Chapter Twenty
Hades and Persephone's argument lasted as long as it took for the young goddess to find her fiancée sat in the library, hunched over in her favourite chair. As soon as he heard her enter the room, his head snapped up and his eyes locked onto hers. Without looking elsewhere, he rose from his chair and moved towards her, taking her into his embrace, and pressing his lips to hers. They stood like that for several minutes, locked tightly into each other's arms, neither having to speak to know that the other was sorry, and that they themselves were forgiven.
"I have had another message, my dear, we are to meet with Zeus and Demeter in the clearing outside the cave, in two hours. They have, they say, a compromise they wish to strike with us," Hades told her, his voice soft and his breath tickling his young fiancée's ear, sending shivers down her spine.
"They will not take me?" Persephone asked, willing to believe anything of her father (even underhand trickery such as this), but not so sure that her mother would be willing to go along with the idea.
"They will not. Demeter is killing the humans in her grief, causing their lands to freeze so that they cannot drink from the rivers, or grow crops in the earth, and Zeus has strangely decided to care. I think he is afraid that once the humans are gone, he will no longer have anyone to worship him, and Zeus, of course, could not live with that," Hades murmured into Persephone's hair, basking in her presence, glad that she had forgiven him so easily after their fight.
"Demeter is killing?" Persephone asked in shock, unable to fit 'murderer' into her image of her mother.
"Yes, but not savagely. She is merely withdrawing her power from the lands, showing Zeus what will happen if he crosses her. I believe she tried it before, when you first came here, to persuade him to take you from me, but he paid her no mind, threatening her into submission."
"Oh," Persephone's mind was strangely blank, appalled at the deaths she had inadvertently caused.
"Don't worry, my dear, it was not your fault, none of this is," Hades reassured her, somehow knowing exactly what she was thinking. Persephone knew that, of course, he was wrong, as most all of this was most definitely her fault, but she let it go, unwilling to risk her relationship by telling him that she had not wanted him when she first came to be his wife. Instead, she changed the subject.
"How can you be so sure they will not just take me?" she asked, genuinely worried about her own safety. She hated the idea of going back to that tower, with nothing but her thoughts and the occasional whisper from a servant to keep her company.
"He will not because I have warned him that if he does, then I shall release the souls I have in my possession here in the underworld onto the mountain of the gods, I do not know why I didn't think of it before," Hades hid a ruthless grin in her hair, not wanting to show her that some of his sadistic act was not a ruse.
"Oh," Persephone said again, keeping her mind away from thoughts of the destruction her fiancée was willing to cause, instead focusing on the upcoming meeting, "Come then, my love, if we are to meet my parents, then we must look our best, mustn't we?" she asked with a sly grin up at him, before leading him by the hand out of the library and towards their bedchamber.
Demeter waited nervously in the clearing, Zeus two steps in front and to the side of her. Her fair hair was piled in braids atop her head, and she wore a long, royal purple robe, trimmed in gold. It was a little extravagant for her tastes, but Zeus had insisted, and she was not much in the mood to argue about the clothes she wore, too anxious about the results of the upcoming reunion. Zeus was similarly dressed, though he had forgone a full length robe for a gold wrap, tied around his waist, leaving his sculpted chest on show. Her husband's white blonde hair was shining in long locks, floating gently in the slight breeze. He seemed to feel, Demeter thought spitefully, that he could get what he wanted on pure looks alone. As though that would ever work with his brother and daughter.
Speaking of Persephone and Hades, they had just stepped through the entrance, into the light of the clearing, she realised with a start. The goddess had been so caught up in her inner monologue that she had missed their arrival, though she now noticed that they had had the same thoughts on the meeting as Zeus, and dressed their best.
Persephone's hair was left in long waves down her back, two strands pulled from the front and clipped behind her head. She wore a long, thin gown of cream, with a plunging neckline and a slit up to her thigh. The golden glow she had possessed a year ago was completely gone, her skin bleached by her long incarceration, and yet it suited her, somehow giving her even more of an unearthly beauty than she had had before. It was somewhat unnerving, especially as Persephone was coupling it with a cruel smile, making her look the part of a predator, and causing Demeter to feel as though she were the prey.
Hades, for his part, looked more handsome than Demeter could ever remember seeing him before. His thin, dark hair was pushed back from his face for once, the flyaway locks dancing lazily around his head, creating the effect of a dark halo. It was only fitting, she supposed. Without his hair over his face, Demeter realised that he had more than a slight resemblance to Zeus, whilst his eyes were the same as her own. Sometimes she forgot that the three of them were brothers and sister, but it was at times like this that the fact of it hit her hard. A black robe tied around his waist, the top half left to hang off of the god's hips, displaying a torso just as impressive as Zeus', whilst long slits up the sides showed off his muscular thighs. Obviously, Persephone had dressed him, as before this shocking display, Demeter had never seen Hades without layers of black rags and robes.
"Father, mother," Persephone cooed sweetly, smiling vampirically at them both, "how lovely to see you, it feels like an absolute age. Or, it feels like six months, I suppose." An awkward silence followed this pronouncement, Demeter dwelling on the guilt she felt for her daughter's imprisonment (and consequential near-death experience), and Zeus seething at the lack of respect his annoying daughter was already displaying, so early in the meeting. The silence was broken by Hades, who, it appeared, had not felt the awkwardness of the situation (or, and this was more likely, simply did not care), as he stood casually by his fiancée's side, one arm draped around her waist.
"So, a compromise? Tell me, what is it you think you can bribe us with?" Hades smirked slightly at the last, showing his siblings that they hadn't fooled him in the least.
"Yes. We get her for six months, and you get her for the other six," Zeus stated bluntly, directly addressing Hades, as though Persephone was not even present.
"I don't think so," Persephone hissed, her tone dangerous, though the vampire- smile had disappeared from her face.
"And neither do I," Hades agreed in icy tones, stepping forwards so that he was between Persephone and her parents, glaring at them as if he was daring them to try and take his fiancée from him.
"Well, we do," Zeus answered calmly, smiling blandly as though he were at a tea party, "and it will happen, don't you worry, I'm sure you'll agree eventually."
"And how, exactly, do you believe you will get us to agree with this farce?" Persephone asked scornfully, pushing in front of Hades so that she could address her parents directly. Hades stepped up next to her, and she felt a bristle of annoyance that he felt the need to protect her all the time; she could take care of herself sometimes, and he would do well to remember it. This was not the time for such a confrontation, however, as they must present a united front against her damned parents. Later, when they were alone, and all this was over with, she would be having some words with him.
Zeus leered at his insolent daughter, unhappy that he was being forced to compromise with the brat. But this was the easiest way out of the whole mess, and, to be frank, he was growing evermore bored of the entire thing.
"Because if you agree to this, we will allow you to marry your beloved Hades again, and for the six months you live with your king in the underworld, we will leave you to live in peace. If you do not agree to the compromise, then we will hound you every single day of your existence. We will never leave you alone until we have taken you from him, until you are back in that tower chamber, back where you belong," Zeus spoke lowly, threateningly, as he stepped closer to his daughter, pushing his head down until his nose was within centimetres of hers so that she could have no way of missing the power he allowed to radiate out from his being.
Persephone refused to back away from him though, unwilling to give him the upper hand, to allow him to know that he had intimidated her. This, however, only caused Zeus to become more annoyed, and for a second, a glimmer of a thunderbolt could be seen in his fist, before the image flickered out and he whirled around, storming away to stand next to his wife once more.
"And the six months she is with you? You will put her in that tower once more? I cannot believe that you would think we would ever agree to that!" Hades exclaimed, disbelief shattering the glare that had, up until now, been set firmly upon his face.
"Of course not!" Demeter spoke for the first time, though, from the angry glance Zeus sent her way, it was obvious to Hades and Persephone that she had not been supposed to speak at all.
"What shall happen to me, then? If I stay with you for six months, there's a risk that I won't survive it!" Persephone asked, missing the surprised look her fiancée gave her.
"So you are considering our offer then?" Zeus asked, a small smirk beginning to grow on his lips, all of his previous anger seemingly gone.
"Perhaps," Persephone whispered. Hades forgot all about presenting a united front, and grabbed her arm, pulling her back, out of earshot of her parents.
"What?" he hissed, angrily, "You are considering it? How can you even think about leaving me for six months? And that's without even mentioning the fact that you could die, if they keep you even one day too long! What are you thinking?" Persephone shrank slightly under his gaze for a minute, before pulling herself together and adopting a defiant expression.
"You heard my father!" she shot back, wrenching her arm from his grip, which had been growing steadily tighter, "this offer is the best we can hope for! We will be married, and we will be left alone for half the year. It is either that, or constantly have our marriages dissolved, and be in continuous threat of attack!" Tears sprung to Persephone's eyes as she spoke, hating that spending only half the year with her love was her best hope for her future.
"We can run from them, we can find a way to be safe, together," Hades murmured, stroking her cheek gently with the pad of his thumb, wiping away her tears.
"I can't live that that, Hades my love, and neither can you," the young goddess admitted reluctantly, "you have duties, and when I am your queen again, I too will have responsibilities, and we cannot ignore them. This is the best chance we can hope to be offered, and we would be fools not to take it!" With that, she pulled her face from her fiancée's grip and walked quickly to her parents, before Hades could realise what she was doing and stop her.
"Do you swear that for the six months I am away from my home, I shall have my freedom?" Persephone asked, knowing that if they did not agree to this that she could not stand to go along with the plan.
"We swear. You shall live as you did before any of this happened, so long as you don't step foot near the underworld, or near Hades," her mother said quickly, before Zeus could speak.
"Then I shall agree to your terms," Persephone grabbed Demeter's hand, and shook it, sealing their deal before anything could be disputed by the two males present.
A slight gold shimmer formed around their hands, making it official, before Demeter let go, a frosty aura forming around the elder goddess's figure.
Furious, Hades stormed forwards and grabbed his fiancée's arm, dragging her back down into the cave, and into his control once more.
"See you in six months," the mocking voice of Zeus followed them down, echoing against the cave walls, and repeating itself, increasing Hades' rage until he could barely control himself.
A/N: Last chapter! Don't lynch me, the myth told me to do it :) Epilogue will be up tomorrow :)