Slumber.
Sleep.
Endlessly revolving until your body is satisfied and replenished, it is your recovery time.
- - - -
Twilight followed her mentor closely. The others had left after seeing Celestia so angered- they were afraid to see what would happen. Applejack protested against Twilight staying, but she ignored her friend.
Tension filled the air like billowing smoke from a smokestack. It was congesting. Agonizingly silent.
Walking down flight by flight of stairs, the passageway got darker as Kratos's bandaged body was carried along by the emotionless Celestia.
"... W... what are you going to do to him?" The unicorn broke the silence.
Celestia didn't respond. She opened a door once they were far, far underground. The door opened to reveal a long hallway of stone.
"Princess?" Twilight hesitated from moving on. The looks of the place spooked her a bit- it was dark, eerie. Cold, damp. Rather musky. She felt unseen eyes on her at all times. It made her bones shiver.
Once again, she didn't respond as she began to walk down the hallway. Twilight quickly followed, not wanting to be left alone in this, this hellish place. "Wh... what is this place?"
- - - - One hour earlier...
"Keep him restrained!"
"I'm trying!" Yelled an assistant, over the sounds of a grave struggle. Kratos had been tied-down on an operating table, and didn't take too kindly to it. One would wonder how such a damaged, exhausted creature could put up such a fight.
It was in his blood, after all.
One of the leather straps gave out. It snapped, and now the Spartan's forearm was free.
"He's going to break the restraints, come on! Hold him so I can put him out!" The doctor yelled. Kratos grabbed the neck of one of the assistants, and slammed his head against the metal table, dazing him. But he wasn't done. He repeated this, until four of them ganged up on his forearm, struggling to hold it down.
The doctor then took the needle full of extremely potent tranquilizer--intended for a beast of large size--and injected it into Kratos's forearm, which throbbed as he thrashed his arm around.
His head then slumped down, and the struggle stopped. The doctors, nurses and assistants went to work on mending his wounds, stitching, removing shrapnel. The whole package.
- - - -
Celestia had been looking through the Canterlot Archives, for a spell that she had in mind.
She looked for at least four hours. Nothing, nothing, nothing. There were basic sleep spells, advanced ones. Mainly just for getting a better rest at night, but so far, not what she was looking for. But then, she found something. In a dusty, aged box, was a scroll. "Hmm..." Celestia overlooked the scroll.
Content with her choice, she studied the scroll. It was a stasis spell- meant to keep the target in an age-defying rest for a select amount of time. The more magical energy you poured into the spell, the more potent and prolonged the effects were. The basic amount of time, the lowest you could go, was around one and a half years.
But there was one problem.
The spell was unfinished- of course.
So, Celestia began to work on it. Starswirl the Bearded may have been a genius, but he left quite a few loose ends.
The Princess had kept Twilight overnight at the castle. She wanted to stay, so Celestia let her.
Last night, she spoke with Twilight. Tears were shed, but Celestia's student thankfully understood her decision.
At least, so she thought.
- - - - Deep underground... twenty-one hours since Kratos's subduing...
Chains crinkled.
Cuffs snapped.
And restraints clipped.
"Princess... you cannot do this to him... it's just not right." Twilight insisted as she saw Kratos, unconscious and wrapped like a mummy in front of them, looming in the darkness. He was held and restrained by seven magically-enchanted chains per limb. It was inhumane.
Celestia's expression grew grim. "Twilight, you do not understand. He is dangerous- you saw what he was capable of. If it were not for my anger, Twilight, I would have died. Do you understand me?" The alicorn asked.
The unicorn eyed Kratos. "But--"
"Twilight, enough. My word is my word. And my decision has been made." The alicorness said sternly, a migraine already having its potent effects on her head.
Kratos's head suddenly snapped up, as though to look at Celestia. He growled. Muffled, he yelled in pain, feeling the searing agony of his wounds awake him. His muscles were torn from the gashes. Bones in his spine had been broken. His skull had been cracked, some ribs shattered. His once-broken leg was broken once more. Blood stained the bandages. Stitches would become infected.
He was lucky to even be alive, with that much damage taken. How he was even alive in the first place was a miracle in itself. To be breathing with that much damage taken, to fight back against a surgeon. It was physically impossible. But he had some unfinished business.
His vengeance still had yet to be taken.
The blood of Chronos served him well. A fighting Spartan spirit, and determination that was unfaltering.
But had Celestia truly become this careless?
It seemed so. It seemed so.
The motive behind her becoming this way may be a mystery as of now. But all will be revealed in due time.
"Rest." Celestia said, closing her eyes. Before the alicorness began to cast a spell.
And like that, Kratos's head fell limp. The entirety of his body relaxed, as he was forced into stasis, much like a coma. His body would recover with time, but he wouldn't age. "It's time for you to leave, Twilight. Kratos's blades are to be sealed away."
"Why are you doing this to him, Celestia!?" Twilight demanded, enraged.
"Twilight, we spoke about this last night. Would you rather him be a threat to both your friends and me, as he was recently?"
"... N-no..." The unicorn sniffled as she barely held back the tears, before running down the long hall. She was getting tired of crying- but she could not help it. She was restless last night, and the day before. And knowing what Kratos went through, knowing his goal, she mainly felt sorry for him- being denied of his revenge against Zeus. She was guilty, for putting him through what she did.
"Twilight, wait-..." Princess Celestia was about to hug her upset student, before she sighed in guilt, following the hallway. She shut out the dim lights behind her, leaving Kratos's motionless form in pitch black darkness. Solid stone doors closed behind her, one by one. They magically sealed. Each door was at least one meter thick, and magically reinforced with a barrier, made by Starswirl the Bearded himself.
The prison was originally meant for an old evil, which died out many, many hundreds of years ago in its containment.
And that evil was not of pony kind.
- - - -
Kratos awoke, perfectly fine. Had he been dreaming? It was a stupid question to ask.
He stood in a void-like space. Nothingness surrounded him. Cradled him, embraced him. There was no hot, no cold. No light, no dark. It was limbo. "What is this treachery..." Kratos wondered aloud.
- - - -
"Very good... very good indeed." Zeus chuckled, sitting upon his throne atop the towering Mt. Olympus. He had witnessed Kratos's defeat (which he greatly enjoyed), his subduing, and his forced sleep.
The seas had declined to their normal level- the King of Olympus was responsible for the seas' restoration. "Perhaps life can go back to what it once was," Zeus grew a small smile on his face as he walked to the ledge, which overlooked the entirety of Greece, in all its majestic beauty. "don't you think, Heracles?"
The mighty warrior smirked at the God of the Skies, and nodded. "Perhaps, with that nuisance of a brother gone."
Both of the deities laughed together as they watched the sun set over the mountains to the South. "Celestia is far more powerful than I had expected her to be." The King of Olympus said.
Hercules nodded. "If Kratos could defeat gods, but could not defeat a princess like her... she is a force to be reckoned with, even to the Olympians. For you see, Kratos has been through much worse. For him to give up like that... is rather strange. He has such tenacity, such ferocity as a Spartan. You even remember the slaughtering of Ares. Nobody can forget it."
Zeus nodded in agreement to this. "I suppose Kratos bit off more than he could chew, even for a god slayer. But you witnessed him trying to stand. Celestia kicked him down, and down again. He was not giving up- he was trying to save himself. It was human instinct, after all. Deep down, under all the hatred and rage that consumes him, is a human heart. He just doesn't know it."
"Perhaps we could find allies in Equestria." The wise warrior suggested.
The God of the Skies raised a brow. "Impossible." He denied, shaking his head.
"Why is that?" Hercules stood up as he asked this.
"As the ruler of Olympus, I must stay here. Without order, chaos will be brought upon the lands below us. The citizens of Equestria have no need for our aid, in any means. They will likely have their hands, well, hooves full once Kratos has awoken. But hopefully, he will have learned his lesson from Celestia... and without a way back as of yet, she will keep him in check, as he cannot defeat her due to the lack of the Golden Fleece." Zeus replied.
"But the stasis spell that Celestia used was extremely potent- I assume that Kratos will not awake for a long, long time." Hercules reasoned.
"We will see about that, Heracles. Kratos's spirit is of a Spartan, and his blood is of Chronos's. His will, although I would sooner die than saying it, is nearly unfaltering. He already slew Poseidon, even without the powers hidden in Pandora's Box." The God of the Skies argued.
"Only time will tell. Only time will tell." Hercules decided with a small sigh.
- - - -
Once Twilight arrived home, she sat down on her bed and thought long and hard. 'If Celestia placed him under that form of stasis spell, that means he's still conscious inside his mind. At least... hmm.' "Spike!" She called out.
The baby dragon ran up the stairs, his small feet pitter-pattering against the grained wood. "Yes Twilight? Anything I can help 'ya with?" He asked.
"Could you possibly fetch me my books on... hmm... well, anything that revolves around mental, or, mind-based magic and spells?" Twilight asked.
Spike nodded. "In a jiffy! Be right back!" He hurried down the stairs, and came back only a few minutes later, balancing at least twenty-five different books on himself. "H... WHOA!" Spike collapsed, all of the books falling on top of him.
With a giggle, Twilight said, "Oh Spike..." She hopped off of the bed, and the unicorn's horn lit up instantly, as the books were lifted off of the baby dragon. She yawned. "... maybe I'll read these... after I get some sleep." She said, exhaling deeply as she laid down on her bed. "Thanks, Spike." She turned to look at him as she said this, before she laid her head on her pillow.
"... Sleep? But it's... three in the afternoon..." Spike said as he stood up. The baby dragon scratched the back of his head in confusion.
"You won't believe what I've been through in the past couple of days, Spike." She said, not facing him. "... Wait!" Twilight jumped up. "I think I've learned something important, though..." The unicorn said.
Like magic, Spike zoomed to and fro. A quill and scroll were in his hands once he returned.
"Spike, take a letter..."
"Dear Princess Celestia. I write to you today because I believe I have learned not a lesson about friendship, but an important life lesson that can apply to it. You may have an idea in your head that sounds good at the start, but until you actually do that idea, you can't be certain if that idea is good or not. Like how me and my friends tried to rescue you. We thought... well I thought, Kratos would kill you. Sadly, we were too late, and didn't think up a plan beforehand. So don't be prideful of an idea, until you've proven that it can work. Stay hopeful that it will work, but never guarantee yourself, or your friends, that it will. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle."
After Spike had sent the letter, Twilight curled-up in bed, and got a long, twelve-hour sleep.
She awoke at three in the morning. 'More time to study,' She thought.
So, Twilight being Twilight, she hit the books.
Hard.
- - - - The Next Afternoon...
In the void which Kratos stood in, suddenly faded-in an image of Twilight Sparkle, who was sitting on her bed. She could be seen ahead of him. "Good... this works. Can you hear me?" Twilight's echoing voice asked.
Kratos nodded. 'Unfortunately...' He thought to himself.
But unfortunately, his thoughts were not safe.
"Hey!" Twilight frowned as her voice echoed. "I'm inside your mind, you know. Now Kratos, I know there is some bad blood between us... with what happened and all," She sighed.
Kratos rolled his eyes with a sigh.
"But I think I can make it up to you. How does your freedom sound?"
The Spartan crossed his arms. "It will change nothing between us. My goal is Zeus's death. Nothing more."
"L-listen, Kratos. I know you're determined to follow your goals. And I want to help you." Twilight offered.
Kratos raised a brow. "You think you... can help me?" He asked rhetorically.
"Of course I can. I can't help you with killing... I couldn't," Twilight winced. "But I can help... make a spell. I think you know where I'm going with this."
"So you plan on creating a spell to return me to Olympus." The demigod said, figuring out Twilight's motives quickly.
The unicorn nodded. "Yes. But it will not take a short time, Kratos. I would need coordinates, I'd need an extremely powerful telescope... I'd need you to help me, as well."
"Help you?" Kratos's expression grew slightly irritated.
"U-unfortunately. But, it's your vengeance we're talking about here, since you don't care at all about making friends. And as your... acquaintance, I want to do everything in my power to help you." How much Twilight Sparkle wanted to say 'friend' in that sentence was immeasurable, but she knew it wouldn't make sense.
"I don't need your help." Kratos stubbornly snapped back, closing his eyes.
"Think that all you want, Ghost of Sparta. If you don't want my help, then you can kiss your vengeance and 'driving the Blade of Olympus into Zeus's heart' goodbye." Twilight said rather harshly, with a wince. She sighed, and said, "... I-... I'll give you time to think... this spell really wears me out, anyway." Twilight's horn lit up again, and the image faded.
All Kratos saw before the blackness consumed him again was a flash of white.
To Be Continued...