Eternity Touch (Part 8)

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I had hoped she would survive it better. She was the strongest of my daughters - the most hot-headed and self-assured. I had often, watching her as a child, thought that maybe she would come back to me still herself. Or at least more like herself than the others had. And at first it looked like she had. She smiled warmly and hugged me. The first couple of days we were as close as we had ever been. We spent every moment together, and I confess I allowed myself to think that maybe this time it wouldn't be so bad. But barely a week had passed before she started acting like the others had. Hours spent staring out the window, or going for walks by herself. The crying behind her closed door. And that blank look in her eyes that made me know she wasn't hearing anything I said. Once again, Hades had taken my daughter from me, even in the time that she was with me. What I didn't know, was that this time, she had made an impact on the all-powerful god of the Underworld in return.

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It was awful. I can't describe it. That longing to be with him, to have him touch me. It was worse than anything I had ever experienced before. I imagine it is what it's like to be deprived of a drug you are dependant on. It wasn't just missing him. It was more than that - it was like a physical need, like hunger, or thirst, or suffocation. Even now, it happens sometimes. It wasn't an emotional need; it was more primal than that - more demanding.

I could tell how it hurt my mother. I could see it. And yet, I couldn't help it. It was as if I could see her hurt only through a veil - it wasn't quite real to me. And it just got worse. As the weeks passed, it became overriding. Almost unbearable - except for the small light of the knowledge that I would be back with him soon. It got to a point where that was all I was aware of - when I would be back with him. During those six months I came to know how like a drug he was - an addiction I couldn’t break. There are no support groups for people addicted to the touch of a god.

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I missed her. It was crazy. I had never missed them before. It wasn't that I loved her. I couldn't have - gods don't really fall in love, despite what the stories may tell you. We can't afford it. I just... missed having her there. And that was what started the problem. I could have just left it alone - I knew Zeus regretted the curse. And instead of leaving it well alone and taking what I already had, I got greedy, and gave him the excuse he needed.

I went to him and asked him to make her immortal. I told him that this one was different - she was worthy of being one of us, and I thought that the curse had gone on long enough. He was intrigued. I suppose it was strange - Hades, who never asks favours on behalf of others, Hades, who takes what he wants without help from anyone else, actually asking Zeus for a favour. And on someone else's behalf too! Little wonder that he thought for so long about it. Little wonder that he decided he wanted to meet her. Demeter was very angry - she couldn't forgive me for bringing one of her daughters in contact with Zeus again - especially not after what had happened the last time. What she didn't know was that I was as unhappy about it as her.

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