Chapter 14: Change of appearance
"All right… Xenias, but I don't if my-" Before I could finish, Hades said, "If my partner accepts, so do I. Plus, you will need more experienced people in the battlefield."
After Hades said that, Xenias told us to stay in the pub to which we accepted.
Some of his men guided us to the little 'room' where Hades and I were going to stay in until we told otherwise. When we were left alone, I said, "I'm sorry for getting you into this." Hades looked at me surprised and told me, "I chose to follow you and if some should apologize… It would be me."
I looked at him and asked him, "Did the gods invent the ritual that supposedly made this monster 'unkillable'?"
"Once upon a time, all of us gods made the ritual to give eternal youth to the one who completed the bloody ritual. Of course, back then, none of us thought that humans could possibly accomplish it and, as you can see, we were wrong." Hades told me.
"Is that why none of the gods intervened when my entire family was slaughtered?" I asked him to which he only, carefully nodded.
"But, the ritual only gives him eternal youth, right?" I asked him.
"And, infertility, thanks to the gods." Hades added.
"That means that he can be killed." I said with an unusual happiness.
"But, are you willing to do it?" Hades asked me.
"What do you mean? He killed my entire family! Why wouldn't I want to kill him!?" I told him.
"It's easy to say it now, but just imagine what you would have to do… You would have to kill someone with your owns hands. Can you really live with that?" Hades told me.
I wanted to tell him that I could and would live with that, but when I thought about it… I realized that I couldn't. I instantly remembered the soldiers that I used to admire so much as a child because of their fearlessness that they demonstrated, yet I realized the traumatized looks that the newest soldiers had when they arrived from the battlefield. Even my father, who taught me how to fight, would, from time to time, show a look of sadness and guilt when he saw me using my wooden sword.
But, Hades manage to get out of that thought when he told me, "On the bright side, everyone here thinks that you're a boy."
"And, why is that good?" I asked him.
"It helps to conceal your identity. I mean, imagine if they found out that you were the princess." He told me.
"By the way, who taught you how to defend yourself?" I asked Hades in order to change the topic.
"Living with the gods can teach you a way or two on how to defend yourself. Also, I learned some tricks by watching the memories of some of the souls in the Underworld, who died in some… Colorful ways." Was all Hades told me.
"And, what about your tattoos? Why didn't anyone seem to notice them before?" I asked him.
"The only ones who can see the tattoos are the dead or… special cases." He told me.
I wanted to ask what the 'special cases' were, but I realized that he wouldn't answer me. And, after some time passed, someone knocked the door and told us that Xenias was requesting our presence. I was going to go, but Hades stopped me and told me with a low voice, "You're not going to meet him like that."
"Why not?" I asked him with a low voice.
"Your hair… It's too long." He told me with a low voice.
"What do you plan to do? Cut it?" I asked him with a low voice.
"Something tells me that you don't want to cut it and I have a better idea." He told me with a low voice.
After a few seconds, Hades managed to hide my long hair and made it look short, giving me the appearance of a handsome boy.
"What else do you have left to surprise me with?" I asked him with a low voice.
"Many other things, but for now I would recommend to keep your deep voice." He told me with a low voice as we were heading out of the little 'room'.
Author's Note
New chapter! And, as for Palutena's short hair… just imagine (SPOILER WARNING) Lucina's hair as 'Marth'. Don't forget to RSS!