This is a special something I've written for a fellow Tumblr's birthday.
The request was for a Hades/Persephone AU - Hopefully, I delivered. I added a modern twist :) Enjoy!
"Mother…" Light sighed heavily as the goddess spread her grace and blessings upon the ground, trees and flowers as they walked along through the park in the center of Tokyo.
The young god eyed a man as he threw a balled up bag at a trash can and missed, leaving it rolling in the dirt without a second thought, further sullying the ground that was already littered with waste.
"How do you bear it?" He gestured to the evidence of humanities filth discarded upon the beautiful Earth that his wise mother had cultivated for thousands of years and thought to himself.
This world is a rotten mess.
"Perseph-"
"Please remember Sachiko." He interrupted, emphasizing her current name as a couple passed by them. "That's not my name in this time..."
"Light then." The nature goddess huffed and stopped in her tracks, turning to him and reaching up to trace the lines of the angelic face her child now took as their own. Her hands trailed down to place them on shoulders that were much wider than the feminine form her child had always been fond of in the past.
"Why have you decided to take on the masculine form now my sweet child?" She asked curiously. "I knew you were coming up on choosing a form for this next hundred years but never expected…"
Light took Demeter's hand and let the warmth that was his current namesake glow a bit along his fingertips. He smiled at her and the goddess could not help but respond with an answering smile for this child of Springtime, this blessed ray of sunshine in her existence.
"It felt right…I can't explain it." He shook his head and laughed. "I have so much to explore. It's interesting to have something new to learn again after all this time." She nodded in understanding and they began to walk again, hand in hand now.
"Will you come back here tomorrow with me?"
"Of course."
xxx
Light strolled through the park the next day, waiting for his mother to arrive, using his gifts to seek out areas that needed tending. He was pleased that the apple trees he'd been monitoring seemed to be flourishing with just a small bit of his power to encourage their growth.
As he strolled further along, he passed more and more patches of refuse and started picking them up, throwing them in the trash and growing more upset by the second. Again, he saw tons of it, just lying next to a garbage can. It made no sense to him…
"What in the name of Tartarus…" He muttered as he picked up a bottle, only to have another one bounce off the garbage can next to him and hit his leg.
"Hey buddy, can you get that for me? Thanks!" The man snickered and kept walking. Light's eyes narrowed and he felt the Springtime warmth inside him morph into a scorching Summer heat that would burn the fields and crops if given a chance.
I look around and all I see are people the world would be better off without. He thought as he snatched the bottle off the ground, fist clenching tightly around it. I was right…this world is a rotten mess.
"It really needs to be cleaned up," Light whispered to himself, tossing the bottle in the trash and turning on his heel to march straight out of the park.
I can't make an impact picking up trash at the park. I need to think bigger. I need to prevent the worst messes and that means…
Taking down the people at the source causing the problem. Light knew that to do that, he was going to have to make a call he really didn't want to. The young god pulled out his cell phone as he strolled through the streets of Tokyo and dialed the number that he probably never should have programmed into his new phone.
"What's up Seph?" Light rolled his eyes and let it slide. It wasn't as if the god of fate and destiny knew he'd changed names in modern times or bodies…
"Are you still living in the Kanto region?"
"Hyuk, Hyuk…yeah, me, Clo and Lach have a place in Tokyo right now…ooh, are you in town? I am so bored!" Atropos whined.
"So much modern technology and science…bunch of bullshit if you ask me. Telling me when to clip someone's life string…it's all blah, blah, blah. I feel like all the fun's been taken out of taking lives." He pouted. Light smiled, unbelieving of his luck.
"Oh really? That's terrible! I think I might have an idea of something we could do about that. Text me your address. I'll be right over."
"Okay! Hey, by the way… Are you feeling alright? Your voice sounds an awful lot like, umm, how do I say this? Oh, yeah, I know it sounds like you have a penis now…do you have a penis now Seph?" Light sighed.
"Yes Attie, I have a penis now." The brunet ran a hand through his hair and chuckled. "I'll see you shortly."
"Will you show it to-"
"No." Light hung up and shook his head in amazement, pulling up the directions as they came through in the other god's text and heading for the current home of the three fates.
The ones who controlled who lived and who died.
xxx
"Eh? What did you say?" Hades muttered as he threw on a white t-shirt and jeans, messy raven hair slightly tamed as he ran his fingers through it in annoyance at its unruliness.
"We're going to need a bigger boat," Charon replied calmly from just outside the god's bedroom. "I'm probably going to need a fleet of boats and extra help if this keeps up." The old man added. "For Zeus's sake, did world war three breakout up here?" The god's charcoal-hued gaze stared blankly at him, raising an eyebrow coolly.
"I'd have to check with Ares, but as far as I'm aware, no." The god replied in a drawling monotone before turning away and heading down the hallway to his office to check on this ridiculous situation for himself.
The massive wall of monitors displayed the various ways that they were tracking and cataloging every death across the world as it occurred. Measuring and graphing the times, locations to assess such anomalies was well within the scope of their power. Hades smirked as he approached the fiery haired god sitting before the monitors, fingers flying across the keys.
Hermes may have been one of the youngest among them, but his godly talents in being able to cross boundaries and act as a go-between extended far beyond just bringing souls down to the afterlife. He had been incredibly helpful as they transitioned to this new modern world and Hades could not be more grateful to this son of Zeus.
"So, what do you see?" He murmured as his eyes analyzed the data on the screen before him, quickly coming to his own conclusions, but curious what the other god would say. The redhead turned and leaned back in his seat, pulling out a cigarette and feeling around for a lighter before smiling apologetically at the god.
"Do you mind?" The older god sighed and reached out to tap the tip of the cigarette, letting the flame flare a bit to startle him.
"Jeez…you know, you should go back to using Lucifer for your name again," Hermes replied sourly, taking a drag of his half-burned cigarette. "It was much more appropriate for this fire and brimstone crap…" He trailed off as Hades' eyes narrowed dangerously at him.
"Sorry…" The younger god murmured. "What I see is a lot of people dying and I mean a lot…they all seem to be what we'd honestly call the scum of the Earth." He took another long drag. "Probably would've been smiting the mother fuckers back in the day ourselves for the shit they do, to be honest. Essentially, it seems that someone is cleaning up the trash."
Hades eyes rapidly read through the information. His mind was able to absorb at a speed far outpacing any mere mortal as he connected the dots and determined the first victims were…
"The killer is in the Kanto region…" He sighed and ran his thumb across his lower lip. Normally he could care less about a little murder, but this was starting to interfere with the order in his domain and that was unacceptable. "And they seem to have initially focused on killing corporate big shots at companies known for their highly unethical environmental practices. See here and here as well." Hades pointed out on the screen to Hermes.
"Use this to better pin down a timeline and victims. I'm going to Japan to see what I can find. I've been meaning to pay a visit to Zeus anyways…hear he's been partial to Mt. Fuji lately." Hades turned to Charon, who still stood waiting for instructions.
"Do the best you can for now with what you have to get them across the river Styx." The god hesitated before continuing. "Thánatos is in charge until I get back." Hermes' eyes went wide and he spun around his chair, mouth tightly shut. Hades rolled his eyes and walked from the room, as he headed down the corridor he merely had to think it, and in the next he was enrobed in a long black modern trench coat jacket and boots. The God of the Underworld was not a fan of using his power for such frivolous acts as putting on his clothing, but when one was in a hurry or impatient as he often found himself, it was easy to make excuses...
"I'll be back soon, just suck it up, alright?" He muttered sullenly as he strode from the room and headed out to the courtyard, perpetually shrouded in mist, to find his chariot already waiting, four jet black winged horses at the ready. He mounted the chariot and closed his eyes, concentrating his godly energy on his goal.
"Lead me to the one who tastes of so much beautiful death. Lead me to the one who would seek to unbalance this world. We will balance it again." He murmured to his four companions and snapped the reins, sending them soaring towards the surface to find the one who was the cause of so much trouble for his realm.
xxx
Light laughed joyously as he plucked an apple from the tree and tossed it to Atropos, or Ryuk as he apparently was going by in this time. The other god grabbed at it eagerly.
"You always have grown the best fruit, but especially these…"
"Apples," Light finished for the other god with a smile. "Well, I'm happy to do it. We've made such a difference already. Those corporations are all changing their policies, paying out to families that they've poisoned with their pollution or whose lives or homes they've willfully destroyed just to save a couple dollars on their bottom line. The local dump company that was supposed to be maintaining this park sure got a wake-up call…"
They smiled at each other. The owner of the company had left a full video confession about his unethical business practices, shady dealings to avoid doing the work they were hired for, willful pollution of the local rivers by dumping waste in them instead of going to proper dump sites.
The list went on and on. The great thing was, it all came from the man himself. Light hadn't had to make the man do a thing except be honest…
And then he'd had the man kill himself by jumping into the river in the exact spot where they'd been dumping trash. The young god thought it was very poetic as he admired the blossoms on the branch before him and felt that glow of Springtime fill every bone of his body.
"Will your mother be here soon?" The fate asked curiously. Light nodded. "Well, I should probably get going then." He replied, taking another bite of his apple and waving as he began to walk off.
"Tomorrow? More?" Ryuk made a snipping motion with his fingers and Light grinned.
"Yeah, I'll call you." The brunet listened to the fate's laughter fade as he grew farther away and his eye was suddenly caught by a beautiful, but small patch of Narcissus.
Oh…how pretty. He thought, hurrying over to the corner of the meadow in the cool morning air to see if he could help spread the growth over a larger area before his Mother arrived. He closed his gold-flecked eyes, something that never changed no matter what body he was in, and focused all of his energy on the beautiful yellow and white flowers.
Several minutes later, he opened his eyes, smiling broadly as he felt the new growth beneath the surface of the cool, but fertile ground. The beginnings of the new flowers would break ground by the next morning and he couldn't wait to- Light startled as the ground rumbled beneath him.
What the…? He looked around the meadow, fogging and misty now as the morning dew rose of the ground. The ground began to shake again and…
It didn't stop this time.
Light's eyes widened as the ground began to crumble where the flowers before him grew. He let out a small cry as he scrambled back, going further and further as the hole grew larger. His heart pounded in his chest and though he knew he wouldn't die from a fall, it wouldn't feel good either, nor would he like to be buried deep in a hole by accident. All of these things flitted through his mind in an instant as he raced back far faster than he ever thought he could move.
Then he heard it. The sound of horses and in the next, they were soaring from the ground pulling a dark chariot behind them. The young god's eyes widened where he lay sprawled on the ground, golden gaze meeting cold dark orbs set in a pale face. The raven's expression went from icy to heated as his eyes quickly raked across the young god's form lying on the grass like an offering before him.
Shit…That has to be Hades! I've got to get out of here. Light tried to stand and felt himself struggling. The use of so much power that morning on the park's growth, combined with the scramble moments ago had drained him of all energy.
He panted as he swayed on his hands and knees before a sudden rush of air and noise filled his senses when the horses passed by next to him. The next thing Light knew, there was a strong arm around his waist, roughly yanking him off the ground into the chariot and holding him tightly.
The Springtime deity struggled instinctively with the bit of energy he had left, but it was no use as the chariot began to plunge towards the hole in the ground once more, into darkness.
"Mother!" He screamed out before the ground closed above them. He sobbed and hoped the goddess heard him. That someone heard him.
Feedback my darlings...pretty please :)
I'm on Tumblr...come find me there!
User: AnimeFanimeFic
#moderngodsfic