Another chapter, WELCOME TO THE UNDERWORLD :D:D. Neh, this is my last chapter before I leave for Rome, please bear with me, I'm stressed

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Chapter 12; The other side of the Styx.

"You want to cross?" the man asked.

Drew frowned, "I take it you're Charon?" he asked.

The man nodded, "Yes, that's me," he turned back in his boat and signed Drew to come. "Two coins, pay your fee and we're ready to go,"

Drew grabbed in his pocket, surprised he still had his clothes (he had really seen too much renaissance art) and gave the man the coins. Charon signed to sit down.

"Ah, I see what you're thinking. You are thinking: 'Charon was never this nice, so why is he now?" he talked out of his own. "Well, you see. I'm not exactly needed anymore. The dead cross over by themselves, but I can't leave as well. So the few visitors I get, I treat as my friends," he talked.

"So young man. What are you going to do in the land of the death. I can see your spirit lingering in between. You're not dead yet, but also not very alive."

"I'm going to bring someone back," Drew said.

Charon laughed, "Ah, another fool, haven't seen one in about 2500 years,"

Drew frowned, "Do you have any good advice for me?" he asked.

Charon chuckled, "Of course I have. You know Cerberus?" Drew nodded, "Yeah, from mythology books. He's the guard-dog you have to put asleep with music."

Charon frowned, "Damn that Orpheus, always being the show-off. He was the only one who used music and now everyone believes it's the only way. Boy, you only have to be stern to him. One firm sit and he willl obey you," he said.

After that Drew leaned curiously over the edge of the boat, to see the dark water.

"Make sure you don't fall in," Charon said warningly.

"Why?" Drew asked. Charon pointed at the faint shadows in the water. "They are the ones that couldn't find peace in live and now not in death," he said sadly.

"Why?" Drew asked again. For once he was not the one who knew everything and he did not like it very much.

Charon sighed, "they are the ones that committed suicide. Their lives have ended too early,"

This Drew didn't understand, as assassin he was used to kill people, but didn't he end their lives too early as well?

Apparently Charon was some sort of mind-reader, "No when someone is killed, it was fate. But when somebody kills himself, they just end another life," he explained.

Frankly didn't understand one bit of that thing called fate, but it was none of his concern anyway.

The air was heavy and it was hard for Drew to breathe. He looked helplessly at Charon but the said one only laughed. "As long as you don't forget who you are, there's nothing to be worried about,"

Drew nodded but then felt the boat bump against something.

"Ah, we're here," Charon said. Drew jumped of the boat and gave the boatman a small bow.

Charon laughed, "I just hope I still can bring you back with this boat. I hope I'll see you around; don't let the demons get to you," he snickered, and with the blink of an eye Drew saw the boatman disappear in the heavy fog, still hearing his spooky whistle.

Drew gulped, this was one hell of a scary place, even for someone with steel nerves.

He turned around and faced the path before him, a misty forest. "May, you owe me big time," he muttered, but then remembered it was his own fault he had to be here

'Damn' he thought.

Then he gathered his courage and entered the woods.

He thought he saw faint shades, but he clenched his teeth and ignored them.

Slowly more and more of the shadown started walking on the path. The looks on their faces was blank and it looked like nothing mattered anymore.

'It probably doesn't,' Drew thought.

Suddenly he felt a wave of heat over his face and he realized how cold he had been since he had left Charon's boat. Finally, when the road was crowded with shadows he saw a dog with three heads standing before a gate.

It was huge and scanned the mass he noticed Drew. All three of the heads growled.

"These people are dead," one head said.

"They can pass," the other head said

"But you aren't dead," The last head said.

"You cannot pass!!!" all three heads growled loudly.

In no time Drew had gotten over his surprise about a three headed talking dog, and did what Charon told him to do.

"How dare you to talk to me like that," he said harshly.

The legendary dog scowled but Drew did not back away. Cerberus seemed to hesitate for a second before laying down.

Drew felt a small urge to laugh and he probably would have if the situation wasn't that serious. It must have looked incredibly funny.

A dog with the size of like 50 humans lying down in front of a teenage boy.

But that was not what Drew thought about as he looked literally into the jaws of the underworld. In fact, he didn't think about anything as a strong tranquility washed over him.

'So this is what dying feels like' Drew thought before he caught himself. He quickly pinched himself to make sure he was wide awake yet again.

'Almost lost it there for a second' Drew thought. He realized the pun he made and snickered.

Then he took a deep breath and walked through the gates. Drew held his eyes closed, expecting a wave of heath flush over him but none of that.

The shady world he had entered was anything but the thought he had of hell.

"That is because you're not in hell," a voice said.

Drew blinked for a second, only slightly startled anyone talked to him. Truthfully he had seen too much strange thing to be really surprised by anything.

Then he turned around and already had his mouth wide open to ask who this person really was. But the only thing that left his mouth was: "What are you doing here Yoshee?"

The girl looked down, "Oh, so this person is named Yoshee? Interesting," she said while she looked at herself.

Drew frowned, "So you are not Yoshee and yet you are her? I believe that's imp...." he wanted to say but the girl interrupted him.

"Impossible? Oh shush, it's also impossible to live while you're dead, and yet here you are," she said dismissively

Drew clenched his teeth and then calmed himself. He noted to himself that below his emotions apparently became to obvious.

"That is because dead have no secrets," Yoshee or whatever her name was said.

Drew began to lose his patience, was this a freaking mind-reader or something?

"Close but not right," she said amused.

"Alright, what exactly are you?" Drew snapped. A grin spread over the face, "Was that so hard to ask? I'm one of the creatures down here that literally strip the people of their secrets, emotions, memories etc., etc. Everything that makes a person an individual," she said proudly.

Drew rolled his eyes, "So what exactly are you doing here and why do you look like Yoshee?" Drew asked.

The girl pointed a finger accusingly at him, "you're not dead," she stated.

'No shit Sherlock' Drew thought as he looked at her. With a second the girl only looked in appearance like Yoshee.

Yoshee was calm and had a certain reservance, whereas this girl had a fire in her eyes.

"So?" Drew asked.

The girl looked as if he just had asked something obvious, "I couldn't strip you of your individuality. I only got two people from your mind. The one you trust the most and uhm...well the one you...never mind. I chose the one you trust," she explained.

Drew didn't like the idea of creatures digging through his mind. But then again, it was not like she could do anything about it.

He sighed exasperated, "Then explain to me what you're doing here. I'm kinda busy you see..." he frowned, "...whatever your name is"

The girl huffed, "The name's Hadi and I'm sent to get you out of here,"

Drew rolled his eyes again, "Yeah, sure. I'm out of here". With that he continued his way. He turned around at the following footsteps, "What?" he asked. "Didn't I say I had to hurry?" he snapped.

Hadi closed her eyes, "When I said I had to get you out of here, I meant that you have two choices. Either you turn around and return to the world of the living, or you die," she said seriously.

Drew felt as if his world came crashing down.

"What!"

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Ouch, my fingers hurt from typing so much. Although I feel pretty good now. I'm currently listening to the song; It's My Life by Bon Jovi, which is pretty ironic seeing that the storyline goes literally dead...

REVIEW!!!!!! Please....