The room they were in, for the first time, was actually a room with a real door. She hadn’t noticed before in her panic, but as Hades led them out of it it was the best thing she ever could have experienced. 

Despite having left her home at sundown only a few hours before, the sun outside was shockingly bright, setting the view before her at its best. Countless flowers spread out before her of all different shapes and kinds, glowing and growing in the warmth of the sun. They seemed to go on forever, reaching out into the distance. 

“Amazing…” she breathed, her acknowledgement unintentional. Hades continued to walk on, leading her to a small path winding through the fields.

“This is beautiful.” She turned her face up to the sun and as it warmed her thought for the first time that her fate wasn’t the worst it could be. This wasn’t the real sun— there was no way it could be, considering they were in the underworld— but it was close enough. She could pretend, and the nightmare could maybe turn into a dream again.

“My name is Leo.”

Hades spoke quietly, using the same tone as he had the first time he had spoken to her and completely ignoring everything she had said before. Risa held out a hand to the various flowers as she passed, letting her fingers trail gently along the edge of the petals. So, this wasn’t Hades? Then who was he? When would she meet Hades? Still, she found herself relaxing at the thought that this person wasn't the King of the Underworld, as though she could trust him just a little it more.

“Leo? I see… Will I meet Hades soon?”

Leo looked at her, a little startled, and then cocked his head to the side to contemplate her. “No, I don’t think so,” he said. “For now, I will guide you.”

Risa nodded again, feeling slightly lightheaded by the sun and the warmth and the sweet scent from the blossoms. She trailed behind him and found another flower to admire, the petals a rich cream color with small pink speckles near their tips. She had never seen anything like it before. 

“I still owe you…” she trailed off as Hades— Leo— paused and looked back at her; she had stopped walking again to look at a flower that was a midnight blue color, shockingly different with long thin petals that twisted at the end. It was the only one she could see that was remotely like it, though she was having trouble seeing far. 

“Yes you do,” Leo said to her as she trailed to take another step— and stumbled. “And I won’t forget it.”

The world began to spin, far more than it should have. Leo was standing there, watching her with those dark eyes, and for a moment in delirium she wondered if there was any way he wasn’t a lord of the dead. She fell to her knees as the world began to blur at the edges, only seeing Leo leaning down towards her as the world went completely dark.

********

She was counting again. Over and over again, but this time she never went higher than two. One, two. One, two. One, two. In the hazy place between awareness and sleep she didn’t realize it was a heartbeat, and she didn’t realize that it was far too slow.

Risa blinked awake slowly, her hand on her chest over her heart. She knew that she had dreamed, still felt the slow, seeping panic that was with it, but couldn’t remember exactly what it was. She only knew that she was counting over and over and over…

She took deep breathes as she slowly worked herself out of it, taking in her surroundings and letting herself wake up gently. She didn’t remember exactly what had happened. She found herself still dressed, curled up under a mound of soft blankets in bed, and slowly sat up.

“You’re awake.”

Risa’s head snapped to the side as Leo spoke, drawing awareness to his presence in a chair near the side of her bed. 

“What did you do?!” Risa snapped, memories pouring back to her as she saw him again. “I was just fine and then all of the sudden… what do you do?!” She couldn’t help but remember the way he had watched her, had done nothing. Like he was expecting it.  She slid towards the far side of the bed, ready to run if she needed. It didn’t matter how useless it would be; she would try. And if he wasn’t Hades, maybe she could find him and ask for help…

“Would you calm down?” Leo’s voice was far from harsh, but it wasn’t precisely gentle either. “I didn’t do anything. Why would I need to?”

Risa paused. He was right. He could have chosen much simpler methods that were much less effort on his part. And as far as she knew there was nothing he even wanted from her. “So then… what happened?” She was getting far too bold far too quickly, but somehow fear just seemed irrelevant. She stayed on the edge of the bed, but went no further. 

Leo leaned back in the chair, crossing his legs and resting his hands on his knees. “Just as your friend was dying from too little, so are you. Without the energy of the underworld, you won't be able to survive here. For now, it will just be small spells like this, but eventually it will be worse.”

Risa looked him over while he spoke, trying to follow. “Just as Ravi had too little… the seeds? Because he only had one of the seeds?” Leo nodded, and understanding dawned. “Because I only had five.” He nodded again.