Aegis

Chapter Thirty Eight--Battle's End

"You betrayed us," Pluto said with her eyes trained at the spear at her throat.

After round after round of holding off Ares, Pluto's breath heaved and her arms trembled. Erianthe couldn't help but be impressed with her. Pluto held off Ares on her own, which was more than Erianthe could save for herself. At last, this girl was down.

"I couldn't let us do this evil any longer," Ares replied.

"She loved you, you know," Pluto retorted.

Grabbing Reaper, Erianthe stepped back. Her hands curled around the scythe's shaft. This cursed weapon had caused Kyros so much pain. It stole his will, his health, eventually his life if she didn't stop it.

"Pluto, how do I destroy your weapon?" Erianthe asked. "This battle is your loss, so answer me."

Pluto winced and turned away in silence. Her eyes squinted as if she were holding back tears. For a moment, Erianthe's anger subsided. For a moment, she saw the cursed weapon from Pluto's point of view. This scythe was her life just as Erianthe's sword was hers. With great pain, Erianthe threw the scythe away behind her.

"Pluto, how do I heal my friend?" Erianthe asked.

Pluto remained silent.

"I don't think destroying the scythe would help," Ares said. "If something went wrong, we wouldn't be able to fix it."

"I wasn't going to, not anymore," Erianthe muttered.

Without hurting her, Ares placed his spear against Pluto's skin and gave her a small jolt. Pluto knocked out.

"You have anything to restrain her?" Ares asked.

Erianthe handed him a pair of cuffs. Hot tears filled her eyes, but she brushed them away. As her father said, this was a battlefield. Crying could come after.

"They got Reyna," Ares said in a hollow voice.

Ares and Erianthe watched as the woman fell into Chris's array of ropes. A bolt from Erik's sword hit her, lightning shocking her unconscious. Then they restrained her too.

Erianthe locked eyes with Kyros, who still stood inside the barrier she created. It had disassembled a while ago, but Kyros stood there, waiting. His bow rested on his back. Her sword rested in his capable hands.

"You did it," Kyros said. "You won."

Taking a tentative step forward, then scurrying to her friend, Erianthe wiped more tears from her eyes. They had done it. Well, Hades was still out there, but they had won.

Erianthe took her sword from Kyros. "But I haven't found a cure for you yet. Or destroyed the bolt."

"We'll find a way," Kyros said.

After weeks of separation, the two shared a hug before Erianthe could dissolve into a fit. For the moment, Erianthe forgot about her problems and focused on her friend in front of her. They were alive. They had won.

"Well, we did find a way, but it didn't work," Erik said as he and Chris approached. "It's nice to finally meet you, Kyros."

As the males exchanged greetings and introductions, Erianthe couldn't help but notice the wary looks Chris gave Kyros. Or the way Ares stood ten feet to the side to monitor the other captives.

"I can't believe Ares actually helped us," Chris said.

"We were lucky he did," Erik replied. "Erianthe, you weren't able to destroy the bolt? Or you didn't get the chance?"

Erianthe shook her head. "I couldn't. My sword glanced off the bolt." She ducked her eyes so that she couldn't see the disappointed looks on their faces. Even though Chris and Erik had been counting on her sword to disrupt the bolt with its power, Erianthe had failed.

"Probably not enough power," Chris commented. "I mean, Raois is usually right about these things. I doubt that the bolt would have rejected part of itself."

"Sorry," Kyros interjected, "but just how were you going to destroy the bolt?"

"Oh, we were going to use her sword to overload the bolt and make it destroy itself," Chris said. "You know, by injecting it with too much power."

Chris, Erik, Erianthe, and Kyros stood quietly and watched the bolt as it hummed and thrummed with a soft white light. Off to the side, Ares disarmed the other Rogues before sitting down with his arms across his knees a little ways off.

Kyros smiled at Erianthe. "Well, if it's an issue of power, then why don't we overload the bolt together?"

"How would we do that?" Erianthe asked.

"We have two halves of the same weapon. Why don't we just attack it at the same time?" Kyros asked.

"That could work," Erik said. "Or--"

"Or they could fail," Chris muttered.

Erianthe ignored the two brothers and smiled back. "Let's try it."

Together, Erianthe and Kyros approached the bolt with Aegis in hand. Together, they activated their weapons. Kyros placed his glowing bow across their target and pulled back his string. Erianthe aimed her sword at the bolt's weak spot. As Erianthe drove her sword into the bolt, Kyros shot a charged arrow from his bow.

Together, they shattered the weapon that had caused so much destruction in their lives.

The light fractured the rod like a rock breaking a piece of glass. As the electricity crackled around them, the bolt split into a thousand pieces with a force that threw the two heroes back onto the rocks.

Erianthe's head smacked on the rocks. "Ow," she said. "Ow, ow. Oh, that stings."

Nearby, Kyros faired just as well. The boy groaned and sat up while nursing the back of his head.

A piece of the bolt skittered across the ground as Erianthe kicked it away. Recovering from her fall, the girl stood then helped Kyros stand up.

After a moment of stunned silence, Chris and Erik broke into huge grins.

"You did it," Erik said.

An overwhelming joy filled Erianthe to the brim. In the distance, a flare shot up into the sky. The signal marked a sweet victory.

"And Raios won against Hades," Erik said.

The battle was over. Sinking to the ground in relief, Erianthe finally let her tears out. They had done it. She and Kyros had stopped the Rogues, the people who had destroyed their lives. Through her blurry, watery vision, Erianthe saw her friend sit next to her and celebrate the victory beside her.

Her eyes darted down to the wound that Erianthe could not see.

Of course, they still had to heal Kyros.

"I'm sorry for all the crying," Erianthe mumbled.

"It's okay. Cry all you want," Kyros said.

Grateful, Erianthe leaned her head on her friend's shoulder. For now, she relished in their victory and pushed all thoughts away of Kyros' wound, the Rogue's trial, and the rest of her worries.