A Meeting in the Underworld

The Underworld wasn't nearly as pretty as Neo-Macedonia, and especially did not compare to Mount Olympus. Not that Hades minded the dark, dingy halls of his castle, or the chaotic, demonic outside. It was perfect for him and his peculiar taste for strange decor. He would have blended perfectly into the walls if it wasn't for his exceedingly pale face.

But it didn't matter what he liked. What did Persephone like? She was beautiful, he was not. She liked flowers, he... wasn't necessarily fond of them but didn't have a distaste for them either. Still, he had kept the flower she had slid behind his ear. It has been left in a black vase, on the black table, of his black dining room. It was the only splash of colour there.

Well, there was the pomegranate fruits, sat in a black bowl next to the black vase. Another little splash of colour.

"Stop worrying," a woman in a sharply pressed, black, three-piece suit told him. She had straight black hair that fell to her thighs, and didn't even look up from her phone as she spoke to him. "I'm sure Persephone won't mind you live in a literal hell hole."

Hades, who was sat on one side of the dining table, rested his head against one hand. "Hecate, please."

"Please what?" she asked as she tapped away at her phone with her inch long, red nails. They were the only part of her that weren't black, that and her matching blood red lipstick.

Hades simply sighed. "Who are you texting, anyway?"

Hecate paused to blow a bubble before answering. Like everything else, her bubblegum was black. "Nyx. I'm telling her about Persephone."

"You're telling Nyx?"

"You know how she likes to mother everyone in the Underworld," Hecate remarked. "She feels betrayed you didn't tell her you have a date."

you have a date."

"It' is not a date."

"Well, I think it is. We could always ask Aphrodite for her opinion."

"Considering her numerous affairs and scandals, I would rather avoid asking for her opinion on my non-existent love life."

Hecate paused from texting, and looked down at Hades, eyebrows raised. "It's not non-existent if you have a date."

He sighed again.

Hecate glanced back down at her phone. "Nyx asks when's Persephone getting here? She wants to know all the gossip."

"There is no gossip," Hades whined. "And I do not know when she will be arriving. I don't even know how she will be arriving. All I know was she said today."

"She's getting here with my help, obviously," a chirpy voice chortled. Hades looked up at the dining room entrance way, where two familiar figures stood.

One was a dark skinned and dark haired beauty, with ever changing eyes and a green dress to her knees, covered in flowers. Hades couldn't help but smile when he saw Persephone, to which Hecate deliberately rolled her eyes in the most melodramatic way possible. To his delight, Persephone smiled back.

However, when he turned his attention to the other figure, he frowned. This figure had a shock of brown hair and was dressed in a white hoodie and knee-length shorts. He wore winged sandals, and, if he pulled up his hood, one could see that had small wings on the side too.

"Hermes," Hades muttered. "What brings you here?"

"Aren't I always here?" Hermes asked. Since he couldn't be bothered to stand, he pulled his legs up so he sat with them crossed, hovering in mid-air. "I lead the dead souls to the Underworld, y'know."

"Yes, I know," Hades replied bitterly.

"I asked him to take me here, seeing as I didn't know the way," Persephone said brightly. Just hearing her voice caused Hades' mood to melt away.

"I'm not gonna go running and crying to Demeter or Zeus that Persephone has slipped out," Hermes chortled, holding his hands up in surrender to show he meant no harm. "You'll doom me to a life in Tartarus otherwise."

"I cannot doom another god to Tartarus."

"I'm sure you can, you're spiteful enough."

Hades frowned. Did all the other gods honestly see him as spiteful?

Hermes dropped back down to his feet and patted Persephone on the shoulder. "Make sure she gets home all right. I'll be off now. I was in the middle of trying to simmer down an argument between Aphrodite and Hephaestus, again. They were arguing about Ares, again. Honestly."

He waved goodbye, then spun around on one foot and sauntered out of the dining hall. As soon as he had disappeared, Hecate slid up to Persephone herself. Tapping her phone against her chin, she leant down and examined her thoroughly. Seeing as she wore high heeled, platform boots, a surprising contrast to her suit, she towered over the poor goddess.

"Hecate, please leave her alone," Hades said with a sigh as he pushed himself up from the table.

"Nyx wants details," Hecate mused as she leant back, and quickly turned her attention to her phone.

"You're Hecate?" Persephone asked.

Hecate paused to blow a black bubble in Persephone's face. "Lord Hades' secretary, the one and only."

"Hecate, is there not something else you should be doing?" Hades asked desperately.

"My job," she said with certainly. "However, I told Nyx I'd come around to visit. She wants gossip, after all. I'll see you later."

She blew a kiss in Hades' direction, and once again went back to texting. Without looking up to see where she was going, she idled out of the room and left Hades alone with Persephone.

Persephone smiled. "Hecate is your secretary?"

"Sometimes I regret the choice," he replied truthfully. "But she is a good secretary when she wants to be."

Persephone continued to smile as she danced around him, gazing at the room they stood in. "I'm quite fond of your taste in architecture."

"You don't think it's too… black?" he asked hesitantly as he crossed his arms. She was such a brilliant spec of colour amongst the dark background.

"It's different to what I'm used to, that's for sure. Maybe it could do with a teensy splash of colour," she teased as she floated over to the table. She peered down at the flower in the centred and grinned at him. "You kept my flower."

"I- yes- well- it was only fair to keep a gift," he mumbled. He could feel his cheeks flush red again. Why did she have such a bizarre effect on him?

She sidled up to him and looped her arm through his. His limbs stiffened for a moment, but at the sight of her dazzling smile they relaxed again.

"So, what's the plan?" she asked.

The colour drained from his face. "The plan?"

"You must have a plan," she chortled. "You invited me here."

"I do believe you invited yourself," he replied.

She pondered this for a moment. "I suppose I did, but you still had some time to come up with a plan."

Hades glanced away from her. "I apologise. I am not used to guests, you see."

"Then I supposed I'll have to visit more often," she told him. "I'll help you grow accustomed to guests."

He looked back at her. Finding himself absorbed into her eyes, he watched them change from a soft, yellow-ish green, to a more vibrant one. They sparkled more than Aphrodite herself.

"You will really come to visit me more often?"

She grinned up at him. "Of course."

He broke into a wider smile than normal. "I would like that."

"Aren't you handsome when you smile?" she replied, and he immediately flushed red again. She giggled at this, then pulled him away from the table. "Will you take me on a tour of the castle? I don't have much time."

"I'd love to," he told her, and he stepped forward to take the lead.

There wasn't much to show in his castle. It was exceedingly large, which far too many rooms for him to use. She had been fascinated that he'd actually had a home cinema. He'd told her he had to have something to do during his spare time. She'd tried to quiz him on his favourite movies, but he'd swiftly avoided the question. He couldn't bring himself to admit that the Lord of the Underworld fancied himself some romance and chick flicks every so often.

As Persephone danced along the corridors, admiring the constantly black scenery, Hades found his phone to be buzzing in his pocket.

A text from Hecate said, How's the date going?

It's not a date.

That's what you keep telling yourself.

Hecate, please.

Please what?

Hecate, I could dock your pay if you so desire.

I do not desire. Have fun xx

Hades sighed. Persephone gazed up at him with a glint in her eye. "Anything interesting?"

"Just Hecate being herself," he replied honestly.

After their tour was brought to an end, including a trip to meet Cerberus as he guarded the gate, Hades and Persephone found themselves back in the dining hall. Hades poured them a glass of wine each, assuring her it was not poisonous (or the blood of his victims as the rumours stated), and she was perfectly able to drink it without being doomed to be tied to the Underworld for an eternity.

"Oh, how I would love to one day have a castle of my own," she said. "It feels good to be free."

"Living here does spare me the constant drama and antics of the gods in Mount Olympus," Hades admitted.

Persephone's eyes drifted over to the pomegranates that lay in the bowl in the centre of the table. "I do believe I am getting rather hungry."

"Don't be daft, you'll be stuck here with him forever if you eat anything," a familiar chirpy voice sang, and Hades sighed.

"Hermes, you're here early," Persephone said, her smiled wiped from her face. To see her downcast hurt Hades more than he had expected it to.

"Your mother was talking about coming to visit you," Hermes told her as he sat cross legged in the air. "Thought I'd come to warn you, seeing how nice I am and all."

"Then it is time for you to return home," Hades murmured.

"It is indeed," Hermes chortled.

Persephone sighed, then stood up. Before heading over to were Hermes was waiting, she paused and brushed a hair behind Hades' ear. When she floated away he lifted a hand to feel she had left yet another flower there.

As she passed by the pomegranate fruits, she plucked one from the bowl, much to the men's surprise. "I just thought I'd take a little good luck charm with me."

"If that's your definition of a good luck charm," Hermes grumbled.

Before he whisked Persephone away, she turned back to Hades and blew him a kiss. It wasn't like when Hecate did is, as if to intentionally rile him up. When Persephone did it, it felt genuine. When Hades smiled slightly in response, Hermes shook his head and pulled Persephone away.

Now she was gone, Hades got up from his seat and drifted over to where the black vase with the singular flower stood. He took the second flower out from behind his ear and slid it into the vase alongside the first. The sight of the two of them together made his heart flutter.

The, his phone buzzed.

How's it going? Hecate asked. Nyx wants to know.

Hecate, please.