Hades meets Tal

Hades had heard tales of the Aphex made of shadows for decades, a creation born for sacrifice only to be saved and gifted abilities beyond what even he knew was possible by The Beaked Devil himself. Hades knew for decades Taliesin Blackheath or Tal as he preferred, had been one of the most powerful and sought after assassins of his time. Not onl that but the Aphex had a reputation when it came to lovers, it was said that he never just had one and that he had no preference. Hades had never gotten the chance to actually meet him before, he was far too busy with his own shit to simple find another being because he was curious of their tales, if he did that then he’d never get anything done, when you live more than a lifetime you tend to just ignore everyone honestly. But when he’d heard that the Aphex of darkness, bringer of shadow, the devil's messenger… Had stopped all this because he became a dad?

 Yeah no Hades had to see this. 

Locating him was easy enough, Talisin seemed to have allotted himself with kinder individuals now who were more than happy to help. Or maybe it was just because of Hades own reputation, he couldn’t tell anymore honestly if it was kindness or fear, they tended to blend together in his eyes. Nonetheless it got him to where he was now, outside of Kintaugi’s castle, Taliesin's latest lover. All his sources had pointed him here, stating that the Aphex was married now and had… children. How utterly pointless, but then Hades himself was cursed with the burden of watching over his descendants even if he had never sired his own spawn. Even still Hades was too curious now, how could someone of such reputation simply just, settle down as it were.

 Surely there was enemy’s he’d made wanting to kill him at every turn? And if it was true that he had a family then what did that mean for them, how much danger was he inflicting onto them? 

He took a stop towards the castle and it quickly became clear just how he had managed to stay safe from his enemy’s as Hades was launched backwards by an invisible force. He skidded to a stop using his claws and looked up with narrowed eyes, there was no attacker here, he’d be able to tell. Approaching the same spot again he stood where his footprints ended and reached out a hand, a flame appeared in his palm before manifesting into a bright blue flaming longsword. He watched as he used the sword to go further than he had and saw the swords form dissipate once it passed a certain point. He hummed, letting it evaporate into thin air as he sent trails of flames along the ground, burning nearby fauna with controlled precision until he found what he was looking for, a slight difference in the dirt. Most would overlook such an insignificant thing but Hades was old enough to have seen many strange anomalies, but an Aphex made soil amongst natural soil, no matter how well it was made and camouflaged was a dead giveaway to one individual. 

Valerian Blackthorn, the rune witch. 

Hades had run into her enough times to be counted as unfortunate, the witch was as old as he was but was kept alive thanks to her magic which stemmed from the various runes she could create. Honestly Hades envied her, she had such a basic form of magic, it was easy to break or overcome but it was such a vast one, she simply made a rune to do what she wanted and that was it. One thing confused him though, why was she using her runes to protect Taliesin of all people? Valerian was a proud witch, creating an invisible boundary warding out individuals for a known criminal like Taliesin seemed odd even for her. Perhaps they knew each other well or were even lovers once, Hades hadn’t thought to dig that deep into Taliesin's personal history honestly, he didn’t think he’d need too. 

“If ya wondering why the invisible boundaries keeping ya out, it’s probably because you’re a dick” A low tone chuckled from behind him, Hades whipped round having not heard the owner of the voices approach but one look at said owner made him realise why. 

“How polite” Hades replied as he met eyes with the Aphex he was looking for, Taliesin. The Aphex himself floated just slightly off the ground, shadows seemed to curl around him like smoke, appearing from nothing then simple disappearing. Tal regarded him as if Hades were no more then just your usual passerby, it didn’t seem to Hades that Taliesin even knew who he was. 

“I mean that is what the boundaries for” The purple Aphex shrugged. “Keeps out the ass twats who are trying to hurt me or my family” So it was true, Hades thought to himself, the Aphex of darkness did actually have a family and settle down. “Now if you would kindly fuck off so I can go back home that would be great Mr wannabe Grimm in blue”

Honestly Hades would’ve snorted at that if it wasn’t for the irony in the fact that Taliesin clearly had no idea that he was related to Grimm. Somebody hadn’t done their research on the other, really Hades couldn’t understand that, surely Tal knew who he was, the Aphex couldn’t be that incompitant. 

“You don’t know who I am, do you?” Hades tilted his head slightly to the side as he folded his arms over his broad chest. 

“Not in the foggiest I just really hope you’ll piss off” Taliesin replied honestly and Hades couldn’t help but chuckle at that. 

“I’m Hades, keeper of souls and I came here today to-“

“Woah that’s cool, can you piss off now?” Tal interrupted as he too folded his arms over his chest. Hades brow twitched in annoyance as he narrowed his eyes at the Aphex. “I kind of promised my little girl I’d take her to get a new plush, you see she utterly murders them I swear she’s absolutely brilliant-“

“Could you shut up” Hades growled as the flames on his body began to grow out of control with his emotions. The more annoyed he got the more volatile the flames became and Tal could probably feel the heat radiating off him now. “How can a being of your power, your status simply just stop and become a father  of all things?!” Hades threw his hands up. “I came here expecting to meet a warrior, a hardened soul who I could do business with but I was mistaken, YOURE a FOOL” 

“Are you done?” Tal just huffed as he went to float past Hades and through the barrier but Hades grabbed him by the neck, rougher then he wanted considering Talisins control wavered slightly and he dropped for a second before regaining his control over his power. “O-oh you aren’t d-done” He croaked out. 

“No, I am not” Hades growled as he hurled Talisin to the ground, only for the Aphex to dissipate into shadow like smoke as soon as he touched the ground. Snarling Hades turned to find where he’d gone only for a tendril of inky black to slam into him, knocking him back a few feet away from the barrier.

“Fine, bring it bitch” Talisin spoke as he re-emerged from the shadows, his eyes narrowed and smokey tendrils wrapping around his arms.

Hades couldn’t tell who struck who first, he was sure his fist connected with something solid but he couldn’t tell if it was a part of Talisin himself or the shadows that he surrounded himself with. Or when Talisin had sent the shadows to attack him only for Hades to throw up a shield made of light, sending the darkness scattering away. 

Hades growled as he launched himself at the taller Aphex, a glowing blue sword forming in his hand as he went to strike Talisin, only for the Aphex to disappear into the darkness. Roaring in anger he spun round and as soon as he laid eyes on Tal again he sent a wave of fire his way, only for Tal to deflect most of it with his own powers. 

“You know, you aren’t making this difficult” Tal remarked as he disappeared and reappeared further to the left of Hades before sending a wave of darkness into him. Hades threw up another shield of light to stop the magic but the force behind it pushed him back slightly, his feet dig into the ground as he struggled to keep his shield up in place to protect him from the brunt of the force. 

“I don’t use cheap tricks to dodge out of every attack” Hades gritted out as he dropped his shield and sent another wave of fire at Taliesin, only this time he ran just behind the flames so when Tal simply pushed the flames away Hades was still there and this time was quick enough to land a solid punch to the Aphex’s cheek. 

“Fucking SHIT” Talisin swore as he fell back, clutching his face before snarling up at Hades who placed a foot to his throat. If it was one thing Hades had more of, it was strength and that was obvious with the ill attempts to shove him off. 

“Pathetic little thing really aren’t you?” Hades growled down at Tal before he was thrown off him by an unseen creature, Talisin must’ve summoned a lesser demon to throw him off as the creature screeched at Hades before Hades himself dismissed the being back to the shadow planes. “I see you’re versed in demonic magic too” Hades remarked as he allowed Tal to stand before advancing again, glowing sword in hand, only this time Tal met him with his own sword made of inky black. 

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me” He gritted out as his defence was outmatched by Hades sheer strength. They both skidded back, circling each other for a brief moment before advancing once again. This time Hades used his strength as an shield, using the brunt of the light sheild to absorb the damage but using his strength and weight to put force behind any attacks he could make with his it, a shield wasn’t the best weapon but it was something and the use of all this power was wearing the two down. Shooting a few more flames his way Hades used Tals reaction to dodge to his advantage, waiting just until the Aphex reappeared from the shadows close by, having followed a similar pattern when shadow stepping he erupted the ground in flames before charging Talisin who was caught in the literal fire. 

“Like what” Hades gritted out before his eyes glee bright white and his first became engulfed in a white flame, he was called a soul stealer for a reason and this seemed like a good opportunity to use said souls to knock out the cocky Aphex cold. Hades landed a solid punch to Tals gut, the force of the impact seemingly hit in slow motion before Tal was sent hurtling back, he didnt even manage to recover as he bounced across the floor, only coming to a stop once he smashed into a nearby tree, and even then the force was strong enough to leave him slightly indented into the trunk. Hades chuckled as he walked over, clapping his hands together as Tal looked up at him with a ruined expression, he was bleeding in multiple places and must’ve had a terrible wound on the back of his head with the amount that was pooling down his neck and shoulders. 

“Like this” Tal had waited until the very second that Hades got close enough before a tendril grabbed his ankle. Hades expected the attack so simply went to summon light to send the darkness away but another tendril wrapped itself around him, and another and another, soon the dark was spreading over him, literally dragging him further into the forest line where it was more shaded. That’s when Hades heard them, demons clawed their way up from the earth and began their onslaught on him, he tried to send them away but somehow for every one sent back three more seemed to appear and he was quickly overwhelmed. To make matters worse with every demon he defeated it didn't count towards his affliction, demons had no souls and therefore he couldn’t grow stronger with every kill. 

“Enough!” Hades used whatever energy he had left to dispel the demons, some still remained but they’d stopped, for a second he wondered why before he saw Talisin floating towards him slowly. 

“That was pretty good in all honesty” Tal hummed as he sent the darkness to restrain Hades in place. The older Aphex could only hiss in response as he was held down, too exhausted to fight back when he knew Tal could just summon a small army again like that. “I just don’t think you did your research old man, you see” Tal lent down and grabbed Hades snout, forcing him to look up into those crescent shaped eyes. “The beaked devil chose me, I’m the strongest magic user this side of the continent and I only grow stronger each day” he dropped his snout and turned his back on Hades. “You may be strong physically but I don’t recommend you come back until you’ve gotten better at dealing with real power” Tal said before dispearpating into smoke and leaving Hades alone on the boundaries of Kintsugi’s castle. 

“This isn’t over” He growled as the shadows holding him down disappeared just like their master.