Freedom | Avengers Story

Part 2

I'v turned five moons old. In modern English, that's five months, so Mother has managed to do very well so far. However, when the sixth full moon arrived, so did a tragedy.

"Eleutheria!" Hermes calls. He, Eileithyia, Apollo and Ersa appear inside Mother's room while she cradled me in her arms, singing me a lullaby.

"What's the matter?" Mother questions, panic filling her eyes. Ersa takes me, a baby, in her arms and Hermes picks up Mother, and they rush out the door, leaving no time.

"They know!" Eileithyia urges. We fly through the sky, not knowing the location. They're just going down to the forests.

"Who knows?!" Mother asks.

"Ares, and the others!" Apollo answers, and that drowns Mother in fright. They're getting farther and farther from Olympus, until Hermes is badly hit, dropping Mother as she falls. Luckily, Apollo catches her on time before she hit the ground. Hermes falls heavily, his helmet flying off, the golden metal clanging as it rolls on the ground. Eileithyia and Ersa land, and stare at the monster that was once their brother; Ares.

"Don't do this. She's only a child." Ersa begs, cradling me as I cry and cry. At my young age, you'd cry because of the chaos, not of fear. You didn't understand feelings before.

"Ares, it's not what you think. Father had nothing to do with this!" Apollo tries to explain, but Ares throws his staff towards Apollo, who tumbles to avoid getting hit. The sphere flies back to Ares and he grips it, walking towards his siblings who rebelled against him. The truth was that Eileithyia blessed Mother with me out of pity, but from Ares' perspective, Mother had an affair with Zeus in secrecy.

"Lies. All of you betrayed us!" He shouts in anger.

"Ersa! Leave and hide. We'll take care of this." Eileithyia commands. With that, Ersa flies off, leaving Apollo, Hermes and Eileithyia protecting Mother.

Ersa takes me and hides in the forest, calming me down as I cry uncontrollably.

Ares decides to go after her, but Apollo stops him, and throws him back onto the ground.

"You're fight is with us, Ares." He demands, and they step in front of Mother to protect her.

They fight and fight, however, they are no match to Ares when he's angry. Eventually, they are all badly injured and too weak to fight anymore. Apollo's knees bleed heavily, and a bruise marks his right cheekbone. Hermes almost blacks out, taking a fall on his head. Eileithyia is scratched all over her chest, blood peaking out and her headband hangs loosely from her hair. Mother's lying on her stomach, trying to crawl over to beg Ares for mercy. He, on the other hand, doesn't have any space left for it.

"You monster. You can never give up, can you? Father does not deserve someone like you!" Ares growls. He takes his staff, and sends it flying in the air.

"Ares, please. Let's us explain-" Mother starts, however...

"NO!" Eileithyia cries.

Ares' staff sinks straight into Mother's back, with excruciating sounds of blood and flesh being twisted, filling the silent night sky. Mother's hand stays levitated, before crashing to the ground, lifeless.

"Let this be a warning to you all. Betray our trust again, and you'll find yourself in a worser situation than Eleutheria." Ares apprises. He takes his staff and leaves, his take-off leaving a booming sound from the ground.

Eileithyia races towards Mother, cradling her in her hands.

"My dear. I'm so sorry." She sobs, running her fingers softly across Mother's wound. Hermes and Apollo surround them, tension uprising.

"What were the two of you thinking?" Apollo mutters, his eyes filling with guilt. Eileithyia looks up at him in fatigue.

"Do you not pity her? All she wanted was a child. That's all anybody could ever want." She explains. Ersa arrives with me, however, I'm fast asleep. Her eyes brim with tears. She looks at Mother, then to me.

"Child. You are without a mother..." She weeps, stating the painful obvious.

They all watch as Eileithyia holds Mother in her arms, her apologetic emotion unable to leave her. 'I'm sorry.' is all she says.

"Come on, Eileithyia. Let's get her to the Underworld." Hermes says. He hovers his hand over Mother, and strings of blue light emerge from his palm into Mother's body, and soon, a transparent, blue phantom of her appears, and she sits up, staring at the Gods. She then looks down, and realises what has happened. She cries, sobbing into her hands.

"By Gods..." She exclaims. She looks at Eileithyia and sighs.

-"Thank you, Eileithyia. I could not thank you enough, for blessing me with such a child."

Eileithyia smiles sadly, more tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Come on, Eleutheria." Hermes says, and he takes her to the Underworld, where her soul can rest peacefully. They vanish into the air, leaving the rest enveloped in the night sky.

Eileithyia walks over to Ersa, stroking my hair as I lie quietly and sound asleep.

"Whatever shall we do?" Ersa questions, worrying my future. Eileithyia inhales sharply, and releases it, wiping her face.

"We'll raise her." She announces, and Apollo almost faints at the announcement.

"Eileithyia, think. How will she feed? Where will she stay?" He confers. Eileithyia does not think. She's thought all this through from the day she blessed Mother.

"There is a cave, South from here. We'll keep her there. Ersa, you're rarely up at the temple, so Mother or Father won't take much notice to your absence. Do you mind nursing her from sunrise to sunset?" Eileithyia asks, and Ersa nods affirmably, determined to raise me as best as she can.

As I shift in my sleep, my blanket droops, revealing a pair of soft-feathered wings, as white as the clouds. They stay shut, unable at use at the moment.

"Eileithyia. Look." Ersa says. Eileithyia pulls the blanket away from my wings softly, running her fingers gently across the feathers.

"Well, would you look at that..." she beams. Apollo looks over her shoulder, his eyes wide with surprise.

"The daughter of Liberty, born with the wings of freedom." He remarks, smiling at the thought.

-"They're beautiful."

"They really are." Ersa sighs. Eileithyia wraps my wings inside the blanket places a hand on Ersa's shoulder, staring deep into her eyes.

"Go now. The sun will awaken soon. I fear Mother and Father will realise our disappearance and will send the guards to find us." She commands.

With that, they split up, Ersa taking me to the cave and Apollo and Eileithyia going back to Olympus.

Little did they know, the tragedy was only beginning.