Life With Ares

Void of Space

PART I

"Do your powers work underwater?" Shiara bugged me as I sat in my cabin aboard the Machina, Yamato-12's small scout ship.

"No." I said simply. Offering an explanation only kept her on.

"Why?" She sat at my desk with her head in her hand, staring at me with her pitch black amphibious eyes.

"Because it's linked to my brain. Humans need oxygen for their brain to work. Therefore; no oxygen, no powers." I explained in boredom. I normally spent my time on the internet or stargazing, but there was nothing to look at right now.

"That's a big flaw, Mars. Be careful around water. We Jittanians have-"

"Expansive lungs that allow you to stay underwater for over three hours. I know. I've seen you do it." I cut her off. I couldn't help but laugh a little bit. She scowled back at me and pushed her pale white hair back. The light in my room reflected off of her bluish green skin, the shimmer was an opal-esque color due to the natural oils on her cold and moist skin, identical to every other Jittanian, the amphibious natives of Jittan.

"How very rude of you, Mars Monroe. I thought we were friends." She said. The Jittanian people were peaceful and proud, they never backed down from a fight, even if the odds were against them.

"We are friends, Shiara. Sorry, I'm just a bit irritable today." I apologized. Shiara was such a naturally curious person, and wasn't around Humans much. She could ask me and Yamato questions all day and sometimes it grew tiresome.

"More problems with the invisible man that follows you?" She asked, drumming her fingers on my desk. She also had a hard time understanding my... illness. She thought Ares was a physical being, just invisible.

All I could offer was a small nod and a quick nervous chuckle.

"I see. I will leave you to your battles, Mars Monroe. As your people say: Godspeed." She smiled and patted me on the shoulder and left my cabin.

I laid my head down and turned the light off and tried to sleep, but it yielded no results. It wasn't long before he came, Ares. He didn't manifest from a red cloud in my head, he didn't kick down the door, I'd just look away and when I looked back he'd be there. Ares looked similar to me. About five and a half feet tall, shaggy blonde hair, shoulder length. Icy blue eyes. Except Ares maybe took himself too literally. He wore only two things: A large belt with cloth hanging from it with a metal plate with a bull carved into it and then, a historic Spartan helmet. He always had a spear in his right hand and a shield in the left. This is how he had always appeared to me. Since we first met... Met is a funny way to describe it though and I'm not sure it's the right term. Ares is just a part of me, he's the built up anger and rage that I refuse to face. With powers like mine, I have no choice to, or else Ares would eat the world alive. Or at least hurt a lot of people before they finally put us down.

I never talked to Ares first, but I did talk to him. "Mars, stop running."

"I'm not running, I'm searching." I shrugged, getting up and turning on the light. "Now leave me alone."

"Searching for what? The only thing you need to find is the untapped well of power that is me. We need to work together, Mars." He said firmly.

"No. You're evil. I'm searching for a way to master these gifts I've been given. Then I'm gonna do some good in the galaxy." I sighed. Ignoring Ares only made him angrier, usually if I stonewalled him he'd get frustrated and leave me alone.

"Pathetic. You could make them crawl. You could capture entire planets alone. You're the ultimate being, Mars. See your potential."

"I see my potential as a destructive force." I shook my head, thinking back to life on Phobos, life with Mom before the accident, life with Dad after the accident, and life with Dad up until the fatal evening.

"Don't get sore over what happened on Phobos. That was only a small dose of what you could really do. Imagine, Mars. All of the Milky Way will be worms under your feet if you let me help you."

I paused for a moment, dwelling on that night. The one thing I remember most was the sound of glass breaking. Not the gore and blood, but bottles breaking as they clattered to the floor. I shuddered and returned to my game with Ares. "Give it rest." I said finally and shook my head. Ares did the same and next he was gone, disappeared from the corners of my cabin, leaving me alone in the void of space.