Victoria woke to sunlight streaming in through the windows. She felt groggy as her brain took its time to wake up. The next thing she noticed were two big, hairy, tanned arms wrapped around her like vices. One came underneath her and wrapped itself around her waist, the other was pressed firmly against her chest as Victoria cuddled with it in her sleep.

Hades.

All of a sudden, memories flooded back to her again. How carefully he had carried her to the bedroom, the evident dark look of hunger he gave her once he returned after giving her space to bathe. The awkwardness she felt when getting into bed.

He had played with her hair as she slowly grew drowsy. She was facing away from him, wishing that he would wrap her in his arms.

Sleep had lulled her, the comforting scent of Hades soothed her into a dreamless sleep.

And it still gave her comfort in her wake.

Hades was still asleep, she could feel the even rise and fall of his chest as he breathed in and out. Could feel his steady heartbeat against her back. His breath lightly caressing the nape of her neck.

The moment was like her own small pocket of heaven.

Victoria followed the lines of his arms. Even in his sleep, he held her close and tight to him. Softly, she lightly traced his veins up and down his hands to his forearms, completely unaware that he had woken and was watching her.

More time had passed. She was completely engrossed with her little activity. Watching how the hair on his arms moved with the touch of her finger.

"Having fun there?"

The sound and feeling of Hades' deep, croaky morning voice rumbling through her body made her jump. She immediately jerked her hand away.

He chucked. "If I knew this was how you'd wake me up every morning, I would have moved heaven and hell to come back to you sooner."

Victoria blushed and remained silent. Her heart thumping in her chest as her body tensed in response to his honesty. She wasn't used to it, didn't understand the feeling of somebody saying exactly how they felt when it came to her. Even her parents.

As she dwelled further on the subject, she grew sad from missing the experience of reconnecting with her parents as an adult. Perhaps there were things they wanted to express that a child could never understand. And so they never did.

It didn't matter now, this was all in the past.

Silence radiated the room as Victoria was lost in her depressing thoughts.

"Victoria?"

She didn't hear him, completely gone in the memory of her parents when she grew up.

However, the feeling of Hades removing his grasp from her did pull her out.

"Is this how it wil be then?" He asked, she was scared of the frustration that laced his voice thick with sleep. "what can I do for you to respond to me? The more I share with you, the further you edge from me."

Victoria sat up and dangled her feet off the edge of the mattress, her back turned to him as she stared at her hands.

"I can't understand-"

"Save it Victoria."

There was the sound of his feet cracking the wooden floorboards. Fire shot in her chest and she spun herself on the bed to face him, indignation on the tip of her tongue.

She stopped at the sight before her.

Bandages lined across his chest and over his shoulders, oxidised blood seeped through and a dark purple bruise peeked beneath the bandages.

He was in motion of slipping a black undershirt over his head.

Shock and terror shook Victoria's voice. "What happened to you?"

Hades slid his shirt over his body before meeting her stare. "Oh so now you're talking to me?"

A fire lit and burned fury in her body and suddenly, she didn't give a flying fuck if she pissed him off. She was upset, angry, frustrated and a million other negative emotions that were too extreme to name. Frustrated at her inability to express herself, angry at the situation that he now believed her to not care about him.

"Take it off." She demanded, standing up in her baby yellow tanktop and grey sweatpants, she stalked towards him. Hades' eyes were wide at this new emotional display.

He scoffed and in one motion, removed his shirt, tossing it on the beautifully carved oak table.

"All of it."

His gaze seemed to stare right into her soul, his eyes hardened.

"You don't want to see what's underneath." He told her calmly. Victoria glared. She didn't want to see what was beneath the layers of muslin, she needed to.

The two were a metre apart, locked in a staring battle as each side waited for the other to give in.

A while passed. Hades sighed in reluctance and began to slowly peel and unwind the bandages off his body.

Victoria stared in horror as each layer of cloth removed revealed bruise after bruise smeared onto his skin like paint. It looked terrifying. She was left speechless as he slowly revealed to her a map of purple, green and lines of red and brown. His left shoulder was littered with deep punctures in the shape of a bite mark. Each hole was encrusted with purple and brown dried blood. Through the bite was a huge chasm of a slash that started at the base of neck and carved its way through the bite and continued up and disappeared over his shoulder.

On the other side were scratch marks, she could almost see the violence of some monster clawing at his precious skin. It was gruesome. Fresh crimson blood oozed out of his wounds as he removed the bandages that they had clung on to. She couldn't even imagine what the back of him looked like.

But she had to know.

Had to know how much pain he had been in- was in. Had to know what he went through for her. His words from the day before echoed in her mind.

I spent weeks on the battlefield, witnessing my men sacrifice their lives. Thinking only of you the entire time I was away, thinking of how I was making this universe a safer place for you...

An unbearable pain pierced at her heart and ricocheted through every fibre of her being as she stared. Her hands shook. Even though she had stopped breathing, her focus had never been more razor sharp.

Victoria couldn't even try to stop her tears from spilling down her cheeks.