Malachi was still pulling on his tank top when he exited his bedroom.

Sei trailed behind him, tying her robe closed before shutting the door behind her.

Entering the living room, the duo were unsurprised to find Nyx and Hemera already taking seats on the sofa.

"What happened?"

Nyx looks at her son and starts to speak before she looks down at his arms.

"I was honestly going to ask you the same thing..."

Malachi follows her gaze toward his arms.

His forearms and hands were covered in some very ancient demonic tattoos. He shouldn’t have been able to understand any of it, and yet it was as if he were reading the alphabet.

He whistles unconsciously. "Anna is going to loveee this..."

Nyx stared at her son’s hands for a while without saying anything.

Hemera watched her mother at the same time, expecting her to have some kind of outburst or reaction.

The child of a primordial deity becoming a member of the Ars Goetia was no small bit of news.

And yet, Nyx showed no discernible reaction to this. One might even begin to think she had already accepted it.

But Hemera strongly doubted that was the case.

"Aww, honey, we almost match." Sei grabbed her husband’s hand and held it up to her chest.

"You wouldn’t think it was so cute if you knew what it says."

"Ah... probably something evil, right? W-Well, regardless, they make you look very tough." Sei flexes her nonexistent muscles.

Smiling, Malachi slips her hands around her waist and pulls her close.

"You didn’t think I was tough already..?"

"Not really... You’re just my big teddy bear who does whatever I tell you to."

"Maybe I’m feeling a little rebellious right now..?"

"Oh my..."

Sei blushes, and Malachi feels something deeply predatory surge inside of him.

"Excuse me!"

Hemera glares at the two lovers fearsomely.

"My son... has been taken... and you two are here just... cavorting as if there isn’t a thing wrong!" The goddess spoke through clenched teeth.

"Calm down, daughter. They don’t know anything." Nyx places her hand on her daughter’s shoulder to quell her temperament.

Malachi slowly releases Sei, his face slack with shock.

"They took Arias...?"

"His old friend came and grabbed him right out of his cell... even going as far as leveling the place to break him free... A-Arias protested, but... Kincaid still took him. And what concerns me now is that I cannot find him."

Malachi’s jaw set in place.

He pulled out his phone as he paced around his living room.

"When did this happen?" He asked without looking up.

"...Late yesterday afternoon, why?"

Malachi’s frown deepened.

"There’s nothing. Not a post, not a news article, not even a damn Reddit thread..."

"What does that mean?"

Sei scratches her cheek wryly.

"Jo says that the government only keeps things like this out of the headlines when their own hands aren’t exactly clean... Arias wasn’t being abused in the prison, was he?"

Hemera looked offended by the mere implication. "I would have scorched your entire country into inhabitability if even a hair on the head of my son had been touched."

"...Fair enough."

"Quite."

When Sei looked at her husband again, he was wearing completely different clothes than the ones he had first come out of his room in.

"Yeah, well, I’m going to take a look so we’ll see what they were keeping so hush-hush."

Sei purses her lips. "I don’t know if that’s the kind of thing that regular everyday citizens do."

"It is when the government is trying to recruit them."

Malachi slowly started sinking into the floor, much to the disapproving frown of his wife.

"Jadou...!"

"I told you I was feeling rebellious, babe."

Malachi winks at her, and then he is gone.

Sei nearly resorts to pulling her hair out from frustration. Though Nyx cannot help but notice the slight blush on her cheeks.

*Yawn* "Morning, babe..."

Sei lets out a small yelp when a familiar hand hit her bottom from behind.

A groggy and disoriented Anna wraps her arms around Sei’s waist and rests her head on her shoulder.

"Hi..."

"You’re up early..." Sei cannot hide the surprise in her voice.

"Mhm. Got a meeting today that I wanted to start getting ready for. I thought if I was late, it’d be a... bad... look."

Sei repeatedly tapped her wife to stop her from drooling on her shoulder.

"...Want some coffee, hon?"

"Not strong enough, I need crack or something..."

"I’ll get you a Red Bull to drink with your coffee."

"You’re so good to me..."

Anna kisses Sei on the cheek before releasing her to go into the kitchen.

While rubbing her eyes, she moved to sit on the sofa and waved halfheartedly to the two goddesses floating above her fireplace.

"Morning, Big Mama.. Morning lady I don’t know."

Nyx smiled wryly. "Annalise, this is my daughter Hemera. Hemera, this is your sister-in-law."

Anna held up two fingers as she let her head flop back onto the sofa cushion.

Her bloodshot eyes swirled with an ocean of regrets and resentments. "Man... who decided the day has to start before twelve o’clock..? I just want a word with that prick in a dark alley..."

Hemera opened her mouth to speak, her eyes wide and slightly frightened. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Nyx covered her mouth before she could speak. "Why don’t we go off with your brother and just see what he finds, hm?"

She turns to Anna and smiles at her sweetly. "We’ll see you later, Annalise."

"Kay... Bring crack."

"I will bring you something with powdered sugar."

"Sweetness..." Anna raised her thumb weakly.

As the goddesses left, Sei returned to the living room with a steaming thermos in one hand and a cold can in the other.

At that point, Anna had already fallen asleep on the sofa once again.

Sitting beside her, Sei brought the can to her cheek. Anna instantly jolted awake.

"H-Hey!"

"Drink these. You’re drooling over all our stuff."

Anna wiped her face with her forearm before taking the beverages from her wife. "Sorry..."

Gently, Sei ran her fingers through Anna’s hair as she chugged an entire can of energy drink before starting on her coffee.

"Slow down." Sei chuckled. "What’s this big meeting you’ve got today that’s got you up this early in the first place?"

"Gonna go meet with some potential teachers. The ship said it only needed forty-eight hours to 3-D print a small school building, so... I figured it was time to start thinking about faculty and stuff."

"How would you even pay these people..?"

"We’re government-approved now, babygirl. Our husband somehow managed to strong-arm those old bigwigs into opening up their wallets. We sure picked a good one, huh?"

Sei had a hard time controlling her expression. Her eyes shone with a mix of marvel and surprise.

"He’s not the only one... You continue to amaze me, Anna Grey."

Anna blinks innocently as she crushes her energy drink can with her forehead. "For real? How?"

Sei was once again stunned by Anna’s nigh-unpredictable nature.

"...That’s just going to have to stay my little secret."