My bones ached from the cold. It was a strange, burning sensation that was so different to the flames and heat I'd been surrounded by seconds before.

Minutes.

Hours.

The feeling of numbness that had made me immobile now returned, so much so I wasn't sure if I was even breathing. I felt - cold. Only cold. It was dark and quiet. No smell, but I wasn't sure if I was breathing to be able to even take in the air to know.

Only then I did.

The gasp was more a scream, yet nothing else was heard as the air rushed into my body and forced me to rise. The cold that had settled around my bones, frozen my arms and legs fought to hang on yet another breath went in; tasting clean, smelling fresh, yet familiar and forcing my lungs to inflate as my body now shook with the thumping effort of my heart restarting.

I knew my eyes were open, but I was still surrounded by darkness. Silence. Except for me - again and again, taking as much oxygen in as I could as my head swam forcing my body to sway.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

I forced my hand to my chest; cold, but the frantic racing of my heartbeat pushed aside thoughts of death. I was breathing. I was alive.

Did I die?

The room started to take shape around me. The shadow of my arm as I reached for nothing. Whatever I was laying on creaked with my movements while the white sterile room around me stayed silent. My mouth was dry, my lips felt cracked and I instantly shivered as I stopped gasping for air and managed to just breathe.

Smoke lingered on the edges of my mind. I could taste it now, smell it on my hair. Something tugged sharply against my wrist and looking down, the hospital bracelet had my name printed clearly within the plastic band.

Bunting, Elise

Hunter

I ripped it off, tossing the plastic to the floor as I attempted to stand on shaky legs. My body felt different. Weak. The soles of my feet stung as they met the cold floor, and clinging to the bed I forced myself to stand. Bones cracked and muscles protested but I silenced it all as I let go of the frame.

I really did die this time, didn't I?

Why would that- Apollo.

"I won't always be able to bring you back."

Shit.

Shit.

Shit.

I ripped off the hospital gown, inspecting my body for a sign of what had happened yet it looked as if it remained untouched. No cuts, bruises or dirt. No ash or burns. No baby.

My baby.

Our baby.

Cain.

The overload of thoughts, feelings and memories of everything that had taken place hit me with enough force that my knees buckled and I fell. I stayed down, thankful for each breath as I became numb to the cold. Naked, and alone in the dark, I felt the first tear as it ran down my cheek but now wasn't the time to give up. I used the bedframe to drag myself up, begging my powers to come back to me but so far nothing.

Cain. I came back.

He should be here.

It didn't matter.

I grabbed the gown, and fumbled to get it on, staggering across the space as if I was drunk before being stuck by the heavy, wooden doors.

"Come. On." I wanted to scream, but my voice was little more than a hoarse whisper as I pushed against the doors. Again and again, until finally, a wobble. I pushed through, and the blinding lights of the corridor had me covering my eyes.

Slowly I began to get used to it and looking around, the corridor was seemingly abandoned. Upside, I hadn't been put in the morgue and looking back to the blue doors, Theatre Two was signed on the wall. Cain's presence was everywhere, he had to be nearby.

He had been here.

I had been here with Hades.

Real or not real?

"Hello?" I called out as best I could. "Help? Hello!"

Nothing.

I kept going, my urgency increasing as I found the ability to run and this time the doors opened easily as I burst through. Now there were people; nurses, a few doctors. They all froze as I appeared and I didn't even want to know what I looked like to them. My mouth opened, but no words came and as the silence took over the waiting room, I realised there were Council members here. Hunters, vampires.

Ailin.

In seconds I was being crushed as she held me. Her claws dug into my skin as she gripped my shoulders before the distinct sound of a purr - I would be sure to bring up any other time, came from her between sobs and unhidden, ugly crying. Being touched felt wrong, unnatural yet I didn't push her away as suddenly I was crying with her.

"This time, you didn't-" Ailin sucked in a deep breath, loosening her hold. "Welcome back, Hunter."

I grabbed onto her again, just to feel something real, solid, familiar - as I sensed the vampire who joined in our reunion.

"You're a little exposed, darling girl." V draped his jacket over my shoulders as I reluctantly let Ailin go.

"Least of my worries right now." I coughed, and someone instantly had a cup of water in front of me. I drank it, all of it and looked for more. "Where are they?"

"I'm not sure. He would have kept them all safe." Ailin wiped her eyes, the black bags under them not so easy to hide. Just how wrecked she looked. When did she last sleep?

V sniffed the back of my head. "You're not quite, you, are you?"

I took more water, shrugging. "I don't even know what that means. Ask me next week."

They both looked tired - exhausted. I knew the feeling and let them guide me away from the crowd that was only growing the longer we stood there. I should care, but I didn't. Cain wasn't here. Ailin was instantly on the phone, while V set me up in an overstuffed chair and somehow an apple sat with the water he put on the table.

No pomegranates now, Hecate?

"I can't stay." My voice is more solid now. I eat the apple.

It's juicy, but lacks the sweetness I was expecting.

"I, we know. Just, a moment. Let a doctor see you." V speaks softly, yet there is an order to his voice I want to argue with. I stay silent.

The doctor comes in, only to disappear as instead Apollo is there. V is pushed aside as he falls to his knees in front of me, grabbing my hands. I feel his power instantly as I'm checked over. I barely look him in the eye before I'm holding onto him, not giving him a chance to get a word in.

"I know." It's all I say.

I want his light, the warmth that my body hasn't brought back to me yet and he gives it to me. His skin seems to flare to life, the subtle glow brightening yet the way he tenses in my hold, makes me wonder if it was his doing or mine.

"Way to close this time, Bunny." He whispers in my ear.

"Where is he?" I'm not asking this time. Ailin didn't know; Apollo did.

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?" My voice comes back and Apollo flinches.

"He left. No one can find him, not even Aion or Hermes."

"The baby?" I whisper.

"Safe. I can take you-" He begins.

"No." Looking at my hand, I remember how I'd gently run my finger across the soft, rounded cheek. How could I see him, only to have to leave again? "How long has it been?"

"Almost two days." Ailin answers as Apollo's mouth stays shut. "We couldn't get in to where your body had been-"

Ailin stopped and I understood. Cain would have waited. I had been there. Hades, the Crossroads. It had been real, and I didn't get back as fast I should have. Cain wouldn't have left unless...

"Why do you smell like smoke?" Apollo sniffed, rubbing his nose as he looked me over cautiously.

I looked at him, only it wasn't Apollo that stood there now.

"It's the truth!" Portia snapped, "Damn it Cain! It will be the final straw, she will break. Medusa knows. Hecate knows. They want her to suffer. They want her to burn the world down!" She grabbed Cain's arms, preparing to shake him. "They have been waiting for someone like her. Hecate knew exactly what she was doing and just had to bide her time!"

I raised the sword Portia had been so scared of, and allowed the tip to prick her spine in warning as she tried to reason with Cain.

I blinked the memory away, focused again on Apollo.

That had been her plan all along. Portia had tried to warn us. The signs had all been there. The weight of my sword in my hand helped renew the strength I had yet to recover. My powers floated through my body like embers and found what I had been missing.

"I burned the world down to get back."

Apollo stepped closer. "What?"

I reached out and rested my hand at the side of his face. "Cain gave you your orders. It's why you are here, and no one else. Thank you." I felt new tears hot on my face. "I don't know if I will be back again, so make sure he knows, they all know, that I love them. I love you."

I kiss his cheek, and turn to Ailin and V. She only nods, and V wipes under his eye.

Apollo moves to grab my arm as I take a step back but he never touches me, and as he shouts my name it manages to follow me.

"Elise!"

Without meaning to, I do it anyway. Alfie is curled around the bassinet; my old bedroom transformed into a makeshift nursery that Mum is still unpacking as she sits on the floor with Dad, building a change table. They'd almost finished.

"I wonder where Apollo left to?" Mum wonders quietly.

"Ailin. He wouldn't have left if it wasn't important." Dad answers with a hushed voice.

I'm a ghost, moving past them unseen and standing over our son, he's bundled in blue and asleep with a frown on his face. Alfie rises, his head at my waist as he looks down into the bed and with a whisper of a touch I let my fingers trace his scales, running them down to his nose. I breathe in the smell of baby; sweetness and lavender yet Cain is all I feel.

He's warded this place with more power and magic than I'd ever felt before, and I hope our son can feel his presence protecting him. He is not alone. I place a kiss on his forehead, causing his lip wobble yet he doesn't cry. His skin smells better than anything in this world, and the urge to stay, to hold him, keep him, has my hands shaking as I hope he can feel me too.

"It's now all for you. We will keep you safe." No matter the cost.

"Keep new blood safe, Elisssse." his mumbles.

I smile at Alfie through my tears. "Good boy."

"What was that Alfie?" Mum asks, pausing to look up at him as I sense Apollos return in the other room.

In seconds I'm home or at least something like it.

I didn't expect Cain to be here, yet his absence almost feels like a betrayal now. My first step should be to find him, only to face him after everything that has happened keeps me where I am. Maybe that's why I am here and he isn't. Maybe he feels the same and our paths will no longer cross without an actual purpose. The ocean is dark before me, broken by faint streaks of light that have started to appear above, giving me some sense of time; dawn.

It's a new day.

A new start.

I wasn't able to appreciate that yet. Memories from when I was last here filter through my mind with the sunlight. It was barely days ago yet it felt like a decade. The burst of need to confront Poseidon doesn't last as I understand his actions. I submitted to my fate as he chose his. Besides, hurting him would not fix anything and I had already forgiven him just how Hecate knew I would.

Fuck her.

Moving into the bathroom I wonder what level of madness remained as I was almost disappointed to find it empty with no sign of my imaginary friends to be found. I keep the shower water hot, the chill of the hospital still clinging to my bones. I scrub at my skin, hoping to cleanse myself of the memories; of the death, of the smoke, the sense of betrayal and the feeling of our babies skin against my fingers. None of it leaves, the pain not felt as nothing I do on the outside feels as broken as I do inside.

At some point I get out. I take my time to dress, the action of pulling on pants and zipping up my boots feeling as foreign to me as the person watching in my reflection. I don't blink as I brush my hair. I am doing all the right things, but it only feels like a bad joke.

Doing normal things doesn't make any of this normal.

I finish my ponytail, waiting for my reflection to do something. When it was clear nothing was going to happen beyond self criticism of the dark circles under my eyes and the red, almost bruised patches I created on my arms, I went and sat on the end of the bed.

How could anything ever be the same again?

I absorbed every detail yet saw nothing. It felt like months since I'd been here and instinctively hugged my stomach feeling nothing more than a hollow shell of who I once was. The revenge I wanted, the war I'd end, and the ache to see Cain seemed as distant to me now as our son. There wasn't time to sit and wallow, to even attempt to process, I just had to keep going but putting one foot in front of the other - standing up, just seemed impossible. The ache within my chest only grew as I felt time moving around me yet I just sat there.

I had been strong enough to pull myself out of the ashes and I burned the Crossroads down.

I made my way back from the dead. Again.

Maybe this time I should have stayed dead.

"Took you long enough." Hades' voice cut through the spiral I let myself be swept away in. Seeing him now hit harder than seeing Apollo, or even Ailin and V. Sarcasm was thick in his tone, only as I met his eyes, I could see his relief - raw, real - the glisten of tears just on the edge of his eye he'd never let fall. "I almost started to wonder if third, fourth, fifth - whatever time this is would be the charm."

I didn't move. "Disappointed?"

"I've had your eulogy prepared for weeks in case such a situation would ever arise. Guess I'll file it away for another time." I rolled my eyes, yet he was suddenly there - on his knees in front of me, a blur of movement switching between him and Apollo in a sense of deja vu. A simple string of tears ran down his left cheek. "I'm so glad you're here. I tried to find you. I swear on all that is, I tried. I was forced away, and what I saw the first time- I didn't know if you, but well. You are the most infuriating, unimaginable, creature l have ever met."

Before I could respond he leaned up, holding me in one swift movement so now we're both standing as I'm crushed against him. I tense for a second, torn between surprise and the instinct to pull away before I managed to relax, holding him back. Similar to Apollo, I felt him - his warmth, his presence - that light of life and sense of power that was actually nothing like Apollo yet equally as familiar. Silence that felt so heavy yet oddly comforting took over, and at some point I managed to let him go as he stepped back. Now he rested his hands on my shoulders, looking me over in concern and admiration. The sadness that replaced earlier relief in his eyes had me frozen all over again. Hades didn't look at me with pity.

Loathing.

Impatience.

Not pity or whatever the hell this was. "You're getting soft in your old age."

"That never happened." His frown threatened to turn into a smirk, but it didn't quite make the switch. "I am happy to see you. We all will be. Apollo came and told us, everyone is trying-"

"Apollo came here?" I snap, angrily shrugging out of his hold.

"Yes to tell us-"

My heart thundered in my ears at what Apollo leaving my home realm meant. "He has a job to do. How dare he leave and-"

Words left me as panic sunk in. My powers flared, and I let them as fear only seemed to help make me stronger. Hades was talking, but I couldn't hear as I wondered how to get back, without being seen, without being known, without leading danger to them. I trusted him to do this. No one else and he got to do all that I couldn't. Cain trusted him and he worked so hard on those wards and why didn't we get to be the ones there?

"Stop." Hades calmly commanded as I felt the tremor under our feet and the ocean jostled against the invisible barrier with force. "Elise, you need to stop."

I looked at Hades, my vision blurring and then I screamed, back on my knees in the dirt as the black hole I felt growing inside finally seemed to erupt around me. "We are his parents, and we can't be there to keep him safe. Apollo had one job!"

"And he is doing it. He would have been gone, seconds. The baby is safe, Elise." I felt Hades sit beside me, a hand on my back that gently moved up and down as he shushed me as if I was the baby. "You will destroy everything if you do not stop. Save it, for the battle that is coming."

Slowly, I managed to not only get control of my power but draw it back in. The cracks on the earth remained around us and water now leaked from somewhere I couldn't see but the dripping was almost as calming as Hades voice. It only made one thing clear and from where I laid, Hades carefully wiped my face with a tissue before I forced myself to look at him.

If Apollo had come and told everyone I was back, and then went back home.

And Hades had said everyone was looking for me; but would have been the only one strong enough to be able to come here - except for one.

One that I knew should have been there when I woke up.

That should have been the first one to find me and I doubt Hades would leave alone even for a second after everything else that has gone on.

"Where is Cain?"

Hades flinched slightly, yet kept his expression neutral as he guided me to sit up. "I don't know. I've been looking for him since I realised he'd left the baby. Deimos found me, told me what Apollo had said. I went straight there, and I promise you he is where he should be. He didn't know where you had gone, and had hoped you had ended up together."

"So you came here?"

"I knew Cain wasn't here, but you're not hiding like he is. It takes some effort, but I can see beyond his wards and covers, breaking or at least slipping through them isn't much of a challenge. Most of the time anyway. I'm now realising you have not seen him at all either."

"Fuck." I get up and try to reach for Cain. He has to be here, somewhere.

There is nothing.

Maybe this was another false reality. I couldn't tell the difference anymore.

And then I feel it. A flutter deep within my stomach; a kick. A twirl. A foot to the ribs. My hands cover my stomach. Flat. Hard. Joining in on the madness I'd returned to, even my body seemed determined to make me question it all. Why did it feel like he was still with me?

I open my eyes and I'm curled up on the bed, someone is crying - me. I'm hugging myself, and my chest feels damp like the pillow under my head. Hades is sitting beside me, concern all over his face - twice in one day.

"I don't know how to help you, Elise." He says softly. "I brought in a friend or at least, I hope I have."

I think of Kara, and I'm not sure I even like her right now.

Artemis would be too dangerous a move.

Athena would not have time for my weakness.

"You poor, poor child." Medusa replaced Hades. "What have they done to you now?"

The surprise arrival is enough to stop my tears. "Why are you here?"

"I happen to be quite fond of you if that wasn't already clear. I heard of your return, or at least the whispers of it and offered my aid to the King of the Underworld." I hadn't heard Hades be so formally addressed, without a ton of sarcasm to go with it. "More brains than most, that one."

Medusa offered me a cup and I slowly sat up to take it. Her snakes hung limply around her shoulders, seemingly asleep if not for the odd twitch or curious little inspection from a rogue strand that she promptly pushed back down. "This will bring back your warmth. You do look dreadful, but I'd expect nothing less after everything you've gone through."

Her tone was blunt, yet not unkind. There was something about her as she gently dabbed at my forehead with the cool towel that brought me the biggest sense of comfort I'd felt since returning. Obediently, I sipped the liquid, and instantly wanted more. It was a chicken soup, or I hoped that's all it was as I'm sure I tasted lemon and there were a lot of chunks to go through. The second it hit my stomach I felt - better.

"Avgolemono. All new mothers should be served soups, and broths. You need comforting foods to soothe and replenish your body." Medusa mumbled, leaning over to then be holding a large paper bag. "You will also be thankful for this."

She pulls out a box, and from within it, a small glass bottle with some kind of funnel on the top.

"I'll be near." Hades disappears.

"What is that?" The bag, and things inside look like nothing I'd ever expect her to be hoarding down in her lair.

"Darling, they could only heal your broken corpse. All evidence of what you endured may have been erased, but your body, your heart, your soul remembers. It is why you will weep for seemingly no reason. You will feel a despair so deep only a woman could ever claw her way back from. You may be familiar with the term Baby Blues, and I promise you it is real and while you do not bear the scars of his birth, you have not escaped basic, female biology and hormones. Your womb will still feel the imprint of your son's spirit. Phantom kicks that will take place weeks, months or even years later. Your breasts still know to swell with the nourishment he needs."

I let her words sink in through the fog I felt my brain being covered in. I thought it was going to be an ongoing sense of being completely fucking insane after the whole Fate thing, but apparently not even being present for the birth of my child and being magically fixed up so my corpse is essentially brand new - left plenty of space for me to still enter a post-partum phrase and the chaos that brings.

Fucking awesome.

Then I felt the tears come again, my throat tightening and that sense of overwhelm returned. My chest, no my breasts ached. I felt like a stranger in my body and everything she just said was what I could feel most of all.

She handed me the bottle, and a warm, damp cloth. "It may help to express."

I stare at her.

She stares at me.

"Most girls will have their mothers to care for them during this time. I had no one. You get me." Medusa sighs, a sad smile disappearing as quickly as it had come. "You may not like it, but I promise you, apart from the obvious, I am what you need right now."

In all honesty, I felt she was right. "I don't know who I even am anymore. I don't know how to do all this, never mind the rest."

Medusa looked thoughtful as I took more of the soup. "I warned you of the ways man will seek to control you. Own you. Yet you never allowed yourself to be tamed, not completely. I sense the change in you. Every time we meet you are never the same. There will be no hiding it from anyone so long as you do not hide it from yourself."

I shake my head. "I feel so lost. I wanted to come back strong, and-"

Her hand covered mine. "Do not think you are weak. This, this, here and now, means you can not do what you are still destined to achieve. You are merely going through the process of change. Again. We do not see the caterpillar transforming. We only see the butterfly once it is ready to fly."

Medusa was right. I am changing; again. Change is always painful and messy and I had no idea the outcome once it was over but I would still be here once it was. I always was.

"Thank you. For this. For everything." I barely whisper, my voice breaking as I tried to find the right words.

She gave me a tiny nod, the warmth in her gaze as fulfilling as her soup. "As women, we endure. In this world, we fight to survive. It will break you, but only if you let it. Never let it silence you. Bind you. Force you to its will." Centuries of anger laced her words, yet her defiance and own strength was never clearer. "You are many, many things Elise and you were not made to bow to anyone. You will rise, and make them tremble. Make them regret the day they ever doubted and underestimated you. Show them all who you truly are."

Her words settled between us. Medusa had been right, she was what I needed and I forced myself to swallow the next wave of emotion that threatened to crush me all over again. Somehow, everything didn't feel as hard now and reluctantly I picked up the bottle with a new understanding on what was actually expected of me and more over it.

"A highly emotional, borderline insane, naive child who gets by on sheer luck and bad choices and now how to work out all the new, not so fun things her body can do like apparently get milked like a cow?"

"Those are your words. Not mine." Medusa finally cracked a smile, and it stayed this time. Her hair seemed to shiver, the hissing mass adding to my comfort levels rather than stressing me out. "Do you need help, Elise?"

She looked at me expectantly.

"I don't think we have time for the level of help I need, and I feel like this might cross some boundaries with my therapist." I felt my cheeks burn. "But yes. I do. And this is not how I ever imagined quality bonding time going with the infamous Medusa, so ah, lets do this."

"Welcome to motherhood. No one ever said it would be easy."

Sometime later, I ended up standing outside my parents home with Hades and Apollo and despite everything I was weak, and I was scared because I couldn't even go in to see them. See him. See anyone.

"What's in the bag?" Apollo asked cautiously as I handed over the small cooler.

After some discussion, an internal war, a lot of reassurance from Medusa and a massive dose of pride that managed to silence my ego to get me to even come back here, I had done it.

"Milk." I enjoyed seeing them both flinch. "Medusa promised it was the best thing to give him. We had a few practices, and I tell you what, I am feeling a lot better. Though I'm sure my boobs are bigger now?"

I carefully inspect them, thankful for padded bras, breast pads and my new ability to produce life giving sustenance for my baby. Beyond that, I still managed to feel more like a version of myself I could identify with and while I still felt like I was one step away from crying at anything and everything, I felt - better. And that I owed to Medusa. All she asked for in return was that I make sure Uranus didn't win, for all of our sakes. Simple.

Good thing I was now in the mood to try.

"Medusa?" Apollo looked at Hades; I couldn't tell if he was confused or angry.

"Long story. Happy ending." Hades muttered, keeping his tone cold and serving a clear message he wouldn't be elaborating.

Apollo's mouth opened with a million unsaid words, but instead simply sighed. "And what now then?"

"I have to find Cain." I said it so simply, I almost believed it would be.

"Have you spoken to Kara?"

"No." I shrug. "Not important right now."

"It's a little important since everyone thought you were dead dead this time." Apollo tried and failed to keep his own tone simple.

"I'll keep it on her to-do list, but even you admitted his absence is more than worrying." Hades added.

"Are you my PA now, Hades?" I teased, tilting my head up to look at him despite the heaviness that returned around us.

"No." He snapped, clearly unimpressed. "But someone needs to manage you."

I glared at him. "Manage me?"

"I'll leave you two, to it. Please at least make an appearance with your friends, and I'll just be here, praying you don't manage to run into any more disasters in the process of finding Cain."

"Please, disaster and I are old friends. It'll be-" I stopped.

"Is she broken again?" Hades poked my arm, and slapped his hand away as he went to do it again.

"I know where Cain is."

From inside the house, we all froze as we heard the baby crying. Instinctively I started to walk towards the backdoor, but stopped myself before I actually went in. My chest tightened, the urge to go in and hold him ripping apart everything Medusa had helped me put back together.

"It won't be the worst thing if you go in there." Apollo said softly behind me.

"Yes it will." I admit, looking up at him. "Because I'll never leave."

"Then make sure you come back. Soon." And he went inside.

Hades hand was a gentle pressure on my back, as he guided me back and away to the portal.

"I want to tell you that you're doing the right thing, but I don't know what that is." He says softly.

"You lost your family. I know this isn't like that and I'm not saying it is, but how did you keep going?"

To his credit, my question didn't appear to surprise him yet I noticed the subtle shift in his eyes. They darkened, his stance less relaxed as he became a little more guarded.

"I didn't lose them. I am well aware of where they are. Like you, I decided it would be better if I stayed away." Was all he said. "Now, where do you think your other half is?"

"But didn't Zeus-"

"Elise, I am King of the Underworld. Do you think he would have more power than I, over such mortal matters as life and death?" He growled now, the outburst gone in seconds as he subtly coughed as if to clear his throat. "There are rules. A balance. The price they'd pay for my own selfishness outweighs what need I have to be with them." He paused, closing his eyes for a moment as if he was seeing them now. "I look in on them from time to time. Strangers now. It was many lifetimes ago, and with age and experience, you will no doubt experience your own versions of this. Already the world here carries on parallel to yours. Your parents. Your friends. Their lives are not on pause because you are not here. They grow older, building their own lives and one day, their children will take their places. Societies will rise and fall. Eventually you will no longer live here at all. Your visits will become less frequent. You will merely observe, but never belong again."

I wasn't sure what answer I was expecting but his words were all true and part of a reality I had barely considered, yet knew would come. One day. If we stop Uranus.

"To answer your question, you learn to live with the ache that will never leave. Love is a strange beast to manage. As time fades and you find comfort in your choices, it is just a part of you." His expression softens. "Shall we continue?"

I can only nod, not willing or able to allow that conversation to go on any further. Not now at least. Maybe one day he will share the whole truth with me. Maybe he will never tell another soul.

"You won't like where we're going." I warn, keeping my voice neutral in readiness to test his reaction.

"Try me."

"Tartarus."

His eyes locked onto mine, as if trying to work out just how serious I was or if in fact this was all a joke. It wasn't.

"I want to argue, but it would explain why I have been unable to find him." He finally said reluctantly. "And do you have any theories as to the why of this?"

"Because I took the Crossroads from her."

"From her. Hecate? She's behind this?" Now he just seemed pissed off.

While I wasn't exactly thrilled, a deep sense of knowing told me I was right. "Hecate, maybe. I'd rather call it Fate."

Poor Hades. This reveal would blow his little mind.

___________________

We're getting so close to the end, and it's so hard to get it all out how it needs to be because we (Elise and I) don't know how its going to end yet and she isn't giving me anything to work towards!! 

I am enjoying her and Hades little bonding time though. He cares - we were all witness incase he denies it later.

Thanks for still being here... xo