You know things have gone sour when you end up wanting to make a deal with him. The one who was currently masquerading as the man they call 'The British Government'. The man who uses people as pawns for the 'good of queen and country.'
He'd believed in that once, and what did that get him? A dishonourable discharge and a life on the run. All because he wasn't gonna let that bastard of a C.O. make anyone else satisfy his needs. He'd seen enough victims.
"Well Colonel Moran," the Queen's English rolled off his tongue as the seemingly younger man sits, absentmindedly scribbling, behind his desk. "What can I do for you?"
A loaded question. What was it he wanted? Why was he even here? Then he remembered sparkling brown eyes, the toothy grin and that whisper of an Irish lilt.
"I want you to bring him back."
The King of the dead looks up from his ledger. "And why would I do that for you, Mortal?"
Sebastian looks up into the eyes of the God of the Underworld and Mycroft flinches.
"Because he was mine. And I want him back."
Hades sighs, "It was his time Mortal, foretold throughout the ages. Nowhere is it written of his return."
Moran's eyes flash with anger and he slams his hands onto the desk. "Then pen it yourself! I will not let the three sisters deny me my future."
"Your future is not a subject for discussion Mortal. Your demi-god will remain in the pit where he belongs."
It takes all of Seb's training not to try and kill the man in front of him. "He belongs at home. With me." Hades can see something within him snap.
"Alive and crazy and killing people and coming home covered in blood with handcuffs and a hard on. And in his lazy moments all curled up with his head on my chest like an oversized stick thin cat. Back to him yelling at me when I'm injured and then fucking me into oblivion afterwards. And me yelling at him to eat and when he disappears off for three months without so much as a 'by your leave' and turning up with a beautiful gun and a one word explanation. And then saying sorry by having make-up sex on every surface of the flat and ….. Jim….. Jim just being Jim. The insufferable Irish prick of a boss who I love and can't stand waking up without."
The tears began to fall, hard and fast and Hades was moved. This Mortal truly loved the man he'd lost. The wayward son of Ares who was currently making the torturers scream in Tartarus.
"Let the Mortal have his heart," a soft voice whispered. "The demi-god is just trouble we could do without for a while." Hades sighed and looked up at his wife/assistant. "The Orpheus clause I suppose," she nodded, "Very well then." He turned back to the man currently wiping his cheeks.
"Mortal. You must leave this place and walk back to the apartment you shared with the demi-god. You may not look behind you until you have crossed its threshold and taken three steps. Only then will your demi-god be returned to you. If you look back he will be lost to you forever. Do you understand?"
Seb nodded.
"We will not allow you another chance. Go."
"Thank you." Seb whispered and began his long trek home. It was on the other side of London but for Jim, he'd walk to hell and back. In a way, he already had. The two hour walk was nothing now. Jim would be home when he got there and that was enough for him.