Chapter 4: Gluttony

"Okay..." Garrus said as he took one long look at the next circle of Hell that the group was now arriving at. "I think I just found my new least favorite circle."

"And this is only the third one." Kasumi noted. The others said nothing as they entered the third circle of the Inferno in full. It was only when they were presented with the nightmarish sight of what resembled the inside of a person's stomach did Orpheus break the silence to describe the place: "This is Gluttony. Here those who indulged themselves in excess reside, cursed to be forever denied that which they could not satisfy in life, and be drowned in the acids and the slush of this wretched place. In truth, this circle has always disgusted me more than most."

"Guess that makes two of us." Garrus noted as he apprehensively stared out at the sight. "And all just for overindulging."

"We would do well to move quickly through this circle." Orpheus cautioned. "A fearsome beast stands watch over this circle, a monster that like the damned souls here is never satisfied with what it has devoured, and always hungers for more."

"What beast?"

Orpheus turned to Miranda. "I believe it's name is familiar to you." Her eyes widened as she realized what he was getting at.

"So the original Cerberus resides, here does it?" Thane Krios noted.

"Can't say I'm surprised." Garrus said.

"Once it was a normal dog turned into a ferocious three-headed guardian by Hades, and then after Lucifer assumed control, he transformed the beast yet again, into a new, worse form. Unlucky souls in this place often become it's next meals, where they continue to suffer in the beast's massive stomach."

"I take it it's one of those things that's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside?" Shepard asked. Orpheus nodded. "Right. Well then yes, I do think we should get out of this circle fast."

"That's not the only reason." Zaeed grumbled in distaste as he continued to observe the repulsive sights of the third circle along with everyone else. Close examination of Gluttony revealed that the walls seemed to be lined with guts and intestines, which in turn only made the place all the more repulsive to Shepard's squad. So it was that they wasted no time trying to find a way out.

"Shepard, do you remember when I said how I always felt like I needed to shower after a trip to Omega?" Miranda asked as she tip-toed around puddles of slush in the mass of writhing flesh and body acids with barely repressed disgust.

"Vaguely."

"Well this is worse."

"Yeah, I kind of agree." Shepard said with a nod. "The sooner we get out of this circle, the better."

Garrus too was doing his best to move around the larger puddles of slush, and also the endless gaunt hands grabbing at him as their sources stared at him with gaping mouths that had not been filled in a very, very, long time.

"This place is disgusting." Tali said. "What is this slush supposed to be anyway?"

"You do not want to know" Orpheus replied simply. However that was all that was needed for Garrus to catch on to what the absolved soul was referring to.

"I think I might throw up now."

As the squad continued to move through the circle, heavy rain began to fall, which made the mud-filled ground that the slush surrounded even muddier and left the whole squad soaking wet. They continued to trudge through, completely miserable, until a voice called out to them: "Please *inhale* those of many clans. I *inhale* beg you *inhale* to help me!"

Turning to the source they saw none other than a Volus waist-deep in the slush struggling just to keep from sinking all the way in. "Please! I cannot *inhale* swim in this filth and *inhale* the Cerberus hunts for us! *Inhale* The ravenous hellhound *inhale* turned demonic wyrm *inhale* is a torturer of us gluttons!"

Shepard turned to Thane: "Can you use your biotics to get him out?"

"I can try" The Drell replied before outstretching a hand and concentrating his biotic power on the hapless Volus. In an instant a biotic aura appeared around the Volus, and Thane in turn was able to lift him out of the slush he had been submerged in. No sooner was he on the muddy ground did he let out several more asthmatic breaths of relief.

"Thank *inhale* you, Earth-Clan. I *inhale* have suffered *inhale* in that slush *inhale* for so long now."

"Who are you?" Shepard asked the Volus.

"Alas, *inhale* my real name *inhale* has been lost *inhale*. I am known only as Ciacco now *inhale*."

"Well, your suffering just ended." And with another wave of his enhanced omni-tool, Shepard absolved him, allowing the Volus to ascend and leave his torment in the third circle behind for good. However, this also elicited a decidedly unamused response from Hell's master.

"Another of my souls you free from their imprisonment. Such insult will not go unpunished. I call upon Cerberus and it's kin to devour you."

"Kin?"

Then, bounding through the slush, mud, and stomach acids without any kind of restraint, was the hellhound turned great worm itself, Cerberus. As it made it's presence known, Shepard and his squad got to behold it's repulsive appearance in full. It had a muscular, pale-skinned body with four limbs that each looked like a giant human arm and hand. But it was it's three heads that drew everyone's gazes. Each one was a burgundy-colored worm with no eyes and large human teeth. Perhaps most bizarre of all, several smaller heads jutted out of each of the bigger ones, all of them ever-snapping for more and more food.

In the end, it was Jack who summed everyone's thoughts up perfectly: "What. The. Fuck?"

The beast's many heads all roared in unison before surging towards Shepard and his crew. "Take it down!" Shepard ordered.

Needing no other incentive, the squad all fired their respective guns at Cerberus, the hailstorm of bullets managing to destroy some of the smaller heads on the beast and throwing it into an even greater rage than it had been in before. Letting out a bellow of fury from it's three large mouths, Cerberus charged forward again, and everyone jumped to the sides to avoid it as it surged forwards, kicking up mounds of dirt as it did.

Now caked with mud themselves, the members of Shepard's crew all unleashed another volley of fire at Cerberus, who flailed about in a rage as so many bullets tore into it's chalk white skin. Lunging forward with it's three heads it attempted to chomp down on Tali and Garrus before the former ducked and the latter was pushed out of the way by Shepard. Cerberus made a swipe with one of it's claws that sent both Shepard and Garrus flying before again attempting to devour Tali, who was now right under the beast.

"Bosh'tet!" Tali growled as she opened fire on Cerberus repeatedly with her shotgun, cursing as it managed to withstand every blast. Blood and mud now covered Tali's suit and she was having to constantly squirm about to keep from being trampled.

This is the second thing called Cerberus that I really hate. Tali thought bitterly as she was again almost crushed by the monster.

"Grunt, Zaeed, help Tali!" Shepard ordered. Nodding, the Krogan and the bounty hunter drew their Assault Rifles and unleashed a merciless torrent at one of the beast's three heads, which eventually collapsed dead after being shot enough, especially after several of the bullets went into it's constantly open mouth. Turning to face Zaeed and Grunt, the two remaining heads let out a deafening howl of rage before Cerberus surged towards them both. Taking a hint, Zaeed and Grunt bolted as Cerberus closed in.

As this happened, some of those kin Lucifer was referring to also burst out of the ground, each of them a giant worm with a toothy maw akin to the heads of Cerberus. Taking aim with their sniper rifles, Legion and Garrus both shot at some of these new monsters, assisted by Shepard using his own Viper Sniper Rifle. Soon most of them slumped over after being shot at enough times, but some remained to try and gobble up the members of Shepard's crew in their massive jaws. One very nearly bit off one of Kasumi's arms before Jack destroyed it with some powerful biotic shockwaves that briefly uprooted the worm and left it vulnerable to assault.

By this point, Cerberus was closing in on Grunt and Zaeed, who were still running. Undeterred, the monster smashed through everything in it's way to reach it's quarry in it's single-minded desire to make them pay for the loss of one of it's heads. Hapless shades were knocked to the sides or else trampled underfoot or even in some cases devoured by the two remaining heads, which snapped them up in an instant. Shepard managed to grab one particular shade and pull her out of the way as Cerberus lunged forward with it's two heads again.

Shepard shot at Cerberus with his Revenant, which managed to bring it's attention to him. Shepard quickly absolved the shade he'd saved just as Cerberus lunged towards him. But the commander managed to leap to the side and rolled as Cerberus reached his position. Trying to change directions, the massive beast instead slid dramatically and brushed up against the edge of a river of stomach acids that several souls were currently suffering in. Getting an idea, Shepard ordered Jack, Thane, and Miranda to hit it with as much biotic force as they could manage. They did so, and combined their power was such that it unleashed a wave of biotic energy akin to what Samara had used on the Collector Base. The blast managed to be just enough to force Cerberus backwards and into the acid in full. The beast howled in pain as the acid corroded it's skin, and this in turn left it vulnerable to continued assault. As scores of shades in the acid grabbed and pulled at the hated Cerberus, after another withering hail of bullets came from Shepard and his crew until another of the heads slumped over dead.

Roaring as loudly as it could, the sole remaining head bellowed in anger and bared it's large teeth at Shepard and company as it struggled to crawl out of the acid. But with so many against it, and two of it's three heads now dead, Cerberus seemed to realize that it was outmatched, and after escaping from the acid and giving one last growl of anger, turned around and limped away, soon disappearing into the shadows of the third circle.

"That has to be the absolute ugliest thing I ever shot at." Garrus remarked.

"Same here." Zaeed agreed before turning to Miranda: "Your people picked one fucking gross creature to name yourselves after."

"They're not 'my people' anymore." Miranda said contemptuously, remembering with disdain the things she'd learned about Cerberus in recent weeks and how she was now deeply ashamed to have ever been associated with them. "And for the record, when they chose the name I assume they were thinking of the dog from Greek Mythology, not that...thing."

"Anyway..." Shepard said, interceding. "...now that Cerberus is out of our way, I think we should get out of here. I'm pretty sure we've all spent more than enough time in this particular circle for our liking."

"That's for sure." Kasumi said, nodding in agreement. "I'm gonna be washing myself for months after this."

So it was that the group followed Orpheus' shade as he led them out of the third circle and through a golden and copper gate that led into the fourth. Right before entering it, Shepard afforded one last look at the perverse and stomach-turning sights of Hell's third circle.

"To think that a 'sin' so trivial would warrant this kind of punishment." Shepard observed grimly.

"And it's only going to get even worse from here…" Garrus noted.

"Then we'd better get to it."

Author's Note: Decided to make Ciacco a Volus because all of the souls Shep's absolved so far are humans. Since obviously the other races have members in Hell too I figured I could add some variety. So I went with the Volus. I also broke one of my general rules of never writing out dialects, but I figured this could be one exception.