"Mel!" The goddess seemed near paralysed from fear. Their plan had gone to Helheim, but they weren't dead yet! "MEL!" Atreus grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. "We have to get out of here! Which way?!"

"I'm sorry Atreus... It's all my fault..."

"Hey!" He forced her to look him in the eye, away from Alecto still trying to come after them while the storm of elks kept her locked down. "Are you still alive?! Then focus on staying that way! Which way?!"

Her green painted lips closed as she tried to shut out the sound of Alecto's juddering laughter. She looked to the window, shook her head and pulled her would-be partner in rescue in the opposite direction. "This way!" The two of them leapt off of the cliff directly into the depths of Tartarus.

From there... They ran. Melinoé guided them as they moved from room to room of the underworld maze of damned souls. They worked to keep themselves as discreet as they could as they fought their way through the tortured spirits. Atreus avoiding his flashy light and lightning arrows or summons, Melinoé sticking solely to fighting with her dagger and sickle, flashing through her former charges with wicked blades while Atreus covered her from afar. And though Melinoé guided their path, Atreus very quickly came to realise it was less directed than it appeared to be at first. She moved decisively every time, knowing which path she would take, but it could also be said she moved without caring which path she would take.

After a dozen or more rooms... She stopped. Breathing heavily. "I think we're safe for now," she said, looking at Atreus in apology. "Atreus... I'm sorry."

But Atreus didn't need to hear it. Not now. Not yet. "What do you mean we're safe 'for now'?"

The spirit goddess blinked at her apology being ignored entirely. "I... This is Tartarus. The domain of the Furies. Alecto, Tisiphone and Megaera. Their job is to torment the souls here, punish them for their vile deeds. Because of that, they know this place like... Well, like their home. Because it is. Alecto and Tisiphone especially since they weren't even allowed into the House. If Alecto can't find us... Nyx must be hiding us again."

"She didn't look great in the mirror."

"No," Melinoé agreed. "Father knew about the plan. I don't know how. He knew Nyx was in on it so removed her before we even arrived. We never had a chance." She swallowed thickly. "Atreus–"

"I don't want to hear it."

"I've gotten us both killed!"

"You gave me a choice and I chose. I wanted to help and I knew the risks."

Yet Melinoé couldn't accept it. "You were just a kid then!"

This was pointless. "Are you going to waste energy feeling guilty for the choices I made? We still have to get out of here."

"We'll never make it. The whole plan hinged on us being long gone before Father even knew Zagreus was free. Now that he knows... He'll be waiting for us." The implication of that didn't need to be spoken. Hades was one of the gods that slew the titans, millennia older and stronger than Melinoé who herself had two millennia on Atreus. He had been forged in the fires of a war between gods and came out victorious. And even more than that, had proven himself unable to die.

If he was so determined to stop them, there was very little hope that they could escape.

Unexpectedly, a second light shone down into the room. Not the light of Ixion, the false sun that lit the Realm of the Dead. Instead it shone like a spotlight on the floor. A vibrant green rimmed with sunshine yellow.

"Is that...?" Melinoé murmured.

"Atreus! Atreus, can you hear me?!"

"Artemis!" Atreus exclaimed, running into the light without hesitation. "Is that you?!"

"Yes!" An exclamation of victory and agreement both at once. "Okay, look, I'm sorry about before. I was being stupid and jealous. Even if it turns out I was totally right about Melinoé's plan being dangerous for you, but not because she was doing anything sinister and that wasn't fair so I'm sorry for that too and–"

"How can you see through Nyx's concealment?" Melinoé interrupted the babble with open worry that cut through any other sentiment. "Has it fallen?! Is she–?!"

"No, no! It's still working!" Artemis promised. "You're fine. It's just, I might have been spying on you a little bit? Apollo lent me his power. The light of the sun chases away the night."

"Did you tell Hades our plan?!"

Atreus would never have believed that, but the facts lined up for Melinoé's accusation to make sense. The number of other people who actually knew was very short and all of them were imprisoned or hunted.

"NO!" the huntress exclaimed the moment it was voiced. "Of course I didn't! Look, you can be as angry at me as you want, I deserve it, but right now you need to escape!" Suddenly, the light shining on Atreus glowed brighter, coalescing around the young god's form, his bow and tattoos shining green with their own light.

The feeling... No, the enhancement of feeling, it was intense. The son of Kratos could feel the power of the blessings she just imbued him with. The enhancement of every sensation, sight, sound, scents in the air, all of it feeding him so much information. His body felt lighter, his movements surer and more precise. Atreus knew how to hunt, he had been training in such things long before he met Artemis, had trained in them with Artemis as well. And yet. Swift and sure. This was what it felt like to be truly blessed by the Goddess of the Hunt.

"If you go... Er, if you go north to a river tributary, then east, you'll come to the closest route out of Tartarus and we can go from there."

That was good. A route forward was good. Hades could be a problem for the future. "What about Zagreus and Nyx?" Atreus asked.

He could feel the distaste for that question through the light. "The Furies are after you, to say nothing of Lord Hades himself! You need to–!" But he could also both feel and hear her sigh as she stopped speaking. "... South, west, north, east, then... I'll guide you." She clearly didn't like it, but wouldn't argue. "Atreus... Please don't die." It was the most vulnerability he had ever heard in her voice. "I couldn't bear it if I lost you too. Even if it's only to be furious with me, just come back."

The shaft of light faded to nothing, leaving the pair to be bathed only in the light of Ixion. "She really cares about you," Melinoé said softly. "I've never heard her talk like that before."

It sure seemed that way. Atreus hoped they would be able to talk it out if, when, he got out of Hades' realm. "She said south first, right?" He turned, heading for the southern exit into a long hallway.

Lost him 'too'? What did that mean?

As the pair emerged into another room full of malevolent shades, the blessings of Artemis immediately made themselves known again. A sickly yellow spirit immediately assaulted him with blasts of cursed energy, manifestations of their hatred and despair. And just as immediately, Atreus slipped out of the way so easily it was as though he never expended the effort. His bow came up, drew, loosed a bolt of light that sought the 'throat' with unerring accuracy. The spirit seemed to detonate on impact. To say nothing of the second bolt of green light that flew from his bow without his input, seeking a target he hadn't even cared to acknowledge yet and punching into the rotund spirit's engorged belly. The hardier spirit rushed at him but he leapt over it, loosing one, two, three arrows at the back of its head as he soared overhead. The spectre dissipated into nothing, three more green bolts seeking another yellow spirit to destroy it without his input.

Skulls. Spirits in the form of animate skulls swarmed him, but it was no greater threat than irritating birds harassing him. Though they came at him with great speed, his bow snapped out to crack them each in half in turn or even two at a time. Each movement as precise and flowing yet snappy and decisive; it was like his body could move exactly as he wished it to, like it reacted as fast or faster than his own mind did. This was excellence in all things. This was what it was to be at his peak by Artemis' teachings.

"I didn't even have to do anything," Melinoé said in mild awe. "It's like having another Artemis down here."

"No," Atreus immediately denied. He knew better. He had seen what Artemis could do and he was still not like her. Artemis learned and leaned into her own godly nature, reaching a level of ability effectively no one could ever reach. "But I'm closer than I have any right to be." He still had to learn his own nature, but this was a level of skill worth aspiring to.

"It's a great boon, but don't get cocky. Take this as an opportunity to get used to what you can do. It's only going to get more difficult from here."

Atreus took the advice to heart. He remembered the tour he had gotten as Charon rowed them down to the House of Hades. Tartarus held the malevolent dead. Asphodel the common dead. Elysium though... Elysium held the fallen heroes. The greatest warriors to worship the Olympians. While Hades loomed as the greatest obstacle to their escape, they would need to overcome Elysium first.

And before even that, rescuing Zagreus and Nyx.

They fought on, Atreus learning more about the blessings Artemis had granted him. He wasn't simply unerringly accurate. It took genuine effort for him to miss. Each arrow found a devastating target, dealing what would have been horrific damage were the targets not already dead. Accuracy over speed, his father had taught him. Well when accuracy was a foregone conclusion, Atreus' hand was a blur, drawing and loosing at every target as fast as his fingers would allow.

Room to room they moved, carving a path of destruction as they made their way, following Artemis' beams of light leading them through obscure path after hidden path over and over again. Eventually reaching a staircase down.

"Here it is," Melinoé said, staring with an unreadable expression at the staircase.

"The prison?"

"It's all a prison," the spirit goddess answered with a gesture around them. "This is the prison for those Father would prefer to be forgotten. Were it not for Artemis I doubt we would've found it. Nyx was going to guide us here but..." She shook her head.

Atreus took her hand and squeezed, prompting an uncertain smile from her. They were already in far too deep to have second thoughts or waste energy on nerves. The son of Kratos led the way down the stairs, the two of them coming out to an open space lined with doors bearing heavy and complex seals.

"I should have known," Melinoé said despondently, looking up. Hovering above them was a woman with a withered, sunken appearance that wore what seemed to be a permanent look of horror. Her grey skin contrasted with the green of her clothes and accoutrements including a loosely hanging whip. "If Father knows what we're after he'd have this place guarded. Hello Tisiphone."

The horrified woman ignored the daughter of Hades. Her eyes landed on Atreus as she spoke only a single word. "Murderer."

Atreus' eyes widened as he felt a sudden, crushing weight, his mind conjuring an image he would never forget. The look of sheer surprise of the man who had fallen on him, wide-eyed and staring. Unmoving after Atreus' knife sunk into his flesh and ended his life. The boy god trapped beneath him, too small and weak to move him. Or too stunned and horrified to even try. Until his father rescued him.

"Murderer," Tisiphone repeated, floating down toward him, her whip raised to strike.

But Atreus stood, raised his bow, a bolt of lightning on the string. "I had no choice! He wanted to kill me! I had to!" Close his heart to it. Close his heart to it.

If anything, that only made the Fury angrier. The horror on her face joining with rage. "MURDERER!"

"We're gods. We can do whatever. We. Want."

He collapsed, the Talon Bow slipping from numb fingers as Atreus fell to his knees. Modi's grinning, bearded face in the moment before Mother's knife slid into his throat and cut. Before Atreus' foot kicked the dying god into a chasm. "I... I'm sorry..." He could feel it. Every ounce of guilt he carried, everything he tried to push away so he could function. It all crashed down onto him at once, forcing him to acknowledge every bit of regret all at once. In the presence of the Fury Tisiphone, a murderer would bear the weight of his transgressions so that he may be punished for them. "I'm sorry..." The despair. There was no escaping what he had done. No making it right.

"Enough!" Melinoé stepped forward, between the kneeling Atreus and the hovering Tisiphone. Blades raised, she stomped her foot, a spell circle flashed into being around the two of them right as Tisiphone's whip crashed down.

The shield not only defended against the strike of the whip but also struck the Fury in return. "Murderer!"

Atreus tried to stand. He had to! It was what his father did every single day, bearing everything he had done! He wouldn't, he refused to allow himself to do less! If he couldn't stand bearing his transgressions, he couldn't commit himself to being better than what he had been that day! If he couldn't stand, everything he was trying to do would fall to nothing! He couldn't get back to his father! Melinoé would die here! Her brother would stay trapped here! He couldn't let himself be crushed by what he could no longer change!

Slowly he levered himself up to a hunched standing posture, leaning on the limb of his bow even as the metaphysical weight of his sins tried to force him back down. He stared defiantly up at Tisiphone.

But Melinoé looked at him with worry. They both knew it wasn't enough. Defiance could only get him so far and she couldn't both fight Tisiphone and protect him. But she would have to try. They had no choice.

Tisiphone, infuriated by his defiance, bared her teeth as she bellowed one more time. "MURD–!"

A flash of purple behind her. Another woman of grey skin appeared from behind Tisiphone, her rose-coloured whip lashing around the Fury's throat.

"Megaera!" Melinoé called out, relieved but worried all at once.

In a voice like a whisper that still managed to echo around the prison, Megaera spoke. "Do what you came to do." She grabbed Tisiphone's arm as it tried to claw at her, pinning it in place. The punisher of murderers struggled, looking as confused as angry. But with one last look of regret, Megaera said one last thing. "And tell Zagreus I'm sorry."

In a flash, the two Furies were gone. The crushing weight subduing Atreus returned to its prior state of metaphor, allowing him to stand comfortably. "She saved us?"

"... Yeah."

"Will she be okay?"

Melinoé didn't answer, which was answer enough. Instead the daughter of Hades moved toward the cell that was the most recently disturbed. Lights, colours and shapes of magic coated the door, Melinoé manipulating and adjusting them as if figuring out a complex puzzle. An intricate lock meant purely for the purpose of keeping the occupant in. Bit by bit the seals came apart until there was only a solidly built door blocking the way. Atreus joined her, the two heaving the heavy door open.

"Nyx!"

The pale goddess of the night hung limply in black chains, her clothing dishevelled and bloodstained. She smiled up at the two through her dark hair hanging over her face. "Hello, child."

"Atreus, help me with these!" Melinoé demanded, grabbing the cuffs and working to undo the mystical aspect of the bindings, at least for long enough they could remove them by force. "Pull with all you've got on one, two, pull!" The three gods used all the strength they had to tear the chain from the wall, or break the chain itself, whichever came first. In the end, the chain gave first with a metallic clunk as one of the links broke, leaving Nyx with one arm free and a broken chain dangling from her wrist.

"Thank you," she sighed, her other arm quickly getting the same treatment as the night goddess undid the bindings with one hand and broke the second chain herself.

"Are you okay?" Atreus asked, not having a clue how to treat wounds like hers. His father just kind of willed them to heal and they did.

An ability Nyx replicated, though it clearly taxed her to do so. Many of her more severe lacerations closed up, though many more of the less severe remained. "I'll live. Atreus, I wish we could have met under better circumstances, child."

"Heh, do you call everyone 'child'?" he asked, trying to bring up the mood a little.

"Hm," Nyx laughed, wincing. "Most everyone is a child to me. Even Lord Hades." She sighed, weary and straining. "I appreciate your rescue, but I'm afraid I cannot help you escape as much as I'd like. I can continue to conceal you as you make your way out of Hades' realm. Beyond that... I'm afraid I'd be more hindrance than help until my strength returns. You should hurry to escape Tartarus at least. Pursuing you will only grow more difficult for Lord Hades from there."

"What about you?" Atreus asked.

She smiled at him for his consideration. "I can manage my own safety. It would take Lord Hades himself to fully suppress me without the aid of this prison, and he is currently otherwise occupied. Come." The soft-spoken woman led the way out of her cell, crossed to the other side of the prison to a specific cell that looked no different from the others. Her hands moved surer and swifter than Melinoé's had as she unlocked the sealing magics. With a wave of her arm, the door slammed open.

"Zagreus!" Melinoé rushed past Nyx to look over her brother. He wasn't chained like Nyx had been. Instead, by the looks of the cell, he had received the exact treatment Melinoé had described as the purpose of the prison. He had been locked down here. Forgotten.

Slowly, uncertainly, the son of Hades looked up from his position slumped in the corner of his cell. "... Hello, Mel," he said with a charismatic smile. Even after over a thousand years of imprisonment he still seemed to have the charm Melinoé had described to Atreus.

Nyx smiled at the scene, before looking at Atreus. "Hurry to the surface. I'll do what I can for you on the way."

"You're sure you'll be okay?"

"That's a question to ask once all of this is over, child. Good luck."

Atreus watched as the goddess was consumed by darkness and vanished into it. Shaking his head, he entered the cell. "How is he?"

Zagreus blinked at the new face, then smiled again. "Mel, did you come all this way to introduce me to your new boyfriend? I'm touched."

Atreus' eyes widened as he blushed, looking away.

"Smartarse," Melinoé laughed with tears in her eyes as she punched him in the shoulder. "Can you move? Our escape is going to be a bit more fraught than I hoped."

"Dunno, been a few hundred years since I bothered. Let's see." With effort, Zagreus levered himself from his sitting position, rolling forward to put weight on his legs as he pushed himself up. "Oof, need a bit of a stretch I think, but," he twisted his upper body left and right, "Yes, I can move."

"Good, we'll need you to." Throwing her arm to the side, her open hand closed and pulled, dragging something out of something in a way that vaguely reminded Atreus of Brok and Sindri's stepping between realms trick, if not as baffling or incomprehensible. "Here."

Zagreus took the forked spear in hand. "Varatha... How did you get this? Wasn't this lost? Went to that... Guan Yu fellow?"

"It did. He died. Couple other people got hold of it between then and now. And now you have it again."

"Father's old weapon." He absently twirled it like he had done it every day, rather than it being the first time he saw it in a millennia. "You couldn't have found the Stygian Blade?"

"Well, er, about that. That one broke."

"... It broke. The Blade of the Underworld. Broke."

"Look, some fellow named Arthur got hold of it in the war, some things happened, it broke. It's a long story and we really don't have time for it!"

Zagreus sighed. "Fine, I'll make due with one of the finest spears the world has ever seen," he said with a smirk before fully turning his attention to his other rescuer. "Hello there. Zagreus, God of Lifeblood," he introduced himself. "Welcome to the family, and, well, my condolences for joining the family."

Getting a proper look at him, Atreus... Couldn't really see the resemblance between siblings at all. Hair, skin tone, facial structure, if it weren't for both of them having one eye that clearly came from their father and how both their feet glowed yellow with heat, Atreus would never have guessed they were related. So long in a cell had evidently done nothing to diminish the son of Hades' physique, muscled in the appropriately Greek God aesthetic.

"Uh, yeah, Atreus, God of... Something. Nice to meet you."

Melinoé rolled her eyes. "Probably something hunt-related. Artemis has really taken a shine to him."

"Wow, Mel," Zagreus said with a small grin. "Taking after your brother in the romance department? Sharing really is more fun, isn't it?"

"Oh, shut up."

"Speaking of..." The grin dropped from hsi face, replaced with a look of concern. "How are Than and Meg?"

Meg. Megaera. Atreus grimaced. "She–"

"She's fine," Melinoé interrupted. "So is Thanatos. But right now we have to focus on getting you out of here."

"Alright, lead the way."

Atreus looked at Melinoé, silently asking why she hadn't told her brother. She grimaced and looked away. She didn't want to tell him, not yet.

It wasn't his place to refute her, no matter how frustrated it left him. Hypocrite that he was, wanting her to tell her brother something he deserved to hear when Atreus couldn't bring himself to do the same for the man who wasn't his father.

Once again, they followed Artemis' guiding light through Tartarus. Zagreus mostly kept behind the other two, getting used to freedom of movement while practicing the movements of wielding the spear.

"Wow," the god of blood uttered as he watched Atreus perforate every malevolent spirit between them and their next path forward. "You weren't joking about Artemis taking a shine to him."

"There's other circumstances, it's an apology as much as anything else," Melinoé answered, not realising she was pouting slightly.

Though Zagreus noticed and bumped her shoulder. "Come on, don't be like that. I wasn't joking about the sharing thing. Everyone wanting everyone else to be happy. Really does work so long as everyone is on the same page."

"Now really isn't the time to talk about this."

"Shame. Oh well." He wrapped an arm around her. "So long as you remember you've got your dearest big brother's shoulder to cry on."

"Oh bugger off," Melinoé answered, shoving him away and making him laugh. The moment he did, it was like her irritation was shoved aside. Hearing him laugh. It had been such a long time. Even if everything else went wrong, she got to hear it again. That alone changed her attitude instantly, her arms wrapping around him to his surprise. "I'm getting you out of here." It was a promise she made herself so many times, but now she was making it to him. Even as dire as things were, she would see it through.

They continued on the path. Until Artemis' light seemed to stop. Focused on one route, but then shifted to another. "We're changing direction?" Atreus asked, unsure if Artemis could hear him.

"Guess something changed?" Melinoé offered as explanation, peering down the path they were being guided away from.

Zagreus followed her and took his own look. "Wait, wait I know this path! Why would we go another way? Come on!" Ignoring Artemis' now flashing light trying to divert their attention, the son of Hades walked heedlessly down what he claimed was a familiar route.

"Zagreus, wait!"

"This is the path to a hidden route up to Asphodel! It's right here! Why would we go any other–..."

Atreus and Melinoé raced to catch up with him, only to find him stopped still. Standing, staring, not at the two familiar faces standing before him. But at the figure hanging from the wall above the stairs. Limp. Broken. Bleeding.

"MEG!"

"Zagre...us..."

"Well this is nostalgic! It's been so long, Zagreus!" Alecto's grin was all teeth, toying with the cord of her whip still stained with Megaera's blood. "She's always been the softest of us. Do you think that was your influence, redblood? Couldn't bring herself to finish Tis here, and look how she paid for it."

"Murderer."

"Still, we're on orders," the most vicious of the Furies said with a sigh. "She's still got a job to do and we'll make sure she keeps doing it, one way or another. You three though..." Her tongue ran across her teeth. "Lord Hades wasn't too specific about his traitorous children, but," her eyes flashed with malice at Atreus as he once again struggled under Tisiphone's judgement, "He promised I can have fun with you."

-(-)-

A/N: This chapter seen very very early on THE GREAT FORBIDDEN P! FEAR THE P! LOVE THE P!