The Things We Do For ... (Part 1)

I wrote this with my dog sitting in my lap licking me the entire time. In other words, she was trying to tell me to stop and sleep.

Also I'm glad everyone liked the last chapter, this one has a lot going on, but it's certainly one of my better chapters.

I decided to split this into two parts since I couldn't finish the last half before I leave, and I honestly rather have y'all get quality over quantity. No pressure, but it should be up by next Wednesday as I seem to be having a pattern going on.

Small side note: If you know greek myths pretty well, you know the what's going to happen to certain characters, and if you don't know them I highly encourage you to look them up if you wish to know the actual stories and get an idea of what's gonna happen. But if you wish to stay spoiler-free, I don't blame you.

Disclaimer: Chapter 1

"Don't let them in
Don't let them see
Be the good girl you always have to be

Conceal, don't feel

Put on a show
Make one wrong move and everyone will know."

-For The First Time in Forever, Frozen, Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez

Life goes on.

Persephone never expected that mortal phrase to stick so much as it did now in this point of her existence. Things had changed considerably and yet she felt like life was back to that point long before the competition fiasco took place.

She thought of that experience now as centuries ago when it had only been little more than a full day and a half, but what an eternity did that feel like.

When the rains finally stopped- thanks to a little pressure from his wife, Zeus moved on to show his frustration through ways that did not involve creating another Great Flood, but he was tempted. Although he didn't want to do his baby brother the favor of increasing his numbers.

In other words, the gods were beginning to point fingers and until tomorrow night's meeting it was only a matter of time until Persephone was finally going to be accused for everything from the current state of Greece to the taking of Hercules, and if any more evidence was found- ie Apollo's all-seeing eyes, the cause of Hades' freedom.

If one might recall, the helm was a good idea, but some portion of that he was not wearing it- one of them being when Persephone may have puckered up…

Heh.

Yeah, she didn't need to be accused of any sort of collusion as she was already in way too deep and she never again wanted to be associated with that particular god.

After all, no longer were the gods focusing on the Titan Takeover- oh no, they were far more concerned now that there was a true casualty to all of this mess.

Hercules.

In response, Demeter and her many allies found in the nymphs and minor gods on earth were scrambling to find ways to make Persephone look like an innocent caught in the cross-hairs. One of these strategies, though, was trying to boost the Spring goddess' currently dismal PR.

"You honestly can't expect me to start a flower delivery service," Persephone deadpanned.

"Oh, of course not, that's why I'm telling you to do it," her mother had quipped and after that there could be no argument.

Today was Day Two of her mother's little plant delivery thing, and she was screwed.

All of Greece seemed to curse her name, all because she decided to go around and help them! She got rid of the souls! Not all of them mind, you, but a lot! Sure, it wasn't such a clean job, but she got the job done.

So now apparently some Spartans saw her acts as a full affront to their city once word got around that Athena had helped her get into the competition in the first place. On the bright side, no war had erupted yet, looks like Athena was working her diplomatic skills quite nicely.

So, now she was running a charity business she wanted nothing to do with. It was humiliating, degrading, and worst of all it took her away from all of her pet projects- one of them making sure her mother didn't destroy the mortals' upcoming harvest with her over-mothering. All of the experiments she had planned and lined up for the upcoming harvest were quickly dashed now that she had a new job to undertake, but no amount of honey could make her swallow this bitter draught.

"Hey, babe," Hermes had swooped in, a sack full of scrolls on his back. "Where you want 'em?"

"Just give them to Daphne, she's sorting them out," Persephone jerked her thumb in the direction of the pretty nymph surrounded by a mountain of scrolls.

The curvy cyan river nymph, Daphne was on sorting duty, a department they shouldn't even have, but Persephone had deemed it a necessary evil.

By sorting them out, though, she meant separating the complaints from the actual requests which were few and far between, and most of them were asking for her mother's services for the upcoming harvest. Daphne had another job, but she was recently demoted, and Persephone felt this was the best way she could give her friend a job, and not feel bad about the demotion. She saw her rarely enough, and now that she had a chance, she couldn't throw it away.

"You may take this shipment out, they're ready to go," Persephone added, sweeping a gesture to the many pots that are scattered across the field all filled with an assortment of ferns, flowers, and other such flora.

"You got it, babe," the messenger god winked and gave her a sympathetic smile to match. "And hey don't look so down, babe, what happened to the goddess who punched me in the schnoz?"

"Sorry about that," Persephone grimaced, allowing her mask to slip off ever so slightly. "I didn't mean anything by it-"

"Hey, settle down, babe, I'm not mad. I know better than to sneak up on ya. At least I do now," he lowered his shades and winked. "But you look so glum- anything I can help with? I can spare ya some time, I don't have to deliver this now. I can compensate with these bad boys," his shoes flapped in agreement.

Persephone sighed and shook her head, a small sad smile graced her face; her mask firmly back in place. "I'm fine. Nothing you could do can fix my mess."

"Alrighty, but if you think of something, you'll call, right?"

"We'll see," she neither accepted or declined his offer.

This vagueness was not lost on Hermes, but he decided to drop it. She was busy as it is, and anyone who had been around her since the competition knew something had shifted within the goddess. Almost like she had aged centuries in the span of two days, but barely anyone acknowledged it. It was unsettling seeing a usually cheery maiden become so quiet and meticulous with the advent of this new job.

She was always diligent, but this new change was lost on everyone, especially Demeter, but in that same way, Persephone had been more passive, as of late, to the suggestions of her mother. Almost like she had accepted her fate, but something else was unsettling about it.

Her words were careful and few, and he being the god of lies knew when something was up, and something was definitely up.

Persephone was planning something, and being the god of thieves, liars, and just tricksters in general, he wanted be in the know. But his gut instinct, the only instinct any of his followers should ever trust, told him to let it play out. Like all those times he overheard Hades cooking up the Olympus takeover. He'd visited the Underworld so much these past few centuries that it was impossible for him to not know, but would he snitch?

As the god of trickery he'd have to say no, but if he told the truth that was just the cover he would give if he ever stood trial. Though he was loyal to Zeus he knew that his king was a little air-headed and needed a little motivation to help out the people of earth now and then, and he wasn't going to snitch on Hades if it meant Zeus could do something better than go around chasing skirts once he realized his distractions made him look weak. Hades may have been the first to notice this weakness in his older brother, but the other gods were soon to follow if he didn't do something about it. So in the end sometimes there were necessary evils.

"Well, you better," Hermes finger-gunned her. "I hate seeing you anything but your usual fabulous self."

"Thanks, Herm, but nothing comes to mind yet," she politely answered, hoping he'd go away now.

Taking a hint, Hermes shrugged, "Hey, I tried, see ya!"

"Bye," Persephone muttered, and felt all of her initial levity disappear as she reconnected back with reality and refocused on the scroll in her hands checking off another thing on her to-do list. She was getting frustrated from all the nonsensical chores of potting plants and having to make sure the currently potted plants were receiving the proper amount of water.

Long story short, let's just say she never should have put the naiads on that duty.

Cough, cough, Daphne.

But how was she supposed to know that half a cup of water meant drowning the poor dears? At least it wasn't salt water, she had to give her friend that.

Nymphs were tricky, and since they are beings of pure nature they were similarly very hard to tame. Getting them to agree to help her was no short of a miracle, all thanks on Demeter's part, but there was no semblance of order with any of them with their constant dribble and playful natures. Sometimes she wondered how she managed not to get annoyed with their antics after all these centuries, but it did help she spoke their rather simple bell-like tongue.

The only nymph she could really count on was Daphne, but even then she was still prone to her own nature and the clock of her father, the river god Peneus, who was just as overprotective as Demeter was with her.

Heading over to her, Persephone skipped over the scrolls of requests and dug into the pile of complaints.

"Kore, are you sure that's a good idea?" Daphne twittered, her large green eyes sent her friend a worried look.

"It's fine," Persephone exclaimed, tucking the feather she was using to write with into the messy up-do she did this morning. Hair was becoming quite the hassle without anything to push her side bangs back, she almost missed that geeky flower headwear. "I just need a little motivation to get through the morning," she pulled out six or seven scrolls from the pile.

"Okay, whatever you say, Korey," Daphne muttered unsurely, glancing between Persephone's rigid posture and the dull lifeless aura that emanated an almost grey light. Her skin had begun to change from that awful bone white into so many different shades these past couple days. Fluctuating between, green, ivory, and now she was looking pale pink again. It was a nice change, but her aura was worrying everyone, her mother especially.

So everyone working out here was trying their best to lift Kore's spirits, but she'd been so dead even the bright colors her mother had been giving her to wear didn't help at all. All it did was make her look more like a goddess than a peasant working in the fields, and its not even like Kore minded her old cloths, she needed her chitons to come above her ankles. Laundry was never her strong point, but now with long chiton hiding her feet, she looked more out of place than ever, tripping on the poor chiton, leaving tears around the hem and dark streaks of mud.

It was odd, she could feel the tenseness in Kore's shoulders as she continued to read. Even the air around her felt charged with power, so much so that Daphne couldn't help but scooch over to get out of the crosshairs of her shifting moods.

Demeter had explained to all of them behind Kore's back, obviously, that her daughter's powers had been on the fritz, literally. Claiming that probably with the revelation of the identity of her father that her lightning heritage was beginning to show.

And yet, it didn't feel like lightning.

All the while, Persephone began to read, losing herself in the world of bad reviews on. She almost felt disappointed that the whole gist of the complaints were all the same:

"My father was going to give me away at my wedding, but you just had to reap him!"

"My children finally visited me, how dare you take them away from me!"

"That man owes me money, he was going to pay me back!"

Gods, get a grip already- they died! What they saw wasn't natural- they were ghosts! If they never did things in life that was their faults- not her, she was doing her damn job. It's like no matter what you do people will always bicker.

"Hey, maybe you shouldn't keep reading those, they give you such a bad vibe, hun."

Persephone shrugged. "Maybe so, but it's nice to see that I've made no progress whatsoever," she murmured, paying more attention to the messages in the scrolls than her worried friend. "… And it beats waiting around for mother to arrive with Apollo.

"Oh, it's today?"

"Yeah," Persephone barely even looked up from her scroll. "Can't you tell by how stunning I look today?" She cracked a wry, awkward smile gesturing at her flowing sea green robes, the twin ends of which were flying behind her like a cloak. At least it was still modest, her mother and her could still agree on that.

"I can't stand gods, it's the one thing Papa and I agree on these days," Daphne commented and took her chance to snatch the scrolls from her friend's hands.

"Hey, I was reading that." Persephone pouted as her only source of entertainment was harshly ripped away from her.

"I'm trying to help you out. I'd watch out with this one, though, I haven't seen Clytie since Apollo and her broke up two weeks ago."

"That's because Clytie's a wanderer," Persephone pointed out. "You know how easily she gets obsessed over something, who knows maybe she finally had the guts to explore the human village living around here and decided to study them."

"I know," Daphne agreed. "But would it kill you to look out for your friends? We all looked for you when you went missing, y'know?"

Persephone sighed, the seed of guilt already taking root. She had been rather neglectful with her few friends here ever since coming back, though Clytie wasn't a close friend she was always there helping her with her own projects. A dryad, and a nymph with a specialty for plants was sorely needed out here since her own powers had been on the fritz these past couple of days.

"I'm sorry, look, I've just been so focused on this job to even care. I promise I'll go look for her- after the date," she added quickly.

"Please do, Papa won't let me out of his sight anymore to go look for her! And the guy's twenty leagues long! You'd think I'd see her at some point!"

"Alright, alright, I'll go look for her in the meadows, the one on the East end of the island. We used to hang out there a lot before-"

"Before you decided you wanted to be the queen of hell?"

Persephone's face fell into a deadpan at her friend's dig at her before her face split into a small smirk. She always appreciated her friend's unique humor, even if a majority of it was her teasing. "I always told you I was bad news."

"The worst," Daphne agreed, a similar mischievous grin spread across her face. "Now c'mon, we're fixing your hair, or did you intend the birds to nest in your hair again?"

Persephone gave her friend a full view of how done she was, but chose to remain silent and sat on her bottom so her friend could reach her hair. Most nymphs were on par with mortal women, but she just so happened to be quite tall even for a goddess.

"Hey, I don't approve y'know- the thing with Apollo," Daphne started to smooth out her friend's hair with the brush Kore summoned. "He did break up with Clytie… And he's never given you the time of day when your mom tried to get you two to date a century ago."

"I know, but this is different," Persephone muttered softly. The memories of her first awkward experience with the sun god was borderline cringy with how shy she had been, she was just glad Artemis had stepped in and ended it. "Just trust me, it's only for convenience's sake. I've got a bone to pick with him, and I need this date as a cover. "

"Uh-oh, I think someone's got a secret."

Persephone couldn't help but laugh at her friend's comment, but her facial expression hardened as she could feel the arrival of her mother and someone accompanying her. "You have no idea," she grumbled, rising to her feet.

"Just be wary okay?" Daphne pressed, and signaled her friend that her hair was somewhat presentable. "You know men only want one thing."

Persephone nodded as the figures of her mother and Apollo chatting walked into her view. "Power."

Daphne paused at that, but simply shrugged. Eh, it wasn't like she ever felt any sort of attraction to anything in the manner she was referring to, so really in her own naive way, Kore wasn't wrong.

"Yeah, let's go with that, keep it PG. See ya girl!" Her friend sprinted into the nearby river before she could be spotted by Persephone's guest.

"Kore, dear, look who's here!" Her mother exclaimed triumphantly, as if she was a great huntress dragging in her latest kill.

Persephone felt the beginning signs of a grimace spread across her face before she quickly replaced it with a bright smile. She couldn't ignore the feeling of malcontent she had for him since he had ignored her mother's earlier attempts of setting the two up, but man do the tables turn.

Still there was no denying he was handsome.

Built with a large broad shouldered frame his deep mauve skin matched his curly hair that was mostly hidden underneath his red helmet and the sun-like rays that made up the brush of the helm. His aura shone bright yellow and orange, he is the god that shined the brightest and it was certainly thanks to his daily job of charioting the sun across the sky.

"Greetings!" She curtsied low in an attempt to make sure her face was not showing any signs of the disdain she felt inside.

Once she felt her emotions were in check, Persephone rose and met the waiting eyes of the shining sun god. Oh wow, was he shiny, just looking at him made her squint. "Apollo, it's always a pleasure."

Demeter took this as her cue and detached herself from the god's side, now standing between the two of them. One look at her and you could tell how pleased she looked. After a century, finally the most eligible bachelor was finally seeing the worth in her daughter.

"Likewise, Kore," he gently took her hand from her side and gave it a small polite peck. "I can't thank you enough for considering having an outing with me so soon with your busy schedule."

Persephone had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes at his genteel mannerisms, but she just kept smiling, baring her teeth. She had to do this, she silently reminded herself, she had to make sure her secret was hidden- no matter the cost.

"Of cour-"

"Oh, Apollo, it's just like I said. She was ecstatic by the idea!" Her mother chimed in, reminding- to more of Kore's annoyance- of her presence. "We simply had to schedule as soon as possible- no matter with all this brouhaha going on."

Persephone pursed her lips in thought. She didn't want her around when she picked Apollo's brain, so she needed to find a way to spend alone time with the god, but in a way that would make her mother happy leaving the two alone.

"Mother's right!" Persephone shouted. The near proximity of the goddess' loud proclamation startled both her mother and Apollo that the two of them forgot what they were going to say.

"In fact…" Persephone nervously laughed as she fiddled with one loose curl. "I thought it best as our first outing that a stroll through the woods would be nice. You know," the goddess shrunk underneath the gods' gaze, "Show you my haunts, so we can talk. Eating dinner is kind of overrated for a first date since there's so much I want to know and I don't want to go somewhere unfamiliar so soon with a person I barely know- y'know?"

Demeter stared incredulously at her daughter but she couldn't help agreeing. "Oh what a lovely idea, what do you say, Apollo?"

"Well, I never get the chance to stretch my legs being in the chariot for so long. Thankfully, Helios was nice enough to take the reins for the day, so I don't see why not," Apollo exclaimed, standing a bit straighter than before. Almost as if some weight was lifted off his shoulders.

"Oh I take it that means I let you two crazy kids have fun. Apollo, keep her safe alright? And have her back before IX, alright?"

"Don't worry, Demeter I'll have her back before the sun sets," Apollo assured her, chuckling at his own joke.

Her mother beamed. Persephone, on the other hand, felt a little chunk of her soul break off and die.

"Great," Persephone quipped.

"May I?" Apollo offered his arm out to her.

"Oh," the action caught Persephone off guard. Something about it was familiar and when she realized why it was foo amiliar, she pushed that dark thought away.

Focus. He's not coming back.

"Of course," Persephone stiffly accepted Apollo's arm. "See you tonight, mother," she waved good-bye.

"Oh, I'm sorry I wont be here when your date is over, but the nymphs will be here if you two need anything."

Sure enough, the faces of all the nymphs who had been working in Persephone's little flower service all peaked their heads from over one of the bushes where they had been listening in. They were far more excited at the arrival of the god of music and were doing their best to try to get his attention to no avail.

"Thank you again Demeter, I'll see you tomorrow at the meeting," Apollo bid the agricultural goddess farewell, paying no heed to the drooling faces of the nymphs.

As the two began to walk away into the woods, Persephone couldn't help her curiosity at what Apollo just mentioned. "Meeting- what meeting?"

"Oh Zeus is having a meeting concerning Hercules- didn't Demeter tell you? All the gods are expected to go. At this point Zeus is so desperate he's willing to hear anyone who's got any ideas."

"Slipped her mind it seems," Persephone frowned at this revelation. Oh mother knew how she wanted to help with releasing Hercules, but it seems she was purposefully kept in the dark. "So, I'm guessing you don't go traipsing around in the woods much, huh?"

"Oh, I get around now and then."

Persephone swore she could hear a chorus of women laughing but chose to ignore it.

"You know when the job permits. I bet you get tired of these trees, though, stuck on an island all your life."

"A bit," Persephone admitted, leading Apollo onto an old trail she hadn't gone on for a while. "But I usually go out with mother when she needs me for Spring time, practically half the year, really."

"I imagined so, but it is your home regardless, like the sky is mine."

"Hmm, not necessarily," Persephone couldn't help but make a noise of disagreement. "Home is wherever they'll have me."

"I never took you for a philosopher."

"Nor you as very bright," Persephone quipped without even thinking. When she realized what just slipped out of her mouth she mentally slapped herself. She needed to get on his good side if she wanted information, she couldn't drive him away now. That was later if he got too clingy.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that."

"I think I should be apologizing," Apollo halted suddenly making Persephone jerk back unexpectedly. "I don't think we started off on the wrong foot."

"Yeah," Persephone floundered for an apology. "Look I'm frazzled with my new job-"

"No, not that. Your mother suggested this date didn't she?"

Persephone paused.

That was partially true, but she did have her own reason for going through with this. Maybe she could play that card and make him see her as the naive obedient daughter, yes, he might even explain why he asked her mother in the first place.

Realizing she had been quiet for too long, Persephone undid her grip on the god and began to nervously fix her sea green chiton, despite the fabric being perfectly fine. "Yeah… I didn't want to be rude and say no. I mean I already have so many bad rumors floating around about me, I just didn't want to make people talk more."

Oh gods, please believe me.

"I gathered as much," Apollo nodded in understanding. "But you needn't feel troubled, Leto may not be as hard on me as your mother is, but I know when a mother can be overbearing. If you want me to leave I can go, I understand if you're not interested. I did come after all with Poseidon's urging."

Persephone couldn't help but do a double-take. She hadn't expected that. "Poseidon?! He sent you?!"

"Yes, he couldn't come and visit you with your mother around, so he asked me to come and see how you were faring."

She didn't know why, but Persephone felt disappointed. "Oh, I thought…"

"He asked your friend Athena actually, but I volunteered to deliver his message in her stead. He seemed so proud of you for not being your father, though. Talked of you non-stop when I arrived on Olympus."

Persephone smiled fondly at the mention of the fish god. "He is one of the kindest gods I know. How'd you meet him that day anyway? Weren't you out- oh I don't know... Doing your job?" She stared intently at the shining god, hoping to finally see if he was in the know to her secret.

"Ah, yes see I was supposed to be doing that, but the sky was completely covered by clouds that I went to confront Zeus about the mixup- he may be our king but he can be so neglectful letting things run amok. You saw what happens thanks to his nearsightedness."

"Only too well," Persephone murmured slowly, keeping her voice low in the case that her inexplicable relief would be noticed by her date. She was in the clear, oh thank the Fates! Now how to end this before it gets weird…

The last time she went on a date, said guy got mauled by a boar, so she couldn't exactly recreate that now.

Damn immortality.

Apollo laughed, the deep rumble of his baritone a welcome sound after hearing nothing but the high-pitched twittering of nymphs for so long. "It always seems those underneath him are always trying to fix his mess."

"You can't blame him for everything, though, he's still one god that's why the Olympian council exists," Persephone pointed out. "To make up for his shortsightedness. If you really want to call him out remember you are a part of the council. You were a part of the group that was thinking that everything's hunky-dory. In fact, you could even say it should have been youse guys responsibility to fix it instead of trying to make a game out of it, or you know try and do something instead of partying all day and night!"

Good plan, insult him until he leaves, yeah that'll have no repercussions whatsoever.

"Alright, but we are not meant to interfere with the lives of mortals- what about that?"

Persephone smirked. The kind of smirk you get when you know precisely the one line that could destroy your opponent's entire argument and have them on their knees in submission. She couldn't help but laugh as she stared unblinkingly at the sun god. She couldn't believe he could be this short-sighted, and yet he was everything she expected him to be- how dreadful.

"Oh yeah? Then who created humanity? Who built the very world they live in?" Persephone spun around gesturing to the ancient woods around her. "They depend on us- without us they wouldn't even be here. We created them and now we have to take care of them like the parents we are, but guess what? They can't continue to advance if we continue to not do the jobs they need us to do. We've grown so lazy stealing their praise and sacrifices only for them to continually be screwed over by some god's necessity to achieve a stupid goal. So don't even try to pull that mantra all the other gods repeat, and just step up to what we have been doing wrong to them. You guys just don't care," Persephone practically spat in his face, the fury that rippled through her core made even the very ground stir underneath her.

"All you guys ever do is just try to do everything in your power to get some cheap thrill out of your dull meaningless existence. Leaving us minor gods to fend for ourselves and hope to the Fates that somehow, someway, when you least expect it we'll take the power away from you, and once again continue the cycle of yet another corrupt Pantheon."

The god of music blinked, and for the first time in his existence, was at a loss for words. "...You know it's a shame you aren't on the council," Apollo mused. "You seem to have a fair understanding in politics. You could do this world some good if you weren't always just an assistant to your mother."

Persephone couldn't help but blush at the compliment, having not expected her jab to be taken well. She expected some sort of negative reaction, but he just seemed pleased. It was so unsettling, she just had to change the subject fast. "Please, blame Athena, she can go on and on about it sometimes," she waved off his praise.

"But you listen, that means you must care about it. I bet if you had a little more power that you might be heard more."

Persephone snorted.

You know maybe there would have been a point in her life where she would have liked him, but that would have been long before her life took a downturn. He was charming and had much higher intellect than most of the company she had been keeping. After all, the nymphs were just gossip girls, Apollo might not be so savvy, but she craved for an intelligent conversation since Athena had yet to make an appearance since before the competition.

"Well, you saw my power move backfire, yeah I don't think I'm suited for anything else," Persephone humbly exclaimed.

"But what about your scythe, you still have it don't you?" Apollo pressed. "The power to move Underworld rivers and the dead with it. I don't think Zeus can ignore such a powerful weapon."

Persephone froze under the god's gaze. Of course, Poseidon mentioned the powers he bequeathed onto her scythe, but why was Apollo so interested in it? It's not like it was needed anymore with the dead back where they belonged. "Yeah…" she muttered with a guarded tone. "It's a good thing it's under my care, huh? Not that it wouldn't be!" She added, but immediately regretted it.

Gods she really needed to stop doing that.

"Indeed," Apollo agreed. "You know, Kore, I believe I misjudged you."

"Misjudged me? How so?" Persephone felt on edge as the god approached, so much so that she couldn't help but take a step back. That was when she noticed the flicker of movement behind Apollo.

What was that?

Before she could investigate, Apollo was already in front of her, blocking any and all her view thanks to his broad-shouldered frame. "For you, Kore." He held out a single yellow flower, it's large dark center was coated in thick black seeds, but the beautiful petals were arranged around it almost looking like a-

"I called them sunflowers, rightly named don't you agree?"

Persephone cautiously held the flower and admired the entirety of it, never having seen anything like it. "Oh, how lovely..."

"Made it myself. Music can entrance even the plants themselves."

Persephone squirmed underneath the god's heated look. Oh gods, she didn't need this right now. "Apollo I can't accept this," she shook her head vehemently. "I'm not interested in you and I'm far too busy as it is-"

"Kore before you go on, I don't want you to judge me for not taking heed to your mother's earlier request of courting. I thought you a child but after what I've seen today, you are anything but one."

"Apollo, look you're a nice god, but-" Persephone's voice faltered, drifting away as her eye caught movement once more but this time in a place where Apollo's left shoulder wasn't blocking her line of sight.

Briefly glancing over at that spot, Persephone felt her heart jump in her chest as the sunflower in her hand burst into flames. The very earth underneath her froze and her heart with it.

It couldn't be... Gods it shouldn't be...

Hades…

Seeing him there, leaning against a tree so nonchalantly as he softly smirked at her it was enough to stop the flow of ichor in her veins. She couldn't breathe, couldn't look away, even the saliva in her mouth became dry as the full realization that this was no trick of the mind was fully processed.

His golden gaze was solely locked with hers and for a second, Persephone could have sworn there was some sort of longing in that look and the look she gave him in return. Oh how she desperately wished that everything that had transpired between them wasn't all a lie, but believing in a lie was just as bad as this hell she was living in.

"Kore, what's wrong?" Apollo broke through her thoughts, staring incredulously at the way Persephone reacted so suddenly. From the flames that had appeared around her to the silent terror that was making its way across her features.

It was like she was staring at a ghost.

Persephone, now remembering Apollo was still here blinked away the traitorous tears. Her eyes reopened, but this time Hades was nowhere to be seen and that same feeling of heartache reappeared.

No, he was still here, she could feel it.

Her hand suddenly shot out and pushed Apollo aside dropping the burning sunflower in the process. "I have to go…" the words tumbled out of her mouth as she picked up her skirts, offering no further explanation as she took off running into the the dark forest.

"Kore, wait!" He shouted at her from the path as she ran deeper into the thicket, but she was too fast for him to follow her.

Looking down at the sunflower as it continued to burn, Apollo cautiously picked it up and blew out the flames. He had felt no pain from it, having dealt with the sun on a daily basis, and examined the poor dying flower.

Taking one last glance at the forest, Apollo made a move to follow Kore, but he was immediately hounded upon the dryads who had been hiding, following the couple.

"Oh, don't go after her Apollo, she's just in one of her moods," one particularly pretty poplar dryad grabbed at his hands.

"Yes, she's just in one of her moods," another dryad chimed in, tilting his face away from the trees and into her bright green eyes.

"Please, come with us, we're much more fun!" Twittered yet another dryad, a new one he did not recognize.

"Alright, ladies, lead the way, she knows her way around this place anyhow."

The cheers of the nymphs turned to giggling as they led him to a different part of the woods, far from where Persephone had taken off in.

Before the god could enjoy the company of the flirtatious nymphs he could not help but think that he had accomplished much on his visit.

Poseidon, you old codfish, you weren't kidding about her. I think she'll be a powerful ally for our own takeover if I play my cards right.

Apollo was interesting to write since I never really got much personality out of him from the show, so I just used some inspiration from some of Keith David's other roles hence why he's so proper.

Also Hermes is the nicest god ever! Ugh, I always forget he's the trickster god in the Greek Pantheon, but I think he's a lot smarter than we give him credit, so I thought it good to include his insight.

So, anyone ready for the throw down next chapter?