The Death of Time

In the face of Strife and Fury...

Ananke stared at the almost demonic visage of the woman in command, seeing a haughty cruelty to her smile. It warned 'nake that here was a creature that enjoyed destruction and the breaking down of things more than she did anything else. The three creatures that spit and hissed at 'nake stayed around this leader, and it surprised Ananke to see that her stone had left its mark on one of them. THe creature she had hit dripped thick, viscous blood into the sands of the Coliseum, the liquid almost tar black instead of crimson.

"Inevitability. So good of you to join us. I guess I was wrong when I thought you were just a myth." The woman in charge sounded smug and Ananke kept quiet, not understanding the situation at all.

Her surprise attack on these creatures had stopped the torture of Chronos and that was the end of her planning. Whatever force had held him immobile before fell away, allowing the Father of Time to slump forward, his whole body bowed with pain. "I am Eris, these are my sister's the Erinyes. Our confrontation is not with you."

Ananke found that looking directly at these strange women was disconcerting and left her feeling off balance, and yet her peripheral vision tracked them just fine. Like tracking movement across a glacier, the eye tried to trick Ananke into not seeing what was actually in front of her. "Chronos and I are leaving, whatever issue you have is going to have to be forgotten." Ananke stated calmly, wondering why she was willing to face off against these creatures for the sake of an ill-tempered god that raged inside her head. The only comfort she had was that this could not be a figment of madness, because Ananke had never been that creative, even while she was wholly alive.

Her words provoked an immediate response, causing the three Erinyes to yowl and hiss more like cats than the canines they sometimes resembled, and Eris just threw her head back and laughed. "Not going to happen. I finally have this fiend where I want him. His own guilt locks him in place! He is ours to extract Justice from!" Eris spat, humour gone as quickly as it arrived. "You do not know his crimes!"

"I don't care." Ananke stated simply, making all four females and even the injured Chronos stare at her in muted shock. "We're all guilty of something. Why should I condemn him for his past and yet seek absolution for my own?" as she spoke, 'nake carefully walked forward, feeling the sands of the arena burning her bare feet. It wasn't an unbearable pain but it was alarming because Ananke had never felt pain in the dreaming world, and she knew her body was located a long ways away from here. If the pain was real, what kind of damage could these strange spawn cause?

"His crimes are not forgiven!" Eris screamed, striding closer to Ananke. 'nake held her ground, the emotional void inside her heart not even allowing the common sense of fear.

"Then neither are yours." Ananke replied, not knowing what kind of past this woman could have had. But it was easy to assume, based on the volatile nature she now revealed.

"How dare you! I am the goddess of Strife! I am above such mortal concepts that bind you!" Eris loomed over Ananke, looking like she would strike out, and yet the goddess never actually touched her.

"Chronos is the Father of Time. And right now we have a task to be doing. It doesn't not involve indulging in your temper nor does it curtail being a sacrifice for your need to spill blood. I am carrying his soul in my flesh and while he is my passenger, you are not allowed to harm him further." Ananke didn't know where the words she spoke were coming from, but they felt laden with Power.

"You would stand between the rejected King of Olympus and his Justice?" Eris hissed, spittle foaming at her lips like a rabid animal.

"I would." Ananke said calmly, for once finding that her lack of emotional response was for the best. Her common sense begged for her to let these monsters tear each other apart, she had no place in this world. But there was a job to do and Ananke had never known how to back down from even the most dangerous challenges. And apparently she wasn't so far gone from the woman she used to be to walk away now.

Eris finally touched Ananke, her large and calloused hands cupping Ananke's jaw like a lover would. "Tell me why." the goddess of strife hissed out. "Tell me how he could earn your loyaltly when he has done nothing to deserve it."

"Because it is necessary." Ananke replied with all seriousness, regardless of how mad her words sounded. "Arrogance, ego, vengeance... they don't mean anything to me anymore. I am doing what is necessary."

"Who's side are you on, bearer of Inevitability?" the Erinyes hissed and coiled around Eris and Ananke both, their words strangely chorused as they spoke as one creature. Their question seemed to demand more than just as simple answer, but Ananke finally faultered in her confidence, not knowing how to answer.

###~~~~

Nyx stared down at the weakly thrashing form of Ananke, the moral woman's spasms eased while Hades and Herald held her down. The peaceful smile was gone from Herald's face as he focused on holding Ananke as still as possible, her movements as likely to injure herself now as much as the immortals around her.

"Her capacity to hold them all apart is fascinating. How many mortals can bear the pressure of Time, let alone accomodate the rift between  men and vengeance?" Nyx asked softly, not sounding like she expected an answer.

"You ask too much of her, of them both." Hades retorted, his grip on her shoulders slacker now but the bruises he'd already imparted were darkening while he watched. He hadn't wanted to hurt this long distant descendant of his, and he was having a difficult time not only resisting the power in her blood, but also the guilt of the pain she would wake with. If she was lucky enough to survive this that is.

"I ask no more than what she has volunteered to be in the past." Nyx dismissed with a shrug and Hades gave her a sharp look.

His was the domain of the dead, and even though Thanatos was the one Ananke had challenged before, Hades hadn't anticipated the Goddess of Night knowing her connection to death. There certainly had been a reason that the blood line demanded that she be the one to help them now. Parallel lines seemed to meet in this woman's world, as strange as it seemed to the logical King of Tartaros.

"She's bleeding." Herald broke the staring contest Hades and Nyx had engaged in, saving the god of the underworld from having to look away first.

Ananke wasn't hurt, so much as a small dribble of blood dripped from her nose to streak down the planes of her face and disappear into her hair. However, the fact that she was bleeding was disturbing because it was a physiological response to the internal pressures she was enduring. It was a sign to the three immortals that although the woman might seem mighty, she was still mortal. Which meant that her body might just not be able to withstand the ordeal even though her will was more than a match.

"She's refusing to give up." Nyx was infuriatingly calm, her assured words only making Hades snarl internally.

He actually felt like he should intervene but to try might do more damage than just letting this play out. He couldn't go in after them, and any manipulation he could try would be like trying to hit a target while blindfolded and weilding a sledgehammer. And the target is surrounded by fragile china, called the mortal coil. "If they die, I will make you suffer before the end of this all." Hades growled out at Nyx.

Herald was watching as if this were some scripted play and Nyx just had the audacity to smile softly at his threat. "It is an interesting thing, Hades, to be mother and father. Creator and destroyer and having the freedom to stand back and be satisfied with either outcome."

"So you don't care." Hades spat, letting his grip on Ananke ease off so he could face the Goddess of Night square on. His body language was threatening and bunched, the anger and frustration only a thin veil for the fear churning underneath. He didn't want to die, and he suddenly had more sympathy for the situation his father was in. And respect for Ananke's actions in the past.

"I never said I didn't care Hades. But I care enough to allow it to be." Nyx replied with a shrug.

Before Hades could step towards her, Herald reached out and tugged on the god's wrist. "Hades, she needs you here." he reminded gently, forstalling whatever confrontation was about to go own.

Hades looked back at the still weakly thrashing Ananke and the blood dribbling from her nose. If it looked like this out here, he could only worry over what they were enduring inside. And Hades couldn't help but care for both this woman and his father.

~~~###

Chronos stared at the resolute Ananke and wondered what her answer would be. Who's side was she on and why was she willing to battle Strife and Fury for his sake? He hadn't been discreet in his disrespect and hatred for the moral and weak woman. And yet here she was, regardless of his previous behaviour and that was not something he would have believed. His own family ostracized him for his actions and here she was, just accepting them as if they didn't matter. It actually made the Father of Time feel a little ashamed of his reactions thus far.

Ananke stood facing Eris and aware of the Erinyes and he could tell that should any of them make to attack him again, she was willing to place herself between him and them. And he hadn't earned that kind of decency. He was guilty, just like they condemned him and he was willing to let them bleed him out in penance. And yet that wasn't an option now, this weak, pathetic and moral woman shamed him deeply. And Chronos wasn't willing to let her actions be for nothing.

So he accepted the guilt that had lashed him in place and shouldered it, not letting it hold him in place. Someday he would pay for his sins but at this moment, he had to stand up and guard this mortal's back. Later they could battle over who controlled the body and which mind was the leader, but for now he needed her as much as she needed him. And admitting that galled him.

"Her own side." Chronos growled out, standing to his feet and feeling the hot blood dribble down his chest. "She stands on her own side. And that's good enough for me." he glared at Eris as she snarled at him.

Ananke flashed her eyes to look at him briefly and then back at the four threats facing them. "We're leaving now. You and your beasties outside will leave us alone. And we will see each other again later." Chronos' tone was threatening, and yet Eris smirked as if this were a victory for her.

"You are going to wish that you gave in to us before all of this is over. And this poor mortal has no clue how toxic you are. You'll be the death of her too." Eris spat spitefully.

"What you don't understand is that that concept doesn't bother me at all." Ananke spoke up, surprising both gods. She truely didn't fear Death and Chronos was determined to get to the root of why. But first they had to make good their escape. The real challenge was going to be finding their way out of his mind and back into hers.