a/n: Unedited. You can find me on tumblr.

Disclaimer: Nope.

Title: at elysium with you

Word Count: 761

Summary: Her girlfriend is the Ghost Queen. As a result, things happen. [Gender AU - F/F]

i.

"I'm not going to pass out," Nichole said, passing out in her girlfriend's arms. The feeling of power usually associated with Hades, darkness and death and skeletons, faded in the air until there was nothing but a cold whisper left.

Will hooked her freckled arms under Nichole's, readjusting her. "I told you," she started to say, but gave up because there was no use arguing with an unconscious demigod. Nichole's head lolled to the side, mouth gaped open and her choppy black hair falling over the side. "Yeah, you're lucky that you're cute."

She lowered Nichole to the cabin floor and checked to see if there were any signs of her dissolving into shadows. Nichole's silver ring still radiated an echo of power, but her hands weren't freezing and there was justenough color in her pale skin to not worry Will. It was enough to make her let out a sigh of relief. Monsters were one thing, but a girlfriend that could fade away? That was beyond any nightmare.

Will grabbed a fleece blanket and a pillow from Nichole's. Nichole always preferred being in a tight blanket cocoon, but she was dead weight when unconscious. The last few tries had been unsuccessful enough to cause bad mummy jokes.

Dead weight. Will rolled her eyes. This was the price they all paid for Shadow Traveling – a sleeping girlfriend and bad puns.

ii.

San Francisco mist swirled in the graveyard. The edges of the skull-patterned picnic blanket were damp with dew, but Nichole was comforted by the sight of gray sky and dead grass.

"I thought ghost watching would be easier in, like, New Orleans," said Will. She crossed her legs in her lap, and she reached for the bag that had their food. Several limp sandwiches, bottled water, and a pack of salt-and-vinegar chips that their friends detested.

It's their loss,Nichole decided as she took a bite. She placed her free hand on the grass, sending a trickle of power to reach the skeletal remains buried deep in the earth. Old, isolated places were the best because there was a lack of pollution from too many generations of deaths. There was also a Roman shrine to her father on the property. It helped knowing her father cared enough.

The mist coalesced into a dense fog. The air chilled and Will visibly shivered. She pressed her side into Nichole's. "How much longer?"

A sudden crack filled the air. The power of the underworld forced its way up until pale specters floated above the tombstones like moths near flame.

"Oh," Will gasped.

"Nice, isn't?" Nichole asked. She laced their fingers together, enjoying the warmth of her girlfriend.

iii.

Nichole tapped the hearse window. "We'll be out late," she told Jules-Albert. "No need to wait for us or tell Dad anything about me misusing my station."

The zombie nodded.

Will, still vaguely sick from the troubled ride, gave Jules-Albert a thumbs-up. He stared at them with his fogged-over eyes, milky with cataracts and powerful necromancy. He drove off and left a trail of smoking hellfire in his wake. The busy traffic unintentionally made way for him, and the Mist kicked into action to make the view of a rotting French corpse and a supernatural hearse almost normal in the California street.

"I thought you retired him because he was scaring the campers?" Will said once he vanished in the distance.

Nichole flashed her one of those rare smiles that reached her dark eyes. "I can only use him for emergencies, like wanting to take you somewhere nice." She proffered an arm. "To In-N-Out Burger?"

"Ask me after I puke in the bushes over there."

iv.

"Why are you so cold?"

"Shut up and warm me up."

v.

Will stretched her legs out, letting her feet drop in Nichole's lap. The sun dipped in the horizon, melting into its reflection in the lake. An orange tentacle peaked from under the water before a paddleboat full of Hermes kids scared it off. "Does this make me your Ghost Consort?"

Nichole paused from looking over her arms. The sun had not been kind to her today. "Why that?"

"Because we're dating, your highness."

"You just want a title," Nichole said. The last of the sun's rays caught the dark gold of Will's hair. An unfamiliar emotion pulled at her heart. "Official Healer of the Underworld?"

"Too long." Will nudged her with a knee. Nichole traced a pattern of dark freckles on her skin. "Head Ghost Queen Kisser?"

"Co-Lady of Darkness?"

Will's laughter felt like sunshine.