Chained Memories: Night Two (Mythology related, mild language, mild sexual conduct)

[Katherynn]

Night Two “Good morning,” Helios said the moment I opened my eyes. “And how are you?” “Get out of my bed,” I hissed pulling the covers around me. “Before I get personal, that is.” “Personal?” he questioned. “You mean like this—?” His hand snaked up my thigh and I screamed, falling out of the bed. “I thought I told you not to touch me!” He just laughed at my statement. Though, hard to do so, I kept my eyes off of him. Even his body, fully clothed, stirred something inside me. Something I didn’t plan on giving into. I shuddered as a pulled out a pair of jeans and a white tee from a dresser drawer that was, apparently, mine now and looked at Helios. “Can I at least change alone?” I questioned, eyes narrowed. “It’s not like an evil can get in the house. I’ll be safe.” He threw back the covers surrounding him and I felt my knees tried to buckle beneath me. All he wore was a pair of sweat pants that, though they seemed inadequate, showed an expanse of well-polished muscle. “Are you sure you want that?” he asked, inches from me. My hand went up to the bow that the robe I slept in was held together with and started to pull it loose. My mouth was dry and I couldn’t find my ability to speak. “Need me to repeat the question?” he laughed. “No…” I managed, turning around. “To everything…my answer is still no. That isn’t going to ever change.” I hugged my middle, clothes for the day on the floor, as Helios wrapped his arms around me. “You’ll have to accept it eventually,” he whispered. “What you are…it’s bigger than all this. You’ll have to succumb to it eventually. “I can’t keep you locked up here forever.” He tugged the bow loose but the fabric didn’t completely part due to my hold on it. “Pandora—” “Helios, I can’t,” I whispered back. “I don’t know you. You don’t know me. And don’t you dare spout out any of that damn ‘reincarnation’ crap. “Just because I knew you and loved you before doesn’t mean I know you and love you now.” “Then at least let me have this,” he said, nearly silent. “Just this…please.” “Helios I…” I took a breath. “If I let this happen eventually you’ll want more. More and more until we…” I broke off and took in a deep breath. “Promise me you’ll ask no more,” I said quietly. “Only this and nothing more…” “Deal.” The word was barely more than a whisper as he pulled away and sat on the bed. My robe, held closed by only my hand parted when I relinquished my hold. I picked up my clothes hesitantly, feeling his gaze on me, watching my every move. Were it anyone else, I would have slapped them but I knew Helios had the restraint to withhold his urges. My robe slithered down me and landed in a pile on the floor. I was thankful I had decided to wear a bra and underwear to bed. I pulled on my pants first, thankful that they were a little big on me, and took special care to button and zip them out of Helios’s view. My shirt was just pulled over my head and adjusted. Unfortunately, it wasn’t baggy in the least. It was form-fitting, and made my breasts seem bigger than they truly were. I blew out a sigh and faced him. By the time I was finished I had all but forgotten the feel of Helios’s eyes on me. My thoughts ran short after that to see that he was no longer in his seated spot on the corner of my bed. “Helios?” I called out carefully. “Helios, where are you?” I made my way through the house and froze when I saw him, elbows on his knees head in his hands, taking deep breaths to calm himself. “Helios—” “Stay away,” he interrupted. “Are you clothed? Completely?” “Yes.” “Good.” He sat for another moment before standing. “Are you okay?” He shook his head. “I’m disgusted with myself,” he said angrily. “I couldn’t even stay in there to watch you just dress. Pandora if I would’ve stayed…” He broke off and shook his head again. I took his hand in mine and said something that I couldn’t believe I would ever say. “I trust you.” The look on Helios’s face after I spoke the words was…indescribable. “Helios—” His hand twisted around mine to pull me to him, his face in the crook of his neck, his hand entwined in my hair. “He—” “Don’t say anything.” His voice was cold and I instinctively froze. His voice wasn’t as mean as it was begging. I obeyed his order and closed my eyes, focusing on my breathing. Truthfully…I was starting to not mind the small things as much. But…whether it was the craziness of the past few days wearing down on me or my attraction to him, I felt as if he was entering my heart. Then again…the reincarnations could be trying to surface, to tell me to be with him—if reincarnation was real. “Pandora…” I kept my eyes close; afraid of what I would see when I opened them. I took in a breath and my lungs filled with Helios’s dark scent. I decided not to breathe after that. “Pandora,” he whispered again. Before I could take in another breath, his lips were on mine, soft yet demanding. I gave in to the stirring inside of me and kissed him back. We answered each other, bodies molded to one another. Names whispered against one another’s lips. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, pulling away. “I promised I wouldn’t ask more of you. I’m sorry.” I tried to speak but nothing escaped my lips. I couldn’t find the words to say to tell him not to blame himself, to have him understand that it was alright. When nothing came I wrapped my arms around his waist and leaned my head on his back. “Pandora…” “Don’t blame yourself,” I whispered. “It’s not your fault.” “But—” “No,” I said, my voice ending the conversation. “Pandora?” “Yes?” Helios turned, a look on confusion on his face as he pulled me to him. “I didn’t say that,” he said quietly. I didn’t speak as he held me tighter, protecting me from something that wasn’t visible. My gaze caught on the person behind Helios. The jasper, jade-flecked eyes met mine with a startling clarity. “Helios,” I started, confused. “But how…you’re…?” I tore away from the Helios holding me to survey the both of them. The Helios holding me turned and tensed automatically, speaking coldly. “How did you get in here?” he demanded. “The wards should have stopped you.” The Helios across the room mirrored his stance, speaking just as coldly. “That question should be asked of you,” he stated. “How did you manage to get through those wards? Only I, Draco or Pandora can enter. It looks like empty space to everyone else—including evils.” Two Helioses, two perfect copies…only one was, apparently, an evil. Helios—the one who had held me—dodged an attack from the other and a battle ensued. Their movements were unable to be followed by my human eyes. I saw them only when they would pause and stare at each other—at perfect odds against one another. My gaze traveled as my thoughts swam. There had to be a way to grab the real Helios’s attention and be able to separate it from the fake’s. “Helios!” I yelled. “I love you!” They both froze for a moment but one attacked the other and the battle continued. “Screw this,” I whispered to myself. And, just as I was about to let the fight go on, I froze, knowing something I could do to catch the real Helios’s attention. “Helios!” I yelled again. I yanked my shirt off over my head, thankful for the camisole I had put on. When that brought no attention I started to tug off the camisole but warm hands stopped me and pulled both it and my shirt down. “Pandora…I don’t think I could…control myself,” he whispered, pulling me to him. “Helios,” I sobbed, wrapping my arms around his neck. “Oh God I couldn’t find you…at all…it was…” I broke off…stunned. Why was I crying? What reason did I have to cry? Helios was okay. But, why couldn’t I stop? “Don’t cry,” he whispered. “Did you mean what you said? When you tried to find me?” I blushed and opened my mouth to speak. The evil cut me off, its guttural roar erupting through the room. I knew it automatically. “Greed!” I gasped. “I forgot to ask what happened to it! After Lies, I mean.” “I know,” Helios said, pushing me behind him. “It was clever, it ran. But not before it took some of my blood to get inside of the house.” “Sssheee mussst die!” the evil hissed. “Sssheee isss unnatural, a doll! We are natural becausssse we are part of man!” “The same stupid argument every time,” I growled, pushing past Helios despite his protests. “You think you’d come up with something new after God knows how many years.” “Don’t undersssstimate usss!” I blew out a sigh. “So,” I said, crossing my arms, leaning my weight back and forth casually. “Are you going to try to enter me like Lies did? Or are you smarter?” The evil hissed out an incoherent reply and it was transforming into Helios before I could blink. “Pandora,” it said using Helios’s voice, his lips, his eyes. “I love you, I always have.” My breathing hitched as he pulled me to him, his lips just by my ear. “Marry me,” he whispered. “Love me…have my daughter. It’s just like it was supposed to be. I’ll protect you from the evils.” “Pandora, don’t listen!” Helios cried out. The other him in front of me flicked his gaze upward and Helios crashed into a table. “Pandora, it’s not real! See through it!” I tried to pull out but I was starting to feel tired, weak really. “And I won’t let you die,” the other him continued. “You won’t be like the others, like your mother. We can be happy together. You can watch our little Pandora grow up.” My eyes started to close and Helios’s lips covered mine, the kiss gentle at first, but quickly gaining speed when I kiss him back. He lifted me into his arms and carried me to the couch, seating me on his lap—the foreign pulse stronger than ever. “Pandora—” Another thud resounded and I started to pull away but Helios followed me. Before I recalled anything, my shirt and camisole was on the ground, followed by his shirt. “Pandora,” a voice whispered, much quieter, weaker, now. “You’ll die if you…” Another thud reached me and I completely ignored it. I was with Helios after all. The other voice was just annoyance. Right? Helios broke the kiss only to trail more kisses down to my collar bone and lower still. I let out a gasp as he nipped gently at my skin, my flesh sensitive to his touch. “Helios,” I moaned. “Pandora,” he whispered, pulling back up to continue the kiss. I opened my eyes slightly to meet his gaze…and I froze. His jasper, jade-flecked eyes were now an emotionless, coal black. “Greed,” I whispered, jerking away. I covered my chest, thankful I had my bra on at least. “S-Stay away! How did you do that?!” Another me appeared and smiled. “Hello Pandora,” the other me said with a malicious smile. “You’ve yet to meet me. I am Lust.” Shit. I tried to gather my bearings but failed as I was sent flying into the air and on top of a very hurt-looking Helios. “Helios!” I cried out, trying to assess is wounds as the evils laugh reach me and echoed around me. “Helios, let me help you!” “Help me by…running,” he coughed. “I can’t…let Pandora die.” “Screw the ‘I can’t let Pandora die’ crap,” I said angrily. “I won’t leave you behind!” I pulled Helios up, trying to balance him and myself as the evils charged us. We were tore apart and a scream ripped from my throat as I hit a table and sliced my shoulder blade. “Mistress!” Suddenly, I was airborne, Helios by my side as we streaked through the air away from the house, away from civilization. “Draco!” I gasped, holding onto the unconscious Helios and a point on Draco’s spine. “Thank you.” We flew until nightfall and landed inside of a forest. We landed in a meadow and Draco went to search for a place to hide, but not without starting us a fire first. Helios hadn’t woken our entire trip. We were near a stream and I ripped off a hem on my jeans to use as a wash cloth to clean Helios’s wounds. His eyes opening was the only thing that registered he was awake. “Helios?” I whispered, looking at him awkwardly. “Are you…?” “I’m alright…to an extent,” he said carefully. “I thought I told you to run and leave me behind.” “And I thought I told you I wouldn’t leave you behind,” I snapped back. “Now stop the banter so I can clean off the blood.” That was hard considering my repeated visits to the river to re-wet and clean the jean hem. About the sixth trip I threw the hem on the ground and let out a sigh. “Pandora—” “Stand up,” I ordered, peeling my wet jeans off. “Undress to your underwear.” “Pandora,” he said, shocked. “Whatever you ask but I thought you weren’t—” “Shut up,” I hissed, blushing. “And get your mind out of the gutter. I’m not looking for that.” “Ah,” he said sadly. “Can’t say I wasn’t looking forward to…oh well.” He shrugged and, if he wasn’t hurt, I would have slapped him. But, his mocking tone meant he was feeling better. That idea went down the drain when a coughing fit started and he hit the ground. “Helios!” “I’m fine,” he coughed. “Just sore, that’s all.” I bit my lip before yanking off his jeans and helping him to the river, the cold water stung but it was better than nothing. Helios was more important that the cold. And the cold wasn’t helping his pain either so it was a necessity that I hurried up and finished quickly. I stood as Helios laid in a shallow edge of the river, his body shaking from the cold and, most likely, the pain. I rubbed away the blood as well as possible and tried to clean the wounds as well as I could with my hands. To my surprise, when the cuts hit lower, I didn’t flinch to clean those as well. Nothing like that mattered, only Helios did. Screw modesty. When I was finished I pulled him out and sat him on a bed of vegetation I had created for us right after Draco had left. Suddenly, it hit me. I could’ve made two beds easily but I had made one, not even thinking. Not even, to my surprise, caring. Before I knew it, I was pulling him against me for body warmth, not at all bothered by the closeness. It wasn’t even awkward. Was I warming up to him? Helios, however, was asleep, arms a loose cage holding me in but allowing room for escape. “Yes,” I whispered answering his earlier question as my finger brushed his lips. I pressed my lips gently against his, his lips unmoving. Sad that he was truly asleep but I felt kind of happy I knew something he didn’t. I was beginning to—if not completely—love him. Please reply. I apologize in advance for any incorrect phrasing or wording. ****It is copied directly from the microsoft word document so font variations have been canceled out****

[Aristaeus]

Good chapter. The shadow entities seem to make interesting antagonists. Here are a few typos that I spotted: Spoiler for Typos: I shuddered as a pulled out a pair of jeans and... “Helios!” I cried out, trying to assess is wounds as the evils laugh reach me and echoed around me. Helios was more important that the cold. Hope to see more.

[Katherynn]

Thank you, Aristaeus. I'll go back and correct them! Thank you for your help.