2000 years,
wasn't I punished enough for 2000 years already? I fought against the erasure of my very existence for so long, with only one goal in mind: you.
Elpis held the black rose Pride gave her. She was forced to remain in the Underworld until the threat Wrath, Envy and Greed paused was under control. She hated being sidelined like that. Especially since she wanted to help and protect her beloved but he denied her this very right « out of protection », he claimed, but she knew better. She felt like she had traded one prison to another and it didn't sit well with the goddess. She had been waiting for 2000 years, struggling to stop the reincarnation cycle and to communicate with her vessels. It didn't work, it never did, up until this very year when finally she reached out to Asma and scratched her seal. 2000 years were nothing in the eyes of godhood, but to her, it felt like an eternity. It felt as such because she was alone and you couldn't trap Light. You couldn't leave her alone. Yet, she was. Trapped with herself, the only thing that helped her through was the memories she shared with Pride. The days they spent together, his struggle and the plans they laid for their future. He was to be crowned king, he was to be independent. He was to start a revolution and become more than what Hades intended for him to be. He did, in his own terms, in his very own way, as a new Pride. She had to give it to him, the determined mind of her beloved transcended the punishment Hades gave him.
I wanted to find you, I needed to find you again. The memory of you was the only thing that allowed me to keep standing and yet, yet there was nothing I could do, nothing but accept the Pride I once knew and loved was no more.
He was unmade, that was the tragedy of it all. He was unmade and remade by a god who saw him as a threat. The compassion and understanding she managed to introduce him to were washed away from his essence. « A stronger form », a «perfect form » as Hades would call it was the reason for his demise. Pride's resolve to become his own person was amplified by this transformation. He had no restraints, no reasons to hold back, nothing but his will to conquer and destroy and it was too late when Hades realized what mistake he made. So that was it, Pride became a ruler, but at what cost? First came the shock to realize that this Pride wasn't the Pride she sacrificed everything for. He didn't know her, he didn't feel for her, he didn't care like his old self did. She hit a wall, hurt herself against it and the realization felt like a nightmare. Did she do all of this for nothing? Was it a lost cause? Was he gone for good? Questions filled her mind as she looked at the black rose. He went through a lot of trouble, even risked being unmade by her siblings all to get to them. She knew it was revenge that took over. She knew it was the need to make them pay that drove Pride but she also noticed there was a little more to him than what met her eyes. Because of her very nature, Hope compelled her to keep a hopeful mind and at least try and reach out to him but that evening, she was confused and upset.
He was replaced by a new version of him, by you. And if I am being very honest with myself, you are a whole new person. I have to start over.
She wanted to take part of his revenge against his siblings. The ungrateful brats who couldn't realize they were all but spawns of the true perfect sin. They failed to see how hard he fought for them and how willing he was to share his power and grandiose project with them. They ruined their chance to be with him and bit the hand that set them free. She understood how he felt, the anger, the hatred, the sense of betrayal for she felt the very same. Her own siblings conspired against her and tried to have her killed. It was the love Ishtar had for her that saved her from certain death. But it hurt her to see him stab her with the Dagger of Fate, and even harder to empathize with him and realize Ayasha was the one behind the attack, out of pure jealousy and a desire to reign supreme. The loss of her siblings, the faithful and loyal brothers and sisters she had felt like someone broke her body into pieces, a punch in her stomach, a wound that kept tearing itself open...she needed to avenge their deaths, destroy her pantheon, made Ayasha and Ishtar pay for what they did. And yet... and yet, here she was, locked in the Underworld, with nothing else to do by thinking by herself. He isolated her, under the guise of « protecting » her. He put her in a very pretty box where all she could be waiting for him to come to visit her. Was it what she wanted? Of course not.
You're testing me, the love I claim to have for you, the love I know I have for you. And all I can do is accept because there is no other way.
It was a challenge, one she was forced to take because if she didn't, then what would be left of her? Pride was her everything, she gave her life for him and now that she was given a chance to live again, she had to find him again. His essence was there, she could feel it. The very essence she fell in love with, except harder, harsher, and even more cruel than the first time around. She felt it being sharp and being difficult to get close to, but Asma managed to soften the edges a little bit. She smelled the rose as if to give herself some strength and closed her eyes. There was a chance for them to start over, to build something even better. After all, she also changed over the millennia. Despite being hopeful and positive, she also harnessed anger and a destructive power along with it. She embraced her darkness and eventually, from their true reunion, something greater could exist. After all, she had changed....after all, they were different yet the same. From the ruins her heart was at this moment, a little sparkle of hope ignited a fire in her heart. It was decided, she would try to know this new version of Pride, she would try to build a future with him. It didn't matter that the goddess was scared of what she might find, or scared of not being able to reach out to him. It could end as fast as it started but at least she would have tried. Pride had been let down all of his life, by people who claimed to care for him. He had been abandoned by everybody BUT Lust. She wouldn't add her name to the long list of his enemies. She wouldn't add her name to the long list of people who turned their back on him. The thought made her furrow her brows but she was determined now. She would try her best to show him that there was more to him than just destruction and dread. He deserved more, he deserved love and she would give him hers, as she did before, as she said she would if they met again...Now was the time.
-TBC-
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