The last time Hades saw Odin, the Allfather had looked far more put together than the dishevelled old man before him with tangled hair, bags under his one good eye, and unkempt robes that carried a faint unpleasant odour.
"The end is upon us!" Odin declared, glaring daggers at Hades.
Hades stifled a sigh. Odin's pacing and twitchiness were driving him batty. "Please, take a seat and tell me what brings you here," he offered.
"Didn't you hear me, boy? Ragnarok is upon us! And I've been cursed with all-consuming knowledge of what is to come with no way to stop the darkness to come. Do you hear that?" he asked, cupping a hand over his ear and glancing up at the ceiling.
Hades looked up, straining to hear whatever it was Odin claimed to notice.
Dead silence.
"I don't hear anything."
"It's the ticking of the clock counting down to our doom!" Odin barked. "Perhaps if I give up my second eye, I'll gain the knowledge to put a stop to all of this." He raised a hand to his face, as if he meant to pluck the eye out right then and there.
"Whoa!" Hades grabbed his wrist. "Let's not do anything drastic, now. Please, calm down and tell me about this Ragnarok, hm? I've found that talking things through often helps me find a solution to my problem."
Odin harrumphed. "This is all our problem, son of Kronos. None will be saved when the cataclysm comes and only the chosen will be reborn into the new world," he declared manically.
Hades wondered if these were just the ramblings of a paranoid old man or if Odin had truly seen the future. As far as he knew, the Fates hadn't foretold any impending world-ending events, nor had Zeus, Apollo, or his legion of oracles and prophets.
Odin swayed on his feet, his eye rolling back into his head. Hades' heart plummeted to his ass, thinking the god-king was about to pass out. With a flick of his power, he pulled one of the visitor's chairs behind Odin so he'd land on it instead of the floor. The last thing he wanted was to explain to the Norse gods why their king returned with a broken tailbone.
Thankfully, Odin didn't faint. Instead, he retrieved a dagger from the folds of his voluminous robes. The hilt was carved from sun-bleached bone, etched with the likeness of a one-eyed raven. Muttering under his breath, Odin began carving runes into Hades' desk.
Hades' dismay at seeing his flawless onyx desk defaced was buried beneath his surprise and curiosity that Odin's blade could etch into the stone surface so effortlessly.
"When was the last time you slept, Odin?" Hades questioned, genuine concern creeping into his voice.
"Can't sleep. It's loud in here. Too many visions. Too much information flooding into my brain," Odin muttered, knocking his fist against his skull.
Paranoia?
Mental exhaustion brought on by prophetic gifts?
Insomnia.
Hades set his pen down. "Can you remember the last time you slept or rested at all without being plagued by prophecies?"
"This boy must be hard of hearing," Odin muttered to the raven-shaped hilt of his dagger. "There is no time for sleep. Plans must be made to keep this from coming to pass or at least curtail the damage. I've been able to offset terrible fates shown to me in visions before but not this one. Why show me all these horrible futures if nothing can be done to change the outcome?" He slammed his hand down on the desk.
"Fates grant me patience," Hades mouthed, wincing as fine cracks appeared in the onyx surface. Despite his frail appearance, Odin possessed immense strength. Hades was beginning to think he should do away with desks altogether and just have two chairs in his office one for himself, one for the patient.
"You are king. The Allfather. You lead a host of powerful divine beings, hold the fates of mortals in your hands, and carry the burden of knowledge. It's no surprise that it's weighing on your mind. Even for someone as mighty as you, the strain can become too great and cause fractures," Hades said gently.
Odin glanced up at him but said nothing, continuing to carve more runes into the desk. When he didn't respond, Hades pressed on.
"Maybe these visions of Ragnarok are simply manifestations of that strain. A projection of your inner turmoil and fears."
Odin bared his teeth in a snarl. "You insult me, brother of Zeus! What do I have to fear? I have wandered the cosmos near and far, fought foes that would leave you cowering in the shadows, and unlocked secrets of the universe few will ever be party to. I am many things but fearful is not one of them."
"Tell me about the visions of Ragnarok specifically," Hades said, unfazed. "You describe it as a world-ending event where only the chosen will be 'reborn'. I assume that includes your own death and the deaths of those you care about?"
Odin drove his blade into the table, causing it to fracture further as he launched into a gruesome tale of how he, Thor, and the other Aesir would meet their ends at the hands of Loki and his children.
"I banished Hel to Hel, cast Jormungand into the blackest depths of the ocean, and chained Fenrir securely. But I see now that I was merciful… foolishly so. I let them live, thinking it might alter the course of destiny. I should've wiped them from existence. Loki too," he sneered.
Extreme in his reactions, Hades noted.
"But they haven't done anything yet. Do you think it's fair to mete out justice for crimes that haven't even been committed?"
"If those crimes bring about the end of everything then yes," Odin replied without hesitation. "Stop trying to convince me I'm going mad…" He paused, squinting his one eye. "Unless you're part of this. You're of the Underworld too. Are you in league with Hel?"
"I've never even met them."
"Hm… I'll be keeping an eye on you all the same." Odin made a 'I'm watching you' gesture with his index and middle finger.
Hades smiled. "Assuming the prophecy is true—"
"It is!" Odin barked.
"Then don't you think locking up the so-called perpetrators before they've done anything was the wrong move? Now that they've been banished and bound, they have every reason to turn against you," Hades pointed out.
"Hah! Shows what you know. I'm the one with one eye, but you're the one who is short sighted," Odin let out a bark of hoarse laughter.
"Care to explain?" Hades challenged.
"They're Loki's children, and their mother was a giantess. They come from poor breeding stock already predisposed to chaos, to wreak havoc on the world. I wasn't the only one who believed they needed to be dealt with before they became too great a threat."
"Then maybe what you're experiencing is guilt for how you treated them. And that guilt is manifesting as visions of doom and gloom. Unresolved feelings have a way of creeping up on you and upending your life if you don't properly deal with them. They may even present themselves as world-ending prophecies," Hades said diplomatically.
The glare Odin gave him would have reduced lesser men to ash.
"During Thor and Ares' battle, I heard you were the more intelligent one among your brothers. But I see now it was just foolish drivel." Odin stood, looking more lucid than he had when he arrived. "You were right about one thing knowing too much isn't all it's cracked up to be. And yes, I do need some rest. Perhaps I was too rash in giving up my eye... but no one else could shoulder the burden pay the heavy price of doing so while keeping all my children and the gods in line. And maybe, if I give up the other one, I'll finally have a night's peaceful rest... once think of something to save us all."
He glanced around the office with a look of disdain. "Coming here was a waste of time. I should've known better than to take Thor's advice. You don't have the answers I seek."
"What will you do?" Hades asked.
"Either find a solution to this problem, or accept that the end is inevitable. If the future can't be changed, then I'll make sure I go out in a blaze of glory. Take out as many enemies as I can, and save as many as possible before my time ends."
"It doesn't have to be all on you to figure out how to stop Ragnarok," Hades began. He caught the flicker in Odin's eye and added quickly, "I'm not saying I believe it's real or don't believe that it'll actually happen. But you don't have to save everyone. Kings aren't meant to carry the weight of every life under their command. God-kings included."
Odin reached out and wrenched his dagger from the desk, then pointed it at Hades with the blade's tip. "You rule over a vast kingdom of the dead," he said. "Look me in the eye and tell me you don't feel responsible for every soul under your reign."
Odin had him there.
With the exception of those imprisoned in Tartarus, Hades did care for every single being in the Underworld and he did his best to rule fairly and justly, to look after those in his care. Still...
"You have a point. But I don't try to micromanage everything. I've stopped shouldering all the responsibilities alone, and I don't try to solve everyone's problems for them. Ragnarok is as much everyone's fate as it is yours. So instead of giving up your second eye, explain to the others what you've been seeing and take things from there."
Odin grinned. "You're starting to sound like you believe me."
Hades sighed. "I believe you're under immense strain... and not coping well."
"Gods, you're stubborn. Fine I swear I'll get at least three hours of sleep a day. Happy now?"
"It'll take more than sleep to resolve all your issues," Hades deadpanned.
Odin's response was to shift into a conspiracy of ravens and fly out the office. Through the roof!
The arrogant king left a gaping hole not only in Hades' ceiling but also in his protective wards meaning he'd now have to spend hours redoing them and reinforcing their strength. Hades stared up at the hole, scratching his head and wondering what the hell had just happened.
Odin was right. This really was the most unproductive session ever.
He didn't even have a proper diagnosis for him besides possible paranoia, maybe a nervous breakdown, or simply the crushing weight of divine responsibility combined with the relentless toll of prophetic visions and an overwhelming stream of knowledge.
Or maybe the old man was just a conspiracy theorist.