Mortal, But At Least I'm Free

Chapter 11

Harry's eyelids fluttered in warm air and soft candlelight. His bed felt unusually hard today. Maybe he'd fallen asleep someplace else. That happened. He'd been known to sleep in corridors before. But that didn't make sense. He groaned. Where was Louis? Louis? Who was Louis? The man with the blue eyes. Greater demon to Hades. He was so pretty. Why did he know Louis? They were traveling? Yeah. Traveling. A quest. His quest! His sister!

Harry finally had the strength to open his eyes. He was in a well-lit cave, and the rain was still pouring down. He could hear it, but distantly.

He shivered, suddenly realizing that he only had a wool blanket covering his body. Where his clothes had gone, well, he hadn't even remembered that he was away from Olympus. So instead of worrying about it, he wrapped himself a little tighter in his blanket and enjoyed feeling warm and safe for just a moment.

As his mind was getting ready to drift away again he felt a smaller body shifting next to him on the ground. He was wide awake now. He instinctively knew that it was Louis. The only part of this adventure that he'd remembered in his sleep-deprived delirium. Louis with the pretty eyes. Louis who escorted people to the afterlife. Louis who was breathing softly next to him. Louis who wasn't crying or shivering anymore. His Louis.

Harry shifted slowly to his side so he could see the boy next to him. As he shifted Louis adjusted into him. Both wrapped in these wool blankets, Harry couldn't feel more vulnerable watching Louis sleep beside him, safe and untroubled.

Harry felt strange watching Louis sleep, especially without him knowing. So he was going to stop. His eyes were reluctant to leave the line of his jaw, so as he started to turn his body away from Louis he let his eyes trail down his neck, and across his shoulders when he saw something startling. A scar. On Louis' shoulder. It was like two overlapping diamonds. Small, but like it had been burnt into his arm.

Without thinking about it Harry reached out, he traced the lines of the scar, wondering what had happened. It looked painful, but it also looked old and healed over.

"Why are you touching me?" The groggy question croaked out from Louis' chapped lips as he looked back at Harry through foggy eyes. Harry snatched his hand back, startled by Louis speaking.

"Sorry, I just, how did you get that scar?"

"Oh," Louis pulled the blanket up over his shoulders and chest, but not before Harry could see a red flush cross his back and climb his neck. "It's nothing."

"I didn't mean to pry Louis, I just, I just saw it and it doesn't really look like something you intended to get. But it's none of my business!" Harry rushed through the last of his words, worried that Louis would feel pressure to tell him about his scars.

"Where are we?" Louis responded, ignoring their conversation altogether. That worked fine for Harry.

"Um, I don't know. I just woke up."

"You were awake long enough to start exploring my skin," Louis smirked over his shoulder at Harry who was already feeling fire climb to the tips of his ears.

"I didn't, I mean, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"

"Quit stuttering. I was joking, Harry." Louis smiled at him a little embarrassed then.

"Oh. Um, I don't know where we are," Harry couldn't meet Louis' eyes, but he didn't want to look away either. The boy was sitting up now, his entire bare back to Harry. Flawless.

"You're in my cave. I thought you boys looked like you could use some help." The strong female voice startled both men. They turned quickly to see a woman dressed all in animal skins, a bow on her arm, arrows strung over her shoulder.

"You must be Artemis," Harry whispered in awe. The goddess smiled back at him.

"You're right. It's good to finally meet you Harry, son of Aphrodite. Apollo speaks highly of you, usually."

"I take it that means he recently told you he's upset with me?" She looked away to hide the smile Harry could see breaking across her face.

"Something like that. My brother can be fickle in his praise."

"Did you save us?" Louis finally spoke up, if a bit timidly.

"Yes. But Harry took you both a very long way. You would both likely have died if not for his determination to get you through the storm. I was impressed, and you were both very lucky." Harry blushed at her praise, and Louis blushed from the memory of it all.

"Thank you Artemis," Louis whispered, wrapping himself more tightly in his blanket.

"You're welcome, demon. I won't be returning either of you the clothes you were wearing. You'll need something more resistant to the erratic weather," she left them then. Presumably to get their new clothes.

Her footsteps echoed back at them as she walked securely into the darkness. Harry fully anticipated silence, which is why he jumped when Louis rested a hand on his forearm.

"It's a slaves brand. My scar," Louis clarified when Harry looked confused. His eyes widened in surprise and shock, and then he scowled in concern.

"What happened?"
"I made a deal with Hades." Louis swallowed and pulled his hand back, leaving Harry feeling cold. "I wanted mortality. Which is never what anyone wants in the stories, ya know? And Hades struck a deal with me. If I would serve him perfectly for a specific amount of time, then I could have mortality. It was a stupid deal to make. But I've always wanted to be moral."

"Is it even possible?" Harry's hushed words made Louis chuckle sadly.

"Hades said if I did this last job he'd let me have it. But I don't know if I can do it."

"Why not?"

"Because...." Louis looked like he was considering something as tears gathered in the corners of his eyes. "It doesn't matter why. I don't want to talk about it anymore," and Louis laid back down. Harry pretended he didn't hear him crying.