Chapter 90 - 87

Hecate led Ocean Song into the Underworld.

With her, there was no need to take the long way. No need to cross the River Styx, nor find Cerberus to lead him to Hades’ palace.

With but a few steps, they had crossed that vast, immaterial distance, arriving right at their destination.

And she was still holding his hand.

"I don’t like being bothered." She said very firmly. "I am not accustomed to being around people for long periods. I like being alone."

"You can just tell me when you need alone time; I won’t take offense." Ocean Song answered rather easily.

"...you are still young, so I will put aside some of my discomfort for your sake." She added on quietly. "I don’t like being lied to."

"I will never lie to you."

"If it were anyone else, I would call them a liar right here and now. But for some reason, I believe you." She shook her head. "I don’t like grand romantic displays. I am a private person."

"When I bring you flowers, I’ll do it privately." He smiled brightly.

She let out a little huff but didn’t reject it. "I don’t like being touched in public." She gave him a stern look. "...in private, I will be slightly more accommodating."

"No hugs in public?"

"I meant other touching." She pursed her lips. "I am not someone who likes to show themselves...however, I am accepting of...some affection. Hugs are acceptable. If you try to grab my ass in front of others, you will see me angry."

"I do not like possessiveness." She kept going. "You are mine. And...I will be yours. But you do not own me." She made that very clear. "I expect you to understand that. I do not answer to you. You do not have authority over me just because I like you. If you dare to dry and dictate what I can and cannot do—unreasonably—then I will throw you out, do you understand?"

"Of course!"

She nodded, pleased that he answered quickly and sincerely. "I understand that there are certain things that must be said or expressed when one is together with another. There are things you can tell me that you do not like me doing, and I will give them consideration as they deserve. I will do my best to accommodate you in reasonable manners."

Hecate didn’t wait for him to answer as she kept going. "I do not like unfaithfulness. I already said this. You are mine, I will be yours, and we will only have each other." It left no room for argument.

"And...I am not good at expressing myself. I may appear cold and distant to you at times, but that is not...that is not me losing any affection for you." She turned her head away. "That is simply my nature."

Ocean Song knew that she was being much more open than she ever had before until this point, so he, for one of the rare times in his life, decided not to say something stupid and simply let her speak her thoughts.

It was a new feeling for Hecate. It wasn’t that she hadn’t experienced love before. However, all her romances in the past had been flings, never anything serious or long-term. That is, she never took that single step over the line.

Most of her past flings never tried either. Perhaps, if some things were different in the past, there may have been instances where she had pursued longer relationships. But, simply, things never ended up that way.

She has had marriage proposals, invitations for intimacy, and even offers for children from other gods in the past. But she never had someone so ridiculously, bluntly, and embarrassingly try to win her favor and want her as a partner.

Every step of the way, Ocean Song was audacious, shameless, and upfront about his desires to win her affection.

It was the difference between wanting to have and wanting to be with.

Frankly, up until a certain point, she didn’t even realize she was being courted so sincerely. And truthfully, up until that same point, she didn’t realize that it was having an affect on her.

She valued her own freedom, autonomy, and solitude more than most anything else in the world. She didn’t want other people possessing her or having some kind of dominion over her as her husband.

Likewise, she was dismissive of him at first as well because she didn’t want to tower over him either.

What she wanted, even if she never articulated it into words before, was someone to stand at her side and accept that. To accept that she wasn’t going to be someone’s inferior, that she preferred to be alone most of the time, and that she didn’t generally enjoy being around other people.

As a goddess under the night, as a goddess of the moon, she was a solitary existence in most respects.

However, she was also the goddess of the crossroads where strangers and friends can meet during the darkest nights.

"You can raise objections as well." Hecate continued. "To express things you dislike, and I will do my best to acknowledge them."

"I don’t have anything to say. As long as we’re together, I’m happy with everything said so far." Ocean Song smiled brightly.

Her lips twitched a little as she found herself holding back her own smile. "If you wish to continue to say heartfelt words like this again in the future, it is permissible."

It was still awkward for her to navigate this new dynamic, but she was also happy. That is until someone greeted them at the entrance of the palace.

Persephone was there with the biggest shit-eating grin ever conceived since the world began.

"Don’t you dare start." Hecate warned.

Persephone took a deep breath.

"Don’t –"

And she let out a huge squeal.

Hecate palmed her face. "Must you?"

"Yes." Persephone stopped immediately to answer. "Hang on, need to text ’Dite." She took out what was probably a godly phone and quickly sent the message before holding it up and taking a picture.

Hecate took a long, suffering breath. "I’m very willing to turn around and go home."

"Well, if you want to spend private time with your man, then by all means~" Persephone’s lips curled.

Hecate, wisely, realized she wasn’t going to win here. "Is Hades here?"

"Of course he is; come on in, sweetie." Persephone stopped the jokes, guiding them inside.

As soon as they entered his throne room, Ocean Song lit up. "Uncle! I have a girlfriend!"

Hecate palmed her face again, and Persphone just broke out in laughter at her expense.

Hades just gave him a flat look. "I see." He turned his gaze towards Hecate. "Should I say congratulations?"

Hecate let out a sigh. "Thank you." She accepted it in stride, but her relaxed demeanor had Hades smiling faintly.

"When will I see your children running around?" He asked casually.

"Pfft." Persephone had to put her hands to her mouth. "Husband! That’s not something you’re supposed to ask anymore." Though she was holding back the laughter throughout.

"Huh? Am I not? Is that something new these days? Wasn’t that usually the first thing you asked someone after they got married?" Hades seemed confused. "We would talk about how many children we each intended to have and all that."

"I have no intentions of children just yet, Uncle. It’s important to first establish a proper relationship. Spending time together, getting to know one another, and building a proper bond. That way, when we’re ready, we can be good parents together. A healthy relationship is built upon trust, commitment, time, and understanding towards one another. Only with a solid foundation can it support a growing family." He nodded to himself as he finished.

Everyone was rather quiet as they stared at him.

Hecate raised her opposite hand, and she was still holding his and waved it in front of his face. "Are you real right now?" She had to double-check and poked him a few times.

"That is...insightful," Hades said slowly.

"Thank you! I learned from my senior sisters." Ocean Song said proudly.

The profound Dao of the Jade Beauty was truly eye-opening for them all to see. In fact, if he wasn’t being inspected so thoroughly by Hecate to see if he had been replaced somehow, he would have struck a proper heroic pose.

Hecate had stared at him dumbfounded, because she knew he was talking about those half-naked Dryads at the carwash.

At first she thought he was playing around with them, which made her somewhat upset. But then she realized he was too stupid for something like that. Even if it continued to annoy her, which may or may not have accelerated her own intentions towards claiming him.

Now though, she felt like she needed to go properly and thank them for teaching him properly.

She even felt guilty for misunderstanding them too.

Hades got up from his seat. "Wife, I’ll go take my nephew. You can chat with Hecate." He could read the room fairly well and knew that the girls would probably want to chat.

"Come along, nephew." Hades gestured as Hecate released him.

Though, she gave his hand a little squeeze. A silent, small gesture simply to relay certain feelings towards him even if they weren’t spoken out loud.

"I’ll share with you a secret, Nephew." Hades patted Ocean Song on the shoulder. "You need to know when to leave the room."

"I will remember your advice, Uncle." Ocean Song nodded at his sage advice.

"I’m proud of you."

"You are?" Ocean Song’s eyes lit up.

Hades nodded. "I’m proud that you didn’t go to your father for advice. That was the wisest thing you’ve ever done."

Ocean Song blinked.

"You’ve grown up a lot since I first saw you."

"Yes!" Ocean Song agreed. "It seems like only earlier this year I was born; then, now it’s still later this year, and I am almost a year old." Ocean Song clasped his hands behind his back. "Truly, we are but mayflies compared to the passing of the seasons."

Hades looked at him before shaking his head with a sigh. "Do your best to make Hecate happy. That seems to be working, somehow, so keep doing that." He didn’t know what else to say, as his nephew had pretty much ruined any kind of moment they would have had.

Before he could ask his uncle what that meant, they both noticed something amiss.

The River Styx began to tremble, nearly overflowing. While Ocean Song looked startled, Hades simply stared at it for several moments.

"Good evening, Styx. Is there something the matter?" Hades asked.

The river swirled before the silhouette of the goddess emerged. "Hades." She greeted the ruler of the Underworld properly. "Can I borrow him?" She pointed at Ocean Song.

"He’s all yours." Hades patted his nephew on the shoulder. "I recommend waiting at least an hour before returning. Give Persephone and Hecate a bit of time to talk."

Ocean Song just nodded.

"Greetings, Great Goddess." Ocean Song clasped his hands as he politely bowed to the River Styx. "I, Ocean Song, now have a girlfriend."

"...congratulations?" The River Styx blinked, not expecting him to say something like that.

She was more or less aware of his attentions towards the Goddess of Magic, but it wasn’t ever anything she paid particular close attention to. For her, it was simply nothing of her concern or business, so she had no true feelings towards it one way or another.

"What do you require of me, Great Goddess!" Ocean Song asked happily.

"Someone broke their oath." Her eyes narrowed. "I felt it through my waters. A Deity."

"Ah." Ocean Song held out his hand, letting his Divine Club fall into it. "Who’s legs do I need to break?"

If it were anyone else, perhaps they would find his willingness to break someone’s legs without any hesitation to be concerning. And for STyx, she originally too had concerns over it, but after seeing his performance the last time. Well, she actually praised his work dedication in her mind.

"Heaven remembers every vow,

Karma follows every lie.

Break your oath before the Styx—

And I shall break your legs."

Styx, strangely, was feeling very happy that someone was taking the matter so serious. Even if he was...strange in both words and actions.

At first she thought it was awkward, but now she understood how all the other gods felt when they had subordinates under them.

Yes, she realized it was exactly the same.

[Line Break]

Non-Canon Omake: The ship sails.

High up on Olympus, the gods were doing their normal routine meeting.

"And that’s why I’m putting forth the proposal to begin construction of a new monument in Washington." Athena ended her speech.

Not even half of the gods were paying attention.

Zeus, likewise, had his head propped up on his throne with his hand. "Your proposal has been acknowledged, Athena." He said with a casual wave of dismissal. "Moving on to the next business. Dionysus, you had something you want to say."

The God of Wine’s eyes shot up. "Oh right, right." He cleared his throat. "Ahem. I think that on account of my good behavior—"

"Denied." Zeus said dryly.

"You don’t even know—"

"I’m not removing your punishment early."

Dionysus huffed, sitting back down.

"Demeter? You were next on the itinerary."

The Goddess of the Harvest sat up. "I want to start a project for improving grain yields in the country. I want permission to nudge a bit of the research forward."

"What benefits would that bring us?" Zeus asked.

"We can name the company after Olympus for publicity." She offered. "And we can use it to send food to the camp if needed, or elsewhere. We all have our own enclaves set up across the country; a steady supply of food would ease costs and manpower needs."

"Hmm. Draw up a proposal, and we’ll review it next meeting." Zeus finished on, which was nearly approval.

"Next, Hermes—"

The God of Messengers was about to speak, but a high-pitched scream tore through the room, all but shaking the Mount Olympus itself. All the gods that were not paying attention or asleep had nearly shot up to their feet before finding the source.

Aphrodite was sitting there, looking at her phone, completely unperturbed at her outburst that had interrupted the meeting.

"IT happened!" She screamed again.

"Aphrodite, what—" Hermes was about to ask her what was going on, but the goddess of love jumped off her throne before kicking the God of Messengers out of the room, sending him flying off the mountain.

"Woooooooooooooooh!" She screamed, grabbing his empty throne and throwing it out the side of the building.

She kicked Hephaestus in the groin, knocking his own throne over, with him clutching himself, crying out in pain, rolling off it.

She threw her arms up again, running out of the room. "MY SHIP SAILED!"

The gods silently watched her leave, even as her screams echoed across the mountain before disappearing entirely.

"....."

"....."

The room was silent as the gods processed what just happened.

"Is it my turn next?" Apollo raised his hand.

"Go ahead, Apollo." Zeus gestured for him to continue.

"Ahem. Alright, so I have a proposal for a new grand opera house—"

[Line Break]

A/N

Shorter Chapter just because I didn’t have much time. Had to abruptly drive up to my dad’s a few states away yesterday because he broke his foot. I’ll be here for a few days, and I’ll be returning at the start of next month. Doesn’t really mean much, but it’s an eight-hour drive, so it might mess up my release schedule a tad.

If you want to read 1 Chapter ahead or support me, visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m / astoryforone

I also have a boosty if you can’t use the above under the same name