Back And Gone Again

Welcome Home
Amon walked through the small town, and towards the hill to where the abandoned hotel is, where Lamia and everyone else should be. It has been an hour since he continued walking, seeing the house, even if it was still destroyed, brought relief to him, but also excitement to seeing everyone again.

"We're here...!" Amon quickly began running towards the hill, reaching the top, and stopping to take a deep breath. Amon walked towards the door, and noticed the top half of the hotel was still cut down "That is gonna be a bitch at night..." Amon said to himself, as he knocked on the door.

Lamia openned the door, and saw Amon, who waved towards her, clearly smiling under his hood and bandages "Hi, Lamia!...It is Lamia, right?" His blindness was quite an inconvienience when looking for people.

"Amon!" Lamia hugged Amon tightly around his neck, a little too hard.

"N-...Neeeeck...!" Amon was tapping Lamia's shoulder, as one would when admitting defeat "Uncle...! Uncle...!" Lamia quickly softened her grip, calming down.

"Welcome home, honey" Lamia said, smiling happily to see Amon alive and...not well, but still alive.

Amon hugged Lamia back with his one arm, processing the fact she called him "honey" for the first time "...Happy to be home".

"Eh?! Is Papa here?! Lily! Papa's back!" Circe cried out to her sister, rushing outside towards her father. Lamia released Amon, and Circe leaped towards her father, tightly hugging him around the stomach.

"Hey there, kiddo" Amon patted Circe's head, as she dropped down and landed safely on her feet "Where's Lily?" Amon asked, looking at Lamia.

"Oh, she's resting up" Lamia grabbed Amon's hand and pulled him into the house, even though it practically had no roof, she didn't seem a bothered by it even for a bit, nor did anyone else for that matter "She's sleeping right now, Hera and Noma are watching over her" Lamia said, walking into the kitchen, sitting down on the table and offering Amon a sit infront of her.

Looking around, Amon heard cheerful humming, and the flames burning, he could smell food cooking as well. It was Aph, in an apron and cooking food, which smelled rather delicious "Oh! Hubby is back! Just in time for dinner too!" Aph cheerfully exclaimed, smiling towards Amon as she returned to her cooking.

"...I see lacking a roof isn't an issue" Amon said, wondering why he should even be surprised no one cares. Lamia could probably live in a house with no doors or windows just fine, and considering Aph doesn't seem like the most...subtle person either, it's probably the same for her.

"Hey, shorty! Come say hi to Amon! He's home!" Lamia called out to Nyx, "shorty" as she likes to call her.

Nyx walked out of a bedroom, appearing exhausted, wearing white pajamas and flip flops "Oh, hi Amon. Welcome home" Nyx yawned, walking down and sitting with the others around the kitchen table, as Circe also joined, sitting next to her mother.

"So...where's everyone else?" Amon asked, referring to Isaz, Rakuyou, Mikki, and of course, Kiryu and Hyperion.

"Gramps is resting, he's injured and very tired. I let 'em sleep in the lab where it's quite. As for the three shitheads, they'll be back soon. I asked them to do an...errand for me" Lamia said, smiling rather evily.

Rakuyou, walking in what looked like a swamp, felt a chill run down his spine all of a sudden. He was sitting in a boat with Isaz and Mikki, appearing to be fishing, while Mikki simply rested her head against Rakuyou's back and her legs on Isaz's back "Oh god, the Devil's breath just got on my neck..." Rakuyou said, sounding distraught.

"Hmm? What do you mean, Rakuyou?" Isaz asked his friend, sounding concerned.

"Oh, leave 'em be, Icey, Rakkun is just scared shitless of Lala~" Mikki casually shrugged Rakuyou off "Ain't that right, Rakkun?".

"...Yeah, sure, let's go with that" Rakuyou really couldn't bother with this girl right now...yet, deep inside, he was quite happy to be back to their usual routine. Even if it did drive him crazy.

Amon wasn't surprised Lamia would con these three. She has a tendency of lying to people for her own amusements. "This is why people ask you for stuff once every Blue Moon...".

"Oh, boo hoo. I tricked a bunch of people with the weapons they asked by rigging them. So, what? They were gonna be a-holes and killed a bunch of innocents, or other asses either way. Really, I did people a favor by causing that needlessly destructive explosion that destroyed over two towns"

"That was Mikki's core..."

"...Oh, yeah, that did happen" It was clear that unlike Amon, Lamia's concept of morality was rather..."different".

"Riiiight..." Amon took a light cough, standing up from his seat "I think I'll go take a nap...I've been walking for a while and uh...quite frankly I'm tired..." Amon turned around, walking away.

"Amon" Lamia called to Amon, stopping him in his steps "You have a bullet wound, a broken artificial arm, and a wound that re-openned not long ago" Lamia said, causing Amon to turn around and face her, knowing she isn't pleased "Go into the basement. Undress your shirt and wait for me on a free bed, I'll catch up soon enough and take care of your wounds" Lamia said, standing up and walking by Amon, heading towards the second floor.

"I'm fi-..."

"You can act like a cold and tough bastard all you want. I'll worry about you regardless" Lamia shot a glare at Amon, who, even while blind, could feel her staring right at him "I'm your doctor. And it's a doctor's duty to take care of her patients" Lamia walked up to the stairs, going to the second floor "And I once told you, I'll take care of you the way a wife takes care of her husband. Even if I don't do all those wife-y things, I can still make sure you live to see another day. You've done that to me before, after all".

"...Well...I feel like an asshole..." Amon said to himself, sighing, remembering Circe was present through all of this.

"So..." Nyx tried to break the awkward silence "Bullet wound, huh?".

"I hate being shot" Amon replied almost instantly, appearing rather annoyed at the mention of the bullet wound.

"Oh, don't worry, hubby~ Bullet wounds may hurt at first, but after the 15th hole, you'll treat them as just minor discomforts~" Whatever Aph did back in the way was not a subject to be spoken infront of a child.

Amon looked at Aph awkwardly for a moment, before speaking "I need you to tell me more about you later...Seriously, I know nothing about you beyond your name".

"Oh~ Okay~" Aph cheerfully agreed.

"She calls you hubby and yet you know nothing about her..." Beast was dumbfounded by that fact. But was also rather...fearful of Aph.

"She did say Lamia told her alot about me...then again, I don't know how to feel towards her"

"...You did see her when you had your eyes, right?" Beast asked, to which Amon immediately blushed after remembering, hiding his face under his hood and walking to the basement.

"A large breast size isn't everything about a woman, dammit!" Amon sounded as if he was scolding Beast, not pleased with what he was implying "Even though, she seems unnervingly proud of it...I'm gonna need to talk to her about that".

Doctor's Appointment
The inside of the basement, Lamia's lab, looked like a clinic. Beds organized neatly, with curtains keeping the privacy of each patient. Amon sat on a bed, having taken off his shirt as Lamia told him, and closing the curtains, waiting.

"You're home..." Kiryu said, next to Amon's bed, hidden by the curtains "Good. I was thinking I'd have to drag you from Hell for abandoning my granddaughter" There was a hint of malice in Kiryu's tone as he said that.

"I probably wouldn't mind...and I won't deny the fact that I'm going to Hell either..." Amon crossed his legs while sitting on the bed, patiently as he waited "So...how are you feeling?" Amon asked Kiryu, who chuckled in reply.

"Don't worry. I may be an old man, but I have the will of a lion! I won't fall so easily!" Kiryu proudly declared "But, it's good to know I was right about you, Ira".

"...What do yo mean?"

"When I heard Lamia call you that...I couldn't believe it. That boy who was supposed to be dead long before the wolves got to him, still alive and kickin'...I'll admit, me and you never got much of a relationship, but, if you're going to be Lamia's husband, and the father of my great granddaughters, it's best we try to get along" Kiryu said to Amon, sounding like a proud parent speaking to his child.

"I'd like nothing more than that" Amon happily replied to Kiryu, smiling under his bandages "Then again, I would like a little less ache in my body..."

"Ha! Please, with a body like mine, you'd be dead before you finish the day!" Kiryu boasted proudly, despite it being something rather painful to be proud of "I mean, I am missing half my face, what are you missing?".

"My eyesight, my right arm, I think some of my intestines got out, I have a burn mark covering most of my back, a bunch going across my torso, and a bullet hole in my back".

"...How are you alive?" Kiryu was dumbfounded after hearing Amon had such grievious wounds, then again, he never did check.

"I don't know. Didn't you say I was supposed to be dead way before the wolves got me?"

"Hahaha, and managed to defeat three grown adults too. And...Thank you...for protecting her" Kiryu said to Amon, his tone softening.

"Lamia? Of course I'd protect her. Not like I'm gonna let some asshole seperate us again. Goddamn show off with a goddamn sword thinking he's a know-it-all 'bout Demons and givin' me this goddamn demon name..." Kiryu got the strangets feeling Amon had a grudge against a particular swordsman from his past.

Lamia walked in, her hands in her pockets "Alright, 'nuff talkin'. I need to see if your wounds are serious or not" Lamia stood next to Amon as he sat on the bed, proceeding to check his injuries on the back "Hmm...looks like that beam really scorched your skin. Luckily, it's not too severe, but I don't see this going away anytime" Lamia said, commenting on the large burn mark on Amon's back, a circle of scorched skin on his back, covering all of his back "Then again, the bullet hole needs some work...".

"Oh god..." Amon knew what was coming, this wasn't the first time he got shot after all.

Lamia wore white gloves on, as she took a tweezer "Turn around, I need to be careful. Otherwise, it could cause an infection. Than again, it looks like it's been there for a good while. Could have an infection already" Lamia said, as she carefully attempted to pull out the bullet, while Amon gritted his teeth.

"I hate this part so much..." Amon did not like the feeling of something being pulled out of his body, especially a foreign object such as a bullet.

"Don't be a baby, I already pulled it out" Lamia said, putting the bloody bullet on a silver plate, as she proceeded to take medicine and rub it on a towel "This might burn like a motherfucker, so, heads up"

"I've been through worse, I'm sure a little burn wo-..." The moment Lamia touched Amon's wound with the towel, Amon flinched, feeling an intense burn and stinging in his wound "Motherf-....!!!" He tried to keep his voice down, despite the painful burning.

"Don't move. It'll just make shit tougher for me to do" Lamia finished cleaning the wound from any infection, and told Amon to turn to face her "Now, I'm gonna need to most likely do a surgery, just to make sure your stomach is...intact"

"You're saying I might be missing a gut? I think I'd notice that"

"I just need to make sure there aren't any internal injuries. That shit can happen after that fight" Lamia said, as Amon sighed, lying on the bed as Lamia put a mask on his facee, causing him to lose consciousness and fall asleep.

Amon slowly openned his eyes, though he couldn't see anything, something felt...out of place. "...Am I feeling my right arm?" Amon touched his right shoulder, going down all the way to his hands, fingers and everything, back and feeling real "...Am I...dreaming...?".

"No" Lamia said, sitting next to a table, wearing glasses with a cup of coffee next to her, as she read an x-ray scan in her hand "I cloned you a new arm" Lamia said, casually taking a sip from her coffee.

"You...did what now?"

"Cloned your arm. Y'see, I have been doing...alot of crazy shit recently. Like, alot of it" Lamia stood up, taking off her glasses, and walking towards a large object under a veil "For example..." Lamia pulled the sheets covering the object, revealing a tube with a blue haired, young girl, appearing around the age of 15, naked and unconscious in the tube.

"...If Beast is telling the truth, that's a naked girl...What did you do?" Amon was quick to believe Lamia was up to no good.

"Oh, calm down. That's Hyperion's new body" Lamia said, waving her hand in a "don't worry about it" gesture to Amon.

"Why...is Hyperion's new body a...girl?" That was a leginimately good question.

"Two reasons, one, his body is quite advanced, and requires parts I lack, and would take almost a month to finish repairing, and I don't have the sanity or patience for that at the moment, so that's a replacement for the time being when I get to doing it"

"And second?"

"I had a spare body of an unfinished project" Lamia drank from her cup of coffee, tapping the tube, as Hyperion's eyes openned, revealing his, or rather, her deep blue eyes "Wakey wakey, Hero".

Suddenly, Hyperion delivered a powerful kick within the tube, breaking the glasses open, as the liquid substance poured all over the floor, freeing her, and proceeding to take a fighting stance almost instantly while stark naked "En garde, el diablo!".

Amon and Lamia stared at Hyperion in awe, though Lamia's expression was more non-caring than anything else.

"Yeah, great" Lamia grabbed a bag and tossed it over to Hyperion who caught it in her arms, and openned it, revealing a black outfit in it "Wear that, yer flappin' yer buisness all over the damn place" Lamia said, pointing out Hyperion's nudity.

Hyperion looked down, and then towards a mirror next to her, realizing what has happened to him "...Wha-...?" Hyperion was stunned. He moved his body to see if the reflection would follow, even doing a silly dance "What...what did you do to me?!" Hyperion shouted at Lamia in aggravation, confused as to why he was suddenly a girl.

"Well, y'see, when I am bored as fuck, and lazy as shit, I tend to take the easy route of procrastinating things for a later date than do it now and get it over with" Lamia explained, but realized she wasn't very clear "Your body will be done in a month or never, so this is a temporary one. Or permanent. It really depends on my mood, and the fucks I give. Which, at the moment, is kinda low. Not zero, just low.".

"Oh..." It took a moment for Hyperion to realize the flaws in that "Wait! But this means I, Hyperion, will have to not be active for atleast a month!".

"Probably won't just be a mo-..."

"Unnaccpetable!" Hyperion cut off Lamia, clenching her hand into a fist in a determined fashion, and pointing into the sky proudly "I, Hyperion, the Hero of Justice, refuse to take rest, be it even a day or even a second! I shall continue to do my work as the Hero of Justice! I shall not sit idle as injustice spreads like a plague! I simply cannot!" Somehow, that wasn't as dynamic as it should've been. Must be the fact she's naked.

"Just put on the damn clothes" Lamia sounded annoyed at Hyperion's enthusiasm "I don't know why I built that anatomy to a goddamn T...I hate tea to begin with".

"Uh..." Amon had to process this, but quickly turned to Lamia "Still doesn't explain my arm!".

"Oh, right. Do you feel a..."lag" when you move your fingers and arm around?" Lamia asked Amon, who moved his arm and fingers around, feeling they moved perfectly fine.

"There's no issue. Why?"

"I had to attach, reattach and stitch that arm together, and the fingers, and mess with it time and time again, just so I can get it to work properly. Cloning the arm was easy, getting the motor skills to work properly was the tough part. Some nerves weren't completely generated, so I had to add some extra work to it" Lamia said, finishing her cup of coffee and putting the empty cup in a sink that was full of an unknown green substance. That glew.

"..." Amon felt his arm, and could feel the stitches now that he paid attention. There was one that attached his arm to his shoulder, another one that appeared to attach his wrist to his arm, and could feel two more around his index and middle finger "Well...this is unsettling. If you have the technology of cloning...then why don't you use it more often?".

"Imperfection" Lamia simply said "Cloning is difficult. At best, I can clone a bodypart, at worst, I can make a dead rotting copy of someone else. There's too much to balance out, the cell structure, the bodily functions, and everything else. Cloning is very difficult. That arm, I had to go through all nighters ever since you lost it, just so I can clone it and make it work. Hell, I was ready for it to be a failure now. But, I managed through" Lamia finished explaining, washing her hands and drying them with a towel.

Hyperion put on the outfit, it was a black leather outfit, covering almost all of her body, but revealing her legs from the thighs down. It had a zipper in the middle for the outfit, and...that was it "This is all?" Hyperion looked at his reflection on the mirror, feeling dissappointed "This is atrocious! Where is the closet?" Lamia casually pointed at a closet behind her, to which Hyperion quickly ran towards, openned and entered, messing around with it as she leaped out, striking a pose, with her finger pointing at the sky, her hand at her waist, and on one knee, as she looked up, with a shining gleamer in her eyes.

Hyperion added grey gloves to his hands, and grey boots, with what looked like white fur linings, a red scarf around her neck, with a portion of it freely hanging from her back, goggles on her head, with her hair caught in it and being raised up, while her chest was covered by bandages, and the zipper was pulled down, revealing her naval, but stopping there, and finally, she wore a blue penguin-shaped backpack.

"This is the glorious look of a Hero!" Hyperion proudly declared, standing up and pumping his chest with her fist "I, Hyperion, hereby declare my return as the harbringer of Justice!".

Silence loomed over, no one reacting to Hyperion's hyperactive demeanor "Would you shut up! I'm sleeping!" The silence was cut off by Kiryu's irritation, as he tried to go back to sleep, causing Hyperion to cross her arms in aggravation.

"Okay, this was an eventful merry time" Amon said sarcasticly, as he turned to Lamia "By the way, I think we should be should f-..."

"Find a place to stay before bounty hunters catch up to us and kill us? Don't worry, I already took care of it" Lamia casually cut off Amon, having planned ahead of him.

"Oh? What do you have in mind?" Amon said, curious about Lamia's solution.

"Kaiser" Lamia said, simple and without delay "Nyx said they'll probably let us stay if I promise to keep my end of the deal, and give them the weapon they wanted. And quite frankly, it's probably the safest place, since she said it's underground."

"It's underground? I guess that does sound promising".

"Hold it! Where are the girls?!" Hypeiron shouted, remembering Circe and Lily and Mikki "Are they safe?! Did I fail?! Did you fail?!" Hyperion turned to Amon with that last statement, glaring at him.

"Calm yer flat chest, the kids are okay. Lily's in bed, resting. The rest are fine" Suddenly, the sound of the door openning was heard, and the smell of a swamp and fish entered the house "And speaking of the Satan's vulture".

Goodbye
"Alright! We got the damn fish for whatever ungodly reason!" Rakuyou shouted angrily, handing over a bag of fish to Lamia "Why did you even need us to go to a swamp, which is like 3 hours a walk away from here, to catch some fish, which you can easily buy from the market, in this goddamn town, and fish for these damn fish?!".

"...Hmm? We have a fish market here?" It was clear Lamia was enjoying herself, the smirk on her face, that was unnoticed because of her scars was proof of that.

"...I hate you" Not much of a surprise from Rakuyou.

"And I love kickin' dicks in the dick. Wanna see?" Rakuyou silenced and crossed his arms in irritation as Lamia turned around, walking to the kitchen "Okay, we have fish. Everyone pack yer shit, we're leaving first thing in the mornin'".

"Huh? Leaving?" Rakuyou walked to Lamia "What do you mean leaving? We're not going anywhe-...!"

"Who said you're invited?" Lamia replied icily to Rakuyou, not even turning to face him "You dipshits can do whatever you want. I don't care. Go, walk, go on an adventure, save the fuckin' world from an ancient Demon with 7 or 10 heads, I don't give a fuck" This really was just Lamia being her usual self towards practically everyone.

"Ugh...! Fine! Come on, we're leaving!" Rakuyou gritted his teeth in anger, walking to the door, but stopping when he noticed no one has followed him "Hey, what are y-...?" Rakuyou cut himself as he noticed Mikki walked towards Amon, looking at him.

"You're Amon, right?" Mikki smiled towards Amon, who simply scratched the back of his head.

"Uh...yeah. I...remember you, Mikki, right?" Mikki pointed for Amon to get lower to her level, and he did.

"I'm going to give you something back. But don't get used to it" Mikki put her hand on Amon's right eye, as she emitted a faint glow from her eye, and then stepped back, openning her eyes, revealing that her right eye became blank "Can you see?".

Amon openned his right eye, and...saw. Looking around him and at his hand, he could see things clearly again "I...can see again? How did you...?".

"I can easily distribute these senses. Even to strangers. It's a flaw with the ritual...because it's pointless. My dad only wanted me to be as human as possible, even though giving me the five senses from strangers wouldn't have been any different...but I'm sadly restricted to them now" Mikki quickly, took out a notepad, beginning writing down on it.

"Oh...You don't have to do this, really. I've been blind for 4 years, so, there's no need for you t-..." Amon was cut off as Mikki pointed the notepad infront of his face, showing him calculations.

"This is how much you owe me" Mikki said with a smirk on her face.

"...Come again?"

"Well, eyesight isn't free after all. You'll need to pay 10,000 Jewels for that eye" Mikki slyly said, not forgetting that she is, infact, a con artist.

"...That's all wrong" Amon grabbed the notepad from Mikki's hands, and her pencil, beginning to write himself "You can make much more, you know? Since I gave you these eyes as a self sacrifice, and due to my negative view of humanity, that would give me a short discount of atleast 200 Jewels" Amon said, sounding calculative for once, catching Mikki off guard.

"Wait, wha-...?"

"But, considering I was willing to give them because of said reason, then the discount is pointless, and would add another 100 because of that"

"Hold i-..!"

"And considering I managed to win thanks to getting my eyes in the last fight, I guess that adds another one, just because I would've died if I didn't have them, adding another 500 atleast" Amon continued writing, and evantually gave the notepad back to Mikki, who became pale upon seeing the amount "This is how much I could pay you, if you took more advantage of the facts" Lamia couldn't help but facepalm at Amon's naivety and kindness towards children, even a con artist who dresses with such a revealing outfit.

"H-...How did...?"

"How do you think I pay my debts?" Amon said, laughing awkwardly "I either cheat in poker, or ask for more money from my jobs...Well, used to, atleast" It was quite surprising to imagine Amon be a cheater, then again, compared to everything else he's done, that could be considered minor.

"I...I see..."

"I'm not paying that amount, though"

"What?!" Mikki stomped her foot in anger and pointed at Amon "You said this is the amount you'd pay, didn't you?!"

"If you were the one to do the calculations. I am not paying for my own management of my own amount. 'cides, you would never guessed these things, would you?" Amon sounded rather confident in himself on the subject.

"...Let's be partners!" Mikki suddenly bursted with excitement, much to Rakuyou's shock and chagrin, though Isaz seemed rather amused by this.

"Hahaha...No." Almost instant, Amon rejected Mikki.

"Dammit! Fine! You still owe me that 10,000 Jewels!" Mikki declared, walking to Rakuyou and Isaz, pulling Rakuyou by his arm, as Isaz followed.

"...Lamia, do we have that amount of money?" Amon turned to ask Lamia, who was already drinking another cup of coffee.

"No. We have more. Well, I do. You'd be amazed at how cheap shit is when half the stuff you need you can just get for free" Lamia took a sip of her coffee, letting out a refreshed sigh "God, that's some good stuff".

"We really need to stop hiding stuff from one another"

"Fine. I have an entire civilization of intelligent cockroaches living deep under this hill, and are man-sized, and most likely planning to overthrow humanity. Happy?" An awkward silence loomed over, but was broken when Aph placed plates of food at the table.

"Dinner is ready~" Aph cheerfully called out, as everyone, including Hyperion, gathered around the table to eat.

"You're kidding about the whole cockroach thing, right?" Amon asked Lamia, who simply avoided Amon's line of sight, and acted as if he didn't ask that "...Oh goddammit" This really is just a typical reaction for him. He walked towards the table to sit down with the rest, but couldn't help but feel worried about Lily, who was still in her bedroom with Hera and Noma.