#cindersteps

sabazius had no other to turn to in his moment of panic when he arrives in a bright golden flash of light in @cindersteps​’ chambers. he looks unkempt when the glittering light dims, his long braided hair has seen better days as his fingers continued to pull locks this way and that. it looked as if he had seen a horror so inexplainable that the twin remains silent as he paced about. sabazius never paced about, he never looked so horrified. if zagreus was speaking to him, calling out to him in any way, life did not hear it. he did not stop his pacing to look over, this feeling that was welling up inside his chest was one he could not sort out, his feeling of both fear and suffocation, his heart racing for miles and still it would not return.

that is when typically calm hands begin to fan his face, as if trying to wave away these feelings. " i can't - " he finally says, " th - they killed - " he could not even speak in full. his himation already slipping from its perch atop of his head, " i can't breathe - i - i can't "

Sleep wasn’t necessary for Death in the slightest, but some nights when he got to spend them with Zagreus he would sleep peacefully knowing that his beloved was safe. They hadn’t been able to see much of one another since the prince started his escape attempts, but earlier he had managed to convince Zag to come lay down and rest.

Unfortunately his good intention was met with nightmare just a few hours after they had laid down. As soon as Zag started thrashing in bed Death instantly woke and quickly freed his beloved from the blanket and pulled him into his strong yet gentle embrace. This wasn’t something new and so he didn’t have to ask, simply holding Zagreus close and cubbing his back comfortingly.

Megaera rounds the corner into the pomegranate courtyard , catching Zagreus doing...something beneath the trees. Silently, she slinks over , before allowing her wing to extend , shadow blocking the dim light from closed eyes , alerting him to her presence .

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The Underworld. Gill had only heard about it in passing; only reading the whispers and myths. Many layers and sections, all amass with the souls of the dead. Truly fascinating, but terrifying.

As time rattled on, one fact stuck in his psyche, that some of those very souls could very well be there because of his own hand; a fact he grew to hate. He had always yearned in secret to see it with his own eyes. Perhaps he could, and come to terms with his own remorse.

@cindersteps​   sent   :   Don't mind zag, he's just had a bad dream and now, by law, he must give his brother a hug. Totally didn't involve sab in any way whatsoever.

it’s been so long since he was in the house of hades, sabazius could feel the way everything has changed, the bonds amongst its people and shades alike, the order and construct in which hades himself has set in place. even ... even the responses to his presence, he can’t quite get the warm, loving welcome he received from persephone, it felt like a poison to him. giving him the opposite effect than what she had hoped to give and all sabazius could do was awkwardly grin and bear it, but deny any sort of touch. 

after all, he was only here for zagreus, he was the only one he’d ever return for. sometimes unwillingly, other times riddled with homesickness as bitter as it may be. but this time, he felt something wrong, some sort of thrum in the air and before he could naturally investigate it. arms wrapped around him, holding him close and strongly, sabazius had half a mind to shift out of the embrace out of pure distaste for being touched at all until he realizes its his brother.

Thanatos wanted to personally check on the hot-footed godling after falling in battle. Even though his comment could be taken as sarcasm the death god was serious. Zagreus meant alot to him, and this reckless escape attempts worried him. 

“As the embodiment of Death I feel every time you die Zagreus, I can sense when it’s going to happen. Do you know what that is like? Knowing that something awful is going to happen to someone you care about and there is nothing you can do about it. It’s not a pleasant feeling for it to happen once, I’ve felt this 1,384 times now. What you do doesn’t just effect yourself, it effect me and everyone else in this house.”

@cindersteps​​   sent   :    [ FEVER ]: having noticed the receiver beginning to spike a fever, sender presses a cool cloth to their forehead to try and bring it down.

❛  you ...  ❜  sabazius starts, swatting at his brother's hand from where he laid,  ❛  are so overbearing.  ❜  his face was red, not out of embarrassment but out of sickness  -  or well, the god - equivalent to illness. he had gotten caught up in something that had left sabazius fighting off a deep seeded poison surging through his veins and as a result. a fever had risen, zagreus had panicked when he had felt his brother's forehead. apparently he was scorching hotter than the flames in asphodel. sabazius couldn't really tell. 

@cindersteps​   sent  :    ❛ will i see you again? ❜

he can’t remain here, sabazius knows full well that what zagreus has finally restored, sabazius would be the cruel, disappointing brother to brake it once more  :  family. something they both wanted so deeply, something zagreus achieved, but in turn, left his twin behind in the picture. though, it is not his fault  -  it would never be zagreus’ fault for the circumstances of sabazius’ existence. it’ll never be his brother’s fault as to why persephone does not accept him as her son, why hades looks through him as if he is one of the shades that stand before that towering authority. no, it’ll never be zagreus’ fault, but life could not exist in such deathly halls, a place so void of everything he needed so deeply. where zagreus failed to do by sheer birthright, sabazius surpassed, and so surpass he shall. 

he remembers when nyx had given him a set of royal garments in hopes that one day, he, too, would rise to that title. but that day never came, sabazius was a prince only by hearsay. it was something he has gotten past in the end. so it’s now no longer royalty in any way, a reclamation of their meaning to now be the garments of life. the fabrics were soft, light, there weren’t heavy in the way zagreus’ were, where he’d have to fiddle with them to keep them neat and not bunched up by his brother’s careless nature with them. finally finishing with the long, thick braid that he now draped over his shoulder, careful hands brought the long fabric of his himation up and over his head.