In truth, Apollo was pleasantly surprised that he faced little hostility as he approached the gates of the underworld. Normally, he was treated as if he was a nuisance and was only reluctantly given access to his uncle’s realm. Not this time though as there was no resistance to his entry into the throne room of his uncle. Perhaps that was just merely the perks of being a crucial lynchpin to the influx of those arriving in the underworld?

Either way, he wasn’t going to complain as he made his way to the judgment table where his uncle sat. Even though there was a cool calmness surrounding the god (only slightly undercut by the frustration he felt from the stresses that this plague had brought upon him), he knew that many of the other people who were currently gazing upon the King of the Underworld were experiencing more terror than they had ever felt in their lives. Surely, many of them had their whole lives replaying before their very eyes, hoping that the few good deeds they had committed would outweigh the less than kind actions they committed during their lifespans. Apollo didn’t care much for their plight and utterly ignored the few souls who were dumb enough to beg for the dimly glowing god to be their champions as the weight of their choices caught up with them. Foolish mortals. They were already dead. Apollo couldn’t care less for the worthless fools who couldn’t see that the golden aura surrounding him did not come from some sort of innate goodness, but instead from the copious amounts of jewelry that was practically dripping from him.

He did take notice of one soul though… Pavlina of Leventi.

Granted, he only spared her a second glance because she was the spirit that stood between him and Hades, but Apollo had heard that the frail woman had been quite the beauty in her youth. Those days were clearly gone as the stresses of both age and having three children in quick succession had certainly taken their toll on the Taengean noble. At sixty-three there was little that the woman could do to halt the steady progression of the wrinkles and grey hairs framing her face. He hoped that she wouldn’t expect to be able to hide them in the afterlife either as there was nowhere that was nearly as austere as the underworld. Apollo knew that her new king had no interest in supplying his subjects with the perfumes and cosmetics that had might have once hidden her sagging skin and fading beauty. It was a shame really as there was a reason why a lady of no noble standing had been raised to the status of being a lady of the Leventi household and it had absolutely nothing to do with the charming personality he was certain she would claim to have. Perhaps she would have caught Apollo’s ever-wandering eye a lifetime ago when she still had those heart-stopping nubile looks that had secured a fifteen-year-old Pavlina the heart and hand of the head of the Leventi family.

However, that time, like her life, was now gone.

Apollo could barely be bothered to glance her way as he brushed past the noblewoman to greet his uncle who was busy judging the newly-deceased woman’s soul. For a moment, the younger of the twin gods was worried that Hades would make him wait until he was finished before he would turn his attentions to his nephew. After all, there was no one on Olympus who was quite nearly as much of a workaholic as the King of the Underworld could be; especially during the backlogs that a plague like this could create. By gods, it was almost terrifying how jubiliant Hades could be during the midst of so much chaos and suffering that was occurring earthside. Granted, Apollo knew that the man craved the sudden influx that such a tragedy created which is likely why he greeted his fellow deity with what almost bordered on kindness as none of this would be possible without Apollo’s cooperation in the whole affair.

Normally, the Sun God was seen as a nuisance when he paid his uncle’s realm a visit. So it was somewhat understandable that he was thrown off a bit with the lack of a stern warning to bug off. Apollo quickly lost the calm resolve he had entered this realm with and quickly found himself practically needing to run after the God to keep pace with him once the King decided to walk away from the foyer filled with souls. It didn’t take the agile being more than a few quickened strides to catch up to his uncle as he offered an answer to the older man’s cryptic words, though his lacked the subtly that the naturally mysterious being could conjure, “There are limits to everything.”

Just like that, the Sun God had done the one thing that he had hoped to avoid doing when he had first entered this dark world. He revealed exactly why he was here -- though it surely wasn’t much of a mystery anyway. Apollo was the God of Health. Very clearly, he would be concerned about any plagues that were sweeping through the Greecian lands and Apollo wanted ones that were of this magnitude to end. That was why the god couldn’t hide his horrified expression when Hades tried to suggest that this coughing sickness be brought to the other kingdoms as well. There was no way Apollo was going to agree to that or even allow it to happen because as far as he could remember, he had only agreed to Taengea being affected.

“I would beg to differ, Uncle” Apollo said calmly, trying to contain the concern that he felt over such a proposal as it would do nothing, but exacerbate the problem that had spurred the God to enter this realm in the first place. “I cannot deny that Taengea had a rather high population when I first agreed this this arrangement, but surely you cannot think that there are still too many people in the mortal realm. Especially in Vasiliadon.” As the God spoke he motioned to the crowd of souls behind them, many of whom had been victims of the coughing sickness that had been Hades’s design.

The God paused for a moment, unsure of how to proceed as he knew that persuasion was one of his weak points. He was not as talented as Artemis when it came to knowing what were the right words he would need to spin together to convince Hades to let go of this plague and allow the people to recover. In fact, the best that he could do was probably be straightforward and stick with the truth -- he was fairly good with that. “In fact, I think too many people might be suffering from this plague. At this rate, I don’t see how Taengea could easily recover from the sheer amount of loss that is occurring.” He was cautious with his words, certain that his uncle would not like the truth that the God was saying, but there was no denying that there were more people dying than were being born. Such an illness would do nothing but discourage the humans from bringing forth new life into the world. From Apollo’s point of view, they were teetering on the edge of disaster.

But would Hades be willing to see it from this perspective too?

The sun god may not have known Hades all that well, but even he could see the telltale signs of anger rising up within the god. Those clenched fists and hardened expression were simply unmistakable. Apollo couldn’t help gulping out of sheer nervousness at the mere appearance of them. He would have to tread carefully now if he wanted to keep his Uncle calm, otherwise, he was never going to get what he wanted. There was no way that Apollo could leave without this plague coming to an end. He couldn’t let all those people die because he couldn’t manage to keep his tongue in check long enough to keep Hades happy.

Apollo scowled slightly at the notion that he was ‘softhearted’ towards the humans roaming through the mortal realm. “My feelings for the humans have nothing to do with it, Uncle.” Apollo was quick to quip back, forgetting about the whole idea of not ticking off Hades. In truth, Apollo had reacted in such a manner on account of the fact which he refused to recognize, but really couldn’t deny; Apollo was the sort of creature who wore his heart on his sleeve. His emotions were easy to figure out and more often than not they were more in control of him than he was of them. He could have all these rational, logical thoughts, but they would amount to nothing when his own feelings took control. His attitude towards humans was one of those few subjects where his own emotions took full control.

Even though Hades had hit the nail precisely on the head in regards to how the sun god really felt about those pesky, fragile things; the young archer was never going to admit it. Not when it was far easier to stay detached from those who lived below Olympus, but above the underworld and to pretend that he didn’t care for them. It was safer for them that way. After all, the things that Apollo became attached too did not normally last long once they came into the God’s favor.

It was almost silly how Apollo thought that he was basically a cursed object when it came to having any sort of substantial feelings for others. He was certain that if he ever spoke of this mindset out loud that he would be laughed off of Olympus as clearly this wasn’t true. Apollo tried to remind himself of that, but then thoughts about Daphne or Hyacinth crept into his mind. Their cruel fates had been his fault. He had gotten too close and now one of them was a tree while the other was dead. If Apollo left them alone, they could have had a normal life, but he didn’t. This was why Apollo was never keen to meddle in the lives of humans -- or at least not until he became too intrigued. The god’s own curiosity and desire for entertainment would get the better of him. Before he could even blink, someone else would get hurt and his longstanding trail of destruction had another name on its list.

So, yes, maybe at his core, the sun god was ‘softhearted’ for these humans, but it wasn’t something that Apollo wanted to confront. Not even when Hades seemed to think that it would be okay to let Taengea fall as a result of this plague.

“Surely, you cannot be serious.” Apollo sputtered out, practically dumbfounded by how callously Hades had sentenced one of the three Greecian kingdoms to ruin. Didn’t this run counter to everything that the Olympians stood for? Even ones like Hades that did not receive as much praise and love from the mortals as those who lived up on the mountain. It was their duty to look after the humans -- even if some of them had to do it ways that the people would not like. Condemning a kingdom to die was not a part of that. The shock at such a statement was clearly written on Apollo’s face as he scanned his Uncle’s dark eyes for any sign that the King of the Underworld was not serious about such a statement. However, Hades was not a god who was known for being a jokester. Even in moments like this where the Underworld was stuffed to the brim and there were certainly more people on the way, Hades was just as serious and stern as ever. Apollo knew that when the God of the Underworld said something, he meant it. There were no exceptions to this.

Apollo couldn’t deny that a twinge of panic rose up in him at this. Hades might not think anything of letting the Taengeans die -- that this was nothing more than a punishment who thought themselves above the common good and ignored the warnings from the physicians about how to avoid this plague. However, Apollo knew that not everyone who was here in the underworld had the luxury of listening to such warnings. Not every man, woman, and child here in the underworld was some rich noble who could afford to look down upon others. What about the farmers and beggars who couldn’t lock themselves up in fancy palaces. Did they deserve to die for the sins of the rich and powerful? Surely, there had to be something that Apollo could do to change Hades’s mind about this.

However, Apollo had never been the most skilled debater or negotiator. There was no way that he could string together some beautiful speech that could convince Hades to change his mind. Or at least he couldn’t without his lyre that was still in Olympus. If he had that by his side, maybe the god could have sung some beautiful song about the plight of the Taengeans that would have melted Hades’s heart. That just wasn’t possible though and Apollo had every inclination that the older god would just break his lyre if he even tried. Given that Apollo was too proud to just outright beg, there was only one option left. It wasn’t one that Apollo wanted to explore given how this was how all of them had ended up in this mess in the first place, but even he had to recognize how he had little choice left if Hades was keen to let Taengea die. Apollo had to make another deal with the god.

“Uncle. I think we both can see that letting Taengea fall into ruin isn’t an option. The other gods will force me to step in and break my word and bring an end to this plague. This is not something that I want to do, but I cannot see myself standing idly by for much longer either.” Apollo said with a great deal of composure. Normally, the impulsive god was not as serious as this, but he didn’t have much a choice given how this carnage had to be brought to an end one way or another. He knew what the consequences could be if he broke his word, but at this point, the damage that was stemming from this deal was growing to grand to ignore for much longer. “Name your price Hades.” He finished bluntly, encouraging his uncle to name what he wanted to bring this suffering to an end. There was a small part of him that feared that Hades would say nothing and force Apollo into breaking his word… but it also was not much of a secret that Hades had a certain affinity for collecting the kings of the Greecian realms. At this point, he had both the Taengean and Athenian kings (as the latter had died a few years prior), but he did not have the Colchian king. If Hades wished to complete his collection in exchange for ending the plague, Apollo had no qualms about setting the man down a path of ill health that would result in his entrance to the underworld.

All Hades had to do was say the word.

Apollo had to bite his tongue to hold back his frustration over how his uncle was treating this situation that was quickly turning dire. Honestly, he expected this lackadaisical, unbothered attitude from some of the more immature gods like Dionysus, Hermes, or quite frankly himself; not from the man who had been given control over the entirety of the underworld. It was simply mind-boggling to the deity who had expected that his Uncle would be acting very differently. However, if Apollo wasn’t so narrowly focused on ending this plague, he might have realized that this so-called ‘odd’ behavior wasn’t all that out of character at all. As one of the more popular gods in the mortal realm, Apollo didn’t have any grasp on how painful it must be to have the mortals shun you simply because they are afraid of the thing that you represent. After all, it wasn’t exactly Hades’s fault that he had literally drawn the short straw and became the King of a place that was little more than darkness and gloom. If Apollo was a mortal he would be afraid of the underworld and quite possibly Hades too by extension. The fear, though understandable through certain lens, was horribly misplaced.

However, was that large enough of a crime to sentence the whole of Taengea to death?

If the young God had realized this, he would have likely argued to his uncle that humans were dumb and foolish. This was just a part of their nature and couldn’t be helped. Wouldn’t it just be far easier to punish them for this crime when they lived their natural lives? Apollo was also fairly certain that his Uncle was rather fond of the creative punishments that were handed out to some of the more misguided mortals. Certainly, he could argue that such punishments would be even sweeter if the mortals passed believing that they had done everything right in life, only to discover that they had disgruntled their new King who had no regard for their status in life. It would be an easy case to make as Apollo really didn’t care for any mortal once they reached his uncle’s domain. He had no attachments to the dead. Only to the living when they died in such horrible ways like this plague that was currently ravaging Taengea.

Had Apollo had the brains of Athena, he might have been able to make such an argument work. However, unlike the sun he guided across the sky, he wasn’t all that bright. All of his attention went to balling his fist when Hades swept past him and took a seat upon his throne -- utterly ignoring the Sun God’s pleas for the chaos and sickness to end. It was nothing short of infuriating to be ignored in such a manner like this, but Apollo knew how poorly this could end if he allowed the temper he inherited from Zeus rise to the surface. There had already been countless confrontations between the two gods that have ended poorly because Hades took offense to Apollo’s lack of emotional control. The twin god couldn’t allow that happen this time. Not when the stability of Taengea was already on the line. He needed to stay cool, calm, collected, and firmly in control of his own emotions in order to convince Hades to dissolve the deal. Apollo could not leave the Underworld until the deal was through or he would have to return to Olympus and break it anyways. This was an outcome that he obviously wanted to avoid as oaths on Olympus were not like the flimsy promises that governed the mortal realm. If you broke your word as a god, there would be major consequences. Clearly, this was something that Apollo wanted to avoid under any circumstance.

However, he wasn’t sure that he could pay the price that Hades was asking for when the god finally spoke. The younger god was visibly taken aback by the notion of needing to sacrifice one member of each royal house in Taengea. If Hades couldn’t see that through the shocked expression on his face, it was made clear through a muttered statement of disbelief that escaped him before the god could keep his tongue in check, “You can’t be--” Apollo was quick to cut himself off quickly as he recognized that his uncle would not take kindly to any form of refusal.

The boy turned away for a moment, clearly thinking through these terms as he knew that this was not ideal. The death of one person in every family was certain to cause a high level of instability, which was what Apollo was trying to avoid by having this deal revoked. This could lead to drastic shifts of power and the struggles that would come with that. It would be chaotic and if things played out rather poorly, people would suffer as a result. However, they wouldn’t be dead. That was inherently better and as the god of medicine, he couldn’t argue that political stability was of more importance than physical stability. Never in a thousand years.

It would be three lives for the safety of thousands.

This was a deal that he couldn’t refuse.

He turned around to accept the deal and even went as far as to approach his uncle to shake on it, but a nagging thought forced him to drawback. In his eagerness to bring the plague to an end, Apollo did not immediately realize that Hades did not directly promise to bring an end to the plague if the Sun God provided him with these souls. Instead, he would ‘perhaps’ do such a thing. Naturally, the sun god had to doubt how likely it was that this promise would be upheld. If he was going to sign off on mortals purposely dying, Apollo had to ensure that their deaths would bring an end to the rest of Taengea’s suffering. No perhaps or maybes. It had to be a firm oath that could not be broken or both the gods might head down a path that would anger Zeus as the reasoning for why the plague was occurring in the first place came to light.

“Do you swear that if I provide you with one soul from the rest of the Taengean royal houses, you will release the deal between us and thus bring an end to the plague?” Apollo asked directly with one eyebrow raised. Hopefully, his words didn’t leave any wiggle room for Hades to manipulate him. However, he wasn’t overly sure. He just had to hope that he had been careful enough in his wording as he extended his hand to the man, eager to take this deal and bring an end to this wicked plague.

If Hades thought that he was slick in changing the terms, he was sorely mistaken. Apollo might be an idiot at the best of times, but given the gravitas of this situation, he did have the foresight to put his only two brain cells together before walking into Hades’s domain. After all, it wasn’t a secret that the God of the Underworld wanted as many subjects as quickly as possible and that was all, but confirmed by the level of devastation brought on by this plague of his. The younger god would be a fool to not think that Hades would not attempt to milk the situation to garner every single soul that he could out of whatever deal brought this plague to an end.



That was why Apollo was certain to list only the Taengean royal houses as part of his terms. He was trying to minimize the damage that the endgame would bring to the mortal realm. He did not fail to realize that his uncle had dropped that one tiny detail in favor of emphasizing a different one. If Hades had his way, the souls would trickle in from Athenia and Colchis too. This alone forced Apollo to drawback momentarily, unsure if he had caught on to some sort of game that Hades was playing. Even though the omission was enough to force him to give a momentary pause to agreeing to the terms, Hades was not blatant enough to confirm Apollo’s suspicions. Maybe he was just repeating what Apollo said and just didn’t think much of excluding the nationality? Or perhaps the younger god was right in guessing that his uncle was attempting to pull a fast one.



It was impossible to tell.



Pausing for a moment, Apollo was unsure of what to do. This was clearly written on his face as a small glimmer of concern crossed over his expression. He was a fool, but he was not foolish enough to accuse his uncle of expanding the pool of those who would die. That would almost guarantee that he would back of the deal and banish Apollo from his realm. That wasn’t an option. Not when the consequences for a god breaking their word were so severe that they were unfathomable. He needed to strike a deal with Hades. Apollo didn’t have much of a choice in that matter. Though he could accept the cost of one person from every royal family across three kingdoms dying?



In the few seconds he had, Apollo’s mind descended into sheer turmoil as he was faced with this endless quandary over what he was going to do. His uncle was right in that Apollo cared too much for the humans. Although the deity would have liked to think that he was better than sticking his neck out on the line for his little playthings, this moment proved that he wasn’t. After all, it didn’t matter if Hades snuck a few more humans into the deal than what the sun deity preferred. One man or ten was far fewer than the thousands that would be spared. However, a life was a life was it not? His very nature made it difficult for Apollo to willingly sign off on the deaths of any of them… but at the end of the day, even if he was free to make a decision, his hands were still tied. The plague had to come to an end.



“Alright. One from everyone royal house.” He said quietly after a long pause, reoffering his hand to the god. Apollo would be lying if he didn’t say that this outcome didn’t kill him inside, but he would just have to remind himself that it was for the greater good until he could get back to Olympus and forget this decision through the help of Dionysus’s wine. He was certainly going to need a lot of it rid himself of the guilt on this one.



Not wanting Hades to change the terms again, Apollo took the elder’s god hand before another word could be said, thus locking in the deal. It might not have been the smartest move on his part for his own personal safety, but it was best for the humans. Now the younger god would be free to bring an end to this sickness and restore those who were afflicted with their full health. It would take some time to track everyone who was infected down as this wasn’t the sort of thing that Apollo could merely wave his hand and fix. That would also mean that there would be some people that the God could not reach in time, so hopefully, Hades would be satisfied with the last few stragglers along with his fresh new crop.



Once the two gods withdrew their hands, Apollo made one last request to the man that had Taengea in its death grip for so long, “Just don’t take them all at once…” His words were barely a murmur as he didn’t want to set the god off. That was why Apollo had saved these words for after when the deal had been struck and not a moment before. He would like to be above Hades’s sly tricks after all.



However, he had to show his gratitude to the man who took the deal. Being a prideful young, sprite, Apollo was not the sort would directly say thank you or anything of that nature. He could show such feelings in other ways though. That was at least made obvious in the next thing that Apollo said with an eyebrow raised, “Do you seek my assistance in collecting your debt?” This was telling as normally the young god would have left immediately after making the deal, but he stayed for a moment in order to see if Hades would need Apollo to ensure that all doctors fail in their attempts to heal a few of the names on Hades’s new hitlist. Though, of course, that all depended on Hades not being entirely fed up with the kid and wanted him out of his throne room immediately.