A/N: Again, I apologize for the delay, I figured two chapters last time would be my excuse. This is a longer chapter, but I was a bit miffed that the "main event of the chapter" was over by the end. That was just kinda how it happened... hmmm... Tell me wat you think. I'll prolly agree. As usual. Haha.
Goodness give me strength to forgive her dying.
Anger give me strength to stop this neverending crying.
Beauty give me strength to move on towards the light.
Yet Despair is my only companion in the night.
- Me.
Strength
I spent the next week preparing for the party. I still had almost two months to stay with my lord, so I planned to have the party in a fortnight. I figured that would give Hermes time to plan and set up everything, and give me time to enjoy my stay at home.
I found Hades in the room where Perithous was bound, sitting at the end of the table, reading a long scroll. I walked over to my love, tracing my hands over his face. He kissed the inside of my palm and put his one hand over mine on his shoulder. Yet he continued to read the scroll. I leaned over his shoulder to read about planet alignments and the imprisonment of the titans, but became immensely bored and seized the scroll, holding it behind me. He sighed with a short laugh. "Give me the scroll, my love."
"Nope." I smiled and danced around the table. He sighed.
"Please?" I shook my head and laughed, teasingly. "This really isn't convenient, my darling..." The nickname was stressed to show some frustration. I ignored it.
"You can't catch me!" I began to move towards the door. He began to walk towards me, his eyes glinted with amusement.
"Yes. I can." He said, matter-of-factly.
I mocked fear and threw my arm with the scroll against my forehead swaying to the side. "Oh, I'm positively terrified." I straightened quickly as he spoke.
"You should be." His eyes flashed and the chase was on.
I flew through the corridors, hearing him walk steadily behind me, keeping a steady pace, but always sure to gain. When I couldn't hear or see him anymore, I slipped into the sitting room I had recently re-decorated and leaned out of view of the door, behind the side of a tall set of shelves. A few moments later, I heard the door open, heard footsteps come in, then leave, then the door closed. I stepped into the room, and giggled quietly.
A hand snatched the scroll from me and I squeaked and spun around instantly, tripping and landing on my back on a blue settee. Pulling his helmet of invisibility off his head he smirked at me. I glared.
I wanted to say he was cheating, but he wasn't really, so I only said sarcastically, "Oh you're so clever..."
Sitting the scroll and helmet on the table, and waving his hand to lock the door he responded simply, "Oh, I am." And then he pounced.
I went above ground the next day to go swimming in the clear water of the ocean. Taking a short break to float on my back, I blinked at the sun as a figure appeared above me. Hermes flew closer and stopped to greet me.
"Hermes, what are you doing out here?"
"I'm on watch today, because today, the titan's prison is the weakest, the planets are aligned in a special formation today so..."
"Hmmm, sounds like fun. Well, I'm staying near the surface, no worries." He was about to say something, but I was already back under water, doing strokes. When I surfaced again, he was nowhere to be found. I realized he had probably left for something to eat and promptly forgot about it, continuing to swim underwater.
After a little while, I was ready to go home and rinse the salt from my hair, when I glimpsed something glinting down in the water. I put my hand to my neck and gasped, I had dropped the small oval pendent that Hephaestus had made me several years ago. I took a deep breath and dove down, reaching for the sparking chain. I had almost reached it when I heard a deep voice and a strange feeling on my mind, pulling me. Then everything went black.
(Almost ended chapter here, but it was too short... So enjoy some more!)
I didn't know how long I'd been unconscious, it felt like days, but it couldn't have been more than a few hours. I stood up and looked around. I was inside a globe. A crystal globe to be precise.
I put my face against the crystal to peer outside the foggy walls. I gasped and fell back onto the floor. With a jolt I had realized where I was. I tapped on the wall and a warm vibration coursed through my toes up to my shoulders. I didn't know whether to be terrified or curious. But then my curiosity got the better of me... as usual.
I whispered against the wall. "Where am I?"
A vibration once more ran through my body and this time words flashed through my head. "You are in my head."
I sat down, I had been right. "Who are you, titan?"
"I am the last she-titan, and you are my prisoner, tiny goddess."
"My name is Persephone."
"Very well, Persephone. I am Merethous. I called you here when you ventured too close to the border of our prison."
"I was–"
"You were swimming. In the ocean, directly above the entrance to our prison, this horrible place..."
"Yes. Can you tell me how long I've been here?"
"Exactly 26 hours."
"Oh. Why exactly am I being held prisoner, why aren't I dead?"
"You were not one of those who imprisoned us. We have no direct quarrel with you, but now with you as our prisoner, we have leverage over the gods. Tell me, what are you the mistress of, young one?"
"I am youth, and I am Queen of the Underworld." There was a horrible crashing sound in my head, a roar of fury.
"You cannot fool me! The god Hades is the master of the dead."
"Yes, he is my husband." Another rumble began at my feet. But this was softer, more threatening, it resounded around the walls of the crystal ball that was the titan's mind and bounced through me over and over. She was laughing. "What? I'm telling you the truth."
"Oh yes, I believe you. But this is simply too perfect. My grudge will finally be avenged." I asked her to explain and she responded, "Your lord and husband is one of the key figures that imprisoned my brothers and I. Tell me, does your husband love you very much?"
I desperately wanted to lie, but it was no use, she would know. "I suppose so." She chuckled again. And just the, an idea hit me like a rock to the skull. "But I wouldn't really know, selfish bastard that he is." There was a pause.
"What do you mean, you are his wife..."
"Oh sure, in name and by oath, but he flaunts his mistresses before my eyes all the time. I thought I loved him but it was just a stupid trick..." The titan says nothing, merely listening. "So of course, when I decide to take a lover to my bed, he loses it and conspires to have my beautiful golden boy killed!" I huffed and crossed my arms, pacing now. "I was going to meet Hermes to plan my escape. He tricked me into eating the food of the dead so that I must stay with him for part of the year, but once his curiosity and intrigue was satisfied, it was back to his whores. Oh how I would love to see him suffer as he has made me suffer."
"So you do not love him?"
"I hardly know anymore. I thought I did at one time, but now I would give anything to cause him pain like mine. Perhaps it would upset him a small amount that I was stuck here. Say, would you mind horribly letting me stay here? I won't be much of a bother."
The titan was actually surprised and spoke slowly and a little stunned, "I suppose so."
"Good! Perhaps it will cause him some pain." I sat down and leaned against the curved wall of the globe. Then I began to talk, or more accurately, complain. I talked about every little thing about him that annoyed me. What I desperately wanted to do to him to cause him pain. Everything I could think of, I said. I must have talked for hours. Occasionally kicking the wall, then apologizing vigorously for my outburst. "...and he has this stupid habit of getting jealous over everything. I swear, the only time he pays me any attention is when I'm actually happy, and then he only seeks to destroy that." At one time during my rant I actually screamed, and was rewarded with a shaking groan of discomfort.
"That hurt!"
"Oh my! I'm sorry! I didn't realize how much I had been just piling up inside. This really is helping though... Oh, and when I just got my hair cut he flipped out! Honestly..." I slipped into my whining girl act quite easily to my surprise. It came fairly naturally at my call and I was nearly convinced at my performance, if had not have been a complete exaggeration. "Wow, I really want to thank you. No one has ever listened like you have. Did I tell you what he did when I tried to confront one of his mistresses? Did I–"
"Enough! For the love of the mother earth! If I release you, promise me to find him and follow your instincts. And better yet, after you have dealt with him as you see fit, come and release us again. My brothers and I will wait so that no one will suspect your intentions. Agreed?"
"Oh, do I have to go? I so enjoyed talking to you."
"Yes. Go now. I release you, but be warned, you will appear in the gardens of the gods, and you will be extremely weak. The crystal will claim your energy, if you are lucky, you will survive. Wait to recover, then go about your business. We will wait for you."
"Ummm, alright... bye!" My plan had worked.
There was roar and I was thrown through the crystal. I flew through the sky and landed in a patch of grass in one of the gardens on Olympus. I tried to push myself up with my arms but fell back with a sob. I couldn't see anything but darkness. I was terrified and I had no strength whatsoever. I could barely breath and think straight. My whole body felt so heavy and weak. I lay there trying to summon my energy. Then I began to hear what was happening in the center of the courtyard.
"You left your post unattended! She is gone from me! I hold you responsible. The titans have no mercy for the gods. And even if they did let her go, the crystal prison in the titan's mind would steal all of her strength and she would..." My love.
"Hades, please, calm down, there's a chance that she's still alive." I managed to flop onto my stomach to slide forward slighty. In the dark I could just make out a faint blue outline of glow where Hermes' voice had come from. His form was facing another, distinctly clearer white energy. My love. I could feel him.
My love's voice was so different, so empty of feeling, yet at the same time horribly strung with pain. "You jeopardized her safety. There is no excuse for your carelessness. I will have revenge." I whimpered softly. He was going to do war on another god. It would destroy them both, I couldn't let it happen. Just as I began to pull myself into a crawling position there was a blast of blue energy. The two battling gods were surrounded in a blue chamber. Their outlines were facing each other, spots of light popped overhead. The battle of wills had begun.
I could almost see the outlines of the other gods standing on the outside of the dome, they couldn't interfere now. I was on the opposite side of the dome, so they couldn't see me, and they couldn't get in anyway. Inching forward on my stomach tears began to slide down my cheeks and I repeatedly choked in pain. I could feel a part of my soul ripping apart slowly as the lights flashed and danced, terribly beautiful. I slumped forward, feet from the dome and screamed into the earth for strength. I felt small flowers press themselves against my body, giving me what little energy they possessed, then withering at the loss of their life as they sacrificed themselves to me.
I gasped for air and forced my muscles to contract and pull on the grass. I was an inch away from the dome. I had just enough of him inside of me that I hoped I could safely cross the border. I was lucky.
I panted and lay at the hazy outline of my love's feet. I could here him yelling over the crackling noise of the energy surrounding us. "You are why I have lost her! She's gone from me! I refuse to go without her!"
I reached out and grasped for him. I felt his ankle with my hand and grasping it, summoned my strength to speak as loud as I could. "Stop. Stoppit. I'm here!"
But he was too far gone to hear me. My own tears were replaced with shakes that wracked my body and I shivered and clung to his calf. I pulled on his strength, summoning reinforcements to the energy that was already in me from him. I slowly began to pull myself up against him. I was finally on my feet, but was still clinging to him, propping myself up against his chest. Trembling. There was an explosion of energy above. I had so little time. They were destroying each other.
I managed to hook one arm around his neck and pull myself up. I felt for his face and spoke into his ear, slid down and beat on his chest, cried on his shoulder, tried anything I could think of. With one last attempt, I grabbed either side of his face with my hands, and pressed my lips against his.
I didn't see his eyes widen. I didn't see the dome collapse, and Hermes slump backwards, alive. And I didn't see the ground that rose towards me as the last of whatever strength I had drawn on failed and I fell backwards.
What I felt, was his arms wrap themselves around me, catching me, at the last moment, and pulling me up against him again. I was so weak I thought I would pass out, but I didn't. My eyes were closed, and I could feel my heart barely fluttering. He was desperately clinging to me, but his eyes stared straight ahead, still too stunned to be able to look down at me. I felt a single hot tear fall onto my forehead. I smiled weakly, and let my thoughts slip into darkness.
A/N: Yes, I did kinda use some creative freedom on the titan. Name and all. But hey, it was ok right? If it sucked let me know, but I kinda liked the idea of Persephone annoying a titan. And no matter how hard I tried, I could only see the titan as a chick. I was only miffed over the fact that the conflict was resolved in a single chapter... but yeah...
PLEASE REVIEW! It would meean so much to me... I got less than 5 reviews for the last 2 chapters... Though I realize that is probably partly my fault for not updating... .
