hxdesofunderwxrld

[hxdesofunderwxrld]

His gaze had been on the table the entire time. Only when Maria returned, he looked up, still staring, still flabbergasted. He watched as she poured him the drink, but then reached for the bottle instead. Lifting it to his lips before he took a long swig.

Hades nearly choked. “Tess?” he asked in a cough. The hand holding the bottle slowly sank down again. “Why can’t I—why would my brother—?” Would this ever make sense?

Maria went behind the bar, picked out his favourite and brought it back to the table with a glass. She was quiet as she came to sit in front of him.

"She's a girl." Maria said as she opened the bottle and poured him a drink. "Well, no longer really a girl. She's called Tess and she's incredibly smart." Maria admitted. "I was pregnant when we were separated, we didn't have long to go. It's a miracle she survived, that we both did."

Maria stopped talking for a moment, waiting for him to process what she'd said. Tess was strong, stronger than both of them and since she'd been old enough she'd been working on a way to get her father back to them. Investigating, reading. She was powerful but not on the gods radars, because early on Maria had realised that the gods couldn't see Tess, they couldn't detect her at all.

[hxdesofunderwxrld]

“Excuse me – we did go well together. It was working perfectly.” Well, not quite. Of course there had been issues, but weren’t there in every relationship? They had arguments, yes, a little fight here and there. But nothing ever serious enough to call for something like a divorce.

“Who even says I want to marry again? I am not like my brothers.” Far from it. He didn’t even want anything to do with them, hence why he never showed up at their stupid Olympus. “Fuck’s sake – I always knew you’re cold. But don’t you have any kind of feelings in you?”

She could elaborate on how she challenged Demeter by taking her daughter. Most had called it an abduction. Styx had seen that she crossed her river to Hades' kingdom quite willingly. However, she did appreciate the mother's rage. It fuelled her in the most pleasant of ways, so she wouldn't intervene. And now the girl was gone, that rage could only grow. Styx was already looking forward to that.

"I am too old of a being to mingle in these petty arguments, Hades. Your next wife might be one of more convenience. Spring and death don't go well together anyway."

[hxdesofunderwxrld]

[hxdesofunderwxrld]

🎨 for Maria x Hades?

Send me a “🎨”, or send me the word “palette” if you would like an aesthetic for our muses - @hxdesofunderwxrld //Again I did two because you can't stop me and because of the lore we unlocked

In The Before

"What happens when life and death fall in love? Could it really be so terrible?"

The After

"Even when you don't know me, I'll be here fighting. I'll never stop loving you."

[hxdesofunderwxrld]

When she finally wakes up three days later, everything feels fuzzy, and she's sore all over. She's a mess and has the absolute worst scottonmouth sensation in her life. It's a struggle to rub the sleep from her eyes and blink blearily at the light in the room. Her eyes take a moment to focus before hse's recognizing him andlicks her lips before croaking out to him. "D-did you get the Scrying B-dowl back?" AS usual, her first concern is always him.

@draigfaequeen

Whoever says gods don’t sleep, has clearly never been one. They do need sleep, like mortals; they need to eat, they need to drink. Of course they won’t just die from the lack of it, but they will nonetheless feel terrible if they don’t get either. And Hades does right now. Eyes bleary, falling closed every few seconds. Still he is forcing himself to stay awake, aware, and by Ellyn’s side. She has fought hard to get the information for him, now it is on him to protect her, and to be there for when she awakes.

His eyes open once more when he suddenly hears her voice – after half an eternity, it feels to him – a soft smile coming to his lips. Hades immediately sits up and leans forward, placing his hand gently on her cheek. “Don’t worry about it now.” There is enough time to do so later. “I was worried about you.” The god frowns. “You seemed so peaceful, but—” Dead. “Do you want some water?”

[hxdesofunderwxrld]

“A—drink.” It was something like an agreement. Yes, he needed to sit down, and yes, he needed a drink. Desperately. The entire bottle, if possible, because it felt like someone had pulled the ground from underneath him. The world around him seemed to spin. Hades walked a few steps towards one of the empty booths by the wall, then let himself slump down into the soft cushions. Still staring at nothing particular. Trying to comprehend and work on what Maria had just told him.

“Parents?” he asked once more, now looking up to Maria. “W—is it a boy?” He didn’t know anything about that child, no matter how deep he was digging in his memories.

It wasn't the first time she'd seen this reaction but it never did anything to ease the pain she felt.

"Parents." Maria said quietly and nodded. "Like I said, we'd built a life and this isn't the first time I've told you all this. It's not the first time you've been made to forget." and Maria was so careful with her words then because previously she'd been careless. In the beginning she'd just said he'd forgotten them, she'd been angry though and she couldn't understand things herself. Now she understood though.

"Maybe you should sit down." Maria suggested. "I'll get you a drink."

[hxdesofunderwxrld]

It was so peaceful around them. The soft lapping of the waves, the quiet of the streets. He could hear her soft breathing as Wendy fell asleep against him; Hades didn’t move an inch. It wasn’t the most comfortable position to sleep in, but as long as Wendy felt comfortable, then so be it. He remained sitting like this until she suddenly moved. Until he felt her lips on his, tugging them into a kiss. Surprised, he didn’t move away. In fact, he leaned in, sank into the kiss, into Wendy…

His eyes opened when she suddenly stopped. Finding Wendy’s. Staring at her. “You…spoke Greek, too…” Hades muttered. Perhaps there was more to those dreams she had… “There is no need to apologise…” he whispered, leaning in again, wanting more…

"Your happy...." she hums softly. Nodding that it was usually good dreams, though there were glimpses of a moment she did not care to look towards. Though she finally dozed off, for how long she couldn't say. A moment.... an hour.... an evening.... all she knew? Was as the cobwebs of sleep still warped her she still saw Hades, looking down on her. Her face softening as a hand reached for his cheek, words Wendy could not have known slip from her lips "αγαπη μου." as she kissed the man, before her.

Though as those cobwebs finally faded, her lips still upon his, her eyes open she pulled back lost...... confused.... not offended in anyway, or regretful..... but... "I don't..... I don't know why I did that...." her eyes furrowed in confusion, her stomach dropping as she felt that whatever Wendy thought she knew crumbled below her, and a dark chasm of chaos was going to engulf her.

[hxdesofunderwxrld]

“You keep saying this. ‘God’. What the fuck do you think I am?” Hades shook his head. Really, this woman was frustrating. Her touch was warm, though, and her hand a bit rough. “What – did you think I’m ice-cold? Like I’m dead or something? I’m sorry to disappoint you – I am very much alive. I am a living, breathing, being.” His fingers closed around Alex’s. “Now. Take a deep breath. This will probably make you throw up or something, what the heck do I know, I don’t usually do this with mortals.”

As the strand moved from the air and touch the ground its grey shade of the underwood morphed into the soft green to match its brothers in the earth. "You know....'God'-'" She quoted her fingers with a role of her eyes. She wasn't a believer after all. Greek theology was far more in line with her own anyway. Many gods, differnet names.

"Not Zeus. Seeing as you're real the last thing in the world I want of for the God Zeus to know I exist. That was kind of the fear of literally every human woman in Ancient Greece wasn't it?"

"Oh wow. And they say chivalry is dead." She sighed and took his hand. Her eyebrows furrowed together in surprise. "Oh wow. You're skin in warmer then I thought it would be." She admitted, confusion and amusement clear in her voice- almost a dizzy sort of surprise.

[hxdesofunderwxrld]

Hades shook his had. No. No, no, no. They hadn't had a life together, they hadn't built anything, there was no such thing as a prophecy, they--wait. Had she said parents? His gaze shot back to Maria. Eyes wide as he was just staring at her. He swallowed. Didn't say a word. Just combed his fingers through his long hair, as if to buy himself some more time. Time to think. Time to try and twist her words, because surely she hadn't meant to talk about a child.

"P--parents?" Hades finally asked, his voice merely above a whisper. A rasp. "What--you mean we...?" Could it be true? Had his brother really erased his memories, wiped Maria from them without remorse?

He looked confused and it hurt Maria. How many times had they been through this? How many times had Zeus tried to erase her from his memory and it didn't work. Some how she was there.

Maria tried to stay away, she watched and she always told herself if he was happy she'd leave him to it. As their daughter had gotten older though she always insisted her mother fight for her father. She'd look into the water and see that he was unhappy.

Maria thought about walking away again but she couldn't and wasn't this the curse. That she was doomed to have a slice of happiness over and over for it to be taken. The curse was for him to forget. Well, not really a curse, more vengeance because of a prophecy and power and a jealous brother

"Hades. I didn't leave you." Maria said firmly, turning to face him again. "We had a life, we built a life, we were happy. We were going to be parents and then Zeus- he- there was a prophecy. About me, about us, about a child. He thought he could get around it, but I rejected him and so he cast me out. I couldn't come home. I had to wait for you to be here, in the mortal world."

[hxdesofunderwxrld]

He refused to believe her. Refused to believe that she had just stumbled upon this bar – his bar. The Fates must have had their hands in this. Otherwise, how else had Maria come to this mortal place, in this small town, which happened to be his little bar away from his duties and brothers and the rest of the obnoxious Olympians?

But the more she talked, the less sense everything made to him. “Wait.” Hades shook his head. His hands rose as if to stop her from talking – but at the same time urging her to continue. “What do you mean – because of my brother? Why wouldn’t I remember? I remember it very clearly! You—left.” He frowned. Well. Actually…he, in fact, did not remember how.

Maria stopped and for a moment there was a flicker of hope but she couldn't hold onto it for long because he didn't remember.

"I didn't mean to just show up, I had no idea you owned this bar, I thought it was just a mortals place." Maria defended herself. If she'd have known this was his bar she'd definitely have thought twice about it. "I'll pay for the glass." She was stuck though because she didn't want to leave. It wouldn't be fair to put him through the pain but it also wouldn't be fair to keep things from him.

"I-" She took a breath. "I don't know how to tell you this Hades but I didn't leave you. There's-" She paused, hesitating but then she looked up at him. "There are things you don't remember, probably because of your brother. You don't remember though and not only would I sound mad to you but I'm worried if I told you, I'd only cause you more pain than I'm clearly already causing you."

[hxdesofunderwxrld]

"Brought this on myself?" Hades narrowed his eyes. "How? How should I have done so, Styx? I didn't kill her. I never did her any harm – or anyone, for that matter.”

Well, now Hades was definitely offended. He scoffed, crossing his arms in front of his chest. What did Styx know of loss? Of actual love? Whatever she and her husband had, could not be called that, in Hades’ opinion.

She could argue that he was just as much his neighbour as she was. That he had been here longer than him and that his disregard was an insult on its own. But she did not wish to waste her breath on battles that weren't his. In truth, she couldn't care less about what the Olympian did or did not care about. His opinions were most often irrelevant to her - as were the opinions of many.

"I am not going to solve whatever grieve a welted flower has brought you." the goddess responded simply, characteristically cold. "I do not have the desire nor intent to do so. You have brought this on yourself and now you must suffer the consequences of your actions; as we all do."

[hxdesofunderwxrld]

Never ending list of favourite villains

Hades

[hxdesofunderwxrld]

Well, the conversation and mood had shifted rather quickly, and all Hades could do was stare at Maria in confusion. Nothing of this made sense to him, and the more he was trying to remember what had happened back then, why Maria had left, the less graspable it was to him. As if those memories were trapped in a bubble and it was floating away, out of his reach, no matter how hard he tried.

“Wait—” Hades shook his head, and finally he jogged around the bar, to her side. The barrier between them now gone. “You can’t just show up here like nothing happened and then—then just leave again just like that!” It wasn’t fair. He hadn’t known it, but he had missed her. Deep within his heart he knew he had missed her. “Not to mention you owe me a glass.” He pointed at the glass on the counter, with the crack clearly visible. What had prompted this? What had prompted her reaction?

Maria leaned slightly closer and she thought he was on the juncture of it but then his face closed off to her entirely and Maria felt wounded, more wounded than she'd been in a long time.

"We were younglings then." Maria swallowed and pulled her arms back, wrapped her hands around the glass, pressed it to her lips and finished the contents. How cruel of Zeus, she'd admire him if she didn't hate him. Sparing his brother the pain but leaving Maria to rot on the mortal world with all the memories, with the grave she had to dig with her own hands.

"I never left you behind, I'd never leave you behind. I don't know what they told you but-" She squeezed the glass and crack appeared in it as she steeled herself. She was tempted to drop her glamour entirely, reveal her twisted, mangled wings to him. It was a bolt of anger that flashed through her and she barely recognised it in herself because she hadn't been angry like that in a long time. Hades was clearly a trigger point though.

"I- I should go." Maria said. "I don't want to hurt you anymore, than I clearly already have."

[hxdesofunderwxrld]

Still confused, he watched the piece of grass floating towards the ground. Then his gaze shifted back up to meet Alex’s. “Judo Christian?” His brow rose. “What the everloving fuck are you talking about?” And what the hell was going on here? Why didn’t she stay in the Underworld? She had accepted her fate, she hadn’t struggled. Why was she back – again?

“I’m not going to fucking Zeus, if that’s what you mean. He just pretends to be all-knowing, but he isn’t.” Far from it. Man was clueless as fuck. Well. Just like Hades right now. “Okay, you know what – I’m gonna drag your ass personally to the Underworld now. Give me your hand.” He reached out, offering his hand to her.

Under normal circumstances, Alex could have burst out laughing at the theatrics. Apperantly, all the myths were correct and there was nothing more dramatic then teenage girls and greek gods.

She ran her hands over her face and looked up at him. "I told you! It wasn't me. It just doesn't work right." She pushed herself to her feet, brushing herself off free of grass, some of which were in the grey of the underworld... She held it up as if he needed more proof before flicking it off her finger.

"Cant you just like...I don't know find one of those judo christian all knowing gods and ask them whats up?" She felt her stomach turning, as if it was fighting being in both of the worlds at once.

[hxdesofunderwxrld]

Hades pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. He would sit against this wall, next to Wendy, as long as she needed him to. And of course he let her lean against him.

Though what she said next surprised the god. Frowning, he gave her a side-glance, then couldn’t help the playful smirk tugging on his lips. “I hope those dreams are…a pleasure.”

Finally letting exhaustion hit her, the adrenalin fading from the man in the alley, and the pain in her head she slumps against Hades. Using him as the wall to keep her up as she sighs tiredly.

"I dream of you....." she tiredly admits on his shoulder.

[hxdesofunderwxrld]

@hxdesofunderwxrld

[hxdesofunderwxrld]

Taken aback, the frown on his brow deepened once more. She had said it so quickly; not snapping at him, but still with some sort of urgency. She had left, though. He was sure of that. Or, well, used to be. “You left when—” He knew the answer. But it didn’t come. It wasn’t…there, where it was supposed to be.

“Well, because—” There was a black hole. He stared at Maria, almost in panic. Eyes wide. Though in the next moment the god was playing it cool. “Well, I suppose you were playing hide and seek the way my brothers always did – never bothering to actually seek me.”

"I didn't leave." Maria said and then she caught how quickly the words had left her mouth and she closed it. She'd never had left, not him, not her friends. She loved them all too much.

"Hades-" Maria leaned forward slightly, her body mirroring his, her hands just inches from his arms. "What do you remember, about us? When did I leave?" Maria asked him because she was trying to tread carefully and she didn't want to hurt him but she'd lived for so long on her own, with the pain and now he was here in front of her.