Chapter Text
“Zagreus, I’ve had a thought,” Thanatos said one day (or night?) in the lounge after Zagreus came back from another successful run, bringing baskets of tomatoes with him of all sizes and even various colors.
Zagreus popped another cherry tomato in his mouth, “Hm?”
“Nothing says you have to actually stand in the Styx, right?” Thanatos started slowly, making sure to get all of his words out correctly, “What if other parts of your body could be in contact?”
“Did you have a better idea than bucket shoes?” Zagreus said excitedly.
“What if you drank the Styx? We know the powers of the river can be transmitted by drink, like the Lethe, and you haven’t broken any oaths, so it shouldn’t have any ill effect.”
Zagreus thought about it for a moment, “Well, I’m certainly open to try! How much Styx do you think I’d have to drink?”
Thanatos shrugged, “Perhaps you can ask Patroculus if he knows how much Lethe needs to be drunk to get the full effect and go from there?”
“Hopefully I’ll run into him soon!”
It was a few runs later that he found Patroculus’ secluded glade, looking a little worse for wear. Damned butterfly ball.
“Ah, hello there, stranger,” Patroculus greeted him, “I see you have come across my glade once again.”
“Hello Patroculus, sir,” Zagreus smiles, “I have a question to ask, if you’re alright with that.”
“What’s on your mind, stranger?” Patroculus leans back to better look at Zagreus.
“I was wondering… well, I wanted to know if you knew how much water from the river Lethe someone would have to drink for the full effects to take hold.”
Patroculus’ eyes widened just a fraction, “Have something you’re that desperate to forget?”
“Oh, no, it’s not like that, I’m sorry!” Zagreus backpedaled, “I wanted to try drinking the Styx to… exist on the surface longer, and wanted some sort of comparison.”
This seemed to relax Patroculus, “Well, in that case, I suppose I could help. A few sips over a long period of time is not enough for their effects to take hold. Drink all at once, but please do not drink too much. ”
Zagreus tapped his fingers against his belt, “I could go up to a percent maybe…” he tried for some mental math.
Patroculus seemed amused, watching his face scrunch up as he tried to calculate, “Alas I don’t think I’d be able to help you there, stranger, though that sounds a safe bet.”
“Oh that’s alright, thank you sir!” Zagreus shook himself out of his thoughts.
“Take something for your travels,” Patroculus gestured to his wares.
Zagreus picked some HydraLyte and bid Patroculus farewell.
As he burst onto the surface, he didn’t even have to call Thanatos this time.
“That was a new record! Even with the conversation with Patroculus!” Zagreus grinned.
“You’re getting very admirable in strength, Zag,” Thanatos gave him a small smile in return, “Any answers from him?”
“He said to try just a sip to start, but one percent of my body weight should be fine.”
“How much do you weigh?” Thanatos asked as Zagreus got out his bucket and a cup, standing in the bucket to prolong this experiment.
“Just about three talents,” Zagreus looked to the Styx, “I’m gonna just try to hold some water in my mouth first.”
Thanatos hummed in acknowledgement as he crunched the numbers. Three talents was 180 mina, which was… 9,600 obols? 10,800? No, wait, it was 108,000 obols, he forgot a 0...
Zagreus had his head tilted up to keep the single sip in his mouth, standing right next to the bucket in case he needed to step into it as he looked expectantly at Thanatos, silently willing his mental math to go faster.
“I think you need to drink just about 115 obols worth of Styx water to make it one percent,” Thanatos concluded after much too long.
Zagreus tried to answer, but it came out incredibly garbled, so he stepped in his bucket and swallowed, “Well the one gulp seems fine, and I can’t just keep it in my mouth, talking is too hard.”
Thanatos measured out what he estimated to be 115 obols (Over estimating a bit just to be safe).
Zagreus wiggled his eyebrows at Thanatos, “Down the hatch!” he said, chugging down the water as Thanatos watched.
“You drank that like you hadn’t drunk water in years,” Thanatos commented.
“Well it’s better than Satyr fountains,” Zagreus let out a mighty burp that made Thanatos cringe.
“I’m sorry, what??”
“...Moving right along, how long do you think I should wait?”
Thanatos tilted his head to one side, “Do you feel any different?”
Zagreus mirrored him, “No, not really. I’m just gonna go for it.”
“Are you sure??”
“I can just jump into the bucket! Or your arms,” Zagreus said, which sufficiently flustered Thanatos as he stepped out.
A second passed. Then two.
“I think it worked!! Usually I’d feel the effects by now!” Zagreus was so excited he ran around Thanatos in a circle like a puppy.
“That’s fantastic,” Thanatos was smiling too, “You don’t happen to know how long that water will stay… in you, do you?”
“No idea!” Zagreus didn’t seem worried by this at all.
“What do you want to do with your newfound freedom?” Thanatos asked with a laugh.
“Wanna go run around in the evergreens?” Zagreus had so much excitement in his mismatched eyes, Death felt his heart warm. How could he say no?
“If either of us even suspect we sense an Olympian I’m blinking us back to the house,” Thanatos said as sternly as he could muster.
“Yes, sir!”
Zagreus was absolutely enamored by every single thing he could see in the winter wonderland in front of them, every snow covered tree so tall it blotted out the sun (Zagreus secretly picked the forest because he knew Thanatos got headaches from the brightness).
Thanatos had to admit, it was fun floating through the forest, watching Zagreus leave melted bare prints.
“Look! There’s some pinecones that are still closed!” Zagreus had run ahead a bit to jump up and grab a whole branch’s worth of cones, “Mother says there’s food inside, but you have to cook them, they make nice sauce apparently.
“What’s the food called?”
“Pine nuts!”
“Well, that’s certainly accurate,” Thanatos let out a chuckle.
Zagreus had taken just one pinecone, “Got to leave them for someone else if they need it!”
“I can’t sense any mortals anywhere near this place,” Thanatos said after a moment’s consideration.
“There’s not really any wildlife either,” Zagreus mused, “Like animals and things.”
He was right, Thanatos noticed with a start, “I’m sure they’re just hibernating, or whatever it is animals do when it’s so frigid.”
They both knew what hibernation was, Hypnos once explained it to them both, a new invention of his a very very long time ago.
“I’m gonna climb that tree,” Zagreus decided when they found a tree with such perfect white snow on it’s low hanging leaves.
“Zagreus, are you sure that’s a good idea? You’ve never done that.”
“Than. Mate. I’ve defeated Lord Hades, you think a tree is going to stop me?” Zagreus already was hanging off the lowest branch.
“Fair point,” Thanatos watched, simply floating higher and higher to stay the same distance from Zagreus.
“Look, I’m above you now!” Zagreus stood on a branch high up enough to hold his weight, but not so high he might break his neck in a fall.
“Is it worth the thrill?” Thanatos asked sardonically.
“This is!” he knocked the branch above him, showering Thanatos in snow.
The God of Death let out an indignant sound as his hood was pushed off his head and snow got down his cloak.
“Oh, you little-!” he grabbed a handful of powder and threw it at Zagreus, hitting him in the shoulder.
Zagreus was cackling like a madman, and he jumped from one tree to the next branch, which nearly gave Thanatos a heart attack.
“Zagreus! That’s dangerous!” he squawked.
“Thanks, Mother,” Zagreus rolled his eyes playfully. His feet left light scorch marks on the tree, and they were both glad there was no one to see them.
“I have half a mind to tackle you.”
“Do it, coward!”
Well, that couldn’t stand unchallenged.
Thanatos flew through the air, arms outstretched and sending them both tumbling down into the powdery snow, wrestling like they were boys again.
Zagreus managed to land on Thanatos, grinning triumphantly, “Ha! I am victorious!”
“Are you sure about that?” Thanatos asked before craning his neck up and kissing Zagreus, quickly but enough to sufficiently short circuit his mind.
Thanatos regained the upper hand, managing to pin Zagreus over with a huff that pushed up his silvery white bangs.
“That feels illegal, mate,” Zagreus pouted.
“You want to see underhanded?” Thanatos had his knee pressed into Zagreus’ kidney, and he pulled his arms above his head to pin down with his gauntleted hand.
His other hand was free to tickle at the Prince’s stomach, his eyes wide as he started to giggle.
“O-oh! Oh no! Than, Than!” Zagreus was spastically laughing, trying in vain to push Thanatos off of him, “That t-tickles!!”
Thanatos had an evil glint in his eyes as he dragged giggles out of Zagreus, who could do nothing but writhe underneath him.
The Prince’s sides were ticklish, a trick that Thanatos knew from when they were young children as he poked him.
Zagreus was laughing so hard he was shaking, feet kicking up melted snow and eyes squeezed shut.
“Th-than, Than I’m going to piss myself if you don’t stop, I swear!” Zagreus managed through his laughter and tears.
That did make Thanatos stop, leaning back as they both panted, “Guess that means the Styx water’s just about through you.”
Zagreus just nodded, unable to form words for a moment, “Hold, hold on I gotta go real quick. Then can we go back to the house the nice way?”
“In my arms? Of course,” Thanatos managed a last laugh as Zagreus scrambled up. Thanatos set to fixing his clothing as Zagreus found a place to relieve himself.
By the time he ambled back, Zagreus looked one foot into the Styx already and Thanatos held out his arms. He sunk into them openly, looking so incredibly happy, like a child after an exciting adventure.
“Let’s go home, Zag.”
“Mhm,” Zagreus nodded into his chest, eyes sliding closed.