And then came the moment he hated most.
Goodbyes.
Amaterasu studied him the way she studied the horizon at dawn, steady, bright, almost too composed.
"Honestly," she said, "I'm surprised. You've been a better student than I expected."
Damon let out a small smile that didn't fully reach his eyes.
"I'm full of surprises," he replied, lightly, but the sadness still leaked through.
Amaterasu noticed instantly.
She stepped closer, lifting both hands to his face, gently tilting his chin up until he met her gaze.
"This isn't a goodbye, Damon," she said, a real warmth touching her expression. "It's a 'see you again.'"
"I know," Damon admitted, forcing something like a smile. "I just… don't do farewells well."
Amaterasu exhaled, as she'd surrendered to that truth.
For a moment, she searched for something, anything that could quiet the heaviness in his chest.
Then her eyes sharpened with an idea.
"Then do this," she said. "End this war as soon as you can. Win it. Take the peace you keep talking about."
Damon stilled, listening.
"And I promise you," Amaterasu continued, "when that happens, I'll come to celebrate your victory."
Her smile turned faintly playful.
"And… I may not come alone. Some of my family has grown curious about you."
Damon blinked.
"Your family?"
Amaterasu hesitated—just for a heartbeat—then nodded.
"My mother," she said. "Izanami."
That name carried weight.
Not because Damon knew every detail—
But because Amaterasu said it like it mattered.
"I thought—" Damon started carefully. "Izanami is—"
"In Yomi," Amaterasu finished, her voice quieter now. "Yes."
Damon didn't interrupt.
So she kept going, words measured, as if she'd told this story a thousand times in her head but rarely out loud.
"My parents… Izanagi and Izanami… created much of what my world stands on," Amaterasu said.
"But creation doesn't mean harmony."
Her gaze drifted, not to the sky, but somewhere deeper.
"They had differences. Wounds. Things neither of them knew how to forgive."
A pause.
"And when Izanami ended in Yomi… Izanagi didn't go after her."
The words landed with a strange finality.
"No rescue," Amaterasu added softly. "No desperate journey. No miracle."
Just… acceptance.
"And that," she said, voice thin but steady, "was the end of them."
Damon's throat tightened.
Not because it was tragic in a dramatic way—
But because it was quiet.
Because it sounded like the kind of ending that happens when someone decides you're no longer worth fighting for.
Amaterasu's expression shifted then—away from pain, into something firmer.
"But my mother didn't disappear," she said.
Damon looked at her.
"Yomi is not nothing," Amaterasu continued. "It's a realm with duties. Rules. Balance."
"And my mother… even from there, she still carries responsibility that keeps Takamagahara steady."
She said Takamagahara like it was sacred—like it was home.
"She advises," Amaterasu said. "She judges. She keeps certain doors closed that must remain closed."
"And the gods know it."
Damon's eyes narrowed slightly.
"They… still respect her?"
Amaterasu nodded without hesitation.
"They speak her name carefully," she said. "Not like a forgotten relic. Like a force."
A small, genuine warmth touched Amaterasu's face.
"She supported me," she said, quieter now. "Not with comfort. With structure."
"With guidance."
"With reminders of duty when the world wanted to drown me in emotion."
"She's the reason I didn't become cold," Amaterasu admitted.
"The reason I didn't let disappointment turn into hatred."
Then she looked directly at Damon.
"I love her," she said simply, "because she never stopped being my mother. Not once."
Damon stayed silent for a long moment.
Olympus flashed through his mind, Zeus filling rooms with noise, Poseidon burning with anger, Hera holding herself together with pride and pain.
A family at war with the world… and with itself.
And here was Amaterasu, sunlight and discipline, carrying her own family fractures like scars that didn't define her, only shaped her.
Damon exhaled.
"So even gods," he said low, "have problems like this."
Amaterasu's smile wasn't amused.
It was understanding.
"Especially gods," she murmured.
Something in Damon settled.
Not because the truth was comforting—
But because it was real.
Every family had cracks.
The difference was whether you let them spread… or you held the line until the ones you loved found their way back.
Damon straightened, decision settling into him like armor.
"Then I only have one option," he said. "I win."
That confidence finally pulled a real smile from Amaterasu.
"Make me proud," she said.
"And when you return… show my mother why I chose you."
Damon's grin turned slightly mischievous.
"The student always surpasses the teacher."
Amaterasu tapped his forehead with a small, irritated little click of her tongue.
Damon laughed.
And for a moment, the farewell didn't feel like a wound.
It felt like a promise.
He stepped forward and hugged her before he could overthink it.
Amaterasu stiffened for half a second… then returned the embrace, fully.
"I'll miss you," Damon murmured into her shoulder, eyes closing.
Amaterasu's voice came soft, steady, sun-warm.
"Then come back."
And with that, they went their separate ways.
Mount Olympus >
"We have to stop their advance, or we'll be in trouble," Hades said as he moved a marker across the map on the enormous table.
"If they take this point, we'll be at a disadvantage," Poseidon added.
"But what are we going to do to stop them? They know this battle is very important to them, and almost all of them, if not all, will be there," Hades said in a worried tone.
"I'll keep them busy while Poseidon backs me up, and Hades flanks them by turning invisible," Zeus said as he shifted the pieces on the table.
"You're not strong enough to hold them off for long, not even with my support…" Poseidon replied, receiving a growl from Zeus, which he ignored, already used to Zeus's awful personality.
Everyone in the room listened, hanging on the conversation between the three brothers, each of them with the same thought in their head: Damon. If he were here, they wouldn't have fallen into this mess in the first place. The Titans had been able to push forward early on because of his absence, leading them to this terrible situation.
"It's been three years. He should be here soon," Hera said, only to be met with Zeus's furious glare.
"That coward ran away and abandoned us. He's probably out there enjoying his life far from this war—fucking and drinking everything he can get his hands on," Zeus said, hatred dripping from his voice.
Everyone looked at Zeus with contempt for his words. They all knew perfectly well Damon wasn't like that.
"ZEUS!" Rhea shouted. "Your behavior shames me. I did not raise you like this," she finished, receiving a growl from Zeus in response.
He's just a c—" Zeus started—
—but stopped short.
Because the air changed.
And a voice spoke from the doorway, calm, sharp, and familiar.
"Who are you talking about, Zeus?"
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