[summary] — James/Regulus [God!AU] "What do you mean, he's gone?" he said, his tone deceptively bland. "The God of the Underworld does not just disappear."

A/N — Thank you, Firefly, for beta'ing :)

[1300 words]

Orion looked down at James from his large thrown, expression displeased.

"What do you mean, he's gone?" he said, his tone deceptively bland. "The God of the Underworld does not just disappear."

"He —" James swallowed thickly "— he didn't just disappear; he left." Orion took a deep breath, nostrils flaring.

"Well then I suggest you find him," he hissed in a tone so low James had to strain to hear.

"He could be anywhere by now," James said and could have kicked himself with his own winged boots for that.

There was silence from the Gods seated in front of him, but eventually Walburga hissed:

"And just how long have you known he was missing?"

"He's — Well, it's — it's difficult to say," he croaked, fearing Walburga much more than her husband.

"So, you are telling us that our son has … run away, and you did not feel the need to inform us until now?"

"Well, I — We … we thought we had things under control," James whispered, trailing off towards the end of his sentence. He could feel the blood rushing from his face, panic filling his mind. "We didn't think —"

"Evidently not," she snapped, rising from her chair, her white peplos falling around her ankles just above her sandalled feet.

"He'll — He'll be … down there," James said, gesturing to the mortal realm below Mount Olympus. "I can send —"

The rest of the Gods finally began to speak then, rather than just watching passively, all loudly voicing their objections.

"Does it really matter?" Bellatrix said, her voice rising above everyone else's. "What is it he does? Check lists? Anyone could do that."

"Well, it's a little more than that," Sirius muttered; his voice would have been lost to James had they not been so near to each other. James had to agree, but knew if they wouldn't listen to the God of the Sea, they wouldn't listen to the Messenger God.

"Send the errand boy," Lucius said, gesturing vaguely at James but not bothering to look in his direction. Walburga nodded, turning back to face James.

"You will return my son to the Underworld within a week, or I will throw you into the river Styx myself," she hissed. James swallowed, nodding quickly. "Well?" she asked. "What are you waiting for?"

.oOo.

"How's it going?" James asked Remus, the Guardian of the Gate.

"Not great," he said.

The queue into the Underworld stretched on further than James could see, even when he lifted himself to get a better look from the sky.

"That tickles," Remus muttered, shoving James' winged sandal away from his face.

"Sorry," James said, though the wide grin spread across his face belied his apology as he dropped down beside Remus one more. "What are we supposed to do?" James asked.

"Well, we can't open the gates to mortals," Remus said, a worried frown pulling down the corners of his mouth. "Not without Regulus."

"Yeah." James sighed. "I'm going down to look for him," he said somewhat reluctantly.

"Down there?" Remus asked, eyes wide. "But — He — Why would he go there?"

James shrugged. "I just came to pick up the Map. Hopefully that'll make it easier to find him."

Remus nodded, stepping aside to let James pass, both ignoring the complaints of the dead.

Inside the gates, the Underworld was eerily empty; the queues hadn't moved in days.

.oOo.

James consulted the Marauders Map again, still not sure he was reading it right. Regulus was supposed to be right here, but here was … here was pretty big, and the Map only vaguely covered the Mortal Realm, and it had been created a long time ago. And it had taken him four days just to reach this point. Three left.

He took a hesitant step in the direction of the castle; he couldn't imagine Regulus being anywhere else. The small village he was currently in just seemed a little too … homey for Regulus. He began the steady trek up the path, not bothering with flying.

There was a feeling like he was having to push his way through the air, and then everything was fine. Wards, he suspected, though they seemed too advanced for mortals; regardless, he didn't want to risk flying, in case they were worse in the air.

As he reached the castle he veered off towards the forest, though he couldn't say why. He just had a gut feeling that it was where he was supposed to be, and he had long ago learnt to trust his instincts.

So, he headed into the depths of the forest.

.oOo.

He found Regulus seated on a fallen tree trunk, holding a bouquet of fresh wild flowers.

"Everything's just so alive down here," Regulus whispered, startling James; he hadn't realised Regulus had heard his approach. Regulus turned to face him fully and said in a louder tone: "I suppose you're here to take me back."

"I — Look, I didn't volunteer for this," James said, taking a deep breath, mustering all the strength he had. "But — but you are needed in the Underworld."

Regulus shook his head, eyes dropping back to his flowers. "I just check names off a list," he said. "Anyone could do it."

"That's not true."

"And they all hate me for it, too," Regulus added, ignoring James' interjection. "They curse my name and use me as a threat, but I didn't kill them."

"I know, you —"

"Why couldn't I have been the God of the Sea?" Regulus asked, jealousy colouring his tone. "Everyone loves Sirius."

"But your job is so much more important!" James yelled, giving up on delicacy, forcing Regulus to look at him. "You don't just check names off a list, Regulus, you guard their souls! For eternity!"

Regulus shook his head, pulling himself away from James. "What if I don't want to do it anymore?" he asked. "What if I don't want to be surrounded by death and hate forever?" He sighed, sounding so defeated that James wished there was more he could do. "I'm just as trapped there as they are."

James thought for a moment, pacing the forest floor. "What if," he said slowly, "I talked to your mother?"

"I don't understand," Regulus said. "What good would that do?"

James shrugged. "It might be useless," he said with an apologetic smile. "But it's better than doing nothing. Things can't stay as they were, because you're not happy with that, and they certainly can't stay as they are."

Regulus nodded slowly, eyes downcast. "I'll go back," he said quietly.

"Thank you," James said. "I'll — I'll see what I can do about your mother.

.oOo.

"Absolutely not," Walburga said, staring haughtily down at where James stood. "Things were fine as they were and will remain as such." She turned, as though the discussion was over, fully expecting James to just leave it at that.

"With all due respect," James said, tone biting, "things were not fine."

"Everything ran smoothly," she said, glaring down at him.

"For you, maybe." James could see the other Gods leaning closer; it had been centuries since anyone had attempted to talk to Walburga like this. "But not for Regulus."

"Regulus is fine," she hissed. "He's back where he belongs. The situation has been resolved."

"He can always leave the same way he did before," James said. "And next time, I will not be bringing him back."

James had never seen Walburga look so furious. She took a deep breath, opening her mouth to speak, but James interrupted.

"You can come to a decision between you on how things around here will change." He smirked, before adding: "You have one week."