Underworld heist plans.

Once I made them realize what a problem not having a shade can be and the psychopathic behaviour the affected people can show, Margo immediately tied Charlie up in a bundle, even taping his fingers up so he couldn't cast.

With my advice, they immediately took him to the Clean Room, a room in the basement of Brakebills that prevents spellcasting from taking place. A perfect anti-magician prison. Though it was actually built for precision experiments if Henry is to be believed.

"Now what?" Margo asked, as all eyes turned to me.

"Now we release my brother from the prison!" Alice interrupted.

She wasn't in favor of keeping him locked up like this. But she was eventually worn down by everyone's pressure and gave in.

"Alice. Look at your hands. See those bandages. That's what your brother did to you. His beloved little sister-"

"When he was a niffin! He will be fine now, once he comes to his senses." She insisted.

"Are you serious?" I sighed, looking at the resolute look in her eyes and obliged.

"Fine. Once he comes to, if he poses no threat, you can take him home. How about that? It's the least you can do for us. We risked our lives saving your brother after all."

Alice mellowed out at that, realising what she was doing.

"Sorry. I know you mean well, I just.... it's my brother and I haven't seen him in five year. I thought he was dead, you know..." She sniffled and Eliot comforted her.

"I know. But safety comes first. It's better to be safe than sorry." I told her.

"Yeah, yeah. Now about that shade-y business." Margo asked, "Spill it."

"Right. When a person becomes a niffin, a part of their soul that's the conscience, the part responsible for their humanity and empathy and love and all things good, is lost, severed by forced as a byproduct of the niffin-ization process. It does there. That's why categorically niffins are considered to be dead even though they are very much alive. Because the most important aspect of their soul dies in that moment."

"And so what? If it dies then do we make a new one or is there some way to get it back?" Margo asked.

Henry scoffed and laughed.

"Even gods can't remake a shade."

"Nah, they definitely can. They just won't." I corrected.

"Why?" Quentin asked.

"Because they're dicks." I replied and Eliot snorted with laughter.

"So, if we can't petition a god to make a new one then do we make a new one or buy it at Walmart or something...?" Margo was getting impatient.

"No. You see, when things die, they go to the underworld. The same is true for shades. You can just bring back his original shade from the underworld." I said, "And then just shove it back into him. Easy peasy."

"You say that like it's a shopping trip but I get the feeling there's more to that than this." Margo said.

"Yeah. If it's that easy, why hasn't anyone done it before?" Eliot pointed out..

"Many reasons. Most people don't even know shades exist or how to find one or their nature or really anything about them. And those who do, almost never succeed in getting the shade back from the underworld." I explained.

"See putting the shade back is easy. Getting it out from the underworld is basically a heist movie plot. Think prison break but with gods as the guards and the eternal damnation of your immortal soul as the cost of failure."

"That's good news...." Eliot took a sip from his infinite alcohol flask.

He had one of those.

"Yup. But that doesn't mean it's impossible. It can be done." I assured them.

"Alright. Get to the point already. I didn't come here for an Afterlife 101. Andale. We don't have a lot of time to waste." Margo pushed.

"Funny you should say that." I chuckled, "Because you can't get to the Underworld on your own. But you can look into it with a particular cupcake recipe."

Margo raised an eyebrow.

"Cupcake?"

"Yeah. Um I think it was called 'cupcakes that let you peer into other dimensions'. A naturalist homebrew. But I don't know the recipe for it myself." I shrugged.

"Then what do you know?"

"I know a way you can get into the underworld." I replied.

"Then why didn't you lead with that, geez!" Quentin huffed.

"Because if you go in blind, you won't come back out."

The mood suddenly became tense.

"Thankfully, I know someone who can make them." I added and they let put a sigh of relief. Well Alice did at least.

Margo just looked pissed.

But it was Eliot who spoke this time around.

"Okay, will you stop jerking us around." Eliot sighed, "This is an emotional roller coaster. And I'm not ready to ride it."

"But where's the fun in that?" I grinned to dirty glares from the rest of them, only Yue backing me up.

"Jay....naughty." She giggled.

I smiled.

"Fine." I raised my hands.

"I'll give it to you straight. You need three things for a successful underworld run.

A vision into it, to confirm that what you need is actually where you think it is. Don't wanna go to Valhalla looking for someone that's been sent to Naraka.

Secondly, you need someone on the inside, to map the whole place out in advance. Hades is a big place. And it's confusing to navigate. You get lost in there, it's game over.

Why?

Because number three. You need a way in. And here's the sitch. Living people can't get into the Underworld."

"So basically we need to die." Alice noted.

"Yup. But not just regular death. You need to die without a shade. At least one of the people entering the underworld has to do so without their shade."

"Why?" Margo, the-ever-curious asked.

"Because you need a container for the shade you intend to bring back. And for that you need a shade sized hole in your soul." I explained, "But the catch is, if you get caught by the underworld authorities and they find out you have no shade, you get sent to the bad place. As I said, eternal damnation. Well almost eternal. Technically, if you break the backdoor of the underworld open, the trapped souls can escape. But then you'd be unleashing a bigger problem onto the world. An undead apocalypse. So better to not get caught in the first place."

"Alright so let's say we find the cupcakes, get a map to our location and remove our shade. Then what?" Eliot asked.

Margo looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"You're not seriously thinking of going to literal hell are you?" She asked, concerned.

"What? I'm intrigued. I mean who gets an opportunity like this? To make a legend. Like Hercules or Theseus. A heroic tale told till the end of time." He said, "Imagine our names, Eliot and Margo talked about like Theseus and Pirithious!"

"Didn't it end badly for those two? I seem to remember them getting trapped in Hades forever, torn to shred by the furies while being bound by poisonous snakes."

"Actually snakes are venomous-" Quentin interrupted.

"Do I look like I care, Quentin? I'm trying to stop Eliot from doing something stupid."

"It's not stupid if we prepare before we go, right, J?" He looked at me with a nudge.

"Yeah. If you prepare well, everything will go right. But there's still no guarantee something unexpected won't happen once you are there."

"That's fine. We can handle it, right bambi?" Eliot asked Margo.

"Don't bambi me, Eliot. You might have a death wish but I'm not going to sit here and watch my best friend throw his life away for fame. I'm not going into the underworld and neither are you."

"Oh c'mon!" He protested but one look at the determined, eyes of Margo and he cowed.

I chuckled at their antics when Alice asked me to continue.

"Okay. Once you're ready, you need to make contact with a dragon. A deal to open a gateway to the underworld. Then you can go.

Dragons are basically giant portals from the world of the living to the dead."

"So we become dragon poop and land in hell's toilet?" Margo snorted in amusement.

"In a way, yes. Just that it won't be a toilet but a lobby. Like a hotel lobby. Real professional stuff.

But remember from the moment you enter the Underworld, you will only have 24 hours to find the shade and get out with it. So you have to be prepared before you attempt this. You only get once chance."

"Why? They don't allow you back into the underworld?" Eliot asked.

"Nah. Not if you don't get caught. It's just that dragon deals do not come cheap. They cost a pretty penny. So even billionaires can't afford it too many times."

"Th-then how will we do it? I-i mean we are well off but-"

"Well off? Look at Mr. Moneybags here huh?" Margo punched Quentin playfully.

"I'm being polite." Quentin said.

"Quentin. The only people who say, we are well off or comfortable are the filthy rich." Margo teased.

"Well, I don't think th-that's true. I-i-i my father is just a regular guy. Worked at a regular 9 to 5...."

"Okay, okay we get it. No need to exposit your life story here." Eliot patted his back, offering him a drink.

Henry looked at me, thinking it all over and realised something.

"Wait, if all this planning is necessary to attempt this, how long will it take to restore his shade? Because I cannot keep him in the clean room for long. This isn't a hotel. We have work to do."

"Well, the cupcake guy is stuck in the Neitherlands so until the Beast is dead we can't do much about that. And as for the rest, the dragon deal can be orchesrated by trading in a sufficiently powerful magical artifact. One of the thrones of Fillory or a crown or any other important, priceless memorabilia will do. So the same applies.

The person on the inside, I can arrange with enough time. Put some feelers out into the hedge scene to see if there are any terminally ill witches willing to do a job for us in return for pay."

To be honest, I already knew who to use for that. But that was for later.

For now, let's progress in the Fillory quest first, then godhood and after that, Charlie can go fuck himself.

Because I won't care.

"Then what do we do with Charlie?" Alice asked.

"Well...if you are sure you can keep him from hurting anyone, then I suppose you should take him home? But then it will be your responsibility. Just remember that." I said, but in reality I had secretly already implanted nanobots in his brain. The moment he tries anything, I will be able to locate him immediately and while I can't make the nanobots eat him alive, because I didn't have that level of tech yet, I can at least track him and do it myself.

Alice nodded and went put to make a call to her parents while we all exited the clean room, going back to our daily lives as usual.

"See you tomorrow?" Eliot said.

"Yeah. Stop by the cottage. You haven't been around for a couple of weeks and we need a minder for Todd."

"Hey! I'm not a dog." Todd protested, genuinely freaking me out.

And looking around I wasn't the only one.

"Oh....hi Todd. Didn't see you there, buddy?" Eliot waved at him.

"Holy shit, where did you come from?!" Margo cussed.

"I have been here the whole time....." He sulked, "Why are you guys so mean to me?"

"Aw. Don't feel too bad. We don't hate you."

"The same way we don't hate the air. You just.... don't register." Margo tore him down, as his shoulders slunk down and he trotted away when Eliot caught him.

"Hey. Good job today Todd." He patted his back, "And thanks. We just like to josh around with you but trust me, we are happy you're here."

"Aww! Thanks guys." Todd's eyes lit up.

"Because who else will we put to toilet duty if you go away." Margo added, teasing him as we all chuckled at his misery.

"Screw you guys." He huffed, and stomped away.

Hah!

This is ...fun. Nice even.

I like this life. I just hope this peaceful life can last a bit longer.

But with Reynard coming in, sometime this year, I doubt it.

Not like a bit of action is a bad thing anyways!

I smiled.

As for today.

It's time for bed.

"Yue.... let's go home." I said and she made a cute noise in agreement, as we made our back to the dorm.

________________________

The extra chapter for 600 powerstones as promised.

Next chapter at 800 powerstones.

So donate your powerstones!

Let's get to 800 this week my dudes!

Thanks for reading and bye~