Roxas loved Ophelia's show and when it came time to see her after, he rushed over to her and kissed her lightly. "The show was fantastic. You were amazing." Everyone else complemented her for her performance too. After awhile though it was time for the two of them to go to the after party. Roxas really wasn't sure about that part but, he figured it would be okay. He wasn't going to leave Ophelia's side most of the night anyways.

The party had turned out to be fun just like he though. There was food and music and he got to dance with Ophelia for a bit but, he was ready when it was time to go home. The two of them made it back just in time to hear Jax yelling about chicken being done. This kinda startled him but, laughed a bit after. Ophelia had left for a minute to get changed into some pj's and Roxas just waited for her to retuen. It wasn't like they haven't changed together before but with Jax around he decided to just stay in the living room. Once she came back though, he went into change as well. He figured tonight he'd stay with her. It didn't take to long for his to change but he kinda wished it did because the second he came out, Ophelia started talking about how she wasn't feeling well and Jax replied with, "Maybe it's that sleeping pill thing you've been taking." Roxas stopped in his steps and stared right at Ophelia. She never told him that she was talking a sleeping potion. Normally he more than likely wouldn't have cared. She was always looking tired and he really felt bad that she couldn't sleep. Now that it was out in the open and a month later no less, he was a little pissed off. She had wanted him to be open to her and he was. He told her everything she wanted to know and didn't keep anything from her. The fact that she had been hiding it for god knows how long really put him off.

"What." Roxas said in a low and very unimpressed tone. He was just about to say something more, when Morthos popped in rammbling on about something. What impeccable timing. He thought to himself. "Mothos I'm right here what's the problem?" He really didn't want to deal with this right now and wanted to get answers out of Ophelia but, he said something about his mom being in danger and he could ignore that. "Here take deep breaths and slow down. Why is your mother in danger and why do we have to leave right now?" He said as he walked up to him trying to calm him down. Which was kinda rich because Roxas wasn't calm at all at the moment. Once Morthos was calmed down a bit, Roxas shot Ophelia a glare that pretty much said, "We're talking later."

Jax knew she said something bad when she heard Roxas' tone. She then looked at Ophelia who was stabbing her with her eyes. Jax blushed three different shades of red and tried to look sympathetic when suddenly Morthos burst through the door. She thanked the gods for this gift, falling just a bit more in..love with Morthos at his interruption. She stood up as he began to talk, catching a few of his words. Her expression immediately going into something more serious as he began to burst out random words. He was a mess not being able to function properly as he was lost in his thoughts. Roxas tried to give some 'calm' words even though he was obviously livid. Ophelia tried to use her calmness to get him to relax but still, his mumbles were carrying on. Jax walked up trying to speak but she kept being interrupted. She suddenly let out a sigh and slapped Morthos across the face, "JESUS BLOODY NEPTUNE, MORTHOS! GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF!"

Her eyes widened as her green eyes met his orange ones, "Sorry. Now I am going to phone the school and put our names on the mission form. If your mother is in trouble with an archdemon then we better get there as soon as possible. If you want to leave tonight, we should be ready to go in the hour. Roxas, you and I are the only two who have faced arch demons before, I am counting on you for guidance on this mission. Morthos you know the lay of the land and the territory, plus you mentioned ley lines. I don't understand the magic in using them but use whatever mission money we have to get what we need for traveling. Ophelia, you are the strongest out of all of us so again you have to do some heavy hitting. We can discuss logistics when we get there with Morthos' mother. Everybody got it?"

She nodded then turned grabbing her phone, before turning to Hargul, "AND Hargul, don't eat all the ice cream."

She shot him a look before she headed to her room, dialing the SPA bureaucratic offices. She began the process of signing up the team for the mission whilst pulling out her rucksack stuffing it with some old demonic tombs, her weights, some loose clothes before she changed into her classic jeans, thigh high boots, blue jacket and white blouse. When the paperwork, so to speak was done she came out and spoke evenly, "The mission is ours. They are sending the documents, through everyone's email. Hopefully, we have some time to read everything over." She let out a breath, walking over to Morthos with an apologetic smile, "Again..I'm sorry about slapping you..."

She leaned up giving him a strong hug before pulling back to look at his face speaking softly, "I will go back to hell before I let anything happen to your family. You have a good team here, so whatever we need to do. We will do it! Okay."

She paused, realizing their proximity and took a step back blushing, "So...ley lines?"

When Jax slapped Morthos that shut him up right quick, and was exactly what he needed. She went off to confirm the mission was to be theirs and Morthos took a minute to just take some deep breaths and calm himself down. Jax came back and assured him she would do everything she could to help. It felt good to be close to Jax like this, which promptly ended when she realized how close they were and stepped away from him. "Right, I'm probably just overreacting, the posting didn't say she'd left yet, she's probably fine." At least he hoped she was.

"So, ley lines, not sure how much you all know but I'm just going to explain what's up with them because honestly, it'll help me calm down to talk about something I'm knowledgeable about." He took a deep breath to center himself once more before explaining. "So, ley lines are natural things and are all around the world. Some span continents while others are barely the length of a town, and they contain immense magical energy. when two or more lines cross it's called a nexus, SPA is built where it is because it's on top of a large ley line nexus. Some people can tap in to this energy to strengthen their magic, but it's very difficult, I tried once when I was younger and nearly killed myself. But, I do know a way to travel along the lines, at least from nexus to nexus, so I can get us from here to a spot near my hometown."

When he was done that he actually did feel better than he did before, "so, if everyone is ready I can actually do it from here. Like I said, the SPA nexus is huge." Once everyone was good he had them all gather around in what looked like a group huddle, with arms around each others shoulders, he of course made sure Jax was next to him so he could keep her close during this part. "So this is going to feel strange if you've never been the subject of teleportation magic before. Everyone experiences it a bit differently, but in general you can expect to feel like your body is being stretched in strange ways, see lots of strange colours, and you might get sick when we show up on the other end, I did my first time. So get ready, 5..4..." He didn't bother finishing the countdown, instead he initiated the spell and took them in an instant from the girls' home to the nexus near Dunwich.

"Sorry, I also find it helps if you're not expecting it. Once you're all feeling better we can..." He trailed off, he was just noticing the scenery was nothing like what he remembered. Everywhere was covered in a dense fog, he could barely see more than 10-20 feet in front of him. He did see the sign he was expecting though, pointing which way Dunwich was. He created a small fire in his hand which helped basically none but it made him feel better. "Okay, it's this way, stay close. Also, this mission won't pay as much as maybe it should. I'll cover the difference out of pocket if you guys want, I don't mind, I just want to help my mom."

Roxas listened while Morthos explained everything. Everything kind of made sense while he talked. Then he started to count down as if they were about to take off or something. Without finishing, he started the jump. Things started to feel a little odd and he really didn't like the way this was going. Colors weren't looking right and it was almost as if he was on lsd. Just like that though, they arrived at their destination. Roxas started to feel sick to his stomach then grabbed Jax's Shoulder and threw up all. It took a minute or so for him to quit. For a second there Ifrit took control and under his breath, "If you ever do that again I'll rip your throat out." No one was able to hear except for maybe Jax. The voice wasn't Roxas' either. After that quick second he looked up at Jax then nodded as to say he was okay. Roxas took in the surroundings which wasn't much. Fog enveloped the whole land and you couldn't see anything. Morthos made a little fireball then had everyone follow him.

Jax listened to Morthos discuss how the teleportation worked, trying to remember if it had been gone over in class. It was a magic she had no affinity for so she probably had nodded off. She paid attention now though, then walked over to Morthos who took her hand. Roxas was on the other side of her and she gave her sister a wary smile, still sorry for making Roxas angry. When Morthos began counting, Jax steadied her feet preparing for the right number when he surprised her by finishing early. Suddenly she felt like her body was being stretched to the limit as bright neon colors filled her eyes. She gripped both of the boy's hands roughly, whilst leaning into what she thought was Morthos. Suddenly her feet hit the ground and the world was normal. She caught herself just before she fell over, trying to stay on her feet. Roxas grabbed her, shoulder to keep himself steady, which in turn helped her stay on her feet. She heard the demonic voice come out of him and spoke back in an annoyed voice, "Oh shut it. You little..shit. Roxas, you okay?"

When he nodded at her she turned to Morthos who seemed relatively fine but was looking around as if he was slightly confused. She took a minute to notice the fog around them and the sign. Jax placed her hands on her hips as she watched her sister go off to throw up, "You guys are hilarious. It wasn't that bad!"

She walked over towards Morthos but as she walked her body lilted and her feet got twisted as she hit the ground, nausea pounding in her head. She rolled over looking up at the tree line which seemed to be moving in circles. She shut her eyes taking a few minutes to calm down before she sat up and then followed behind Morthos and the group, "It's not funny, Ophelia!"

She twitched her nose before she walked up slowly to walk beside Morthos, her feet urging her to walk diagonally, which she tried her damndest to fight. After a short, while she spoke up, a seriousness in her tone, "The fog smells like sulfur." She turned to Roxas speaking softly, "It's like a hot bed of demonic energy surrounding this place. I've felt the sensation only once before. Whatever archdemon it is..it's strong."

"This place used to be a beautiful forest," Morthos lamented as they walked along, "but now look at it. The trees are dying, the fog makes it impossible to see, I bet the Nentir River is all sorts of screwed up. Once we solve this demon problem you'll all get a proper look at my home." He sighed, he couldn't even think of the fact they were on a mission right now. Someone else could go through any official details they had, right now Morthos was on the warpath to his home town to find out if his mother really had left and to find a way to save her if she had.

The walk was quiet, which just made Morthos more weary, the forest was usually so full of life but now it seemed the animals had retreated. Hopefully they had retreated, and not had something else happen to them. After a bit of walking they made it to the front gates. the town was surrounded by stone walls tall enough to keep you from being able to see the town inside. There were two young looking men standing guard at the gate, looking somewhat nervous. The one thing Morthos took from their appearance was they were both human looking, which wasn't an issue considering the town was about 75/25 tieflings to non-tieflings. The real issue was Morthos did not recognize these men has he'd been away from home for so many years.

"Halt! Stand your ground, state your intentions!" The man tried to sound imposing but his voice cracked slightly partway though the sentence. Morthos held up his hand to his companions to signal he could handle this.

"Fear not, we come as friends. Your Lord has returned, no allow me and my friends entry." Morthos hated pulling the Lord card but it was probably the fastest way to get these guys to lighten up.

They looked at each other hesitantly, "the Lord is in the manor, he never ventures outside the walls. Whoever you are you're lying." At that point they raised their swords, this was not boding well, Morthos was more annoyed than scared for his life. He couldn't see his friends as he had taken a step forward to speak to the guards but he held out his hand to stop them aggressing.

"Look, I don't wanna hurt you guys, so tell you what. You call up Major Fear, get him to come down here, then if he gives you the okay we'll fight, deal?" One of them lowered his sword slightly, "do you mean Colonel Fear?"

"Ya, him, must have got a promotion or two since I left home."

The two men huddled together and whispered some things before the one said, "fine, we'll call him. But you all stay right here." They walked off and Morthos breathed a sigh of relief as they did before turning back to his friends, sorry about that, but don't worry, when Uncle Fear gets down here he'll know it's me and we'll get in no problem." The Colonel wasn't really his uncle, but most of the high ranking officials had been around so much his whole childhood they were basically like family.

One thing they guards said had bothered Morthos though, but he didn't want to interrogate them further. His mother was the head of house, meaning they should have a Lady, not a Lord, so who was it they were talking about?

Roxas followed the others and looked around the forest. It was a little creepy and he could feel something watching them. He followed up the rear and kept an eye on his surroundings. Many things could happen in a foggy forest. When the group made it to the gates, Morthos started to talk to the guards. He said something about a lord then something appeared in the corner of his eye. Roxas' head shot to the left and saw the outline of a person. The figure vanished suddenly right as Roxas saw it. "Keep an eye out Roxas. She's here." Ifrit said low in his head. Roxas knew exactly who he was talking about and a slight shiver went up his spine. For a second there whatever frustrations he had with Ophelia st the moment vanished. A bigger problem arrived and he didn't want anything to happen to Ophelia.

Roxas heard Ophelia's voice then snapped his head back forward. A lot was going through his mind right now. He was still mad at Ophelia but, with this new found knowledge of Eileen being present, all he wanted to do was be close to her. Roxas made the decision that right now was not the time to be mad and he'd talk to her about it later when they were't in danger. He moved close then grabbed Ophelia's hand bringing her close. "She's here." He said under his breath to her. He had explained once before who Eileen was to Ophelia and he had hoped that she would get what he said. Jax seemed to overhear him too and glanced at him real quick before looking back at Morthos. Roxas wasn't sure if Ophelia had told her anything or not but, he was ready to explain if needed.

Jax walked through the woods with the rest of the group remaining cautious, her hand itching to touch her scythe at the instant of danger. When they reached the guards she listened quietly with Ophelia and Roxas, her expression curious. When the guards reached for their swords, her hand reached up to touch her weapon, annoyance filling her features. Morthos seemed to calm down by mentioning that he was a lord. Jax let go of her scythe and looked at him differently, seeing him in a new light. The friend she had eaten tacos with, trained with, and watched cartoons with was also a noble in his own right and she knew that but it didn't really stand out until now. She knew he was a lord...she just didn't see that when she looked at him. He was just Morthos. Seeing him in a new light also made her see the distance between them. She was a special motherfucker and she knew it, but she was also just a poor commoner, and she wouldn't understand the world he grew up in. The distance between them was something she never considered and she didn't like it either. She came out of her thoughts when he spoke about an uncle coming down. She put on her signature smile, "Uncle Fear eh? Is he the same uncle who sent me those demonology books?"

As she waited for an answer she noted Roxas' body language change from slightly annoyed to rigid. Out of the corner of her ear, she also heard him say, "She's here."

The words were not meant for her but she turned quickly to stare at him before turning to Morthos who seemed to be just as confused as her. She took a few steps away from the group, looking out into the fog to see if she saw anyone. She relaxed after a moment and turned to Roxas, her tone even, "Roxas, if there is some crazy bitch following us, I want to know who she is and if she is a danger to the team."

She was about to push for more information when she noticed the guards were heading back. She gave Roxas a look, "One thing at a time I guess. We should hold this convo in private, but we need to have it sooner rather than later. We are going to have more than enough on our plates with this arch-demon mess."

Ophelia had voiced Morthos' concern and he just shook his head, "I'm not sure, my mom is the ruler here so she'd be the Lady, not the Lord, unless..." Morthos trailed off for a second, could his fears finally be realized? "No, no never mind, we'll figure it out once we're inside." He chuckled at Jax's question, "no, Fear isn't really my uncle, he's actually my godfather, so he's basically family. The one I got the books from was my uncle Damakos," Morthos had actually been surprised how easy it was to get his uncle to lend him the books, he seemed in an unusually good mood when he asked about a month ago.

He'd have to grill Roxas later about whatever he was on about, was someone following them? For now the guards were coming back and Morthos saw behind them Major, no not Major anymore, Colonel Fear. His skin was red like Morthos' but where Morthos had a more vivid red Fear's was much darker, almost like the colour of dried blood. His hair was jet black and was long like Morthos' was before he got his big makeover with Jax. He was wearing armour, a shield on his back and a khopesh holstered on his waist. "Uncle Fear, can you please tell your men that I'm your godson and to let us inside?"

Fear walked up to Morthos and squinted slightly, as if he wasn't sure he was who he said he was. "Do I need to get you your glasses old timer?" Morthos saw the guards tense up at this, and with good reason, when it came to his soldiers Fear was a no nonsense kind of guy. But Morthos knew what he was like when the uniform came off. Fear laughed and pulled Morthos in to a hug, "Morthos, good to see you, glad you've still got your same sense of humour." He turned to his men who were giving each other confused glances, they'd clearly never seen Fear in this good a mood before. "Men, this is my godson, son of Lady Rieta, and your young Lord, Morthos Xerxes."

The guards were unsure whether they should apologize, bow, kneel, so they instead just stammered and tried to do a combination of all those things. Fear turned back to the group, "now, Morthos and friends, come, I'll take you to the manor, you can introduce yourselves along the way." As they walked by Morthos said to the guards who were trying to apolozie, "look, you didn't know, it's fine, now as you were, continue guarding my town."

Jax stood quietly beside Morthos as his uncle came down to see him. She looked up at the other red-skinned man with slight wonder, a smile forming as she saw them both joking with each other. It was nice to see Morthos in a more familiar setting, and it only made her more excited to meet his family in general. When Ophelia introduced her she gave her usual charming smile and a light wave, before looking over at Morthos and whispering quietly, "Is everyone in the family such a hottie?"

After a few minutes, the group was heading through the gates and Jax was eyeing her sister with curiosity, before pulling her back slightly, "Are you okay? You are looking a little paler than usual?"

Jax didn't know why but something was definitely off or different. It wasn't something physical, perhaps more a feeling but with her spending more time with Morthos and Ophelia spending more time with Roxas, she perhaps didn't notice it as much. She shook her head turning back to Fear who responded to Ophelia's statement.

"You know, I'm starting to think you just have a thing for devilishly handsome men," Morthos teased Jax as Fear answered Ophelia's question.

"Well it's nice to meet you all, and yes, we have been having some trouble lately." The town was mostly quiet owing to the fact it was around midnight, but the sound of guards around the perimeter could be heard if you listened for it. "For some time now we've been ravaged by an archdemon and his brood. We recently discovered his location, a cave not too far east of here. Lady Rieta thought she would be able to dispatch the demon, and I urged her to wait for us to get a team together, but the other morning she was just gone."

Morthos could tell Fear was taking this personally since he was head of military and also head of his mother's security. "Uncle Fear, the guards said something about the lord never leaving the manor. Who's running things if my mom isn't here?"

"Ah yes, that would be your uncle Damakos," Morthos could tell from his voice that he was not happy with this outcome.

"I see," Morthos didn't like it much either. His uncle had been eyeing the throne his whole life. He was the younger twin brother of Rieta, so she was always destined for the throne, not him.

"Here we are, Xerxes Manor," Fear announced as they came up on Morthos' childhood home. The place was huge, he had told Jax he didn't live in a castle but that was mostly on a technicality as the manor was about as big as what someone would expect of a castle. It was clearly an old building but it had been upkept very well over the years. "Morthos you know where the rooms are, rest for tonight and tomorrow we can begin making plans to save your mother."

Morthos wanted to argue but he could feel the night catching up with him, "fair enough, good night uncle Fear, this way guys." They entered in to the grand hall which was dimly lit so it was hard to make out any real details, but Morthos knew this manor inside and out. They started up the stairs to their right and towards the guest rooms.

Jax followed Morthos and his aunt with the rest of the group, remaining silent as Uncle Fear spoke of Morthos' mother and uncle who was holding the reigns of this country. Morthos seemed a bit miffed about this uncle Damakos taking control and Jax wondered if perhaps there was some bad blood between them. She would have to ask about it later. Suddenly she realized where she was and looked up at the large mansion in front of her. Her lower mandible slowly slid down as she took in the impressive exterior of the place. It was bloody huge and it made her parent's house seem like a little shit shack. She looked over at Morthos who had always downplayed his home and shook her head in disbelief. When they entered the home, she gripped her bag tighter feeling small under the great entryway. The architecture was stunning, a mixture of the old world and the new world combined. She turned to Uncle Fear and extended a hand to him, "Thank you so much for allowing us to stay for a few nights and we will do our best to help in any way we can!"

When Fear had disappeared into the home Jax turned to Morthos and punched him in the arm, "You little liar. You totally downplayed this place. Your house is fucking massive! I bet your kitchen is gigantic as well. I am totally getting a house tour when we get back from kicking this demon's ass! I demand embarrassing photo's, to see your childhood bedroom, and to meet your other family members! Especially your mom."

She gave him a large evil grin before she turned to look at Ophelia and Roxas, "Speaking of...I know we are going to do some of the big planning tomorrow but are we going to have to watch our backs for something else. Taking on an archdemon is no cake walk and if we get through this we could possibly be bumped up a letter grade. If something else is going to get in the way of that. I...and I am pretty sure Morthos as well, want to know about it."

Roxas listened to everyone but didn't really take in what was being said. His mind was on something else. The fact the Eileen was following them bothered him a lot. She must be planning something. That being said, no one else saw her and there was still something in his head telling him it was all just a hallucination. There's just no way. He would think I killed her with my own two hands she can't be alive.

His thought prosses was interrupted once they all started to move. The man mansion was massive. Roxas looked ovwr at Morthos as they entered and felt a little envious of him. Of course he already knew that he was rich but, didn't think it was like this. Again, his thought prosses was interrupted. This time by Jax hinting towards Eileen. He didn't know if she knew anything about her at all so he wasn't really sure how to react to the statement.

"Well I'm sure we'll do fine." Roxas smiled, hiding the way he really felt. If Eileen was here and she desided to show herself, they wouldn't do fine. In fact, the others would be quite dead. When that thought went through his head, he gripped Ophelia's hand tightly and kept her close. He wasn't going to lose the one good thing in his life.

Jax nodded at Roxas, trying to get a read on him when Ophelia stopped and said she wanted to talk to her. Jax listened patiently her hands clenching into fists as her eyes turned over to look at Roxas, "You shot my sister."

She took a step forward, her eyes going green when suddenly Morthos came to stand in front of her. She gave him a look trying to move around him, but he just moved with her. She finally gave up and looked over at Roxas past Morthos' shoulder, "SO NOT ONLY DID YOU JUST LIE TO ME, YOU SHOT MY SISTER!"

She looked over at Ophelia, "If this happened a while back then why are we hearing about this now! Maybe we could have prepared for this or something. Who is this lady and what does she want?"

She turned back to Roxas, her face showing both signs of being angry and hurt, "We are a team, Roxas! If I had any enemy that would threaten you, I would tell you immediately, but I guess I'm just not a good enough friend, to trust. Well, fuck you. Also if you ever shoot my sister again, accident or not I swear to god...MORTHOS GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

She glared up at him smacking him in the chest to make him move, but he wouldn't budge.

Morthos wasn't paying too much attention to any conversation, he was too worried about everything. Worried about his mother being gone, worried about his uncle being in charge now. But one bit did catch his notice, Jax accusing Roxas of shooting Ophelia. Morthos quickly moved himself between the two of them before Jax could go over there and rip Roxas' head off.

"I'm not moving Jax. You're not going to fight Roxas and you're especially not going to fight him inside my house and destroy the place." He turned his head to look at Roxas, "you're not getting off scot free either. You shot Ophelia, I know you care about her so you obviously didn't do it for no reason. You've also been acting kind of weird for a while now. We're a team, we can't be hiding things like this from each other, so spill." Morthos never really thought of himself as the leader type, ironic considering he was meant to rule over this small kingdom one day. But in this moment he needed to make sure his friends didn't kill each other, turns out his training to be a Lord came in handy for something.