Greek Blood

Chapter X: Death

As I raise my hand, the gold from my dagger catches the little light there is and I hear Cronus gasp. I drive it at his right wrist, the one around my neck, praying I don't hit myself and praying that I hit the right place. As my dagger makes contact with skin, Cronus shrieks and let's go of me, making me drop the dagger. I throw my hands over my ears and turn to face him, tears falling freely from my eyes. I never wanted to hear my brother make that sound. Oh gosh. I'm so sorry, Marcus.

Cronus drops to his knees and groans, holding his wrist in front of him as gold blood seeps out.

I missed. I hit too high.

He slowly gets up and glares at me darkly, like he can't believe what I just did. "Snapping your neck isn't going to do now. No, now I am going to kill you slowly, daughter." His voice hisses through the air as he starts towards me, my brother’s red blood dripping down his arm, mingling with the gold.

I search for my dagger, fear and adrenaline nearly causing me to vomit. Shoot, it's too far away. As he comes within striking distance, I spot the only other weapon close enough to reach before he gets to me.

Shooting the approaching Titan one short look, I throw myself to the side and manage to grab the scythe. It burns in my hands before cooling off, recognizing Cronus' blood in me. I pull it out of the ground and wince at the weight of it, but stand my ground.

Cronus laughs, throwing his head back and grinning. When he finally stops laughing, he looks down at me, amused. "You are going to try to kill me with my own weapon?" He shakes his head and steps forward, gripping the blade of the scythe as if it is as blunt as a butter knife. "You stupid girl. I have had this weapon for longer than you have been alive. Do you think it can hurt me?"

"Yes" I growl out between clenched teeth, pushing forward against him. The edge of the blade of the scythe presses against his wrist as he holds it.

He hisses and narrows his eyes on me, hatred glowing in them. "Hurt me and your brother suffers to."

"Hurt you and you'll leave my brother" I hiss back, arms shaking as he presses the scythe back towards me. His strength wins against mine, and I can feel the staff edging over the empty space towards me. My arms hurt. I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up.

Hands appear on either side of mine and Hera presses the scythe towards him. Our combined strength pushes the scythe back towards Cronus, and he groans as the blade cuts through skin, nearly severing half of his wrist. Blood pours out, red and gold, painting the ground. He shudders, nearly convulsing, and with one final shove, he stumbles backwards.

Hera and I let the scythe drop, Hera hissing in pain at the burns on her hands, the scythe having heated up under her hands, and me because I am disgusted with the cool metal. Turning my attention towards Cronus, I jump back in surprise.

Cronus glows, a soft gold color. He moans in pain, crouching down before falling onto his hands and knees. He glances up at me with hatred shining in his gold eyes before he bows his head, shuddering. His body shakes once more before the glow gets so bright that I have to look away and cover my eyes.

Hera steps back, pulling me back with her as heat scorches my cheeks and the light goes supernovae, taking its time fading and cooling down.

When the light is gone, I drop my hands away from my face and pull from Hera's grasp. "Marcus?"

My brother lies on his side, black hair messy and sweaty, as if he just ran a marathon, eyes closed. His skin is painted a paler shade than it usually is, other than his wrist, which continues to seep red blood into the ground.

"Marcus!" My screech echoes around the clearing as I tear myself away from Hera and run over to him, collapsing on my knees and taking his face in my hands. "Marcus please…" A sob gets caught in my throat, making me cough and hiccup.