Work Book 2

The waves crashed nearby. The pounding of my heart thundered in my ears. Legend stood there, hand outstretched, waiting for my answer. The chanting of the Butchers in my mind echoed. "Fight, kill, show him our strength!"

Despite the fact they were only voices, they were hard to ignore. There's only so long anyone can listen to something before it starts becoming embedded in your thought patterns. That's how brainwashing worked, after all. Nobody was immune to that, not when they were isolated.

But Lucy and I weren't. The Butchers probably would have managed to drive us mad, quite quickly and deliberately, if either of us had been alone.

And so I gave Legend a smile as I put my hands up. I was aware of Lucy doing the same through the link.

"Goddamn it." One said. "Either killing him or being killed by him would have made us amazing."

Legend paused for a moment, as if he hadn't expected us to actually surrender. He stepped forward cautiously, his eyes narrow. "What's the game here, Butcher?"

I shook my head. "No game, Legend. And it's still Sunstorm, and Challenger. Just... with unwanted company." I nodded my way over to the cooking pot. "Want some soup? Chicken noodle. Not the best breakfast but I'll take what I can get. Also the Butchers hate it, so it's a bonus."

"Damn right we hate it. It's something for kids!" Five said.

"And you qualify, running around and drawing on the walls." I shot back.

"In blood! It's not the same thing!" Seven yelled.

Ricochet sniggered in the background.

"They're really fucking annoying." Lucy chimed in. "But we've been managing."

He took a moment, clearly hesitant to believe us. Then he frowned. "We won't let you go after the Blasphemies."

I blinked. "Uh..." I drew a blank.

Lucy filled me in. "Three Blasphemies. Europe's big A-class threat. Maybe S-class. There's debate. They go around and disrupt things, kill leaders, blow up buildings with important people in them. They've been killed before, but they keep coming back. Not sure why, but they do."

There was a feeling of sheer revulsion coming from the Butchers. As if the idea of being killed by the Blasphemies was like feeding oneself to... well, an Eldritch Abomination. Like the Devourer over Gotham that I'd been worried about. Or getting on the bad side of the Spectre.

"Fuck, she really is bug-fuck-nuts." Five said. "Spirit of God's Vengeance? What the hell?"

Shaddup you. Also, this world was even more screwed in some ways. At least back home we could handle the crisis, even when they piled on one after another.

Lucy shouted at Legend. "We didn't come this way for the Blasphemies or to roam over Europe for fun. We came to end the Butcher. We have a chance."

Legend was stone-faced as he kept his hand up, his lips tight.

"Legend," I spoke calmly, soothingly. "You know what happens if we fight and one of us dies. I know you think you probably can disable us, and yes, you probably can, but if anything goes wrong this gets way, way worse. I really doubt you want these assholes in your head. We're not here to hurt anybody. We've been trying our best not to hurt anybody, despite the problems we're facing right now. It's been two weeks, Legend. We're not gone yet."

Very slowly, Legend lowered his hand. "All right. I'm listening."

A moment passed, then Lucy coughed. "Can I put my hands down now? This is going to take a while to get through."

----------

"Hades." Legend said flatly.

I nodded. "God of the Underworld. God of the Dead. If anyone can help us get the Butchers out of our heads, it's him. Since we're being tormented by the souls of the dead, it fits his realm of expertise."

Legend just shook his head. "You warned us about the portal in the Aegean Sea. You told us about the dangers that might come from it. Now you think it's something that might help with this?" He took a moment to rub his cheek, right under his mask. "You know, if this was anyone else, I'd say this was completely insane."

"That's what I've been saying!" Seven yelled.

I lifted an eyebrow, allowing amusement to creep into my voice. "Since it's me, you believe it?"

Legend sighed with a wry smile. "More like it is insane, and just happens to be true. Still, it's a better solution than what I've been given." He took a moment to look at the two of us. "My orders were to bring you back. Though the Birdcage order was withdrawn, a facility was to be put in place to keep you both held indefinitely. Ideally you'd be put under sedation until a solution could be found, but the odds are we'd have to find a permanent power-cancelling Trump. One that isn't a murderous psychopath."

I grimaced. "No guarantee sedatives would work long on us. All it'd take is one little screwup, one of us dies, and this whole shit starts over again. And aren't Trumps of that kind rather rare?"

Two chortled. "Heh. I heard a rumor about one like that, some kid with a scream. Was going to go looking when the genius that was Gorger here saw the news about flying boats."

"Are you going to hold it over me forever?" Seven whined.

"Ships, Critical. They're called ships. And yes, we are Gorger. I told you a suicide run would end badly, but noooo." Four said in a long-suffering tone.

"They float. They're boats." Two shot back.

Ignorant of the arguments in our heads, Legend nodded. "Extremely rare. Last one we know about that perhaps could have done what we need temporarily was Hatchet Face. You were there when he was killed."

Lucy snorted. "Shit, if it weren't for Sun he'd probably still be roaming around. By the way, the memories of it? Ugly shit, but they deserved every bit of pain."

Legend's lip quirked. "I can't argue with that." Then he frowned. "I can't just let you go off, however."

"Legend," I spoke gently. "How dangerous do they think we are? Or rather, how dangerous do they think the Butcher will become?"

He winced. "Exponential growth, for one concern... that the Butcher collects powers each time is another. We were concerned you might pull more suicidal actions like what got you into this mess. If not, though... we just don't know why this happened, and so the governmental concerns are that you'd become mad and uncontainable. Even if we did stop you it runs the risk of whoever else becoming the next Butcher... or rather, the nearest two."

Lucy chuckled. "That why you're here alone?"

Legend nodded slowly. "I was the best bet for handling you both. Speed, ability, I can manage nonlethal attacks if I need to. And I'd hoped I'd be able to talk you both down, but... I can't take chances. Nobody else was even willing to get near you two. Right now, the PRT is in contact with the ambassadors of the major European governments, warning their response forces to keep their distance from you. Even this conversation is pushing it."

I nodded. "Understandable. The problem is containing us is just going to kick the can down the road. We don't know why we're suddenly two, linked minds sharing with these goddamned assholes. If something happens while we're kept asleep, or someone wants my power and gets a bright idea..."

Legend shook his head. "We wouldn't let that happen."

Lucy scoffed. "Like you guys wouldn't let this happen? I sure as shit didn't sign up to have the Butchers in my head. I don't even know why it's happened like this, anyway!"

"Neither do I, but at least it's been entertaining." Six said.

Five started making kissy noises.

I sighed. "Look... right now there's four things that might happen. You bring us in, inevitably someone's going to get a bright idea, kill one of us, and a new Butcher or two or more may be running around. Not today, maybe not for years, but it'll happen. Two, we go to Hades, he might help us, we come back free of the Butcher. Maybe end the Butcher forever. Three, we go in, and don't come back. What we're doing is dangerous, but at least it's just us taking the risk."

Legend nodded slowly. "And option four?"

I grimaced. "If I'm wrong and it isn't the realm of Hades on the other side of that portal, we'll be someone else's problem."

Legend folded his arms, clearly considering the options. "And if the Butcher shows up again, with your power and without your restraint?"

I shrugged. "You're no worse off than option one."

"Slightly worse off." Legend said quietly.

Well, can't argue with that, there.

Silence reigned over the three of us for a moment, then he sighed. "Right. I need to send this past some of our Thinkers."

"Legend," Lucy said gently. "We all know what they say isn't that reliable. They'll say our plan is blue and the forecast calls for meatballs. Let us try." She gave me a nod. "Sunstorm's memories are fucking nuts, but it's a consistent kind of nuts. She ain't making this up."

I shrugged with a helpless smile. "If you're really worried, escort us there. Clear the way. I don't want to hurt anybody, and I'd really rather not have someone get hurt through sheer stubbornness."

Legend mulled that over. Finally, he chuckled. "You have a point. Still need to put it by some people. If nothing else we can't just go to Greek territory without some authorization. You two being here on the Portugal coast already breaks a bunch of laws. Only time we get open borders is during an Endbringer attack, and this doesn't qualify."

I nodded. "Right. Well..." I turned to Lucy. "Lunch?"

She nodded seriously. "Lunch."

"Not more soup." The Butchers groaned.

-----------

It took a while, with Lucy and I sharing the fire, and Legend talking with someone on his earpiece. We took advantage of the time to sleep a bit, though instead of at the same time, in staggered shifts. In the Underworld, sleep was death, and neither of us really wanted to take the risk of going in there tired. Having to fight out as rebellious shades would be much, much harder than our current mission.

Finally, as the sun was setting, Legend strode back over towards us. "I have no idea how they arranged it, but the Greek government has agreed to allow you to go through the portal. If you go on the mainland, however, it'll spark an international incident. It could spark a war. So if you try, I'm authorized to take you down. Even if it means I have to go through the portal myself as a result."

"Head for shore!" One cheered.

"Raise some hell!" Four said, equally cheerful.

"Do it, do it, do it." The Butchers started chanting in unison.

I fought to keep from rolling my eyes.

Lucy sighed. "We get it, Legend."

He quirked his lip. "They don't shut up, do they?"

"Us? We're as polite as a Jehovah's Witness, we are!" Five said with faux-enthusiasm.

"No. No they do not." I said, grinding my teeth. "So... we'd better get going. Before we start thinking they give good advice."

----------

Legend literally lit the way as we went. Lucy once more in the truck, and I carried the vehicle above my head. Not for the first time, I was disappointed at the loss of all my Byte's features. It was just so much harder to navigate without it.

Still, as we arrived above the tiny island where Themyscira should be back home, I felt a bit of relief. Soon, soon, this would be over.

"Aww, you're gonna miss us." Six said.

"This is insanity..." One growled.

"Like you can talk." Lucy broadcast over the link. "You've only got yourself to blame for this. If you'd chosen to be a hero, to be a decent person, your legacy could have been worth something. The eternal champion. Instead, you went and became a psychopath who skins people alive."

Silence reigned over the chorus for a moment, then Ricochet started laughing. "Would have been interesting."

"Eternal champion, huh?" Four sounded pensive. "Would have had to go to someone else entirely. We're just not made for that lovey-dovey shit. Might have been nice to not have to move all the time, though. Kind of an interesting what-if."

I slowly flew downward, following Legend toward the entrance of the grotto. Carefully, with the lapping waves threatening to take the truck away, I set it down on the beach and helped Lucy get out. Then I grabbed the beef, now rather thawed, but with it wrapped in plastic it would probably still fulfill our purposes, anyway.

Lucy had the handbag with the twenty drachmas, and the wine bottle. I carried the hunk of beef on my shoulder, and together we followed Legend into the chamber itself.

Looking around, I saw some work had been done. Sensors, cameras, and a few other devices lay strewn throughout the chamber. All circling around and keeping an eye on the fist-sized, blood-red malevolent portal that hovered in the air at the back of the chamber.

Legend nudged a sensor with his foot. "They brought this stuff in by helicopter. Took some convincing to keep an eye on the possibility... helped that the US Government offered funding assistance." He looked at us seriously, folding his arms. "Any idea how long it's going to take?"

I shook my head. "Time's a variable. We could be in there for hours or days. If we're not out in a few days on our personal timeline, we won't be leaving, though." I winced. "Right, before we go in, we should..."

Lucy groaned. "We should have stolen a porta-potty."

Legend just looked faintly amused. "Sorry, but I do have to keep an eye on you. I'll try to give you some privacy."

Said privacy ended up being a curtain of lasers around us as we did our business, but the thought counts at least. A few minutes later, we returned to the chamber, after having washed our hands as thoroughly as possible in the ocean water. I really hope Poseidon isn't paying much attention here. If he is I just know I'm going to get a storm following me for the rest of my life.

I let out a breath as I approached the portal, grimacing as I tried to think of all the ways it could go wrong in there. There were a lot of points of failure, and I didn't like it. If we could get past Cerberus. If we could convince Charon to take us straight to the throne, and not just get lost in the ever-shifting labyrinth of the Underworld. If Hades would hear us out and do as we ask. If we would even be able to leave again.

If. If. If.

"Teeth. Teeth. Teeth." Butcher One chanted, which was quickly taken up by the rest.

Lucy put her hand on my shoulder. "Not much choice, Sun. I can't have these guys in my head forever. Can't have them in your head either. I'd rather not be reduced to a screaming voice, as well." Like Tom, went unspoken.

I nodded. Right. I could just burn them out of my head anytime, but I wasn't going to let Lucy face this alone. Not the Butchers, not Hades. Not before I'd seen her memories, her thoughts, and certainly not after. Underneath it all she was a beautiful person, and her mind was a warm place indeed. She didn't deserve this fate. Nobody did. Not even the Butchers themselves.

"Aww, how lovely you think of us." Five said with deep sarcasm.

Turning back to Legend, I gave him a wan smile. "This may be our last chance. First, I want to thank you. For giving us this chance. And for helping the flight, I might not have been able to save it otherwise."

He nodded with a small smile on his lips. "Was glad to help. Was glad you were there. I'm sorry it's come to this."

"No helping it." I huffed. "There's two things, if this goes wrong and we don't come back. First... there's a kid who Triggered in Brockton. He's probably signed up for the Wards now. Trevor. Just... look in after him. Make sure he's doing okay. I was trying to ease things for him when this whole stupid Butcher thing happened. He needs help, and I'm worried that if he doesn't get it, he'll do something stupid and get himself killed. He was suicidal when I found him."

Legend nodded, looking concerned. "I'll look after him. The other thing?"

I flushed a little in embarrassment. "In my desk is the check to pay you back for the little tour while I was looking around. And the burger, back in Canada."

He blinked, then let out a chuckle. "No big deal. Classed as a business expense. Tell you what... you get back here without your hitchhikers, we'll call it even." He looked to Lucy. "Same goes for you. We need all the heroes we can get."

Lucy smirked. "Appreciate the vote of confidence."

Taking the beef package on one shoulder, and with Lucy's hand linked with my own, we strode toward the burning portal.

As we approached, it seemed to unfold like a blooming flower, glinting with a dull red light. It had a sense of wrongness, as if it was not for the living. Well, duh, of course it wasn't for the living. Yet, it was also a familiar wrongness. I'd been through the portal before, been to Hades on two other occasions. This, at least, was familiar if dangerous ground.

"Let's hope Hades is in a welcoming mood." I muttered.

Lucy nodded. "I want to say something deep and profound right now, but I'm drawing a blank."

I couldn't help but chuckle.

"One small step for Lucy, one giant leap for heroes!" Ricochet said, imitating the sound of static as he did so.

The Butchers groaned.

"Right." I said. "Moment ruined."

Together, Lucy and I strode into the portal.

Travelling between planes was, as always, unpleasant.

I'd been to Hades before, as well as Olympus, and Hell. I'd been to New Genesis and Apokolips, which contrary to popular belief were not just worlds somewhere out there in the universe. They had the shape of worlds, at least to my senses, but they weren't. They existed in dimensions and on levels of existence that my mind just wasn't built to comprehend. But in my flesh, my bones, they always felt off. It was like a humming vibration, only it wasn't heard in my ears or my mind, but in some weird othersense that I didn't have the words to describe.

That familiar feeling was back, severalfold, as the portal deposited myself and Lucy in a large open chamber. The walls and floor were black obsidian, but the open ceiling showed not simply a sky but a shimmering, ever-twisting mass of purple clouds. I knew it wasn't just a sky. It was the dimensional barriers 'above' the Underworld of Hades, and what I could see was only the barest, smallest way I could comprehend it.

"This is fucking weird." Lucy said. "And... did you always glow when you came here, before?"

Glow?

I turned to look at Lucy, and blinked. Coming from her head was a shroud of multicolored light, streaming off into filaments and bending in the air in a way my eyes just didn't want to follow. It seemed to go off into nowhere. Looking carefully, I could see eight streams of light coming off her head, the various colors twisting around each other, as if someone had taken a rainbow prism and coiled it around itself. Red, blue, green, yellow, more red, black. I had to fight back a shudder at the thought of more black light.

I really didn't need to have Black Lanterns drop in.

Predominant was a red stream arcing off into the distance, and I grimaced as I looked through Lucy's eye and saw the same thing attached to my head.

"Is that us?" Five asked with a subdued voice.

"I guess so." I murmured. "That's not something I saw here before. If that's the rest of you, that makes sense. But... we can't just gawk at things. We're on a time limit."

Lucy nodded. "Right. We can compare notes later."

On the far end of the chamber was an opening, large enough to drive a bus through. We started towards it when six red eyes lit up in the darkness.

The ground thudded with weight. You might expect a dog's paws to be soft, maybe click on stone. Not with the sheer weight of the five-ton Cerberus.

He was black, almost as black as night itself. As large as a bus, but definitely much more dangerous. Though to say Cerberus was a he was definitely inaccurate, as the great dog had three heads and three distinct personalities. The middle head looked at the pair of us with intensity, as if we were lovely little unexpected snacks thrown into his bowl. The left head tilted, his tongue lolling out, seemingly eager to play. The right head just sniffed at us, letting out a growl that reverberated throughout the chamber.

"Please don't get eaten by the dog." Two said nervously. "I don't want to be sniffing giant dog ass for the rest of eternity."

There was an echo of affirmation from the rest of the Butchers.

Lucy snickered nervously, which was quickly silenced when all three heads swerved to look at her.

I set the wrapped up cow carcass on the ground and ripped off the plastic covering it. The smell of it wasn't that pleasant, but it did get Cerberus' attention.

"Hey boy!" I called out to him, keeping my voice gentle. "We need to see Hades, and we're going to be in and out as quickly as possible. In exchange for trying to not eat us, we're going to give you this. It's a nice treat from the world of the living."

"The hell are you doing!?" One demanded. "It's a dog! Just smash its faces in!"

"Yeah, because that'll go over real well with the master of the house." Six said with deep sarcasm.

I shot back. "He's a dog, but he's a dog enhanced by a god. He understands every word we say."

Cerberus' eyes narrowed on all three heads. Very carefully, Lucy and I stepped away from the carcass.

The heads seemed to exchange glances between themselves, then the left one let out a bark, tongue lolling out happily. Then all at once the massive guardian of Hades bounded forward, the three heads ripping into the offered meat with a great amount of enthusiasm.

Gently, I picked up Lucy and floated though the entrance Cerberus guarded. The great dog was seemingly intent on his snack, and flying past was a lot quieter than running past as most people would have to do.

"Think it worked?" Lucy whispered as we flew down the hall, wrapping her arms around my body.

Then there was a trio of howls from back the way we came.

"Nope. Didn't work." I said worriedly as I poured on the speed.

The bounding paws of Cerberus followed me as I flew down the corridors as fast as I dared. They began to split into open rooms, filled with desperate shades, monsters, harpies. They scrambled out of our way as Cerberus barrelled along, quickly catching up to us despite the head start I had. His howls were actively painful, making chills run down my spine, and I could feel his breath panting over my wings and back as I flew away.

I could fight Cerberus. I could perhaps even defeat Cerberus. But I sure as shit couldn't do it while protecting Lucy. If not the giant dog, it'd be one of the hazards that would happily take her out.

Then the maze came to an abrupt end as we reached a platform jutting out over a river of blood and fire. Cerberus nipped at my heels, but came to a sudden stop as we hovered over it, letting out howling barks that rang in my ears.

I breathed heavily as I looked down. Cerberus looked back up, as if I was a cat that had climbed a tree just out of reach, barking and growling at us.

I feel like I owe cats everywhere an apology.

"You can't catch us." I called down to the monstrous dog. "And you might be letting shades get out."

Cerberus' middle head huffed. The left head looked up at us, tongue lolling out happily. The right head just stared intently at us. Finally, Cerberus turned around and thudded his way back toward the portal.

"Lovely reception." Lucy remarked. She looked downward. "Not exactly the nicest place to swim, from the look of it."

Four sounded interested. "I'm guessing that's the river Styx. Doesn't look that inviting. How did Achilles get dipped in that, anyway? It looks like it'd peel bones right off flesh."

"Probably would." I admitted. "It's the blood of a Titan, though I don't know which one. You need god's blood to handle a swim without too much trouble. Even then more than one dip would probably end badly."

We floated for a few moments as I looked around. Which way to go?

"So...." Lucy spoke. "Which way from here?" She carefully held the pouch full of coins, and wine bottle, to her chest.

I grimaced. "Honestly? Not sure. The Underworld tends to shift around. When I came here before to assault it, things were in chaos, but I knew where to go due to Wonder Woman leading the way. This time I'm a bit blind. We need to find-"

A long, slow groan echoed from upstream, and slowly a boat came into view. It was a small rowboat, and at the rear was a skeletal figure in a robe. He paddled his way through the burning blood without a care, moving his craft with practiced ease.

"Charon." I finished.

"This is weirdly convenient." Lucy said.

"You were noticed." Charon spoke with a voice akin to a coffin lid slamming shut. "It is rare the living willingly enters the realm of the dead. At least, by your method." He steered the boat up to the dock, and I drifted downward, setting my feet on the obsidian surface.

Charon held out his hand. The fingers still had flesh, but his skin was pale, gaunt, and his bones were visible. He looked like a child could beat him up. I knew better than to assume he was weak, however. More than one shade ended up in a very terrible place due to pissing off the Ferryman of the Underworld.

Lucy pulled open the bag, pulling out two drachmas. She gently placed them on Charon's hand.

Charon lifted the coins, then let out a chuckle. "The usual price is an obol. Are you attempting to bribe me, to curry my favor by overpaying me?"

Shit. I hadn't thought of that.

Lucy put on a winning smile, her voice filled with the honey of someone who was very practiced with public relations. "Of course we aren't attempting to bribe you, good Charon. We are paying for passage to Hades and back again. A mere obol would simply let us cross the river once, yes? A drachma would be worth the return trip as well."

Charon mulled that over, then a rumbling chuckle escaped from under his hood. "Two more drachmas then. Each."

Lucy nodded. "Very well." She took out two more coins, then held them up. "Two now, two when we start the return trip."

Charon's chuckle was chilling. "Acceptable."

----------

Charon pushed us downriver, steering us on the crimson river with an ease that spoke of long, long familiarity. When he pulled up to a dock, I could feel Lucy's wonder and fear as she looked up at the palace that was waiting for us.

It seemed to be made of obsidian. It wasn't simply a palace, but a citadel, built with arrow-slits, a bridge leading to the gate with multiple portcullis layers, and a currently unfilled moat. To the sides of it I could see the cherry-red of heated steel holding back an absolute river of lava. More importantly were the shades of the dead. They worked, floating this way and that, shoring up the citadel, dragging stones and mortar, oil and pitch. I could feel the vibration in my bones grow deeper, more insistent, though I had no idea what it meant.

To the right of the citadel was a skull, nearly half the size of the citadel itself. It was buried into a mountainside, empty eye sockets looking outward, with streams of lava pouring into those same eye sockets. Despite the fact it was clearly dead, there was a sense of sheer pain exuding from it.

"Please tell me that's just a big bit of art and not a real skull." Two said.

Ricochet cackled. "Or the big guy got a bit mad at the former owner."

A carefree, playful whistling got my attention. From the gateway strode a handsome man wearing a red toga. He had an easy, playful smirk on his lips, and he was fit. One eye was a brilliant green, the other a blood red. He walked towards us without a seeming care in the world.

"Quite the hunk." I caught from Lucy.

"Hubba hubba." Four agreed.

"Why thank you." He said smoothly.

Lucy blanched. "Uh... did I say that out loud?"

His smirk grew. "No, but it was rather easy to hear, regardless." He looked between us, taking a moment to scratch his chin. "You two seem to have an odd condition, indeed. Glowing with power not your own, and all that. Verrrrry interesting. Almost as interesting as dear old granddad over there." He drawled, giving a nod toward the gigantic skull.

"Holy crap." Four muttered with awe.

One was quiet, but I could sense a feeling of deep-seated fear from him.

"Skull of Cronus. Yeah..." I broadcast back.

I cleared my throat. "We need to see Hades, to possibly help fix this mess."

"Hmm... Yes I can imagine that would be an issue." He snapped his fingers. "Ah, where are my manners? I'm so used to everyone knowing who I am." He took a moment to give us a smooth, elaborate bow. "I am Zagreus, Prince of the Underworld. My father is expecting you." He took a moment to look me over. "It's not often we get a visit from the neighbors, but your presence is welcome here, regardless."

I nodded. "I'm Tracy, this is Lucy. I don't have any fancy titles, but we do bring a gift."

Lucy proudly held up the bottle of wine.

Zagreus smiled pleasantly. "Well, we'd best get underway, then. Far be it from me to keep Father from his tribute."

----------

Zagreus led us through the winding palace with an ease that spoke of long familiarity. His voice was rich, enticing, and it was actually quite interesting.

"After my father and his brothers struck down the Titans, Cronus was dismembered and his parts sent all over the Underworld. In the deepest parts, actually." Zagreus gave us a wry grin. "He didn't want even the smallest part of dear old granddad experiencing even the tiniest flicker of a paradise, not the Elysian Fields nor Elysium. Quite a bit of anger over that whole 'swallowing us alive' thing. Go figure, held a grudge. Guess I would too if I had to grow up being always boiled alive by stomach acid."

"That why the skull is where it is?" Lucy asked with curiosity.

Zagreus shrugged. "Probably. He doesn't tell me his reasoning, but that's as good a reason as any to shove lava into the eye sockets for eternity, I suppose." He cast a look between us. "I figure you two probably have something to handle. Hopefully it ends up better than dear old granddad. Though you could be rolling a boulder uphill for the next millennium or so."

"Probably better than voices in the head." Lucy muttered.

"Hey!" Seven shouted.

"She's right. It is better than voices in the head." I agreed.

That brought an entire chorus of indignation from the Butchers.

Finally we were led to an elaborate hall, statues of armored Greek heroes standing to either side of us. They were made of gold, shining in the light of white flames coming from the throne room.

Hades himself sat on his throne. Unlike Zagreus who was human-sized, Hades towered in the room. If he stood, he would be at least twenty feet tall. He wore a black toga, his face was severe but handsome. He had a black beard trimmed short, a golden crown sitting on his head. A small blue flame erupted from the front of the crown, where one might expect a jewel on a mundane crown.

The Lord of the Dead was busily reading from a scroll, a frown on his lips. Without even looking up, he spoke, and the Underworld itself seemed to resonate with his words.

"If you are here to entreat me to end your banishment, succubus of Trigon, I cannot help you."

My... banishment?

My banishment?

It felt like a yawning chasm below my feet.

My banishment? What the hell...

The Butchers remained quiet, for once. I could feel them in the back of my head, but it seemed they were hoping I would just forget about them. Or maybe just afraid that Hades would hear them?

My banishment?

The thought seemed all-encompassing. My heart hammered in my chest. I wasn't a demon! I couldn't be banished the normal way!

"Can't happen, not with you or the others with the same problem, Sunstorm." Zatanna told me with a gentle smile, even as she fiddled with the boxes and props to prepare for her newest show.

I nodded, a nervous smile on my lips. "Can you humor me? I don't get magic. My own stuff is like flexing a muscle. I'm just afraid that I could get caught up in a general spell like that and find myself in Hell with the rest of them."

Her smile turning soft and understanding, she nodded. "Right, I get that. Here's the thing. Any being that comes from one of the planes, be it an Old God, demon, New God, angel, or whatever else, has a connection to it. People also have a connection to their own homeworld. Flash describes it like vibrational frequencies, that works for various universes throughout the multiverse. You can traverse different worlds by shifting that frequency. Sounds easy but it's really hard to do. Planes are like a twisting frequency, compared to just different universes. Higher or lower. Still, everything's piled up in one spot, in at least one way anyway. Follow me so far?"

I nodded, tilting my head. "So how does a banishment work?"

She snapped her fingers. "By sensing and resetting the shift. Demons bring a bit of Hell with them, and by hitting them with the spell, you're casting them back into their native plane. Think of it like having a portal right behind them all the time. You just give it a little push and back it goes. It's harder to banish a god, because they're so much more than a typical demon, but it's still doable provided you can either weaken the god enough to overpower its desire to stay or just have more juice than it can bring at once. Not easy considering gods, but there it is."

"So...?" I trailed off.

She grinned. "Want me to check for sure?" At my nod, she spoke, and it felt like ice flowing over my bones."Laever." A moment passed as she looked me up and down, in a way that I'd gotten used to after... all this, but thankfully without the drooling part. Or the run-away-screaming part.

Finally, she chuckled. "Nope. You belong here, with the rest of us."

So how...

Lucy's mind washed over my own. Wordless, but gentle care stilled the yawning pit of despair I was currently feeling. Brought me back to the moment and realizing that fuck I'm under the gaze of a god.

Hades was looking at me, seemingly amused by the quirk on his lip. "Done?"

I nodded helplessly. "Yes sir."

"Good." He nodded, a slight smirk on his lips. "Why are you here?"

I swallowed in a suddenly dry throat. I felt like an insect beneath the gaze of a very hungry bird.

Lucy spoke with a wavering voice, holding up the bottle of wine. "W-we are being tormented by the voices of the Butchers. They're in our heads, their minds, their powers are ours, but should we die we will suffer their fate and be in someone else's mind, driving them mad. We need them out. We offer tribute, and request your aid."

A moment passed as Hades looked us over. At the twisting, glowing filaments flowing from our heads. His lips turned into a frown as he rose from his throne in a smooth, unnatural motion. He stepped toward us, his cold dark eyes examining us closely.

Finally, he spoke. "Interesting. Very interesting. How many voices do you hear?"

I took a moment to clear my throat. "We hear each other, over the link, but seven of them."

I could feel the Butchers being quiet, thus allowing us to hear Ricochet's desperate plea. "Please. I want this to end. Please tell me you can help me."

Hades tilted his head slowly, then he let out a soft laugh. "It is not often someone comes to me for help. You say there are seven voices in your heads. You are wrong. There are fifteen."

Fifteen? Then why...?

"Fifteen!? What the hell is he on about!?" Butcher exclaimed.

"Are these two bitches just having a dying hallucination?" Five spoke, his voice filled with a mixture of dread and hope.

Hades' hands snapped outward and grasped the twisting, winding tendrils of light coming from our heads. Mine in his right hand, Lucy's in his left. With a sudden yank, and an immense amount of blinding pain, the light pulled from us.

I hit the floor, a choked scream tearing its way from my lips. Lucy hit the ground beside me.

It took a few minutes for my sight to recover. For me to stop screaming. For the yawning chasm in my brain to close... metaphorically, that is. That's what it felt like, where Lucy's mind was...

Lucy.

Lucy!

I scrambled to my feet, looking at her, and my breath caught. Surrounding her, surrounding us, were the glowing forms of the shades of the Butchers, and something else, floating behind, through, and threaded through their bodies to such a degree it was impossible to tell where one ended and the other began. Ever-shifting tesseracts made of crystal and flesh, eyes that glowed and seemed to see through me. Tentacles of light and crystal, both real and ethereal. Utterly alien, and in a way that I wasn't familiar with. It was closer to the sheer monstrousness of the Devourer that attempted to take Gotham than the friendliness of Martian Manhunter.

One tendril speared through the back of Lucy's head. I was certain one speared through mine.

Butcher One was a huge man, standing at six and a half feet. His muscles bulged, and his features were scarred. He glowed red, an angry blood red, the light seeming to boil beneath his skin. His power writhed behind him, the tendril of it wriggling as if in anger.

Two, Critical, was thinner, more wiry. With a full head of hair and a look of confusion, he got to his feet and looked down at his hands, wriggling them in wonder. He was glowing a soft, sickly green, and the tendril of his power flowed down his back like water.

Four, Reaper was a woman with short spiky hair and a nearly deranged grin. Her shade was gray, her hands stained black with soot and filth. She took a moment to examine her hands, then look up at Hades with a look of wonder.

Five, Bonebreaker, was a young, wiry and thin man, looking more like a martial artist than a brute. He dropped from his feet to his knees, running his fingers over the dark blue-gray floors that made up Hades' throne room. He was glowing a faint yellow, but his hands were coated in red, the ethereal blood dripping endlessly from his fingers.

Six, Sprite, was seemingly made out of fire itself, the wriggling tendril of his power arcing off into this distance and writhing like my own flames. He let out a mad cackle. "Free, freeee! Holy shit I'm free!" He turned to run, but he'd only made it a few dozen steps before he was literally blasted back into the throne room by an explosion. He tumbled and rolled, grunting in pain, before he decided to just lie on the ground.

Zagreus stepped into the throne room proper, looking amused, as he held a fireball in his hand. "Caught your runaway." He scuffed at the floor with his flaming foot. "Never have any bit of thought in them these days, do they?"

"Thank you, son." Hades spoke with a tiny hint of amusement.

"Quite welcome, dad."

Seven, who I only knew as Yancy, was just sitting in place. He was young, looking almost highschool age at most. His shade glowed with an orange light, and he turned toward me. "You! You wrecked everything!" He yelled as he scrambled to his ethereal feet.

As he charged at me, I just gave him a slap across the face. He fell to the floor with a cry, writhing on the ground. Shades were normally more potent than this, but they were just-born and had yet to figure out how to take advantage of their new selves.

Putting him out of my mind, I pushed my way through the gathered shades and went to Lucy. Gently, I rolled her over onto her back, and took a moment to check her pulse, her breathing.

Her eye slowly fluttered open, and she gave me a smile. "Hey. That fucking hurt. A lot."

I smiled back. "Yeah. You good?"

"No. Will be, though." She said slowly. Both she and I blinked as a pair of glowing blue hands started stroking through her hair.

Ricochet looked to be in his mid-thirties, strong and fit. His features were washed out by the glowing blue light that made up his shade, and the tendrils of his power looked like they were tight cables, straining and pulling in... I want to say every direction, but it was more like in a direction that didn't apply to our space. It gave me a bit of a headache to look at it.

"Hey Luce." He said gently, his voice filled with gentle care. "Rocking the cyclops look."

Lucy let out a helpless laugh. "Good to see you too, Tom. Shitty circumstances, but better than it was a moment ago."

He let out a wry chuckle, a grin on his lips. "Not where I expected to be. Not that far off, though." He looked up at Hades with obvious nervousness, a laugh escaping his throat. "Thank you."

Hades' lip twitched. "Don't thank me yet, shade."

Carefully, I helped Lucy get to her feet. Surrounded by the shades of the Butchers, the three of us stood together, stepping away from the other shades. Butcher clenched his hands, and looked like he was considering going on the attack.

Yancy did. Screaming in desperate anger, Butcher Seven pulled himself off the floor and charged at Hades.

The god didn't even move, or twitch. Thin skeletal hands reached up from the floor and grabbed Yancy, pulling him to the ground and making him fall flat on his face. He struggled, but more hands wrapped around the struggling shade. Within moments he was entirely covered in a cocoon of white bone, his screams of rage and fear echoing in the room.

"I trust my point is made?" Hades spoke with boredom. When silence greeted him, he smirked. "Good. Now..." His hand snatched outward, lightning-fast, and grasped the first Butcher by the tendril of the ever-shifting bloody tesseract that sprouted from his head. "Now you... you are overdue for your judgement. Begone."

The Butcher vanished, yet the tendril remained. With a howl beyond words, the eldritch thing writhed and flexed, spearing its way back into Lucy's head. An instant later, I let out a groan of pain as it stabbed into mine.

I didn't even feel hitting the floor again. Just the pain, screaming, from both mine and Lucy's lips, the pain all-encompassing. The stabs were repeated, five more times, each bringing a wave of pain.

Don't pass out, don't pass out... I concentrated on the feeling of the cold stone beneath my hands, on forming a symbol in my mind, something, anything, to keep conscious.

I don't know how long it took before I managed to pull myself together. I found Lucy being gently propped up by Ricochet, while I had to slowly push myself off the floor again.

Good thing I was durable, or I'd be really smarting right now. I could still feel some blood trickling from my nose.

Hades looked over the three of us remaining, a frown on his lips. No, wait. He was looking exclusively at Ricochet.

"Now you. Kinslayer." He spoke with a such harsh tone that his opinion was clear. Ricochet's crime was as heinous to Hades as a child-murderer was to me.

Ricochet simply stroked his hands through Lucy's hair, his voice soft. "I've no excuse. I've tormented myself over the last decade with it. I was driven mad by the other two, but I... I can't change what I did. Elayne and John... their only crime was having me as a father, a husband. I failed them."

"Yes. You did." Hades spoke with harshness. "Like the others, you shall be judged."

Ricochet just nodded. "Whatever Hell I get, it'll be better than what I just got out of."

Hades let out a huff of amusement. "Perhaps."

In an instant, Ricochet vanished. I braced myself for the pain, and yeah there it is.

I simply sat on the floor for a minute, holding my head as it pounded. Eventually I got to my feet once more, Lucy standing at my side.

"Where did you send him?" Lucy asked with a rasping voice.

"I sent him to the Judges." Hades replied, stepping forward to tower over us. "They will determine his fate. But it is yours that is more concerning." He looked over at me. "Do you have any idea what you brought into my realm?"

I shook my head. "No. I didn't know powers looked like... this." I gestured toward the back of Lucy's head.

Hades nodded. "Yours do not. Powers should not. This is something else entirely. You see them here because of the nature of my realm, else your mortal eyes and mortal minds would never perceive them unless they allowed you to. No, you have brought something very strange, and very dangerous, into my realm. They must not be allowed to leave with the knowledge they've gained from your presence here. Should these creatures tell their kin, I shall have to deal with so many more problems."

He looked me in the eye. "You can handle your particular problem without an issue." He looked to Lucy. "You, on the other hand, have a choice to make. Keep your power and stay here for eternity. Or I shall take it from you." As Lucy opened her mouth, Hades held up his hand. "Your power was never your own. It was a boon leant to you, and when you died it would simply be taken back. If it kept anything of you it would be as you just experienced. A voice held in nothingness. If it was fond of you at all, that is. Choose. Keep it and stay within my realm, or be reduced to a mere mortal and leave."

I could feel it now. Minds working behind my own, normally quiet, normally observing... but here, now, faced with a god and with their own existence at risk, there was fear. It washed deep into my mind, nearly paralysing my tongue, and it was only the fact I knew it wasn't mine that kept me from gibbering in terror.

Lucy, I could feel, had it worse. Far, far worse. I could smell her fear, her lips trembling. Her legs shook. But she did manage to speak. "Take it. Immortality doesn't appeal to me, anyway. Not like that. Not like the Butchers. I'd rather not exist than be like that. My power... it's given me a lot, but it... it didn't help me when I needed it."

Kneeling helpless over the corpse of her father.

Hades let out a huff of amusement. "Understandable, if a strange sentiment, considering where you are right now." Almost gently, he reached forward, grasped the writhing tendrils connected to the back of Lucy's head, and pulled. The tendrils came loose, an otherworldly scream echoing in my mind.

She let out a cry of pain, dropping to her knees. The pain rocked me as well, and it felt... very strange to have a hollowness where Lucy's presence had been before. I wasn't missing the Butchers themselves, but Lucy's was... missing her warmth made everything else feel a bit more cold.

I looked upward as Hades towered over me. I could feel those otherminds wriggling, writhing in a growing panic as Hades grasped the tendrils coming from the back of my head. I could feel Hades' power washing over me, similar but different from my own, and more importantly different from Trigon's own.

His voice was deep, dark, and filled with anticipation. "Now little succubus... burn."

I let out a cry as I finally, finally, unleashed my fire, not entirely of my own will, spurred on by Hades' command. My brain seared in flame. The thing connected to my very being screeched. My fire raced along its length, and I could feel it trying to withdraw as the connection burned, the eight eldritch things writhing in pain...

But Hades' hand kept it still, attached to me, even as they burned. Fire raced along the connection, burning, further and further, into directions I couldn't see or move in, or even comprehend. But they still burned. Enhanced by the combination of my power and the power of the Lord of the Dead. They could not flee, they could not move, they could only stay and burn in the fire that rivals a sun.

Finally, I ran out of heat to fuel my flames with, and I had to take a few moments to wipe my mouth, tasting blood. I panted as I tried to pull in what heat I could, and I was recovering. It would simply take a while. When I opened my tired eyes, I looked up at Hades, and my breath caught.

Surrounding him were eight crystalline masses, ever-shifting, glowing different colors. Now they were entirely ethereal, just like any shade, partially transparent. But they were huge, overlapping things, their sheer size dwarfing the room. I had the feeling they would stretch off into the distance if the room itself wasn't so small compared to them.

"Well, there's something you don't see everyday." Zagreus said cheerfully.

Hades' lip quirked. "Interesting, indeed." He looked down at Lucy. "Tend to this one, my son. They have paid their way, with interest. Ensure she is able to leave my realm." He looked to me, his cold eyes narrowing. "As for you, succubus, I thank you for bringing the shades, and these to me. But your time here grows short."

I nodded tiredly. "Thank you, Lord Hades." I swallowed. "If I may? Can you tell me anything of what you said, earlier? My banishment?"

He paused a moment, then nodded slowly. "You bear the mark of Zeus. So long as the mark remains, you shall never see the realm of your birth again. I would not work to undo the work of my brother, so long as he reigns Olympus. Perhaps even beyond then. His work seems more... intricate, than usual. I cannot undo such a binding. Nor can I tell you why he has banished you so."

Great. So to return home, I'd have to knock Zeus off his throne. Why don't I just rearrange the fundamental forces of the universe while I'm at it?

I nodded. "Thank you." I wanted to demand more answers, to tell him I wasn't just a demon, to do a hundred things. Ask him to pass on a message, perhaps?

But I could see it in his gaze. The Lord of the Dead's patience was wearing thin.

So I bowed to him. "By your leave, Lord Hades?"

He nodded, turning his gaze to Zagreus. "Take them out of my realm before they are forced to stay."

Zagreus gave a bow. "As you will, Father."

The three of us strode away. My head was pounding, Lucy was stumbling a little, and only Zagreus seemed to be in good spirits.

Still, I took one last look backward, and saw Hades once more. He was sitting back on his throne, staring at the shades of those eldritch things, with a look of consideration and curiosity on his face.

Zagreus cheerfully whistled as he walked to his room, with the pair following behind.

It was strange, to have a living mortal here. And one without even the smallest hint of divine blood, at that. With the worlds he was familiar with, the various gods and otherworldly beings had infused their essence into life in the mortal worlds in various ways. Though few did it quite as directly as Lord Uncle Zeus, but it still occurred.

"Why are we here? You know we can't rest in the Underworld, and I'm pretty sure neither of us are up for any other kind of fun." The succubus spoke. Oh she was more than that, but the mark of her creator was plain, if from an unusual creation. Not that Zagreus was going to pry, of course. It wasn't any of his business.

Though it was rather odd to meet a succubus that wasn't focused on physical pleasures.

"Two things." He cheerfully replied. "Father told me to escort you out. So I'm going to need something to bribe Cerberus to stand aside. He likes me, but he does take his duties very seriously. Secondly we need a little something for your friend."

"Say what?" The one-eyed woman spoke, a frown on her lips.

Zagreus shrugged. "Just need to fulfill Father's orders. That... interesting being you were connected to did some damage to your brain. Mortals need those, the last time I checked, and if it isn't handled before we go you're not going to be leaving for very long. Thankfully that's rather easy to handle, if bending the rules a bit."

"I've got brain damage?" Lucy said with some fear in her voice. "Why am I not feeling anything?"

"You're in the Underworld, my dear." Zagreus replied. "Things don't work the way they do on your plane. In a way your injury is paused. It won't get better, or worse, without a little something else to spur it on. Simply put here you're closer to the 'ideal' you. Things have more weight and substance to them than they do on your plane. So we're going to take advantage of that to heal you when you do leave, bring you a bit closer to your ideal self. Ah, give me a moment. I can get away with this kind of thing, being in my area of expertise."

He went to his desk and started digging through the drawers. "Now where did I put... ah ha, there we are." He pulled a bottle out, filled with a golden liquid, its substance sloshing within. "Going to need to water that down somewhat. Not going to be able to handle it otherwise."

"Is that ambrosia?" Lucy spoke with a little wonder.

Zagreus put on a smile. "Indeed, it is. It's a bit much for you like this. You as a shade could probably handle it, but shades don't have to worry about... well, dying. You're going to need a little drop of the divine to heal yourself, and this is a bit better than taking in the blood of a god. Or a Titan, for that matter. That comes with its own problems."

"What's going to be the side effects?" Tracy asked, folding her arms, her wings twitching behind her.

Zagreus shrugged. "Nothing terrible. Being quite drunk for a while. She'll be like you were before your... current self. Mortal as anyone else. But at least she'll be out of the Underworld for more than a few days."

Tracy nodded. "And what are you going to ask in return?"

The god chuckled. "You've already paid. The information the shades you delivered will be of some use, I'm sure. As well as being open to another realm entirely..." He looked between the pair. "You... don't get it, do you?"

At their looks of confusion, he gestured to Lucy. "She's from a world where we were never anything more than a dream. Do you have any idea how interesting that is? A universe further from the beginning of everything than we thought possible, and yet it still has mortals, still has life. That information on its own is far, far more valuable than anything you could bring or bargain. We thought such realities would be dead things, empty of everything save a few scattered suns and maybe some rocks tumbling around. That your friend is here shows that at least some of them are not."

Lucy tilted her head. "Why didn't you know that before we showed up?"

Zagreus chuckled. "When you think you know everything already, you tend to ignore new things coming along." He grinned. "I'm not going to turn it down if you wish to repay me in some other way. Simply that you've given us something new to look after and consider. That doesn't happen often for us gods, you know."

At their silence, he went back to rifling through his liquor cabinet. Eventually he managed to pull out a bottle of wine, a deep dark red vintage. "Ah. This shall work. I do appreciate it when Dionysus gives a gift, but I'm not quite as indulgent as he is."

----------

"Who's a good boys? Who's a good boys?"

Cerberus' tail thumped on the ground repeatedly. Due to his size and weight, it sounded more like a jackhammer smashing concrete than an ordinary tail-thumping. Of course, against a belly rub delivered by the Prince of the Underworld, Cerberus was helpless. The bribe of dried gorgon meat didn't hurt in redirecting his aggression, either.

Gingerly the two mortals... or rather, one mortal, one semi-mortal, stepped around the very happy Cerberus as Zagreus busily distracted the guardian of the Underworld. As they approached the gate, Tracy turned to look to Zagreus.

She spoke with some trepidation. "I know this may be asking a bit much, but can I request a favor? I'm not sure I could repay it."

Zagreus chuckled as he looked up, keeping up the belly rubs. "Go ahead and ask. Worst I can say is no, after all."

Tracy nodded. "Just to pass on a message, since I can't do it myself. Tell the League Sunstorm is safe... if a bit lost, on Earth Bet."

Zagreus nodded with a chuckle. "I can play Hermes, though it'll take a bit of doing. Contacting through the multiverse is a tad complicated, even for us. It may take a while." He wasn't about to get into the details with the mortals, but suffice to say it wasn't easy getting a bit of information to another specific aspect of himself with an intact message. That was assuming his other aspect was alive in that corner of the multiverse.

Sometimes bad things happened to aspects of a god. Just one of the hazards of the position. Usually one simply had a feeling of intuition that this or that course of action would lead to an unpleasant outcome. Not that such stopped the god from doing it. Being a god often lead to at least some hard-headedness. Quite a few aspects of Lord Uncle Zeus discovered that the hard way a few thousand years ago. Unfortunately, so did the rest of the pantheon as a result.

Tracy nodded. "Better than nothing. Thank you."

Together, the pair strode back out the portal to the Underworld. Back to that distant reality, so far away from here, and yet so very close. One of those things that could even give a god a headache.

Cerberus whined as the three heads realized the belly rubs had stopped. Zagreus promptly fixed that problem.

----------

Tom watched the water in the cup swirl around as he spun it in his hands. The cup itself was made of treated wood, lovingly carved. The water itself was slightly cloudy, but the smell of it was also invitingly sweet.

The sun fell on him, making him feel warm. Birds chirped without a care in the world. He could simply sit in the grass forever. Nothing could stop him from doing so. The only thing he'd have to do to make this perfect, to clear his demons, would be to drink.

Did he have the right? To just forget everything? It would be easy, to drink the waters of the Lethe and forget what he'd done. But it would also make him forget Elayne and John. To forget the love of his life, the good times with his son, as well as the bad.

"Settling in?" A gentle voice spoke, rousing Tom from his musings. He looked up to see a beautiful woman with night-black hair and a red dress coming toward him.

"As much as I can." Tom replied, glancing back down to the cup in his hands. "Trying to decide."

Persephone nodded, a smile on her lips. "I can tell you, you would likely be happier having forgotten your crime. I can also tell you that nothing can undo it. Not without the aid of the Fates, in any case, and they do dislike having to reweave their work."

He nodded with a chuckle. "Something we mortals have to live with. Still, I'm surprised I got to be here. I expected worse."

Persephone's lip twitched. "You were expecting to have to do labors to find redemption in our eyes?"

Tom shrugged helplessly. "Something like that. Probably fail them, too. I'm no Hercules."

"Heracles." Persephone gently corrected. "His labors were to win favor with his fellow Greeks for his crime, driven by madness. Also, and more importantly, to get Hera to stop directly tormenting him. Madness excuses much, when it comes to judgement. Enough to give you this chance. Had you managed to fight through it, defeat your madness, you'd have been worthy of Elysium... but the fields of Asphodel are not too terrible."

"So I've noticed." Tom nodded. He looked down at the cup. "I need... I need time to consider this."

Persephone laughed softly. "You have eternity. Though if you choose not to, I could use some assistance with some matters. Nothing too strenuous, though it may be a bit more exotic than you're used to."

Slowly, Tom put the cup down on the grass. "I'm listening."

----------

In the depths of Tartarus, stood six coffins. They were made of blackened steel, wrapped tightly in chains, and within were six shades.

Each of them had chosen the same path. The six shades that willingly led the Teeth as the Butcher, each of them becoming the same kind of person in both thought and deed. Together, they had been judged. Together, they gained the same punishment.

It was no simple torment, no everlasting pain. They were simply placed within their coffins, separated from each other. They could not speak to each other, could not share their thoughts, nor their strength. They were simply shades, now, and shades were much more easily controlled than a living mortal. At least, when one had the will of a god backing up such things.

In the darkness, kept alone, was the first Butcher. He would be sealed for an eon, left in the darkness with his own thoughts to keep him company, and nothing more.

The others would be released, far sooner than the original. A 'mere' few centuries, compared to the longer sentences brought on the first and second Butchers. But when one was forced to simply exist in darkness for longer than a short period of time, starved of light, starved of company, starved of stimulation, starved of even the simplest of pleasures... did it truly matter how long a seeming eternity went on?

Within his coffin, the first Butcher cried, growing ever more mad with the lack of sight, sensation, or stimulation. So did the second, and the fifth, sixth, and seventh. No sound could escape it. No indication that their tombs held anything more than nothing.

The fourth, Reaper, however, had a blissful smile despite her current predicament.

"Peace at last..."

Her opinion might change, in time. But for the moment, at least, Reaper was content.

----------

Surrounded by the shades of eldritch beings, from a universe far from his own layer of reality, Hades sat.

They twisted and writhed, screaming soundlessly, attempting in vain to broadcast to their brethren. To tell them what has happened, where they are. Yet despite their abilities, despite the ways that they had always managed to defy, or at least sidestep the laws of physics, here and now they were dead.

Dead, and helpless before the gaze of the Lord of the Dead.

Leaning forward on his throne, Hades beheld their crystalline masses, their facets, their ever-twisting natures that mortals would need a great deal of education to even begin to follow. Even as a god, their nature gave Hades some trouble. Then he spoke a question, curiosity in his voice, and great care taken to keep his voice from echoing beyond his throne room.

"Now just how did you, such simple beings, learn that one small secret from the Source?"