The day Zeus beds Persephone is the day he seals his fate. Hera has been watching him closely. He has been too kind, too attentive. His eyes smile when they look at her and he engages her in conversation. This has never been the nature of their relationship. He ignores her and she resents him, unless he is being satisfied elsewhere.
So she follows him when he leaves his temple on Olympus. It is evening on Earth and the air is calm and warm. Flowers sway everywhere in the breeze as the gods pass by, one after the other. There is nothing outwardly threatening about this night.
Zeus leads Hera to a small glade. It is a beautiful place, lush, open grass, surrounded by a circle of flowered trees that curl their branches overhead sleepily. He steps inside the ring of trees. Hera hovers in the shadow and waits. This is not unfamiliar territory. Zeus and his indiscretions are famous on Olympus. Then she sees who waits for him on a bed of evening roses and her stomach curdles with an envy and rage she has not felt in a millennia.
Persephone is kneeling there in that wonderful lover's nest, shining with the sort of fresh glow only Spring has. Her pale hair is unbound, falling over her naked body in cascades that look like the sun Apollo brings across the sky every morning. She looks up when Zeus enters their haven and her full rose petal lips part on a smile.
"My father." She says. "Will you come share this summer evening with me?" Zeus sheds his clothing and joins her. As his golden skin covers Persophone's pale white, Hera idly notes Persophone has her father's hair. The sound of their coupling rises into the sky and it's oddly appropriate for a night such as this, when the crickets are still but the flowers have just returned.
The Underworld makes Hera uncomfortable. She is a creature that enjoys luxury. The passage down into Hades' home is not luxurious. The Ferryman is silent and stares at her throughout the trip so there is nothing to do but watch the dead pass by in the Styx. Cerberus watches her warily when she departs the ferry, and she has to step carefully to avoid the slobber dripping from the massive jowls on the head closest to her robes.
Hades' home is not in any way less than any of the temples of Olympus. It is more foreboding, whereas the deities on the mountain favor open arches, breezy satin drapes, and various silks and décor. Hades' home is a fortress. Sharp edges of black stone rise from the ground in cylindrical towers, the tips pointed viciously. The stone gleams dark obsidian in the low glow from crystals embedding all around the underground walls.
Hades is not sure what to expect when he sees her, she can tell. They were never very close and Hera had an unfair reputation for violent vengeance. He leads her inside and not for the first time, she wonders at how much like Zeus he looks, only much darker. Much more handsome. He does not have the pale, pale hair the king of Olympus is so famous for. They sit on hard marble sofas and for a while say nothing. Then Hera speaks.
"I've had enough of him taking." She leans forward and her hair, so dark like Hades' own, falls over one shoulder. "He owes us both."
They work on it for two years. They don't notice how much time has passed, time is just a minor matter to the gods. Hades pours in his lifelessness and his anger at Zeus. His anger that after all these years of giving his little brother what he wanted, the death of their parents, Olympus, Hera, and not minding it that he got the Underworld, not really, Zeus still took the only thing Hades had wanted for himself.
Hera mixes in the spirit of the Earth. She contributes her bitterness. Her upset that he has taken her against her will and turned her into a person she hates. He has made her a jealous and distrustful person. She just keeps putting it in and putting it in until there is no more rage left in her.
When it's done, Hades invites Hera on a tour of the Underworld. She accepts because he has become a person she trusts, and she never expected that. She's never had that. He shows her the very dregs of the Underworld, Tartarus. It is just an expanse of black, black, black that she can't really comprehend. There are swirls of different colors, and occasionally Hera thinks she can make out a shape, but Hades puts a hand over her eyes and shakes his head.
"To look too long, even for a god, upon the Pit is to lose your soul." He says. He takes her to the Elysian Fields, which she'd never seen. She'd never dreamed the Underworld could be beautiful, but the Fields, even though they are underground, are filled with blue skies, green grass, and multitudes of flowers and plants. She is amazed and humbled by the unknown beauty of this private world that is so much likes its lord.
They are all here. All of the original six siblings, Demeter, Poseidon, Hestia, Hera, Hades, and Zeus. They've gathered as they do every once in a while to eat and drink and tell tales. Demeter sits well away from Zeus and pointedly does not speak to him or Hades. No man who has touched her daughter deserves her attention. Poseidon and Hestia are laughing with Zeus and Hera looks at Hades. He nods.
Hera smiles briefly at him, a secret smile born of intimate knowledge shared exclusively. She stands and waits for Zeus to become preoccupied with the shape of Hestia's breast outlined as she turns to speak to Demeter. As he looks at another woman again, she tips the vial of clear liquid she and Hades have created into his glass of wine. She sits again and smiles.
Zeus turns to Hades. He is wearing a big smile on his face, his eyes earnest and bright.
"Brother. When will you stop hiding down in that wretched sinkhole you call home? It's spring, and the nymphs are out to be chased!" Hades doesn't answer for a long minute. Hera thinks he wants to hurt Zeus now. His mouth is tight, but he passes off a cool smile.
"You shouldn't tempt me, brother. Were I to give chase, there would be no one left for you to play with." Zeus gives a deep laugh that starts in his belly and rolls up his throat and claps Hades on the shoulder as if nothing is broken between them. He lifts his wineglass to his lips and with a sparkle of his eyes, takes a drink.
His smile freezes on his face. Hera feels her own lips stretch up response. His faces slowly begins to obtain an odd shine as it stretches and stretches. His wine glass clatters to the ground and he appears to struggle to speak, but he's too far gone. His arms twist out and reach up, up, up.
As he's done transforming, Hera glances at Hades and they both begin to laugh with joy. Poseidon gives a small, shocked chuckle as if he can't help himself. Demeter spends some time squinting at what used to be the king of Olympus, then her face cracks into a huge grin.
"Ash. I would have gone with ash, myself." She remarks. "But he makes a fine elder tree." Hestia seems to be the only one remorseful over the loss of their brother. Hera privately suspects it's because Zeus would have bedded her next.
Poseidon leaves soon after, taking a shell-shocked Hestia with him. Hades delays Demeter only long enough to tell her that she may keep Persephone all year round, he's no interest in only being faithful half the year. Demeter comments that he's unusual for a god, thanks him, and departs with a look of inordinate glee at the newly sprouted tree. Hera and Hades turn to each other, left alone.
"Do you think I'm unusual for a god?" His voice is thoughtful, not truly invested in the question. Hera answers honestly all the same.
"Because you don't chase nymphs and because you wish to remain faithful? Yes." Hades laughs at her and she smiles because when he laughs she can see the beauty of the Elysian Fields. He opens his arms to her and they make love beneath the branches of the elder tree.
End.