Wonshik looked up from his throne when Jaehwan returned.

"You're back," he stated. "I take it that means it's working?"

Jaehwan nodded. "The transfer has begun." 

Wonshik raised an eyebrow when he saw that even Jaehwan seemed to be transforming. Now, his normally dark brown hair was blonde, and his black shirt was white.

Wonshik pursed his lips. He was getting more powerful alright.

Quickly folding up the paper and laying it on the seat, Wonshik got up and silently lead Jaehwan back to the room where Hakyeon lay tied up and alone.

Hakyeon raised his head when Jaehwan entered the room. "Back to hurt me some more?" he spat.

"Now don't say that, Hakyeon," Jaehwan informed him. "I did say that it wasn't personal at all."

Hakyeon raised his eyes slightly to Jaehwan's hair. "Your...hair. It's...blonde now..."

"You don't have to worry about that," Jaehwan said. "It just means that the power is transferring into me, and I'm slowly regaining my true form."

"Power?" Hakyeon murmured. Did he mean Taekwoon's power?"

"What have you done with him?" Hakyeon asked softly.

"Like I've said before, your cousin won't come to harm," Jaehwan replied. "I'm doing him a favor by taking his abilities."

Hakyeon looked down. His cousin, his brother, was probably trapped in another room, tied and unable to escape, having his essence out of him.

All because of him.

All because he got jealous.

Then another thought slowly poked at his mind. Nayoung...

"You won't get away with this," Hakyeon told Jaehwan.

Jaehwan bemusedly raised an eyebrow. "You sound so confident," he said. "Mind telling me why?"

"He's not alone," Hakyeon said. "His fiancee will go looking for him, and once she does-"

He was cut off by the door behind Jaehwan opening. Hakyeon craned his neck to see who had come in, and his blood ran cold.

Nayoung...

She was just as beautiful as he remembered, however, something had changed. She gave off a cold air, and her eyes were no longer soft. 

What was she doing here?

Did she come to save him?

She had to have, right?

Right?

Jaehwan looked at her and then back at him. "You were saying?" he asked.

"N-Nayoung!" Hakyeon called out, ignoring him. "Help me. We need to go help Taekwoon!"

She cast him a look, her gaze full of ice. 

"Nayoung, please," Hakyeon pleaded. "Help me!" 

Silence from her once again.

"Nayoung! We need you! Taekwoon needs you!"

Jaehwan let out a chuckle, breaking the silence. "My God, I couldn't even fathom how slow you were until I saw you in the flesh."

Hakyeon turned to him. "W-what do you mean?"

"Haven't you figured it out yet?" Jaehwan asked, his voice one of disbelief. 

"What is it?"

"Your precious Nayoung has been working for me all along."

Something clicked inside of Hakyeon, like a pin dropping amidst silence. At once, everything made sense to him.

Nayoung had been working with Jaehwan, with Zeus, all this time. Why?

"I wouldn't say working," Nayoung directed it towards Jaehwan. "More like, it was a mutually beneficial deal."

"I'd say it worked, Eris," Jaehwan grinned.

Eris? Like the Goddess of Strife and Discord?

Oh, that made a lot more sense.

Eris had come to him and Taekwoon on Zeus's orders, had made both of them fall for her, hence creating strife between the two cousins. Hakyeon's jealousy had gotten the better of him, driving him to enough desperation that he sought out blood magic. Jaehwan had somehow hacked the spell to transfer Taekwoon's powers to him.

He was an idiot.

He was an idiot for not seeing this until now.

He slowly put his head down as the tears welled up in his eyes. He forcibly swallowed them, clenching his shaking fists.

"Hm, thought you'd put up more of a show," Jaehwan said.

"What now, Lord Zeus?" Eris asked.

"Be on standby," Jaehwan told her. "I might need you soon."

Such an idiot...

Taekwoon, exhausted after another fruitless attempt to get out, slumped in his chair.

As he panted, his thoughts wandered.

How did Zeus find him?

He knew that since Kratos was so powerful, Zeus had been eyeing that power. But due to restrictions, Zeus couldn't confront Kratos by himself, so he waited for Kratos to conceive a demigod, since he could then take the demigod's power.

Kratos, however, was smart enough to stay away from humans for millenia.

Until...he met Taekwoon's mother.

Even when Taekwoon was conceived, Kratos had done his best to hide both him and his mother, all the way to staging a meeting between his mother and his stepfather. Taekwoon was well-aware of all this, his mother had told him numerous times.

She'd also told him since childhood to be wary of Zeus.

"If Zeus ever finds you, he may do bad things to you," she warned him. "Always be wary of Zeus."

So how had he found him now?

Somehow, through the intense haze of thoughts, a particular memory resurfaced in Hakyeon's mind.

Taekwoon's mind went back years ago, although why it stayed on one particular memory boggled his mind.

A fifteen-year-old boy arrived at the playground, searching for his peer. Finding him sitting on the swings with a gaming device in his hand, he made his way over to him.

The other boy didn't raise his head to even acknowledge him, focusing on the device in his hand.

The first boy sighed, sitting on the swing beside him.

"Hey, Hakyeon?" he softly asked. 

The other didn't even lift his head.

"Hakyeon? Are you going to keep ignoring me?"

No answer. 

"Hey, . Stop pretending like you don't hear me."

Hakyeon's head shot up and he turned to the other. "I'm sorry, were you talking to me?" he asked, his voice laced with hostility. 

"Please, Hakyeon!" Taekwoon pleaded. "Stop being so angry and tell me what I did to you."

Hakyeon shot him a look out of the corner of his eyes. "You know exactly what."

Taekwoon looked up, thinking hard when his eyes widened. He then turned to Hakyeon. "How was I supposed to know that you liked her?"

"I told you about her so many times," Hakyeon said.

"Alright," Taekwoon accepted. "Then how could I have stopped her from confessing to me? I can't control people's actions!"

Hakyeon looked back down at his device, ignoring Taekwoon. Taekwoon took a deep breath.

"I came here to tell you that you don't have to worry," Taekwoon said, lacing his fingers together. "I rejected her."

Hakyeon looked at him with wide eyes. "Why would you ever reject her?" he complained. "At least I could have lived vicariously through you!"

Taekwoon grinned. "I knew you couldn't be mad at me." 

Hakyeon looked down, a light flush adorning his cheeks. "I-I'm still mad at you."

"Of course you are," Taekwoon teased, pushing his shoulder. "You're mad at your brother, who rejected a girl, giving you a shot. You're mad at your brother who's been there for you for fifteen years."

Hakyeon's lips curved in a smile.

Argument sorted out, Taekwoon leaned back in the swing, looking up at the clear blue sky. Unconsciously, his hand went to a chain hanging around his neck, the blue topaz pendant.

"You know," Hakyeon piped up. "I've seen you wear that all your life, but I still don't know why you have that."

Taekwoon looked at him, showing him the glimmering blue stone. "Topaz is my birthstone," he said as if that explained everything.

"Like that's all it is," Hakyeon scoffed.

Taekwoon sighed. "Mom told me not to tell anyone, but I think she'll understand if I tell you."

He leaned in slightly along with Hakyeon and lowered his voice so that no one else could hear.

"Mom says that my father gave this to me."

"Who? Uncle?"

Taekwoon shook his head. "No, I mean Kratos."

Hakyeon's eyes widened. "Why would he give you something like that?" He then looked down at his own neck. "Zelos never gave me anything."

"Mom says it keeps me hidden from Zeus," Taekwoon explained.

"But why? That doesn't make sense?"

"Apparently if Zeus finds me, he'll do bad things to me."

"But isn't Zeus the King of the Heavens? Why would he do bad things to you?"

Taekwoon shrugged. "I have no idea," he admitted. "All I know is what my Mom told me, and she's always told me to be careful and to always wear this, because without this, Zeus will find me."

Precisely ten years after that fateful meeting, Taekwoon had removed his chain for once and left it on his drawer. What had driven him to remove it that day, even he didn't know. He'd returned home to find it missing.

He'd turned the whole house upside down, and Hakyeon's house as well, but he could never find it.

Somehow, he forgot about it within a few weeks, as things went back to normal.

But what he didn't know was that a civil war was brewing in the Heavens.

And Zeus had finally become aware of Jung Taekwoon's existence.