bondsofsuffering | limelight

[ grabs up the heart, squeezes it, and

oh ]

[Giving his hand a squeeze, concerned.]

[ actually he's gone pale and his hands are starting to tremble,

please

hold ]

[Handholding is upgrading to a full on hug.]

Aster...?

[ startles slightly at first, but then hugs back pretty tight ]

...sorry. Bad one.

[Keeping him in his hold, warm and firm.]

What happened?

[ shudders ]

Um. Dying? [ ... ] No, almost.

[ a beat, then, ]

Deserving it, which was worse.

...What do you mean?

[ how to even describe this, he wonders ]

...you ever realize you treated someone badly? But like, a lot of someones. Because you were too...

Edited 2025-03-30 04:02 (UTC)

[ actually no, nope, absolutely not ]

[ tries again, ]

Uh, some monsters.

[ gods, that's the story of his life ]

If you don't fight them, they kill you. If you do fight them — killing each one unleashes a curse someone wished on you, when you did them wrong.

...So you were exposed to all the curses people have ever wished upon you, then?

Not even close to all of them. But enough. And most of them were whatever, but some...

Some?

[Holding him tight.]

[ buries face in snow's shoulder ]

Some were right.

[Reaching up to pet his hair, gentle, repetitive motions to soothe.]

...Do you want to talk about them?

[ quiet a long, long, long moment ]

There were people I'd...abandoned. People I'd forgotten about. People I'd promised to help, and didn't. People I'd been angry at who didn't really deserve it. People I...he, whoever...should've done better by.

Were they all people you wouldn't be able to meet again? ...To try to help, even if it's late.

...don't know. Maybe.

I guess, the way I see it...

Either you'll have a chance to go find them again and try to make up for it, or you won't. But either way - right now, all you can do is try to make sure you don't make the same mistakes again. Right?

...the thing is, there's something else. That wasn't a normal memory. We weren't — Annabeth and I — that wasn't earth. That wasn't Olympus, or the Sea of Monsters, or any of the usual mortal or mythological haunts.

That was...Tartarus.

[ sounds disbelieving, even to himself. but there was no doubt about it ]

The domain of one of the oldest, most terrible immortals. The place where monsters come from, and where monsters go when they're killed. Where Kronos was imprisoned by Zeus and my father and their siblings, after they overthrew him. The place deeper than the Underworld, where even Hades wouldn't dare go. No god ever would. No hero ever could. And any mortals would probably be incinerated before they made it there.

You'd probably call it hell. And if no half-blood would ever go there, I've never heard of one getting out.

Edited 2025-04-01 11:35 (UTC)

[The hug tightens, just a little.]

...Do you know why you were there to begin with?

[ shakes his head ]

I know my luck's pretty terrible, but this is bad even for me.

Then...

What are your best guesses? For why you might be there, or how it'll resolve.

I had some...

[ wistful ]

...memories I thought were from after that. But I don't know anymore. As for why, that's probably easy. Gonna be a prophecy, or a war, or both. There's one I heard that I've been wondering about...but I'll need more memories to be sure.

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