Bill loathed the first day of Autumn like no other. He would happily extinguish it from existence if he had the power, but no. Smiting single days of the year from their state of being was one of the few things outside his power. He could send forth a rain of death upon mankind, nature and even the stars themselves, but not that one single day of the year. Scratch that. Getting rid of the first day of spring, which was ironically no field of fresh flowers either, would be nice too. The limits of his hatred had enough room for two days of the year. At least.

"Welcome back, Wife." He couldn't even muster his usual false cheer. That had been lost thousands of years ago. And yet, they had done this same song and dance for thousands of years and things never seemed to change. It could be a bitch to be immortal at times. Much like his wife currently was. A bitch, that is.

"Yeah. I'm back." Mabel sighed at the depressing landscape outside the window of the throne room with crossed arms. Six months in the upper planes and six months at "home" didn't feel even close to being equal, just like always. Normally, she was used to the Underworld, but after living above ground under the sun, stars and moon with life flourishing everywhere for half a year, the harsh reality that this was her home never failed to kill any positive mood she had. To think she was once known for her energy and optimism.

She now wished that she had stayed a few days or weeks longer like last year. Bill had been pissed at her being late, but she already missed the sunshine. And her family.

"For once, could we skip the sulking?" Bill drawled with annoyance. It wasn't the first time he'd asked, but he was gambler.

"I haven't even said anything." Mabel glared at him. She knew her attitude sucked, but knowing that she was back here because of him, she often found that she didn't really care if she was a pain in his ass.

"No, but your face and tone sure could fool me." He scowled.

"Oh darling, I'm so glad that I could leave my family and the mortal realm full of life behind to come back to this literal hellhole to be with you!" Mabel grasped her hands together and tilted her head at him, beaming. The look quickly slipped from her face. "Is that better?"

"Heh. I've sent souls to an eternity of torture for less sass than you give me." Bill smiled tightly. "Maybe you'd like to join them and learn to respect me for once."

Mabel snorted, unimpressed. "Old threats, hubby dear. You really think that's gonna still work on me?" If anything, her years of marriage to Bill had taught her just what it meant to be married to Bill. He had tried to subjugate her with fear and threats like this in the beginning and it had worked for a time. But then she'd had a very enlightening conversation with a little blue birdie.

As his wife, Mabel had just as much power and influence within the Underworld as he did. She couldn't change what a horrid place it was as that had predated even Bill's dominion over the place, but he couldn't touch her. His power was her power and therefore, he had none over her.

The smirk on her face faded when she noted that Bill's was becoming more sincere. "Ah, Wife. You underestimate just how much time I have on my hands while you're away. I-"

Bill trailed and leaned forward, prompting Mabel to lean back. However, she knew that the cat was now out of the bag. And here she was hoping she could fix this before he noticed.

"Wife?"

"Yes?" She spoke slowly, dread growing in her stomach.

"Where is your shooting star?"

"…"

All humor drained from his face and the gaze of his single golden eye burned into Mabel as she averted her own nervously.

"Where is it?" he repeated firmly.

Her silence only served to make him more impatient. His hand snaked out to touch the side of her head. He then grasped her hair there and with a light tug, he turned her face to look up at him.

"Mabel." His voice was a low purr. It might have sounded soft and endearing to the ignorant observer, but Mabel easily recognized the thinly veiled demand in his tone.

She swallowed. "I… I lo… I lost it."

Bill let her hair fall through his fingers and stepped back, disappearing and reappearing on his throne. Slouched in his seat, he rubbed his temple with a sigh.

"How?" he asked lowly, but sounded more tired than anything.

"I fell asleep in the field and when I woke up, it was gone." Mabel spoke as if every word was pulled from her mouth like a tooth.

"What? Did the bunnies of the forest run off with it?" Bill asked, raising his voice in consternation as the fact began to sink in.

"I don't know how it happened, okay? I didn't know it was such a danger to take a nap in the meadow," she huffed. Mabel had done it plenty of times before and after her marriage to Bill.

"Mistake number one, Wife. One you'd never make if you slept in the meadows here," Bill ground out as he held his head. They were less meadows and more fire scorched land void of all but death and demonic monstrosities.

"Oh really? Are you going to make me do it then? Just like you're going to make me join the torture of the gods forsaken souls down here?" Mabel crossed her arms angrily. "Because I promise you, every second, whether it's waking up to screaming heads or finding deer teeth clogging up the sink, is torture enough."

"You lost your shooting star and you have the audacity to talk back to me." Bill ignored her and laughed humorlessly with shake his head. "You have no idea what you just LOST!" His hand slid from his face and his arm snapped out to point at her. A laser shot out, missing Mabel by an inch and demolished the pillar behind her to nothing but ashes.

Having thrown her arms out protectively from his attack, Mabel let them fall from her head as she looked back at the damage and glared at him. "You did not just pull a smiting fake-out on me!" She shouted in outrage.

"Tempt me to pull a real one, Wife," Bill challenged her. "Seriously. Tempt me. I've heard it's a great time once you get over the agonizing pain of having every cell in your body fried like an egg on the sun."

"All this over some stupid trinket from when we got married?" Mabel growled.

"It wasn't just some trinket," Bill's voice sounded like it was layered over itself and amplified throughout the room as blue flames engulfed everything but where they both were.

"Well, if it was so important, then why did you give it to me!?"

It was in the middle of one of her six months in his realm. They'd been married for twelve years and they had been the worst time of her life, but even hating Bill for bringing her there had grown old. She was lonely and had just needed something. Some reassurance that it wasn't so bad there even though she knew she'd be able to leave eventually. Only to have to come back.

He'd come to her with the shooting star one day.

"What?" she had groaned and forced herself to turn on her side to at least look at him, lest she incur his anger. She'd been too tired at the time to deal with Bill having a fit.

Mabel had opted to stay in her room as much as possible so she could shut out his world and pretend she was somewhere else. But confining herself to the same space for so long could be just as maddening, so she tended to sleep constantly to try and escape mentally if not physically. It was also before she'd realized she could have driven him out if she'd wanted to.

"I know you're unhappy here." He had been uncharacteristically serious as before he'd continually been smug and indifferent to her glum state, insisting she'd better get used to the Underworld. "This can't make up for that, but I wanted you to have this." Despite her intentions to throw whatever he had for her back in his face, the first time she'd seen the shooting star it had astounded her with its beauty to silence.

"Your powers are weak here," he'd explained. "That's making you feel weaker as well. This signifies our marriage, but it also protects you and your powers from the decay of the Underworld. Your capabilities will still be limited, but you'll be able to make things grow. You'll be able to create life again, even down here."

At the time, he'd given her hope.

"Well? Why?" When Bill didn't answer her question, Mabel snapped. "If this is about my powers weakening and me becoming mopey like before then don't worry your big fat head!" Mabel failed to notice how Bill's jaw tightened. "I won't bother you with how I'm feeling anymore!" She turned on her heel towards the door and the flames parted for her instantly.

"Damn it, Shooting Star. That's not-"

Mabel slammed the door behind her and Bill ground his teeth.

"If I didn't give a damn…"

Author's Note: I'm a horrible person for continually making new projects before I even get a good way into my old ones.

Anyway, this was going to be a oneshot, but instead it'll just be a short story. Hopefully, one I'll finish before I even think about starting ANOTHER story. Just a quick note, this is based on the old Persephone Kidnapping story from the Greek lore. Bill is Hades and Mabel is Persephone. If you've never heard of that story, the gist is that Hades, king of the Underworld, kidnapped Persephone to be his wife. But the world got thrown out of balance with Persephone gone, nothing growing and people starving, so Persephone stayed with Hades half of the year (fall and winter) and with her mom, Demeter, the other half (winter and spring).

I know there are variations and all, but that's the basics and this is my take anyway, so I'm just going with it for the fun of it. I hope you review and enjoy the story!