Chapter Text
"Toby, what you did was beyond foolish, beyond idiotic, beyond moronic. I-!" Nico stopped his rant as he saw his husband flinch.
He lowered his gaze and slowly took a deep breath in to calm himself.
"Sorry, Tobes. Sorry for yelling. I care about you, okay? You're my husband. You need to be careful and not leap to my rescue whenever I'm in harms way," he gently put a hand on Toby's shoulder. "Mi Passero, I would be lost without you."
"Yeah, but Neeks-!" Toby started.
"No. Toby, if I had lost you in that fight, I wouldn't know what I would do," Nico softly wrapped a bandage around Toby's injured hand. "I'm sorry for yelling at you, love. I was frustrated. I do, so deeply, love you, and I want you to be safe. With all of my heart. You can understand that, can't you?"
Toby nodded lightly.
"And I want you to be safe too," Toby smiled. "That's why I did it. I couldn't stand it if that guy hurt you - that mad scientist was getting far too close to comfort for my liking and so I just--what happened to your hand?"
"My what?" Nico looked at his own hand and noticed the little, cat-scratch sized gash that sat on the back of it. "Huh. Must've happened in the fight, I guess…"
"You okay, spooky?"
"Yeah, I'll live."
"Complaining about me being careful, and you're running about with cuts like that?" Toby cheekily grinned. "Hippogriff, that's what you are."
"What?" Nico laughed.
"A Hippogriff."
"Toby, don't you mean a hypocrite?" Nico asked gently.
"Perhaps..." Toby said suspiciously.
Chuckling lightly, Nico shook his head. By the gods, did he love this man.
Toby nodded and moved into a comfortable position on their shared bed. The two young men - both in their early twenties and well into a functional relationship - lay in each other's arms as they remained blissfully unaware of the events unfolding at their previous destination.
Henrick smiled as he slid the last two vials of blood into his machine. Soon, he would have the greatest possible creation alive. The child of a demigod, created solely from blood itself - it was a work of genius. Then again, he was a genius.
He had went to hell and back to get the samples from the two proud… Fathers… and now his greatest creation would finally be complete.
Henrick had one of his hands wrapped in a bandage with blood seemingly soaking through it. His figure was pale, skeletal. He looked like death itself, but he had to keep going with his work.
Soon, he would be able to create anything he wanted with the press of a button. Soon, the world would be his for the taking. Soon, he could-!
He waited silently for the machine to complete its process. While his mouth made no words, his mind was aflutter with various thoughts that buzzed around constantly like flies to sugar.
After five minutes that seemed like eternity itself, the doors opened and his creation stepped out. The child had pale olive skin and dark eyes. He looked no older than three and stood quite short and thin. His hair - a mess of two varying shades of brown - flopped over his face.
The child timidly stepped out and cowered away from the strange man. He hid underneath a table and kept to himself.
"Finally… My magnum opus… The greatest human in existence."
The door to his laboratory was thrust open by a man with his face covered by a mask. Selvent was tackled to the ground and held down by the larger man.
He felt something sharp, something cold press against his neck.
As the life left his eyes, all he could see was the mask of the man who brought his destruction. All he could feel was the gush of blood from his neck. It was all he could do.
"Who's this?" Masky asked as he saw the small child cower underneath a table.
He read a file placed upon the desk and saw the two familiar names that were scrawled upon the pages.
His eyes widened, and he picked up the small child into his arms. This was an interesting development...
Oh, crap. Were Toby and Nico in for quite the surprise when he got there.