Fate decides who comes into your life; your heart decides who stays.
"𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑖𝑛 𝑜𝑟 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟. 𝐼𝑛 𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑠, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑢𝑝 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑎𝑟𝑑."
[X-Men: First Class - X-Men Apo...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Ria wants to scream into the void of her soul. Essentially trapped in her own mind, her body moving at someone else's whims and her words laced with ancient bitterness, she wants to rip her skin from her bones, to destroy the crystal keeping her alive if only to find peace or nothingness at the end.
She can only hope this whole mess is a dream—a terrible, horrible nightmare. En Sabah Nur, a being she hasn't seen since she watched his pyramid collapse atop his body, cannot be back, yet she knows it is simply Athena's plan. How could she possibly be in Egypt, given Athena's aversion to desert climates? She hates sand.
Worst of all is Erik. Perhaps he was an illusion conjured by Athena's desire to break her again. Perhaps it's her own mind's way of reconciling with her imprisonment, but Erik cannot be there. She had seen the news, seen what happened to his family, but so had Athena. The goddess had taunted her, prodding for a reaction even though she could feel Ria's pain the whole time.
Everything else was blurred, a consequence of her betrayal. Athena only lets Ria see what's important to her eternal suffering and nothing else—the telepath is much more than just a mind reader. Athena can mold thoughts, warp the brain to show what she wants; her empathic abilities allow her to personally feel the anguish she inflicts, as if it were a prize for her punishment. Athena permits Ria to see silhouettes and shadows but not faces and auras. Someone was on the ground, a body perhaps, with En Sabah Nur's four horsemen. She does not blame Erik for siding with the mutant—
No. Not Erik. Erik is safe elsewhere. It's just an illusion.
Grant me passage.
The order comes unexpectedly, but Ria has no choice but to comply. She can feel the weight of the invisible chain around her throat as she wills a staircase into existence for Athena to climb. Through the years fighting side by side, Ria knows the goddess will do as she pleases, whether she flies up or walks is up to her. The order is a way of breaking Ria's spirit—of showing her she must comply.
Her footsteps make her heart beat to a different rhythm as her skin crawls. She can feel Athena's presence getting closer and closer, can practically hear that sinful voice whispering in her ear. As Athena steps before her, Ria does not move or even look up to meet her gaze.
"Well, well, well," Athena drawls. "Quite interesting company you've chosen to keep these past few decades."
Ria just focuses on the shielding. She had done her best to wait, knowing others would be coming. Athena tasked her with creating a weak point for them, an open invitation for their own destruction. Ria just hopes they'll be smart enough to stay away.
"That telepath is subpar," Athena continues. "I guess you needed to replace me, huh, darling?"
The pet name crawls over her skin as her body flinches back, her mind recoiling in Athena's tight grasp. She almost forgot about Charles; she hadn't seen him. He must have been the shadow on the ground.
