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Zagreus knew he couldn’t just let his half of his family go after the other half, no matter how he felt about his Olympian relatives at the moment. He knew what the Olympian gods could do without fear of reprisal, and he knew how dangerous his chthonic family could be if they felt the need.
He had to stop this.
Zagreus attempted to get out of Hades’ bed, only for Achilles to gently stop him with a hand on his elbow. Achilles never touched his arms with more than two fingers anymore, which was so stupid that Zagreus would laugh about it if it weren’t for how grateful it made him.
“Lad, you shouldn’t be up and about yet. You suffered a great shock, and it’s clear that the Styx has not removed the whole of it. No one will do anything immediately, and I doubt you will be allowed to join in any fighting that might take place,” Achilles said, clearly trying to keep Zagreus in the room and away from the enraged deities outside.
“I can’t let them decide to attack. This is my fault- fine, it’s my circumstances and I’m not going to let anyone get hurt for me!” Zagreus snapped.
Achilles looked pensively at him for a moment, then sighed and bowed his head.
“I’m going with you,” Achilles said quietly, “You won’t be doing this alone.”
Zagreus tried to smile at him, but he wasn’t sure how well it came through. The smile Achilles offered in return felt similar.
Achilles followed Zagreus out of the bedroom, and paused with him when Zagreus tried to take in everything around him.
The shades were all still howling that awful, eerie chorus and dashing around, but it seemed like they were slightly more organized and fleeing to the corners of the House rather than the main pathways.
Of course, that might have been because any that didn’t get out of the way were in serious danger of getting stomped on by the enraged beings currently storming around the atrium. The waves of tremors rocking the Underworld were made worse by their enraged steps.
It took Zagreus a second to recognize them all.
Thanatos was obvious, although the sight of his fully manifested and bristling raven wings made anxiety crawl up Zagreus’ throat. Than hated flaring his wings like that; he thought it was “unprofessional” and preferred to keep a more human form at all times. His grip on his scythe was white-knuckled as he stood off to the side, watching the main argument go down.
Meg was beside him, coiling her whip around her hands over and over as her jaw clenched. She looked ready to fight anyone who approached her. Her own wing was held tight and trembling at her side, barely contained by the look of it.
Cerberus was on his bed, but he was sitting at attention, lips twitching toward a snarl on all three heads as his eyes tracked back and forth. His hackles weren’t quite up, but his fur was still raised and he looked ready to attack the moment the order was given.
In the middle of the hall were Hades and Nyx. They looked to be instants from circling each other like furious cats.
They also didn’t look the way they normally did.
Hades was armored. Fully armored. Zagreus didn’t even know he had a full set of armor; he’d only ever seen the helm. It was imposing, blood red and gold and bejeweled with gems that thrummed with menacing intent. Zagreus didn’t like it.
It was Nyx that arrested his attention, however.
Nyx had shed her dress and ornaments for a darkness so complete it looked more like a void had replaced her skin. Her full wings flared out behind her, gleaming with silver stars that shifted as she moved as if mirroring the true sky so far above them. The only other color on her that Zagreus could see was her pale yellow eyes, slitted like a cat’s and blown wide with aggression.
“This insult cannot go unanswered!” she snarled, her voice making the air itself shudder.
“It will not, but if we want this to work, we must muster our forces first! We will be crushed if we charge forward with no plan!” Hades snapped back, the gems in his armor smoldering with infernal light.
They weren’t arguing about whether or not to go to war. They were arguing about how best to do it.
Zagreus felt light-headed as he listened to them growl and snap at each other. He always hated it when the two of them fought, and hearing them fight over how best to attack the rest of their family-
This was his fault. He’d let the ruin within him grow unchecked until it was able to spread beyond him. He was the reason his family was about to tear itself apart.
He would not let that happen.
Zagreus had the odd sense of his body moving without him as he stalked forward and put himself between Hades and Nyx. It was as if he were in a daze, or remembering some event that had already happened. It didn’t matter. He would not let his family destroy itself over him. Not like this.
“Stop it!” he screamed from the gray, and to his surprise, both Hades and Nyx looked at him, their respective powers toning down as they stared at him.
“Do you think this is going to help?!” he yelled. “Do you think this is going to fix anything?!”
Zagreus kind of wanted to collapse to his knees and cry, but even in the fuzziness of reality he refused to let that happen. He refused to let any of this happen.
“Do you think you’re helping me?!” he shrieked.
Hades and Nyx exchanged quick looks, then returned their gazes to Zagreus. He didn’t quail, even if part of him wanted to. He may have felt more like he was watching this confrontation than participating in it, but he wasn’t going to back down easily.
“I don’t want you to fight! I don’t want anyone to fight! I just-” Zagreus’ voice broke, and he gasped in a sharp breath of air. “I just want to feel safe. I just want to feel safe.”
Against his will, Zagreus felt his knees fold and then he was kneeling on the soft carpet of the atrium, repeating “I just want to feel safe” like a mantra in a breathy, desperate voice.
He felt a hand rest on his shoulder, and heard Achilles’ gentle voice, but the words themselves eluded him. He couldn’t let this happen, and yet all he was doing was kneeling on the floor, whispering to himself like a child trying not to be scared of the dark.
Familiar hands carefully slid over his shoulders and under his knees, letting him be picked up as if he were a child. Zagreus looked up into Nyx’s concerned eyes just to look down again, suddenly feeling ashamed. This was about more than him. He knew that. It wasn’t just what had happened to him that made the Underworld rage, and he had interfered like he was the only one affected.
Maybe what Aphrodite had done to him really had broken something in him, something irreparable that made him believe everything and everyone was always watching and reacting to him. He wasn’t that important. Why had he thought-
Another, broader hand hooked his chin and lifted his head, making Zagreus look up into his father’s smoldering eyes.
“This is not over, Zagreus, but we will table the discussion for further actions until you are capable of providing meaningful input,” Hades said, and Zagreus blinked at him, then nodded.
He’d bought them all a little time, then. He would have to… come up with some sort of plan to convince the Underworld not to start a war. But he had time.
Nyx carried him to his room, and set him on his bed.
“Rest here, child. No decision will be made without you,” she murmured, and Zagreus decided he would simply have to trust her.
He would come up with a plan to stop this. He would not let this happen. He just… needed to think.
Zagreus sat on his bed, and thought about absolutely nothing.