Chapter 38

"Let me send you back to Earth." I groaned as Galatea was still sulking at my manhandling of her.

But Galatea shook her head fiercely and practically snarled. "No. I don't want to go back into that cage they call an embassy." Hearing her vehemence for Wonder Woman's Amazonian embassy I couldn't help but realize that if I was stuck in some overly decorated government building with probably no one to talk to I myself would probably lose my shit.

Now feeling a bit of sympathy for Galata I could only blow out a breath of frustration as returning Galatea would only mean she would be 'kept' in the safe confines of the Amazonian embassy and unable to do anything.

"You do realize Hell is filled with magic right... You literally can be killed just as easily as any human down here, if you allow yourself to be smacked around like you Kryptonians typically do." Despite Superman's super durability, it was plain to all who watched footage of his fights that he abused his durability to tank hits so he could likewise deal greater damage back.

But here in Hell where magic bolts of various curses and elemental effects were as common as robber having a gun, Kryptonians were in the most danger down here due to their prior reliance on their durability that could not sell being shot in the eye by a gun.

"I will be careful. I want to go on my little travels, is that wrong?" She asked me tiredly and as I stared at the castle surrounded by a moat of lava in the distance, I could feel my Traveller essence burn at her words and desire in traveling and wanting to be unfettered by Diana's seemingly overbearing care.

Fine... You can walk beside me for a while." I said knowing should I refuse her and actually force her back into the velvet chains of the Amazonian embassy then the very core of my being would rebel with how the concept of The Unbound Traveller carried by the Winds, was the core of my existence and true name.

In a few days of Hell's time, we can pop back into Earth with only minutes at most passing by. So, Wonder Woman throwing a massive fit or getting worried sick shouldn't be an issue.

Galatea hearing my words gave me a chest-cracking hug as she grabbed me from behind and I could feel her face pressing into the back of my neck. "Thank you, Lorde." I heard her mutter thankful of my acceptance.

"It's fine. But call me Jake. If we are going to be running around Hell and the other realms between dreams, then calling me Lorde will only make you look like my subordinate or something." I said as Galatea let go of me and almost danced in front of me to also stare off into the distance at the castle in the distance.

"Alright, Jake..." She said before drawing off and looked frustrated for a moment but then shrugged as she lost her frustration and smiled as she looked back to me. "Hey, Jake. why don't you call me Tea?"

'Tea? Like a nickname or affectionate cutoff of her own name of Galatea?' I thought before one of my eyebrows quirked up in amusement. "Thought nicknames were something between girlfriends and boyfriends but alright, Tea," I said without much care but Galatea at my words stilled and on her fair white skin, I saw a pink blush cross up from her boob window up her neck to reach her face as she went shy.

It was definitely a different response as honestly... With how violent Galatea has shown to be when she gets irritated or embarrassed, I thought we were going to fight. But nope, when Galatea becomes shy, she became almost demure and cute with how she shrunk in under my gaze.

"Would that be bad?" She muttered softly and I realized that she had somehow grabbed the voluminous loose edge of my Haori's sleeve as she turned to me but wouldn't meet my eyes.

Honestly... I saw how Superboy and Miss Martian's relationship went and disregarding the whole Superboy's age out of the cloning tank issue, it was for the most part a stable relationship until Megan decided to actually mentally fuck with Superboy for unknown to me reasons.

"Tea... I literally have met you twice in my life. Both times included us coming to blows." Seeing Galata's shy demure expression all but evaporating like a drop of water dropped onto red-hot piece of metal I dauntlessly continued. "We know nothing of one another, so let's just spend the next few days getting to know one another and then I can ask you out on a date when we get back to Earth should we not hate each other?" I asked kind of putting it off as I came to hell to Rip and Tear.

Not play-house, despite how hot Galatea was.

Once she heard my rather well-thought-out explanation and didn't shut her down for being a clone or any other real reason other than us just not knowing a damn about one another she nodded in understanding, and I saw her... Naivety when it came to relationships and social constructs just like Superboy still had at times when she spoke.

"Alright, we can mess around here. But once we get back, I won't let you run off back to the kiddie Justice League without me." She said fiercely and even poking me with her superstrength-enhanced finger in the chest to make her point all too clear.

I merely held my hands up in surrender while wearing a wry smile making her huff in amusement and then spin around to face the castle in the distance. "Well? Let's get going. That castle isn't going to be pillaged by itself!" She yelled joyously as she took off through the air towards the castle and I wordlessly joined her as I pushed myself through the air with my spiritual energy.