Chapter twenty nine- Tale of a Hero

"You know, before I bother telling you all this, do you know a lot about Greek mythology?"

"Greek mythology? Ah, a bit, I think." Alibaba thought for a moment. Then he began bouncing with excitement, "Wait! Are you a Greek hero then?! Ooh, ooh! Let me guess!"

Saber sighed reluctantly, "Go ahead."

"Hercules?"

"Nope."

"Uhm...Jason?"

"No."

"Achilles?"

"Wrong."

"Perseus?"

"Try another -seus." Saber smirked. "You're close."

"Odysseus? Come on, one of those has to be right!" Alibaba wracked his brain for another name.

"Give up?"

"Of course not!" There were a few moments of silence. Several moments, rather. Saber raised an eyebrow. "Wait, ok? I'm working on it," Alibaba insisted.

"Starts with a T..." Saber hinted. "Ends in a -seus... You should know it by now!"

"Ah...nope. Not a clue." Alibaba gave up, shaking his head.

"It's Theseus!" Saber exclaimed, standing. "How have you not heard of me?!"

"Oh. I see."

"The hell does that mean, you brat?!" Saber lunged at the other blond, who began laughing. Saber grabbed Alibaba by his shirt collar, "You do know who I am, don't you?!"

Alibaba nodded, "I do, I do! I was just messing with you!" He raised his hands in surrender, all the while laughing. "H-Hey, Theseus, can you let me go?"

Saber huffed and roughly released his grip. He sat back down on the bed and muttered, "Why don't you go to sleep already, brat?"

"Aren't you going to tell me your story?" Alibaba reminded eagerly. "Were you a demigod like Hercules? What god was your parent?"

"Poseidon." Theseus answered simply. "My mother and father were Aethra and Aegeus."

"You had two dads?"

"Yeah, I know, it's weird."

"It's pretty cool, actually. Where were you born?"

Saber answered, "Troezen, Greece. Any other questions?"

"How'd you die?" Alibaba asked his final question.

Theseus chuckled, thinking back, "I was thrown off a cliff."

"Seriously?! Why?"

"Fear, jealousy, envy. Take your pick. Your guess is as good as mine." Saber shook his head. "I killed countless beasts and brigands, yet get killed so pettily. It's shameful."

"Well, your life was good, right?" Alibaba tried, unsure how to comfort the servant.

"I enjoyed it, yes. Every bit of it." Theseus smiled, then stood. "Get some sleep, kid. I'm tired of talking."

"But-"

Saber cut him off, "I'll tell you more later, sleep. And stop beating yourself up over what you can't change." Then he vanished in a blue glimmer.

~

For the next few weeks, everything was rather peaceful. Alibaba was extremely distant, despite Saber's constant reassurance, and remind in his room most of the time, still grieving and recovering physically from his fight with Judar. Rider and Muu remained hidden, while a rift formed between Kouen and his servant, right when he thought they were beginning to get along. Lastly, Hakuryuu remained at home, and even went to school for a few days, trying to spare Hakuei from more stress.

Despite the cease in fighting, there was still a great bit of turmoil going on in the formerly-functioning Al-Thaman base...

Screams rang out in the deepest depths of the maze, able to be heard no matter where you were within the frozen labyrinth. The owner of the cries was barely aware of himself, completely overtaken by the pain coursing throughout his body.

The cause of the black haired mage's pain was mostly Berserker, who'd suddenly become extremely unstable for reasons unknown. There were very few remaining Al-Thamen members, and it took all of them to restrain the mad servant. They only had a few minutes to contain him, placing him in a padded cell coated in magic barriers.

Judar was being restrained as well, metal chains covered in magic symbols cuffing his arms and legs to the wall. It was partly to keep him from wrecking the place, but also as a source of anger management for Gyokuen.

She was pissed. Her entire facility was practically destroyed. She was able to remain calm in the heat of the moment, but now, there was no stopping her rampage. Her most trusted were preparing plans to fix the broken maze and reanimate the 'dead' Al-Thamen members, leaving the leading mage to stew in the juices of her anger. Once she couldn't stand it any longer, she began taking her rage out on her most prized possession: Judar.

At this point, the teen could barely feel her digging into him. It was just like every other day in his life before the war, except much, much, worse. It felt like his magic circuits were on fire, which is exactly what it looked like to any onlookers. Decorating his twitching limbs were glowing, jagged, red lines covering him from head to toe. Gyokuen wasn't bothered by it in the slightest. In fact, she actually found it interesting.

"Gyokuen, your assistance is required in removing the fog from the maze," The yellow haired masked mage spoke, pulling the witch from her thoughts.

Gyokuen paused. She sighed and wiped her bloodied hands on a nearby rag, turning to the Al-Thamen member, "Fine. Send someone to clean Judar, then follow me, Ithnan." She dropped the rag on the ground, stepping on it as she walked from the room.

Moments later, a masked magician approached Judar. "D-Don't...f-fucking touch me." Judar growled, glaring at the mage through hooded eyes. He squirmed as the Al-Thamen member began to clean his bare and bloody chest.

"Please remain still, Magi."

"Fuck. Off." Judar used what strength he had left to shove the puppet away. Unfortunately, the magician was persistent. Judar hissed as alcohol was pressed into his wounds, this time kneeing the Al-Thamen member and pushing them to the ground. Keys jingled as they flew from the Al-Thamen member's robes.

Judar acted quickly, leaning forward and catching the ring of keys in his mouth. It tasted like rusting metal, but he didn't have much of an option at this point. If he didn't break himself out, Gyokuen would surely continue her torment. Judar had to get himself and Berserker out of the maze before it was up and running again.

Using his mouth to hold the key, he unlocked the cuffs on his wrists, but was unable to hold himself up so suddenly, causing him to fall uncomfortably to his knees. Judar groaned and turned awkwardly towards his ankles, angrily shoving his blood soaked hair to the side. For once, he was regretting having such long hair.

Once he was free, Judar stood shakily and searched for his clothing. Like hell he was going outside in just his boxers in the middle of winter. He found his sweatpants and hoodie and quickly pulled them on, ignoring the stinging pain and the fact the dark colored fabrics were quickly becoming soaked in blood.

Next, he slowly made his way to where Berserker was being contained. He pounded on the door with one fist, "Hey! You still in there, Berserker?"

An inhuman growl answered him, followed by a sickening crack and a man's scream. Hyde changing into Jekyll.

Judar grimaced, "Dude, pull it together. We don't have time for you to be switching back and forth."

"I-I'm sorry, Judar..." Jekyll replied, voice cracking. At points of him speaking his voice would deeping drastically, as if a demon were speaking with him. "I'm trying to k-keep Hyde at bay, b-but it's not working too g-great."

"Why all of a sudden?"

"The potion...effect..."

"Well, we need to get out of here."

"I'd l-like to stay in h-here."

Judar's brow furrowed and he frowned, "What? Why the hell would you want that?"

"C-Can't hurt anyone i-in here." Berserker's speaking was getting more and more broken up, as if they were talking on a phone with a bad connection.

Judar sighed and pushed open the door, using all of his bodyweight to do so. Light filled the room in the shape of the doorway, revealing a dishevelled Berserker shaking and sitting on his knees. "Jek?"

"N-No! L-Leave me h-here!" Jekyll's suit was torn in several places, his hair a mess.

Judar entered the room completely, inspecting the servant closer. He grabbed Berserker's hand- his nails were broken and bloody. Judar frowned in disgust and pulled the servant to his feet, glancing around the padded cell. The walls had traces of the same blood, and the servants hair was also decorated in it. "Geez..."

"J-Judar?" Jekyll was genuinely surprised, and very concerned.

"Come on, let's go to Ryuu's. He'll help with our wounds," Judar dragged the servant from the cell, hand still wrapped firmly around the servant's.

"B-But I'm-"

"Shut up already," Judar ordered in an annoyed tone. "Just follow me."

~