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Last Minute Regrets (Emet-Selch x WoL!Reader)

Summary:

The stage is set for the final battle, for Emet-Selch to show the Warrior of Light what it is his purpose holds -- and to test to see if they can truly change his mind. As he holds his hand out for the WoL, though, regret seeps into the cracks.

_

This is older, and I wrote this before EW came out, but it's also canon divergent where WoL goes alone.

Work Text:

"My new-old friend," you could hear break the soft patter of Amaurot, the city recreated with the magicks of Emet-Selch, the man you had yet to grant a decision to.  "It warms my wayward soul to see you hale and whole once more, though I am sure you oughtn't remember our times together." 

 

"Hythlodaeus," you greeted warmly, though a heavyweight lay against your soul.  You had yet to face those half-lidded yellow eyes, lay bare to waste the man you found yourself fallen for.  "I oughtn't, yet the burning familiarity resonates." 

 

"You find yourself conflicted, I'm sure," Hythlodaeus nearly teased, a knowing smirk slipping against their face as they moved a cloaked hand over their mouth.  "Lingering so close before him, and yet so out of reach. Whole, and yet, still questioning whether your path leads bloody, or that of something new.  I suppose, in a sense, the desire to create still looms inside of you." 

 

You could feel your cheeks heat up under the amourite's insinuation, though your y/e/c eyes shifted, outwards towards the winding purple flowers, vines woven so perfectly into the archway.  For a moment, familiarity took over, your lips curled upwards the slightest.  "I'm sure I've always been fond, albeit embarrassed with your playful phrasing, my friend," slipped past your lips before you comprehended.  Once you had, you closed your eyes for a moment, a sort of warmth filling your heart.  "I suppose the resonation is strong, if I can remember such things." 

 

"It warms me," Hythlodaeus chuckled out softly.  "I do hope you find the answer you sought after.  Our times have come, long past, and yet, Emet-Selch still breathes, as do you.  Mayhaps the two of you are meant the burden of so many memories, to shoulder those together." 

 

"I oughtn't believe I'm the one who truly needs convincing," you replied as you bit your lip, your gaze falling as you thought of Emet-Selch, the ascian your heart yearned.  In the back of your mind, the far reaches where your soul overlapped, you could remember the man's true name.  For a moment, your lips pursed, before your gaze shifted to Hythlodaeus once more.  "Thank you, my friend.  I cannot continue to stretch time simply to brood in mine own wondering, though I do appreciate your company." 

 


 

The large infrastructure of Amaurot had given you far more time to think, the inner workings for such tall beings, while you were merely yalms in height.  From the moment you had finished your conversation with Hythlodaeus, you strode to the waiting room, an unnamed amouratine calling your number.  Hale and whole as you were, you had finally made your mind up.  Though the light itself had been a burning sensation deep inside your soul, you held it in place.  

 

"You've finally arrived," Emet-Selch mused, unamused yellow eyes shifting over your frame as his strides held calculation to them.  "And you have done so...whole?"  He pursed his lips as his brow quirked, a development he had not expected from the Warrior of Light, albeit Warrior of Darkness.  Yellow eyes widened for a moment, a vision of times far prior flickering in his vision.  The ghost of tears pricked at the man's vision, though he quickly glanced away, his fist clenched.  

 

"Hades…" rolled off your tongue before you had the chance to think, before you had much of a chance to react to the ascian's presence.  Surely you understood the man would not simply let go of eons of strife, eons of despair.  If what Hythlodaeus spoke of had been so blatant, so easy to convey, and yet, the world worked not in that sort of way.  Your strides towards the man, towards the ascian, ought be for nigh, but you found yourself in need of trying.  Your heart ached with each step you took, until you were face to face with the ascian, merely a yalm apart.  

 

"You were supposed to come broken ," he spoke, attempting to push off the lingering thoughts plaguing his mind.  "Turning.  What sort of sick joke is it you play, Hero?" 

 

A sigh slipped past your lips as you could feel your heart sinking further into your stomach, y/e/c eyes fixated upon his perplexed expression.  Something in the depths of those turned yellow orbs spoke to you, and yet, it had been so clouded by denial.  You could see his purpose reflecting in his eyes, and your lips fell, crestfallen.  After the warm tidings you had shared with Emet-Selch, even as half a shard, you wished to see them once more.  

 

"I came for you, Hades," you spoke, forcing your voice not to waiver, though your heart felt an unease.  You bit your lip hard as your gaze fell, unsure exactly how you planned to approach the ascian in the first place.  The desire burning deep inside your soul had been hard for you to ignore, seething.  Your hand reached without thought, without fear, as you gripped the man's clenched fist, closing your y/e/c eyes.  "If you truly wish me broken, turning, the monster I ought've become, I…" A sigh slipped past your lips once more as your y/e/c eyes landed upon his half lidded yellow orbs.  "...I suppose our purpose will only end bloody." 

 

You could feel the man's hand unclench in yours, his lips parting for a moment as he found himself unsure what to say.  The way your touch was against his gloved hand had been soft, inviting, and he could feel his own heart clenching.  "What of my purpose?" He spoke, nearly acidic as he regained his bearings.  He took his hand from your grasp as he moved it harshly for emphasis.  "Eons of despair, and ought you expect I simply allow it go to nigh?"  Emet-Selch pursed his lips as his brows furrowed.  "I've lived a thousand of your lives, and yet I've found your kind wanting."  

 

Your gaze fell, lips crestfallen, as a sourness slid against your tongue.  Left wanting for words, you were unsure how you could even convince the man you adored, the one who had stolen your heart right from under you, of any way that would not end in a battle of fisticuffs.  "Gods, why did it have to be you to leave my soul yearning?" You bit, nearly acidic as you could feel the tears already beginning to well in your y/e/c eyes.  "I oughtn't expect you to lay down your arms, nor can I tell you that we are more deserving to draw breaths.  Nigh, no one is more deserving than the next.  We take that worth by stratagem and lay those who oppose at our feet.  You ought know that well." 

 

He cursed himself for the way his heart clenched at your cold words, the swirling in his stomach as he watched the tears stream down your face.  "Shall the victor claim the title hero, and write off the felled in histories as villain, my love?" He spoke, a crack to his tone as he could feel his own confliction toppling him, eating away at his ambitions to simply fell you where you stood.  His words of affection slipped from his tongue without thought, as if he had told you over and over.  Something in his yellow eyes, half lidded, reflected of pain as the words slipped past his tongue.  

 

Swallowing hard, you moved your hand to wipe the tears which burned against your cheeks away, your heart tight as you heard his response.   Steeling your expression, you nodded, your lips forming a straight line.  No matter how much you cared not to raise your hands to the man who had stolen your heart, you knew you could not simply allow the world to fall upon his hands.  As a gloved hand was offered out to you, you showed no hesitation in taking it, intertwining your fingers with his own as the doors to his magicks opened.  

 

Each stride closer to the open door, contemplation plagued the ascian, his half-lidded yellow orbs fixated upon you.  In a swift motion, Hades closed the ilms between the two of you, a passion you had never felt from another.  His lips moved abhorrent against your own, the hand that had not held your own rested roughly in your y/h/c locks.  Poison against your tongue, it mattered not the flames which burned beside you as you engulfed yourself into your lover for the first, and the final time.  

 

He pulled you into another, and another, lips surely bruised from the ferocity of each taste.  Unsure of when his hand untangled yours, pulling you as close as he could muster, you could feel the moisture of tears against your face.  Those tears, chilled in nature, had not been your own as he explored every crevice of your mouth.  

 

Your arms pulled him close, matching his passion with each breathless kiss.  Though each action would not solve the eternal struggle, you would stand in this moment with Hades for a lifetime if you simply could.  Once the two of you finally separated, you would gladly wipe the mixture of tears from both of your faces in sans of yours or his crimson staining the floor.