Persephone knew she screwed up. She still remembered when Nico glared at her hatefully shouting at her coldly. She knew that she should feel bad about and she did, but there was one part of her that told her that it was only that boys fault. Maybe she wanted to convince herself that the boy was just causing problems to everyone or maybe she wanted to convince herself that her past way were right.

She still remembered the night when she heard about Hades lover Maria. She was devastated. For hours she was crying in her room, thinking about her life. Where were the vows that Hades had made her. That he would love her forever, that she was the only one for him. She knew that he had half-bloods before but they were purely made out of lust and not love. But this time she knew it was different. Hades loved Maria di Angelo. Persephone was not an idiot. She saw his longing facial expression for her.

She remembered when she had confronted him. And the hurt when he admitted that he loved Maria di Angelo. She remembered how her heart broke into thousands of pieces at his words. After that she hadn't spoke to him for months. She was simply to hurt. She sacrificed her life on upper world for her marriage to Hades. She even sacrificed a bit of her relationship to her mother Demeter who she loved to bits, but Hades betrayed her. And the worst thing was that she had believed his vows. She really thought that someone as cold as him was capable of loving her. For millenniums she thought that, but he had broken his promise.

When she heard that Maria di Angelo had children she immediately hated them even without knowing them. They were the products of their broken relationship. A reminder that Hades had found another woman. Just now she understood why Hera was always acting the way she was. She remembered the time when she was born. Hera was furious, screaming at her husband and her sister, Persephone's mom, Demeter for betraying them. Every time she saw her, she would glare at Persephone. Persephone never liked Hera, but she began to sympathize with her from that day on. She just only experienced such heartbreak one time. Hera had to endure this humiliation from Zeus on daily basis. And her father didn't even cared, so it seemed.

After the Maria di Angelo disaster, she even looked for Hera for advice and surprisingly, Hera showed sympathy to her. A side that she had never saw before. Her mother had told her once that Hera used to be carefree before she became the cold-hearted goddess everyone knew and now she knew why.

Was this what Persephone was slowly changing into? A cold-hearted goddess that everyone hated? She remembered how happy and joyful she was during most of her marriage with Hades. She always was sulking a bit when she had to live with her mom during the summer and was overjoyed to see her husband again during the winter. But ever since that incident their marriage was broken. She didn't felt joy anymore when she saw him, only pain and Nico was a reflection of that pain. She didn't mind Hazel. She was a lovely girl and besides she was Roman. Besides Pluto didn't really loved Marie in that way. He tried to help her sure, but it wasn't the admiration that he had for Maria.

Persephone wondered what wound have been if she didn't was so hateful towards Nico. Would they have been a real family? She didn't knew.

She looked outside of her room. It was raining heavily. Today she went with Nico and Hazel to see the Yellowstone Nationalpark. Neither of them really spoke to her. Nico made some sarcastic comments from time to time and Hazel just looked at her disappointed. She probably hates her now for hurting her brother. It hurt even if Persephone didn't liked to admit it.

Right now they were in their house that they have rented waiting for the rain to stop. Persephone tapped nervously with her fingers against the window glass. Ever since the incident she was having her feelings eating her up. It didn't made it better that Nico and Hazel were ignoring her. Some tears welled in her eyes. Was she the one that had destroyed the chance of having a real family?

She shook her head. No Hades betrayed her and Nico is an insufferable child. But what if she was? She acted cold-hearted towards her husband and his son. What if she didn't done that? Would it be different?

She laid a hand on her forehead. Headaches were afflicting her. She decided to go outside for a bit for some fresh air.

She went out of her room walking past the living room. She saw Nico there staring outside of the window. She hesitated. She wanted to talk to him, but she knew that he wouldn't talk to her. But it was the right moment. Her head was spinning around. She was so conflicted right now. She chose to let it go and going outside to the terrace.

Cold, fresh air surrounded her. She felt how her brain got out of the confusion now. She suddenly noticed that she wasn't the only person here. She turned around and saw Hazel looking at her with a mix of sadness and anger.

Persephone gulped. She had definitely screwed up. "Look Hazel, I shouldn't have said..." she began but Hazel interrupted her.

"No you shouldn't have." she said bluntly. Persephone was surprise at her bluntness. Her words didn't sounds cold, not they just sounded said. And there was a bit anger in the voice.

"I am sorry." Persephone said softly.

Hazel shook her head. Her golden eyes were flashing. "It's not me that you should apologize to." In her word was a hint of hurt.

Persephone flinched. "I know...I" What should she say? That she is sorry? That she was wrong? That she didn't really meant the words? Or that she meant it exactly as she said? She was so confused right now.

Hazel looked at her, her eyes flashing. "You know, I really thought you were a nice person Persephone. I really thought we could get along. It seemed I was wrong."

Hearing this from Hazel hurt a lot more than she thought. She wanted to reply something but her word wouldn't come out of her mouth. Her throat felt constricted.

Hazel looked at her with that expression. "You really hurt Nico with your words, you know." she said calmly.

Persephone then suddenly burst out. "Why is he even hurt by my words? He hates me!" she cried. The boy never liked her, why would he be so hurt by her words?

Hazel suddenly glared at her. It was scary seeing the gently girl being so cold to her. "You first insulted his family, which is a very touchy topic for him. And even through Nico doesn't show it, he had a small hope that you two really could bond." she said. "I can see it in his eyes. He was jealous that Percy bonded so fast whereas you seemed to hate his guts. And with your words you only proved his thesis." she spoke calmly, but Persephone could feel the anger in her voice.

Suddenly a wave of guilt overflowed her. She never expected Nico to feel this way. She didn't really expected anything from this trip, but truth to be said, even she had tiny hopes that they could be a real family. But of course she had blown this chance away.

"Hazel..." she began, but no words came out of her mouth. What could she say? That she was hurt by Hades cheating? That the boy deserved it? That she was sorry? Everything would have sounded shallow.

Hazel just stared at her coldly with her golden eyes. If she wasn't a goddess Persephone would have shivered right now. Her glare was digging deep in her skin and she felt uncomfortable under it.

"Maybe Nico was right. Maybe you are the cold-hearted goddess that he told me you were." she simply said. There was no venom in the voice, more like disappointment mixed with anger, but that hurt Persephone more. Out of all people the kind-spirited Hazel hated her. She took a deep breath.

"I never intended to hurt him like this." she told her, but the words sounded wrong in her ears.

Hazel laughed a bit at that. It was not a happy laugh, no it was out of incredibility. "I have heard the hate in your voice. I understand where your hate comes from, but that doesn't excuse your actions. You have hurt Nico badly and I don't think I can forgive you for this." she told her calmly.

Persephone was a bit shocked by her words. "What do you expect me to do then?" she asked back angrily. She didn't knew what this girl wanted from her. Yes, Nico was hurt by her words, but he would get over it. She wasn't even close to him.

Hazel snorted at this, which was very unlike her. "You don't get it, don't you? Have you maybe thought about apologize to Nico for your words? Are you that proud not to even admit that you were in the wrong?" she interrogated her.

Her words hit Persephone hard. She knew that she was right, but she didn't wanted to admit it. No, she was firstly a goddess and secondly all the hate she collected during the past few years wouldn't vanish that quickly now. She was okay with apologizing to Hazel, but apologizing to Nico would have been a strike against her pride.

"The boy will get over it." she simply said.

Hazel simply stared at her, she didn't said anything, but this was worse than any words that she could have said to her.

After a few seconds of tense atmosphere, Hazel finally broke the silence. "Then Nico was right." she said turning around and watching the landscape.

Persephone flinched at this a bit. Why in the world had she said this? "Hazel..." she said softly, but Hazel interrupted her. "You should go now. We have nothing to talk about now." she said not looking at her.

Persephone didn't replied to that anymore. She had screwed it up...again. She had the chance to make it right again, but of course she was to pride for that. She turned around not looking back at Hazel going back into the house. Hazel's words hit her hard. Not only because of the coldness in her voice, but also because of the truth in her words.

Persephone felt how the guilt was swallowing her. She shook the head, trying to shake it off, but the guilt was now glued on her.

She walked past the living room again. Nico was still there. Persephone stopped. He was still staring out of the window and for a moment Persephone wondered whether she just saw an Illusion, but then Nico suddenly turned around and their eyes met. Nico didn't looked shocked or surprised. He just looked at her expressionlessly, digging his dark eyes into hers with his gaze.

Persephone's mind now was about to explode. Thoughts were flying uncontrollably though her mind. She didn't knew what she should do now. Just walking away or confront Nico about it?

Then she made her decision.

"Listen Nico, about our fight..." she began, but Nico interrupted her.

"There is nothing to talk about." he said his voice as keen as a razor staring at her coldly.

Persephone frowned at this. Nico has hit her pride...again. "Hey, show me some respect!" she cried, but the words sounded fake in her ears. Respect, did she deserved that?

Nico laughed incredulously. "Respect? You? People have to earn respect and the only thing you earned from me is hate and pity." he spoke.

Persephone flinched in her mind, but still didn't showed any emotions on the outside. "Pity? Why would you feel pity for me?" she asked.

Nico laughed again. It made Persephone uncomfortable. "Because, you are just a bitter old woman. You are no better than Hera herself, hating your step-children and my fathers other lovers. You gave them your fault because you can't seem get your marriage straight. You are simply bitter over the fact, that my father loves someone others like you and then you act like a hurt child. That is pathetic." he said with venom in his voice.

His words hit a nerve of her. "What shall I don then?!" she screamed glaring at him. "How should I react then if my husband cheated on me!" she cried incredulously.

Nico didn't showed any sympathy. His expression didn't changed. "You could have talked to my father rationally, maybe keep distance to him for some weeks, even divorce, but no. You chose to make my life a living hell whenever I came to the underworld. Because of course I am the one who broke your relationship to my father." he said sarcastically.

"You have no idea how this works!" she screamed. "Even if I could divorce him, I can't leave the underworld completely!" she cried in desperation.

Nico glared at her. "I don't give a damn how this works. Just because you are goddess doesn't make you better than anyone else. I have lost my mom to Zeus, lost my sister to the hunters, lost my crush to his girlfriend, lost my innocent to Tartarus and lost my happiness due to my loneliness. I never had a real childhood unlike you who got spoiled by your mom. I don't have to listen to your stupid insults and petty behavior." he said coldly.

Persephone stared at Nico lost for words. It was the first time that she ever felt something like sympathy for him. She never bothered before to get to know him. She always thought the boy was insufferable, but now as she heard those words, she knew why he was the way he was. A new wave of guilt flooded her. Instead of helping him, she just made his pain worse. A small side of his brain cried, that he was just a stupid boy not knowing what he was saying, but Persephone knew this side was lying. For years she have seen Nico as an intruder into her marriage with Hades. But now...he saw a broken child.

"Nico..." she began, but again no words came out. Her brain was playing like crazy.

"Just go away!" Nico spatted at her. The hate in his voice was was like a slap in Persephone's face. She wanted to defend herself, to protest against her words, but she knew that she deserved this.

She had to swallow all her pride. "Nico...I...I am sorry." she finally brought out those words. And she meant it. All the years she had been bitter towards her 'family'. All the years she thought she was the victim, but now looking at Nico, she couldn't think anything else than that she had been the offender all the time.

She should have expected his next words but they still hurt. "You? You are sorry?!" he cried incredulously laughing. "Oh please, like you would be ever sorry." he stated.

Another slap in the face. "I am! Really!" she cried desperate. "I admit that...that I screwed up okay?" she admitted.

Nico laughed again. "Really? You screwed up? Congratulation that you finally recognized it!" he said sarcastically.

Now Persephone was angry. Who was he to mock her? "What do you want me to say then?!" she cried angrily. Again, the wrong thing to say.

Nico stared at her now with so much hatred that she thought she would get strangled by it. "I want you get out of my damn life. I am done with you. Done with your insults, done with your complains, done with your attitude and done with your behavior. And I am done with your hypocritical acting. Now after somebody picks out your faults, you suddenly act like you are sorry. Just get away, alright. I will go through this trip, like I said, but after this I don't ever want to deal with you again." he said coldly.

Persephone stared at Nico in horror. Never in the world she would have thought that he would hate her like this. "You don't mean this." she whispered.

Nico expression stayed immutable. "I never meant anything more in my life." he told her spiteful.

Persephone was shaking now. "Nico..." she tried again, but he cut her off.

"Go, just please go..." he spoke. His voice still sounded full of hate, but there was something new in his voice. It sounded broken.

Persephone stared at him. One second, two seconds, three seconds. The atmosphere in this room was about to explode. She felt like Kronos has stopped the time. After what seemed like to be an infinity, she finally turned around and walked out of the room slowly. She didn't looked back at Nico. Again the guilt was eating her up. She touched her face. It was wet. She didn't even realized it that tears were coming out of her eyes now.

She silently walked into her room and sat on her bed. Her lips were shaking, just as much as the rest of her body. It was so quiet now that you could even hear the sound of a needle dropping on the floor.

Thoughts raced through her mind. She not only increased the pain that Nico had gone through all the past few years, no she had destroyed her chance to ever have a normal family. Just because she couldn't swallow her pride, just because she couldn't get over a simple mistake of her husband. Suddenly the first teardrops landed on the floor and Persephone started crying. Crying over how stupid she had been, crying over what she had caused, but mostly crying over what could have been. But that didn't mattered anymore, because she had destroyed that distant dream. It was all her fault.

Wow, I finally finished this chapter. Yeah! Sorry guys for taking so long to update this thing. University is killing me. I tried to show Persephone's mind conflicts that she has. She know that she had done wrong things, but she is still a pride goddess and you know how hard it is for a goddess to swallow their pride. I am going to reflect the emotions of the goddesses more in the future. Also I would like to thank this one guest reviewer for his critics. I know that have made some characters here a bit OOC. Looking back at my first chapters I sometimes face palm, but these chapters also show me that I still can improve. I am also very knew to this writing stuff, so I try to improve my chapters as good as I can. I am very thankful for such critics, because I then know where I can improve my writing. Of course I also thank all of my other reviewers. You guys are the best! Thanks for supporting me in this story and giving me the strength to write it! I will try to reduce the OOC'ness as much as I can, but I would also like to say, that this is my story, so I won't always make the characters act in character. I want to create a character development in each of my characters here as good as I can. And don't worry! I will write some bonding between the cousins too in case you think I forgot that. Puh, I talk too much again. Well, I hope you liked this chapter. I will try to update as fast as I can!

P.S.: And tomorrow is the Chinese new year, so happy Chinese New Year to everyone!