Mortal, But At Least I'm Free

Chapter 27

The din of angry, shocked, and the occasional rational voice were making Louis dizzy. He eased himself against Harry's shoulder, almost as if he could hide from the chaos. Harry wrapped an arm around Louis and buried his face into the mess that was Louis' hair. But the only had that moment.

"This is absurd!" Apollo's voice rang with the sounds of honey and clinking ice. "We won't have a demon on Olympus. It's unheard of. Besides, you didn't complete your quest Harold," Apollo looked to Harry with black rage radiating from his eyes.

"Apollo!" Artemis looked about ten feet tall as she stared down her brother. "You think you're some mystical, healing, light-giving guru, but we all know the truth. You're lonely. And bitter. Stop stealing joy from Harry because of your own inability to communicate and express yourself. It's childish, and selfish, and wrong."

"This is about integrity Artemis. This has nothing to do with me," nose to nose the twins glared each other into silence.

"Perhaps there's a way to resolve this without fighting, children?" Zeus rested a fatherly hand on the shoulders of either child. Artemis looked like she was going to buckle under the pressure of her father's hands. Apollo brushed it off dismissively, without looking away from his sister.

"No, this is about liberty. And if you want to make it about integrity, well, we could ask Themis, or Aletheia? They are more qualified than you, aren't they Apollo?" The sun god cleared his throat and stepped back from his determined sister.

"No need, sister. I'm sure we can resolve this. You can't honestly think we'd let a demon live in the heavens, with the gods? It is impossible."

"I know that Apollo. But I have a different suggestion," Artemis looked nervously at Louis and Harry now. They didn't know what she was talking about, but in that moment, when the young goddess locked eyes with an insignificant son of Aphrodite, Harry decided to trust her. Whatever it was she had planned.

He looked to Louis, who nodded his head, just as willing to trust the goddess. They looked to Artemis who visibly sighed in relief and stepped back beside the two men, ready to face the gods with them. They couldn't have been more grateful.

"We all know that the gods will not allow one of the Underworlders to live on Mount Olympus," Louis tightened his grip on Harry's hand, panic lighting his eyes. "But that's no reason to keep these two apart. When people say they are in love, the gods are the last one's with any moral ground to protest. Each of you has had any number of personal paramours. What makes these two different?" This was not the direction Harry thought she was going to take, but the gods seemed to be agreeing to it. There was a lot of eye-rolling, sighing from boredom, and nodding as Artemis spoke.

"I suggest we put them up to a different task. A new quest."

"Continue Artemis, I have a good feeling about this," Hera nodded the goddess on.

"They believe they're soulmates," Harry looked quickly at Louis, neither of them had ever said that. But Harry did believe it. He hoped Louis did too. "As we all know, soulmates are most powerful together. So we split them up again, give them a fair chance to find one another again, and let them try."

"How would you make this a quest? Drop them on opposite sides of the world and let them try to find each other? That seems too easy." Apollo was fighting back, but not irrationally. Harry wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad sign.

"No, we kill them." Louis' eyes shot to Artemis, his hands shaking. "We make them both mortal. Put them in a new age, a new era altogether. And if their souls are truly meant to be together, well, then they'll find one another. It's not a loss to any party involved," there was a general rumble of agreement, Louis' breathing was shaky. Harry didn't feel like he could move. This was a solution. And it wasn't a bad one.

"There is one more thing," Hades stepped forward, and now it was Harry's turn to panic. "I'm missing a soul in the underworld because these two decided that someone didn't need to die yet. A decision neither of which was authorized to make." Louis closed his eyes, almost like he was praying. But Harry didn't know who they were expected to plead for favor with when every god they knew seemed to be standing between them. 

"I am owed a soul."