- Underworld -
Yvere had restored Lucifer and Hades's arms before the group left to retrieve Poseidon. Hades had insisted he be the one to retrieve Poseidon from the rooftop. Heinrich was carrying Death while Sabu carried Lao. Dimitri was weaving the rain around the group while they waited.
"Ya cannot be fuckin' serious, Luce," Peter mocked.
"How many times are you going to say that?" Lucifer asked.
"Every minute that this piece of shit is still alive," Peter responded.
Hades flew down, princess-carrying Poseidon. He dropped Poseidon with a thud and walked over to Lucifer.
"Your battle, your choice," Hades said with restrained anger.
Lucifer sighed. "You good on mana, Dimitri?"
Dimitri responded, "You sure you don't want to get your best friend there to take my place?"
Lucifer rolled his eyes, "Get up," He pulled Poseidon up out of the water.
"Now what?" Poseidon asked Lucifer.
"We'll discuss it back at the palace," Lucifer answered.
Yvere burped and tried to hold down her vomit. "I swear I've had more blood than most vampires ten times my age."
"Probably twenty," Lao said tiredly.
Yvere smiled, a bit of melancholy in her eyes. Her hands had been shaking for most of the walk to retrieve Poseidon. Among everyone in the group, she had been the most paranoid about another enemy attack.
Peter eyed the unconscious Death. "What do ya think he's goin' to say about this?"
"Don't know or care," Lucifer said as he lead Poseidon to the front of the group.
Poseidon bumped into Death's scythe as he walked past Lucifer. The pain of the scythe's touch almost made him react until he saw Lucifer's glare telling him to keep quiet. The group got back to the palace and proceeded to listen to Poseidon's story.
- Lucifer and Hades -
Lucifer put Death's scythe against the wall of the palace's armory. He clenched his hand behind his back a few times as he spoke to Hades.
"Like you said, my battle my choice."
Hades put Chronos's scythe against the wall. "You're a fool."
"Maybe," Lucifer responded. "Were you aware of your brother's situation?"
Hades snapped for a moment, "YOU MEAN HIM BEING A TRAITOR?!"
Lucifer tilted his head slightly and narrowed his eyes. "I'm not justifying his actions; I just want to know the story behind them. Did you know?"
"Of course I knew..." Hades admitted. "Every member of our family knew. It was...a frequent topic of discussion."
Lucifer spoke coldly. "And yet none of you tried to help him?"
Hades stomped forward and grabbed Lucifer by the neck. His eyes went black and the center of them filled with a small blue flame. He stared into Lucifer's eyes as he lifted him up. Lucifer's strong glare brought him back from his rage. He dropped Lucifer and spoke in an irritated tone of voice.
"You of all beings are going to judge me for how I treat my family?"
Lucifer rubbed his neck, "Our relationships with our respective families are VERY different. Let's drop this conversation before it gets worse."
"Agreed," Hades said through his teeth. "So, what do you think it means?"
Lucifer looked over at Chronos's scythe. "Probably Ragnarok. "Let there be another" was a popular saying during the years that followed Ragnarok. You know, before talking about Ragnarok was made forbidden."
"Stop saying its name," Hades's eyes returned to normal.
"You afraid Zeus will hear us?" Lucifer joked.
"Yes," Hades said genuinely.
Hades looked at Death's scythe. The pulsing black veins of energy running along the handle seemed to draw him in. Lucifer was examining Chronos's scythe when Hades shouted in pain.
"What in Chaos's name?!" Hades turned to Lucifer. "You were holding THAT for the entire walk here?!"
Lucifer shrugged. "Are you really that surprised that Death's scythe feels like torture to hold? I'm just happy it didn't blight my hand."
What Hades had felt when he touched the scythe was unnerving him. The burning sensation wasn't natural like a flame or hot metal; it felt more...instinctual, as if his hand was screaming at him to let go.
"Don't tell the others about it," Lucifer asked Hades.
Hades rubbed his hand. "Why? You're so eager to talk about the catastrophes but you don't want others to know something they probably could have guessed?"
Lucifer walked over and tapped his finger on the scythe. Each tap sent jolts of pain through his finger.
"Why isn't this known already?" Lucifer posited. "Death's story is one of the most well-known in this world, despite the forbidden-to-discuss parts about it. And yet, there's no mention of his scythe causing agony to any that touch it."
"If you don't know about it..." Hades mumbled.
"I don't, or didn't," Lucifer stopped tapping the scythe. "Either this development is new or Death's hidden it for a reason. Regardless, we both owe him the courtesy of keeping it a secret."
Hades agreed, "I think I owe him more than you do."
"No...I don't think that's possible, " Lucifer admitted.
'What exactly do you owe him?' The voice from before said in Lucifer's mind.
- Peter, Sabu, and Poseidon -
Peter and Sabu were tasked with watching Poseidon while Death was being kept in a separate room with Dimitri, Lao, Yvere, and Heinrich. Persephone was cleaning up what remained of the problems outside but insisted she gets a word with Poseidon when she finishes.
Sabu was resting next to Poseidon, his hand on Lucifer's dagger, ready to move at the slightest disturbance. Peter's hand was firmly gripped around the handle of his sword.
Poseidon examined Peter's sword as he spoke. "You've come a long way. I'm guessing the title "Devil's Blade" will gain more traction now."
"Who the fuck calls me that?" Peter groaned.
"Shadows," Poseidon informed. "You actually have quite a few feats for a... never mind."
"For a human?" Peter sarcastically grinned. "I guess ya can add killin' Chronos to that list."
Poseidon looked up at the ceiling. "I'm afraid only Death can truly make that claim. Speaking of feats, however," he glanced at Sabu, "Killing Apollo might earn you some ire from my family."
Peter grumbled, "Who the fuck cares what your family thinks? Especially after today?"
Poseidon glared at Peter briefly before seeing Sabu's eyes crack open slightly. He was reminded in an instant where he stood in his current situation, and that if the two humans in the room decided to kill him, no one would question it.
"Just be careful," Poseidon warned tentatively. "You don't deserve to get tangled up with my family's dysfunction. At least, any more than you already have."
"Thanks for the warnin' traitor, I'll keep it in mind," Peter said. "Ya know the reason we're not keepin' ya in the same room as Death?"
"I had gues-" Poseidon was interrupted by Peter.
"Because if he wakes up and sees ya alive, he'll kill ya without a moment's hesitation."
Poseidon snickered. Sabu's eyes opened and Peter tilted the sword's tip toward Poseidon.
"Implying Zeus won't do the same when he sees me," Poseidon leaned back against the wall.
- Yvere, Lao, Heinrich, Dimitri -
Yvere was running her hands along Death's body, checking for any injuries. She was fascinated by the feeling of Death's hunter form. She had initially been worried by the lack of a typical pulse but remembered teachings she had received from Saint.
Most of the teachings were about the differences in physiology between beings. Wendigos, for instance, have no detectable pulse. Yvere had been running through a lot of her studies, if only to keep herself calm.
Lao was passed out next to a surly-faced Dimitri. The sound of Heinrich's pen scratching on paper seemed to fill the room. Eventually, Dimitri spoke.
"Can't believe you're touching him in that state."
Yvere chuckled. "I've drunk the man's blood. I doubt touching him will be any worse."
"So his blood isn't poisonous?" Dimitri doubted.
"No," Yvere lifted Death's arm up. "In fact, his blood doesn't have much of a taste at all. His mana on the other hand is more like what you would imagine."
"Well-" Dimitri stopped and looked at Heinrich. "What the fuck are you writing?!"
Heinrich kept writing as he spoke. "I read up on Greek mythology during the years that lead up to this trip. I'm making notes on all the differences."
Dimitri scoffed. "You've been writing nonstop since we got back."
"Mmm," Heinrich barely responded.