It had been hours since Pain carried Drake to the abandoned temple that they had repurposed into a hideout in Elega’s dark lands. He had placed him in his the bed in his own room that was littered with scrap metal, a few completed machines here and there on his desk next to him. He wondered why Skyler suddenly showed up with his unconscious half-brother dangling limply in his arms, all that was said was that he had an altercation with someone.

Pain sat at a table in the main hall, fitted with his more comfortable lower jaw prosthetic which was made out of metal and painted a cyber grape color. The metal rose halfway up his upper lip and was cut so the notches were in a zigzag, making it look like pointy teeth and ended halfway across each cheek. A few feathers on the top of his fluffy dark purple angel wings that were completely torn barely poked out from behind his back, large black stitches covering the exposed flesh at the ends of his useless wings. There was white stitching on his sleeveless black shirt that imitated a Y incision.

He was in the middle of sharpening his scythe. He was slouching over it, the hilt sprinkled with lidless red eyes. The sound of the whetstone grinding across the edge of the scythe’s blade rang loudly in his ears. Footsteps echoed above the ringing as Drake walked in, rubbing the front of his neck.

“Can you cut that out? You could wake up the dead just by sharpening that damned thing,” Drake said, waving him down.

Pain’s eyes lit up at the sound of Drake’s voice, he put the whetstone down next to him and rested the scythe on his shoulder. “Drake! I’m so glad you’re up! Are you feeling alright?” He speaks telepathically, since he can’t move his mouth because the prosthetic he has on has no joint.

“I’m alright, I don’t really remember what happened. I remember feeling Mother’s presence, and then next thing I know i’m lying in my room here. Do you know how I got here?” Drake asked as he took his hand off the bandage on his neck and tugged at his equally sleeveless black shirt.

“Skyler brought you here, he only said you had an ‘altercation’ with someone but didn’t tell me what it was or with who,” Pain said and ran the claw tip of his deep dark purple glove across the edge of his scythe blade.

“I’ll ask him about it later. By the way, when are you going to scout, if you don’t mind me asking?” Drake walked over and sat down at the same table bench then leaned on the edge of the table and folded his arms.

“I wasn’t going to do it until you woke up, and not because Skyler said for me to watch over you, either. The sharpening was to calm myself a bit, I was having troubles controlling my worry.” Pain looked at him with blackcurrant colored eyes so dark it made his eyes look completely dilated.

“Besides my neck hurting, I feel fine. I’m alright, Pain, you don’t need to worry about me. I have enough people worrying about me already, my dad is a worrywart when it comes to me.” Drake leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

“What with you still being able to die, I think it’s warranted. You and Elaine have a lot in common in that regard, maybe she could teach you how to come back yourself, instead of Dr. Gage always having to bring you back.” Pain grabbed his scythe and put pressure on one of the eyes with his hand, it disappeared and popped back up lower down in the hilt.

“I never thought about that, I guess I could ask her, me being half-demon and all. You think she could get me a good spot in hell?” Drake grinned and put his hands behind his head.

“You could ask her to talk to the big man himself, she always brags about having tea with him on tuesdays,” Pain says with a giggle.

“I don’t know if she’s trying to be edgy or is actually serious when she says that.” Drake leans forward and rests his hands on the bench, eyes still closed.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if she was serious, she was the one who got me the reaper job, remember?” Pain says while adjusting the belt around his waist that had various jars and pockets in them.

“I completely forgot about that, you never told me how she pulled that off,” Drake said, lazily kicking the floor.

“She arranged it through death himself, apparently they know each other, what with her dying a lot. Her cheating death so many times got his attention, though he can’t really do much about it if hell just lets her go back,” Pain said and crossed his legs, his claw-ended toes lightly wiggling, wearing his shin-high sock shoes with cloth soles felt comfortable and freeing,

Elaine having them made for him was nice of her. She was also the one who commissioned the creation of his lower jaw prosthetic. He preferred the one that was originally made for him than Dr. Gage’s anatomically correct one that started to hurt him after having it in for a while. He wondered how Elaine was doing since he couldn’t visit today.

“You were at your dad’s work today, right? How is Elaine doing?” He did still care about her, even after the breakup.

He was happy for Hex and Elaine, even though it made him that their relationship couldn’t satisfy her, she wanted the man he was and not the man he turned into. Heaven changed him. He used to be more opinionated and would go on diatribes about what he believed in, and would get angry at people for having different views than him. He remembered being angry a lot, but that all changed after experiencing heaven. He learned that treating people with kindness changed people’s minds more than going on rants.

A lot of things were put into perspective for him, and things he used to prattle on about seem so minuscule now. He prefers enjoying life instead of constantly worrying and getting angry about things that he can’t change, that there’s always going to be injustice in the world no matter how hard you fight against it.

“She’s fine, she was sitting up and talking which was a huge surprise, turns out that Father was using Mother’s essence to reverse the curse’s damage.” Drake turned his head and looked at Pain, an unsure look on his face.

“I wish she would have told me about it, if what happened didn’t work, I would have done for her the same thing she did for me.” Pain looked back at Drake with a look of remorse, he wished he could have done something to help her, instead of her suffering in silence and slowly wasting away until she was able to break free.

“If she didn’t want you to know about it, there must have been a reason why, I don’t think she even told Kalan, and he’s her familiar,” Drake put a hand on Pain’s shoulder.

“But the requirements of breaking that curse could have been met by me, since technically he and I are the same person. She didn’t even attempt to see if it would work, and that’s what worries me. Do you think she didn’t ask me to out of shame? I never resented her, I even told her that, and I told her I still would do anything for her, so why?” Pain put a hand to his head, he had just let slip what he was thinking about over the last few weeks. He couldn’t hold it in anymore, he had to tell somebody how he was feeling.

“She was probably too ashamed, she took breaking up with you pretty hard, you know,” Drake said, patting Pain’s shoulder a bit.

There was an unintelligible shout coming from outside, which was female in nature. Pain looked in the general direction it was coming from, which was the front of the abandoned temple. The left door of the two old wooden doors that make up the front entrance moved slightly as the person outside hit the door.

“Who’s that?” Pain got up and grabbed his scythe, then ran over to the doors, still slouching.

“Careful Pain, you don’t know who or what that could be.” Drake got up as well, only he walked much slower.

“It sounds like they need help though, I’ll just open the door a crack first.” Pain placed his hand on the wood of the door, a dark purple sigil etched itself into its surface and the door groaned as it opened slightly. Fira was there, looking at them and clutching her arm. The sleeve of her red dress had been torn and her hand was covering a bleeding cut.

“Please, you have to help us! There’s this giant two headed dog monster chasing us, and my friend’s arrows are only making it madder!” Fira shouted, clutching the edge of the door.

“Where’s your friend? You both need to get inside quickly, Dual Hounds are very dangerous,” Pain said. He could broadcast telepathic speech to multiple people at once, and made sure that Drake could hear his words as well.

“Dual Hounds all the way out here? That guy is really going all-out, isn’t he?” Drake increased his pace to a brisk walk.

“She’s over there, wait, you know who is doing all this?” Fira gestured with her head that her friend was further back.

“I’ll tell you once you and your friend are safe.” Pain activates the sigil again and the door opens just enough for Fira to squeeze through.

“Lunara, get over here! We need to get inside!” Fira shouted.

A few low and booming barks came from close by as Fira ran into the temple. Footsteps could be heard and then Lunara came into view and also slipped inside. She carried a bow that glowed with a soft white light, an arrow with the same glow was loosely held by her right hand ready to be nocked. A white snaking sigil was on the back of her right hand.

Pain used the sigil one more time and the door quickly closed. He turned to Fira, whose face was wet with tears, she looked at him with intense fear in her eyes. He reached out to her, gently tugging at her hand that was covering the gash. He looked at her reassuringly, and she relented, her hand slipping off of her arm.

“Here, let me heal you.” Pain gently touched the wound, and it quickly shrank until it was no more.

“How did you do that? You’re amazing!” Fira said, her fear instantly melting away into wonder.

“I’m just thankful it wasn’t made with magic, I wouldn’t have been able to do anything about it,” Pain said as he patted the place where the wound once was.

A loud growl resounded and the doors burst open, a gargantuan two headed dog that barely fit the door frame burst forth. A red snaking sigil appeared on Fira’s left hand and flames shot forth and morphed itself into the shape of a large Falchion sword. She grabbed the flaming hilt, the fire she summoned being unable to burn her.

“I tried to fight it off, but it was too strong, what are we going to do?” Fira held up her sword as if she was going to use it as a shield.

“I really wish Skyler was here right now.” Drake put his arms in front of himself.

“We’ll have to make do. Do you think I can take this big guy out?” Pain says, brandishing his scythe.

“Are you sure you want to fight right now? Aren’t you still recovering from getting dethroned by that centaur guy?” Drake says, running up behind Pain.

“I’m alright now. I think I should at least try.” Pain turned his head, looked at drake and nodded at him in a reassuring manner.

Pain turned back at the beast, lifting himself off the ground and glided over to it. He raised his scythe with both hands and sliced at the beast’s left neck. Both heads turned towards him, their maws almost grabbing him as they snapped shut, but he floated away. Still floating in the air, he levitated for a second and wiped the spittle off his face. A glowing arrow flies through the air and pierces the left eye of the right head. The monster turned both its heads towards Lunara, and lunged at her.

“No you don’t!” Drake shouted and ran in front of her.

Drake’s left arm became coated in what could only be described as a milky X-Ray resembling energy. It cast a very faint but haunting glow, and sparks flew out from his knuckles. He raised the glowing arm and with one motion, sliced the monster down the middle. It let out a pained howl and disappeared into a black smoke. Drake wobbled and stepped backwards as he gripped his arm, the ghostly energy quickly dissipated. A look of shock was plastered onto his face as he stood there.

“That… Didn’t hurt?” Drake said with a tone of disbelief in his voice.

“That’s strange, usually using that power leaves you doubled over in pain. Thank goodness it didn't happen this time.” Pain glided over to Drake, landed his feet onto the ground, and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Was that light magic?” Lunara asked, walking up to Drake as her bow disappeared and the sigil on her hand faded.

“It wasn’t. Please do not tell anyone you saw this, for his safety and yours..” Pain turned to Lunara, a look of concern on his face.

“What do you mean?” Lunara said as she walked up to them.

“It’s ok, I’ll tell them.” Drake turned around and looked up at her.

“Tell us what?” Lunara asked, stepping closer to Drake

“What you saw is a power that isn’t supposed to exist anymore, I’m not even going to tell you what it is, because I’m scared of someone repeating it. I want you all to not tell anyone what you saw, please.” Drake lowered his head and rubbed his left arm.

Pain had seen Drake use that power once before, he remembered him doubled over in pain as he shook like a leaf. It was when he accompanied him to the castle where the Lords of Darkness once resided. There was a powerful wizard who he couldn’t get past. Drake was conserving it until he needed it, he didn’t want to ask Drake to use it because of what it does to him every time he uses it. It took a long time for Drake was willing to use it. Drake took out the wizard with a single sweep of his arm. Pain wondered what was different this time that would make using that power not hurt him. He also needed to tell the two women he met about that it’s not safe to be in the dark lands anymore, even though they had just gotten a taste.

He was glad that the two light magic users found him and Drake when they did, and felt that he was redeeming himself in a way. Fira was looking up at him still with bright sparkling eyes of wonder, he felt his usually cold body become hot in response to the way she was looking up at him.

He was still remorseful about not being able to stave off the centaur that overthrew him. The only reason why it happened was that he sent Drake away and tried to handle it all himself. He felt responsible for everything bad that was happening. The evil centaur that defeated him exploited all of his weaknesses, such as his lower jaw and the Y incision on his chest that never heals, which was only held together by stitches.

He remembered how he got the wound, that evil sallow skinned doctor that abducted him that cold december night. He remembered waking up on an autopsy table jury rigged with restraints with duct tape over his mouth, and scarcely wanting to remember the horrors of what happened next. Every time he remembered what happened it made his skin crawl. It took years for the random flashbacks and nightmares to subside. Being able to come back to life was a gift and a curse at the same time, he was able to appreciate life more but he was also suffering because of what happened in the past. He eventually found out who that doctor worked for, and that the evil warlock Turbuk was the mastermind behind his murder. He also knew that Turbuk was the one who gave the evil centaur who overthrew him his powers. That act meant war for him.