Opposing Forces

by SoundofInsurrection

Free of Hellsing control, Alucard leaves Seras & Walter in England to see to a potential threat in USA. What seems an easy mission quickly gets complicated by unknown motives of Iscariot and local vampire hierarchy. The Vampire King must reevaluate his plans as the fates of two innocent humans caught in the crossfire fall to him to save or let perish. Read 1st chap A/N for details

72. Chapter 71 The OG Cerberus Part 4

A/N: OG Cerberus chapters are done being written, but there's a part 5 to edit before posting. I am posting this part so people can have their fix of the story. My kid is visiting a cousin today and I'm done work early, so I'm going to go snuggle with my stuffed pandas (fucking thank you again, Dargon and Dove) and watch some funny movies to cheer myself up cuz I'm feeling like a horrible person for finishing writing the scene in part 5. It's my first time writing something like that and it was even harder to do than expected, even with attempts to keep in heartless writer mindset. I'll edit it sometime in the next few days and post. There's a big family chat that needs to happen in the wake of everything the parlay brought, then dark humored shenanigans run rampant as Team Underworld learns to cope with each other and make plans for survival, and that's going to be hella fun to write. Then the big showdown to wrap up Act 2... but I'm adamantly not thinking on conflict scenes at the moment. Tim Burton worthy shenanigans first to break up the George R R Martin level of callous bastardery.

Chapter 71

The OG Cerberus- Part Four

Finally, the seer said in a voice barely above a whisper, still looking at her Head of Guards, "I cannot bring myself to make a decision at this time, but I will be considering both of your councils because I trust your intentions as deeply as I do. The only thing I can say definitively is that, no matter what I decide, I can't imagine spending the rest of my existence navigating my responsibilities without my Head of Guard remaining in his position. I swear to you, Adonis Cerberus, that relieving you of your oath is not a term I will ever consent to in any prospective marriage negotiations I may ever end up undertaking. And I further swear that so long as you choose to uphold your blood oath to the best of your capabilities, I will never release you from that oath."

Cerberus gave a nod of his head, deep relief joining the other reassuring emanations he was sending her. He met her gaze for the brief time it took to say, "As you have spoken it, Princess Kore, it will be so. We will navigate these current troubles, and any circumstances that may someday come, as we always have."

The memory faded out of focus and Cerberus stated with a hint of victorious amusement allowed to surface in his consciousness, "Your Majesty, let it be noted that the memory record shows that- regardless of primordial designs of debatable relevancy because of commonly accepted laws of the time, and that those current laws could have even brought into question the legitimacy of a several millennia old pact that didn't include the bridal party because the concept of free will was finally becoming properly respected- while I am most definitely The Original Gangster, in our situation you were The Original Interloper. There's more I can remember of that evening, but it's best summarized to His Majesty as the princess dismissed Thanatos after a few brief conciliatory exchanges over the tense sibling behavior. Then my distraught nightingale empathically requested I fulfill my less formal duties after I just admitted our best plan was for her to marry another man to avoid her overbearing Dragon King father tearing apart my soul and her being press ganged into a marriage with the infinitely worse in every possible way Crowned Snake.

"That's also the first three seer-bound oaths our She-Wolf had ever made in her existence. The first was obviously temporarily framed with the hope I could provide her with some sort of reassurance that it was possible to salvage our dreams. The second two were knowingly, willingly, and purposefully made to help ensure my blood-oath isn't the sole thing that would keep us eternally together, even if most of our dreams had just been given a death sentence. And as my persisting anciently oath bound state proves, and will continue to prove for millennia to come, our wife's first oaths to me will forever remain in effect because I've spent nine millennia devotedly and relentlessly securing my title as The Most Dedicated Guard Hound In The Known History of Existence. I have zero desire to ever concede that title and will continue to do everything in my substantial power to perpetually widen the cosmic chasm between me and whoever may be the runner up.

"I'm certain right about now you're again entertaining the same wishfully murderous thoughts the Shadow Prince was that evening, so I would advise His Majesty to remind himself of four very important things. First- No matter how much comfort it would provide for erasing the worst of events, the past can't be changed. Second- Even with as much of a thorn in your Kingly ass as I've been, and will most definitely continue to be because short of soul-rending you will never be able to permanently separate us dual-oath-bound nightingales; you have been an even bigger and more aggressive thorn in my ass, second only to the double-trouble Lords of Ego plaguing all three of our oath-bound existences. Third-Despite the indisputably massive and justifiable reason you gave the Original Gangster to spend eternity plotting and carrying out as many guerilla warfare revenges as I can possibly spring on you, and I have enough memories to know you expected me to request being relieved of my oath to have the freedom to diplomatically undercut your chance to claim Kore by making my claim official and then persuade her to release me to go on a literal warpath when her parents refused us that option for their individual reasons to do so, I have not done so. I can't claim I've never done any guerilla attacks on you. Tonight is proof enough that I will be the best wolfy Consort I am and do diplomatic ones when it's necessary to protect you from yourself or to protect our wife or I from your dragon temper. However, in eight and a half thousand years I have never declared a war directly on His Majesty or on your marriage to our wife. I will if you force me to, but I have thus far not. Fourth- We've both been squarely on Team Apollo Needs To Die since the events I'm showing tonight happened, and then that team went from an alliance in the wake of tragedy to in fact becoming Team Underworld Monarchy. No matter how the Team continues to evolve, we both still want Apollo perma-dead and keeping things civil keeps happy the Queen we both still love so fiercely throughout the ages."

"You're instilling me with a renewed and profound appreciation and sense of kinship with Captain Bernadotte; I will grant you that previously unthinkable accomplishment."

Cerberus gave another mental chuckle. "Glad to already be of assistance in rebuilding those old familial ties, Schwarze Sonne."

"Does the next memory explain how things went awry before whatever negotiations there were could be completed?"

"That answer is spread out over some memories we're about to get to."

"Did someone, such as Apollo, notice your little ward-hidden convening and try to interfere?"

"Nein, Schwarze Sonne. Those wards were standard in all royal suites, meeting chambers, bathing chambers, and castle staff bedrooms as best as I can tell. You have to remember, this was many thousands of years ago when there were a great many of us with supernatural senses running about. Unless someone's a voyeur with some kinks, it's not welcome to hear everyone in the palace taking each shit, or family members fucking their lovers, or every petty argument taking place. Never mind the more official businesses taking place or general personal conversations one may want to keep private. I have plenty of memories of being in an area that wasn't warded and passively sensing and noting random wards going up or down in rooms nearby; but it was of the same importance as someone closing a door or window when in a room that didn't have permanent warding. Such as hearing a maid getting into a brief argument with the palace steward down the hall and then ducking into a room. She had just enough magical capability to toss up a quick ward to have herself a private cry before getting back to her work."

"I see."

"As your memories of such things aren't back yet, I feel the need to suggest that, especially with Team Olympus having a significant number of old school daimons capable of causing trouble with different old school magics, it would be prudent for you to learn more about how structured magic works. I know you've pulled through a strong repertoire of innate powers, including several of the supreme tier Schwarze Sonne classics, but that's not as flexible as enchantment work. Even if my father is the Dragon of Water and Magic, you used to be exceedingly talented with several types of magic that didn't conflict with your natural energies. I can remember a couple surprising times of you tossing out a new enchantment you created on the fly to handle an opposing magical problem in a way no one was anticipating. The King of Death getting some of those old skills back would really help. With the amount of power you've pulled through now, and how rapid I can get vague senses of your mind processing things, I'm thinking you'd be a quick study."

"I had already come to that conclusion after the recent events in Philadelphia and noticing the uptick in such complications. I will be broaching it with my wife once we're settled in a longer term safehouse."

"Our wife is going to need to direct those Oracle gifts of hers towards working with Hermes on figuring out spell work that isn't currently remembered to counter things the Olympians might do, or seeing if she can piece out a viable system for pulling out old powers because we don't have hundreds of years for the rest of you to put yourselves through the same intensive training and painful experiments I put myself through. Not to mention, some of you wouldn't get anywhere near the same level of results even if we did have the time because you're from different lines and have different essences than mine. If you and the others want remedial classes, I will be free to give them once I've passed on everything that might be useful to She-Wolf."

"We'll see about that," The Dragon said with a hint of dismissiveness. "We should get on with the memories you wished to show."

Cerberus allowed a ferocious anger and some of his power to surface as he asked, "Schwarze Sonne, did my father get the chance to explain his and Zeus's specific ties to the Abrahamic faiths?"

The empath could feel both a defensive wariness as the King's awareness tried discerning the cause of the reaction and potential responses to be made if there was an attack attempt, as well as the confusion for the sudden, seemingly random, question. After a few seconds of silence, the Void Dragon said, "Poseidon informed me that Zeus started them to glorify himself because he believes the human myths about being a god, not acknowledging he's a progenitor demon. Your father interfered with his plans for religious domination with his Jesus stunt. Apollo and Zeus crucified him for it. Obviously Zeus has on some level continued attempting such plans by working with the Vatican and Iscariot. Why are you asking that right now?"

Cerberus instead asked, "Did my father happen to mention that Apollo wasn't just Zeus and Hera's accidentally too powerful first son, but had been in primordial designs as a greater daimon meant to provide a support role of some undetermined kind to Zeus, but that got screwed up too?"

"Minus the guess he was meant for a support role of some kind, yes. Why?"

"I'm making sure you're aware so I can point out that, while Zeus may currently believe that you're the corrupt spawn of darkness, the original Satan and bane of his Kingly existence, I know better. You are the indisputably just, if righteously and epically vicious when necessary, King Hades; even if you're still a bit fucked in the head right now after everything that's happened. We've certainly had our problems over the ages or been on professional opposing sides of conflicts in the most distant past, but I have always held you in the highest of respect. The reason I became the legendary Sovereign-Commander of the Underworld Armies I most certainly am is because I had you as a model to observe back in the earliest days. I was fucking determined to try surpassing your battle skills, or at least give you such a damn good run for your money that I got that acknowledgment of being a worthy opponent.

"Used to piss my father off because he wanted me to stick to fighting solely by his tactics and his version of upholding honor codes. I can remember thinking in frustration that I had officially lost mental count of the number of times I had to tell the Water Dragon that if he wanted a specific battle fought his way, he could lead the troops that time. Or he could have his Crown Prince lead the troops because he'd follow my father's views perfectly. Except we both knew my brother had gotten plenty of intellect, traditional diplomatic skills, and magic, but couldn't fight for shit in personal combat because my father hadn't wanted any child to have enough power to overthrow him or upset balances with other Kings if he ended up needing to take the throne, so one well enchanted and lucky timed attack making it past his formidable magic and he'd end up a dead Heir. And even if he inspired certain types of respect for his top tier Heir skills, he couldn't inspire the same level of confidence and trust in an army as I could with my empathetic nature. So if my father wanted his Second Prince specifically created to be a terrifyingly amazing General to lead the army for a battle, I was doing it my way because, in my not the least humble but wholly professional opinion, my way got significantly better results.

"Despite being such a massive thorn in your ass when there were conflicts with my father's or Zeus's Kingdoms, I remember enough to know you did give me that professional respect I demanded by never taking battles against me lightly and giving me your best efforts. If there hadn't been a standing agreement we all strictly followed of not killing the top dogs so that our Kingdoms wouldn't be critically destabilized and overrun by a swarm of humans, and even if The OG War-Prince pissed you right the fuck off by giving you that run for your money to get me cornered and having to concede defeat, I'd have been a dead wolf several times over by your hand if you had decided in a moment of Kingly fury to not keep to your word. As we can clearly tell from where we're at today, you always kept your old school rampages in check and dragged me off to the Underworld Palace to be held as a war prisoner with due accommodations for my station. When you deemed it no longer troublesome to do so, you'd ransom me back to whoever my King was at an exceedingly high price so I could continue being that respected opponent.

"I ultimately decided in that memory we just saw that if I was going to have to concede defeat on my dream of marrying the love of my existence, the Dragon of Void and Earth was the only man I could trust to hold to his word to conduct himself entirely honorably with my nightingale being claimed as his Queen. So I had to swallow my pride to make as much of a concession as I did for the sake of keeping her safe, but I was going to fight as hard as it took to force concessions out of you so I wouldn't entirely lose that personal war. I knew how pissed you were going to be when Kore put forth that demand in the marriage negotiations and you correctly deduced who helped her frame responses to whatever potential arguments you might be willing to make without exposing what a dirty move you had made to route my covert marriage effort. But I also trusted that you'd at least respect that I had refused to submissively slink off with my tail between my legs, and that you'd keep your Kingly rage suppressed to still get the majority of what you wanted out of the deal. Whatever retribution you could eventually devise that wouldn't jeopardize you keeping your Queen cooperating with you, I'd take it as yet more masochistic victories of surviving your dragon wrath and then going on to prove I wasn't done being that unending thorn in your ass.

"I am making my motivations unmistakably clear to then unarguably point this out. Apollo, the greater daimon who started off too powerful and corrupt of morals for anyone's good, as you'll see in my memory, somehow manages to get even worse in each incarnation if his ass isn't quickly sent back to the void. Worse in both personality and in powers. I think he may have been meant to be Zeus's Hermes- an old school daimon herald who is both an advisor and enforcer of a King's word. Then the titanes plans went awry and Zeus and Hera didn't just mix enough of the right energies for the original greater daimon planned to form. They poured a bunch of themselves in, thinking they were making an Heir, and he ended up with extra powers he wasn't meant to have. And because there were rules about not needlessly killing our own kind, Apollo came up with some really nasty ways to make sure people fell in line, especially in the Wild West early days.

"Even if he starts off weakened from the death and time in the void, he's been able to fully regenerate himself in the past because Zeus protected him long enough for it to happen. In his second and third lives, while most of us were still in our first, he worked out ways to gain more power than he had in the life previous. I have no idea how or what made that happen, it's not like he was announcing his methods for all to share in, but I know he did it. And because he can, and because he gets more twisted in each life, he became the genesis for the stories my father slipped in of Lucifer, which was one of the pre-Christian names Apollo had been called by humans. My father was trying to warn of the Lightbringer, the Great Deceiver, the Crowned Snake who was the architect of Daimon Kingdoms being destroyed.

"And Lucifer is topside again and out there. Right now.

"The literal fucking Lightbringer has a personal fortune of hundreds of billions of US dollars that can be put to a lot of problematic uses, lots of connections across the fucking world, a battalion of Knights who hunt vampires and daimon-bloods for kicks, and is plotting with the Big Sky Daddy and his crew of reincarnated Olympians. They have the accumulation of 500 years of Vatican research that we know at least gets some results because of what Zeus has done to himself, and the 30 years of research from wherever Project Olympus is at because Zeus gave Apollo ideas. No matter what, Apollo and the other Olympians are going to be more powerful when we next see them thanks to the Vatican project alone. The only question is how close to their old selves will they manage to get, or if Apollo again manages to somehow level himself up even more than he's been before.

"I point that out so you'll understand when I say I don't 'wish' to show these memories, Schwarze Sonne. Unlike my father who has only scattered memories of events because his life was centered around my mother and his Kingdom and he was only a concerned family member trying to offer what aid he could, I remember so many things so fucking clearly because I swore to make Persephone and her wellbeing my sole purpose for existence for as long as I was her Head of Guard and meant that oath with every fiber of my being. What I'm showing tonight are not pleasant memories, even if that first one had a few moments of retrospective bittersweet entertainment to be found. Even though I've come to accept that everything that's happened can't be changed, I would be much happier and have inner peace if I could keep these memories buried. If we can truly end the threat that Apollo and Zeus are posing and these memories become obsolete, I will gratefully suppress them as far down as I can and never think on them again so I can thoroughly enjoy my hard fought for share of existence with our wife and what family remains.

"But, right now, I 'need' to show you them because there's various things you, the King and fellow husband of our wife, need to be aware of. What happened was truly a living hell for Persephone and I. A hell that, even with as fucking good as I was, and having an Oracle's heads up that Apollo would be trying to do what he did, I ended up being powerless to stop from happening and it went down even worse than Kore saw.

"I know a greater hell happened for her when the Lightbringer got his hands on her under the trap of a promise to help finish creating your daughter as a way to make amends for his past transgressions. Persephone had been in a state of being inconsolably heartbroken because the baby kept failing to form, no matter what was tried. It got to a point where we couldn't keep it hidden. Eventually, Queen Hera came to us with the offer. The Matron Dragon felt extremely conflicted because she didn't want her daughter to remain haunted by visions of a child that could be, but she also knew that potential solution would be traumatic for Persephone to try enduring. She felt it was obscene to even suggest it, but she didn't feel it was her right to refuse on our behalf. We tried everything we could think of all over again to try avoiding that offer, with our wife's mental state even more strained with the knowledge that offer was made. Nothing worked, so we eventually caved and started negotiating arrangements.

"Zeus wouldn't consent to you stepping foot in his Kingdom, nor agree to allow Apollo to step foot in yours, with past histories being what they were. He said he didn't trust your vengeful temper and you'd succumb to the temptation to soul-rend Apollo as soon as he had played his part. We had our Hound of Hades experiment in full swing, so I escorted our wife to a place just over the border to the Kingdom of Light with my father, Hermes, Thanatos and half a dozen others who could keep pace with us to get it it done as swiftly and safely as possible. We were confident we could lay down a whole new world of permanent hurt if Apollo tried anything, with you able to make it from the palace to that location in ten minutes to finish things if we hadn't by the time you arrived. We did a full search of the designated one room hut and the surrounding area to make sure there were no traps or tricks waiting. It was clear. Apollo came alone and unarmed, as agreed.

"The moment she entered that hut with the Lightbringer to have privacy, he laid down an enchantment so quickly that not even my father, The Fucking Dragon of Water and Magic, had a chance to counter it. An enchantment that teleported every single one of us clear back to the Underworld Palace, and also four-hundred feet in the air. Even if most of us could survive that fall by one means or other and could make sure the others did as well, Lucifer wanted to be an extra level of bastard to make the reality of our failure to protect Persephone come crashing in on where you had been waiting in a barely contained dragon rage for the necessity of making such an arrangement. He teleport jumped Persephone all the fucking way back to Olympus before you could even get clear of the palace.

"Apollo did what he promised to do of finishing your daughter's conception while Zeus and his best magic users and ranged soldiers kept us out of Olympus. Then Lucifer and Big Sky Daddy managed to make Olympus withstand a two year siege you and my father jointly launched, which Pan first died during. Queen Hera and those who were known to be most likely to cause internal trouble had been rounded up before Persephone's kidnapping; and they were held the entire siege under a very tight house arrest and subduing enchantments chained to them to keep them from interfering with the Crown Prince retaking his title, wife, and at least one of their children. One day, without warning, Persephone came to the walls and made an announcement for all the factions to hear that she intended to stay in Olympus as Apollo's Consort and the siege needed to come to an end for everyone's sakes. We knew she couldn't possibly want that, but the Oracle adamantly refused to relent in her statements, wouldn't explain why she was making such a decision, and her mind was on full warded lockdown. She demanded we follow her requests and respect the lives of our subjects by not forcing them to die in a war that could be called off that day. We had nothing to work with, and we'd be facing civil unrest after everyone heard those sorts of statements, so we had to call off the siege so we could try subtler ways of uncovering what the fuck was going on.

"Our wife was trapped there for two full decades, until Queen Hera finally managed to get enough tiny accidental clues to figure out the general idea of what was keeping Persephone so meekly and obediently to the agreement, what would need be done to release her, and got word to us. Apollo had waited until your daughter was born and Persephone had a whole year bonding with the baby in captivity; then he started describing all the vicious ways he could potentially torture her daughter right in front of her. He wasn't saying he was going to do it; he was only casually letting her know all the things he had the capability to do. He finished by saying he also had the power to guarantee Athene would be remaining perfectly safe and raised with everything she could ever desire. Then a few weeks later he asked Persephone if she was willing to agree to make as explicit of vows to him as could be made around her vows to us; with the penalty of not living up to them, and an additional in case of his death provision, being an oath compelling her to kill the baby herself. When she brought up his threats, he dismissed it as just an informative talk about his skills, he could assuredly say he had never made a threat, and that academic discussion had certainly not been tied to his marriage offer. He gave her a week to consider his offer, and then she swore herself as demanded..."

Cerberus could sense the King of Death's outrage increasing in his awareness as those those depraved details were being summarized. Details he well knew the Void Dragon couldn't have figured out yet, unless his own memories had suddenly come back.

"...We had a choice of allowing the Lightbringer to keep our wife and your daughter potentially forever; or we remove Athene from the equation with a temporary death and Persephone's oath would be broken because she had indirectly killed Athene by letting those slips out, deal with Persephone's maternal fury and anguish for us doing so, and hope we could reclaim your daughter if and when she reincarnated. We coordinated with my father for launching an unprecedented blitz of righteous fury down on them just as Hera and those most loyal to her knocked out key permanent wards and forced our oath-bound wife to get clear of the palace. While my father hadn't had a chance to counter the surprise teleport enchantment Apollo had used, he had still seen it and got a strong feel for it, so we used Apollo's own trick against him to keep them from getting the heads up we were coming. While we were doing what we could to capture Zeus and the noncombatants and kill Apollo and those known to be most loyal to him, Eubuleus bee-lined straight for Athene. The Underworld Crown Prince did his grim duty of ensuring his sister's physical death was as quick and painless as possible, freeing his mother of her oath and the hell she had been living through. I killed Apollo in that fight because you and my father needed to tag team Zeus to subdue your fellow King, but despite my best fucking efforts and belief at the time that I had finished Lucifer off, and you confirming it seemed that way from what you could sense, he eventually came back like the fucking plague he is."

The War-Prince could sense the Void Dragon's awareness almost imperceptibly shifting, in a way that made him 99.99% certain the King of Death had reestablished a private telepathic connection to Hermes. His physical form had started to shift in appearance and void shadows were leaking out; and he was undoubtedly making his herald aware of everything being said to cause that reaction and seeking Hermes's reliably stoic counsel on matters. Cerberus continued driving home his point, but he did slow his pace a fraction to give Hermes a chance to be briefed.

"Even if we got our wife back, I have had to live with the sickening facts that I failed to protect Persephone from that fucking hawk a second time and he flew off with her, that I failed to actually finish him off, and that we lost your daughter to his and Zeus's manipulations in the process. One of Zeus's favorite human concubines he kept after Hera left him ended up pregnant with an unusually powerful half-breed that turned out to be Athene, and he vehemently fought to keep his claims on her under the declaration that her soul had obviously picked which side of the family it wanted to be on and had chosen her grandfather as a surrogate father in absence of her real one. Persephone couldn't bear the thought of another full scale war and Athene possibly dying again, so she convinced us to let Zeus have his way and hope we could persuade your daughter to come home when she was older and capable of understanding what really happened.

"Then the final battle came at us while we were on the road. We must've been heading to or from somewhere important because pretty much the whole family was there. I wasn't thinking of what that event was when the attack hit, so I don't remember those details. I don't know why our wife didn't foresee it coming. I just know we were all in high spirits and having a good time talking amongst ourselves, when it was our turn to be subjected to a blitz. I remember being shocked to see Apollo because we hadn't known he had reincarnated yet again. You went straight for him that time, I went for Zeus, and the Crown Prince went to take on his own sister again. Thanatos, Hermes, a second-life Pan, and your grandson were supposed to stay back and protect the rest of the family in case anyone else zoomed in or stray attacks went that way, with Persephone and the Crown Princess providing defensive help from a distance and protecting those of your great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren who had been present.

"That's when what Zeus had rebuilt of his army and had left for loyal children teleported in amongst us, surrounding the family as their heavy hitters kept us engaged in death battles. In the blink of an eye we were overwhelmed and unable to extricate. Eris slipped past just long enough to get the temporary kill in on Persephone, then Hermes executed her. I managed to physically kill Zeus and was doing a number on his Kingly soul in my fury for our wife dying, not giving a single fuck about keeping the bullshit balances anymore. The last thing I remember is your daughter, coming in with a righteous fury to stop me from using his soul as a chew toy, after she had managed to be the victor in the rematch with Eubuleus and then killed his son who had been ripping through the grunts. That was our wife's child who she dearly loved, who she had sacrificed so much to birth and protect. It didn't matter that she had just killed the Crown Prince and his Heir, or that I was in the rampaging state I was in to take any and all comers, my blood ward hit me with such a strong compulsion that I was stopped in my tracks and she took me out before I could mentally recover to simply subdue her in self-defense. I obviously have no idea how things went down after that point.

"What's obvious, though, is that despite you having your full King of Death powers and you being in the midst of tearing his soul up when I died, you apparently weren't able to finish the Lightbringer off. Somehow, enough of his soul managed to slip even you. Now here we are again, twenty-seven centuries later. Lucifer has survived for over three hundred years."

The King of Death's rage had managed to become largely suppressed again, and his awareness shifted back to being completely focused on Cerberus's.

"I discovered two years ago when he popped up at Angelique's funeral that he ended up tracking our wife down and was already that close to her. Something that was covered in international news because of the parties involved, but clearly hadn't drawn your attention to our wife because of the state you've been in. I have been desperately hoping that Apollo has been on his best behavior to try getting what he wants the easier nice way. That Ares, Aphrodite, and Artemis haven't stopped being the original anti-rape-and-spousal-torture squad and could manage to keep Apollo in check if his temper started to surface. That I'd have enough time to direct a combined King wrath his way to at least send his ass back to the void and get our wife safely the fuck away because I have learned my lesson that I can't take him on my own once he's got enough of his magic working and has a crew of Olympians to back him up. But I still have no idea why and how She-Wolf broke things off five months ago. Whatever fight they got into, she didn't summon the hounds during it. Nor do I know precisely what's been going on between them since she left; except that after he's left her place, she sometimes summons a hound to have a short cry and then snuggles with them until she falls asleep, and she doesn't appear to be physically harmed in any way.

"Those unknowns have been haunting my already sleepless nights. Even if the worst didn't start repeating then, even if Apollo's only been keeping it to mental torture so far; I'm positive he's going to go full Lucifer if he ever gets his hands on her again in this life because she won't be willingly and sweetly returning. And the Lightbringer will absolutely be trying with his vast resources and whatever power up he manages to force her back. Because even with as blown out as his memories are, Lucifer always remembers his absolute obsession with wanting to claim our wife as his own, his belief she and her children are rightfully his, and getting killed this many times and having his soul repeatedly ripped into still hasn't swayed him from his relentless efforts to try making that happen. He never fucking learns. He isn't ever going to stop on his own. It's only a matter of when is the next attempt and how bad is it going to get.

"And while there's some things the Big Sky Daddy usually doesn't tolerate, he hasn't turned on the Crown Snake in the past for putting Persephone through hell because he wants his Spring Princess returned to his Court. On some level, I think he's also been terrified of trying to personally face the monster he created and may not have the power to permanently stop. I also have come to suspect him having such trouble retrieving memories may be my fault for how badly I tore into his soul in the final fight. His soul may be restored in total capacity from taking in new energy over the last two and a half millennia, but parts that held those memories may have been permanently lost. While that's been good in the sense of my cover not being blown, it's been making reasoning with him more difficult because he's so set in his present views and not able to remember just how fucked Apollo could get back in the day.

"Since I started to work for Iscariot, Big Sky Daddy has only launched two large attacks on Apollo in Philadelphia, but the first was only his Dragon King version of a spanking. It was shortly after Apollo started going public with an alias and it became undeniable who was behind the "Sëaghdha" financial empire. Zeus seeing his now vampiric firstborn being interviewed for the first time on TV, with his vampiric bride sitting next to him and them openly admitting to the rumor about being swingers and loving their parties set him off. But that attack was just him and a small contingent showing up to bust up the party they'd been having while daddy was busy with his warring elsewhere. Then Big Sky Daddy went back to ignoring it because his firstborn might be a sinful vampire, but it's still his son. So maybe the Knights will handle it for him, maybe not, but in the meantime he's quietly hiding that there is a major conflict of interest from Iscariot's higher ups by simply omitting the previous connection between them.

"I tried to carefully prod at him once and a while after the first attack about the job not being finished. Stuff like, 'Oh, I saw something in the news and thought you'd be interested in a report written up because it concerns that sweep you did in the States. There's been instances lately of Sëaghdha letting himself get even more publicly visible under this newest alias. He's almost getting cocky about things, isn't he?' The Paladin would take the reports and thank me for being such an observant agent looking after so many agency interests. Yet he hasn't committed to a relentless crusade to finally deal with the problem because he believes that's his firstborn son to try maintaining a rage against and his paternal instincts undermine it.

"It wasn't until his vampiric tainted son was caught on camera around his precious Princess that he started taking things more seriously, wanting me to find out what that was about. But even then, he delayed. When She-Wolf mentioned a month later that she was moving to Philly, Zeus was willing to consider sharpening those blades and began asking for funding to be allocated for a new anti-vampire sweep over there. When she mentioned she was seeing someone in Philly but was being so evasive about the new guy, and then eventually Val privately let slip to Jan it was indeed the 'Uber-Elder', Zeus started pressing harder to get the funds released and started sending out agents to look for moles in Apollo's ranks. When she showed up at Pierre's wedding the next summer with Apollo as her date, and there was a slip to one of her cousins that 'Liam' had proposed a couple weeks earlier, that cousin didn't keep it a secret as promised, telling the Holy Commander.

"When I gave him the report from the Knights and he found out they had been ignoring his orders to try putting a discreet stop to things and instead using her as unwitting bait for Intel, that she was engaged to the Elder vampire and no one over there was protecting his innocent baby girl from that exposure, that's when Zeus finally hit his rampage button. That's when he started making threats to Maxwell to get ten times the originally requested funds, three times the agents together, a medical team, and the helicopters because the corrupt vampire threat had been sitting too long under the Knights' watch and needed to be dealt with thoroughly this time; and leveraged they'd be compensated for the expenses many times over if this Project Olympus one of their moles had be dangling information about could boost Iscariot's project.

"My report that his baby girl had broken things off with the Elder gave him the confidence to go full rampage at Apollo. He didn't have to worry about her being caught in the crossfire because she was at her own place, nor get himself twisted up about her holding lasting resentment because he'd be killing an ex she wanted to be away from, who Val was indicating kept hounding her to try making some attempt at reconciliation and co-parenting Xander. Something that should be confirmed if she didn't get any visions of The Hawk being attacked that sent her running back to him in warning because her subconscious recognized him as enough of a deep threat that needed to be put down and therefore she wasn't getting pings that something upsetting was about to take place. I had Zeus fully on board to be the Kingly judge who laid down a protective enforcement that it was a separation of the permanent sort by sending Apollo back to the void and granting full custody to his baby girl.

"Despite the blazing righteous paternal fury I managed to stoke Zeus up to against Apollo when he went over there, somehow my plans went completely FUBAR shortly after his arrival. I had wagered that with She-Wolf's work location and schedule being what it is, and you being as meticulous with recon as you are when something big is afoot or Iscariot is involved, you'd have to cross paths and seeing her in person would have to finally rattle something in your head. I thought for sure that you'd make a point to talk to her, and whatever was said would cause you to put it together who she was because our wife is so distinctive and you know she reincarnates. I banked on you getting her to agree to leave the city with you and your son ASAP to avoid the brewing shitstorm with her father and another potential death ensuing. That you'd let The Paladin have his rampage on vampires dumb enough to live so openly and draw his attention; that you'd let him be the one to set an example of why that's a bad idea while you got to work fixing things with Daciana and Mihnea. You taking off with them would piss off Zeus even more, but you'd be long gone and he'd direct even more wrath at the readily available target of Apollo who had brought her to the city and put her in your path. We'd be able to try staging an extreme intervention once his initial fury had been blown off and he had paternal regrets brewing again.

"And my plan started off better than expected. You got an unexpected big damn hero moment to intervene with those rapists and the hounds got a free meal. Then shit went south. Somehow, our wife ended up with her vision that Big Sky Daddy would be massively breaking the plans by going after her and his grandson too. That shouldn't have happened because of how things currently were on all fronts. I can't for the life of me figure out what set that vision off from what little I could pick up of what was happening when one of you had hounds summoned. He was focused on the operation and not checking in with a lowly agent like me to update how his end was going. Thankfully, you got them extricated as hoped, but neither King sent the Lightbringer back to the void, nevermind ripping up his soul again. Now Zeus and Apollo are hand waving it all and working together like it's old times. And Apollo always has excuses ready to make it sound like he's just doing what's needed to reclaim his rightful wife. So Zeus is going to instinctually do what he always does of turning a blind eye and deaf ear and hoping for the best if he just lets the Crown Prince have his way on tactics to get the Spring Princess back to their idea of normal.

"So you, The Fucking Black Sun, need to directly see and hear and know just what the Lightbringer is capable of. Recaps aren't near enough to get the point across of how he operates. You need to unmistakably and viscerally understand exactly what we're dealing with, how this all started and why things have gone down the way they did. Because we need you to do what I couldn't manage as even the Hound of Hades. What the Water Dragon refuses to do because he doesn't feel it's his place to permanently destroy his brother's Heir and would set too dangerous a precedence for the same to be done to his over whatever petty vengeful excuse Zeus might come up with. What Zeus always refuses to even admit needs be done, whether or not he has his memories. This time, one way or other, the King of Death needs to get a tight enough hold on Apollo's twisted fucking soul that he can't escape to the greater void, and you need to make damn sure that corrupt light gets permanently and irrevocably snuffed out so we're not spending however many centuries or millennia looking over our shoulders for when he next resurfaces and we get the chance to try again.

"For now, though, I'll simply ask you to do me the small favor of putting a brief pause on being a condescending Kingly asshole while I'm forcing myself to relive the genesis of my ongoing personal hell in such vivid fucking detail. As much of a masochist as I am, even I have my hard limits, yet I'm forcing myself to cross the biggest one tonight for my nightingale's sake. Feel free to be an asshole after, but at least grant me the tiny mercy of waiting until my awareness isn't so fucking strained as it already is."

There was silence in the shared awareness, but the King of Death's ever busy mind was turning over what had been said to him and what he had sensed from The Wolf. He well knew that he personally kept up certain facades as they felt needed. Walter had his as the Angel of Death. The Wolf had pointed out that some of Pan's bravado had been one as well. Luke was clearly trying to live up to whatever memories he had uncovered of his oldest self.

The Original Gangster was yet another in this parlay who had his own masks, and they had finally started to crack. Despite the empath trying to keep his anger burning and surfaced to drive home how serious he was to his opponent, and perhaps to fortify his own resolve as he verbally laid bare known vulnerabilities and demanded aid, it wasn't just anger that could be sensed. Like little drops of blood leaking into the ocean for a shark to catch a whiff of, The Dragon could sense beneath the surface an almost primordial fear of their mutual enemy, an anguish from whatever memories were haunting The Wolf, and an earnest belief and hope that the ancient King he was speaking to was the answer to stopping those old wounds from being continually ripped back open and greater amounts of blood being lost...

The Void Dragon couldn't remember that oldest time, but some part of his mind could analyze Cerberus's behavior and came to the determination that it rang as truth. This was The Wolf being as guileless as he was probably going to show tonight. His behavior almost reminded Vlad of his son's at different points over the centuries, and that mental association made certain things click in place. He could almost imagine the amusement the War-Prince's efforts on a battlefield would have caused him to feel, as the younger demon fought tooth and nail for the recognition he sought from his elders, and especially the King he was stealing tactics from. With not having a family of his own yet, he could almost imagine that he had seen his brother-King's son as a protégé to tweak at Poseidon through, and that he'd want to give the tenacious younger demon pushes to do better next time. And when Cerberus became good enough to start forming his own tactics and being an actual problem when there were conflicting interests, it would have very likely been a point of fury and pride to have to deal with the War-Prince he had helped mold into such an opponent.

Vlad couldn't know for certain what his old self had been thinking prior to the events of The Wolf's first memory; but, if he had to make a guess, he was inclined to think perhaps Hera might not have been the only one with exceedingly acute senses and deductive skills to suspect something might be going on between guard wolf and princess and wondered if it was a fleeting first puppy love or something potentially more serious. It was indicated by Thanatos that he had witnessed things of said princess's character; and wherever she was, the wolf had been. He might very well have noticed something. Even with as much as he undoubtedly wanted to finally claim his own Queen, he knew himself well enough to know it would have caused him some amount of inner conflict on how to proceed. That would have been a difficult wrestle between respect for their free wills versus what his own desires had been; and he may have been grudgingly waiting to see how things went between them out of a fostered respect for The Wolf because at the time his desires had been one-sided.

Circumstances evolving as they had, he had likely decided when he got the request for aid in an elopement that things had played out far enough. He'd have wanted to claim his Queen, deciding she'd eventually grow out of that first puppy love once time had passed and they became more familiar with one another; and to save The Wolf from incurring that suicidal amount of Apollo and Zeus's wraths on himself, even if that turned his protégé's wrath on him for doing so, likewise thinking Cerberus would someday come to understand he had been done a favor in disguise. The Wolf probably surprised him by showing more rationale than expected for a younger demon of his temperament, and undoubtedly had calculated right that The Void Dragon's reaction was some mix of fury and extremely grudging respect for his counter-offense.

However this cycle of behavior between them started and whatever conflicts there had been, The Wolf was still maintaining an almost idolatry of his memories of the Underworld King. And Cerberus was being so honest in this moment because he was terrified of the Lightbringer of the past because of how persistent and threatening that enemy truly was. "The Original Gangster" War-Prince was desperate for the legendary King of Death he remembered to return to that oldest self. For that Black Sun to step in and start launching the peerless aggressive attacks from the shadows he had always innately gravitated to and make that boogeyman of the light finally stop haunting the younger demon and the woman they both loved.

That really was all there was to Cerberus's motivations. There wasn't a hidden agenda here. Deep down, the War-Prince was a terrified wolf pup wanting the elder he saw as the end all, be all Alpha of their draconic pack to step in and save them, even if that meant the Alpha took his mate as compensation for saving the pack.

That set of realizations, and the knowledge of what sort of threats his wife had been under and how Zeus had come to claim his daughter, had been what caused him to reconnect to Walter. He had informed his confidant of the pertinent details of what Apollo and Zeus had done and how; and made the grudging admittance the Angel of Death seemed to have been correct on some levels in his assessments of The Wolf. Walter had made a few suggestions for how to proceed with what was unfolding and then they had broken off the connection.

Only for the King of Death to be briefed on recent matters he had previously cut The Wolf off from explaining. Those explanations made him realize something that caused a brief flare of rage, but this time it was directed at himself.

While the War-Prince hadn't puzzled out what had gone wrong with his carefully laid plans, the King of Death knew exactly what it was. The Black Sun had failed to meet the expectations The Wolf had and hadn't recognized his wife and son quickly enough. Instead of immediately extricating them, one way or other he would have done exactly as he had of drawing the useful enchantress into the fight to try putting down The Paladin's plans. His instincts had been so focused on his inter-incarnation rage and battles with Zeus, the brainwashed cage Van Helsing had put him in had been too thick, that he had been the wrench in the plans.

Vlad needed a couple minutes to come to terms with that realization, weigh it with the others tonight; and then decided to fully reassess the situation to decide how best to proceed with matters.

Finally, the King of Death replied with a subdued stoic tone, "I was not meaning to be so provoking. I can acknowledge the last vision you showed had no signs of being anything but an actual memory. So I can also acknowledge whatever you feel is so necessary to show will be difficult for you to relive because it is also going to be the truth. Catching glimpses of the attack you ultimately protected Daciana from when she and I were telepathically connected and she had an unexpected flashback was painful enough to have knowledge of. I had already reasoned on my own before our parlay was posed that Apollo must have done much worse because he clearly wasn't interrupted like those soldiers had been and managed to impregnate another demon, despite such a process being necessary to have some form of aid from the mother to have happen. With knowing you claimed to be her sworn guard, learning you were under a blood oath to protect her, and knowing how protective she is of those close to her, I already had several general theories of what may have happened before I entered your mind.

"I'm truthfully dreading discovering the details of what actually happened to my wife; but I also well know I need every bit of information I can obtain on how Apollo works so I can have the highest chance to successfully counter the threat he poses and not let him slip past me again. I can acknowledge that, if nothing else, you and I both want the Lightbringer brought to an indisputably permanent end. So I am trying to maintain my mental disciplines so as not to mistakenly lash out at an ally who is committed to fighting against a common enemy who has been so persistently dangerous to my wife and our family."

Cerberus had steadily suppressed his own emotions and raised power as the King was speaking and it became clear that enough of the needed points had been made. He replied just as stoically, "That's fair enough, Schwarze Sonne. Everyone has their coping methods. I know we managed to maintain a sustained alliance for over six millennia based on that shared grounds before our first deaths, and I know we can do it again if at least that much of an active understanding is reestablished between us. So, no hard feelings on my end."

"I think it would be best for the both of us if we just get through this and then have our minds completely to ourselves again."

"Agreed. To that end, though, I'm going to summarize the buzz of thoughts you'll be hearing at the start of the first memory and fill in some background context of interest I can remember. If His Majesty would allow the VIP pass to be revoked, I'd really prefer to keep internal thoughts private as things get worse. You'll be able to easily guess the generalities of what I'm thinking from my emotions and what's taking place or being verbally said."

"Understood."

"The mental buzz will be me being worried about my nightingale because she had been having a vague premonition feeling that something was wrong for the last two days, but it hadn't yet formed into a vision and I couldn't figure out what could be setting off her senses. There were no current conflicts between the Kingdoms, nor anything significant from humans because of current cohabitation understandings maintaining the right levels of fear and awe to keep them to their own territories. There were no major social or economic issues that could cause some sudden ignition of internal civil unrest. On the wide-scale, everything was as safe as could be.

"As much as Zeus hadn't liked your marriage proposal, Hera had privately convinced him not to make a public fuss over it because of the long standing agreement on your Kingly rights and saying that even if his heart had been set on Apollo having a wife, Kore would be taken care of as your Queen to standards Apollo couldn't offer. Despite Hera's Queenly wrangling of Zeus, I know she was feeling quite a bit of maternal sorrow for having failed to orchestrate the match she knew her daughter desired, but we assured her we knew she had done everything she could. Kore assured her mother that she would do her best to adjust to the new reality, and I promised Hera I had no intention of abandoning my commitment to my oath to protect Kore as best as I could. Hera and Zeus had a long private discussion with Apollo before it was publicly announced so he wouldn't be blindsided. He had been furious and left the palace for a few weeks to go hunting and visit some of his mistresses. When he had come back, he had been pointedly avoiding Kore and the Queen, and only grudgingly meeting with his father for matters pertaining to the Kingdom, but he was otherwise behaving himself as much as could be expected.

"Marriage negotiations had gone extremely swiftly because of how simple they ended up being. You had asked for no bridal dowry with your resources being what they were and you wanted to cover the expenses for the wedding festivities to welcome your new bride to her place in your Kingdom. Zeus insisted he would at least be paying for Kore's wedding regalia and initial Queenly attire to leave his Court with, as well as transporting his Spring Princess's favorite belongings and some things from his palace he knew she most enjoyed so she would have those familiar things around her. You agreed without argument to indulge those paternal concerns for her comforts.

"You had affirmed your promises to Kore in person before the start of negotiations for honorable conduct with her as wife and Queen. Your request in negotiations for Kore as future Queen was that she first take whatever time was necessary to come to a personal understanding of the Underworld Kingdom, both as a physical territory and the culture there. Then she could exercise her best judgment as an Oracle and Dragon to decide what Queenly influence she might exert to aid with the Kingdom's needs. You felt a King shouldn't tell a Queen how she might best complete such tasks and wanted her to craft her own style of reign she'd be comfortable with upholding to for the near eternal time she would be reigning. If she needed aid to plan how to do so, she could ask you for advice from your long experience ruling the Underworld, or feel free to consult her mother or Queen Amphitrite for their Queenly insights. The final decisions in those matters were hers to make, unless there was a critical inexperienced mistake in the works because you did have to protect the Kingdom's interests. When she felt confident in plans made, you'd support them being integrated at whatever pace she felt comfortable taking on responsibilities for.

"Once things were in motion and she had a taste of reality for such responsibilities, she was free to take a step back as needed and readjust plans from her gained experience, until she found a balance she was comfortable with and felt she could maintain indefinitely under normal circumstances. If there was a war, or when she became a mother, or if there were other such major changes to routines, she could readjust as needed. You asked that she would grant you the same respect for continuing to manage your longstanding duties as King without interference for the way you reigned. If she felt there were matters of joint interest she could be of aid with, you'd be willing to discuss the potential to split those duties you had been thus far solely responsible for and where those lines of shared responsibility would be, but you didn't want to make preemptive complicated provisions to do so.

"Kore was still not happy to be marrying someone who wasn't myself, but she did appreciate and feel relief that Thanatos and my assessments were correct; that you were so explicitly confirming you weren't in any way trying to constrict her ability to be herself, that you weren't going to rush her into responsibilities she hadn't been entirely raised for, nor press her into a precedented mold of what Queens should do based on how Hera and Amphitrite handled their responsibilities. She had no concerns with granting a Monarch of your reputation the same respect of not interfering with your Kingly duties.

"You very grudgingly agreed to the provision she asked of retaining me as her Head of Guard. Hera privately took you aside after the negotiations and had some politely phrased but direct words with you about her expectations for how you would be treating her beloved youngest daughter and her daughter's exemplary Head of Guards. Especially because the only request Kore made in regards to your current concubines or freedom to expand that repertoire of bed partners was that you refrained from partaking in those personally motivated activities within the royal bed chambers you'd be sharing or rooms dedicated to her or future children's personal uses, and she'd show the same discretionary courtesy if she ever wished to have a lover. She had been far more lenient than the protective demands Zeus had wanted in the agreements, which would have included housing your harem outside the palace grounds so his Spring Princess wouldn't be exposed to such women and feel additional pressure to fulfill wifely obligations before she felt ready."

"The wedding arrangements were well underway and everything was proceeding according to plans. Lacking major sources of potential upsets, and Kore not having a full vision yet, I had done a scan around her quarters and areas she visited, twice, then asked the steward to discreetly have himself and the maids check the rest of the palace, wondering if it might be some mundane threat to her or someone in the family's safety. Something such as, despite how well upkept the palace was, some section of architecture might be having some strain or wear going unnoticed and it might be about to cause an accident if the right conditions came to pass. Nothing of the like could be found.

"All I could do at that point was sit in hyper-alert guard wolf mode and wait to see if something showed itself, or if whatever she was sensing would pass without manifesting into an upset on its own. I could go three weeks without sleep before I'd actually feel any effects from it. I was staying awake that evening to again use my empathy to ease her distress and allow her a proper sleep, without risk of suppressing her ability to form a proper vision and waking to describe it. Sometimes, it even helped her better catch those nebulous pulls and we could get whatever minor incidents might be brewing headed off..."

"Then she had the warning vision about Apollo," the King of Death concluded stoically.

"Ja. Give me a minute, and we'll jump in just as she's waking up."

"That's fine."

Cerberus gave himself that minute to make sure his emotions were as tightly locked down as possible. He was quite certain the King was taking similar measures during that brief delay. Then he brought up the opening memory to the events that spawned his and his nightingale's ongoing personal hell.

Kore was laying next to where he sat on her large rowan wood bed, pale pink blanket pulled tightly around her form. Her eyes were closed in sleep, but they were moving beneath lids that twitched fitfully from whatever she was starting to see. His long honed discipline kept his concern suppressed and he continued loaning the gentle calming influence, but his hand tightened a fraction around hers as he waited to discover what she was having a vision of. That self-discipline started to be put to the test when he eventually saw tears forming in her eyes, her head beginning to shake back and forth in response to something in her dreams. He steeled his emotional discipline, shoving the worry back down with mental visualizations of sedately flowing water of a stream to maintain calming thoughts and concentrating on carefully measuring his breaths.

Then Kore came awake with a strangled, reverberating scream that made his sensitive ears ring. She all but launched herself up out of the bed, panicked wide eyes looking past him as though he wasn't there as her gaze scanned the room. Her aura was steadily filling with active panicked terror and horrified revulsion.

Cerberus's arms immediately went around her, increasing the reassuring emanations now that she was awake. As he did so, his rhapsodic multi-tonal voice was quietly pitched to be soothing as he said, "It's alright, Kore. You are awake now. What you saw is not happening yet."

Kore stayed rigid in his arms and was already well on her way to sobbing, shaking her head in terror and denial to whatever she had seen. Her long braids, left loose for sleep, were caught up beneath her and he could feel the tension of them pulling against his arms. One arm released her to carefully pull the braids looser as he continued speaking. "Breathe, Kore. Breathe so you do not start hyperventilating. You are safe right now, and you know I am not going to allow anything to happen to you. Just breathe, and then tell me what you saw."

Kore leaned against him and buried her face against his chest, sobs increasing, tears wetting the front panel of his chiton.

Despite the emanations he was sending her, her upset state wasn't changing. He felt his own worry trying to rise at whatever unknown disaster was apparently in the works to upset her so, but he shoved it back down to continue providing the comfort she clearly needed. His arm returned around her and he placed a reassuring kiss to the top of her head as he increased the protective, reassuring vibrations all the more to help calm her enough to regain her ability to speak.

"Kore, listen to my voice, not what is in your head right now. Try to concentrate on what you can sense from me, not the terror you're feeling. Do you understand?" Her wracking sobs continued, but after several moments she gave a small nod to show she was aware of his presence. He nuzzled against the top of her head for a few seconds and then gave another lingering kiss before saying with carefully pitched reassurance, "I am right here with you, Kore. Whatever you saw, it has not happened yet. You are safe here in your room. I am here with you, and I am not leaving your side. Nothing is going to happen to you right now. If what you saw is happening elsewhere, we might be able to prevent it if you can tell me what it was. If we can't send word in time, it won't be your fault, but I know your conscience will be burdened if you don't say something as quickly as you feel you should..."

Kore was shivering in his arms and snuggled closer as he was speaking, one hand grabbing the front of his chiton, delicate claws poking through and pressed against his skin. Her sobbing hadn't started easing yet, and the terrified aura was still radiating out steadily.

"...You are going to concentrate on my breathing and you are going to try to match it, just like always when these things happen. You are going to breathe, Kore, and calm your thoughts enough to put words to what you saw. You are going to tell me what you saw. If it was something happening to you personally, I and your other guards will stop it from happening like we always have. I will personally make certain nothing happens to you. If it is someone else in the palace in danger, there are a hundred dedicated guards and two hundred soldiers who are well capable of intervening to protect them. If it was something happening elsewhere, I will alert runners to inform whoever needs know to try averting it. Just keep breathing with me like you're trying to now, Kore, and trust that you are safe. Whatever you saw, you know I will do everything in my power to stop it from happening."

Kore's sobbing was starting to slow as his empathic vibrations and reassurances started to break through her terror. He could feel her trying harder to concentrate on her breathing. Instead of continuing to speak, he pitched his voice to a wordless melody that flowed in time with the breaths he was keeping at a steady pace for her to follow.

It took another two minutes for Kore's sobs to subside to quiet crying and regain just enough composure to shakily force out four devastated words. "Apollon... is... the... danger."

Cerberus felt his confusion and reactive defensiveness try surfacing over the vibrations he was sending her, as a chill went down his spine and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. He shoved down the reaction, continuing the reassuring vibrations just as strongly as they had been the last few minutes. He said carefully, "I can understand some of why you are afraid now, especially with your parents and Thanatos away for overseeing wedding preparations, but the Crown Prince is no threat to you or anyone in this castle if I know ahead of time what he is planning. Tell me what it is, Kore. I promise you, I will make sure it is safely routed, one way or other. My armies beat his eight times out of ten on the battlefield, even without having foreknowledge from an Oracle to his plans. I have won every one of the eleven times we have faced one another in personal combat. Whatever he means to do, it is not going to happen. If there is not a diplomatic solution to avert whatever he is planning, I will personally make sure he is stopped. I can make whatever explanations are necessary to the King and Queen when they return from Atlantis. With you able to confirm you had a vision and my actions were in adherence to my duties while they were away, I will not be facing any serious discipline for whatever must be done to subdue the threat. So trust I have the capabilities to do my job, even with whatever danger Apollon may be posing. I will route whatever you saw."

With those assurances being given alongside the unwavering emotions he was radiating out to her, he could feel her panic easing a small margin. She wiped her tears against his chiton, continuing to concentrate on her breathing.

Cerberus tightened his arms around her further, again giving reassuring nuzzles to the top of her braided head. "I know whatever it is must be making it difficult to speak, Kore. Remember to keep breathing, and trust I will take whatever actions are necessary to put an end to what you are seeing right now."

After several more measured breaths, Kore was finally able to bring herself to speak, voice still shaky, tones a conflicting, discordant whisper from the effort it was costing her. "It is going to happen at the festivities for Harmonia's millennial birthday tomorrow night."

"It is not going to happen," the War-Prince promised her assuredly. "So keep talking to me, Kore. Tell me what Apollon is planning and I will make certain it does not happen."

Kore shook her head again, eyes squeezing closed as she buried her face against his chest. "Apollon is... He is going to try... Apollon is going to try to attack me tomorrow..."

Cerberus felt an immediate uprising of protective rage, and he allowed some of it to surface alongside his determination to not allow it to happen. "Tell me what he is planning to try, Kore, and I will make certain he does not even get the chance to make the attempt."

Kore sniffled as tears were beginning to increase again, but she was able to say, "We were dancing... His aura is not angry like it has been all season. It felt peaceful. I was relieved for that and the dance is a lively one I'm enjoying. He asks if we can leave to speak privately as he has apologies he wishes to make so there might be peace between us before I leave Olympus, and this eve seemed most appropriate to do so... I am surprised, but I wanted to make peace with him, so I said I am willing to speak with him. I let him lead me from the hall and you are following a few steps behind as always... We went around the eastern corridor, to father's favorite council room..." Kore's head shook as her voice broke off.

Cerberus pressed another kiss to her head. "It is not going to happen, Kore. I promise you, he is not even going to get the chance to get you near that room or attempt whatever attack he means to try. So tell me what else happened so I know what needs otherwise averting."

Kore said in self-recrimination, multi-tonal voice still discordant with distress, "...I was so foolish..."

"I am certain Apollon was counting on you being the forgiving and peace seeking woman you are. That is not in any sense a foolish quality. It is a mark of his deceptive character and how he exploits things he views as weaknesses in a situation. Unfortunately for him, I know exactly how he operates and what he is capable of, and now I know he will attempt something treacherous. Tell me what he was planning to have happen that somehow would have initially slipped past my guard and I will make certain he fails entirely tonight."

"...When we arrived to the room, he said again he wanted to speak privately. I told him that was why we were there. He said, no, without you joining us. You tell him that he knows that is against procedures; speaking with my Head of Guard present is the same as speaking with no one else there... Apollo gives you a glare, but his aura is amused. He asks me how I plan to be a respected Queen in the near future if I cannot hold a single conversation without my nursemaid to speak for me. If I plan to have you voice my commands and give comfort to my subjects. If you will be present in my bed chambers with the King to be the one whispering words of seduction for me. I knew he was trying to irritate me, but I also was feeling doubts and as though he may not be entirely wrong. Not about you speaking. In regards to how hard it is for me sometimes. It does not make for an inspiring Queen.

"You tell him sharply that is enough of such talk; if he only brought me here to cause trouble, we are returning to the festivities. Apollon tells you that he was not addressing the guard dog, he was addressing his sister, and you are only proving his concern. He came to make peace with me, to try apologizing. He wished to do so in privacy. To have a single personal conversation with his own sister without the guard dog present and barking whenever there was the slightest tone he did not like. Such behavior from a guard would not be tolerated outside family when I was Queen. And if my state of mind was so delicate that I can not even have such a mild, peacekeeping exchange with my own brother without becoming upset, then our father and my guard dog had done me a great disservice over the last two hundred and ninety-eight years. You start to say something, but I ask you to stop. You go silent.

"I tell Apollon that I am capable of speaking for myself, but I am also perfectly happy to allow my Head of Guard to fulfill his duties as he best feels fit because your judgment is always with my best interests in mind and sometimes it is easier to just let you speak things you know I would be saying anyway. In this case, however, I do wish peace with my brother before I leave our home. I have no desire to have such discord and complete silence as there has been between us. If all Apollon meant to do is to apologize and offer words for reconciling that recent discord, there was no danger in me simply listening to those words and offering gratitude for that effort being made. I could feel you did not like that and you warned me that procedures are in place for the reasons they are...

"I should have listened to you, Cerberus... I felt some frustration and reminded you that a few different procedures will end up changing with future events being what they are. My own brother asking for a single instance of privacy while he makes his apologies is not the same as some hostile diplomat trying to trick me into agreeing to some unfavorable trade agreement or similar underhanded concerns, so I do not see any harm in granting his request. The conversation in the corridor between us three might be taking more time than the one Apollon intended, so I would like to have the conversation and then return to the festivities... I felt concern from you, but you agreed to stay outside, so long as I came immediately out of the room if Apollon made a single attempt to divert conversation from what he promised. I told you I would keep your advisement in mind and thanked you for always being so careful to look after my wellbeing..."

When she didn't continue because her upset state was increasing, Cerberus said stoically, "I take full responsibility for not insisting more strongly..."

"No," Kore interrupted, shaking her head. "I was being stubborn and foolish and we both know you have to ultimately follow my wishes when there isn't an immediate threat. I should have listened to you... I just did not want to leave with Apollon having resentment or anger. I wanted things to be peaceful again... I was so foolish to think he had such a change of heart..."

As renewed tears began to well up and shivers began to return, he asked quietly, "How did Apollon attempt to attack you, Kore?"

Kore shifted from where she was sitting, all but climbing into his lap. He readjusted his position to allow her that extra closeness, still radiating out the continuous comforting emotions she needed.

"Kore, are you still having the vision?"

She gave a small nod, burying her face back against his chest.

"Then I need to know what Apollon intends to do, what his motivations are if it was made clear, so I can properly plan how to stop him beyond standard measures such as not allowing the location to be reached and having other guards present where you are to discourage the attempt even being made or having an ambush ready to apprehend him for moving to make the attempt and holding him until the King and Queen return in two days. I have many ideas of what may need be done, but I need to know what he's planning and why to know how aggressive his attempts once initially thwarted may be."

Kore's voice became more discordant as she let out the heartbroken whisper, "Mother may not be of help if father has already sanctioned the attack and Apollon succeeds."

Cerberus felt a dread in the back of his mind and he again shoved the reaction down, breaths becoming more strictly regulated as he pushed himself into a deeply detached conscious state. "Kore, what exactly is Apollon planning and why do you think your father would allow it?"

Kore was silent for a minute, quietly absorbing the almost numbing empathic sedation he was now sending her. "As soon as the door was closed, Apollon cast an enchantment to hold it. An enchantment that spread around the whole room. He said he was fearful for my safety with the Void Dragon making his primitive claim for Queen and asked me if I could honestly say I desired becoming Hades's wife and the obligations it would bring... I... I couldn't say that, but I told him it was what was agreed to and I believed Thanatos and mother were correct that eventually I'd adjust to things well enough because Hades was an honorable King. Apollo gave me a sharp glare and his voice became as cold as a winter wind as he said that wasn't what he asked... I was starting to feel very scared... There was a fierce vibration to the anger in his aura that was... I do not know how to describe it. I have never felt something like that before. But I did not like it and I could feel something bad was going to happen. I told him I was answering as honestly as I could and this was not the conversation he said it would be, so I wanted him to remove the enchantment and allow me to leave.

"Apollon said he had told me he wished to express his apologies and make peace with me, and that was what he intended to do... He was sorry that he had allowed the King of Death to have the opportunity to try stealing his wife, and he was going to set matters to rights... The Void Dragon couldn't take a Queen who was already claimed. Even if more formal procedures for marriage negotiations were followed, and I was bound for the moment by the promise to proceed with arrangements to marry Hades, I wasn't Hades's Queen yet. If the Void Dragon wanted to invoke primitive laws to cut short our proper courtship, he'd invoke the same old laws for claiming a mate to put a stop to this and restore things to the way they should be.

"I told him no, I did not want that, and I wanted to leave the room immediately. He said he knew I was under obligation to resist because of my Oracle-bound commitment to marry Hades, but the ward he had placed would last long enough to keep even my guard dog out when you wondered at how long we were taking. Once we finished our private matters, you'd have no rights to be barking at him anymore.

"I told him that you would do as necessary to protect me and if he does what he plans, he will throw our Kingdom into a war with the Underworld and bring down father's wrath on him... He gave a terrifying smile then and I could feel triumph and conviction entering with the disturbing emotions in his aura. He asked me who did I think reminded him of the old laws. Father is not wanting their Spring Princess married off to his brute of a brother any more than he is. He told Apollon to be gentle, but set it right while he had mother and Thanatos away from the palace. Apollon said they felt remorse for exposing me to such barbaric tactics and magic when they knew I was not raised in an age where matters were so frequently needing to be solved in such unsophisticated ways. Father would pay the Void Dragon the damages for the broken arrangements and things would return to how peaceful they used to be and they would make amends for the brief unpleasantness it was going to require to stop Hades from ruining our family.

"I... I was struck silent because I did not know how to process that father would even consider such a thing, yet I had an emptying horror of a feeling Apollon was speaking truth. I... I panicked and tried to undo his enchantment on the door in hopes he was lying about the strength, trying to get your attention, but it wasn't like any I've seen before and my magic didn't even make it waver. Apollon grabbed hold of my arm and a neutralizing barrier went over me to contain my magic. Then he was dragging me by the arm to the map table. He wouldn't let go when I tried pulling away and telling him to release me. I felt Apollon's awareness enter my mind and as I was being wrestled into a dazed state, that's when I pulled awake from my struggles against him..." Despite the heavy empathic sedation, her crying resumed once she had finished forcing herself to relate what she had seen.

The War-Prince was silent for several seconds as the detached section of his mind continued to make calculations and the active section continued to radiate out the necessary emotions the Princess needed. His voice was resolute when he spoke, tones focused as one sound, utilizing his General voice. "Kore, I am going to explain what I am quite certain are the factors behind Apollon's plans for attack, why his plans were not going to get the results he hoped, and how I am going to stop him, to ease your mind as much as possible. Then I am going to briefly leave your chambers to have a servant send for Iris and set in motion everything that needs be done to stop Apollon. I must unfortunately concede you have a high chance to be haunted by this vision until your parents return and your mother can make the decisive strike to end Apollon's intentions, but he is going to fail in every respect and you are going to be safe until the Queen can do so. Understood?"

Kore's crying eased as those confident assurances were given and she gave a small nod.

"Your father has undoubtedly made a mistaken rash decision based on Apollon inflaming paternal concerns and twisting up his rationale when they've had privacy for discussions since he returned from his enraged flight after news was broken to him. A secret decision that Queen Hera is going to be most furious to discover was made and the Matron Dragon is not going to be meek or diplomatic in making her fury known for him once again attempting to undermine her authority in matters for her children, for sanctioning such vile behavior, and for putting the Kingdom at risk..."

"How could father even..." Kore's confused question broke off and she gave a distressed shake of her head.

"I was about to answer that, my nightingale love, so let me be as quick as possible." To her nod, he continued speaking with tone and aura as reassuring as possible to maintain. "Apollon undoubtedly brought up some of King Hades's personal appetites with his concubines that have been inappropriate to mention in a gentle royal lady's presence in the past. I can assure you from how well I have known and studied him for more than three and a half millennia, they are still unnecessary to detail as they are not appetites the Void Dragon would even consider acceptable or desire to indulge with his wife and Queen who has a personal nature and differing composition in creation as you have."

Kore's aura reflected confusion and dismay as she asked, "What are you evading saying? And how can you be so certain of how he will behave? If he has appetites of natures I may find such strong distaste to hear, let alone potentially witness or experience as his wife, why would you keep that from me before now?"

"Kore, you well know I have not always been the quiet and deferential Head of Guard I am known as these days. You know that when I was commanding armies, or engaged in personal combat, there were times I was ruthless in my tactics. You have witnessed me execute a threat when they refused the diplomatic attempt to divert them from where we were. Have you ever once feared that I would show that side of myself to turn it on you, even in minor ways my blood oath would not prevent me from engaging in?"

"No, never," Kore said immediately, confusion lingering.

"I can promise you, the Void Dragon is no different than I am in such regards; be it differences of behavior in battle, politics, or having personal distinctions he innately and unwaveringly draws lines on. What takes place with his concubines are things mutually enjoyed by them and him and can cause the concubines no real harm to indulge in. They are not his sole appetites and he knows which are appropriate to be shared with different partners or when to refrain. If Thanatos thought for even the span of a frantic heartbeat you'd be subjected to attempts to be persuaded to do things you would find unwelcome and unpleasant, he would not have brought back the King of Death's proposal offer. If I had the slightest doubt, I would not have conceded to your safety of mind or body being jeopardized in the smallest way. If your mother had the slightest concern Hades might seek to undermine his promise to behave with the utmost honor with you, she would not have allowed the proposal to be accepted and would have strategized with me some attempt to take the risks of us leaving the Kingdom for some far flung corner of the world to quietly be together as we have desired.

"We all made the decisions we did in large part due to how well we all know and trust the truth of Hades's character. I have personally spent considerable time at his palace as a prisoner of war and been under the mercy of his given word for conduct while we waited for my father to lose his resentment that I critically lost a battle and needed ransoming to resume my duties. Hades never once conducted matters in any way that was not entirely honorable..."

Kore asked with confusion deepening again, "Are you saying you two..."

The War-Prince could sense a ripple of disgusted disbelief from the memory-repressed King when said King realized the same implications, and he diplomatically chose not to comment or let his exasperation be sensed.

Cerberus gave a quiet reverberating laugh. "Boredom could set in during that wait and His Majesty was most accommodating for keeping his high ranking and cunning prisoner entertained so I would remain patiently waiting, instead of considering escape attempts to spare my father the ransom payment and causing His Majesty the embarrassment of such a prisoner slipping out." To her disbelieving groan and the immediate flare of resentment and disapproval in her aura, he said, "It's not as though I am one of your future husband's consistent lovers or a concubine, and I was stuck in a loveless marriage with few outlets for enjoyment of any of those natures, so do not take such judgmental attitudes with me, my beloved nightingale. We were strictly discreet bed partners for the time I was being held there, and it has been fifteen centuries since the last time we indulged such whims and games with one another. Before that resentment and displeasure grows, remind yourself that you are the only entity I have ever romantically loved and all three of our circumstances are vastly different these days.

"Such old experiences do play into why I can be so certain in how I know he draws lines for complicated matters and personal appetites, so allow me revealing such privately kept information to provide the comfort it is meant to give. I know that when you eventually come to know King Hades well enough to be willing to consent to being more familiar with one another and start fulfilling certain obligations, he will treat you with the same considerations and gentleness I always do when we are expressing our love and desire for one another. I know without doubt that the Void Dragon is the one man outside myself that you never need fear for your safety or your own personal desires not being respected. He will treat you honorably in all those regards."

Kore sighed and asked quietly, voice still carrying discordant notes, but they were decreasing from before, "Father apparently does not have those same assured beliefs and Apollon seems to have manipulated that?"

"I would wager most anything that is what took place from what little Apollon said to try justifying his pending actions to you. And I will repeat, Apollon's attempt to halt marriage proceedings would have failed to achieve what he desired in several respects, even if Zeus stayed committed to trying to enforce it. Apollon and Zeus may feel the Void Dragon's claims to you would have been nullified, but he did not truly invoke that King's Right, only used it as part of his supportive reasoning for putting forth his proposal in seeking you as his bride to help avert protests from your father. Everything followed procedure and you agreed to undertake the marriage ceremony when all is prepared of your own free will. You may not desire Hades as your husband, but you have agreed to marry him for valid reasons outside of desire.

"Apollon's forcible attack would not have undermined that agreement like he thinks it would because you were not consenting to an attempt to mate with him. Even if he had succeeded in forcing an impregnation, which he would not have, it would still be considered rape under the definitions currently in effect after the rampaging warpath Ares went on to make rape unlawful, and the efforts the Queens, King Hades and members of his Court, Aphrodite, Artemis, and myself extended in support of making it agreed upon in all three Kingdoms. The old law Apollon was hoping to invoke would not pass judgment of being rightfully brought forth, no matter how it was argued that your lack of consent was due to another oath he was trying to break.

"I am quite certain of what ward Apollon would have used, but I will have you confirm it before I call for Iris. It would have taken me a few attempts to discern that was what was in effect, but if it was the one I believe it is, I have broken through it before during a siege. He may be the Crown Prince of Light and powerful in magic, but I am the Second Prince of the Dragon of Water and Magic and I have only gotten better in such war magics over the last two millennia since I last dealt with that ward. I would have broken through it, and the entire palace would have been alerted to something malicious taking place and to provide me reinforcements as I started dismantling it.

"I hate to concede he would have had time to begin to attack you in such ways, but he would have been interrupted before he had chance to force your energy to comply with his attempts. I certainly would have done my duty to protect you by slaying the rapist as Olympian laws allow, with whatever aid was needed from those present if he had chance to try resisting his immediate execution. His authority as Crown Prince to order them to stand down would not stand when it is to protect his own crimes from being punished. Then I would quietly turn myself over, Ares would send a runner to directly report what happened to Queen Hera, and we would wait for the King and Queen to return and start a trial for slaying their Crown Prince.

"Zeus could try to reactively rampage as he likes, but Hera would stop him in his tracks well before he reached Olympus and he'd be facing her wrath. He would likely vote against me in the trial, if he is not refused a vote because he conspired with Apollon, but the other judges would vote in my favor once everything was explained. I would be safely released and resume my duties as your Head of Guard, if you still wished to have my services despite that severe error made in protecting you. There is an almost certainty of us being immediately brought to the Underworld Kingdom for diplomatic reasons to avoid further treachery before your wedding. Zeus would be placed on trial for conspiring as he did, and he would be ordered to pay heavy damages to both you for the harm done, and King Hades for his attempts to undermine the marriage agreement and potentially provoking a war. The Void Dragon would be entirely ruthless in demanded recompense for what was done, and most every judge would weigh in his favor, no matter how damaging the demands are for Olympus. Including your mother, as she would accept whatever strains it may cause the Kingdom to send the strong message such actions will not be tolerated and to avoid worse damages if a war had happened.

"Traumatic as it would have been for you to have even that much take place, it would not have stopped arrangements from moving forward. There is a high chance, high enough I would say it almost absolute, that Hades would offer to release you from the marriage obligations and simply extend you refuge in his Kingdom with due accommodations for a Princess. Such trauma being tied to trying to subvert your pending marriage, he would be concerned it could taint your opinion of him or your marriage in any number of direct or indirect fashions. My counsel to marry him would remain as it is for the many interests of your long-term safety. After such discord so recently took place, even if we were given the option, it would be less safe in many ways for us to make an attempt to leave the Kingdoms and my concerns for your safety will always outweigh my desires. I know Hades would be even more careful with interacting with you to allow you to recover as best as could be done, and would postpone the ceremony for that period of time to not strain your recovery. King Hades would hold resentment towards me for not fully averting the attack, and that resentment would last a long length of time, but he also well knows my limitations as Head of Guard and that no one else would have been able to intervene as fast as I had. With those considerations made, it is undeniable that everything Apollon sought would fail to come to pass, and he would be dead for the attempt.

"Such considerations and assurances aside, they are not the course of events that will actually come to pass. You have had a vision, but the attack itself has not taken place yet. That means I have an established allowance for counter-actions due to longstanding agreements made when your mother had visions from harboring your essence. A person foreseen may be all but certain to do as seen, but they are innocent until they choose to act to commit a crime. Preparations to entrap and stop them may be put in place to avoid harm, but they cannot be apprehended and punished until they move to make the attempt in the present. I need to proceed carefully with undermining that immoral and unlawful allowance Zeus has made so I can protect your safety and to avoid unnecessary conflicts with your future husband ensuing. Even if I must proceed in accordance to laws and what authorities I have granted to me, now that we know what Apollon intends, I have enough ways available to stop him.

"As much as I would like to gather you up and make a stealthy dash from the palace to the Underworld for sanctuary, and I'm sure that's a thought you may consider asking me to do, I do not think it would be safe. Even with my skills being what they are, with so much activity taking place at all hours of the night and day for the festivities being prepared, and guards and soldiers being on alert and double postings because there's so many gathered, there's a significant risk we would be noticed by someone. I do not have permission to be leaving Olympus with you while your parents are so far away, and there's no believable cause for me to make an unauthorized trip with palace resources being what they are. If I tell the guards the truth, even with your verification, there's still a high chance they will acknowledge Apollon's standing authority because he has not acted, they do not have the same allowance I have, and they will view this as a matter for dragons to sort out to lawfully protect themselves. I could neutralize guards or servants who spot us, but that slows us down and increases chances of others becoming aware. Apollon would be notified in any of those instances and he'd come to a quick conclusion of what was happening. He'd still have full authority to send every available guard, soldier, and your siblings after us, under orders to aid him in immediately subduing me for allegedly trying to kidnap you.

"As fast as I am, with him being able to teleport, he would be successful in catching up to us if he picks up our trail. Apollon would undoubtedly use his magic or innate soul skills to put you to sleep to neutralize your ability to speak what you saw to the others, under the excuse of protecting you from witnessing an unpleasant confrontation. If I try to break the laws to fight him before he's made a move to do as you saw, he will be perceived as defending himself from a rogue guard. I can kill him on his own, but the fastest reinforcements could reach us before I do so, they will join the fight on his side, and they will do everything in their power to overwhelm and subdue me. Something that I have no lawful right to resist because they are not foreseen threats and are following Apollon's still lawful orders. My blood oath may activate and hinder me even making such attempts on your innocent siblings you love, even if it's to protect you. I do not dare test where that line is under these circumstances. One way or other, if we're caught in an escape attempt, I'd likely be subdued, he'd neutralize my ability to give them my defense for my actions, and I'd be brought back for holding. He would bring you to a warded room to supposedly wake you up, make a diplomatic inquiry into what you knew of my actions, and check your wellbeing; giving himself free access to cause you harm before others could realize something is amiss. If I was able to sneak us outside the city unnoticed, I could have us in the Underworld palace before anyone realizes you're missing at breakfast, but there's too many ways for it to go wrong between here and the city walls for me to take that risk.

"The option to send a messenger to Atlantis to notify Queen Hera as a precaution to intercept Zeus or speed her way here to aid with Apollon is a similarly unsafe option. The messenger would have a much higher chance of being noticed and intercepted by guards, detained and brought to Apollon for acting on my orders without clearing their departure with him, and he'd discover what the message was. The same is true for sending a messenger to King Hades and Thanatos.

"We are going to treat this as a quiet siege so as not to alert Apollon we have the foreknowledge we have. It would be safest not to provoke him to extreme attempts to gain access to you if he realizes his plans are discovered and his time to enact them is swiftly running out, as that can cause extreme repercussions and upsets that may still be avoidable. We are going to enlist aid from those here in Olympus who are trustworthy and have the authority and responsibility to help me entrap him. You will not be attending Harmonia's party. Nor will you be leaving your chambers until the King and Queen return and your mother comes to check on your health in maternal and sympathetic concern for the story Iris and I will be putting forth in explanation..."

Kore interrupted to ask, "Will such a story not draw suspicion, as Apollon has certainly been alerted already to you sending out the steward to look for potential troubles around the palace and he may realize I am having some sense of something being wrong that could become a vision, yet such suspicion of a chance to be potentially caught has not already been enough to change his mind?"

"Not with the healer's verdict on why you're feeling ill that I will be directing Iris to make. With the fragile condition she declares you in, it will explain both your recent unease and sudden sickness. There is a reasonable chance that with hearing the healer's verdict, Apollon may choose to delay his attempt by reasoning on his own that you are in a compromised state that carries a high enough risk of sabotaging the attempt to impregnate you. His first opening being denied should not alert him, especially with his level of arrogance and confidence in his plans. He should view this as an unfortunate timing of your known delicate health having one of its complications. He is almost certain to not abandon the idea entirely with the efforts he has already made in commitment to carrying it out, but he may decide to delay until you are recovered and start plotting towards crafting a new and more hospitable opening for achieving his goal during the season we have left between now and the marriage date.

"We will have others discreetly enlisted to keep Apollo occupied tomorrow eve while he is brooding on his unlucky timing. They will take turns exhausting small amounts of his physical stamina and aggression in different ways, or potentially intoxicate him too far to have the ability to try approaching these chambers. That will further decrease the chances of him making the attempt and will put him in an even easier state for me to deal with should he decide to be reckless in pushing forward with his intended timing because he thinks it will go unnoticed while the others are distracted with the festivities. If tomorrow eve passes quietly, I will still be on highest alert for a last minute attempt from him before the King and Queen return from my father's Kingdom, but it is much less likely when servants are bustling about with their usual tasks and disturbances would be more easily noticed. If he can't do so under the cover of the festivities, and knowing your shadowing guard dog who has always defeated him in combat is with you and in a protective state because you are ill, it would be too much risk and he should try to strategize making the new opening.

"Outside of the three individuals needing initial entrance to enact that plan, and Iris returning with a few provisions for your health while supposedly feeling ill, no one will be granted entrance. The universal refusal of visitors and servants while you are resting so shallowly will help divert Apollon's suspicions, as well as potential desperate considerations to shapeshift and make some attempt to sneak access to you under the guise of another that he knows my acute senses could discern various traces of.

"If those diplomatic efforts fail to route him, there is only one entrance to your chambers. Unless he tries to break the wardings on your windows, which will be shuttered and having curtains closed, to try having the ability to then uncover the windows and have sight available to teleport directly in. I will sense those attempts if made and will engage immediately to slay him on the grounds of ending the imminent Oracle foreseen threat of rape he was indisputably meaning to attempt. If he tries the obvious access of the solar doors, I will be waiting, ready to ambush him. He will be given one opportunity to leave as ordered to preserve your needed rest the healer ordered. If he refuses or tries to come back for a second attempt after a false retreat, I will again have indisputable cause to conclude he was making the attempt you foresaw. I am going to use my own magic to throw him into the corridor and start binding his magics, put up my own wardings on your door, shift my mental state long enough to use a blast of my empathy to destabilize his mental state so he's unable to properly rationalize my intents, and then commence with slaying him as quickly as possible."

"Ares and Artemis will be on alert for an attack being sprung on Apollon in either fashion combat may begin and speed their way with reinforcements. They should not be needed as I am so well suited for handling Apollon, but I am not going to take chances with your safety. Whatever tactics he may try, he will be miscalculating his initial attacks because he has never had cause to know the full extent of what I am capable of. He will believe my goal is to subdue him for trying to intrude on your privacy; and that will be his goal with me because he believes his aims are not going to put him at risk of punishment and he won't want to face the certain trial for unnecessarily killing your Head of Guard who was fulfilling their blood bound duties. I will be fighting to kill as swiftly as possible, however, and I will succeed in making that kill despite the enchantment he has fused to his essence to protect him from certain types of attacks.

"If Apollon needs be slayed, I will turn myself over to Ares, Artemis will be given formal temporary command of your remaining guards and requested to keep them posted outside your chambers to safeguard you during my absence, and the runner will be sent to intercept your mother. If Apollon refrains from making the attempt because conditions were so unfavorable, when your mother arrives home and comes to check on you, we will inform her of your vision. The Matron Dragon has the authority to have Apollo apprehended, and both he and your father will be quite aggressively interrogated on just what conspiracy was agreed to. Queen Hera will convene a trial and charges will be brought against the both of them for conspiring to have you raped, conspiring to attack a member of the draconic families, conspiring to undermine your lawful marriage agreement with King Hades, and conspiring to commit acts that could provoke a war among Kingdoms. There is an overwhelming chance Apollon might yet be executed for those crimes because they are so serious. If he is allowed to live because of his position, he is going to be facing paying severe damages and living with many punitive restrictions for the foreseeable future, until such time as it is determined such underlying behavior has been rehabilitated and he does not pose a threat to the Kingdom. Zeus is going to be facing severe damages being paid for such conspiracies.

"Whatever level of force required to stop your vision, Apollon will not have access to you, you are going to be kept protected from such attacks, and Queen Hera will definitively bring a resolution to matters when she and Zeus return from my father's Kingdom, including taking over command of your remaining guards to ensure your safety if I am awaiting trial. Once these matters are settled, depending on how they need be settled, I will know the extent of amends and apologies I shall be making to you. Until then, I want you to know that even if I'm keeping it suppressed right now, I am feeling deep remorse for that error, I am truly sorry that such poor judgment put you in danger, but I am grateful you have your visions, unpleasant as they may be, so that lapse can be fully rectified before it has chance to happen."

"I already told you," Kore interrupted quietly, shifting in his hold to look up and meet his gaze, "I am not holding you responsible for obeying my implied command. In the vision, I was not holding you to blame. I knew I made a mistake and all I wanted was to alert you so the mistake could be undone. I knew you would be soon making attempts to get through that ward. What I did not know was if you could or how long it would take you. As terrifying as it was, I knew you were not going to simply allow him to do as planned, even if it meant tearing down sections of the wall to get through or being ready to kill him the moment he made an exit and you had confirmation it was something far worse than even a hostile discussion. I know you would never allow harm to come to me if it can be averted, and you already have such a thorough plan to avert this particular vision. It is still in my head and that leads me to think you are correct in the assessment of Apollon's determination to make his attempt and this is something either my mother will need intervene on when she returns, or it will come to a confrontation with Apollon. If it comes to you needing to handle matters because mother hasn't returned, I know you will protect me. I know Ares and Artemis will aid if needed, and the guards will as well. I trust this will be averted, one way or other. And the vision is terrifying enough. I do not care how much time passes for this scare to fade, I do not care how others might provoke based on their perceptions of you guarding as necessary, I will be heeding your warnings from now on so such a mistake is not made again."

Cerberus sighed and said intently, "I appreciate that willingness to forgive me, my nightingale, but that does not mean it was not still a failure to protect you that almost took place. I should have put up a better argument than I had before Apollon could bait you as he did, or put forth once you made an implied command that current procedures are ordered by the King and Queen. Until you are Queen yourself and no longer under that authority, procedures can only be rightfully altered by your parents. They were meant to avert threats of verbal entrapment, not physical dangers, but I should have not made the allowance because Apollo is so conniving at times and I should have known he had not come to accept matters so easily. I failed you in that instance, no matter what threat he was intending."

"Then I think my nightingale love should simply agree both of our mistakes are in a future that will soon cease to be relevant and we have both learned a valuable lesson, so his conscience should grant himself that peace of mind."

Cerberus gave her a small smile. "That's a fair suggestion, but I will only follow it once I can assure myself you are truly safe."

"I have you staying at my side this time," Kore said, giving a tremulous smile of her own. "I know you will see this to as safe a resolution as possible."

He gave a nod in agreement and exchanged a brief gentle kiss with her, letting some of his love for her surface to be sensed, and he felt that love and the trust she had being offered back through her lingering distress. When they pulled away, he said with a hint of humor, "As enjoyable as you being in my lap is, I do need stand to retrieve paper and coal stick to sketch the ward I need you to confirm, then call for Iris so I can get that puffed up Hawk routed yet again. Maybe the judges will allow me to pluck those wings of his as part of the punitive repayments. I'll ask Doris to make you a dress from them so he's not been a complete waste of existence."

Kore gave a shocked laugh tinged with distress, shoving his chest in rebuke. "That's a terrible jest to be making, given the circumstances."

"I am not jesting. I think it would be an appropriate part of his repayments for upsets his conspiracies have caused. You look breathtaking in shades of gold and earth, and I'm sure Doris will add green base fabric and accents to complete the complimentary design."

Kore shook her head, exasperation and anxiety vying for dominance in her aura. She moved to slip off his lap. As his arms released her, she said, "I do not want any part of Apollon to ever be in contact with me after learning what traits he is keeping concealed, but you can have them sewn into the covering for a blanket for your bed as a trophy for being my unwaveringly dedicated guard wolf."

"That is an acceptable alternative use," Cerberus said with pleased fanged grin forming, lifting himself off the bed.

As the memory faded away, the King of Death said, causing The Wolf to pause on bringing up the next, "I am guessing because things did not play out as intended and Thanatos was the one to kill him, that blanket was made, but stayed with the one who slayed him?"

"Are you kidding me, Schwarze Sonne?" Cerberus asked with indignation surfacing alongside the anxiety he couldn't entirely suppress. "When the trial was sprung on Apollo, the judges present wouldn't allow soul-rending because that punishment for his crimes was limited to your Kingdom, and it was thought at the time that the afterlife void would always naturally do what Kings did, it would just take longer to happen. The Shadow Prince was given the honors of killing him because he was not only Kore's closest brother and the King of Life's Assassin, but he would be inheriting the position of Crown Prince because Apollon's half-breed bastards were not part of the line of succession. It was deemed best to let him kill his predecessor and keep it an internal Olympus matter so Zeus couldn't have an easy excuse to direct a grief stricken rampage at the other two Kingdoms or their Crown Princes. Thanatos was given permission to kill the hawk however he deemed fit. He ripped those wings right the fuck off as his first matter of punishment, then castrated and skinned the Lightbringer alive, and handed all those parts to you.

"You imbued wings and skin in front of everyone with the energy from a pair of souls from your Kingdom who had been convicted of treason to make those feathers, testicles, and skin extra durable, then handed them to Hermes to rush off with them to my sister for immediate processing. My blanket made it back to me for the Winter Solstice as a present of gratitude from you and the new Olympian Crown Prince for having done everything I possibly could to protect Kore. You had yourself a new favorite shendyt with testicles decorating the belt for when you were off on Kingly business and didn't have to worry about the sight upsetting the Queen. Thanatos wasted no time in killing the Crown Prince via crucifiying and massive impalement after having handed those parts to you. Once Lucifer was dead, Thanatos stripped his flesh and organs to feed them to his familiars and claimed the bones for his own uses. The Shadow Prince made himself a new spear and a whole big pile of arrow heads from most of them, and when he later finished that project you made sure they'd be reinforced with souls and helped him give them some nasty enchantments. Thanatos made use of them when executing especially reprehensible criminals to mark just how much shame the memory of them should hold.

"The Shadow Prince made Eubuleus a gilded drinking chalice from the skull and gave it to him for his coming of age celebration years later. The Underworld Crown Prince appreciated the sentiment, personally imbued it with the soul of a rapist he had executed to make sure it wouldn't wear out any time soon, and he used it in the official ceremony for taking on his public name of Zagreus, The Great Hunter. Zagreus made use of that chalice at every meal until the day he died, reimbuing it whenever the previous rapist's energy was fading out, including drinking from it in front of the other Kingdoms' Monarchs and extended dragon family members at formal dinners we had some reason to be gathered for. He had not a single fuck to give about royally pissing them off with the multiple levels of disregard for etiquette, especially when he brought it along to my father's Kingdom for events being hosted there. When Zeus tried to say something at the first of such dinners, Zag calmly took another sip and then told his 'Exalted' grandfather that he was ready to help his Kingly father and The Fenrir take on bigger game and asked if he'd like to make the first attack so his skull could be similarly gifted to his mother. Zeus had to be forcibly escorted out by Poseidon, Hera, Thanatos and Artemis because Junior Void Dragon refused to apologize or leave the hall and Big Sky Daddy was about to rampage at his insolence.

"Eubuleus was slightly politer in the face of the Matron Dragon demanding he refrain from such provoking displays and challenges. He told his Exalted Grandmother that, with all due respects, the only Dragons with a right to issue orders to him in times of peace were the Underworld Monarchs and we clearly weren't voicing any complaints. So perhaps the ancient Dragon of Fire and Air should finally learn to control his temper if a mere two hundred year old Crown Prince could provoke him so easily."

The King of Death couldn't contain the brief sardonic laugh and said, "That fully sounds like something Mihnea would do. I can also well imagine Hera's conflicted and raging reactions being restrained with her grandson for such only because she would understand why he was being so adamant about it. And at some point I will want to see that memory of him sending Zeus into such a rage."

"Ja. Junior Void Dragon has always been metal as fuck and it was a perpetual source of amusement and pride for the entire Underworld Kingdom. He's the only person I've ever seen the Matron Dragon ultimately allow to break the same point of etiquette every opportunity he had, and he was always so blasé but fiercely unrelenting in making sure no one had chance to doubt the fact that he only held unwavering hatred for the rapist he almost universally refused to acknowledge as having part of his creation. You, me, Hermes, Thanatos, and my father being the exceptions when he needed to vent the occasional flare up of rage over that reality because he didn't want his mother to sense it. Once Persephone recovered from things emotionally, she likewise found it extremely cathartic for us to have those death tokens and never failed to back Eubuleus drinking from whatever chalice he wanted for his meals.

"I can also say for certain that time Zag mouthed off like a little gangster to Zeus and Hera was when one of Artemis's particularly powerful half-breed daughters, and her youngest at the time, Ailuros, commonly known by her Egyptian given names of Bast and later Anput, developed her crush on him. I could sense it from where she was down the hall, and when it so notably started and who her attention was on. She wasn't the only young lady dragon who got an instant crush. Zagreus laying down the law to his grandparents and publicly confirming the rumors were true that the up and coming battlefield Rockstar and all around stellar academic was also an unapologetic and fiercely loyal mama's boy, which indicated he'd be just as protective of whichever lucky girl he chose as wife someday, earned the Underworld Crown Prince a massive adoring fan club. Much to the jealousy of the boy dragons relatively around his age because he set the bar for their age group to start making efforts to leap over, and then kept raising it as time went on. But Ailuros was the immediate front runner for president of his fan club.

"From how smoothly Eubuleus played it from start to finish, and noting various reactions, I can remember feeling damn certain that he had a premonition vibe of what would happen that he had kept to himself and he plotted making the big impression to angle himself as his generation's trendsetter. A quick mental conference with you and Persephone while it was in progress revealed you two coming to the same conclusions on your own; and a unanimous agreement to let Zagreus steal the dinner spotlight and turn it into his inter-Kingdom debut because it could only help the Underworld's reputation after all the tension and hostilities there had been since everything went down with Apollo. I have no idea when Eubuleus started returning Ailuros's crush, but given that she eventually became his wife, the crush clearly became mutual at some point.

"I'm also about ninety percent certain that Artemis's current adopted kid, Felicia, is Ailuros from her appearance and how close they automatically became on introduction. I can't be certain because I've only caught a couple glimpses of Felicia when she and Xander run past She-Wolf's webcam, or they stop briefly to ask her to help them with something. I don't have any memories of Ailuros at that young of an age, and Hera hasn't recovered any, but she agreed there's an uncanny resemblance to her older self that is hard to ignore. Unfortunately, Ailuros is one of the souls that doesn't immediately gravitate to where the others are on death. I think it might be because she's a half-breed and of an Olympian line, and therefore probably has more difficulties navigating the void on instinct, and the hounds hadn't come across her after her death as Stella. But the timing of Felicia's birth makes it a strong likelihood the Crown Princess hadn't wandered relatively far, sensed some innate pull that Eubuleus was going to be making a return sometime soon, and found her way back to her mother's vicinity and through Artemis's current lover to stay on the same side of the void as him."

"Hermes had a guess she might be my son's wife, but we didn't have any details beyond the guess, nor have we dug up pictures for me to see if she looks like Stella did at that age."

"Artemis is strict about her daughter not being posted on social media, so you're not going to find anything from trying recon there. When my attention isn't already pulled in so many ways, I'll dig up a clear mental image of her or we can just ask Hera for one of the pictures I sent her from still shots off webcam recordings."

"Fair enough."

"Also, while we're on the subject of kids and surveillance, though it's really fucking round about to get there, there was something else I wanted to mention about the hawk feather blanket and a theory I had."

"How so?"

"That was my favorite blanket until we found out Apollo resurrected and Zeus had been hiding that unprecedented event. Fucking hawk ruined the sentiment behind all our death tokens while he was alive the second time. You convened a trial to try having a permanent death sanctioned. Unfortunately, despite the Underworld faction's and Thanatos's vehement protests, it was decided that he had been sentenced to death and such a vicious death had been given, so that incarnation had a fresh slate and could stay alive. It caused laws to come under some long debates. New guidelines for when soul-rending was acceptable were eventually put in place to make sure the worst criminals stayed dead; and allowing regular death sentences were expanded for some other crimes that deserved it but had thus far been more lenient because those offenders could get a second chance to redeem themselves in the next life if their souls could survive the afterlife void. Thanatos remained designated Olympian Crown Prince at the time, which really pissed off Lucifer because he thought he'd be reinstated now that the cat was out of the bag on his identity.

"Given that decision by the judges to let Apollo stay alive, you gave me permission to send him my feathery blanket, and approved the note included, as a gesture of 'goodwill'. It welcomed him back to the land of the living and said that I hoped the blanket would keep him warm on the long cold winter nights, helped reinforce the lesson he had been taught, and reminded him to be thankful of the mercy he had ultimately been granted. If he made any attempts to commit any crime, violent or otherwise, against the now reigning Queen or our Kingdom, he'd find me delivering a very permanent death to him. Then I'd be demanding Zeus return the blanket so I could extend it out to fit the royal bed properly and we'd not need to be quite so closely snuggled up to fit under it during the hot summer months. The King of Death would be getting a matching chalice to his Heir's. Queen Persephone would be getting a pair of gilded and beaded testicle earrings so she wouldn't have to suffer any part of him touching her but could have her own memento of justice being done so irrevocably. Crown Prince Zagreus would be getting a spear just like the one wielded by his Uncle, Crown Prince Thanatos. Crown Princess Ailuros would be getting a necklace that included beads carved from his teeth and finger bones. The Underworld Crown Prince's Heir, Prince Maihes, would be getting new skin-leather sheaths and matching belt for his favorite daggers. So be sure to be a well behaved untitled daimon who remembered his place and such unpleasantness could be avoided. With due regards to him and his bastards, from The Fenrir."

"...That level of cathartic pettiness and preemptive planning for his next death probably didn't help matters, but I can't say I disapprove, even now."

Cerberus gave a strained chuckle. "Might not have helped, but I don't think it can be rightly claimed to have made things perceptibly worse. His views and personality were already irrevocably dead set to what they were. And for the record, everyone got their presents. Persephone wore those earrings whenever there were public executions to be carried out or during peace talks to end conflicts to signal she had no intentions of asking her King or Consort to be merciful in how things proceeded. People automatically knew they were fucked if they saw the Underworld Queen wearing those. You happily joined Eubuleus in pissing off the other Monarchs with the matching chalices at every meal. Those complaints were more wanting to forget about such an unpleasant past and being angry you two refused to let it be quietly swept under the rug. Ailorus wore her necklace for similar reasons to her mother-in-law. Your grandson loved his new dagger belt and continued being an absolute terror of bladed whirlwind fury on the battlefield until Athene punched his ticket.

"My blanket was indeed extended after Lucifer's second death, and I'm the one who imbued it. I cleanly ripped his soul out of his carcass like you taught me, ripped his new wings off, then proceeded to imbuing to make sure his soul's energy wasn't going anywhere. I truly believed I got his soul all ripped up and in there. After Zeus was subdued and the surrender of the remaining Olympians was accepted, you confirmed it felt like it was all there. When we got the extended blanket and leftover wings back, it felt like the exact same amount of energy; my sister knew her several millennia old craft better than anyone living. Then we had the nasty surprise of finding out about his second resurrection by getting ambushed in that blitz. I have been largely guessing that a large enough bit must have slipped loose to manage regeneration during my rending, but it was relatively too small to be noticed because he did have such a powerful soul. Since finding out he resurrected after your soul rending, I have been brooding quite a lot on the subject, trying to figure out what went wrong.

"Then the Harry Potter books came out. My surveillance on She-Wolf caught she was checking them out of the library with a bunch of other books as soon as each new installment came out to sneak in reading them behind her surrogate mother's back. It was omitted from my reports to her father, but got added to my list of media to give a look to keep up with this incarnation's current interests. Stupid as it may sound, the books got me wondering. Either we both fucked up as previously assumed, or maybe, just maybe, Lucifer beat Rowling to the horcrux idea by five and a half thousand years or so by preemptively ripping off a piece of his own soul, made sure it was imbued with copies of memories he deemed most important, and stored it somewhere to be released in case of promised death because he was so hellbent on stealing our wife but knew it was so risky."

"...Given who we're dealing with and that it's been stated he's capable of rending souls, even if he can't store them as he is, and that he survived me rending his soul, which I don't think should have been remotely possible to have happened in my full state, I do not think it is an absurd idea to consider he may have somehow managed to make such provisions. Likely with some sort of aid from the King of Life's brands of magic to help store the piece of soul somewhere, with an agreement for Zeus to funnel it from whatever it was stored in to some lover of his when he felt it was safe to do so."

"Ja... Hence part of the reason why we need you to get a really, really tight grip on his current incarnation and see about extracting whatever you can to find out, and then being absolutely certain it does not slip away. Or have that be one of the important things we have She-Wolf try divining out for answers in case his memories are lost from previous soul-rendings. Either way, from what Pan and Eros observed, I'm inclined to think he does not have the current capability to do so. However, there's the looming questions of what him and Zeus may accomplish with their team-up. If Lucifer regains the theorized ability to do so, or if his old self had such a theorized ability and stashed more than one spare piece each life after he felt he had regenerated enough back from the previous self-inflicted rending, we need to figure out how many back up revivifications he gave himself, where they are, how the most recent one got released to know how others might get released, and try to neutralize those threats. But I will again admit, I could be wrong and it could be a dead end. I could just be paranoid, have had a bit too much free time on my hands these days thanks to the largely surveillance desk job at home, and be looking for some explanation outside we both critically fucked up and the Lightbringer's soul has just been supremely lucky thus far to have a large enough piece slip past and manage regeneration."

The King of Death affected the sound of a sigh in the shared awareness. "It's an idea worth consideration, even if borne of paranoia... As a point of clarification because you've been addressing certain matters like some knowledge should be already understood, but I am lacking needed context because of missing memories, was the tactical decision to make you Consort and the Hound of Hades to remove the many limitations you previously had for deciding courses of actions and enforcing them when only a Head of Guard?"

"Precisely, Schwarze Sonne, and apologies for not being clearer. Monarchs had only the royal alliance rules for maintaining species' survival they were obligated to uphold, and had the authority to make on the spot decisions for how to uphold to those rules. If the other Monarchs wished to contest that interpretation after the fact, it was still a done deed and the Monarch was immune from death sentences as punishment. Minus not killing a King, Queen, my eldest brother or Thanatos, and obviously I wouldn't and couldn't ever harm Eubuleus, you granted me the ultimate carte blanche to protect our wife. I refrained from abusing that allowance because I'm such a dutiful and level-headed wolfy. And so we are crystal clear, that includes immunity from official retributions for my diplomatic domestic traps tonight because of the specific intents behind them and this being a personal matter, but I fully expect you'll unofficially pay me back at some point because I have been such a sneaky Fenrir that has repeatedly pissed you off."

After a pause that included some brief irritation flickering before being smothered, the Void Dragon asked, "Another point of clarification, 'Atlantis', as mentioned in the memory, is your father's Kingdom to the far east?"

Cerberus said with a hint of mischievous amusement being projected, "Ja, Schwarze Sonne. Who else but the Dragon of Water and Magic would rule over the advanced water city of Atlantis that primitive humans held in such awe to tell stories of it? We didn't have all the cool widespread steam punk tech depicted in modern movies, but we definitely had advanced goods for that age that my father made you other two Kings pay big bucks to have imported for royal conveniences or comforts that you two didn't have the resources to make, and he was near zealous in keeping production secrets and certain tech solely inside the Kingdom. It's also where Hephaestus picked up his badass smithing skills and why Zeus liked having him around while married to Aphrodite, despite him being one of Hera's kids with another man. But, for the quick geography and linguistic lesson, draconic mindsets and the subsequently forming daimonic language doesn't distinguish different oceans. It was all the Atlantic waters, though really early wars cut off my father's claims of ownership to large sections of it because that was greedy for even a Dragon King when he also had land claimed for obvious practical uses. That linguistic difference can get confusing, especially with the many subsequent human mutations on it, hence why I usually write or say in human languages the generic "Ocean Kingdom" translation.

"But it does just so happen that you're talking to the only Atlantean, that I'm aware of, currently walking this side of the void. My sister's kids spawned some half-breeds and then the bloodline went progressively more diluted and spread out, and those extremely distant descendants are who my father and I reincarnate through. So credit to my sister and Old Man Nereus for being so fertile and passing it down, and eternally irritating my father by having done so. The delicious irony of me taking the stealth wrecking ball to my father's strict pure blood dynasty and Kingdom designs, and that is what allows him to make his returns with a little more ease, is not lost on him. It's been such an unplanned treat for me to have that to hold over the Water Dragon's head; but I've refrained from gloating, and only indirectly mentioned it twice in three and a quarter centuries, for the sake of diplomacy.

"So, to be absolutely specific, you have the fortune to be speaking to the mythic-worthy Ultimate Atlantean War-Prince, the Second Prince of the Dragon of Water and Magic and King of Atlantis, otherwise known as The OG Cerberus. Being stripped of titles to become a refugee in Olympus was a gigantic step down in my accustomed lifestyle, even if I was a well treated General, but my sister and I really wanted out of our father's arranged pairing. It was also one of the appeals to become Head of Guard for an Olympian princess- outside of the main consideration of the high honor being offered, getting out of the western backwater postings and having palace comforts again was such a welcome proposition. And that was to everyone's supreme fortune because it eventually led to myself as your and our wife's sworn Consort. Besides my martial talents, I brought with me the added bonus of a bunch of insider Atlantean know how that as an Underworld Monarch I had a duty to share for our Kingdom's prosperity. My father protested, but he had already allowed Hephaestus to set the lesser precedent and you ran legal circles around him for that inter-Kingdom court called.

"You generously gave your very talented second spouse my own unique draconic Monarch title as The Fenrir, instead of going with the preexisting daimonic word for a common consort. Humans added 'Dread' to The Fenrir after I killed Zeus. I like it, I fucking earned it, so I'm keeping it. Therefore, I will reiterate, as a not so humble brag, that His Majesty, King Hades, the Dragon of Void and Earth and King of the Underworld, has always had excellent tastes in everything he chooses to lay claims on. Even though it wasn't your original intent, you snagged yourself the pinnacle Olympian raised Spring Princess as Queen and the most badass Atlantean War-Prince as Fenrir, all in one fell swoop. Bravo, Your Majesty."

There was another flare of irritation from the King of Death. "Are you ready to continue to the next memory, or are there other things that you've conveniently not mentioned?"

"...There's plenty I could bring up, but nothing relevant to current purposes. I mostly just needed more of a breather than expected, with some extra strong chasers packed with schadenfreude and genuinely happy or productive thoughts to fortify me going into this."

"Can you make it through viewing the actual event without having some sort of mental breakdown?"

"The Most Dedicated Guard Hound In The Known History Of Existence will make himself finish this. Then I'm hoping we can agree to officially declare a truce and consider the parlay wrapped up, with fine details to be worked out another night in the very near future. Then I'm blasting catharsis music all the way to that snazzy villa of yours to get back into a headspace that won't upset my nightingale's senses and ruin the reunion and post-trauma recovery aid I promised her we'd be having as soon as possible. I made Persephone that promise when she messaged me just before King Bayonets came knocking because our gentle wife thought your raging dragon ass was staying gone and she was starting to panic. Being the dutiful Fenrir I am, I gave Her Majesty a succinct pep talk and battle advice, and planted a thought for her to issue an emergency yell if my support work through the hounds was directed from her and then needed a swift return, without tipping her off to exactly what I was doing and getting into her demanding explanations we didn't have time for.

"I am so very fucking good at what I do, especially because of how well I know my nightingale. It's almost unfair and my deeply engrained Atlantean honor keeps gnawing at me with guilty feelings. It's going to be such a fucking relief to shed my current alias. I'm wagering with myself that it takes the Oracle less than thirty seconds from the time I turn off the vehicle to put a large number of the pieces together. The look that's sure to detonate on that beautiful face of hers and her emotions getting all explodey like tingly fireworks will make it worth having put myself through all this mental torture. If I win the bet, I'm also getting a great big snuggly hug for being the best wolfy ever. Which makes my night automatically a thousand times better, especially with as low key dragon-cranky as I know it's going to make you. If I lose, well, I still get to see my nightingale all adorably confused and wondering what has been going on behind her back. I'll thoroughly enjoy that before the fun is ruined by conceding to reality that it's time for it to catch up and our She-Wolf is going to end up with some level of the worries."

"... Are you still trying to psyche yourself up for withstanding what's coming, or stalling to intentionally irritate me?"

"Honestly, Schwarze Sonne? Overwhelmingly the former, but maybe subconsciously half a percent of the latter. I am not trying to irritate you and make things more difficult on your end. I was actually hoping different anecdotes would also help you because clearly our old lives weren't all bad, not by a long shot. Lucifer is just the diehard repeating, but ultimately brief, nasty spanner in the works over the last eight and a half thousand years that we've managed to keep existing through and I have a tight grasp on the hope we can beat him this time."

"Is there anything absolutely critical in the next memories that I am guessing show your plans being put into motion, or would it be safe to skip dragging this out longer and move to the attack itself?"

"Nothing the Spark Notes won't suffice for to give context if you can trust I'm telling the truth."

"Let's go with the Spark Notes."

"Iris got called in and I refrained from telling her why I needed her to lie so she wouldn't get too upset and risk blowing the ambush. She trusted I wouldn't ask without good cause and all would be explained when her mother returned. At breakfast, she casually dropped Kore was at the start of what was basically another late round of draconic puberty and her ill feelings were because this round was going to be especially unpleasant as energies started shifting as they had begun that night. Her senses were highly sensitive with the equivalent of a daimonic migraine and nausea, so she wanted Kore on bedrest to avoid exacerbating matters.

"The cover was bought by everyone in the family, including Apollo. Iris told Aphrodite that a single exception was being allowed for her to briefly stop by to pick up Harmonia's gift Kore made because Kore was insistent she at least wanted her niece to be given that on time that night. No one suspected anything because that was entirely in Kore's character to do and Aphrodite, a fellow empath, promised Iris she'd be careful with what emotions she allowed while in Kore's presence. When Aphrodite and Ares came to Kore's chambers after breakfast to retrieve the present, I utilized the privacy we had to outline to them what was really going on and my plan for handling Apollo. They were both furious and distraught at the news, but they were in agreement for how to proceed and had more than enough millennia of experience to keep their minds in order and stay discreet co-conspirators.

"They left with Harmonia's present, and shortly thereafter Aphrodite had a brief talk with Artemis in the privacy of her chambers as she was helping the lioness prepare herself in a more formal fashion for the festivities soon to begin and stretching through to the evening. Again, there was another furious sibling, but Artemis is even more level headed and agreed with the plan being the best course of action and to help Aphrodite covertly prompt different events to take place. Aphrodite found similar excuse to have a private chat with her eldest Olympian child, Eros. Someone who was, as he remains to this day, very sympathetic and protective of the women in the family.

"Just before the festivities fully began, Apollo attempted to come to Kore's bedroom, keeping concern in the forefront of his mind so it would be felt in his aura and saying he was hoping to see for himself how his baby sister was managing to hold up under the strains and express remorse for her being unable to attend the joyous occasion about to start. I told him she was resting lightly at the moment and as well as could be expected, but it would be a poor idea to risk waking her by sensing a visitor in her proximity; I would inform her when she eventually woke that he had stopped by to check on her and I was sure she'd appreciate the concern everyone was showing. He did not like being turned away, but he thanked me for being a dutiful guard dog and said he hoped she'd be making a swift recovery.

"The party went late into the evening. When Aphrodite and Ares retired for the evening, they stopped by the room, without attempting to make entrance. They politely informed me that Harmonia had adored the new hair beads and pins her aunt had crafted for her milestone birthday and asked me to pass that information along to Kore when she was next awake. I assured them I would and asked how the party had went, if there were any pleasant highlights Kore might like to hear to cheer her mood. They listed quite a few anecdotes. Mixed in was that during the celebratory games, Alcides, now commonly related as Hercules, had been the victor in the wrestling matches, though Ares and Apollo had given him a full effort to try taking his reigning champion status away from him. Ares remained the champion of the boxing matches, but Apollo had been notably aggressive during their match and had him neck and neck for hits counted, but Ares slipped through his stance and got in a last second flurry of especially jarring punches to secure the winning count before time ran out.

"Artemis had challenged her brother to a drinking contest after the boxing match to lighten the mood from his loss, and Apollo had gone drinking horn to drinking horn with the lioness for fifty-two draughts before he said he needed to tap out because he was at risk of being completely unfit for the races later. Artemis had proceeded to accept other challengers who wished to take advantage of the head start Apollo had given them to getting her potentially drunk; but the lioness out drank each of them and then gave a prideful little showing of still being quite sober by performing one of her more difficult trick shots with her bow. Eros struck a wager with his Uncle Apollo before the races of which of them would win, as they were constantly exchanging the title for who, outside of the King himself, was fastest in Olympus without magic or teleporting cheats, with Apollo's favorite lyre against Eros's.

"Apollo won the race of two hundred laps around the city's border, and the new lyre, but only by a foot length and had needed to go rest off to the side, instead of joining the archery competition, after exerting himself so passionately in three sets of competitions in such a brief span of time. Ares related that Artemis won the archery contest with her brother not competing against her, Aphrodite had come in a respectable second, and Eros had secured a close third place showing; the crowd had been awed by just how fiercely competitive they had been in the last round to secure their rankings and Eros had almost pulled ahead of Aphrodite. Shortly after midnight, Apollo had seemed to be falling into a dour mood, brushed off Aphrodite's inquiry to if he was feeling alright as they shared a dance, and left the festivities. From the direction he had teleported in, it seemed reasonable to guess that he was heading off to the villa he kept his favorite half-breed harem in and there was likely to be another bastard or two gracing the family in the near future from him working out some of his frustrations with the muses."

The King of Death said stoically, "So everything seemed to be going perfectly to the covert plans and things would be relatively safe until Queen Hera returned the next day."

"That's what we thought, but I had still remained on high alert; just in case the muses didn't unwittingly play their part in finishing tiring him out and he instead returned to the palace sometime before the King and Queen for a last ditch and weakened attempt."

"Which he did."

"Ja. Much sooner and in a manner that I had not anticipated in the least. I immediately knew that fucking underhanded hawk was trying to set a trap, but I critically miscalculated what it was and how to route the attempt. Plans went completely FUBAR with that single mistake made."

"Give me a rough idea of just how badly things went, so I know just how strained both of our mental states are going to end up from seeing it."

"Well... I am going to be an extremely stressed out wolfy after this, but I have the unfortunate benefit of having had this memory recovered for quite some time and occasional flashbacks over the last few centuries forcing me to build up a small amount of tolerance for facing it. I have my post-scene game plan for recovering from the bad headspace to look forward to and help keep myself from having a breakdown that will render me useless for the rest of the night. I am giving it high odds that once you've seen everything that happened that night and the final details click into place for why subsequent things happened as they did, and even if I hit a mental fast forward on the uninterrupted part of the attack itself for both of our sakes, I will need to trigger my dead man's switch because of the first time shocks given. It won't be that She-Wolf is made aware of past details, simply alerting the Queen to needing a feminine intervention to stop you from going on an entirely understandable, but really ill advised, rampaging hunt for Apollo and Zeus to either track them down or smoke them out of hiding, with full intents to soul-rend them and everyone they're currently holed up with, as well as potentially declaring civilians in the path between you and them an acceptable level of collateral damage."

"...That bad?"

"Ja... I'm honestly concerned this could make you go nuclear and that's the primary reason why I have the preventions to stop the meltdown. If it wasn't so critical for you to have the firsthand insight of exactly how he operates when his sights are set and why things went down as they did later, I'd Spark Notes this for both of our sakes and avoid that risk."

"...I would like to think I have a strong enough grip on my temper that it won't be necessary; but if my reaction ends up becoming so volatile, you have my permission to do what's needed to break through the rage, without springing information on my wife that she is not prepared to be learning tonight. Either way things go, once this memory is done and my temper is restored to stoicism so as not to upset my wife, we're calling this evening to an end and returning to the villa. I am going to need time to evaluate matters and decide how to break certain critical news to her, my daughter, and Pip that is now all but unavoidable for them to know so they understand why things are going to need happen in certain fashions, without breaking their mental states. You can provide or exchange traditional, musical, or empathy comfort with my wife as needed and appropriate for a trusted friend or her guard; but you are not having any semblance of sexual relations with my wife. If you try to cross that line, I can promise you will be stashed somewhere my wife will never be able uncover the location of, in a way that even you are highly improbable to ever escape, and you'll be my stress-relief maiming dummy for the rest of eternity. Are we clear?"

"Kinky, and largely understood, but what if She-Wolf is the one to ask me for the tantric sexual healing?"

The Dragon warned with an icy edge returned to his voice, "Don't press my already threadbare tolerance any further tonight, Wolf."

"...Sorry, Schwarze Sonne. Old habits and instincts, and my personal stress is hard to keep as buried as I'm maintaining so far. I cannot emphasize enough how much I fucking hate and dread this memory, even if I know I can mentally survive it."

"That very grudging understanding of how your psyche works is one of the reasons I'm showing this much patience, but I can only be expected to tolerate just so much in one night."

"Fair enough, Schwarze Sonne... ...Alright. Fuck. It's really time to rip off the superglued Band-aid and get the tearing-sting of losing skin and fur over with."

"Ready when you are."

The Dread Fenrir needed a minute to force himself into as deep of a detached mental state as he could manage. A state he could sense the King of Death had already shifted into, making himself all but a ghost in the shared awareness. Then the memory of when the careful plans went so terribly wrong manifested for them to view.