Orpheus put a hand on her shoulder to get her attention. "She's okay, just unconscious."

Susanne breathed a sigh of relief, then looked around her. Well. Mercy had started to wake up, but had dropped off again when they came here.

And where *was* here, anyway? Susanne looked around and spotted what looked like a signpost a few meters away. She walked over to it to get a better look, and saw lots of different arrows pointing all over the place. An arrow pointing toward a stairway off to the left read, "Heaven." "Hell" was in another direction, down a tunnel in which Susanne could see what looked like the faint glow of a fire. Other arrows pointed to "Purgatory," "Rebirth," "Hades," "Nirvana," "Valhalla," et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

"Hades," she heard Orpheus say.

"What?" she said, turning back to the group.

"We're going to Hades. As soon as these two wake up, of course. The River Styx is right over there--" he pointed "--but don't get near it yet. And in case Anaera forgets to say something, don't touch anything. Don't eat anything--"

"I take it this is one of those places where you shouldn't drink the water, right?"

"Or anything else," Roger said from behind her. He was back in his human form. "Hey," he said, looking around, "Are we missing someone?"

"Who?"

He shrugged. "I saw another tiger jump in with me. I guess I assumed he was her Guardian." He gestured to Mercy.

"Well, then, where the hell is he?"

Roger and Orpheus shrugged. "Maybe he wants to observe us for awhile," Orpheus suggested.

"We'll have to keep in mind that we've probably got someone following us as we go through," Roger said.

"He'll have a heck of a time getting across the river," Orpheus answered.

"Mercy?" Susanne knelt beside the blone girl. "Mercy? You there?" She didn't move, but it felt like she could hear. "We're safe, now. I want to thank you for your help. Please wake up."

Nothing. But Susanne concentrated hard, and she felt her waking up. A few moments later, Mercy's eyes opened, and Susanne breathed a sigh of relief. Mercy sat up and began looking around.

"Orpheus says we're going to Hades. Are you looking for your Guardian?"

"I think I missed that... Hades?"

"Do you have a Guardian tiger?"

Mercy's eyes widened in surprise.

"Roger says he saw him come in. And Hades... I don't quite get it, either, but I'm sure Anaera will explain when she wakes up. Oh, Mercy, this is Roger, my guardian, and Orpheus, Anaera's guardian. And that's Anaera. She got us out of there."

Mercy nodded to the Guardians, still trying to take all this in. Otakus, Guardians... it was still fairly new to her. None of her training had prepared her for any of this. She would have to be sure to remember it all to tell her Master back at the Academy. She looked around and spotted the signpost.

"Yeah, lots of places to go from here," Susanne said. "There's even a stairway to Heaven." She was grinning like a nut, barely containing laughter.

"Whatever," Mercy said, shaking her head.

"Anae?" they heard Orpheus say hopefully. They looked over at Anaera as she sat up, rubbing her head.

TBC