like you've nothing left to lose

It was the tiny calls that had drawn her to the base of this fir, tail held low. They'd been loud enough to catch her attention from the other side of the glade, but as she drew nearer, nares flaring as Hebe sought out the source, they grew fainter and fewer. Finally, she finds the squirrel kit, half-covered in needles. It is old enough to be covered in a downy coat of fur, but not old enough to navigate the canopy above with the same dexterity as its parents. 

"Oh!" comes her small, worried call, and she steps close to nose carefully at the little bundle. It squeaks, and manages a small wiggle, but still all too soon. Dread blooms in her chest, suddenly; she knows instinctively that whatever has broken inside the little kit can not be fixed. It doesn't stop her from lowering herself to the earth and wiggling nearer, drawing the bundle toward her chest with spindly forelimbs, brow furrowed in intense concentration as if she might be able to will the babe back to health.

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^^Death is his, after all. He was never the one to usher the souls to his domain or guide them to their places. He judged them, measured their worth, he assigned their final endless tasks. King of the Dead, the Unseen One, Aidoneus, Hades, Uncle - he found his niece and the dread that surrounded her and grasped her. “Hebe?” He said her name gently, approaching her at a pace that wasn't hurried in an attempt to keep her calm in turn. “What do you have there?”

She almost looked like she was guarding something, clinging to it in a way like it was either a treasure or a hidden mistake. Children were delicate like that. Despite what might have been the most absurd family upbringing, he knew that Hebe was still just a child at heart. “Can I see?” Hades lowered himself to his stomach, long arms stretched out and his tail curled around her soft little body. He wanted to help, if he could.^^
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Her muzzle lifts to find her Uncle, worry etched in the furrows of her brow. "Uncle," she greets softly, his approach eliciting a strange mix of gladness and further dread. She does not shift as he nears, unwilling to expose the still little bundle, certain that if she keeps it close to her chest, to her, she can will its tiny heart to beat. She can not bring herself to look down at it, either; as long as she doesn't, the motionlessness of its body means nothing, and neither he nor she can judge it to be dead or alive. 

 But when he settles beside her, something heavy lodges in her throat and at his question, she unfurls her forelimbs and reveals the tiny kit. It does not react when she noses it again, but there comes a tiny rise of its chest that has a wild thrill spark in her chest. It is soon smothered by dread all the same, and gaze turns to her uncle as she murmurs, "it's so small." She knows things die; death is an ancient, unbreakable thing. The sick, the old, those who die to sustain another, those who die at the hands of hate and rage. But this one shouldn't; it can't. "Sephy knows about plants, right? Herbs that can heal? Or—" But she's not seen Apollo, and she scrambles for another possibility.

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^^Hades didn't have to have children of his own to know the gloom that comes with dealing with the matters of life and death. This is his expertise after all. When Hebe relented and shifted her arms he can see the little body at her chest. Frail and tiny, even in her youth Hebe dwarfs it. “Oh,” It's such a tiny thing, not old enough to survive falling like that and not having its parents warmth to protect it. What a cruel lesson to have learned so early in life.

“Even if she did, sweetheart, it wouldn't have helped. Not without being able to put it back in its nest so it would stay warm and be with its parents.” Hades tried to be as gentle as he could when he leaned to press a kiss to her brow - to him, she still smelled like new and innocence. “I'm sorry we couldn't help it, but, it was very kind of you to tend to it.” Hades couldn't remember how old he was when he had been in the throws of war. Battling Titans wasn't exactly the way to cut your teeth to the cruel realities of the world, but, he'd known what the world was when his father had swallowed him up. That was something he never wanted to talk to with Hebe.

“If you'd like, we can take it to the river?” Hades didn't know what Hebe would want more, a place to bury it, or, to let the river take it as far as it would.^^
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Her brow knits as his answer is a soft yet firm negative, and though she knows he would not lie, Hebe can't help but doubt the truth of his words for a fleeting moment. His kiss is a reassurance, but her mind whirls as she tries to offer some other solution. But even as it does, the tiny creature emits a tiny, audible wheeze, before falling well and truly silent. Maw closes, and she finally offers a small shake of her muzzle at his suggestion. It'd be wrong to just leave it here, and should anyone know about the proper course of action to take, it'd be her uncle. "Does it hurt?" she wonders, gaze turning worriedly to him before moving to carefully pull the little creature into her grasp. It is only after a moment of hesitation that she does; it feels very different now, hollow and limp as it is.

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^^He let out a soft sound of apology when it seemed that the small thing was truly gone. Her question wasn't unexpected, a natural thing for any child to ask when it came to death. He'd had this conversation a number of times with his brother's children and had hoped that perhaps Hebe would be saved from death for awhile longer. He shook his head gently, nuzzling against her for a moment. “No, it doesn't hurt. Death...for many, it's like a gift. It brings peace and takes away pain and sorrows.” Hades wouldn't lie to her or soften the blows of life. As immortals they were blessed to not know that fear the way mortals did. “And for you to be here and keep it warm and safe is a kindness many don't receive in the end.” Hades felt it was so important to make sure that she knew the good she had done, even if they couldn't save it. If he'd been in his true form he could have flown it up and saved it. “I'm sorry, Hebe.”^^

For a time, the Uncle and niece stayed close together until he eventually ensured she was returned to her mother at the days end.
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