TW: Mentions of r@pe to a minor (with all my heart and soul fuck you Theseus), swearing.
And 6 years passed, slowly but uneventfully.
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They would hold the sacrifice on his birthday. Every year. There had been six sacrifices to date, and that day would have been the seventh. My father had stopped making it mandatory for us to see the sacrifices being escorted to the labyrinth a few years back, but Phaedra had heard a rumour that a hero was going that year, and practically dragged me to go see them. I knew who he was right away.
Theseus. I could smell that asshole's arrogance and stupidity from miles away. I had heard about how he had abducted Helen when she was just ten years old, and raped her. In my opinion, especially now, he can go burn in Tartarus. Gods, I wish I'd said that to him when I first saw him and he looked at me. But no, I forced a smile as he looked at us and my sister practically fainted from pure girlish excitement. I never did see what she saw in him - he was just another boy pretending to be a man, annoying, disgusting and vile. As I saw Phaedra trying to not so subtly follow them I grabbed her arm and pulled her away.
"Phaedra. Listen to me. I know that he's a hero and your teenage brain can't handle seeing one without going all impulsive but please, try not to do anything too stupid that'll end up with me covering for you. These is serious - he's dangerous. Okay?"
She, being a grumpy 14 year old teenage girl looking for adventure, said nothing and rolled her eyes at me, and continued to stare absent-mindedly at Theseus. Even before I could turn around, I remember feeling Theseus's eyes on me, watching my every movement. He had been quite a bit older than me - 26 or 27. Pedo. Eventually, I managed to drag Phaedra away before Asterion woke up, smelled new meat and the carnage began.
Time had passed quickly that day. I had been busy with weaving, and visiting Daedalus. I was basically his apprentice, but I could never officially be an architect. My father would never allow it. According to him, I would be married to one of those old, important men from court. A diplomatic marriage. Bleh. I had been lucky that he hadn't forced me to be married younger. Anyway, I had been in Daedalus' tower, working on working wings with his son Icarus (who was 17 at the time), when we heard a knock. I wasn't supposed to be there; my father had told me I wasn't allowed to study with Daedalus as I should be "getting ready for marriage" but Daedalus still kept teaching me in secret, so I hid inside the closet .
"Daedalus? Are you there? Please open the door, I need your help!" Phaedra whispered. I hadn't expected it to be her. Maybe I should've said something. Maybe I should have talked some sense into her. But I didn't. She told Daedalus that she was sick of what was happening with the Minotaur. Asterion. She had apparently talked to Theseus, and he was going to kill the Minotaur, but needed help - a sword. He told her that he would kill the Minotaur, and then escape with her, to marry her. So, she needed a sword. Daedalus had no choice but to give it to her.
You didn't think I would have let her go alone, did you? No, of course I followed her, and saw her give Theseus the sword, then leave. As soon as she left, I went to speak with Theseus. I asked him what he was going to do as soon as he killed Asterion, what his escape plan was. Nothing. As it turns out, neither he nor my sister had thought that far. So, I gave him some golden string I had been using, and told him to use it so that he wouldn't get lost. But on one condition. He would take both me and my sister out of Crete, back to Athens. He could marry my sister, if she wanted, when she was of age, but I would go as well. I wasn't about to let my sister go off to Athens with someone like him. He, of course, agreed. I ran back to Daedalus, and told him of what I had done. Their wings were nearly ready, and they too would use them to escape Crete. After Asterion was dead, my father would have tried to punish Daedalus, as he would have no more use for him. They had wanted to escape for a long time, and this would be their chance.
The next day, we heard that Asterion had been killed.
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