#over 13

Hades, Lord of the Dead, King of the Underworld, a God of dark reputation and even darker moods…was swaying back and forth on his feet next to a crib, deep mountainous rumble of his voice softened, gentled as he sang to the babe cradled tenderly in massive arms.

"Fates weave their threads

Our lives are sewn

Born to a life

All but our own

We feel it inside our bones

It's in the blood

It's in the blood

It's in the blood, oh

Oh, it's in the blood

It's in the blood

Loves in your life

Live ever on

Home is not where you live

But who cares when you're gone

They'll follow you to the beyond

It's in the blood

Oh, it's in the blood

It's in the blood, oh

Oh, it's in the blood

Run all you like

From the place you belong

It's always there

It's in the air

Your dearest kin

Below the skin

It's in the blood

Oh, it's in the blood

It's in the blood, oh

Oh, it's in the blood"

The Princess of the Underworld, his beloved daughter Melinoë, only 3 months old and yet the God could see wisps of blond locks like his beloved Persephone and the signature dual gaze of his crimson and her emerald only for Melinoë reversed from her brother's. And like her brother the infant princess was already very stubborn. She had absolutely refused to settle down unless her Lord and Father held her and began to speak.

His voice was soothing to his children, Zagreus much the same as his sister had only been able to sleep if he was held and spoken to for many years of his childhood. And a few secret times in his adolescence the two never spoke of but treasured.

He watched those dual eyes flutter and close and it felt like he'd taken Varatha to his chest in one of Zagreus' security runs in both fondness and pain of what he had to do shortly.

Hades' crimson eyes shut a moment as he lowered his head and pressed it with all the tenderness a God like him was capable of against the smaller one. A murmur passed between them, full of emotion he wouldn't name.

"Though you won't remember us, our blood is entwined with yours. You carry our love with you always….I only pray you, your mother and brother will forgive me for what I do, Daughter."

Never mind he'd already spoken to Persephone already about this, that she had given him her blessing as much as it had tore at her as well to lose another child so shortly after birth. That Zagreus had done the same despite his immense frustration at the fact his family was going to be separated again though why, he knew not.

Hades hadn't wanted his stubborn, wilful, brilliant fool of a son to spend his last free moments aware of what was coming, Zagreus was still so young and deserved peace of that. Peace, Hades didn't feel he himself deserved.

The Underworld's King felt like he weighed as much as the boulder Sisyphus had been ordered to push uphill for trying to cheat Thanatos. He placed a kiss against Melinoë's head, his beard tickled her and if she were awake the chambers would've echoed with the delight of her laughter. But as it was, the infant princess smiled in her sleep and turned closer to her Father's broad chest.

Then he turned to the shadowed corner of the room. Eyes of teal green flame opened as Hecate stepped out. The Witch of the Crossroads said nothing as she opened her arms, Hades crossed over in two strides and hesitated only a fraction before he placed Melinoë into them.

Hecate as Persephone's handmaiden had held the young princess before and was fond of her, it made what he would command next easier. Though truly it felt like the words came from tar in his throat.

"Take her with you when you return to shadow, Hecate. Raise her as we would."

The witch protested almost immediately, he expected her to, didn't begrudge it. Understood why even if they'd discussed this as a last resort and hadn't wanted to do it.

"But Lord Hades, I-"

Hades cut her off firmly. With the same unyielding command softened so the sleeping babe wouldn't wake, his hands slightly clenched into fists at his side not in anger but so he didn't take Melinoë back into his arms despite himself.

"You have your orders. Now return to shadow. And, take care of her, for all of us."

Hades couldn't take his eyes off Melinoë, drank in every detail of how she looked now. He wouldn't be able to see her again for…he didn't know how long. If this plan would even work. He wanted to reach out, to trace her face one more time, to have just a few moments more with his daughter in his arms, in their home where she belonged…but he couldn't.

Not with Time breathing down his neck.

Hecate's voice was solemn and slightly choked as she held the infant closer to her chest protectively.

"No harm shall come to young Melinoë, my lord. In this, at least, I shall not fail you."

A magic circle opened up under her feet. The witch spoke one word as she vanished with cargo more precious to Hades than the ore amid his realm.

"Farewell..."

Hades waited until they were gone, as it happened in one blink to the next, before he breathed out two words that felt like they shook more than one of Poseidon's earthquakes.

"Goodbye Daughter…"

He took a deep breath, to stop the quiver in his chest and the burn in his eyes, to gather himself back up before he left the chambers to tell Persephone and Zagreus it was done. That Melinoë was safe and he would fight all he could for both of them to run when the moment came.

Only, when he stepped out, what he saw made a chill worse than any winter Demeter could make go down his spine.

Nyx, Primordial Goddess of the Night, who had become as dear as his Persephone to him in her way but without any romantic connection, was frozen in place by a dome of golden sand. He approached, she didn't look injured for which was a relief as he called hesitantly.

"Nyx?"

No answer. No sign of movement as her eyes remained shut as if in concentration. His heart picked up slightly with dread, nausea curdled in his stomach. Care slipped into his tone as he half hissed half shouted.

"Nyx? Nyx! Answer me! Blast…"

Nothing, she couldn't hear him. If she was even aware under the spell and not caught in the same thought she'd been in when trapped.

Hades stepped out of the hall into the main foyer of his House and felt like his stomach dropped and the air was stolen from his lungs. If he had been a God of weaker constitution he might have emptied his stomach. As it was one word slipped from him with all the horror of Deimos and Phobos' auras combined.

"No…"

Thanatos, duty driven and bound by loyalty, was trapped mid scythe swing as his cloak billowed around him like a pair of corvid wings, stoic face twisted with a snarl of defiance he must've picked up from Zagreus.

Beside him, her kind face severe with rage that would've made Hades step back had it been directed his way, was Persephone who looked all the more like a goddess of war and not spring as her green chiton would indicate. It was becoming spring she'd been about to prepare to leave for six months- The vines caught mid lash with poisoned thorns and blade sharp blooms said as much.

Demeter was never going to forgive him -he wouldn't forgive himself- for letting this happen.

Just to the right of his wife was Dusa, the Shade normally as skittish as a chick among foxes, had her fangs bared and all snake eyes aglow for petrification or to pierce with a venomous bite if nothing else. She looked more like her former self as the mythological Gorgon Perseus had slain long ago.

In front of Dusa was Achilles, legendary demigod warrior turned mentor to his son and guard over the House in the afterlife, had his spear mid thrust forward, face caught in a battle cry with the expression of a man who had found something to fight for again and would not lose it again. The wedding ring on his left hand a match for the hand in Elysium that had waited so long to hold its partner.

To Achilles' right was Megaera, one of the Furies he employed to punish the Wretches in Tartarus but unquestionably more loyal and personable than her sisters, had her wing extended out behind her mid lunge forward, magic sparked at her claw tips and whip uncoiled mid snap, expression thunderous and vaguely bloodthirsty more reminiscent of her sister Alecto.

To the Achilles’ left was Cerberus, the three headed hound that guarded the Underworld Gates both to keep all inhabitants inside where they belonged and to keep the mortals on the surface from getting in before their time passed, the fearsome beast didn't look at all the normally placid family pet he usually did, all three heads had mouths opened and expression twisted in a wrathful snarl, fire licked at fangs as sharp as any blades, fur bristled, massive paws inches from being slammed into their target with the weight of a mountain.

In the center as if a leader was Prince of the Underworld his son and heir half in the world of the living but tied to the realm of the dead, as stubborn as his father and compassionate as his mother, foolhardy, reckless and more loved than Hades had ever been able to express- had a bloodstone ready to cast and Stygian a mere inch from its destination, the blade's glow of summoning still left around the handle as his son had forced it to his side despite the rule of no weapons in the House. His expression more violent than he'd ever seen even when the two of them were biting insults at each other.

The formation they were in was one of battle, hardest hitters at front in Zagreus, Achilles, Cerberus and Megara, support in the middle in Thanatos and Dusa and magic user in the back in Persephone, each in range to defend the other.

But as close as they had been their target had moved just a second too fast…and now they were all in the same state as Nyx. Frozen under golden sand. Caught in time.

By the bastard sat in his throne as if he owned it.

Chronos' voice slithered like in his nightmares from the depths of Tartarus. But he wasn't in a nightmare as much as he wished he was. He was all too awake…

"Hello Hades…"

The God of the Dead felt his breath hitch in his throat, soft enough he only barely heard himself. There was a small mercy that, that he could hide how badly this affected him. That his family couldn't see how he felt like he was drowning where he stood under a fear so stark he couldn't breathe.

He'd heard those same words in that same tone when- no. He couldn't afford to be locked in his memories. Not now. Even as his spine crawled as Chronos continued to speak, polite veneer over something monstrous.

"Ahh, there you are, my son. Grown a full beard and a broad frame, I see. And now you have a family of your own! How full of life they are, despite the dour environs."

Hades didn't feel grown for all the fear that thundered in his chest louder than Zeus' storms. But he mentally shook himself and forced himself to speak, forced the polite tone into his voice and kept it from shaking. Though he hesitated every so often as he fought with his own heartbeat he managed to get out.

"Greetings, Father. I... was not expecting your arrival. You... must forgive us that the House was unprepared for guests. To what do we owe the pleasure of your company?"

He almost wanted to throw hospitality aside, to do something so out of character it would get Zeus' attention, to get Olympus' attention. But that moment of cowardice slipped away almost as soon as it had come. Hades would not endanger more of his family.

He was the eldest. It was his job to protect his family and he would sooner drink from all five Rivers at the same time than let someone he cared for be hurt or trapped, even if his relationship with the Olympians wasn't as close it was still better than it had been in centuries.

Chronos luckily didn't seem to notice the internal battle as he responded casually, as if they were just sitting down for tea. At least at first. The tone turned biting toward the end.

"Oh, you know, for one thing, I was in the area! You might recall the time you, Zeus, and the rest of you little brats cut me to ribbons? Sprinkled all my bits all throughout Tartarus?"

Hades growled a little, his crimson eyes narrowed as he subconsciously straightened. He may have not had domain over justice like his youngest brother but the Lord of Death hated lies. Lying had no place in his House, in his realm. Though the growl faded as he asked the question that had burned on his tongue since he'd seen the utter horror of his family frozen, of his innermost fear made manifest.

"Father... that was a war you started and you know it! We took no joy in what we had to do! But how can this be? l thought that you were gone...!"

Chronos huffed and if the Titan had been more impolitely inclined Hades was sure his eyes would've rolled.

"Do not sound so disappointed! It is / who should be disappointed here, not you. You thought I was gone? I was! But it turns out spite is a powerful motivator. Blood sacrifices also helped."

All at once Hades understood. The damned Satyr in the Temple of Erebus, they'd never been under his command, too close to the surface. Blood and Darkness. They'd been influenced by his father to put him back together. The God swallowed, just slightly. Enough to force the words out.

"What do you intend to do? And... what have you done to the others? To my family?!"

He couldn't contain the care and concern at the last part. If any of them had been awake he was sure a few of them would've done a double take, but blast it they were his family. He was just relieved Orpheus had been with Eurydice when this had happened, for the two musicians be separated again because of him -no not him this was not his fault- would've hurt worse.

Chronos sighed almost as if Hades had said something naive and the God did his best not to bristle.

"Your cries fall on deaf ears. Fear not, my son. I have not eaten them or anything. I have merely... set them aside. They stand imprisoned in a moment that shall never pass. My qualm is not with them."

Hades felt like the floor had fallen out from under him at what was referenced and he couldn't breathe for a moment. That tone. That monstrous voice that had haunted his nightmares so long, he tried to control it but the flashback took him hard.

He was just a boy, a godling too young to even know what his powers were yet. In mortal years he'd have been just six months. He'd wandered around on Mother's creation drawn by the sound of the running water of a river. It had been jet black like obsidian shadow and glittered as it had trailed off to parts unknown to him then. Then he'd heard Father call him. In that same tone.

"Hello Hades…"

He'd turned to answer, confused as he hadn't heard the Titan approach, unaware of the danger in that tone. Innocent in the way any child could be, so young to what the world could do.

Then he'd been grabbed up tightly, too tight, it had been hard to breathe. He'd struggled, squirmed, and he'd felt fear for the first time as he'd seen Chronos' mouth open. Hades had tried to call for his mother, for help, but he couldn't make a sound before he'd been swallowed.

Hades came back to himself, to the present, when he felt his fingertips tremble where they dug into his palms, he'd clenched his fists tight. It was the only sign of any sort of distress. He forced himself to breathe, to growl out as if he wasn't affected by the memory.

As he reminded himself that he'd discovered his powers at that moment and given Chronos horrific heartburn and ulcers in recompense. That he was not helpless anymore.

"...Olympus shall have your head. You can take mine, for all I care, blast you! But don't you dare harm anybody in my House."

The last part was said with a thunderous command that fit his title of Lord of the Dead, Hades didn't care what happened to him. Not of it meant the others were safe, but if Chronos harmed his family, harmed anyone that he had under his protection in his House he would make the entire realm the Titan's worst nightmare.

Chronos tsked in his teeth but sat straighter, those pale eyes narrowed slightly as if scrutinizing the God that stood tall enough to look him in the eye.

"Tsk! You have grown so accustomed to issuing commands that you forget yourself. Though, I do have such a command for you: Tell me, exactly, where the Fates reside."

That made Hades confused, for just a moment. What in blazes would make Chronos think he of all Gods or entities that existed knew where the Fates were? He shook his head and huffed.

"The Fates? How should I know? Not even Nyx herself knows where her daughters are! Why are you... asking me...?"

Hades trailed off, his heart skipped slightly. Wait. Zagreus' room had a Fated List of Minor Prophecy, his son had busied himself with filling it out. Was that why? Did he think that they had a connection to the Fates?

It was the only thing Hades could think of. But maybe if he went with it, if he played along with the foolish gesture. He could force Chronos' attention on him, not on the Shades that made the realm home. Not on those he'd sworn to look after as they deserved.

Every single soul that passed his realm, regardless of their gender or who they loved or anything else mortals argued about, from each of the five Rivers all the way to the Gates Cerberus guarded was under his protection. Yes. Even those in Tartarus that were set to be punished.

Tartarus may have been home to those that had committed evil or offended the gods but they were still among his Realm. If the Shade showed sufficient remorse and changed, such as the former king Sisyphus had according to his son's security runs, then he would make things go to motion for reincarnation and a second chance when the time was right.

So, which that in mind, Hades chuckled. Held his hands up as if in surrender and ducked his head as if sheepish.

"You are too smart Father, but I won't tell you where the Fates reside. If you want it…."

In a move that more fit his son, as impulsive and dangerous as it was, his crimson eyes flashed. The entire House shuddered as his power flared in fiery red, the ground trembled as if under one of Poseidon's quakes had reached into the depths, he held a hand out and he summoned Gigaros to his hand.

"You'll have to rip it out of me like how my siblings and I tore you into pieces."

He pooled his power into the pool of the River Styx behind him. Through it he reached the Phlegethon, Cocytus, Lethe and the Acheron. He poured it through the Rivers into the lands connected. His voice echoed in each realm as it boomed.

"On my authority, as Lord of Death! Awaken, Wretches of the Underworld, and defend your king!"

Portals opened up, Wretches from Tartarus and Asphodel, warriors from Elysium. The power of his call was so great he managed to break Cerberus out of the sand. His faithful hound loomed behind him as the Lernian Bone Hydra's heads uncoiled from one particularly large portal with serpentine hissing, his subjects crowded at his back like an army.

There had been an unspoken command that only Shades would hear.

"On my authority, as God of the Infernal Realm, all Shades are to flee to the Crossroads where the Witch Hecate resides, flee to safety with those as the Nymph Eurydice or Warrior Patroclus, stay hidden or away until I call you back to the rest you were meant to have."

He swung Gigaros, Helm of Darkness in place and as Cerberus howled a war cry that shook the foundations of the realm. He charged forward with a guttural war cry to meet the scythe Chronos branded, his trapped family teleported somewhere out of the way as the Titan sneered at his son over the flash of weapons.

Hades knew he wouldn't be able to defeat his father, not alone. Not without his family. But what he could do was be a distraction. Make sure that for however long this took Chronos was focused on him alone. Not on Olympus. Not on any potential other grandchild that was now the Underworld's only hope.

For as much as Chronos wanted to believe otherwise, Hades and his siblings had proven Time could be slowed. Stalled. Stopped.

And none escaped the hand of death. Not even Time.

Actor hummed an old tune to himself as he adjusted his tie in the mirror and flashed himself a grin. He had just finished up setting things up for the confrontation with Dark in their next encounter, he wondered if it would work enough he could bring out Damien again. He had sent his….no not partner, that was reserved for someone else…..like minded fellow? That sounded right, out to go through the plan Actor had crafted for him about some hero, magician? Whoever the target he was after.

He’d really lucked out in meeting the other, it was always nice to have a trump card in your pocket and though he was a bit…jagged around the edges the actor was confident that the shared interest in their respective goals would help him figure out how to direct those edges the way he’d like.

His thought process was derailed when the door was slammed open. No, that wasn’t quite right, it wasn’t slammed so much as kicked in so hard it flew to the opposite wall. He whirled around, cane in hand ready to defend himself as his mind immediately jumped to William or Damien only to blink as he saw the glitch there. His smile fit into place as he relaxed.

“Oh it’s you my friend! You gave me a heart attack there-”

His voice cut off by force by a clawed hand that snapped around it with the speed of a striking cobra, or a bear trap when it shut from the pressure plate being triggered. He gagged and choked and instinctively tried to pry away the fingers that felt like they were going to snap his windpipe in two. He attempted to kick as he was lifted into the air and slammed against the wall.

Anti’s face was twisted in a near wild fury, all his fangs bared and body glitching as the lights began to flicker and dim. His eyes were glowing like a live wire as he spat out, Irish accent thickened even further than normal.

“Shut yer damn mouth. I don’t wanna hear a sound outta ye, unless I say you can talk.”

Actor couldn’t have tried to speak right now if he wanted to, he tried to nod as his vision swam with black spots. Just as he thought he was going to pass out, or need to reconstruct his throat again, he was let go and dropped like a sack of bricks. He held in the gasp as oxygen flooded into his lungs and covered his mouth to muffle the cough as he looked up at the glitch for a reason why he’d suddenly flown off the handle.

Anti’s glare was like looking at a lightning strike inches from where you stood, the sense of if he wasn’t careful he’d have to dig himself out of a grave again. The glitch stepped back and manifested his knife as he started to absently twirl it in his fingers with the ease of someone that had wielded a blade for a long time.

“I was willing to give ye a chance ya know, at working together. You talk a big game pretty boy. But you can’t cash it. I went with that ‘plan’ of yours that ye made for me. And do you wanna know what happened?”

Actor felt his stomach start to knot and sink, his heart picked up and he felt the hair raise on the back of his neck at the way the lights flickered and threatened to pop, sparks arced off of the glitch’s skin as his voice dropped into a growling hiss.

“I had the magician about to collapse at my feet when the damned timekeeper intervened. They got away from me. Oh I can find em again, easy as breathing, my strings don’t allow any less. But it’s the principle of it all.”

Actor resisted the urge to hunch in on himself as Anti’s head snapped around at a sickeningly off angle and speed and instead he began to try to save face, backpedal as he stood up. His best apologetic expression on as he tried to keep from going out of the frying pan into the fire. His eyes shone a brighter red and he weaved his own kind of power into his words like red ribbon braided together to hide blood.

“I’m sorry that it didn’t work like I intended friend, but I didn’t take everything into account it seems when I made my plan.”

That was as far as the ‘apology’, because such a word was only proper in a true sense of remorse for actions, got as he found his jaw exploded in pain from the literally lightning fast blow to one side. He felt bone crunch and fracture as he collapsed to the floor and held his jaw in place as it began to repair itself.

Only to choke and blood to spurt out of his mouth by the sharp kick that echoed with the cracking of ribs, just as quickly he was hauled up by the collar of his suit and the knife was pressed deeply against his skin. Ruby droplets trailed down the edge of the blade as Anti half snarled.

“I told you. Not. A. Sound. You must not have much grey matter between your ears, or you’re just a glutton to get your arse beaten. So let me explain this in a way you’ll be sure to understand.”

Actor winced and his eyes squinted as the glowering, searing light of Anti’s eyes were right in front of him. The knife cut in just a bit deeper into his skin. The glitch’s tone went from utterly furious about to stab someone, to calm and measured and almost cold rage that was somehow almost more terrifying.

“If you’re not one of my puppets, you get three strikes. Your first mistake was fockin things up for me reclaiming one of mine. The second one was the half-arsed, shite apology ya tried to make.”

And Anti grinned, slow and cruel and his eyes had a sadistic glint in them as he chuckled and finished in an almost croon. The lights shone green and the white noise of static snow started to hurt Actor’s ears enough to make him wince and he swore for a second something started to bleed.

“Your final strike? Thinking I was too stupid to know you didn’t expect more out of me than dumb muscle eager to get to fighting, someone that wouldn’t question anything.”

The lights flared such a bright green that it went white and then popped with the sound of fizzling soda and shattered glass. Actor subconsciously, human instinct still ingrained after so long of being inhuman, flinched, shut his eyes and covered his head. The sound of shrieking static made him cover his ears as they ached and he was positive he felt his eardrums burst, his head ached as the sound pierced through his skull.

The shrieking came again, not just a wall of sound but laughter. Actor had never been one that dealt well with being made a joke, pride bristled in indignation as his eyes snapped open and he started to growl, to snap back at the glitch for being so ungrateful for his help. His mask dropped as his true form slipped through the handsome image he portrayed. Like the true face of Dorian Grey, sickened, rotten and ugly.

Only he saw that Anti had dropped his mask as well…

Instead of a human with glowing green eyes, sharp claws and fangs to betray the inhuman underneath…what stood in front of Actor was something that could only be called eldritch. Lightning and static in a silhouette that was humanoid but not, it glitched and twisted on itself, crackling at the seams. He blinked and it shifted each time as if it couldn’t decide on how to ‘appear’. Too long, too many ‘limbs’ too long claws that took the place of fingers, jaws filled with rows and rows of razor blade fangs, it looked too big for the space it was in, the walls creaked and groaned with the strain to hold it in.

His head ached like the worst migraine he’d ever had, his ears rang and he felt blood dripping from his nose, the world felt like it tilted and he felt like he was going to throw up. There was a rumbling of thunder and then he was aware of his body falling and convulsing as his brain lit up with only agony as a reason. Past the pain and the searing white noise in his ears that felt like it was trying to break his mind apart, he grit his teeth at the shrieking, piercing laugh that had him swallow down bile.

“Already on the ground writhing like a snake without its head~ You thought you were such a tough shot because you constantly annoyed Dark, ohhh boyo you got no idea of what forces you’re playing with now~”

The sensation of barbed wire cutting and tearing, ripping into his skin as the glitch’s strings wrapped around his limbs and yanked him up to his feet. Up further still to Anti’s ‘face’…too many eyes, shades of green, black, blue and some brown, they looked like fractured images through cracks in a mirror. The glitch’s body waved and rose as it spoke, like watching a sound wave on a computer screen.

As much as Actor tried to hold it in, as he finally realized how in over his head he was, that making a deal with the glitch had been a horrible mistake, when he felt the lightning forced through his body again, he screamed. Anti’s cackling laughter of delight rang in his ears and covered the sound as it echoed in on itself.