Hi guys! I'm so sorry for taking so long to update, I've been so burnt out from school and taking care of my nephew that it's kept me from writing much.

Before starting this chapter I should mention that I used google translate for the greek phrases I included here, I could find no other sources. Also, I apologize in advance if this chapter isn't particularly eventful. I needed to upload something, and I've been writing bits and pieces of this chapter and the next so much for the past couple weeks, that words no longer make sense to me.

Poios eisai-- Who are you?

Esy ti theleis- what do you want

-------------------------------------------------------

Samantha

Nothing prepares you for the moment you face the person you love and their eyes don't recognize you.

It's like looking in a mirror in the morning. Your mind is foggy, you've just awakened to a reflection you've seen a thousand times but still can't entirely become accustomed to, and it seems that for a split instant, your features seem a little different... too pronounced-- foreign to your irises.

And as I stand frozen in fear before a Hades I don't know, that sensation has never felt more real to me. I feel lost. Disoriented. As if my brain is just starting up again. I guess it just can't process the fact that the pitch irises observing me now are not shaped like eclipsed half moons, filled to the brim with the disbelief that I'm still breathing.

They don't still to recognize my nose, or my hair, or my eyes. Instead, they're decorated by wrinkled eyebrows and a forehead littered with stern lines. They're positioned centuries away from me. That's what it feels like to stand in front of your lover and have them so close your fingertips can trace their temples while they see you but don't see you... like they're centuries away from reach.

I mean, technically he is, but still. It doesn't lessen the ache of the experience.

"Hades?"

My voice comes out stifled, broken by fear.

Is this Hades? The real Hades? Or is it someone else in disguise? Pressing his lips into an irritated line, he juts his chin towards me, eyes narrowed. Arrow pointed.

"Esy ti theleis?"

I stare at him, feeling my lower lip start to tremble. I had hoped, way deep within the corners of my mind, that as someone who encounters people from all backgrounds he might've been able to understand me. But, I suppose depending on where I've fallen on the timeline, English as a language might not exist yet.

"Um-"

The word sounds abrupt coming from my lips, cut short by my gulp.

"I know you p-probably can't understand me."

The edges of my lips twitch, my eyes sting.

"But I'm gonna try anyway. I'm from--"

Without responding, Hades shifts the position of his fingers on the arrow's nocking point, releasing it and letting it catapult towards me right as I'm about to explain how I come from an alternate timeline. I don't have enough time to react. I've only realized he's let go of his arrow when I fill a pinch at the center of my throat, like I've swallowed sharpened tooth picks and one of them has lodged itself in the soft tissue of my esophagus.

I still, taking a second to become aware of the object that has pierced my skin. Lifting a tentative hand to my throat, I gently explore around the area with trembling fingertips, slowly looking up again to meet Hades' grim gaze. I don't know what I'm hoping to find there, whether it's surprise, remorse, or curiosity, but I find nothing. Only a fixed expression greets my search for something I can anchor myself to.

Which Hades have I encountered? Certainly not mine.

The one I know would've flung himself into Tartarus before pointing a weapon at me, much less actually firing one. He hardly knew me and he took my place in the void, enduring all kinds of pain just for me to live to see another day. At this, harsh reality shoves me so hard I have to take a step back in order to keep my balance.

I don't know where I've landed, but in this timeline, Hades won't hesitate in killing me. Swift, embarrassing sadness overwhelms my face at the realization. I knew when I awoke here that I was no longer existing within my dimension, but now that Hades stands in front of me bow in hand --an unrecognizable illusion of the face I'm familiar with-- the ugly facts are blaring flashy signs at me.

This Hades doesn't love me. He doesn't give two shits about my safety or well being. He made that pretty clear when he tried killing me just thirty seconds ago.

Shakily, my palm comes into contact with the arrow's wooden shaft, slowly encircling it. I guess this is where we find out whether or not I've truly emerged from Tartarus as immortal. If not, I'm royally fucked. I'll not only be centuries away from the world I knew, I'll be dying again too. Impaled. For the second time.

Slowly, I tighten my hand around it, careful not to yank it out of place too suddenly. I'm doing exactly what you shouldn't do if you've been pierced by an object... moving it and risking blood loss. If I'm still human, I'll be dying within minutes of pulling it out.

"Poios eisai?"

Lifting my gaze to Hades, I realize he's positioned a second arrow on his bow's rest. Already, he's prepared to launch a second attack. Ignoring him because I'm possibly dying (and because I can't understand a word he's saying anyway) I focus on drawing out the last I can of it. The pointed tip is still well buried in my throat, and I can't pull it out further without ripping into a larger wound.

Allowing my fingers to graze my collar bone, I come into contact with something warm and thick seeping from just above. It leaks from the wound, trickling silently into the notch where both my collarbones meet-- faint and ticklish.

Extending my palm so I can see it, I notice the same golden fluid that bled from my arm earlier now stain my fingertips. It reflects the moon's dim light, remaining on the surface of my skin before its beads are absorbed beneath it.

I guess that means I won't be dying today, thankfully.

I'm about to return my attention to the second arrow pointed at me when black sandals step forward on the sand, diverting my gaze for a moment before I realize he's lowered his weapon. Hades' eyes follow the trajectory of the gilded drops bleeding from his embedded arrow, no doubt taking note of the fact I'm not human.

Whether or not this worsens my situation with him, I don't know.

He might become suspicious of me for wandering alone in the woods, or at the very least become curious as to why someone with golden blood isn't living on Olympus. He might doubt my intentions, especially if he saw my interaction with the men who kidnapped me.

A thought occurs to me as they come to mind. When I was being shot at earlier this evening, I was too busy trying to swim across the river for me to pay any attention to the direction of the flying arrow. So, when the one that grazed my arm was released, I didn't have the time to find where it was coming from. That, and the fact that in a storm of arrows, it's hard to distinguish which one was the one that hit you.

Is it possible Hades was the one who shot that arrow? I couldn't find it a few minutes ago when I was looking for something to protect myself with. It makes sense if it was swept into the current. And if it was his, why would he bother hiding to kill me? He didn't have a problem with impaling me five minutes ago.

With trembling arms, I slowly raise my hands, feeling like I could sense the rhythm of my heartbeat by the loud ringing in my ears. Fear keeps me grounded to my spot by the shore, like a chain firmly bound around my legs.

I watch with bated breath as he takes in the short, uneven cut of my hair, the looseness of my toga (that even damp clings to my skin like a large potato sack) and the remnants of soot on my forehead before shifting his notice to the golden liquid at my neck. My disheveled appearance seems to ease him a bit, because he lowers his bow when he realizes I'm not much of a threat.

He continues to stare at me with uncertain irises, however. He wouldn't be such a good judge if he wasn't skeptical. Nodding so slightly I almost miss it, he too slowly raises his arms, dropping the bow and arrow beside him.
-------------------------------------------------------
Should I write a chapter in Hades point of view? This Hades, I mean. If any of you are curious as to what his thoughts about Sam are, don't forget to leave a comment down below so I know!