1 - 20 of 38 Works by Relia
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He had a ledger that reminded him of all the ways Zagreus had died before, and he had a prodigiously good imagination. That was all he really needed. It gave him answer enough.
He felt the way Zagreus’s mind shifted and swayed towards unconsciousness as his fight went on and he must have sustained more injuries, seeking desperate shelter from pain. The mind always shied from its own suffering — when agony was too sharp, too much, it reached desperately for that solace that Hypnos held at his command. It yearned for unconsciousness. So whenever something hurt Zagreus enough for his mind to start reaching for the oblivion of Sleep, desperate to faint rather than endure some acute torment, Hypnos felt it.
And then he always felt Zagreus struggling to master his own mind. Trying — just through sheer force of will — to pull away. To stay conscious. To stagger on.
And Hypnos had to decide what to do.
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You can tell a lot about a person by how they eat.
Series
- Part 21 of Choice of Death
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There's a mountain with a view of everything, where the wind never stops. The view is worth it, but it's the journey that matters.
Series
- Part 20 of Choice of Death
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Eros likes bows.
Series
- Part 19 of Choice of Death
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Eros has so many smiles, but this one... this one might be Zagreus’ favourite.
They’re in Elysium, together, Eros’ idea—you’re always coming here, why don’t I go there—and Eros is picking flowers from Zagreus’ footsteps. He likes doing that, and Zagreus likes walking, so it works for them both. Zagreus is giving him a tour of Elysium as they wind their way along the Lethe to the stadium. Eros has a big bundle in his arms already, and he’s smiling with every flower he picks—that’s the smile that’s Zagreus’ favourite, possibly, out of all the smiles that Eros has.
He has a lot.
Series
- Part 18 of Choice of Death
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There are stars overhead, milky in their way.
Thanatos blinks.
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- Part 17 of Choice of Death
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There’s this bed. It’s very warm, and sometimes, just sometimes—
they’re home.
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- Part 16 of Choice of Death
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"Is this a story about hope?"
"Yes."
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- Part 15 of Choice of Death
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A long time ago, or at least Achilles thinks it was, he started to work at the House. He has not been here a long time in the way of the gods who roam the halls, and only just a little longer than even the prince, but still—it is only very, very recently he ever saw Master Thanatos return and tug parchment free.
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- Part 14 of Choice of Death
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“Take this,” Hypnos had said. “So your feet don’t get cold.”
Thanatos’ feet are cold; they’re coated with mud. He doesn’t think... He thinks, maybe, he didn’t realize what Hypnos was really saying. He hasn’t in so long.
Sometimes, lately, he thinks he almost might.
He wants to go home. He stays under the cypress, face against his knees, rain drops splattering against the back of his neck cold.
He wonders if he's dying, or just...
A breeze ruffles his hair, gentle.
Series
- Part 13 of Choice of Death
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Sometimes, Apollo wonders what would have happened if he had not called the twins early to Ilion.
He knew the stars would move. He knew they would step away from the places the night had set for them, away from what best flattered her dark. Knew they had been spun kind, gentle. Bright, the brightest of all set in the sky.
Knew, by then, to be prized is not to be loved, and how very prized they were.
Series
- Part 12 of Choice of Death
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They used to write. After Ilion? Ares and he. It was nice to stay in touch. Ilion was... It was horrible, of course it was, a lot of people died and Hypnos hasn’t ever liked war, not really, no matter the way Lady Athena always tries to make it seem like it can be noble sometimes, but Hypnos hasn’t ever seen a noble war.
Ilion wasn’t good, but on a personal level, private, just... just Hypnos?
Ilion was beautiful.
Series
- Part 11 of Choice of Death
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There’s this story gets passed around about a net, a dawn, and a cock. Might be the nicest gift anyone’s ever gave Hephaestus—struck down speculation and rumour and wondering because of course ‘Dite wouldn’t have had any kids with him after that. Let him and her get on with their lives in peace; he didn’t demand her for her.
Wasn’t about her; he just did the math and she was the sum.
Series
- Part 10 of Choice of Death
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It's been a very long night.
Series
- Part 9 of Choice of Death
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Zagreus is on Olympus with his mismatched eyes; he has arrived at the afternoon picnic with an apple in hand that Eros does not think he should have, with so many vines coiling pretty and sharp in his ribs, strangling his heart. They'll choke him, if he lets them, but it will be fine, because Zagreus thrives on how things die and come back and die and come back and if Eros could—
Just one arrow, gold and true. To see what might happen.
But his dearest mother likes Zagreus, but his far too kind father smiles in earnest for Zagreus, but all of Olympus likes Zagreus, and so Eros does not. He smiles, instead.
Series
- Part 8 of Choice of Death
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"Lord Ares," Prince Zagreus says, and as he does every time, Ares forgives him the incorrect title. Zagreus is still very young, and Olympus very loathe to teach him.
"If it is not my favourite cousin," Ares greets with a great deal of cheer. "What brings you to my halls today?"
Series
- Part 7 of Choice of Death
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Charon doesn’t agree with Nyx on much, on near anything if he’s being real honest, but even he’s got to admit that the twins are her best work, the culmination of all that experimenting she did with the rest of them. It’s not agreeing though, and he’ll insist that till the day she gets the brass to admit she failed with him. Nyx thinks it’s just one that came out right.
It’s both, though, when they’re together.
Series
- Part 6 of Choice of Death
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Olympus does not have neutral ground, but maybe possibly Hermes’ bit of it is pretty close. He’s the one who goes between.
There’s so much sun. The grass is so green and distant, distant—
“Are those sheep?” Hypnos asks, delighted.
“Yes,” Thanatos says. “They're friendly.”
Series
- Part 5 of Choice of Death
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Thanatos used to have a wing, large and white. He can feel it, still. Sometimes it itches. Sometimes he thinks he will go half mad because it feels like there are new feathers coming in he cannot reach to preen, but there’s not a wing there.
He used to be at the House more.
It’s important, what Hypnos does, but Hypnos is—
Series
- Part 4 of Choice of Death
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“You like him,” Ares says joyful, smile young, the smile she fell in love with so, so long ago, when she could still remember the smell of the old sea.
“He’s very pretty,” Aphrodite says with a sniff. “It makes your infatuation tolerable.”
Ares laughs so large, so loud, picks her up as if she weighs nothing and she stops pretending distaste so she can catch his smile, taste his laughter.
Series
- Part 3 of Choice of Death