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“So they say.” Bullet shrugged. “I don’t reallyfeelparticularly heroic. Should I feel a certain way? Powerful or something?”
“Wait, Bullet, did you… Did you go to Tartarus?”
“Oh yes. Hecate said thatyouwere going to go in Grace’s place, but you’re all-the-way alive, and so going to Tartarus might not have been the best idea for you if you wanted to, you know, stay alive. And since I’m sort of half-alive at best, and you’re my friend, I went instead. It was quite interesting, actually. I met all kinds of people. Well, gods. Some of them I liked more than others. Tartarus was my favorite.”
I wasn’t about to be all-the-way alive if he kept talking. I was going to keel over from a heart attack right here in the middle of the underworld.
“The Olympians… are free?”
I turned to Hades for confirmation, and he huffed in annoyance. “Where do you think my wife is? Apparently, seeing her mother again after all these centuries wasurgent.”
That sounded totally reasonable to me, but he seemed incredibly put out by it.
“Then, Bullet, you did it. You brought forth the Second Age of Heroes. You liberated the gods, the treasure in the deep.Youfulfilled the prophecy.”
“Mostly. Slow on the uptake, aren’t you?” Hades cut in drily. Asshole.
“Surely, that means he’s free to leave. He’s ahero,” I said, spinning to face the God of the Underworld.
“And there’s a nice little spot in the Elysian Fields with his name on it,” Hades replied. “Heroes are very comfortable in the underworld, there’s noneedfor them to leave. And perhaps I quite like housing the one who fulfilled the prophecy in my realm, away from my siblings as they all come back into their power.”
“You want him for leverage.”
“I don’t like that,” Bullet mumbled, stepping a little closer to my side. “I don’t want to be leverage.”
Back when we’d been kids, Bullet got picked on occasionally by assholes like Viper, who thought less of him and his abilities. Riot and I would always defend him, but Bullet had been plenty able to hold his own when the occasion called for it. He’d pop into someone’s dreams and leave scars so deep on their psyche that they never fully recovered from them.
That was the Bullet I knew, the Bullet who could defend himself just fine when he chose to. That wasn’t this Bullet, though, not yet, at least. Heneededme,neededus, in a way that he never had before. We’d always relied on his knowledge and abilities, and now it was time to repay the favor.
“Name your price, King of the Underworld,” I said evenly, inclining my head respectfully as I did so. “This is the final resting place of us all. You will have Bullet’s soul for eternity, eventually. Why the rush? Why can’t he grow old with those he loves first?”
Hades just watched, mildly curious. “He doesn’t remember those who he loves.”
“He didn’t remember me, and yet he jumped into a pit to Tartarus to save me just because Hecatetoldhim I was his friend.” I swallowed thickly. “His head may not remember us, but his heart will find its way back where it belongs. When he gets to the upperworld and sees Grace and Wild,feelsthe love they have for him, feels how much Riot and I care for him…” I trailed off, emotion clogging my throat, making it hard to speak.
“I’ll fall in love all over again,” Bullet finished confidently, enough that I managed a weak smile becausethatwas the Bullet I recognized. His love for Grace had been overwhelming and obsessive before he’d even met her, purely through the dreamscape. Apparently, that was a core part of his personality that not even the loss of his memories could shake. Bulletwantedto be in love. Craved it, chased after it, threw himself entirely into the feeling no matter how vulnerable it made him.
He was kind of a miracle.
Hades waved someone over, some kind of immortal assistant, I was guessing, murmuring something quietly in his ear while watching us carefully.
“You certainly have my curiosity, Philotes. However, humor me for a moment. I have a little test of sorts for you. Won’t be long.”
He turned away, dismissing us to speak to someone else and leaving Bullet and me in relative privacy for a moment.
“I can’t believe you came down here for me,” Bullet murmured in amazement, staring at me wide-eyed. “You must be a really good friend.”
“Not to everyone,” I replied wryly. “I definitely don’t dive into the underworld for just anyone—you’re special.”
Bullet beamed at me, his smile the same as before and yet different. A little more guileless, a little less jaded. He was more like an enthusiastic golden retriever than a sly fox, like his old self had been, but maybe he’d get that sense of cunning back when he lived in the upperworld for a while. Or maybe he wouldn’t. Maybe this dazzling enthusiasm was who he was now, and we’d all adapt to it.
After everything we’d been through, maybe weneededthat dazzling enthusiasm.
“How is Grace?” he asked, cocking his head to the side. “Can you tell me about her? And Wild? And Riot?”
I grimaced. “I haven’t seen Wild and Riot since you… Since your memories disappeared.” That seemed like the politest way of saying ‘since you sort of died’. “Wild didn’t take it well, and he’s a Keres daimon, so when they get mad, they get lost in a violent bloodlust. Riot challenged him, encouraged Wild to take it out on him, and told me to get Grace somewhere safe.”
“And they just disappeared? How long has it been? Isn’t Grace sad?”
