Erinyes Game
Holding your chin high, you slowly nod at the Fury. Seconds later, they nod back. Silent communication passes between you both and you ever so slowly edge to the side. The Fury mirrors you, and you circle around each other, blades at the ready. Hades is grinning from anticipation.
You circle around until you’re standing just a few feet in front of him and then mouth, “Now.”
The Fury leaps right at you and you sidestep just in time, spinning to add the force of your machete to their knife.
Hades never sees it coming.
He drops to his knees, hands clasped to his chest, the bleeding showing no signs of stopping.
“Incredible…” he wheezes, coughing blood. “Is this the strength of your desire to live, that you would pair up with your own enemy?”
“I think you just underestimated me, Hades,” you tell him, almost smug. “I am not some pawn to be played in your games.”
“I can…see that now…” He coughs harder, struggling to speak now. “You are…amazing…everything I’ve ever wanted.”
Next to you, the Fury shudders in disgust. You bite back a laugh. It’s strange—you thought you’d be more horrified at having killed someone, but you’re surprisingly okay at the moment.
Hades reaches up to you with a bloody hand, reverently caressing your cheek and leaving bloody streaks on your skin. “You may not have become…my Persephone…but I love you nonetheless…take this to remember me by, and farewell…” A single pomegranate rolls out of his cloak and he collapses to the floor, unmoving.
You and the Fury regard him in silence for a moment.
“Well that was weird,” you break the silence. The Fury laughs aloud, and that laugh sounds very, very familiar. “Aphrodite, is that you?”
She gasps before taking off the mask, avoiding your gaze. “I’m so sorry, Hestia. I didn’t have a choice.”
“You do now.” Picking up the pomegranate, you break it open and find a tiny device with one button. You push it and both of your metal chokers fall off your necks, now harmless. “Let’s get out of here. What do you say?”
The second the chokers fell, Aphrodite zipped into the back room that Hades had come out of. She reappears with a new remote in hand and a huge grin. “I say, absolutely.”
The two of you leave the underground lab and Aphrodite presses buttons at random on the remote until something actually happens. Under the stairs leading to the second floor, a new door appears, leading to the outside. Thrilled, you run out, breathing in fresh air and feeling an immense pressure lift from your chest.
Aphrodite taps your shoulder and the two of you share a moment of silence, to remember those you had lost during this game. She hands you the remote, letting you close off the facility once and for all.
“So…” she says as you walk away, “do you wanna go for some pomegranates?”
You laugh, smacking her arm. “I could go the entire rest of my life without seeing another one, and it wouldn’t be enough.” Hades’s words about his Persephone keep going through your mind.
You keep your other hand concealed.
Aphrodite doesn’t need to know that you stuffed the remote in your back pocket without destroying it. And she doesn’t need to know that you kept a metal ring for yourself. It’s not like you’ll ever actually get any use out of either of them.
Right?
You circle around until you’re standing just a few feet in front of him and then mouth, “Now.”
The Fury leaps right at you and you sidestep just in time, spinning to add the force of your machete to their knife.
Hades never sees it coming.
He drops to his knees, hands clasped to his chest, the bleeding showing no signs of stopping.
“Incredible…” he wheezes, coughing blood. “Is this the strength of your desire to live, that you would pair up with your own enemy?”
“I think you just underestimated me, Hades,” you tell him, almost smug. “I am not some pawn to be played in your games.”
“I can…see that now…” He coughs harder, struggling to speak now. “You are…amazing…everything I’ve ever wanted.”
Next to you, the Fury shudders in disgust. You bite back a laugh. It’s strange—you thought you’d be more horrified at having killed someone, but you’re surprisingly okay at the moment.
Hades reaches up to you with a bloody hand, reverently caressing your cheek and leaving bloody streaks on your skin. “You may not have become…my Persephone…but I love you nonetheless…take this to remember me by, and farewell…” A single pomegranate rolls out of his cloak and he collapses to the floor, unmoving.
You and the Fury regard him in silence for a moment.
“Well that was weird,” you break the silence. The Fury laughs aloud, and that laugh sounds very, very familiar. “Aphrodite, is that you?”
She gasps before taking off the mask, avoiding your gaze. “I’m so sorry, Hestia. I didn’t have a choice.”
“You do now.” Picking up the pomegranate, you break it open and find a tiny device with one button. You push it and both of your metal chokers fall off your necks, now harmless. “Let’s get out of here. What do you say?”
The second the chokers fell, Aphrodite zipped into the back room that Hades had come out of. She reappears with a new remote in hand and a huge grin. “I say, absolutely.”
The two of you leave the underground lab and Aphrodite presses buttons at random on the remote until something actually happens. Under the stairs leading to the second floor, a new door appears, leading to the outside. Thrilled, you run out, breathing in fresh air and feeling an immense pressure lift from your chest.
Aphrodite taps your shoulder and the two of you share a moment of silence, to remember those you had lost during this game. She hands you the remote, letting you close off the facility once and for all.
“So…” she says as you walk away, “do you wanna go for some pomegranates?”
You laugh, smacking her arm. “I could go the entire rest of my life without seeing another one, and it wouldn’t be enough.” Hades’s words about his Persephone keep going through your mind.
You keep your other hand concealed.
Aphrodite doesn’t need to know that you stuffed the remote in your back pocket without destroying it. And she doesn’t need to know that you kept a metal ring for yourself. It’s not like you’ll ever actually get any use out of either of them.
Right?
