Hades

Chapter thirteen - Fury's Deal

I was not in the mood for another dream. But there I was, my dream self back in Hades' palace in the underworld. He was sitting on his throne looking sadder than death could ever look.

"She is beginning to blame you," a gravelly female voice said, whom I recognised to be The Fury.

"I know," was Hades' short reply. With the red light that was cast upon him by the flames in the fireplace, his expressions looked almost cruel.

"You must act now, do not hesitate to--"

"I will not force her hand in marriage!" Hades roared as he stood up from his throne. The light in the fire place dimmed for a moment as Hades' anger grew. He finally managed to calm himself down and returned to his seat. "She has already helped me so much. She made me realise so much more. I will not take away her free will."

"Forgive me, lord Hades," the fury finally said, bowing.

The dream vanished and I woke up. I didn't want anything to do with him anymore. He will take the life of my mother and I cannot forgive him for that.

***

Three more days until the passing of my mother. She lied in bed, unmoving, sleeping. When she woke, the doctor told us that half her body would never wake up again. She was paralysed on the left side of her body. That is if she ever does wake up again. Father held on to one of my mother's hands. Jon and Ron both sat in one chair looking sollemnly at their mother. They knew the inevitable. They knew she was going to die.

No one said a word as the four of us sat there in that room around my dying mother. The only sound was the sound of the machines beeping as they kept my mother alive.

After an hour of just sitting there and doing nothing, I could take it no more. I needed fresh air.

"I'm going for a walk," I told my father. No one stirred. I left the room.

The air felt fresh outside, compared to the rotten air in the hospital. I never really minded the hospital, until now. I hated it. I realised it would be the last place my mother would see before she died. Four cold, ugly walls and many doctors and nurses.

The light snow crunched under my shoes. I didn't realise I was walking away from the building until The Fury landed in front of me. I instantly wanted to return to that horrid building instead of talking to the vile creature.

"What do you want?" I spat. "Do whatever you makes you happy, but I will not marry your master."

The Fury folded her wings and purred. "Such courage."

She took a step closer to me. "Go away."

"I cannot force you into marrying lord Hades," she told me. "He wouldn't allow it. What he will allow though, is for me to make a deal with you."

"I don't want your deals," I told her taking a step back.

"You will want this one," she promised. "It can save your mother."

I froze. A deal to save my mother. "How?"

"Hades is death," The fury said slowly unraveling her plan. "He can stop himself from taking her. All you have to do..."

The Fury leaned in close to my face so I could see the rotting flesh i between her teeth. Her eyes gleamed. "Is marry him."

Suddenly reality hit me. This was blackmail. I would not fall for his traps, or the Fury's. I glared at the creature in front of me. "You disgust me."

I turned on my heels and walked back to the hospital, furious with all the gods and creature out there. Mentally, I cursed them all. Behind me I could hear The Fury cackle.

"Such courage!" She laughed, maniacally. "Consider my deal mortal, or are you so selfish to only care for yourself?"

I stopped walking and clenched my fists together. I turned around. "The only selfish person in this situation is Hades! He is the one afraid! Imagine, a lord blackmailing a human for his own personal safety! I am not going to help you or your master! If my mother dies, she dies. Life will go on! But I will never marry a selfish pig!"

I turned around and this time, I made sure I didn't look back.

***

My mother didn't wake up that night. She slept through her third last day of life. This made me more angry at Hades and his stupid Fury. I fell asleep too. Of course, there were more dreams.

I couldn't see anything for a while, it was just pitch black. But I could hear people speaking.

"Look at how miserable your brother is," A female voice lectured. "You ought to put him out of his suffering."

"You know very well I cannot, Hera," A male voice said. "What he has to suffer is what the law said he would."

The darkness began to rise and I found myself in a room made out of marble. There was a throne in the middle of the room made out of gold. It was sparking with electricity. The man seated in the throne was Zeus himself. In his left hand hovered a glass sphere, which he stared into, concentrating.

"I know you can and I will make sure you will," The woman on his right said.

She was dressed in white robes and she held a staff with a lotus flower on the top. Hera, Zeus had called her. I recalled history class when it was said that Zeus had a wife, Hera.

"What can I do?" Zeus asked, as though they had this conversation multiple times before.

"You can take away the law," Hera replied. "Then Hades would not have to go to Tartarus."

The glass ball hovering in Zeus' hand exploded. His chair glowed even brighter as his fingers dug into the armrest of his throne.

"If I take away the law the monsters will find a way out of Tartarus and you know it," Zeus replied trying to keep his voice even. "Tartarus himself might rise."

There was a pregnant pause. Finally, Hera spoke, "You still have to help him."

"Why?" Zeus groaned.

"Because I am the goddess of marriage and I will not see my brother cast my brother-in-law aside like that. It would tarnish my name and purpose. I will make you help him, if it is the last thing I do."

The dream vanished and I woke up. I had fallen asleep in the chair across from my mother's bed. Except there was something missing in the room. My mother. All that was left was a freshly made bed leaving me one conclusion. Death had taken my mother earlier than he said he would.