Between Worlds (TEMP HOLD)

Five: Meanwhile in the Underworld

CASTIEL'S POV
(Sorry it's so short)

Zeus's anger could burn down Olympus. He rushed into my room without knocking on my thirteenth day of imprisonment. The day I could have left this wretched land. "You," he snarls. "I swear on the Styx, you are not marrying her." He just swore on Styx.

No. Uncle Zeus just swore on the River Styx. No. No. No. No. No. Anger moved through my veins. And then, excitement. I didn't have enough time to hide the papers around me, hide the forbidden books in my lap. I got to my feet. By her, I knew Zeus had to be referring to Ariel. My sweet Ariel. I won't let Zeus wouldn't dictate my life like my father had. Zeus will not tell me who I can and cannot marry.

But this was the first news I've heard about Ariel in the thirteen days she's been gone. I couldn't help my maddening curiousity. "What happened?" For Zeus to swear on the Styx, it had to be serious.

"She stayed with a mortal," Zeus spit. "I'm alerted whenever a mortal knows of our real existence. And guess which one of us revealed ourselves? Guess, Castiel." There was hate in eyes.

Ariel didn't know the rules. How could she? She had to leave before I could explain.

Mortals couldn't know we exist. Really and truly prove our existence. It would upset nature, and as we speak, Demeter is imprisoned and cannot control her own world and her own powers. That mortal will fall into madness unless he's caught early on and killed, sending his soul right to Judgement in my Underworld.

But how has Ariel gotten involved enough with a mortal to tell them the truth? I simply stare, hoping Zeus won't look at the papers around me, hoping he'll explain... My project. My escape. Thirteen days in my prison, and it's time to kiss this goodbye.

But my mouth felt dry. I couldn't get the words from my brain to my mouth. "H-how—" I tried to say. "Who did she tell?"

I wouldn't be surprised if she broke rule number two, and went home to see her family. Her roommate. But Zeus's answer sent a whole new wave of anger over me. Zeus's laugh echoes in my room, and I don't like his malicious grin. "Xavier's younger brother."

I didn't know if I could handle asking the next question. I squeeze my eyes shut. "Did she find him, yet?"

Zeus's grin confirms it.

I turn around and punch yet another hole in my cage wall. Frustration runs through my bones. Jealousy sears my soul. Ariel was with Xavier, and for the time being, I was stuck here. How could I compete from the underworld? I sat here, miserable, millions of miles away from them.

"Bring me his brother," I had a new purpose here. I couldn't leave yet if just two souls could get through the portal.

Zeus laughs. "It doesn't work like that," he says. "The portal is closed, Castiel. Xander can't get through to the underworld, yet. All dead souls are trapped on Earth in their suffering. They'll be trapped forever if Ariel and Xavier cannot find Oscar and Jasmine."

They would let my world burn.

But now that I knew how to get to their world without a watch, I knew I'd see them all soon. I'll save this world myself if I have to.

"If you want Xander, if you want any chance of restoring the Underworld, you'll remarry and become the God your parents knew you would be."