Counting stars

It were the nights when he truly felt alive. Mercury could just lay on his back in the field for hours and watch the stars go by. If you live for centuries, you start to recognize some, you name them, you talk to them. And over time you notice how they start to disappear and others take their place. It was a strange phenomenon, but Mercury was living for it.

Laying in the field again, surrounded by sleeping people, he truly felt at peace. With his hands underneath his head to support it, his two odd eyes gazed above him. Such a beautiful sight. It was a shame the nights were so short and the days so long. Every day seemed to stretch out longer and longer, perhpas because summer was approaching, or perhaps because everything around him was boring. It felt like it had been hundreds of years that he had set foot outside this place, outside of Vanaheim. Mercury wanted to explore, but instead he was stuck here. Just waiting. Waiting and counting stars.

He wasn't alone anymore, even for him her footsteps were hearable. No matter their age gap, it felt like they were on the same level with their abilities, even though they both posessed their own qualities. Mercury shifted his head for a moment so he could see how the Warrior sat down next to him. She seemed calm, but who knew what the voices were telling her. On her question, Mercury shrugged, looking up again. ''Evening Minnie. Evening Cratos, everyone else. How have you guys been doing?'' He spoke, followed by a fake yawn. He wasn't impressed by her, not anymore. He had been scared at first, but now? Now she was just like everyone else.

''I don't know? Elliot disappeared tonight, I'm looking if he turns up somewhere else.'' He continued with a slight frown carved into his forehead. It was true, Elliot was his most favorite star, the brightest of them all. And tonight? Tonight he disappeared. It was such a strange thing. Here he thought that Elliot and he had build something, that they understood each other. But even the star seemed to have enough of him and had just.. vanished. Sad.

The usual. To this day, Mercury still wasn't sure what that exactly meant. But he just nodded, let it wash over him. Tomorrow he owuld ask the exact same and he would get the exact same answer. It was like they were stuck in a loop. And if they wanted to, they could break out of it, but instead, they decided to stay here and rule over this god forsaken place as their own kingdom. Until the Mother would one day return.

Who wouldn't return, was Elliot, as Minerva told him. Mercury looked sad for a moment, but that expression quickly vanished. Sad was no longer in his dictionary, not anymore. He wouldn't let others get to him. He was who he was. ''Maybe you can tell him to go on vacation? There's this sweet place in Rhoynar that's pretty nice. Though I haven't been there for 87 years.. wonder how it looks like today.'' Not really, he didn't care for the place and he didn't know if Cratos would be the kind of demon that would sit back, relax, sunglasses on and would enjoy some sunlight. Probably not.

She always had been this serious. It was kind of depressing you know, when you tried to be this happy and then someone came along to just ruin it all ofr you. But, as the centuries had passed, he had gotten used to it. Her words bored him even more. Why was everyon stuck here? Why wasn't anyone just a little curious about what was out there? Mercury missed his days of travelling, even if it had been because he was shunned away everywhere he went. He missed being free. It felt like chains were tugging at his feet and the longer he stayed here, the more they were reeling him in.

''We don't need him now. What are the stars going to do? Wink?'' Truly, he didn't understand the concept of stars, not even after all these years. But he truly believed they were harmless, just little bright spots in the sky to brighten up your night. To show you that you weren't completely alone, that they were watching over you. It gave Mercury comfort.

Always the criptic messages. Wasn't that his job? It had been so long since he had the ability to play with someone, to toy with their sanity. Everyone around him seemed to know how he was and it started to be annoying. Mercury just wanted to enjoy himself, but all he got was empty and serious faces. Depressing to be honest. For a short moment he shifted his gaze to Minerva, hearing her words. ''I'm sure there is something below us that will welcome us with open arms.'' THeir Mother pehaps? He missed her and longed for her touch. She had made him feel at home, it had stopped him from wandering and made him settle down, it made him believe in himself. The longer the Mother was away, the more he started to doubt himself.

War The word sent a chill down his spine. For a short moment Mercury closed his eyes, frowned and tried to push the thought out of his head. He didn't want to think of something like war. ''Does that mean I get to do my talking again?'' He instead asked, opening his eyes again. Think happy thoughts, he wasn't letting her get into his head. Not tonight, not with Elliot missing. There were other things to worry about the next morning. ''Does that mean I get to leave again?'' He asked a lot softer, almost a bit insecure. He longed for a place that wasn't.. here. It didn't matter what it was, he just wanted to discover again, make a friend along the way, have some fun. Anything but these stupid rocks.

It was hard to stay positive around Minerva, but Mercury tried nontheless, knowing full well they would clash every time they spoke a word. She, a Commander of War, he, a Commander of Peace. What else did you expect? Mercury sat up straight, brushing some of the grass off his pants before he crossed his legs and leaned back a bit, so he could still watch the stars. ''War's bad for your health, you know?'' No matter how many times nations would go to war, Mercury would suffer. He couldn't watch innocent people dying or brother turning on brother. Kingdoms would fall, new ones would rise and fall again. And all he could do was stand at the sideline and watch ith appen, wtch it burn. It hurt. He didn't understand how Minerva could like times like that. Whenever it would occur again, it would the time where Mercury would let go of his humorous self and would rather just hide in the darkness of the rocks. Afraid, insecure, hating. He just wished that time would never come again.

''Is it necissary? The war?'' The soft tone stayed in his voice as he looked down at his hands, seeming to let the optimistic side of him go for a moment. A rare occurence, but how else could he when Minerva was sitting next to him, hyping about chopping people's heads off? ''I rather prefer just a small conference, with lunch and tea. Much calmer than the rage and heat of battle in my opinion.'' He said with a shrug, looking up at the sky before his gaze shifted back to Minerva, worried.

Mercury didn´t want to think about the thought of war for one second. But that was really hard when someone like Minerva was sitting next to him. The Commander of War. If she had the word in her title, you knew she wasn't up to no good. And when Mercury looked at her from the corner of his eyes, she seemed to enjoy the thought of people finally drawing their swords again. The vampire sighed and stared down at his hands. He would never understand her.

Mercury scoffed upon hearing her words. ''You hate tea.'' He replied, his voice a little colder than earlier. No, he had to stay happy. There was no reason to get mad at her, Minerva couldn't help it. She was stuck in her own world with her own demons and battles, just as Mercury was. Mercury's just happened to be a little brighter and happier than Minerva's. If only he could show her and help her understand how he saw the world. But that wouldn't happen until she dealt with her demons, ones who would porbably never leave. But then.. His head almost turned faster than his body. His black and white eye started at her, asthonished. ''Did you just say.. 'Maybe we should check it out?''' The disbelief was clear in his words when he kept staring at her. ''Like, actually check out how the rest of the world is?'' A smile crept onto his face. A smile of mischief, of joy and somewhere, an honest one.

By the Mother, she was such a pessimist. If Mercury hadn't been living with her for ages now, he would probably have given up on her. But they were family now and they were bound to each other. And Mercury didn't quickly gave up on people. Minerva had a special place in his cold, dead heart, just like the other Commanders did. When he was lost, they had given him a home and when he was questioning himself, they had given him faith. And in return, he had given them his loyalty and his life. ''You have to appreciate it.'' He told her with a smirk, although he could agree that tea and lunch didn't taste like it had been before. But he couldn't even remember the taste anymore, just the plain taste of the iron one someones blood.

When Minerva said she could go alone, Mercury almost went frantic. He shook his head, his eyes opened wide. ''No. Not gonna happen. When was the last time you set foot outside these mountains? Twohundred, no, threehundred years?'' Letting Minnie loose in the open world on her own would ensue chaos. Sure, Mercury then could finally do his job, but not when Minerva was causing death and destruction everywhere she went, without knowing it. Mercury let himself fall back into the grass, his eyes twinkeling. Yes, he wanted to go outside, he wanted to get away from here. He longed for it. ''A good thing for you, a bad thing for me?'' The vampire raised an eyebrow, while plucking some of the grass beneath his feet. ''What's Cratos saying?'' Mercury dared to ask, looking over her shoulder as if he could see the demon sitting there. Maybe he could, that white eye was the devils work after all.