previous stuff: Jupiter is sealed, Arlen is sealed, Milene and Elerin are sealed, Iasis is sealed, and Calypso is sealed.
For the most part, they are scattered all around the in-between realm because it's so vast.
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Iasis had found her grandson in the in-between realm after he'd been spotted by a collector and preserved in the form of a statue. Being stuck in his statue form resulted in his consciousness being transported to the realm inbetween, so Iasis took him under her wing. To hold onto their sanity, they traversed the in-between.
They eventually found Elerin. To Iasis's shock, her father had been trying to end his misery when she stumbled into him. While she had very mixed feelings about Elerin, she still loved him and refused to let him die. As soon as he was pulled from the water, he caught a glimpse of the titan following Iasis.
Elerin immediately jumped at the opportunity to attack Meatball because he was "stalking" his daughter. Iasis rose to defend Meatball and shielded him from her father's violence. Elerin was bamboozled and suddenly halted, he didn't want his daughter to be in the middle of this.
Iasis let him know that Meatball would be under her care no matter what he said. Elerin was disgraced but knew better than to fight with his daughter whom he adored very much... despite how insane her decision seemed.
He pondered why exactly she chose to take in a titan baby, and pestered her about it, to no avail.. she wouldn't tell. (she's hiding the fact that Meatball is his great-grandson.)
Elerin tried his best to avoid meatball, finding the entire situation to be ridiculous. Regardless of what he did, Meatball would persistently stick around through their travels... and his daughter insisted that he TRY to be nice to him. Well, since they were stuck in this stupid prison together, he didn't have a choice.
Begrudgingly, he allows Meatball to conversate with him. Meatball is super friendly, and clings onto Elerin almost immediately, much to his dismay.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After centuries of nothingness, the trio comes across another titan. An adult. Elerin is prepared to be an absolute shithead to this titan until it approaches Iasis. Upon inspection, he recalls seeing a similar-looking titan in the same battle where he got sealed and is puzzled by this.
The titan remembers him too, though she only caught a glimpse of him in the battle... she knew he was the scout that killed her parent, Rhodes. Subsequently, the two of them get into a heated conflict, leading to Iasis blurting out the fact that Ourania is her lover and that her dad isn't allowed to hurt her.
Elerin is horrified, flying into a fit of rage. He cannot BELIEVE that his daughter would be romantically involved with a titan, and he accuses Ourania of brainwashing her. Iasis fiercely denies this and proclaims her adoration for her wife. Meatball happily wanders up to Ourania, introducing himself. Ourania immediately takes kindly to him, which raises Elerin's suspicions even more.
Throughout their time together, Elerin tried to separate Iasis and Ourania, believing that only pain could come from a cross-relationship. His constant interference causes Iasis to lash out at him, questioning what his deal was with Titans in the first place.
Elerin reveals that in his youth, he was best friends with a titan. They did everything together, they shared their deepest secrets and their dreams for the future. He would sneak away from the stars to meet with her, and they'd explore the demon realm.
Unfortunately, one day a patrol of cosmic scouts found out about his friendship with the enemy and killed her to punish him for being disloyal. Elerin was forced to stand there and watch his best friend get brutally torn apart. Saturn, an elder, told him that her death was for the best because titans were filthy creatures beneath them and that her existence would only get in his way of greatness.
In a state of shock and terror, he turns away from Helia and leaves her to die. As his way of coping he made paper mache skulls, pretending they were her and rambling to them, but eventually, he was caught talking to them and they were confiscated. He needed to move on.
As he got older, Elerin grew to despise his time with Helia, so badly brainwashed, thinking that the elders saved him from being a failure by putting an end to their friendship. He swore to himself that Helia was worthless, and at that time, he genuinely believed it.
Centuries later, when he was revered as the leader of the titan trappers, he was cornered by a familiar figure. A face that haunted his nightmares for so long. It was... Helia? How?! She was murdered right in front of him! No matter, she had come to imprison him for the rest of eternity because he'd slain her partner in battle. Paralyzed in shock, he was defenseless as she sealed him into his disc.
Iasis admits that she knows how Helia got revived, a starchild named Eos, her half-sister, revived her with her magic. Unfortunately, Helia betrayed Eos, killing her lover. An enraged Eos sought revenge and began plotting. Elerin demands to know how she knows this, and Iasis tells him that Helia's daughter Ourania was the titan who was killed in revenge. They had a choice to make, either their child would be murdered, or Ourania would.. and Ourania chose to sacrifice her life to save their baby.
It finally clicks in his mind, Meatball must be his kin. That's why Iasis let him tag along. He questions if Meatball is their son, and Iasis tells him that no, he's their grandson.
Elerin is deeply conflicted about all of this but ultimately decides to stop trying to separate Ourania and Iasis. He sees how much the two of them truly love each other, and he knows that Ourania makes his daughter happy. He realizes, although bitterly, that their relationship is nothing like the one he had with Helia.
This whole time, Meatball's petrified body had been with a young star child named Yuni who used him as some sort of obscure comfort object. They were discovered by an island's inhabitants and taken prisoner. Through various glyph combinations, Meatball is freed from being collected and his consciousness leaves the rift to return to his body.
