To Hell And Back For You {Chapter 6}

”I hear the walls repeating...”

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     Peasley took a bite of some of the jerky he had brought with him for the journey. It wasn’t his favorite, but it had been incredibly abundant in the market while he was in the market, so he figured that it wouldn’t hurt to stock up on what was available. Besides, Geno liked jerky, and he would need food a lot more than Peasley by the time he got to him, so at least he could be happy.

      Unfortunately, nothing was really enough to distract him from the worst feelings in his head at the moment. First of all, his feet were hurting from walking so much, and he knew he was the only one who had to worry about this. But it was all part of the trip, and he knew his only choice was to suck it up and deal with it.

      The second and more painful thing on his mind were his thoughts about Geno. He didn’t talk to the other Star Spirits in order to avoid talking about the subject directly, but they were still prominent in his head. It was like everything that could’ve possibly gone wrong went wrong all on the same day, leaving a stack of problems on both of them. And knowing Geno’s was objectively worse made guilt gnaw away at Peasley’s heart.

     “Stop!” Hippolytus said suddenly, snapping Peasley back to the moment and making everyone freeze. He put a finger to his lips, gesturing for them to not ask any questions, and all of them just listened, scanning the horizon.

     Even without any magic, Peasley could feel something was different. The air had a strange metallic taste to it, and the landscape had become unnaturally quiet, even for where they were. Instinctively, Peasley slowly drew his sword and held it at the ready.

     As if on cue, Hippolytus also took the bow off his back and nocked an arrow in it, pointing towards the empty distance. This pretty much confirmed that a fight was coming, making everyone stand at the ready.

      Suddenly, the ground in front of them burst open and a very large creature rocketed out of the ground and high speeds, shooting soot and rocks everywhere and making the four have to brace themselves. The ash stung Peasley’s eyes as he tried to look back up and see what they were up against.

      The thing looked like some sort of moderately sized dragon demon, and several small goblin-like creatures were riding all over it.

     “Raphims!” Rhea shouted. Peasley could only assume that was the name of the smaller creatures, and they looked exactly like the thing he had seen that told him Geno was gone. So he had absolutely no qualms about cutting a few of them down.

     The group of Raphims all jumped down from the back of their ride, revealing there to be about 8 of them. None of them wielded weapons of any sort, but they looked ferocious and ready to tear into them at any moment.

     “Hippolytus! Hit that flying thing! We got these imps!” Rhea ordered to her friend, and he simply nodded in response. This also made the Raphims charge, making everyone stand their ground to prepare for them.

      It became clear immediately that the creatures weren’t at all durable, as Nereus beheading one with her axe caused it to crumple to ash and blow away. However, on the flip side, there were more of them and they were very fast. It also seemed they could heal if they weren’t hit in the right place.

      One of the creatures then jumped on Peasley’s back, digging its claws into his shoulder as it tried to steady itself. Peasley let out a cry, but quickly unsheathed a dagger and stabbed at the thing, knocking it off and allowing him to finish it off with his sword. Though he had to ignore a fiery pain in his shoulder now.

      Meanwhile, Rhea and Nereus had perfect battle chemistry, as it was clear that they had been fighting together for a very long time. They seemed to be able to perfectly communicate without any words, taking down the Raphims swarming them with almost no trouble whatsoever. However, one of them clawed at Rhea’s leg, making her trip over her feet and fall.

      Nereus prepped herself to keep going, but then Hippolytus’s voice rang out. “Move it!”

     Stealing a glance up, Nereus quickly grabbed Rhea and dove off to the side just in time to avoid the dragon-like demon crashing to the ground and squashing the remaining Raphims like apples. This left them victorious, but tired.

      Peasley approached the other Star Spirits, looking at Rhea’s bloody leg in confusion. “You Star Spirits bleed?” he asked.

    “No need to act too surprised,” Rhea said, raising her eyebrow in something of a joking manner, “It’s less of a real injury and more a warning sign for us. When our magic depletes when we’re in our human forms, we bleed because we’re significantly weaker. And the effects are only exacerbated by a toxic place like this.”

    “I see,” Peasley said as he rustled through his bag for a moment and pulled out one of the healing potions he had brought, “Here. Drink some of this. It’ll help.”

      Rhea popped the cork out of the bottle with her teeth and began chugging it like a beer, downing half of it in about 5 seconds.

     “Hey! Save some for me,” Peasley reminded her.

     “Can’t you just get your own?” Rhea asked as she wiped her mouth and handed him the bottle.

     “Rationing,” Peasley said, “We only have three of these in total, so we can’t afford to burn through them carelessly.” He drank the other half of the potion and then looked at his shoulder, watching the scratches heal part of the way but still leaving discolored spots. However, he at least wasn’t bleeding anymore. Which was a plus.

     Nereus helped Rhea to her feet as everyone brushed themselves off and then cleared her throat. “So what now? We have no idea of something like that is going to happen again, and I doubt we can have a thousand fights like that before we run out of either supplies or energy.”

    “She’s right. And we can’t afford to be physically exhausted when this place is already killing us. We need a way to lay low for a while,” Rhea agreed.

      Everyone racked their brains for a moment, but it was difficult to come up with an idea line that when only flat plains could really be seen in every direction.

      However, Hippolytus then spoke up. “There,” he pointed, and everyone turned to see he was pointing to the hole that the Raphims had just burst out from.

      Peasley pursed his lips together. “There’s a lot of risks involved with trying that. While they’re all hypothetical possibilities, anything from a cave-in to having no light could be a problem,” he said.

    “There’s also a chance we might get swarmed if more Raphims use this tunnel,” Rhea added.

      However, Hippolytus shook his head. “I doubt that. And I honestly believe this is the best possible chance we have,” he said, looking at all of them with a serious expression, “The Raphims had to have come from somewhere, and I have a feeling of we backtrack through here, we’ll be led right to where that is, and hopefully to our friends as well. And that’s a chance I think we need to take.”

     Everyone considered this for a few moments before Peasley finally nodded. “Hippolytus is right. Given how you three and the others are all on the clock, we have to take whatever paths we can that could potentially shorten the journey.”

     “I agree,” Nereus said, “There’s no telling at what point they’re at. So faster is better.”

     Rhea shrugged her shoulders. “Alright then. I won’t argue. But if we’re going to go, we need to get moving.” She spoke as if she was expecting another attack at any moment, but no one could blame her for that. So with everyone’s agreement, Hippolytus jumped right into the hole and slid down, leading down to a tunnel about 8-10 feet below the surface. And everyone followed after him without any complaints.

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     After some time of walking through the tunnels, all four of them could agree that going underground had been a good idea. It was cooler down there than it was on the surface, and it seemed that Hippolytus was right about nothing else traveling through the tunnel. At least for the time being.

     “I hope that Hippolytus’s streak of being right continues a bit longer,” Peasley said to Rhea as they walked along, “If this tunnel can take us right to the others, or at least get us close, that would really help.”

    “I think it will,” Rhea said, “I think Hippolytus knew to do this because his Socium bond is telling him what to do, and I think that’s why he’s been able to guide us along this whole time. So I think this will be favorable for us.”

     Peasley was quiet as he considered the concept of a Socium bond a little more. From what he had been told, it seemed like some sort of sealed friendship. Like two people who were so close that they were willing to connect themselves to each other for the rest of their lives. And for the Star Spirits, that pretty much constituted to forever. So it was no wonder why they took it so seriously.

      This made Peasley think of his best friend, Alfonse, who he’d been close to ever since he was a small boy. They were practically brothers in every way except by blood at this point. However, thinking of Alfonse only made Peasley feel slightly irritated. Why of all times for him to be away with his father on out-of-kingdom business, it had to be now?

      First he had been away during Cackletta’s invasion, and now this? The coincidence was so ridiculous that Peasley could swear it was the universe’s way of spitting on him, since both situations could’ve been handled way easier of Alfonse had been around to help.

     “I bet Geno will be really glad to see you again,” Rhea said, snapping Peasley out of his thoughts.

     “Huh?” He asked as he blinked back to reality.

     “You know, you and Geno seeing each other again. When we went to your house to get you for this, I just...” she paused, her expression turning a bit somber, “Though you acted angry towards us, I just knew you were miserable. And I realized that was because you had no idea what had happened and were probably really stressed. So I’m guessing you’ll be happy to not have to worry like this anymore.”

     While Peasley normally would’ve agreed with her instantly, this time he turned his eyes away sheepishly and tried to hide just how much he was frowning.

     “You okay?” Rhea asked, noticing the change in his expression.

     “I just...” Peasley was reluctant to talk about it, but there was no way he couldn’t talk about it now that she had seen him falter. So that left him with no choice, “Geno and I...Right before all of this happened, we had a fight. A bad one.”

    “What could you two possibly fight about? The thought of that is barely conceivable to me,” Rhea remarked, looking completely baffled.

      Peasley bit his lip nervously. “Geno...was raising concern about the fact that he pretty much knew nothing about me while I knew so much about his. He said it was unfair that I wouldn’t tell him anything after his scared he had been when confessing some of his secrets to me.”

      Rhea suddenly stopped walking and firmly grabbed Peasley’s arm, which made Nereus and Hippolytus stop and turn to look at them, wondering what was going on. Rhea quickly let go, but it was clear that she wasn’t letting him go anywhere.

     “Go on,” she said curtly, referring to his explanation about the fight.

      Peasley felt very uncomfortable seeing her stare, which he could see was on the verge of being angry. It also seemed she might also clock him in the face at any moment, but he didn’t really have a choice but to explain. So he just let out a heavy sigh.

     “I...I said no because I’ve never really opened up about my past to anyone, even to my best friend. Not because I don’t trust people, but because I’m too afraid to relive the pain that comes with thinking about it. Geno told me that wasn’t fair and then I...said the wrong thing.”

    Nereus and Hippolytus were now listening as Peasley struggled to find the right words, while Rhea simply started and folded her arms. “Which was?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

      “I...” Peasley stammered, “I basically said that it wasn’t my problem that the circumstances had forced his secrets out of him and that I wasn’t obligated to tell him anything. Geno got mad, then I got mad, and we ended up yelling at each other. He went for a walk to clear his nerves, but I was too stubborn to accept his invitation to go with him, and he was snatched right under my nose.”

     Silence followed, but Peasley could see Rhea’s eyes burning. It was clear something had pissed her off, and it seemed like she was trying to restrain herself from smacking him.

     “You...Kólos,” she said with a huff before she walked away from him and went further down the tunnel to sit down and contemplate angrily. Peasley had no idea what she had just called him, but he felt safe to assume it was bad.

      Nereus walked over to talk to Rhea while Hippolytus stayed with the now visibly uncomfortable Peasley.

     “Don’t mind Rhea. She’s just always been a little protective of Geno,” Hippolytus said to him, “I think you mortals call the bond they have a bond between siblings, so she thinks she has to get mad on his behalf when she feels protective.”

    “She’s right to be angry,” Peasley said in shame, “What I did was wrong. I’ve told Geno myself that he’s made sacrifices for me that I could never truly repay, but then when I had the first chance to try, I blew it.”

    “It doesn’t seem that surprising,” Hippolytus said, which made Peasley look up, “You said you never told anyone before, so it’s only natural for you to feel a little defensive when asked about it. You probably would’ve said the same to your best friend, right?”

    “I mean, probably,” Peasley shrugged, “But I...”

    “You can’t treat yourself like you’ve ended the world just because of your emotions. It’s not healthy to punish yourself for what happened then using the hindsight you have now,” Hippolytus cut him off, his voice a mix of firm and concerned, “You need to approach this more with the facts and less with your guilt.”

     Peasley let his clenched fists relax as he absorbed Hippolytus’s words, but then rubbed his arm across his eyes since he didn’t want to cry. Instead, he just sat down and Hippolytus sat down beside him.

     “You know you’re not entirely responsible for this, right?” Hippolytus asked, “There’s always something that both sides have to bear responsibility for.”

    “I can only feel what I know was wrong about my own actions. And that makes me feel like it was all my fault.”

    “I know. And I know for a fact that Geno feels the same way. That’s what guilt does to mortals, making them feel they have to take the burdens all onto their own shoulders. But you don’t have to do that. Especially not you and Geno. You just need to talk again, and everything will be fine,” Hippolytus said, giving Peasley an encouraging smile.

      However, Peasley wasn’t entirely convinced by this. “You really think he’ll want to talk to me?” he asked.

      “Of course he will,” Hippolytus said, “Believe me, I know my Socium. He loves you so much. He’ll be happy to see you again after all of this, and I know you’ll be able to make peace about what happened. I’ve seen you together, and I know there’s nothing you can’t work through.”

      Peasley stared at Hippolytus’s gentle smile for a moment, and then managed to somehow smile himself. In that moment, he was able to consider the thought of seeing Geno again with any sense of fear.

      Suddenly, Peasley felt fuzzy, and he put his hand to his head. Hippolytus noticed his behavior and bolted to catch him before he fell to the side completely.

     “Skatá, Peasley...How long has it been since you’ve slept?” he asked.

     “Don’t know...” Peasley mumbled, feeling incredibly lightheaded, “Last time was before the fight...”

    “You haven’t slept in almost 48 hours and you didn’t tell us?! The pride on some of you mortals!” Hippolytus exclaimed loud enough for Nereus and Rhea to hear his exasperated points.

      But Peasley no longer had the energy to argue or do anything else. As Hippolytus positioned him against the wall the best way he could, he could feel the world slipping away as his vision started blurring and his eyelids weighed down like iron. And in only moments, everything had gone dark.

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AUTHOR’S NOTES: I have no excuse for being away for so long, so I’m not really going to try and make one. School and other interests and posting depression, yada yada yada, you get it. But I’m currently trying to have myself on track to finish posting this story at the very least. Hopefully my experience on AO3 will help ensure the best quality possible.

I promise to not take 3 months to post the next chapter. That’s all I’ll say. I hope you all enjoyed this. Have a good day and I’ll see you all next time. :hibiscus: :hibiscus: :hibiscus: