Minho let out a deep sigh and picked up the woman’s right arm, turning it and revealing a mark not unlike the one Jonghyun had. The only difference was that this mark looked like a very round ‘C’ with a cross going downwards from the middle of it. Kibum frowned and Jinki's jaw tightened. Minho looked up at him and he met his eyes defiantly.

“This is not him,” Jinki said confidently.

“Who’s ‘him’?” Jonghyun asked Kibum in a whisper.

Kibum bit his lip briefly, glancing around.

“Hades,” he murmured back.

Minho only raised his eyebrows at Jinki, paying their hushed conversation no mind.

“How else would you like to explain it, brother?”

“It. Is. Not. Him,” Jinki ground out and quickly continued before Minho could argue; “We should send word to Hermes to find Aceso at once. This girl is still alive and in need of healing.”

Minho sighed again, but stood up, apparently deciding now was not the time for an argument. He pulled out an object from his pocket. It looked like a dagger made entirely out of crystal, a thick golden band circling the middle of it while what looked like blank, polished ceramic wings adorned what seemed to be the upper part of it. Jonghyun wondered how it had fit in Minho's pocket as he watched him weigh the weapon in his hand for a moment, considering it, before pointing its tip up to the sky.

A lightning bolt shot into the air, going up. Minho gave his brother a hard look when he looked back down at him again.

“We cannot stay and wait for–,” he started to say but was interrupted by a cackling laugh coming from up in the tree.

They all looked up between the leaves and branches. A woman in a long red dress and shoulder length black hair sat on a branch a little ways up, her legs dangling playfully.

“What a pleasant surprise!” she exclaimed, gracefully leaping from her branch and to the ground. Both Jinki and Minho moved swiftly, putting themselves in front of Kibum and Jonghyun in protective stances. “It was a very long time ago we last met! Especially you, Poseidon!”

“I would have very much liked to keep it that way,” Jinki muttered bitterly.

Instead of looking offended, the woman only laughed again.

“You cannot possibly still be mad about what happened all those years ago?” she asked as she moved closer, dragging a finger down Jinki's chest teasingly. Jinki's jaw tightened, his posture tensing, and his eyes flickered back to Jonghyun. “After all, that was–”

She cut off as her gaze followed his and fell upon Jonghyun hidden behind him. Her eyes got a predatory glint and she looked back to Jinki, her smile lethal.

“Oh ho ho, Poseidon,” she tutted, as if she were scolding her child lovingly, her eyes returning to Jonghyun. A chill went down his spine and he huddled closer to Kibum, both of them gripping each other tightly in fear. “Will you never learn?”

She moved closer, causing Jinki to growl low in his throat and Minho to raise his dagger again. Jonghyun looked at Kibum who seemed as puzzled as he did. There was no doubt this woman was some sort of deity as well, but something about her presence screamed danger. Especially since she was eyeing Jonghyun as if he was something absolutely delicious to eat.

“What are you doing here, Apate?” Minho asked, unleashing what seemed to be his full authority. The pressure of it almost forced Jonghyun and Kibum to fall to their knees, and they to put an arm around each other’s waist to stay upright.

Apate was obviously not doing better. She gritted her teeth loudly, her smile disappearing as she clearly struggled to fight against Minho's overwhelming power.

“I came to see if he had succeeded,” she ground out reluctantly, glaring at him.

“Why?” Minho prompted, earning an angry growl from her.

“Because I originated from it, did I not?” she hissed, bending over a little as the force intensified. “I wanted to see if any of my sisters who were left there had survived.”

Through the headache the pressure of Minho's power caused him, Jonghyun managed to question what ‘it’ was and who Apate's sisters were. He had no way of asking anyone, though, as he was sure his brain was going to melt away soon.

“You mentioned someone succeeding,” Minho continued and took a threatening step toward her hunched figure. “Who?”

“I am not certain, but from earlier observations my estimation would be that Hades is the perpetrator.”

“You are wrong!” Jinki countered angrily and she looked at with loathing. “I know he would never!”

Apate sneered.

“Yes, as your plans and estimations have always worked out well on the past. If I remember correctly–”

“STOP!” Jinki yelled, releasing as much authority as Minho. Apate choked on her words and Kibum and Jonghyun tumbled to the ground from the extra force, their breathing coming out in gasps now. “Not a word more!”

“How… about… this… then?” she forced out in huffs and lunged with what seemed like great effort in Jonghyun's direction.

Jinki reacted so fast Jonghyun's eyes couldn’t even catch the movement. Suddenly he had his trident in one hand, half of the rosebushes bone-dry, and his expression grew so dark and murderous, such a contrast the otherwise smiling face, that Jonghyun truly feard Jinki for the first time.

Dark clouds gathered above their heads and the ground began shaking, water ran down the tree trunk to create liquid vines. They circled Apate’s wrists and ankles and tethered her to the ground. Kibum let out a small squeak of terror and gripped Jonghyun's arm tightly when a decidedly not human expression passed Jinki's features. They barely saw how he all but speared Apate on his trident before Minho shielded them with his body, blocking the rest of the happenings from view.

After a loud ripping noise, a ‘bang’ and a cut off scream, it became eerily quiet again. The sound of buzzing bees slowly returned as the ground stopped shaking and the pressure of godlike powers lessened.

Jonghyun peeked underneath one of Minho's arms. Jinki stood with his back turned towards them, breathing heavily, and there was no trace of Apate or his trident. The water was quickly evaporating into the air along with the dark clouds in the sky. Everything steadily went back to normal except the rosebushes, which were still dried out.

Jinki must have felt him looking because he turned around, his wild – almost feral – eyes meeting Jonghyun's and pinning him to the spot. Then he was suddenly right in front of them, gripping Minho's arm tightly and pulling him up from his crouching position. Jinki growled at him, saying something Jonghyun couldn't understand, and the sound was ferocious enough to send anoter chill through him. Minho stood his ground, meeting Jinki's murderous glare stoically, but probably only because he was stronger.

“Brother,” Minho said calmly but coldly, prying Jinki's fingers from his arm. “I demand you cease this behaviour. Now.”

Jinki looked at him with the same feral murder intent for another few moments and Jonghyun held his breath, worried there would be another fight.

But the wildness in Jinki's eyes slowly began to fade, along with the few clouds still lingering in the sky. Minho grabbed his shoulders and squeezed them, which seemed to help as Jinki closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them again they were back to the normal seas of amber. Jonghyun breathed a sigh of relief and his whole body started trembling as the adrenaline from his terror disappeared. He could feel Kibum doing the same from the grip on his arm and he got up on shaky legs, helping him to his feet as well.

“I…” Jinki croaked. He looked at Jonghyun who flinched involuntarily; still not quite able to forget the madness he’d seen in his eyes earlier. Something dark passed Jinki’s face and he turned his eyes back to his brother. “I apologise.”

Minho only stared at him, face stern, seeming to debate something. Apparently Jinki knew what he was thinking, because he looked panicked for a moment.

“Brother,” he pleaded, almost sounding desperate. “I know– I can– do not force me to return home now!”

Minho searched his face before pulling him into a hard hug. He muttered something in Jinki's ear that neither Jonghyun nor Kibum could discern, but Jinki gave a small nod, looking down at the ground shamefully when Minho released him again. Jonghyun suddenly really wanted to reach out and squeeze Jinki's hand in reassurance, forgetting his earlier fear as his chest ached. He refrained and put his arms around his middle instead.

“My brother and I need to replenish our energy as well as talk things through,” Minho said casually when he turned back to Jonghyun and Kibum. When he saw their blank faces he added; “Food. We are in need of food and rest. Kibum, if you would kindly house us?”

“Uh…” Kibum said slowly, taking his time to catch up to what was happening. “Yeah… riiight, I told you my parents were travelling.”

Minho gave him a short nod.

“Lead the way.”

“Sure.” Kibum nodded back.

He hooked his arm with Jonghyun's and pulled him out of the garden, both still a little shaky on their legs. They threw the young woman lying in the, now dried, bushes a last glance before exiting through the bent bars in the gate.

“Hermes and Aceso should not be long,” Minho reassured as he stepped out on the street behind them, apparently having seen their worried glances. He pulled a quiet Jinki – who refused to look anywhere but at his feet – with him.

Jonghyun watched Jinki worriedly and a something weighed down on his heart along with the ache in his chest at his cheerless expression. Then his gaze caught with Minho's, catching him in the act of scrutinising him with narrow eyes. He bit back his irked ‘what?’ and turned forward again with an unintelligible mutter, letting Kibum pull him down the street and back to their neighbourhood.

“Just make yourselves comfortable wherever,” Kibum said as he opened the door to his house. “I’ll make us something to eat.”

Jonghyun immediately fell down on the couch in the living room to their right, sinking low into the cushions with a deep sigh. Kibum had already made his way over to the kitchen. Jinki and Minho remained by the door for a moment, mumbling something to each other.

“You know that’s rude right?” Jonghyun drawled tiredly. He tilted his head back to look at them up-side-down. “Having private conversations with other people present.”

Minho blinked at him uncomprehendingly and Jinki looked somewhere above Jonghyun's right shoulder, his expression still not quite right. Jonghyun didn’t know what was making him so uncertain and vulnerable, but it gave him an awful feeling for some reason. As if it was his fault. It didn’t make any sense and it kind of bothered him that he was feeling it so strongly. It wasn’t exactly logical, since he had known Jinki for barely more than two days.

He decided not to think too much about it and sat up properly again, turning around and stretching out a hand.

“You should sit down,” he told them softly, his eyes trained on Jinki.

Minho nodded and put a hand on Jinki’s shoulder to push him forward and onto the couch. Jonghyun shifted away to give them some room while he tried not to pay too much attention to how Jinki was now sitting right beside him. There was the weird ache in his chest again, although it somehow felt different this time.

“Are you all right?” Jonghyun asked and bent forward a little to look up into Jinki’s face downturned face.

Jinki blinked at him in surprise, before a small smile graced his lips and his expression warmed.

“Yes,” he answered, looking better.

Jonghyun couldn’t help but smile faintly as well and sat back with a content nod. Minho watched Jinki for a few seconds before shaking his head.

“My brother shares some unpleasant memories with Apate. Please excuse him.”

Jinki threw him a warning look to which Minho snorted, but kept quiet.

“The food is done!” Kibum said triumphantly as he returned from the kitchen, holding a plate with a mountain of kimbab.

Jonghyun could have laughed. It was about the only thing Kibum knew how to make in the kitchen and they always ate it when they were alone in his house – as he always had some stored in the fridge for “emergencies”. It felt strangely ordinary after the events of the day.

Kibum set the plate down on the coffee table, took a pillow from the couch and sat on the floor across from them. They all ate in silence for a while. Jonghyun hadn’t realised how hungry he actually had been until he started eating. He hadn’t had anything but breakfast after all and it was now late in the afternoon, bordering on evening.

“Um…” Kibum spoke up after a few minutes when the plate was half empty. He chewed on his lip, looking up at Minho. They all turned their attention to him. “What happened to that woman? The one with the mark?”

Jonghyun swallowed harshly, turning sideways to look at Minho as well. He sighed deeply and Jinki frowned, putting another kimbab piece in his mouth.

“Are you familiar with the name Pandora?” Minho asked.

Kibum nodded eagerly.

“Yeah. Mythology states that you ordered one of your sons to create her to be the first woman on earth.” He frowned. “Then you used her to get revenge on Prometheus for stealing from you… You made her marry his brother and as a wedding gift you gave her a box with all the evils of the world. You knew she wouldn’t be able to stay away from it, since she was gifted with endless curiosity amongst other things.”

Minho nodded.

“Although you humans have considerably altered the story, it is true she was gifted a jar containing evil and her curious trait led her to open it, thus releasing almost all its contents.”

“The story was altered?” Kibum said, more to himself than them. Jonghyun could practically see questions forming in his head. “But you still have a lot of children, right? And your wife is still Hera?”

Minho looked at him disbelievingly and Jinki’s lips quirked in amusement.

“Of course,” Minho said, as if it were obvious. “I have lived for millennia. It would be ridiculous if I did not have some sort of intimate interactions. You humans may obtain some information that is correct, but it is far from everything.”

Kibum was jumping in his seat, turning his attention to Jinki now.

“Oooooh,” he exclaimed excitedly. “So then, it’s also true that you have very many children too?”

Jinki smiled at him, although there was an uncomfortable look in his eyes.

“Yes,” he affirmed.

“But instead of a wife, you just have a long list of lovers? Female and male, right? Right?” Kibum was leaning forward over the table, almost squishing the last pieces of kimbab, his eyes shining again.

Jonghyun shifted in his seat, feeling bothered by this topic of conversation. He looked down at the mark on his right wrist, rubbing it absentmindedly with his left thumb and concentrated on not letting his thoughts go where they wanted to go – Jinki's long list of lovers. What did that have to do with anything anyway?

“So… that woman was Pandora?” he asked before Jinki could answer Kibum, bringing their conversation back to the previous topic. “Or like… some reincarnation of her?”

“No.” Minho shook his head. “She was a regular human. The sign on her torso, however, was that of Pandora’s.”

“But why would it be carved into her skin like that?” Jonghyun wondered.

“After Pandora released the evil of the jar, we took it back,” Minho continued his explanation. “It still contains disaster and horror, however. As new tragedies are discovered they are put in the jar to keep as much evil as possible out of every world it could spread to. Though we cannot take back what Pandora released, we can seal away what has not yet surfaced and caused destruction.”

“A human is chosen by Athena every new decade as protector of the jar. She seals it away in them,” Jinki added. “Someone had drawn that seal onto the woman we found today in an attempt to bring the jar out as they must have believed she was the keeper.”

“She’s not?” Kibum asked.

Jinki shook his head.

“No. But for some reason she has been associating with our brother, judging by the mark on her arm.”

“So Hades is looking for the bo– uh, jar?” Kibum said with a frown.

“No,” Jinki said at the same time Minho answered; “Yes.”

They scowled at each other.

“I have reason to believe our brother might seek to release what is in the jar,”Minho continued, ignoring Jinki’s indignant stare. “Which is what his behaviour indicated when I refused him his request.”

“But humanity survived it once, didn’t it?” Kibum said.

Minho let out a heavy breath.

“If the jar is opened this time, the end of every world we know is inevitable. There is not only sicknesses and blood thirst in it this time. We have put far too dangerous things in the jar. If it falls into the wrong hands, everything we know will cease to exist.”

A/N: What is happening to Jinki? What is happening to Jonghyun?! And exactly what is Taemin up to? Hahahaha, I wonder... xD If anyone can guess what Jinki's problem is I'll... well, hmm... you get one wish from me? And you can guess Jonghyun's and Taemin's problem too if you want! Although, Jonghyun's might be a bit obvious, so no cookie to collect there >_<

And also, if any of you are really into mythology or something and think I'm screwing this up, I'm sorry. But I'm gonna make it different since the characters are different, so yeah! And the thing about Poseidon having no wife but both female and male lovers is true actually! I didn't knwo that until I wrote this chapter, but that's interesting info right? Haha! And all the names I use that are non-korean are from greek mythology so if you're curious about some character you can look it up! Internet is your friend!

Okay, that's about what I have to say I think... nothing's proofread OTL

Love you all and I hope you liked this chapter! (It was a fast update, right? ^o^)

Bye~!<3