"It would be, and for the record it's bullshit that I can't manage to grow anything besides mushrooms down here when I can literally conjure sunlight-!" She realizes she's going on a tangent, and she coughs. "Anyway, I don't think to live, just, um. It might be nice for her to come visit her son, you know? Instead of you having to go fight your way through the whole entire Underworld to see her."

"Well if only Father weren't hell-bent on protecting whatever stupid secret—" He runs a hand through his hair. "I should definitely ask Nyx—wait. Her mother. You mentioned something about her mother, from your world?"

"—her world?"

"Oh, uh - I have memories from a mortal who lived in a world that had Greek mythology. Which has been somewhat accurate and also missing quite a lot. Uh, let's see, her mother was -"

A dark shadow covers the trio.

"Child," says Nyx, softly.

This was directed at her, and furthermore was kind of terrifying, hi Nyx, you're scary!!!!! You scare her!!!!

"Mrpp?" squeaks the eldritch goddess from beyond the veil, who is very sure Nyx could squish her like a tiny, tiny bug.

"I would not presume to tell you of that which you may or may not speak, but I would offer a word of caution. The crowded halls of Hades are, perhaps, not the place."

".... Yes ma'am I'm sorry ma'am."

Which means they are onto something. "Nyx, please, I... You know me. I'm not untrustworthy. You know this wouldn't all have happened if I could just know. Can you not tell us? Elsewhere, if not here?"

Nyx considers him, then shakes her head. "It is not a matter of trust, child, for you already have it. But I have meddled in these affairs enough, and possibly more than I should have. So I'm afraid I cannot do more. I risk unbalancing things if I overstep more than I already have." She floats over, and presses a kiss to the crown of his head. "But know that I believe in your ability to settle the matter in the best way possible."

...well that makes him feel all warm and fuzzy. "Alright. Thank you, Nyx. ...did you know? Or suspect? That I'd die, on the surface. And... do you know why I died, and why I survived, does it have anything to do with that?"

"Zag—"

"I know, I know, sorry, I shouldn't ask, I just..."

"There are things in this world not even I know, things larger than even I, and so I did not know that you could not truly leave this place. Or..." and the pain leaks into her voice, soft and understated but nonetheless present, "Or perhaps I didn't want to know, because I knew it would pain you. In that paradoxical way that becomes obvious to our kind once it's put to words."

"...oh. I understand." He pauses to consider his words for a moment. He glances at Yvette and Than, then lowers his voice a bit. "Nyx, I... Persephone is one of the people that made me, and I don't know her, but I want to, and I want to understand myself, and her. I want to get to know her. And I could never have done this, any of this, without you. This, and so many other things. She is my mother, but she is not my only mother."

"I am glad to be so beloved in your heart, for you are in mine as well." She smiles at him, just a little. "So tell me, now that you know your journey above is fated to end here... would you still go? To find her, and speak with her again, and see the world above for what it is once more, fleeting though it might be?"

"Yes," he replies immediately. "As many times as it takes. More. I would go for the sun. I would go for the birds. I would go for the wind. For her? Yes, a thousand times." Then he smiles. "And, who knows, maybe with all of this fighting I'm gonna eventually become god of escaping the Underworld. That'd be fun."

"Then you know all you truly need to in order to see the path ahead, do you not? Use well what brief time you have, whilst you can. As mortals do."

He smiles more broadly. "As mortals do. Thank you, Nyx."

"You're welcome, my child."

And then, quickly as she appeared, away she vanishes.

"I am so incredibly glad your mom is so nice."

Both of them turn to look at her. "You... are?"

"Yep. Excellent goddess mom, with truly a frightening amount of power. Probably at least some percentage of the way to being kind of my mom, too."

Thanatos, Death Incarnate, Destroyer of Worlds, the End, the Ultimate Fate, the Inescapable, blinks at her. "I suppose."

"Okay but I actually do want to hear about what Yvette had to say so should we go somewhere more private? Than's room, maybe?" Not his own room because they are still awkward.