Chapter 11

Mercedes walked into the Commons Room with her tray of Candy skulls, where she found Anubis sitting on one of the couches laughing with Mia and her five housemates. The Spanish girl could only smile, 'If there were times when Anubis was alive and having a peaceful conversation like this, then I can't really blame the Warlords for wanting them to keep him here?'

Mercedes mentally slapped herself at that thought, 'Every person that I have met at home would like to have his or her deceased loved ones back, but it is still a cowardly and impious thing to do.'

"Hey!" Mercedes smiled, snapping out of her inner dialog, "I got the Candy skulls out of the kitchen. I would like you to try some."

"Sure," Anubis nodded as Mercedes began to hand out the skull-looking confection.

After everyone took a skull, Anubis took a bite and started chewing. "This is a good Candy Skull," the Warrior of Spring replied after he had finished chewing and swallowing the white confection.

Mercedes blushed, "Thank you."

Mia took a bite out of her Candy Skull and nodded in agreement as she chewed. However, the Ronins were a bit hesitant. When Mercedes looked at her five housemates, she sighed heavily saying, "It's just a candy skull. Nothing is going to come oozing out if you bite into it."

Sighing, Kento took a bite and chewed. When he finally swallowed, he smiled, "You're right, these skulls aren't bad. Although the candy would look better if it weren't in the shape of a skull."

Mercedes grinned, happy that her cooking was satisfactory. From what she had learned, Kento's family owned a restaurant in a place called Yokohama. Mercedes knew that restaurant owners were the biggest critics a chef to deal with, so if her cooking was good enough for a son of a restaurant owner, then she probably did have some type of talent.

As she was ready to pass out more Candy Skulls, the three hosts walked in. Mercedes tried to keep an idiot smile plastered on her face when she saw them. 'Impious cowards,' she thought angrily, 'how could you think of preventing the dead to return to Mictlan?'

"Where have you three been?" Anubis asked, "I've wanted all of us to sit down and talk."

"We were busy." Dais replied, "Something came up."

'Liar,' Mercedes thought again, 'you three have got to be the biggest liars I have ever met. Although you can never really tell by looking.'

"Anyway," Anubis continued, "I was wondering how everyone and everything's been doing on, especially the gardens."

Mercedes furrowed her eyebrows, "Gardens, what gardens?"

"The Castle Gardens." Anubis replied, "It's the only place that has natural life in it during Talpa's reign."

Mercedes couldn't help but smile, "You mean your boss that cheap?"

Anubis chuckled, "Talpa was many things. But cheap was certainly not one of them."

"Anubis is right," Dais smiled, "If you look around, everything in this castle is very expensive."

"Oh," Mercedes smiled, completely ignoring Dais, "Well…I was wondering if Anubis could show me the Castle gardens?"

The three Seasons looked at each other, "Any reason in particular?"

"I live in a very crowded city," Mercedes sighed, hoping no one would see the lie in her eyes, "and it would be nice to see actually greenery instead of looking at pictures of Rainforests."

Dais, Cale, and Sekhmet eyed each other suspiciously. Anubis looked at his brothers-in-arms and rolled his eyes, "It's just the Castle Gardens," he concluded, "it's not like she's going to destroy anything."

"Fine," Cale sighed as he and the two remaining Seasons walked out of the room.

'They have got to be the most overprotective group of people I've ever met in my entire life,' Mercedes thought as Anubis lead her towards the garden area.

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When Mercedes and Anubis walked into the garden, the Spanish girl could not believe her eyes. Even though it was autumn, the gardens vividly reminded her of the Tropical rainforests she had seen in pictures that surrounded the Mayan and Aztec ruins. There was a stone pathway that made a trail all around the garden. On the trail were a few benches, and beyond the boundary of the pathway was wide emerald green grass. And where the grassy area ended, there were various trees and plants that she had seen ever since she had come to Japan. Mercedes could pick out Wisteria, Cherry Blossoms, Bamboo, Plum and Peach trees, and even Imperial Chrysanthemums. "Wow!" Mercedes breathed, "This place is just as beautiful as the Amazon Rainforest."

"This was my favorite place to sit down and meditate," Anubis smiled, "It was also one of the few places that all four of us could just talk and do the normal things that mortals do."

"Speaking of your friends," Mercedes began, "they seem to be…a little…well…"

"Overprotective," Anubis laughed.

"Exactly," Mercedes sighed. "How did you tolerate living with three overprotective men?"

"They weren't always that overprotective," Anubis sighed. "At least not until our group felt threatened."

"It was your choice, or at least that is what I was told," Mercedes said flatly, not making eye contact with Anubis.

"It was," Anubis agreed, "but when I left, I think they became afraid."

"What do you mean?" Mercedes questioned. "I know that the Japanese believe that one person is part of a group."

"But in that group is stability," Anubis continued, "I am one person, but I am not an island. I can not do anything alone because I am part of a society."

Mercedes continued to listen.

"I rebelled against my group," Anubis continued, "In my culture, that is very dangerous. Rebellion against a person's group brings not only misfortune or harm to the group as a whole, but the person who rebelled may end up in terrible suffering, or worse, death."

"You mean they feared that you would die if you weren't with a stable group?" Mercedes asked.

"Yes," Anubis sighed, "They feared that if I was alone and without a stable group, something bad might happen and I would have nowhere to go. If I was alone, I was considered defenseless against society's ills such as: serious disease, hunger, and homelessness. But the worst thing they feared, and this was probably was the biggest motivator in trying to bring me back, was that I had the potential to die in the worst possible way, alone, and with no friends or "family" around to help me ease my dieing."

"But death is natural," Mercedes argued.

"It is," Anubis agreed, "but in my faith, death is seen as an unavoidable misfortune that keeps the universe in check."

"But you didn't die alone," Mercedes finished.

"You're right, I didn't," Anubis replied, "But they were not there physically with me when I died. So, in a way, Dais, Cale, and Sekhmet's worst fear came true. I don't think they've recovered or will ever recover from that."

Mercedes sighed, it was one thing to try to keep a person from returning to Mictlan, but wouldn't it also depend on the situation? 'It's best if you don't worry about that now,' she thought, "remember Shinto and Catholicism have two very different ethical codes."

"Is there anything else you wanted to talk about?" Anubis asked.

"We can talk as we walk," Mercedes smiled as they began to walk down the pathway.