My Side - An Ariadne Retelling

Chapter 2

TW: Killing someone and attempted murder ig? Not really gore I don't think, bit of violence tho

Still, up till then, my life had been mostly good and comfortable, sheltered in a way. It all went wrong on Asterion's 3rd birthday.

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We had decided to move him out of his nursery, and into a specially designed room in the stable (designed by Daedalus), as he seemed to enjoy staying outside, as a birthday present. I hadn't realised that we didn't have the same privacy there - the nursery had been a place for the women and girls, and I never had had to worry about my father or brothers interfering with Asterion. It was my fault, in a way. I was 13, but still naive and restless - to put it simply, I was bored, and wanted to stir up a little drama. I had been teaching Asterion to speak, and although it sounded weird and animalistic, we were going to prepare a show, where we would show off Asterion speaking. Not to everyone, of course, just to Phaedra, a few servants and handmaids, my mother, Icarus and Daedalus. The show itself went well - everyone was amazed, except for our surprise guest; my brother, Androgeos.

Androgeos had been away for years, and I hadn't expected him to be there. He was horrified, as he had never seen Asterion before. As the older brother, he thought that he should be able to make important decisions, without consulting anyone. He saw Asterion as a burden, a monster that needed to be ridden off before it got too strong. He didn't consider, however, how strong Asterion had already become.

That night, Androgeos sent a stable boy to go into Asterion's stable room. "One strike to the monster's head with a rock, and a stab to the heart with a poisoned dagger, he's dead. Do this for me, and you'll be handsomely rewarded" Androgeos said, a greedy glimmer in his eyes. But as the stable boy entered, and raised the rock above Asterion's head, Asterion charged.

We only heard a scream, then a thud.

I'll never forget that scream.

Dead in a second. The stable boy, that is. Asterion hadn't known his strength, and hadn't meant to kill the boy. I don't think he truly understood what he did, only that it was bad. He was disgusted with himself, and hated what he had done. His human side had, for at least. The bull's side was mesmerised. Awakened. Androgeos saw all of the happening, and sent for our father.

That's when my father saw his strength, and therefore what he could gain from him. "Wonderful...", he whispered, "I shall call him the Minotour. He will be my greatest weapon. Daedelus! I command you to build a cage for this beast - something that he will not be able to escape from."

All I wanted to do was to run to Asterion. To hug him, comfort him, say it wasn't his fault. To stop them from taking him away. But I was frozen in fear. For the first time, in all my life, I had been truly afraid of him. So I watched as my father and the now smirking Androgeos sent for the strongest warriors to imprison him. They tied him up, and left him there, terrified. He called to me, but I forced myself to turn away. To hug Phaedra, to take her away from there before it got worse.

I was never able to go back to those stables, and to that room. Even if I had wanted to, it was heavily guarded and nobody would let me in.