by Jasmine Walt
I swallowed, wincing in pain as I inched my way over.
I glanced back at the two men fighting in the warehouse. “Plutus,” I hoarsely whispered, trying to will him to win.
He must have heard me, because he paused for the blink of an eye to look back at me, our eyes connecting across the space. Even though he couldn't see, I knew that he could see me. We connected in that space and time.
He collapsed on the ground. Stephen towered over him, roaring as he held a clenched fist over Plutus. Another wooden plank was in his other fist, ready for the kill. His triumphant cry chilled me to the bone, even as I let out a weak yell for Plutus to get up.
In a movement that was too quick for me to see, Plutus was standing in front of Stephen, the two brothers facing each other. I was struck by how much the two of them looked alike. They were the same height, same dark hair, and same intense glare.
Stephen coughed and spluttered a mouthful of blood. I realized that Plutus' arm was sticking out of his torso. Incredibly, Plutus had punched him cleanly through the chest. His bloodied fist appeared on the other side of Stephen's body.
Stephen coughed again and let out a shuddering chuckle. “You...think you've won, huh?” he grimaced. “All I have to do...is live longer than you...”
I saw what was happening before it even started. “Plutus!” I screamed.
The wooden plank in Stephen's hand came down, stabbing Plutus in the back, exploding through his chest.
That broke the spell that held the two of them together. Plutus cried out in pain, as did I, and he stumbled backwards. Stephen staggered backward as well and they both fell to the floor.
“J-just...have to s-stay alive...” Stephen stuttered.
“We're both...dying, Stephen,” Plutus told him weakly. My heart broke for him. “Give it up.”
Give it up, a voice told me in the back of my mind. I had the overwhelming urge to sleep. To curl up and fall into blackness and forget all of this. But if Plutus was dying, he wouldn't be there on the other side for me. That realization hurt more than anything else I'd ever felt.
A tear fell. The least I could do was make sure that Stephen died first.
I summoned all my strength and reached up with my bad shoulder. My broken wrist was worthless now, so I had to use my left hand with the shoulder that didn't want to work correctly. Somehow, miraculously, I touched the God Gun.
I closed my hand around the handle. Yes, I thanked silently. Thank you.
I slung it down to me and used my right elbow to cock it, crying out in pain. My aim was going to be shit. I was going to miss.
I raised it up, trying to get the right shot. Ten feet, I thought to myself. I just have to aim ten feet.
“Please,” I whispered.
Stephen had enough time to meet my gaze, a look a horror crossing his face as he knew what was happening. “NO!” he hoarsely screamed in a futile attempt to stop me. It was the death rattle of someone who was quickly fading, yet determined to hang on just a few minutes longer.
I pulled the trigger.
Stephen's head exploded into a mess of flesh, bone shards and gore. It splattered the wall behind his body and all around him. The rest of his body slumped to the ground, never to move again.
My gun clattered to the floor. I couldn't hold it anymore, didn't want to. I was done with this and with everything. I took two very painful, steadying breathes before making my agonizing way across the room to the man I loved.
“Plutus,” I said raggedly. I winced, reaching out my left hand to him. I didn't want to look at my right arm, the one that Stephen had broken. I didn't want to take in how damaged my body was.
He was short, shallow breaths and the pool of blood beneath him was spilling out faster than mine. His wound was more serious than mine and he was fading faster.
The thought of spending an eternity without him in my Afterlife was unbearable. Not when I knew there were so many other people that got to spend their afterlives with the ones they loved. I started crying more as I reached out to touch his face.
“Don't...cry, C-Call...ista,” he whispered in between the loud, harsh coughs wracking his body.
Of course that made me sob even harder.
“It's...Callie,” I told him. I didn't know what else to say. He choked out a short breath, which I think was intended to be a laugh. I couldn't stand it anymore. If these were our last few moments together, I wanted them to be memorable. I leaned down, ignoring the bursts of pain everywhere else in my body and kissed him gently on the lips.
After a few seconds, the short, staggered rises and falls of his chest stilled and his body slackened.
My heart was pounding in my ears as I searched his face, touching it with my hand to try and get a response—any response out of him. I couldn't believe it. Sobs wracked my body, making me shudder with the weight of what had happened. I couldn't believe that this was...it.
“No!” I screamed hoarsely. “NO!”
My screams echoed throughout the warehouse.
The door to the warehouse burst open, revealing Tisiphone and a band of what looked to be misfits. I snapped my head up as quickly as my neck allowed and looked at them.
“Oh my Gods,” she said loudly as the rest of her group filtered out around her and into a loose circle around Plutus and I. Stunned, she met my eyes. “Oh Gods,” she repeated, “we're too late.”
As best as I could, I tried covering Plutus' body with my own. I didn't want anyone to see him broken like this. They had already judged him so harshly; I didn't want them to see this. Someone picked me up kicking and screaming. I was crying, hurting my body even more than it was, but I didn't want to leave his side. He had depended on me, and I had failed him.
“Please,” I was whispering. “Please help him...”
“Callie,” a familiar voice commanded. I turned my head to see Asclepius looking down kindly at me. His hand was covering my broken wrist, and I felt the nice, calming sensation of my bones being knitted back together. “Let me have a look at you.”
“Plutus,” I told him. “Look at Plutus...”
Asclepius sadly shook his head. He put his hand out and placed it around the shard of wood in my chest. The same warming sensation spread across my middle.
Another person, someone I didn't know, bent over Plutus' body, checking for his pulse. He was shirtless, with tanned, rippling muscles coiling all around his body. Golden hair topped his head, giving him the air of nobility. He looked like someone I should recognize. At that moment, I didn't care to think too hard about it.
“The God of Wealth is dead,” he said softly, reverently. Ordinarily, it would have been too quiet for me to hear from my vantage point, but because the rest of the warehouse was so eerily still and the man had an air of authority about him, I heard him very plainly.
Across the way, I saw Tisiphone stiffen. The rest of the group was stunned. I looked around at the myriad of faces, some human, some monsters. I saw Telesphorus and Hygieia in the crowd. The humans and harpies that were helping Stephen were all captured, their hands bound. They had the decency to not make any mocking noises. Lamia was nowhere to be found which, of course, didn't surprise me.
“That can't be,” another familiar voice proclaimed. “There always has to be a God of Wealth.”
I turned to see a hooded figure step forward. I narrowed my eyes, trying to place the way he held his shoulders and the walk. The figure knelt next to Plutus' body. He removed the hood, revealing himself to be Hades.
The other man stiffened. “You're not supposed to be here, Brother,” he boomed accusingly.
“Neither are any of these other gods,” Hades replied calmly. “Seems like your subjects are starting to make their own decisions.”
I went still. That's Zeus, I realized. Asclepius took that moment to pull out the shard of wood with a quick, sharp movement. To my credit, I didn't cry out too loudly, however, if I thought I was beyond pain, I was wrong. That really hurt.
“Hades,” Zeus said warningly.
Hades met Zeus' gaze calmly. “There always has to be someone at each post, or have you forgotten that, Brother?”
Hera appeared at her husband's side. She glared at me, then put a strong hand on her husband's arm. “No, he has not forgotten that, dear Brother.”
Zeus crossed his arms, neither giving Hades an affirmation, nor telling him otherwise.
Hades looked back down at his son. “I've lost one son tonight,” he said. “I'm not going to lose Plutus.”
He reached out with one pale hand and touched Plutus' still forehead. Instantly, it got very cold in the warehouse. Everyone's breaths turned into white clouds as they watched, transfixed by what was happening in front of them.
The light seemed to dim around the two of them, and Hades glowed with an ethereal blue light, which spread to Plutus' body. It seemed that whatever Hades was doing was leaching the very energy out of the air around him. I could see that Hades' body was shaking with the effort, sweat beading up on his brow. I'd never seen a god sweat before.
An eternity passed. The only sound I could hear was the pounding of my heart in my ears.
Hades reached down and gently lifted Plutus' upper body off the ground. He grunted as he deftly pulled out the stake in his back, then gently set his son back down.
Just when I thought I would go crazy with worry, Plutus' chest rose raggedly. Another few heartbeats passed and it rose again. Slowly, his eyes opened, and a high-pitched, strangled noise escaped my throat.
Hades staggered backward, his once salt-and-pepper hair now completely white. He looked older, more haggard. I also noticed that Plutus' sleek black hair was peppered with white. Like he had come back from the dead.
“This is breaking the rules, Hades,” Zeus protested, although the vehemence was gone from his voice. “You broke your own rules.”
“I am the God of the Underworld,” Hades said. He extended a hand to Plutus, who took it to stand up. “The Dead are my subjects, even if they don't have souls.” He glanced back at me.
Asclepius let go of me and I stumbled my way over to Plutus with a cry. I collapsed in his arms, and he held me tight.
“I came back to tell you,” he whispered in my ear, so softly, I was the only one who could hear, “that you're Callista. It means beautiful in Greek. Which you are.” He nuzzled my neck.
“Don't ever die again,” I told him firmly, not realizing what I was saying.
Plutus heavily sighed with a hint of sadness. “I can't. Not anymore.”
I leaned back to look at him. Those blind, milky white eyes searched me with a recognition that he hadn’t had as a powerless mortal like me.
“Oh my God,” I whispered in shock. “You're a god again.” I touched his face, not believing what I was seeing.
“Plutus!”
Persephone appeared, crying her eyes out. Unlike her other emotions, sobbing did not look good on her. I stepped back, allowing her to embrace her son. She had just been about to lose him as well. It had taken something like this for her to realize how much Plutus meant to her.
“I'm so sorry for all those horrible things I said to you,” she was saying. “I'm so sorry, I've been a horrible mother.”
“It's fine, Mother,” he told her stiffly. He nodded curtly to Hades. “Thanks, Dad.”
“There always has to be a God of Wealth,” Hades repeated. He seemed tired now, yet he was smiling. “I'm glad it's you.” He grinned, looking at me. “Thank you, Callie.”
All I could do was shrug, which now didn't hurt because my shoulder was healed. Around the circle, several others appeared. I instantly recognized Dion and grinned at him. Everyone was here to witness the fact that Plutus was alive and in control of his powers again.
There was still one question that remained for me.
“How are you a god again?”
Plutus shrugged. “Tiresias said that Hercules had to die to be deified,” he said. “Maybe that's what happened.”
“But he said you can't go back to being a god,” I said. I couldn't connect the dots. Some part of me was afraid about the implications of this.
“I couldn't very well tell him 'bout dis, could I?” I turned my head and nearly jumped when I saw Tiresias step forward beside me, grinning blindly. “If I had, he never wudda been able to do dis. It's about knowin' how much o' what you're gunna say is gunna impact de future.”
I must have looked absolutely shocked because the prophet laughed. “Ye t'ink dat a bullet would kill me?” he asked. “I'm immortal. I'll live so long as dere's a future to tell.”
I wanted to beat him up for not telling us about that sooner. It seemed like the wrong place for that, though.
Plutus reached out to me. I grabbed his hand and was pulled into another embrace. I never wanted to let him go, not again.
“We were busy fighting Stephen's cronies outside,” Tisiphone was explaining behind me. “We would have gotten in sooner, but they were vicious bastards. If I had known we had Zeus and Hades with us...well, we would have arrived earlier.” She sounded a bit peeved about that.
“Thanks, Tisiphone,” I said sincerely. She'd come through for us.
Plutus held me in a strong embrace, and I held him back. I didn't want to let him go. Except there was something in the back of my mind saying that this wasn't going to last.
Finally, Zeus stepped forward, putting a gentle hand on Plutus. “We'll all leave to give you time to say your good-byes.”
I reared my head back at that. “What?”
The others were already dissolving into the background. Tisiphone looked remorseful and Dion met my eyes with a slow, sad nod. Hera was watching me keenly, and I swear she was smiling at me. Smugly?
“What?” I repeated.
Plutus had a stricken look as he gently stroked the side of my face. This was what I was dreading. I didn't want this. I thought I had lost him only moments ago. How could I lose him for real this time?
“As the God of Wealth,” he whispered huskily, “I have to stay in the Underworld. I can't live in the mortal world with you.”
The answer came to me and I perked right up at the idea. “I'll just jump in front of another bus,” I said. It made complete sense. It happened once, I could have it happen again. “I'll stay with you.” I hugged him.
Plutus was shaking his head. “You can't just commit suicide like that,” he said with a bitter laugh. “You wouldn't end up where you wanted to in your Afterlife.” He held my face in his hands, forcing me to look at those beautiful milky white eyes. “So that means you have to live, Callie,” he told me. “Live your life. Enjoy it. And if you still want me in forty, sixty, eighty years…” he gave me a small grin, “I'll be here for you.”
My heart was breaking all over again. “I can't do that,” I whispered. Dammit, I was crying again.
“You're going to have to,” he told me, embracing me. “You're going to have to live your life.”
That didn't make me feel any better. He ran his hands through my hair, letting me cry into him. I knew this would happen, ever since I first allowed myself to like him. I knew that we were doomed to be kept apart. Sure, whenever I did die, I could go to him. That was small comfort right now, when the rest of my life stretched out like an eternity in front of me.
“I'll always be watching you,” he promised.
Watching but never with me.
“It's unfair,” I said. “It's so, so unfair.”
He kissed me deeply, brushing my tears away with his thumb. “You gave me a reason to exist again, Callista. You gave me peace. And I'll be waiting for you when you pass into the other side. I love you.”
“I love you more.”
He kissed me again. I clung to him, not wanting this moment to end. We stayed like that for way too short a time. He held me tightly. My rock, my love.
Suddenly, I fell forward to the ground, catching myself on my hands and knees. I couldn't stop crying. He was gone. While he might have been able to watch me at points, I couldn't be with
him. Not the way I wanted.
I must have stayed like that for a long time. I don't know. When you want decades to pass by in the wink of an eye, even minutes seem to turn into millennia.
Eventually, a hand touched my shoulder. I turned my head through the tears to see Dion kneeling next to me. A look of remorse crossed his features.
“I am so, so sorry, Callie.”
I moved and wrapped him up into an embrace. He held me as I cried. Right now, I needed a friend.
And luckily, I had one.
Epilogue
Three months later
I was suspended from the San Francisco Police Department. The evidence mounted against me suggested that I had stalked the billionaire Stephen Cross, used police resources to do so, and was somehow caught up in whatever group shot him in the face and eventually killed him.
Luckily, Dion came to my rescue with a bunch of fabricated evidence to exonerate me. As a god, it didn't surprise me that he could that, but the efficiency and the airtight alibis were amazing. He presented all of the facts, had fake documents for my transfer from UCSF Medical Center to another hospital, which explained my disappearance, and a whole host of other bits that worked in my favor.
They condemned Stephen for his involvement in a whole bunch of dirty crimes. What I had been investigating before the bus accident was only the tip of the iceberg. Stephen had his hand in many pies. That hit the media like an atomic bomb.
Instantly, I was a hero. People praised my intuition. I actually became a little famous, as the woman who stopped the corrupt billionaire from hurting thousands, if not millions of people. I even got an apology from Commissioner Forrest, which in itself was worth the whole suspension ordeal. However, by that point, I'd had enough of the politics dealing with the police. Nothing seemed to matter anymore.
I quit and moved in with my mother. After my coma and my heroic deeds, she was only too happy to fuss and worry over me. I was just glad for the break and for the chance to allow my hair to grow back.
Then I started throwing up in the mornings. I should have realized that it would have happened. I mean, having sex with someone without birth control tends to create babies. When you're in comas, they don't keep you on birth control. And I was so distraught after losing Plutus that I didn't even think about taking a morning after pill.