Young Gods [Hades]

Young Gods

The God of Death knew Zagreus would die. Dying was what Zagreus did best. In fact he told him so and he was regretting it now.

"Beat you again," the Son of Hades had said as the last of the wretches' remains wisped into thin air. Or the closest thing you could get to air in the underworld. But the way he'd spoken. He'd taken so little pride in the victory. "At this point I'm starting to think you let me win."

Thanatos had scowled. He'd never held back. If he ever dueled him head on as the Furies did, Zagreus would never get out of here. He feared what his power would do to him. Destroy that last bit of mortal in him. Snuff out the green in his eye. He sometimes wondered if that was why Lord Hades never tasked him with thwarting Zagreus's escape attempts. It was a fear that tempted him in his weaker moments nonetheless. Zagreus would never leave. But he'd also be dead.

He'd tossed the spare centaur heart to Zagreus whose worst injuries seamlessly closed when he caught it. "If I have been letting you win," Thanatos had said, drawing his power, "then the only thing you do best is die."

The last thing he'd seen before he warped back to the House was the despair on Zagreus's face.

Now, he waited with Hypnos, ignoring his brother's explanations of his newest record-keeping strategy, for Zagreus to return. And there it was. His death felt like a skipped heartbeat. At least, that's what Thanatos thought a missed heartbeat would feel like - like a string being pulled taut.

A moment later, the Son of Hades emerged from depths of the Pool of Styx, wiping the red liquid from his limbs. He strode down the hall, not lifting his gaze from the floor. As he approached, Hypnos began blabbering about the Minator and Thanatos said over him in a cool greeting, "Zagreus."

He did not acknowledge either of them. Zagreus could take a joke, even on a bad day... or night. Where was his smirk? Even the sparks spitting from his feet seemed duller. Was it possible to die so many times that you lost all the life in you?

Thanatos drifted to the opposite side of the hall and stood in the doorway to the lounge. He could only see Zagreus's profile from his vantage. Only the red eye. Was the green one even still there?

In all his eons, Thanatos so rarely felt the urge to apologize, but it echoed in him now. This was his fault somehow. His fault.

Just as he was about to go to him, Megaera set a bottle of nectar and a pair of glasses on the table. The Fury was much better at being his friend than he was. They bantered with ease, their boundaries were apparent, she could even kill him without consequence (unless his fears were founded and the deaths were truly wearing away at Zagreus's mortality). Something undoubtedly witty came from her pink lips that made Zagreus smile. He was smiling.

Thanatos sighed, soothing the unrest in him. The last time he'd felt like that... he supposed it had been when Zagreus first died.

He hadn't witnessed it. At least, not visually. He'd gotten lost and fallen into the River Phlegethon. Thanatos had felt it when he burned, had felt that string go taut and slack again. He'd run straight for the Pool of Styx, Hypnos trailing after him more out of habit than interest. And there he was up to his neck in red, gasping and flailing. Zagreus reached for Thanatos, but he did not move to help him. He was the God of Death. Until that moment, Zagreus had been as immortal as the rest of them. But now he could die.

Mother Nyx was the one who warped to their side and lifted Zagreus from the swell, knowing, perhaps as Thanatos had known, of his death. She carried him away in her arms, soothing his sobs and leaving her other sons by the edge of the pool.

Only later did she summon them, once Zagreus was resting. She knelt before them. Thanatos never witnessed her lower herself so again. "My children." Mother Nyx looked between both of them, but Thanatos knew her words were more for him as she spoke. "Zagreus is well. He has just proven to be more... temporal than we believed. You must be more gentle in your play with him in the future."

"Will he die, Mother?" Thanatos burst out. "For good?" Hypnos's eyes brimmed with tears.

Her hand traced the curve of Thanatos's cheek. "I do not know, my child. But I know his strength. Never think him fragile."

But she must have had some doubts. Or else she would not have warned them and Lord Hades would not have requested the warrior shade to train him.

But strength he proved to have in droves. Not only physically, but in his personality too. Every smile and joke and laugh was pure resilience. It was a kind of strength Thanatos envied. But he could end a mortal no matter their strength. He sometimes feared his very presence ate away at their vitality. At Zagreus's vitatilty.

It was only on Zagreus's insistence that they stayed close and now... The Fury laughed at something Zagreus said. He was seeking out her company more and more often. Thanatos's jealousy was certainly not lending him any kindness toward Zagreus.

The Son of Hades stood, leading Megaera by the hand around the tables. Thanatos paralleled their steps, peering down the east wing as they crossed from lounge to Zagreus's bedroom.

Megaera brought him life, but Thanatos... Thanatos could only give him death. And who was he to fault him for living?