Chapter 2 — The Beginning of the End

The Titans in the doorway watched as Angel maneuvered and traded blows with Asteria. Then they lowered their weapons. What was this? Angel had seen them…had passed her golden eyes over each of them, and she had not attacked. That had never happened before. Instead, she rammed her ruined body into Asteria, obviously intending to sacrifice herself in order to kill the fate. Yet another thing that went against everything they knew about her. Those two were normally thick as thieves. Hyperion found the entire thing bizarre. Odd enough that he let his bow fall to his side.

"Why have you not attacked?" growled Cronus from behind the others, weaving his way through the men until he could see what they were staring at. They had gone over this countless times. Attack first and clear the air later. How many times would he have to watch his brothers die before they realized this?

"She…hasn't attacked," Hyperion muttered, somewhere between shock and doubt, "She's…fighting Asteria…" Cronus wouldn't have believed it if he weren't watching it before his own eyes. He slid his eyes over the rest of the room, noting the giant, golden war god he was familiar with. And the king of hell himself, flaming with a blue aura. Hades and Angel were lovers more often than not, so Cronus suspected the god would attack if he felt her safety was threatened.

Which brought him back to the issue at hand. Why were they not attacking?

Cronus rested his hands against the hilts of his set of short blades. They were long enough to have range but short enough for stabbing. Would he need to use them now? His mind told him yes…the years of experience screamed that these gods were lethal and well-practiced enemies of the Titans. Even though Angel was fighting Asteria, it very wasn't clear where the other gods fell in their conflict. No one had made a move against either woman yet. Hesitation had cost them everything too many times to count. He wanted to act…and yet the nagging thought of how many things were already different this time bothered him.

He surveyed the remaining gods around the room. Most were injured. A few were unconscious. Some looked at him and his brothers, but most were too focused on Asteria and Angel in the center of the room.

Hades' body twitched with unspent energy, his eyes snapping back and forth between the Titans and Angel. Beside him, the lightning god and the water god bristled as well, studying Cronus as closely as he studied them. Ares cast him a violent smile. They were a formidable team, and he knew something was bound to happen soon. Zeus's lightning flashed between his hands. Hades broke their stare first, snapping his head in Angel's direction as Asteria pummeled her with black mist. Cronus wondered which pain the fate was inflicting because Angel didn't make a sound.

For a single moment, Hyperion saw the full extent of Angel's time under Asteria's thumb. To be impervious to her pain, a searing agony, all the Titans were familiar with. No matter whether it was physical or otherwise. Her pain was potent despite that, Angel didn't let any of her anger falter.

Furious, Asteria sent a large punch of fire into Angel's gut, sending her barreling into Eos. The two rolled together into the far wall with a loud enough smack that the room shook. Everyone heard the breath leave Angel, saw her writhing to get her lungs working again.

Hades was on Asteria in a flash, twining her with a rope of flame so hot Hyperion and his brothers shielded themselves on instinct. Zeus threw a lightning bolt the size of a car squarely in her stomach—the crack of air loud enough to deafen. Ares swung his sword towards her head. A boom sounded a split second before dark power snapped from her body like a shockwave. Poseidon hadn't even been able to land a blow with his water before they were all thrown back.

Asteria panted, a shaky hand resting on her knees as she turned her cold eyes back to the Titans. She began her broadcast again.

"The time has come to choose! My children and grandchildren, will you stand with me in defense of our people, or will you bow to the tyranny of the Titans?"

Angel couldn’t breathe, her body a cage without oxygen. Gods, every inch of her hurt. She couldn't even register the leaking blood around her, but even without looking, she knew the drip wasn’t slowing. She knew she was running out. Some part of her didn't understand how badly she was injured, as if she refused to accept that she might die. Angel listened to the crashing of blood flooding her inner ears.

She felt someone move beside her, locking eyes with Eos, whose eyes shone bright gold. They were too close and too tangled up with each other as they impacted the wall. But if Angel hadn't been so close, she might have missed the flash of darkness that passed through those eyes. It was brief, like a shadow or a cloud passing over the sun. But she knew what she saw. Without thinking, Angel reached up to Eos' cheek and pulled. She didn't know what she was pulling at, but she knew she needed to do it. Yet another instinct that made no sense.

After a moment, a black tendril of Asteria slid away from Eos' eyes and absorbed into Angel's hand. She hissed at the bite of mental pain it caused. Her eyes flicked back up to Eos. A torture tendril inside her head?

"I ask that if you choose to stand with me, follow the mist to me. If not, prepare to die with all your other traitorous brothers and sisters!" Asteria yelled, making Angel aware of her broadcast again. Her own head must have been too rattled to receive the message this time.

No one in the room moved. The gods who had been standing in that room when Angel received her powers all saw the truth for what it was, though they didn't fully understand it.

Angel continued to pull the darkness from Eos until her eyes cleared. Then she pushed away, shaking everywhere, to attack Asteria once more. She gathered herself to her feet, covered in blood, unaware if there were even any more of her own blood to shed. She lunged for her fate.

The Titans watched as the fate tore into Angel's chest, splattering blood against the walls like paint. Angel faltered. She couldn't find the strength she needed nor the powers. Using dark gifts against Asteria seemed to fall flat, no matter how much force Angel pushed into it. It wasn't enough to win the fight. Angel needed more. More power. More blood. More energy. But she couldn't find anything more.

She let Asteria land several blows without guarding against any of them because she couldn't. Her body was sluggish. She listened to the cracks of her skin and bones breaking. Angel was nearly dead. That much was apparent with the alarms sounding all over her body.

Hades and the others had shaken off the earlier attack, running towards Asteria. They called forth each of their considerable powers. Asteria flipped Angel into a swell of fire as she threw her down onto the ground and pinned Angel there until she stopped moving.

Then she turned to the other foolish challengers. One by one, she tore them down. She had gifted them each their powers and none had anywhere near as much strength as Angel. She could meet them blow for blow, though her energy was quickly fading. At her optimum power level, she was far superior to them all, but after having fought off Angel…In fact, Angel had only lasted this long because of how strong she really was and thank the gods she didn't know it. If she had any sort of control over her powers, she would be a genuine threat.

Asteria tossed Hades and the others away from her without remorse. And as Hades fell, he stared at the dimming eyes of his Angel, trying to will himself up. He couldn't get to her, his body too broken to move.

"We should intervene," Coeus said, taking a step forward, "this time is different."

"On whose behalf, brother?" Cronus scowled, "Let them kill each other."

They all knew their history had been long and violent. Angel was a threat and an enemy but seeing her in the throes of battle with Asteria, the others questioned whether everything they knew was a symptom of manipulation. If she did not fall under Asteria's control, was she still counted as a threat? And if she was no longer an enemy, could they not count on her as an ally?

It was a complicated question, Hyperion knew. But he couldn't help what his instincts were telling him.

Asteria stumbled backward as she stood, glaring at the Titans with malice. More of them had crowded into the room, readying themselves to fight.

"I am stronger than my weapon as you see her laid low before you!" she bellowed into every mind. "let those who would choose the side of strength follow me…" Then mist took her elsewhere, leaving nothing of her behind.

Angel coughed as she rolled to her side. "No! No! No! I will kill her!" The screams ripped through her with force, pushing more blood through her wounds. Her body was upside down and inside out. Sweet death. At least there would be sweet death. But dammit, not yet!

"Angel! Come back! Stay with us," Eos begged, rushing to her side, "We'll need you!" It was alarming, Angel realized, to see Eos trying to help her. Not only because she should have gone with her sister if she was loyal…and also, until this moment, she'd been a quiet background character. Not explicitly evil like Asteria, and yet not benevolent enough to stop her sister. A passerby who was content to let people suffer.

Now free of Asteria's torture, she must have returned to her own senses at last.

"She's too wounded to heal! Someone bring a donor! As many donors as you can! Blood! Quickly!" Eos yelled.

"Give her to me," a cold, male voice said. The accent and roughness were unlike any of the other gods and for a moment, Eos stiffened around Angel.

"Cronus, no." A deep growl cut the silence like a blade. It was so full of malice, Angel shivered. Cronus…and someone else.

"NO." Hades growled from across the room. Gods, the relief that went through her to hear his voice. He was alive. All Angel could hear was the scraping sound of rubble moving. Maybe he couldn't get to her? She wanted to yell out to him, but her mouth was too heavy.

"What will you do with her?" Eos asked warily. "She is not in my sister's thrall. She is unaffected I assure you."

"EOS NO!" Angel could feel a dark aura growing. Hades was fighting to get to her, obviously. But would he make it to her before her entire body turned to ice? Already she could feel frost moving over her chest. Her breathing slowed.

"Give. Her. To. Me…Or watch her die. I'm perfectly fine with either fate." The first voice sounded again, scathing. Older. And yet Angel knew the gods and Titans did not age…

"Brother, I will take her," a gentler male voice came next but still accented and hoarse…from disuse?

"Foolish. Both of you." The growler said.

Then Eos' grip around Angel loosened, and she felt a hand brace the back of her neck. An icy chill swept over her before black dots spread across her eyes and she collapsed against a warm body.

"This will prove to be yet another mistake," Oceanus swore, watching Hyperion lift the woman into his arms.

"Idiotic indeed," Coeus growled, looking beyond their group to the wild, fiery eyes of Hades. Another few minutes and he would be on his feet again.

"We shall see, brother," Hyperion said, staring down at the girl on the edge of death.

"Let's go before I change my mind," Cronus said tiredly, his eyes silently assessing all the weak gods lying about. They were lambs for the slaughter like this and yet he could not bring himself to choose a shameful path. Enemy or not, he would not kill them while they were defenseless.

Coeus turned his scowl back to the unconscious figure in Hyperion's arms. So many times, she had proved lethal in battle, discarding Titans like trash as she ripped through them. But they'd never attacked the banquet before, and here they found Angel locked in a battle to the death with Asteria. Perhaps this iteration would be proof that those things would never happen again.

Or perhaps it was a long game, as he was more inclined to believe. And they were making a mistake.

Bright light spread around the Titans as they disappeared, taking Angel with them. They did not hear Hades roar.