Arachne sighed with relief when she saw the chariot land in front of the palace. "You came back. Oh, thank the fates." She said as she ran down the steps towards Hades. Arachne took note of how Hades was carrying Persephone's limp body. "Is she alright? Is she hurt?" She said urgently.
"She's passed out." Hades replied as he carried Persephone into the palace, "I need your help, can you prepare her bed, get water and a towel." Hades winced as he stumbled on a step. It didn't escape Arachne's notice.
"Yes sire, but…you're wounded too." She said as she took note of the torn, burnt clothing and skin. Arachne quickly ran ahead to do as Hades advised.
"I'm fine! Don't worry!" Charon said as he followed the pair, carrying Hades' bident.
Hades carefully dipped the cloth into the water, before lifting it out and giving it a good wringing before he gently washed the dust and cleaned the scrapes on Persephone's face.
Arachne couldn't help but blush slightly when she saw the deep emotions in Hades' eyes as he talked to the unconscious goddess.
"My stubborn girl, I knew you were going to run away.' He paused as her gently brushed some hair out of her face. "There's so many places down here and you chose Tartarus." He rested his hand on her cheek and glanced down at her as she stirred back into life.
The first thing Persephone saw when she regained consciousness was Hades glancing down at her warmly. Her eyes flashed and she reacted in the exact way you'd expect from someone in her position.
"YOU PERVERT!" She shrieked, punching him as she sat up.
"What the…?" Hades muttered in a startled tone as he fell off the bed and onto the floor.
Persephone pulled her legs close to her body as she continued, "STAY AWAY FROM ME!" She yelled at him.
"…Persephone, I just saved you from being eaten in Tartarus. Is that not enough to show you how much I care about you? To show you that…I love you?" Hades said in a quiet, exhausted tone of voice.
"Then what do you want me to stay? Thank you? For taking me down here, so that I was forced to have no choice but to try and find my own way home?" Persephone felt her emotions build and she couldn't stop the tears that escaped from her eyes and she started weeping. "You tell me you care, but all you do is keep me down here like I'm nothing more than your possession."
Hades almost felt himself start crying from the guilt that kept building as she continued, her voice cracking from her grief. "Why don't you just take me home, like you did before so many years ago when I was a child?"
Hades knew exactly what she was talking about and almost reached out to comfort her, but knew that it would only make Persephone's grief only worse. He pulled himself to his feet and made to walk out of the room. "Arachne… can you take care of her for me." He said softly, trying to keep his sadness out of his voice.
"Yes sire." Arachne replied watching him walk towards the door, and sitting down on the bed next to Persephone. "Lady Persephone, please don't cry." She said softly to the weeping girl, who had in the meantime buried her face in her hands.
"My lord! Wait for me." Charon quickly said to the retreating god.
Hades took a deep breath as he rested his hand on the doorframe of Persephone's room, feeling the last of the adrenaline rush from fighting the titans wear off. He suddenly became aware of how much pain his body was in, and slumped against the door with a gasp of agony.
"My lord! What's wrong?!" Charon shrieked worryingly as he watched Hades take deep laboured breaths.
"I'm… fine." Hades moaned out as he doubled over and clutched his stomach.
Charon took one look at his master and knew that Hades was anything but fine. "OH NO! YOUR ARM… YOUR ARM IS BLEEDING!" Charon shrieked with alarm, getting Arachne's attention.
"WHAT?!" She gasped with alarm as Persephone curiously looked at the god with a sense of alarm as ichor, the golden blood of the gods, dripped from his arm onto the floor.
As soon as Hades was in his room, Arachne had him strip of his armour, mantle and tunic before assessing the damage to his body. She shook her head as she looked at the burnt, torn flesh of his back and left arm. "Oh god." She muttered, "It looks terrible my lord."
Hades laughed awkwardly, before sobering up and gritting his teeth in pain when he felt Arachne carefully start cleaning his wounds. "It will heal quickly, I'm a god." He reassured her.
"But you still need to take great care. The wound might get worse, or even infected." Charon said, holding Arachne's medical supplies.
Persephone quietly tiptoed down the hallway and stood just outside the door of Hades bedroom, peering in and listened in on their conversation.
"Stop exaggerating Charon. This isn't the first time I've been injured." Hades replied, almost rolling his eyes.
"No it's not my lord, but this is the worst injury you've had since you came down to the Underworld." Charon said urgently.
Persephone felt a massive stab of guilt when she saw just how badly injured Hades was.
Suddenly there was a flash of light outside on the balcony and the sound of whistling. Cerberus instinctively started growling as a child flew into the room carrying a bag slung over his shoulder and an amphora under his arm.
"Good evening." The child said cheerfully as he straightened his winged hat, he turned towards the still growling Cerberus. "It's me Hermes." He said to the dog before turning towards Hades, Arachne and Charon. "How are you guys?"
He walked up to Hades, handed him the amphora and pulled out a stone tablet. "One package, sent from Zeus and Poseidon." He handed Hades a quill and pointed to a section of the tablet. "Please sign here."
Hades took the quill and quickly signed the tablet as Cerberus rested one of his heads on his shoulder as all three heads glanced at the amphora curiously. "Hey kid!... Why did they send me an amphora? I have plenty of them down here."
Hermes grinned as he floated in mid-air. "It's not a normal a normal amphora, my lord. It contains a magic cloud to create hologram and sound, so you can talk to the two other lords. It's new tech my lord." He said excitedly, before straightening up and heading towards the balcony. "If there's any problem just call me, ok? Bye!" And with a flash of light, Hermes was gone.
Hades pulled the lid of the amphora and fog escaped, creating a screen of sorts. On the other side of the screen stood Zeus and Poseidon.
"Heh, heh! There you are bro!" Zeus said to Hades excitedly.
"We've been waiting for you!" Poseidon said, grinning.
"We saw your abduction bro! Fast and furious! It was awesome, we admire you, bro!" Zeus gushed clenching his fists with excitement.
"Yeah! Who could believe that someone would actually dare to mess with Demeter! You are badass!" Poseidon continued, waving his hands.
Zeus frowned the moment he had a good look at his younger brother, "Hey, what's wrong? Are you hurt?" He said as he pointed at the bandages that were wrapped around Hades' torso and left arm.
Hades sighed, "Nothing! I had to get Persephone back from Tartarus, Dad still seems pissed off about what happened, you know!"
Zeus and Poseidon exchanged glances, "Yeah but why…" Zeus began until the meaning behind Hades' words hit him, "I get it! You were on a rescue mission huh? Sounds cool!" Zeus grinned mischievously.
Poseidon squeezed his cheeks as he said, "Let me guess! She's falling to her knees and worshiping you!?"
Taking a deep breath, Hades answered his brother, "No! To be honest, she hates me!"
"Wait… Whaaat?!" Zeus and Poseidon said in union.
Using all three of the male gods' distraction, Persephone quickly slipped into the room and hid in the shadows, just in time to hear what was said next.
"No matter what I do, she still loathes me." Hades explained to his brothers.
Poseidon shook his head, frowning, "Like mother like daughter. I told you that girl is not easy going."
Persephone's heart stopped and she felt her skin chill straight down to the bone when she heard what Zeus said.
Zeus took a deep breath and said, "Well… then rape her and let go." He wasn't being completely serious, mind you, but it was enough to get Hades slightly riled up.
"What the... Are you insane!? That will only succeed in making her want to kill me!" Hades shrieked at his brother.
"Psss, who cares?" Zeus scoffed sarcastically.
"Dude! There are so many pretty girls out there waiting for you. So, you gotta move quick on this one." Poseidon said as he shook his head slightly.
"Hold on! You think… I brought Persephone down here… temporarily?" Hades said, frowning slightly. "You think I just want to… play with her?" Hades said in shock.
Poseidon smirked, "Of course! What else do you want?"
"Marry her?" Zeus finished.
"Y-yes, just like you two did with Hera and Amphitrite." Hades said, his voice cracking slightly.
Zeus and Poseidon exchanged glances before looking at their youngest brother and rised and eyebrow, "Are you serious." They said in union and when Hades nodded slightly, they burst into uncontrollable laughter.
"That was the first girl in your quest and you want to marry her already?" Zeus said incredulously.
"That's not how you play the game, little brother." Poseidon added.
Zeus grinned, "Hades, we are gods! Strong powerful and handsome! We deserve more than just one woman. If you want to get stuck with a woman for eternity, make sure you have fun with at least 20 or 30 others!"
"Exactly." Poseidon agreed.
"But I only need Persephone." Hades said softly.
Zeus sighed to himself, "I can't believe I'm quoting Hera's words here: you can't marry someone who doesn't love you. This girl you kidnapped, she'll never love you."
Hades bowed his head and stared determinedly at the floor. "Your right." He sighed, feeling the hope leave his body. He frowned as he said, "Then, I'll let her go!"
Persephone felt herself startle slightly when she heard those words leave Hades.
"Ok, your life your choices." Zeus said as he crossed his arms across his chest.
"That's enough for today. Thank you for the talk!" Hades said as his fingers closed on the lid on the amphora.
"Hey! So what is the next target?-" Zeus said right before he was cut off when Hades sealed the amphora shut and got up to place it gently on the floor.
"My lord! You have suffered so much pain because of her. How could you give up now?" Arachne said as she gently rested her hand on his shoulder.
Hades took a deep breath before turning around to face Persephone, who had realised that he'd known she was there the whole time. He looked and sounded sad as he got up and walked into his room, "Tomorrow, I'm taking you home." He as he walked away, trying to not look her in the eye.
Persephone felt numb, she had spent the last few months wanting to go home, in fact she said not 20 minutes before that she wanted to go home.
Numbly, her legs collapsed beneath her and she sat on the tiles in shock, numbly stroking Cerberus who had decided to cuddle himself against her.
Why was she upset now that Hades was taking her home was the question that constantly plagued her that night.
Hey don't forget to review and let me know what you think :D