Labors (Destiny)

[Dominic Moss]

It had taken some effort to get down to the beach, but after falling from the sky in a blaze of fire and nose diving into the camp lake, Dominic could hardly expect any less. He had taken a fair share of knocks over the last few months, but only now could he let himself feel the full weight of the damage.

Here he didn't need to be on his guard. Here he could relax for once in his life. Providing that none of the Ares campers wanted a piece of him again.

"Sea breeze hasn't changed," Dominic spoke as he lay back on the sandy beach with his guitar balanced on his chest, an almost content smile on his face as he plucked at the strings. It sounded as if he was playing an acoustic version of gangnam style. "It's that same blend of rich salts and sea weed. The type of water that makes you forget that sea serpents inhabit it."

A new pair of aviators was settled upon the bridge of Dominic's nose. He turned to Destiny, who sat besides him, and looked through the dark shades up at her. Gently, his hand reached up and tugged at the sleeve of her shirt.

"Go on," Dominic spoke softly. "Ask me. You deserve answers"

[DestinyGrimm]

Despite the warm sun, despite the warm breeze, and despite the warm boy next to her, Destiny Grimm sat perfectly content in her black clothing. She hadn't sat and enjoyed the view like this since before she left. It was nice.

She listened to Dom's weather report with a small smile. When he gave her the green light, she almost said, "I thought you didn't want questions." Instead, she hesitated.

It took almost all she could to not just batter him with questions, each one that resounded in her head. Pulling herself together, she took a deep breath and asked the first one.

"Where were you? Where did you go?"

[Dominic Moss]

"Everywhere," Dominic replied, sitting up and dusting the sand off his shirt. "Seems the best way to describe it. I've been sent to so many places around the world I wouldn't be surprised if I had left my mark on every country."

Dominic took a moment to consider his reply before smiling sadly and looking out at the waters.

"It all started when I went into the battle with the Titan Army. As we know, I stupidly volunteered to go charging in with a bunch of brave kids, and decided to endanger them all by turning on the Wrath of Apollo," he said with a snarl before becoming silent again for a few moments.

"It was too much for me Destiny. When the wrath took over I lost control. I fled the battle and walked out into the world, a crazed chemical weapon, flinging the sickening powers of plague in any and all directions. I didn't hurt anyone from camp, luckily they stayed away, but the monstrous forces of the Titan Army that were stupid enough to pursue me, they didn't get out alive."

Dominic shuffled uncomfortably on the spot. Even though the creatures had been his enemies, it was clear that Dominic was bothered by the part he played in their destruction. He was supposed to fight them like a warrior, not massacre them like a crazed killer.

"I was...I was like that for twelve days. Crazed and confused, walking the earth, attacking anything I saw as a threat," He muttered, his toes digging into the sand absentmindedly. "I wasn't aware of anything. I had no idea when I slept and even less idea about what I ate and drank. I think it's best if I never found out."

"But when I came too... I realised that I was very very far away from home," Dominic spoke gravely before finally turning to look at Destiny. "And I had made a terrible mistake."

In that moment Destiny would be able to see something stir in his hazel eyes. A deep regret that weighed heavier on him than any burden he had faced before. He had unloaded a lot of his troubles onto Destiny and spoken of his regrets and failures, but this was something else. The sorrow that lay in his eyes made him seem so much older than he actually was.

"Did you ever hear of the tale of the Ophiotaurus?" Dominic asked, his voice hard. "It's a cute little critter. Top half of a cow but bottom half of a snake. There's one swimming about in Olympus right now. It's a very sacred animal. A creature of pure innocence. So much so that if it were ever burned and eaten it would be grant destructive power capable of dethroning the Gods to the sick bastard who devoured it."

"It's a unbelievably rare creature. Before the war it was thought that only one of them existed. But it turns out that in a long forgotten part of the ocean, on an island that can only be reached if you aren't looking for it, another one existed. Happy and safe, taken of by spirits of the earth and sea," Dominic mumbled before bringing his knees into his chest.

And guess who killed it, in a bezerk rage with his powers of plague?" He whispered before slowly pointing to himself with his thumb, his hand shaking. "That's right, this guy."

ooc: Editted. Sorry for the mix up. Was very tired when writing this post

[GeneralArin]

(Uh, Dom. I don't mind you making up your own personal plots and backstories, but I'm going to personally need to hear a bit more about your adventure with Bessie. Pm me.)

[DestinyGrimm]

"You did what?" Destiny asked. She was still tense from his mentioning of the Titan Army war. She had been adamantly against him going into the war, much less leading it.

She stared at Dom, wondering who this person in front of her was. Not joking around, not pitching a fit, just that sadness. That darkening sadness. Not even her shadow liked the look in his eyes, curling itself tightly around Destiny.

She had listened to his recollection with a steady breath, but the sharp intake of her breath showed her shock. She didn't know what to say. What do you say to something like that? So, she simply waited. She ran a hand through her hair, stared at him, and just waited.

[Dominic Moss]

"I-I was b-bezerk," Dominic stammered, clutching at his hair. "My mind just gave in. Everything became my enemy. All I looked upon seemed twisted and evil. I couldn't think straight, all I wanted was to raise everything to the ground and...and..." Dominic's voice became a croak and he stopped talking, turning away from Destiny. He flicked down the aviators he had pushed up onto his forehead and remained silent for a few moments. His hands gripped at his guitar uneasily, teasing one string between the tips of his fingers.

"When I came too...I was a wreck," Dominic spoke, his voice barely a whisper. "The island had been a paradise before I got there. Now it looked more like an elephant graveyard. The wrath had hit it like a megaton bomb. I was dazed and confused at first, but when it dawned on me what I had done...and what bobbed besides me in the the murky waters I sat in, silent and still, I..."

He swallowed again and took a hold of a clump of his hair in frustration before bringing a clenched fist to his lips. "I had never felt so empty. So unbelievably worthless in my entire life. I wasn't a warrior of Olympus. I was a killer of good."

"And the spirits didn't like that. Not one bit," Dominic muttered bitterly. "But the Gods hated it even more. So they summoned me to Olympus and put me on trial before them to decide what should be done."

"Now sure, it was a relief to some of them that the Ophitauros problem had been dealt with, but killing it in a fit of insanity had been the most reckless thing they had ever seen. If I had burned the Ophiotauros instead of vaporizing it with the Wrath, I could have brought down the Gods and maybe the whole world with it."

"And of course, they couldn't ignore that the creature was an innocent life. Some of the Gods still value that, particularly the big ole lord of the sea, so they decided that I needed to be punished accordingly," Dominic said before letting out a harsh laugh and turning to Destiny with a grim smile on his face.

"Which was when my Dad stepped forwards and reminded the Gods of another hero from the past, who had prayed to him when he had killed his family in a fit of insanity. He talked of the most famous son of Zeus and what he had done to erase his sins and earn the respect of Olympus. He spoke of the many trials that he faced and the hardships he endured to make amends."

"You can probably see where I'm going with this," Dominic said before reaching up to his shirt collar and pulling it to one side. Underneath the orange material lay a dark symbol, etched onto his skin like a tattoo, an ancient Greek number. "Twelve labors just like Hercules. Until they are complete I wear this mark of shame forever."

[DestinyGrimm]

Destiny raised her hand, her fingertips moving to trace over his mark, as if she believed her eyes were playing tricks on he, and that it wasn't actually there.

"Dom," she said softly. What could she say?

The Gauntlet of tasks was not a new story to her. She used to read about the tasks for fun, admiring how the son of Zeus pursued through them. They were just lovely daydreams. But now? Now they were a living nightmare. The most dangerous tasks given for he who was so scorned that not even death wanted him. And now Dominic bore the mark. How was she supposed to reply to that? 12 tasks, each designed to mutilate and murder the laborer. How was she supposed to let Dom do this?

"Dom," she whispered again. It was the only thing that she could say. Pulling her knees up against her body, she wrapped her arms around her legs, resting her cheek on her knees, looking away from him. All of her words failed her, even though her mind flooded over with them.

She couldn't tell him to not go, as much as she wanted him not to. His chance of success, of survival, were extremely low, no matter how powerful he could be. But she knew that to have the mark of shame is to... Well, to be shamed. The worse thing in their world, and he got tasked with it.

Destiny could only ask him, "When?" Her voice shook as she did, but she had to know.

[Dominic Moss]

"They've already begun. I finished my second this morning," Dominic replied, strumming some of the strings of his guitar absentmindedly so that a mellow tune began to flow across the beach. "I was given the first labor immediately by my Aunt Artemis, I get one labor from each of the twelve Gods of Olympus, she gave me the challenge of hunting the Calydonian Boar. A gigantic pig she once sent to ravage Calydon."

"It took me two whole months to kill that damn piggy," Dominic muttered. "It was like chasing an elephant on roller skates across the country. Nothing seemed to sink it, it was too strong and too fast and to make matters worse it kept running through monster territories whenever it saw me coming."

"I could have slayed it with the Wrath, but I couldn't risk losing control again, so eventually, after corning it on the top of a twelve story parking lot, I got it with a poison arrow and waited until it collapsed. Aunt Artemis wasn't too impressed, said it had been done before."

"As for my second labor, I completed that this morning," Dominic spoke before pointing up at the sun that beamed down at them. "My Dad challenged me to steal flames from the sun, sort of like Prometheus did."

Dominic reached into his pocket and pulled out a strip of material that was wrapped around something no bigger than a box of matches. Even though the material was black, Destiny would be able to see the throbbing of bright orange light filing through the gaps in the material and feel the warmth that radiated from it.

"He didn't make it easy. I had to build my own flying chariot, I had to find someone crazy to pilot it with me and then I had to catch up to my Dad's giant blazing Mercedes and chip off a bit of its paint job whilst being hounded by flying creatures," Dominic lifted his arm and pointed to some of the burns that covered his arms. "Luckily being a Son of Apollo grants me some protection from the sun's flames, but in the end I sort of...well...exploded."

"And just like that, I'm here, waiting for the next Olympian to step forward and give me the next labor. If I landed here, it's because they wanted me to land here, not because of my obvious good luck," Dominic spoke before frowning and looking back at Destiny. "So that's my story Hun....what do you think?"

[DestinyGrimm]

"I don't know what to think," she muttered. How was she supposed to react? She was sure as hell glad he was still alive, but she didn't want to imagine him dead..

"Dom, are there any rules about companions and people helping you?" Destiny knew her question was blunt, and that he would understand exactly what she was getting at. After all, they did stupid stuff together. When their involved the possibility of death, it was Dominic and Destiny, not Dominic while Destiny sits idly by.

There was no way the daughter of darkness was going to sit this one out. No matter what Dominic says, she was going to find a way. She had already gone months without him, and she want about to go months more, what with he having the high chance of death every moment of his quest.

[Dominic Moss]

Dominic thought the question over for a long long time before responding. He scratched his chin and plucked at the strings absentmindedly as the problem ran through his head again and again. It was clear what he was thinking, Dominic would have loved for Destiny to join him on an adventure, just like the old days, but now that the circumstances had changed he found himself unsure.

Could he really drag Destiny into his mess?

Would the Gods even allow him to have help?

Would he allow her to help him?

"Well... I suppose when I think about it, Hercules did get a lot of help from his friend Iolaus. The two of them fought the Hydra together," Dominic said before glancing at Destiny from the corner of his eye. "And it's not as if the Gods themselves didn't lend him a hand every now and then. Athena was the one who told Hercules to dip his arrows in the Hydra's blood to make them poisonous. I don't suppose they would get bent out of shape about a little help."

His reasoning was flimsy and he knew it. Iolaus may have helped Hercules to defeat the Hydra, but because of it he had ended up completing twelve labors instead of the original ten they had given him. Help had made one of Hercules most dangerous tasks null and void.

But Dominic wouldn't have had it any other way.

"Welcome aboard Miss Grimm," Dominic spoke softly and offered his hand for her to shake. "Welcome to team 'Let's get Dominic out of the big mess he made. Our battle cry is 'Try not to die"

[DestinyGrimm]

Destiny shook his hand with a small smile, "Brilliant! The committee to keep you alive is gathered. Now, what exactly do we do?"

Perhaps she should've asked that first, perhaps she should've just walked away. But she wasn't just any other reasonable, sane person. Nope. She was Destiny Grimm. And she was hell bent on saving Dominic Moss.

[Dominic Moss]

"Well... usually the Gods get in contact with me to let me know who to report to next, but..." Dominic's voice trailed off. "...it's always a good idea to get a heads up," Dominic spoke before reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out something Destiny would recognise immediately, the deck of cards she had given to him long ago. He didn't pause to read her expression, instead he shuffled the cards and began to deal them out onto the sand.  Twelve cards landed face up on the ground, their surfaces glinting in the sunlight.

"Give me a hint," Dominic whispered and at once the cards turned pitch black. The darkness seemed to swirl on their surface before a crack of light appeared on each of them and twisted into the shape of a letter. The letters shifted from card to card until eventually they spelled out a name.

Euripides

"Oh you have got to be kidding me," Dominic sighed angrily before slumping back onto the sand. "Couldn't I just kill a hydra or wrestle Cerberus?"

[DestinyGrimm]

Destiny was still shocked to see her gift to Dominic. She wanted to cry and laugh. The cards seemed like the most improbable thing she'd ever seen him do.

Her head tilted slightly as she looked at the cards, her mouth moving slowly as she read the word.
"Euripides? What is that? Or whom?"
She wasn't really sure, though she was sure that it wasn't anything good. Dom didn't seem thrilled in the least bit, and she figured he had a good reason as to why.

She tried to find the name in her memory, but it just wasn't ringing a bell.

[Dominic Moss]

"Euripedes was a famous playwright of Greece that wrote a lot of plays that are still remembered today. He wrote about Andromache, Troy and Hecuba," Dominic said with a sour look on his face. "But that isn't who the cards are referring to. They're referring to the very dead failure of a copy cat, Euripedes the Tenth."

"You see, he's a ghost and a playwright. Ages ago, before I disappeared, I encountered him with my friend Fred in the forest. Euripedes the Tenth had struck a deal with Dionysus whilst he was alive. Dionysus gave him acotrs and in return he would make Dionysus the main character of his plays."

"But he's a terrible writer and director and...well... he's just terrible. And as punishment Dionysus refused to let him pass on and sentenced him to exile for five hundred years and banned him from ever writing another play about him ever again," Dominic explained with a sigh. "And Euripedes didn't like that. So he continued to write god awful plays and used zombie demigods to play the parts. Anyone unlucky enough to walk onto his haunted set would be used as another of his performers"

"Me and Fred stopped him, but if the next labor is to do with him..." Dominic mumbled before getting to his feet and brushing the sand off him. "Then that means I need to go see Mr D. It looks like I'm going to have to kick the butt of a ghost hack again."

[DestinyGrimm]

Destiny couldn't help but laugh. She got to her feet as well, brushing sand off of her black clothing. She reminded herself to firmly decline an offer of sitting on dirt or sand next time she wore black. Then again, she would never come into contact with the stuff again.

"Dom, what if you don't have to kick his butt again? What if you actually do have to act in his play?" She threw the idea out there just to have it out there. What a funny little thing it would be to see Dominic prancing about a stage in Elizabethan clothing with too many frills and even more make up. The picture had her breaking into a fit of giggles, and Destiny looked at him with amused eyes.

"Let's go see what the Wino has to say about it, yeah?"

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