Pride and Asma: He said the words

A/N: a short one darling. I thought I could write more but Nah, tonight wasn't my night. can't get over what he told her <3 I hope I'm not screwing him up but couldn't resist writing it 1st person xD

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He tried, he really tried not to think about the human for a while. It was simple, wasn't it? She had to give her life to set Elpis free and given how eager she was to make him happy, it would have been easy to manipulate her into giving her life wouldn't it? He would have compelled her, even soothed her fears enough for her to make the ultimate sacrifice. He didn't care about her, why would he? She was human, she was less than a blink of an eye to him. She was annoying and whiny and fragile and disposable. Bullshit.

He wished it was this easy but truth be told, it wasn't. Of course, the SIN wanted to save the goddess and have her back into his life. After all, she was stolen from him and he lost millennia with her, millennia where he might have felt complete and less angry, less.. lonely. But it didn't happen that way. He lost it all. He forgot about Elpis and went on his life as if she had never entered it. He would get her back, but only because he was petty and angry and wanted to avenge himself. Bullshit.

To this day, Pride was confused. They looked alike, almost as if they were twin sisters and yet there were differences, small but noticeable. One was the vessel of the other, the shell that contained the other but she was her own person. She wasn't /just/ the human he had to put up with until Elpis was free. She wasn't /just/ the burden he carried over from safe place to safe place. She was more. She became more and he let her know in a moment of rage.

How dare she accuse him of not caring about her while he was doing his very best to find a way to save her life? How dare she accuse him of not caring about her while he protected her from a pantheon and actual sins who were after her? HOw dared she? when Asma came to Pride and angrily screamed at him that he left her to rot alone and she felt lonely, he couldn't contain his anger. his eyes darkened and he furiously lashed at her.

Words he would never say forced their way out of his lips and for a brief moment, he felt exposed. She knew. He could tell she knew given how wide her eyes were when she listened to him. "I refuse de release Elpis until I can find a way that will spare your life!" it wasn't the only sentence he said that night that left her speechless but it certainly was the one that hit the worst, in the best way possible. He cared. He knew it all along but refused to see it until that evening. He cared and the more he spent time with Asma, the more he realized how much she meant to him in such a little time.

It was her name that was at the tip of his tongue, her face he kept seeing when he was in the Underworld and away from her for weeks. It was her scent he kept smelling even when she wasn't there and it definitely was her painting he thought about. Images of her sitting on the floor with a big tea mug next to her and her fingers filled with paint and this were making a complicated situation even more complex.

They were two sides of the same coin, the vessel and the goddess. They were alike and yet so different and they both loved him. One was willing to sacrifice herself to set his rightful beloved free so he could be happy and the other sacrificed said life out of love for him. How could he dismiss any of them? at least, not until he put a name on what he truly felt for each of them. He would have had both if he had his way, he was Pride after all, but neither Asma or Elpis would want to share him. Especially not Elpis who was known for her temper. Maybe he didn't like Asma as much as he thought he did, maybe it simply was the fact she looked like his beloved so much. Maybe he liked her more than Elpis but he refused to say so because she was human and Pride was notorious for hating humans.

It didn't matter, he said the words.

(TBC)