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Inside a family room sits what remains of a family, two women and one man. The air in the room is stale and the atmosphere full of fraying hopes and growing fear. The doctor’s didn’t come bearing good news. One of the women sits motionless while the man paces, muttering to himself. The other woman feels like the world is shrinking, she refuses to acknowledge that it is happening all over again.
“All we can do is make her comfortable.” the doctor had said.
The woman in denial wants to cry, to scream. It wasn’t fair the first time around, for it to happen again seems like a cruel joke. In the end, she settles for rising and announces that she needs some air. The other two in the room are so lost in their own thoughts that they barely register her words so she slips out and heads for the elevator that will take her down to the front of the building. The moment she is out and past the signs that ask patients and visitors not to smoke on hospital premises, she reaches in her pocket and takes out her vape. Her cigarettes lay forgotten in the bottom of her bag upstairs, she’s trying to quit anyway so perhaps that is for the best. Leaning against the railing by the designated smoking area, she inhales deeply and holds it for a moment. On the exhale she tries to make sense of it all. She’s been here before, she knows how to navigate these waters and if she can get her shit together, she can help the other two to get through this too.
The doctor had informed them that there was nothing that could be done. Words she had heard before. Last time she heard them, she lost her faith. Through the years that followed, she worked to put herself back together and along the way found faith of a different kind. Her faith came now in knowledge and in unapologetic curiosity. On another inhale she considered something that could be done.
She could take a leap of faith.
Putting away her vape she made her way back up to the floor on which she could say her goodbyes to the woman who had taken her under her wing and helped her to grow. The plan wasn’t so much as even half-formed but either way, a proper goodbye was necessary.
She poked her head into the family room to check on the other two. They were both asleep, stress and worry having taken a toll that perhaps only sleep would give them a reprieve from. Then she made her way towards the room on the ward holding the last thread of proper family the three of them had. In the doorway she stopped, forcing bile back down and memories best not revisited to be locked away again. All she needed to do was take one step inside the room, that was the start and the rest would come to her easier.
Looking in from the doorway, the woman lying there could be mistaken as just sleeping. Like the two in the family room. Asleep, nothing more than that. She found that, as cowardly as it was of her, she didn’t want to break that illusion. So she spoke from the doorway instead of by the bed like she had originally intended.
“Claire I know you taught me to think before I act but I’m about to do something a little bit stupid. If it works, great. If not, I promise I’ll be there for Alec and Ivy. Either way, I wanted to say goodbye. I’m sorry I can’t hold your hand while I do but it turns out even ten years isn’t long enough to make me brave enough to face this all again.”
Before she lost her composure, the young woman turned and headed for the nurses station.
“Hi, I’m the step-daughter of the woman in room 601. I was just wondering if the overnight family room was occupied? My brother and sister have fallen asleep on the couches in the other room. They need to sleep but if I try to get them to go home they’ll refuse.”
“No I think it’s empty, housekeeping should have cleaned it earlier in the day as well so it should be good to go. Do you need help setting up the beds or anything like that?” The nurse manning the station asked.
“Thank you but I can manage.”
"Will you be needing a bed too? I can have a porter bring up a spare cot for you.”
“Please and thank you, but would it be okay if I stay in the other room for a while? I’m not really ready to sleep yet.”
“Of course, whatever you need.”
So came the task of rousing the two others and persuading them into the other room. As the young woman suspected, they were more inclined to rest when they knew they didn’t have to leave. When she was asked if she would be staying too, she assured them that she would but that she was going to go and pick up some clean clothes and everyone’s toothbrushes first.
“I’ll only be gone an hour or so.”
*
It being so long past rush hour it hardly took her anytime to get back to the house the four of them shared. True to her word, she picked up a fresh set of clothes for all of them and each of their respective toothbrushes. She also picked up the book her younger sister had been reading, the handheld games console her brother kept by his TV and various other bits of technology the three of them might need. When she arrived at her own room, she looked to the shelves that held her candles, the tall black one caught her eye. She placed it with great care into the rucksack along with matches and the crocheting project she had been working on.
When she pulled back into the same space she had left in the car park of the hospital she took a moment to really consider what she was about to do. Her research had never taken her far enough to know if this would work or even if it was a good plan at all, nevertheless she felt she had to try.
Once she dropped off her siblings bags, she returned to the couches in the other room. If she was going to do this, she had to put some thought into what it was she was going to say.
Eventually she felt she had the right words and got to work. On the small coffee table provided in the room she set up her makeshift altar with the tall black pillar candle and the fresh half of a pomegranate. Giving herself no more time to consider what she was about to try, she lit the candle and closed her eyes.
“With due deference and respect I light this candle in your honour Hades. I also make the offering of fresh fruit. With these honours and offerings I humbly beg that you consider the bargain I put to you. My life for the life of the woman in that hospital bed. My soul carried across the River Styx in place of hers. Me, instead of Claire.”
Unsure of herself or what she had even expected to happen, she sat back and waited. Five minutes passed, then ten, then thirty and nothing.
Maybe her loss of faith all those years ago had been justified, or perhaps gods had no true interest in the lives of mortals. Perhaps they had no sway in the lives of those with limited time upon the earth. Whatever the reason for the silence hardly mattered, silence was all she was met with. Against all hope, she left the candle burning and the offering out while she swept up her handbag and headed back out into the chill of the late night for another smoke.
It was unlikely to have worked anyway, she told herself. A silly thing to think she could change the natural order of things. Onto plan B then. Help her step-siblings to get through this. Use her experience to show them the way forward.
Not her preferred course of action. She truly would do anything to save them from going through what she had but maybe the universe would guide them differently than it had her in the aftermath of this blow.
She closed her eyes, trying not to cry. She knew the drill, if she cried now the strength she needed to get through would not come. She couldn’t crumble now when they needed her.
Not even the deep draw of nicotine, this time from a real cigarette, helped to soothe her.
“Those things'll kill ya, y’know.” She heard a man say.
“Something’s always gonna get you in the end.” She said in reply. Her usual answer to people when they said that sort of thing.
She opened her eyes to see who had spoken to her, but the words she had planned to say next died on her tongue. In front of her stood a man that looked familiar, there was an edge of darkness around him though not in a dangerous way. He was dressed in a well tailored black suit and tie with the sleeves rolled up to reveal strong arms covered in tattoos.
The penny dropped and she chose to venture a cautious guess at the man standing in front of her
“Forgive me if this sounds insane but, Hades I presume?”
“The one and only.” He grinned. “What? Were you expecting someone else?”
In her studies and through the media she had come across many different interpretations of what the God of the Underworld would look like. It seemed her least favourite medium had come the closest, because the Hades standing before her wouldn’t have been all too out of place on the stage of the Hadestown musical.
“I didn’t think it had worked.” She said, stunned. Before she considered her words she added, “You don’t look at all how I would have thought.”
“Oh, I like to change it up a little and move with the times. This get up seemed appropriate.” He said. “Now, about that little bargain of yours. If you were serious, shall we shake on it?”
His hand was held out ready but even in her surprise she knew it was imperative she set out some conditions.
“I have terms I want to discuss first.”
“You already made your offer.” He said, his tone seeming to be unable to decide on whether he should be irritated or amused.
“The initial bargain was meant to catch your attention.” She said, “Now I have your attention. I want to make sure I’m not about to be played for a fool.”
“Smart play, alright. Let’s hear your terms, but I retain the right to veto them.”
“My terms are simple. My life for hers on three small conditions. Claire gets to live a long and happy life with Alec and Ivy. Our father never comes back into the picture. And my passing is discovered by them in the least traumatising way possible.”
“I can’t swear to the second one but the rest are fair.” He says, offering his hand again. “Don’t worry, I’ll not take ya right away. I’ll let ya see my end of the bargain held up and even let ya decide how you want them to find ya.”
She couldn’t be sure that she had thought of all the possible ways she could be deceived by him but she supposed she had to just keep the same faith that led her to make this decision.
“Deal.” She said as she shook his hand.
A warm golden glow seemed to emanate from his hand as the bargain was struck.
“Well, get yer stuff sorted and be ready. I’ll be back shortly with Miss Claire’s soul.”
As seamlessly as he appeared, he was gone and she was left with little to do but choose how to let them find her once she was gone.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The mortal was a curious one, that was about the only thing Hades was currently certain of. As he set to work finding the soul of the one she had bargained her own for, He pondered what had led her to the worship of such old Gods. Humanity had moved on from the Pantheon of Greek Gods. Sure there was a little revived interest in them these days, through both the popular culture adaptations of the ancient stories and through the studies provided at mortal educational facilities; still it was rare that any mortal beyond those who practiced ‘witchcraft’ would worship Gods from centuries gone by. Rarer still that mortals chose to honour Hades himself with worship.
In his long reign as God of the Underworld (thanks little bro) he had learned the hard way that his dominion over death was feared and he himself was almost hated by the mortals. There had been a time when he had reveled in their fear, then he had become lonely, now perhaps his feelings towards mortals was best described as jaded.
Fearing death made little sense to him, the mortals could hardly avoid it. It was the natural order of things; mortals are born, they live their insignificant little lives and then they die. In the end, he would see them all pass through the gates of his realm and his judges would determine where their actions in life would lead them in the Underworld.
In times long gone, it had not been uncommon to receive a soul bargain. More often than not, he would ignore them but on rare occasions he would accept what was being bargained. It turns out that was a huge mistake. His last soul bargain had ended up coming back to bite him in the ass.
Even centuries later, the thought of all that nonsense with Meg and Hercules and the Titans stung. He had been so close.
As punishment (what, like being ruler of this desolate place wasn’t punishment enough?) Zeus had sealed him in the Underworld and reneged on his offer to furnish Hades with a wife. Shame too, Demeter’s daughter would have made quite a Queen. Truthfully though, it was the sealing him in the Underworld that bummed Hades out the most.
It was only with the passing of time and the diminishing influence of the Gods, and thereby Zeus, that Hades had been able to circumvent the punishment that Zeus gave him. Which was how he had been able to meet the young woman up top.
He was still working on finessing the ‘getting out’ part which was why it had taken him so long to respond to her bargain.
“Pain! Panic! Why don’t you make yourselves useful for once and help me find this soul.” He shouted. Charon had been driving the boat in circles for the better part of an hour now and the soul was nowhere to be found.
“Uh boss, didn’t she only die a few hours ago?” Panic said
“She might not have gone through Judgement yet.” Pain added.
Nothing annoyed Hades half as much as when his minions could be right. “Then why didn’t you think to say something, oh I don’t know maybe, about an hour ago!” He shouted. “Charon, take me back to the river bank. Pain, Panic, get a message to whichever one of the Judges has her soul.”
“Where’s she from boss?” Panic asked
“How should I know? Just instruct them all that if they have received the soul of a woman named Claire in the last few hours to bring her to me!” He growled at the minion before storming off to the main chamber of the castle at the center of the Underworld.
On a dais in the corner of the room there was a fountain that he’d had no need to use in centuries. The waters in the fountain allowed him to see the mortal world. The last time he’d used it was to keep track of Meg as she tried to fool Hercules. With a wave of his hand over the still water, it rippled and showed him the woman who had given her soul over to him.
*
He could see her standing in a doorway watching two sleeping mortals. They were clearly younger than her and must have been the two she had named. Alec and Ivy. They appeared to be her siblings.
She was speaking quietly to them, evidently wanting to avoid waking them.
“I can’t ask you not to mourn me, that would be unfair but don’t let mourning me get in the way of you living your life. Like I did for too long. I hope you will always know how much I love you and that I’m doing this for you.”
Usually if the judging of a soul was deemed necessary to be done by him, his scales would weigh up the life lived by the soul and decide where to send them. His scales wouldn’t be needed in her case but he was tempted to use them when he got her down here anyway.
As he watched she left the room her siblings slept in and walked towards a tall white desk, behind which sat a woman who wore a purple set of what seemed to pass for uniform amongst the medical professionals of this age.
“Hi again, sorry to bother you but could I borrow some paper and a pen? I want to go for a drive but I want to leave a note for my brother and sister in case they wake up before I get back.” She said with a smile.
“Hey, of course. Here you go, but if you don’t mind me saying you need to get some rest too. It’s been a long day for all three of you. You can’t be there for them if you’re too exhausted to function.” The woman replied, handing over a pad of paper and a pen.
The woman behind the desk was much older than the new soul soon to occupy his realm and Hades thought he could detect a hint of recognition in the older woman’s eyes.
“I know, that’s why I want to leave them a note. In case I decide to pull over and sleep in the car.” She said as she walked back towards the room in which he had felt the pull from the altar.
“You didn’t want to sleep here last time either.” The older woman said softly.
So this wasn’t the first time the young woman had been in this situation. Hades couldn’t help but wonder why she didn’t make this offer that time, perhaps a question to put to her when she arrived.
In the room with her makeshift altar and offering, she laid the paper down and chewed the pen.
Just as Hades was about to watch what she planned to write, Panic came running in shouting his name.
“Boss! Boss, it was Aeacus! He had her!” Panic said, tripping over himself in his haste to please the god of the Underworld.
“Cool, cool, great.” Hades said as he dispelled the image of the young woman from the waters. Only to turn and see no soul "So where is she?”.
Just as he asked, Pain led the very soul in by the hand. It was just as well his minion was already dead or else that would have withered him away to nothing.
“Alrighty, Claire, dunno if you can hear me but it’s your lucky day. Yer going back to the land of the living!” Hades beckoned her forwards and with a flourish of his wrist, the soul was contained within the ring upon his pinky.
*
When Hades returned to the room with his altar, he did so in silence, half hoping he could sneak a look at what the woman had written on the paper she had asked for.
“That didn’t take as long as I thought.” She said from where she knelt, still writing.“How’d you know I was here?”
“The flame on your candle wavered and it just got about ten degrees colder in the room.”
“Well ain’t you a smart cookie.” He said sarcastically.“I take it you have her soul?” She asked, finally laying the pen down and turning to face Hades.
“Yup. Got ‘er right here.” He held up his hand and wiggled the finger that bore his ring.“So how do we do this? You give Claire back her soul and then take mine?” “Uh-uh. I'll take yours first. Call it insurance that you don’t break our bargain as soon as Claire gets back to breathin’”“Arguably if I did that, you could just take back Claire’s soul and then I’d be back to square one and have betrayed a bargain with a god. Doesn’t seem like something a ‘smart cookie’ would do.” She said, “Still if that’s the way you want to do this then, let’s do it.”Hades didn’t correct her because no, that isn’t how it would work. If she had broken their agreement after he gave Claire back her soul, he couldn’t take it back. He would have to wait for Claire to die again before he could regain her soul. And if the agreement was broken, he wouldn’t be able to take her soul either. Souls often resisted being taken by force, they had to come naturally or be offered. That’s not to say he couldn’t steal her soul but that just wasn’t his style.
If Hades were a better person (or rather a less deplorable god) he would tell her this. If it weren’t for the thought of fresh company in that lonely hellscape he called his realm, he might have been godly enough to tell her the truth.
“Alrighty! So, how d’you want them to find you?” He asked.“Here, on the couch. I want it to look like I just fell asleep in here, the note I’m leaving will explain what happened.” She told him as she moved to lay down on the couch.
She lay flat on her back and watched him.
“If you want them to think you fell asleep, you could at least try to make it look natural.” He snorted, “Get comfortable.”She seemed to tense for a moment before nodding and curling up on her side with her head facing the cushions.“You’re gonna feel a slight pulling sensation, just go with it.” He said.“Will it hurt?” She asked him, her tone of voice was the most timid it had been during their brief time knowing one and other. This was the first and only time she showed any fear of what she had agreed to. If Hades had heartstrings, they might have tugged at that.“No, it won't hurt.” He assured her, his voice softer than before.
*
Hades was met with no resistance as he took her soul, her body sagged as her last exhale brought forth that priceless form of pure light.
A new soul was always so bright, it didn't matter how good or bad a person had been in life. It was only when the soul had been judged and sent to its final resting place that it might change. It would go from bright to dull if it was sent to the Asphodel Meadows, change to pitch black if it was being sent to Tartarus or remain as pure and bright if it was to be sent to Elysium.
A soul who had been part of a bargain would not be judged and thus stay as pure and bright as one sent to Elysium. It was Hades who could give the bargained away souls form again, so he had done with Meg and so it was with this young woman.
“C’mon, we’ll return Claire’s soul and be on our way.” He said, offering his hand to the young woman.
In the sterile and impersonal hospital room, Hades positioned the young woman to stand in front of him so she would be able to watch as he unclasped the seal on his ring and the soul contained within would drift back to its corporeal form.
Her small gasp as she watched the soul sink back into Claire told Hades she was as mesmerised with the sight as he was on the rare occasion it happened. The stifled sob as Claire’s returned soul brought back the colour to her skin and breath back into her lungs made Hades want to reach out and hold the young woman. A sentiment he hadn’t felt in eons but didn’t give into.
Machines around them began to beep and it barely took a moment for Nurses to run in proclaiming it a miracle.
Hades heard the young woman whisper ‘goodbye’ and almost missed the ‘thank you’ that came next. He was unsure if it was aimed at him or the woman who had evidently meant enough to her to give up her soul, so he chose not to reply. Instead he took her hand again and transported them to the Underworld where Charon would be waiting to transport them across the river to his home.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Despite the reality of her situation beginning to sink in, she was brimming with curiosity. Her eyes roved all over the place. They had been met at the bank of a river by a single boat, upon which stood a man. Now that Hades was back in his realm, gone was the suit and in its place the very same sort of attire that the man on the boat wore. There was no other way to describe it than it was as if the darkness itself clothed them and it swayed around them like smoke, moving not unlike the shadows do in the dead of night.
She assumed that the man on the boat must be the Ferryman Charon, but he did not look at all how she would have expected. Instead of the skeletal figure she had always imagined, he had flesh and the deceptive face of a man in his early thirties. The only parts of him she could see were his face and his hands. His face may have looked young but his hands were withered and his fingers seemed unnaturally long. As he gripped the oar and pushed the boat off from the bank, she was dropped into the singular space to sit with force so in direct conflict to his withered hands, Charon appeared to have remarkable strength. Which when she thought about it made sense, after all the eons of pushing this boat along the river he must have been strong.
Speaking of the river, it had an almost eerie glow beneath the murky green colour and that glow seemed to shift as they travelled along. At first glance nothing seemed amiss but the longer she looked at it, she could see silhouettes swimming alongside the boat. She was about to ask Hades about it when she made direct eye contact with one of the silhouettes, they were souls! There was an intense fear in the eyes of the elderly woman she had made eye contact with and a ghostly hand raised itself above the water, reaching out for her.
She was about to reach back, to hold the woman’s hand and comfort her if she could when Hades spoke.
“Please keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times.”
The way he had seemed to know what she had been about to do shook her and she was about to say so when he spoke again.
“Probably best you don’t look at them, they’re tricksy little buggers. Some of them get ideas in what's left of their heads that they can escape their fate if they can trick someone into helping them out of the river.” He said offhandedly, before adding with a wicked grin, “It wouldn’t work of course. The sap that tried would just wither away, then they’d find themselves floating right alongside the person they tried to help.”
“That seems so cruel.” She said, now making a conscious effort not to look at the river as the woman she had been about to help began to wail.
“It’s the underworld kid, they're dead. It’s not supposed to be Disneyland.” He shrugged. “Anyhoo, you have me at a disadvantage and that’s not a position I enjoy. So let’s fix that. You know my name, obviously, but I don’t know yours.”
“How can you not know my name? We made a bargain. Doesn’t that generate a contract with my signature on it or something?” She asked him, confused.
He sighed, “Up top all I need to seal a deal is a handshake, the contract appears on my desk after. Soooo… What do I call ya?”
So far she had tried to avoid looking at Hades because it’s rude to stare and that is exactly what it would have looked like she was doing, but now she looked up and was once again surprised by what she saw. When he had appeared outside the hospital he had looked like a shady businessman but down here, she couldn’t pinpoint exactly the best words to describe him.
There was a cold aura surrounding him and his skin was a pale shade of blue, like she would have expected to see on someone who had died of hypothermia. The most remarkable part of his appearance was his hair. Up there it had been black as coal and slicked back in the sort of fashion she saw in movies set in the 50’s. Now that they were back in the underworld it was a literal blue flame that flickered atop his head.
“Helloooo~ anyone home in there?” He said, knocking three times on her forehead as he said it.
“Sorry, sorry. Uh, my name was Charlotte.” She said, already wondering if her name meant anything down here.
“Waddaya mean ‘was’?”
“I guess I just assumed my name didn’t matter anymore since I’m dead.”
“Well,
Charlotte,
your name does matter. It’s kinda the most important part of the deal on your end.”
She decided she didn’t like how he said her name, he had made it sound almost sinister.
“Then what’s the most important part of the deal on your end?” She asked.
“My word, of course.” Hades smiled, “That you’ll get what you bargained for.”
The cogs in her brain began to turn, “So because I saw you were true to your word, technically that means the deal is done. Right?”
“Oh, absolutely not. The deal is so far from done. I mighta held up my end of the bargain, but you still have to come through on your end.”
“Okay but I didn’t actually offer anything in return. I mean, obviously you got my soul instead of Claire’s but since I’m here now and Claire’s alive, that would mean the deal is done, so why am I here and not in there?” She said, motioning to the boat and then the river to illustrate her point.
“Would you rather be in there?” Hades asked, “Cause that can easily be arranged.”
“No!” She shouted before calming herself and adding, “No. But there were no terms of servitude or anything like that involved in the deal which seems like a loophole in my mind. I guess what I’m asking is, what happens now?”
~ H ~
He didn’t have an immediate answer for her. She was staring at him and he didn’t know what to tell her. He decided to switch on the charm.
“Well there’s a couple ways we can go from here, since you don’t wanna swim in the river. If it's a purpose you’re looking for, I could make you my assistant. Or…”
He watched as her brow furrowed, “Or what?” She said, suspicion dripping from her tone.
“Since you did worship me when you were alive, maybe you could worship me down here too.” He said with an exaggerated wiggle of his brow.
Her disgust was painted across her face instantaneously and Hades reminded himself to keep his temper. “Yours wasn’t the only altar I had you know, and I am not some whore that’ll spread her legs just cause you're a god. I didn’t just fuck men cause they did me a favour and I won't be doing it for a god.”
So she had standards as well as brains and courage, providing he doesn’t blow this she could be a real source of entertainment in this realm his brother had lumped him with. So he kept poking.
“By rights, my being a god does make me more worthy than mere mortals to be rewarded as such and besides, it’s not like a mortal could have done for you what I did.”
Hades watched with barely suppressed glee as she took the bait, her face twisting into a fierce scowl, “Oh so what? Are you saying I owe you? I won’t argue with you there, I do owe you but the idea that you automatically should be rewarded with my body is such a pathetically mortal way of thinking.” She said and under her breath he heard her add, “Can’t believe I thought you of all the gods might be different. Mortals had to get their arrogance from somewhere I guess.”
That stung a little more than Hades really wanted to admit. He was about to acquiesce to her point when the boat bumped against the shore of his island in the middle of the river and his minions came running up to him.
“The Fates are here, your Lugubriousness!” Panic said, gnawing on his tail as he did.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The light fluttering of wings caught the ears of Hera and Zeus as they conversed with their son. Hercules had been telling them about a feat of heroism that had won him the heart of a new wife when Hermes appeared.
“Sorry to interrupt the family reunion but, trust me Zeus, you’re gonna wanna hear what I have to say!” Hermes said as he flew around the god of thunder.
“What is it, Hermes?” Zeus asked, mildly annoyed to have his son’s story interrupted. Since Hercules had opted to mainly live on earth, he rarely got to see the boy.
“It’s about Hades.” Hermes said slyly, knowing that would capture Zeus’ entire attention.
“What is he up to now?” Zeus said, beginning to rise to his feet, expecting trouble at any moment.
“Little birdies tell me he’s got himself a devout worshipper. She even freely gave him her soul!”
Hera gasped, “Who would freely go to the Underworld? Zeus, either this is a trap for us or the poor girl has been stolen away by him!”
“I assure you my Lady, she wasn’t stolen away.” Hermes said, “According to what I have been told, she made regular offerings to him and had an altar for him. She allegedly traded her soul to him in a bargain to save her family.”
In the golden splendour of Olympus, it was rare that anything could sour the mood but this news did just that. It had been a long time since any of the gods of Olympus received regular offerings, their temples reduced to relics of the past and tourist attractions in an age where the gods of old were consigned to mere myth. Sure the odd mortal may dabble in worship but they were few and far between, the pace of their short life going so quickly that often altars were made up of a simple candle and would more often than not be forgotten about after a while.
For it to be Hades of all of them that received such devotion, rankled Zeus. Not least because of the stunt he pulled with the Titans but also because, despite Hades technically being the oldest of the three, Zeus and Posiedon had been careful to ensure that he was given the least desirable and most time consuming job in order to ensure that the younger two could enjoy a life of luxury.
“What else have you heard about this mortal?” Zeus asked, schooling his features and starting to think of some way to separate Hades and this mortal.
Hera, seeing the look on her husband's face, stood and took the arm of their son. “Come, Hercules, Aphrodite was asking about you just the other day, we should visit her and have her bless this union between you and your new wife.”
*
Hermes had not had much more information to give Zeus beyond the parameters of the bargain that the mortal had made.
Zeus had been aware long before his brother that his lack of worshippers meant his powers were not as strong as they once had been and, therefore, knew it meant that his brother’s confinement to the Underworld was not so absolute. Nevertheless, he had not felt the need to be worried. Mortals may not choose to worship him so much these days but they could still be counted on to fear death and hate any depiction of a deity that ruled over that part of the cycle of life, Hades included. Which had led Zeus to be sure that his brother, though no longer confined to the realm by the might of Zeus’ own power, would have little to no reason to make the trip up to the world above him.
Evidently this had been an oversight on Zeus’ part. He cursed his own arrogance and short-sightedness. There had always been those who had chosen to become Priests and Priestess’ of his eldest brother’s temples. He cursed as well, this mortal who for some bizarre reason had turned to Hades of all the gods. Zeus would have rather she turned to literally any other god from any other pantheon or religion.
A small part of Zeus also worried that this may embolden his eldest brother, that one worshipper may become more. He could not afford for Hades to benefit from this and possibly even be able to usurp him, successfully this time.
It seemed it was high time he visited his brother, all he needed was a reason. Hades would be suspicious of Zeus’ arrival no matter what the reason but at least armed with a reason, he could defend himself and perhaps even plant the seed of doubt in this mortals mind about who she had chosen to side with.
~ A&I ~
A nurse had rushed in to wake them. She was spouting nonsense, telling them that a miracle had happened and that their mum had recovered.
“It’s not possible.” Alec said, wiping sleep from his eyes.
“Come, come see. All her vital signs have returned and she’s awake!” The nurse said.
Despite his trepidation, Alec was dragged along by Ivy and the Nurse both to the room in which a few hours previously he had said his final goodbye to his mum.
The room which had previously been cold, lifeless and empty seemed once more vibrant, full of life and promise, not to mention it had at least four different doctors and nurses checking her over and running back and forth.
“Alec.” Ivy gasped from over his shoulder, “How is this even possible?”
“I don’t know.”
True to the nurses word, his mum was alive and awake. As soon as her eyes landed on her children she lit up.
“My darlings! Oh my poor sweethearts, I’m so sorry I scared you like that!”
“Mum… we thought you were, but you’re okay!” Ivy said, tears streaming down her face as she ran to their mum’s bedside.
Alec caught the eye of the older nurse who had been here almost as long as they had today, He had seen her speaking to Charlotte earlier in the afternoon. “Have you seen my step-sister? She’ll want to know about this.” He said, still not quite believing his eyes.
“She went for a drive, left about half an hour ago maybe? You should give her a call.” The older woman said.
“Yeah, yeah I’ll go do that now.” He said.
He wasn’t sure quite what made him go to the door of the family room they had been in originally but he felt drawn to it. He walked in, closing the door behind himself to have the privacy to speak on the call. He noticed her immediately, curled up on the couch with a blanket over her, fast asleep.
Alec went to wake her but pulled his hand back when she was cold to the touch. “Lottie?”
When he gave her a shake and got no response, he was about to call a nurse inside but he noticed the still lit candle on the table. By it was a piece of paper, folded over with his and Ivy’s names written on it.
He picked it up, carefully unfolded it and read.
“Oh Lottie.”
He took the note and walked back towards the room his mum and sister were in. From the doorway he called to his sister.
“Ivy, come here for a second?”
His sister was about to protest but he held up the note and gestured for her to follow him.
“What is it Alec?” Ivy asked once they were stood outside the door of the family room containing their step-sister’s body.
“Read this.”
‘Dear Alec and Ivy,
Please don’t be mad, I did this because I couldn’t stand the thought of you two having to go through everything I did. I
honestly
didn’t really expect it to work but when it did, I made sure to choose my words carefully and he allowed me to stay and watch your mum come back.
I can only hope he hasn’t tricked me in some way.
Enjoy all the extra time this buys you and be sure to treasure it,
not because of what I did to make it possible but
because time is a gift that should never be underestimated.
All my love, forever and a day.
Lottie’
Alec watched as realisation dawned on Ivy’s face.
“What did she do?”
“Her black candle is in there, and half a pomegranate. The candle is still lit.” He said, his hand hovering over the door handle.
Ivy batted his hand away and opened the door to the same scene he had come across. She went to their step-sister first, feeling for a pulse but found none. As she turned, she saw the candle that Charlotte used to light in honour of the Greek god of the Underworld.
“Alec, go get a nurse.” She said as she walked towards the candle. “You had better look after her, you hear me Hades, or so help me I’ll kick your ass when it’s my time to come down there.”
As Alec left the room to get help, he had similar sentiments and took a moment. He looked to the floor, after briefly looking upwards and reminding himself who she had sacrificed herself to, and mouthed a sincere thank you.