Blitzkrieg [Maci, Hades, Seph, Meli]

[Macaria]

The pair of them cried together, on the floor in the middle of a dark hallway, alone except for the quiet creaking of the unstable and broken furniture in her room.

Hades was such an idiot. Why destroy her room if he was gonna be the one to clean it up? His palace, anyway. And she wasn't a little kid anymore. He couldn't make her clean her room.

I'm not a little kid? Really? she thought saractically. Here she was, crying like an infant in the arms of her boyfriend (who was also in tears). Hah. How so very mature.

"I-I c-can take us away fr-from here," she hiccuped, sniffing again, and frantically wiping at her eyes as Warren requested they go somewhere safe. Where to go? First instinct was Hercules' place, but he was already housing her, and she didn't want to take any more from him.

She could go to one of Warren's friend's houses, like maybe Will....but again, they had already housed them (him), and she couldn't ask any more of them.

It came to her in a flash. There was a place in the Underworld that was peaceful and serene and calm, filled with joy and happiness and it was beautiful and tropical and the picture of perfection. Hades couldn't get in it. And they'd be safe. Nothing bad could enter the Elysian Fields.

She clung tighter to Warren and then the two of them vanished into smoke.

***

"Here," she whispered even though she didn't need to. The pair were inside the world's prettiest location. Elysium. Commonly known as the Elysian Fields, Elysia, the Isle of the Blessed...

She was holding Warren by the hand, tears still running down her cheeks, although she was silent. The shades here were bright, and happy, with their families in nice little homes from every time period imaginable.

"We're safe here," Macaria again whispered, and snuggled against him, leading Warren gently to a healthy tree growing from the lush green grass. She sat in the grass and pulled him down next to her, still sniffling as she rested her head on his chest.

"We're safe," she repeated, mostly to reassure herself, and then, a third time, "Yes, we're safe."

[Warren Peace]

From under his closed eyes, he could tell that the light had brightened. It wasn’t quite like sunlight, but it was daylight, at least. He blinked a few teardrops from dark orbs and watched the landscape change from blurred colors to crisp shapes. The Elysian Fields. The Underworld’s version of Beverly Hills, without the pesky tourists. Heaven, in a sense, since every evil soul was barred from entry.

He followed Macaria to the tree and sat down with her, leaning back on its trunk as he cradled her to his chest. His shoulders still jerked with uneven breaths, silently hugging her, afraid that he would disappear if he let go. She was his tangible proof that there was at least one person who loved him. The atmosphere was nearly overwhelmingly peaceful, and he did feel safe- it didn’t really matter where they’d gone, he’d have felt safe as long as Maci was there with him. But he still kept on crying, simply for the sake of grieving.

How much would he endure for love?

It seemed that his feelings for Macaria painted a target on his chest. Would it just be better for the both of them if they diverged back to their own respective worlds? She was a goddess. Her power surpassed his own, and though she felt the same pain as him now, she had eternity to recover. He could only take so much before his body and mind broke under the stress. It was only a question of how much, and feeling so awful, he couldn’t help but think that he was closer to the abyss than he’d ever been. Attempts had been made on his life; he’d even considered the job himself once or twice, when he was feeling particularly desolate. And even if he managed to survive, how long would he keep feeling so worthless and sad?

"Maci, what are we doing?" he croaked, sobbing a little harder.

"Please… I-I just don’t know h-how m-much more I c-can manage… An-and I can bare-ly m-manage things n-now. And every-rything st-started happen-ning when I started cr-crushing on y-you…"

Warren let go of her as he squeezed his eyes shut, tears streaming down his cheeks. "Ev-everything just s-seems to be g-g-getting worse. I was s-starting to get bet-better, but then th-this happen-ned…" He scrubbed at his eyes and nose, drawing his knees to his chest and ashamedly hid his face. "And now I feel jus-just like I did after sh-she hurt m-me, and I k-keep thinking ab-about how she was t-touch-ching m-me and y-yanking on me with th-the same hands that k-killed peop-ple, and she could-d’ve killed m-me if she wanted, and I f-feel so g-god-damned awf-ful…"

He devolved slowly into uncontrollable sobs, quaking and sniffing. "I j-jus’ don’t-t know if I-I’m m-making things w-wor-worse by s-staying w-with you, an-and I’ve th-thought about j-just k-killing mys-self, b-but I c-can’t-t leave you, and I f-feel so conf-fused and-d I th-think I’m-m going craz-zsy and I dun-n-no what t-to d-do an’ I-"

Warren howled wretchedly, curling up and hunched over like he wanted to fold up and disappear. "I’m-m so s-sorry!" he bawled. "I’m s-sorry I’m-m s-such a wr-reck, and I c-can’t ev-fer be hap-p-py at all, and I’m s-so weak, and I’m n-not good-l-looking, a-and I c-can’t d-do anyth-thing right-t, an-nd I’m-m too fr-right-tened to l-look af-fter mys-self, and I’m s-such a w-wast-te of sp-pace--"

[~Elisa Maza~]

;_; *heartbreak*

[Macaria]

Macaria shook her head desperately throughout his choked and hysterical speech. He was wrong, he was wrong, dammit...

She leaned foward and kissed him when his words reached a sudden halt. Maci wondered if it was possible for her to kiss away his tears, to make the flow of sorrow just stop with a few romantic gestures and soppy words....she hoped so. But probably not. The thought brought fresh tears to her eyes, and on the verge of hysterics herself, she spoke, desperately.

"No," Macaria whispered, then louder, "No. No! You're not a waste of space, you're not....you're not nothing, you're everything, Warren, you're everything to me. I-it's okay that you're sad, it's okay that you're....that you're cr-crying, it's okay, something awful happened to you, no-one expects you to get up, dust y-yourself off and then walk away l-like n-nothing ever happened, Warren, it's okay, no-one's expecting anything else...nothing's y-your fault, nothing happened because of you, M-Melinoe didn't want, did-didn't care about hurting you, it's my fault, everything's my fault, if you're gonna blame someone then blame me not yourself." Tears were running freely down her cheeks. Macaria's voice was wavering.

"I-it's my fault you got targeted, and it's m-my fau-fault that you got h-hurt a-and I don't wa-want you to...to get hurt again because of me...maybe we sh-should j-just..." She squeezed her eyes shut. Stop crying, stop crying... Macaria thought desperately, but she only cried harder.

It was selfish, but she didn't want to leave him, and she didn't want him to leave her, even if it meant he would be so much safer. She couldn't let him go. She just couldn't.

"You're gonna get through this," she whispered.

Tentatively, she kissed him again. She couldn't leave him. And he couldn't leave her. They were in this together...

The thought sparked a quiet memory in the back of her mind and Macaria broke away and looked at him with her violet eyes, clutching his hands in hers.

"No...you said it yourself," Macaria whispered through tears, correcting herself softly, "'We’re here together, just catching each other when we fall.' We're gonna get through this."

She hugged him tightly, her hand reaching up to touch his face. Macaria blinked back more tears and said quietly, "You're not a waste of space. You're everything to me, Warren. I love you." Tears had started to flow again, much to her displeasure. "We're gonna get through this, Warren, we're gonna get through this together, and everything is gonna be okay. I promise."

Macaria kissed him again, and hugged him tighter as the tears finally began to slow.

[Warren Peace]

He kissed her as best he could, the action difficult with his trembling lips. His gaze lifted from the ground as she abruptly shifted the blame to herself. Dark chocolate orbs widened in disbelief, and he silently disagreed with her as he tried to keep breathing through the hiccupping sobs. They grew worse as she echoed his concerns about his own safety, and the rashness of their relationship. His eyes lost their focus and his head dropped to look at the soft grass, blinking several teardrops away.

Anyone could see that it was reckless, that they danced on the edge with their luck and chance. He was the stranger in Macaria’s world, and by being with her, he toyed with forces that easily overpowered him. But the thought of leaving her behind in exchange for a more normal life sounded awful to his ears. Yet he tried to convince himself that it was for the best, that he’d only get hurt again and again if he stayed, that Maci was also miserable for him and burdened with looking after him… but the singular thought of how afraid he was of being alone protested quietly, though he reluctantly tried to silence it altogether.

Macaria touched her lips to his again, their hands clasping each other’s, and he fought another oncoming of tears as she spoke again. Warren lifted his eyes to meet hers, amethyst meeting earth, and diamonds in both. Catching each other when they fell… he remembered his own words to her, the memory sad and sweet at the same time. Weeks ago, he’d been scraping rock bottom that night, feeling very much the same as he felt now, right until Macaria had told him that she loved him. The pyro spied a silver lining, though it shone faintly now, but somehow seemed as if it would glow stronger if they stayed together. Melinoe had failed in one aspect of her mission: separating Warren from Macaria and making him repulsive in her sight. Instead, the little goddess had practically been what had brought them together. Sure, Warren would have preferred something a bit more ordinary and clichéd, like a blind date or a cheap pickup line, but Maci was still his. For a horrifying moment, he tried to imagine what he would’ve done if she hadn’t felt the same… he hurriedly stopped the train of thought. The pyro could scarcely bear to imagine the loneliness he would’ve felt. He would’ve surrendered to it. Given up. Stopped his broken heart from troubling itself any longer. Maci had given him the will to face the pain and recover, the ability to slowly cure all the wounds Melinoe had inflicted… It felt good to defy her ghastly half-sister.

Warren rubbed his red and puffy eyes as the wave of tears spilled out, a droplet rolling over the contour of her hand that she’d placed on his cheek. He stayed silent, sniffing and waiting for his voice to return as she hugged him and kissed him a third time, inching closer to her on the grass, wordlessly thanking her for loving him, believing in him, simply being the reason he was still stubbornly fighting his legion of inner demons. He willed himself to believe her words as gospel truth, his chin on her shoulder as he kept holding her, calming.

He gave her a squeeze and found his voice, shaky but understandable, his eyes watering less as he breathed. “Don’t leave.” he said quietly with a shudder. “I need you.” He snuggled her for a few seconds, trying to let the peace of the vibrant, grassy expanse seep into him. “Maci… don’t say that any of this is your fault. Because it isn’t, and you didn’t do anything wrong. The only way it could’ve been all your fault is if you went and raped me yourself…” The corners of his mouth twitched with the ghost of a smile. “You couldn’t even rape me if you wanted to, anyway. I would’ve exploded outta my pants and gladly slept with you.”

Warren sniffed and blinked a few small drops from his eyes, his voice strained when he continued. “You didn’t do anything except become the best thing that’s ever happened to me… I don’t care what else happened, or how hurt I got, or how messed-up I feel. I-I love you. You make everything better…” He let a small sob escape his lips, clinging to her with his forehead on her shoulder. “…I-I just wanna stop hurting and being scared all the time. I can’t take any more. I’m done. I want my life back…” Warren pursed his lips and forced himself to breathe as he started to choke up, hugging Macaria like a teddy bear.

“…But none of this is your fault.” he repeated in a whisper, slowly letting go, his hands sliding down her back to her arms, lacing his fingers with hers. “And… I believe you when you say it’s not my fault, either. Melinoe did it, along with anyone who might’ve helped her and changed her into Persephone, or whatever else could’ve done that… I won’t blame myself if you don’t blame yourself.”

He sighed and released one of her hands to tuck his hair behind his ears, then curled his arm around her shoulders. “I’ll keep trying to get better…” he said softly, shutting his eyes for the moment. “Melinoe can’t kill love. No one can.”

Warren nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard a short, agreeing grunt not far off from where he and Macaria were sitting. The pyro’s head snapped to the voice’s owner, his eyes wide and intense. His expression was quickly subdued as he noticed the couple standing a few yards from the poplar’s shade. He hadn’t noticed them arrive at all.

The two of them looked is if they were about his age, give or take a few years. The boy must’ve been one who’d spoken- his hand was clapped over his mouth in an ‘oops’ gesture. He was relatively handsome, dirty blonde and tall, though not quite as tall as Warren. His tunic was charcoal-gray and fell just above his knees, and the girl beside him wore an Ionic chiton of vivid crimson, and a black shawl that appeared ragged and torn. She was a bit more darker-skinned than her companion, her jet-black curls of hair freely hung to her elbows, and slender eyes stared at him and Maci with concern and curiosity, but most of the curiosity was directed at him. They looked like the iconic pair of lovers, holding hands as they stared at the other, much more melancholy pair of lovers. In the following awkward silence, Warren briefly noticed that they both wore matching wreaths of a leafy plant with blood-red berries… it looked like mulberry.

The girl fidgeted a little, then seemed to make up her mind, taking a tentative step forward, then crossed the distance between the two couples, tugging her boyfriend with her. Warren relaxed and flushed, embarrassed that someone had seen him crying, but he held his eye contact with the two strangers. Their gait was also interesting to watch- they more or less glided over the ground. It dawned on Warren that the two lovers weren’t alive. As they stood next to him and Maci, he could faintly discern the surrounding scenery right through them. A memory clicked in his mind. Mulberry… Pyramus and Thisbe?

“Lady Macaria… is… is everything all right?” the girl asked caringly, her voice possessing a strange, echoing quality to it.

“Is he really alive? Like, breathing and heartbeat-ing and-ow!” Pyramus said with curious enthusiasm, though worry clouded his features as well, his voice echoing faintly like Thisbe’s. He yelped as she elbowed him, rolling her eyes with a trace of a smirk.

[Macaria]

"I'm not gonna leave," Macaria replied without hesitation, hugging him back, "I need you too." Perhaps not in the extreme sense that he needed her in, but she did, still, need him, badly. They had already been through so much together, they loved each other so much, the goddess had grown more then used to loving someone and having someone love her back. Her wide canvas of previous boyfriends, or rather, canvas of one-night-stands, had never actually cared about her. Maci had spent most of her life as the Underworld's mutual sex toy.

She wasn't sure what she would do if Warren left her for someone else, or just left, or if something happened to him, or anything. Besides having a mental breakdown, Maci had no idea how she'd react. But she knew that such a reaction was something she would like to avoid.

They needed each other, badly. It was a mutual dependance. Thank the gods they were both there for each other.

Macaria was quiet as he assured her that none of it was her fault, allowing herself a small smirk as he commented on how it was impossible for her to rape him. The smirk slowly faded, and to her annoyance she found tears swimming in her eyes once again. She snuggled closer to him, her head on his chest and her eyes squeezed closed as Warren told her again that she couldn't be blamed for anything, that all she had done was become the best thing in his life, that he loved her and that she made everything better for him...the goddess sniffed and clung tighter, opening her eyes slowly.

"Everything's gonna be okay," she whispered to him, "The pain isn't going to last foreer. We'll get through this." She smiled softly, almost sadly up at him. Warren took her hands in his and she nodded in agreement when he laid the blame to the real culprits.

"It's a deal then," she replied, "I don't blame me if you don't blame you. Sounds good to me." She snuggled him, smiling happier now.

His next words were entirely the truth. Melinoe had no power over love. All she could do was hurt people. But even that wasn't enough to break true love apart.

When someone else made themselves known nearby, Maci gasped, startled. Warren's reaction was similar, and he studied the pair of ghosts while Maci hurridly wiped away tears and stared in embarrassment at the two.

"Zeus-dammit, there's no privacy in the Underworld," she muttered under her breath, staring with distaste at Pyramus and Thisbe. The couple, when they were alive, had went to go meet each other under a mulberry tree - the berries had been white back then - and when Thisbe arrived, earlier then her counterpart, she had been attacked by....by something, Macaria couldn't remember which. But the something had ripped her shawl to tatters, and cut the poor girl, and she had ran the hell out of there. Pyramus arrived, saw the shawl and the blood, assumed she was dead, and did the only logical thing - stabbed himself to death. Of course, when she came back to find him and saw him dead, she had done the same.

(Their blood had splashed onto the mulberry tree, making the berries red. The gods were bored or something and decided to make them permanently red as a memorial, because they all really cared about a pair of random mortals. Maci still couldn't understand why they had given a s***.)

"I'm fine," Macaria said quickly, standing up to meet the two, "Just fine. We're both fine. We were just having a, um, moment. Don't worry about it." She rolled her violet eyes at Pyramus' interest over Warren - the Underworldians were either shocked or disgusted at the presence of a live mortal in the realm of the dead. It just didn't happen often.

"Yes, he's alive," Maci replied, her arms folded, "Really now, does he look like a shade to you?"

Pyramus blinked and reached out to prod Warren with a faintly transparent finger. Of course the finger went straight through his forehead - disadvantage of being a shade - and yelping, Thisbe hurried over to him and pulled him away.

"Don't do that," she scolded lightly, a hand on her hip, and Pyramus shrunk back a bit before reverting back to excitement.

"But he is alive!" the shade said happily, "I haven't seen one of these in centuries. Lady Macaria, what ever is a live mortal doing in the Underworld."

Maci, arms still folded, willed herself to be patient to them. "Visiting?" she offered with a raised eyebrow, and then looked to Warren and said directly to him, her voice dropping in volume, "Sorry about this. Really, there's never any privacy in the Underworld. Even the palace gets invaded by random people time to time."

[Warren Peace]

The pyro rubbed his eyes and glanced down, resenting the attention that perpetually followed him in the Realm of the Dead for the fact that he had a pulse, but no ichor. It was funny most of the time, but not now… he didn’t want the lighthearted, curious attention at the moment.

He sighed as Macaria commented on the lack of solitude in her realm. “It’s okay.” he whispered to his girlfriend, sighing and still red with embarrassment. “People die every day. I guess it can get crowded in here.”

He flinched as Pyramus attempted to poke him, failing as the shade’s hand passed through the pyrokinetic’s head. Warren gritted his teeth and shivered, clapping a hand to his forehead. It felt like ice, affecting him a bit harder because of his weakness to the cold. He blinked a few times as a short moment of lethargy passed him by, dispelled as he heated back
up. Dumb power quirks. he thought idly, then ran his fingers through his hair and tucked the brown locks behind his ear. Oddly, he still felt weary… The pyro sighed again as he admitted to himself that he had a reason to feel worn out.

At least the ghostly couple had taken a bit of the edge from his anxiety, especially with Pyramus’s antics, which Thisbe put a stop to with a look.

“…Sorry we interrupted you…” Thisbe voiced softly, looking apologetic. “We didn’t mean to. And we couldn’t help but overhear…” She pressed her lips together as she glanced back to Warren. The pyro’s gaze dropped, unable to look at the shade. She felt sorry for him. Warren rubbed his eyes as he felt them tear up, taking his hands away from Macaria and folding them in his lap, quietly expressing his shame at being pitied. Thisbe looked to Pyramus, whose happy intrigue over the real-live-mortal had become subdued.

“But… you’re right, you know.” Pyramus said quietly, he and Thisbe kneeling to Maci and Warren’s level. “Nothing can kill love. Not even death.”

“Aaand that’s why Thanatos can’t last more than two months with a girl.” Thisbe put in lightly, smirking a little and putting an arm around her boyfriend. “Pyramus and I wouldn’t let anything get in the way of being together.” She looked at Warren, giving the mortal a small half-smile. “I know it feels bad now, but things do get better. I promise.”

[Macaria]

"Tell me about it. Ugh, you have no idea," she muttered back to him, and rolled her eyes to punctuate her point.

Maci winced, concerned for a moment as Warren flinched and clutched at his forehead. Ghosts were icy when they touched you, she remembered, and Warren was a pyro, so...yeesh. She reached and took his hand in hers, flaring gently and shooting him an apologetic smile.

"Eeesh," said Macaria quietly, fighting back an instinctive wince as Thisbe revealed that they had overheard. Warren glanced at the floor, embarrassed for the same reason. Maci looked back up at the couple, "I-it's okay," she told them, a bit delayed. She had only just realized that they had apologized for intruding.

The two knelt so that they were all at the same level, and Pyramus' words made the goddess smile. They both knew about staying together....the worst had come to them (well, he had thought it had....) and yet here they were, even in afterlife, still a happy couple like they had been on Earth.

Thisbe's next words made Maci grin (although she pushed away a thought in her head that proclaimed how she had been with Thanatos for two years, if only because she was practically his sex slave - really, no-one needed the extra misery and she didn't like thinking about it anyway). "True that," she remarked instead, folding her hands in her lap and glancing back up at the couple. Thisbe's next words illistrated Macaria's thoughts exactly a little while ago and Macaria found herself smiling, the words of the shade greatly increasing her spirits ((pun )).

"That's right," she agreed softly, more to Warren then to Pyramus and Thisbe, "Nothing's gonna break us apart, not Persephone, not Hades, not Melinoe...." Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw the two shades wince and shudder at the mention of the demonic child goddess most shades hated and feared. Being in Elysium protected them against her, but still...

"We're gonna have to talk to her about this," she muttered under her breath to herself, clenching her fists without realizing it, "Ugh...although I think mom is doing it now, so we should be okay." She shrugged, "Still, I'd like to confront her about all this."

Pyramus and Thisbe exhanged glances and shuddered again in unison. Yes, Melinoe was scary. Confronting her in her own lair, with souls and corpses and Zeus knows what else was freakin' terrifying.

Macaria studied her hands as her gaze dropped. She couldn't and didn't want to do anything now....no, she was with Warren, but eventually...Melinoe just couldn't get off with just a slap on the wrist. Raping someone was a very bad thing, and when that someone was Macaria's boyfriend, it became a very extremely bad thing. Melinoe was gonna have to be punished.

"She's not gonna get away with this," she voiced, scowling, and her hands sought out Warren's and found them. She squeezed him and inched herself closer. "She might think she's gonna, but she's not. No way in Tartarus."

"I don't understand why you still keep her around," murmured Pyramus.

Maci shrugged. "She's Persephone's daughter....and Zeus doesn't want her, so, she needed someplace to go. She ended up here." Maci made a face. "Besides, the Underworld is sort of her power source....where else would you find lots and lots of souls all bunched in one place?"

"She hasn't....she's never, um....she hasn't raped anyone else, has she?" asked Thisbe, twisting her hands together nervously. Couldn't affect her, no, but she had a heart (unbeating as it was) and if twice the people were getting hurt by Melinoe and in a different way entirely, then...eesh.

"No," said Maci quietly, "No, at least, I don't think so. I hope not." She shook her head. "She was a virgin, too, when she...when it happened, so she couldn't have done it to anyone beforehand and if she had done it to people after someone would have heard something. A serial rapist usually doesn't go unpublished, even if it's in ancient Greece."

Pyramus and Thisbe nodded, out of understanding and relief. Macaria moved herself closer to Warren and hugged him, smiling a little warily as thoughts of her half-sister continued to invade her mind.

[Warren Peace]

Pyramus’s mouth curled into a small ‘o’ as Macaria’s flames touched the mortal’s skin without harm, and Thisbe looked relatively surprised as well. Warren squeezed his girlfriend’s hand a little tighter, shrinking from the shades’ stares.

"How’d you do that?!" Pyramus asked gleefully, swiftly receiving another elbowing from Thisbe.

"Born that way." Warren murmured, igniting one hand in a demonstration. Pyramus was mesmerized.

He pretended to ignore the intrigued shade as he knelt and played with the curling flames on Warren's hand, drifting through Pyramus's intangible fingers. His hand passed through Warren's when it got too close, and the pyro shivered as the flames died out.

Warren took his other hand from Maci's and rubbed his eyes again, hoping that the shades were right as he drew his knees to his chest.

He winced as Macaria mentioned confronting her half-sister. He hated Melinoe, but he was much more frightened than angry... he wasn't ready to face her.

Warren barely paid attention to Macaria and the spirits' conversation, too busy worrying. Persephone was going to talk to Melinoe right about now, but what would happen after that? Would she be punished enough to leave him alone? Or would she come back to toss him around like a broken doll? He gulped.

It scared him to death that she'd known where to find him, even though he'd never met her before. Who was to say that she couldn't find him again? Several tears dripped down his cheeks, hidden by the locks of brown hair that obscured his face.

He was mildly startled when Maci hugged him, ripping him out of his worries for a fraction of a second. Warren knew he'd be okay as long as she was there- she'd nuke the world over rather than see him hurt even more.

But what if she couldn't be there when he needed her, even for a minute... it took only a minute for Melinoe to kill someone. Warren curled his arms around Macaria, teardrops silently falling out of worry. If he stepped outside the Elysian Fields...

He whimpered. It was beautiful and calm here, but it was a prison nonetheless. And what about everyone else back on the surface? They didn't know who the real culprit was. Would Melinoe hurt them, too? The thought settled into the pit of his stomach like ice.

"M-maci?" he stammered hesitantly, looking up. Warren hastily wiped the tears away and tried to calm down a bit. "Can I... can we go somewhere more private?" He turned to apologize to Pyramus and Thisbe... but they were gone. It was like they'd only been a dream.

Warren stared at the patch of grass where the shades had been kneeling only moments before. "I... I wanted to make a phone call. Just to tell everyone upstairs the truth... I don't wanna leave yet."

[Macaria]

Warren didn't see the two souls vanish, but she had; they had simply melted into the floor and then they had been gone. Somewhere else in Elysium, no doubt. But now the two were alone.

"Some place private? Um," she said, thinking for a moment, "We can go back to my roo--no. Ugh, no." She grimaced. Hades had trashed the place simply as a way to vent his fury at her, and then she had done a fair bit of trashing, herself. Plus, of course, either of her parents as well as anyone in the Underworld could just waltz right in. No privacy there.

"I have a mini-palace," she said suddenly, perking up considerably, "Here in Elysium. It was a 16th birthday present." The goddess stood up, taking Warren's hand and pulling him up with her.

"It's much smaller then the main palace, but it's still somewhat big....and real private, no-one's allowed in but me and anyone I wanna bring with me." She grinned. "My parents can't even get in. Actually, they kinda can't even get in the Elysian Fields....partly why it's my realm. I'm one of the only people who can get inside down here." Macaria giggled.

"I don't have any phones around, besides my cellphone or anything. I don't even have electricity in this stupid place. But....you can use my cellphone, if you want, or yours, or whatever. Weirdly enough, the Underworld gets good reception."

She took both of his hands in hers, and readied herself to poof them elsewhere.

"Is the mini-palace okay, or do you have someplace else in mind? Or I can take us up to Earth, or...or at a friend's house down here, or something...it's up to you, anything to make you happier." She smiled warmly at him, waiting for a response. She would do anything to lighten his mood; he had had enough pain and sorrow.

[Warren Peace]

He nodded as he rose to his feet, sniffing once and blinking his red and puffy eyes.

"That's perfect, your palace here." The pyro glanced at his shoes, squeezing her hands. "Just... not Earth. I can't go back, if she..." he swallowed, his hands shaking a bit. "I don't wanna take any chances. Just in case."

Warren sighed, trying to relax. He was still worried...

"I feel bad for Persephone..." he said softly, looking back up to her violet eyes. "Everyone thinks it's her fault... I just need to set that right. Maybe you can help- just call Will, or something..."

He looked thoughtful for a second, pursing his lips. "Melinoe's putting a lot of stock in keeping everyone in the dark..." he quietly said, letting go of her hands to loosely hug her. "We need her exposed. If everyone knows, she can't possibly kill everyone to keep the truth under wraps." He sadly glanced at the ground for a moment. "Just... I'd prefer it if the details stayed between us." He looked back up to Macaria, his cheeks flushing red.

"But... can you get the message to whomever you know? I'll make calls, too. I've got my phone with me."

Warren fell silent, pulling his hug tight.

"... Let's go, I guess..." he whispered.

[Macaria]

"I can call Will, but I don't know anyone else, really." She shrugged one shoulder. "Unless you wanna give me numbers...I'm more then happy to help. I don't want the wrong person blamed for this, either, and people need to be aware about Melinoe." Maci bit her lip and nodded, agreeing with Warren's next words.

Although knowing Melinoe, she would probably manage to kill the people involved before word could really spread. After all, two could keep a secret if one was dead. And, say, a dozen could keep a secret if eleven were.

But she didn't bother to mention that to Warren, and instead told herself that she wouldn't let that happen. Melinoe would be exposed, for sure. She wasn't going to get away with this.

"My lips are sealed," she replied softly, and then she hugged him back and they vanished in smoke.

***

The two figures reformed in a totally new background, but if you looked out the windows that were in the hall, you could see the light of Elysium just outside. Macaria's mini-palace was, of course, entirely black, and looked a lot like the main palace, only smaller. And empty. Except for her and Warren.

She smiled at her boyfriend and led him down the hall. Her second bedroom was closer to the iron doors that opened the place then it was in the main place (where her bedroom wasn't only the last in the hall, but downstairs). She opened the shiny black metal door and pulled Warren inside.

It was similar to her bedroom in the main palace. All black, of course, although the window there wasn't in the same place and it revealed no River Styx, the bed was in a different spot and there was no dresser up against the wall. But other then that, everything was identical. Maci sat down on her bed and crossed her ankles under her black dress. There was a poof of smoke, and then an ebony cellphone appeared in her palm. Macaria glanced at it and played with it between her fingers absentmindedly.

[Warren Peace]

He shrugged out of his jacket and hung it on the headboard of Macaria's bed, fishing his phone out of the pocket.

"Maybe..." he said quietly. "Maybe you could spread it over Elysium? All the souls? She couldn't get to them in here... gossip spreads." Warren stared at his phone, unable to meet her eyes.

It was a huge blow to his pride to let others know he'd been hurt. But he silently insisted to himself that he endure it for his own safety... Even still, the pain was only numbed.

"Tell Will to make sure everyone else knows..." the pyro voiced softly as he flipped open his cellphone. "I'm gonna..."

He trailed off, trying to steel himself so that his mood wouldn't show through his voice. Warren punched in Elisa's number and held the earpiece to his head, absentmindedly pacing.

The ringing went to voicemail. He wandered over to the door and put a hand on the frame, hanging his head as he tried to compose what he wanted to say in a concise message...

The tone sounded.

"Elisa?" he nearly stammered, sounding timid. So much for not sounding shaken. he scolded himself. "It's Warren. I, uh... I don't think I'm coming over later, I'm staying with Maci..."

He bit his lip and drew in a shaky breath. "Elisa, listen to me. Something happened... I'm not hurt, don't worry, I promise I'm fine. I'm just a little shocked, that's all. I'll be fine." Warren tried to swallow the lump in his throat. "P-Persephone didn't do it. I swear I'm not crazy, there's no one threatening me here... But someone framed her, and I know you're friends with her... Can you talk to her? She'll explain everything, I can't... It's too complicated to spell it out now. Please, just do that for me."

He closed his fist on the message. The pyro winced internally; his voice had begun to waver at the end. Warren was at a loss for why, though... He was safe, Macaria was there, but his emotions seemed to insist on being moody and miserable.

He massaged his temple with his free hand, quietly sighing. When is this going to end? he asked himself. Warren didn't have an answer. It bothered beyond words: it'd been weeks, and he was back where he'd started. The tears tortured him during the day, and the nightmares took over when he slept. Why wasn't he getting any better? He thought he'd been recovering, but now this happened, and... He was right back in square one.

He moved his hand to his face, rubbing at his eyes again. How long could he afford to be so sad? He felt disconnected from his own life. Schoolwork had become difficult to focus on, and he'd taken leave from work just so he could finish it and avoid getting held back a third time. Mom had taken time off as well to comfort him, though he had protested not to. Money was already a looming problem for him and his mother... if he didn't get any better, their poverty would steadily get worse.

Even now, he felt that he was mooching off the people he cared about. Surely they all had better things to do than look after him, and he wished that they didn't insist upon waiting on him... Will was fourteen, and should be focusing on school and his own future, especially with his potential. Elisa should be fussing over preparations for her new baby, not him. Nani's life was hard enough, and she didn't need any more worries to plague her. And Macaria was getting dragged into his rollercoaster emotions, and it killed him to watch her cry.

[Macaria]

Macaria nodded. "I'll make an announcement later. Souls are really chatter...y The ones in Elysium can't leave Elysium and tell the others, but if I tell someone out there -" She gestured, a hand waving to indicate the rest of the Underworld, "Word'll get around real fast."

She bit her lip, then glanced at her own cellphone. The device had been a mystery to her when she had first gotten it. Thankfully, after a period of use, Maci had mastered the pieces of technology and she knew how to use it pretty damn well.

Macaria opened the phone and scrolled through her limited contact list until she came to Will's number. The goddess listened to Warren's message to Elisa for a few moments before selecting the option to call Warren's hero-in-training best friend [Hercules reference intended. XP].

Maci leaned against the headboard of her bed once Will had picked up on the other line. Her tone was as casual as she could make it at the moment.

"Hi, Will," she greeted cheerfully, "Hey, I'm passing on a message for Warren, okay, and I need you to spread it around....Tell people. Make sure everyone who thought mom - uh, Persephone raped him....make sure everyone who thought that knows the truth." She took a breath, and pushed her hair away from her shoulders. Macaria continued, "Persephone didn't do anything tro Warren. Melinoe did...Melinoe did everything. I know it sounds weird and random, but it's the truth. I can't go into details, but...just know that Melinoe is Warren's rapist, and make sure others know, too. Know the name. Mel-i-noe."

Macaria didn't bother to explain who Melinoe was, exactly. The name should have been enough - Melinoe wasn't a common name, and she was well-known for her crimes. The name would be recognized.

Macaria bid him goodbye and hung up, then glanced at Warren, who was still standing by the door. She stood up and crossed over to him, standing behind him and wrapping her glowing arms around his waist. She leaned her head against his back, between his shoulder blades, and sighed.

"It's all gonna get better," said Macaria softly, "Everything's gonna be okay."

The goddess sighed again and stood on her toes to kiss his neck. After a moment, she vanished, and reappeared on her bed, her hands clasped around her phone.

"Anyone else you need me to call?" she questioned.

[Warren Peace]

He closed his eyes as she hugged him, sighing to echo hers. "I think we're good for now." he said quietly as Macaria returned to the bed.

Warren blinked his eyes open, staring sadly at his phone. It would be good to call her, he supposed, but... "There's just one more call I need to make. Give me a few..." he said, disappearing into the hallway to be alone.

His face was blank as he hit a number on his speed dial. She was back in the states, so the call shouldn't have been long-distance... he wasn't quite sure what exactly amounted to "long-distance" in the Underworld. It still intrigued him that the realm had service.

The other line picked up on the third ring. {Wei?} said a soft voice on the other end.

"Mama."

{Warren...} his mother sighed sadly, a hiss of static over the connection. {Ni shenti hao ma?} Are you all right?

"Wo bu shufu." I'm not feeling well. "Wo xuyao ni..." I need you... He felt himself begin to choke up. <<Mama, I'm getting worse. Something happened, and I-I don't know what I'm doing anymore.>> W-wo leile. I'm tired.

{Warren, baobei...} He felt the tears come at her pet name for him. Its irony felt comforting at the moment, as if in the lonely solitude, he was permitted to be a child again. {<<Do you want to talk about it?>>}

"Shi de..." Warren croaked, trying to keep his voice under control. <<Y-yes, it concerns you, I need you to know-->>

{Shh...} his mother silenced his babbling. Warren sobbed quietly, absently placing his fist over his mouth. {<<I know it hurts. Please don't be afraid to cry... It's okay. We can talk later. Just cry and slow down.>>} He obliged.

"Wo xiang ni." he whimpered, wiping away the tears with his free hand. I miss you.

{<<So do I.>>} she answered. Warren thought her voice sounded strained, as if she was fighting tears, too. {<<Will you come home anytime soon?>>}

"...Wo bu zhidao." I don't know. <<Mom, I don't want you staying there, either. The person who... ah, sh-she might come back, but I don't...>>

{<<I'm not. Don't worry about me, Warren. You're the one I'm worried about. Whenever I see you, you're always so sad, and I'm just so sorry I wasn't there for-->>}

<<Mama, it's not your fault...>>

{<<Neither is it yours.>>}

He hiccuped a sob. <<I don't know what else there is I can do... I can't fight this. I'm getting worse, and I'm so confused... I-I want it to stop. Please. Can't you... can't you just use your powers on me and take it away? Please...>>

She sighed again. <<Baobei... That's not the way to solve this. If I force you to be happy, it's only going to be temporary. You know that. And when it wears of... You'll relapse into this, and you won't learn to cope.>>

<<But-->>

{<<Huifeng, listen to me.>>} Warren drew in a sharp breath, his attention more focused. She'd called him by his personal name.

{<<I know you're scared. I know you're heartbroken. And I know you want to get right back up after every fight and keep going, no matter how hurt you are. The fact that you can't is what's discouraging you. But Warren, you have to understand that recovering isn't instantaneous. It takes time, especially for you. You may be strong on the outside, but you tend to dwell on things much more than you should. Baobei, you're so smart, and I know you're strong. You need to think that, too.

{<<But you have to keep trying. No one can do everything right all the time. We're human, we make mistakes, we trip and fall. There's no shame in messing up, in failing. But neither can you fail all the time.

{<<Keep your friends close. You think you're just being a burden to them, but your pain is theirs, too. I know you're not good with people, and you're used to keeping people away, but you'd be surprised at how much some people care about you. Seeing you hurt makes them suffer, and by helping you, you're solving the problem together. It's difficult for you, but let them in.

{<<And don't be afraid to ask for help and tell others how you feel. Remember when you talked to me about Macaria? Warren, you love her. Show her how much you do by refusing to let this thing get between you two. She makes you happy.>>}

He'd seated himself on the floor, gently crying with his phone to his ear.

"H-haode..." Warren affirmed her between sobs.

{<<Warren... I don't want you to give up. You're all I have left. I have a distress call on the other line, so I need to go, but I want you to know that there are people out there who love you. We're here to help.>>}

Warren sniffed. "Zaijian." he whispered.

{Wo ai ni.} I love you.

"Wo ye ai ni." I love you too.

He dropped his phone and let it clatter on the floor as his mother ended the call, covering his face with his hands.