𝐩𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 ( queliot )

006. hit the market

"No."

That was the first thing Julia told them as Eliot and Alice plead their case. The second thing she said was:

"There are so many reasons not to do that. The first being that the last time I tried to summon a God, I was raped and everyone else was killed."

She had a valid point, but Eliot wasn't hearing it.

"We won't be summoning him, per say..." he trailed off, glancing at Alice.

"We'd be going down to the Underworld to see Hades and plead for him to give us Quentin's soul," she finished. "That's why we need your help."

"Trust me," Eliot told her. "I wouldn't ask this of you if I didn't need your help."

Julia sighed and massaged her brow. "If I agree to help," at their hopeful faces, she emphasized, "if, how do you know this will work?"

"There's always a chance that it won't," Eliot murmured.

"But they have a solid idea," Margo imputed. "There's been myths about going into the Underworld for someone you love, and coming back successful."

They sat in silence for a few tense minutes, Julia's head down as she mulled the idea over. In truth, getting the supplies would be the easy part. Getting Hades (whose wife both Julia and Eliot played a part in killing) to agree to give Quentin back was the hard part. Julia, deep down, however, knew that it would be Eliot who would get Q back from Hades or die trying. She hoped it didn't come to the latter.

"Okay," she relented. "I'm in."

Alice and Eliot grinned and Margo squeezed Eliot's hand for comfort and to convey her own joy.

"What's the plan?" She asked.

"We need to get to the Underworld. The first step is knowing how to do that. Then we can look more into Hades and souls, see what we need to prepare for," Eliot explained.

"There's a dragon," Julia said. "Q and I went to it when we were going to get my Shade back. But we can't just ask it for help. First, we need to get a baby tooth."

"A baby tooth?" Margo questioned.

Julia shrugged. "Apparently she collects them."

"Okay, that's a different type of weird," Eliot shuddered. "What's next?"

"We need something of magical importance to give her. Last time, she wanted the button to Fillory, so it'll have to be big."

"I can get Kady," Julia suggested. "She knows the Hedge black market, maybe they'll have something of importance there."

"Isn't it a trade-centric place though? What do we have of importance?" Alice asked.

"That djinn," Margo suggested, glancing towards Eliot. "The one we made before Ibiza. That'd probably be valuable on the black market."

Eliot hummed, pondering the idea. "Maybe."

Julia smiled. "Let's get started with that, then. I'll go find Kady, and Penny will be back later. We might need a traveler."

"And I'll go back to where I hid the book in the Physical Cottage," Margo said, standing up with Julia.

"I guess we'll stay here..." Eliot sighed, rubbing his palms on his jeans.

"No, you two can come with me," Margo instructed. "We still have all the stuff at the Cottage."

Margo went to her room to find the book, leaving Eliot and Alice to gather the contraption used to create the djinn from the closet under the stairs. Eliot was picking out what looked familiar and Alice was sorting the rest. The silence between them was comfortable, but Eliot could tell that Alice had been itching to ask him something.

"Eliot?" She finally voiced. "Why do you want to bring Quentin back? I mean, I knew the two of you were close, but I didn't know you were 'bringing each other back from the dead' close."

"I, uh, " he cleared his throat. "I suppose you don't know then."

"Know what?"

"Q and I... when we went on that quest to bring magic back and had to go to Fillory, we got together."

Alice frowned. "Like sex together? Or..."

"Relationship together," he breathed. "He was married to this produce seller, and, when she died, we got together. All three of us were close, so it really hit us hard. We were a support system to each other."

"Oh," Alice sighed. "I'm sorry. I mean I loved him but... I was never married to him."

"They don't really allow same sex marrige in the lower class," Eliot told her. "But we were pretty much married."

"I'm glad he found happiness."

"Me too, Alice. Me too."

The djinn worked. Kady got them into the black market and they gradually traded their way up to the high rollers, where they got a pope's finger—a blessing finger specifically from Pope Formosus. Julia deemed it good enough over the phone and told them to regroup at the apartment.

a/n: sorry for the long wait. I lost inspiration for a while, but the next chapter is mostly finished. It's going to be short and written differently than the rest, but I think it might be one of the best so far. It will be up later today.

Also, if you want to follow me on AO3, my user is inksealedroses. I write more things on there.

I hope you all are having an excellent day and I will see you later!