A/N: Alright, I got a review saying to lengthen it. Sorry for shortness! If I had slept recently, it may have been longer. God, this chapter's actually kinda short too because I ran out of descriptive words…Well, oh well.

Chapter 2

An Unenthusiastic Father

Finally, Jolt stopped falling. He sat up from where he had landed heavily, shaking his head to clear the buzz in his head. He saw swirls of mist around him and blinked, slowly, shakily pushing himself up to his feet. It took him a moment to stop swaying side to side, but he finally managed to walk, following the path becoming clear in the dark mist. One step. Another. With each step, a new length of mist outlined whatever path he was to walk on. No other senses picked up anything. He couldn't hear anything besides his armor shifting and clanking, which was beginning to annoy him. In a burst of light, his armor was gone, and his golden cross hung around his neck again. His sense of smell was off right now, and he really couldn't smell anything except…nothingness.

Trying to make anything out in the darkness, he found himself looking at where the mist curled. It began to form a heightened step, then another. As he followed it, he found himself ascending a spiral staircase. He could hear yelling from a familiar voice, items-that sounded breakable-crashing at some distant source. It took until he reached a small platform close to the next level of wherever he was that he could make out the words of the shouting voice. Oddly, he also heard…crying.

"-Don't want a child! How many times have I told you? And you get pregnant! What's more is you couldn't give me a son, could you?"

Jolt winced, understanding that it was a man about to abuse a woman. His own past made him want to warn the woman to run, to hurt the man that was going to try to lay his hand on a woman. He sped up along the solid floor and was almost running to find the source. The mist was becoming clearer walls in the darkness; a hallway with doors, a ceiling, and miscellaneous items on tables all over the sides of the hall. Fire was a predominant feature, as were dark, inky shadows that seemed to conceal secrets. Finally, color was added, and Jolt came upon a warm room that looked like a mixture of a dining room and a study.

Pacing vehemently across the room was Hades, Lord of the Underworld and God of the Dead. Books lined the bookshelves that were on every wall except one that overlooked the Fields of Punishment. A warm fire burned in the fireplace between two windows. Two thrones faced the fire, one belonging to the pacing god. He was agitated, and Persephone sat on one comfortable throne with a small child crying into her lap. Quite loudly. It took Jolt a few moments to realize who the child was.

The dark-haired girl with very pale skin and dark clothing was far too young, but it was…Chrysanthe. She appeared to be only a few years of age, but since she was a goddess, she may have actually been older. Persephone was running nimble fingers through her shoulder-length hair, trying to get her to stop crying from whatever had set her off. Jolt was shocked; he had never seen or heard Chrysanthe cry. In fact, the range of emotion he knew was nothing…or a deadly smirk.

Hades approached the two, a powerful hand fisting in the young girl's hair hatefully as he threw her onto the floor on her stomach, glaring down at her icily. "Stop it! Now!" he yelled, but this just made her cry harder, louder. Jolt tried to look around for what had set off the god, but the only thing he could see that could possibly be considered out-of-place was a crumpled asphodel bloom, likely from the field of white asphodel on the other side of the castle that Jolt had seen only once before. He heard a sort of crackling and glanced back at where the three were. Black fire had gathered in the god's hands. It only took Jolt a moment to realize what would happen.

As if to stop it, Jolt ran forward and tried to catch Hades's wrist, but Hades's hand went right through his hand, leaving a cold feeling of dread starting in Jolt's stomach. He looked on mournfully as Persephone tried to protest. Hades was too far gone in anger to listen. He first burned the circle, then the semi-circle below the bottom half. Chrysanthe's crying had long risen to screams and screeches of terror and pain. Jolt winced as the god continued mercilessly. One line straight down her back, burning through clothing straight to skin. Finally, low on that line, he made a smaller horizontal line and surveyed his work.

The symbol of Pluto was burned into Chrysanthe's back, the girl reduced to sniveling and whimpering now that the pain was finally gone. Hades crouched in front of her, and Persephone rose to rush to her daughter's aid. The second that Persephone began to approach, Hades placed a shield over himself and Chrysanthe, keeping Persephone out of the interaction. Jolt watched as Hades placed a hand on Chrysanthe's head, not so violent now.

"Child, I apologize. That was irresponsible and cruel of me," he said in a more gentle voice than he had previously possessed. Chrysanthe was trying to quiet herself so that she wouldn't make a noise. "Do you accept my apology?" A quick nod to please her father, it seemed. Jolt shook his head with a sigh. Was this the only reason she was so devoted to her father? Fear?

Chrysanthe was pulled to her feet, told to change her clothing. Jolt followed her as she left hurriedly, Persephone held back so she couldn't go to her daughter. The knight's eyes were on the cruel burn that now eternally claimed Chrysanthe as a child of Hades.

When Chrysanthe arrived in her room, Jolt watched her remove the shirt carefully from her back, hissing and she seemed to be struggling so much. He tried to help, but as before, his hands just passed through her. He couldn't do anything to help. He watched as she put on another shirt to cover the painful reminder of her father's fury. Jolt swore he would have to talk to Hades…

The scene started to evaporate, and Jolt felt pressure as though he was being lifted through her life. The sounds blended together before fading, and colors melted back into that inky darkness he had been in before. He sighed, realizing this may take a while. He waited for the next scene to come, internally preparing himself for something even worse.