I promised a quick update, and here it is ;)

50 Reviews! Omg!! *cries* Thank you all so much, I'm so overwhelmed and happy that my story is being enjoyed :) This chapter is dedicated to Kirai-Ninja, my fiftieth reviewer. Love to all you kind readers out there...and I hope this chapter isn't too depressing. It hurt me to write it.

Warning: a bit of violence, but if you were okay with chapter five you'll probably be okay here.


Chapter Twenty Three

The Lost

Twilight spread throughout the lands like soft butter upon toast, but though the sweet winding down of the world into darkness is usually welcomed, one girl felt as though the setting of the sun would be the end of light as she knew it. For her, the world had stopped turning.

Harusame stared hard at Uxi's fallen body, willing her to move. She stared until the back of her eyeballs burned and tears stung her vision, but still she stared, and still Uxi did not move.

'Uxi-chan…please get up,' she heard herself whisper.

As though her feet were being controlled by someone else she walked towards her friend and knelt by her side, scooping her into her arms so that Uxi's head and shoulders rested on her lap.

'No…oh no…'

The angel's grey eyes were still open; lifeless and glazed but open, and Harusame realised that she could look forevermore but Uxi would never look back; that she could call her name but Uxi would never hear. She had ceased to be. It was a very final thought, and swallowing back the torrent of anguish that threatened to rupture her soul, Harusame moved her hand tenderly down her friend's face, closing her eyelashes for the last time.

The knives of psychic energy faded as though they had never been, leaving her body peaceful as though in sleep, and Harusame noticed a ring on Uxi's finger; a wedding band of pure gold; the gift of love she'd always wished for and proof that someone was waiting for the wife who would never return home.

'I see, so Freddy loved you as much as we did. I wonder if he loved you as much as Hades? Hades…oh God, how his heart will break. Why did you come back? You could have stayed with the man you loved, but you came to help. You foolish, selfless angel…'

Harusame thought this and so many more things as Uxi's body dissolved into a million sparkles of pure pink light, and floated up towards the sky, back from whence she came. What she said, in a voice choked with love, was;

'Thank you for all that you've done, my dear friend.'

As though in answer, the first evening star appeared; twinkling its kindly light as it watches over a dark world. The fireworks had ceased, perhaps seconds ago, perhaps hours ago, and the world was quiet and empty; you could smell the dense smoke from the aftermath of the colourful displays and hear the song of the birds as they settled down in their nests to sleep. It sounded like a eulogy.

Distraught, Cassie was on her knees weeping silently but Polly, standing beside her, was not so affected by this tragic scene. She scowled at Harusame, and with her only remaining burst of vicious energy she sent it flying towards the girl.

Axel was too slow to react but he didn't need to. The attack met a force field, and fizzled out.

'What the-?' Polly cried.

Harusame looked up, her green eyes glittering with grief and hatred, and her whole body glowing with the unearthly light of a very angry goddess.

'No more,' she said very quietly.

Her finger closed around a black bow on the dewy grass; the only remnant of Uxi, and she stood slowly. Nothing seemed right anymore. It was all wrong.

'Mum…'

'No more-'

'Hades…'

'Will I-'

'Uxi-chan…'

'No longer will I allow the people I love to die for me!' Harusame shrieked, her shoulders shaking with repressed sobs. She'd never felt such ferocity before in her whole life. She was tired of being weak and helpless. 'Uxi-chan just wanted to protect me. It's all she ever wanted; to be good and kind and take care of everyone around her. What right did you have to take her life? You will pay for killing her! You will pay for killing my friend!'

As though a part of her deep inside already knew what to do, the Lady of the Underworld raised her hand. Within a whirlwind of pink petals a dominant black force crackling with strength torn from her very being reared up, arcing toward the Ker. Iwanami swiftly pulled Cassie clear of the blast, but Polly was thrown backwards into the turf, the wind knocked from her. She cried out in pain and struggled to sit up but her sister didn't come to her aid; Cassie continued to weep, held by Iwanami.

Harusame wasn't done yet but as she tensed to attack once more, giddy from the new heights of rage and power, she felt a hand close around her waist. Axel pulled her to him in a clenching embrace. He had to calm her, to make her stop.

'She's gone,' he whispered firmly, 'and you can't bring her back. She wouldn't want you to be a killer.'

Harusame felt herself quivering all over, inside and out. Hadn't she once said the very same thing to Hades? It wasn't fair…nothing seemed fair. Her eyes wild and her breaths coming in harsh, sharp gasps, she clung to Axel.

'Uxi-chan, no,' she moaned, and Axel stroked her hair.

'I know, poppet. I know it hurts.'

Polly coughed, ignoring the blood that spilled over her lips, and with the help of the other two Keres she was pulled to her feet and initiated the teleportation spell that would allow them escape. Cassie was still crying, and Iwanami was pale.

'Damn you, Persephone,' hissed Polly, her eyes filled with a truer hate than Harusame's heartbroken innocence could ever have managed.

She was sick with fear at having to return to the titan empty handed. The golden light surrounded them and they were gone, but Harusame and Axel were not alone in the park for long.

'My Lady,' said Axel, gentle but businesslike, and when Harusame numbly turned her head from his chest she saw shadowlike figures closing in from all sides.

'They just keep coming,' he said, as a dozen new pairs of Keres grinned at them, the whites of their eyes and teeth flashing in the growing darkness. 'You should get to safety back in the Underworld, you should.'

'I want to fight,' mumbled Harusame, her eyes misty as though she was only half conscious, and she was vaguely aware of Axel's fingers digging into her arms.

'You are in no condition to fight. You're in shock, and you are not in control of your powers.'

'No,' she whispered plaintively, 'I don't want anyone else to die.'

Beyond her blurred vision of the park and its terrors lay the town she'd lived in; the apartment she'd made a home in, the school she'd attended every day and the sweet little bakery with its smell of pastries. Suddenly all that mattered was knowing that those ordinary, precious things were still in tact, and as she turned and staggered away she heard Axel's cry for her to come back.

He wasn't able to give chase though, for the Keres chose this moment to launch themselves at him.

-

Kronus was at the window watching the world come apart at the seams as Cassie, Iwanami and Polly returned to his well lit hotel room. By now the streets outside were dark; they would have been lit by lampposts had the bulbs not been smashed by Keres, the shattered glass strewing the pavement.

Nemesis had departed on a special mission and so the titan stood alone, sipping at his usual glass of wine. He loved the rich palette, the sweet bouquet of a good wine. What a pity, he'd always thought; that his children could never experience this simple pleasure, nor appreciate a delicious freshly brewed coffee without consequences; but then they deserved the curse after what they had done to him. It was a trivial and minor vengeance, but again the poetic justice appealed to him. His deep thoughts were interrupted as his minions reappeared behind him, and a cold, collected anger reminded him of their situation.

'The girl lives,' he muttered. 'I can feel her.'

The words startled Polly so badly that she gasped aloud; Kronus had his back to them but his voice was silky and dangerous.

'Tell me…why does she live when I ordered her execution?'

'M-my Lord, forgive me,' she stammered. 'We ran into trouble when an angel showed up.'

Polly looked at her collaborators for help, but Iwanami kept her eyes low and Cassie's head remained in her hands, the soft sound of sniffling filling the eerily quiet room.

'It will never happen again, please forgive me!'

'I do not forgive,' replied Kronus simply. He finally turned, and the look in his eyes Polly would never forget.

'Lord Kronus…' she whimpered.

When he spoke, it was in crystal clear tones.

'Your only purpose was to finish off the girl. You failed. Therefore your purpose is null and void. Your existence is a waste of my time.'

His words seemed to break through to Cassie, who finally sensed the tension in the room and raised her head in panic.

Her lips formed the word 'no!' but no sound came out.

She could only watch as Kronus' brow twitched in a barely noticeable hex, and Polly's terrified eyes met hers. They had always been able to communicate without speaking.

'I'm sorry, my sister. All I did was for you.'

When Keres are killed-again-their body returns to particles of basic soul matter; similarly to angels in all ways but two. Firstly, the matter of an angel is the purest of rose quartz, while a Ker's soul particles are as black as the devil's hoof. Secondly, they do not ascend into a sparkling mist in the air as the winged ones do. Where the lost soul of a Ker who could not be saved goes is unknown, but would be a fair assumption that it is nowhere nice. After all, they did not have the touch of the divine as angels do. They are merely the shadows of rancorous humans.

Kronus made it so that the force tore through Polly's body before it killed her, and Cassie's horrified face was splattered with droplets of her sister before she was no more. Even Iwanami flinched, swallowing down the bile rising in her throat. Hadn't she ripped the throat from a living creature so many times? The thought revolted her now. The ceiling fan turned lazily above, silent witness to the gruesome murder.

Kronus sighed, as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. 'I will spare you Cassie,' he said, moving to Iwanami, 'because without you I could not have secured my son so easily.' He ran his fingers through Iwanami's midnight hair, and she was appalled that he could touch her so tenderly after ripping a little girl to shreds just seconds before. His hands were perfectly steady. 'Needless to say,' he told her in a whisper, 'that I still have use for you.'

'I'll bet you do,' she thought with disgust. The warmth of Harusame's hands had stayed imprinted on hers, and she now saw Kronus for what he was. He only wanted her for one thing; just like all the other men in the world. He was not like Connor. Even if she paid the price for it, even if he only bled for a moment, she now wanted to jam her claws into Kronus' chest more than anything.

'It has been a long day and eventful day. Why don't you go and rest, Cassie my dear?'

Huddled in the corner by a large fern, her white face speckled with crimson, Cassie drew a painful breath into her lungs. She seemed to have shrunk, and the wide smile of her teddy bear pinafore seemed ghastly and out of place. She unsteadily walked to the door, the rug beneath her feet spongy and stained by blood. Kronus, his lips devouring Iwanami's neck, did not pay her any mind, but Iwanami watched over his shoulder as the girl's eyes sent her a message.

Mutual understanding passed in those few seconds; a shared loathing of the man who stood between them, and Iwanami realised it would be foolish to make her move too fast. Cassie shut the door, and Kronus walked slowly over to the bed, sitting on the edge of it.

'Come here,' he said, beckoning to her. 'I want you.'

The carnage seemed to have given him an appetite, for as she followed him and stood between his knees he disrobed her faster than before. His cool, firm, unrelenting lips pressed to hers but she now felt no pleasure from his skilful touch; only repulsion. Just as she was wondering how to get out of the situation she realised that he'd stopped kissing her. For the first time she began to wonder if his deep breathing and the perspiration on his temple were due to something other than his desire for her. It seemed that his disposal of Polly had taken more out of him than he would care to admit.

'My Lord?' she asked, though she had to push the term of respect from her lips with difficulty.

He let go of her and sat back on the bed, pushing stray locks of hair into place. 'It is nothing,' he muttered shakily. 'I am not what I was. Have the years in Tartarus weakened me so that my powers are this limited?'

It was as though he hadn't meant to speak aloud, for he suddenly looked angry that she'd heard him.

'Get out,' he snapped, turning away from her.

'You won't be needing me, my Lord?'

'No. You are distinctly less entertaining than Nemesis.'

'Well excuse me,' thought Iwanami irritably, a little of the Aya in her surfacing. She still had her womanly pride after all.

She shrugged her kimono back up her shoulders, and suddenly a minor quake ran through the hotel, shaking the very foundations. It was over in a moment, but as Iwanami steadied herself on the nightstand she couldn't help but feel something was wrong in the room. Something felt different. Being a Ker she was able to feel a twinge of the supernatural in her blood, but Kronus, his face white, obviously felt the full effect.

'It cannot be,' he said, rising to his feet. 'I would know that aura anywhere. Rhea…'

-

Hades was slipping in and out of consciousness when the quake occurred. He flinched, awakening suddenly as some of the bottles lining the shelves danced to the edge and crashed onto the cold stone floor. Licking his dry lips and trying to remember where he was, he caught sight of one of the Farfalle Thanatos; his naturally occurring agents of death, languidly floating by. It took the form of a huge butterfly; about the size of the common pigeon, and glowed gently with an orange light. He'd never been so pleased to see one.

'Hey,' he called out thickly, struggling to sit up. 'Hey little guy. C'mere.'

It seemed his affinity with the phenomenon hadn't faded with his strength, for the creature fluttered over and landed on his tousled head, lighting the room with a dim glow like a bedside lamp.

'I was startin to think you guys had abandoned me,' he told it, 'though with all the screaming and explosions out there I guess you guys are busy cleanin up after my father. Uxi's gonna be really pissed at me, takin all this time off when there's paperwork backin up.'

The creature fluttered its symmetrically decorated wings, and Hades chuckled ruefully. How could he have forgotten; Uxi wasn't around anymore. She was out living her life as a human, happy and free.

With his thoughts muddled and his powers all but gone, the only tie to sanity and to the outside world left was the window that led to the pavement outside. He didn't know the time but night seemed to have fallen, and in his helplessness he did all he could to convince himself that Harusame's day of weakness had passed and that she must be okay. She had to be. The pulse within his chest was growing stronger, but it seemed to be pushing down on his heart and making his breathing weak.

'How much time do I have?' he wondered aloud. 'Am I even still immortal, after all that pomegranate juice? Hell, it's probably a good thing I never asked Harusame. I wouldn't want to leave my bride all alone…'

The Farfalle Thanatos took wing again, fluttering into the darkness of the cellar until it came to land on an outstretched hand. It froze on contact, as though time had stopped. Hades squinted hard, trying to make out the face of his visitor, and then almost wished he hadn't. He'd been afraid that Nemesis had come back to deal him more torture, but although this person posed no threat he couldn't say he was happy to see her.

'Little one,' said the hooded figure as she stepped towards him. 'I thought you had learned by now that even death cannot stop true love?'

Hades sighed, his shackled wrists clinking as he moved.

'Good timing, Mother.'