The Seed || A Madam Spellman Story

The Descent Into Hell is Easy pt. I

"Let all that you do be done in love."

-1 Corinthians 16:4

__________

When Zelda explained to Hilda that she was going to Hell, she felt as if she put the lid on the coffin.

She was scared, of course, absolutely terrified. Zelda knew Lilith meant it when she had explained there was no way to retrieve the sword and survive but Zelda, determined, decided she was too stubborn to die so she would give it a shot.

It was an agonizing few days trying to find a way to map her trek through the underworld, figuring out where the dagger was exactly as to limit her time within the war zone that was Hell. Her first descent to the river had been peaceful but Zelda wasn't an idiot and she figured there were residents who disapproved of Lilith's queenship and her High Priestess would be a yummy prize indeed if caught.

That wasn't an option.

So she took a blank piece of paper, recreated the sigils on the cardinal directions of the page, placed a compass in the center, and repeated the incantation until dark ink appeared on the page in front of her. As the lines moved, she recognized only two areas; the river and the main entrance in the mines. The latter, she realized, would be impossible to go through if she didn't want to get caught.

"Sister," Hilda came in, a pair of her gardening boots in hand for Zelda to borrow, "are you absolutely sure about this?"

Zelda clipped her belt together around jeans she also never wore.

"Do I have another choice?"

"Lilith could go get it."

"She won't try-"

"So you will? What if you die?" Very rarely would Hilda be crossed with Zelda so upfront, and she knew it was because her sister was scared for her, but she didn't have the time to twiddle her thumbs about decisions that meant life or death for more than just her.

"Then you do what you've always done. You'll take care of Sabrina and Ambrose, of Leticia and the coven. You'll be fine, all of you will."

"Zelda-"

"Enough of this, Hilda. Don't make this harder for me than it already is." The redhead closed her eyes tight, trying to refocus herself on the task. The quest depended on her survival, she had to safely bring Lilith the athame, and she couldn't do that dead. It was in everyone's best interest that she lived.

Though she knew the chance was very slim.

"I am being rational, and you throwing yourself to the forefront of this war seems like, like-"

"A cry for help? It's not. In case you've been living under the building this entire time, we're in the middle of a war! It's not about me or Lilith, it's about more than that."

"Like what?"

"Like-family? For instance. I'm not, I won't have my selfishness put all of you in danger again." Zelda did not linger on her own words for long, instead, filling up her ruck-sack with a book of spells she'd remembered by that point in her life, her charms, any other demon-fighting tools she knew she had...

"It is not your fault, what that monster did to us, while you were indisposed. You helped us in the end, you returned to that horrible situation to give us a fighting chance at saving Ambrose. You have to stop trying to prove, whatever you are trying to prove, to us. It isn't necessary. We are your family first and your coven second. Your safety's the most important thing."