There had always been a love-hate-relationship between the two gods, even since early childhood. However, Hades' residence in the obscure underworld had quite possibly left him more bitter than ever. The eyes filled with lost hopes and haunted forever which Hades saw daily had blinded him through the centuries of all innocence and good intentions that had gone awry. The ghosts of long lost humans mourned their loved ones most of all, above their lost lives. He knew that their loved ones cried for them in return, though.

He still recalled Orpheus, who had come to the underworld risking his own life for Euridice, just to see her again and possibly save her. He had been touched, and with rather little convincing (from Persephone), Hades had allowed him to retrieve her. However, he looked… and for three years, Orpheus wandered about his homeland without any hope, any purpose – until a group of Maenads ripped him to shreds for his betrayal of women, having rejected them all since Euridice.

In the end of course the couple was reunited, but matters like that tended to make one more bitter – Hades in spring and summer especially when his wife wasn't with him, but home with her mother. Her love was a light in the darkness, a vain hope that love existed. Persephone had always been his one love, his everything – the only one for who his love had never wavered and to who he had been always loyal. Of course, Hades' faithfulness was tested every six months when the woman of his life lived with her mother, though.

Faithfulness was not exactly something his beloved brother seemed to care about much, having conceived children with forty-three women aside from his wife Hera. He did not have children himself. A child could not survive in the womb in the underworld, you see. Hades and Persephone had sadly experienced the truth of the myth. A tiny life must have been created the very first day she returned to her mother. Over the expanse of six months only, Persephone's womb had stretched quite a bit already to accommodate that new life. Hades came to her at the end of the winter, though… sharing his concerns over their unborn child and nearly begging her to remain with Demeter safely until after the birth. However, Demeter herself and Persephone had thought it very unlikely that it still could lead to miscarriage with only three months left, that the unborn child would not survive in her womb in the underworld with the help of the goddess of agriculture and all fertility herself. He had begged her to stay, yet the humans believed in four seasons and could not be let down…

A few hours after her return to the underworld, Persephone had already begun to experience close to unbearable pains no one could possibly nurse her through or make stop. That had surely aided Hades' bitterness, had contributed to hate his brother more than ever, for he could go and multiply himself so easily. Persephone could not have children anymore after…

Oh, there were enough reasons still to hate, and enough for their supposedly unyielding brotherly loved to be blinded. Power and might possibly were the most important there. Hades and Zeus still loved each other, though. Ironically enough, despite all the hate that was between them, Hades and Zeus still loved each other in ways that humans despised for siblings – not as they once did, but still. Their love was a very difficult one to say the least.

Both gods watched the earthly shape of Kronos, their father, collapse, and they both knew the time had come to say goodbye. Hades had really given his last godly power just to save his brother some time, he himself reduced to a mere human because of it. Oh, he had never been stupid enough to believe it would be enough for survival. Zeus had already been very close to dying by the time his brother saved him, and the fight with Kronos had surely drained him more, past the point where he would be able to survive.

Hera would now lead the Olympus for the time being – for as long as gods and goddesses would still exist, for their end had set in already. None of the women he had ever bedded stood with him as his last hours, minutes of existence ticked by; none of his many children. Perseus would certainly come and look for him later, he knew – after having ensured himself that Andromeda and his beloved son were both alright. There was still time, yet so very little.

"I know, I haven't told you often enough, but I love you, brother… and despite everything that has gone on, I believe I'll even come to miss you," Hades said.

"Would you miss me or the end of your godly power?" Zeus mused.

"You're my brother," Hades quietly stated, their eyes connecting over the fall of the Olympus, the end of the once so beloved gods and goddesses and many recounted myths… the losses which were not covered entirely yet. As a means of goodbye, which was nearing steadily, Hades leaned in and let his lips touch Zeus's. Kisses had not been shared between them in centuries, let alone a night together. More than a kiss was not needed to convey the emotion both felt, though.

Clinging onto one another's swollen hardness wasn't necessary, nor dragging and sucking each other to the world of little deaths. Their kiss was both familiar as it was not their first yet new. Their kiss was undoubtedly filled with intense emotion – the sort not even shared when naked most of the time, while holding hard onto each other. This was not merely a precursor. There was no time or energy. Zeus' was waning very fast, and the kiss between them… the touching, the moving, the dragging and pulling of lips so rough against each other would already cost him minutes of his life… then again, what were a few minutes to set centuries right?

"You'll always be mine."