Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Aw man, that sucks, Welcome back though!" He spotted Kettil.

"i think we're at the end guys." He grinned, wasting no time putting the green key in its rightful place. He wished he could say it was fun but....death was never fun. There were good moments, but he was just tired for now.

"I wont be staying behind to gather keys... im sorry." He meant it too.

Freya stared at Kettil, concerned about his recent, well, death, but Thackery's words seemed to steal her concern away.

"Well. No one should." She murmured carefully to him, as she slid her key into the lock.

"WHAT!?"

Efflo scowled at them. He opened his mouth but stopped himself before the words came out, after all, what could he say? That he would have gladly taken Thackery's or Kettil's place? It hurt him to see Freya's concern for Kettil, because the person he wanted to be concerned for him wasn't here. It was just him, and for a moment, he wavered in his resolve, his lower lip trembling.

Biting his lip to still it, his crumbling expression fixed itself back into a glare and he turned his back on them silently, moving through the next door.

He winced at the hit and rubbed his chest staring down at her, "Sorry. I just got really ********' frustrated with that maze." He offered her a hand, "Let's go together?"

Kettil did what he usually did with no issue. He simply picked her up and held her. It gave him purpose. It gave him reason.

It gave him security.

He had many purposes and reasons such as to become greater, but Freya was a nice, neat physical representation of the other reasons why he did what he did - why he existed.

He glanced back, "Bye guys~, we should double date sometime!"

Then he went through the door with Freya.

With a rapid wave and a huge smile, Thackery bid them all goodbye.

"Okay, bye! Be safe! Don't get hurt or anything!"

He turned around and clasped his hands together, glancing at the door he'd just come through.

"Time to get some keys."

It was too quiet, and a little bit lonely, and Thackery reasoned that he could just go through all the doors he'd forgotten to go through really quickly, just in case.

He couldn't leave any keys behind.

He pulled open the plain black door and marveled at the books in front of him. How did they get so many in one place?! It was so fantastic that his mind could hardly process the sight.

When the statuething spoke to him, he had to take a moment to try to figure out what it was that he'd said to him. Something about being a story with...what? The confusion must not have been apparent on his face, because the request did not feel obvious in the slightest until he very bluntly said to tell him a story.

Thackery glanced at all of the books around him and held his tongue as he wondered why he couldn't just read one of those.

But something came to mind, as if it were a story he'd been trying to tell this whole time, and he couldn't help speaking.

"Once upon a time there was a Cerberus."

He smiled a charming, eager smile, wishing he could ask for a scratch behind the ears. Maybe if he told the story good enough...!

Who made a deal that changed his life. A gorgon lady - that's kind of like a really ugly snake thing - brought some of the Golden Apples to the Cerberus, who was doing a really good job guarding the Gates like he was 'sposed to. He gave her a visit of three whole days in exchange for three Apples, but she had to behave or he would bark at her or something. Oh! No, he would Tartaros her.

Anyway.

As soon as the gorgon was out of his sight, a really beautiful kitsune came up to him. He was really good at guarding things, so he kind of growled and stuff to make her go away from him and the Apples, but as soon as he saw her, he knew he couldn't growl or be mean to her at all. Because she was really beautiful! And also because she looked lost, and sad, and sort of like she needed someone to help her.

He asked if she knew where she was, and she said she thought maybe she was dead, and wondered if her sister passed through. The Cerberus said no, 'cause she hadn't, and she was happy, since she wanted her sister to be safe and everything, He felt really bad for her, so he asked what happened to make her die.

So she told him how she'd protected her sister from someone scary who she didn't love, and that she worried he might kill her sister too if she had no way to help. But she thought it was hopeless, because when you die, you die, right?

He told her no! And said that he knew of a spirit who might be able to help. He said he thought he could use the Apples as payment, but they would have to travel a little while to get there, 'cause the Underworld wasn't small or anything. So they traveled and talked, and he promised he would stay with her through the whole trip so she wouldn't get hurt or scared.

When she couldn't walk any longer, he carried her, all the way to the spirit that he thought could help her. When they got there, he explained that she was taken before her time and that she needed the spirit's help to return her life. The spirit agreed in exchange for the apples, but the kitsune sensed that something was wrong with the spirit...or maybe she kinda liked the Cerberus in that really cute I-like-you-but-I'm-afraid-to-say-anything way...and said she wanted to stay with him.

He knew that she didn't belong here, so he encouraged her to listen to the spirit so she could live again and be with her sister. She said she would do it for him, and she walked up to the spirit and waited.

And then it ate her! It ate the poor kitsune and ate the apples and escaped from the Underworld before the Cerberus could stop him, even though he put up a really big fight. He knew he'd messed up, so he found the kitsune's body and laid down beside her. He knew she was really gone. There wasn't anything that happened to souls after they were eaten up like that. They were just gone forever.

Eventually he returned to his post and was banished for what he'd caused to happen. And he was never allowed to come back to Hades again. And the kitsune was still dead.

"The end!"

That was a lot more sad than he expected it to be, now that he thought about it...

He held the key he'd been given in his hands and stared at it, hoping that it was a fair exchange this time.