"The fallen angel" and "the devil in disguise"
Two names Ares Aristo was known for, a boy who had more to him than originally met the eye. Charming the capital with his kind facade, it was only in the games did they realized just how far an angel ca...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧.
(me and the devil )
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃
Adrenaline was the only thing keeping the four tributes moving, sprinting for their lives as unforgiving lava chased behind them, swallowing up everything in its path. The magma was thick and viscous, moving slowly but promising a painful death. The quakes of the ground were no longer an issue. The one large earthquake that triggered the Volcano explosions was the last of it, but that didn't mean there wasn't evidence left behind to make things harder than necessary for them.
As they ran, they had to navigate the cracks and gaps in the ground, either jumping over them or being forced to run in the next nearest direction when the fissure was too large to even think about trying to get over without falling in. It was like an elaborate obstacle course set up to run them ragged.
This was why, when Raya, disoriented due to only having one working eye, lost her balance at the last second right in front of the fissure they had to leap over, it was almost inevitable.
In a last-ditch effort to catch herself, she tried to grab onto the back of Ares' bag and nearly took them both down. If he hadn't managed to twist the strap off his shoulder in time, he would have been pulled with her. She dropped the bag as soon as she realized there was nothing anchoring it and scrambled for a grip on the ledge instead, crying out in pain as her lower body smashed against the side where the jagged rocks were torn apart.
"Help me!" she screamed, her voice breaking with the effort to keep herself up through the pain. Her head whipped up, looking to Ares who stood watching her struggle. Pandora and Ebony had gone ahead, already out of earshot. He was her only chance, and she cried out like a last prayer, "Angel!"
Ares tilted his head, glancing over at where the lava was still creeping closer, slowly crawling across the ground. This was the final trial, he was sure of it, and he'd long since given up trying to save others. Raya needed to die, and this was her time. He just needed to be sure she stayed dead, that she couldn't crawl her way out somehow before the lava could drown her. If he left her here now, who's to say she couldn't blindsight him later?
But he also couldn't just kill her outright. He's already cultivated a reputation for killing only when necessary or provoked. He needed her to deserve her death. To earn her atonement.
With that thought in mind, he made a choice in the split second of her cry for help. He inched his foot closer to where she clung, her fingernails torn to nothing as they clawed the ground for grip, and let one of her bloody hands clamp down on his ankle, acting surprised when he jerked forward from her weight as if it wasn't what he intended to happen.
He stumbled forward, heat flashing against his face as he stood on the edge of the fissure she was hanging in. He could feel the prickly awareness of danger bleeding up his nerves from being so close to death, and for once, he welcomed it.
