Sean gathered Aliasmos, her burnt cloths and the shirt he had given her in his arms and carried her to the medical bay with Nigel and Cathie close behind. Mooshka was busy flying around dragging a blanket across an empty bed.
''Put her here, we need to clean up her wounds before we can put her in the tank again'' said Mooshka
Sean gently placed her on the bed and made sure his shirt was still wrapped around her tightly, then pulled up a chair in order to stay close to her. He turned her hand over and finally saw the massive gashes across each of her palms.
''Are you alright love?'' asked Sean
''I'm fine just a little tired'' said Aliasmos weakly as she lifted her hand to stroke his cheek with her blood stained finger tips
Mooshka flew over with liquid soaked bandages, making sure Sean held down a section as she flew her hands making sure the bandages were tight and helped heal the huge gashes across each palm.
''How's that?'' asked Mooshka
''That should be fine, thanks sis'' Aliasmos replied sleepily
''Sean she needs to get some rest, will you alright taking her back to your room?'' asked Cathie as she placed her hand on his shoulder
''I'll take care of her'' nodded Sean, then she picked her up and carried her to their room, Aithutha grabbed her equipment and carried it to her room, with Aliasmos' cloths slung over her snow leopard. Fluffy and Cerbie followed them as well as they were all just as concerned as their master was barely awake as it was.
Cerbie jumped straight onto the bed and begun to pull the blankets back so Sean could easily get Aliasmos into their large king sized bed, that in his mind had far too many pillows on, Fluffy tried to jump up and down on a pillow to fluff it up for her but was getting frustrated due to her size, so Cerbie approached and nudged it with his nose, then moved to the size to give Sean room to lay her down. The dark pooch then grabbed the covered the bed then covered his wounded master, then simply lay next to her using her stomach as his personal pillow, showing his heartache in his eyes at Aliasmos' poor condition.
''I'll be alright boy'' said Aliasmos as she rested her hand onto her dogs head to reasure him only to hiss at the pain, Cerbie nudged her hand away and begun to lick at the bandages
''Be gentle with her boy'' said Sean and she ruffled the dark fur of the hell hound
''He always is love'' said Aliasmos as she finally closed her eyes
Sean pulled up a chair as Fluffy snuggled into her mistress's matted hair, Eric curled up by Aliasmos' neck, leaving Aithutha the spare pillow which was pulled closer to the lying figure in the bed
Sean took a seat and sighed knowing his girlfriend's familiars weren't going to let him anywhere near her once again
''Am I ever going to be allowed to sleep next to her?'' Sean asked
Eric's hiss at the question was enough for him to know her pets deeply cared for her in many ways more than he did for her as it was clear these four animals saw her not just as their master but almost as their parent, he wondered what had she done to develop such a strong bond with the four animals that were stopping him from having a comfortable night of broken sleep. Thankfully Aithutha understood his frustration and flew over with the pillow she had been using and handed it to him, the grabbed the spare fleece like blanket and lay it across his lap, then she snuggled up with him
''Thanks'' he smiled as she begun to pet the small dragon's head
Sean looked over at the sleeping Aliasmos and knew she was in good care with her familiars, he could see she was comfortable and would be alright with a little sleep, after all there was very little blood soaked into her left palm so the right was probably looking just as healthy.
Just as Sean found himself finally drifting off to sleep Aliasmos started to toss and turn in the bed, before he had the chance to pull her out of whatever nightmare she was having, Eric carefully moved to lie on her chest with his paw on her nose, making a point to stick his tongue out at Sean in-between purrs
''Bloody cat'' he muttered knowing the three animals on the bed were taking care of his prescious girlfriend, so he placed his feet at the foot of the bed and slid down on the chair, causing Aithutha to wake up after nearly falling off his lap. Sean couldn't help but apologise to the blue dragon with a huge smile on his face, but the dragon gave him a filthy look then snorted smoke in his direction before she once again made herself comfortable.
Sean found he actually had quite a comfortable night's sleep, with the small blue dragon on his lap. His mind begun to fill of all the prescious moments he had spent with Aliasmos before they were taken to this new non-stop life of hunting things that go bump in the night and her being in constant in danger from those forces and that included her own family. He thought of those prescious moments together, sitting on the sofa, cuddled up under a duvet watching a film or playing video games. The days she spent all day helping him to learn Shakespeare. Hell even days doing the housework together and they had their silly arguments over who was doing it wrong.
He was pulled from his flash backs as Cerbie jumped into his lap landing in the worst place he could have chosen, causing Sean to cry out in pain as he fell out of the chair, hissing through the pain surging through his groin
''Damn it Cerbie did you have to wake me up like?'' Sean hissed
''But licking your face didn't work'' the pooch answered giving him a questioning look
''I don't think I'll ever get use to you speaking into my head'' said Sean as he shook his head, then slowly got back onto his feet. ''Where's Als?'' asked Sean as he noticed the bed was empty with two bloodied bandages abandoned on the bed
''Mum changed her bandages, then went looking for her ex-husband'' replied the dog
''Shit'' hissed Sean as he grabbed the bandages then started to head towards the common room, with the black hell hound close by
''Als'' shouted Sean as he started to tear through the complex looking for her
''Good afternoon Sean'' beamed Cathie as if nothing was wrong
''Where is she?'' asked Sean
''She's with her sons in the gym''
''Are you sure it's just the three of them in there, Cerbie told me she went looking for Griff'' panted Sean
''That can't be good'' sighed Cathie as she smashed a dirty bowl into the sink full of soapy water
''To make matters worse I think her hands are still shredded'' with that he showed Cathie the bandages her daughter hadn't bothered to throw away
Cathie marched over to the computers and plugged turned on the internal sound system
''Aliasmos Helena get your arse and the arse of your boys back here right now. I don't care what your doing to your ex-husband right now but whatever it is, the whole family should be involved so we can all get a decent right hook in there as well''
''Remind me again never to piss off the family'' sighed Sean as he took a seat at the table
''With how you treat my daughter you never have to worry about that'' said Cathie with a smile. ''Do you want some tea or lunch she asked?''
Before Sean could answer, Cronos walked into the common room dragging his bloodied father with him, Forge armed with a baseball bat across his shoulders. Aliasmos simply walked in with a large satisfied smile across her face
''What did he do this time?'' asked Mooshka as she flew into the room and admired the damage to Griff
''He won't admit his fuck ups'' sighed Forge
''Good luck with that'' snorted Cathie as she put the kettle on
''Is Als causing more damage?'' asked Kate as she skidded into the Common room
''Not today'' said Aliasmos as she flashed her still sore hands, but if you take a seat you get to watch my boys beat the living shit out of their father'' she smiled
''I'll get the beer'' smiled Kate
''Can I jump in on that?'' asked Kai
''The beating or the drinking?'' asked Forge as she threw his brother the baseball bat
''Both'' smiled Kai
''There's a spare bat in the gym'' sighed Aliasmos
''Oh me'' said Kate as she put her hand in the air
''I don't deserve this'' said Griff as he spat out some blood, causing a device on his neck to turn red
''Wrong answer'' smiled Cronos as he smashed the bat into Griff's shoulder
''That lie had to hurt'' said Aliasmos as she knelt down so she was eye level with Griff
''I've had worse'' he replied, the devise turned green
''I'm impressed you actually know how to tell the truth'' with that Aliasmos stood up and accepted the beer from her best friend, then sat on the table. ''Next question did you made the deal with Ninet for you to gain more power?''
''No'' said Griff clearly pissed off with all of the damn questions
The collar on his neck turned red
''Your turn'' said Cronos with a smile as he gave Forge the baseball bat
''Thanks'' he smiled, ''Mum where should I aim?'' asked Forge
''Swingers pick, you know the rules'' she smiled as she took a sip of her beer
Forge couldn't help but smile at his mother's response as he aimed for his father's knee, then a crunch rang through the complex along with a loud hiss.
''What's going on?'' asked Nigel as he wondered into the living room
''Payback family style'' toasted Aliasmos
''Here, here'' everyone cheered with her, soon with a beer in everyone's hands
''I'm going back to the smithy, I have too many ideas floating around'' said Nigel as we waved to everyone
''My turn'' said Kate as she hopped down from the table and skipped over to Forge for the baseball bat
''Go for it'' he playfully bowed as he presented the bat as if it was a ceremonial blade
Aliasmos couldn't help but chuckle as she took a sip of her drink, then looked at her beaten and bloodied ex-husband
''Griff, did you boycot the plan to kill Ninet for the sake of your own glory?''
''No'' he replied
The light turned green
''Bollocks'' hissed Kate
''It's your until it turns red'' said Aliasmos. ''Griff did you keep Ninet alive for selfish reasons?''
''I wouldn't call it selfish'' he sighed
The light turned red
Kate was practically jumping up and down with excitement at the prospect of taking a bat to someone who had hurt a dear friend of hers
''Als, I'm doing this because I love you'' said Kate, then smashed the bat across his head
''Nice one'' toasted Aliasmos
''Who's next?'' asked Kate as she offered the bat around
Cronos grabbed it from her once he downed half of his beer then simply begun to walk around his severly wounded father
''What did you get from her I wonder?''
''Nothing that conerns you'' he hissed
The light once again turned red, so Cronos forced the bat into his father's spin
''Can you really take much more punishment?'' Aliamsos asked
''As long as it's not your dishing it out love'' he smiled
''That's it, give me that bat'' hissed Sean
''See now you pissed off my other half'' she teased
''He can't do shit to me''
The light once again flashed red, ''I'm going top enjoy this'' smiled Sean as he smashed the bat into Griff's face
''It would be safer for you not to make comments like that to my daughter again, now tell us what you got in the deal with Ninet or I will make you suffer a fate worse that all of my daughter's powers combined'' threatened Cathie
Cathie knelt down to be at eye level with the wounded man and created something but brought the fear of god into his face, yet no one saw what she had done
''Fine I'll tell you everything'' he sighed
Cathie stood up looking rather pleased with herself, showing everyone a green collar
''You better tell us the truth'' she threatened
''I'll tell you everything, I swear upon my powers I will tell you the truth'' once again the collar turned green
''Go for it'' said Aliasmos
''When the kill order came through for Ninet I drew the short straw, finally managed to find her in a underground cave by the Himalayas, once inside she said that if I let her live she would merge the small fragment of Aliasmos' soul gem to mine so I could always find her'' he sighed
''You son of a bitch'' shouted Aliasmos as she picked up the bat despite the pain it caused her and unleashed hell upon his body, forcing Sean to grab her, while Forge wrestled the bat out of the now bleeding hands
''Who unleashed the demon'' yawned James as he finally wondered into the common room to find Aliasmos being held back by her boyfriend and son, with a wounded bleeding figure on the floor next to a bloody baseball bat that had clearly seen better days
He wondered into the kitchen area to see Griff in vast amounts of pain, with Cathie looking mildly annoyed and Aliasmos clearly looking for blood
''Well that explains it'' he yawned once again as he put the kettle on, clearly showing signs he had just woken up
''He made a deal to always find his beloved wife and you can guess the rest from there'' said Kate
''Well that was stupid'' he declared
''No fucking shit'' shouted Aliasmos
''I did what I thought was best as I knew how high the bounty would climb, I had to keep her safe'' he shouted
''Bullshit'' she shouted trying to get free of both Sean and Forge without hurting them. ''I should be dead because of the shit you pull, hell the shit you always fucking pull every time you crawl back into my life''
''That's because your father cursed me to do that to you, in hoped of gaining your soul gem, with a piece of it with me it means he can never gain the full powers of the seven sisters'' he shouted
That was it she was finally calm
''Ifrit did what?'' shouted Cathie noticing the collar was still green
''Oh shit'' whispered James making sure he was standing behind Cathie
Sean noticed Aliasmos was no longer in full blown rage mode, instead she was in utter shook as was the rest of the Helena family
''Why would Ifrit kill the seven sisters?'' dared Kate
''He could destroy me with their combined powers'' said Cathie as she sat down with her head in her hand
''Have any of you noticed that a few of us have referred to Alan being the Grey Father, well Ifrit and the Grey Father are the same person'' said Forge
''Is there anything we can do to stop him?'' asked Sean
''The only thing that can kill a being like Ifrit is a demi-god'' replied James
''And I'm the only demi-god alive'' said Aliasmos as she wondered over to the table and downed her drink, leaning heavily on her hands, unable to feel the pain currently flowing through them
''Als...'' said Kate
''I know it's a shit situation once again caused by Griff here as he was tricked into implanting a piece of him into me when I was expecting Alan and don't worry Kate, Cronos took great pleasure taking out a few ribs thanks to that stunt'' said Aliasmos as she looked at her best friend
Nicely done'' Kate said as he looked at the man in question
''Arsehole deserved it'' he smiled as he picked up the bat, then grabbed some kitchen cloth and begun to clean it
''Are you alright Als?'' asked Sean
Aliasmos took a deep breathe, ''I've known for a long time that I will have to end his life at some point, it'll break my heart but my son is the most evil being in the cosmic universe right now. If I can't kill him then there is simply no chance in hell we can win this war against Malekith''
''You sound like you have a plan?'' said Cathie seeing a new determination in her daughter
''Mum, would you do me the honours of healing my hands as I have a kill order that needs to be completed, then when I'm back I expect everyone to be ready for combat training. Griff if you haven't given up your powers when I get back I will personally feed you to Aithutha'' she threatened
''I'll grab your gear'' smiled Forge
''I'm coming with you'' said Kate
''I won't argue with that'' Aliasmos smiled as Cathie approached her and healed her hands
''Come back in one piece this time boss, I would hate to kick your arse in a simple training exercise'' teased James as he sorted out a bowl of cereal for himself
''Don't get too comfortable rookie, you've never been able to keep up with me'' she teased
Kate and Aliasmos changed into their combat gear, allowing Forge to help Aliasmos with her weapon load out, while Cronos helped Kate
''Ninet had stun based wards around her campsite so tread carefully'' said Griff as he hissed in pain with the tissues pressed against his shoulder.
''Anything else?'' asked Aliasmos as she checked her pistol magazines were secure
''Yeah, she specialises in ice based spells so stick with anything that creates fireworks. She spends more time underground than above so anything that creates massive amounts of light will mess with her focus''
''This is going to be fun'' smiled Aliasmos as she attached a headset
''I call that playtime'' smiled Kate
''Well you have been saying you want to test your new arrows'' smiled Cronos
''And I get to do it in close quarters'' she smiled
''Once she's dead bring back anything that appears magical, we can't let the outside world get their hands on her knowledge'' ordered Cathie as she handed over a backpack
''Of course boss, standard procedure'' nodded Aliasmos as she put the bag on
''Happy hunting'' said Forge, then he teleported the girls to the location that Griff had given them
''I take it no is willing to heal me'' said Griff
''Don't be stupid boy'' barked Cathie, ''With the shit you've pulled you should be thankful you can still breathe''
James and Cronos couldn't help but laugh as they started to clean up, leaving Forge sniggering by the computers keeping an eye on the ground team
''If your looking for sympathy you won't find it with us dad'' said Forge
''Thanks boys'' sighed Griff, ''Can I at least get a chair to sit on so I'm not lying in my own blood and fragments of what was once my knee cap?'' he asked
''Sure thing'' said Cathie as she kicked a chair across the floor
''Gaia how can you be this pissed off with me?'' he asked
''You damn well know why I'm this pissed off with you'' she shouted
''No I honestly don't I thought if I made the deal it would keep her alive'' he argued
''No what you did was secure her powers for yourself when your stupidity would finally end her life'' she shouted, ''You would have made yourself and easy target for Ifrit, the same way you always have done Griff''
James and Cronos looked at each other and made a point to escape the kitchen as Cathie started to produce and angry green aura around herself, causing mild interference in the computer system
''Um Nigel, we may need you on deck, as your wife is doing an impression of my very pissed off mother'' said Forge in his headset
Nigel went up the common room as fast as he could, Sean had wanted to say something but his brain was still trying to get his head wrapped around Alan being as evil as both Aliasmos and Cathie had suggested
''Forge can you hear me?'' Aliasmos asked through the sound system. ''We're getting interference here?''
''Sorry about that we're having some technical difficulties on the supernatural level, just stick to the mission, if you drop your lenses they should be able to pick up wards and heat signatures'' Forge replied
''Help Cathie, I've got the girls'' said James as she approached the computers
Forge nodded then handed the headset over, and explained the situation.
''I was wondering how long she could stay contained for'' Laughed Aliasmos
''Damn and here I hoped we could see her finally let lose, wish I could see him suffer more'' muttered Kate
''Girls shouldn't you be focused on killing the psychotic witch that was wanted over two thousand years ago?''
''Shit I knew we forgot something'' said Aliasmos
''Focus Als, if she catches you off guard her magic will hurt like hell'' warned James
''Fine I'll take the mission seriously, we'll let you know when she's dead, over and out'' said Aliasmos
''I need to ask are you the reason she feels so cursed?'' asked Sean
''It wouldn't surprise me if I was'' Griff sighed with clear signs of regret
''Did you love her?'' Sean asked
''What kind of fucking question is that?'' shouted Cathie
''I don't think I could ever stop loving her, I was once told she was my soul mate. Seeing how happy she is with you just proves that the oracle's vision was a load of bullshit'' he sighed
''That explains a lot'' said Donna as she walked into the common room, with tears in her eyes after clearly hearing everything that had happened
Nigel didn't have to calm Cathie down any more as Donna's tear filled eyes did the job just as well
''I'm sorry you heard all of that'' said Cathie
''I always feared he still loved her, from how he acted upon hearing about her disappearance, then when supernatural things begun to happen he started to pace up and down, then hiding various weapons around the flat, putting wards around the place so we couldn't be found'' she explained as she slowly walked into the room
''Who brought the flat?'' asked Cronos
''It was the flat he liked the most'' she sighed
''Seventeenth of May is mum's birthday, it's how she figured out which flat to buzz'' said Cronos as he leaned against the table
''Mum thought you forgot all about us'' said Forge
''I tried to, I hoped having a Church wedding to a woman who was nearly as amazing as your mother would help me to walk away from how things use to be, make me feel a little less cursed. I was wrong, the only way out is death'' he sighed, dropping his arm that was trying to contain the blood flow from what was left of his right arm
''What did you say to get that?'' Donna asked as she knelt in front of her husband
''She asked me if I regretted the live we had together, I said no and I lied to her as I have too many regrets of the live we once had together'' said Griff as he couldn't be bothered to hold back his emotions any longer
''What's this around your neck?'' asked Donna as she noticed the glow of green coming from the collar
''It's a very personal lie detector I created. Turns red if he lies and green if he's telling the truth'' said Forge
''Then let me ask you this Griff... Did you marry me because you love me?''
''I wouldn't have asked you to spend your life with me if I didn't'' he smiled
Donna looked at the collar and noticed it shone a brilliant green colour
''Do you miss the glory days of fighting demons?'' she asked
''No'' he replied and once again the collar glowed green. ''I'm too tired to fight a war where there's no place for me, but I know we'll have to stay here as this is the safest place for us''
Donna leaned her head against Griff's keeping an eye on the collar which still hadn't changed colour, she couldn't help but smile at how honest he was being with her, yet the questions from his sons and ex-wife caused him to become battered and bruised
''We need to get you cleaned up''
''The medical bay is fully equipped, though you'll probably have to help him walk as he only has one knee'' said Cathie
''I will admit it was very satisfying'' smiled Forge, ''also work of warning there may not be much left of his rib cage, mum unleashed hell on him''
''It's alright I can take care of him from here'' said Donna. ''I promise you this, from now on he will tell you the truth otherwise there will be hell to pay'' said Donna as she helped Griff to his feet them dragged his beaten and bleeding body to the medical bay
''I think that woman has done him the world of good'' said Cathie as she leaned into her husband for a little comfort
''Yeah might actually have a dad who wants to be a fucking father'' hissed Forge
''That will be the fucking day'' muttered Cronos
''Be nice boys'' barked Cathie
''If he starts trying to act like my damn father I'm knocking him on his arse'' barked Cronos
''Is that before or after our mother kills him?'' asked Forge
Cronos couldn't help but laugh at the comment his older brother made, knowing exactly how his mum felt about his father
''And we wouldn't have it any other way'' smiled Cathie
