The Messenger - Daerin

Chapter 4 - Ares

"Haerin!" Poseidon yelled, before sighing. "Where the fuck have you been?"

"In the mortal world," Haerin replied, her cat eyes emotionless as they bored directly into Poseidon's.

Poseidon rolled his eyes. "Doing what?" Haerin didn't respond. The sea deity asked incredulously, "Fucking around like this job isn't that serious. Missing a message, and not returning before night? You think this is some playtime?"

Haerin responded, "No."

"Then, why did you stay in the mortal world longer? Is there someone you know?" Poseidon demanded, his eyes narrowing at the feline girl.

Haerin bit her tongue, lying, "No." Poseidon let out a groan, turning around sharply, frustration evident in his jerky movements. Haerin waited as the god paused for a few moments.

"Don't go into the mortal world tomorrow," Poseidon ordered, swiveling back around to Haerin with an uneasy calm in his voice. "No messages are needed to be delivered or retrieved."

Haerin started, "Wait, wha–"

Poseidon interrupted her, "Athena will watch you. No fucking excuses."

. . .

Haerin got ordered by Athena to help deliver the dead, a task she hadn't dealt with for a long period of time as it was occupied by Charon and Thanatos. She needed to get herself distracted anyway. As she roamed around the columns earlier that day, she realized it was quite boring in the divine world. She wondered how she had spent almost her entire life here.

That was before she met Danielle, of course. Haerin pushed the oar into the water, feeling the liquid pass smoothly. She had mind-numbingly been transporting the dead across the Acheron River for several hours now. She was going to be sick of seeing oars for a while now. She turned around, peering at the souls who huddled themselves in the boat, looking around the cavern of the underworld.

Haerin didn't necessarily enjoy the underworld. She solely dealt with it. It wasn't exactly her type of place. She personally hated the amount of souls who were present. Millions upon millions of them overwhelmed her when she first arrived when she was six. She remembered her awkward meeting with Hades and shook her head.

Suddenly Danielle came into view again, and Haerin almost let a smile tug at her lips, but she forced it down, aware of the souls who watched her direct the boat. The image of Danielle continued to hover in her mind, however. Haerin imagined her smile which seemed perfect and her slightly wavy hair. Warmth spread in her chest, like a flickering fire.

How she could never put a name on that warm feeling. The feeling was mischievous, like Peter Pan, a character from a movie she had watched with the girl. Whenever Haerin would reach for it to discover its name, it would fly away, laughing as it twirled in loops. It felt nice, and the only way Haerin decided to describe it was warmth. It was warm. It seeped through her heart and melted all the winter, replacing it with the sun.

That was how Danielle made her feel.

Haerin didn't understand why she always gravitated toward the girl. Whenever Haerin stood within a large group, her feline eyes always seemed to turn towards Danielle, studying her laugh and the way her eyes widened when she talked about something she was passionate about. Her hands always seemed to find Danielle's, like their palms were magnets of opposite poles. Her legs always seemed to take her closer to Danielle so she could brush away a stray hair that fell on her forehead or adjust one of her hats.