#[ this is my first time writing emet/hades on here... so forgive me if it's a bit... 'meh.' <3< /div> Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[tenebriism]

[ patterns ] sender drawing random patterns on receiver's skin (Hythlodaeus & Emet-Selch from the caring prompts!)

" ... you are touching me. " So stated, yet he does not part from the aforementioned touch. Rather, to bring attention to it is merely a product of confusion, not that Hythlodaeus has EVER been shy when it comes to testing Hades' boundaries. What shan't be given voice is how... oddly comforting the motion is. How his mind zeroes in on it, focuses on it, very nearly lets it consume him in its entirety until he realizes that would be the most FOOLISH move possible.

S i i i i i i i i g h . . .

" If you need something, now would be the time to speak up instead of using me as some... easel. You DO have need of me for something, do you not? " Or, is this merely a means to distract and pass the time, whether for Hades' benefit or that of Hythlodaeus'? Not like the lavender blossom to think of himself much, if any ( a double edged sword Hades much dislikes, yet finds strangely comforting )... not when the possibility of aiding another MORE sits right there like a ripe fruit.

Hades huffs, then. Shakes his head, even folds his arms... but still, s t i l l, he does not move, and lets this continue on for however long Hythlodaeus deems necessary.

" Fine. Continue, then. "

@sunderedoldfriends ;;

[theaetherhealerffxiv]

Redemption pt 1

Part 2

Rating: PG17 for safety

Pairings: Wol  x Emet-Selch

Summary:

Its over, the winner gets to write the next chapter of the story. So why, pray tell, wont the Warrior of Light let him die?

Word Count: 5906

He stood upon the precipice of death, he could feel it, the reaching of its cold fingers. The Underworld calling him down to rest. Hades’ shoulders slumped as he reached up to graze the glowing wound in his chest. A gentle smile crossed his lips as he heard her take a step forward. His gaze returned to her, the Viera that he had grown so fond of. He had followed her around during her adventure, only partially out of necessity for his plans. The other part had been curiosity, her soul glowed with familiarity and before their fight he realized why; realized who. His lover, his dear friend, the one who he tried to convince to help with Zodiark all those eons ago. Her, whose name he could not even fully recall. 

The Viera’s mismatching eyes stared at him with an intense emotion he could not place. Her hands reaching out to him, he wanted to speak, to tell her to remember all of the lost souls in Amaurot, to take his burden of vengeance from him. Instead her hands now free of her weapons cradled his face, her lips moved, she was speaking to him. What could the Warrior of Light possibly have for him? Her hands were so warm compared to his cooling skin, he could happily let death take him here. She would remember for him, she would become the stewards of their souls. Their hopes, their dreams; she would do it for him. 

Suddenly his eyes opened wide, even as the darkness settled in. She had her hands cradled around him: his body laying in her lap. One hand upon his chest, the other making sure his head was resting upon the soft spot in her armor. His name, she was calling his name; not Emet-Selch, not the Ascian, nay she was calling his true name.

“Hades,” Her broken voice reached his ears, “Hades yah cannot die here.” 

Ah, but that was the point was it not? The winner decides the history, the winner gets to decide how to move forward. He was the loser, he was no longer needed in this story. His terrible contributions had already been written in the annals of history. It was her turn now, to shape the story of the world, to write the wrongs he brought upon the Source. Pain constantly laced through his shape, as if she was trying to capture his soul. To keep it whole and in the body that was before her. With what little strength he had Hades lifted his hand to touch hers. He could feel the tears splashing against his cheeks. While her form was blurring he patted her hand. She had to let him go, but what would let her do that?

“Hero,” His voice croaked, it was insanely hard to speak. To move his mortal lips as his very soul was being pulled into the Underworld. “No, Swath.” There was a choked sob as he realized he had her attention. “Remember us -”

“No,” She spat, silencing him. “I da not have tha time to remember somethin yah should be doing. Yah have a chance ta make up for things.” Her voice petered out for him, he could see she was still speaking, but could not hear her. 

Nevertheless he smiled internally, his time was up could she not see this? Death was taking him, she was only fighting against the inevitable. Besides, why was she trying so hard to save her enemy? Had she too grown fond of him? Hades tried to squeeze her hand but found no strength remaining, instead his hand slipped, and fell to the side. Her lips moved, clearly a curse. Beside her the Miqo’te woman appeared touching her shoulder, probably telling her to let him go. That he was not worth it. 

Good, she would knock some sense into the hard head of the Warrior of Light. Hades had seen her time and time again pay attention to the Miqo’te woman's words. It was clear that she held the blind woman in high regards. But with his fading eyesight he saw the Hero shrug off the hands that tried to stop her. 

Why? 

Why? 

Why was she trying so hard to keep him alive?

Hades’ view of her finally faded and turned to white. In fact, everything around him was white; he no longer felt her hands clutching him, instead only feeling a small sting on his chest where he assumed that she was still trying to heal him. As he collected himself, Hades realized he was not alone: and that his body was not free. Dark chains kept him grounded to the spot, and a man clothed in a familiar white stood before him. It was a long moment of silence between them before the man stepped forward grabbing one of Hades’s hands and pulling - hard. With a sharp pain in his chest, a call and vision of the Warrior of Light, he felt the chains that bound him snap one by one. Suddenly, he was free, his body light airy and unnatural. No voices of the dead reached his ears, no whispers of the promised ending that he had been striving for. Nothing, his mind was silent except for his own spinning thoughts. Shocked he looked up to the man who had a mask that he knew.

“Hythlodaeus,” Hades breathed standing straight for the first time in eons. The other man beamed and smacked his friend on the shoulder; causing Hades to wince. 

“Hades! How does it feel to finally be free of that Primal?” Hythlodaeus reached up and removed his mask, revealing a face that Hades did not recognize. It was of a Elezen man in his twenties, bright blue eyes and white hair adoring his face. 

Hades felt his brow pull together in confusion. At the realization that he was free of the tempering, and that his friend wore a face that he did not know. “I cannot say.” He reached up, rolling his shoulders and looking down at the glowing blue hole in his chest. That as he turned to gaze back at his companion realized that Hythlodaeus had one as well. His eyes widened and he opened his mouth to speak before a hand raised to silence him.

“Surely you can hear her?” Hythlodaeus glared at him with surprising ire. His friends sudden shift in tone brought even more confusion to his already spinning mind.

Hades could of course hear the Warrior of Light, Swath, calling and speaking to him. It was faint, but there. He nodded, and Hythlodaeus sighed a smile once again adorning his unfamiliar features. “Good, I knew she would not allow someone to die so similarly to I.” 

Hades’s frown grew. “Excuse me?” It seemed he was only capable of short bursts of speech, perhaps it was the cascade of freed emotions that stunted his ability to speak, or perhaps the whirl of thoughts that echoed through his mind. All his thoughts, thoughts of her, of the past, of the fact he was freed. Thoughts of the other Ascians, still chained to Zodiark. He stared at Hythlodaeus with continued confusion, the other man doing little to explain himself. Hythlodaeus paced around Hades wagging his index finger in the air, as if he was counting to himself. Those deep blue eyes darting looking at the fading chains that lay on the ground around them before looking up at Hades with an even wider grin. A small thin string appearing in front of him. Hythlodaeus turned and presented it to Hades. Who only looked at him with awe of a man who was lost. 

“This is your tie to her, fainter than I thought it would be honestly.” He regarded the string with curiosity and touched it, causing a sharp pain to shoot through the center of Hades’ wound. The golden eyed man crumpled to the ground and his old friend only laughed in triumph. “Faint but strong!” 

Hades glared at Hythlodaeus from his position on the floor. “Pray forgive me, my old friend, but I am wholly confused about this situation.” Perhaps it had been the pain that cleared his mind, but for the moment he was able to focus on the strange, but familiar, asshole before him. “I am supposed to be dead, am I not?”

“You are only partially dead my dear friend.” The Elezen swooped down helping Hades stand and dusting him off. “She is clinging to you, I assume it may be because of the familiarity of your wound, or she has truly grown fond of you.” A gentle smile appeared on his face, content, happy. “It was time she moved on from me, and I am glad it is you that has allowed her to do so.” 

Hades gripped his friend's arm with a frown. “You? Hythlodaeus you said to me eons ago that,”

“That I gave up on her? That I surrender and give her wholly to you?” A smirk graced Hythlodaeus’s lips. “Pray tell Hades, how did that go for you? Did you remain by her side even after the sundering as I? Did you support her even in her most dire moments?” 

Hades paled, turning to look away. “Nay, you know I have done the opposite.” 

“That's right,” Hythlodaeus shifted and pointed to the glowing thread. “And yet, that is still there for you. Her will to hold your soul, even though hers is broken.”

Hades winced, some lover he had truly been. He had pledged himself to Swaths whole form back in Amaurot, but he had fallen into contempt and anger whenever he saw a fragment of her soul. 

Oh, if he just followed the plan she would be whole once more. 

He would be able to hold her once more in his arms, and he would beg her forgiveness from his infidelity. Explain it was part of the plan to lay out the work towards bringing her and the others back from the brink of oblivion. 

“Fool,” Hythlodaeus’s angry voice pulled him from his thoughts. “How much of that was Zodiark and how much was that you? The Hades I knew may have been a lazy good for nothing but he loved her. He would have remained by her side even if she was fragmented.” 

Hades knew he was right, and could not face him because of that. No apologies would bring about forgiveness. He had pushed her, pushed Swath, to the very edge; to the point of having to kill him. All as a final test to see if she was worthy. She was, by the very creation magic that put him in this situation,she was. Her soul may have been split but she was still her. Which is why he had been so curious and drawn to her. The temptation to be with the one that he loved was ever present, even while he was tempered. Clutching his chest he felt the pain increasing, and looking towards the glowing thread he, surprisingly, felt tears come from his own eyes. 

“Hythlodaeus.” He groaned, trying to pull away and finding no resistance from his friend. “I wish for another chance. I wish to be by her side, to make up for my mistakes to,”  He froze as he almost touched the thread. Then feeling a pang of misery explode in his chest. 

He had no right to ask for these things. 

“That's right Hades, you do not have any right to ask for these things.” Hythlodaeus came to stand next to him watching Hades’ hand shake as it hovered of the thread. “But you want them anyways don't you?” 

“Yes.” He hissed. “I wish for it, I crave it Hythlodaeus. I wish to see this world that she fought for so fervently through the eyes of a man untouched by a stronger beings will.” 

“Even with the knowledge that she herself may be tempered?” Hythlodaeus had a familiar irritating smile dancing upon his unfamiliar face. Making Hades fight to resist the temptation of rolling his eyes at his long time friend. 

“She fought for this world before being chosen to champion that dreaded creations will did she not?” He spat back, then blinked at the unbridled anger that he felt. He would not justify his actions and choices however tempered he was. But when it came to her he would fight for her actions because she did them with the belief that she could save everyone. Hythlodaeus’s smile grew wider, causing Hades to glare at him.

“There, that is the man I knew. It was if you yourself at one point did something similar.” Hythlodaeus leaned forward looking into his friend's eyes. “And in a way you did, did you not? You remember the fires well, you believed if you weaved the laws of the world anew, that you gave the world a will of its own, it would be for the benefit of those who existed upon it.”

“That is in the past, we understand and know how that ended Hythlodaeus.” Hades grumbled.

The strange Elezen leaned back and tapped his chin. “You where the best candidate. But no longer, now you must rise up again.” Turning to look at the thread he let his hand close over on Hades’. “You must cast aside the role originally given to you, you are no longer of the fourteen, you are no longer Emet-Selch.” Those blue eyes turned to glare at him. “You are now Hades once again, and will be hers. Your mighty magic under her supervision.” His hand squeezed his companions with force. It was not anger but determination that seethed from Hythlodaeus. As if he was entrusting everything upon Hades shoulders. “You will guide her, you will protect her, you will stand where both of us have failed her.” Hades’s eyes were drawn to the glowing hole in his chest. 

“Hythlodaeus -” He began before being cut off by his friend.

“You will begin to right the thousands of wrongs you brought upon her beloved world, and to her. What you did was wrong, unjust, and of a tempered being.” Hythlodaeus stared at their clasped hands that hovered inches over the thread. “Your soul will be forever bound to her.” 

“It was never unbound.” Hades kept his gaze fixated on their hands as well. He could hear the arguing she was having with her companions, with the Exarch specifically. How many of her friends were telling her to stop, that she may push herself to the brink of death as well, and how they did not wish for that. Only for her to spat back that for once she wished to do something inherently selfish. That this was her need to be selfish, that she wanted Hades to live. Suddenly Hythlodaeus withdrew from Hades, causing the man to suddenly feel pain so great it sucked the air from his lungs. Shocked he looked over at the sullen Elezen. 

“My hot chocolate recipe is hidden under a false board in my office desk.” Hythlodaeus raised to point at his face. “This ones, my fragments office. It will bring her joy, learn to make it for her. She often burns her hands when dealing with hot drinks. But is a wonderful cook, and she can sew.” He smiled solemnly. “Return to her now, with your new found freedom Hades. Be there for her where I cannot.” 

Many questions were left unanswered for Hades as the pain caused his hand to drop just enough to touch the thread. Gasping, he turned his head to look at is as it wound itself around him, through the wound in his chest, around his throat, creating binds around his wrists. It was not a stifling imprisonment but one where he could feel the warmth of another being. He heard a gentle laugh as his world once again fell into light. Hades left Hythlodaes in that unending place and was forcibly thrown back into his body, choking as air refilled his lungs. 

Writhing and shivering he felt burning in his chest, and saw a weary smile spreading across the Viera’s face. “Aye, welcome back Hades.” Her tired voice reached his ears as he lifted his hand to hold hers that was still on his chest.

“By the twelve she did it.” Came a shocked male voice from beside them. The white haired one, that Lahabrea had possessed, was close by. It caused Hades to roll his eyes, still coughing, he felt something pass his lips and he groaned, everything hurt.

Shifting he felt her free her hand from his grasp to wipe away whatever was on his lips. Then leaning forward she pressed her forehead against his. He felt uncomfortable with her so close to him even though moments ago he was trying his damnedest to kill her. 

“Yes, you brought him back wonderful. Are you going to carry the Ascian back too?” It was the Miqo’te woman, her frustration was palpable, and understandable. Hades sighed and glared at her with as much malice as he could muster, which in his tired state was less than he hoped for. It was not her anger towards him, but what was directed towards the Hero. 

Then, shifting he struggled to sit up, his hand going to where the hole had been. Only to find an oozing blue scar. “Huh,” His voice, parched and strained came from his lips. It almost felt foreign, his body was so light despite being in such pain. Hades’s fingers glided across the sticky substance, which he realized was aether.  Her aether. She had used so much as to infuse this body of his with enough to create new flesh. He turned, to a worried expression, she hovered near him, her disheveled white hair and blood splattered form looked at him as he took stock of himself. When she realized he was gazing at her she gave him a strained smile, as if she was regretting her choice. “Quite selfish, bringing me back.” He teased wiping the aether covered hand on his ruined cloak. “I guess I am in your debt though, hero.” Hades sighed and there was a scoff from beside them.

“Pray tell Ascian, how could you be in debt to our foolish friend?” Thancred, yes that was his name. Hades turned to stare at him with venom. They were right to be mad at her of course, Hades understood this; he was a liability, for all they could know he still had the same plans. He did not of course. His eyes could see the aether that tied the two of them together. Their very souls intermingling in a very intimate dance that cause Hades to try to avoid looking at her. Instead he looked at his accuser.

“Yes, pray tell, she only brought me back and freed me from Zodiarks grasp.” Hades shrugged, wincing at the movement bringing his hand back to his chest; only to find her hand pressed firmly to the oozing wound. His hand met hers and the glow of their souls nearly blinded him. Hades could not remember the last time his eyes betrayed him so. There was silence around them as she wrapped her free arm around his back encouraging him to stand. Hades allowed her to do so standing on unstead feet to face the scions, and the Exarch. Those he had tried to kill, but felt no more enmity for. They were broken of course that still disterbed him, but with the words of Hythlodaeus ringing in his mind he pushed his distaste away, as there was no need for it any longer. 

“Explain thyself, Ascian.  By what form dost thou claim liberation from thy dark master?” An Elezen took a step forward, Hades struggled to put a name to the face. He knew that this one held a lot of secrets, but he kept seeing the Elezen face of Hythlodaes overlapping with this man's own.

Hades rolled his eyes and shifted to lean heavily into the Viera beside him. “The chains of temperament are no more. I care not what happens to these worlds, my plan is in shambles and I feel nothing about it.” He let his head fall onto Swaths shoulder, it was partly because he was feeling exhausted from being brought back from death and the constant pain he was in; and another part because he craved the touch of the woman. Which he partially blamed on his conversation with Hythlodaeus bringing back emotions that had been long hindered by the chains. This thought caused him to frown for a moment, perhaps it was just because he was not being manipulated any longer. His body sagged a little more and he felt her hands easily hold him up. Letting his eyes dart back to the Scions he found them regarding him carefully. 

“Your, aether, is a little different.” The Miqo’te woman muttered to herself. Her blind eyes staring at him with intent. Hades’s frown grew, it felt as if she was looking through him. Lifting his head he tried to stand as straight as he could, but found that the pain kept him in his familiar slouch. 

“Its, like, how with Swath, her soul was breaking but now its not; his was all wrapped up in something and now its just, its like its being held together.” The little girl, Ryne, caught Hades attention. He winced, she was perceptive, perhaps too much so. 

“Yes, you are right Ryne.” The woman’s cat ears perked up as she walked around Hades and his Hero. “Nevertheless, even though there is this evidence and your words, we shall not take our eyes off you. Swath, realize that you said yourself, your selfish action was to bring Emet-Selch back from death. He is your responsibility now.” She stopped in front of them, putting her hands on her hips and staring at the Viera with an expression that Hades could only see as ‘motherly frustration’. 

“I’h know Y’shtola.” Swath muttered, her hands twitching from where they held him. Hades’s eyes darted to the side to see her wincing. No, it was not regret she was clearly feeling, it was concern. Was it concern for him? Hades felt a pang of his own frustration towards the Viera woman. She truly should have let him die; even though he was grateful he did not think his life was worth the stress she would be under. 

But then again, he could not think of a time during her adventure when she was not put under some form of stress by others. If this was truly her stress why would he dare deny her such a thing? Shifting he saw the woman, Y’shtola sigh and move to look around the area in which they still stood. The Exarch, being aided by Thancred was also clearly in pain; and angry. Hades knew in which both were directed towards; him. Hades gazed at the red haired man, he had inflicted atrocities upon him in the name of his plan. He sighed heavily, letting his head fall. 

“Hades?” Swaths voice brought him back and he looked up at her with a smile that surprised both of them. 

“Yes, hero?” He asked, shifting in her grasp to better gaze at her wounded face. Her war paint was smudged, sometime during their fight she had also lost the eye patch that covered her right eye, which he could only guess was blind as it was white. Hades realized with steady horror that while he knew her soul and her motives he knew nothing of the woman herself. He did not know about the stories behind her scars, or her childhood. He knew nothing of this incarnation of his beloved. Yet, here he was falling in love with her.

Yes, he admitted to himself, he was falling in love with the Warrior of Light. 

“Are yeh alright ta walk back? I’h cannot, carry yeh.” She sighed and gave him a weary smile once again. “Yeh put up a fight yeh know, took everythin I had.” 

He gave a strained laugh. “Shall we lean against each other he-” Hades paused, correcting himself, “Swath, shall we lean against each other Swath.” Around him the silence was thick with disbelief. He looked over at the Scions, their faces scrunched with confusion and then the Exarch whose face was one of pure shock. Hades felt his lips twitch. “Yes, I too can call her by her name, am I forbidden from doing such?”

“I think you should be.” The Exarch sighed and then shrugged. “But who knows, perhaps you truly are freed from the darkness that held you.” He looked away towards the ruined buildings that Hades had created, the arena in which he and Swath fought. “And, as I am loathe to admit, we do need your help. Which way do we leave this place?” 

Hades followed the Exarch’s gaze, shifting nervously. “In truth, originally I meant this as a graveyard for all of you. I assume you realize this,” He paused and felt her pull him closer to her side. Hades planted his feet firmer on the ground as he felt Swath wobble a little bit. “I was to remain here until the rejoining happened for this shard, then flee to the shadows.” He frowned, looking at the skeletons of the phantom home he had created. “I can see about willing forth a portal of such, but I know naught of my own strength. Nor the effect Swath’s aether will have upon me - there is also the problem of being free of temperament.” Raising a hand Hades rubbed his chin, loathe to feel stubble upon it. The group looked at him with expectation, and he sighed. Resigned to his fate Hades raised his hand and willed the magic from deep within his body, but only finding pain. It was minuscule at first, a prick, so he willed a little more. Focused on the darkness, to bring for a shadow portal. Then it erupted; gasping he found his strength stolen from him. Aether welled up in his throat and he shook violently, his knees giving out. Swath gave a shout of surprise as he went down. 

His whole body heaved as he threw up copious amounts of aether. Hades felt Swaths hands on his back and the hurried footsteps of the Scions. His body shook and he choked as he threw up more, his eyes wide as he stared at the physical aether on the floor before him. After a moment he managed to take a deep breath pushing himself unsteadily back on in a kneeling position his body drenched with sweat. “Well,” He rasped. “I will not be trying that again any time soon.” 

“Perhaps not,” Y’shtola muttered kneeling and carefully examining the aether. “This seems to be the aether we attacked you with, not the abundant amounts that Swath infused within you to bring you back. It is very possible that our attack has disrupted your magic.” She stood and tapped her chin. “We clearly cannot rely on your abilities. We may have to attempt to return to the beginning.”

Swaths hands wrapped around Hades and helped him stand, he leaned more into her than he did before. Sighing and coughing, he nodded. “Perhaps, that would be preferable to me having to expel whatever is ailing me.” His voice was thick and slurred. He felt terrible, even more so, the pain which he had grown accustomed too was back one hundred fold. Hades now even wished that he had not gone at Swath with so much fervor so that she could carry him. 

“I think you deserve the pain.” Thancred muttered. Hades raised his eyebrows at the man, who stared at him with contentment. 

“Yes, while that is understandable, may I remind you that I clearly cannot possess bodies nor do I wish too. I have said this before, but I loathe Lahabrea’s choices. You need not put such ill will towards me at this very moment,” Hades mumbled back, causing Thancred to stare at him with disbelief. “There will be plenty of time for disdain for each other much later.” 

“Oh, trust me, I shall regard you with plenty of contempt.” Thancred waved his hand and helped the Exarch to the area where they came into. 

Hades eyes could see the exit; perhaps it was too faint for the aether seeing woman. He nudged Swath who looked down at him concerned, he gave her a tight lipped smile and mentioned to where the others where going. Together, they moved forward towards the edge of the area. When they got there they found Y’shtola tilting her head  back and forth, clearly squinting at the faint traces of aether. It was remnants of his old tainted aether as well. Though the pain was still great Hades lifted his hand, earning a gasp from Swath. Her hand grabbing his.

“I will be fine,” He reiterated. “I will not push myself to the point of heaving again.” She was tense beside him as Hades closed his eyes, pushing himself towards the tainted aether. It rebelled against him, and he began to feel pain so he released it. His breaths coming quick, he found Ryne and Swath both watching him carefully. “The path is rejecting me.” 

“Why?” Ryne asked stepping forward her hand hovering over the still oozing wound. Hades looked down at the girl with a feeling of surprising fondness. She truly was just a child that had been thrown into a world that she did not understand all because of another soul hiding within her. 

“I assume, it is because of how my soul is being ‘held together’, as you put it child.” Hades reached out and gently patted her head earning a rather startled smile from the little girl. “You, child, are to perceptive for your own good.” She giggled then turned to look at the other adults worrying over how to get the path to open. Hades guessed that Y’shtola had noticed the wisps of residue. 

“Is there nothing you can do Mr. Hades?” Ryne asked, looking up at him. His golden eyes regarded her with a tilt of his head. The tired gears of his mind trying to work towards a solution. He had never been cut off from his magic before, he was of the ‘true’ people. Never, in the history of their kind had one been cut off from either their creation magic, or magic in general. He frowned, looking back towards the gathering, and the slight glow that was his tainted aether.

“Perhaps together?” Swath moved one of her hands to grasp his, bringing Hades out of his thoughts to gaze at the Viera. “Perhaps if we tried together, Hades?” She looked at him with concern, he knew she was adept in magic; he did not know what magic as her weapon of choice as a giant axe. But it was not a bad idea.

“Yes,” He shifted so that their hands where interlocked. “Perhaps if we focused together, mayhaps I could use you as a conduit to properly manipulate the magic and open the pathway.” Hades frowned, and turned so that his chest was pressed against her abdomen, his head near her breasts. The man felt heat rising to grace his ears. The height difference was strange to him. He felt a hand grasp his back and they pointed their clasped hands towards the aether Hades could see. 

There was a clap of hands from Ryne as she called out to the adults. “Hey! Swath and Mr. Hades are going to try something please move!” Thancred turned with a look of confusion at Ryne, but the group dispersed anyways. Ryne too moved away from them to give them room, her smile blinding now. 

“Alright, anytime yah want to Hades. Use me as yah will.” He could not see her face, but he could hear the smile. She was enjoying herself; he was her selfish choice. Perhaps she regretted it, perhaps not, but at the moment he swore he would be useful to her. 

Closing his eyes he focused on the woman before him. He could feel her aether, warm, powerful, suffocating as it flowed over him. Faint licks of her emotions grazed him, anger, at his speech, sorrow, for the loss of the spirit Ardbert, joy at the fact that he was standing with her. Hades focused on their hands, conjoined. The welling of his own aether, so closely tangled with hers. He focused on the threads that connected him to her, using them as a pathway for his magics. Hades heard her gasp, stronger emotion washing over him. Which he chose to ignore as he built up his power. It was starting to cause him pain again, he coughed a bit, feeling more aether come from his lips. But he ignored it, ignored the small voice of Ryne asking if he was alright, to focus on the gate. 

There! 

His eyes shot open and he turned his head quickly to the area their clasped hands pointed. Suddenly a shudder of aether appeared in the spot, ripping open a portal showing the burning Amaurot. Hades pushed away from Swath, hearing her call of surprise again, chose to ignore it. His hands raised he pushed more aether into the portal; he would bypass the final days, he would be useful to her. Pain violently ripped through him, but he still was connected to Swath so it did little to phase him. Sure, it hurt and normally would have brought him to his knees, but it was as if she still had her hands on his back: and of course he realized she did. She clearly did not like this choice of his, but was supporting him. Hades laughed to himself, aether coming from his lips and wound as the portal shimmered and warped. Then, suddenly, it showed the halls that had been the entrance to the entire ordeal. He focused, grounding their combined aether there. Then, he pulled back and let himself fall back into her arms.

“That should do it.” He waved his hand nonchalantly. His breaths coming quick, and thick with fluid. “We must hurry before the grounding I placed dissipates. I do not know how long it will remain.” 

The Scions needed no other encouragement. They turned and quickly moved towards the portal; it was clear to Hades now that they too had their hurts. After the Elezen went through with the Exarch leaving Thancred, Ryne, Swath and Hades himself remaining he felt the small hands of the girl on his side. Then Thancred swiftly came to Swaths side.

“Alright, let's get you two through.” Thancred muttered ushering them towards the portal. 

“Ah, and here I thought you greatly disliked me.” Hades teased gently, leaning into Swath for support. As she too did the same.

Thancred rolled his eyes. “Swath would never leave you, thus the most appropriate choice would be to assist you.” 

Hades sighed, knowing that the white haired man was right. The Warrior of Light would not leave him; he was bound to her. As the portal approached he frowned, what sort of life would this be for him? What was in store for him now that he was free from Zodiark? 

And most importantly, could he hold up the promise he made to his dearly departed friend?