Lots of fluff, but I'm trying to make it so that this isn't all just the regular story with small changes. If you like my storyline, review! If you don't…you do you, my friends.
First Person: Kaze
"Onesan, how long have you been sleeping in a bed?"
"What kind of question is that?"
"How long have you been…living normally?"
"Since a little after you died," She admitted. "It wasn't easy or fun, and I missed you a lot." She dropped onto her bed and stared at the ceiling. "I was alone for a year, but then I met Veon-san. Demigods in the U.S. aren't hunted down or imprisoned. They're able to stay hidden at camps or some can even keep hidden on their own. Most of the gods live in the U.S. now, and Mount Olympus is at the top of the Empire State Building in New York." I sat down on the bed near her feet.
"So does that mean our parents protect us here?"
"Well…no. The gods aren't allowed to interact with their children by law, no matter how much they want to, and many do want to. Your dad cares for his children, Ototo, he really does." I hummed in acknowledgment but didn't say anything. My dad had left me and my sister, my real sister, alone in the world after we were born. Our mother died giving birth to me, and my big sister couldn't raise me alone on the streets. She died begging for Hermes to help, but he didn't come. He abandoned us when we needed him, and I've never actually met him in real life. I've told Onesan about it, and she says she never met her mother, grandfathers, or any other god whether she was related or not. She didn't believe in gods, and one took away any life we had together…
"Here." I was snapped out of my thoughts by a silver point being shoved in front of my face. I looked up to see Onesan holding a large shuriken. "I got this thing but haven't used it much. I've made some modifications to it as well." She pulled it back and flicked it so that the four blades retracted into a cylinder hilt. She passed it to me and I examined it.
"How does it work?"
"Point and think. Connect with your weapon. The more you use it, the easier it will be to work with it." I pointed it forward and the first blade popped out. It was about three feet long, so it would work nicely as a sword. I turned the sword to the side and the blade opposite of the first came out. It was weighted really nicely. I flicked the weapon and the two perpendicular blades came out. I twisted the weapon. It was heavy, but it worked with my strength. If a weapon was too light for me, I tended to drop it or break it.
"Thank you, Onesan."
"Here, try this." She pulled the shuriken and it came apart into two boomerangs. The motioned for me to grab the grip of them and then she pulled them into four separate swords.
"Cool~"
"Promise not to take any more weapons from the others?" I sighed.
"Promise…"
"Don't look so down." She snapped her two sword halves together. I did the same with mine and then she took them and snapped them into the four-bladed shuriken. She sheathed the blades and handed me the cylinder. "You've got your own weapon now. It works as a single sword, two swords, a double bladed one, or two double bladed ones, boomerangs, and a shuriken. All you have to do is focus and the blades will shrink to dagger size as well. I've infused it with some energy to work with your speed as well, so you can put it in speed-mode with you even if you throw it. I use guns and a sword for long and short range."
"What about your bow?" I nodded to the five-foot longbow leaning against her nightstand with a quiver beside it. The weapon looked pretty new. The shaft was gray but sparkling with gems of all different colors, and its frame resembled Kikyo's bow from Inuyasha. The bowstring looked to be made out of metal or something, but I wasn't the bow expert that Onesan was. The shaft was straight until it reached the limbs of the bow where the transition was sharp, meaning she could swing the bow like a sword for close range enemies. The riser of the bow was just some wrapped cloth at the center of the bow shaft where it would be held and where the arrow would rest. Any amateur, and many experts, would have trouble holding the arrow steady with no arrow rest or sights like modern recurves and compounds have, but Onesan held arrows so steady and was such a perfect shot, you'd think she was cheating. Onesan always said that she preferred a simpler longbow rather than a recurve or a compound, and the longbow was one of the hardest to aim and master, yet she used it effortlessly.
"I don't use a bow very often," She admitted.
"Why?" Onesan usually used nothing but a bow. She made her own bow after we escaped from the "orphanage" and never used anything else. When I snapped her bowstring and nearly killed myself, well she fixed me first (obviously; she's not that obsessed with her bow), but then worked for days to fix the bowstring so it was to her liking. I don't think she ate or slept until she fixed that thing, and she refused to take up any other weapon meanwhile, consequently making me have to handle the hunting, and without a long range weapon or the ability to throw straight for the life of me, I couldn't kill anything. I managed to take some vines, sticks, leaves and my ingenuity to make a trap, but still. I was a freaking seven-year-old trying to catch a wild animal to eat. What were we talking about again? Oh right, Onesan isn't using a bow.
"I just don't," She said dismissively.
"But you love using a bow. You educated me on nearly every part of a bow, and taught me how to identify a proper bow from a mile away! I tried not to listen, but I can still tell you that the bow right there is perfect for you for at least five reasons. Not to mention the arrows."
"Kaze-kun, I'm cursed so that I can't use a bow. If I even touch that thing, my hand will spasm out and this shock goes through me that causes me to tense up and shouts "NO!" I can't use the thing. I haven't been able to use any bow since your death."
"Well, why do you have that? The bow is obviously new."
"Veon-san gave it to me for my birthday. He doesn't know about my curse."
"Well, we can break it, right? There's got to be some way to fix this. Maybe there's some place we can go for a cure or some condition we need to meet. Do you know if there's something like that?" She sat on her bed and stared at her hands.
"No," She said quietly. "I don't think there's a way to fix it. I've survived, Ototo, I'll be fine."
"No! You're going to use a bow again, Onesan, I promise. Who cursed you? Maybe we could convince them to change their mind or…or I'll take some curse in return-!"
"Kaze-kun, no," She said firmly. "I won't have you suffering or getting hurt. Not again. Not for my sake or anybody else's."
"But Rei-chan!"
"No!"
"Who did it? At least tell me that!"
"Styx! Goddess of the Underworld's most important river?! The most powerful of all water nymphs?! Eldest daughter of the sea Titan Oceanus?! Goddess of hatred?! I swore something upon her river, and I think you can figure out the rest from there!"
"But…wouldn't she kill you if you broke an oath?"
"There are a lot worse things out there than death."
"Like what?"
"Like living." I saw that just past her on her nightstand was a switchblade knife, the one that I'd gotten her for a birthday once. I'd left early in the morning before she'd woken up to go steal the thing from a hunting shop. When it got back, she was furious. She said that I could've gotten caught or died and she never would have known, not until it was too late. She told me that was how her father died, leaving to surprise her with a present, but never returning. After that, I swore never to leave her side, and if I did, I would always tell her and have her consent. The blade was practically bathed in blood. She saw where my eyes were, and snatched up the knife.
"Go to sleep, Kaze-kun." She walked into the bathroom and I heard the water from the sink running before she shut the door. The doors must've been sound-proof since I couldn't hear anything through the walls. What had happened to Onesan while I was gone? What had that goddess made her do, what had she done to my sister? I was going to protect her, I vowed, I wasn't going to let my sister suffer anymore. I just needed to convince her to leave with me. If we left all of this behind, mother promised we'd be left in peace, away from the gods and away from this war or whatever. I didn't need anyone but my sister with me, and I needed to get her away from all this danger. I guess she does have a nice boyfriend, and she might not want to leave him. If he checks out, I may let him come with us too.
Slipping my hand into the outer pocket of my hoodie, I pulled out my four runes. They had gained a bit of color back, meaning I had one charge out of them, maybe two depending on the question I asked. Mentally asking it a question, I tossed the runes into the air. When I caught the runes, I prayed they'd come up positive. Will my sister be safe? I opened my hand. Three runes negative, one rune positive. My heart sank. Those three runes meant no, but there's a catch. I had enough for one more question, so I tossed them a final time for the night. Can I help my sister? Two runes positive, two runes negative.
First Person: Lucy
I quickly cleaned the knife I had forgotten to wash off earlier. Once I was done, I flipped the blade to be sheathed in the hilt. I didn't want to argue with my brother, and I didn't want to lie to him. He's alive. I should be euphoric, I should be able to touch my bow again. But I hadn't made up for what I did. Sure, he's alive, but that doesn't mean I still don't deserve punishment for what happened. What can I do? How can I make up for betraying the trust he put it me? I turned on him despite everything we'd ever had, I threw him to the wolves, and there's no way I can just give him a hug and say "sorry." He forgives me, but that's because he thinks the goddess forced me into what I did, didn't give me a choice. I thought I was going to save someone, but in the end all I did was hurt him both emotionally and physically and then I killed him with no justification. There's no way I can make up for that, at least none that I can think of.
When I came back out of the bathroom, I set the knife onto my nightstand. Kaze was lying on my bed, having finally changed into the pajamas I loaned him. He was still in his hoodie, and I assumed he wasn't ever going to take that thing off. He was facing the wall and huddled on the far side of the bed, away from me. I touched his wrist and checked to see if he was asleep before tossing the covers over him. I removed my jacket and replaced the bandages on my right arm, wrapping bandages around my left arm so that he wouldn't see the scars from the injections, and so that it would just look like some fashion trend rather than an actual injury. I didn't know whether it would fool him or not, but it was worth a shot.
I snuck under the covers and snapped the light in the room to go from dim to completely off. Sleep came to me pretty easy, but just as I swore I was going to fall asleep, I felt Kaze wrap his arms around me protectively. He was still slightly shorter than me, and his head slipped into the crook of my neck like I was the one shielding him, but I felt his grip around me firm, as though he was willing to take on the world for me. I didn't want him to put himself in harm's way. He thought he was invincible, immortal, but even the gods can be destroyed. How would he feel if he learned what I had to do?
The goddess wasn't to blame for this. She wasn't doing this only for herself; she was doing this for everyone, good or evil, so that they could have the chance to live. She wasn't evil. She wasn't forcing me. I chose this path, and I chose to do what I've done, whether I hated it or not. That's why I can never be forgiven. I will live this life, I will do what needs to be done and take the punishment so that others don't have to. I'm willing to hold that burden. Somehow, I'd have to make my brother understand that, yes, I'm suffering, I'm unhappy, but I chose to do it. There's always going to be pain out there in the world, and if I can take away even one person's suffering in return for having it myself, I'd take it.
Maybe that was my fatal flaw, something that would one day lead to my demise. I would take pain in place of others. I didn't believe there was any value in my life, that I was expendable if it meant others could live in my place. That I don't believe I'm worth anything. Even knowing that, it doesn't change how I feel. I'm going to go forward, and I'll go through with what I must in order to help people. Yet now I did feel hesitant. My brother would be unhappy with it. He'd try and stop me, I know it. And Audrey and Emily would protest if they knew the truth. They'd be unhappy, and the pain wouldn't all be on me anymore. To go forward, I'd have to go against my brother's wishes once more.
It brought up the concern of why Kaze was allowed to live when Thanatos was released. He hadn't been killed just recently while Death was out of commission; he was killed years ago. Maybe Gaea granted him life in order to mess with me and my heart, make me hesitate and falter. Kaze did talk about a step-mother who'd planted the thought in his head that my friends were forcing me into things. I'd show them they weren't a threat, and that Gaea was the real evil. His belief in her must be similar to the demigods in the Titan war with Luke Castellan. He felt abandoned by Hermes and the gods, even though his dad really did care for him.
I'd done some digging once I'd gotten my new powers from the goddess and got the story from Hermes. It turns out that his mother was a teenager when she'd met Hermes, an orphan on the streets like us. She handled things pretty well on her own, and caught Hermes's attention while she was causing trouble at a restaurant. She didn't like rich people because of her lifestyle, so she got revenge through her own inventions to crash rich-people's parties and events. He met her when she was nearly caught and cornered at the roof. She threatened him and demanded he help her (because that's how all passionate relationships begin, obviously) and when she tried to throw a home-made bomb at him, it naturally didn't work.
Hermes revealed he was a god, but she didn't believe him. Being the prideful guy he was, he proved it by helping her escape. She was stubborn and didn't thank him, so he followed her around and became an annoyance to her. He finally learned that she was a legacy of Hephaestus (a daughter of a half-blood and a human), and that's why she could see through the mist and see him in turn, though she didn't believe that either. Long story short, they grew close and she started believing him about all the godly things, though she still didn't take him very seriously. He still did his job as messenger of the gods and such, but he always came back to visit her since he found her interesting. Beautiful love story, etc., but then things went wrong like they do.
Hermes got found out that he was interfering in a demigod's life, even if she was only a quarter god, and was warned to leave her alone or else he'd face punishment. He told her it was nothing and that he wasn't worried about his father's punishments (even though it was totally a lie) but still left her alone with a child. Unable to properly support herself while she was pregnant, she had to turn herself in so that she could be given proper nutrients and healthy living conditions. Hermes told me he watched over her even though he couldn't see her in person, and he knew she was praying for him to come back. She believed that maybe if she chose to have her child, that maybe he'd come back to her.
She survived Kaze's birth, but when Hermes still didn't come back, she began to realize that he'd left her all alone to raise a child when she herself was still one as well. She left the hospital that she'd been living in for the past couple months and went back to being in the streets, raising Kaze and telling him she was his older sister, lamenting to Kaze about all her anger towards Hermes. He was young, considering he'd come to that "orphanage" at around three years old, but he still remembered some of what she'd told him. She, being a demigod, was still attacked by monsters, something she hadn't considered since being only a quarter god lessened her attack rate before she had Kaze.
By the time Kaze could walk, he understood two things clearly: his father had abandoned him and his "sister" and didn't care about them, and there was no mercy in the world, you had to learn to survive, or you die, because there's no one out there who's going to help you. At first, he still held hope in his heart that there was something out there helping them, or they wouldn't still be alive. Then his mother died begging for Hermes to help, but he couldn't. Kaze didn't know that, and neither did his mother. As far as they were concerned, he'd abandoned them. That's when Kaze started to believe her words. He grew up not believing in anyone or anything, including his father.
So Kaze probably believes things that Gaea tells him because she's convinced him that the gods will get what they deserve or some such. I gripped him just as protectively as he was holding me. There had to be a way to convince Kaze that his father cared. Currently, Hermes and Mercury were probably in their schizophrenic state and were in no condition to have a heart-to-heart with his (their?) son. But I wasn't going to let my brother try and take down the gods and work for Dirt Face. I just need to find out if he has any plans here and convince him his father cares, and that Gaea is the real enemy. Not exactly an easy task when the majority of the gods are jerks. But I was going to protect my little brother no matter what. Maybe if I could keep him alive and make sure his second chance in this world was used to save it, then maybe I could make up for what I did. Maybe.
