Toji lay on his back, arms folded under his head, staring up at the cloudy sky above him, his mind far from him. He was, as he usually was, focusing on his link with Natsu, trying to catch everything that was going on, everything that was being said and done around him. The time difference between them had made everything so hard to keep track and he never knew what was really going on from one minute to the next. What he did know, what he was absolutely sure of, was that Natsu was miserable, and was no longer the man he once was. To that end, neither was Toji.

Fifty years had damn near wrecked him, changing him into something he had never wanted to be. He was a killer, a monster, a creature to be feared and loathed throughout the Seven Realms of Hell. While he wasn’t nearly as awful as the Blood King, he was getting to that point and everyone knew it. If not for Nox, Charlotte, and Lana, he would be. His heart was broken, he was angry, he carried an indescribable amount of loathing for a man he once considered his friend, and the amount of torture he’d gone through trying to get back to Natsu, to destroy the wretched barrier, was starting to mess with his soul.

He spent more time as Toji-Cat, the hated three-tailed wildcat of the Fifth Realm, than he did as himself. He had gone rogue several times, always being found somewhere broken and alone by his family. Whenever he had managed to successfully connect with Natsu, he always walked away more determined than ever to complete his mission. The three times he’d found those cracks and pulled Natsu into the Veil pocket had been the greatest moments of his now miserable existence. 

The last time was more than seven years ago, when he could finally touch Natsu’s body, to feel Natsu around him, warm and inviting. They had been starved for each other, crying the entire time, unable to let go. He’d spent months after that with his team searching for more breaks, doing everything they could to find the one that would take him home.

That’s all he needed to do…he just needed to find the one crack that would split this entire thing wide open. His father’s words still hummed in his core, reminding him of what he stood to lose if he failed.

-*-

“Toji,” Hero’s voice said again, just as gently yet firm. Toji didn’t move but Hero knew he could hear him. “It’s been hours, son,” he said in his soft voice.

Toji said nothing. He didn’t trust himself to do so, anyway. When he swallowed, he tasted blood.

Hero cleared his throat. “We’ve all been talking, and as it turns out, there’s more going on than we thought.”

Toji moved his hand, the only indication he was listening.

“We have a plan but,” he shifted, the dirt grinding under his shoe. “I need you to trust me.”

Toji’s head turned slightly, his red left eye shifting to look up into his father’s face.

Hero gazed down at him, his red eyes steady. “In order for this to work, I need you to do one thing, just one.”

Toji stared, unblinking.

“You need to leave.”

Toji’s eye widened.

Hero swallowed. “I need you to go to Hell.”

Toji slowly sat up, clumps of dirt and dried blood falling from his face. “You want to repeat that?” he said, his throat rough. “Slowly this time.”

Hero ran a hand through his hair. “The Rogue Divine are a much larger group than we first assumed. There’s the main group out there, tearing up and destroying our people. I won’t sit here and pretend that’s not happening.”

Toji averted his gaze, his jaw clenched.

“But there are others that are still here, still trying to tear down everything that we’ve built. If we don’t do something, if we don’t fight back and take these guys down, they will.”

“How?” Toji demanded. “We’re stronger than they are! It shouldn’t be all that hard to kill off a bunch of Rogue assholes, or make a few of them confess to the High Divine what their real goals are so he can reopen the barrier.”

“You’d think so,” Hero said, his hands in his pockets as he gazed off over the vast landscape before them. It was a minute before he went on. “Toji, we need to make them believe we’re fractured, that we’ve been weakened by what they’ve done.”

“What, why?”

“Because only then can we take them all down. We need to root them all out, gather every bit of evidence we can, and destroy them completely. Once we do that, we can make God reopen the barrier.”

Toji snorted. “You’re not even gonna bother calling him by that ridiculous title, are you?”

“Not anymore.” He glanced down at his son. “There’s just one problem with all of this.”

Toji’s eyes shifted up to his father’s face. 

“It’s going to take some time.”

Toji’s jaw clenched. That was one hell of a problem he did not want to even consider entertaining. He glanced behind him, at the miles and miles of untouched grass and pristine land.

That wasn’t what he was looking at, however. He was looking at the space where the door had been, where his life as he knew it ended. 

Time…he was going to be separated from Natsu for gods only knew how long. A year had nearly destroyed him. But that was when everything was still connected, when time ran the same on both sides. 

Before this…

“Fuck,” Toji breathed, running his hands through his hair. “How much time?”

“I don’t know. I wish I could say it wouldn’t take long at all, but it seems these guys have been taking root within the Realms for a while now.”

“Super.”

“Indeed.”

Toji sighed, that last image of Natsu reaching out to him, fear and panic in his eyes as he watched Lukas betray them playing like a nightmare on a never ending loop behind his eyes. “What do you want me to do in Hell?”

“Hawk believes the barrier may not have been as stable as it appeared.”

Toji’s eyes hardened, shooting his gaze back to his father. “It cracked.”

“Maybe.”

“That makes no sense. If it cracked, then we can still open doors. We can still get back.”

“I completely agree with you, Neko. The thing is, where the cracks occurred are in an area God couldn’t care less about. That said, it wouldn’t be hard for him to shore them up if they’re found. The smaller ones will disappear fairly quickly, the larger ones will take more time.”

“A crack of any size would be enough to break through, though. Given enough force and leverage.”

Hero nodded. “And that’s why you have to go.”

Toji stared. 

“You’re the most powerful among us, Toji,” Hero said, the honesty ringing despondently in his voice. “Between the energy you possess as a god, the dark demon energy in your core, and the anishif you own, there’s no one else in any Realm that can break through the barrier.”

Toji swallowed, understanding settling like a weight in his chest. “So…I have to leave everyone behind, is that it?”

“I need you to trust that we have your back even if we can’t be together.”

Toji ran his hands through his hair, his elbows on his knees. “Hell is a very big place, Dad,” he said, his voice muffled. “Very, very big. And I’ve never gone further than the Fifth Realm which is huge enough as it is.”

“That’s the other part of this mission.”

Toji looked up at him.

“You’ll be doing all of this undercover, taking Finn’s place as a Prince of Hell.”

“Oh, fuck no. Dad—!”

“There’s no other choice, Neko,” he said patiently. “I can’t say I like it either, but it’s the best option we have to keep God and the Rogue factions off our trail.”

Toji stared at the ground, his mind reeling. He’d spent years trying to get out from being a King of the Veil, and now he had to pretend to be a Devil Prince, which required a hell of a lot more out of him. He was expected to be ruthless, violent, defeat every challenger that came his way. All this while searching out one big-ass crack in a very long wall.

“You won’t be doing it alone,” Hero said with reassurance. “Nox and Charlotte are going to train you, along with some anishifs to help get your cat and dark demon energy completely under control. You’ll be responsible for putting together a team to search the barrier, find the crack, and ultimately destroy it.”

Toji blinked. “Destroy it.”

Hero nodded.

“You realize what that could mean to the entirety of existence.”

“Yep.”

“And you’re willing to risk that?”

“To get to Natsu, aren’t you?”

Toji narrowed his eyes. “That’s the most fucked question in the history of questions.”

“That’s what I thought.” He reached down his hand. Toji took it, letting Hero pull him to his feet. He gave him a small, crooked smile, placing his other hand against Toji’s torn cheek. Toji felt the familiar warmth and tingling that came from his father’s healing energy.

“Leave the scars,” he said quietly.

Hero nodded. A minute later, he dropped his hand. Toji touched his face, cleaned from the mess, the scars thick and jagged. He kept his eyes down, doing everything he could to fight against the storm of emotions that raged through his core.

“Dad—”

“I hate this just as much as you do, Neko,” Hero said, swallowing back his own tears. “I just got you back. I got my son back, and now I have to send you away somewhere I can’t go and it’s fucking killing me.”

“Why can’t you?” Toji asked, almost like a child begging his father to stay instead of going to work.

Hero averted his gaze. “I’m forbidden to. So is Hawk.”

“But you’re a god…you can do whatever you want, go wherever you want.”

Hero gave him a sad smile. “You don’t make a promise you can’t keep, kiddo. And I promised Hawk and Toji I’d never step one foot in Hell. That promise became eternally binding after our ascension.”

“But Pater—”

“He has no desire whatsoever to go back to the place where his life was destroyed.”

“That’s fair.” He bit his lip, looking back at the torn up landscape, the ice that had held Lukas faded away. He furrowed his brow. “Make it so he can’t go there, either.”

“I can’t.”

Toji turned back to him, eyes wide. “Why not?” he demanded.

Hero fidgeted. “Just…I need you to trust me, Toji.”

“I do,” he said without hesitation. “It’s him I don’t trust, and him I will kill the second I lay eyes on him again.”

“I understand,” Hero said. “Believe me, he won’t face much mercy if he comes within a hundred miles of Helman Court and the house on the cliffside. I can’t say none of us would kill him outright, but he’d definitely never see the light of day again. If anything, we’d save him for you and turn our backs.”

A grin tugged at the corner of Toji’s lips. “No witnesses when it’s family.” Natsu’s words rang warm in his ears.

Hero nodded. “Exactly.” He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I don’t know how Jordan and Elaine are going to take this, but that’s my problem to deal with, not yours. You have enough to worry about.” His smile faded, his lips quivering as he fought back his tears. “I don’t…” he gulped. “I don’t want you to go, son. But we have to do this. If we want to save our world, save our family, and see Natsu and the others again, you have to leave.”

Toji’s face fell, and he collapsed in Hero’s arms. “I don’t want to go!” he sobbed. “I don’t want to leave you, Dad!”

“Do this for Natsu if for no other reason, okay?” Hero held his son tight, his tears streaming down his face. “None of us are going to be the same after all of this. But you never forget, not for one damn second, how much we all love you, that we’re not going to give up on you, and we’ll never stop thinking of you.”

Toji’s tears wet his father’s shirt as he nodded. He sensed Nox not far away, waiting for him. “I love you, Dad. Forever.”

“I love you forever, Toji. However long that may be.”

-*-