Note: there are mentions of violence in this, as well as torture (in the lands of punishment within the underworld and Tartarus) and talks of death as well. 

_____

Ha Sooyoung had told herself that she'd never fight for a god. That had been lifetimes ago.

And now she fought for a goddess. The goddess of wisdom and warfare. Haseul.

She'd fought her way into the land of the dead, she'd convinced Charon to let her across (it helped he knew not to deny her), and she'd snuck past the spirits. They stood stuck in their eternity, some still with their memories, others losing them with each passing day. If days existed for the dead.

If she survived every battle, Sooyoung would never join them.

But as she crept through the land of the dead, she found glimpses of peace. The skies held no hope for day and the air held no wind, but it was quiet. It calmed her in a way she wouldn't have expected now, covered in blood that was quickly drying, both her own and that of others. Any and all wounds were already healed.

Sooyoung picked up her speed. The further into the underworld she got, the more she heard something that made the hairs on her neck rise. She knew what awaited her, but the sounds still felt so wrong. It was as if she was leaving an enchantment placed over Elysium that stopped the sounds of agony from reaching the dead spared from punishment.

Sooyoung ran. She didn't need to hide from any spirit that saw her here or anything else. She'd fight. She wanted to.

The silence hung over her. Not even her steps were loud enough to fill it. Sooyoung needed something else to fill her ears. If that was the sound of a blade, she'd welcome it.

She could see the glow of fires. Not for the first time, Sooyoung wondered if she'd go there if she ever died. She hadn't killed enough to deserve the most horrible fate after death. She'd done enough that there was a small hope of going to Elysium too, but that would depend on her judges.

Where could a god go? She only knew of a few who had died, but no one knew where they went. If they even went anywhere. The thought of her simply vanishing, no hope of bringing her back or even seeing her, it terrified her.

She pushed the thought from her mind. The voices from the edges of Tartarus were reaching her ears. She wouldn't look. She'd already seen those horrors.

Sooyoung knew she'd stepped over the boundary when the air became uncomfortable. It was never just warm or cold. One step and she felt the hairs on her arms rise, but the next she breathed in air that almost burned her lungs.

And it was louder. Finally.

Sooyoung moved passed all of it. She kept a hand on her blade. Some of them knew not to stop her, but there were a few that would want little more than to get living blood on their hands. Especially hers when they could inflict a new wound on the same spot every few seconds.

She shuddered. Being here could've brought her several unwanted memories, but if she didn't look long at anything, she'd be alright.

Still, the thought made her run faster. 

Someone intercepted her. Sooyoung lifted her blade. The air was hot here. She caught the sword that came down on her. Its edge was serrated. Not meant for a fight.

She ducked under the next blow and knocked their legs out from under them. They landed on the ground with a sickening crack. It wouldn't kill them. It was a woman.

She looked up at Sooyoung, dazed. She grabbed her by the hair and slammed her head back into the ground. She fell limp and bleeding.

Sooyoung kept going, smiling when she saw others back away and go back to the dead they could dole out their punishments to. Not all of them were completely cruel. Some were people she'd shared a drink with in the halls of Hades, even a laugh or two.

She ran past the wailing dead and towards the place where true horrors lay. Where her goddess was now too.

Sooyoung came to the steps then. Sharp corners that were speckled with blood from millennia of the foolish who dared to come into Tartarus. The blood was either from the descent that cut and burned through their shoes, or from their desperate escape as they clawed their way up. 

She began her descent.

Sooyoung grit her teeth as the pain started. She'd only been on the steps for five minutes, but she could feel the heat across her feet. The hard rubber covering her soles was already starting to melt. The blisters would start forming, but they'd fade too.

Her ears were full of the sounds of punishment. She covered her ears. She'd already heard this. She'd seen everything. She didn't need to suffer it more. She just needed to get to her.

When she finally reached the base, she dug into her pack and pulled out another pair of shoes. She peeled the sticky rubber off her feet, ignoring the pain across her fingers. She put the new ones on and started running.

There were voices that crept through the screams, shouting after her or cursing her. Sooyoung didn't listen for more than that. She didn't look. She knew where to go. She knew where they held gods. That was where the fight would be. 

Sooyoung saw them in the distance. Those who oversaw in Tartarus wouldn't have been intercepted the others coming here, a goddess in tow. The Furies did more, but even they didn't mind prisoners being brought into Tartarus. They didn't mind them being freed either, unless they were one of their prisoners.

It was good Sooyoung wasn't here to do that this time. They'd know that too.

She took one of their lookouts by surprise, one that was replaced fast enough by the agony inflicted by her blade. Sooyoung tore the blade from their hand. One look at the metal and the feel of its heaviness told her all she needed to know.

They were here to kill a god.

And so Sooyoung fought. It didn't matter which faces she saw now. She would remember them later. She only looked at where she needed to strike them. The neck, a stomach, the heart, their arms—whatever that meant.

She felt the gashes open on her cheek, sides, on her neck, even her chest. They sealed, even if an organ was struck. The injuries were crippling for a moment, but she always needed to keep fighting. They would seal. The moment her leg collapsed, the ligaments torn or bone broken, she needed to use her arms to ward them off. If she let herself fall, then the wounds would never stop and she'd risk losing herself to unconsciousness. Then she'd be trapped here again. So would Haseul.

There weren't that many there to guard. That worried her. It meant that some had left. It meant that they didn't think they needed more.

It meant she was hurt.

The last one fell. Sooyoung pulled the knife from her chest and felt as the broken fingers in her hand righted themselves again while her lungs sealed.

She didn't look at the bodies. She only looked at the figure behind all of them. She ran.

Haseul hung by her arms from a pole shoved into the ground. Mortals hadn't made it, but it wasn't from Tartarus either. Gold matted her hair and covered her clothes. Blood.

Sooyoung slammed the blade into the chains. They shattered. She caught Haseul in the next moment, stopping her from falling to the ground. She lifted her just enough so that her feet wouldn't touch the ground anymore. Her own were almost numb to the fire held in the sand.

"Soo." Haseul blinked, looking up at her, as if waking from a dream. They were bloodshot, tinged with gold. "Were you hurt?"

Sooyoung almost smiled. "You know that can't happen."

"Didn't answer my question." The smallest of glares was sent her way.

"Doesn't matter anymore," Sooyoung told her. "Can you walk? Or can I carry you?"

Then clarity filled her eyes. "Why the are you here?" Anger laced the words, even through the pain.

"You're here." Sooyoung sheathed her sword, before putting her arm under her legs and picked her up fully. She wondered if she'd manage to get them up the stairs properly. It didn't matter. She was here. Haseul was alive.

"You didn't have to come."

"They were going to kill you," Sooyoung said. She broke into a light jog, wanting to keep the contact with the ground to a minimum, but she was so tired. She kept her eyes on Haseul. Even exhausted, parched, bloodied, and bathed in the harsh light of Tartarus, she was so beautiful. It didn't matter that there was a fury brewing under the surface.

"And you came back here," Haseul gripped the front of her shirt, "why did you come?"

"They told me where you were," Sooyoung replied. No one tried to stop her. They were impartial to everything going on above. Most probably didn't know, but they would know who Haseul was, but they hadn't tried to save her. Sooyoung shoved the anger down at that. She just wanted to get out of here.

"And they let you go?" Haseul looked furious now. "I'll—"

"All you're going to do is recover from these past weeks."

"I'll heal within days," Haseul replied. "Less." Then she twisted out of her arms.

"Wait—”

Haseul fell down to the ground. She screamed and clutched at her side.

"Why did you do that?" Sooyoung pulled her to her feet. "You're hurt."

"I'm a god," Haseul looked at her, tears already falling from her eyes, "you're not going to carry me." She started walking.

The stairs were drawing closer. Sooyoung saw how Haseul's eyes drifted around Tartarus. Horror was replacing the frustration and pain there.

"Don't," Sooyoung started.

"Stop.” Haseul just kept walking. She was still looking.

“Stop looking,” she hissed. “You don’t need that haunting your dreams too.”

“You think it can get a lot worse than this?”

Sooyoung bit back what she wanted to say. They’d reached the stairs. She could see that her bloody footsteps had already dried.

"You had rubber soles?" Haseul asked as they walked up. She was wincing with each step.

"I didn't really have time to plan," Sooyoung replied. "Are you sure you don't want me—"

"Yes, Sooyoung." Haseul looked her way. "I'm not that unaccustomed to pain."

She looked away at that. She didn't want to think that Haseul's screams had been a part of the depths of Tartarus. She didn't want to think which of Haseul's wounds had healed that she'd never know about. She didn't want to think about the ones she had now or the ones she couldn't see.

"Thank you," Haseul said after a few more metres of steps. "You didn't have to come, but you did. I know that," she hesitated, her face still twisted by pain, "someone else could've come. You know that." She looked at her. "I know what this place means to you."

"And what you mean to me."

She paused then. Sooyoung pushed her along then. They wouldn't spend longer on the steps than they had to. It felt as if the numbers of steps had doubled on the ascent. She wouldn't be surprised if the steps were one last punishment, even if you were allowed to leave Tartarus.

"And the rest would've been too slow," Sooyoung said. "They wouldn't have known where to go."

Haseul didn't reply, but she nodded.

When the dark sky of the underworld started to appear, Sooyoung found the strength to go up the stairs faster. So did Haseul.

The air was still warm where they emerged, but it was nothing compared to the fire. The ground didn't burn her either.

And then she heard Haseul let out a sharp breath. She almost thought she was going to break down, but when she looked up, Haseul was standing straight, hand still at her side.

"We're here," Haseul said quietly. "Feels like fresh air and we're still in the land of the dead." She laughed softly.

Sooyoung went over to her, she reached for her hand, avoiding the wrist still ringed with burns. "I," she started. felt thick.

"Let's get to Elysium?" Haseul squeezed her hand, before raising the other to her cheek briefly. "We'll both feel better the further away we are."

Sooyoung let herself be pulled along. She kept the distance small. She didn't want to take her into her arms here, let alone in the land of the dead, but she couldn't stand being further away.

Haseul stayed with her head high. She didn't stop in Elysium, but she stopped walking so fast. A small part of the weight seemed to fall off her shoulders.

"Why did you go?" Sooyoung asked. She could feel herself crying. "I told you to wait for me."

"You were on the offensive and we needed to launch another," Haseul narrowed her eyes at her, "we had the advantage and would've lost it if we hadn't gone."

"They lost you," Sooyoung said. "And this war would be lost if you'd died because of it."

"No war needs a god." Haseul looked out at the Fields of Asphodel. "We know that."

She grit her teeth and tightened her grip on her hand. She started to slow.

"We can't stay here," Haseul said then, pulling her along, but hissing in pain. "You can't stay here."

"Out there I can't talk to you," Sooyoung whispered. "Please."

"What do you want me to say?" Haseul stopped walking then. "It was a stupid idea?" She scoffed. "Or do you want to hear me tell you what a terrible experience that was? That I'll never forget what I saw?" Something broke then and it was sealed almost immediately.

"Yes," she said.

Haseul flinched. "I didn't want to land in Tartarus, Sooyoung." Her eyes turned sharp. "Yes, maybe I should've waited for you, but I didn't think I had to have you by my side whenever." She held out her wrists. "But do you really think it was my plan to be captured?"

"No," Sooyoung snapped. "But you thought you'd be fine on your own. You thought nothing would happen to you."

"I thought we would win." Her voice was rising. "And we will."

"You can't keep fighting after this," Sooyoung fought to keep her voice from shaking, "you need time." She tried to blink away the other tears. "I needed time."

Haseul was shaking her head. "And I don't."

Sooyoung tried not to get angry, but she couldn't. "They were going to kill you." Her voice had risen to a shout that all spirits would hear. "You weren't in Tartarus so they'd threaten your father, you were there to die." She lifted the sword she'd taken. "Why do you think they had these?"

Haseul just stared at it. She'd known.

"Gods can die," Sooyoung whispered. "And you need to stop acting like you're invincible."

"Like you?" Haseul coughed, holding her side again. "I won't heal from a cut as fast as you, does that mean that the choices I make are foolish and yours aren't? Because you can heal?"

"Because anyone would need to rest," Sooyoung said. "And you can't go back to the war. You need to heal."

"No, I don't," Haseul replied. "I needed to see the horrors to know when to join those wars and when not." A haunted edge appeared in her eyes before leaving again. "And it never mattered if I'd had to watch a town massacred or men and women tortured just before I lifted the sword myself. I had to fight." She held her gaze, no falter to be seen. "It's my nature."

"And what about my purpose?" Sooyoung lifted her hands and stopped just before she cupped her face. "To keep you safe. Happy." The second had never been a part of her oath. "I made you a promise." 

Haseul only leaned forward, lightly touching one of Sooyoung's hands with her cheek. "I'm not human, I never was." She smiled up at her, but the edges faltered as her eyes searched Sooyoung's. "Why do you expect me to act like one?"

"Because I am."

"But we're not the same." Haseul took one of her hands. "You've always known that. Why is now any different?"

"It's not different," Sooyoung told her. She ran her thumb over her cheek, brushing over the blood and tear stains. "But my love is as human as I am."

Haseul leaned forward, pressing their lips together. Her lips were rough against Sooyoung's.

"As is mine," Haseul murmured.

Sooyoung kissed her again.

When she pulled away, Sooyoung realised Haseul now held the blade.

"They're out there, aren't they?" The goddess looked at it. It was a pale silver, shining, as if it had taken in the light of the moon.

Sooyoung wished she could say no. She wished she could bring her to another part, another escape from the land of the dead. "Yes."

"Then we'll meet them." Haseul walked across the field and past the spirits of the dead, her blade still glowing in the darkness.

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Author's Note 

I really hope you enjoyed this! I loved writing this 'one-shot' and I'd never written Yveseul before, but this au is one I'm a big fan of. 

This is actually part of a larger au, but I haven't been able to write much for it. That's why I decided to keep it here at the one chapter, but if I end up writing more when I'm not busy, I'll make a new story.

Do let me know what you think! There is a history between Yveseul here and we can chat about it in the comments, my Twitter, or my cc if you want! I can actually say a lot about them. 

Hope you're all doing well! Stay safe and healthy. 

Twitter: @hblake44

Curious Cat