He brushed the dust off of her dress. She was trembling so hard the dust fell off on its own. Her eyes were unfocused.
"Proserpine, are you all right?"
"I-I d-d-don't know."
He looked her over. Just a simple scrape on her elbow.
"You'll be fine."
She looked at him with a new light in her eyes.
"You saved me."
"No need to sound so shocked."
She didn't respond, but pressed up against him, still trembling slightly.
"You could have gotten yourself killed! What were you thinking?"
"I was trying to leave. I… didn't realize how dangerous it was."
"If you wanted to leave you could have just come to me. My one goal is your happiness."
"If that's true why did you take me?"
There was no venom, hatred, or resentment. It was just a question.
"Your father told me it was a good idea. I didn't believe him, but he's the king of the gods. I couldn't exactly stand up to him. I would have just invited you down, but I couldn't get you alone to ask. Besides, why would you even agree? You have no reason to like me."
She pushed away, gently "You're selling yourself short."
He looked at her. She realized what she said and blushed.
"What I meant was, you're king of the Underworld. You control a great, undefeatable army. And you control all precious stones and metals. You could rip a man to shreds with them."
She blushed again and dropped her gaze to the ground.
"And there is the fact that you saved my life."
"I would do it for anyone. The Aria are a threat to everything."
She frowned. "So you're saying you did that, not because you like me, but because it was the Aria? Is that seriously what you want me to believe?"
Pluto felt his cheeks heat up.
"I, um, I, I didn't say that. But I would definitely save you from anything."
She smirked "that's another thing you have going for you. You're kind, and you're quick to fix mistakes. Besides, you're a good swordsman. The aria's found that out the hard way."
"Okay, enough; for now. Let's get back to the palace. You look like you're either going to faint, or vomit."