Chapter 95: Complications

Zeus stared at the finger in Vaas' hand, and plucked it from the psychopaths grasp,

"...Nicely done," commented Zeus, inspecting the finger before setting it down next to the now full blood pack. He pulled the needle out of his arm, regenerated his coat, reached behind his folding chair and procured a bottle of brandy with two crystal glasses.

"For me?" Vaas asked. Zeus answered by simply handing him one of the glasses, and pouring a reasonable amount in each glass,

"I wish we didn't have to take that from her," admitted Zeus, "but in the end, she will come to thank me for it." He raised his glass, and Vaas clinked his drink to Zeus', and both of them took a hearty gulp of the alcohol. "So..." Zeus walked to the farther side of the room, setting his glass down, "...where is Pyramid Head?" Vaas froze,

"Who's Pyramid Head?" He asked with a nervous smile.

"Very funny Vaas," said Zeus humorlessly, "I handed you his binding talisman before you left, and told you the incantation to summon him. He should have come back with you." Vaas' hand went numb, barely able to hold onto his glass,

"Yeah, funny story with that..." he said with a chuckle, earning a glare from Zeus, which caused him to squeeze his eyes shut, "...I lost it when I was fighting Katrina..."

BOOM!

Vaas was sent flying out of the office, red and violet pulses of electricity pulsing from his body as he skid across the metal plating that made up the second floor. Zeus was already upon him, clearly furious,

"Do you have any idea how diffcult it was to even find a strong creature to bind to a talisman Vaas?!!" He screamed at the mohawked man, who was shakily leaning up to look at Zeus, "You may have succeeded in getting the Hand of War, but how the FUCKING HELL did you lose the Pyramid Head in the process?!!"

"I didn't lose him lose him boss!" Said Vaas, holding his hand up in fright, "He got killed by Kratos! Remember? The god killer you warned me about?" Zeus' eyes widened, while Salem joined in on the conversation,

"You actually found Kratos? I thought he was dead in another dimension?"

"No..." said Zeus, "...he's not dead, because in my arrogance I brought him back to life...and he tried to kill me for doing so..." Vaas and Salem stared at Zeus in utter shock,

"WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU BRING KRATOS BACK TO LIFE?!!" Shouted Salem. The mask wearing mercenary immediately had his throat grabbed by an irritated Zeus,

"When I first got my new power all those years ago, I arrogantly thought I could turn Kratos into my pawn, like many of the old olympian gods had before. I was wrong, and I had to send him into another dimension so he couldn't find me again..." He released Salem, letting the masked mercenary catch his breath, "...now the situation has grown dire. Vaas! Ready a portal and send Katrina to a safer world."

"Yeah! Sure thing boss!" Vaas began to run off, but quickly stopped and backtracked to Zeus, "Uh, safer for who exactly?"

"NOW VAAS!!" Bellowed Zeus.

"I'm going! I'm going!" He said, running off as fast as he could.

"Salem! Go to the elven world with some men and empty the vault. We're going to need any and all tools we can get our hands on if Kratos decided to join the game." Salem glared at Zeus as he flipped his mask down, and stalked away to do Zeus' bidding. Zeus sighed deeply, knowing his plan was getting complicated.

"You know, your ritual calls for a 'Hand of War,'" Zeus turned to the doorway of the office, seeing a man shadowed by the office light, holding Katrinas' dismembered finger, "not a 'Finger of War.' Are you sure the ritual will still work?" Zeus reached towards the man, the the finger flew into Zeus' hand,

"It will work, don't you worry. This finger will pass for the Hand of War, and my blood will pass for the Blood of Fury. But we do still need two more ingredients for the ritual, which is why I have my two stationed in Fortuna, ready to retrieve them when the boys arrive." Zeus then vanished in a flash of red and violet, and the man stepped out of the shadows just enough to reveal a single detail that acts as a clue as to who he is; a simple pair of glasses, hiding a cold distrusting scowl...

Back to Katrina...

Both the Goddess of War and the God of War were walking down a path, discussing all that had happened between the last time they saw each other, with the Goddess wrapping the torn off hem of her shirt around her injured hand, preventing more blood loss.

"So, let me see if I understand this correctly," said Kratos, having just heard Katrinas' side of the story, "This Imposter Zeus is really just your lover from another timeline, having been gifted the powers of a walking plague, a devil king, and another thunder god?"

"That pretty much sums it up," said Katrina. Kratos shook his head,

"This talk of time travel is...confusing, to say the least."

"Tell me about it," said Katrina. She looked up at her ancestor hopefully, "...you know, we could use some extra hands in taking down Zeus," she said. "Maybe you would like to tag along?" Kratos gave her a serious frown,

"No," he said bluntly, surprising the War Goddess. "I am done fighting the wars of others, especially against gods, or false gods in this case..." Kratos saw the hurt on Katrinas' face, and explained himself, "...my wife, Faye, will be giving birth soon, and I need to be there for her, and our child." Katrinas' hurt expression turned to one of surprise, "I already lost one family to my war fighting lifestyle...I'm not losing a second." Katrina nodded, no longer hurt, or even angry, but happy for him, shedding a miniscule tear of joy.

"Kratos...I'm actually happy to hear that..." Kratos gave Katrina a raised eyebrow, "...you actually have a chance to leave the God of War life behind! I just wish I was just as fortunate..." Kratos stopped, and Katrina looked to him, and saw he held regret in his face,

"It's my fault you are not able to..." he said. "I stopped pursuing Zeus so I could start a family...and passed that job to you..." Katrina gasped, taking a step back, "...it was selfish of me to do so, and I am sorry." Katrina took in the new information, and despite everything that had happened in her past, from turning ash gray as a result of killing her stepfather, from losing her unborn child, from having Calvin die in her arms...she felt no harsh feelings towards Kratos.

"If you hadn't done so...passing down the job of killing Zeus all that time ago...I probably wouldn't even be here today...and I wouldn't have made all the friends I have made...devil or otherwise." She walked up to Kratos and hugged him tightly, surprising the former god, and he hesitantly patted the girls head. Suddenly, a portal appeared next to them, briefly startling both Kratos and Katrina, with the Goddess of War coming to a realization,

"I think...this is where I am supposed to go..." she said, making her way to the vortex, casting one last look at Kratos, with him giving her one last nod,

"Take care...Goddess of War."

"Take care...husband of Faye, and father of...?"

"If the child is a boy, he shall be named Atreus." Katrina smiled,

"...and father of Atreus." Katrina turned towards the portal, jumping through, and the vortex closed behind her. Kratos nodded,

"Stay safe girl..."

Katrina leapt through the portal, falling for what felt like between a few seconds and an eternity, and suddenly she was on the other side, in a forested area in the middle of the night, smacking face first into a tree. She fell onto her back as the portal closed behind her, and she reached for her head with her good hand.

"Dammit..." She then felt something wet, and reached for her stomach, feeling a sharp wooden stick protruding from the right side of her abdomen, "Dammit!" She put pressure on the wound, shakily stood up on her feet, and walked, and walked and walked and walked, until she finally found a road, breathing a sigh of relief. She took one step on the asphalt, and soon heard the sound of a car horn, seeing the headlights from a speeding car, causing her to shield her eyes with her injured hand, barely seeing the vehicle was not slowing down...

Back to Adrian and Damon...

Both pairs of Devils and Elves were almost to the mountain, and upon gaining ground the Devil boys saw that built into the mountainside was an entire castle city! Damon whistled at the sight,

"Damn! Was this built by dwarves or something?" Nyna looked at Damon curiously,

"Tis was...how did thou know?" Damon looked to Adrian, who rolled his eyes when he realized Damon was only asking to be funny.

"Uh...lucky guess?" The four came to a high narrow pass, large enough for them to fit through two by two, until they heard a rumble, and a rockslide fell behind them, sealing off the way they came. The four then heard the sound of gutteral shouting, and they saw an entire brigade orcs brandishing axes coming down the open end of the path, straight for the four.

"Stay behind us!" Shouted Damon, keeping Llarya and Nyna behind himself and Adrian, ready to fight the orcs to the death...