#mermas

But then again, Director Kamado was a dense one, if Akari had learned anything about him. He was painfully prideful and fully under the impression that no one would dare go against him. He had a stranglehold over the entire staff of the Galaxy Team Research and Rescue center.

Kamado had so graciously told her that ever since he’d found her on the beach, she was on thin ice- that since he wasn’t sure who she was, she wasn’t a member of the team. She wouldn’t be considered one until she’d proven herself amongst the staff to be trustworthy. He’d proven his harsh skepticism of her actions when he’d accused her of making Ingo sick, when it was painfully obvious that her friend’s poor health was his team’s fault - not hers. She was the one who brought up his ill health in the first place! She was the only one that finally got The Pearl society to provide the appropriate medicine, and Diamond Groups medical equipment to finally heal Ingo from his illness and the broken fin. And yet, and yet and yet -  

Without any documents - without any knowledge of who she was other than a single first name- she was a ward of the “state” - of him, and he had the power to punish her like some sort of vindictive, cruel parent. 

But one other important thing Akari had learned? That he slept like a rock. Nothing but his alarm could wake him. 

And the room she’d been locked in had a window to the sloped roof of the research center.

She had to hurry - she didn’t have long after he woke up for her to be found out. 

The sun was just starting to peek over the ocean, and Ingo’s tank was bathed in that soft glow of periwinkle light. It should have been pretty, but it just made her sad that he wasn’t in the ocean, experiencing the sunrise below the gentle waves. She looked over the edge to spot him as she adjusted her wetsuit sleeve, willing and ready to help. 

He was at the bottom of the tank in a somewhat relaxed position, staring up at the water, unaware of his friend’s arrival - of his impending freedom, so long as Akari played her cards right. 

She took a deep, deep breath. She could hold it for a long time - perhaps too long for a human to be able to - but instead of that making her feel like a freak (The weird look Kamado would give her made her feel like she was being studied - perhaps she was) she currently felt like it was a blessing in disguise. 

She didn’t bother to let Ingo know she was here, jumping right into the tank with a small splash. 

She’d startled the large merman out of his half-awake state, and his eyes were wide looking at her, confusion evident in the furrow of his brow. She held up her left hand, showing the almost comically large key she’d grabbed right off the wall behind the front desk, and pointed to the cold steel around his tail with her free hand.

He was clearly shocked that she’d managed to grab it- and watched as she swam down to the shining metal, unlocked it with an echoing click, and pushed it off of his tail with a solid shove, watching it sink sluggishly to the tank’s floor

She watched him as he stared at the freed tail, sleek black white, a little raw from the right fit, but free - free! He gave it a testing flick, and he moved. His freedom seemed to hit him all at once. 

Ingo grabbed Akari gently - his hand not gigantic, but big enough to cover her lower back - , pulling her up to the surface and placing her on the platform with a fluid motion- as if concerned for her breath. She typically was, despite showing him how long she could hold her breath for. Akari took a deep breath as if to make a show of it - she didn’t feel winded at all, but knew that it made Ingo feel better, before standing up and jumping in place.

“You have to go!” She practically ordered him “Kamado is gonna be awake any minute and he’ll see me and the keys missing!!” She pointed over to the rocky outcrop - the single barrier between him and the ocean “You have to get over this, and you’ll be free!” She ran over to it, climbing just a bit to stand on the rocks and wave her hands at him. “You can do it!” 

His expression was unreadable as always (most of it, at least. He had very expressive eyes), and he swam over to her at the rocks with a short flick of his tail, then looked out at the open sea - she could see longing in his eyes, but also worry. 

“Ingo?” She tilted her head

“You will be in trouble” 

His rarely used voice was almost raspy, and somehow quiet. 

But she gave him a smile at the concern - it was nice to be cared for in such a way. 

“Eh, it's not like Kamado can do much worse than lock me in my room.” She shrugged “It’s not a big deal, promise! Plus, I think-” She stage whispered, revealing to him something she hadn’t wanted to tell just yet, but knew would be what he needed to hear “-I'm starting to remember where I'm from!” She was grinning at him as he stared at her in surprise - the news unexpected and feeling a tad out of left field for the merman.

He seemed to want to say more, but there was the sound of a door opening somewhere in the facility - the tell-tale, distant beeping making its way through the area. Akari’s own eyes widened

“Hurry - hurry you have to go!” She made a pushing motion at him, eyes wide. 

He didn’t need to be told twice. 

The sun was gently kissing the sky awake as he dove down to the bottom of the tank. Taking a moment to focus, he steeled his expression, and pushed off through the water with all of the strength he could muster, breaching the surface with a splash and - with a dramatic bend, jumped over the barrier to his freedom, Akari’s hand reached up to his own, their fingers just barely touching, and her expression so full of joy that he felt it radiate in his own chest. He was certain that he was also smiling, despite how odd the action often looked on his face. 

He resurfaced quickly to look at her from the other side of the rocks, and Akari kept looking from the building to him, and then waved at him, shooing him away with slight desperation

“Go - go! And don’t worry about the boats!” She grinned at him as she said, “I tossed all the keys into the harbor! They can’t get you back! You’re free!” 

Sky above, this child was such a glorious little menace. She deserved the world

Without even thinking about it, he reached up with his hand as if to grab her, but not quite - pausing and getting her to pay attention to him for more than a fleeting glance. 

“Come” 

“Huh?” 

“Come” He offered again, hand gentle against her back “I will take you further south. I will take you away from this foolish place. There are kinder peoples. Irida’s people. Adaman’s people. I will take you to them.” 

.. She hadn’t expected such an offer, admittedly

“I -” She looked back “I can’t leave yet. I have to finish what I started here. I have to help the professor! Once I do, I’ll finally get out of here - I just know it” She attempted to assure him

He didn’t look convinced. 

“Uncle Ingo, please. I can do it. I have to” She hated using that affectionate term as a sort of bargaining chip, but she saw him huff at its usage and her pleading, and his hand left her, going back into the water 

She gave him a big smile, trying to reassure him so he could leave safely. “I know I'll see you again - I can feel it!”

“... Keep that promise” he pleaded with her, voice staying uncharacteristically low “Promise me” 

… He said that as if he was saying goodbye forever. Like that promise was going to be the last thing she said to him, and he wanted to remember it… And despite her best efforts, perhaps it would be.

She looked back at the facility, seeing the shapes of people coming closer to the back pools- time was up! She turned to him again, steeling her own expression 

“I promise.” she stated boldly “I promise that you’ll see me again. Now go!!” 

He had at last dove under the water as the doors opened to the back tank, and disappeared just as fast. Akari turned to face the consequence of her actions, staring over at the adults looking right back at her with wide eyes. She held her head high, and refused to cower. 

She did the right thing. She knew it. 

She just hoped that - after all of the fallout from this- she’d be able to keep her promise.

-

Ingo’s reunion with Emmet was mostly just the two of them crying and hugging each other for what one could only describe as “too long”

A lot of crying. So much sobbing, dear god above-

Emmet then introduced him to their “Uncle” Drayden (uncle, the moniker that Akari had given him - was she okay? Was she-), a fellow mer who had known their mother, and had been looking for them since they were lost calves.

It was comforting, knowing they were missed - even if they did not know by who. 

They were to be reunited with their families pod - if only temporarily - and join them on the migration south - back to their home waters - to the shores of Castellia City, to Elesa, to their *jobs and homes and their joys* - their excitement could not be contained. 

But Ingo couldn’t hold back that little ache in his chest despite the impending possible happiness

It was worry, he knew it was worry. As if he could be experiencing any other emotion when his mind wandered over to his escape. 

Worry for his dear little friend - his niece, if he used her affectionate naming conventions. It had been nearly two weeks since his escape. Was she okay? Was she locked away in her room? Had she had enough and run off? Would they truly ever meet again? Was her promise empty? These questions plagued him endlessly in the vastness of the ocean - filling his mind amid the crashing waves that he watched from underneath them.

But… he had to trust her. She kept her promises, always. He just had to give her time. 

As the whale songs grew closer and their reunion became imminent, there was an unmistakable joy interwoven within it - a song of .. discovery? Reunion? It was more jumbled than the simplified song that the twins were used to Ingo and Emmet were, admittedly, not all that adept to the nuances of their mother tongue - have been separated so young, they only knew the basics, and a few self-thought songs that probably didn’t translate too well to native speakers. 

Drayden’s eyes however, showed that whatever that said was good news - very good - worthy of that distinct version of happiness that warranted getting choked up.

“The lost calf” Drayen muttered - a tinge of disbelief to his voice

“What?” Emmet tilted his head “Lost calf?”

“Last year, a calf got separated from the pod in a horrid storm - we thought her dead, or perhaps permanently separated as you to had been but- she’s been found, it seems” 

“Oh, wonderful!” Emmet delightfully “clapped” under the water. “That's such excellent news!! What luck!!”

“The pod shall be delighted to be so completely united… even if only temporarily on our journey to the south seas.”

Ah right. Drayden was not.. Completely onboard with their lifestyles - the lives they had carved out for themselves in the bay of Castellia City with their human friends and “family”. 

But that was not something that Ingo was about to argue with. They were fully grown - it was their life to live and while it was unconventional for mers, it was theirs, and it made the brothers happy beyond all measure. 

The whale song became louder, and the group turned their heads to the approaching pod - which became clearer and clearer vision-wise every second as they swam closer, and closer -  

Ingo suddenly felt very, very nervous - that tell-tale feeling creeping up in his throat as he floated there. 

It had just been him and Emmet for so very long, and then he had human friends in Castellia, and then he was alone in a tank across the sea, and then all he had was a strange little human as a friend, the one that freed him from his forced loneliness in more ways than one. He had so little interaction with his own kind. What would he even say to their pod? This family he had no memories of … What would he- 

“-Ingo!?” 

Ingo, who had been looking away from the pod out of sheer nerves-  sharply turned his head to face them once more at the shouting of his name from a distance. That voice - that voice?!

A head of inky blue-black hair weaved through the pod, formerly stagnant gray eyes looking bright and silver and healthy and familiar and as they pushed through the rest of the mers and he could see her face-!! 

“Akari!!?” 

 He was barreled into full force by the supposedly missing calf, who wrapped herself around his middle with a tight hug and caused the both of them to tumble about for a few seconds in the current before righting themselves. 

“I’m a mermaid!” She announced to him as if it wasn’t the most obvious of facts “It makes sense now!!” 

“You are!” He responded, holding her head in his hands and looking her over with almost alarmed eyes as he took in the big and little differences and similarities, piecing together her oddities and obviousness “It does!” 

She was grinning at him so widely we wanted to cry out with his own song of joy, but he kept himself calmer than that. He could talk about it soon, very soon - but first..- 

“Ingo?” 

He turned his head to see both Emmet and Drayden with shocked faces at their reunion. Akari’s head turned to them as well, and she gasped when she looked at Emmet - looking between the twins with rather amusing confusion. 

“.. She is the friend I made. The one I told you about, the one that saved me. She was not a calf when I met her... She was a human child” He bluntly explained. “Or, looked like one, at the very least” 

Drayden seemed to understand very quickly - or at least pick up on what might have occurred. 

“Ah… It seems more storytelling is needed” Drayden looked at the calf, giving her as much a smile as he could muster at seeing her safe. “it is good to see you again” Akari gave him a big grin “I’m happy I remember you! When I was stuck with a human body I couldn’t remember anything… But, Uncle Ingo helped me a lot” 

She was still squeezing Ingo, who seemed to have a bright light aglow in his eyes at the reunion - something he probably wasn’t ever expecting, but was thrilled about despite the questions he most definitely had.

Drayden had a feeling - just a feeling- that once they reached the Castellia port, they would not be leaving just Ingo and Emmet behind. 

But, strangely, that did not fill him with any negative emotions. 

They were all alive. They were all safe. 

And that? That was more than enough.

BELLE: The hounds alerted them from the garden as dusk drew once more over the Acheron cottage. Shuck was on his feet in an instant as snarling sounded from outside. Belle, Merida, and Toulouse, who had been sitting around the table together feeding the children dinner, looked at each other for just a moment. There was a cool stillness that settled, Belle’s blood turning to ice in her veins. She wished, in a feeling as sharp and fast as a lightning strike, that Hades was home. But there wasn’t time to worry about him. It was the children who needed to be protected.

They had a plan, Belle reminded herself in that split second moment. They had several plans, for every possible scenario that they could think of. That was what having all this time had given them. She grasped onto the details tight: no matter what, but especially if Hades was gone (because there was a good chance, they would try to separate him from the rest), Belle was to take the children up to the secret office to hide until someone came to fetch her. Whether that be Hades, Toulouse, or Howl—who were the only ones who knew how to open it. Lou would guard the back door, Merida the front, with hounds at their sides. Shuck would be with Belle, just in case something went wrong, and she couldn’t get to the room in time, or the Order broke through their defenses.

Of course, Belle had her own plan: there was no way she was hiding while the rest of her family was fighting to protect them. She could fight now. At least, against the Order. They were simple Mundus, like herself. And if they could do it, so could she. But she kept this to herself after she had been shut down originally. Though her intentions still bubbled inside of her.

And as the chaos crashed into the house, as that single moment of trepidation broke, Belle knew what she had to do.

Lou disappeared in one movement, the wolf bursting from his skin and taking over by the time its paws touched the ground. Merida picked up Bellamy as Belle knelt in front of Opal, whose cast scratched against her collarbone uncomfortably as she climbed onto her mother’s back. With Opal clinging tight, Belle could scoop up Aidan and follow Merida into the hall. Her legs felt like jelly. As if Opal weighed a hundred pounds more than she did. Her heart was beating thready and fast. It felt like it took them centuries to get to the stairs, as if Belle was wading through a swamp.  

When they made it, Merida wordlessly handed Bellamy to her as well. This way, Belle had all three of the children, which was a heavy weight. She looked toward the stairs and braced herself before carefully beginning to climb. It was a good thing that she had spent the last few months in the gym rather frequently with Merida. Not to mention the adrenaline coursing through her.

She heard the front door open and then close, and she realized she was alone in the house. Shuck squeezed behind her on the stairs, his head in the small of her back and she let out a breath, pushing forward. By the time she was in the secret office, she was panting and trembling somewhat. Setting Bellamy and Aidan down in the play pen, she kissed both their foreheads, then Opal’s too. She handed her daughter one of her favourite books.

“Read this to your brothers,” she told her, kissing her daughter’s soft hair. “I love you. Maman will be right back, alright?”

“Okay, Maman. Love you.”

“That’s a brave girl.”

It was time for Belle to be brave too. She reached for her sword which she kept in the office (away from any accidents with the children.) Unsheathing it, she glanced at the hellhound, who sat patiently by the door. “Stay,” she told him. He whined once. “Protect the children.”

With that, she took a breath and then stepped back out into Hades’ bedroom, her grip firm and her eyes darting around the room. From inside the house, she couldn’t hear anything at all. It was horribly quiet. Belle took a few more steps, holding her sword out in front of her. She adjusted her grip a few times. And then, there was a creak on the steps. Belle drew back, her breathing shallow as pressed against a bookshelf. In the long shadows of dusk, her own was hidden from view, but she could see another one on the wall, creeping toward her.

There was a decision to make here. Merida had once told her that fights were made up of a million decisions—like chess, but faster. More instinct than strategy. Which was Belle’s weakness in a fight. She always wanted to hesitate or examine all of the options. In this scenario, there were two: wait, and surprise whoever this was or charge and try to gain the high ground by forcing them back against the stairs.

If she waited, the element of surprise would be sure. If she charged, she had no idea if she had the skill or the strength to fight off whoever it was. To put them on the defense. But, if she stayed here, she would be trapped and forced to fight anyway—

It was too late to make a decision. The assailant was already on top of her. Belle saw the toe of his boot and her body reacted. Her arms jerked up, trying to slash him upwards from below with a shout. Merida had always told her to use her height to her advantage, most men—especially in the Order—weren’t used to fighting someone as petite as she was.

PHILLIP: Phillip did not expect Belle Acheron to come at him with a sword.

The surprise only lasted a fraction of a second, though. He actually laughed a little, easily blocking her weapon with his own, the metal clashing. After that moment of shock passed, he grit his teeth together, pressing forward. He loomed nearly a foot over Belle and even though she’d caught him by surprise with the sword — must’ve been a gift from Merida or something — he had years of experience. He’d been training ever since he could walk, perhaps even before then, the Order sharpening him into a deadly weapon to wield for their own purposes. 

Phillip did not want to do this.

Phillip had to do this.

Phillip had to do this, because as he and John and Thomas stalked closer to the house, all he could think about was losing them. He did not want to do this, but he couldn’t imagine a life without John and Tom at his side. They had to do this, or else Tom’s mum and sisters wouldn’t be safe, or else their little nieces and nephews would be targets, or else John’s father would hurt him even more. Phillip was doing this not because he wanted to cleanse the world of wolves and demons, but because if he didn’t do this, he would lose John and Tom, maybe forever. 

That didn’t make it any easier.

At least this time there were no children to be seen. That would help him focus, at least. Never mind that he actually did quite like Belle and never mind that he’d seen half-finished dinner plates on the dining table.

“Your form’s not bad,” said Phillip. He basically had her cornered now and with a flick of his wrist, dislodged the sword from her hand. It clattered to the floor and he held his own sword up to her neck. “But your strategy needs work. Sort of stuff you can only get with years and years of experience, though.”

He stepped forward, the tip of his sword pointed to the wall, and swept an arm behind Belle so he could grab her arms with his left hand. Sword still pressed against her neck, he coaxed her forward.

“This’ll be over quickly if you all cooperate,” he said, trying to talk to remind himself why the fuck he was here in the first place. He did not want to think about the children, probably somewhere in the house, or the little cat he’d seen once. “My friends work fast.” 

MERIDA:  For the past couple of weeks, she’d practically been living at the Acherons. Whenever Hades wasn’t there, Merida stepped in. She went where Belle did, a loyal hound at her heel, always on alert. As the days wore on though, she knew the attack would be much more thoroughly planned than the last one-- and the last had been impressive as is. 

The Trio was watching. They were learning. They would soon memorize even these new patterns and figure out the most vulnerable time to attack. 

Merida told all of this to Belle, Hades, and Lou, and with each day that passed, the probability spiked. 

So when the snarling and howling began, Merida was ready. 

She jumped into action. Merida gathered little, sweet Bellamy in her arms and sped with Belle toward the stairs. She wished she could go up with her-- had argued this part of the plan, thought that she would be best used as another wall of defense, smarter and stronger than a hellhound. But the goal was to try to keep that extra wall from being necessary. And so as she handed off Bellamy, Merida followed her orders. She could do that for Belle. She was her warrior-- her sword-- her shield. 

And so Merida flung open the door, closed it behind her and drew her sword. 

She wasn’t surprised to see Tom emerge from the wood, fighting off one of the hounds. Merida’s eyes lit and she raced toward him. Attack him on both sides. Sure, her cousin would dispatch the hound, but Merida would make it harder on him. 

“Miss me, Tommy?!” She snarled as she lunged at him with a wild swing of her sword. 

THOMAS: It was time to get this over with, so that Tom could leave and never have to think of this place again.

That was how he felt, because there was no other way to feel. The inevitability of what would happen here had weighed on him for weeks. He would not be able to open in his role as Sky. He would leave behind Arista, Elliot, and his other friends. Swynlake would become another bad dream (it had given him plenty already, hadn’t it?) All it was was a place of misery. There would be nothing good here for him. It was a good thing then, to get this finished. To move on.

Then why did his steps feel so heavy as they marched toward the Acherons’ cottage? He didn’t dignify the question with an answer. Instead, he adjusted his sword in his grip and whistled sharp to get the attention of one of the hellhounds that he knew prowled around the house. There were two. Well, three all together, but one never left Belle’s side and they had figured in case of a fight, that would still be the case. 

He heard John’s answering whistle a few meters away where he was tucked in the trees near the garden. The hellhounds peeled apart, as they had assumed, when they realized the assailants were in two places. 

Next, Phil and Tom made their way to the front. Tom would head off whatever protection was there, while John distracted from the back--and Phil, slippery, cunning Phil, would find Belle. She was the hinge upon which the entire strategy swung. After all, if they could not easily dispatch the two werewolves or Hades somehow got free of the assault they had planned for him (doubtful, but they would not underestimate him again), she would be their bargaining chip to lay their weapons down. She was a Mundus. Harmless. And not their target anyway. She would live. As long as the rest of them complied. 

Tom did not think about that. He had to focus on the hellhound coming towards him. 

Adjusting the bucket of water in his hands, he waited steadily for the hound to lunge--

It was a simple trick, but when the demon met the water, it yelped and steamed, disoriented and weakened. In this state, it would not be able to jump through smoke. At least for a few moments, before it's hellfire evaporated the fire. It gave him just enough time to go at it with the sword. The hound lunged and snapped, but he managed to keep it away, his calf throbbing--not fully healed from its last encounter with a hellhound. 

He managed to make it halfway up the yard before Merida appeared and came at him with her sword. For a moment, Tom hesitated. It took just a flash of bright red hair. Merida’s voice echoing across the field. She was as human as ever: face flushed, eyes ablaze. 

Tom had prepared to meet the teeth of a beast, not the fury of his cousin. 

He didn’t say anything to her. If he could avoid it, he wouldn’t even look at her. 

Their swords meet in a dull clash of metal. She was strong and fast and angry, but Tom was determined and trained. He danced to the side, slashing at her and the hound in one swoop. Then, his sword arched back up to parry her next blow, pushing her back towards the house. He threw his weight behind it, knocking her backwards and then turning on his heel to catch the charging hellhound in the belly as it jumped at him again, barking and snarling, its mouth the pit of hell, sparks flying, setting a dry patch of grass aflame and catching on Tom’s shirt.

He shoved harder, twisting his sword. The demon yelped, sounding like Gilly when he accidentally stepped on her tail, and then dissolved. It gave him just enough time to swing back at Merida as she regained her balance and came at him again. 

Her sword slashed across the top of his shoulder and he grunted before slashing right back at her, doing whatever he could not to meet her gaze. Those DunBroch eyes the same as his own.

TOULOUSE: Toulouse was getting extremely sick of this.

He knew that being a werewolf was dangerous, but he had never thought of it this way. The danger coming to his family. To the children. To people who should not at all be involved in any of it. He had tried to leave. His solution to everything: running. But Hades and Belle had not let him. Guilted him into staying. Into helping protect their family. 

But Toulouse was not good at protecting anyone. He could hardly protect his brother and sister from the cruelty of the world. How was he supposed to protect Belle and Hades and the children from crazy, albeit well-trained, assholes hell bent on destroying them? He had absolutely no confidence that he could.

It was a good thing that the wolf. The wolf sure and confident in its every move. It was the wolf that took over as soon as the hellhounds started braying. 

Out in the garden, the ground was wet from a shower that had fallen earlier in the day. His paws sunk into the earth. A hellhound appeared at his side and John appeared in front of him.

Enemy, supplied the wolf. 

Toulouse growled, his black lips pulling back in a snarl. And he didn’t hesitate to lunge directly at the man, looking to knock him right off his feet and get his jaw around his throat. 

JOHN: This felt wrong. 

His brain wracked through days of trying to find another way. To find some way that they could get out of this and not face the wrath of the Order. But it was too late. They had made their move, albeit not because they had intended to, but they had already started the war with their botched battle. They had to end this.

His burns still itched, it would still be a while until they didn’t. A constant reminder of how stupid he’d been taking on Hades Archeron like that. His long sleeves covered the bandages up his arms but they wrapped around his hands as well. He fought through the discomfort for hours in practice to make sure he could wield a sword for this day.

He had to do this. Despite how much he hated every bit of what Francis had done to him, how he had spoken to his mates. He had to do this. This was the last thing and then he was done. He hadn’t told the lads yet, but he couldn’t do this anymore. He was done doing the Order’s dirty work. He was done doing everything and yet getting nothing in return, being branded some kind of fuck up. He wasn’t going to do this anymore. 

They’d come up with a three pronged plan for the attack. Phil and Tom were executing their sides well. He could already tell by the whistle and the clash of swords. But John had other things to deal with, he wasn’t up for facing the women wielding their swords in this, not with how his hands were. But he could attack the dogs and any other dogs that might come their way.

He and Tom had planned to take the hounds out by splitting them. And as luck would have it, it worked, but John hadn’t expected his rotten luck with animals to also immediately grab the attention of a very large wolf, one that he’d seen before and stabbed at before fleeing in the last bout. Toulouse. 

He dispatched of the hellhound easily enough as it got close to him, water then slash but Lou was right on its heels and John only had a split second to act. The wolf bounded forward and sprang up. Now, John was not strong, sure, by most normal standards he was rather fit but compared to Tom, he was not the muscle of this, but he was the brains. 

As Lou closed the distance, John thrust his sword up, holding it across himself with both hands as the jaws came snapping at him and pushed him down into the dirt. Rather than just be pounced on, he had been falling backwards already, using his momentum and then the added push from the wolf to kick his feet up and throw the wolf back behind him as he rolled to his feet, already panting as his heart raced. That was too close. He could feel the breath from the wolf still on his face.

With that adrenaline, John’s face formed into a wicked smirk he got only when he was on a mission or about to beat someone’s head in for messing with his lads, one that he’d seen come from Francis Smith time and time again. They had to end this. 

“Oh c’mon, Lou. No hard feelings about that lighting incident,  yeah?”

He flipped his sword in his hand and readied his stance for the next attack, but also watching out of the corner of his eyes for any possible routes of escape up into the trees.

MERIDA: The plan had included the wolf, but Merida would not depend on her-- not unless she really needed it in the end. It was a matter of pride for her to look at Tom with her own eyes, to meet his sword with her own. She wanted to prove something to him-- to all the Order. Perhaps they’d not win today, but if they could beat them back, he wanted Tom to carry with him a story about Merida, not the beast. That she was wild, but graceful, that she was strong and controlled. That she fought with a clear style, a style that was the Order’s own.

She was one of them and she was not. She was not a monster. But the Order had made her and they had to live with that. 

She’d force Tommy, then, to face her. As she attacked, he tried not to-- she noticed that. He alternated between blocking her blows and fighting back Baskerville, until he bested the beast with an expert stab to the chest. Baskerville evaporated with a long howl. Merida did not let it distract her. 

He came at her with hard, fast swings now that he had no one else to worry about. Merida blocked each one, grit her jaw. She’d let him get into a rhythm, lower his guard--

And then she planted her feet and let out a wild shout, lunging forward to force Tommy back. She caught his shoulder, though the blade did not sink its teeth in, only drew blood in a glancing blow. Course Tommy was too skilled to let it throw him, but she saw something change in his eyes. 

“That’s right!” she grinned wolfishly. “Your cousin’s all grown up, Tommy. Ye want to keep playin’?” 

And she lunged again. 

THOMAS: Tom had been expecting to face a wolf, not a girl. 

A beast. Not his cousin. Who was just the same as she had been the last time he saw her properly, years ago now, hair disheveled as she removed her helmet from the tourney—gaze defiant, jaw set. 

She had that same look now and it threw him off, causing him to misstep. Letting her get a cut at him. The wound bit him immediately, the pain radiating down his arm. He didn’t let it phase him. He let it wake him up. To focus on that pain and the fight as their swords clashed. 

Merida had a wild sort of fury to her style, but she was controlled as well. He recognized her moves and matched them with their countermoves fluidly. This was not like fighting an enemy. It was like sparring with one of his mates. The only difference was the flashes of long red hair. 

Despite this, she wasn’t matched in his skill. He had been holding a sword since he was a tot, since his arms had been able to keep it upright. And he trained hard—both as a knight and as a firefighter, so he had a brute force to his every slash and cut that Merida simply didn’t. He had never been as prepared as John or clever as Phil. Once, he hadn’t even been strong: he’d been a small boy. He knew what it feel pushed around. 

He tried not to think of that now. 

His strikes came harder. He wasn’t, necessarily trying to kill her, even though he should be. He drove her back towards John. Tom had every faith that his mate could best a hellhound and a werewolf and then help him dispatch Merida. The fight grew more frantic as the both of them tired. Sword fighting wasn’t meant to be a long term engagement, but he pushed her and pushed her. Sweat dropped into his eyes and he let them burn as they crashed through the low garden fence—tearing through vegetables and flowers, lovingly tended and thriving. It was almost over. With every scrambling step and snarl in the distance, they grew closer to the goal. 

They were the Order’s finest princes and they had come to end this war. 

Tom deafened his ears to any of Merida’s taunts. He couldn’t stand the sound of her voice. It widened the pit in his gut that made him feel dizzy, unsteady. She was a girl. A girl with freckles on her arm, who used to beg him to show her how to hold a sword. And he used to laugh, along with all their other cousins. But, he had learned since then that maybe women should learn how to use a sword. To protect themselves from evil men. 

Like him. 

His blade slashed towards her, twisting at the last second and slicing along her thigh. It was all adrenaline and the scramble of a battle. She went down on one knee with a cry and Tom’s training took over, finding the weak spot in your opponent and—

Tom’s sword slid easily into the joint between Merida’s thigh and hip, stabbing her through the side. 

MERIDA: Merida knew she might not win. The Golden Trio they were called, and they were called that for a reason. They had natural talent, but more importantly they had skill and experience that Merida didn’t. The wolf gave her advantage enough to keep her sword from dipping, to empower her with an endurance that would hopefully tire the likes of Tom out. But it was all a gamble, and so Merida’s main objective was not to win.

She was here to keep Tom busy. 

If she stalled him long enough, Belle would be safe; priority one. If she stalled him long enough, Hades would arrive. He’d already been alerted. It had been only a minute since the attack began-- maybe less, maybe more, Merida didn’t know. But he’d be here soon, either way. And once he was, this peaceful garden would transform into something else-- a graveyard of ghosts and hellfire. She told Hades they inevitably had charms against his magic, but Hades was too powerful to be completely neutralized. Unlike last time, when they surprised him, he knew what he’d be coming into.

So she had to keep holding on. 

Merida let him force her back-- away from the front door. That’s all that mattered. She retreated, but always made sure he was following her. But as the fight wore on, her original plan faded and her anger at the Order grew.  Her desire to win flared, hot and dangerous.

She wanted to win for Belle. She wanted to kill her cousin. Maybe he didn’t-- but she did. She wanted to kill him the way she knew most of the Order wanted to kill her. 

She wanted to win for her, to show that she could.

And so she let out a wild shout and threw force into her movements. Their swords clashed with more fury, almost hard enough to create sparks. Her eyes grew wild. The wolf inside her snarled. But the harder Merida hit, the more reckless she became. 

She failed to guard just once. Just once. But that was always enough. Tom’s sword found its mark, tore into her flesh and she cried out, stumbling down. Before she could even call for the wolf, Tom stabbed her a second time. Merida gasped in pain, and dropped her sword. As soon as he pulled his sword out, her hand went to block the gaping wound. He’d avoided any major organs-- something that she recognized now as pity. Merida’s gaze snapped up and she glared at him with a dirty, sweaty brow, wild pieces of curls escaping from her band. 

“What, Tommy? Is it too hard to slay a beast when it looks like me?” she taunted him. “Go on.” 

PHILLIP: This shouldn’t be so easy. 

Phillip wondered if that ever crossed the minds of the rest of the Order. As they sliced their blades through flesh, as they stabbed through muscle, as they held a sword up to a woman’s delicate throat, did they ever think about how taking a life should not come so easily? It wasn’t hard. Just a slash, just pressing a little harder, and Belle would crumple in his arms, a necklace of scarlet slashed across her neck.

The shadows on the walls seemed longer than they should be. Phillip walked forward and he did not say anything. All he did was listen to the beat of his heart, which he felt sounded louder than it should, in some sick, twisted Edgar Allen Poe sort of way.

At least there were no children here. At least if they did what they came here to do, at least if everything went according to plan, Belle could go free with the little ones and that was, at least, something. 

It should not be so easy to think of the slaughter of three as something going right. And yet, and yet, this was the outcome Phillip hoped for, because it was the best one, because the alternative was slaughtering Belle and the children as well. 

(He could not think of the third option; he did not allow himself, because that third option meant losing John and Tom, and while there were many things Phillip could bear, this was not one of them). 

He heard noise — he knew he needed to go there, but the noise was not the howl of a wolf, but the shout of a woman. Of Merida, he realized. Of Merida, who he’d known as a girl. His grip on Belle’s arms tightened, though he took care no to press his sword any closer to her throat.

He stepped out of the doorway, lingering a bit as he looked on the scene in the garden.

“Back off,” he growled, to the wolf who John was fighting and also at — well, at Merida, who had a dark stain on her side that he tried his best not to look at. “Back off or I’ll kill her.” 

HADES: The ghosts came howling for him.  

As expected, the Order went the route of cowards. For an organization that built its empires on the backs of slain magicks, they had no spine in them to deal with the likes of Hades. Instead, they waited until his family was vulnerable. That’s what they were doing: attacking a family, who had been sitting down for dinner after a long day of simple, mundane things. Babysitting, colouring sheets, trips to the library. That’s what the Order sought to stop: not Hades, but the joy that Hades had cultivated in his wife, his partner, his children. 

He’d give them this: they did their research. Hades tried to shadow jump from the town hall to home, to be there in a blink and light them all on fire like kindling. But his powers halted. With a vicious snarl, he realized they must have come in earlier, put salt in the corners of every room of the fucking building. 

And so Hades had to run-- had to speed his way down the rickety town hall stairs and out onto the streets of Swynlake, so he could finally use his magic. It delayed him two minutes. 

Two minutes were apparently all they needed. 

He appeared in the shadows of the garden and his hands exploded with fire. He stepped out and lifted a hand to take Tom’s sword and turn it against him. But that was when Phillip came out with his wife in his clutches. 

Hades froze. The fire did not go out though. It flickered, alive, up his arms. His eyes narrowed. 

He wasn’t going to lose Belle-- but he wasn’t going to let himself be toyed with like this either.

“You’ll kill a mundus? You’ll kill a mother?” he taunted. And then: “If you kill her, I’ll light every one of your friends on fire. You’ll watch them burn, and I’ll still save my wife. I’ve got a direct fucking line to the Underworld, you Order prick. Who the hell do you think I am?”

A bluff, but sometimes you had to bluff in a game of chess. 

THOMAS: Hades appeared, just as they expected him to. 

Everything had been going to plan until then. Or--well, mostly. John and Tom were supposed to have killed the wolves so that there was only Hades to deal with. The three of them at once would be able to take him, the trio reasoned. They were not under the same impression that Phoebus had been. This was a demon, but one who loved his wife and his spawn. Who may have tried to live as a human, but who was not made for this world. It was a weakness, as much as it was for any mortal. He would bend to them easily. Especially with his pretty little wife as their captive. 

But now, the chaotic scene paused and it wasn’t a demon who appeared--but a man. Not much older or younger than any of them. Tom could see the fear flickering in his eyes. The anger. And he knew with a warrior’s instinct that he meant every threat. 

The word mother struck Tom square in the chest. That was what Belle was. A mother. He had seen her with her children. Had seen her with Merida, laughing--unafraid of a wolf. Had seen her patiently helping others find books or studying in the university library, just like his friends. She was just a girl. A woman. Sweet and gentle. She had tamed impossible monsters and stood now with her lip trembling but eyes hard. Braver than him.

In that moment: Tom knew that they had already lost. He was not the strategic one, but he had a heart and people he loved. If they killed Belle, Hades would send this entire house up in flames and take all of them with him. They would turn him into a bomb. Even if Tom killed Merida and moved to help Phil, there was nothing stopping Hades from setting him aflame. Or if John killed Toulouse, he would burn too. And Tom couldn’t let that happen.

Maybe there was a way to win. Maybe John knew it. 

Tom didn’t care. He stared down at Merida--her proud chin jutted out, but her fingers were trembling and he knew she was scared. Just like they were all scared. 

What were they doing? 

Suddenly, Tom’s vision blurred and he blinked rapidly, clearing it again. He took a shuddering breath and stepped away from where he had been looming over Merida’s prone form. His sword clattered to the ground, as if it had burned him. 

It wasn’t Hades he looked to. But Merida first. “I-I’m sorry,” he told her. 

His gaze snapped to Phil’s, to John’s. “I’m sorry. I can't do it.” 

PHILLIP: This would all be over soon. 

This would all be over soon.

This would all be over soon.

Phillip kept repeating the phrase to himself. This would all be over soon. This would all be over soon. They’d  kill the wolves and they’d force Hades to his knees. He didn’t know how, but they’d do it because they were the Golden Trio and that is what they did. This would all be over soon. This would all be over soon. Hades cursed at them and he threatened them, but Phillip did not falter, because he had John and Tom at his side and if there was anyone who could figure a way out of a demon’s trap it was the three of them.

This would all be over soon. 

Hades’ words didn’t even register to Phillip. Let me die, he thought, let us die together, because that’s better than failure. That was better than admitting he couldn’t do this, better than turning his back on Tom and John. Phillip would rather die than betray them, would rather kill his own spirit than turn against his best friends.

This would all be over soon.

He held the blade to Belle’s throat and he glanced at John then to Tom and he knew one of them just had to do it — had to strike, and the rest of them would, and then maybe Hades would burn them to the ground, but for the first time in over ten years, Phillip welcomed the flames.

In that moment, Phillip made up his mind, because he felt there was no alternative. Either he betrayed Tom and John, or the three of them burned together. 

This would all be over soon.

He grit his teeth, hardening his resolve when —

Tom’s sword clattered to the ground. He looked from Phillip to John, the tears on his face illuminated by the moonlight, his mouth twisted and his hands shaking.

And in that moment, Phillip changed his mind. 

He threw his own sword to the ground, shoving Belle forward slightly towards her husband, then ran towards Thomas, grabbing him roughly to his own chest and collapsing to the floor.

“It’s all right,” said Phillip. “It’s all right.”

JOHN: John had done his best against Lou, but his heart had never intended to slaughter him, no matter how many times his sword lined up perfectly, he fought defensively, a rip or scratch here and there as Lou passed him by and he was growing tired. He knew if something hadn’t changed the tides, he’d have to act in desperation and leave himself open in striking out and beyond that it was a 50/50 shot that he would be able to fell a werewolf on his own. 

But he needed to make sure that Phil and Tom were alright, so he kept the wolf at bay, inching his way as he struck out towards his mates, hearing the clashing of swords stop and the shouting of voices. He looked back to Phil now, has he threatened, his sword at a woman’s throat. It all felt wrong. He didn’t want to be here. He didn’t want to do any of this. His father was wrong. He saw that. But this was their way out. He could be free of it. This was his last mission, he was sure of it. They’d do their own thing soon enough. 

Or so he thought.

As soon as Hades came through, John had the feeling they wouldn’t be able to finish this. There were only three of them and too many powers. He knew this, he’d gone over the strategy but to admit weakness to the Order would just complicate things further. They had to prove themselves. But just as John had planned and thought, they were outmatched. 

At Hades’ words, John didn’t doubt that the fire would consume him and his mates. His burns prickled on his arms, like just being close enough to the source of what had caused them made it burn all over again. Like a burn near too much heat.

He paused, Lou had also paused at the threat of Belle, but he looked to the wolf and he looked to his mates. Looked to the man and his wife. Tom had thrown in the towel, crumbling in a way that made it hard for John to watch, unable to finish Merida. Phil too had crumbled, grabbing onto Thomas. He would be strong for both of them, he would help them out of this. He would use every last breath in his body to save his mates. 

John walked forward, trying to catch his breath and staring down the face of the man they’d just tried to take everything from like a man who didn’t fear death.  Because he didn’t. He feared the death of who he held closest. And right now, that was not his family. It was his brothers, his mates. 

He stood in front of his mates, sword in his hands, bringing it up, twisting it and then swiftly shoving it into the ground beneath him, he would do what he was good for in this group, he would talk and strategize his way through this, “We surrender and through surrendering we effectively defect from the Order. We never wanted this. Not for a moment. The Order taught us that this would somehow save our own families, but that certainly doesn’t excuse the pain we’ve brought to yours. What are your terms, Hades?”

HADES:  A surrender? 

Hades’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t buy it, even as Belle came stumbling toward him. He let his fire die so the night no longer flickered with their eerie, dangerous blue, but he still felt the teeth of the flame in his skin, how much it longed to bite and consume. And he wanted to feed it. Make no mistake. If anything-- now was the perfect chance to show no mercy and send them up into flames anyway.

He didn’t care about their families. He didn’t care about their tears. He didn’t care about repentance. He didn’t believe in second chances. 

Behind him, Lou growled, and he knew his partner felt the same way.

Belle’s hand on his arm, more than anything else, stilled him-- reminded him of the greater mission. It was not a hand of mercy-- at least, that wasn’t how Hades interpreted it, even though his wife had a soft and kind heart. To him, the hand communicated one thing: wait. 

This was part of the plan too. Not to murder them outright-- to capture them and use them as their pawns to get to the King. To the heart of the Order. And destroy it once and for all. 

So no, he didn’t fucking trust any of them, but he’d listen to his wife. After all, it was the Queen who held the most power in the game of chess. 

“My terms? Very fucking simple. You do whatever the hell I say now, and you never-- never-- raise a weapon against me or my family again. And you will swear it by magic.” 

He raised his hands and John’s hands were jerked up in front of them, pressed together as if Hades had handcuffed him. He might as well have; there was no point in struggling against them. 

“Tie them up-- Belle, call Howl.”