The mortal was a curious one, that was about the only thing Hades was currently certain of. As he set to work finding the soul of the one she had bargained her own for, He pondered what had led her to the worship of such old Gods. Humanity had moved on from the Pantheon of Greek Gods. Sure there was a little revived interest in them these days, through both the popular culture adaptations of the ancient stories and through the studies provided at mortal educational facilities; still it was rare that any mortal beyond those who practiced 'witchcraft' would worship Gods from centuries gone by. Rarer still that mortals chose to honour Hades himself with worship.
In his long reign as God of the Underworld (thanks little bro) he had learned the hard way that his dominion over death was feared and he himself was almost hated by the mortals. There had been a time when he had reveled in their fear, then he had become lonely, now perhaps his feelings towards mortals was best described as jaded.
Fearing death made little sense to him, the mortals could hardly avoid it. It was the natural order of things; mortals are born, they live their insignificant little lives and then they die. In the end, he would see them all pass through the gates of his realm and his judges would determine where their actions in life would lead them in the Underworld.
In times long gone, it had not been uncommon to receive a soul bargain. More often than not, he would ignore them but on rare occasions he would accept what was being bargained. It turns out that was a huge mistake. His last soul bargain had ended up coming back to bite him in the ass.
Even centuries later, the thought of all that nonsense with Meg and Hercules and the Titans stung. He had been so close.
As punishment (what, like being ruler of this desolate place wasn't punishment enough?) Zeus had sealed him in the Underworld and reneged on his offer to furnish Hades with a wife. Shame too, Demeter's daughter would have made quite a Queen. Truthfully though, it was the sealing him in the Underworld that bummed Hades out the most.
It was only with the passing of time and the diminishing influence of the Gods, and thereby Zeus, that Hades had been able to circumvent the punishment that Zeus gave him. Which was how he had been able to meet the young woman up top.
He was still working on finessing the 'getting out' part which was why it had taken him so long to respond to her bargain.
"Pain! Panic! Why don't you make yourselves useful for once and help me find this soul." He shouted. Charon had been driving the boat in circles for the better part of an hour now and the soul was nowhere to be found.
"Uh boss, didn't she only die a few hours ago?" Panic said
"She might not have gone through Judgement yet." Pain added.
Nothing annoyed Hades half as much as when his minions could be right. "Then why didn't you think to say something, oh I don't know maybe, about an hour ago!" He shouted. "Charon, take me back to the river bank. Pain, Panic, get a message to whichever one of the Judges has her soul."
"Where's she from boss?" Panic asked
"How should I know? Just instruct them all that if they have received the soul of a woman named Claire in the last few hours to bring her to me!" He growled at the minion before storming off to the main chamber of the castle at the center of the Underworld.
On a dais in the corner of the room there was a fountain that he'd had no need to use in centuries. The waters in the fountain allowed him to see the mortal world. The last time he'd used it was to keep track of Meg as she tried to fool Hercules. With a wave of his hand over the still water, it rippled and showed him the woman who had given her soul over to him.
He could see her standing in a doorway watching two sleeping mortals. They were clearly younger than her and must have been the two she had named. Alec and Ivy. They appeared to be her siblings.
She was speaking quietly to them, evidently wanting to avoid waking them.
"I can't ask you not to mourn me, that would be unfair but don't let mourning me get in the way of you living your life. Like I did for too long. I hope you will always know how much I love you and that I'm doing this for you."
Usually if the judging of a soul was deemed necessary to be done by him, his scales would weigh up the life lived by the soul and decide where to send them. His scales wouldn't be needed in her case but he was tempted to use them when he got her down here anyway.
As he watched she left the room her siblings slept in and walked towards a tall white desk, behind which sat a woman who wore a purple set of what seemed to pass for uniform amongst the medical professionals of this age.
"Hi again, sorry to bother you but could I borrow some paper and a pen? I want to go for a drive but I want to leave a note for my brother and sister in case they wake up before I get back." She said with a smile.
"Hey, of course. Here you go, but if you don't mind me saying you need to get some rest too. It's been a long day for all three of you. You can't be there for them if you're too exhausted to function." The woman replied, handing over a pad of paper and a pen.
The woman behind the desk was much older than the new soul soon to occupy his realm and Hades thought he could detect a hint of recognition in the older woman's eyes.
"I know, that's why I want to leave them a note. In case I decide to pull over and sleep in the car." She said as she walked back towards the room in which he had felt the pull from the altar.
"You didn't want to sleep here last time either." The older woman said softly.
So this wasn't the first time the young woman had been in this situation. Hades couldn't help but wonder why she didn't make this offer that time, perhaps a question to put to her when she arrived.
In the room with her makeshift altar and offering, she laid the paper down and chewed the pen.
Just as Hades was about to watch what she planned to write, Panic came running in shouting his name.
"Boss! Boss, it was Aeacus! He had her!" Panic said, tripping over himself in his haste to please the god of the Underworld.
"Cool, cool, great." Hades said as he dispelled the image of the young woman from the waters. Only to turn and see no soul "So where is she?".
Just as he asked, Pain led the very soul in by the hand. It was just as well his minion was already dead or else that would have withered him away to nothing.
"Alrighty, Claire, dunno if you can hear me but it's your lucky day. Yer going back to the land of the living!" Hades beckoned her forwards and with a flourish of his wrist, the soul was contained within the ring upon his pinky.
When Hades returned to the room with his altar, he did so in silence, half hoping he could sneak a look at what the woman had written on the paper she had asked for.
"That didn't take as long as I thought." She said from where she knelt, still writing.
"How'd you know I was here?"
"The flame on your candle wavered and it just got about ten degrees colder in the room."
"Well ain't you a smart cookie." He said sarcastically.
"I take it you have her soul?" She asked, finally laying the pen down and turning to face Hades.
"Yup. Got 'er right here." He held up his hand and wiggled the finger that bore his ring.
"So how do we do this? You give Claire back her soul and then take mine?"
"Uh-uh. I'll take yours first. Call it insurance that you don't break our bargain as soon as Claire gets back to breathin'"
"Arguably if I did that, you could just take back Claire's soul and then I'd be back to square one and have betrayed a bargain with a god. Doesn't seem like something a 'smart cookie' would do." She said, "Still if that's the way you want to do this then, let's do it."
Hades didn't correct her because no, that isn't how it would work. If she had broken their agreement after he gave Claire back her soul, he couldn't take it back. He would have to wait for Claire to die again before he could regain her soul. And if the agreement was broken, he wouldn't be able to take her soul often resisted being taken by force, they had to come naturally or be offered. That's not to say he couldn't steal her soul but that just wasn't his style.
If Hades were a better person (or rather a less deplorable god) he would tell her this. If it weren't for the thought of fresh company in that lonely hellscape he called his realm, he might have been godly enough to tell her the truth.
"Alrighty! So, how d'you want them to find you?" He asked.
"Here, on the couch. I want it to look like I just fell asleep in here, the note I'm leaving will explain what happened." She told him as she moved to lay down on the couch.
She lay flat on her back and watched him.
"If you want them to think you fell asleep, you could at least try to make it look natural." He snorted, "Get comfortable."
She seemed to tense for a moment before nodding and curling up on her side with her head facing the cushions.
"You're gonna feel a slight pulling sensation, just go with it." He said.
"Will it hurt?" She asked him, her tone of voice was the most timid it had been during their brief time knowing one and other. This was the first and only time she showed any fear of what she had agreed to. If Hades had heartstrings, they might have tugged at that.
"No, it won't hurt." He assured her, his voice softer than before.
Hades was met with no resistance as he took her soul, her body sagged as her last exhale brought forth that priceless form of pure light.
A new soul was always so bright, it didn't matter how good or bad a person had been in life. It was only when the soul had been judged and sent to its final resting place that it might change. It would go from bright to dull if it was sent to the Asphodel Meadows, change to pitch black if it was being sent to Tartarus or remain as pure and bright if it was to be sent to Elysium.
A soul who had been part of a bargain would not be judged and thus stay as pure and bright as one sent to Elysium. It was Hades who could give the bargained away souls form again, so he had done with Meg and so it was with this young woman.
"C'mon, we'll return Claire's soul and be on our way." He said, offering his hand to the young woman.
In the sterile and impersonal hospital room, Hades positioned the young woman to stand in front of him so she would be able to watch as he unclasped the seal on his ring and the soul contained within would drift back to its corporeal form.
Her small gasp as she watched the soul sink back into Claire told Hades she was as mesmerised with the sight as he was on the rare occasion it happened. The stifled sob as Claire's returned soul brought back the colour to her skin and breath back into her lungs made Hades want to reach out and hold the young woman. A sentiment he hadn't felt in eons but didn't give into.
Machines around them began to beep and it barely took a moment for Nurses to run in proclaiming it a miracle.
Hades heard the young woman whisper 'goodbye' and almost missed the 'thank you' that came next. He was unsure if it was aimed at him or the woman who had evidently meant enough to her to give up her soul, so he chose not to reply. Instead he took her hand again and transported them to the Underworld where Charon would be waiting to transport them across the river to his home.