euterpe wants to give you much delight (delightfulmuse) wrote in mythopoeics, @ 2012-05-28 01:33:00 |
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Current mood: | exhausted |
coda
Steel sliced through her thigh, quickly and efficiently. But Athena knew the moment it happened that it was her end. Blood gushed from the severed artery (a lucky swing, it had to be), attempting to slow her down, but she wouldn't have any of it. There would be no going down without a fight.
She gripped the hilt of her sword and slashed at her half-sister's midsection, believing it would connect and hoping it would take the Muse down. It had to, sister or no sister.
~*~
Faith was a powerful motivator, Euterpe was rather quickly finding out. Knowing someone out there -- two someone’s, actually -- had faith in her was giving her the strength to force herself to continue fighting what was clearly a losing battle. At least, until she got lucky.
The moment she saw the blood begin to gush she knew she could win this, and a second wind flooded her system. Scrambling out of the way of Athena's sword, she swung again.
~*~
Weakened by the loss of blood, Athena barely blocked the swing. She could feel the hair sticking to her forehead, the warm gush of blood down her leg, the sweat on the back of her neck. Everything felt amplified.
Dizziness suddenly crashed upon her, and she stumbled backward, praying she'd regain her balance. She had to. Blinking through the dizziness, she sent a sharp thrust in Euterpe's direction.
~*~
Her own bumps and scrapes slowing her down, Euterpe stumbled backwards when Athena blocked her strike. In the midst of bringing her sword up again she didn't have time to parry the thrust before it nicked her flesh.
Coldness from the sudden loss of blood coming from her side caused her a moment of shock, and she nearly retched before remembering herself. Putting all her energy into it, she let out a shout and pushed forward, sword going straight for the other goddesses' midsection.
~*~
The blade sliced clean through her. There had been no time to deflect, both of them suffering from their respective injuries, and the initial blood loss was not making it easy to concentrate.
Athena's injured leg gave out beneath her, and she was falling to her knees, the sword still embedded in her. No words would be spared. There was nothing to say that would alleviate her disappointment, her anger at being bested by a Muse.
Copper flooded up her throat as a cool breeze brushed over them. She closed her eyes as she wrapped cold fingers around the blade.
Goodnight, father.
~*~
Even as the other goddess fell, the only thing keeping her standing upright was adrenaline. Warm blood stained her face, her breathing was heavy, but she won.
Euterpe's eyes blazed with hard-won triumph even as the hand that held the sword came up to cover the still-gushing wound above her hip. Still, she wouldn't gloat, as there was nothing to be proud of here. She'd killed a sister; all she wanted to do was cry.
Closing her eyes against a wave of pain, she focused on the fact that somehow, against all odds, she had survived. Not that there was reason to be pleased with that.
Opening her eyes again, she looked out at the crowd, swaying on her feet before fainting from loss of blood.