The quiet words cut deep. He sucks in a sharp breath and sits up, chains rattling across stone. But by the time he has twisted around, Hythlodaeus is gone. One guard gives him a narrow look before they, too, vanish, leaving him alone once more.
He falls back on to the cot and swallows back the hard lump which has risen to his throat.
"I'm sorry," he whispers to the ceiling. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry--"
His whispers dissolve into wordless crying. What is he supposed to do now? Once upon a time such answers came easily. Now, they lie as barren as the moon to which their god had been banished. He feels like he's losing his friend for the third time.
Hunger gnaws away at him little by little as the days pass - not that he is aware of their passage besides the occasional changing of the guard. The spell they've laid upon him to prevent his suicide compels him to at least drink from the water they provide, but he cannot manage more than a bite or two of the food before the pointlessness of it all washes over him and draws him into restless sleep. He sleeps and dreams of their city, gleaming in the twilight, then burning in the dark. He wakes with the phantom smell of smoke and blood in his nose and throat raw from screaming. And then exhaustion drags him back down and into the arms of his recurring nightmares.
Unsurprisingly, he gains a reputation for being mentally disturbed. This prompts a few of the guards to treat him a little more kindly but he is in no state to notice. Until, surprisingly, Hythlodaeus returns...
Hades looks gaunt now. Like a shadow wasting away. He silently watches his friend being led in, ignoring the flutter in his chest. Relief? Or something else...?
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He falls back on to the cot and swallows back the hard lump which has risen to his throat.
"I'm sorry," he whispers to the ceiling. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry--"
His whispers dissolve into wordless crying. What is he supposed to do now? Once upon a time such answers came easily. Now, they lie as barren as the moon to which their god had been banished. He feels like he's losing his friend for the third time.
Hunger gnaws away at him little by little as the days pass - not that he is aware of their passage besides the occasional changing of the guard. The spell they've laid upon him to prevent his suicide compels him to at least drink from the water they provide, but he cannot manage more than a bite or two of the food before the pointlessness of it all washes over him and draws him into restless sleep. He sleeps and dreams of their city, gleaming in the twilight, then burning in the dark. He wakes with the phantom smell of smoke and blood in his nose and throat raw from screaming. And then exhaustion drags him back down and into the arms of his recurring nightmares.
Unsurprisingly, he gains a reputation for being mentally disturbed. This prompts a few of the guards to treat him a little more kindly but he is in no state to notice. Until, surprisingly, Hythlodaeus returns...
Hades looks gaunt now. Like a shadow wasting away. He silently watches his friend being led in, ignoring the flutter in his chest. Relief? Or something else...?