The Chamber of the Furies. Located as far as it could be from the House of Hades without leaving the lowest level of the Realm of the Dead entirely. No one wanted the Furies anywhere near the House, save for Megaera who had permission due to her being and remaining somewhat sane. Here the Furies lived, resided as guardians of the path to the upper levels. Under no circumstances could the tormented shades of Tartarus be permitted to escape.
The Chamber was a large and imposing room, almost like a grand cathedral. And yet despite being a vast open space, flashes and clashes of steel and spell rang out through the entirety of it. Such was the inevitability when those of divine blood clashed. Nowhere would be safe.
And yet, the children of Hades did their best. As Atreus knelt on the floor, barely able to move, struggling to even stand, Melinoé and Zagreus did what they could to keep the battle away from him.
"MURDERER!" Tisiphone screamed again, exploding with green bursts of energy that launched toward her victim.
"Gah! Varatha! Aspect of Achilles!" The spear in Zagreus' hand shifted, its shape contorting until the viridescent blue weapon shifted into an ostentatious winged and golden shape. Rearing his arm back, he threw the weapon through the cloud of green energy bolts, the son of Hades flickering instantly to his weapon to sweep more of the onslaught away. He stood in front of the young god, blocking Tisiphone from even looking at him. "Tisiphone, it's me. You remember me, right? Zagreus?"
"Mur... Zag... Zagre...us..." There was recognition in her eyes.
"Don't do this, Tisiphone. It doesn't have to be like this!"
Meanwhile, Melinoé was clashing furiously with Alecto. The razor-sharp whip of the Fury clashed with the goddess' blades. Each strike faster than sound, each attempt to strike in passing met with an equally fast reaction, despite both women surpassing the speed of sound.
Alecto cackled. "Come on! Am I supposed to be threatened by you? You damn near pissed yourself the last time we–! Huh?!"
Melinoé didn't miss her moment. Her opponent's legs bound in spectral chains from the trap she had laid down, the daughter of Hades struck with dagger and sickle, carving bleeding furrows into the Fury's blocking arm. "You think it's you I was afraid of? Am I supposed to be threatened by you?"
"GAH!" From within herself, the Fury produced a circular saw blade bigger than she was. "Damn right you are!" She swung the blade, forcing Melinoé to back off for a moment, taking that moment to strike the chains with the whirring, spinning blade. Freed, she tossed the new weapon, allowing it to lash out at the goddess.
Melinoé struck the weapon once, deflecting it at the cost of a heavily jarring impact that allowed Alecto a whip strike across her back. "Ngh!"
"I'll have you scream yet!" the sadistic Fury glanced elsewhere. "Will it be in pain or heartbreak?" Two more furiously spinning blades emerged from her. But Melinoé wasn't the target.
"ATREUS!" The goddess ran, desperately, even though she knew she wouldn't reach him.
"ULFR HLAUP!"
Melinoé had seen this particular spell of Atreus' many times. It was one that he most commonly used. The pack of wolves were vicious, fast and each one dangerous in their own right. As an archer, they allowed him to stay at the rear of the battle and do what he did best. The pack sowing chaos among his enemies.
This was not a pack.
One, monstrous wolf. Glowing with ethereal blue light. He snarled as one mighty paw came down, slamming a whirling blade to the ground and pinning it under his paw. The other he caught between his teeth. Powerful jaws pulling creaking sounds from the weapon until inevitably the metal shattered under the pressure.
The beast howled. The sound may well have echoed through all of Tartarus.
"Mel, I'm fine!" He was overstating it, but he could defend himself well enough even if he still couldn't move.
There was no way Tisiphone couldn't notice the massive beast in the room. She had to intervene. "MURDERER!"
Atreus buckled but refused to break. "The past, is the past," he recited through gritted teeth. "I can only move forward!" He collected himself again, readying his bow. "Focus on her!" He turned his attention away from Melinoé, instead helping Zagreus who seemed to be struggling far more. Not expecting to be refused so quickly, she couldn't move away from the lightning fast arrow that pierced her chest.
"That's right," Alecto taunted, not paying any attention to her sister's pain. Instead grinning at the daughter of Hades. "You should focus on me."
Melinoé turned to not see Alecto but instead the spinning blade coming for her head. At the same time, she heard a lupine yelp and metal scraping against stone. With contempt, she raised an arm and the blade struck a barrier she had prepared to guard her back while she would help Atreus. The barrier shattered but not before deflecting the blade back at its owner. And to add insult on top of insult for the casual dismissal of the attempted trap, she leapt upward. Over the second blade that was coming for her back.
But as Melinoé ascended, so did Alecto. Both women rendering the blades meaningless for the moment. The Fury wore a spiteful, eager smile full of sharpened teeth as she swung her whip over and over. Malevolent spheres of red energy spraying forth from her.
"Spretta!" A dozen blue shafts punched right through the onslaught, clearing a path as three more green bolts weaved their way toward Alecto, impacting one after the other.
Once again, Melinoé didn't waste the moment. The Fury left utterly defenseless.
Meanwhile, Zagreus was faring much better once he no longer had to worry about protecting one of his rescuers. The big blue dog was an ample guardian. And with Tisiphone's occasionally seizing body, she was far more vulnerable a foe.
And yet... "Tisiphone." He hesitated. He understood how the world had changed without him. There were no more second chances. Not for him... And not for her. And even with what had been done to Megaera... "Tisiphone, don't make me do this!" He didn't want to kill her.
She streaked toward him, her whip cracking against his spear. "Mur-!" She fought the word, the only word she could speak, until he had helped her. "Zag... Zagreus." After a thousand years of seeing the horrors of murder, of slaughter, she was left unable to speak of anything else. Until him. His name was the first other word she had said for a thousand years. But when he was gone...
However, that didn't matter as much as he hoped it would. She had a duty. And no matter the horrors she experienced witnessing and punishing the foulest of deeds, she had never forsaken her duty. Her eyes hardened.
Zagreus didn't want to do this. In all of the hopelessness and misery, there was good in Tisiphone. He looked up at the bleeding body of Megaera, tried to use that image to harden his heart to what he knew he had to do.
"... Damn you, Father!" His body flickered, once, twice, three times. He threw the spear that Achilles had once wielded, not at Tisiphone but past her, flashed to it, flickered once more and rammed the spear into the Fury's chest, driving her into a wall.
... With the butt of the spear. "Surrender," he demanded. He couldn't do it. He still couldn't do it. He couldn't end her, not knowing it would truly end her.
And yet she stayed silent. Still with that same resolve in her haunted eyes. With anger in his own, he raised his free hand from which fired three curses one after another. Spells that would weaken her, make her vulnerable. Vulnerable enough that when he struck her again, and again, and again, he managed to render her unconscious.
On the other side of the room, Melinoé still clashed with Alecto. Driven to the ground, the sadist caught one of her serrated blades, once again throwing it at the daughter of Hades. But this was just to grant herself a moment for another gambit.
Through the walls appeared sickly yellow shapes. Humanoid. Ethereal. The tormented shades of Tartarus.
Melinoé dodged the spinning blade once again, ignoring it as it once again bounced toward Atreus only for the wolf summon to catch it like a frisbee. She looked around at the new combatants with contempt. Not for them, but for the one who summoned them. "Alecto... Have you forgotten who I am? SHADES OF TARTARUS! HEED MY CALL!" The beaten down spirits seemed to surge with unexpected vigour at the command. "Take your vengeance on she who revelled in your suffering!"
Every single one turned to face Alecto. Their faces were misshapen and hazy, but unnecessary to understand the vindictive glee they carried for the opportunity. "Huh," Alecto muttered with a frown.
"You compel them out of fear. Even without my nature, they would turn on you at the first opportunity."
Even massively outnumbered, Alecto refused to relent. "Then I'll remind them why they fear me." Her whip lashed out, carving through two shades in one strike. Others were caught in the haphazard dance of her one remaining spinning blade.
But.
A glowing skull slammed into the base of her spine. She grabbed and crushed it in one hand, but the moment of distraction saw her penetrated by Atreus' arrow, then suffered a curse from a spirit. And finally, Melinoé tackled her to the ground, stomping on her shoulder while yanking her dominant arm. The whip dropped from her fingers as the bone snapped.
"AHHHHAhahahaha!" Her scream of pain turned into demented laughter, still grinning up at the woman who defeated her. "Chip off the old block, huh? Maybe you're right not to fear me." The grin widened, almost to her ears. "But Daddy's gonna cut out your pretty little eyes and feed them to the dog! Hahahahaha, hahahaha–ghlk!"
The heavily enchanted and impossibly sharp dagger carved through skin, flesh and blood vessels as it punched into Alecto's neck. The power of the spectral arm wielding it passing through the weapon ensured the fatal blow would be truly final. "Find peace, Alecto," Melinoé said softly. "Consider it my gift to you; a gift you never gave anyone." The blade withdrew, allowing a spray of blood to emerge from the wound as Alecto's eyes turned dull and lifeless.
The battle was over. With Tisiphone unconscious, Atreus was able to stand, to walk, under his own power.
Melinoé approached her brother as he looked down at the unconscious Tisiphone. "... I can seal her down here," she offered. "It won't last forever. It won't even last long once she wakes up. But she won't be able to follow us out of Tartarus."
"... Please." He turned away, seeing a giant ethereal wolf blocking the exit. Or more accurately, acting as a perch for Atreus standing on its head. Carefully pulling the bleeding Megaera from the wall where she had been left to hang. "Meg!"
The wolf lowered his head, allowing Atreus to hop back down to the ground. "Zagreus." His name came out as a ragged breath as he ran toward her. "I'm sorry. I couldn't–"
"I know." He didn't need to hear any more. "There should be a font up these stairs," he said, not waiting for anyone to argue his intentions as he took her from Atreus arms and hurried up the stairs.
Trusting the son of Hades knew what he was doing, Atreus instead approached Melinoé. The goddess having put Tisiphone on the other side of the entrance and bricked it up with debris, in the process sealing it with spellwork. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
The tone told him everything his divine empathy couldn't. She was very much not fine. But her tone made clear now wasn't the time to push her on it. "I'm sorry I couldn't help much. Kind of made things worse."
She looked away from her spellwork. Her eyes full of a strict emotionlessness, only for something to give in her feelings. She looked away again. "You helped enough." With a wave of her arm, what used to be a door was covered by a glowing circle. A seal to block Tisiphone from following at least for a while. Easily long enough for them to escape to Asphodel above. "Let's go while we still can."
Atreus nodded, following behind her as she ran to and up the stairs at the opposite end of the room, only to be forced to stop behind her as she stopped at the top. "Nyx?!"
The goddess of night hugged her surrogate son as he struggled to hold himself together. At the call of his sister, Zagreus gathered himself, putting up what both Melinoé and Atreus now knew to be a strong front. "Children. I'll be taking Megaera somewhere safe for now so she can fully recover. Remember, though the path may be difficult. Above and below, you have allies to help see you through this, one way or another."
"Thank you, Nyx." Atreus got the feeling Zagreus' words weren't for what the goddess had just said but for something else entirely.
"You are welcome, child."
With a swell of darkness, both she and the rebellious Megaera vanished from the stairwell.
"Sorry for stepping on a sombre moment," Atreus said, breaking the tension, "But could we do that? Teleport out of here? We're out of Tartarus which is supposed to be the prison part. Or maybe teleport further up at least?"
"If only," Zagreus answered. "This is Father's domain. The Realm of the Dead. He sets the rules here."
"Like Hestia and her eateries," Melinoé continued for him. "One of the most important rules here is that there is no escape from the Realm of the Dead. Unless we happened to have similar levels of authority here, or power to surpass his, or a sufficient combination of the two like Nyx, we have to take the slow way."
"And if we have to take the slow way we might as well keep moving, else it only take longer," Zagreus finished. "Come on, let's go."
Both Atreus and Melinoé saw through his sudden take charge attitude perfectly well. Covering for them seeing a moment of weakness with a display of strength and conviction. Still, after what he had been through, neither were in a rush to call him on it.
As they reached the top of the staircase, a wave of heat washed over them, each of their bodies swiftly coated in a layer of sweat. "Ugh, didn't miss this," Zagreus groaned as he looked out at the lava-soaked fields of Asphodel.
"It's better than it was!" Melinoé insisted. "Atreus," she said looking back at him, "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Been through worse heat than this."
The goddess looked at him with confusion but before she could question it, all of their attention was taken by a loudly clanging bell in the distance, as well as a subtle rumbling beneath their feet. All three of them carefully backed away from the lava's edge, fearing something would come up from beneath.
Instead, the cause was visible far before it reached them. Islands in the lava smashed out of the way as a massive vessel barrelled toward the shore, coming to an abrupt stop mere inches away from the edge.
"Is that... The Barge of Death?" Zagreus asked, examining the vessel that seemed to have just carved its way through most of Asphodel to get to them. "How did it even get here?"
"Ain't that a question for the ages!" Came a voice from above them, from the upper deck of the barge. From over the edge appeared a skeleton with red eyes and... Dark facial hair at the sides of its skull. "Seems a lovely lady came to ol' Skelly sayin' some folks could use a ride! So here I am!"
The son of Hades laughed joyfully. The most genuinely happy his companions had heard him sound since they had freed him. "Skelly, you're a sight for sore eyes!"
"Never hurts to be appreciated, boyo! Hop on!"
"Should I ask who that is?" Atreus asked Melinoé.
"It's... It's a long story."
"All aboard!" the skeleton declared. "Set a course! Second lava flow to the left, then straight on 'til morning!"
Zagreus quickly hopped up to join the captain of the vessel as it began to move back in the direction it came from, the two chatting like old friends. Incidentally leaving Melinoé and Atreus alone at the bottom.
Both had questions. It was the goddess who gave voice to her thoughts first. "You don't have to tell me. I know it can't be a pleasant subject. But Tisiphone's power, the effect it had on you..." She didn't fully voice the question. The implication asked it well enough, while leaving him the option of avoiding it for her not truly asking.
"... I've killed two people myself," he answered. Hiding it would be worse than explaining. And she had never hidden anything from him. He knew Artemis must be watching and listening too and he didn't intend to hide it from her either. "The first one attacked me. Me and Father. They were starving. Cannibals. Father told me to stay back but while he was fighting them off one came for me. He grabbed me and I stabbed him. His body fell on top of me, trapping me under him. I watched the light go out in his eyes." The life slipped out of his voice as he recited the events. But as he finished, he felt Melinoé's hand take his. She didn't smile. Didn't show anything. Just the patience of someone listening to what he had to say.
"I don't feel so guilty for that one. I... I was young. Small. He didn't give me a choice other than let him kill me. But the other..." Atreus swallowed. Even now he planned to hide things from her. "His name was Modi. He and his family were hunting Father and I. A lot of things happened, but, Father defeated him and he ran away. The next time we saw Modi, his father had beaten him nearly to death. He wasn't a threat. He..." He shook his head, realising he left out an important detail. "Father had recently told me what I really was. That I was a god. I was so sure I was above everything, that I could do whatever I wanted. And after everything Modi had done, hunted us, attacked us, said awful things about my mother, I wanted to hurt him. I wanted to make him suffer for all of it. He couldn't even raise a hand to defend himself when I stabbed him in the neck."
"Atreus..." She squeezed his hand. It was a comforting gesture. Told him she wasn't rejecting him after he told her the worst thing he had ever done. "You said it yourself. He was hunting you. He would have recovered and come for you again."
"That doesn't matter." It didn't. It couldn't. Even in the most favourable interpretations of what could justify killing another that allowed such a pragmatic approach. "Even if that was true, that wasn't why I did it. That wasn't why I killed him. I didn't even see him as a threat in those terms anymore. He was someone I wanted to hurt. I wanted to make him pay." He had tried making such justifications before. That Modi would have come for them, maybe with his father. That Modi would have hurt other people. That the realms were better off without him. Every single one rang hollow knowing he cared about none of it in the moment. "I am a murderer."
"Then so am I."
"Alecto was going to chase us the first chance she got."
"I could've disabled her like Zagreus did, sealed her off. She'd be as unable to follow as Tisiphone is." The goddess shook her head, continuing before he could make any more excuses for her. "I hated her. I always hated her. The Furies, they exist to cause suffering to the souls dwelling in Tartarus. It's their duty. But Alecto, she always did it with a smile, she never cared about anything else but how she could make people hurt. She was as bad as anything else in Tartarus, if not worse. I wanted her to die, Atreus. And when there couldn't be consequences worse than what we already face, I took the chance. Because I wanted to."
There wasn't much he could say to that. He didn't believe that was the same, but arguing the point wouldn't bring either of them peace, just as Melinoé trying to justify his actions wouldn't either. The two of them both had done things that couldn't be undone. All that was left was to live with those choices.
The two sat in quiet, hand in hand, listening to the bubbling of the lava around them as the barge carried them to the next leg of their journey.
-(-)-
A/N: This chapter seen very early by my generous supporters on THE GREAT FORBIDDEN P! FEAR THE P! LOVE THE P!