Pandora (pandoros) wrote in nevermore_au, @ 2012-07-26 19:34:00 |
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Entry tags: | pandora, prometheus |
WHO: Pandora & Prometheus
WHERE: Colorado
WHAT: Greeks take over AU - Pandora and Prometheus have a run in
WARNINGS: Guns, language
Pandora was uncomfortable being outside of where she knew she was safe. The entire Eastern Seaboard was safe territory for Pandora, being the realms owned by Hermes (for whom she had pledged her allegiance early on) and Hephaestus (who still allowed her to cross through his lands and come see him). But working for Hermes meant doing the things he didn't want to do while the Olympians waged their war, and that meant crossing into states that she had no protection in. Flashing the ID badge that said she worked for Hermes would only get her killed anywhere else.
Today the soldiers that would be happy to kill her were the ones under the command of Artemis, so her only ID she carried identified her as the minor river nymph Ismene, resident of Artemis' lands but neutral other than that. There was still plenty of the minor Greeks around who had not taken sides further than choosing under whose command they would live.
Pandora was there in Colorado to deliver a message to one of Hermes' faithful. It was to be a very quick visit, in and out, and the two of them had planned to meet in a small mountain town where they would hopefully be the only immortals. And they were, until Pandora was leaving and felt the presence of someone else, someone who seemed somewhat familiar although she couldn't place them.
Gun hidden in her jacket, Pandora followed the feeling under it led her to a house a little way up the mountain. She knew that whoever it was would have felt her as well as she'd felt them and so she knocked on the door with one hand inside her jacket and on the gun.
Colorado was plenty safe for him. He stayed out of the Olympians affairs. He'd learned his lesson the last time. He secured his safety with the bribes to the right people, and aiding Hephaestus with his work. It was degrading, but anything was better then being chained to a rock again.
And here he could focus on his art. At least until he'd felt the familiar presence. Immediately on guard he grabbed his own weapon and peeking out the window. The familiar blond hair made him frown and he opened the door, greeting her with a shotgun. "Hand out of your pockets Pandora. Who send you?"
Prometheus. Not what she'd been expecting. She'd figured he would be kept in chains somewhere.
Slowly Pandora drew her hand out of her jacket, raising them both up in front of her. The last thing she wanted was a shutgun blast through the chest and a trip to Hades. Especially since the Underworld God was less willing to let go of immortals these days with a war happening.
"No one sent me," she told him with her hands still held in plain view. "I was in the town on business."
He glanced around and motioned her inside, "get inside." Once she was inside he secured the door, and the perimeter. He'd gotten comfortable here. Now the defenses were up. "Hard to believe coming from you Pandora. "Loose the jacket, slowly and tell me what business you came here on or you get to question your alliances."
Damn and blast, but now he'd have to move. The girl was owned and wouldn't keep his secret. It was a pity, seeing he liked it here. The air was clean and the earth beautiful.
"I didn't even know you were here," Pandora told him, slowly taking off her jacket, the thick wool jumper beneath still quite concealing. The jacket she put down carefully on the nearest piece of furniture.
"I was meeting with a contact here because we didn't think there would be any immortals."
"Loose the gun. Unclip the magazine, then give it to me." He was almost deadly calm. Had it been anyone else he would have started firing. But she'd been his brother's woman. She deserved some respect.
"I liked them thinking that. Now answer the question, who send you up here to snoop around? Does Zeus send you to do his dirty work, or another?" Then again if Zeus had even an inkling he was here, Prometheus knew that he'd see the winged enforcers at his door rather then her.
With a sigh of annoyance Pandora did what he told her to do. If he shot her she swore to Gods she'd get him back for it.
Once she'd lost her weapon Pandora stood tall and watched her ex-brother-in-law. "I don't work for Zeus," Pandora told him with a slight amount of venom. "And I wasn't sent to snoop, I already told you. I met with a contact at a cafe here, now he's gone back to wherever he came from and I was going to do the same."
Once he had the magazine in hand he lowered his gun and took hers, setting it away from her. Damn it all but if he kept her then whoever she worked for would come looking.
"Still not answering the question Pandora. Who do you work for? You'll understand that I need to know. I'll have to move again now, and I just got comfortable here. I didn't think people would find me here." He sighed and crossed his arms, "And of course you will tell your master who you found."
Pandora was offended at the idea he had of her and her expression of disgust showed that quite well. "Is that what you think I am? Some little lapdog to Gods, hoping for a pat on the head?" she demanded. "No one gives a shit about you, old man."
He raised an eyebrow, "it's all you have ever been." He picked the gun back up and set the barrel to her forehead. "I can't take my chances on that. Just tell me who you work for girl, and you leave this place alive. Continue to keep the information from me and you can crawl to your new master and see how well he takes your services."
"Fuck you," Pandora hissed through gritted teeth, refusing to close her eyes even as that cold barrel pressed against her skin. "You think you're better than me? I did what I had to do to survive and you have no idea the things I've sacrificed for you and your brother."
"I'm not the one working for the Olympians. I'm not the one who won't tell me who they are working for." His voice was growing angrier and he cocked the shotgun, "and do not bring my brother into this. What do you know about him anyway? Had you any sort of respect for him you'd be on the run with us, not on your knees for them."
"Epimetheus was the reason I couldn't run, you idiot," she snapped. "It was for you and Epimetheus that-" She sneered then. "No, you don't even deserve to know what happened to him. You weren't there with us. You'd already run like the coward you always were. So fucking shoot," she hissed through her teeth.
He lowered the weapon, at his brother's name. His jaw clenched, "shut up woman. You know nothing of courage." he lowered the weapon. "For a moment think girl. What are me and my brother?" He paused for a moment. "I am Forethought, he Afterthought. Together we are strategists of a mark few can rival. I can think on my feet, spin the beginnings of the plan. He thinks of what I do not. Combine that with the fact he can, literally, make up any excuse and have it be believed?"
He shook his head, "apart we are not as good. We can do things, but if we are caught together and forced to work as one." He sighed and shrugged, "we doom more to this foolish war. We decided to split up, for the sake of all."
"Yeah, well, he's dead," Pandora told Prometheus bitterly. "And none of his excuses or my wiles could save him from that."
"What?" He paled at that. His brother was dead? He dropped the gun and was forced to lean on a table. Epimetheus was the other half to what Prometheus was. The other half to the equation, as it was, and for all the Olympians bluster a necessity.
He set a hand on his mouth and dropped to the ground. "He's dead?"
Despite the fact that she'd just had a gun to her head, Pandora felt she may have been a little harsh dropping that on Prometheus the way she had.
"Yes," she said without the venom behind it now. "I tried to make him go into hiding early on. He didn't exactly have the mind for war and Zeus wanted the both of you. But then Zeus used me to find him and when Epimetheus finally showed up... Zeus killed him."
He could not help the tears, but quickly wiped them away. "Fool Olympian. Epimetheus is a needed Titan. Even Zeus should know that." He shook his head and lowered it, "cursed Olympians." He slammed his hand into the floor. "No wonder his messages stopped."
Pandora was silent for a long time, trying to give him a few moments at least.
"I'm sorry," she finally told him, her tone the most gentle it had been since her arrival. "I fought to stop it from happening."
He steadied himself after a while. He was the only one left, and without his counterpart to balance him out. Who would make sure his plans were solid now? He shook his head, "I know girl. I know."
He sighed, "Damn them all." He suspected she was chained in her own way, but wouldn't mention it. "And the box?"
Pandora set her jaw, ashamed to admit that she didn't have that any longer. "Zeus took it from me," she told him quietly, dropping her gaze. "I don't know what he did with it."
"Kept it, if he knows what it does. And if he's got half a mind to him. "He sighed and set his hands on his knees. "Damn that Olympian. He'll pay for this." He ran his fingers over his eyes, "damn him. Without my brother...I can't make another one."
"Well, he's had it for almost four years now," Pandora told him. "And wherever it is, I'm not connected to it any more." She hated that she couldn't feel it, even though when she could she used to pray that it wasn't her responsibility. But without the box she felt naked and vulnerable.
"Zeus might pay for this all one day," Pandora agreed, "but it won't be by you."
"Says who?" he looked to her. "I can make my go at it. I've nothing left. My brother's dead. The box in Zeus' hands." He shook his head and sighed, "but it makes no sense you're not connected with it anymore. What's he done with it? Locked his enemies up in it?"
"You'll just get yourself killed," Pandora told him and then at his question her tone turned a little more annoyed. "I don't know what he's doing with it. I don't know anything about that damn box anymore."
He shrugged, "death is not a bad option. What else is there" He looked at her, "Well perhaps I will find out." He rose from his position. "Go home girl. I have to prepare."
"Don't you dare walk right into the arms of death," Pandora snapped, advancing on him then. "He sent his Enforcers to make me tell him all I knew about the both of you now. I didn't stand up to that torture without a word just to have you throw it back in my face."
Pandora wore scars from Bia and Kratos and she refused to believe that some of them weren't owned now by Prometheus.
He looked to her, "and he put me on a rock for no other reason then pure spite. Save the tales of woe girl. I'm deaf to them." He shrugged, " I do not need your pity, or your attempts to make me feel guilty. You lost your husband, I my counterpart. I spend my existence hiding from those winged traitors, in hopes I could have my brother. Tell em what I have now?"
"You call me selfish," Pandora said as she crossed over to grab the magazine from her gun. "I'm self-serving, but when you act the same way it's, what? Noble? And why is that, because you're a Titan but I was made from clay?"
She turned to glare at him. "It wasn't pity and it wasn't guilt. But maybe I should have saved myself the trouble and just told them everything I knew."
He walked to her to that, "I do not plan to fall to my knees for them Pandora. You serve them now." He lowered his eyes and ran his fingers through his hair. "And do not dishonor my brother's legacy like that."
"Don't talk to me about dishonor," Pandora told him coldly and with a shake of her head. "Epimetheus is the only person who has even given a shit about me, so don't you tell me about his legacy. Every broken bone I took for him I would take again."
He sighed and let go of his anger, "I just heard my brother was taken from me Pandora, and I cannot do anything to take my vengeance. Zeus would kill me too, or put me right back on that blasted rock." He let otu a long sigh, "you did well."
Pandora looked at him and the anger remained for a few beats but then she let it go. He was right. She'd just walked in here and told him that his brother - his other half - was dead, but she was expecting him to be a mature and rational adult.
She sighed and put the magazine back in her gun, the gun back inside her jacket. "You're one of the strongest who haven't joined sides," Pandora explained to him. "I knew that if the time came when an army could be gathered to go against the Olympians then you needed to be on it."
He gave a chuckle, "maybe." He glanced away and moved to a chair, "I may be strong, and I am able to create but without my brother...well I'm not of too much use. You don't know counterparts girl."
Then he sat down and nodded, "I'll do what I can, but not here. I'll find ways to communicate with you." He reached out for her hands, "look for your box. Zeus may have done something to it but my instinct tells me he's using it for a prison. It'd be fool of him not to."
"Of course I don't know counterparts," Pandora reminded him. "I was the first of my kind and made to ruin your men."
With his words there was a spark of hope within Pandora, the idea of a world where the Olympians no longer ruled. They had lost their power once and they could lose it again.
"My poor box," she lamented when she thought of it as a prison. She didn't think the box itself would mind though. In fact, the box was probably loving it.
With her hands still in Prometheus' she said, "It's Hermes. You asked who I worked for: Hermes."
He smiled at her and set his hand on her cheek. "No you weren't. You were just like the rock they tied me onto. Part of the punishment. I never blamed you girl."
He chuckled to her comment, "chances are the box' is fine Pandora." He nodded to the answer. "Figures. Come I'll make you dinner, give you some trinkets and you can say you found old Prometheus' abandoned house and you can look good to those who will want to hear it and be kept safe. My brother would want you safe." Smiling he released her.
"You're a good man," Pandora told him gently. "My temper gets the best of me sometimes. I think that must have been Zeus' gift to me."
To his suggestion she frowned. "Are you sure you want to do that? I've completed what I came here to do, and if Hermes is looking for you I haven't heard anything about it. Don't give them a trail to follow."
He gave her a look and motioned her into the kitchen, "a false trail. Besides, if Hermes is as crafty as people tell me he is he's got you watched. You made a detour into this house, best you come out with a good excuse. Besides if you tell them something they don't know, and hopefully send them in my opposite way, they'll not think anything of it."
I can't think of other reasons, and best it's a half lie then a full lie." He motioned her to a seat. "Sit down. What do you eat?"
"Where will you go from here then?" Pandora asked him as she followed, sitting but keeping her eyes on him. "Hermes will send his children so you'll have to be far away."
She wanted to say that Hermes trusted her, and that he'd given her his wiles because of that, but maybe that was just arrogance. Yes, Hermes seemed to like her enough and he'd always treated her well (less so now that he was fighting against the other Olympians - war had brought out his less pleasant traits more often) but why would he actually trust her?
Instead she focused on his question. "Have you got any coffee? I'm not really hungry. But coffee," she said, "...or vodka, would be great."
"Alas, I don't drink, so you'll have to make do with coffee." He set about making that, "bit of a liver problem." It was probably horrible to joke about that, but it was that or collapse in grief about his brother. He didn't have time to do that.
He glanced back at her and handed her the mug, "I'd rather not say where I'm going. Information can be taken from you, and I'd rather not. I'll leave the minute you do though. I have a few places that'll give me refuge."
"Coffee then," she nodded. Pandora hadn't thought about the liver thing but she supposed that made a lot of sense.
That he would tell her where he was going made sense but it also offended her a little that she wasn't trusted still. Not that she'd given him any reason to trust her. "I didn't tell them the last time Kratos tried to get it out of me," she muttered.
He held up a hand, "I don't need to know how he'll try and do that Pandora." He sighed, "if you know, you are in danger. I lost my brother. I won't let my stubbornness harm you." He set his hand over hers. "Pandora, please. I'm trying to keep you out of trouble." He gave her a small smile.
He poured the coffee in her mug, "let me try to keep you safe?"
He truly was a gentle man. As stubborn as she was and as difficult, but gentle. So she finally nodded. "Alright," she told him, wrapping her hand around the mug. She didn't like the idea of not being able to contact him now that she'd run into him again but she supposed he was right that this was safest for everyone.
"Good," he was grateful for that part at the very least. The messages would be sparse. He'd need to find creatures he could trust. Ones that couldn't be bought out by Zeus. There were few Titans now, and only one was neutral.
He sat down and curled his hands around his own mug, "tell me something. How's Hecate in all this?"
"She visits Hermes sometimes," Pandora confided, lifting her coffee mug as she thought about it. "I've seen her in his palace, but I've never actually met her. I believe she moves between kingdoms freely. There are a few who manage to do that."
He sighed, "She's married to him. Complicated mess." He settled into thought. He couldn't ask Pandora where Hecate lived. He'd have to find that out on his own. Hopefully he could get asylum with her for a while.
"But it makes sense. She was always powerful." He smiled at her, "Thank you."
Pandora hadn't known they were married, but it was clear even from a distance that there was something between the two of them (and Hermes' other wife as well).
Pandora frowned a little. "For what?"
"Answering my question." He smiled at her and sipped from his coffee. "I am curious. Who owns what part of this country now? and how are they handling the outside world? Surely, they aren't still hiding themselves?"
"They're not hiding," Pandora said with a little bit of awe that she couldn't help. After all, what the Olympians had achieved here was incredible. "Everyone knows and it's pandemonium outside the country. No one even knows how to make sense of it all let alone try to stop it. Whatever it was here that made the Gods powerful again... it hasn't happened anywhere else. Those Gods are still relying on belief like before. There were news reports of a few of them going public but it ended in mass panic and probably some dissection room, I don't even know." She sighed into her coffee. "I heard a few years ago that there were threats of a nuclear attack, but the Gods would just retaliate with the weapons this country has. And with Posiedon keeping the seas impassable and Zeus controlling the skies..." Pandora shrugged. She could see no solution to any of this.
"The ownerships of the land change with battles and alliances, but between Hermes, Hephaestus and Zeus the Eastern Seaboard is covered, and along the Gulf of Mexico Poseidon holds sway. Dionysus holds Los Angeles and most of California, and I think Ares and Aphrodite have combined forces now and stay east of him. Washington, Oregon, Idaho - they're Hera's and Demeter has the areas around Missouri and Kansas. (Except for Lebabon in Kansas, because that's true neutral ground, I hear.) Here where you are is Artemis' nation, right up through to Montana."
"Lovely," he'd never had too much issue with Athena, but even she was far too finnicky for his tastes. She was teaching him quite a bit though and he filed it all away. "And their Underworld Jailer, the one who holds the keys to Tartarus?" He needed to avoid that. He'd spend half his excistence in chains. He wouldn't do it again.
He paused, "it won't be long until they change their minds and expand their territories. This country, it's too small. And much of their glory lays back home. There's a source to all this, somewhere. All we have to do is find it. Then either turn the tides or destroy it."
"I don't know where Hades resides," Pandora said with a shake of her head. "Up near the Great Lakes maybe?"
"If it's something one of the Gods did," Pandora told him, speaking out loud ideas she'd thought often, "then whoever did it is keeping quiet. Which doesn't mean it wasn't one of them, but I don't know how they would have managed it. I don't know if all this can be stopped before they spread across the planet like the plague they are."
He sighed, "I'll have to find out. Probably a place with a long winter." He shrugged and listened carefully to her. "Then they either found something, or someone, or the powers here in this country. They've almost solidified their hold here, and are already bickering amongst themselves. They wouldn't do that unless they knew they couldn't go further. Too much the blood of the tyrant in them.."
He sighed, "unfortunately the more time I take with figuring this out, the longer they'll have in return. Zeus knew that when he killed my brother. Together we would have figured this out. Separate I can't see the hindsight of it all."
Pandora sighed. The two brothers should be together, but what did Zeus care for families? What did Zeus care for anything but his own selfish needs?
"Once I'm back in New York I can find out the exact borders of the kingdoms as they stand now. I don't know how I'd get them to you though."
He gave a smirk, "Sometimes I am clever." He picked up one of his statues and set it before her. "It hears, and it's twin rests with me. It does not speak so whisper what secrets you may to it and I will hear them. If it is ever found, destroy it no matter the cost. And keep it from the box. It will know."
He rose then, "I need to get going Pandora." He paused, "I'm sorry but I'll have to knock you unconscious. I can't have you knowing where I'll travel."
What a clever little item. Pandora was still smiling at it when she heard his last comment and she stood up as well, her expression one of disbelief. "You're kidding, aren't you?"
He sighed, "Pandora, please put yourself in my position. What would you do?" He watched her, putting his cup away. "I'm not going to harm you. Just to make sure you won't see where I'm going."
"'I'm not going to harm you' isn't actually the same thing as 'I'm about to attempt to give you brain damage'," Pandora told him, because apparently he seemed to see no difference between these two ideas.
She was already backing up slowly. "Why don't I just wait in here an hour before I leave, or I could leave now, or you could tie me up, or you could not hit me on the head with something heavy and blunt."
He blinked, he hadn't considered those options. "Oh. I wasn't going to use something heave on you either way. Tranquilizers work just as well." He rose then, "please, escort yourself out. I have things to arrange. Take what you want."
He'd not thought of her just leaving? He really did need his brother around. She picked up the statue that he'd offered to her and then looked around and found a small statue that she could tell was his work. "How about this?" she needed to take something back to Hermes.
He nodded, "that will be fine." Smiling he set his hand on hers, "I hope we meet under better circumstances next time Pandora. Keep safe."
Pandora smiled up at him gently and nodded. "You too, Prometheus," she told him. Then she slipped her hand free and, after a moment, turned her back on him and exited the house.
She didn't look back, didn't even slow down. She would leave the state and go back to where she was safe, but now with a secret that would make her less so.
-----------------------------
Five months after she'd seen Prometheus Hermes lost his position.
Pandora didn't know exactly what had happened or how, but Zeus had come in personally to bring his son down in chains. Through the statue given to her she had been able to tell Prometheus of the troubles as they happened and she made her plans for escape to somewhere out of Zeus' lands.
The messenger was an immortal she didn't know and one who gave no name. He just pressed the address of a hotel in Arizona into her hand and an unfamiliar name. But Pandora knew who the name belonged to.
Under careful watch it took another two months before she could make her escape, catching three separate planes across the country to make sure she wasn't followed.
When she finally knocked on Prometheus' hotel room door she was still looking over her shoulder and expecting the Enforcers.
When he'd heard of the news he'd started to plan. He didn't know what Zeus was thinking, but he gathered Hermes wouldn't stay down for long. But the more he watched and heard of this odd war the more he was convinced the Gods couldn't expand their territories into the world. They wouldn't be infighting so much if they still had the world to conquer.
He'd almost feared she wouldn't come but when he'd heard the knock he opened the door and set a finger to her lips before pulling her inside. Then he locked the door, not that it would be much help, and gave her a look over. "Not too badly hurt then?"
He walked into the small room and picked up an envelop, "you're here under my name. Told them we'd eloped and everything, best I could do considering the circumstances." He walked to the window and glanced outside to look for eagles. The damn pests always followed him, and he wouldn't have them whisper their secrets to their master. "For now you're safe."
"Thank you," Pandora said as she followed him to the window and then surprised herself by wrapping her arms around his neck to hug him tightly. She hadn't honestly thought she would get out without meeting Kratos and Bia again.
The hug surprised him but he returned it, if a bit awkwardly. "It's alright, couldn't have you getting hurt in all this." Smiling he released her and drew the curtains. "Sorry about the dark. Damn eagles keep popping up. Fucking gossiping rats they are." He gave her a tight smile. "I don't suspect he'll keep Hermes in chains for long, but it does confirm my theory. They can't expand their power base." He paused, "or he's looking to Hermes to see if he can. Regardless, best you stay here for a few days. When Hermes comes looking you can always say you were saving your own skin."
"Fuck going back to Hermes," Pandora said with a shake of her head as she moved to sit down on the bed nearby. "It's all too unstable, and I am not ending up with Zeus' Enforcers again."
He sighed, "Well I will say this once. Being on the run is far more dangerous. Treason and all that." He sat down beside her, "but I can get you ways out of here. New name, passports, the whole lot." He gently touched her hair, "you'll have to dye this."
He dropped his hand, "There's people who will take you in, but not for long. Soon enough they'll solidify their bases. Start making rules. They can't keep this chaos up if they want to keep their power. Too much chance to knock their palaces out of the sky."
Pandora took a few strands of golden hair in her hand and frowned at it, not liking the idea of dying it. Her bright blonde locks had been a part of her beauty for so long and as much as Pandora would like to be above that, there was still vanity there.
"I think you could use me around," Pandora told him. "I'm not Epimethius but I can try."
He paused then nodded. "Alright. If you're up for it then I can use you. We'll move out in a few days. Lay down long enough to see if you've been followed or if they will give up on you." Sighing he sat down again "now we wait."
Waiting around and doing nothing then. Fun.
"So where have you been?" Pandora asked. "Or am I still not allowed to know that?"
"Bit of everywhere. Went to look for Hecate, who still plays neutral. Most of all I've been looking for the rest of the Titans." He sighed, "most of my kind are locked up in a prison I can't get access too though."
He smiled at her, "and I've been looking at the history of it all. Cronus usurped his father, then was usurped by his own son. Zeus has plenty of sons, but none to usurp him. If the cycle could be repeated, it'd cause enough chaos to knock them all down."
Pandora thought about it. "So... Hermes, Apollo, Ares, Hephaestus? Any of them would do it if they could, I'm sure. But none of them are exactly trustworthy to join forces with." Even Hephaestus couldn't be trusted any longer as Pandora saw it.
He sighed and shook his head, "no. And as far as I can tell it has o be a favored son. Cronus was favored, then Zeus." He set his hands on his knees, "and the second problem is they were both favored by their mother. With Zeus, we don't know which of the mothers of his son's they mean, or if it's even the same case."
Sighing he ran his hand over his eyes, "it's hard to think straight sometimes. Without...my brother I'm not even sure if these plans make any sense."
"We can think about it later when we're not stuck in a hotel room," Pandora told him with a shake of her head. "I'm still too paranoid Kratos is right behind me anyway to think clearly."
He gave a small smile to that, "you'll have to get to used to that. I've felt that way since I got released from the chains. I should be able to feel him if he gets close. Right now we have to wait. He's too obvious to ignore. I'll get you some clothes."
Clothes were good. "Can I use the shower?" she asked him, standing up and running a hand through her hair. "I smell like 'on the run'."
"Sure." he pointed to the bathroom, "there's not much for women in there but go ahead." he rose and moved to the phone, "I'll get you some new things to wear." He smiled at her, "oh I'll take the couch alright? you can get the bed."
Some might have argued that, no, no, don't be silly, I'll take the couch, but Pandora wasn't that person. Instead she just smiled at Prometheus.
"Thanks. I'll just be a minute," she told him as she went into the bathroom and closed the door. She undressed and sighed at the thought that these clothes - as lovely as they were - would have to go. Anything that had been hers would have to go.
She let the hot water wash away a little of the fear and discomfort and when she came out of the bathroom she was clad in a towel, using another to dry her hair.
When she returned he let his eyes linger for a moment before turning away. He cleared his throat and took one of his shirts out of a suitcase, "here. It's clean enough. I just called and they'll send some things over in a little while. Told them a story about how we eloped, so if anyone addresses you as Mrs. don't act surprised. I'll give the things you were wearing away just in case people are looking for the description. It's why you'll have to dye your hair. It kind of sticks out."
He glanced out of the window, "we'll stay here for a few days before moving out. Where did you come from? North, South, West, or East?"
Pandora took the shirt offered to her and nodded to all the rest of it, although she still hated the idea of ruining her hair. Shirt in hand she walked back to the bathroom to put it on, but didn't close the door so she could still speak to him.
"I came in from DC," she said, putting the towels on the rail before pulling on her underwear. "Zeus is based there now." She buttoned up his shirt and looked at herself in the mirror. Damp hair and a man's shirt that hung around her thighs - she really did look like the young new wife.
She came back out to where Prometheus was. "Zeus wanted me close by so I ended up stuck in an apartment near to his palace."
He couldn't help but look at her. She was very pretty, and he wasn't blind. He didn't linger though. He wasn't that rude. "Sorry. We'll go back up there. They'll expect you to go the other way. If we go to D.C. he won't expect you. I think." He cringed. "Good with the spur of the moment remember? Not so good with everything else."
"Give me your phone, and destroy what credit cards you have. They'll be tracking those."
"Back to DC?" Pandora asked, biting her lip. "There are more immortals there though. Won't they feel us? Kratos and Bia... if they feel me even from a distance they'll know." She shook her head. "I don't want to end up with them any more than you want to end up with the birds."
From her handbag by the door she grabbed her phone and wallet, handing the phone across to him while pulling out her credit cards and real ID card. She couldn't be Pandora any more.
He shrugged, "they will feel us. Like I said, I'm not good with thinking through the plans. Just coming up with them." He settled down on the bed and ran his fingers through his hair. "I don't know what to do. I really don't. I'm just thinking on the fly. Worked so far."
"Cut it up." He took the phone and took out the SIM card, putting it under his heel and destroying it.
"We'll think of something," Pandora said snapping the cards in half and tossing them into the nearest garbage can. "I think better in pants though, so let's wait until my new clothes get here?"
He smiled at her nodded, "yeah. Shouldn't be too long though. I have enough cash to last us a while, and there's always others willing to help. We'll lay as low as possible. go to the places with the least population of gods. If we could leave the damned place it'd be better of course."
Pandora sighed and went to sit down on the couch, pulling her bare legs up beneath her. "I've got a bit of cash too, but not much. Hermes paid me well enough but if I draw it out of the bank they'll be able to find me."
He nodded, "they will. Don't worry about it. We'll find something." He glanced to the door at a knock and rose, messing up his hair a little. With a smile he took the clothes before returning and handing them to her. "Here you are. I didn't want to ask for another blanket. We'll just find a way around that."
"You can share the bed, Prometheus," Pandora told him easily, as she rose and took the clothes. "We can behave like adults."
He blinked, then had the decency to blush and grin. "I suppose. Best if one of us stands watch though. At least for now. I can take first shift. I'm not much of a sleeper at night anymore."
"Well, I haven't slept properly for weeks so believe me I'm not going to argue with you." Even thinking about sleeping she yawned.
He gave her a smile then, "rest. You will need it. I'll keep watch." Then he rose to walk to the window again. He'd learned long ago to be paranoid. Now it would benefit him.
Pandora gave him a smile and then walked over to the bed, putting the clothes to the side for now because it was easier to just sleep in the shirt she'd been given. She slipped into the hotel bed and made a sound of sheer pleasure at that. "Oh, beeeed," she moaned and snuggled herself down under the covers. Prometheus would keep watch. She didn't need to worry.
When she opened her eyes again the light in the room was different and she rolled over, stretching out her arms above her head. "Morning," she yawned as she saw up, hair dried and messy, a few buttons on the shirt open. "Or evening?"
As promised he had kept watch. So far, they were in the clear. He didn't need too much rest (he'd spend decades being tortured through the day and enduring the pain of organ re-growth during the night. He'd build up some stamina), but had napped now and then.
When she woke he was already making coffee, "afternoon, actually. You slept for some time. Coffee?"
Pandora frowned sleepily. "Sorry I slept for ages. No coffee yet," Pandora said and climbed out of bed, stretching her arms around and then finding a seat near him, resting her chin on her bare knees.
It was hard to keep his eyes off her but he managed it. She was a refugee with him, she didn't need him staring at her. But he shared his brothers weakness for pretty women. With a nod he sat down, focusing on the coffee. "It's alright. You'll need the rest."
"For a moment before I opened my eyes I thought I was back in my own apartment," Pandora admitted with a sigh. "But I sort of woke up earlier and thought Kratos was around. So all in all and hotel room is better."
He gave a soft laugh to that, "no I doubt you would have woken as gently if he was here. So far we're undiscovered. I doubt it'll be long before they come sniffing this way. Still don't know where to go though."
"I want to put as much distance between us and them as possible," Pandora sighed, changing her mind on the coffee and standing up to make herself one as she thought. "I keep thinking that heading into Hephaestus territory would be best, but it's too close to Zeus and they'll expect me to go to Heph," she poured her mug and leaned her back against the counter top. "I think it's best we go somewhere uninhabited though. There's plenty of tiny towns around where we could pretend to be some normal mortal couple. The Gods tend to avoid the little places."
He nodded, "sounds like a fair plan. As long as we can remain undetected until I find more people to communicate with I do not care where we go. I'll find a map later and we'll finalize a destination. For now it's best to wait a bit longer I think."
"I'm fine with waiting," Pandora told him and then smiled, pointing her mug at the bed. "That's really comfortable."
He smiled and nodded, "it is." This was going to get awkward, he could tell. Being the quiet man wouldn't work for to much longer.
Pandora drank half of coffee in silence and then said, "I'm going to get dressed. Thanks for the shirt."
He nodded, "you're welcome. Can't leave the hotel just yet, but there's a television. It's not much though." He'd always found things to do or enjoyed the silence, but he didn't know how well she'd take it.
"I'm sure we'll pass the time," Pandora told him, grabbing her clothes from the bedside and taking them to the bathroom with her.
When she emerged again she was dressed in the things he'd ordered for her and she grabbed her coffee with a teasing smile. "Should I be impressed or disturbed by how well these all fit?"
He nodded before looking up at her when she returned. At her comment he laughed and shrugged, "probably both. I didn't help create you but I did create the predecessor to man. I'm very good at guessing proportions and sizes. I've scared off more then one woman with it before. I don't really realize I do it."
He shrugged, "along with always having a light on me it's one of those things about me. Now if you excuse me I need a shower myself."
"A useful talent to have," Pandora told him with a smile as she went to sit on the couch. "You enjoy your shower," she said as she flicked on the TV. "I'll see if I can find the porn channel." She threw a devious smile back over her shoulder at him. She was mostly joking.
He chuckled again, "occasionally yes." He raised an eyebrow to her comment before shaking his head. It couldn't hurt in any case. The more people assumed they were what they claimed to be the better.
He returned after a while, in new jeans, and went to look for a shirt. He still had the scar over his liver. He doubted it would ever go away.
Pandora noted the scar from her spot on the couch but she said nothing about it. She knew what it was from, she didn't need to ask.
"I did find the porn by the way," Pandora said, turning around to lean over the back of the couch to talk to him. "Something set in an all girl's boarding school but the uniforms didn't look regulation. I could go back and find it if you want?" Pandora waved the remote as though ready to do just that, but on the screen behind her was playing was she'd found instead and was much more interesting than porn: Casablanca.
He put the shirt on and buttoned it up, moving to the couch and sitting down beside her, offering her the menu. "Order something if you like. It'll be strange if we don't." He raised an eyebrow before laughing and shaking his head. "I think I'm fine not seeing that. Besides, this is better," he motioned to Casablanca and settled in the couch.
"I love this movie," Pandora said, settling down onto the couch properly again as she looked over the menu. "I must have seen it a hundred times." Pandora's eyes weren't on screen, but she quoted along quietly to Ilsa as she asked Sam to play 'As Time Goes By' and then said, "Steak! Oh, can I get steak?" she looked at him, all hopeful smiles.
He had to admire her spirit. She'd just endured difficulties and stress and here she was all smiles and brightness. He could see why his brother had fallen for her so easily. "Yes. It'll look strange if we do not order something lavish."
For a while he pondered, "I must ask. Did you see Zeus kill my brother? I keep going over it. Why would he give Hades such an ally? Even dead, in the Fields or Tartarus, my brother would prove quite the ally to the King of the Dead. I didn't think the two sons liked one another."
The smile dropped completely from Pandora's features. "I saw it," Pandora said quietly, not looking at Prometheus. "I can't tell you about what his reasons were, but I know that I was there when it happened." She looked at Prometheus seriously. "Are you doubting my sincerity?"
He held up his hand, "no. Not at all. I'm sorry to have you relive that." He glanced to her, "I know you're honest with me. I do trust you. It just makes very little sense. Then again, Olympians never make much sense."
"When we're safe and away from here," Pandora said, focusing on the menu, "I'll tell you every detail that I remember of how it happened and why. But not here," she shook her head and looked at him. "Not in this hotel room."
He shook his head, lowering his eyes to his hands. "No. I do not need to know the details of how it happened. I am only curious to the why of it all." He gave a small smile, "and one day, I'll have my vengeance for it.."
"One day," Pandora agree quietly. But that wasn't today. Today all they could do was what they were already doing.
After a long silence Pandora passed the menu to him. "Pick something," she said as she stood up to grab the phone. "We'll eat. We'll watch old movies. We can pretend to be this eloping couple of yours on our honeymoon or whatever this is."
He took the menu and glanced over it before ordering it via the phone. "I couldn't think of anything else." Honeymoon seemed to have made the most sense. With everything so chaotic he imagined plenty of mortals were doing it. Not everyone wanted to petition to get the right to get married.
So that was how the two of them spent the day, ordering room service and flicking through channels on the TV and drinking tea and coffee and (for Pandora) at one point making origami cranes out of the Things To Do leaflets after she'd read them at least twice.
By the time it was late Pandora had spread out across the couch, her legs over Prometheus' lap because it was the most comfortable position she could find. It was some sitcom on the TV she wasn't really watching. Mostly she was just yawning and closing her eyes for longer and longer periods of time. Apparently all her lack of sleep from the last few weeks was really catching up on her now.
As much as he could stay up, eventually even he fell asleep. By the time he was drifting off and had her legs on his lap, his hand was on her ankle and his eyes were clothes. His head was on the back of the couch, letting himself drift off. Perhaps it was a bad thing, but he'd stayed up most of the night so he couldn't help it.
When Pandora opened her eyes with a slight struggle she saw Prometheus and made a decision that it was definitely bed time. She found the remote on the couch beneath her thigh and turned off the TV, pulling her legs gently off him and then reaching out for Prometheus' knee to give it a shake. "Hey," she said. "I'm putting you into bed."
The shake woke him, but just barely, and he nodded to her comment. Usually he'd make some argument to stay on the couch bu right now bed sounded good. Not bothering to change he rose to walk to the bed and laid down on it.
With Prometheus in bed Pandora undressed and found the shirt he'd lent to her before so she could wear it again to sleep. Then she slipped into the bed beside Prometheus and curled down under the covers.
It didn't take long for her to fall asleep either and when she did wake again she was confused by the man's body beside her.
Prometheus.
She remembered where she was again and watched the gentle rise and fall of his breathing in the dim pre-dawn light. He had a nice profile and in the quiet of the bed she could lay there and appreciate it.
When he stirred a little, Pandora beside him whispered his name. "Are you awake?"
Waking up was always an experience for him. When the voice filtered through his sleep-fogged mind he suddenly sat up straight, breathing heavily. He looked mildly panicked before he remembered there was no eagle, and the warmth beside him was a warm and beautiful woman.
An up from the rock. He cursed and set his elbows on his knees, rubbing at his eyes, he wouldn't go back to sleep and he knew it. "Yeah. Sorry." He winced and set a hand over the scar. It would always hurt, just like he'd always freak out when he woke up. At least he'd slept through the night. That was rare.
Pandora had sat up as well, a panic of her own for a moment at his reaction. But it seemed like he was sort of okay and she frowned. "Didn't mean to scare you," Pandora apologized, assuming it had been her voice waking him that brought on this reaction.
"No, no." He set a hand on her shoulder, "it wasn't you. Years of waking up with an eagle screeching at me. I just startle." He smiled at her and released her, "go back to sleep if you like. I'm awake now. I'll see if we can find us a car."
"No," Pandora said quietly, slipping her hand into his. "Stay here with me for a bit." There were thoughts happening now and Pandora couldn't put them away. Curiosity, after all, was her fatal flaw.
Like his sibling, Prometheus wasn't always the brightest. He nodded and settled back down, running his fingers along his eyes and forcing himself to be calm again. There was no eagle right now and he wouldn't have to endure a day of torture again. "Didn't mean to frighten you."
"It's alright," she said and then lay back down with him, but this time drawing close to his body and resting her cheek on his chest, an action far more intimate that their relationship really should have allowed.
He was a little surprised by her sudden nearness, but didn't push her away. She was pretty and the company was appreciated. Almost gently he set his hand on her shoulder,s letting his fingers toy with her hair. Right now this was nice, and he didn't want to disturb it.
Pandora was sure she wasn't imagining things when it came to Prometheus. She gave him the benefit of the doubt, chose to believe he was merely being kind as she was his brother's wife, but Pandora noticed when he looked at her and she couldn't miss the way he took chances to touch her.
They lay in silence for a while before Pandora spoke quietly. "Prometheus? Do you ever think of me?"
For a moment he didn't answer and his touch stopped before deciding that it was best to be honest. He'd be traveling with her for quite some time. Best to get this out in the open. "Yes. I do. You're a beautiful woman."
Pandora had expected that he would lie to that, but perhaps she should haven't known him better. She lifted her head so she could look up at Prometheus, her green eyes catching the early morning light. For a moment she watched him seriously but then she whispered, "will you let me kiss you?"
He fought back a smile as he looked up to her, fingers just barely touching her skin. "If you want to." He didn't see why she would though, but it wasn't like he would stop her. Beautiful women were just as much a weakness to him as they'd been to his brother.
Pandora slipped up in the bed a little and reached out one hand to stroke his cheek gently. Then she leaned in and kissed him, her lips soft against his. It was almost chaste. Pandora wanted to see his reaction before she did anything more.
When she kissed him he leaned up a little, setting his hand on her cheek to return it and deepen it just a little. He wasn't the type to push anything however, so he kept it light.
With Prometheus interested, Pandora saw no reason to pull back away from him. So she continued the kiss, pressed against him as her golden hair slipped over their faces. When she finally drew back it wasn't very far and it was with a small, curious smile, her hand still resting on his cheek.
It had been far too easy to set his arm around her waist when she'd been close, keeping her there until she broke away. He smiled at her and watched her, knowing this was probably a bad idea.
"Not worried that I'm a trap?" Pandora asked him. Mostly it was a joke, but she thought it was very possible for him to think that way. That was what she'd been designed for, after all.
He chuckled and shrugged, "if you were, I imagine I'd already be in chains. You wouldn't have waited so long." He let his hand trace along her back, "Although I do not see the interest."
"My interest in you?" Pandora asked, slowly leaning forward and laying a kiss on his throat.
He let out a soft noise to the kiss, his fingers curling into the shirt, "yes. Your interest in me. Why?"
"You've always been nice to me," Pandora said and kissed his throat again. But then she lifted her head and gave him a little wry smile. "Well, when we're not yelling at each other."
Then she ducked her head to kiss him again, a little lower down his throat. "You're attractive." Another kiss, this time against his clavicle. "You're interesting."
He let her talk and kiss him for a moment, but when she stopped speaking he set his arms around her and pulled her down into another kiss. She was too tempting, and even he had his limits.
Pandora smiled into the kiss, adoring the warmth and affection. She hadn't been with anyone for years and she missed being adored. "Make love to me," she whispered against his lips.
That was a request he found easy to accept. He hadn't been with anyone in forever, and she was far too tempting and warm. He pressed her down against the matrass, kissing her and letting his hands slide under her shirt.
Too long since she'd had hands on bare skin like this, too long since she'd given over to a man who wanted her. Pandora ran her hands under his clothes, her fingers finding that scar of his. Brave, she added silently to those earlier attributes as they kissed. And strong. Her own scars were hidden beneath that shirt still - her fingers showed no signs of the way they'd been broken but her back and stomach still bore the marks of knives and flames.
Her movements against Prometheus remained slow and sensual, her breath hot against his skin.