HEPHAESTUS

Back to Aztlan where Hephaestus was making the last of the explosives late at night, Mara was the only one to storm out of her room, slamming her hands against the table with her notebook in her left hand.

‘’How long?’’She asked with a hissing whisper.

‘’How long what?’’Hephaestus played with her and let the screwdriver down.

‘’How long?'' Mara scoffed and licked her lips. ‘’You know that I…’’

‘’Can he hear me now?’’

The girl moved back, letting her note far, making Hephaestus easier to see what she was drawing. There were Mordred's pistols, his white mask, many white masks actually, and the demon they had met after they walked far from Babel.

‘’He can’t,’’ Mara answered dryly and took a deep breath. ‘’How long did you know?’’She asked, almost desperate.

‘’You prayed’’Hepahestus looked her in the eyes. ‘’You don't believe in prayers.’’ They had to be smarter than him. If they wanted to succeed they had to see every detail, every misformation.

Mara rolled her gaze and dragged a chair to sit down with them on the opposite side. ‘’I would have told all of you the truth,’’ she frowned at her lips. ‘’Eventually.’’

‘’Like you would tell us that you knew everything about isolation before we arrived?’’

‘’He wanted me to get rid of you. Shit, he has a special interest in you’’ She said, pointing at Hephaestus with her finger.

‘’Is that why you made the explosives closer than you were supposed to?’’Hephaestus stretched their wrists.

Her lips curled into a smile and she shook her head. ‘’You are stupid enough to tell me that you know’’

‘’But you wanted me to find out…'' Hephaestus tilted their head to the right. ‘’Didn’t you?’’

‘’Shit, you are good’’Mara said with admiration, striking her tone. But her gaze looked sad when she stopped talking. Painful even.

''When he first tried to talk to me,'' she finally said. ‘’He just told me to betray you and then offered me everything that I wanted.’’

‘’A lie'' Hephaestus muttered.

‘’An obvious one,’’ she laughed in response. ‘’So, I lied too, telling him that I would. He did not have anything on me’’Her gaze looked up at Hephaestus as if she knew something more than them.

‘’What about Diyu?'' Hephaestus asked. Surely there must be someone she cared about back there.

‘’Just like I said. Nothing’’ Mara shrugged and let herself continue. ‘’So he found more...drastic measures’’

Her fingers found the blue ribbon of her tunic, letting her clothing half loose, exposing her neck and v-line. Just like Hephaestus noticed before, she had a tattoo, growing from her nape and leading close to her heart. But instead of dark now it was glowing like pale moonlight. The marked symbol around her was just like Lancelot’s mark when they got attacked by the Hecca. But unlike theirs, it seemed far more violent. Broken cracks like glass.

She was cursed. And she was holding it for days.

‘’I started spitting blood in the borders’’She said with her hand moving her ribbon back around her fabric, fixing herself up.

‘’So you had to act drastic.’’

‘’The pain was gone when you almost…’’Mara flexed her fingers.’’You know…’’

‘’But that is not enough’’Hephaestus realized. The girl shook her head and leaned back with her hands crossed.

Hephaestus understood that he was looking at people as he wanted them to be. Warlocks as monsters, Diyu citizens as low lives, and the rest of them just perfect pawns for him to use. It was natural to take the one who considered low life to do the job. And it was natural for him to use her own life against her.

‘’Well, you betrayed me'' Hephaestus grinned, placing their knuckles under their chin. ‘’But not for the rest’’

Mara's eyes lit up with excitement.

‘’And the curse did not say how long you should hold the betrayal to them’’ They shrugged and waved their hands back.

These words made Mara’s interest even more intrigued. Ten seconds passed before she let out a laugh.

‘’How can you, trust me?’’ She asked curiously.

‘’You like making chaos, correct? Before that, you had no reason to stay unlike the rest of us but now you have one.''

They knew that this was also the girl’s plan.

Hephaestus had heard Mordred countless times saying how Hybrids were not to be trusted. Dangerous. In this world, everyone is dangerous to someone. So they preferred to trust the dangerous ones, the ones who could see the same glimpse in their eyes. Hatred. One of the reasons that made them trust Mara the most. Because if she needed to make a choice to cross between two fields, she would make another of her own. And for her to cross, she needed them.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Ten seconds of silence once more before Mara offered her hand to them.

‘’They will hate you if they find you...''

‘’If it succeeds, it won’t matter.’’They tried to make themselves believe their own words. ‘’I told you. You are the main event.’’

‘’You are insane,’’ She bared her teeth with a grin, curling her scar. ''But'' She made a long pause. ‘’If I had to believe someone’s plan I guess it would be yours.’’

Hephaestus felt a sudden startle in their heart when Mara shook hands with them. She believes in me. She believes in my plan. If this was supposed to make them feel confident, it failed.

''Why?'' Hephaestus stuttered in disbelief.

''Because you are a kind person. Not a good one. ''She informed them calmly. ‘’Good and kind people die easily. Good people will not get far either. Kindness is different.’’

Hephaestus looked at their grin once more. A harsh scar curled around her face, eyes filled with rage and curiosity.

''It would be interesting if I were a part of your story.''

Surprisingly, everything, since they entered Elysium, worked in their favor, just by seeing that she made an explosion in the clock tower. The signal.

And then there was another one. The glimpse of light. Hephaestus did not know how Mara managed to do it but, thinking one of the ways she did it, did not suit them right to them.

Just like he did.

‘’Shut up’’ Hephaestus told their mind and clenched their ring, making them and Mordred move far from the ballroom.

They had to find Lucifer. They had to be where Lucifer and Mara were. Exactly where Hephaestus imagined them to be.

They felt their body getting drained with fire showering their blood as they fell almost to their knees when they were finally moving inside an iron cage with details od copper and black steel. No, not a cage. A Machine. Hephaestus' greatest

Mordred saw their painful look and touched their shoulder now leaning against the iron wall.

‘’Whatever you did, it worked’’Mordred encouraged them.

‘’Lucifer will never forgive me,’’ Hephaestus whispered eagerly and tapped their fingers to their cane, counting from one to three.

Their mind traveled once again to the past.

When they hid behind Prometheus, the eagle started screaming, pinching their hair with his sharp grasp, scratching them, and making their locks uneven.

The door opened and there were four people. A familiar scent hit their nostrils.

‘’Time was your closest friend’’ A smooth spoke with joy.

This joy faded instantly. ‘’But now is mine once again’’

Hephaestus tried to hold their cry, realizing who this voice belonged to. The only ones who believed in their mind and dreams.

‘’The rats were fantastic company’’ Prometheus rasped roughly. ‘’You have so much in common with them’’

Ma’at hummed. Hephaestus covered their mouth so none could hear them breathing. The corner of their eyes found the man sitting right in front of the cage, with another person with long green braids, wearing a dark gown. Leviathan.

But Hephaestus paid more attention to Ma’at. Now there was a table next to the cage for him to leave his medical back and a book. As he opened the bag, he carefully took out a few colorful chemicals and five syringes.

‘’Oh, now you are a doctor’’Prometheus kept mocking him.’’I hope you have iron. I will swallow it myself.’’

‘’No need'' Ma'at grinned. ‘’You will die soon.'' With that, he turned to Leviathan gently.

‘’Get him out’’ The man ordered with disgust, leaving his sharp words from his soft lips.

''Gladly'' They replied and with a snap of their finger, a wave of water cut the cage into pieces as the fat eagle was now bleeding in front of Hephaestus. They looked as if the green-haired person was dragging Prometheus away from them, chaining him up with more iron.

‘’Stop’’Hephaestus yelled with their eyes looking at Ma’at’s satisfied grin.

His steps were calm as he kept moving to their side.

‘’There you are’’ He said and got on his knees to caress their left cheek with his iron-leathered glove. A small scar appeared on their skin and tears rained upon the burning wound. Hephaestus almost cried.

‘’I was correct about you’’

‘’Leave them alone’’ Prometheus screamed. ‘’Run kid'' He panted. Hephaestus could not move, watching their friend chained like an animal.

Ma’at sighed and looked at the other person, jerking his head to Hephaestus’s side.

All those years passed and Hephaestus still could not describe the ‘game’ that Leviathan played with them. Their legs are cut in half. Their stomach stepped on as if it were a carpet. Their entire existence was an object for both of them. They could still see their insane smile and eyes. And they could remember the man forcing Prometheus to watch as he was running experiments on him. His gaze did not let escape the letters and sketches from the pages of the book as his hand was now holding a syringe, filled with a golden liquid. Even if Prometheus tried to fight him by struggling against the chains, Ma’at succeeded in pushing the needle on his wrinkled shoulder, letting the liquid flow through his veins.

Hephaestus could listen to how much pain Prometheus was hiding from the scientist. He wouldn’t give him the pleasure of listening to him being weak. So if his pain did not work, Leviathan kept attacking Hephaestus with their incantation.

In the verb of Hephaestus losing their vision from the pain, they heard Prometheus finally speaking.

‘’You want the bird?'' Prometheus asked him in pain, breathless. ‘’Go ahead,'' he laughed. ‘’All yours'' His dark eyes looked at Hephaestus' wounded body, with tears flowing from them. ‘’Just leave them.’’

Ma’at took a look at him and then back at young Hephaestus who was trying so eagerly to stand up. In the end, he snapped his fingers and Leviathan walked away from Hephaestus within an instant.

He approached them and got on his knees, studying their darted eyes. He placed his fingers down his jaw.

‘’Apologies for my companion kid’’ He said softly.

Hephaestus sighed in relief. With their legs skating and trying to heal.

‘’They can be rough’’ He undressed his hand from his glove. Hephaestus had never seen such soft long hands before. Has he ever worked in his life?

Placing his palm on the top of their hair he shakes it, making it messy. His skin was warmer unlike theirs. Gentle and playful at the same time. It almost made Hephaestus forget that he was trying to kill them a moment earlier.

‘’But it doesn’t need to be that way,’’ He explained, taking Leviathan’s attention from behind, letting them look upset at Hephaestus.

‘’You can make a choice tonight. A choice that will guarantee your safety.’’

‘’Leave them alone Ma’at ‘’Prometheus growled again. Hephaestus' eyes escaped the man’s gaze and he rushed to Prometheus fast, hugging them tight. They could listen to him begging them to run. But they couldn’t let go of someone who understood how trapped they could feel in the world.

‘’Let’s go’’Hephaestus said, moving away from Mordred’s side.

They hit their head slightly so they could clear their minds of everything. What they had to do now was to find the others.

It was a beautiful machine. The noise the engines were making was even more beautiful than the music in the ballroom. The smell of copper and hot fuel was strong, getting trapped around Hephaestus’s nose. They just wished to stay inside this machine forever. Or until the peace that they made them feel ended. And that was fast.

They counted five floors with five bridges each, leading to five rooms. Almost most of the doors were locked or inside the room, and there was nothing to be found.

Soldiers found them walking around the bridges, trying to find a way out of the maze they were lost in.

Hephaestus attacked them with a sharp piece of steel, using both of their hands to send the steel to the soldier’s head.

This time, they were calm. Not because they did not care about the life they just took. But because they could feel their true target was close. The end of their goal was worse than the action they had just made.

Mordred got on his knees and took the pistol from the soldier’s grip, murmuring a prayer.

Hephaestus needed to smile of relief, seeing a spark of humanity at that moment of danger.

M