Happy Holidays! More living blood please

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Zagreus actually feels a little superfluous and he does have a priestess to whine at. "So are you two going to fight or talk or-"

"You're my grandson," Demeter interrupts.

He falters. There doesn't seem to be any follow up so he offers, "Uh, yeah? I mean, you must have wondered how I was able to break through your curse, and, well, you freeze the earth in my mother's name."

As her mother, Demeter is entitled to her revenge. As her son, Zagreus is exempt from that rage by custom and blood. He's son of the goddess of spring and the god of life and blood, and he wouldn't have been able to do nearly as much without that, but this is the real trick up his sleeve. It's allowed him to chip away at Demeter's endless winter while the other gods failed one by one, all the way up to Zeus.

Demeter's eyes narrow then she focuses on Persephone once more. "You really hate me so much that you'd choose the god of the dead over your own mother? Over the suitors I'd picked for you?"

"You made me choose," Persephone snaps. "I hid myself from you because you wouldn't accept what I wanted."

"Selfish," Demeter hisses, the wind picking up around her. "Ungrateful. Arrogant. Foolish."

"Controlling," his mother returns furiously. The earth trembles beneath her feet. "Ignorant. Pompous. Blind."

"Okay!" he says, looking between them. "Maybe we should-"

"Go to your temple, Zagreus," Persephone orders. "Your grandmother and I have some things to discuss."

They're going to try and tear each other's throats out. His orchard is going to take so much damage. "Well, uh, shout if you need me?"

Neither of them acknowledge him.

Zagreus finds Eliana anxiously pacing in the main hall. "Prince! Are you - I apologize for," she trails off, looking him over, then frowns. "What's wrong?"

He opens his mouth, closes it, then says, "I think I just got sent to my room."

Eliana blinks and then her lips twitch and she's turning her back on him to muffle her laughter. He grabs her by the shoulders and rubs his knuckles into the top of her head in retribution, but that just makes her laugh harder.

happy halloween! very excited to cath a prompt request, are you still working on the hades story? or pjo if not?

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Zagreus turns, startled. "Mom?"

Oh, he and Eliana are going to have words after this.

She comes towards him, but doesn't take her eyes of Demeter who's gone as still as if her own frost has frozen her in place. Her hand comes to his shoulder and grips him tight, uncaring of the blood. "Zagreus. Care to fill me in?"

He makes a face. "Not particularly, no."

His mother tightens her grips even further and breathes out. "This power. It's - all this time. It's been you?"

He hadn't known she'd kept up on the goings on above. She certainly hadn't acted like it. "Uh. I needed a hobby?"

The tension rises between them only for a moment and then she's laughing, one of his favorite sounds, one that gets him to linger in his father's palace even when his responsibilities above and in his court should really usher him away. She pulls him close, arms deceptively strong, and presses her cheek to his. His blood covers her, but he supposes if that was something that bothered her, she would not have become Hades's bride.

"Persephone," Demeter says finally, a mix of disbelief, happiness, grief, and anger. "You're dead. I saw you die."

"Mother," she returns, stepping away from Zagreus while still keeping an arm around him. "I am Queen of the Underworld. You saw me merely going home to the husband I chose rather than the one you arranged."

happy halloween!! 🍂 blood god zagreus or a continuation of ed as an alchemist during the ishbalan war?

hope you have a great day!

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Persephone has always felt the distance from her son and has done her best not to take it personally. He struggled so much to get to her, to bring her home and reunite with her with her husband and to be able to speak with her for more than a couple of minutes before dying in her arms.

She hates how many memories she has of him dying in her arms. That first time, as a newborn who's blood filled his lungs and stole his breath, was bad enough to give her nightmares for centauries. The subsequent times weren't any better. Even knowing that he'd return to her hadn't been enough to soften the blow. He loves her enough to fight for her and go against the fate and his father and common sense.

If after, when she was home and settled, she felt like she couldn't hold his attention - well, it's not like it was different for anyone else. Even the fury he's seeing and the god who doesn't look away from him don't seem to be able to hold his attention for long.

She did think that it was odd, at times. Before, he'd been running to her. But she's here. What's he running to now?

When she hears a prayer, she almost ignores it, as she's gotten used to ignoring all those who invoke her name.

Please, Queen Persephone. Zagreus needs you.

That gets her attention. How can it not? No mortal should know her son's name.

Her son has never needed her before.

Happy Halloween, more of Living Blood?

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Demeter hates this place.

She tears trees from their roots but they do not break. Their fruits do not bruise. Her frost melts into sweet water.

"Why won't you die?" she snarls, chest heaving. This wasn't supposed to be this difficult. It wasn't supposed to be difficult at all. Who is Zagreus to stand against her? A foolish, impudent godling.

He is red with blood but he does not die. His wounds close almost as soon as she makes them. He doesn't even flinch.

He grins, white teeth against a face painted red. "Death has no hold on me."

"Death is all you are, son of Hades," she mocks. "Enough of this. I'm sending you home."

She builds power inside of her, enough to split the world open beneath their feet and swallow Zagreus whole. She will kill him no matter what it takes.

Except then a voice she never thought she'd hear again says, "He is not only a son of Hades."

Happy birthday!!!🎉🎁🎂

Zagreus, please?

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Eliana has never disobeyed Zagreus. She's never even wanted to. He's not only a god, but her god. She was his first priestess and she's his high priestess - the only gods she could possibly be expected to ever put in front of him are Zeus or Hera, and frankly even then they'd have to come down from Olympus themselves to demand it from her before she would give it. Neither Zeus nor Hera offered shelter from Demeter's rage, but Zagreus had.

More than that, Zagreus is her friend. She still looks like the young woman she was when he first blessed her, but she's already outlived her natural lifespan, and Zagreus has been a source of comfort and joy and kindness for a lifetime.

The battle rages outside the temple, the earth shaking under her and sounds like a battle as they rage war on her doorstep. She's safe inside his temple. She knows that. Even if he loses, his power is rich here, and not even Demeter can kill a son of Hades for good, she doesn't think.

In this battle against Demeter, Zagreus has always stood alone. He has shown no resentment, no anger, just determination and acceptance and wry humor.

She's known Zagreus for a lifetime. She long ago figured out why he called himself Prince.

Sometime after that, she figured out why, exactly, Zagreus alone could withstand her.

She hopes he'll forgive her this.

For the first time in decades, she kneels at an alter and makes an offering to a god not her own.