Author's Note: it's me again! This is a good part, but

it's a bit longer and less humorous. But just wait

till you see what happens to Wufei at the end!

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Thalia: Oh just shut up and get on with the fic!

Eros: And it better be good after that stupid

cliff-hanger ending in the last chapter!

Oh all right, all right! On with the fic then! Hn!

Can't even laugh psychotically in my own fic without

stupid muses getting in the way -

Eros and Thalia: SHUT UP ALREADY!!

Disclaimer: Don't own G-boys, and I won't ever no

matter how many chibis of them I collect. ::sigh::

Shounen ai, ~VERY~ original interpretation of Greek

mythology and it's assorted characters, Switching of

POV, general weirdness, more OOC. Don't flame me. I

mean it! Squiggly lines ~ ~ are for emphasis.

Back on a cloud somewhere...

Aphrodite glared into her pool at the scene of

destruction. Eros, Thalia, and the motley troupe of

humans all unconscious, the Gates of Hades open, a

living mortal trapped in the realm of the dead... She

sighed. If only someone had realized Duo Maxwell's

true nature beforehand, the whole thing could've been

prevented. If only Eros hadn't left his bow and quiver

unattended... Well, anyway, it couldn't be undone and

now ~she~ was going to have to deal with it herself.

"Dammit!" she cursed, throwing her strawberry

margarita down. "There goes my day off!"

Duo woke in on a bed in a spacious room. Sunlight

poured in through the open bay doors at one end while

the white curtains billowed in a soft warm breeze. He

sighed and rolled over in the soft white linen sheets.

White drapes over the bed drifted lazily in and out of

his vision, and he curled up around the warm body next

to him. Wait a minute... who was that? He looked up.

Wufei laid next to him, black hair unbound and flowing

around his head like a puddle of shadow. As if aware

of being scrutinized, the Chinese boy opened ebony

eyes.

"Good morning, koi," he said, bending his neck to

plant a kiss on Duo's nose. Duo shivered, a blush

washing over him. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah," he responded dreamily. He felt bronze arms

tighten around him and Wufei brought him in for

another kiss, this time on the mouth. Duo began to

think he would melt. He had thought his infatuation

with the raven-haired pilot was one-sided, but

apparently he'd been mistaken. When they broke apart

for air, Wufei giggled. Duo frowned. Since when did

Wufei giggle?

"Well, I hope you're good and rested because I don't

plan on letting you sleep for a while yet," the boy of

his dreams purred playfully into his ear, followed by

another giggle. Duo realized that Wufei was grinning.

Very widely, in fact. It was... frightening. Wufei

never smiled more than a smirk. And suddenly Duo

realized he'd never seen in this room in Quatre's

mansion. And Wufei never giggled.

"You're not Wufei," he declared loudly. The Wufei-not

froze completely, as did the billowing curtains. "This

isn't real."

The vision faded, being blown away by a strong strange

wind like dunes of sand. Duo was left standing in a

cold black place. The sky was dark as pitch and the

wind whistled in his ears. Silver sands slipped around

him and a mirthless chuckled sounded behind him. He

whirled. A tall man with a saturnine look to him stood

not three meters away, clothed in what appeared to be

shadow.

"You're wiser than they give you credit for," he said.

"So much for distracting you."

"Who the hell are you?" Duo demanded.

"I? I am Hades, God of the Underworld. You, my dear,

are Duo Maxwell, self-proclaimed God of Death. It's

good to finally meet you. Thanatos has told me so much

about you."

"Thanatos?"

"My son. Your father. The God of Death."

Back at the Winner residence...

Wufei was floating in a pink heaven. Ahh, so soothing,

so healing, so... Pink? Huh? He opened his eyes. A

beautiful woman in a very impractical pink satin and

lace outfit was standing in the center of a ring of

collapsed figures, pink fog flowing from her finger

tips. He would've been shocked, but after remembering

the events that had brought this about, he really

couldn't feel much of anything but anger.

How ~DARE~ that - that ~god~ just waltz in here and

take Duo?! ~HIS~ Duo! He hadn't exactly ~told~ Duo

that he was his, but that had very little to do with

it. And then the way he'd destroyed Quatre's house and

nearly killed Trowa with his little appearing act, and

the blatant use of power to take Duo away. It was

dishonorable! And weak!

"Ahem! Mortal!" the woman in pink interrupted his

mental ranting. He turn a gaze filled with rage on

her. She didn't appear to notice. "Wake up the other

mortals, we've got a job to do."

"Onna, don't tell me what to do! I've got to save Duo

from this injustice!" Wufei growled back, standing. He

began to walk toward the chasm, which had only closed

about halfway for some reason. Then a shock went

through him, leaving him laying on the ground in a

sizzling heap, seeing pink spots in front of his eyes.

He had a nasty suspicion his hair was sticking out

like an electrified Afro, and set about smoothing it

back into its ponytail.

"The faster you get your friends awake the sooner you

can go. I don't like leaving all these loose ends

around," she said, crossing to his side and heaving

him to his feet with inhuman strength. She brushed off

his now-slightly-charred blue tank top and white

pants, giving him a swat on the behind to get him

moving. {1}

Seeing that antagonizing this onna would be - unwise -

he began to try to rouse his fellow pilots. Heero woke

easily, coughing out pink mist. Trowa, like Wufei, had

woken up on is own and was awakening Quatre. They

gather together in a close knot as the winged

bishounen and violet-haired girl were zapped into

singed wakefulness by twin bolts of pink lightning.

"What the bloody freakin' ~Tartarus~!" demanded the

girl, leaping to her feet. Then she saw the pink-clad

woman. "Oh, it's you. Well, we need all the help we

can get, I suppose..."

"Mom? You saw... ?" the young man said, standing with

more dignity.

"Yes. I hope you realize how stupid it was to leave

you bow lying around. This may never have happened

otherwise," she said, giving him a glare that might've

been enough to rival Heero's. "And I've given you two

your powers back. We might need them."

"Er- What's Eros's bow have to do with this?" Quatre

asked. "And may I ask who you are?"

"Dear boy, I am Aphrodite, Goddess of Love an Beauty.

And Eros's bow had everything to do with it," the

woman declared as though it was obvious.

"But... how?" Quatre managed not to squeak.

Aphrodite gave him a look. Eros put a restraining hand

on her shoulder. Thalia sighed and stepped forward.

Wufei fixed her with a stern gaze and waited for her

to begin. She took a deep breath.

"All right, let's see if I can explain it in your

terms. It's like this. The psychic consciousness of

the Gods is like this big old pond. When a God or

Goddess uses the things made by or for the Gods, there

are ripples in the pond that we all feel. The more

energy the god or Goddess has in them, the larger the

ripple. Mortals have considerably less energy, and so

cannot under normal circumstances use such things."

"But today Duo used the bow..." Wufei said,

"That's it. We, being mostly powerless, didn't notice

the ripples. They couldn't have been terribly large,

because Duo is mostly mortal, but it was enough to

alert Hades of his presence. It probably drained him

considerably, even so," she explained with a grimace.

Wufei nodded. That certainly explained Duo'

unconsciousness. Thalia turned to the other woman.

"How come ~you~ didn't notice, O Almighty Aphrodite?"

The Goddess of Love had the decency to blush prettily.

She mumbled something.

"What's that? I didn't hear," Thalia said, holding a

hand to her ear exaggeratedly.

"I ~said~ 'I was dying my hair!' Do I need to spell it

out for you?" exclaimed Aphrodite irately.

"Well it might help - "

"What were you two doing here in the first place?"

Wufei interrupted impatiently.

"You said you were on a mission. And then later that

you 'chose' Duo for something," Heero reminded them.

This time Eros, Thalia, and, much the other's

surprise, Quatre were the ones turning red.

"Er - this is all ~Aphrodite's~ fault, you realize,"

Thalia said. "~We~ were merely innocent pawns. ~She's~

the one who wanted entertainment."

"Yeah, and if it weren't for ~Thalia~ messing up right

away, Quatre wouldn't be involved," Eros explained.

"I didn't even really ~do~ anything, either..." the

Arabian said guiltily.

Wufei, Heero, and the silent Trowa merely looked on

impassively, waiting for an answer.

"...We were supposed to hook up Wufei with Duo," Eros

finally mumbled.

Wufei hadn't thought he could be shocked anymore that

day, but then he hadn't thought his romantic life

would be a mission for deities that hadn't been

worshiped for over two thousand years. Then he felt

even more anger.

"So you're saying that everything I've ever felt for

Duo is all ~fake~?" he snarled, in his fury forgetting

to be secretive about his passion for Duo. This was

such injustice that he'd see it righted even if it

meant exposing his emotions. "It was all just for the

sake of divine ~amusement?~"

Eros and Thalia looked taken aback. Quatre grinned

suddenly.

"Wufei, they hadn't even gotten so far as to see you

in person before Aphrodite took their powers away and

they had to hide. No one influenced how you felt about

Duo in the least," he said.

"..." Wufei responded, at a loss for words. His

righteous anger drained away slightly, and he felt a

traitorous blush creeping across his face. Thalia gave

a short giggle. He refused to acknowledge both, and

quickly found his tongue. "Well then, what do we do

about getting Duo back? What does Hades plan on doing

with him?"

The shadow-covered man came closer, and Duo found

himself backing up. He stopped as soon as he realized

he was doing it and glared defiantly into eyes that

had no iris or white, just black holes.

"I have been forced to stay in my realm for thousands

of years because of decree Zeus made after I spirited

away my bride. Your grandmother, Persephone, gave me

twin sons, Thanatos and Hypnos. {2} While I was

imprisoned here they took care of things above. But

your father went against my commands to remain

objective. He fell in love with a human woman and

spared her life long enough for her to bear the child

he'd gotten her with.

"Zeus forbade Thanatos to take you to Olympus and

raise you as a God. He cast you down to earth in a

different time to keep you from ever guessing your

heritage. But now things have changed. The reason you

were kept from me was that you are a link to the world

of the living. You have the power to bridge the

Underworld and the Living World. That is why I brought

you here, my grandson. You will help me regain

entrance to the mortal world," Hades finished his

monologue with a hungry smile.

"So basically you're saying I'm a demigod, the son of

Death, and the key to a deity's plan for escaping a

divine prison?" Duo asked skeptically.

"Well, if you have to put it that way, yes," Hades

managed not to sound sulky. "Will you help me?"

"Why should I? You've kidnaped me, even if you ~are~

my grandfather. And what are you planning on doing if

you gain access to Earth?" Duo fixed those abysmal

eyes with a glare.

"Nothing that concerns ~you~, should you accept my

offer. You'd lose your mortality and become a God in

the process of bridging the two worlds. You see,

Shinigami - what? That ~is~ what you call yourself,"

Hades remarked, noting Duo's surprised expression.

"Yes, but how did you - "

"I have kept tabs on you since I heard of your birth

from Thanatos. But as I was saying, once the two

worlds are bridged, I can - talk - with my ~dear~

brother, Zeus," Hades said bitterly. "We have much

catching up to do."

Something in his tone and expression - it may have

been the mad gleam in his eyes and manic smile - made

Duo realize that the last thing Hades wanted to do

with Zeus was have a nice little chat. He resisted a

shudder. If the gods fought on Earth, there'd be more

damage done than by any war humans could create. He

tried to tell himself that this was probably all some

sort of hallucination - ancient Greek gods duking it

out on Earth because ~he~ was the key to Hades's

escape from the Underworld? Come on! - but he knew it

was all true. He felt it in his heart, his bones, his

soul. Shinigami had always been there, waiting in the

background, helping him survive, even when he was

paying lip service to the Catholic church. He'd know

he wasn't exactly average, but he'd put it down to the

fact that he hadn't had an average life. Finding out

he was a demi-god didn't surprise him.

"Well, I'm not going to do it. I'm sure Zeus has a

good reason for keeping you and the Underworld down

here, and you haven't really done much to make me

think otherwise," Duo said with a wide, dangerous

grin, unknowingly echoing Hades's. He crossed his arms

over his chest. "Now, why don't you just put me back

where I belong?"

A brief flash of rage contorted the King of the

Underworld's face, but it was gone incredibly quickly.

The calm, smug look that replaced it seemed to confirm

Duo's diagnosis of dementia.

"But Shinigami, don't you want to meet your mother?"

Hades asked, snapping his fingers. The cold silver

sands swirled, forming a pool of faintly sparkling

light. Duo couldn't resist peering inside. He gasped.

A willowy woman with shoulder-length chestnut hair sat

in a field of flowers. She smiled sunnily as children

played around her. She resembled him quite a bit, but

her eyes were sapphire blue instead of flashing

violet. She was braiding a garland of flowers, looking

so ~happy~ as she did so...

"Wait a minute! You said she died after giving birth

to me!" Duo shouted, tearing his eyes from the woman.

"How can that be her?"

"My dear boy, Hades in not only Tartarus, but the

Elysian Fields as well. Her spirit resides there, with

the souls of the innocents and others like her. Would

you like to meet her?" Hades asked, with a dark

unnerving chuckle.

"..."

When the ground began to shake again, the gods snapped

their fingers. Wufei was about to yell at them for

wasting time with meaningless gestures when suddenly

he was floating above the ground on a cloud of purple

and white mist that was somehow solid. It rose

quickly, filling him with vertigo. He crouched down to

better keep his balance as the puff of cloud soared

upward over the pit that Hades had taken Duo into.

There the others were assembling as well.

"What's going on?" Quatre shouted at Aphrodite.

"The Gate to the Underworld isn't closing. It's

opening. This is very bad," she added unnecessarily.

"Why is it opening?" Trowa asked.

No one had an answer right away. Then Thalia smacked

her forehead.

"Oh my Zeus! I should've realized it sooner!" she

exclaimed.

"What?" Heero yelled, kneeling cautiously at the edge

of his cloud and staring into the gap.

"The Gates of the Underworld can't close as long as

there is a mortal in Hades! And Duo is mostly mortal!"

she responded.

"But why are they opening wider?" Wufei repeated

Trowa's question, following Heero's example. The

bottom of the chasm was impossibly far below, and

brilliant poisonous green snakes of vapor or liquid or

maybe just plain energy writhed down there. It was a

sickening sight that brought to mind maggots and

parasites. Wufei looked away before he could disgrace

himself by losing his lunch.

"Well, Duo is also partially God! The duality of his

nature is somehow forcing the Underworld up into this

plane of existence! Look!" the muse pointed down.

Wufei steeled his stomach and followed her gesture. He

was startled to see dunes of silver sand covering the

ground on either side of the split earth. The remains

of Quatre's estate were no where to be seen, and the

stretch of sand was spreading even as he watched.

Green lights flickered up and flew out across the

silver desert that hadn't been there moments before.

"We've got to stop it from spreading!" Quatre cried,

eyes wide.

"We have to get Duo out of the Underworld," Heero told

the Gods.

"We can't. We Gods can sense each other; Hades would

know the second we entered his domain and he'd hide

Duo. We'd never be able to find him before the whole

Underworld has merged with yours," Eros replied in

dismay. "By then it'd be too late."

"I'll go!" Wufei declared. "I'm no god, Hades won't

suspect me!"

"You can't go down there," Aphrodite said with a

frown. "You're mortal! You'd never make it past

Cerberus."

"Well have ~you~ got a ~better~ plan, onna?"

Aphrodite merely gave an unladylike snort in response.

Eros flew over to Wufei, wings spread wide. He came

almost nose to nose with the Chinese boy, staring

deeply into onyx eyes.

"Find your justice," he commanded in a low voice.

"What?" Wufei asked. Whatever he had expected the God

of Love to say, that wasn't it.

"Connect with your justice, let it fill you, become

one with it. It's your only hope of saving Duo. What

are you waiting for?"

Casting a befuddled glance at Eros, Wufei did as he

was instructed. He slipped into a semi-meditative

frame of mind, letting the bittersweet justice fill

him as it did when he piloted Nataku. He let it flow

through him, around him, in him, until he was sure of

himself and of his sense of integrity. He felt

something be pressed into his hands and he snapped his

eyes open. It was Eros's bow and a quiver of black

arrows.

"These will aid you. The arrows are laced with

hemlock, so don't touch the tips. They should work on

the creatures of the Underworld," Eros instructed.

"But - but you said only Gods could wield things made

for the Gods," Wufei said, hesitant to take the

weapons. Eros left them in his hands with an enigmatic

smile. Surprised, all Wufei could do was clutch them

as Eros flew away. "Hey! Wait a second! What are you -

aaah!"

A sudden flare of pain rippled through him. He felt

the muscles in his back spasm, and he fell to his

hands and knees, fingers tearing into the solid fog.

He heard noises like popping bones and groaning sinews

as he bit back a yelp of pain. Something was straining

against the back of his tank top, which ripped. He

gave a relieved sigh as the pain receded. He got to

his feet, stretching the kinks out of his muscles. He

heard everyone around him gasp.

"What? What is - " he began confusedly, but saw

something out of the corner of his eye. He spun to get

a good look at it, but it always was just out of

sight. He tried to whirl faster, but still it eluded

him. Laughter from the three Olympians and Quatre made

him stop long enough to glare at them. "What's so

funny?"

"Wu- Wufei, you - " Quatre gasped out, but he was soon

overcome by very hysterical giggles. Wufei snorted and

turned to Heero, whom he knew wouldn't be laughing.

"You've got wings," the Japanese pilot said flatly,

pointing. Wufei blinked in surprise. He turned his

neck and saw long, half-extended green wings behind

him. Wings like leather, like bat wings. He flexed his

shoulder muscles, feeling a wave of satisfaction when

the wings extended fully.

"~Now~," he said, slinging the bow and quiver around

his shoulders but under his new wings. He leaped from

the cloud, soaring down into the Gate of the

Underworld. "Duo, I'm coming. Not even the Gods can

escape justice!"

{1}- Wufei: ONNA!!! ::rubbing his behind::

Tee-hee! Wufei got goosed!

Wufei: INJUSTICE!!! I'll get you for this, onna!!

Quiet, sweetcheeks!

{2}- Okay, blatantly twisting Greek myth here.

Thanatos and Hypnos were brothers, but they were not

Hades's sons. Hades was not ordered by Zeus to stay in

the Underworld. But my mind works in twisted ways, so

I tweaked the myths a bit so it'd fit the fic.

Well, I think that as long as you don't use my fic to

study for any mythology tests, you'll be all right.

Anywho, I think there'll only be one more part, unless

I decide to have a nice happy little epilogue. Depends

on how ambitious Thalia and Eros are. Hey guys, how

ambitious are you?

Thalia and Eros: ZZZZZZZZZZ....

Hn. Well, looks like I'm on my own. ::ignores groans

from G-boys and readers:: Anywho, send C&C or Wufei'll

come and kick your ass. Right 'Fei?

Wufei: I SHALL DECIDE JUSTICE! BWAHAHAHAHAAA!!!

Duo: Ah, Wu-babe? I think you're still channeling your

justice... you're not supposed to do that outside the

fic... er... heh heh

Eros: ::sighs and holds up a sing that reads: "Send

all Comments and Criticisms to [email protected]"