Chapter Text
He awoke with a gasp.
Liquid immediately flooded down his throat, and he spluttered, coughing and hacking as much from the overpowering metallic taste as his reflexive need to expel it from his lungs. He flailed as he raised himself from the water, blinking his eyes open. The water was red like blood. Perhaps it was blood. He stood in a pool of it. How did he get here?
He lifted his head.
A grand hallway opened before him, its marble walls interspersed with tall, stone columns and torches placed intermittently throughout, their light dim enough to make the already yawning hall seem cavernous with the ceiling shrouded in darkness.
A long line of greenish, transparent amorphous beings (shades, his mind told him) stood along the tiled length at the end of which he could make out a wall-wide mural of some sort behind a large desk. From somewhere further in, music floated through the air.
He walked out, the blood miraculously sloughing right off of him. His bare feet made quiet sizzling noises with every step he took, and he wondered if he was supposed to get in line too. But he didn’t even know what the line was for. Perhaps he could ask someone, like that fellow further down the hall on a plush chaise lounge to the side. He looked different from the shades; more solid, for one.
Soft snores reached him as he approached, and he realized that the man was sleeping sitting up. Impressive. It seemed a bit rude to wake him up but Zagreus wanted answers.
“Pardon me?”
The snores broke off immediately as the previously sleeping man’s posture shot up.
“H-huh? What? Yes, welcome to—oh, it’s just you, Zagreus!” This man was quite chipper but his eyes remained half-lidded like he could fall asleep again at any time “You were so quiet, I didn’t hear you come up to me!”
“Um, yeah.”
Zagreus. The name clicked, and he knew it was his. How could he have failed to notice he didn’t remember his own name? Actually, now that he thought about it, why can’t he remember anything about himself?
He wracked his brain for basic things like where he came from, who his parents were, and even what his favorite food could be, but each blank he came up with drove a stake of panic through him.
“Let’s see what you died from this time,” Sleepy said, humming as he looked through a piece of parchment floating in front of him on a thin wooden board.
He seemed to be familiar with him, judging by his friendly demeanor, and Zagreus tried to at least put a name to his face but no matter how hard he willed some shred of the same familiarity offered to him from the void that was his memory, he came up with nothing. For all intents and purposes, he’d never met this man before, but that couldn’t be the case.
“You’ve, uh, been staring at me quite intensely there. Something wrong?” Sleepy asked nervously.
“I know this is going to sound strange but do we… know each other?” Zagreus finally blurted out, the panic solid enough to make it a bit hard to breathe.
“Hey now,” Sleepy said, wagging his quill at him, “if you didn’t want me to read out your cause of death, you could just tell me. But honestly, it can’t be more embarrassing than death by tiny Vermin,” he giggled.
“No,” Zagreus said with a frustrated, vehement shake of his head, “I mean I don’t remember who you are or who I was until you said my name.”
Sleepy laughed.
“Okay, fine, your secret is safe with me.”
But his humor died down when he saw Zagreus didn’t share it.
“Wait… you can’t be…” He peered at him closely, and Zagreus did his best to convey through his expression just how helpless, lost, and even a little afraid he was, silently begging Sleepy to believe him.
Sleepy’s eyes widened.
“Wow, you’re serious. Um…” He glanced to his left. “Okay, do you recognize who that is?”
He pointed at the large desk at the end of the hall behind which sat an equally large man easily three or four times the size of Zagreus. He sat amidst piles of paperwork, his hand moving tirelessly across large pieces of parchment as one by one, shades walked up to him.
This man had a severe countenance about him and an air of foreboding that made some shades tremble as they approached. Zagreus couldn’t say he shared their anxiety. He just looked like a desk worker to him except… well, larger. All he felt when he looked at that man was… something. He didn’t know. It was all a tangled mess that drew knots in his chest, but he did know it wasn’t entirely pleasant.
Zagreus shook his head at Sleepy.
“Then what about him?”
Sleepy’s finger redirected towards a big, red creature—a dog, Zagreus’s mind helpfully supplied. It perked up when he turned to it, its tongues lolling out. Its six wide, eager, glowing green eyes fixed expectantly at him, its pointy ears perked, and its tail waved behind it. It was adorable. Unfortunately, aside from the sudden urge to pet it and give it belly rubs, he couldn’t remember its name or anything else about it.
Zagreus shook his head again. Sleepy gaped at him, taking a moment to gather himself before saying weakly, “Oh… you really… Oh no, oh dear…”
The dog began to whine, drawing everyone’s attention.
“What is it, Cerberus? It is not yet time for dinner,” Paper Pusher said with a hint of disapproval.
But the dog only whined louder, threatening to go into full-blown howls. Zagreus could already feel his ears aching while Sleepy gulped as he looked at the dog named Cerberus with dread.
“Uh oh… He heard us. Quick, come with me!”
He grabbed Zagreus’s wrist and yanked him. He stumbled, not expecting the kind of strength that could nearly dislocate his shoulder from such a frail-looking man.
As Zagreus tripped over his own feet trying to find his balance enough to follow Sleepy, a sudden toll resounded dully through the expansive space, reverberating through him like he was the bell that struck that toll. A flash of green light followed shortly.
“Oh no, no, no, no, no,” Sleepy groaned, slapping his forehead. “This is literally the worst time…!”
“Zagreus!”
The light receded to reveal a hooded man in dark clothing carrying a sheathed sword by his waist. In one hand was a large scythe while in the other was something glowing. Zagreus stared at it, transfixed. He felt drawn to it.
Stern features softened somewhat when he caught sight of him but his face still seemed kind of pinched. Even so, he was handsome.
“There you are. I was worried...”
His golden eyes trailed to Zagreus’s wrist and the hand wrapped around it which immediately retracted like it was burned. He then looked towards a squalling Cerberus who refused to be calmed by its master trying every conceivable method to stop its racket. Meanwhile, shades were congregating, curious about the fuss.
“What,” Hooded Man gritted out, “is happening?”
“Can we talk about this elsewhere?!”
Sleepy’s pitch reached heights even higher than the ceiling of the room they stood in.
“What’s going on?”
Another new voice echoed Hooded Man’s question as a shade with a spear in hand sprinted into the chaotic fray from the left.
“Ugh! Just come! We have to find Mom!” Sleepy said, trying to speak over the noisy background full of shouting, clamoring spectators, and doggy wails.
Hooded Man blinked.
“Mother? Why must we go find her?”
“Because…”
“Cerberus! Enough of this tantrum! This is unacceptable behavior!”
“Perhaps we should take him outside, my lord.”
“Because…”
Cerberus cried even louder, resisting its master as he attempted to coax it away from its spot. Many covered their ears. Everyone cringed.
“BECAUSE ZAGREUS LOST HIS MEMORY!” Sleepy screamed, clutching handfuls of curly hair.
The room stilled.
Silence.
There was a clatter. A feather duster had landed in front of Zagreus’s feet.
Dozens and dozens of eyes riveted to him. Zagreus was more than ready to crawl back into the blood pool he spawned from and stay there forever.
Sleepy coughed into a fist and muttered, “Um… yeah… so, I guess I’ll leave you to it,” before attempting to whiz away, but Hooded Man caught him by the back of his quilt-like cape.
“Hrk!”
“Hypnos.” There was a severe edge in Hooded Man’s voice that made Sleepy—Hypnos—tense before sagging in defeat. “You will stay, and you will explain what exactly you meant by that.”