The Goddess of Blessed Death

Goddess Victims, Victim Goddesses OR Killing Is For Humans

                                                                                 Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ

Thanatos stands in the great hall before Hades and Persephone, the black of his clothing sucking out any warmth from his pale skin. His golden waves brush against his bony shoulders.

"Please," he begs. "The Fates—"

"If you have trouble with what they've told you, why don't you take it up with them?" Hades grumbles, finding Thanatos's begging to be depraved and whiny.

"You can give me advice."

Hades looks to Persephone, whose eyebrow quirks up. Hades sighs.

"I have told you before, Thanatos," he says. "Be patient."

"You kidnapped your wife!" Thanatos shouts, fists balled at his sides.

Suddenly, Hades grows and expands, towering over Thanatos. The god of death simmers down, but his anger and frustration remain. He doesn't flinch.

"The gods say I am a victim who's bonded with her captor," Persephone says. With a bush of her fingers against his shoulder, Hades sits back down, returning to his normal size. "Humans think he freed me. They say it's romantic. Is it romantic to be, as you say, kidnapped? Is it freedom to not be able to choose where I go, that I am like a child between two separated parents with no choice but to be passed back and forth? One is unconditional in his support and encouragement, the other not, but does that unconditionality change the fact that, as you say, he kidnapped me?" She stands and walks up to Thanatos. "Does it make him any better than a mother who has since changed her ways, even if she cannot forgive he who led her daughter away? Does that make her any better than someone who took her from her home with the promise of unparalleled freedom in a land of rot and death?"

She circles like a vulture, saying, "And how do you know that he kidnapped me? Could I not have been another Helen of Troy, running away with her Paris? Thanatos, there are too many factors you do not know and cannot understand for you to compare yourself to us. You asked for his advice, you got it." She stands in front of him. "What you do now is entirely up to you."

"You forbade me from seeing her," Thanatos snarls.

"And she went to you," Persephone says. "Entirely of her own accord. She had the choice not to. I don't think it excuses you of anything, and I don't think she has forgiven you. But at least she can stand you."

Hades and Persephone never were ones to open up about the time they met. No one really knows what happens, there are so many rumors and different versions flying around. Thanatos never cared until now. Until he found himself in a situation where even he is lost. Makaria's version does not align with his, or at least, she did not take as he had hoped.

"Did you hate it here in the beginning?" Thanatos asks.

"You know I did," Persephone says more softly. "It's a melancholic place."

"But you like it now. You love him."

"It's not so simple, Thanatos. Go and kidnap Makaria, then return here and tell me how that goes for you."

"Thanatos is not Phonoi or Androktasiai or the Keres," Hades says. "You are not your sister either. You are death that is kind. It's not in you to accept the atrocities of the world."

Thanatos starts at them, face red and eyes watery. Righteous anger and denial surge through him. "Who are you to tell me—"

"What did you come here for, Thanatos?" Persephone snaps.

"You asked for advice," Hades says. "You came to me and Athena. You must deal with these consequences."

"You won't even let me see her!" Thanatos shouts at Persephone.