From Ash to Fire

Eleven

It would be a lie to say that my heart hadn't picked up its pace. I could hear it in my ears as I leaned unbearably closer to him watching as his eyes fluttered closed and his lips puckered out just the tiniest bit.

But I didn't enjoy his tit for tat.

So instead, I placed a gentle kiss that lingered for a few more seconds than it should have to his cheek. Regret had filled me and washed over my face in a blush I couldn't contain while a fire consumed my insides.

An anger in my mind that was driven by a need for intimacy, with a man I didn't even know, that I couldn't keep running from for much longer.

"I suppose that's fair." Hades happily hummed before I could even fully lean away from him. He scooped me into his arms without a moment for me to even protest.

He cradled and held me as if a baby, taking his strides towards a hill that sat at the top of town. Overlooking the condo-like buildings that stretched as far as the eye could see.

"I can walk, Hades." I said, even if I had found a spot on his chest that deemed itself worthy of my cheek. He simply ignored me and sat on a bench with me on his lap.

The Underworld didn't seem so big from up here. It was like a mind game, playing a trick with perception.

And no matter how peaceful it all seemed, it still didn't feel like I was welcomed.

Everyone carried on with their afterlives, all knowing I didn't belong.

"This is your kingdom." I thought out loud. Holding onto Hades as if I'd roll down the hill and into hell if I let go. "You told me there once were trees."

"There were. Right where we're sitting there once was a beautiful willow tree."

"What happened?"

"War." He sighed, gripping my body as tight as I was to him. "My brother lost his patience and decided to play dirty. Destroyed a lot of my land. Killed a lot of my people.

"Is there still a war?"

He glanced down, "there hasn't been in centuries. What you're seeing now is the rebuilding of homes and spirits. After the loss of so many, I put my pride aside and accepted defeat."

"That was brave of you."

"I didn't wave a white flag, my little shade." He admitted with a small twitch to his lip. "I lost all that I loved and for that, I murdered everyone that got in my way of peace. And now, all that remains in my kingdom left in shambles and my people who think I gave up on them. They see as an unfit leader with a bloodlust. In a way.. I think they're right."

"They're stupid for believing what they see and not what they know is true." I whispered even though I hadn't even meant for it to escape the prison of my mind. "Sorry, I-"