"We lost the perfect chance to get ahead of them because of you!" Juno was screaming at him, and her loud voice echoed too easily in the small meeting room they were in. Zen stared at her steadily while the other leaders watched. Malum was leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. His hat was pulled down to cover his eyes, and Zen honestly began to wonder if he was asleep. But then he remembered that if the six months he had spent here had taught him anything, it was that Malum was always listening even if it seemed like he wasn't.

"I forgot," he said simply.

"HOW THE HELL DO YOU FORGET A CONNECTION THAT YOU'VE HAD FOR YEARS?!" Juno screamed. Zen knew she was right. It did look suspicious. He could kick himself for his foolishness.

"When you have it for so long, you get used to it." He growled. "You forget that it exists."

"That sounds more like an excuse!" She snarled.

"Juno, please, calm down." Vada said in her soft voice. Juno turned and glared at her, green eyes burning with a fire that wasn't uncommon for her.

"No! He made us look like damn fools!" She roared. "We had to turn and run with our tails between our legs like DOGS! Not to mention, Malum almost died!"

"Which I stopped, by the way." Zen snarled before he could stop himself. He quickly realized that was a mistake when Juno whirled around towards him with a fury that could burn down an entire nation.

"Oh, so you saved his life! Big deal! How do we know this isn't all some big ploy?! Some kind of trick to weave your way into Malum's good graces so you can get what you need and then fuck off to tell Medicus like the guard dog you are?!" She roared down at him.

"I'm no guard dog," He snarled.

"Oh, I'm sorry! You're right!" She grabbed his collar and yanked him up so their faces were inches apart. His toes barely touched the ground but he glared right back at her. She couldn't hurt him, because he didn't care what she had to say. She wasn't Medicus, she wasn't SS, she wasn't Angel. "YOU'RE NOT GUARD DOG, YOU'RE A FALLEN PRINCE!"

Zen tried not to flinch. He really did. But he still did, hard and very noticeable, before he shoved himself away from Juno. The Chineclaw looked ready to shout again, but then a voice made everyone stop.

"Enough." It was Malum, staring at them with intense amber eyes. He leaned away from the wall and walked over to them. "I believe him."

"You're kidding me!" Juno shouted. "He's playing you, Malum!"

"He was just as startled as we were when he saw Medicus and those damn soldiers," Malum said, his voice calm but intense. Juno finally took the hint to shut her mouth. "He told me he forgot, and I believe him. He's just left a group who was his family for three hundred years and asked to betray them in the worst way possible."

"If he hated them, it shouldn't be so hard," Juno growled because she always needed the last word. But Malum wasn't giving it to her.

"It's never that easy, Juno. You of all people should know. Even if those you loved have betrayed you, again and again, it's hard to turn your back on them. Even when you want to." He glanced at Zen, who stared back. He didn't know if he could see his misery on his face, or if it was shining through his eyes as he was left vulnerable from Juno's low blow. "And Zen loved the Death Squad for a very, very long time."

"..." Zen knew he should stay. That he should defend himself, and back Malum up. But he couldn't. He allowed himself to be weak for the first time in six months, to do something for himself even though it was so small. He turned and left the room swiftly before anyone could stop him. He walked down the hallway and ignored the stares he got from Malum's soldiers, guards, and minions. No matter how thick the walls were he was sure they heard Juno's roar, and her sharp insult that cut deeper then he wished to admit. He kept his eyes on the ground as he walked, following his feet as they took him to that bland little bedroom.

When he got there, he found his legs were trembling and he collapsed onto his bed. He hands groped for the stiff pillow at the end of the bed and he brought it to his chest so he could bury his face into the material. The fabric was soon stained with his tears as he laid there, limp and trembling from his grief. After some time, he knew what he had to do. He knew he had to do it before he lost his courage. He let go of the pillow but didn't try to stop his silent tears as he slipped off the bed. He tried to stand but his trembling legs couldn't hold him. He grabbed onto the edge of the desk as he fell but it didn't keep him up. He bowed his head, gasping as tears streaked down his cheeks before he shut his eyes in defeat.

He reached down inside of himself. His touch glowed orange as it traveled through his lungs and up to his heart. What floated around his heart was a black mist. In Medicus's chest around his heart he had the same. It was Vacuos, so she could watch them, and care for them, and help them when they needed her. It was what had bound the three together when it was just them in the Courts. Before everyone else, before Rufus, before Malum was a big problem, before Demigods... When everyone was okay. But nothing was okay now.

His touch grabbed onto the edge of the mist, and slowly the orange color spread through the inky black. He gathered his strength and then tore it from his core. He couldn't stop his scream of agony and grief as his body lurched. He hit the ground completely, his face digging into the wooden planks. His right hand slammed against the floor while his left grabbed at his chest.

He could hear Vacuos. He could hear her pleading with him, asking him why he was doing this, how he could do this, what had she done wrong? He curled up, trembling as he continued to tear his mother's mist from his core. Finally, he got it out. He was in a cold sweat and he was pretty sure he had screamed so much that his throat was bleeding. He refused to look at the mist as it disappeared, unable to stay in the mortal world without his core to cling to. Tears streaked down his cheeks and he trembled like a small dog. He felt hollow and empty without the warmth his mother's mist had given him. He let his head drop onto the wood and closed his eyes as tears streaked down his cheeks.

His vision was blurring and his head was spinning. It felt like he had cotton balls in his ears. He was in such pain that he was almost numb. He shut his eyes, content with just dying until he heard a noise and he forced them open again. There was someone hurrying over to him, his bedroom door open behind them, and their shoes were thumping against the wooden floor so loudly it made his ears ring. The vibrations shook him to his core and he let out a raspy moan of pain. They touched his shoulder and his fried nerves screamed, and so did he even though his throat begged for him to stop. He couldn't help it. He passed out right after and fell into the darkness that felt so cold and unforgiving because it wasn't his mother's.