Cold Hearted

Spirits Never Truly Die

Third Person

"It's rather simple, I need magic, you want your dad back, it's an easy trade... you let me take every little ounce of magic from your entire being and I'll bring your dad back just like that. Without your magic it would be far too much for me to handle right now... not to mention, I don't just give my services away for free. If you want your dad back, all you have to do is let me take everything you have... to keep at that"

Now that... that was the most shocking part of all, the part that Elena could barely wrap her head around. To get her dad back... she'd have to give up all her magic? Every little bit of it? It was mind-boggling to say the least, for her magic had always felt like more than just power, it was who she was, her identity even. So understandably, Elena's eyes widened a bit in complete shock, even a tiny bit of fear as she felt like this decision shouldn't be in her hands, it almost felt unnatural,

"All..... A-All my magic? And... I-I wouldn't get any of it b-back?"

Elena asked, but in her heart, she seemed to already know the answer, and it was hard to swallow. So much so that she just had to hear it once more to completely comprehend what Hades meant,

"Yup, that's just how the cookie crumbles. You get your precious father back and I get every ounce of your magic that I've been... wanting since the moment it hit my ember. We both get something we want! There's no downside to that now is there? All you gotta do is shake on it"

Hades held out his hand, keeping the other held behind his back as he simply waited for her hand to grab his. He thought with how she was reacting that this was a done deal, but was surprised as the seconds went by and she simply stared at his hand, holding her hands up in front of her to look at them. She kept glancing from her hands to his, as if she was internally debating. And she was, greatly internally debating at that. Could she live with such a decision? Either way this went she'd be crushed differently, and that was slowly proving to make the entire debate harder and harder. Either she'd live as she is now, with her magic but missing her father daily, or stripped of all that she's felt has ever made her special and with her father in her life again. Elena paused and looked down at her own hands, saddening as she didn't like having to think about life without her magic and power,

"But... m-my magic is part of w-who I am, it's what m-makes me special! It's w-what makes me... me!"

Elena quietly but passionately spoke, looking up at Hades just so he could see that she was still teary-eyed. He was a little stumped, for a moment there he was sure that she had made a definite decision towards getting rid of her power to have her father back... but it looked like that decision was going to be a harder one than originally anticipated. So he pondered for just a moment as to how he would go about things, not wanting to be terribly unfair as he didn't want to offend his daughter too much if she found out about this. He still wanted a better relationship with her of course, but if he could, he would like more power too. So Hades had an idea, one that was only slightly manipulative compared to what he could really do,

"Oh, but how would your dad feel about that sort of thing? I bet he misses you, I bet he's begging for another shot at life as we speak! I mean who wouldn't? If he loves you as much as I can sense he does, I bet the moment he sees you he'll just give you the longest hug of all time... doesn't that sound brilliant? You are only one handshake away from feeling that warm, comforting embrace again"

Hades softly spoke, trying to just give the girl a wonderful look at the reality she could have. It wasn't like he was lying, but he was smooth-talking that was for certain. Making her think about a wonderful reality, one that was indeed in reach... but he wasn't even covering how hard it would be for her to survive without her magic. He didn't even mention how it would revert everything she could do, she wouldn't be able to hear the spirits anymore, she wouldn't be able to even call them anymore. Let alone her body itself, the temperature would either be unnaturally low to the point of giving her hypothermia until it would somehow balance out or she would slowly succumb to it. That's if she could even survive the magic being pulled from her being at all, her hair wouldn't even stay the same, it would fade to her natural brown... everything about her would change for the worse.