Fate || { All Four }
A wingless bird was the antithesis of freedom- it represented caged intentions and locked minds, unfulfilled potential and pity that burned through his veins. The crunched bones had been unbearable, though he was asleep when Hypnos manipulated the pieces back into their proper places, but working without the familiar weight on his shoulders was something else entirely. It was better to keep them hidden with a glamour while the broken wing healed, easier for him to move and less painful if he forgot to be careful, but Thanatos hated not having them readily available. After eons of time with his wings, he missed them dearly while they were gone.
But he could not sit inside and wait for his woulds to heal, as evidenced by the sling which held his broken arm to his chest. Normally cuts and scrapes healed in a matter of minutes and a sling was a new (Entirely unwelcome) thing for the death god; sitting cross-legged at the center of the fountain, it was all he could do not to rip it off and watch it flow down the fountain's levels. His pants were soaked by then and his shirt was steadily being drenched, but Thanatos paid no attention to it as he watched his twin zip around the square.
Small deaths here and there were left for him to find and handle, and it was simple to wander through the streets and let the stray spirits find their way to their guide. But when something large was planned and many people were going to die, Thanatos was given the time and place by the Fates in order to round up the souls as quickly as possible. Stray spirits in large numbers could affect the human world, if they chose to, and the gods had learned long ago that when mortals were afraid, the balance shifted precariously towards the Chaos of the past.
Humans wandered the sidewalks and thundered up the streets in their cars, the town square as busy with activity as it ever was. The god inspected the buildings that lined every street, wondering what form the disaster would take and where it would come from. The city was too far from the ocean for a tsunami, and he didn't think there was a fault line underneath their feet, which meant it had to be man-made. Perhaps a shooter, wielding one of the guns humans had become so fond of, or a fire started accidentally. He'd been at the scenes of all the greatest massacres that stained human memory, from the wars of recent years to the plagues that decimated Europe, to the incidents where Mother Gaia raged. Part of the god hoped this would be interesting enough to explain why he'd been sitting here for an hour, as his brother wandered the square and took a fiendish delight in speaking to humans Sleep knew would die very soon.
"Not them..."
Words were whispered in his ears and Thanatos sat bolt upright, wincing as he jolted his broken arm. He was invisible to humans who glanced at the fountain, but Hypnos noticed the movement and frowned, cutting off the woman he'd been speaking to. Shaking back into the unseen, Sleep made his way towards the fountain as his brother turned in a circle, eyes hunting for the ones the words had been speaking of. The Fates could be quite dramatic when they wanted their orders followed and the god's eyes alighted on a pair of mortals crossing the street. A man and a boy were hurrying towards a red building, and Death inspected the humans before he nodded at them.
"Bring them up here, now. It's going to happen in a few moments."
The Fates would throw a fit if he didn't drop everything to follow their orders. It was a mystery how the two humans ended up in the square, if they weren't destined to die in the massacre- a failing of the Fate's design or a mistake of Clotho's. A misplaced thread could easily unravel in a tapestry. But it wasn't his place to question the orders he was given, and Death rubbed his forehead in annoyance.
Hypnos vanished in the blink of an eye, speeding across the plaza as fast as he could. The younger had always been faster: Sleep moved quicker than thought after all, stealing into your mind in between sentences and letters. To the humans it would have felt like a small whirlwind passed them by and grabbed their arms, slinging the grown man and boy over it's shoulder with ease. In a fraction of a second, Hypnos deposited Jakobs and Kipper at the top of the fountain with his brother. Thanatos drew away from the humans who weren't meant to die- it'd be fucking great if they saved them from the massacre, only to accidentally brush him and still wind up at the judgement gates.
"Don't worry, blah, blah, blah, this is the safest place you could be, we-"
Ground shook beneath their feet, cutting Hypnos off once again as he spoke to the most likely bewildered humans. The gods turned their attention to the square, watching what was happening with the interest of children watching their favorite television program.
The first of the explosions shook the building directly in front of them, greeting the humans and immortals alike with billowing clouds of dust, fire, and screams.
