"And then I said to him, 'You talk to me like that again and I swear you'll regret the day you die.'  And then this idiot says ' Oh yeah? You and what army?!'  So I looked at him, dead in the eye, and said 'Buddy, I own the army of the dead.'  And that, my love, is when I drained his soul."  

Oh.  How lovely.

Hades laughed at his own joke and pounded his large fist on the table.  It startled the hell out of me!   I pretended to laugh a little, attempting to make an effort just as he was.

His laughter died down after a few seconds, and Hades poured himself another glass of wine.  

"I must say you look lovely tonight, my dear." Hades voice traveled down the length of the table. It felt hassling to me to have to answer a compliment from him.

"Thank you." I said dryly, taking a small sip of the bitter, dry, tart red wine Hades loved all too much. I felt I had a thirst down here that I could never quench, not with all the water, wine or whiskey in the world. Eventually you stop trying, stop tempting yourself. Small sips here and there were all I took as not to trick my mind into thinking results would be different this time.

Hades eyes were still on me, I could feel them. "So how was your day? I do apologize for being absent so often.  I have a lot to do around here just to keep things running."  He said apologetically, bringing his cup up to his lips.  Why was he apologizing for not being around?  Did he not know I liked it better when he was gone?  Stupid fool.  When he was gone, yes, things were a bit more lonely, but I would take being lonely in a library full of books about physics rather than being hit repedatively and having him force myself on me while not being able to do anything about it or feel anything towards it.

The truth of the matter was, I couldn't win down here, not on Hades' home turf.  On Olympus, I stood a much better chance of at least holding my ground.  The fact of the matter is Hades is older therefore wiser, quicker, smarter, and more experience.  

He knew what I was going to do before I even did it, because he's had so much more time than me to learn to recognize signs of lying, or planning, or escaping.  I couldn't win.  No matter what.  So why try?  If Hades wanted to hit me, fine.  I would take his punches until it killed me.  But I would not take matters into my own hands.  If I wanted to, he'd be long dead by now.

I looked around the dining room.  We sat at a long black dinning table.  I at one end, and he at the other.  A large fire place blazed with color and warmth.  Glass windows surrounded the outer walls of the room and towered high, allowing a view of most of the underworld since the table was only a few feet away from it.  I didn't look though.  I didn't want to see.

"My day was alright, my lord."  I said cuting into the tender sliver of roast beef on my plate, although I didnt intend on eating it.  I felt no appetite.  I never did, down here.

Hades took a big gulp of his wine, finishing it.  "Only alright?"  He asked, pouring yet another glass.  I looked up, noticing that by the look in Hades eyes, he desperately cared. I wanted to feel like that.  I nodded slightly, and reached for my own glass of wine, and took a tiny sip.  Hades set his cup down, and leaned back, folding his arms across his chest.  "Tell me love, what can I do to make you happy? Really, truely happy.  Whatever it is, I'll do it, right now. Whatever you need from me, just ask it. I don't know how much longer I can go on like this. When are you going to... be you again? What do you need for that to happen?"

"I am happy, my lord, I had a headache thats all."  I lied casually, looking down at my plate. 

"A headache for the past 6 months?" Hades called my bluff. I felt him starring at me but decided against looking up at him. "I do find that hard to believe."

"No, just... I'm fine." I knew I had to back track if I didn't want to endure Hades drunken rage tonight, as by my count, he was already on his 8th glass of wine. "In fact, today I read the most interesting book.  It was really intriguing.  Your library is full of very interesting books."  Perhaps I coated it on a little to thick, for Hades squinted his eyes, and saw right through me.

"You're lying." Hades stated.  I looked up at him cautiously. He could always pick out a lie, no matter how hard you tried to hide it.  It was very annoying.  His voice rose.  "And you know how much I despise liars, Athena, so why don't we just be honest here unless you want me to-" Hades stopped mid threat, and bit his lip, caging in whatever foul words were to follow. Instead he shook his head, shaking the thoughts and changing the subject. "I'll need you dressed and ready tomorrow morning by 7." Hades spoke short and concise.

I simply nodded my head. "Yes, my lord. May I ask why?" I asked quietly as I continued pushing food around my plate, not actually interested. When was the last time I ate?  I loved food once, long ago it seemed. I would spend hours in the kitchen with my chefs trying desperately to learn how to prepare small, seemingly easy food. My luck, of course, they never turned out quite as I intended. Once I'd almost set my house on fire. That truly did feel like eons ago. Sometimes I thought perhaps I only dreamed those memories; that this, here with Hades was all there had ever been and all of that was a figment of my imagination.

"We've got wedding planning to attend to." My eyes shot up, meeting his cold, hard piercing eyes. A trickle of dread spread inside me. Time was up.

"Is there much to plan at all?" I narrowed my eyes at Hades, laying my fork down with a hard knock. "We certainly won't have many guests, the Olympians have other things to focus on, I'd imagine. What with a war in their midst, perhaps? Yes, I- I think perhaps we'd best wait until after-"

"Athena, no." Hades voice boomed around the room, one of the maids in the corner jumping backwards, wine splashing over the side of her pitcher. Chills crept up my spine as I sat up taller in my seat. When he spoke again it was much quieter, but with a far more menacing, accusatory tone. "No more excuses. You asked for 4 months, out of grace I gave you 6. It is high time you start delivering on your end of our bargain." He was right, but that didn't make me feel any differently on the matter. 

How dare he be worried about a stupid wedding when my family was about to erupt into war. I snatched my napkin from my lap and tossed it down onto my plate, slouching back into my chair glaring at him. I had no more excuses to throw at him, none that he would accept.

Abruptly he stood from his seat, walking slowly over to where I sat, the smell of alcohol hitting me like a wave as he passed.  He stood behind my chair, gripping the sides tightly. The feeling that I was a deer and he was a large beast crept up on me. He eyed down at me like a hunter would his prey.  "You've not been eating.  You're looking thinner than usual. And usual is too thin." His hushed voice held all the menace one could ever fear.

I took a calm deep breathe.  "I've never liked roast beef, my lord."  I said evenly.  This was another lie, but with any luck my even tone consealed it. I found myself rely on luck far too much these day.

"I can have something else made for you then, love."  He cooed down at me, tauntingly. The tone of his voice told me he already caught on, but I decided to continue on anyways, set firmly on not eating any of it. I tasted like ash in my mouth, all of it, no matter what I ate it was never satisfying.  Besides, what more could he possibly do?  I was in hell for gods sakes.  There was no going down from here..

"No thats quite alright, I'm not hungry anyways. In fact, I'd really rather just go to my chambers."

"You lie again.  There's a difference between not being hungry, and not eating, love." Hades said right next to my ear.  "Go on, eat. And then after, I'll take you to bed."  He planted a few small kisses on my neck, my throat cinching up.  "I can't have you withering away on me." He continued kissing my neck as I looked down at my plate.  Everything still untouched.

"I'm not hungry.  And I'll not eat a morsel." I said firmly, wishing he'd stop before it led to more.  Indeed, he stopped.  All was still for a moment.  But only for a moment.  Hades pounded his fist on the table infront of me. "Eat!"  He dared.

"Obviously you do not know me or care for me in the way that you think, my lord!"  I said defensively.  "You should not accuse me of lying everytime I open my mouth and then proceed to try to threaten me. THAT, my lord, is why I shall never become your wife.  Let alone willingly make love to you.  Or even worse, bear your cursed children!"  I said waiting for him to explode.  But the explosion was delayed for a moment, throwing me off guard.

"You're impossible!" Hades yelled, jerking me up from the table by my arm.  I screamed,  punching Hades in the stomach.  He let go for a second, but quickly pulled me back, holding me to his chest tightly.  

"Let go of me!"  I screamed!

"You spiteful little bitch! Have you any idea all that I've done for you?! You are alive right now because of my continued protection! Does it ever cross your mind?! Or are you simply hell bent on being difficult?!"  He spat right next to my ear, before he pushed me back.  I fell at his force, and slid all the way over to the window, hitting my head on the thick glass.  I layed on my stomach, dizzy.  "Do you feel that, Athena? Are you ready to feel, Athena?"

The room spun around and around, and I saw triple of everything.  Including a very angry Hades, marching over to me to no doubt finish the job.

What happened next was a blur.  Something came crashing through the window at lightning speed, shattering the whole thing.  Hades fell to the ground with an alarming amount of force.  I put my head down and covered it with my arms, to ensure glass didn't hit my head.  When the glass was done falling, I looked around, not seeing anything except the table and glass.  I tried focusing on anything, but my head was still dizzy.

Finally I saw a dark figure laying on the ground.  I tried crawled, using my elbows, over to where Hades was, only a few feet away. Shards of glass both scraped and dug into my arm, making me wince, but I kept crawling.  I had only moved a small distance when a armor covered foot pounded the ground hard in front of my face.  

The armor practically sparkled in the dim lit room.  I immediately stopped, and looked up at the familiar man in the armor.  I knew him.

"Going somewhere?"  He said, ending his sentence with an evil laugh.

 Authors note:  So guys that's it for this chapter.  Even though its short, i did work really really hard on it, and this is my second time reading it over and editing it again.

Comment or vote and tell me what you think.

Thanks guys you're the best!

#Olympianlove