Chapter Text
His very first memory was of sweet smiles and bright laughs, rolling in fresh grass chasing after his older brother. His parents, Aeolus and Penelope au Elysium would watch from the sidelines with fond looks. They were good people, not great. But they were his parents and they did truly love their children.
The whispers of rebellion had been floating around for a long time. It was undeniable, the Rim wanted out from the Core. As the archGovernor of Callisto, his father had joined the Moon Rebellion. And he had paid the price for defiance.
The screams of his mother rang in his ears as an Olympic Knight executed his father. She was next. Astanyx, his older brother stayed strong for him before he too fell under the razor of the Olympic Knight. Which Knight was it? He couldn't remember. The details merged together into one unending mass. And he didn't really care about which one did it, all he cared about was that one of them did murder his family for daring to dream about a better future for themselves.
“Remember Achilles au Elysium. Remember that this is the price of rebellion. Remember my mercy and remember my blade. You owe your life to me.”
It was raining. Again. Who would've expected that Callisto would be raining again? Well, Achilles did. It was always raining in Callisto, well at least it was always raining in Valhalla. The soft pitter patter of water would be almost comforting if it weren't for the fact that Achilles au Elysium knew that he was absolutely fucked.
The young Aureate stared at the ceiling from atop his silk sheets. Was there a way out? Probably not. Well, he'd never particularly liked being him. After all, what was the point of being archGovernor if you couldn't even do archGovernor things because of your age? After his father's death, the Sovereign, Octavia au Lune, had oh so generously granted him the position of archGovernor at the tender age of six years old. Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. It totally wasn't as if the only reason he was given the position was because a child was much easier to control than a bunch of meddling Golds from the Rim. Oh. And there was also the fact that the Sovereign had forced him into the care of a particularly meddlesome Silver…
Achilles hated Sebastian ag Argentrove. It was a visceral hate stemming from years of attempted manipulation and coercion. He wasn't that stupid to fall for it. He was a child, not a fucking idiot but the Silver didn't seem to realise that. It wasn't even like Argentrove was even trying to hide the blatant manipulation. It was painfully obvious that Achilles was to be a puppet ruler dancing to the tune of Luna.
Hah. How funny.
The patter of rain turned into the patter of footsteps. Well, there Argentrove was. Probably there to lecture Achilles for another five hours about how he'd insulted one of the major families of Mars. Which one was it again? August? Augustin? Ah, Augustus. That was it. The godforsaken family of the archGovernor of Mars. They were all drama queens, the exact type of people that Achilles hated. Hypocrites. All of them.
“Ugh… So annoying…”
Achilles rolled over, barely even glancing at the door. Argentrove burst into the room.
“Now. Now. What is this I hear about you calling the archGovernor of Mars, and I quote, ‘a Pixie bitch with an ego bigger than Jupiter’?”
“It's exactly what it seems. I called him a bitch. End of story.”
The Silver sighed irritably, “This is why I told the Sovereign that you couldn't be allowed to go to meetings. You're still a child, too immature, too emotional. As the regent–”
“You forget yourself Silver. Who is the Gold here?”
“Ah, forgive me dominus. I meant no offence. I was merely attempting to increase your standing among the other archGovernors.”
“I don't need you to do that. You are dismissed.”
“Achilles–”
The young Aureate turned to stare Argentrove in the eyes.
“You. Are. Dismissed.”
With a huff and a flourish, the Silver left the room.