Her Champion

Chapter Five

Word Count: 1337

Chapter five-the dog

"Can we keep him Ma?" Back when I had shortened her name. As I grew up I noticed the pain in her eyes when I called her that; so I called her Pri. Then we constantly had company. The angels on 'our' side. So I had to call her Primera. She would give me reassuring looks and touches though. To help me understand that it wouldn't be much longer now. The Rebellion force began after the California Incident.

"Of course Vera! I don't want you getting sad, you're too good to be sad!" I shrieked as she hugged me tightly, giggling out of control as she tickled me. I loved playing with her. She was so much fun when she smiled. We would play human games, like princesses and pirates; dragons and unicorns, queens and knights. We would compete to tell the best stories at bedtime.

Cerberus, a small 10 pound puppy at the time; swerved all three of his heads at my sharp sound, bounded over, and played with us too. We played until sunset, when the blue lake turned golden with pinks, yellows, oranges and purples. We still didn't go home until after the stars were far up in the sky. The milky way still visible due to the lack of light pollution. Actually, all artificial pollution was yet to happen since this was a time period right before modern humans.

I used to go back there often, to the time. The whole problem with traveling through time is that angels age at a rate different from the timeline itself. The general rule of thumb for traveling was to stay in the same timeline, and away from the parallel ones. Our cosmic make up is a little different and while time is a fluid in our control, it can still drown you.

"Cerberus, be nice." He had started to growl and it woke me up from my memory. Hephaestus had backed Hera behind him. An odd tactic since she was much stronger than he. She still had her wings.

"He's yours? Why were they sent here?" I winced, clenching my fist to keep the hounds at bay.

"Primera ordered them to find me. I was gone too long." They looked more scared. I didn't know the best way to comfort them. I didn't mention that Primera thought I had slaughtered angels. The whispers of darkness, guilt ate away at my ear again and prickled the back of my nape.

"I think you need to go. Now." Hera's eyes were harsh, but I understood. She was trying to protect her people. From me. Maybe Primera would let me go on vacation again. I whistled loudly and evaporated into the timeline. The hounds surfed with me through the times, until we found the fortress. Home at last.

Getting inside I played with Cerberus and Odin until we were all tired. It helped to get my mind off of things. We wrestled around, only half strength. We tried dog toys but the hounds and I are all too strong for the human made toys. I threw Odin gently to the side, Cerberus jumping on top of me. I let him topple me over, wrestling with him on the ground. He growled and huffed, and I growled at him back. I rolled him over and tossed him to the side, Odin attacking me again with wet slobbery licks.

"Ack! Gah-Odin get off of me you heathen!" I wrestled him off of me and Cerberus laid down next to me as I caught my breath. He nudged his head under my arm, whimpering as my thoughts became more clear.

"Cerberus... it was for the best right?" He whimpered again, whining while pawing my side. I smiled, petting Odin too as he stood above me, his neck fur soft and thankfully not shedding yet. Cerberus nipped my side, wanting to be petted too.

"Yeah, I think it's for the best. I have you guys anyhow." Odin sneezed on my face in response.

"Gross Odin. Alright, let's go back to the others." Getting up I wiped off my face and started walking off to the Hound's room. They each nip and pounce on each other playfully. I know that I was supposed to rely on Primera for emotional support but....

"What if I just left. Would you come with me boy?" The large triple headed hound looked at me with his flaming blue eyes. The six of them trained on me like I was prey. I wish I could have his trust. I knew it belonged to Primera instead when it came down to it.

"Forget I said anything then. We're happy here." The lie stained my mouth like ink; icky, black, and dry down my throat. Cerberus yipped at me, the echoing sound no longer comforting but chilling instead.

I leave them in their room and walk down to the kitchens to make a cup of coffee. I hummed while I worked around the counters and endless chairs that were empty and cold. The song was from my vacation, a human song about being seen. The chiming piano notes at the beginning were what captivated me. I twirled around with the notes playing in my head, the mental sound much stronger and purer than the noises I hummed through my teeth.

My coffee was almost too sweet, an in the moment addition of sugar that I couldn't decide was a mistake or not. I didn't put any cream in, just the strong coffee swirled with the sweet cane sugar. I smiled as I watched the sun go down again. The clouds were pink, purple and red. As the humans say, "Red sky in the morning sailors take warning; red sky at night is a sailor's delight."

It was a bad idea to drink coffee so late. So, to funnel out the sugar and caffeine I went to the training arena and started with a run. My helmet returned to my armor in my room. I'd have to clean it again soon. It saved me this time though. Once I was warmed up I started up the curl ups, then push ups, lifts, and eventually I started in on the punching bag.

I was up all night and through the dawn. Primera found me as I was just about to put all of the equipment away. Mostly just the replication dummies. It was enchanted to replicate the aggressive responses of an angel.

"There you are!" She knew where I was, she just had more pressing matters to attend to first.

"Yep! I had a cup of coffee last night and decided I should put the caffeine to work." I hefted up the last dummy on my shoulder, carrying it to the storage room. I was sweaty and I stunk. I could tell by Primera's face. She never did like that human aspect I carried. When I was going through puberty I swear I saw her less than usual because of my body odor. I was always very hygienic, but

"Ah. Are you going to come right to breakfast then?" I shook my head to her subtle inner jab at how I smelled. She was wearing a fancy pantsuit, it was a matte nude color with small black spots. As always, flawless, really.

"No, I'm going to take a shower first, then maybe grab something before I go on patrol." She frowned, the usual perfect smile upside down.

"You really should eat something filling..." I shook my head with a smile.

"Nah I'll be fine I promise." She frowned again but I knew she was pleased with my response. We left the arena, going our separate ways.

After a shower and an apple from the kitchen I was out on patrol. This mainly consisted of standing in multiple places along our perimeter for about 15 minutes at a time. I don't know when I dozed off but when I wake up I'm not pleased with what I see.