Thinking of the role of psychopomps and how Hermes has probably seen thousands upon millions of ghosts; countless mortal souls who he has guided to the Underworld, their hollow-eyed faces melting and shifting into each other until no one can tell where one ghost ends and the other begins. They are always sad, always confused.
The only exception is Luke.
Luke, who looks just like he did in life, short blond hair gleaming gold in the sun and face clean of blood, blue eyes untouched by death. Who stares at Hermes from afar, looking at him an expression that Hermes cannot decipher.
"I don't understand why you're like this," he says. "You never seemed to care for me, when I was alive."
Something old and hurt surfaces in his eyes, then, jagged like the scar that splits his right cheek, and Hermes wishes he could comfort him, take the pain from his expression. He wishes he could tell him the truth — that he would do anything to bring him back; would beg on his knees before Hades, would tear down Olympus brick by golden brick if it meant Luke would be alive.
But even in death, it seems, he's fated to disappoint the son he loves most.
"You won't speak to me," Luke murmurs. "Won't even look at me."
His gaze turns baleful. "Guess I should've known."
Hermes wants to — he so desperately, painfully wants to. But he cannot. He is a psychopomp, one who leads the dead to the Underworld — if he looks at Luke, speaks to him and acknowledges him, he will have to take him to Hades. He must; it is his duty, even if the word tastes like dust and ash on his tongue.
It is selfish, he knows. But Luke was taken from him too young, too young — is it any fault of his, to want to keep him in death? So Luke lingers, always at the corner of Hermes' eye, and Hermes pretends he does not see him, does not hear him.
They're not too disimilar, Luke and the other ghosts that cross Hermes' path. Like the other spectres, Luke haunts his every waking moment; always staring, always wanting something Hermes cannot give. Another sin to add onto his shoulders, another debt he can never repay.
The only difference is that, on his bad days, he'd welcome it from Luke.
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