This is a requested story. I wrote this when my reviewers from the other story asked for this.
Disclaimer: I am not nearly old enough to own Greek Mythology.
Kore isn't sinless.
She's a young girl (about seven now), and she's lived under the careful watch over her loving mother.
Kore is a child, a playful little sun-kissed girl with brown curls and bright eyes. She plays in the flower fields, her feet as naked as the day of her birth. She runs and plays, unaware of the sins of the world (She is just a child, and children see nothing but good).
She goes unworried of the riches of man; all she needs is her fruits and her flowers to live. She's unknowing of wars, battles, and kingdoms; she doesn't see poverty, hunger, and sadness (Her mother did well in hiding these things from her). All she sees are the happy things.
Kore had met the other Olympians, that couldn't be avoided.
Zeus, Hera, Hestia. Ares, Apollo, Artemis. Hermes, Athena, Aphrodite. She met many of them. (But the older, wiser, Gods and Goddesses saw no need to taint the child over her innocent view of life.)
But the absence of knowledge does not remove sin.
But is it really sin if there was no evil intent?
Is it really sin if nothing was harmed?
Kore didn't have to worry about these things. She is a child after all; she doesn't even know what sin is.
It's still there, Demeter knows, but just barely.
(Persephone's mother did a good job protecting her daughter from the evil of the world.)
The first time Kore had met her Uncle Hades she was seven-and-a-half.
She had been playing in Hera's garden (Her mother had some sisterly things to talk about with Hera and Hestia, so she got to go play), picking a tiny yellow flower, when she spotted him just outside the garden.
He was tall and pale. His hair was a dark color (It reminded her of grapes, one of her favorite foods) that was kinda long and kinda short at the same time (she's a kid, how can she explain it). It was easy to see, even from where she stood, that the mans eyes were clear and fogged over; almost like the creeks during early morning when dew was trying to fall onto the waters surface (if she was older, Persephone would have said his eyes were blind; but she didn't know what blind was).
He looked like a prince out of a fairytale.
But he also looked kinda sad.
Kore (being the innocent minded girl she was) took her flower and walked over to the stranger. When she reached him she held up her gift (with a smile on the tiny little face) and asked; "Hey mister; why do you look so sad?"
The man didn't speak, he didn't even move for a few moments; but then he turned his foggy eye towards her own.
Kore smiled and held her flower higher. "It's not good to be sad. But don't worry; this will make you feel better."
The man doesn't move, doesn't speak, and doesn't do anything.
Kore's smile drops and suddenly she can feel tears reaching her eyes. Did the man not like her flower? Did her gift not make him feel better?
The man is alarmed by the tears, his eyes widen a little and his mouth opens with mute horror. He reaches up and gently takes the flower from the girl (his still-stunned attempt to stop the tears).
It works like a spell; suddenly Kore isn't upset anymore and she throws her little arms in the air with a big smile spreading across her face. "YAY"
And the man stands there, flower in his hand, stunned by the events that just played-out before him.
"I'm Kore." The girl suddenly remembers to introduce herself; having forgotten to do so earlier when her mission was to many the man happy. "What's your name?"
"Hades." The answer is simple, clear. And Kore suddenly liked his voice because it remind her of a mix of Aunt Hestia and Uncle Zeus and she liked that because she loved her Aunts and Uncles.
"You mean like Uncle Hades?" Kore asks. "The Uncle Hades that Uncle Zeus and Uncle Poseidon sometimes talk about?"
The man nods his head. "Yes."
Kore smiles and throws her arms around his legs in a tight hug; apparently Uncle Hades wasn't used to hugs if his shocked face had any say.
She ends her hug and smiles one more time at her Uncle before racing back to the garden. "Bye Uncle Hades."
If Kore strained her ears, she could almost hear a faint 'Goodbye Kore;' coming from her uncle.
Years have passed since that day; Kore isn't innocent minded anymore.
When she was around nine, her mother had finally decided she could trust the nymphs as playmates for her daughter. Surely the nymphs wouldn't say much about the dealings and worldly things.
But things happen and people grieve, people cry, people talk. Nymphs have feelings, they have emotions, they have happiness and tragedy; so Kore learned about the evils of the world through them. In fact, for being known as silly; nymphs make good teachers. Through the nymphs Kore learned about pain, death, and sorrow; she learned about rape, hunger and murder; she learned about greed and cruelty.
She even learned that 'Uncle' Zeus was more than just her uncle.
One day, the name Hades passes a Nymph's lips.
"What did you say?" Kore asks; she's curious, she knows; too curious about her mysterious uncle she only met once.
The nymph sneers the name. "Hades."
"My Uncle? What of him?"
"Do you not know?" The nymph asks, bewildered. "He is King of the Underworld, the King of the dead, a soulless man that feeds and the souls of others."
Hades? As in the hesitant uncle that she met so many years ago? That Hades?
Her Hades did not seem so cruel as to eat the souls of others. Her Hades seemed distant, but not soulless. Were they talking about the same person?
"Have you ever met this man?" It seems like a reasonable question, one had to gain confirmation after all.
"I have." The nymph replies with the dismissing wave of the hand. "At a party a long time ago."
They do not speak of this again.
The second time Kore saw her Uncle Hades, he didn't look the same as before.
She didn't recognize him at first, the man in her memory was a pure, blind prince. The man who stood talking to Uncle Poseidon was much, much darker; with slightly curled black hair and dark green eyes, his body was tan and he looked a bit more muscled than before.
The way his face was shaped was different too. His features were sharper and his eyes narrowed in a naturally sly manner (the same way her eyes do when she tries convince the nymphs to tell her things about the outside world). His lips seemed to slide into a natural sly smile as well.
The man was a manipulative bastard.
"Who is that?" She had asked Artemis.
Artemis barley glanced at the man before she hurriedly looked in the opposite direction. "That's Hades."
Surprise filled Kore's body and she could feel her eye widen. "Are you sure? He doesn't look like the Hades I remember."
Artemis gave her a look, but never-the-less replied. "He is the mirror of our soul. He looks like what our souls look like."
Kore laughed at first; not believing that her soul could be witty enough to look like that man.
As it turns out, she was that manipulative.
She realized this when she convinced a nymph to tell her about the battles of the human worlds. She knew, of course, that the nymph feared her mother; but Kore had a way with words and tight tough.
Kore was a puppet master and the nymphs were her puppets.
Kore was upon this realization that she remembered something important she learned as a child.
Puppets are toys and toys break.
Soon, Kore rationalized, the nymphs would not be enough.
When this happened, she would have to leave the safety and isolation of her mothers house.
The third time she saw her Uncle Hades; he looked the same as last time, if only a little darker.
She met him near Aunt Hestia's room this time and she actually spoke to him this time. "Hello Uncle Hades."
He stunned, at first (Not many women bothered to talk to him after all, the best he got weekly were Hera and Hestia), but then he recognized her and gave a quiet, "You've grown...Kore was it?"
"Yes." She smiled, pleased that her name was remembered by an original Olympian that she hadn't even spoken to more than once (and that was several years ago).
"It's...good to see you." Hades was hesitant, as if he wasn't used to talking to someone willingly.
"It's good to see you to."
An awkward silence followed her statement.
"Are you going to speak to me?" She smiled at her Uncle.
He didn't respond.
"Your not used to the talking thing; are you?"
He shook his head. "No."
It was funny, seeing someone so sly looking acts so shy. But even if he was the reflection of the soul, he himself wasn't a reflection.
Slowly, Hades and she began to steadily talk more and more.
They would meet at Aunt Hestia's house; usually Hestia would just sit and watch them talk to one another while she sipped on a cup of broth and boiled roots.
Kore found that the quiet company of Hades and Hestia was more preferable to the loud company of the nymphs'.
When you've lived all your life in isolation, you start feeling the need to break away and start your independence.
So your overprotective mother (who still thinks you're a five-year-old) starts to become your most friendly enemy.
Kore didn't want to be an isolated little girl; she wanted to be independent, like Artemis.
Slowly, Kore made up a plan in her mind.
Her plan took many mouths to set into place.
The hardest part was convincing her Uncle to participate.
But Kore (no, she wasn't innocent anymore, she would need a new name soon), was very persuasive.
Soon, she would be free.
Her plan didn't go quite as expected.
"What do you mean you thought I wanted to come to the Underworld?"
The Underworld wasn't that bad.
Kore learned about a lot of things from a lot of people (Even Choran took the time to tell her what money was) and she was always treated like an adult.
It was fun being treated like an adult for the first time.
Kore had always thought herself wealthy.
But the diamonds, the rubies, the sapphires and emeralds; the treasure Hades possessed proved his worth as the god of wealth.
Two mouths had passed and Kore married Hades.
On her wedding bed, she renamed herself Persephone.
There was one more time that Hades form changed for Persephone.
It was by her fifth month in the Underworld; after she took her place as a queen.
Being queen changed her, made her feel like she'd never felt before. Every day passed with the feeling of power, with the respect and fear of the dead, with the love of the servants and even the king himself.
She feels powerful, eternal, and beautiful. She is both pure and corrupted. She is the queen of the Underworld, the queen of wealth, the wife to the soul.
She was Persephone and for the first time, she is a goddess.
And Hades form changed to her suiting.
He was pale again, with soft/sharp blue eyes and wavy black hair. He has a fine features and a strong body. There's a royal air about him now, one that appeals to her. But his teeth are too sharp and his nails are too pointed.
Hades reminds her of poison, sweet but deadly.
Its been a year and a half; her mother made a big fuss and now Persephone spends half the year with her.
She doesn't actually spend that much time with her mother (much to Demeter's sorrow; but Persephone is grown now and she has to live her life), she spends that time with Artemis and Athena.
Artemis wonders why Persephone married Hades. "That's like marrying yourself; well...the good and bad parts of you anyway."
Persephone, for her part, doesn't bother to explain. How can she?
Athena seems like she understands, but doesn't bother to say anything.
Red, black, blue.
Sin, Purity.
Does it matter?
If there is anything she's learned from her teachers, its that justice is a human concept. And all Gods, Goddess, monsters, and spirits; in the end they are all human. They all feel emotions, they all feel pain, and they all feel something.
There is no good, no evil. There is only learning.
She is Persephone, she is the queen.
He is Hades, he is the human soul.
Together they are the world's rulers.
Together they invincible.