The following is a fan based short story, High School DxD is property of Ichiei Ishibumi, Miyama-Zero and ATX. Please support the official release.

Warning, this story contains: Violence, gore, foul language, possible blasphemy, gratuitous amounts of nudity and sexual situations.

Reader discretion is advised.

Author's Note:
I have read comments and know that Thanatos in the canon of High School DxD is a Grim Reaper under the control of Hades and that this is entirely non-canon. My only intention is to do a play on the Thanatos and Hypnos myth with a twist, much like how a lot of the characters from the different pantheons have their own little quirks, such as Odin enjoying going to titty bars. This is just a story I've had on the brain for some time and wanting to put it on paper.

As for everything else, I'll do my best to represent them as accurately as possible.

I do appreciate the feedback and thank the people that did comment for reading. Now enjoy the rest of the story, however unbelievable it may be.

Act 1-3
"Hm, is that so...?" Asked Hypnos with an expression of skepticism.

"Yes... unfortunately there is no other way..." answered Azazel, who immediately held up a pair of chopsticks, "This is how you eat Ramen!"

With a gruff sort of gracefulness, Azazel lifted some noodles from within the bowl, slurping the noodles as he did so. With a sigh of contentment, he looked over at Hypnos who stared, bewildered by the actions of his guide, but then tried it himself. His eyes widened, he soon found himself slurping up the noodles in a rapid fashion before, rather uncharacteristically of a god, smacking his lips.

"Delicious! Its such a simple dish, yet the flavors are absolutely wonderous!" Hypnos squealed joyfully.

"I'm glad you like it." Smiled Azazel who continued to eat.

They continued to eat an converse about the simplicity and yet complexity of a bowl of ramen for a moment, they got about halfway through their respective bowls before Azazel finally spoke up once more, placing his elbows on the table and resting his chin in his hands.

"So, your brother, Lord Thanatos… just how dangerous is he?" he asked.

"It really depends, way back then his only duties were to escort the dead or dying to the underworld, a duty once left to Hermes before my brother and I were born." Hypnos sighed and rolled his eyes, "But that is another story entirely."

"That right? Well I do love a good story as you know." Azazel laughed before reaching inside of his dress coat and producing a newspaper, setting it upon the counter and sliding it over to Hypnos, "Have you heard anything about this?"

Hypnos glanced at the front page of the newspaper, it outlined a robbery that had occured at the local museum in which an artifact was stolen, his eyes stood upon the picture of the stone torch which he immediately recognized. He also made note of the date, this was a robbery that happened recently, he looked up at Azazel.

"Well, this certainly explains why Thanatos was released." he pointed at the picture of the torch, "This was used to seal him, I had it hidden away so that he would sleep for eternity. We'll have to pay a visit to this place in the future, I might be able to gather some more clues as to who did it, and why."

"It gets worse I'm afraid." he turned the pages of the newspaper, flipping immediately to the article that detailed the article and what was found, "Apparently the bodies of some of the security detail had been found, throats slit with something like a wire, others, far more gruesome. Any idea who that could have been?"

Hypnos thought for a moment, but no one came not mind, not at first.

"There is no way she would dare, she has a bit of a grudge against Thanatos." he said, but could not shake the possibility from his mind.

"You got an idea?" perked up Azazel.

"Depends… do you believe in fate good sir?"

"...you're kidding."

"Its not for certain, but Atropos and Thanatos have something of a bitter rivalry, their domain is death and are charged with forever being a shadow over mortals for all of eternity."

"And what of this grudge this… Atropos, was it?"

"You may not believe this, but at one point, Thanatos saved this world. Atropos, was tired of mortals not dying fast enough, as her power depended upon the fear and death of mortals, just as all gods of death do. She allied herself with our sisters, the Keres and went to the battlefields of mortals, ruthlessly slaughtering them all and sometimes even shifting their tides entirely. This angered Ares, Zeus and most of all, Thanatos, who subdued the Keres and imprisoned them behind the Doors of Death which he guards. After that, he threatened Atropos not to interfere in the affairs of mortals again, or the consequences would be dire. She fled with her sisters, vowing revenge, and things seemingly calmed, for a short while."

"And what was her revenge?"

"That I cannot say… all I know is one day Thanatos went absolutely berserk and began to slaughter an entire city of worshippers of Aphrodite, which was what led to his being sealed in the first place.'

"And now he's free again… probably incredibly pissed and confused at the new landscape." Azazel sighed, seeing how the mood grew all solemn, from the expresssion on Hypnos' face, he began to grin and asked, "So, tell me, is Aphrodite really as beautiful as she's rumored?"

"A man of culture I see…" Hypnos chuckled and rolled his eyes, "I'll put it this way, imagine the perfect woman, now imagine a woman more perfect than that."

Azazel's grin widened upon hearing this, "Oh I can imagine the perfect woman, but what I would give to meet Aphrodite."

"She's got high standards, I doubt you would even get close to her without getting burned."

"Well if she's as beautiful as you say, then it's worth a shot, is it not?"

The two men shared a laugh over this, then Azazel spoke up again.

"So, you keep referring to Atropos… tell me is she…"

"That's going a bit too far, I will not have you speaking of my sister in such a manner."

Azazel blinked, "Sister?"

"Technically half… Mother had many children besides my brother and myself…"

"Oh… f-forgive me my Lord!" Azazel bowed his head apologetically. 'Nyx… Sirzechs… what have you gotten me into?'

"I'm just toying with you Sir Azazel, loosen up." Hypnos held up a hand to one side of his face, "Ohohohohoho…"

"You are full of surprises Lord Hypnos, we'll have to have a drink later. For now, want to check the museum?"

Hypnos was drinking the broth from his bowl, holding up a single finger, slurping down the last bit before setting the bowl down before nodding and rising from his chair.

"Yes, lets." he nodded.

Azazel laid the payment upon the bar along with a tip and the two men exited the ramen house before heading to the museum. When they had finally arrived, the museum was surrounded, not only by police, but by the security detail as well. The two groaned at this sight.

"Well this is going to be a pain in the ass…" said Azazel.

Hypnos smirked, immediately reaching into the pouch on his belt, pulling out what looked to be black sand from within it.

"Watch closely now." he said raising his hand to his mouth and floating just above the whole of the museum, blowing it gently to create a gentle cloud, engulfing the museum and all the people surrounding it. After a few moments, the cloud disappated, leaving everyone touched by it in a peaceful slumber, he nodded, floating back down to the ground, "Ohohohoho, I haven't done that in millenia, I've forgotten how much fun this is."

"Is that… poppy?" asked Azazel, unsurprised, considering who he was working with.

"Indeed, it's as you said, the sandman envies me." he said, pulling the cord on the bag tightly closed, "Shall we explore?"

Azazel just nodded, looking around as the two walked up the steps and into the front door of the museum, as they passed one of the security guards, he snatched up the keyring a little beforehand.

"Don't worry, they'll be out until we leave the area, we'll have free reign." chuckled Hypnos.

"Going to need these then." Azazel held up the keyring before moving to unlock the front door.

The two stepped inside the huge museum, Azazel of course led the way to the Greek wing, immediately Hypnos looked around at the various works of art and artifacts within, he sighed, it was almost nostalgic seeing all of these things again, he stopped and clenched his fist, the harsh reality setting in for him.

"Lord Hypnos, is something wrong?" asked Azazel, who looked genuinely concerned.

After a few moments of silence, Hypnos spoke once more.

"I'm alright… it seems mortals still have some appreciation of the old world, except this piece right here." Hypnos said as he approached a specific painting, the plaque under it reading 'The Birth of Venus' he shook his head, "They got everything else right but her face looks nothing like that…"

"Really? She looks good to me, so is it true she was born nude?" chuckled Azazel as he joined Hypnos to gawk at the portrait.

"I've heard stories, but most of my time was spent in Tartarus. I wouldn't doubt it however, considering she loves to wander around in little to nothing." replied the god as he turned away from the painting and the two returned to searching through the museum once more.

They soon came to the case where the stone torch was on display, Hypnos sighed as he closed his eyes for a moment.

"Foolishness." he simply said.

"I don't think the humans had any idea the significance of this torch my Lord." said Azazel reassuringly, "No question about it, there is some magical residue here."

"I concur, but this isn't from Atropos…" nodded Hypnos who began to search around the case, eventually he came upon a single thread, picking it up and showing it to Azazel, "...so they're back together... "

"What do you mean?" Azazel asked.

"It's Clotho… they're back together again…" sighed Hypnos, "Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos."

"The Fates…" worried Azazel, "Well we know who woke your brother up."

"Yes… but what are the planning to do with him…?"