Orion clung relentlessly to the great black wolf, his arms wrapped as far around its thick neck as they could reach. He ignored the pricking of the beast’s fur to hold on tight as it thrashed about in an effort to toss him clear. His tunic was torn in several places, and he was bleeding openly from his back and his right thigh. The hunter clenched his teeth against the pain.
The Alpha had the upper hand, but had not come out unscathed: its mangled eye had only taken on more damage over time, and Orion had succeeding in slicing it at the lips so that its fangs were visible even when it closed its mouth. It moved much more slowly now, leaving bloody footprints with each step after the hunter had stabbed the pads of its front feet several times; he’d found that the lacking fur there had been another weakness, and he’d exploited it at every opportunity.
Both were weary, and hungry besides, but neither proved willing to yield. Orion squeezed the Alpha’s neck in an effort to cut off its labored breaths. He was only partly successful.
"Orion!” Artemis called as she stumbled forward, wiping her eyes again to clear her vision. It was dark still, but the landscape was brightening. Helios and Selene were trading places again. The long night and the hunt were nearly done. Artemis reached back to check her quiver for arrows. Only four remained.
His strength nearly spent, Orion finally lost his hold on the Alpha and was sent crashing into the grass. He quickly rolled onto his hands, but was much slower to rise, stopping on one knee. His enemy made no effort to hide its fatigue, its massive tongue lolling out of its mouth as it panted and whined. It faced down the hunter, and the hunter faced it. Orion glanced to the side when he heard Artemis call his name.
"Well?" he said, addressing the Alpha. He forced himself to stand, shifting most of his weight onto his right leg and raising his hands in anticipation of another clash. The Alpha lowered itself to the ground, once more growling to express its hate and its hunger. Orion smirked. "That’s better. No good song ends with the hero felling a fallen foe."
"Orion!” Artemis was close and desperately hobbling closer. Her resolve gave her strength to move forward despite her pains. Her fingers itched to hold an arrow and end the battle she’d started.
Far behind her, Apollo rose. His wounds were gone, and his flesh and clothing were pristine and resplendent as any would expect of a God of Olympus. He shut his eyes and breathed in slowly. His Eye of Truth still hung above, granting him sight of everything from horizon to horizon.
He saw his sister rushing away from him to aid the overreaching hunter, her free hand curling around the arrow she hoped would be his salvation.
He saw the monstrous wolf pounce on the bear of a man, its snout crashing against Orion's leathery hands as he struggled to hold it at bay. It forced him back onto one knee, but he steeled himself and pushed with all his might. The Alpha struggled, barked, and thrashed.
Apollo saw the first light of the sun as the Titan’s chariot took to the skies. His Eye gleamed against it, and rapidly, the light increased.
"I am the hunter," Orion chanted through gritted teeth as he forced the Alpha’s jaws apart. "I am the hunter. I am the hunter!"
The beast’s remaining eye was exposed, and Artemis did not hesitate. She nocked her arrow and drew it back. Squinting through eyes irritated by ichor, she found her mark. Her fingers relaxed.
Alas, just as the arrow began to slip from her grasp, the Eye flashed like a solar flare and forced shut all eyes below.
The beast’s flinch proved its doom, and with a burst of strength and a visceral shout, Orion rose up and viciously tore its maw apart.
But the arrow of Artemis--the arrow meant to win the victory he’d just won--found purchase in his chest. His battle cry, cut short, descended into a gurgle and a grunt that mingled with the Alpha’s dying whimpers. The hunter stumbled, stopped, and dropped to his knees. His eyes darkened, and he collapsed onto his side.
Artemis stared idly on through her glassy gaze. Her bow slipped from her fingers and fell into the dirt and leaves. She stepped forward slowly, and whimpered, and gasped. Her emptied hand rose to quell her quivering lips.
"Orion," she said, her voice barely a whisper. "Orion?” She glanced back and forth between the Alpha and the hunter. Neither moved very much. At first, she could not see where her arrow had gone, but after several more fright-filled steps, she was faced with the terrible truth.
She dropped to her knees beside the hunter, reaching out with shaky hands to feel his haggard flesh. Carefully, she turned him over and looked down into his face. Orion swallowed hard, taking down a mouthful of blood. He barely seemed to see her, but he smiled all the same.
"Lady Huntress," he muttered. "…Artemis. Forgive me."
The goddess watched him with widened eyes. Her mouth hung ajar, and she moved her lips, but her tongue denied her.
"I stole-" Orion wheezed. Artemis’ fingers tightened on his bare flesh. She clenched her teeth as the hunter coughed, tainting his beard with blood. "I stole-" He inhaled sharply, choked, swallowed again.
He furrowed his brow and struggled against fatigue and the mounting presence of Thanatos to lift a hand to the goddess. It came to pass over her chest. The goddess slowly raised her own hand, but with one final push, Orion lifted his arm and brought his brawny fingers to rest on her shoulder.
"Your kill." He finished at last.
A violent sob shook Artemis’ entire being. Gleaming tears mingled with mud and ichor upon her face. "Orion," she mouthed. Her voice hardly produced a sound.
"Weep not for me," he struggled to say. He could feel the pull of Death as his blood drained from his body. "Hades, too, holds beasts for the hunting.” He coughed and wheezed again. His hand dropped against the cold ground. "Even so…I should like to hunt among the stars.” He shivered. "Just once. Just once."
He inhaled once more. The breath left him slowly. Orion’s eyes glazed over, and The Hunter breathed his last.
Even as they lost their light, those sea-colored eyes remained the focus of the disbelieving gaze of the goddess. She shook him once, then again. A quiet whimper passed her lips.
Artemis lifted hesitant fingers toward the arrow jutting out of his chest and caressed its bloody tip. She looked at his upturned hand lying idle in the dust. With her own, she reached for it. All but her index finger curled back. She pressed it into his palm and found it like leather. She swallowed hard and took her time intertwining her fingers and his.
Mortals always seemed to be so cold. She had never dreamed his hand would be this warm.
The goddess ground her teeth together until they threatened to crack. Her entire body shook and quivered as she felt the burning sting of sorrow replacing all the ichor she had lost. She shuddered, and she whimpered, and howled, and screeched, and roared. She unleashed every wrathful, terrible, spiteful cry the wild had taught her until there was nothing left but tears.
And she wept.
Apollo approached slowly, stepping through the trees and momentarily resting a hand against one of them as he watched his sister. He looked over the scene as if he had not seen it all already. His eyebrows lifted subtly as the weight of his sibling’s sorrow penetrated him, and he lifted a hand to his chest as the pain of empathy mixed with feelings of regret that were all his own.
Soon, though, his hand had curled into a fist, and his brows had drawn together. The god swallowed the lump in his throat. He was the God of Light and Prophecy, after all. Who could know better than he?
Apollo stepped with greater confidence then, casually sweeping up Artemis’ abandoned bow as he approached her. Once he was near, he took another long look at the fallen beasts, his features twisting in disdain. He sighed heavily and dropped Artemis’ bow at her feet. Then, he held out his own.
"You have earned my praise, Artemis," he said somberly. "You have surely slain the most dangerous prey this forest has to offer. I concede. My bow is yours."
The goddess offered no answer, nor did she acknowledge Apollo’s presence. She continued to stare idly at the slain hunter, her countenance saturated with grief. Her brother’s words only drove the knife in deeper. She had murdered him. Of all men, she had murdered him.
Apollo crouched to place his bow with hers, eyeing her carefully all the while. He straightened up and looked into the rising sun. He would not be able to draw on Helios’ strength without his bow to light his arrows. It would be a bitter, if worthwhile loss, and only for a year. He’d gambled something far greater than sun-kissed arrows.
"I suppose I shall go now," he said. "As promised, I will stay clear of every forest, spring, and wild land you claim as your own, and I will never come near unless you will it."
He looked back to see if he could meet her gaze, but still, she would not look at him. He stifled the pain that nettled his heart. "Farewell, sister," he said.
He turned from her then, his form fading into the ethereal state that could take him wherever he wished. But before he could complete the transformation and take his leave, he was caught by the swift hand of the Olympian Huntress. He whipped around and wholly solidified at once, regarding her with a confused stare.
There remained no sorrow, no anger, no fear to color her features. She still would not look at him, but neither did she look at her victim. Her voice came as empty as her countenance.
"Please," she muttered. "Please don’t leave me all alone."
The shadows in her face contrasted against the light that filled Apollo’s as he smiled at the words of the goddess. "Of course not," he said, crouching down to meet her on the ground. An elated laugh escaped him. "Never. Even when the stars lose their fires, I will stay with you."
Apollo pulled the huntress into a firm, warm embrace. "You will always have me, sister. Always."
Artemis did not hug him back.
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