Chapter Text
Athena had expected a normal gala, someone sucking up to her father, or showing off their power over death and the dead, a show of power, an attempt at finding allies in the powerful, all things she was used to with these things.
What she didn't expect was to be met with Pallas' face smiling at her, Pallas with a circlet in her hair, Pallas covered in gold and pearls, Pallas wearing the same necklace that they'd worn so many years ago, Pallas stood where Hades was.
"Athena, welcome."
That was Pallas' voice leaving Hades' lips.
Hades stood taller than Pallas had, more confident, the kindness her gaze used to carry now gone and replaced with coldness and calculations.
"It's a pleasure to be invited, Hades."
Hades because this couldn't have been Pallas. Yet it was their face, her voice, their eyes, their hair.
"Oh of course, enjoy the gala, Athena."
This wasn't Pallas because Athena had killed Pallas.
She stepped inside and watched Hades, watched for familiarities, watched for just one misplaced thread so she could assure herself that the person who looked so much like Pallas wasn't her. Pallas was dead. She'd killed them.
She noticed Persephone speaking to Hermes and payed their conversation little mind until she heard Persephone say that how she met Hades wasn't a story for a gala like this. Typically the spouses of people so great and powerful would wax poetics of how they met. Persephone didn't do this.
Why was that?
Then their conversation ended and Persephone was making her way over to her, a smile pulling at her lips that was a bit too sharp to be kind.
"Lady Athena, yes?"
"Lady Persephone."
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Lady Athena. I've heard you are your father's wisest. Such an honor to be held high in his court, I'm sure."
An honor she'd killed for.
An honor that she was gifted with the cost of their two oldest friends, one which was dead, the other missing.
The way Hades looked so much like Pallas was unnerving, though she found herself saying it wasn't them for one reason alone. If Pallas had returned, then so had Joe. Joe who was nowhere to be found.
"Yes. It is an honor. I'm sure you're honored to be Hades' wife, to have a seat beside the ruler of the Acheron."
If she was right- if Hades was Pallas than surely she'd be treating Persephone like she were a goddess, if only for the scales that covered parts of her skin. Scales that meant that Persephone was loved by the sea, no one sea borne would treat someone claimed as such as anything less than a god.
"I am honored to hold the power I do."
Power over the Acheron, power over Hades maybe?
False turned to look at where Hades stood, at where her oldest friend stood laughing with a man near her.
They were fine.
They were happy.
They weren't Pallas.
Pallas was dead.
Athena looked at Persephone in time to see a man with blue hair approach them.
"Lady Persephone, there are guests asking for you."
An apologetic smile made its way to Persephone's face as she curtsied.
"Apologies Lady Athena, duty calls."
"Indeed, we shall find another time to speak."
"That we shall."
The scales shimmering on Persephone's skin reminded her of tales of her childhood, reminded her of when she was seen more as a daughter of the sea. She found herself following after Persephone in search for information, anything that could stop her heart from hoping that Hades wasn't Pallas. She'd killed Pallas, there was no way they could have lived. (She'd hoped that she had, hoped and hoped and told herself to stop hoping so many times for so many years now.)
She watched as Persephone danced with Thanatos, watched for Joe and to see where Hades was. She wasn't going to try her luck so soon, not when Hades had the voice of a long dead ghost, a ghost she'd killed herself.
She watched as Hades swooped in to steal the dance with Persephone, as Thanatos left the main dance floor.
She waited a moment or so to approach him, a smile on her face, as if she was simply here to greet him, after all he was new to the Underworld court, surely being greeted by an Olympian would be seen as an honor, especially to someone from a court so young.
"Thanatos, yes?"
"Indeed. Thanatos from Hades' court at your service, Lady Athena of the Olympian court!"
The voice, the theatrics, they were a reminder of the friend who'd dissapeared with Pallas' death, with her corpse. A reminder of Joe. Joe who had laughed as he introduced himself to people as the best friend of Pallas and Athena when they were younger.
She squared her shoulders and took in a breath.
Of course the court of the dead had ghosts in its halls.
"How are you finding Hades' court, Thanatos?"
"Oh it's a wonderful thing. Hades supplies whit I need for my work and my leisure, and Lady Persephone is a wonderful conversationalist when she's around. You know, Hades found her on a battlefield."
A battlefield? Not an ocean?
What battles had Palla- Hades seen to have found their lover on a battlefield?
"A battlefield?"
"Oh yes, Persephone's a wonderful swordswoman, a good thing too, Hades has a ban when it comes to spears in her home, wouldn't want to end like Pallas, would she? I've heard some say Pallas fell on her own spear."
A horrid rumor that was, Pallas was skilled when it came to a spear, she'd never have fallen on her own spear.
Pallas' death was at her hands, not theirs.
It had been Athena who killed Pallas.
Deep breath.
"An unfortunate death, the loss of young Pallas."
"Indeed. Such an unfortunate loss."
What was he playing at?
"Hades has not a spear then?"
That could be a thread, a way to ensure that the ghost of Pallas wasn't Hades after all. Maybe-
"No, they have a bident, a lovely weapon, sharp and strong."
A bident.
A weapon so similar to a trident, the weapon that Pallas had wanted to wield with her family as they grew up.
Deep breath Athena.
Change the subject, if Thanatos is Joe he'll be more accepting to humor than he will prodding.
"How do you eat with that mask on?"
"Hidden away from others."
Right. Of course.
"Why the mask?"
Was it to hide from her? From her family? From those who may recognize the best friend of Pallas, the man who was working to cure death? Had he found the immortality he'd searched for?
"Wouldn't want diseases, or to spread one. There's places where this mask is a sign of death. A lovely one, if you ask me."
"Right. Of course."
Silence spread between the pair for a few moments where Athena moved to look for Hades or Persephone, only to hear a voice nearby.
"Thanatos! There you are! Are you enjoying the gala?"
"Oh indeed Persephone, it's a wonderful gala indeed."
Persephone?
There was no way this woman was Persephone.
She was taller than the woman that False had spoken to, there were no divine scales on her skin, her ears were more befitting of a hound than Persephone's had been. Her hair was brown instead of the copper red that it'd been moments before, yet the dress was the same.
What was this game they were playing here?
"Oh I'm glad. We must continue our dance that we were interrupted from."
"Was it interrupted if it was your lover who pulled you away?"
"It's an interruption no matter who pulled me away."
Thanatos- Joe, because it had to be him, didn't it?- turned to Athena.
"Apologies Lady Athena, we must speak another time, I have a dance to finish with Lady Persephone."
Joe was pulled away before she could speak, before anything more could be said.
She watched him dissapear, watched as he slipped out of the room as Persephone started dancing with a man whose voice seemed to fill the room. Athena moved to watching Hades, she wouldn't follow Thanatos, not when she was sure he'd left to eat, after all he'd said it himself, the way to eat with that mask was to hide away.
She watched the rest of the gala away from the haunting image of a ghost staring at her with the name of Hades.
She needed more information before she approached them.
She needed to be sure this was Pallas before she let herself hope.