Darkyn was from the time-before-time. For him to be one of the only remaining survivors from that era indicated he was far more cunning and dangerous than Andre was able to assess from their very few interactions. Which meant Andre had to always err on the side of caution: not giving the demon lord a reason to track him down later.

"I did know, Rhyn," Andre said softly. "I knew the secrets of everyone around me. It's the nature of who I am."

Rhyn frowned at him.

"You follow the empath code," Darkyn said with a cold smile. "I like that."

Andre smiled politely and turned to begin walking once more. He didn't particularly like the way Darkyn said it, but he wasn't about to engage the demon more than necessary. Aside from their purpose there, he firmly believed in not giving power to ideas and motivations that did not benefit him.

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They walked in relative quiet for a while, and Andre took in the grey underworld. He found himself missing the sun from the human realm and hoping he saw it again and had a chance to help his brothers.

Rather, had a chance to figure out what their father was doing, before he fucked up everyone again. The brothers still bore the scars of the twisted psychopath that raised them. Andre had originally sent Rhyn away when he was a child as much to save him from the Immortal world as to subdue the powers he couldn't control. He'd done what he could to help the rest of his brothers.

He hadn't done enough to save Sasha or Kris. Their fates and deaths weighed heavily on him despite the wisdom of knowing they chose their own paths. He hoped he had another chance to save the rest of his brothers or at least, to do what he could to help them this time around. Being dead-dead gave him time to think while resurrection provided him a second chance to act differently than he had before.

"Time's up. Hell has a new soul," Darkyn's low, quiet voice tugged Andre from his thoughts.

That doesn't sound good. Andre exchanged a look with Rhyn, not wanting to humor the demon lord. He willed his half-brother not to ask.

"Just one new soul?" Rhyn asked.

Rhyn was always Rhyn. Andre listened, not eager to hear the exchange.

"The soul of a former deity."

"Past-Death?"

"Yes."

"Will fit in well with your Army of Souls."

Darkyn didn't reply, and Andre frowned. He'd known about the deal the two Deidres made from diving into the mind of past-Death a few days before. It was one thing to lose a deal with a demon.




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