+1+
I push myself up and over the steps. Helios is unarmed so I figure he’ll run to the armory first. If I run fast enough maybe I can catch him by surprise.
I’m halfway to the armory when a weight knocks me off balance. I turn and am clipped again. The snap of feathers makes the hairs on my arm raise. Suddenly arms clinch around my waist and I’m carried upwards at a fierce speed. My ears start to pop and eventually I’m so disoriented I barley register when Helios lets me go in midair and I begin to plummet.
The Drop
This had been a favorite punishment Helions doled out to criminals or anyone who looked at them the wrong way. My wings are bound tight behind my back and I tug at the back of my shirt while I hurtle towards the ground. I work the muscles in my back and snap the leather straps holding them back. My wings burst through my shirt and I’m able to find equilibrium and keep afloat in the sky. I look up and see Helios hurtling down towards me.
We barrel into each other both of us fighting for dominance. We’re a spiraling heap of wings, skin and teeth in the sky. I reach for the knife in my belt and dig it into Helios’ stomach. I get the upper hand and soar downwards slamming us into the hot sand. We hit the ground at an angle that forces us to roll apart.
Helios stands and pulls the knife from his stomach. His wings are a worn and weathered mixture of soft gray, brown and white. They are an imposing force surrounding him.
“Leon”, Helios says and for the first time since our reunion he addresses me, “We were like brothers once.”
“You’re no brother to me. You were never a brother to me.” I tell him.
“I was”, Helios says circling me, “Centuries I lead. Centuries I took you out of the darkness. I gave you purpose when you had none. I gave you everything and you betray me. You forsake me for you enemy, you toppled my kingdom and fucked my wife.”
We careen towards one another again this time going hand to hand. Helios is a smooth and elegant fighter. He plans his moves one after another. I work to keep him from going airborne, I evade and duck each of his blows. I have one knife in my back pocket and when I get some space I throw it so it lodges into the sensitive joint of his wings.
He rears back, his wings shake thunderously and sends the knife sailing. We go for each other again and I get scrappy and punch him the face like a brawler.
“You lied to me”, I say landing another punch, “All those years you told me I was shit. You told me I was nothing without you. You kept me in a fucking cage.”
Helios gears up to hit back but I dance back.
“I did what I had to”, Helios says ducking my next hit, “I did what I had to do to make sure we survived. In New Aeterna I gave my men the home and lives they deserved. It could have been yours.”
“They were never truly free if they still believed in you.” I land a hit this time.
Helios does a quick turn and lands a kick square to my face.
“Come on Leon. All these years we spent together. All for it to end like this over a murdering psychotic bitch and a fucking demon.”
Helios hits an open wound on my jaw the intense pain ricochets up my spine. Hel kicks me again and I’m down. Helios wings ruffle and he launches to the sky. To freedom.
I take the gun from the armory I’d sworn to myself not to use and angle it up at him. I don’t aim to kill but fire a bullet into his wing, riddling each of the majestic appendages with holes. By the time I force myself to stand Helios is plummeting out the sky. I catch him before he hits the ground and throw him on his back.
I pick up the now empty gun and hit his pretty face with it
“That’s for Aria”, I hit him again, “And the daughter you took for us. And the years you took from me, the families you separated, and the lives that were lost.
I hit him again without a reason and Helios spits up blood. I drag him over to the armory.
“You’re so lost Leon”, Helios says as I gather materials from the armory to bind him again, “You’ve just gone from one master to another. Think about what you really want.”
“To get home to my family.”
Helios smiles.
“If you have a family left.”
I don’t let him rattle me. I wrap his arms tightly in chains after handcuffing him and leading him back towards the cellar. Sera is carrying a very haggard looking Paris up the stairs. He has on a blue linen shirt and loose fitting pants-- it takes me a minute to realize he is wearing the doctor’s clothes.
Sera sets Paris down and presses a bottle of water to his lips. He looks like death warmed over.
“Boss”, I say not loosening my grip on Helios’ chain.
“I’m…okay”, Paris says, “Let’s get the…fuck out of here.”
“There’s some intel and files in the compound. They might be useful.” I tell him, “We should grab them.”
Paris manages to stand and I catch the bright flashes of silver staples on his stomach.
“Do we have time?” Paris asks me.
“Yeah…we kind of need to figure out transportation, anyway” I say remembering I’d given the old man the keys.
“What happened to the truck?” Sera asks.
“We’ll figure it out.” I give a non-answer.
I keep a firm grip on Helios as we head back inside the compound. Paris walks with me and I see the trepidation in his eyes when he notices the bodies.
“Bitch”, someone yells.
I turn in time to see Pilos standing on top of the compound. He has a gun pointed at Sera and he doesn’t hesitate to shoot. Paris shoves her aside but I jump in front of Sera and take a white gold bullet to my shoulder.
“Leon.” Sera screams.
Pilos starts haphazardly emptying his clip. I pull Paris down to the ground as bullets hit the dry earth around us. Instead of taking cover Sera goes after Pilos. She runs towards the side of the building and begins to climb.The bullet that had hit me sinks deeper into my shoulder and I lose my grip on Helios' chains.
“Fuck”, Paris rolls up my sleeve and inspects where I was hit, “You really need to stop taking bullets for my wife. The bullet is lodged in your muscle. You’ll be fine we just need to clean up the blood and—“
Paris stops mid-sentence realizing I’d let go of Helios's chains…and he was nowhere to be see. We both look around and realize Helios has made a run for it again. In the next instance all I hear is Seraphina’s screaming.
A/N
I know this was an odd cut up, but in my head Leon and Helios (this is the first time they’ve spoken to one another in this serial… I hope) having a fight was its own “chapter” but it only came out to like ~1.5K.
Okay, so I'm pretty sure I started writing Chapter 10 in 2017 because there was a song from a trailer I wanted to use for this section that I ended up not using. This was one of the sections I wrote first and over the years I struggled with it because of all the violence.
Unrelated, I posted this chapter with the New text box editor and I think it looks better.