Lodging provided as elusive as Aphrodite promised, each pair took shifts through the night to keep watch for the sign of danger. Hades laid next to Kore as she slept and stroked her hair. “I'm so sorry you were born into this…” He whispered low. “I need you to have a great life Kore, be happy because knowing that you’re happy will give me peace if things-“
Kore stirred and pulled him to her, “Stop talking.”
“I’m sorry I woke you.”
She held him close. “When did the God of death become so in touch with his emotions?” She felt him smile against her.
“Since a tornado came into my life in latex training gear and a smile that melted my heart.” Hades lifted his head and looked at her. “I never wanted something as much as I want to survive so that I can be with you.” She kissed him deeply, pausing as Aphrodite slowly rapped on the door.
“Hey…can I come in?”
“Yeah sure.” Entering, Aphrodite's face lined with worry. Hades and Kore immediately sat up.
“What’s the matter?”
She looked from one to the other. “It’s Hestia…she’s requesting a meeting tomorrow.”
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“What do we need to know about Hestia?”
“Well for starters, she rejected her soul tie.”
The group stopped and stared at Aphrodite. “What?”
She shook her head, “Yes, both Apollo and Poseidon claimed that she was theirs and asked for the hand in marriage, but instead, she asked Zeus to allow her to remain a maiden forever."
Romulus scratched his head. “Well…who was her tie then?”
“Nobody knows for sure. Normally a record is kept of God’s ties, but Hestia took a vow of silence and Apollo, Zeus, and Poseidon all buried the incident.”
Evie snapped her fingers. “She sounds badass to even get Zeus to bend to her will.”
Hades chuckled, “She is. Hestia didn’t stay here because she chose a side, she didn’t choose either. She’s about peace.”
Kore folded her arms to her chest. “To remain silent is to remain complacent. I have nothing against her, but by staying she chose, and as far as I’m concerned, she’s no different than anyone else.” Everyone looked at her but remained quiet.
Thanatos joined her side. “You guys go on ahead.” Nodding, the other walked onward and Thanatos placed his arm around Kore's shoulder.
“Talk to *Look Like Me*.”
She smiled small and then sighed, “I just-this entire thing is so shitty. I mean I get Zeus, he’s a jerk…and Hermes was a jerk who helped to create a jerk. But everyone else? Why? Just because we have the power to kill them, doesn’t mean we would have.”
Thanatos’ looked to his daughter, “People will always attempt to destroy that in which they don’t understand. There’s only two who have gotten to know you and Adam, that protected you even before you fell in love.” She looked down at her shoes and Thanatos raised her head.
“Don’t be ashamed of it, I’m your father, but I am not the judge nor the jury. He adores you, he would die for you, and now…he’s fighting to live for you. How can a father be upset at a man who truly loves his daughter? The point I’m trying to make Kore, is that we don’t know how this is going to play out, but we do know that what has been started must be ended.”
“A-and if I don’t want to kill Hestia…”
Thanatos patted her shoulder. “That’s for you and Adam to decide, either choice bears consequences.”
Processing her father’s words, she gave him a big hug. “I love you.”
He kissed her hair. “I love you too.”
Rejoining the group, they soon found themselves outside of Hestia’s castle. The door already ajar, their senses immediately went on alert. Hades and Aphrodite entered first and saw Hestia standing by the doorway. Her robes covering her body, leaving everything from sight except a small portion of her brown hair.
She smiled genuinely, “I am unarmed. I just didn’t want you to have to search for me through the castle.”
She looked to Kore and Adam. “Wow…I see why so many are afraid. I can feel your power from over here.” She extended her hand to Kore, who hesitantly took it. She patted her hand and then looked to the others. “I’m sure you all must be hungry and tired. There is plenty prepared.”
Kore snatched her hand away. “What do you think-”
Hestia raised her hand, “I can throw out everything I prepared, and we start over if that makes you more comfortable.”
She sighed, “I do not partake in war. I don’t believe in it, but I also know that today I will die. So it is my hope that before I do, I am afforded conversation and company from a few weary travelers.”
Turning she walked back in towards the castle and Kore looked to Adam. Locking his arm in hers, he grinned, “What can I say? I am starving.”
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Kore sat on the couch looking at Hestia as she brushed her long brown hair. “I know it vain of me to wish to look my best in my death, but I still appreciate you allowing me the time to do so.” Placing the brush down, she turned, “I’m ready.” She saw Kore's lip tremble.
“What’s the matter?”
“What do you mean?! You literally provided us food and lodging with only the request that I be the one to kill you…why-why would you do that?”
Hestia placed one leg over the other.
“Why wouldn’t I? You gave me permission to die on my terms and I am very grateful.”
Kore pulled her legs to her chest. “Won’t you miss your friends…your family?”
Hestia looked at her sadly, “I haven’t either.”
“Isn’t that lonely?”
“It can be. All choices bear consequences.”
“That’s what my father says.”
Hestia smiled, “Then he is a very wise man. I don’t regret my choices, but that doesn’t mean the consequences of them weren’t great.”
Kore looked at her, “I am deeply in love with Hades. And it happened so quickly that sometimes I wonder if it’s because he’s a God or because I’m of reincarnation of Persephone.”
Hestia tilted her head. “Would it matter if both were a bit true? Would it change your decision to fight to be with him?”
“No..” Kore whispered low.
“Then focus on what's important. When I rejected my soul tie, it wasn’t because I didn’t want him. I loved him from the depths of my soul, but I knew it wasn’t meant to be. The love at that time, wasn't what was important.”
“Why?”
“Because for as much as he loved me, he craved the love of his brother more. And to accept his hand would have started a war that would have led to me losing him in death.”
Kore's eyes widened. “Your Soul Tie was-”
Hestia nodded and clutched the small locket to her chest. “You can feel the moment your tie is ripped from this world. It sits in your soul, even if you two weren’t together.”
“…Poseidon’s dead….”
Hestia remained silent and instead stood and walked to the couch. Laying down, she reached out for Kore. “Every choice has a consequence and mine was wasting time not being with my love to avoid the unavoidable…I am ready when you are.” Quickly wiping her eyes, Kore stood. Walking over she held Hestia’s hand. Her body convulsed for a moment, as she looked at Kore.
“Not all wars are solved with aggression, some are solved with wit…and I…I believe you and Adam can change everything for the better.”
A black mist formed from Kore and went inside Hestia. “I release you…and I hope you two finally find happiness.”
Hestia's eyes teared and with her last breath, she whispered, “Thank you,” before finally letting go.
Rejoining the others, Kore looked to Hades. He quickly joined her side, and he pulled her close. “She wanted to go…” She cried to him.
“She wanted to be with her Soul Tie…” He pulled her away and searched her eyes.
“Poseidon…her soul tie was your brother Poseidon, and he’s dead Hades…”
“But who would-” His eyes immediately blackened. “THAT SON OF A BITCH!” He screamed slamming his fist into the wall.
Romulus inhaled sharply, “If Zeus killed Poseidon, then he obviously knows that we’re here, but why would he kill him? I still don’t understand.”
Aphrodite folded her arms to her chest. “Power…he killed him to absorb his power.”
“How much you want to bet, he’s been visiting what we leave behind!” Romulus spoke quickly putting the pieces together.
Derrick’s eyes tore to the room. “We have to get out of here NOW! If Hestia’s dead, then he will be here soon.”
Hades controlled his temper. “Yes, but before we go, we need to make sure he can’t get what he’s coming for.”
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“Wow…they even killed you Hestia. I was certain I would have had to kill you myself. I mean who can hate you? You’re the epitome of all things good.” He lifted her head and looked at her pure snow-white skin.
“Say hello to Poseidon for me and tell him it’s no hard feelings.” He chuckled, “At least not on my end.”
Placing his hand over her, his eyes widened as the red mist didn’t rise from her body. “What the hell?” He lifted her eyes lids and dropped her body back onto the couch as the blackened voids of nothingness stared back at him.
Hade's eyes tinged with the red of Hestia’s powers coursing through him. “I feel like I want to cook a meal and, make-” His words stopped as he looked down to his chest.
“HADES!” Kore screamed, her hands shaking at the arrow protruding from him. His body collapsed to the ground, and they heard a loud laugh.
“Damn thought it would have been harder the strike the infamous Hades' down.” Tipping his hat, Apollo left as Hades struggled for his life against the arrow’s poison.