Well, this disease is defined by its treatment—you people make me sick.
{𝘞𝘩𝘰'𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘸𝘢𝘺?
𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘱𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘥𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴?
𝘞𝘩𝘺'𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘺?
𝘓𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘯𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦—𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘪𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘺?
𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘢-𝘩𝘢 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘺, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘺'𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸… 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘺.}
—
Oh, no.
You were doing so well.
No, no no no
NO
NO NO N
Atlas finally snaps.
/CW - blood & gore, vomiting, mental breaks, distressing imagery in general, PLEASE mind the tags on this one./
“[Artemis, this isn’t logical.]”
Another fight.
“(Fuck your logic, you hypocrite-!)”
There was never a day of peace in this house. Something always had to go wrong.
Atlas leaned against his door, dully listening to the argument going on. All things they’ve heard before, sure, but she had nothing better to do. He couldn’t have anything better to do, he was always too damn tired. Of course, they were too tired to deal with their siblings too, but whatever.
She sat cross-legged on the floor, eyelids drooping with exhaustion, but sleep had been evasive lately. The yelling grew louder, but he ignored it like always. Another day, another fight. That’s what they always told themself.
Artemis and Helios were always telling each other to listen. Funny how that worked, when neither of them ever thought to listen to the other. They always thought they were better than the other, so obviously only their point was valid. Atlas narrowed his eyes. Their arguing never ended unless he intervened. And she didn’t feel like intervening.
Atlas simply closed their eyes, hoping to zone out and miss the fight entirely. Those two might kill each other, sure, but Atlas couldn’t lend the energy to care anymore. The plan sort of worked.
…
A dark void.
Entirely empty, soundless, sightless, senseless— save for one thing. Blood coated the ground; if it could even be called a ground. The color was indiscernible, as if it was every color and no color at the same time. Perhaps a color unseeable by the naked eye, perhaps it didn’t exist at all. But the metallic tang in the air was unmistakable.
The void seemed to stretch on forever. Of course, you couldn’t test that theory. You couldn’t move an inch. All you can do is stand there, maybe try to perceive the color of the blood. You might go insane if you do that. But you can see a hint of purple, and blue, and red… laced with gold.
You recall that gold blood—ichor, it was called—is the blood of gods. Perhaps there was some higher force at play. You could always sense it. A name rings in your mind.
Harmoni—
—BANG. Atlas jolted awake, startled by a loud sound- a gunshot, maybe. …A gunshot? Who was—
Oh.
Atlas bolted upright, fumbling with the door handle, then throwing it open. He stumbled out, almost falling, then caught himself and sprinted to the kitchen. They could hear Artemis screaming, sobbing, but didn’t register a word. She burst into the room, barely catching herself on the doorframe.
The scene almost made Atlas vomit.
There was a gun on the floor. Artemis was crying, as Atlas heard earlier, and Helios— Helios was on the ground, bleeding profusely from a wound in his throat, seemingly choking on his own blood. Helios looked up at Atlas, eyes wild with terror. Artemis was at his side, trying desperately to staunch the blood, but Helios kept pushing them away.
“(I- hic Fuck, I’m so sorry, Helios PLEASE—)” Artemis sobbed, before noticing Atlas. “(Atlas— Atlas, help me, help him- please…)”
Atlas stood there for a long minute, staring at Artemis. Their eye twitched. What a fucking idiot, shooting their own goddamned brother.
“{…Heh.}” A wobbly grin appeared on Atlas’ face, his eyes widened— Though whether it was fear or madness, she wasn’t sure. Their quiet giggles grew louder, more intense, until they were cackling uncontrollably, his eyes still fixed on Artemis. Artemis looked scared, terrified, even.
”(ATLAS, THIS ISN’T—)”
A flash of red light silenced them. Atlas gripped his trident with shaking hands, stepping slowly, deliberately towards Artemis. They were pleading with him, eyes full of terror and crocodile tears. How pathetic. She raised the trident over her head, still laughing.
“{You’re so fucking stupid.}”
Before Artemis could say more, Atlas brought the trident down. They weren’t sure how they felt about Artemis’ screams. She almost felt… elated.
Was this what control felt like? To be able to do something for once? Gone were the days of standing around, helplessly, doing nothing. Blood poured from Artemis’s face—where their eyes once were. Atlas finally pulled the trident out, still for a moment.
A hand grabbed their ankle.
He looked down at Helios, still choking, tears pouring from his eyes. How ironic. The one obsessed with logic, who hates showing emotion or weakness, reduced to this. Atlas dropped the trident, kneeling down next to Helios, peering into his eyes. He was trying to speak. No matter. He started this fight.
Atlas gently rolled Helios onto his back, prying his hand off of their ankle. She looked at the wound. Gross. She grabbed up the trident again, holding Helios down once he noticed, and he futilely tried to pry Atlas’ arm away, shaking his head, panic seeming to set in.
Of course, this was useless. He was weak. Atlas stood again, stepping onto Helios’ torso to keep him still. They pressed the trident against his shoulder, lining it up perfectly…
A sickening cracking noise could be heard as Atlas brought it down, separating Helios’ arm from its socket… relatively cleanly. He knocked the arm away, and moved to repeat the process, ignoring Helios’ thrashing and dry heaving. Atlas’ head throbbed, and his heart pounded, sending a short tremor through his body.
Atlas discarded Helios’ arms, then glanced at Artemis. They surely haven’t learned their lesson. She raised the trident again, driving it straight through their heart, before they simply… vanished. Visions of a dark void. Entirely empty, soundless, sightless, senseless— save for one thing. Blood— flashed through his mind again.
Apathy. That was all Atlas felt by now. That was where Artemis was now. And where they’d stay, for… oh, that didn’t matter. Atlas needed to keep Helios from bleeding out, anyhow.
Purple and blue splattered the floor and one of the walls, swirling and mixing in a morbidly dazzling array of color. It would be beautiful, if not for… actually, no. It was beautiful. Atlas could have taken a moment to admire his work, but he had more important things.
…
Look.
Oh, god, look at what you’ve done now to me—
