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The Underworld may be composed of different layers, she doesn’t find them very different from each other. Sure, during her attempts to escape to the surface, she’s seen it all and she knows how to distinguish them. Tartarus has green walls, Asphodel is filled with lava, Elysium looks like a dreamy version of the outside as described by the other deities she’s spoken to through boons and the Temple of Styx is a nightmarish labyrinth where she’s scratched her knees multiple times.
No, what she’s interested in is the surface. What little she’s been able to see of it has made her dream of grandeur: grass greener than emeralds, the wind sweeping through her hair and tunic, the fruits she saw her mother grow before her eyes and before she had to let the Styx take her back down because she isn’t allowed to stay outside for longer than a couple minutes.
To her surprise, it doesn’t mean she hasn’t made at least a friend outside. Getting to know her mother was one thing – a major one, in fact, considering they hadn’t known of each other’s existence for so long – but someone else came along, as surprised as she was of this.
Truth be told, she’s never had the occasion to chat with a lot of people in the Underworld, aside from Hypnos, Nyx and Cerberus. Making friends on the outside simply is something she wouldn’t have even dreamt to ever get, even during her first attempts at escaping the Underworld. This reality of reaching the living world to speak in short bursts with the bright faces of every other deity in this world allowed her to be a little more ambitious and, now, all she can think about is fighting her way through the hordes of shades and go against her father every single occasion she gets as to regain the outer world.
There’s someone she really wants to see on the other side, someone who showed her life like she’d never seen it. The first time they met, she had no idea who he was, to the point where she brandished Coronacht and prepared an arrow; but he reacted with anything but offensive reflexes like she’s been so used to rising every single time something or someone she doesn’t trust in appears in front of her.
No, instead, and despite his massive build that reminded her of the Minotaur, he lent her a hand the first time she exited the Underworld and faced him instead of her mother dearest. He introduced himself to her as Agroikos, god of harvest, and gave her a bite of food unlike anything she had ever had in the Underworld (not that they even need to eat – it’s mostly a way to recover your health if you get injured down there, as she’s gotten to learn by experience).
Ever since then, he’s been on her mind from time to time during her escape attempts. Like many people who’ve helped her during them, she’s given him some nectar from time to time, a gesture to which he only replied tenfold. Sometimes, he gives her fruits to taste and – not to be paranoid or anything – she thinks he may be trying to figure out which ones she likes the most aside from the Poms of Power she tastes so often during escape attempts as to boost the gifts from the outside gods.
She never turns down anything. How could she? It’s given to her on a literal silver plate by one of the gentlest beings to have ever graced the mortal soil and the divine skies; even if she’d have been a Fury, she wouldn’t have been able to turn anything down from him, not when he smiles so softly every time she gets to savour a fruit before the Styx calls back for her. He’s too good of a soul for her mortal-tinted blood, but it also doesn’t seem like he minds only seeing her for a couple minutes before she goes into hiding.
If there’s one thing she can give back to him, it’s to spare him her last moments and the pain that goes along with them.
However, this escape… isn’t going properly, in that regard.
It’s not that she isn’t on the surface; quite the contrary, in fact. The issue really isn’t that, since she feels the wind blow through her hair and the kiss of sunlight on her greyish skin (quite a departure from Agroikos’ tone, which is much darker not even accounting for the suntan). It’s not even that she doesn’t see her mother – she must be busy with something else, she did tell her she had to take care of her gardens by hand – nor Agroikos; it’s that she hasn’t had the time to flee.
She hasn’t gotten the time to hide, so he’s looking at her as the spasms from the Styx come back and her skin feels like it’s starting to burn. She’s right in front of him, dying, and she can’t even spare him from the terrible sight because her legs can’t dash away from him anymore with some lame excuse. They had too much to speak about and not enough time to bite into the fruits of his labour. Too bad, too bad – but that isn’t the worst.
Oh my God, she’s a freak of nature – she must be to him, considering she’s a hellish being who keeps escaping from a gilded cage filled with gemstones, darkness and the Styx waters that look just like the blood she keeps splattering on the ground as she tries to reach the outside, her mother’s warmth and her friend’s smile once more.
“Are you okay, Phoebe?” He asks instead, his hands immediately reaching for her.
“I… I can’t stay here for much longer… I’m sorry…”
He sounds heartbroken to hear that, to the point she’s regretting not having paid attention to the time going by.
“What do you mean – oh, right. You come from the Underworld, don’t you? It’s trying to take you back, doesn’t it?”
“How… do you know…?”
No, no – it won’t take her away now. She’s still got things to say.
“Persephone told me something along those lines, but I didn’t really get it until now. Do you get back there with your belongings?”
“Y-yes… I do…”
“If so, I’ve got a little something you may like.”
Like she’s seen the Olympians do so many times already, Agroikos summons in a snap of the fingers a bottle and a small bag, each sitting in one of his hands.
“These should allow you to have a taste of the outside even in the belly of the Earth. This vial,” he gently puts it into her hand, “contains apple juice. It’s a sweet beverage very much appreciated by mortals and gods alike. This small back, on the other hand,” she puts away the bottle and takes the new item in her available palm, “contains dried pears. It’s a sweet treat which I think you’ll appreciate a lot when you have the time to eat it.”
“Th… Thank you. So much… Thank you…”
“You’re welcome,” he tells her with words as soft as fluff. “Now, go. We’ll see each other again, right?”
“Of course…”
She gives him one last smile before she lets the Styx claim her once more, already thinking of her next escape attempt and, of course, about the next meeting that will await her at the end of the journey out. In the meantime, she’ll get to appreciate the two samples of nature he’s handpicked for her despite how abrupt the revelation and goodbyes must have been. As regretful as she’s leaving today, she also knows they’ll get second, third, fourth chances at this, won’t they?
Indeed, it’s only a goodbye, when you’re both immortals, and when she’s this motivated to see someone else again despite the hurdle.