Going Right To The Big Guy

 When Amaia arrived in the Underworld, it was a fair distance away from the River Styx. They looked around their current location, trying to remember their Underworld geography. It was an open field; they could deduce that much.

They looked around for the first available soul that could tell them anything about where they were right now, a little uncomfortable about the sunlight streaming down. For a brief moment, they wondered if they’d made a mistake and wound up back near Daylight again. Shivering at the thought, they got to walking and searching. Their head floated beside them, and they started thinking.

They remembered there being two possible locations that might resemble this, Underworld-wise. Either they were dealing with Asphodel or Elysium. They saw a few souls around there, and they certainly appeared to be at peace. But they were looking for someone that more likely worked there.

It took a good deal of walking, but they saw someone with a Death rune tattooed on their shoulder, and approached him.

“Hey…” they started. “I was wondering if you could help me out with something?”

He glanced back at the dullahan with solid red eyes. “And what would that be?” he asked.

“Could you tell me where we are right now?” they asked.

“Elysium,” he said. “Name’s Rhadamanthus. So, you here on behalf of the Seelie or Unseelie Court?”

Amaia held up a hand. “Neither, really. I’m actually looking to negotiate the release of a friend of mine.”

Rhadamanthus smirked. “A dullahan that backed out of the family business, huh? Believe it or not, I’ve heard about you.”

They blinked. Were they really the only one that refused to be an enforcer for any of the Fae Courts?

“I was kinda hoping that wouldn’t come up,” they sighed.

It was part of why coming down there hadn’t immediately leapt to their mind. Another part was the shock of having seen another person close to them die right in front of them. Some people became conditioned to that sort of thing, but they preferred not to. Once had been horrible enough, but a second (and very nearly a third, with what had happened to Talia?)…

Rhadamanthus clapped a hand on their shoulder, causing the dullahan to tense up a bit. “Fair enough. So, paid your way right to here?”

“Yeah. I was hoping for Hades’ throne room, though.”

“Understandable. Alright, come with me.”

The bigger man led the way out of Elysium, as they found themselves at a crossroads. Rhadamanthus knew exactly where he was going. He waved to the triple-faced goddess Hecate as she arrived at that crossroads and settled in.

The dullahan looked at the area as they walked along, feeling a bit more comfortable in the relative darkness as opposed to in the Fields. Maybe they could see about finding work here when their time alive came to an end. Possibly as a psychopomp? Escorting souls sounded more like something they’d enjoy as opposed to threatening to send them here.

They passed by a court house, as well as a small dwelling (or as Rhadamanthus had referred to those, “work” and “home”, before they reached the main entrance to Hades’ place. Right outside of it was a massive three-headed dog, with all three heads barking as the pair approached.

“Easy, Cerberus…” Rhadamanthus said, pulling something out of his pocket and tossing it to the dog to snack on. “Our friend here wants to speak with the boss.”

They stepped through the door, and the first face to greet them was that of a young woman. Her hair ran to her knees, and as green as the grass in spring. Her eyes were also a vibrant green color, big and full of life. Her skin was the color of earth. There were fresh flowers in her hair, which contrasted with her black dress.

“You here to see Hades?” she asked, tone just as bright as her expression.

Rhadamanthus nodded. “Yes. There’s a dullahan here to speak with him.”

She quirked an eyebrow. “Now, would this be speaking-speaking, or a conversation of a more violent nature? Because if it goes into the latter…”

Her pleasant smile turned a bit more twisted. Violent. It almost gave Amaia, who wasn’t one to run from a fight, pause.

“No, Persephone, this is that one that didn’t go into the enforcer biz.”

“Oh! Well, in that case, I’ll let him know you’re here.”

Her smile returned to its initial pleasantness, as she practically skipped further into the room. Flowers popped out of the ground with each step, the petals black as night.

The pair waited for her to return, and she soon did. But with her was the god of the Underworld himself. His dark hair was a bit of a mess, and there were noticeable circles under his eyes. Like something had been bothering him for a while now. He pointed to Amaia, gesturing for them to come into his throne room.

Hades took his seat on the huge obsidian throne, Persephone settling on the slightly smaller one beside it. Amaia looked around for a spot to settle in, soon just sitting cross-legged on the floor before the couple.

“Okay, so...why are you here?” Hades asked them.

Amaia thought of where to begin with this, but began to go over what all had happened since the hardware store, the quest itself and everything that’d happened there, right up to the eclipse.

“So, you see...I’d really like to bring my—our friend back.”

The god drummed his fingers on the arm of the throne. “Now, this guy you say caused the eclipse...describe him for me?”

Amaia closed their eyes in annoyance. “Light brown hair, blue eyes, abnormal armor, probably malnourished under that armor, but looked quite punchable…”

“Was his name ‘Niles’, by any chance?” Persephone asked.

“Pretty sure that’s what Talia called him.”

Hades growled, slamming his hand down on the throne as the whole room shook. He calmed when Persephone put a hand on his arm and shot him a warning look. He calmed right down.

“Sorry,” he said. “It’s just that several months ago, someone fitting that description clawed his way out of my realm, and...ugh, I hate it when people do that, know what I mean?”

“Understandable,” Amaia said.

“Now, as for your friend...I don’t think she’s been judged yet. Persephone, could you check with Rhad to see if she’s been to the courthouse yet?”

She nodded, going to see if he was still out there. As she opened the door, she didn’t see the judge who presided over Elysium. Instead, Charon had arrived, nodding to the goddess.

“Can this wait?” she asked him. “He’s meeting with someone right now.”

“Yeah, I can wait,” the ferryman replied, reaching over and giving Cerberus some pets. “I just wanted to let him know about a new soul that was brought in.”

Persephone nodded, now just waiting for the right time to let Charon in.

“Who is it?” Hades called.

Well. It might have just become the right time.

“It’s Charon, babe. Said something about a new soul that was brought in that you should probably know about.”

“Alright, send him in.”

She looked at Charon and gestured for him to enter. Amaia stood, wondering if they should leave the room for this, or if this was relevant to their reasons for being there. Charon nodded in greeting to the dullahan, before waving to Hades.

He began to explain to Hades about the witch that had been brought in, about how she had seen battle with the beasts. And as he told the god of the Underworld about her, Amaia couldn’t help but break into an elated grin.

“That’s the same witch I came here to save!” they said.

“I see…” said Hades. “She’ll have to go through judgement before I decide on anything else, but I might be willing to make a deal to bring her back.”

On the one hand, Amaia worried slightly that it would have to do with the Fae Court enforcement gig they hoped so much to avoid. But on the other hand, they weren’t sure if that would really serve Hades’ interests at all and wondered why they even worried about that in the first place and waited to hear him out.

“What’ve you got in mind?” the dullahan asked.

“Send this ‘Niles’ back to my realm,” Hades said. “Chances are, he’ll be sent straight to Tartarus. If your friend is cleared by the judges and you both agree to do this for me, I’ll be more than happy to let her return to life.”

Amaia let out a light chuckle. “She’s said that this menace is a lot like the machines back in her world that replaced her at her job. And it was used to make her dog go crazy and kill her. I would be very surprised if she wasn’t on-board with the idea. And you can definitely count me in, as well.”