In the endless depth of Styx there was no sense of time. The river was everywhere at once, and only the present existed for it. Not the shadow of the past nor the shadow of the future. It was a never-ending moment, suspended by the earth's most terrible desires. Bastion could do nothing but flail around in the thick, red river as he drowned; hands of the damned pulling him further into their watery graves. They tore at his skin with their jagged fingernails, ripping small strings of flesh from bone. The more Bastion tried to pull them off, the deeper their grip sunk. The river of Styx would not be denied if it's sacrifice. It had been hungrily awaiting a new victim to claim, and add to the souls that polluted its vast waters.

After what felt like decades of sinking, unable to breathe or fight, there was a small glimmer of light that appeared in the distance. As it drew closer the hands that pulled on Bastion's every muscle, finally seemed to loosen their grip. Then, with the shrieking cry of thousands of corpses, they disintegrated; becoming one with the river once more.

Another pair of arms, much stronger than any of the last, wrapped around his exhausted frame and heaved him upward. His mind screamed at him to fight back, but it was as if the river itself had devoured most of his energy. He felt almost lifeless; seconds away from joining the men and women that had perished in the river before him. Then he broke the surface of Styx, and with a large gulp of air, he swiftly glanced back at the arms still pulling him through the water. Wonder Woman. She sped through the thick, tar-like liquid; the river's droplets gripping onto them both like ink being pulled from its well by a frayed brush

Leaving Charon's boat floating ominously amongst the rippling waves, Diana pulled him to the bile-coloured shore. Bastion attempted to catch his breath, but each large gulp of air only heightened his need for more oxygen. Wonder Woman, on the other hand, didn't look even the least bit tired. She stood up, hands on her hips and blowing a stray strand of hair away from her eyes. "I thought I told you not to trust Charon."

"I didn't." Bastion spluttered out the remnants of Styx that had still been lodged in his lungs. The blackened beads morphed together, into a small puddle, then crawled back towards the river. Leaving a damp trail behind it like a slug. Bastion sighed, evidently unfazed by the tricks of the underworld. "Should I know why that water just crawled away?"

"It is returning to its body." Diana shrugged nonchalantly. It seemed fairly obvious to her, but this finally jolted a reaction in Bastion.

"You mean to the river?" The man questioned, completely perplexed by the idea.

"To Styx." Diana held a hand out for Bastion, which he gladly took. With one effortless pull he was back on his wobbly feet, still feeling a little drained.

Bastion's eyes dared to glance back over to the river, and now he saw that the waves weren't as chaotic or uncoordinated as it originally appeared. They had a certain rhythm to them...an awareness. "Let me guess, Styx is alive."

"In the same way that Tartarus is alive." Diana answered honestly. "They're living beings in their own right. Tartarus is even capable of reproduction."

"Isn't Tartarus a giant hole?" Bastion scoffed in disbelief.

"It's the deepest point of the underworld, and the world. They use it as a dungeon of torment and suffering for the wicked and as a prison for the Titans." Diana answered, stopping to analyse her surroundings. Charon's betrayal wasn't surprising in the least, but at least she had managed to swim to the correct side. That in itself was a challenge given how direction was merely a loose, and often times non-existent, concept in hell.

"So...it's a hole." Bastion huffed. He didn't understand why things had to be so difficult with her, and with this place. If it was a hole, no matter how deep or sentient, then that's all she had to say.

Diana shook her head of dark curls and shrugged. "If that's how you'd prefer to put it, then yes. It's a hole. A very large one."

Bastion's mismatched irises finally flickered at his surroundings. There were so many rivers winding around this area that he dared not let his focus linger on them all but one, in particular, captured his attention. It was filled to the brim with lava, so hot that it made new valleys in whichever direction it drifted. Any lake within a reasonable distance of this fiery river was left with its water boiling, and steam shooting into the darkness above.

"The river Pyriphlegethon." Diana answered the unspoken question. She was starting to become accustomed to his constant inquiries. Not that she could blame him, anyone would be curious if they saw the things Hades had to offer. "It leads to Tartarus. We'll be following it there."

"I thought we were trying to get out of here, not tumble into an endless pit..." Bastion's tone has dulled significantly. He just wanted to get back to the surface. It wasn't his era, nor his country, but it was better than being stuck in hell.

"I've been here many times before, but that doesn't make finding the exit any easier." Diana re-secured her lasso, which had slightly unfurled in the water. Only now did Bastion notice the glow that had been woven within the rope. It was like it had been blessed with a small fraction of the suns light. That same brightness that pierced the bleak cavern soon dimmed, then fell out of existence altogether. "There's no sense of direction down here. It's always changing, moving things around to confuse the spirits...or me. The destination of that river never shifts though. I can decipher the quickest route out of here once we have arrived at Tartarus."

Bastion's entire body seemed to slump simultaneously. He was tired. It felt like they'd been walking for weeks, and with no real progress made at all. Even worse was the observation that Diana still appeared completely unwearied. That just made him seem like a whining asshole, but it couldn't be helped. He was nowhere on her level physically. She was...something else. Unlike anything he'd ever seen before.

As Diana sauntered towards the bubbling lava, Bastion swiftly followed behind. At this point he felt like he was attached to her...and not in the fun way. Wherever she went, he had to go. Bastion relied so heavily on her that whenever she was out of sight he could almost feel the underworld pulling out his soul...maybe it was. He couldn't tell anymore.

On they trailed, but for exactly how long, Bastion couldn't say. Seconds passed like hours...then like days. Bastion was near the point of collapsing when he heard something move. And it neither in him or Diana. Bastion froze but Diana continued forward with a dismissive wave of her hand "Don't worry, it's just a demon."

Bastion's eyes almost bulged completely out of his skull at her words. "Demon?! Hell no. I didn't sign up for that shit!"

Diana glanced over her shoulder with a raised eyebrow. "Did you sign up for the rest of this then?"

"You know what I mean!" Bastion's voice carried much more volume than he had originally planned. "I mean, corpses? Yeah. Sure. I've seen a ton of them already. Spirits? A little weird, but relatively harmless. I can even suspend my disbelief enough to consider that both a river and a giant hole are actual living beings... But demons? No. Not okay."

"They're not any worse than any other monster." Diana was, evidently, indifferent towards everything within this place...but that did nothing to calm Bastion's racing heart. Especially when something jumped into their path.

The creature, about half the size of any full-grown human, advanced on them but it's physique was hardly discernible in the shadowy void of hell. With each slow movement that belied the speed it was capable of, slime dripped, oozing great globs of phlegm and depositing them on the bone-riddled ground. It was sticky mucus, rancid and toxic to touch. Stretching across the gelatinous gloop of dead organs and innards was was it's gnarled skin. It crumpled and folded over in some areas, but in others it was extended far beyond its capabilities. Over it's belly lay crusty flaps, pulled open to reveal the travesty underneath; a puzzle of decomposing intestines and veins leading nowhere. The beast reeked of raw sewage and rotting meat, exactly the way it looked.

The demon pounced, much faster than Bastion had expected, but with a single slash of her sword Diana cut the monster in half. It was a clean slice. One that left nothing for the two halves to hold onto. As the blobs of flesh splattered onto the floor, something else arose from it. A spirit. It tried to pull itself out of the broken body, screaming in eternal agony. It took too long for it to finally pull itself away. Much too long. When it finally did though it vanished into the thin air, leaving the demon without its host.

"Typically I'm against killing unless it's absolutely necessary." Diana said, examining the blood that now covered her sword. "But I make exceptions when it comes to the underworld. Slaying these demons is an act of mercy."

Bastion didn't particularly want to risk Diana changing her mind on the subject of killing those things...but he was too curious not to ask "How so?"

"Hades builds them from corpses, but he cannot give them their own souls. He has been issued with the power to take life, not give it. So, he forces the spirits of the newly dead into each body, and they can only be released once that body is no longer viable." Diana wiped the blade on a nearby rock, but only succeeded in smearing the blood further. She grimaced. "These bodies are not their own though...so they don't quite fit inside. They are in a constant state of pain until they're set free."

Just as Diana was about to re-sheath her sword, another rustling sound occurred. First to their left...then their right. Then from every single direction imaginable. It wasn't long before a plethora of those demons came jumping into view; groaning and hissing with disembodied voices. Bastion stumbled backward, bumping straight into Diana.

"Do not let them see your fear." Diana tried to encourage him in her own weird way...and in his own odd fashion, it worked. He was stricken with panic at the sight of so many demons, but if he imagined himself back in that science facility, he could at least pretend like it had no effect.

Chewing on his bottom lip, Bastion locked eyes with one of the demons...of it had any eyes, that is. It was really just a clump of blackened organs but with no real face to speak of. It had been a while since he'd used his abilities, primarily because they were pretty damn useless against Gods and Demigods, but demons seemed like an easy target.

Bastion concentrated his every idea, every fear, and every desire, into only one constant stream of thought. It easily broke through the creatures lack of willpower and, within seconds, he had found its brain. The problem came when he tried to peek into its functions; to read its mind and take control of it. He was suddenly overwhelmed with a darkness unlike any he'd ever experienced. It was cold. Not because he could physically feel it, but because he just knew that it was. He couldn't move. He couldn't even scream. The further he sunk into that mind, the less he found.

Abruptly, he snapped out of the demon's mind...only to find that he had collapsed, and Diana was defending his weakened body from the creatures. Bastion gasped, loudly. Body trying to suck in as much air as it could...to convince itself to start working again. "What happened?"

Diana caught a demon by its 'neck', squeezed her hand and completely obliterated it. Blood rained around them, colouring Bastion's blonde hair to dark crimson. Diana, however, was already drenched in the stuff so it made very little difference. "You died."

Anxiety hit the man's chest like a boulder; then weighed him down. His first instinct was to stare down at himself, hands touching his legs and chest to ensure that he wasn't a spirit. It seemed like he was still in his own vessel...but that didn't give him any peace of mind. "I did?"

"Momentarily." Wonder Woman nodded, backhanding another little monster effortlessly. It went flying halfway across the underworld. "I would suggest not using that ability of yours. These things are made of dead organs. I thought I told you that."

"You did." Bastion grumbled, spotting a demon sprinting towards him and punching it back with all of his might. It did nothing. Bastion's strength was nothing to scoff at, by regular mortal standards, but down here (and among people with strength like Wonder Woman) it was laughable at best. He tried to hit it again. Then again. However, every single time, it just jumped back up as if it hadn't even felt the strike. "But if this thing's moving, I figured it should have a functioning brain...or something similar."

With another slash of her sword, Diana decapitated four demons at once. "This is Hell. Forget everything you know about biology, direction, and time. Even gravity. None of it applies down here."

"Easier said than done." Bastion grimaced, realising just how useless he was in this situation. "Give me your sword."

Diana scoffed, turning impaling one of the creatures with the blade then flocking them into the river of lava. "Get your own sword."

"Maybe I'll consider it, you know, when we pass the next blacksmith." He replied, tone drenched in sarcasm. "But until then I need it, and you obviously don't."

"That is beside the point." Diana retorted. "This is the sword of Athena, it was entrusted to only me. I cannot just hand it over to whomever asks."

Another flock of demons appeared, and this time Bastion jumped to his feet and kicked the creature that he had previously been punching. It was, again, of very little use. Diana witnessed it this time and Bastion raised his eyebrow at her.

"I see your point." With that, Diana passed her weapon to the German man and started charging into the hordes of limping monsters. Bastion, now armed with something to defend himself with, had to face the reality that he had no idea how to use a sword. He had been trained from a young age in hand-to-hand combat and firearms, but anything bigger than a dagger was simply pointless. They weren't exactly common place.

With that in mind, Bastion did the only thing that he could do; swing the pointy end at the demons and hope for the best. It was more effective than one might think. The blade was so sharp that, upon contact with anything, it immediately slit the skin and muscle. Whilst Bastion slashed one or two demons at a time, Diana was in the background slaying at least five with each action. She would throw them into one another with such impact that their bodies would burst, punch her hand through their chests to leave massive holes there, and simply throw them into the lava flowing beside them. Every move was effective, and soon she had defeated a large majority of those monsters.

As she ripped the head off another demon, a second came sneaking up behind her. Bastion rushed into the fray, ripping the bloody creature apart with the blade. A slimy, pinkish trail of intestines fell from inside its hip and it collapsed; still twitching until the spirit managed to pry itself out of the newly-made exit. Diana crossed her arms and turned. She was so thickly covered in blood that Bastion couldn't decipher any of her facial features beneath the chunky liquid. "You did not need to jump in. I had it under control."

Bastion didn't doubt it. She fought with more skill and strength than Heracles. It was unlikely that she hadn't sensed that demon sneaking up on her. "I didn't want to lose y-...my guide. You're my only way out of here, after all. A thank you would suffice."

Diana rolled her eyes and grabbed the sword out of Bastion's hand. Much to his relief, she pretended not to hear the large gap in his sentence. Quite honestly, he wouldn't have had any explanation for it. His own feelings were still a complete mystery. "I don't think I heard a thank you when I pulled you out of Styx."

Bastion's brow furrowed. Had he truly not thanked her for that? He supposed it was too late to say it now. "You're the reason I'm down here in the first place, remember?"

"I did not ask you to follow me." Diana said unapologetically, marching right passed him and starting, once more, on the path to Tartarus. Something in her voice made it seem like she wasn't entirely serious about the bickering, and neither was he. Not really. It was just a way to release the tension. "We should make haste. You have already been down here for too long."

Bastion wasn't going to argue with that. He wanted nothing more than to leave this place, and he was starting to think that his exhaustion wasn't a direct result of the strenuous walking...but of something else. Something he couldn't quite pinpoint.