Charon closed the door after his Master left and turned back to see Serena there. She grinned, and lifted her hand in a wave.
"Hi!"
"Hello."
He murmured, with a small smile, noticing how nervous she was. He took her hand and took her to the bed, sitting her down before pulling a chair towards her. He sat on it, facing her.
"I believe this is moving too quickly and confusing us both."
At this, she let out an apparently pent up breath and said,
"Thank the Gods, you think so too! Phew. Load offa my mind, if ya know what I mean."
She laughed, swinging her legs, carelessly.
"So since we aren't gonna hump each other until we pass out, wadya wanna do?"
Charon cleared his throat, thoroughly enjoying the imagery that statement left behind, and said,
"We could have a conversation. A real one, for once. Get to know each other."
"Hm. Good idea. Okay. Well, you know my name, I hope. I'm twenty-two years old, just finished University. Gimme a woot woot. Got my degree from the University of Athens in History. No duh. I mean, you can tell that from the plethora of knowledge about Ancient Greece that I know and from my use of big words such as, plethora! Other than that, I like to swim, dance, spend time with my peeps up on the Mount, which is our slang for Olympus and I tend to talk a tad too much according to everyone. That's about it on me. Oh! And, I have a dad and a brother. My mom died in childbirth. Unless you want the whole background, the bump and grind of my parents and all that, that's all there is to know. I swear, I feel like I'm on some kind of dating game, spewing out all this information. So, your turn!"
She said, expectantly grinning at him. He blinked, trying to process all the information that had just been thrown at him and he asked,
"You're twenty-two?"
"Yup. I am a certified adult! Have been for a whole six years!"
"I really don't think you can be considered an adult at sixteen."
"Yeah, well that's the legal age on Olympus, bub. So deal."
"Hm."
He said. She made a flapping gesture towards him and said,
"Well? Come on, I just told you everything about me! Talk! Speak! Hable! Guten morgen! Okay, I'm pretty sure that last one means good morning, but I can't really speak German, or even Ancient Greek that properly yet. I get distracted."
At this, she grinned.
"Yes. I have come to realise this."
Charon said, shaking his head.
"Yeah, well, it's your turn to sacrifice your personal history!"
Charon sighed, before saying,
"Ask me some questions and I will answer them."
"Ooh, okay! How old are you?"
She leaned forward, looking forward to this answer.
"Too old for you, that's for sure."
"That old, huh?"
He smiled and nodded.
"Okay, moving on, gramps. What's your favourite thing to do?"
"Other than spending time with you?"
At this, she flushed and stumbled over her words where usually, nothing fumbled her.
"Y-yeah. Other than that."
"I enjoy spending time with my sister, Hecate, my brother, Thanatos, my Lord and Master, Hades, my Mistress, Persephone and the other inhabitants of the Underworld."
"Huh. Who would have thunk. I'd pegged you as a reader."
He smiled at her and said,
"I do appreciate a good book on and off."
"Mkay. How about lady friends? Ever had a girl?"
Charon blushed scarlet at this, even as he thanked the Gods she couldn't see him.
"No. Never."
"In all your years? Dude, what's up with that?"
"I found that most females tended to want something from me."
It was Serena's turn to blush at his words. She had become one of the users. She leaned over and took his hand in hers.
"I'm sorry."
She whispered, before leaning into him for a kiss. He brought his hand up to caress her cheek as he kissed her softly. This was the first time they had kissed gently. It was wondrous. A beautiful experience, like no other he had ever had. He sighed softly against her lips and this elicited a similar response. She pulled away and whispered,
"This is nice."
"Yes, it is. Do you have any other questions for me?"
She smiled, nodding and said,
"Sit next to me."
Patting the bed beside her. He smiled and took his place next to her. She faced him and asked,
"Why do you wear the cloak?"
He smiled at this, and said,
"It has become my experience that people tend to judge you on your appearances too much. I would much prefer to be judged for who I am rather than what I look like."
She nodded.
"I understand. I feel that way lots of times. Everyone thinks I'm supposed to be some kind of idiot just 'cause I have blonde hair, ya know? I hate being judged on how I look. I do have an opinion that's actually not based on the latest fashion mag. Which is actually more than I can say for my Aunt Aphrodite, and she's a full-fledged Goddess."
Charon grinned, saying,
"I would have never thought that."
She snorted.
"Yeah right. You probably thought, 'Ah, here's another mindless idiot Olympian come to the Underworld' the minute you saw me."
He smiled, lifting a hand to brush her hair back.
"I would never say that about you."
"Yeah, well you're one in a million. My own father thinks I can't decide what to have for breakfast on my own. I swear if I didn't tell him I was spending the night with Seph, he would have sent his personal guards."
Charon shook his head, trying to clear it when he heard this.
"Wait, your father doesn't know you're here?"
She widened her eyes and shook her head, vehemently.
"Are you crazy? My father would murder me if he knew I was here. I lied and told him I was gonna go hang with Seph for a few days. He's used to me going there and since no male 'cept Hermes is going there and Dad thinks he's a nancy boy who would never gain my affections, he's fine with the little vacation."
"You mean to tell me that your father expects you to be with my Mistress, Persephone and instead, you're here in the Underworld?"
She nodded.
"What would happen if he goes to check on you and does not find you there? Would he not blame Queen Persephone?"
Serena froze as she thought of this.
"Oh crap."
"Yes, I believe that sufficiently expresses my sentiments."
"Yeah, but dad has never checked up on me before."
"What was the longest you've spent with her before?"
"Two days..."
She whispered, nibbling her lip. Suddenly, she jumped up from her seat on the bed.
"Okay, I need to go make sure Seph doesn't get blamed for my stupidity."
She ran out of the room before running back in, leaning down and planting a full blown kiss on his surprised lips. She pulled back and smiled, sweetly.
"It was nice meeting and getting to know you, Charon. I hope I'll get to talk to you some more some other time."
She leaned forward for one last peck before running out of the room.
Charon fell back against the bed. That woman would be the death of him.
Serena ran out to the entrance of the Underworld when she saw a plume of dark smoke appear from nowhere. Suddenly, Hades stood in front of her, his arms crossed.
"Have you and Charon had a spat? Is that why you're rushing off when you were so intent on staying, mortal?"
"No. I need to get to Seph's before my father gets there."
Hades eyes blazed and he said,
"Why would he go there?"
"I made a mistake. I need to fix it. I need to go now, though."
"Okay. I'll send you there, forthwith. Right now, however, I need you to do something."
Serena was transported a few minutes later and found herself in a large garden she recognised as Seph's. She looked around and saw Demeter's house off in the distance. She ran to it, her skirts flying in the distance. As she ran, she saw several large chariots arrive to the front of the house. She full out dashed towards them, now and just as her father, Ares, stepped out of one of the chariots, she ploughed right into him.
Shocked, Ares was about to tell off whoever it was who had pummelled into him. As he took in the slight build and flyaway blonde hair, however, his expression softened. It was his little girl, Serena.
"Hi, Rena, love. How are you?"
"I've missed you, father."
"As I have you, Rena. Have you been good?"
As he asked this, Seph stepped out of the house, shocked to see everyone at their doorstep.
"Young Persephone, how are you?"
Ares asked, with a genuine smile on his face. She knew he only smiled that way when he was around his beloved daughter. She brought an aura of placidity to the God of War that almost no one saw.
"I'm fine, Ares. What, might I enquire, are you doing here? I mean no offence, but my mother would not be pleased to see this many men on her estate."
"I'm just here to check up on Rena. She has one more day here and then I'll be back for her."
With a smile, Ares kissed his daughter on her forehead, even as Seph hid a frown. What was he talking about? Rena had not been-
Seph's thoughts were brought to a halt as she caught sight of Rena's guilty expression. Sheesh. What had that girl gotten herself into now?
"I'm sorry to rush you off from this reunion, Ares, but if my mother gets back, you know she's going to freak out. So, if you would please say your farewells and be off in the next two minutes, that would be fabulous."
Rena nodded, solemnly and said,
"Yes, father, since I've been here, I haven't seen a single male. Not even Hermes."
Ares nodded, pleased by this, and once more kissed his daughter's forehead.
"So be it. I'll take my leave. I'll see you at the next gathering, Persephone, as well as your husband, I hope."
"I sincerely doubt that. You know how he is."
Ares nodded, smiling and left, his chariots, borne by humungous snorting beasts, that Seph could barely refer to as horses, speeding off, leaving nothing but dust in their wake.
"Alright, Rena. Explain."
Rena grinned at her, trying to soften her up, only to earn a glare. At this, Rena sobered and bowed her head.
"Yes, ma'am."
Together, they made their way towards Seph's garden, which, they both knew, was the only place they could get any privacy if Demeter returned. They both made their way to the centre of her garden where there was a new pond, surrounded by benches. Seph lightly stroked one bench, remembering many midnight visits from Hades where they had gotten carried away on one of these. She patted the bench, her body heating up at the memories, thinking,
Good, sturdy, bench.
Before she was snapped out of her thoughts when Rena collapsed into one of the benches she had been musing about and said, dramatically, in true Rena form,
"I've been to Hell and back, Seph."
Seph snorted.
"This had better be about a boy, Rena. If this is about you stealing cabbages again..."
She trailed off as Rena, said, indignantly,
"I gave them back! But, no. It's not really about a boy, anyway. More about a man. A God, really. I wasn't joking about that Hell and back schtick. I've been to the Underworld to see your husband."
At this, Seph eyebrows flew up.
"You've been to see Hades?"
Serena nodded.
"I didn't go to try to steal him from you or anything, Seph. I love you like a sister. I wouldn't do that to you."
At this, Seph smirked, in an almost cold way that she knew would send a shiver down Rena's spine.
"You couldn't if you tried, young one."
Rena nodded in agreement, hoping a change of topics would bring Seph back to her normal, cheerful self.
"See, I wanted to help out my brother-"
"Aristos?"
Seph said, worried. Rena nodded.
"I decided if I could trade my soul for his, I could get it back."
Seph held her breath, waiting for her to continue, dreading the worst.
"Hades said he couldn't do it, though."
Seph let out her withheld breath and sagged in relief.
"Something about me not killing someone or something like that. Anywho, while I was down there, I tried to cross the river to go to the other side and I found out I couldn't."
At this, she almost flushed, remembering Charon, but decided she needed to keep this explanation quick and to the point.
"When I almost gave up and broke down crying like a little baby, your husband showed up. I think he felt pretty sorry for me, actually. I talked to him and then decided to spend my remaining two days trying to find the contract after he refused my plan. The only problem with that was that I still couldn't cross the stupid river!"
She made a strangling motion here and Seph refrained from mentioning she couldn't kill a river.
"Did you know, by the way that there's this giant dog-"
Seph cut her off, knowing how easy it was for Rena to get side-tracked.
"Cerberus."
"Yeah! That was his name, I think. 'Course he was pretty cute for such an ugly name. Each head has its own charm, ya no?"
"Yes, I do. He is my dog, Rena."
Rena grinned at this.
"Oh yeah. Well, anyway, after spending two days down there, I realised, well with a little help anyway, that my dad has never been away from me for more than two days at a time, so I decided to get my butt back up here, with the help of your husband, who looked so jealous that I got to see you and he didn't, by the way. He seemed jealous of my dad, too. Which is just weird, by the way. I mean, when you think about it, he really has nothing to be mad at. For one thing, my dad's so not your type and well, you're not a lesbian... Are you?"
Seph sighed and said,
"No, Rena."
"Exactly."
Rena said, as if she had made a profound point.
"So I have no idea why-"
"Rena. What else?"
Rena paused, mid-tirade and said,
"Oh yeah. So he sent me here and now, disaster diverted!"
She dramatically lifted her arms into the air as if to say,
'Here I am!'
Seph sighed and nodded.
"Okay, good. Tell me, how is my husband?"
Seph leaned closer, desperate for news of her beloved.
"He's good. I mean, if you call never smiling and glaring at everyone in your path good. Since he is the Lord of the Underworld, however, I just assumed that was normal for him. By the way, is your mom really gonna be back in a few minutes?"
Seph sighed,
"No. She's supposed to be spending her evening with Athena, discussing something or another."
"Well... Why don't we visit the Underworld?"
Seph looked up, shocked.
"I can't... What if my mother comes back?... No, it's a bad idea. I can't."
Rena looked at her, shaking her head.
"Seriously, Seph, are you honestly the Queen of the Underworld?"
Seph's brows furrowed.
"I don't want to get my husband in trouble. My mother would blame him."
"Yeah, don't worry about your mom, I'll take care of that. Let's go. We have two hours. Come on."
Rena got up and dragged Seph with her to the centre of the clearing.
"Now do your stuff, Seph."
She closed her eyes and spread her arms, dramatically.
"Beam me up, Scotty!"
She yelled, only to open her eyes, puzzled.
"Or is it down?"
Seph rolled her eyes and grabbed her hand, transporting them in a rush of fresh breeze and petals.
"Gods, Seph, your transporting skills suck. You're such a girl!"
Rena choked as she swallowed a petal. She glanced around and saw Seph was already on her way, running towards the castle. Rena looked around, whistling, trying to look innocent before making a mad dash for the river.
