To be Chained By Love, Part 1
To Be Chained By Love.
Song
_______
Song cried as she flew, the wind brushing tears from her eyes. She was confused beyond all hell. She had been contently helping Amity collect memories in the void when a rush of emotion just hit her.
Hatred and fear of Amity Blight. She was a bully, someone that would step over others to get what she wanted. That memory of Ames conflicted so much with how Song knew her, but it felt so real, so very real. Then the memory of being pinned to a table with Amity just smirking above her flickered into Song’s mind. She didn’t know what any of it meant, and she was just scared. Scared even more when Amity said those memories had been Song’s memories!
They were not hers!
She knew that Camila had warned her that accidentally absorbing memories would cause her to feel their unbridled emotions, and the logical part of her brain told her it was stupid to have run away like that. Still, she couldn’t just turn off the sudden typhoon of emotion she was feeling! And then King returned with the Soul. That’s when Song knew she had to leave.
She needed to think for herself away from all of her and Luz’s friends.
Song slowed to a hover and looked down upon the forest. The purple water shimmered like liquid amethyst as the sun set, with waves of color radiating out in the sky. The air was cool but not uncomfortable, and all the animals were chittering and chattering. Song loved it all; she loved the air and warmth of the sun, the cool of the snow.
She didn’t know a lot about herself, but her gut told her that it was okay to be selfish. She wanted to LIVE, and so she would. She would tell her friends that, and if they couldn’t accept it. Then maybe she couldn’t be friends with them anymore. Bean that gave a little rattle, the palisman slithering from her normal place on Song’s shoulder to float right in front of her.
“I made them scared?”
Bean gave a hiss.
“I think I’ve earned the right to be selfish,” Song grumbled.
Bean rattled and did a little flip in the air.
“I already explained to Amity!”
Stringbean sighed, rubbing up against Song’s face.
“You’re right,” Song sighed. “I probably should’ve gotten an explanation from them before taking off, but to be fair, she wasn’t really respecting me either!”
Stringbean just nodded and turned around to look at the setting sun. Song sighed, her mind clearing from the wave of emotion. Now that it had started to settle, she picked out a feeling that had been obscured by all the hate and fear.
It was the feeling of understanding. That Amity had changed from the memory that Song had accidentally absorbed. She was, and had been, a better person for ages now.
“Stupid Song, stupid!” She murmured to herself, giving a little flick to her forehead. Song couldn’t help but feel a little stupid for having let those emotions take such a tight hold over her, but then again, Amity had been unfair to her.
“It is pretty, isn’t it, Bean?” Song asked her palisman as the sun finally began to dip under the sea. Stringbean rattled with approvement, floating forwards a bit. Song smiled and gave a palisman a rub before giving a big long sigh.
“Ooookay, We should probably get-”
Song almost didn’t register it at first. It was like the world had gone white, all of her other senses shutting off. Then the pain exploded from her left shoulder and wing, the cool sensation of blood flowing down her fur. Song tried to use her wings to keep in the air but was blinded by pain as she tried to move her left one. A sick tearing sensation shot throughout her body, and Song froze, unable to think past the pain, only barely noticing that she’d started falling from the sky. Song absentmindedly reached for Stringbean but missed, continuing to fall the earth.
Hitting the trees brought Song back to her senses. She tried grabbing at branches, but her left arm was useless, and she wasn’t able to grab anything with her right. She felt the branches lash at her face, cutting her open. Her right wing got dragged through leaves and thorns, and Song felt as if her skin tore from getting caught in the sharpness of the trees.
Thud
The world was black.
To Be Chained By Love.
Song
_______
“Whoa! Hey now? Who are you?” asked a bright voice from behind.
To Be Chained By Love.
Song
_______
It was like being dragged right back into her body from the outside. With a crack Song hit the ground chest first, her exoskeleton taking the brunt of the damage. As Song layed face down, She tried moving, but her body wouldn’t listen to her through the pain. Every time she moved, she felt the grinding of her bones and the tear of her wings. Despite that, Song forced a look towards her left shoulder to see what had caused all of this.
A spear. Lodged in Song's shoulder was a bone-white spear, smeared in her blood. Song's blurry vision could only register its color and size, and Song couldn’t help but wonder what it was made out of. She began slipping into unconcesiness, welcoming sleep as an escape from the pain but was interrupted by a faint rattling.
“Bean?” Song whispered, forcing her head up. Stringbean floated in front of her, desperately trying to get Song to stay awake.
Stringbean didn’t try because Song felt the sole of a boot press into her wound, and she shot awake, screaming from the pain.
“Huh, you’re pretty tough, aren’t ya,” said a gruff voice. Song looked up to see something terrifying. A man wearing a titan skull stood above her, over his back, where slung more of the spears that Song had been impaled by.
“Oie! I got it here!” He yelled, the sound of his voice echoing from the skull. He then bent down and lifted the skull off his head, revealing a dingy blue tattoo on the left side of his face.
“I almost didn’t believe it when our scouts said a Half-Titan had appeared on the isles,” He chuckled. Song could only muster a small growl from that. Even through the pain Song couldn’t believe she’d been caught off guard by a titan trapper.
“But then they saw yeh with that baby titan!”
“LE-” Song began through pained breaths but was abruptly stopped when the titan trapper gagged her. He then proceeded to bind Song’s legs and remaining arm, leaving the one he’d impaled as it was already damn near useless.
“I don’t think so, Halfling,” He snarled. “No voice for you.”
Song then heard the sounds of other Trappers walking in from out of the woods. A short one walked up to the trapper that had captured Song, laughing maniacally as he pranced around Song.
“Well done, Orpheus! Well done!” He laughed, kicking Song’s damaged wings. She winced, her wing twitching from the kick, but that only caused it more pain as it tore even more. The trapper only laughed more at Song's plight. He then turned to the rest of the trappers and shouted with glee.
“Now, we will use this halfling to summon the last Titan!! We will be able to lift the curse the Grand Huntsman has been placed under, and we will live in eternal glory!!”
To Be Chained By Love.
Eda
_______
“Do you know where she is, kiddo?” Eda asked, putting her hand on Colin’s shoulder. They had decided to at least send someone to look after her. Mostly likely Willow or Hunter, but definitely not Amity of Eda herself.
“It’s kinda blurry,” The Collector grumbled, pulling up their beanie. “She’s kind of protected, but not like King, but more like she just didn’t want to be seen.”
They pointed at the lamp, “But at least Songy’s glyph is okay. The soul seems to actually be asleep in there, so it must be okay.”
“Her glyph?” Amity asked. Colin nodded, placing a gentle finger on the weird three-ringed glyph that adorned Luz’s lamp.
“It’s a soul-linking glyph,” They said. “I saw it floating around the light when I found it, so I thought it was her name in Titan Language,” Colin rubbed a tear out of their eye. “But when I saw it on her chest, I realized what it was!”
The Collector rubbed more tears out of their eyes. Eda pulled them into a hug, dropping down to their level.
“It’s not your fault; you didn’t know,” She assured them, wiping tears from their face. She wasn’t totally sure what it was. The Collector didn’t know, but it was making them upset, which was enough. She ruffled their hair and gave them a little boop on the nose.
“Come on, Mom, be serious…” they sniffled, using their sleeves the mop up tears.
“Kiddo come on, you didn’t know,” She told them.
“But I should’ve have!” they sniffled. “We could’ve saved Luz if I wasn’t such a big dummy!”
“What didn’t you know, Collector?” King asked.
“That the soul-linking glyph meant Luz was alive!” they growled. “It meant Luz’s body was still connected to her soul, even though it wasn’t with her!”
“Kiddo, remember what we talked about?” Eda asked them.
They gave a soft giggle before their face returned to being serious. “That I can’t blame myself for stuff I didn’t know,” The Collector murmured, still with a hint of anger. Eda nodded, ruffling their hair one last time before standing up.
“DAMMIT!” Amity yelled. Eda turned to see baby blight clutching her hands, the leather of her gloves smoking. Camila went to check Amity's hands, but Eda's eyes snapped to the lamp, which was smoking on the ground. She rushed to grab it off the ground, but The Collector beat her to it, bringing it towards themselves with telekinesis.
“Oh, that’s not good,” they said, pulling the beanie down over their eyes.
“What’s not good, Colin?” King asked.
“Song’s glyph. I-I-It’s breaking!!” The Collector stuttered, the magic eyes on their beanie zipping around nervously.
“Kiddo, what does that mean,” Eda asked.
“She hurt the glyph on her chest,” Colin said, pulling their beanie up, hyperventilating as they shoved the steaming lamp into Eda's arm. They were pointing desperately at the thing ringed glyph. One of the rings completely burnt out and blackened, while the others glowed, the light flickering.
“Collector, what's happened?” Eda asked calmly, using her kid's name. She rested her hand on his shoulder The rest of the group went even more silent as they all silently gave Eda and Colin some space. They remembered well what happened when Colin got overwhelmed. They didn’t want another incident like that.
“Song has a glyph on her chest, Colin said, taking deep breaths inbetween words “If it breaks, her soul will be untethered, and she’ll die.”
Eda shook her head and looked at the lamp in her hands. The glyph was smoking, the little light of Luz’s soul flickering like it never had in the four years it had been at the grave. Eda knew that Song wouldn’t have intentionally hurt that glyph. Heck, she probably knew what it was. That only meant one thing to Eda.
The girl was in trouble.
“KING CLAWTHORN!”
Eda turned around to see a glowing ball of light floating down from the night sky. She recognized it at once as a message spell. She stood up, keeping her hand on Colin’s shoulder and cradling the lamp with her other arm. The message spell came to a stop, floating lazily in front of the entire group.
“WE HAVE YOUR ACOLYTE. THE ONE THAT CALLS HERSELF HALF-TITAN. IF YOU WISH TO BARGAIN FOR HER, COME TO THE BASE OF THE KNEE BY SUNRISE, ELSE SHE BE EXECUTED.”
Eda felt the owl beast roar from inside of her, raging to be set loose. She pushed it down, promising it battle and the blood of titan trappers if it just waited patiently.
“Titan trappers,” Amity growled, her eyes flashing a dangerous violet. Eda nodded and turned to Camila.
“I need you to take care of this,” Eda said gently, handing the flickering lamp to Luz’s mom. Camila nodded, gingerly taking the lamp. Eda turned to the rest of her kids, slamming Owlbert on the ground as she did so.
“Titan Trappers have Song,” Eda told them. “Her soul-tethering glyph is broken. We’re working on limited time, now-” Eda sighed, looking at Amity.
“Our priority is bringing Song back alive,” She took a deep breath and extended her arm to Amity. “I know we have the potential to bring Luz back, but we’re not going to do that unless Song agrees, capiche?”
Everyone nodded, including Amity, who pulled out the deep purple amulet containing Luz’s life. She placed gingerly into Eda’s hands. Eda then handed it to Camila, who put it around her neck.
“Now, let's get that kid back,” Eda told them.