I'm BACK.
Normal Disclaimer crap (check any of the first 3 chapters if you must)
There will be a switch in POV's again, and I got rid of chapter 3 to create a new scene...I like this one better.
Hades POV
I saw her fall, or rather I watched her fall when Zues grabbed her and thrust her off the edge of Olympus like he had done to his son ages ago. I stood there in awe for a few moments, no longer than a second before I sunk into the shadows behind me, remerging directly under the gates Persephone had been thrown from only moments ago. I slipped my helm on, its ability to turn the wearer invisible and vanish completely to the eyes of everyone else.
I waited for her as she careened closer and closer to the Earth below. I willed my body to take form but maintain its invisibility, so that I could not be seen when I caught her. Or at least that was the plan. It didn't work. Despite all my own godly strength, the forces of the young goddess's fall forced the helm from my head and me to my knees and bleed the golden ichor that flowed through my immortal body. The child goddess, who had dared laugh at the king of the gods (no matter how funny he looked), lay sleeping. In my hand materialized a single black rose petal which I placed in Persephone's hands.
Then through the shadows I sunk back to my lonely corner of the throne room. Zeus was waiting for me.
"HADES!" He bellowed. Ouch. His voice hurt my ears, so very different from the dull, very dull, lull of ghosts hovering around in the Underworld.
"You are banished! EXPELLED FROM MY COURT! LEAVE! AT ONCE!"
"Now Zeusy, what would mother say? I'm only here once a year after all. How much harm can I be?" I teased my youngest sibling, pinching his cheekes. He was looking a shade of purple now. Dionysus licked him, mumbling something about yummy grapes, it earned him a quick sock in the stomach. I over dramatically bowed, rose and left the room. One of the satyr servants squeaked and ran when he saw me.
Sigh.
I faded through the shadows back to my own throne room in the Underworld. You would think as King of the Underworld I would have a creepy black throne decorated with bones and jewels. Okay. It has bones and jewels and it's black. So you were right but it is the most comfortable chair in the universe. Zeus's throne can't even compare (and trust me I know, I sat on it for fun once). I had barely sunk into the seat's soft cushions when the alarms blared loud. Little ghost skeleton warriors ran through the palace and the fields. One of the men, an old general who died when one of his own men's arrows shot him through the chest, entered and bowed to me. I groaned. Who was it this time? Every now and then a hero or mortal would come to "save" a loved one from death. It was rare that one ever made it past Charon but the lazy ferrymen seemed to let more and more slip by as the years passed on.
I expected a mortal. But I was wrong.
It was a goddess. And not just any goddess. It was Persephone, my niece (which since Gods don't have anything like DNA to connect us was really just a title for all of you who think I'm a pedo or something like that).
"Take her back to Olympus. NOW." I bellowed. She couldn't be here, this was no place for a goddess of Spring to be.
"NO!" She yelled. She ripped her arms from the skeleton warriors grips, breaking them to pieces with a single swing. "I am not going back there! There is no place for me now. Zeus cast me out." Tears formed in her eyes.
"But you saved me." Smiling at me, Persephone was breathtakingly beautiful. Over the years from our first meeting she had grown. She was no longer the shy goddess in her mother's shadow.
"I don't know what you're talking about." I stammered. I sounded stupid. I gestured the warriors away. I cleared my throat. "You can't stay here."
"Why not?" She protested.
"Simple. This is the land of the dead. You are a goddess of spring. A goddess of life. There is no place here for you either." I turned away. I was supposed to be Hades. King of the Underworld. Hated by gods and men. I swallowed and turned back to her, she was crying now. The warriors reappeared at the gesture of my hand and escorted her away.
I thought that would be the last time I would ever see her alone again.
Boy was I wrong.
Persephone POV
As I fell miles and miles closer to the ground, I passed out. Pathetic really but I was scared out of my wits. For gods sake I was falling millions of miles to the ground. If I was lucky the deformation could be reversible. Not likely though, just look at Hephaestus (actually don't look too closely it's a little scary. It's no wonder Aphrodite is always sneaking off with Ares). Anyway, when I woke I was perfectly fine. No cuts, bruises or serious harm at all. It was strange.
Until I saw the petal, not just any petal a black petal like from the flower I made for Hades.
Hades. He must have saved me. This petal was proof. I kissed it and ran towards the mountain behind me. At its peak were the doors to Olympus. If the meeting was still going I could see Hades again. I guess Aphrodite was right. I did love Hades. As I got closer my feet slowed down. I remembered.
Zeus had thrown me out.
Thousands of miles to the ground.
I wasn't welcome in Olympus anymore.
So how would I find Hades?
So I looked around. Disguising myself, I entered a village nearby. Some of the villagers were sick or wounded. I passed through as a flower seller, using my godly gifts to create the flowers I would sell to make me more believable. The village was perfect. The sick people were dying, and dying soles go to the underworld guided by Hermes. When someone died all I would have to do is follow him.
That's what I did. The plan was going well, until I was caught by some skeleton guards. At first I put up a good fight. Hey! I know what you're thinking. Goddess of Spring must be really weak and that blah blah blah. Lies, all of it. I convinced Ares to teach me how to fight by giving him flower's for Aphrodite or another of his various mortal girlfriends. When I found out that they were going to take me to see their King I surrendered. They dragged me across the Underworld.
That's when I got a truly good look at the place. It was like sad took a wrong turn, ran into death, added a bit of despair, torture, and boredom plus tons of lines, one three headed dog, a black mucky river complete with a little boat and ferryman, and that was the Underworld. Oh, and added three islands that had never ending parties and cheer that just didn't seem to fit the whole deep dark depressing underworld image the rest of it was trying so hard to make. Just before the actual palace (which was a darker replica of the actual halls of Olympus) were lines and lines of black trees, from their boughs were plump and juicy pomegranates. The dark gloom from the underworld made them look even more delicious.
The skeleton guards led me to the throne room. Inside Hades was resting on the throne. His dark black eyes were hard to read. At first I thought he was surprised even happy to see me, but his voice sounded angry, "Take her back to Olympus. NOW."
I protested. I even started crying, practically pouring my heart out to him without actually saying the word's "I love you". When the guard's started to push me out of the throne room I made one last appeal:
"Won't you at least escort me out? Unlce." He tensed.
"Of course." I smiled. "Niece." My smile faded. Was I nothing but a niece to him? I could feel the tears coming back but I blinked them away.
I took a moment to look at the skeleton guard's that was holding me. They weren't pretty, their bones were scratched and broken from swords and other weapons. Obviously each guard was once a soldier who died in battle who would now eternally serve Hades. I pulled my arms free.
"I can walk on my own." I scowled at the guards. Hades waved his hand and the guards backed away a couple of inches, close enough that if I tried to escape they could tackle me to the ground but far enough that I didn't have to feel their bones over my skin.
As we left the palace halls to the courtyard, I glanced at the pomegranates again. Ripe and juicy. Asouvenier, I thought. Just one, with my gifts I could preserve it forever. Hades stepped in front of me when we reached the gate. It took 6 skeletons to open it and in that moment I snatched the smallest pomegranate from the nearest tree and hid it in my dress.
When we reached the river, a few guards and I got onto the boat with the hooded ferryman. I looked at Hades into his dark, handsome, eyes that looked full of sorrow.
"Goodbye. See you next year." I tried to smile. My face just didn't respond.
Hades cupped my cheek. "I wish you could have stayed." His words were soft, so soft I almost didn't catch it. He turned away and slunk back towards the palace. The three-headed dog bound to him, a large bone in his mouth. Hades pet the creatures middle head, its outer heads were jealous and licked his hand. He took the bone and chucked it into the large field were thousands of ghosts floated.
That was my last image of Hades in the Underworld.
DUN DUN DUN! The final chapters one or two, I haven't decided yet, are currently being written. This was supposed to be up earlier this week (as promised in the new crossover I started) but my cable company was being a butt.
Anyway, ENJOY! Review please.
-p4d-
