a/n: HAPPY HOLIDAYS! sorry for the wait! school has been kicking my ass but you better believe that i'll be doing nothing this break but writing and playing games :3 also i have a quick question about ao3, will talk about in the notes below, but feel free to DM me on twitter /litto_fish to discuss further
Thanatos finds himself floating in the direction of the East Hall, not for any particular reason. Definitely not because the prince just turned the tables on him with that disappearing act. Something about seeing Zagreus walk away left him breathless, and not the good kind.
He doesn't register the hushed but harsh tones of Mother Nyx arguing with Lord Hades, nor Nyx pulling away from the desk to trail beside him and call his name. It isn't until she places a firm hand on Thanatos's shoulder that he snaps out of his stupor.
"Mother!" he exclaims with a start, freezing in his tracks. "Mother. Hello."
"Hello, my child." She smiles warmly.
"You - Are these… roses?" He raises an eyebrow, regarding the ostentatious bouquets of thorny-stemmed flowers with curiosity. They're quite beautiful and their fragrance, however subtle, is calming. A wonderful fit for Mother Nyx's corner of the House. He's seen them before on the surface, just not in this peculiar shade. And how in Hades' name did they even get here?
As if reading his mind, Nyx chuckles. "Zagreus is ever thoughtful."
Thanatos huffs at the mention of the prince before he can catch himself. The smile wanes from Nyx's face. "How is the prince? You must see him more often than I am able," he asks curtly, jaw clenched.
Nyx takes note of his measured tone, of his choice of words, of the lines of frustration on his face. "Zagreus collects more darkness with each… attempt. And thus, he grows stronger. I know he is forging bonds with the Olympians and he has somehow acquired the Minor List of Prophecies. He is truly doing everything he can to reach the surface."
Her son is silent for a while. "I see."
"Thanatos. Despite his recent actions, you must remember that Zagreus is still who he has always been -"
"And how are you, Mother?" he interrupts smoothly.
She sighs. She senses his inner turmoil and would like nothing more than to provide counsel for his complicated personal matters. But Nyx knows her son, and knows better than to mention such feelings outright - feelings that he may not even be aware of himself. So, she humors him instead.
"Lord Hades is… Well, at the moment, I am afraid we are at an impasse. Regarding Zagreus. Especially now that he is aware of the involvement of myself and of the Olympians. The House has not been… pleasant recently, to say the least."
Thanatos' face falls. He has been deeply aware of how Zagreus' quest for the surface affects both those in the Underworld and on Olympus, as well as the tenuous dynamic between the two groups. But when his own troublesome thoughts about the prince take center stage so frequently, he admittedly does sometimes forget he isn't the only person affected.
He swallows hard, silently reprimanding himself for being so selfish. After all, isn't selfishness the reason for his anger toward Zagreus?
"Mother, is there something I can do to help, with all of this? I spend too much time away from the House. Please, let me know."
Nyx hesitates, as she knows what she could say, but also what she should say.
"You are already doing what you can to help, my son," she says emphatically, taking his hand in both of hers, golden eyes glinting knowingly. "Continue doing so. Matters are at stake here concerning you and all of us. Your support and choices in this shape the outcome that shall come to pass."
Thanatos nods slowly. "I understand, and I will do my best. Thank you for taking care of everything. I've every faith in you, Mother. And in this House. Farewell."
She says her goodbyes, but Thanatos notices her eyes flicking from his own to somewhere behind him. Puzzled, he follows her gaze over his shoulder, only to find Zagreus' head peeking out from behind the columns of his doorway.
"Zagreus-!?" Thanatos looks at him incredulously. "I thought you left?"
"I - ? I, uh, forgot something!" The prince blurts out before disappearing back into his room.
As Thanatos finishes leading another tearful mortal to the afterlife, he ponders Mother Nyx's parting words. He said he understood, naturally - because he did, on a surface level - but more often than not, she could be intentionally vague with her advice. There are always layers upon layers of meaning to his mother's words, and this was one such moment.
He wonders about what she could be referring to by "support and choices," when he suddenly feels the familiar pull of Zagreus' unconscious call for aid. He grips his scythe and takes a deep breath before teleporting to the prince. Was this what she was referring to?
Thanatos immediately finds himself sweating, beads forming on his forehead and sticking his clothes to his skin, and groans. Asphodel again. For all of his layers, however, he admits he must be better off than Zagreus, what with that unwieldy bronze shield strapped to his arm and hiding all but his face from view. But for some reason, the prince is deliberately not meeting his gaze, which irritates him to no end.
"Let's get this done," Thanatos sighs as the first shades start to materialize. Before he swings his scythe, he pauses, just for a moment, because he is genuinely curious to know how Zagreus has made it this far with nothing but a shield.
He gets his answer when Aegis sails past his head like a discus to knock a wave-maker square in the face and send it flying backwards. The shield bounces off of another bloodless before returning to the prince's outstretched arm. Eyebrows raised, Thanatos looks over to see Zagreus grinning cockily and still deliberately not meeting his gaze. He huffs and marks the next shade he sees for death.
The downsides of just a shield, however, are its lack of sharp edges and the amount of force needed to deliver a crushing blow. Zagreus exerts twice, maybe three times as much effort than usual just to keep up with Thanatos, bouncing between his opponents as quickly and wildly as the ricocheting Aegis.
So when the last of the shades is smashed back into nothingness, Zagreus collapses onto the floor, chest heaving, limbs outstretched. Thanatos wants nothing more than to sit by his head as he had the past few times, but decides otherwise. The body heat radiating from the overexerted demigod is almost visible.
Plus! Zagreus still has not even looked at him! Decidedly put out, Thanatos convinces himself he is just respecting the prince's boundaries and chalks his irritation up to the stifling heat of the lava.
"You seemed a little winded, there, no?" he quips, smirking as he watches one of the prince's eyes flutter open. "Not even close to the surface, yet, either."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence there, Than!" Zagreus wheezes, holding up a clenched fist.
"You're very welcome," Thanatos responds sweetly, holding up a centaur heart for him to see before resting it gently mere inches above the ground. The prince coughs out a weak laugh and struggles to sit up. "Now, I'd better get back, before Lord Hades catches onto this." The last thing he sees before he teleports away is some sorrowful look in Zagreus' eyes.
Thanatos leans forward, elbows perched on the railing of his little balcony, counting the minutes until Zagreus comes splashing and sputtering out of the Styx. He always finds himself waiting restlessly nowadays - at least on the days when he encounters the prince - and his restlessness is always inversely proportional to the likelihood of Zagreus escaping.
Today, he hums to himself a little as he remembers the prince's exhaustion in wielding his new weapon, and knows he can relax some. Zagreus will most definitely return.
With one less thing to worry about, Thanatos finds himself fixating more deeply on Zagreus' behavior during their encounter. Considering what happened prior to this most recent attempt, the prince hadn't been abrasive or even playfully irritated. Just… guarded. Distant.
Was Zagreus finally fed up with the way Thanatos reacted to those last two gifts? Did that mean he would stop giving him nectar? Thanatos can't say he'd hate the thought of that, but he doesn't particularly like it either.
It's not like it means anything when he gives them away so freely, the voice in his head hisses. He tries his best to quiet this insidious voice, but it's persistent and he has such a difficult time that when Zagreus drags himself out of the Styx and tentatively approaches him with yet another bottle of nectar, Thanatos reaches full exasperation.
"Why bother with such empty gestures, Zag. You've said you're getting out of here; best focus on that and leave me be," he grumbles over his shoulder.
The prince doesn't so much smile, as he does purse his lips together in a weak facsimile of one. He holds out the nectar assertively and insists, "It's not an empty gesture, Than."
Thanatos ducks his head and rolls his eyes while out of the prince's view before turning around. As Zagreus catches a full view of his friend's face - however irritated - his eyes and voice soften nonetheless. "Besides, if I wasn't trying to stay focused, I'd be drinking it myself."
Thanatos tries to compose himself under Zagreus' fond gaze. His thoughts race a mile a minute as he watches his hand move, as if in slow-motion, to accept the bottle. All of his thoughts, however, lead to the same place: Zagreus wouldn't be talking to you or giving you nectar right now if he didn't want to.
"Well. Thank you."
Zagreus nods and looks away, studying the columns closely and shifting from one flaming foot to another. Thanatos squints in confusion and holds off from teleporting away as he usually does. His next assignment can wait.
"Uh. Than, I'm sorry for everything you and everyone else must have to deal with because of me," Zagreus mutters. Then, he juts his chin up to look Thanatos in the eye, his own mismatched eyes gleaming, and proclaims, "But I promise you that I'll make it up to you once I get out of here!"
At that, Thanatos can't help but laugh. "I appreciate the sentiment. Though I still cannot entirely believe you really think there's any way you're getting out of here."
"Why? You've been out." Zagreus shrugs. "It's thanks to you the mortals end up down here maybe half the time."
"That's different, that's my job. I can't stay there, and frankly I can barely stand it." Thanatos grimaces at the loud and blinding memories of the surface. "Do you have any idea how bright it gets, up there?"
"No," Zag says confidently, puffing up. "But I look forward to finding out for myself."
Thanatos clicks his tongue. "Well. We'll see what the Fates have to say about that. Maybe the shade of Daedalus can make you some protective eyewear or something."
Zagreus shoots him a smile so bright, Thanatos wishes that protective eyewear was real. "Don't be ridiculous, Than." With that, the prince heads off for yet another escape attempt, a new spring in his step.
Somehow, Thanatos doesn't feel as conflicted watching the prince walk away this time. He palms the bottle of nectar carefully, hypnotized by the motion of the bubbles in the liquid, and lets his mind drift back to Mother Nyx's words.
Zagreus is still who he has always been.
Of course, Thanatos thinks, Zagreus is fundamentally a good, kind person. He may not know much, but he is still exceedingly confident, sometimes to the point of being insufferable. And he can be lazy and uncooperative at times, but when he finds something he's interested in, he's stubbornly driven.
And most of all… Zagreus adores his friends. He shows his affections through giving, whether gifts or favors. He wouldn't be doing any of this if he didn't care in some shape or form.
Thanatos considers all that Zagreus is, and concludes that he is immensely grateful and lucky that Zagreus still regards him a friend and is, in fact, intent on maintaining that friendship.
This new and happy revelation is unfortunately broken with the stomping arrival of a certain Fury, blue skin tinged almost purple in anger. Despite her title, it does take significant effort to make Megaera this furious, and Thanatos is immediately concerned. He quickly hides away his gift from Zagreus as she draws near, all quivering wing and grinding teeth.
"Meg? What -?"
Her golden eyes glint murderously as she gives Thanatos a knowing look.
"It's Sisyphus."
a/n: woah haha cliffhanger. anyway, a friend and i were talking about moving back to ao3 bc we realized that a handful of writers boycotting them doesn't really work when it's the most popular fanfic site. it's like ... a less serious "no ethical consumption under capitalism" type deal? and since ao3 doesn't generate revenue just from clicks, writers could potentially just. use up all of their free servers and get really popular and urge all of their readers to never donate? anyway! just wanna hear your thoughts, i'm also open to criticism bc i do admit i was rly triggered & acted hastily 3 i appreciate all of u