[fanfiction/multi-chapters]: Myth - Chapter 10
Title: Myth - Chapter 10
Beta-reader: astrangerenters
Rating: R (for this chapter for blood and death, just want to be safe)
Pairing: Sakumoto (main), Masatoshi
Genre: AU, action, humor
Summary: Jun's POV. It's time to save Sho from the Amazons' hands.
DISCLAMER: I own nothing. And the plot comes from Rick Riordan, a damn good writer!
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Chapter 10
“I recognize Penthesilea’s colors on the arrow,” Ariadne explains as we all stay quiet. “I’ve been in their camp once; they wanted me to join their tribe.”
Masaki sits on the sand and asks Ariadne for more details. “Penthesilea is the Amazons’ queen. She’s really strong and shows no emotion at all. Some people say she’s Ares’ daughter, the god of war.”
Surprisingly, Ariadne kneels beside me and rests a hand on my shoulder. “Jun…I’ve been to their kingdom, and I’ve seen so many horrible things. They hate men; they think women are the only ones who have the right to live. They kill any man they find on their way and believe me, death is a sweet end. For the ones who aren't so lucky, they hurt them, pierce their eyes so they became blind or make them feel inferior by cutting limbs. Then they use them as slaves or have sex with them just to have children. I-I saw them kill a newly born baby just because he was a male!”
With each word her hold on my shoulder tightens just like my stomach; I think I’ll throw up at any second just by listening to those horrible details. As I lose any hope, Satoshi comes near me and forces me to look into his eyes. He then shakes his head so slightly you could miss the movement if you blink. It’s the first time I've seen so much force and determination in his eyes.
“You know where they live right?” I ask Ariadne without leaving Satoshi’s stare. A ghost of a smile crosses his face for a second.
“Jun.” Ariadne sighs again, but I stand up and put my hand upon my chest. “I can tell you that Sho is still alive. I can feel it deep inside of me.”
I don’t care if Sho’s blind or anything else as long as he’s alive. I’ve spent half of my life keeping my feelings for him secret because I thought I was protecting him by doing so, but I was wrong. Now that I know there’s no curse, there’s no way I’ll leave him behind. But it seems that Ariadne will not do anything to help me. Surprisingly it’s Kazunari who gives us more details about the Amazons’ place.
“They live on a little island not so far from here. It will be difficult to enter their territory without being killed though.”
We all look at Kazu a bit dumbfounded. How does he know about them?
“What? Don’t look at me like that. I’ve read a legend about an island full of half-naked women. It’s natural I’ve been curious, that’s all.”
Of course. For a second I thought Kazu was secretly a bookworm, but in the end he’s just the perverted man we know.
“Don’t even think about going to this island. The boat is waiting for us and if we don’t reach Crete quickly, Echidna will be gone for sure,” Ariadne says coldly. We all stare at her.
“There’s no need to kill Echidna if Sho isn’t with us anymore,” Satoshi smiles sadly.
“We came to this world together, and we will leave together. The five of us,” adds Masaki.
Ariadne rolls her eyes and puts her arms akimbo. “And what if we find him dead?”
“He can’t die yet,” I reply firmly as I try to suppress that scary thought. Sho can’t die before I confess to him. And even after that, I won’t let him die.
“Sho’s strong. He will fight,” Kazunari finally says.
Ariadne looks at us for a long time and then sighs. “You won’t kill Echidna before you save Sho, right? Fine. This detour will cost me a lot once again,” she sighs as she starts to walk.
Masaki is the first one to run towards her. “What do you mean?”
“The boat I rent is run by men only. They’ll need a lot of money to find the courage to reach the Amazons’ island.”
Then Masaki turns around and smiles brightly as he motions for us to follow them.
Ariadne is right. The captain of the boat refuses at first, but with a good amount of golden coins, it seems like death isn’t as frightening as before. The captain tells us he won’t go near the island (too dangerous), but he will drop anchor as near as possible and will wait for our return. It’s better than nothing.
As I watch the ocean from the deck, Kazu comes and stands by my side, quiet. As we shared our room in our world, I’m certainly the only one to know that Kazunari could be serious from time to time. He’s always playing the carefree and perverted friend, but I know each of us can depend on him when we really need it.
“Do you have a plan?” he asks softly, his eyes never leaving the sun in front of us.
“Not yet. Sho’s the one who can plan easily.”
“That idiot. We need him, and he’s not even around.” I know Kazu tries to make things more relaxed by telling a few jokes, and I give him a slight smile though I don’t really want to laugh right now.
“Jun,” Kazu faces me and stares at me seriously. “Once Sho is saved, I need you to read into Ariadne’s heart.” Before I have the time to ask him why, he continues. “And maybe Sho will discover some truth as well.”
“You don’t trust her, do you?” I ask, and Kazunari shakes his head no. So I’m not the only one who thinks she’s strange. That girl is hiding something. I’ve tried to read into her heart, but it was so difficult. Her emotions are surrounded by darkness and sadness. Every time I make a move I’m always pushed back.
“Do you think she works for Echidna?”
I shake my head no softly and take some time to think about it. “I don’t think so. Echidna doesn’t work with humans.” Then I sigh and rub my eyes. I don’t know what to think anymore.
“Are you tired? You should rest a bit, I know you didn’t sleep well last night.”
I really don’t want to sleep right now; I know I’ll have nightmares again if I do. Kazu seems to understand my thoughts and rests a hand on my back. “Jun, we won’t reach the Amazons’ island for two days. You can’t not sleep until that moment. Please rest a bit, we’ll need your strength when the time comes. Maybe Satoshi can lend you his cover; you won’t have nightmares that way.”
The suggestion seems interesting, and it’s true that I need to be in a good condition if we're going to fight against the Amazon warriors. As I am heading for the hold, I feel Kazunari’s hand on my shoulder. I turn to face him and without saying anything, he pushes his dagger against my chest. Then he pats my back and leaves me alone.
Satoshi offers me his cover willingly and after I’ve found a calm corner on the boat I try to find some sleep, but it’s only thanks to Satoshi’s powers that I can finally close my eyes.
I know I’m dreaming because as soon as the dreaming me opens his eyes, I see that I’m on a different boat. My surroundings are different and the lack of light in the hold makes the atmosphere suffocating. I can feel that I’m scared as I wonder where I am. I try to stand up but realize soon that I’m laying on my stomach and my arms are tied behind my back, just like my legs. On my right I hear someone who cries softly, apologizing repeatedly like a mantra.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” I can barely see the form of the guy in the corner rocking back and forth in the darkness.
“What for?” I ask with a hoarse voice and at that moment, I realize that my voice isn’t mine but Sho’s.
But the guy doesn’t reply and continues to apologize in vain. He stops to talk when the door in front of us opens suddenly, and three women wearing warriors’ clothes stand in front of us. The one on the right walks right away towards the guy and kicks him in his stomach, making him choke as she orders him to be quiet.
“Hey!” I snap and the three women turn their gaze on me. “You don’t need to be so violent. He didn’t do anything wrong.”
One of the women comes towards me and grabs my hair roughly as she forces me to look at her.
“Shut up and lower your eyes,” she yells at me, but I don’t obey and look straight into her eyes. She pulls on my hair more and her voice is getting louder, but I still look at her. She lifts her arms and I realize she’s going to punch me, but another woman grabs her arm just in time.
“Don’t! Penthesilea will punish you if you hurt him, or worse: Athena will.” The angry woman clicks her tongue as she stares at me with disgust and hate and pushes me.
Penthesilea? Now I’m sure of it, I’m seeing what Sho sees. This is the first time this has happened to me. How is that possible?
“I can’t touch him, but this one is nothing,” she says angrily as she goes towards the other guy and punches him in the face.
“Stop it!” I scream again. “He didn’t even say anything!”
The angry Amazon grabs her sword and puts it under the boy’s jaw as she pulls firmly on his hair. “Shut up now or I kill him right away,” she threatens.
“What are y-“
The next second I only hear the horrible sound of the flesh being cut and some strangled noise; then I feel something hot reaching my cheek. I watch in horror and see so much blood around me that I’m speechless. I don’t even understand what happened so suddenly. That woman just sliced the throat of that innocent boy in front of me without even trembling.
“Do you feel better now? Can we do what we came for?” asks one of the women in a bored tone.
“Yes,” says the murderer as she lets go of the corpse without looking back.
They gather in front of me and take out from a wooden box a ring with some symbol on it. One of them takes a torch while the angry one holds me firmly on the ground. I see the other two putting the ring near the fire.
“W-What are you doing? N-No! Let me go!” I yell as I see them come near me. I struggle, but it’s useless as the one who’s holding me puts more force, and I lose my breath as my chest is pushed against the wooden floor.
Then I feel something burning the flesh on my right shoulder. The pain is unbearable, and I recognize Sho’s scream. This is the one I hear every night in my nightmares. This part of my dream becomes real, too.
I wake up suddenly covered in sweat and breathless and the pain on my shoulder is still there; unconsciously I put a hand where the mark should be but there’s nothing. Then I notice Satoshi’s by my side and he looks at me with worry.
“You were screaming in your dream. What happened? The same nightmare?” he asks as he wipes the beads of sweat on my forehead with his hand.
I shake my head softly and swallow hard; my throat is dry and I can hear my heart beating in my ears. I can’t tell Satoshi what I’ve seen, it’s too horrible. My brain refuses to even form the words. All I can do is tremble as my body still feels the pain. Ariadne is right; the Amazons are cruel and heartless.
As we approach the Amazons’ island, I remember the atrocious images I’ve seen in my dreams, and I hope Sho’s sanity is alright despite all the things they did in front of him. I know he’s not injured physically, but I can’t say the same about the men I saw in my dreams. As the second day of the trip ends I realize that it’s been already three days that Sho's been in their hands; it feels so long and short at the same time. The boat comes to a stop, and I can barely see the island from where we stand; the captain doesn’t want to come closer. During the trip we planned that Ariadne will come with me since she’s the only female in our group while I’ll wear my cape. This way the Amazons won’t find it suspicious if they see Ariadne approaching in a small boat.
Satoshi and Masaki give me a tight hug before we leave while Kazu hit my back in a friendly manner. That guy...he’s worried but he won’t say or show it. Ariadne and I climb on the small boat and I put my cape on. Who knows where their lookouts are. We remain silent until we reach the island. As soon as Ariadne puts a foot in the sand, ten or so Amazons welcome us in a not so friendly manner.
“My name is Ariadne, daughter of King Minos and princess of Crete. I want to see your queen,” she says slowly and full of pride.
The warriors seem to remember her because they bow slightly before showing the way to Ariadne. I follow them as discretely as I can. My heart beats hard in my chest as each step brings me closer to Sho. Is he alright? Before we leave the boat I tried to sleep one last time but I didn’t see anything but darkness. Please Sho, be safe.
As we enter the kingdom I see dozens of female warriors training with weapons or bare-hands and in the corners their slaves: men mutilated and almost dead wearing used clothes and fighting against each other for a cup of dirty water. My stomach makes a flip when I pass by a young boy with one eye pierced. I can only read despair and resolution on their faces. I notice they all bear the mark I’ve seen on the ring in my dreams.
We soon reach the throne room and Penthesilea is sitting on it, surrounded by two guards and her slaves. She seems bored as she eats some grapes from the hand of her slave. My mind freezes when I recognize the slave who holds the fruit plate.
“Well, well. What do we have here?” asks Penthesilea, her interest piqued by Ariadne’s arrival.
Ariadne bows slightly and greets the queen. “My queen it’s been a while.” Penthesilea waves her hand and motions for Ariadne to skip the formalities.
“I’ve been thinking about your offer, my queen.”
Penthesilea smirks and changes her position on her throne. “I knew you would come back. Not everybody can have that offer you know?” She then claps her hands and the slave brings a grape near her lips.
“You seemed disgusted by our way of living though. What made you change your mind?” she asks, a bit suspicious.
“I won’t lie to you, my queen. There are two things that brought me here today. The first one is that your words hit me. You were right, women are more powerful than men and we don’t need them. Every time I see the way my father rules our kingdom makes me sick more and more. I think it’s about time that a woman rules Crete, and I think I can learn a lot from you.”
Ariadne is truly amazing; I’ve already heard that sentence before we left the main boat, but this time she seems so honest.
“The second thing is,” Ariadne trails off and focuses on the slave by Penthesilea’s side. “Some rumors. It makes me curious.” She smiles.
The queen looks in the same direction as Ariadne and after a second she smirks. “I see. My, my, rumors spread quickly nowadays.”
“Is the rumor true then?”
“My women came with a wonderful gift for me. They captured some boy on the beach near Thebes and that worm, in order to save his life, told them about some demigod, the son of Athena actually. I never knew that our dear goddess Athena has a child, and it’s a sin that it’s a male, but in the end I think he could be useful,” she laughs before she grabs the slave’s hair and forces him to lift his head and he whines quietly.
It takes all my will to not jump on her right away and strangle her with my own hands. I feel angry and useless as I see Sho’s pained face and can’t do anything to help him. However, something makes me worried. Sho doesn’t seem to notice Ariadne’s presence or even mine; there’s simply no reaction from him. His eyes show no emotion as if his soul has left his body. There is not that force and pride I love so much in his brown eyes anymore.
“Look at him. He’s well-built and young. With him we’ll form a new army. Can you imagine it? Ares’ daughter and Athena’s son’s children? My new army will be unbeatable!”
“I don’t see any wound on him, how rare of you,” Ariadne says in awe.
Penthesilea laughs playfully at the remark. “You know me so well! I might not be scared by men, but I still fear the gods’ ire. I don’t want to be doomed by Athena for killing or hurting her son.”
“How do you tame him then? Athena’s son must be proud and undisciplined.”
“He is, but we use some trick on him.” She smirks then she puts her hand on the back of his neck and forces a kiss, which Sho responds to obediently. I can hear the disgusting sounds their tongues make as they kiss; I don’t want to see such a scene but my eyes refuse to close, and I stare as she runs her hands down his chest until his thigh. Sho steps back slightly and breaks the kiss. Deep inside me, I thank the gods. Sho still has some conscience.
Penthesilea doesn’t seem mad about it; on the contrary she smiles evilly and claps her hands. “Take those two with him,” she orders as she points at two other slaves and Sho, “and give him a lesson.”
Three guards come towards Sho and hold him by his arms before they take him away from the queen. Sho seems to come back to life and in the blink of an eye, his pale face only shows fear as he struggles.
“No! Please! I beg you, my queen! I’ll behave, I promise! I beg you! I’ll behave!” he screams in a desperate voice as the guards take him away, his voice resonating into the throne room. My heart clenches as I’ve never seen Sho this desperate before. Ariadne tries to follow them but the guards prevent her from going any further.
“Sorry but you’re still not one of us. I need to keep some secrets from you,” the queen smiles.
Ariadne and I spend the rest of the day by Penthesilea’s side. The queen shows her their way of living which can be described as: training, torturing men and training again. My nerves are about to explode; I don’t want to waste my time by visiting their kingdom. I want to find Sho and help him to get out of here as soon as possible, but we agreed with Ariadne that we would rescue him during the night when the Amazons are sleeping, so I just keep my eyes on the sun and pray silently for it to end its course quickly. As Penthesilea shows us her kingdom she points to a tower in the land. This is where she keeps Sho captive; at least I know where I need to go tonight. Of course as we pass by I notice the tower’s entrance is well-guarded, but we thought about this and I think our plan will work.
Finally the sun makes room for the moon, and I leave Ariadne on the small boat. I’ll go save Sho by myself. I don’t want anyone to be killed, and she’ll wait for us here. I walk through the little forest and try to not make any sound. My heart beats like crazy in my chest, and I can feel some cold sweat running down my temple. What’s great about living in Ancient Greece is that a tower doesn’t have any complicated devices to stay closed, just two guards in front of the door. A door that will not be too hard to open. All I need to do is get rid of the two women.
I come closer and my fingers curl around a tiny bag under my cape. Satoshi gave me some of his dust before we parted. I bring myself as close as I can to one of the guards and take some powder in the middle of my palm. I would be lying if I say that I’m not scared, of course I am! I’m standing in front of an Amazon; I may be invisible but I pray deep inside of me that nothing will go wrong. Quietly I take in some air as I bring my hand in front of my mouth and then I blow some golden dust into the woman’s face. I quickly reach the other guard before she’s alerted by her colleague and soon the both of them are sleeping quietly.
I swallow hard as I check around me; there’s no one and finally I quietly open the wooden door. I can’t believe I've succeeded so easily. I rest my back against the door for a second, just the time to calm my heart and to let my eyes get used to the darkness. There’s no sound in the room as my eyes scan around me. I spot Sho in the corner of the opposite wall. His back is to me as he sits hunched up in the corner.
I kneel beside him and take off my hood, revealing my face for the first time since I landed on this island. With a trembling hand I touch his shoulder as light as a feather.
“Sho?” I ask in a whisper. That’s when my fingers brush against his skin, and I feel the mark on his shoulder.
“Sho, look at me, it’s Jun,” I say again as I softly shake his body, but there’s still no response.
My free hand comes to rest on his cheek, and I force him to look at me. Just like before my heart clenches when I see the lack of life in his eyes. I can’t believe they've turned him into this state within only three days.
“Those bitches…” I whisper between my teeth. “I swear I’ll kill each of them one by one,” I say as I hug him tightly.
Sho’s fingers dig into my shoulders, and I hear his voice muffled by my chest. I break our hug a bit and wait for him to say it again.
“No…more,” he cries softly as his eyes beg me silently. “No more killing…”
Sho cries more against my chest, and I can only tighten my hold around him. At least it seems like his trance is broken now. We stay in this position for a few minutes. I know he needs it but we can’t stay here any longer; who knows when someone will notice the guards are sleeping.
“Sho,” I kiss his forehead, “we need to go now.”
Hearing that, Sho becomes frantic; he grabs my shoulders and shakes his head furiously. “No! They’ll kill someone if I escape again!”
I watch him, totally helpless. I don’t know how to calm him down. This is the first time in my life that I've seen him in this state. I call his name, but every time his voice becomes louder. If he doesn’t calm down right now he’ll attract somebody’s attention.
“Need some help?” I turn around and see Kazunari resting his back against the opened door, his arms crossed upon his chest and a smirk on his face. I notice he's wearing his flying shoes on his feet. Unfortunately Kazu’s smirk disappears when he sees Sho’s attitude. I can easily tell that Kazu is as surprised as me.
He comes towards us and helps me to keep Sho from getting louder. He holds Sho still and forces him to look into his eyes. “I promise you that no one will be killed, okay?” Sho nods softly and falls silent.
Kazu watches him carefully and bites his lower lip. “Fuck,” he curses before he hugs Sho strongly.
As we follow the plan, Kazunari leaves the island with Sho by flying in the air. Just as they come out from the tower someone passes by and screams to give the alert.
“The prisoner escapes!” he yells, and little by little the Amazons come out of their homes.
Sho struggles in Kazunari’s hold and screams my name as I enter into the tower once again and close the door behind me. I put my hood on once again and rest my back on the wall near the door. Soon some guards enter and notice that Sho is not here anymore. The kingdom is in a mess; the Amazons are running everywhere and yelling orders. The door opens once again, and I recognize Penthesilea. My fingers curl around the dagger Kazu gave me earlier and I come behind her. In a swift motion I wrap an arm around her neck and prevent her from breathing. With the hand holding the dagger, I take off my hood and bring my lips close to her ear.
“Say hello to Hades for me,” I whisper before I plant the dagger into her back. I only hear the strangled noise she makes as life leaves her body, and when she grows heavy I let her fall flat to the stone floor. Her eyes are still open as I watch her with hate one last time before I put back my hood and run towards the beach.
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Note: Sooo sorry for the long update!
I know that most of you were waiting for the chapter with the Amazons and since some of you know really well the story about Amazons....I hope you're not disappointed ^^" I wanted it to be real but not too bloody too.... Sho is a bit out of character but in the same time who would be in a normal state after what he've seen... Anyway! Jun to the rescue! XD And Nino too!
I hope you enjoyed it.
See you soon an take care <3