NOW HIRING

by Angel of Hunky-Doryness

Zeus finds himself in a pickle when he realizes exactly how much dedication Hades put into his job when the dead start wreaking havoc on earth with the god's absence. Left with no other choice, the thunder god must find a new underworld deity, or will Hades return just in time to stop the newest applicants? One of whom is willing to do anything to get away from her mother's shadow.

25. It's a Cold Day in Hell

It's a Cold Day in Hell

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A/N: ***Edited as of December 28, 2019*** Oof okay, I really needed to fix a few things. Y'know how you leave off a project for a long time and forget the direction that it was going? That was me... I really need to start leaving notes for future me! Plus I can't believe I deleted the Hecate backstory. Anyway, I learned never trust 2 am me's judgement. As always thank you, my dear readers, till next time.

Disclaimer: Chapter 1

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[FATES]

"Life ain't easy,
Life ain't fair,
A girl's gotta fight for her rightful share.

What you gonna do when the chips are down
Now that the chips are down?"

- When the Chips are Down, Hadestown, by Anaïs Mitchell

---

"It's a nice day to start again."

-White Wedding, by Billy Idol

---

Was it always so cold down here? Persephone absentmindedly pondered, holding onto that single thought as she tried to make some semblance of herself, but she felt nothing- absolutely nothing but the cold soaking material of her thin cotton peplos.

There was a part of her that accepted the feeling of indifference- of the hollowness that swallowed her whole as she trudged up the dark staircase from the Underworld docks in a slow and tentative pace. She did not enjoy the chilling feeling of stone bite into her barefoot, but she relished in the feeling every time her right foot made another step for it meant it was her who was carrying herself forward and no one else, and that small bit of control inside of her gave her the strength to keep marching up those stairs. Even if she knew what awaited her once she reached it.

Persephone carefully tilted her head in such a way to watch from the corner of her eye to check whether or not he was following her. She didn't know why she was checking, but a small part of her refused to acknowledge why this knowledge gave her the slightest sliver of comfort.

It wasn't until she reached the top of the tall staircase that Persephone turned around completely and found that Hades remained in the very spot she had seen him last. A flash of embarrassment began to well up inside of her. So he had noticed her looking.

They were practically on two different sides as she drew her attention to where Hades stood at the bottom of the stairs. Persephone searched his eyes, tried to place what sort of expression he was wearing in that moment. He was stiff, for once standing as straight as a rod, unmoving save for the flickering wild flames atop his head, but his eyes, was that a war brewing inside them? She could not place it, but something told her it had something to do with her.

Hades opened his mouth, his tongue began its familiar tread of saying her name, but that same fear took hold of him once again and the words were frozen in his throat.

Persephone's hopeful gaze once again turned distant and aloof at his silence. Without a single word, the shining goddess took hold of her soaking layers of cloth and left the god where he stood.

The moans of the dead began to grow louder down at the docks. Charon watched with a morbid fascination as several hands began emerging out of the water near the boat, holding out a broken bouquet of flowers. Those pale pink roses which Persephone had used to strike him when she refused him had somehow made it down into the depths of the earth with her, but not without damage, Hades noted as he eyed how several stems were missing their blooms and flower heads missing their many petals. He could still remember the sting of the rose thorns upon his cheek, and if it weren't for his godly form, his cheek would have been left bleeding and scarred.

Charon reached a bony hand to the outstretched bouquet, ready to swat it out of the shades' grasp and continue his drudgery, but Hades snapped the tattered flowers into his own hands.

He could sense Demeter's power in this bouquet as he held it, and when his gaze was pulled to where Persephone was standing mere moments before, a small part of him understood what the shades were trying to tell him.

Oy.

Getting advice from the dead- now that's a new low for him.

With a deep groaning sigh welling up inside of him, Hades began to ascend the stairs after the grieving goddess despite the weight he felt on his shoulders. He thought back to the last few moments she had spoken to him. It felt like an eternity those sparse minutes that had elapsed since then.

"You're just like them…" Her bitter words struck his heart, ringing in his ears like that poor nymph Echo every time she opened her mouth. An ongoing repetition that would never end.

He really had become just like them. Just like her mother and sister- worse; he had just dealt the same treatment Zeus had given him when he drew the short end of the lot. Everyone always means well. Someone must feed the beast. So you throw a bone to the dog. No, the bone won't fill the dog's empty belly, but it gives them the illusion of hunger being sated for the time being. Or in Persephone's case, you can't put a plant into a pot and expect it to be happy- not if you want it to grow.

And he had done that very action with Persephone, the goddess he had just professed his heart to. He always knew he was ruthless, but the extent to which that cruelty went to was beginning to dawn on him.

It was at this moment that Hades found himself situated in front of a door. A peculiarly decorated door since it was beginning to be covered in dark vines the likes of which began to sprout thorns far sharper than any rose he had ever seen. Yet no flower graced the brambles, not a single one and that single detail had the same effect as throwing a cold bucket of water on him.

Oh damn it all to hell.

At this point there was nothing left for him to lose.

"Ladies," Hades snapped his fingers and from the walls a group of five nymphs all with jagged, sharp teeth and long pointed ears appeared before him with their wide sorrowful eyes staring poignantly at him. "She's all yours," he gestured widely to the door.

The lampades shared questioning glances between them, but as Melinoe took a step forward ready to faze through and meet their mistress, Hades was instantly in her path. His smile far more rigid and crooked than she had ever seen.

"Mel," he gestured her forward with his index finger. "Walk with me."

What a cold day in hell this was turning out to be.

---

She knew these halls. Knew the dark ambience that emanated through the Underworld palace like an unwelcome memory that resurfaced at the slightest feeling of unease. That feeling of being watched, of being beckoned by a strange pull, could it be the pull that all life has towards death? Or perhaps it was the feeling of familiarity? Yes, familiarity was what pricked at her skin as goosebumps ran down her arms, sending her teeth to chatter as if an unexpected chill had crept up her spine. Oh, but the memory that that chill brought. A memory she had never thought she'd ever have to use as she navigated the halls made of that tenebrous stone.

One cautious footfall was enough to create an echo that reverberated across the halls in a macabre imitation of how it would've sounded up above. Her beating heart did not belong here, for a living, beating heart was not a characteristic that any denizen of this realm had.

At least not any longer.

Her first memory of this place burned at the back of her mind, of her terror, of her broken heart, of the things that no mortal should ever see, but she had returned. Not because she had rejoined the dead, oh far from it, dear reader.

For Megara was very much alive.

Meg held onto Hercules as the hallway ahead of them curved into an intersection of two individual halls. For all she knew, she was not letting go of her Wonder Boy- not after nearly a week being separated from him; the longest they'd been apart since the day Hercules battled the hydra.

"Hold it," Meg heard herself hiss to her husband, stopping him from going any further.

The demigod silently nodded as he observed what had Meg suddenly so troubled. There, fixed into the jagged, irregular walls were large adamantine double doors that seemed to hide some grand room, and with one final glance at his wife, he began to understand what lay beyond those doors. Instinctively, Hercules felt his hand grip Meg's more tightly.

The two of them remained silent as they stuck close to the wall, using the stone fixtures to hide behind in the case someone saw them sneaking about. They remained there cautiously holding their breaths as they tried to distinguish any sounds coming from whatever lied beyond those doors.

But Hercules in all his focus began to realize that there was a noise echoing somewhere else, but he could not pinpoint where thanks to the acoustics of the tomb-like palace. "Someone's coming," He heard himself whisper, forcing the two of them to squeeze ever tighter behind their respective hiding places.

Meg, having a hiding place in front of where Hercules was hiding, watched with eager eyes as her former boss and a bone white woman came into her view. Hades had not changed since she had last seen him, but judging by the quick movements of his hands and how he schlumped down in order to speak to the small woman walking by his side, there was no doubt in her mind he was straddling the threshold of frustration and apprehension. A fine line that was beginning to give way at any second, depending on the outcome of the next few minutes.

No longer focusing on him, Meg racked her brain trying to figure out the identity of the woman(specter?) he was speaking to, but as soon as she made out her face her vision began to warp and the specter's appearance began to gradually change.

An unexpected rush of emotions began to bubble up inside of her she did not even have the chance to react, but Hercules was there in an instant and covered her mouth before she could utter a sound. Meg jumped at the unexpected contact, breaking her out of the enchantment.

With Hades too preoccupied in his conversation with the nymph, the two of them did not notice the hidden couple, nor the effect the nymph had on one of them.

When Pain and Panic threw open the adamantine doors, Hercules released the breath he had been holding and allowed his hands to fall to Meg's side and clutched at her hands.

When the door closed behind them, Meg pulled Hercules' hand off of her mouth and turned around visibly shaken and her skin unnaturally blanched. That lady, a part of her recognized it at first glance, but the more Meg stared, the more she tried to recall where she had seen that face. The lady had changed appearance in a snap- a kaleidoscope of forms as she took the guises of Meg's ex, her father, and ultimately she saw herself reflected in that strange woman.

"Who was that?"

"Melinoe," Hercules bluntly replied. "I wouldn't worry about her though, or any of the other nymphs, she might actually help if you can't find her," his gaze flip-flopped between the doors and his wife.

Meg made a small unsure sound in her throat, and did not wish to talk about her concerns about the nymph, but her thoughts became adrift at her husband's last statement. "Wait, Wonder boy what do you mean me? It can't be that hard to find her- she's probably locked in a room somewhere, so we bust her out and make a run for it!"

"Meg," Hercules began to shift the quiver of arrows he had situated on his shoulder. "We both know someone has to keep Hades distracted-"

"And he's distracted," Meg cut him off before she reached up and grabbed the hemline of his armor to bring his face closer to her's. It was almost laughable how she could get the strongest man in existence to bend to her, but Hercules did so without any resistance.

He understood the ordeal she was having from just being down here, and the fact that she agreed to help him despite how terrified she was of being in the same realm as her former boss meant a lot to him. He couldn't have brought Phil, Phil didn't know the Underworld Palace like Meg did, and even if she'd only been down here twice, visiting a god's dwelling place burned into the mind of any mortal. Yet there was one last reason, one very important reason, for asking her down here, one he had specifically decided not to bring up.

"Hades has every reason to kill you if he sees you, and there's no more incentives to bring you back to me," Meg pleaded. "I only agreed coming down here to repay Athena for the lengths she went through to bring you back, not to see you leave me again," her fingers brushed against his warm cheek, sending a pleasant elation through her bones, reminding her that he was still within her arms.

He was alive, gods, she wanted to scream it to Olympus, Hercules was alive! But to have him taken from her again? Her Wonder Boy did not deserve death. Did not deserve the mortality he chose over a life of being one of the deathless gods. He would have to go through aging, and with it the prospect that his body would begin to fail him with each passing year, and one day he would have death while the shining gods of Olympus continued on for eons. His name would be reduced to nothing but myth and faded etchings in stone while his mortal coil was reduced to nothing but dust.

And he threw that all away for her. How long before death separated them again?

"Hey, I've always come back to you," Hercules gently pressed his lips against hers, and for that one moment, his wife felt reassurance flow back into her heart.

He always did. Not once had he proved that statement wrong, and by the bold look of determination that shined in his heavenly blue eyes, he was going to move heaven and earth before he failed. Still holding onto her, Hercules unlatched his lips from hers, and an amused grin lit up his face. "After all who else can I go to to for some spectacular pea soup?"

Meg felt a wry smile tug at her lips, playfully bumping her hips against him. She missed this, missed being able to contend with her Wonder Boy's awfully irritating optimism. Even here in hell of all places, he somehow managed to bring her out of her uneasiness. "You and your soup, it's not even that good," she dismissed his praise with an impressive eye roll. "You're just hungry after being dead for a week."

"What do you think got me through that week? Every day I thought of your pea soup."*

"We get out of this thing alive and I'll make you enough soup to sate even Erysichthon," Meg promised with a sultry wink.

"I'll hold you to it," Hercules whispered into her ear as they embraced once again.

Meg snorted, but kissed him anyway. "Well, then, Wonder boy, I guess it's been a real slice." Her hands lingered on his face, as did his hands around her waist, but the two of them understood as they made their separate ways. Not once did they look back as they went off in their own directions, but for Meg, she sprinted.

The sooner she found Kore, the sooner her and Hercules could get the hell out of here, and have a proper reunion.

---

What the hell was she going to do?

Persephone was vehemently pacing around the room like a caged animal, waiting, wondering, wishing that she knew what she was going to do next.

A week.

It had been a whole week since she'd been here last; when she came here with an insipid dream, looking for a new position to fill and give her existence new meaning. Now the very position she was hoping to take was going to be thrown at her, and like a child she did not want it anymore. Did not care for the title or the weight it would add to her name.

She was like a child then, and now? Persephone felt more lost than ever in her life. Like a ship tossed about in the sea, so was the state of her soul. She never thought she'd ever go through something like she had after the events of the competition, but she was dead wrong.

This was worse.

Persephone stopped her pacing when she began to feel something slipping off her head. Reaching up with a careful hand, she carefully removed the lilies that were once braided into her hair so snuggly. Dismay welled up inside of her at the state of them and one by one she began to reform them. Yet as she regrew a petal to any that had one missing, the once white color had now been regrown to a soft gray. Her face became puzzled as she tried to replicate the pearly white it once was, but each attempt she made, the more frustrated she became and the darker the petals grew.

All she had left was one intact lily, perfectly pristine just like how her mother had given her.

"Oh mother," Persephone wistfully sighed. "What am I going to do?" But it was not thoughts of her mother that began to comfort her; instead, it was that of her godmother. Why her godmother of all the beings she knew, she didn't know, but their was a kinship there they once shared. Hecate was wicked it was true, but there was a time she wasn't.

And that was a long time ago.

Hecate had once set fire to a field when her mother's back was turned. She was barely four at the time, but it was the sight of those dried wheat fields going up in those fiery tongues of red and orange that stayed with Persephone forever.

The way those bright flames ate away everything in sight, consuming every little morsel of life in front of her. Watching how even the nearby trees were taken as well in its desire for more fuel. She did not cry like her mother thought would happen when she came racing back to take her home. No, that fire had fascinated her, placing a permanent mark into her soul forever more, and it was to Persephone's knowledge her first lesson from her dear godmother.

Hecate was a strange goddess to say the least, and though their relationship became complicated the more she grew there was a time when the two deeply cared for one another. It was by burning this field that Hecate gave her young goddaughter an introduction to the acquisition of learning and experimenting.

A week after the incident, Hecate had taken her goddaughter back to that same field and made her describe what had changed Kore's astonishment, the field was blanketed in white flowers. The full moon had illuminated the little blooms into a haunting silver color, making them look like stars on the darkened earth from the way the moonlight softly settled on the shining petals.

"Flowers," she had pointed at them with her chubby little fingers.

Hecate smiled- a once sweet gesture that had turned sour throughout the centuries. "Very good, my dear. Without competition, flowers bloom more easily, but we must thank our fickle friend the flame for helping," Hecate had explained.

"Why, ant-tee?" Persephone had gurgled in her childish tongue.

"Because," Hecate had lifted her in her arms, walking around the fields as her winged wolf minions followed closely behind. The crunch of Hecate's heels upon the still ashen ground was the only sound made that moonlit night, reminding the godling in her arms that this was not a field completely engulfed in life like she was used to. Rather it was a cemetery for the wheat fields, and the soft crunching sounds produced was just their scorched ashen corpses being crushed underneath the feet of an imposing queen of the night.

"Fire allowed those seed pods to pop, spreading the seeds everywhere across this field. Fickle flame may have destroyed everything in sight, but the flower was clever to stay hidden in the earth, waiting for its time to emerge."

"In the moonlight?" Kore's large eyes blinked innocently into her godmother's cold green ones.

Hecate regarded her young godchild with a strange look. Though her coldness for the godling would grow with each passing day, she could not help but feel a sort of fondness envelop her core at the sweet child in her arms. Yes, Persephone would be the one to surpass her just as the Fates foretold the night she was born, but she didn't have to hate her just yet.

"Precisely, my little Melanthe," the goddess of magic grinned revealing the sharp rows of teeth hidden behind her thin curved lips. "For even flowers can bloom in the dark."

Cupping her two hands together, Persephone summoned forth a bright purple flame. She silently observed how her hair floated about the room and the pale lilac color her skin had remained. Even with her tongue tracing her teeth, she felt her canines unusually sharper compared to how they used to be. A week it may have been but she wasn't the same. She'd gone through her own transformation after all. She'd been through hell and back, but here she was down here once more for hell was not finished with her yet. Was this place going to finish her off, or did she have to finish it before it consumed her whole?

Not without a fight, she promised herself.

Hecate, her mother, and Athena hadn't raised a fool, but if she didn't think of a plan soon her destiny was certain. Yes, there was a part of her that did care, cared deeply and maybe even one day love the god Hades was underneath all those layers of sarcasm and fear. Those small moments of vulnerability were there. That moment back there in the boat. How he had listened to her silent request, and how he came to apologize to her after the Competition. All of that was real, there was no ulterior motive there. Hades was and still very much is a complicated god; that much hasn't changed since the moment she pulled him out of the Phlegethon. He was just as alone as her. Pull back their layers and they were both scared, both bitter of the circumstances that lead them to this point.

But she didn't know if that warranted enough for him to be given the final chance. Persephone stood there in silence watching the way the flames danced in her hands when a noise outside her door snapped her to attention.

That was Hades' voice.

Her eyes began to narrow. If he appeared in her room she was going to flambé him to next week if he so much as-

All thoughts of roasting Hades to next Tuesday soon dissipated as the head of a girl with wide large pitiful eyes emerged from the walls, followed by three others. Their heads creepily stuck out of the walls with their teeth bared in their failed attempt at a smile.

Persephone simultaneously shrieked and jumped in shock as the rest of them began to emerge from her walls. Without so much as a thought, she amplified the flames in her hands and launched them at the creatures.

When her heart began to calm down its erratic beating, Persephone stopped the barrage of flames, but instead of being greeted with silence like she expected, giggling filled her ears.

With a hesitant look upward, Persephone found the four specters floating about surreptitiously observing her.

Four females all with jagged, sharp teeth and long pointed ears were in Persephone's sanctuary, but that was where the similarities ended between the four except for their obsidian pitiless eyes. They ranged in different heights, thin to curvy, and each had their own muted colored skin from periwinkle, to sage, to a rose gold, and a faded dandelion yellow. They didn't seem to be able to talk as the only sound they made was their raspy giggles, but they soon stopped smiling when they began to take note of the expression of bemusement she wore.

All of them floated down to the floor and now she was able to get a full view of what had scared her, but the funny part was they were half her height making them look like girls when they really appeared to be much older than that. Persephone stood there completely stunned. She was expecting Hades, but who were they?

"Get out," Persephone bristled with more hostility than she intended as she pointed to the door.

The lampades flinched underneath her steely gaze, and their already sorrowful face became all the more miserable.

"Oh, no I didn't mean…" Persephone crouched down to the closest one, and placed a comforting hand on her peachy shoulder. Something snapped in Persephone's head as it began to click they weren't imps like Pain and Panic. They didn't have horns- no wings- they looked practically human. They weren't even shades!

Oh.

"Nymphs… Oh gods, youse guys are nymphs, right?" But since when were there nymphs in the Underworld? There had only been one, but she was currently turning over a new leaf if you catch my drift. "Are you Minthe's sisters?" Persephone asked with a squeamish grin.

The lampades stared blankly at her.

"Okay, how 'bout talk, do youse guys talk?"

The nymphs began to laugh at the question, the rose gold one especially, but the sound was like that of rattling chains.

"Do you talk?" The olive one mimicked in a voice that sounded like a bat, but the goddess understood her perfectly.

Persephone felt herself flush with annoyance. "I really don't need this right now." Her hair began to push them towards the door. "You can tell your boss, I'm not in the mood, and-" she swung open the door with a flick of the wrist, but as she did so the green one began to loudly hiss, the black of her eyes beginning to burn a bright red as she launched herself out the room.

A surprised scream tore into the silence of the hallway as greenie pounced on an unexpected intruder. Her sisters were immediately by her side, summoning forth torches lit with a bright lilac flame and directed them at the reeling woman who was being pinned to the opposing wall.

"What's going on now?" Persephone tiredly shouted only to find the group of nymphs snarling and baring their teeth at a woman who wore such a deadpanned expression, one would have thought she was more annoyed about the inconvenience than the fact she might get killed.

"We've got a live one, but that can easily be remedied, mistress."

"What're you gonna do? Spit at me to death?" Meg boldly snapped, causing Greenie to instantly shut up. "Hey, I've been looking for you," her eyes met Persephone's confused ones. "Call off your goons. I'm here to rescue you."

"Excuse me?" Persephone made her way towards Meg and shooed the nymphs away with a single cross look. Greenie and the rest of the nymphs bowed their heads in shame and disappeared into the walls once more.

"You heard me," she began to dust herself off. "Name's Megara, I don't think we've properly met," the woman curtly nodded her head.

"Hercules' wife, yeah, um…" Persephone's eyes lit up in recognition, but that light soon dimmed when reality began to kick in. The memory from last week began to play and anxiety began to rise inside of her already anxious soul. "Look I'm so sorry about- about his death. You must have been so worried, but what are you doing here? Oh, gods, Hades hasn't returned him to you has he?"

"Hey, if there's one thing you can actually count Hades on for doing it's keeping his end of the deal," Meg assured the goddess. "But we need to get out of here. Athena sent us down here to rescue you."

"… She did?" Persephone hesitantly whispered as she felt the world underneath her begin to tilt.

"Yeah, now c'mon, your divine-ness, we have to run. Hades won't be distracted forever," Meg held out her hand, but Persephone brought her hand close to her chest.

Persephone slowly shook her head. "I can't do that," the goddess took a step back, putting distance between the two women.

"Why not? We have Pegasus not far from here, you'll be topside faster than a Peloponnesian second with Athena. You'll be safe from him- he wouldn't dare fight her or any of the other gods."

Persephone bit the inside of her cheek as she considered her next words. "She didn't tell you, did she?"

"Tell me, what?" Meg's eyes began to narrow suspiciously.

"After everything that happened last week, the Pantheon decided I'm too unstable with no one to lord over me and basically if I'm still in the land of Greece by sunset, I'll be stuck under Zeus' thumb."

Persephone heard Meg curse under her breath. "So they're taking your freedom away?"

"Athena was the one who added the clause- it just used to be about getting married."

Meg sighed, shaking her head bitterly. "This is why I don't trust my godly in-laws- no offense," she quickly added.

"No one's more sorry than me- trust me," Persephone bitterly intoned. "We're supposed to help humanity but all we do is keep screwing them over."

"Figuratively and literally," Meg quipped. "But don't beat yourself up about it- at least you recognize it- only other god I know who recognizes that is Hermes."

"And Hades," Persephone quietly added.

Meg stiffened at the mention of her former boss' name. "Yeah- only difference is he uses it to out-maneuver the other gods. If I knew what I know now, I wouldn't have ended up in his service."

"But it led you to Hercules didn't it?" Persephone reminded her.

Meg became eerily quiet. She crossed her arms and refused to meet Persephone's eyes. "What good did that do him? He's going to die one day- he has died. All to have a life with me, but after life? Only heroes go to Elysium, and I'm far from that type."

Persephone felt her hand cover her mouth in shock. She didn't know only heroes went to Elysium. What even classified as a hero? Someone who could defeat monsters? Save villages? It took more than just a mere mortal to be a hero, and she had seen firsthand the many unsung heroes who were as mere as you could get after practically growing up alongside humanity for several centuries. How heartbreaking was it that when death welcomed them with open arms that there was only wandering the bleak lands of the Underworld. No rest, no calm, there was only inevitable oblivion.

Peace, sweetness. It's what everything down here wants, Hades words echoed soothingly into her ear. She was starting to understand that sentiment the more she considered Meg's situation. How was it that Hades understood the mortal's plight more than he let on? Maybe, it was because he felt stuck in the same situation as the shades who were floating down the river? Persephone considered.

Certain hell or certain heaven, but no one made a clear distinction for the souls who were both neither too good or too evil.

What if she changed the rules for being allowed into Elysium? Help the shades just like she'd done for the shade in the boat...

Persephone brushed that thought aside as she reminded herself that doing so would mean she'd have to marry Hades, and the last thing she wanted was being forced to be with a god who refused to stop allowing fear to plague him, and just trust her with the last precious thing in his possession. The one artifact he had never surrendered, but continually asked for her's.

"Plead to Zeus- Athena- whoever- you're family now, they wouldn't turn away family!" Even as she spoke those words, Persephone knew that was the greatest lie the Olympians told.

"You don't get it, do you?" Meg eyed Persephone curiously, but her tone was soft, almost sympathetic with an undercurrent of sorrow.

Oh she did, she knew better than most.

"I'm the reason Wonder Boy isn't with them right as we speak, and all of them harbor that against me. At first everything was fine, but then Hades came back and reality checked in that Hercules will one day be down here forever. It's why no one sent help- only Athena came, but she has an incentive for getting you back too, huh?"

Persephone meekly nodded. "She'll get Elysium as long as I don't end up… y'know… marrying Hades," she blushed a deep magenta, but tried to hide it with a grimace. "And being down here is increasing the chance of that happening at this point."

Meg stood in stunned silence. Kore was supposed to end up with Elysium? Her, the sweet, bubbly goddess she was trying to rescue? What did Zeus see in her to see fit that she was a perfect candidate- especially with that fiasco with the River Styx. Why, her? Sitting here, talking to her, sure she had the compassion necessary to oversee all the souls pilfering through the gates, but she seemed so naive- insecure even.

Unless, there was another reason.

Meg stared long and hard trying to figure out the puzzle before her, and thought back to how Hercules was returned to her. There had been a trade, that much she knew, but why would Hades be willing to give up Hercules? The favorite son of his greatest rival, the demigod who thwarted his plans- every sign pointed at Hercules being his target, so why even bother trading when you had the best bargaining chip in the world?

Meg watched Persephone and the way her hair rippled and moved as if she was underwater, but how could it when her hair was pulsing light? Hercules had told her how Kore had fought him, and how they eventually teamed up when she realized that Hades was tricking her on his true identity.

Had Hades…?

Meg brushed the thought away with a snort. Hades was a ruthless god, soulless and as deceitful as they get, but what other reason could there be? Meg scoffed at the absurdity of it all. So Hades finally had a weakness. The thought made her feel both sickened and motivated by the irony of it all. "You defeated Hades once didn't you?" She cautiously asked, intently staring at Persephone in case she dropped another piece of evidence for her theory.

"I caught him off guard once, but it was just luck," Persephone shrugged, trying not to think about how she had put his guard down.

"I take it you didn't deck him and hang him out to dry, though, huh? So that just leaves deception."

"I did the same thing he did to me," Persephone bristled. "But I had help. I was given a powerful scythe and I used it to throw him back into his prison."

"So how'd he get out again?"

The question made Persephone bite her lip in guilt.

"Thought so," Meg rolled her eyes, trying her darnedest to keep her lunch in her stomach. "Y'know… You don't look like you used to. Pink, your hair was less bouncy…? Do gods change to fit their specialties?"

"Not really- we're pre-destined since birth."

"How do you explain yourself then? Don't take this the wrong way, Kore, but you look Under-worldly now. Not miss sunshine and springtime anymore, so why the change?"

Persephone clasped her hands and found herself inching toward the safety of her room. "Leave me, I'm wasting your time here. Go enjoy your husband, live a full life, I'm destined to rot here."

"No," Meg boldly snapped. "You're meant to rule here not rot. You're what this place needs. You see those nymphs," she gestured to the peaking eyes from above their heads. "Hercules told me you created them. He showed me the fields of flowers you created where they sprang from as we flew down here. I don't know how, but you did- you created life in a desolate place. Do you know how impossible that is?"

"I did what?" Persephone felt her mouth fall open in astonishment.

"Hades doesn't even wield that kind of power. Your power rivals his- you can fight him, turn it around on him, and force him into marrying you just so you can throw him back into his prison and take care of the souls."

"Now you don't seem to understand," Persephone snapped. "This is his kingdom- not mine, and this is where he's most powerful. I can't fight a god in his own turf- not again. Last time, I had a chance. I could have taken care of him for good, but I couldn't okay? I even broke the blade that had the power to stop him, just so I couldn't hurt him again! I'm completely powerless just like I've always been!" Her hands were clenched at her sides, but Meg watched in alarm as they began to erupt into twin flames of a fiery lilac.

Past experience with Hades taught her to duck, and duck she did, narrowly missing the column of flames that shot out of the shining goddess.

The Underworld palace seemed to shake at the goddess' fury. The walls reverberated with her shout, but as the echoes ended another sound began to echo down the hallway. Something that sounded like footsteps.

Before Meg could react, Persephone was there in an instant and picked her up without so much as a fuss. Closing the door behind her, Persephone searched for a hiding place, but came to a decision once her eyes landed on the bed.

The four lampades began to materialize from the walls as Persephone settled Meg underneath the bed. "Don't make a sound," she whispered to Meg. Turning to the nymphs, the goddess made a zip-it gesture with her hands; which the nymphs all mimicked in return.

No sooner had they done so that the thorn covered door was thrown open, but instead of seeing Hades standing at her door, Persephone stared at the small figure of yet another lampade enter the room. Though small, she seemed to be the tallest of the now five nymphs, and something about her made Persephone feel on edge just by the sight of her. She was oddly familiar to her, but she couldn't figure out why. There was just something about her face.

Melinoe's golden irises flitted over Persephone and steadily presented herself in front of her. Her skin was the color of bones, and her voluminous hair the color of forget-me-nots was pushed away from her face with a tight black ribbon.

"We have been expecting your return Lady Persephone," Melinoe side-eyed her sisters, "but not like this." In her hands, Melinoe was holding some kind of box and as she lifted it up to present to her, Persephone felt a shiver trickle down her spine. To the normal passerby one would see it as an ordinary sort of box dressed in a rich purple cloth fitted with a large skull across the lip of the box, preventing the box from opening, but she knew what had once been contained inside it.

Had known since the day Zeus presented it to the first mortal woman ever created. Persephone used to wonder what happened to the box after Pandora had released all the evils contained within, but it would seem her question was finally answered.

"Why do you have this cursed box?" Persephone heard herself whisper.

"There's nothing to fear from this box any longer, you know that just as well as me." Melinoe flatly exclaimed. "Hades requested that I present this to you in the hopes that your cold feet would pass."

"Hm," Persephone scoffed. "He should have presented it himself then." Her tentative hands floated above the box, daring not to touch it as if it would cause her the same pain it had inflicted upon the world. Was it true Hope was still contained in this box?

"Obviously, but you know how cowardly he is," Melinoe replied with the same indifference that she exuded.

Persephone blinked. "You're on my side aren't you," it wasn't a question; it was simply an observation.

"Whatever you end up deciding we will stand with you, but I'd decide soon if I were you for even Hades' patience has its limits and as you can see," she pressed the box into Persephone's unexpecting hands, "He's already given up hope."

Persephone began to tremble as she felt the slightest vibration in the box like it was alive. The longer she held it, the box continued to thrum underneath her hands, waiting, wanting, wishing to be opened. It was not that she had breached a decision that she yearned to open the box, but the shear temptation it offered the longer she wondered if there was more than just Hope itself.

Cautiously lifting the box to her ear, Persephone began to shake it, and the sound of something clanging against the sides of the box followed by an angered little buzz proved that there was certainly more than just Hope left inside. Persephone bit her lip as she contemplated the box. Well, no one said she was saying yes to his proposal by opening it, but what kind of horrors would be released by opening Pandora's box?

Well, she considered. It couldn't be worse than this, Persephone decided as she stuck out her open hand to Melinoe. The expressionless nymph handed the shining goddess the skeleton key, a key just as pale and brittle as bones. Persephone felt her hand shake as she pressed the key into the eye sockets of the skull and nearly jumped out of her skin as the skull split in half with a definitive click.

Meg watched the scene in uncertainty, making sure to avoid looking directly at the nymph Hercules identified as Melinoe. She searched Persephone's expression as she cautiously began to lift open the lid of the box.

Out slipped out a small little dragonfly once a crack had been made. He began to encircle Melinoe and Persephone, but ultimately rested on Melinoe's shoulder.

Meg watched the dragonfly, feeling the strangest feeling of peace settle inside her, but that all soon vanished when a dry and mirthless laugh greeted her ears as Persephone beheld what laid inside the box.

"This is what he hopes to appease me with?" She tilted the box in order for Meg to see the dark metallic diadem resting inside. "A crown- really? That's what he was making such a fuss about? What makes him think a useless piece of jewel-" Persephone released a gasp the nature of which Meg could not identify the second her hand had touched the crown- almost like she was burned, and made her drop the box in her surprise.

In a whirl, the box tumbled across the floor with the crown skittering out, clanking all along the way as it landed in front of where Meg was hiding.

Meg gawked, her gaze switching between Persephone and the crown, wondering what had caused the goddess' reaction.

"That's impossible," Persephone shook her head, covering her mouth with both her hands as she fell to her knees beside the crown. "I- I broke it," her hands began to reach out to touch it, but she stopped herself. "No," she continued to tell herself, "I shattered it," she reminded herself, but doubt began settle in.

Athena was right.

Shaky hands reached out once more to the crown and once her fingers brushed against the metal, Persephone's eyes lit up just as before, but she did not let go this time. Cautiously, ever so cautiously, Persephone lifted up the crown and allowed her fingers to examine it. A familiar rush of power seemed to bubble inside of her, a roaring and thundering power that she had not felt in what felt like a long time.

"Oh… Oh…" Persephone breathlessly laughed, the ghost of a smile began to tug at her rosy lips the longer she held the crown. "Oh, Hades…" she murmured so quietly none in the room could hear her.

Meg met Persephone's eyes and watched as her violet eyes began to turn the brightest shade of magenta she had ever seen. It was like she was bursting with… with…

"Hope," Meg spoke out loud as the dragonfly landed on Persephone's shoulder.

But that peace dissipated faster than a bolt of lightning as it came as a look of alarm flashed across Persephone's face, marring her sweet face with distress the likes of which a god could not even fathom how deep her dread went. A turmoil resonated within her soul, a brewing war that had her frantically scrambling. "Oh, shist," Persephone cursed under her breath.

The goddess continued to exclaim the same curse over and over underneath her breath as she rose to her feet and helped pull Meg out from underneath her hiding place.

"Kore, what's wrong?!" Meg pressed, but Persephone was going off onto her own tangent.

"You two," she pointed at two of the lampades who she began to dub as Peachy and Perry. "Go fetch me a blank scroll with a quill and ink. The rest of you I need something warmer and drier to wear," she ordered before spinning around to face Meg.

Meg could not read her expression, could not understand why Persephone's face became oddly solemn as the goddess began to study her, but itw as s like she wasn't looking at her, she was contemplating her. "... I've made a terrible mistake, and I don't have a lot of time to correct it," she gently guided the dragonfly onto her finger and helped it back into its box.

Peachy and Perry appeared with all the requested items to which Persephone snatched from their waiting hands and rushed to the vanity.

"Care to elaborate?" Meg crooned over the goddess' shoulder as she began to furiously dab the quill into the vial of ink.

"Nope, but I have a favor to ask of you," Persephone began to rapidly scribble on the scroll. "Two actually."

Meg furrowed her brow as she felt anticipation building up inside her. What was the goddess even planning in that head of hers? She looked absolutely wild in this state and any sane person probably shouldn't trust a god in any circumstance, but there was something human about her. Not in terms of faults, no, every god shared that from the drunken Bacchus, lord of bacchanals, to the fastidious and loving Hestia. No this human quality was what made her love Hercules so much.

The goddess still had something to fight for. "Name it."

Persephone flashed her a wild, crazed look as she paused her writing. "The first one's easy. I just need you to deliver this letter for me, now for the second…" she paused as she began to scribble down more words down. "I have an idea- a reckless idea that can end a number of different ways, but I need you to trust me- just, please trust me."

"And why should I?" Meg raised a curious eyebrow.

Persephone blinked and the way her expression changed from that wild unbridled light became suddenly so controlled, so calm and stern, Meg felt goosebumps erupt across her arms as the goddess simply replied. "You and I are afraid of the same thing. Let's hope that we don't end up living that nightmare before the day is done."

---

Pain and Panic found themselves between a rock and a hard place as they considered the rigid shoulders of their boss as he continued to stare out the window of his kingdom.

They'd never seen him in such a foul mood- a mood plagued by something deeper than his usual vexes. The both of them knew where this was stemming from, but neither one of them wanted to be the one to acknowledge it. There was just something about seeing him inwardly fume that was downright wrong. He always unleashed his rage out on them, and sure it was painful, but that's the part they'd been playing for millennia now. He always talked to them, they shared a tough love sort-of relationship and made their own inputs to help keep the momentum going on any of his schemes.

But now?

There was an obstacle they could not breach to get to him, so they decided to use the oldest trick in the book.

"You ask him," Panic mumbled to his corpulent companion.

"Nuh-uh, you wanted to be best minion, why don't you ask him," Pain shoved his teal brother forward.

"Hey, but you wanted to be best minion too!" Panic began to whine, but the two of them stopped their arguing when Hades flashed them an annoyed glare.

Pain and Panic shared a quick triumphant look between them, but played it casual as they waited for a further reaction from him, but received bupkis.

Guess it was time to use the old fashioned way of addressing the situation.

"Hey, boss, I wouldn't worry," Pain managed to break the tomb-like atmosphere of the palace with his gruff voice. "Maybe Miss Persephone's just taking awhile to get ready. Y'know how women are, sir."

"Yeah!" Panic concurred. "I mean she was soaked to the bone, and its her wedding day. Bridezilla- am I right, sir?"

The next thing Pain and Panic knew a ball of fire was aimed directly at them sending them flying to the other side of the room, leaving their blackened forms pinned to the wall. The two imps fell into a heap on the floor, leaving a perfect outline of their silhouettes on the stone surface.

"That went well," Pain grunted.

"How could you tell?" Panic wheezed.

"Boys," Hades voice suddenly called out to them. "Another peep out of you pea-brains and I'm going to give ya a new meaning to the word well-done." The god found his eyes traveling to the hour glass he had summoned to help keep track of how much time was left before the sun set on the mortal plane.

More than an hour, but time was ticking and if word got out what had happened, Zeus would use his own loophole and have Apollo- or whoever was pulling the sun chariot today to go and set faster.

A part of him wanted to check on his reluctant bride and avoid the pestering form his imps, but he was going to give her as much space as she desired. Hell, at this point he didn't know if he had enough in him to actually force her into this anymore. If sunset came, then so be it. He'd poof her to Egypt and be done with it. He'd do his one good deed of the millennia. He could live with himself, he'd been doing a pretty decent job so far, but even he knew his silver tongue lacked the necessary half-truth to make that thought believable.

"Boys, what did ya do with all of Persephone's notes you found at Demeter's house?"

"They're all right here!" The two imps cheerfully announced bringing forth the large basket they had collected them in. Several scrolls ranging between forty to fifty were thrown rather haphazardly in that pile, causing Hades to irritably roll his eyes.

"What's with this mess?" Hades snapped his fingers and instantly the pile of scrolls were completely re-organized as the scrolls became neatly rolled and placed in such a way where they weren't overfilling the basket. "You two been reading- sorry figuring out how to read lately or something?" Hades waved them off as he took the broken bouquet of roses he'd been holding onto and gently placed them on top.

Mementos, she'd appreciate keeping it, Hades silently decided.

"Nah, she uses a lot of made-up words," Pain complained.

"But the pictures are rather nice," Panic noted.

"Always had a feeling you two couldn't read, but hearing it? Oi…"

On the other side of the door to the throne room, Hercules continued to overhear the conversation going on between Hades and his imps. It was the only thing he could do as he passed the time since Meg had gone in search of Persephone.

His hands thrummed against the string of his bow. There wasn't an arrow notched, but anticipation burned inside of him, nevertheless. Meg hadn't been gone too long, maybe ten minutes, but even then that was too much time considering their lives were at risk the longer they were down here.

Maybe, she'd found a way out and was already headed home with Persephone?

Hercules shook his head at the idea. No, Meg was much too stubborn to leave him here, and Persephone would not stand it either; not after all he'd done for her.

So what was taking them?

Hercules knew Persephone might be more inclined to stay due to her complicated relationship with Hades, the nature of which he didn't know, nor cared to know. But after Athena had described how the earth swallowed her and the river she was swimming in there was sufficient evidence pointing to her being forcefully abducted. and if there was anything he knew about Kore- Persephone, whatever, she preferred at the moment was that she hated being tricked.

A wayward thought entered Hercules mind, Maybe she was plotting vengeance? No, that's why Meg was there, to quell any thoughts of that nature. Sure, Meg still hated Hades, he did too, maybe not as strongly as her, but Kore didn't wield that kind of power- not anymore without her scythe. So there was absolutely nothing that could go wrong. Sunset was more than an hour away, meaning they had plenty of time to escape as long as nobody found them trying to rescue the goddess, and who knows maybe Athena was doing her own best efforts to spread the word to the other gods.

"Hercules! I didn't know you were invited to the wedding?!"

The aforementioned hero spun around, notching an arrow to his bow, ready to face his assailant who had fazed through the wall behind him. When Hercules' eyes took in the thin, hollow face of Thanatos, the hero dropped his bow in shock.

"Than, listen to me!" Hercules frantically whispered. "You have to-"

"Y'know I thought I sensed your familiar vibrations," Thanatos began to rub his eyes underneath the heavy blindfold, "but then I remembered how I just dropped you off like three hours ago. Did the future Mrs. Boss invite you or something?" Thanatos pressed, his feathered wings began to ruffle with excitement. "Hades never did mention if she invited family, but I guess everybody's family if you think about it- like really think about it."

"Shh- Than," Hercules reached out and put a hand over his shoulder. Thankfully the godling was wearing a long chiton that encompassed his entire slim frame, giving him a bulkier appearance than the bony kid he knew was hidden underneath the heavy woven cloth. "I'm not here for the wedding- in fact, I'm here to stop it."

Thanatos stared aghast at the former shade he had considered his best friend. "But I thought you and Mr. Hades were okay now- he let you go home! He never lets a shade go once they croak. Y'know except for that whole fiasco with him gone and that Sisyphus guy-"

"It's complicated, but I'm not here for myself. I'm here for Persephone, we're rescuing her."

"Rescuing her?" Thanatos stared at him in bemusement. "But she's supposed to be queen- that's what the Fates' tapestry thing said."

Hercules felt his heart skip a beat. His mind began to whirl, but memories from hijinks in high school began to filter in his brain, causing the tanned demigod to become unusually pale. "The tapestry said what?!"

Boom!

A loud ricocheting noise began to echo through the halls as the doors that once lead into Hades' throne room were blasted off their hinges. Hercules felt his gaze immediately turn in the direction of the blast and instinct took over as he lifted his bow, trying to find the source of all the destruction.

Standing in the smoke was Hades, himself, in all his fury with hands clenched into fists as twin flames erupted from them. His skin flared an angry red at the sight of Hercules and the wild torrent of flames on his head began to rapidly spread along his body.

"Wonder breath, what gives? You're not due for another fifty years?!" The god's voice, though calm was on the cusp of shouting.

"You're too late Hades, Persephone's already long gone," Hercules taunted, using his fake bravado to hide the lie he was telling.

A dry, short laugh escaped from Hades' lips as his smile turned ever so crooked. The god didn't want to admit how at peace he felt with the notion that Persephone had gone. She'd be happier away from, but another part, a subversive thought that began to grow with each grain of sand that fell knew deep down he was really going to miss her, and the idea of what could have been was a greater feeling of pain than he could have ever imagined. Being eaten by his father, being practically banished to the Underworld and left to rot here was nothing compared to this. Like how a certain lyrist who would eventually travel down here to rescue his own bride. To come so close- only for a moment- the smallest moment of weakness, and to have everything he had done be all for naught.

He should have talked to Persephone, should not have hesitated- should have outright told her the moment she began to ignore him. To tell her everything, but old habits die hard, and now the pain was his to live with for the rest of his existence.

Yet like all his pain, like all his bitterness toward the cosmos, another layer of something stronger than adamantium wrapped around his heart and rage soon replaced the heartache. "And Po-po promised he would cater- this really is turning out to be a day of disappointments. For the both of us," his voice dropped. "Pain, Panic!" The god roared, and instantly the two bumbling imps transfigured into a two-headed dragon.

Hercules threw aside his bow and wasted no time as he charged straight onto his opponent. Without so much of a warning, Pain and Panic whirled as the demigod rammed them into the wall with only his shoulder. The crack of the stone thundered across the palace as fragments began to cover the area from the chips of stone. Hercules removed himself from the scene, leaving a dazed Pain and Panic now back in their original skins in a pile of freshly crafted pebbles.

"You were saying?" Hercules stared Hades dead-on, practically asking for the god to kill him. The girls needed time, and he was going to do his best and keep Hades distracted for as long as possible; even at the cost of his life.

"Hey, everyone needs a little warm-up," Hades shrugged with a flicker of annoyance on his face. "But unfortunately for you, Jerkules, I got a guy who's beaten you before, and last time he wasn't even trying."

Hercules felt his face glower as the god motioned Thanatos forward. The godling was right by Hades' side and the look on his face, even though half of it was covered by his blindfold was visibly shaking.

Thanatos stared aghast as he stared between his boss and the demigod he was starting to consider a friend. "But, sir if he even touches me-"

Hades felt a groan well up inside him. "Oi, what is everyone's infatuation with you?!" The god bent down and wrapped an arm around the godling's shoulders. "Kid, he's coming down here eventually, might as well speed-up the process, and make it permanent this time."

"You're sending a kid to do your bidding, Hades?" Hercules spat. "That's low even for you. Why don't you fight me yourself, you coward?"

Hades felt his hackles begin to rise. Twice. Twice he'd been called a coward today and having it come from his hated enemy? The ichor in his veins began to boil. "You want to fight me, mortal?" The god smirked. "Well, that's all you had to say."

Without any warning, a tendril of smoke wrapped around Hercules' leg. Even with heightened senses after years of training could not prepare him as Hades threw him into the Underworld throne room.

Hercules went flying as Hades' hold on him was released mid-air and sent him sailing into a wall. It was a resounding smash that his body came into contact with the wall. With his face stuck deep into the stone, the demigod felt a painful moan escape his mouth. Absentmindedly his tongue began to check if all his teeth were still lodged into his jaws and was mildly surprised to find they were. Now he knew how Pain and Panic felt.

"I really tried to save face for you," Hades oily voice floated into his ears as he tried to free himself from the stone. "Really, I did," but before he could jump down from his position in the wall, Hercules felt something once again tug at him, but this time around his waist, sending him into the ground, but thankfully not face first.

Lying flat on his back, Hercules released a groan. He had worse days, but none of them came to mind right now.

"And I can't tell you how much I wanted to do that to you, but my mind had been sort of preoccupied. You throw a god into a river a couple months, you start to get bored. Ya really need something to motivate you. Sure, some people sing, but I can't hold a tune, so you gotta improvise, and scheming comes so naturally to me."

Hercules felt his vision begin to blur as small satyrs began to dance around him, but with a shake of his head, he felt his dizziness begin to dissipate. Yet once his vision came through, Hercules found Hades towering over where his body was thrown into the stone. "Down here you'll find that your daddy dearest isn't here to help even the odds."

"No, but I can."

A sultry voice floated about the room, sending god and mortal alike into a frenzy. Hades and Hercules found themselves craning their neck in the direction of the soft, feminine voice. There seated in Hades' own throne was the shining goddess herself.

Persephone was completely at ease in the throne with her head held high and her magenta eyes calm with a strange sort of light dancing in them. Gone was the soaking white rags to be replaced with a fitted black peplos with a wide neckline exposing her collar bones. While the peplos was chthonic in every right there were still remnants of her former self there too as the peplos flared out in several layers at the end similar to the petals of a flower, and the pink flower pins which fastened the straps of the dress.

The sight of her alone sent Hades' heart soaring and his flames began to flare into a blinding white as he drank her in. Hashi-baba…

But Hercules' eyes were drawn to the asymmetrical spiked diadem she wore atop her head. In between the gaps of the prongs, she had placed dark lilies and a veil was fitted to the ends of the diadem, covering her long hair that was beginning to shine ever brighter.

Hades could not stop his staring as his eyes roamed about her. She had never left. While that thought alone made the ichor pump in his veins, the response from his wild flames were another story and she looked fine decked out in Underworld threads.

The god felt awkwardness seep into him at his sudden lack of semblance and immediately straightened himself out as he ran his fingers through his flame hair in an attempt to calm himself down. Yet what caught his eye the most after his senses came back to him was the diadem she wore atop her head. Had she changed her mind? Was she actually going through with this? But more importantly, Hades considered inwardly, how was she going to react to the fact that he was only moments earlier beating the tar out of Hercules, a hero very near and dear to her heart.

Oi.

From behind Persephone, the lampades began to shuffle in from the walls, their leader, Melinoe towing a dizzy Megara.

"Meg, he's all yours," Persephone exclaimed without a glance at the trembling woman as she beheld her husband and where he was situated.

Meg snapped out of her dizzy spell as she looked between her husband and the towering god beside him. It was the sight of Hercules that spurred her to sprint to his side, regardless of Hades' presence. Once by his side, the mortal woman fell to her knees and pressed a cool hand to his face.

"Oh Wonder Boy, you're too stubborn," Meg whispered as Hercules began to dislodge himself from the hole he made in the floor.

"And you worry too much," Hercules cracked a smile as he sat up from the imprint he left only to have Meg wrap her arms around him.

With her arms tightly encircled around her husband, Meg positioned her lips to be close to his ear. "Hercules you have to listen to me-"

"And to what do I owe for your presence, my dear sweet Persephone?" Hades bowed with a flourish of his hand. "And in my seat of all places?" The god knowingly smirked as he began to make his way towards the seated goddess.

Persephone's gaze did not falter as she returned the god's longing gaze, but it was the glint in her eyes that set him on edge. "Isn't this the place where you wanted me?" she smiled sweetly, but there was a bite to it that he could not decipher. "C'mon, Hades, make it worth my while. Give me a better reason for me to stay here." While her eyes were soft and genuine, there was something bothering him that brought that note of malice inside of her outward.

Wariness began to plague Hades, weighing him down as it began to dawn on him that Persephone was up to something, but what? He had half a mind to be genuine to her and let the words flow from his lips, to remove the barrier he had placed between them, but the presence of his hated enemies had Hades keep his usual front for the sake of his pride. "Whaddya mean, sweetness? I think my intentions are pretty plain, and you seem to have accepted them beings that you're wearing the crown I made you."

"Hmm, that's true," Persephone pondered his words with a grin. "Then I guess it's only fair that I give you a gift too." The goddess rose to her feet and steadily walked down the steps of the raised dais to where Hades stood.

Hades felt his heart quicken the closer she became and for some reason he couldn't find it in him to look her in the eyes. "What are you up to, sweetness?"

Persephone ignored his question with a simple smirk.

The two of them began to slowly circle each other. Hades became reminded of the dances they shared in Egypt for dancing was an interesting metaphor for strategy. While the intention is to make two parties become one, half of the art requires the other to be fully aware of their partner's movements- or to even mirror their own, and that's exactly what Persephone was doing.

She was beginning to mimic him.

"I give you the lives of the two mortals you see in this room. Whether they die right now or years later is for you to decide." Persephone spoke without a single hesitation as her eyes bared into Hades. "And whatever you decide, I won't stop you. This I swear on the River Styx."

"You what?!" Hercules gaped at the declaration of the goddess, and though he heard Meg gasp beside him, she held him ever tighter like she wanted him to be the last thing she saw.

Meg knew Persephone was planning something, but she honestly didn't know the full extent of why she kept telling her to trust her. Whatever gods were listening- Zeus, Athena, the Fates, she prayed that Persephone was not the same sort of god like Hades.

As for Hades, the god stared incredulously at the goddess who was now at his side. Her face expressionless and just as apathetic as Melinoe. She had given him full permission without fear of repercussion to do as he wished. This day was turning around in a way he had not expected and that thrill alone made him giddy.

Lifting one of his hands a flame bloomed into life as hot and as wild as the flames that Tartarus serviced.

Persephone had sworn on Styx, and no vow sworn upon the sacred river that led into the Underworld could ever be broken without major repercussions. That notion alone didn't seem to matter to Hades at this point as a wicked gleam glowed in his golden orbs.

"I couldn't have asked for a better gift, my sweet," the idea of tasting revenge on his tongue was too tempting to resist as the flames in his hand began to grow ever hotter. He couldn't even see Persephone at this point, his vision was completely red as he lifted his hand ready to throw the ball of flame at the couple that remained huddled together.

But the red began to melt away as a rough hand cupped his face. Persephone's hands.

Hades' gaze turned to the goddess, confusion alit in his eyes.

"Just know that whatever you end up doing- right now and from here on out will affect my relationship with you. Even if it's in front of my eyes or done in secret, every decision will affect me just as much as you. That is what it means to be with me," she released his hold on him and turned away.

Hades felt the flames begin to extinguish in his hand. His eyes briefly glanced at the couple who now stared agape up at him before he found his gaze wandering towards the lonely figure of Persephone who awaited at where the doors of the throne room once stood.

A strange sort of feeling of defeat began to overtake him. He'd been out-maneuvered. So the white pawn had turned into a queen after all. If only he realized in his attempt to make her a queen that doing so would not make her a dark queen- but a white queen.

Checkmate.

Hades' hand fell and the god's posture immediately schlumped.

Meg met Persephone's eyes for the briefest of moments and gave her a single nod of her head. She still felt the beating of her heart in her throat, but the relief that began to seep into her, alone made her completely forgive the goddess for keeping them safe. So it was true then. Persephone was Hades' weakness this entire time. Meg felt a wry smile tug at her lips as Hercules drew her in closer to his warm chest. Somewhere, somehow she had a feeling the Underworld was beginning to freeze over. Thank you, she mouthed, to which Persephone simply smiled and exited the throne room alone.

Hades watched her leave and felt something begin to rise in him.

In a single move, Persephone had given him the chance to choose between love or revenge, using her submission to him as a ploy to see what he wanted more. Hades felt a weary smile begin to form on his face. It was not rage that welled up inside of him anymore, but pride. She had used his own tactics against him in an effort to see what he was truly fighting for. She tricked him, and that thought alone began to make his heart race.

"Get outta here, you two," Hades commanded and snapped the couple out of the throne room and back to the mortal realm without so much as a blink.

"Sir, what are you doing?" Panic gasped more in relief than disappointment.

"What does it look like?! I'm going after her!" The battered bouquet appeared in Hades' hand as he began to sprint after Persephone.

Hades was halfway out the door when he remembered he could teleport and in a snap, the god found himself at the Underworld docks. Back to where it all began.

Persephone jumped at the sudden appearance of the dread lord of the dead, but a coy smile threatened to appear on her face as she took note of his face. "Hey there."

"Hey, yourself," Hades quickly replied on instinct and nothing more as the words he wanted to say began to mold together into a myriad of flotsam and jetsam.

Persephone didn't seem to mind the silence that stretched between them, and began to admire the River Styx in all her glory. Yet as the seconds began to pile on, the goddess chuckled lightly to herself and side eyed Hades as she began to notice the bouquet in his hands was beginning to catch fire. "Are those for me?"

It was Hades turn to jump as he took note of the burning roses, but Persephone took them off his hands anyway.

"Oh they're lovely," she praised in a level of sincerity that Hades couldn't register whether it was sarcasm or legitimate. With a simple flick of her wrist the flames were extinguished, but at least half of the already battered roses were nothing but ashen shells of their former selves.

Hades briefly wondered why she didn't restore them to their former glory, but that was entirely up to her. "Look, Seph, I think I owe you an apology."

"Whatever gave you that idea?" Persephone sarcastically quipped.

Hades began to tug at the collar of his toga. "Heh, no kidding..."

"Well?" Persephone teasingly elbowed him between his ribs, earning him a wince.

"Right, sorry for being right..." he flashed her a large smirk, but felt it begin to slip off his face as she lifted an unamused eyebrow.

The flaming god glanced around his surroundings, making sure they really were alone. Releasing a sigh, the god began again. "Right, I guess I'm overdue for one. I just want you to know beforehand, it was tough the first time around, but this time..." The god's voice began to drop, and unlike the oily voice that he usually used every time he did so, there was something soft- even tender about it. He was speaking to her like he had in Egypt, but this time she knew what really was hiding behind that dulcet tone. "For every moment of pain, for everything I did to drag you down here- from your friends like that naiad and your dryad friend, I'm going to set things right. You have my word on that, but to start things off... I'm sorry," he caught her gaze with his golden orbs, and the sincerity that were shining in them caught the goddess off guard. "I know I can't earn your trust back for that single sentiment, but it's a start... And especially for not telling you everything like how I care- no, that I love-?" He began to drift off with a question, almost like he was second-guessing whether or not this was an appropriate time to bring this up.

Persephone remained quiet, but the way she was looking at him, eyes wide and bright. Yet her face began to fall at his sudden hesitance, but Hades was quick to remedy that.

"Yeah, I do- I really, really do," his hand hesitantly began to rise and was mere inches from cupping her face, but he was waiting for a sign from her.

Persephone felt a blush begin to warm her features before she shook her head. She didn't want to lose herself in his touch not when she still had something to say. "Y'know I think I owe you an apology too," her voice was a half-whisper and set in a wistful tone.

Hades scoffed. "Don't make me laugh, my sweet. I've turned your whole world upside down since the moment we met. Sometimes literally."

"You know this is the second time you've apologized, and the second time I feel you're being sincere about it."

"Whatever gave you that idea?"

Persephone shook her head knowingly. "I know you sent them home, Sparky. Being a goddess of life means you know who's currently alive. I wouldn't be talking to you right now if you'd have killed them. In fact, you would be back where you started," she watched how he shuddered at the thought of going back into his former prison.

"Eh, they'll be back," Hades reminded her. "Everyone eventually ends up here, so me letting them go didn't change anything. Maybe more of annoyance for me later on, but nothing's changed."

"I think something's changed," Persephone reached out and took Hades' hand in hers.

Hades felt his heart jump in his throat, but said nothing as the words refused to come out.

"So, Praxidice wasn't completely destroyed, huh?"

"You can't destroy magic, it just changes form."

"I suppose so," Persephone touched the adamantium diadem that once was the crescent blade of her scythe. "But even though it changed form, you left its power intact. I could throw you in the River Styx right now and leave you to rot."

"And?" Hades deadpanned. At this point taking a swim sounded like a delightful option compared to being vulnerable.

"And you left the power inside it to let me know, even without the incentive of marrying you, I have the power to choose. Hades," she crooned as she took his other hand, forcing him to directly face her. "You gave me the power to take you out even here in the Underworld!"

Hades began to squeeze Persephone's hands in return. "It was supposed to be a gift from the git-go, but I knew it was the last trick up my toga to get you to see my- well, y'know," he waved it off.

"I know, I just want to hear you say it again because this time, I know you're not blowing hot air," Persephone smiled coyly.

"Jeez Louise, you offer a babe half of your kingdom and she still can't tell you're being serious."

"And that's why I'm apologizing," Persephone reminded him. "Because the moment you became vulnerable I belittled your feelings and that's one of the worst things I could've done. It made you go meshuge and then both of us began to say things we didn't mean."

Hades scoffed. "I'm pretty sure we both meant the things we exchanged."

"That was our fear talking, and fear isn't something I want to listen to for the rest of my existence- at least not anymore. I just hope you won't act out anymore because of fear," Persephone retorted.

Hades was about to argue for the sake of his pride, but the look Persephone was giving him, that light which danced in her eyes holding the promise that she would be there for him, be with him. It was something he couldn't argue with.

"I'll… Do my best," Hades shrugged.

"Then so will I."

Hades felt a soft smile beginning to form on the corners of his lips. Thank the Fates the only people out here were dead. "So what can I give to the babe who refuses every thing I have?"

"How about giving me something you've never given away?" Persephone released one of his hands and placed her own thin hand upon his chest and felt his heartbeat underneath his chiton. He really did have one after all.

Hades snorted as he began to connect the dots. "That ratty old thing? Really?"

Persephone smiled. "It was all I ever wanted."

Hades felt his grin falter at her declaration. A tidal wave of emotion began to move deep inside of him that he felt he might be knocked over. If Persephone's love was water, it was an ocean, and he was drowning in it. And as every second brought him towards his doom, he accepted it with a grin for he finally began to see it was where he always belonged.

"We're moving really fast for a week, y'know."

Persephone laughed in spite of the truth in that statement. "Compared to other gods, I'd say this is taking things slow."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Hades chuckled. "But if this is really what you want-"

"Maybe not now, but maybe someday," Persephone emphasized the final word with optimism. No one said she had to love him today. Marriage never promised love- that was never the point of it, rather it was the willingness to compromise and the promise of everlasting support and loyalty. The roots were planted, she just had to wait for them to grow, and there was no one else she would ever consider giving a chance.

"Yeah see, we can do a loophole and get hitched and you can still go wherever, you don't have to stay here," Hades declared even though the thought of it made him feel heavy with discontent. That was the last thing he wanted, but he wanted to give her the choice. After everything, she deserved the promise that she could leave whenever she wished.

Persephone considered his words. Huh, that was actually really considerate of him. Tearing her gaze away from Hades' the goddess found her eyes drawn to the souls who drifted down the River Styx. Her thoughts remembered Megara and of her concerns with the state of the Underworld to the unfortunate reality of what Meg and Hercules will face at the end of their lives.

"No, I think I'll stay," Persephone exclaimed with finality in her voice. "For now. There's a lot of work to do here, and I have a feeling you wouldn't know where to start."

"Hey, I run a tight ship around here," Hades was quick to defend himself. "I don't screw around like those yutzes on Olympus- ever heard any one of these deadbeats complain?"

"Hades, they're dead," Persephone deadpanned.

"Alright fine, I'll just make sure you don't do something I wouldn't do."

"Oh please," Persephone snorted. "Let's just get married. I have a funny feeling, 'Thena isn't going to like the letter I sent to her."

"That is music to my ears, my sweet, and hey, did ya know Charon can officiate with being a captain and all?" Hades took Persephone by the arm and led her to where the bony ferryman stood on his boat with a vacant expression.

"Charon, make it quick."

"Wait!" Persephone stopped the skeleton as she began to fasten a rose similar to the ones in her bouquet under Hades' skull fastening.

"What are you doing?"

"We may be in your world, but I'd like to keep some of my world's traditions too. In Sicily, they deck out the couple with flowers and this will suffice."

Hades rolled his eyes at the gesture, but was actually very moved by it. "Fine- fine- fine, but we're changing your pins too." In a snap of his fingers, twin skulls appeared in the palm of his hand. Instead of replacing her flower pins with a snap, Hades did so himself, taking his time to caress her shoulders and lay his hands flush against her exposed skin.

Persephone felt a blush burn on her cheeks, quietly relishing in the heat of his hands.

Pain and Panic flew down to the dockside and made their presence known with a clearing of Pain's throat.

"You wouldn't do this without us, right?" Panic impishly grinned.

"Or us?" Melinoe's empty voice that came behind the pair of imps causing them to jump.

Persephone winked. "How could we?" She took Hades hand in hers. "Y'know," she whispered so only Hades would hear. "They say it's bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the wedding."

"What's gonna happen? They can't take you from me. Only you have that power," he raised her hand to his lips and gently kissed it.

Persephone felt a strange prickling sensation go up her spine, but the feeling washed away the second she met Hades' eyes full of hope, a sight she never thought she'd ever see. "Hm," she returned his grin. "I suppose so," she ultimately decided.

"I love you, Persephone. I meant it in the boat, and I mean it now."

Persephone felt a well of tears slide down her face, but she didn't feel the least bit of sorrow. "I think I'm starting to," she pressed a small peck on Hades' cheek, but allowed her lips to linger. For a second she wondered if she felt a drop fall down her face, and dismissed it as her own tears, but she knew it wasn't. Oh well, grooms were allowed to get a little emotional too, she leaned into his strong form.

Things were beginning to fall into place after all.

Yet underneath the docks, a lonely red pomegranate found itself bobbing at the surface of the water. Its journey was a long one, winding here and there and any avid reader would understand how it came to be here. Warning all that the story was far from over and that happily ever afters were something which were not synonymous with the kingdom of Hades.

A lesson a mortal lyrist would find out the hard way.

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A/N: *The Disney movie is blatant pea soup erasure and I can't stand for it. In "the Frogs," by Aristophanes a play written in 405 BC, Dionysus and Hercules travel to the Underworld to bring back a dead tragedian and on their journey to form their very own dead poet society, they go to Hades to ask for his permission. Hercules meanwhile laments how he really misses pea soup. And y'know? We all have that food. And yes it's a really common theme that Hercules just goes to the Underworld to bring ppl back. What do you mean he has other jobs?

Uhhh, I am so sorry for this being so late. I'm leaving in the morning and I rushed to get it done so I didn't really edit the middle part so bare with me. I'll probably come back to fix a few things to make it flow. Don't expect another update soon. I may have another fic pop up on this fandom which is entirely unrelated to this one. You'll just have to wait and see. Don't get me wrong I'm not finished with this fic by a long shot, but I've been toying around with this idea since I started looking at ariel025's fanart on deviantart- in case y'all are wondering what I am up to. It'll be a one-shot- or maybe three-shot depending how much exposition I want to add.

Anyway, I want to thank all of you for all the love and support you've given me! This was a nightmare trying to have certain arcs finish so it can mirror how things began.

As always please fave, follow, and review.

I wish all of you a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and a Happy Holidays! Till next time my dear readers!