Kei’s eyes flashed the moment Niall disappeared, but this time he was able to contain himself from any violent outbursts. They were pointless anyhow, and only served to entertain his father. He knew that any threat he could make would be empty, and even though Hades was his father their power levels were in no way equal. Hades of born of the strongest titan Cronus, whom sired all the Olympians as well, and Thanatos could barely be called a god.

So when his father commanded him to sit and eat, the boy did just that. Sitting himself to the chair on the right of the head of the table. He didn’t move to take any of the food off the table though, the dishes seemed merely a pleasantry as gods had no need for food. He sat still with his head down, not acknowledging any of Hades’s small talk. The sooner this was over with the sooner he could get Niall out of this realm.

“You could have had the boy here all you wanted. Why you played mortal above is beyond me." The last comment caused the god to twitch, and he finally looked up to address his father. He met the man’s flat colored eyes and knew Hades was staring back into eyes that looked just the same. His hand, that had been resting on the broken table, curled into a fist and his lip curled in disgust. “You know as well as I that it is not as simple as you’ve said.”

Souls were the essence of life. Which is why they thrived in the mortal realm, unlike the heavens or the underworld, a life spent in the mortal world was that the energy of a soul most desired. Even when a soul lived a miserable life their energy still craved to stay on earth. It was a matter of free will and choices, the energy that the mortal realm surged with could not be replicated in any other realm. Any soul that came to the underworld craved that energy. No matter what their living conditions may have been in the underworld a soul would fall into despair and depravity eventually. It would always long and crave for life because that was what they were. Even if Kei kept Niall’s soul for all eternity eventually his soul would lose any semblance of his mortal personality.

"You mentioned something about a deal?" Kei straightened at the mention of his objective, and wasn’t surprised when Hades knew what he was after. It worried him that it had already been 76 years though, he didn’t want the boy to think he had abandoned him. He cleared his throat and shifted his weight, suddenly feeling a lot more nervous.

“Yes, I want you to let Niall’s soul back into the mortal realm. You know that this wasn’t Niall’s destined end, are you going to let Hera start going around and killing anyone she pleases?” He could feel the bloodlust in his own words as he said the goddess’s name, everything felt so raw even if Niall had already been serving his father for that long a time. He swallowed, and knew what he was about to say was a deal that Hades shouldn’t be able to refuse. “In exchange, I will give anything you ask of me.”

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Hades watched his boy and debated. Thanatos really would give him anything he wanted? That was such a dangerous admission, even for a demi-god. Hades could ask for any number of things. He could order that Thanatos stay here in the Underworld. He could tell him to throw himself into the Pit of Woe. he could even say he wanted him to be Cerberus's chew toy. And worse of all, Hades could easily request that Niall's soul be damned in the darkest pits of the Underworld when he did eventually die again in the mortal realm. Why was his son not thinking before he spoke? Had this runt really enslaved Thanatos this much of there short year or so that he'd been with him? It was disgusting and Hades found that Thanatos had taken all pleasure out of this deal. What fun could he have when the man he was dealing with was already so broken?

He extended his hand gracefully and within moments, Niall's soul reappeared. Niall blinked and looked over at Thanatos and reached for him but he couldn't get to him. In moments, the form disappeared to leave a little ball of energy formed in his hand. "This is the raw form of Niall's soul. Shapeless, memory-less, vacant. His essence is much more vulnerable than the form you saw earlier and all it craves is life. If you get it back to the body, it will eagerly take up the empty vessel and form its shape again. All his memories will return.

"There are conditions however. As mentioned, this form is the most vulnerable for a soul, easily devoured and ripped apart. If that should happen, his soul will disintegrate and will be unable to return her or to the mortal realm. Your trip back to his body will not be easy. Cerberus will not allow you to just take a soul back across the river and he will attack. You need to ensure he doesn't manage to get to the soul. Secondly, the souls of the dead in Styx will hunger for the essence, wanting to feel that energy of life again, even for just a brief moment. They hunger, and are greedy. The boat will not be there for you. You will have walk the river. Fourth, you cannot touch it with your skin. Just as you have drained his life before, your touch will bleed the essence to nothing. And lastly, you have 19 hours, judge by mortal time, to get that soul to its body. If you do not, the body cannot accept the soul again, as I am sure you are well aware. " Hades used some of his own energy then to capture the soul within an orb like cage and handed it towards Thanatos.

"That will keep the soul in one piece as you leave the Underworld. Now, if you complete this task, you will not remain by his side. As soon as he breaths life, you will forget him. Your memories, your love, your sacrifice, all of it will be wiped clean and you will go back to doing your duty. You gained Hera's ire and you know as well as I that she will not give you peace. She will hunt this boy again and destroy him otherwise. Niall however, will remember you and everything that has happened to him. When he does eventually die and come back, he'll have his eternal rest like the other souls here and will not be subject to our games. Remember, Niall has suffered greatly for the use of his Sight and will be disoriented for the rest of his mortal life. However, he will not fall deeper to insanity consider Hera has taken the seat of his power. Do you really want to subject him to that loneliness?" Overall, Hades was not a cruel god though he played the part well. He dealt in punishments sure, but all punishments were deserved and nothing more. He did not willingly rip apart the souls that came to dwell in his kingdom and once this ill against the gods had been avenged, there was no reason to punish the mortal further when he returned. The task ahead of Thanatos was an arduous one. "These are the terms of my deal. Do you accept them?"

“Hades… Father, that soul you’re holding… he’s the one. He’s the one I was meant for. So I will do everything in my power to make sure he gets the life he was meant for, even if it means I’m not in it.” Even if Niall was only a ball of energy right now Kei could still feel him. His presence was unmistakable and indisputable, and even in that moment he yearned to be near it.

“I accept.” The conditions were horrible. Absolutely horrendous, stacked in Hades favor and with little room for error. Worse, by saving Niall’s soul he was throwing away the only time in his life he had ever been happy. He approached his father and took Niall’s soul from him gently, holding the caged energy with the tenderness he always used when he was with the silver haired boy. He looked up at Hades once more before turning away without a word. It was time to save the boy he loved. He walked out of the dining hall, snagging a dish that had been prepared to look like a roasted turkey without missing a beat. He needed something to feed the hound after all.

Keisuke was much more cautious leaving than he had been arriving. He could feel the eyes of the dead baring into him as he left. Even the souls that Hades had bound to servitude were casting longing glances and showing interest in what he was doing. No doubt the feeling of Niall’s soul was striking the deep seeded will to live inside them all. He was able to discourage these souls with simple glare though, they had already lost so much of themselves that their wills were china glass.

He could smell Cerberus before he saw him. The tangible rank of rotting flesh and blood was a give away of the dog’s presence. It was a beast unlike any other in the underworld and it only listened to Hades. Its three heads were all ferocious, but all had separate personalities of their own. They didn’t speak, but just the way the heads interacted with each other was a give away to that. Cerberus sat as the towering watch figure on the River Styx, a loyal dog that knew the rules and enforced them without any give. Getting by the dog would surely be the hardest of his tasks.

The menacing growl that erupted from all three as he approached stop Kei in his tracks. Three heads full of bloodlust and drool glared down at him and the soul. One salivated more than the others though, the head on the far left was looking at the turkey he had snagged off of Hades table before leaving. He felt himself smirk, winding up his arm to chuck the piece of meat as far as he could in the opposite direction before letting it fly. The head jerked as the meat sailed past it and threw the entire animal off kilter. He took the opportunity to run as the monster regained itself, one head still fighting to chase the morsel of food while the other heads attempted to lunge at him. He narrowly missed the snapping jaws of one of those heads and took off down the bank, he could hear Cerberus snarling and biting at one another before the thundering sound of paws hitting earth chased after him.

He thought he was dead, no way he could outrun the beast all the way to the point in the river he had to cross to get back to Niall’s mortal body. They had gotten so close that Kei could feel the breath of the middle head each time it exhaled and prepared himself for the worst when he suddenly heard a high pitched shriek echo against the emptiness of the underworld. He felt something hot blast by him and then heard the monster yelp in surprise. He smiled in relief, Eos had saved him and Niall.

He was gasps for breath by the time he reached the crossing point that would give him the shortest amount of time spent in the river, it was a nasty place what he would have preferred to never touched, but he didn’t have a choice here. Keisuke whistled for Eos, and raised the container holding Niall’s soul, it would be much easier for her to fly the boy across rather than risk one of the lost souls getting their fingers of the energy of the boy’s soul. Once Eos snagged the cage in her talons Kei took the first step into the river. Without the bird to distract them Cerberus was already gaining on him again, but he knew the beast would not cross the river it was outside of its domain.

The river was thick and heavy with resistance as the souls latched on to the energy of his immortal body. They were hungry for anything, souls lost and sentenced to an eternity of disorientation and despair, and snagged his ankles and he could feel the misery of their human lives permeate his skin and he felt goosebumps rise, but he trekked forward. Forcing his body through the sludge of souls Kei felt the energy being drained from him in troves and knew if he didn’t move faster the river would kill even him. They moaned at him, whispered and cursed his name, the despair they felt seemed his own and as he walked his sight became blurred with images of Niall’s dead body and he felt himself begin to hyperventilate. Niall’s body, the pain he felt, the anger, the bloodlust, the despair and agony. It was all too much, he wasn’t going to be able to hold on. The souls that swirled around him beckoned the god to stay, they whispered Niall’s name too, they wanted them both. And his hand collided with the dry ground of the other side. He dragged his body out of the river, his chest heaving with effort, and laid on the ground for a moment.

Eos came up to him and nudged at his arm. He pulled himself up and smiled at the bird, grateful to her. “Thank Eos, I wouldn’t be able to save Niall without you.” He picked up the cage with the boy’s soul in it and pulled himself to his feet. Phlegyas was sitting on his ferry looking at him with concern, probably because he cross the river without a ferry and he waved the deity off.

“Deal with Hades.” He murmured and the man nodded in understanding, though Kei didn’t miss the hint of surprise on his features. It was understandable though, Thanatos had never once struck a deal with his father before, gossip would no doubt reach the ears of every being in all the conceivable realms now that Phlegyas knew about it though. He was good friends with the Olympian Hermes, another god that often visited the underworld, though Hermes never made it farther than the River Styx, and Hermes could spread news faster than anyone else, and that included gossip. Surely he would be the talk of the realms. He suddenly straightened and looked a Phlegyas, the ferryman straightened with him looking concerned, if people learned the story of Thanatos, the god of death that fell in love with a life, their story would become engrained in mythology, but more importantly the Thanatos that forgot Niall would come to understand what had happened, and he might be able to find the boy again even once he had forgotten.

“Say Phlegyas, would you care to listen to my story?” The ferryman looked surprised, but eventually nodded and sat on the ground beside him. He smiled and tilted his head back, looking up towards the endless cavern of the underworld. He supposed he would start at the beginning, when everything had just been a phoenix and whim. He recounted his story as an epic, how he fell in love yet could not touch, his vow to protect, throwing away everything he had stood for in order to protect the boy he fell in love with. The deterioration of Niall’s sanity, the warning from Niall about Hera, running from her, being caught by her and he stuttered as he got to the boy’s death. He recounted Hera killing Niall, taking his Sight, Kei destroying Hera’s vessel and his grief. He told the ferryman of how in his grief death exploded all around him, the landscape had become barren and the wildlife and died where they stood in a mile in all directions. And he got to the deal with Hades and where they were now, “I am to return the boy’s soul, but as payment I am to forget about him and his entirety.”

“That is a story of Olympic proportions Thanatos, creatures of all realms shall recognize your story and the sacrifice you have made for all eternity.” The ferryman bowed to him and Kei smiled, Phlegyas had known his goal from the beginning. He stood up and nodded, Eos fluttered next to him and he walked towards the doorway to the mortal realm. He was on a schedule.

He ran out of the underworld, holding tight to Niall’s soul as he felt his godly body condense and shrink its power into the restraints of his mortal vessel. It was always an uncomfortable experience, but the man didn’t break stride. He had a couple hour of running ahead of him, and although he had a safe cushion of time he didn’t want to risk an unforeseen variable getting in his way. Eos flew beside him quietly as his breathing became labored and the sweat dripped down his face.

It seemed like forever before he reached the clearing, Niall’s body had remained untouched and because Kei had killed everything no animals had come to scavenge the body yet. He approached slowly and fell to his knees at the boy’s side. Kei ran his fingers over the boy’s cheek, it was cold and stiff and he felt the lump in his throat forming already. He turned to Eos, the phoenix watching him with careful eyes. “When Niall wakes up, I’m going to leave. You have to promise me to never leave this boy’s side, ok Eos?”

The fiery bird cocked her head to the side and looked between them, but it seemed she understood what he was saying and he gave the creature a grateful smile. He leaned now and pressed a soft kiss to Niall’s cold lips, there was a still a tinge of blood there from when he had been coughing up poison and Kei felt his expression scrunch up as he tried not to cry. It was inevitable, the tears started falling as his body shook. “I love you, Niall. I love you”

As he opened the small cage containing Niall’s soul he continued repeating the phrase, as if it would keep him from forgetting. He watched as the little ball of energy drift down and fell between the boy’s parted lips. He smiled weakly, tears streaming his cheeks, and Kei could immediately see the life return to the body. It was hard to believe that all of the things he was feeling would be gone in the blink of an eye. He kept repeating the phrase though, desperate to hold on.

He blinked.

There was a boy laying in front of him. He looked injured, blood on his face and mouth, yet he was still breathing. He had the most unusual shock of silver hair on his head, yet Kei found it suited him. The man had thought the boy might be dead, but the shallow rise and fall of his chest indicated that the boy was holding on. He looked around, shocked to see all the nature around him wilted and dead and he realized he couldn’t quite remember what he was doing here in the first place.

His eyes hurt, as if he had been crying, and when he tried to remember all it did was bring him a headache. He stood up and looked around, the carnage to the live around him made his heartache, he couldn’t imagine the power of the monster that had taken so much life unnecessarily. He clenched his fists and looked down at the human below him. Had the boy down this?

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Hades watched his son as he took the caged soul and sighed. "The one, huh? Well then you both are going to have onehell of a tortured eternity." he murmured. If Thanatos never remembered the boy, Thanatos would never find love again but at least he would ache for what he lost. The mortal however would know and remember and yearn for what was lost even after death until his soul finally began to give up its will and past experiences just like the rest of the souls here. Hades shook his head and stood from his throne. He went to his orb that would allow him to see into the mortal realm where he himself could not venture out simply to see if his boy would succeed at his deal.

Eos cooed to both her boys and looked down at Niall who was yet lifeless. His skin was pale and his blood was a deep contrast it almost looked staged. He remained motionless as Thanatos caressed his cheek and his soul seemed to brighten with its desperate need to claim the soulless husk. As soon as Thanatos released the soul, it slipped into Niall via his mouth, the same way it had departed only hours ago. The soul had experienced so much without its body but it was rejuvenated with the prospect of gaining life once more. The affects weren't immediate. It took a little while for a soul to reanimate a body and in Niall's case, it had to regenerate internal bits that had already begun to deteriorate with the natural progression of death. His body was yet stiff even as his lungs began to take in air and excel a portion of what would be normal.

As Thanatos stood and looked around them, Niall's fingers twitched. His soul was determined now. It was regenerating faster and it wasn't much longer before Niall's eye shot open and he gave a horrid gasp, truly alive now. His entire body was shaking as he rolled slowly onto his side to curl up in the fetal position. His lips were still a shade of blue and his skin as pale as snow as he panted and heaved, his body trying to remember its functions. The longer one was dead, the longer it took the body to remember.

"C-c-c-c-c-old-d-d-d..." was all he managed to choke out at first. Eos was quick to coo to her human as she lay down beside him. He reached for her with stiff arms and pulled her close to his body and relished her heat as she warmed his death chilled body. Niall forced his eye open again as he glanced around trying to ground himself and what was happening. He saw Thanatos a distance away from him and he reached out to him weakly.His lover was there... he was right there beside him. It had been so long since he'd seen him.

"T-than...at-t-tos...." he whispered. Eos nuzzled his face and rested her long neck over Niall's to drape herself like a scarf around him.

The man jumped when the boy that had been previously laying in the clearing gasped to life. Kei had been trying to figure out the cause of the carnage when he made his dramatic return from unconsciousness and the man found himself staring with wide and shocked eyes. He hadn’t expected the boy to wake up anytime soon, and he had been planning on leaving once he was sure that the boy wasn’t actually dying. Even if he didn’t know him Kei couldn’t leave a living thing to die. He knew better than anyone how precious life was and he would do anything in his power to ensure a person lived for as long as they were supposed to.

What was more curious about the boy was the flaming bird that was wrapped around his neck. Keisuke couldn’t remember ever seeing a phoenix in the wild before, they were extremely rare and hard to come by due to their abilities and nonexistent mating behaviors. For the boy to have one either made him extremely lucky or an incredible person. It peaked his interest, enough for him not to run the moment the boy awoke. He watched as the silver haired boy stuttered out he was cold and suddenly felt bad. If only his touch wasn’t dangerous, then he could aid the boy somehow.

"T-than...at-t-tos...." Keisuke felt his heart jump into the throat when the boy said his name. He immediately took a few steps back in shock, fearing the boy to be a bounty hunter of some sort. It scared him that the human knew his hit-man identity, killers were generally not accepted or treated kindly in any realm. He reached up to feel for the porcelain mask he wore when carrying out jobs for the gods and was surprised it wasn’t in place. The boy in front of him knew his mortal identity without the mask? There was a possibility he could divert him.

“Ah, sorry, I think you have mistaken me for someone else… My name is Keisuke Hotaro.” He pointed his index finger at himself and offered a friendly smile to the boy, and he suddenly noticed he had a gaping hole where his left eye should be. The man tried to search his memory for what had happened, but it really seemed like there was nothing, he didn’t even remember being here in the first place. He had been pretty sure his most recent memories placed him in the underworld. When he attempted to remember a dull throb began in the back of his head, it was warm and heavy, Kei found it wasn’t unpleasant though. Actually it seemed comforting, the warmth was gentle, not painful.

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Niall frowned as he looked up at his lover. Why was he being so distant? He remembered clearly the image of his lover holding his dead body, crying over him and wishing he'd come back like it was yesterday. Thanatos had come to the Underworld to save him from his fate. Why was he saying that he wasn't Thanatos? There was no reason for him to hide anymore. He accepted him for who he was. Had wanted him to kiss him. He'd do it all over again if he could. Thanatos had nothing to fear in him. He extended his hand weakly towards the man and offered a small smile. He was alive again. Keisuke could come back to him and hold him. They would be okay now. They'd go somewhere and sequester themselves away and everything would just... be fine. He wanted it to be fine. He didn't want any more sadness.

"You don't have to lie to me Keisuke. I know who you are. I saw you," he smiled softly. "You are beautiful in your full glory to. You came back for me... I remember all of that. I don't hate you," he answered. He tried to get up then but he ended up falling back. He was too tired and his body still needed to heal before he started moving away. His baby girl was already warming him up nicely. She cooed at him affectionately and nipped at his ear to make him smile and remind him that he was her boy. Niall ran his finger through her plumage gingerly and closed his good eye to try and rest it. At least he was used to not seeing with his other eye so not having it didn't affect his day to day life too much.

"We... we should go somewhere. Somewhere else. Somewhere quiet and just for the three of us. Then no one can bother us," he mused. "Yeah... that's what we should do..." he curled up tighter and earned a squawk from the phoenix when he hugged her too tightly. He buried his face against her and started to drift back to sleep. When he woke up next, he would be energized and everything should be working in proper order again. "Keisuke..." he murmured. He wanted the man to hug him like he had when he slipped away to the Underworld. Keisuke was very far away from him now and he didn't like that little fact. Why was he so far away anyway? What happened when Keisuke got to the Underworld? He remembered seeing him and then... everything went black. Ah well. He'd ask him what happened when he woke up.