Interlude: Hey, it’s me, 1914 CE

The winds blew over the hills of Sparta, Pluto stood over those hills, breathing the warm air of Greece as he looked at the statue in front of him, the statue he had made, the statue of Helen.

Pluto conjured a red rose, and put it on the statue, breathing calmly, his expression solemn.

“Hey,” he spoke. “It’s me.”

The wind kept blowing past him, the smell of the rose started to permeate as the wind brought it around.

“How are you in there?” Pluto questioned, speaking to the grave. “Are you in Elysium? Or Valhalla? Or simply floating on the empty void… I hope it’s not the last one… you know, the idea of resurrecting you is just tempting right now… I’m starting to get tired of waiting… wandering endlessly around the world… seeing how humans tore each other apart for power as technology developed to a dangerous level…”

Thena gazed on Pluto as he kept standing solemnly in front of the grave, his face haggard, his face pale.

“I missed those days…” murmured Pluto softly. “Where it’s just you and me… with no responsibilities, just laying around in this beautiful land… ”

Pluto sighed as he looked at the sky above. He took a deep breath, and turned to Thena, and smiled at her, to which she smiled back.

“I married her.” Pluto continued speaking. “We’re planning to have a kid… still don’t know how… but I’ll manage…”

Pluto then turned to the statue again, and touched the marble stone. “I’ll see you around. Maybe we’ll meet face to face the next time, though, it’ll be around 120 years… I’ll bring your brother to you by then, if I manage.”

Pluto patted the statue softly as he walked away from the grave, towards Thena. She crossed her arms as he approached.

“Tell me the message again?” Pluto questioned calmly.

“Here, read it yourself.” said Thena, giving Pluto a scroll that Thena got from a raven.

Pluto opened the piece of paper, and read it.

“Gil needed our help?” questioned Pluto.

“He’s in Armenia.” Thena nodded. “Sounds bad, the raven’s quite haggard when it came.”

“I might get an idea on why he contacted us…” Pluto murmured. “This is so like him… you want to help him?”

“Well, he sounds really desperate… and… he’s great… never had any quarrel with us, so why not?”

Pluto hummed, and read the letter all over again.

Thena looked at Pluto’s solemn expression, and sighed. “You okay?” she questioned.

“Hm? I’m fine.” Pluto said. “Just… when we get there, don’t do anything too drastic.”

“Why?”

“You’ll see…” Pluto murmured. “Right, we need a lot of food supplies, we should buy it first.”

“Food?” Thena questioned.

“Yes, food.” Pluto nodded. “Maybe clothing and blankets as well. Will be a pain to carry, so I’ll just portal it.”

“Why need all of those?” Thena questioned, leaning to Pluto as she tried to find the answers from the letter.

Pluto sighed, and just kissed Thena’s forehead, hugging her tightly, making her confused.

“Do you really want to go? I could just go alone, you go west to America, I don’t know, find Druig or something.” Pluto asked Thena again.

“No, Gil’s my friend, I’ll help him of course.” Thena frowned. “What’s wrong? you’re acting strange right now.”

“I just thought… you know… you’re starting to dislike wars…” said Pluto calmly. “And we’ll be in the middle of the war there…”

“War?” Thena questioned. “I thought the front line was far from Armenia?”

“Well, true, but…”

“But what?”

Pluto sighed. “Fine, you’ll have to see it for yourself.”