Chapter 24

Watchful eyes

The Underworld

Mephisto entered his private chambers. He and Belasco were Hades' disciples. Each born in this realm, but different in nature.

Mephisto has often posed as what the humans consider to be the biblical Satan, or Devil if you will. He would appear before a mortal and offer them certain exchanges. Something they wanted, perhaps an object of value or a person, in exchange for their soul.

His most recent exchange was with Johnny Blaze. An interesting young man soon to be his new Ghost Rider.

Mephisto is a schemer who loves to toy with humans simply for the pleasure of spreading chaos.

Belasco on the other hand is more of a Demon. His methods are more direct. While Mephisto is extremely gifted in the dark arts, Belasco's strength and brutish fighting style has made him the general of Hades' demonic armies.

One day when the lord of the dead no longer sits on his throne one of them will take it, and what a battle that will be. But until then they will have to wait.

Mephisto sat on his throne and stared into a small pool of burning liquid in front of him. He waved his hand and the pool changed. The liquid turned black and oily.

"What is it?" The dark voice spoke and the black oily liquid rippled as he spoke.

"You were not successful in capturing him" Mephisto spoke the obvious as he stood up straight.

"He would not have eluded me if you had done as you were told" The voice said.

Mephisto stepped closer to the pool, "If I had interfered Hades would have sensed my presence and he would be made aware of our dealings. I made sure the boy ended up here, there was nothing more I could do"

"If you had weakened him, his mind would have been easier to control" The voice said.

Mephisto leaned over the pool, "Maybe you're not as powerful as you think you are…Kronos" he said with a little too much confidence.

A hand formed out of the oily liquid and wrapped its fingers around Mephisto's neck squeezing the life out of him, "You forget your place hell spawn. Remember who you serve"

Mephisto struggled to speak, "Ugh…you…my lord"

The hand let go of him, "Good" it evaporated.

Mephisto rubbed his bruised neck, "Hades wants me to eliminate the boy"

"You will do no such thing, he has an important role to play in the future. Make sure he survives whatever you put in his way" Kronos's voice faded and the pool of liquid turned to fire again.

Mephisto sat back on his throne, his thoughts dwelling on the son of Zeus. Why was he so important?

"Show me the boy" Mephisto said sounding unamused.

The pool morphed until it was clear and it showed Dean practicing with his lightning bolts.

"Now why would Hades be concerned with you?" Mephisto stared at the teenager, "A mere child with laughable power and no powerful allies. You pose no threat…or do you?" he wondered.

Hades didn't share everything with his disciples. Like the many prophecies told by the oracle of Delphi. Maybe this boy is destined to have a troubling future. And if Hades wants him dead then he must pose a threat, maybe not now but in the future. Which is why Kronos wants him alive, he needs the boy to help shape the future of his plans.

Mephisto must find out what makes him so special. He'll be watching him very closely.

At the Institute

Charles and the others were still waiting in the observation room trying to help Forge any way they could.

Ororo was sitting at the edge of the room trying not to worry about her nephew Evan. It was hard not to worry about him when she technically promised her sister that she would personally make sure he would be protected. And after all he is her favorite nephew, and her only nephew. She hoped that Evan would return safely.

Logan was pacing back and forth across the room. He was getting tired of waiting and not taking action, the thing was that he had no clue how to take action. The X-men had been gone for hours and there was nothing he could do to get them back, it was infuriating.

All of a sudden while Forge was tinkering with his device an alarm went off.

Everyone stopped what they're doing and looked at the screen, "The danger room sensors are picking up a strange type of energy" Forge said.

"Does that mean that—"Logan was interrupted by a flash of light inside the danger room.

Everyone looked and spotted a portal. Then a second later the X-men walked out of it one by one. Once they all walked through it the portal closed.

The three adults and Forge quickly made their way downstairs into the danger room.

Ororo ran to Evan and embraced him in a hug, "Are you all right?"

"Yeah Aunty O" Evan felt a little embarrassed.

"How were you able to return?" Charles asked.

Everybody was dead silent, they all were looking at Dean to explain everything.

"Oh no, I'm not gonna look like the crazy one again. You guys tell him" Dean said.

Scott stepped forward, "Well, um, Professor. You see…we uh…" he couldn't get himself to say it.

"We had a….very strange adventure" Jean said.

"But what happened?" Logan asked.

"It's kind of…complicated" Kurt said.

Dean smiled, this was too funny.

"You're all not making very much sense" Charles observed.

"Well, funny story actually…" Kitty said.

"Yeah funny story, the non-believers in this room were just proven wrong" Dean said with satisfaction.

"About what exactly?" Ororo asked.

"You know, the whole greek gods thing. Yeah we just went to the underworld, played tag with Cerberus the three headed dog, fought some undead skeleton creatures, and met my uncle and lord of the dead, Hades" Dean said.

The adults needed some time to process this.

Dean could tell all this was a little much for them, "Don't believe me? Hell they were all there with me, ask em" he looked at his teammates, "I dare you to deny it"

None of them did of course.

"Do I want to know what you had to do to get out?" Charles asked.

"Nope" Rogue said shaking her head.

"Then I suppose we owe you an apology Dean" Charles said.

"That's right man" Evan pat him on the back.

"We were wrong after all" Kurt said.

"And we're sorry" Kitty said with a small smile.

"But you can't blame us" Jean said.

"After all, the idea was kind of out there" Scott said.

"I accept your apology. After all you're all just a bunch of mortals" Dean said with a grin.

Logan winced, "Ouch, don't go hurting our feelings now" he said sarcastically.

Dean laughed then looked at Rogue, "But at least one of you didn't think I was crazy"

"After what I saw I'll never doubt you again" Rogue admitted.

"Hopefully none of you do" Dean said.

Forge stood there oblivious to what was going on, "What are you guys talking about?"

For a minute there they actually forgot Forge was even there.

"Don't worry Forge, I'll fill you in" Dean said.

While the others left Dean explained to Forge who he was and his background.

"You can't expect me to believe all this?" Forge said.

"Considering where we just went, I do expect you to" Dean said.

Forge shook his head, "Let's pretend I go along with this. Doesn't this mean you and Kurt are somehow connected? Considering that's the dimension he teleports to?"

"That actually slipped my mind" Dean admitted.

"The two of you should look into it in the future" Charles said.

"Perhaps the distant future, that place was not inviting" Dean said.

At Camp Half-Blood

"So that's what happened" Dean said. He just finished telling Chiron about his trip to Erebus.

Chiron looked like he was deep in thought, "This is troubling"

"Why do you say that?" Dean asked.

"Hades knows you exist, he knows who you are, that's not good" Chiron said.

"You make it sound like he's going to kill me" Dean joked.

Chiron remained silent after that comment.

That basically confirmed what he said, "Oh c'mon! I didn't insult him or anything, I just wanted to go home" Dean said.

"My boy, Hades isn't a very sporty uncle. You may not have insulted him, but now you've probably caught his eye. Which means from now on you should be more careful when you go out" Chiron said.

"Great" Dean said sarcastically, "Who should I be expecting?"

"Anyone and anything. Who knows what he might send" Chiron said.

"Maybe I should have stayed" Dean laughed lightly.

"I'm actually surprised you managed to even find a way to get there" Chiron said.

"I have some smart friends" Dean said.

"Not smart enough, or else you wouldn't have gotten into this mess" Chiron said.

"Yeah" Dean admitted. He thought back to that cave he went to, "By the way there was something else that happened" he explained his experience.

Chiron's face looked a little afraid for a second but he managed to mask it.

"You're being awfully silent" Dean noticed, "So was that hole really Tartarus?"

Chiron cleared his throat, "Yes, it was"

"And what do you think it was?" Dean asked.

"I….don't know for sure" Chiron said looking uneasy.

"It attacked my mind, it felt like telepathy. Who can do that?" Dean asked.

"Anyone powerful enough can use telepathy" Chiron said.

Dean stared at him, "Prove it teach me"

"That's a little too advanced for you right now" Chiron admitted.

"Fine, but still. Who could this person be? I've heard that voice in my dreams" Dean said.

"You're going to have to find that out for yourself" Chiron said placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder, "For now you should go home and rest" he turned around.

Dean was about to leave when he thought of something, "Chiron. You said that monsters can reform…what about higher beings like gods or…Titans?"

Chiron froze in place and felt a cold shiver crawl up his spine. He looked back at Dean, "It's really hard to completely destroy a spirit, just about anything can reform if they have the will"

At the Institute

Kurt decided to take a few minutes to talk to Dean before he went to sleep for the night.

He stood outside Dean's room and went to knock but before he could Dean opened the door.

"Hey, you need something?" Dean asked.

"Can I come in?" Kurt asked.

"Sure" Dean replied.

Kurt entered the room and waited for Dean to close the door to start.

"Ummm" Kurt scratched the back of his head, "I wanted to talk to you about what happened earlier"

"Can you be a little bit more specific because a lot of things happened earlier" Dean said in reference to the little trip they took.

"Well even though the trip was weird, don't forget the reason we were there was because of me" Kurt said.

"So how are you holding up?" Dean asked.

"Well, like everyone else I think. A little freaked out to the fact that we technically went to hell, or that we saw dead souls, or that we fought dead souls, or that the God of the underworld has it out for you now" Kurt replied.

"You know what I mean" Dean said with the utmost serious tone.

Kurt realized that Dean was referring to the revelation to a possible parent for Kurt, "I honestly don't know what to think, who knows if he vas even telling zhe truth"

"Charon didn't seem to gain anything by it so I don't get why he would say that and not mean it" Dean noticed the sadness on Kurt's face and decides to take an easier approach, "Look, unless you find one of your birth parents and ask them, no one will ever be sure who or what they are. So don't let it go to your head, your still the same harmless blue fuzz ball to me" Dean said trying to lighten the mood.

Dean's joke actually made Kurt laugh, "Yeah I guess you're right, thanks" he said smiling.

"No problem, I'll see you in the morning" Dean said.

"Ok" Kurt teleported leaving a trail of blue smoke.

"I hate it when he does that" Dean said smelling the sulfurous smoke.

Dean just couldn't fall asleep for some reason. Whether it was his adventure to the underworld or his encounter with Hades or whatever was in that pit he didn't really know.

Dean decided that he had enough of worrying for one night and got out of bed. He looked out his window to see if anyone was on the premises, nobody. He opened his window and jumped out.

He landed softly on the grass. Dean felt the wet freshly cut grass with his bare feet. He inhaled filling his lungs with the cool night breeze.

Dean walked over to the spot, its temporary name for now.

"You there?" Dean said out loud and waited for something to happen.

A couple of minutes passed by and still nothing.

Dean was about to leave when he heard his father speak to him, 'You handled yourself well in the Underworld'

"Ah yeah thanks for the major support you gave me. What happened to you? You could have shown up" Dean said.

'I cannot fight your battles for you. I will only interfere when necessary. I knew your wits wouldn't fail you' Zeus said.

"What was so special about swearing on the Styx?" Dean asked.

'The Styx is sacred. All those who would break their vows made to the Styx would be severely punished' Zeus said.

"Even a God?" Dean replied.

'Anyone' Zeus answered sternly.

"Ok I can see how that helped me now" Dean could only imagine the terrible things the Furies must do to those who break such serious vows. After all the Furies were the ones to carry out the sentences. Although it wouldn't surprise Dean if the gods were let off easy because they were immortal.

"Well thank you for your help, I hope I don't need it any time soon" Dean said leaving.

From a distance someone also had trouble sleeping and had been watching Dean. Rogue.

"What is he doing?" Rogue asked out loud.

Kitty stirred in her sleep.

'Damn, I have to be quiet' Rogue didn't want to wake her roommate.

Rogue looked back at Dean, 'He looks like he's talking to someone. But there's no one around? I should take a closer look' If Rogue were to go out the front door someone was bound to hear her, she decided to go for a more direct approach. She put on her gloves and opened the window a little more so she could fit through it and climbed out.

Rogue looked down and realized it was a long way down if she accidentally fell. It should be at least a 10 foot drop. That would be bad.

Before she could change her mind Rogue slipped and fell, "Oh no!"

As Dean started walking away he noticed someone climbing out their window. He got closer and noticed it was Rogue, 'What is she doing now?'

Dean then decided to go ask what's wrong and came right below her when all of a sudden she slipped and fell.

Dean acted quickly and Rogue landed softly into his arms shaking out of fear.

"You ok?" Dean asked out loud.

Rogue opened her eyes, "Put me down" she chastised him.

"fine" Dean put her down, "What exactly were you doing climbing out of your window this time of night?"

Rogue didn't want to show her curiosity for him but she had no excuse, "Um well…well what are you doing?" she asked back hoping to keep the topic off herself.

"I couldn't sleep so I came outside for some fresh air, what's your excuse?" Dean asked.

"I…" Rogue didn't want to lie, "I thought I heard you talking to someone. That's why I climbed out of my window"

"Well you tell me, do you see anybody else out here but us two?" Dean asked.

"Well…no but—"

"Alright then, now let's get back inside before anyone else notices we're gone" Dean said trying to drop the conversation about him.

'He's definitely hiding something, but I'll let it go…for now' Rogue thought. She looked up at her open window, "Darn, I'm gonna have to climb back up to my window" She sighed.

Dean stopped in his tracks and took a good look at how high up her window is, 'It's not that high, I can make the jump' "I can help you if you want" he offered.

"How?" Rogue asked.

"Well I lift you and I jump up to the window, that simple" Dean said

"You can do that?" Rogue asked honestly.

"Well unless you weigh like 900 pounds which I very much doubt" Dean said.

It definitely beats climbing up, but it would suck if they fell on their asses by accident. He hasn't exactly been wrong when it comes to his own abilities, so why not?

"Alright fine, just make sure you don't drop me or accidentally touch my skin, got it?" Rogue said.

"Got it" Dean put his right arm around her waist making sure only to touch her shirt.

Rogue felt a chill course through her body, this was the closest she's been to someone in a long time. She put her hands around his neck making sure she didn't make skin contact.

"You ready?" Dean asked.

"Yup" Rogue replied.

"Alright, hold on tight" Dean jumped into the air and safely grasped the edge of the windowsill with his left hand keeping them there. He then lifted Rogue into her room.

"See that wasn't hard" Dean said.

Rogue leaned out the window, "Thanks for catching me"

"It seems like I'm always saving you" Dean said.

"Yeah, you watching out for me?" Rogue flirted slightly.

"Maybe, maybe you do it on purpose to make sure I watch you" Dean flirted back.

Rogue smirked.

"I better go before someone finds out we're up, goodnight Rogue" Dean dropped from the window.

Rogue immediately looked out her window and watched him land softly on the grassy ground like nothing happened. She pushed her hair behind her ear and whispered, "Goodnight"

Author's note: And the voice from the shadows now has a name, Kronos. Which isn't surprising, the lord of time has his way of manipulating people. And now Mephisto will be keeping an eye on him, who knows what he has in store for our protagonist...