Persephone was awoken by a few knocks on her door.
She sat up slowly, yawning and rubbing her eyes. She stretched lazily for a while before she slipped off the bed to answer it.
Peeking through the small crack, she saw the familiar eyes of her maid. Smiling, she greeted, "Hello, Aretha," as she opened the door wider for her. Aretha bows her head slightly, greeting back with a smile, "Hello, Lady Persephone."
The maid enters the room, bringing nothing with her. Persephone didn't know why she did not bring her breakfast.
"Uhm, Aretha?"
Aretha was making her way to the bathroom when she turned, answering, "Yes, Lady Persephone?"
"Where is my breakfast?" Persephone asked quizzically.
Aretha's eyebrow shot up and confusion was written all over her face. She said confusingly, "Lord Hades has informed me that you will be having breakfast with him today." Then, she asked warily, "Or are you not aware of this?"
Instantly, Persephone remembered that she had accepted his invitation to eat breakfast with him. She also remembered that he will be taking her on a tour of the Underworld later on.
"Oh yes! Now I remember," she exclaimed, before murmuring, "It must have slipped out of my mind."
Aretha gives a smile before entering the bathroom, preparing Persephone's bath. Persephone rested on the bed, waiting for her to be done. She shuts her eyes for a while, and didn't realize that she had dozed off until Aretha gently shakes her awake.
"Lady Persephone? Your bath is ready."
Again, Persephone rubs her eyes and stretches before getting up from bed and into the bathroom. After disrobing, she slowly enters the pool of hot water. When she had gotten adjusted to the heat, she sighs and begins to relax.
After washing herself with soap made of goat's milk and shampoo that smelled like roses, she finally gets out of the pool and dries herself off with a towel before putting on underclothes and a robe that Aretha had laid out for her. When she exits the bathroom, she sees that the bed has been cleaned up and a lovely emerald green chiton with rose red trimming was laid out on the bed.
Aretha, who stood in waiting by the door, approaches her to help her dress. After tying the sash, she goes to the wardrobe and gets out a pair of red silk slippers.
Persephone thanks her and sits herself on the chair in front of the vanity to brush her hair. As she took the brush, she glances at diadem that was still sitting there. Purposely trying to ignore it, she concentrates only on her reflection.
Finally done, she stands from the chair and says to her maid, "Lead the way, Aretha."
Aretha bows her head and opens the door for Persephone, allowing her to go first. After Persephone had exited the room, Aretha shuts the door and leads the way.
When Thanatos entered the dining room, he noticed that his lord was just standing by his seat at the head of the table, eyeing the food that was laid out on it.
"My lord. Is something worrying you?" Thanatos asked.
Hades turns to look at him and shakes his head. "I am just nervous, Thanatos."
"Nervous about what?" Thanatos asked curiously.
Smiling, Hades answers, "Persephone had agreed to have breakfast with me yesterday. And I just want to make sure that everything is alright."
Thanatos was taken aback, but nonetheless he smiled for him. "That is good, Lord Hades. At last she has finally agreed to spend some time with you."
Just then, there was a knock on the door. Hades nods to Thanatos, signalling him to answer it. Thanatos obeys, and standing outside was Aretha and Persephone.
Hades smiles at Persephone, who returns the gesture. As they approached each other, Hades greets, "Persephone. You look very lovely."
A faint blush appears on her cheeks as he takes one of her hand and plants a quick and chaste kiss on it. Then he turns to Aretha and dismisses her. The maid bows and leaves the room.
When he turns to look back at Persephone, he sees her looking at Thanatos, and he realized that she hasn't met him yet.
"Persephone, this is Thanatos. Deity of death, and one of my most loyal men."
Thanatos bows to Persephone, greeting, "It is a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance, Lady Persephone."
Persephone bows her head slightly, saying politely with a smile, "The pleasure is mine."
Turning back to Hades, Persephone was gestured by him to take a seat next to the one at the head of the table. He pulls out her chair for her, and she thanks him as she sat down. She looks at the food spread before her and all of it looked so delicious that her mouth actually watered at the sight of it.
She looks over to Hades, who had just sat down on his seat. And then, her breathing hitched.
What she was looking at now was exactly like one of those memories that the tree had given her yesterday.
The tree's spirit had sat on this very chair before.
She became still.
"Persephone? Persephone? Are you alright?"
She snapped out of her dazed state to find Hades looking at her, worry clear in his eyes.
"Is there something wrong? Are you ill?" he asked in concern.
She shook her head, murmuring, "It's nothing. My head is in the clouds, I suppose."
Later on
"That was quite an enjoyable breakfast," Persephone comments as she walks beside Hades in the hallway with a satisfied smile on her face.
He returns the smile. "I'm glad that you enjoyed it," he says. "It was prepared specially for you. All of it was food that my servants had gathered from the Earth."
She cocked her head to the side in curiosity. "You keep food from the world above here?" she asked, to which he nods, answering, "A whole room full of them. Stored well so that it can last for months. Nothing grows in the Underworld, unfortunately."
"Ah," Persephone says in thought. Then she inquired, "So shall we start with the tour?"
"Of course," Hades replies, quite eagerly.
Hades opens the door for her, leading her into the foyer of the palace. When Persephone first saw the foyer just this morning, she was completely awestruck by it. It was so big, about half the size of the palace ballroom at Mount Olympus. It had a big and long strip crimson carpet lying atop the black marble floor, going all the way up the grand staircase. Above their heads was an obsidian chandelier that had candles lighting up the entire room.
Suddenly, from one of the doors across the foyer, a woman dressed completely in dark red appeared. Persephone recognized the woman, thanks to the familiar bluish-black hair, dark purple eyes and especially her trademark scarlet lips.
"Hecate. Nice to meet you again," Persephone greets her as though she was a friend she had not seen in a very long time.
Hecate looks up and was shocked to see Persephone there, and with Lord Hades. Though completely taken aback, she regained her composure and bowed elegantly.
"Good day to you, Lady Persephone and Lord Hades," she greets in her charming voice.
"And to you, Hecate," Hades greets civilly.
"If I may ask, where are the both of you going?" the witch asked.
Persephone nods and answered, "Lord Hades is taking me on a tour of the Underworld."
The corners of Hecate's scarlet lips lift into a smile. "That's very good to know. I hope the both of you enjoy yourselves." She then bows once more and leaves to the door where Hades and Persephone came from, but not before flashing Hades a knowing look, as if to say Good for you.
Hades only glances at her, before turning his full attention on Persephone once again. "Shall we proceed?" he asked. She nods, and the both of them exit the palace.
The minute she stepped out, Persephone was met by a huge river that lay before the palace. Further ahead the river, there was a misty fog hanging above it.
"This is the river Styx," Hades explained.
"I heard of it," Persephone told him. "Lord Zeus told me it was the river that separates the Underworld from the land of the living. And that it was the river that the gods swear upon. He also told me that if a swear upon Styx had been broken, whoever made the swear will face mishap in their lives."
He simply nods.
Still looking at the river, she suddenly sees something up ahead. It looked like a boat, controlled by a hooded figure.
"What's that?" she asked. "Or who's that?"
Hades turns to look as well and sees what she was pointing at. "Oh. That is Charon, the ferryman of Styx. His duty is to ferry the new souls from the other side of Styx to the Underworld. And he is another of my most loyal subjects."
Hades walks towards the river banks, Persephone following behind him. They reached the river banks just as Charon, on his ferry, reached it as well.
He sees his lord and the girl beside him and immediately bows. "Greeting, Lord Hades. And hello, Queen Persephone. Very nice to finally meet your acquaintance."
Persephone blinks when he referred to her as 'queen'. Although it was the truth, it still kind of makes her stomach tighten.
Hades shoots Charon a venomous look, and the ferryman immediately realized his flaw.
But Persephone remains calm, and gives a smile. "Hello there. Charon, is it?"
Charon smiles in relief and nods his head solemnly. Hades then steps into the boat silently and extends a hand for Persephone.
"Where are we going?" Persephone questions as she willingly takes his hand. She had a feeling that no, he was not going to release her from the Underworld. But she was then immediately distracted by the fact that she was holding his hand. Their very first contact with each other after a long time.
Hades notices it too, and his heart beats rapidly as he grasps her hand gently. He hears her question, and replies, "I'm taking you to see my pet."
Her eyes widened instantaneously. "You have a pet?" she exclaims.
He nods. "Indeed I have."
When Persephone finally set foot on the boat, Charon rows off to the other side of Styx. Looking back, Persephone finally got a view of the palace. It was huge, like Mount Olympus' palace, but instead of looking like fiery rock as how most described it to be, it was just made of ash-grey stone.
She then looks away to the waters below, and was curious about how dark it was. She kneeled down to dip her hand into it, but was immediately stopped by Hades.
"Don't. There are…. creatures in there…. that you may not like to see…" he warns her.
Seeing the seriousness in his pitch black eyes, Persephone immediately withdrew her hand to her side.
Charon reaches the opposite banks, and Hades steps onto the ground first before helping Persephone off. He instructs Charon to stay before leading Persephone up a flight of stone steps.
As he remembers the memory of when he had first brought her here, she had been screaming in horror when they were in complete darkness. He could already tell that she was quite scared by the way she gripped onto his arm in worry. Not wanting her to panic, he summons a ball of white flames above their heads, and the brightness illuminated the whole way. Slowly, Persephone begins to relax.
Finally, they have reached the iron-wrought gates of the Underworld. Persephone stared in amazement at how tall and beautiful it was, but was suddenly distracted by Hades calling out to someone.
Or something.
"Cerberus. Come out."
Just then, from a cave near the gates, a black creature emerges. Persephone could tell by the sounds that it was a hound. But they she could only see one figure, she could hear three growls.
When the creature finally stepped into the light, Persephone grasps.
Indeed, it was one creature. But it had three heads. It was the size of a mountain lion, maybe a bit bigger. Its pelt was as black as Hades' eyes and their eyes were like glowing yellow orbs.
Hades beckons for the creature, Cerberus, to come closer. "Cerberus. Meet Persephone. Persephone. Meet Cerberus."
The creature approaches Persephone slowly, and she cringes a bit in fear. But Hades looks at her reassuringly, trying to give her comfort.
Persephone remains still as Cerberus sniffs the skirt of her chiton. Just then, Hades gently takes one of her hands and places it on the hound's pelt. Persephone winces, but Hades says soothingly, "It's alright."
Hades lets go of her hand, but she keeps it there. Swallowing her fear, Persephone kneels to meet the creature's three heads. All heads took turns to sniff her hair as she stays still. And all of a sudden, all three heads were nuzzling their snouts into her hair.
Persephone suddenly giggles at the ticklish feeling and Hades chuckles. "He likes you," he said to her.
Running her hands through Cerberus' fur, she replies, "He is so nice!" Cerberus's wags his tale in glee at her response.
And for the next few minutes, Persephone plays with Cerberus as Hades leans against a rock formation, smiling at her. He was glad that she was glad now. He was really glad.
"Lord Hades?"
"Yes, Persephone?" he answered immediately.
With a smile on her face, she said, "Please show me more of the Underworld."
With a new rapidness of his heart, he agrees.
To Persephone, the entire day was quite enjoyable.
As Hades showed her more of his kingdom, she became even more fascinated each passing minute. Not thinking of the souls that inhabit the Underworld, she found it to be quite beautiful.
He was now explaining to her about the three doors that she had seen twice. "The brown door leads to the Asphodel Plains. It's the afterlife for the mortal souls that are neither good nor bad. Neutral, in other words. The white one, of course, is the Elysian Fields, but I do not think I need to explain that. And the black one leads to Tartarus, where…"
"Let me guess," Persephone cuts him off. "It is the afterlife for the wretched mortal souls?"
Hades nods in confirmation. "I advise you to never set foot near that door. I don't think you can bear to see what's inside."
His grim tone was enough to tell her that he was right.
She sighs in content. She has seen nearly every part of the palace, and it amazed her to think that it was so huge. But there was one part she have not seen, but wishes to.
"Lord Hades?" she asks. "Yes, Persephone?" he responds with a smile on his lips. "What can I do for you?"
She hesitates, but then quickly said, "Can you show me the garden?"
He suddenly look at her in disbelief. Worried that she had upset him, she asked slowly, "You do have a garden, right?"
Hades was silent, but then he immediately nods and leads her to somewhere unknown. After a few minutes of walking, they come to a stop in front of two wooden double doors at where Persephone suspects is the back of the palace.
He opens the doors for her and they both stepped outside. Immediately, Persephone was shocked by what she saw.
It appeared to be a garden. But everything is so withered and dead. In the middle of the garden was an ebony fountain that had water running.
She could not believe what she was seeing. There was so much death in this garden.
Beside her, Hades said sadly, "I know what you see is not to your liking. But you had requested for me to show you the garden, and so I granted it."
"There's not even a flower growing…" she breathes. He sighed, and answered, "I did mention to you that nothing grows in the Underworld."
She began to feel sad at the thought. She glances at Hades and notices his disappointed expression.
She didn't like seeing him like that.
Slowly, she silently holds his hand and leads him onto the dead grass. She had been holding his hand a lot of times today, but each touch has never failed to send his heart in frenzy.
Hades follows her willingly as she walks slowly on the grass. Suddenly, just like magic, the minute she placed her foot on the patch, it began to grow immediately. The flat, blackened grass began standing upright and the colour changed into a green that was the shade of Persephone's chiton. Even a few flowers began to grow at her feet.
Hades looks at the sudden growth in amazement, and Persephone smiles at him. As they walked hand-in-hand around the garden, everything started coming to life.
Hades found it strange. Here he was, the God of the Dead, walking beside her, the Goddess of Spring, the one who is bringing life to his previously-dead garden. But death and life were walking hand-in-hand right now, completely at peace.
And he enjoyed it.
When they finally come to a stop in front of the fountain, they looked around the garden that had now become lush with greenery and had patches of bright and colorful flowers.
It was a beautiful sight to behold.
"Persephone… This is amazing!" Hades exclaims.
Sitting down on the lip of the fountain, she smiles. "It's nothing. Compared to how my mother does it, this seems feeble."
Hades suddenly stiffens at the mention of her mother and whips his head to look at her. He saw that she was now looking down at her lap, with her lips pursed and her eyes looking sad.
No. He did not want her to be sad. Not anymore.
Sitting beside her, he grasps her hand and says, "Persephone?"
She looks up at him.
"It is beautiful. You are amazing," he murmurs with a gentle smile on his lips.
Touched by what he said, Persephone smiled.
Author's Note:
I just wanna do a rant.
Lately, I've been occupying myself with finding images on the internet. More specifically, finding images of people who resemble the gods and goddesses in my world. I've found quite a few good ones. But some are seriously difficult. Hades and Persephone for example. I am trying hard to find the most sexiest and closest Hades lookalike and also a pretty and innocent-looking russet-haired girl who looks a lot like Persephone.
To name a few, I found pictures of who I think resembled Aphrodite, Apollo, Ares and Eros. But the rest is still going on. Sheesh. I just hope finding Zeus would be easy -.-
Muse of Fanfiction