HEPHAESTUS
I wanted him to choose me.
Because none chose you? You thought he would be different?
Because I cannot choose to follow him.
Because of his religion? Of his beliefs?
Because of my mind. Of my morals.
A few days passed and Hephaestus did not move from the cranky bed. Venus did not leave the house either as snow hid the entire area with the thick white cold paint. Every day, he looked at them, checking the bandages that they put on their arms. Hephaestus had placed a piece of iron upon their skin so they could make believable wounds for him.
‘’I am so sorry for the cold’’ Venus apologized and sat next to them scoffing.
‘’I am not cold’’ Hephaestus replied. I can’t feel cold anymore.
‘’Really?’’ Venus touched their forehead and laughed.
‘’You are burning’’ He said with surprise.
Hephaestus did not even try to look at him. Their eyes were burning from their burned tears as there was no more to shed.
‘’I will have to find a doctor’’ He said, afraid.
Doctors have needles. Iron ones.
‘’Or just medicine’’ He murmured and stood up, away from them.
‘’I will come back with medicine and’’
‘’No’’ Hephaestus' hand touched Venus’s wrist tight.
Their mouth was dry, their head could not think straight. Their ears could still hear the screams as they could see the dark void coming closer to them.
‘’Don’t leave me alone please’’ They cried with no tears.
Venus shook his head and sat back down with them. ‘’I will not’’
He looked back inside the huge brown sack. He told them that it was filled with chestnuts. When the snow would melt, he would find a roaster and give it to him so he would roast them and eat them.
‘’Why roast them?’’ Hephaestus asked.
‘’They have a better taste,’’ Venus explained. ‘’Especially when you peel the skin off. They taste like sweets’’
That night, Hephaestus took a push closer to the bag took three chestnuts from it, and shoved them into their handfuls.
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A soft fire appeared from their hands. Hephaestus thought that it sounded like a bird, crying to get free from its locked cage. An image of Prometheus screaming for help appeared.
When the chestnuts were ready, Hephaestus felt their fingers tingle like they had been burned. The skin was hot when they started to peel it out and saw the seed, hotter than the skin. But in the end, they were tasting as good as Venus told them to.
Their eyes found him sleeping peacefully as his beautiful face was shining through the small candlelight.
They wanted to touch his hand. Clenched it and never let go of it.
Stupid.
Hephaestus started having dreams. Real dreams, no memories. Wandering around a dark room with the help of their cane as the whispers hit their mind.
When they found a light, they were surprised to see Lucifer holding it.
‘’What are you doing here?’’ She gasped, surprised.
‘’It is my dream so..’’ Hephaestus said clearly and looked at her clothes and hair. They were the same as tonight.
‘’It is no dream, ‘’Lucifer informed them’’We are moving around in blood.''
‘’We what?’’ Hephaestus tried to speak.
‘’I do not know, the scientist said something like that,’’ Lucifer explained and looked around.
‘’You are real right?’’ She asked.
‘’Probably’’ Hephaestus arched their brow and started following the way she was walking.
‘’Have you traveled around here often?’’ Hephaestus asked.
‘’First time was when I took one of the books’’ She explained calmly.’’I do not know how I am doing it.’’Her voice sounded steady, mature, and yet not distant at all.
Instead, she was almost a few feet far from them.
‘’Do we know where are we going?’’ Hephaestus asked them once more.
‘’I am waiting for the girl to appear,’’ Lucifer whispered.
‘’What girl?’’
But Hephaestus did not have to wait for an answer. The room changed again with Lucifer staying by their side with her fingers clenching to one another.
The room was cold, made of metal with blue light getting out of the electric globes. The atmosphere was thick and poisonous around as there was a machine that induced Hephaestus to smile at love at first sight. Two towers made of metal, one to the ceiling and the second to the floor, with electricity rushing around them and the distance between them. Levers, buttons, everything that it could need. There's the dagger.
Dark blade, dark grip, and whispers. Floating in the middle of the air as the electricity was making the room bright enough to see it dancing around the sparks.
‘’Is that it?'' Lucifer asked, moving to their side.
‘’Yes it is but…’’
The whispers kept becoming louder as the murmurs started letting out words.
‘’Something is inside.’’
‘’Inside?’’ Lucifer stuttered.
Hephaestus nodded as they moved their free hand to the side of the blade, ignoring every dangerous path they could see. The lighting hit their fingers but they did not seem to care as they walked closer to it each moment.
The words made a phrase that kept repeating over and over again.
Hephaestus got it hit again with electricity as they touched the cold blade.
Help me. Said a girl with dark raven hair.
Hephaestus woke up, gasping for air, looking left and right. Mordred was nowhere to be found in the dark room.
The mattress was still perfectly untouched as he hadn't slept there.
The door opened with Lucifer’s panting breath making an echo to the room. Hephaestus looked behind her, noticing Ukko snuggling Orion. Well, it almost seemed that his broad shoulders were ready to break Orion’s tiny waist. But instead of reacting to Ukko, he was kicking at Talu’s back who was still sleeping with a loud snore.
‘’There is a girl inside...'' Lucifer tried to understand what happened.
‘’He trapped her.'' Hephaestus realized. ‘’Ma’at is using her and…’’They tapped their fingers nervously on their knees and took one deep breath.
‘’We just have to find it.'' They explained.
‘’But Mordred wants.’’
What will you choose?
‘’We have to find it first'' Hephaestus whispered, looking back at the girl’s face. Blank. And yet they felt as if they had met her once before.
‘’Find it first’’Lucifer lifted her chin.