Chapter 44: Hades Is Not The God of Death And Thanatos

Nervously, Belen stared at the screen with great concentration. As each minute passed, Willow noticed the guy's brow furrow with deeper concentration before he finally turned the screen off and sighed as he brought the phone to his side with one hand brushing back his red indigo hair as he mumbled under his breath with his eyes up at the white ceiling. Finally, he said, "She's going to get hunted down."

"You mean, she's being hunted down." Willow corrected with a frown and sighed, "I don't know what about the government, but they've gotten the attention of the other demigods by now, for sure."

"This shouldn't be a problem for you as long as you stay out of it, right?" Belen questioned as he raised a brow, "Or are you going to join their team too?"

"Me?" Willow raised her brow, "If the world could leave an angel unharmed by power and jealousy, I'd have probably joined them in their cause. But, we all know that won't happen. Those with great power needs more protection have have to be stronger than anyone else just to protect themselves. An honest wish of wanting to protect someone from others could end up hurting the others in turn. In a world like this, I'd rather protect those close to me than to protect the entire population. It's selfish, but-"

"But, this is how life is." Belen finished with a nod, "I can see your point in all this and I agree. In a fight like this, it's better to stay neutral than to pick a side. What would you do if Serah and her group makes you choose a side? You do realize that you're actually not someone they could easily catch, right?"

"That's easy." Willow smirked, "Run."

"What?" Belen furrowed his brow as he watched her.

"I'm running." Willow responded, "There's no way in the world I'm siding with either side here, so why should I change it. You even said it yourself. I'm not that easy to catch. If they want a demigod to work with them, they should go find someone else. I'm not going with anyone of them."

"Then, why are you here?" Belen raised a brow.

"I've been wondering that too." Akira, who had been sitting at the side listening in amusement, finally spoke up in confusion.

Willow sighed, "Somebody blackmailed me while I still new to all of this."

"Somebody blackmailed you?" Belen raised a brow.

"Is that even possible?" Aki stared at her as if he was watching pigs fly for the first time, "They need to tell me their secrets!"

Willow gave him a glare which didn't surprise him, at least, not until she opened her mouth and said, "And here I thought it was wrong of me to have you watch over the children, but who would've thought that you got along so well with them that you would want to play childish pranks. I guess it would be fine to let you stay with them a little longer."

"No! Wait! I take that back!"

Akira began to protest in shock as he realized his mistake. Seeing Akira's fluster expression, Willow began to wonder if there was a reason why the Kitsune decided to leave Japan behind for China. He wasn't that stealthy with his pranks or words as she thought he would be as a kitsune. On the other side, Belen shook his head as he watched the two fool around before finally said, "So, who was it that blackmailed you?"

"It was my dad." Willow replied as she held the cat by his scruff.

"What?!"

They looked to her in bewilderment. Did they really just hear that her celestial father was the one who blackmailed her?!

Willow sighed, "Well, I have my own goals and it requires with whatever he was willing to give me in exchange, so it pretty much wasn't too big of a deal."

"So, you didn't really care." Belen clarified with a frown.

"Pretty much." Willow responded, "I wouldn't have been here otherwise."

"Then, what are you going to do now?" Akira questioned her with a frown.

"Return, of course." Willow responded, "But, I have something to do before I bring everyone back."

"You just got in here and now you want to go out?" Akira questioned curiously when he heard this, "What are you planning to do?"

"Do you think I can stay here and fix everything in one fell swoop?" Willow shook her head with a sigh, "That's impossible. You can see how far things have gotten on their side. First, I need to make sure of something that's been on my mind."

"What is that?" Akira questioned.

"I want to find this country's reaper here." She responded.

"Reaper?" Belen raised a brow, "As in the one that takes souls?"

"Sort of." Willow responded, "In China, it's said that there are two guards that guard the gates to the underworld and they also bring the souls of the dead to evaluate their sins. They're responsible for bring the souls after they've passed. Don't you remember that there have been more bodies around than before?"

"What about that?" Akira questioned with a frown.

"Our opponent is Serah and her siblings who are all children of Hades." Willow responded, "Hades is the god of the dead and he wants to get out of where he is sealed which is in the underworld-"

"Where the dead resides." Belen nodded his head with furrowed brow in confusion, "What are you trying to say here?"

"Don't you think it's strange how, that every time we get found, the number of corpses increases as well?"

"Oh, I get it." Belen responded with a nod, "You mean that their father could be taking advantage of the dead that comes into the underworld so he could make use of what they know?"

"That's impossible." Akira frowned, "There was an agreement that the gods of each culture would respect their boundaries amongst others in the Celestial realm and only care for those that follow their teachings. So, no matter how vague that faith is, they would fall according to the underworld version of their beliefs."

Willow nodded, "Nobody knew where we were, but as the bodies piled up, that changed. Hades is the god of the underworld, but what I'm thinking of isn't him but someone else."

"Someone else?" Belen raised a brow.

"That's right." Willow responded as she leaned against the wall of the hallway, "Hades is the Lord of the underworld and is always thought to be someone akin to the grim reaper, but he's not death. He governs the Underworld, not the one that separates the souls from their bodies. the one who does that is-"

"Thanatos." Belen nodded with a sigh, "So, you think he's the one behind the transfer of the souls going to the wrong place."

Willow nodded back, "That's right."

"Thanatos is the god of death, not Hades. Hades rules the underworld and is Zeus's brother which makes him an important figure, but he isn't the one that takes souls." Willow said with a nod.

"However, my suspicions lies somewhere around or with Thanatos." Willow clarified, "He's the god of Death, if not him, then it's someone close to him. My only confusion is what would make him do that. If I'm correct, he should be a figure with an iron heart and wouldn't take humans away till the allotted time was up. So, it makes me wonder sometimes if it was really him?"

"There's another possibility." Belen responded, "Thanatos is the greek god of death like you said, but he's role isn't as general as you think. He takes souls when the allotted time was up and he peacefully takes it away. Not violently, such as war or disease. That would be his sisters, the Keres. They're a bunch of violent sisters that are all about bloodlust and violent deaths, but they don't have the ability to kill."

"Yup..." Akira sighed, "There are a few stories about Greek myths that contain gruesome contents."

Willow shook her head, "Isn't that with almost every culture? There are few that aren't, but many that do. However, the Keres, huh? Would they listen to Hades because he's such a big figure?"

"Most likely." Belen responded, "He rules over the Underworld, like you said. If you haven't mentioned Thanatos, I would've completely forgotten about him and his side of the family. Because Hades is the brother of Zeus and is the ruler of the Underworld, he should have the ability to give orders to them to bring the souls to him. Then, we have Hermes that helps guide the souls to the Underworld too, but I don't think he'd break that big of a rule between the gods."

"The battle of the gods." Willow frowned, "That's definitely not impossible at this rate. The first and probably last time I saw my father, he was complaining on and on about what his children did and even told me how the other Chinese gods have found this irritating as well."

"You're kidding me..." Belen grumbled in disbelief, "But, they won't start a war with other gods just because one of them went on a rampage, right?"

"I don't know about that." Willow responded noticing Akira's stunned figure in her hands, "I'm just saying that things aren't looking very good right now. At least, not for the Greek's side."

"What about you? What do you think?" Belen asked with a raised brow at her lax posture against the wall, "You don't seem that concerned about all of that. If the gods start a war, there's no telling what could happen to the surrounding lands and seas."