Changing Skies

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Ryeth leaned into Ciro, a battle warring within her as she listened to her love and to her brother. She wanted to lash out now, to simply destroy everything in her anger and grief and hurt, but another part of her was just so tired. She and her sister had spent a month in hell and for Ryeth, it had sapped more than just her physical strength. There was a part of her that was simply just...done. This world - her really - was just tired. There were too many things hurting her, too many things polluting her ground, too much being taken out and not enough being poured back in. She was so tired and used up, and there seemed to be no hope of a sabbatical on the horizon.

It was only her anger now that was keeping the weariness that not even sleep could heal at bay. That and the presence of her siblings. She knew Ciro and Alcmene were here for she and Pontus. They saw the suffering the Earth and Ocean went through and they'd come to help. And Ryeth had not at first been comfortable with the idea of harming anyone who walked upon her on a grand scale, but now.... Her patience had run out.

Still, Ciro was right. She had to wait just a little while longer and the Fae sighed, looking up at him, her hand on his bare mid-drift, thumb moving absently over his skin. "Can we sleep? It's so much easier to wait when I am asleep."
 
"Why do we need to wait?" Pontus asked, rather harshly. "You aren't the one being polluted! You aren't the one having your trees knocked down or your children hunted or harvested or fished to the point of near extinction! They aren't throwing chemicals into your body until...until....until you find yourself doing this!" He retched, leaning over and spilling a black, tar-y, oily substance on the ground. He glared at Ciro. "I will never understand why the three of you took human bodies! They're the ones doing this to us! And for what? Do they ask permission?! Do they beg for mercy?! Do they offer us anything of themselves?! No voices call to us! No food is brought for us! Nothing is burned or drown in our honor but US! And you, oh mighty Sun, have the gall to stand there and tell us we should wait! We've been waiting, Ciro! Anyanwu! Wala! Malakbel! Nanauatzin, Saule, Ekhi, Meri, Shapash! Stop me when I get to one you still answer to! Belenos? Etain? Lugh, Xihi, Bast, Aten, Khepri, RA! Apollo, Helios, Sol, Eos, Agni, Aryaman, Istanu! You've forgotten every one of those names, haven't you?!" A spray of salt water splashed up behind him. "You, who hold yourself so high above the Earth and the Sea and the Moon, dare to come down here and say you're helping?!"

Alcmene landed beside Pontus and put her hand on his shoulder. "That's enough, Manannan mac Lir. We both came down together. And we both came down to help."

"Then help!" He cried, desperation evident in his voice. "Stop sleeping with her and help!"

Ciro just kinda stood there, looking at Pontus. "I'm organizing a war, Neptune. Aegaeon. Agwe. Mizuchi. And organizing humans to do anything takes time. I know both of you are hurting-"

"NO, YOU DON'T! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THIS FEELS LIKE! EVEN LUNA HAS BEEN TRAMPLED ON BUT YOU, YOU FEAR NOTHING FROM THEM! THEY CAN'T COME NEAR YOU! THE WORST THEY CAN DO TO YOU IS LOOK AT YOU AND EVEN THAT HURTS THEM AND NOT YOU!"
 
Ryethke listened to her brother yell, listened to his grief and his rage and she felt it down to the depth of her. The anger she'd been trying to suppress - once more - rose up again, but with it came the wisdom and patience to balance it out as Pontus's words woke some long forgotten memories inside of her. And she did what the Sun and the Moon did not have the right to do. She separated herself from Ciro and she yelled right back at her brother, the strength of the Earth rising alongside and yet against the Ocean all at the same time, tempering him, restraining just as she always had.

"Be still, Ocean! I hurt with you, brother, but screaming and raging out our allies is NOT going to help anything! We are powerful, but we are NOTHING without each other and what you have always failed to understand, Pontus, is that we are NOTHING without the humans either!"

She knew he'd protest, that he would not agree and she cut him off before he could combat her, gold eyes blazing and the earth rumbling even as the sea thrashed as they stood facing each other. Her voice lowered and calmed, though, there was no less power in her tone for it and she refused to give in to his power as it strained against hers. Many times the sea had won their spats and she'd let him sink islands, send tsunamis and storms, but not this time. "The human have forgotten who we are and they trample us, that I will not argue, but you would solve this problem by killing them all and that is WRONG, brother. There are many who do not deserve death, who help as as they can and I will NOT let you harm them! I took human form so that I might communicate with them. I yielded my stubborn ways so that they might hear my voice and understand it! The Ancient languages are lost to them, but that doesn't mean they can't relearn it!"

Ryeth stared at her sibling, wishing she could make him understand, but willing to fight him if he wouldn't calm. "We were all made for a purpose, Pontus and without anyone to walk upon us or swim in us or look upon us, we are nothing. We are no better than the millions of suns and moons and planets and frozen ice out in the universe who have no life, not purpose or meaning. I am as angry as you are and you cannot tell me I am not. I have suffered as you have suffered, MORE SO, because EVERY human lives on me, but I have patience for a reason, brother. We will fight this, but we will do it wisely and we will work together lest we all be destroyed."
 
Pontus glared at her as she spoke. The most frustrating part was that...well...some of what she was saying was right. But. At the same time. Not having an argument against her, or too angry to make proper sentences, he just let out a very angry scream as a wave splashed up. He disappeared into the sea spray. Not stepping into it, but dematerializeing, melding with the water and disappearing.

Alcmene sighed heavily, watching him leave in his own special way. She shook her head and looked at Ciro and Ryethke. "You know, he's right. In some respects. Not all of them." She walked over to lean against the banister, looking down and out at the ocean. "The war will kill millions...it's a fact. It will wage on the farthest corners of you, Ryethke. No one will be left untouched by it. And those will die that did not deserve to." She turned her softly glowing eyes towards her sister. "It is a fact and it will not change."

Ciro was standing there, fist clenched, breathing slow, deep breaths. It was all he could do not to start boiling the ocean right there. He shook his head and just turned around, walking back inside. This whole thing was stupid. He came down to help, damn it! And it was hard! He had to worry about Ryethke for more than one reason. He loved her. He truly loved her. He hated to see her in pain and hurting and he knew this war would hurt her even more while it raged, but it needed to happen. Something had to come and lighten her load.
 
Ryethke felt her brother's rage like a hammer blow, but as he disappeared and retreated, she relaxed, letting her power flow away from his. The connection was still there, still a blue and green entwined thread between them, but it was faint with the distance they put between each other for now, both needing to cool down before they could face each other again. That was the way of the Earth and the Ocean. They were friends even as they were enemies, just as the Sun and Moon....just as they all were to each other, really.

The Fae looked at her sister and sighed, letting the anger drain from her for now. It wasn't gone, but the edge had been taken off and she could hold it back again now. It was never gone, though. "I know this war is going to spread everywhere and there will be no part of me untouched by its fire, I know this, but that doesn't mean it needs to destroy me, or any of us. Pontus' way...he means well, but he has never had any fondness for the humans and neither have you. Not like I do, not like Ciro does." Ryeth replied softly, coming to stand beside Alcmene, but not leaning against the rail as the Moon did. She was not going to stay.

"I know many will die who don't deserve to. I am not blind to that fact, but I will protect as many as I can who would faithfully help us. That is MY duty. It is MY purpose. All of you have yours, but that is mine and I won't walk away from it." Her dark brown eyes finally look out at the water and she touches her sister's arm as she sighs and turns to go back into the house. "See if you can calm him, for me?"

Ryeth didn't wait for an answer before heading inside. Seeing the Sun still seething, she didn't hesitate to approach him and her arms wrapped around his waist as she pressed her forehead to his back, her voice soft as her power curled gently with his, seeking to comfort. "Breathe, Ciro."
 
"Well, the humans praise the two of you, don't they? They praise you as fervently as they fear us." She turned, watching her sister walk back inside. She shook her head and sighed, taking the form of a raven and flying down to try and catch the attention of the sea.

Ciro was quite tense. He took a deep breath and let it out in what was almost a growl. He closed his eyes and rubbed his face furiously. "I can't stand him! ****!" He slouched and put his arms on top of hers. "Sorry..." He opened her arms up and pulled her around to his front. He wrapped her arms back around him, then wrapped his arms around her in turn, putting his chin on her head. "I don't like seeing you hurt."
 
Ryethke let him move her as he would and then she rested her head against his chest, breathing against him steadily to coax him into doing the same and her fingers moving in random patters on his lower back. "I know you don't and believe me, I don't like being hurt." She moved her head, making him move his so she could look up at him, her eyes both fierce and yet vulnerable all at the same time. And that's really what she was, wasn't she? Sturdy and resilient and yet so incredibly fragile, too, and in need of care. That's what the Earth was and she couldn't change that.

Her dark brown eyes held his yellow-brown ones steadily. "I like this even less, though. I hate how long this has gone on. Something needs to change, my brave Sun, or I will die anyway and do so painfully, slowly. I would rather feel a brief agony in the larger picture and then rest, than more decades of how I have been living."

She reached up then, palming his face, her thumb moving across his cheek in a comforting way. "I love you and I know you will help me, protect me in whatever way you can. That is all I expect and that is all I could ask of you."
 
"One word from you and I will knock out all of their technology...one harmless little solar flare and I can fry their communications...their television, their cell phones...almost every way they have to connect...It can be gone in the blink of an eye." As he spoke, his eyes stared into hers. He didn't want to see her hurting anymore and he almost had to be on Pontus's side. The only reason he wasn't for killing all humans was because Ryethke wasn't and he'd do what she said before he did what anyone else said. Especially the sea. **** that guy.
 
Ryethke smiled, feeling incredibly cherished and safe, protected in that moment as she watched her Sun and the Fae rose on her tip-toes to kiss him gently, her lips lingering on his before she pulled back. Her hand retreated from his face only to wrap around his waist, joining her other arm as she leaned into him again, breathing him in even as she answered. "Soon. I will ask you to do that soon, but we have communicate our plans to OUR allies before we can cut off the connection our enemies have."

Her head still on his chest, she looked up at him, eyes dancing with a fiercely mischievous light. "Once we have, though....fry away."

A chuckle escapes her as she smiles up at him, imagining the faces of pompous military leaders and scientists all over the world as their systems fail. It's a nice thought.
 
Ciro shivered a little at the kiss. He smiled at her, rubbing her sides gently. "Alright...but you should know I'm very, very impatient."

Sylvester flopped down on the bed in the room he shared with Rachelle. He grinned over at her, putting his hands behind his head. "One things humans have done right, is beds." He grinned at her happily, moving one of his hands to pat the bed beside him. "C'mere."
 
Ryeth smiled and her body drew closer to his as her skin quivered under his touch. It's something she is sure she will never get used to. She reached up again, her arms moving from his sides to wrap around his neck as her lips brush his again, a chuckle in her throat as her gold-tinged eyes hold his yellow ones. She spoke against his mouth, something telling her he's talking about more than just frying communication devices.

"I already know that." she whispered and then pulled back from him, taking his hand as she walked toward the bed, no other words escaping her lips. She really didn't think they were needed.

Rachelle chuckled as she watched him and pulled the dress she'd been given over her head, tossing it aside. "And the one thing they've done wrong is clothes." she chimed, walking over to him and then crawling into the bed. She huffed as sigh as she flopped down beside him and then rolled into his arms, a content whine her throat.

"Tomorrow is going to be a long day, isn't it?"
 
Ciro grinned and followed her readily. His Earth was stressed and he knew a few ways to help that...

"I agree! **** clothes!" He laughed and rolled onto his side, wrapping both of his arms around her and one of his legs, just to pull her close. He growled playfully, then sighed at what she had to say. "Yes. Probably. Honestly, mostly I let Ryethke take care of it...and Alcmene...but Ciro likes to pretend he's higher than me..." He huffed. "Though, being the earth's mate, he probably does outrank me in some way..." He tilt his head and looked in the general direction of Ryethke. He wrinkled his nose and closed off his connection to her, just temporarily. He didn't need to know what was going on. He huffed and licked Rachelle's forehead instead. "Showers are another thing they've done well."
 
Rachelle smiled, looking back at him with a raised brow, a dark glitter in her silver eyes. "Hmm, I think you'll have to show me those." She chuckled, curling closer to him and sighed tiredly, her eyes drifting closed. "Tomorrow, though." It had been a long day and she'd carried Alcmene the whole way here. She just wanted to sleep and in her mate's arms, it was rather easy.

-----------------------------------------------------

A wave of earth hit the oncoming soldiers with a sound like thunder and their tanks went flying through the air to crash and tumble into the army behind them. Screams and gunfire, the sound of rumbling earth and the howls and snarls of werewolves filled the air. Fire, ice, water, blood and bullets flew everywhere one looked and both the sun and the moon hung in the sky, one burning with scorching heat during the day and the other blood-red at night.

The war had been raging for nearly two months now. Communications had been knocked out by Ciro on both sides and the Abnormals had chosen to make their stand at the sea. Pontus' wrath was wondrous to behold when the first wave of Normals had come and nothing could survive on his seas unless they be flying the combined colors of yellow, blue, green and silver. Ryeth knew she'd never forget it, but she also didn't have time now to reminiscence as she took gunfire and a shield of dirt came to cover her. Stars, even that hurt these days! This war was raging everywhere, not just in Scotland. She was raw all over, sensitive to every single damn touch, but the Earth was staying strong. Besides, her pain only infuriated her siblings and that made them stronger.

Her gold eyes looked over at Rachelle, seeing that she hadn't been hit. Rachelle's pack had nearly been obliterated in the last two months as they'd refused to leave her side and it made the she-wolf a terror in her grief and fury.

This war was taking its toll on everyone, but they wouldn't stop fighting until something gave one way or another.
 
The werewolves around the world were more than happy to fight for their earth. They fought viciously and near-tirelessly, all taking orders from Sylvester who was more or less very distracted, leading all of the werewolves around the world, sending out troop movements and all that, being a veritable hub of communication between every group of Abnromals fighting around the world. Mostly, he sat at a central location with papers in front of him and a frustrated, thinking look on his face.

Ciro killed enemy crops, dried up enemy water supplies, and roasted the enemy as often as he could. Ryethke's pain was fueling him on during the day, following his own light as it crossed the globe.

Opposite him was Alcmene, who kept the moon full all around the world as the war raged on, following behind her brother in the sky as she was used to doing. The werewolves were more deadly at night, under the light of her blood moon, and that is when they struck, rarely during the day.

Pontus stayed where he could survive but close to the shore. He was also pulled in many different mental directions, sinking ships and making storms and everything, but he kept his physical presence near Ryethke, keeping himself at her back as she moved about and fought.
 
The night was drawing to a close and the sun was just starting to come up with unbearable heat already on this part of the world when Ryethke felt she'd had enough for one day. Her consciousness rippled out in a concussive wave and immediately Abnormals, ally Normals and mythical creatures alike disengaged from their foes and retreated, retreating as fast as they could into the sea at their back. They knew that as soon as the water touched their feet, they were safe and looked back with wonder anew as Ryethke now stood alone against enemy fire.

She wasn't phased though. No, it was the enemy that was now trying to get away, knowing very well what was coming. Her eyes were closed and her skin was green, littered with blackened streaks like the ground was and her hair floated about her head, vines with thorns all throughout the red strands. She'd been this way all throughout the battle, but now flames were errupting over her skin and when her gold eyes opened, things seemed to explode.

The ground crumbled and cracked, falling in everywhere and out of the fissures of the deep came lava that spewed upward in a deadly rain, killing hundreds if not thousands in a matter of minutes. When it was over, the remaining enemy had fallen back and the ground was a disaster area, red and black, burnt and suffering. It pained Ryeth greatly despite the victory won and she stumbled away from the damage she'd done and toward the sea, seeking the comfort of her brother's embrace to sooth the rawness she now felt.
 
Pontus stepped out of his waves and wrapped his arms around her, the hissing of steam coming off of wherever their bodies touched. The water rose to him, getting both of their feet wet but not rising any higher. He sighed, so tired himself. It genuinely pained him to see her in so much pain. He kept telling her that he could end it all. One more big flood. She survived his last one with relatively no problems. Or another ice age! That one had, of course, scarred her body with lakes and rivers that she never got rid of, but...lakes and rivers were good, right? He sighed. "Just one word, Gaia...and I'll freeze everything...just one word...and, of course, you'd have to keep your lover at bay." He rolled his eyes. "Just keep him busy fora thousand years and I can do this for you..."
 
Ryeth managed a small chuckle as she hugged him back, relaxing as her injuries were soothed for the time being. The Sun, Moon and Ocean could relieve the pain, the grief she felt in sporadic bursts but when she was away from them, when she stepped back, it all came back and she could feel every battle that raged, the damage being done, the blood that seeped into her, making her feel nauseous on an hourly basis. She spent a good part of the time not directly fighting either sleeping or aiding those from afar, striking where she could, when it was safe. It took less and less concentration to achieve as the days went by, as she became more at-one with herself, but it was still exhausting work.

And the pain...it never really left.

Still, she would not allow her brother free reign and even now, hugging him and seeking comfort, her voice was firm in his mind. No, Pontus. I know you love me and you only offer out of care, but I will not see those who walk upon me wiped out. I am sorry.

She respected him greatly, though, for not giving her one more thing to fight against, for accepting her decision. She knew it took a lot for all of them to do that.
 
"I hear humans talk about ice helping to heal wounds." He smirked and kissed the side of her head, sighing. The enemy is almost crippled without their communications. They're having to resort back to primitive means. But you know them better than I do, Ryethke...what would truly cripple them? Darkness? Salt water?...What will stop them?"
 
Ryeth sighed, not answering right away as she thought. Again. All three of them had asked her this question at various times in the last two months and she'd not been able to tell them. Oh, they could strike at them in different ways, but how to completely cripple them, how to beat them without harming those they had to protect? She wasn't sure if she knew how to do that. So she thought about it...frequently and this time...Ryethke thought she might have an idea.

"I think, brother...that I might let you flood once more."

She pulled back to look at him directly, a glitter in her eyes, a plan forming. She shook her head at his look, though. "We have to see the others first. I don't know if this will work. We need to discuss it." She kissed his forehead. "Thank you for the idea, though. It's helped."

Rachelle walked over then and smiled at them both, but addressed the Earth. "You need to get medical attention and Ciro's back from the other side of the world. He'll want to see you." As far as commanders went, Rachelle was a natural and in Sylvester's absence she was Ryeth's protector.
 
Pontus couldn't possibly be more excited. The waters started rising almost immediately...then, of course, she told him to wait. He heaved an impatient, bubbling sigh and nodded. "Of course...Go see your boyfriend..."

Ciro walked into their headquarters, pretty exhausted. Sure, he was used to shining all the time, but while he was in his human body, he never had to go 24 hours without rest. It was exhausting! He flopped down onto his bed and pulled a pillow over his head, shutting his eyes. He was so tired...
 
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