This Persephone and Menthe are MINE! Anyone who uses them without my permission gets attacked by Cerberus, zapped by Hades and Hecate, and slapped by me.

Every other character/place/whatever else belongs to Disney. Use them at your own risk.

The REAL Cosmic Couple

Chapter X- Hecate Reveals Her Plan and Hades Makes a Confession...

Hecate, her minions, and Menthe reappeared in the woods. "Nice acting," commented Hecate fondly to Menthe.

"Why, thank you, Hecate," said Menthe smoothly, all fear gone from her voice, "You will keep your part of our deal, won't you?"

"Yes, yes," said Hecate, as if they had been through this many times before—which, in fact, they had, "Once I rule the Underworld, you can do what you want with Hades."

Menthe grinned. "Great. And, um…what exactly is finding Persephone going to do for us?"

"Well, once we find the little brat, we can use her to our advantage. You know Hades can't resist a pretty face…"

"So we'll get Persephone, keep her with us, use her to bribe Hades into giving you the Underworld….and then, once you're in charge, we give Persephone to her mother, I get Hades, and we're both happy. Right?"

"Exactly!" cried Hecate, "This plan can't possibly fail."

"Where do we fit in?" said one of the wolves, coming up to the nymph and goddess.

"Why…you and your partner will get to rule with me—my minions. My royal minions, of the Underworld," said Hecate.

"I like it…" said the other.

"Hecate—you're a genius," said the first one.

"I know—aren't I?" said Hecate, then scowled, "So let's find the teenager and get to work."

"What a pleasure it will be to have control over Persephone—after all these years of practically being her personal slave…" said Menthe, green eyes shining.


When Persephone woke up, she found the door ajar, and Pain and Panic standing in her 'room' watching her. She thought quickly, jumped over them, and ran out of the door.

"Oops," said Pain.

Persephone ran through the Underworld; the only thought on her mind was that she needed to escape. A few more feet and she came to the bank of the River Styx. Charon's boat was on the other end of the river, and she didn't have time to wait for him. "Oh gods," she sighed, exasperated, then went to run through the river. Something stopped her.

She looked behind her. Hades was standing there, his hand in front of her, keeping her from running any further. "As much as I appreciate you going for a nice run in the morning, running in the general direction of the exit is not the best idea. Capisce, babe?"

She twisted away from him, recoiling at his touch. "I'm going to keep trying to escape until you let me go," she said angrily.

"Which is never going to happen, so at least you'll be in shape," he said, and pushed her away from the river. "If you're going to wade through rivers, might I recommend the Cocytus? It's lovely this time of year…"

"Either you let me go, or I'll get out on my own," said Persephone, "So pick one."

"How 'bout I tie you to the bedpost again and leave you like that for…oh…eternity maybe?" responded Hades, crossing his arms.

"I'll get out. I already did once. Nothing can hold me."

"Don't get cocky, dollface..."

"I'd like to see you try and keep me from running away."

He shrugged. "Fine. You asked." He snapped his fingers, and a coil of smoke wrapped around her body and mouth. She lost her balance and fell to the floor.

"Let's see you get outta this one," he muttered, then picked up the squirming Persephone and brought her back to her room. He dumped her on the bed, still tied up, and then left, making sure to lock the door behind him. When she was safely imprisoned, Hades dragged Pain and Panic (by their wings) to his throne room.

"What was that?" he growled at them.

"Um, well, she escaped, again, sir," said Pain nervously.

"…Why?"

"She's kinda fast for us…" said Panic.

"This is the second time she's bolted on your watch. I have her tied up on the bed now because you two can't keep an eye on her!"

"At least you caught her," said Panic.

"But that's the thing. I'm not going to be able to catch her every time she runs away. If this keeps up, she'll escape!"

"But why do you care so much?" inquired Pain.

"I—" Hades hesitated, "If she escapes, she'll tell her mother. And Zeus will kill me."

"That's not why," said Panic.

"Is so."

"Is not."

"Is so.

"Is not."

"Is SO!" screamed Hades, and he burst into flame. As he watched Pain and Panic cowering in front of him, he remembered Persephone crying on her first night here, and extinguished. "I don't know what to do," he said finally, "I can't let her go. It'll kill me. I'm too much in l—lo—lo—lov—you know. But I can't just keep her here miserable…..that's almost worse…it's like….I'm actually…feeling…not evil. I care… I-I actually care. And it's a horrible, painful feeling."

Pain and Panic exchanged worried glances.

"What am I going to do?" he groaned, "I can't stop thinking about her! Everything reminds me of her! Everything! It's killing me from the inside! She's actually here, in a room just downstairs, and she's in my grasp! I could do whatever the hell I wanted with her - we're married" He stopped and stared at the floor. "But—I just—can't. I couldn't. The look on her face—and then any chance I had with her would go bye-bye. And she'd hate me. I couldn't hurt her like that… I don't—I don't know…"

Pain shrank back from this outburst. "Boss? Are you…feeling alright?"

"NO! I'm not feeling alright! I'm a—a—I'm a Persephaholic! Arrgh! I'm obsessed with her!" He vanished with a curl of smoke.

Pain and Panic looked at each other and smiled. "Maybe there's something we can do..."


"I can't believe it….," whispered Hecate, as she watched this entire scene between Pain, Panic, and Hades through a magic orb. Her mouth curved up in a smile. "This is great! Oho! This is better then great! This is SPECTACULAR!" she cackled, and skipped cheerfully over to Menthe, and her twin wolves.

"What's so funny?" said Menthe, "Did you find Persephone?"

"Oh, I found her, alright!" cried Hecate, "She's in the Underworld!"

"The Underworld?" said one of her wolves, "How'd she get there?"

"Hades kidnapped her!" said Hecate gleefully.

"What?" said Menthe, "Why?"

"He's—he's—oh, I can't! It's too funny!" She burst out laughing again. "The Lord of the Dead with—oh!—the Goddess of Spring! Oh! Ahahahahaha!"

"What? What?"

"Cupid's been busy…" cackled Hecate.

"You mean Hades is—"

"HADES IS IN LOVE!" screamed Hecate, and she collapsed in a fit of laughter again.

The wolves looked at each other, and then burst out laughing. Menthe's mouth dropped open. "He's in love with her?" she said, horrified, "That's not fair! I've been trying for years to get his attention, and nothing's ever worked! And then she, who doesn't even know who he is, gets his attention just like that? Hecate! Hold up your part of the deal! Get rid of her!"

Hecate stopped her maniacal laughter. "But why? Don't you see? This is perfect!"

"Perfect? PERFECT?"

"We can use her for a bargaining tool. We kidnap her ….torture her a bit…lure our love-struck Hades to her….and exchange the Underworld for Persephone's freedom!"

"That's…that's…that's…that's perfect!"

"But what if he refuses?" asked a wolf.

"If he refuses, we give Persephone to her mother and squeal on Hades. And he'll get in so much trouble—maybe even to the extent of jail—that they'll give the Underworld to me! It's a win-win!"

"But if he's in jail, then you'll be breaking our deal," said Menthe bitterly.

"Hmm….if that happens….well….I could send both of you to the Underworld…which would be my kingdom then….and no-one would ever think to look for him there."

Menthe took a deep breath. "Fine."

"But—from what I just saw—we have to wait a little. She doesn't love him yet—and he's considering letting her go anyway. We have to wait until they're BOTH in love. As in, they'd do anything for each other. Complete, undying love," said Hecate.

"How long will that take?" said the other wolf.

"As long as it needs to," said Hecate and she began cackling again.