[ WP ] `` Never . ''

*'' Never. `` * 
 
 His filmy eyes narrowed. `` Juonwae, you do not have a choice. Step aside. ” He understood, of course, why the lad was speaking so harshly. In this moment, he even knew why Janiu had denied the possibility of his involvement. But Eve had to be destroyed at all costs, and Triton was the only thing standing between her and total world conquest. 
 
 `` I've lost too many people, my Lord. My allegiance has always been to you and every scrap of bone you have. But this has the real possibility of killing you... no, completely *destroying* you! Do n't you understand?'' 
 
 Sighing, the former Planetary threw his hands into his hair. `` If we lose Triton, lad, we lose everything. He's the only creature who can survive Nemesis. The End of Days? I am not so young that I could ever endure them.'' He reached for his devotee, who had found him as an eight-year-old boy and now stood before him as a man. 
 
 `` I bear total control over the Roses of Avalon and their perverted fetch. Janiu was my vassal before he knew it. You do not have to exit this Lodge, my lad, but by all that is holy——on *every* realm——I must.'' 
 
 The Black Elf turned away, shoulders sagging. In that moment, Pluto saw the innocence of the child he'd met, the war-torn orphan who'd become the leader of the Dragoon Elven at but seven years old. `` Lad, I.... ” He shook his head. `` I know why you plead with me. I know the worst of our times will begin when my heart stops. But I also know that so many souls fled here from Dveldheim——and are still fleeing. Janiu can not be saved unless his mother is destroyed.'' 
 
 `` He's dying?'' 
 
 `` He's dead if I can not stop her. And with him, Esme. Already there are deaths in Dveldheim, lives taken, by a man who swore he would never harm again. You might know how much he agonized over Nettle, but you do not realize how many people would die before he did. Roulan slew hundreds. Janiu would slay tens of *thousands. * And I have done so many evil things in my life, child, that to allow this one would be an eternal chain upon my bones.'' 
 
 Juonwae's hands trembled on the bar. ``... If I let you go, Lord Pluto, I will never see you again. Valamor's bitch is going to take you with her. Do not *lie* to me and say you'll return! Even if you come back, even if you revive as your former self, your mind will rot! It will take but a day before you will not know who I am!'' 
 
 `` And Proserpina, as well. ” He knew. `` I will call her by a different name every morn, or I wo n't know any to give her. I'll terrify her.'' 
 
 `` Then why do you leave me?'' 
 
 If he'd ever thought of that before, it should've been when he'd met the lad in Dveldheim. He should have had the answer in his mind when he sat on the sill, a hypothermic Amymone in his arms. But even though he had no answer prepared, he opened his mouth to speak all the same. 
 
 `` A man must do many things, Juonwae. Often he knows not why. But Cassis is one of my reasons. You are another. Proserpina is pregnant... and whatever the outcome, she and our children are reasons as well. Zora and Voltaire. *Ganymede. * Eris. I have so many things that I must do, child, and I never know when the act will be my last. That is my curse..., that someday, somewhere, I will give up my life for all of these.'' 
 
 Arms crushed into his back. Strong muscles, a firm jawline, dug into his quivering stomach. 
 
 ``... Then if you go, ” that mortally brave boy whispered, `` I would go with you. Let me take you to your final battle. And when you tell me to, I will retreat——but not until then, and you are not leaving this Lodge without me.''
