Jules quickly shifts gears on the motorboat, stepping on the gas and speeding up as she, her brother and his boyfriend begin seeing their destination in the distance.

"Home shouldn't be more than 5 minutes away boys."

Jones shifts in his seat tightening his headband, feeling the cool wind brush against his arms and through his hair. He glances over at Midas who was holding a golden staff gleaming with power and a gold texture. He seemed...uneasy...

"Midas? You okay buddy?"

"Hm? I... I'm alright..."

His hands tighten around the sceptre. He felt a heavy weight of guilt hovering over him. It was understandable considering the burden he's had to carry since he was 16.

Within time the motorboat pulls into a harbour with others boats strew about. Midas and Jules hop out while Jones follows after, taking his boyfriend's hand.

"Woah... This place is very nice... How come I.O never knew about it?"

"My best guess is it was somehow outside the Loop Apollo is trapped in. No one here knew or heard anything about it... I only found out about the Loop thanks to Oro..."

"That god your descended from?"

"Well...if it's the right word, then yes."

Midas gazes at the staff in his hands, a small smile on his face.

"I sometimes considered him...more as a mentor and...the kind of person I wished was my real father..."

He said that with a whisper, quiet enough that no one could decipher what he said.

The trio round a corner and eventually come across Midas and Jules' childhood home. Ever since their mother moved houses, and ultimately died to I.O, it had been abandoned. However one room inside the house kept Midas' secret burden hidden away, and he had the key to the door.

"Damn you guys had a nice house." Jones admits, smiling a bit.

"It was nice... It's a shame that for 13 years of my life it felt like a prison." Midas sighs.

The three of them head to the garage, Midas unlocking it, and head inside. Then, he kneels next to a door lead to a basement of some kind and unlocks that too.

"Wait here."

Midas clambers down the set of stairs and fishes out his phone, turning on the flashlight. It was dusty with a few stray empty boxes lying around, however it wasn't what he came for. On his left he spot something covered by a white sheet and goes to investigate.

He tears off the sheet and sighs.

"There you are dad..."

Taking a hold of the golden statue he begins dragging it out of the basement.

"I suppose that hallucination of you I saw a year ago could only be considered a fever dream. You would never be kind to me like that in real life."

He sighs.

"Never in a million years..."

-------------

Jules folds her arms with an impatient and tense sigh while Jonesy leans against the wall, a yawn slipping out. He was real tired after dealing with the aliens yesterday, plus saving Midas' ass a few days back, and really wanted to go back to bed.

"Jones! Would you mind giving me a hand?"

He jumps slightly and goes to the basement door.

"Sorry!"

Jules looks over at them. Her eyes widen, brimming with tears, as Jones and Midas pull out the statue of a person. A person she recognised all too well.

"Midas? I-Is that who I think it is?"

He sheepishly nods, guilt clear in his expression. Pulling the statue out into the open sunlight with Jones' help Jules takes a better look.

Ares' face was twisted in terror and rage. He was paralysed with fear, in this case literally.

"The night we were attacked by Shadow agents, one happened to be Ares. I tried to defend mother, leading to my body turning completely gold for the first time fueled by my anger."

Midas pauses, hugging his arms.

"Though of course, as you know, I still couldn't control my power very well at the time. After I turned Ares into gold I was so ashamed and horrified by my actions that I thought running away from home would be a good idea."

He pauses again.

"So why did you hide all this from me?" Jules asks.

"...Because I was afraid you'd loathe me, call me a murderer or a monster..." He sighs. "I know how much you loved dad, despite what mental and physical scars he's left on me, you were so close..."

She softly gives Midas a hug, comforting him as tears brim in his eyes.

"I-I wouldn't be able to face you if you knew what I did..."

The siblings hold each other tight, comforting one another. Jones is unsure what to do, but Jules beckons him over and lets him join in the hug.

"It took a lot of nerves to admit this...but I'm glad you mentally made the choice to finally tell me about dad."

"Yeah, but you can reverse the golden touch with your staff now, can't you?" Jones smiles warmly at his boyfriend.

"I'm...unsure if this will work the same way for dad. Unlike him, the snapshots were only gold for a month. He's been stuck like this for over 14 years."

"Well you won't know unless you try."

Jones softly nudges Midas' shoulder. He smiles a bit with a slight chuckle.

"Okay."

Summoning the staff into his hands Midas takes in a deep, nervous breath.

"Here we go..."

And points the tip of the scepter on to the head of the statue. A bright light comes off it, covering their vision.

--------

"Ugh...."

The light fades away as a thud on the floor is heard. Jules, Midas and Jones gasp as they see the one who caused the thud.

Ares was there, living and breathing.

In terms of how he looked he was dressed in all black with Shadow logos on his shoulders. Two pistols and a dagger were attached to his belt and he had an assault rifle on his back.

He seemed to be growing a beard as well, small strands of hair on his chin.

Funnily enough however, his hair was styled in a way that the tips of it were sort of shaped in the style of devil horns. His eyes were sunken with bags under them as well.

"Wha.... What happened to me just now?" He hums. "I don't remember being outside...and it was definitely raining at night..."

He squints his eyes, feeling the sun hit his face. As they adjust he sees three figures in front of and staring at him. Ares groans slightly, trying to get up. The person in the middle holds out a hand.

"Mmm... T-Thank you soldier. I must've passed out or...something..."

He looks up at the one he called soldier. His eyes widen when he sees who they are.

"Dad..?" Jules mutters.

Ares can barely believe his eyes. It was his daughter...but she was very different than how he remembered her.

"Pumpkin!"

To Jules' surprise he wraps his arms around her but quickly lets go.

"Thank goodness you're okay. Come. If we're quick enough maybe Chaos Agent won't be too angry about us being late back to base."

"Um...dad?"

"Yes sweetheart?"

"... Chaos Agent has been dead for over a year."

Ares looks at her in confusion.

"What? What do you mean?"

"Perhaps I can explain."

Ares looks to his left and sees Midas holding a staff. He looks down at his hands, disgust in his expression.

"YOU."

Slipping the dagger off his belt Ares forces Midas into the wall, holding it to his neck as the sceptre disappears. Jules covers her mouth while restraining an angry Jonesy.

"Hey!"

"Dad!!-"

"Why are you still breathing?! I thought Shadow wiped your hideous hands off the face of the earth!!"

"Listen, A-Ares. We can... We can talk about this."

"No! I've had enough! I'm ending it right here, right now."

Midas was really trying to keep his cool and his power in control, but his PTSD was kicking in with his father so close and threatening him. All he wanted to do was just explain what's going on, but the words left him before he could speak.

" I-I... "

"Sir please! Let him explain! We can this out peacefully!" Jones yells.

"In this war, peace was never an option."

The mastermind clenches his fists, gold crawling up his arms in defence. If it would make Ares stop threatening him and listen, it was worth a try.

"Ares. Get. AWAY FROM ME!"

His body turns completely gold, making Ares back away in front of Jules.

"Stand back sweetheart. The Devil's magic is at play here."

Midas' power slowly dies down as he calms himself.

"Ares...the wars been over for almost two years."

"Don't be ridiculous M. How could it be over when just yesterday-"

"YOU'VE BEEN A GOLD STATUE FOR 14 YEARS!" He yells, tears brimming in his eyes. "That night, I... I turned you into gold...you've been technically dead for 14 years."

Ares falls silent, as do Jones and Jules.

"For the last 5 years I lead Ghost through the war as their leader. I've gained much better control over my powers, although it does get unstable if the emotions I'm exhibiting are negative ones."

He pauses. Ares looks at Jules, seeing as she and Midas were a lot older than he remembered.

"If you come back to Apollo with us, we'll explain everything and fill you in on what you've missed."

Midas extends a hand. Ares sighs, turning away and taking Jules' instead.

"And who's this?"

"Oh. The name's Jonesy...or Jones. I'm an ex employee of the I.O and -"

"He's a friend of ours." Midas is quick to interrupt. "He's on our side."

Ares raises an eyebrow at Jones, then Midas before grumbling.

"Fine. Let's go. Don't expect reviving me to change my mind about you and your power...you devil."

Midas puts his hands close to his chest, sighing softly. Jones pats his shoulder, giving him a kind smile.

"Hey. Why'd you interrupt my introduction?"

The mastermind hugs his arms, fear in his eyes and expression.

"I... I can't tell him. He'd never accept it."

Jones sighs and follows him to the motorboat.

"This is going to be a long process..."

-----