We Folded Like A Cheap Suit

Aeschyne’s mind was so full of racing thoughts, they threatened to burst her head. Her heart, it raced like a sparrow trapped inside a fist. Flapping its wings as it twittered and yelped. Aeschyne drew a deep breath in through her nose, yet still adrenaline burnt inside her veins. Silence, Aeschyne scolded herself. Now was not the time for rumination when she should be seeking Prometheus.

A clank behind her. Aeschyne turned around to see a fallen hammer upon the marble floor. But where did this hammer fall from? Aeschyne stepped closer as she peered. There was no ledge. There were no tables. Unless this hammer had dropped from the ceiling, there was no reason why this hammer should be here. Aeschyne picked the hammer up and turned around-

“Boo.”

Aeschyne yelped as Deucalion’s face popped out of a wall. Deucalion yelped, too. Then, he exhaled and began to chuckle. Deucalion chuckled so hard he put his hands over his chest. How full of zeal Deucalion was, just as Aeschyne had remembered him in life.

“Hah. Hahahah! Oh, Little Sister!” Deucalion greeted with utmost joy. His eyes glimmered so impossibly blue. “Your yelp has grown so loud since I’ve last heard you!”

A memory stirred within Aeschyne’s mind. That was what Deucalion would teased when the two fo them were growing up. Deucalion would prank Aeschyne and make her lose her composure. He found Aeschyne’s contagious fears amusing rather than disturbing, as anyone with the gall of youth would. 

What Zeus had done to his daughters appeared in Aeschyne’s mind. But Deucalion looked so happy, Aeschyne did not want to shatter his brief moment of happiness. Aeschyne bowed. “Deucalion,” she greeted instead.

“Come on now, we’re not strangers!” Deucalion encouraged as he opened up his arms. “Huggies for Doodoo?”

Aeschyne flushed. A contagious flush dyed Deucalion’s cheeks a ruddy maroon, and he chuckled. Aeschyne frowned and marched away. To think Deucalion still reminded her of her infant babbles.

“Shades can’t feel touch,” Aeschyne reminded him. Everything she had done to Deucalion flooded her mind. Deucalion had every reason to loathe her. Surely this was a fit of deception hiding what he truly believed. “You don’t need to forgive me, nor ignore what I have done, Deuca.”

A cold gust as Deucalion stood in front of her. “Perhaps I cannot ignore you. Because you’re the little girl in the maid uniform who’d hide her face behind a veil. I can’t ignore how much you’ve grown, either.”

“I tried to execute you. I tormented your father. I was willing to murder him, all for the praise of the Gods who have tortured your family.”

“Nobody’s perfect,” Deucalion soothed too quickly. Aeschyne stared, confused. “And yet you disciplined Sisyphus for me. And yet you’d urge our father to flee. And yet you are here with us now. Those actions might as well make you so.”