"Peace to thy gentle shade," Persephone says in final farewell while performing the ritual lament during prothesis for her dear friend, Eumelia. As tradition warrants, Persephone follows behind the men, continuing to weep and wail at every street corner, as the chariot carries her friends body to her funeral pyre. She pulls at her hair, making a mess of it; her nails dig deep into the flesh of her cheeks; the pain does not match the loss of her dear friend.
Zeus watches his favorite niece from Mt. Olympus. "She does the human too great a service, a goddess performing at a funeral."
"The dark beauty in the back? Who is she?" Hades, on a rare visit, asks.
"Demeter's child, Persephone. A true innocent, she has no idea her affect on men or..." he pauses to look knowingly at Hades, "gods for that matter."
"Excuse me Zeus, I have some place to be." Zeus's laughter thunders down the mountain mocking his elder brother as Hades hurries to intercept Persephone.
Hades watches Persephone, waiting for an opportunity to catch her alone. She gives it to him by taking her cup of choai to a nearby stream. She drinks from the cup and pours the remainder in the river.
"Perhaps this river runs into the Styx and you can enjoy a bit of choai there dear friend."
"Your friend will be well looked after in the Underworld," Hades says by way of greeting. "She shall rest in comfort in Asphodel Meadows."
"Asphodel Meadows? I know that she is just an ordinary girl but she is my best friend, my only confidant, why cannot she enter the Elysian Fields? Her friendship was heroic to me."
"Asphodel is not as bad as the humans think. Your friend has just entered a new form of life, a little less perfect than life here, but life none-the-less."
"How would you know? It sounds a terrible place to me, a place of neutrality, with no true emotions, no passions, no joy."
"And no fear or hate either."
"Regardless, I would rather she were in Elysian. I shall think of her as being there, perfectly happy and content."
"If that is your wish, than she is there," Hades whispers in her ear.
"My wish cannot make it so, only King Hades has that power."
"And it is done," Hades replies, his finger now running through her hair.
Elizabeth openly weeps as Emily's coffin is lowered into the earth. She has lost her dearest friend. Deep in grief she does not see the dark man, standing atop a nearby hill, who cannot keep his eyes off her.
Nikolas watches as everyone leaves the graveside, everyone but the beautiful dark haired girl. She stands still and alone weeping as if part of her soul were lost, clutching a bedraggled bouquet of white roses.
"Who is she?" He asks his uncle Stefan, who stands solemnly next to him.
"The girl? If memory serves she is Audrey Webber's granddaughter, Elizabeth Webber. It looks like rain Nikolas we should leave this cursed place."
"Go ahead Uncle, I shall follow soon."
"If you are sure, I shall go ahead and pay my respects to the Quartermaines. The second car will come for you."
"Thank you Uncle," Nikolas answers absentmindedly. Stefan hands him an umbrella just as thunder crashes loudly.
"Don't get hit by lightening," Stefan calls as he rushes to the car.
"Too late," Nikolas answers walking towards Elizabeth.
"What will I do without you Emily? I miss you already." She drops the bouquet on the lowered casket just as rain begins to fall.
Nikolas arrives in time to protect her from the rain with his umbrella.
"Are you alright miss? Can I get you anything? Is there anywhere I can take you?"
"There is nowhere else I'd rather be. Do you think she's in heaven?"
"From everything I've heard about her, yes she's in heaven, I would even say the Elysian Fields."
"Greek mythology, the part of the underworld reserved for gods and heroes?"
"Yes."
"One doesn't meet to many people who just start talking mythology."
"My car's here, let me take you someplace dry and warm and I'll tell you all about myself."
"Thank you, but I would rather not get in a car with a stranger."
"My apologies; I'm Nikolas Cassadine, Laura Spencer's son."
"Nikolas Cassadine, I've heard a lot about you. I'm Elizabeth, Elizabeth Webber."
"Come," Nikolas commands, taking her hand and running with her to the car.
Persephone flitted in and out between the olive trees, pausing now and then to pluck and eat the swollen and ripe fruit. "We should really stop meeting like this, Mother says I shouldn't speak with you."
Hades stops her, his hand holding hers to the tree. "Did she say why?" He leans in trapping her.
"You're dangerous."
Hades laughs, a rich and full sound that fills the olive grove. "Dangerous? Perhaps. We each of us have that tendency. You my sweet, need never fear me. Demeter is being disingenuous, it's not danger she fears, but the loss of you."
"The loss of me? Mother need never fear that."
"Hadn't she? Do you never intend to marry? To leave Olympus and live with your husband?"
Persephone shakes off Hades's hand and walks away, discomforted by his words. "I hadn't thought about it. Regardless, Mother wouldn't lose me, we could still see each other. She is a goddess, there is nowhere she may not enter."
"There is one place, the Underworld. The goddess of fertility, of life, may not spend much time in the land of death."
Persephone turns back towards Hades. "It is tradition that a daughter leaves her home to live with her husband, surely Mother wouldn't mind.....if he was a good husband."
"Would you leave your mother, if the husband were me?" Hades asks. Being near her again, he takes her hand and raises it to his lips, his teeth nibble and nip at her fingers.
Persephone finds herself drawn inexorably towards Hades. She leans in, barely able to stand. "If Mother gives her permission than yes I would leave Olympus for the Underworld....for you."
Elizabeth sneaks behind the counter at Kelly's grabbing a pot of coffee. She serves several people on her way to her own table, where she finally tops off her lukewarm cup. The only benefit of having once worked at a cafe and still being close to the owners is the ability to sneak behind the counter once in awhile.
Lucky, the owner's son, enters Kelly's and notices Elizabeth. Without asking he sits at her table. "Waiting for me?"
"No." She pauses to slap his hand away from her cup of coffee. "If you must know, I am meeting Nikolas."
"The prodigal son, his royal pain in the ass, Prince Nikolas Cassadine. My half brother. What do you want to spend time with him for?"
"I happen to quite like him and it's none of your business who I see. You and I stopped seeing each other years ago."
"You may not worry about what I think but even Audrey doesn't like him."
"Lucky go away."
Just then the bell rings and Elizabeth looks up, catching Nikolas's eye as he enters Kelly's. Lucky is still talking, she hears none of it.
Nikolas walks towards them, he pauses to place a heavy hand on Lucky's shoulder, never taking his eyes off of Elizabeth's. "My place, I believe," he says by way of greeting, urging Lucky with a few light movements of his fingers to vacate the chair.
Lucky finds himself unceremoniously dumped from the chair, not sure how he ended up on the floor. Nikolas takes a seat on the newly empty chair as Lucky makes an ungraceful exit from Kelly's.
"I don't believe that's the best way to make friends with your brother, making a fool of him."
"I haven't known him long, but I don't see us ever becoming friends."
"Why not?"
Nikolas takes her hand. "We both want the same woman."
Luke storms into the cafe, "Elizabeth I hate to do this to you, you're like family but I have the right to refuse service to anyone." Luke turns towards Nikolas. "We don't serve cockroaches in Kelly's."
Nikolas releases Elizabeth's hand and stands up, facing Luke squarely. Elizabeth gets out of her chair and stands between the two men. "We were just leaving Luke," she says, taking Nikolas's elbow and turning him towards the door.
Nikolas raises an imperial eyebrow. "In deference to the lady, we shall leave. You and I will continue this conversation another time." He takes Elizabeth's elbow and escorts her from the cafe.
"Your family isn't very well liked in Port Charles," Elizabeth says pulling slightly away from Nikolas. "Even my Grams."
"Does that concern you, what others think?"
"Not really, but Grams is usually not so judgmental about someone, at least, not without meeting them first."
"Perhaps she is afraid of losing you."
Elizabeth laughs, moving away from him to stand on the edge of the pier. "Afraid of losing me! Why? I have no plans to leave Port Charles."
He stalks towards her, she is trapped between him and the sea. "Perhaps she is afraid that you and I might become more than friends, that we might become lovers, that I might take you back to Greece with me."
Elizabeth's heart skips at the word lovers, she attempts to ignore it. "She said that Cassadines are dangerous."
"Anyone can be dangerous. I assure you that you have nothing to fear from either me or my uncle." Nikolas raises her hand to his lips, his teeth nibble and nip at her fingers. "Would you risk upsetting your friends and family by taking a man they all despise as a lover, if the man were me?"
Elizabeth finds herself drawn inexorably towards Nikolas. She leans in, barely able to stand. "I choose my lovers, I don't need anyone's permission."