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Abolish was honestly getting a bit tired of everyone deciding to hang out at his forge when he was trying to work, but at least it was just Nikos this time. He'd heard the rumble of thunder and ignored it because he was busy, hoping that they'd realize he was in the middle of something and move on, but they were unfortunately now in his enchanting room trying to drag him out mining.
"I'll be done in… a few minutes," he hummed, biting back a sigh. At the edge of his vision, he could see them standing there with their arms crossed, the same dumb grin as always on their face. "I do need to go mining again, though, yeah."
"Wonderful!" Nikos stepped over to it, peering down at it in a way that made its stomach squirm oddly, something about the height difference being oddly… intimidating, it decided on. "It has been far too long since we have talked, yes? Just, ah, by ourselves."
It hummed dismissively. If it were being honest, it couldn't really care less about talking to the other champions, especially not ones who were already its allies and it didn't need to talk to any more. But speaking with Nikos, while certainly annoying, was not the worst thing in the world, it supposed. He was nice enough, or at least could be when he wanted to.
As it was finishing up, it felt a hand lingering just over its back, heartbeat picking up in an instant. When his head snapped around to look at the other, they were already pulling back. "Sorry, sorry. I was… curious, about your scar."
"Right." He drew in a measured breath. He was aware that the wound from his death was obvious, not quite covered by his clothes, but that absolutely didn't mean people had permission to touch it. Nikos seemed apologetic, though, so he really couldn't be too upset, even if it was strange seeing them appearing to feel bad.
Lifting his sword over his shoulder, he turned to face them properly, and they were quickly smiling again. "Ready, pretty one?"
"Mhm." It tilted its head to the side slightly as it followed them back up to the surface. "I assume you're going to… use your lightning again?"
"Of course," they laughed, hooking their arm through its and practically dragging it up the steps. "I will try to not put you in the wall this time."
Because he was just so good at not doing that, of course. But it struggled to fight down a smile as he summoned his lightning, bracing itself and hoping that it wouldn't get trapped for the millionth time.
Somehow, it got lucky, ending up above ground, although it was quickly stumbling and almost falling down the mountain they'd landed on. Immediately, there were hands grabbing onto it, laughter booming right next to its ear as he helped it stand, the air still crackling with electricity. "There, there, see? I told you, pretty one."
"Uh huh." He straightened up, brushing himself off in an attempt to get sparks to stop dancing along his clothes and skin. "Thank you, Nikos."
They patted his shoulder, notably much farther from the middle of his back than usual. He was aware they were probably just trying to play it safe, but the feeling was… uncomfortable, to say the least, to be treated like he was fragile. He'd been treated like a fragile little thing for the first several years of his life until he'd started training, and it made his skin crawl to be treated like he was sensitive.
But he forced himself to brush it off, taking a deep breath as the two of them headed into the cave. Nikos meant well, they always did, even if they weren't the best at these things. At least they weren't asking any invasive questions about its past like certain people had. Although, if there was anyone it'd be fine with explaining some things to, that'd probably be Nikos - but it didn't really want to dwell on that for too long.
"So, how have you been doing, pretty one?" the other asked, and it could see him watching it for a few moments out of the corner of its eye while it looked for anything useful. "Enjoying yourself, hm? You are so… alone all the time, not talking to anyone. You should come with us more!"
Abolish, if he was being totally honest, wanted absolutely nothing to do with whatever his allies were getting up to. He had alliances, not relationships, something that no one else here seemed to understand. Getting close to people like Nikos wanted him to was something simply out of his reach. It had been when he was alive and it still was now, especially now; he didn't want a repeat of his death.
The scar on his back ached at the thought. How could it be that hands which held him so gently had done something like this to him? It would've been poetic, almost, if it hadn't been his unfortunate reality. A reality that could very well happen again if he allowed it to, because really, his death was his own fault for getting close to people knowing just how much he was risking.
"I'd rather not," he said at last, climbing up to get to some diamonds he'd spotted just ahead, Nikos right behind him. "I… died, meaninglessly, for the sake of friendship. I was stabbed in the back, quite literally." A short, bitter laugh left it at that. Ironic. "And as much as I… do enjoy your company, the others as well, only one of us is winning."
Nikos hummed a bit, and he could feel their gaze burning into his back. For a while, they didn't say anything else, giving him a bit to mine peacefully. He wondered if he'd maybe said too much and revealed something more vulnerable than he thought he had, but he tried to brush off the feeling and focus on the task at hand. This was a mining trip, not a philosophical debate.
Then, at last, the champion of Zeus replied, "I think you could do to relax once in a while, fiery one. But I cannot control you." They patted it on the arm a few times, some unreadable emotions in their dark brown eyes. "Give it a chance, maybe."
A chance. It'd given people plenty of chances, and look at where that had got it. A slight jolt of electricity made its way down its arm and it nearly dropped its pickaxe, tightening its grip as the other stepped away, trying to calm its heartbeat which was racing for reasons it hoped were just the lightning.
The scar on its back ached from all the electricity, feeling a bit sore as it moved. Nikos had walked away now, humming to himself as he hurried up to a vein of iron. Abolish had finished mining the ores he'd found, but he couldn't quite make himself go find anything else, just standing there and watching the other for a solid few seconds. As stupid as it was, he turned over their words in his mind for a little, thinking it over, even though he knew nothing like that would ever work.
Before they could turn around and catch him, he looked away, holding in a sigh. But even as he walked away to find more ores, the conversation still lingered in the back of his mind. He'd been betrayed too many times to really even consider it, but despite his logic, the idea of having friends did sound nice. Of course it sounded nice even if it wasn't possible, not for him. That was probably the whole reason why.
Sometimes he could still hear the laughter of the few friends he'd had, people leaning on him or pulling him into hugs after fights, congratulating him when he won. Was it worth it? He wasn't sure. The moments of happiness certainly didn't feel worth it when it was faced with the aftermath of it all, enough to have it tearing up if it dared to reminesce for even a little too long. Acceptance for who it was didn't mean much if it didn't last, did it?
If only it could tell its brain that, logic itself into not feeling any of this. It couldn't even stop thinking about the idea no matter how hard it tried. Some small part of it kept asking if it could really be so risky if this wouldn't even last longer than a few weeks, then it'd be done and could forget about everything. As if that wouldn't make winning even more difficult and painful in the end.
Then there was a voice behind it and it lifted its head, glancing back at Nikos from where it'd been in the middle of mining iron. "I was planning on having a party with some of the others, if you wanted to come, pretty one. We would love to have you."
He raised an eyebrow at him, but hesitated before outright rejecting the invitation. It couldn't hurt to just hang out for a bit, and he could leave if he wanted to - he certainly wasn't going to be drinking or getting high or doing any of the other various activities he knew they all got up to, but talking for a few minutes couldn't end too badly. Maybe it'd at least get them off his back. Ironic.
"Yeah, sure," he said finally, trying to shrug off the anxiety tightening in his chest. Nikos's eyebrows shot up and their grin widened and he wondered if he'd made a mistake, but at the same time the way they practically beamed at him felt a bit nice. "Just for a… few minutes, probably, I still have stuff to do."
"Of course, pretty one." They rolled their soft brown eyes, stepping over to rest a hand on his back; they weren't avoiding his scar quite as much now but they thankfully weren't touching it. "Ever so busy, forging and… enchanting things, mhm?"
He tried and failed to fight down the small smile that made its way onto his face, internally hoping that everyone else would be just as excited as Nikos was. Hephaestus, help him. "Uh huh. As always."