Plight of Persephone
Ok people, you know the score, I do not own Hercules, Disney does and even though they do not have plans for— What? They do! DAMMIT! Son of a Titan—! I knew it! I KNEW they would do a god damn live action remake! *Agent of Teal facepalms wearily* I hope none of the executives got the idea from reading this story, now that would be awkward ...I'm sorry, back too the disclaimer.. Don't worry, you do not need to have read any of my other stories to read this one and the original is NOT going anywhere, it stays here where it belongs.. I do own this version of Persephone and all other original characters and places that come up, permission and advice is always given to those who want to use them but do tell me if you use my characters so I may view and comment on your work.. Just like the original I will be basing this story around Greek myths and twisting them around just like Disney did, I will also be reworking some of the original plot lines.. Please review and let me know your thoughts.. Thank you for your time. Enjoy!
Reviews:
Sharkeygirl: Yeh, she knows for sure where the prayers are coming from and even answered a few without fully realising what she was doing.. It's staring her right in the face but she still can't see the truth.. X
A~N: Hey guys, just a little reminder to you guys to vote on the poll that can be found on my profile page. Surprised that the more perverse of you haven't voted for the lemon one-shot I'm offering considering the amount of requests I get for one. Also on offer are Thanatos and Hercules discussing the anti-hero, a part 2 to the Tapestry of Fate episode and Maleficent and Hades reacting to Descendants.. Plenty of time guys but please don't make me cast the deciding vote this time.. Diminishes the point. If the same one that I ignored last time is in the deadlock, it will win by default...
Chapter Twenty: The Actions Of Miss Flowers And Orbs
The following weeks had been tough for the youthful looking blonde goddess as she found herself working harder than she had ever worked during any other internship she had undertaken. Hades was unsurprisingly a firm taskmaster and even though the workload was arduous and the overtime was long Persephone continued to drudge on, even though the lack of sleep was making her aggivated, sullen and somewhat immature emotionally. In contrast to her the Lord of the Dead seemed to become more cheerful, focused and laid back with the lack of sleep and she had found herself hiding out in his office as his attitude grated her nerves after a while. In response to their somewhat switched personalities the imps had been avoiding the blonde goddess as their mistakes meant they were now more likely to be punished by her, something that just seemed to make Hades laugh in glee and this only infuriated her more.
By the time that work finally started slow down Persephone felt as if she'd walked enough in her heeled shoes to develop sores like a mortal usually would. Once she slumped down in Hades large stone throne the youthful looking goddess exhaled and pulled off her heeled shoes, tossing them away and letting them clatter down the steps away from her. Her newly freed toes had a deep mauve colour still sitting neatly on her toenails where Raidne had painted them weeks earlier. She smiled and wriggled her toes then absent-mindedly reached up and stroked the soft petals of the striped asphodels still sitting on the left side of her head. Her pixie-like ears picked up the sounds of Hades and his minions coming up the long stairway from the docks. She would have gotten up but the blonde goddess was just so exhausted and her slim white legs felt heavy so they just hung over the edge, unable to reach the floor due to the immense size of the stone throne. Uninterested in what they were doing Persephone merely leaned to the right and rested her head against the cold back rest.
"—we need you to sign here, and here.. And to accept the latest order of brimstone, we need you to sign here, and here.." Pain could be heard, obviously they were getting the Lord of the Dead to sign off on the paperwork that she couldn't do. Persephone frowned to herself, she had given them that paperwork yesterday morning, how in the cosmos did it take them so long to get it to him?
"Oh. Tartarus Inspection is complete, every soul present and accounted for.. And the Demon of Misery has put in a requisition form for more studded lashes for the worst offenders in Tartarus.. Our father thinks some inmates are getting complacent." Panic added making the goddess groan out, guess who was going to be responsible for getting in touch with the Hundred Handed with that order of shipment. Sometimes she wondered why she had even agreed to this job..
"Alright, alright.. Enough.. I'll have Persephone make the orders when—" The fiery god sounded uncharacteristically good natured, although there was a slight irked look in his yellow eyes suggesting that his insomniac related good mood could be tested with any more tedious paperwork. "Speak of the goddess.." He uttered moving swiftly towards the blonde deity slouched in his massive seat. "Ahem.. Do you mind?" He added folding his arms, his black pupils motioning her to move out of his seat.
"No. Not my fault your etiquette is lacking in producing adequate seating arrangements considering there are now two deities in this realm." Persephone responded choosing to ignore his subtle hints and remained relaxed in his seat. This made the fiery blue god exhale and continue to frown at her.
"Well, you don't have to worry about that because breaks over anyway." He responded pushing the sheets of scrolls towards her face.
"But I just— Oh. Forget it!" Persephone began to object before huffing loudly and snatching the scrolls, pushing herself off the seat and stalked off barefoot, not bothering to collect her shoes. "Slave driver.." She hissed as she left the throne room looking put out with the flames curling the ends of her blonde hair. There was a moment of silence before the loud slam of the distant office door could be heard.
"Should I be concerned?" Hades asked looking somewhat bemused, having not taken the vacant seat yet as he had been staring after her in surprise.
"Maybe. She has been running herself ragged these last few weeks.." Panic responded, his horned ears dipping, not wishing to be smote for telling the truth,
"Yeh. And she's been more moody than you lately." Pain added, still cringing at the last time he had been smote by the youthful goddess.
"Hmm. The strain must finally be getting to her. Memo to me: Do somethin' nice for her when I have the time." Hades mused rubbing his long chin thoughtfully, figuring he might have pushed her too hard and she was close to breaking point.
The blonde goddess slammed the paperwork onto the desk vehemently, her green eyes flashing with anger as she slumped into the black bony armchair snarling. She had only been in his stupid throne for less than thirty seconds! She had only wanted a short break from the monotonous room that she had been spending every living moment of every day for the last several weeks.
It was infuriating.
No! He was infuriating!
She had had enough of this. If he wasn't going to allow her one simple break, then she would take it with or without his consent. Persephone scooped up the scrolls, intending to finish the paperwork on her terms, not his. She was a goddess in her own right. She had interned before and it had always been voluntary, she could take breaks when she liked. She was her mother's ward, not his. If he had a problem with her he could go whinge to her mother for all she cared. That's what the rest of them had done, wasn't it? Complain that her perfect little Persephone had an attitude problem? Her, the innocent little flower of Demeter, the apple of her mother's eye.. There were benefits to being the only daughter of the nicest goddess in the cosmos. It was very easy to let her see and believe only what she wanted to believe. If she wanted to see her daughter as some snivelling little waif with no backbone and a shy, retiring disposition why deny her of that vision? If she wanted to believe that her precious daughter was innocent and ignorant of the ways of men, why spoil it? What she didn't know didn't hurt her, right?
"Hey Seph, what's the happs babe, long time no see— Oh, you look tense. Bad day?" The moment the small Messenger God had swooped in through the round window of the office and clocked her expression he perched himself on the edge of the desk with a sympathetic look. He had known his best friend long enough to know when she was upset.
"Hmh. Just overworked. You wanna ditch and play hooky this afternoon?" Persephone batted her thick eyelashes sweetly at him though her angelic expression was just a mask she used to hide the sneaky little madam inside that he adored hanging out with.
"Oh-hoh, yeh! There's that bad girl I love so much. You know a good place to hide out where Flame Boy ain't gonna find us, right?" The short pale-blue skinned god asked looking as if he could do without a smiting for dragging her away from work.
"Chill out my winged accomplice I know the perfect place if you don't mind helping me out with a little ordinance surveying, of course." The white-skinned beauty narrowed her bright olive green eyes with a playful smirk.
"Heh, well colour me intrigued. Now you gotta show me this place.." The small blue god declared brightly, waving his cadelles to emphasise his point.
"Then grab a fresh blue scroll, some chalk and let's go!" Persephone grinned.
Upon entering the brightly lit realm of the Elysian Feilds Hermes blinked several times before pulling off his rose tinted glasses and cleaning the lenses with the edge of his white toga. They had dropped all the scrolls on the wide white stone table in the gazebo Persephone had claimed as her outdoor office space while in this realm. They had a clear panoramic view of the feilds around them, the white sandy beech, the eternal ocean with it's distant isles and the barrier to the dark side of the Underworld to their left where her tall pomegranate tree stood proud..
"Oh, wow.. This place makes the surface look dull." He added setting the glasses back on the bridge of his large nose before blinking and taking everything in.
"Good.. It's not just me that can see passed that illusion." The youthful blonde goddess smiled brightly. "It's like Surface Lite down here, most of the dead souls can't tell the difference."
"So this is the Elysian Feilds, huh? Kooky, y'know I've never been here before but Zeus says it's the home for heroes. Never thought you would dig such a hangout babe."
"This place is for the pure and good souls, not just heroes." Persephone's scowled slightly in disapproval then added with snarky edge, "You know how I feel about heroes.." Her eyes narrowed in distaste before she blinked then added with a smirk. "Did I mention one of them tried to kidnap me from the Underworld a few weeks ago?"
"What? Get out.. You serious?" Hermes raised his brows in disbelief before he looked hopeful and grinned, "Please tell me you gave him the chair."
"Of course I did. Then Hades moved him to the dining room." Persephone narrowed her olive green eyes in a deadpan manner. "Something about wanting to gloat over the would-be hero being beaten by a flower goddess.." She exhaled heavily, unimpressed by his logic and purposely avoided the room now.
"Well it's not like the ol' Hot Head gets many dinner guests now, is it? Just let him have his fun.." The pale-blue god pulled off his golden cap revealing, his receding hairline, and began fanning himself with it. "So, you were saying somethin' about an ordinance survey?" He narrowed an eyebrow flashing her a smirk.
"Yes! Now if I remember right there are no blue scrolls to this realm so I thought if your afternoon was free we could map one out." Persephone said with a bright smile giving him her best puppy-eyed look.
"Ah, you know you don't need to twist this god's arm with manipulation tactics, I'm always down in your end'a town. Heh, besides works been kinda light since your mother insisted on hosting the Springtime Celebrations on Sicily.. She has Iris and Artemis doin' all the arrangements, if that ain't too nutty?" Hermes responded rolling his violet eyes that were hidden behind rose tinted specs.
"Really? Sicily? Why the change?" The blonde goddess blinked confused since they usually held these celebrations on Olympus.
"She wants to invite Hades so he doesn't feel left out and since it's also the day you return to the surface it doubles as a welcome home party for you too." His words made Persephone shake her head wearily.
"Oh great. It already sounds lame." She drawled unimpressed. "As long as they remember not everything needs to be vegan or vegetarian. A lot of gods, including my family, eat meat."
"Ahem sister." Hermes grinned widely as he pushed open the blue scroll open and held it open using some of the white chalky bits of rock from the ground. "So, where shall we start mappin'?" He asked keenly, picking up a piece of chalk grinning. He had always loved working on projects with her, it took him back to school with the two of them practically sharing every class..
"Well, first let's recruit a little help.." Persephone then began to sing a few scale notes and as she held the last one for an elongated time the fluttering of wings came with the harmonising notes of the three Sirens. They landed the moment the note was broken by all three girls bowed low, lifting the edges of their floaty skirts.
"We are pleased you returned.." Tele began respectfully as the girls dropped their skirts and straightened.
"We knew you would.." Raidne added brightly looking happy to have their self-proclaimed mistress back.
"And you brought Hermes.. How wonderful.." Molpe added clasping her tiny hands together and looking excited by the presence of the small god, beaming like a nymph with a school-girl crush. The other two Siren sisters seemed to be equally taken in by this new man in their dynamic.
"Well hello ladies.." The Messenger God nipped passed Persephone and gave all three Sirens a debonair grin complete with his best smouldering look. "It's great to meet you too.." His flirty attitude made the white-skinned goddess pout, grab him by his single strapped white toga and yank him back to her with one sharp fluid motion.
"Can your pansexual desires Fly Guy, they all took vows of chastity so that Aphrodite couldn't sway them into being her minions." She added between gritted teeth flashing him a warning look. Her best friend had always been a bit of a flirt and he loved anyone, no matter their gender or form and she had nursed enough broken nymph hearts to know that he was a no-strings kind of lover.. Not that he ever told his partners this information.
"So keep it strictly P-G, got it! Re-lax babe.. It's totally copacetic.." He looked unphased, giving her a cheeky wink and pulled himself out grip and wrapped an arm around the youngest two Sirens and walked away with them leaving Persephone frowning in irritation. Trust him to be side-tracked by three pretty faces that giggled girlishly at his fabulously godly self.
This was going to be a looong afternoon...
"Lady Praxidyke..." The sound of this aging corporeal dead soul's voice grated the young looking goddess further, making her frown, not bothering to look at this new-comer as she curled her fists tightly at her sides. "Is this all there is? Is there no chance at new life? I want to live again, to feel the air on my face, sun on my skin—" He broke off into a cry of shock when Persephone unfurled the fist nearest him and flicked it casually with a heavy sigh, making him vanish into a swirl of orbs.
"This is sohh not the time.." She uttered rubbing her temples before finding the Sirens and Hermes staring at her open mouthed in shock. "What?" The blonde goddess asked tersely.
"Hey, far from me to question your totally eternal teen attitude Seph buuut, where did you send him?" Hermes asked after exchanging a quick glance with the equally confused Sirens.
"Urh, who cares? He'll be back.. Can we please get started." Persephone frowned in annoyance before the far-off sound of a high-pitched alarm made her head turn towards the dark realm of Hades. "Second thoughts, you guys start mappin' these feilds and I will go see what's going on over there.." She then vanished out in a swirl or orbs but a moment later her disembodied voice floated over the threesome, "And I want some actual work done by the time I get back or there will be Tartarus to pay!" Then her presence was gone and she seemed completely unaware of her own actions and what they meant..
"Persephone!" Hades sing-singed brightly, opening the door to the office entering with his eyes shut and continuing in a giddy gushing tone, hoping to woo her over with words. "My little bird, my little flower, my sweet little sun-spot.. I realise now that I've been a little unfair in denying you a break earlier so I have come with a new offer.." He grinned widely opening his eyes only to find his office empty. "What the—?" He looked around in disbelief before blinking when a swirl of orbs appeared above his out-tray and a stack of scrolls rained into it out of the vanishing orbs. Scooping up the top scroll Hades unfurled it to find it was a completed order form for the studded lashes he had given her in the throne room earlier.
"Uh-huh... Well, yeh, ok.. Can't really complain that she's not here when she's still doin' the work.." He muttered to himself as he rolled the scroll back up with a careless shrug before the sound of a shrill alarm filled not just his ears but his whole being. "Alright, whatta you little putzs done now!-!" Scowling deep at the sudden, unwanted interruption Hades snarled and dropped the scroll onto his desk then stalked out of the office to track down his imps..
Someone was in deep, deep trouble..
"Didja getit?" Pain's head had twisted back double checking that neither Hades or Persephone were around to witness Panic's return from the surface realm. Certain that they were completely alone in the huge throne room he turned back to his twin. They had wanted to get this sooner but work had been crazy busy and their breaks had been limited to just doing essentials and returning to the grindstone. Now that things were finally slowing down they could get back to their plan to hook their boss up with Persephone in the hopes of keeping her around. The magenta imp with the flop of burgundy hair had been covering for his stick thin teal partner all morning while he went top-side to collect what it was he wanted for their plan to get the the two immortal deities together. This wasn't exactly challenging as buisness had been slowing down as they were fast approaching Spring which also meant Persephone would likely be going home soon.
"Affirmative.." Panic grinned pulling out two bright pink arrows with white feathery tails and heart shaped arrow heads.
"Hello my lovelies.." Pain smirked deviously at the two arrows rubbing his little clawed hands together, his scheming mind already formulating a plan on how to use them.
"We need to hide these from the boss, if he finds out we have these he will flame us for sure.." The teal skinned imp said trembling a little as he held the love arrows, looking around anxiously as if their flame-haired boss was about to discover them any second.
"Aw, that's no problem!" The chubby rose-pink imp exclaimed cheerfully, grabbing the arrows. "We'll put them in the one place he never looks." He then rammed them down the back of the grey drapes behind Hades' throne with a grin.
"You really think he won't look there?" Panic kinked a brow in disbelief before a cluster of swirling orbs appeared out of nowhere making him suddenly turn his head and frown at the ghostly circles of light. "What in the name of Nyx is that?"
"He didn't find our entertainment.. What's what?" Pain looked back completely missing the orbs as they had shot upwards through the round circular skylight in the roof but he did see the soul counter click backwards with a small click. The next second the room was filled with a high-pitched alarm that filled every part of their small beings.
"What happened!" Panic yelled over the din both hands clutching his horn-like ears and yanking them down to try drown out the volume.
"I dunno! The stupid counter is busted!" Pain snarled back, trying to raise his voice over the intensely loud alarm as two fingers stuck themselves in his ears.
"Pain!-! ...Panic!-!" The sound of Hades' disembodied bellowing seemed to successfully cut through the continuing high-pitched alarm. The next second the red skinned god with blistering orange and yellow flames appeared in the throne room glaring at them, clearly thinking that they were responsible for the alarm still going off around them. "Who set off the alarm?-!"
"It went off by itself!" Panic yelled up, looked up terrified as he continued to try to blot out the noise and make himself look pathetic at the same time. No mean feat.
"Yeh, that counter's to blame, a number clicked back by itself for no reason!" Pain added loudly as he stepped down, removing one hand away from his small horn-like ear to point at the counter above the door leading to the Vortex of Phlegethon which was glowing green beyond the cavernous doorway.
"WHAT?-!" Hades snarled out though his temper combustion was lessened my the high-pitched alarm still going off around them. "The counter does NOT flip back by itself and WHO has the code for this alarm!-!"
"Ah! I think it's still your mother's maiden name!" Panic chipped in with a nervous grin, still clutching his ears.
"THEN SHUT THIS THING OFF!-! NOW!-!" Hades roared over the alarm actually sending torrents of fire out in all directions.
"What's going on in here?" Came the sound of Persephone's voice as the youthful blonde goddess appeared moments after the blast with her hands over her own small pixie-like ears and she screwed up her face at the level of noise. Both imps had darted off at their master's command to go shut off the alarm. Within moments of doing so the alarm silenced leaving nothing but a high tinnitus-like ringing in the ears of those standing in the throne room.
"Oy vey, I think I've a migraine now.." Hades exhaled as his shoulders sagged and he twisted a finger in one ear to try and rid himself of the ringing before turning his attention to the counter hanging on the wall. He frowned deeply at the long panel for a long moment. "Well, it doesn't look busted, that's for sure..."
"So, why did the alarm go off?" Persephone flipped her incredibly long blonde hair then jutted her hip out to the left and leant a hand on it.
"The alarm only goes off when a soul leaves the Underworld.. Although, I can't figure out for the life of me how one left." The blue fiery god uttered vaguely as he tapped one of the numbers with his long, bony index finger.
"S-souls can leave?" Persephone blinked in shock.
"No! They can't." Hades hissed our velemetly with a breif frown before his gaze focused in the imps as they returned into his field of vision. "You two. What did you do?" He threw them a suspicious look since they had been in the throne room when the alarm went off so to him they were to blame.
"It wasn't us!" Pain scowled looking affronted.
"Yeh! There was a swirl of orbs in here right before the alarm went off!" Panic retorted before jabbing a finger at Persephone. "Maybe it was Miss Flowers and Orbs over there!"
"Hey!" Persephone's snapped with a glare both hands moving to her hips now as she pouted.
"Pul-lease.. She just proved she didn't know it was possible for a soul to leave. Now my rep is on the line so let's find out who the soul was and get them back here!" The blue flamed Lord of the Dead snarled making both imps jump and dash off down the halls to the vault of records in an adjoining room to Hades' office.
"Your rep is on the line?" Persephone repeated with a questioning kink of the brow and a slight smirk.
"Hey, if I let one soul get out, my rep as a cruel dictator is shot. 'Hades, he's losin' it, forget about him', souls flee back up to the land of the livin', minions start gettin' uppity. Total chaos—"
"I think your exaggerating somewhat, don't you." Persephone responded in some amusement.
"Excuse me?" Hades lanced her with a firm look of doubt.
"I don't see a big rush of souls fleeing for the exit." The blonde goddess added with a mock gesture as if stating the obvious.
"Well they won't get the chance." The blue flamed god frowned as he stated darkly before smirking back at her. "Don't you have filing to get on with?"
"Hmf. Yes, your flaming bossiness." She stuck her tongue out to him in immature fashion and vanished out in a swirl of bright white orbs to go and file the scrolls away that were waiting in the out-try.
"With less sass, thank you." He called out after her complete with an A-ok sign and a wide grin. She really had been trying to test his legendary patience as of late.. He would have to use his best charm offensive to win her back. It was at this point his large round golden eyes noticed the pair of small black heels still laying across the steps in front of his throne.
It was was late in the evening when Persephone finally finished filing away the last of the scrolls of the day using Hades' complex alphabetical then numerical order system. The youthful goddess exhaled as she floated down from her levitated position from the floor, a trick Hades had taught her in the last few weeks to help her reach the high shelves in his absence. A feeling of relief came over her as her small but warm bare feet touched the cold tiles of the stone floor. Ignoring the two imps, who were still riffling through the soul index trying to figure out who was missing from the endless roster of souls, she moved to the huge desk and flopped into the black bony swivel seat. Hermes had taken the blue scroll of the Elysian Feilds with him with the intent of creating a copy for the Hall of Records with the help of it's curator Tri-Via and would return the original copy once they were finished.
"Well, looks like you finally finished your work, a little later than I would like but, hey, you finished it, right? That's what matters.." The sound of a familiar drawling voice spoke making Persephone's green eyes frown up at the Lord of the Dead who was standing on the other side of the desk with a grin. Apparently he had been watching her complete her workload, invisible no doubt. How long he had been there she couldn't say but the fact he was there was annoying enough.
"Spying on me now?" She spoke tersely rubbing her forehead, not in the mood for whatever this was.
"I believe the word your lookin' for is supervising, babe." The blue flamed god smirked leaning one hand on the desk as he leered at her.
"The word I'm looking for, I can't say because there are minions present." Persephone flicked a wrist irritably in Pain and Panic's and they both flashed each other a nervous glance before pushing their current scroll further up to shield them from view. "But before you ask.. Here's your damn seat!" She disappeared out of the bony black swivel seat making it spin then reappeared at the door. "And since my shift is over with I don't need to stay here with you so.. Ciao." She mock-saluted with a clearly false girly smile before turning around and leaving, shutting the door sharply behind her.
The slight tremor from the door was enough to make Hades' flaming hair flicker and he exhaled heavily, before sneaking a glance in the direction of the imps who quickly pulled their noses back a around the scroll they had been peeked from. He scowled deeply at them making a mental note to smite them later before he quickly high-tailed after Persephone.
"Whoa! Hoh! Persephone! Seph.. Wait up! Let's talk, a little schmooze—" He was cut off from his words when Persephone rounded on him with a deep scowl, forcing him to stop dead in his tracks.
"If you want me to do overtime, the answer is no!" She responded sharply about to continue on when his large bony hands caught her by the shoulder forcing her to stay. He was bigger and more powerful than she was, if she tried orbing away he could just summon her back.
"Ah-hah! No! Not what I wanted. I uh, heh.. well, I wanted to apologise about the whole seat thing earlier.." He was flashing her a twisted sheepish grin which made her eye him suspiciously.
"Go on.." Persephone said casually moving her shoulder in a circular motion to jolt his grip off of her and then folded her arms across her ample bosom with an expected look on her pretty face.
"Shall we take this to—"
"No." The youthful goddess cut him off sharply once more making him raise both hands in some defeat.
"Fine. Ok.. Here's good.." Hades couldn't help but rub one bicep with the hand of the opposite arm and look completely awkward, wracking his usually quick-witted mind for anything that would break the somber tension at this moment. He cursed his lack of any real social skills, he was not well-versed enough on interacting with other gods, unless you counted scheming, manipulating and out-an-out back-stabbing them of course..
"You've never apologised for anything before, have you?" Persephone cocked her head to one side in some disbelief. Despite the fact that she was still somewhat mad at him for spying and cutting her break short earlier she couldn't help but still be impressed by this new fact.
"Not with any real sincerity.. No." Hades shook his head, cringing inwardly at admitting this out loud knowing that this made him sound like an awful being. For the first time his mind seemed to consider the fact that he might actually deserve banishment from Olympus.
Hmh. Your forgiven.." Persephone's look softened in that moment, able to see that he gueniunely was sorry without him actually having to voice it.
"Seriously? Just like that.." The fiery god kinked a brow somewhat unconvinced that he wasn't off the hook that easy. The two gods had started walking absent-mindedly down the corridor together as they continued to converse.
"Heh.. Hardly. I can take breaks when I want.." Persephone smirked keeping pace easily with the much taller god next to her as his pace was slow and ambling which, considering her much shorter legs, was a comfortable walking pace to her.
"Ya do that anyway! You think I don't know about your li'l rendezvous with Twinkle-Toes earlier? C'mon, if it bothered me that much I woulda just summoned you then ordered you back to work, wouldn't I?" The Lord of the Dead smirked back making her jaw slacken a little in surprise. He had seen Hermes swoop in and slip into the office window while down on the black jetty of the docks. He didn't know what the two of them had been doing all day but the work got done, that was all he cared about..
"More spying, why am I not surprised.." Persephone replied rolling her eyes before blinking when the last part of his sentence hit home. "Wait, you don't care how many breaks I take?"
"Pfft.. Nah! You work harder than any minion I got.. Besides your right about the seating arrangements if you ever wanted to come onboard in a more permanent capacity it's something I promise to look into." The fiery god flashed the most genuine smile he could muster.
"Are you offering me a job." Persephone quirked both brows looking somewhat surprised.
"Hey, I got plenty of openings for a vigorous got-getter like yourself. And if you do consider the change in domain I can offer you the best benefits package you can get.. Though I wouldn't blame ya if ya wanted to remain topside. Who in the right mind would give that up for this.." He rolled his round yellow eyes somewhat wearily as he gestured around his dark gloomy abode knowing that it didn't hold a candle to the surface world.
"Hmh. Nobody's ever offered me a job before, normally they're off whining to my mother because of my 'attitude problem'. She gets offended and hauls me home, there's a reason I don't last more than six months in a job." Persephone giggled slightly finding the whole situation amusing.
"I'll be the first to admit that you gotta fiery streak babe... reminds me of... well, me." The Lord of the Dead grinned as the two of approached the kitchen of his surprisingly enormous subterranean home.
"Your not the first one to say that." Persephone pouted used to being compared to him and it usually was meant as an insult.
"I meant it as a compliment. You an' me, we gotta good back and forth goin'. And I gotta be honest, this job has been slightly more bearable since you stuck around to help out." Hades continued to smirk as Persephone still seemed somewhat blown away by the offer of a job. He wanted her to stay on a more permanent basis? Was he serious? It seemed so unreal..
"Hello... Seph, you in there babe?" Her olive green eyes blinked several times finding his large pale blue bony fingers trying to rouse her back into focus. "Tell, ya what. You take Spring and Summer to think about it and get back to me in the Fall, deal?" He was offering her his hand again but the white-skinned goddess pushed it aside thinking that this might be an automatic reaction to a conversation of this nature. He must just be used to it from all his deal-making over the millenniums of ruling the dead, he certainly didn't seem offended by her not shaking in agreement.
"Sure. I'll think about it.." Persephone nodded perching herself at the island nook with the granite worktop as the blue fiery god began searching his store cupboards with the intentions of fixing them a late night supper option..
"Oh! Face it Pain, we're not gonna find this bozo! We don't even know where to start looking for this missing soul! If it even was a missing soul in the first place.." The skinny teal imp burst out with the moment both their boss and Persephone were gone. Panic then jumped down from the table and he paced back and forth on the stone floor of the Vault of Records looking freaked out. "He's gonna flame us when he finds out we failed to locate the soul!"
"You mean IF he finds out.." Pain interjected with a sneaky look.
"Of course he's gonna find out— If..." Those huge bug eyes glazed over at the possibility of not getting caught before his sleep deprived paranoia made him shake his head and round on his devious looking brother. "Is it me, or do all your plans involve some horrible web of lies that always come back to bite us?"
"It's you.. Lack of sleep has got you tweaked.." The chubby pink imp said as he casually hopped off the table they had been using.
"I'm not tweaked! What makes you so sure Hades won't find out?" Panic grabbed his chubby partner by the face and examined him suspiciously.
"Cause if the soul comes back we'll just reprocess him before Hades finds out.." Pain added pulling his skinny teal brother off of him with a casual smirk. "What he doesn't know isn't gonna hurt us, besides we have more important things to worry about." He then gestured his brother to go with him as he went to the door. "Now act cool and follow my lead.."
Panic rolled his eyes and shook his head in disbelief following his slightly younger twin brother and partner, more out of idle curiosity than any actual faith that this would work... They really were doing this again, weren't they?
Little Notes:
Hey guys, this chapter is slightly longer and was actually pretty fun to write because of all the playful banter and jokes. A few subtle adult jokes thrown in just to pepper the fun too. And for those of you thinking that the kiss has been forgotten about, it has not! It's just that I consider winter to always be the busiest time of year in the Underworld when the hours are gruelling and the days are long. Our leads and minions have just been far to busy over the few weeks to really focus on anything other than work and bickering, hence the time jump too.
Ok, big reveal about Hermes' sexuality in this chapter. He's not gay. Personally, I've never considered Hermes gay in the movie or the series. To me he has always come off as pansexual, though there wasn't really a word for it at the time. It's common for a lot of writers to write him as gay as his voice actor is but I've never seen him showing a particular preference to gender or species and to me it fits him perfectly. Besides he was way too comfortable playing faux-girlfriend for Phil in the Bacchanal episode.. If you need any proof I recommend you watch it.. In this story Narcissus is the gay best friend who embodies many of the troupes, even if he is just gay for himself..
Oh. And for those interested, this chapter means the word count for this story is higher than the original P.o.P
Anyway, Stay tuned for more soon!
A~Teal