Rue
No words could describe what she felt when she first laid her eyes upon them. Her helios and her hades. Kieran and Levi. The turmoil of it all was like wildfire in her throat, bubbling and frothing. It tore through her, a molten inferno that blistered her insides until she could no longer breathe.
Why were they here?
How did they get here?
What had she done?
Doom was icy cold in her veins.
With Valentino and Halcyon, she had been desperate for answers. For justice, for the truth. But this time she…Rue's thought were a goddamn mess. She was frightened. This was clearly not a rescue mission—saviours arriving on the scene like some kind of hero. Hell no. Not with how awful they looked.
And she knew they were real, knew that it was them, not some fucked up illusion. She could feel it, feel it deep within her chest, within her bones. The reality of the situation, the way her thoughts were now no longer murky and unclear. The way she could think properly without the cloud of his influence. Her Omega called to them, her soul, anchored to their own. Panic pounded through her veins, heart racing at the sight of them. Pulse battering against her ribs. Her lungs constricting, her breath escaping.
They looked like shit.
Bruises and coal bloomed under their eyes. And beneath translucent, too pale skin, was that black ink in their veins. It ran up their flesh like rot, shaped like tree roots burrowed into the earth or lightning frozen mid-strike. It reminded her of those monsters back in the hives, grotesque and screaming.
And they trembled. There was a quiver in their bones. A vibration that hummed through their bodies. Sweat, dewy on their skin, slick on their foreheads. They were feverish with illness, steam rising from their bodies. Warmth in their cheeks. And yet their lips were drained of colour. The weakness that they displayed was horrifying. The fragility was nothing like she'd ever seen. They had always been so strong, so vibrant.
For fuck's sake, they were the strongest, cockiest individuals she'd ever met in her life.
They looked ill.
Very, very ill.
It was as if they had been poisoned.
She could see the flash of emotions spiralling across their faces, crashing against one another in brutal succession. Surprise, relief, horror, shock, and then utter devastation. Their eyes swept from her to Halcyon.
A single heartbeat, a strange resignation.
She saw it then: the calculation in Levi's razor-sharp gaze. The way Kieran's jaw clenched too fucking tight, muscles ticking. Her breath caught in her throat. They knew that Halcyon was not Halcyon. They knew that he was a Titan.
They knew that he was a monster.
And suddenly something lethal seemed to burst free.
The shadows rippled. The air shifted. A bolt of light materialised in Kieran's palms. He slammed his hands together in a crazed roar. The force of it seemed to explode the world, a pulse tearing through the room. She was shoved backward, legs shaking. When he tore his hands apart, the room seemed to spill with a golden, holy light.
A lance appeared before him, searing and pure, a godly weapon so radiant it burned in her eyes, scalding her retinas. And it hummed with its divinity, shining like the sun. The rays bounced across the room, skittering over her, creating arcs of scattered darkness. And where the light struck, the shadows seemed to recoil as if awakened, writhing like snakes.
In response, Levi grunted, hands raised, eyes on fire.
The shadows thickened, poured from every corner, swam like a living tide. The air grew heavier, sinking upon her shoulders as the shadows swelled like waves, crashing against the rays of light. Furniture rattled. Cutlery toppled. Bedding exploded. The ground seemed to groan.
Another second and it all made impact in one terrifying collision.
The room seemed to detonate, dust and splinters bursting free. A phantom wind screaming through the space, tearing at her, slicing into her ears with the sharpest of whistles. Rue screamed. Their power was monstrous. Deafening. And instead of standing before her like gods awakened into battle, they seemed to almost shrink from exertion, bodies shaking only harder. The heat that radiated from their skin seemed impossible; the waves of it stretching and scalding the air.
She'd never seen them like this.
And she saw it then, the tremor as their hands stretched towards the monster, towards Halcyon. Eyes locked upon him, upon the creature wearing his face, with certainty, with resolve. Sweat dripping, lips trembling. The lance seemed to sharpen; the shadows coiling for attack.
"NO!"
The scream ripped from her throat before she could think. She threw herself forward, her body colliding with Halcyon's. Rue spread her arms wide, shielding him like an idiot with her eyes closed. She stood between the gods and the monster.
And then Edmund laughed.
She opened her eyes to see the weapons of destruction hovering before her, mere centimetres from her body, moments before collision. The blades of darkness and light. Her eyes darted to the two, and her heart seemed to heave, almost collapsing.
Her boys stood quaking, muscles rippling from tension and strain. Levi's teeth snagged upon his lower lip, so hard that blood bubbled forth, spilling down his chin. His eyes were dripping with blood. And Kieran's hands were burnt. Smoke twisting from his singed palms. His gaze seemed to break, losing its steel. Humanity bleeding through.
His eyelashes were wet.
"Rue," Kieran begged, pleading, weakening. Every breath seemed torturous. "Step aside."
"Wait," she insisted. "Please, it's Halcyon—" Her voice tore out of her, and the words were tumbling out now. She spoke as quickly and as rapidly as she could. "I-I spent days in here; I-I know it's still him. IT'S STILL HIM," she screamed. "L-Look, the Titan wants us to kill him. He's playing with us. It's all just a trap. You can't hurt him; if he dies, he dies—"
Levi's voice was harsh, rough, and so fucking raw. "Move."
Panic exploded within her. "You'll kill him—"
There was a flash of pain, of gritted teeth. Fire flared in his eyes, real fucking fire that sparked embers and smoke. Bloody tears poured. He growled, snapped at her as if she were stupid, as if she didn't know what the fuck she was doing. "Step aside now."
"He's still Halcyon—"
"We know."
Her mouth fell open, eyes widened, horror rushing through her veins. It confirmed her fears. It removed all her doubts that maybe it was all in her head. That maybe it wasn't Halcyon, and she was merely sleep-deprived, parched, and starved. They knew. They knew if they hurt him, it would hurt their mate.
And they were still going to kill him.
This was it.
There was no other way.
And the situation was more dire than she could have expected.
The words struck her harder than any blow. Terror seemed to hollow her out. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Her body shook, hyperaware of the monster that stood behind her. Edmund was still beaming, beaming as if this were all a fucking joke. And he was smiling with Halcyon's face, Halcyon's body, Halcyon's life—
"You can't!" she choked out, weakened. Her thoughts jumped to days with Edmund, to everything he had done. But deep down in her gut, in her chest, in her heart, she fucking knew that she couldn't let them kill him. It would break her. "I know what it looks like. I—"
"RUE!"
Kieran was screaming now, voice echoing through the air like thunder. His rays seemed to flare, more unstable than usual, warping with each pulse. But beneath the fury, beneath his strength, she could see the panic in his eyes.
The fear.
He roared.
"MOVE!"
The room seemed to tremble. The blades swayed, flashing. They appeared to be struggling to hold it all in place. The effort was colossal. And then she was pushing Halcyon back, forcing him behind her until his body slammed against the wall, until she was caging him in. Her heart was pounding. She couldn't let them kill him. Something in her refused to let them kill him. Fuck no. That would be exactly what Edmund wanted, and she knew it. He knew it, grinning at her with those fucking inky eyes.
Halcyon's eyes were not like that.
His eyes flashed in her mind: chocolate brown, doe-shaped, shimmery. The stars in honeyed, misty gold. The smile he gave her, toothy, sparkling white, incisors sharp. The sweet flush on his cheeks.
Rue.
His real golden voice.
Rue, I love you.
Her heart seemed to crack then, pain flashing through her, burning her. She felt breath wheeze from her lungs. The agony crawled to the back of her throat, aching and radiating all across her chest. It was all too much, and her Omega wailed—She couldn't let them do it. Fuck. She couldn't.
Behind her Edmund moved, slowly, languidly, almost lazily, entirely unbothered by the situation. A new kind of laughter had started low in his chest. It wasn't Halcyon's laugh, giggly and strong. It was deeper, uglier. Small little chuckles. Amusement bubbled from him as if their situation was all just a fucking joke.
He snickered as he watched, lips spread into a maniacal sort of grin that did not belong on Halcyon's face. She felt the monster touch her then, his hands running down her body. His fingers tracing an ugly line over her skin, going from ribs, waist, then hips, locking her tight into a suffocating embrace. His body was pressed flush against her back, cold and burning hot at the same time.
Her breath stuttered.
His lips brushed the shell of her ear.
He did not smell like Halcyon, she realised now in her delirium. He smelt like ashes and smoke. He was not her vanilla bean bakery.
Levi and Kieran seemed to freeze, staring. And suddenly the terror that sparked within them seemed to grow, pouring so thickly from them she could smell it despite the distance in all of its vinegar. Her Omega quaked.
Edmund purred, and she felt the swell of disgust froth from within her throat. "Thank you," he said, voice all velvety smooth. "My dear, sweet Rue."
Her stomach seemed to drop. She could also just be the biggest fucking idiot in the universe.
"DON'T TOUCH HER," Levi snarled.
The shadows seemed to convulse, rearing like beasts. They slammed against the walls, the ceiling, the floor. Kieran's lights flared violently in response, clashing in blinding arcs, the collision sending shockwaves through the room. The phantom wind was howling.
Edmund tightened his grip on her.
"Such devotion," he murmured. "You'd think it was love." Her thoughts swirled at his words. "You were the ones who put her here." He reminded gently. "Not me."
"Let her go." Kieran's voice had dropped now into a dangerous hiss of venom. Levi's shadows were rising. The duo moved as one, treading closer, inching towards them one step at a time. Edmund only chuckled.
His hands snapped up, fingers around her throat, dug hard enough for her to gasp. And now Rue felt like an utter fool. "Take another step," Edmund threatened, his hold tightened then, almost crushing. His voice climbing into the cold, eerie rattle that she knew from the monster. "And I will kill her."
Everything stopped. The light, the shadows. Kieran's face drained of colour, and Levi's fingers seemed to tremble. The hades' smile was strained when he spoke. "You won't."
Edmund grinned. "She's so weak now," he said. "No Titan powers to shield her, no drone abilities to protect her. It will be too easy to snap her bones." His voice sang, then slid to a cheery pause. "Oh, wait. You wanted to kill her." He popped out. "Why else are we on this empty island with that beast at our door?"
He continued his tease with puppet-like waves of his hands.
"It's been mere days and even Halcyon's soul is wasting away." He stroked his own head as if apologetic. "How weak do you suppose she is with Cetus' venom in her blood?"
They seemed to stumble over his words.
Edmund purred. "But you should kill her to save yourselves," he said cheerily. "A blade through her heart would do the trick. Push hard enough, and it'd kill me too. Two birds, one stone. And maybe you'll save Halcyon." He paused. "Who knows?"
He shrugged, humming, continued egging them on with his bullshit. Edmund was always so full of crap. Rue cursed at him in her head. He was always playing with their heads, always stirring up shit with his riddles, his arrogance and his fucking hypnotism. The confidence in his eyes frightened her.
She realised then that he could be diving into their heads, plucking at the surface of their thoughts. Her lips parted desperately. "He can read some of your thoughts, but not here," she told them quickly. Her mind churning. He hadn't seemed that capable of mind-reading in this space. If he had, he would have seen through her deception. "But he's good at hypnotism. And he'll fuck with your head. He lies all the time, and he's weak now—"
"Silence," he snapped and her lips seemed to zip shut, her glare deepening as she struggled. "The truth is," he grinned at them all, "I don't have any of his powers." He gestured to himself with a sigh. "Not with Cetus burning it all away. And Rue's right, I am weaker here. So killing us now when we're both at our weakest might just save your lives." He shook his finger in tease. "Besides, it hurts, doesn't it? Your powers won't last for long." He cooed. "Your bodies are boiling because of Cetus."
She could see their eyes widen, the way their fingers trembled. She now understood the tremors. It was pain that seized them, that had steam boiling from their flesh. The fever. Cetus…Her brows furrowed. Cetus was hurting them even from this distance? That surprised her.
They did not move.
"Titan," Levi hissed. "What do you want?"
Edmund stiffened then, lips spread so far and wide she feared his smile might tear apart Halcyon's face. The darkness in his eyes seemed to grow, ink swallowing his sclera. "I see," he stated as if his answer confirmed things. "So, you do know." His giggle was sharp. Her confusion was sharp, darting back and forth.
They remained silent.
"The poseidon finally figured it all out." The Titan clapped his hands. "But how much were you told?" He pondered. "How much do you actually know?" He was playing with them, and they all knew it. "Will you still kill her?" Edmund teased, fingers to her throat, tapping. "Or is that impossible now?"
"Tell us what you want," Kieran snapped.
Edmund grinned. "You."
Levi stared.
"Your pack," he continued. "Your…lives."
Kieran's eyes darkened, grip tightened. "Killing us will do you no good."
Edmund smiled. "You don't seem to understand the predicament you are in." The monster purred. "You're the only ones capable of stopping my…stronger hives…What do you think will happen to your universe if you're not there to protect it?" He asked. "I don't have to kill you; trapping you here is already good enough for me. My drones will do the work. You've seen the escalation, the way the ink adapts and the hives multiply. I can wait. You can't."
His fingers caressed her chin, lifting it. She tried to struggle free, but she found him too strong. Her body was too weak. She tried to speak, but her lips were sealed shut.
"It was so difficult to catch her," he sighed, tapping her cheek with his palm. "You see, we have many Heras spread across the galaxy. And we prefer to keep them weakened, slightly…impaired."
He drummed his fingers against her throat, and she felt chills run up her spine.
"We did not even know of her existence," he chuckled. "Until you brought her deep into my hive," he crooned. "How sweet it was to be presented a fresh queen bee on a silver platter. But I couldn't catch her, not with her drones hovering by her side like common flies." His nose wrinkled. "But you've all created the perfect cell just for me." He threw back his head then to bark out another hideous laugh, arms spread wide. "Thank you."
She didn't understand it all the way they did, but she could see it in their eyes. The moment it clicked in their minds. The way they paled so violently. The dots connecting. The puzzles completing.
Her mind spun, trying to make sense of it all. An unprotected universe, with the weight of the world on their shoulders. His attempts to capture her, her ability to summon them to her. The seven had been the only Espers capable of getting rid of all the hives.
Without them, the universe would die.
The people would all become the corpses she'd seen in the hives.
She felt the blood drain from her cheeks.
Those hives could destroy planets. Left unchecked, it would—
Kieran's voice trembled. "You want to destroy the world?"
"Destroy?" The Titan smirked. "I just want to take back what I'm owed." He harrumphed. "I just want to purify the world."
Rue was fucking done with him. She was so sick and tired of his shit, exhausted from running laps around his cage. And somehow her lips snapped open, his control weakening. There was clearly a limit to his strength over her. She snarled at him. "You just want to kill everyone, you sick fuck."
His eyes twinkled, fingers snapped, his attempt to quieten her. "It will just be a beautiful dream."
"Enough with your fucking riddles and lies," she snapped, and Edmund had the cheek to laugh harder despite his loss. He was always fucking laughing like he had the upper hand, like he was winning. And perhaps he was.
"I did not lie to you," he stated softly, "about the poison that the Olympians gave to us, killing our Omegas and turning the Alphas into the beings you call Lonely. I did not lie to you about Planet 0. Titans were once the rulers of the universe. And Omegas were once at the top of our court." His smile fell then, and for once he seemed solemn. "The ink is divine retribution. And it will set the world free."
"You were the ones who poisoned us," Levi said with a snarl. "You want to kill innocent people."
"Poison?" The monster giggled. "Ink was created by the Olympians to destroy us. It's your poison. Your creation. We just learnt how to use it; to adapt to it; to wield it so that it becomes our weapon. You've all simply forgotten why you were once immune." Edmund continued speaking, more chatty than usual with his increasing confidence.
Kieran growled. "You're a monster. A beast."
Edmund tutted, clucked his tongue as if he were speaking to children. "And you've also forgotten that my blood runs through your veins. That we are the same." Rue's eyes widened at his words.
Levi scoffed this time; lips curled into a sneer. "Fuck you," Levi hissed. The shadows thrashed against the ground. "I don't believe it—"
That seemed to make Edmund snap, and he snarled. "Fool. The strongest of the seven planets were always engineered, forged by the purest Titan blood. You are all our children."
Kieran stared. "What?"
The monster smiled, satisfaction growing as he gloated. "Your powers, your Espers," he purred. "Where do you think it comes from?" He paused. "The higher your rank, the more of our blood you have." The ink in his veins pulsed, spreading like frost through his skin. "You call yourself gifted. Chosen. You call yourselves Gods." His smile sharpened. "But you were all merely replicas, runts bred to fight us, weaklings. Mutts."
The shadows seemed to convulse, lights fracturing with their rage.
"The seven carry the most Titan blood," Edmund said. "And that is why you could purge the hives so effectively." He hummed. "Your strength comes from our strongest, our blood."
Rue watched as he brandished his hands as if he were performing a show. And Kieran seemed to breathe heavier, lance wavering. "Who cares?" he snapped.
"Foolish Olympian," Edmund said, shaking his head. "When you die from the ink, you will not become the weaklings that flood my hives. You will not become the undead that rot, the brainless, powerless insects under my control."
He grinned, finally revealing his cards.
"Instead, when the ink swallows you whole, your powers will remain, and your bodies will be mine."
*
Altair
She was glowing when he first saw her, glowing like a star.
He'd sworn that it was just the cheap fluorescent, a trick of the light. That the shimmer was all a fucking lie. Despite the words on his ass that declared her to be his one, why would an aphrodite need a soulmate when he had his eros? Soulmate. True mate. It did not entirely matter in the grand scheme of things. Not when Seraphim did not see her thread in his waters for their pack, not when they were all emperors, not when she was Omega.
But she was glowing again when he saw her again. Light kissed her skin when she entered any room, clung to her collarbones, dancing on her throat. She was always glowing. He walked away, knowing that she was his, knowing that he liked her. That he loved her. He took her from Valentino, and he locked her up. He allowed them to put her on that fucking planet.
He played a part in her destruction.
And he paid the price.
Altair had watched in orbit, staring at the endless black sea and the lighthouse that speared through the dark, rays like a dying pulse. From this distance, he could see Cetus coiled around the island. From this distance, his skin burned.
Sweat gathered at his temples, his body temperature spiking as if he stood inches from a massive sun instead of miles above a mere planet's atmosphere. He could feel his body boiling, a new, horrible heat radiating from him.
Cetus was an old relic of the past, created to kill the strongest of them all.
Below, the beam of the lighthouse rotated weakly. No food, he reminded himself. No water. How long had she survived down there? How long could she endure it? Even an Omega, as weak as they were, should not survive in Cetus' presence, let alone with his venom in her bloodstream.
"Your Imperial Majesty, you must not descend—"
"I have to try again," Altair said hoarsely, standing with his arms raised for the technicians. "Suit me up."
"But, Your Majesty—"
"Do it."
Technicians moved to fasten the harness, the triple-reinforced plating, and the cooling injectors that ran along his spine. He winced as they clasped frozen metal to his wings. It was the best technology that Planet One possessed. The thickest insulation, the most advanced armour created to maintain Cetus.
He had hope when the first wave had gone in.
C-class to S-class Espers, wings tipped in gold as they dove through the atmosphere like something from Valhalla. They lasted one minute and two seconds. The comms had filled with screaming. Skin crisping mid-air, feathers blackened and ignited. Powers spluttering like dying flames. Cetus had rose from the boiling sea—a massive, incandescent creature with scales and fins like a fish, and tentacles that slammed through the sky.
The sun had found its prey.
His best did not return.
His best.
Altair had watched as they plummeted, bodies falling and leaving smoke trails to be consumed by the monster. His throat had tightened.
Then they brought in the Omegas. Their bodies were weaker, their abilities non-existent. They would not combust, but they would be defenceless against Cetus' reach. His generals were barking orders.
They tried again.
They had to try.
C-class Espers flanking a platform with the Omegas at the centre. They would be lowered down as quickly as they could. If they had made it to the lighthouse, they would be able to survive. But it was a bloodbath. His Espers went up in flames; the Omegas were burnt from their fire. Cetus killed the rest.
His generals had called for a final group, all Omegas, all girls. Girls who stood trembling in their harnesses. Their eyes were red, swollen. They would not ignite. Altair had stared at them with sad eyes.
Take care of the Omegas.
Rue's voice had echoed in his skull.
"No," he said finally, lifting a hand. The Omegas would not go. There would be no point, no sacrifice just for the possibility. No fragile bodies flung at the god-like beast to test a probability of chance. But even from this distance he could see the heat blooming across their cheeks.
How had Rue survived a week in the inferno?
Rue.
The name burned. His decision was made. He stepped onto the rope for descent. He might be the strongest in the group, but he had the ability to withstand Cetus' heat. An SSS-class Esper would boil, but he was also a god. A god who could heal. A god with the ability to withstand more than the average person.
His wings, his tails, they unfurled, white and glowing.
He erected a shield and descended.
The air was as hot as a furnace. Cetus slammed against his barriers immediately. Tentacles slashed against his wings with a horrible force. The air seemed to quake with each impact.
But it wasn't the physical blows that brought him to his knees.
It was its core, its pulsing heart at the base of the planet that radiated through every cell in his body. It was its poison that boiled his blood. He was Icarus on the sun, and this was no myth.
His wings were crisping. Smoke curled into the sky. Feathers caught the spark of fire that bloomed along his body. An infernal fire that rose from his own cells, his own body was killing him. He could see it now: the very top of the lighthouse, the slick tiles. The last and final fucking stretch.
He screamed.
The sound tore through him, heat devouring all sensation. His vision swam with tears. His chest was in flames. He was being cooked alive, forced to regenerate his body again and again.
Rue.
Rue.
Rue.
The name looped through his skull like a prayer.
He reached, fingers stretching. He brushed the very tip of the lighthouse, just the roof. And for half a second he felt relief, the cool tiles beneath burning palms. And then his hands ignited, flames consuming skin far too quickly, flesh blistering. The smell slammed into him first before the pain fully registered.
His people screamed for him. And Altair reared back with disintegrating wings, with skin melting from bone. He sobbed as he was lifted back to safety, yanked upwards as quickly as they could. He sobbed as he cradled his wounds to his chest. Not from the pain of it all, but from failure.
There was no way he could reach the island.
There was no way he could save her.
Whispers spread. His people said that their emperor was crying for his mates. But Altair was thinking of more than just them; he was thinking of her. The woman whose words had carved words into his skin. The woman who laughed at him, fought him, and always defied him.
Did she know?
Did she know exactly how much he loved her?
His heart squeezed.
He was a fool.
A/N- Read 9 chapters ahead on
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