A Flower's Thorns

It was early morning on a Monday (the devils day in working class society) and Mae Shore was reaching the end of her rope. This wasn't due to any of the normal or mundane reasons, but rather the fact that she'd been on the run for several months without rest and had lost most of her strength. She never stayed in one city for more than a day or two, and once she started running there was no catching up with her. Or at least, not with any normal means.

Currently, the honey brown haired woman sat hunched over on a park bench, her chest heaving painfully as she fought to regain her composure. It had been a close call, losing the predators that had been tracking her, but somehow she had managed it. After days of zig-zagging through half-baked towns and sleeping in fields and forests, she had finally made her way to a bigger city somewhere in the Midwest. And once immersed in the large population, Mae had decided to lay low and wait for her stalker to pass- and it had worked. . . for several hours.

It seemed that hunters were a rather persistent bunch. So, Mae was forced to do what she always did when she was found; she grabbed her satchel and bolted. But since she hadn't rested in months without nearly constantly moving, she was slow and her body was wearing down. Which was why the second she had grown some headway between herself and those following her, she had collapsed on an uninhabited park bench.

Looking up with pale green eyes, the woman took in the somewhat smoggy blue sky and felt an exhausted tear land on her cheek. If she didn't rest soon, she would end up in the hunter's hands. But how could she rest when they always seemed to know exactly where she had stopped?

I wish you were here with me mother, she thought sadly, once more dipping her head into weary and dirt-caked hands. You would know what to do.

But her mother wasn't here, and she hadn't been for a long time.

Nothing comes back from pure death, her mother had once told her as she had embedded flowers in her daughter's honey hair- and the wise woman had been right. Once dead, you didn't come back and that was why she continue to run.

Mae knew that she had been sedentary for far too long, and slowly began to rise from the bench. Her body groaned its protests as her muscles cramped horrifically, but she ignored them. She would have to make it to another city by nightfall if she was to remain safe, and she had a long way to go. Shouldering her satchel across her chest once again, the woman was about to take off when she felt a presence behind her. Instantly her fight or flight instincts kicked into overdrive, but before she could get her legs to obey her internal command, she felt something magical surround her, keeping her in place.

"No use trying to escape," said a bored voice. "You can't get out of the summoning circle."

The woman's mouth turned down into an anxious grimace, for it was true. Being a Pagan Goddess she was forced to answer those who did the proper summoning rites. And until she heeded the call she would be stuck in the radius of her summoner's circle.

Mae turned around to face the one who had spoken, her pale green eyes burning with anger. There were three of them in total- hunters all of them and well equipped.

"What do you want?" She snarled, eyeing each of the men in turn and sizing them up with ancient orbs.

When the men moved closer to her and showed no sign of answering, Mae held up a hand of warning.

"State your business with me, or beware. You will lose your lives if you come any closer."

As they continued towards her unhindered, Mae felt remorse fill her up as she realized that they would not listen to her. Though she had the power to fight, the Goddess always tried to avoid it- but they were leaving her no choice.

"I'm sorry," she whispered woefully, before she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She focused only on herself and the inner magic she possessed, willing it to come to the surface and rear its ugly head for the world to see. This only took about a minute, but in that amount of time two of the three hunters had already come within a foot of her, and one was reaching out to grab her. And as his hand closed down on her shoulder, the Goddesses' glowing green eyes now snapped open.

And as her eyes met with his she let her inner monster take hold. For a brief second, Mae's hair became alive and hissed wildly and her face transformed into that of a hideous creature, before her glowing green eyes settled on the second man-meeting his gaze just like the first. And when she looked away, the woman knew that the damage was done.

For there, standing beside her, where the two hunters had been mere second before- were two stone statue men with pained expressions.

Mae felt her heart ache for them, knowing that they could never be returned to the way they were. . . Not after seeing her true gaze. . . That of the gorgon Medusa.

"NO~!"

Mae's attention turned back to the third man who was now raising his gun, and knew that she would be too slow. Her magic only worked when her victim looked her in the eye, and this hunter had had the chance to prepare himself . . . and she was too weak from her earlier running to break the summoning circle to reach him in time.

The Goddess stared at the human that would kill her, and calmly waited. There was nothing she could do, and she wouldn't beg him for something she knew he wouldn't give.

The hunter cocked his gun, and took aim, his face covered in an expression of hate, as he let his trigger finger come to rest.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Mae felt her heart rise as the familiar voice filtered through her heightened senses, and knew that tears had begun to fall to her pale face. She was aware that he would most likely tease her about it later, but in that moment she couldn't have cared less. Let the retch poke fun at her later; she had never been happier to hear her husband's voice in all her days.

As tears cleansed her taut face, Mae caught sight of him and felt her heart flip in her chest.

It had been several years since she had seen the demon Crowley, but he was as handsome as ever. For the first while (after he had forced her to marry him) - several hundred years back- the Goddess had loathed him. But over the years she had come to love him in her own special way. It was true that what she felt for the demon would never be clear-cut or normal (seeing as he had kidnapped her and kept her prisoner until she was bound to him) but the relationship was important to her nonetheless.

But for the joy that Mae felt towards the demon, the already startled hunter made up for it in revulsion. And before either demon or Goddess had time to act, he had pulled the trigger and a loud bang flew through the air.

"Persephone!" Crowley barked, immediately reaching the hunter and snapping his neck.

From where she now lay on the ground, Mae sighed contentedly- it had been so long since someone had used her true name.

If I have to die that's not a bad note to end on, she thought as her golden blood poured from the chest wound and coated her dirt-covered body. Not a bad way to go at all. . .

Crowley, who had now come over and picked her up in his arms, shook his head.

"Ever the drama queen, darling." Then seeing the two stone statues he smirked. "Though at least you still have your thorny edge intact. . ."

Mae was unconscious at this point, but if she had been alert, the comment would have earned him both a smack of disdain and a poorly hidden smile.

It was quite some time later when the Goddess once more opened her green orbs to the world. How long she had been out, she couldn't say, but her chest was bandaged and cleaned and her clothes had mysteriously disappeared.

Mae let her gaze wander to her surroundings, and took in an ebony bedroom that she didn't recognize. She had no idea where she was, and immediately had her flighty instincts return. But as she tried to sit up from where she was laying on the bed beneath the silky black sheets, a hand landed on her shoulder, stopping her.

Crowley, who sat on the edge of the bed, gazed down at her with unreadable brown eyes, but didn't remove his hand. And it was as she looked over the plains of his face that her memory returned to her. He had come to help her when she had been threatened. . . he had taken care of the bullet wound and brought her back with him . . . back to Hell.

She tried to push past his hand, and come into a sitting position, but his grasp on her bare skin grew more insistent.

"Easy, love. Don't want to take things too quickly. You'll just hurt yourself more."

Mae looked up into her husbands' dark brown eyes and sighed heavily, though ultimately submitted and let his hand gently push her back down into the soft mattress.

"Who hired the hunters?" To some the question might have seemed random and a bit abrupt, but Mae knew that if Crowley had been able to find her in time, that he had been keeping an eye out for her all along.

For a long moment, the demon was silent before he offered a name. "Plutus."

The Goddess's eyes closed painfully as her brother's name entered her ears. Though it wasn't unexpected that he was the one behind the hunt, it most certainly wasn't a pleasant thing to hear.

"How much?"

"Persephone-"

"No," she stopped him. "How much was the bounty, Crowley?"

"I'm not sure. But it was enough to get people's panties broiling."

Mae snorted at his colorful explanation, though she wouldn't have expected anything else from the demon. Then she once more opened her eyes and looked up at him, reaching out to take his hand in her own.

"You didn't sell me. . . You -You let me go."

His eyes became soft, before he leaned down and placed a kiss to her temple, "I promised I wouldn't hold you back, darling. I meant that."

I always keep my bargains.

Mae thought back to when she had first been bonded to Crowley, and how many years she had waited to escape Hell and reclaim her freedom. It all seemed like a lifetime ago, that she had been the wilted flower trapped in eternal darkness. But it was still very much a part of her past, being the daughter of spring caught in the devil's domain. Persephone and her Hades.

"And now?"

Her words were vague, but he understood their meaning just fine.

"As soon as you've rested enough to stand on your own, I'll escort you back and you can play the fearful bunny rabbit all over again."

Mae felt a tired smile spread across her droopy features, feeling relief course through her veins. "Thank you, sýzygos." But even before the Greek word for husband had fully passed her lips, the earth Goddess had already begun to drift off into a peaceful sleep. And within minutes she was lost to it, because for the first time in a long time she felt safe. Even though it was a demon that watched over her as she dreamed.

"Silly flower," Crowley said to himself as he laid down beside her underneath the sheets, and wrapped an arm around her waist, drawing her near. Before he too fell into the blissful embrace of sleep.

A/N: Hey guys! I originally posted this story over on Deviantart, but thought that I share it here too. ^^

This is my first time writing a Supernatural story, and Mae Shore is my OC who is both Persephone the Greek Goddess of Spring and the fabled monster Medusa. I'm still working out the details of her backstory, but I just had to write something for her.

Also, yes Crowley and Mae = Hades and Persephone in my head canon. *giggles and offers cookies* (This was just for some fun, and takes place before Crowley ever gets involved with the Winchester boys.

I hope you guys enjoyed this. I'm a little nervous seeing as this is my first story for the fandom, but fingers crossed it wasn't too bad.

~Lyn