Chained Memories: Night Nine (Mythology related, mild language, mild sexual conduct)
Night Nine
“Good,” Doubt said. “Your pregnancy is going off without a hitch. I would say you have about two months before you give birth.”
I had been in my glass cage for nearly a month and, by now, we were likely into the month of November. With no windows it was hard to tell if there was snow. Given we were even above ground.
Celfior had been coming to see me every two or so days and I had started to trust him again. Today was a scheduled visit and I had to admit I looked forward to them.
Doubt said nothing as he left the room, clipboard in hand. Five minutes later Celfior came in.
“Are you alright?” he asked, pulling a chair up to my cage. “What was he looking at this time?”
“He gives me four months before I have the baby,” I said, touching the glass. “But he still doesn’t know what it is.”
Celfior nodded and we talked for the remainder of his visit. He finally stood after about an hour of being there.
“I have to leave,” he said quietly. “I’ll see you soon Pandora, I promise.”
“I know,” I said, smiling. “Goodbye Celfior.”
He sighed, planting his hands firmly on my glass prison, eyes narrowed.
“I told you not to call me that,” he said coldly. “My name is Pain, not Celfior.”
“Goodbye Pain,” I said smiling.
He smiled then left leaving me alone to my silence once more.
My mind wandered and I fell asleep, using my arms as a pillow, and let myself, for the first time in weeks, relax. Pain was Pain again. All was nearly well with him.
I fell asleep to silence and woke to the sound of a door opening. I sat up, groggy, as I focused on Pains figure.
“What are you doing here?” I groaned, looking at Pain. “You’ll be in trouble if Doubt catches you.”
I watched as he came over to me and, without hesitation, ripped the lid to my glass prison. He pulled into his arms as the lid crashed and shattered on the floor.
“Pain!” I gasped, trying to hold my robe closed. I had been given it by Doubt during his first visit. It was the only thing I wore. “What are you doing?!”
“Isn’t it obvious?” he said, walking out the door. “We’re kidnapping you. I told you I would get you out of here and I will.”
“We’re?”
I looked up into crystal green eyes as I was handed over to another evil.
“Death,” Pain said, ignoring my protests as he turned back to the door we had just come from. It was a hidden door on the other side of my tiny room. His back was to us. “Take care of her.”
“Pain, no!”
He looked over his shoulder at me and smiled, blood eyes, for the very first time, soft.
“Goodbye Pandora.”
He went through the door to my confinement area as Death took off, me in his arms.
My cries and protests were cut off by the wind rushing around us.
The wind whipped around us and scattered my tears. Death was silent even after we broke through Tartarus’s black iron gates and were sitting in a meadow.
He—Death—was leaning against a tree, looking at the skies for anyone who might’ve followed us and I sat on the ground, knees pulled up to my chest as I cried.
Another punch. And another.
I felt my body tremble with silent sobs as the tears fell. Even though I was crying, I was the first to break the silence.
“Death,” I managed, surprised that my voice was steady despite my tears, as I looked at the red-eyed, disoriented girl in the creek beside me. “Is he…Is Pain…?
He looked at me, lips a firm line, as he looked down at the ground.
I looked away from the girl in the creek to Death. He stiffened when my gaze fell on him but relaxed after a moment.
“What…happens next?” I whispered, holding my stomach as more tears threatened to overcome me.
I froze, realizing I had spoken those same words to Pain a handful of weeks ago.
Death offered me no reply.
The air was cold as I walked, Death several paces behind me. I held my arms, wishing Tartarus hadn’t been so warm.
Who knew that we’d all been beneath a frozen wasteland, heated by the warmth of the mantle?
I’d given up trying to talk to Death. He never spoke and any attempt of small talk was shot down by his emerald green eyes giving me his only reply.
Carefully I sidestepped a crack in the earth and continued. I had no clue where I was going and I wasn’t so sure Death knew either.
“W-Where are…w-we?” I managed through chattering teeth.
I was met with another of those emerald blazing gazes and I tripped, tumbling to the cold, glacial earth.
Death was at my side instantly, helping me up and wrapping me in his jacket.
“What a-are you…d-doing?”
Death said nothing as he lifted me into his arms and carried me. The heat of his body felt nice and I was thankful for it.
We’d started out in warm meadows but instantly hit cold landscapes once we had cleared Tartarus’s border.
It was freezing after that.
As we continued I nearly missed Death’s quite voice speak to me.
“How are you with flying?”
It wasn’t sarcastic in the least even though the words seemed to say it.
“Fly…ing?” I asked, slightly confused. “W-What do y-you me-mean?”
“I can get us out of the cold faster if we fly,” he said in the same whispery voice.
“I can…hand-handle flying,” I managed, wrapping my arms around his warm neck.
“Ready?”
I nodded and Death crouched down, my body nearly touching the snow, before we shot up. The instant rise popped my ears and took my breath away while snow flew out around us.
Almost as quickly as we had shot up, we landed.
The grass was dry and smooth, glossy in a way, and I instantly recognized it by the mesh of leaves and the blood coating the ground.
“Death,” I said, scarcely breathing. “Where…are we?”
“Near Wellston,” he whispered, taking his jacket as I handed it to him.
I fell and he caught me effortlessly.
“No…” I shook my head. “We can’t be. There’s no way.”
“Pandora?”
I turned and faced the one man I wished I could hide from now.
“Hel…ios,” I breathed, trying to stand only to have Death catch me when I fell again.
His hair was slightly disheveled, longer than I remembered, while his eyes had dark purple circles beneath them. His clothes were wrinkled and he looked disoriented.
Without warning he ran and lifted me into his arms, spinning me.
He held me in his arms as he spoke.
“Pandora,” he gasped, holding me tightly. “I thought you were dead! I couldn’t find you anywhere. I checked the Carpathian Mountains and Calleah’s house in case you might’ve went there but you weren’t in either—”
He cut off abruptly and I stiffened as he looked me over, stepping away from me for a moment.
“Pandora…” He looked at me, eyes filled with hurt and it took all I had not to let out a sob. “Why?”
That word. That one, single-syllabled word was all it took for the tears to gain their freedom.
“I-I’m so sorry Helios,” I sobbed, holding my stomach. “I didn’t mean—I tried not—”
I broke off in a series of sobs as Death came up to stand behind me. He turned me away from Helios, allowing me to cry on his chest.
“Pandora…”
I couldn’t breathe, let alone speak, and I tried to stop the flow of tears. I failed.
“Was it…this person?” he whispered.
“No,” Death answered calmly.
His voice was louder than it had been when he had spoken to me. And he only spoke to me out of necessity. I could have answered for myself.
“And why should I believe you, evil?” Helios growled. “You could have easily taken advantage of her seeing as you’re in a human’s body.”
Death nodded.
“I understand your frustration, Sun,” Death said, once again, calmly. “But it wasn’t me. The evil Pain and Pandora were put into the E-Project. You should know very well that she’s lucky she came out alive.
“Most are ripped to pieces by the evil’s power.”
“I know,” Helios whispered, pain and memory in his voice. “I know that very well.”
“So you know she is lucky to have survived—”
“S-Stop,” I choked out. “Both of you—just…stop. Please.”
Both of them were silent and I regretted my request. The only sounds were of my choked sobs and the water running near us.
“Take me…home,” I said, pushing away from Death. “Just please…take me home.”
Death let go of me, hesitating slightly, and I turned to face Helios.
“Let’s go home.”
More tears fell down my cheeks as Helios came over to me and, wrapping an arm around my waist, walked me towards Wellston.
Each step I took away from Death made my chest constrict painfully and caused more tears to fall.
“Helios,” I whispered, rooting in place. I looked up at him. “Stay here. I have something I have to do.”
I turned around, facing the direction we had been coming from, and threw one more look at Helios.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
And then I took off.
Trees flew past as I ran, forcing myself to go faster and faster, trying to find Death, praying he hadn’t taken to the skies.
My head spun from the adrenaline and my stomach was doing flips but I forced myself to continue.
“Death!” I gasped, grabbing him as he started to take off. He looked at me, expression blank. “Wa…it…”
“Pandora,” he said in the whispery voice.
“Is he really dead?” I managed, clinging onto Death. “Is Pain…really…dead?”
Death closed his eyes.
“Death,” I gasped out. “Say…something.”
He tilted my chin up to where I met his blazing emerald gaze.
“Death?” I whispered as he wrapped an arm around my waist. “What are you—”
“I’m sorry.”
His lips came down on mine and I froze, confused, as he kissed me. Death’s kiss was soft, gentle. He held me as though I would fall apart any second.
I wrapped my arms around his neck as he pulled me to him, arms wrapping around my waist as he kissed me.
My eyes slowly closed and I relaxed against him, allowing him to hold me up.
Finally, he pulled away, stepping away from me once he knew I would be able to stand on my own.
“I’m sorry.”
He turned around and I grabbed his wrist, making a weak attempt to keep him in place.
“Why?”
Death kept his eyes closed and I let go of his wrist.
“Because,” he whispered, looking at me. “I…fell in love with you.”
He turned away from me and shot into the sky, the wind from his takeoff whipping my hair around me.
I closed my eyes, tears falling, as I fell to the ground.
“I’m sorry to,” I whispered. “I just wish you could hear it.”
I stood up and walked back to Helios. The sun had set by the time I reached him. The tears had also stopped by the time I reached him.
“Take me home,” I said quietly. “I just want to go home.”
Helios didn’t ask me any questions, didn’t give me any curious looks, the entire way to Wellston.
When we reached my door he kissed me and I gave him a weak smile.
We parted ways and I made my way up to my room, to tired and weak to undress or shower, though I knew I should.
All I wanted to do now was sleep.
My head ached and it took me a minute for everything to come rushing back.
I was home.
I sat up, blinking, as I looked around the room.
Sitting on my dresser was a blue and purple lava lamp I had gotten for my eighth birthday. It was broken but I loved it either way.
On my nightstand was a beaten up Scooby Doo alarm clock that was long since unusable.
I’d gotten it for Christmas when I was three.
On a shelf was a plush doll of Vincent Valentine when I had been obsessed with him from the Final Fantasy VII game at age twelve.
I had always meant to put the items away but never got the chance. Something always came up that kept me from shoving them in a box and forgetting about them.
A cry threatened to tear from my throat when I picked up the rectangular picture frame sitting on my nightstand. It had been over ten years since I had looked at the photo inside.
I stood between my father and mother as my mother tried to pull my hair into a ponytail for my Halloween costume. I was five and going as a witch.
Tears brimmed my eyes and I brushed them away, feeling slightly nostalgic.
I turned on my bed, setting the frame right side up on my table and it took everything I had not to scream.
My vampire looking best friend stood in the doorway watching me as I remembered my life before I had been attacked by Jealousy.
“Call…eah,” I breathed, clutching my blankets to keep from running away. “What are you doing here?”
She uncrossed her arms and walked over to me, sitting beside me as she explained.
“Helios told me,” she said with a bright smile. She was a good actress, I’d give her that. “You got back from your…Aunt’s? I think he said Aunt…anyway, I wanted to welcome you back.”
My grip on the covers tightened as I mentally bashed myself for even leaving Helios alone.
“Yeah I was…at my Aunt’s,” I said shakily, trying to relax. Though, the hold I had on the blankets wasn’t helping anything other than the pain shooting through my knuckles. “Why?”
“I was worried,” she said, hugging me. “You normally tell me when you leave! You just—poof!—disappeared.”
At ‘poof’ she made a fist with each hand and flicked her fingers out, eyes wide.
“It was…sudden,” I said carefully. “I didn’t get the chance to call anyone and, because of where my Aunt lives, I couldn’t get service. Plus her phone line was disconnected so…”
Calleah nodded, taking my hands.
“But you’re okay, right?” she said, touching my forehead with the tips of her fingers.
I nodded, pushing her hand away and her eyes glazed over and I froze.
“Pandora,” she said, her voice sounded like she was hypnotized by something. It was distant. “If you’re okay…what did you do to be so badly cut and bruised?”
My throat closed and I made up a quick lie.
“I had an accident,” I said quickly. “I fell off a horse in the woods. My stupidity kind of kicked in and I scared the horse and…well…you can see.”
“You’re lying.”
Her eyes met mine and she stood.
“I’ll let you go,” she said, standing in the doorway, one hand on the frame as she looked over her shoulder. “Think of a better excuse.”
“I was kidnapped,” I blurted out.
Her eyes narrowed as she turned, crossing her arms, and leaning against the door frame.
“Really now?” She didn’t sound surprised. “By whom? And how did you escape?”
Her voice sounded older, wiser, as she spoke, eyes cold and hard. She seemed, different.
“By…Doubt.”
Calleah’s lips were pressed in a tight line and she said nothing.
“And…I ended up in this project known as the E-Project,” I whispered, eyes vacant as I remembered. “With an evil…known as Pain.”
I looked up and there was no fear or confusion or disbelief in Calleah’s gaze. It was as if she knew it all already.
“And…he told me things,” I continued, looking at my hands as I tried to stop my body from shaking. “He told me he…knew you. He said that you were his…sister and…you wanted to kill me.”
Calleah did nothing again, the same look in her contacted changed red eyes. Or, maybe they were really red after all.
“Is it…true?”
“That Celfior is my brother?” she asked, eyes hard. “It’s true. That I want to kill you? Also true.”
She was at my side in the blink of an eye, cold red eyes boring into mine.
“Why?” I managed. “What…are you?”
Calleah laughed. It was high pitched and bell-like and bounced off the walls, ringing in my ears.
Her eyes flared and she smiled, eyes narrowing.
“I, like my brother and the others, was once an evil,” she said, grabbing my wrists and lifting me to a standing position. “But I am really a Greek Goddess. My true name is Selene.”
“But…how?” I breathed, eyes searching over her. She seemed to be human in every sense of the word—weak, pathetic, breakable. “I mean, how can an evil become a goddess?”
Again, she laughed.
“Do you not know who the Goddess of the Moon is?” When I gave her no reply, she continued. “She is the mother of Helios. I meant for my son, even though the writers of my tale did not state this, to marry a Goddess of high caliber.
“But he went to Earth after finding out about the evils and fell in love with you. A human, no, that’s a disgrace to even them. A doll, a puppet.
“So, due to the curiosity I convinced Hera to bestow you with, you opened your so called ‘box’ and granted the evils their freedom.
“I thought that, after the evils had been released, Epimetheus would hate you and throw you away like the doll you were and I could take control of the human race by night as Queen.
“But then Zeus sent Helios to the surface world and I watched, pinned by his father’s sun, as he fell in love with you.
“I began as a Goddess, pure intentions, the same as the others before and after me, and ended up as an evil. I retained my godly powers but have been shoved into a mortal body every time I try to stop Helios and kill you.”
“So, you became greedy,” I whispered, backing into my headboard of the bed. “You became the evil Greed and you were cast out of Heaven, forced to stay at the moon.”
Call—Selene glared at me, eyes going from a bright red to a deep, nearly black, glacial blue. Her hair grew longer and became as black as the night, tinted with silver streaks that made it look like moonlight was shining on her hair.
Her clothing folded around her and morphed in a dress similar to the one I had worn in the Carpathian Mountains. It was a deep, blue-black.
“This is my true form,” she said, her voice as glacial as her eyes. “You should be rejoicing because I’m not showing you its extent. Mere mortals would die with just a look at this weak form.”
“Why do you want to kill me?”
She smiled, eyes narrowing.
“You took my son from me,” she said coldly. “I plan to pay you pack several fold.”
She turned back into her human form and looked at me.
“Selene?” I whispered, my hands still holding the blankets in a death grip.
Her gaze met mine and I could see the pure, raw hatred there. It made me shiver involuntarily.
“Yes?” her voice was like her glacial eyes.
“Celfior,” I whispered. I shook my head immediately and started again. “Pain is dead.”
“I know,” she said, a smiling curving her lips. “And I know you’re pregnant with his child. The first time in history, congratulations.
“Pandora, who do you think planted the idea in Doubt’s tiny brain to put the two of you together in the E-Project?”
I shook my head in disbelief as she continued.
“Doubt is too, no pun intended, doubtful of most things unless he had someone there to push along his little thoughts.”
Again I stared in blatant disbelief.
She turned, one hand on the frame of my door, looking over her shoulder as she said the final thing that blew me away.
“Oh, and about Celfior?” she said nonchalantly. “I could care less if he’s dead or alive. He is only my brother in evil.”
She left without another word, leaving me speechless.
I sifted through the new information I had attained.
Within the past three months I had been attacked by evils, found out I was the reincarnation of Pandora, fought countless evils, slept with a God, been kidnapped by the very thing I had hunted, gotten pregnant, escaped, fallen for an evil, found out my best friend wanted to kill me, and found out my best friend was the mother of the God I thought I loved.
Could it get any worse?
“Pandora?”
Yes. Yes it could.
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****
