Forged Bonds Mini Series 2 – Chapter 6
HESTIA: Today, we reach the end of our tale. Unlike the tales you have heard before, this one does not end so happily. The strings of Fate have already been pulled to complete this tapestry, the story cannot be changed, no matter how much we wish it could. This chapter of our story deals with jealous rage, themes of heartbreak, and loss of life. Your discretion is advised.
We join our story in Zephyr’s home– storm clouds swirl overhead as Aeolus makes his way into the house.
ZEPHYR: Get out.
AEOLUS: Zephyr, please, just listen–
ZEPHYR: Why should I?! So you can betray me and side with that miserable excuse for a god? I don’t think so. Leave, Aeolus.
AEOLUS AND EROS: This isn’t a good idea, Zephyr.
ZEPHYR: You don’t know anything about this situation. You don’t know what needs to be done.
AEOLUS AND EROS: Zephyr, please–
AEOLUS: Just listen to me.
EROS: Think about what you’re doing.
ZEPHYR: It’s a harmless little prank. Absolutely harmless.
AEOLUS AND EROS: This sounds less like a prank and more like a personal attack.
ZEPHYR: So what if it is?! He deserves this! All my life, he has cast me aside and taken what was rightfully mine. I will not sit on the sidelines and let him continue to do that to me. Apollo is going to regret what he’s done, and I’m not going to let anyone get in my way– least of all you!
AEOLUS AND EROS: I’m trying to protect you!
ZEPHYR: I don’t need your protection!
AEOLUS: Isn’t that what Hyacinthus said to you too?
HESTIA: This, at the very least, gave Zephyr pause. He wanted so desperately to protect the man he loved, only to be cast aside with bitter anger. Was that what he was doing now?
AEOLUS AND EROS: Let me help you.
ZEPHYR: I don’t know that I can.
AEOLUS AND EROS: Of course you can!
AEOLUS: It’s not too late to change your plans.
EROS: You don’t have to go through with this.
ZEPHYR: I’m scared, Aeolus.
AEOLUS: I’ve got you, little brother. I’ve got you.
HESTIA: Aeolus pulled his brother into his arms, trying his best to soothe a fear that wasn’t really there to begin with. Much like our dear king of the gods, Zephyr was a master at manipulation, and he knew how to get his brother to lower his guard. Once he had Aeolus in his grasp, Zephyr cast a fierce wind from his hand, creating a whirlwind around his brother and trapping Aeolus in place. Aeolus could only watch helplessly as Zephyr shoved something into his bag before marching towards the door.
ZEPHYR: It’s either with me or against me, brother. And you chose the wrong side.
HESTIA: As Zephyr begins his search for Apollo, we shall make our way into the mortal world. Sitting on a sunny hillside, staring longingly at a laurel tree, we find Apollo. A few moments later, we find Hyacinthus coming to sit at his side.
HYACINTHUS: So that’s her?
APOLLO: Yeah. That’s Daphne. (pause) I’ve never taken anyone out here before.
HYACINTHUS: Oh?
APOLLO: It felt wrong to do so. Why would I bring a fling or a friend with benefits out to meet someone I once considered the love of my life? It wouldn’t be fair to either of them.
HYACINTHUS: …So why bring me?
APOLLO: Because you’re the other love of my life, Hy. If anyone deserved to meet Daphne, it’s you. To know her story is one thing, but to see her… She is proof of all the wrong I’ve done, Hyacinthus. If you can see her and still love me–
HYACINTHUS: I do. Still love you, that is. Everyone has been trying to convince me that you are the villain in our story, Apollo, but I know that isn’t true. You have brought me to life in a way no one ever has before. I was fine in this world, in the army, doing what I was told but I never truly felt alive until I met you. Until I fell in love with you and you fell in love with me. I look at Daphne and I don’t see some egregious mistake at your hands; I see the desperate attempt to save the one you love. You kept yourself controlled long enough to let her escape to a new life, Apollo. You didn’t let the Fates take away her life the way they wanted to.
DAPHNE AND HYACINTHUS: You weren’t to blame for what happened, Apollo. You didn’t ask to have a frenzy cast upon you.
HYACINTHUS: She’d forgive you.
DAPHNE: I forgive you.
DAPHNE AND HYACINTHUS: So give yourself the grace to forgive yourself, my love.
APOLLO: …I don’t know that I can ever forgive myself for what happened. But I owe it to Daphne to try. I owe it to you to try.
HESTIA: Apollo grabbed Hyacinthus’s hand, pressing a kiss to the back of it before getting to his feet, pulling Hyacinthus up with him.
APOLLO: Come on. I want you to meet her properly.
HESTIA: The two made their way down the hill– hand in hand, just like Daphne and Apollo used to. Apollo pressed his hand to the bark of the tree, feeling the warmth and spirit beneath it.
APOLLO: It’s good to see you, Daphne. There’s someone I’d like you to meet– this is Hyacinthus. He’s… He’s the closest to you I’ve gotten in a long time. You two are different people, but the way I care about you– the way I love you– is the exact same.
HYACINTHUS: It’s wonderful to meet you Daphne. I’ve heard great things about you.
APOLLO: She would’ve liked you.
DAPHNE: I like this one.
HYACINTHUS: I bet I would’ve liked her too.
APOLLO: I thought maybe the two of us could play some quoits. Daph and I used to do that sometimes, I feel like you’d like it too.
HYACINTHUS: I’d like that.
HESTIA: For those of you unaware, quoits is a game similar to horseshoes. Instead of the open ended horseshoe, however, a quoit was a solid metal ring that would be tossed around a peg. Apollo picked up the quoit, feeling its familiar heaviness in his grasp.
APOLLO: I don’t think I’ve done this since…
HYACINTHUS: Then we play in her honor.
HESTIA: It is at this time that Zephyr finds the two of them in the mortal world. The storm in his heart is raging all around him, the echoes of his brother and Eros bouncing through his mind.
AEOLUS: It’s never too late to stop.
EROS: You don’t have to do this.
AEOLUS: I can help you, little brother.
EROS: You don’t have to go through these feelings alone.
AEOLUS AND EROS: Let me help.
HESTIA: But Zephyr was beyond reasoning with at this point. He saw his opening as Apollo prepared to through the quoit– it would be so simple to blow it back at him. With the fury spinning in his soul, it would only take a thought to cast the perfect wind to do it, and then Apollo would be no more. It didn’t matter that Apollo couldn’t die, dear listeners. Zephyr was no longer thinking rationally, he was no longer thinking at all. All he knew was the deep, black anger clouding his soul as he narrowed his sights on Apollo.
Three things happened in very quick succession: Zephyr cast a fierce gust of wind, catching Hyacinthus’s attention. Hyacinthus pushed Apollo out of the way. The quoit– solid metal, spinning faster than humanly possible– rocketed into Hyacinthus, slicing cleanly through his throat. Hyacinthus crumpled to the ground, his blood trailing a path towards Daphne’s tree.
APOLLO: (scared, shaky, in denial) Hyacinthus?
HYACINTHUS: I’m sorry, Apollo.
APOLLO: Hey, hey, don’t talk like that. I’ll get Asclepius here, we’ll get you all patched up–
HYACINTHUS AND DAPHNE: Apollo, we don’t have much time.
APOLLO: Don’t say that, Hy. We can get help, it doesn’t–
DAPHNE AND HYACINTHUS: I need you to promise me something, Apollo.
APOLLO: Please don’t– Not again–
DAPHNE AND HYACINTHUS: Apollo please.
APOLLO: (broken) Okay. Okay, what is it?
DAPHNE: Promise me you’ll come visit.
HYACINTHUS: Promise me you’ll try to be happy.
APOLLO: Hy–
HYACINTHUS: I love you, Apollo.
APOLLO: I love you too, Hyacinthus.
HESTIA: It is here, dear friends, that Hyacinthus drew his final breath. His hand– which had been tightly gripping Apollo’s– went slack, his eyes unfocused. Apollo slid them shut, sobs wracking his body as he did. Upon that same hill top, Aeolus found his brother, standing in shock at the scene below them.
AEOLUS: Zephyr. What have you done?
HESTIA: If Apollo noticed the two wind gods watching this scene, he didn’t comment. Instead, he lifted Hyacinthus’s body and laid it down at the base of Daphne’s tree. Hyacinthus’s blood was mixing with the water of Daphne’s stream, the rushing water washing away the red staining the banks. Placing his hand in the water, Apollo called upon Pan, upon Daphne, upon all of the magic he could muster. The water ran up his arm, tinged with Hyacinthus’s blood, allowing Apollo to create something new. There, at the base of Daphne’s laurel tree, sprouted a new flower. Small bunches of flowers that seemed to burst from their seams like a firework or a drop of blood, all building into a cylinder of blooms in bright red. This, dear friends, is how we got the hyacinth. On the banks of a river, at the base of a laurel tree, the first hyacinths bloomed vibrant and lively and warm to the touch. To this day, you can find Apollo visiting this spot and sitting with his two loves, telling them the latest that had happened around Olympus. And one day, that same sun god would bring his dear friend– the god of wine– to this spot too. Not out of love like he had for Hyacinthus, but out of trust and friendship like Apollo had never known before.
With that, dear friends, our tale draws to a close. I thank you for joining me around my hearth for this story– and for indulging a tragedy where stories of love once flowed. This, too, was a story of love, after all. Death is not the absence of love; mourning proves just how loved a person was. Remember that, dear friends; if nothing else, remember that you are loved, from now until the very end. Until next time, and as always, thank you for listening.
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