Chapter 28:
A/N: This probably has way more typos than my work usually does (which is saying quite a bit, I know), but I just wanted to hurry up and get it published before you guys killed me for taking so long. I will probably re-upload it when I publish the next chapter. Thanks for sticking with me so long, guys!
"Brother, I-"
"Haven't you figured it out yet, Zeus?"
Their gold eyes lock, and the two gods stare at each other.
"No, no – it – it can't be –"
"I am not your brother."
The attack comes fast in a flash of color and an explosion of thunder as Zeus parries the slash from Cronus' scythe with his bolt; and though the blow is blocked, Zeus feels his arm spike with pain from the devastating power.
From his peripheral vision he can see the other gods begin to ready their weapons as Cronus once again strikes at him with his scythe. The strength of the blow nearly knocks him off balance as he once again blocks it.
"This battle is between me and Zeus! Do not interfere!" Another blow, this time near the top of his head, and Zeus feels the bones in his arm breaking from trying to block the hit. This is dangerous, he thinks as he hears Ares and Dionysus snorting and laughing. I am distracted.
"We do not take orders from you, Hades!"
"Do as he says!" Zeus shouts. He is not Hades. He can hear his mother, now conscious, yelling at both of them. "Stop fighting!" he can hear her yelling desperately. "You are brothers! You are my sons!" He is not my brother.
"Look into his eyes, mother! He is not your son!" Zeus watches Cronus circle around him, his mouth in a twisted parody of a smile.
"You will not win this fight, Father. I destroyed you once, and I will destroy you again." Even if I have to destroy my brother, too.
"Try it."
And so he does, attacking so fast that no one can see him as he slashes his bolt across Hades' – no, Cronus' – face, cutting and burning a thin, deep wound from the left corner of the god's forehead, between his dark eyebrows and all the way across his right cheek to the corner of his jaw. The attack makes Cronus stagger backwards, attempting to wipe the blood off of his face from the newly-inflicted wound. That will leave a scar, Zeus thinks with some satisfaction. Good. He almost begins to smile, until he hears Cronus' maniacal laughter.
"Is that all you have, Zeus? I was expecting more from you." Holding his palm out, Cronus sends a spiral of green flames from his hand, which Zeus easily dodges, followed by a heavy elbow to the back of his skull, knocking him down.
When he tries to roll over, he feels a heavy foot pressing down onto his neck. From the corner of his eye he can see the gods look at him with worry, even Ares.
"Father?" The look on his face reminds Zeus of when the god was small, confident and curious…it is a look of confusion. Zeus is sure Ares has never seen him like this; never seen him at the mercy of another god.
"Father?" his son asks again, drawing out his sword and stepping closer.
"Your son wants you to say something, Zeus," Zeus can feel Cronus' heavy weight press harder onto his throat, "Why don't you oblige him?"
It feels like an age since she was last at Olympus, but Persephone keeps going, her mother wailing and trailing far behind her. As she heads into the courtyard, she sees Morpheus and Hypnos, but before she can speak with any of them she is intercepted by Aphrodite and Eros.
"Ahh, the beautiful princess has returned to us – or should I say "queen"?" Aphrodite smiles at her.
"Hello, Aphrodite," Persephone smiles back. "I would love to catch up, but I really need to speak with my father," she hears the tell-tale sign of Demeter's close presence when a shrill voice yells out for her, and Persephone cringes. "Preferably before my mother catches up with me."
"Well, Zeus is quite, um, unavailable at the moment. Would you like to wait?"
Persephone narrows her eyes, says, "No. This is important, and I will see him now."
Aphrodite grabs her arm, squeezing tightly. "You can't see him; he's busy." Stupid girl, Aphrodite thinks. You will ruin everything. "Tell her why Zeus is busy, Eros."
Eros glares at his mother, but smiles politely at Persephone. "He has become quite enamored with a nymph and is, um, indulging his passion with her."
Persephone rips her arm from Aphrodite's grasp and crosses her arms. "I don't care if he's eating, drinking, ruling or fucking. I need to see him now, and I will see him now."
At that moment loud thunderous crack sounds from the throne room, and Persephone looks over Aphrodite's shoulder.
"What in the name of Tartarus is going on here?" she asks, pushing past Aphrodite and Eros.
"Persephone, wait!" they both call after her.
They're all looking at him. They all have the same expression. How can this be happening again? Zeus imagines them all wondering. How can Zeus be losing? They're still looking at him, and he feels the pressure on his throat grow.
"Go!" he chokes out. "Get out of here while you still can!" The gods and goddess run out of the throne room, pushing and shoving.
Persephone starts running towards the throne room, breaking into an all-out sprint as she feels Aphrodite and Eros following her. Just as she is about to pull the large doors of the throne room open, she is almost knocked to the ground by the gods rushing out of it, screaming and pushing and yelling. When she regains her balance, she catches sight of Ares, who looks panicked and scared.
He all but rushes up to her, his mouth moving too fast to make any sort of coherent sound. He grabs her by the shoulders and looks her right in the eyes. "You have to go in there. You have to stop him." You have to save my father. He squeezes her shoulders. "Please." She nods slowly, and turns around and frowns when she sees him look over her head.
"You knew this would happen!" he yells at Aphrodite. He runs up to her and yells into her face and all the other gods stare at the four of them, Ares, Persephone, Aphrodite and Eros. "You had this planned all along, didn't you, you whore?! Poseidon, Cronus, Hades-" She stops his tirade with a hard slap to the face, making him spit out blood. He returns the slap with a punch to her face, knocking her backwards and onto the floor.
"How dare you hurt my mother-" Eros is silenced when Ares draws his sword and lightly jabs it into the other god's neck, keeping him at a distance.
"You had this planned all along, for Hades – for Cronus – to defeat Zeus. And then you were going to take the throne from him. How? Have you seen his power? How would you defeat a man who would so easily defeat my father?" Ares looks down at Aphrodite and sees her eyes flicker to Persephone, and Ares finally understands. You bitch. He looks at all the gods surrounding him and says his epiphany loudly, so that they can all hear it:
"Your plan was to make Hades fall in love with Persephone…so you could manipulate him. You must have known that Cronus was gaining strength, and you knew that Hades would seek help from Dionysus, who you knew would have come to me because of my love of war. Then all you had left to do was get Poseidon to do what you wanted and everything fell into place for you…His defeat would only be collateral damage, because the real prize you wanted was Zeus' throne, which an enraged Cronus could give you, because then from there you would capitalize on his weakness – Hades' love for Persephone. What, were you going to have Eros steal his scythe while you threw Persephone at Cronus and then cut him into pieces all over again? You wanted to rule Olympus by putting Eros on the throne. You manipulated all of us like we were pieces in a game."
"You wanted war, and you got it, you hypocrite!" she spits at him.
"I didn't want this," he says quietly, almost softly enough for it to be a whisper.
He turns his head to look at Persephone. "You're the only one who can stop all this."
"Persephone, no! Don't go in!" Demeter pushes her way past the crowd and looks at her daughter. "Please. Don't leave me."
Persephone runs to her mother and hugs her tightly. "I have to, Mother. I'm the only one who can stop this."
"Persephone…"
"Don't worry, Mother – we goddesses are immortal, remember? I will be fine." I hope. The gods and goddesses of Olympus, the Underworld and several sea gods look at her, worry on their faces, and she takes a deep breath as she pulls the doors of the throne room open.
Zeus looks up at Cronus, mad eyes gleaming with power. Are you in there, Brother? he wonders. Did you agree to be used like this? Zeus doesn't know, isn't sure of anything – except for the fact that he has to defeat Cronus, and he has to get out from underneath his foot fast.
As he struggles to free himself, he sees the throne room doors open again.
"I thought I told you to get out!" he tries to choke out, but his words come out sputtered and garbled. He hears Cronus laugh him and crush his throat even harder.
"I am going to enjoy taking you apart, Zeus. Just think of it: piece by piece, I'll cut your body apart. I wonder…what should I start with first? Your eyes? Maybe your hands? Oh! I know…let's start with castration – that's always so much fun."
"Hades!"
Cronus' head twists to the doors of the throne room, and he smiles cruelly.
"Hades no longer exists, girl. You have failed."
"Go!" Zeus manages to choke out. "Leave, Persephone!"
Persephone shakes her head. Her fingers are shaking and her heart feels like it is about to burst out of her chest, but she presses forward.
"That's not true," she says, clearing her voice. "I know he's still there." She slowly steps closer.
Cronus snarls, and as she gets closer she sees the new cut across his face and his gold eyes and she tries not to grimace. He steps his foot off of Zeus' neck to properly face her, but he ends up replacing his foot with the scythe.
"He is gone, girl. His body is mine now."
Persephone feels tears threatening to fall, but she keeps her composure. "You are so confident and secure that he is gone, surely you will not deny me one last kiss." Please work. Please.
Cronus frowns. "Are you stupid? You would not me kissing him, you would be kissing me."
"I just want one last kiss. I will pretend that you are Hades." Please work, please work.
Cronus laughs, and it's an evil sound which makes her skin crawl. "Idiot girl. Kissing me will do you no good, but I suppose it will bring me some amusement. So go ahead, kiss me."
She knows her father is staring at her, but she doesn't care – she has to do this. This close up, she sees the infection of the curse has spread up to his neck, long black tendrils shifting and undulating. Good – I won't have to reach as far…
She places her hands on either side of his cheek and lightly presses her lips to his, consciously pushing past the taste of his blood that has managed to seep into his mouth from the cut on his face. She licks his lips and hears a surprised gasp as she deepens the kiss, moving her hands through his hair and down his neck where she presses and thinks hard, Hades come back to me. She keeps kissing him, until she starts to feel the world around her begin to spin and when she opens her eyes, she finds herself in a blinding white space filled with nothing.
"You came back." His voice is muffled, almost as if it is coming from underwater, but she knows it is his voice.
She turns around , and surely enough, he's there, and she looks into his eyes and find that they are as clear and as blue as ever.
"You came back," he says again, and the wonder in his voice makes her heart break.
"For you."
A/N: This is NOT the end yet, people, but it is VERY close. I know, I know; I made you guys wait FOREVAR and then I don't even end the story. I am a horrible human being, I know. But shit happens sometimes, you know how life goes. I will try to get the next chapter out this weekend. And there will be a sequel, just to let ya'll know. As always, leave comments and reviews.
Thanks again, everyone. We're almost done!