Chapter Twelve

"Hades! Oh gods, Hades!"

I blinked several times, then mentally cursed myself for my own stubborn stupidity. I'd fallen asleep again, and once again, I was... dreaming? Hallucinating? Either way, I wasn't where I was supposed to be. I was supposed to be in a cell rotting in Tartarus where I belonged, but instead, I was back in time again.

Laying on the ground, bleeding as my lungs struggled to take in oxygen, but only filled with fluid that bubbled up my throat and down the sides of my face. The bitter taste of iron, of blood. I choked for air, blinking rapidly as I looked around to see that I was in the woods somewhere... No, not somewhere, rather, Olympus. The grass was soaked with my blood, so red that it hurt my eyes to look at, so I looked up to see Demeter leaning over me, breathing hard as tears welled in her eyes.

Gods, she was beautiful in her gold armor. It glinted in the sunlight that poured through the leaves of the trees around us. Her curly brown hair spilled down her shoulders from beneath her gold helmet that dipped down between her eyes to protect her nose, and down the sides of her face to protect her flushed cheeks. She reached up, tore the helmet off and tossed it aside before doing the same with mine, making me hiss in pain.

"Demeter..." I choked and coughed, struggling to get air into my lungs. Demeter sniffed helplessly, cupping my face in her hands.

"Oh gods, Hades. Can you hear me? Stay with me. Let me get Hestia," She said quickly, then shot to her feet and cupped her hands around her mouth, "Hestia! Hestiaaa! We need you!" I struggled to breath as the air rippled and Hestia appeared a moment later, wearing her gold armor. The moment she saw me, she paled and ran to me. She hands ripped the black breastplate of my armor off to reveal the damage beneath.

"H-How did this happen?" She asked in horror, placing her hands over the wound. I struggled to breath, then choked on more blood. Demeter cursed and lifted my head, allowing me to suck in a sharp breath of air before more blood pooled into my throat. Hestia sent a blast of power through my veins and I hissed in agony, grabbing Demeter's arm. She took my hand and gave me a squeeze, sending her energy in to assist with the healing process before I coughed up more blood. This time, I was able to suck in deep breathes of air. I gasped, relieved at the sweet taste of oxygen.

I trembled as they helped me stand, but my legs wobbled and my vision tilted so I fell against Demeter, who caught me against her.

"Shit, Hades, are you all right?" She asked in concern. Hestia touched my neck and braced her arm across the front of my chest.

"He's stil recovering. The physical damage his healed, but his mind is struggling with it. We need to retreat. Where's Zeus and Poseidon?" She demanded, looking at Demeter, who scowled.

"Forget those two freaks. We need to get back to base."

"We can't abandon them. Just take Hades back--"

"No," I rasped, pushing away from Demeter, who frowned and went to help me when I stumbled, but I caught my balance, shaking my head as Hestia looked at me in concern, "No, I'm fine. We need to keep moving. Zeus is in trouble. Cronus... Cronus was here. He took off with Zeus. We need to help him." Demeter's eyes widened in terror and Hestia paled further before they nodded in agreement. We turned and teleported to the front entrance of Olympus. The forest opened up to reveal the chaos that had erupted in Olympus during the battle. Corpses were littered across the ground, soaked in blood and mutilated almost beyond recognition. Temples and small homes were on fire and falling apart.

And not far away, Poseidon lay on the ground, heaving blood onto the ground before Hestia ran to him. Just past him, Cronus was laying into Zeus with everything he had. I remembered the potent fear of watching Zeus bleeding heavily. It soaked his armor and tunic. His left arm was broken, the bone jutting sharply through his flesh and sticking out just under his elbow. With his right, he swung his sword uselessly at Cronus, who roared with laughter as if the sight of Zeus failing was entertaining.

"Shit." Demeter gasped in horror.

"Demeter, go with Hestia. Let me deal with them." I commanded. Demeter looked at me, bewildered.

"Are you insane? You can barely stand, let him--"

"He saved our lives, Demeter. We should do the same." Demeter didn't agree at all, but I didn't care. I brushed past her and went toward Cronus, who'd dodged one of Zeus's slashes. He yanked the sword clean from Zeus's grasp and swung his elbow back into Zeus's face so hard that it knocked his helmet flying and Zeus slammed into the ground, breathing hard as blood poured past his lips.

"Zeus!" I shouted in alarm and picked up the speed, racing over to him. Zeus struggled to get up.

"Get back, Hades!"

"You're insane!" I threw back, snatching up his sword.

"Hades, stop!" Zeus shouted angrily, fighting to stand, but his knees buckled and he went down again before I whirled on Cronus, who smirked and twirled his sword before slashing at me. I parried his attack, then rammed my knee into his solar plexus. He gasped and stumbled back before I flung my foot up and kicked him square in the jaw, sending him flying back. He rolled across the ground and struggled to get to his feet. I turned back around as Zeus managed to find his footing. He started to shout at me, but I threw his sword at him and he caught it, appearing bewildered.

To the side, I could see my siblings gaping at us in surprise.

"Go!" I commanded. Zeus tightened his grip on his sword, clenched his teeth and ran past me to finish Cronus off. I went to my siblings, breathing hard as I collapsed to my knees beside Poseidon, who was breathing heavily as he clasped a hand over the bloody gash Hestia was trying to heal.

"You could have been killed." Poseidon hissed at me. I scowled.

"I wasn't... I was... just..."

"Hades?!" Poseidon made a noise of shock as I slumped forward into his lap and my vision blacked out. My memory faded and twisted, but I could still hear someone shouting my name. I scowled in frustration, head throbbing in agony as I felt someone patting at my cheek and other voices murmuring and hissing for me to wake up. For a moment, I swore I was still on Olympus with my siblings panicking and shouting for me to wake up. I could feel someone pushing hard on my chest, hands clasped, a pair of lips covering mine and fingers pinching my nose.

I sucked in a sharp breath of air and my eyes flew open as I saw Lucifer hovering over my face and Mictlan moving in to push on my chest again.

"What the fuck?" I croaked, coughing as Lucifer leaned back on his knees, breathing out a sigh of relief before his celestial blue eyes flashed angrily.

"I told you not to fall asleep." He snapped. I rolled my eyes as Mictlan helped me sit up and Seth just sat across from us, watching with flat expression. Thanks, asshole, I love you too.

"I wasn't asleep." I rasped. Lucifer shook his head, irritated. Mictlan frowned.

"You were choking."

"I was dreaming."

"Dreaming that you were choking?"

"I have a long list of weird fetishes." I assured. Mictlan scowled, unamused. Lucifer stood up and helped me to my feet as Mictlan moved back to his corner of the cell.

"Are you all right?" Lucifer asked. I nodded, grimacing as I rubbed the back of my head and looked around the cell.

"Does something feel odd to you?" I asked suddenly. The air suddenly felt thick and heavy, a strange hot pulse throbbing around us. Lucifer didn't appear to notice at first until there was a strange crack and everyone whirled to the bars of the cell.

A bright light flashed and a moment later, Zelios and Ambrosius were standing on the other side of the bars. My eyes widened in shock. Zelios was wearing the black armor of my army, trimmed in gold. His long red hair was tied in a loose bun to keep his hair out of his face, not that it was doing a very good job. There was a vicious scar marring his godly features. Ambrosius wore the black and burgundy stitched battlesuit of Lucifer's men, his hair windswept and blood streaked across his face, but luckily, it looked like it belonged to someone else.

But most of all, they were here.

My sons are alive.

"Zelios? Ambrosius?" I managed, pushing past Lucifer to get to the bars. Ambrosius stiffened instantly and Zelios winced. He made quick signs at Ambrosius, who hesitated, then nodded and approached the bars.

"I would say it's nice to see you, but it'd be a total lie and I'm not you," He told me flatly, making me frown before he peered inside, "Lucifer. Good. Thorn's been all over me about making sure I got you out too. Not that I wouldn't." Lucifer breathed a sigh of relief.

"So the others? They're okay?" He asked. Ambrosius hesitated. My heart dropped and Lucifer paled. Zelios shook his head quickly and made more intricate hand signs that I couldn't even begin to understand, but Ambrosius seemed to pick up on them because he nodded a few times, shook his head once, then nodded again and turned to me.

"We evacuated as many people as we could to Hell. The Titans seem to have left it alone. But... But everyone else. Malachi, Theo, Cain and Abel, Cerberus, and Charon. They wouldn't leave. They insisted staying behind because they're stupid idiots. I haven't seen them since the second battle against the Titans. I'm assuming they're imprisoned in what used to be your home sweet home, but is now an air tight fortress for the Titans." He explained. My stomach clenched tight in misery at the thought of the Titans holding my sons hostage. I knew the Titans well enough that my sons were suffering untold agony.

"We need to hurry," Ambrosius said quickly, stepping back and cracking his knuckles, "We only have enough power to teleport four other people aside from us. After that, we're screwed, blued, and tattooed."

"That's not fair!" One of the gods from the other cages protested.

"Oh, shut up," Ambrosius snapped impatiently at them, "This isn't your realm and from what I hear, you guys weren't willing to find peace to protect yourselves. So you can sit here while mommy and daddy save the world." The other gods rose up in angry protests, but Ambrosius ignored them and turned to us.

"And unfortunately, as soon as I blast these bars open, an alarm is going to sound and alert Hyperion since he was left in charge of Tartarus. Hopefully he's still unconscious from the roofy I slipped him before we snuck down here. We'll have enough for one teleportation, so we're going to teleport to Hell--"

"No," I snarled and Ambrosius jumped before glaring at me, "The palace. Teleport us to the palace."

"Did you get a brain injury," Ambrosius demanded, clenching his fists, "The palace was turned into a fortress. There's no way in or out. For all we know, everyone else is..." His voice trailed. Even though he and his brothers weren't close, there was a bond there that made Ambrosius choke at the idea of his brothers being murdered, or worse, tortured.

"Ambrosius," I said slowly, sternly, "Listen to me. Teleport us to the palace. There's a way into the palace that the Titans won't know about it. You need to teleport us to the shore of the river Acheron, on Cerberus's side of the river. Teleport us there and we can do the rest. You and Zelios hide at Charon's, wait for us to meet up with you, and we can go back to Hell as a group." Ambrosius appeared wary.

"You'll be useless," He said after a moment, "You've been rotting in a cell--"

"Yes," I cut him off sharply, narrowing my eyes, "But the moment I step out of this cell, my powers will recharge and return. It won't be much, but it'll be enough to get your brothers out of that hellhole. Now open the goddamn doors, Ambrosius." Ambrosius clenched his teeth and appeared to be debating letting me out at all, but Zelios touched his shoulder and gave him a stern glare. Ambrosius scowled at him, then looked away and flung his hand out at the bars. They shattered as Lucifer and I stepped back to avoid getting hit with the debris. We stepped out of the cell, ignoring the other gods that shouted for us not to leave them behind.

Tsk, good. Stay behind. Rot in your holes, assholes.

"We're not going to the palace," Seth said when Ambrosius went to touch him, making Ambrosius roll his eyes, "Leave Mictlan and I behind. We'll break the rest of the gods out of their cells and leave a friendly little surprise for Hyperion when he wakes up and finds that he has over a dozen of the most powerful gods in history waiting here for him." Lucifer's eyes glowed as he nodded quickly in agreement. Ambrosius sighed, then tilted his head up toward the ceiling as if silently praying to someone before he touched Lucifer's shoulder. He didn't reach for me, Zelios had to as he heaved a heavy sigh of frustration.

"If I get captured for this, I'm gonna be pissed." Ambrosius seethed before we teleported from the hole in Tartarus to the river Acheron. A ways down the river, actually, and a good thing too.

Ambrosius hadn't been kidding about the palace being converted into a fortress. Worst of all, a wall of bodies ran the length of the river, then piled across it to block it off before they were smashed into the mountainsides. Tons of soldiers decked out in my armor prowled the area, including four large hydras that roared and hissed. I cursed under my breath as we stuck close to the shadows.

"At least the wall isn't made of steel." I muttered at last, turning to look at Lucifer, who looked sick to his stomach.

"Hades, those are your people."

"I know. I'm trying not to go on a homicidal rampage, so thanks for reminding me," I snapped, making him and Ambrosius frown before I clenched my fists and unclenched them, staring down at them impatiently, "Shit. My powers aren't back yet. There's barely enough for me to get in there." Ambrosius rolled his eyes.

"I told you. We should've just gone to Hell. If I knew there was a chance to get inside and save them, I would have. Trust me." He muttered. Zelios looked at him with pity, then looked at me and started to make sign, but I made a rude noise to cut him off.

"Oh, fuck it, not now. As much as silence is helpful in this situation, I have no idea what you're saying. Welcome back." I snapped my fingers, then hissed as sharp pain shot through my veins and Zelios gasped, touching his throat before looking at me.

"My voice." His voice was hoarse from lack of use, small. Ambrosius appeared baffled, then looked at me and Lucifer grimaced.

"Hades, you just wasted your last stash."

"Don't you think I know that? Come on," I muttered bitterly, moving along the mountain side, "We need a place to rest for the night so I can regain my powers and we can launch an attack in the morning." Lucifer nodded, but Ambrosius looked about as eager as a toddler going to the dentist.

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me where." He said. Zelios still rubbed his throat, but had enough sense to glare down at Ambrosius.

"Don't be stupid, Ambrosius. Come on." He commanded. Ambrosius glared at him impatiently, but didn't argue now as I led the way along the mountainside before I found a crevice that opened up into a large cavern with several long tunnels coursing through them. The cave looked like any normal cave, aside from the numerous emerald deposits everywhere and the streams that reflected the water back as green.

"What is this place?" Ambrosius asked, surprised as he looked around.

"My special place." I replied briefly. Ambrosius rolled his eyes, but didn't speak as I led us down a tunnel where the stream came to our knees with ice cold water. Ambrosius shuddered and Zelios grimaced as the tunnel began to narrow before opening up to a series of three doors. Lucifer scanned the doors with a frown.

"What are those?" He asked. I scanned the room, running my hands along the walls.

"Distractions." I replied a second before my hand touched a rock and I gave it a tug, releasing a mechanism that popped open a steel door in the ground nearby. I walked over to it and led them down the stairs that took us straight into the ground and into a large open room with one wall made entirely of glass that looked into the depths of the Acheron river, while the rest were made of sleek wood over steel. The marble floors were dusty, as was the matching furniture, small kitchen, and two pull out beds with a couple sofas near an old television.

"How long has this been here?" Ambrosius asked, puzzled as he went to the television to flick the antenna. I frowned, scanning the room for something in particular before moving to the kitchen while Lucifer approached the glass to stare into the river.

"It would be appear quite a while." Zelios murmured, standing near Ambrosius to study the television.

"This thing is ancient. What year is it from?" Ambrosius asked, tilting his head and trying to find the on button before Zelios reached over and hit the button to turn on a black and white screen showing an old cowboy movie.

"It's got to be from the 50s at least." Zelios replied, making Ambrosius grimace and back away from it.

"Ugh, how can you stand watching black and white?"

"It was the best we had at the time." Zelios replied. Ambrosius said nothing, but hardly looked impressed. I ignored them as they wandered around the room to pick apart the old-fashioned room as I went to the fridge and opened it up to see it was empty. A small panel was in the back, however, hiding the most important thing in this room. I reached back, pushed the panel in so it popped open and reveal several cans of nectar and a canister of ambrosia. I gathered it up and took it out, rationing it out as Lucifer came to stand on the other side of the counter to watch me.

"You're awfully prepared." He commented. I gave him a dry stare as I added a bit more nectar to the glasses I intended to give Ambrosius and Zelios. If worse came to worse, I'd rather they get out of here as soon as possible. And they would need more strength to do it.

"Yes," I told Lucifer sarcastically, "I plotted the Titans to escape the whole time so I could come to my hidey-hole and enjoy the rest of eternity rotting here instead of Tartarus." Lucifer frowned.

"That's not what I meant. You're getting defensive again." He warned, taking the glass I handed him.

"No, he's just naturally a douche." Ambrosius said, taking his glass off the counter before I could hand it to him. I had to resist the urge to tell him to shut the hell up. He'd gotten mouthier now that he wasn't at home anymore, and I couldn't resist throwing all the blame of Lucifer's bastard child, Thorn. The brat had a mouth on him and no doubt he'd been teaching Ambrosius.

No, even more so, Blaine had probably been teaching him to mouth off like this. Those swear words and his constant surliness had Blaine written all over it.

What I wouldn't do to have Thorn and Blaine smashed beneath my boots.

It was when Ambrosius set the glass back down that I snapped out of my mental tirade to see him frowning at it. I frowned back at him.

"What?" I asked, irritated. Did he think I would poison it? Really? Here I was, risking my hide for my sons that were trapped and tortured, and for some reason, he'd suspect poison? However, that wasn't the look on Ambrosius's face. It was more like confusion.

"You never fed me nectar before." He said. I gave him a droll stare.

"And you never drank it with your boyfriend?" I asked. Ambrosius surprised me when he blushed.

"Actually, no."

"You're joking."

"No," Ambrosius defended angrily, "Because you practically beat it into me to never drink it until I was ready. Obviously I'm ready. I'm ready for anything."

"Adorable," I said dryly, making him blush further in anger, "And I don't ever remembering hitting you. Just drink the damn nectar and go the fuck to slep. If you need me, I'll be resting because as soon as I feel the sun go up, I'm breaking into my home, taking it back and saving your brothers. Until then, you can stay on that side of the room and I'll stay on my side." Without another word, I took my square of ambrosia and my glass of nectar and pulled down one of the beds on the other side of the room as I sat back and ate.

Ambrosius just glared after me, then seemed to eye the glass of nectar tentatively before he picked it up and took a small sip. He made a face and almost dropped the glass, but Zelios caught it and placed it on the counter as Ambrosius's expression twisted in disgust.

"Holy shit, did I just drink molasses?" He choked. I rolled my eyes and Zelios gave me a dry stare before looking at Ambrosius as he set his own empty glass on the counter.

"Nectar takes some getting used to. It's bitter sweet when it's not mixed with anything. Drink it slow and wash it down with water from the sink." He advised. Ambrosius just nodded shakily and went to obey. Meanwhile, Lucifer came over, finished with his drink and meal, coming to sit on the bed beside me while Zelios took Ambrosius over to the sofas in front of the television.

"Go easy on him," Lucifer advised, making me glare at him, "I'm serious, Hades. For all your good qualities, you have some bad ones too, and what you did to Ambrosius was one of them."

I said nothing. I didn't need to defend myself, especially to him. Lucifer was a traitor. It was why no one trusted him. Michael had been right about that, if nothing else. He didn't need to know the real reason I'd been so desperate to keep Ambrosius by my side, no matter what the Atlantean god spewed to everyone he knew.

Yes, maybe it was a little true that I wanted Ambrosius to overthrow Olympus. Because it was right. Because I loathed Zeus from the core of my being. I wasn't going to use Ambrosius as a puppet to do my bidding. The last thing I wanted was to be king of the gods. No, I wanted Ambrosius to do it to get rid of Zeus, to get what Ambrosius deserved... Worst of all was that I'd been desperate to keep Ambrosius tethered to me.

Everyone else had turned their backs on me. Everyone else sneered at me, spat at me, hated me, wished I was dead.

But the moment I held Ambrosius in my arms when he was an infant, the strangest sensation had passed through me. All my other sons eventually became everyone else. All those sneers blended together until I no longer saw my son, my sister, my brother, my people. I saw hatred.

However, Ambrosius's eyes, my eyes, had glowed with an incredible trust and adoration. Ambrosius had reached for me with the same desperation I reached for him. The smiles that lit up his face whenever he saw me, the fact that he only stopped crying after I was holding him, his giggles of delight as I read him story books and told him war stories, the only stories I knew that didn't make me want to vomit. His childlike innocence and his simplistic emotional settings of love and trust.

I was so desperate to have those again. I had been so afraid of losing Ambrosius that I had suffocated him. It wasn't until he'd become a teenager and that I had begun to train him that I noticed that his looks toward me were more forced. He stopped smiling with delight, stopped laughing and reaching for me. He started to ask questions that were natural for someone his age, but terrified me.

I could feel him slipping between my fingers. Just like all my other sons, he'd began to move away from me. He was leaving me. He wasn't looking at me like I was his father, but rather, an obstacle.

I'd punished him for it by locking him in that room. I should have never done it. I knew that. And each time I locked him inside, each time I pressed my back to the door as I listened to him sob and scream, the last shreds of humanity I had hopelessly clung to... all of it faded away.

And when I saw that hickey on Ambrosius's neck, it hit me like a fist in the stomach.

He was going to leave me.

He was turning on me.

He was going to hate me.

I'd reacted out of panic, anger. I couldn't see rationally. All I saw was more hatred. And in the end, I was right. Ambrosius hated me now as much as everyone else did. He'd faded into the crowd of hate that followed me everywhere I went. Ambrosius was no longer the bright child that saw me. He was the man that saw the monster beneath.

Agony balled up in my throat and I was unable to finish my nectar. I set it on the nightstand beside the bed and settled down beneath the covers. Lucifer eventually left to join my sons, and it made my stomach churn to see him talking so casually with them, as if they were friends. Worst of all was Ambrosius's delighted expression whenever Lucifer spoke to him.

That's not fair.

It felt like a dagger in my chest. I rolled over to put my back to them, clenching my fists, then unclenching them to stare down at my arms. A cold sensation washed over me as I thought of Theo, the scars running the length of his arms. He'd done it because that was all he knew. All he knew was the pain his mother had given him.

Why had I never done that? I obviously didn't like pain, but it was really I knew as well. So why hadn't I cut myself yet to relieve myself of the pain I'd fought so hard to swallow down?

Even worse, thinking about Theo made my chest hurt even worse. Theo was in the palace somewhere, probably suffering. Oh, I knew all about his masochism, but masochism also had a limit. There was only so much he could take before he broke.

How could I possibly sleep knowing that was happening to him? Happening to Malachi? Cain, Abel, Cerberus, Charon? Charon wasn't even biologically my son. I'd come to him because I was so tired of living alone in that gigantic palace. But I'd been so harsh and coarse towards him, because I was afraid that by inviting him, I would appear pathetic. And after I'd come to know him, to accept him as my son, it didn't matter that we weren't blood.

That was what made family worse.

It wasn't blood that made family. It was the people who got close to you that became family.

I had foolishly let too many people get close to me. And just like the family that fought beside me against the Titans, they, too, came to hate me. They, too, wore those sneers, spread those rumors, spat at me and cursed at me.

I shut my eyes and struggled to sleep, but it was next to impossible. Nightmares of what could be happening to my sons flashed before my eyes each time I closed them, and when they were open, all I could hear was Lucifer talking to Ambrosius and Zelios, making them laugh every so often.

That's not fair.

Eventually, they agreed to turn in for the night. Just as I suspected, with only two beds available and everyone in need for the best rest they could get, Ambrosius shared a bed with Zelios and Lucifer got in the bed beside me, but put a large space between us. Heat pooled in my stomach as I narrowed my eyes and clenched my fists.

Get the fuck away from me.

My muscles were so tight; it was a wonder they hadn't ripped. My teeth clenched so hard they hurt. My whole body was rigid.

Yeah. So much for sleep.