𝕕𝕠𝕘 𝕕𝕒𝕪𝕤 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕣

He honestly didn’t know how it happened. After his conversation with Lara, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong… Not only that, but he felt bad for yelling at her. She didn’t deserve it, and he liked to think he was better than that. Before he knew it, he was riding Cerberus to a small home that matched his intel’s description, a modest cottage that reminded Hades of his home back in England. 

He probably stood outside her door with his hand raised to knock for about five whole minutes before he finally rapped lightly against the door. 

“Leo?” 

“Hey.” 

Terse, quiet, but definitely the least hostile thing he’s said to her since they’ve seen each other. “I wanted to apologize.” 

Lydia pulled the fallen knit of her sweater up across her bare shoulder. She wrapped in on herself, arms tight against her stomach. Uneasy brown eyes flickered towards the ground, tracing the cracks in the wood beneath her feet. He seemed smaller in front of her, the bravado she’d encountered in Catalyst Headquarters had been shrugged off. Here he wasn’t Hades, he was Leo. Suddenly, she felt very much like Lydia and not Persephone. 

“Oh.” she paused for a moment unable to process the words. Her eyes creased in confusion as she stepped back from the door way. “Come in,” she motioned in towards the small home. “There’s nothing you have to be sorry for.”

“Adora and Achilles aren’t always here. You’ll need to schedule an appointment before meeting with them.” Hades grunted. There was a short pause before he nodded his head. “I’ll tell him you passed by. Other than that, there’s nothing I can do for you. You know you’re way out.” 

He made a move to leave before he finally met her gaze. “Things don’t have to be difficult. We can just stay out of each other’s way and everything will be fine.” 

She cursed herself for clinging onto childish hope, onto the thought that after all these years things might be different, but Leo had become Hades, and she had become Persephone. It seemed they were destined to dance between the days of spring and the underworld without so much as a glimpse of the other. 

“Yeah, stay out of each other’s way,” she repeated softly. Her glance trained back on him, on the sharp curve of his jaw to the gentle slope of his shoulder. She wondered if she could pinpoint the place where she’d given him an ill fated stick n’ poke tattoo, if she touch grasp it in her hands. But despite his vicinity, he was farther out of reach than he’d ever been. 

END

“But what if it’s poison? Or something I’m allergic to? Like shellfish?” She asked with wide eyes as if she was actually concerned for her own well being. Lara didn’t actually think shellfish allergy is a coded cause of death in this game. “I’LL EAT IT!” She said with excitement and opened it. Then she stopped and fished out a coin from her pocket to pay for it first. The last time she ate something before paying for it caused her to burst out crying. “Well, the last time, the vendor was a meanie.” She said before opening it and putting it in her mouth. Then she coughed. “SPICYY! AHH AHH!”

Lydia’s face creased in concern as her hands flew to grab it from Lara’s. Seeing her sister like this drove a hole in her heart that ached and weighed. She tossed the unfamiliar item in her hand, finding its ingredients. “That was a pepper.” She hissed, pulling Lara away from the booth. “You have to be more careful.”

PLAYER: ARGENT FLOOR: 25 LOCATION: MARKET

“I’m not sure that my health bar will go up with this.” She said after taking an unknown vial from one of the vendors. “What’s inside this anyway? Do you know?” She asked turning to the figure behind her.

“Your health bar will go up with whatever you buy.” Lydia said nudging Lara’s shoulder. Days like this were highlights, where she could step out with Lara and find some sort of solace in the most mundane of tasks. “’Dunno, maybe you should eat it and find out, buy it first though. You don’t wanna get yelled at like last time.”

Of course she was Unity’s liason. 

Hades thought back to where Achilles or Adora might be, but found that he didn’t know. So now he was left alone to deal with things as best as he could. Brilliant. “I don’t know. I haven’t seen either.” He replied curtly. “Do you have an appointment with Achilles? Does he know you’re here?” His questions were terse and his gaze flitted from one corner of the room to another, effectively avoiding her person. 

Persephone bit her bottom lip, tugging it between her teeth, a nervous tic she’d developed over the years. “I don’t-” she pouted. God, she felt like an idiot, of course she’d be in front of him for the first time in three years and act like a moron. “It was really just all Cartanica’s work, I only came as a representative, I don’t know a lot I’m sorry.” Her heart sunk in her chest one thousand fathoms deep. She was a grown woman but around him she turned into a foolish little girl. 

Hades pulled away, running a frustrated hand through his hair, a low growl crawling up his throat. This was too much, too much information to handle for one fucking lifetime. They stood there in silence, Hades’ shoulders tense, eyes locked on the floor as he waited for the tension to calm down. Seeing her face, hearing her voice… A minute passed, and then another, and another… The silence was deafening, and before he knew it, they’ve been standing there for over fifteen minutes without another word. 

That was when Hades realized there was really nothing more he could do. Lydia was here. She was stuck here and he could do nothing but accept it. There was nothing between them, not anymore, her presence shouldn’t have affected him the way that it did. 

But god, it did. Hades felt the walls he so carefully brought up now crumbling around him. He lifted up his gaze slightly to meet hers and sighed because it wasn’t fair. How could she stand there and look so beautiful while the world around him seemed to stop? 

“This doesn’t change anything.” He looked up at his cursor, than at her own. “What business do you have here in Catalyst?” 

His gaze wrenched a feeling out of her she thought had disappeared entirely. Something sharp and aching the begged to claw its way out of her throat and burn words onto her tongue. Lydia’s nose scrunched willing any tears forming to dissipate. 

She felt so vulnerable it was overwhelming, he could have taken her heart right then and there and she would have given it to him. God he was...he was Leo. The youthfulness and joy had been drained from his face, in stead of it remained a man far more weathered than she had once known. Any trace of that man was crushed under the weight of Velia.

His words cut, she tried not flinch. Surely she knew it didn’t change anything but hearing the phrase from his lips made it seem even harsher. She clutched the corner of her cloak. “I’m Unity’s liaison, we’re supposed to talk about some alliance dealings. Is your leader around?” 

↱ = being lost with them. 

Hades stiffened as he felt her arms wrap around him. It’s been too long… too goddamn long since he last… This was bad. His hands immediately went to her waist, as if by instinct, only to pull away when his heart couldn’t handle the thunderous beating against his ribcage. He watched her curl in on herself, her tears adding to the cracks in Hades’ heart. 

He looked up at her username and cursed. Persephone. 

He shook his head, unable to wrap his thoughts around the fact that the woman he had loved with all of his heart was now in front of him. Life was cruel and sick. 

“I swear I didn’t do my name on purpose I just-I didn’t know you…Sawyer said you weren’t.”

Sawyer. Hades growled before grabbing her wrist and pulling her to an unoccupied room in HQ. “No, you can’t say her name either. Listen to me, do not talk about my sister, okay? Are we clear?” He took several steps back before running a hand through his hair in complete and utter shock over the situation. “God, Lydia, w-what…? How?” 

His touch burned the sensitive skin of her wrist, she wanted it again, she craved it. She would have gladly thrown herself into the fire just to feel it again. The heart inside her chest had swelled into something that would swallow her whole. Every second felt like it had been split into eternity. The world moved around her in a fog as he stood before her. 

“I’m sorry.” She said, her teeth catching the bottom of her plush lip. Her heels rocked uneasily, riding the wave of electric energy that buzzed under the surface of the room. She sniffed, willing herself not to cry again. 

“I...” the story was simple enough but her words felt foreign and uneasy, if she said one thing wrong he wouldn’t stay, wouldn’t look at her anymore. “...lara, and lucy, we all...we thought it would be fun.” She’d been moping about their breakup when Lucy had convinced her to join Velia...this was her own fault.