Winter: I Cried; And I Cried And I Cried; And Then, I Laughed PT. 1/6

"Depra!"

I looked towards a battered and nearly broken boy, tied up within a chair, the hair I had tied up hours earlier covering his face.

He looked up at me before clenching his fists. "L-Lachesis? Why the hell are you here?"

"It's not just me!" I looked back at the other members of our merry band, nodding at them before looking back to Depra. "Erebus, Eros, Aether, Hemera, Nyx, Necessitas; we came here to save you!"

"… run away."

"Wha-What do you mean run away!? Hold on just a moment and I'll come rescue you, got that!?"

"Run Away!" Depra screamed out, sending a shiver down my spine.

"Now now, we can't exactly have intruders ruin our most wonderful family reunion, right?"

I could see Depra tense up, before he started to struggle in his chair. "Run away Lachesis! Damn it, run away bef-!"

"Pierce."

At those words, Depra slumped back into the chair, his mouth slightly open.

We all turned towards the voice, a man who was walking from a nearby door along with three others.

"Ah, much better, that should keep him quiet." He stopped in front of Depra, along with the three others, and he gave me a grin that showed all of his teeth.

"After all, he's the key to our glorious family reunion, which has taken many years in the making!"

The man's brown face was flushed red as he held himself tightly, and his outfit consisted of a black suit with a top hat to hide his small brown afro. "Ah, but where are my manners dear child! Allow me to introduce myself!" He took off his top hat and bowed slightly, showcasing another grin that showed his yellowing teeth.

"My name is Iapetus, Iapetus the Piercer!"

Suddenly, Erebus was positioned in front of me, his single red eye glaring him down. "I see, so you're one of them then. What the hell do you want with our King?"

"Oho, so impatient! You remind me of one of one of my dear sons over here! Isn't that right Meno?"

The one called Meno bared his teeth at Iapetus. He had a frizzly dark afro, with tanned skin. He cracked his knuckles, rolling his eyes.

"Hey Father, can I deal with these bastards already? Thanks to that comment you just made, I'm feeling extra pissed off today, and I need to blow some heads off some bodies to calm down."

"Calm down Meno, rushing into things won't help. Let's come up with a plan to take these buffoons on. Although, I've already come up with 10 just while we've been standing here doing nothing," another said. This one had a light tan, with his brown hair with red tips cut low. He readjusted his glasses, his light brown eyes looking down at us.

"Hey Promie, how about we just talk it out? I'm sure they'll understand!" The third one said, smiling gleefully at the one he called Promie.

"Epi, how many times have I said not to call me that name when you're facing enemies!?"

The one named Epi looked up, thinking. He was wearing a simple white t-shirt and light blue jeans and had the darkest skin out of the four. He had white tips in his hair whose length was in between his two supposed brothers.

"Well, didn't you say to call you that because you don't like me calling you Prometheus?"

"You absolute dumbass, now you just had to give away my damn name!" Prometheus yelled out, and Epi grinned in response.

"Oh, don't worry, I have the perfect idea. My full name is Epimetheus, and the angry one is Menoetius!" He nodded, looking at Prometheus. "I did good, right?"

"Now, now, children, enough about that," Iapetus said, clearing his throat. "Once he's awake, you can kill them all you like, promise."

"Um, what the hell did I just listen too guys?" Nyx said as the five behind walked to my side.

"What a wacky family indeed!" Hemera said, laughing.

"Careful you two. If it's what I think it is, then they're quite dangerous; far more than the demons we've faced thus far," Erebus warned, and everyone nodded.

I frowned, looking at the four we would have to take out in order to save our dear companion Depra. "Sorry guys, I didn't think there were more than one."

"Don't sweat it. I can handle all of these guys, no problem," Aether said, nodding to himself, and Menoetius' face grew angrier.

"Who the fuck are you punk, huh!?'

"I'm the best, and I don't care to learn the names of those beneath me."

I sighed. This was gonna be a long night.

"Well, as much as I would love to stay and chat, we are ever so busy getting ready for our family reunion! Oh, alas, if only my dear wife could be here!" Iapetus yelled out, clutching himself once more before leaning forward, his eyes suddenly eager.

"Oh, you might know her! She's my beautiful wife Clymene, owner of Clymene Corp! Oh, she is just too famous for her own good, and has to miss this wonderful moment within our family history! Oh, woe is me Mother!"

Clymene Corp!? I glanced at the others, and it seemed we had all reached the same conclusion.

Clymene Corp was a massive organization within our City and had many stakes within various companies. It mostly dealt with manufacturing and delivery services, although recently it had tried to take over many small businesses to expand its sphere of influence. Just hearing their name pissed me off especially, due to what happened during the latter half of sophomore year.

"Yeah, I heard of them," I responded, and his face lit up even more.

"Oh, you have indeed!? Truly!? Oh, it makes me so happy to hear that my wife's business is doing so well!"

"I've heard of them, and I personally hate them."

"Oh, I see, you hate them- wait, what did you just say?"

I felt a shiver go down my spine as his tone changed mid-sentence, his dark brown eyes seemingly piercing through my very being, and I couldn't help but tense up.

"Yo-you hate Clymene Corp? Hehe, HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" He let out a ferocious laugh, pointing at me, his gaze still piercing through me.

"Well, I guess you die first."

Eh? I scowled as I felt a sharp pain near my belly button, and I looked down to see a hole about the size of two fingers right through me, blood soaking my shirt.

What the… I couldn't finish the thought as I collapsed to my knees, a gleeful look on Iapetus' face.

"Ah yes, what perfect timing indeed! Isn't that right, the one they call King!?"

"L-Lachesis?" Depra had finally woken back up, and his hands were trembling at the sight of me on the floor.

"Ah but, but, but! Dear me, it looks as if you can't see well enough, can you!? I know, how about I move that hair out of the way for you!?" He proceeded to pull Depra's hair out of his face, yanking it upwards as he pointed him in my direction, making it the second time I could see his face today.

His dark brown, almost black eyes, widened as I fell forward, clutching my stomach.

"Lachesis!? Oi, what the hell did you do to her!?" Erebus roared out, and I could feel myself getting picked up by Hemera, who was looking me over.

"Damnit, don't you dare die on us!" Nyx yelled out, glancing back and forth between me and the four opponents in front of us.

"Ah, well, she should know better than talk bad about family," Iapetus said, smiling at us. "After all, family is the most important thing to a man!" Iapetus moved closer to Depra's ear before almost whispering his next words.

"Right? The one they call King? Are these people like family to you? Well, I have people who are just like family to me, so I'm gonna need you to bring them here, understand? Oh, but your 'family' is gonna have to die too, sorry about that!" He pulled him in even closer, letting out a grin.

"After all, it's your fault this happened."

"No, no, it, it wasn't!" I watched his eyes water up, before the tears that could once never fall fall once more as he watched me slowly bleed out, despite Hemera's and Eros' best efforts.

"Oh, what wonderful entertainment this is! Are you enjoying this Mother!? This is the appetizer before the main event, before our family is finally complete once more!" He turned to Depra, who's eyes were still locked onto me, and let out a soft smile.

"So, let's speed this along, okay?"

"Ah, ah, AH!" He started to squirm around in his chair, tears and snot flying all over the floor as he let out screams of terror, screaming out repeatedly.

"Huh?" Iapetus looked closer at Depra, frowning. "Huh? Huh? Why are you screaming? You're the honored guest, don't scream like that." He slapped him. "Hey." Slapped him. "Hey." Slapped him. "Hey. Slapped him. "Hey, stop screaming." Slapped him again.

"Leave King alone!" Erebus roared out, rushing towards Iapetus.

"Whoa, don't fight!" Epimetheus went in front of Erebus, shaking his hands. "Come now, let's all be kind and friendly, and it'll all work out, okay?"

"Get out of my way!" Erebus pulled out a wooden sword from his cloak to knock him out the way to rush towards Iapetus.

"Huh?" I murmured, my vision starting to go hazy. That's strange, it looks like Erebus stopped mid-swing for some reason.

"What, why can't I-!" Erebus got cut off as he got sent flying towards the left, crashing through the wall before continuing onwards.

"Damn fucking annoyance." Menoetius glared at us, shaking his right hand as he started to wrap it with something. "Took out my hand, dumb bastard."

"Honestly, they are so underprepared it irks me to no end." Prometheus sighed, readjusting his glasses. "Hey Father, we can kill them now, right?"

"Hey." Slapped him. "Hey." Slapped him. "Hey." Slapped him. "Hey." Slapped him.

Prometheus sighed. "Well, I'll take it as a yes.

Suddenly Aether was gone, and I could feel my body growing uncomfortably warmer as I continued to bleed out.

"He-!" Iapetus stopped, frowning.

Depra had stopped screaming, had stopped crying, and stopped trembling.

"He."

He looked at me, a smile arising on his face.

"Hehe."

"Wa…it… Depra… don't…" I was barely able to speak as Depra continued to smile, his smile growing into a grin.

"Hehehehe."

"Oi, what's up with you. Why are you laughing?"

"Hehehe, Hahaha."

Depra let out another giggle, trying hard to contain his laughter.

"Hehe, HAHAHAHAHA!"

He laughed.

He laughed and laughed, and the whole room grew quiet as he continued to laugh, his tears dried up, laughing so hard as he finally looked away from me, looking up at the ceiling.

"HAHAHAHAHA-!"

He stopped laughing as he let out a sigh, the biggest grin on his face.

"It well and truly is all my fault huh?"

No, you can't-!

"I'm so damn tired Lachesis…"

Wait, please don't-!

"But, if you're gonna die, then I have nothing else I need, right?"

Sto-!

"So, that's why, all of it, can just-!"

The world around him went white as he uttered the last word, a look of relief on his face as he started to laugh once more.