My anger was no different from that of a fruit fly stuck in a glass jar. "I am going to kill you!"

But despite my venomous mouth, my hand raises upto his forehead treating it like a delicate vase when meeting the heated skin and perhaps he was least expecting for me to take action than enquire and hence freeze like a stone statue.

"Is this why you had me hold on to your cloak...and not your hand? How long have you been ill?" Raw with rage my voice wasn't steady but in frustrating hypocrisy my fingers ran in soothing circles over his wrist.

When he doesn't answer I turn to William. "Help me carry Hades." And a few meters away he seems to question his hearing before I request for him again, a little louder than before.

And just as he takes a step foward Hades' command roots him in place. "You will do no such thing." With ease Hades slips his hand away and my mood could be seen through my frown as I latch onto it again resolute to not let go.

"Will, you are going to help me." My heart escalates when he proceeds to follow the demand but with a single word from his Lord, stills.

"Stop." Voice curt and amber eyes raging, Hades refuses and lines of worry etch across Will' face as he looks to me not quite knowing what to do.

How stubborn is he? I fume in my mind keeping my grip tight though knowing he could break away just as easily as before.

"Will, ask Hades to give up." Being eaten away by anxiety I could not lift my eyes to the ashen complexion of the god of the Underworld and could only glare down an innocent blue eyed friend.

And looking as if he would rather be elsewhere, Will glances between the two refusing to directly converse though only inches apart in space.

"Childish." Will mumbles under his breath releasing a deep sigh and I do not get a chance to refute when sensing the body beside me slightly sway and in reflex my hands lock around his firm torso, one leg drawing further back as I brace myself.

"I am not weak." The words that could once calm me, now scare me as he leans away unwilling to let me bear his weight.

"And I am not strong enough to drag you along if you faint!" The argument was futile since the amber eyes that met mine was equally adamant and implacable.

"Two peas in a pod. How about the both of-" Will's commentary was short-lived.

"Hahaha.....What?..you two hahaha." I hear William struggle to form a proper sentence between blatant laughter.

The situation on my side had changed for the worse. Hades reluctant to negotiate takes on an offensive stance placing his palm over my forehead, the skin heating up under the touch. And when he applies pressure straining my neck back I lift myself off the ground by binding my legs around one of his and hands clutching onto the golden armour.

And knowing there would be no absolute winner, the General of the Underworld' six-foot frame shook with mirth since the god could never let the one clinging to him fall nor would the mortal ever let go. And with nobody to put foward dilemmas for him to solve Will moves closer and with careful thought after close analysis of the strange fight pokes Hades' pale neck below his ears.

The action so comical that I wished to smack his head with a twenty-inch-thick concrete slab.

Will' face instantly falls blank and disregarding his previous resolve of avoiding intimate gestures, seize and holds firm Hades' free arm. "Lord you-"

A woman's scream stops him and the three of us turn in unison to a maid, only now realising that we were before the doors to the dinning. Her slim hands were still bent but they were no longer holding the tray of unknown delicacies and wine now littering over red tiles.

Her teeth clench shut when the sound it out, but her brown eyes were wide as bronze bells finding difficulty to put on an exterior of pretentious calm.

The poor lady was not to be blamed nor her reaction considered an exaggeration. Her worldviews may or may not have changed, witnessing such a calamity with the esteemed and respected god of the Underworld stuggling to fight off a vicious-humanoid-koala while his most trusted general extended his might to pull his Lord away, but it seems the koala was winning. ◇

Everything as natural as a Shakespeare' novel narrated without angst.

I flash her a weak smile and her eyebrows twitch giving away her state of hysterics. Oh my god, the rumours that were already spreading.

Will putting an end to my debate on whether or not to explain grabs my hand. "Let's go." An azure wind takes birth under our soles slowly engulfing us and when it dies, my eyes adjust to the dim lights of Hades' bechambers as my feet hit the floor, but sadly still in Olympus.

"Hades?" Amber eyes did not heed my call, closing away the gentleness to his rough hands prying off my fingers, a moment before he falls back, away from my outstretched arms.

Will in the crucial moment acts practically and teleports himself and Hades onto the bed leaving me staring ahead to the cream walls in shock.

"Is he okay?" Will' distress was evident in his tone and I whirl around to them as he carefully settles Hades's head onto the soft pillows.

The bed was much harder for me climb with anxiety and when I clamp down my hand over his forehead it was as if someone had slapped me silly. "His temperature...is abnormal, a bit higher than when I checked before. I don't know why its spiking...Can you get me my bag of medicines?" Bitterly helpless I push back the strands of velvet locks entwining his lashes, his beautiful features deadly pale but without the sign of discomfort, sunk in a peaceful prophet like meditation."Can we just take him home?"

"No." Will was quick to reject the proposal and I look up to him on his knees beside the one sleeping, his blonde crown disorderly from the fingers wrecking havoc on his scalp. "We can't take him back to the Underworld in this condition." And not giving me a second to dwell on it he diverts the topic. "I can't teleport the bag here, I would have to go back personally and retrieve it."

"Why?" With only negative responses my frown was turning ugly.

"The Underworld restricts the entry and exit of all, without having permission that could be only granted by Lord Hades and inanimate objects, can only pass through if its on their person. "

"I thought Underworld only barred people from exiting."

"That was a long time ago, but the procedure has not always been this complicated, I could telport things in and out but it is no longer possible with him ill."

I nod vaguely understanding the defense mechanism of sort. The Kingdom must have been sealed of by its Ruler before losing consciousness, but to our side it was a disastrous outcome. "Before you go get me a bowl of cool water and a cotton towel."

The said items were instantly placed down on the table by the bed but as he stood by me in hesitation with restless hands I got off the bed. "Elie...I can't leave you."

"What do you mean, why?" From anxiety turning into panic and anger into concern I was as uneasy as a toddler in the dark.

His hands were fisted, and he drew in a breath he didn't need "Olympus is not as safe as you think." And seeing him like this, on edge caused a different kind of fear to built, one that was tying my guts in knots.

"Will, its fine you go ahead-"

His thin mask of coping and normality suddenly slipped. "You don't understand, this is the worst place I could ever leave you alone!" The shout was bearing something raw, a pain behind it.

I was accustomed to him absorbing every fit and responding back than reacting and hence startled I only watched as thin lashes dropped to the skin that craved rest. And I wanted to listen to the things casting lead clouds over his ocean eyes but the situation called for me to push foward and argue.

"Listen Will I do understand there is nobody we can trust and I am sure you glossed over things when just dispelling these god's interest in me as curiosity, and maybe in their immortal lives they were searching for ways to kill their boredom and maybe there were ulterior motives behind every smile but this is not the time to play safe."

"And besides even if there is someone who wants to hurt Hades I don't think they know he is ill and we did our part in acting when left and unless they read my mind they would have thought that I was angry at Hades for not telling me about my lineage or because I just wanted to leave and have time for myself."

"No, it looked like you were kidnapping him." His deadpaned his expression impassive but I saw aamusement.

"..."

He was walking infront of me , how can that be kidnapping.

But even then he did not let anybody know of his sickness, and nobody knew how long was he going to hide it.

"William Isherwood. I will be alright, just sprinkle some pixie dust and protection charms...because I really...really don't know how else I can help him.

"I don't know what else to do."

"Elie." Like a fannel his hands captured my face, the fingers of his right pinching my cheek and the left lingering. "I will go but if you cry I won't." He was once again a calm sea though in disguise, but the threat was enough to dry the glistening film and I put up my hands wanting to play it cool.

"Sorry, its just that I think he was ill from the time we came to Olympus, but I was too busy being a brat that I didn't notice."

"He rarely used his powers here and always....Ahh....he always carried me along instead of teleporting and I kept thinking that there was some sort of restriction for guests to use their powers in Zeus' palace but then when I saw you using yours I realised maybe all the while...he couldn't." My emotions were out of control, my heart in my throat and when I held back the tears with a smile I let the pain rest on my heart to accompany me in guilt.

Will eyebrows were cross when following my gaze to the god he knew for many years."I don't think its that complicated. He may have simply wanted to spent time with you."

It was I knew, a way for him to console me, something to brighten my eyes, but still the words were like magic, even in a whisper bending away the iron bars of the prsion I was rotting away in.

Thank you, I wanted to say but the idea was too irrational to acknowledge and so I replace the words smiling. "Stop caring about me, I have a few moves up my sleeves in case of emergencies. "

And expressionless he watches me punch the air looking over to the motionless god as is expecting for him to wake up any moment and talk some sense into me and the plastered smile on my lips gains genuinity as he ruffles my hair promising to come back soon, but with the stiffness to his smile alleviating.

For a brief second I stood glancing down to the floor and then I turn to the god whose chest did not rise in steady breaths nor with a heart beat in its lower depths.

How could his words be true, when every gesture of kindness you shower me with is from guilt.

Grace Eleftheria...was that her name.

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