"m-mom..." jisung choked as he took a step closer to the cage his mother was being locked in.

"jisung, it's okay. i'm alright." the woman reassured her son who was looking paler every second.

"for now..."

jisung turned his head immediately towards mark who had just spoken.

"what games are you playing, mark?" jisung spat.

"i'm not playing. just doing what is the best for me." mark replied with a shrug.

"i was starting to think you weren't like your traitor of a father." jisung continued, anger rising inside his guts.

"well, descendants of hades are like hades..." mark chuckled. "now, i asked you something."

"i won't get that key for you." jisung said, determined.

"oh, really?"

jisung was about to snap at mark, but he was interrupted by his mother emitting a strangled groan.

poseidon's son turned around, horrified to see his mother with her mouth hanging open and her hands wrapped around her own neck, as if no air was reaching her lungs.

"mom!" jisung exclaimed, running towards the cage before turning to look at mark. he had one of his fists tightening, and it didn't need much time for jisung to understand that mark was trying to kill his mother. "mark, stop!"

"go and take the key." mark growled, his dark aura suffocating them.

"okay, okay! i'll go!" jisung exclaimed, looking at his mother painfully.

hearing those words, mark's hand relaxed, and jisung's mother could start breathing again.

"now, go take the key." mark said.

jisung sighed, turning around to face the river.

"jisung... don't..." his mother pleaded between pants.

"get in the water and take it." mark repeated louder.

"ji..."

"shut the fuck up!" mark yelled, making the earth tremble.

"it's okay, i'm going!" jisung told, making mark smile.

"great. now, one last thing before you dive in." mark coughed.

the boy snapped his fingers, making the cage holding jisung's mother fly above the seine, as if mark was about to place it inside the water.

jisung's mother gasped when she realised that she was flying above the water.

she didn't know how to swim, and even if she knew, she wouldn't be able to survive if mark submerged the cage underwater.

"to make sure you wouldn't be tempted to tell the others about this, i'll make sure the cage is fully submerged in 10 seconds. this should be enough for the very capable son of poseidon to find a small object, wouldn't it?" mark tilted his head to the side.

"i hate you, asshole." jisung muttered under his breath, giving a glance to his mother.

"time starts now." mark told, snapping his fingers and making the cage next to him slowly go down towards the water.

jisung didn't waste a second to dive into the seine as his mother started panicking even more than she already was.

she had mixed feelings about the seine. it was a river she feared, but at the same time, it held so much importance to her.

she had almost drowned inside this river, after falling off a bridge, 18 years ago. she didn't know how to swim, and her heavy clothes only made everything worse for her.

but thankfully, someone had saved her. and this someone wasn't anyone. this someone was poseidon, the god of the sea.

long story short, poseidon saving her from drowning in the seine was the beginning of a long love story that resulted in the creation of their son: jisung.

and now, 18 years after being saved, she was about to be drowned again.

"quite ironical to think one of poseidon's love interests doesn't even know how to swim..." mark declared, looking at his wristwatch as the cage sunk slowly in front of him. jisung's mother now had water up until her breasts.

"here!"

mark smiled brightly when jisung appeared in front of him, soaking wet, holding a little object in his hand, the three ribbons mark had attached to it visible.

"very good." mark smiled, holding his hand out for jisung to place the key inside as the cage got placed back on the deck.

"why are you doing this?" jisung asked, tightening his grip on the key.

"why wouldn't i?" mark raised a brow.

"you are betraying us..." jisung gulped. "we trusted you... we started to think you weren't that bad..."

mark snorted. "well, i'm not to blame. i have never been on your side. you were just too blind to realise it. now give me the key."

jisung sighed, not having much choice. he took a few steps forward, placing the little object inside mark's palm.

"i thought you loved donghyuck." jisung declared.

this simple sentence had a huge impact on mark, as the boy stopped moving for a second. "what made you think that way?" mark asked, wanting to sound intimidating. but he couldn't fool jisung, the boy could hear his voice trembling.

"your attitude, and your sayings." jisung explained.

"i-i don't love him." mark told, sounding so unsure.

"you two locked a padlock on the pont des arts. you two kissed there. you two act like you are together. mark, i know you love him. all the boys know, and even donghyuck himself." jisung tried reasoning hades' son. "you'll lose him if you do this."

"i'll lose him either way." mark spoke back.

"not if you stay with us. you two are a perfect couple..." jisugn tried to push his anger aside to make mark change his mind.

"you can't understand!" mark growled. "the titans will attack in a few days, and- oh shit!" mark slammed his hand over his mouth as he realised he had spilled a very important information.

"you are with the titans?" jisung asked immediately.

"it doesn't matter."

"of course, it does!" jisung screamed. "you're a traitor to your blood! gods have been fighting against titans since the beginning of the civilisation, and now, you pair with the enemy?!"

"gods didn't seem to mind excluding my father!" mark tackled back on the same tone. "this is only payback. gods betrayed my father, and i'm avenging him by betraying the gods!"

"i regret trusting you..." jisung's fist tightened as he tried staying the calmest possible.

"i didn't ask you to trust me in the first place." mark retorted.

"you're a fucking manipulator! a liar! a traitor! you deserve to die and rot in fucking hell!" jisung yelled.

mark laughed at those words. "to rot in hell?" he repeated. "i belong to hell, dear... hell is my heaven, my happy place..."

"fuck you mark."

"great, now listen carefully to what i'm about to say." mark rolled his eyes, getting serious once again. "you are going to keep your mouth shut about all of this. and you are going to do as if you knew nothing when i'll be leaving tomorrow to join the titans. they have been waiting for me in paris for so long now..."

"like hell i am going to keep that to myself!" jisung snorted. "i'm telling this to the others. and we'll be the ones to kill you."

"i had a feeling you would say something like that..."

mark's fist tightened again, making jisun's mother gasp for air once again.

"mom!" jisung exclaimed, seeing his mother on the verge of death.

"promise to do as i say." mark told.

"yes, yes, i promise." jisung said, worriedly looking at his mother.

"look at me when you talk to me." mark growled.

jisung turned his head to look at mark in the eye. "i. promise. now let her breathe!"

mark opened his hand again as jisung's mother took a deep breath, coughing for a few seconds.

"you won't say anything to the others. and you'll do as if you knew nothing." mark explained. "and to make sure you respect the rules, i'll leave your mother in hell, to keep company to the damned souls. oh, and let's not forget the hell chocker."

mark snapped his fongers for the nth time, making a black ribbon appear around jisung's mother's neck.

"this is a hell chocker." mark explained. "it will instantly tighten if you say something i don't want you to say. and 10 seconds after, you dear mother will be dead. understood?"

"i will kill you, mark." jisung growled.

"good to know you understood. now, you can go back to the apartment. i have something to do before going back to sleep." mark smirked.

Ω

"hmm..." donghyuck hummed as his eyes fluttered open when his body judged he had had enough sleep.

his movements inside the bed made the figure sleeping next to him wake up too, and donghyuck was met with mark's tired face first thing in the morning, something he would love to see happening more.

"hey!" donghyuck whispered, smiling at mark. "slept well?" he asked.

"i couldn't sleep much..." mark replied. "but i rested a lot while looking at your beautiful sleeping face."

donghyuck flushed red, suddenly becoming self-conscious.

had he drooled during his sleep?

was he beautiful even asleep?

or was his hair completely messy, his cheeks puffed, his mouth open...?

"don't stress over that." mark ruffled donghyuck's hair. "you always look beautiful."

"thanks." donghyuck chuckled.

"i'm only speaking the truth." mark smiled.

donghyuck and mark exchanged a long and loving eye-contact before donghyuck's stomach grumbled, warning him that he should go and have breakfast in the kitchen.

so, donghyuck got out of the bed, and dragged mark by his hand towards the kitchen.

"hello!" he beamed, catching the two other boys' attention.

chenle was reading a french guide on paris while jisung was making coffee with the coffee machine. "hey!"chenle exclaimed.

jisung stayed silent, his eyes digging holes into mark's soul.

he couldn't bear seeing this traitor acting as if he was the purest boy on earth. not after what had happened during the night.

"you look like you didn't sleep at night, jisung." donghyuck giggled innocently as he took a sit facing chenle.

"that's because he didn't sleep much." chenle replied. "he was very active, last night."

"oh really?" mark asked in an innocent way, making jisung almost snap at him. "like, sleepwalking?"

"more like night terrors, or seeing things that don't make me want to fall asleep." jisung replied, glaring at hades' son.

"oh, can't relate... these things never happen to me..." mark shrugged.

jisung gulped as his grip on the cup of coffee tightened considerably until it eventually broke it, shattering the cup in dozens of pieces and making coffee spill everywhere.

"oh, jisung!" chenle exclaimed, immediately standing up and placing jisung's hand under cold water in the sink. "you're going to burn yourself!"

"it's okay, water heals me..." jisung replied, smiling slightly at chenle's caring act. usually, something like this would have made his heart beat so fast, but at the moment, he was too troubled with mark's betrayal to care about this.

"be careful, though. okay?" chenle asked, caressing the inside of jisung's palm that was still under the water.

"yeah, i will." jisung nodded, smiling sincerely this time.

"woof woof!"

all eyes turned around towards the dog that appeared inside the apartment, running next to mark.

"mavros!" donghyuck exclaimed, standing up and getting on his knees to greet the creature.

the hell dog's tail wiggled rapidly at the sight of donghyuck, and the animal didn't hesitate ot jump around the golden boy, and lick his face a few times.

"good dog!" donghyuck chuckled, patting its head affectively.

"why is he there?" chenle asked with a brow raised.

"i don't know." mark shrugged.

jisung almost scoffed out loud at mark's bad actor play.

it was obvious that mavros would be the reason why mark would need to leave them to do something. and he'll use that to go to the titans and betray them fully...

and jisung was right, because a few seconds after, mark claimed that his father had called him and all the other descendants for an important mission.

and so, mark left the apartment, leaving jisung with the biggest secret he had had to deal with...