#heavy sigh...

"anaxa?"

"mmh." your lover's reply is nothing more than a muted hum of acknowledgement. he doesn't look at you, nor does he stop what he's doing, but he does slow down. he does this often, but there's never any disrespectful intent behind his actions; he frequently runs on auto-pilot, too engrossed in his work to give you all of his attention.

but there's no work in front of him right now. anaxa has just come home after a particularly long day; the only thing he really needs to do is shed his clothes and prepare for bed. he seems listless this evening, appearing to glide aimlessly across the floor like a ghost from one corner to the next. watching him like this, you wonder if he's even aware that he's at home.

anaxa pauses for a moment in front of the hooks near your front door. all of your outerwear goes there, yet he stands there with glazed eyes for a moment before turning away. you grimace at the sight and walk over to him.

"anaxa, darling," you try calling his name again. he wordlessly acknowledges you again, but doesn't stop. just as he starts into your bedroom, you catch his sleeve to stop him. "you've yet to take off your coat, my love."

something about the way you address him seems to wake him up just a bit. he slowly turns to face you and you can see the deep shadow under his eye. you brush your knuckle over his cheek, a motion that makes his shoulders sag. "you're exhausted, my love." you tell him. "when was the last time you slept?"

"last night." his eye flutters shut. "albeit not for long."

you purse your lips in thought. he wasn't in bed with you at all last night — or for the past three nights. upon realizing that, you waste no time helping him shrug his coat off of his shoulders. anaxa doesn't resist and helps you. he observes you as you dart about your shared home helping him unwind.

in the blink of an eye you've managed to help him into more comfortable clothing and seat him on the bed. he moves so he's lying down as soon as he touches the mattress, much to your delight. "are you hungry, my love?" you ask as you sit beside him.

he shakes his head. "when i wake later, i—" he's interrupted by a yawn that he fails to stifle in time. "forgive me," he murmurs. "i'll eat later, my dear."

you nod in understanding. you've experienced exhaustion like this before. it breaks your heart to see the indomitable anaxagoras in such a state, but the feeling is overshadowed by relief knowing that he's in your care. you lean down and kiss his forehead, prompting him to close his eye and hum yet again.

"will you join me?" he asks. a hand closes around your wrist and you realize that he's not really asking.

"am i allowed to refuse?" you joke.

he doesn't seem to have the energy to banter with you. "i'd rather you didn't." he pulls you in, and you press another kiss to his forehead. "if you don't want to sleep, then stay. that's all i ask."

i'm so happy you like it! thank you so much for reading my silly little rambles, heh ♡ but i've been giving this a lot of thought because as of right now, i'm not 100% sure on what would act as the pomegranate seeds in this au. this is gonna be a bit of a brainstorm post, so bear with me:

it's evident that wriothesley loves and adores you enough to want to monopolize you, but he also knows that if he keeps you here for too long, you may grow to truly hate him. he can't have that, so he lets you go.

to some, the pomegranate seeds in persephone's myth symbolizes the indissolubility of marriage. i'm not quite sure if our hades!wriothesley would make you ingest something quite like that, but i do think he would give you a small mechanical device developed by the best mechanics and engineers in fontaine. this device would act as a timer that would go off on the fall solstice each year, which would signify that it was time for you to return "home".

hades would be gentle about it. he knows that you're suffering without organic plants and the initial love (or infatuation) you felt for him was dwindling by the day, so he pulls you aside one evening to propose the idea. he will send you back to the surface on the spring equinox. wriothesley will watch your expression change several times, but he will continue:

you deserve to thrive in the warmth of the sun. you need the long days and short nights that spring and summer provide. you deserve to be happy.... but there's a catch. the world in the fall and winter is no different from the fortress of meropide year-round; you will return to the fortress on the fall solstice to stay warm and cared for with wriothesley, who will ensure your happiness.

i think out of sheer desperation, you agree to his terms. if i were to circle back to the whole pomegranate seed thing, i don't think that would be necessary. like maybe it's just the prolonged time away from wriothesley that allows for your emotions to settle; the dust clears, the anger fades, and you're left feeling... hollow. you feel lonely in your bed at night. in the warmer months, you feel like the euphoria you feel is best shared with a companion -- with a loved one. what would wriothesley think about picnics with you on a grassy hilltop? would he go swimming with you? surely he'd ask you for flower crowns for sigewinne, right?

the time you spend away from wriothesley are freeing, yet simultaneously agonizing. you miss him.

so when the timer goes off on the fall solstice, you're actually eager to return to wriothesley's side. he's taken aback by your change in demeanor around him when you come back to the fortress -- you're shy around him, you get flustered so easily, and he can feel your lingering gaze from a mile away. but it's certainly not an unwelcome change. it's like a fresh start, where the two of you can now blossom into each other without the threat of resentment looming overhead.

i shudder to think about what might cause dan heng to enter another hatching rebirth after his current form, but i'd like to think that his rebirth cycle is forever stunted bc of the dan feng incident, causing him to have partial access to his memories from his past life. so regardless of what form dan heng may take next, he may not recognize you or immediately remember your relationship... but he will, without fail, love you unconditionally in every lifetime.