"Achilles?"

Alex was dumbfounded at his sudden arrival but also relieved he didn't have to search through Elysium for him.

The other man also seemed a bit confused but they greeted each other.

They then stared awkwardly in silence.

Alex coughed and asked Achilles, "So, how did it go?"

Achilles suddenly frowned and clenched his fists, then answered him, "Distance and time didn't do well to our relationship, we broke it off."

Alex felt a bit saddened since Achilles traversed all of the Underworld with hopes of reuniting with his lover, and ended up not getting the answer he wanted.

Alex stayed silent, yet Achilles suddenly made a declaration, "I broke it off."

"What? Why?" Alex was confused at this unexpected declaration, as he could see how Achilles was acting in the past.

"As I traveled through Elysium, I thought about a lot of things. I figured that now, after all these years, what remained of me and Patroclus wasn't love, but rather, the heavy weight of all the questions I wanted an answer to, and I didn't want to keep this weight on me any longer." Achilles gave him a comprehensive assessment of the mental state that led him to make that surprising decision.

Alex nodded and thought it was reasonable.

Love was often depicted as an everlasting feeling shared between two people, but in reality, it was just two people being vulnerable to each other in the right place, at the right time.

When these conditions were no longer present, falling out of love was of course the natural course of action.

There was perhaps a time when the two were head-over-heels to each other, but after this long separation and many unhealthy habits, it was now better to cut the rope.

Now, Achilles could finally let go of his past and focus on the present.

Alex stared at Achilles' eyes. He perceived there was a very slight melancholic air to them but it was heavily dominated by relief and determination.

The latter looked perplexed at his stare so he turned his eyes and coughed.

To lighten up the atmosphere, Achilles then said, "On the flip side, I met my father, Peleus, in here, and he was doing extremely well."

"It must feel extremely blissful to know a relative of yours is doing well even after death, isn't it?" Alex was happy for Achilles.

Following that, Alex discussed with him his own adventures in Elysium, and the nice, long nap he had and the mixed atmosphere from earlier readily turned cheerful.

There was just, one problem, however.

"Achilles, how are we going to cross the Styx River?"

The river was so wide that Elysium was just an island in the center of it, and they didn't have any tool to cross it whatsoever.

Achilles looked at him, approached the banks of the river, and started...screaming, "Charon!"

Alex was silently judging the other man in his mind.

'Is Charon our own personal Ub*er?' Alex chuckled.

After a while of senseless screaming, the unexpected happened.

A raft emerged from the horizons and anchored itself in front of them.

On the raft was a familiar figure.

Charon was standing there, his hollow and glowing emerald eyes staring through their souls. The boatman then lent out his hand as if he was expecting something.

Alex and Achilles gave a confused look to each other.

The former, however, had a sudden insight and wanted to try out his hypothesis. Alex took out a pouch from his bag and grabbed shiny golden coins, giving them to Charon.

The boatman shook his hand, indicating he wanted more.

At least, he verified that Charon did in fact accept Eternities as compensation. From their time in Asphodel, they accumulated a big sum of Eternities that they had no use for.

Alex passed the entire pouch to Charon, who began counting the coins with his skeleton hands.

When he was over with it, he nodded and pointed to the raft.

Achilles gave him a thumbs up and the two got on the raft. Alex was expecting to appreciate the scenery of the Styx but just like the time he came by with Crista, sudden drowsiness enveloped him and he fainted.

____________________________________

Opening his eyes, Alex observed his surroundings.

The first thing that surprised him was the bright light that blinded his eyes.

Looking up, he was shocked senseless, and exclaimed, "Why is there a fireball in the sky?!"

"Oh...that's just the sun." Alex was disappointed with himself, and the fact that he forgot about the sun after his short time in the Underworld.

The sky was a bright blue and towering mountains in the distance engraved themselves to his eyes.

He was back in Olympus, the abode of the gods and his own home. He was currently in front of Hermes' mansion, and Achilles was still asleep.

Alex tugged at him and the latter abruptly woke up.

"Wow....It's been so long that I haven't seen the Sun." Achilles was, reasonably, surprised as he spent the last few decades in the dark depths of the House of Hades, where no sunlight has ever reached.

As they were appreciating the scenery, the gates to the mansion opened, and someone came out.

It was Hermes, who Alex hadn't seen in a very, very long time.

The two friends shared a long reunion hug and Hermes told him, "I brought the things you wanted, Alexei-boy."

'Oh...he must be speaking about the pinhole camera..' Alex remembered he did request some materials the last time they met.

"Thank you, Hermes."

"You're welcome. You can tell me all about your experience with Hades and Persephone's realm later, but can you chase out the annoying guest that's been staying at our home?" Hermes rolled his eyes.

"Who..?" Alex was confused but this was answered by a person that ran out to them.

It was a muscular and tall, handsome man with full-body armor and a sharp spear in his hand.

The famous god of war, Ares.

Ares ran up to him and tried to hug him but Alex evaded the attack(?) and took his distance.

"Alexander, I've waited so long, I thought you died..." Ares was pretending to cry, and frankly, looked ridiculous.

"I can't die, Ares." Alex was fed up with this man.

As they engaged in a staring contest, the sudden sound of laughter interrupted them.

Achilles seemed to be amused by the sight in front of him and kept on laughing. He then stood up and said, "I didn't expect this, Alex."

Hermes looked at Achilles and then turned to Alex and whispered, "Umm, Alex, one of your new friends?"

"That's Achilles."

Hermes nodded and then bluntly exclaimed, "Oh, Achilles! Hero of the previous generation, who died from an attack to his heels..."

Achilles seemed a bit hurt by the last comment but Alex just informed him that Hermes was this way and didn't mean any harm.

Since Ares was here, Alex knew it was time to say goodbye.

He went by Achilles' side and asked him, "What are you planning to do when you finish your business with Ares?"

He replied, "I'm going to roam the mortal realm a bit. Since I belong to the Underworld, I reckon that when the time for me to go back comes, then the Underworld will come searching for me."

Achilles continued, "Alex, thank you for everything."

Alex didn't think it was that big of a deal and said, "Take care of yourself, will you?"

The two then shared a goodbye hug.

Achilles and Ares then started walking away but there was still one thing.

"Aaaaareeeees?" Alex articulated the man's name.

When Ares heard him, he bolted and turned around.

"Haven't you forgotten something?" Alex said with a cunning smile.

Ares was shaking as he took out a glass gourd from thin air, and passed it to him.

After verifying it was the thing he wanted, Alex waved his hand and told him, "You can go now. As for the other favor, I'll leave it for the future."

After he heard his words, Ares reluctantly waved and then left with Achilles in fast steps.

Alex and Achilles were waving to each other, and soon enough, they disappeared from sight.

Hermes, who was by his side, then stated, "You have made some interesting friends, Alexei-boy."

Alex nodded and the two went inside.

Over a cup of exotic tea, Hermes and Alex sat on the balcony, watching the passing birds and the mountain peaks, while they caught up on the stories each of them went through.

When Alex told him about the Asphodel Revolution, Hermes was surprised and told him he had pretty much done the same thing as he had to resolve the political instabilities in the regions he traveled through.

They laughed at his description of the aloof and strict Hades, the monarchical Persephone, his victory against Thanatos, and the various other adventures and misadventures he went through in the Underworld.

"Alexei-boy, did you forget your nymph girlfriend in the Underworld?" Hermes asked, perplexed since Alex went with Crista, but came back alone.

Alex blushed at Hermes using 'girlfriend' to describe his relationship to Crista, but he rubbed his head and said, "She's going to come back after spending some time with her nymph sisters."

Hermes said, "Oooh, she wouldn't have had to go through that if that Aphrodite was less murderous."

At the sudden mention of Aphrodite, Alex remembered that he developed a sort of enmity with her, and wondered what she was currently doing.

Putting those unpleasant thoughts aside, he got back to his discussion with Hermes and decided to go visit Athena later.