Wings and Tails

Chapter Twenty-Five

Trigger warning: blood, violence

The four of them stayed there in shock, surveying the damage before Hestia broke them out of their daze.

"Lets go down and see if we can find anyone. Who knows? Maybe it just looks bad to us because we didn't see what happened," Hestia said placing a hand on Hecate's and Hypnos' back. Those two gods moved forward, swimming down to the crumbling palace. Hestia moved to Thanatos who stayed still in shock, "We don't know what happened, you won't know if they're fine until you go down." She rubbed his back to comfort him.

Thanatos moved forward robotically, expanding his senses to try and find a sense of life. There was a lot of damaged coral that messed with him for a bit but eventually he found some life forms.

Hundreds of merfolk under the Sea floor. A number of beings in the crumbled remains of the palace.

Thanatos was too far to make out if any were injured, but if the Sea around them was anything to go by then they would be injured. Possibly quite badly. He couldn't tell and he hated that. He hated that he didn't know.

He began to swim down and faintly noted that the other four were following him.

The kingdom was completely deserted. If anyone hadn't managed to get out then they wouldn't still be breathing.

The palace looked empty. No merfolk children playing around the spires. No guards at either side of the main door. No fish darting around the Sea floor. No turtles going past riding a current.

It felt wrong as he swam through the main door of the palace. Usually there would be someone there that would ask him how he was or to say 'have a good day'. Merfolk were naturally friendly and it hurt him to see there home destroyed. Only some buildings and structures left standing.

Thanatos passed the first corner and saw the curtain that Kym had pulled him through not so long ago to hold Triton still. He still didn't know what that had been for. He guessed that it was just Kym trying to force them together.

Now he just wished he knew where they were.

He just wanted to know where anyone was.

The water was still as he went around the next corner that would take him to the throne room.

Instantly he was slammed against the wall. The wall came out and held his wrists down. A forearm pressed roughly against the base of his neck. The thin edge of a knife, cold against his skin.

"Ow," was all Thanatos said as he looked at Tri who was the one to push him to the wall.

Triton- Triton didn't seem like Triton. His waves that went out from his iris' moved quickly, thrashing. There was no smile on his face. His hair floated in the water, speckled with gold. The same gold that was splattered across his arms and torso.

Thanatos' mind hadn't registered that Triton was different, just the fact that he was in front of him. He brightened up, "You're ok!" Then he remembered the ichor. "Or maybe you're not, is that ichor?"

"Doesn't matter," Triton said, but Thanatos saw something in his eyes that went away too quickly for him to guess what it was. "Just answer a question for me and you can go."

"Are you ok?" Thanatos asked, concerned and still wondering why there is ichor over him. The way it is doesn't look like it was from an injury of his own.

"What is your name?" Triton asked.

"Tri, what-"

"Just answer me!"

The look was back in his eye, Thanatos still didn't know what it was.

"Thanatos, my name is Thanatos."