"Oaths broken?"
"No, Lord."
"Hubris?"
"I do not believe so, Lord."
Hades examined the scroll in front of him. "Two-hundred and forty-three sacrifices. Does that seem correct?"
"I did not count, my-lord." The god hummed a reply.
"Have you committed any murders? Accidental or otherwise."
The shade seemed to pause for a moment, sucking in a breath instead of speaking. While it no longer needed to breath, old habits died hard. "N-no," the form stuttered.
"Need I remind you that you cannot lie to a god?"
The shade, known as Alexander in his life, could not meet his gaze. "I-I-I-"
Hades raised a single brow. "You?" His voice remained gentle and calm. Spirits had enough to deal with when first returning to the realm and did not need an angry god added to that. Especially over a matter Hades knew to be minor.
"I chose it as a mercy, my Lord. Others choose to see it as anything but." Alexander shuffled nervously.
"Your guilt says otherwise."
"Ending a life is still ending a life, is it not?"
"Would you do it again?"
"End my father's suffering? Give him a quick death instead of starving, whipped and bleeding, for days?" For the first time during his trial Alexander met the god's gaze. "Yes. I would."
"Even though he was a criminal?"
"Criminal or not! A man does not deserve to be strung up in the center of town, beaten and bleeding and starving, for stealing food! Especially not food for his family!"
Hades only smiled at that. Something wicked and cruel- at least to an outsider. The scroll had listed his crimes, as well as achievements. It listed how and when and where, but not a why. Without the context Alexander would have been awarded the Fields of Punishment, at least for a time. Without, however....
"Asphodel Meadows," he shouted. The decree echoing through the amphitheater he used as a judgement hall.
Alexander was awestruck. Part of him wanting to argue for what he felt was the correct ruling, though he knew full well what that entailed. Another part was grateful for the mercy, or perhaps it was a mistake. He was not aware that a nymph had already taken his arm and was leading him away.
"Next," shouted an attendant. The next shade brought forth was small. A child. Hades could see the echoes of dark hair, done up in a braid, and a short dress ripped to shreds. She held onto a nymph woman's leg.
Something made the god shift in his chair uncomfortably.
"Do you know how you got here?"
"The hooded man brought me. He said my wait was over."
"How long were you waiting to cross?"
"A long long time."
"A century?"
"That's what mama said."
"And, where is she? Your mother."
"She didn't come with," her voice dripped with sugar and honey. It was sweet and young and innocent. Her grip tightened. What was the nymph's name? Le, Lea, Leuce- no not Leuce. She had the day off. The nymph was a lampad, he knew that much. E? E something....
"Did she come ahead of you?"
"No. She just left."
Hades looked at the girl's eyes. Blank and- bloody. At first glance he thought it was another echo of her death. Then he looked to Empusa, that was her name. Lips set in a smile, showing just a hint of teeth. She had some of the warmer skin in the entirety of the underworld, like she was the torch she often bore herself. Her eyes were silver. The kind a person first saw when they met her.
The keyword was 'were'.
Her bubbly warm face and matching demeanor Hades remembered was replaced by something he almost mistook as professional. She was cold as the cave, not warm as her fire. She only stared blankly, her silver eyes dull and dark.
"Empusa," he called wearily. "Have you been escorting this?"
"Her mother abandoned her. She asked to hold onto me." Empusa's voice was one tone, no life to it. When she spoke she did not even look at the god. Only in his direction.
"Empusa," he called again. "Step away from her."
"Why would I? She is scared." Hades looked to the girl but saw no emotion.
Hades was certain to keep his voice calm and even. "Trisiphone. Call for an evacuation of the hall and call your sisters." He stood from the chair, careful not to make sudden movements.
"Empusa," he cooed. "Take my hand-" the child lunged at him.
This is what mortals imagined when they thought of the underworld. Creatures with claws and fags, threatening to tear at whatever remained of a mind and torture a mind. Eternal damnation at the foot of the gates.
Thankfully it's plan for getting passed guards and into the hall was also holding it back. The child's hand seemingly stuck to her leg, like two bars welded together. And thankfully while the child lunged for Hades, claws and fangs bared, Empusa stood like a statue. Docile and obedient, whatever mind she had left was not her own.
Hades heard the flapping of wings and suddenly the halls were emptied. Trisiphone presumably had done her job and scattered the shades.
Before the child could reach him, he took a few steps back. Reaching into his pocket he pulled a drachma, though this one was not the normal gold. The color of slate and heavy like iron, it weighed far more than it should have. And for reason. Hades tossed the small coin into the air, revealing both sides to be the same. Each held the symbol of Hades, a two-pronged scepter.
The child did the unthinkable to reach the god, cutting off Empusa's leg and its own wrist. Once more it lunged at the god, planning to do what he did not know. Before it could reach him the bident caught it.
The color of slate with no extra flourish or detail like his brother's weapons, the bident was nothing more than two prongs attached to a long pole. He found that mortals used it to shovel hay, though mortals did not make theirs out of adamant. The creature-child could do nothing but twitch as the prongs were speared through its chest. He pressed it into the ground, careful to make no physical contact with it, until the furies returned.
*****
That abomination had been taken care of; restrained and taken by Styx. A half-soul that could not be judged nor killed. A parasite that tore and consumed others in some sad attempt to restore itself. Tartarus was possibly the best realm for it, though also the most dangerous. Where it was a mockery of life, damaged beyond repair, it was also a source of raw power. Something uncontrolled and unrefined.
For now, the judgement hall was closed off, quarantined while they made sure there were not other broken shades. He just had to deal with the other abomination.
I hope Empusa will be fine. Hecate said she had a contingency, he thought. Though, he could not imagine what could fix the damage already done. Normally the victims of those things suffered the same fate, returning to the marshes. It was the only way to deal with them- and the most humane.
The front of the palace was filled, wall to wall, by nymphs and psychopomps alike. Each wanting to know why the realm was essentially brought to a standstill. From the judger of souls, to the soother of them.
*****
Hours passed, each one spent trying to calm each individual. Finally, his subjects had left, his throne room empty. Yet an ever-present migraine seemed to fill the room for him. He had no semblance of the time of day or when was the last he ate. It must be late, he thought. A few of the servants he had given the day off returned to help manage the crowds. They were slumped over, a few resting in dog piles with each other, exhausted and snoring. Hades found himself smiling for the first time that day.
It was a surprise when the doors of the throne room creaked open again.
Persephone padded into the room. She was admiring every nook and cranny; the detail was everything in the palace. The grout seemed to be pure silver or gold, each stone encrusted with gems. What did not glitter was carved into intricate columns or lifelike statues. She had wandered out of her room when she saw the crowds outside her window thin, thinking the palace would be empty by now. She was too wrapped up in admiring her surroundings that she did not see the god fuming before her.
"What are you doing here?!"
Persephone looked at the god holding his head in either pain or annoyance. Perhaps both. For some reason the sight caused all fear for him and her situation to vanish. "I got bored," she shrugged.
"And," Hades stalked over to her, trying to make his steps sound as threatening as possible. "You got out of your room how?"
"I used the do-" she yelped as Hades took her by the hair and dragged her into a back hall.
"And the door was locked!"
"Oh, right," -she dug into one of her pockets- "Still is." She handed him the doorknob to her room, the lock still in place.
Hades felt the anger building within him. "I said: Stay. In. The. Room."
"And I said: I. Got. Bored." She gave him a hard look, daring a reaction. "Besides, if I have to stay here I might as well get to know my new home."
"This is not your home," Hades snapped. "It never was, is, or will be!" He grabbed her arm forcefully with one hand and gripped her hair with the other. "I am taking you back to the room and, so help me, if you leave again there will be something to pay for!"
Hades led her through the halls of his palace as swiftly as possible, knowing the most direct route back to its room.
"Ow!" Persephone complained. "You could at least be gentle when you're dragging me!"
"I have dealt with your kind once today already. I do not have the patience to deal with two!" He slammed the door to her room after throwing her onto the bed. Without the doorknob it simply swung slight open again. "For the love of-" Persephone watched as a bar of metal was jammed through where the lock used to be. It curled around the wood and into the stone doorway, effectively locking her in.
"I will send up food at some point," he called from down the hall. "Just stay there and play with that stupid pig."