Soon my wings were shining and clean. I flapped them rising higher and higher into the midday sun. The wind surrounded me, whistling in my and buffeting my body as if it were alive.

Eagles soon surrounded me as I swooped over the mountainside. I touched their minds and asked them of the news. They told me of strange happenings. Apparently the gods had been at it again with the hero named Hercules. Only this time he had disappeared. Two months ago he had vanished. I listened (rather read their minds and they mine) attentively. This 'Hercules' had captured my interest. Whenever I could receive news from the animals I would ask about him. To my knowledge, he was the only other demigod…apart from him. The one who had killed my mother. Instantly my blood boiled with fury. Thoughts of him always did that to me.

"Thank you, birds of Zeus." I said, bowing my head before soaring away. They shrieked their response bidding me goodbye. Even though Zeus was lord of the skies, he always let me fly in them whenever I wished.

I liked Zeus. I had never personally seen him but once as a child I had felt his life force. I still remembered acutely what it felt like. It had been infinite, seeming to stretch on for ages and ages, completely endless, going on forever and ever. And it had been gloriously warm. Actually, the girl's life force had seemed almost as warm as Zeus'.

I flew contemplating, unexpectedly my mind and heart had calmed, by just thinking of the girl. She was so weak right now, the gauntness and hollowness of her cheeks, made her look incredible fragile. Despite this, she was breathtakingly beautiful. I was completely infatuated.

I flew back to my cave deep in thought. I landed by the entrance, returning back to my 'human' form. I went inside. The girl was as I had left her, slightly feverish and still moaning in her sleep. She was resting but she still had a long ways to go until she was well. I sat on the stool once more and placed my elbows on the bed. Bruno put her muzzle on my lap whining softly.

"I know, let's just wait and see…" I whispered to Bruno rubbing behind her ears. I eventually fell asleep, my thoughts full of the girl and her unborn child.

a/n: Sorry it's taken so long to update! Thank you all the people who are following! People who are reading 'Can I Save You' I will be updating in the next 2 weeks or so. Anyways thanks for reading, and as always please review! :)

(walks off into the sunset, whistling...then a cloud comes over and splashes me with water...crud...:p)