Leia and The Underworld

6: Hades

                                                          This chapter is from Hades' POV. 

I had the dream again.

It was such a vivid dream and it always felt real, natural. I had finished a day of ushering souls in the underworld, but I did not stay there. I went to a different realm. Her realm. I walked into the smell of cookies in the air and I just knew. The kids had talked her into dessert before dinner. Again.

The twins ran out, wearing their princess and knight costumes, grabbing me.

"Daddy, we made cookies again."

"Daddy, I lost a tooth!"

"Daddy, can we visit you at work and pet Cerberus tomorrow?"

I answered all of their questions and kiss them, squeezing and inhaling them. I never thought in a million years that I would ever have children. The twins were five, and they were full of energy.

Their mother emerges from the kitchen. Her caramel-colored curls are tied back in a mess on top of her head. The sweater was covered in flour and chocolate sauce covered her lips. But she glances at me with her hazel eyes and it hits me like a ton of bricks. There she is. I am so god damn lucky. I put down Dean, who had climbed into my lap. I walk over and put my hands on her waist, pulling her close.

"Hello love," I whisper.

"I am a mess," she said. "Don't kiss me."

"Just a small kiss," I beg.

She turns and gives me a quick peck on the cheek. She smiles and I pull her closer.

"You don't have to cook, you know. You could snap your fingers and clean up, too."

"I don't want to do that. I want the kids to experience real life. Messy life. Fun."

"Speaking of fun," I said. "How about tonight, after the kids go to bed, we yet a bottle of wine and light a fire."

"Sure," she whispered. "I missed you today."

I kiss her and smile, needing to hear the words. To be needed, loved, desired... it was better than I imagined.

I woke up from the dream. I'd been having different variations of this dream for four years. Sometimes it was coming home, some we were having breakfast. Sometimes it was during the bottle of wine and fire moments. But the woman and the children were always the same. I knew them. They felt real to me. So real that I decided to get my shit together. If this woman existed, I wanted to be enough for her.

A year ago, I had received a call from an old friend, Eros. He had begged me to release his daughter from a promise I had made decades ago. So I obliged him, saying we could fulfill the oath with a chaste and polite dance at his son's wedding. I did not need to chase some twenty-something when out there, somewhere, was the dream woman. My soulmate. I had even gone to the oracle and they told me to work on finding my own inner peace and it would lead me to her.

At the wedding, the first thing I saw was my dream woman stumbling out of a closet after having sex with some guy. This was not the perfect mother I had envisioned. By my estimates, she was young and a bit promiscuous. Still, I flirted with her from the moment we met. I felt it, the connection. Like magnets, she was drawn to me just as I was drawn to her. Then she asked my name, revealing she was also a god. When she heard me say Hades, her eyes changed. She was angry. Hatred filled her eyes.

She was Eros' daughter. She had not appreciated my attempts to weasel my way into her heart decades ago. She would not be bought. She told me to fuck off. I did not handle it well. Everything was wrong.

We danced. I realized it was possibly better than I dreamed. She was real and she had a fire. She tried to kiss me. I freaked the fuck out. I ran away.

She came to the underworld. I once again did nothing, despite her constantly curious eyes and clear interest. I just told her we were friends. I could have told her about the dreams. I had not. I was a chicken shit.

Now she was in my therapist's office. Where I come to talk about my constant dreams, about Leia. We were going to grab a coffee, and Leia had used the words "it's a date." She smiled the way she always did in the dream, kind and hopeful. Her hazel eyes called to me. Persephone never made me feel so... unhinged.

I walk into Jenna's office and threw the journal down on the couch.

"We have a fucking problem, " I said. "I have to decide. Do I want my own happy ending, or do I want Leia to be happy?"

"Why are those things mutually exclusive?"

"She is a love goddess. She cannot live in the underworld. She deserves better, but I see her... I just asked her out."

Jenna smiled, covering her mouth with her hands. What did she know? Did Leia talk about me in her session?

"Why are you happy?"

"Because you showed courage and vulnerability, Hades."

"You know something. Did Leia talk about me?"

"I cannot say."

"Does she dream about me? You gave her a dream journal..."

Jenna shrugged her shoulders.

"Look, you want to know how Leia feels, ask her," Jenna said. "And a single date does not condemn her to the underworld. You can explore your feelings in a healthy way, Hades. And Leia is a big girl. If she says no, listen. But it is not wrong to ask for love, intimacy, or a date."

"I am going on a date and it is casual. That is so fucking mortal."

"Well, from what we have talked about, you have been craving the kind of love mortals share. Authentic love."

I nod my head but all I can do is think about forty minutes from now. I would see her.

Shit on shit toast. It was fucking happening