//------------------------------// // Flames in Darkness // Story: You Can't Spell Slaughter Without Laughter // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// Kratos and Pinkie made their way in the direction of the fallen sun, eventually reaching the city of Marathon, which was under siege from a monstrous threat that seemed to pour from a mysterious black fog. The screams of civilians calling for help gave impetus to their charge, but it was in vain, as the only civilians they encountered were those beyond help, already consumed by the nightmarish constructs of the shadowy fog. Each time they came across one of those mutilated bodies, Pinkie hesitated, her smile gradually waning. After a time of passing through the city between flames, Kratos paused to kneel beside his equine charge. "Pinkie?" he asked softly. Pinkie Pie shivered. "This...this isn't as fun as it was..." She shivered. "The enemies we fought...well, we were killing them, and I didn't really see the carnage, but..." She struggled to swallow, her nose wrinkling at the stench of the dead. "The bodies...they're everywhere..." Kratos pulled Pinkie into a gentle hug. Every so often he had to remind himself that, despite her skill in and enthusiasm for combat that would shame many Spartans, she was only nine years old, still below the age when a Spartan warrior in training would ever face an actual foe. It was understandable, given this, that she would sometimes come across something that she couldn't handle, or pushed her beyond her abilities to shrug aside. "...this is the outcome of war," Kratos said finally. "No matter who starts it or why, there is always a mountain of the dead." "I hate it," Pinkie whimpered, shuddering. She buried her face into Kratos' chest. Kratos did his best to comfort her. However, both were distracted by a cry of unknown source. "Stay out of the fog!" The warning seemed to have too much strength to have come from a random civilian, but no source could be spied. Looking around, Kratos saw that the fog covered everything, held at bay only by the heat of flames. "Pinkie," he said softly, "I know this is difficult for you...but if we don't act to get the sun back into the sky, this fog will continue to blanket the world, and the beasts within will consume everyone. I need you to be strong, Pinkie. Can you do that for me?" Sniffling, Pinkie eventually nodded. "Okay, Daddy..." Her voice trailed off. "Do you hear music?" Kratos tilted his head, also catching the haunting melody. "I hear it," he managed to say. It was so familiar, but he couldn't quite place where he had heard it before. Pinkie leapt from his arms. "Let's go see where it's coming from!" Pinkie cried happily, rushing forward. Kratos, seized by the same compulsion, kept pace with her. As the pair continued, they found various ways to use fire to keep the black fog at bay, from pushing a large torch to setting hay in a cart on fire and pushing it along their path. Part way through, however, Kratos had to stop one of Pinkie's more...creative solutions to the situation. "Pinkie...what are you doing with that torch?" he asked sternly. Pinkie looked up at him innocently. "...setting the city of Marathon on fire?" she offered sweetly. "Why?" "Because...fire keeps the black fog away? So I figured setting all the buildings on fire would work better than trying to bring fire with us?" She smiled proudly at her logic, though she hesitated as she saw no approval in Kratos' stern gaze. "Pinkie...if we set the city on fire, what happens to any civilians who escape the monsters in the fog when they want to come back?" Pinkie frowned. "Oh...I...I hadn't thought about that..." Her ears suddenly perked up. "You really think some people escaped?" she asked hopefully. Privately, Kratos suspected that the monsters in the fog had already slain everyone with no survivors, but he couldn't bring himself to extinguish the hope that had ignited in Pinkie's eyes at the thought that some had survived. "I'm certain they did," he said softly. "So we'd best leave most of the city standing so they have something to come back to." He wouldn't normally have even considered keeping the city in one piece as something worth worrying about...but Pinkie's mere presence pushed him towards thinking more and more about the wellbeing of civilians and bystanders during his tasks set by the Gods...especially as Pinkie tended to quickly and easily befriend anyone they met outside a combat situation. "Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie cried happily, tossing her torch back onto the cart. Although Kratos was pleased he had managed to cheer up Pinkie, he began to regret talking her out of setting the town on fire as his grip on the cart was frequently broken from the arrows of dark archers sniping at him from within the fog, beyond the reach of the flames' heat to make safe to counterattack. As Kratos and Pinkie reached the edge of the city of Marathon, they found the Temple of Helios, embedded in the ground from its fall from the sky. As they approached, the same melody that had drawn them in before could be heard from Morpheus' fog. Pinkie sat down to contemplate that. "Weird. That music is coming out of the fog...but it's definitely a human melody. It's not created by magic, or god power, or anything else like that...or at least it doesn't seem like it." She frowned, scratching her head. "Well...it seems to be coming out of the fog, anyway..." "It seems...familiar," Kratos mumbled before shaking himself out of the lassitude the music brought on him. "Come, Pinkie, we have work to do." Pinkie nodded. "Right! Adventure and world saving now, contemplation of possibly important plot threads later!" She bounced ahead to begin ascending into the Temple, making sure - as previously instructed - to stay within Kratos' line of sight. Kratos ignored what to him were Pinkie's nonsensical ramblings and followed her. Before long, the pair had entered the main part of the Temple, where they were distracted as a statue of Athena came to life. "Kratos..." "Athena?" Kratos asked in shock, turning to the statue. "What madness has befallen us?" "There is not much time, Kratos. Olympus needs you." "I grow tired of the Gods' requests!" Kratos snapped. "I have given enough! Now take these Nightmares from my head!" "It is not for you to decide when your servitude ends-" Athena began. "Hey!" Pinkie interrupted. "Stop being meany-pants! Both of you!" Both Kratos and Athena turned to Pinkie in shock, Kratos because she was yelling at him, and Athena because this was the first time she had ever spoken to the goddess, or even while the goddess was present. "You," Pinkie said, rounding on Kratos, "told me that you were serving the gods of Olympus so that you could right the wrongs you had made for the sake of your ambition, so that the weight of your good deeds would balance the weight of your wrongdoing, so that when you got to Hades you could be judged a good person, right?" "Yes, but-" Kratos began. "Well, how do you know when you've done enough?" she asked. "You don't know what the scales look like. You don't know how they work! But the gods would, so they would know how much good you still need to do, right?" Kratos could only nod helplessly, recognizing her points. "I...suppose I have been a bit impatient..." "And you!" Pinkie yelled, now rounding on Athena. "Daddy volunteered to serve the Gods of Olympus in order to earn forgiveness for the evils of his past, and to be freed from his nightmares. He's working for you by choice, not compulsion, so the least you can do is be polite when giving him his tasks!" She snorted angrily. "Just because you're a god doesn't mean you have to talk down to him! You said it yourself: Olympus needs him. Doesn't that mean it's a good idea to treat him nice?" Athena was silent for a time. "...you are right, young one," she said at last. "The dedication and willingness Kratos has shown in service to Olympus is deserving of respect. The urgency of the situation at hand unseated my courtesy." Pinkie nodded, knowing this was as close as she'd get at this time to either of them apologizing. "Now, you were saying the situation was urgent?" After a time, the statue spoke with Athena's voice again. "The God of the Sun has been torn from the sky. This Temple on which you stand is the chariot of Helios. Without their Master to reign them, the fire steeds have driven the chariot into the earth. And without Helios, there is no one to keep Morpheus from seizing permanent power..." Her voice began to trail off, as though it were a struggle to get the words out. "So, we gotta get the chariot back into the sky, get the steeds to keep it up there, and find out why Helios fell in the first place?" Pinkie asked. "...yes..." Athena managed to say. "Many Gods have...already fallen into a deep slumber..." Athena's voice faded, as was the sense of her presence within the statue. "Athena?" Kratos asked, shocked. "She musta pushed herself to fight Morpheus' power long enough to give us our marching orders," Pinkie said sagely. Walking up, she patted the statue. "Sleep easy, Athena! We'll fix it!" Kratos wasn't certain if he imagined it, but a smile seemed to grace the statue's lips just before the sense of Athena's presence faded completely.