#you can write zag's fight ofc :)))

[nectaric]

@ichoric asked:  this is all my fault. Zag n hades

zagreus’ cry would ring inside of hades’ head for the rest of his existence.

hecate’s spells and searching had worked, though not in the way they had anticipated.  when hecate came bursting through his door, announcing she had found the creature, hades had momentarily been elated.  only, they had not found the creature.  it had found them.

no, not them.

zagreus.

the moments that followed were an absolute blur, drowned out by the kind of terror hades had known few times in his life.  the kind of gut-wrenching, mind-numbing, life-altering fear that one could never truly wash away.  how could one ever recover from reliving their worst nightmare?  

he did not know how he got there, only that he was now standing in a clearing, his son forty yards away.  sure enough, the beast, the giant, the monster who had taken his son away from him was there, but-- he was ensnared, tangled in the trees, no, ropes?  hades could hardly make out the details, sprinting across the clearing.  though trapped, the monster lunged out with his arm to strike at his son.  zagreus cried out.  he wasn’t going to make it, he wasn’t close enough, he--

hades lunged between them, taking the brunt of one of the giant’s flailing legs.  he grunted in pain, stumbling backwards, but did not fall.  what came next, hades knew he would never be proud of -- but every single horrific emotion he had ever felt, the anguish of losing his son, the years of misery that followed, the fear he had felt since his return -- all of it exploded in a torrent of unbridled rage.

the ground cracked and shifted, skeletal hands rising from the earth to claw at the snared giant, dragging him down.  obelisks of obsidian burst through the dirt, impaling him, black monster blood coating the ground as the giant wailed.  where stone pierced his flesh, crystals began to form rapidly across his body, encasing him, trapped behind a wall of stone.

his screams went silent as the last of his skin was covered -- and then the skeletal hands, the souls of the dead, dragged his still corpse beneath the earth, swallowing him up.  the clearing went silent, and there was not a trace left of the giant but the blood that stained the ground.

hades whirled, staggering towards his son.  the moment he reached zagreus, the king collapsed, clutching him so tightly he feared he might crush the boy.  zagreus was the first to speak.  this is all my fault.  a low, guttural sob, something broken and horrible burst from hades’ mouth in response.  “no.  no this isn’t your fault.  this could never be your fault.  are you okay?  you’re okay.  you have to be okay.”