The Town of Love, Sky's Answer

SFUUUUUUUU!!!!! Striker sniffed the air. His head snapped to the left. "Four hundred miles… that's Eroars Town…" He spoke in a loud whisper to himself.

He then crouched low before leaping forwards, landing in a full sprint. "Olympian!" He hissed as he continued to run, eager for their meeting.

***

Kronos took a seat, followed by Bjorn. The two stared at one another in silence before starting to eat the sandwiches.

"Lord Kronos, what do you think of this town?" Bjorn finally asked.

Kronos bit into the sandwich and chewed, carefully piecing his thoughts together. "Like you said, everyone here is a failure of some sort." He finally said.

"You're right about that… no matter how many centuries you'd give them, no one in this town would be able to forge something half decent… but I still love this town." Bjorn quietly finished his sandwich, quickly followed by Kronos.

He took the plates to the kitchen and signalled for Kronos to follow him through the opened door that now stood before him. Slowly Kronos rose from his chair and followed, entering an absurdly hot room. On the right side there was a strip of flowing lava, next to it a large barrel of water and an anvil. Along the far wall and wall with the door, were tools of various kinds and on the right most wall were blades, hammers, daggers, spears and other weapons. The rest of the room was littered with resources and failed projects.

Bjorn grabbed a hammer and pulled out a long metal rod and dipped it into the lava before bringing it onto the anvil and banging it. "You see… we in this town are creators..."

Kronos found a wooden chair next to a blueprint table along one of the walls and sat down.

"We spend every waking moment trying to make something, whether it be a success or a failure… and despite what it turns out to be we are the father of that creation." He continued banging.

He dipped the rod in water before dipping it in lava again and resuming the banging. "So even if an invention is a success... or a failure… even if it's a giant mistake that shouldn't exist… if it's parents don't love it, then who will?"

He paused for a few moments, letting the question sink in.

"That's why I see this not as a town of mistakes but rather a town of love… a town where we love what we create so much that even if it's a failure we can't throw it into the lava..." Bjorn looked up and smiled.

"Though there are times when our creations dislike us and become cursed or bewitched weapons," He sighed as he stretched his back out, "And there are times when midway through making them we mess up and make a mistake..."

"But when that happens, we don't give up on them… we apologize and continue working away at them… because we want them to be the best… wouldn't you agree? FaFa!" Bjorn chuckled.

Kronos rubbed his hair annoyingly. "I have no idea what you're talking about..." Kronos rose to his feet and made his way to the door.

A bright light enveloped the room as Kronos reached for the handle.

"I'm sorry… Pops…." A deeper, more rumbly voice said the words causing Kronos to spin around wildly and his eyes to widen.

***

Prometheus sat expectantly, waiting for what Sky had to say.

"No..." Sky replied distantly, still thinking through his answer.

"So you would choose to let thousands, maybe an entire generation suffer rather than let that one individual give up their life?" Prometheus pushed.

"No..." Sky replied again with a distant answer, still unable to articulate the thoughts forming in his head.

"Well we can't always save everyone now can we? Mortal or not, we're not perfect!" There was a little bit of frustration, disappointment and harshness in Prometheus' tone.

"I wouldn't choose to let the one or the many die… I'd rather do everything that I can to save the one then choose to fight with the many." Sky turned to look at Prometheus, a steeled resolve shone on his face.

"And what if you fail?!" Prometheus pushed further.

"Then we all suffer the consequences together." Sky smiled.

For the first time in a long time Prometheus had no answer. He stared at Sky, shifting uncomfortably as he thought of what to say before grumbling and leaving. After a few moments Sky relaxed and leaned against the tree.

"Quite a tale wasn't that?" Jennifer said suddenly from the other side of it.

Sky closed his eyes. "You heard all that?" He asked for clarification.

Jennifer walked around to the other side and stood next to Sky. "Of course, there's no way I would leave you with someone as sly as that alone, who knows what he would do." She crouched down and hugged her knees.

Sky laughed and suddenly a distant silence filled the air between them.

"You're… different from the others… " Jennifer finally said.

"Hm?" Sky turned to her with a confused look on his face.

"The way you talk… how you agree to everything… how you're shy around some people but not others… it's all… different..." Jennifer explained.

"Why did you come here?" Jennifer asked after a brief pause.

Sky looked at her then looked at the canopy above and sighed. "Because Kronos promised to heal my mother." Sky finally said.

Jennifer nodded. "What… does she have?" Jennifer asked, struggling for words.

Sky decided that he would trust her and explained what had happened, how he had met Kronos, what his mother had, and the deal he had struck.

"Are you trying to say that you want to heal her because she gave birth to you?!" Jennifer suddenly yelled angrily as she quickly rose up.

"No! But.. it's my fault that she… ended up like that." Sky managed to say.

"That disease she carries is proof that she gave birth to you… proof that she loved a great man… has she ever… ever told you that she regretted giving birth to you?!" Jennifer yelled again.

"No..." Sky mumbled.

"Has she ever told you that she wanted to be healed?!" She yelled.

"No..." Sky mumbled again.

"Then why are you trying to forcefully do so?!" Jennifer yelled. "She knew Kronos, don't you think if she wanted to be healed she would've asked him to do so?!"

Sky stared in silence. "I just thought…." Sky started and trailed off.

"Listen very… very… clearly Sky, NEVER DEMEAN A PARENT'S LOVE!!!" She yelled.

Jennifer took deep breaths to calm herself. Her face had become bright red with anger as she tried to control her breathing. Sky stared, now remembering how his mother stopped him from making the deal.

"Children! Stay calm and listen to me clearly!" Prometheus suddenly erupted in a column of fire from in front of them. "A giant is here!"