by Paris, Sevan
~ * ~
Bos leaped from the roof of the Parthenon and took flight. He hummed "Flight of the Valkries" while the speed of Icaras' wings allowed him to chop the heads of unsuspecting harpies. The singing helped Bos distance himself from the death on the battlefield, the possible death of the world, and the certain death he would face should he ever be fortunate enough to see his parents again.
The wings were a breeze to control and a gas to use. Fiona cursed the wings to his voice. All he had to do was yell, "Up!" and the wings carried him up or "To that fucked up looking bird-woman thing" and the wings carried him to the fucked up looking bird-woman thing.
That's when the creepy guy with the shotgun slammed him against the wall of the museum.
~ * ~
Helen wasn't sure what she expected when going with Alex and the others to Nashville. Revenge? Peace? Death? All of the above? She certainly didn't expect to witness the insane battle that currently took place in front of her and to like it.
Yeah, that was it. She liked it. She loved it. The death, the blood, and the blades all formed a sort of beautiful symphony only she could hear apparently.
She looked at her hands. They were green and covered with scales.
~ * ~
Hera's army was losing...losing to a mortal child no less!
"Where did they get these Trojans?" Apollo yelled in her ear. "They should be in the pits of Hades!"
Hera rolled her eyes.
"Apollo, it is time to bring this battle to an end."
"But if I do what you suggest, I will surely kill or incapacitate our entire army!"
Hera grabbed Apollo's face and pointed it at the battlefield. "Use your eyes, Apollo! Whatever Alex Anderson has done to motivate his army greatly surpasses any amount of fear I can cultivate within our troops. As a result, it is only a matter of time before our army is 'killed or incapacitated' anyway. Do it!"
Keeping his eyes on his mother, Apollo pointed his hands at the battlefield. His skin glowed red.
~ * ~
Alex couldn't believe it. They were winning. Somehow, they were actually winning.
The Trojan next to him caught on fire.
"Apollo!" Fiona yelled, after pulling her sword out of a harpy. She flicked a piece of its guts off her armor. "Apollo's doing this!"
Alex turned and saw another god glowing red next to Hera. She grinned as most of their army went up in flames and some of theirs did also.
He grabbed Fiona's hand. "Stay together!"
They ran through the battlefield of burning bodies. Trojans exploded around them. Alex assumed Fiona could stand Apollo's heat because she didn't stop him.
A Minotaur jumped in their way.
"Reverse!" Alex yelled over his shoulder.
He raised Fiona over his body by one arm and she came down on the Minotaur with her sword, slicing it in half.
"Circle!" Alex spun Fiona, cutting down three flaming harpies gathered around them.
"Forward!"
They switched hands and moved forward, again slicing through enemies and dodging flaming bodies. Their movements became a series of jumps, thrusts, cartwheels, and slices. Their hands stayed joined, ensuring Alex's advantage through his proximity to Fiona.
Alex shield bashed a flaming centaur out of their way. And there she was: Hera. She stood on top of hill commanding her troops.
Alex forgot about the Trojans. He forgot about the world. All he could think about was his mother and the bitch who killed her. Alex let go of Fiona's hand and darted in Hera's direction. He drew a rod from his back.
"Alex, no!" Fiona yelled.
Hera punched Alex.
The rod ignited and shot into the night sky.
Even with everything he had been through, Alex never experienced a punch like that. He flew back fifty feet and landed next to Helen.
Who was once again a Gorgon.
~ * ~
Bos saw the burning bodies on the field, but wasn't in a place to do anything about it.
Cupid shoved Bos' face into the statue near the roof of the museum. Bos' armor absorbed nearly all the impact, but the creepy little bastard was trying to add insult to injury by shoving him into the male statue's naked crotch.
"Gross!"
"You haven't seen gross yet, you sonuvabitch!" Cupid said.
The pressure on Bos' head and back disappeared. He turned and saw Cupid hovering in the air ten feet away. He yanked off his trench coat, exposing a shotgun and two tiny flapping wings.
Bos laughed. "You call those wings! You look like a baby angel!"
Cupid pumped his shotgun and fired.
Bos screamed and dodged right then left. Pieces of statue fell around him. He twisted his body halfway around, which caused Cupid to get slapped in the face from one of his massive wings.
"Hah! That's a wing, little dude! You wanna see the other one?"
Just as Cupid recovered from the first hit, Bos twisted the other way and slapped him with the other wing. Cupid dropped his shotgun and Bos tackled him in midair.
Then they both fell. "What the hell?" Bos looked at his wings.
They were melting.
~ * ~
Hector saw Alex and Athena cross the battlefield to Hera and Apollo. To his horror, there was nothing he could do other than watch the rest of his men burn. Galoukas' eyes bored into him right before they popped from the heat. Hades' rules were clear: only if you and your men achieve victory on Alex Anderson's battlefield, will you cross the river.
What could Hector do? Alex's thick friend may be enjoying some small degree of protection from Apollo's fire, but Hector might as well have been naked for all the good his Trojan armor would do him.
His soldiers screamed his name, the names of their parents, and the name of their country.
And Hector screamed.
He screamed for Hera's head and for the head of all the other gods who had made their lives so completely miserable. They would be denied a choice again. They would be denied the chance to even fight for their right to choose. This wasn't a clean battle. It was a battle they had absolutely no chance of winning.
Hector looked to his right and saw his brother Paris.
~ * ~
Fiona saw Hera's punch carry Alex across the battlefield. She leaped towards Hera with her sword held high.
Hera kicked her in the chest. Fiona spun in the air twice before hitting the ground.
"Oh please, Athena. Do you really believe you stand even the smallest chance against my might? I am a Titan! What chance does the Tool of Zeus have against me?"
Fiona yanked out her dagger and went for Hera's throat. Hera slapped it away and picked Fiona up by the hair.
"And again! That which prides itself on wisdom proves to be completely unwise! How delightful!"
Hera slammed Fiona's face into the ground.
"You've been bonded to this mortal shell for far too long. Once I release you of its worldly concerns--"
Hera slammed Fiona's face into the ground again.
"You will see the light."
The last of the Trojans fell, dead.
~ * ~
Alex looked away from Helen. Her tail wrapped around his leg and yanked him off his feet. He could hear her growling and the snakes on her head hissing. Her tail turned Alex and her hand grabbed his ear to turn his eyes toward him.
Alex closed his eyes and drove his sword through Helen's throat.
Both of them collapsed to the ground.
"I'm sorry," Alex whispered. "I'm sorry about everything." It took him three good swings to cut off Helen's head.
Alex turned and saw the last of the Trojans die in absolute agony. The smell of burning flesh filled his nostrils and made him want to gag. The creatures of Hera's army that were left standing--which was about half of its original number--all turned their attention to Alex. Many of them were angry at either Alex for opposing him, Hera for making them fight, or Apollo for burning the shit out of them. It didn't matter. What did ma
tter was their chosen outlet for all of this anger: Alex. They all turned to him.
And Alex calmly raised Helen's head.
The creatures turned and twisted, but in the end it didn't matter. They all became stone.
Hera disappeared on the other side of the battlefield then reappeared in front of Alex. She smacked Helen's head out of his hands and teleported both of them inside the museum's Chamber of Athena room. Or rather, sixty feet above its floor.
Hera then dropped Alex.
~ * ~
Bos and Cupid both landed on tree limb after tree limb. Each limb broke, sending them closer to the ground. Bos' groin seemed to absorb most of the impact from each limb.
The finally hit the ground and Icaras' feathers fell around them. The wings weren't completely melted away, but there was not enough left to support Bos' weight. Bos tried to stand, but felt woozy. He felt a trickle of blood run down his forehead.
One of Cupid's wings twisted up at an odd angle. He gave Bos a hateful look, and much like Fiona, pulled a sword from a nowhere place behind his back. Cupid sword produced a deeper hum, sounding evil in a way.
Cupid raised the sword. It's been fun, fuckface." He brought the sword down. Bos closed his eyes.
~ * ~
Fiona could barely see through the fountain of blood gushing from her nose and forehead. She could, however, see Apollo turn his glowing hand to her.
Fiona jumped to her feet right before the ground below her caught flame.
"Why do this, Athena? Zeus is no more. You no longer have to do his bidding."
Fiona ducked and slid under another flame Apollo shot at her. She came back up and her sword sliced through his hands. Blood in form of white light gushed out of the two stumps.
Apollo stared at the stumps, dumbfounded.
"I no longer do the gods' bidding, Apollo. I do mine." She thrust her sword into his chest.
~ * ~
Cupid's blade was blocked with a clanging sound inches from Bos' face.
"Oh my God," Bos said before passing out.
Cupid looked up from his blade to the blocking sword. He met eyes with the sword's owner.
Hector.
"What, in Zeus' name, are you doing, Paris?" Hector said.
Cupid or--as he was more commonly known to his brother--Paris yanked away his sword. Paris smiled. "Hector, wait a minute. Is this your Trojan army?"
If Hector caught on to Paris' sarcasm, he showed no sign. "Why?" he said, barely above a whisper.
"Oh, don't play high and mighty with me. You know goddamn good and well why. Or did you actually enjoy spending two boring ass millennia on the shore of the river Styx?" Cupid swung high or, at least, what was high for him. The hilt came parallel to Hector's chest. Hector expected the sword to be easy to block and he was right. What he was wrong about, however, was the strength his puny brother was able to put into the blade.
It knocked Hector to the ground. He quickly jumped to his feat, eyes blinking in surprise.
"Did I mention I have skills now?" Cupid kicked a stone bench out of his way.
Hector pointed his sword at Paris. "I never saw you on the sands of the Styx! If I did, I would have pushed your miserable pathetic soul in myself!"
"Gee, Hector, you ever wonder why I'm fuckin' bitter? Bitter at you, bitter at Troy, and bitter at Aphrodite and her fuckin' curse collar? She came to me in Hades. Gave me a get out of jail card if I became her Cupid. I said yes. She clamped that thing around my neck, and I was beholden to that bitch ever since. I had to do exactly what she said, when she said to do it."
Hector swung at Cupid three times. Cupid answered all three strikes with easily placed blocks and, with one leg, casually swept Hector's legs out from under him. Hector landed face first on the ground. He still heard and smelled his men burning in the distance.
"You had nothing to be bitter about, Paris," Hector said through clenched teeth. "You are remembered as the lover of Helen and are forever glorified for it. You did not wait on the shores of the Styx for centuries waiting for a boat that would never be seen." Hector stood. "Now, you even experience glory as Aphrodite's herald."
Cupid kicked Hector. Hector flew into the air ten feet and landed on his back. His senses barely returned to him by the time Cupid stood beside his prone form. For all the good it did him, all his senses told him was that he was in a massive amount of pain, so much he could barely breathe, let alone move. He tried to lift his sword, but an apparently broken arm failed him.
"I didn't want the glory for Helen, Hector. I didn't want Troy to wait on the riverbank, and I sure as hell didn't want to be Cupid. You know what I wanted? Choice, Hector! Motherfucking choice! That's what Hera's giving me! She broke the curse on that collar, giving me the freedom to choose, the freedom to be and the freedom to rule! And y'know what? I've had this freedom coming for a long fucking time. I couldn't give two shits if you don't understand."
He picked Hector up and slammed him into the concrete bench. It busted into several pieces and Hector's sword fell from his useless arm. He rolled onto his back just in time to jerk to the right, barely missing Cupid's sword.
Recovering his senses somewhat, Hector rolled to his sword and picked it up with his off hand. He stood, turned and swung with all of his might at Paris.
And Paris caught it.
Blood ran down Paris' palm and Hector's sword. In all of his years, all of his war campaigns, Hector had never witnessed such a feat. Hector struggled to free his sword. He twisted it and jerked it, but Paris' grip remained firm. Paris laughed at him and jerked the sword out of Hector's grasp.
As if it were nothing.
As if he were Paris.
By fate or design, Paris had, in every way, become stronger than Hector. The world, the gods, and man had taken everything away from Hector that could possibly matter and left him with nothing. The only thing that allowed him to hold on to some form of sanity while waiting on the banks of the Styx had been at least I am superior to Paris. At least nobody can ever take that away. I know who the stronger brother is even if the rest of creation does not.
But that was no longer the case. Paris now had the strength and the fame and now he would win this battle, winning him even more power the weakling simply did not deserve.
Hector screamed.
He leapt to Paris' throat. He wrapped his hand around the Paris' head, reared back, and head butted him. Paris' nose exploded and gushed blood over both of their faces. Hector didn't stop. He continued head butting Paris and cursed the gods' names as he did so.
Paris tried to push him away, but The Prince of Troy wouldn't allow it. Years of torture, suffering Paris' existence wouldn't allow it. Paris stealing his glory wouldn't allow it. The gods using him as some game piece wouldn't allow it.
Hector didn't stop head butting until Paris' face felt like trodden mud. And even then, it was because a partially recovered Bos pulled him off.
~ * ~
Alex bounced off a column and landed on the ground sixty feet below.
Alex struggled to catch his breath. He kicked a wet floor sign out of his way and stood. Every bone and muscle hurt. Blood ran down his forehead and he could feel his eye swelling. He turned, looking for Hera and spotted her ten feet away.
Alex limped toward her a little. It hurt... It hurt a lot.
Hera looked at Alex's limp and smiled. Her teeth seemed pointed. "Athena's powers will not help you when you are so far from her and so close to me. You might as well give up now."
Alex clenched his jaw and took another step toward her, moaning a little. He could only see out of one eye.
"Are you really so eager to die, Alex Anderson?"
Hera disappeared and reappeared in two quick flashes of black smoke. She was so close to Alex he felt her breath. She grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off the ground. "I suppose these things skip a generation."
Alex kicked Hera in the face.
They both fell to the ground. He looked up and saw Hera had slid a
way a couple of feet and was on her back. Alex slowly picked himself up and so did Hera.
But she was a little slower.
Alex jumped kicked Hera's chest. She cried out and bounced back. Alex jumped and kicked her again and again and...