A/N: Sophia has some questions for her Uncle.

  … But is she ready for the answers?

  -x-X-x-

  They're traveling for a week and making pretty damn good time before Sophia's curiosity finally gets the better of her. That's not to say she and her uncle don't talk a single time throughout that week. They talk about plenty throughout the days, and Sophia learns quite a lot about the God of Travelers and Roads.

  However, there's one thing that weighs on her mind. And the way Tyranos sometimes talks about her father only builds on it. It's not… it's not like he's going out of his way to badmouth Law, mind. But he obviously had a very different retionship with the King of the Gods than Sophia did. Hell, he'd had a different retionship with Law than any of the Gods of the Heaven could have been said to have.

  In the Heavens and on the Mortal Pnes, it was commonly considered that Law's words were sacrosanct. His edicts were unquestionable, his commandments to be followed without hesitation. Nobody ever told her father 'no'. Not because he was a tyrant or anything like that, but because he was King as well as the God of Justice and Righteousness, so obviously he knew best.

  However, Law wasn't those things to Tyranos. For Sophia, Law had always been her King first and her father second. She loved him with all her heart and she knew he loved her back, but at the same time, there had existed a separation there that she couldn't deny. The same couldn't be said for Law and Tyranos, at least the way the tter god talked about her father.

  In Tyranos' eyes, they were brothers first and nothing else second. Listening to him tell tales of when he and Law had been even younger than she was, barely even a century old, it became obvious that he simply didn't have the same reverence for the fallen King of the Gods that Sophia did.

  And that made her think back to something he'd said in that empty tavern in Goldriver. As well as what he hadn't said.

  "Uncle…"

  And so, finally, over dinner one night, Sophia decides to jump the gap, so to speak. Lifting his head from his food, Tyranos raises an eyebrow at her, the Ancient God smiling softly.

  "Niece. Was there something you needed?"

  Swallowing thickly and gathering her courage, Sophia nods.

  "It was about what you said back in Goldriver. It's been bothering me. When you expined the existence of the Void Gods to us, you said there were two schools of thought regarding why events pyed out the way they did. About why the conceptual gods would up experiencing a schism of sorts…"

  Smiling dropping, Tyranos becomes more serious, nodding along.

  "Indeed I did."

  Well, she was in too deep to back out now, wasn't she?

  "You said some believed the Void Gods to be scapegoated… and the others believed the only thing keeping the Void Gods from giving into their darker impulses was the outlet provided by the Otherworlders. But… you never said which school of thought you fell into."

  There's a long pause as Tyranos takes a moment to take another bite, clearly needing the time to chew on her words along with his food.. Sophia is partially aware of Oren watching from nearby, quietly eating his own dinner. But the human man is smart enough not to interject right now.

  "… I do not wish to speak ill of the dead, Sophia."

  Given the Void Gods are all still alive save for Raythe so far as she knows, that really kind of narrows it down to what he's implying. Sophia frowns but shakes her head.

  "I'm not going to hold whatever you have to say against you, Uncle. Please, speak your mind."

  Sighing, Tyranos leans back and collects his thoughts for a moment longer before responding.

  "I do not think your father always believed that having domains tied to negativity or darkness inherently made those gods and goddesses who had them evil, per say. After all, we grew up with the one who would go on to lead the Gods of the Void in the schism. He was our beloved brother, once upon a time…"

  Sophia can't help herself at the mention of the other uncle she'd never met before.

  "The God of Conquest and Tyranny, right?"

  Tyranos smiles thinly, causing Sophia to blush. She can tell her interruption has irritated him.

  "Yes."

  Sophia shivers. Those were… certainly not good things. She struggled to see how they could ever be used in positive ways, truth be told. But she stays silent all the same, not wanting to annoy her uncle any further. Especially not when the Ancient God was being so forthcoming.

  "… However, by the end of the schism, by the time the civil war between Conceptual Gods came to a close and one side was banished to the Void… I can't help but think your father had made up his mind for good."

  Tyranos adopts a rueful, nostalgic smile.

  "That was the thing about Law, you see. Once he decided something, he was impossible to convince otherwise. Utterly intractable. In a lot of ways, it was an admirable quality if his. He was the kind of god to stand his ground against would-be bullies. The kind to set his feet when told to get out of the way and say 'no, you move' to whoever was in front of him."

  The smile fades and he shakes his head.

  "However, that trait could also be a downside. Even when he was wrong, he always had to be right. Even when he made a mistake, he would refuse to accept it."

  Sophia blinks. On the one hand, it's easy to imagine the god that Tyranos is describing because yes, her father had indeed been like that. Not to make a pun of it, but his word was literally w. Once he id down a decision, it was expected that it would be followed no matter what.

  However, in all her centuries of life, she couldn't remember her father ever being wrong about anything.

  "Heh, I see from the incredulous befuddlement on your face that he didn't allow much in the way of dissent up in the Heavens. I don't begrudge him that… it was his right as King, after all. Still, there were many reasons I stayed down here on the Mortal Pnes, dear niece."

  Frowning, Sophia crosses her arms over her chest. She'd told herself she wouldn't get defensive on her father's behalf, and yet…

  "Law was King of both the Heavens and the Mortal Pnes."

  Tyranos just smirks at her correction.

  "Certainly. But there's a difference between being the King of your own domain and being the King of some far off nd. Law didn't travel down to the Mortal Pnes very often? Nor did he allow all of you to do much traveling either. I should know. I am after all…"

  The God of Travelers, right. Sophia huffs, forced to admit, at least in her own head, that he's right about that much. While her father would project some small fragment of his power down to some portion of the Mortal Pnes regurly, even daily at times, the truth was, the King of the Gods preferred to keep things separate.

  "Law didn't want the possibility of another schism. He wanted it even less than he wanted anyone to bring Otherworlders back into our universe. That's why he created the Heavens in the first pce… as much of a gilded prison as it was a paradise."

  Wait, what? Now Sophia can't help but be defensive.

  "T-The Heavens were NOT a prison! What are you talking about?!"

  She tries to tell herself that it's just her uncle's domains talking. Of course a God of Travelers and Roads would consider the Heavens to be 'too confining'. They were both vast and tiny at the same time. You could go further out in the Heavens than you could travel on the Mortal Pnes, but you would get there in the blink of an eye with zero travel time involved.

  Still, Sophia had never felt trapped or imprisoned and nobody she'd known up there had felt that way either. It felt like Tyranos was quite… biased in this regard.

  "Hm. Perhaps not a prison… but rather an early warning system."

  What? What was he talking about?

  "Tell me this Sophia… in all of your centuries up there, was there ever a god or goddess who had even the slightest bit of darkness in their domains?"

  Sophia pauses… and thinks. The answer is 'no', but then of course it would be… right?

  "… There wouldn't have been. After all, weren't all of those deities trapped in the Void?"

  The look Tyranos gives her is disappointed and Sophia finds herself flushing in response.

  "That was thousands of years ago, Sophia. You yourself are an example of a goddess who was born long, long after the schism and the separation of the Heavens and Mortal Pnes. Tell me… did any of your peers, seniors, or juniors have a whiff of negativity in their domains?"

  No. Not that Sophia could remember. She racks her brain for several long silent moments, thinking about everyone who she'd known, everyone who she'd loved. Thinking about them still hurts, her heart clenching in her chests, however it doesn't hurt quite as much anymore. Forgiving Oren really was the right call, because while she certainly doesn't feel light, she feels lighter than she has in quite some time. Like some small fraction of the weight on her shoulders has been lifted off.

  "… None of them did. Why do you ask?"

  Tyranos grunts.

  "Because that's impossible. Back before the schism, there was a retively even split between us three types of conceptual gods. Neutral concepts, light concepts, and dark concepts if you will. For there not to be any further dark concepts in all the time you were alive… simply doesn't make sense."

  Sophia's blood begins to chill in her veins. Surely he couldn't possibly be saying… she finds herself grasping for answers, trying to expin it away.

  "W-Well if every deity with dark domains was banished to the Void at the same time, w-wouldn't it make sense that there would be no more to come after them outside of the Void?"

  Again, Tyranos levels a disappointed look her way, though it softens up considerably when Sophia cringes and averts her gaze.

  "That's not how it works, dear niece. And I think you know that full well. Domains are not inherited. They are intrinsic to each individual, regardless of the way they were born. The truth is simple… for there to be no 'dark gods' in the Heavens all this time, it means your father, my brother, was doing something with any born up there."

  No. No, she couldn't believe that. She didn't want to believe that.

  "W-What about down here? On the Mortal Pnes?"

  Tyranos just shakes his head.

  "There is still a separation between physical and conceptual gods. Physical gods cannot birth conceptual gods. And I was an extreme outlier in that regard, allowed to remain here on the Mortal Pnes when Law recalled all the others… so long as I swore to my brother that I would never father any children."

  Sophia's breath hitches and Tyranos nods at her.

  "I've had a long, long time to think about that oath I swore. Not because I wanted to break it, but because I wondered why Law had me swear it. In the end, given what you've told me… all I'm left wondering now is whether Law killed those who did not fit into his ideal Heavens, or whether he immediately exiled them to the Void the moment he learned their domains."

  That… neither of those options were good! In fact, they were both downright monstrous! Her father would never… he wouldn't… but he…

  "Your father was not a bad King, Sophia."

  What? Sophia looks up at Tyranos incredulity, only then realizing how watery her eyes have become and how blurry her vision currently is. She hurriedly wipes her eyes with the back of her hand as Tyranos patiently expins.

  "Kings have to make hard decisions regarding the realms they rule over all the time. The schism left Law with few options. And as we previously discussed, once he had made a decision about something, he was set in his ways. If his belief by the end of the schism truly was that all gods with 'evil' domains were dangerous and a threat to everything he'd built, then ultimately all he can do is do away with them… one way or another."

  How had they gotten here? Tyranos had exposed her father's monstrous actions… only to start defending them? Sophia didn't know what to believe anymore. She wished she'd never asked her questions in the first pce. The st thing she wanted to do was be told things that would tarnish her father's memory and yet here they were.

  "… If it makes you feel any better, I know one thing for certain, Sophia. My brother loved you very much."

  Jolting out of her inward spiral, Sophia raises her head again and furrows her brow as she finds Tyranos looking at her with a serious expression on his face.

  "Perhaps he didn't always show it, but you were clearly the light of his world Sophia. If your own domains had been dark, I doubt he would have simply tossed you aside. In fact, I imagine he would have found a way to keep you with him, no matter the cost."

  Sophia lowers her gaze again. She can appreciate what her uncle is trying to do, but his words don't make her feel better. How can they? It didn't erase what her father had probably done. It didn't change the dark past of the Heavens that Sophia never even knew existed.

  In the end, they all fall back into silence, Oren never having said a word and Sophia wishing she'd never said anything to begin with as they finish their dinner and tuck in for the night.

  She didn't need this right now. She didn't need to have her head stuck in the clouds thinking about the past. She needed to focus on the present and fighting back against the Void Gods and the God Hunters. They were the ones hurting people right now. They were the ones doing the most damage.

  With the help of her uncle and Oren, Sophia would stop them. No matter what it took.

  -x-X-x-

  A/N: The plot THICKENS!

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