A/N: This story is a response to a Tumblr prompt for the Klaroline Hades x Persephone week! Thanks so much to loveyou914 for the prompt which was: "Caroline is frustrated because flowers don't grow in the underworld and Klaus comforts/helps her. KC-Hades/Persephone inspired." The specifics of the prompt will be addressed in chapter 2; this first bit is simply set-up for the myth to interact with canon and some small Klaroline feels. This will be a two (possibly three) shot! You read it on my tumblr under the same username, AmericanWordsmith.

xoxox

Belladonna and Bloodlust

Chapter 1

xoxox

Caroline wasn't a fan of the name Persephone. It wasn't even her real name! The same way Elena was just Elena - not Katerina, not Tatia - Caroline was just Caroline. Except, now she was doomed to an eternity of Persephone.

The fact that she'd turned out to have been part of a doppelganger line was shock enough. Caroline had just felt lucky that her doppelganger, this alleged Persephone, had died many centuries before herself. She shuddered to think of making a Katherine-like enemy that looked exactly like herself… doppelgangers had always freaked her out; even identical twins were a little questionable.

Apparently the Persephone doppelgangers were supposedly a gentle line, though. This was one of the facts that had been stoically delivered to her when a squat and frightening looking little man had shown up outside her apartment door almost exactly two and a half months since her 25th birthday (though she didn't realize that), saying with a mischievous smile:

"Well hello there, sweet Persephone, I hope you've enjoyed your autumn. I believe we have some things to discuss."

He'd been carrying an enormous bouquet of flowers, one of the most vibrant floral displays she'd ever seen, almost tropical. She'd felt a strange and powerful attraction to the intense fuchsias and oranges, not mention the sweeter-than-honeysuckle scent and, without thinking, she found herself leaning down to take in the bouquet's scent. And the world promptly went dark.

Cue her dramatic wake-up several hours later where she's riding a literal flaming chariot replete with four enormous black stallions with burning red manes and eyes. And they're in some sort of seriously creepy and dank underground tunnel paved with wet cobblestone and lit by candelabra attached to the walls. She all but starts a spitting at the squat little man driving the obscene and slightly terrifying contraption.

He just laughs at her and tells her everything will be explained when they reach Hades.

"Hades?!" she shouts at him in a rage, "Alright buddy just who the hell are you and where the hell do you think you're taking me?"

She lets her fangs descend and the ugly man simply looks surprised but not at all frightened. Either way, though, her outburst has earned her some answers.

"My apologies, sweet Caroline, I thought you might wish to see your new husband to be before I explained everything," the man begins, hiding a smile at her look of pure outrage at the word 'husband.' "My name is Dionysus. And we are going exactly where you have just indicated: the Hell."

Caroline had incorrectly been under the assumption that she'd have some additional time to keep questioning the purported Dionysus before meeting… oh lord, she couldn't even say it. She must have been knocked out for the bulk of this strange trip though (was it possible she was dreaming? was it possible she was tripping?) because they were immediately approaching a great black river at the end of the tunnel - Styx? - and their carriage was slowing. The water seemed to stretch into an infinite foggy abyss in front of them, were distinct whispers were beckoning they continue their journey. At the water's bank a rickety looking rowboat with a single lantern posted inside of it was waiting for them.

In front of the water and the boat, a tall figure in a black cloak was pacing around looking extremely agitated. Whoever it was stopped when their chariot did and whirled around to face them.

Lowering his hood to see what unfortunate sole Dionysus - right - had brought back to join him… was none other than a stormy eyed Klaus Mikaelson. And he looked every bit as surprised to see Caroline as she was to see him.

"Caroline?" he breathed out in confusion, just a barely concealed hint of hope in his eyes, "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, please!" she spat at him, slapping Dionysus away when he offered her a hand out of the chariot, "I should have known you'd be behind this Mikaelson!"

He glared at her and snarled, "You think I want to be here either! You think I'm the kind of threat willing to listen to a lunatic who wakes me up in the middle of the night claiming that I'm Hades?!"

Caroline's angry expression abruptly morphed into a mixture of confusion, despair, and fear.

"He kidnapped you too?" she asked hesitantly, not wanting to believe it. If this guy had gotten Klaus then there was no hope for them. No one could beat Klaus. They were really going to Hell.

"Well I'm not sure kidnapping is the word I would have used to describe it but…" Klaus began before worriedly running his fingers through his hair. "Yes, he did forcibly remove me. He used magic but I don't think he's a witch."

"I'm not," Dionysus interjected. "I already told you, I'm Dionysus, the God of Fertility. And unless you want some of that magic I showed you earlier inflicted on your bride to be, I'd suggest you both get in the boat."

"You can't seriously expect us to believe this…" Klaus laughed, maliciously and disbelievingly as Dionysus confidently rowed their boat slowly across Styx. "Caroline and I are both doppelgangers? Look you imbecile, I've been around a lot longer than you and I have only ever met two lines of doppelgangers in my travels. I think I would bloody well know if I was one."

"First of all, you are most certainly not older than me," Dionysus gently corrected, "And yes you are both doppelgangers. Hades and Persephone weren't even the first. Lets see, there were Aeidis and Kora… Osiris and Isis, of course. Though this is the first iteration of your respective lines that have come down as vampires! Hades as a Hybrid, imagine! You'll be unstoppable!"

Caroline and Klaus exchanged confused glances. The man seemed delusional but that didn't change the fact that they were clearly somewhere very strange and that he'd somehow managed to overpower both of them with relative ease.

"Alright, say we buy that we're part of this doppelganger line," Caroline began next, "Why are you taking us now?"

"The first Hades abducted Persephone on her 25th birthday," Dionysus explained. "You turned 25 a few months ago and today is the first day of winter of your 25th year. Your very first 6-month cycle as Persephone begins today!"

"As I have already been informed," Klaus relayed to her darkly, "While you will at least get half of each year to return to our world, I am now committed to remain here for eternity."

"Hmm, yes, the other Hades in your line all eventually died one way or another but, they weren't vampires, much less Hybrids," Dionysus considered with a happy hum, "It looks like you're really going to be here for the long haul!"

"Don't count on it…" Klaus growled back.

He was surprised to feel her hand on his then. He looked down to where her small fingers were tentatively wrapping around his own and she was giving him a worried but reassuring smile.

"We'll figure this out…" she mouthed and as happy as Klaus was to have her with him in that moment, his anxiety tripled.

When Dionysus had left him at the river to fetch his "wife" Klaus had been specifically told that he would be returning with Persephone. Caroline he had not expected.

Klaus didn't believe for a second that he wouldn't be able to escape Hell but, if it was true that he was destined to spend the rest of his days ruling this underworld… the thought of Caroline being with him for half the time did make it seem far more bearable. Heaven, even, he couldn't help but think. But that didn't change the fact that Caroline was the very last person he would ever wish to condemn to a life down here, even if it was for half his own time.

"But Klaus has been alive so much longer than me," Caroline continued, "If he's supposed to be the next Hades why has he been on Earth this whole time? It's been over 1000 years."

"Yes, well, lets just say we've tried to send the Hades line down here without the Persephone line before…" Dionysus began uncomfortably, "It never works out too well. The Hades line gets… violent when left alone. We decided it would be best to wait for the next Persephone to show up and, well, you took your sweet time dear but, no matter, you're here now!"

Caroline's eyes flashed to Klaus's in a confused question at that but he didn't acknowledge her this time. Dionysus was pushing his luck… hitting so close to home like that.

"You keep saying we," Klaus said. "I suppose we're to assume that the other Greek myths are real-"

"-Some of them," Dionysus interrupted.

"So why are you here? Why is the mighty Dionysus the one sent on this task to bring us home?" he asked, patronizingly.

Dionysus turned from his seat at the head of the boat to look at them salaciously, "I thought I already mentioned… I'm the God of Fertility. I'm here to bless your marriage bed!"

And then he had the gall to actually wink at them.

Would love to hear your thoughts before I complete part II!