Work Text:
When the boy was trapped, he was young, on the cusp of adulthood, out of the threshold of childish joy. He was a peculiar boy, taking after his father, the inventor, an innovator, a traitor. He was trapped in a world in which no one understood. He looked to the skies and saw endless possibilities. He looked to the sea and saw treasure waiting to be unveiled. He saw things they didn’t understand, things only the gods could control, and yearned to learn, to understand.
When the boy was trapped, he didn’t know why. But he yearned to, burned for it. So the golden boy waited, he watched, he learned. He studied cruelty, he understood fear, he knew bone-deep hate. And finally, after watching, and only watching, hundreds of thousands of birds soaring through the clouds, he finally found hope.
When the boy was trapped, the guards waited till their king, their majesty, their guide, had left. A hint of pity was given, along with an empty apology. They had left then, following their ruler and their duties. With eyes as stormy as the sea, he vowed to never forgive his captors, to never forget their apathy, but there were things to know and promises to break. When the tide had receded, along with the anger that was a danger, he found strings. They ran through the city, and the castle so far below. It was a web, he realized with a slow kind of shock. It ebbed and flowed, and was controlled by one man, the king, the monster. And when the time came, and the guards ran back, the vow had ebbed and changed with every step up the tower. With eyes as bright as the sun on the sea, he vowed never to forgive the king, his captor, to never forget the apathy that saved them.
When the boy was trapped, he listened to his father, followed his hushed words, watched deft hands as they weaved their freedom. In his free time, which there was a lot and too little of, he watched birds flying through the air, watched their wings twitch and spread through glass lenses. He watched and he learned as they flew, above the clouds, above to freedom, and fell at the last second, catching themselves as they live on whatever they call prayers. He watched and he learned so when he flew he did it too. He soared above the clouds as his father called for him to listen.
When the boy was trapped, before, during, and the short after, he wanted, he yearned, for more, for a sliver of knowledge he knew only he would treasure. So when he is given the chance, he takes to the air with a savage frenzy. He ignores the instructions, the guidelines his father put in place. To stay above the ocean, to stay below the clouds, where it is safe. But he does not want to be safe, he wants.
You see, when the boy was trapped, he fell in love with the sky, the sun, and the floating clouds. When the boy was trapped, he fell in love with the ocean, the fish, and the shimmery glare. So no, he wasn’t drunk on power when he flew higher and higher, reaching for the warmth he knew so well. He was hungry, hungry for knowledge, hungry for his love.
When Icarus burst through the clouds, wings already starting to melt, he laughed, like a starving man given a feast. As he basked in the warmth of the sun, he smiled long and wide, thinking of how long it took to reach, then he burned . When he fell, he was still laughing, feathers streaming around him and knowing he’d get to see the depths next. When he hit the water, he knew he’d never see the sky again, but he still smiled, for he was not a bird to catch himself with the winds. He was human. One moment was enough for him to know it, and he was content. As he sank, he kept his eyes open as long as he could, drinking in the shadows, the light, the sights. And when he finally slept, he let himself drift away from the world, always hungry for more.
(He doesn’t notice his body disappearing behind him, only focusing on the path ahead. It fades away, into golden dust, into nothing. He doesn’t notice the tug on his soul, going up, far above where he is headed. He doesn’t notice Helios claiming him as his, for even when he knew he would fall, he still flew.)