Red Bull Horns Aren't For Grabbing (Percy Jackson/FGO - Asterios SI Chapter 7)
Daedalus never thought this day would come. That the stupid bull of all beings would succeed in finding and hunting him down.
There as something ironic in that the beast found its jailor in the jail he made for said monster. The weaving of the Fates was written over this whole encounter, Daedalus was sure.
He couldn't even escape if he wanted to. The Labyrinth itself had closed off all his escapes. Even shadow travel via Mrs. O'Leary was blocked to him, when he was with the hellhound.
Daedalus stood outside his workshop with a suitcase containing a battle armor, the Diomedes , modeled after the golden armor of Diomedes blessed by Athena. Basically an Ironman suit. He also had the revised Olympian Blade, ready to channel the ultra intense laser through the celestial bronze to burn through weapons and armor of his foes. Not that the he could help the sword's shelf life, as the heat would melt even celestial bronze eventually.
"So, you finally managed to find me, Minotaur. I'm guessing your master has an offer I can't refuse." Daedalus said, looking for the monster's comrades. The beast surely couldn't have ventured this deep through the Labyrinth, and fought all those monsters, Daedalus saw through the surveillance drone, he spread around the Labyrinth (they are useful sometimes), only to face him alone, right? Then again, the beast was pretty dumb. Even if it had gotten stronger, it likely still has a one track mind like a bull. No, the real threat would come from elsewhere. "I thought the Titan's Army was lead by that demigod son of Hermes, I've been hearing up."
Yet nothing was coming up, thus Daedalus couldn't help but grow more nervous.
In fact the only thing of note was the Minotaur's reaction. He raised an eyebrow and gave a quick look around when Daedalus said Hermes' name.
Did the Minotaur expect the god to show up at the utterance of his name? How can he not know that the Labyrinth confuses the gods' senses with its ever changing ways. The most they'd be able to tell is someone said their name within the Labyrinth, but it would take effort on their part to dig in and find who ever invoked their name. Maybe something like a sincere prayer would pass through for a little while, before the Labyrinth changes the person's location again, but that's it.
Daedalus' eyes widened as the gift of his mother, his enhanced mind quickly reached the conclusion to where the other trick to this encounter was. That it plainly wasn't any.
The Minotaur in it stupidity and stubbornness came all the way here alone. Was it that driven by rage at him?
Still, that was fortunate then. He could handle the bull, he had many times before. Although the Labyrinth helping the Minotaur was just... odd. It wasn't the first time the Labyrinth acted against him. Even if it was his hideout from death itself, it was in itself a death trap. Yet, this was the first time it was actively coordinating with a monster, rather than acting out its malicious nature.
"Anyways, are you here to threaten me? Kill me? Force me to work for the Crooked One's sake?" Daedalus said with a bravery he didn't feel. The bull was... unnaturally still. It didn't act like it usually did. It wasn't twitching with barely contained rage against everything. Or even wearing that stupid wifebeater. The Minotaur instead was... calm. Wearing a suit of all thing.
And had a human face. Daedalus' eyes were telling him there was no Mist being used to conjure that face. The inventor wasn't sure if that was a trick or an unexpected transformation of the Minotaur.
Did something change with human culture enough to change the Minotaur's appearance?
No. Even if Daedalus separated himself from the world, he still kept up with the trends and changes of technology and cultural perception. Nothing indicated a change in the public consciousness related to the Minotaur. At best some indie games that wouldn't have much of an impact in the long run.
Daedalus sighed. He's overthinking this. Really.
All this was, was the Titan's sending the Minotaur with a message to force him to compliance, and didn't think about how dumb it was to send the bull monster as the messenger.
"You forgot what message you were suppose to give me, weren't you? Honestly of all the stupid—"
"I swear on the River Styx," the Minotaur spoke for the first time. His voice softer than Daedalus expected or remember it being. But it was the words that shocked him. "That for the next five hours, I, Asterios, will be unable to lie to Daedalus whenever I speak, so aid my Goddess Styx on this task. That I'd conduct this conversation with nothing but honesty and clarity for the sake of proper communication."
And just like that, an plans, ideas or preconceptions in Daedalus' mind took a beating.
A crack of thunder. The eye of the divine was upon them. Upon the monster.
What? Daedalus thought. Since when can the Minotaur speak that coherently? Was his first thought. His second one was: Did he call himself "Asterios"? The name Pasiphaë gave him before he gained his more iconic one. Why did he identify himself with that? What's going on?
Mino... Asterios sighed and sat down. Even while sitting, he was still a giant in size, almost Daedalus' height, in that the monster only have to tilt his head up a bit, to meet Daedalus' gaze.
"You know what the problem with geniuses are?" Asterios said, and continued before Daedalus could respond. "That they can be some of the dumbest people on earth." The bull monster shook his head with a sigh.
"Really? You have finally grown enough of a brain for name calling?" Daedalus said, feeling a small indignation that the fricking Bull of Minos of all things was calling him stupid.
"The fact that I need to make that elaborate oath, just so you can enter this conversation without second guessing everything I say kinda proves it. I need you to actually hear me out, rather than keep looking for a threat that isn't there, and wasting both our time." Asterios said with a dry bored look.
It annoyed Daedalus that the being he always thought of as a dullard, was being sassy with him of all things, but... this situation is too odd, too different.
"You weren't actually sent by the Crooked One or his demigod agent, were you? You're here on your own without anyone's knowledge?" Daedalus said with wide-eyes, as the Mino—Asterios grinned.
"Now you're getting it." Asterios said.
"So what, one of the oldest and most loyal monsters in Greek history, just suddenly decided not to obey those stronger than him, just because just because he can pass off as a model now." Daedalus said, wary and keeping his distance, but willing to listen for now. This change in the Bull of Minos, it pulled at his curiosity.
...Which now that Daedalus thought about, he would be able to just find out by asking the monster, rather than figure it out on his own. He frown at the challenge to his intellect being denied.
"Thanks for the compliment." Asterios nodded at him, holding an amused smile.
Regardless, he wasn't a child or an inexperienced mortal anymore. He pushed that annoyance aside, and used his fingers to whistle. Mrs. O'Leary leaped from his shadow, growling at the bull monster in a business suit.
"Stay, girl." He told her as he patted her back. It was a way to show Asterios that he wasn't alone, and an escape route. Even if the Labyrinth won't allow him to escape with Mrs. O'Leary through her shadow travel, she was still a very fast hellhound, big and strong enough for him to ride. "You got my attention, bull." Even if his name changed, somehow, Daedalus wasn't suddenly gonna be friendly with the monster. "Speak, why are you here? What happened to you, how did this change come about?"
Asterios was quiet for a moment as he thought on how to begin to answer that.
"Did you know I actually solved the Labyrinth and left it while I was still alive, before my first death?" Asterios casually began.
Daedalus was stunned shocked. His Labyrinth, arguably his greatest creation, the greatest puzzle... failed at its job?
Asterios wasn't smote by the Goddess of Oaths. He was telling the truth.
How? How had he never heard of this? How was that possible?
The bull monster known far and wide in myth never succeeded in escaping his prison, yet the action beast in question is telling him that he did escape? And it's the truth.
"After being outside for a while, seeing the sky for the first time and everything, I went back inside, and closed the exit I found." He continued.
"You did what?" Daedalus eyes went wide. "Why? If you were able to escape, to be free then why—?"
"Because I didn't think a monster deserved to be free. I didn't think a monster that ate children could just... live. Have a quiet life somewhere and be happy. No, I needed to pay for the suffering I brought, so I waited for a hero to come kill me." Asterios explained, his eyes looking old and heavy.
The eyes of the Minotaur always ever showed rage. A hunger and want for battle and violence. Even though it was an old creature, its eyes never seemed to reflect its age. It was just a beast through and through.
Yet Asterios' eyes showed his age. They showed his guilt and humanity.
Humanity? How? The bull monster doesn't have a drop of humanity. It was born to a divine bull and an immortal sorceress.
Yet Daedalus' eyes only showed Asterios' sincerity.
"I also never escaped the Labyrinth and lived there all my life till my death at the hands of Theseus."
!
"What?" Daedalus shouted. He looked around, expecting divine vengeance to be delivered right away upon the stupid beast. Even with the Labyrinth changing nature, the Goddess of Hatred's wrath would still befall the bull. Daedalus needed to get out of the blast zone.
...Yet nothing happened.
"My father is a divine bull gifted to Minos by Poseidon." Asterios continued.
"Wait—"
"Actually it was Poseidon in disguise as the Cretan Bull, as he wanted to fuck Pasiphaë."
"Hold on—"
"No wait, my father was Aegeus, ruler of Athens. Minos finding out about the affair disowned me. Had me paraded around with bullhorns stuck to my head, and order that I never leave the palace and be called a monster by everyone who interacted with me. When I was finally old enough I was sent to Athens with my brother, Androgeus, to compete in a bull marathon, and given how badly he treated me, I engineered his death. My real father, Aegeus, found out about this and realized I was his son, but didn't acknowledge me. I was shipped back to Crete, but Minos saw this as Aegeus having planned the whole thing, thus the war and the tributes that followed, until years later my brother, Theseus snuck into Crete to free me."
"That is literally not even close to how that happened! I was alive at that time, and why haven't you gotten struck by the Goddess Styx yet!?" Daedalus cried out, as this was he was close to pulling his hair out.
Was the bull monster somehow circumventing the River Styx's oath and truth telling? How? And how could a freaking simpleton like the Minotaur figure it out, when he never had in his entire life!?
No. The answer is much simpler. Asterios was still telling the truth. How?
"Because I have yet to lie, and I actively can't lie at the moment." Asterios said, echoing Daedalus' thoughts.
"Those can't all be true." Daedalus said.
"You know as well as I do that if humanity believes something to be true, it ends up becoming so. Look at how the gods changed throughout the ages." Asterios said.
"So they modernized, that doesn't mean they were fundamentally altered multiple different times, with all those different changes being true." Daedalus argued.
"And yet, here I stay as evidence against that." Asterios smirked.
"..." Daedalus ran his mind through his puzzle. He could just asked his annoying guest how he was doing that, but... he wanted to figure it out. How can the Minot—Asterios have multiple different pasts, all of which are considered true.
Daedalus was a son of Athena. He already saw the hint that believe was involved in this puzzle. The story of the Minotaur that changed throughout the ages...
His eyes widened as his mind zapped with inspiration, blazing toward the solution.
"You're the Minotaur." He exclaimed.
"Stating the obvious." Asterios nodded, but the smirk on his face showed he saw that Daedalus was reaching the right conclusion.
"You are every single story about the Minotaur. Not just the ones that happened, but the popularized ones people believed that changed with time." Daedalus continued.
"Getting warmer." Asterios said.
"Monsters are continuously formed out of the belief that sustains them. They return through it. And while you'd be the same Minotaur as the same one from the myth, you'd have changed based on what people believed you to be. But if you're all the stories at once, then..." Daedalus tried to think on how he could be all of them. His eyes shined and widened in disbelief as the thought crystalized in his mind. "Each monster is reformed out of an archetype of that is formed out of the base story of their origin. Queen sleeps with bull. Half-bull, half-man child is born. Labyrinth made to imprison him. Heroes come to defeat him and fail till one arrives and aided by a princess, uses a string to not lose their way, and slays the bull-man." Daedalus words were speeding up as he explained, feeling excited and intrigued at this possibility. "You are all the stories of Minotaur, the Archetype itself that the monster should be formed from!"
Asterios nodded at the dediction. He waved his arm to the side, and golden dust erupted from his arm to form give different looking minotaurs. Daedalus almost worried that they'd attack, but they just looked at each other and nodded, before looking back at their maker.
Asterios waved his arm again, and the minotaurs burst into golden dust and were reabsorbed by him.
"How?" Daedalus questioned. "How could this have happened?"
"I... do not know." Asterios shrugged before feeling a wince. "For sure. It could be a cosmic coincidence. It could be the tempering of different gods outside of the Greek Pantheon, or it could be the Fates having a lark."
"Could it be the Titans? A plan by the Crooked One to gain much stronger subordinates?" Daedalus wondered.
"Highly doubt it." Asterios laughed at notion, like it was the most absurd thing ever.
Daedalus thought it over and... yeah. Given all the stories about monsters, no way the Titan King would want to have minion who were too strong that he didn't trust, unlike his titan siblings.
"So... why have you come here? Why did you want to speak to me?" Daedalus finally asked.
"...There is one more story about the Minotaur I need to tell you." Asterios said after a moment of hesitation. "However this story did not happen in this world."
Asterios spoke.
And the more he talked the more perplexed and interested Daedalus was.
Asterios told that first origin story he used in his example, but this time in fully.
He spoke of a magic system Daedalus never heard of.
He spoke of concepts that were twisted from ones he was familiar with, related to eastern traditions.
He spoke of Heroic Spirits, and Servant Summonings.
A different world. A world that operated on a different cosmology. A world were gods left humans to fully inherit the world and live as they will.
And then Asterios spoke of the End of that World. The Human Order Incineration Ritual.
He spoke of Chaldeans, of Heroes that travelled across time to save their world and its history.
He spoke of Okeanos, of being summoned and of meeting friends that he was willing to sacrifice himself for.
He spoke of the final battle were an ordinary human's will overcame a being that brought low gods.
It was as absurd as it was poetic.
That it was all true... filled Daedalus with an indescribable emotion.
"You're... him as well? That 'Asterios'." He wasn't asking, but confirming.
"And a human who knew all of these worlds and stories." Asterios nodded.
"What human? Who?" Daedalus furrowed his brows in intrigue.
"Dunno." Asterios shrugged. "My human name was lost in all the mess that is being three different beings mashed into one. I think of myself as Asterios now anyways, so that's all I care about."
"Very well," Daedalus nodded. "That was... enlightening. But at the end of all of this, why did you seek me?"
"I need your help." Asterios said bluntly, no attempt at maneuvering or getting the upper hand. Not that he could lie with that oath he made. "I couldn't think of anyone else."
"And if I refuse?" Daedalus honestly wasn't thinking of refusing. Asterios' story and everything surrounding him was the most interesting thing he had encountered in a long while. But he was curious about Asterios' response.
Who is he really underneath everything? A amalgamation of every bull monster? A tragic being that could have been a hero? A human living with being a monster?
"Then I leave." Asterios shrugged, his answer surprising Daedalus in how simple it was. "Sure I could force you, but the help I need is with something delicate. You not being 100% on board would just be damaging to me and my goals in the long run." He then met Daedalus' eyes with a gimlet eye. "Of course if you refuse after hearing me out, you are going to swear on the Styx to never reveal my plans, or even so much as meeting."
"...And if I don't?" This time, Daedalus felt he was pushing things a bit much.
"I kill you." Asterios said right away without hesitation. "No ands, ifs, or buts. I really don't want to, since the human me has never killed anyone before. But my goal is far too important for me to jeopardize, to leave it for someone who could use it against me, or take advantage of it."
"...Very well." Daedalus nodded. This was a pretty straight forward in a way that was refreshing. "But why should I help you?"
Asterios crossed his arms, as he closed his eyes and considered his next words.
He looked up at Daedalus and spoke. "I don't know if it is possible to bring back your son and nephew. If they haven't reincarnated, they'd still be in the Underworld and... maybe, I could one day ask Nico or Bianca if they can summon them for you to talk to them."
"And who are these Nico and Bianca?" Daedalus raised an eyebrow.
"Children of Hades that I was protecting while being a teacher at Westover Hall, working on my goal that I want your help with."
"...What?"
"We'll get to it in a bit. Back to why you should help me, even if I can't get you your son or nephew back, or at least meet them, I can at least ensure Minos never troubles you again."
"How?" Daedalus said with a serious look. This was unexpected, but either option, he'd talk. Ideally both, but just taking Minos out of the picture would be enough. He'd accept death then.
"There are many artifacts in this world. Items or things that can capture or imprison a soul. Get me one and I'll capture Minos."
"...Ha! Are you joking?" That was his plan? Something that far fetched?
"At the moment I am one of the strongest monster in the world. And with the Labyrinth under my command I could even fight a minor god if I need to and win." Asterios said confidently.
Once more there was silence from Styx.
Daedalus found himself tempted. Could he dare to hope? For the monster that he jailed would one day come to him with a plan to potentially grant him his heart's true desire. A desire for redemption, for remorse that could be acted upon.
...He could at least hear him out, right? There's no harm in that, and if what Asterios wants was too costly, then he could just take that oath and this whole thing would be behind him. There's really not much of a downside here.
"What do you want, Asterios? What is this goal that you sought me to help you with?"
Asterios told him.
Throughout the explanation this time, Daedalus was frightened.
Asterios' plan was insane. It was dangerous. It was something that would have all the gods upon their heads, and a simple clean death would be a mercy that they'd have to hope for a miracle that it would be granted to them.
Yet the more Asterios detailed his plan, the more Daedalus couldn't help but see how it could be implemented. How it could be improved.
It was possible... to even save... to even bring out Icarus and Perdix alive and well. Simply make people believe that they faked their death to protect them from Minos, or other tyrants, and that would be the seed to plant the idea that they could have lived somewhere in secret with Daedalus, where they had better ends.
After that Asterios could venture into the Underworld using the Labyrinth and escape with them.
It was possible.
And it was all because the bull man wanted a wife.
Daedalus snorted at how absurd it all was. He guessed that the Minotaur in front of him really was a Hero this time. Going against the gods just to get a maiden.
Yet one thing felt odd. Daedalus had one last curiosity he needed satiated.
Rather it was the most important thing of all. Without it, he'd throw away this idea even with its merits.
"I have one question though." Daedalus said.
"Shoot." Asterios shrugged.
"Why?" Daedalus said and Asterios raised an eyebrow. "All of this for a woman. From what you told me, she isn't really that special, so why go through all this effort? I've met the gorgon Euryale, and trust me, she isn't as lovely as the one in your story at all. So why do all this? Try and change human cultural consciousness all to get a wife." Daedalus started to sound heated. "Because I assure you, you aren't the first to think of trying to manipulate the gods like this, and those who tried have met such gruesome ends, they weren't even written down or remembered, from how horrifying the fates they suffered were. So I ask again, why? What powerful reason is pushing you for all of this, because if it is really something so trivial, then I'll take that oath of silence, and this would be over."
Daedalus waited, wondering what possibly the being before him would say. Would it be a righteous reason, or something far darker. Asterios was still under oath through all of this, so what could he true reason be?"
Asterios spoke...
"Because eternity alone is lonely, Daedalus." His voice was so tired.
And his words shattered Daedalus.
"You're right. This is silly. This is stupid really. And it is more so when you take into account... I don't need to be here." Asterios said.
"Huh?" Daedalus was confused at that statement.
"This war. This reenacted battle between the Gods and the Titans. I don't need to be here. I can just leave America, leave the Greek Pantheon's sphere and walk away. As a monster I'm immortal. I'm strong enough that almost nothing in this world can threaten me. For the titans I'm not important enough for them to hunt me down for my desertion. They don't know my strength now, so they won't put in effort to bring me under heel to command. The gods? I'm just another monster. If I don't appear before them, they won't bother with me. The gods will win, that's how this story is going to go. There is no Golden Age where the Titans come back, because humanity doesn't wish for that to happen. Things are moving forward, so the past will stay behind.
"And throughout it all I am free. Free of this conflict, free of gods, titans, monsters and demigods. I have no need to be in this story." Asterios said with a calm, yet passionate voice. "...But I don't want to be alone. I don't want to experience all that is in this world and its beauty, and not have someone by my side to share it with. I don't want to have companions that I know will inevitably fall away to time. I don't want to mourn those relationships to be forever. And if I do mourn I don't want to mourn alone." He spoke with a wet sob entering his tone. "I want Euryale, my Euryale back, because she was the first person to call me by my name. Not call me as a monster. She knows me. She understands me.
"I want to live in this world, and see her laughing, crying, shouting, raging, frightened, hopeful, sorrowful and loving. I want to see this world and to look next to me and see someone that understands what it's like." His eyes were looking at something, someone that isn't there. "To be someone unchanging no matter how much the world moves on and changes.
"That's why I'm doing all this." Asterios met Daedalus' reminiscing gaze. "I don't mind living in this world, Daedalus. I just don't want to do it alone." He finished, and took a breath. "Does this reason suffice?"
"...Yes." Daedalus nodded. For he understood. "I will help you, Asterios."
AN: Yeah, there weren't much place for jokes here. Got pretty heavy in the end. Next chapter should be Bianca POV.