Chapter Text
Hades sat on their Throne, listening to Thanatos’s seemingly endless complaints about the increased work of wiring brains into the Acharon due to abnormal amount of deaths from the Trojan War.
Complaining endlessly about how there were so many bodies and why is it my job to sort them and they're so damaged sometimes it's such a fucking HASSLE Hades it's not like you understand, you never HELP ME you're so CRUEL and other senseless whining.
Dae were sprawled against the side of the throne complaining.
Hades didn't mind much, not really. It was nice having some sort of company.
For some reason, being alone seemed unnatural to them. But they’d never been close with the other Olympians, so it didn't make much sense.
After all, who would they be close with?
Thanatos paused in daer complaining, and Hades looked up, because nothing short of an emergency shut Thanatos up once dae started rambling.
Charon stood in the entryway, looking like he’d rather be absolutely anywhere but here. “Messr Hades?” His voice was gravel and rocks and sheer annoyance.
Hades straightened up a bit, feigning interest. Charon never had much of anything important to say. Probably just another case of some bodies falling from the carriages, or more mortals refusing to pay their dues for body removal. Boring things like that. “What is it, Charon?”
Charon’s gaze grew a bit darker, but he didn't falter. “There is somewhat of an issue.”
“And what is it?” Hades holds back a groan. He never got to the point. Ever. Stretched conversations out with pointless pleasantries until Hades just wants to shoot him and be done with it. “Did more bodies get destroyed?”
Thanatos audibly groans.
“No. One.. woke up. A soldier.”
Hades paused. “Are you certain it's not just a very convincing rebodied one?”
“It bleeds.”
“Newer rebodying models can do that.” Thanatos mumbles. “Very expensive and annoying to set up, so much work that I could be spending on wiring bodies but no it's also my job to do complicated rebodying work. But it's possible.”
“It's not rebodied.” Charon snaps at Thanatos, they glare at each other for a solid minute before Hades clears their throat. “I believe it is Achilles who... has reportedly died and woken up before.”
“The invulnerable soldier?” Hades asks, pausing as they realize this might be a bit more severe than Charon bothering them with his typical nonsense. Especially since Zeus wanted Achilles dead.
Pausing as they realize that invulnerable and waking up from death means something to them in a distant way that makes them want to go check on this. “Is there anything else of note, Charon? And are the Furies handling it?”
“Of course they are.” Charon sounds disgusted at the insinuation that he was incompetent enough to not get them. “And... Hm. The soldier appears to have prosthetic eyes, but of no model I recognize, certainly not Hephaestus’s work.”
And that rings a bell.
Hades has no idea what bell it is. Why some bit of them is worried, and concerned at that.
It's ominous given they haven't felt emotions anything like that in a long while now.
Hades slowly stands, patting Thanatos’s shoulder as they rise. Dae smile at Hades, basking in the vague praise, before dae spring to daer feet, plopping daemself down in their spot. Hades raises an eyebrow, but Thanatos reacts by throwing daer legs over the armrest, and sticking daer tongue out. Hades sighs, and turns towards Charon. Ignoring Thanatos’s antics.
“Show me.” Hades commands, and Charon pales a bit.
“Right this way, Messr.”
Hades steps into the bloody, gorish room, not really expecting it to be anything other than a rather expensive rebodying job that fooled Charon.
But they recognize them, and thats… impossible.
Ashes freezes, because thats Tim, thats Tim. One of her eyes a bloody disaster, dressed in bloodied soldier clothes with a buzzcut that made her look the same as she did eons ago.
She looked to anything like she’d been through hell and those are their furies holding her down. About to cut out her throat again.
“Stop.” Ashes growls, stepping forward.
Alekto jerks back, hands in the air. “M’lord—”
“Leave her be.” Ashes (or is it Hades?) snaps. “Begone.”
And they are.
So it's just them now.
“Ashes?” Tim's voice is shaking, desperate.
“Hey.” Ashes manages, already pulling Tim up, away from this room away from this blood.
Tim stumbles on her feet, legs giving as she falls against them.
Without much thought, and no hesitation they pick her up. She exhales sharply, wincing but grips onto their shoulder as she always does.
“Pronouns?” Ashes asks as they open the door with their foot.
“Ae/aer.” Tim mumbles as ae clings to Ashes.
Soon they arrive at Hades ’s bed chambers, and Ashes sets Tim on the bed. “Let me look at your eye.” Ashes sits down. Placing a hand on Tim’s forehead to keep aer from looking away.
“It's fine,” Ae mutters, but doesn't pull away. “Bullet came out when they were trying to cut out my brain, visions coming back.”
Ae is right, the metal is repairing itself as Ashes watches. Glimmering rainbow. Blood gushes down aer cheeks from under the metal, chunks of miscellaneous flesh and bone forcing its way out.
It's not quite tears, but the comparison comes to mind.
It might almost be tears, but it's also a fucking mess.
Ashes stops worrying once Tim proves ae doesn't need to head back to Aurora for emergency repairs. Looking up down right and left, distance reading, etc.
Aer eye was fine. Ae was not. Ae is blood-drenched and shaking as ae sits up and curls into Ashes’s outstretched arm.
“Achilles huh?” Ashes asks a few minutes later. Pulling Tim close.
Tim nods, a sob clawing its way out of aer chest. Then ae is sobbing, curled into Ashes’ arms.
Hades had heard of Achilles, the invulnerable warrior, the undying man with impossible armor. Had heard of aer rage at Patroclus’s death.
Ashes winces a bit at that thought. No wonder aer had gotten dragged into the role of Achilles. No fucking wonder.
Damn.
“Last I heard you were Aphrodite.” Ashes strokes Tim’s rapidly growing hair from aer face so it doesn't get bloody.
Tim smiles shakily, “That was fun.” Ae goes to wipe the blood from aer face, but Ashes catches aer hand.
“You’ll get even more blood everywhere.”
“Fuck you.”
“I’ll get you a towel, and a servant to run you a bath. Alright?”
“...Thank you, Ashes.”
“‘S nothing, Tim.”
Ashes leaves the room, rounds the corner only to see Thanatos, standing there, dae take a few steps back, eyes wide.
“Um.” Dae say blankly.
Hades sighs. “Tell a servant to run a bath for our guest.” It's an order, and Thanatos nods sharply. “Yessir.”
Hades walks to the nearest restroom, and pauses. Ashes grabs a towel, wets it, then takes a dry one.
They were starting to get a headache.
Ashes walked back to their room, tossed over the towels and Tim cleaned off aer face, looking relieved.
It wasn't long later a servant knocked, and Ashes walked Tim to the baths.
If after Tim was cleaned up, after the bloody sheets were changed, they curled into Ashes’s arms and sobbed for hours, that was between them.
Hades sat on their throne bemusedly watching Tim picking over a plate of food
They weren't quite as deep in the Role as before, with Tim as a reminder.
“What sort of choices are these?” Ae grumbles. “I don't even recognize half of them! The fuck is this?” Tim gestures at a pomegranate.
“That one is from Earth actually.” Hades mutters under their breath.
“I don't believe you. Why don't you have any apples?”
“Because I don't like apples.”
Ae groans, and grabs the pomegranate. Picking at it dolefully. “How would you even eat this?” Ae demands.
“Give it here.” Hades holds out their hand, and they cut it open.
Tim takes it, staring at the seeds dubiously. “What the fuck.”
“You eat the seeds.”
“Those are seeds? ” Tim looks at them with the most baffled look. “I don't believe you.”
“Try it.” Hades laughs. “I dare you.”
“Fuck off,” Tim plucks out six seeds, and puts them in aer mouth. Testing. “Not awful.” Tim admits, setting it down a distance from him and grabbing a citrus adjacent fruit instead. “But this one looks less like something Raph would make and call science. So I'm eating it.”
Hades laughs softly, then pauses as an idea strikes them.
“Tim?”
“Mm?” Tim looks
“Do you want to be Persephone?”
Tim pauses a moment, then nods. “Why not? Better than falling into a shit Role again.”
Hades smiles, beckons Tim over, and presses a kiss to the back of Persephone’s hand.
Jonny, because he is Jonny and he’s not giving in to some fucking Role. He’s doing murder and having fun damnit.
Jonny wakes up on the floor of Hades’s throne room. Hand already on his gun he springs to his feet, then pauses.
Persephone is laughing, sprawled on Hades ’s lap. Legs strewn over the armrest, head resting on Hades’s shoulder.
It was Tim.
“Oh fuck off.” Jonny groans, pouting. “Really? When’s the last time you two were together? You didn't think to tell me?” He’s not angry, just a tad miffed.
“Ae/aer, by the way.” Persephone smiles, settling against Hades’s shoulder.
Jonny groans, standing up. He holsters his gun and climbs up the throne, sitting on top of Tim, who squeaks and tries futilely to kick him away. All while Jonny grins like he’s won a contest.
Hades laughs a bit, but doesn't intervene.
It's nice having their family around.