Epilogue:

Eileithyia arrived by the Lethe. The river had another spirit for her, a hero who wanted to live again. She actually enjoyed this part of her job. Not going to the Underworld, it was her antithesis the realm of the dead she was a goddess of new life, add in the fact that her uncle only begrudgingly allowed her to come here and she would want to be anywhere else.

No, what she loved was giving the dead new life. A chance at a new beginning, something all people deserved in her opinion. Everyone deserves a second chance. A chance to start again. To do that, she would even brave the Underworld.

Her uncle wasn't that fond of it, but he signed her contract, he knew what it would entail, or maybe he didn't…

It was actually Hermes who made the contract, mostly because he was sick of having to do her work load and retrieve the spirits from the Lethe. She had read through the contract, and aside from the clause that said she would have to do half his deliveries (when making deals with Hermes he always put that clause in, the poor lamb was so overworked he was getting desperate) it was a very one-sided contract, benefiting her well.

How he got Hades to sign it was anyone's guess, but Hermes could trick you into signing just about anything, and even if you read the contract, he knew how to word things so that he got the most out of any deal.

And so, she was now allowed to come to the Underworld and retrieve the souls herself.

She had to ask of course, and go talk to her uncle and Persephone, and on the way back had to talk to them again, just to make sure that the souls she took where the ones she was meant to, and that she wasn't stealing from him (after having his hat stolen a few years back he'd been pretty paranoid about thieves).

She'd already talked to her uncle, so now she was just waited for the spirit of the Lethe to show herself and bring her the spirits who had taken a dip. The world around her rumbled, her uncle was in a bad mood, normally she would have come back another time if he was like this, not wanting to be anywhere near an angry lord of the Underworld.

As it was, when she came today, she was actually surprised. When he saw her, instead of yelling, or glaring, or threatening, he looked… tired. When he looked up at her, he stared for a moment, his face expressionless.

Eventually he just gave her a nod and gestured that she got on with her work.

She wished Persephone had been there, at the very least, her half-sister would have told her what was going on. Alas, all she knew was that he wasn't happy.

Finally, a form began to rise from the river, Lethe, in her child form, she was gently leading a spirit out of the river. The spirit was a girl, with dark hair and darker eyes, she had a few freckles and a hint of Italian in her pale skin.

"Hello Lethe." The goddess said, moving forward, the river smiled at her.

"Great timing," she gestured to the girl, who was looking around in confusion, "she's the only one today."

"Good, I'll take her off your hands then." Eileithyia said.

Lethe was silent, she stared at the girl for a bit, but Eileithyia was used to Lethe spacing out sometimes, "I should get going, Lord Hades is mad right now and I don't want to annoy him any more by overstaying my welcome."

Lethe looked at the girl once more, before a small smile came to her face, "Eileithyia, could you do me a favour."

The goddess was suspicious, Lethe never asked for favours, "what sort of favour."

"Nothing much, I just want her placed in a good home."

The goddess smiled, "of course, I always make sure they go to a good home, she was a hero worthy of Elysium, she deserves the best."

"I know, I know, I just felt like I could speed it up," the goddess of childbirth raised an eyebrow, "do you remember that woman I gave you a few decades back? Maria di Angelo."

"Yes, she was a lovely woman, such a shame for her parents to have died the way they did, father was just in one of those moods." She sighed, it was sad when children were orphaned, especially in tragic circumstances, unfortunately, at the time Hera had found out about Zeus and his 'favourite wood nymph' and had her husband sleeping on the sofa for a few months.

In the end, she had to mediate and get her father to apologise to her mother, no easy feat the king of the gods was stubborn. Unfortunately, by then, Zeus had caused a storm that killed a couple dozen people.

Lethe smiled sadly, looking at the confused girl, "could you bring her, her daughter back."

Eileithyia looked at the girl, even though it was a long time ago, she remembered bringing Maria di Angelo to her new family, Lethe had told her the poor woman was a mother of two demi-gods, and that they would probably never meet again. It seemed that the Fates were being kind to this family, not that they'd be able to remember.

"Of course." She finally said, "I believe Mrs Blofis wants another child, now that she has remarried."

"Good," the river cast one last look at the spirit, "they deserve to have more time together, more memories." She placed a hand on the girl's cheek, dull eyes, blank and ready to start anew stared back at her.

"Now," Eileithyia said, "the paperwork," a clipboard appeared in her hand, "just for confirmation, this soul, previously Bianca di Angelo has earned Elysium?"

"Yes."

"And she willingly decided to go for rebirth?"

"Yes."

"And finally, all memories of her previous lifetime have been removed?"

"…"

The goddess looked up and saw the river staring sadly, almost guiltily at the spirit.

"Bianca di Angelo had a brother, Nico," Lethe whispered sadly, "she cared about him so much, even when I began taking her memories, all she cared about was him." The goddess of the river smiled sadly, "her very last memory, was just an image, her and her brother, even when I took her memory of her from the picture, she fought with everything she had to keep her brothers face."

"Lethe-"

"She held onto it, all she thought about was him." She caressed the girls face, "that one memory."

"Lethe, did you take the memories?"

Lethe stared at the girl for a minute, her eyes unfocused, finally she answered: "Yes."

"Good." Eileithyia trusted Lethe, the river had never lied to her before. She moved forward and placed a hand on Lethe's shoulder, "may I?"

"Of course." Lethe said.

The goddess of childbirth loved this part the most, she walked over to the girl and placed a hand on her head. A soft glow resonated from the spirit and it shrank down, glowing brightly and sending rays of divine light everywhere.

The girl shrunk, her very being condensing slowly, until she fit in the goddess's hand. She stared down at the soul with a smile, unlike the spirits of the dead which were faceless, dark and cold, this little spirit glowed. Eileithyia couldn't help but smile at her.

"I think it's time I bring her to her mother." Eileithyia said.

"Yes, don't let me keep you."

So, no the goddess began her journey back to the palace of Hades, a smile on her face. She passed the guards and wandered into her uncle's throne room, he was sitting on his throne, staring at her entrance with an expressionless face.

"Lord." She bowed at his throne, making sure to adjust the soul so as not to stress it. It wouldn't be damaged, but millennia of holding babies had made her do this automatically.

"Niece." He said, his voice was as emotionless as his face.

"I have one soul to be taken with me, I have filled out the paperwork." She pulled her clipboard out from thin air and placed it on the table that her uncle materialised for it.

He stared at her, and she finally caught something in his eyes, only for a moment, passing so quick she wasn't sure if she really saw it: pain.

"My lord?"

"You can go now, Eileithyia." He said, emotions gone once more.

"Of course, my lord." She bowed and turned to leave, if she'd have turned, she would have seen more emotions on the gods face, rage, grief, anger and sadness. She never knew that when she left, the entire Underworld shook and trembled and cried.

All she knew, was that there was now a very happy woman pregnant with her second child, the daughter she lost once had come back to her.