In the end, the preparations took over two moons, and despite his original apprehension about the whole thing, on the designed day, Hythlodaeus felt more excited than nervous. Or so at least he tried to convince himself...
Internally, his thoughts constantly ran between the two distinctively different scenarios whenever he dared to think of the goal of their endeavor. And in both, if their insane plan succeeds, affecting this timeline, the outcome varied from one extreme to the other.
In one, which he called the worse case: not only did they lose Senri, but most importantly - for him - he ended up losing Hades as well. And as much as he still, despite eons, felt he owed everything to Ares... that possibility terrified him. Partially also because over the years they knew him, he also came to love the Warrior and his cheery disposition, so different than Ares's behavior by the time he came to know Azem. Hythlodaeus was younger by a millennium than Hades, and when he fell for him - and met his brother - Ares was a bitter, cynical man.
He supposed that a lifetime - especially with their lifespan - of constant rejection would do that to anyone. He never met their parents, but even now, he remembered how Hades told him on multiple occasions that they raised him on the stories of how Ares used to be before their people's behavior took its toll on his soul. And now they both believed that what happened with Damon... probably was something that also heavily influenced Hades's brother's attitude.
Another, more positive scenario - he hoped for with his whole being - was one where they didn't lose anyone - but instead, somehow... got a happier version of Ares back. Or at least gave him a better end than how it went.
They all felt - other than Gaia, of course - that they had so much to repay Ares for... And this day was their hopeful attempt to do just that if all went well...
Standing a tad aside of gathered in the Ocular, Hyth folded his arms over his chest, with narrowed eyes watching Themis give the boys the last instructions, then hand a folded sheet of paper in Senri's hands. The Warrior and his lover stood atop of the pedestal in front of the normally fogged-over mirror - the portal - that now 'reflected' the image of their destination.
Amarout of Gaia's youth...
Perhaps someone else would feel nostalgic looking at the blurry image, but Hythlodaeus felt no such thing. By now, he had spent most of his life - over twelve and a half thousand years or close to that - among mortals, and Amarout in his head was nothing but a hazy, unpleasant memory. As he guessed, tossing the mirror a brief look, for most of their kin in this circular room... Even Gaia, he figured, was missing her lost lover and caring none for their stifling society back then. If not for it, after all, she would be free to pursue her dalliance with Artemis without their peers frowning at their relationship.
Such things were not allowed within the Convocation, after all, least the Speaker was bound to throw a tantrum to make whole Eitherys shake! And Lahabrea was likely the only one that didn't realize what was going on right under his nose, so busy with his prejudices against Azem...
...Hepaistos was always such a stick in the mud, as the mortals would now say! Holding desperately to the tradition and customs, he was the butt of a joke in Hythlodaeus's home long, long before he laid his eyes on the man - and after that... pleasure he more than agreed with his parents' dislike for the Speaker.
"What is this?" he heard and blinked, then let his eyes move back to the tall figure of the Warrior. And like always, he smiled involuntarily to cover the unbidden ache in his heart at the boy's uncanny likeness to Ares. Senri's looks were a surprise to make him pause among the burning remains of Preatorium when they were finally free to make their first move. While Hades, with very real glee, tore Lahabrea out of his mortal vessel, then his heart - alongside Themis's crystal - a moment after, Hythlodaeus was consumed gawking at the mortal boy wearing Ares's face. Even Hades later admitted that he didn't quite expect the resemblance - as his brother apparently never mentioned the fact, other than that the mortal he met in Elpis was 'similar' to him. And in Hythlodaeus's opinion... it was a veeery weak way to describe their nearly impossible likeness. If not for Senri's pale eyes instead of the Ancient-bright sky-blue and distinctive cat-like features of his race, he and his original incarnation could be taken for twins... and throughout the millennia, Hyth never saw a similar anomaly. Now the blessed with Ares's infamous beauty boy unfolded given him sheet and froze, blinking rapidly while his much shorter, redheaded lover peered into the paper and gasped, apparently no less awed.
And seeing that Hythlodaeus couldn't help but grin broadly, noting Themis's slight flush at the mortals' reaction. At their very obvious appreciation. After being the thing that brought the youngest of them under Ares's wing, the boy's pride in his drawings was always a sensitive matter. Back then, such blatant displays of talent and individuality brought nothing but scorn from their peers. Ares's being the one to always only offer Themis words of encouragement and praise earned the Azem his fierce, undying devotion.
Now in this new, wild world, the Emissary readily indulged in his interests, encouraged instead by his mortal - for now - lover, Alisaie Levellieur. And none of them could deny his talent after seeing one of his drawings.
"A map," Themis replied to the question with a slight nod toward the paper in Senri's hands, then pointed toward Gaia, who leaned against one of the crystalized walls, watching the proceedings with a carefully neutral expression on her face. "With Gaia's help, obviously, I tried to recreate the Amarout of her time to the best of my ability. We're quite sure you're going to land here, squarely in the center of it," he moved next to Senri and pointed out a spot in the image to both upcoming time travelers. "And with her guidance, I've marked the other points of interest for you to find them. Here, Damon's office. There: his domain, and here just in case: his parents' home," with each he pointed to different spots in the picture. "According to Gaia, he should be much... easier to find than Ares at that time. We know that Cassiopeia and Nyx, his and Hades's parents, lived outside of Amarout, and Ares, for obvious reasons, tended to avoid it... How and where they met, none of us know."
"Damon was quite Amarout-bound," the female chimed in from her spot. "It's 'treasure,' remember? Of Ares... well, there were rumors about them, obviously, but... it was so brief, and then Damon seemed so... irate whenever someone mentioned him, I wouldn't dare to ask him about what happened or where they used to meet."
"You should land somewhere in that two-year window," said Hades with a neutral tone if only Hythlodaeus were aware of his nerves and exhaustion, connected as they were. None of the mortals realized how dedicated his husband was to this scheme. Enough to nearly drain all of his enormous stores of aether into the crystalized siphon, hoping it was enough to make for the difference between the intended before jump to Elpis and the millennia separating it from their current target. By Cid's calculations and warnings, once the boys cross the mirror-like portal it'll drain all of the stored reserves in the Crystal Tower. Now, the great engineer, alongside his lover, took watch over the Tyccoon, the half-mortal, half-Ancient-made Eikon in the deeper level of the Tower. A mix of parts taken from Omega and Alexander, its existence was the key to allowing the Warrior and his lover the travel across time and space, but the moment it served its purpose, it had to be put down, like any other Primal. They were too much strain on the fabric of this world while they still didn't have an idea how to free Venat from her Eikon form safely.
...and after the mess they made, Hydealyn refused to speak to any of them. Even her chosen Champion. Or, perhaps, she was either too weak to do so or too busy trying to spare their star her form's influence. Hidden when they couldn't venture... none of them knew what she was up to.
"Should I give someone else the rule of the Tower...?" the redhead asked, looking between them over the drawing in his lover's hands.
"That would be a pointless endeavor," Hades replied, looking about the room before folding his arms over his chest. Perhaps hiding their shaking... "It won't let you, and for us... if it goes well, it should be merely a moment until you're back, no matter how long it's going to be for you. Your travel should leave... an imprint in the fabric of reality, so you'll just have to find one of ours willing to... snap you back. I would recommend my brother... but his command of our magic was always quite feeble, so perhaps Damon...?"
"Perhaps..." the redhead sighed, then visibly took a deep breath and steeled his resolve, moving toward the mirror before looking back expectedly toward his lover. "Are we ready, Sen?"
"Moment, babe," Senri replied, folding the drawing and then carefully putting it into his bag before securing it across his back. Warned to take only what was most necessary, their main objective was to find Damon - and go from there, finding a way to convince the man to change his and Ares's miserable future and hopefully their timeline... without affecting it too much. They might have made some mistakes and errors along the way, but at least this world was safe now from the threat of Meteion and her song... and none of them wanted the repeat of that whole ordeal! Senri looked around them, moving his pale eyes between them until he stopped them on Hades, tightening his jaw as his eyes flared with determination. "I know we can't predict what is going to happen... And perhaps it matters little... But I wanted to thank you... all of you..." he looked at each again, and a weak smile tilted his lips. "You saved me more times than I can count. You looked after me... even when I was being a stubborn idiot and probably giving you headaches... but for what it's worth: thank you. And if I'm not..." he hesitated, then a familiar mask covered his expression, in a way, breaking Hythlodaeus's heart. Because Senri was such a sweet, sensitive child, it was always so hard to watch the way he struggled with what his calling demanded. And their weakness for him might have turned his life chaotic... but at least he was spared the worst, in the end. They never told him which of his friends were meant to die, knowing that the reason behind most would take a heavy toll on his mind.
Hades once told him, after they met the boy, that despite his young age, his soul was dark with negative emotions, almost as much as Ares's was at the end of his journey. Different shades of guilt and self-loathing hid under the surface of pretended cheer, and despite their efforts, his husband's soul occasionally dimmed with worry whenever faced with the Warrior. Hythlodaeus didn't share his gift for seeing souls, but he knew his lover enough to know what it meant: that those 'colors' rotten away the core of Senri's soul. Only these last two moons - with G'raha's presence - it seemed to change. He didn't know how Senri's soul looked now, but by the way how swiftly Hades's initial apprehension toward the boy melted away... he guessed that the effect had to be interesting.
And perhaps that was what had his husband so bent on this insane plan: the idea that perhaps if they were allowed, Damon would have a similar effect on Ares's soul.
"Take care, Senri, G'raha," his husband said, and both boys nodded, then exchanged nervous looks before turning toward the portal. Hythlodaeus smiled weakly, seeing how they took hold of each other's hand, lacing their fingers tightly, then, with twin deep breaths, stepped into the mirror... and disappeared.
The moment they did, he exhaled softly, his eyes zeroing in on the figure of his husband as the air about them seemed to... shimmer. Hades stood utterly motionless at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the portal, his face a neutral mask as the... reality around them seemed to churn and bend, for a moment making Hythlodaeus nauseous. Long as it seemed to last, it couldn't be more time than it took to blink, as when he did, a lone figure stepped out of the portal.
G'raha, if there was something very... distinctively different about his form when he looked between them and smirked, then split.
Where there was one familiar redhead standing a moment ago, now there were two, only at first sight looking like twins. Trying to collect his jaw, Hythlodaeus blinked and moved closer, making notes of the differences along the way toward his husband's side. One on the left was obviously a Seeker, with typical cat-like features and vertical slit crimson eyes. But what consumed his baffled mind was one on the right, Hyur-like and with much longer, red hair bound into a braid... and very distinctively bright, cyan eyes. Looking about them with a smirk that could be called only devious, and the strangely calculating look in his eyes, he could easily guess who it was... if there was something very, very wrong with his form.
"It's a very long story," said G'raha on the left, smiling sheepishly when Hythlodaeus's shell-shocked eyes darted toward him. "But it should make sense in a moment."
He opened his mouth to demand an explanation... then the altered memories started to sink in, stealing his breath for a moment... and he couldn't help but soon laugh hysterically as he understood why the other redhead looked so wrong...
