Queen's note: When something else pops out instead of what I planned to write, but I'm not unhappy with it I think

Garnets

Chapter Thirty Three:

Immortal

Valen paused as he heard a laugh coming from the keep, listening as he also heard the growling grumbling complaints that came from a live Sentinel wolf. The Argenta man walked in and was surprised to see a group of three. Ria had woken up again sometime in the evening while Valen had been distracted by some of the other Sentinels waking up.

Ria also seemed to have been grabbed by the Slayer and brought with him and Lily back to the king's retreat.

The demigod had come to check things out himself. Likely to help care for those that did make it while in stasis. They apparently found something more. At least the Slayer had, and knowing him, wanted to share the big wolves with those younger. Coming in, Valen saw the familiar forms of two of the Sentinel Wolves, laying stretched out in the cleared out area of the plants.

Lily had been working on getting the water flowing again, likely only brave enough to come back through the other area because of the Slayer himself. Or he carried her there.

Valen could almost imagine the demigod had carried Lily and dragged the poor young Ria under an arm. The man stood in the doorway, the barrier still up and seemed to be reinforced now that there was power in this section of the fortress. "So that's what was in the last sarcophagus."

Lily looked up from where she was stuck with a big head laying on her lap. The old wolf was napping there as the young woman pulled tufts of shedding fur off into a growing pile. The young Ria was sitting near her, working on brushing out more fur from the wolf. While to the side, the Slayer, John had two brushes and was almost done working on the younger male wolf. Who had the biggest lupin grin as his rump and tail wiggled as he was almost completely de-shedding of the excess. Showing that the wolves were thin from their stay in stasis, as it was made for the Argenta.

"You both look like you'll fall asleep again." Valen noted as he came over.

"You think I would have slept enough," Ria noted as he looked up from the old she wolf. But the young Sentinel was grinning as he was happy to see at least two wolves from his late unit members.

"Stasis, from a sarcophagus or a stasis pod, is not proper rest." Valen shook his head, coming over to check the old wolf who was sound asleep, "Take advantage of the time to get some real rest while we can, boy."

"Don't eyeball me like that," Lily sniffed as Valen was giving her a look. She pointed at John, "I know my sleep schedule is off coming up here. I blame him. His fault, not mine."

"Hm?" John looked up from the wolf, trying to figure out what he was being blamed for.

"Likely it was, but you too should rest too." Valen agreed as he lifted the big head, getting a grumble from the wolf and a blue eye open to peer at him.

"She's tired at least," Lily noted, almost done with pulling out all the loose tuffs on the wolf's head at least. A mound of fur was beside her as Lily was just starting to work on the thick, slightly matted main. "Almost tempting to shave them."

"We might need to for this old girl's other side, where she was laying on the fur." Ria agreed, having a good amount of fur de-shed off her back and tail. The young Sentinel looked up at Valen, he slipped his head forward, "And I will Lord Valen when ..urmp…"

He glanced at the Slayer.

"When he's not kidnapped." Lily filled in shamelessly.

"I almost forgot about his bad habits," Valen sighed, not forgetting at all, leveling his gaze at his King. Who looked just about genuinely confused. Almost.

Valen chose to ignore the Slayer for now, as the younger wolf tackled him to the side after his deshedding. Long legs flinging gracelessly over John's neck and 'hugging' before trying to pull the demigod off balance. Only to get rolled onto instead, as the not quite human growled right back at the exited wolf.

Lily was quite grateful that the wolf with her was more interested in laying her big head back in Lily's lap with a sigh.

"She did not handle the stasis," Ria worried, rubbing the old wolf's side, taking off swaths of the overgrown fur. "Sweet Rula aged so much in her sleep… How long were we in stasis?"

"I can not tell you, Ria." Valen said softly, shaking his head, "I've spent too long in hell as well as the Slayer. Time flows differently there, and I can't tell from the records here."

The younger Sentinel kept his eyes on the wolf, the only thing left of his mentor and partner left. A fleeting memory of his senior shield barrier had promised Ria a puppy from Rula. For a moment he wondered what of his blood family was alive back on Sentinel Prime. Then shook off those thoughts for another time, focusing back on getting the old wolf comfortable.

"Silly question?" Lily spoke up, running her fingers over the wolf's head and muzzle. Glancing up she motioned with her free right hand to first the older Rula, then to where John and his wolf were still play-wrestling. "What do these guys eat? I don't think we have enough or the right food for them here."

"They should be given refined Sentinel energy, like what's in the 'batteries.'" Ria said smiling as he looked up, "Like us, they can recover with that, and be sustained. The Sentinel wolves evolved with us in our world, and you share your wraith gift with your wolf."

"Do we have any to spare?" Lily worried.

"They will not need much at this point, but it would not be hard to find another." Valen glanced at John, who tossed a thumbs up as he heard that. He rolled to sit up, sneezed at the fluff around him before pulling the wolf into his lap as he was panting and exhausted. The wolf had a big canine-like grin, tired but happy. More so as big hands grasped and rubbed the wolf's 'cheeks.'

Valen considered something, but he nodded. His Lord would definitely find a way to keep the wolves alive. Sometimes before, he had seemed to like animals more than the Argenta.

…he probably did considering the pits.

'John' loved the wolves then as much as now, and oddly even the most loyal battle trained one would sneak to get a pet from him. It was not until Valen had seen his late wife's Wintherin took a keen interest that he had really, truly started to pay attention to the odd outlander back then.

Valen wondered for a moment if the Wintherin would also respond to the other humans, or Lily. He shook that thought away, as it was unlikely they would be back on Argent D'ner or Sentinel Prime. Maybe one of the outer colonies could be a possibility.

The older Argenta man shook those thoughts away for now. Focusing on helping with the older wolf before glancing at the neat stacks of harvested plants behind Lily on the edge of the pond fountain. It was impressive that it was running again. Valen guessed that it was Lily who had somehow altered the setting so though there was flowing water, it was not disturbing the lake lily that was still in the pool.

"Ria recognized the plants," Lily explained as she realized that Valan was looking at the two piles of leaves and stems. "They smell like nutmeg oddly."

"Oh?" Valen glanced to his side as the younger man sat up to stretch his back.

"Yes sir, they're a taga tea plant. I've just never seen them growing so wild. Shouldn't be too hard to retrain them into being manageable again." He motioned to the stack of leaves and then the stems. "We can have some tea once they dry, and if there's a sweetener I can candy the stems for a treat. Those other… humans? That are still in stasis might need the sweetness for the shock. If they're like the Argenta."

Lily looked up startled, not expecting to hear that. Knowing that in some cases sugar helped people, humans at least. It also helped the Argenta? "That's a kind thought, thank you."

Ria smiled back at Lily, then ducked his head to return to the wolf. He found that he was liking this human. Though she was definitely no warrior, she was kind. At first he had been surprised by this, given who her sire likely was, but kept it to himself. Then as Ria thought about it, it would make sense for his War King to not want his heir to be the same kind of fighter he was.

Ria still wholeheartedly believed that his King would end the threat of the Hell realm. Even now, not least of all because he was still alive and fighting despite everything. He was born in the Slayer King's rule, and had faith that he would end the threat once and for all, even if it was not in Ria's life.

Yet it might be.

Off to the side, John glanced up as if in response to those thoughts. He had a smile as he looked back down to the wolf, feeling full again. It was a nice feeling, being trusted that much again by his Sentinels. Valen trusted him again, but did not quite have that same kind of faith the younger two had in the Demigod.

John also took it as a good sign that Valen at least did not try to hit him again after finding the survivors. Or the young boy.

He almost wondered if it would help Valen to have the tiny kids around. Yet those were things that John did not have any real experience with. Not anymore, he knew how to make animals happy, remembered how to pet Daisy and the things to eat. How her namesake liked burgers and...and…

Something hazy came up in the back of John's mind. Just a fleeting moment of memory before the Sentinels, long before them and even before he willingly stepped into hell the first time. Before his own self imposed isolation to keep the gates of hell closed for as long as possible from the inside.

Just a moment he could remember laying down in a wide bed with soft sheets. Looking from the dark haired toddler sleeping on his chest, a tiny hand barely holding his thumb. Then looking over to see the boy's mother sleeping peacefully beside him, her hands lightly touching his arm so as not to hurt him after the procedure/alterations with the space core. He could see the forest of their home beyond.. the window…?

…Home?

The small memory stopped there. It did not fade, John just could not remember anything before or after that snippet in his past. He could almost remember smelling daisies, but that might be a trick of the mind. For a horrifying moment, though it did not show on his face, the Demigod wondered if he might forget those here.

He knew a human's mind, a normal one was not supposed to live as long as his did. Though he was not really human anymore, he was not sure what to think of being reminded of… this.

John shook his head, finding himself back in the present and that the wolf he found had fallen into a boneless sleep on him. He looked up to see the others had rearranged. Ria was cradling the older wolf and starting back. Valen was just pulling Lily back to her feet so she could brush off the fur and collect the harvested plant parts.

He was not quite aware of making a chuffing sound, but he did. Lily grinned at him now 'stuck' under a wolf. The girl came over to him as John sat up, pressing her head against the side of his own to show affection back how he normally did, unaware of the Slayer's thoughts.

"I'm going to take this back to the kitchen big guy." Lily said, getting a happy rumble back. "And make some more oatmeal for the other four that just woke up."

"Come on my king," Valen sighed as he looked around, "We have repairs to do as well. Let the kids rest."

"Plplpl," Lily gave him a raspberry for that but was already walking through the barrier to the retreat. Not wanting to admit she did feel like curling up in her bed again and cuddle her cats.

John snorted, waving Valen off as he got up with the limp wolf as if it was a puppy. Offering the big thing to Valen before signing. Take pup. Will clean up here, and take care of the fallen.

He tilted his head to one side where John had been sensing a lingering soul.

"Ah," Valen paused, trying to sense it too but only faintly. Maybe they could not face him, as their once commander. Valen took the wolf and headed out first, leaving the Slayer behind for a bit, and to keep Lily in sight now.

John sat back on the low, wide edge of the fountain-pond. He looked around, and huffed. Vega? Here?

"I am here Slayer." Vega's voice crackled a little in the one speaker in the sanctuary.

Why must I keep liv- The demigod cut off what he was signing. Thought about it and tried again. How can you make someone immortal without hurting them?

"I…do not have the answer for you, I'm afraid." Vega said after a moment's pause, not quite sure what his charge was really asking as the Slayer sighed. Head ducking to scratch vigorously at his scalp as if that would help things settle in his mind. Vega was distracted as he caught the faint images of two phantoms that seemed to be standing guard at the only true entrance to this tower.

Standing as if filling the roll of watchers for their King, even in death. Letting the Slayer have needed time to sort his thoughts for however long he needed.

Vega noticed it was nearly fifteen minutes before the Slayer was getting up. Heading to open one of the dark sarcophagus' and reaching in to lift the stuff, frozen body. The demigod started to hum a certain song as he turned. Likely heading to where the forge was, to take care of the body himself like the others.

Reviews!

Jordan213123: lol it makes me so happy you like this odd monster I'm writing! and yay? good thing I hope!

Red Viy: I'm not kidding that its going to be a running joke/thing in the story xD [more so once on Argent D'Nur]. All the nibble-nom treats!