Every Year a Knife to the Heart [Vignette]
(Content warnings in tags, this gets dark.)
They had always loved the way Galene’s curls seemed to dance in the sun, they played with its light and bounced softly when she spun around and pulled CHARON into her arms. Embracing her in return, they laughed and basked in their love for each other. When her soft voice spoke, they damn near fell over from shock at the words from her mouth.
“Oh, love, I can hardly believe it! We’re going to have a baby!”
She was not showing yet, and yet they looked forward to each passing day hoping she would. Skeletons rarely showed such physical signs of pregnancy as the extended belly humans did and they were looking forward to something about this child that they could touch.
Gods help them she was so beautiful.
Even when she was concerned. “I’m worried about these rumors going around about some sort of war against all of monsterkind,” she said as she rested her head against their chest.
“Hush, beloved,” they answered, rubbing her back in small circles. “There is no way anyone can fight all of monsterkind.”
There was no way. Truly. Outrageous rumors.
As they watched the ships approaching from the sea they found they really did not enjoy being wrong.
The necropolis was scrambling, with children and noncombative monsters hurrying underground to the crypts behind the traps. The priests and priestesses had insisted on staying above to defend the temple. May every god and ancestor they have watch over them.
They pleaded silently, their arms around their beloved. Soteria, raise your shielding hand to protect us. Hecate, defend your people, who stand fighting for their lives. Zeus. Athena. Apollo. Artemis, if you care for nothing else then care for our unborn child and the children hiding below.
The few human adults, save for their own wonderful Galene who was with child, had decided to stay above and fight with the monsters they called family.
Hera. Please. If nothing else then keep her safe. At my own expense if you must.
When they released her, their beloved brushed her hand along their skull for a wordless moment before taking a step back to grab a shield. Face stern and confident, she held it out to them.
“My love,” she said, “it is an ancient custom, and I am your wife rather than your mother, but you are ancient and this battle is important. More than any I think we will ever face again. So…”
And they knew in their SOUL what she was saying.
“With it or in it,” they finished for her, holding the shield to their breast and bowing their head reverently to her, their own, personal, goddess. They would defend their people and the innocent lives here and return to her carrying that shield or they would fall and return to her carried inside of it but they would not flee like a coward. Not when so many lives were on the line.
They turned away and looked up to Necromancer Eleni.
Slumped backwards against rubble that had, hours earlier, been one of many buildings in the necropolis, they could only feel exhaustion.
The invaders had apparently attacked necropoli before. They knew, somehow, that targeting their Necromancer was the easiest way to break the organization and focus of the defending monsters, and when Eleni had gone down their confidence had gone with her.
It had been a slaughter. They'd only just managed to beat the last of them back in time to save a handful of those that had hidden away. Fewer still were those that remained and had fought.
And CHARON felt such guilt, for having tried to avoid killing. They were not the only one, many of the monsters could not bring themselves to actual lethal harm even in defense of their own life or those around them. They had only done what they could, healing as many as possible and trying to disable, to restrict the invaders. To get them, simply, to leave.
If it had only been so easy.
Was dear, sweet Galene even still...?
Ah! Yes there! Bounding towards them, a likely now-orphaned child of one of their neighbors right behind her, their dearest Galene came running. Tears in her eyes.
Pain. Surprise. Shock. A stagger. A spear, penetrating her chest.
One of those they had thought defeated had not been, completely.
Words that would haunt them for the rest of their days, even half-choked and accented by blood-filled coughs as they were.
"Death to monsters! And to those who would whelp them!"
The human spearman staggered back and fell once more against the rock they'd been leaning on and as Galene fell forwards they swore time itself stood entirely still, for one brief second.
Human forgotten, potentially-orphaned onlooking child forgotten, people and city forgotten, CHARON moved with a speed they had not thought they could still manage and caught her. They cradled her in their arms.
As much healing as they had left in them.
Whywasn'titworking?Why?Why?Whywhywhywhywhy?
They clutched her against them, grip tight, and keened with their sorrow.
There was nothing left to save. The spear had killed her. Pierced her heart.
They would never be able to estimate, to remember, how long they had spent holding their dead beloved. Their unborn child. Lost entirely to their own grief.
They would always remember what they had done next. Maddened entirely with fury and anguish and desperation to ensure the one that did this would pay for the human spearman had coughed and that one infuriating sound became their world's entire focus.
The ferryman's pole they'd summoned had hardly even registered to them. Neither had the sharpened bone scythe-blade that they'd summoned with it. If nothing else they would be resting assured that there was not enough left of this human for their soul to make it to the Underworld.
Maddened and lost, CHARON swung-
Still rattling, they'd awoken, SOUL filled with grief and mourning as if it had been only hours ago that they'd lost dear Galene and not near a thousand years. The bed they lay in felt entirely too lonely.
