Eris finally touched Ananke, her large and calloused hands cupping Ananke's jaw like a lover would. "Tell me why." the goddess of strife hissed out. "Tell me how he could earn your loyaltly when he has done nothing to deserve it."
                              
"Because it is necessary." Ananke replied with all seriousness, regardless of how mad her words sounded. "Arrogance, ego, vengeance... they don't mean anything to me anymore. I am doing what is necessary."
                              
"Who's side are you on, bearer of Inevitability?" the Erinyes hissed and coiled around Eris and Ananke both, their words strangely chorused as they spoke as one creature. Their question seemed to demand more than just as simple answer, but Ananke finally faultered in her confidence, not knowing how to answer.
                              
###~~~~
                              
Nyx stared down at the weakly thrashing form of Ananke, the moral woman's spasms eased while Hades and Herald held her down. The peaceful smile was gone from Herald's face as he focused on holding Ananke as still as possible, her movements as likely to injure herself now as much as the immortals around her.
                              
"Her capacity to hold them all apart is fascinating. How many mortals can bear the pressure of Time, let alone accomodate the rift between  men and vengeance?" Nyx asked softly, not sounding like she expected an answer.
                              
"You ask too much of her, of them both." Hades retorted, his grip on her shoulders slacker now but the bruises he'd already imparted were darkening while he watched. He hadn't wanted to hurt this long distant descendant of his, and he was having a difficult time not only resisting the power in her blood, but also the guilt of the pain she would wake with. If she was lucky enough to survive this that is.
                              
"I ask no more than what she has volunteered to be in the past." Nyx dismissed with a shrug and Hades gave her a sharp look.
                              
His was the domain of the dead, and even though Thanatos was the one Ananke had challenged before, Hades hadn't anticipated the Goddess of Night knowing her connection to death. There certainly had been a reason that the blood line demanded that she be the one to help them now. Parallel lines seemed to meet in this woman's world, as strange as it seemed to the logical King of Tartaros.
                              
"She's bleeding." Herald broke the staring contest Hades and Nyx had engaged in, saving the god of the underworld from having to look away first.
                              
Ananke wasn't hurt, so much as a small dribble of blood dripped from her nose to streak down the planes of her face and disappear into her hair. However, the fact that she was bleeding was disturbing because it was a physiological response to the internal pressures she was enduring. It was a sign to the three immortals that although the woman might seem mighty, she was still mortal. Which meant that her body might just not be able to withstand the ordeal even though her will was more than a match.
                              
"She's refusing to give up." Nyx was infuriatingly calm, her assured words only making Hades snarl internally.
                              
He actually felt like he should intervene but to try might do more damage than just letting this play out. He couldn't go in after them, and any manipulation he could try would be like trying to hit a target while blindfolded and weilding a sledgehammer. And the target is surrounded by fragile china, called the mortal coil. "If they die, I will make you suffer before the end of this all." Hades growled out at Nyx.
                              
Herald was watching as if this were some scripted play and Nyx just had the audacity to smile softly at his threat. "It is an interesting thing, Hades, to be mother and father. Creator and destroyer and having the freedom to stand back and be satisfied with either outcome."
                              
"So you don't care." Hades spat, letting his grip on Ananke ease off so he could face the Goddess of Night square on. His body language was threatening and bunched, the anger and frustration only a thin veil for the fear churning underneath. He didn't want to die, and he suddenly had more sympathy for the situation his father was in. And respect for Ananke's actions in the past.
                              
"I never said I didn't care Hades. But I care enough to allow it to be." Nyx replied with a shrug.
                              
Before Hades could step towards her, Herald reached out and tugged on the god's wrist. "Hades, she needs you here." he reminded gently, forstalling whatever confrontation was about to go own.
                              
Hades looked back at the still weakly thrashing Ananke and the blood dribbling from her nose. If it looked like this out here, he could only worry over what they were enduring inside. And Hades couldn't help but care for both this woman and his father.
                              
~~~###
                              
Chronos stared at the resolute Ananke and wondered what her answer would be. Who's side was she on and why was she willing to battle Strife and Fury for his sake? He hadn't been discreet in his disrespect and hatred for the moral and weak woman. And yet here she was, regardless of his previous behaviour and that was not something he would have believed. His own family ostracized him for his actions and here she was, just accepting them as if they didn't matter. It actually made the Father of Time feel a little ashamed of his reactions thus far.
                              
Ananke stood facing Eris and aware of the Erinyes and he could tell that should any of them make to attack him again, she was willing to place herself between him and them. And he hadn't earned that kind of decency. He was guilty, just like they condemned him and he was willing to let them bleed him out in penance. And yet that wasn't an option now, this weak, pathetic and moral woman shamed him deeply. And Chronos wasn't willing to let her actions be for nothing.
                              
So he accepted the guilt that had lashed him in place and shouldered it, not letting it hold him in place. Someday he would pay for his sins but at this moment, he had to stand up and guard this mortal's back. Later they could battle over who controlled the body and which mind was the leader, but for now he needed her as much as she needed him. And admitting that galled him.
                              
"Her own side." Chronos growled out, standing to his feet and feeling the hot blood dribble down his chest. "She stands on her own side. And that's good enough for me." he glared at Eris as she snarled at him.
                              
Ananke flashed her eyes to look at him briefly and then back at the four threats facing them. "We're leaving now. You and your beasties outside will leave us alone. And we will see each other again later." Chronos' tone was threatening, and yet Eris smirked as if this were a victory for her.
                              
"You are going to wish that you gave in to us before all of this is over. And this poor mortal has no clue how toxic you are. You'll be the death of her too." Eris spat spitefully.
                              
"What you don't understand is that that concept doesn't bother me at all." Ananke spoke up, surprising both gods. She truely didn't fear Death and Chronos was determined to get to the root of why. But first they had to make good their escape. The real challenge was going to be finding their way out of his mind and back into hers.