A/N: Sorry guys! I know you are mad, but student teaching took all my time, and my strength too. It was worth it though. Now I can be a history teacher. To some of you that seemed pretty obvious with the subject of this fan fiction. I hope this chapter was worth the wait. Thanks to my beta, hhrsdaughter. Without her, this chapter would not be as good as it is. Please review, and happy holidays! Only the epilogue to go on this one. I hope it has been as fun to read as it has been to write. Enjoy; please review!
Chapter 26: For Honor, for Country, for You
"Hermione, oh no, Hermione," Harry whispered as he tried to kneel on the ground, for Hermione's body had gone numb and she could easily fall down as her hands were not really holding on to him.
He tried to sit her, maintaining a firm grip at the back of her neck as he began to hear her choke.
"Hermione, no," Harry pleaded as her chokes began to speed up. If something happened to her, he would never forgive himself. She was the reason, after all, that he was fighting this battle in the first place. Without her, it was not even worth it to continue this fight.
A sad chuckle suddenly escaped his mouth. It was ironic that his father did not come to his mind as he considered the worthy cause of this confrontation. Before he met Hermione, he would not have hesitated to finish Agamemnon, for the sole fact that it was his fault his father was dead. Even if it was by Achilles' lance, it was Agamemnon who had given the order in the first place.
Agamemnon's death however, though it would certainly feel good as far as Harry's ego went, would not bring his father back, and it would not bring Hermione either. Although his father's death had been somewhat bearable, for he had been 10 at the time, not old enough to understand how politics and love worked, he could not go without Hermione. She had been the best thing that happened to him, and he was not going to give her up now.
****
Oliver had been running right behind Hermione when he saw the arrow hit the left side of her back. He got his knife out and threw it at the Spartan soldier, disarming him. The Spartan soldier was too shocked to pick back his bow.
"We have got to get the arrow out."
Those were Oliver's first words as Fleur and he reached Harry's side.
By this time, Hermione's body had gone completely numb against Harry's and her chokes were desisting, replaced by laboured breathing.
"She will bleed to death!" Harry contradicted.
"The arrow cannot stay inside her!" Oliver pointed out."It will kill her!"
As an answer to Oliver's remark, Hermione tightened her arms around Harry.
Harry's breath hitched alongside hers, awaiting the pain that was sure to come for her. She would not look at him, a sure sign that she probably did not want him to see the genuine pain that was showing in her cinnamon-colored eyes. He suddenly regretted ever accepting Agamemnon's challenge. But he knew that they could never be together otherwise. However, what good was this fight if she was not to survive? Could Oliver save her? He sure hoped so? He needed her.
"One, two-" Oliver announced, his way of telling Hermione to prepare for what was to come.
"AARGHH!" Hermione screamed at the shooting pain. She clamped her eyes shut for a moment to ease the dizzying pain. She looked down only for a moment as Oliver placed the arrow at his side, his hands drenched in her blood.
She would not look at Harry. She knew he was already agonizing over her current state; that is just how he was. Their love was that strong, and she knew it. The genuine pain showing in her eyes, not to mention that her skin was probably looking very pale due to the lost of blood that she was sure she was experiencing would only make matters worse. But she was not sorry for what she had done, and she would do it again a thousand times if that meant keeping him alive.
The eldest Spartan princess could feel Fleur's frigid fingers against her side, only for a moment before she lost feeling again. She wondered if it was her conscious mind that made the numbness fade in and out. But no matter how cold she felt, and how much she wanted to close her eyes and rest for a short minute, she had been making and would make every effort to stay awake at least until she made sure that Harry would be safe. She knew her wound was deep; the numbness that her body was going through were a clear signal of her loss of blood. She wondered how much more she could stay awake before her body gave out.
"We have got to stitch the wound fast if you want her to make it. She is losing too much blood," Fleur stated frantically, her hands now trembling as they tried to press against her half sister's wound to try to stop the bleeding. But without stitches, she knew it was a losing battle. She would make it, but they had to act fast.
"It is my entire fault," Harry whispered as he kissed Hermione's forehead. "I am so sorry."
****
"Come out and face me, Trojan!"
Harry's emerald eyes became pools of ice as he heard Agamemnon's voice.
Now that Fleur had given him hope that Hermione was going to make it, he had to make sure that Agamemnon would never bother Hermione again. He just had to make sure that what happened to Helen once Troy was defeated did not happen to Hermione. No matter what happened, he would not allow the woman he loved to be her uncle's new pastime.
"Come on! You are not afraid of me, are you?" Agamemnon kept on taunting him.
"Do not go out there, please."
Hermione's whispered plea broke through his thoughts.
Harry gasped as Hermione's eyes bore into his. Her glassy look was a clear sign that her wound was getting worse. He was sure her pain was too, and that made him all the more determined to finish her sorry excuse for an uncle.
"Do not talk right now, Hermione. You will be all right," he assured her, if only more to assure himself that she would make it. She just had to.
"Harry, no!"
The princess of Sparta knew that his stubbornness would not allow him to listen; he would not stop, and that meant that her uncle could possibly kill him. Once again, even if she was aware of the consequences, she would rather be unhappy at Sparta knowing that Harry was alive than be unhappy at Sparta because Harry had died fighting for her to stay. Either way, it was not likely to end well. She had just bled for him! How much more would it take to make him see that she just wanted him alive?
"Hermione, maybe you should-" Oliver tried to intervene.
He knew Harry's motives and he knew that should Fleur and he be in this situation, he would do the exact same thing.
"Do not start with me," Hermione commanded shrilly. Unable to keep her breath, she choked the last word, "Oliver!"
"Oliver, I am not getting enough pressure here!" Fleur screamed, her hands now bathed in red liquid.
"We have got to go Hermione." Oliver tried to lift her, but she would not have it.
"Harry, I swear, if you go out there and Agamemnon does not kill you, I will do it myself. I will!
A slow, painful death," Hermione promised in between scattered choking, while her eyes threw daggers at him.
"Then I will die happy." Harry caressed her cheek. "Because I will be with you."
"Stop it," she growled, choking again, "Harry!"
She was not allowed to say anything else, for Oliver lifted her carefully into his arms while Fleur walked behind, putting pressure against Hermione's wound.
Harry sighed as Hermione's hand left his. At least he knew she would be all right. Now, he had to finish this.
****
Harry took his sword once more as he prepared to face his father's archenemy. Before the swords clashed, however, Harry was able to hear Menelaus's desperate plea:
"Stop this now Agamemnon! Hermione is hurt! Stop this before more blood is spilled!"
"Yes well, an unfortunate accident. She would not have gotten hurt if you had not infatuated her," Agamemnon voice responded, his voice indifferent.
"Bastard," Harry snapped. It was pretty clear to him that Agamemnon could not care less if his niece lived or died.
"Uh, uh, I was not the one left without a father at a tender age."
That did it. The two swords clashed like a shaft of thunder.
The most lethal movements were performed as both men fought with all the anger that could possibly be held. Who would win was anyone's guess. Harry's lithe movements challenged Agamemnon's brute strength, knowing that fighting was about more than that. Mental agility and willpower went hand in hand with physical training after all.
"For father, for Hermione."
These people were the only ones that occupied Harry's mind as he continued to fight.
As his sword was about to reach Agamemnon's chest, the king of Mycenae gave a sharp blow to his shoulder. Harry's body instinctively drew back as the force of the blow sent him collapsing onto the hot ground.
"See? You will never be rid of me. Imagine Hermione's face when I tell her that you have tragically passed away." Agamemnon's sword reached Harry's chest as Harry tried to fight the pain while steadying his breath. Harry was glaring at him with all that he could; his dark emerald depths throbbing with anger.
"Poor darling. She will be so depressed-"he continued maliciously.
Harry could not take it anymore. With his injured shoulder and all, he launched against the high king of Mycenae with such fury that his sword passed Agamemnon's chest from side to side.
"Now that would be a shame," Harry whispered as Agamemnon's body fell numbly into the ground. A few chokes were heard, before the last breath left his body.
-->