The very next day, in the morning and over breakfast, Senri went back to the talk about finding a home for them. It was cut short by the appearance of the tall Ancient with violet hair, who, with quite a cheeky flare announced that they had been summoned to attend a meeting about an upcoming 'task.' Well, Senri had been summoned, but Immortal didn't look much surprised when Warrior insisted on Raha accompanying him. They were promptly... teleported?... to a place that looked like a big, round room with walls made of shining blue crystal. There was no furniture or anything as such, but only a low pedestal leading to something that looked like a fogged-over mirror.

While he looked around with an unbidden fascination, his lover wrapped his arm around his shoulders with an amused chuckle.

"We're inside the Crystal Tower, babe," he leaned in to whisper by Raha's ear, and the redhead flinched, blinking rapidly as he looked back at him when Senri straightened, grinning at three tall figures that appeared, surrounding them and joining the cheery Hythlodaeus. Most of them he already saw, so his mismatched eyes focused on the unfamiliar one: the tallest Ancient with shoulder-length white hair and brilliantly bright golden irises, who seemed quite… cranky? The Ancient returned his stare, scowling, then moved his eyes to the Warrior and raised his eyebrows expectantly, folding his arms over his chest. He wore attire very similar to those worn by his violet-haired companion if his was dominated by the mix of white and black.

"I seem to recall I called you alone, Senri," the man drawled, tossing Raha another searing look.

"Don't mind him, babe," the Warrior chuckled, tightening his arm around him securely and nodding toward the white-haired immortal that, if possible, scowled even darker at the statement. "Hades's posing a lot, but underneath that, he's a softie," and he grinned toothily at the man's scoff. "Let me introduce you properly…" he smiled at him, then pointed toward each immortal in turn. "Hades, the Emet-Selch and Ares's younger brother and his eternally Bonded husband, Hythlodaeus," the violet-haired man grinned, inclining his head toward the redhead at his introduction, and his brilliantly purple eyes shone with amusement. "Themis, the Emissary, and Ares's protégé," he moved on to the teenage-looking boy from yesterday, with messy silvery hair and blue eyes, who also inclined his head but with a neutral expression. "And Gaia, the Logrif," he finished pointing toward the female who only slightly nodded if her navy eyes seemed amused when he frowned involuntarily, reminded of the conditions he saw her the last time. "Guys, let me introduce to you G'raha Tia, my love and hopefully soon my mate as well," at that Raha flushed up to his hairline but fought to keep on a polite smile as he bowed slightly under Senri's arm. "And, obviously, since he's as much at risk as I am… I explained to him the situation and what that task may result in… and he wishes to accompany me when the day comes."

The group of immortals exchanged looks above their heads (because even Gaia, seemingly lowest among them, was still taller than Senri!) then the white-haired Hades pinned Raha down with narrowed stare, making him flinch involuntarily.

"I can't argue the point…" he drawled slowly as if considering something when he gave him an obvious once-over before stopping his eyes on his. "…as Senri is quite right, and none of us can predict what exactly would come out of this. I won't lie and say that I wouldn't be glad to have my brother back… but if you truly wish to join Senri on this task, it's going to have a price, G'raha Tia."

"W-What… price?" he stammered slightly and cursed his nerves, blushing despite himself when Hades smirked.

"Your eye," he stated, and while Raha gawked at him, his lover growled a warning. The white-haired immortal rolled his bright eyes at him in turn. "Not quite literally, relax. But if he wishes to be most useful to us, I'll augment his royal blood and…."

"My… what?" he gasped, and Hades gave him a deadpan stare.

"Your Allagan blood, obviously," he said as if speaking to a child… Or to a moron, and he couldn't help but glare back in turn. Which made the man's violet-haired husband chuckle and wrap his hands around his lover's arm, tossing Raha a pleased look.

"He does have a spine, at least," Hythlodaeus stated, then gave his man a pointed stare. "And you behave, love. If all goes well…" he trailed off, and Hades scowled darkly but then, after a moment, sighed, and his expression relaxed visibly. And like this surprisingly enough, Raha could see some similarities in his and Senri's features.

"Point taken," Hades smiled sheepishly at his husband, and when he turned his golden eyes back to the redhead, their expression was much less hostile than before. "I… apologize for my tone, boy, but this task… the success of it is paramount for me even if – like you – it might mean I won't exist. Your willingness to assist us is… appreciated, but like I said: to use you to your full potential, I think that argumentation would serve us well," he freed one hand and motioned with it toward the surrounding them walls. "Some of the functions of the Tower are available only to the Emperor, and…."

"He clearly has no idea what you're talking about, Hades," silent until now, Themis spoke up softly, watching the redhead's baffled expression. The white-haired male frowned, looking at him and then back a Raha.

"Did your tribe not teach you of your descent, then?" he asked.

"My…?" he blinked, looking between them, then shrugged helplessly. "I know nothing of my tribe. I was sent away at a very young age," and he involuntarily leaned into his lover's side when Senri tightened his arm around him, soothingly brushing his hand over his shoulder.

"I see…" Hades sighed. "Strange, but then let's start over…. About five thousand years ago, when the Allagan Empire came crashing down, the last princess of its royal line, Salina, gave her blood for safekeeping to her most trusted guard, who in turn became the… father of your bloodline," he said calmly while Raha gawked at him as of he grew another head. "I can see that over the ages, it deteriorated enough that you were born with only one eye… which for our use would be useless since otherwise the Tower would recognize you as its owner the moment you set foot in Eorzea – giving us the idea of your appearance at the same time… Hence, if you're willing to and wish to join Senri, I'm capable of augmenting your blood up to what it should be, which will result in your cyan eye turning crimson as well."

"Oh…" Senri gasped suddenly, tossing him an embarrassingly enamored look. "So he's like… a prince?"

"More like the last living Emperor," Hythlodaeus chuckled at him. "Unless there's more like him… Honestly, after his bloodline settled down in Corvos, we didn't bother with them since Hades is able to control the Tower just fine, and we did have a vague idea that we would eventually need it to at least send you back to Elpis, Senri. Only… Well, after we voted over this whole thing and he set to introduce Cid and his man to it, we found out that there's a catch: apparently, during the construction of the Tower and calibration of its systems, someone had the bright idea to lock certain functions out and made them available only to those of royal blood. And surprise, surprise… that's exactly the functions that we need to use to implement the necessary changes and get you where we need you," he said with a wry smirk at his husband, who in turn rolled his eyes at him.

"I suppose that the Allag weren't as trusting of my motives as I believed at the time," Hades shrugged, and Raha, for a moment, just tried to wrap his head around the fact that this man… all of them… were around during the Allagan rule. Everything else they said, he didn't even try to think of – for now – fearing his brain was going to crash.

"And that argumentation… is it safe?" Senri asked with a frown, and his long tail – perhaps unconsciously – wrapped around the redhead's hips, its fluffy tip flicking nervously.

"Considering that he already has the right blood signature, it would be perfectly safe, yes," Hades said, looking between them with something like a bemused expression. "It's merely… Well, let's say that I would have only to multiply the genes that he already possesses, and at the very most – like I said before – his eye color is going to adjust accordingly since Allagan genes are dominant… hence his bloodline lasted that long in the first place, I suppose."

"…genes…?" he muttered with confusion.

"It's…" the white-haired man hesitated, then sighed. "…complicated. You can think of it as the set of information contained in each living being that directs its… being, let's say, and Allag's technology was advanced enough to allow manipulation of it. They created sort of… key signature and encrypted it into those of royal blood, giving them the crimson eyes to mark those capable of wielding their greatest achievement, this Tower," again he motioned toward the room. "To recreate that key from scratch would be… very dangerous, especially for the target, not to mention time-consuming, but you already having it…" he trailed off, pointing his finger toward Raha's face. "…is merely a question of multiplying the correct blood cells and making them consume the others."

"I s-see…" he blinked, still not really understanding… but he took a deep breath and nodded, steeling his spine. "I… Very well, whatever way I can help and be useful to you – and Senri – I'm willing to do so," and perhaps a tiny, childish part of his mind almost rejoiced in the notion of his eyes no longer being mismatched.

"But… I love your eyes as they are, babe," his lover whined like a spoiled kit, sending him a petulant pout, and his stupid heart vaulted wildly as fierce blush bloomed on his face. Gods, but it was so hard not to pounce on him when he was being cute like that!

"You heard that it's necessary, Sen," he replied, and his hand nearly outside of his will climbed up to wrap around his lover's waist, resting on Senri's hip. And though it was definitely neither time nor place, his mind involuntarily ran to yesterday and the fact that would his remark about his lover's beauty not ruin the mood and brought about their conversation about all of this, his unruly thoughts were very much inclined in suggesting turning the tables… so to say. After Senri blew his mind with this story, however, he was a tad too… preoccupied trying to wrap his head around it to go back to the notion that was he willing, he would really, really like to explore that… lovely submission that his gorgeous male displayed when Raha pounced on his lead by fury.

His sweet Warrior was a powerful male, and somehow when he so readily went pliant in his hands… it was beyond heady. Truly intoxicating, the thought of taming all that fierce, raw power contained in his tall frame… And considering how Senri's nostrils flared delicately and her pale eyes focused with the intent on his mouth… well, he really should stop thinking about that right now!

Blushing furiously and swearing in thought at his unbidden arousal, Raha cleared his throat awkwardly before looking back to Hades, whose expression was unreadable now, if his golden irises shone with a hint of amusement. Hythlodaeus was far less subtle than his husband, wiggling his violet eyebrows meaningfully and with a grin that told the redhead that apparently he was more than aware of his… ideas. Hoping the floor would open up under his feet, he dropped his gaze between them as his face only grew hotter.

"Anyway…" Hades said, but he didn't dare to look up until he could cool down a little. "…after that, we will require your presence here to serve with that connection to the Tower while Cid, Nero, and their engineers do the necessary adjustments and recalibrate the system for what we need. To make it optimal, Themis suggested that it would be best if you – and Senri if he's willing – stayed here throughout that whole process. In the meantime, he and Gaia would teach you all you need to know about our people and society so you can actually get by... and hopefully achieve our goal."

"The idea is…" the teenage-looking immortal chimed in neutrally, and Raha turned his eyes toward him. "…simple, we believe. We're going to send you back to the time when Damon and Ares were together so you can warn them of Damon's mother's… interference. If it's… correct that they were as involved as Senri's Echo suggested, have Damon cast a spell on Ares to make him immune to his own gift. This way, his mother – or anyone else, for that matter – won't be able to repeat that… feat. And if he's not too… attached to her, preferably tell him to wipe the bitch out of existence to be safe," he said with such a gentle, polite smile that it took Raha a second to connect the words to the meaning and he almost snorted involuntarily.

"Considering your looks…" added Gaia, gracefully waving her hand toward them. "…I think that we must warn you that among ours, you wouldn't be… treated as an equal," she said, then sighed when Hythlodaeus scoffed.

"More like you'll be treated as any other creation," the violet-haired immortal stated with audible disdain, and his husband only nodded in agreement. "As lesser and disposable if you show yourself to be… faulty, hence you'll need a lesson that would help you avoid that. We debated over it – concerning Senri, though – and arrived at the conclusion that the best solution will be if, once there, you play the role of a familiar… familiars created into your respective Ancient's image. The hardest part of this task, as I believe Gaia warned you, Senri, would be convincing Damon to use that gift of his to change this timeline instead of creating a new one. After she described to us how his gift worked, we're convinced that he would be capable of that – if he's inclined to, obviously. The issue is… none of us actually knows him," he shrugged helplessly, frowning. "And as much as I believe your Echo, boy… I still struggle to imagine what Ares would see in a man as cold as Damon!"

"He… wasn't cold," his lover said softly, and all eyes focused on him with a various level of disbelief. Senri sighed and ran the fingers of his free hand through his hair. "You know how my Echo work… I felt what Ares felt in it, and he was… impossibly smitten with that man. And his thoughts… Well, you share his ability to see souls, yes, Hades?" he waited for the Ancient to nod before he continued. "Well, in Ares's thoughts, he believed that Damon's… outer demeanor was a shield to hide his heart. And in his eyes… when I saw him – Damon, I mean – he just… blazed," he made an uncertain gesture with his free hand. "I don't know how to describe it… but it was like he was aflame with shades of scarlet and crimson, and it was… glorious."

"I… see…" Some strange understanding flared in Hades's golden eyes before he turned his gaze toward his husband and then back to the Warrior. "And I think… I understand, too. Anyway… If that's all, Hythlodaeus would take you back to the Rising Stones so you can pack and wait for you to be ready, then bring you back here. We don't know how long the whole process is going to take, if Cid suggested that with our… assist, it shouldn't be too long. Gaia already prepared one of the chambers near the top of the Tower for your stay – as she would until this task… concludes," he nodded toward the female, and she smiled weakly. "And you'll do well to heed her lessons most carefully, as she has the best idea of the times you'll be bound to face. And I believe you know the price of her involvement?" he asked toward Senri, who only nodded back, smiling toward the female reassuringly. "Very well… When you're back, we will see about that argumentation, yes?"

"As you wish," Raha inclined his head toward him with a polite smile if his hand tightened slightly on the material of Senri's pants where it still rested on the Warrior's hip. "I… thank you for allowing me to join him," he said a bit hesitantly. "I hope I prove worthy of your trust."

"Don't thank us," Hythlodaeus said with a wry smirk. "As Senri said: your existence is also on the line, G'raha. If you wish to risk it for Ares's sake… it's us who owe you thanks, boy."

"If all Senri told me about him is correct…" he whispered, turning his eyes toward Hades's. "…how could I not? And what happened to them… is just too sad. If there's a chance to fix it… I understand your wish to do so, that's all."

And if by chance he gets out of it the ability to mate with Senri… well, in his opinion, the prize was worth the risk.