Chapter Text
A very nice scent filled Terry's house, toasted, mouthwatering, calling for the inhabitants currently present in the house, whether they were sleeping or already awake. Cree had been the first one to pop out the bedroom, sniffing the air, unsure of what was being cooked at the kitchen, he already was the designated cook of the group, and he thought that he knew every available recipe!!
"Good morning, sleepy head", Steve greeted him from behind the kitchen island, focusing once again on whatever he was preparing on a pan.
"Morning", the boy greeted back, walking up to sit on a stool next to Enver, who was busy eyeing the human's food with shiny eyes, "What are you preparing?"
"Oh, it's a new recipe, I got the idea while we were making our way back from the tattoo parlor", answered Steve, grabbing the pan and flipping the toasted circles, "I've called them…"
"Who's making pancakes?"
With a yawn, the Wither God made his entrance in the living room, with his hair down and messy, and scratching his cheek. A sudden pang of deja vu hit Steve, who had to blink twice to recover his bearings and not let the food burn.
"Shoot, don't tell me this was already invented", he pouted.
Nathan seemed to awake completely with Steve's voice, and looking up at him he tried to find a reply, "Ah, well, not exactly… That recipe is mine. It just surprised me, I haven't met anyone who knew it besides me"
"You cook?", Cree asked him, surprised.
Nathan smiled at him, messing his green locks and sitting next to him too, "What? Because I'm rude in the streets I shouldn't know how to cook?"
Cree blushed furiously and denied with his head, "No, no!! I was just -"
"He's joking, babe", Steve chuckled, putting the pancakes on a plate and offering them to them three, "Is Cal awake?"
"He's showering, said he would be out in one hour", the creeper rolled his eyes up, looking back at where the Enderman was sitting on the couch, "Caligo, want pancakes?"
"No, thanks dear, I have already been fed by Steve", answered Caligo, reading a magazine that he had grabbed from around the house.
The human ignored that comment and poured some coffee in cups, putting them in front of Enver and Cree, a milky one for the ghast and a sweet one for the creeper.
"Did you get the information at the parlor?", asked Enver, grabbing his cup and taking a sip.
"Yeah, but the guy was a jerk", Steve grumbled, pouring a third cup of coffee and adding milk, "Made me do the damned piercings either way if we wanted the information"
"Piercings? What piercings?", Cree asked.
"Right, you were sleeping", the human sighed, "The piglin we were talking to only made intimate piercings, so… Caligo had the great idea to get my nipples pierced. It hurt like hell"
"Yeah, those piercings always hurt, even with our improved healing rate", Nathan groaned, "I got beads some years ago and fucking Nether, I wouldn't go through the same again"
The sound of Cree choking on his drink made them three glance at him, Steve not being able to hold his laugh. Cree and him had done things way worse, and he was getting flustered over Nathan having beads?
"You okay, kiddo?", asked the Wither God, patting his back softly.
"Yeah, yeah, don't worry", Cree wheezed, "It's just… Beads? Aren't they uncomfortable? I-I mean… Something down there…"
"Not at all, and my partners love them, both girls and boys", Nathan winked at him, laughing with Steve when Cree got even redder.
"Oh, are you bi?", signed Enver, trying to swallow his embarrassment from the conversation.
"Pan, I don't care about the gender as long as they like me"
"A lot of problems in my life would have been solved if I were like you", Steve chuckled softly, throwing a kiss to the other two boys, "But with cuties like these how can I think otherwise?"
And with that said, he left the last cup in front of Nathan, finally noticing that he had prepared the coffee without thinking, with milk and three sugar cubes, "Ah, fuck, wait, I didn't even ask you how you like it…"
"Well, you read my mind then", Nathan replied, frowning at the cup, confused.
The comfortable mood that they had been having died down, and the conversation moved to more serious things.
"Then, the egg…"
"It's at Vexx's house, so we need to plan how the hell are we gonna go inside without the security noticing, because if they find us, they'll take the egg away and we'll probably won't find it again", Steve said.
"By the way… Where are Terry and the rest?", asked Cree.
"No idea, I suppose that they'll be still outside, searching for the piglins…"
"Where the hell are we?", frowned Bones, "We've been walking for ages"
"Calm down, Bonny, I know exactly where we are", grumbled Terry, stopping to stand in front of a graffiti-covered alleyway, "This is the magician's territory… What I don't understand is what we are doing here, are you sure this dog's nose is okay?"
"Quite sure, he found Steve after all those years, didn't he?", Jayce hummed, glancing at Hunter, who was sniffing the air cautiously, "Are you sure that you found Terry's sibling's scent?"
Hunter nodded, "Smells like dragon boy…", the hybrid frowned, growling low, "And Killian"
"That's impossible, we sent Killian to the Nether", said Bones.
"He's probably detecting an evoker, magic follows them all the same", explained Jayce.
"Then let's pay them a visit…"
Standing in front of Vexx's house, Nathan and Steve still didn't understand how they had ended alone in that mission.
Of course, they both were worried about any of the boys ending in danger, and Caligo had refused to go himself, allowing that he needed to have a break because he had been out the whole day. Steve had complained saying that the Enderman had only gone shopping and then he had only had to stand next to the human while he got pierced. The fight had ended with a deathly glance from Caligo and a shivering Steve who knew that his next session with him would be enough to leave him sore for a month.
So there they were, both of them, uncomfortable as hell and ready to assault a house.
"What's the plan?", asked Steve at some point.
"Go through the back and up the stairs with care of not being seen. Vexx's bedroom is at the top of the building", answered Nathan.
"How do you know that?"
"I used to go out with the ex-boss of this territory, she was a good girl", the Wither God shrugged his shoulders, "Sincerely, she deserved better than Vexx and me"
"Poor her", sighed Steve, already making his way to the back, "I'll punch that skeleton the next time we see him in her memory"
"Good idea…"
The magician's territory was a mix of interconnected buildings, floating lights and strange scents. People laid slumped here and there, smoking unknown herbs and drinking from unmarked bottles. Some of them, witches and evokers alike, looked in the middle of a trance, while others were laughing without reason or dancing to the beat of a music they only heard.
The group moved through the narrow streets wary of their surroundings, following Hunter and Deimos' noses as a guide to find a clue that would help them.
Deep into the labyrinth, they found themselves inside a large tent, with fluffy cushions spread all over the place, and more people laying over them, chatting comfortably. Incense filled the air, heavy enough to make the two trackers scrunch their noses.
"Heyyyy… We have visitors!!"
A cheerful voice made them all focus on the girl who presided over the tent, sitting on what seemed to be a throne made with colorful patches and a thousand cushions. She had a slim frame, couldn't be older than thirty, and her jewel green eyes shone with the floating lights around them. Her blue hair cascaded down her naked shoulders, flowing like a river over her black top. Runic tattoos covered her clavicles and arms, and gave the group a strange sensation of familiarity.
The woman glanced at them in turns, stopping on Terry and leaning forward, "Oh, aren't you Marissa's kid? People!!! Marissa's kid is here!!!"
The rest of the magic users merely soared them a glance, before returning to their relaxed state.
"Do you know her?", muttered Jayce at Terry.
"Yeah, she's Varenna, my mother knew her", answered the dragon boy.
"That's how you greet your godmother? Oh, sweetie", she chuckled softly, lifting her hands and clapping them twice, "Blondie, honey!! Bring tea for our guests!!"
"Oh, no, don't worry, we're not gonna stay too-"
But as who they thought was Varenna's servant made his appearance, Terry's try to decline the offer died in deaf ears, for the three of them who had met him in the past couldn't but bark his name.
"Killian!!"
The evoker flinched and almost dropped the tray he carried, watching, now with growing worry, how his experiments and a skeleton seemed to be ready to kill him in that instant.
"Ah… Hi… So long, uh?"
"Careful now, let's go"
Sliding through an open window, Steve and Nathan made their way into the building, rushing up the hall to find the stairs. The carpet silenced their steps, but still they tried to be as careful as they could, because they could clearly hear the guards patrolling the zone.
Slow but steady, both males made their way up two stores without any problems, until…
"Someone's coming!!", whispered Steve hurriedly.
"There's no place to hide!!", whispered Nathan back, signaling around them.
The steps and voice got closer, and in a moment of desperation, Steve grabbed Nathan's shirt and pulled him in his direction, pressing himself against a wall which had a decorative depression. In a blink, the wall was covered and followed a straight line as if it had always been like that, offering a hiding spot for both gods, who had to press against each other to fit.
"Couldn't you make it bigger?!", whispered Nathan, nose almost touching Steve's and making him have the need to step back to keep their distance.
"Shut up, I need to focus", the human barked in the same tone, surrounding Nathan's frame with his arms to keep contact with the improvised wall.
"Please, don't notice, please, go away", he thought, but much to his dismay, the guards, vindicators, stopped right at the other side to have a chat.
"Dude, I'm beat, why do we still have to patrol this place if there's nothing interesting to protect?", one of them said with a tired sigh.
"Nothing interesting? And what do you think of the pretty girl that Vexx has as a pet?", laughed the other, "I'm sure that he would let us have a ride if we asked"
Steve frowned, those two made him sick…
"I don't know man, redheads are not my type", said the other.
"Tell the truth, you don't want her because she's been with the piglins", the other said with a disgusted tone, "I mean, I understand you, I wouldn't want something already broken by those beasts"
Wait… A readhead? With the piglins?
"Alex?", muttered Steve under his breath.
Nathan tried to glance at him, confused, but the only thing he managed was to bury his nose between dark locks, his breath catching in his chest as he caught a whiff of Steve's scent…
The human felt the other tensing, and tried to move away, only making their position worse as Nathan's leg ended between his, dangerously close to pressing up…
Gods, why had Nathan to be so… Bulky? And strong? And… And good Nether, he smelled so good, like cherries and something sweet, mixed with iron and…
"Can you stop thinking so loud?", Steve suddenly heard inside his head, Nathan's voice surprising him and almost making him drop the wall enchantment.
"What the fuck, Nathan!!", thought Steve back, "Don't peek into my mind!!"
"Then stop thinking about how good I smell, it's embarrassing", answered Nathan.
Steve rolled his eyes up and focused on the voices once again… But they were gone.
Carefully, he dropped the wall and moved away from the other God, breathing deep to erase Nathan's tantalizing presence from his mind.
"I think we have a problem", Steve said, looking up at him, "I think that I know the redhead they were talking about"
“What is this creep doing here?”
Varenna glanced at the group and back at Killian in turns, equally confused and surprised, “Do you know them, sweetie?”
The evoker, having left the tray aside to not drop it and have his hands free in case of an attack, looked away embarrassed, “Yeah, they are the ones who threw me at the piglins”
“You tried to kill us, you sick fuck!!”, exclaimed Bones, pointing at him, “And we’re the bad ones in this story?!”
“You left me in the hands of those… Beasts!! Do you know how many degrading situations I have gone through until I ended up here?!”, argued Killian back.
“I’m quite sure that they don’t even reach ten percent of what you made us go through”, suddenly Jayce joined the fight, crossing his arms and standing next to Hunter, who was growling low ready to pounce the blonde, “Do we have to remind you?”
“Alright!! Everybody calm down!!”, Varenna stepped between them, “Nobody is gonna kill in my territory, understand?”
Deimos huffed, what a pity…
The witch sighed and focused on the group once again, “I apologize for Killian’s behavior, now… What has brought you here?”
Jayce frowned one more time at Killian before finally recovering his academic manners and nodding at her, “We were following a track, piglins, to be exact. And a dragon egg”
“Piglins and a dragon egg?”, Varenna hummed, “You’re talking about Vexx’s pets, right? They are not allowed to come inside my territory, and if Marissa’s last egg was in my house I would know it…”
“Please, Varenna, we need to find it”, Terry stepped forward with a pleading expression, “At this rate, my sibling will be born before I find them… And I don’t wanna imagine what that sick bastard will do to them once they’re out of their shell… If he allows them to be born at all…”
“Mmm… Well, I may know where they hide, if that can help you”, the witch said, and the dragon boy’s eyes shone with hope, “I bought Killian from them, so he’s probably drenched in their scent, if you can track them, you’ll find the egg”
“What? No!! I refuse to go back!!”, the evoker complained.
“And I don’t care about your choice, dear, this will be your way to pay these nice boys back for the problems you caused them in the past”, Varenna said softly.
“No way!!”
“Killian Dahlia Bellerose, you’re gonna help them and there’s no place for complaining!!”
The evoker made a pained expression at the mention of his whole name, looking away and muttering a “You’re not even my real mother” under his breath, but with a simple “What was that?” from Varenna, he nodded and ended accepting.
Meanwhile Deimos and Hunter tried to find a track over a very uncomfortable Killian, Bones and Jayce turned to Varenna, with a question burning in their tongues.
“Uhm, so are you… Killian’s step mom or something?”, asked Bones.
The witch smiled at him, “I’m afraid so, I’m really sorry for all the problems he caused you, he’s a good boy deep inside…”
“Then you’re Cal’s mother?”, Jayce gasped.
Varenna seemed taken aback with that, “Cal? Calendula? You know him?”
“Well, yeah, we’ve come with him, he’s part of the group…”, Bones said, his voice dying down as he saw the witch’s eyes tearing up.
“He’s here?! In this dimension?!”, she exclaimed, stepping closer to them, “Please, once you finish with this, can you bring him here? It has been so long, he was just a baby when I left him…”
“We found the track!!”, Deimos called for their attention, Hunter already shooting into the streets, “The dog is leaving!!”
“Fuck!!”, Jayce gasped, running after him with Terry and Deimos, who grabbed Killian and dragged him along.
“We’ll bring him once everything settles down, I promise”, Bones said to Varenna, before following the group and getting lost into the city once again.
Varenna stood behind, like a mother that sees her children leave the familiar home to not come back. Calendula was closer than she ever dreamed… Just… She just had to wait a bit more…
“Okay, this is his bedroom”, Nathan said once they finally reached the last floor, “Do you hear something?”
“This place seems to be empty”, Steve replied, glancing around carefully, “So let’s do this already”
With a nod, the Wither God pushed the door open and stepped inside the room.
Vexx’s bedroom was a disaster, the bed was untidy, there were clothes everywhere and remains of white powder over a coffee table stood clear in plain view. But what clearly called the attention was the girl locked up inside an oversized bird cage, laying on the floor without moving. Steve’s eyes widened like crazy as he recognised her, rushing up to the bars with worry bubbling up his veins.
She had tried to kill his partners, destroy his creations, and yet, now that she was a mere human without her godly nature, Steve couldn’t endure seeing Alex like that.
“Alex!! Alex, wake up!!”, he called for her, hoping that she wasn’t…
The girl groaned and blinked her eyes open, glancing up with a tired expression, which melted into surprise as she saw Steve in front of her cage. He breathed more relaxed once she reacted, pressing his forehead against the bars with a sigh, “Oh my God, you’re okay…”
“Steve? What… What are you doing here?”, she asked, sitting up inside her cage.
She looked tired and dirty, and the miner wondered if Vexx ever took care of her or just kept her there like a chained dog.
“I could ask you the same, I left you with the piglins, you should be in the Nether, not here”
“A nomad tribe came and… And fought for Killian and me”, she answered, trembling, “They were too strong and savage… And once here, that monster decided to keep me…”
“Has he done something to you?”
She denied with her head, “He just wanted information…”
Steve frowned, “Information?”
Alex’s expression twisted into rage, “That rat of Killian was gonna be the one bought to be the skeleton’s toy, so… So he started shouting that I was a Goddess, that I was the Creator’s girlfriend… The monster seemed more interested in that, so he bought me. He didn’t even listen when I told him that I don’t have powers anymore because you took them from me”
“Well, and what did he want from the Goddess of Destruction?”, Steve asked.
“Information about the Creator and the Mind Gods”, she answered, glancing past Steve, at where Nathan stood in silence, “Wanted to know your weak points”
Steve’s confusion grew, glancing back and back at her, “But… Wait, you know Nathan?”
Now it was time for Alex to be surprised, “You… You don’t?”
Back at the apartment, a pair of soft knocks sounded on the door, making Cal look up from where he was painting his nails.
“Are they back already?”, he said, Cree turning his head and shrugging his shoulders.
Getting up, the witch got closer to the door, but stopped right before, a bad feeling creeping up his spine.
“Who is it?”, he said.
Silence followed.
A heartbeat.
Two.
And suddenly the door flew open, slamming against the kitchen island, the surface completely burned up by a fireball. At the other side, three piglins, two ghasts and four Endermen locked their sight on the inhabitants of the house.
“Fuck, run!!”, Cal started shouting, but in a blink, claws closed around his throat and the sound died down…
“This place looks abandoned”, Jayce commented as they arrived to where the track seemed to disappear.
They had arrived at one of the Forgotten zones of the city, where more trash and remains of an unknown past filled the narrow space without almost leaving a place to walk. Right in front of them, a small decaying house made with cherry blossom wood stood completely out of place.
“This is where Vexx hides the egg?”, Bones frowned, his instinct telling him that something wasn’t okay.
Right as he said that, Deimos detected something, his head turning to the sound of something approaching them. A lot of somethings.
“We have company!!”, he alerted the rest.
But by the time that Bones pulled his bow out, they were surrounded. Piglins carrying Freaks chained with leashes, ghasts, Endermen and humans alike covered their escape.
“We can do this the good way or the bad one”, the piglin from the Tattoo parlor chuckled, “Please, say that you want the bad one…”
“So you really kept your word…”, Alex hummed at Nathan.
“What is she talking about?”, Steve asked him, but the other god didn’t answer and instead glanced away, “Nathan, answer me!!”
Suddenly, noise filled the halls of the manor, guards being alerted and shouting “Intruders!!”.
“Run, I’ll be okay!!”, Alex beckoned them, gripping the bars and glancing at Steve directly, “He knows about your monsters”
Steve just needed a second to know what that meant.
Vexx was gonna go for them.
And he was on the other side of the city.
With a groan, he stepped back and grabbed Nathan by the arm, glancing daggers at him, “You and I have to talk later”
With a snap of magic, they both disappeared, right in time with the guards bursting inside the room only to find Alex laughing at them.
“Idiots, they escaped”, she mocked them, “Go cry to your boss”
As the magic dissipated, Steve came face to face with what had been once a comfortable living room. The couches were torn where Caligo had slashed with his claws, and there were remains of burning marks and broken potions bottles… But there was no trace of his partners.
Over the kitchen island, someone had left Bones’ bow, clearly a message that said “We have them too”.
Instead of laughs and a soft smile, what welcomed him back home was silence and destruction.
Steve was once again alone.