I downed my half glass, then another, and by the time I got to my third, the entire world was a blur. I could taste nothing but burning, sickly sweet alcohol on my tongue, a bitter reminder of what I was trying to drown out. It felt loose and wet going down my throat, but had a metallic-ness to it, like I’d swallowed copper.
Decimus was worried by my consumption, and eventually placed his hand on the top of the bottle. “You’ve drunk nearly the entire bottle, Nick. Enough.”
“Who are you to tell me when to stop…!” I drunkenly stammered, barely able to keep my head upright. “I’m an a-adult!”
“An adult who can’t turn to liquor to get him through the rough patch of his life.”
“And what the fuck do you know?” I snatched the bottle from him and tipped it back until I had successfully finished it off. Remnants of the whiskey slipped down the corners of my mouth, which I wiped away crudely. “Do you have any idea what kind of responsibility I have on my shoulders? Do you know what it’s like to be the person every FUCKING being in the world turns to when things go to shit, but you’re not strong enough to stop it?”
“I think you’re strong enough…?”
“You! HA!” I bellowed.
He frowned heavily. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You wouldn’t be dead if I just did my fucking job!” I yelled, throwing my hands up. The bottle slipped from my loose grip and cracked onto the floor, shattering into a million pieces. Decimus flinched from my words and the glass. “But no… us Gods have to have our ‘stipulations’,” I put air quotes around the word, “cause Erasmus and Endymion are two fucked up fucking fuckheads who can’t do anything fucking right!”
“That’s a lot of fucks,” he said to lighten the mood before reaching out to grab my hand and try to bring me back to Earth. “Nick, I don’t blame you for what happened with Pandora. Does it suck, yeah, of course it does, and do I wish I could be alive again, sure I do, but that doesn’t mean you did this to me.”
“Everyone I associate with gets targeted! She’ll probably massacre all my Elite Elementalss while she’s at it!” I slurred before my head hit the table with a loud thud. Decimus lifted my hair to see if I had passed out, but I was staring forward emptily. “I just want to die.”
“You tried that, and it didn’t go as well for you,” he reminded me.
I swished my hand at him. “Let me wallow in my own sadness for a bit, would you?”
“Sorry to push your luck, Freckles, but I ain’t letting that slide. I’ve never let you fall to your self-pitying sessions, and I ain’t doing it now.” He sandwiched his hands under my head and wrenched me upright, then held my face to make sure I was looking at him. “You gotta keep it together, dude. You’re right: the whole world does rely on you, and that means you have to keep it stable.”
“Why me?” I pathetically wheezed, “Why does everything have to be on me?”
“Cause you’re the lucky duck that those idiots picked for the job. Someone had to do it, after all. Personally,” he made sure I was stable before letting go of my face, “I would enjoy being the ultimate power.”
“You think so?” I murmured unsurely.
“I would like knowing I’m the one in control. I think you don’t give yourself enough credit or utilize your powers enough.”
“How so?”
“Dude, you’re the most powerful God to ever exist!” He threw his hands up and leaned back in his chair to yell, “Fucking do some cool shit and prove that to everyone!”
“I try, Decimus, but I can’t do much until I’m a real God…”
“Says who?” he scoffed, his boots hitting the floor hard when he propelled himself forward. “You sealed Pandora in that coffin, didn’t you? Hunt her ass down and do it again!”
I rolled my lips loudly. “Do you know how long it took us to find her the first time? Not to mention, she had to give us her location for us to even track her.”
“Why did it take so long, though? Was it because you couldn’t find her, or because the Gods wouldn’tletyou go find her?”
His comment piqued my interest.
I tilted my head at him curiously. “That’s a valid point.”
“Think about it.” He took his glass and sipped it carefully but drank a good portion of the whiskey when he did this. “Imagine if you and I were on the case, like the good old days? We would find that bitch in a heartbeat!”
“You just want out of Gehenna,” I accused with narrowed eyes.
He scoffed and waved me off. “Nick, I know the job I took. I’m not trying to weasel out of anything. I’m being really serious right now. We could find that bitch faster than anyone! If we put some feelers out to our old contracts… I imaginesomeonemust have seensomething.”
“It’s not a bad idea…” I admitted with a sigh through my nose. I began to kick my leg as I pondered what to do next. Decimus waited eagerly, his eyes wide with curiosity and attentiveness. Finally, I shrugged. “Let’s see what we can do. How much free time do you actually have down there?”
