© Michael Scott

"Erebos and Nyx, where are they now?" Sophie asked.

They sat in one of Joan's safe houses, Joan and Sophie each with a cup of tea in their hands.

Josh shook his head slightly, like he was trying to clear it. "I've lost a read on both of them. Erebos is usually pretty quiet, he hasn't left his Shadowrealm in a long time, and the times that he does he goes about his business quietly."

"And Nyx?" Scatty asked.

"Nyx likes to cause trouble, but usually on a larger scale. What did Germain do to get on her bad side?" Josh asked Joan.

She grinned into her tea. "Funny story actually, we met up with her in Australia, and Germain didn't know who she was. Offered her an autograph, actually. She didn't like that, and wanted to make sure Germain knew who she was. So, she basically made everything pitch black around us, but Germain used his fire magic and banished her darkness."

"And she has held a grudge for that?" Scatty asked, surprised.

"No, it probably had more to do with the fact that he accidentally set her robes on fire," Joan said, smiling fondly.

Everyone snorted, only Saint Germain could manage to do that. Scatty remembered all the things Germain had done over the thousands of years and smiled. He was a good friend.

"It sounds like Nyx is our goddess," Josh said, standing. "I'm going to try to find her, if you guys will get ready to go?" They split up, gathering things required for travel.

As Scathach moved from room to room upstairs, gathering some clothes for herself and Joan, she came across Josh sitting with a pencil in his hand and a piece of paper on the desk. His eyes were closed, but she could see them moving under his eyelids, as if searching for something. His hook tapped gently on the table.

"Scathach," he said, acknowledging her presence without opening her eyes.

"Marethyu," she replied, and he opened his eyes.

"New Zealand," he stated. She watched as the gold faded from his eyes.

"You really do know everything," she said, laughing softly.

"You keep saying that." He motioned for her to sit down and she did so, setting down the backpack full of clothes at her feet. "Sometimes I feel like I know too much," he said, not looking at her. He scribbled New Zealand on the piece of paper, like he'd forget, folded it with one hand and put it in his pocket.

Scatty sighed. "We all feel like that sometimes, living for millennia, seeing everything, doing-"

"It's different though," Josh said, cutting her off. "It's not just all of my experiences and things I've learned, Scatty, I can see things, everything, just by thinking about it. I can tell you all about the past, the present, and the future, and even after all this time I still can't get used to it. The universe is crammed inside my head."

Scatty said nothing for a moment, knowing there was nothing she could say. She had no idea what it was like to be Josh, to be Marethyu, to be Death. Then, "Don't you have a job to do?"

Josh grinned grimly. "I've been doing it, don't you worry your pretty little vampire head, Scatty." He deftly wiped his hook on his shirt, ignoring the glare she gave him.

"What have you been doing? I mean, other than being important and everything. Where have you gone, who have you seen?" Scatty asked.

Josh smiled. "I've been all over, I spent a lot of time in Europe, then a few years in Australia, and have been in Canada for a while too. I haven't really gone back to the States much, but I spent a good portion of the nineteenth century in Asia. I met up with Virginia Dare for a while, too."

Scatty's face fell, but she pulled it into her usual stony expression before Josh noticed. "How is she?"

"She was good," Josh said, and he didn't elaborate.

"Good."

Sophie poked her head in then. "Ready?"

Josh grinned at her. "How does New Zealand sound?" he asked, and she smiled.

"Oh, I haven't been to New Zealand in decades!" she said, laughing, and ran out to find Joan.

Scatty followed her, leaving Josh to get ready. When he joined them downstairs, a magical leather glove concealed his hooked hand and his cloak was tucked into his pack.

"Shall we?" he asked, and then led the way out of the door. They took a taxi to the airport, procured tickets to New Zealand, and used their passports for that decade.

Josh was seated with Sophie, which allowed the two some time to catch up. They chatted in rapid Latin, which no one around them understood. Scatty would occasionally hear Sophie telling him a funny story about one of her adventures, or Josh telling Sophie about his travels.

Joan sighed as she settled into her seat. "Flying, can't seem to be done with it," she said, laughing.

Scatty smiled. "Get off one plane, through some leygates and then onto another one," she said, answering in Latin.

"Oh, how I missed speaking Latin," Joan replied, also in the same language. "Such a pity no one speaks it anymore." She smiled. "For all we know there's someone fluent in Latin on this plane as we speak, listening to us and becoming very curious."

"Doubt it," Scatty said, grinning. "So, tell me, how worried are you about Germain, actually? You've been acting quite well, but knowing you two…"

Joan sighed. "I am worried, but knowing him he'll try to talk his way out of it. He's usually pretty good at that sort of thing. For all we know, he's on a flight home right now."

"Well, if he is, we'll just end up taking a nice vacation in New Zealand. Who knows, maybe he and Nyx will join us on the beaches to soak up some sun," Scatty said, her tone completely serious. After a beat, the two women broke down laughing.

Joan grinned. "Can you imagine, Nyx, on a beach? Oh, that'd be a sight to see. You've developed quite the sense of humor Scathach, where'd that come from?"

"Sophie, I think. When you spend millennia with someone like her, well…" They both smiled fondly, thinking about Sophie Newman. Adventures had become more enjoyable with her, and re-experiencing events was all the more fun with her fresh eyes.

"Excuse me, miss?" someone asked Scatty in English, bringing her and Joan out of their thoughts.

"Yes?" she asked the man.

"I couldn't help but notice, were you speaking Latin just there?" he asked.

Joan giggled. "Told you," she said, switching to ancient Greek.

"We were, do you speak it?" Scatty asked.

He smiled slightly. "Just a bit, but no where near as fluently as you two, or as those two up there." He motioned towards Sophie and Josh, who were still swapping stories and laughing. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but were you saying millennia?"

Joan smiled gently, putting a hand on Scatty's arm. "We were exaggerating, of course, we've been friends with that girl over there and her brother for a long time." She then added in ancient Greek, "I'll go tell Sophie and Josh to switch to a new language." She stood up and walked over to where the twins were sitting. She motioned towards the man who was still talking to Scatty.

"I didn't mean to interrupt your conversation, of course, but I've never heard someone speak Latin as fluently as you. I've also never seen someone as pretty as you speak like that either," he said. "My name's Matthew, and you are?"

She saw Josh's expression out of the corner of her eye; then he stood up and made his way over to her. "Scatty, a word?" he said, and then sat beside her in Joan's seat.

"Who's this bozo?" he asked, this time in Mandarin.

"He says his name is Matthew," she replied, aware that he was still standing beside her.

"Do you want him here?"

She rolled her eyes. "Josh, I'm perfectly capable of getting rid of him by myself-"

"Scatty, this isn't something you can solve with swords and fists," Josh said. "Let me help you out this time." He switched to English. "Sorry, can I help you?"

"I was just talking to your friend here-"

"Girlfriend, actually, so maybe you should be done talking to her," Josh said.

Matthew looked surprised, but Scatty concealed hers instantly. She'd hit Josh later.

"Anyway, it was nice to meet you, Matthew, and keep working on your Latin," Josh continued, and for good measure he kissed Scatty on the cheek before returning to his sister's side.

Matthew left and Joan returned, grinning from ear to ear. "Even after all this time, sixteen-year-old Josh still has a crush on you I think."

"Shut up, Joan," Scatty told her, slightly embarrassed.

They caught up during the rest of the flight and switched seats a few times, so that they could all talk to each other. Finally, they landed in New Zealand.

"Let's go kick some Greek goddess butt," Sophie said, making them all laugh.

A/N: Umm, so yeah, I'm just going to leave this here and hope that makes all my annoyed readers a little less annoyed…

Anyway, I'm on a roll! I'm so sorry for not updating this story in such a long time, I've made a sweeping declaration that I'm going to finish my multi-chaps soon, and this is the last one to be finished. So, here goes, I promise I will update more regularly, and not *ahem* every few years or so… sorry again.

Thank you for all the lovely reviews and thanks for sticking with this story even when I haven't been updating. More will be coming soon!

~nerdy