He was born a commoner, he didn't ask for anything that came to him. He lived in a small village and helped his family farm their small land. They didn't produce a lot for the market, but enough to get by. Things were difficult and nothing came easy for them. "But that's what makes life beautiful, we reap our labours. We do, we are." His father had said. It didn't always make sense to him, some nights he wondered if he would've rather lived an ugly life with enough food to give to his family. Sometimes an entire day would pass without a meal on their tables.
But no matter what happened, even if they had to retire to a hard cold floor with an empty stomach night after night, they had each other and it made things just a little better. It also happened to be enough.
He was named Helios after the Sun God, the village Matriarch had named him. She had said that he was destined to shine bright. But most people called him Lios. His grandparents called him Monkey, for how he used to jump around the village naked when he was young, refusing to put on pants. He was his family's sunshine, and for them, he shone as bright as the sun every time he smiled.
He never truly disliked his life, he was happy. That was until the light came. Turns out, even the sun shines at a price.
It came to him in moments of solitude, shimmering and dancing on the edge of the pond when no one was around watching. Whenever he felt alone or sad, it showed itself and it shone. Sometimes it leapt around the trees and played tricks on his eyes. Sometimes it warmed him and dried him after a tiring day at the paddy fields. It started following him, not only coming to him when he wanted company but on his command. It started listening to him.
He let it listen.
He used to look at the others who squinted at the sun, who hid from the sunlight. He didn't. He would stare right into the sun and see a friend. But it wanted more, the light called for him to be one with it, to not hold back. It wanted to grow.
He let it grow.
The boy drew himself to the outskirts of his village, away from his family and loved ones. He didn't want anyone to see it. A part of him wanted all of it for himself, a part of him was afraid of what the others would do or say if they saw it. It grew each time he commanded it and it gave him a taste of the power he could have each time he touched it. It didn't burn his skin upon touch like he had thought it would, it tingled and its touch lurked for days after. He knew what it wanted, it wanted in.
He let it in.
It had been everything he had needed. He didn't need to go to the outskirts to play with it anymore, he had it within him every day. Even when he slept, his dreams were filled with sunlight and bright skies. It kept him happy. He returned to his family and everything went back to normal, better than normal. He would lend some light to the crops and they flourished under his touch. He felt as if he had found the secret of life, of happiness. The produce of their farm doubled and they never had to go to bed with an empty stomach. Things were good.
That was until his mother had become sick and he couldn't do anything. There's nothing we can do, the village doctor had said. But he was different. He had the light within him. He breathed life into those plants, why wasn't it working with his mother? He stayed by her side night and day, refusing to step out. He pushed the light away. If it couldn't save his mother, what good could it do? It was useless. He was useless.
A week later, his mother passed away right in front of his eyes. He saw her chest rise and fall, never to rise again. He heard the air leave her body as her hand became heavy on his own. He cried and screamed, begging for the air to go back into his mother's body, forcing her eyelids to open but her eyes weren't the same. They looked just as they always had, but they looked up at the ceiling, staring blankly, and refused to look at him.
His family found him when they heard his cries, running from their farm to their little house. They knew. They tried to take him away, to prepare the mother's body for the rituals. But he wouldn't budge. He held onto her hand and refused to move. He screamed and cried and yelled at himself for not being able to save her. He begged for the gods that her mother had worshipped to bring her back. He begged for anything to call back, to say that everything would be okay. He wanted to be whole again.
The light answered.
He let it return.
His family stepped back when the boy shone bright, his skin turning to gold as it blinded their visions. He was grieving and for the first time, it wasn't him commanding the light. It was his grief.
He let it burn.
***
When the man came to the location, he saw a land burnt to ashes, smoking barren land where an entire village used to be. The man walked alone, leaving the others behind him with a blanket in his hand. He saw a boy at the centre of the land, naked and staring up at the sky, right at the sun. He walked closer to the boy and saw charred bodies all around him, the stench of burning flesh in the air. He was unharmed, though his hair had apparently been burned down in the fire.
It had taken two weeks for the word to spread and reach SHIELD. Nobody had gone near the boy as the land had continued to burn for days and when the fire had died down, it had taken everything with it. The boy had looked sickly, his skin clinging to his bones, and white hair starting to grow on his scalp. He didn't move, didn't even flinch when the man put the blanket around him. The man kneeled down next to him and looked up at where the boy was looking, narrowing his eyes and covering it with his hand against the bright sunlight. He looked down at the boy and helped him stand up. The boy didn't resist.
"I'm agent Coulson," the man said and tried to assure him that everything would be okay but the boy didn't look away from the sun.
"It's gone," was all the boy had said.
The word had spread over the surrounding villages. Those who had survived the fire had called him the devil, some an angel. Some said he breathed fire and burned everything down to the bone, some said to have healed from his light. To coming generations, he was a myth, a legend, a bedtime story for children. For some, he was a saint.
To the man, he was just a boy named Helios.
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Helios (Steve Rogers x Male!OC x Darkling)
Fiksi Penggemar"What is infinite? The universe and the greed of men."* Two lives are woven together by the greed and pride of men. One suffered for his greed for power, the other cannot let go of his pride. But we don't always get all that we bargain for, sometime...
