Retribution [malexmale]

Chapter Eighteen

"How far away is the entrance from the surface?" Dorean asked, turning to Lea, who hesitated for a moment.

"It's... not too far. I'd say if we swim fast enough, we could reach it in less than two minutes." She offered. Hades wrinkled his nose in obvious distaste.

"I wish you'd told me this earlier. I had masks back at Lucy's place that would help us breath under there, but you know, whatever, surprise me. You Atlanteans are real good with surprises." He added. I shot Hades a glare at his little jab at Hannibal, which Leah swiftly ignored and Lucifer wiped a hand down his face before looking at Hades.

"I take it asking you to quit calling me that will never get through that thick skull of yours, will it?" He asked. Hades looked at him innocently.

"Dunno what you're talking about." He replied. Lucifer looked tempted to push Hades down and take him right then and there, but thankfully, my aunt Lea distracted them by clearing her throat to get our attention.

"No use in ranting about it. Let's get this over with. So everyone take a big deep breath and pray you don't drown. There's no air pockets on the way there, so it's a straight shot. Just follow me and you'll be fine." She assured. Nobody seemed very assured by that, particularly Anexius, who just stood there with his arms folded over his chest and his eyes narrowed.

Not wanting to waste time, Lea dove in first, disappearing below the surface before resurfacing to wave us down. I sighed.

"I'm just lucky I know how to swim." I muttered, moving to the edge. Dorean beamed, taking my hand.

"And I'm lucky you taught me." He replied. I smiled before we leapt into the water together. The water closed over our heads before we resurfaced as Hades and Lucifer jumped in followed by Anexius. Lea dove under first and we followed close behind.

The water burned my eyes, just slightly, though. We made our way under the water, following Lea as she swam quickly through the cavern that was filled to the brim with water. Everything below here was eerily colored from the green that came from the emeralds embedded into the walls, the seaweed that swayed and trembled as we passed by. Fish shot out of their hiding places and darted to another. It was getting darker and darker the more we swam on, and the only brightish light came from Hades's eyes.

We'd swam for about a minute when my chest started to ache. I almost opened my mouth to let in air, but I didn't dare. I glanced at Dorean, who seemed to have no trouble swimming, even with his little wings on his back. He had them tucked as tightly to his body as he could, his tail assisting in his paddling.

I felt the water shudder beside me and I frowned, turning to look behind me, but there was nothing there. I looked back ahead at everyone else, who moved quickly. I could see Lucifer struggling to hold his breath, but he didn't give up and pushed on ahead beside Hades and Anexius watched their backs and Lea continued to lead the way. I kept Dorean in front of me, glancing back every so often when I felt the water ripple beside me. I heard the faint sound of a fish swimming past, the muffled thump of something hitting the cavern floor.

But I didn't need to worry long, because our course changed and we swam up until we broke the surface, everyone gasping out loud as we made for the rocky shore inside the cave. Lucifer pulled himself up on shore first, breathing hard and coughing up mouthfuls of water. Hades knelt by his side and gave him a good whack on the back that made him groan.

"You really need to learn to control your strength." Lucifer grunted, heaving himself up onto the ledge and dragging himself to his feet. Hades shrugged, folding his arms over his chest before a sudden frown changed his features. He cocked his head as if he were listening to something we couldn't hear.