Chapter Text
When the god of the dead raises his voice, the whole of the underworld trembles to hear it.
Zagreus knew this, he'd faced his fathers wrath many times. In each of those instances he'd come out intact, though in the present situation, he wasn't confident of whether or not he would.
His father's fist splintered the desktop, sparks and shrapnel flying into the tapestried walls next to it. “Must you insist on this insufferable tirade? No one escapes the underworld boy! Least of all members of My family.”
The underworld prince curled his lip in disdain. “Are you quite sure of that? Because I believe my mother would beg to differ.”
The brimstone in Hades’ eyes blazed as he advanced on his son, his power coursing through the House, shaking through it hard enough that all those around fell to the ground, with Hades’ monstrous form quaking in frustration above it all. Zagreus however, remained unbent. The underworld prince looked up at his father with unbridled rage for the first time in his life. His lips parted to hurl the worst insult he could think of–
When a mass of red fur cut through his vision. Cerberus growled in between its lord and master and his son. No, not growled, groaned as he was led gently by the hand of a small shade, which cupped his chin with curled fingers. Zagreus blinked in confusion, casting a glance over his should at Hypnos, who was just waking from a nap and squinting in confusion as well.
Hades rounded on the intruder, fire leaking from the corners of his eye sockets. “And who is this that so brazenly–”
“That is quite enough.” The shade’s voice was stern, like a mother chiding a child during a tantrum, and the hall stayed its shaking. Zagreus’ mouth stood agape as he bent to peer at the shade in question. She was slight, with long hair that coiled and clouded behind her in the winds of death, as all shades had. She looked quite young to be dead, and that was where any strange or remarkable thing about her ended. Even Hades paused in disbelief at her command, before reaching to grab her by the neck, and smite her no doubt.
Zagreus closed the distance with godly speed, putting himself between his father and the shade who’d unknowingly entered into one of Tatarus’ least forgiving arguments. Yet it wasn’t Zagreus that settled his father’s hand, but a low growl from the guardian of the underworld. Cerberus raised its hackles at its master for the first time in history and offered a low huff of warning. Hades scoffed, at a loss for words, smoke tumbling out of flared nostrils and reddened ears.
“What are you? What have you done to him?” He asked, voice soft as thunder.
Zagreus turned toward the shade, who eyed Hades unabashedly. “Nothing.” She murmured, still stroking one of the dog’s chins. “And I hate to stick my nose in where it’s not wanted, but I was a bit concerned for the integrity of the foundation if this continued.”
Her words seemed to remind Hades of who and where he was. He made to move toward the girl but Zagreus gripped his wrist, blocking him off. Their eyes met, and the fire sparked anew, this time in the mismatched eyes of the underworld prince.
“Oh, let him go.” Came a murmur at his back, along with a huff from Cerberus’ closest head, leaking drool onto the prince’s shoulder. “What'll he do? Kill me twice?”
Both men turned to the now incredulous expression on the shade’s face. Her eyes flicked from one to the other, bereft of fear or intimidation.
“That is where I am, correct? Hell? What exactly can you do to me here, kill me again?”
A snort escaped Zagreus’ nose, and indeed, he could hear Hypnos stifling a chuckle behind him. Any anger in the Great Hall was quenched in that moment as even Achilles, who had entered the room upon hearing the commotion, covered his mouth with his hand to hide his surprise. Hades stared at the shade before him, wordless for the first time since Zagreus had known his father.
The prince turned to survey the girl once more.“Who are you?”
The question rang through the hall for a moment, leaving complete silence in its wake. A hand shot out from under Cerberus’ great jaw in reply. “I’m...new here.”
Zagreus shook it once, letting it go, where it turned to Hades, who sniffed at it. All could see the gears turning in Lord Hades’ head as his eyebrows knit together. The underworld prince winced. Never one to let a slight go unpunished.
“Fine” The king growled, voice crackling like fat in a fire. He turned to the prince. “You may try.” Zagreus started in disbelief as Hades tilted that poison smile his way. “But for as long as you’re out there” A grunt of… was that, a chuckle? “ -until you grow tired of this game, you shall require an aide, shall you not?”
Wind hissed through Hypnos’ teeth and Zagreus turned his head toward the girl once more in an unspoken apology. “Very well, she shall be your squire, to venture out with you at every attempt. Should one of you die and return here,” The lord of the underworld turned his simmering eyes on the girl.
“So shall the other."
. . .
"-An eye for an eye so to speak."
Hades addressed the shade. “And you, who so wantonly approaches me in my palace, shall know the feel of death intimately until my fool son agrees to give up this hopeless charade.”
A growl of frustration escaped Zagreus’ lips. “That is unreasonable. She’s already died once, leave the mortal out of this.”
Hades paused at that, mouth set in a hard line. "Perhaps..." Looking into the blazing eyes of his son, he bared his teeth. "But I am not without mercy. As a boon of sorts, I will decrease the toll of death on this girl." He pointed at the shade, turning back to her. "While my fool son dies with you out there, should Zagreus expire " the word curled out of his mouth like a rattlesnake, tail hissing in the wake of his voice. "–before you do, you shall remain alive in my realm for as long as you can survive, and our prince shall wait here for the return of his squire".
The shade gripped at Cerberus' fur with white knuckles, but didn't shift away from the erupting volcano of a god before her. The carpet began to sizzle as Zagreus' feet grew in temperature. At the prince's expression, his father merely replied, “A punishment pact for the crime. A bond that is equal in all ways but one.”
Zagreus made to continue their verbal battle, but his voice couldn't quite reach over his father’s fingers as Hades’ snap fired through the hall like a gunshot and a ghostly, bloodred thread of magic grew in the air between Zagreus and the girl. It connected their chests, and the poor shade gripped at hers in confusion as her ethereal form solidified into flesh and blood. “What is this, what are you doing?” The sound of violation in her voice pierced the prince's heart.
Zagreus rounded on his father, aiming to pounce on him, snarling, “Leave the innocent out of this.”-to which Hades responded in kind by gripping his wrist hard enough for even a god's bones to creak. Zagreus tilted his head at the girl’s gasp of pain, watching her grip her own wrist.
“Careful,” Hades clicked his tongue. “Every injury to you is an injury to her.”
Before Zagreus could spit back a reply, a a cloud of white hair passed between them. “Lord Hades, there is much to do today, er…night?” Hypnos laughed awkwardly, taking the prince’s arm over his shoulder and pulling him to his feet. “Let us be done with this for now so we may continue our work.”
Out of the corner of his eye, the underworld prince saw Achilles pull the slightly shaking girl to a standing position and begin leading her toward the east wing, wrist already bruising. Hades grunted in agreement and turned back to his now charred and splintered desk. “Quite right. Get them out of my sight, I’m sure they’d like to take some time to get acquainted with one another .”
“Of course, my lord.” The god of sleep purred, pulling the prince in the same direction.
. . .
Zagreus stalked into his bedchamber with Hypnos, where Achilles was gently urging the young girl onto the edge of his bed. Her face was pallid and her legs trembled slightly. Zagreus stood, shaking off the lancing pain in his right hand, and the girl seemed to recover, if slightly, as well. The prince heaved a sigh, running a hand through his hair as he stared at her. As they all did. She shifted her position under their combined gazes, nervously eyeing Hypnos, whose golden eyes cast a ray of light on her face.
“I don’t suppose you have any experience squiring?” Achilles asked, incredulous at his own question.
Her eyes flitted around the room before landing on Zagreus, then again on Achilles. “No. Unfortunately, I do not.”
Hypnos scoffed, and her gaze returned to him, her brow furrowing. “Is this my eternal punishment then? Is that how this works?”
“No.” Zagreus sighed, easing into a chair while rubbing his temples. “It isn’t.”
. . .
Grinding my jaw at the pain in my wrist, I let my gaze rove over the darked-haired figure before me.
He was sweating, much like I was from the sudden sensation of another body being tethered to mine, and his mismatched eyes were closed. The older, blonde-haired one spoke softly, “We’ll have to train you to fight, at the very least.”
“And who would do that?” I murmured, still confused and only a little intimidated. Specifically of the man to my right, whose catlike eyes seemed to take me in hungrily all their own.
The blond man looked exasperated. “Me, of course?” At my silence, he dipped his head. “Ah, my apologies. Achilles, son of Peleus”.
I snorted, startling the darked-haired man and causing the white-haired man’s grin to widen. “Like, the Achilles? From the Odyssey?”
His brows knit in confusion, but the dark-haired man muttered, “Iliad.” and I gestured to him.
“Right, the Iliad, whatever. You expect me to believe that I’ve just happened to stumble upon the greatest hero in Greek history after mere moments of being dead?” I thought of the fight I'd walked in on, actually, not the hardest thing to believe.
His blush did more to answer me than words could as I continued. “And who are you supposed to be?” I gestured at the cloudy haired one. “Hermes?”
All three smiled at that, and his hair swept back as he went to kiss my hand. “Hypnos, Dearest. The god of slumber. If you’d ever wish to share a bed with someone, I recommend myself.”
I wrinkled my nose in a small smile, allowing a chuckle, my shock freezing the pain in my wrist and the panic that would likely come later.
“And you?” I looked toward the dark-haired man, who was now looking at me with unabashed curiosity, his head tilted to one side. “Thanatos?”
“No.” His recent opponent's voice had been so low it was nearly a rumble across the hall, but his was soft and lilting, melodic in a way. “But you may meet him at some point, since you’ll be staying here.”
At my silence, the blond man-Achilles, replied, “This is Zagreus, son of Nyx—I mean Persephone, and Lord Hades”.
I cocked my head to one side, leaning it on my shoulder. “But Hades and Persephone never had a child.”
“And Achilles wasn't in the Odyssey.” He called back, pursing his lips at his own sarcasm and surveying me with one eye of crimson and one of emerald.
“Oh do forgive me.” I droned, “I’ll be sure to catch up on my literature now that my life is over.”
There was a moment of silence before the cloudy-haired one, Hypnos, released a reverberating snort that seemed to catch in the present company. The other two men offered some answering chuckles.
“You really don’t understand that you’re in the presence of royalty, do you?” Achilles brandished a hand toward this prince, Zagreus.
. . .
The girl quirked an eyebrow at the warrior's pale fingers and shrugged. “I don't mean to be rude, but largely I believe that all men should be equal in death.”
Achilles' mouth set in a frown. "While I don't disagree, the prince is not a man, but a god. Given your present predicament I would encourage you to generate an appreciation for what the divine beings of this realm can do to a mortal like you."
The young woman's face paled slightly, but a fire caught and held in her gaze. Zagreus watched her nostrils flare as she spoke. "I'll keep that in mind."
The prince narrowed his eyes. Hotheaded, this one. He cleared his throat before turning to his companions. “As interesting as her views may be, I cannot take a shade into Tartarus with me, she’ll be shattered. We’ll have to find some way to break this curse before I can continue my escape plans.”
Achilles and Hypnos began muttering to themselves about codexes and librarians that might help, but Zagreus leveled his gaze toward the girl, who was looking around the room at the gilded fixtures with no small amount of awe draping itself over her face. Her next words were so entirely contradictory to her demeanor it took him a moment to process them.
“I can fight.”
Hypnos interjected. "Absolutely not-" He turned to Zagreus. "You can't send a mortal, a real, live mortal-" He raised her arm and shook it before she snatched it back from him. "-into the underworld guarded chambers."
Achilles cut over his muttering voice, resting a hand on the god's shoulder before turning back to the shade. “Lass, it’s not that simple—”
“Okay, you’re right, I can learn to fight.” She glanced at the company’s incredulous faces.
“Suppose you can’t find a reasonable way to break this curse? I'm not sure what all this is about," She winced seemingly in spite of herself. "But I feel I may have just made a mess of things for you. And I won’t be shattered. ” She gestured around her head like she was quoting herself. “Whatever that is. I’m me again.” She patted her arm, warm to the touch and noticeably more opaque than it had been in the throne room. “So I might as well try to help, since I got myself into this mess. Besides,” She leveled her own gaze at Zagreus, matching the intensity of his to a tee. “Pissing off your father seems like the most interesting thing to do in this place anyway.”
Hypnos' objections cut off as he practically hiccuped with glee and Achilles groaned something about reckless children as Zagreus leaned forward and took her hand once more.
“Oh,” the prince grinned, “you and I are going to get along just fine.”