Chapter 38

She was worried. The look he had on him was of complete and utter despair when she looked up from her key after stepping off the elevator. It broke her heart to see him so completely vulnerable, standing in the hall outside of their hotel room like a wraith haunting a forgotten battlefield.

"Deimos..." She shook her head. "Cain? What's wrong?" She asked softly with concern.

"Where have you been?..." His voice sounded wounded and broken.

"I went to pick up things for out breakfast in the morning." She explained. She was a little worried, he'd never had a problem with her going anywhere before. Why now?

"Don't go out alone so late... It's not safe." He didn't sound angry when he'd said it to her. It had been more of a plea. He wouldn't survive without her if he had to go through Zeus' little game again. The reality of how much he truly needed her had finally sunk in after all of these years.

"Really, it's okay. It was just up the block." She countered.

He kept thinking of the idiots they'd encountered a few days ago in front of the clothing store. "Don't ever go out alone." The words were said with such finality that she didn't have it in her to argue with him over it.

"I'm sorry..." She said in a small voice, trying to mentally put together the pieces of the puzzle. What had happened to him to put that look on his face? There had to be more to it than just her going somewhere for less than an hour to buy their breakfast. She wanted to ask, but not out in the hall.

"Nah... everything's okay now." He told her, staring at the floor with the images of the nightmare he'd had of Rick's death, still playing in his mind. He needed to feel her warmth close to him. He needed her comfort. He opened the light blanket he'd wrapped himself in and fanned it out, with arms opened wide. "Come here..."

She was a bit stunned. In all the time that they had known each other, he hadn't behaved this way. There was definitely something wrong. She only wished that he would confide in her. Tell her his secrets so that she would know how to help or at least so that she could be a sympathetic ear.

"Setsu..." She looked into his eyes and gave an inward sigh. If this is what he needed from her, he was certainly going to get it. She was not about to leave him to drown in his own despair. That had gone on for far too long, she assumed.

Not long after, she would find herself laying next to the man she loved, quietly singing a soft song of healing. He had quickly drifted of into a peaceful sleep. At first he'd been shivering and restless, but as she quietly sang to him, he calmed and curled around her, holding her tightly as if she were the only thing in the world that could save him from something far more sinister than she could imagine.

As much as she would have loved to, she was not able to sleep a wink. Her mind had been too occupied on what was going on with the most important man in her life. Needless to say, her little minions had all come out to comfort and meet with her that night as she lay in his arms. They had made many guesses on why he was behaving the way he was. The common hypothesis had been, that something had happened to him that he didn't feel comfortable speaking of, which disturbed her. Did he not trust her enough to tell her or was he hiding it from her, because he didn't wish for her to worry about him? She decided to be patient and wait. She would wait and hope that he would eventually tell her and get it off his chest. It was clearly bothering him.

Ugh, trying to stay awake and pay attention to what was happening around her had been a chore within itself. She was worried that he needed her for this particularly difficult cast and crew. Murasame was still being his typically asinine self and she really didn't want to leave everything to the fates, but Cain had practically ordered her to go and rest in his dressing room.

Fortunately she had set her alarm on her cell phone. Her eyes popped wide open and she'd realized that she'd slept a lot longer than she'd originally wanted. Damn him...

"Exalted one... You must hurry. Lord Deimos needs you. He is in distress!" Melpoménē told her in a worried voice.

"W-What?" Of course she'd heard her, it was rhetorical. She rushed around, gathering her things and straightening herself. The character she was portraying did not rush. She was finally out the door and down the hall. "What happened?" She whispered to Melpoménē in their ancient tongue.

"Cheese for brains, berated our lord. He called him a murderer and a half-breed. Told him he was worthless." Melpoménē informed her.

Aoidḗ sighed in frustration as her hand touched the doorknob of the studio. She took in a deep breath and calmed herself. It would do neither of them any good if she was a nervous wreck.

Havoc, that was the only word she could use to describe the scene. Mortals were scurrying about in a panic. The males were nervous and tending to their wounded. The females were the simpering lot she had known them to be, cowering in the shadows away from the aura of the God of Dread and Terror.

She looked up and out across the pseudo-battlefield and her blood ran cold. Had she not known what Murasame had done to upset Deimos, she would have been terrified, but as things stood, she knew that he deserved anything that came to him in spades. However, if she only stood by and observed, Zeus would definitely have something to say about it. As Cain/Deimos began to fall from the scaffolding, she realized that if his mortal body perished, she would not see him again and they would begin the process of finding each other once again. It was a thought that she couldn't bear. The thought of living out many years without him shot through her and she let out a scream. "NO!"

Kuon saw her half-way down and righted his position, saving himself and his unwilling passenger. He tossed Murasame onto the makeshift trampoline the others had fashioned out of a blanket and landed perfectly on his feet. How could I allow that? How could I let her see me like that? She's sure to despise me after this... He glanced up to see her curious face.

"Hmm, interesting." She commented as her fingers lightly caressed his fake injuries. "They look so real." She began taking photos of him. "Cool." She smirked.

She wasn't angry or upset with him, and there had been no real casualties; although, she'd let her aura slip and he could see the light golden glow around her, mesmerizing all onlookers. She held out her hand to help him up and smiled. "Come on, let's go get lunch while they clean up this mess." She glanced at Murasame and the man froze on the spot, unable to spew the garbage he'd let loose earlier.

I never realized that she could be just as terrifying. Deimos smirked inwardly, allowing the thoughts of her to wash over him as she led him out of the studio and to the dressing room.

Taira Murasame was still trying to recover from what had happened earlier. No, he wasn't thinking of the tall foreigner and his foreboding aura, he was thinking of the small female companion. Briefly he believed that he'd been hallucinating when he saw her. She was glowing and she most certainly didn't look like Setsuka Heel. She seemed more like what one would think a goddess, straight out of those old stories would look like, and her voice. Oh... her voice was like that of an angel when she'd called out to her brother. After that little incident, he knew for certain that he never wanted to be on the receiving end of that glare again. He decided to keep the thoughts he had about Cain Heel to himself. The Heel sister seemed a bit more dangerous than her brother, if that was possible.