Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Deep within Tartarus, something stirred.

It was almost unnoticeable.

It began on what Hades would like to think was his daughter’s birthday. Cerberus was nowhere to be found. He has been mercifully left alone for the time being. He wrote it off as the imagination of an old man, entrenched in his own regrets.

When he sees her the first time, he is not quite sure what he’s looking at. She looked so much like her mother he could only assume it was another trick from Chronos. A hallucination of what might’ve been his daughter – used to taunt him once more. He must have been getting creative, after using the image of his son against him so many times.

It wasn’t until she spoke the first time that he realized that it was her. She was real. She was there in front of him. He cannot remember what he said the first time. Words that could not properly convey how stunned he was that his daughter was there in front of him. The swirling maelstrom of emotions in his chest, the relief of knowing she was safe, the panic of knowing she was right where Chronos wanted her, the pain of knowing all that they lost.

When he sent her on her way with the meager protection he could spare, he loses her all over again. The pain doesn’t stop when he feels her vanish before she had even reached the House. It was better this way.

He did not want her to know the pain and horror of facing his father.

The second time it happened, Melinoë had already been through a couple of times. She has gotten closer and closer to her goal but never reached it before. This time, Hades was certain he felt something. Not just part of his willful imagination trying to spare him meager threadbare scraps of hope.

There was something in the air. The darkness laced with a feeling that was soothing to him, yet malevolent. He could hear the screams of the vile traitors that dared to try and strike down his daughter before she made her way to him. He wanted to ask once more, but on that day he saw the look in Melinoë’s eyes and felt that he could not do more than give her the meager scraps of strength. “You’re hurt,”He said. “You should turn back.”

He knew that despite this, she would keep going. There was a stubbornness that it seemed she shared with her brother. She looked at him as if she was surprised by his remark. It made him ache. He remembered how Zagreus stared at him, wide-eyed and slightly wounded whenever he tried to make up for how horrible he had been to him.

Every time he hinted that he was concerned for him in any fashion, Zagreus seemed alarmed and confused. Melinoë had the same expression on her face, although it seemed to be for a different reason. “I can manage.” She replied.

“I have no doubt of that. But this is not worth your life.” He found himself saying.

As much as he wanted revenge, he never wanted this for his daughter. He wanted to be better. He wanted to be there for her. He wanted to protect her, to figure out how to make it right with both of his children. Telling her to go back, to protect her life was the last thing he had.

Of course, Melinoë scoffed at this. She cocked her head to the side, evaluating him in a way that was not unkind. He wondered what she saw. Wondered if she already made up her mind about him, as there were no doubt stories. Did she resent him for being unable to protect her? He thought of his own father and the horrors he had subjected him to. He thought of how he felt set up for failure, when it came to children.

For the longest time as he rotted down here, he turned the memories over in his mind and blamed his father for the way he treated Zagreus. Blamed him for the way he crafted his sons, wrong and scarred, unable to be the people they needed to be for their children.

He knew in reality he bore the blame. Every ugly feeling he had began his downfall and his father’s second rise to power. Did Melinoë realize that it was behavior—the actions that pushed away his son as well as his wife—that led to this? Did she resent him and Persephone for having her and putting her in this position?

“I disagree,” She told him softly. “I will be back, father.”

She disappeared into the next room after that.

Chapter Text

Dreams were always something that Hypnos found hard to explain to people. Most of the gods did not require sleep—some did not sleep at all—so they considered little of the domain. This was admittedly the attitude of his brother for a long time. For almost too long.

Sometimes when he slept, Hypnos replayed the last conversation he had in his head. Thanatos had been at the house more with the arrival of Melinoë. The House had been chaotic for the last few days in general. So, when Hypnos realized he had been seeing his brother even more than usual, he originally didn’t make much of it.

That was until he saw Zagreus and Meg rushing towards his room with a sense of urgency that was not normal. Mother Nyx and Thanatos appeared before him. His mother, who so often wore a face of indifference, looked alarmed. Thanatos’ expression had a similar countenance.

“My child,”She spoke before Hypnos even had a chance to make a joke about both of them being there and finally getting to spend time together. “There is a security breach in the Underworld. There is not enough time to explain everything, but they will be at the House very soon.”

“Really?” Hypnos made no attempt at a joke. The alarm in his mother’s voice was not something he had heard before. There were contingency plans for something like this. None Hypnos had ever bothered to remember before.

After all, there were several other people that were far more qualified to deal with threats than he was. There was only one other instance of a break-in that he could remember, and it wasn’t a violent one.

Hypnos looked at his brother.

He hadn’t seen Thanatos look as worried as he did since he was trying to get back into the swing of things after Sisyphus. “You’re really scared, aren’t you? What’s going on?”

“I don’t know,” Thanatos told him. Hypnos got the sense he wasn’t telling him the truth. “Hopefully, everything is okay.”

He doubted everything would be okay. The House was in a frenzy. Hades and Persephone had disappeared. Cerberus was barking up a storm. He could hear the sounds of armor being strapped on and weapons being grabbed in the distance. “You will need to sleep,” Nyx told him.

“What? Really? Wasn’t I supposed to not be doing that? Wasn’t I supposed to work on being useful?” Both his mother and brother winced at that. Once again more emotion than he was used to from his mother.

That was when his mother said something that clued him into something being really wrong.

“I am sorry that I have made you think your nature is one of uselessness, my child. It is not. In fact, there might be necessity for it very soon. Just...hide yourself. Sleep. Please,”

“A-alright.”

Linear thought in dreams was a difficult thing, sometimes even for Hypnos. The longer he slumbered, the more he tended to struggle to keep things straight. The passage of time was something he was not entirely aware of.

He did not know how long had passed. All he knew was that he needed to tend to them. Dreams, pleasant ones, shields from truths that his loved ones were not able to contend with yet.

He tended to them as well as his own, not remembering why he did it but knowing that he had to when something called to him. Someone needed a dream. A child. One who felt familiar to him but he could not place.

He went to her, found that it was a girl that was calling for him. She was having a nightmare about being left in a strange and foreign place. Shadows danced over the faces of people that should be caring for her. Hypnos couldn’t help but feel his chest ache.

He pulled her into a field of poppies. It was the only way he could help her, as he found the nightmare stronger than the ones he normally dealt with. The girl had flaxen blonde hair and eyes that reminded him of only one other person—Zagreus. It all came back to him then. Melinoë. She was older here.

And he was still asleep.

He never got to meet her.

She asked him something, but it was like trying to make out speech under water. He tried to talk back, to introduce himself, to tell her sorry for not being able to help her family. It was clear to him that she didn’t understand. Before he could try anything to remedy this, she disappeared.

The next time he saw her, she was much older. Not an adult, most likely a young adolescent. Hypnos was never very good with ages. He wondered what was happening in the world beyond dreams. From the dreams, he figured that nothing good was happening. 

This time Melinoe spoke with him. “Lord Hypnos,” She said, “I wondered when I would be able to see you next.” She muttered something about not being thrilled that she had no idea how she got here. 

“Does it matter?” Hypnos asked her. 

“Yes. We’ve been trying to wake you and if I knew how I got here, it would be easier.” 

“Oh. Well…you should probably stop trying.” 

“What?” 

He was not able to explain himself. 

Melinoe disappeared once more. 

There was an aura of frustration left in the poppy fields where she had been standing a moment before. It reminded him of Hades. Hm. He should probably check in on him. Hades’ dreams were harder to access than the rest and he wasn’t sure why. 

He needed to, though. 

Chapter Text

It was hard to get rid of the Night. Even harder to get rid of darkness in general. It was no stagnant thing - nothing that could be locked away by time. Not completely. Thus there were periods Nyx had brief moments of lucidity. 

In this one moment, she was having such a period. 

It was different than others. Nyx had spent eons where her primary feeling was one of indifference. She now spent these small moments boiling with anger. She knew not where her form was. 

But she could feel her children, stronger than she had ever felt before. 

Thanatos and Hypnos both slumbered. She did not know where. She could only feel their emotions - both longing for their twin brother in a way they had not done since they were children. 

The rest of her sons scared and confused. 

Zagreus, though not her son by blood, felt closer than the rest. Weak but filled with a sorrow that was worse than when he thought Persephone rejected him in certain moments. Other moments he felt quieter, as if he was being comforted. 

She felt her daughters. 

The Fates were locked away - scared. 

Eris and Apate were angry and confused. Both unwilling to admit how scared and lonely they were. She failed them. That was something she wished she could admit to them long ago, but she could not so much as speak now. Unable to do more than feel how far her children were away from her and hope that the plans she made in case something like this happened. 

There was one daughter she felt stronger than the rest. 

Nemesis. 

Nemesis had always been fraught with anger, but this was different. It was unbalanced. She did not know the cause of it at first, barely able to do more than agree with her daughter’s rage.  It was only as the night grew longer and the darkness grew darker that something changed. 

She heard her. Saw a glimpse of her. 

“Mom,” She began with a sigh. “I don’t know how to do this. Or why I’m doing it. Not like you’re gonna answer.”

Nemesis stood with her head bowed in the Mourning Fields of Asphodel, golden wheat surrounded her. If it weren’t for the blood all around her it would’ve almost been serene. “I don’t know why this is so hard. Not like you were there when I was a kid. Not like I really needed that. Neither of us really did. But now that I know you’re gone, it’s different. I find myself looking back to when I was little and wishing you were there more. At least so I could remember what you looked like.”

“We can’t have it all though, can we?” She sighed. “Shit. Look…on a night like this, I just feel like I see you everywhere. And maybe you are. Maybe you aren’t. Just know that I’m going to make Chronos pay for what he’s done.” 

Oh, my daughter… 

I am sorry. 

Please. Stay alive. 

Those last three words echoed in her subconscious. Louder than the others. It was then that she felt herself starting to slip. Her grip on time and reality waning with every moment. She needed rest. She expended herself more than she had intended to. 

The last thing she heard before sleep claimed her was her daughter’s voice, sounding very much like she did when she was a child. “Mom?” 

Chapter Text

It had been weeks since the first time Melinoe had seen her father. She could not exactly categorize any of their conversations as normal. They were fleeting, but each time she felt a longing for something she never had the chance to even have. She had to relive off the euphoria of finding him for the first time for the moment. Revisit that memory every time she began to get discouraged.

She did so now, as she traversed the edges of the Underworld once more. It was the first time since she started her task that Melinoe felt for once that she might be making progress. She toiled night after night, trying to get closer to the goal she had been raised to do. 

She had yet to face Chronos in combat, but she was getting closer. She was honing her skills in combat. All of the trials and tribulations she was forced to endure were going to count for something. They had to. 

They had to. 

Melinoe had a hard time stifling her disbelief when Cerberus was finally liberated from the souls that had been tormenting him. He fled down a tunnel with seemingly no bottom, but she could tell where it led. 

Tartarus. 

Something about it called to her. Home. It was calling to her, welcoming her like a friend. She steeled herself, trying desperately to hold on any fleeting sense that she had. It took everything in her not to rush into Tartarus without the proper preparation. 

Headmistress Hecate's voice echoed in her head, reminding her that she needed to keep her head. The eventuality that she would be here had been planned for, and despite never doing so in simulation, Hecate cautioned Melinoe against indulging any urges that would have her running headlong into Tartarus. 

Out of all the places in the Underworld, they had little information about what Chronos had turned the place into. He had it on lockdown. In some ways, she would be flying blind. 

The ever-shifting chambers of Tartarus were different than the old descriptions of what once was.  All mechanical. No sight of more than the wretches that would devote themselves to Chronos. 

Rage and adrenaline carried her forth. Despite herself, it was easy to get lost in the sense of euphoria and blood lust that came from being so close to home. Seeing what she lost and having it so close to her grasp once again was a feeling so intense that when Melinoë stepped into the next chamber and met no wretches, she was confused.

She felt unmoored by the heavy stillness of the chamber.

She caught a glimpse of red fur first. The hound that she had been scared she’d hurt earlier seemed perfectly fine. The three heads of Cerberus blocked the other person from view for a moment.

Melinoë swallowed down the pain as she remembered the way her father didn’t believe it was her at first. It took some convincing, and then the shock set in. She remembered reaching out, feeling quite like a little kid before she took a step back.

The first meeting she had with him, the two of them did not touch.

It was not for lack of wanting to, but the man in front of her was not the man from the unfinished painting she stared at on lonely nights. He was broken and broken badly. Melinoë wished there was a way to free him without incurring the wrath of the Titan all too early. There would be nowhere to hide him. Surely, Chronos would be able to track their movements and find them if she brought her father to the Crossroads.

She was unsure if the spell she cast to be able to endure her curse for longer would work on him long enough to make a safe house on the surface viable.

So, he had to stay there.

He was depending on her.

All of her family was depending on her.

Sometimes the thought was suffocating.

It was the tenth time she passed through Tartarus that he stopped her before she was off. “You’re hurt.”

“I’ve endured worse,” Melinoë told him. She could see the flash of hurt across his face. What she had meant as a reassurance was clearly not that.

“Stay for another moment. Gather yourself before you head on.” It was the first time he hadn’t tried to convince her to turn back. Something about that gave her pause. Maybe he actually thought there was a chance she could succeed, or maybe he was conceding that she was just as stubborn as she heard he was.

“I have been thinking about what I have wanted to say to you since I learned that you were alive,” Hades began. Melinoë opened her mouth to tell him that he did not need to say anything, he should be preserving his strength just as much as she. “The stories I wanted to tell you, what I wanted to learn of you…”

“Father…”

“You must be curious about so many things,” He continued on, “but I shall tell you this story first. The House was chaotic when we found out your mother was pregnant once more. It was different than the first time. We all worried… you may not know what happened with your brother…”

“Hecate told me what Nyx did.” She said softly.

“Good. That is another painful memory that you need not concern yourself with.” He seemed relieved that he didn’t have to offer that context. “But there was one person that was more worried than the rest – as well as delighted. Your brother. Zagreus and I… we did not always get along. We were trying before – well – he took me aside one day, only one before your arrival and told me that he wanted you to have a better life than him. Wanted you to know you were loved no matter what, unconditionally.”

The implication that there was a time where Zagreus either believed he was not or truly wasn’t loved unconditionally was left unspoken. Much about that time was a mystery to Melinoë, but it made her mourn the fact that she had no memories of her brother even more.

“He issued some very colorful threats if I didn’t promise to make sure that I was different to you than I was to him… He wanted you to have a better life.”

“Well, I’m sure if he were here, he would agree that what has transpired is not your fault.” She offered.

Melinoë could feel the guilt roiling off her father. She wished there was something she could do. Words she could say that would act as a balm while he suffered here. “I’m sure he would. He offered forgiveness I did not deserve then, just as I do not deserve yours now. Now – take one of my blessings. Be careful, daughter. Know that you are loved.”

Melinoë went forth with renewed vigor that night.

It was the third time she slayed the Titan. She had more sand to give to her Headmistress. The beginnings of a plan were coming to fruition.

When she came back that night, she slept soundly, the words of her father still echoing in her head.

Chapter Text

Things were easier before. When she often looked at herself as nothing more than Retribution Incarnate, she felt nothing or at least pretend she didn’t, and everything was black and white. Everything was simple. 

Nemesis felt like she understood more about the world. And then Chronos took her mother and ruined everything. In some ways, she felt like a child, lost without her mother despite not having needed her in years. Still a fledgling goddess in some respects, at least compared to Thanatos or Charon. 

She hated what she could not control - even though she knew that retribution was not control. 

That cognitive dissonance was what she supposed led her down the path to where she was now. About to fling herself into the river because Hecate had reprimanded her about ‘flagrantly shirking her duties’ and the only thing she could do while the Titaness watched her like a hawk was stare at the same entrance point until Melinoë either woke from her latest failed attempt to slay Chronos on her next one. 

Ugh. 

Mel. 

She walked around like she had any more right to be chosen for her task than Nemesis did and failed over and over and over again. To say it pissed her off was an understatement. What was worse was that there was slowly becoming a point where her runs tipped over from just failing at her task and being incompetent to being too much in other regards.

Too much because how could someone endure that much pain?

Too much because she still remembered the unfortunate moments she overheard her sniffling in her tent as she looked at the picture of her family when they were younger. 

Too much because…it was simpler when it was just competition and she could attribute her own moments of weakness to either Hecate’s favoritism or sympathy towards Mel’s youth. 

It was starting to be…different.

Nemesis wasn’t sure when she started caring about her so much. Or when any of this started hurting more than it should have. She briefly considered being afflicted with some sort of curse, but that was easily disproven. “Hey, Nem.” 

Mel walked past her and there was something about the look on her face that made Nemesis’ chest felt like a giant bruise that was being pressed on. “You look like shit, princess.” She called out. That was enough to get her to turn around before she got far enough away. 

“I…don’t know how to respond to that,” She said matter-of-factly. The fact that there was no slightly humorous response from her seemed bad enough. “Least of all coming from you.” 

Nemesis didn’t know why she said anything. She rolled her eyes, which seemed to only piss off Melinoë even more. “Didn’t mean anything by it other than don’t run yourself ragged.” 

She had never been good at making her kinder suggestions sound like they weren’t insults in one way or another. She wasn’t surprised when Melinoë took it that way. “Are you saying that because you still think I can’t handle the task given to me?” 

“No, I wasn’t.” Nemesis replied. She resisted the urge to fire back with some very barbed insults. She wasn’t sure what happened the last time she was out there, but Melinoë had the look of someone who had gotten close to finally getting what she wanted before falling short. “I was…just pointing out that perhaps you should make sure that you do something for you…once and a while. Forget that I said anything.” 

Melinoë broke out in a grin that was equal parts annoying and endearing.

Nemesis hated her. 

“Careful, Nem. I’m starting to think you might actually care about me.” 

“Don’t be ridiculous. Just don’t want to see you burn out and then have to save you later.” 

“Even though you would get to say I told you so?” 

“Wouldn’t be as satisfying as you make it sound.” 

“Uh-huh,” Melinoë said. This time when she rolled her eyes it was much more fondly. “I tell you what…next time I come through here, would you like to accompany me to the hot springs?” 

Nemesis could feel her cheeks heating up. She fixated on a point past Melinoë, hoping that it wasn’t too noticeable. “Fine. I’ll hold you to it.” 

“Great! I’m excited too.” 

Melinoë exclaimed before dashing off. 

Nemesis groaned inwardly, realizing she doomed herself to not being able to focus at all until the next time she saw her. This was horrible. Nemesis thought about flinging her into the river once more, especially when she saw Charon give her a rather enthused look as he set off rowing down the river once more. “Shut up.” 

“Haaauuuuggghh,” He replied before he floated off. 

Chapter Text

It was pure luck that Melinoë found him. In the disorienting lands of the Mourning Fields, not far from where she often ran into Echo, she stumbled upon him. The night was a dark one. Rage-filled and tinged red with blood. The power of Hestia’s flame paired with Ares fanning the embers of her own wrath kept her going. She lost count of how many times she was certain she would die this run.  Lost count of how many times she’d stupidly run into a bit of miasma and had to work double time through self-hatred that she tried not to give credence to any other time. 

It was a bit of a blessing. 

Although at the time, she was sure that it was a trick of some kind. She was surrounded on all sides, trying desperately to carve a path from the Boon of Selene she had just received to the next that she needed to clear when a particularly nasty lash of thorns raked down her side. Blood spilled, tainting the gold wheat-grass crimson red. 

Shadow filled her vision, dark and thick and nothing like that of the darkness she was accustomed to. She tried to remind herself to breathe, but that was harder when she was certain she was about to die. 

And then a spear lanced viciously through the darkness and it dissipated. In front of her was a man with dark hair and skin, clad in robes that looked reminiscent of someone. At the time, she couldn’t remember who. “Who—”

“—I could ask the same of you, but at the moment, there is no time.” 

The two fought side by side, daggers and spear in hand, before finally the last wretch fell. Melinoë took that second to catch her breath. She almost forgot entirely about the man who just helped her clear the horde of monsters in her wake until he spoke once more. “Here. It looks like you need it,” He handed her a HydraLite. 

She took it gratefully, downing it rather ungracefully.

In that moment, she did not care for manners. “When I had heard that the Princess of the Dead had returned to break into the House, I at first thought all I was hearing were rumors. I see that I was mistaken.” 

“You know who I am,” Melinoë eyed the shade warily. There was something in the way that he held himself that was familiar to her. The way that his eyes scanned past her every once and a while before focusing back on her, as if he was constantly surveying the battlefield. He looked tired. 

“Yes. My philtatos spoke of your birth, of how excited your brother was to show you off. Invited me to the House even to see you. I suppose it is a good thing that I never got the honor to do so until now.” 

“Patroclus!” Melinoë’s cheeks flushed. She couldn’t believe that she hadn’t recognized the man before. “I thought you were in Elysium.” 

“I was. Until I tried to break into Tartarus. Chronos threw me out, I have been trying to get back ever since.”

Melinoë’s head hurt, and it wasn’t from the blood loss. The rage that worked it’s way through her made her tongue feel thick and heavy in her mouth. Yet again, another reminder of how Chronos had ruined the lives—and deaths—of so many people. He’d taken so much… She tried to keep herself in that moment. “I am so sorry, sir.” 

It was the only thing that she could think to say, but it couldn’t begin to encapsulate everything she wanted to ask him. She decided it would be best for the both of them if she did not bombard him with questions. “You must’ve been in the Mourning Fields for some time. That can’t have been pleasant for you.” 

Patroclus did not say anything. The man looked unbelievably tired. He glanced out once more and Melinoë wondered if the things that tormented the souls in the Fields did so to him as well. The things that he must’ve endured… 

“I have much to explain to you, and I promise that I will, but in the mean time I can offer you some place safe to stay. Somewhere you can rest while I complete my task.” 

“To bring them back?” 

“Yes. To bring everyone back. To kill Chronos.” 

Patroclus’ eyes widened at that. He remained silent for a moment. Melinoë could see him thinking something, but he did not say it. Instead he muttered something to himself and then said, “If I go there, I might not be able to find this place again.”

“You shouldn’t be down here, sir.” Melinoë told him. “I know that you want to find Achilles, but it is dangerous. This place messes with the minds of even the sharpest of men.” 

“Don’t you think I know—forgive me.” He seemed to deflate almost as soon as he snapped. Patroclus leaned against his spear, seemingly finally letting himself be tired for once. “Fine, tell me of this place. I shall go there, if only to rest a little, and then I will come back.” 

She did, hoping that he would actually go there. When she left, she felt a little more hopeful about everything despite herself.