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Hades had gotten used to how springs and summers would drag centuries prior, and yet he still never got over it. It should be impossible, how the two seasons would seemingly last forever, yet autumn and winter seemingly passed in but a flash. He’d most definitely need to speak with Chronos about that fact.
Without Persephone by his side, he had a tendency to grow…restless. The other gods in his domain had seemingly taken notice of this fact, as they always chose to stray from his side whenever his flower left for Olympus, even his children. That usually made it all worse, as he was left with little to do but brood for six months.
So, he had a bit of a tendency to look…elsewhere, for entertainment. Keeping an eye on things that were happening in his brothers' realms was one of those things. Usually that also resulted in nothing, some infidelity scandal here and there, maybe a monster that got on the loose. On the rare occasion, there was a war that one of his many nieces and nephews would get engaged in, but even that just resulted in more tiring work for him.
But, his younger brother finding a rival, finding it in a mortal of all things, that was not something that happened every day.
Hades had first learn of Odysseus when the man had visited his realm years prior. While he certainly considered striking the man down for entering the underworld as a mortal, the young king had proved to be far too entertaining, for both him and Persephone. The two had watched his journey across his river, his talk with Tiresias, and his complete breakdown. It was the most entertainment they’d gotten out of a mortal since Orpheus and his performance.
And while Hades' interest certainly had been piqued, he’d quickly been overwhelmed by almost fifty thunder strike deaths, which he spent weeks investigating to find out whether his brother was involved or not. Once all of that was over, the strange mortal had all but been forgotten.
Until seven years later, when Zeus invites him and Persephone up to witness another one of his stupid competitions, that they so nearly refrained from attending. The two were glad that they had however, as they got to learn more about the mortal and what he’d been up to, both before and after his visit to their realm. It had been an exciting, and a bit upsetting day, as he saw his niece's light almost fade because of the pettiness of his youngest sibling.
But, his intrigue was certainly fully piqued, and when Persephone was forced to leave for spring, he had little to do but watch what the mortal that had all of Mount Olympus shook would do next.
Mainly, sail on a raft. Not the most exciting thing, but it was better than watching his souls pass by in the river outside his palace, or worse, keep tabs on his family’s infighting.
The only one of his family he actually kept an eye on was his dear younger brother, Poseidon. Hades knew the ocean god was waiting outside of Ithaca, and that for every sun that set and moon that rose, he was growing more and more aggravated.
It all culminated in a showdown that should have been nothing but an execution. Poseidon may not be the strongest of the gods (no matter how highly he carries himself), but he isn’t weak either, especially when he’s been truly aggravated. The fascinating mortal was expected to die that day, everyone knew that to be the case.
But, as much as Hades would have liked to have an opportunity to meet him face to face once he’d become one of his souls, he was also more than intrigued to find out what would happen if Odysseus didn’t lose.
And while Hades isn’t known for his interference with the lives of mortals, it wouldn’t be the first time that he’d lend a hand to a mortal hero seeking aid. Odysseus had many friends in the underworld who called out for their captain, day after day, so he knew that if he’d release them just temporarily from his realm, they’d aid in his battle against Poseidon.
That had been two days ago. He’d still yet to see the glimpse of the now older and much more rugged king anywhere amongst his souls, so the death god could only assume that he’d survived the encounter.
Sadly, he’d been busy after his little stunt, collecting back the souls in haste so no one would be able to question what he’d been doing, and once he was finished, both the fascinating mortal and his brother were gone from the shores of Ithaca.
Interestingly, he had found specks of liquid gold on the jagged rocks, not yet washed away by the unpredictable sea. Curious indeed.
A light flutter was heard over the screams of the damned, and Hades turned away from his balcony to watch as his dear friend and minister landed gracefully besides him, his feathers of liquid black tar shimmering against the light of the river.
Thanatos bowed lightly as he stood before Hades, his long silken hair brushing against his thin face, leaving only one cold white eye visible, “My lord Hades,” He greeted.
Hades gave him a small wry smile back, secretly delighted over interacting with another living being apart from his dear Cerberus for the first time in what was probably weeks, “Thanatos, good to see you. What troubles you, friend?”
Thanatos seemed to hesitate over his words, and Hades’ smile immediately dropped, “Fuck. Which one?”
“Poseidon, my lord,” The winged god admitted, pulling at the hood of his great cloak, “Should I send him away?”
Hades hummed. He’d hoped his brother wouldn’t think too much about how he’d failed to kill his mortal rival, be too busy stewing in his anger to think about it, but it had been wishful thinking at best.
“No, he’d only come back,” Hades turned away from the view of his realm and stalked back inside, Thanatos following close behind, “Or worse,” Hades smiled, “Whine to Hestia about it,” The death god could see how Thanatos let out an awkward laugh at that, and for not the first time did Hades wish to be in his seat and be blissfully unaware of his awful family baggage.
“Tell him I’m ready to see him,” Hades said, taking his seat upon his throne, just so his brother would keep in mind during what would most likely be an awful discussion that this is his realm that he rules over, and that he holds no power there.
“Right away, lord Hades,” Thanatos turned on his heel and walked back out on the balcony, his enchanting wings spreading out as he took flight.
Hades knew he’d only be alone for another few moments, so he took that time to sigh heavily, pushing away some of his hair that had strayed from how he usually kept it. While a meeting with Zeus was usually a game of passive aggression and wits, Poseidon possesses a much shorter temper. Hades gives it a maximum of five minutes before the ocean god threatens his life in some capacity.
He could smell Poseidon long before he could hear him thundering down his halls. The scent of salt, seaweed, and to Hades' disgust, fish. Truly an assault to his senses.
The door to his throne room slammed open violently, and there in all of his glory stood Poseidon, shaking with rage.
His brother stood out like a sore thumb in the underworld, his bronze skin clashing with the usually pale or ashy tones of Hades’ citizens, the blues and greens of his robes a stark contrast against the shades of grey, black, and occasional red they preferred in their clothing. The only thing Hades and his brother actually visually had in common was their long flowing hair, but while Hades’ white locks moved in a wispy fashion, like the fog over an abandoned town, Poseidon’s dark blue hair moved like the ocean itself, stormy and unpredictable.
Just like him.
Hades feigned a smile, his canines gleaming in light of the flickering torches in the room, “Brother. To what do I owe this pleasure?”
Poseidon’s snarl was more than telling that this would not be one of those discussions, “Cut the crap Hades, what the fuck was that?”
“Whatever do you mean?” Hades continued to play coy, more to rile his brother up than anything. It had been one of his favourite pastimes with Demeter before their falling out.
That turned out to be less than a great idea however, as Poseidon was across the room in a flash, gripping the collar of Hades' robe tightly in one hand and holding his trident against his throat with the other.
“You know exactly what I fucking mean,” He growled, his face just a few inches from Hades own, “Six hundred souls don’t just come from nowhere. Now, I could chalk this up to general incompetence on your part-” Hades scoffed, “-but I saw his eyes. I saw you , in his eyes. What are you playing at here, brother? ”
Internally Hades scolded himself for his blunder. He got involved so rarely in the affairs of mortals, he forgot that divine intervention usually left a temporary mark on the person the god was helping. In his case, the crimson light in the iris, a shade of crimson found only in his own eyes.
Those same crimson eyes were now looking over his brother as Hades tried to assess the situation. His brother couldn’t kill him, even if he wanted to, but if he drew a single speck of golden ichor, then Hades would have no choice but to wage war. He may not be as prideful as Poseidon, but he could still not be seen as weak. And while he’d win that war, no questions asked, he did not want those casualties on his hands right now. War was tiring and messy, and he’d do anything in his power to avoid it.
It was then that his eyes locked onto something that was particularly odd about his brother. He blinked, as if his observation would go away if he did so, but just as logic would have it, it didn’t.
His grip on his trident, the way he adjusted his grip too often, the shaking of his hand.
“ You’re scared,” Hades watched as his brothers turquoise eyes widened, and how they, for just the fraction of a second, looked over at his trident before once again meeting his crimson gaze, “Fuck Posy, what did that man do to you? ”
Poseidon flinched back violently, legs shaking as he staggered back, his signature trident slipping out of his grasp. His shocked face quickly turned to annoyance and, of course, anger, as he looked back at Hades, “As if you don’t know, vulture.”
“I do believe you’re thinking of Ares there,” Hades stood from his throne, as always taking a small sense of pride in how he towered slightly over his brother, “But you’d be incorrect. After my intervention,” He paused and gave Poseidon a look at the audible snarl he gave him, “I had other matters to attend to. And I have yet to have Hermes come down here to fully inform me of all the gossip. So, you can either tell me what happened, or I can find out in a few days time, though I have a feeling Hermes' story will be way more…dramatized, and most likely not in your favour.”
Poseidon had a look on his face he’d only ever seen on Zeus when confronted by Hera. Awkward shame, but more than anything, ruined pride. He looked down on the trident, the trident that he still hadn’t picked up despite the fact that he on multiple occasions said that he doesn’t feel like the king of tides without it.
“He-“ Poseidon cut himself off, obviously trying to stall for another answer that wasn’t there, “He stabbed me with my trident.”
Hades' brows shot up to his hairline, his mouth involuntarily falling agape as he stared at his younger brother.
“He…stabbed you. With your trident,” It was extremely difficult to keep a smile from tugging at his lips, especially when he saw that ashamed look only grow more thorough at his brother’s reaction.
“Fuck, that’s- Posy I-“ That was as far as Hades got before he burst out laughing. Poseidon seemed startled by the sound, which wasn’t a surprise. Hades rarely laughed. The only times he does is when he’s with Persephone, or a rare one Hermes managed to bring out with his gleeful flair. With his siblings however, it never happened.
But Hades couldn’t help himself. His prideful, rage-filled, petty, arrogant, ruthless brother, brought to his knees by the very mortal he swore to kill, using the weapon that he’d had by his side since they were young. It all painted an image that was so poetic, one would think Apollo himself had crafted it.
It took several minutes for Hades echoing laugh to stop booming across the throne room. Every time he’d started to calm down, he’d have another look at the shimmering blush on his brother's skin, or the trident on the floor, or the now clear as day prong scars on his torso and throat, and it would just start up again.
“Alright enough!” Poseidon finally demanded, his hair whipping around him dangerously, his hand flexing next to him, obviously missing the safe metal of his weapon.
“Oh, how is Zeus handling this?” Hades couldn’t help but ask as he wiped a tear off his ivory skin, “I imagine you’re facing quite the judgment up there.”
“Just shut up!” Poseidon roared, sounding more like a child than a god, “This is your fault! You gave him-“
“Oh, I gave him the strength of his men to strike you down, and hopefully get past in the confusion. But stabbing you? That was all him. And fuck am I impressed.”
“This still doesn’t excuse what you did,” Poseidon snarled, stalking up to him, his hands grabbing for his throat. Hades was more prepared for it this time, grabbing hold of the ocean god's wrists, his sharp nails digging into his skin as a warning.
“I wouldn’t try it, Posy,” He choked out, nails digging deeper as his brother put more pressure on his windpipe, “We both know that this would be a fight you never could win.”
Poseidon gritted his sharp shark teeth at him, his eyes wild and feral. But despite that, Hades could see in his eyes that he knew he was telling the truth.
The ocean god roared and threw Hades across the room, most likely hoping to accomplish something with it. Hades of course caught himself midair and simply twirled around in a flourish of cobweb hair and fine silks, before landing elegantly on his feet.
“That’s better,” Hades stood straight, dusting off any dirt that might have gotten on his robe. He detected a vague stench of ocean as he did so, and groaned silently as he realized he’d probably need to burn these clothes, “Still an offense, brother, but I’ll let it slide. Now-“
“Why’d you do it.”
Poseidon’s voice was quiet, and filled with something that Hades could not fully detect. Rage, yes, but there was something more.
“Why, did you get involved. This wasn’t about you Hade, this was my affair. My mortal. Why would you ruin that for me.”
And oh, Hades knew what it was.
Hurt .
The god of death sighed, pulling his hand through his hair. After being manhandled like that it was truly messy, and he’d probably have to spend hours later fixing it up. For now, he just pulled it out of his face, so he could address the matter at hand.
“If you expect me to feel sorry for you in any way, I don’t,” He said coolly, striding past his brother towards his balcony, “Come, I wanna show you something.”
Hades didn’t turn to check if his brother was following him; he just walked out on the balcony and took a moment to let his ears adjust to the cries of the dead. He strode all the way to the edge of the platform, letting his hands fall onto the railing as he reached it, and looked out over his miserable realm. It was, as always, beautiful.
“Fuck it’s loud,” Poseidon came up beside him, his gaze showing nothing but judgement as he looked out over the realm of the damned, “Don’t understand how you put up with it.”
“What do you see, Posey?” He asked, ignoring the, frankly rude, statement.
“Your, “river” of Styx,” He replied, with exaggerated air quotes, “Even though it’s not even a bloody river,” He grumbled, leaning against the railing like he owned the place.
Hades only rolled his eyes at the blatant disrespect, before grabbing onto his brother's face with his nails and tangling his other one in his hair to force him to look back on the river, properly , look at it.
“Well, do you know what I see?” Poseidon was struggling against his grip, trying to break free, but the god of death wasn’t having it, “I see millions, billions of souls, all down there. I see their lives when I look at them, I see their names, their families. And, I see their deaths.” Hades leaned in closer to his brother, his grip tighter as he refused to let his brother look away, “I ask you this, Poseidon . Do you know what the most common way for a person to die is? Hmm?”
Poseidon winced, trying and failing to use his own hands to pry Hades away, “I-“
“Drowning you bitch!” He used the hand in his brother's hair to slam him down against the railing, more to emphasise his point than to attempt and hurt him, though the groan of pain was a satisfying payback for the choking.
“Are you serious?!” Poseidon stood back up, one hand holding onto the railing to keep himself balanced, and the other covering the bruise that was slowly forming on his forehead. Though, Hades noted with a sense of pride at his self-restraint, there was not a single speck of gold anywhere, “That’s what this is about, you’re mad that the ocean drowns people?! I can’t have it stop doing that! That’s like asking Apollo to have the sun stop warming, or Dionysus to have wine stop getting people drunk! That’s not how it works!”
Hades pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a strong headache coming on, “I’m not an idiot, I know. But do you know what happens when a god kills someone?”
Poseidon crossed his arms with an exaggerated eye roll, “I don’t know. They end up here?”
“I need to make a note of it!” Hades flung his arms in the air, startling the ocean god, “I need to document it! Souls killed by gods are different! Did you know that?!”
“I-“
“So every fucking temper tantrum you lot throw because some mortal dared have the gall to be good at something, they are all documented. That’s not a quick process either, oh no, it can take up to days to do so.”
Every emotion Poseidon had had about Hades slamming his head against the railing was seemingly gone, replaced only with pure confusion as he watched his brother pace while he spoke, “Hade, how is this re-“
“With most gods it’s easy though. Tedious, yes, but easy. Because most gods just kill directly, be it with Ares’ sword, Athena’s spear, Artemis’ bow, Apollo with a discus,” Hades paused to wince at that, remembering the devastated mood his nephew had been in after that particular incident. He shook off the memory, “What I mean is, while the documentation is a whole process, to find out if the mortal was actually killed by one of us is not usually that difficult.”
“Then what are you-“
“Except!” Hades stopped his pacing to face his brother, who now looked just a tiny bit terrified, “You and Zeus. Because you rarely just stab someone with a trident, or choke them out or something. No, you gotta use the stupid elements to kill,” Hades watched as realization dawned on Poseidon, and as the annoyed expression formed once more.
“Hades, I can’t-“
“Now with Zu, it’s pretty easy,” Hades continued, yet again ignoring his brothers attempt to butt in, “It’s rare for lightning to naturally strike a person. It happens, but it’s rare. Zu also makes it very clear where he is at all times, he’s not subtle in the slightest.”
“You can’t seriously be-“
“Almost a third of the mortal population dies of drowning each year. More than half of that is from you Posy,” Hades walked up to his brother, gripping his shoulder so tightly he could see him wince, “All of those death cases have to be thoroughly investigated, because nobody ever knows where the fuck you are. I have to get both Thanatos and Hypnos involved. Sometimes I have to ask Artemis for help to interview nearby seagulls, ” Hades' grip somehow managed to tighten. “That’s not her job! It’s not their job either! It shouldn’t be a part of mine, and yet it has managed to be!”
“Alright I get it!” Poseidon grabbed Hades wrist and pried his clawed grip off, holding it tight in his hand, “Fuck, you call me petty, yet here you are assisting a mortal, just because I sometimes make your job hard. You’re being a diva Hade.”
“Five hundred fifty men, Posy,” Hades pulled his hand back, staring his brother down, “On the first night of autumn.”
Realization finally fully dawned on Poseidon’s face, “ Oh .”
“Yeah,” Hades snarked. “Oh.”