- Underworld Group -
(Present)
The dining hall table was moderate in size. It had a few more seats than there were people sitting at it. Hades and Persephone sat at the head of the table with Death and Lucifer across from them. Heinrich, Sabu, and Yvere sat to Death's left while Elijah, Peter, Dimitri, and Lao sat to Lucifer's right. The table was mostly covered by large plates of food. Different kinds of pasta, pizzas, soups, stuffed bread, and more covered most of the table.
"For you, Yvere," Hades handed Yvere a small metal flask. "I hope ichor is to your liking. Most of the vampires I've spoken with have been quite fond of it."
"Thank you, Lord Hades," Yvere lowered her head.
"You can drop the 'Lord,' my brother isn't around," Hades grinned.
"So much...familiar food?" Elijah said as his mouth watered.
Persephone smiled. "Figured I'd go with human recipes. They're usually very popular among the Olympians. Speaking of," she turned to Death and Lucifer, "do you have any new recipes to sell?"
Lucifer eyed the food as he spoke. "Yes, we brought some more fusion recipes. I remembered you wanted to try Hawaiian and Ethiopian meals so I brought a few extra recipes along with the usual."
"Please, eat, drink," Hades said. "We can discuss business after."
The team dug into the food. Yvere had a large smile on her face as he downed the blood in the flask. Elijah stopped eating for a moment as a sad look filled his face.
Lucifer elbowed Elijah lightly and whispered. "I know how a good home-cooked meal can affect humans."
Elijah whispered back, "I just forgot how much I enjoy eating. Not just eating to relieve the depletion hunger but eating to enjoy a meal with others. I'll be fine..."
"How did the match with Poseidon go?" Death asked Lucifer.
"Well enough," Lucifer shrugged. "I lost, but I wasn't trying, so it evens out."
"You could have beat him if you gave it your all," Death assured. "I'm sure the arena wasn't fair but I feel like you've beaten worse odds."
Lucifer took a large bite out of a pizza slice. "He's not worth it. What's the best-case scenario? I win and get glared at by the Olympians or lose and get barely-hidden stares of condescension? I'd rather half-ass it and just move on."
Death spoke coldly. "I hope you were treated properly after all was said and done?"
'That explains Zeus's behavior,' Lucifer thought. 'I'm guessing Peter asked him to check with Zeus.'
Death whispered to Lucifer, "Hades said there was something off with Poseidon. Did you notice anything in your match or during the after-party?"
Lucifer finished a glass of wine quickly before answering. "He seemed off, but I don't know him well enough to say for certain. He left the after-party before I got there."
"Why?" Death said out loud.
Persephone and Hades were talking with Lucifer's team but turned their eyes to Death and Lucifer.
Lucifer whispered while quickly motioning his eyes to Persephone and Hades, signaling Death to be quieter. "Who cares? I don't want to give him any more room in my head than I need to."
"Fair enough," Death said.
"Better, worse?" Hades was asking Yvere.
"Sorry, but it's difficult to beat archangel blood," Yvere said wiping her mouth. "This is a close second though."
While Hades was speaking with Yvere about her favorite blood, Persephone was trying to get to know Dimitri better.
"I heard you paint?" Persephone asked Dimitri.
Dimitri tried to hide his annoyed expression. "And who told you that?"
"Peter did," Persephone said.
'You piece of shit,' Dimitri thought. "I do," He said politely.
"That's supposed to be good for water magic training, isn't it?" Persephone asked. "Helps with dexterity and visualization."
Dimitri said yes as he cursed Peter in his head more. The faint sound of chuckling could be heard coming from Peter.
Lao, Sabu, and Heinrich were having a conversation about Heinrich's and Sabu's training sessions.
"Any progress?" Lao asked Heinrich.
"Some," Heinrich answered. "I only train when I'm nearing depletion, so the sessions have been getting further apart."
"I'd say he's better than Elijah currently," Sabu said.
Elijah's ears twitched after hearing his name. He might have joined in on the conversation if he wasn't busy eating large portions of the food on the table. He had been worried that he was eating too much until Lucifer slid a plate over to him.
"Not hungry?" Death asked Lucifer.
"I ate at the after-party," Lucifer sighed. "Elijah and Heinrich haven't had Persephone's cooking before. They can have my share."
Death dipped a bowl of hot soup into his mouth. Lucifer was suddenly reminded of the awful taste in his mouth after the backlash from his flame breath. He made a sour look.
"You okay?" Death asked.
"I just...just reminded myself of when I was training my flame breath," Lucifer lied.
'How long ago was that?' Death questioned Lucifer in his head. 'Maybe he burnt his tongue during some kind of training? But he despises the taste of his burning tongue.'
Lucifer realized his mistake and started lying more. "I think I was trying to do too much at once. I forgot how much I hated the taste."
"My food?" Persephone asked.
"No no no," Lucifer assured. "My tongue, or melted tongue, to be more specific."
"O-Oh?" Persephone gave a curious look.
"Just a training mistake on my part," Lucifer said.
"When was the last time you made a training mistake?" Sabu asked.
Peter gave a subtle shake of the head to Sabu to signal him to be quiet.
"Are you sure everything's okay?" Death asked Lucifer.
"I'm sure," Lucifer said. "I'm still capable of making mistakes believe it or not."
Lucifer was desperate to shift topics. He knew there was one clear way to do so.
"How about a match after dinner?" Lucifer said to Hades.
Hades was surprised. "Really? I thought you'd prefer to just sit around and relax?"
"It'll just be a fun match," Lucifer said with a fake grin. "My master always used to tell me never to pass up the chance to challenge powerful fire gods for practice."
"When was the last time you saw Ember?" Death asked.
"Not since she trained me," Lucifer sighed. "She told me not to look for her unless I was looking for a match."
Hades and Persephone chuckled. Lucifer joined them, even though it wasn't a joke.
- Ash -
(Later in the story)
Ash bent down in front of the gray-skinned man before her. The man was covered in third-degree burns all over his body. The man looked around at the burnt remains of his allies. He stared up in horror as he attempted to crawl away from her.
"Stop crawling," Ash sighed. "You can't get away, you can't kill me, all you can do is give yourself a quicker end."
"You'll pay for this!" The man shouted unconvincingly. "You think my kind will just allow you to leave after this?! Everyone you know, your family, your friends, ALL OF THEM will die!"
"I have nothing for you to take," Ash smiled. "I know you're in too much pain to use your magic, so make this easier for yourself. Tell me where Tonatiuh is and you can die."
The man's excruciating pain made thinking difficult. He couldn't stand, his right arm was just dead-weight, and every inch of his body felt like hot nails raking his skin as he moved. That, combined with the fact that he knew he couldn't fight the woman in front of him, filled his mind with thoughts of an impossible escape.
"What do you want with him?" The man's voice grew weaker.
"What do you think?" Ash said in a bored tone. "The sooner I find him the less this kind of thing has to happen."
The man laughed weakly. "I don't know, he travels around. Why would we know?"
Ash groaned. "What's the quickest way to draw him out then?"
"I think...I think you've done enough..." The man said as he collapsed.
"Hmm," Ash hummed as she stood up.
The forest around Ash was charred to pieces. The scenery of blackened wood and orange flames continued as she walked forward. She eyed every charred body to make sure no one was faking their death.
'I'm just being paranoid,' She thought.
The destruction seemed to continue endlessly in every direction. Stone spikes, massive gashes in the dirt, and craters joined the burning imagery. Amidst all this destruction, the main two sounds that could be heard were wood breaking, and Ash humming a tune.
'Oy polnym polna moya korobushka...' Ash sang in her head as she hummed.