Caelius really should have disobeyed orders and followed the group the second he knew something was wrong. It had been too long, it had been too quiet.

What kept him back was the fact that it was Liam who had told him to stay. Everything was suddenly ten thousands of times worse for him because he would always be his father's shadow. Perhaps being alone did strange things to the state of mind, or perhaps it was a resentment long building. He had tried everything to prove he had made his own decisions, that he was not going to simply fall back to convenience because they were there-

- He was doing well until he saw Liam again this particular mission. ******** if he was going to get emotional over his biological father who's role had been at the most to acknowledge that he even existed.

And when the cell rang, from the one person he had been avoiding, the Sun Hunter still picked it up without thinking twice. "Standing by awaiting your orders sir."

Silence on the other end. His temper was rising. "Is this some sort of test? Because I am waiting here, for your orders, in hopes that one day, I will past your tests. You do know that-" ********, he was not doing this talking feeling thing."- Forget it. Whenever you are ready, sir."

Caelius closed the phone and simply stared at it. A part of his mind told him he was being unreasonably selfish, but he was beyond caring. They could come pick him up at their damn convenience when they felt like it. It wasn't as if-

- A burst of light interrupted his train of though, as he quickly shifted stances, raising his Runic weapon. The Sun Hunter hesitated for a second as the intrusion drew closer. Wasn't that -

- Everything else was interrupted with a blinding white.

*

"You can't come in here sir!"

Liam remained as impassive as always as he closed the door behind him. "Why not?" There was that noise again, a faint humming, a soft buzzing, almost melodic, like a voice singing. It was here.

The Life Hunter saw Liam glance at the table, where several tablets - weapons in their dormant forms lay still. The Death Hunter was only looking at one. "And definitely not that one. These are all defective weapons, sir, they cannot be activated or used again. While they may be powerful in their own right - especially her - they unfortunately all have one prominent side effect." He made a circular rolling motion with his index finger horizontal to the side of his head. "If its any consolation, she has been calling to everyone to varying degrees, we will be sealing her with the rest of the defects soon."

Liam simply waited patiently for the technician to finish explaining. It was like this every single time he wanted anything. "I understand." And then he gave them a very smug look. "Trust me."

One hand grabbed the stone tablet despite the shouts of anger.

'So, you are the one who called me.'

Liam was more confused by the sudden shift in the environment which looked pretty much like something out of a Greek history textbook. There was even a full garden complete with several fountains and statues of strange misshapen animals from beyond the veranda.

The lady in question was seated on a simple marble chair wearing a white robed dress, long dark locks of hair gathered in a single braid. She looked expectantly at him, learning forwards from her perch. 'You are the one who called to me, yes?'

He felt his heart skip a beat, there was something, a sort of tension, an unrestrained excitement about their exchange, this calling. An underlying tone to her words: she had been waiting for this moment just as much as he had. "I heard your voice."

'The same story, it grows old with time', she flicked one tanned hand into the air in dismissal, the statues, cold stone feline statues lying at her feet shifting just slightly to apprehend their owner's intruder. "I am many to those who have sought me: an enchantress, a lover, a seer. Who am I to you and who are you to me?"

Her voice was old yet young, quiet and commanding, sharp blue eyes boring into Liam's. He took an unconscious step back. "You are...."

'I am...?' She repeated.

"...None of those." His words were honest, blunt. "I did not come here to ask for your assistance, I came here because you were... waiting." It was the honest truth, the hum in the back of his mind, the strange tickling feeling of something not quite there had driven him to this exact encounter, and always, that same sad voice.

A shift in her mood, surprise even. 'Concern for me.' A smile, and then a soft laugh. 'The lands have changed, everything around me but myself. I am selfish, if you indeed care for me, you shall be mine and mine only.'

Liam gave a wry smile in return. "Well, at least I will have found what I was looking for." With a small amount of hesitation, he held out one hand towards her. "Then shall we leave together, my lady...?"

'Oh please, I am not that old,' She simply countered by pressing her bare feet against the marble floor, one slim hand lightly touching her counterpart's. 'And I have a name, for my new master, the one I chose to be mine and only mine. I was called-'

*

"Circe!"

The cry remained half-choked in this throat as Caelius tried to gain control of himself, everything phasing in and out in sharp contrast. It felt as it literally something was squirming through and under his veins, his heart was pounding too fast-

-another spasm as he fell to the ground, helpless-

'Circe, STOP IT!'

White hot pain blinded him again, oh god he couldn't see, his chest heaved, gasping for air, as each second, everything continued to collapse, dissolving into agony, a white pain, white endless walls, whitewhitewhiteWHITE-

- And then darkness, despite his head pounding horribly still, despite his fingers quivering and his lungs heaving, the pain began to dull. He did not move for several long seconds, struggling simply to remain conscious. A scar ran fresh across his mind, merely acknowledging the occupant within nearly shattered his self-control into a moment of agonizing relapse. "You are..." His voice seemed foreign even to himself, throat raw.

'It has been done. This was our decision.'

"But not mine." Pure anger on his part, undiluted. Suddenly the world seemed too small, and there was this strange noise, a buzzing humming noise, an infuriating itch that would not go away. Everything was white. Black and white. "Of course. He hated me."

Silence.

"You are a weapon," Caelius contained through gritted teeth, "And I will make my own goddamn choices so back the ******** off." A part of him through haze of pain and confusion noticed with a sort of alarming clarify how unreasonably angry he was. It felt like Circe's entire presence was disrupting everything, ruining everything-

- and still she did nothing to lash back, no attacks, nothing. She simply waited. Just like him.

'Whenever you are ready then, master.'

He was pretty sure he would never be quite ready ever again. He just wanted to be the diligent Hunter, he just wanted to fight, to carry out missions as he had always done without having to worry about being not good enough.

But in the end, it was impossible to leave the one thing he tried so hard to avoid behind. Everything was white after all. Black and white. The greys in between were simply inconsequential.