"Well, let's open the door, I gue-" pepper said, cutting himself off, as the big, stone doors began to open, seemingly inviting them inside.
"There weren't any guards outside, and the door opened itself." Thirteen said, explaining suspicious details.
"This massive castle... Hades' castle..." pepper mumbled, to himself.
"What are you saying?" Thirteen asked, confused about pepper's mumbles.
"I'm trying to think about what I know, and what I've seen about Hades. But I just don't know enough, I studied Zeus, not Hades." pepper said, explaining his mumbles.
"Well, what are we gonna do?" Thirteen asked, waiting for pepper to decide.
"Are you sure you want to do this, Thirteen, you really don't need to help me." pepper said, making sure she actually wants to.
"Yes, I'm sure. And I'm not doing this just to help you, I have my own reasons." Thirteen said, not elaborating.
"Well, fine then." pepper said, walking closer to the entrance of Hades' castle. "Let's go." pepper said, as he turned his head, waiting for Thirteen to begin following.
"We're just gonna go in? It's obviously a trap." Thirteen asked, feeling like pepper isn't thinking.
"I know, but if they know we're here, they'll find us anyway." pepper said, still standing with his head turned.
"You better have a good plan..." Thirteen said, as she began walking to pepper.
"Of course I don't. Come on!" pepper said, as he began to run into the castle.
"What? Hey!" Thirteen yelled as she followed pepper.
"Wow, this place is definitely fancy." pepper said, as he looked around.
"Yeah, the red walls are pretty nice, and those decorations..." Thirteen said, agreeing with pepper.
"Which way should we go? Left or right?" pepper asked, wondering which she'd choose.
"Um... Either way could be anything." Thirteen said, taking a moment to think. "I guess... Left." Thirteen said, taking pepper's arm and pointing to the left hallway.
"Alright, I was thinking the same." pepper said, as he began to walk to the left hallway. "Well, what are you getting out of this?" pepper asked, trying to make conversation to pass the time.
"Um... It has to do with what I said before, the thing I'll talk about once we're out of here." Thirteen said, looking away.
"Oh, alright." pepper said, going silent.
After a few minutes of walking, they both heard footsteps.
"Someone's coming..." Thirteen whispered, as she and pepper stood still, waiting.
"I'd prefer to do this... peacefully." A mysterious and deep voice said, sounding lifeless.
pepper and Thirteen stood still, both chilled in their souls.
'Who the...' pepper thought, wondering who it was and why he can't move. A shadow appeared down the hallway, coming from around the corner. Growing closer as the footsteps echoed through the hallway. And finally someone appeared.
"You two, I am Hades, God of the Underworld." Hades said, as he stands still to talk. "You have come into my home, you wish to let pepper's soul free, yes?" Hades asked, though he already knew the answer. "I cannot allow that, it's my duty to put the souls of the unfortunate where they belong, I won't let yours escape." Hades continued, as he began to slowly walk toward the two, giving them time to think. pepper started to breath heavily, he felt completely powerless and intimated. "Please... do not make me fight you." Hades said, as he grew closer, looking sadder at the thought of having to fight the two. "Girl, you're still alive, you have a long life ahead of you, please do not waste it for someone of... his kind." Hades said, trying to reason with either of them.
"Y-You... can't trick me, Hades!" pepper said, snapping out his frightened state.
"It is no 'trick', I simply don't want to hurt you, I see enough suffering daily..." Hades said, with a small sigh.
"I... I won't die, I will not waste my life." Thirteen said, as she pulled her scythe from under her hood.
"You think you can beat me? I have a duty to uphold, you simply wish to leave. My reason for fighting is much more meaningful." Hades said, as his pace picked up.
"R-Run!" pepper shouted, as he felt too intimated to fight. pepper turned around and ran, as Thirteen followed.
"Death Thirteen!" Hades shouted, causing her to stop in fear. "Do not run from me, if you stay still, then I will overlook this, and let you leave unharmed!" Hades yelled, trying to get Thirteen to listen.
"Death...?" pepper said, as he turned around to look at Thirteen. 'That doesn't matter right now.' pepper thought, knowing they can talk later. "Thirteen! Just run, come on!" pepper shouted, as he watched Thirteen hesitate.
"Um..." Thirteen mumbled, as Hades shadow came over her, her eyes widened, and she felt strong fear.
"Come on!" pepper shouted, as he grabbed her hand and began to run. Thirteen ran with pepper, though she was still scared, and her eyes still wide.
"Hmm..." Hades said, as he stood still and watched the two run away.
"Well, that way was a bad option, let's try right!" pepper yelled, as they both ran. "Thirteen?" pepper asked, as he looked at her, curious of why she didn't respond. pepper saw her with tears in her eyes, pepper then looked behind them, to see if Hades was following, but pepper saw Hades' shadow turn around and walk away.
"Hey, what's wrong?" pepper asked, as they stopped running.
"I-I... I-I..." Thirteen mumbled, trying to make words.
'I don't know what to do, I don't know what happened. But this really isn't the time...' pepper thought, feeling bad for her, but knowing what's more important. "Look, I'm sorry, I don't know what happened, but we're in enemy territory, you need to get ahold of yourself." pepper said, as he hugged Thirteen. Thirteen didn't do much, but after a few seconds, she hugged pepper back and started to cry a lot.
'I do not wish to fight either of them... Death Thirteen still has a long life ahead of her, and pepper is already dead, I do not wish him more suffering, even if I can smell nothing but the reeking of that awful smell... Zeus called it sin, but I disagree.' Hades thought, to himself, as he walked away. 'That smell... it's familiar, it makes me think of Persephone... my love. But why do I think of nothing but her?' Hades thought, asking himself questions, passing the time until he meets pepper again.
"I'm okay now..." Thirteen said, as she began to stop hugging pepper.
"Alright. You're lucky Hades seems to have left us, for some reason." pepper said, looking back at the hallway. "Well, we know what's that way, let's try right." pepper said, walking away from Thirteen.
"Um..." Thirteen mumbled, before she paused.
"Huh?" pepper asked, not expecting her to say much.
"About... my name..." Thirteen said, looking away.
"Hey, don't worry about it, we can discuss it once we're out of here. Come on." pepper said, walking away again.
'That's... what I planned to do at the start... But once the secret was out...' Thirteen thought, watching pepper walk away. 'Oh well.' Thirteen continued thinking, as she caught up to pepper.
Suddenly, loud thumping could be heard behind them, nd they both stood still.
"That... Doesn't sound good." pepper said, quietly.
"Yeah..." Thirteen agreed.
"It... stopped?" pepper asked, before he began to slowly turn around. pepper could see a large, three headed dog, it was completely gray, and the middle head had an eye missing, drool dripped onto the floor from its mouths.
"Holy shit! Run!" pepper yelled, as he ran down the right hallway. Thirteen followed, and so did the beast.
"It must be three times our size! So about sixteen feet tall!" Thirteen shouted, as they ran.
"Here, through this door!" pepper said, quickly, as he opened a door and waited for Thirteen to go through it before he did. As pepper rushed through the door, and slammed it shut, the beast snapped its teeth at where pepper was, and broke the doorknob.
"What room is this?" Thirteen asked, as she looked around a large, mostly empty room, there was a single, large bed at the back middle of the room, along with some dressers and drawers sprinkled here and there.
"I don't know, maybe Hades' bedroom?" pepper said, as they looked around.
"Seems too empty for that." Thirteen said, looking through an empty drawer.
"Didn't expect to find you two in my room." A man's voice said, coming closer from a door inside the room.
"Hey, who's there?!" pepper shouted, as he got on his guard, Thirteen was surprised by the shout.
"I assume you're the person I am to restrain." The voice said, as it appeared from beyond the door. It was a tall man, at least six foot, his hair went to his neck and was crimson red, he wore a mostly black. This guy's right eye was red, and his left eye was green. "I am Grimm, son of Hades." Grimm said, standing before both pepper and Thirteen. Grimm's eyes moved to Thirteen. "Thirteen, leave, now." Grimm said, with a demanding tone.
"Leave? Like hell I will! We need to get through the Gate, so just tell us where it is, and get rid of that mutt, while you're at it." Thirteen said, in her own demanding tone.
"So, you wish to leave Hell? That, I cannot allow. I am to restrain this man, and to kill you if you refuse to leave... which is something that I'd rather avoid..." Grimm said, sounding a little softer at the end.
Thirteen smiled, and looked away. "Haha... You don't want to hurt me?" Thirteen laughed. "Whatever, let's just make this easy." Thirteen said, knowing they'd lose if they faught Grimm.
Grimm stood still and closed his eyes, only for a moment. "I'm not sure what you plan to accomplish, but I am sure that he'll kill me for this... just like Shade..." Grimm said, with a sorrowful expression.
"What are trying to say?" pepper asked, looking suspiciously at Grimm.
"Well, I don't really know who you are exactly, but I'm just tired..." Grimm said, taking a moment to pause. "Tired of fighting... of killing... But I think I might be... sleeping soon anyway." Grimm said, putting an emphasis on third to final word.
'Is he saying he's gonna die...?' pepper thought, as felt unsure of how to respond.
"Look, you can nap some other time. If you're saying you're gonna help us, then you can just come with us, dumbass." Thirteen said, trying to make Grimm an ally.
"You want me to accompany you?" Grimm asked, as he walked a little closer. "I don't know... I've never been to the surface world before, I don't know what's up there..." Grimm said, still considering the idea.
"That's okay." pepper said, looking up at Grimm. "Earth is gone, at least, my Earth. Neither of us know what to expect after the Gate either." pepper continued, trying to give Grimm a sense if comfort, knowing he isn't alone.
"Earth is... gone? What happened?" Grimm asked, sounding curious.
"Well, I don't wanna go too much into detail, but there was this rainbow or whatever that dropped bombs and spun around in the sky, I guess it destroyed the entire planet, I'm pretty sure it has something to do with Zeus as well." pepper said, explaining everything as clearly but simply as possible.
"My uncle? And why would anyone destroy an entire planet? That's... disgusting..." Grimm said, finding it hard to believe.
"Well, apparently I smell bad, and Zeus doesn't seem to like that... So in an attempt to kill me, he decided to just destroy the Earth, which worked, and that's why I'm here." pepper said, thinking about his girls.
"I must admit, you do smell rather... sour... But that is not a just reason to remove an entire planet." Grimm said, feeling bothered by the innocent lives that were lost. "Fine, if I'm wanted then I'll accompany you. It'd be nice to get out anyway." Grimm said, with a small smile.
"Awesome! Help from a God? This'll be a walk in the park!" Thirteen said, sounding excited.
"That's the first time I've been called helpful. But don't underestimate my father, Hades, I've seen him do... interesting things..." Grimm said, squeezing his fist.
"Well, there's also that dog out there, what are we gonna do about that?" pepper asked, as he brought attention to the monster they saw before.
"Oh, Ceberus. He's great, we play all the time, but he guards the Gate, so he isn't gonna let you get through very easily." Grimm said, explaining Ceberus a little.
''He's great' He says...' pepper thought, as pepper pictured the image of Ceberus looking like a monster.
"So, what? We can't do anything about the mutt?" Thirteen asked, thinking that there must be something they can do.
"Well... he is a dog, so maybe if we distract him with a ball... or something." Grimm said, throwing out ideas. "Does anyone have a ball?" Grimm asked, continuing from his idea.
"I can spin a web into a ball, using Itsy Bitsy... Think I've done that before?" pepper said, as he begun spinning webs into a ball.
"Not sure what that is, but that should work." Grimm said, looking a little confused. "I hope we don't run into my parents during this, though my mother would be significantly better." Grimm said, making conversation while they wait for the ball.
"Well, we already had a meet and greet with your dear old daddy." Thirteen said, making it known that pepper and her have already met Hades.
"I'm surprised you're both still in one piece, he has a tendency to... remake things..." Grimm said, while slowly rubbing his arm.
"He didn't really seem to bad, just really intimidating. He mostly just wanted to compromise." Thirteen said, feeling like Hades isn't a bad guy.
"More than happy to rip my wings off my back but wants to talk to visitors... The bastard..." Grimm said, under his breath. "I don't recommend trusting that man." Grimm said, looking slighty upset.
"In any case, I made the ball." pepper said, holding out a ball if spider webs. "How should we do this, just go out and throw it... or what?" pepper asked, wanting to know the plan.
"That looks weird... Here, give it to me, it's more likely to work from a face he trusts. Stay close behind me, in case something goes wrong." Grimm said, as he took the ball of webs from pepper.
"Got it." pepper said, as Thirteen and pepper followed Grimm to the bedroom door.