Tia's POV

"Mexxy." I say stiffly, trying to remain polite. His curious green eyes flicker in between Liam and I. I try not to look like I'm about to curl up and scream for mercy when he starts torturing me. I was the apprentice of the very person he hates the guts of-that wasn't going to go down well. "Your Highness..." Deamon mumbles quickly, bowing low. Liam does the same. Mexxy looks at me expectantly, and Deamon shoots me a warning glare but I don't bow. I don't bow for fake kings. The only person I will ever bow to is Ridge, the rightful king. 

As if reading my mind, he kicks me in the stomach, trying to force me to bow. I groan at the pain, but instead of falling forward, I fall backwards, against a tree. I glare at him defiantly, holding my stomach. "So this is the ex king's apprentice, is it? The one who is supposed to cure his insanity?" he sneers, shoving me with his foot. Stumbling to my feet, my hands ball into fists. "What he sees in her I will never know. She's nothing but a spiteful little cow who doesn't know royalty when it flies in front of her..." he gestures at his hovering feet. 

"Ridgedog is the rightful King-" I begin to snap, but he slaps me hard in the face. Touching my stinging flesh, I wince. He goes right into my face so I can feel his warm breath on my face. I automatically try and recoil, but there is a tree in the way. "Listen here, you little cow. Ridgedog is not the King. I am. Voxeltopia was falling into pieces because he went crazy over some little baby deaths. He was not fit for king. I am god. So bow before me, before I take you away and have you publicly executed. And I might even invite Ridgedog, too." Listening to his little speech, I glare at the ground, not moving. 

He grabs me by the arm, and slams me into another tree. This time, the pain is enough to knock the breath out of me, and I fall to my knees panting. "That's better." he laughs. I straighten up, rubbing my sore back. "So let me get this straight. You ran away from your crazy master. He's now somehow even more insane than he already was. You ended up brutally assaulting a demigod named Elevn after he tried to take you back. And you refuse to bow in front of me. You, my dear girl, are what I call a troublemaker. And troublemakers should be disposed of immediately." I look up at him bitterly. 

"Mexxy, the fault is mine. I forced her to do things she wasn't ready to do. What she did was only after being provoked and assaulted herself, it was a natural instinct. She's only a young quart god after all." Deamon says quietly, still staring at the ground, not meeting my eyes. Mexxy turns to the demigod, his gaze blank. "And you are willing to stick up for the troublemaker and the ex king?" Mexxy hisses. Deamon looks up. "He was my best friend. I can't sit by and just let him stay like this. There's only one more thing I have to do and then he will finally be happy." He finally looks at me, his eyes betraying the fear of disobeying the king.

"What if I don't want him to be happy?" Mexxy asks, circling the demigod. "He deserves it." I snap. His head snaps to me. "Shut up, I didn't ask for your opinion." I bite my tongue, glaring heavily at him. I glance at where Liam was to see him cowering behind a bush. "She's right, though. He's been tortured with this for hundreds of years. It's time for him to have a break," he replies. Mexxy stops to throw him into a tree. I wince as I hear the tree crack. "Are you trying to give me ORDERS, general?" he spits, watching Deamon writhe under his powerful grip. "N-no!" he coughs, gasping for breath. 

He continues to goad him, still choking him. "Let him go!" I snarl. He stops, and his head slowly and menacingly turns to face mine, dropping Deamon choking on the ground, rubbing his throat. "Or what?" he says softly, walking slowly to stop in front of me, tilting his head slowly, his eyes genuinely curious. I stay silent, watching Deamon turn his gaze to mine, a grateful look in his eye. "What could you possibly do to me?" he laughs, the laugh worse than Ridgedog's when he was insane.

I came to the conclusion Mexxy was madder than he was.

"Ridgedog could kill you." Liam says quietly. Mexxy's head turns to the cowering mortal, who stiffens when his ice cold glare meets his own. "Oh yeah? You willing to bet your life on that?" he says softly, gazing almost innocently at him. Liam swallows, standing up and backing away. "Yes." he whispers.

And then he blows up.

My eyes widen in surprise then shut as blood sprays onto me. "BRING HIM BACK!" I yell, kneeling down beside the pool of blood and guts. He chuckles. "I suppose I can, make it a point that I can indeed bring people back to life if I want to." He waves his hand over the mess and it comes back together in a flash of light. Liam stands there, patting himself down and he falls over, fear etched in his face. Mexxy begins to laugh loudly. 

"If you really think Ridgedog can kill me, then I'm afraid you are very, very wrong. I have millions of soldiers, hundreds of demigods and thousands of quartgods. He won't stand a chance. He's lucky I haven't killed him. Now, I must be going now...but before that I want you to meet someone. Syncrasis, my dear, show yourself." he croons. A beautiful demigod girl appears, hovering over Mexxy. Her blue blouse with ruffles at the top, with a black leather jacket, blue skinny jeans and black riding boots make her look actually quite normal. I don't recognize the girl and I stare at her blankly.

But then I notice the way Deamon is looking at her with pure hatred in his eyes, making my hair stand on end. I glance at her again uncertainly. Mexxy is watching me curiously, wondering if I can figure it out. The girl watches me too, her short spiky brown hair ruffling in the breeze. I blink at her. Syncrasis...I had heard that name before. 

That's when I realize I recognize her. Once, she visited Ridgedog. "Syncrasis, what the hell do you think you are doing at my house?" he snaps, his eyes filled with hate. The girl smiles angelically at him. "You never change do you?" she murmurs, eyes watching him warily, briefly flickering to me. "Get out of my house!" he roars. She tilts her head. "Still insane as ever I see. I came with a message. There is a Christmas party at the Voxeltopia castle and you were invited. But I'm guessing you aren't coming." she says with a grin. He shudders and slams the door in her face before banging his head against the wall softly. Watching him from behind a door, he turns to look at me, his face suddenly tired. "Don't ask." he snaps, storming away. 

Oh.

"You're Ridgedog's ex girlfriend!" I spit, rising to my feet. She grins at me. "And the penny drops at last..." she murmurs. "She's my girlfriend now." Mexxy laugh, looking up at her in a way that makes me want to be sick. She then proceeds to pat her flat stomach smugly, staring at me, daring me. The very woman who killed Ridgedog's children before they even had a chance to live. And she was challenging me to do something about it. These two were the very reason he was like this now.

As Ridgedog's apprentice, I had permission to do this.

Roaring a curse at her, I fly at her, grabbing her short hair and ripping a chunk out of it forcefully. She yells out, clawing at my face with her hands. Blood spurts from my wounds, but I just growl and slam my fist into her nose, relishing the crack. Strong hands suddenly grab me, and it's not Mexxy. Deamon tears me away from her, wrapping his arms around me to restrict movement as I fight to get free, hissing and spitting at her as Mexxy helps her to her feet. He hisses in my ear. "It's not worth it, just calm down. Calm down!" I finally begin to calm, still glaring at her. "I'm going to let you off this one time. Obviously being changed by Ridgedog you inherited some of his anger and insanity." Mexxy murmurs, taking the glaring Syncrasis away and disappearing. "YOU'RE A BITCH!" I roar. 

As soon as they are gone, Deamon bursts into laughter, tears literally falling out of his eyes. He begins to clap slowly and a proud smile flickers onto my face. After he has finished hooting with laughter, he hugs me gently. "Oh god, I shouldn't be but...I'm proud of you!" he laughs. I grin, glancing at Liam who was sitting against a tree, watching the whole thing. He shakes his head at me but he's smiling. "You are going to end up killing yourself one of these days." he mumbles, getting to his feet. "Mexxy will end up killing you if you stick up for me, oh wait, he already did." I grin, hugging him. 

"I've got to go. I want to show Ridgedog all the good work you've been doing." he chuckles, disappearing into the air. Glancing over at Liam, he rolls his eyes. "So. I'm going to go back to Yogcast Island and I'm guessing you are going to go back to Crafted. We might not see each other again..." I say sadly. He tilts his head suddenly. "Can you come back to Crafted with me? I want you to look at Jerome and see if you can help him." he asks. 

"They will never let me cross." I frown. He shrugs. "Your a quart god, you'll get in." he laughs. "True." I agree. And we both begin to trek back through the forest, both of us laughing as we invent insults for Mexxy and Syncrasis.

Note: YES I did make Ridgedog's IRL girlfriend evil. DEAL WITH IT :P

Deamon's POV

Teleporting to Ridge, I see he is asleep in Tia's bed. Gently shaking him awake, his eyes snap open, and I jump. "What do you want." he mumbles, yawning. "Tia had a run in with Mexxy and Syncrasis." I tell him. His eyes widen and he practically rolls out of bed, getting up, stumbling a little. "What did they do to her?" he asks, horrified. I chuckle, remembering what happened. "What did SHE do, you mean. She refused to bow in front of Mexxy, saying you were the rightful king, and when Syncrasis showed up all hell broke lose. Seriously, she literally tore a chunk of her hair out and started punching her until I broke it up." I begin to laugh, showing him the fight with my mind. His eyes are shut but a small tear escapes when he sees Tia refusing to bow and sticking up for him. When he watches Tia attack Syncrasis he starts to chuckle, before it turns into laughter. 

"You brought her up well." I laugh with him. He seems to be his normal self for a minute. But then his laughter fades and he sighs. Then he frowns. "Who's that person with her?" he asks. "Oh that's some guy called Liam she's been travelling with. From what I realize, he was going on a quest when she met up with him when she...went." Ridgedog glares. "You do realize he's from Team Crafted right? He's a spy!" he spits. "He stuck up for you too." I say gently. The anger fades, and he looks away. "Until Mexxy blew him up and then resurrected him to prove a point." "What point?" he asks. 

Swallowing a little, I hesitate. "What point!" he spits, stepping forward. "Well, Tia was wondering if you might...y'know...kill her if she comes back. So I told her if she did, Mexxy could-" "Wait...she's going to come back if I promise not to kill her?" he asks excitedly, hope flickering in his deep blue eyes. "Well, about that..." I begin.

Featherblade, Kupo and Elevn appear behind me but he doesn't seem to notice them. He just stares intently at me. "She's willing to make a deal." Featherblade begins. His eyes snap to them. I can see Kupo smiling at him, and Elevn looks hopeful. Ridgedog seems to be sane right now, waiting intently. "She said if you promise to never hurt her friends, or her, including hosting survival games and other games..." Kupo says, glancing at Elevn. "She will come back." he says finally.

Without thinking twice, he nods. "It's a deal. Take me to her!" he yells excitedly, hopping up and down. When he was sane he always acted like a little kid, this being an example. We all look at each other with a grin, the old gang reunited once more. Thinking hard, I locate her. 

Then I frown.

"Where is she?" he asks eagerly. "She's...on Team Crafted Island. She's been hurt..." I trail off, and we all glance at each other, and instantaneously we fly out of the open window, speeding up against the currents of the wind. It was time for the master and the apprentice to be reunited.