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“Being dead is terribly boring,” said the woman. She was staring up at the ceiling of the Underworld, or what would be the ceiling if something like that existed in an infinite realm like this. Nevertheless, a reflection of the earthen moon shone over her head, and Hades sat with her when he couldn’t bear the crescent curve of her mouth anymore.

“I cannot bring you back,” he told her as gently as he could.

The woman nodded. The long dark curls on her head trembled with the motion, and Hades thought that he could have loved her in another lifetime. “I know. I am not asking you to do the impossible. But I still wish I could see the world again, just – just once.”

Maybe he did love her, in a way. Like a brother, maybe, even if he couldn’t be one of the sisters she had been taken from. The moon wove silver waves over her honey-warm skin. When the woman moved, her head drowned out the moon and a halo of light ringed her wild, terribly breathtaking hair.

Yes, Hades thought. “I cannot offer you much,” he said out loud, watching her mouth tilt upwards with pleasure singing in his bloodless soul. “Maybe once every few decades. And only from far away, you may see them, and they will look up at you and the darkness you bring.”

The woman looked at him. The sliver of light reappeared by her lips, drowning them in jewels. “Will they be afraid?”

“Always. It is who you are.”

“But they will look? They will see and so will I?”

Hades stood. He offered her a wisp of smoke, fingers igniting red when she touched her palm to it. “I promise,” he told her, and he wanted to reach and touch and let her know that one day she would be as loved as she was feared. But her eyes were hard as onyx, and he did not dare disturb the hope shining underneath. “They won’t recognise you, and you will be as rare and miraculously terrible as a god to them, and your name will be Eclipse from now on.”

The woman rose, and she bowed her wild, wonderful head to him. “I am forever grateful to you.”

“I will await your return, my dearest Medusa.”

Reasons why I do anything in life:

– need to do this or I’ll die

– I’m good at this so watch me be fantastic

– I want to be good at this so look at me becoming obsessed with it

– sounds interesting, let’s fucking do it

And my personal favorite:

– someone told me that I couldn’t do it

Don’t worry if your skin keeps breaking out. Growing magical powers need years to balance themselves out and they’re known to irritate the skin. Once you’re strong enough to befriend a dragon, your skin will clear.