A/N: And now, for the actual final chapter of this story! As I was working out the ending, I came up with an idea that, after I thought about how it would work when written, would have made this story much much longer. So I scrapped it and came up with another idea, and then, while writing the ending, I ended up alluding to the original ending I'd come up with. I'll keep all that under wraps for now, because I just might use the premise behind that original ending for a future story.

With that being said, I hope you guys enjoy this final chapter and the ending I chose.

Chapter 10
Arri & Phoebe
Part II

"Apollyon was gone when I came back to myself." Arri's voice shook as more memories resurfaced.

Lucy looked down at the hand holding hers, then curiosity got the better of her. She slowly let go and turned his palm up. Her jaw dropped at the sight of a rose-shaped scar in the center of his hand, with raised skin cross-hatched around it like horrific veins.

"Death by fire wasn't uncommon," Hades said. He sounded as though he was bored. After that heart-wrenching story, how could he possibly sound like that? "And death by fire when there's an immortal involved is actually more common than you'd think."

"He murdered me because-"

Hades raised a hand to silence Lucy's quiet objection. "I'm not saying I agree with his actions. Just that it's not unheard of." His attention shifted to Arri. "Continue. Now that I know what led to her death, and your rivalry with Apollyon, I need to hear about the deal that was made."

"I'm getting to that," Arri said.

The sun sat high in the sky by the time Arri found the will to move from Phoebe's burned remains. He felt nothing while stumbling through the remnants of their home, kneeling in ashes to search for even a scrap of cloth long enough to wrap around his hips.

There was nothing. Not one piece of their lives together had survived. He had nothing to give her any longer. And as Arri stood on shaking legs and looked toward the horizon to the south, he knew what he had to do. He could just barely make out Glykeria's farm in the distance. She lived alone those days, what with her husband having died years before Arri and Phoebe had come to Korinth and her children having grown and moved away.

"She will be able to help," he mumbled.

He took a single step away from the rubble, then stopped and turned back to Phoebe. He couldn't leave her here. She wouldn't be able to pass peacefully into the Underworld without something to offer Charon, and Arri refused to force her to suffer even more because of his negligence. He knelt in the rubble again and kept digging through the ashes. There had to be something, at least one piece of clothing that had survived.

After scouring the floor, he found it. It was tattered and singed, but Phoebe's sea-blue chiton was still intact enough to use. He tore a strip of it to wrap a shabby covering over his hips. Arri didn't care much about his own modesty. He wanted to make sure Phoebe was protected.

The soft crunch of ash as he wrapped the fabric around her had his stomach turning. She hadn't worn this since leaving the hetaira, not in public at least. At home, for him, she'd donned it several times just so he could have the pleasure of removing it, and knowing he was the only man she'd ever allowed to touch the soft material.

Now, as he slowly wrapped her from head to toe, being as careful as possible to keep her ashes intact, tears welled on his lashes anew.

Arri secured the cloth with Phoebe's favorite golden pins, and sent a quick prayer to Aphrodite to protect his lover as he lifted her into his arms and carried her south.

By the time he reached Glykeria's farm, he had no energy. He didn't think about the last time he'd eaten or drank, but when the older grey-haired woman saw the soot on his body, and the wrapped corpse in his arms, she ushered him inside her own home as quickly as possible.

"What happened?"

"A demon," he breathed. "He stole her from me… Burned her alive…"

Glykeria bustled quickly from one side of the single room home to the other. She returned to Arri with a small cup of water that she held to his lips for him to drink from. "You must eat."

"No time," he said. "I have to bury her."

"Arri," Glykeria sighed. "Today we mourn. Tomorrow, we perform the rites."

"No." He knew the moment his body swayed, it was a losing fight. He didn't want to hurt Phoebe, so he gave in without argument and slowly knelt on the floor. She was lighter than just the day before, but it was still tiring to carry her for so long. As soon as Phoebe's body lay on the floor in front of him, Glykeria's wrinkled hands were in front of his face, holding an apple and a basket of bread.

"Eat, Arri," she said. "Let me watch over you two tonight. I'll pray to-"

"He won't come back," he said, taking the offered food. He set the apple in the basket and pulled out the bread instead. "She is gone. I have nothing he wants now."

"Still," she said. "Do you want to get cleaned up?"

Arri nibbled on the bread and shook his head. As soon as he had the strength, he would be going. Then he winced and stared at the ground. "Don't waste time on me," he said. "A pathetic man who couldn't even protect his family. I don't deserve your kindness. I have nothing now…" He wiped the back of his hand across his eyes, smearing more ash over his face. "He took everything… She won't be able to cross..."

"Yes, she will," Glykeria said. Her gentle touch on his dirty cheek had his eyes meeting with her misty blue gaze. Something heavy broke within his chest when she placed two coins in his hand.

"I-I don't need-"

"You might," she said softly. "We never know what the future holds, and I would feel better if you had it."

"Two coins?" Hades asked with a raised brow.

Arri nodded. "She knew something I didn't, what I hadn't realized until the time was right."

"What are the coins for?" Lucy asked softly.

Arri ignored her. "I didn't stay long after that. Instead I carried Phoebe to the only shrine of Ares I knew about near Korinth. I knew that I needed help, and my father was the only one I could think to ask. I didn't know whether he'd answer or not, but… I had to try."

Arri thanked the Gods that he finally found the mouth to the cave that housed Ares' shrine. He knew the reasons for it, that none openly worshipped Ares because of his temperament. Soldiers prayed to him and Athena alike for both strength and wisdom in battle. Ares had no large temples like Aphrodite or Athena.

Just like Arri, he was tucked away and forgotten until he was needed.

Well, Arri needed him then.

He carefully made his way inside and felt along the wall with his back while carrying Phoebe further inside. Braziers burned in a small circle around a cracked stone altar. Several weapons lay scattered around the base with plates and bowls of offerings for Ares nestled between them. While he didn't want to part with her, he knew it was time. He couldn't keep her forever. She had to move on to the Underworld.

Arri laid her on the altar and slowly pulled the fabric back from her face. His breath caught when he noticed the charred remains of her lips peel away. "I'm sorry, my love," he breathed. "I should have protected you."

He pushed her chin down just slightly, and pressed one of the obolos that Glykeria had given him between her teeth. After a moment, he placed the apple Glykeria had given him on her stomach. "Feed our child well, Phoebe… May Charon grant you safe passage from this life."

His eyes closed and his head bowed to rest against the altar.

He had at least been able to tell her goodbye, to send her away from this life properly. He didn't have the means to bury her, and had refused Glykeria's offer to help him in his time of need. If only he'd been better, had provided for Phoebe and been able to maintain the more lavish life she'd had as a hetaira, maybe then his lover would have been buried the right way.

This was the best he could offer.

"Father," Arri sniffled, "I've asked nothing of you in the years I've been alive. I've prayed to you to show I haven't forgotten you. I've honored you the best I can, but I failed my Phoebe. If I had never stayed, if I hadn't strayed from the quest mater sent me on, she would still be alive."

He knew that if they'd never lived together in Korinth, Apollyon never would have found them. He probably never would have set eyes on Phoebe, and grown obsessed with her. The beautiful light her presence radiated wouldn't have been swept away in a blazing inferno while she screamed for a man who couldn't protect her.

"Father, Ares, God of War, please… Answer me now. What do I do?" Arri whimpered. He reached out and gently placed a hand over Phoebe's stomach. "Apollyon stole her and my child, your grandchild, from this world. H-He held me back, made me watch. What do I do now?"

Silence was his only answer.

And for the first time since Apollyon disappeared, Arri felt a burning in the pit of his stomach. A violent swell of emotion that clawed its way up his throat until he threw his head back and roared to the roof of the cave.

"Answer me, you bastard! I need you! The one time I need you, and you can't be bothered to answer?!"

There was no response.

Arri yelled again and grabbed a nearby bowl, then threw it at the wall. The clay exploded with the force behind it, but he didn't care. Instead, Arri grabbed one plate, and another, throwing them until he had nothing but weapons at his disposal.

"All my life, I've wanted to see you!" he bellowed. "To know that she wasn't lying, that there really was something special about me! Will you not come because I'm a disappointment?! Am I not enough of a man for you to grant me one minute of your time?! Is it blood you want from me? Fine!"

He picked up a spear and stabbed the tip into his arm, dragging it from his bicep down to his wrist. He ripped the blade out and watched as his own blood spattered the altar Phoebe's body rested on.

"Maybe I wouldn't be such a pathetic man if you'd been there!" he roared. "If I hadn't only had a mother who sung your praises and compared us at every turn. Why would I want to be anything like you, when I know only how horrible you are?!"

Arri stabbed his arm again, creating another long, angry gash that rendered it completely useless. The pain was nearly enough to overwhelm him, but he was too angry to care.

"I failed her! And now I have no way of bringing her back! No way to get revenge on that motherfucker for taking her from me! But if you'd help, maybe I could!"

"And what would you do?" Arri whirled in place to face the foreign, growling voice behind him. His head tipped further back than he'd expected to look up at where his father's face should have been. Bright purple eyes shone like gems from beneath his golden Spartan helmet. His armor was battle-worn, but still gleamed with a menace that sent a sudden shiver down Arri's spine. The skin of his bulging arms and legs was just as dark as Arri's, though his frame was enormous and contoured with muscle that - Arri knew - would easily rip a mortal's head clean from his body. "If you could do anything, what would it be?"

"Revenge," Arri spat. "I want to find him, and make him suffer thousands of times worse than what he's done to me."

"How?" Ares growled. Arri could very nearly hear him smiling with chaotic glee.

"He burned her alive and forced me to watch," Arri said. "I want to set him on fire, make him burn like she did."

"Think harder!" Ares roared. He raised his hand and balled it into a fist. "You are no son of mine if you won't crush your enemies. How will you make him pay?"

"I… I don't know!" Arri yelled. He didn't have answers. He just had this need to make Apollyon suffer. This unquenchable rage the likes of which he'd never felt before. "If it would work, I'd slaughter every man I came across to make him pay for taking them!"

"Who?" Ares chuckled. "Who did he take?"

"My lover, and my child."

"I only see one body."

"It was yet to be born," Arri said. "She only just told me last week."

"He killed your unborn child?" Ares asked. When Arri nodded, the sudden roar that left the War God's hidden lips had him stumbling back. "War! Bring war and pain down upon him! Make him bleed for eons, and beg you for the mercy he refused to show! And when he finally does beg… Make him suffer even worse than before!"

"How?" Arri asked. "I don't even know where Apollyon came from."

"He is a Destroyer," Ares said. "He works in the Underworld, and is under Hades' control."

"So I have to go to him," Arri said, looking down at his useless arm. "He won't return here."

"You'll have to trick him to get them back," Ares said. "These aren't the tactics I use. Athena would be better suited to tell you this."

"I don't care about the details," Arri said with a sneer up at his father. "If I have to go to the Underworld and tear his body limb from limb, then I will. Whatever it takes."

"Whatever it takes, you say?" Ares asked.

"Yes!" Arri didn't care what happened to himself any longer. He'd stopped caring the moment he knew Phoebe was dead. "If it will make the guilt lessen, if it will give her back to me, I'll do anything!"

Ares was silent as he considered his own son. Arri had always assumed that his father was a God of action without thought, but maybe this was different. Maybe, because he was Ares' son, there was more to consider than he could ever know.

Finally, Ares took a step closer and placed a heavy hand on his shoulder. "There is one way, but you will never return to this life," he said. "I can give you only one gift in your lifetime, but you will not have to worry about that after today."

Tears burned at Arri's eyes. "Whatever it takes," he said again, forcing himself to hold his father's gaze. "I have to have her back. She's the other half of my soul. I-I can feel it."

"Have you given them safe passage?" Arri couldn't help but notice how much softer his father's voice had gotten.

He was about to nod, then paused. He pulled out the second coin from Glykeria, glancing over his shoulder to Phoebe's body. "The baby…"

"On her stomach," Ares said. "Charon will accept it for the child."

They walked back to Phoebe together, and Ares shifted the fabric just enough for Arri to place the coin on her belly without knocking the apple over. He leaned down and kissed the burnt skin. "My dear child," Arri pulled in a trembling breath as his vision blurred, "I'm sorry I won't meet you in this life."

He moved higher and pressed one final kiss to Phoebe's lips, feeling the chill lingering on her and the coin between her teeth. "I'll find you, love. I promise, we'll be together again."

"Are you ready?" Ares asked.

Arri pulled in a deep breath to compose himself as he stood. Then he nodded. He watched, enthralled, as Ares ripped one of the leather pteruges from his waist and wrapped it around Arri's useless arm. "What is this?"

"When you meet Charon, show this to him," Ares said. "You will not cross as mortals do. My blood in your veins and this strap from my armor will prove that I have sent you."

"Wh-What do I say?" Arri asked.

"Tell him…" Ares opened his hand and manifested a spear that looked strong enough to kill a minotaur with a single blow. "Ares has provided Hades with the Guide."

"The Guide?" Arri asked. "Wha-"

His final words were cut off as his father stabbed him in the heart. Arri gurgled on a pained gasp and stumbled back when Ares removed the spear, then stabbed him again in the stomach.

"My son," Ares said, watching as Arri slumped to the ground in front of the altar holding Phoebe's body. "Fight for her, and you will make me proud."

"So, that's how you became the Guide?" Lucy asked softly when Arri paused. "Ares helped you?"

"For revenge," Arri said, nodding.

"And this deal?" Hades asked. "Apollyon says it was made before you became the Guide."

"No," Arri said. "I met Charon and did as Ares said, and I was taken to this dimension instead. He told me what I was to do, and I started working immediately. It wasn't until Phoebe returned to the Underworld after having lived another life that Apollyon appeared again. He kept her soul locked in Limbo while he came to me."

"What are you doing here?" Arri sneered at the sight of the grinning God of Destruction.

"I found her again," Apollyon chuckled. "She's already moved on, mortal. We should let bygones be bygones."

Arri's hand tightened into a fist beneath his black robe, but he relaxed a moment later. Ares had said he needed to trick Apollyon, and that wouldn't happen if he lost his temper. "Never," he said instead. "I know her. Even after living another life, she's still my Phoebe."

"Then let's make a deal," Apollyon said.

Perfect. This was just what he needed.

"She's waiting to be reincarnated as we speak. If you can convince her to choose a life with you over her three options - with no memory of you - then I'll agree that she is yours."

"And if she doesn't?" Arri asked, his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"I guess you'll have to give up," Apollyon shrugged.

"I'll never give up on her," Arri said.

"Then you can wait until she's reincarnated again."

"As long as I don't remind her of the past, if she chooses me, you'll leave us alone for good?"

"Precisely," Apollyon said. "So, do we have a deal?"

Arri stared at Apollyon's outstretched claws, then reached forward with his left hand. Power rippled up the length of his arm and stopped at the hidden leather strap beneath the sleeve of his robe. Even though he wasn't sure what that had been, the deal was set.

"So, that's the exact wording of the deal?" Hades asked. "You couldn't remind her of the past, and had to convince her to choose you over any other life?"

"Yes," Arri said.

Apollyon stood by and laughed as Arri watched Phoebe walk through the third door. "You didn't really think that would work, did you?"

"Shut up," Arri hissed.

Apollyon flew forward and grabbed the hood of Arri's robe, draping it over his head and bending him in half. "She'll never want to be with someone weak like you, demigod," he cackled.

"I'll get it right next time!" Arri shouted.

"Why not do it right now?" Apollyon lunged faster than Arri could react, his claws digging into Arri's right eye. "I'll take the last bits of your human soul, and send them after her!"

Arri gasped at the cold, tearing sensation in the center of his chest. Apollyon pulled his eye from the socket, and blue wisps of ectoplasm followed along behind it. He watched, horrified, as Apollyon ate his eye, then threw his soul through the door Phoebe had just gone through.

"Wh-What… happened?"

"You'll follow her, and watch from a distance, never knowing why you do it. Suffer, demigod. This is your punishment."

"As time went on, I lost more of myself without my soul," Arri said. "I only had it when she returned here, and then Apollyon would show up after she chose another life, and rip it out again."

Lucy tightened her grip on his hand when she felt him shiver.

"Eventually, I forgot who I really was. When she was here, I knew I loved her and that she was supposed to stay with me, but I also knew that couldn't tell her directly. At some point, when she left, Apollyon didn't have to rip it out anymore. It just… went with her. And I lost myself all over again."

"So, you're telling me that not only did Apollyon make a deal with you after you'd become the Guide, but he damaged you and jeopardized the entire Underworld in the process," Hades mused. "All because he got rejected."

"I mean, it sounds that way to me," Lucy added.

"Yeah," Arri sighed. "And when he realized that I wasn't fully myself while my soul followed her, he conditioned me to think that she would be tortured if she stayed here. I couldn't remember much aside from what I was supposed to do… guiding souls… He told me that I had to make sure she didn't do anything but pick one of her three options."

"So when I came back here, you'd guide me like you were supposed to, but you made it so I wouldn't pick you," she said.

"All I knew when you came back was that I loved you and wanted you safe, so I did what I had to." Arri shook his head and stared down at the grey tattered robes covering him. He couldn't even remember when they'd faded from the black they'd once been. He knew that he'd started covering his face around the time he'd been convinced that he was a nameless, faceless immortal. "When you chose me this time, it took a bit for me to remember everything…"

"This is an interesting story," Hades said. He uncrossed his legs and sat forward on the couch, looking at Arri's slumped shoulders and downcast eye.

"Ares told me that I had to trick Apollyon into giving you back, but I wasn't prepared for his silver tongue," Arri whispered. "I failed so many times…"

"That is one thing you didn't tell me," Hades said. "Guide, how long has this been going on?"

Lucy squeaked when, as soon as Arri opened his mouth to speak, Apollyon roared into his gag and started struggling against the green tendrils of power holding him to the wall. "Fuck, I forgot he was here!"

"Ignore him," Hades said. "Guide, you were going to answer my question."

Arri nodded quickly, calculating the years in his head. His eye widened after a moment, slowly lifting to Hades. "It can't be that many…"

"How many years?"

"I swear, I didn't know-"

Hades' teeth audibly ground together as Arri put his hands up in front of himself, waving them quickly while shaking his head. "If you value your existence, you'll tell me the truth."

"When I became the Guide, i-it was right after her death… S-Seven-thousand years ago."

The couch Hades had been sitting on burst into flames. She jumped into Arri's lap, staring in horror at the fire before she looked back to the eerily serene face of the God of the Underworld. Hades snapped his fingers and the wall that Apollyon was affixed to exploded, sending the screeching God of Destruction sailing through the air toward them to land in a graceless heap on the ground.

"Math time, Abaddon," Hades said. "Let's be generous, and assume this mortal has been reincarnated an average of three times per century. How many reincarnations is that in 1,000 years?"

"S-Sir, I can explain-"

"That's 30 reincarnations, Abaddon." Hades reached down and wrapped a flaming hand around Apollyon's head, raising his voice just enough to be heard over the lesser God's agonized shrieks. "And if we multiply that by 7, what do we get?"

"P-Please!" Apollyon sobbed. "He's lying! I… Sir!"

"Over two-hundred reincarnations since this began." Hades squeezed slightly, and Lucy gulped when she heard one of Apollyon's horns break. "Guide, do you know why we only allow nineteen reincarnations?"

Arri shook his head. "That was actually never explained to me," he said.

"It takes the average mortal fifteen reincarnations to find all the pieces of their soul," Hades said. The flames covering Apollyon's head intensified, and Lucy covered her nose to block out the acrid stench of burning hair. "The better the mortal, the more pure they are, the fewer reincarnations they need. And other souls…?"

"They need another shot to get it right," Arri said slowly. "Why only nineteen, though?"

"Would you like to explain it, Abaddon?" Apollyon didn't answer. Hades dropped his head, and Lucy watched in amazement as his horn reformed and his hair grew back almost instantly.

"Sir, I-"

"Not the answer I'm looking for," Hades sighed. He flicked his hand one way and Apollyon was pinned to the floor by some invisible force. Hades' hand turned another way and four large spikes shot up from the floor, impaling Apollyon's hands and breaking through his hooves.

Lucy was highly unnerved when Hades smiled at her as though he wasn't torturing someone right then. "Is there… something wrong with me, now?" she asked.

"Mortals struggle to withstand reincarnations as they gain more shards of their soul," he said gently. "We've found that they can't handle more than nineteen, that's the limit. If a mortal hasn't been able to collect all the pieces of their soul by the nineteenth reincarnation, they're lost. They wander in the abyss."

"Which is his jurisdiction," Arri said, sneering at Apollyon. Two more spikes flew up from the floor, with one spearing through Apollyon's mouth and the other impaling his stomach.

"What about you?" Lucy asked, looking worriedly over at Arri. "Did you have all the pieces of your soul?"

"No," he chuckled. "Mine is incomplete for a mortal, but Ares gave me a piece of his armor."

"But what does that even mean?"

"It gave his mortal soul with divine blood the ability to transcend higher," Hades said, smiling over the concern showing so clearly on her face. "He's immortal now. Not quite a God, but more than the demigod he'd been while alive."

She sighed in relief at the news. So Arri would be alright. But she didn't have anything like that. She didn't have some super special God-Father that gave her a piece of divine clothing. No sweaty Godly Jock Strap. There was nothing protecting her soul during her couple hundred reincarnations.

"Wh-What about my soul, then?" she asked. "Am I gonna be okay?"

"I'm honestly surprised you're even able to exist at this point," he said.

Lucy winced and fidgeted slightly. "I-I mean, I guess I'm glad that I'm all exist-ey, but what happens now?"

"Good question," Hades mused. He looked down at Apollyon, then rolled his eyes when he saw the amount of blood pouring from him. The spikes piercing through him disappeared. Before Apollyon could say a word, Hades smirked. "I have an idea, though. Abbadon, do you know what my wife hates more than anything?"

"N-No, sir," he rasped.

"Baby killers," Hades said. Lucy was positive that, if she'd been alive, the look that he was giving the holey God on the ground would have sucked her fucking soul right out of her. Hades stood from his couch and it disappeared, then he turned and waved his hand to create a doorway made of flowers and flowing golden vines… from absolutely nothing. "Kore, could you come here?"

"Who?" Lucy whispered to Arri.

"His wife," he whispered back. "Most mortals know her as Persephone. The Goddess of Spring."

"Why does everyone seem to have thirty names?" she muttered. Arri simply chuckled, and then the door opened to reveal a voluptuous woman with almond eyes and flowing auburn hair. She was the picture of innocence. All she was missing, in Lucy's opinion, was a tiara made of daisies.

"I need a favor, my beautiful goddess," Hades said, quickly pulling her delicate fingers to his lips and kissing them.

"You always need a favor," Persephone smirked. "What is it?"

"S-Sir, no!" Apollyon cried.

Lucy frowned. This Persephone woman didn't look like she could hurt a fly. Why would he be scared of her?

"It's an extremely long story about these mortals here," Hades said, gesturing vaguely to Lucy and Arri. "But, I promise to tell you the whole thing later on."

"That sounds fair," Persephone mused. "What do you need?"

Lucy would by lying if she said that Hades looked anything other than sheepish when he spoke. "Torture this one? Just for a little bit."

"Hades," Persephone growled.

"He killed their baby!" Hades said, clasping his hands together. "And now I have to figure out why she isn't just dust in the ether after this one," he paused to kick Apollyon in the face, "tricked the Guide into reincarnating her a couple hundred times."

Persephone stared at her husband, then looked toward Arri. "You're the Guide?" she asked, and Arri nodded quickly. She turned her attention to Lucy. "And that must make you the reincarnation master."

Finally, she set her attention on Apollyon.

Lucy was highly unsettled by Persephone's smile.

"Hades, my king," she said. "You had me at baby killer."

"No!" Apollyon shrieked. He swatted at the thick, green vines that burst through the floor and wrapped around him. "Please, not her! Anything else! Hades, please!"

"Do I even want to know what will happen to him?" Lucy asked as Persephone kissed Hades on the cheek and walked back through the door with Apollyon being dragged on the ground behind her.

"It's probably better if you don't," Hades said. He smiled serenely as the door disappeared. "My wife is the best."

"I don't know what's creepier," Lucy whispered to Arri. "That freaky face she made, or the one he's making right now."

"It's a tie," Arri chuckled. He cleared his throat after a moment to get Hades' attention. "You mentioned a solution?"

"Right!" Hades said. "Follow me. Guide, I'll assume you can continue working while we handle this?"

Arri nodded. "I've been working this whole time," he chuckled. "Lots of souls to help right now."

Lucy blinked as Hades created another door that looked identical to the last. This bet he had with his wife was starting to make a little more sense, but she had a feeling that the God of the Underworld was having a little too much fun with it. Still, she held Arri's scarred hand tightly in hers and following Hades through the door and into blackness.

They emerged into a dark cavern lit with small bronze sconces along the walls. The ceiling was too high for Lucy to see, but she noticed the occasional stalactite when the light hit it just right. Hades led them along a narrow stone path with murky green water on either side.

"Don't look into the water," he said over his shoulder.

Lucy stopped herself from doing just that. "Why not?" she asked instead.

"Lost souls are kept here," he answered. Hades paused at a fork in the path, then turned left down thinner corridor. "If you look at them, they crawl out of the water, and then it's just nonstop moaning about how they need help."

"Why?"

He chuckled and shook his head. "You do ask a lot of questions," he mumbled. "The mortals who collect all of the pieces of their soul then move on for judgment. There is a panel of three gods who determine whether a complete soul goes to the Asphodel Meadows, Elysium - that's for the exceptional heroes - or Tartarus."

Just hearing the name gave Lucy chills. It made her wonder whether the demons of Tartaros had come from there. She hadn't lived a bad life. She'd been a good person in Earthland, but… none of this applied to her anymore. At least, she hoped it didn't. Because she had no clue what she'd done in her previous lives. Well, aside from knowing that her former Phoebe self had been a prostitute.

Hades gestured off to his left, and Lucy gaped at the sight of a literal river of fire running alongside them. "That leads to Tartarus," he said.

She continued asking questions about the things they walked past, trying to understand this Underworld she knew so little about, until finally Hades stopped in front of a pair of double doors with heavy iron bars running diagonally across them. He easily pushed one open and held it for herself and Arri to enter the circular room with a silvery dome ceiling. A thin moat of oil ran around the edge, and Hades set it aflame to give them light.

She jumped when his cold hand touched her elbow, glancing toward Arri who easily let her go.

"Relax," Arri said. "Hades will help."

Lucy took a shaky breath, then followed Hades' gentle guidance toward the center of the room. She waited as he circled around her, his fingers trailing across her shoulders until he came to a full stop in front of her. She hadn't put much thought into how tall he was until that moment, when he leaned down over her to look directly into her eyes.

"Let me see your soul." His breath was cold against her cheeks, sending goosebumps soaring over her arms and down her spine. She wasn't sure what he wanted though, because Lucy had assumed that she was already showing him her soul. That this was a manifestation of it. Was that not enough?

She learned a moment later when the left half of her body began to glow a soft gold. She lifted her hand and stared in amazement at her fingers. "Is this my soul?"

"You're missing half of it," he said.

When Lucy looked up into his icy blue eyes again, she found Hades frowning. Was that not good? After so many reincarnations, maybe she was supposed to already have all the pieces of her soul. And only having half of it was really really bad. Had she been slacking in her soul-gathering?

"This makes no sense," Hades spat, standing to his full height. He didn't look away from Lucy, instead choosing to study the wavering, sometimes jagged, pattern of her soul across the center of her body. "Unless…"

Arri froze when Hades' glowing blue eyes turned toward him. He shuddered, then stared down at himself to find the right half of his body glowing the same gold as Lucy's.

"You were right," Hades chuckled. His smile grew wider as he beckoned Arri closer. Once he was within arm's reach, Hades grabbed him and forced him to stand beside Lucy. He traced the pattern of Lucy's soul in the air, then Arri's. "She's the other half of your soul, Guide."

Lucy blushed when Arri looked at her again.

"I guess that explains why she was able to handle all those reincarnations," Hades mused.

It didn't, as far as Lucy was concerned, but she didn't have a chance to question him further on the matter.

Hades threw his head back and laughed. "You hear that, Aphrodite?" he yelled toward the ceiling. "I'm the master of matchmaking! I brought soulmates together! Take that!"

Lucy bit her lips to stop herself from laughing over the odd little victory dance that Hades did. For being the King of the Underworld, he wasn't very dignified. Then again, his strange behavior was actually starting to grow on her. She kind of liked that he was so mellow.

"So what does that mean?" Lucy finally asked. "I mean, Arri can't really stop being the Guide, right? And if I don't have a whole soul, then I can't be judged or whatever… Or can I?"

Hades stopped dancing to stare at her. "Well, shit," he sighed. "No, you can't be judged without a whole soul. They might be willing to make an exception, considering the circumstances - I can write a recommendation for that - but I'm assuming…"

"I chose Arri over being reincarnated," Lucy said, staring at her feet. She frowned. When the hell had she gotten this gorgeous white dress? Wait, why was she concerned over being clothed when there was a literal deity in front of her? "I don't want to be without him."

"And I can't leave," Arri said. "I chose this…" He grimaced while pulling her hands into his own, pressing his forehead against hers. "Lucy, you should go."

"But you just got me back," she said.

"You've got a chance to be free now," he countered. "Based on the last life you lived, you might even be able to go to the Elysian Fields. It's… It's paradise, from what I've heard. And you deserve that."

"Arri, I won't leave you behind," she said. "And there's no guarantee I'd go there anyway."

"Well," Hades said, wincing. "You did say that you're friends with Coeus."

"Who?"

"You called him the Celestial Spirit King," Hades said. "When you were praying for my help. He's my uncle."

"I'm sorry, Stache Face is your what now?"

"My uncle," Hades said again, then he laughed. "Oh man, I can't wait to call him that… Stache Face…" He snickered again, then shook his head to get himself under control. "Coeus is one of the original Gods, a Titan. When Zeus overthrew them, they didn't die."

"I thought they were locked in Tartarus," Arri said.

Hades shook his head with a smirk. "Not all of them. Only the ones who support Cronus. But Coeus took his wife and moved to a place outside of Olympus, where Zeus has no control. He governs over other universes in some capacity."

"So you're telling me," Lucy said slowly, "That when I nearly died to save Loke, and Stache Face came down and stopped time and all that… I was yelling at a fucking God?!"

Hades and Arri snorted at the bewildered look on her face.

"Oh man… I… I called him stupid! And a jerk! And so much worse! It was one thing when he was just the king, y'know?" She pulled away from Arri and started pacing back and forth. "I mean, sure he could've crushed me, and I kinda didn't really care all that much at the time, because I was trying to save Loke from dying because of that accident where he was trying to protect Aries from Karen, and then Karen died, and then he was being punished by the King."

"Does she do this a lot?" Hades whispered to Arri who only chuckled fondly.

"But now that I know he's a God? And not just any God but like, the fucking uncle of all these major gods here?! No wonder he was so huge!" Her arms dropped to her sides and she stared ahead blankly. "I-I ate dinner with them…"

Hades' head tilted to one side. "Pardon?"

She turned toward him, her eyes wide and vacant. "I got invited to the Celestial Realm, and Stache Face had this big feast with all of my spirits…"

"Your what nows?" Hades asked.

"Oh," Arri said. This was something he did know about. "In her last life, Lucy was a mage. She summoned spirits from the constellations that we know of as Virgo and Leo."

Lucy nodded. "Capricorn is the one who taught me all about you and the other gods. I guess…" She finally smiled while looking up toward the silver dome ceiling above them. "I guess maybe he knew more than he could say, and he wanted to give me a shot at happiness."

"So, you sat down in this…"

"Celestial Realm," she said."

"Right," Hades said. "You sat down there, and ate food from there, and talked with Coeus?"

"Well, yeah," she said. "He said he wanted to do something nice, and since we'd been stuck in stasis for seven years, he wanted to throw a party." She laughed while remembering how all of her friends had acted with her spirits. "He's a pretty good dancer, too."

Hades stared.

Lucy started feeling uneasy at the look he was giving her, so she chuckled and said, "I mean, I only went there twice."

"Twice?!"

"It's not a big deal!" she said quickly. "And the second time, I went because there was this whole crisis, and he was being sucked into this evil version of himself, and my spirits had all turned evil."

"And you… stopped this?" Hades asked.

"Well, my friends helped a lot," she said. "Actually, they did most of the work. My magic was on the fritz, since I couldn't summon my spirits at the time. I think it kinda started because I was giving all of them presents for helping us so much when the dragons attacked at the Grand Magic Games."

"You fought dragons?"

"Kinda?" Lucy said. "One ripped my clothes off and sent me flying naked through the air inside of a bell. That was… terrifying."

"Don't forget about the demons," Arri chuckled. He was actually rather enjoying the bewildered expression on Hades' face right then. "I might not have been all that involved at the time, what with being locked in prison, but I heard all of it."

Lucy laughed softly at the reminder of him having been Cobra in Earthland. He'd had the ability to hear her soul from nearly any distance. It almost made her wonder how Cobra had felt about it.

"Wait, demons?"

"Yeah, I ended up sacrificing a key and summoned Stache Face to beat their leader up." Well, that wasn't exactly how things had gone down, but it was a highly condensed version of the story.

"You're going to Elysium," Hades said. "After having lived a life like that, there's no other place for you."

"My friends in Fairy Tail did more than me," she said, shaking her head. "Like Natsu. He defeated his evil brother who was immortal, and he combined all the Dragon Slayers' magic to defeat an evil dragon's soul."

"It was pretty epic to watch," Arri chuckled.

"I don't care about the little details," Hades said. "You had direct, repeated contact with one of the Titans, and he even helped you in return. That pretty much guarantees passage to Elysium."

"But I chose Arri," she said again.

"That was before you knew about being able to go to literal paradise," Hades snorted.

She scowled up at him, grasping Arri's left hand tightly. "I chose to be with him," she said again. "In whatever capacity that is. After all the insanity we've both gone through, I think we deserve that much."

"This is true," Hades sighed. He considered them both for a moment, then turned his frown toward their clasped hands. He pulled up the sleeve covering Arri's left arm, his gaze roaming over the indented scars trailing down from his bicep to his wrist. Finally, Hades smiled.

Lucy watched as Hades' fingers barely brushed across the leather strip tied around Arri's arm, just above his scars. Hades looked into her eyes and slowly ripped a strip of fabric from his own black robe.

"I can't allow him to leave," he said softly. "But I won't force you to be apart. My wife will kill me if she hears about it."

Lucy laughed softly at that.

"I can do this much," he continued, holding the strip of sheer black gossamer out to her. "I can offer you the opportunity to work with him. Help to guide souls through their reincarnation." He smirked. "I have a feeling there are some souls you'll be better suited to handle."

"Like crying girls," Arri groaned. "I can't even with them."

Lucy laughed and nodded to Hades. She didn't even need to think about it. She'd already made her decision, and the last thing she was going to do was try and leave the other half of her soul behind. "I'd be honored, Lord Hades," she said softly.

"Now that's the kind of respect I deserve," he chuckled while wrapping the strip around her right bicep, then tying it into an intricate knot. "From now until the end of time, you will be the other half of the Guide. You will shed your mortality and serve in the Underworld for all eternity."

"I can dig it," she said softly, smiling up at him.

"Good," he said. "Now, you two kids get to work. Guide… I mean, Arri. Teach her what to do."

"Of course," Arri said, bowing his head. Lucy followed suit.

As they turned to leave the room, Hades called out, "And don't let all that hot makeup sex distract you from your duties!"

Lucy's cheeks flamed brilliantly as they left the domed room, with Hades cackling behind them.

It took a little time for Lucy to get acclimated to the way things worked, now that she was technically immortal and working with Arri as a Guide for reincarnation. He'd taught her how to create pocket dimensions for the souls she handled, but had her make them inside of his own pocket dimensions, just in case. And when Lucy tried to do it on her own without Arri knowing about it, and the dimension she'd made had wavered and literally popped, Lucy learned the hard way that souls couldn't normally withstand the ever-present pressure of the Underworld that acted as a security measure to ensure mortal souls didn't wander too far from where they should be.

She spent several days beating herself up over just standing there and watching as some poor soul exploded into little bits of dust.

After Arri explained that he'd done that hundreds of times when he'd been learning the ropes, she felt mildly better. And when she questioned why her soul hadn't been affected by the pressure in the Underworld, he'd explained that, while Hades had led them from one place to another, his power had wrapped around them to keep her safe.

He was honest when he said that she wasn't being given any souls that she'd known in her last life on Earthland. He assumed it would be too hard for her, and Lucy didn't make a habit of wearing a hood over her head like he did when dealing with mages from her past life.

That was another change that other immortals noticed in the Underworld. No one could remember having seen the Guide's face before. But when he and Lucy walked around together, exploring the vast caverns and just enjoying their quiet conversations, others noticed his thin nose and long maroon hair, and the scar bisecting his right eye. They also took note of the woman beside him, with claw-shaped scars traveling across her left cheek.

Hades heard - through the tittering chatter of some lesser gods walking down the hall by his chambers - a great many rumors of where the second Guide had come from. Everything from Arri having created her himself to alleviate his loneliness, to Arri stealing a soul from Limbo and convincing her to be his bride. It gave the God of the Underworld quite a bit of amusement to hear their wild stories during his breaks from torturing Apollyon for breaking the rules of the Underworld, challenging his authority, toying with the destiny of mortals past his own jurisdiction, jeopardizing the very fabric of reality by making a deal with the Guide (who was supposed to be entirely impartial), causing irreversible damage to the Guide (who was entirely untouchable, as their existence maintained balance for souls), causing undue stress to the Guide (by ripping out his soul repeatedly over 7,000 years)... and just because Hades generally didn't like him. He was a putz.

He did make a point of sending Ares a quick note to let him know that his son had finally found a way to get his lover back from Apollyon. Hades left out the details - those weren't nearly as important to the God of War as results - and instead attached a picture that he'd tasked another lesser being with capturing of Arri and Lucy together, smiling at one another. Try as he might, Ares would never be able to fully deny that he was a big softie under all the testosterone and rage. And, as his uncle, Hades fully reserved the right to tease him incessantly.

From very far away.

He didn't want his nephew barging in and ruining the decor.

Eventually, the story of Arri and Phoebe was discovered. Hades assumed that, after he'd told his wife the whole story, she'd gone out on one of her little day trips and blabbed to the other goddesses. That had to explain the very strange gift basket he'd gotten from Aphrodite with a card that read, "Don't tread on my territory, bitch."

Hades had laughed and framed it, much to his wife's chagrin.

Arri was amazed by how quickly Lucy picked up how to perform her job, and how much of a difference it made for him. Not only did he have half the amount of work as before - which was seriously tiring when one universe or another was having some stupid war - but with her by his side, he felt more aware; not quite more "alive," but something close to it.

It left him wondering on a daily basis if this was how souls felt when they were finally whole.

With Lucy around, he found reasons to smile in every interaction. He was no longer afraid of letting others see him. She didn't even react when he didn't make eye contact while they talked, and when he'd asked her about it one day, she'd surprised him.

"You're just shy," she said, leaning her head on his shoulder. "I actually think it's kinda cute."

There were still vestiges of his Phoebe in her - little quirks that were so deeply ingrained that Lucy didn't notice them at all - but her only memories were from her previous life. And the three most recent lives she could have gone to for reincarnation.

But he had to remind himself that, while she was the other half of his soul, she didn't remember everything that he did. She didn't know about the time she'd come to him as a bloody, sobbing mess, thanking him for her being dead and giving her new lives to choose from. He didn't want her to remember all the other lives she'd lived.

It just meant that, just as Lucy learned more about him every day, he had to learn about her as well. Just because he'd been Cobra in Earthland, didn't mean he knew everything there was to know about Lucy Heartfilia.

In all honesty, Arri rather liked being able to get to know her all over again.

"Uh, Guide… person?"

Arri shook his head and set his attention back on the unfamiliar soul in front of him. "Sorry about that," he chuckled. "Just lost in thought."

"Cool cool cool," Troy, he believed that was this soul's name, said. "So do I just pick a random door first, or…?"

"I usually say start with the left," Arri said, then chuckled. "My wife, on the other hand… She closes her eyes and picks one at random."

Troy stared. "You're… married?"

Arri waved his hand to dismiss the question. "Unimportant," he said. "Let's get this party started. Choose your first door."

Troy decided to start at the middle, and Arri watched him saunter through it. Once he was sure Troy was gone, his head bowed and he shifted from one pocket dimension to another. While moving between them, something crashed into his side and threw him off course. "What the actual fuck?!"

"Arri!" Lucy shouted, grinning up at him. "I made my own dimension, and the soul didn't go all Scanners with an explodey head!"

He laughed and wrapped his arms around her, humming in contentment as he will his hands to pass through the fabric of her silvery robe to touch the bare skin of her back. Her eyes fluttered for a moment while she soaked in the feel of his fingertips brushing so delicately over her skin.

For once, he was going to be bold. Forward. More direct.

Her sharp gasp as his lips claimed hers was everything he could have wanted. Arri couldn't remember how long it had been since Lucy chose to be with him, but he'd wanted to give her time to adjust to everything - and to get to know him - before they moved forward. He just couldn't help himself any longer.

And based on the way she kissed him back so desperately, how he felt her long, billowing sleeves drape over his shoulders, Lucy felt the same.

He laughed against her lips as Lucy pushed him against a nearby wall. Maybe it wasn't a wall. Arri didn't rightly care where they were when he felt her hands shift through his black robes to traverse the tightening planes of his stomach. She touched his scars - the ones Ares had left on his stomach and chest, his missing eye, the ones he'd given himself as a sacrifice to Ares on his arm - worshipped them with her hands, and then her lips and tongue.

Arri forgot how to function for just a moment when he finally pulled her robes off. When he felt the body that he remembered pressed tightly against his own, heard her soft voice whimpering his name, he forgot everything but this moment with her.

"Never forget that I love you, Lucy," Arri said against her trembling lips. She smiled and kissed him more intensely than before as he buried himself within her for the first time. She took his breath away all over again with just a kiss. For the first time in 7,000 years, Arri was happy that he didn't have to breathe.

It meant she never had to stop kissing him like this.

.The End.

Edit: I'd like to give PetitPendragon from FFnet a huge shout-out for pointing out to me that my math for the amount of times Lucy had been reincarnated was wrong. I'd originally written 200,000 when it should have only been 200. This is why you should always double check your math. The error has been fixed.