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[right][sub][color=#c4c4c4]S T A T E N  I S L A N D[/color] [color=#000000]◆[/color] [color=#c4c4c4]N E W  Y O R K[/color][/sub][/right][table][row][/row][row][cell][img]https://64.media.tumblr.com/ed8ed5528fdc612f2a179f974a737cad/237007e77904ca81-c4/s400x600/847866302cc199e9c5cb6e7f89e644329cd438d6.gif[/img]
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The apartment had long since fallen silent, with the exception of the soft rustle of paper and the occasional scratch of a fountain pen against the margin of a legal brief. Giovanni sat alone at his dining table, jacket draped over the back of his chair, sleeves rolled precisely to his forearms as he worked through yet [i]another[/i] inheritance dispute. Three siblings. One contested will. An inheritance large enough to inevitably start a war between kin.

He'd been reading the same paragraph for nearly ten minutes before realizing his attention had drifted elsewhere. His thumb brushed absentmindedly against the silver chain around his neck; it was only when his fingers found the familiar band that rested over the top of his shirt that he noticed what he was doing. 

The ring had belonged to his late fiancée, and without fail, his hand sought it whenever the weight of the world began to weigh too heavily on his shoulders. Giovanni let go of the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding in a deep sigh, closed the case file, and pinched the bridge of his nose. [i]He knew the signs well enough[/i]. It was time to step away before he made any careless mistakes.

He slipped outside into the cool evening air, lighting a cigarette beneath the glow of a nearby streetlamp. Smoking indoors had always felt wrong to the spaces he lived in, so the ritual belonged to balconies, sidewalks, and quiet corners beneath open skies. The first drag settled his thoughts. The second, though, never came.

The shadows around Giovanni shifted. Not lengthening with the fading light, but moving as if they took on a life of their own.

From the darkness between parked cars emerged a gaunt figure with burning eyes and impossible speed; its presence alone seemed to carry a sense of certainty that it had come for him, and him alone. Giovanni barely had time to register the creature before it lunged. Instinct told him to move, but the world seemed to collapse inward instead.

Everything went [b]black[/b]. The void was silent. Damn near deafening..

Not empty—never empty—but still in the way ancient places often were, as though even sound knew to tread carefully. Giovanni stood alone in the darkness until a figure emerged before him, draped in robes darker than the space surrounding them. His presence was intense, yet composed, carrying none of the malice mortals so often attributed to him.

[color=#000000][b]“Hades,”[/b][/color] Giovanni said quietly, the realization hitting him faster than the official introduction could be made.

[color=#40a9d7][b]“You know my name,”[/b][/color] the god replied. [color=#40a9d7][b]“As I have always known yours.”[/b][/color]

The words should have unsettled him. Instead, they seemed to feel strangely inevitable.

[color=#000000][b]“I’m dead, right?”[/b][/color]

[color=#40a9d7][b]“No.”[/b][/color]

[color=#000000][b]“Then why am I here?”[/b][/color]

[color=#40a9d7][b]“Because time has run short, and I can delay no longer.”[/b][/color]

A black-and-silver bident appeared between them, suspended in the darkness.

[color=#40a9d7][b]“The Titans stir, and their prison weakens. Should I fall, or should my duties go unattended, the balance of the world falters with me. Long ago, successors were chosen to ensure that would never happen. You are mine.”[/b][/color]

Giovanni stared at the weapon but made no move to claim it.

[color=#000000][b]“…but why me?”[/b][/color]

For the first time, the King of the Underworld regarded him with something that Giovanni could only describe as [i]curiosity[/i].

[color=#40a9d7][b]“You seek an explanation as though selection were a prize to be earned.”[/b][/color]

[color=#000000][b]“It [i]should[/i] have a reason.”[/b][/color]

[color=#40a9d7][b]“It does.”[/b][/color]

[color=#000000][b]“Then [i]tell me[/i].”[/b][/color]

Hades took a step closer.

[color=#40a9d7][b]“You have spent your life among endings without becoming consumed by them. You understand that grief deserves dignity, that law exists to preserve order, and that power is a [i]responsibility[/i] before it is a [i]privilege[/i]. You have known loss, yet you do not curse death for existing. You listen before you judge. You carry burdens without announcing their weight.”[/b][/color]

The god’s gaze settled on the ring hanging from the chain around Giovanni’s neck.

[color=#40a9d7][b]“And even now, you continue to love what has passed without demanding that it return to you.”[/b][/color]

Silence stretched between them. A silence that lacked any discomfort Giovanni usually felt in drawn-out silences.

[color=#000000][b]“That does not make me worthy.”[/b][/color]

[color=#40a9d7][b]“No,”[/b][/color] Hades agreed. [color=#40a9d7][b]“It makes you willing to accept what cannot be changed.”[/b][/color]

Giovanni lowered his eyes, avoiding the gaze of the god before him.

[color=#000000][b]“And if you are wrong about me?”[/b][/color]

For the first time, there was the faintest suggestion of a smile.

[color=#40a9d7][b]“Then the fault will be mine.”[/b][/color]

The bident drifted into Giovanni’s waiting hand. The weight of the weapon alone felt impossibly ancient yet perfectly balanced. Almost like it was a part of him, and always had been.

[color=#40a9d7][b]“But I do not believe I am wrong.”[/b][/color]

The darkness around them began to fracture.

[color=#40a9d7][b]“One last thing... Before I depart,”[/b][/color] Hades said as the void gave way to light. [color=#40a9d7][b]“You are now [i]Awakened[/i], but there are others who have yet to, and very well may need some assistance in their ascension.”[/b][/color] He paused a moment before continuing, [color=#40a9d7][b]“[i]Trust your judgement[/i].”[/b][/color]

The darkness vanished, and the world [i]snapped[/i] back into focus.

Giovanni stood exactly where he had been just moments before, cigarette smoldering between two fingers, the evening air still cool against his face. Had anyone been standing there beside him, not even a heartbeat would have seemed to have elapsed.

Only now, a bident rested in his other hand, and the shadows at his feet moved when he did not. He glanced down at the glowing embers at the end of his cigarette, letting out a deep exhale.

[color=#000000][i]You were supposed to fix my entire life, you little shit.[/i][/color]

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