Memory Files

04 - The Banquet

     Everyone in the kitchen seemed to be having a great time. We were all bonding while waiting for Aphrodite to finish cooking for us. Eris had insisted she would help with the cooking, but who knew if that girl could even cook an edible meal. All of us had gotten along so well that, up until now, we forgot that one of us was just trying to blend in, waiting for an opportunity to strike. That's right, we forgot all about the dire situation we're in. I heard a crash in the kitchen. I got up as fast as I could and rushed towards it, hoping it's not what I think it is. Now that I thought about it, it was suspicious how Eris suddenly wanted to help, and in the kitchen where she had access to all sorts of utensils no less.

"Eris, stop!" I yelled at the top of my lungs.

     They were both staring at me, embarrassed.

"O-oh, sorry about that noise, looks like we accidentally dropped one of the plates, hehe.."

     When Aphrodite said that, I walked back to the table, relieved that nothing had happened, and just a bit embarrassed. I know I should try to loosen up, but the thought of what Annie had said earlier lingered. If somebody doesn't die by tomorrow, we're all going to get killed. I still had a lot of questions, but no matter what, we have to make sure none of us die. There has to be a way. I looked down at my watch:

                                                                                      [77400]

     77,400 seconds? Can we find a way out before then? Before long, the dinner table had been set, with a special seat reserved for Zeus with extra food.

"Ooh, yummy yummy!" said Lola, the puppet. I guess that's Cerberus' way of saying the food looks good.

"This looks great, Aphrodite," I commented. She gave me a warm, gentle smile in return.

     Coeus had already started chomping down on the food without even waiting for the rest of us. Where are your manners? Just as we were all about to start eating, a large burly man limped into the room.

"He's back!" exclaimed Eris.

"Owowowow!" Zeus was in immense pain as Eris wrapped her arms around him and squeezed. "Sheesh, you're all trying to kill me, huh?"

     Right, he wasn't there when we were being explained the rules of this game. We would have to explain everything to him over dinner.

"You missed out on a lot. I tried warning you, but you all decided to pull that stupid stunt anyway." Coeus was being as arrogant as always.

"Stupid stunts like that are the only chance we've got, so don't get mad at him for sacrificing himself for us. There's no way any of us are going to kill anybody, we have to find another way out." I defended Zeus. "Weren't you the first one to suggest we try searching for ways out?"

     Coeus grunted in defeat and kept munching down on his food like a starving beast. Zeus seemed a bit confused about what I had just said.

"There's no way any of you are going to kill anybody? What are you two talking about?"

     I told him to sit down on the seat we had reserved for him and gave him a rundown of everything that had been going on. It took him a while to process things and he had many questions, but in the end he seemed to understand.

"So that's what this watch is for, huh?"

"Now that I think about it, what did you see back there?" asked a timid voice belonging to Maia. "The place you were taken?"

"Oh, I don't really remember much, haha. I fell asleep the second I was put on a stretcher, I must've been really tired, huh?"

     They must've used something on him to make him fall asleep.

"Zeus, try out the food we cooked just for you! We wanted to apologize for what we made you go through, this is the least we could do!" Aphrodite seemed excited to see if Zeus liked it.

"How'd you know my favorite food was turkey?! High protein and low fat, it's perfect!" He wasted no time and got to ravaging the poor, poor turkey in front of him. Something about what he had just said bothered me.

"Hey, about what you just said. How do you know that turkey's your favorite food if you don't have any memories?"

"I was about to bring that up too, actually." Coeus added needlessly, but everyone ignored him.

"Huh? Oh, I guess I just kinda knew, I don't know.." He answered quickly and went back to eating. He just kinda knew? That doesn't make any sense. I was starting to get suspicious. Maybe he was the traitor? Or maybe it was just a coincidence? I'm gonna have to sit by and observe him for a while. All of a sudden, he got up from his chair and rushed towards the hallway while holding his mouth.

"Was it really that bad...?" Aphrodite asked, disappointed.

     Aphrodite went to check on him. A few minutes had passed and we started getting worried. I hope Zeus is okay. The group was exchanging ideas on ways we could get out without anyone getting harmed, but we were interrupted by a scream.

"Zeus! Are you okay?!" Her words were followed by a large thud.

     What's happening? I told everyone to stay in the kitchen and hurried to the bathroom, where the noise was coming from. My mind couldn't stop racing. What if something had happened to one of them? I almost wanted to turn back out of fear for what I was about to witness. But by the time I decided to turn back, it was too late. I reached the bathroom and immediately noticed something was wrong. There was a foul overwhelming stench coming from inside the bathroom, like rusted metal. Everything was quiet, I couldn't even hear my own breath. My heart sank when I realized what I had been staring at. It took all the strength in my body to hold in my puke. I tried to hold onto the door frame with one of my hands for support, but with how much I was shaking, I could barely even hold on. I had been staring at the corpse of an angel hunched over and covered in their own blood, their face unrecognizable.

     A while had passed and I hadn't been able to move an inch. I was still in shock from what was in front of me. I didn't think any of us would be capable of killing one another, but then again, Zeus was the only one absent during our time spent bonding with one another. He was nowhere to be seen, he must have fled the scene after murdering Aphrodite. But why would he do this to begin with? Did he hold some sort of grudge against her that nobody else knew about? Was he the traitor? By now, everybody else had come to check up on us and discovered the body as well, since I hadn't returned.

"Cowards, we shouldn't waste our time panicking!" Coeus was the first to say anything. "Right now we should be looking for Zeus. Apollo is probably innocent since he's here and Zeus isn't. The rest of us were in the kitchen, I made sure to pay attention to everybody leaving and entering the kitchen."

     I nodded, but something didn't seem right. If he's the traitor, why would the old man shoot him and why would he agree to try to take the keys in the first place?

"I think we should split up in pairs and look for him. He shouldn't be that hard to find since this place is so small, but if we all go together he would be able to run from room to room easily." I suggested. Everyone agreed.

     After some discussion, we decided on the pairs:

     I'm with Maia going to the throne room. Coeus and Eris are going to the warehouse. They looked good together for some strange reason. The two strangest people, Cerberus and Oizys, were assigned the medical room. We decided that if we don't find anything we would meet up at the cell rooms.

"Apollo?"

"Hm?" The timid Maia seemed to have a question.

"What if we come across him?" She asked in a quiet, shaky voice.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you." I responded in a confident, yet gentle tone.

     In reality, I had no idea what we would do. I knew that we wouldn't be able to do much, with Maia being stuck in a wheelchair, but even if it was a lie, it was the only thing I could say to calm her down.