How can there be so many beautiful things on this earth? My mother has out done herself year. I run my hand down the slanted hill I'm on and I can feel every single blade of grass in between my fingertips. I breathe in deeply and inhale the crystal clear night sky. It's one of those perfect nights where everything is just right for being lazy. I couldn't tell you how long I've sat here looking at the cloudless sky, just staring at the stars, and naming every constellation over and over again.
This earth was filled with splendor and most of it came from my mother, Demeter. This particular meadow had been my cradle. When I was young I'd crawl around the purple flowers in wonder as their leaves sheltered my tiny form and the soft whisperings of the wind lulled me to sleep. The smell of the outside world comforted me like the smell of freshly leavened bread would a baker. It was a constant high. I needed it. My body craved the outside, the life that flourished here. This was where I wanted to raise my own children and my grandchildren. I want them to know what it feels like to be wild and one with nature. I would teach them to not just enjoy the life that flourished endlessly, but to guard and appreciate everything that the earth bore. Just like my mother taught me. I watched the flowers I love so much sway in the warm night breeze… or were they trembling? No they weren't swaying at all, but quaking. I sit up quickly only to see a dark silhouette far out in the distance in an open chariot pulled by what could only be demonically possessed animals. I never was partial to animals like I am to plants so the fact of the matter was the animals pulling the chariot could have been tamed horses for all I knew, not that I really stopped to think about it. The thing was coming straight at me. The chariot ripped through the virgin flower beds tearing them up and spitting them out without mercy. My heart started to break. Never mind about me what about all the precious wild violets and sunflowers? It would take a whole two or three seasons to repair the damage done by this monster.
I stand up while dirt and plant debris fall out my hair as I shake out my golden mane. The stranger slows his chariot to a stop. With the fiercest gaze I can muster I eye this intruder down hoping he can see me through the night.
"Halt, sir, I must insist you find a path." I told him haughtily as my anger poured through my words. I would make sure this man would pay for what he had done to my precious meadow. "You've destroyed the fertile soil and flower beds that grow there." I very nearly growled at him. I was ignored.
Without warning I was suddenly pulled into the chariot and fell to the strangers feet head first as he slapped the backs of his steeds to start running again. I tried to make a break for it shooting my powers and aggravation through my fingertips, but it was worthless. The man simply acted as if I'd done nothing, but ruin the set of clothes he was wearing. "Unhand me." I shout at him and tried to pull my wrist free after he'd grabbed it from my attack on him. He didn't say anything to me except to look straight ahead and steer the chariot to barrel into a crevice in the earth. No, no, no this can't be happening. I squinted my eyes and suddenly the features of the man pop out at me. It was Hades. I'd only seen him a handful of times in my lifetime though he was my Uncle twice over. He rarely came up to Mount Olympus and when he did it was grudgingly. It didn't seem he liked the high spirits of the upbeat crowd. It was him alright, make no mistake, but what did he want with me? I tried to think better thoughts, but horrible images plagued because deep down I knew exactly what he came for in that field. Me.
I shook my head forcefully trying to get out my mother's memories. It was all so much to handle at once. I'd never expected anything like that from my father, though to be fair he did try to warn me before I looked at these that I wouldn't like everything I saw, but still I couldn't see how love could make someone take the happiness of another. It just wasn't fair. No matter how many times I looked and looked through this memory I still couldn't find what I was searching for and that was answers. I collected the swirling vapors and capped the large vial to put it back into the wooden chest set out on my white bedspread. I was sworn to that all I needed was these vials of memories from my mother to understand, but when she had given me these memories for my 500th birthday I never imagined what I'd find in them.
"Think of me when you look at these and you'll understand what you're looking for. Love, Mom." That was it. That was all that was on my note. I'd never heard that my mom was elusive, but then again what did I know? All I had were memories to access her character. I could hardly be blamed for not knowing her, but still I missed her with a deep ache in my chest. How fair were the fates when you knew you would always miss your mother by mere seconds all the time? That you got told how much you looked like her or how much of her personality was inside you? Yet, I would never know, ever. Something that was decided for me even before my conception. I fumble around in my wooden chest looking for the vial that held that particular memory. The one that cut me the deepest all the time. The one that made me weep uncontrollably for hours after I was finished with it. My hand finally stumbled upon the smallest vial that contained a pale blue swirling substance. I sighed before bracing myself with something I'd seen a thousand times and could even repeat every sentence word for word. It was just one of those moments again where I just needed to see it for myself again. The whole thing was just so ridiculous yet it ruled and ruined my life.
I uncapped the bottle and let the mist fill my senses until I became my mother, Persephone, once again. I was in her mind and body. Sadly, these were the moments I lived for because otherwise I would never know what it felt like to even be around her. The only thing I could do was focus and watch as everything unfolded before my eyes.
"She isn't going back there to that horrid place." My mother, Demeter, hissed vehemently at Hades. "She'll wilt down there, Zeus. Have you no compassion for your daughter, our only child?" At that Demeter turned on her sympathetic pout at the Supreme ruler of the gods. I suppose it's worked before though one way or the other. My mother wanted a child and here I was the product of them both.
"You agreed, brother." Hades quiet, eloquent voice butted in reminding Zeus of their previous arrangement. The one where Hades had asked for my hand in marriage and of course Zeus had agreed in a drunken stupor. He had so many children he didn't exactly need me in particular.
"True, true." Zeus thundered shaking his stone villa to the very core of its foundations. Demeter glared at Zeus truly despising him for his exuberance and carelessness. "I didn't think she would mind all that much." Zeus frowned slightly at his sister's angry face.
"Now darling, surely we can just forget that entire matter. After all she's back here with me now and that's what she wants… isn't it Persephone?" My mother tried to reign in her anger with every fiber of her being. I could tell just by the way she looked at me, her face straining against trying to contort with rage. It was the only way because Zeus did not enjoy anger being directed towards him. Really who would? He was the King of the gods. If he didn't like something than that was that.
"Yes, mother." I answered quickly and obediently.
"There you see-"
"However, there is one little problem." Hades said almost gleefully. His dark eyes shone with the kind of mirth I could rarely imagine him having and instead of it making his features handsome, it made him frightening. "Once you eat the food of the underworld you must stay there." I cowered back behind my mother's left side as Zeus pronounced my fate.
"No!" my mother screeched in indignation. "She has told me, it was only a few pomegranate seeds."
"Rules are rules even for goddesses this is true." Zeus explained sternly his brow was one even line as he tried to act like the king he was supposed to be. I was so appalled. My father couldn't be serious.
"Please, Daddy." I whispered as I felt tears start to fall. I hadn't even realized I was this upset and it wasn't just for show. I truly was sad, this was the only thing I'd ever asked of my father. I normally didn't even acknowledge him as my dad. I knew Hera would be jealous and punish me for various reasons such as being alive, but the fact of the matter is he was my father and I really wanted him to listen.
"I'm sorry my child. What's done is done. The only thing I can do is try to mend it. How about this hmm? Six months with your mother, then six months with your husband-to-be. Just rotate." Zeus tried to placate everyone only to have the argument between my fiancé and mother escalates. I stared at Hades as he protested against even that generous offer. His lean features made him at least bearable to look at, but inwardly I cringed at the thought of being "married" to him and everything it entailed. I couldn't live in that underworld with no one but him.
"What will I do without her? She will be my wife!" Hades shouted finally loosing the composure he'd held the entire time.
"Six months! Oh she will surely die down there from depression. She needs sunlight and air." Demeter looked as if she was about to bring down the entire mountain with her immense aggravation at the thought of a daughter lost for six months.
"Enough!" Zeus said losing his good humor. "I've had enough. This is the order I have laid down. If this will please both of you I have an idea. Once they bear a child the offspring will rotate just as her mother does except opposite. One will have the child while the other has Persephone. Is this not agreeable?"
I watched as Hades thought it over before giving a curt nod. My mother seemed to know this was the best deal she could get and hesitantly agreed. I could only stand in shocked disbelief. Had they both even realized that I would never see my daughter? I don't think they did. My mother would have me, but I wouldn't have a child to hold and love. I would just not have a child then. The pain was almost too much to bear. Living in the world of the dead was one thing, but having a child you didn't know was the worst thing anyone could ever lay down as a punishment. What had I ever done to deserve this fate?
My mother's vision started to fade and I started to get my own mind back just before the sobs started. I'd always known how much pain I'd caused her, but this just confirmed it. She hadn't wanted a child, but here I was. She bore me simultaneously with pain and grief. She knew as soon as she had me that I would be lost to her forever, but she did choose to have me. I suppose some things could be worse such as Tartarus, even though I was forbidden to go there of course I'd visited it many times, but still. Her pain was my pain doubled. I knew how much agony she was in just for her to be a mother, but in the end she lived without me and I without her. Until the end of eternity.
A/N: This is what I do in my spare time. Write more stories than I can handle. I can't help it if my mind wanders and I end up writing another story when I'm supposed to be finishing one. Oh well tell me what you think. Confused? Well the memories are Persephone and of course her daughter is the one looking at them.