AN: I wanted to address "The Photos" and have Persephone flip the situation on its head as she, the destroyer of light, is known to do.

The Photos

Trigger Warning: sexual harassment themes

Persephone finished the final touches of her new laptop she built herself from scratch. It didn't take as long as she imagined. She had deconstructed Hades laptop while he was on lunch one day and put it back together. Once she had her own parts, putting the pieces together felt like a familiar maze. She set down the tiny jewelers screwdriver and admired her work.

"All right." She whispered. "Let's boot this baby up."

She pressed the on button. The battery she attached to it was already charged. It came to life, back lights highlighting her fingertips on the keyboard.

"Hey." Artemis knocked on her bedroom door. "I'm getting take out. What do you want? Uuuuuh. What's going on in here?" She eyed the microchips, wires, small metal pieces and screws. "Building tiny torture devices?" She guessed.

Persephone nodded. "Kind of." She held up her laptop.

"Holy shit. You built that? Damn, sis." Artemis looked it over.

"It has twice as much ram as the ones on the market. Battery life is exactly what I need for school. AND it's pink." She wiggled in her chair quite pleased with herself. She got what she wanted, a laptop, without help, and without compromising her work ethic, her needs, or her aesthetics.

Artemis noticed that the phone she had given her was part of the material debris scattered to pieces. Broken parts. Massacred.

"Oh, did you use parts of the phone building it?" Artemis asked a little miffed. So that's why she hadn't been able to get a hold of her. The phone wasn't much, but she needed a way to keep an eye on the very slippery pink goddess.

"Um." Persephone followed her eyes. "Yes?" She lied. Truthfully, she had just destroyed it after the last few texts from Artemis's brother.

They'd been escalating. He'd been following her. Cornering her. She'd always found an escape. But knew that she couldn't count on exit strategies forever. Defense would only hold for so long. She would have to change up her strategy.

No matter how many times she ignored him. No matter how many times she shrugged him off. He always came back, Bolder than before.

"Well. I'm gonna get logged into all my stuff and make sure my sign ins work." She tapped the screen gently. "I haven't been able to do school assignments on my own. I've had to sneak it in at work or do it at the library. It'll be nice to do it here."

"Okay. I'll leave you to it." Artemis pushed herself off Persephone's bed then turned and asked, "Is chow mein okay?"

She nodded. "And pork dumplings!"

When the door was closed Persephone pulled up her email, signing in to both her school and work addresses, consolidating it to one inbox. She browsed through the college campus events, archiving as she went. The emails in her work account were all updates to her schedule. Then she noticed an email sent to both accounts from an unknown address. It was sent multiple times, flooding her inbox within a two hour time span.

The subject read: "Quit Hades or These Go Viral."

She gasped as she opened the attachment and quickly shut her computer. No. No. No. no. NO!

Artemis was right. She had built a tiny torture device.

"You're being kind of quiet." Artemis noticed over a mouthful of noodles. She slurped them up and then asked, "So what's up?" She poked her chopstick at Persephone who didn't even blink. "Hellooooo, earth to Persephone?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry." Persephone shook her head. "Sorry. I'm just thinking."

"About what?"

Persephone went silent again. After a moment she finally said, "Can I ask a question?"

"Aim and fire." Artemis grinned.

Persephone thought about it some more. "Nevermind." She shook her head.

"Hey, no. What's up?" Artemis slipped out of her chair and came over to Persephone. "Something's wrong?"

"I'm afraid." She sighed, closing her eyes and leaning back against the chair.

"Afraid of what?" Artemis asked, concern showing in her eyebrows.

Her lips trembled, wanting to shape into a word, but instead Persephone got up from the table. "Afraid that I've lost my appetite. I have a lot of work to do. And I better get started."

"Persephone wait." Artemis called after her. "Hey!"

She ignored her roommate and slammed the bedroom door shut.

"Wait a second. Persephone, what's going on?" The goddess of the hunt leaned against the door. "Don't make me bust in there. I don't like this."

A heavy handed fist came banging through, but Persephone swung the door open and Artemis nearly fell forward through the air.

"I'm sorry, Artemis." Persephone apologized. "I don't mean to be a drama queen, but there's something I have to handle and I don't want to talk about it."

"Oh." Artemis blinked. "You sure? I. . .I might be able to help."

Persephone shook her head. "No. I. . . I'll manage. I need to face this on my own. I can't have everyone fighting my battles."

Artemis studied her face for a long time. "Okay. If you need me, please, please call me or. . . I guess email me." She realized Persephone once again, didn't have a phone. "I'm about to head out for work."

Persephone nodded silently, not letting her know that she was counting on it.

Before Artemis left, Persephone lunged forward and pulled her into a hug. Artemis could feel her shaking.

"I wish you could tell me what was going on." Artemis crushed her head into Persephone's shoulder, squeezing her tighter.

"Me too." Persephone exhaled. "Me too."

The next day when Persephone exited her room, Artemis was waiting for her in the hall. Her hair twisted up into a wet bun, just coming out of the shower.

"Good morning." Persephone smiled calmly. "How was work?"

"Persephone." Artemis breathed and fidgeted with the strings of her hoodie.

"Yes?"

"Persephone." A tear fell from her eye. "I've been such . . . a terrible friend."

"What?" Persephone tilted her head. "What are you talking about."

"I'm sorry, buttercup. Hecate called me. It's. . . it's everywhere. I wanted to be the first person. I wanted to. . .be the one that told you. Instead of you finding out the hard way." Artemis pulled out her phone and winced, raising it to Persephone's eye level.

On the screen was a blurry photo of Persephone's bare midriff contrasted against dark bed sheets.

"Someone. . . someone leaked this online." Artemis informed her.

"I know." Persephone nodded slowly.

"Whoever this creep is." Artemis hissed. Her phone cracked in her hand, scarring Persephone's digitally naked form. "I'm gonna find them. I'm gonna rip out their throat. Who would do this?"

"I did." Persephone laughed. For the first time in what felt like too long. A light hearted bubble escaped from her chest.

"What?" Artemis furrowed her eyebrows.

"I leaked it." She shrugged and leaned against the hallway too. Her lips curving up in satisfaction.

"Why-why?"

Persephone grabbed Artemis's phone and pulled up insta scroll, finding her own account and selecting her most recent picture.

"Persephone!" Artemis screeched in shock looking over the picture of her young roommate completely naked in a field of flowers. Her head turned towards her outreached hand. In her palm rested a gardenia flower. She knelt beside sunflowers and daisies, their petals kissing her skin. An unburdened smile on her face, her eyes closed in calm meditation. This photo was beautiful and vulnerable, bold and gentle. She was art, wild and pure. A masterpiece.

"Read the description." Persephone tapped the phone.

"It has come to my attention that a compromising photo of me has been leaked out onto the masses. It's not a good photo. Here, have a better one.

This is my skin. These are my stretch marks. These are my curves, and my flaws. This is my body. And I will not let someone use it against me. I will not be ashamed of it.

That other photo was taken against my will. It's blurry and unfocused. They wanted a ransom to keep it hidden from the world, but instead I'll show you the best of me. I am not afraid."

Artemis looked up after absorbing it all. "I-I don't understand. You just said you leaked the other photo."

"I did." Persephone grinned. "Before he could. He threatened to publish, so I called the tabloids first. I made the deal. If there was going to be money made off of it, then that was going to be my gain. I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction. This way, I stripped him of everything he had over me. He has no power now. I stole what he took from me and made it useless. I called it what it was and now he can't testify against my word. And I did it all without mudslinging. Without name calling."

Artemis gripped the phone so tight in her hand it shattered completely. "Give him a name." She hissed.

Persephone drew in a long breath then looked up through her eyelashes. "You already know it."

AN: Thank you for reading and reviewing.

xoxo Goldie