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(re-write)

~PLEASE READ~

Hello my dear readers, I deeply apologize but I have rewritten major portions of this chapter. Some parts remain the same, but others, you will find have changed significantly. Trust me when I say no one had any influence on me whatsoever on deciding to re-write the chapter. It was all me, no one guilted me into it nor suggested it.

So after weeks of restructuring and reconsidering my options I present to you the real chapter. I love slow burns and you bet your sweet diddly darn petunia I am going to enjoy it for the remainder of this quarantine.

Hope you enjoy and stay safe out there!

---

It's a Cold Day in Hell

---

"Mephistopheles is not your name
I know what you're up to just the same
I will listen hard to your tuition
You will see it come to its fruition-"

- Wrapped Around Your Finger, by The Police

---

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.

"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?

Hercules said nothing and instead gently pressed his lips against hers, and for that one moment, his wife felt reassurance flow back into her 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. "C'mon, Meg, 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 tenderly 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 making some of them look like they were painted with ink. All she had left was one intact lily, perfectly pristine just like how her mother had given her.

"Oh mother," Persephone uneasily 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 and the day she left.

"Well, aren't you up early, my little Melanthe?" That cold voice lacked much of its usual bite, but to her, she knew when her old godmother was trying to act like everything was fine.

Kore held back the urge to roll her eyes at the use of her old nickname. A name her godmother called her when mother wasn't in hearing distance. "It's almost sunset, Auntie."

"Oh but that's when night starts, when my day starts," Hecate grinned revealing the rows of sharp teeth that were hidden behind her thin lips. "And don't correct me when I say this, but isn't this when you start your day too, my pet? Just waiting for when mother dearest sleeps away my precious night only for you to emerge and- "

"So you're just going to leave?" Persephone shouted, cutting her godmother off.

Her goddaughter's question echoed in the still night making Hecate pause, her foot hovering over the edge of the chariot. The goddess lifted a sharp eyebrow at Persephone's boldness.

So her little godchild had noticed she had slipped away after that little spat with her mother?

Both her winged wolves shared knowing looks between each other, and for once said nothing. They knew when a fight was coming and this one had been brewing for several centuries.

"Come to say good-bye?" Hecate ignored her godchild's question with another question. Her green eyes glittering with malice as she inspected her steely-eyed godchild.

"Where are you going?" Kore ran in front of her chariot, making sure that she did not ride away before she could explain herself. Her godmother's wolf minions softly growled, but a sharp look from the pink goddess silenced them in an instant.

"Somewhere far away enough where you won't see me again, my pet," Hecate crossed her arms. "We'll both get what we want."

Kore pursed her full lips in a small pout. "You can't leave my mother like this; you're her best friend! Without you she'll-"

"Just be left with you?" Hecate innocently batted her eyes. "Oh I am presently aware of the situation, but I cannot stay here any longer just as much as you weren't meant for the shadows of your mother or that pompous war goddess."

"Right, because you did everything in your power to make sure it stayed that way," Persephone hissed. Around her the grass underneath her began to slowly decay as their life began to be sucked away.

Hecate let out a wicked cackle. "Now, now my little Melanthe it seems my little nickname for you is not without cause," she pointed to the patch of dried ashen flowers that surrounded her godchild's feet. "Your mother is weak-willed and will topple at the slightest incident. She could not raise you to be strong like I did. I merely presented you with a challenge. You were getting lazy sneaking around her and that bird brain. I wanted to teach you that you will not only play with fools in your life."

"Are you calling Athena a fool?" Persephone moved to the side of Hecate's chariot to move away from the patch of earth she had cursed.

"I just said that my pet, is she getting to you too?" Hecate's eyes were alight with a mischievous glint in her frosty green pools.

Persephone glowered. "She has temples, armies, cities that fight under and for her. I have thankful neighbors and nothing else."

"All that goes to a god's head. I tell that to my boss downstairs, but that buffoon is just as unsatisfied as you are, you ungrateful brat," the goddess uncharacteristically frowned, a break in the facade, meaning Kore was getting to her. "You have more in store for you than you could ever imagine," Hecate snarled down at her goddaughter.

Persephone couldn't help but notice that resonant twang of jealousy that was evident in her godmother's voice. In fact it seemed every decade that inflection got stronger. "Why is my desire to leave any different from yours? Aren't you running away?"

Hecate began to tut. "I have nothing to run away from; that is our difference. The Underworld… As much as I want it- it was never mine to rule," she exclaimed with an odd combination of wistfulness and bitterness. Hecate's cold eyes turned to look down upon her godchild and began to straighten the petals of her large flower headdress.

"Was Hades too much of a challenge for you?" Persephone goaded her godmother with a smirk.

"It was never my job to conquer him, but maybe I helped instrument his imminent downfall," Hecate icily grinned as she put a hand under her goddaughter's chin, forcing her to look up at her. "Look at me, Melanthe, and listen closely."

Persephone stood her ground, refusing to break eye contact with her godmother. She didn't even flinch at the way her aunt's pointed, painted fingernails dug into her chin.

"This will be my last advice to you, my ungrateful pupil. There will come a day in your life when you must choose between three paths. Keep this in mind, my pet, my divination skills rival Apollo's little oracle. I see two paths opened up before you, and one behind you."

"The path behind you isn't a choice, it's only the path that led you to the divide in the road."

"Hush," Hecate snapped at her goddaughter's sass and tapped her nose three times. "Every traveler has the choice to return from whence they came. It may seem cowardly, but it might not be in the end," Hecate knowingly grinned flashing her razor sharp teeth.

"So what path must I choose?"

"The one that hurts the most," Hecate's face became a mask of stoicism, but the undercurrent of steel did not escape Persephone.

"But why would anyone choose that path?" Persephone hesitantly asked, not fully understanding why someone would purposefully walk a road that led to their suffering.

"Because, my dark flower, just as you burn a field to renew its nutrients so must you live in Hades to rise in the coming spring and begin again. Like all things they have their seasons and you will find that you are not the exception."

Persephone sat with this information in mind with resignation.

Hecate always knew this was going to happen didn't she? Knew that her goddaughter would get the Underworld throne no matter how hard she had fought for it. Why was that conversation even beginning to make sense to her now of all times?! Sure, her aunt was always eerily cryptic, but now?! Ugh, that information alone would've made her life a helluva lot easier if she knew what she was talking about.

Persephone inwardly fumed at her past self's ignorance, but put it aside as there was no point in cursing what had already taken place. So what could she do with that advice now?

The path that hurt the most…

There was different types of suffering- the kind where you go through some kind of public humiliation, one that Tartarus was specifically created for, or as the one that Hecate seemed to be implying where you put yourself in a situation you know would be hell but could lead to something more- a sort of rebirth if you will.

Just like when farmers raze their fields to strengthen a new crop…

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 fear and biting sarcasm. 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 hadn'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.

Oh what path was she going to choose?

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 an unsettling sound that Kore would've been afraid of, but Persephone found to be nothing out of the ordinary.

"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, but felt the slightest upturn of her lips. "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 her 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 unsuspecting 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."

Mistress? She wasn't a queen just yet.

"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…" 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 Hercules' 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 on Hades 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. She had been so consumed with her own plight she had forgotten Athena's involvement with this mess to begin with! This was complicating matter far too much at this rate.

"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, right?" 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 that one in the boat…

Persephone brushed that thought aside as she angrily 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 marrying hot-head over here," she grimaced. "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, right?" 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? You don't strike me as the type. So that just leaves deception."

"I did the same thing he did to me," Persephone bristled. "But I had help. I was given a 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 squeamishly.

"Thought so," Meg rolled her eyes, trying her darnedest to keep her lunch in her stomach.

Persephone felt embarrassment begin to burn on her cheeks at the look Meg was giving her. Clasping her hands together the goddess found herself inching toward the safety of her room, and slowly closing the door of the room. "I'm wasting your time here. Go home, I'm destined to rot here."

"No," Meg boldly snapped, as she began to put herself between the door to prevent Persephone from shutting her out. "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 min. 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 began 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.

If she created them, then they would most certainly listen to her or she'd send them back into the flowers.

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.

She looked a lot like her, but the colors were all wrong.

"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."

"Hm," Persephone scoffed. "He should have presented it himself." 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?

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

Persephone blinked. "I know you, don't I," it wasn't a question; it was simply an observation.

"You created me, I hope so," Melinoe dryly snipped.

"No, I just gave you form," Persephone observed the small lampade with a strange understanding alight in her eyes. The aura about her was different than the rest of the nymphs and after a movement of reflection, Persephone comprehended why the nymph in question was so off-putting from the rest.

"You're my regret." She remembered now, mere minutes before she dove into the Phlegethon and found Hades in that abyss. There was a moment, a single moment where she felt all her hopes dashed at the prospect of ruling this dark kingdom. The feelings of being unfit to rule, her lack of confidence all of it came crashing down on her, and what else would her powers do but unleash her emotions onto the underworld and created those six-petalled flowers from whence the nymphs were born. Her regret powered that. Her hopelessness, her rage, her brokenness, her sadness. It was the very nymphs that stood before her today.

Melinoe eerily smiled; something she had never done before. "I have haunted you for centuries."

"You still haunt me," Persephone chuckled, but her statement was not a condemning one. "Yet because of regret I had hope to try again."

"Every time without fail," Melinoe conceded. "If only there were those brave enough to try again," she pressed the box into Persephone's unexpecting hands.

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. What awaited her in the box? Some kind of unspeakable horror? A curse? Perhaps, the thing that summoned the apocalypse? Why else would he choose to give her something while he wasn't present?

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.

"A gift he said," Melinoe simply stated, "For all the troubles he gave you."

Persephone jumped with a start, not expecting to hear that sort of message in whatever form. "What do you mean a gift?! How has this ever been a gift?!"

"Why do you think he's given you this box of all things? He's quite literally given up hope."

Though the words were in the same monotone voice, there was something about the way those words were strung together that pierced Persephone like a chilling knife made of Stygian ice, plunging her downwards straight into the Phlegethon river as her heart began to thump louder, demanding that she listen to its last dying thump. Yet something grabbed at her, a power far superior to that of the hopelessness that overtook her. She was not ready to let that river of fire drown her- not when she had only begun.

Radiant, furious light began to radiate out of Persephone' already glowing hair 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 with fury as she pressed the key into the eye sockets of the skull causing the skull to split in half with a definitive click.

Meg watched the scene through squinted eyes, no longer able to make out Persephone by the blinding light that surrounded her, but she made sure to avoid looking directly at the nymph Hercules identified as Melinoe. She had learned her lesson.

With a definitive snap, Persephone yanked open the box without so much of a thought, releasing a small little dragonfly into the room as it flitted around trying to make sense of the world he found himself in.

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 satisfy me with?" She tilted the box in order for Meg to see the dark metallic diadem resting inside. "A crown- really? It's cursed isn't it? What makes him think he can get rid of me with a-" 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. The blade could not be destroyed. Only changed.

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. Back to her. "Oh, you've made a mistake…" 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 as she helped pull her out from underneath her hiding goddess looked positively wild with the way her hair shone and how her canines glinted in that light.

The path that hurt the most indeed.

"Uh, you alright there, lady?" 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 the mortal woman.

Meg could not read her expression, could not understand why Persephone's face became oddly solemn as the goddess began to study her, but it was like she wasn't looking at her, she was simply contemplating her.

"... Mistakes have been made, and we 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 here letter for me, now for the second…" she paused as she began to scribble down more words.

"Don't leave me hanging- what are you gonna do?"

Persephone paused. An odd smile that showed off her sharp canines was spreading across her face as she met Meg's curious eyes, but then the goddess blinked and the way her expression changed from that wild unbridled light to becoming so controlled, so calm and stern, Meg felt goosebumps erupt across her arms as the goddess simply replied:

"That's none of your business."

---

"Alright scrap everything- plan delta is commencing as we speak, people," Hades lividly threw open the doors to his throne room as fiery tongues of flame began to snake down his body, his skin an angry red as he took stock of everything before him.

Pain and Panic both did a double-take at Hades sudden reemergence into the room, but it was the troubling statement he issued out that made their nervousness dissipate into confusion.

Pain turned to his thin turquoise twin and whispered into his pointed elongated ears, "We have a plan delta?"

"I didn't even know we had a plan gamma," Panic threw up his arms as his heart accelerated once again.

"Uh, sir…" the paranoid blue imp followed his corpulent brother as the two of them now nervously stood in front of their boss as he sat in his obsidian throne.

"What exactly is plan delta?" Pain finished.

The two of them shut their eyes already anticipating the punishment for failing to remember the specific plan that he wished to initiate, but the flames never came. After only a moment the imps opened their eyes to find their brooding lord sitting defeatedly with his shoulders uncharacteristically deflated.

"The one I'm coming up with now, you, yutzes," Hades grumbled, the smoke tendrils along the hem of chiton beginning to unfurl.

Pain and Panic both released a chorus of relieved, "Ohhh."

"So the need-to-know agenda for right now is Persephone is going to Italia, so whatever tchotchkes you boys wanted to give her put 'em in the chariot mucho pronto. She needs to be there three hours ago and all she has is thirty mites," the god bitterly intoned, but it was not so much his demeanor that disturbed the imps. It was the words that he had so indifferently ordered them to carry out. Lifeless and apathetic, lacking the energy he had had right before he had left the Underworld to fetch Persephone. The god before them had been surreptitiously replaced with a shell of their boss.

"But what about the wedding?" Pain's question shot out fast, but Hades was faster as his arms became smoke and grabbed both imps, bringing them closer to him. His hands reformed into being and the choke hold the two of them were in became exponentially tighter and more painful as his hands flared orange.

"IT'S BEEN CANCELLED!" The god roared as he became entirely engulfed in flames and launched Pain and Panic across the room, slamming them into the wall where they stuck for several seconds before their ashes began to fall to the floor. The two imps felt more sympathy than pain as they began to reform back into their regular forms.

Pain and Panic shared a troubled look as they finally came back into one piece. They knew something was off with the both of them the moment they arrived at the palace. Though it was more noticeable in their boss since they knew him better, they couldn't shake the same energy that Hades was currently radiating that they had felt with Persephone as she stormed off to her "room."

Still, it was Pain who was more confused by this turn of events. "I really thought he was gonna go through with it," the chubby imp whispered.

Panic paused and thought for a moment. "Love's a two way street, y'know, and part of it is learning that if you really care you have to put her wants first; even if it doesn't include us."

"Since when did you get so sharp on love?" Pain quizzically stared at his brother.

The turquoise imp felt his cheeks burn the color of his brother's skin as thoughts of a certain magenta-haired oracle filled his mind. "Oh, you know…" he nervously twittered as he tried to clear his thoughts. "Little bit here- little bit there…" He began to mumble the rest to himself as he flapped his leathery wings.

Pain rolled his eyes at his brother's antics and took off after him, trying the best he could to keep up with him as he went behind Hades' throne in a small area only they knew about. They had stowed away Persephone's scrolls here in a basket they'd stolen from Demeter's abode, hoping to surprise her with them after the ceremony.

Each of them picked up one handle of the basket and began to fly towards the only two windows in the room, but they both paused their flapping leathery wings and began to hover. Hades had since moved out of his throne and was now standing in front of the windows, his hands grasping at the window as he leaned over the edge.

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.

"Uh, you're most lugubriousness?" Pain loudly cleared his throat trying to garner his boss' attention.

"We got her gift right here," Panic added.

Without removing attention away from the window, Hades raised his hand and snapped his fingers. Outside, far, far below where the room overlooked the entirety of the Underworld near the docks his chariot now stood.

He hated this.

He hated feeling. Looking back at the moments when he bended underneath Zeus' will, the weight of his demanding job, he could take anything relating to that. You didn't need to feel to do the job, the anxiety, the feeling of being under pressure as demands were pulling him apart in every which way- that he knew how to handle. He'd done it so many times over he knew what to expect, but it was a whole new wonder having to consider the feelings of others. Especially her's.

The irony of all those times he had sniggered and criticized his brothers for the hoops they'd jump through, avoiding jealous wives and dreadful prophecies, taking on many forms to hide their misdeeds just for the sake of satisfying some unquestionable thirst. He never thought he'd stoop to their level, and though he had never once forced himself onto anyone, what he had done to Persephone qualified to something of that caliber in his eyes.

Hades never considered himself to have a sense of honor, he was the dread lord of the dead for a reason, swindling people left and right, gambling away their souls from under their noses, but he never thought he would ever come around to this. "Boys, here's a piece of advice I wish I was told. Never start a marriage with a kidnapping. Even if everybody's doing it."

Pain and Panic furiously nodded taking this blatantly obvious revelation like mortals after Prometheus presented them with fire. Sometimes it was just easier to pretend.

---

Now that he was on the other side of the door to the throne room, Hercules tried 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, but the room seemed to have a natural sound-proof barrier that made it seem more like murmurs than actual words.

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. He remembered after last time.

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 less than an hour away, meaning they were running out of time to escape.

"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 play, 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 exploding based on his rising inflection.

"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 passing millisecond 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 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 has been sort of preoccupied. You throw a god into a river a couple months, ya 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's just second nature."

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 to, 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 familiar voice growled, sending god and mortal alike into a frenzy as the now stilled atmosphere was filled with the sound of a schwing as something flew before Hades' eyes.

Hades staggered back as a scythe now separated him from the fallen hero. The elegantly curved blade that was thrown into the dark marble floor, reflecting back his own flames, stood cold and menacing, but there was another light that glinted back; this one far greater in brighter than his own.

Now both hero and villain found themselves craning their neck in the direction of that feminine roar. There standing in front of Hades' own throne was the shining goddess herself. Her stance completely off-putting with her arms crossed and body rigid. The cold magenta flames in her eyes only a fraction of the emotion she was feeling on the inside. Yet her head was held high like no force beneath and above the earth could stop what she was about to do.

Gone was the soaking white rags of a maiden to be replaced with a fitted black peplos with a wide neckline exposing her collar bones. A veil attempted to cover her long hair, the semi-diaphanous cloth shielded the pulsing light that was emanating underneath the thin layer. 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. Though the look was unintentional, Persephone looked like a dark bride, but instead of provoking an image of loveliness, there was something full of dread here. Power radiated off of her, controlled rage hidden behind that regal mask she wore, so much so like the cold statues in the gardens of palaces and the sepulchered halls of temples.

To Hades though, she had never looked more beautiful. For beauty- true beauty incited terror, and there was no one more fascinated by the change in the norm than him. If Helen's face was what launched a thousand ships, there was no telling what wars- what death she would incite with her macabre beauty. 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…

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 now that he had regained control of himself, the flames around him finally dying after shaking himself back down to reality, Hades considered 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 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.

Stepping over the curved blade, 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.

"Meg, it's time to call in my second favor," Persephone exclaimed without a glance at the trembling woman as her eyes finally met Hades.

"Meg, what's going on?" Hercules 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 close to his ear. "I know as much as you."

"Send them home, Hades," Persephone icily ordered. "They're not going to interrupt this any longer," her eyes shot towards the couple as they locked gazes with her.

Hercules gulped. The tone in the goddess' voice to the macabre sight stole his voice as he slowly nodded. Though Persephone was speaking to Hades, he understood the message very clearly. There was no damsel here that was in distress; at least not the one he had come to rescue. Whatever mission that he was sent on- she could handle it. Them being here was just an added nuisance to whatever was going on.

With her demand hanging in the air, the couple's gaze slowly turned to Hades, who was for lack of a better word, flabbergasted, as his face compulsively broke into a grin. "Sweetness, you can't be se-"

The severity in Persephone's glare amplified as she cocked her eyebrow into a tight angle, making the god's voice falter.

"Hey, y'know what? It's your call, babe," Hades immediately relented and snapped his fingers, sending away the couple back to their home in Thebes.

Persephone's previous rigidity in her stance lessened slightly at his acquiescence. Something Hades caught after millennia of studying social cues and the quirks of any being he chatted with. She was getting much better at hiding her emotions, but maybe because he knew her well enough by now that he caught it.

"Seph," he used the nickname that he had given her today.

The small hesitance in his voice as he said it made Persephone pause and with a slight glance behind her, the goddess lightly dismissed the lampades. "Melinoe, leave us."

"You too boys," Hades waved the imps out and after noticing Thanatos in a far corner of the room, the god gestured at him with his index finger and signaled him out. "Kid, that includes you."

The uncharacteristically meek godling began to follow the lampades descent through the floors, but only after he gave a final wave to the goddess who curiously inspected him.

The air of the already tomb-like atmosphere intensified as the two gods once again regarded each other, but this time, Hades did not make the same mistake as before and made his way towards the goddess who still towered on the raised dais where his throne was situated.

"Persephone, you look-" the god ascended the stairs but stopped at the final step as he heard something crack behind him.

The scythe went sailing back into Persephone's expectant hand. "Careful, the blade's still sharp," the goddess' lilac fingers floated over the curved blade as she met Hades' eyes.

And in those magenta eyes there was a note of malice that Hades could not ignore any longer. A glint that set him on edge far more than the scythe he knew she was placidly threatening him with. "Hate to ask, but to what do I owe for your lovely presence, Persephone?" The god lightly pondered as he took her words with stride, choosing to slowly back away from her.

"I've decided," the goddess' words hung in the air as she took a long pause, following Hades off of the dais. "That maybe Hercules was onto something when he sent you into that river."

If Hades was mortal, he would have felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise. "What're you up to, sweetness?" The question slipped out of his mouth like a slippery snake as the two of them began to encircle the other.

Persephone ignored his question with a hardened glare.

Hades became reminded of the dances they shared in Egypt. Dancing was an interesting metaphor for strategy. While dancing with a partner comes with the intention to make two parties become one whole, half of the art required 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've decided to take up your offer after all," she subtly twirled her scythe around and then began to use it like a staff as she headed towards the window of all places.

Wariness began to plague Hades, weighing him down as it began to dawn on him what Persephone was up to, and the dread that replaced his initial feelings seeped into his bones far more than the pounds of force that the river had placed on him when he was trapped in its currents. The pawn had at last crossed the board, but what side was ruling her heart? Was it the dark queen he had hoped to turn or the white queen he had always known her to be? He may have sought after the dark, but he could not help but fall more for the soft-hearted white queen who set his flames ablaze. Yet for all his own musings he knew what queen stood before him and it was this revelation that set the god's gears in motion.

"I… find that hard to believe," Hades quipped as he followed her to the window.

"Hm, change of heart?" Persephone bitterly intoned, eyeing him from the corner of her eyes as she took a seat along the edge and stared out into the dreary Underworld kingdom.

"You could say that," Hades shrugged, as he leaned against the opposite side of the round gaping hole in the wall that he called a window. "Or maybe I'm just stalling."

Persephone's neck sharply turned in Hades direction. She felt her mouth fall slightly open from her surprise, but she immediately suppressed it. So he had already guessed what she was about to do? She expected him to run for his immortality at this moment, be the coward like always, but the casual lean against the tenebrous stalagmite walls proved otherwise.

"Ya never really see what ya have until it's gone," his somber, small voice an oddly soothing combination in a way that she had not expected.

It was like rubbing lemon juice on a papyrus cut.

"What did you expect, Hades?" She wistfully asked, her tone matching that same quiet voice he had adopted. "That everything would be fine? That marriage could fix all our problems?"

"What do you take me for, sweetness?" He finally turned to look at her. His pained gaze, entirely focused on her. "I'm not exactly mister sugar and spice and everything nice, babe. When your business is death it tends to give ya a grim outlook on life, but at least it can fix one problem for you. Although I take it you're gonna give me the metaphorical boot once you've got yours."

Persephone bit the inside of her cheek. "Yes."

Hades didn't even bat an eye at the small, yet defiant assent. "Well, at least it'll be you and not that witch you call an aunt. Talk about too many bats in her belfry- Oi, but I gotta ask a favor."

Persephone rolled her eyes, but she couldn't help wondering what he had in mind. "Oh?"

Hades crookedly grinned. In chess, a king may not be able to move more than one space at a time, but there was a reason for that. When you put a king in a corner, it was cunning alone, not strength, that saved him. A single oversight could get even the most powerful of pieces out of the game as they toyed with their regnal prey, and he was never one to waffle under duress. No one had called checkmate yet, and that was the greatest advantage of all. When it looked like the game was already called that was when he could make the best progress.

"All I ask is that when Hera goes around taking after your example- that you let me see it. I won't even complain when you throw me back. I can rest with that memory for eternity, seeing Mister high and mighty on the run from his wife of all beings."

Persephone couldn't help herself at this point as a snort began to bubble out of her just imagining Hera throwing bolt after bolt, chasing Zeus to the ends of the earth after having enough of his affairs. "You're crazy."

"I mean it! The way I figure it: Zeus's just minding his own business - no, let's have fun with this concept," Hades shook his head as a new idea came into mind. "He's doing what he does best- probably in the guise of a cow or a swan, and boom he's got a ten foot long one hundred billion volt bolt, sticking outta his cranium looking like Achilles' heel," Hades continued, knowingly watching as that smirk that Persephone was trying to suppress broke out into a wide grin.

Hades felt himself his lips crinkle into a genuine smile. There she was, that was the Seph he knew. A dark queen couldn't defeat her own king without her falling too. If he was ever to fall, it wouldn't be because of the dark queen. Somewhere, deep down, Hades knew the white queen was trapped by her own hand behind a thick hedge of thorns, and the best recipe to get her out was to smoke her out. If only the white queen knew she had already won from the moment he fell for her.

Noticing Hades' eyes on her, Persephone snapped to attention. "Hey, I am trying to threaten you here!"

"I know!" Hades agreed in such a bright manner his mouth wide and eyes pulsating with thrill. "But you're not getting a kick out of it. I know I would if I had the semi-demi-mini god rotting away for all eternity. It's almost like this is just as painful as it's gonna to be for me." The god paused long and hard trying to get a reading on Persephone as he softly muttered. "Regrets, my sweet?"

Persephone felt herself seethe under his searching eyes as the metaphorical rug was being yanked from under her. Her anger once again coalescing, but she couldn't mutter a word. She could throw him out. With scythe in hand she could send him back where she found him, but something stopped her.

Despite everything, he was the one being she related to the most, and all her time spent with him had taught her that. The highs and the eventual bitter lows. Her respect for him never wavered; it just hurt her heart too much.

"I know I got 'em," Hades sat opposite to Persephone on that edge, unafraid of the glinting scythe that laid across her lap. "As much as it pains me to say it, but you were right."

Taking her silence as a go ahead, Hades continued his thought. "Yeah, I don't have that quality that heroes tend to have an infuriating amount of, but I shouldn't be a- a coward," his voice faltered at the use of the word he hated with a passion. "Not for you. Especially not for you. So I'm going to offer something to you- no deal required," Hades' hands shot up almost defensively. "Honest to Nyx, no kind of deal here, even if you go on and smite me just for the hell of it. At this point, I don't mind, I gotta get my ledger clean one way or another, but my chariot's waiting down there to take you to where you wanted to go. They can travel by shadow, so you'll get to Italia in no time, but here's the other thing. If you ever wanted to- you ever feel alone or need someone to chat with, I'm here, or even the boys. They may kill off a few of your braincells, but they're the best at listening. You wanna see your ma again? I'll tell her where you are- I'll even take her to see ya. You want the Underworld- it's yours. I can help teach you the ropes and then you can dump me- literally, or if you don't want my help that's cool too. Get it over with I say-"

It was in the middle of Hades' rambling that the goddess looked down at her lap. Persephone watched in mild bemusement as the scythe had transfigured back into the diadem it had been before without her notice. Taking it back into her hands, Persephone inspected the diadem.

To think Athena had assured her Praxidice would help her in any way she could and because of that had allowed Hades to change her form to something less practical. A farmer's tool now a symbol of power. Which was more useful in the end? The one that provided people directly with nourishment or a lifeless, metallic crown that possessed the soul of a people. A soul that could be used to manipulate lives or end their suffering.

Persephone's eyes lifted away from the winding River Styx and back towards the god who was gushing out word after word. Though it seemed like she was ignoring Hades's ramblings, her heart hung onto every single one of them. Had Hades declared his love for her now- his apologies, she would believe it. This was his way of saying it- outwardly- not being forced into saying it like before. For all his dramatic, short-tempered, and sleazy faults there was repentance there too.

This was it.

"Seph?" Hades now took note of the teary-eyed expression Persephone wore as she lifted the crown to her face.

"Why do you make it so hard to hate you?" Her quiet voice was rife with unexpected grief.

If there was anything Hades had expected her to say- it was not that. So much so was his surprise that the god said nothing, only staring in wild-eyed amazement at the goddess who before was ready to make him swim with the shades.

Persephone moved closer towards the god and met his puzzled yellow eyes.

You speak from a heart that has long since decayed, her own words began playing on repeat in her head.

"I said some pretty awful things to you. Stuff you usually don't say after someone becomes vulnerable… stuff I'm not going to repeat," Persephone half-whispered as she felt her face tilt down the slightest in shame. "And now you turn around actually offering me the things that would've given me the support nobody was willing to give? After everything I said to you?!"

"… Yeah," Hades weakly replied, almost unsure of how to answer, but the longer he stared at those searching magenta eyes that seared into his nonexistent heart he found his words. "Because you forgave me once, and I thought I'd return the favor. After everything I put you through- you are definitely worth whatever pain you want to put me through."

Persephone sat there stunned. "Oh," was all she could mutter.

"You don't believe me?" Hades tentatively pressed.

"It's not that I don't-"

"Then I'll swear on Styx," Hades abruptly cut her off. "I swear that-"

But Persephone was already one step ahead of him and leaned towards him to tenderly place her index finger over his gray lips, stopping him from saying anything more.

Hades felt his heart thumping against his ribs and the flames on his head shrank becoming white as she said, "Don't. I don't want to have a river be the reason I put my trust in you."

The god felt himself nod as Persephone slowly removed her finger and now sat beside him. Hanging her legs off the ledge their hips touched as they faced opposite directions.

Hades craned his neck to see what Persephone was staring at, but she surprised him more as she leaned onto his shoulder. "You know you're the only being who ever took me off that Fate-forsaken island?"

"Fly boy never took you out and about?"

"Not even him," Persephone admitted. "Athena too. She was too afraid of mother and well… mother," Persephone felt herself grow quieter. "Traveling with a parent doesn't count- it's just an added supervision thing."

"And that's after knowing me for a week," Hades reminded her. "If you knew me for two weeks I woulda showed you the other half of the world- the new world."

"Shh, I'm still contemplating whether to dump you or not," Persephone teased, but feeling the god tense beside her, she rubbed her shoulder against his. "That was a joke."

"Hey, you can never be too careful about these sorts of things. I've had psychotic squeezes before- you remember Minthe- the one you murdered?"

"Do you have a type for psychos, Hades?"

"I've been told blondes, and apparently dogs, but I-"

"Heh, I would have married you just for Cerberus," Persephone agreed, feeling the familiar rhythm of mirth begin to tickle her throat.

"Oi- to think the mutt was the secret to wooing ya all along," Hades grumbled, but paused and decided it was safe to look at Persephone again.

The softest of smiles graced her face, a nice change from the severity of her glare and frown combination from earlier. Yet there was still something that had her body unusually tense. She was struggling, groping for any semblance of order on what she had to do, and even if he gave his input on the matter, the decision would ultimately fall to her. No one else, but her could decide what was best.

He meant every word that he had said to her, but her experience with him taught her to take his words with a grain of salt.

She was learning. Good, not every shade she'd come across would tell her the truth, those desperate souls who longed to return back to earth. Though he felt repentant for being the one to teach her that lesson; it was one she had to learn if she wished to rule.

"Hey," Hades exclaimed, breaking the quasi-tenseness in the air. "Not that I want to change your mind or anything, but- uh," the god felt her tattered bouquet she had slapped him with appear in his hands.

Persephone quizzically looked back at Hades and swung her legs back inside. Now facing the same side, the goddess lifted a cool eyebrow as her lips pursed in amusement. "So that's what happened to it."

Hades was about to offer a quip, but as he took note of the burning roses, the god flinched in surprise. "Wait no-"

Persephone took them off his hands despite his pleas. "Oh they're lovely," she praised in a peculiar tone 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.

"Hades," Persephone's voice broke the god out of his thoughts. "Do you remember what I said after you asked me if I trusted you?"

Thinking back to their trip in Egypt, Hades remembered that conversation well. When he had extended his hand out to her asking her to come board his chariot. The nervous pause she took before she gulped down her rising anxiety. "Pretty sure you said you don't, babe."

"I haven't changed my stance since then," Persephone stated without an ounce of warmth. The warning she had given him had never gone off the table.

"I gathered as much, but I'm a patient god."

"Even if it's at the bottom of the Phlegethon?" Persephone fixed the diadem in her hair, and felt the power of the rushing river that flowed inside of her. "Will you wait for me there?"

"I will," his voice tenderly dropped an octave that sent a warm shiver down Persephone's neck as he whispered his intent into her ear.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Persephone abruptly stood up and extended out her hand to him.

There was no hesitance gripping Hades back as he stared in awe at the shining goddess before him if not for the slightest stream that dripped down his right eye only for it to sizzle away before he noticed, but Persephone did.

Hades slowly rose to his feet and joined his hand with hers. "Y'know they say it's bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the wedding."

"I'd say that's fitting for us," she wrapped her arm around his as he gently guided her out the doors of the throne room. "Wait," Persephone paused and looked down at her bouquet. "I'm getting married."

"Just think of it as a partnership, best friends for eternity" Hades attempted to assuage Persephone's nerves. "From here on out we'll be business partners. Y'know with the added bonus of certain albeit libidinous benefits, but that's neither here nor there. I want to be wooed too, babe," the god smirked, but Persephone wasn't paying attention.

"Oh gods, my mother isn't here. When she finds out-"

"We have like ten minutes we don't got the time."

"I know, but," Persephone's faze was captured by the burnt roses in her hand. "Oh if I'm going through with this, you're wearing this too," she began to fasten a rose similar to the ones in her bouquet under Hades' skull fastening.

"What're you doing?"

"We may be in your realm, but I'd like to keep some of my world's traditions too."

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. "Okay," she tried to push down the heat rising in her face, making sure not to look at Hades. "Let's get this over with."

---

No one expects for paths to change. Sometimes when we walk the journey of life we take the path filled with blue skies and sunshine. The one where we can see where we are headed so neatly in front of us, and for that same reason it's why we rarely prepare for the rain. For the deluge that floods the path and forces us to trek into the unknown.

For the both of them, Hades and Persephone had not expected their day to end like this. Had not expected that in the end they had both accomplished their goal in the strangest way.

Hades had not expected, nor even realized how far he was willing to go until reality had slapped him in the face. It was a cold day in hell how willing he was to backtrack on his initial plans to give her something that was real, but he managed to do so by being the one thing he never was with anyone. He was sincere, and in that sincerity he had found that link once again with her that they had shared in those moments when their relationship was not filled with suspicion.

And for her?

Hades found it hard indeed to contain the content azure flames that were flaring up along his chiton with each glance that Persephone made at him as they stood before Charon. Though his face was stern and slightly annoyed for his minions in the small audience every time they began to choke down their tears, his hands painted another story the way they tenderly held onto Persephone's.

They may not be in the place he wanted, but they were somewhere. It was certainly a nice day to start again.

Now for Persephone, she had not expected that she would find a way out from being controlled in the form of the god who helped start the fires in her life, but she couldn't blame all of them on him. He just fanned them so that she could see what really was bothering her in her life. And because of him, she inwardly reminded herself, she found herself about to undertake that which she had longed to do.

Here in the Underworld she had found the people who so desperately needed her. If that incident in the boat wasn't any indication- it was her talk with Megara, the mortal woman who had once shared the plight of the shades. Together they showed her just how much this realm needed to change with the times. Yet what she learned above all, was that sometimes the path that hurt the most was realizing that in order to move forward in life, you had to forgive. It was easy to give into malice, to rage out and unleash your fury out to the world, but to show compassion, something she had held onto for so long; it was rather ironic that she had it given up. Hecate didn't understand her own lesson, but Persephone finally did.

To forgive was such a powerful thing, but more painful for the person who does forgive.

The path that hurt the most was searching for the humanity in those who wronged us and forgiving them for everything they had done. How could it be possible to find that shred of goodness in someone so indecent? Forgiveness is a pain that once done relinquishes the control the oppressor has on you, freeing us so that we can finally find that which we never thought possible: a chance to rebuild. Whether that was a relationship or rebuilding yourself it should be remembered that trust never equated forgiveness, but it was one way to start to rebuild their shattered relationship.

And on a day such as this, there was no time like the present.

Persephone felt herself release the deep breath she had been holding back as Charon nodded at her. Without giving it a second thought she tilted her face up and 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.

"You're stuck with me now, Hades," Persephone tried to sound foreboding, but there was the slightest sliver of contentment there too.

"I wouldn't have it any other way, Seph," Hades crooned as the two of them faced the gathered assembly.

The lampades, and even Melinoe politely clapped, not exactly as thrilled since they were more entertained by pain and suffering, but they did so for their mistress' sake.

"Panic, if you start crying I'll start crying!" Pain warbled.

"But I- I- I always cry at weddings," Panic sobbed in between his words and was soon joined by his brother as the two of them cried in each other's embrace.

Despite the might in the air, 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.

---

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.

This is a science fact but delta is used to symbolize change in a chemical equation- b/c sometimes in order to change the chemical properties of mixtures you set it on fire. Makes sense since triangles are the alchemical symbol of fire- just ask Bill Cipher, or take a close look at Hades' chiton. Whether it was intentional or not, it's a nice touch.

I am super sorry about this change(and for the length of the chapter), but it was more satisfactory to me. More real. Next chapter should be out soon maybe a week or two since I was editing this while I was writing the next one. PLEASE let me know of what you think of the rewrite.

Oh and be sure to check out my newest three-shot revolving around the Titanomachy set in NYC during 1917!

You have suggestions- criticisms you feel aren't appropriate for the comment section- PM me! I'd love to chat! Things are pretty down since all my internship applications keep falling through, so I'd love to focus on something else for a change.

As always my dear readers, please fav, follow and review.