What do you think made Eris scared? Please tell me I wanna know what you were thinking because I don't think you'll get it right.

Hecate stepped forward to hug Eris too. After a while the goddess of Discord stopped shaking and just stood there.

"Where do we have to go?" Thanatos asked.

"The Sea, into the palace," Eris mumbled.

Hecate stepped back, "Is there anyone left to get?"

Eris nodded, "Mum, Thalassa and Apate."

Hecate nodded, "Ok, I'll go find them." Her form shimmered then split into three parts and vanished into the air.

"Do you want to sit down?" Thanatos asked.

"No we should just go to the Sea, Hecate can get the others there eventually," Eris said pushing away from him. "Don't tell anyone that I said I was scared."

Thanatos smiled at that, "I won't, come on lets go then."

"I'm serious don't tell anyone, not even your boyfriend," Eris said, gesturing with a small dagger.

"Boyfriend?"

"Yeah that fishy dude, the one with the nice eyes."

"Do you mean Triton?"

"Of course I do, he is your boyfriend right?" Eris questioned.

Thanatos wouldn't look at her, "I'm not sure actually."

"Since you met him you've changed a lot, you talk more now and don't blend in with the shadows as much."

"I can and will still stab you, changed or not."

"Why?"

"You are annoying, that hasn't changed. Can we talk about something else now if you won't shut up?"

"Ok then. Do you think Nemsis has a thing for Hecate?"

"Definitely, she gets weird when she's around."

"I know right," Eris said with a huge grin. "How about Moros then? Showed any emotion lately."

"Yeah, also apparently he has a thing for elbows."

"Elbows?"

"Yup, Moros likes elbows," Thanatos laughed.

"And we thought Morbeus was bad enough with the feet."

Thanatos shuddered. "That was bad."

"It really was."

"So what did get you that scared? Sorry to bring it back up."

"I really don't want to say, it would be better to see it for yourself," Eris said vaguely.

"Does it have anything to do with Tri?"

"Tri?"

"Triton, the fish with the nice eyes."

"So you admit that he has nice eyes, quite good-looking too."

"Back off," Thanatos said, pushing his sister away roughly with one hand.

Eris put her hands up, palm facinh him. "Alright, alright, no need for threats."

"I wasn't threatening you."

"You were about to."

"Was not."

"Yes you were, now stop arguing with me, because we both know I'm right."

Thanatos rolled his eyes, but still vanished the knife that had appeared in his hand. "So was Tri hurt? Is that what the gods did at Sea?"

"No, your boyfriend is a-okay."

"Not my boyfriend," Thanatos grumbled. He wouldn't mind it but he couldn't. They were in a war and could not and would not, give Olympus any leverage. If the gods knew that Thanatos cared for Triton then they would try to use Triton to get to him. It might seem useless to some to try to just get one god out of the equation, but thats what the Sea was doing to Olympus. Decrease the numbers.

Also if Triton got hurt it wouldn't just be to hurt Thanatos. It would hurt his siblings, Poseidon, Amphitrite and most likely most of the Sea that their Prince was harmed. True they would fight back more but if Olympus caught Tri then the Sea wouldn't want him to possibly be hurt if they could help it.

Also Thanatos knew that most likely wouldn't happen but he can worry right? Or is that too much? Should he just stop thinking?

Yes, he thought. I should stop overthinking. Stop thinking.

Eris punched him in the arm.

"Hey! What was that for?"

"Stop overthinking everything."

"I didn't say anything!" Thanatos protested, not liking how she had known he was overthinking.

"You don't have too, lets just go." Eris held onto his wrist.

"You want me to take you there?"

"I don't know if you've noticed in your panic over your boyfriend but I am not in the right state of mind to shadow travel anywhere."

"You're never in the right state of mind," Thanatos grumbled as the shadows overtook them both.

* * *

Triton followed Kym past the curtain, ignoring the steady stream of ichor on his neck. Once in the room, some looked at him and at the ichor.

Eros lifted his head up and gave him a weak smile. "Who was the victim this time eh?" he said in an attempt to lighten the moment.

Triton couldn't blame him. If he was Eros, he would be doing the same thing.

Unhealed burn marks reached up his arm, the one that was closest to Triton. Ichor dripped out of it too.

You would think that Ichor would blend in with the water.

It would make everything pretty, despite the pain that caused it.

It doesn't.

It doesn't look pretty.

It just drips down.

Ichor is heavier than water.

Blood is thicker than water.

It drips down as it would on land, except in the water it looks a lot worse because it the faint sting of water on flesh makes the wound shrivel.

It wouldn't do that to Triton.

No.

He was still a merman.

Eros on the other hand was not.

Triton tried for a smile but it came as a wince, "Its all mine I think. How about you? Who did you make fall in love with a rock?"

"The Oh so great Lord of the Heavens. Managed to get into the Sea without us knowing. I thought you were up there, how did you miss it?" he asked. He started angry but by the time he finished his voice was quiet. His head dipped down.

Triton tapped his neck, "Got a visitor from above."

Eros looked up past him, "I thought you were up there with Kori."

Triton closed his eyes, seeing Kori's lifeless body in front of him. "I was."

"Then where are th- oh. Are they?"

"Gone? Yeah," Triton said, his voice cracking. "They're gone."

Eros stared at him shocked before his head dipped back down. He lifted his unharmed hand up to his mouth.

Only then did Triton realise that there was someone beside the love god.

Someone he knew quite well.

Someone that was covered in their own purple blood.

Blood that should not be purple, blood that should be gold.

"Feathers?" Triton said softly. Swimming around to his other side, eyeing the long gash on his tail.

"Hey Tri," he said weakly. "How's it going?"

"Not good, what about you?"

"Mentally, physically or emotionally?"

"Um, physically?"

"In looks or in pain?"

"What do you think genius? You're covered in blood, purple blood might I add and you think I want to ask you if you feel like you're pretty?"

"For your information I'm sure my hair is perfect right now, I'm at least a solid 9. The blood might take me down a bit," he said trying to sit up.

Eros hummed, "I thought you were about to say your ass was perfect now."

"My ass is always perfect," Anteros said with a grin that soon turned into a grimace.

"I know it is," Eros said quietly, entwining their fingers and pressing a kiss to the back of Anteros' hand.

Triton shouldn't be there, he felt like an imposter. They were having a 'soft' moment as Kym called it and he felt awkward that he was in the same room.

Triton cleared his throat, "Uh, would you like me to go so you two can strip eachother with your eyes in private?" He mock bowed to them and heard Kym snort behind him.

The healer that was working on placing cream on Eros' arm froze for a moment before continuing on with what xe was doing. "I'm afraid they won't be alone because we will continue to watch Lord Anteros' state."

Eros looked over at xem, "I won't let him out of my sight... I'm sorry but I don't know your name."

"Zaia, but I wouldn't have expected you to know, I only started here last week," Zaia said not looking up from where xe was wrapping Eros' arm.

"Do you have to wrap it?"

"Not really since you are a god but your healing hasn't begun yet so I'll just do this to avoid infection."

"You do realise that it hasn't kicked in because I didn't want it too, right?"

"Then that was a foolish decision, I'm finished with you. Lord Triton is that your ichor or anothers?" Zaia said coming over to inspect the cut. Xe hummed and Triton hoped that was a good thing.

Triton looked away from his brother for a second, "Its mine."

"Alright, hold still," xe said pushing his chin up to get better access to the wound.

Something sharp pierced his skin and he jerked back.

Zaia frowned at him, "I said hold still, not try to dance." Xe moved closer to him again and the needle-like object was pushed through his skin, through the wound from Hercales' knife.

Triton jerked back again, "What are you doing?"

"A riverdance."

Kym started laughing, "I like this one."

"Not for sale," Zaia muttered. "I was closing the wound, you know as I was trained to do on anyone that has a deep cut."

"Its not that deep," Triton said meekly, moving back further from the healer, covering the cut with one hand. Ignoring the thin string hanging from his neck.

Zaia crossed xyr arms, "Are you afraid of needles Lord Triton?"

"What? Noooo," Triton said unconvincingly. He was a terrible liar.

Kym appeared behind him, "Boo, Triton I'm a needle. Ooooooo."

"Terrifying," Triton muttered.

While Kym had distracted him, Zaia used that to get another stitch done in his neck. Causing Triton to jerk back again, this time into his laughing sister.

Amphitrite poked her head past the curtain, "The ones from the Underworld just got here. How are you doing?" She directed the last part to Anteros.

"Better now that I know that Triton is scares of needles," Anteros said laughing, trying to sit up.

Eros pushed him back down with his free hand, "Don't move if you don't have you."

Amphitrite looked over to where Triton was trying to hide from Zaia. "Triton just get it over with."

"Yeah Triton, stop being a baby," Kym mocked. Pushing him towards Zaia.

"I'm not being a baby." Triton crossed his arms before wincing, "Ow."

"Either you are afraid of needles or you have no pain tolerance," Zaia said, holding Triton's chin so that he wouldn't move too far. "M'lady can you please hold him still," Xe said when Triton moved away again.

"No but I can get someone else to hold him still," Kym said happily. Disappearing past the curtain quickly. She came back after a beat dragging Thanatos by the wrist.

"I don't understand, why did you drag me here?" Thanatos said once Kym had stopped.

"So you can hold my brother." Kym clapped her hand on his back, making Thanatos move forward slightly.

"Wait what?"

Kym didn't say anything else but turned Thanatos' head so that he was facing Triton.

Triton gave him a small wave.

Thanatos waved back, still looking confused as he followed the trail of ichor on Triton's chest up to his neck.

Triton noticed that Thanatos still had his wings despite being underwater. He was proud of him, he wasn't afraid of getting them wet if he still had them. Either that or he hadn't got a chance to will them away yet. But since he still had them, Triton was going to choose the first option.

He hadn't noticed Zaia beside him until the needle pierced his skin once again.

"Ow."

"What happened are you ok?"

"I got a knife dragged across my through and now Zaia keeps trying to stab me more," Triton said, swimming over to Thanatos and hiding behind his angel.

"Triton's scared of needles," Kym said.

"I am not!"

"If you really aren't then let the pretty healer close the wound," she argued back.

Thanatos turned his head to face him, "A knife was dragged across your throat?"

Triton nodded.

Thanatos spun around and held him close, raising his chin to see the half closed wound. "Who did this?" he said quietly after a few seconds.

"The biggest jackass of all the land," Triton laughed before seeing Thanatos' face and stopped immediately. "Hercales."

"Did he do anything else to you?"

"No, nothing. But he did remember you because he thought you were my angel."

"I thought I was too."

"You definitely are, I wouldn't give up a chance to look at the view," Triton said while looking him up and down.

Now you're probably wondering why Triton is flirting with his angel after his best friend died. The answer to that is actually in 3 pieces.

1) The Sea doesn't mourn for the dead with sadness and grief. Sure they might experience grief afterwards but after that they celebrate that the merfil lived. Celebrate the memories and celebrate life itself. So that when they look back on them you won't remember the sadness after they passed but the good memories. The good that was there when they lived and when they didn't.

2) Triton was trying to cover up what he was feeling so he wouldn't be seen as weak. It wasn't a front for the ones around him, they all knew him well enough to know that it was all a facade. But rather a front for himself so that he wouldn't overthink everything to do with the war and death and all of that. (He means death as in people dying not Thanatos, because he wouldn't mind thinking anout Thanatos at all).

3) How could he not flirt with Thanatos?

Anteros laughed again, sitting up with the help of Eros, "And you said about us stripping each other with our eyes. Cut out the public affection."

Zaia cleared xyr throat, "Can you hold him still please so I can close the wound?"

Triton hissed at xem and pulled himself closer to Thanatos.

Zaia stuck xyr tongue out at him in retaliation.

Thanatos, the traitor, held him tighter against him so that he couldn't move and moved his head to one side.

Zaia went back to work now that Triton couldn't move at all, even though he tried. Trying to wiggle out of Thanatos' arms to no avail. Squirming as he felt the needle push through his skin.

It was a new method to close wounds. Usually it was just put some paste made up of things-Triton-knew-nothing-about onto a piece of seaweed and tie it aeound the wound. Take if off after an hour and the wound would be either gone or a scar.

Triton preferred that to the needles.

After forever, Zaia moved away from him but Thanatos still didn't let go.

Triton craned his neck around, "Are you done?"

"Yes and I better not see you in here again for at least a week," Zaia said starting to peal the bandage of seaweed from Eros' arm.

"My brother is here."

"You know what I mean, you better not get injured for at least a week."

"Theres a war," Triton said simply, still craning his neck despite Thanatos having lessened his hold on him so that he could turn around comfortably.

"There will also be a pissed healer is you are back in here," Zaia said gesturing with a needle.

Triton eyed the needle, "Understood."

"Good."

Triton gave xem a scared smile just as an explosion shook the palace.