Hades

Chapter Thirty Two - The Lullaby

Chapter Thirty Two: The Lullaby

Hades returned to the mournfully quiet room where Harusame lay. Uxi fluttered nervously through the congregating Farfalle Thanatos as he arrived.

'Master!' she cried, swooping close to him. 'I was scared I'd never see you again!'

'How is she?' he asked, moving straight to the bed.

Harusame was no longer sleeping peacefully. Her face was damp with sweat and her chest rose and fell quickly in painful, laboured intakes of breath.

'Not good,' said Uxi. 'She still hasn't woken up and her temperature just keeps getting higher and higher. I managed to fly in a wet flannel from the bathroom to ease her fever, but in this body I just can't do much to help her.' She looked at Hades in sympathy while he leaned over the girl. His eyes were darker and sadder than usual as he stroked her hair soothingly.

'I'm back,' he told her unconscious form in a whisper. 'I won't leave you again, okay?'

Uxi felt like an intruder on this tender moment. 'Master...how did it go?'

'It didn't,' he replied, not taking his eyes from Harusame's face. 'You don't have to worry. It looks like you got your way. I'll be coming back to the Underworld.'

'Believe me, Master; this is far from my way.'

He looked up at her briefly, and his expression almost broke her heart. 'Would you leave us alone, please Ux?'

*

By the time the sun crept over the horizon, Hades had replaced Harusame's cold compress many times but her fever had not broken. The instinctive need to take care of her seemed to push the inevitable out of his mind, and worried that a lack of fluids would only hasten her time of death, he held her upright while pushing a glass to her lips. The water dribbled down her chin, but he was unsure whether she'd swallowed any.

In desperation, he scanned the room for her medication but could not find it anywhere. 'Where the hell does she keep the stuff? Think!' he reprimanded himself, while turning her apartment inside out. As he pulled one of her kitchen drawers open, he stopped and stared in puzzlement. A month's supply of her pills, their bottles unopened and untouched, was stashed in the drawer. Hades picked one up and held it in his hand, turning it over slowly. 'You little fool,' he thought, feeling cold inside.

He tipped a small dosage into his palm, but again faced the difficulty of how to feed it to her.

'Not making this easy on me, are you?' he asked her in soft tones, leaning her upright against him once more. In her fitful sleep Harusame whimpered. Hating himself, Hades pushed the tablet past her lips and held the water to her mouth once more, hoping against hope her reflexes would take care of the rest and that he hadn't in fact just choked her to death. He watched anxiously as she coughed and gasped for a moment, and then gulped the medication down her swollen throat. She grimaced, and gave a little shudder.

He smiled weakly. 'Does it taste that bad? I'm sorry, but it's good for you. Uxi fed me a raw egg yolk once; supposedly her cure for a hangover but it made me even sicker. Heh.' He continued to caress her forehead, and was horrified at how hot she felt. 'You're burning up,' he said, laying her down on the pillow once more. 'C'mon, after all we've been through you're just gonna leave without even saying good bye? Don't leave me yet. Don't leave me...'

*

By mid-morning, to Hades' immense relief, Harusame's temperature seemed to be going down. Her heavy breathing became calmer, and the fiery flush upon her cheeks cooled. Her brow uncreased and she whimpered no longer, but still she did not open her eyes. Hades began to feel hopeless.