#zagreus and psyche au

[koipalm]

in the myth of eros and psyche, her last task is go to the underworld and retrieve some of persephone's beauty. so here's her in hades, where zagreus hasn't found his mother yet. the 'beauty of persephone' she brings back are gifts from zagreus, as he's the last of his mother's beauty in the underworld

[konigsberg]

Midnight Ocean

Fandom: Hades (Game) Pairing: Thanzag Rating: E Status: In progress Word count: 371,180 words Tags:  alternate universe, romance, mystery, secret identity, strangers to lovers, marriage of convenience, fake/pretend relationship, domestic, hurt/comfort, gentleness, family secrets, self-discovery, inspired by eros and psyche, first time, cuddling, sharing a bed

Summary:

"Please consider what I’m about to say. Think of it as you return to your mother. You must put as much thought into it as you can. Will you? Please, promise me you will.”

“Yes! Whatever it is, I’ll consider it.”

“Eventually Lord Hades will have mercy upon you. He will. I know that must sound strange—the most severe of the gods showing mercy where his kindred won’t—but it’s the truth. The Olympians are more… unreliable. The only way I can see to protect the Underworld and in turn you and your mother is this: Bind yourself to me.” His hands tremble. He brushes his thumb along the crook of Zag’s throat, so very sweet, even when he’s rigid with tension. “Wed me.”

Raised by his mother far away from both Olympus and the Underworld, a strange series of events leads Zagreus to meeting a faceless, nameless Chthonic god.

[timelxrd-victorious]

Would anyone be interested if I made an AU verse where Zagreus never left and takes over Teine’s psyche shortly after the events of “Family of Blood”?

[thatlesbiancrow]

okay so all of these are aus! it just makes it easier to avoid spoilers that way.

first a couple modern aus!

this one is account locked so i can't really link it, but even if it's a lie by baejax

even if it's a lie, and really all their works, are really good at capturing the dynamic shown in the game. it does a good job of capturing many concepts from the game with a modern twist!

under your skin is a really cute one! this is another author that i like reading a lot of. it's strangers to lovers, so their dynamic is inherently shifted from being childhood friends. i still enjoy it!

this series is great!! it's a witcher au but i don't really know anything about the witcher so i couldn't point out the ways it's similar. it's a really interesting au though! thanatos is raised as a demigod on the surface and zagreus happens to meet him while exploring after a run. i believe it has one part left!!

whose presence ends has zagreus, a human this time, being sacrificed to thanatos so his life would be traded for his dead mother's. crazy stuff! i like it :3

the next 3 all have the theme of zagreus being raised on the surface! 2 by his mother and one by demeter!

reap the whirlwind has zagreus breaking into the underworld to meet his parents and escape from his grandmother!

cycle of blossom and wither, zagreus is raised by persephone. he has a couple chance meetings with thanatos that leads to them bonding.

okay the next one is midnight ocean. i cant NOT recommend this fic, i LOVE this fic but it is a lot to get into. it has over 500,000 words, 90+ chapters, it's still going (updates every other friday)... it's a lot and i love it so much but it's definitely not everyone's thing but at least try the first few chapters! even if it's after you've read all the other ones!

it's an eros and psyche au and draws a LOT from greek mythology (but also has footnotes for them!) it's just so good! it's so good!!

uhh sidenote if you see any of my comments on these, no you haven't!

does anyone have any non-spoilery thanzag fics to recommend? I'm still quite early in their romance in the game and I won't be able to play the game in a while I think but I MISS THEM and I would love to read about them as long as the game/their romance in the game is not spoiled.

[tieflng]

chocobox 2021 letter (wip) under the cut! hello gifter who is probably one of the five people i know in the pyre fandom

general likes: worldbuilding, canon or headcanon-rich fic, surrealism, intricate explorations of place or character or relationships, atmosphere, explicitly lgbt characters, neurodivergence/autism and gender headcanons, adventure, friend shenanigans, strange or unusual aus (give me a good noir detective au, etc), philosophical or moral dilemmas or conversations, slow burns, eldritch or unexplained aspects of canon, unreliable narrators, nonhuman traits of nonhuman characters, working in background characters/large ensemble casts, small intimate moments, courage in the face of insurmountable odds, fic with an intended soundtrack, anything rich and vibrant and full of heart.

as far as nsfw goes: please don’t write me nsfw if you’re under eighteen! assuming you’re over, i’m really here for the tenderness-- not into hardcore or degrading kink, but okay with lighter stuff. my main concern is that everyone is onboard with everything, nothing is unsanitary, and nobody is being hurt or degraded. very much into the before and after-- cuddling, aftercare, discussing boundaries, awkward dorks trying for a smooth seduction, etc.

DNWs: detailed hand/eye trauma, unsanitary mentions or descriptions, detailed descriptions of spiders or insects, mentions/references to coronavirus (fictional plagues/diseases are fine), fantasy OR historical/irl homophobia or transphobia, requested characters in m/w relationships. for pyre, khaylmer rope-caller as a mustache twirling villain/without nuance, for hades, zag/meg or zag/than, olympians in relationships with cthonic deities, hades as a sympathetic character of any kind. for ace attorney, manfred von karma as a sympathetic character of any kind.

for nsfw DNWs:  dubcon/noncon including under the influence, infidelity, humiliation/physical pain of any kind.

pyre:

gol & khaylmer / khaylmer & soliam / gol & khaylmer & soliam: i Very much picture this dynamic as shoulder devil vs shoulder angel, gol and kahylmer bickering about politics over the head of a disinterested/totally out of it soliam, gol and khaylmer spy-versus-spy bullshit maneuvering around each other (usually khaylmer trying to get gol assassinated/otherwise killed, let’s be real). and then soliam is like ah, my most trusted servants :) who both undoubtedly get along :) while the palace staff is setting gol & khaylmer’s dinner places without knives so they don’t spring across the table and stab each other. the interesting thing here is that a) soliam really does care for them both, inasmuch as he’s capable of caring for anyone topside (khaylmer as an uncle/surrogate parent/stable mentor figure, gol as.......okay a Lot of romantic tension and a lot of disregarding his feelings but Some level of interpersonal fascination), and also b) gol and khaylmer, pre-gol’s character development, are more similar than either of them would like to believe. they’ve both definitely got cold, calculating, do-anything-for-the-empire sides, and also their own irrational hangups and quirks. i’m DYING to know what the sahrian imperial court was like, btw!! write something about the sahrian imperial court!!

khaylmer & the tattered mantle: janna compared this to a mutually toxic relationship, both of them being hurt and hurting the other and making each other just worst. i have my own ideas about what the mantle is and how it was formed but i would love to see yours, see an exploration of how it was corrupted and what happened to it as it became the imp-titan. and maybe also khaylmer’s corruption, too? was he once Less of an absolute awful human being? surely at some point, right? i’d very much like to see a deep-dive into khaylmer’s psyche and also the mantle treated as its own character. also if you could sneak in the isle of khaylmer and the imps....something about the two of them overlooking that rites venue forevermore?

ha’ub & gol: let them be friends!! let them be goofy bastard friends!! let them fight titans and exchange cultures (imps clearly have culture) and bond over trauma and pull soliam out of danger! i think the scribes were all Readers, and ha’ub’s Reader-ness/his Accursedness manifested as him being an intelligent imp-- unable to fully connect with the others of his kind on a 100% level, and the loneliness that must have involved. and then along come some strange Big Friends that he can get some of what he’s been missing from. and gol downside is like well this all might as well fucking happen i guess and then finds a strange and unexpected little ally with a big ol’ heart. it’d be cool to see them do battle with howlers or titans or sisters of the arch, or conversely to cuddle up in gol’s bedroll against the cold and gossip in imp so other people can’t understand them. also if gol/soliam (please gol/soliam) ha’ub absolutely thinks they’re already dating/pair-bonded/imp married and there’s a lot of skree-hee-hee!! (just kiss him!!!) going on.

gol & chae: please call the vagabond girl chae!  i loved her basically at the moment i saw her and her arc means a lot to me. she’s autistic coded but her belief in the scribes– in actually hearing and speaking to the scribes– is never undercut by the narrative. and she’s immensely strong! she’s survived in the downside by herself from 17-19! and imo at least the scribe known for being strong and resilient and untiring, not to mention idealistic and loyal, would admire the absolute fuck out of her. i’d like her childhood as moontouched/homeless and displaced, her topside ending as a religious leader and inspiration in the sahrian union, wandering alone in the downside, her role with the nightwings– i just really want to see what conversations these two would get up to, i want them to learn from each other, i want chae to have support and encouragement and comfort from everyone’s favorite nomad scribe. what does she ask him? what does he tell her? passing messages from ti’zo or the heralds? looking for advice/help on behalf of the nightwings, or just comfort when she’s feeling out of place? god, the fact that she’s in the companion class that parallels khaylmer– do they talk about that, or how does gol feel? there are so many damn good interactions here. please don’t infantilize her or portray her beliefs and reactions as nonsensical or weird.

gol/soliam: Please Write Me Gol/Soliam And I Will Love You Forever. their topside will-they-or-won’t-they, extreme chemistry/tension there but always not quite seeing eye to eye/soliam just being a scumbag person who doesn’t really care, courtly love flavored by a nasty entitlement/disillusion combo. their downside will-they-or-won’t-they, a sloooooowww rebuilding of trust on gol’s side, going from ‘i jumped over the edge of the world to kill this asshole’ to, eventually, ‘maybe he deserves my love and affection after all’. and then soliam of course has loved him this whole time, since being saved from the sisters, the drama......!! the wonders of unrequited mutual pining. nsfw wise i just very much think soliam’s a bottom/sub, okay, don’t @/me, and i want to see him take care of gol and gol take care of him-- they’re just soft idiots who found each other in the downside. or maybe they’re horny idiots at the imperial court, it’s up to you.

hades:

asterius/hypnos

asterius/shade

asterius & persephone

asterius & ariadne: siblings!! siblings!! let them love each other and feel bad about what happened/glad that they’re both doing okay now! getting theseus or dio in on this would also be great-- what do you mean you’re best friends with (dating?) my shitty ex now??

tisiphone & zagreus

ace attorney: 

i’ve literally only played the first two games so maybe go easy on spoilers. honestly don’t have too much to say here, just would like legal shenanigans/pining dumbasses if applicable. gay lawyers/two gay lawyers and a detective, or steel samurai fans bonding over a shared love of the franchise (and another dumbass lawyer), or siblings in an absolutely awful house leaning on each other to get through......go ham!

[konigsberg]

Midnight Ocean: Update

Fandom: Hades (Game) Pairing: Thanzag Rating: E Status: In progress Word count: 398,137 words Tags:  alternate universe, romance, mystery, secret identity, strangers to lovers, marriage of convenience, fake/pretend relationship, domestic, hurt/comfort, gentleness, family secrets, self-discovery, inspired by eros and psyche, first time, cuddling, sharing a bed

I suspect there is less separating animal from man, man from god, and god from animal than has been written. We are made the same, in some intrinsic way. We must be to all shine with hidden light as we do. The human who wrote those words had meant the light of instinct, rage, terror. But, just the same, the tug of desire unites them all—lights beings up from the inside out like a flame, thrums as strong as blood. And love—the love of a wolf for her cub, of a mortal for their brother, of a god for his beloved—is there not a golden thread tying them together?