Torn Apart

Dreaming of Tearing You Apart

"Vivi-chan?"

Vivi watched Arthur fall on the feast, her stomach turning as whole roast fowl and limbs from larger carcasses vanished down his throat. This wasn't downing multiple rounds of his favorite pizza. There was a desperate, animal starvation behind his movements.

Her vision blurred, and she lifted her glasses to wipe her eyes. A soft muzzle poked at her left cheek and a furry head butted up under her right hand. "There's gotta be a way to fix this. Mystery, tell me there's a way to fix this."

"Which 'this'?" he asked. "I've lost count of the things that need fixing right now."

"Squire. We gotta be able to get that thing outta him."

"That thing is dead." Mystery watched the feast, glum. "Arthur is Arthur whether he thinks he is at any given time or not. Removing the remnants of my kin from his body is beyond my skill."

"But not beyond someone's skill?" she persisted. "Someone could do it?"

"Perhaps, but now is not the time to discuss such matters."

"Vivi-chan," Chloe whickered by her ear, "Look. Look at Heika."

"What gallforsaken anime graveyard did you have to dredge for that honorific?" Vivi groaned, turning to see the last thing she expected.

On a short, flat-topped rock sat Persephone. Or, at least, it looked like the very image of Persephone, carved in cold marble. Hades smoothed his hands over the head and around under the chin, pressing a kiss to the lips before facing Vivi. "This situation has caused her great distress. Sealing off her senses in stone gives her some comfort. She is safe and cannot be touched or found by her mother. Not while she is in my realm." Cerberus padded in, settling his hindquarters next to his mistress and laying all three heads on her lap.

Vivi fingered the box in her pocket. "Okay, I'm guessing I don't know the full story here, because the tale I was pitched in highschool was that you kidnapped your lady love and tricked her into eating your food so that she'd be forced to spend time with you."

Hades gave a grim smile. "We are not to meddle in the mortal realm anymore, but even so, Demeter has always had more access on the mortal realm than I. No doubt she altered a few choice details."

"Many choice details. The child of Demeter has eyes that have seen things that should not be seen." Arthur slumped back, the ground before him bare and the ragged remains of his toga smeared with grease. The feast was gone. "It seems beyond her great and imperial Majesty to greatly injure her own offspring, but well placed minor injuries, perhaps, and strict instruction from greater horror inflicted on captives. Perhaps, a special view from within her mother's very own Cage." He stretched, sighing in satisfaction. "Only guesses, great Lord Hades, but she taught me remarkably well. Breaking humans came quite easily under Demeter's tutelage."

Vivi ground her teeth, bits and fragments of Lewis' pain tearing through her memories.

"One thing she didn't show me, though, was how to cast the curses she requested." A grin flashed over his face. "What do you say, mother bird, mother bird? I was sent away after stripping you, like a good little dog. How did she cast it?"

But there was no response from Teles. She stood as still as Persephone sat, hands hung at her sides. Vivi moved toward her, hesitant. Even if it wasn't Arthur's best side asking, a question like that meant there was information he needed to put together a plan. "Mrs. Pepper?" She put a hand on Teles' arm. "Mrs. Pepper, we need to know."

"I want my daughter back." Only Teles' lips moved, not even an eyelid flickering as she responded. "For all I have already done for you, Hades, and all I have suffered, I demand my daughter, or I will deliver you no more information."