“Families are messy. Immortal families are eternally messy. Sometimes the best we can do is to remind each other that we're related for better or for worse...and try to keep the maiming and killing to a minimum.”
― Rick Riordan
 
 
 
 
 
 
. . .
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The genuine shock in those cold eyes almost made him want to start laughing despite the severity of the situation, even though he really only wanted to cry there and then.
 
Proserpina was usually so stone-faced…
 
“From… m-me?”
 
“You're tearing yourself apart from the inside out. You have been at it for years and without Alastor, you wouldn’t even care if you do!”
 
“Dionysus–”
 
“Don’t you dare deny it–”
 
“You have no idea what it's like to be me!”
 
“I don’t?” he sneers, “Have I not spent my mortal life worshipped by humans? Have I not lived through the same horrors that you have?!”
 
“No. That’s different… that’s different!” she snaps, vehemently shaking her head, “What we lived through is different and you know it! I did not ask for this… I did not ask for any of this! Unlike you, my family was torn apart right in front of me just because of who’s child I am! Unlike you, I did not even seek to be worshipped. They come to me on their own!”
 
“Proserpina, that’s not the fucking point! I only mean that I’m one of the few beings who can understand where you are coming from-”
 
“No, YOU DON’T!” she lashed out.
 
“I cannot accept you going on this path!”
 
“So what?!”
 
Dionysus stared.
 
“Why should I care if you are not willing to accept how I deal with this?! Why should I care that you and I have different perspectives about how things should go?!”
 
“Because this isn’t what you want!”
 
“Don’t you dare assume to even know what I want!”
 
“I know what it will cost you in the long run, and I don't want you to pay that price!” Dionysus screamed, “Why? WHY WON’T YOU JUST LISTEN TO ME?!”
 
“I don’t have to listen to you! Or anyone!”
 
“Then, that’s how you know you’re fucked!”
 
“Has it never occurred to you that I don’t care anymore?!”
 
“You’re insane!”
 
“SO ARE YOU!” Proserpina shouts, making the trees tremble all around them, “You, a god, who had existed for centuries, is still foolish and so naïve to think that this world is all about drunken revelry and reckless abandon!”
 
“I bring joy, liberation, and-!”
 
“You. Are. A. LIE!”
 
“ME?!”
 
“YOUR ‘JOY’ IS A LIE MADE UP BY A BUNCH OF STUPID HUMANS FOR OVER HUNDREDS OF YEARS!”
 
“IT’S NOT STUPID…!”
 
“THESE PEOPLE ONLY BELIEVED IN YOU BECAUSE THEY NEEDED TO CONVINCE THEMSELVES THAT YOUR EXISTENCE HAD MEANING SIMPLY BECAUSE YOU TERRIFIED THEM ALL! YOU ARE THE MADNESS THAT PLAGUED US ALL!”
 
“They loved me!” Dionysus argued, “THEY WORSHIPPED ME!”
 
“Oh… they did?” she mocks.
 
“What would you even know,” Dionysus retorted, crossing his arms as he glared scornfully down at her, “Little girl, you weren’t even there.”
 
“I don’t have to be there. I only have to listen.”
 
His face paled, “You…”
 
Absentmindedly, she pushed some of the hair that has fallen on her face back, her grip unrelenting on her scalp as she smirked, “If only you can hear the stories your worshippers have…”
 
“That was a long time ago, damn it!”
 
“What, does time erases everything you lot have done wrong?!”
 
“Don’t lump me in with the other gods!”
 
“You are one of them!”
 
“I LOVED MY CHILDREN!”
 
Thunder boomed distantly overhead.
 
“…not good enough,” Proserpina muttered, almost sadly.
 
Without a thought, Dionysus raised his middle finger at the sky.
 
His old man can suck it.
 
“Fucking voyeur,” Dionysus seethes.
 
Proserpina scoffs at his crude language, an annoyed look on her face as she casts a glance at the darkening sky as well.
 
“Well?” she drawls, after a moment of long silence, “What happens to this… ‘right’ thing you speak of o god of wine? Where was it then, after all these years? Is it somewhere within the thousands of humans who have been punished by the gods for such petty reasons? Can it even be found in the souls of the millions of creatures the gods had condemned so unfairly?!”
 
“You have gone too far…!”
 
“No. You did. All of us.” The goddess of shadows declared, with such cold finality that if brook no room for arguments.
 
A flash of lightning rendered the skies white for a moment.
 
Purple and black glowed underneath the furious skies.
 
“We’re gods, Proserpina,” Dionysus relented, with a quiet sigh… “You understand that we are above the laws of man.”
 
“Then, who the hell do you think you are to chastise me for how I do things?” Proserpina snarled. “If right and wrong might as well be nonexistent… and humans made to be nothing but fair game to us gods, then why are YOU GETTING IN MY WAY?!”
 
“Because I’m your friend, Proserpina.”
 
She blinked, as if caught off-guard.
 
Dionysus hesitantly reached out to place a hand on her shoulder, grateful that she didn’t push him away almost instantly. “You’ve dwelled amongst the mortals and immortals alike for years. You’re cherished and feared amongst the living and the dead. You are the cross between light and dark. A shadow of living and dying. An existence that shouldn’t be, but there you are. That’s why you… you can’t, Poppy. You can’t just cross out the other.”
 
She only stared at him, defiantly.
 
As if saying watch me.
 
“Look… I was with you since. I know how much this hurts. I understand how hard it’s been for you. But you can’t throw the rest of your life away for vengeance. You have to live. Because even if you do get to slay your worst enemy, if you cannot survive past that, and live a good life afterwards… then the enemy might as well have won. You can’t let this consume you. I won’t let you.”
 
When she stiffened, he quickly held on to her so tightly.
 
He had been worried, at first.
 
Now, he found himself genuinely afraid that she might disappear to the darkness if he so much as loosened his hold now.
 
“Oh. You won’t?” she echoed, defiance flashing in her cold eyes amidst the lightning, “And how well has obedience and hope worked out for me so far, Dionysus? What happened when I tried to be fair and just to everything and everyone that is not? How did it work when I followed whatever was asked of me after all this time?!”
 
He fought hard not to wince, “Poppy…”
 
She angrily pushed his hand off of her. “How does it work when I tried so hard to protect William’s life, the life of the only person I have left of my family?!”
 
“Poppy… this… it wasn’t your fault…”
 
“It was! It was my fault, and it was Rei’s fault!”
 
“PROSERPINA! WHAT ARE YOU-!”
 
“NO! I will not listen to you defending that traitorous coward! If he wasn't so spineless, wasn't so selfish and stupid, I could have prevented this and William would have still been with me right now!”
 
“THAT’S ENOUGH!”
 
“How is this right, Dionysus? How is this fair?!” she cries, her voice loud and crackling like the thunder from the distance, “How can you expect me to be sane in a world where Roman still exists while William, who had every reason and right to live, is gone?! HOW CAN YOU ALLOW THAT?!”
 
“Rei couldn't have done anything about this! It’s two separate issues and you…! You’re wrong to attack him like that! REI’S ONLY HUMAN-!”
 
“HE WAS A LIAR AND A COWARD!”
 
“IT WASN'T HIS FAULT!”
 
“IT WAS! His and my own!”
 
Dionysus froze when Proserpina suddenly started clawing at her own face in distress. Never mind the fact that she was still wearing gloves, he can see blood instantly dripping down her cheeks in thin rivulets.
 
“My entire family would still be alive if it wasn't for me!”
 
He frantically reached out a hand, “Proserpina CALM DOWN-!”
 
“Why did they let me live? WHY WAS I STILL ALIVE?!
 
“S-Stop…”
 
“I killed them! I KILLED THEM!”
 
“IT WASN'T HIS FAULT!” he argued, desperately trying to wrench her wrists away from her face, “AND IT SURE AS HELL WASN'T YOURS!”
 
 “Ṫ̡̩͍̘̣̼H̼̮͖̎͒̇͘I̳̘̪̟̞͓ͤͦ́S͖̰͂̑ͬ͟ ͣ҉̬͔̯͈D͎̗̂̍͢A̸̫̙̖͑̇̃ͭM̨͇͚̳͎ͨŃ̬͉̫͕ͦͪ͐͢ͅÊ̢̗͖̖̜͇̻̙D̢̮̟̦̣̪͍̬̺̾̅ ̸̝̰̬̤̻̭̫̋͋ͪ̅C̸͖̦̣͚̘͈̞̜͗ͩŬ̴̯͚̱̣͍̒̑R̶͚̯ͭ͑̏͌S̥̤͇͖̊̇͘E͓̺͇̗̱̐́D͚͎̱̑͛͢ ͇̫̞͎̝̩̮̄ͬ̿̉͠G̢̫͉̲̤̮̳͖͉̍͆̚O̷̘͍̿Ḑ̗̫̩͖̿̀…!”
 
“NO! IT WAS THE FATES!” Dionysus screamed as loud as he can over the sounds of her wails as he finally managed to grab her wrists, forcing them away from her still bleeding, still healing face.
 
Proserpina heaved out a frantic breath as lightning flashed somewhere overhead, illuminating the entire sea of trees for a second before she slowly raised her head to look up at him, her gaze wide and wild. Blood and water streaked down her cheeks in lieu of tears as it suddenly started to rain.
 
“What… did you just say?”