Too late for second-guessing [Greek myth AU, Hades/Demeter + Kids, PG]
Title: Too late for second-guessing
Fandom: Greek Myth AU
Characters: Hades/Demeter + Poseidon + Zeus + The Kids (TM) + Minthe + Askalaphos
Rating: PG
Notes: Written for Hearts_blood
for prompt 166. The Family that nobody wanted. This used to be another fic but then I did some shifting of prompts and now it is this one, hurrah!
Summary: They meet in the field before the underworld.
They meet in the field before the underworld. Zeus and Poseidon cautious and disbelieving on one unsteady side, Hades calm and resolute on the cold other.
This day was always going to come.
“Why are you doing this?” Zeus, for once in his life not completely drunk and grasping at every unfortunate nymph that comes near, asks puzzledly, “Why do you dare?”
“We drew the lots,” Poseidon seconds, staring at his cold brother wonderingly, “why-?”
“You falsified the lots,” Hades interrupts calmly, with the very frostiest of smiles.
…They both draw back at that smile.
“Is this because of Demeter?” Poseidon asks, grasping desperately at straws just as he once grasped drunkenly at his sister’s skirt and suffered, “you’ve changed since she snared you, brother.”
“Perhaps she’s poisoned your mind,” Zeus agrees, trying to believe in his sister’s jealousy even as his capacity for such belief keeps falling as it has done since cold-eyed Hermes delivered his cold-worded message, “we could always fix such a state by-“
“Finish that sentence and I put a sword through your throat right now, Zeus,” a strong voice drifts, as Demeter steps out from the underworld with blade already in hand.
…And a stare to warn her former brothers to silence, yet again.
“You have both been entirely obedient up ‘til recently, siblings,” Zeus tries desperately, barely able to stare at the cold fury dancing in Demeter’s eyes, “you have been the most obedient.”
“Perhaps the birth of your first daughter was the change,” Poseidon tries to muse through suddenly fearful lips, tries to summon lust into his wide belly but is only able to manage a cold flutter of dead ash, “perhaps she should-“
“Learn?” Makaria, calm death, interrupts - stepping up at the other side of her father with a chilling still, “I think that I know all that I ever need to know, sea creature.”
“And you could teach her nothing, anyhow,” a slim redhead seconds, standing just behind the calmly still lady with a expression of dark, frothing hatred making her so furiously beautiful, “you flatulent, stupid sea-fucking pervert who deserves to have his beard ripped off his face for crimes against all.”
…And they flinch; from the unexpected insult and the unexpected truth.
“The mad one,” Poseidon snaps desperately, just resisting the urge to clutch at his youngest brother and tremble at the cold fury in Hades’ eyes and the eyes of his family around him, “the mad one must’ve spelled you!”
“Bewitched you,” Zeus agrees, his lust dying slightly slower but spluttering like a drowned candle nonetheless, “the witch, the bitch, the-“
“Desired object that never should’ve received her own say,“ and Melinoe appears as if from nowhere, terrifying spirit that she is, and takes her sister’s side with the coolest expression ever known - a expression that promises blood and terror and sharp teeth biting in the horrifying dark, “you must’ve been so disappointed, uncle.”
There is a sword in her hand. A sword so fine that it seems to glow against her, a sword so fine that it seems to sing victory even as it hangs limp against her black flesh.
…They notice the proud brand of Hephaestus on it, and start to feel a terror of their own.
“The snake,” Zeus snarls, his eyes upon the sword and his faltering and drunken memory vaguely upon Ares’ desire to rip the weapons from Hephaestus’ formerly powerless hands, “the snake boy; he desires power and has only manipulated you to his own ends!”
Poseidon remains silent; shaking and, if just for a moment, aware of the fall that is about to grasp them all with inevitable fingers and tangle them all in blood-stained thread.
“I desire no power,” or stab them with the lurking fangs of a snake, half slithering out of the shadows to his majestic mother’s side with dark scales glinting in the just light of the day, “I only desire to live, and for my sisters to live unmolested, and for my parents to live in peace.”
“For all to live in peace,” a quiet boy who must be the orchard-tender nods, standing just behind with pale skin and the juice of pomegranates on his hands, “for no nymphs to be tortured for the simple draw of their sex, for no mortals to be ruined in the name of some game, for no children to be killed or orphaned or hurt due to the simple and ugly vanity of their rulers.”
…It is the truth.
It is the truth and Poseidon must remain silent at it; pale and faintly quaking as he briefly comprehends.
It is the truth and Zeus must turn red and shake at it, “my daughter-“
“Your daughter approves of this,” and Kore, once a child and now a woman with her mother’s angry eyes and the bearing that her father held in nobler days, steps forward from the black - comes to stand justly in the middle of her family like the queen that Hera constantly feared, “your daughter no longer wishes to call her enemy father, thunder-boy.”
…And they step back, from this family with dark eyes and rage thrumming from every pore.
“You have been warned,” and they step back, from the look on Hades’ face and the nymphs and the ferryman and the dog with three heads and the spirits and the army that stands so proudly behind him, “this is war.”
Fandom: Greek Myth AU
Characters: Hades/Demeter + Poseidon + Zeus + The Kids (TM) + Minthe + Askalaphos
Rating: PG
Notes: Written for Hearts_blood
for prompt 166. The Family that nobody wanted. This used to be another fic but then I did some shifting of prompts and now it is this one, hurrah!
Summary: They meet in the field before the underworld.
They meet in the field before the underworld. Zeus and Poseidon cautious and disbelieving on one unsteady side, Hades calm and resolute on the cold other.
This day was always going to come.
“Why are you doing this?” Zeus, for once in his life not completely drunk and grasping at every unfortunate nymph that comes near, asks puzzledly, “Why do you dare?”
“We drew the lots,” Poseidon seconds, staring at his cold brother wonderingly, “why-?”
“You falsified the lots,” Hades interrupts calmly, with the very frostiest of smiles.
…They both draw back at that smile.
“Is this because of Demeter?” Poseidon asks, grasping desperately at straws just as he once grasped drunkenly at his sister’s skirt and suffered, “you’ve changed since she snared you, brother.”
“Perhaps she’s poisoned your mind,” Zeus agrees, trying to believe in his sister’s jealousy even as his capacity for such belief keeps falling as it has done since cold-eyed Hermes delivered his cold-worded message, “we could always fix such a state by-“
“Finish that sentence and I put a sword through your throat right now, Zeus,” a strong voice drifts, as Demeter steps out from the underworld with blade already in hand.
…And a stare to warn her former brothers to silence, yet again.
“You have both been entirely obedient up ‘til recently, siblings,” Zeus tries desperately, barely able to stare at the cold fury dancing in Demeter’s eyes, “you have been the most obedient.”
“Perhaps the birth of your first daughter was the change,” Poseidon tries to muse through suddenly fearful lips, tries to summon lust into his wide belly but is only able to manage a cold flutter of dead ash, “perhaps she should-“
“Learn?” Makaria, calm death, interrupts - stepping up at the other side of her father with a chilling still, “I think that I know all that I ever need to know, sea creature.”
“And you could teach her nothing, anyhow,” a slim redhead seconds, standing just behind the calmly still lady with a expression of dark, frothing hatred making her so furiously beautiful, “you flatulent, stupid sea-fucking pervert who deserves to have his beard ripped off his face for crimes against all.”
…And they flinch; from the unexpected insult and the unexpected truth.
“The mad one,” Poseidon snaps desperately, just resisting the urge to clutch at his youngest brother and tremble at the cold fury in Hades’ eyes and the eyes of his family around him, “the mad one must’ve spelled you!”
“Bewitched you,” Zeus agrees, his lust dying slightly slower but spluttering like a drowned candle nonetheless, “the witch, the bitch, the-“
“Desired object that never should’ve received her own say,“ and Melinoe appears as if from nowhere, terrifying spirit that she is, and takes her sister’s side with the coolest expression ever known - a expression that promises blood and terror and sharp teeth biting in the horrifying dark, “you must’ve been so disappointed, uncle.”
There is a sword in her hand. A sword so fine that it seems to glow against her, a sword so fine that it seems to sing victory even as it hangs limp against her black flesh.
…They notice the proud brand of Hephaestus on it, and start to feel a terror of their own.
“The snake,” Zeus snarls, his eyes upon the sword and his faltering and drunken memory vaguely upon Ares’ desire to rip the weapons from Hephaestus’ formerly powerless hands, “the snake boy; he desires power and has only manipulated you to his own ends!”
Poseidon remains silent; shaking and, if just for a moment, aware of the fall that is about to grasp them all with inevitable fingers and tangle them all in blood-stained thread.
“I desire no power,” or stab them with the lurking fangs of a snake, half slithering out of the shadows to his majestic mother’s side with dark scales glinting in the just light of the day, “I only desire to live, and for my sisters to live unmolested, and for my parents to live in peace.”
“For all to live in peace,” a quiet boy who must be the orchard-tender nods, standing just behind with pale skin and the juice of pomegranates on his hands, “for no nymphs to be tortured for the simple draw of their sex, for no mortals to be ruined in the name of some game, for no children to be killed or orphaned or hurt due to the simple and ugly vanity of their rulers.”
…It is the truth.
It is the truth and Poseidon must remain silent at it; pale and faintly quaking as he briefly comprehends.
It is the truth and Zeus must turn red and shake at it, “my daughter-“
“Your daughter approves of this,” and Kore, once a child and now a woman with her mother’s angry eyes and the bearing that her father held in nobler days, steps forward from the black - comes to stand justly in the middle of her family like the queen that Hera constantly feared, “your daughter no longer wishes to call her enemy father, thunder-boy.”
…And they step back, from this family with dark eyes and rage thrumming from every pore.
“You have been warned,” and they step back, from the look on Hades’ face and the nymphs and the ferryman and the dog with three heads and the spirits and the army that stands so proudly behind him, “this is war.”