Lords of the Underworld [malexmale]

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

"Hades! Oh gods, Hades!"

I blinked several times, then mentally cursed myself for my own stubborn stupidity. I'd fallen asleep again, and once again, I was... dreaming? Hallucinating? Either way, I wasn't where I was supposed to be. I was supposed to be in a cell rotting in Tartarus where I belonged, but instead, I was back in time again.

Laying on the ground, bleeding as my lungs struggled to take in oxygen, but only filled with fluid that bubbled up my throat and down the sides of my face. The bitter taste of iron, of blood. I choked for air, blinking rapidly as I looked around to see that I was in the woods somewhere... No, not somewhere, rather, Olympus. The grass was soaked with my blood, so red that it hurt my eyes to look at, so I looked up to see Demeter leaning over me, breathing hard as tears welled in her eyes.

Gods, she was beautiful in her gold armor. It glinted in the sunlight that poured through the leaves of the trees around us. Her curly brown hair spilled down her shoulders from beneath her gold helmet that dipped down between her eyes to protect her nose, and down the sides of her face to protect her flushed cheeks. She reached up, tore the helmet off and tossed it aside before doing the same with mine, making me hiss in pain.

"Demeter..." I choked and coughed, struggling to get air into my lungs. Demeter sniffed helplessly, cupping my face in her hands.

"Oh gods, Hades. Can you hear me? Stay with me. Let me get Hestia," She said quickly, then shot to her feet and cupped her hands around her mouth, "Hestia! Hestiaaa! We need you!" I struggled to breath as the air rippled and Hestia appeared a moment later, wearing her gold armor. The moment she saw me, she paled and ran to me. She hands ripped the black breastplate of my armor off to reveal the damage beneath.

"H-How did this happen?" She asked in horror, placing her hands over the wound. I struggled to breath, then choked on more blood. Demeter cursed and lifted my head, allowing me to suck in a sharp breath of air before more blood pooled into my throat. Hestia sent a blast of power through my veins and I hissed in agony, grabbing Demeter's arm. She took my hand and gave me a squeeze, sending her energy in to assist with the healing process before I coughed up more blood. This time, I was able to suck in deep breathes of air. I gasped, relieved at the sweet taste of oxygen.

I trembled as they helped me stand, but my legs wobbled and my vision tilted so I fell against Demeter, who caught me against her.

"Shit, Hades, are you all right?" She asked in concern. Hestia touched my neck and braced her arm across the front of my chest.

"He's stil recovering. The physical damage his healed, but his mind is struggling with it. We need to retreat. Where's Zeus and Poseidon?" She demanded, looking at Demeter, who scowled.

"Forget those two freaks. We need to get back to base."

"We can't abandon them. Just take Hades back--"

"No," I rasped, pushing away from Demeter, who frowned and went to help me when I stumbled, but I caught my balance, shaking my head as Hestia looked at me in concern, "No, I'm fine. We need to keep moving. Zeus is in trouble. Cronus... Cronus was here. He took off with Zeus. We need to help him." Demeter's eyes widened in terror and Hestia paled further before they nodded in agreement. We turned and teleported to the front entrance of Olympus. The forest opened up to reveal the chaos that had erupted in Olympus during the battle. Corpses were littered across the ground, soaked in blood and mutilated almost beyond recognition. Temples and small homes were on fire and falling apart.

And not far away, Poseidon lay on the ground, heaving blood onto the ground before Hestia ran to him. Just past him, Cronus was laying into Zeus with everything he had. I remembered the potent fear of watching Zeus bleeding heavily. It soaked his armor and tunic. His left arm was broken, the bone jutting sharply through his flesh and sticking out just under his elbow. With his right, he swung his sword uselessly at Cronus, who roared with laughter as if the sight of Zeus failing was entertaining.