The three men headed into the library near the back of the house, Hawk leading the way toward the desk that had once belonged to Hero’s father, Charles Grace. Following their deaths several years prior during the Great Separation, much of their possessions had been taken to Helman Hall and stored in a few of the rooms Natsu had forbidden anyone from entering. After the Reconstruction, Hawk and Hero brought some of it back with them to the Veil. There was still plenty left at the Hall, spread throughout the massive manor.

“About eighty years or so ago,” Hawk began, “depending on which side of the barrier you were on, I got to meet Hero’s parents for the first time. Back then I had a lot of questions about who I really was, where I came from, why I had a soul, all that jazz. Charles agreed to look into all of it, along with Toji, my advisor at the time.”

“The one Toji was named for?” Julian asked, looking at Hero who nodded.

“It was only right since the first Toji gave his own life force so we could have a child of our own.” There was a faint smile on his lips, tainted with obvious heartache. Both Hero and Hawk missed their oldest like crazy and hadn’t given up their search for either him or Natsu, Toji’s husband and fellow Devil God.

“During his research,” Hawk went on, “he managed to locate something at the university he taught at, something he felt belonged to me. He wasn’t wrong, given the language that was written all over it.” He opened the top drawer, pulling out several papers and photos. He slid one across the desk facing Julian as he took a seat in the old leather chair behind the desk.

Julian picked it up, recognition on his face. “That’s the box that was in Ryu’s office.”

The other two men nodded. “So, you do know about it?” Hero asked, dropping into one of the plush seats that sat at an angle in front of the desk. Julian took the other seat.

“Yeah, I’d seen it a few times when I went with Gram and Pop to visit. I haven’t seen it in a while, though.”

“Did Ryu ever talk to you about it?” Hawk asked.

Julian shook his head. “It was just another decoration as far as I knew. I never gave it much thought; no one did.”

“But you did notice it had gone missing,” Hero said.

“In the ‘it was there and now it’s not’ type of way. Like I said, it was just another decoration to me.”

Hawk and Hero exchanged a glance before turning back to Julian who was still examining the photo, skimming his finger over the symbols and etchings cut into the box.

“I do remember all these strange symbols, though,” he said. “I remember they looked odd to me but that was all. Now that I look at them again, they look like writing. Ancient writing, in fact.” He brought the image closer to his face, turning the photo slightly. “I think I’ve seen it once or twice before in my research but it’s incredibly rare. Not even Ruby knows what it is and she’s my top researcher.”

“It’s Stjernesang,” Hawk supplied. “My mother’s language.”

Julian looked up at him. “Star song?”

He nodded. “It’s a language not spoken or read in these Realms. She came from a system that’s nowhere near us.”

“How’d she end up here, then?”

“Beats me, she never said. All I know is she showed up one day in the Heavenly Realms, an angel became infatuated with her, and when she rejected him, he threw her into the Mortal Realm. And I do mean threw her. That’s where my dad found her.”

“She was a star?”

“She was,” Hawk nodded. “My dad, who your father was named for, was a god. They made me, I made the Veil, and now here you are.”

Hero rolled his eyes. “Talk about Cliff notes,” he muttered.

“Cliff…”

“Never mind,” Hero waved it away. “The point is, that box is likely from Ynda or her people. There’s something in it but we have no clue what.”

“So, why the need to find it?” Julian asked, looking between the two. “I’m guessing it’s more than just a family heirloom with sentimental value.”

“That would be correct,” Hawk said. He pushed a small piece of paper forward, aged with time. The word on it was still legible, however.

Julian slid it closer to himself, setting the picture on the desk next to it. He frowned before glancing back up at Hawk. “‘Godheart’? What the hell does that mean?”

Hawk sighed, leaning back in his chair. “I don’t really know, to be honest. Neither does Hero. However, the best I can figure it, it’s about Hero.”

“Why you?” Julian asked Hero directly.

Hero shook his head. “Like Hawk, I don’t know. I’ve searched through my memories of when I was still in the pocket with Hawk and I can’t remember Ynda saying or doing anything that would have to do with something like that.”

Julian fingered the scrap of paper, the word and symbol foreign and new to him. He’d seen a lot of strange things in his line of work, came across a lot of unique and unusual items and texts that seemed to make no sense at the start, but came together later when he found what he was looking for. It was entirely possible that would happen when he found the box.

Julian sighed, pushing the paper back and running a hand through his hair. “Godheart,” he said to himself. “Sounds like an object, not a name or a spell. Maybe a stone or something.”

“How do you know it’s not a name?” Hawk said. “I’m the Godstar, the first soul created. Maybe Godheart is what Hero is and not a thing he needs.”

“That’s a possibility, sure,” Julian agreed. “Unless we’re able to translate the entirety of the text it’s hard to say either way. Could be what he is, could be something he had. What other information do you have on the box?”

“None,” Hero said. “Dad just gave it to Hawk the day he and Toji told him the story of his origins. Or rather, the myths surrounding it. It was broken up into several books, one of which is in the Second Realm of Heaven in the main library.”

“If we can even call it that anymore,” Hawk said, folding his arms on the desk, hands dangling over the edge. “The Realms are still merging together and it’s getting more and more difficult to separate the two.”

“That’s true,” Hero agreed. “Anyway, that’s where the library was located.”

Julian nodded. “I know which one you’re referring to, it’s fine,” he said. “I can have Ruby start there while I go to Helman Hall with Felix to talk to Ryu. The box itself may not even be missing, it could just have been moved somewhere and forgotten about.”

“Maybe,” Hawk conceded. “If anyone would know, Ryu would. If that is the case, then the job is a quickie and you’ll still get paid your normal rate.” He grinned, earning a small grin in return.

“Why not just go yourself?”

“It isn’t that we can’t,” Hero said, shifting to take the pressure off his left side, his hands fidgeting absently with the hem of his jacket. “It’s just…not a good idea for us to be there right now.” 

“It’s better we send you, Jules,” Hawk said. “We have things we need to deal with here as far as the selection goes, and there are other issues coming up that also need our attention. Going to Helman Hall might not take a long time, that’s true, but like Hero said…it’s not a good idea.”

Julian folded his arms over his chest, his leg bouncing. They were keeping information from him, they had to be. This wasn’t unusual, of course, he’d been in this situation dozens of times and had learned to just accept it. That didn’t mean he wasn’t curious. While the two may be speaking calmly, there was a tension running between them Julian found hard to miss. There was more than just the stress of the upcoming selection on their minds, more than just their constant worry over Toji and where he could be.

He had heard about the battle that had been fought on the grounds outside the manor and wondered if that unease and desire to remain separated from the place had anything to do with it. If that was the case, then Julian could understand their want to stay away; Hero had gotten severely wounded there, after all. If there was another reason, the Helman’s weren’t saying and Julian wasn’t about to push it.

“Anything else you think I should know right now?” he asked, his words carefully chosen.

Hawk had to smile at the young man’s linguistic skills. “Yes, there is,” he said, swiveling the chair back and forth slowly, his arms resting on the worn armrests. “You have two months to complete the job.”

Julian’s eyebrow twitched. “That’s not a quick job, Hawk.”

“That includes the time you need to research the box and what’s inside it.”

The young god rolled his eyes, rubbing his temple as he sighed. “You want me to translate it and open it, that’s what you’re saying.” There was no hint of a question.

“Jules, I’m not asking you to do this because we’re being lazy about it,” Hawk said quickly. “I’m asking because you’re the only one who can.”

“Why me?”

Hero’s hands stilled and he cast his gaze back up to Julian. “What magic do you possess?”

Julian froze, his expression blank. He didn’t need to answer, his grandfathers already knew. The magic and energy Julian had was that which no one else in the entire Helman family possessed, something Ren had noticed almost immediately when they had first met.

Celestial energy. 

“I might be able to handle the box,” Hawk was saying, “Hero, too. But for whatever reason, I’m not allowed to open it, and he can’t handle what’s inside until it’s the right time.”

“Why not?”

“It’ll kill us.”

Julian fell back in the chair. “Sorry, say that again?”

“A lot of what we know,” Hero said, “and a lot of how we know it, all comes from the Veil and the secrets it holds. It’s nothing that can be explained outside of the possibility that Ynda told us when we were in the pocket, but used a spell that made us forget until the time came for us to know.”

“You created the Veil,” Julian said, looking at Hawk. 

“Yes, but I didn’t create the magic within it. The idea was to keep me safe until my parents came to find me, that was it. Everything else was outside my control. I was in stasis, essentially asleep but awake, locked in a cocoon of my own making, lonely and miserable until Mom came back and made Hero for me. The rest of the souls came from her, too. I would not be the least bit surprised if she made the Veil what it is, or rather was until Toji got a hold of it.”

“The point is, what we know in the handling of that box is all instinctive and within our cores,” Hero added. “It’s attached to our energy, and it’s maddeningly vague. All we know right at this point is we can’t open it, and I can’t touch the relic until I’m meant to. If we do, there’s a spell attached that will kill us instantly for disobeying Ynda’s orders.”

“But it’s okay for me to open it?”

They nodded. “Because you are, for all intents and purposes,” Hawk said, “the last real star child left in these Realms.”

Julian stared up at the ceiling, every implication being made in that one statement hitting his core like a hammer. “Super.”

-*-